Amazon Echo now available for everyone, without an invite
Do you guys remember the Amazon Echo? It’s that awesome smart speaker announced by the popular retailer last November. It wowed most of the industry and proved to be one of the coolest digital assistants around, but there was one huge problem: no one could buy it!
Amazon was pretty much beta testing the Echo by releasing it only to customers who got a hold of an invite. Thankfully, this era is now left in the past and, as of today, any person can buy the Amazon Echo. No invites or cumbersome processes are required. Just head over to the Amazon Echo page and buy yours for $179.99. It will be in stock on July 14th, so you will have to wait a bit before it ships.
That $179 price point sure isn’t the cheapest, but you will find the Echo has a lot to offer and may be worth your hard-earned cash. This is more than your simple wireless speaker; which, by the way, some people pay the same amount or more for.
The Amazon Echo harnesses the power of the internet to become one of the coolest digital assistants found outside of actual smart devices. You can literally talk to the Echo and ask it questions about cooking, news, the weather, traffic, sports, shopping and more.
The Echo does more than plain information, though. You can command it to add something to your shopping list, purchase something from Amazon, make a reminder in your calendar, add something to your to-do list or even control your home automation smart products.
How does this all relate to Android? Well, there is a nifty mobile app you can use to get quick access to everything related to your Amazon Echo. All your reminders, calendar information and other features will be accessible from your smartphone or tablet.
Pretty neat, right? I am not sure I am willing to spend that much money on a speaker when I have Google Now available at all times, but I can see some people falling in love with this thing. It’s easy to operate, it’s smart and it can even tell you jokes! Who’s buying?
Honda CR-Z will run Pikes Peak with full-EV power
Honda is hitting the 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in this experimental CR-Z with an electric powertrain driving and steering all four wheels up the twisting mountain route.Honda is running a CR-Z at Pikes Peak this year. But as you might have guessed, this is no ordinary CR-Z. This particular racing prototype packs an experimental powertrain.
Though precise technical specifications remain a closely guarded secret at this point, our source at Honda has confirmed a few key details. For starters, the CR-Z racer packs a fully electric powertrain, ditching the 1.5-liter inline-four that forms the internal-combustion component of the street-legal model’s hybrid propulsion system. This contrary to circulating rumors that it could be packing the hybrid powertrain from the new NSX.
Whatever the details of the electric motor (or motors) on board, they’ll be driving and steering all four wheels through Honda’s proprietary Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) and Precision All-Wheel Steer (P-AWS) systems. The technologies ought to make the CR-Z racer pretty adept at tackling the 156 twists and turns of the world-famous Race to the Clouds. The aero package is obviously pretty aggressive as well, and the bodywork appears to have been modified to an even greater extent than the carbon-fiber prototype we drove in Japan.
Driving duties will be handled by Tetsuya Yamano, a Japanese driver known in the Super GT series (where he won the GT300 title in 2004 in an NSX) and for running Civics in Gymkhana events back in the 90s. It’ll be competing in the Pikes Peak Challenge Exhibition class, but the idea behind the CR-Z prototype is as much about experimentation as it is about results. The project will serve to train some of Honda’s younger engineers. They won’t be alone on the mountain, though, as Honda also recently announced that it would be fielding its new ARX-04b Le Mans prototype at Pikes Peak this year as well.
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Filed under: Transportation
Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ Campaign Wins Outdoor Lions Grand Prix at Cannes [iOS Blog]
Today at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Apple’s recent “Shot on iPhone 6″ ad campaign, officially referred to as “World Gallery”, won the Outdoor Lions Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious awards in advertising (via Fast Company).
According to the jury president Juan Carlos Ortiz, creative chairman at DDB Americas, the judges didn’t so much choose “World Gallery,” it chose them. Praising the Grand Prix winner, Ortiz said: “It’s not just a great idea, it’s a game changer. It’s really opening a new way of doing things and changing behavior.”
While the Cupertino company won the grand prize for the outdoor category, it also picked up five Gold Lions awards for specific “Shot on iPhone 6″ posters in the campaign. The ad initiative was a collaboration between Apple and TBWA/Media Arts Lab. Apple debuted the new ad campaign in early March, featuring photos and video taken by iPhone 6 users from around the world on billboards, print media, TV ads and more.
Apple and TBWA/Media Arts Lab are no strangers to the Cannes Lions Festival, having won the Grand Prix for Press for its iPad mini magazine campaign in 2013.
John Legere becomes a superhero in T-Mobile’s #DefeatDuopoly campaign video
Ever since John Legere took over the CEO position at T-Mobile, the wireless carrier began to really shake things up in the wireless industry. Legere has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself, and that’s apparent in T-Mobile’s new wireless spectrum campaign.
T-Mobile will be taking part in the gigantic 600MHz wireless spectrum auction next year, and by the looks of it, Verizon and AT&T will likely dominate the auction. This will in turn give the two carriers control over most of the low-frequency spectrum that the FCC is auctioning off, which arguably isn’t fair for the littler guys. This happened last year during the AWS-3 spectrum auction, as well.
T-Mobile’s goal is to get the FCC to reserve half of the spectrum for carriers who don’t own as much low-band spectrum, while AT&T and Verizon are lobbying for the Commission to keep the rules as they are. This is quite the daunting task for the Un-carrier, which is why T-Mobile has just launched its new #DefeatDuopoly campaign in hopes to get consumers on its side.
John Legere released a video on Twitter last night, which you can find here:
KA-POW!! That is the sound of us saving wireless competition! We need your help to #DefeatDuopoly! Watch this! https://t.co/R56ap3BZkW
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) June 23, 2015
The video portrays AT&T and Verizon as the “Duopoly”, and T-Mo’s John Legere as the superhero that swoops in to save the wireless industry. While it’s obviously meant to get consumers on board with the #DefeatDuopoly movement, there is a serious message behind it. If you agree with what T-Mobile has to say, Legere is asking you to tweet @FCC using the #DefeatDuopoly tag. The FCC is voting on the final rules for the big auction on Thursday, July 16th, so there’s still time to get your voice heard.
Lexus video teases a ‘real’ magnetic hoverboard
Yes, we know – it’s 2015, the year Marty jumped to in Back to the Future 2 and you still don’t have a hoverboard. Right on time, Lexus has presented the latest example from its “Amazing in Motion” series of video spectacles: the Lexus Hoverboard. As you can see in the video after the break, it certainly appears to hover, and smoke, but no one actually hops on the magnetically-levitating device for a ride. Gizmodo heard from the carmaker that this project has been in development over the last 18 months, but couldn’t get more specific info on how it works.
The website explains that it’s magnetic, with liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets, made with a Lexus grille and natural bamboo — but stops there. We’ve seen a $10,000 magnetic hoverboard before, but it required a special metal track to ride on, and this teaser appears to show the board on regular ground (Update: We got in touch with Lexus, and confirmed that like the other examples we’ve seen, there is a metal surface underneath the skate park shown here — it’s real, but you won’t be riding this thing just anywhere). That seems rather unlikely, but we’ll have to wait to find out more. Lexus says it will bring regular updates in the coming weeks about its “real, rideable hoverboard” but for now all we have is a teaser video to watch and speculate about.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/7zTCgMPZRuo?rel=0
Filed under: Transportation
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Lexus
Verizon finalizes AOL acquisition
Verizon and AOL announced their agreement for an acquisition only six weeks ago – an agreement that these joint companies today see finalized. As previously stated, Big Red is purchasing AOL at $50 per share, adding up to a grand total of $4.4 billion USD.
This is definitely one of the biggest acquisitions we have seen in the mobile industry in a while, and it is likely the most significant one Verizon has gone through in a long time. The real doubt here revolves around the carrier’s intentions behind purchasing a company like AOL. What is it they really want with this network of internet solutions and services?
You would be right to assume this acquisition has nothing to do with AOL’s once proliferous dial-up services, which managed to mark a generation (and did you know they still have about 2.1 million subscribers?!). How many of us haven’t at least heard that “You’ve got mail” notification? You would have to be pretty young. Regardless, the point here is that AOL has become an important presence online (as opposed to being an internet provider), and that is an ambition they definitely share with Verizon Communications.
Verizon Wireless has been much more than a cellular carrier lately. Remember this company is pretty much a business empire. They already own mobile communications in the USA, and their plan is to expand to every market possible. Hell, they are even joining the retailer game with their new Verizon Destination Stores, which expand far beyond mobile services and devices. The carrier is also a big player in home automation, mobile payments, smart accessories and even content creation/distribution. The last bit is likely the main reason why they would acquire a company like AOL.
AOL has control over a vast number of online services, including some popular blogs like Engadget, Tech Crunch The Huffington Post and, of course, AOL.com. The can leverage from such platforms, as well as AOL’s technology, which is less known, but Verizon plans to jump start.
Verizon knows the future is in mobile, and that is still their largest business. They do, after all, have over 100 million mobile subscribers in their pocket, so they figure they can make good business by catering to them directly, instead of offloading that weight to other companies.
“Verizon is a leader in mobile and OTT connected platforms, and the combination of Verizon and AOL creates a unique and scaled mobile and OTT media platform for creators, consumers and advertisers. The visions of Verizon and AOL are shared; the companies have existing successful partnerships, and we are excited to work with the team at Verizon to create the next generation of media through mobile and video.” -Tim Armstrong, AOL chairman and CEO
What does this even mean? Well, in fewer words it’s likely all about content distribution… probably video. Some of you will take this as more bloatware apps and services that will add up to your already expensive bill. We will have to see how it all works out, though. Maybe Verizon has something awesome up its sleeve. Let’s just hope their video services don’t count against our limited data bundles! Sadly, we are sure results won’t come to fruition soon and we will have to wait quite a bit of time to find out more.
As for Verizon’s ownership of leading technology journalism websites, we have to pay attention to how those will be affected, too. Will Editors have a certain pressure to publish, or say only content Verizon would see fit? Let’s hope they manage to keep at least most of their freedoms, but if they start getting weird you know Android Authority is always here with the most honest coverage around!
Tell us, guys. What do you think of this acquisition? Do you see something good coming to customers?
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Google’s urban tech lab is working on free, city-wide WiFi
When Google unveiled its urban improvement initiative, Sidewalk Labs, it left one big question: what was this new outfit actually working on? As of today, you should have a good idea. Sidewalk and a group of investors have bought and merged two key companies behind LinkNYC, an effort to offer free, public WiFi across New York City. The combined entity, Intersection, will extended LinkNYC’s internet-for-all technology to cities worldwide. Ideally, you’ll one day “walk down any street” and expect to get fast wireless data. That sounds more than a little ambitious, but it makes sense given Google’s sheer clout and desire for a ubiquitous internet. The easier it is for you to hop online, the easier it is for Google to serve up its money-making ads.
Filed under: Networking, Internet, Google
Via: Wired
Source: Sidewalk Labs
Deal: Grab a 32GB LTE Nexus 9 for just $380 from Expansys ($220 off)
Google’s Nexus 9 tablet is quite good, but the general consensus on the device is that it’s too expensive. When we’re talking around $400 for a tablet with just 16GB of storage and Wi-Fi-only connectivity, that can be a hard sell. And while the 32GB LTE-enabled variant may be a powerhouse, that will run you about $600 if you purchase it from the Google Store. If you’re interested in the tablet and have been waiting for the price to go down a bit, now may be your chance. Right now, you can purchase a 32GB LTE Nexus 9 tablet from Expansys for just $379.99, which is a massive $220 off the normal retail price.
Keep in mind that the tablet only comes in the Black color option and 32GB of storage if you spring for the LTE model. Expansys is throwing in free shipping with all orders, as well.
Don’t miss: Google Nexus 9 review
In case you need a refresher, the HTC-made Nexus 9 features an 8.9-inch display with a resolution of 1536 x 2048, Nvidia’s powerful Tegra K1 processor, 2GB of RAM, an 8MP rear-facing camera and a big 6700mAh battery. The tablet runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box, and will be one of the first devices to receive the update to Android M once Google officially releases it.
Expansys doesn’t mention if this is a promotion or if this is the new price for the tablet, so we’re not sure how long it will last. If you’re interested, head to the link below to pick one up for yourself.
Hulu discounting Showtime’s standalone streaming service for customers
Video streaming services are only as good as the television shows and movies offered. Customers want content and a lot of it. Companies like Netflix and Amazon spend aggressively to secure streaming rights for properties. Hulu, on the other hand, has always been in a strange position since it focuses heavily on television shows. Next month, Hulu’s catalog is set to grow as it will offer content from Showtime to subscribers for an additional, though discounted, fee.
Hulu and Showtime have agreed to a deal where the former will carry Showtime’s upcoming dedicated streaming service. Hulu customers will have access to Showtime’s original series, documentaries, sports programming, and movies without ever being redirected outside of Hulu’s apps. Showtime will even allow Hulu’s customers to stream both east and west coast feeds of its network live online.
Although Showtime is charging $11 per month for its service, Hulu customers will be able to subscribe for $9 per month. Getting content from both companies will set you back $17 per month.
The add-on will arrive prior to July 12, just in time for the premieres of Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex.
This July, get @SHO_Network through #hulu w/o a cable subscription. This changes everything: http://t.co/o4SMe9o6fj https://t.co/QU1FQfXhUI
— hulu (@hulu) June 23, 2015
Source: Hulu
Come comment on this article: Hulu discounting Showtime’s standalone streaming service for customers
Todoist on Android catches the Material Design bug
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Everyone has their own way of maintaining productivity. For me, I find Todoist to be an effective way of keeping on top of my daily and weekly tasks, and the Android app has just been updated to make this process even more beautiful. Todoist on Android has just been updated today with Material Design, the design philosophy that you can already experience in pretty well all Google core apps, and it’s added some life into the sometimes stale app.
According to Todoist, this is the list of changes arriving with this update:
- A complete Material redesign
- Color themes to fit any mood & personality
- Intelligent quick-add with natural date recognition
- Start & end dates!
- Turn a new task into a sub-task during quick-add
- Swipe to complete and schedule your tasks
- Add collaborators while creating a new project
- All-new app navigation
- Beautiful new tablet interface
It’s actually a pretty substantial overhaul to the app, much more than the average Material Design update which only adds a few animations to the app – I’m liking it so far, but we’ll see if it changes the experience at all. If you want to see what’s new, hit the Play Store link below:
What do you think about the Material Design update to Todoist on Android? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Todoist
The post Todoist on Android catches the Material Design bug appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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