What’s on your HDTV: ‘Sense8’, ‘The Wire’ Blu-ray, ‘Community’ finale
First up, for sports fans this week is all about the finals, whether NBA or NHL — it’s time to take the trophy home. Otherwise, the Wachowskis have a big week, with the release of Jupiter Ascending on Blu-ray, and the new series Sense8 hitting Netflix Friday morning. The remastered version of The Wire is available on Blu-ray, along with the final season of Justified. The season finale of Community on Yahoo is also available, and there are reports it will come back for another season. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLMKk4lSYoM-y4Oq-gGzwGvORDaydDe5eO
Blu-ray & Games & Streaming
- Jupiter Ascending (3D)
- Justified (Final Season)
- Focus
- Falling Skies (S4)
- McFarland, USA
- The Wire: The Complete Series
- Scarecrows
- The Spongebob Movie (3D)
- Heroes of the Storm (PC, Mac)
- Sparkle Unleashed (PS4, PS3)
- The Escapists (PS4)
- Wander (PS4, PC)
- The Swapper (Xbox One)
- D4 (PC)
Tuesday
- Community (season finale), Yahoo Screen, 3AM
- America’s Got Talent, NBC, 8PM
- Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, Fox, 8PM
- Pretty Little Liars (season premiere), ABC Family, 8PM
- Stitchers (series premiere), ABC Family, 9PM
- Deadliest Catch, Discovery, 9PM
- iZombie, CW, 9PM
- Royal Pains (season premiere), USA, 10PM
- I Can Do That, NBC, 10PM
- Finding Carter, MTV, 10PM
- Your Family or Mine, TBS, 10PM
- Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Inside Amy Schumer, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
- Inside Comedy, Showtime, 11PM
Wednesday
- NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 1, NBC, 8PM
- Melissa & Joey (summer premiere), ABC Family, 8PM
- Unsung: Ike Turner (season premiere), TV One, 8PM
- The Briefcase, CBS, 8PM
- Baby Daddy (summer premiere), ABC Family, 8:30PM
- 60 Minutes Sports, Showtime, 9PM
- Bullseye, Fox, 9PM
- The Ultimate Fighter, Fox Sports 1, 10PM
- Ripper Street, BBC America, 10PM
- Air Pressure, Discovery, 10PM
Thursday
- NBA Finals Game 1, ABC, 9PM
- Bones, Fox, 8PM
- WWE Smackdown, Syfy, 8PM
- Aquarius, NBC, 9PM
- Wayward Pines, Fox, 9PM
- Hannibal (season premiere), NBC, 10PM
- Lost Girl (summer finale), Syfy, 10PM
- Maron, IFC, 10PM
- The Comedians, FX, 10PM
- Olympus, Syfy, 11PM
- Between, Netflix, 11:30PM
- 3AM, Showtime, 12AM
- Major Lazer, FXX, 12AM
- Axe Cop, FXX, 12:15AM
Friday
- Sense8 (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- Cold Justice, TNT, 8PM
- Whose Line is it Anyway?, CW, 8PM
- One Direction – Were We Are:Live from San Siro Stadium, Showtime, 9PM
- Bitten, Syfy, 9PM
- The Messengers, CW, 9PM
- Bitten (season finale), Syfy, 11PM
- Vice, HBO, 11PM
- Comedy Bang! Bang!, IFC, 11PM
Saturday
- NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 2, NBC, 8PM
- Orphan Black, BBC America, 9PM
- Power (season premiere), Starz, 9PM
- Life Story (series premiere), Discovery, 9 & 10PM
Sunday
- NBA Finals Game 2, ABC, 8PM
- The 69th Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 8PM
- Game of Thrones, HBO, 9PM
- Nurse Jackie, Showtime, 9PM
- A.D. The Bible Continues, NBC, 9PM
- Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN, 9PM
- Happyish, Showtime, 9:30PM
- Golan the Insatiable, Fox, 9:30PM
- Halt and Catch Fire, AMC, 10PM
- Penny Dreadful, Showtime, 10PM
- Silicon Valley, HBO, 10PM
- Naked & Afraid, Discovery, 10PM
- American Odyssey, NBC, 10PM
- Salem, WGN, 10PM
- Veep, HBO, 10:30PM
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11PM
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
A Closer Look at the New App Settings Menu with Granular Permission Controls in Android M
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One of the most anticipated features in the latest and greatest version of Google’s popular smartphone OS, Android M, is granular app permission control. To the average user, this might be the equivalent of speaking a foreign language that does not compute, but for those who prefer to take a safer approach to mobile computing, this is a welcome addition that has been requested for some time now. For those unfamiliar, or even those interested in seeing how it works, let’s take a look at what’s new in the app settings menu in the first Developer Preview of Android M.
The first thing I noticed when looking in the new Settings > Apps menu: there is only one unified screen that has all of your installed apps. In the past, there was a tab for downloaded apps, running apps, and all apps. Now, everything is listed in one place making it easier to find what you’re looking for. In the top right-hand corner, there is a search button (for those of you who like to install tons of apps) and a hamburger menu that has advanced options, a setting to show or hide system apps, and an option to reset app preferences.
The advanced settings menu has the following submenus, which I’ll give you a brief rundown of below:
- Default Apps — Set your default browser, phone, and SMS apps; there’s also an Assist setting that lets the assist app see what you’ve done on your screen.
- App Links — Developers can add an “autoVerify” attribute to their app manifest to tell the operating system that there is no need to prompt the user for certain types of links. When users click on links that meet the criteria, it will bring them straight to the auto-verified app. In this setting field, users can toggle the option to open supported links without asking.
- App Permissions — This is a super handy new field that lists all the possible permissions an app might require of your devices, like your camera, location, and phone. Clicking on any one of these fields will bring up a list of every app installed on your device that uses a particular permission. This can be extremely useful for limiting access to an app from a developer that isn’t 100% trusted. After all, a rogue app with the access to the right app permissions could end up causing more than just a headache to the device owner.
- Ignore Optimizations — Android M features a pretty awesome new battery-saving tool, called Doze Mode. The ignore optimizations tab gives users the ability to select which apps they want to ignore these battery optimizations. By default, Google Play Services, Google Play Store, and Download Manager are all set to ignore, likely because they will not function properly if this option wasn’t selected.
- Memory — Another revamped screen, the memory tab shows each app, how often the app is running, and the amount of RAM each app is accountable for consuming. This can be particularly useful when tracking down rogue apps that chew through battery life and cause your device to perform slowly.
So, What are Granular App Permissions?
Granular app permissions allow the user to pick which permissions a given app has access to. This can be tested by selecting an app from the Settings > Apps menu. The menu here has also been revamped, now displaying the amount of storage the app is using, the amount of data the app has used, permissions, notifications, defaults, and battery consumption — virtually everything you could want to know about said app. Clicking the permissions button leads you to the list of permissions the app in question can use, along with toggle switches that allow you to turn on and off each permission. For example, the Android Wear app uses the following permissions:
- Contacts
- Phone
- Calendar
- Location
- Microphone
- SMS
Any of these permissions can be denied by the user, for any number of reasons. In the case of trusted apps, you won’t likely disable many permissions, but it’s always nice to be able to do so if the need arises. When it comes to apps from developers you are not familiar with, you can now at least test their apps with total control over which permissions these apps can and cannot access.
Pretty nifty, right?
The post A Closer Look at the New App Settings Menu with Granular Permission Controls in Android M appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks on Importance of Privacy, Encryption at Champions of Freedom Event
Apple CEO Tim Cook was honored at the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Champions of Freedom event in Washington yesterday, where he took the opportunity to give a speech covering Apple’s stance on privacy, the importance of guarding customer information, and the company’s views on encryption.
TechCrunch has shared details on both the event and Cook’s speech, calling him “characteristically passionate” about the topics he spoke on.
“Like many of you, we at Apple reject the idea that our customers should have to make tradeoffs between privacy and security,” Cook opened. “We can, and we must provide both in equal measure. We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy. The American people demands it, the constitution demands it, morality demands it.”
Cook highlighted Apple’s commitment to customer privacy while also lambasting other Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook for collecting customer data. “They’re gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it,” Cook said. “We think that’s wrong. And it’s not the kind of company that Apple wants to be.”
Image via TechCrunch
As he has done multiple times in past privacy-centric speeches, Cook reiterated Apple’s position as a company that gets its money from selling products and services, not the personal data of its companies. He also made a subtle jab at Google’s new Photos app, which offers free, unlimited photo storage.
“We believe the customer should be in control of their own information. You might like these so-called free services, but we don’t think they’re worth having your email, your search history and now even your family photos data mined and sold off for god knows what advertising purpose. And we think some day, customers will see this for what it is.”
On encryption, Cook said he believes it’s “incredibly dangerous” that some government agencies advocate for unfettered access to consumer data and devices, an issue that’s come to light following encryption changes that Apple introduced with iOS 8. As of iOS 8, Apple no longer stores device encryption keys, making it impossible for the company to bypass a passcode and provide consumer data at the government’s request.
According to Cook, weakening encryption with a “master key” for the government has a “chilling effect on our First Amendment rights and undermines our country’s founding principles.” He says Apple will continue moving forward with encryption and will focus on building products “that keep people’s information safe.”
More of what Cook had to say during yesterday’s speech can be found over at TechCrunch. The Verge has also shared details on the speech.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
SoundHound aims to take on Google Now with its new personal voice assistant
You’re probably familiar with SoundHound, the popular music recognition service that’s been available on Android, iOS and Windows Phone for a few years now. But it seems as though the company wants you to recognize its name for something a little different, because today SoundHound debuted a new personal voice assistant that aims to take on Google Now, Siri and Cortana at the same time. The new application is called Hound, and it’s currently available as an invite-only beta app.
Read more: Google Now on Tap demo at Google I/O 2015
Much like Google’s voice assistant that’s baked in to Android, activating SoundHound’s new app can be done by using the phrase “Okay, Hound”. As you can see from the video above, Hound has the ability to listen and respond to casually-phrased sentences, and deliver information in a card-based layout that will help you get your correct answer. Like we’ve seen in other voice assistants, Hound can give you information on the weather, directions, local searches, news, photos, web searches and of course, the power of the SoundHound app built right in.
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What makes Hound stand out, though, is its ability to respond to casual phrases and sentences. For example, when you say “What’s the weather like in Napa this weekend?”, Hound will pull up the weather forecast for Napa. When you follow up that question with “Show me Italian restaurants there that are open past 9pm”, Hound will understand that you’re still talking about Napa, and bring up the correct answer for you. This is the type of advanced voice recognition technology that Google unveiled a few years back, and it’s now interesting to see it make its way to yet another application.
To use the new service, you’ll need to head to this website to request an invitation, then follow the Google Play Store link below to download the app.
This news comes just days after Google announced that Android M will bring a new feature called Google Now on Tap. This will allow you to access the power of Google Now from within any application, bringing you relevant information without the need to exit your current app and open another one. Microsoft also just recently announced that it will soon bring its Cortana personal voice assistant to Android.
Do you think this could be a viable replacement for Google Now? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
T-Mobile extends Never Settle for Verizon campaign though late June
Originally set to end on May 31, the trial program now runs through June 27
T-Mobile has extended the window for its Never Settle for Verizon campaign for at least a few more weeks. The program allows for Verizon customers to try out T-Mobile’s service for a period of two weeks without any long term commitments.
Initially the promotion was set to expire on May 31 however it has now been pushed back to June 27. In fact, judging by the fine print, it appears the deadline was extended halfway trough May.
Verizon subscribers interested in testing T-Mobile’s network can port their phone number for the trial period. At the end of the window the customer has the option to port-out their number back to Verizon or stay with T-Mobile.
The Un-carrier, at that point will pay off any early termination fees and/or remaining equipment payments. The customer will be directed to turn in the Verizon phone and buy a new one from T-Mobile, pairing it with a Simple Choice plan.
The post T-Mobile extends Never Settle for Verizon campaign though late June appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Truecaller for Android now allows international blocking
As of today, the Truecaller caller ID app allows users to block specific series of numbers, regions, or even entire countries.
The company believes this will be a counter to “One Ring Scams,” a phishing trap that call centers commonly use.
Here’s a list of some of Truecaller’s other features:
- The spammer list is updated every day in order to protect users better
- Silencing unwanted calls
- Spammer reporting: this can be done from the call log or after calls
- An updated UI of the ‘Block’ section
The post Truecaller for Android now allows international blocking appeared first on AndroidGuys.
SoundHound takes on Siri and Google with new voice search app
While SoundHound hasn’t seen the tune-searching success as Shazam, the company behind it is taking a similar stance as the competition. Like Shazam’s recent addition of product queries, SoundHound is looking to tackle more than songs too, and it’ll do so with a new app called Hound. It’s more like Siri or Google Now (taking some design cues from the latter), handling searches for weather, directions, hotels, stocks and much more. And yes, the know-how from SoundHound is baked in as well, so you won’t have to wield two apps just in case you need to identify a track by humming.
There’s a voice search option that not only allows you to get specific (see above), but it’ll let you add a secondary set of criteria once you browse the initial results. All you have to do is say “OK Hound” and speak your search info — I wonder where they got that idea. Hound also handles spoken requests by allowing you to speak naturally, as it boasts “Speech-to-Meaning” abilities that recognizes language and not just words. Hound is currently in beta on Android with an iOS version set to join soon.
Senate passes USA Freedom Act, Sen. McConnell is not amused
For the first time since the 9/11 attacks, both houses of Congress have agreed to limit the government’s domestic surveillance powers. Earlier today, the Senate voted 67 to 32 and passed the USA Freedom Act, echoing the House’s vote in May. The bill is designed to counter the Patriot Act’s controversial section 215 — the bit that enabled the NSA to collect phone records en masse, request “roving wiretaps” and seize business files — just one day after the provision officially expired.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) had been lobbying hard to maintain the Patriot Act, even after the House passed the Freedom Act with broad bipartisan support. He then had to endure fellow Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) filibustering a reauthorization vote last week to ensure that the Patriot Act would expire before it could be reauthorized. What’s more, the Senate today also voted down McConnell’s three amendments for the Freedom Act. These provisions would have all but gutted the new legislation. They’d have required companies to inform the government six months heads-up if they want to keep call data for less than the requisite 18 months, delaying the Freedom Act’s implementation by six months and granting the secretive FISA courts full control over its own proceedings.
The USA Freedom Act says that the FISA court can’t sign off on a general warrant like that: the govt has to ask for *specific* information.
– Danny O’B (@mala) June 2, 2015
It should be noted however, that the passage of the Freedom Act will temporarily restart the Patriot’s phone data collection apparatus that expired on Sunday for at least six months while the NSA wraps up the program.
The EFF and ACLU both have hailed the decision as a partial victory for privacy. Per an ACLU statement:
The passage of the USA Freedom Act is a milestone. This is the most important surveillance reform bill since 1978, and its passage is an indication that Americans are no longer willing to give the intelligence agencies a blank check. It’s a testament to the significance of the Snowden disclosures and also to the hard work of many principled legislators on both sides of the aisle. Still, no one should mistake this bill for comprehensive reform. The bill leaves many of the government’s most intrusive and overbroad surveillance powers untouched, and it makes only very modest adjustments to disclosure and transparency requirements.
The USA Freedom Act bill now goes to the White House for President Obama’s signature. He has been rumbling for the past few weeks about the need to extend the Patriot Act. However he’s already said he would and it’s hard to imagine that he’d risk going against such a widely supported bill and potentially face an embarrassing veto override vote heading into his final year in office. So, for now at least, American’s phone records appear to be safer from the Feds’ prying eyes.
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
Filed under: Internet
Source: US Senate
BlackBerry Messenger for Android gets Material Design makeover
BlackBerry has updated their Messenger application for Android with several new features, the most notable of which is a full Material Design facelift. The app sticks to Google’s design guidelines and works and looks just like you’d expect a Google-made app to.
The new design isn’t the only thing that’s been introduced with this update, though. BBM also includes a handful of new features, including changes to private chats that make things a little more discrete (and automatically delete private chats after they’ve ended), new message editing tools, and a quick way to share updates right to your BBM feed.
The mobile messenger space is extremely competitive, so BlackBerry has to keep their Messenger updated enough to take on the likes of Hangouts, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, among other apps. This is definitely a good step, assuming you still know anyone that uses BBM.
source: BlackBerry
Come comment on this article: BlackBerry Messenger for Android gets Material Design makeover
SoundHound reveals a Powerful Assistant App-Hound
We all know SoundHound as a song identification service but today they announced the project called “Hound” on which they have been working for nearly a decade . Hound is voice-controlled assistant just like Google-Now but much more powerful than the latter.
Hound takes speed and accuracy to a whole new level by combining speech recognition and language understanding. This Speech-to-Meaning capability makes Hound the new way to search and do things faster without typing.
The app interface is fairly Material design which will attract users. Hound can do all the basic stuff that other personal-assistant can do like set alarm and reminder,navigate to particular direction. Along with this, it can be used for finding hotel that matches your detailed criteria and checking the stock market.
Hound is currently available in Beta and requires an invite to try out the app. In my opinion Hound is the hybrid of Google-Now and Siri. Considering that SoundHound is almost perfect in matching lyrics with the song, this is a good time for the company to try is hand in voice-recognition.
The post SoundHound reveals a Powerful Assistant App-Hound appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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