Google unveils new privacy and security management tools
Google unveiled major changes to its privacy and security management tools today. Users can now take an active approach to managing the data Google holds on them, in one centralized hub.
On the new “My Account” page, users can control their personal data settings. You can now manage experience-enhancing data used by apps like search, Maps and Youtube. Ads Settings lets you control ads so that only ads you’re interested in show up. You can also control which apps and sites you’ve given permission to connect with your Google account.
Go to myaccount.google.com to take a peek at the changes and start adjusting your settings.
If you’d like to check out your My Account page, head on over to myaccount.google.com. For more information about the changes and Google’s privacy policy in general, go to privacy.google.com.
Source: Google Blog
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Humble Mobile Bundle back for its 13th round
It’s time for another Humble Mobile Bundle! For it’s 13th round, the guys at Humble Bundle are offering six games for a small donation to charity, with more titles to be added come June 8.
If you pay what you want, you’ll get Timelines: Assault on America (Premium), The Ministry of Silly Walks, and Hellraid: The Escape. If you pay above the average, Puzzle Retreat Complete, Worms 3, and Twisty Hollow will be added in with the package.
Keep in mind that if you pay for the bundle now, you should have access to the extra titles immediately after Humble Bundle announces them on June 8.
You know what to do. Head on over to the Humble Bundle website to donate!
HUMBLE BUNDLE LAUNCHES NEW MOBILE GAMES BUNDLE
Humble Mobile Bundle 13 features Worms 3, Puzzle Retreat Complete, Twisty Hollow, and more
San Francisco, Calif. – June 1, 2015 – Humble Bundle’s thirteenth entry in its flagship mobile bundle kicks off today, featuring a multitude titles by some of today’s leading developers including The Voxel Agents, Team 17 Digital Limited, Arkadium Games, Strategy First, Boondoggle Studios, and Shortbreak Studios s.c.
Customers can pay what they want for Timelines: Assault on America (Premium), The Ministry of Silly Walks, and Hellraid: The Escape.
Those who pay more than the average price will also receive Puzzle Retreat Complete, Worms 3, and Twisty Hollow.
Additional titles will be unveiled mid-promotion on June 8, increasing the bundle’s value even more.
To see the full bundle, head to: https://www.humblebundle.com/mobile
As with all Humble Bundles, customers can choose how their purchase dollars are allocated, between the publisher, charity and a Humble tip. The Humble Mobile Bundle 13 supports two charitable causes — Electronic Frontier Foundation and Worldreader.
The Humble Mobile Bundle 13 runs for two weeks and ends Monday, June 15, 2015 at 11 a.m. Pacific time.
About Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle organizes pay-what-you-want plus charity promotions for awesome digital content and puts the power directly in the hands of the consumers, offering them fully-featured titles at prices they set themselves. Consumers pay what they want and decide how to allocate their money between content creators, charity, and a humble tip. Humble Bundle also offers the Humble Store, a digital storefront that features great games at great prices with a portion of sales going to select charities. Since the company’s launch in 2010, Humble Bundle has helped empower its community to allocate more than $55 million toward charity to date. For more information, please visit https://www.humblebundle.com
About Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. We work to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows. https://www.eff.org/
About Worldreader
Worldreader is on a mission to bring digital books to every child and her family, so that they can improve their lives. Literacy is transformative: it increases earning potential, decreases inequality, improves health outcomes and breaks the cycle of poverty. Yet there are 740 million illiterate people in this world and 250 million children of primary school age who lack basic reading and writing skills. Books are necessary for the development of these skills, and still 50% of schools in Africa have few or no books at all (SACMEQ II).
Come comment on this article: Humble Mobile Bundle back for its 13th round
Project ARA director Paul Eremenko leaving ATAP team after two years
Google’s ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) is known today for the Project ARA modular phone among many other endeavors — but today the division isn’t making news for a particular product update, but because of staff changes.
Paul Eremenko, former director of Project ARA, is moving on to join Airbus Group in Silicon Valley, one of the world’s leading aerospace and defense companies. As is common practice with some positions within Google, the ATAP project director position has a limited contract of two years in order to ensure quality and risk taking. Thus, Eremenko will leave the team.
For a full list of people who will now take over at ATAP and Ara, hit the source link.
Source: ATAP+
Come comment on this article: Project ARA director Paul Eremenko leaving ATAP team after two years
Apple Shifts to Editorially Curated Lists on App Store
Apple has quietly changed the way it promotes new and popular apps on the App Store, shifting from algorithmically generated lists to editorially curated content last month. TechCrunch reports that the “Games” section, for example, no longer has “New,” “What’s Hot,” or “All iPhone (Free & Paid)” categories, which have been replaced with editor curated lists such as “Best New Games” and “More Games You Might Like,” the latter based on a customer’s purchase history.
“What’s also notable about the changes is that this represents the first time the Games’ subcategory pages (e.g., Action, Adventure, Racing, Trivia, etc.) have included editorially created lists,” reports TechCrunch. “These pages now have their own banner art at the top as well in order to better highlight the best new games within those sections. Within each subcategory page, consumers can browse editorial collections including ‘Best New Games,’ ‘All-Time Greats,’ ‘Free,’ and ‘Pay Once & Play.’”
The move towards editorial curation was expected given the multiple job listings that Apple has posted for App Store and iTunes editors in recent months, including one specifically for the games section.
“This position is responsible for the discovery, selection, and promotion of games on the Apple App Stores. Working under the direction of the Editorial Manager for Games, they are tasked with ensuring all games selected for promotion are played and scrutinized to the highest level of standards,” the job description for an “Editor, Games, App Store” position posted in late April reads.
The report claims that some app developers have seen between 30% to 90% fewer organic app downloads since the changes were made, although the move away from automatically generated app lists is not expected to negatively impact most developers. In fact, editorial curation should benefit developers with truly useful apps gain some well-deserved exposure on the App Store, rather than clone or rip-off apps that sometimes slipped through Apple’s old automated process.
Following the surging popularity and subsequent removal of Flappy Bird from the App Store a few years ago, for example, a number of developers were quick to release copycat versions of the app with similar app icons, titles, graphics and gameplay. At any given time, at least a few of those apps were often undeservingly featured under the algorithmically generated lists on the App Store such as “New” or “What’s Hot” based on total downloads and other factors.
There are over 1,400,000 apps available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod.
Apple Preparing Retail Employees for June In-Store Apple Watch Launch
During Apple’s most recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook announced plans to begin carrying the Apple Watch in the company’s retail stores in late June. Now that we’ve entered the first week of that month, Apple has begun preparing its retail employees for the in-store launch of the Apple Watch.
In a video message sent to retail employees, the contents of which were shared by 9to5Mac, retail chief Angela Ahrendts told employees that they need to be “above and beyond ready” for the launch. Apple’s VP of retail operations Jim Bean also detailed an upcoming “Reserve and Pickup” feature.
Reserve and Pickup will let customers check the Apple Online Store each day at 8:00 a.m. local time to see if a nearby store has their desired Apple Watch model in stock. If it’s available, customers will be able to reserve the Apple Watch and choose a time to pick it up. Customers will also be able to make reservations for Apple Watch models that are not yet in stock.
“This is our moment to shine, this will be a launch unlike any we’ve ever had before… this is what you were born to do, this is why you are at Apple,” Ahrendts told employees hoping to encourage them to re-review the Apple Watch training materials. Apple is also encouraging employees to discuss the benefits of Apple Pay with customers, which is a core Apple Watch feature.
In addition to preparing Apple employees for in-store Apple Watch sales, Apple has also notified them that customers are now able to try Apple Watch demo units paired to an iPhone in store. Prior to now, Apple Watches have been in a demo loop or attached to tables and unable to pair with iPhones.
Since its launch on April 24, the Apple Watch has been available from Apple solely online. Apple has, however, made limited numbers of the Apple Watch available to customers through third-party boutiques, such as Maxfield in Los Angeles. According to retail chief Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s efforts to keep sales online have been done due to supply constraints and to provide customers with the best possible Apple Watch buying experience.
The Apple Watch continues to be in short supply, but shipping times for many models have greatly improved since launch. Some models of the Apple Watch Sport and stainless steel Apple Watch are now shipping within a week in the United States.
URGE 6000mAh Power Bank, 70% off
Looking to add some portable power to your daily carry without bogging yourself down with heavy accessories? Regularly going for fifty bucks, this 6000mAh power bank from URGE has dual-usb ports, built in flashlight and a lightweight and convenient form factor for just $14.99!
See more at deals.androidguys.com
The post URGE 6000mAh Power Bank, 70% off appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung refutes recent claims that the Galaxy S6 isn’t selling well
Despite the much-improved build quality on the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, there have been a few rumors floating around the web stating that sales of the handsets thus far have been a disaster for the company, and that its mobile business is “imploding”. According to investment banking firm Oppenheimer, the poor sales are largely due to the fact that most of the improvements made this time around are solely based on hardware, and that Samsung’s software has barely seen any improvements.
In a letter to its clients, the banking firm explained:
When we look at Samsung’s flagship in 2015, the Galaxy S6 Edge, almost all of its differentiators fall back to hardware: a cutting-edge CPU, curved display, iPhone-like metal casing, front area fingerprint sensor, and camera with OIS. At the same time, we see little improvement in Samsung’s software user experience, and no value-added to existing Samsung users who are on prior generations of devices.
As evidence of this claim, Oppenheimer points out that Samsung sold roughly 10 million Galaxy S6 units in about one month’s time, compared to the 11 million Galaxy S5 units the company sold within the same timeframe last year.
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Whether these rumors that the Galaxy S6’s numbers are devastating to the company are true or not, Samsung still found it necessary to refute the claims. According to The Korea Times, an unnamed Samsung executive said in an interview that the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are both selling very well. The exec explains:
Sales of the S6 and S6 Edge are meeting our internal target. S6 sales will clearly be higher than those of the S5. Samsung will aggressively promote sales in our target markets… You have to wait and see; however, the S6 and S6 Edge sales will be far higher than those of the S5.
Although the Galaxy S5 may have seen better initial sales than the S6, the company reportedly sold 40% fewer Galaxy S5 units than it anticipated. The Samsung employee added that roughly 305,000 GS6 units were being sold daily, which is much better than the S5 and S4’s 124,000 and 241,000 per day, respectively.
While Samsung’s claims seem genuine, we’ll have to wait until the company releases its next financial report before we make anymore assumptions.
Best for 4G: Galaxy S6 v Huawei P8 v LG G4
I often get asked which handset has the best network performance and reliability and usually the answer is Samsung, as for many years now the company has had by far the fastest LTE speeds on mobile devices.
With the change in build from plastic to metal and glass on the Galaxy S6 however, the company was faced with having to redesign its network antennae, so is the performance as good as past Samsung devices? How does it compare to the plastic-clad LG G4 and the metal-built Huawei P8, which comes with Huawei’s own extensive knowledge of mobile networks.
Which of these has the most reliable network connection, including call success rate, antenna strength and 4G Speed Tests? Let’s find out:
N.B. All handsets were tested using the same network – EE, which supports speeds of up to 300Mbps in the London area – and at the exact same time. The results below are based on a sample of 52 tests in 11 different areas spanning a distance of 170 miles.
Network Switch Rate
One problem with most current LTE networks is that VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) isn’t supported in large parts of the network, meaning handsets need to switch down to a 3G connection when attempting to make a call while connected to an LTE connection. Often, the time taken to locate and switch to a 3G network can result in a dropped call; both, when making a call or receiving a call.
The purpose of this section was to test the handset’s ability to switch from LTE to 2G/3G and vice versa, while also determining which handset remained connected to the fastest network for longest. During our testing, we found the following:
| Galaxy S6 | LG G4 | Huawei P8 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Time taken to switch to fastest network | 1 minute 48 seconds | 52 seconds | 41 seconds |
| Number of dropped calls when connected to LTE | 21 dropped calls | 11 dropped calls | 6 dropped calls |
| Time connected to fastest network | 49 seconds | 1 minute 3 seconds | 2 minutes 9 seconds |
The network switch rate on the Galaxy S6 is certainly surprising given that past Samsung devices – albeit they were made of plastic – would usually latch onto the best network. The LG G4 certainly performs well but Huawei’s network coverage shone through in testing, with the Huawei P8 switching the fastest and remaining connected to the best network for longest.
Antenna Strength
This section tests how strong the antennae performance on each smartphone actually is. To test the antenna strength, we used the figures reported in the Settings > About Phone > Status screen. A signal rating of -60 dBm is recognised as near perfect while anything above -110 dBm is considered call-dropping quality.
Our testing shows that:
| Galaxy S6 | LG G4 | Huawei P8 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average antenna strength | -91 dBm | -74 dBm | -62 dBm |
| Ratio of average connection (3G:LTE) | 4:1 | 1:5 | 1:8 |
| Occurrences of zero signal (out of 52 tests) | 13 | 3 | 3 |
The Galaxy S6 again fails to excite here, with the handset often not even connecting to LTE. Considering that this particular unit may have been faulty, we decided to test with an alternate handset and found similar levels of performance: the second Galaxy S6 was on average 6 dBm better than the first handset and not enough to warrant the first unit as faulty.
The LG G4 again performs relatively well, with a relatively strong network antenna, but the Huawei P8 is again the best (and this time, by far).
LTE Speed Tests
Now to the final section and probably the most interesting: superfast LTE speeds. This was a simple test to conduct; each handset was using the latest version of Ookla’s SpeedTest application and was connected to 4G.
Our testing found:
| Galaxy S6 | LG G4 | Huawei P8 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average speed test: download | 50.03 Mbps | 53.37 Mbps | 58.31 Mbps |
| Average speed test: upload | 15.69 Mbps | 18.38 Mbps | 20.04 Mbps |
| Fastest LTE speed recorded: | 78.39 Mbps | 88.46 Mbps | 91.44 Mbps |
The results were very surprising, given that the Ascend P7 was slower than both the LG G3 and the Galaxy S5. The G4 is better than the G3 thanks to the addition of Cat 6 support and the Huawei P8 is a marked improvement over the Ascend P7, with Huawei’s network knowledge really shining through thanks to the dual antenna system.
The Galaxy S6 tests showed that the handset is significantly slower than the Note 4 and Galaxy S5, despite the newer internal hardware and LTE Cat 6 support (which the Galaxy Note 4 also has). The Galaxy S6 also failed to latch onto 4G+ (Cat 6) – which offers downloads speeds of up to 300Mbps – and was instead limited to Cat 4, which offers a maximum download speed of 150Mbps.
Conclusion
Looking at all the tests and the various results, I think it’s safe to say that the Huawei P8 is the best handset for LTE, while the LG G4 comes second and the Galaxy S6 is significantly further back. Samsung’s adoption of metal and glass certainly worked for most parts of the handset but the network antenna seems to have suffered as a result of the switch, which could be expected given the problems others have had with metal builds.
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With the G4, LG have made the antenna stronger than the G3 and the result is much better performance overall. The G4 is certainly impressive in holding onto a network connection and with Cat 6 support, the maximum download speeds have also vastly improved. The dual antenna system on the Huawei P8 clearly prevents any antenna-gate issues – where holding the handset the wrong way can affect your signal – and the handset can intelligently switch between the two antennae, depending upon which is the strongest.
Now read the reviews:
Huawei P8 Review
LG G4 Review
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Review
Samsung Galaxy S6 Review
What do you think? Is LTE performance and network resilience important to you? Let us know your views in the comments guys!
HBO Go, Vimeo, Twitch and many more apps will soon make their way to Android TV
Android TV has seen some big advancements since its launch at Google I/O 2014. While a number of major hardware manufacturers have partnered with Google to bring the platform to more devices, the number of Android TV-specific applications is still relatively scarce compared to the competition. But that might change soon, according to a recent announcement post from Nvidia.
Included in its Shield Android TV announcement post, Nvidia made reference to a few new applications that will soon make their way to the platform, including HBO Go, Twitch, Vimeo, CBS News, USA Today and many more. Many of these apps have had cast functionality for some time, but so far they have been unavailable for download on the Android TV platform.
Here’s the full list of new apps we can expect to see on Android TV soon:
- HBO Now
- HBO Go
- CBS News
- CBS Sports
- Fox Sports
- FX Now
- Fox Now
- Fox News
- EPIX
- WWE
- UFC
- USA Today
- Vimeo
- Qello
- Vudu
- Twitch
To be clear, no dates were given as to when we can expect these apps to land on Android TV. We’ll be sure to update you as we learn more. This news comes after Google’s recent announcement that HBO Now would soon make its way to the Google Play Store, a service that has been exclusive to Apple up until this point.
Welcome to Public Access: Community storytelling at its weirdest
Before YouTube, before Twitter, before Lil Bub and The Dress, there was the localized meme generator known as public-access television. As an alternative to commercial broadcasting, public access gave voice to local communities, fostering often bizarre, sometimes thought-provoking outpourings of DIY creativity.
It’s in the spirit of that great social melting pot that Engadget invites you to embark on a new journey in community storytelling. With the launch of Public Access, we’re giving you the tools to publish your opinions, experiences and discussions alongside those of Engadget’s editors and some of tech’s brightest minds. This is your chance to have your voice heard by millions of humans like you, and maybe…
… a few like this guy.
Beginning today, you can apply for an account, create a profile page and start telling us about your 21st century experience through a version of Engadget’s content-management system (aka AMP). Your bio, stories and discussions will all live on your profile page. If we like what you have to say, we’ll promote your work on the Public Access home page (launching soon), where we’ll surface the best stories, discussions and reviews from our editors and the Public Access community.
And because writer’s block is a very real thing, we’ll be giving you optional “assignments” each week to help get the creativity flowing (e.g., a list of the best AI films of all time, an essay on your post-apocalyptic fallout plan or a haiku about your ISP). Every Monday, we’ll send out a weekly digest of the best stories from the week prior, suggested assignments for the week ahead and a letter from our editors.
What about the forums, yo?
As many of you are already aware, Public Access isn’t Engadget’s first community initiative. Over the past 10 years, we’ve engaged with y’all in person and online through events, comments, forums and user reviews. While we love the conversations many of you have created through our forums, however, today marks the end of that section of our site. In an effort to consolidate our community experience, we’ll be shutting down the forums and encouraging discussion through comments on Public Access posts. If you have a question or want to start a conversation around a particular subject, just write a new post, share it through your social channels and follow the comments thread like you would on any other Engadget post.
For the time being, you’ll still need to sign in to Livefyre to comment on both Engadget and Public Access posts and for those of you who want to write a user review, you’ll have to do that through yet another account. We know having three different accounts to interact with one site is a major pain in the ass and Public Access is the first step in remedying that. In the coming months, we’ll be unifying all of these accounts to make dialogue between Engadget and our users as seamless and as streamlined as possible.
So bear with us, and in the meantime, let’s keep the weird and wonderful spirit of Public Access alive. Apply now!
[Photo credit: Ekkamai Chaikanta / Shutterstock]
Filed under: Announcements
AIVAnet 