Beats 1 Worldwide 24/7 Live Radio With Zane Lowe Now Available
Following the launch of Apple Music alongside iOS 8.4, Apple’s Beats 1 radio station led by Zane Lowe has begun broadcasting. Available in more than 100 countries, Beats 1 is a 24/7 radio station that will play music around the clock with live DJs and guests.
The inaugural song played on Beats 1 radio right when it kicked off at 9:00 a.m. was Spring King’s “City,” which was followed by Beck’s “Dreams” and Jamie xx’s “In Color.” Spring King was picked by Lowe as a great upcoming band from Manchester.
Beats 1 features several shows by various on-air personalities, and a full lineup of what’s going to be on can be found at the Beats 1 website, which forwards to Apple’s new Tumblr page for Apple Music and Beats 1. The Tumblr page has a complete schedule that displays what’s playing, and it adjusts to your time zone based on location.
Beats 1 will include exclusive interviews and news broadcasts, with the first interview taking place tomorrow with Eminem. According to Zane Low, today’s focus is on the music, and several exclusive songs will be played over the course of the day.
Apple Music is available now and is free for all listeners for the first three months. Following the trial period, the service will cost $9.99 per month for individuals or $14.99 for families of up to 6.
Sprint offering $100 Best Buy One Family Plan as retailer exclusive
Sprint yesterday announced a new option for customers in need of family rate plan. Dubbed the Best Buy One Family plan it delivers two lines of service with unlimited talk, text, and data for smartphones at a rate of $100 per month. Those who want to add another line to the rate plan can do so at $40 each. Sprint will allow up to ten lines of service on an account.
Subscribers can also lease handsets via the Best Buy One Family plan for as low as $20 per month. In essence, two lines of service with equipment leasing would result in a $140 monthly cost.
“ With Sprint Lease, only available from Sprint, qualified customers pay zero out of pocket at lease signing for their smartphone. At the conclusion of the lease period, customers in good standing have several options, including returning the smartphone and leasing another device or purchasing it.“
As the name implies, the Best Buy One Family plan is only available through Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores.
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Last Chance: Blur Premium Lifetime Privacy Protection
Unless you’re a drug dealer or criminal mastermind, I’d imagine you value your phone number, e-mail address, and credit card information. Throughout the course of interacting in the online and physical world, you’re often pressed to fork over that information even when the recipient doesn’t always engender a lot of faith in you. There’s nothing like a creep-o encounter on Craigslist to make you question your faith in humanity.
What if you could pick and choose who you give your real phone number to and who you supply with a dummy number that routes to you? What if you could save your inbox from the bombardment of junk e-mails when signing up for a new service? Blur Premium Privacy Protection reinstates privacy in your life by doing all of this and more.
Blur creates temporary masked e-mail addresses, phone numbers and credit card details so you’re completely in charge of your personal information. Who doesn’t want to be invisible to hackers? Blur also helps you manage and organize your passwords with included encryption. Your login information can be stored on mobile and desktop for one-click access.
Meet a potential partner at the club and not sure if you’re ready to give them your direct line? Masked phone number. Traveling and uncomfortable with exposing your true credit card digits? Create a time/balance-managed alternative number (valid anywhere CC’s are accepted). A subscription to a private solution like Blur usually retails for $195 but AndroidGuys can claim lifetime security for just $49.99!
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Check out the new Meizu MX5 in this gorgeous launch video
Meizu dazzled the world today, revealing the MX5, the Chinese-based company’s new flagship for the year. The MX5 is beautifully designed, and under the hood it packs a punch.
The device features a 5.5-inch 1,920 x 1080 AMOLED display, a Helio X10 Turbo Octa-core CPU, a 20-megapixel rear camera, and the company is selling the device for a mere $300 off-contract.
Meizu isn’t highlighting the powerful hardware packed in the MX5, though. Design is a big thing for the Chinese manufacturer this time around, and it’s gorgeous. If you missed the launch event, be sure to check out the MX5 trailer below.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Come comment on this article: Check out the new Meizu MX5 in this gorgeous launch video
Google launches real-time traffic information for Maps in India
Google has today updated its official Maps for Android application in India. In terms of added functionality, this upgrade brings support for live traffic information in the following cities: Kolkata, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Indore, Ludhiana, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, Kochi, Madurai and Bhopal.
The service now has the facility to furnish users with traffic conditions for all national highways and expressways. However, users will need to opt-into this feature. Once enabled, a color key Traffic overlay will cover the map providing details on congestion levels for planned routes.
Here’s how it works:
“Green means there are no traffic delays on the road, orange indicates a medium amount of traffic and red alerts represent heavier traffic congestion.”
Google will use the real-time traffic information to estimate the time of arrival at your desired destination, and suggest alternative routes that are not as congested.
If you’d like to find out more, hit the source link below.
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: Google launches real-time traffic information for Maps in India
Sprint starts rolling out Android 5.1 update for the Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge
Sprint has finally started rolling out the much-anticipated Lollipop update to all its carrier-branded variants of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge located in the United States. As for the added functionality, this upgrade transports the latest build of the Android operating system to the handset, in addition to a truckload of bug fixes and stability improvements.
Hit the break for the full changelog.
- Material Design: You will quickly notice a whole new colorful look and feel to your device – from fluid animations to new application and system themes, colors and widgets.
- Notifications UI & Priorities: In order to alert you to the most timely and relevant information, the format and behavior of notifications have evolved:
- notifications will appear on the lock screen and are intelligently ranked by type and who sent them.
- you double-tap to open one, swipe left or right to clear one, or clear all notifications from the bottom of the list.
- you can set the priority and privacy of notifications for each application.
- very high priority notifications will pop up briefly over other applications so that you can take action.
- when you dismiss a notification on one device it will be dismissed on your other Android devices, if they are connected to the Internet.
- you can further tailor how notifications behave with the new Downtime and Ambient Display settings (see below).
- New Interruptions & Downtime Settings: You can tailor how interruptions behave, choosing to allow all, none, or only priority interruptions. You can personalize what counts as a priority interruption (reminders, events, calls, messages) and even tailor them to be from only contacts you specify. The Downtime setting will allow only priority interruptions during the times and days that you specify. e.g. allow only priority interruptions on the weekend.
- Recent Apps (Multi-tasking): The redesigned Overview space (formerly called Recents) will include both applications and separate activities within those applications. For instance, each open tab in Chrome will also appear here along with recent applications; both your Gmail Inbox and a draft email message will appear as separate cards. This provides a consistent way to switch amongst tasks.
- Flashlight: Lollipop includes a new flashlight option as part of Quick settings (swipe down with two fingers from the status bar to see it).
- Pin a view/app: Screen pinning allows you to keep a specific app or screen in view. For example, you can ‘pin’ a game and your child will not be able to navigate anywhere else on your phone.
- Battery: The Battery settings panel now shows an estimated projection for how much time you have left while discharging or charging. You can also enable a new battery saver mode that will save power by reducing performance and most background data operations to extend your battery life.
- Smarter Internet Connections: With Android Lollipop, your phone will not connect to a Wi-Fi access point unless there is a verified Internet connection. This feature improves hand-offs between Wi-Fi and cellular connections, helping to maintain your video chat or voice-over-IP (VoIP) call as you switch.
- Performance: Your phone now uses the new Android Runtime to help optimize application performance. After upgrading to Lollipop, your applications will undergo a one-time optimization process. Note that the optimization for ART requires more space.
- Security: Encryption can now use a stronger 256-bit key to help protect your data. Note that the stronger key willonly be used after you perform a factory reset on Android Lollipop. Otherwise encryption will continue to use 128-bit key. You can turn on encryption in the Security settings menu.
As is customary with all manufacturer updates, the upgrade is being rolled out in stages, but if you don’t feel like waiting for a notification confirming that it’s ready for your device to hit your unit, you could always search for the update manually. To do so simply follow the four steps below:
- Open the Settings app
- Scroll to the bottom and tap on “About Device”
- Hit “System Updates”
- Tap on “Check for update”
If you own a Sprint-branded Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, why not drop us a line in the comments section below to let us know when you receive/received the update?
Come comment on this article: Sprint starts rolling out Android 5.1 update for the Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G receives ₹2000 price cut in India
Earlier today, Xiaomi’s latest phablet, the Redmi Note 4G, received a significant price cut in India. The handset is now up for grabs from the manufacturer’s online portal for ₹7,999 ($126), which is ₹2000 ($31) less than its usual price of ₹9,999 ($157).
In terms of specifications, the Redmi Note 4G packs a 5.5-inch IPS display, a 1.6GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter and a 3,100mAh non-removable battery.
Straight out of the box, the device runs the latest build of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, but is instantly upgradable to KitKat via an over-the-air update. All you have to do is pop in your SIM and connect to a Wi-Fi network, then you’re be good to go.
If you’re based in India, like the sound of the Redmi Note 4G and want to pick one up for the reduced price — hit the source link below.
Source: Xiaomi
Come comment on this article: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G receives ₹2000 price cut in India
Galaxy S6 selling well in the US, but some analysts are disappointed
For a vast majority of mainstream consumers, the existence of the Galaxy S6 begins and ends with the sale: see it, buy it, and use it. For Samsung however, as well as those more vested or curious individuals around the world, the launch is only one part of a rather extensive timeline. Most important are numbers, particularly how many units are being sold (or shipped) and how much money the OEM is making in the process.
Last year Samsung’s Galaxy S5 faced quite a harrowing situation when compared with the superior sales of the Galaxy S4 before it. To say that all eyes were on the potential of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge would be an understatement. Fortunately it seems that, in the USA at least, the numbers are working in not only Samsung’s favor, but also Google’s.
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s chief of research, Carolina Milanesi, reported that, “the first full month of sales of the Galaxy S6 allowed Samsung to regain the market lead in the US and grow its share of Android sales from 52% in the three months ending in April to 55% for the three months ending in May.”
She further explained that, “Samsung’s share of the US smartphone market grew period-over-period, as the Galaxy S6 became the third best-selling smartphone in the US, after the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S5.Samsung’s year-over-year performance also improved, with its US market share now down only 0.5 percentage point compared to 1.6 percentage points in the three months ending in April.” Given the very lofty expectations of the pure-premium hardware redesign, these results shouldn’t come across as a big surprise, but will definitely allow Samsung a brief respite in the migraine-inducing game of numbers and returns.
As if this wasn’t enough, data also indicated that in the same period, Android market share in the USA increased by 2.8% to a total of 64.9%. However in five key markets in Europe, Android fell 2.9% of what it was during the same period last year. Suffice to say that with a clear dominance of the mobile OS market, Google is therefore the most likely to take a hit should any smaller competitors enter, or should Apple release a major product (as the iPhone 6 Plus certainly was for it).
Take a look at Kantar’s interactive data feature below for more details:
http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/smartphone-os-market-share/
Despite the positive news covered at Kantar, over in South Korea things weren’t quite as bright. Business Korea has reported that Samsung’s Galaxy S6 (as well as LG’s G4) have failed to meet the lofty sales expectations that various speculators and investors had hoped. Citing sources inside the securities industry, “Samsung…is expected to post 3.1 trillion (US$2.76 billion) to 3.4 trillion won (US$3.03 billion) in operating profit in the second quarter. The figure is up 22 percent from 2.74 trillion won (US$2.44 billion) of operating profits in the first quarter but down 24 percent from 4.421 trillion won (US$3.94 billion) in the second quarter last year.”
Consumer choice: Both the LG G4 and Galaxy S6 are fantastic phones, but according to Business Korea, neither have met sales expectations in South Korea.
While these numbers may seem impressive, they were initially expected to be much higher after expectations were for Samsung to sell 70 million handsets. Due to reports and indications of “poor” initial sales, the projections had to be cut down to 45 million units. It should be pointed out that for so many manufacturers around the world, sales talk of even 10 million units might be seen as incredible, yet here we have the possibility of Samsung’s only selling potentially 45 million devices as a disappointment. The paradoxical nature of this situation serves to illustrate how damaging the effects of speculators may be: If Samsung does in fact report sales that fall below expectations, it would follow that its share price may tumble. Yet, had the expectations been set at a far lower number, say 20 million units, stock market prices would have soared through the roof.
Unfortunately it’s impossible to look into future with the same clarity as it is to check components.
It is important, when reading reports such as these, to take them into consideration for what they are: reactions and reports based on rumors or beliefs that may-or-may-not come to pass. And indeed as we have already seen in countless instances before, the lofty goals are often not met for any number of reasons, including those above-and-beyond the manufacturer’s control.
Has Samsung done well here, or has it done poorly? Ultimately, it depends on what your own expectations are. In truth, the real test might be better in-line with those of the mainstream consumer alluded to earlier: if the phone is considered a good purchase and you’re satisfied with it, isn’t that the biggest success of them all?
The ‘father of SMS,’ Matti Makkonen, dies at 63
It’s a sad day in the cellphone world. Matti Makkonen, widely considered the “father of SMS,” has died from illness at the age of 63. The Finnish creator pitched the concept of text messaging over cellular networks in 1984 and helped get the ball rolling on the technology in its earliest days. He was quick to downplay his involvement and saw SMS as a “joint effort” between many people (Friedham Hillebrand developed the 160-character format in 1985, for example), but much of the initial credit belongs to him.
Suffice it to say that Makkonen’s work has spread far and wide. SMS is starting to decline as instant messaging apps take over, but it’s still ubiquitous — how many people do you know who would much rather get a text message than a phone call? Twitter’s roots are in SMS (hence that 140-character limit), and the tech is still considered vital for communication in areas where mobile internet access is too expensive, heavily censored or both. We’ll miss you, Matti.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia
Via: Wired.co.uk
Source: BBC
‘Loogun’ uses a water jet to make toilet cleaning less crappy
Not all of us can afford $6,000 for a self-cleaning toilet, so scrubbing one usually revolves around a yucky toilet brush. However, a product coming to Kickstarter may make the chore marginally more pleasant. Called Loogun, it’s like a big dental WaterPik for your toilet that cleans with a narrow stream of water. The cordless, handheld device has a reservoir you fill with fresh water from time to time, and runs on four AA batteries that last nine months. With a powerful stream, it can blast detritus from your bowl, even below water level, according to the team behind it. It’s also child-safe, since it won’t spray when it’s pointed up (and prevents toddlers from trying to snack on a regular toilet brush, of course).
We’d agree that a toilet brush is gross and unhygienic, but many (though certainly not all) folks may feel that £27 ($42) is a bit much for a fancy poo-cleaner. Also, we doubt it would be very effective on “baked in” crud that’s been there a while, especially given the smallish reservoir. Nevertheless, the patented device does look pretty slick, and is one of the few “crapgadgets” (sorry) we’d be willing to try. The Kickstarter page isn’t live yet, but the company will start taking pledges on Saturday, July 4th. If you’re interested, keep in mind the usual risks and downsides of that platform.
Filed under: Household
Source: Loogun
AIVAnet 