Layze Phone Holder
Have you ever felt that you just couldn’t get your phone in an ideal position? Trying to do a bit of reading could give anyone a stiff neck and you can just forget about trying to cook from a recipe without bathing your device in Marsala sauce. Sure arms and hands can do the job but then fatigue starts setting in and, really, who wants to use limbs when you’ve got technology? The Layze Phone Holder is here to satisfy all of your phone placement concerns and bring us one step closer to the future we caught a glimpse of in WALL-E.
The Layze Phone Holder requires no tools for installation and is immediately usable thanks to its bendable design. Fully adjustable with 360 degree rotation & tilt, selfies, snapchat and FaceTime are a breeze. As useful in the car as in home, Layze is built to last with durability in mind. For just $24.99,you can lay claim to yours, today!
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5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
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Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines for this week:
- First up this week, it’s been announced that Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, will be killing off support for another one of their games called Scrolls. Reports are that you can still play the game through June 2016, but that’s one less game in the Mojang library.
- CyanogenMod has been teasing a new browser called Gello. This is based on Chromium like many others but this one includes some fun customization features like site-by-site privacy settings. There is no ETA for release yet but this looks like it could be pretty good.
- Recently, an application was taken down and the developer was sued by the FTC. The reason was because the app was designed to mine Dogecoins when not in use. This not only makes devices slow with terrible battery life, but it’s also illegal in the United States. They settled for just shy of $50,000.
- Google Photos saw some controversy this week after the app mistakenly tagged black people as gorillas. As you can imagine, this is not good news and people are understandably upset. The developers have issues apologies and have removed gorillas from the database until a permanent fix can be worked out.
- Select theaters will be having way more fun with the upcoming terminator release than others. It’s been announced that some theaters will let people play a Terminator Genisys game on the theater screen before the movie shows. This is really cool and it should happen more often.
For even more Android apps and games news, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. There we’ll have the complete list of headlines, updates, and new releases that we didn’t have time for here. If you’re so inclined, you can subscribe with your email address and have this info sent directly to your inbox every Friday!
Check out our Android Apps Weekly newsletter!
Pushbullet
[Price: Free]
Normally we don’t include app updates here but Pushbullet has one so big that we want to talk about it. A recent update has not only cleaned up the user interface a whole bunch, but it’s also added full messaging support. Other improvements include better pushing between devices and your regular bug fixes and performance improvements. If you want a one-stop shop for connecting your computer to your Android device, Pushbullet seems to be the way to go.
Yahoo Aviate Launcher
[Price: Free]
Yahoo’s Aviate Launcher is another app that got a huge update this last week that’s worth talking about. The app now includes a new feature called Smart Stream. This is kind of like a competitor to Google Now. It keeps an eye on the stuff you do on your device and then tries to compile a feed of stuff that you might be interested in. This also includes weather data, directions, and it’ll even pull your music app to the front if you plug speakers in.
Geometry Wars 3
[Price: $4.99]
Geometry Wars 3 was released to the Google Play Store this last week to positive reviews. The game features a glorious display of colors and fast paced game play. It includes over 50 levels including classic arcade levels, 10 battle modes, and multiple control set ups. It’s $4.99 but there are no in-app purchases and the game currently has over 500 positive reviews versus 16 negative reviews. This one’s a no brainer for those looking for a time killer.
Vainglory
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Vainglory is a hotly anticipated MOBA that released on Android just yesterday. It features a League of Legends-style pay scheme where you can play as much as you want for free but some of the more specialized items and characters may cost a couple of bucks. It features long game matches, customizable hero builds, and all of the awesome stuff that you’d expect in a MOBA. Do be warned, this game packs a serious punch so low end devices may not handle it well.
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
[Price: $7.99]
Half-Life 2: Episode 2 was released on Android but there is some bad news. It’s only available for the Nvidia Shield Tablet and Nvidia Shield’s Android TV device. If you’ve never played the Half-Life series before, you’ll probably need to at least play Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 to know what’s going on. This, however, is a console level game with great graphics, a good story, and plenty of things for you to shoot. It’s $7.99 with no in-app purchases.
Wrap up
If we missed any great Android apps and games news this week, let us know in the comments! Thanks for reading and watching. See you next week.
Here’s why your favorite subreddits are unavailable
Sad to say your Fourth of July weekend Redditing might not be as smooth as you’d hoped. A number of major subreddit mods have set their domains to private after news broke out that one of the website’s employees, Victoria Taylor, has abruptly been let go. If you’re wondering why people would be up in arms over one employee, then you likely haven’t read any big celebrity Ask Me Anything (AMA) posts for a while. Officially, she’s the company’s Director of Communications, but within the community, she’s known as “chooter” — the woman with fingers as quick as lightning who made most AMAs enjoyable.
The first sub to go dark was /r/IAMA. One of its mods, a user called “karmanaut,” explained that they had no choice, because they have to rethink how AMAs are conducted now that Victoria is gone:
The admins didn’t realize how much we rely on Victoria. Part of it is proof, of course: we know it’s legitimate when she’s sitting right there next to the person and can make them provide proof. We’ve had situations where agents or others have tried to do an AMA as their client, and Victoria shut that shit down immediately. We can’t do that anymore.
Part of it is also that Victoria is an essential lifeline of communication. When something goes wrong in an AMA, we can call and get it fixed immediately. Otherwise, we have to resort to desperately try messaging the person via Reddit…Part of it is also organization. The vast majority of scheduling requests go through her and she ensures that we have all of the standard information that we need ahead of time (date, time, proof, description, etc.) and makes it easier for the teams that set up AMAs on both ends. She ensures that things will go well and that the person understands what /r/IAMA is and what is expected of them. Without her filling this role, we will be utterly overwhelmed.
Other subreddits followed in solidarity, as you can see in this list. The biggest ones there are /r/askreddit, /r/gaming, /r/pics and /r/science, though some entries in the list have already lifted the restrictions they placed earlier.
Neither Miss Taylor nor Reddit has offered any clarification on what happened behind the scenes, but some people speculate that she took the fall for that disastrous Rev. Jesse Jackson AMA. Others think she might have been the victim of a budget cut, while there are those who think she was fired because she lives in New York. Former CEO Yishan Wong admitted last year that the company wanted all its employees to relocate to San Francisco. During her time as the AMA section’s czar, she helped set up sessions with and/or transcribed for Elijah Wood, Marilyn Manson, Chris Pratt, Robin Williams, Bill Gates and even the POTUS, just to name a few.
[Image credit: Veronica Belmont/Flickr]
Filed under: Misc
Source: Gilgamesh- (Reddit)
‘iPhone 6s’ Logic Board Suggests 16GB Base Model and Updated NFC Hardware
New images of the logic board from the next-generation “iPhone 6s” have been obtained by 9to5Mac, a few days after the site shared photos from an unnamed source which showed that a new, updated Qualcomm LTE chip could be in store for the iPhone this year. Today’s images suggest that, on top of the Qualcomm chip’s faster LTE speeds and increased energy efficiency, the iPhone 6s will include fewer chips that are collectively more efficient, updated NFC hardware for Apple Pay, and likely the same 16GB entry-level capacity seen on current iPhones.
The Toshiba flash memory chip shown in the photos has a 16GB capacity based on the “G7″ in the part number, and was built using a 19nm production process. This suggests that the new line of iPhones this year will once again offer a starting storage option of 16GB, likely supplemented with the same 64GB and 128GB options at higher price points seen currently.
While many have complained 16GB is not enough entry-level storage as HD video and space-hungry apps have proliferated, recently Apple SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller claimed the company’s cloud-focused services, like the just-launched Apple Music, help alleviate some of the storage stresses on low-end storage configurations. Other changes with iOS 9 such as smaller iOS update sizes and app thinning to load only the app assets needed for a particular device, will also help trim down storage needs.
On the NFC side of the new iPhone, the new chip inside the iPhone 6s is again from NXP but with a new 66VP2 part number compared to the 65V10 part in the iPhone 6. Chip teardown experts at Chipworks were unclear, however, exactly what kind of improvements such a chip will bring to the new line of smartphones, although they posit it could be eliminating the need for a separate secure element processor altogether and folding the two into one chip.
Echoing earlier rumors, today’s images suggest once again that the iPhone 6s will remain identical in look and shape to its predecessor, as seen in a case maker’s design drawings and logical for the continuation of the “S” generation trend. Any changes in dimensions would be negligible, leaving the device compatible with nearly all existing iPhone 6 cases and accessories.
Best Twitter app alternatives [2015]
Twitter has a good Android app and it’s getting better after every new update. In fact, they’ve been focusing on the user interface and experience over advertising as of late. The native Twitter app, however, just doesn’t fit some users’ styles.
There is an arsenal of third-party Twitter replacements out there, and some of them are actually really wonderful. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Falcon Pro 3
If you’re not a fan of Twitter’s own mobile app, Falcon Pro 3 is probably the next best option for browsing your timeline and managing multiple Twitter accounts. In my testing, it’s faster than the normal Twitter app, it’s gorgeous, and it’s smooth as butter. Spending just a bit of money will return you some of Falcon Pro 3’s premium features that only enhance the overall experience.
Plume
Plume for Twitter is another excellent third-party solution, brought to you by the developers who created Beautiful Widgets. It’s highly customizable and has a lot of features, such as an internal browser, a lockscreen widget, in-app live streaming, geotagging, and much more. Of course, one of the best aspects of the app is that the developers remain on top of bug fixes and consistent improvements to performance. You will never have to worry about Plume growing old.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is another excellent solution as a Twitter replacement, but it’s much more than that. You can easily manage multiple social media accounts, whether it be Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. One of Hootsuite’s best features is the ability to manage and schedule posts, which is helpful for those that are on the go and still have a business or social media account to run. The app is free up to three social media networks. If you need more, there are in-app products to meet your social media needs.
Talon
As far as features go, Talon falls short compared to Falcon Pro 3, Plume, or Hootsuite. What it does have, though, at its core is customization, a beautiful design, gorgeous animations, and great performance. Not only that, but it’s one of the few Twitter apps to feature Google’s Material Design guidelines. Talon supports up to two Twitter accounts, has live steaming support, an excellent notification system, and much more. Really, this is one gorgeous Twitter app alternative.
Fenix
Fenix for Twitter is unique in that it provides an excellent tablet experience. It has all of the usual flavors you’ll find in Twitter apps–support for multiple accounts, themes, internal browser, and more. And its tablet layout is out of this world. It compiles your timeline into gorgeous card-like chunks, allowing for easy readability. If you’re one to come home from work, sit back in the recliner, and scan through your social media feeds on your tablet, Fenix is a great solution.
Tweetings
Tweetings is another great Twitter alternative, especially in terms of design. Tweetings offers an expansive theme engine, allowing users to pick from thirty-two different Material Design options. There are sixteen dark and sixteen light themes to choose from the app even includes options to create your own themes. As far as features go, you get a gorgeous Google Now-like UI with cards, support for multiple Twitter accounts, excellent navigation, and beautiful widgets.
Twidere
Twidere is better than the native Twitter app in many ways. It’s a powerful alternative featuring Google’s Material Design outlines and offers both dark and light themes, along with color theme support. It has the many features you’d expect in a Twitter alternative–multiple accounts, drafts, and better direct messages. One of its best aspects is that its open source, allowing the community to contribute various features and design tweaks to it.
Tweetcaster
Tweetcaster has a design that seems dated compared to other Twitter alternatives beautiful as many of the other Twitter alternatives; however, it does have a unique interface and touts some powerful features. Tweetcaster has support for multiple Twitter accounts, and lets you post to Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. There’s also this nice feature called Zip It which allows you to silence certain Twitter users and keywords from showing up in your timeline without unfollowing anyone. Yes, this identical to Twitter’s Mute button, but Tweetcaster supplies its own third-party option. Another really cool feature is that tweets will stream in real-time when connected to Wi-Fi.
Robird
Last up on our list is Robird, an intuitive and gorgeous Twitter alternative. The interface is sleek, easy to navigate, and relatively fast. As far as features go, it’s fairly minimalistic in this sense, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In a day and age where our apps have so much going on, sometimes it is nice to just have a fairly basic Twitter app that will perform all the functions you want it to do.
Conclusion
One of the unfortunate things about Twitter’s own mobile app is that it lacks Material Design and it doesn’t pack as many features as independent developers are packing in their own alternatives. That’s what makes other options out there much better than what Twitter offers, for the time being.
What’s your favorite Twitter app alternative? Sound off in the comments below or tweet us!
Come comment on this article: Best Twitter app alternatives [2015]
HTC One M9 wins every time in a series of blind tests
HTC has launched a new marketing campaign in Australia to compare its One M9 to Apple’s iPhone 6 and Samsung’s Galaxy S6 in a series of blind tests. There are three ads, all ranging from thirty seconds to a little over two minutes.
Some of the tests they put the devices through are how fast apps can open, sound quality, and how good selfies look in low-light conditions. All of the devices are covered in a black square case so the user can’t tell what device they’re using.
Click here to view the embedded video.
While the HTC One M9 is certainly a good device, it tends to win in all of HTC’s ads, for obvious reasons. However, it’d be more interesting to see the three devices compete in an unbiased video where they all have a fair chance. Whether it be the HTC One M9, the Samsung Galaxy S6, or the Apple iPhone 6, they all have their strengths and are great in their own ways, whereas in these ads, the HTC One M9 is fantastic all the time.
Click here to view the embedded video.
HTC has a few more posted on their YouTube channel. Just hit the source link below if you’re interested in seeing the final few. What do you think of these blind tests from HTC? Sound off in the comments!
source: HTC (YouTube)
Come comment on this article: HTC One M9 wins every time in a series of blind tests
BlackBerry ‘Venice’ render shows front-facing speakers and curved edges
This morning, Evan Blass shared on Twitter an image of what is said to be an Android phone developed by BlackBerry. The device, referred to as ‘Venice’, seemingly has front-facing speakers and and curved edges, two features that are appearing more frequently this year. The display is also slightly lifted from the body of the device.
Looking at the screen, you will see applications that are not just BlackBerry or Google’s. There are pre-installed apps such as BBC News and Skype. These are in addition to shortcuts that allow users to quickly call or message contacts. BlackBerry has a history in enterprise and Venice seems to be skewing that way.
An upcoming device from BlackBerry, according to Blass, is allegedly heading to AT&T in the near future. This could mean that we are finally seeing BlackBerry’s take on Android after last month’s report that the company was considering the release of hardware powered by Android. The exact specifications of Venice or whatever phone AT&T will get remains unknown but we should know shortly when the devices becomes official.
Source: Evan Blass (Twitter)
Come comment on this article: BlackBerry ‘Venice’ render shows front-facing speakers and curved edges
Google is developing a new chatbot that learns from movies
Chatbots are computer softwares that have been programmed to respond when prompted with certain key words, which limits the complexity of conversations a Chatbot can have with a human. Google however has been developing its own chatbot called “AI” that is more adapted to human conversations as it is programmed to teach itself human language by analysing movie subtitles and IT helpdesk transcripts.According to Google developers Oriol Vinyal and Quoc Le, AI requires much less input from a programmer as the model is using what Google calls artificial neural networks. This is a software that mimics the structure of biological brains as it consists of interlinked nodes. By using this advanced technology, the chatbot is able to have natural conversations with humans while still being able to process conversational twists and variations. In addition to that, AI has the ability to “remember” what was previously said in a conversation.
Thanks to AI’s ability to “learn” form movies, you can ask it complex and philosophical questions such as “What is the purpose of life?” or “What is the purpose of emotions?”. The IT helpdesk database AI also feeds its information from will potentially allow it to be used to help people who need IT assistance or customer service. Below is an example of a sample conversation between AI and a human.
Describe your problem: i forgot my passwordMachine: hi , this is <NAME> from helpdesk connect , what can i help you with today ?
Human: hi , i forgot my password
Machine: ok great
Human: can you tell me how i can recover it ?
Machine: i ‘ ll need to verify who it is at that machine
Machine: can we do a hangout?
Human: yes
Machine: <anonymized hangout instructions and verifications>
Human: cool , i am good now
Machine: how ‘ s this looking good ?
Machine: i ‘ ll go ahead and close this chat .
Machine: take care . : )
Human: bye
Machine: bye .
The system is still in a concept phase however if developed further could be used for many purposes such as simple tech support and news delivery.
Source: Arvix
Via: Engadget
Come comment on this article: Google is developing a new chatbot that learns from movies
Galaxy A8 spotted in catalog picture: could it be primed for launch?
For the past few weeks now, a slow-but-steady-stream of news has been leaking out about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy A8 smartphone. The device, which has still yet to even be announced by the OEM, has piqued the attention of some for several reasons: it looks much closer to the Galaxy S6 than it does the Galaxy A-series, and it includes support for microSD. Thanks to an attentive reader at GSM Arena, we now have an even more proof of the product’s existence, this time from a product brochure:
As can be seen from the advertisement, the device is just 5.9mm thick, which makes it the thinnest smartphone Samsung has made so far. Also mentioned is the inclusion of a f/1.9 aperture 16-megapixel rear camera (complete with Real Time HDR) and a 3050mAh battery to power its 5.66-inch FHD Super AMOLED screen. Other specs listed are an unknown Octa-Core CPU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM, Category 6 LTE, VoLTE, a 5-megapixel front camera, and even support for Korea’s DMB digital television service. As with other members of the Galaxy A family, microSD support is included, with this device sporting a maximum of 128GB. Android 5.1 is also on-board.
The design language is quite reminiscent of the Galaxy S6 complete with the indentations along the side of the frame. The A8 also looks to retain the metal-frame build that the series made popular (a feature that, sadly, was not carried over to the Galaxy Tab A). The presence of two trays along the left side of the phone would indicate the microSD will be separate from the SIM as opposed to a stacked presentation. Rumors point to the existence of a Galaxy A6 and an A9 in the pipeline, and it would not be surprising the see the S6 design language carried over to them as well.
A previously leaked photo of the Galaxy A8, presumably originating from China.
The fact that this advertisement is for the Korean market is interesting: the Galaxy A series was first released in China, and select other Asian territories at the end of last year. South Korea received two of the three devices somewhat later (the A3 was skipped entirely). It would appear that Samsung is eager to make this product more of a priority in its home market, though we could only begin to speculate as to why.
While the idea of an advertisement depicting a phone that hasn’t been announced might seem unusual, this would hardly be the first time a device has been spotted in print prior to its announcement. Assuming the same kind of thing is going on here, the Galaxy A8 might become official in a matter of days, if not sooner. Any takers?
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 leaked picture shows fingerprint scanner
Earlier today, a leaked photo supposedly showing off the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 was posted to Weibo, which contains what appears to be a fingerprint scanner on the back of the handset. See below.
Although today’s flagship smartphones often have the fingerprint scanner embedded in a home button on the front, the placement of the fingerprint scanner on the back is not completely unusual. Huawei’s choice to put the sensor on the back of the Mate 7 was a rather comfortable, ergonomic solution.
The source also points out that the smartphone is built from a plastic material, so it won’t be made of metal as previous rumors had indicated. But this perhaps isn’t so surprising for a budget smartphone.
The picture has since been taken down and, interestingly, the source claims that Xiaomi was behind the request.
Back in the middle of June, a render was also leaked to social media, along with an announcement that the Redmi Note 2 would launch on June 29th, which has sadly been and gone without a peep. The render appears to match the latest picture rather closely.
An earlier rumor suggested that the smartphone will ship with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, an octa-core MediaTek MT6795 CPU, 13MP rear-facing camera, 5MP front-facing camera and 4G LTE support.
Fingerprint scanners are becoming an increasingly popular and useful feature in smartphones and one could help elevate Xiaomi’s handset above other phones in its price bracket. Any thoughts to share on the Redmi Note 2 rumors?
AIVAnet 