HTC won’t ship the Grip after all, but its fitness ambition lives on
Hey, remember that time HTC built a fitness tracker (with a little help from Under Armor) and showed it off in Barcelona? The one that was originally slated for a Spring launch? Well, we’re knee-deep in Summer already, and the company just confirmed to us that it no longer plans to ship the Grip we’ve already seen. As a spokesperson put it, the company “decided to align Grip with the entire product portfolio for health and fitness launching later this year” after “extensive wear testing and user feedback.” In other words, the exact Grip we saw in Spain won’t hit the market, but something better will.
We’re not exactly sure what else will flesh out HTC’s new fitness gadget line-up, but the timing of all this is a little curious. An HTC fitness band just got its Bluetooth certification a few days ago, and while many assumed it was the original Grip, it just might be a second-generation wearable intended to pick up where the Grip left off. Either way, let’s take a brief moment to pour one out for the forerunner. It takes a certain amount of guts (or insanity) for a smartphone maker to take a stab at something so far-removed from its wheelhouse, and the Grip — with its curvy P-OLED screen and teensy internal GPS — seemed like a pretty solid first attempt. Still, “solid” can only take a company so far, and the competition in the glorified pedometer market these days is absolutely brutal. Maybe putting aside a freshman product so that a follow-up could shine even brighter was the right move after all.
Filed under: Mobile
Microsoft combines OneNote for iPhone and iPad, updates Android app too
Hot on the heels of releasing a new version of OneNote for the Mac, Microsoft is pushing out some updates to its corresponding iOS and Android apps. For starters, there are no longer separate applications for the iPhone and iPad; in fact, iPad users will be prompted to re-download the app the next time they launch it. The main benefit here seems to be that Microsoft has an easy way of porting over all the features from the more advanced iPhone app, without having to re-code them for the tablet version. That means, for instance, that you can now access OneNote from the Notification Center on the iPad, the same way you already can with the iPhone. Microsoft also brought over the “recent notes” view, along with the ability to see page previews in landscape mode. Lastly, this update fixes a bug that caused problems with the whiteboard camera.
Meanwhile, the Android version adds what was apparently a much-requested feature: the ability to move or copy a note from one section or notebook to another. To do this, just press and hold on whatever it is you want to copy, select the action (move or copy), and then choose the destination. If you want, that destination can actually be the home screen instead of another OneNote notebook. Basically, it’s like creating a shortcut to a specific note. Other than that, it’s mostly bug fixes for Android, though Microsoft says that a meaty Android Wear update is also on the way. You can get a sneak peek of that if you join the beta community.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft, iTunes, Google Play
SanDisk’s wireless flash drive gives your phone more storage
For all the advances we’ve made in mobile computing, transferring files between your phone and your desktop is still kind of a pain in the ass. We’ve tried using dongles, adapters and even double-sided USB thumb drives, but none of them really solved the problem. Today, Sandisk announced a new solution: a wireless, battery-powered USB flash drive.
SanDisk’s Connect Wireless Stick was actually designed to address two problems — the chore of moving files between devices and the internal storage limitations of modern smartphones. Want to cart some movies and high resolution pictures around with you, but only have 16GB of storage on your phone? Put them on the Connect Wireless Stick: it can hold up to 128GB and can stream data to your phone for 4.5 hours on a single charge. The stick can also automatically back up photos and videos from your phone’s the camera roll. Not bad.
As a file transfer system, Sandisk’s new stick still sounds a little cumbersome — but as a small, wireless storage expansion system for iOS and Android devices, it’s pretty unique. Interested? It hits stores today for $30-100 in 16, 32, 64 and 128GB sizes.
Source: BusinessWire
Pitchfork Music Festival stream delivers live music this weekend
If you aren’t planning a trip to Chicago’s Union Park this weekend to catch the Pitchfork Music Festival, you’re in luck. Performances will stream on Pitchfork.com all weekend long (July 17-19), starting with the likes of Wilco and Chvrches on Friday, Vic Mensa on Saturday and wrapping up with Run the Jewels on Sunday. Of course, there are many more artists scheduled to grace the stage beginning with Ryley Walker at 4:20 PM ET on Friday. For a full list of set times and acts, consult the streaming schedule right here. In order to get prepped for the weekend’s festivities, take a gander at Pitchfork’s mini documentary that chronicles the event’s 10-year history after the break.
[Image credit: Mark Horton/WireImage]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Pitchfork
UW-Madison researchers invent a metal-free fuel cell
The development of fuel cell technology has been hamstrung by the need for expensive and difficult-to-manufacture catalysts like platinum, rhodium or palladium. But a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison believe they’ve found an ingenious alternative that employs a molecular, rather than solid, catalyst.
A fuel cell generates electricity from chemicals by reacting hydrogen and oxygen at its anode and cathode, respectively. Specifically, a catalyst at the anode oxidizes the hydrogen fuel to create free electrons and charged ions. The ions pass through the electrolyte while the electrons pass through a separate wire (to drive an electronic device) and the two recombine in the cathode with oxygen to create water or CO2.
The team, led by Professor Shannon Stahl and lab scientist James Gerken, noticed that the aerobic oxidation reactions they had studied in their previous work closely mimicked the oxygen reaction in fuel cells. To see if this aerobic reaction could work as a fuel cell, they built one using a catalyst composed of nitroxyl and nitrogen oxide molecules to react with its electrode and oxygen. “While this catalyst combination has been used previously in aerobic oxidations, we didn’t know if it would be a good fuel cell catalyst,” Stahl said in a statement. “It turns out that it is the most effective molecular catalyst system ever reported.”
The results are more than impressive. “This work shows for the first time that molecular catalysts can approach the efficiency of platinum,” Gerken continued. “And the advantage of molecules is that you can continue to modify their structure to climb further up the mountain to achieve even better efficiency.”
[Image Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto]
Filed under: Science
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Apple Releases Four New Apple Watch Ads Showing the Device Used in Daily Life
Apple today released a new series of Apple Watch commercials on its YouTube channel, depicting the Apple Watch being used in a number of ways in the daily lives of the people featured in the videos. Each of the four videos centers around people who use the watch’s functions while traveling, while working out, and while communicating with and interacting with family. Apple has a knack for creating ads that are informative while being touching and funny, and its four new videos are no exception.
Two of the videos, “Berlin” and “Beijing,” show the Apple Watch in use as a tool to discover new places to visit while exploring the cities. Two women are seen using the app to get directions to places, look up nearby restaurants, and discover new sights as soft music plays in the background of each video. One woman uses the sketch tool in the Apple Watch to write “SOS” to let her friend know she needs help getting out of a conversation with a guy she isn’t interested in.
The third video, “Closer,” shows the Apple Watch being used by parents and children, playing tic tac toe, starting up music, and communicating with family. A grandmother receives a sketch to let her know the sex of a baby that was just born, a tired mother accepts a call on her wrist without needing to put down a screaming baby, and a father and son duo play simple games on the device.
Apple’s fourth commercial is focused on fitness and shows the Apple Watch encouraging people to be more active. Individuals in the videos struggle through their workouts during fitness classes, runs, and martial arts lessons. One man tries to do pushups while his dog barks at him, while another is slammed to the ground at a martial arts class. The video wraps up with a man getting up in the middle of the night to fill his exercise ring with some late night jumping jacks.
Today’s ads follow in the footsteps of the first human-centric Apple Watch ads Apple created to promote the device, which were released in April. “Rise,” “Up,” and “Us” focused on time management, health and fitness, and communication.
Apple to Face Class Action Lawsuit Over Off-the-Clock Employee Bag Checking
Apple will face a class action lawsuit brought against it by retail employees in California who were subjected to ongoing bag checks that often caused them to remain at work for 10 to 15 minutes after their shifts had ended, reports Reuters.
Employees allege Apple subjected them to mandatory bag checks that were “embarrassing and demeaning,” and were conducted off the clock, leaving them uncompensated for their time. The group is seeking damages for unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, and other recompense.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2013 and after some legal hurdles that included a 2014 dismissal, it was granted class action status today by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco. Class members participating in the lawsuit include more than 12,000 of Apple’s current and former employees in the state of California.
Amanda Friekin and Dean Pelle, the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit, claim Apple’s bag checks were mandatory each time a sales rep left the store and were put in place to discourage theft. Several employees subjected to these bag searches emailed Tim Cook in 2012, writing that managers were “required to treat ‘valued’ employees as criminals” and that the searches were often performed “in front of gawking customers.”
Over the course of the past two years, Apple has argued that the case should not get class action status because not all managers conducted bag searches and that the bag searches that did happen took so little time that compensation was not necessary. Now that it has received class action status, the lawsuit will go to trial.
Apple Predicted to Beat Expectations in Third Quarter on Strong iPhone Sales and Growth in China
Less than one week before Apple’s third quarter fiscal results are released on July 21 at 2:00 PM Pacific, multiple research firms and analysts have released earnings previews for the three-month period ending June 30. The consensus is that Apple will report another quarterly earnings beat based on stronger than expected iPhone sales and continued year-over-year growth in China.
Apple provided third quarter guidance of revenue between $46 billion and $48 billion, gross margin between 38.5% and 39.5%, operating expenses between $5.65 billion and $5.75 billion and other expenses of $350 million, while the consensus among analysts was an EPS of $1.79. Apple is expected to beat both that guidance, which is purposefully conservative, and street expectations.
Wall Street and Silicon Valley analyst Neil Cybart published his 3Q15 earnings preview on Above Avalon, predicting Apple earned $50.9 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 40.9% and $1.97 earnings per share (EPS), based on sales of 49.3 million iPhones, 10.1 million iPads, 4.9 million Macs, 4.3 million Apple Watches and $9.3 billion from other products and services.
Creative Strategies principal analyst Ben Bajarin estimates that Apple Watch worldwide sales were 4.7 million during the June quarter, topping the roughly 1.1 million iPhones and 3.3 million iPads sold in their respective launch quarters. Bajarin’s estimate is based on supply chain output tracked by his market research firm, and is 400,000 units higher than Above Avalon’s estimate.
Apple has not publicly disclosed any official Apple Watch sales figures to date, and will be grouping the wrist-worn device under its “Other Products” category in quarterly earnings reports. The combined category includes sales of iPod, Apple TV, Beats Electronics and Apple-branded and third-party accessories, which will inevitably lead to predictions about how many Apple Watches make up the total units sold.
Investment banking company UBS also forecasts that Apple will have above-consensus earnings results based on a higher iPhone average selling price (ASP) estimate of $660 vs $636. The firm predicts Apple will report $52.5 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 40.9% and $2.00 EPS, based on sales of 51 million iPhones, 10.6 million iPads and 3 million Apple Watches.
RBC Capital Markets is more conservative with its estimates, expecting that Apple will report $49.3 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 39.3% and $1.78 EPS, based on sales of 46.5 million iPhones, 11.3 million iPads and 4.6 million Macs. The firm did not estimate Apple Watch sales and expects scrutiny from investors in regards to Apple’s iPhone unit sales globally, but particularly in China.
MacRumors will provide live coverage of Apple’s third quarter results on July 21.
SwiftKey and PIXELS the movie team up to bring retro game keyboard themes
SwiftKey is teaming up with PIXELS, the new Adam Sandler movie to bring 5 new keyboard designs. The 5 retro gaming themes are Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Q*bert, Centipede, and Space Invaders. The best part is all the new themes are totally free! I’m sure many retro gaming fans will be excited to give them a shot, but if you don’t like them at least you aren’t out anything. Head to the SwiftKey store to try them today.
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Telltale Games’ fifth episode of its ‘Game of Thrones’ series coming on July 23
The fifth season of Game of Thrones came to an end last month and people are now left waiting until Spring 2016 for anything new. But that’s only for the television series. Telltale Games has a video game series of its own for the wildly popular franchise and the fifth episode is coming next week. On July 23, the developer will release A Nest of Vipers for Android devices.
Here is how Telltale Games describes the fifth episode:
In this penultimate episode, the actions of every Forrester are vital to the survival of the house. Rodrik’s alliance with House Glenmore, and his defiance of the Whitehills, has drawn the ire of an even greater threat: Ramsay Snow. Far across the Narrow Sea in Essos, with Meereen now a free city, Asher is close to securing the army he desperately needs to return home, and save his family. In King’s Landing, Mira’s activities at Tommen’s coronation have not escaped the attention of Margaery Tyrell, and Cersei has realized that the handmaiden may prove useful in her political games. Finally, beyond the Wall, Gared’s unlikely allies are reluctant to help in the search for the North Grove… but this far into the frozen wilds, Crows and Free Folk have a common enemy; and winter is coming.
A Nest of Vipers will be succeeded by the sixth and final episode coming later this year.
Telltale Games, in addition to working on Game of Thrones, produces titles with The Walking Dead and Minecraft franchises.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Telltale Games
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