Engadget giveaway: win a Roku TV Color Series courtesy of TCL!
TCL has just launched its Roku TV Color Series, which might be what you need to really tie the room together. Sure, the display has 16.7 million colors, but now the outside has a splash green, pink or blue. These smart 32-inch LED sets offer 720p HD viewing with one USB and three HDMI inputs to connect additional gear. One thing you won’t need to add, though, is a streaming box. These have Roku’s streaming service built in, providing over 2000 channels and a personalized home screen. With built-in WiFi, it’s easy to set up anywhere in the house, whether it’s your prime viewing station or a secondary outpost. TCL has provided us with three of these color-accented sets for a trio of Engadget readers this week. All you need to do is head down to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning one of these smart Roku streaming sets.
- Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
- Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
- Winners will be chosen randomly. Three (3) winners will each receive one (1) TCL Roku Color Series TV (32S3850 A/B/P) in either green, blue or pink — selected at random.
- If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email or Facebook login. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
- This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Engadget and AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
- The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
- Entries can be submitted until July 22nd at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Filed under: Announcements
Apple services down for some, including Beats1, iTunes and App Store
This morning isn’t turning out to be a great one if you lean heavily on Apple’s media ecosystem. According to the company’s status page, a whole of host of Apple services have been plagued by issues since a little before 10AM Eastern time today, to the point where some users just can’t access them. The full list of impacted features is a pretty hefty one at this point – it includes both the iOS and Mac App Stores, Apple Music, Apple TV, the iBooks Store, iTunes in the Cloud, the iTunes Store, iTunes U, iTunes Match, Radio, OS X Software Updates and the Volume Purchase Program. Basically, good luck trying to buy anything that isn’t an attractive hunk of aluminum or plastic from Apple right now.
Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones discounted from $5 to $0.60
As part of its Play Games Summer Sale, Google has heavily discounted Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones to a price that is practically free. The game originally retailed for $5.00 but has been discounted to just $0.60.
Game of Thrones is an episodic adventure game based around the world of HBO’s popular television show. The game takes place over six episodes, of which four have been released so far.
As such, this discounted purchase only includes the first episode. The others can be bought through the app for an additional cost. Currently there is a 15 percent sale on the Season Pass, which gives access to all of the the episodes as they are released.
This is a moderately hardware demanding game for a smartphone title and comes with a list of recommended specifications. You’ll need at least a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM and a GPU from or above the following series’; Adreno 300 series, Mali-T600 series, PowerVR SGX544, or Tegra 4.
Other discounted games in the Summer Gales Sale include a selection of big titles, such as Price of Persia Shadow&Flame, Deus Ex: The Fall, Terraria and Final Fantasy IV: After Years, to name just a few.
Toshiba CEO resigns amid $1.2B false accounting scandal
To say the current corporate climate in Japan is terse right now is somewhat of a surreal reality. For a country largely associated with “pure” and honest business practices, a traditional commitment to protect the tenure of the employee (at times to the detriment of the company’s own well-being) and the origin of some of the world’s most respected companies, the current scandal Toshiba has been charged with is truly mindblowing, perhaps all the more so given how the numbers in this one continue to rise as it progresses.
Toshiba has been manipulating its accounting records for over half a decade
For over half a decade now, Toshiba has been manipulating its accounting records, ultimately resulting in the fradulent reporting of a staggering $1.2 billion in false profits. The scandal, which has been wreaking havoc on everything from the company’s share price to its daily operations has reached a new milestone as the President and CEO, Hisao Tanaka resigned today, along with two other top executives bringing the total to eight departures. No legal proceedings have been filed yet. The deception was set up in order to achieve performance expectations following the Lehman financial meltdown in 2008.
Specifically, “the resignations come after a report showed that top executives set unrealistic profit targets that systematically led to flawed accounting. The accounting irregularities were ‘skillfully’ hidden from outside observers, according to the investigation.” It is likely that more resignations might occur as the situation continues to unravel. Whereas the Olympus accounting fraud scandal from a few years ago was based on a lie spun in the 1980’s, this particular case has been of a much larger nature, and a modern one at that.
Given the complexities involved, it would follow that the consent and understanding of any number of top-level executives was required, though the fact it took this long for the scandal to surface shows a highly contained situation. Many large blue-chip companies in Japan have multiple independent accounting firms auditing their books and thus it is all the more impressive for Toshiba have hidden this from so many.
While Toshiba isn’t a well known consumer brand in the Android world, the company is invested in the development of components that go in many mobile devices, including camera sensors and some specialized chips. The company is also heavily involved in Project Ara and is manufacturing some Android tablets.
While the outside world at-large might not care much about Toshiba, here in Japan it is a vital part of the economy, being involved in not just consumer electronics, but also the construction of nuclear power plants, air-traffic control systems, railway infrastructure, semiconductors and more. The very fact that it has been lying to investors – and ultimately to the very country it resides in – will likely serve as a permanent scar on its reputation, if not Japan large. As Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management said, the issue “leaves foreign investors with a vague feeling of uncertainty toward Japanese corporate earnings…it impacts all Japanese companies going forward, and we may see a lack of buying.”
[Deal] Get a Nexus 9 LTE 32GB tablet from Expansys USA for only $339.99
Expansys USA is running a sale on Google’s Nexus 9 LTE 32GB tablet for only $339.99, down from its original price point of $399.99. In contrast, that’s almost half of what Google is selling the 32GB LTE model for.
What makes the deal even sweeter is that these are brand new tablets Expansys USA is selling. Deals like this usually involve refurbished models, but not this time around. If you’re in the market for a new tablet, you’d be hard pressed to pass this one up.
Additionally, if you’re in a area where T-Mobile has coverage, the carrier offers 200MB of complimentary data with its SIM card. 200MB isn’t much by any means, but if you’re in a pinch and need quick access to the Internet, it’ll do just fine.
Expansys USA is offering a great deal, but it makes you wonder why the price has been slashed so much. Is Google having trouble selling these models, and thus, retailers need to get rid of stock and cut their losses? Or maybe another tablet refresh is in the works.
We don’t know for sure. But if you’re interested, you better act fast before the deal ends or sells outs!
source: Expansys USA
via: Android Police
Come comment on this article: [Deal] Get a Nexus 9 LTE 32GB tablet from Expansys USA for only $339.99
Study: Men that harass women online suck at games (and life)
Researchers think that they’ve worked out why certain men abuse women over the internet: because they suck… at games. According to a study by Michael Kasumovic and Jeff Kuznekoff, the most vocal abusers of women online are the ones most threatened by their presence in the digital sphere. The short explanation for this is because less-skilled men have the most to lose playing games against a woman, thanks to the perceived social stigma of “losing to a girl.” Rather than risk this supposed humiliation, they’d much rather create a toxic environment that’s outright hostile to newcomers.
Now, like any scientific study with an eye-catching conclusion, there are some caveats to consider before you send us some angry emails. For a start, the journal that the piece was published to, PLOS One, is an open access service that operates under a pay to publish model. That means that only the method used by the team would have been peer-reviewed, so nobody can claim this as an immutable fact. In addition, the test uses recorded audio from anonymous gamers with only presumed consent, so there’s a potential ethical issue that has been glossed over. Still, this is one of those instances where the conclusion at least makes some sense, but there’s plenty more research to be done yet, folks.
The researchers broke down their findings in an editorial on The Conversation, saying that “bullying is more common in the presence of strong hierarchies.” There can’t be many more obvious hierarchies than the online leaderboard of a video game, so the team applied evolutionary logic to the multiplayer arenas of Halo 3. It’s believed that the alpha males of yore can now be equated with the highest-scoring players in the game, and you the relationship with the less-skilled players follows the same principles.
In the experiment, Miami University’s Jeff Kuznekoff played Halo 3 online using a (pre-recorded) male voice for responses. As he rose to the top of the leaderboard, he found that the lower-ranked males behaved more subserviently and offered comments of praise over the in-game chat. Then, he repeated the experiment using a female voice, and the responses from the lower-ranked players grew increasingly negative. By comparison, equally successful male players at the top of the tree were also positive and encouraging to their female teammates.
“The take-home seems to be that, just like bullies, the men most likely to have their position in a hierarchy usurped by a woman turned out to be meaner.”
All of this, it seems, is down to the fact that our brains are still hard-wired to want to look good in front of others so that we can attract a mate. Even though you’re hardly going to be hooking-up with your online Halo 3 teammates, it seems that humans can’t resist the urge to showboat in the hope of asserting dominance over others.
As such, men are so terrified of being emasculated that they’d rather create a hostile environment for women than let them join the field of play. In addition, higher-status male players who see the successful female as an equal are more supportive because they feel a sense of equality with them. The team feels that this sort of hostile behavior will continue as long as there’s a cultural belief that “losing to a girl” is a notable failure.
Via: Washington Post
Source: PLOS One, The Conversation, Kasumovic Lab
ICYMI: Tech for rhinos, smarter spacecraft design and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: Small cameras are being implanted in endangered rhino’s horns to save them from extinction. An aerospace company designed a new engine which could power a spacecraft via Earth-based microwave emitters. And theme-park goers who love 4D immersive-motion rides may soon be able to put similar tech on their living room sofa.
Today’s bonus shows a talented woodworker handcrafting Star Wars prints.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under: Misc, GPS, Transportation, Wearables, Science, Internet
iOS and Mac musicians can ditch wires with Bluetooth MIDI device
Zivix has a new wireless MIDI device for Apple-centric musicians, but unlike the original WiFi Puc, this time it’s using Bluetooth 4.0. The Puc+ is the “first Bluetooth MIDI interface that universally supports any MIDI controller,” according to the company. It can handle multiple controllers at once, connect to old-school 5-pin or newer USB MIDI devices, and work with any audio workstation running on a Mac, iPad or iPhone — including GarageBand, ProTools and others. The company claims it has sub-15ms latency that’s on par with cabled solutions, and can control devices up to 40 feet away.
If you’re thinking, “wait a minute, doesn’t Zivix already have a wireless MIDI controller?” Yes, but the Bluetooth model apparently offers a few advantages over the original WiFi Puc. Since it’s designed specifically for iOS 8.2 and OS X, it supports Apple’s new Bluetooth MIDI connectivity, letting you hook up multiple controllers (you’ll need a Puc+ for each one, mind you). It works with more setups, thanks to new bi-directional USB and MIDI in/out support. It also has “exceptionally low latency,” and Zivix said testers felt “it leaves our original Puc standing still in terms of performance.”
If you want one, you’ll need to have at least an iPad Mini, iPad 3 or newer, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, or an iPhone 5, all running iOS 8.2 and up. Most Mac devices will work, provided they can run OS X 10.10 Yosemite. If that’s all good, you can order one from Indiegogo starting at $89, or get up to eight for $729. (The devices will cost $130 retail once the crowdfunding campaign is over.) So far, the company is a quarter of the way to its $20,000 goal with $5,000 pledged. If you’re justifiably worried about buying on Indiegogo, bear in mind that the company’s original Puc campaign was a success, and the product generally received good reviews.
Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless
Source: Indiegogo
UBIK UNO is a $345 smartphone funding on Kickstarter
Affordable smartphones are gaining momentum in the global market and the new UBIK UNO, which is looking for funding through Kickstarter, wants to bring this trend to the US.
The UBIK UNO is being positioned as a low cost alternative to the leading flagships in the US. The phone will cost just $345 once it plans to hits the market later this year, which is almost half the price of the Galaxy S6 or One M9.
In terms of hardware, we’re looking at a 5.5-inch display with a 1080p resolution. There’s a noticeable compromise in the SoC department compared with other flagships, as the UNO features an octa-core MediaTek MT6795 processor clocked at 2.2 GHz, which is a mid-range chip despite company claims to the contrary.
Alongside these parts, the UBIK UNO features 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage with microSD card support for a further 64GB. There’s a 20 megapixel Sony IMX230 rear camera with f/2.2 aperture, an 8 megapixel front facing camera, support for LTE networks, and a large 3,100mAh battery. The body is built from a single piece aluminum frame and offers ultra-slim bezels for a stylish design.
As you may expect from a small operation, the smartphone will be running a purely stock version of Android 5.1 Lollipop, which may or may not please potential customers. For $345, this smartphone packs in everything that you could ask from a solid daily driver.
As part of its Kickstarter campaign, the UBIK UNO can be grabbed at an even lower early bring price of $280. The smartphone is already apparently designed and ready to go, so funding is being used to generate the revenue needed to begin mass production. If the company reaches its $200,000 goal, smartphones could ship out to backers as early as September.
Once the Kickstarter stage is over, if all goes well, UBIK is planning to sell its UNO smartphone exclusively through its own website at a price of $345.
How to turn a $39 Fire TV Stick into the ultimate media center
Amazon’s Prime Day certainly evoked a flurry of mixed emotions. Many people were disappointed, but many were also able to score a deal. Personally, I scored Amazon’s Fire TV Stick for $25. Amazon reportedly sold hundreds of thousands of Fire TV Sticks within a 1-hour period. So if you want to get the most out of your Fire TV Stick, make sure and pay attention.
First let’s talk about why the Fire TV Stick makes such a great platform for a media center.
Low Price
Even at its $39 full retail price, the Fire TV Stick is a real steal. It’s closest competitors are priced higher and have lower specs. Yes the Chromecast is technically cheaper $5 cheaper than the Fire TV Stick, but it’s dead in the water without another device to initiate the media streaming and it has nowhere near the capabilities of the Fire TV Stick.
Multi-purpose
The Fire TV Stick runs Amazon’s Android off-shoot called Fire OS. Because Android is at the core of Fire OS, the Fire TV Stick can play games and use other apps found on Amazon’s App Store. You can also side-load apps from other sources onto the device, but we’ll talk about that a little later.
Fire TV Stick Specs
The specs on the Amazon Fire TV Stick are impressive for its $39 price.
- Processor: Broadcom Capri 28155, dual-core 2xARM A9 up to 1 Ghz
- GPU: VideoCore4
- Storage: 8 GB internal
- Memory: 1 GB
- Wi-Fi Connectivity: Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO); supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks.
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0 with support for the following profiles: HID, SPP
- 1080p video streaming
- 7.1 Dolby Digital surround sound
How to set it up
The first thing you have to do is connect it your wireless network. This is a fairly easy thing to do and the Fire TV Stick will walk you through the process.
If you purchased your Fire TV stick from Amazon, then it will already come attached to your Amazon account. If you purchased it elsewhere you will either need to sign into your Amazon account or you will need to create one. Once you’ve logged in then you’re just about done. Just download your favorite apps and enjoy.
Legal media options
There are several options here. The Fire TV Stick supports just about every streaming platform out there. Here is a sizable, but not comprehensive by any means, list of popular apps.
- Netflix
- Hulu Plus
- Amazon Instant Video
- Crackle
- YouTube
- Pandora
- Sling TV
- HBO GO
- Fox Sports GO
- PBS Kids
- WatchESPN
- Bloomberg TV
- Twitch
- Showtime Anytime
- Spotify
If you wish to play your own media, there are a few options for you. You should be aware that the Fire TV Stick does not support USB storage, so any media that you wish to play will need to first be downloaded to a shared location on your network or downloaded locally to the Fire TV Stick itself.
The first option is Plex. In order to use Plex, you first need to download the Plex media server found here. You’ll need to run through the setup prompts and select the folder where your media is located. Once you have done this, Plex will scan your media and download cover art and media information. While this is happening you’ll want to make sure and download the Plex app from the App Store. You’ll then be able to browse and play the media you have on your computer.
The second option that I’ll cover is VLC. VLC allows for local and network playback of media. However, as the local storage on the Fire TV Stick is limited to 8GB, you’ll want to stick to a networked storage solution. The upside of VLC is that it does not require a secondary media server to play media. The downside is that it does not give you the cover art and media center options of Plex.
The third and final option I’ll cover is Kodi, formally known as XBMC. Kodi is my preferred option as it does not require a media server to be running on a separate PC, but it will still scan your media and download the associated art and media information. Kodi also allows for 3rd party add-ons and skins that can customize and add functionality to Kodi.
Kodi isn’t an officially supported app on the Fire TV Stick. so you’ll need to sideload it onto your device. This can be a fairly complicated process, as one method requires you to use ADB command line. I won’t cover this as there are other much easier options.
The option I’ll be covering is the Fire Installer app found on Google Play. Before you fire up the app, you’ll need to download Kodi from Google Play and install it on your phone or tablet because Fire Installer will only install apps to your Fire TV Stick that are already installed on your phone or tablet.
Once you have installed Kodi on your phone or tablet go ahead and fire up the Fire Installer app. You’ll first be greeted by a set of setup instructions. The short version is that you have to enable ADB debugging in the Fire TV Stick’s settings and enter the Fire TV Stick’s IP address into the Fire Installer app. From there it’s as easy as selecting Kodi from the list of installed apps and pushing it over to your Fire TV. Keep in mind that this process will take a few minutes as Kodi can be a fairly large app. You can also use this method to install other apps not found on Amazon’s App Store.
It’s important to note that side-loaded apps will not show up in the recent apps list. In order to launch the apps, you’ll need to go to Applications found in Settings, select Manage Applications, and then select your app and launch it from there.
Other media options
Warning: The following information is for educational purposes only. Neither the author nor AndroidGuys.com endorses this or any other method that will allow for the illegal consumption of copyrighted material. We do encourage you to use any of the legal options found in this same article and to support the copyright holders by legally purchasing the media.
There are a plethora of 3rd party plugins for Kodi. Many of which allow for the streaming of copyrighted media for free. I won’t be endorsing any one particular plugin, but I will be talking about the Fusion Installer from the guys at TVAddons.ag. The Fusion Installer will give you access to install individual plugins one at a time, or the Hub Wizard which will preconfigure Kodi with the most popular add-ons. The Hub Wizard is the second easiest method.
Which is the easiest method? The crew at TVAddons have created a version of Kodi, which comes with the most popular add-ons preinstalled and preconfigured. If you want to try this method, then it’s as easy as downloading the TVMC app from their website and sideloading it onto your device.
If you’ve already installed Kodi then you’ll want to use the aforementioned method. Here are the instructions from their website.
- Step 1: Navigate to the “File manager” tab under the “SYSTEM” menu.
- Step 2: Click on the “Add source” option.
- Step 3: Select the top text input box marked “<None>” under the “Enter the paths of browse for the media locations” field.
- Step 4: Using the on-screen keyboard, type in “http://fusion.tvaddons.ag” without quotations, and then press the “Done” button. In case you’re having trouble, press the “Symbols” button to insert the colon and forward slashes.
- Step 5: Select the bottom text input box under the “Enter a name for the media Source” field.
- Step 6: Using the on-screen keyboard, type in “fusion” without quotations, and then press the “Done” button.
- Step 7: Press the “OK” button at the bottom of the window.
- Step 8: You’ll now notice that “fusion” is listed within the “File manager” window.
- Step 9: Return to the main menu, then Navigate to the “Settings” tab under the “SYSTEM” menu.
- Step 10: Select the “Add-ons” option from the left side menu bar.
- Step 11: Press the “Ok” button when prompted with the “First run help…” dialog.
- Step 10: Select the “Install from zip file” option.
- Step 11: Select the “fusion” folder from the listing.
- Step 12: You’ll now be able to open whichever folder from which you wish to install add-ons for Kodi.
- Recommended Method: You’ll find easy configuration tools such as the Config Wizard, Addon Installer, and Fresh Start program add-ons within the “start-here” folder.
- Alternative Method: If you’d like to install your desired add-ons for Kodi the “old school” method by manually installing your desired repositories and enabling each add-on one by one, you’ll find all the best Kodi repositories within the “xbmc-repos” folder.
- Congratulations! You’ve now configured the Fusion Installer for Kodi. You’ll want take a look at our Config Wizard and Addon Installer guides at this point.
What do you think? Are you going to give the Fire TV Stick a try? Are you already using it? Let us know in the comments below.
The post How to turn a $39 Fire TV Stick into the ultimate media center appeared first on AndroidGuys.
AIVAnet 