Instagram’s storing HD images but won’t let you see them
According to The Verge, Instagram has begun storing images at 1080 x 1080 pixels, far larger than the standard 640 x 640 pixels they are stored as now. The thing is, you can’t actually see the larger images natively in either the web version or the apps. They actually only show up as recently uploaded photos and even then, you’ll need to dig around in the source code to actually see them. To do so, go to the desktop version of Instagram and navigate to any of your recently uploaded images. Open the page source code, invoke the Find function and search for ‘.jpg”. That URL will lead you to a 1080 x 1080 version of the image. Huzzah? Still, the larger photos could portend a bigger, better viewing experience in future versions of the app — or at least HD advertising.
We’ve reached out to Instagram for comment and will update when they respond.
UPDATE: Per Facebook’s Alex Hollander, “I can confirm that we are rolling out 1080 to android and iphone, and most people should now see it in their mobile app.”
[Image Credit: Rasulovs/Getty]
Filed under: Internet
Via: TNW
Source: The Verge
Why it makes sense for Reddit to decentralize, a la Bitcoin
Imagine a version of Reddit that’s fully peer-to-peer like BitTorrent, and which relies on small Bitcoin transactions to function. That’s something the company was actually considering last year, according to Ryan Charles, Reddit’s former cryptocurrency engineer. He was hired by former Reddit CEO Yishan Wong to lead the decentralization project — a dream that didn’t last for long. After Reddit nabbed a huge $50 million funding round, Charles shifted over to a project focused on returning Reddit shares to its users via Bitcoin (which was also killed off). He eventually left the company after just four months. Today, the idea of a fully P2P Reddit remains an intriguing one, especially since it would have helped the company avoid much of the turmoil it’s currently seeing.
After enraging some users by stamping down abusive content, the company got into hot water once again last week following the abrupt dismissal of its director of talent, Victoria Taylor, best known as the person who helped make the site’s “AmA” (Ask Me Anything) section a mainstream hit. Reddit’s unpaid volunteer moderators shut down hundreds of popular subreddit communities to protest the decision. And while most of those subreddits were eventually brought back online, a petition for Reddit CEO Ellen Pao’s firing has now reached over 160,000 signatures.
Even though both recent controversies are about entirely different things — the tension between a safe environment and allowing for true “free speech,” and a lack of communication between Reddit execs and its volunteer army — they’re part of the growing pains Reddit is facing as it tries to grow up into a legitimate media company. While there’s no doubt Reddit had some maturing to do, a P2P version of the site might have satisfied the site’s more hardcore users, since it would have been harder for the company to censor. And it would have given a layer of protection from the more unsavory posts from some members.
Here’s how Charles describes his vision of a decentralized Reddit:
Each user has an app, the reddit app, which connects to the reddit p2p network. For most users, the app is a normal web app. Each user funds their own app with a small amount of bitcoin. In order to download content, the user pays a very, very small amount of bitcoin to the peers on the network. This incentivizes people to keep the app open so as to keep servicing the other users. Furthermore, when a user upvotes content, that sends a small amount of bitcoin to the author of that content, thus incentivizing the production of good content. If all the content is authenticated, we can be reasonably sure most payments are going to the right people.
Taking the idea of a decentralized Reddit even further, NYC venture capitalist Fred Wilson wrote a blog post this weekend about how Bitcoin’s “blockchain” technology could end up being the future of Reddit or a similar media site. You’re probably familiar with Bitcoin as a semi-anonymous digital currency, but its blockchain technology is even more intriguing, since it has the potential to be used in plenty of other industries. Basically, the blockchain is a shared digital record of messages (in Bitcoin’s case, payment transactions) established by crowd consensus. Given its distributed nature, it’s effectively impossible to change or spoof a blockchain message. That’s a particularly big deal since it legitimizes transactions without the need for any sort of middleman. (Here’s a great overview on what the blockchain means for many industries.)
“It may be that there is no viable middle ground between a centrally controlled media platform and an entirely decentralized media platform,” Wilson writes. “You are either going to police the site or you are going to build something that cannot be policed even if you want to.”
A blockchain-powered media property could be curated just like Reddit is attempting to do now, but the technology also leaves the door open for someone to build a fully decentralized, totally unfiltered media site that can never be shut down. If anything, the blockchain could enable the purest expression of the internet, one not ruled by huge web entities like Facebook and Google. That could lead to innovative new platforms, but it could also enable some truly terrifying stuff (just imagine what the 4chan crowd and Reddit’s rowdiest could do with it).
[Photo credit: jackol/Flickr]
Filed under: Internet
Via: The Next Web, The Guardian
Batgirl joins ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’ on July 14th
Gotham, get ready. The first bit of DLC for Batman: Arkham Knight stars Batgirl, and it’s due to hit PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 14th for $7 in North America (£5.80 in the UK). This is a story-based expansion called Batgirl: A Matter of Family, Gamespot reports, and it puts players in Batgirl’s badass boots with new missions, side quests, a fresh hacking feature and Dual Play with Robin. A Matter of Family is the first installment in Arkham Knight‘s bulk-DLC season pass program, so anyone who purchased that will get the add-on at no additional charge.
There’s no word on a PC launch for the Batgirl DLC pack, which isn’t surprising considering the serious issues Warner Bros has encountered with that version of the game. Soon after release, the studio pulled Arkham Knight from digital PC shelves because of critical problems on the platform and it remains shut down today. The PC version should return in the fall.
Source: Gamespot
The OnePlus 2 will cost less than $450, says CEO
OnePlus has been slowly rolling out the specifications of its upcoming OnePlus 2 flagship, leading up to its July 27th unveiling. We already know that the device will feature a fingerprint scanner, a USB Type-C port, a Snapdragon 810 v2.1 processor and possibly an all-metal chassis. But with many of the high-end specifications already confirmed by the company, one could infer that the device might end up costing a bit more than expected.
Interested consumers can rest easy knowing that, according to OnePlus CEO Pete Lau, the OnePlus 2 will cost less than 450 USD. There’s no mention of a specific price point in the Google+ post, so there’s no way of telling whether it will come to market for $449.99 or closer to $300 like the OnePlus One.
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Last year, Lau teased that the company’s first flagship would cost “less than $400″, and they absolutely delivered on that promise. Not only did the 16GB base model cost $299, but folks could also pick up the beefier 64GB variant for just $349. The OnePlus 2 may end up costing a tad more than the One, but we’re sure many users will still be interested in purchasing an unlocked smartphone with high-end specifications for sub-$450.
Google’s Waze to test carpooling program for commuters in Israel
Waze, the now Google-owned navigation service, is beginning to make its way into the carpooling business. Through a new application called RideWith, interested commuters in Tel Aviv, Israel will be able to pay drivers a small fee for gas and wear-and-tear to hitch rides to and from work. The app, which uses Waze’s navigation system, will be able to learn the routes which drivers most frequently take to work and pair them up with a commuter looking for a ride in the same direction.
Unlike other popular services like Uber, RideWith drivers won’t be able to earn a salary from this new service. Drivers are limited to just two journeys per day, and at least at the start, will only be paid a small amount to cover gas and other small auto-related expenses. Drivers will also only be able to pick up other people if they’re leaving from their home neighborhoods and heading to work, or the other way around.
Google of course plans to take a cut of the driving cost, but that price has yet to be determined.
Waze told Reuters that there might not be enough drivers to meet commuter demand at the start, but the company remains confident that as more drivers sign up, it will be much easier to hitch a ride to work.
Investors temper Samsung recovery expectations
Samsung managed to get a lot of its financial mojo back earlier this year after the successful launch of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. The new flagship devices helped set the stage for a turnaround by Samsung after 2014’s relatively dismal performance. Although the Galaxy S6 was greeted with strong reviews and strong sales numbers initially, investors are starting to pull back a little bit on expectations for the rest of the year. Samsung is expected to announce preliminary numbers for the second quarter and guidance for the rest of the year on Tuesday.
Several analysts are projecting second quarter earnings to be in the 7.2 trillion won range ($6.4 billion USD). Park Jung-hoon with HDC Asset Management probably expresses the sentiment the best when he says “I think so long as the first digit doesn’t start with a six it won’t be a shock.”
A survey of 39 analysts by Thomson Reuters indicates 2015 profit is expected to be around 27.8 trillion won ($24.7 billion USD), an improvement over 2014’s 25 trillion won ($22.2 billion USD) which was a three-year low for Samsung.
One item that seems to be troubling investors was Samsung’s failure to anticipate interest in the curved-screen Galaxy S6 edge. Although the company is now ramped up to meet demand, they may have missed their opportunity to capitalize on buyer interest. On a larger scale, analysts are also looking at trends in Europe and China that may not be the most favorable for the smartphone market, including Samsung.
source: Reuters
Come comment on this article: Investors temper Samsung recovery expectations
Amazon’s Prime Day is a global shopping event for Prime members with more deals than Black Friday
An Amazon Prime subscription brings a set of perks that includes unlimited 1 or 2 day delivery, access to TV programs and films via Prime Instant, over 1 million songs via Prime Music as well as unlimited photo storage via the retailer’s Prime Photo service. Now, on the eve of its 20th anniversary, Amazon has announced Prime Day, a global shopping event exclusively for Prime subscribers.
Prime Day will be held on July 15th, with Amazon boasting that the sale will have more deals than Black Friday. Prime Day deals will be available for subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Austria. Deals will start as often as every ten minutes, and subscribers will have access to Lightning Deals, Popular Deals of the Day as well as unlimited free shipping. Greg Greeley, the Vice President of Amazon Prime had this to say:
“If you’re not already a Prime member, you’ll want to join so you don’t miss out on one of the biggest deals extravaganzas in the world.”
As implied, in order to access the Prime Day deals on July 15th, you must be an Amazon Prime subscriber. If you live in the UK and have been put off by the £79 subscription fee, you might be interested to find out that Amazon has lowered the price to £59 until July 8th. Don’t forget, if you live in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Dallas, Manhattan, Miami or London, you can also take advantage of one or two-hour delivery via the Prime Now app.
Finally, if you enter a photo to amazon.com/primeliving showing how Amazon Prime has helped you in your life, you stand a chance of winning a $10,000 gift card. There’s one gift card allocated per Prime eligible country, and you must submit the picture before July 15th.
Are you more likely to join Amazon Prime after finding out about Prime Day on July 15th? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: BusinessWire
Come comment on this article: Amazon’s Prime Day is a global shopping event for Prime members with more deals than Black Friday
Here is an almost full spec sheet of Huawei’s upcoming 64-bit Kirin 950 chipset
China’s Huawei has been manufacturing and using it’s own chips in some of it’s own devices for a while now. Most notably Huawei P8 and Huawei Ascend Mate7.
We have heard some talk of them releasing a new chipset called the “Kirin 950″. The chip is said to include a 64-bit octa-core chipset that comprises four Cortex-A53 cores and another quartet of Cortex-A72 ones. The Kirin 950 will also be rated at 2.4GHz. For the graphics an ARM Mali T880 unit will be used.
A dedicated DSP audio co-processor, a Tensilica Hi-Fi 4 DSP, another co-processor, an i7, will act as a sensor, connectivity, and security hub, working in the octa-core heart’s stead. The chipset will also support dual-channel LPDDR4 RAM, UFS 2.0, and eMMC 5.1 storage. Camera lovers out there will be happy to know it can also support up to 42MP camera units as well as a list of other features.
We are not sure when the Kirin 950 will be released, but we would imagine it will go into their next flagship phone.
Source: mobile-dad
Via: Phone Arena
Come comment on this article: Here is an almost full spec sheet of Huawei’s upcoming 64-bit Kirin 950 chipset
HTC’s Q2 preliminary earnings show net loss of $256 million
Just as the naysayers had predicted, HTC’s Q2 preliminary earnings have not exactly proved to be a turnaround for the company. With the launch of its One M9, the Taiwanese firm was expecting to revive its fortunes, but even this HTC flagship failed to impress either users or critics.
On its website, HTC has posted its preliminary report for the second quarter showing a loss of around $166 million. The numbers are unaudited, but they are enough to reveal yet another negative quarter for the struggling company.
The website revealed that HTC made a quarterly revenue of $1.07 billion (NT$33.01 billion) and a net loss of $256 million (NT$8.03 billion) before taxes.
The outlook is quite gloomy for shareholders too as earnings per share fell by $0.3 (NT$9.70). In the previous quarter, HTC had marked a modest profit of $11.8 million from $1.36 billion of revenue, which had many industry watchers assume that the company might be headed for a comeback.
Source: HTC
Come comment on this article: HTC’s Q2 preliminary earnings show net loss of $256 million
Amazon Cloud Drive finally gets its own app
Using Amazon’s cloud storage service has been somewhat of a hassle considering the lack of any dedicated mobile apps. Users were limited to a watered-down app that only offered access to photographs and music. Today, Amazon finally released mobile apps for Cloud Drive across multiple platforms that show users everything that they have saved online. The launch of Cloud Drive’s mobile apps comes a few weeks after Amazon launched the service’s SDK, meaning that the app should be see integration with other apps and services in the near future.
Amazon offers two separate subscriptions for access to Cloud Drive that both start with 3-month trials. Users get unlimited storage for photographs and 5GB for other files for $11.99 per year. Amazon Prime members also get this subscription’s features at no additional cost. Storing absolutely anything and everything without being capped costs $59.99 per year.
Come comment on this article: Amazon Cloud Drive finally gets its own app
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