SoundCloud iOS update makes it easier to find new music
SoundCloud has been keen on adding new features regularly to make its version of music streaming more useful for listeners. With an update today, the company’s iOS app received a handful of tools that’ll make it a bit easier to find new tracks and keep your favorites organized. When you find a song you like, selecting the “Play related tracks” option from the menu will serve up some related suggestions. For that collection of songs you’ve liked, or playlists you’ve created, there’s a new shuffle option to change things up a bit. Finally, when the time comes to edit those playlists, you can now add or remove tracks from inside the app. You’ll no longer need to venture over to a browser to do a bit of organizing. The new tools are available now for iOS users, but, unfortunately, there’s no word on when the Android faithful will get access.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Software, Mobile
Source: SoundCloud, iTunes
The Wirecutter’s best deals: a soundbar, Bluetooth headphones and more!
ss=”image-container” style=”text-align: center;”>
This post was created in partnership with The Wirecutter, a list of the best technology to buy. Read their continuously updated list of deals at TheWirecutter.com.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
Samsung 32GB EVO microSD Memory Card
Street Price: $16; MSRP: $38; Deal Price: $13
This deal is a match for the memory card’s lowest price ever on Amazon. It’s a repeat of an earlier deal we posted in May. It hasn’t gone above $17 since then.
The Samsung 32GB EVO is our pick for the best microSD card. Kimber Streams wrote, “The 32GB Samsung EVO is the best microSD card for most people’s smartphones and tablets because of its comparatively speedy 4KB random read and write speeds, snappy sequential read and write speeds, and 10-year limited warranty. It’s inexpensive, made by a reliable manufacturer, and the fastest you can get without spending a lot more money.”
Paradigm SHIFT Soundscape Soundbar
Street Price: $1,500; MSRP: $1,500; Deal Price: $1,200
We’ve posted this soundbar before at $1,275 but this is the first time it’s dropped to $1200. Stock does seem a little limited, with Electronics Expo (via Amazon) having 9 left, but other third party sellers that also have Prime shipping matched the $1,200 price.
The Paradigm SHIFT Soundscape Soundbar is our best soundbar. Chris Heinonen said, “When you’re paying this much for a soundbar, you want it to sound great, which the Paradigm Soundscape does. It bested almost all its competitors in our testing thanks to a more-accurate lower-midrange that provides some extra richness and warmth to movies and music. It throws a very large, involving soundstage and has clear dialogue with its center channel.” He also noted that the wireless adapter included works with any subwoofer, a rarity in this age of proprietary protocols.
JayBird BlueBuds X Bluetooth Headphones Storm White
Street Price: $122; MSRP: $170; Deal Price: $110
This is the lowest price for these headphones ever offered by Amazon. They’ve been steadily decreasing in price since the first of the year. This deal is only available on the Storm White variety of the headphones.
The Jaybird Bluebuds X are the runner-up in our best exercise headphones article. Lauren Dragan said, “If you want to cut the cord and go for Bluetooth, look no further than the Jaybird BlueBuds X. Bass sounds great, they’re light and don’t chafe, and they pack a lifetime sweatproof warranty.” She added, “They were just barely edged out as our top pick.”
Refurbished Dyson AM06 Bladeless Fan
Street Price: $240; MSRP: $300; Deal Price: $140
This is a fantastic price and significantly below any price we’ve seen on new models of the AM06. Since it’s through a Dyson authorized dealer and service center, it comes with a 6 month warranty through Dyson and 6 months through ABC Vacuum’s warehouse. However, our top pick in the best fan has a 5 year warranty and Dyson themselves offer a 2 year warranty, so you’ll have to consider whether that’s a deal breaker for you.
The Dyson AM06 is what we considered the best combo desk and room fan in our best fan article. Seamus Bellamy said, “During our testing, the $250 AM06 moved more air than any other desk fan. On its highest settings, this 4-pound 5.8 by 12 by 19.7-inch fan could put out as much air as some of the room fans we tested-and it often worked as well as they did, despite being much smaller.”
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.
Filed under: Household, Portable Audio/Video, Storage, Samsung
Samsung Galaxy J2 spotted on Geekbench
Samsung has been grabbing all of the news lately with their flagship devices. Now comes some news on an entry-level device from Samsung which is limited to Asian countries. In a market like India, brand value is what sells a device. People buying either high-end or low-end smartphones always want to go with an established brand. The main reason for brand value is the sales support.
As it is, in Asian markets, due to the hoard of cheap smartphones, it’s essential to have good post sales service. These low-end devices tend to breakdown very easily and are riddled with numerous software issues. Both, the Indian and the Chinese markets have conservative buyers who always look at the price-to-performance factor seriously before buying any smartphone. Due to the lack of carrier offers in India, the cost of these devices is up nevertheless. Big brands like Samsung appeal to the average consumer more because of their reliable customer service. The Galaxy J2 will surely be on the checklist of many Asian consumers when it enters the market later this year.
The Galaxy J2 was spotted earlier in an import listing where it had been shipped to India for testing. There was nothing much that we grabbed from that, only that the Galaxy J2 has a 4.7-inch screen. But, few days back an unconfirmed report from wlivenews listed all the technical specifications for the Galaxy J2. Measuring at 129 x 68.2 x 8.9 mm the Galaxy J2 is said to feature a 4.7-inch TFT capacitive display with a resolution of 540×960 ppi. 1GB RAM is said to be handling the flow with 8GB onboard storage(expandable upto 128GB via MicroSD) and running on Android 5.1 Lollipop. Media-wise it is said to feature an 8MP rear autofocus camera with a resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels, and a 2MP front-facing camera. All of this packed into a neat 122g package, available in white or black colors.
Even though unconfirmed, the specs above look nothing promising compared to the Chinese counterparts that Samsung will have to face. A benchmark entry, on Geekbench, gave further insight on the Galaxy J2 today confirming two things; dubbed as SM-J200F, Samsung’s entry-level device features a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and runs Android 5.1.1.
This also tells us that, the Galaxy J2 will be one of the first non-flagship devices from Samsung which will be running on Android 5.1.1. A new version of TouchWiz UX is also expected to be on this phone as with all latest Samsung devices. How well Samsung can optimize the software on the Galaxy J2 will be the game changer in the market though.
Samsung’s first entrant into the J series was a forgetful one. The Galaxy J1 packed low-end specs and was priced rather steeply. Hopefully the Galaxy J2 will fare much better if priced accordingly. Since, these devices are targeted more at Asian markets, price plays a very important role as well as software optimization. Samsung’s brand value is respected more in Asia compared to Chinese brands and people will buy this device for sure, but only if its priced right. Let’s hope Samsung gets this before delivering another sloppy device.
Source: Geekbench
The post Samsung Galaxy J2 spotted on Geekbench appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Galaxy S5 gets an update on AT&T, but it’s not 5.1
Users of the AT&T Galaxy S5 have been anxiously awaiting the 5.1 update. T-Mobile has already rolled it out to theirs and many thought the AT&T variant would follow soon after.
An update has arrived at a hefty 296MB, but it is not the hoped for 5.1 update. The change log only list security and performance improvements. The new updates build number is G900AUCU4BOF2 and requires a wifi connection.
Come comment on this article: Galaxy S5 gets an update on AT&T, but it’s not 5.1
ARCHOS unveils the 50d Helium smartphone – Android 5.1, 13MP camera, $129
If you aren’t familiar with French smartphone and tablet manufacturer ARCHOS, perhaps now is a good time to do so. Over the past few years the company has aimed to produce high-quality software and hardware for a low price point, and it looks like its new offering does just that. ARCHOS has just unveiled the budget-friendly 50d Helium smartphone that may actually give other low cost smartphones a run for their money.
The 50d Helium offers up a 5.0-inch IPS display with 1280 x 720 resolution, a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 processor, Adreno 305 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage and microSD expansion. It also features a dual SIM card slot, 4G LTE connectivity, a 13MP rear-facing camera, a 5MP front-facer and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box. The non-removable 2100mAh battery is perhaps the worst specification this device brings to the table, but I’m pretty sure the price point will make up for it as far as many users are concerned.
#gallery-1
margin: auto;
#gallery-1 .gallery-item
float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 50%;
#gallery-1 img
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
#gallery-1 .gallery-caption
margin-left: 0;
/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
The ARCHOS 50d Helium ships with two soft, “stone finished” interchangeable backplates in Storm Blue and Stone Grey color options, and will be available this July for just $129. ARCHOS didn’t reveal a specific release date for the device, so we’ll let you know when it becomes available.
So what do you think, is the 50d Helium worth $129? Or is that too much to ask? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments.
How Apple Music’s Liking System Works to Customize ‘For You’ Recommendations
Apple Music’s main draw is its focus on curation and its ability to learn about your music preferences to provide recommendations that suit your tastes. Apple’s new Music app focuses heavily on content discovery, with an entire “For You” section dedicated to recommendations.
According to Apple, its music experts “handpick songs, artists, and albums based on what you listen to and like,” and this content is what populates the “For You” section. Apple’s explained that “For You” recommendations get better over time based on “whether you love a song or not,” but the company hasn’t explicitly spelled out how to best use likes and listens to better tailor Apple Music to your tastes.
To clear up confusion on how recommendations work, The Loop‘s Jim Dalrymple has spoken directly with Apple to get some insight on how the “Like” feature in Apple Music works to affect recommendations, and he’s penned a useful guide on liking from the information he obtained.
Any song played from Beats 1 radio, a default radio station, a curated playlist, or from a search can be liked by expanding the miniplayer and tapping the heart icon. You can essentially heart anything that’s playing via Apple Music.
As Dalrymple explains, tapping the heart button on a song you like influences the content that’s then displayed in the “For You” section of Apple Music. As more content is liked, the feature gets a better idea of each individual user’s tastes, and is able to offer up a more tailored selection of music. Music that’s added to a library and music that’s played in full also affects “For You.”
Tapping the heart does affect “For You,” the section of Apple Music that’s custom built with playlists, albums and songs tailored to your individual tastes. For You also takes into account music you add to your library and full plays you listen to. Skips aren’t really taken into account, because there are so many reasons you may skip a song–maybe you’re just not in the mood for it right now.
Radio stations created from individual songs, done by tapping on the hamburger button when any song is playing and choosing “Start Station,” work a bit differently. Instead of displaying a heart, these playlists display a star. Tapping the star allows you to choose “Play More Like This” or “Play Less Like This” to tune a radio station to your particular tastes at that time without affecting overall “For You” recommendations.
Pressing on any album or playlist recommendation in “For You” gives you an option to customize the section even more, by choosing “I Don’t Like This Suggestion.” It appears that this customization option is limited to iOS devices for the time being, as Apple Music on Mac doesn’t offer this menu.
Apple Music’s ability to offer up intensively tailored song recommendations over time may be one of the reasons why Apple insisted on giving users a three month trial to experience the service. Regularly liking songs and culling the “For You” section of recommendations that aren’t suitable should vastly change the quality of suggestions over the course of the next few months.
Nexus 4, 10 and 7 (2012) may still receive Android M after all
When Android M was officially announced, Google gave the bad news that the Nexus 4, Nexus 10, and Nexus 7 (2012) were not to receive the update due to the age of the devices, but that may be about to change.
A reference to the codename of the Nexus 10, manta, appeared in the AOSP repository for the device and an update dated May 28th was found marked as android-m-preview. Similar updates were found for the Nexus 4, and Nexus 7 WiFi, lending suggestion that those devices may actually receive the updated Android operating system.
It seems that Google is still investing in the older devices with the Android M rollout, which is great news for adopters of the Nexus devices, because that’s what the Nexus programme is all about. Whilst there’s no official announcements for the support of these devices, don’t be surprised if that changes closer to Android M’s public release.
The post Nexus 4, 10 and 7 (2012) may still receive Android M after all appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Robot autopsy shows Pepper’s head may be replaceable
Don’t worry, the gruesome image (above) of SoftBank’s Pepper isn’t part of Elon Musk’s robot takedown plan. It’s actually a teardown by Japanese website Nikkei showing exactly what makes the emotion sensing ‘bot tick. The head came off the body easily enough, but Pepper probably won’t get an “easily repairable” score as Nikkei’s technicians had to drill to get it apart. Once it cracked the cranium, however, it confirmed that yes, Pepper has Intel inside — an Atom processor, to be exact. The site theorizes that since the head detaches easily from the body, SoftBank might let users upgrade just by dropping in a new one with a different CPU.
Other Pepper organs aren’t located where we have them — its microphone “ears” are near the top of its head and its speakers are on the side, for instance. Meanwhile, one eye is a depth sensing camera that picks up infrared signals that are transmitted by the other eye. (The depth sensing camera used by Pepper is an ASUS part, by the way.) You can hit the source to see the rest of the parts and pieces, but if you shelled out the price of a compact car to get one, we certainly wouldn’t try it at home.
Filed under: Robots
Source: Nikkei
Shyp helps reverse a tech trend by hiring contractors as staff
Tech companies like Uber may be fighting tooth and nail to keep their workers as contractors and avoid dealing with costs like insurance and taxes, but Shyp isn’t having any of that. The shipping service has announced that it’s treating all of its couriers as full-fledged employees, with all the benefits and covered expenses that come along for the ride. As the company explains, this isn’t about thumbing a nose at anyone. Instead, the focus is on “owning” the whole experience and improving what you get. It’s only really possible to offer better supervision and training to dedicated staff, Shyp’s CEO says. Also, he’s betting that this will pay dividends down the road as you deal with more committed, experienced couriers.
Shyp isn’t the only company making this transition. Instacart recently flipped some of its grocery delivery people to employee status, for example. However, it’s the highest-profile example of a growing backlash against the tendency to rely on contracted workers for on-demand internet services. Although contractors are cheaper and more flexible (many ridesharing drivers operate in their spare time), they’re not as likely to stick around or work consistent hours — bad news if there’s a spike in business. Employees, as expensive as they can be, make it easier for tech firms to accommodate your demands.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Wall Street Journal
Source: Shyp
Dubai building will be entirely 3D printed, right down to the furniture
The uses for 3D printing are seemingly endless. We’ve seen the tech used by doctors, to build cars and for construction. While parts of a building have been 3D printed before, the United Arab Emirates National Innovation Committee is working to use the method for an entire office building in Dubai. Working with WinSun Global and a few other companies, the committee plans to use a 20-foot tall 3D printer to make everything on-site rather than fabricate the pieces and have them transported for assembly. WinSun Global has already printed a six-story apartment building and a house in China. As you might expect, the structure is small, measuring 2,000 square feet.
According to 3DPrint.com, the project with use Special Reinforced Concrete (SRC), Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP), and Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum (GRG). Heck, even the furniture that’s going inside will be 3D printed in addition to both the interior and exterior walls. Using this method of construction, the office building is said to be ready in “just a few weeks,” and should cut labor costs by 50-80 percent and construction waste by 30-60 percent. “Office” is being used to describe the structure, but it’ll be used for a variety of purposes, including exhibitions as part of the Dubai’s Museum of the Future that’s slated for a 2017 opening.
Filed under: Misc
Source: 3DPrint
AIVAnet 