Google realized you hate full-page app ads
You know those full-screen ‘interstitial‘ ads that pop-up when you load a mobile site and suggest that you install the app instead? It just dawned on Google that they actually make you rage-quit the entire site and go somewhere else. The search giant decided to take a look at interstitial ads for its own Google+, a site that’s not exactly beloved in the first place. It found that while 9 percent of visitors did press the ‘get app’ button, 69 percent abandoned the page completely.
Isn’t 9 percent decent though? Well, Google then removed the interstitial to see how it would affect G+ usage, replacing it with a banner ad instead. Active users increased by 17 percent, while iOS native app installs were basically unaffected (Google+ is installed by default on Android). Based on that result, Google decided to kill the interstitial ad completely and even got rid of the banner on later versions of iOS. It hopes others will do the same, but we’d say that some are incorrigible — yes, we’re talking to you, crappy game developer.
Filed under: Google
Source: Google
The Moto E (2nd gen.) is now even cheaper in India
A low price is probably the biggest factor driving smartphone sales in India, a huge and fast growing market where local players go against international powerhouses to establish dominance. That explains why solid smartphones are being offered here at extremely competitive prices, and the Moto E is a great example for that.
The normally cheap Moto E (2nd gen.) is available at an even lower price in India. Motorola operated a INR 1000 ($16) cut, which may not seem like much, but it’s more than 10% off the price of the base version of the Moto E.
Following the price cut, the Moto E (2nd gen.) 3G will sell for INR 5,999 ($94), while the LTE model will go for INR 6,999 ($110). Both models are available on Flipkart. You can get the Moto E for even cheaper (up to INR 200o off) if you bring in an old smartphone in exchange, though only select models and brands are accepted.
The second generation of the Moto E was unveiled in January, bringing a 4.5-inch 540 x 960, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 or 410 (for 3G and LTE respectively), 8GB of storage, and a 5MP camera. These are base level specs, without doubt, but then again so is the price, and you do get Android Lollipop on a brand-name smartphone.
Will you take advantage of this deal?
Google Photos updated with new album tools and description editing
You’ve probably had a chance to play around with the new Google Photos app by now, and Google has just added in some new tweaks and features to help us keep better track of all our pictures.
The latest update brings Google Photos for Android up to version 1.2. Along with a selection of bug fixes and performance improvements, Google Photos now allows users to change the cover photo for their albums, and photos can now be added and removed from a particular album from the same screen.
To select a picture as the album cover, click on the picture, selection options and then you can see a new feature to “use as album cover”. You can also remove the picture from the album cover using this menu, and the album will go back to the default image it chose. The add and remove buttons are also located in this list.
Other changes include the ability to add, edit and view a description for each individual photo in your collection. To use this feature, just give the information button (i) a quick tap and pick the option to “add a description”.
Navigation and organization have also seen some tweaks. You can now tap-and-hold a date header to select all of the photos from that particular day, and pulling down from the top of the screen will now exit a search.
If you haven’t updated yet, you can download Google Photo for free from the Play Store.
Amazon accused of spying on reviewer’s social media profiles
Amazon has reportedly blocked a person from reviewing an e-book because the company thinks that they are friends with the author. Imy Santiago attempted to post a review of an unnamed title several times, each time being told that it was in violation of the site’s policy. When she pushed the retailer to explain why, the response came back that the piece was stopped because she knew the author personally. At first blush, that makes sense, since it stops unethical authors from garnering unfair praise on unworthy titles — but then you start asking questions, like how in the hell did Amazon know that these two were friends?
Santiago says that the only connection she has to the author is that she started following them on social media after reading their first book. As far as she’s concerned, that’s the only relationship that she has with the question (although we only have that evidence to go on). The easy conclusion to reach, then, is that Amazon is somehow data-mining everybody’s Facebook and Twitter accounts to better understand its customers. Although how it’s able to do that to such an extent that it’s capable of swooping down on a single relationship, we’ll never know. It’s also unclear if eBook authors and reviewers are being monitored more closely than anyone else.
Unfortunately for us, the naturally-secretive company isn’t likely to divulge how it made that connection any time soon. That hasn’t stopped us from emailing in the hope of getting some sort of response, but we’re 99 percent sure that all of our questions will be met with a firm “no comment.”
Via: Consumerist
Source: Imy Santiago
We have the Vivo X5Pro: ask us anything!
Vivo may not be a household name, but the Chinese company is working really hard to change that. And what better way to make a name for yourself in the smartphone business, than to sell a really attractive device for a really attractive price.
Enter Vivo X5Pro, a sleek 5.2-inch Full HD AMOLED handset launched in May in China that will go on sale in international markets this summer.
The Vivo X5Pro features a metallic frame, a Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, a 13MP camera with f 2.2 aperture, an 8MP front camera, a 2,300 mAh battery, dual-SIM LTE, and Android Lollipop. Unfortunately, the software skin bears a distinct iOS flavor, but to each their own…
In the markets where the Vivo X5Pro has been announced so far, the device retails for approximately $440.
Now that the Vivo X5Pro has been received by the Android Authority, it’s only a matter of days until the full review will be out. For now, we can only give you a sneak peek:
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You have questions about the Vivo X5Pro? We have answers. Feel free to ask away in our forums or right here!
Pinterest’s new button makes pinning easier on iPhones
It’s now a lot easier to pin links from iOS devices, thanks to the new button the social network has launched for the platform. Considering around 80 percent of Pinterest’s traffic comes from mobile devices, it’s a bit surprising that the company didn’t launch this earlier, but hey, at least it’s now available and promises to let you speed-pin from your phone or tablet. To activate the button, simply launch a mobile browser, click the Share button and then the ellipsis that says “More” underneath. Find Pinterest and toggle it on, and you’ll see its icon on the Share panel next time you want to save a web page. It worked not just on Safari, but also for Chrome when we tested it, so we recommend trying to add the button on your favorite browser first.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Source: Pinterest
Pinterest’s new button makes pinning easier on iPhones
It’s now a lot easier to pin links from iOS devices, thanks to the new button the social network has launched for the platform. Considering around 80 percent of Pinterest’s traffic comes from mobile devices, it’s a bit surprising that the company didn’t launch this earlier, but hey, at least it’s now available and promises to let you speed-pin from your phone or tablet. To activate the button, simply launch a mobile browser, click the Share button and then the ellipsis that says “More” underneath. Find Pinterest and toggle it on, and you’ll see its icon on the Share panel next time you want to save a web page. It worked not just on Safari, but also for Chrome when we tested it, so we recommend trying to add the button on your favorite browser first.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Source: Pinterest
Google Voice transcriptions will soon actually make sense
One of the most prevalent qualms users have of Google Voice is its occasionally accurate (but usually absurd) interpretations of what’s being said. However, with the upcoming public debut of the Project Fi cellular service, Google has reportedly greatly improved its transcription service. According to a post on the company’s blog, Google’s managed to reduce its transcription error rates by nearly 50 percent by leveraging a “long short-term memory deep recurrent neural network.” Users don’t even have to change their routine to take advantage of the new system, just keep using Voice and Fi as they always have.
[Image Credit: shutterstock]
Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Blog
YouTube App Updated With Fullscreen Playback for Vertical Videos
While a fully redesigned YouTube app with Google’s Material Design, an emphasis on subscriptions and creation tools is coming soon to iOS, YouTube has, in the interim, issued a minor update to its current app with fullscreen playback for vertical videos.
Vertical videos are videos that are shot in portrait mode on smartphones. Previously, viewing a vertical video in the YouTube app added two black bars to the sides of the video, shrinking the actual image and making it difficult to view. Now, vertical videos play in full screen the same way they were filmed, allowing users to have a better experience on mobile devices.
YouTube is a universal app available for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]
THORwin humanoid machine wins robotic soccer championship
THORwin isn’t quite capable of bending it like Beckham yet, but when it comes to robotic soccer players, it’s one of the best. The US-made machine has just won top prize in the adult-sized category at this year’s RoboCup in China, an international annual soccer competition for robots that aims to pit them against human players by 2050. THORwin, which was named after “Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot” and Charles Darwin, is five foot tall and weighs 119 pounds, while the contenders in the teen- and child-sized categories were much, much smaller. They all had to be able to play autonomously, sense opponents, dribble the ball past them and shoot goals, though — just like in real soccer, except they’re all stiffer, more awkward and more prone to falling over than human athletes at this point in time.
THORwin, a joint project between UCLA’s Robots and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) and UPenn’s General Robotics Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory, won the finals against Iran with a score of 5-4. In addition to RoboCup, it also participated in DARPA’s Robotics Challenge earlier this year. By the way, you can watch a UPenn robot play ball below so you can understand what we meant by contenders being “awkward” on the field, but note that it’s a different smaller machine and not not the RoboCup champion
Filed under: Robots
Via: The Guardian, Aljazeera
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