NASA renews ISS flight contract with Russia for $490 million
Despite NASA’s budget increase in 2015, the Congress didn’t allocate enough money for the Commercial Crew Program to fast-track the development of American spacecraft that can ferry the ISS crew. As such, the agency is forced to extend its transportation contract with Russia yet again, because it still needs the Roscosmos’ help to take American astronauts to the space station. In a letter addressed to the Congress, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has notified lawmakers that the agency had to pay another $490 million for Russia’s services. More importantly, he has urged the Congress not to reduce the Commercial Crew funding even further for fiscal year 2016, as that would spell disaster for the program.
Bolden wrote (emphasis ours):
Reductions from the FY 2016 request for Commercial Crew proposed in the House and Senate FY 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bills would result in NASA’s inability to fund several planned CCtCap milestones in FY 2016 and would likely result in funds running out for both contractors during the spring/summer of FY 2016. If this occurs, the existing fixed-price CCtCap contracts may need to be renegotiated, likely resulting in further schedule slippage and increased cost.
Those “CCtCap or Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contracts” are with private space companies Boeing and SpaceX, which are developing vehicles that can carry NASA’s astronauts to the ISS. Both of them are on track to end the agency’s dependence on Russian Soyuz spacecraft by 2017, with test flights planned before then. Since only the lack of money could hinder their progress, Bolden made sure to emphasize that “[t]he safe, reliable, and cost-effective solutions being developed here at home will allow for more astronauts to conduct research aboard the space station, enable new jobs and ensure US leadership in spaceflight this century.”
[Image credit: NASA HQ PHOTO/Flickr]
Filed under:
Science
Source:
NASA
Tags: budget, nasa, roscosmos, space
Now you can drive around Mars with NASA’s Curiosity simulator
Want to explore the surface of the red planet without signing up for the Mars One mission? No problem: NASA has built two interactive web applications that will let you explore the planet to your heart’s content from the comfort of your armchair.
Both of NASA’s new toys will give you a closer look at the surface of Mars, but from two very different vantage points. Mars Trek takes the Google Earth approach, laying over 50 years of NASA exploration data over an interactive 3D globe. It’s incredibly deep, including 3D and 2D views, video-game inspired controls and bookmarks showing off points of interest from previous NASA missions — in fact, it’s detailed enough that NASA is already using the program to scope out potential landing sites for its 2020 Mars rover.
If you’re in the mood for something a little more personal, you can take the controls of NASA’s latest Mars rover with Experience Curiosity. This is no mere map — this is a Curiosity simulator with manual drive controls, multiple camera view angles and a guided tour of both the rover itself and narrated lessons about the area of Mars it explored. Both tools are designed to work in any web browser and are completely free to use and play with. Check them out at the source links below.
Tags: curiosity, curiosityrover, mars, nasa, rover
A new photo emerges of the Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact getting cosy
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The other day, we allegedly got our first look at the Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact in the flesh – notably, they were supposedly showing off fingerprint scanning functionality. It seems the floodgates have started to open as another photo of the unannounced pair from Sony has emerged, showing the two devices stacked on top of each other. You’ll immediately notice that the Z5 Compact, the device on the top, is quite a lot thicker than the Xperia Z5, bottom – as many of you will know, the Compact range is well known to not compromise on flagship level hardware specifications despite its size, so it’s no surprise that it is a little thicker to house the same hardare.
Sony Z(TBC) and Compact #Z5 pic.twitter.com/j04UcGQNmk
— ViziLeaks (@vizileaks) August 5, 2015
What is also noticeable is the new power button on the side of the Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact – unlike previous Xperias, it looks like Sony have ditched the traditionally circular power button in favour of an elongated one. Both devices are rumoured to have a Snapdragon 810 processor inside, and the Xperia Z5 in particular is expected to grow to 5.5-inches, as opposed to the normal 5.2-inches. Sony should be announcing these two devices at IFA 2015 early next month, but we’ll probably be seeing more of the Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact before then anyway.
What do you think about the Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Twitter via Phone Arena
The post A new photo emerges of the Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact getting cosy appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Samsung and LG now make up for 78% of all USA Android sales
Apple’s iOS sales continue to drop in the USA as a couple Android manufacturers take control over the market. Yes, you heard that right – a couple. We say this because Samsung is no longer the only big Android player in the USA; in fact, their numbers have been dropping. On the other hand, “Life is Good” for LG, which has been growing by massive proportions.
According to the latest sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the USA market is not as varied as Europe’s and Asia’s. Two Android manufacturers rule here (Samsung and LG), owning about 78% of all Android mobile sales during Q2 of 2015.
This may not be a huge accomplishment for Samsung, but it is for the other Korean phone maker. LG’s sales have doubled… again. Today also marks a special milestone in LG’s road, as they managed to get more first-time smartphone buyers than Samsung.
“While the Android ecosystem in Europe and China continues to offer several brands to choose from, Android in the U.S. is undergoing its strongest consolidation yet, with Samsung and LG now accounting for 78% of all Android sales. LG is the real success story of the quarter. Not only did it double its share of the U.S. smartphone market once again, but it was also able, for the first time, to acquire more first-time smartphone buyers than Samsung.” -Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech
Obviously, the report will seem like great news for LG, Samsung and Android fans in the USA, but we have to step back and look at what’s going on in our market. We have a duopoly going on in the Android ecosystem, at least in the USA. Choice doesn’t look so varied once you look at other major markets. Manufacturers like Apple, Huawei and Meizu have been growing elsewhere. In fact, Meizu grew a stunning 700% when compared to Q2 of 2014!
Of course, Meizu, Xiaomi, Huawei and OnePlus are only brands you will see in Asia for now (at least at larger scales), but they are coming, guys. We have put together a neat list of up-and-coming manufacturers that we believe will change our world once (and if) they enter the US market. We need a change, as well as more variety, and I believe it’s coming from these Asian “small timers”. Would you agree?
Epic App Battles of Android Round 5: Spotify vs. Slacker
In the green corner, we have Spotify, founded in 2006 with 100 million downloads and an average user rating of 4.5
In the red corner, we have Slacker, founded in 2006 with 10 million downloads and an average user rating of 4.2
Slacker, fresh off a victory out dueling the streaming music pioneer Pandora, hopes to overturn Spotify in a repeat upset victory! Who will win this epic battle between the streaming music heavyweights? Read on and find out.
Round 1: App design
Spotify
Spotify is decked out with a sleek, black interface and incorporates a gradient consisting of dark gray and Spotify’s green accent. The user interface is charming and simplistic – Spotify has done an excellent job at using Google’s Material design guidelines, but manages to keep their application feeling unique yet familiar. Navigating between menus of Spotify is effortless, and the icons are refreshing after seeing so many stock icons, or poorly designed low-resolution graphical icons. It’s gratifying to see that Spotify paid attention to the intricate details to create an appealing user interface (UI) that simply works. Browsing through the interface gives me a bit of nostalgia as it brought back good memories of going to music stores. The album art work is captivating and brings on a good feeling.
One of my favorite things about Spotify is its ‘Now Playing’ menu. The ‘Now Playing’ menu boasts a large version of the artist cover art, but underneath the album cover is a motion blurred low-opacity version of the cover art that makes it stand out beautifully.
Spotify looks beautiful visually, and its ease-of-use creates a great user experience. But Spotify is packing a mighty flaw that was exposed previously in its battle vs Songza. Namely, when a song is playing and you navigate to other menus at the bottom, a footer-like menu displays the song. Additionally, it shows playback buttons here, too. This directional arrow is, at times, extremely difficult to touch adequately; the lack of tactical feedback doesn’t help, either.
Also, with Spotify’s UI being more in line with the Google’s design standards, users shouldn’t have to tap the arrow. We should be able to slide it down or up. This takes away from a well thought out and executed application. As it is, we spend too much time needlessly pressing buttons.
Due to this flaw, Spotify suffers point deductions and scored an 8 for round 1.
Rating: 8
Slacker
Slacker’s user interface is superbly designed; the homepage of Slacker has a blend of white and variations of gray triangles creating a high-resolution wallpaper-like background. The header and footer menus of the app are a hue of deep blacks that, when viewed against the wallpaper background, gives the application a beautiful and monochromatic design.
The superb design of Slacker is evident while in the ‘Today on Slacker’ menu. The ‘Today on Slacker’ menu is a magazine layout style news brief with Artist Bios, Recommend Stations, and Recommended Artist. Each section has vibrant high-quality image and a crisp white footer of text accented with a black frequency bar.
Slacker’s ‘Now Playing’ menu is drop-dead gorgeous. The ‘Now Playing’ menu stands out like a magazine centerfold displaying the current song’s album art while behind the cover art is a background of the same cover art just with a low opacity giving a sleek appearance. That combined with the creatively designed play, skip, and back icon buttons create an aesthetically appealing design. Switching between Slacker’s menus are hidden gems. The ‘gems’ are creative transitions that flip, flop, and fly around like slides of a PowerPoint presentation. The snappy transitions, intuitive menus, and crisp, rock-star like graphics allow Slacker to have a bit of swagger.
Rating: 9.5
Round 1:
Spotify – 8
Slacker – 9.5
Round 2: Features
Spotify’s strong suit is its multitude of features that it packs. Starting off with the app it has a strong library of music selections. The ‘browse’ menu is the homepage that begins your musical journey. The menu also has pre-populated genres and moods to search from ranging from chill, edm/dance, pop, workout and more. It also has a nifty section that shows you today’s chart hits, new releases, and discover. The ‘discover’ section is extremely useful because once you have been using the app and have liked music, it offers you similar artist recommendations that are usually spot on for your musical taste.
My personal favorite of Spotify is the ‘your music’ menu. In ‘your music’ the menu is broken down into the following: playlist – it is a custom list that you create from your own music selections. You can also follow other user playlists if you don’t want to take the time to create your own. Songs – is a list of all the music you have saved to a playlist in one section. Albums- what’s great about the Album section is where Spotify really flourishes, as this section allows you to save whole albums from your favorite artists and you can listen to the entire album anytime you want.
Like other streaming services, Spotify does allow you to discover music. This can be done by following a particular artist or by using its Radio feature where you pick the artist you want to listen to and Spotify will play that artist’s music along with like music from other artists. What I don’t enjoy about the Radio feature is the same songs being played repeatedly.
Offline mode and uploading your own music library to Spotify are two additional features that make Spotify a juggernaut. Offline mode allows you to save songs and albums to your device, so that when you are in areas where you do not have a network connection, you can still listen to your favorite music. It also has a toggle switch for each playlist or album allowing you to further customize what music you really need saved to your device.
Uploading your own music library is awesome. Even with two years of using Spotify, they still don’t have some of my favorite songs. What I have noticed is that for the most part music singles don’t become available until the entire album is available.
The features highlighted above are primarily for premium subscribers. The free version of Spotify is extremely limited as you will be unable to listen to full albums and create your own playlists without the premium subscription.
What We Like about Spotify
- The ability to add your own music library to the app
- Slide cover art left to right to change song
- Beautiful graphics and user interface
- Stay current with favorite artists by following their profile
What We Don’t Like about Spotify
- “Now Playing” arrow inability to slide up or down
- Radio music selection needs more variety of music
- No Chromecast access
Rating: 8.5
Slacker is a discovery and on demand service which for the most part, is relatively unknown compared to other heavyweights in the music streaming business. Although Slacker seeks to change that by giving you everything.
Slacker is a hands-on music experience for those seeking more control. The free version of Slacker is quite limited compared to what you can unlock with the paid version. The free version of Slacker allows you to search for your favorite artist, but only allows you to play similar songs and not the actual artist. Also in the free version you are limited to six skips per hour. Much like what Pandora offers.
You do have the ability to listen to curated playlists from genres, moods, seasons, etc. Although Slacker Plus and Premium do boast a music library of over 2.5 million songs. The paid version also gives you control over creating a playlist, and saving songs offline when there is no available internet connection. Two more amazing features are the ability to listen to entire albums and search for specific song titles.
What We Like about Slacker
- Beautifully user interface
- Crispy graphics
- Ability to save songs to a favorite playlist
- Downloadable songs
- Set song/artist presets
- Ability to listen to entire albums
- Cast music to Chromecast
What We Don’t Like about Slacker
- Free version is plagued by constant on screen advertisements
- Can only skip six songs per hour on the free version
- Inability to upload music library
- Minimal audiobook selection
- Doesn’t have the option to set a timer to allow the app to turn off by itself
Rating: 8.5
Round 2:
Spotify – 8.5
Slacker – 8.5
Round 3: Price
Spotify free version: Ads, commercials, unable to select individual song to play on mobile phone, limited Spotify connect functionality and limited skips
Spotify premium version: $0.99 for the first three months then $9.99 per month removes ads and limits
Rating: 9
Slacker free version: Ads, commercials, limited listening time, and six skips per hour per station
Slacker radio plus: $3.99 per month, ad-free listening, unlimited song skips, offline mode for data-free listening
Slacker premium: $9.99 per month, play songs and albums on demand, create custom playlists, listen to offline playlists and albums, unlimited skips, ad-free listening
Rating: 9
Round 3:
Pandora – 9
Slacker – 9
After 3 rounds of throwing blow after blow between Spotify and Slacker, we have to take it to the judge’s score cards. It was an intense battle, but Slacker prevails with a score of 27 points compared to Spotify’s 25.5
Final Score:
Spotify – 25.5
Slacker – 27
Summary
As much as it pains me to report this, down goes Spotify. The battle boiled down to the design differences. The Slacker team designed a drop-dead gorgeous application that is appealing, easy to use, and the menu transitions make navigation captivating. Spotify is still an amazing and well designed app with an abundant music selection but ultimately wasn’t as good as Slacker. Slacker wins a close one.
Tell us what you thought about the battle by leaving comments below. Which streaming music app do you use?
The post Epic App Battles of Android Round 5: Spotify vs. Slacker appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Eddy Cue ‘Thrilled With the Numbers’ as Apple Music Hits 11 Million Users
In an interview with USA Today, Apple’s Eddy Cue reveals that Apple Music currently has 11 million users taking advantage of the initial three-month trial period, with two million of those taking advantage of the family plan that will cost $14.99 per month once the trial ends. A single-user membership will be priced at $9.99 per month.
“We’re thrilled with the numbers so far,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, adding that of that sum 2 million have opted for the more lucrative family plan at $14.99 a month for up to six people.
The officially announced milestone of 11 million users is roughly in line with the rumored ten million users shared by HITS Daily Double last week.
Cue notes Apple is “releasing updates as fast as we can” to address bugs and other issues with Apple Music amid duplication and mislabeling complaints. Jimmy Iovine also contributed to the interview, highlighting some of the challenges of reaching users in certain countries and age demographics while noting Apple believes it can use its leverage to bring many of those users on board for a subscription music service.
On a separate note, Cue shared some new App Store numbers, noting that July set a record with $1.7 billion in App Store transactions thanks to strong performance in China. Apple has now paid out $33 billion to developers since the App Store debuted in 2008.
Target launches Bluetooth beacon pilot program in 50 stores
Bluetooth beacons are already helping London’s visually-impaired subway riders navigate the Tubes, now they’re going to help shoppers find great deals at their local Target stores. The retailer recently announced that it is implementing a pilot beacon program in 50 of its stores. These beacons will send push notifications to shoppers phones whenever they browse within range of the device, similar to the Tips system that Facebook is working on.
In order to keep this system from spamming customers, Target is requiring that shoppers first download and install the Target iOS app (an Android version is in development), then actively opt-in to receive the notifications. What’s more, the system is designed to push a maximum of just two notifications per shopping trip with the rest of the deals appearing in the app itself. That way customers can get the maximum number of deals without becoming overwhelmed. Future iterations will reportedly feature the ability to resort your shopping list as you browse so that you won’t have to retrace your steps to finish your shopping.
Stores in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle have all been selected to participate. Target will reportedly use data gathered from this pilot to fine tune the program ahead of a nationwide rollout around the Holidays. Target did admit to TechCrunch that it plans to harvest user data to “understand shopping trends and preferences.” Given that Target was recently hacked, it will be interesting to see how many shoppers will be willing to not only share their data with the company but also tool around its stores with their Bluetooth radios on.
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
Filed under:
Internet, Apple, Google, Facebook
Via:
TechCrunch
Source:
Target
Tags: Android, apple, beacon, Bluetooth, commerce, facebook, google, ios, pilot, retail, shopping, Target
Shazam update adds songs to Spotify and Rdio playlists
Shazam is great for discovering new music and settling a friendly bet. While you could already listen to full-length songs from Rdio or Spotify inside the app, now you can add identified tunes to your playlists parked at those two streaming services, too. Without leaving Shazam, simply hit the plus in the top right corner of the screen after the app gives you the track details. Shazam will then display a list of saved playlists for you to choose from. Once you make a selection, you’re directed back to the song page in the music discovery app. I gave it a shot this afternoon and it works well, especially if you want to put a song somewhere other than the playlist that Shazam automatically creates, and continually populates, for songs after you link your streaming subscription.
Source:
iTunes, Google Play
Tags: app, audio, mobilepostcross, music, playlist, playlists, rdio, shazam, software, spotify, update
Nicki Minaj and Jason Statham are getting their own mobile games
Hip-hop fans have had a lot to deal with lately: Dr. Dre shelved Detox, there’s that whole Meek Mill and Drake feud that’s spilling out all over Twitter and Run the Jewels might not be hitting your town on this fall’s tour. There’s a bright spot, though: Nicki Minaj is getting her own game courtesy of the folks behind Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Glu Mobile announced that Minaj has lent her likeness, voice and creative directorship exclusively to the company for a game expected to launch next summer. Also joining the lady who kissed a girl and liked it is The Transporter himself, Jason Statham.
Sniper X: Kill Confirmed launches sometime this fall and promises the same vague features as Glu’s other in-development games thus far: name, likeness and a celebrity voice. But at least we know that it’s a first-person shooter. If you’d rather not wait to see if it’s just garbage littered with microtransactions designed to bleed your bank account dry, maybe give the excellent Hitman: Sniper from Eidos a run instead.
[Image credit: Getty Images for BET]
Via:
The Verge
Source:
Glu Mobile (1), (2)
Tags: gaming, glu, GluMobile, hiphop, jasonstatham, katyperry, mobile, mobilegaming, mobilepostcross, mobuile, music, nickiminaj, sniperxkillconfirmed, vanitygames
March of Empires: an immersive online multiplayer strategy title by Gameloft
There’s plenty of strategy war games to choose from in the Google Play Store, but I must accept most of them offer nothing unique. Those looking for a more immersive and complex experience will soon have a new major option. Gameloft has just announced March of Empires, a massive multiplayer online title that is looking quite stunning.
March of Empires is still based on a system that is similar to many other strategy games, it just happens to further expand in most departments. You start off by selecting what type of ruler you will be: a Highland King, a Northen Czar or a Desert Sultan. The user will then start off with a castle and a small piece of land, where he can build and enhance a bevy of structures, each with its own duties and benefits.
That all sounds pretty standard for this type of games, but things get very interesting once you advance and start digging deeper into the realm. March of Empires allows you to expand your area as you grow, but this also means more land to protect, and resources to use. As you can see in the video above, the land is also huge! There’s plenty to explore and conquer, that’s for sure.
Taking a look at the alliance system, we can also see it is quite complex and expanded. Claiming and defending areas requires group effort, and alliance members help the group get more influence points, taking them up the hierarchy of alliances. Speaking about battles, they are quite interesting. As the name entails, March of Empires uses a formation battle system that will require strength, upgrades and strategy. Like everything else in this game, victory will be decided by a long list of factors. Some characters are weaker against specific types of enemies, for example.
The weather is also constantly changing, and it affects certain aspects of the game. For example, your research advances faster when it’s winter, likely because people stay indoors studying more.
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The game does seem more advanced than the mobile competition, but you will not be able to enjoy it too soon. Gameloft has only announced it, but the game will become available for Android and iOS “later this year”. For now all you can do is pre-register for the game in the Google Play Store. And don’t worry, March of Empires will be free to play, with in-app purchases available.
Are any of you thinking of playing it? I personally can’t wait to test it. I love the level of complexity and the amount of factors it takes into consideration. It just may be the strategy game we have all been waiting for!
AIVAnet 