Deal: Moto 360 with metal band on sale for just $150 from Best Buy ($50 off)
Motorola just recently dropped the Moto 360 down to $149.99 for all leather band models, and metal band versions of the smartwatch saw a price drop to $199.99. If you’ve been waiting for the metal band variant to drop down even further than that, you’re in luck. Right now, you can pick up a Moto 360 with a metal band in both 23 and 18mm variants from Best Buy for just $149.99. Considering that’s $50 less than what Motorola is charging for these devices, this is quite the steal.
Moto 360 in video
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Before you buy, keep in mind that a new version of the smartwatch may launch sometime soon. Just a few days ago Motorola posted (and quickly removed) a video featuring a render of the next-generation device. A few days before that, a mystery Motorola smartwatch passed through the FCC, which signals that a new Moto 360 could be on its way sometime soon.
Still, though, I’d personally say $150 is quite the deal for the best looking Android Wear smartwatch on the market. If you’d like some more information on the watch before you buy, feel free to check out our full review to see just what you can get for $150. Head to the link below to pick one up if you’re interested!
PureGear Galaxy S6 Edge case review
Many of us desire ample phone protection but do not want to have to carry around a brick. So we search for a case that can meet us somewhere in the middle, and just maybe, one that reaches far to either extreme. PureGear is a phone case company that is up to the task, and I was given both of its Slim Shell Galaxy S6 Edge cases to test out.
Design
The Slim Shell case comes in two flavors. One is completely clear and the other is clear but with a black rim. A nice touch on the black rim is that there is a clear strip that runs through the middle of it, giving you a peak of the hardware underneath. The clear case has a similar lining also, but it’s much more subtle because the entire case is clear.
All but the perimeter of the cases are hard, rigid plastic. The frame is stiff but bendable TPU material, which allows you to get the phone into the case.
These are very slim-fitting cases. The added bulk is pretty much negligible. There are three dots (two on the bottom corners and one above the camera slot) that serve as risers, to keep the back of the case from rubbing on whatever surface it’s laying on.
The power and volume button stick out of the frame slightly to make them easy to locate and press. I really like how PureGear did the case buttons. They provide more area than the stock Galaxy S6 buttons do and are neither too sensitive or hard to press. They also retain the sleekness, with a metallic finish.
There’s not much to say about the camera slot, it’s just an open space for the camera module, flash, and sensors. There’s a little tab that runs from the top right corner with the PureGear logo.
It’s a stylish way to put the company’s name on the case. I just wish PureGear would’ve left it at this instead of putting its name along the bottom of the case. Some folks may prefer a cleaner look.
Functionality
The cases have as snug as a fit as you would want. They’re maybe even too snug. These won’t be cases that you will like to frequently switch out. You have to pry somewhat, and they rub against the power/volume buttons too much for my comfort when doing so. But on the flip-side, the tight fit means that the case won’t wobble when it’s equipped, and there won’t be gaps that allow little debris to find its way in between the phone and case.
Despite the slimness of the cases, they still appear to provide plenty of protection. This is especially true for the frame, where there is considerable thickness shielding the phone.
To protect the front of your phone, there is a slight lip on the top and bottom over the screen.
I don’t have fear that the phone wouldn’t survive drops. However, I can’t express the same feeling for the case, at least regarding the preservation of its clean appearance. With my causal use, I found that the plastic backing tends to scratch easy. I’ve only set the phone down on wood surfaces and a multitude of hairline scratches began appearing more and more.
They’re occurring on the center of the cases, so I’m assuming that those little risers on the top and bottom aren’t suitable enough.
Another annoyance is small, warping effects that occur as the back of the phone touches the inner case plastic.
I initially thought that some moisture got in the case when I put it on. I then wiped it and but it back on, but I got the same result.
As expected, the case honors the shape of the Galaxy S6 Edge, and gives some clearance on the sides for usability of the curved screen.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’m satisfied with the PureGear Slim Shell cases for my Galaxy S6 Edge. The fit is secure and snug. I have peace of mind that my precious device is protected well enough, all while the slim form-factor is retained.
However, I do stress that PureGear makes improvements to the case’s backing. Scratches happen too easily, and although subtle in appearance, they disrupt the clean look. Maybe a more scratch-resistant plastic or finish should be looked into. And while at it, that weird warping effect that occurs at some points of contact between the phone’s glass back and the plastic should be addressed.
PureGear Galaxy S6 Edge Slim Shell case product page
The post PureGear Galaxy S6 Edge case review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Fossil releases Android Wear smartwatch with flat-tire along with other wearables
At IDF today, Fossil unveiled an Android Wear smartwatch alongside other Intel powered wearables.
Fossil has been around the industry for a while but this is the first time the company announced hardware. The company discussed its plans to release a connected bracelet, a connected watch and perhaps the most exciting of the three a Android Wear smartwatch. The company thought it was cool not to give out any details regarding specifications for the upcoming wearables. Instead, it showed off the wearables themselves rather than going on about the internals. So far all we know is that all three wearables will be powered by Intel.
Fossil’s Android Wear powered smartwatch will feature a round display including a multitude of materials and different band options. One could expect to see Silver and Gold color options as well as leather and metal band choices. The face of the watch can very much be related to that of the Moto 360 smartwatch. It’s round in shape and appears to have the same black bottom or flat tire it’s often called.
Fossil says we can expect to see the wearables hit the shelves just in time for the holiday season.
Source: Engadget
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Apple Watch Hacked to Display Custom Watch Faces
Apple doesn’t allow developers to create custom watch faces for the Apple Watch, preferring to maintain control over the general look of the device, but that hasn’t stopped iOS developer Hamza Sood from tinkering with the Apple Watch and getting a custom watch face uploaded onto the device.
In a tweet posted this afternoon, Sood shared a video of a custom animated watch face with multiple color options.
After some haxx… Custom watch faces on Apple Watch!
Watch face source code is on GitHub:
https://t.co/7ZvOz8nK34 pic.twitter.com/nQGJKlp6kt
— Hamza Sood (@hamzasood) August 18, 2015
The watch face source code that was used to create the custom watch face has been made available on GitHub and will require watchOS 2. Earlier this summer, Sood also joined several other developers in efforts to hack watchOS 2 to run truly native apps like Canabalt and a Flappy Bird clone.
It is not clear if Apple has plans to allow third-party developers to create watch faces for the Apple Watch in the future, but it’s possible that as watchOS and the Apple Watch mature, Apple will be less restrictive. For now, hacks like Sood’s are the only way to get custom watch faces on the device.
German aerospace agency wants hypersonic flights by the 2030s
Germany’s aerospace agency, the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), is reviving a decade-old plan to develop hypersonic passenger flights aboard suborbital space planes. This rocket-propelled vehicle, dubbed the SpaceLiner, could carry up to 100 passengers and make the trek between Europe and Australia in under 90 minutes. This isn’t the first time the DLR has hinted at making such a space plane, but now the company is ready to make the SpaceLiner a reality within the next two decades, as project lead Martin Sippel recently explained to Aviation Week.
The vehicle would operate much like the old Space Shuttle — had the old Shuttle been equipped with an ejectable crew cabin capable of flight independent of the rest of the vehicle. The plane part would launch vertically aboard a reusable rocket engine, detach once its at cruising altitude, then glide back through the atmosphere at Mach 20 (that’s 4.3 miles per second or Koro Sensei’s maximum speed) and land like a regular plane. The rocket engine, conversely, would be snagged by a tow aircraft in midair before landing autonomously.
“The point-to-point passenger market already exists and is growing,” Sippel told the publication. “We have several hundred million passengers traveling intercontinental distances each year. But even if the share will only be 0.2 percent… from a space perspective that’s a potentially huge impact.” And not only could the SpaceLiner be used to ferry the uber-rich, it could just as easily be adapted to soft-launch satellites into orbit. “We could increase hundredfold the number of launches and, as it is a reusable vehicle designed for between 150 and 300 flights, you have serial production of engines,” Sippel continued, “If you have 11 engines per vehicle then you would build 2,000 engines per year or so. That’s a huge production run, and that was the motivation.”
Don’t expect to see this in the skies above any time soon. The project carries an estimated $33 billion price tag and the first hardware likely won’t be ready until at least 2030. Still, with the efforts of companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, not to mention defense contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, humans are going to be cruising around the mesosphere before you know it.
[Image Credit: DLR]
Filed under:
Science
Via:
Ars Technica
Source:
DLR, Aviation Week
Tags: assasinationclassroom, australia, DLR, europe, european, germany, launches, rockets, space, spaceplanes, transportation
Apple refutes survey that says Apple Music users are jumping ship
Apple Music’s panoply of bugs, cluttered user interface and overall instability has given the service a bit of a bad reputation in its first few months, but that doesn’t appear to be driving away users. In a statement given to The Verge, Apple says that 78 percent of users who signed up for Apple Music are still using the service. This statement was meant to refute a study from research firm MusicWatch. According to the company’s survey of 5,000 US consumers, 48 percent of those that tried Apple Music had stopped using it, despite the fact that it’s free through at least September.
MusicWatch’s survey also made it seem like more users could drop off before long, as well: 61 percent of Apple Music users surveyed turned off the service’s auto-renew feature.This study comes just a few weeks after Apple Senior VP Eddy Cue said that more than 11 million customers had tried Apple Music, a number that “thrilled” the company.
Of course, as Apple itself has shown, one independent survey doesn’t tell the whole story of Apple Music’s fortunes. That’s something that MusicWatch itself is quick to admit — managing partner Russ Crupnick told Engadget that these results were best viewed as a snapshot of a rather unconventional launch. “It’s a new way to go to market in terms of the free trial,” Crupnick said. “I don’t think these results are necessarily a reflection of the quality of the service.” He also cautioned against making assumptions about those 48 percent of Apple Music users that stopped using it. “Even those who said they aren’t using [Apple Music] at the moment, that doesn’t mean they never will,” Crupnick said. “Some of those folks could come back or they may just be more casual users.”
Source:
MusicWatch (BusinessWire), The Verge
Tags: apple, applemusic, music, spotify, streaming, StreamingMusic, survey
Intel announced it’s partnering with Google to create Project Tango dev kits with RealSense camera sensors
Today Intel held its developers forum and announced a partnership between itself and Google. Intel will combine its RealSense 3D camera sensors with help from Google to design a new Project Tango developer kit for smartphones.
Google first introduced Project Tango a few years ago and is looking to make the next step. Google’s 3D mapping initiative will be joined by Intel’s new RealSense camera module to create a kit for developers. You may recall Intel’s RealSense camera which has been used in many laptop computers up until this point.
The new device is expected to include a near 6-inch display and will be available for developers to get more hands on with the mapping technology. No further details about the upcoming kit were mentioned at the conference thus indicating the project may still be in its beginning stages. Intel and Google are hoping to send out the kits exclusively for developers by the end of 2015.
Source: Engadget
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Samsung’s new fast wireless charging pad costs $69.99
With the release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, Samsung introduced a plethora of new accessories. The main accessory being the company’s new wireless charging pad.
During Samsung’s conference they announced the new wireless charging pad accessory. The company promises it will bring fast charging and wireless charging together. Meaning this new charging pad is faster than the previous while keeping the same elegant design. The company says it will only take 2 hours to charge the Note 5 or S6 Edge+ from 0% to full. Which is a great improvement over the previous model which charged the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in 2.5 hours.
The new charging pad costs $69,99 and is available in Black or White color options. You can check out the charger at Samsung’s website.
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Telltale Games releases a new trailer for Tales from the Borderlands Episode 4 – Escape Plan Bravo
If you’ve been waiting to get a sneak peek at the next chapter of Telltale Games’ Tales from the Borderlands series, you’re in luck. The video game publisher just released a handful of game screenshots about a week ago, and now we’re getting our first look at the new episode, entitled “Escape Plan Bravo”, in trailer form.
Episode 4 of the series will probably be an intense one, as both Rhys and Fiona are forced to continue the search for the Vault beacon at gunpoint. Take a look at the full description below to get a good sense of what this episode is about:
In this penultimate episode of the season, captured by Vallory and her goons, Rhys and Fiona are forced to continue the search for the Vault beacon – at gunpoint. The beacon is on the Hyperion moon base – Helios – while our heroes are on Pandora… so there’s the pesky cold void of death known as ‘space’ to overcome. Even with assistance from a familiar face, and with a worryingly helpful Handsome Jack hitching a ride in Rhys’ head, getting on board the ominous ‘H’ is going to take every drop of guile, and quite possibly all the spunk you’ve got.
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Tales from the Borderlands Episode 4 – Escape Plan Bravo is now available for PC/Mac, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 from today. It will arrive for Xbox One and Xbox 360 on Wednesday, August 19th, and will make its way to Android and iOS on Thursday, August 20th. We’ll be sure to remind you when the game launches for mobile devices on Thursday. For now, check out the trailer attached at the top of this post to get a sneak peek of the new episode.
CarPlay Praised as Wider Rollout Begins, but Lacks Smarts of Google Maps and Google Now
Despite being announced just over two years ago, CarPlay is only now becoming a built-in option in select new 2015 and 2016 vehicles by Chevrolet, Honda, Volkswagen and other car manufacturers. The in-dash system enables drivers to use Siri for hands-free access to Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts and third-party apps such as Spotify, Rdio, iHeartRadio and MLB At Bat.
CarPlay touchscreen on dashboard of 2016 Corvette Stingray (Image: WSJ)
With CarPlay starting to become a feature car buyers will be considering, Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal has published a timely review of CarPlay after testing the dashboard software inside a 2016 Corvette Stingray on a New York City road trip between midtown Manhattan and Rockaway Beach in Queens. Overall, she offered praise for CarPlay, but noted the service “isn’t a complete joyride” and lacks the useful functionality of some Google services.
http://video-api.wsj.com/api-video/player/iframe.html?guid=5A12160D-B750-43CE-9F2F-BA0D32F1F1FD
Stern first noted a positive experience using Siri to control Apple Music and make requests:
But DJ Siri to the rescue! All week she has accurately taken my requests, playing them via Apple Music (but not Spotify or any other third-party apps). “Siri, Play ‘Little Red Corvette.’ ” “Siri, play me Madonna’s top songs.” “Siri, who sings this song?” She does it all—though I wouldn’t object if she were a tad faster.
She also gave high marks to CarPlay’s messaging capabilities and Siri’s accuracy at transcribing words:
Text-message integration is where CarPlay feels miles ahead of any competition from car makers or even Google. […] Siri was, surprisingly, better at helping me respond than Google’s built-in voice assistant. Siri accurately transcribed my words nearly every time. (She forgivably struggled a bit when I was driving with the roof down.)
On the contrary, Stern found Apple Maps to be inferior to Google Maps at providing routing based on traffic conditions:
When I got in the car to go to my friend’s baby naming, Apple Maps routed me through midtown Manhattan, showing a blissfully traffic-ignorant blue line all the way to the destination. Google Maps, however, knew that Park Avenue was closed. It routed me to the FDR Drive, on Manhattan’s east side. Ignoring Apple, and choosing Google’s route, I got there on time.
The review concluded that Apple’s services are “stuck in the slow lane” compared to Google Maps and Google Now:
Siri also struggles when it comes to finding businesses. Sure, she can identify the closest gas stations, and she knows mega-retailers like Starbucks and Target. But when I told her to go to my favorite coffee shop in my New Jersey hometown, she found it… in Limerick, Ireland. Google knew what I was talking about right away.
Google Now might have even guessed I wanted to go there, even before I searched. Culling information from your email, calendar and Web searches, Google’s prediction-based assistant swings into action when you plug your Android phone into an Android Auto-equipped car. In addition to displaying core information like weather and reminders, it anticipates your next destination.
Nevertheless, Stern described CarPlay as the future of in-car technology and said that, if she were in the market for a car right now, she would add Apple’s in-car software to her want list. The full-length review is a worthwhile read and provides a side-by-side comparison of CarPlay’s maps, messaging, music, voice control and home screen features with Google’s rival in-dash system Android Auto.
AIVAnet 