UK advert police explain to vloggers what an advert is
Vloggers, bloggers and social media celebs have captive, loyal audiences that make them prime partners for marketers. Like it or not, most new media stars dabble in advertising of one form or another — you can’t live on YouTube kickbacks alone now, can you? — but it’s not always easy to tell regular content from promotions. Not all product plugs are as blatant as Kim Kardashian’s recent Instagram mishap, for instance. According to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), vloggers and kin have been seeking clear rules on what constitutes promotional content, and how it needs to be labelled. And to help them play by the rules, the ASA’s Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) has today published new “vlogging advertising guidance,” also known as the “common sense handbook.”
The guidance, intended to clarify the rules rather than bring new ones in, covers the most common promotional scenarios new media juggernauts engage in: from product placement, to sponsored content, to full-blown advertorials. In every case, the message to internet celebs and the marketers that work with them is clear, and pretty obvious. Basically, where content contains an advertising element, it needs to be transparently labeled as such. Vloggers and the like are rarely pulled up by the ASA for misrepresenting promotional content, but the guidance should help new and established players alike from repeating indiscretions like the YouTube Oreo “Lick Race” scandal of last year.
[Image credit: YouTube / AmazingPhil]
Filed under:
Internet
Via:
The Guardian
Source:
Advertising Standards Authority
Tags: ads, advertising, AdvertisingStandardsAuthority, adverts, blog, ProductPlacement, promotional, socialmedia, vlog
‘iPad Pro’ With Force Touch-Enabled Stylus Predicted to Enter Mass Production By October
Apple’s long-rumored 12.9-inch “iPad Pro” will enter mass production sometime in September or October, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The analyst also believes that the larger-screened iPad will come with a Force Touch-enabled stylus accessory for users to more easily navigate the increased surface area of the tablet.
The latest rumors for the iPad Pro point towards the device being an unlikely candidate for next month’s iPhone-centered media event, with a mid-to-late fall launch date somewhat lining up with Kuo’s prediction today.
‘Duke Nukem’ franchise ownership finally settled
A dispute that left ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise in limbo has officially been settled. In a statement, Gearbox Software affirmed that it’s the “full and rightful owner of the Duke Nukem franchise.” Previous rights-holder and creator 3D Realms (aka Apogee Software) relinquished all claims, saying “to secure the future of Duke, 3D realms has agreed with Gearbox that a single home serves (it) best.” That’s a far cry from the rancor between the parties after Gearbox launched the lawsuit in 2014, however. Gearbox assumed it had bought the full franchise rights from 3D Realms, until 3D Realms announced that it was creating a new title called Duke Nukem Survivor.
To secure the future of Duke, 3D realms has agreed with Gearbox that a single home serves (it) best.
At the time, 3D Realms said “it is our position that (we) retain the right to develop the tentatively titled Duke Nukem Survivor game…. (and) that the trademark for Duke Nukem was never assigned to Gearbox.” Caught in the middle of the whole thing was 3D Realms’ new parent, Interceptor, which said “when (we) acquired a license to develop Duke Nukem Mass Destruction (Duke Nukem Survivor) from 3D Realms, we did so in good faith and were not aware of any conflict.”
News of a settlement first leaked in May, but the statements today are the first official confirmation. There’s no word on whether Gearbox plans to develop a new Duke Nukem game, considering that the last title, Duke Nukem Forever, bombed. The franchise is probably better known now as a cultural anachronism and shorthand phrase for “never-ending development.”
Filed under:
Gaming
Source:
Gearbox Software
Tags: 3DRealms, DukeNukem, interceptor-entertainment, Lawsuit, Settlement, Survivor
Xiaomi announces MIUI 7: here’s what’s new
Following its Chinese announcement the other day, Xiaomi has now lifted the lid on the global version its latest Android-based operating system – MIUI 7. While perhaps not as drastic of an update as some users were hoping for, there are a number of useful features to get to grips with. Let’s delve on in.
Opening up the announcement, Xiaomi has gone big with customization for MIUI 7, introducing four new system designs for users to pick from, each of which can be tweaked with additional colors. There’s also a new MUSE engine for designers that can be used to create new MIUI themes, apparently without the need for complex coding.
MIUI 7 ships with a variety of new themes and users can now create their own too.
If you love to change your wallpapers, Xiaomi’s international wallpaper market should have you covered, with 10 pre-sets available on a daily rotation for now, and more to come. Although this is only available in India right now.
Moving on from customization, Xiaomi seems to have made a big effort to further optimize its customized Android OS, promising faster app loading times, a more responsive feel and longer battery life this time around.
Start-up times have been reduced by lumping the data loading and animation parts into a parallel process. MIUI 7 also appears to feature a new CPU acceleration feature, which boosts CPU speeds for important tasks. I’d imagine this was already part of previous MIUI builds, but perhaps there’s a new governor, although details are a little thin right now.
MIUI 7 also now aligns CPU wake-ups from various apps to take place at once, rather than at their own discretion. This allows for longer sleep periods in between wake-ups and therefore a longer stand-by battery life.
The end result is that the system should respond around 30 percent faster than before, while battery life has been extended by around 10 percent for typical usage. Xiaomi says that this could make its phones last up to 3 hours longer before needing a charge. The video below certainly shows some performance improvements over MIUI 6.
In terms of new features, MIUI 7 adds in a XXL text function to improve readability for a huge range of apps. There’s a new photo album feature to group precious baby pictures into a single album, which can also be linked to your lockscreen background for rolling images. Xiaomi has also introduced a Child Mode, which limits access to emails and messages and offers parents control over apps through a settings menu. One particularly nifty feature is the automatic do-not-disturb option, which uses Xiaomi’s Mi Band to detect when you’re sleeping and sets your phone into DND mode.
Xiaomi is big in India these days and MIUI 7 has a couple of specific features for the country. Along with support for 10 local language variations, MIUI 7 also includes the Visual IVR feature that was promised a while back. Visual IVR allows users to see voice prompt options when calling certain services, to help speed through those automated call centers. The system works with more than 50 Indian partners, including Citibank, ICICI bank, Spicejet, Indigo, Tata Sky, HeroMotoCorp, and more.
Xiaomi has also partnered up with Opera Max to save on mobile data consumption, by using a system wide data compression technology and optimization of audio and video streaming. The data savings apply to any application, including popular services such as YouTube, Instagram, Line, Lazada, among others, and can result in data savings of around 40 percent.
The Data Saver service has been available in China for more than a year, but is now also heading to India, Brasil, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines in September 2015.
Rather than any huge new features, MIUI 7 is a combination of lots of little tweaks and improvements designed to make certain tasks easier. However, there appear to be mixed initial impressions coming from MIUI users.
Visual IVR is briliant #MIUI7 @XiaomiIndia
— _ManojSpeaks (@_IamManoj) August 19, 2015
Not much to look forward to in #MIUI7 except baby photos and mute notifications. Disappointed
— Hardik Kotecha (@Hrkhardik) August 19, 2015
MIUI 7 will be available as a developer (beta) version for the Redmi 1S, Redmi 2, Mi 3/4/4i and Redmi Note 3G/4G beginning August 24th. A full global rollout will likely take place later in the year, but may vary by region.
What do you think about Xiaomi’s latest operating system?
The Android Marshmallow Google Now Launcher is available for download
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The biggest news of the week, naturally, is that after weeks of speculation Android M has finally been announced as Android Marshmallow. With the announcement, the third Android M Developer Preview was released to the masses, and of course, the Android community has been having lots of fun tearing it apart to get to its juiciest bits. The latest addition to the fold is the Android Marshmallow Google Now Launcher, which has been extracted in APK form for anyone who wants to try it out – hit the download link below if you’re interested and have Android 4.1 or higher:
Android Marshmallow Google Now Launcher APK
As far as anyone can tell, there’s really not that much different about the Google Now Launcher as it stands. In fact, the only thing that might interest you are the wallpapers that come with it, but you can also grab them here if you’re not bothered to sideload the new app. Hopefully we’ll be able to get our hands on more Android 6.0 apps in the near future.
What do you think about the Android Marshmallow Google Now Launcher? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: APKMirror via Phone Arena
The post The Android Marshmallow Google Now Launcher is available for download appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
HTC O2 is apparently the name of HTC’s “Hero” phone, could run a Snapdragon 820
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Let’s not beat around the bush: HTC is in some serious trouble. Not even a week ago, the Taiwanese manufacturer cut 15% of its workforce as a cost-saving measure after yet another quarter of loss, a miserable culmination of financial turmoil after the HTC One M9 failed to inspire consumers into buying it. HTC CEO, Cher Wang has already promised to its shareholders that a “Hero” phone is already undergoing development – a complete redesign which will be called the HTC O2. Whether that’s just “O2″ or “O squared” remains to be seen.
The second part of this rumour is that the HTC O2 will be running a Snapdragon 820 processor – this actually helps us place the device’s timeline better as we know the Snapdragon 820 won’t be available till December, meaning that we wouldn’t be seeing the HTC O2 till around the time HTC normally announces a flagship device, i.e. February/March. There will be some similar things about the design of the HTC O2 – for example, it sounds like the device will still have an all-metal body. But given how things have gone for HTC in recent years, they’re likely going to need to make some drastic design changes somewhere.
What do you think about the HTC O2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: MyDrivers via Phone Arena
The post HTC O2 is apparently the name of HTC’s “Hero” phone, could run a Snapdragon 820 appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
NASA releases gorgeous image of Saturn’s moon Dione
NASA today released a new image of Dione, one of Saturn’s many moons, as the spacecraft responsible for the shots moved into the next phases of its assignment. The visible light photograph displays the many craters and ice cliffs on Dione’s surface. The Cassini spacecraft, named for the Italian astronomer who discovered Dione in 1684, has been touring Saturn and its many moons for the last 11 years and has already produced dozens of stunning pictures. Most recently, it completed five flybys of Dione, with the fifth at only 295 miles –the closest distance of the bunch.
This final pass is of particular interest to NASA scientists, who hope that the images of Dione’s north pole will be able to confirm geological activity. The third-densest of Saturn’s 62 moons, Dione is composed primarily of water ice; scientists have seen hints of “active geologic processes” on the moon including a transient atmosphere and evidence of ice volcanoes. Next up, Cassini will begin year-long preparations for its final project which involve it diving repeatedly through the space between Saturn and its rings.
Via:
NASA
Source:
Time
Tags: CassiniSpacecraft, dione, nasa, saturn, space
Microsoft shows off first Windows preview since release
Windows is transitioning from something that you buy once every few years to a service that’s updated on a regular basis. Windows 10 has only been out for a few weeks but already Microsoft’s got the follow-up ready for selected users to test. If you’re a member of the Windows Insider program, you can now get a look at Preview Build 10525 which’ll land on your desktop automatically via Windows Update. The two most notable tweaks enable to you tweak the color of the taskbar as well as greatly improved memory management. On the downside, video playback and internet sharing are broken for now, so if you’re interested in updating, just remember that you do so at your own risk.
Filed under:
Desktops, Laptops, Software, Microsoft
Source:
Microsoft
Tags: Build10525, microsoft, Preview, Windows, Windows10
Skype updated with custom ringtones and instant photo sharing
A new update for Skype has been released to the Play Store, version 5.10, bringing new ways for users to customize their ringtones and a new fast photo forwarding feature, allowing users to share images with their other Skype contacts with just a couple of clicks.
Customized ringtones for individual contacts is a feature that probably should have been implemented a while ago, so it’s great to see the option finally arrive. To assign a ringtone to a contact, head on over to a conversation, tap the options icon in the lower right, select “Ringtone options” and then “Set custom ringtone”.
The second major feature included with v5.10 is photo forwarding. Rather than having to download and re-upload pictures between contacts, it is now possible to simply tap and hold on a photo in an existing Skype conversation and select “Forward photo”. From there, you can pick a new contact to forward the image onto. Pretty handy.
Skype has also been updated with a selection of fixes and other little improvements, including new colored avatars to help tell group chat participants apart. Skype is available for free from the Google Play Store, if you want to try out the latest features for yourself.
Aston plans Tesla-fighting 800-hp electric Rapide
Aston Martin intends to launch an electric version of the Rapide in the next two years, boasting 800 horsepower, all-wheel drive, and a 200-mile range. An electric DBX is also on the way somewhat later. Aston Martin is taking direct aim at the top versions of the Tesla Model S with a plan to launch a battery electric Rapide sedan boasting 800 horsepower, all-wheel drive, and a 200-mile range within the next two years. Company CEO Andy Palmer confirmed the vehicle’s development to Automotive News during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. A test mule to engineer the powertrain was already on the road, Palmer asserted.
The electric Rapide would join the internal combustion version, rather than replace it, and the BEV would likely remain a niche product with just a few hundred per year carrying a price between $200,000 and $250,000. Palmer indicates the model would prioritize performance. “I think that the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode,” he said to Automotive News, taking a swipe at Tesla’s latest upgrade.
Palmer has referenced the electric Rapide before. Earlier this year, he said that power would be a major priority for it. Aston Martin has also received help on the project from an undisclosed Silicon Valley partner, but Palmer said the collaborator wasn’t Tesla.
“If you want to keep making V12 engines, then you’ve got to do something at the opposite end of the spectrum,” Palmer said about the company’s strategy to Automotive News. The Rapide is just the first step in the brand’s electrification, and the DBX is also under development for the next decade in EV, plug-in hybrid, and internal combustion versions. The crossover concept debuted at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show as an EV.
Filed under:
Transportation
Source:
Automotive News
Tags: andy palmer, aston martin, aston martin dbx, aston martin rapide, AstonMartin, autoblog, EV, Rapide, report
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