Meerkat want you to share polls and pictures in your stream
The Meerkat team isn’t done envisioning features that might give its live streaming app an edge over Twitter’s Periscope — not by a long shot. It’s rolling out updates for Android and iOS that let you both poll your viewers and share pictures, making it easy to ask a question (we can imagine a lot of “what should I do next?” streams) or recount some of your earlier adventures. You’ll also see live hashtags that help you both widen your audience and keep tabs on what’s trending. These additions probably won’t have you ditching Periscope if you’re a committed user, but they might just tip the balance if you’re not sure what to use for your broadcasts.
[Image credit: Matthias Hiekel/AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under:
Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Via:
Meerkat (Twitter)
Source:
App Store, Google Play, Meerkat (Medium)
Tags: android, ios, lifeonair, livestream, livestreaming, meerkat, mobilepostcross, streaming
Google introduces a new logo
What started out as nothing more than a humble search engine, Google has grown to into one of the most powerful forces on the web, reaching its hands into just about every market including mobile, email, maps, web browsing, and so much more. Most recently, Google also saw a big change in its structure with the introduction of a parent company called Alphabet. To celebrate this evolution, Google has released a video showcasing its accomplishments over the years, while also outing a brand new logo.
As it has been from the company’s beginning, the logo is still the name “Google” but the styling has been considerably revamped. The new look is much more modern and has a material design-esque air to it.
Here’s Google’s official reasoning behind the changes and an explanation of how the new logo will help improve the Google experience — regardless of whether you’re using it on a PC, tablet, phone, car, or elsewhere:
These days, people interact with Google products across many different platforms, apps and devices—sometimes all in a single day. You expect Google to help you whenever and wherever you need it, whether it’s on your mobile phone, TV, watch, the dashboard in your car, and yes, even a desktop!
Today we’re introducing a new logo and identity family that reflects this reality and shows you when the Google magic is working for you, even on the tiniest screens. As you’ll see, we’ve taken the Google logo and branding, which were originally built for a single desktop browser page, and updated them for a world of seamless computing across an endless number of devices and different kinds of inputs (such as tap, type and talk).
It doesn’t simply tell you that you’re using Google, but also shows you how Google is working for you. For example, new elements like a colorful Google mic help you identify and interact with Google whether you’re talking, tapping or typing. Meanwhile, we’re bidding adieu to the little blue “g” icon and replacing it with a four-color “G” that matches the logo.
You can expect the new look to rollout to various products starting today. What do you think of the new logo? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Nest’s third-generation Learning Thermostat is sleeker and smarter than ever
Nest has officially taken the wraps off its third-generation Learning Thermostat. It’s thinner and sleeker than previous models, and also comes with a bigger display.
This new model doesn’t just focus on appearances, though. It comes with a new feature called Farsight that will help to make this thermostat much easier to use. The new Farsight feature will light up the display when you walk into the room, showing you the time or temperature. You can choose from a digital or analog clock if you wish, which is quite the handy addition.
This new Nest Thermostat also brings more temperature sensors to the table, allowing it to learn about your home better than ever before. Like other Nest models, it will know when to heat up or cool down, how drafty your home is, and adjust accordingly.
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See also: Nest unveils the all-new Nest Protect smoke detector
Additionally, this new model will be able to tell you if your furnace is acting up. It will constantly look for unusual shutoff patterns that indicate a persistent problem with your furnace. If anything is out of the ordinary, you’ll get a notification on your connected phone or tablet, as well as on the thermostat screen. Nest says both the first and second-gen products will get this new feature via an update later this year.
If you’re interested, the third-generation Nest Thermostat is now available from nest.com for $249.
Best gear for your next road trip
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.
A road trip can be a memorable adventure, but all adventures require a little planning. At The Wirecutter, we spend dozens of hours on each of our reviews to find the best gear for every part of your life. This year we drove 1,500 miles through four states to bring you our essential recommendations for your next road trip. Here are eight of our favorites.
Smartphone mount
After surveying more than 1,000 Wirecutter readers, and testing about thirty models, the smartphone car mount we recommend for most people is TechMatte’s MagGrip CD Slot ($11). The magnetic mount offers an attractively simple way to position your phone with one hand without having to fight with tension arms or anything else that can be difficult or distracting while on the road. The MagGrip CD Slot fits securely into a car stereo’s CD-player slot, placing the screen at a comfortable position that doesn’t obscure the driver’s view of the road. (You can also get it in a vent-mounted version if you don’t want to give up your CDs yet.)
Power inverter
If you want to keep your non-USB-rechargeable gadgets charged on the road, you’ll need a way to plug them into your car’s 12V electrical system. We had a physicist test three leading models, and he recommended the Bestek 300W MRI3011J2 Power Inverter (about $35). Its two AC outlets output “modified” sine wave alternating current, and while many users report that it works fine with sensitive electronics (including laptops), we had issues with screen flickering when charging a Dell Chromebook (more on this here). The Bestek also has a pair of USB outlets for convenience. If you want to ensure trouble-free charging, get the larger Go Power! GP-SW150-12 Pure Sine Wave Inverter (about $150). It costs a lot more, but it outputs pure sine wave AC just like you’d get from a wall outlet.
Folding blanket
You can spend only so much time in a car without needing to pull over to pause, stretch your legs, and take in the scenery. After considering 38 picnic blankets and testing seven, we think the two-person NEMO Victory Blanket offers the best combination of comfort, durability, and compactness. With a flannel top and a padded waterproof polyurethane underlayer, the Victory is thick enough for you to lie on without feeling every stick and twig underneath you and it feels better to the touch than other fleece-lined competitors.
Tire gauge
Checking your car’s tire pressure (including the spare tire) is like flossing: It’s something we all should do, but don’t. Proper inflation is vital—too much, and you’ll feel every bump and have more difficulty stopping your car. Too little, and your tires will wear faster. After two years of testing, the Accu-Gage 60 PSI with shock protector is our perennial favorite. It was the most accurate and durable model we tested and it has no battery to change so it will always be ready when you need it.
Flare alternative
After testing three top-rated flare alternatives, we suggest the First Alert 9.1.1 LED Emergency Beacons ($25) to keep you safe if you have to pull over to the side of the road. We like the First Alert set because for the price of one high-intensity flare, you get three separate lights that are all crushproof to 20,000 pounds, waterproof, magnetic, and easy to set up and turn on. By putting one on the road (preferably elevated and located about 100 feet before your car), another on the trunk, and another on the hood, you’ll create a very visible early warning for drivers.
GPS unit
For any journey that will take you off the beaten path (and out of your coverage area), we suggest the Garmin nvi 2539LMT. We spent 40 hours testing and researching and found the Garmin’s driving interface easier to follow than anything else currently available, thanks to its smooth, precise automatic zoom. It has a lithium-ion battery that’s good for two hours of operation, which is great if you need to unplug it so you can use your car’s power adapter to charge another device.
Windshield protector sun shade
A sunshade for your windshield is a great investment, which will keep your car cooler in summer. We like the $15 X-Shade, which we found to have the best combination of low cost, decent coverage, and ease of setup of all the shades we tested. The X-Shade comes compressed in a circular carrying case about 10 inches in diameter. When you take it out, the shade opens to create a 60-by-31-inch rectangle, enough coverage for most small to midsize car and truck windshields.
Instant camera
Escape the digital world for a moment and capture your memories of the trip with some analog charm. The best instant film camera we’ve found after extensive testing and research is the Fujifilm Instax Mini 50S (about $95). This easy-to-use model takes better photos than most instant cameras we tested—especially if you know how to take advantage of its manual controls like exposure compensation. Also important, Instax film is still widely available and easy to find.
Some of these picks may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.
Filed under:
Cameras, Misc, GPS, Peripherals, Transportation
Tags: accu-gage, bestek, blanket, firstalert, flare, fujifilm, Garmin, instantcamera, nemo, partner, powerinverter, RoadTrip, roadtrips, smartphonemount, syndicated, techmatte, thewirecutter, TireGauge, wirecutter, X-Shade
LG will upgrade your old webOS TV with some fresh features
If you’re still rocking a first-generation webOS TV and regret that you didn’t hold out for a webOS 2.0 set, don’t worry — you’ll soon catch up in some respects. LG is promising a Value Pack Upgrade that gives your webOS 1.0 TV four core features from 2.0, including favorite channels in the launcher, improved search, instant input detection and quick settings. You should also see overall boosts to ease of use and performance. The pack isn’t the same as a full-on webOS 2.0 upgrade, but it might alleviate your early adopter’s remorse when it starts rolling out on September 21st.
Filed under:
Home Entertainment, HD, LG
Source:
LG Newsroom
Tags: hdpostcross, lg, smarttv, television, tv, upgrade, webos
Android Studio tutorial for beginners
Android is a very good platform to develop on. Google has spent a lot of time and energy to make things as easy as possible. Succeeding Eclipse as the main IDE, Android Studio has come along way since its introduction in 2014. Here’s how to use it.
The Basics
Android Studio replaced Eclipse as the main IDE for Android development in 2014. With this change Google has revamped the way developers can take advantage of all the Android development tools.
One of these improvements is the way setting up a new project works. It has never been easier to set up a new project, just click File>New>New Project and Android Studio will step you through exactly what you need to get started. Once this step is completed, click on File>New Module to create the actual Graphical User Interface of the app. This creates a new Module with a few folders and other files. Starting with the “manifests” folder which holds the AndroidManifest.xml. The file holds basic information including the name of the app that shows up on the device and any permissions that you define. Here is a sample AndroidManifest.xml:
This is the AndroidManifest.xml that Google provides when you make a new module. The java folder hosts the java classes needed to make the app work, these can get very complex depending on what you want to accomplish. The “Hello World!” application only has 37 lines of code. Under the “res” folder you will find any images that are needed as well as icons and the layout XMLs. The “activity_main.xml” controls the content and design of the main activity.
Android Studio has a user interface that allows you to dragged and dropped different UI items into place on the activity, or if you prefer you can add the items straight in the code. Under the “values” folder there is the ability to change themes for the activity, the default is “android:Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar” which provides a white background and a gray action bar.
What is Gradle?
Gradle is a build automation tool that sets out to be easier than traditional XML based project configurators and was made for large projects. One benefit is that it knows what parts of the build-tree are up to date, so those parts do not have to be re-executed. Gradle is written in Java and Groovy, which makes it relatively easy to do the basic things needed for an application. Gradle was introduced in 2007, but has only been used for Android since the release of Android Studio. Note that each module in a project will have its own Gradle file. Gradle provides an easy way to configure app details including build version and SDK version. A Gradle file will look something like this:
Just like the Android Manifest, this can get more complicated, especially if dealing with an Android Wear module as well as a phone module. In a Gradle file you can configure the SDK versions needed for your app, the app version and the ProGuard options. ProGuard has a lot of benefits including the ability to obfuscate and shrink the code in the application, making the overall footprint smaller, more efficient, and harder to reverse engineer. However, ProGuard is not compatible with every app. In my experience developing for Android Wear, ProGuard will not work if the watch is pulling the weather from the phone. This may just be on my end but I haven’t found a workaround to get ProGuard to work.
The Android SDK, AVD Manager and ADM
The Android SDK includes all the necessary libraries and files for Android Developers to get started. What is nice about Android Studio is that the SDK is built right in and is easy to access by just clicking a button on the top toolbar. The items beside the SDK Manager icon include the Android Virtual Device Manager and Android Device Monitor. The AVD Manager allows you to set up Android virtual devices to test apps on. You can configure just about anything from the device size to the instruction set architecture. If you select an Intel x86_64 instruction set architecture you can run the AVD in something known as “fast virt mode”, this uses Intel’s Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (HAXM) which allows for a very smooth experience when running an AVD. The Android Device Monitor allows the user to monitor everything that is happening on the device at any given time, it acts like a turbocharged LogCat with a graphical user interface essentially, this makes it very easy to debug apps and see what outside sources may be conflicting.
How to run an application in Android Studio
With the tools mentioned above it is extremely easy to run and manage applications. To run an application just click the green arrow in the taskbar, this will run Gradle to make sure there are no errors then pull up the device menu. From here you can select what device you want the app to run on, whether it be an AVD or a physical device. Projects with one module will default to that module, but a module will have to be chosen when there are more than one. An extra dialog box will pop up and let the user choose a module they want to run. When the app is running you can check the LogCat or ADM to make sure everything is running right.
How to compile and export a signed APK
Once the application performs like it should the next step is to export it. This is a fairly simple process. Click Build>Generate Signed APK… and a box will pop up, select the correct module then create a new keystore. A keystore is a binary certificate that is needed when making a release build. It is recommended to work with debug versions of the app until the app is ready for release. The option to change to a release build is in the project’s manifest by adding and setting “android:debuggable” to “false” or by just selected “release” in the dialog box when generating the signed APK. Once finish is clicked Android Studio will generate a signed APK file to the destination specified, this APK can be used like any normal APK by just installing it on a device or can be used to put an application on the Google Play Store. The APK must be signed and must have been generated as a release build to upload to the Play Store. Note: If the application is an Android Wear app, the phone module will need to be exported, not the watch module, with a few lines added to the Gradle file the wear module will be included in the application with the mobile module.
Wrap-up
Android Studio makes life a lot easier when developing for Android. With tools like the Android Virtual Device Manager and Android Device Monitor it has never been easier to make sure the application runs just right in any scenario. Gradle makes it easy to configure the application details without being overly complicated as well as making sure there are no errors in the code. Android development has never been more easy and fun, with just a few steps and a little work anything is possible. Here is the link to grab Android Studio.
Instagram adds more Direct messaging features
A couple of years ago, Instagram launched Instagram Direct, a built-in messaging system that lets users share photos or videos with each other — either one-on-one or in groups of up to 15 people. Now, with over 85 million monthly users, it’s time for Instagram Direct to get an update. That’s finally happening today with a few new features, which include threaded messaging and a way to share Instagram content as Direct messages.
Threaded messaging is fairly self-explanatory — instead of having to start a new message every time you want to send a photo or video to someone, you can go ahead and send them right in an existing conversation. You can also now snap a quick response photo in the thread itself and name your messaging groups if you want to differentiate one Direct message group from another.
As for the kinds of photos and videos you can send, that previously only included your own content. Now, however, you can also share pretty much anything you see on Instagram — perhaps a funny picture your friend took at a party or a video of cute kitten — as a Direct message. You can do so by tapping a curved arrow (it’s located right next to the heart and comment icons) underneath the Instagram post. This will prompt open a Direct message window. Simply enter in who you want to get the message, hit send, and away you go. On the recipients end, when they see the sent image, they can tap it to view the original post. Aside from individual Instagram posts, you can share hashtag and location pages too.
And don’t worry about people sharing any of your private photos — your privacy settings will remain intact. Only those who are permitted to see the image will be able to see it, regardless of who the sender shared it with.
So if you’re one of the 85 million people who are into Instagram Direct — or maybe you want to try it out now that you know its new features — the latest Instagram update will be available on both Android and iOS starting today.
Filed under:
Facebook
Tags: facebook, instagram, instagramdirect
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 making its way to Sprint on September 3rd
Samsung’s newest high-end tablet, the Galaxy Tab S2, is coming to Sprint on Thursday, September 3rd. It will be available in select stores and online for $648 without a two-year contract, or for $548 with a service agreement. You can also choose to go the Sprint Easy Pay route, which will let well-qualified buyers purchase the tablet for $0 down and $27 per month for 24 months.
If you need a refresher, the Galaxy Tab S2 features a 9.7-inch Super AMOLED display with 2048 x 1536 resolution, an Exynos 5433 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage and microSD expansion up to 128GB. It also sports a big 5870mAh battery, an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 2.1MP front-facer and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.
See also: Impressions: The Galaxy Tab S2 is a curious “top tier” tablet
In case you aren’t keen on purchasing a 4G LTE-capable tablet, Samsung recently opened up pre-orders for the Wi-Fi variant. The 8.0-inch tablet will cost you $399.99 with 32GB on-board storage, while the 9.7-inch model will cost you $100 more with the same storage.
‘Star Wars Battlefront’ multiplayer test starts in early October
You won’t have to wait until November to find out whether Star Wars Battlefront‘s large-scale online conflicts are all they’re cracked up to be. EA and DICE have announced that Battlefront‘s multiplayer beta will launch in early October for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PCs. This test run will include an epic 40-player Hoth battle, a two-versus-many fight on Tatooine and an as-yet-unexplained Drop Zone mode. At the same time, you should get a Companion Experience mobile app that includes both a card game as well as helper tools for Battlefront itself. It sounds like exciting stuff, although here’s hoping that EA has learned its lessons from past betas — you don’t want to have your childhood dreams crushed by server connection problems.
Filed under:
Gaming
Via:
The Verge
Source:
StarWars.com
Tags: battlefront, dice, ea, gaming, playstation4, ps4, starwars, starwarsbattlefront, videogames, windows, xboxone
Moto X Pure Edition preorders start US tomorrow, UK Moto X Style to arrive September 21st?
After plenty of hinting that the Moto X Pure Edition would arrive September 3rd, Motorola has finally confirmed the launch plans for its latest flagship. Those interested in the Moto X Pure Edition will have the opportunity to start pre-ordering the phone from the Moto Maker tomorrow, September 2nd.
The entry-model Moto X Pure Edition will set consumers back just $399, though you can expect to pay more for higher storage tiers or for more premium material choices in the Moto Maker. There’s no word on exactly when the phone will start shipping, but many times these types of pre-orders don’t require much of a wait. Hopefully we’ll get more clarification tomorrow.
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What makes the Moto X Pure Edition, known outside of the US as the Moto X Style, so exciting isn’t just the pricing or its exceptional specs. What really stands out here is that the US version will have just one variant. That means if you buy the Moto X Pure to use on Verizon and decide to leave for AT&T, no problem. Want to go from US Cellular to Sprint? Sure. As far as we know, all major carriers (including the 4th biggest carrier, US Cellular) will play nicely with this phone, as should any compatible MVNOs and probably even a number of even smaller regional carriers.
For those outside of the US waiting for the Moto X Style, we also have a bit of news on that front. Clove UK is now taking orders for the Moto X Style in black or white with an estimated shipping date of September 21st. Whether Clove is acting on official information remains unseen, but we wouldn’t be too surprised to see the Moto X Style reach other retailers and carriers sometime in later September.
What do you think, anyone planning on picking up the Moto X Pure Edition (aka Moto X Style)? Let us know what you think in the comments.
AIVAnet 