Oppo R7 Plus reaches the states
Over the weekend, Oppo listed its R7 Plus handset on its online store. It’s up for pre-order in the United States for $499 USD.
The handset is expected to be available by the end of September. That’s when pre-order shipments will go out. The handset features mostly mid-range specifications such as a 6-inch Full-HD display powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset and 3GB of RAM. It will include a 13MP rear-facing camera in addition to an 8MP front-facing snapper for selfies and video chats. The handset will also include an all-new fingerprint scanner built in as well as a 4,100mAh non-removable battery that hopes to last for more than a day on a single charge. It should be noted that the handset doesn’t include US LTE bands.
The Oppo R7 Plus has Android 5.1 Lollipop pre-installed with the company’s signature ColorOS 2.1 on top of it. At the moment, only a gold color option is available for the handset but hopefully we’ll see more make their way in the future.
It might be worth checking out competitors prior to purchasing the handset although right now buyers will get a Bluetooth headset alongside their purchase. To pre-order Oppo’s new handset, hit the source link down below.
Come comment on this article: Oppo R7 Plus reaches the states
First 3D map of Earth’s interior shows where volcanoes come from
It’s no secret that Earth’s volcanoes are the result of magma rising through the planet’s mantle, but have you wondered just where those ‘roots’ run? UC Berkeley can provide an answer. It just created the first-ever detailed 3D map of the Earth’s interior by studying the path of seismic waves. The model shows mantle plumes (where the hot rock flows) starting at the bottom of the core-to-mantle boundary and climbing to the top, where they connect to volcanic hotspots in the Earth’s crust. As it turns out, the plumes don’t take a straight path — they often spread out as they merge with the colder upper mantle. It’s also clear that most of the world’s volcanoes (such as those in the Pacific’s island chains) ultimately come from two large “blobs” of hot rock at the core boundary.
The model isn’t perfect. It didn’t link plumes to some volcanoes, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park. However, it’s good enough to represent the first hard evidence of magma plumes, and there are promises of higher-resolution maps in the future thanks to gravity-sensing satellites. While it’s doubtful that scientists will ever know as much about Earth’s insides as they do about the top layer, this below- longer as mysterious as it once was.
[Image credit: Shutterstock]
Filed under:
Science
Source:
UC Berkeley, Nature
Tags: ctscan, LawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratory, science, UcBerkeley, video, volcano
Firefox creator writes an unofficial, on-point episode of ‘Silicon Valley’
Many in the tech sphere will tell you that HBO’s Silicon Valley is sometimes too accurate in its send-up of the San Francisco Bay Area’s frequently ridiculous startup culture. But how good would it be if someone who actually came from the industry wrote an episode? You’re about to find out. Firefox co-creator Blake Ross has posted an unofficial Silicon Valley screenplay that starts where the second season finished, and it’s clearly the result of someone who’s witnessed startup shenanigans first-hand. Richard has to hire his own CEO replacement, and grapples with the prospect of open-sourcing Pied Piper’s code.
This isn’t the sign of an impending career change. Ross tells our TechCrunch colleagues that he’d be happy to write Silicon Valley, but that’s as far as it goes right now. However, this isn’t necessarily a one-and-done project. Ross is hoping for feedback to see which dialogue works, and he may even write an entire unofficial season before the real show resumes in 8 months. Think of this as one of the more ambitious, informed pieces of fan fiction you’ll ever see — it’s authentic enough that it wouldn’t feel out of place on TV.
Filed under:
Internet, Software
Via:
TechCrunch
Source:
Blake Ross (Facebook)
Tags: blakeross, firefox, hbo, internet, mozilla, screenplay, screenwriting, script, siliconvalley, web
NASA’s Pluto probe starts a year-long data upload
NASA’s New Horizons probe didn’t swing by Pluto just to snap a few photos and run off — it collected a ton of extra data that hasn’t seen the light of day. Well, it’s finally sending that data back to Earth… very, very slowly. The spacecraft has started an upload of “tens of gigabits” of information that, at a pokey 1KB to 4KB per second transfer rate, won’t finish until fall 2016. You’ll get raw photos from New Horizons every Friday, but it could take a long while before astronomers know exactly what they have on their hands. It may be worth the wait, mind you. If NASA’s initial burst of Pluto data was an eye-opener, you can imagine what a year’s worth of info might bring.
Filed under:
Science
Via:
io9
Source:
NASA
Tags: newhorizons, pluto, science, space
Sony drops the price of the Sony Xperia Z5 family not 3 days after pre-orders started
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Price cuts for devices aren’t uncommon on smartphones, but they usually happen many months into the device’s life cycle. For the Sony Xperia Z5 family, the price cuts have come just 3 days after pre-orders opened. The new prices for the three devices are as follows:
- Sony Xperia Z5 Compact – £429 (was £549)
- Sony Xperia Z5 – £549 (was £599)
- Sony Xperia Z5 Premium – £599 (was £699)
The price cuts for the Z5 Compact and Z5 Premium are pretty substantial, but if you’re thinking that the £50 cut on the Xperia Z5 isn’t bad, remember that Sony is estimated to be losing about $26 per phone before the Xperia Z5 family was released, so it can’t be good that they’re discounting the phones already.
We’re assuming the cuts have been prompted by an unexpectedly low number of pre-orders for the Xperia Z5 family, which is kind of sad given that the new camera on all the smartphones is pretty cool, but unsurprising given how far Sony‘s star has fallen of late. It’s also pretty tough for early adopters who jumped on the device as soon as it went live, only for the price to be cut literally days later.
What do you think about Sony cutting prices for the Sony Xperia Z5 family days after pre-orders were opened? Let us know your thoughts in the coments below.
Source: Sony Mobile Shop via Phandroid
The post Sony drops the price of the Sony Xperia Z5 family not 3 days after pre-orders started appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
There’s now a vending machine that dispenses hot french fries
By Kate Taylor, Entrepreneur Staff
In a world where you can buy shoes and cupcakes via vending machine, why not french fries?
Entrepreneurs and students at Wageningen University in the Netherlands have invented a vending machine that serves up fresh batches of french fries and condiments, reports Eater. The machine has the capability to deep fry frozen strips of potato, spitting them out as fresh french fries in about two minutes.
Sadly, the french-fry vending machine is currently only a prototype, with the single functioning machine on campus at Wageningen University. However, developers say they would love to expand the concept, making french fry vending machines an international reality.
HEBBEN. Op de @WageningenUR staat de eerste volautomatische #frietpatat-machine. Heb je in 120 sec. je friet/patat. https://t.co/FhO3cBL9Xw
— NOS op 3 (@nosop3) September 2, 2015
Automated dining is on the rise across the world, as restaurants look for high-tech ways to cut costs and speed up work behind the scenes. Earlier this week, a restaurant opened in San Francisco with everything from ordering to pickup controlled by machines, while chains such as McDonald’s and Panera have invested in touchscreen ordering and payment kiosks.
[Image credit: Pixabay]
More from Entrepreneur:
- At This New Fast-Food Restaurant, Human Interaction Is Almost Zero
- What You Should Know About the World’s First Direct-to-Stoner Marijuana Vending Machine, Man
- Fresh Idea: Entrepreneur Puts Salad in a Vending Machine
- Guinness Minus the Alcohol? It’s Now for Sale in Indonesia
Tags: entrepreneur, food, frenchfries, fries, partner, syndicated, vendingmachine
This is the back of the Nexus 5 (2015)
Another Nexus device will be produced by LG, the company’s third to be exact, and the handset could be coming as soon as September 29 with its price set at $400. Being that the aforementioned date is only a few weeks away, leaks are bound to happen more frequently. Specifications for the upcoming Nexus 5 (2015) have already been shared, showing that Google will start this round of Nexus devices with a phone that is not exactly a flagship but still has pretty good components. Consumers looking for that high-end Nexus phone will have to wait for a possible beast from Huawei.
Hit the break to see the image.
The image above, obtained by AndroidPIT and verified by Android Police, shows the rear of the new Nexus 5. So what can we take away from it? The camera, which is said to be 12.3MP, protrudes from the back and is paired with dual-LED and laser auto-focus. Directly below the camera is a fingerprint scanner. Being that Android Pay is coming and Android 6.0 Marshmallow introduces fingerprint authentication, Google was bound to include the technology with its Nexus hardware.
And the final thing to note about the image is that Google is sticking with vertical Nexus logos.
Overall, the Nexus 5 (2015) looks like a compact device. This new Nexus phone is said to have a 5.2-inch Full HD (1920×1080) display. It’s nice to see Google paying attention to those that want a device with a smaller screen.
Source: AndroidPIT
Via: Android Police
Come comment on this article: This is the back of the Nexus 5 (2015)
Motorola decided to scrap its plans to launch a value priced version of the Moto 360 smartwatch last minute
This past week Motorola announced 2 versions of its new Moto 360 smartwatch. It turns out the company had actually planned to release 3 versions of the smartwatch but had changed its mind last minute.
The third version of the Moto 360 was supposed to be a value priced version of the smartwatch. This was going to be aimed at people who didn’t want to spend loads of money on a smartwatch yet.
The value priced edition would have included a slightly different build.Including a cheaper design, bands of less quality and a different position for the power button. The smartwatch would have most likely been priced between $250-$300. We have no suspicions as to why Motorola decided to cancel the watch but some pictures popped up on what the design looked like.
Source: EyeOnMobility
Come comment on this article: Motorola decided to scrap its plans to launch a value priced version of the Moto 360 smartwatch last minute
LG is making a phone with a secondary ticker display
Every now and then, smartphone makers try building devices with secondary, ticker-like displays in the hopes of reeling you in with more at-a-glance info — witness Samsung’s Continuum or Galaxy Note Edge. And it’s LG’s turn, apparently. China’s TENAA regulator just recently tested the V10, a phone with a ticker display at the top. Notice how the front camera has been moved to the side in the photo you see above? It’s not clear exactly how this would work, but you’d likely have a way to activate that ticker without turning on the main screen.
The Chinese filing (which has since vanished) didn’t say much about the specs, but well-known leaker Evan Blass claims that the V10 is even more powerful than the G4. It’ll reportedly have a larger 5.7-inch Quad HD screen and 64GB of expandable storage on top of the G4’s processor, RAM and cameras. If he’s accurate, you might not have to wait long to give this handset a shot — it could ship as soon as October.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Source:
Phonedog
Tags: android, evleaks, lg, mobilepostcross, smartphone, tenaa, ticker, v10
The year of change for ‘Destiny’ starts next week
Developer Bungie is treating Destiny a lot like an MMO and come next Tuesday the game shifts into version 2.0, what the studio is effectively referring to as “year two” for the game. There are a ton of changes coming, and even if you don’t snag the kick-off expansion pack “The Taken King,” you’ll be able to benefit from them. Bungie’s latest blog post gets into the nitty-gritty, but we’re going to keep it mostly high-level here. First up: new modes and new maps for the game’s adversarial multiplayer mode, Crucible, are out now but unless you buy the next expansion, will disappear once “King” launches in earnest next week. A new subclass for your character is available as well. Everyone, not just “House of Wolves” and “Dark Below” purchasers, will get the benefit of an increased level cap (bumping up to 34), but again, buying “King” will increase it further (to 40).
And in an effort to make hitting that ceiling less arduous, Destiny‘s arcane end-game leveling system doesn’t rely on armor stats anymore. Instead, simply doing quests and earning experience points will let everyone max their Guardian’s abilities from here on out. The way bounties, weapon upgrades and a few other things have been streamlined, too. Like I said, there are scads of other improvements coming next week and even as detailed as Bungie’s latest blog post is, the developer says that more details will hit next week when it releases the full patch notes for Destiny 2.0. Maybe use this long holiday weekend to scrape some of the rust off of your trigger fingers — from the sounds of it, you’ll need to come Tuesday.
Filed under:
Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source:
Bungie
Tags: bungie, destiny, destiny2.0, gaming, hd, hdpostcross, playstation, playstation3, playstation4, ps4, thetakenking, update, xbox, xbox360, xboxone
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