Lollipop for the Verizon first-gen Moto X is rolling out

If you happen to own the first-gen Moto X from Verizon, you’re in for a treat as Android Lollipop is on its way. The long-awaited update brings material design, added functionality, and the latest OS with a Stagefright fix.

Motorola Moto X (2013)

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Here’s the full change log if you happen to own one, taken from Motorola’s website:

• Material Design: You will quickly notice a whole new colorful look and feel to your device – from fluid animations to new application and system themes, colors and widgets.
• Notifications UI & Priorities: In order to alert you to the most timely and relevant information, the format and behavior of notifications have evolved:
  • notifications will appear on the lock screen and are intelligently ranked by type and who sent them.
  • you double-tap to open one, swipe left or right to clear one, or clear all notifications from the bottom of the list.
  • you can set the priority and privacy of notifications for each application.
  • very high priority notifications will pop up briefly over other applications so that you can take action.
  • when you dismiss a notification on one device it will be dismissed on your other Android devices, if they are connected to the Internet.
  • you can further tailor how notifications behave with the new Downtime and Ambient Display settings (see below).
• New Interruptions & Downtime Settings: You can tailor how interruptions behave, choosing to allow all, none, or only priority interruptions.  You can personalize what counts as a priority interruption (reminders, events, calls, messages) and even tailor them to be from only contacts you specify.  The Downtime setting will allow only priority interruptions during the times and days that you specify.  e.g. allow only priority interruptions on the weekend.
• Recent Apps (Multi-tasking): The redesigned Overview space (formerly called Recents) will include both applications and separate activities within those applications.  For instance, each open tab in Chrome will also appear here along with recent applications; both your Gmail Inbox and a draft email message will appear as separate cards.  This provides a consistent way to switch amongst tasks.
• Flashlight: Lollipop includes a new flashlight option as part of Quick settings (swipe down with two fingers from the status bar to see it).
• Pin a view/app: Screen pinning allows you to keep a specific app or screen in view. For example, you can ‘pin’ a game and your child will not be able to navigate anywhere else on your phone.
• Battery: The Battery settings panel now shows an estimated projection for how much time you have left while discharging or charging.  You can also enable a new battery saver mode that will save power by reducing performance and most background data operations to extend your battery life.
• Smarter Internet Connections: With Android Lollipop, your phone will not connect to a Wi-Fi access point unless there is a verified Internet connection. This feature improves hand-offs between Wi-Fi and cellular connections, helping to maintain your video chat or voice-over-IP (VoIP) call as you switch.
• Performance: Your phone now uses the new Android Runtime to help optimize application performance.  After upgrading to Lollipop, your applications will undergo a one-time optimization process.  Note that the optimization for ART requires more space.
• Security: Encryption can now use a stronger 256-bit key to help protect your data.  Note that the stronger key will only be used after you perform a factory reset on Android Lollipop.  Otherwise encryption will continue to use 128-bit key.  You can turn on encryption in the Security settings menu.

You can check for the update now by going to Settings> About Device> System Updates> Check for update

The post Lollipop for the Verizon first-gen Moto X is rolling out appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt talks artificial intelligence in op-ed piece

In a new op-ed piece that came out over the weekend via the BBC, Alphabet’s new chairman Eric Schmidt wrote about artificial intelligence and why he thinks so much progress has been made in recent years. Although the term was coined way back in the 1950’s, progress seemed to languish for quite a while waiting for technology to catch up with researchers.

Schmidt points to the experience of Geoff Hinton as an example of the slow, evolutionary instead of revolutionary progress that has been made. Hinton first developed some of his key pillars regarding artificial neural networks back in the 80’s and then had to wait a couple decades before his team could use the concepts to beat the state of the art in speech recognition in 2009.

Schmidt and Google eventually hired Hinton and his team because they recognized the work had moved from the realm of “could work” to “works better.” That change can be attributed to a couple things, one of which is the phenomenal growth and ability to network computers to increase computing horsepower.

The other big impetus though has been a move to try to solve real-world problems. Google discovered that the same types of questions they were trying to help consumers answer were the same types of problems that artificial intelligence researchers were trying to get computers to learn to answer. This mostly fell into the realm of dealing with lots of unstructured data or a variety of inputs, like languages. Trying to address these challenges forced researchers to raise the bar.

Schmidt points out that consumers are seeing the fruits of these efforts in their products. For instance, Google Photos can recognize the a customer’s first picture of their dog even though it was never labelled as such. Gmail users get a glimpse of this with the filtering that goes on with inbound messages.

Schmidt concludes his piece by urging those involved “to keep thinking first and foremost about people’s real needs and the real world we all inhabit.”

source: BBC
via: The Verge

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AT&T Mobility head: Let’s cool it with the 5G hype

Hoping to splash a bit of cold water on Verizon’s 5G testing news, AT&T Mobility chief Glenn Lurie is promoting a “wait and see” approach for the next generation of wireless technology. “We’re not at a point to be making promises or commitments to customers as to what 5G is,” Lurie told CNET at the CTIA trade show last week. “We as an industry have been really good at overpromising and underdelivering when it comes to new technology.” While it may just sound like damage control from AT&T, Lurie does have a point. Verizon’s announcement that it would begin testing 5G next year, with the possibility of beginning its 5G rollout in 2017, seems premature when we don’t even know what that technology will ultimately look like. Lurie’s comments also feel like a repeat of history: Verizon (which owns Engadget and AOL) started testing and rollout out 4G LTE before AT&T back in 2008, at which point AT&T also promoted caution around the new tech.

While LTE has the potential to be faster than most home broadband connections (especially as carriers adopt new spectrum and network upgrades), 5G could end up being 50 times faster than LTE’s peak capabilities. That would make it even faster than Google Fiber’s gigabit speeds. Additionally, you can expect much less latency with next-gen networks.

In response to the AT&T slam, a Verizon representative told CNET, “Innovation happens when you’re willing to look at things a little differently than others, and you’re willing to put in the hard work to make your vision a reality.” Burn.

[Photo credit: Richard Levine / Alamy]

Filed under:
Mobile, AT&T

Comments

Source:
CNET

Tags: 4G, 5G, att, LTE, mobilepostcross

Intel’s new research group to tackle cybersecurity in connected cars

In order to reduce the risk of future connected car hacks, Intel is assembling a group of researchers to lend a hand. The Automotive Security Review Board (ASRB) will “help mitigate cybersecurity risks associated with connected automobiles while encouraging technological progression and innovation,” according to the company’s announcement. The board will include “top security industry talent” and the company will provide the group with its latest tech. Intel says the ASRB will conduct on-going testing and audits to discover the “best practices” for the automotive industry which it will publish as new info becomes available. In fact, it already published its first white paper on the topic. The recent Jeep hack (and others) revealed the vulnerabilities for some connected car systems, an industry in which Intel powers systems for BMW, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia and more.

[Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

Filed under:
Transportation, Intel

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Via:
ZDNet

Source:
Intel

Tags: asrb, automotive, automotivesecurityreviewboard, car, cars, connectedcar, intel, security, transportation