Internal memo points to September 16 for Android Pay’s launch
The launch of Android Pay is scheduled for this year but the exact date of the service’s arrival is still unknown. It is widely believed that the mobile payments platform will arrive very soon considering Google Play Services was recently updated to support features that Android Pay will offer. Even McDonald’s has started promoting Android Pay alongside Apple Pay.
Now, a leaked internal memo from Verizon could indicate that Android Pay is coming this month.
The following is what the leaked internal memo, which was obtained by Phandroid, reads:
Introducing Android Pay
On 9/16, Google releases Android Pay, a simple and secure mobile payment app for NFC-capable Android phones. Android pay is a free digital payment app that offers choice, simplicity and a secure way to pay for in-store, in-app and online purchases.
So mark your calendars for September 16. Just remember that these types of launches can always be pushed back if something goes wrong and the service isn’t ready for showtime.
Attached to the document is a little note, presumably for Verizon salespeople, that highlights Android Pay’s availability in more than 1.5 million locations.
Google’s mobile payments platform will be dueling with Apple and Samsung’s offerings this fall, easily making for an even more competitive holiday season.
Source: Phandroid
Come comment on this article: Internal memo points to September 16 for Android Pay’s launch
Acer’s CEO says merging with Asus is unlikely due to Taiwan’s Fair Trade laws
It wasn’t too long ago that Asustek was muted to be discussing a takeover of its struggling local rival, HTC after its own mobile division posted a profit. However, the takeover rumour was strongly refuted by HTC shortly after becoming public news. Today, we have Acer’s CEO, Jason Chen, shooting down talk of a merger between itself and Asustek, stating that the joining of the two companies would violate Taiwan’s Fair Trade laws.
A merger between Acer and Asustek would result in a combined market share of over 70% in Taiwan, creating an unhealthy monopoly in the eyes of the government’s regulatory bodies.
That being said, Acer’s CEO isn’t against the idea of the company being taken over by someone. Acer’s stock price has plummeted by 50% since April, and the company made just $5.4 million in profit for the first half of 2015 compared to $15 million the previous year. The trend is continuing, because July’s revenue saw a year-on-year decline of 33%.
All of this makes Acer a target for a hostile takeover, something that Acer founder, Stan Shih, actually welcomes as he believes the buyer could end up buying an empty shell due to the existing management quitting Acer. Whether it’s merely bluster or shrewd business sense, it’s clear that Acer’s situation could result in significant changes ahead for the Taiwanese manufacturer, although a merger with local rival Asustek would appear to be off the cards.
Source: DigiTimes
Via: PhoneArena
Come comment on this article: Acer’s CEO says merging with Asus is unlikely due to Taiwan’s Fair Trade laws
Why the Galaxy Note 5’s S Pen design flaw doesn’t matter
There has been a recent outrage over the Galaxy Note 5 in that if you put the S Pen in backwards it gets stuck, and you can potentially break the S Pen features along with the device’s internal hardware. Many have called it a design flaw, but it’s not.
Samsung designed the Galaxy Note 5‘s S Pen tray thinking that consumers would insert the S Pen the correct way. Why should you design it to prevent stupid actions?
Samsung has no need to go back to the drawing board with the Galaxy Note 5. They just didn’t design it to handle stupid actions. It’s not a design flaw at all. When you get down to it, what people are whining about is that they don’t want the consequences for their actions of doing something the wrong way.
When you’re changing the brakes on your car, should you put them on the wrong way and then blame the problem on Ford, GM, or Dodge for this supposed “design flaw?” No, it was a consequence of your own action.
But this isn’t the heart of the issue.
The issue is, and I’m certain most of us realize this already, is that Internet users on places like Reddit or general forums just want something to bark at. They want to, for some reason, let the world know they’re unhappy. And then if they can get a following, all of the news outlets will be certain to put it in the spotlight, helping these unhappy Internet goers parade their cause for all to hear.
This is a childish issue. If you put your S Pen in backwards, call up your carrier or the manufacturer and see if you can’t pay to get the consequence of your actions fixed. In most cases, they’ll be more than willing to help you sort it all out.
Come comment on this article: Why the Galaxy Note 5’s S Pen design flaw doesn’t matter
Infographic: Samsung shows off the Gear S2’s circular design and intuitive interface
One device we were looking to seeing announced at IFA 2015 was Samsung’s Gear S2 smartwatch, and we weren’t disappointed. It may be running Tizen firmware instead of the Android Wear that many of us might prefer, but it sure looks like Samsung made a real effort with the Gear S2’s design, its circular face looks very pleasing to the eye. Of course, just because it’s been announced, doesn’t mean that Samsung will take it easy. This is Samsung we are talking about, after all, and as such, we shouldn’t be surprised that its marketing department is on the ball, showing off some of the Gear S2’s features in an infographic which can be seen after the break
Source: SamsungTomorrow
Come comment on this article: Infographic: Samsung shows off the Gear S2’s circular design and intuitive interface
[TA Deals] Enter this giveaway to win a GoPro Hero4 Session!
It doesn’t matter whether you are kayaking down the rapids, cycling the Tour de France route or sky-diving over the Grand Canyon, sometimes you just don’t have the option of holding a camera in your hand to record your journey for posterity. That’s why GoPro’s latest small action camera, the Hero4 Session, could prove its worth by being installed on a helmet or bicycle handlebar. Its ruggedness, waterproof design, and easy one-button control, 1080p video recording, and 8MP camera stills will enable you to record your progress while concentrating on the task at hand.
Lucky for you, we are giving away a GoPro Hero4 Session, and all you have to do to enter the contest is head over to Talk Android Deals.
Here’s how to enter on the giveaway page:
- Submit your email address and click ENTER NOW (Make sure it’s valid as this is where we’ll contact the winner)
- After entering your email address above, share on Twitter for additional entries. The more your friends and followers enter, the more entries you receive. Good luck!
- Be sure to register with a valid email address so we can contact you if you win
- Limit one registration per person – registering more than one email address will result in disqualification from this giveaway
Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Enter this giveaway to win a GoPro Hero4 Session!
Moshi Mythro earbuds review; bargain price for great headphones
One accessory that will forever tied to smartphones are headphones or earbuds. It is one thing that allows us to listen to music on the go in a quality and quiet (for most) matter. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on Moshi’s entry level earbuds, the Mythros. For the most part, I have always used either the headphones or earbuds that have come with my smartphones (mostly the Galaxy series headphones) or cheap headphones that cost < $15. Headphones haven’t been a huge priority of mine until lately, where I listen to a lot of music during school. The Moshi Mythro’s are comfortably priced at $29.95, so let’s see if how they stack up.
Design
The design of the Moshi Mythro is pretty welcoming. They currently are available in six different color choices: Gunmetal Gray, Jet Silver, Satin Gold, Burgundy Red, Tyrian Purple, and Rose Pink.; the Mythros I got to review were of the Burgundy Red color.
At first glance, the first thing I notice is the aluminum casing around the headphones. This is very nice to see, especially since the majority of headphones I’ve seen or used have all had plastic casings. A lot of the time, those casings crack or break apart, so it’s good to see Moshi enforcing the Mythros with aluminum. Each wire below the casing is stamped ‘R’ or ‘L’ for right and left. What is nice on top of that is that the actual earbud is color coded as well. The right ear is red whereas the left ear is white. This really helps figuring out which side is which, especially when it is hard to see the little stamping of ‘R’ or ‘L’.
One issue I tend to have with earbuds over headphones, is that you have to find the right one because all ear canals aren’t all the same, who knew? The good news is that Moshi includes two additional sizes to the stock earbuds that come installed on the headphones. The good news is that they seal very well. I have found with cheaper earbuds, you don’t always necessarily get a tight seal.
As far as the cord on the earbuds, it isn’t as thick as I would like it to be. The headphone jack and connection to the earbuds do seem to have some extra bulk around the cord to help protect it from daily bends, which is good to see. So many times started to see wires becoming exposed at high stress spots on the wiring, so its good to see some extra enforcement.
The Mythro does also come with an included mic embedded in the cord. The button button below the microphone does add some functionality which includes pausing the song and skipping back and forth. The only downfall is that it does not have a volume control. That means you’ll have to stick with taking the device out of your pocket to change the volume.
Sound
Coming from cheap headphones and earbuds my whole life, I didn’t necessarily know what to expect. I mean my listening experience was never terrible, but I was excited to see what a little more money could come with in my sound quality. Let me tell you, I have been missing out my whole life. Listening to music on the go, even through Moshi’s entry level headphones makes a huge difference.
Most of music that I listen to is metal, so there is a lot of everything: bass, treble, mids. The thing is that the Moshi Mythro handled it all very well. The guitars would come through very crisp and well-defined and it would still allow for the kick drum to be well-pronounced. Usually with cheaper headphones, I have found that a lot of the sound runs together, but the Mythro does not have any of that.
The earbuds do have a solid bass to it, so if that’s something you’re into, these may be the perfect headphones for you. Moshi states “Moshi’s DR8 Neodymium driver that delivers a crisp sound with deep punchy bass”, and they aren’t lying. Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised with the output on these earbuds.
Conclusion
The Moshi Mythro earbuds are definitely a best in class value. They hit all the marks on design and sound quality without breaking the budget. If you are looking at updating your audio assortment, but don’t want to drop $100+, strongly consider these headphones. The are designed well with an aluminum housing and have crisp sound anyone can appreciate. You can find the Mythros on Moshi’s official website.
The post Moshi Mythro earbuds review; bargain price for great headphones appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Planning Revamped iPad Keyboard, New Metal Finishes for Apple Watch
Accompanying the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Pro and next-generation Apple TV set to be announced next week, Apple is also planning a revamped iPad keyboard and new metal finishes for the Apple Watch Sport, including a less expensive gold version, according to The New York Times.
9to5Mac reported similar information, claiming the iPad Pro will have expanded Bluetooth keyboard support and that Apple is working on a new keyboard accessory for the rumored 12.9-inch tablet, which could be released by year end. The report also hinted at the possibility of new gold Apple Watch Sport colors.
Last month, a new Apple Wireless Keyboard with Bluetooth 4.2 and a rechargeable lithium-on battery was discovered in filings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Images of an Apple Wireless Keyboard with backlit keys and a power button also briefly surfaced on the Apple Online Store in March.
MacRumors has also received information about Apple’s plans to release at least one new metal finish for the Apple Watch. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first noted the Apple Watch may gain additional casing options in March, and three months later said a yellow and rose gold Apple Watch Sport will launch in the fall.
Apple Watch Sport spray painted gold by Casey Neistat on YouTube
Apple is also expected to debut new Apple Watch Sport bands at its September 9th media event, possibly with a focus on darker colors.
MacRumors will be providing live blog coverage of Apple’s “Hey Siri” media event, which begins next Wednesday at 10:00 AM Pacific.
Toshiba’s convertible 4K laptop is somehow light, stylish and thin
4K devices (that aren’t TVs) are everywhere at IFA 2015. If it’s not a Sony smartphone packing a ridiculous high-resolution display, then it’s Samsung’s Ultra HD Blu-ray player — the first of its kind. Toshiba’s getting involved too, with a convertible 4K 12.5-inch laptop. As is the case with most of the PCs and laptops spotted this year at Europe’s biggest tech show, the Satellite Radius 12 has Intel’s latest sixth-generation Core processors to power it, but still only measures 0.6 inch thick and weighs 2.9 pounds — quite a feat for a convertible with a 4K display. (Especially since we can still remember Panasonic’s hulking 4K tablet from a few years ago.)Slideshow-317313
Brushed metal finishes and a thin, light frame add to the feeling that this laptop is a prosumer-grade, professional-caliber device. To make the most of that all-important 4K screen, there’s Technicolor-endorsed color-calibration to ensure that your family portraits and other important pics are closer to real life in color reproduction. You can even switch between modes while using the PC — important for anyone working in graphics. Alongside Intel’s newest Core i7 processors, Toshiba tells us there’s 8GB of RAM and at least 256GB of storage. You can also go for a 1080p display if you don’t like nice things.
Rounding out the spec sheet, there are built-in Harman Kardon speakers, USB 3.1 and 3.0 ports and integrated Intel HD 5200 graphics. The laptop will also be available with an infrared camera combination that’ll log you in with facial recognition alone, but we couldn’t test that on the show floor model. If you need your 4K in two different shapes, you won’t have to wait for long: it’ll arrive before the end of 2015.
Filed under:
Laptops
Tags: 4k, convertible, hands-on, ifa, ifa2015, laptop, satelliteradius12, toshiba, uhd, video
Facebook working with schools on a personalized learning app
In an unusual side project, Facebook has built an app that helps teachers create tailor-made student learning plans, and it may come a US school near you for free. The social network got involved in the project after it learned about an institution called Summit Public Schools, which is consistently ranked among California’s best. The school gets those results by creating programs customized for each student, then tracking their progress with a software tool called the “Personalized Learning Plan.” However, it told Facebook that the technology behind it wasn’t up to snuff, so the Zuckerberg and Co. donated a small team to help revamp it.
In 2014, Summit started using the tool, designed to work smoothly with large number of students and teachers. The app has nothing to do with Facebook itself; in fact, students don’t even need a Facebook account. The social network implemented strict privacy controls, and its team must handle data in accordance with the White House-endorsed Student Privacy Pledge. As it hasn’t been a paradigm of privacy protection, it’s no doubt hoping to fend off any criticism with those steps. The final app (below) looks polished, and gives students and teachers a number of ways to create long-term career goals, plan coursework and track progress.
The team described the project as “personal for those of us working here… we all wanted to find a way to hep make an impact doing what we do best — building software.” Facebook and Summit are launching a pilot program this year for a small number of public schools that want to use the same personalized teaching methods. It plans to use the feedback to improve the program, and will eventually give the software away to any US schools that wants it.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Filed under:
Internet, Facebook
Via:
TNW
Source:
Facebook
Tags: Education, facebook, learning, monitoring, SummitPublicSchools
Forget football: How fantasy sports are helping kids learn
By his second semester on the job in 2009, Eric Nelson, a civics and history teacher at North Lakes Academy in the Minneapolis suburbs, was at a loss. No matter what tool he used — gripping news articles, an interactive map of YouTube trending videos, a failed-state index — he couldn’t manage to keep his students interested in world events for any extended period of time. “They were just zombies,” he recalls.
Nelson’s is a common tale. Multiple studies have documented the growing trend of apathy among young Americans toward world events. A National Geographic survey, for instance, found that only 37 percent of young people (18-24) could locate Iraq on a map; 48 percent think that Islam is the predominant religion in India (it’s Hinduism); and 20 percent place Sudan in Asia (it’s the largest country in Africa).
Throwing up his hands in frustration one day, Nelson turned to his online fantasy football league for a distraction. Instead, what he found was inspiration. Realizing how much he was learning about the NFL in the process of managing his fantasy team, he thought: What if I applied the mechanisms and tools used in fantasy sports to world events? “The next day I went in and [the class] drafted countries,” he recalls, “and I scored them based on how many times they were mentioned in the news.” And thus Fantasy Geopolitics, an online tool to engage students in world events, was born.
Country draft in progress.
As it turns out, Nelson isn’t the first to gamify current events in this manner, but he has been the most successful. In the past several years, short-lived communities for handicapping Supreme Court decisions and congressional movements have sprung up at universities or as one-off projects. But Fantasy Geopolitics is the only such program designed with classroom learning in mind. The tool Nelson has created is robust enough to react to news in real time, yet simple enough for the average sixth- to 12th-grader to use. “Fantasy football sets the standard of fantasy sports,” he says, “I believe Fantasy Geopolitics sets the standard for fantasy learning.”
It’s a big claim, but the program has already seen rapid growth. Within a month of his initial idea, Nelson couldn’t keep up with scoring the news manually, so he contracted developer friends to automate the system. And now, what began as a Google spreadsheet has become a full-blown software-as-a-service network. In the winter of 2014, he formally launched the platform online and began raising funds through Kickstarter. Today, some 50,000 students and more than 1,000 teachers are using Fantasy Geopolitics as part of their history, civics and world-events curriculum.
The basics of the game are simple: Teachers sign up, create a league and invite their students to join. Students select countries during a web-based draft, and earn points based on how their territories are performing in the news. Nelson and his developers created software that monitors The New York Times website for names of countries. Every time a nation is mentioned, the student who owns that country receives a point. So, in essence, a story about Croatia has the same value as a quarterback passing for a touchdown. The Fantasy Geopolitics website uses the tracking scripts Nelson and his developers created to populate live maps and leaderboards automatically.
Dashboard view includes rankings, messages and a news feed.
Version 2.0 launched in mid-August. In addition to being optimized for mobile devices, where Nelson says many students track their teams and news, the update brings with it many user-experience improvements. The new Fantasy Geopolitics dashboard includes tools for trading teams, current rankings of the top news-making countries, and a map that color-codes countries based on their current trending status. Pricing for the current school year varies based on league size: The free starter plan allows for up to five players; 100 players costs $99 a year and 250 runs at $198.
According to Nelson, the updates help Fantasy Geopolitics become even more like fantasy sports league dashboards, which are rich in information and context. “I got so into [fantasy football] because there was all this information available about what was happening — the player updates and team updates,” he says. “That can exist here; we just call it news. You can engage with news and interact with it a little more fully. And then if you can adjust your lineup, you compete better.”
The leaderboard shows who’s on top and what countries they own.
Competition is what drives interest and encourages activity and research outside the game, as well. There are fewer variables in Fantasy Geopolitics than football or baseball (or any professional sport, for that matter), so scouting becomes even more strategic. Before the draft, students must scour the news for trends and emerging stories. For instance, in an Olympic year, countries that might otherwise fly under the radar could surge. And Djibouti, a popular gag pick based on its name alone, could be a dark horse if Navy base Camp Lemonnier makes headlines. (Case in point: It spiked in mid-August when it was announced that China was looking to take over the base.)
To stay sharp throughout the season, students must closely monitor news about the countries they own, while also keeping an eye on others that might be targets for potential trades. “I discovered that students were actually starting to really study the news to gain a competitive edge from week to week over their peers,” says Gerald Huesken Jr., a teacher of history and government at Elizabethtown Area High School in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, who’s been using Fantasy Geopolitics in his classroom.
Huesken, Nelson and many other teachers report that students are even taking the game to their own channels, such as Facebook groups and Twitter lists. “They started a Facebook group to talk about the game a little bit,” Nelson recalls, “They were trash talking each other on there, but in a smart, informed way, which is super cool. It seemed to be more in their zone, their zone for learning.”
Indeed, the idea of the “zone,” applies to teaching as much as it does to sports. In fact, so-called competitive fandom has been shown to facilitate learning. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for example, explored how online fantasy baseball-like programs could lead to more-impactful learning experiences in other fields. The authors posited that a goal-based system (one in which you want to earn points and win) encourages players to engage with a large body of content (e.g., news, analysis and statistics) and use that knowledge to their competitive advantage.
Though it’s still too early to quantify just how much Fantasy Geopolitics can improve academic performance, there’s more than enough anecdotal evidence to prove its worth. Nelson, for instance, says he’s noticed an uptick in test scores. Meanwhile, Huesken was pleased to see students in his history classes making connections between historical details and current events in papers and on tests. At the very least, it helps trap wandering minds: “I often use [it] during prom season,” says Stephanie Pearson, head of the Contemporary Studies Department at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Ontario, Canada. “It’s a sly way to keep students on task.”
Nelson has seen enough to feel confident that his platform has the makings of a powerful learning tool, and so has left teaching to pursue expanding the business and building out the platform even further. Some of the first updates will be simple; the team is starting to roll out an embedded messaging tool, for example, and they’re planning to bake in the ability to set up playoffs and tournaments.
But Nelson’s vision is more global than that — literally. Heeding feedback from teachers like Huesken, the site will soon allow for inter-school competitions, which could let leagues across the world from one another compete and collaborate. (There are already teachers using the platform as far away as Spain and Australia.) These collaborations could allow Fantasy Geopolitics developers to format the games around world events, such as the Olympics, and integrate more deeply with videoconferencing tools like Skype and Google Hangouts.
A trade in progress.
An app is also in the works, but Nelson first wants to focus on adapting the tools he’s built for other civics and social-studies lessons. For instance, he’s considering developing a US edition for the 2016 presidential election, which will help better convey the Electoral College and process.
Regardless of the subject matter, Nelson believes the software has the unique ability to empower students in the learning process. “Rather than me being the source of knowledge, my students manage their own learning, just like they manage their team,” he explains. “[Fantasy Geopolitics] encourages a reimagining of the way learning and curiosity actually works — a student now owns it, and manages it, and wants to do it.”
[Images credits: Stephanie Pearson (top) Fantasy Geopolitics/Eric Nelson (screenshots)]
Filed under:
Misc, Internet, Software
Tags: education, fantasyfootball, fantasysports
AIVAnet 