Samsung’s new Gear S2 coming in October, will play nice with other Android devices
Earlier today we got the chance to go hands-on with Samsung’s latest wearable, the Gear S2. Aside from packing a unique rotating bezel and a new Tizen-powered software interface, there are a few more notable pieces of information that we think you should know.
The Gear S2 will be compatible with non-Samsung devices
For starters, and perhaps the biggest news with this watch, is that the Samsung Gear S2 will be compatible with other Android devices. Samsung’s previous Gear S watch was only compatible with other smartphones made by the company, so it’s great to see Samsung opening up its ecosystem a little bit.
With this news comes a few caveats, though. First and foremost, even though Samsung Pay is coming to the Gear S2 in November, you won’t be able to use the new payment service if you don’t own a Samsung smartphone. Additionally, your non-Samsung device will have to be running Android 4.4 KitKat or higher, which shouldn’t be a problem for most users out there. Samsung also tells us that with other Android phones, there may be a slight hiccup in software and apps here and there. Specifically, the tech company says the dialer app might run into some problems due to API differences.
Speaking of APIs, Samsung has just made the official Gear S2 SDK available for devs over at the company’s developer website. Samsung says the Gear S2 will have more than 1,000 compatible applications available when the device launches next month. If you’d like to download the SDK tools for this new watch, head to this website for more information.
The Gear S2 will be available for purchase in early October from Samsung’s website and other retailers. T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T and U.S. Cellular have all announced plans to carry the new watch, though no specific availability or pricing details have been released yet. We’ll be sure to update you as we learn more about the Gear S2’s availability.
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact hands-on and first look
After weeks of speculation that included seeing the handsets up close and personal, Sony unveiled their latest flagship devices, and like past years, there’s a smaller “Compact” version. A mainstay of Sony’s smartphone portfolio, the Compact range has traditionally offered most of the flagship specs in a smaller body, but does this year’s Compact follow the same mould? We go hands-on and give you the first look at Sony’s Xperia Z5 Compact.
The first thing you’ll notice is that it looks just like the Xperia Z5 and the Xperia Z5 Premium and just like previous years, Sony is essentially using the Compact name to denote the smaller of the three devices. Like its siblings, the handset comes with a few design changes and tweaks that aim to improve the overall experience.
One of the biggest is the switch to wider power button, which replaces the iconic small circular button used on past Xperia devices. The button doesn’t look as iconic as the round button from before but still retains a unique look. The key change for the switch is the fingerprint sensor, which is now incorporated into the power button. The sensor is ideally placed for you to unlock the device easily just by placing your right thumb on the button and in our first test, it is certainly impressive and a good feature to have.
Like past Sony devices and the rest of the Xperia Z5 range, the Z5 Compact feels really nice in the hand and is easy to handle, with the symmetrical design making the phone very easy to grip. On the design front, the tweaks to the Xperia design strategy have delivered a handset that has an updated design and build but remains quintessentially Sony.
On the specifications front, the Z5 Compact follows the same philosophy of its predecessors by bringing most of the flagship specs to the smaller handset. The biggest change is the drop to 720p resolution on a smaller, more manageable 4.6-inch display, but thanks to the smaller screen size, the drop in resolution isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The Xperia Z5 Compact does however, bring the rest of the flagship Xperia Z5 specs and these include an impressive Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 2GB RAM (which is 1GB lower than the Z5) and expandable storage via a microSD card that’s hidden under a flap on the left of the handset.
The Snapdragon 810 especially is a great move as it means the Xperia Z5 Compact is on par (power wise) with other flagship devices that cost significantly more. The Z5 Compact runs on Android 5.1.1. Lollipop like the rest of the Xperia Z5 family and comes with Sony’s own custom UI on top, which won’t appeal if you’re a fan of the vanilla experience. Sony’s UI does however bring a few useful tweaks including the Small Apps, which lets you run certain applications in small windows on top of the main interface.
One of the biggest improvements in the Xperia Z5 Compact is the new camera, with Sony finally updating its Xperia camera for the first time since the Xperia Z1.
The Xperia Z5 Compact comes with Sony’s latest Exmor-RS sensor and offers 23MP resolution, which is one of the highest on the market. The camera offers f/2.0 aperture – which should hopefully deliver excellent low light images – and the new steady shot stabilisation, which has been present on several of Sony’s point and shoot cameras, should mean that low light images have less noise and more detail. The Exmor-RS sensor also delivers the world’s fastest autofocus on a smartphone camera, at just 0.3 seconds and we’re really looking forward to putting this camera through its paces.
Like past devices, Sony has also packed a slew of features into the camera application, including AR, panorama modes, slow motion, face in picture, and pretty much everything you can hope for to make your smartphone photography experience that much more fun. Sony supplies camera modules to several of its competitors but in the past, its own smartphones have often lacked in the camera department: maybe now, we will finally see Sony smartphones live up to their full potential in the imaging department.
The Xperia Z5 Compact is powered by a 2700 mAh non-removable battery and while this may seem on the low side, it’s worth noting that it is just 200 mAh lower than the Xperia Z5 proper. Thanks to the smaller screen size and lower resolution, the battery on the Xperia Z5 Compact should easily see you through most that you can throw at it and we’d be very surprised if battery life was a problem. Of course, you’ll need to wait for the full review before we know exactly how good the battery life actually is.
Sony devices have traditionally been very small iterative upgrades over the past few generations and while the Xperia Z5 Compact does have significant upgrades over the Xperia Z3 Compact, it does retain some of the things that make Sony devices unique. The symmetrical design and plastic finish are offset by the IP65 and IP68 certification, which means you can use the handset underwater, in the shower or in the middle of a monsoon without worrying about it breaking.
So there you have it, a first look and hands on with Sony’s new Xperia Z5 Compact smartphone. While certain Sony flagship devices have often left us wanting more, the Xperia Z5 Compact keeps up the rich vein of Sony being one of the few manufacturers to actually deliver a flagship device in a smaller body. The range of upgrades, including the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, two-day battery life, waterproof body and ultra-fast camera, mean that the Xperia Z5 Compact offers more value for money than ever before and it is really does live up to its billing as a Compact flagship.
What do you think of Sony’s new smaller flagship, the Xperia Z5 Compact? Let us know your views down below and don’t forget to check out all our Sony (and other OEM) coverage over on our IFA 2015 page.
iRig UA is the first truly portable Guitar and Bass solution I have used
- Affordable
- Zero latency
- Small and compact
- Feels cheap
- Looks cheap
- No way to clip it to anything
2015-09-03
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I call myself a guitar player. In reality, I pluck strings and make things sound how I like them. Sure, I read tablature, pick out notes or chords in songs, and piece together my own stuff but I certainly can’t sit down and fluidly hammer out a Kirk Hammett solo and make it look effortless. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy learning new riffs, solos of rhythms. While I am not a ‘musician’, that doesn’t mean that I don’t look for solutions to issues that many musicians face daily. On the guitar and bass front there is always a fairly constant scenario. Once you have played on good, or above average equipment, you can’t go backwards and be as satisfied. Generally that equipment runs hundreds or thousands of dollars. It is the price we accept when we want a sound and feel that works for us. However, often times those sounds come by way of exceptional large amps/heads, speaker cabinets and one or more effects peddles. None of which makes for an ideal impromptu playing session, quick inspirational melody composition or easy portability. There is a solution that was recently launched by IK Multimedia called the iRig UA that might just do the trick for many like myself and even the more professional of players.
I covered the press release at launch and was quick to see about getting my hands one on for review. I wanted to look at it for a number of reasons. First being that it was the first device of its kind that was created specifically for Android devices. Secondly it claimed ‘zero latency’. Simply put, you strike a chord and hear it immediately rather than suffering through a small delay. There is nothing more annoying to me than hitting a chord and hearing it through my speakers or headphones when I am already three chords past it. It really messes up your playing and rythem. Thirdly was the size of the device and lastly was the price. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the iRig UA.
In the box
- iRig UA amplifier/processor
- Micro USB to Micro USB cable
- 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable
- Manual
Tech Specs for the Geeks and Audiophiles
- Maximum Input Level: 8.0Vpp (+11.2 dBu)
- Dynamic Range: 121dB A-Weighted (112dB RMS)
- Distortion: <0.025%
- Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz +/- 0.2 dB
- DSP: 32-bit floating point
- Conversion: 24-bit A/D
- Sampling Rate: 44.1 and 48 KHz
The box doesn’t look like much. It is small, measuring in at 2.01 x 3.9 x 0.83 inches and weighing only 2.82 oz. It is extremely light and portable. On the top you find a small LED light to indicate that it has power from your device. It also alerts you to volume levels being to high from input devices and the app.
You will also see two small idiot proof pictures of a guitar and a pair of headphones. The corresponding locations on the side under the image are your two input ports. One being a 1/4 inch jack for your guitar/bass and the other the 3.5mm headphone jack.
To the right side we have an independent volume control that reminds me of the discman days, to the right of that is an AUX jack. This AUX jack is an secondary input port that allows you to connect a MP3 player, computer or other device to pipe audio like drum loops or complete songs to your headphones.
The other end houses a Micro USB port that is used to give the device power from your phone as well as utilize the associated app on your device to gain you various effects. The port puts your phone in USB host mode to accomplish this task. Much like using an OTG USB cable paired with a mouse/keyboard or external hard drive.
The iRig UA houses the magical components to do make the associated free app do its job, but the app is what brings it to life.
The iRig UA app, AmpliTude UA
The app won’t do you a darn bit of good without the iRig UA device above, but paired with the AmpliTude UA app it is nothing short of amazing. Once installed you simply connect the iRig UA to your phone and open the app. Inside you are given a set of amps, mics and effects peddles to alter the sound to your liking. There is even a built-in tuner to get you from standard tuning to drop D and any other tuning you prefer. With the free version of the app you are given 5 amplifiers and 2 mics along with 9 effects peddles. Your included effects are Delay, Phazer, Flanger, Chorus, Octave, Noise Filter, Wah, OverDrive and Distortion. It really gives you a lot of freedom to customize the sound without spending anything beyond the iRig UA product price tag.
You can set up presets like Black Clean, Metal 1, Octave bass and Solo! Bouncing between presets is only a two taps away and they leave you enough room to save any configuration you have put together for future use.
More stuff to buy
While you are given quite a few configurations with the free variant of the app, its capabilities don’t stop with what you see. There is a store in the app that offers up plenty more amps, effects peddles and bundles to put to use. You can go all out and purchase the All-In Bundle which carries with it 15 amps and 7 effects, or you can pick and choose what you need or want. They even have a few signature amps like the Slash Marshall JCM and Slash Marshall AFD 100.
I am not sold on the additional purchases as of yet. Being that I am a bit more of a casual player the included amps and effects keep me plenty happy for the few hours a week I find time to play. A more consistent player who has a sound or preference in their music will find plenty of things to pick up that will deliver.
Does it do what is advertised?
Simple answer, yes it does. Once connected I was able to easily switch things around and get different sounds with zero latency. Harmonics, hammer-ons, pull-offs and all. Mind you, I also have a really big pile of a guitar at the moment, but was still quite impressed with the sound it gave through the iRig UA. Connecting the iRig UA and opening the app is straight forward and very simple. I have read a few user reviews that experience issues with it not staying connected and no audio out, but over the last few weeks of playing I haven’t experienced any of those issue first hand.
Fiddling with the configurations and knobs is intuitive and simple as well. I spent most of my time playing through a set of Marshall headphones, but I also used the line out to connect it to my home stereo system and cranked it with no latency and crisp clear sound.
IK Multimedia has a slew of recordings that were taken with the iRig UA so you can hear how various configurations sound. You will want to head over to the IK Mutimedia SoundCloud account to take a listen.
But wait, there’s more
Beyond the standard configurations and abilities of the app, there are also a few alternative apps that are compatible. One being Samsung’s Soundcamp app. In a nut shell this app is designed for the Note 4 and Galaxy S6 devices and anything newer. The app gives you the ability to toss down drum beats, keyboard tracks, a looper function, a sampler board and the ability to record it all together. I haven’t seen anything else that works together with the AmpliTude UA app that offers the same abilities.
Possible deal breakers
There are only one minor flaws to the device that I have discovered in my few weeks of jamming. The iRig UA is powered by your device’s battery and there is no alternate way to power it. while I have sat for 3 to 4 hours playing and have not run into a dead phone because of it, I would have liked to see a way to keep the phone powered at the same time. I did place the Galaxy S6 on the wireless charging pad to keep power to the device with no ill effects though. So that could be one option for an all day jam session. Of course, if you get a lot of calls and notifications you might want to switch into airplane mode while you rock out to keep from being interrupted.
The construction of the iRig UA seems fine, but being so light and made of a hard plastic, it feels like a cheap toy. It detracts from its physical appearance, but certainly doesn’t make it perform any less than a high quality audio product. Had they changed the housing to something a bit more premium it might have looked better, but in turn would have inflated the price and its weight. While a bit of a turn off, it isn’t a deal breaker for me.
I also feel that the iRig UA could have done something about potential mounting solutions. While a person could easily slap some Velcro to the back to easily attach it to places, it would have been nice to have a clip on the back or some sort of detachable clamp.
The app works well and I didn’t experience any issues connecting the iRig UA to a Note 4, Galaxy S6 or LG G4. While the app works well, you might find yourself needed to purchase additional apps to get more out of it. By design the app doesn’t offer a way to record what you are playing. That takes another app, in my case I poked about with Samsung Soundcamp, and it was fine. If you really want to get solid recordings and don’t own a Samsung device you should expect to hook it up to external recording equipment.
Should you buy it?
Even though I might nit pick a little above, mainly for others than for myself, I still think the product is excellent for its cost, function and size. It is portable, which lets me grab the guitar case and go play anywhere. If you are just starting out learning the guitar or bass the iRig UA is a tool you should easily own. More seasoned vets might not be extremely pleased with it if they are looking to replace their current gear. Taking it for exactly what it is, a tool to play anywhere anytime and factoring in that it works and has zero latency, it is a great purchase. Mix in the apps offerings and that it is only $99.99, you get a lot more freedom on a budget, not to mention saves a ton of space in your garage, bedroom or living room. It is worth checking out.
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Disk Management App ‘DaisyDisk’ Gets Major Overhaul With Faster Scanning Speeds, New Look
Disk management app DaisyDisk received a major update today, overhauling its interface and improving disk scanning speeds. The new DaisyDisk 4 app has a new, flatter design that aims to match OS X Yosemite and El Capitan, with bright colors, it’s able to scan drives up to 20 times as fast, and it consumes less memory when in use.
For those of you unfamiliar with DaisyDisk, it’s an app that gives you a visual overview of what’s eating up space on your Mac. It displays files in a pinwheel-shaped disk map, letting you quickly locate and clean up large files.
After a quick scan, the interactive disk map pops up, which is organized into different colors to denote various sections of a drive. Clicking into a section drills down into individual folders and files arranged by size and color, so it only takes a few seconds to find content that’s taking up a lot of space.
File names are listed at the side of the app and any content you want to delete can be dragged down to a bucket located at the bottom of the app. Once you’ve collected files for deletion, they can be removed with a click.
“Not only does DaisyDisk 4 have an updated modern look and award-winning intuitive user experience, we’ve put its new scanning speed up against the top five competing apps and found that DaisyDisk 4 is more than twenty times faster on a modern SSD,” said co-Founder Oleg Krupnov “If anyone is looking to liberate hard drive space on their Mac, they could download our app, scan all drives, find and delete unwanted files with a few clicks and have tens or hundreds of GBs more hard drive space than they did a few minutes before! The efficiency of DaisyDisk is also unmatched by the ‘automatic cleaner’ apps because as a rule, the latter are capable of freeing only up to 10 GBs or so.”
DaisyDisk is priced at $9.99 and is available from the DaisyDisk website or from the from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link] The standalone version available from the website is not sandboxed and can be used to scan disks as an administrator, delete stuck files, and reveal hidden disk space.
We’ve teamed up with DaisyDisk to give away 15 copies of the app to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter your email address.
You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page. Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveawayhttp://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.jsThe DaisyDisk giveaway will run from today (September 3) at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time through Monday (September 7) at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time. The winners will be chosen randomly on September 7 and will be contacted by email. Winners have 48 hours to respond.
NCTech launches iris360 camera alongside new Google Street View app
NCTech today announced that its iris360 camera has launched in conjunction with Google’s new Street View application. The camera is directly integrated into Street View and will begin shipping to interested buyers this month.
The camera is a bit pricey, coming in at $1999.99USD or £1299, excluding VAT. However, it’s well worth the high price point if business owners want to truly highlight their businesses on Street View and other social platforms.
The iris360 takes some absolute gorgeous photospheres, highlighting all of the intricate details of your favorite locations. This photosphere taken with the iris360 demonstrates the abilities of the camera perfectly.
This 360-degree camera is a great tool for business owners, but it might not prove to be a logical or even practical purchase for everyday consumers. Either way, there’s some awesome things you can do with this camera, especially when you pair it with Google’s new Street View app.
source: PR Newswire
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Samsung Gear S2 will get premium watch faces and bands from Alessandro Mendini
Samsung today officially took the covers off of its Gear S2 smartwatch at IFA 2015. The Korean tech giant will be offering its own watch faces and bands for the device, however, premium Italian designer Alessandro Mendini will also be offering their own.
Alessandro Mendini said:
“I believe the watch is one of the most precise and valuable devices that mankind has ever made, and Samsung has successfully reinvented this device in a way that fits within in our technology-driven world,” said Alessandro Mendini. “It was a fun and highly collaborative experience working with the global leading mobile company to craft something that merges the style of a traditional watch with the digital world for a completely unique design experience – it will truly become the future of mobility.”
Alessandro Mendini in the past has played a big part in modern Italian design, and has truly brought some beautiful products to the market. That said, the watch faces and bands from the design company will only be exquisite in nature, giving off that much needed premium and classy feel that comes with a watch.
Watches faces and bands aren’t available form Alessandro Mendini just yet, as they’ll be available around the Gear S2’s official launch some time in October.
source: Samsung
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Samsung’s Gear S2 will work with non-Samsung made devices
Folks who thought the Gear S2 would be exclusively available to Samsung phones will be happy to hear that the smartwatch will work with non-Samsung devices as well.
Samsung has worked hard at closing off its ecosystem, making sure much of the Korean tech giants cool gadgetry and features are exclusive to Samsung-made devices. However, it seems Samsung is letting that exclusivity slide with the Gear S2, which is what the company needed to do to make it truly a hit smartwatch.
The Gear S2 will be be compatible with any Android device running version 4.4 or higher. One more caveat: said device will need to be sport 1.5GB of RAM or higher.
Due to differing APIs, it’s not likely Samsung will follow Google’s lead and offer the smartwatch to iOS users.
Samsung’s Gear S2 is still a month out from officially launching, so details are still scarce. However, it’s expected that Samsung will release a Gear S2 app, providing the same sort of connectivity the Android Wear app offers.
via: Android Central
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Mercedes’ newest mini car is one you’d actually want to drive
If you live in a metropolitan area like San Francisco, New York or Chicago, you understand the appeal of a tiny car. It’s easier to swoop through traffic and it can be parked nearly anywhere. Smart says the Fortwo is the tiniest of the tiny cars available in the United States. The latest version of the Mercedes-Benz-built vehicle is still only 8.8 feet long, but it’s gotten wider with more forgiving suspension. It’s also filled with additional standard features making it feel more like a car and less like a compromise. To highlight the new diminutive driver’s features, Smart set up a scavenger hunt in the retirement community for 30-year-olds: Portland, Oregon. If you’re going to take a car meant to tackle an urban environment for a spin, it might as well be in a city with a road system that seems like it was laid out more as a practical joke than a way to get drivers from point A to point B.
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Don’t get me wrong: Portland is a wonderful city. But, like San Francisco, driving can be a challenge when it’s not your home. After two days of testing out the vehicle (both a manual and automatic transmission version) the Fortwo lived up to that challenge… mostly.
Like all scavenger hunts, the goal was to complete as many tasks as possible in an allotted time. This meant driving to locations both around and in Portland and it was an opportunity to see how the car performed in various environments. My co-pilot and I opted to hit up the locations outside the city first and cruise through the surrounding mountain roads.
The Fortwo’s three-cylinder engine with a manual transmission won’t inspire any hill-climbing exhilaration at 89HP with 100 foot-pounds of torque. But, because of the rigidity of the Tridion safety cell, which acts as a roll cage for the car, the car’s frame has minimal sway during turns making the handling better than expected. The wider stance helps too. That added width coupled with the 2016 redesign gives the car a more aggressive, almost angry look. Whether this meaner-looking car will deter San Francisco hooligans from flipping the vehicle over is yet to be seen. But if you’re driving the new car and you see those vehicle vandals, it’s going to be much easier to flip a U-turn and get away from them thanks to the car’s awesomely small turning radius.
The 22.8-foot turning radius is the smallest in the United States according to Smart. It’s also the best feature for anyone that has to drive on narrow city streets and occasionally has to turn around. On multiple occasions, thanks to the vehicle’s Cross Connect companion app (which is in beta), I missed a turn or ended up on a dead-end street. Being able to quickly flip around without worrying about the awkward three-point turn I’d have to make in another, larger car was outstanding. It was doubly helpful because not all of my U-turns were actually legal. Something the state of Oregon doesn’t need to know about and we can just keep amongst ourselves.
But seriously, look at this turning radius.
Wheeeeeeeee.
If you combine that small turning radius with the Fortwo’s rear engine and rear-wheel drive, you should get some pretty great oversteer, which means sweet donuts in your local parking lot. Unfortunately, the car’s traction-control system does everything in its power to keep you on the road. The car wants you to be safe and not end up drifting around corners because you’ve lost traction. No matter how hard you stomp on the gas in a sharp turn, the car will correct by reducing power to the wheels. If you’re thinking you can turn the system off, think again: You cannot. It’s like asking the car if it wants to go to a party and it responds by telling you it would rather stay home and do some math homework.
Yeah, it makes sense. This isn’t a car for the tuning kids; it’s for getting downtown and parking in the spot a sedan has passed three times. But it would be nice to cut loose just to see what it can do. Speaking of parking, to help you find tiny spots, you can use the Cross Connect companion app. While demoing it, I was told that it was in beta so I forgave it when (as mentioned above) the navigation system sent me past my destination, decided I needed to drive around the same block until the end of time and, at one point, sent me the wrong way down a one-way street. Did I mention it’s in beta?
The app also controls the car’s radio, displays information about the vehicle (like gas mileage), has a dialer and features a crowdsourced parking space finder for spots that will only fit a Fortwo. And probably because the iOS/Android app is so much a part of the driving experience, Smart has an optional $100 smartphone holder that attaches directly to the dash and charges your phone. Yes, $100 seems pretty steep for something to poke out of your dash. You could buy a cheap holster from Amazon or a mall kiosk for half that price. But what the Smart mount has over those third-party solutions is that it connects directly to the entertainment system via a dash port that can be covered when not in use. It reduces clutter and gives it a cleaner appearance. Plus, you don’t have to use the Smart app with the cradle. It works with Waze, Google Maps and whatever audio app you want. It’s a simple USB connection so even if the navigation feature doesn’t get much better, the $100 smartphone holder isn’t a complete waste of money.
It’s another extra piece of equipment that Smart added to the 2016 Fortwo to make it more civilized and to appeal to urban commuters. And while the cradle is an option, Smart has added standard features that should have been there in the first place. Some of these include Bluetooth hands-free calling, cruise control, power steering and power windows. It also added something for anyone that’s been blown around by a passing semi: crosswind assist. All of this adds up to a car that actually feels like a modern vehicle instead of the barebones shell that’s currently available and doesn’t feel all that smart.
Smart also now offers a manual or six-speed automatic transmission. The manual is a new addition and will be applauded by driving purists. The updated automatic transmission has a dual clutch for much quicker gearshifts than its predecessor. Both clock in a zero-to-60 speed of a bit over 10 seconds. If you’re looking for a “funner” experience, go with the manual to wring out a little bit more power from the tiny car.
The vehicle starts at $14,650, hits showrooms in September (an electric version is expected in 2016) and competes economically with the Fiat 500 Pop, Ford Fiesta, Nissan Versa Note and Honda Fit. Of all of those vehicles, the Fiat (at a pricier $16,845) is the tiny-car kindred spirit of the Fortwo. While small, it’s still longer than the mini-Benz and has a back seat, which means it’s going to be tougher to park. But, you get to bring your short friends with you when you go places. It also has a bigger trunk. As expected, the Fortwo’s trunk will fit maybe four grocery bags. For bigger items, the passenger seat folds flat and offers about five feet of space. Perfect for tiny surfboards or some small IKEA furniture.
After finishing the scavenger hunt (we tied for first, but the other team finished before us) and spinning around the city totally not breaking any traffic laws, we returned the Fortwo. The next day was less “find stuff as quickly as possible” and more of a drive around the city and highway to get a feel for the car as a regular commuter. The car works well for both, but it’s a bit of a bummer that some of its potential fun has been removed because of stability and traction limits placed on the car that can’t be turned off.
But when your daily commute involves narrow roads, U-turns and a never-ending search for parking, the new Fortwo is a solid commuter that actually feels like a modern car. Even if you can only bring along one friend, at least you can still hit the carpool lane.
Filed under:
Transportation
Tags: car, Fortwo, MercedesBenz, Smart
Tech giants settle anti-poaching lawsuit for $415 million
Silicon Valley’s anti-poaching conspiracy has reached its conclusion. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has approved the $415 million settlement, suggested by Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe earlier this year. The four tech giants have long been accused of agreeing not to poach each other’s employees. According to the employees who filed the antitrust class action law suit in 2011, the internal policy to not hire someone from one of the other companies in the pact stunted their growth and prevented them from having access to higher paychecks. One of the main deciding factors in the case was a set of emails between senior executives like Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt that revealed the practice of “no-poach” lists and requests that attempted to thwart the hiring of valued employees.
Judge Koh, in San Jose, California, had squashed the proposed $324.5 million settlement last year stating that the affected employees deserved higher compensation. According to Fortune, as per this week’s final settlement, about 5,860 affected workers will reportedly each collect about $5,770 on average. While the judge called the approved amount “fair, adequate and reasonable”, she readjusted the amount that the plaintiff’s lawyers would collect. Instead of the proposed $81 million fees, which she believed would be an inappropriate “windfall”, the lawyers will now be awarded $40 million.
[Image credit: Justin Sullivan via Getty Images]
Source:
CNET
Tags: adobe, anti-poaching, antitrust, Apple, Intel, SiliconValley
Your phone knows if you’re bored by how much you use it
Researchers at Barcelona’s Telefonica Research lab have developed a smartphone-based algorithm that determines a user’s level of boredom based on how much they’re using the device. The algorithm also takes a number of factors such as time of day and how long it’s been since receiving a call or text into account as well. With it, the researchers were able to accurately gauge a user’s level of boredom 83 percent of the time.
The team started its study by having participants track their boredom levels throughout each day for two weeks while an Android app installed on their phones tracked usage rates. They employed this data to develop a second app that made the “bored” determination on its own and then recommend a Buzzfeed article — which the initial study showed bored participants clicking on more often than their entertained counterparts — to compensate. The researchers hope to further develop this algorithm’s accuracy as well as create a more effective recommendation engine to provide bored cellphone users exactly the kind of content that will break them out of their funk. First, however, they’ll present their findings at the UbiComp conference in Japan next week.
[Image Credit: John Greim via Getty Images]
Filed under:
Cellphones, Science
Via:
Technology Review
Source:
Pielot.org
Tags: algorithm, Android App, Barcelona, bigdata, boredom, BuzzFeed, Japan, Ubiquitous computing
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