Strone Roam aims to help international travelers stay connected
One of the challenges international travelers face when abroad is what to do about maintaining connections with the people in their lives who want to call them. Frequently this means buying a “throwaway” smartphone or SIM with a temporary number in the country you may be visiting or incurring high roaming charges to use your own phone and number. Strone Technology hopes to help travelers with the Strone Roam device and service, which is currently on Indiegogo.
To use the Strone Roam, users buy a Strone Roam, pop their SIM card into it, and leave it hooked up to their Internet connection at home. Strone provides a replacement SIM that you place in your mobile device as well as an app that is used to receive and place calls. When traveling, the Strone Roam will receive calls and then use the Internet to route them to the user’s device via the Strone app.
Strone does offer data plans that can be loaded on the SIM so users have data coverage outside of WiFi blanketed areas. Likewise, users can buy credits to make international calls for as little as 3 cents per minute. The Strone Roam can also be used to setup virtual phone networks for a business or direct calls placed to several different numbers to a single device.
Early Bird units are still available through the Indiegogo campaign for $135 with delivery expected in February 2016.
You can check out the Strone Technology video for the project below along with the full press release.
Click here to view the embedded video.
source: Strone Technology (Indiegogo)
STRONE TECHNOLOGY LAUNCHES PERMANENT FIX FOR MOBILE ROAMING ON INDIEGOGO
28 September 2015 – Start-up Strone Technology today announced the launch of an Indiegogo campaign to offer pre-orders of their innovative device, the Strone Roam, which provides an easy, affordable and convenient way to avoid bill shock when travelling abroad.
“Fear of exorbitant international roaming charges is a major issue for travellers and nobody has been able to provide a full solution to avoid the cost and inconvenience, no matter which carrier or which country you travel to,” said Tas Tudor, CEO and Director of Strone Technology.
Strone Roam allows you to keep your mobile number while you’re travelling overseas, without incurring roaming costs. No more changing numbers, juggling multiple phones or missing important calls.
Strone Roam allows you to stay in touch with family or business on your own phone number wherever you are, and without the fear of getting a huge bill when you get home. It works by placing your SIM card into the sleek, elegant device, which is about the size of a soft drink can. The Strone Roam stays in your home or office, connected to the internet and paired with an app on your phone. You can then make and receive calls and text messages without international roaming charges wherever you go on your travels.
“It is time to put the fear of roaming behind us,” said Mr Tudor. “We are encouraging everyone that wants hassle-free, affordable global communication to go to Indiegogo and order their Strone Roam now.”
For more information on Strone Roam please visit their Indiegogo page: http://igg.me/at/strone
###
About Strone Technology
Strone Technology is the developer of Strone Roam, a new way to permanently solve the frustration of sim-swapping or exorbitant bills while roaming with your mobile phone. Strone was borne of the problems of staying connected while travelling, when CEO Tas Tudor decided to fix the problems, once and for all. Strone Technology is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Connect with Strone on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Come comment on this article: Strone Roam aims to help international travelers stay connected
Google Nexus 6P camera lands top 3 spot with DxOMark
Since Google officially announced the Nexus 6P yesterday, potential buyers have been trying to decide whether the device makes sense to them. One piece of hardware that gets a lot of attention in any smartphone buying decision is the camera considering how popular mobile device photography has become thanks to social media. The Nexus 6P includes a 12.3MP rear camera, which may sound low, but Google and Huawei packed in some features to help grab good photos. This includes larger sensors inside the lens along with laser autofocus, LED flash, and HDR+. According to DxOMark, the results of their testing place the Nexus 6P near the top of the charts, just trailing the Sony Xperia Z5 and the Samsung S6 Edge.
The Nexus 6P racked up a combined image and video score of 84 on DxOMark’s tests. They noted that camera succeeds in grabbing great photos in low light situations, the autofocus is fast and accurate, white balance and color are good in outdoor conditions, the flash works well, and images are properly exposed. However, the HDR+ technology included tends to introduce some irregularities in low light conditions, in some high dynamic scenes the camera may blow out some areas, and occasionally the autofocus doesn’t quite finish its work before an image is captured.
On the video capture side, DxOMark noted the camera has a low noise level in all conditions while maintaining good exposure, white balance and color rendering. However, during high motion videos the camera has a tendency to introduce a strong jello effect. They also noted that in some situations, like during big changes in illumination or when tracking movement, refocus efforts are visible. In low light conditions, fine detail may be lost and color shading may be visible.
Based on these strong scores, it looks like Google struck a good balance between packing in more pixels versus making the available pixels work better.
source: DxOMark
Come comment on this article: Google Nexus 6P camera lands top 3 spot with DxOMark
6 next-gen electric vehicles taking on Tesla
By Cat DiStasio
Tesla tears up the headlines like nobody’s business. The California-based company makes the most widely coveted luxury electric vehicle in existence, and it just officially launched its next car, the Model X, last night. The automaker has garnered attention from car enthusiasts, green technology fans and even those with budgets too small to pay for a single Tesla hubcap. Even the consumer buying guides love Tesla’s cars. The company might be the best and biggest dog in the fight for the moment, but that could change. In the coming years, more than a handful of carmakers are getting into the electric-vehicle game to entice would-be Tesla owners to spend their hard-earned dollars elsewhere. Read on for a look at the upcoming EVs that could give Elon Musk & co. a run for their money.Slideshow-324022
Facebook brings videos and temporary pictures to your profile
Users will soon have a host of new ways to personalize their profiles and control what content is shared on their walls, Facebook announced on Wednesday. The biggest change comes as tweaks to the mobile app UI. Your profile picture will be centered on the screen and the entire profile page is being revamped to “better present information about you and your friends in a more visually engaging way,” according to a release from the company.
And what a profile picture it will be. Facebook also announced the addition of profile videos. These small, looping clips (not unlike Apple’s new “Live Photos“) will be publicly available. Facebook is just “starting to test” the feature so there isn’t much more detail currently available. The company is also investigating a feature that would allow users to post temporary profile pictures which would revert back to the original after a set length of time. So if you have a special profile pic you like to use during say holidays or vacations you’ll be able to “set and forget” that image in your profile.
One the privacy front, users will soon be able to control what facts about them appear on their profile. That is, you’ll be able to pick and choose (and reorder) which public About fields are displayed. You’ll also be able to highlight up to five Featured Photos at the top of the profile page.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Google’s secret strategy for controlling your home
Yesterday in San Francisco, Google launched a pair of new smartphones, some AV devices and a Surface-like tablet. But future events could just as easily devote a large portion of their running time to the Internet of Things and smart home devices. Tilt your head by 90 degrees and you can almost spot Google’s subtle strategy to become the dominant name in your home — after all, as the phone market begins to play itself out, it’s only natural that the firm would move onto the next big thing. After years of lingering on the periphery of the industry, perhaps souped-up lightbulbs and thermostats are ready for their day in the sun.
But first, let’s consider the Chromecast, which is one of many options in the stripped-down smart-TV-dongle market. Unlike its rivals, the device doesn’t ship with a remote, so users are compelled to learn how to control their TVs from their phones. History has shown that the fastest way to get over the scare factor when a new technology comes along is to, somehow, relate it to the home entertainment experience. The best example is how Nintendo styled the Wii controllers to look like TV remotes so that people wouldn’t be intimidated to use them. But Google is hoping that the ubiquity of smartphones and the hardware’s dirt-cheap, almost throwaway price will wean people away from dedicated remotes.
It’s the same situation with the Chromecast Audio, since there are multitudes of wireless audio adapters that’ll bolt onto your existing HiFi setup. Google is betting that you’d much prefer to upgrade your current hardware for $35, rather than the $350 it’d cost for a Sonos Connect. But again, the smartphone is becoming the center of your home entertainment experience at the expense of dedicated controllers. For that little money, people who wouldn’t otherwise have bothered will take the leap based just on Google’s brand alone. Either way, they’re being gently, stealthily, encouraged to use their phones to run their homes.
But a smart TV and a slightly smarter HiFi setup won’t be able to establish Google as the king of the smart home hill on their own. That’s where OnHub comes in, because the $200 router promises to end your poor WiFi signal woes once and for all. Tucked inside that canister, however, are Bluetooth, Weave and ZigBee radios that are all lying dormant, ready to be activated in a future software update. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Google could enable its smartphones to run all compatible smart home products, like Philips’ Hue bulbs.
By the end of this year, Google will release Brillo, a stripped-down version of Android that’s designed for the smart home. This will be paired with Weave, a Nest-developed protocol that, as mentioned, is also baked into OnHub and can control other Internet of Things devices. It’s not too much to think that Nest users will opt for new Brillo devices since it’ll work seamlessly with their existing tech. It doesn’t matter much if they don’t, either, since OnHub can also work with ZigBee devices. In which case, it’s possible that Google could push an app out that’d take over every device in your home.
Imagine a situation where Google Now knows when you’re driving home from work and kicks up the temperature accordingly. If you have HDMI-CEC enabled then your Chromecast could have the TV tuned to your favorite Netflix show by the time you’re through the door. Given the rapidly falling price of smart lightbulbs, the lights could automatically dim when you sit down on the couch. Hell, this setup could even start pre-heating your oven so that your DiGiorno pizza can be on your table 20 minutes after you get through the door. It may sound like madness right now, but next year’s Nexus event could have a whole lot more Brillo in it.
Google launches Play Music Family Plan
Yesterday was filled with goodies from Google, from new Nexus devices to new Chromecast devices, there was just about something for everyone, including music lovers. Google announced a new Play Music Family Plan, allowing for several different accounts to be on the same plan.
For $14.99 a month, the Play Music Family Plan allows for six accounts to share one plan. This will be available sometime later this year.
Unfortunately, that is all the details we have about the Google Play Music Family Plan (my, what a mouthful!). Currently, one account can have 10 devices linked to a Play Music subscription, with 5 of those being smartphones. To delete a device off an account is easy, but you can only remove 4 devices in a year. How the new Play Music Family Plan will affect these current restrictions is unclear, but we’ll be sure to keep an eye out to let you know.
For most people, the above won’t affect them much, as its unlikely they go through that many devices. However, some people may already share their Play Music subscription with others, so the details of how the Family Plan will affect that will be something to keep an eye out for.
Will you go for a Google Play Music Family Plan? Shoot off in the comments below!
Source: Official Google Blog
The post Google launches Play Music Family Plan appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Nvidia’s game streaming service officially launched as GeForce NOW
It’s been a little while since we’ve heard from Nvidia regarding its ambitious game streaming service GRID. Well, Nvidia hasn’t been sitting around on the idea. The service is now ready for prime time, and with the official launch, a new name – GeForce NOW.
You can essentially think of Nvidia’s streaming service as a Netflix for gaming, but exclusive to any Shield device (console, portable, or tablet). This also means that it’s exclusive to Android (no Windows). Nvidia has built up data centers across the globe to handle all the behind-the-scenes horsepower needed to accomplish this on a mass scale. The user only needs adequate bandwidth.
What is “adequate” bandwidth? According to Nvidia:
- 10 Mbps – Minimum broadband speed
- 20 Mbps – Recommended for 720p 60 FPS quality
- 50 Mbps – Recommended for 1080P 60 FPS quality
Additionally, you need < 60ms ping time in one of the six Nvidia datacenters world-wide. Nvidia has a Windows tool to test your network and tell you if it will work.
GeForce NOW will launch on Oct. 1st and the subscription cost will be $7.99/month. But you may be wondering what exactly that gets you. Nvidia says that “50 popular PC games” are included with the subscription. Notable titles in this group are the LEGO collection and Batman Arkham series.
There are more available games, but you’ll need to purchase them, such as bigger titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I would like to think that as titles get older, they move into the “included” library, similar to how games reduce in price over time. We’re not yet sure how Nvidia will treat it.
To launch with a bang, Nvidia’s throwing in the first 3 months free when you sign up, per Shield device (a limited time offer). I can see gamers being weary of a new idea like this, especially since the game library isn’t yet extensive. It’ll be up to Nvidia to build it quickly and not go the OnLive route to demise.
What do you think of GeForce NOW, are you sold on it?
Source: Nvidia
The post Nvidia’s game streaming service officially launched as GeForce NOW appeared first on AndroidGuys.
New Mac Exploit Easily Bypasses Gatekeeper Security, Could Allow Installation of Malicious Apps
Apple introduced Gatekeeper in 2012, creating it as a method of protection for users against malicious threats by adding various layers of security during installation of Mac apps. The feature is intended to ensure that apps users try to install on their Macs are legitimste and signed by a registered developer, minimizing the threat of malware. But now, a security researcher has discovered a simple method of bypassing Gatekeeper using a binary file already trusted by Apple to attack a user’s computer (via Ars Technica).
Gatekeeper is meant solely to check the initial digital certificate when an app is downloaded on a Mac, ensuring that the program has been signed by an Apple-approved developer or at least comes from the Mac App Store itself before allowing the installation to proceed.
“If the application is valid—so it was signed by a developer ID or was (downloaded) from the Mac App Store—Gatekeeper basically says ‘OK, I’m going to let this run,’ and then Gatekeeper essentially exits,” Patrick Wardle, director of research of security firm Synack, told Ars. “It doesn’t monitor what that application is doing. If that application turns around and either loads or executes other content from the same directory… Gatekeeper does not examine those files.”
Even if Gatekeeper is enhanced to its highest level of security settings, the new exploit can take advantage of a computer. Once the trusted file makes its way past the security program, it can then execute a handful of other malicious programs attached with the rest of the installation and gains the ability to install malicious software such as password-stealing programs, apps that can capture audio and video from a Mac’s camera, and botnet software.
The researcher who discovered the exploit sent news of it to Apple about 60 days ago and “believes they are working on a way to fix the underlying cause or at least lessen the damage it can do to end users.” Since then, an Apple spokesperson has confirmed the company is working on a patch for the issue and has asked that the identities of the specific files used in the exploit not be disclosed. Wardle plans to showcase his research on the Gatekeeper exploit at the Virus Bulletin Conference on Thursday in Prague.
Did you know you can finance the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X?
There’s a change coming to the mobile industry. One of the little known things that happened when Apple announced the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus is that the Cupertino-based company itself is willing to finance either device to you–installment payments, just like you’d find on a carrier.
Another little known fact is that Google is actually doing the same thing with its Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. Those interested in purchasing one can choose whether to buy it outright or finance it for 24 months.
An important thing to note is that this is only for Project Fi customers. Fi customers will be able to finance the base model of the Nexus 5X for a meager $15.79 per month or the 128GB Nexus 6P for $27.04 per month. All you have to do is pay sales tax and shipping costs upfront. And as a carrier will let you do, you can pay off the remaining balance of your device at any time if you don’t want to go through the full 24 months.
Those of you interested just have to head on over to the Project Fi website, click on “Your plan” and then “Upgrade device” to get the process started! It’ll be interesting to see if Google will ever extend this option to all of its customers. What’ll be more intriguing is seeing more manufactures like Samsung, LG, and HTC move to offering something like this.
Anyone plan on financing a Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P?
source: Project Fi
via: Android Central
Come comment on this article: Did you know you can finance the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X?
NVIDIA announces GeForce NOW – unlimited game streaming for just $7.99 per month
NVIDIA’s GRID game streaming service has been around for some time now, but only in beta form. Owners of SHIELD devices have been able to test out the service over the past few months, and now the company is finally ready to make it an official product.
GeForce NOW is the new name for the cloud gaming service, and NVIDIA GRID is a thing of the past. Despite the name change, GeForce NOW aims to offer users the same great features that we saw in GRID, but with a few extra enhancements we think many folks will enjoy. You’ll be able to stream over 50 popular PC games at launch from the cloud, and even purchase and play other titles in an instant. These games will can be streamed at full high-definition 1080p quality at 60 frames per second.
GeForce NOW will be available exclusively for SHIELD devices at launch. That means unless you own a SHIELD Android TV, SHIELD Tablet or SHIELD Portable, you won’t be able to take advantage of the new service right away. Game streaming through GeForce NOW won’t be available for Windows PCs either, but some of the purchased games will come with a download key for Windows machines.
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The service will cost just $7.99 per month, and that will get you unlimited game streaming and instant streaming of any games you purchase. If you happen to own a SHIELD device and would like to try the service before committing to a monthly fee, good news! The first three months of GeForce NOW is free. It will be available in North America, the European Union and Japan on Thursday, October 1st.
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