How to enable Google Now on Tap and use it!
Google Now on Tap is a new feature in Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The premise of the feature is pretty simple, Google Now will analyze the content on your screen and then turn around and deliver results based on that information. As an example, if someone asks you about a restaurant, Google Now on Tap would pull up a card about that restaurant including directions, the website, the menu (where applicable), and more information. In this quick tutorial, we’re going to show you how to enable it and active it.
How to activate Google Now on Tap
Enabling Google Now on tap is actually very easy, even if it’s not entirely obvious. The steps are as follows:
- You’ll need to have the Google app downloaded and you’ll need to actually have Google Now set up. If you don’t have this done already, simply open the Google app and give it the good old “Yes, I’m in!” and you’ll have Google Now enabled.
- Open up Google Now.
- Open the app menu either by sliding from the left side of the screen or by pressing the three-line menu button in the top left corner.
- Enter Settings.
- You’ll want to navigate to the Voice part of the Settings menu.
- There you’ll see a Now on Tap option with a check box. Check the box. You’ll get a confirmation box that pops up asking if you’re sure. Tell it that you are.
- Done! Google Now on Tap is now enabled on your device.
From this point forward, you should be able to use Google Now on Tap. Please note that only devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow can access this feature. If you’re running anything prior to Marshmallow, you won’t be able to use this at all.
See also: How to toggle battery percentage and Quick Settings in Android 6.0
How to use Google Now on Tap
This part is really easy. Engaging with Google Now on Tap requires very little effort at all. Here are the steps:
- Get the information you want Google Now on Tap to analyze on your device. This can be an email, a text message, or pretty much whatever you want.
- Press and hold the Home button.
- After a few moments, Google Now on Tap will pop up with information about the subject matter if it can find any.
Google Now on Tap is an amazing feature and we’ve not doubt a lot of people will find it handy. It’s still early stages so there are some issues here and there but we imagine that these will get ironed out as time goes. For now, it’s fun to use and handy. If you want to learn more, our quick look video is above or you can read about it here.
Samsung’s begun work on Android 6.0 for many of its flagship devices
Android Marshmallow is making its way to Nexus handsets, and it leaves many wondering when Android 6.0 will hit their devices. There’s a lot of factors that go into preparing a new Android version for phones like the LG G4, Galaxy S6, and so on, thus the long wait for the latest flavor of Android. However, SamMobile, with the help of some inside sources, was able to get their hands on a list of devices that are expected to receive Marshmallow.
Among that list is most of Samsung’s flagship releases in the past year. You can expect to see Android 6.0 on the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S5, and much more. There’s no telling when users can expect to see the latest flavor of Android arrive, unfortunately.
Other company’s have already detailed their plans for Android 6.0, but some have given some rather disappointing news regarding the update as well.
For the full, preliminary list, hit the source link below. And remember to check back often, as SamMobile says they’ll be updating it with more devices as information comes in.
source: SamMobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung’s begun work on Android 6.0 for many of its flagship devices
How to install the Marshmallow OTA on your Nexus device
Android 6.0 Marshmallow is finally here, and it’s brought with it dozens of cool features! Google is rolling out the over-the-air (OTA) update right now, but chances are you don’t want to endure the wait that could be several weeks to get the latest version of Android on your Nexus device.
Good news, folks! We’re going to show you how to download and install the OTA update. If you want to install via the factory images, we’ll have a complete guide on that up very soon.
Setting things up
In pushing the OTA update to your Nexus device, you shouldn’t lose any data in the process; however, the improbable is not impossible.
Next, you’re going to need ADB and Fastboot downloaded and installed on your computer. If you’re a Windows user, all you need to download is Minimal ADB and Fastboot. If you’re running Linux or Mac, you’ll need to grab them from the Android SDK itself. We’ve got steps outlined for both processes below.
Installing Minimal ADB and Fastboot:
- Download Minimal ADB and Fastboot from the XDA Developer Forums
- Open the downloaded file
- When prompted, install to C:android-sdkplatform-tools
It’s a quick and simple process. If you didn’t install to the recommended directory, just be sure to remember the location you saved the files in.
Downloading the Android SDK:
- You’ll need to download the Android SDK Tools from Google. The Android Developers website primarily advertises the Android Studio package, but you can just get the Android SDK Tools at the bottom of the page for your desired operating system.
- Follow the wizard and install to C:android-sdk
- Launch the SDK Manager
- Unselect all packages except for Android SDK Platform-tools and Google USB driver
- Install your packages.
You’re good to go! Now we just need the OTA zip file for your specific Nexus device.
Getting the OTA Zip file
One quick note: some devices are getting their October security updates. You’ll need to download those before proceeding with Marshmallow. You can follow the same steps in this guide to apply them, you’ll just need go to through this guide twice–one for the security update, and another for marshmallow.
Nexus 5 (hammerhead)
———————————————–
Nexus 7 (2013) WiFi (razor)
Nexus 7 (2013) LTE (razorg)
———————————————–
Nexus 9 WiFi (voltanis)
- From Android 5.1.1 LMY48M to LMY48T Android 5.1.1 – October Security Update
- From Android 5.1.1 October Security Update LMY48T to MRA58K Android 6.0
———————————————–
Nexus 9 LTE (voltanisg)
- From Android 5.1.1 LMY48M to LMY48T Android 5.1.1 – October Security Update
- From Android 5.1.1 October Security Update LMY48T (5.1.1) to MRA58K Android 6.0
———————————————–
Nexus Player (fugu)
———————————————–
Note: We’ll be sure to update this post with the Nexus 6 OTA link when it becomes available.
Preparing to flash
The first step is to go into your device’s Settings menu and enable USB debugging in Developer Options near the bottom of the menu. If you don’t see Developer Options anywhere in your Settings, Google has some documentation on how to make them visible:
To access these settings, open the Developer options in the system Settings. On Android 4.2 and higher, the Developer options screen is hidden by default. To make it visible, go to Settings > About phone and tap Build number seven times. Return to the previous screen to find Developer options at the bottom.
If you went the route of installing Minimal ADB and Fastboot, you’ll need to follow this process:
- Download the official Google USB Driver from the Android Developer website.
- Install the USB Drivers
- Remember the location of the drivers after extracting the .zip file.
Now, we’re ready to plug the device in. Connect it via USB cable, and if this is the first time you’ve connected it to your computer, you might get an RSA prompt on your Nexus device. Just check the “Always allow for this computer” box, select OK, and we’re good to go.
Installing the OTA update
Preliminary instructions for Mac users:
These instructions are intended for Windows users, however, getting them to work on a Mac is very similar. The only real differences is that you’ll need to open Terminal on Mac (as opposed to Command Prompt) and add a “./” in front of the commands you type in Terminal. Additionally, you’ll need to add the platform tools to your $PATH directory on Mac.
The process is simple:
- Open Terminal
- Type sudo nano/etc/paths
- Enter your password
- Type in the path of your platform tools directory
- Hit control-x on your keyboard to quit and Y to save the changes
You should now be able to follow the flashing instructions below without any issues on Mac. Just be sure to remember to add that “./” in front of your Terminal commands.
Flashing instructions:
- With your computer connected to your Nexus device via USB and USB debugging enabled, you’ll need to restart in fastboot mode. You can type “adb reboot bootloader” in Command Prompt without the quotation marks to do this. Alternatively, you can use your device’s hardware commands.
- You should see the fastboot menu. Start should be at the top right of the screen. Just press Volume Up until you see it change to recovery. Then, press the power button to select it.
- An Android with a red exclamation point will appear. Press and hold the power key and then the volume up key to bring the Recovery Menu to the forefront.
- Now, find the apply update from adb option and select it with the Power button.
- Next, go back to your computer, and in Command Prompt (or Terminal) type “adb sideload yourfilenamehere.zip” replacing “yourfilenamehere” with the actual file name. Remember to remove the quotation marks from the command as well.
Congratulations! The update should begin to install, and once it’s done, all you need to do is reboot. Welcome to Marshmallow!
Closing
After all is said and done, Marshmallow should be successfully installed on your device! The update has been a long time coming, and you should see all sorts of cool improvements.
Have you installed Marshmallow? How do you like it? Let us know in the comments below.
Come comment on this article: How to install the Marshmallow OTA on your Nexus device
[TA Deals] Enter the Smart Home Giveaway to win a bundle of Nest devices
Everyone loves going away on vacation, but how often do you lay on the sun-lounger wondering if you remembered to turn the heating down before your left, or even if the building itself is safe? That’s where smart home technology can really come into its own, giving you the ability to check on your house and belongings from just about anywhere in the world. Getting your home kitted out can be expensive, but, luckily for you, Talk Android Deals is giving you the chance to win a bunch of Nest home automation devices in our Smart Home Giveaway. The prize consists of Nest’s Thermostat, Alarm, and Cam devices. Join us after the break for details on how to enter.
What do the Nest devices actually do?
- The Nest Thermostat allows you to set an automated heating schedule, helping you save money on your energy bill
- The Nest Cam (camera) detects motion, sending an alert to your smartphone if something is detected, and can also stream 1080p HD video right to your phone
- The Nest Alarm features advanced smoke detection technology, and, as you might expect, can be controlled from your handset
That brings us neatly to how you can enter the giveaway, and it really is quite simple.
How you win:
- 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
That’s all you have to do to stand a chance to take home the Smart Home Giveaway prize, what are you waiting for? Good Luck!
Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Enter the Smart Home Giveaway to win a bundle of Nest devices
Google awards the man who owned Google.com for a minute over $10,000
Sammay Ved, the man that recently owned Google.com for a minute, was actually awarded over $10,000. Ved, a former Google employee, was searching Google Domains and came across Google.com, which was available to buy for $12. He was able to complete the checkout, and thus became the man that owned Google.com…at least for a minute.
“The scary part was I had access to the webmaster controls for a minute,” Ved told Business Insider. But, as with anything, all good things come to an end, and Google cancelled the sale. Ved never expected to receive any money, but says Google ended up awarding him “more than $10,000″ as part of its security vulnerabilities program, where Google routinely awards people for finding different hacks, exploits, and vulnerabilities in Google-owned properties.
Ved was never interested in the money, though. He ended up donating it all to The Art of Living India. In doing that, Google actually ended up doubling the amount going to that charity. It’s a neat story, and as part of the hiccup, many people in India will benefit from the Art of Living’s humanitarian outreach.
There’s no telling how Google.com ended up as becoming available to buy, but one thing’s for sure, Google isn’t going to let that happen ever again.
source: Business Insider
Come comment on this article: Google awards the man who owned Google.com for a minute over $10,000
LastPass gets acquired by remote desktop service LogMeIn
The popular password manager LastPass will soon have a new home at LogMeIn, which runs a remote desktop management service, the companies announced today. But don’t fret if you’re an existing LastPass user: LogMeIn says it’ll keep the service and brand alive, while also adding in technology from Meldium, another password service it recently acquired. The news comes amid a busy year for LastPass. Back in June, the company announced that it was hacked, and a few months ago it added free mobile password support. For the most part, the acquisition seems to be about making LogMeIn a more desirable choice for businesses who want to give employees a simple way to secure their many passwords, across a variety of online services.
Via: The Next Web
Source: LogMeIn
I found a secondhand telescope, now what?
It’s amazing what you can find on the streets of San Francisco. No, the actual city streets, not the ’70s cop drama starring Michael Douglas. I recently came across a scavenger’s treasure in the city’s Sunset neighborhood: a fully operational Meade NG-70 Altazimuth Refractor Telescope. It was just sitting there on the curb with a handwritten note simply stating “Free” taped to its barrel. Now, I’ll tell you, I’m not much of an astronomer — inasmuch as I have never used (even touched) a telescope or ever had much interest in learning. The idea of standing around outside in the dark, fiddling with dials always seemed too much hassle to make very distant sparkly objects to appear slightly larger. But what I am also not is a sucker — and a free telescope is a free telescope — so into my car’s trunk it went.
Once I got the rig home, I set about examining my prize. Often in San Francisco, “Free” tags are simply code for “here, you throw this away.” But, shockingly, this telescope had nearly all of its bits and pieces — from the lens cap to the two extra eyepieces, most everything was present, intact and functional. The only things missing were the instructional DVD, the laser rangefinder and, for my part, even a rudimentary understanding of what “Altazimuth Refractor” means. Figuring out how to focus the telescope and smoothly track moving objects was simple enough, so I set about educating myself on the wide world of amateur astronomy. By which I mean I downloaded Google Sky Maps and swiveled about my living room in an office chair for 15 minutes while searching for interesting celestial phenomena.
After having swiveled myself dizzy without finding anything worth looking at in my hemisphere, I decided to revise my strategy with a bit of internet research. First things first, I Googled “Altazimuth Refractor.” Turns out altazimuth refers to the telescope’s two-axis mount, which works much like an Etch-A-Sketch with separate knobs controlling horizontal and vertical movement, while refractor refers to the fact that the telescope employs a lens to magnify images instead of two mirrors like a reflecting telescope. I also learned that the individual eyepieces offer varying levels of magnification, which explains why I’d need more than one. Having gotten the hang of my telescope’s basic operation, I began searching out resources for amateur astronomers. And what better resource could there be than NASA itself?
Sky maps of Messier objects [Image credit: Deep Sky Watch]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration should be the first stop for anyone interested in getting into astronomy. Not only does the site maintain a valuable compendium of online resources for neophyte stargazers, but also the agency itself has partnered with a multitude of nonprofit organizations across the country to help promulgate astronomical societies, like the Night Sky Network. NSN is a community of more than 400 astronomy clubs across the US (like the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers) as well as an astronomy portal operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab that seeks to bring “the wonders of the universe to the public.” Users simply input their zip code to find local events, star parties and public viewings at nearby observatories in their area. For folks in the UK, the Society for Popular Astronomy offers a similar service as well as a super-helpful tutorial for setting up and using a telescope for the first time.
Digging around the NASA and SPA sites then led me to a number of private organizations like Sky and Telescope, which features everything from tutorials and weekly sky maps to breaking astronomy news and product reviews. S&T Senior Editor Alan MacRobert’s “How to Start Right in Backyard Astronomy” is from 2006, but I found it extremely helpful. If you’re looking for more extensive sky maps than what S&T offers, head over to Deep-Sky Watch. Its Illustrated Deep-Sky Observing Guide (downloadable PDF) includes more than 7,000 celestial objects that can be seen with 14x magnification as well as more than 600 deeper objects. And to ensure that you can actually see what you’re looking for, the Dark Site Finder map is invaluable.
My favorite and most used site, however, has got to be The Awesome Amateur Astronomer. Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands created this website as part of the EU’s Universe Awareness program. It’s designed for kids, sure, but it’s actually a really engaging system that teaches the basic theories behind astronomy. Users complete 10 steps with varying tasks — such as visiting a planetarium, learning the parallax method or making an angular measurement — to “finish” the program. Plus, each step includes links to related on- and offline resources. Honestly, this needs to be an app.
With these resources successfully bookmarked for future reference, I’m feeling pretty confident about not only knowing what to look for, but also where to look and how to find it. Over the past couple of nights, I’ve been able to spot features on the moon, spied the top of the illuminated cross on Mt. Davidson from my living room and scanned the heavens for UFOs (no luck yet). I didn’t think I’d be that excited about staring into the night sky when I found the telescope, but now I can’t wait for sundown.
Engadget Live is making one more stop this year: New York City!
We’ve had a lot of fun this year with all our Engadget Live events. In July, we kicked off the tour in Boston, then headed to Los Angeles a few weeks later, and now are gearing up for Austin next week. But, while three’s a crowd, foud is a party! So, we’re super excited to announce that on October 29th, we’ll finish up our Engadget Live tour in our other home city: New York, NY! We’re taking over the Liberty Warehouse in Brooklyn on Thursday, October 29th at 7PM and will bring together gadget lovers (that’s you!) and tech companies for a night you don’t want to miss.
Ford, our grand sponsor of Engadget Live, will let you check out its voice-activated SYNC 3 system and the 2016 Ford Escape. Drizly (the app that lets you get alcohol delivered on the fly) will mix up a free cocktail to the first 250 guests (who are age 21 and older, of course).
We’ll have many more exciting things to announce for Engadget Live New York in the weeks to come. For now though, get your free ticket and get amped up to join us on October 29th. And if you’re interested in sponsoring, email sponsors[at]engadget.com.
Facebook goes beyond Like, trailing new Reactions
After long-time rumors of a ‘Dislike’ button, Facebook will be trialing a new feature that will allow users to share different reactions to posts on the site.
The feature, known as ‘Reactions’, will act as an extension to the standard Like button, with a set of six emoji: like, love, haha, yay, wow, sad and angry. The reactions will be accessible by hovering or long-pressing the Like button wherever it appears on the News Feed, whether it is from friends, pages you follow or advertisers.
“As you can see, it’s not a “dislike” button,” Chief Product Officer Chris Cox wrote in his announcement, “though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly. We studied which comments and reactions are most commonly and universally expressed across Facebook, then worked to design an experience around them that was elegant and fun.”
Facebook will be testing Reactions in two countries for the time being: Ireland and Spain. Both were chosen as their users have friend networks that rarely extend beyond their national borders. The site will be using feedback to improve the feature and hopes to roll out Reactions to everyone.
Source: Facebook, Techcrunch
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Amazon Fire HD 10 hands-on impressions
Amazon’s making a big break for the tablet market and before its latest endeavours – which include the budget $50 tablet available in a six-pack and the HDX flagships from last year – the company’s forked Android approach certainly seemed to be working.
The company isn’t content with stopping there, as it has announced a few entries into its mid-range tablet portfolio and we went hands on with its largest ever tablet – the Fire HD 10 – to see how good Amazon’s latest efforts are.
Hardware
At a cost of $229, something has to give (compared to more expensive tablets) and in the case of the Fire HD 10, it is the feel of the tablet. Essentially, Amazon’s slate is nothing more than a metal frame with a plastic overcoat, and it definitely shows, with the rear proving to be a fingerprint and smudge magnet. As a result, you’re most likely going to be forking out for a case if you want the tablet to look, well, premium.
The Fire HD 10 is one of Amazon’s thinnest slates at just 7.7mm thick but the large body and 432 grams’ weight means you won’t be using this in one hand often. Yes, the tablet is thin and it’s relatively light, but the chamfered edges and plastic rear mean it’s relatively difficult to keep a grip on the tablet for a long period of time.
As you might expect from a tablet with a low price tag, not everything is as premium as Amazon might claim and an area this is immediately noticeable is the display. The screen resolution of 1280 x 800 is a far cry from other tablets on the market and while it is quite bright – Amazon say it offers 400 nits brightness – the lack of Full HD is likely to be a let down for most people.
Inside the surprisingly slim body, there’s a quad-core MediaTek processor – made up of two 1.5GHz cores and two 1.2GHz cores – along with 1GB RAM and 16GB or 32GB internal storage. A mammoth multitasking powerhouse this is certainly not, but thankfully, you can expand the storage using a microSD card, which is some consolation.
On one side of the Fire HD 10, Amazon has included dual Dolby Atmos speakers, which – while having very little bass – are actually quite loud. On the back, there’s a 5-megapixel camera while the front has a 720p camera and while you could take photos using the Fire HD 10, they probably won’t be images you want to share.
While Amazon’s hardware is certainly acceptable given the price tag, the Fire HD 10 does have a key issue – the 16:10 aspect ratio. Amazon says it stuck with this ratio as it found Fire users watch a lot of movies and this aspect ratio ensures there won’t be black bars when viewing a media file.
The problem with this is the Fire HD 10 feels quite long and tall and can be quite unruly to hold in one hand, especially when reading a book. It’s a small irritation, but one that you should definitely keep in mind. Overall, the hardware isn’t the best on the market but it certainly gets the job done, and, as Jeff Bezos will have wanted, the Fire HD 10 is really a portal in the world of everything Amazon. How does the company do this? Through it’s forked-Android Fire OS approach of course.
Software
The Fire HD 10 runs on Amazon’s latest Fire OS 5 Bellini and the new OS brings an enhanced UI, updates to the platform and of course, even closer integration of Amazon’s various products and services.
The updated interface in Bellini is designed to make discovering new apps and content as easy as possible for users and the home screen comes with dedicated pages to help you discover books, games and apps, video, music and audiobooks. The home screen is certainly interesting and user friendly and it’s a refreshing change from other Android tablets, which look no different to their smartphone counterparts.
Bellini also brings a range of features (dubbed Activity Centre) allowing parents to control and/or limit what children can access, including games, videos and books. Amazon takes it one step further as it also lets parents view exactly what their child have been searching for, reading, watching or playing, as well as see exactly how much time has been spent on a particular activity.
There’s no doubt that the Fire HD 10 is designed to be a one-stop-shop into the world of all-things Amazon and Bellini definitely delivers this, bringing support for Prime benefits in the Family Library, among other things. As far as a comparison against other Android smartphones go, it’s definitely different to the mainstream Android tablets you’re probably more accustomed to.
Final thoughts
Should you buy the Amazon Fire HD 10? This is a difficult one, as there are two parts to the answer: first, if use all of Amazons services frequently, then most definitely, this is a tablet that will simply enhance how you interact with the world’s largest retailer.
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That being said, if you don’t use Amazon services that often, you’re probably better than off buying an Android tablet running the full Google Play suite. Amazon’s forked approach means you get access to the Amazon AppStore and while you can side-load the Google Play Store, the reliance of Amazon’s services over Google’s means things you do on your Android smartphone or tablet, may not be possible on the Amazon Fire HD 10.
As far as tablets go, the Fire HD 10 is one of the nicest tablets made by Amazon, but unless you’re part of the Jeff Bezos clan, it’s quite likely that you’ll find a tablet running full Android (and not Amazon’s forked approach) will be better for your needs.
AIVAnet 