Twitter opens up polls to everyone
If you’ve been wondering which candy your Twitter followers prefer — Red Vines or Twizzlers, — the social networking company has your back. Starting today, the micro-blogging service is rolling out its poll feature to iOS, Android and on Twitter.com. Now users can embed two-question ballots into their tweets. Each poll is open for 24 hours and all votes are secret. So, no one will know about your secret love of Twizzlers when you live in a Red Vines family. When the poll does expire, everyone that participated will receive a push notification of the results. Those alerts could compel users to launch Twitter for something other than a 140-character tirade about the new Star Wars trailer and that’s exactly what Twitter is looking for.
Twitter has been adding more and more features and upgrades to the network’s ancillary components. Direct Messages have become full on groups without a character count. Quotes now shares full tweets without killing your 140-characters. While Moments was launched as a way to help new users figure out who and what to follow and give them a daily reason to launch the app. Polls, like the rest of these improvements, are an enticing way to create more interaction on the network beyond retweets and favs.
And because everyone wants to be part of the winning team, there’s a good chance sharing a poll with like-minded friends will become a way to assure a voter’s choice is the winning one. It probably won’t happen on your question about which Enterprise captain is the best (it’s Picard), but for large brands and Twitter, it’s another way to get users to use the service.
Source: Twitter
Samsung’s 18.5-inch Galaxy View shows up in newly leaked images
Samsung has some exciting products in the works, but one in particular that has our eye is the Galaxy View. It’s said to have massive 18.4-inch display with mid-range specifications, according to a recent GFXBench leak. And now, SamMobile was able to get their hands on a bundle of promotional images for the device.
Interestingly, Samsung seems to have ditched the home hardware button on this tablet, which makes a lot of sense considering its size. From the pictures below, the device also seems to have some sort of dock that doubles as a carrying bag. In the images we can also see that there’s an auxiliary port, microUSB port (presumably for charging), and another port, though I can’t quite make out what that is exactly.
There’s also a front-facing camera on this monster. It’s obviously not meant for taking stills, but most likely for video calls via Skype, Hangouts, and so on. At this point, the Galaxy View seems very much aimed at Enterprise users, as it really doesn’t make sense otherwise. However, the decidedly low specifications was an interesting choice if it were to be marketed towards that crowd.
Either way, we still haven’t head anything official from Samsung yet. Considering this behemoth has already hit the FCC with AT&T branding, hopefully it won’t be long before we get some more solid details.
For the rest of the leaked images, be sure to hit the source link below.
source: SamMobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung’s 18.5-inch Galaxy View shows up in newly leaked images
Sprint will have to pay $300 million in fines for tax fraud in the state of New York
Sprint in 2012 was accused of not billing its customers $100 million for the carrier’s wireless services over seven years, and as a result, the state of New York was and still is seeking $300 million in fines. The company, of course, appealed the decision, but now a report from Reuters is saying the court rejected Sprint’s appeal.
New York’s Court of Appeals in a 4-1 decision on Tuesday rejected Sprint’s claim that the state’s 2002 law putting sales taxes on interstate mobile phone services violated the US Constitution. And as a result, Sprint will be required to pay the imposed $300 million in fines.
While Sprint was told that they would have to pay these fines in 2012, the case was suspended due to Sprint’s appeal, which is always a long and lengthy process.
This is, of course, a big blow towards Sprint, as the carrier has already been hinted to be going through some financial struggles. It’s not necessarily going to hurt Sprint long-term, but its still a large blow for a company trying to compete with AT&T and Verizon.
source: Reuters
Come comment on this article: Sprint will have to pay $300 million in fines for tax fraud in the state of New York
Magic Leap posts real time augmented reality video
Magic Leap, the augmented reality company that is heavily backed by Google to the tune of $542 million, has just uploaded a new video, which gives us a better look at some of the capabilities of the company’s technology. The clip is relatively short, but gives us a little look at a waving robot and a 3D rotating solar system.
Unlike Magic Leap’s last video back in March, which showed off some heavily edited WIP gameplay footage, the latest video comes with a caption that specifically states that “no special effects or compositing were used” in the creation of the video. While Magic Leap may still not have shown off any hands-on demos, putting it a little behind Microsoft’s similar HoloLens augmented reality product, this footage may go some way to reassure observers that there’s more to Magic Leap than just marketing.
Along with the new video, company Chief Executive Rony Abovitz has been talking a little more about the company at WSJDLive 2015 and its goal to build “an operating system for reality”.
Despite the promise of its technology, Magic Leap isn’t opening up its tools to all developers just yet. Rather, just a selected group of developers, working on everything from cookbook style apps to entertainment and games, will have access to the platform before launch. The company is remaining as secretive as ever.
Magic Leap has acquired use of an old Motorola phone factory in South Florida though, where the company is setting up a production line to manufacture its augmented reality glasses. Abovitz declined to comment on any potential launch window for the hardware, but he did state that the company is preparing to “ship millions of things”.
It appears that we are still going to have to wait a while until we can judge the quality of Magic Leap’s augmented reality experience for ourselves.
Deal: Aukey Quick Charge 2.0 power bank and chargers discounted on Amazon
Smartphone batteries are slowly getting bigger (with the occasional exception), but battery tech is still nowhere close to keeping up with the latest power-hungry processors and displays. Quick charging can help though, and it’s good to see that more and more phones support some sort of fast charging technology.
If you need some quick charging in your life, Amazon has some good deals on Aukey power products supporting Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 standard.
For maximum portability, you may want to look at the Aukey 15,000 mAh Quick Charge 2.0 Portable Battery Pack. This best-selling power bank charges your QC 2.0-compatible device up to 75% faster than a standard charger, meaning you can get that essential juice in just a few minutes. Normally going for $34.99, the battery can be yours for $21.99 if you use the promo code “VLS2CENC” at checkout. Not bad for a big, yet compact power bank.
Get the Aukey 15,000 mAh QC2 power bank for $21.99 with promo code “VLS2CENC”
If you have multiple devices, the Aukey 5-Port 54W Quick Charge 2.0 USB Desktop Charger may be of interest to you. You get 4 normal ports and a QC2.0 port, for $18.49, if you use “MC3SDI9R” as promo code.
Get the Aukey 5-Port 54W Quick Charge 2.0 Charger for $18.49 with promo code “MC3SDI9R”
Finally, for longer trips or your daily commute, the Aukey Quick Charge 2.0 30W 2-Port Car Charger gives you two charging ports for $7.99 if you use the “ZXPJ655P” promo code.
Get the Aukey Quick Charge 2.0 30W 2-Port Car Charger for $7.99 with promo code “ZXPJ655P”
Note that you will need a QC 2.0-compatible device to get the full charging speeds, though the power bank and chargers will work with any device at regular speeds.
This promo may be limited, so you better make up your mind fast. Happy shopping!
This tour of Google’s NY HQ was shot with the new Nexuses
Curious about the new Nexus 5X and 6P smartphones and what goes on inside Google’s New York headquarters? Well, Youtuber’s Nat and Lo can help you with both, as they have taken the two new smartphones out for a test run around Google’s offices, using them to film the entire video above without the use of any additional filter effects.
The tour gives us a glimpse into various Google offices, along with plenty of kooky decorations which paint the company as a rather relaxed looking place to work. I won’t spoil anything else, as the video is certainly worth a look at yourself.
The camera module inside the two new Nexus smartphones has as already scored very well in DxOMark’s smartphone rankings, placing it right up near the top along with the Sony Xperia Z5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 range of handsets. The footage certainly turns out pretty well in this video too, including a selection of sped up and slow motion shots.
See also: Android dominates DxOMark as iPhone 6S ranks 10th
What do you think about the video and Google’s HQ?
Israeli startup wants to modernize eMusic download site
Do you remember eMusic? It used to be a huge mp3 download site until iTunes, Spotify and other music services eclipsed its popularity. Still, it’s not dead yet: in fact, it’s been snapped up by Israeli startup TriPlay, which calls itself a “next-generation personal cloud company.” As you can guess, TriPlay will use its cloud expertise to breathe new life into the service, mentioning in the acquisition PR that eMusic customers will now be able to access their collections online through any device, anywhere they are. According to Techcrunch, the startup acquired eMusic for under $26 million, the price another company paid for it back in 2001. It changed hands a few more times after that and eventually ditched major labels to focus on indie music. It’s unclear what other changes the ancient website (it first went up in 1998) will undergo, but if you’re suddenly curious about the service, you can always sign up for a free trial.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Via: TechCrunch
Source: eMusic
Western Digital is buying SanDisk for $19 billion
Hot on the heels of the Dell-EMC megaquisition comes the news that Western Digital, the world’s largest storage manufacturer, is buying one of the world’s largest flash memory manufacturers, SanDisk. The deal is worth $86.50 per share, which adds up to a total of $19 billion. Western Digital supplies hard drives and SSDs for use inside things like PCs, laptops, and servers, and also sells external drives directly to consumers. The target of its affection is SanDisk, which is the third-largest manufacturer of flash memory worldwide, and is best known for its memory card and USB drive business.
Both companies are currently headquartered in California and have been operating for decades. SanDisk has been a long-time partner of one of Western Digital’s rivals in the storage space, Toshiba. The joint venture between SanDisk and Toshiba will apparently be unaffected by today’s news. As per usual, a deal of this size needs to be okayed by various parties before it goes through — Western Digital says it expects things to be all done and dusted by the third quarter of next year.
Source: Western Digital
Indiegogo rebrands charity as Generosity(.com)
Indiegogo will rebrand Indiegogo Life, its service to raise money for good causes, as Generosity.com. Launching later today, the platform will charge no fees, set no deadline and use Indiegogo’s backend to run each campaign, much as it has done for the past year. The site will (re)launch with four new high-profile initiatives that require your cash, including helping Syrian refugees start new lives and funding STEM education for girls. It’s another high-profile break with rival crowdfunding site Kickstarter, which had to break its own rules to launch a campaign to help Syrian refugees. It’s also interesting that Indiegogo has opted to take its name off the service, perhaps showing a degree of self-awareness that its online reputation isn’t the best.
Latest Samsung Galaxy S7 rumour suggests device will have a 20MP camera
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Another day, another Samsung Galaxy S7 rumour. The last few days have yielded quite a few rumours about the Galaxy S7 including the possible inclusion of something like 3D Touch and a January launch, but today’s rumour surrounds the device’s camera. This year’s Galaxy S6 (and its follow-up flagship devices) used a 16MP camera to great effect – it still holds the second spot on DxOMark’s ladder for all smartphone cameras. The word is, however, that Samsung will instead move to a 20MP camera sensor for next year’s device.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a 20MP camera sensor – after all, Sony’s been using one for at least 2 years. Since the size of the sensor pixels now apparently matter, it’s said that this sensor will use 1.0-micron pixels, which sounds good – we think. The new sensor will also allegedly improve low-light performance, in particular, however, we do anticipate that whatever Samsung does, it will have one of the best cameras around. Of course, as with all rumours, take all this with a grain of salt.
What do you think about the Samsung Galaxy S7 using a 20MP camera? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Samsung via TalkAndroid
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