This 46-gigapixel image is the biggest map of space ever made
Astronomers at Germany’s Ruhr-Universitat Bochum have unveiled the largest space map ever compiled on Friday. The image is composited from some 268 individual shots captured over the past five years and spans a staggering 46 billion pixels. That’s 855,000 by 54,000 pixels. “If you would want to display this in full resolution on full HD TV screens, you would need more than 22,000 screens,” Moritz Hackstein, a PhD candidate who conducted the survey as part of his thesis, told CBS News.
Via: CBS News
Source: Ruhr-Universitat Bochum
The UK will receive the Samsung Gear S2 on November 12 for £249
The Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic will be available to buy on November 12. The Gear S2 will be priced at £249 and the Gear S2 Classic will be £299. You will also be able to pre-order them from the Samsung Store on October 29.
The Gear S2 will come in dark grey with matching band or silver with a white band. The Gear S2 Classic will come in black with a black leather band. Unfortunately, the GPS and 3G version Gear S2 will not be available at this time.
If you want to check out the watch before you buy one, you can head over to London’s Westfield White City shopping centre where Samsung is having a ‘experiential showcase’. It opens on October 23 until November 3 with 10 Gear S2’s being given away. It will also include Samsung Pay demos, as well as, showing off their new Gear VR.
Source: Wareable
Come comment on this article: The UK will receive the Samsung Gear S2 on November 12 for £249
Android 6.0 Marshmallow review: All about polish and power
When Android 5.0 Lollipop started hitting devices last November, people could tell. Google’s new Material Design aesthetic made sure you wouldn’t mistake it for any prior version of the OS, which was great… especially when you consider how confusing parts of it could be. Now that Android’s look has been more or less firmed up, Google set about making its operating system smoother, smarter and more battery-friendly. The end result: Android 6.0 Marshmallow. So, how’d they do? Spoiler alert: pretty damned well.Slideshow-333282
Three Panera Bread locations are giving away special cups for using Android Pay
Better hurry to the Panera Bread on East Foothill Boulevard in Pasadena if you want to get a special cup for using Android Pay at checkout. Like with Jamba Juice, Google is working with Panera Bread to do a promotion that gives customers using their mobile payments service a special Android-themed cup.
A Panera Bread location in Chicago participated in the promotion today and Pasadena’s turn is going on right now. Tomorrow, a location in Mountain View, Google’s hometown, will close out the disbursement of special cups. These Panera Bread locations host the promotion from 11AM-4PM local time or while supplies last.
Source: Android (Twitter)
Come comment on this article: Three Panera Bread locations are giving away special cups for using Android Pay
Playdate: Kart racing with Disney Princesses and stepping on LEGOs
Just when you think you’re done with this whole “toys-to-life” genre of video games, nostalgia is there to pull you back in. Did you play with LEGOs as a kid? Do you like Walt Disney? Have you ever played Mario Kart? Then there’s still plenty of expensive, RFID-powered toys to exploit childhood. Today, Tim Seppalla and I are looking at LEGO Dimensions’ multi-franchise romp through your toy-chest and Disney Infinity’s Toy Box Speedway. Is your wallet ready? Join us at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific right here, on the Engadget Gaming homepage or at Twitch.tv/joystiq to find out.
Track & Treat by Glympse makes it easy to track your kids this Halloween
Track & Treat by Glympse makes it easy to track exactly where your kids are this Halloween. Glympse is an expert at sharing your location with others and decided to bring their expertise to help out parents this Halloween.
With this app you will be able to track exactly where your kids are or when they are heading home. You can also let friends, family, or neighbours know they are heading over.
Very simple and a fun way to make sure your kids are safe while they are trick-or-treating. Just type the name of the person you want to track, put a phone number of who is keeping an eye on them, and begin sharing the location.
Come comment on this article: Track & Treat by Glympse makes it easy to track your kids this Halloween
TLYT Energi Sliding Power case for Samsung Galaxy S6 review
For all the great things that come in the design of the Samsung Galaxy S6, one thing has proved to be bothersome for some users. Indeed, I’m talking about the non-removable battery. For reasons known only to Samsung, this generation of device includes an internal battery. Sure, the phone looks downright gorgeous and feels really nice in hand, but users are confined to a very specific amount of juice.
For some of us, we like to add an extended battery or swap in a secondary battery as the need arises. This was quite easy in past generations of Samsung but not so much for this year.
Thankfully, we have companies like TYLT who make products that work with practical solutions regardless of whether your phone has an internal or removable battery.
We recently spent time with the Energi Sliding Power Case for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and found it to be in line with other products from TYLT. Namely, it’s quality device that provides peace of mind.
The inner layer protects the Galaxy S6 but doesn’t have any extra battery.
This product comes in a two-piece setup. For the first part, it’s a protective case that protects the edges of your screen. It fits snugly around the phone and provides a moderate amount of protection against scuffs and scrape.
As you might expect, there are cutouts for the charging port, speakers, headphone port, camera and other items. Buttons can be pressed easily and the response is still just about the same as what you’d find on the phone itself.
The second part, which is where the extended battery is housed, is where you’re going to find the bulk. Once you slide your phone down inside of this second unit, you’ve added a second 3400mAh battery. In other words, this more than doubles the life that you will get out of your phone.
The rear of the outer shell has a five-light indicator so you can quickly tell how much power is left in your reserve. Each light represents 20 percent of juice.
The device itself is prone to pick up oil and scuff a little bit easier than we’d like but it wasn’t unsightly. We expect these to get natural wear and tear over time; it can be wiped down easily. In short, there’s nothing here that bothered us more than any other, similar product we’ve tested.
It is not required that you use this battery at all times, of course, so feel free to carry just the phone itself. But, for those who do not expect to be near a charger for an extended period of time, you’ll want to take both pieces with you.
If there is one area of concern it is that the two pieces do not come apart very easily. For some people this will not be a problem. For others, it could be quite the pain in the butt if you need or want to pull your phone out and keep it slim. Some users may wish to keep the extended battery in a car or somewhere where they can grab it on the go and juice up the phone. If that is you, prepare to work your hands quite vigorously to get this apart. We did find that it got easier over time but it’s still a snug fit. There could be worse problems, though.
One feature we’re particularly fond of is the built-in support for Qi wireless charging. So, if you’ve got a wireless platter or dock, you can drop your Galaxy S6 on it and not worry about fussing with cords. This is the sort of flexibility and freedom you need and expect in a flagship such as the Samsung Galaxy S6.
You can score the TLYT Energi Sluding Power Case for $79.99 directly from TYLT. Other places that offer the device include Best Buy and Amazon; both had the same price as of the time this review was published.
The post TLYT Energi Sliding Power case for Samsung Galaxy S6 review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
iPad Pro Hands-on Makes the Case for Productivity Uses, Apple Pencil Is Excellent
With the launch of the iPad Pro coming up shortly, technology and education expert Fraser Speirs got some hands-on time with the device at an invitation-only event in London yesterday. Speirs has been sharing his thoughts from his one-hour session with the iPad Pro and its accessories and answering questions on Twitter, offering an interesting perspective on the user experience.
Overall, Speirs was impressed by the iPad Pro, finding it most ideal for productivity tasks in noting the device “is expansive where the Air 2 is intimate. It definitely has a ‘work’ feel to it, although photos/media are fantastic.” Multitasking in particular is “a whole different thing” on the iPad Pro with a true feeling of “two iPads stuck together,” an experience that makes it “a great device for serious work and creativity.”
If you’re the kind of person who uses Editorial, Keynote, Pythonista, Office, Adobe, Omni and Panic apps, you should look at iPad Pro.
— Fraser Speirs (@fraserspeirs) October 23, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Speirs is a bit less enthusiastic about other use cases, noting that “if you just use it to browse and Netflix” there may not be enough benefit from the iPad Pro to make it worth the increased size and weight compared to iPad Air 2. For reading, he feels “it’s not a device to snuggle up with” but would be solid for reference work.
Turning to the Apple Pencil, Speirs calls it “extremely impressive” and “certainly the best iPad stylus I have used by a country mile.” Palm rejection is described as “near-perfect” and the “best I have ever seen on iOS,” making for a smooth experience with writing and drawing apps.
Speirs was less impressed with the Smart Keyboard, calling it “a bit fiddly” due to its size and complexity but a “decent enough” keyboard. As far as the keyboard feel, Speirs compares it most closely to Logitech’s Keys-to-Go among accessories iPad users might already be familiar with.
For more of Speirs’ thoughts on the iPad Pro and its accessories, check out his Twitter timeline, which is full of tidbits and other impressions.
Google Frightgeist scares up Halloween costume trends
Google Trends has launched a new interface that lets you gauge the likelihood of showing up to the costume party dressed just like someone else. It’s called Frightgeist, and it uses Google Trends’ search data to anticipate how many people are dressing up in specific costumes this Halloween season in the United States. You can even see which costumes are most popular by region.
Spoilers: if you’re planning on going as Harley Quinn, don’t expect to be the only motley seductress on the dance floor or get any bonus points for creativity. It seems like everyone and their grandmother is dressing up as the Joker’s sexy sidekick this year. Think you’re getting ahead of the curve with that Boba Fett outfit? It’s still another two months until the Star Wars movie comes out, after all. You should be safe, right? Think again. Frightgeist claims you’ll have a “frighteningly high” chance of bumping into other Star Wars characters.
The Harley Quinn and Star Wars hype makes sense, of course. The Batman franchise has been killing it lately with the Arkham video game series and the lingering impact of Christopher Nolan’s gritty trilogy, not to mention building anticipation for 2016’s Suicide Squad. Star Wars is a no-brainer. If you haven’t gotten your tickets already, by the way, you might want to hit up Cinemark’s website, because showings are already selling out.
But what baffles me is that the number one costume in my area is Minnie Mouse. I mean… what? Why is Minnie Mouse on so many people’s minds around here this year?
If you’re looking to ride the trend, then by all means don the motley and fire up your lightsaber, but if you’re looking to stand out, Frightgeist has a “Show something less popular button.” Frightgeist recommended I show up as a loofah if I wanted to be really original this year.
A loofah.
I’m surprised that one is as popular as it is at 361st place, to be honest.
AIVAnet 