Google Photos has hit 100 million active users
Within roughly five months, Google Photos has reached 100 million active users. Very impressive accomplishment to achieve in such a short amount of time. Google even decided to make a video to thank everyone.
Click here to view the embedded video.
I have to say, it’s a pretty poor celebration video for reaching such a huge amount of active users. Snapchat has around the same amount of users and they have been working at it since 2011. To be fair, 100 million is an impressive number for anyone to hit, except for Google. All their other apps have billions of downloads and I am sure we will be hearing another announcement from them shortly about it reaching 500 million.
Google also have some other interesting facts about Google Photos. People are the number one most taken subject, but food pictures are close behind. Dogs are the most photographed animal, after people and food, cars are the next most taken photos, and Paris is the top photographed place in the world. Google lists a bunch of other interesting facts, so be sure to read them all on their blog.
Source: Google Blog
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HTC One A9 availability – what we know so far
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HTC has just announced its newest addition to the One line, the One A9. Featuring an all-metal design, a new Snapdragon 617 processor, a 13MP rear camera and Android 6.0 Marshmallow, this is certainly an interesting device. Wondering where and when you can get your hands on one? We’ve got you covered. Here are a list of carriers and retailers who have announced plans to carry the device.
Related: HTC One A9 first impressions: trying some new things
United States availability
- AT&T – While details are pretty scarce at the moment, AT&T has just announced its plans to carry the device both online and in-store. Pricing, availability and additional details will be shared at a later date.
- Sprint – Sprint has revealed that the One A9 will be available on Friday, November 6th. You can pre-order the phone from Sprint for $199 with a two-year agreement or for $696 without a contract. Through January 7th, qualifying customers can pay $20 per month for a 24-month lease on the device. Also for a limited time customers activating a new One A9 will receive two monthly service credits for $20 each following the device’s activation.
- Don’t buy this phone outright from Sprint. You can purchase it unlocked from HTC.com for just $399.99 and save yourself almost $300.
- T-Mobile – While T-Mobile hasn’t officially revealed its plans to carry the One A9, the carrier is listed on HTC’s website as an available carrier if you’re looking to pre-order the phone.
U.K. availability
Unfortunately folks in the U.K. will have to pay a bit more for the device than residents in the United States. The unlocked One A9 will cost £429.99 from HTC.com, which translates to around a whopping $664 USD. And that’s not all! Not only do folks in the U.S. get to pay a much cheaper price for the model with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, the device shipping to the U.K. is the lower-end variant with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of on-board storage. Ugh.
As for the carriers, only O2 has revealed its plans to carry the One A9, though availability details are scarce at the moment.
Canada availability
- HTC.com – Canadians can now pre-order the unlocked One A9 from HTC.com for $549.00 CAD. The device will be available in Opal Silver, Carbon Grey and Deep Garnet color options, with devices shipping out on November 6th.
HTC will be launching the device through Canadian carriers as well, though we have yet to hear any specifics.
Online availability
- HTC.com – If you happen to live in the U.S., you can already pre-order the unlocked One A9 from HTC.com for $399.99. The unlocked device comes in Opal Silver and Carbon Grey color options with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage. The Deep Garnet color option is coming in a few weeks.
- Right now there are two different SKUs to choose from – one that’s specifically for Sprint, and another that works with T-Mobile and AT&T. The model that works with T-Mo and AT&T will get a software update that will allow use of the phone on Verizon’s network using LTE only with a previously activated SIM, giving support for full voice, data, SMS, and MMS.
Know any others?
Those are all the regions and carriers we know so far, but we’ll keep updating as we learn more. Did we miss something? Make sure to let us know in the comments. Oh, and if you’d like to learn more about the new smartphone, feel free to check out our previous coverage that we’ve linked below.
How does the BlackBerry PRIV manage to keep Android secure?
I think we all agree that security concerns regarding the Android platform are a bit over-hyped. Some significant threats (like the Stagefright vulnerability) show up from time to time, but those are rare. The average user should be fine as long as he knows how to identify a potentially dangerous situation. Google and other manufacturers have worked hard to make the platform more adept to privacy and security, but those who really want a bullet-proof system will likely trust BlackBerry more.
This is what makes the BlackBerry PRIV so exciting. This new phone is supposed to finally merge the user-friendliness and app support Android has to offer with the full security measures BlackBerry once ruled the mobile market with. Let’s take a moment to remember the times when the PRIV was nothing but a rumor. The world went nuts when BlackBerry CEO John Chen mentioned he would consider building an Android device if they could make it as secure as they have made BB10.
Now that the BlackBerry PRIV is public, we have to wonder if they actually accomplished meeting the standards all those business men and government officials need. Hey, maybe President Obama can have an Android phone now!
BlackBerry knows many of you are wondering how they managed to make Android as secure as they claim it is. I mean… they are calling the thing the PRIV (which stands for private), after all. The manufacturer has taken it to their official blog to clear all our doubts. Let’s look into some of the details.
- BlackBerry’s Hardware Root of Trust, a unique manufacturing process that injects cryptographic keys into the device hardware, providing a secure foundation for the entire platform.
- Verified Boot and Secure Bootchain, which uses the embedded keys to verify every layer of the device from hardware to OS to applications in order to make sure they haven’t been tampered with.
- A hardened Linux kernel with numerous patches and configuration changes to improve security.
- FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption on by default to protect your privacy.
- The BlackBerry Infrastructure, a secure distributed global network that transmits petabytes of encrypted data to and from the world’s most powerful leaders and professionals.
- BES12, the leading Enterprise Mobility Management platform used by the world’s most powerful governments and corporations.
In addition to these security measures, the BlackBerry PRIV offers seamless integration to Android for Work. They also mention the device comes with DTEK pre-installed. This app is said to help users manage and secure their privacy.
Liking what you read? BlackBerry is teasing that they will unveil more about their security measures in the coming weeks. The BlackBerry PRIV has more to offer than a gorgeous keyboard, guys! And we know some of you will definitely appreciate all of this.
I’ll be honest, though, I will probably get it, and it is mostly for that keyboard! Are any of you buying one? And if so, is security and privacy a big reason for your decision?
Apple Speaks Out Against Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act
Apple today voiced its opposition to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, just days before the Senate will vote on the bill. In a statement given to The Washington Post, Apple reiterated its commitment to user privacy and said it does not support CISA.
“We don’t support the current CISA proposal,” Apple said in a statement. “The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.”
Apple’s public statement on CISA comes on the heels of statements from several other tech companies who oppose CISA, including Twitter, Yelp, Wikipedia, and reddit. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon, has also urged the Senate to make improvements to the act, saying it does not support CISA as it is currently written.
The controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is designed to allow companies to share information on cybersecurity threats with one another and with the government, but opponents say it puts personal privacy at risk by failing to include protections for user privacy and by granting the government wide-ranging rights gather private data from Americans under the guise of shielding them from hackers.
Apple has taken a strong stance on user privacy in recent years and has reiterated many times that the government has no access to Apple’s servers. With iOS 8, Apple further strengthened its position on preventing government access to user data by ending its storage of encryption keys for iOS devices, making it impossible for the company to unlock iPhones and iPads under police request.
Over the course of the last two years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken passionately on Apple’s unwavering commitment to privacy. He shared his most recent thoughts on the subject last night, at the WSJ.D Live conference in California. “Do we want our nation to be secure? Of course,” Cook said. “No one should have to decide between privacy or security. We should be smart enough to do both. Both of these things are essentially part of the Constitution.”
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
GM and LG are working together on the Chevy Bolt electric car
In an unexpected, but interesting partnership, General Motors and LG today revealed they’re working together on the development of the Chevy Bolt. This electric vehicle, which will reportedly launch in 2017 for $30,000, is expected to last over 200 miles on a single charge — a lot more than the 2016 Volt hybrid. GM says LG’s expertise in battery technology was a key factor to deem it a worthy associate, having previously worked with the the South Korean company on the original Chevy Volt. As a result, LG is going to provide a number of components for the upcoming Bolt, including the onboard charger, battery cells and pack, battery heater and infotainment system.
“By taking the best of our in-house engineering prowess established with the Chevrolet Volt and Spark EV, and combining the experience of the LG Group, we’re able to transform the concept of the industry’s first long range, affordable EV into reality,” Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, said in a press release. LG, for its part, added that helping GM with the Chevy Bolt is “indicative of exactly the type of contributions that traditional tech companies can make in the automotive space.”
Source: LG
Twitch finally gets a proper PS4 streaming app
PlayStation 4 owners: you’re no longer forced to use Live from PlayStation (and limit your viewing to fellow PS4 gamers) if you want to watch Twitch through a native app. As promised, Twitch has launched a full-featured PS4 client that lets you tune into any stream, no matter which platform it’s coming from. It’ll seem quite familiar if you’ve used the Xbox One app (shh!), but there is a section to help you find PS4-specific broadcasters. The app is ready at this very moment, so give it a shot if you enjoy viewing games as much as you do playing them.
Greatness awaits your #PS4 when you install the new Twitch app! https://t.co/WZJrLSeQ6u
— Twitch (@Twitch) October 20, 2015
Source: Twitch
Here’s how Google made the stock wallpapers in Android 6.0 Marshmallow
The stock wallpapers found in Android 6.0 Marshmallow fun, bright and look great on just about any screen you decide to throw them on. There are a total of 9 stock wallpapers in all – 3 aerial shots from Google Earth, 3 landscape shots, and 3 paper-like wallpapers, complete with their own bright color scheme. Do you ever wonder how Google created these awesome paper backgrounds we’ve all grown to love? Thanks to the Google Design team, we’re getting an inside look at how they were made.
Carl Kleiner has made all of the abstract wallpapers since they were first introduced in the Lollipop days with the introduction of Material Design. The main thing to note is that these aren’t digitally made – each one is constructed out of different types of paper and photographed very carefully with the correct amount of lighting.
Through lighting, layering, and considered color blocking, Kleiner’s work echos some of the early material studies we created while we were developing Material Design, particularly our process for developing iconography and emphasizing natural shadows and realistic depth with three-dimensional objects.
Google says the new wallpapers in Marshmallow plays up “subtle shifts in tone and texture” instead of relying primarily on stark shifts in color. “We wanted to work with surfaces that have a subtle and sophisticated texture,” says Kleiner, “organic to the touch and graphic in composition…Painted surfaces, color pigment powders, floating ink and the like.”
Google limited the palette to the core Google brand colors with pops of neutral gray. While Kleiner maintained the precision of the original “paperscapes” found in Lollipop, he ended up making the geometry a bit more complex. He added depth by using materials like colored water to create troughs, and even grainy powders to add in pixelation.
Pretty cool, right? Not only has Google given us a look behind the creation process, the Google Design team is also sharing two new exclusive wallpapers, which are now available for download.
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If you’re interested in downloading the new wallpapers, you can do so by following the link below. Out of all the stock Marshmallow wallpapers, which one is your favorite?
Paralyzed man regains use of arms thanks to ‘wireless spinal cord’
Remember that paralyzed guy from Southern California who managed to walk on his own accord thanks to a revolutionary technique that bridged the gap in his severed spinal column with a wireless Bluetooth link? A team of doctors at Ohio’s Case Western Reserve University have reportedly accomplished the same feat with a patient’s arms.
The team described its initial findings at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago on Tuesday. The system works much like that of the earlier team at UC Irvine: a brain-control interface (BCI) reads the patient’s brain waves emanating from his motor cortex, converts them into actionable electrical signals and wirelessly transmits them to an actuator “sewn into” the patient’s arm. This actuator is comprised of 16 filament wires that generate electrical impulses, which cause various muscle groups to contract when stimulated. The patient thinks about moving his arm and it does so — well, sorta.
The neural electrode array, dubbed Utah, used to pick up signals from the motor cortex
“It’s not a fluid natural movement like you are picking up a cup of coffee to drink it,” John Donoghue of Braingate, the consortium that developed the BCI, said in a statement. “But the fact that they got a person to control their own body, to stimulate muscles in a specific way to make them move, and do it from a small patch of brain, is incredible.” The unnamed patient has shown he’s capable of commanding a virtualized arm with near perfect control. The problem is that his real arm has been paralyzed for so long that the muscles have atrophied and are pretty useless right now. However, as his arm regains strength, the medical team expects the patient’s control to improve drastically.
[Image Credit: Universal Pictures]
Source: MIT Tech Review
Here’s why the ‘Destiny’ story was so weak on launch
If you rushed to play Destiny when it first arrived, you probably noticed that the story was a little… thin. But how did it get that way, especially when Bungie is known to have spent years working on a grand vision for the game? Thanks to some sleuthing, Kotaku knows. As it turns out, the original storyline was shot down in summer 2013 for being too “campy and linear” — it had to rearrange a mountain of existing content into something that would make management happy. Once-important figures (like the warmind Rasputin) were reduced to bit players at best, and many missions were patchwork versions of what was originally planned. The team did get a time extension to help finish the game, but most of that extra time was spent refining nuts-and-bolts mechanics, not the plot.
This wasn’t helped by poor development tools. It can take hours to make even a small change to a map in the current editor, so the company can’t exactly ship new content on a whim. Combine that with a rigid schedule for expansion packs, and the team has faced a “paralysis” where it isn’t sure how to improve things while shipping on time. The shift from downloadable content packs to microtransactions (like emotes) was practically necessary to provide more breathing room.
The good news? Bungie quickly became aware of what went wrong after the wave of early feedback. It remade the The Dark Below expansion months before it arrived, and switched to a focus on major yearly releases. Also, a chat with Blizzard about lessons learned from Diablo III (which suffered from the same grind-heavy gameplay) led to new thinking that has clearly influenced Destiny‘s structure since. Notice how The Taken King is much better at both telling a story and dishing out rewards? This still isn’t the truly unique hybrid of shooting and online role-playing that Bungie wanted, but nor is it the sort of permanently tarnished game you’ve seen all too often as of late.
Source: Kotaku
Both new and old Apple TVs get CBS and NBC today
Apple announced on Tuesday that two of the “Big Four” cable channels, CBS and NBC, are available on current (2nd) generation Apple TV boxes. However, there are some restrictions. CBS, for example, requires users to pay $6 a month for the CBS All Access program (though it does grant access to both current shows and the network’s expansive archives). NBC, on the other hand, will require users to login using their cable provider credentials. Additionally, the “Made2Measure” fashion channel also struts onto Apple TV today. These channels will also be available on the 3rd-generation Apple TV when it is released in the next few days.
Source: Apple Insider
AIVAnet 