EA begins ending support for several Android games
Hold on to that Mass Effect: Infiltrator saved game, as Electronic Arts (EA) has ended support for several of their mobile games, pulling them off the Google Play and APple App Store marketplaces as of September 1st, 2015.
Although most of the games are iOS exclusives, certain Android versions of EA games have also been taken down. Some of the titles affected include mobile spin-offs of popular EA franchises, including Burnout, Dead Space and Mass Effect.
EA says that these games will no longer be updated, however their focus will remain on existing popular mobile games and on developing new titles for both Android and iOS platforms, including the upcoming release of Real Racing 3.
The following list of games on Android are affected:
- Bejeweled 2
- Burnout CRASH!
- Dead Space
- Flight Control Rocket
- Mass Effect: Infiltrator
EA has also stated that users who have already downloaded one of the above-mentioned titles should be able to continue playing on their devices as normal.
Source: EA, DroidGamers
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[Reminder] OnePlus’ Open Sale is ongoing in Europe, pick up the OnePlus 2 without an invite
If you live in Europe and haven’t received an invite to order your OnePlus 2 yet, then the ongoing Open Sale may be of interest to you. OnePlus is currently holding an Open Sale in Europe where you can buy the OnePlus 2 without an invite. But you have to hurry, because you only have around 30 minutes or so to place your order before the window closes at 1PM CEST (12PM UK), and reverts back to the frustrating invite system.
Europe, it’s your turn. Open sales for the #OnePlus2 are live for one hour only! Click here: http://t.co/NrdFn2Tcel pic.twitter.com/jAbaciDlsU
— OnePlus (@oneplus) October 12, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Currently, only the 64GB/4GB variant of the OnePlus 2 is available to order for €399 (£289, along with Kevlar, Black Apricot, Bamboo and Rosewood StyleSwap Covers. The OnePlus website has, of course, suffered some issues, so let us know if you manage to buy one in the comments below.
Source: OnePlus
Come comment on this article: [Reminder] OnePlus’ Open Sale is ongoing in Europe, pick up the OnePlus 2 without an invite
Acer makes its new all-in-one portable by adding a battery
With the PC market dwindling and Microsoft itself now providing some of the best Windows 10 models (like the powerful Surface Book convertible), third-party OEMs have to do something to stand out. That’s perhaps why Acer has decided to put an internal battery in its 17.3-inch Aspire Z3-700 all-in-one (AIO) to take it to a new place — the road. The form factor and relatively small 2-kilogram (4.4 pound) weight suggest that it’s more a big tablet than an AIO, but Acer says the dual kickstand and 1080p, 10-pound multi-touch screen also make it a fine desktop PC. Slideshow-328073
It’s not a bad idea for graphics designers or others who might prefer a desktop form factor but need a big, reasonably portable tablet from time to time. As such, it has a battery that can run it up to five hours and support for a dedicated stylus. It’s also equipped with the latest Intel sixth-generation Core Skylake or Celeron CPU, an SSD or HDD and up to 8GB of RAM. It’ll arrive by the end of the year in Europe starting at €599 ($680).
The other product revealed by Acer today was a new Aspire R14 convertible notebook. It’s pretty similar to the last, Lenovo Yoga-like R14 model (not the one with the easel-like hinge), except that it now has a fancy new “diamond-cut” edge design and a smaller, 360-degree dual-torque hinge. That’ll give you laptop, tent, display or tablet modes, depending on how you orient the 1.9-kilogram (4.1 pound) device. It also comes with sixth-gen Skylake CPUs, SSD or HDD disks and up to 8GB of RAM, though Acer didn’t mention the 14-inch screen’s resolution. That model will arrive in the US by the end of the month starting at $699. Slideshow-328074
Source: Acer
Vodafone’s home broadband service opens to all
After a three-year hiatus, Vodafone returned to the home broadband game this summer, starting out with a limited service available in just a few counties. A few months later, it expanded the launch to everywhere its underground infrastructure (licenced and owned) covered, but only offered the “Connect” broadband service to existing Vodafone mobile customers. Today, the company announced it’s now available to everyone, not just those it has on its books already. Assuming Vodafone Connect is available in your area, you can get up to 17 Mbps ADSL for a tenner a month, up to 38 Mbps fibre for twice that, or up to 76 Mbps fibre for £25 per month.
That’s a fiver more each month than existing mobile customers have to pay for the same 18-month contracts, but everyone is on the hook for the £17 per month home phone line rental (you can get a 20 percent discount for paying a year’s worth upfront). Brand new customers are entitled to a little deal sweetener should they decide to move to Vodafone, though, in the form of a free year’s subscription to Netflix.
[Image credit: Janitors/Flickr]
Source: Vodafone
[Video] LG shows off its new UX4.0+ UI powering the V10
LG announced its high-end V10 smartphone a couple of weeks ago and has just released a video showing off some of the features included in its new UX4.0+ user interface, which powers the company’s latest handset.
The video demos a number of new features packed into LG’s UX4.0+ software package, including the camera’s wide angle selfie mode and the huge range of manual camera options available in the app. The handset features a 16 megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture and OIS, while there are two 5MP cameras on the front which allow for a 120 degree wide field of view.
If audio is more your thing, LG’s Hi-Fi Audio Experience software suite and support for higher resolution audio formats on its 32-bit DAC might catch your interest. Furthermore, busy people out there may find the software’s organization features and second screen, which can be used to house your most frequency tasks, rather convenient, according to the video.
More on the LG V10:
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Have you been impressed by LG’s latest additions to Android, or are there still some features missing that other OEMs have just right?
PSA: Be careful when buying grey market devices
Although we are spoiled for choice in the Android market, placing your hands on your perfect smartphone is sometimes a little more difficult than it perhaps should be. Limited regional availability, exclusive invite systems, and territorial price variations can make third party, grey market retailers quite appealing, and in most cases these companies provide a valuable service. However, it seems that some companies are abusing this demand and tampering with devices, even going so far as to install malware onto customer’s brand new smartphones.
A blog post written by Twitter user @tuesdev details a rather unsavory experience involving a grey market purchase of an OnePlus 2 smartphone through Australian retailer Kogan. Although the situation could apply to any phone and a number of other retailers.
Limited invites and regional availability generates high demand for phones like the OnePlus 2 through unofficial channels.
Without an invite to hand, the customer opted to pay a little extra from the retailer which had one in stock. However, upon receiving the phone, the box had already been opened. Powering on the device revealed that some party had also installed additional bloatware under system apps, meaning that they could only be disabled rather than uninstalled. For reference, the OnePlus 2 usually only ships with stock Google apps.
You certainly shouldn’t expect to find malware pre-installed on your new phone.
Further suspicions were raised as system updates were disabled and Google Search had been replaced by a third party app. An antivirus scan of the phone later revealed that the extra bloatware apps were in fact malware, serving up system wide ads and collecting user data. It’s a completely unethical practice that almost certainly deserves some attention from local authorities.
The only solution, to flash the official Oxygen OS from OnePlus to reset the phone to the state that it should have arrived in. Kogan did eventually respond to the case, only to ask that the customer open a ticket with them so that they could investigate.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that this is the only instance of this happening. The author found similar cases online from a number of grey import retailers, many of which featured the same or similar pieces of malicious software shoved into phones that were supposed to be sold as new. This issue seems to be relatively widespread.
The lesson here is to be careful when purchasing gadgets through unauthorized channels. Although it shouldn’t be necessary, a quick virus scan of a new phone could save you from trouble later down the line too. Perhaps the best way to be safe if you are planning to go through a grey market retailer is to do plenty of research on the seller and keep an eye on those user reviews. Of course, don’t let this story put you off completely, there are good retailers out there too.
Have you had any negative experiences buying phones out of region?
Google’s ‘Meet the Google app’ videos show how useful the Search app has become
Using Google’s Search app might be second nature to some of use, but, now and then it learns some new tricks. Google has posted some videos that show off the app’s ability to link web search requests to other apps such as the Calendar app and Google Maps among others.
The ‘Meet the Google app’ videos cover three themes, Breakfast, Halloween and Moving (house), and they are pretty good at showing off the things that Google does better than anyone else. You check out the videos below, and if you haven’t used Google Now in a while, it’s a great time to see what it can do.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Come comment on this article: Google’s ‘Meet the Google app’ videos show how useful the Search app has become
Sky to offer ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ first after UK cinemas
Sky knows that more and more UK families are shying away from building costly DVD and Blu-ray collections and embracing on-demand services like Sky Movies and Now TV. To be the best, you need the best streaming catalog though, so today the company has confirmed that it’s extending its deal with Disney. The new multi-year agreement means that Disney films will continue to premiere on Sky Movies and Now TV’s Sky Movies Pass in the “first pay TV window” — before other streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, in other words. That’s especially important given that there’s a new Star Wars film coming out later this year. So once you’re done soaking up the lightsaber mayhem in cinemas, Sky will be one of the first places to let you watch it again at home. We suspect most fans will make an exception here and buy a physical copy of The Force Awakens, but if you’re a casual Star Wars follower — it’s good to know that Sky’s got you covered.
.@SkyMovies customers will enjoy exclusive @DisneyStudios premieres such as Inside Out, Star Wars: Force Awakens after signing new agreement
— Sky Corporate (@SkyCorporate) October 12, 2015
[Image Credit: Disney, Star Wars]
Source: Sky
Tracking apps do help – a tale of a phone thief, his coworker and selfies
There’s so much people would do for a phone, but this Ipswich, England thief was especially eager to take his coworker’s handset. Albin Nkurunziza was upset about not receiving an unspecified mobile device on the mail, after having purchased it.
Feeling cheated and ripped off, he went on to take a similar phone from his co-worker on August 7th. He retrieved it from an unlocked property box and deleted the owner’s information. After using the gadget as his own for some time, and taking some selfies that would later identify him as the thief, Nkurunziza received a call from the original owner of the smartphone.
Albin answered and told her he had taken it from “the thief”. This heroic story turned out to be bogus, though, as he pleaded guilty in court and the phone is now where it belongs.
We could take this as a story to laugh at and marvel over how stupid some thieves can be. It’s truly amazing how far some people can go, but even more surprising is realizing how secure our smartphones are getting. The police mentioned the owner of this handset tracked the phone with third-party app.
It is stories like this one that reminds us that we need to get on top of those security services. Android Device Manager is still my favorite, but there are plenty of awesome alternatives out there. In fact, one of our favorite solutions for recognizing a thief is creating a Tasker Profile for taking a picture of the user whenever the screen is turned on. Alternatively, you can take a look at our list of 9 Android apps to help you locate a lost phone.
Read:
- Android customization – Device security, intrusion detection using Tasker
- 9 best Android apps to help find a lost smartphone
It’s always good to hear these victory stories. Do you guys have any to tell? Have you ever managed to recover a smartphone by tracking it and identifying the thief (or whoever found it)? I personally haven’t, even though I have definitely lost phones. I suppose I should be more proactive about phone security!
New data suggests Mars had lakes that could have supported life
Curiosity has been investigating sedimentary rock around an area known as the Gale crater. The depth of the crater, and the fine-grained sandstone at the bottom hint at a large, lake-like body of water that remained over an extended period of time. This, in turn, adds fuel to the theory Mars once had the right atmospheric pressure, and a climate that didn’t cause water to freeze. The question about water on Mars, of course, is really a preamble to the question about the red planet’s ability to support life.
Curiosity’s findings can’t confirm life on Mars, but they do suggest the essential ingredients for biological soup (water and microbe-friendly conditions) were there. Theories and evidence for ground water on Mars have long existed, but usually based on the idea of subsurface water bursting up in a one-time event, or slower seepage to the surface — or an ocean too saline for anything to live in it. This new data supports the idea of surface water far more conducive to the emergence of life. The team behind the findings claiming there’s a “tantalizing possibility that extraterrestrial life might exist or have been preserved, because the evidence of water is so plentiful.”
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Science
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