Everything Twitch does is for its community
Twitch would be nothing without its broadcasters and viewers, and the livestreaming service is fiercely protective of both. So much so that to prevent its first-ever TwitchCon conference from transforming into a promotional event for exhibitors, rather than a meet-up for its community, the company was willing to turn down exhibitor support. The goal, as Matt DiPietro, Twitch’s VP of marketing, explained it, was to keep the show laser focused on community so it doesn’t turn into something like Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and the Game Developers Conference (GDC) have: huge but at the expense of their initial focus. “What TwitchCon has to be about is the broadcasters and their fans,” he said in an interview from the show. “Everything we do, we think about the broadcasters first because that’s what brings the fans and creates the content.”
To see just how far that ethos goes, I chatted with DiPietro about how and why Twitch introduces new features, where he sees the convention going next year and how the company plans to keep the conference’s relaxed vibe while expanding its footprint.
Every broadcaster I’ve talked to says that they work a ton because they feel they have to, otherwise they lose subscribers. They’re working sometimes seven days and over a hundred hours per week. Have you guys thought about that?
Burnout? Sure. I think, for the most part, the successful broadcasters find a natural equilibrium with their life. They really are pioneers in creating a career that didn’t exist before, and they’re figuring out how to do it.
For the very Twitch-specific class of partner who does Twitch full time, and sometimes that’s four, six, eight hours of broadcasting a day, the interesting thing is soon you’re going to have features like playlists and VOD uploads. So hopefully, you’ll have an arsenal and quiver of tools for making content that will allow you to have a weekend. Because it’s absolutely true and we hear it from partners all the time; particularly when we started doing events like PAX and E3 where we would start bringing our partners out to the event. They were like, “I love you guys and I really want to do that stuff, but if I take two days off, I might lose X percentage of subscribers.”
We heard that loud and clear and that’s actually why we’re building those kinds of tools: to give you more options for creating different kinds of content however you want to.
TwitchCon feels kind of self-serving — much like “Here’s how to become a better Twitch streamer.” Which is fine. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. It’s just that TwitchCon feels like an investment in Twitch.
It’s an investment in the Twitch community, absolutely. We started talking about doing an event two years ago … a year and a half ago and, at first, the parameters were very hazy. We didn’t know quite what it would look like. What are we gonna do? When we started asking these questions very seriously, Emmett Shear, our CEO — his very clear directive from the very beginning was: “As cool as they are, I don’t want another E3, [or] another PAX.” This isn’t about PlayStation or Xbox, Blizzard or whatever.
I’m used to the madness of E3. This feels so totally different. It’s relaxed, low pressure, casual.
That’s what we wanted: a comfortable place that’s native to the community experience. The content we’re doing here is community content. We didn’t do any of it ourselves because we don’t do content. One of our larger variety broadcasts is Dropped Frames with some of our top partners. We just gave them the main stage. Do it here, do it live. Bring the fans in. And that was wildly successful. If there’s a way to see a cross section, that’s the spirit of what we try to do: Bring Twitch here.
You’d hope TwitchCon is going to grow. At what point do you push back? Let’s say Microsoft and Sony come to you and say they want you to announce new products and turn it into a trade show. PAX started as a community thing; now it’s becoming a promo event. GDC too, whereas before it was all about education. Are you going to take a heavy hand in curating the experience so that doesn’t happen?
Yes. No doubt. There’s essentially three pillars to the community: [The] broadcaster is number one. Everything we do, we think about the broadcasters first because that’s what brings the fans and creates the content; the experts that have the most passion for the games. Fans, number two. And of course, there is [the] developers and publishers, hardware and platforms. That is a very good question: how we work with the industry going forward because of course they all understand keenly now in a way that they didn’t before how influential Twitch broadcasters are.
Blizzard announced some new content on the main stage. We have a couple of games being released [here]. And that’s all fine and good and wonderful. We want that kind of thing. But the spirit should always be: If you’re coming to TwitchCon as a game developer — indie, AAA or otherwise — what are you doing for the community? How are you adding value to the community? If you don’t understand that dynamic, not only do we really not want you here, but you’re not going to get a lot of value out of being here either if you’re not engaging with the community in a native/organic way. It’s not for you.
Throughout the weekend, Twitch hosted educational panels for broadcasters.
What does TwitchCon look like next year then?
I think it’s going to look a lot like this year. It’s going to be bigger, better, more people. Probably a more defined track for developers and publishers. You can think of the attendees at this conference, 2015, as early adopters. We didn’t know what the content was, really, until a month ago. Two months ago. Most of the folks that came here came on a prayer and a blind leap of faith that “I know that Twitch is going to do something cool and I want to be there year one.” Year two, I’m expecting the 15,000 people [official counts are over 20,000] here this weekend are going to tell all their friends and say, “You gotta be there; it was awesome. Twitch did it right and did it right by the community. You’ve gotta be there next year.”
This interview has been condensed and edited
[Image credits: Twitch (Top image)]
Samsung Galaxy S7 may get third processor variant
When Samsung launched the Galaxy S6 this year, the company took a bit of a different route from previous flagship launches in that only a single chip was used, their own Exynos processor. Previous versions of the Galaxy S devices were generally released with two versions, one using an Exynos chip and one using a Snapdragon chip depending on the market. Although previous reports indicate Samsung has been working hard on preparing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip for use in next year’s Galaxy S7, rumors recently surfaced suggesting Samsung was going back to the familiar strategy that involves some markets getting Exynos equipped devices. The latest rumor indicates Samsung may use two different Exynos processors, bringing the number of variants up to three for the first time.
Sources believe Samsung will use their Exynos 7422 chips, which were originally planned to power the Galaxy Note 5, in Galaxy S7 devices that will be sold in India. Meanwhile, the Exynos 8890 will be used in units destined for the Korean, Japanese and some European markets. The U.S. and Chinese markets will get devices that come with the Snapdragon 820 chips inside.
source: SamMobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy S7 may get third processor variant
Tablet demand is weak and shipments are falling, sources say
Tablets have never been a strong point when it comes to Android, and it seems that manufactures agree with intentions to begin phasing out various tablet-IC businesses, according to Taiwanese industry sources.
Shipments of tablets running Android could be less than 160 million units in 2015, according to sources. These same sources predict that numbers could fall to as low as 120 million in 2016. While 120 million is a staggering number for a years worth of sales, it’s really nothing to write home over. After all, Android tablets are created by many different companies, all pricing their tablets at different levels, mostly at very low prices.
Many vendors are leaving the tablet-IC market due to these low prices simply because they’re seeing low profits and low demand. Interestingly, despite these findings, competition between tablet chip makers remains high, according to the report from Digitimes. There’s no official confirmation, but this could largely be due to some of the more popular Android names out there–Google’s Nexus 9, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2, and so on.
Either way, Android tablets are seeing a rather hefty decline, and there doesn’t seem to be a plan for recovering these numbers.
source: Digitimes
Come comment on this article: Tablet demand is weak and shipments are falling, sources say
Android market share in the United States experiences a minor slump
Just this past month Android saw market share gains but the same can not be said when looking back at early months.
A new report from comScore states that Android experienced some losses when it comes to market share in the states during a recent three month period. From the end of May to the end of August, Android dropped from a 52.1% share to only having 51.7%. This is a point change of .4%. Microsoft and Blackberry also saw losses during the period, dropping .1% a piece. Apple made up all the loss and gained .6% share during the time frame. However, Android remained the dominant OS for the period.
According to comScore, 191.1 million U.S. residents now own a smartphone. That’s just over 77% mobile market penetration. In the states, Apple remained the number one OEM when it comes to sales, as predicted. The company managed to increase its share .6% during the period reaching 44.1% market share in the month of August. Samsung was second but managed to lose 1.3% of its share, ending in August with 27%. LG saw the largest gain over the period placing third overall with a growth of .9%. The company now lies at 9.1%. Placing a close fourth and fifth were Motorola and HTC.
When it comes to applications, Facebook continues to lead the way with a % reach of 75.4%. Rounding out the top five were Facebook Messenger, YouTube, Google Play and Google Search. These included downloads on both the Android and iOS platform added together. More details can be seen at the source link down below.
Source: comScore
Come comment on this article: Android market share in the United States experiences a minor slump
HTC offering a great deal to show support for Breast Cancer Awareness
It’s October , and that means two things. Halloween, and Breast Cancer Awareness month. Earlier today, HTC announced that they will be participating in the fight against Breast Cancer.
In the only way that they know how, HTC has decided to make two different variants of their current flagship, the HTC One M9. Both variants will be pink, but there will be one with no logo or anything on the back, while the other will have the Breast Cancer Ribbon.
In conjunction with releasing these variants of the One M9, HTC will also be donating $25,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. That is a huge contribution to the Foundation, and HTC has pledged to donate that amount, regardless of the amount of sales from the special edition One M9.
Speaking of sales, you’ll be able grab one of these special edition One M9’s for $649, directly from HTC, with free shipping. In addition, with every purchase, you will receive $100 in Google Play Store credit, and a FREE pink Dot View Ice case. So, while you’ll be spending $650 on the device, you’ll also be getting $150 worth of freebies with your purchase.
As one more act of kindness and support, HTC is also taking 30% off their pink cases for the HTC One M9. This is another gesture to show support for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and allows for those who already have the One M9 to show their support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The offer will be available from now, until October 31st at 11:59 PT, so you have a few weeks to grab one of these before the deal is up. There is one catch with this deal however. Those users on Sprint and Verizon will not be able to take advantage of this deal, due to the fact that these special edition One M9’s only have support for GSM services.
Source: HTC
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ES File Explorer: Access files, view images, play music, and more (App review)
ES File Explorer is the most popular file explorer available on Google Play if you go by downloads, with over 1.7 million and counting. As a file explorer, it provides a user interface for managing files and folders. This includes operations, such as viewing, playing, and editing.
Features
When you open ES File Explorer, it will display the homepage. This view provides access to documents and images, as you would expect. You can easily access internal and external storage if available. Interestingly, it has shortcuts for music and installed apps, as well.
The tools section includes tools for network file management, Remote Manager for PC access, and System Manager, a task manager.
The bookmarks section provides links to the documents folder, Google Images (through Images), Google News (through News), Google Play (through APP), and others.
In order to access the menu, either tap the menu button in the top left, or swipe from the left of the screen to display the menu options. The menu includes sections for Favorites, Local (as in, local storage), Library (images, music, movies, etc.), Network, and Tools.
You are able to exit the app, change the theme, and go to settings from the three, respective buttons at the bottom of this sidebar.
From settings, you can change ES File Explorer’s layout, its cache, its directories, the search engine, and more. Here, you also can set a password, backup your settings and apps, change settings for the download manager, and set default windows for startup.
Let’s go back to the homepage. You will see another button at the top right for extra options. From here, you can make a new file or link, refresh the page, add or close windows, and manipulate files and folders that have been copied to the clipboard. The Default button at the bottom of the Windows sidebar provides a shortcut for you to change the default windows for startup.
If you want to make a search, you can specify what ES File Explorer should search for by clicking the options button after you tap the search button. These options include web search, searching in documents, searching in video, and so on.
Now, let’s go back to the homepage one more time. In the first screenshot above, you should see a transparent circle overlapping the tools and bookmarks sections. This circle, which is available to you in all directories, helps you to perform swiping gestures for shortcuts. In order to make your own gestures, click “Gesture” from the menu sidebar.
What We Liked
- Many, specific settings
- Homepage provides options to many of the app’s functions and settings
- Gesture support
- Network file access and management
- Built-in video player
- Built-in music player
- Task Manager (requires installation)
- Customizable themes
What We Didn’t Like
- Music player can’t play all formats
- Barebones video player
- No options for subtitles, rewind, fast-forward, playback speed
- Unappealing UI that does not match the rest of the app
- Only 12 windows can be open at a time
Summary: 4.63 out of 5 stars
To conclude, ES File Explorer is a great file manager. Although it is packed with features (some of which some users may not use), no main functionality is lost. The app never slowed down or crashed during my moments using it.
Power users will be satisfied, I think, with these many features and settings. Those include an SD Card Analyst, FTP support, and the aforementioned System Manager and Remote Manager.
There were only three, minor issues I had with ES File Explorer. First, its music player can only play .mp4 files.
The video player is also barebones since it has no subtitle, rewind, fast-forward, or playback speed support. Also, its UI does not match the rest of the app and is rather unappealing with a design based on Android 2.x.
Lastly, only 12 windows can be open at a time within the app, which is rather easy to do if you’re exploring all the options in one session.
However, with that aside, I do not think these issues take away too much from ES File Explorer at all. A file manager at least needs to do the essentials of accessing and manipulating files and directories well, and it does that.
The post ES File Explorer: Access files, view images, play music, and more (App review) appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google denies Android Auto data collection claims following harsh Motor Trend report
If you happen to own an Android smartphone, tablet, or use pretty much any other type of Google product, it’s no secret that the Mountain View-based company is collecting your data. Some people are okay with this fact, others are not. And as it turns out, this is the main reason why Porsche decided to forgo Android Auto, Google’s connected car platform, for Apple’s CarPlay in its new 2017 Porsche 911.
First reported by Motor Trend, the American automobile magazine, Porsche said that it chose Apple’s CarPlay instead of Android Auto because Google would collect far too much information from its Android Auto head units for the car maker to feel comfortable. What kind of information? Motor Trend says:
Stuff like vehicle speed, throttle position, coolant and oil temp, engine revs—basically Google wants a complete OBD2 dump whenever someone activates Android Auto. Not kosher, says Porsche.
It’s obvious why Porsche wouldn’t want Google collecting all of this data. Part of this information is what makes Porsche’s cars so special, so the car maker doesn’t feel comfortable handing it over to Google without question. According to Google, though, Porsche has it all wrong. In a recent statement, Google told The Verge:
We take privacy very seriously and do not collect the data the Motor Trend article claims such as throttle position, oil temp, and coolant temp. Users opt in to share information with Android Auto that improves their experience, so the system can be hands-free when in drive, and provide more accurate navigation through the car’s GPS.
See also: Volkswagen announces availability of Android Auto in most 2016 models
Whether we should believe Porsche or Google is unclear at the moment, but Google is probably telling the truth in this case. Porsche’s parent company, Volkswagen, has plans to support Android Auto in most of its 2016 lineup. It wouldn’t really make sense for VW to be on-board with the new automobile tech while Porsche is so adamant about passing on it.
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Fantastical for iPhone Adds 3D Touch Support, Fantastical for iPad Gains Split-Screen Multitasking
Flexibits today updated its popular Fantastical 2 apps for the iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch with support for a range of iOS 9 and iPhone 6s features. Fantastical 2 for iPad now includes split-screen multitasking support, letting it be used simultaneously with other apps with iOS 9’s Slide Over and Split-View multitasking modes.
With Slide Over, users can pause one task to access their calendars to quickly schedule events or reminders, and with Split-View, Fantastical 2 can be used alongside another app. Slide Over works on the iPad Air and later and the iPad mini 2 and later, while Split-View is available on the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 4.
The iPad version of Fantastical 2 also includes new iOS 9 keyboard shortcuts when using an external Bluetooth keyboard that are accessible when holding down the command key.
Fantastical 2 for the iPhone now includes support for 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. A firm press on the Fantastical app icon on these devices will bring up a list of Quick Actions that lets users see upcoming events, add a new event, view reminders, and search through their calendars.
On the Apple Watch, the Fantastical 2 app is now native on devices running watchOS 2, improving loading speeds and app opening times. There are also now Fantastical complications that include a “go to date” option, which can be used on any watchOS 2 watch face that supports complications.
In addition to these major changes, there are several improvements and bug fixes that are common to both the iPhone and iPad apps. A full list of these minor enhancements are below:
– Additional iOS 9 fixes and improvements
– Improved design for week view
– Tap and hold on locations or URLs to choose an app to open them in (e.g. Google Maps or Apple Maps)
– Multiple invitation notifications are now shown separately instead of grouped into a single notification
– Improved highlight weekends for countries that have weekends on Friday and Saturday
– Fixed hang when adding new events with VoiceOver
– Fixed location and phone data detectors not appearing in event titles
Fantastical 2 for iPhone and Apple Watch is available from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]
Fantastical 2 for iPad is available from the App Store for $9.99. [Direct Link]
Apple Announces Beats Pill+ Speaker Available in November for $229
Apple today announced a new Beats Pill+ Bluetooth wireless speaker with a simplistic design, stereo active 2-way crossover system and 12-hour battery life. The speaker will be available for $229.95 in black or white through the Apple Online Store and authorized Beats retailers beginning next month.
Beats Pill+ Bluetooth Wireless Speaker will retail for $229.95 (Image: The Verge)
The new Beats Pill+ companion app will enable users to control the speaker using a smartphone, with features including the ability to control music from two Bluetooth sources and sync two Beats Pill+ speakers together for either simultaneous or dedicated right and left playback.
“When you obsess about sound the way that we do at Beats, portable Bluetooth speakers can be very tricky,” said Beats President Luke Wood. “We spent countless days, weeks, months testing for that perfect combination of form and function – small enough to travel but still big enough to feel the emotion of the music. That’s what you get with Pill+.”
The new Beats Pill+ replaces the original Beats Pill unveiled in October 2012, and is the company’s first new speaker since being acquired by Apple for $3 billion in May 2014. The new Beats Pill+ is larger than the original Pill speaker, but smaller than the recalled Beats XL speaker, and weighs 1.5 pounds (0.68 kg).
Beats Pill+ companion app for iOS and Android
The Verge went hands-on with the new Beats Pill+ speaker, calling it “the most attractive looking and sounding speaker that Beats has ever made” after listening to a brief demo of songs from various genres, including tracks by The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Tom Petty and punk rock band PUP.
More important than the look and build is the sound, and judging from my brief demo the Pill+ is likely the best-sounding Pill ever. That’s apparently all thanks to what’s called a two-way active system, meaning that amplifiers are built into the speakers — two in fact, one for each pair of woofer and tweeter. This helps better assign the different frequencies of music to the right parts of the speaker, resulting in better sound.
The Beats Pill+ is equipped with both Lightning and USB ports on the back for charging your iPhone or other devices. The speaker has a rubberized power button and volume controls and a metallic Beats logo that doubles as a play/pause button. There is also a line in audio port.
Barclays Planning to Launch Apple Pay Support in UK in Early 2016
Apple Pay launched in the United Kingdom in July at more than 250,000 locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but Barclays remains notably absent from the group of banks supporting the mobile payments service.
Nevertheless, Barclays remains committed to supporting Apple Pay in the future. Barclays CEO of Personal and Corporate Banking Ashok Vaswani today told customer Mike Jobson by email that the bank plans to roll out Apple Pay in early 2016.
We have signed up for ApplePay and will launch it very early in the New Year. We truly value your custom and hope that you continue to bank with us particularly since we are launching this shortly.
A high-level executive at Barclays previously stated the bank anticipated “imminent” support of Apple Pay, and the bank later publicly confirmed it will support Apple Pay in the “future,” but no specific launch timeframe had been provided.
Barclays is the only major financial institution of the “Big Four” banks in the U.K. that has yet to adopt Apple Pay. Participating banks include Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank.
MacRumors has contacted Barclays for comment.
AIVAnet 