Researchers use video games to test chameleons’ vision
You probably know that a chameleon’s eyes move independently of one another. Thanks to video games, however, it’s clear that this oddball vision is more powerful than previously thought. Israeli researchers made chameleons play a simple game where they had to track and lash out at multiple digital flies, gauging their ability to focus on two objects at once. In the tests, the lizards easily followed one target in each eye — they only focused on one fly when they were ready to strike. The eyes even have distinctive movement patterns based on their active roles, so there’s no doubt as to what they’re doing.
Source: Reuters
Android 6.0 Marshmallow Factory Images for the Nexus 6P are up
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Reviewers across the tech sphere have been turning and burning the midnight oils with the Nexus 6P for a little while now. Consumers on the other hand are just now starting to see their devices landing on their door steps. Google is on the ball for those retail shipments with the release of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow factory images for your device. Most Nexus owners know the importance of said files when it comes to corrupt boot images and bad flashes of tweaked ROM’s.
Interestingly enough there are two version of the factory image available. One listed as build MDA89D and one listed as MDB08K. Neither of which seem to be the build that are on review devices that are in the wild. Android Police surmises that one is geared towards Project Fi variants while the other is more standard. Both should work on any Nexus 6P though. Regardless, it does mean that devices getting unboxed will likely see a software update landing soon.
If you are in dire need of the factory images for the Nexus 6P, head over to the Goolge Developers page to snag the images.
Source: Google Via Android Police
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AT&T also launching the LG G Vista 2 exclusively on November 6th
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This morning AT&T made two device announcements. First was the highly anticipated LG V10. That particular device goes up for pre-orders tomorrow, Oct 27th, and lands on store shelves come November 6th. Along side the LG V10 AT&T is also putting the stylus toting less spec’d cousin on shelves, the LG G Vista 2.
The G Vista 2 carriers a 5.7-inch full HD IPS panel with a refreshed design over the first iteration of the device. Internally you will find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 Octa-core processor with 2GB of RAM. You’ll find the usual 16GB internal storage with micro SD card support that lists support for a 32GB card. Power is handled by a 3000mAh removable battery. The camera carries a 13MP camera with advanced Color Spectrum Sensor and Laser Defined Auto-Focus. Toss in the new popular feature to add to devices, gesture shot and a selfie light for low light selfies in bars. Software wise users are looking at Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box with some shred of hope that Android 6.0 Marshmallow will grace the device in the future.
“Only from AT&T can you get LG’s latest Android smartphone to date – the LG G Vista 2. The smartphone’s sleek new design, device features and power coupled with great value on the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network, make this smartphone hard to resist,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Device Marketing and Developer Services, AT&T Mobility.”
Pricing is all over the map as usual since you have a number of buying options from AT&T. The break down looks like this:
- 2-Year contract: $49.99
- Next 12: $22.45 per month
- Next 18: $18.71 Per month
- Next 24: $14.97 per month
That leaves the full price of the device sitting at $450 for those who might just want to buy it out right for pre-paid or as a spare media device.
Source: AT&T
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Loyalty rewards coming to Android Pay in the near future, first partner to be Coke
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Google is apparently planning to bring some interesting loyalty programs to Android Pay and they are we are going to see an announcement soon with Coca-Cola. The pending news will basically reward Android Pay users with points for using the payment method on one of over 20,000 NFC enabled Coke machines. The rewards are accumulated to help you buy more Coke.
Marketers are keen on this feature, as it helps them retain customers and track purchasing data. To become popular, mobile payments will need the assistance of these types of rewards services that remind people to pay with their phones, says Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s SVP of ads and commerce.
Google will also be partnering up with the usual suspects, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, to push sales reps to talk up Android Pay. They are also on a big marketing push with card partners American Express, MasterCard and Visa to raise more awareness of the payment option.
Looks like the altered Google Wallet to Android Pay system is getting ready to really push its self to be the dominant form of mobile payments. That is a win-win for consumers so long as retailers get in the mix as well. I am a bit jealous of those big city folk who can use Android Pay myself.
Source: Re/Code
The post Loyalty rewards coming to Android Pay in the near future, first partner to be Coke appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
The HTC One A9 will get a price increase in the US very soon
When HTC originally unveiled the One A9 they said the price would be $399 for a limited time. We now know exactly what the time limit is and how much the actual price will be.
HTC have said that their regional sales team decides the price for each region. That is why in Europe the One A9 cost around $725 US. However, what will the real price for the US version be after the limited time $399 deal is over? The answer is $499.99 starting on November 7th.
“The cost of the HTC One A9 is the same worldwide to all distributors and operator partners. For end consumers, HTC’s sales regions are given the freedom to set prices and promotions as they see fit for local market needs. The One A9 price in the US is a very limited-time promotional offer for that region’s online store, as well as select HTC-only franchise stores. The offer is a special promotional pre-sale and is expected to conclude once the One A9 is available on-shelf at major retail and distributor partners.
After the promotional pre-sale offer ends, the new price in the US at htc.com will be $499.99 beginning 12:01 a.m. on 11/7.”
A lot of people have been complaining the HTC One A9’s price was already too high at $399, I can’t imagine what they will be saying once they find out it will increase $100? Also, if you were planning on buying a HTC One A9, you better hurry up since November 7th is only a couple weeks away.
Via: Android Central
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JPMorgan Chase are making their own mobile payments app called Chase Pay
Aren’t a fan of Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, or Android Pay? Well, you are in luck. JPMorgan Chase are creating their own mobile payment option called Chase Pay, which will go live sometime in mid-2016.
Chase executive Gordon Smith says:
“Chase Pay will initially work for consumers that already have Chase credit, debit, and prepaid cards, Smith told Reuters in an interview. There are about 94 million of those cards outstanding now in the United States, and the bank has more spending on them than any other issuer. The app will work on Apple and Android-based phones.”
Chase and Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) have joined together to handle the mobile payments. You may have heard of MCX before, they are a group of large retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy. MCX also uses QR codes to work instead of NFC. We would imagine Chase Pay will be taking on the same system.
Source: Reuters
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Chase hopes you’ll use its shopping app instead of Apple Pay
You might think that the future of phone-based shopping belongs to tap-to-pay services like Apple Pay and Android Pay. However, Chase begs to differ. The banking giant has unveiled Chase Pay, a mobile app that uses your credit, debit or prepaid card to make purchases through CurrentC. And yes, that means what you think it does… both good and bad. It’ll let you take advantage of loyalty programs and even pay by scanning some receipts, but you’ll also have to make many payments by scanning QR codes. As it stands, you’ll have to be patient — Chase Pay won’t be available until mid-2016.
Source: Chase Pay, BusinessWire
New lunar maps let you explore the moon from your couch
The existing lunar maps used by the US Geological Survey are two years older than I am. But thanks to the tireless efforts of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Earthbound astronomers can get up close and personal with our planet’s Gilligan like never before.
Via: CBS News
Source: USGS
WSJ: Citigroup is testing iris-scanning ATMs from Diebold
The Wall Street Journal reports that Citigroup Inc is testing a pair of newfangled ATM formats from Diebold that will scan customers’ eyeballs with smart phones rather than require PINs. The first concept, dubbed “Irving”, uses the customer’s phone camera to scan their iris instead of having them type in their personal ID number. Diebold estimates that the cash withdrawal process could be shortened to just 10 seconds with this method. The second concept, known as “Janus”, is a double-sided ATM that also does away with the card reader. Instead, it can email or text receipts to the user.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Google turns to new RankBrain AI to improve search results
Although Google has expanded to so many areas over the years that a larger, parent company Alphabet had to be created to handle things, at its core Google is still a search company. As important as search is to the company, Google is turning to artificial intelligence solutions to help in maintain a competitive edge. The use of AI inspired machine learning is not new to Google which is actually one of the largest investors in AI research, using it in products from videos to speech to translation. Now a new system called RankBrain is being tested with search functions.
Google has been testing RankBrain for several months now by letting it try to interpret a “very large fraction” of the millions of queries the search giant processes. One of the primary types of search that RankBrain is used for are the 15 percent of queries that Google’s systems have never encountered before. These are ambiguous for existing algorithms and may include unique words or phrases that require some interpretation. RankBrain is able to process this input and make a guess at meanings.
Even though RankBrain is new to the search scene for Google, it has already risen to become the third highest contributing tool in determining the results displayed on a Google search page. The faster than expected effectiveness of RankBrain was described as “having gone better than we would have expected” according to Google senior research scientist Greg Corrado.
A sign of how important AI is to Google’s future efforts can be detected by looking back at Sundar Pichai’s comments during the company’s recent earnings call. Pichai noted that “machine learning is a core transformative way by which we are rethinking everything we are doing.” Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt wrote a piece last month extolling artificial intelligence solutions and how they will make the world better.
Even as Google brings the power of AI to bear on their core search business, other companies are expanding their use of machine learning as well. Both Microsoft and Facebook are actively working on deploying these systems to help power their businesses.
source: Bloomberg
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