Watch T-Mobile’s ‘Uncarrier X’ live stream here!
T-Mobile is holding another “Uncarrier” event this afternoon to announce, well, nobody quite knows for sure. Set to start at 2PM EST, the tagline for the invitation reads “we never hit pause,” which kickstarted the rumor mill. A majority of speculators are saying that the wireless carrier will announce its customers will be allowed to use streaming sites like Netflix, HBO Go and Hulu without it counting towards their data cap. The wireless carrier already offers unfettered streaming of music sites like Spotify and Pandora, so the concept isn’t entirely foreign. If these rumors are true, this could be an industry game-changer — and get net neutrality advocates in a huff because of how unequally it treats data. Video streaming does use up a huge amount of cellular data, though, so this could definitely come in handy if you’re looking to watch a TV episode during your lunch break at work. The only way to know for sure, of course, is to tune in.
Source: T-Mobile Blog
Withings tracks your nutrition thanks to MyFitnessPal
Withings has a connected scale that tracks your weight and activity trackers that help you lose weight, but it doesn’t have anything to measure the food contributing to that weight. However, the company just forged a partnership with MyFitnessPal that should fill in this gap. Withings’ Health Mate app can now use MyFitnessPal’s nutrition data, letting you know whether or not you’re exercising enough in relation to your diet. If you lose a few pounds, it’ll be clear just how much your meal choices played a part. The collaboration is a bit ironic for Withings given that it’s effectively working with Under Armour (which has its own fitness gear), but it’s hard to object if it gives you a better sense of your overall health.
Source: Withings
Apple Music on Android is near-identical to iOS, for better or worse
Steve Jobs once famously said that launching iTunes for Windows was “like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell.” Well, Apple has a second glass ready today: the company just released a beta of Apple Music for Android, the first app that really gives Android users a taste of one of Apple’s flagship services. If you’ve used the somewhat-jumbled Apple Music app on iOS, you’ll be quite familiar with its Android counterpart — nearly all of the service’s features are intact, and the user interface is a surprisingly tasteful blend of what Apple put together for iOS that still feels native to Android. Slideshow-340754
Stanford scientists get a little closer to a medical tricorder
Being able to identify problems with a person’s body without subjecting them to invasive procedures is the fantasy of all Star Trek doctors. There’s even a prize offering a fortune to anyone who can effectively recreate the tricorder technology out in the real world. Now, Stanford scientists think that they’ve developed a system that, in time, could be used to spot cancerous tumors from a foot away.
Destiny Companion app: The one every Guardian needs [App Review]
Through the use of the Bungie mobile app you’ll be able to utilize the Companion. It’s Bungie’s second-screen experience that will keep you connected to the game, while you’re in the world of Destiny and while you’re away from it. It has a ton of features that are very useful, such as checking your gear, checking on what’s new for the week as far as Daily Heroic Strikes, Nightfall Strike and even the capabilities of transferring items to and from your vault to your character(s). The official app is available for iOS and Android, and there is a third-party app (Destiny Stats) for Windows Phone users.
Visually the Destiny app captures the hard sci-fi feel of the game with its subdued, but not bland color palette, and clean, easy to manage menu system. Within the app players have access to regular news from Bungie, regarding in-game events, updates, patch notes and easy access to the game’s forums. Very useful to check and read every Tuesday morning when reset day comes along and you’re already at work for the day and can’t get to a computer.
There is a fantastic Grimoire section, presented as a collectible card set with great art work on one side, and flipping over to reveal informative blurbs about Destiny’s lore, tips and general knowledge. It’s beautifully presented, providing great incentive to explore and collect. To me personally it’s my favorite part of the app as there is a ton of information to absorb from this section of the app.
Functionally, players have hands-on access to their weapons and equipment, with the ability to change your set-up, which then reflects within the game itself the next time you load it up on your console. Or, if you forgot about something in the vault, and you’re in the middle of a big boss fight and need something like a Heavy Ammo Synthesis, then you can quickly pull up the app and transfer any that you have in the vault to your character and it will transfer immediately and be ready to use in-game.
There is a ton of stats that tell the story of your successes and failures in numbers within the game itself. All your story missions and competitive runs in the Crucible are displayed such as kills, deaths, assists, scores etc. Again all of this is presented in a very easy to read, clean style and accompanied by some great art work depicting where the mission was carried out. It’s a great way to measure up your adventure with friends in the real world.
Then there’s the Vendors section where you can check any vendor within the game to see exactly what they are selling as far as special items, weapons, armor or anything else. One downfall is that you can’t purchase items from these vendors via the app and that’s something that I certainly wish Bungie would add.
You can even go as far as to check on your current bounties that you have and how close you are to completing them. And now with Year 2 here, you can also check in on your progress of any quests that you are currently working on within the game.
Whilst the Destiny Companion doesn’t really add anything essential to the game, nor is it something that you have to have installed for any reason, it is a nice accompaniment, tastefully designed and a joy to navigate. The collectible card system of the Grimoire alone is definitely worth the 27MB download.
What We Liked:
- Easy to use and to navigate
- Very informative
- Well designed
Where It Comes Up Short:
- Can’t purchase gear or armor
- Can’t get any gear from the new kiosks
Google Play Store: Destiny Companion App
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NewerTech’s ‘HDMI Headless Video Accelerator’ Keeps GPU Active for Better Performance With No Display
NewerTech today announced the launch of its HDMI Headless Video Accelerator, an adapter that’s designed to plug into the Mac mini’s HDMI display port to fool it into thinking there’s a display attached. With the adapter plugged in, the Mac mini’s GPU is activated and video drivers are loaded, resulting in smoother performance.
When the Mac mini is used without a monitor, its GPU isn’t used. As a result, the interface lags, resulting in choppy screens and slow video, animation, cursor movements, menu navigation, and typing. Plugging the NewerTech HDMI Headless Video Accelerator into the HDMI port of the Mac mini solves this problem, engaging the GPU so your remote interface works exactly how you’d expect.
Apple’s small and portable Mac mini is often used sans display as a storage device or a media server, but without a display, the Mac mini does not take advantage of its GPU. Without an active GPU, certain tasks performed on the Mac mini can be choppy and laggy, such as visiting websites, as described in a Macminicolo blog post on the subject.
This kind of adaptation has been used by Macminicolo on video intensive servers for several years, but as the site says, even simple web browsing benefits from having active video drivers. Macminicolo even recommends a similar dummy dongle product directly on its site.
The NewerTech HDMI Headless Video Accelerator is designed to work with the following Mac mini models: Mac mini Mid 2010 (Macmini4,1), Mac mini Mid 2011 (Macmini5,1 / Macmini5,2 / Macmini5,3), Mac mini Late 2012 (Macmini6,1 / Macmini6,2), Mac mini Late 2014 (Macmini7,1). It works with OS X 10.6.8 and later.
Mac mini owners interested in purchasing the NewerTech HDMI Headless Video Accelerator can do so from third-party retailers like OWC. The adapter is priced at $19.50.
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Apple Launches ‘Tech Talks’ Tour for Apple TV Developers
Apple today announced the launch of a new series of “Tech Talks” for the Apple TV, designed to help developers learn how to create apps and games for Apple’s new set-top box. The Tech Talks are held in a number of cities around the world and are hosted by “Apple experts.”
The new Apple TV is here, bringing incredible and immersive apps and games to the big screen. Get in-depth technical information on building and designing for tvOS, learn refined coding techniques, and obtain valuable development instruction from Apple experts.
Developers can register to attend a Tech Talk through Apple’s website, with registration open from now until November 13 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Dates and locations are below.
- Toronto – December 7, 2015
- Los Angeles – December 10, 2015
- Austin – December 14, 2015
- Seattle – December 16, 2015
- Cupertino – December 17 and 18, 2015
- Berlin – January 8, 2016
- London – January 11, 2016
- New York – January 12, 2016
- Tokyo – January 21, 2016
- Sydney – February 3, 2016
Each of Apple’s all-day Tech Talks will include morning sessions focused on the Apple TV’s capabilities, designing apps, creating interfaces, integrating the Siri remote and game controllers, and using on-demand resources. Afternoon sessions will focus on topics like technologies for graphics and gaming, media streaming, and more, and a reception will follow giving attendees a chance to interact with each other and Apple’s staff.
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Apple Music Expands to Android With New App
Apple is launching its first major app for Android devices today, expanding its Apple Music platform to Android-based smartphones and tablets. With the introduction of a beta Apple Music app for the Google Play Store, Android users will be able to subscribe to the Apple Music streaming service, listen to Beats 1 radio, and access the Apple Connect artist-based social network.
The new Apple Music app is available from the Google Play store and requires Android 4.3 or later. It’s available in all of the countries where Apple Music for iOS is available, with the exception of China. Apple Music includes the same three-month trial for Android users and it is priced the same – $9.99 for an individual plan and $14.99 for a family plan.
Image via TechCrunch
TechCrunch spoke with Eddy Cue about the launch of the new Android app for Apple Music, who said Apple’s decision to create an Apple Music Android app was based on a desire to let people enjoy music “no matter where you were and what products you were using.” Apple wants “everyone in the world” to be able to try Apple Music, including those in areas where Android devices remain more popular than iOS devices.
Apple Music for Android offers a design that’s similar to the iOS version, but as it’s a beta, it does not yet include Music Videos or the ability to sign up for a family membership within the app. Family memberships will need to be purchased on an iOS device. According to Cue, Apple Music is “a full native app” that will “feel very much like an Android app.”
“We wanted customers on Android to naturally be able to use it — what they’ve learned and how they interact is common. Things as simple as [that] the share icon looks like an Android share icon; the menu structure being where it is; these are things that most Android customers are familiar with. We wanted to make sure that they felt very familiar with Apple Music when they sat down to use it.”
Apple Music is not Apple’s first app for Android, but it is the most significant. Apple previously released a “Move to iOS” app that helps Android users transition to the iPhone, and it’s launched an Android app for controlling the Beats Pill+ speaker. All of Apple’s Android apps have come in the last few months, signaling its willingness to expand beyond the iOS ecosystem for the first time.
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Apple Seeds Third iOS 9.2 Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers
Apple today seeded the third beta of iOS 9.2 to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second iOS 9.2 beta and three weeks after releasing iOS 9.1 to the public. As a .1 upgrade, iOS 9.2 will mark the second major update to iOS 9.
The new iOS 9.2 beta is available as an over-the-air update and through the Apple Developer Center. Today’s beta is also available to public beta testers, and there’s also a new version of the Xcode 7.2 beta available.
Earlier betas of iOS 9.2 introduced changes for the Safari View Controller, which is what allows a pop-up Safari window to be used in third-party apps. Safari View Controller now supports third-party Action Extensions, allowing apps like 1Password to be accessed in the Safari view of other apps like Tweetbot.
Safari View Controller has also been updated with the ability to long tap on the Reload button to reload content without content blockers and it now supports the request desktop site function. iOS 9.2 beta 2 improved Safari View Controller further, introducing support for dismissing it with an edge swipe.
Along with improvements to Safari View Controller, iOS 9.2 also introduces support for AT&T’s NumberSync Wi-Fi Calling feature and includes bug fixes for iCloud Keychain, Apple Watch syncing and pairing, audio quality when streaming to stereo systems, and more.
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Apple Seeds Third OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan Beta to Developers
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan update to developers, just one week after seeding the second beta and three weeks after releasing the first OS X El Capitan update to the public, OS X 10.11.1.
The new beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store and can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center.
We don’t know exactly what improvements the second update to OS X El Capitan will introduce, as many of the changes seem to be under-the-hood upgrades. It’s likely to focus on bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements to address problems that have popped up since the release of OS X 10.11.1.
Apple’s release notes for OS X 10.11.2 have asked developers to focus on Networking, Graphics, Mail, Wi-Fi, Calendar, USB, Notes, Photos, and Spotlight.
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