Apple Releases Second Beta of tvOS 9.1 to Developers
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming update to tvOS, the new operating system that runs on the fourth-generation Apple TV. Today’s tvOS beta marks the first software update to tvOS 9.0, a final version of which was released alongside the new Apple TV. The first beta of tvOS was seeded to developers last week.
The second tvOS beta is available as an over-the-air update to those who have installed the first beta. Installing an initial tvOS beta is a more involved process than installing a beta update for iOS or OS X. The update requires the Apple TV to be connected to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A cable, with the software downloaded and installed via iTunes.
We don’t yet know exactly what is included in the new version of tvOS, as most changes thus far appear to be under-the-hood updates. Apple’s release notes for the update include references to networking and scrolling tweaks, and it’s likely tvOS 9.1 will include fixes for bugs and issues that have been discovered in the software since the Apple TV’s official launch.
We will include any other external facing changes below.
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BlackBerry Priv has been delayed or has it?
BlackBerry is the last of the former mobile giants still to operate under its own esteem – after Microsoft bought Nokia and Google, followed by Lenovo, bought Motorola – and the company’s latest attempt to woo customers runs on the Android Lollipop OS.
The long awaited BlackBerry Priv brings a hardware keyboard and the company’s own security and applications to the Android OS and last week, BlackBerry launched the Priv in the US. Or so we thought, at least; BlackBerry’s own store now lists the handset as “expected to start shipping the week of November 23, 2015“.
I’m excited about the BlackBerry Venice (Priv), are you?
If you go to Shop BlackBerry’s UK, Canadian or US stores, you’ll be greeted to the same message and if you’re one of those who have pre-ordered you might be a little worried now. All is not lost however as we can reveal that those who pre-ordered are likely to get theirs before November 23rd.
I placed a pre-order on BlackBerry’s UK store for the Priv towards the end of last week after Carphone Warehouse shipping slipped to the end of this week and the latest update on the BlackBerry store still suggest my unit will ship after the launch, which was yesterday, November 9th.
To get some more information, I’ve spoken to Shop BlackBerry in the UK and the USA and both have confirmed that the release is happening in batches. Those who ordered earlier than last week are likely to be in the first batch while the second batch is for those who ordered up until yesterday. For both of these batches, shipping is expected within 10 days of the release on November 9th.
However, if you haven’t ordered the BlackBerry Priv from BlackBerry direct yet, then you’re set to be in the next batch, for which shipping will begin on November 23rd. That being said, it seems that in the US, UK and Canada, third-party retailers are likely to have it in-stock before BlackBerry gets its next batch of units in.
In the US, B&H PhotoVideo suggests a release of November 20th, while in the UK, Carphone Warehouse had the handset in-stock briefly yesterday before pushing it back to November 13th as it ploughed through all available units. In Canada, all five major retailers have the Priv in-stock, which suggest they’re probably the best place to buy one if you want it in a hurry.
There’s no doubt that the BlackBerry direct shopping experience hasn’t been as fluid as many customers might have liked but it’s not all bad news as some users are reporting that they have already received shipping confirmation.
BlackBerry Priv / Venice in the news
Either way, BlackBerry expects to have your phone to you in under 10 days but if you want a BlackBerry Priv in a hurry, you’ll either need to go to a third party retailer or to your network. Then again, you could always order from BlackBerry direct and mod your phone with the Priv’s software goodies in the meantime.
Winter is coming – be prepared with the Bluetooth Beanie & Touchscreen Gloves bundle deal
It’s that time of the year. And I don’t mean the time of giving and cheering next to amazing food and Christmas decorations. Surely, those won’t be left out of your mental pictures either, but along with all of this joy comes a great deal of cold. In fact, I can already feel it in my bones… winter is coming.
You need to be ready, so the AA Deals Store has put together a warm and cozy deal you simply can’t ignore, especially if you are a tech lover. The Bluetooth Beanie & Touchscreen Gloves bundle is just what it sounds like it is. This deal includes a Bluetooth Beanie that will allow you to listen to your audio and make calls on the go, all without pulling your phone out of your pocket or placing that cold device next to your face. It has built-in speakers and a microphone, as well as controls, as well as Bluetooth connectivity and about 6 hours of playback on a single charge.
On the other hand (quite literally) we have the touchscreen gloves, a technology you have probably seen before. These have touchscreen-compatible fingerprints and gripping material so your phone won’t slip right out of your hands. They are not lame gloves, either. These are double layered and are sure to keep you warm.
What’s the damage, then? The AA Deals Store is handing these out for only $34.99, a suggested 64% discount over the retail price. Not a bad deal at all, if you ask us. Especially if you are not very fond of the cold!
Fitness tracking for kids? Meet the Nabi Compete
Even if you don’t have kids, odds are you’ve at least heard of Fuhu, or at least its fairly popular range of kids tablets under the Nabi branding. Now Fuhu is expanding into the wearables scene as well with the Nabi Compete, a fitness tracker designed with kids in mind.
Fitness trackers have risen up to be the most commonly used type of wearable device on the market, as evidenced by the many people I see on a daily basis that wear a Fitbit or something similar. With that in mind, it’s not a huge surprise that the trend is now reaching the kid-friendly devices market, especially as child obesity continues to rise in major markets like the US, where more than 20% of children age 6-11 are said to be obese (as of 2008– has likely risen further), a figure that was only around 7% in the 80s.
The Compete comes with two bands, allowing for two children to wear them and have a friendly competition of sorts to motivate one another.
The Nabi Compete aims to introduce fitness and healthy eating concepts to children and pre-teens in a “fun” way. To this end, the Compete comes with two bands, allowing for two children to wear them and have a friendly competition of sorts to motivate one another. The trackers are designed to fit tightly and take a fair amount of abuse as well.
The Nabi Compete connects to Android (and iOS) devices using Bluetooth, and has an app that attempts to translate fitness tracking into an experience kids will actually care about. Whether or not the app succeeds at this remains unseen, though the app allows for things like step counting and has plenty of challenges for kids who like the idea of “beating challenges” and competing, or teaming up with, friends and family. The app also teaches kids basic ideas about calories by having challenges where you are asked to burn off the amount of calories in a pizza, a buffet, etc.
Some of the more interesting extras found in the app include a kid-friendly social network called Nabi Konnect, and a point system that is rewarded for activity and allows kids to “buy” virtual pets and the food needed to care for them.
The Nabi Compete kit, which comes with the 2 bands, is priced at $39.99 and the bands are offered in multiple different colors. What do you think of the idea of Nabi Compete? A great way to get inactive kids moving, or should fitness tracking remain more of an “adult” thing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Qualcomm officially unveils the Snapdragon 820
Despite what many folks would say, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 – the processor that’s powering most high-end smartphones in today’s market – is a perfectly capable CPU that does wonders in terms of performance. Now the company’s latest flagship chipset has just been revealed, boasting X12 LTE support, an upgraded Adreno 530 GPU and much, much more.
For starters, the new Snapdragon 820 processor supports LTE Cat. 12 download speeds of up to 600 Mbps as well as LTE Cat. 13 uplink speeds of up to 150 Mbps. It also comes with support for X12 LTE, which is said to provide 33% faster peak download speeds and triple the peak upload speeds of the company’s 810 processor with X10 LTE.
It’s the first commercial mobile processor to take advantage of LTE-U
The 820 also supports both 802.11ad and 802.11ac 2×2 MU-MIMO, which will allow Wi-Fi connectivity to be up to 2-3x faster than the standard 802.11ac without MU-MIMO. This is also the first commercial mobile processor to take advantage of LTE-U, allowing it to access LTE connections in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. This will help boost your phone’s connection speeds and mobile broadband access in areas that are normally congested.
See also: Qualcomm Kryo and heterogeneous computing explained
Additionally, the Snapdragon 820 features the Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU that should be able to deliver up to 40% improved graphics performance compared to the Adreno 430 GPU, as well as the custom-designed 64-bit quad-core Kryo CPU which uses Qualcomm’s Symphony System Manager to help with power management across the entire processor.
Also, as previously announced, this chipset comes with support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, which is approximately 4x faster than conventional charging methods, and 38% more efficient than Quick Charge 2.0.
There are many new features that come with this chipset that we didn’t list here, so be sure to head to the source link below for all of the specifications. Even though the company has made the 820 official, we’re still a little ways out from seeing the processor make its way into new smartphones.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 is official
Earlier today it was revealed that Samsung has commenced mass production of their new Exynos 8890 chipset. Now we also have Qualcomm officially announcing their highly anticipated Snapdragon 820 chipset. The Snapdragon 820 is expected to bring several improvements in chip performance to the smartphone market when it starts reaching consumers in devices next year and for Qualcomm, will hopefully put the whole Snapdragon 810 overheating issue behind them.
One of the key improvements Qualcomm is bringing to market with the Snapdragon 820 is their new Kryo architecture. Qualcomm says the new instruction set will resulted in a doubling of performance and efficiency compared to the Snapdragon 810. Qualcomm also developed their next generation Hexagon 680 DSP to go on the SoC to improve performance even more. Other chips have also been upgraded, like a new Adreno 530 gpu that offers a 40% performance improvement and the new X12 LTE offer a tripling of upload speeds and a 33% improvement in download speeds. Even the Spectra camera ISP is an upgrade and means the chip can process images of up to 28 megapixels.
Qualcomm is also moving on in their journey to providing short recharge times for users by including support for their new Quick Charge 3.0 technology. According to Qualcomm, Quick Charge 3.0 is 38% more efficient than Quick Charge 2.0.
source: Qualcomm
Come comment on this article: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 is official
Nexus 6P cases present challenges for screenshot captures
If you purchased a Nexus 6P with plans to ensconce it in a case and you like to take screenshots, you better check the case to make sure you do not end up frustrated with the experience. Some users are reporting that the material and construction used for some cases, including the Nexus 6P Case and the Adopted model available through the Play Store, are making it extremely difficult to capture a screenshot.
The problem appears to be rooted in the materials used for the cases being on the flexible side. When combined with the fact that the power and volume down buttons are fairly close together and the case is all one piece, users are finding attempts to capture a screenshot result in the volume up button being depressed as well. This triggers a bug report instead of a screenshot.
As you are shopping for cases for a new Nexus 6P, you may want to look for cases that are constructed of a sturdier plastic. The other item to look for may be buttons that are separate pieces from the rest of the case so that button presses are independent of the case material.
Anyone out there having trouble with screenshots on a Nexus 6P?
via: Android Police
Come comment on this article: Nexus 6P cases present challenges for screenshot captures
[TA Deals] Grab the 128GB Monster Digital Solid State Portable Hard Drive for just $34.99
The cloud is great for storing your digital content when you are out and about, but when you stray into an area with little to no signal the content is as good as gone. Luckily, there is an alternative in the form of the 128GB Monster Digital Overdrive Solid State Portable Hard Drive that you can take everywhere you go. It can store up to 49,000 photos or 1280 hours of video and is available from Talk Android Deals for just $34.99.
Features:
- Get higher reliability than w/ rotating hard drives
- Transfer data quicker than ever before (an HD movie transfers in just 30 seconds)
- Protect your data w/ 256-bit AES Security
- Simply plug-in to your Mac or PC to use
- Store photos, videos, files & more
- View transfer status w/ LED indicator
- Easily take it on travel thanks to the compact & light design
- Detach the USB 3.0 cable when needed elsewhere
- Utilize the pre-installed Monster Encrypt™ file security
Besides offering a ton of storage, the Monster Digital Overdrive also includes security features such as Monster Encrypt™ which encrypts your data for you. The portable hard drive includes USB 3.0 connectivity, a data transfer speed of 85MB/s and a 3 year warranty with Monster Digital. At just $34.99, you are saving 56% off the normal price of $80, and free shipping is included on every order.
Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Grab the 128GB Monster Digital Solid State Portable Hard Drive for just $34.99
Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Sense 7.0 spotted on HTC One M9
HTC is struggling to remain in the smartphone market and one of their moves to try to keep buyers interested is a commitment to getting the latest version of Android out to their devices. With the recent release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, HTC has been hard at work trying to make that happen for the HTC One M9 and the HTC One M8 before the end of the year. Evidence of their efforts surfaced today thanks to Twitter tipster @LlabTooFeR.
In a series of tweets by @LlabTooFeR, we see several examples of Android 6.0 Marshmallow and HTC’s Sense 7.0 user interface running on an HTC One M9. The images include some of the setup screens, a shot of the keyboard, the recent apps task switcher, some of the permission system screens, and some settings. Thus far no information has been shared about how the actual performance has been on the device.
This appears to be a good sign that HTC is very close to being ready with the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update on their flagship devices.
source: @LlabTooFeR (Twitter)
Come comment on this article: Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Sense 7.0 spotted on HTC One M9
The best toaster oven
Brendan Nystedt | September 29, 2015
This post was done in partnership with The Sweethome, a buyer’s guide to the best things for your home. Read the full article here.
After going through more than 51 hours of research, a reader survey, and stacks and stacks of toasted white bread, mini pizza bagels, and cookies, we recommend the Panasonic FlashXpress for most home kitchens. It’s smaller than most competing toaster ovens and cheaper, too, but it delivers four slices of perfectly browned toast every time.
AIVAnet 