Google Play Books is more comic friendly thanks to vertical scrolling
Is Google Play Books your go-to app for reading comic books? If so, your digital page turning is about to get a whole lot better. While the app is getting a number of updates, the most notable is the introduction of vertical scrolling. Rather than having to flip to the next page, which can be a bit awkward when it comes to comics on a phone or tablet, simply turn your device to landscape mode and scroll vertically with a swipe. There’s a curated series section too, organizing volumes, issues and editions of some of the most popular titles. To help you find new reading material, the app will also offer personalized recommendations based on what you’re reading. Just as a reminder, Google Play Books houses comics from major publishers like DC Comics, Marvel, Image, IDW and Dark Horse. The update is rolling out to Android users “over the next few days” and iOS is said to follow soon after for users in the US, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, India, Singapore, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Laser-cooked bacon is a delicious techno-culinary masterpiece
There’s no wrong way to cook bacon — even if you don’t cook it at all. Kentaro Fukushi, a Mathematical Science professor in Tokyo, Japan recently proved as much to Munchies. He, along with his partner, Hiroshi Takai of The Garage Lab maker space, have combined cutting edge technology with their culture’s deeply held tradition of eating raw meat. They’re using a laser cutter to fry just the fat on strips of bacon while leaving the rest of the meat uncooked.
Source: Munchies
Astronomers discover the most distant Solar System object to date
Little by little, the furthest corners of the Solar System are starting to come into focus. Astronomers have identified the most distant object yet in our planetary system, roughly 15.5 billion kilometers (or 103 astronomical units) from the Sun. For comparison, one astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and our enormous neighbourly star. Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science, announced the discovery of the dwarf planet — catalogued as V774104 — at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. It was observed with Japan’s Subaru Telescope (above) and measures 500 to 1,000 kilometers across. A fascinating find, although scientists will need to track it further to work out its exact shape and orbit.
Source: AAAS, New Scientist
Twitter’s Scratch Reel lets you scrub GIFs like digital LPs
Twitter debuted a new Scratch Reel feature on Thursday which allows users to hover a mouse or finger over GIFs and rewind or advance the image as they please. The functionality appears to only apply to GIFs created by third-party @SnappyTV publishers, so don’t expect to be go all Pam the Funktress on your GIF feeds just yet.
Source: Scratch Reel
iPad Pro Videos: 4K Video Exporting, Cases and Apple Pencil Tracking
Apple launched the iPad Pro yesterday online and in stores, and early adopters are now receiving their deliveries around the world. The trio of videos below provide a closer look at the iPad Pro, Smart Cover and Silicone Case accessories and a comparison between Apple Pencil and Surface Pen tracking.
YouTube creator Jonathan Morrison shared a video called My First Day with the iPad Pro, proving how powerful the iPad Pro’s A9X processor and 4GB of RAM are by exporting 30 seconds of 4K video in around only 38 seconds. He also provided a quick rundown of the 12.9-inch tablet’s tech specs, benchmarks and camera.
Despite his 4K video test, Morrison concludes that the iPad Pro’s hardware is mostly unutilized, due to the lack of true professional apps like Final Cut Pro X that take advantage of the processing power. Those apps could arrive in the future, but in the meantime the iPad Pro is essentially a bigger and better iPad Air 2.
YouTube channel DarGadgetZ went hands-on with the new Smart Cover and Silicone Case for the iPad Pro, available for $59 and $79 respectively in Charcoal Gray and White. The Smart Cover has its usual magnetic hinge and doubles as a stand, and can be paired with the Silicone Case for full front-and-back coverage.
The last video is an Apple Pencil vs. Surface Pen tracking comparison shared with us by GforGames. The 15-second test, slowed down from 120 FPS, shows the Apple Pencil has slightly less input lag compared to the Surface Pen on the Surface Pro 4 when sketching swirls with each stylus.
Limited quantities of the iPad Pro are available at select Apple Retail Stores in multiple countries, with Personal Pickup available at U.S. locations. Smart Covers and Silicone Cases are well stocked, but the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard are out of stock or in very limited quantities at most stores.
Also read our iPad Pro reviews roundup, tidbits and timeline for the latest news about the 12.9-inch tablet.
Tags: Apple Pencil, Surface Pen, Silicone Case, Smart Cover
Buyer’s Guide: iPad Pro (Buy Now)
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Verizon announces its new self-branded tablet, the Ellipsis 10
Verizon has just announced that it’s bringing yet another addition to its tablet lineup, the Ellipsis 10. As the successor to 2013’s self-branded Ellipsis 8 tablet, this new device features updated specifications, a larger screen and a higher price point.
The Ellipsis 10 comes with a 10.1-inch TFT LCD display with 1920 x 1200 resolution, an unnamed 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 16GB of on-board storage, microSD expansion up to 32GB and Android 5.1 Lollipop on board. It also sports a massive 9100mAh battery which Verizon says can get you 25 hours of usage or roughly 38 days of standby time. This tablet can also connect to Verizon’s 4G LTE network. The entire device is also wrapped in an anti-fingerprint coating to help prevent from smudges, which is definitely a nice touch.
If you’d like to get your hands on one, the Ellipsis 10 is available for $199.99 with a new two-year contract or for $12.49 per month for 24 months. Verizon is also offering the tablet without a contract for $299.99.
Want some more information about this new device? Head to the link attached below to get all of the details.
YouTube Music finally launches on Android, 14-day free trial available as well
Alongside the announcement of YouTube Red, Google’s ad-free video service, the company also announced that it would be launching a new service called YouTube Music sometime soon. YouTube Music is essentially a music-focused version of YouTube that lets you watch and listen to music of all sorts in an application that’s mainly designed for discovery. The new app is now available in the Play Store for all to download, and you’ll also get a free 14-day trial of the premium features when you sign in for the first time.
Once you finish listening to a song, YouTube Music will automatically play the next track it thinks you’ll be interested in. And for the most part, it’s pretty accurate. YouTube Music is divided up into three sections – Home, which will recommend tracks based on your tastes, What’s Hot, which will give you suggestions based on what everyone else is listening to, and Liked Songs, which is an ever-growing list of the songs you’ve liked on YouTube.
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When you sign up for YouTube Music, you’ll get a 14-day trial of the premium version of the service for free. If you’d like access to the premium features beyond this trial period, though, you’ll need to fork over $9.99 per month. This also gets you a subscription to YouTube Red, which, consequently, also includes a subscription to Google Play Music All Access. With a YouTube Red subscription, you’ll be able to enjoy ad-free videos on both YouTube and YouTube Music, as well as a few other features like listening to music while using other apps or with your screen off, or listening to music offline on your mobile device. Another premium feature is the ability to watch music videos for each track that plays, or with a simple flip of a switch, you can turn on a handy “audio only” mode if you don’t want to load the videos.
YouTube Music is now available for free from the Google Play Store and App Store for iOS devices. It should be noted that once you sign in for the first time, your 14-day free trial will start automatically. Also, YouTube Music is only available for residents of the U.S. at the moment. Interested? Head to the Play Store link below to try it out.
[TA Deals] Learn how to build Android and Java apps with The Android Expert’s Coding Bundle
If you’re interested in getting started with Android or Java development, you’ll likely be interested in The Android Expert’s Coding Bundle. You can pay what you want for an entire bundle that goes over Java basics and essentials, as well as some courses covering Android Studio to build apps for Marshmallow.
There are hours of content over five courses with a ton of material for anyone that’s looking to start from scratch, or for anyone that already knows a bit but wants to jump into something a little more specific to Android. And even if you’re not particularly interested in the Android side of things, learning Java on its own is a very valuable skill.
Normally, this bundle is valued at over $500, but with this deal you can pay what you want for access to the courses. 10% of your payment goes to charity, too. What’s not to like?
Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Learn how to build Android and Java apps with The Android Expert’s Coding Bundle
[TA Deals] Learn how to build Android and Java apps with The Android Expert’s Coding Bundle
If you’re interested in getting started with Android or Java development, you’ll likely be interested in The Android Expert’s Coding Bundle. You can pay what you want for an entire bundle that goes over Java basics and essentials, as well as some courses covering Android Studio to build apps for Marshmallow.
There are hours of content over five courses with a ton of material for anyone that’s looking to start from scratch, or for anyone that already knows a bit but wants to jump into something a little more specific to Android. And even if you’re not particularly interested in the Android side of things, learning Java on its own is a very valuable skill.
Normally, this bundle is valued at over $500, but with this deal you can pay what you want for access to the courses. 10% of your payment goes to charity, too. What’s not to like?
Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Learn how to build Android and Java apps with The Android Expert’s Coding Bundle
YouTube Launches New YouTube Music Service and iOS App
YouTube today unveiled YouTube Music, a streaming music service and app designed to compete with existing streaming music offerings like Apple Music and Spotify. YouTube Music is part of YouTube Red, the ad-free subscription service YouTube announced last month.
The new YouTube Music app is available for both iOS and Android devices, bringing the YouTube Music service to a wide range of smartphones and tablets. YouTube Music, which offers both songs and accompanying music videos, includes both an ad-supported free tier and a paid ad-free version that’s tied to a user’s YouTube Red subscription. YouTube Red costs $9.99 per month (or $12.99 in the iOS app to account for Apple’s 30 percent cut), but users can sign up for a free14-day YouTube Music trial when downloading the app.
Paying for YouTube Music via YouTube Red allows listeners to and stream songs on-demand, create playlists, and listen without ads. Music can also be saved and listened to offline. Without a subscription, users can still listen to songs and watch videos, but the service will include ads.
Like other streaming music services, YouTube Music lets users search for content, but it also includes curated lists of the top songs of the week and a section on music that’s trending. It also has dedicated artist pages with additional album recommendations as a way to discover content, and it offers a music library that includes classic videos, concert footage, live recordings, and other content that’s not available on other services.
The YouTube Music app for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
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