Microsoft’s Black Friday deals include $299 Xbox One bundles
Microsoft is desperate for the Xbox One to make an impact this holiday season. In addition to a slew of exclusive games, including Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Forza Motorsport 6, the company is continuing to undercut Sony’s PlayStation 4. To mark Black Friday — specifically November 26th to 30th — Microsoft is slashing $50 from 12 Xbox One holiday bundles. The cheapest of which will be going for $299 with either a copy of The Lego Movie Videogame or Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. Needless to say, there’s never been a better time to jump on board with Microsoft’s latest console. Combined with the greatly redesigned dashboard, a customisable “Elite” controller and backwards compatibility, there’s little else the company can do at this point to promote sales.
Source: Major Nelson (Blog Post)
Channel 4’s All 4 will soon support Chromecast streaming
Love Channel 4 shows like Peep Show, Humans and Grand Designs? Own a Chromecast? If your answer to both of those questions is “yes,” then we’ve got some good news for you. From November 24th you’ll be able to watch All 4, the broadcaster’s live streaming and catchup TV service (and the successor to 4oD) on your TV using Google’s tiny dongle. It’ll work through the Chrome browser and the All 4 Android app, followed by support in the iOS app around mid-December. If you have a spare TV, the combo could prove particularly useful over the Christmas period. Now, if and when your main TV is occupied, you’ve got another way to catch up on shows like Homeland and Empire undisturbed.
Via: Wired
‘GTA V’ will never feel the same with this hydraulic rig
Grand Theft Auto V provides the perfect playground for car junkies that want to perform some Furious 7-inspired stunts. Take this clip of a player landing his favorite ride inside a flying cargo plane. Nuts. But what if you could make the first-person driving experience a little more realistic? Force Dynamics, a small company from upstate New York, has done exactly that with one of its wild gaming rigs. At first glance, it looks like a typical racing arcade cabinet with a large display, a steering wheel and a bucket seat. But the entire contraption can rotate and tilt up and down, mimicking the movement of most in-game vehicles. In the case of Grand Theft Auto V, it’s a gut-wrenching rollercoaster every time you launch a car off a ramp or, indeed, check out the fairground attraction in Los Santos. We’d love to have a go, although we’d probably need a paper bag within arm’s reach.
Via: Kotaku
Source: Force Dynamics (YouTube)
Android virtual devices: AVD Manager versus Genymotion
When it comes to Android virtual devices there are many options available, including installing Android on VirtualBox. But when it comes to testing apps and debugging, two names are thrown around quite a bit: the Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager, that is included in Android Studio; and Genymotion, a very stable alternative. Both offer their respective pros and cons, so let’s find out what they are.
What exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of Android virtual machines?
When testing apps, you will likely want to try your app on as many devices as possible, to make sure everything runs smoothly. The problem is, most people do not have a plethora of devices laying around to test on, so the next best thing is emulating the devices that you need to tested on. Using an Android virtual machine makes this very easy. There are some downsides however, this includes speed and some other factors that will limit what is possible with a virtual device.
In my testing Genymotion is definitely faster than the AVD Manager, with almost instant boot times and no lag.
In general, a virtual device is much slower than a real device, Google has worked with Intel in an attempt to bring a better experience using a kind of virtual machine. If you select x86_64 as the architecture then there is the option to run the Android virtual device in “fast virt mode” which uses Intel’s Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (HAXM) to speed up the performance of the virtual device, the only problem is that this is for Intel’s x86_64 instruction set architecture, so this is not helpful if you need test test on x86_32, MIPS or ARM.
In my testing Genymotion is definitely faster than the AVD Manager, with almost instant boot times and no lag, it has been the closest experience to a real device that I have ever seen. But nothing is perfect, Genymotion currently lacks Android Wear support and there are no official stable Marshmallow builds at the time of writing.
What is Genymotion and how does it compare?
Genymotion is a third party program that offers Android virtualization so you can test against different versions of Android, and for debugging. Genymotion has many advantages over the AVD Manager (although a lot of them require a paid subscription). One of the major advantages that Genymotion offers is speed, as stated earlier Genymotion is definitely faster than virtual devices from the AVD Manager. This is because Genymotion uses the x86 architecture to run, which is great for performance. The problem with this though is that there is no option to change the architecture, x86 is the only one available, this means there is no way to test an app on ARM, which is the main architecture of Android devices.
Genymotion has a sidebar that loads on the right side of a virtual device offering anything you could want, and if for some reason something is missing, Genymotion also has a console to manually type in any command that is needed. The sidebar allows the ability to test the GPS, use a camera, change the virtual device’s battery stats, capture videos and much more.
Since the AVD Manager is handled by Google, it always has the newest Android version from the SDK.
Many of these require a subscription however. Genymotion also has a few other nice additions, like the ability to scroll on the device with a computer’s trackpad. The user interface is nice, but it is not as good as the AVD Manager as far as setting up a new virtual device. There is no option to create a virtual device from scratch, the user must select a base, which is less convenient than just being able to configure everything from a single screen to fit what is needed.
What is the AVD Manager and how does it compare?
Android Studio includes many tools to make developing apps easier, one of these tools is the Android Virtual Device Manager. While not as fast as Genymotion, the AVD Manager has a few major advantages over its competitor. Genymotion, as stated above, only runs in the x86 architecture, while the AVD Manager supports x86_32, x86_64, MIPS and, possibly the most important, ARM. This enables the developer to test across pretty much any device configuration, as well as Android Wear, which Genymotion does not support. The process of setting up a virtual device is very easy, there is every option imaginable from the Android version to the screen size to the type of processor architecture. This is something where Genymotion really needs to improve on. All of this being said, Genymotion seems to be a lot more stable in my testing, the AVD Manager seemed to lag at times and be just fine at other times, while Genymotion was lag free throughout all of the testing.
Since the AVD Manager is handled by Google, it always has the newest Android version from the SDK, whereas Genymotion does not have this luxury. Overall, the AVD Manager is not as user friendly or as stable as Genymotion, but offers more options and these may be needed for certain situations.
Wrap-Up
Depending on your needs, the AVD Manager or Genymotion may be right for you. If you want a stand alone application that is super stable but may cost money, then go for Genymotion. If you want a highly customizable first party virtual device manager, and can live with some stability issues, choose the AVD Manager. Either way, you will be able to test your apps and make sure everything runs the way it should, that being said, nothing beats an actual device, so you have one laying around, use it as well. You can get the AVD Manger along with the Android SDK and Android Studio here, and Genymotion here.
This is Sony’s Concept for Marshmallow, and it’s very promissing
When it comes to Android UI, OEMs take their own approach, and for Sony, its interface hasn’t seemed as polished as some of its rival OEMs. However, the company is using its Concept for Marshmallow program as an opportunity to learn from customer feedback. After a few days with the update, is Sony’s interface about to get the major overhaul it needs?
Sony’s hardware is definitely premium but its software has been somewhat lacklustre, with elements such as Small Apps still present despite a lack of positive user feedback. Sony’s interface has traditionally been quite slow, but one thing you’ll immediately notice about is just how fast and fluid Sony’s Marshmallow update is.
Prior to Marshmallow, Sony adopted a similar approach to some of its rivals by customising large parts of the Android experience, but this resulted in a sluggish experience. With its Marshmallow update, Sony has adopted the “less is more” approach, and, like Motorola, it is running an almost-stock version of Marshmallow with just a few small Sony changes and tweaks.
The first thing you’ll notice is the Sony launcher, which looks similar to previous versions but has been improved to make it faster. The launcher comes with two options: the classic Android home screen and a ‘modern’ interface with all of your apps on the home screen. Alongside the launcher, Sony has also tweaked the settings app to include more options than present on stock Android and the changes are certainly welcome.
As you might have expected based on past handsets, Sony has replaced the stock Gallery and Music Player apps with its own Album and Music applications. Both applications are essentially basic in features, but it’s worth remembering that this is concept software and we’re likely to see further enhancements to both apps before release.
Sony’s other additions to the OS include its Xperia Care application, which provides quick access to support topics and warranty information, as well as helping you customise your smartphone. The camera app has also been replaced with one of Sony’s own making, and, a key change is the speed of the app, with photos now capturing and loading much faster. There are also fewer camera apps preinstalled, and the options are minimal, packaged inside a sleek and relatively easy-to-use camera experience.
Sony has become synonymous with being slow with updates for its smartphones, but if the Concept for Marshmallow is anything to go by, this will hopefully be fixed going forward. In the past week, there have been 7 updates including two inside three hours. While it’s worth remembering updates are likely to be less frequent with the final release, it’s still reassuring to see Sony can roll out updates frequently.
What do you take away from Sony’s Concept for Marshmallow project? It’s really simple – Sony is finally fixing its software and if the final product is as quick as this beta, Sony may yet find its smartphone division regain profitability. The Concept for Marshmallow project is a vision of a new Sony and this is how all Sony smartphones should be – fast, fluid and no silly preloaded apps, just a clean experience with a few small additions to the stock OS.
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What do you think of Sony’s Concept for Marshmallow and are you looking forward to the update for your Sony smartphone? Let us know your views in the comments below guys!
Elon Musk is making Tesla’s self-driving software a priority
Tesla might have chosen to put more limits on Autopilot, but that doesn’t mean it’s slowing down the software’s development, as well. In fact, Elon Musk has revealed on Twitter that he’s “ramping up the Autopilot software team at Tesla to achieve generalized full autonomy” as soon as possible. The automaker is currently looking for “hardcore software engineers” to join the team. Sounds like you? You don’t need to have prior experience working on car tech, but you have to be prepared to face Musk himself during the interview process, as the Autopilot team reports to him directly. At the moment, Tesla’s Autopilot feature can park your car and steer the wheel for you, but it’s not capable of completely taking over just yet. The CEO calls this project “a super high priority” — after all, he did claim that the company will have a fully autonomous vehicle within three years. Check out Musk’s tweets below the fold, including the email where you can send samples of your work.
Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)
T-Mobile receives approval for its Marshmallow update for the Nexus 6
Earlier today, Des Smith, Product Manager at T-Mobile, took to his official Twitter page to announce that the operator has finally received approval for the eagerly-awaited Marshmallow update for the Nexus 6. Unfortunately, no information was given with regards to a distribution date, but we suspect that it will start rolling out any minute now seeing as it’s already almost a month overdue.
Great News! The @TMobile #Nexus6 Marshmallow SW MRA58X has been approved & should start rolling out soon! pic.twitter.com/oiyZ5mO9MC
— Des (@askdes) November 20, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Keep your browsers pointed at Talk Android as we’ll be sure to let you know as and when it’s on the move.
Come comment on this article: T-Mobile receives approval for its Marshmallow update for the Nexus 6
AT&T starts rolling out Android 5.1.1 update for the Galaxy S6 Active
AT&T has at last started rolling out the Android 5.1.1 update to all its carrier-branded variants of the Galaxy S6 Active located in the United States. As far as added functionality goes, this upgrade transports the latest version of Lollipop, compatibility for Samsung Pay and a much-needed patch for the Stagefright vulnerability to the handset.
Hit the break for the full changelog.
- Android 5.1.1
- Android For Work
- Samsung Pay
- Security updates
- Fix to Ultra Power Saver mode for devices using On Device Encryption
As is the norm, this update is being distributed in stages. To see if it’s ready for your device head into Settings, scroll to the bottom and tap on “About Device”, hit “System Updates”, then select “Check for updates”. Alternatively, you can wait until you receive a push notification prompting you to install the update.
Come comment on this article: AT&T starts rolling out Android 5.1.1 update for the Galaxy S6 Active
FCC Chairman gives T-Mobile’s Binge On the thumbs up
T-Mobile’s Binge On feature, which allows subscribers to watch videos from select services without using up their data, has raised eyebrows… and net neutrality concerns. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, however, isn’t only OK with it, he also praised the plan, according to Ars Technica. “Its clear in the Open Internet Order that we said we are pro-competition and pro-innovation. Clearly this meets both of those criteria. It’s highly innovative and highly competitive,” Wheeler replied when a reporter asked him about Binge On at the FCC’s open meeting for November.
Source: Ars Technica
Imgur updated with support for Android tablets
The incredibly popular photo sharing service Imgur has today started rolling out a brand new update for its official Android application via the Play Store. The upgrade makes it easier than ever to scroll through an endless sea of content on tablets without having to return to the main screen. It also focuses on GIF playback; making it significantly smoother and faster on mobile devices.
To install the update on your Android-powered smartphone or tablet, simply open up the Play Store, toggle the hamburger menu by swiping in from the left-hand side of the screen, select ‘My Apps’ and click on Imgur, then tap the update button. Alternatively, you can hit the link below to initiate the download on your smartphone from the Web.
Come comment on this article: Imgur updated with support for Android tablets
AIVAnet 