Hailo opens mobile payments to all of London’s black cabs
After ditching its private hire business and recommitting to London’s black cabs, Hailo has been pulling out all of the stops to get traditional taxi services back onside. On top of campaigning “every level of government” to protect the industry and reinforcing the benefits of the Knowledge, the company today announced HailoPay, a new service that let London’s 22,500 black taxis offer free mobile payments to customers.
Source: Hailo Blog
easyJet’s new cabin crew uniforms are covered in LEDs
Whether it’s recon drones, VR training or 3D-printed plane parts, easyJet is quick to embrace new technologies. The company’s latest experiment is a little more garish — to mark its 20th birthday, cabin crew and engineers are getting brand-new uniforms littered with colourful LEDs. With the cabin crew, you’ll notice tiny lights on their jacket lapels that illuminate to reveal flight numbers, destinations and other useful tidbits. Extra LEDs have been sewn onto the shoulders which, along with some illuminated hems, are designed to help staff and travellers in the event of an emergency. Finally, there are built-in microphones so the crew can communicate with one another and the passengers.
Nintendo Direct returns on Thursday with Wii U and 3DS news
The next Nintendo Direct takes place on November 12th at 2PM PT (10PM GMT), and it promises news and trailers for a slew of Wii U and 3DS games. This is Nintendo’s first live-streamed news program since April — and it’s the first since the death of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. For many viewers, Iwata encapsulated the appeal of Nintendo Direct, as he helped the company have fun in delivering its news (and appeared to have an adorable banana fetish). Former Nintendo of America and Pokémon USA President Tatsumi Kimishima is now the head of Nintendo. For its Thursday show, Nintendo promises updates on coming Wii U and 3DS games, and it says this Nintendo Direct will not feature news about its coming console, the NX, or its mobile endeavors. Catch region-specific streams of Nintendo Direct on Twitch (US, UK).
Source: Nintendo
‘Star Wars’ characters are teaching kids to code
Code.org has teamed up with Disney for a Star Wars-themed ‘Hour of Code‘ project to teach kids computer programming. Given the hype around The Force Awakens, that’s quite a coup for the organization and is a good way for Disney to remind kids that the film industry employs a lot of coders (and sell them merchandise, of course). “Hundreds of computer engineers work together to make film like The Force Awakens,” said Star Wars producer Kathleen Kennedy. As such, Lucasfilm and Disney loaned its characters to the effort, produced several short video tutorials and also donated $100,000 to help Code.org expand to more US schools.
Via: Wired
Source: Code.org
Best Buy Offering Black Friday Deals on iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watch and More
Best Buy has shared its Black Friday ad for 2015, revealing several deals on Apple products and accessories. The discounts and promotions include up to $125 off select iPad Air 2 models, up to $200 off select Macs, up to $100 off select Apple Watch models, up to $50 off all iPods and more.
Best Buy stores in the U.S. will open at 5:00 PM on Thursday, November 26, close at 1:00 AM on Friday, November 27, then reopen at 8:00 AM on Friday, November 27 and remain open until 10:00 PM on Friday, November 27. All times are local and may vary at select locations. Most deals are also available online between November 26-28.
Doorbusters
Best Buy will be offering limited doorbuster deals on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday in stores and online. Thanksgiving Day doorbusters will be available at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 26. Black Friday doorbusters will be available at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, November 27. All times are local and may vary.
Tickets are required for in-store Black Friday doorbuster shopping, which grants the customer the ability to buy a discounted item for a limited time. Best Buy stores will determine when to distribute tickets in the two hours prior to opening for select store-opening doorbusters on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.
– $100 off iPad Air 2 (16GB/Wi-Fi)
– $100 off iPad Air 2 (64GB/Wi-Fi)
– $125 off iPad Air 2 (128GB/Wi-Fi)
– $200 off MacBook Pro (13-inch/Mid-2012)
– $200 off iMac (21.5-inch/1.6 GHz/Late-2015)
– $120 off MacBook Air (11-inch/Early-2015)
– Up to $50 off all iPods
Black Friday Deals
– $100 off iPad mini 4 (64GB or 128GB/Wi-Fi)
– $150 off MacBook Pro (13-inch/Early-2015)
– $150 off iMac (27-inch/Retina 5K/Late-2015)
– Up to $100 off select Apple Watch models
– Up to 50% off select Apple Watch accessories
– Up to $60 off ZAGGfolio keyboards for iPads
– Buy one, get one 40% off on iTunes gift cards
– $200 Best Buy gift card with purchase or lease and activation of any new iPhone plus trade-in of iPhone 5 or newer
Follow our Black Friday roundup to keep track of all the best Apple deals at Walmart, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target and other retailers as announced. See Best Buy’s Black Friday FAQ for more details about the above deals.
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Sonos Debuts ‘Trueplay’ Update for No-Hassle High Quality Speaker Tuning
Sonos today announced an update to its Sonos Controller app that will bring a new feature called “Trueplay” to its customers worldwide. The update allows users to fine tune their Sonos speakers, even if the devices are placed in poorly pitched areas of the room, so that the devices sound as good as they would in a higher audio quality setting.
Trueplay uses the microphone in your iPhone or iPad and a quick setup process to ensure your Sonos speakers always sound their best, whether you’ve placed one on the most perfect pedestal or hid one inside your kitchen cabinet above the coffee grinder. Now you can violate one of those audiophile rules and put your speakers where you actually want them: behind, above, under or inside and still get awesome sound.
The company promises that the new Trueplay feature will make any compatible Sonos speaker (including PLAY:1, PLAY:3, and PLAY:5) sound great whether they’re “on the most perfect pedestal” or even behind a muffled door. Once the update to the Sonos Controller app is downloaded, a prompt for Trueplay guides the user through a 30-second tutorial that walks them around a specified room and sends the data back to the Sonos speaker for better quality sound.
Sonos ensured the calibration process would be user-friendly by layering in the possibility for external sounds to muffle the tuning — a dog barking, or subtle wind noises picked up by the iPhone speakers — and making sure the speaker didn’t account for the sounds in the final stages of calibration. The company aims for Trueplay to keep all of its speakers on the cutting edge with constant updates to audio performance, “whether you’ve had your Sonos speaker for three months or three years.”
The Sonos Controller app is available to download for free from the App Store [Direct Link].
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Philips’ Swift S616L spotted online with massive 6.5-inch display
Philips’ Swift S616L smartphone has been spotted online with a behemoth 6.5-inch IPS display in tow. Unfortunately, even with its massive size, it’s only going to be capable of 720p resolution, according to the product listing.
What’s even more disappointing about this handset is that it’s only toting a quad-core Snapdragon 410 chipset. Additionally, it has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, with microSD support allowing up to an additional 32GB of space. There’s also a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front sensor. Finally, it has a removable 3,000mAh battery, and it’s running Android 5.1 right out of the box.
Those interested can pick up this device in Gold for CNY$1399 (USD$220, AU$313) from Taobao, a Chinese version of eBay or Amazon Marketplace. The device will no doubt be available in some additional colors once it gets an official launch, which shouldn’t be too far out.
source: Taobao
via: Phone Radar
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Samsung has officially begun mass production of its Exynos 8890 processor
We’ve been hearing about Samsung’s newest chipset for quite some time now. Today, Samsung’s new high-end Exynos 8890 chipset has officially entered the mass production stage.
It’s rumored that Samsung’s newest Exynos 8890 may indeed be what runs the next generation Galaxy S7, or at least in some regions it will. While stepping upon today’s news, we were surprised that production has begun this early despite previous rumors that indicated production would start in December. This could ultimately mean an earlier launch date for the Galaxy S7.
The Exynos 8890 is a beast in terms of power, stability and speed. It packs 64-bit processing into eight cores clocked at 2.4GHz. As done with the Exynos 7740, the 8890 chipset also features a 14nm FinFET manufacturing process, which is currently the best way possible. We may even see a boost to 10nm for the production of the Galaxy Note 6, which will likely launch near the end of 2016.
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Amazon Echo coming to The Home Depot and many other retail locations this holiday season
Amazon today revealed that consumers will be able to buy the Amazon Echo through many more popular retailers, including Brookstone, The Home Depot, Radioshack, Fred Meyer, Staples, Sears, P.C. Richard & Son, and more.
Amazon was originally selling the Echo exclusively through its own website and via an online product listing at Staples. Amazon’s experiment at Staples must have been very successful to garner such a big product expansion.
“Amazon Echo is a must-have gift this holiday season, and we’re excited to work with retailers across the country to make Echo available to their customers,” said Greg Hart, Vice President, Amazon Echo and Alexa Voice Services. “Using only your voice to play music, control your lights, and ask questions is magical, so it’s great that people will be able to visit local stores and try it for themselves.”
For those not familiar with Amazon Echo, it’s a hands-free wireless speaker and voice command device. It responds to the wake command “Alexa,” and will try to give any helpful information or actions upon request. For example, Amazon Echo is capable of using its voice interaction abilities to provide traffic information, the weather, playing audiobooks, music playback, podcast streaming, and so much more.
With this latest announcement from Amazon, consumers will be able to head to physical retail locations and actually give Amazon Echo a try before taking it home, which is something that can’t be done when it’s available exclusively online.
source: Amazon
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Amazon Underground experiences a major improvement in first two months
Amazon Underground is available exclusively from Amazon for Android devices. In its first two months, the app has increased its selection of free apps, games and in-app items by three times.
Over the past two months, Amazon Underground has seen an incredible growth spurt in terms of available applications. Popular games such as Monument Valley, Dumb Ways to Die 2 and many more top titles have been able to hit the market. Best of all, they are completely free.
Here was the statement made by Amazon’s Appstore Vice President Steve Rabuchin:
“In just the first two months since launch, we’ve tripled the free selection of apps and games in Amazon Underground and continue to add more content every day. Customers can now experience the entire world of Monument Valley for free. They’ll also receive nearly $50 in value of in-app items for reef building in Nemo’s Reef.” “In Amazon Underground, customers have access to apps, games and in-app items, such as extra lives and levels, completely free—providing an entirely new way to enjoy their favorite apps and games.”
Unlike on Android and iOS, developers can earn cash for every minute someone spends on their app. Developers of popular games such as Jetpack Joyride, Fruit Ninja, Monument Valley and more spoke about their recent success.
Shainiel Deo, CEO of Halfbrick Studios made the following statement:
“We’ve been thrilled with the performance of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja as part of the Amazon Underground program in the month since launch. Thus far we have doubled the downloads and revenue from our apps in the Amazon Appstore and most interestingly, customers are engaging with our in-app purchase content within our games at an extremely high rate. Since all in-app purchases are free in Amazon Underground, they can play the games in new and exciting ways.”
Tero Raji, SVP of Game Business at Rovio made the following statement:
“We included four of our popular titles in Amazon Underground at launch, aimed at reaching as many fans as possible in the Amazon ecosystem. In the first month since launch of these games, the Amazon Underground model has brought us up to three times more revenue compared to the same games’ user revenue in the Amazon Appstore previously.”
Executive Producer of Monument Valley, Dan Gray said:
“It’s always been our aim with Monument Valley to create a meaningful experience for all types of players,” “It’s great that there’s now a service in Amazon Underground that lets us reach millions of people that wouldn’t usually pay for games, without compromising the game design or its principles.”
Source: Amazon
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