Apple Expands iTunes Carrier Billing Initiative to Russia
Apple has implemented a carrier billing feature that lets Russian customers purchase iTunes content like apps, movies, music, and books using a phone number, reports CNBC. Purchases made with a phone number linked to an iTunes account are then added to a user’s monthly cellular telephone bill without the need for a credit card, debit card, or iTunes gift card.
For its new mobile payment initiative, Apple has teamed up with Beeline, the third largest wireless operator in Russia. Beeline’s Russian site says the mobile billing feature is now available to Beeline customers in the country, with the payments powered by San Francisco-based company Boku.
Apple’s partnership with Beeline comes a month after it established a similar partnership with German carrier O2. As of late October, O2 customers are also able to link a phone number to their iTunes accounts to purchase iTunes content that’s added to a monthly cellular phone bill.
According to CNBC, Apple has started expanding into carrier billing due to lower carrier rates. While carriers have charged as much as 10 to 30 percent to handle transactions in the past, Apple has secured a deal with better rates “in the single digits.”
Apple’s carrier billing partner Boku has partnered with dozens of carriers around the globe, so it’s likely Apple will continue to expand its carrier billing initiative to more countries in the future. Boku works with all of the major carriers in the United States and has established partnerships in countries like Germany, France, Korea, the UK, and more.
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Apple Expands iTunes Carrier Billing Initiative to Russia
Apple has implemented a carrier billing feature that lets Russian customers purchase iTunes content like apps, movies, music, and books using a phone number, reports CNBC. Purchases made with a phone number linked to an iTunes account are then added to a user’s monthly cellular telephone bill without the need for a credit card, debit card, or iTunes gift card.
For its new mobile payment initiative, Apple has teamed up with Beeline, the third largest wireless operator in Russia. Beeline’s Russian site says the mobile billing feature is now available to Beeline customers in the country, with the payments powered by San Francisco-based company Boku.
Apple’s partnership with Beeline comes a month after it established a similar partnership with German carrier O2. As of late October, O2 customers are also able to link a phone number to their iTunes accounts to purchase iTunes content that’s added to a monthly cellular phone bill.
According to CNBC, Apple has started expanding into carrier billing due to lower carrier rates. While carriers have charged as much as 10 to 30 percent to handle transactions in the past, Apple has secured a deal with better rates “in the single digits.”
Apple’s carrier billing partner Boku has partnered with dozens of carriers around the globe, so it’s likely Apple will continue to expand its carrier billing initiative to more countries in the future. Boku works with all of the major carriers in the United States and has established partnerships in countries like Germany, France, Korea, the UK, and more.
Discuss this article in our forums
OnePlus 2 purchasable without an invite starting Dec. 5th
Better late than never I suppose. If OnePlus’s continual use of the infamous invite system has kept you away from purchasing the manufacturer’s latest flagship phone, you’ll now get a chance to reconsider.
OnePlus has just announced that starting on Dec. 5th, the OnePlus 2 will never again require an invite to purchase.
“The invite system has been crucial to letting us scale our operations and has given our fans a unique way to share OnePlus with the people in their lives. But we are always trying to enhance the OnePlus experience for you and taking risks to push ourselves and show real improvements. That’s why we’re making the OnePlus 2 invite-free … forever!“
Regardless if you’re going to buy a OnePlus 2 now or not, any news about the invite system going away is great to hear. We can only hope that it will be phased out completely sooner than later.
The OnePlus 2 was launched this past summer, with mixed reception. You can check out our review, here. Many Android enthusiasts were bothered that OnePlus left out NFC (inhibiting the use of Android Pay). More recently, there was a controversy over the OnePlus 2’s stock USB Type-C cable. A Google engineer brought to light that OnePlus’s cable wasn’t up to snuff for the brand-new standard. OnePlus responded by offering refunds.
In case the more recently launched OnePlus X is more your cup of tea, the manufacturer fortunately didn’t leave it out in this announcement. The smaller brother will also receive an invite-free status on Dec. 5th but only for two days. OnePlus is also throwing some accessory discounts over that timeframe (Dec. 5-7). Hit up the source link for details!
Source: OnePlus
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Germaphobes rejoice: Japan gets the world’s first washable phone
Japan has produced the world’s first washable phone, yes really. It’s called the Kyocera Digno Rafre, and you can scrub it with soap and water to your heart’s content without ever worrying about damaging the device. While waterproof phones are fairly old-hat in Japan, no smartphone has yet been produced with waterproofing specs capable of withstanding germ-scouring cleanliness.
See also: The waterproof Kyocera Hydro WAVE smartphone makes its way to T-Mobile and MetroPCS
This actually makes a lot of sense, when you think about it. With our increasingly health-conscious culture, it’s a little bit surprising we don’t hear more of a demand for this capability. We talk about how filthy cash is pretty regularly, and most of the things we handle on a daily basis are wiped down on the regular. Sure, we don’t exactly put our phones in our mouth, but these things slide into pocket after lint-filled pocket, rattle around in purses with fragments of peppermint, and never see a hint of hygiene through years of use… and we press them against our faces. Almost makes one wonder if smartphone washing will become as much a social norm as hand washing in the future.
In addition to being washable with normal handsoap, the Rafre is perfect for help in the kitchen if you’re using the internet as your sous chef, and if you’ve really been meaning to take a bath but can’t pry yourself away from Facebook long enough to bother, your problem is soon to be solved. The “world’s first soap-proof phone” even has a rubber-duck-shaped kickstand to prop it up and a built in 1seg TV tuner. Now you can live your dream of becoming the side-character in The Truman Show who never leaves his bathtub.
The Rafre sports Android 5.1 Lollipop, rocks a 720p 5-inch display mounted onto a 10.1mm-thick body. It also has a 13 MP camera which, as indicated in the tongue-in-cheek commercial, can be entrusted to your idiot child for use in food photography.
The Rafre’s touchscreen allegedly works even when the device is wet, and it has a “scratch healing” finish to keep it looking new. The durable device implements Kyocera’s Smart Sonic Receiver technology, meaning it is capable of producing sound without an external speaker. The device comes out December 11, 2015 in Japan for the KDDI carrier for ¥57,420 (US $465).
See also: Sound without speakers; Kyocera is changing how we hear each other
What are your thoughts on the world’s first soap-proof phone? Cool, crazy, a bit of both? Let us know in the comments!
ReadySip is the hot beverage monitor you never knew you needed
An interesting Kickstarter project is looking to make sipping coffee a little less dangerous. It’s called ReadySip, and it’s a pretty interesting little device.
We all know the problem because we’ve all been there before ourselves. You pour yourself a tall mug of fresh brew, but then you get distracted reading something and forget what you’re doing. Without giving it time to cool, you unconsciously take a sip, and the molten lava burns off all your buds. Now everything will taste like paper for the next two days. Smooth move, champ.
But you’ve got to take that risk at some point. As easily distracted as you are, you might just forget that you made that cup of coffee, and by the time you remember to drink it, it’s gone cold.
I’m a caffeine fiend more than I am a coffee lover, so historically my solution to this has been to just scoop some ice into my coffee as soon as it comes out. Diluted coffee isn’t that great, but at least it gets the buzz in quick and I know I’m going to be able to taste dinner later on.
ReadySip has a far more sophisticated solution than mine. The device is effectively a digital kitchen thermostat with a simple visual indicator and a smartphone companion app. After you make your coffee, you drop the thermometer into your cup and the stylish LED indicator will glow red, letting you know your beverage is too hot to enter a human body. Once it cools down to your ideal temperature, the indicator changes to green. A blue light will show when your drink is getting too cold.
But how does ReadySip know what your ideal temperature is? That’s where the smartphone app comes in. You can use the app to adjust ReadySip to your exact preferences. The creators are also saying that this is an eco-friendly solution as well because the thermostat end of the device replaces disposable coffee stirrers. This feels like a bit of a stretch, you know, because spoons exist. Still, not a bad selling point.
ReadySip creators are seeking $20,000 before January 16, 2016. Donation tiers are offering ReadySip products to backers pledging $20, $25, and $30 in limited slots. If their funding goals are met, ReadySip promises to be in full production by May with the ability to ship globally.
What are your thoughts on the ReadySip? Let us know in the comments!
Verizon giving out 2GB of free data per line for life in new holiday promotion
Verizon is one of the most expensive carriers in the U.S. when it comes to handing out 4G LTE data, though the company has been doing its part to award customers some freebies this holiday season. Now Big Red has a new promotion that will actually score you some additional data each month for free (well, sort of).
From now until Wednesday, January 6th, new and existing customers will get 2 gigabytes of additional data each month for every line they add or upgrade to the carrier’s XL (12GB) or XXL (18GB) plans. The data will be added onto your bill every month for life, until you switch plans. It can also be combined with other offers, and the data can be shared between other members on your plan.
To get the free data, you’ll have to upgrade or activate a new phone on either one of these XL or XXL plans, and the line needs to remain active on a phone. You’ll get 2GB of data for free for every line you move to one of these plans, with a maximum of 10 lines per account.
This is a pretty decent promotion for families who are looking to score some more data. If you’re interested in learning more, head to the source link below for all of the fine print.
Google Play Music free radio finally coming to Canada
Back in June Google introduced free ad-supported radio to Google Play Music, with no need for an all-access subscription. Unfortunately, the service was only limited to listeners in the United States. For those up north, you’ll be happy to know that the free radio capability is finally making its way to Canada as well.
As already mention, the service is ad-supported, but not obtrusively so. Every so often, you’ll have to deal with a commercial (and no it can’t be skipped through). That said, there’s a solid selection of stations and so it’s certainly worth at least giving a try.
Considering yesterday’s news that Google is retiring Songza, can’t say this bit of news is too surprising. For those interested, you can check out the app below and get to listening for free.
You can now capture your own VR photos with Google’s Cardboard Camera app
If you own a Google Cardboard VR headset, you may want to listen up as the search engine giant has just launched its Cardboard Camera application, which means that you can now capture virtual reality photographs directly on your Android-powered smartphone.
Taking a picture using the app couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is hold out your phone and move it around in a circular motion, then when you place your handset inside an official Cardboard viewer, you’ll be able to take a tour of the image.
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: You can now capture your own VR photos with Google’s Cardboard Camera app
T-Mobile offers AT&T customers 128GB iPhones for $200 less
After tempting Sprint customers to jump ship, T-Mobile is looking to do the same with the AT&T faithful. To do just that, John Legere & Co. are offering AT&T customers who make the switch a 128GB iPhone for the cost of the 16GB model. For those who don’t want to do the math, that’s a $200 discount. The price cut comes in the form of a bill credit and the offer is available starting tomorrow until December 13th.
Source: Business Wire
Watching amateur coders foil a ‘bioterrorist plot’
A woman’s voice blares out through the building’s loudspeaker. “Stay calm,” she says, as the room’s lights fade away, bathing everyone in an ominous red glow. People in white hazmat suits stream in from multiple entrances and begin sweeping the room. One suited lady focuses in on a man sitting a few feet away from me, who’s been engrossed in his laptop the entire time. As she begins scanning his arm for traces of chemicals, he looks up toward me, and can’t help but crack a smile. The reason for his nonchalant attitude about being singled out as a suspect? None of this is real. He’s an amateur code-breaker and a contestant in the UK’s Cyber Security Challenge Masterclass final, which bills itself as the “most realistic civilian cyber-terrorist attack simulation” ever. Slideshow-345725
AIVAnet 