Rumor: Apple has an updated 4-inch iPhone due early next year
Want a handset with Apple’s fancy new A9 processor, a colorful metal case and a slightly smaller display? GHI Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo says you’re going to get one. According to the analyst’s latest research, Apple is on track to launch a 4-inch Apple 5 successor in early 2016 — painting the picture of a device with the same A9 processor as the iPhone 6s, NFC support for Apple Pay, a metal case with multiple color options and a $400-500 off-contract price tag aimed at the budget market.
Source: MacRumors
Double Fine is making ‘Psychonauts 2’ but it needs $3.3 million
Psychonauts 2 is happening. It’s a sequel to Double Fine’s first-ever game, a quirky, beloved, 2005 platformer about a team of psychic spies-in-training. Most of the pieces are in order — the concept art is in, the characters are rendered, the narrative is prepped and Double Fine founder Tim Schafer is ready to roll. The studio needs just one more thing before diving into development: $3.3 million from investors and fans.
BlueStacks 2 brings multitasking Android apps to Windows
BlueStacks has long been a favored method of pumping up your awful Clash of Clans teammates with an alternate account. Now you can keep clashing away while simultaneously checking your second Fallout Shelter.
See also: BlueStacks vs Andy – The best Android emulators on PC
For those not in the know, BlueStacks is a pretty competent Android emulator for Windows, and BlueStacks 2 improves on the old one by adding a few additional features. Among these improvements is the ability to run multiple apps at once. This is the spotlight feature, as previously users were only able to run one app at a time.
Now BlueStacks is even closer to the mobile Android experience. If you’ve got a touch screen, the only interface capability you’ll really be missing is motion detection. BlueStacks has a toolbar of buttons that you can tap to simulate rotating the screen or giving the device a shake.
If your computer doesn’t have touch screen, then you’ll find using the mouse to navigate Android apps is a little awkward at first. Once you get the hang of it, however, you’ll be moving at near full-speed in no time. Individual apps have hotkeys associated with other troublesome gestures like pinch-to-zoom.
BlueStacks 2 is just for Windows right now, with Mac users stuck using the original BlueStacks. Nevertheless, the developers have stated their intent to make the updated emulator available for Mac in the future.
Wanna give BlueStacks 2 a go? Click the button below to head over to their website and try it out for yourself! What do you think of BlueStacks? Do you have a preferred emulator? Let us know in the comments below!
Apple Shares New ‘On the Set’ Hey Siri Commercial Starring Jon Favreau
Apple today shared another short iPhone 6s video, this time starring actor and director Jon Favreau. In the “On the Set” video, Favreau is directing a gymnastic sequence and uses the hands-free always-on “Hey Siri” feature to ask Siri to bring up pictures of flying squirrels.
The iPhone 6s is here, and the only thing that’s changed with Siri is everything. Because now you just say “Hey Siri” and Siri’s there, hands-free. Which can come in handy.
Today’s ad starring Jon Favreau is the latest in a series of iPhone 6s ads that have featured celebrities and sports figures like Jamie Foxx, Stephen Curry, and Bill Hader using the various features of Apple’s latest flagship device.
The video also comes one day after Apple shared two other iPhone 6s ads, focusing on the Hey Siri feature and the iPhone’s powerful A9 processor. All of the ads are part of a campaign that uses the tagline “The only thing that’s changed is everything.”
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Capture all your child’s moments with Snapbrite (review)
As parents, we want to capture all the silly and wonderful moments of our children’s lives. Now you can do it easily with Snapbrite.
Overview
Snapbrite is an app that allows yo
u to upload pictures, videos, and audio, and organize them into a neat and easy timeline, highlighting all the special moments of your child’s life.
Once created, you can share your timeline with family and friends through social media or email. One great feature is the ability to sync online to access your timeline on other devices or via the Snapbrite website. This is great if you have different pictures on separate devices.
You are limited to 1gb of online storage but can unlock more as you invite friends to join. This is okay, and I definitely will recommend this app to everyone with kids, but an option to straight up purchase extra storage would be better.
Another feature includes a slideshow presentation of your timeline. 
It can be customized to show all the timeline photos, or certain sections only, and have a song playing in the background if you like. I found it a nice option, but did have some difficulty playing it with music, but this is not a deal breaker for me.
Design
The overall design of the app is very easy to use. The main screen gives you three tabs to navigate between your individual timelines, a combined timeline, and all photos you upload, with the menu button always on the top right.
When viewing a specific child’s timeline your events or pictures will be in the order that you organize them. The other two tabs just show the pictures and events in the order that you uploaded them.
When in the main menu, the menu options will be different than when in a specific timeline.
Set up
Creating an account is not necessary to use Snapbrite. However, if you want to have access to the online features, such as cloud sync and inviting friends, an account is required.
To create an account, you will need to use your email address. You can use your Google plus account, or your Facebook account to make signing up a little faster. Signing in with Facebook or Google plus will allow you to access any pictures associated with either account.
The first time you open the app, you will be asked to create a timeline. Once created, the Photo Wizard will ask to start uploading pictures. This is the best option if you have a lot of pictures to upload, as it will automatically organize them for you. The Photo Wizard can be accessed from the menu in any timeline.
What we liked
- Easy to create and organize your timeline
- The option to sync over multiple devices, with access via the web.
- Invite family and friends to add to timelines.
What could be better
- More online storage
- Improved settings for the slideshow
Summary
I really enjoyed using this app. And with the ability to view it in an internet browser, you can easily share your child’s moments with Snapbrite.
The post Capture all your child’s moments with Snapbrite (review) appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Vainglory Kicks Off on SHIELD Tablet K1
On seeing the gigantic popularity of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, developer Super Evil Megacorp decided the genre could work brilliantly on touchscreen devices and set out to create the ultimate MOBA on mobile. The spectacular result is Vainglory, and as testament to the game’s brilliance, it already has a huge following and has become the focal point of a prestigious eSports league.
Super Evil Megacorp is comprised of a bunch of highly creative folks with an impressive gaming pedigree having developers previously worked for Riot Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Rockstar Games, Guerrilla Games and Playfish among others. For them, Vainglory is a labor of love, and you can really sense that when you play the game.
In Vainglory, which is now available on SHIELD Tablet K1, a battle is raging between two teams with each team being made up of three characters. Each team also has its own base and inside this base resides a crystal called the vain. The goal of each team is to make their way from their own base to that of the enemy and destroy the crystal, thus securing victory.
On any given map there are several things to consider. Each character has his or her own unique abilities so finding a good balance within a team is crucial to success. What’s more, when a battle commences there is a brief opportunity to visit the shop where players purchase items that can be deployed to gain an advantage. There are healing objects like the Fountain of Renewal, defensive items that create a barrier between your character and the enemy, and offensive tools like the Swift Shooter that increase the speed of your attacks.
Then there are the minions. These are AI-controlled creatures that swarm around the battlefield either assisting in attacking the enemy or acting as cannon fodder while the human player concentrates on making progress relatively unhindered.
Take all these elements together and you have a deep, chess-like strategic and tactical challenge but played out in real-time lending the whole exercise a sense of panic and urgency. Only those players who can work well together under pressure will succeed.
It’s no wonder that MOBA games lend themselves to competitive eSports environments. Like any great sport, Vainglory presents teams with a goal (to win), rigidly enforced rules, and a limited palette of tools with which to do so.
The result is an absolutely gripping experience and this is why eSports in general, and Vainglory in particular are proving so compelling for players, gaming fans and casual observers alike. The first North American live season finals are taking place in Santa Ana, California between December 4 through December 6. Sponsored by NVIDIA, whose SHIELD Tablet K1 is the hardware of choice for many Vainglory teams, and broadcast on Twitch, perhaps it’s time you made your mark on this thrilling new frontier of gaming.
Vainglory is now available to download on SHIELD Tablet K1 from Google Play for free.
Report: Chromebooks make up more than half devices found in schools
While Apple might be “all the rage” these days among certain sects, this wasn’t always the case. Long before Macs were associated with artists, videographers, and other creative types they were instead targeted primarily at another crowd altogether: students and schools. In today’s world though, Chromebooks have apparently stolen the education spotlight.
According to a new report from CNBC, Chromebooks now make up over half of all devices found in classrooms in the United States. Apple continues to be an important force in education, but over the past three years Apple’s marketshare in education has reportedly dropped from 52 percent to just 24. Microsoft has seen similar decline, going from 43 to 24 percent.
According to a new report from CNBC, Chromebooks now make up over half of all devices found in classrooms in the United States.
That’s a far cry from the way things were during my 90s childhood. In those days, pretty much every school computer lab was dominated by Macs, with a few Windows (or sadly sometimes even DOS..) machines found in a few classrooms here and there. And most of those machines were at any given moment playing either Oregon Trail or some variation of SimCity. Those were the days.
See also: Lenovo N20 Chromebook Review
A lot has changed it seems, and in very little time, given Chromebooks made up less than 1 percent of the education space in 2012. To put it all into perspective, Chromebooks have made up 4.4 million of 8.9 million devices sold to schools and school districts this year, and every school day 30k Chromebooks are reportedly activated.
It’s been amazing to us to see that growth happen just in that short amount of time. If you look at the overall market for devices in education, it’s actually expanded a lot and Chromebooks have actually taken a lot of the expansion. – Rajen Sheth, Google’s director of product management for Android and Chrome in business and education
While it’s great to see Google’s Chromebooks on the rise, both in education and even among general consumers, the cloud-centric platform’s gains in education aren’t completely surprising. After all, Chromebooks are highly affordable, easy to manage, very secure, and students are doing more and more in the cloud, meaning that “full-fledged” traditional PCs aren’t necessary for the average student.
The only important question I have left is “Can they play SimCity?” (The answer is sort of.) What do you think, surprised to see Chromebook’s meteoric rise in schools?
Live Out Your (Final) Fantasy on NVIDIA SHIELD
Since the series began back in 1987, Final Fantasy has consistently been the most ambitious and innovative franchise in the role-playing genre, with games appearing on multiple platforms, selling millions of copies worldwide and repeatedly resetting the standard of what makes a great RPG.
Now four of the best games in the enormously influential Final Fantasy series are available to own on NVIDIA SHIELD. Here’s what made chapters III to VI such timeless role-playing experiences.
The first two games in the series proved popular enough, but it was Final Fantasy III’s innovative gameplay features that really caught gamers’ imaginations and led to the title becoming an instant classic. One of the major changes in the gameplay was the ability to change jobs (or classes) whenever you like, thus enabling you to take advantage of different skill sets. There are 23 job types in total. The Warrior is adept at using weapons but cannot use magic. Vikings wield powerful axes and hammers but are slow combatants. Sages can use a broad range of magic, but in limited amounts. Given that your party is made up of four characters, there are a variety of job combos you can have fun playing with to find the best balance. The game also introduced the ability to summon creatures to aid you in battle. It’s true to say FFIII was, in many ways, a game-changer. The game received a 3D makeover since its original release and it’s this visually remastered edition that appears on NVIDIA SHIELD.
Never a company to rest on its laurels, Square Enix decided to shake things up again for Final Fantasy IV. The switchable job system from the previous game was dropped as the story this time centered on Cecil, a dark knight, whose task it is to prevent the evil sorcerer Golbez from destroying the world.
This release was notable for the inclusion of an all-new combat system called Active Time Battle. Previous role-playing games relied on a turn-based system, but FFIV introduced the ability for players to enter commands for their characters in real-time during the heat of battle. It was to become the system used in many subsequent Final Fantasy games and inspired other RPG developers to adopt similar combat systems.
The fifth game in the Final Fantasy series is a glorious exercise in finessing many of the previous elements and simply giving gamers a more epic experience. In this chapter a young explorer named Bartz comes across a meteor that has fallen from the skies. As he discusses it with others characters, it is discovered that the world is facing a terrible danger as a sorcerer named Exdeath, who was imprisoned 30 years previously, is on the verge of escaping.
The job system seen in FFIII returns for this chapter albeit in a much expanded form. The player starts with only a freelancer-class character, but by collecting shards he or she can open up new jobs, of which there are more than 20. Ultimately it’s possible for characters to acquire and master all of the jobs giving them access to an unprecedented range of skills and abilities.
Square Enix threw another curveball at fans with FFVI, this time in the form of a dramatically different setting. Gone was the traditional old medieval fantasy tropes of the previous games to be replaced with a steampunk theme. The game’s huge world, spanning three continents, is set in a time roughly equivalent to that of Earth’s industrial revolution so steamships and railways are present, as is technology-based weapons that sit comfortably alongside more familiar weapons and magical abilities. The plot is also more modern and political rather than fantastical as you control a group of young rebels who are battling to defeat an evil dictator. Did existing FF fans accept the new artistic and thematic direction? They loved it as will SHIELD owners today. It has lost none of its magic.
Final Fantasy III, IV, V and VI are now all available to download on NVIDIA SHIELD from Google Play for $15.99 each.
Google wants to help games lure in more players with gameplay-streaming ads
Today Google unveiled a new ad system that lets advertisers get a lot more creative with their in-app advertisements. Game developers will even be able to let users stream a sample of the game right within the ad without having to download the game. Non-game advertisements will have increased interactivity and the ability to engage interested consumers more thoroughly.
See also: 10 best new Android games of November 2015
Google is an advertisement titan because their vast trove of data lets them get ads to consumers who are more likely to be interested in the product being advertised. An ad that nobody is interested in is naturally a waste of space, so Google is trying to get better at putting content and product creators in touch with the kinds of people who already want said content and products.
Games are a particularly hard sell in this category, because what you’re selling is an experience. Such an abstract notion is extremely hard to pack into a tiny bar at the top of a mobile device. Sure, the ad says “Become the hero of legends” alongside a warrior woman with suspiciously impractical armor, but is this going to be a top-down strategy kind of legend, a clever puzzle-solving legend, or a crappy pay-to-win kind of legend?
Even if an ad is successful, and users download the game, Google has found that fully one fourth of downloaded apps are never used. The game didn’t actually gain an extra player from the ad. Since this new update to the way Google handles ads in Android will allow game creators to give potential players the ability to demo the game, this makes people who encounter the ad better qualified to make a decision about downloading. They get a taste of the experience and can decide if they want more.
All in all, this seems like a pretty good step toward making apps more relevant and less obtrusive. The project is still in beta with a limited rollout, but Google is hoping to attract more advertisers and roll it out to the full Android audience in the near future. I, for one, look forward to the ability to try out games and apps without having to download them. What do you think of this innovation? Let us know in the comments.
Don’t like what you hear? Modify Google Text-to-speech voices – Android customization
Now that you have a joke or quote popping up on your Homescreen, we are ready to head a different direction with our Android customization post this week. This is a beginner’s tutorial, let’s learn how to change what the voice coming out of your phone sounds like, that is, let’s change settings in the Android Text-to-speech engine.
If you’ve ever used Google Maps for navigation or Google Now for a quick search, you’ve likely heard the default voice in Android. We were pleased with the higher quality settings launched not long ago, but we want to now take things into our own hands. Let’s learn how to change the gender, speed and language of the Text-to-speech engine in Android.
Note: This is a beginner’s tutorial. I may have some ideas in here for advanced users and Tasker fans, but if you’ve ever installed a third party speech engine, you likely know all I have to say today. We’ll see you next week.
Before we begin
The basics of what we are doing today require nothing more than a modern Android device. I’ll show you screenshots from a pure experience Lollipop powered device, but I’ve gone through the steps on a vanilla Android 6.0 Marshmallow device as well, there are no differences worth speaking of. That said, manufacturers like Samsung have been known to install their own speech engines, please be aware of the differences if your device is different.
Android Text-to-speech settings
Let’s cover some of the basics first. Android has a built-in speech engine – you know this, one of the coolest features of the modern smartphone is its ability to talk to you. The default voice is fairly high quality and stands up well to the other top digital voices out there. As with most things in Android, if you are not a fan of the default voice, you can change it.
Modifying the Android Text-to-speech settings is built into the main system Settings on your device, no special access or tools required. Available for edit is the language of the voice, for some of the languages you can choose between a male or female simulated sound and you can change the speed at which it talks.
Note: Selecting a language that is different from your system wide default language does not automatically translate text. If you provide English text, for example, to the Japanese language pack, it will read out in English with the Japanese accent. Some words will translate, as will most numbers written in numeric form, but expect some confusion.
Finally, if none of the following changes to settings is satisfactory to you, you can even install a full new speech engine. There are a few speech engines out there, each of which will support the voices designed for them. Samsung users may have their own engine and voices available, different than what you will see here today. Users of early Android devices may remember SVOX, while adventurous users may have seen IVONA and more.
We won’t be walking through alternative text-to-speech engines today, perhaps down the road we’ll revisit the topic. Be sure to drop a note in the comments below if you would like us to get on that sooner rather than later.
Change the language
Let’s start off with just changing the language in your Android Text-to-speech Engine.
Head into your system Settings.
In the Personal section, tap on Language & input.
Scroll to the bottom and tap on Text-to-speech output.
Tap the gear to the right hand side of Google Text-to-speech Engine.
Tap on Language.
Choose your weapon. Don’t forget that the default setting is to pull from your main system language settings. You likely already noticed that the speech output matches the system language, now you can make them different, if you so choose.
From here, each language that you choose will automatically download the required language pack. They range from about 6MB up to 30MB each. If you play with them all, like I did, you’ll want to go delete the ones you do not plan to use. Luckily, managing these language packs is also how you change the gender of the voices, let’s take a look.
Change the gender
We just learned that when changing language choices, the language pack automatically downloads and installs for you. You may do this manually as well, which provides access to the available gender representations of each language.
Sadly, not all languages have multiple genders represented. for example US English only comes in female. However, UK English comes in both flavors. If you would like to hear the difference, consider checking out the AA Podcast – Our man Nirave lives in the UK and the rest of us North American hosts are usually happy to poke fun at him for it.
Sorry, getting back to our topic, to change the gender of the voice on your device, head back in to those same settings, then, after hitting the gear icon, tap on Install voice data.
Find the language you’d like to work with and tap on it.
Now, if your language choice has gender options you will see them here. Tap on your choice to download the voice pack.
If you are not using a language, follow these same steps to go into each language and hit the trash can icon to delete language packs that you do not intend to use.
I should have warned you earlier, Google’s Text-to-speech Engine does not have many languages available just yet, and even fewer gender options. This is why I mentioned the other speech engines earlier, you may not find what you are looking for through Google today. That said, our last tool to change speech rate may be the piece that makes Google’s voices work for you.
Change the voice speed
Officially, voice speed is called Speech rate. Changing the Speech rate, as I have implied, simply changes the speed of the voice, it does not change pitch or any other sound factor. Of course, at higher speeds, it will sound as though bits of speech have been cut out, effectively changing the experience, just perhaps not in a good way.
If you are still in the Text-to-speech output section of the Language & input section of the main system Settings, tap on Speech rate to get started.
Many options are presented, each step will change the speed of the voice playback fairly slightly with Very Slow and Fastest being your top and bottom options.
Very Slow is quite slow, most of us will get annoyed by the pace. However, the hard of hearing and those learning a new language may truly appreciate this option.
Fastest, on the other end, is really extremely fast. Go ahead, select it, then hit the Listen to an example button. Did you catch that? I mean, our brains are fast enough to absorb the words, but to actively make sense of the speech as it happens will be beyond most of us. The speed readers in the crowd will appreciate this option.
What’s next
An option not made readily available to change is the pitch of the voices. To be clear, the pitch can be changed, and changed quite dramatically, but it will need to be done programmatically on a case by case basis.
For example, those that have been following along some of my Tasker projects have seen the Alert -> Say functionality. You provide specific text and Tasker will engage the Google Text-to-speech Engine to play it. Tasker allows you to modify the pitch of the voice for playback, but it cannot make a global change to help out Maps, Google Now and others.
You’ve also seen pitch change in some of the funny voice changer apps around. There was one with a squirrel that was popular with my niece, and we’ve got a list of best voice changer apps on the site. To be honest, I did not check to see if these fun apps use Google’s default Text-to-speech Engine, or if they provide their own, but you could totally create your own fun app in Tasker by recording speech, changing the pitch and speed, then playing it back.
Next week
I hope you learned something here today, speech output sounds like a simple thing, but there are many ways you can optimize it to your liking. Next week on our Android customization series, we’d like to try something completely new, let’s get physical! We have a Nexus 7 here that stopped charging, so we replaced the USB charging port in the device. Bring your spudgers and screw drivers, we’re about to do something crazy.
What is your preferred language setting for voice output on your Android device? Remember to let me know if you’d like a tutorial on installing and using alternate Text-to-speech Engines.
AIVAnet 