Moto X Play Marshmallow update now rolling out in Canada
Good news for any Moto X Play owners: it looks like Motorola is finally rolling out the Marshmallow update for the smartphone. The catch? Right now, that update is only rolling out in Canada.
So if you’re in Canada and using a Moto X Play, keep an eye out for the Android 6.0 update on your phone. If you’re anywhere else in the world, hang tight. If Motorola has gotten the ball rolling in one country, other countries should follow relatively quickly.
Come comment on this article: Moto X Play Marshmallow update now rolling out in Canada
Twitter granted a patent for a drone, might be used for taking selfies
Just a couple weeks ago, Twitter was caught trying to trademark the word “subtweet,” and this week they’ve been granted a patent for a drone that can take videos and selfies and post them to a Twitter account. Both legal moves are definitely out of the ordinary for a social media company.
The company didn’t explicitly say anything about what they’re planning on using these drones for, but a spokesperson did simply say “drone selfies.” Considering how successful Twitter’s Periscope video streaming experiment has been, it makes sense that they might want to expand on that with drones in the near future. But until something is made official, which will certainly be a ways off, there’s no telling what Twitter has planned for this patent.
Personally, I’m only going to be happy if the drone is shaped like a little blue bird.
source: Patent
via: CNBC
Come comment on this article: Twitter granted a patent for a drone, might be used for taking selfies
China Mobile Roadmap Claims New 4-Inch iPhone Coming in April 2016
Chinese cellular carrier China Mobile recently held an event discussing its upcoming plans for 2016, in which it hinted at an April 2016 release date for Apple’s rumored 4-inch iPhone, reports MyDrivers [Google Translate] (via Gadgetz Arena).
An April 2016 release date for the device is in line with previous rumors that have suggested it will launch during the first months of 2016. Apple is rumored to be holding a March event where it will introduce a second-generation Apple Watch, and it’s possible the 4-inch iPhone will also be unveiled at that time.
Today’s report from MyDrivers refers to the 4-inch iPhone as the “iPhone 7c,” but Apple is unlikely to use that nomenclature for a device that launches ahead of the “iPhone 7,” the name most probable for the 2016 flagship iPhone coming in September. All previous rumors have instead referred to the 4-inch iPhone as the “iPhone 6c.”
The iPhone 6c is rumored to feature an aluminum casing like the iPhone 5s, with at least two to three color options available and a 2.5D curved edge cover glass like the glass used on the iPhone 6 and later. It may also include the same A9 processor used in the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus, along with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.1.
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Google adds more Chromecast games for the holidays
If you’re giving someone a shiny new Chromecast this holiday season, it turns out you’d be giving them a healthy dose of family-friendly games as well. Today, Google has announced that it’s rolling out several new games made just for its tiny TV streamer. They include Angry Birds Friends (which lets you compete in weekly tournaments), Driver Speedboat Paradise plus a whole host of Hasbro board games designed to be played on the TV. Examples of the latter include Monopoly Here & Now, Yahtzee Blitz, The Game of Life, Scrabble Blitz 2.0 and Risk. Sorry, no Settlers of Catan just yet.
The idea with these boardgame translations is that you can play them split-screen — the main board will be on the TV, while friends and family can view their own cards or tiles on their phones or tablets. Of course, you’ll likely use your Chromecast mostly for watching movies and TV shows anyway, but the occasional game could be a fun way to kill time as you’re waiting for that ham to finish in the oven. You can download these games starting today on the Chromecast app store.
Source: Chromecast
The best space heater
By Seamus Bellamy
This post was done in partnership with The Sweethome, a buyer’s guide to the best things for your home. Read the full article here.
After 87 hours of research and 27 hours of hands-on testing with a PhD physicist, we found the best space heaters. For small rooms, we like the Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater. It heated our test spaces faster and cheaper than anything else we could find, though it’s a little noisy. For larger rooms, nothing produces as much heat as the De’Longhi EW7507EB Radiator. It’s efficient and practically silent, and it stays warm even an hour after you turn it off.
How we tested
Controls on the top of the Lasko 754200. Photo: Kate Milford
To keep our results scientific and accurate, we asked a PhD physicist to handle the data-intensive testing required to measure a heater’s performance in a controlled environment. We put each heater through a rigorous series of tests, using two rooms inside the physicist’s home as the test spaces. We looked at the initial room temperature, heating rate, temperature maintenance, heating consistency, minimum and maximum heat settings, maximum surface temperature, humidity tests, decibel level, and operating costs.
In addition to all of the number-driven data, we looked at subjective issues surrounding the hardware—what kind of heating technology it uses, the cord length, whether the heater has digital or analog controls, the presence of a timer, the thermostat’s accuracy, safety features, size, weight, and build quality. We even considered convenience features such as a carrying handle or wheels, and if the unit was a pain to set up or ready to work right out of the box. This qualitative data, combined with the quantitative test results, revealed the clear favorites.
Our pick for smaller rooms
Our small-room pick, the Lasko 754200. Photo: Kate Milford
If you want to heat an office or a small bedroom quickly, the Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater is your best option. It generated more heat in 20 minutes than almost anything else we tested. It’s roughly the same size as a loaf of bread, so it’ll easily travel between rooms and fit most anywhere you’d care to use it. The only heater that bested it was the pricier Vornado VH10, but the Lasko is almost as effective for close to a quarter of the price. The Lasko may be a bit noisy because of its fan, but it gives you some of the best performance and easily the best value—for most people using the device only a few months of the year, that’s good enough.
Runner-up for small rooms
Our small-room runner-up, the Vornado VH10. Photo: Kate Milford
In previous years, we’ve found that the Lasko 754200 can become unavailable once the weather turns cold. If that happens, get the Vornado VH10. It was the fastest heater we tested, raising the temperature of our test area higher than any other heater could manage in the same amount of time. It’s much more expensive than the Lasko (and it went 3.3F higher), but that extra cash nets you blisteringly fast heating capabilities, eight temperature levels, quieter operation than our main small-room pick offers, and a casing that stays surprisingly cool to the touch. Plus, it comes with a five-year warranty—that’s two years longer than the Lasko’s coverage.
Our pick for larger rooms or less noise
Our large-room pick, the De’Longhi EW7507EB Radiator.
For a larger space like a master bedroom or living room that you plan to warm for hours at a time, get the De’Longhi EW7507EB Radiator. It efficiently, silently, and steadily puts out plenty of heat, and it can maintain a set temperature on a schedule with its built-in thermostat and timer. Nothing else can match the amount of heat it can generate, or the way it continues to produce heat for a full hour after you’ve turned it off. The catch? It’s slow to heat up, heavy, and prone to getting pretty hot to the touch.
We originally picked the De’Longhi TRD0715T for larger rooms; according to the manufacturer, however, that model has been discontinued. The EW7507EB, formerly our runner-up, performed identically to the TRD0715T in our heating tests, only it has a digital timer and controls instead of mechanical ones, so you’ll have reset it every time you unplug it.
Wrapping it up
If you need to warm up small spaces quickly, nothing can beat the Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater‘s low price, compact size, and rapid performance (though it is a bit noisy). For larger areas, get the De’Longhi EW7507EB Radiator. It’s efficient, nearly silent, and equipped with a built-in timer, and no other heater can generate as much heat. It even stays warm once you turn it off.
This guide may have been updated by The Sweethome. To see the current recommendation, please go here.
Twitter has lots of ideas for drones, patent form reveals
All of a sudden, a Twitter drone doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea. The social network applied for a patent earlier this year for a “Messaging-enabled unmanned aerial vehicle,” which describes pretty much what you’d expect: A drone that can post media to a Twitter feed of its own. Beyond that, Twitter users would also be able to control certain elements of the drone with their own posts. That includes its subject, location, orientation and more. When asked for comment by CNBC, a Twitter rep simply said, “Two words: Drone selfies.” As always, a patent application doesn’t mean we’ll see exactly what’s described, but they’re a good indicator of what companies are planning for the future.
Sure, this all sounds pretty crazy and fairly unsafe. But it’s not hard to imagine that Twitter could create a “safe zone” for the drone to move about without crashing into people. The application also notes that drone controls could be determined “through democratic means,” as well as triggered after a certain amount of engagements.
Had we heard about this patent application last year, it probably would have seemed a tad unbelievable. But it makes much more sense now, following Twitter’s Periscope launch earlier this year. A drone would be the perfect way to deliver killer live streams, and allowing users to control it remotely would make it an even more engaging experience for social media fans. The patent application also points out that a Twitter drone could be equipped with a microphone and screen of its own, which could make it a useful tool for conducting interviews remotely. And it can even be equipped with a payload that users can control.
[Photo credit: Shutterstock]
Via: CNBC
Source: USPTO
Experience Fallout Shelter on NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1, Get Free In-Game Loot
2015 has given us not one, but two new Fallout games. The one that has been getting all the attention is, of course Fallout 4, a vast and complex game in which the player has to survive in a world ravaged by nuclear conflict after escaping from an underground bunker.
The other game set within the same post-apocalyptic world is Fallout Shelter, a smaller, more intimate game designed for touchscreen devices that puts the player in the role of an overseer, whose job it is to build, and maintain a subterranean shelter and look after civilians following a nuclear detonation.
The best news of all, however, is that if you buy an NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1, Fallout Shelter comes preloaded on it. The SHIELD Tablet K1 is perfectly suited to playing Fallout Shelter on, not just in light of the NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor powering the device, but also because of the tablet’s gorgeous 1920×1200 HD screen.
This is particularly important as the game is a masterpiece of tiny detail. The fallout shelter of the title is made of compact, but highly detailed rooms featuring subtle object animations and lighting effects that bring the environment to life. The tiny civilians are no less impressively drawn and animated.
Exclusively available to SHIELD Tablet K1 owners, NVIDIA is giving away a free bundle of five Lunchboxes in Fallout Shelter to the first 50,000 players who register. To redeem your in-game prize, go to the Settings app on your SHIELD Tablet K1, tap About Tablet, then tap Status and then copy your device’s serial number and enter it into this redemption page.
Like Fallout 4, Shelter has a retro style, a sort of fusion of 1950s sensibilities but with modern technology. At the start of each game you are assigned a very basic shelter and a few limited resources. Civilians immediately begin to appear from the wasteland and assemble at the outer door of the shelter and this is where your job as overseer truly begins.
The aim is a simple one. You need to expand the shelter by building more rooms, and you must generate resources – power, food, water and items – in order to keep the inhabitants of your shelter, healthy, happy and safe. You begin with the basics, building power plants, water purifiers, living quarters and diners in order to fulfill those basic needs. You then look at the characteristics of each civilian to see where their strengths lie and literally drag and drop them into a room so that they can get started on their assigned tasks. Once done, you will gradually begin to accrue resources to fund additional expansion.
This being a post-apocalyptic tale, you also have to have one eye on the future and boost the population of your shelter. The larger your population the more building options you have. As time goes by you will be able to build store rooms, radio studios, gyms and sports facilities and so on and in doing so your population will thrive. Occasionally raiders will try to storm the shelter so you also have to arm some of your civilians for defensive purposes and send them on missions out into the wasteland to recover weapons and other useful objects that aren’t available in the shelter.
Fallout Shelter is a mini marvel and it’s out now on Android devices like NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1.
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10 best Android apps released in 2015!
We’re nearing the end of 2015 and it’s time to take a long, hard look at the Android apps that made the biggest impact this year. It was a big year with large projects leaving beta and gigantic holes in the Android apps ecosystem that have been filled. These selections were not made lightly, and the majority of these apps have already become mainstays on tons of devices all around the world. Without further delay, let’s look at the best Android apps released in all of 2015!
A ton of Adobe apps
[Price: Free]
Adobe long ago promised that they would take Android a lot more seriously and they definitely proved it in 2015. They released a ton of apps, including Lightroom Mobile, Capture CC, Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Mix, Shape CC, Brush CC, and Color CC. These apps all have a range of functionality from photo editing, advanced photo editing, illustration, design, and other creation tools. You’d be hard pressed to find a better suite of tools for designers, photographers, and other creative types and they’re all free to use.
Get it now on Google Play!
Apple Music
[Price: Free app, $9.99/month]
Apple Music may not be what Android fans want to see on this list, but it actually is a decent little service. It boasts 30 million songs, radio stations, live radio, and a bunch of content. It competes head-to-head with the likes of Spotify and Google Play Music in terms of content available, although individual features may be more tempting based on personal taste. The app itself still needs work, but we assume Apple will eventually take care of that.
Get it now on Google Play!
Cortana
[Price: Free with subscription options]
After a long wait, Cortana landed on Android in early December. Microsoft’s cross-platform virtual assistant now gives Android users a second big choice aside from Google Now that can do things like put things on your schedule, text and call people, and even tell jokes. It’s a long way away from being complete and it’s been well documented that the app has some problems right now, but it is totally free and it’s almost certainly going to greatly improve over the course of the next year.
Get it now on Google Play!
Khan Academy
[Price: Free]
Khan Academy is an online learning resource that can help either teach you things or help you brush up on things you haven’t studied in a while. There are a variety of subjects you can check out, including math, science, economics, history, and plenty of others. In the application, you can watch videos about various subjects and bookmark your favorite content. Of course, the phone and the site sync so you can almost always start again where you left off. Learning is a lifelong endeavor and this is a decent app to help you keep going.
Get it now on Google Play!
Kodi
[Price: Free]
Kodi is a media center application that was once known as XBMC. Of course, legal things happened that caused a name change, but Kodi is still the epic and powerful media center app that it always was before. The official version was released to Google Play this year and includes a full interface where you can browse your TV shows, movies, music, and more. There is also third party plugin support, it is entirely open source, and completely free to use. Like the developers, we don’t recommend using it on smaller screens.
Get it now on Google Play!
See also: The best new Android apps from the last month!
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint
[Price: Free]
Microsoft’s iconic Office suite took its sweet time making it to Android but it was worth the wait. All the way back in January, we saw the apps released for tablets, with phone releases coming some months later. Each application is entirely free to use for the most part and they’re all extremely solid and functional. You can get additional functionality if you use an Office 365 subscription, but either way, this is a seriously powerful Office suite and we’re happy to have it on Android, finally. To download, click the name of each app above or click the button below to browse all of Microsoft’s apps!
Get it now on Google Play!
Periscope
[Price: Free]
Periscope is one of the most unique applications to come out this year. It allows pretty much anyone to live stream what they’re doing through their phone camera and pretty much anyone can watch the streams. It’s been a favorite of bloggers, web stars, and even one dude who Periscoped himself brushing his teeth. The name of the app has already become a verb and that’s how you know you’ve done something special in the software space!
Get it now on Google Play!
Sling TV
[Price: Free app, $19.99+ per month]
Sling TV made some serious waves when it was released earlier this year. It is not the first service to offer live streaming TV, but it is among the first and among the largest to offer it without an existing cable subscription. You can get about two dozen channels with a basic subscription with add ons for things like sports and kids channels at an additional cost. The app needs some work, but the premise is amazing and we hope they expand on it in 2016.
Get it now on Google Play!
YouTube Music, YouTube Gaming, and YouTube Kids
[Price: Free, $9.99/month]
Google spent a great deal of time expanding YouTube this last year. They introduced YouTube Red, a subscription service that removes advertising and gives you additional features. They also released YouTube Kids, YouTube Gaming, and YouTube Music. These specialized versions of YouTube take away the general bric-a-brac and gives you a leaner collection of stuff you actually want. They’re all free, but can be enhanced with a subscription, and each comes with their own set of nifty features. Click the app names above to download each one or click the button below to see all of Google’s apps.
Get it now on Google Play!
Best Android App of 2015: Google Photos
[Price: Free]
Our pick for the best Android app released in 2015 is Google Photos. This application changed the game when it came to online photo storage, sharing, and backup. It provides free, unlimited photo and video storage as long as you don’t mind them reducing the quality a little bit. There are also a variety of sorting features, editing features, sharing features, and labeling features that make this a truly powerful application that literally everyone can appreciate.
Get it now on Google Play!
Related best app lists:
If we missed any great Android apps released in the year 2015, we want to hear about them in the comments! To see our complete list of best app lists, click here.
Deal Alert: Samsung Galaxy S6 for $400 from eBay
Looking to treat yourself to a swanky new gadget before the year is out? Well, check out this offer on the Samsung Galaxy S6, which can be yours for just $399.99 through eBay.
The model on offer is the SM-G920TZKAXAR, unlocked and with 32GB of internal memory. The phone is only available in Black Sapphire, but that’s pretty good look. This is the standard unlocked model that retails in the US, but you can double check compatibility with your carrier’s 4G LTE bands below.
- 3G: B1(2100), B2(1900), B4(AWS), B5(850);
- 4G LTE: B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4 (AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B12(700), B17(700), B20(800)
Although lots of flagship smartphones have hit the market this year, the Samsung Galaxy S6 remains one of the best. The phone features a 5.1-inch QHD AMOLED display, cutting edge Exynos 7420 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 16 megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel front facing camera. The phone also ships with built-in wireless charging and now works with Samsung Pay in the US.
Galaxy S6 versus:
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The same Galaxy S6 model costs $600 directly through Samsung’s online store, so it’s quite the steal at $400. Stock is limited, so I will leave you to your shopping.
Samsung launches a Marshmallow beta program for the Galaxy S6 in Korea
Samsung is offering Galaxy S6 users in South Korea the chance to beta test Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
More Android manufacturers are using beta programs to test and improve their software updates. Google itself has offered developer preview releases since Lollipop, and it’s safe to say that new previews of Android updates will be published every summer going forward. Sony recently extended its Marshmallow Concept program and even Huawei’s up and coming Honor brand will open a Marshmallow beta program in the close future.
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Now Samsung, the biggest smartphone maker in the world, is announcing its own beta Marshmallow update program, though at least for now, it’s very limited in scale. Specifically, only users of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge on Korea Telecom and LG U+ are invited to participate, and there is no indication that similar beta programs will be offered in other markets.
To sign up for the Marshmallow preview, users can download the Galaxy Care app from the Play Store or from Samsung’s Galaxy store. Users will receive an OTA notification for the update within 24 hours of signing up.
Like any beta, the goal of the program is to gather useful feedback from a small number of users, before Samsung pushes updates to its tens of millions of users. Given Samsung’s checkered past when it comes to software, this is a highly welcomed initiative. Hopefully, it’s also a sign of better things to come – it’s high time Android OEMs started treating updates as more than afterthoughts.
On a related note, a recent rumor claims that, come the Galaxy S7, Samsung will be paying more attention than ever to the optimization of its software and apps.
See also: Samsung Galaxy S7 rumor roundup: release date, price, specs, features
Samsung’s Marshmallow beta program will be open through January 18. That means we shouldn’t expect the official OTA for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge before that date. For a high-level view of the updates across manufacturers, check out our Marshmallow updates roundup.
AIVAnet 