T-Mobile will give Verizon customers a year of Hulu to switch
T-Mobile announced a new phase of its Un-carrier Unwrapped holiday promotion on Thursday. The company already offered Sprint customers $200 to change carriers and tempted AT&T subscribers with a steeply discounted 128GB iPhone 6s. Now, Verizon customers who switch to T-Mobile’s Simple Choice postpaid plan will receive a year-long Hulu subscription (with limited commercials, valued at $100). Additionally, switchers will receive up to a 50 percent discount on all in-store accessories. The promotion runs until Sunday, December 13th. You can find full details, rules and restrictions over at T-Mobile.
Source: T-Mobile
SwiftKey launches assistive app for users with special needs
SwiftKey released a new app on Thursday designed to give users with learning disabilities (those living with autism, for example) a non-verbal means of communication with friends and family. The app, called Symbols, allows these users to construct sentences using a series of images rather than words. It’s driven by the same prediction engine that powers SwiftKey’s popular keyboard app. What’s more, Symbols also takes time and date into account when recommending specific symbols to further simplify routine communications. Plus, the app can be heavily customized to suit the user’s specific needs including the addition of custom images and categories, speech-to-text and audio playback.
“The communication opportunities that this app will provide are amazing,” said Charlotte Parkhouse, a Speech & Language Therapist at the UK’s Riverside School, which helped develop the program. “The flexible use of symbols will allow pupils with severe communication difficulties to express themselves in meaningful ways and the predictive symbol function means that it can be truly personalised. Brilliant!”
Symbols is currently available for Android devices at Google Play.
Source: SwiftKey
Google Photos’ new albums make it easier to share memories
When the time comes to collect photos from your weekend camping trip, Google Photos now has a way to do so with ease. With the image repository’s new shared albums, all you have to do is share a link with the folks you’d like to contribute. If this sounds familiar, Google first detailed the updated sharing at its Nexus event back in September. You and your fellow collaborators can also receive notifications when new photos or video are added to the library. Of course, Google Photos offers unlimited storage, so you won’t have to worry about eating up your allotted space.
You can also download files added by others to your personal Google Photos collection, should the need arise. You know, if you’re concerned a member of the crew may try to get rid of some embarrassing memories. The new shared albums work a lot like sharing photo and gallery links have since the service split off from Google+, only now you can let folks add photos to the albums, too. If you’re looking to give it a go, shared albums are rolling out today across Android, iOS and the web.
Source: Google Blog
The Apple TV already has over 2,600 apps
It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that the new Apple TV is already home to over 2,600 apps. The company that helped launch the entire app-centric industry might have been a bit late to the streaming-media box app store, but according to data collected by appFigures, tvOS is well on its way to becoming another popular platform for developers to build upon.
According to the data, the number one type of app available for the Apple TV are games. It’s not surprising that 38 percent of the store is hoping to make the device a gaming console. But, users have other plans.
The top 10 apps are all from major streaming companies, Netflix, Hulu etc. In fact, 28 of the top 50 apps are entertainment with only eight games games breaking into that list. Of course it’s easier to build a game than to become a major content provider. So expect more games for the box in the foreseeable future.
Source: appFigures
Here’s the Cygnus spacecraft launching in glorious 4K
Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft, laden with more than 7,000 pounds of supplies destined for the International Space Station, finally got off the ground earlier this week and NASA was there to capture the successful launch in 4K ultra high definition. The space agency utilized an array of six UHD cameras positioned around Cape Canaveral AFS to document the event and has posted the footage to its newest YouTube channel, NASA TV UHD. This launch marks the first flight of the Cygnus spacecraft since a disastrous attempt in October, 2014 which saw the Antares rocket carrying it explode shortly after takeoff.
Via: NASA (Twitter)
Source: NASA TV UHD
MacRumors Gift Guide by Joe: 64GB iPhone 6s on T-Mobile, V-MODA Crossfade Wireless Headphones and More
Earlier this week, my coworker Juli Clover kickstarted our MacRumors Gift Guides with a list of items that she owns and loves, would love to receive or would love to gift to someone. Today, she passes the reins onto me.
Our second gift guide this week is written by myself, Joe Rossignol, and is based on gifting an iPhone 6s on T-Mobile, including some of my personal favorite headphones and accessories that can be bundled with the smartphone.
SIM-Free 64GB iPhone 6s – $749 or Financed:
iPhone 6s is Apple’s newest smartphone, featuring a faster A9 chip with 2GB of RAM, 3D Touch and Live Photos. Apple continues to offer a base model with 16GB storage, but upgrading to 64GB is highly recommended for iPhone users with a higher number of apps, photos and music. iCloud storage is also available.
Apple sells the 64GB iPhone 6s in Gold, Rose Gold, Silver or Space Gray for $749, while T-Mobile’s newer JUMP! On Demand financing program breaks down the cost of the smartphone into 24 equal monthly payments of $27.09 with $99.99 due upfront. A credit check and qualifying service are required.
Also read more about Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program.
T-Mobile 6GB Simple Choice Plan – $65/Month:
T-Mobile is progressively becoming a more attractive U.S. carrier for iPhone users on a budget. Under the leadership of CEO John Legere, the carrier has replaced contracts and subsidizing pricing with attractive price points and features that are highly competitive with larger rivals AT&T and Verizon.
One of the most valuable plans offered by U.S. carriers is T-Mobile’s 6GB Simple Choice postpaid or prepaid plan, which for $65 per month includes unlimited talk, text messaging and up to 6GB of 4G LTE data nationwide, in addition to complimentary features such as Binge On, Data Stash, Mobile Without Borders and Music Freedom.
- Mobile Without Borders: Unlimited talk and text messaging to and from the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, and free 4G LTE roaming in select markets
- Simple Global: Unlimited low-speed data and texting at no extra cost, and flat-rate calls for 20 cents per minute, in 145 other countries outside of the U.S.
- Data Stash: At the end of the month, your unused 4G LTE data, up to 20GB total, rolls forward into your Data Stash to be used any time within 12 months. If you use 3GB of your 6GB 4G LTE data in January, for example, you could use up to 9GB of 4G LTE data in February. T-Mobile is also offering 10GB of 4G LTE data for free until December 31, 2015 as a one-time promotion for new customers.
- Music Freedom: T-Mobile offers unlimited streaming music from a number of top services, including Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, SiriusXM and more. The data used by these apps does not count against your monthly allotment.
- Binge On: T-Mobile offers unlimited 480p video streaming from a number of top services, including Netflix, HBO Now, HBO Go, Hulu, WatchESPN, Showtime, Starz Play, Encore Play, Vevo, MLB.tv, NBC Sports, Movieplex Play, Vessel, Sling TV, Sling Box, T-Mobile TV, Go90, DirecTV, Univision Sports, Crackle, FOX Sports, FOX Sports Go, Vudu, and Ustream.
For most iPhone users, 6GB of 4G LTE data per month should be a reasonable amount, especially when considering the dozens of music and video streaming services that T-Mobile does not count against your data allotment. T-Mobile’s network is still inferior to AT&T and Verizon in some areas, however, so be sure to check their coverage map.
V-MODA Crossfade Wireless Headphones – $300
Apple’s EarPods included in the box with the iPhone 6s are likely good enough for the average iPhone user, but heavy music listeners or audiophiles may prefer to invest in a more premium pair of headphones. Nearly five years ago, I did so myself by purchasing a pair of V-MODA Crossfade LP headphones.
V-MODA continues to sell a lineup of premium headphones today, including new Crossfade Wireless headphones for $300 [Amazon]. The on-ear headphones deliver up to 12 hours of award-winning sound over Bluetooth per charge, or you can use the USB port or 3.5mm headphone jack for wired analog listening with zero latency.
Related Rumor: Apple May Replace 3.5mm Headphone Jack on iPhone 7 With All-in-One Lightning Connector
V-MODA’s Crossfade Wireless headphones use high-end Crossfade M100 drivers and are designed with an ergonomic steel flex headband, patented 50mm dual diaphragms, interchangeable soft memory cushions, custom 3D printed shields with laser engraving and other premium materials.
Bluelounge Backpack – From $149
Bluelounge’s Backpack is another product that I have owned for several years, it having accompanied me on multiple trips to New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco and other destinations. The roll-top backpack is modern, eco-friendly and versatile, featuring solid aluminum carabiners and neoprene compartments that can hold smartphones, tablets and other day-to-day items.
Bluelounge’s Backpack is also waterproof and transitional in size, making it a perfect gift idea for the college student or outdoorsman among your family or friends. The backpack, made from 100% PET recycled materials and solid aluminum, is available in small for $149 (black or green) or in large for $159 (black or gray).
Anker Ultra Slim Extended Battery Case – $39.99
Apple introduced its new Smart Battery Case earlier this week for $99, which is two-and-a-half times more expensive than Anker’s Ultra Slim Extended Battery Case for iPhone 6s on sale for $39.99 [Amazon]. Anker’s case also delivers an extra 2,850 mAh battery capacity, providing up to 120% extra battery life per charge, compared to Apple’s 1,877 mAh battery case.
Anker’s Ultra Slim Battery Case may be slightly harder to put on your iPhone, and does not display the case’s battery level on the Lock screen or in Notification Center, but its affordable price point is hard to ignore. Wirecutter calls it the best battery case for iPhone 6s.
We’re going to be sharing additional gift guides over the next week, so make sure to keep an eye out for them. If you have a favorite product, feel free to add it to our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide Master List, which is going to be turned into a gift guide culled from our forum members’ most loved items.
Discuss this article in our forums
tvOS App Store After One Month: 2,624 Apps in Total, Entertainment Apps Most Popular With Consumers
It’s been more than a month since tvOS and the tvOS App Store launched alongside the new fourth-generation Apple TV, marking a good time to take a look at the state of the tvOS App Store. AppFigures today published some figures on tvOS apps, giving us an overview of the new App Store’s progress since it launched.
There are a total of 2,624 apps available in the tvOS App Store, and AppFigures expects growth to hit 5,000 apps in January and 10,000 apps early in 2016, with an average of 447 apps being added to the tvOS App Store each week. At that growth rate, tvOS is closely mirroring the growth of the original iOS App Store. In July of 2008, the iOS App Store launched with 500 apps, and expanded to 9,676 apps four months later in November of 2008.
At six months, the iOS App Store was at 15,000 apps and 500 million downloads, so it will be interesting to see if the tvOS App Store keeps pace. As of now, its growth rate compared to the growth rate of the iOS App Store is promising — in a few years, the tvOS App Store could closely resemble the iOS App Store in terms of app availability.
Of course, Apple will need to entice developers to the platform for it to be as successful as the iOS App Store, and that could be an uphill battle. TouchArcade editor-in-chief Eli Hodapp recently spoke to multiple tvOS developers who have popular apps and games in the tvOS App Store, many of whom are earning $100 “on a good day” with revenue that’s been trailing off since the Apple TV launched.
The tvOS App Store may be growing steadily, but if Apple can’t encourage developers to create high-quality content for the platform, it could go the way of the Mac App Store instead of the iOS App Store. Aside from a handful of super popular apps, most Mac App Store apps aren’t bringing in a lot of money and some developers are even abandoning the platform because of the way Apple has handled it.
There are no ads available in tvOS apps, so developers must charge money up front or generate revenue through in-app purchases. A lot of people have come to expect content for free through the iOS App Store, which is problematic. According to AppFigures, 39 percent of apps on the tvOS App Store are paid apps. Most paid apps are priced at $0.99, and almost all paid apps are priced below $4.99.
When it comes to the composition of apps in the tvOS App Store, games are, unsurprisingly, the most popular category, making up 38 percent of all Apple TV apps. Of the 2,624 apps available, 1,002 of those are in the Games category. Entertainment, which includes apps like Netflix or Hulu, is the second most popular category, followed by Education and Lifestyle.
Though games are the most prolific apps in the tvOS App Store, based on the top 50 most downloaded apps, customers are more interested in the Entertainment category, downloading apps like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go. Games is the second most popular download category, followed by News.
AppFigures data was gathered from its Appbase app catalog, which contains more than four million apps from all major app stores, including Apple TV apps.
Discuss this article in our forums
Need for Speed: No Limits – Six Reasons to Tear Up Asphalt on SHIELD Tablet K1
Now available to download, Need for Speed: No Limits is a thrilling entry in EA’s longstanding arcade racing series that’s been visually overhauled for NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1. Here are six major reasons why it’s worth checking out on SHIELD.
It lets you be a little bad
No Limits opens with a street race featuring a stolen car and subsequent police chase. For the most part your character can be seen as the good guy, racing against rival crews who aren’t always the most noble creatures, but in the end seeing as you’re taking part in high speed illegal street races, weaving in and out of the traffic and winding up the police, it’s fair to say this game is darkly thrilling.
It’s free
No Limits is free. If you own a supported Android device like SHIELD Tablet K1 you can download it right now and get racing. While in-app purchases are available, the career mode is suitably well structured so that if you’re prepared to do a bit of grinding to build up your resources you can race, tune and mod your way through to victory free of charge.
The racing is insane
Considering you don’t have a gas pedal (all you need to do is steer) being a successful driver requires quite a bit of skill. The secret is your nitrous meter. Swipe up to use your nitrous and you’ll be pushed back in your seat as you accelerate. It soon wears off though and only builds back up gradually. That is, unless you draft off other racers, drift in the corners and get air with jumps. By driving skillfully and employing all these methods your nitro builds up more quickly and you can deploy it more often.
The SHIELD version is awesome
NVIDIA has worked closely with the game’s developers to ensure that the SHIELD Tablet K1 version is the definitive No Limits experience. With multi-layer road effects, unique particle system, shadow-mapping exclusive to K1 and cinematic camera effects, it’s a visually stunning experience on SHIELD Tablet K1.
It’s huge
Here are a few numbers for you. 900. That’s how many race events, overall, are crammed into the game. 38 is how many unique courses you get to race on. There are six classes each containing eight different event types such as Blockade in which you have to win your race despite a heavy police presence, or Delivery which turns everything on its head and forces you to get to the finish without getting a single scratch on your car. The variety is impressive.
The cars, the cars!
Here’s another number for you… 30. That’s how many licensed supercars are included from BMW M4s, through Toyotas, Porsches, right up to the big boys including Ferrari, Koenigsegg CCX, McLaren 650s and a Lamborghini Aventador. Through smart racing, accumulating cash and shopping on the black market you can upgrade the cars in a variety of ways, modding the engine, gearbox, ECU and so on to squeeze the maximum performance out of them. It’s a car aficionado’s dream come true.
You can download Need for Speed: No Limits from Google Play today for free.
T-Mobile giving Verizon customers 12 months of free Hulu for the holidays
T-Mobile is on a never-ending quest to court customers away from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, and that’s incredibly apparent when you take a look at all the holiday promotions the Un-carrier has launched so far this season. The carrier announced that it would give an extra $200 bill credit to Sprint customers who switch for a limited time, only a few days after giving the gift of unlimited data to all its Simple Choice postpaid customers. Then T-Mobile announced it would give AT&T customers up to 50% off some of the nicer accessories on T-Mobile’s website. Fast forward to today, and T-Mo is finally going after Verizon, the United States’ largest carrier.
As part of its Un-carrier Unwrapped promotion, T-Mobile has announced that it will give Verizon customers 12 full months of Hulu streaming when they switch to the Un-carrier, no trade-in required. This promotion is available from Friday, December 11th through Thursday, December 17th. After you sign up for one of T-Mobile’s postpaid Simple Choice plans, you’ll get a text message with a $100 Hulu subscription gift code, good for 12 months of Hulu’s Limited Commercials plan.
In addition, Verizon customers can also save up to 50% on many of the accessories on T-Mobile’s website. A full list of discounted products can be found here.
See also: 10 best video streaming apps for Android
This is certainly great news for Verizon customers who have been thinking about switching. Not only do you get a free year of Hulu, you can also stream all of your favorite Hulu shows for free without using up any mobile data thanks to T-Mo’s recently-announced Binge On feature. If you’re a Verizon customer and want to switch but feel like you’re stuck in a contract, don’t worry – Big Red customers can also take advantage of T-Mobile’s Carrier Freedom that will get them up to $650 per line to cover Verizon’s ETFs or balance owed on their smartphones.
Interested? Follow the source link below for all of the details.
Verizon sponsored data program reportedly will start in Q1 2016
Despite the fact that many Net Neutrality advocates speak against the practice, the idea of sponsored data seems to be gaining traction. For those that aren’t aware, sponsored data means an ISP or carrier lets its users go to a web-based service (or site) without affecting any data caps in place, with the service/site being the one who pays for the privilege. AT&T has testing out such a program for a while now, but it seems Verizon is getting ready to test out a sponsored data program as well.
See also: Best Verizon Android phones (December 2015)
The new program was confirmed to Re/Code by Verizon Executive VP Marni Walden, who said they would roll out such a program in a “larger commercial way” in the first quarter of 2016. At least initially, the program will be limited to just a small number of partners but Verizon will open the door to more sponsors next year sometime.
If you’re wondering how this differs from T-Mobile’s approach, T-Mobile lets users access certain music and video services without taking away from data, but T-Mobile foots the bill and isn’t profiting directly from this control. T-Mobile also says just about any music or video service can get in on the program if they contact T-Mobile and follow the steps necessary to enable it.
For Verizon customers looking for more data without having to pay for it, such a program could really make a difference. But should carriers have this much power over what services/sites its customers are utilizing? Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comments below.
AIVAnet 