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24
Dec

Apple wins lawsuit claiming messages to Android were blocked


You certainly have reason to be upset at how Apple handled iMessages for users switching away from iOS, but it’s clear that not everyone has raised those gripes the right way. Judge Lucy Koh (from the Apple-versus-Samsung case) has dismissed a lawsuit arguing that Apple effectively wiretapped iMessage chats to prevent them from reaching Android users. There’s no mention of the reasons for dismissal in the court order. However, Apple had asked the judge to toss the case when it learned that two of the plaintiffs dumped their iPhones after the case began — they’d eliminated important evidence.

As it stands, the wiretapping connection was strained. The issue wasn’t that Apple was looking at and blocking iMessages, but rather that it didn’t have a way to deliver those texts when recipients ditched their iPhones without deactivating iMessage first. Think of it as moving without leaving a forwarding address — the post office can’t give you a letter if it still thinks you’re at your old place. This doesn’t excuse the headaches involved with ditching iOS, but it’s clear that this suit didn’t have much chance of success.

Source: Business Insider

24
Dec

Streaming The Beatles on music services is possible from Christmas Eve



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Over the last few months, a lot has been made about music streaming services and the fact that they are missing the libraries of quite a few popular artists, such as Adele and Taylor Swift. However, many music streaming aficionados will also know that streaming The Beatles has also been impossible on any service out there – until now. As of 12:01am on Christmas Eve (wherever you are in the world), all of The Beatles’ music will be available to stream on nine different services, including Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Rhapsody, Slacker, Tidal, Deezer, Microsoft Groove and Apple Music.

As part of the festivities, you’ll be able to stream thirteen remastered albums and four collections from the iconic band – we’re assuming that The Beatles’ music will be available to all users of the various services, whether you’re a paying subscriber or not. Hopefully now that one of the greatest bands of all time has joined the streaming revolution, Ms Adele and Ms Swift might consider to come down from their lonely mountain peaks – it’s Christmas after all.


What do you think about streaming The Beatles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: The Beatles via engadget

The post Streaming The Beatles on music services is possible from Christmas Eve appeared first on AndroidSPIN.

24
Dec

‘Rock Band 4’ and ‘Guitar Hero Live’ are basically board games


The puppies always get excited when I open the hall closet. As the heavy, wooden door slides open with a twist and a pop, my two tiny dogs run over, tails wagging, because opening that closet means one of three things: The pups are going for a walk, I need to sweep, or it’s time to play Rock Band 4. My boyfriend and I store the plastic guitars in that closet, and as I slide them out, brushing past jacket sleeves and cardboard boxes, even the puppies understand what’s going on. We’re having a party.

In my house, peripheral-heavy music games are more like board games than video games. I don’t play Rock Band 4 or Guitar Hero Live the same way I do League of Legends, Life is Strange or Fallout. I don’t regularly boot up Rock Band 4 and bang on the drums for a few hours by myself, largely because I don’t crave that experience when I’m alone. I enjoy playing music games exclusively with other people by my side, looking as ridiculous as I do.

2015 is the 10-year anniversary of Guitar Hero, the granddaddy of peripheral-based music games, and it signals the return of the genre after roughly four years of radio silence. When it released in October, Rock Band 4 earned the fourth-largest amount of money of any game on the market, according to the NPD. Guitar Hero Live, which launched two weeks later, came in sixth.

These stats aren’t bad for two franchises that fizzled out in spectacular fashion around 2011. After an avalanche of Guitar Hero and Rock Band iterations, spin-offs and tie-ins over the years, it seemed that peripheral-based music games had finally, truly died. Players were done with the rockstar genre. I certainly was, for a long while.

But now, I’m excited to break out a new music game the same way I’d happily throw Cards Against Humanity or The Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit on the table. I’m thrilled to play these games, but just as I’m never going to play CAH solitaire-style, I’m disinclined to play Rock Band 4 or Guitar Hero Live as solo acts.

And that’s just fine.

This is what the return of music games means to me. Most days, my Rock Band 4 instruments sit idly in the closet — except for the drum set, which migrates around the house, from a spot behind the couch, to an awkward corner of the bedroom, to the den, and eventually back to the living room. The drums don’t quite fit in that closet with the guitars, but one day we’ll clean out the boxes in there and the set will have a permanent spot… One day.

I love having Rock Band 4 close at hand, even if I don’t play it every day — and I’m not alone on this one. I conducted a highly unscientific Twitter poll on December 10th that asked, “If you bought Guitar Hero Live or Rock Band 4 at launch, are you still playing it? (Why / why not?).”

Some of the responses were familiar:

Other responses were surprising (to me, at least):

And at least one response was revelatory:

Music games are back, though that means different things to each player. To me, Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live are board games. Other players use them as a nightly escape into a rockstar fantasy, or as a way to keep in touch with friends (and fellow guild members).

Whether you store your guitars in the hall closet or permanently propped against the couch, at least one thing seems certain: Puppies love music games.

If you own Rock Band 4 or Guitar Hero Live, do you play it regularly?

24
Dec

Livestream alerts customers it may have been hacked


Nothing says yuletide cheer like a cup of egg nog, a roaring fire and reseting the password on a video streaming service. Livestream is alerting customers that an “unauthorized person may have accessed our customer account database.” If you have an account with the service, now is a good time to head over there and change your password even if you haven’t been emailed by the company.

The streaming service goes on to say that customer names, encrypted passwords, email addresses, phone numbers and birthdates might have been compromised during the breach. Even without an unencrypted password, it’s treasure trove of information for identity thieves.

So just a friendly reminder that you should never use the same password twice and use a fake birthday for all your online accounts especially Facebook.

Source: Livestream

23
Dec

YouTube Accuses T-Mobile of Downgrading All Video With Binge On Program


YouTube this morning provided a statement to The Wall Street Journal criticizing T-Mobile’s recently introduced Binge On program and accusing T-Mobile of throttling all video and not just the video of its Binge On partners.

Launched in November, Binge On is a T-Mobile video service that allows T-Mobile subscribers to watch video from content partners without it counting against customer data plans. The catch is that it uses a proprietary data compression algorithm to stream the video in 480p. While Binge On can be disabled, using the feature requires partner video to be watched in 480p, which T-Mobile calls “DVD quality.”

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T-Mobile has 24 partners for Binge On, including Netflix, HBO, Sling TV, and more, but YouTube has not signed up to participate. Despite the fact that YouTube is not partnering with T-Mobile, the company says its video streams are still being downgraded to 480p quality, a problem YouTube would like fixed.

YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., said T-Mobile is effectively throttling, or degrading, its traffic. “Reducing data charges can be good for users, but it doesn’t justify throttling all video services, especially without explicit user consent,” a YouTube spokesman said.

The Internet Association also backed up YouTube’s claim, stating that T-Mobile’s Binge On service “appears to involve the throttling of all video traffic, across all data plans, regardless of network congestion.”

T-Mobile did not address YouTube’s complaints when questioned by The Wall Street Journal, instead giving a blanket statement about Binge On. Customers love “free streaming video that never hits their data bucket” and “the quality of their video experience and the complete control they have.”

The United States Federal Communications Commission is looking into Binge On along with free data services from AT&T and Comcast. While there is no formal inquiry at this time, the FCC has asked the three companies to answer some questions about their free data practices. YouTube’s accusations could further spark the FCC’s interest, especially as some consumer advocates believe that programs like Binge On violate net neutrality rules.

Tags: T-Mobile, YouTube

Discuss this article in our forums

23
Dec

[Deal] Google Play’s year-end sale covers all sections of the store


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Closing out 2015 with great deals on games, movies, television shows, music, and books is none other than Google Play. Google’s digital storefront is selling over one hundred items at a discount for a limited time. With so many items attached to the sale, we’re sure you’ll find something worth spending a few dollars on.

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Come comment on this article: [Deal] Google Play’s year-end sale covers all sections of the store

23
Dec

Deal: keep all your passwords handy and secure for only $24.99 (lifetime subscription)


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Let’s face it – passwords are among the most annoying things in the internet. Every single site has its own standards, aside from the fact that it wouldn’t be the smartest thing to use the exact same password for all pages. How do we even keep track of all these security measures? I, for one, don’t. I just try to guess and end up resetting my pass codes all the time. Needless to say that’s not the best option.

One way to ease this struggle is to find a program with which you can save and access all your passwords, both conveniently and securely. But where do you find a good option that is also affordable? Lucky for you, the AA Deals Store is currently holding an offer for a lifetime subscription to Sticky Password Premium.

Instead of paying the $100 original value, you can walk out with a secure password management service for only $24.99 (a 75% discount). This will grant you access to their Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS apps. And if you choose to go cloud-based, these will all work together to keep your passwords handy from any device.

Security measures include biometric support and AES-256 encryption, which is the same standard used by governments and military organizations. But it is not only secure, Sticky Password is also very convenient. One can easily use it to fill out forms and automatically log into sites.

Interested? Just head over to the AA Deals Store and sign up for Sticky Password Premium. It is the deal of a lifetime (quite literally).

Buy the Sticky Password Premium lifetime subscription for $24.99

23
Dec

Tap My Katamari to bring snowballing fun to the small screen


I’m going to go ahead and undercut your excitement right out of the box. Yes, it’s true that Katamari Damacy is coming to mobile devices, but unfortunately, Tap My Katamari looks quite a bit different than the free-roaming wacky fun of previous Katamari games.

The original game in the series was released back in the dusty ancient days of the PlayStation 2. Quirky Japanese visuals and humor combined with a simple but bewildering game mechanic to create a sleeper hit that wooed audiences worldwide.


Android Apps WeeklySee also: 10 best Android games released in 2015!4

The basic idea behind the game is that you are a tiny “prince” who pushes around something that looks like a sticky Everlasting Gobstopper.  The goal is to roll over objects smaller than you, gradually increasing the mass of your ball-of-stuff and enabling you to collect larger and larger objects. You advance gradually from coins to cats to hot dog vendors to skyscrapers to continents in a process that is as strange as it is thoroughly satisfying. Some missions throw a twist into this (e.g. you may have to collect hot objects and avoid cold ones), but in general Katamari gameplay hinges on open world exploration.

Which is why Tap My Katamari’s first trailer is a little bit worrying. Granted, we only see about six seconds of simulated gameplay (the first half of the trailer is naturally devoted to the King of All Cosmos taking a shower), but if what we’re seeing is correct, Tap My Katamari looks like it has set aside the open world aspects in favor of side-scrolling action.

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Perhaps this is just a stylistic rendition of gameplay, but it’s a little bit disconcerting. After all, our mobile devices seem more than capable of handling the kind of sprawling 3D landscapes that are the franchise’s signature, and the simple two-joystick controls are a natural fit for touch screen adaptation.

It remains to be seen what exactly Tap My Katamari will look like. We look forward to learning more as we get closer toward that ambiguous “coming soon” release date.

What do you think of Katamari’s newest foray into mobile gaming? Does side-scrolling action kill it for you, or would you still tap that? Let us know in the comments!

Next: 10 best new Android games of November 2015

23
Dec

Telltale Games launches the fourth episode of Minecraft: Story Mode


Minecraft: Story Mode is one of the better titles Telltale Games has released thus far, which is why it made our list as one of the top ten games that launched on Android in 2015. If you’ve been following the story since day one, we have some good news for you. Telltale has just released Episode 4, entitled A Block and a Hard Place, which means there is only one episode left in the entire series.

Episode 4 ends the story of the Wither Storm, which has been one of the most exciting parts of the entire series. What exactly does it entail? Here’s the episode’s full description, straight from Telltale:

In Episode Four, with the fearsome Wither Storm more dangerous than ever, Jesse, Reuben, and the crew discover there is one thing that can destroy the command block at the heart of the monster – but they’ll need to brave the perils of the Farlands to find it. As uneasy allies and ailing friends threaten to tear the group apart, can they defeat the Wither Storm in their final battle? And what sacrifices must be made to succeed? Find out in Episode Four’s epic ‘Wither Storm Finale’ that will turn the page on one chapter, before adventures may begin anew…


best games like minecraft on androidSee also: 12 best games like Minecraft on Android13

The video game developer says Episode 5 will arrive sometime in early 2016, so be on the lookout for that to arrive. You can normally purchase the first episode from Google Play for $4.99, but right now, thanks to one of Google’s many holiday promotions, it can be yours for only $.10. Seriously, if you have yet to download this game, now is the time to do so. You’ll still need to pay $4.99 for each additional episode, but trust me, it’s definitely worth it.

Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 4 is out now on Android, iOS, PC/Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. If you’re interested, follow the Play Store link below for the download.

Download Minecraft: Story Mode from Google Play

Next: 10 best Android games released in 2015

23
Dec

Yahoo alerts victims of state-sponsored cyberattacks


Yahoo is the latest tech company pledging to warn users if it appears they’ve been targeted in state-sponsored cyberattacks, Chief Information Security Officer Bob Lord announced today. Google, Facebook and Twitter rolled out similar alert systems earlier this year. Yahoo doesn’t disclose how it determines if an attack is state-sponsored, but promises that it will only send alerts to users when it has “a high degree of confidence.”

Yahoo’s alerts include instructions for suspected cyberattack victims to secure their accounts, including establishing two-step verification, a strong and unique password, and checking mail-forwarding settings.

“It’s important to note that if you receive one of these notifications, it does not necessarily mean that your account has been compromised,” Lord writes. “Rather, we strongly suspect that you may have been a target of an attack, and want to encourage you to take steps to secure your online presence. In addition, these warnings to our users do not indicate that Yahoo’s internal systems have been compromised in any way.”

Facebook’s warning system tipped off the United States State Department to a cyberattack from Iran in November.

[Image credit: Flickr/Thomas Hawk]

Via: ZDNet

Source: Yahoo

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