Samsung may launch phone upgrade program
Samsung may be planning to launch a program that would allow customers to upgrade their device(s) every year.
Samsung, however, would not comment on the rumour, which was first reported by South Korea’s Electronic Times.
The Korean publication reported that sources said the program could begin when Samsung launches its new flagship phone, the Galaxy S7, in South Korea. The South Korean launch is expected to be some time around March.
Source: Electronic Times
Via: Reuters
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Lyft teams up with Waze, details using the Transport SDK for faster routes
Earlier today, Waze announced their new Transport SDK that will allow other services to integrate Waze’s crowd-sourced information into other applications. There were a few partners on-board at launch, one of which was Lyft, who stands to benefit greatly from having access to some of Waze’s best features. Lyft has spoken out and detailed some of the new features that users can expect to see in the near future.
Possibly the most efficient new feature to come out of this partnership will be Lyft’s ability to automatically update routes on the fly. This means a driver’s route can be adjusted based on many conditions that are pulled from Waze, and can even help to adjust a route to pick up an additional passenger. Lyft claims this should help to reduce wait times in the Lyft Line, speeding up how long it’ll take someone to be picked up and dropped off at their destination.
Waze is also replacing the default navigation system for Lyft, and the Waze app will have a quick button to jump right back into Lyft, mid-navigation. These new features are designed to make the experience simple and smooth, all while keeping driver ratings high thanks to Waze’s fantastic navigation.
This new partnership is sure to help out both Waze and Lyft, and will pretty likely be the first of many when it comes to crowd-sourcing your cab rides across town. Now we just have to wait and see how Uber responds.
source: Lyft
Come comment on this article: Lyft teams up with Waze, details using the Transport SDK for faster routes
‘Monument Valley’ is the latest game soundtrack going vinyl
Monument Valley was one of the most interesting, unique and beautiful games released in 2014 on any platform. Forget that fact that it’s “just” a mobile game — developer UsTwo build an extremely memorable experience, and the game’s music contributed heavily to that experience. If you want to immerse yourself in the game’s soundscape, the geeky art purveyors iam8bit have just the thing for you — the soundtrack for Monument Valley will go up for sale on vinyl tomorrow.
The $40 package gets you two LPs of music by Stafford Bawler, OBFUSC and GRIGORI; one of those records is entirely unreleased songs from the game’s expansions Forgotten Shores and Ida’s Dream. The other consists of music already released, but this marks the first time you can get any of these songs in a physical package.
As with other iam8bit releases, that package is almost worth the price of admission alone. The gatefold album artwork features some appropriately mesmerizing new designs on the inside along with an eight-page “story booklet.” The records themselves come in a stunning blue and slightly less striking cream. And, as a nod to the fact that most of us still listen to digital music, the package will come with a code to download the soundtrack on MP3.
This is hardly the first game soundtrack iam8bit has released on vinyl, and iam8bit is not the only company working on such releases lately. With vinyl sales continuing an unexpected resurgence, catering to fans who love excellent gaming music and other beloved genre works is a smart niche to go after. You can pre-order the Monument Valley soundtrack from iam8bit tomorrow; it’s expected to ship in Q2 of this year.
Source: iam8bit
Ford CEO goes full tech by joining IBM board
Ford CEO Mark Fields has been very vocal about his desire to move the automaker beyond just selling cars to folks. Instead he envisions it becoming a mobility company with pilot programs that offer car sharing and is researching autonomous vehicles. At CES, Fields told Engadget that “it is about developing relationships.” It looks like one of those relationships is blooming. IBM announced that Fields has been elected to its board of directors.
While IBM’s efforts into the future of transportation haven’t garnered the headlines of Google and Tesla, it has been researching how machine learning and big data will transform driving. In fact, Ford and IBM are already partnering on a platform to spot patterns in pieces of driving data.
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said, “We are pleased that Mark will be joining the IBM board of directors. Mark led the highly successful transformation of his company in a competitive industry where technology has driven innovation.” He continued, “he is leading Ford into a future where cars are not only vehicles, but increasingly becoming mobile technology platforms. His knowledge and insights in running a complex global business will make a significant contribution to IBM.”
Source: IBM
Platinum is making a ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ game
It’s been a bit since we had a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game and an even longer time since we had a good one. But that could soon change when Platinum Games unleashes TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan this summer on PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Yeah, that’s right: the rumors that swirled around last month are true. Over on the PlayStation Blog, Platinum’s Robert Cooper says that if you’ve played any of the studio’s previous action games that this shouldn’t have a lot of trouble getting comfortable in the solo and co-op campaign.
Oh, and he also reveals that Bebop and Rocksteady (heavily featured in the trailer below and in this summer’s TMNT: Out of the Shadows movie) will be among the Foot Clan you’ll fight.
The only thing I’m a little wary of is the character design. And that’s mostly because it makes me think of the Michael Bay-produced flicks, but Cooper says the cel-shaded amphibians actually take a lot of inspiration from comic book artist Mateus Santolouco’s designs for the Heroes in Halfshells. Platinum’s pedigree is incredibly solid, so there’s reason to be optimistic here. Let’s hope it won’t be rushed out the door to tie in to the Turtles’ next movie adventure this summer, though.
Source: PlayStation Blog
Pepper the robot is going to staff an entire phone store
Kicking off an event that showcases Softbank’s Pepper robot working in a business environment, the Japanese phone carrier says it’s going to test it out for itself, announcing a Pepper phone shop staffed entirely by its robots. According to the company, you’ll be able to sign up to a phone contract with the robot. (In fact, that’s apparently the robot on the left’s role; in the middle is the store manager and on the right is “time killer” Pepper.) That sounds both incredible and hugely suspicious, but I’ll have to wait until the end of March to check it out for myself.
According to the announcement above, the Pepper Phone Shop with be “littered” with Pepper robots to give directions, advice, guidance and small talk. The shop will be open for only a limited run, and will act as a grand experiment for Softbank. We’ll be reporting from today’s “Pepper World” event with more details on the working robot later this week.
Do features in third-party UI’s outweigh the latest from Android?
It’s pretty well understood that Android is fragmented. Phone manufacturers nearly always tweak the baseline Android OS beyond recognition in an effort to stand out in the crowd. Enthusiasts who swear by a pure Android experience (the way Google made it to be) shun the crime that manufacturers continue to commit over and over again.
LG V10 with UX 4.0+ user interface
But what I’m questioning today is if it’s worth sucking up the non-ideal UI’s out there for the sake of functionality? Many Android fans peg stock Android as the only answer, but I don’t think it’s that cut and dry. I’ve heard the saying many times in Google+ chatter, “Once you go Nexus, you’ll never go back”. Well…I’ve gone Nexus before, and I’m back without contempt.
This isn’t to say that Material Design isn’t a gorgeous UI. I recently expressed how much I’ve missed it on the Nexus 6. But the other side of that story is that I’ve always found pure Android to be a bit too simplistic. Therefore, while I’m standing on this side of the fence (for the time being), I’m gonna throw a few nuggets at stock Android users, of what valuable features you’re missing out on. Not just because it’s fun to tease, but because I feel like these are features that we all should have.
Dual Window
It’s crazy to me that Google hasn’t coded a dual-window kind of feature into Android yet (splitting the screen between two apps, to use them simultaneously). I mean, Google is a software giant for Pete’s sake, it shouldn’t be that hard for its developers to do.
This feature debuted all the way back on the original Galaxy Note (Samsung calls it “Multi-Window”). It was introduced as a feature to take advantage of the large screen. But now that all phones are large now, whoever is not including it these days is being negligent.
Fortunately, Google did express that the dual window capability is finally in the works, as a response to the backlash over the Pixel C not having it.
“We’re working hard on a range of enhancements for Android in this form-factor – there are many things, like multiwindow, that we’ve been spending a lot of time on – hopefully we can share more about this soon.“
Navigation Button Customization
This fact is another crazy one to me. Google was the one who introduced software navigation buttons into Android (back with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus), so it should have been the one to make it better. Instead, third-party UI’s have stepped up to the plate.
LG was the first manufacturer to let us alter the navigation button layout to our hearts desire, on the G2. Not only could we rearrange them, but we could add two more buttons and fill up that unused black space with something useful. What’s more, LG’s software allows you to hide the bottom black bar all together and utilize your entire screen for content.
Theming
If you use Android, chances are that you like customization to suit your own style. What I love about theme generators is that it’s quick and easy to overhaul Android’s baseline look with touches of flare that make you happy.
Theming in HTC’s Sense UI
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Unfortunately, Google has yet to implement a theming engine into stock Android. I feel like this has been a significant oversight, because Android should be showing off what it can do in a world dominated by iPhone users. And a theme is simple to set, even an iPhone user can do it 
Tap-to-Wake
Why oh why doesn’t Google include double tapping on the screen to wake it from standby? It just doesn’t make sense. Even when the capability is built into the device, Google still refuses to allow it to work out of the box. I really want to know what’s going on here.
Sure, the brand-spanking new Nexus Imprint fingerprint method makes tap-to-wake not as critical. But there are times when I want to quickly glance at my screen when it’s laying on a table.
Gestures
Many Android enthusiasts are familiar with gestures, but through third-party launchers, because stock Android doesn’t have any. Essentially, gestures allow the user to register common functions to different motions on the phone. For instance, setting the browser to launch when you a two-finger swipe in a particular direction, or toggling Recent Apps when you do a pinch motion with your fingers. Motorola’s twist your wrist gesture to launch the camera is another good example.
Motorola gestures
Additionally, some manufacturers have coded in a nifty gesture in the front camera software, to take the shot with a hand motion.
Camera Software
I don’t think that stock Android fans can refute that Google’s camera software leaves to be desired. You can’t do much more than HDR, panorama, lens blur, photo sphere, and burst shot.
Third-party UI’s typically include camera controls that reach for dedicated camera capabilities, such as white balance, ISO, focus distance, exposure compensation, and shutter speed controls. Many camera-savy folks also like being able to capture the RAW format of images.
LG’s Android camera software
My ultimate point is that I wish stock Android would evolve more quickly. There are super useful features that have been in third-party UI’s for a while now that Google has yet to implement. Material Design is by far my favorite UI, but I don’t miss out on other things, so I’m torn.
I know that this discussion will follow with “Stock Android can have those features if you root/unlock/flash”, but we shouldn’t have to. Most folks either don’t want to mess with their phone or the process goes over their head.
What are your thoughts? Chime in down below!
The post Do features in third-party UI’s outweigh the latest from Android? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Dating app Lulu’s controversial guy reviews are no more
When Lulu launched over two years ago, its approach to mobile dating raised more than a few eyebrows. Instead of connecting girls with eligible dudes nearby, the app let them share anonymous reviews of men they knew, complete with hashtags like “#LifeOfTheParty,” “#TallDarkAndHandsome” and “#PlaysDigeridoo.” Some loved it. Some were mortified. Still others wondered what the service could mean for the future of dating. The answer: apparently not much, because Lulu as we knew it is dead. A few days ago, the company quietly replaced its original app with a new version that cut out all of those juicy reviews in favor of a more generic — and very familiar — dating experience.
The updated software is live in both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, but its existing website still refers to the old, review-heavy version. It’s only when you go to new.onlulu.com that you get a sense of the company’s new mission. And more importantly, users are pretty pissed off too:
No wonder they’re miffed. Say what you will about the value of anonymous reviews; Old Lulu was a platform based more on information than action. You went there to see if that guy you just met was a creep, not to strike up a conversation or send emoji (though you could if you really felt like it). The new, neutered Lulu pegs itself as a “fresh way to meet new people,” letting users see others they’ve crossed paths with while traipsing around in the real world. One thing becomes obvious after even the briefest moment spent poking around in either the app or the new Lulu website, though: they’re both carbon copies of UK dating app/site Badoo. In fact, Lulu didn’t even take the time to scrub the Badoo logos off the images plastered on their “new” site:
Now, before anyone cries foul (or copyright infringement), know that Badoo has a white-label program that allows other companies to build services on top of its sizeable social network, and those companies seem to be able to just swap out logos if they feel like it. Lulu isn’t alone, either. Consider Blendr, the app often referred to as Grindr’s counterpart for straight people. Total Badoo clone. And remember Hot or Not, one of the best/worst ways to waste time in the early 2000s? It’s goddamn Badoo again! We’ve reached out to both Lulu and Badoo in hopes of clearing up the exact nature of their relationship, but neither responded yet (and we’re pretty sure it’s a white-label deal anyway).
At the very least, New Lulu/Badoo pays a little lip service to the idea of dating intelligence by showing off a ratio of how many times a person has been liked versus disliked. Still, the snarky, valuable and sometimes upsetting original has been replaced with a toothless impostor that mashes up features from rival services.
It’s not clear why Lulu took such a drastic leap, but we can hazard a few guesses. The one-sided nature of Old Lulu meant mostly women extracted value from the service; they’d get juicy tips on all the little things that did or didn’t make a guy dateable. Naturally, being a guy on the other end could be tricky, especially if you got tagged with a string of less-than-stellar reviews.
This experiential disconnect led to plenty of debates — often about how the app could transform the conventions of modern dating — that didn’t make the process of building a functional business any easier. The revamp equals the playing field in that both men and women can use the service, but man — if Lulu was looking for a competitive advantage, literally turning their product into a carbon copy of multiple others was not the way to do it.
Neil deGrasse-Tyson blesses a flat-earth rap diss
If you’ve ever gone deep enough down a Wikipedia or YouTube hole, you know something that many people don’t: there are a number of people in the world who believe the Earth is flat. Recently rapper B.o.B. (Airplanes Pt. II, Nothin’ on You) tweeted his theories in support of this — and also that there is a massive cloning conspiracy going on. His tweets drew enough attention to garner a response from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, leading to an inevitable pro-flat-earth diss track from B.o.B. Of course, that merited a response in kind, with Neil’s nephew (rapping under the name Tyson) dropping ‘Flat-to-Fact‘ this afternoon.
It’s reusing the naming and beat from Drake’s diss towards Meek Mill, although I don’t think the quality of the bars is high enough to inspire any videogame spinoffs. You can listen to both tracks here, and while the battle was kind of over before it started (since the Earth isn’t flat, which you can prove with a basic application of math and/or physics), it’s no surprise that SoundCloud thinks its the real winner.
Dear @bobatl, as an astrophysicist I don’t rap, but I know people who do. This one has my back: https://t.co/BbMi4tzHLz
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 26, 2016
A lot of people are turned off by the phrase “flat earth” … but there’s no way u can see all the evidence and not know… grow up
— B.o.B (@bobatl) January 25, 2016
[Image credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew]
Source: Tyson – ‘Flat-to-Fact’ (SoundCloud), B.o.B. – Flatline (SoundCloud)
Death Star map coming to ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ this fall
Get ready, Star Wars: Battlefront buffs — there’s a ton of downloadable content coming your way. For starters, following the release of the Battle of Jakku in December, DICE will add more DLC content to its game tomorrow, January 27th. This includes the ability for player’s to create private matches, support for new multiplayer modes in the Tatooine Survival map, and Battle of Hoth-themed character clothing for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. While that’s all fine and dandy, we know what you’re here for: the Death Star.
In a blog posted earlier today, developer DICE revealed that a Star Wars: Battlefront Death Star DLC is scheduled to launch fall 2016. Not many details were discussed beyond this, but at least now you’re aware that the title’s getting one of the most iconic locations from the Star Wars franchise. Separately, Star Wars: Battlefront Outer Rim and Bespin are also set to arrive in March and sometime in the summer, respectively.
Of course, DICE says these pack are going to be available for free to Season Pass holders when they launch, while other users can buy them as a standalone downloads for PS4, Xbox One and PC (Origin).
Source: EA
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