Review: Actionproof’s Bozon Stand for Apple Watch is Quirky but Functional
Actionproof’s Bozon Apple Watch stand is unique in a sea of Apple Watch accessories because of its unusual, quirky shape. It looks more like a toy or a modern art piece than a traditional stand, but it ended up being easier to use and more functional than some of the other Apple Watch stands I’ve tested.
Made from a soft black silicone, the Bozon features a pliable black palm-sized sphere-shaped top attached to four legs for stability. Like most Apple Watch stands, you need to supply your own charging puck, which fits into the front of the Bozon. The interior of the Bozon is hollow, allowing it to store excess cord.
Setting up the Bozon with the Apple Watch charger was surprisingly simple, especially when it came to winding up excess cord. There are a lot of Apple Watch docks and stands out there that hide extra cord, but most do so in a more convoluted way. With the Bozon, it was simple, quick, and elegant.
The first step to installing the Apple Watch charger in the stand is to fit the charging puck into the front opening. It fits in at a downward angle, and there’s an extra slot that houses the portion of the cable that connects to charger. From there, the cord goes into the middle of the Bozon and out through the rear right leg, which has a removable cap.
Google makes it easier to keep up with the presidential candidates
It’s an election year here in the United States. In truth, the candidates started eating up news cycles well before 2016 started. Regardless, keeping up with each of their platforms and statements on important topics is tough. Plus, there’s the always confusing schedule of caucuses and primaries. So you can either have a live feed of all the cable news networks piped directly into your brain, or you can check out our election guide and Google’s updated search and Now card results for candidates.
Now when you search for a candidate, their take on top issues like guns, immigration, national security and taxes pops up. More information about their stance on the issues is just a click away. The topic information is either a direct statement from the candidate or gleaned from news interviews.
The search giant is also presenting real-time updates from primaries. Just search “primary results.”
Finally, to make sure you’re a active part of the democratic system, Google Now cards will remind you to get out there and vote.
Source: Google
The #2015bestnine Instagram meme was made to help launch a dating app
There’s a decent chance you saw — and might have gotten annoyed by — a slew of #2015bestnine photo collages mucking up your Instagram feed just before the new year. Well, it turns out 130,000 people using the #2015bestnine app were doing more than just making collages — they were signing up for a secretive new service that turned out to be a dating app called Nine.
While we wonder what those 130,000 people make of Nine’s true raison d’être, some were suspicious from the start.
I really wouldn’t use that “2015 best nine” Instagram site if I were you.Just remember you’re connecting some entirely random website to all the information in your account.
Posted by Richard Lawler on Tuesday, December 29, 2015
The three-image-by-three-image collages that people posted on Instagram turned out to be Nine’s profile pictures. Co-founder Yusuke Matsumura told BuzzFeed that the power of those grids is how they show off more of a person’s character and personality than the usual headshots we swipe left and right on. It’s a neat thought, and despite the fact that apps like Tinder already let people upload multiple photos, Nine might have a shot because of its focus. The service proudly identifies itself as a way to help people meet other “interesting Instagrammers”. Nine’s App Store listing is quick to confirm that you don’t just have to talk about photos, but dang — wouldn’t it be special to find someone who’s just as meticulous about picture selection and filter choice?
Source: BuzzFeed
Amazon inks deal with Mattel for American Girl TV specials
If your little one is a fan of Mattel’s American Girl dolls, you may want to consider a Prime membership. Or at least make sure yours doesn’t expire anytime soon. Amazon announced a deal today with the toy maker for production of four live-action specials based on the brand’s characters. What’s more, the online retailer has the option to produce “multiple seasons of episodic content,” too. This means that in addition to the popular dolls making an appearance in the specials, the dolls could star a new kids series on the way as well.
“American Girl resonates strongly with kids and parents alike through its message of self-confidence, adventure, exploration and learning,” said Amazon Studios’ head of kids programming Tara Sorensen. “Their research dives deep and adds rich layers to the IP that are unparalleled in this space which, in turn, will facilitate a truly enriched on-screen experience.”
When the first American Girls special debuts in the US, UK, Australia and Germany later this year, it’ll join Amazon’s portfolio of kids content on Prime. That library includes the likes of Just Add Magic and the Emmy-nominated live-action shows Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and Annedroids. Of course, getting the specials at no added cost with a Prime subscription is about the only American Girls extra parents won’t have to pay for.
Source: Amazon
Google Search updated with compatibility for 2016 US elections
Google has just started rolling out a fantastic little server-side update for its official Search application for Android. The purpose of this upgrade is to keep you on top of the latest 2016 US elections news by providing you with card-based information on the positions of each candidate, live tallies of the results and voting reminders for you own primary.
If you open up Google on your smartphone and search for a candidate, you will notice that the results page has had a complete overhaul. A brief rundown of the candidate, together with a summary of their policies and their stance on particular issues, are now present in a simple, easy on the eye Google Now-like card.
Searching for “primary results” will pull the most recent delegate count for each candidate in a tradtional bar chart. You can also turn on push-notifications to recieve alerts when a entrant wins a primary.
Pretty neat, huh?
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: Google Search updated with compatibility for 2016 US elections
Pay what you want to become a bona fide coding expert
Let’s face it, there’s a little bit of hacker in all of us. Android is one of the most open platforms in the world today, and the reason why we love it so much is your ability tweak and customize. When it comes to web hacking and development, that’s a bit different, but after going through today’s deal, you’ll be able to turn your very own website into something you can be proud of.
The Web Hacker Bundle is a set of seven courses comprised of over 70 hours of content designed to teach you how to “become a bona fide coder”. The tools that you need to become an expert are apart of this great deal, and although the 73 hours of content may seem daunting, it’s well worth it.
-
Learn Web Programming in Django & Python
- Study Python & Django w/ over 28 lectures & 6.5 hours of content
- Ease into programming by studying one of easier languages, Python
- Compliment your knowledge of Python w/ knowledge of the popular framework, Django
- Utilize your knowledge to build smart web apps quickly & easily
- Work on diverse practice projects like ecommerce sites, message boards, image gallery sites & a blogging app
-
Learn Bootstrap Development by Building 10 Projects
- Learn to build impressive mobile-ready websites w/ 74 lectures & 13.5 hours of content
- Understand the uses of Bootstrap Components
- Master the best practices for HTML, CSS & JavaScript development
- Use SASS & Bootstrap to learn about grid systems, list styling, and progress bar componenets
- Explore Nested grids, buttons groups, a gallery plugin & responsive queries
- Develop a landing page using LESS, a CSS preprocessor
- Implement an image carousel & more
-
Projects in JavaScript & JQuery
- Learn these essential, widely-used technologies w/ over 50 lectures & 9 hours of content
- Add JavaScript projects to your resume
- Look at the event handlers, variables, loops & arrays by building a JavaScript quiz
- Study image galleries, sliders, scrollers, etc. w/ jQuery
- Create a YouTube Data API & content accordion
- Connect to MySQL database via PHP
- Explore using Git & Github
- Utilize jQuery Mobile to make a mobile-based app
- Build a simple game
-
Projects in PHP & MySQL
- Build practical projects to round out your programming knowledge w/ over 88 lectures & 23 hours of content
- Study programming technologies such as PHP, MYSQL, JavaScript & JQuery
- Work on the projects in any order you want
- Utilize the royalty-free code on any future project
- Use the MySQL API w/ PHP to power a Shoutbox
- Create a MySQL/PHP-based quiz engine
- Make a WordPress plug-in & much more!
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
-
Learn Ruby on Rails by Building Projects
- Upgrade your Ruby on Rails skills w/ over 47 lectures & 13 hours of content
- Install Ruby on Rails & MySQL to build a simple web app
- Create a complete blog management system like WordPress while mastering Ruby technique
- Explore professional Ruby techniques while creating a Ruby image gallery
- Extend your code to make a shopping cart
- Learn to use Ruby code effectively in commercial projects
- Study best software development practices
-
Learn Docker from Scratch
- Watch over 22 lectures & 4 hours of content
- Master one of the fastest growing virtualization technologies on the market (used by many large-scale companies)
- Learn to easily get more apps running on the same hardware
- Seamlessly manage & deploy applications
- Understand the basics behind the container technology
- Install & set up Docker successfully
- Get comfortable w/ the Docker workflow
- Follow an in-depth training on Docker security
-
Learn Apache Cassandra from Scratch
- Dive into over 24 lectures & 4 hours of content
- Build your next application using Cassandra DB, the high-performing database management system
- Seamlessly install Cassandra to get started
- Understand CQL
- Use Cassandra in conjunction w/ NodeJS
- Learn NoSQL DB concepts while building a Twitter clone application
- Study tables & queries in Cassandra
The way this deal works is that you pay what you want for the first eight of courses. When purchasing the Web Hacker Bundle, if you beat the average price, you’ll get all seven courses unlocked. At the time of this writing, the average price is only $9.45, with a top price of $181.
You don’t need to pay $181 to get all seven courses. Just pay the ten dollars, and with the Web Hacker Bundle, you’ll have every tool you’ll need to become a cross-platform coding expert. If you need extra incentive, think about the fact that these courses would run you over $1000 if purchased separately. To get all seven courses and over 73 hours of course content for only $10 is insane. So head over and jump on this deal before it’s gone.
You can find this, and many other great tech bargains through our Deals page. Backed by StackCommerce, there are daily promos, giveaways, freebies, and much more!
AndroidGuys Deals: Pay What You Want: Web Hacker Bundle
The post Pay what you want to become a bona fide coding expert appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Campus 2 Taking Shape Rapidly as Completion Date Approaches
Apple’s “spaceship” second campus is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2016, and with 10 months to go, construction is progressing rapidly on both the main ring-shaped building and several auxiliary buildings, including the underground auditorium, the visitor’s center, and the Tantau addition, where research and development will take place.
Drone pilot Duncan Sinfield has shared a February campus update with MacRumors, giving us one of our closest looks yet at the ongoing construction and progress that’s been made since our last update in January. Starting last month, the window panels that make up the unique curved glass exterior began going up, and with additional panels added this month, there’s a clear look at what the completed building will look like.
With much of the exterior nearing completion, cranes are now lifting parts of the roof into place on the main building, and the roof for the underground auditorium will soon be attached. A solar array has also been affixed to one of the two parking structures.
When finished, Apple’s second campus will include the 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped main building, several parking structures, a 100,000 square foot fitness center, a 120,000 square foot auditorium, and a dedicated visitor’s center, all surrounded by lush green landscaping.
Construction on the campus is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2016.
Discuss this article in our forums
US Mobile announces that it’s the first American carrier to offer devices from Xiaomi and Meizu
Earlier today, US Mobile announced that it’s the first carrier in the United States to offer customers a choice of contract smartphones from Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi and Meizu. Subscribers will be able to choose either the Xiaomi Redmi 2, Mi 3, Mi 4i or Meizu M2 Note, with prices ranging between $120 and $220.
Here’s what Founder and CEO of US Mobile, Ahmed Khattak, had to say:
“U.S. consumers have traditionally had to compromise to afford incredible devices. Now, with the launch of our marketplace, we are thrilled to offer complete range of exceptional smartphones for low monthly payments and to give our customers access to exceptional phones otherwise not available in the U.S.”
All units being shipped to the United States have, of course, been optimized for the region’s LTE bands, meaning that customers will be able to take advantage of US Mobile’s affordable pay-monthly plans, which start at as little as $9 per month for 100 minutes, 100 texts and 100MB of 4G data.
Source: US Mobile
Come comment on this article: US Mobile announces that it’s the first American carrier to offer devices from Xiaomi and Meizu
Marshmallow update rolling out to the NVIDIA SHIELD tablet
Those of you with an NVIDIA SHIELD will be happy to hear it is receiving a Marshmallow update. Upgrade 4.0 contains some new improvements and some key features you will need to pay attention to regarding storage.
The new update will improve the NVIDIA SHIELD Camera app by overhauling the looks with Material Design and bringing real-time HD Image Effects. Other improvements are WiFi connectivity and overall better looking UI. However, the main new feature is called Adoptable Storage. With this new feature you will now be able to use a microSD card combined with your internal storage as if they were one.
However, be careful you don’t wipe all your data. Before you do the update make sure to backup all your data to a microSD card. After you do the update there are two ways of setting it up. Portable Storage, which does not delete any data off your SD card, or Internal Storage, which will wipe all your SD card data. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to accidentally do that, which is why backing up before is so important.
Also, there is a new update to the NVIDIA SHIELD K1, which includes many fixes and a few new features such as adding back controller touch pad functionality and support for Stylus Lasso Capture functionality.
Source: NVIDIA
Come comment on this article: Marshmallow update rolling out to the NVIDIA SHIELD tablet
US and Europe struggle to agree on data sharing
How tech companies share your data overseas is a thorny issue, and it doesn’t appear to be getting any easier. The US and European Union failed to reach a deal over data sharing before an end-of-January deadline, leaving important questions of privacy and legal responsibility up in the air. According to the New York Times, the two sides aren’t even close. The EU wants promises that data is protected against bulk US spying, for instance, but it’s not thrilled by a proposed US State Department “data ombudsman” who’d help Europeans concerned about American misuse of their info.
There’s still the chance of a deal before Europe takes matters into its own hands on February 3rd. However, it may be watered down — NYT sources hear the focus is on a “broad” agreement. Whether or not things come together, you won’t have many guarantees about your internet data for quite a while.
Source: New York Times
AIVAnet 