Google trolling Android devs a week ahead of April Fools’ Day

Google is damn near legendary when it comes to its April Fools’ day pranks — but it looks like it’s gotten an early start this year. Or, erm, 13 years from now. Logging into the Android Developer Console and heading on over to the reviews section finds the following, from Alex Scott on his “Nexus Space” device — aka the Nexus 16, with its 130GB of RAM, which is sure to benchmark more than 9,000:

Best app in Space! I love using AC News & Forums for Android™ in space, however, I wish it had better support for Space Design when in zero-g and will definitely give 6 planets when it does!

The review is only visible in the Dev Console — or via telescope, perhaps, as ol’ Spaceman Alex is cruising along at about 27,600 kph, some 400 kilometers in altitude.

No idea if this is just an early troll, or a premature troll — the “Learn More” link goes to a search for April Fools’ Day, so we’re leaning toward the latter — but in any event it’s a good one.

Update 10:45 a.m. EDT: And … it’s gone!

Thanks, Kingsley!

Todoist now lets you use natural language to create new tasks

The Todoist team has returned with yet another substantial Android app update. In this latest release, pushing Todoist up to version 9, we’re looking at a much more refined experience. Users of the platform will now be able to take full advantage of implemented support for external keyboards, like Bluetooth accessories or the Pixel C.

As well as that we have what the team calls “intelligent input,” which is a natural parsing system. What this will allow users to do is parse projects and task assignees using natural language, such as “Write an article to cover the Todoist 9 update #AwesomeApps +RichEdmonds.”

But that’s not all, here are some other improvements the team has implemented in version 9 of Todoist:

• Project sorting: sort your tasks in a certain project by name, date, priority or assignee with a single tap
• Pinch to add tasks anywhere inside a project
• Sub-tasks and sub-projects are now easier to handle by working directly with their parent task
• Gorgeous empty screens now show productivity stats like completed tasks for the day
• Sharable Todoist Zero screens will appear when users complete all tasks on their list
• Updated notification sync: notifications read on other platforms/devices will now be dismissed automatically from your Android device
• Faster sync: syncing is now up to four times faster so that users can spend less time waiting and enjoy an increased battery life
• Attachments: Todoist now makes necessary photo rotations on Android and syncs the proper horizontal/vertical orientation across all platforms
• Extended undo options for drag and drop, project sorting, and ‘move to history’
• Updated formatting options for tasks, projects and comments, including emoji shortcuts (:smile:, :scream:, :crying_cat_face:, etc.)

It’s quite the update and one we’re sure fans of the app will appreciate. You can download Todoist from the Play Store to try out these new features.

The best media streamers: What our editors are using

Cutting the cable cord is something many of us dream about, but it’s still a big ask. Today’s digital media streamers and the content services they provide access to bring us closer than ever, though, and there’s a bunch of great choice out there.

It also doesn’t necessarily matter which ecosystem you find yourself in as there’s a product out there for you. The big players like Google, Amazon, Apple and even Microsoft all have a presence on some kind of product that’ll sit in front of your TV. Not to mention it’s hard to think of something that doesn’t get Netflix in 2016.

So, if you’re on the hunt for a new something get your stream on, why not check out this little list. We’ve rounded up some of Mobile Nations’ finest to tell you about what they’re using, and why.

Phil Nickinson – Google Chromecast

There simply is no easier — or economical – way to stream music or movies (or apps, for that matter) if you’re using Android or iOS. Period. For $35 (there are sales all the time) you get a tiny disk that plugs into your TV or receiver — or into a spare speaker if you’re using Chromecast Audio.

And the brilliant move here is that Chromecast does the heavy lifting. Your phone, tablet or computer (Chromecast works with all three) initiates the stream, but doesn’t have to remain connected. So you don’t have the range issues of Bluetooth for music. And now that Google Play has pretty much caught up with everyone else in terms of content, there’s no reason not to use it if you’re on Android. That Google has included iOS is just icing on the cake.

And it’s simple to use. Once it’s hooked up it just lives there, then you look for the Chromecast icon in apps or in your browser. Pairing multiple speakers in Chromecast Audio isn’t quite as easy as using Sonos — but it’s so much lighter on the wallet. I use it. My wife uses it. My kids use it.

You should, too.

See at Google

Ara Wagoner – NVIDIA Shield TV

I thought the Chromecast was all I needed. I thought not having to hassle with remotes was heaven. I was wrong. I was so wrong. Because with Android TV I can browse so much better and waste so much more time. It’s truly a wonderful time to be a procrastinator.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the NVIDIA Shield Android TV is still expensive. If it hadn’t been a very generous friend’s Christmas present, I likely would never have talked myself into buying it. It’s expensive, but so worth it. I love using it — to the point that I have to push the remotes away in order to get my tasks done before I get sucked into another half a season of Good Eats.

And while the bundle with the free remote is excellent, I actually prefer using the controller to navigate the Leanback UI of Android TV. It’s much better at quick scrolling, and I like the heft in my hand, even if I don’t actually play any games on my Shield TV. Browsing on the Leanback UI is often easier than browsing on my phone, when I would struggle to find something to cast to my TV. And I still have the Chromecast ability built-in so that I don’t burn a Google Play Music authorization on the Shield TV.

See at Amazon

Russell Holly – Google Chromecast

I’ve always got my phone or tablet nearby, so my Chromecast and Chromecast Audio setups are a no-brainer for me. I have multiple Chromecast Audio unist setup as a group throughout the house, and a Chromecast or Google Cast-enabled Android TV box on every television.

The interface is what sells it for me. Every app I use supports Cast. When I have friends over, they can quickly add videos to a public queue and have some fun with it. Video quality is just about the same across all of the apps, and on the off chance that there’s enough people to play games it’s plenty easy to setup and enjoy.

It’s an experience that grows over time, and works with just about everything. It’s also dirt cheap, compared to the other streaming boxes. As ecosystems go, Chromecast has everything I need.

See at Google

Rene Ritchie – Apple TV

If you live in Canada, your options when it comes to streaming media are few and far between. Amazon isn’t here. Neither is Hulu or HBO Go, Showtime or many others. iTunes is. So is Netflix.

That’s why I’ve been using an Apple TV all day, every day, for the last few years. It does iTunes, which no other boxes can, and it does Netflix better than pretty much everything else. And it does AirPlay, which is awesome.

The new Apple TV has a few rough edges still — it was late in coming but still feels rushed — but even now it has almost everything I want in a streaming box. Well, except for Canadian broadcast apps, which the networks have failed to release.

There’s as good a content as a Canadian can get, and iOS games and apps to round it all out. Apple is also iterating quickly, so my investment feels like just that — an investment.

See at Apple

Adam Zeis – Amazon Fire TV

I was always just a cable TV guy. I never dove into Roku or Apple TV or anything like that, but then the Amazon Fire TV came along. I started out with the Fire TV Stick (which offers mostly all of the same features as the box) and quickly upgraded to the full-on Fire TV. It’s got the Stick beat in that there’s a bit more juice to it, it has more RAM, and it can be hardwired rather than run just over Wi-Fi — which means better streaming and less buffering.

I’ve been into the Amazon ecosystem for years, so buying into their streaming service was a no brainer. I have plenty of movies for myself as well as a slew of TV shows and movies for my kids. I love that I can quickly run through my watchlist and throw on a show for the kids without being at the mercy of whatever is on live TV. The Plex app on Fire TV works like a champ as well, so I can stream media that’s already on my server at home. Renting movies is a breeze too, and even family game night has been stepped up thanks to the Fire TV.

If you really want to geek out, you can go so far as to install Kodi (formerly XMBC) on the Fire TV Stick and Fire TV, giving you a whole new world of streaming possibilities — but we’ll save that for another post.

See at Amazon

Lory Gil – Apple TV

I am completely connected to the Apple ecosystem with a MacBook Pro, iMac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, and fourth-generation Apple TV. The Apple TV allows me to, not only watch movies, television shows, and music that I’ve rented or purchased from iTunes, but I can also stream content from Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and dozens of other channels.

I don’t have a cable subscription, so these media streaming apps are my main source of entertainment. On top of streaming content, I can also view pictures I’ve uploaded to iCloud and listen to podcasts. And, because my computers are all connected to Apple TV via iCloud, I can stream content directly from them without having to plug anything in or perform any additional steps.

See at Apple

Stephane Koenig – Mini PC

A mini-PC, like in my case, a Tronsmart Ara X5, because for around $120 you have a PC that can play most things in hardware and future things in software or hybrid mode. And it can stream from all major streaming services.

It can decode NATIVE content so does not require on-the-fly transcoding (which is usually rubbish). It runs Windows 10 so is mostly familiar. It can run Kodi, Media Player Home Cinema, has no porblem connecting to NAS’s or local large hard drives. It can also manage a small network easily and consumes about 2W when idle.

Richard Devine – Xbox One

The Xbox One isn’t technically a media streamer, I understand that, but it does combine my favorite video content services with the ability to play games and Blu Ray movies. I still love my Blu Ray collection and if a movie is released that I actually care about, I will still buy it this way.

With the Xbox One I can play games as well as access content from Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime. I rarely bother with digital purchases, though Microsoft’s store front is OK if there’s something I maybe want to rent rather than buy.

The Netflix and Prime apps on Xbox One are pretty good, I can control it with my phone or laptop if the controller is out of reach and it does pretty much everything I want. I do also have a Chromecast and an Amazon Fire TV in the house, but most of the time it’s the Xbox One that gets used.

See at Microsoft

That’s what we’re using, but what about you? If you’re fond of an alternative we didn’t feature be sure to share it with us in the comments below!

Infinite Arms mixes third-person action with real toys

Infinite Arms is a new title coming from Jumo, a game developer that includes veterans of games like Gears of War and toys like the Tamagotchi digital pets. Such a combination is fitting, because Infinite Arms is a toys-to-life game, much like Skylanders. You buy physical toys of the game’s characters, which can then be linked to your mobile device for use in the game itself.

From Polygon:

The combat-focused Infinite Arms, when it launches, will be free to play, Yano says. Like many free-to-play games, it will feature microtransactions — except the way that Jumo is approaching monetization is different than other notable mobile developers. Instead of offering players cosmetic options or more playtime at a cost, Jumo is selling them toys. Actual, articulated toys.

The toys themselves will connect to your device through Bluetooth, and players will be able to add new weapons to the physical toys which will then show up on the digital, in-game versions. Right now, Jumo is only revealing two of the figures, Skorpos and Ixion, though more are expected down the line. The figures will be available through Amazon, and the game will have links to purchase more toys and parts.

Infinite Arms is set to arrive on iOS and Android this summer.

Instagram adds a notification tab to its web interface

Instagram’s website has always felt like a bit of an afterthought. Sure, it works, with a feed and the ability to add likes and comments. But it’s never been as polished or as fully featured as the company’s mobile apps. Now, as TechCrunch notes, the web version is starting to catch up with the addition of an activity tab. Similar to the iOS and Android apps, this lists new followers, likes and users you might know through Facebook.

There is one key difference, however. Inside Instagram’s mobile apps, the activity tab is split into two sections: You and Following. The former is what’s shown on the web, however the latter — which lists what other users have been liking and following — is noticeably absent. It’s another reminder of the gap that exists between Instagram’s web and native apps. “Direct” messaging? Still not available on the web. Photo and video uploads? Still exclusive to the app on your phone or tablet.

Additions such as this one, however, are proof that Instagram hasn’t forgotten about its web interface completely. For serious photographers and social media managers, that’s a slither of hope to cling on to.

Source: TechCrunch

FBI leans on forensic software maker to crack terrorist iPhone

When the Department of Justice and FBI said they’d found another way to infiltrate San Bernardino terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone 5c without asking Apple to weaken its security, they raised a big question: just who was this “third party” they were talking about? We might have a good idea after today. Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth claims that the FBI is getting help from CelleBrite, an Israeli firm that specializes in phone-oriented forensic software, to extract data from Farook’s phone. If the company manages to crack the contents of the device, it won’t have any reason to pester Apple… about this particular iPhone, anyway.

None of the parties involved have commented on the report so far. We’re asking the FBI if it can confirm any of the details. However, there’s a real chance that CelleBrite might pull this off. Its forensics skills include physically extracting the memory of locked iOS devices and examining the contents, so it might save the FBI a lot of trouble.

So why the FBI didn’t turn to companies like CelleBrite before demanding that Apple write purposefully insecure software? There’s no official explanation, but some suspect that the FBI was pretending to be naive in order to set a precedent — if it could compel Apple to write software to get into one iPhone, it could routinely ask Apple to crack iPhones instead of turning to security experts. If so, the decision to ask CelleBrite for help may be an admission that this strategy wasn’t going to work.

Via: Reuters

Source: Ynetnews.com

Blendle brings its pay-per-story news hub to the US

If you’ve ever thought that it would be wiser to pay a few cents to read a paywalled article than shell out for an expensive subscription, you’re about to get your chance. Blendle is launching a US beta for its news aggregation service, which lets you pay to read individual stories from outlets like the Economist, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. Prices start at as little as 9 cents a pop, and you can even ask for an instant refund if you think you’ve been stiffed. At the moment, the only big catch is that you have to sign up for a waiting list to get in — you may be twiddling your thumbs for a while.

It’s hard to know whether or not Americans will bite. Many of the early partners are either free or have limited free access (such as Bloomberg and the New York Times), and those that usually insist on subscriptions (like the Wall Street Journal) tend to cater to a business crowd that subscribes as a matter of course. And let’s face it: many people are used to reading free, ad-subsidized stories. However, Blendle might help simply by putting the juicier pay-only articles within reach — you don’t have to settle for reading a tiny preview when you’re unwilling to make a full commitment to a magazine or newspaper.

Via: Politico

Source: Alexander Klopping (Medium), Blendle

ICYMI: UAVs of the sea, real-time FaceSwap and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: The Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins has created a UAV that can stay underwater for two months, before launching through water and air. A mouth-mapping system using an off-the-shelf web camera is able to swap out anyone’s lips onto the face of a famous person talking, and get pretty realistic results — this can’t end well. And Domino’s is unveiling a robot delivery system in Australia that will either make you hungry or angry, depending on how you feel about 15-year-olds having a first job.

Seiko created a Rube Goldberg machine with watch parts and it’s darling. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Todoist for Android lets you build tasks using natural language

Task management app Todoist may require a $29 annual subscription for you to get the most out of the app, but at least the frequent pace of upgrades and feature additions makes it feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. Today, Android users are getting some love with the launch of Todoist 9, an update that brings a handful of smart features as well as some design tweaks to make the app feel even more at home on Google’s mobile OS.

Perhaps the most clever trick that Todoist for Android now features is called Intelligent Input. Todoist already let you type using natural language to set to-do items and reminders (For example: typing “send in rent check on the 1st of every month at 10AM” would automatically add a recurring to-do item, complete with reminder). But Intelligent Input takes it a step farther, letting you add things directly to project or adding members to a to-do item just by typing. Adding a # symbol lets you put in whatever project you’d like to assign the item to, and typing + with another Todoist user’s name will add them to the task — perfect if you use the app along with family members or roommates to get things done.

The update also adds support for Bluetooth keyboards. We’re not sure why they didn’t work before, but if you use an Android tablet plus a keyboard to get work done — something that should become more commonplace with Android N’s new multitasking features — you’ll appreciate this change. Todoist has also improved syncing, with notifications read and dismissed on other platforms syncing back to the Android app. Syncing tasks in general is said to be four times faster with this update, something Todoist claims will help reduce the app’s drain on your phone’s battery.

Todoist made a few other UI tweaks which you can check out in the screenshots below; it’s nothing radical, but it does help make the app easier to navigate than before. Oh, and one last change is pretty radical: you can now include emoji when you’re naming a project. So if there’s a work project that you just don’t want to deal with, you can include the appropriate rage-filled face to go along side it. The new update rolls out today if you want to give it a shot.

Twitter is testing stickers you can add to photos

Twitter is struggling to attract new users, so it’s looking to other social networking apps for ideas. As Recode reports, the company is testing a new sticker feature similar to Facebook, allowing users to spruce up their photos with colorful, customizable additions. One such tester, @XBLFoxes, shared a screenshot with the new sticker option in the right-hand corner of Twitter’s photo editor. The idea being, of course, that it could encourage people to tweet more photos and, in response, receive more likes, retweets and replies from other users. All of which would help Twitter to grow.

Credit: Recode, @XBLFoxes

A curious aspect, according to Recode, is the option to “see how other users from around the world have edited the same photo.” Furthermore, Twitter will supposedly “suggest photos that you can edit and post to participate in trending conversations and breaking news.” That sort of description suggests the feature is built for doctoring other people’s photos, rather than your own. Such an approach makes sense for so-called “viral” news — those moments when Twitter explodes with reactionary comedy.

Stickers are still in a testing phase, so there’s no guarantee that they’ll ever roll-out to everyone. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting peek at what Twitter’s developers are working on, and an indication of how the company hopes to fight the rise of social apps like Snapchat.

Source: Recode