Meerkat pivots from livestreams to a video social network

Meerkat’s time in the media spotlight was short-lived. The livestreaming app was a hit at last year’s SXSW festival, but it quickly lost steam after Twitter blocked access to its social feed and launched Periscope, a direct streaming competitor. And once Facebook joined the party with its live videos, Meerkat simply couldn’t compete. Now the company is planning to shift away from individual livestreaming and towards a social network “where everyone is always live,” Recode reports.

It’s unclear how, exactly, Meerkat’s new strategy will work. But Recode notes that it sounds similar to traditional video conferencing apps like Skype and Google Hangouts. It’ll likely be more about chatting with your friends, rather than the entire world.

Meerkat’s big problem over the past year, according to its founder Ben Rubin, was that it simply couldn’t get users to stick around and continue streaming. That might also be an issue for Periscope and Facebook Live moving forward, but at least those services have the benefit of large social graphs of their very own.

Source: Recode

How to pair your Apple Watch with a new iPhone (when you no longer have your old iPhone) – CNET

This blog post should first serve as a public service announcement: Before you sell, erase, lose or otherwise divest yourself of your current iPhone and move to a new iPhone, Apple Watch wearers should unpair their Apple Watch from their old iPhone. Because if you don’t, the only way to pair it with your new is to reset your Apple Watch and erase everything in the process.

If your old iPhone is no longer in the picture, then you will need to return your Apple Watch to its original factory settings before you can pair it with your new iPhone. Here’s how:

On your Apple Watch, head to Settings > General > Reset. On the Reset screen, tap Erase All Content and Settings and then tap Continue to erase all media, data and settings.

After your Apple Watch resets, you will need to choose a language and then you can pair your Apple Watch with your new iPhone, either by using the camera or manually.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

After hopping through a number of setup screens, starting with agreeing to terms and conditions and choosing your wrist preference, you will be given the option to install any apps currently installed on your iPhone that are compatible with the Apple Watch.

So, even though you need to reset your iPhone, all is not lost since you can quickly sync a number of watch apps that you installed on your new iPhone.

And if you still have your old iPhone, here’s how unpair your Apple Watch: Open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap the My Watch tab and then tap Apple Watch at the top. Next, tap Unpair Apple Watch and tap again to confirm.

How to make an ice pack with common household items – CNET

Taylor Martin/CNET

It’s always a great idea to keep an ice pack in your freezer for bumps, bruises, aches and pains.

If you don’t have any on hand, however, you can easily make one out of things you probably already have, and it will only take about one minute to put together.

Learn how to make your own ice packs at home.

What you will need

The materials for a DIY ice gel pack are very common household items. You will need:

• Two zip-top bags per ice pack
• Isopropyl alcohol
• Water

If you don’t have isopropyl alcohol, you can use dish soap instead.

How to make your own ice pack

Begin by ensuring the zip-top bags you have are both strong and watertight. For this use, it’s probably best to stick to higher-quality zip bags instead of the cheapest ones you can find, solely for the durability. In my personal experience, the zip-top bags from IKEA work exceptionally well.

Add one cup of isopropyl alcohol to the zip-top bag. Next, add approximately three cups of water to the bag. To make the gel a bit more viscous, only use two cups of water.

Next, remove as much air as possible from the zip-top bag, close the seal and slip it inside the second zip-top bag. Once again, remove all the air from the bag and press the seal shut.

Taylor Martin/CNET

Place the bag inside the freezer for several hours. Since isopropyl alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water, when chilled, the solution will create a slushy mix that will easily wrap around limbs or conform to your body. Once it has warmed up, toss it back into the freezer.

Due to the fragile nature of zip-top bags, these ice packs won’t last forever. That said, they cost less than $1 each to make, so you can make several for less than the price of a store bought ice pack. Also, if it ever starts to leak, you know exactly what is getting on your clothes, skin or furniture — water and rubbing alcohol.

Rugged Alcatel Go Play goes on sale for $200 with free ruggedized case

The recently renamed Alcatel (no more “OneTouch”) has begun selling a Android-based rugged smartphone, the Alcatel Go Play, on its website. The price for the unlocked phone is $199.99 and from now until the end of March it will come with a free ruggedized case, with your choice of blue, red, green or black colors.

Here are the main features of the Alcatel Go Play:

• 5-inch HD (720p) Display
• Android 5.0
• 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM (expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD)
• 4G LTE support (B2/4/5/7/17)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8916 (1.5GHz Quad-Core)
• 2500mAh Battery (up to 8hrs of talk time)
• 8MP main camera + 5MP front camera
• GSM Unlocked
• IP67 Water and Dust Resistant

See at Alcatel

HTC plans to bundle and sell its Vive VR headset with optimized PCs

HTC has already started pre-orders for its HTC Vive virtual reality helmet for the price of $799 in the US. However, the company also plans to sell the Vive bundled with PCs that have been made to run the headset as well.

Buried in a chat with Fortune that mostly talks about a temporary glitch that caused some initial Vive online shoppers to think the headset was sold out (that glitch was quickly corrected), there’s this bit of news from Dan O’Brien, vice president of planning and product management for HTC Vive:

“We’ll have PC bundles with Vive-optimized PCs on our website soon and we’ll tell people they’ll have a great experience,” O’Brien promises. “But I don’t think PC bundles will be a major driver of sales.”

There’s no word on which PCs will be available to buy with the HTC Vive, nor is there any word on their cost. By the way, HTC did sell out of its initial shipment of the headset that are slated to ship in early April, but O’Brien says that current pre-orders will still ship out sometime in May.

More at HTCVive.com

Source: Fortune

Unlocked HTC One A9 officially won’t support Verizon’s network

If you bought an HTC One A9 hoping that the unlocked smartphone would gain support for Verizon’s network, there’s some bad news. HTC has confirmed that support is not coming after all.

According to an HTC statement sent to Droid Life:

HTC is committed to providing the best experience for all of our device owners. Following extensive testing, we are unable to support the Verizon network with the Unlocked HTC One A9. For individuals on the Verizon network that ordered the Unlocked HTC One A9 on HTC.com, we will refund his/her order and provide a 20% discount on any current HTC phone or future phones launching through Dec. 31, 2016. Individuals may contact HTC Care at 1-888-216-4736. We regret any inconvenience.

Source: Droid Life

HTC One A9

• Current OS version: Android 6.0
• Current security: Nov. 2015 (More info)
• HTC One A9 review
• HTC One A9 specs
• HTC One A9 photos
• Join our A9 forums

HTC.com

Learn the techniques to Go Pro with the Digital Photography and Photoshop Bundle

Spending an ungodly amount of money on a high-end camera may result in a sharper quality curve for amateur shooters, but it won’t make you a good photographer.

However, with an understanding of core photographic principles and techniques, you can get on your way to consistently snapping like a pro. The Pro Digital Photography & Photoshop Bundle offers those fundamentals and more, an in-depth course spanning 30 hours of content & 27 instructional units. For only a short time, you can start down the path to excellent photography for just £20.64 ($29) on Pocket-lint Deals.

Developed by pro photographers & accredited Photoshop teachers, your instruction is driven through an internationally recognized course that’s been accredited by the International Association of Online Training Standards. You’ll study light metering & ISO while building a comprehensive understanding of color temperature & white balance, pinpointing exposure and developing the skills to take great shots every time.

You’ll receive access to one-on-one online help & support, with 24/7 access to all lessons and instructional videos for life! Skip the lazy safety of your automatic settings once and for all, and take your photographic passion to the next level with this excellent training bundle. At 96 per cent off, unlocking your photographic potential has never been more affordable.

Google changes how it scrubs ‘right to be forgotten’ people

Google confirmed today that it is adjusting how it handles “right to be forgotten” requests from EU citizens. Since 2014, when EU’s Court of Justice established its “right to be forgotten” law, Google has been scrubbing information deemed “inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant or excessive and in the public interest” from its European servers. That means if someone in France makes a delisting request, Google will scrub that info from Google.fr, Google.uk and the rest — but not from its global Google.com.

However, starting next week, Google will delist people from all of its domains, including Google.com. But there’s a catch. Google will employ geolocation (ie the searcher’s IP address) to determine whether or not to display information that would have been otherwise scrubbed. That is, searching for a French person’s delisted information from America will return different (and additional) results than if you searched for the French person’s information from within France itself.

This policy is ludicrously stupid because VPN but you can’t fault Google for giving the EU court exactly what it asked for. They’re obeying the letter of the law, if not the spirit.

Source: Google Policy

The next Windows 10 update is all about Cortana

Cortana has learned three languages in the latest Windows 10 update, which is available today for Insider members in the program’s Fast ring. Cortana now supports Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil) and French (Canada) languages, each with its own specialized flair.

“Cortana is fond of pasteis which is a common food found in many regions across Brazil,” Microsoft’s blog post reads. “And in Mexico, we added local flavor to reflect the accent and language of the country.”

In today’s preview build, users can also set simple reminders with Cortana, including events that don’t have due dates. It’s possible to return to these reminders later to set specific parameters. In future updates, Cortana “will be able to retrieve these upon request, just like a real personal assistant would,” the Windows team promises.

Microsoft is also updating the Lock and logon screens — they’ll now have the same background (the one chosen for the Lock screen). The company is also working to streamline the transition between the Lock and logon screens.

The latest update squashes a few bugs, including a glitch where Cortana showed reminders for events that were already completed. Some PCs bluescreened after downloading certain drivers from Windows Update, but this build should take care of that problem. Additionally, all Windows Insiders will now receive Windows 10 firmware updates automatically as they become available.

Source: Windows

UEFA Champions League final will use goal-line technology

Goal-line technology is already being used in the Premier League to verify scoring, and it’s headed to two UEFA league finals, too. The upcoming Champions League and Europa League finals will both make use of the system to keep tabs on scoring. If you’ll recall, the tech was also used during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Back in January, UEFA announced that next year’s Champions League season and the 2016 Euro Cup would employ the goal-line technology. However, it looks like the European football association is looking to get a jump start on things with the two league finals in May.

If you’re unfamiliar, the system functions similar to what’s in place for tennis matches. Using a combination of cameras in the goal posts and electromagnetic antennas, the setup beams a signal to the referee’s watch the instant the entire ball crosses the goal line. After a blown call in the 2010 World Cup (among other errors), FIFA revisited the idea of using the technology before eventually giving the thumbs up ahead of the matches in 2014. Premier League began using the system during the 2013-2014 season.

Source: BBC