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This Batmobile concept is the best we’ve ever seen, please use it Batfleck

Batman is getting a lot of attention right now so this concept car is perfectly timed.

The Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice movie is out and doing well, despite critics. One of the best parts is Ben Affleck’s Batman, or Batfleck as he’s more affectionately known.

So good was his performance that he’s been commissioned to direct and star in the next Batman film. But what car will feature?

We already saw a new Batmobile in the latest versus movie and Pocket-lint even got to go for a drive in the beast. But every new film needs a new set of wheels, right?

That’s what Bulgarian designer Encho Enchev must think as he’s come up with a brilliant potential new Batmobile.

The concept Batmobile features giant wheels that stand taller than the car itself. These, with the black metal angular finish, makes it reminiscent of the Tumbler Batmobile from Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies.

But this concept also features canons sat towards the rear and a lighting system for revealing enemies ahead. From the front looking down on it the shape even looks sporty – a bit like Batman’s day-to-day car in recent films, a Lamborghini.

Here’s hoping Batfleck sees these new concepts and makes use of them when designing the new Batmobile for the next movie. For now enjoy all the gorgeous angles in the gallery above.

READ: Riding shotgun with Batman: We’ve driven in the Batmobile

Microsoft’s AI conjures up captions for your photos

Microsoft announced the latest addition to its growing list of fun tools that can analyze images a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve taken it for a quick spin. This particular AI called CaptionBot describes photos you upload or link in natural human language with the occasional emoji to represent human emotion. The results aren’t always accurate, of course, but the more photos you feed it, the more it learns. Just take note that it will keep any picture you upload.

According to DailyDot, CaptionBot is powered by Microsoft Cognitive Services, which gives developers the power to create apps that use machine-based intelligence. Cognitive Services gave rise to other image-based Microsoft tools that can guess your age, gauge how much you look like another person and tell you what breed you are if you were a dog. The Services’ Natural Language capability, on the other hand, powered its failed chatbot project Tay.

We’ve captured and compiled some of our attempts in the gallery above. Overall, it didn’t do too bad — and it certainly knows its corporate overlords.

Via: DailyDot

Source: CaptionBot

PayPal Credit comes to the UK with interest-free plans

PayPal wants to be the method that everyone naturally defers to when buying goods and services online. Instead of grabbing your debit or credit card, the company wants you to naturally hit the PayPal button whenever you reach the checkout. To incentivise this, it’s rolling out a service called PayPal Credit in the UK, which helps you make purchases even when you don’t have the funds in your bank account. You’ll need to apply for the privilege online, but if you pass the company’s credit check you can get zero percent interest on orders over £150 for the first four months.

That means PayPal won’t charge a premium if you can pay back the money you borrowed within four months. Anything left over after this period will, however, be subject to a typical interest rate of 17.9 percent p.a (variable). PayPal is basing that figure on an “assumed” credit limit of £1,200 — both could vary depending on your particular circumstance. Furthermore, The four-month window isn’t a one-time promotion, so you’ll be eligible for the scheme every time you order something that’s worth more than £150. The main caveat is that the site you’re ordering from has to support PayPal.

In addition, PayPal has partnered with the following retailers to offer alternative instalment plans: Blacks, Chain Reaction Cycles, Dyson, Millets, Samsung, Simply Games and Ultimate Outdoors. Dyson, for instance, will offer 14.9 percent interest over a six, 12 or 24 month period on orders over £199. Chain Reaction Cycles, meanwhile, will offer the same 14.9 percent rate and for purchases as low as £99, with either a 12 or 24 month plan.

Many companies, especially those making or selling luxury goods, already offer their own instalment plans. To be successful, PayPal will need to stay competitive with its own deals and interest rates, and continue to thrash out similar deals that can be picked up through its retailer partners. Amazon, for instance, has a similar scheme in the UK called Pay Monthly, however it’s only eligible for orders made through its own storefront.

PayPal Credit used to be called Bill Me Later and launched for select Brits in 2014. A nationwide launch has been a long time coming — why it’s taken so long isn’t clear, but PayPal insists it had a “successful pilot.” In the coming months, we’ll see if that success can be replicated on a larger scale.

Teen indicted for Periscoping her friend’s sexual assault

An Ohio woman used Periscope to livestream her friend’s rape. According to a report by local NBC affiliate KXAN, in February 18-year-old Marina Lonina and her 17-year-old friend were hanging out with 29-year-old Raymond Boyd Gates when after an indeterminate period of time, Gates allegedly began sexually assaulting the victim. From another state, one of Lonina’s friends watching the stream reported it to the proper authorities. A grand jury has recently indicted Lonina and Gates with charges for one count of kidnapping, two of rape, one of sexual battery and three counts of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor.

Lonina could also face additional charges of “illegal use of minor in nudity oriented material or performance” because she may have taken a nude photo of her friend the night prior, as well. Should the charges stick, Ohio prosecutor Ron O’Brien says that Lonina and Gates could each be looking at prison sentences upwards of 40 years each.

Via: The Daily Dot

Source: KXAN

Blink Wireless Camera System review: Watch over your home on your Android

I always love to see different ways in which our mobile devices can benefit us. Web-based products and services have taken off in tadum with mobile capabilities in various areas over the past few years. One those is home monitoring.

Historically, home monitoring has involved expensive equipment and wires, but that’s now changed. Everything is going wireless and more portable, and it’s costing less to do so. Immedia is one company that set to capitalize on this movement and provide a home monitoring that is compact and affordable, called Blink.

This system is supposed to make home monitoring easy peasy. Let’s see if Blink succeeds.

Design

When I opened the box, I was surprised how compact this camera system is. The square-shaped camera unit fits in the palm of your hand. There are clear, plastic bummers on the sides that round out the corners and I imagine provide some protection if the device was dropped. It also helps keep it stable when you stand it up.

Actually, the whole unit is constructed from a lightweight, hard plastic that feels somewhat cheap (i.e. hollow response when you tap on it). But considering that this is an indoor camera system that you aren’t gonna roughen up, and the focus on affordability, it makes sense.

The hardware features are pretty simple. On the front, you’ll find the lens, an infrared LED (for night capture), motion sensor (that white dome on the center), and a blue status LED. Turn it over and there’s a circular pad to mount the included stand and a microUSB port (for future software updates). The back pops off with a switch on the side for access to the battery compartment. In order to be wireless, the camera uses two AA batteries (included).

Included rotating stand and sticky pad.

The whole system is brought together by Blink’s required Sync Module. It’s slightly smaller than the camera unit and is also constructed from hard, white plastic. The module connects to your home’s WiFi, so LEDs on the top show the signal and power statuses. On the sides you’ll find an optional ethernet port, microUSB port (for power), and full USB port. Blink includes an AC adapter and microUSB-to-USB cable.

Performance

It’s fortunately simple to get up and running. The system is controlled via the Blink app, so you must install it first. Blink requires that you create an account with them, because the media is managed on Blink’s cloud servers. However, a future update will allow you to store the media on a flash drive (that’s why there’s a USB port on the Sync Module).

Main screen on the Blink app. Each camera is listed and you can jump to the feed.

The app will prompt you to plug in the Sync Module and connect it to your WiFi network. The last step is then to pair the camera module(s). The app asks for the camera’s unique serial number, and that’s it! You can always add more cameras and the app will manage them. Blink sells packages with different numbers of included cameras, or you can purchase them separately as an add-on in the future.

I’m glad that Blink made the system easy to use. As soon as the camera is in place, it is in low-power mode with the motion detector active. When movement occurs, the blue LED on the front turns on and the camera starts recording. Within a few seconds, the app shoots you a notification that something is happening. Tap it and you’ll be taken to the recording. Pretty neat. The camera’s battery is said to last a year, but of course, that depends on its activity.

The image quality is decent, but don’t expect smartphone-level performance. It definitely gets the job done, and I appreciate how the wide-angle lens (110 degrees) gets a lot in the shot. The capture resolution is 720p.

It’s great that the camera still works in the dark. Blink uses an LED illuminator and a proprietary lens to allow you to see what’s going on, despite a reduction in resolution (grainier image).

By default, the camera records in 5 second burst at a time, but that can be changed in the app’s settings. We’ll talk about the app’s interface and settings next.

Features

Blink’s app software is really user friendly. On the main screen, you’ll see the list of cameras you have linked (you assign a view to each when they are placed, so you can visually see which camera belongs to which area). You can jump into the live feed of any camera at any time or access the list of recordings. One nice thing is that you can share the clip via email or upload upload to your Drive account.

There’s not that much going via left-hand slide panel. Under Manage System you can check an activity log that lists what cameras were active and when.

Each camera has its own on/off switch and settings. You’re able to modify the camera’s response, like clip length (max is 10 seconds at a time) or the delay between recordings.

You’ll also see some information like the battery level, WiFi signal, and the camera can even report the ambient temperature. A future update promises alerts based on a change in temperature, as well as an auto aim/disarm ability (based on scheduling or your location) and an alert when the WiFi or battery goes out. It would’ve been nice if these features where in place at launch, as we never know when promises will come through.

Final Thoughts

I would say the Blink system accomplished its mission. It was very easy to set up and works as advertised. You will find more robust and better quality home monitoring equipment out there, but it will cost more time and money. That depends on the situation, but if you just need something that works and is no frills, then Blink is a great option.

The pricing depends on how many cameras you need. The base option, with one camera and sync module (required), is $99. It then goes all the way to $299 for five cameras. If you wish to tack on another camera in the future, it’s $60 for each.

Blink product page

Sharp’s adorable robot phone is a not-so-cute $1,800

The RoboHon is real, it’s going on sale, and (obviously) it’s going to Japan first. At a press launch at the company’s HQ in Tokyo, we finally got some important details, and it’s not all good news. Launching on May 26th in its homeland, the robot phone will cost 198,000 yen (plus tax!) which comes out at over $1,800. In the spectrum of expensive zeitgeist technology, that makes the Oculus Rift et al. seem like a bargain. (Then again, the Rift doesn’t do a cute little dance or talk to you in a kawaii robo-anime voice — but your opinion may differ.)

If you hadn’t heard of the RoboHon before, it’s all the basic smartphone functions reborn into a tiny robot body. It walks, it dances, and an embedded projector inside its head can display photos and video at a functional-enough 720p resolution. Sharp confirms that it does have LTE radios inside: this was a big question mark when the phone was first announced, and the company adds that it’s already working on NTT Docomo, Japan’s biggest phone carrier — although its plans to couple with smaller MVNO carriers at this point, rather than announce a launch with a big phone network. This could be crucial in deciding whether the phone sells in Japan: carriers will advertise with their own money — Sharp may have to do a lot of the heavy PR lifting itself.

“Do you think RoboHon will sell?” Sharp: “Of course, yes!”

The screen is the most questionable specification here: a two-inch QVGA screen — the company’s response here is that the phone is a robot that you talk to, reducing the need for screen interactions. Well, at least a little. To that aim, there’s three different voice recognition technologies working inside the bot, including offline voice recognition. Cloud voice recognition comes courtesy of Nuance, although even if the initial price doesn’t sting enough, there’s another gut punch: users will have to pay a monthly fee (starting from six bucks) for voice recognition functions.

Sharp says it’s already looking into bring RoboHon elsewhere in the world, but barring robot enthusiasts (and Engadget editors, it seems), it will have difficult time pitching such a pricey oddity — plus additional monthly pricing. (My favorite question during the press briefing: “Do you think RoboHon will sell?” Sharp: “Of course, yes!”)

Sharp is now looking to expand its unofficial mascot’s repertoire: it’s working on a companion fishing app and a simple taxi app that connects with the company’s national taxi network just by telling the robot to call a taxi. (It takes care of the communication and sending your location.) Other apps in development aim to help with recipes and discovering nearby restaurants, cafes and bars.

AMC Theaters is considering letting people text during movies

Just as AMC Theaters was starting to win customers back by replacing every old seat in its auditoriums with recliners, the company wants to destroy that good will among moviegoers. That’s because CEO Adam Aron thinks letting people use their phones during a movie would be a good idea. “When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off their phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear ‘please cut off your left arm above the elbow,’” Aron tells Variety. “You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.” Yes, he actually said that.

This could be seen as an extension of recreating a home-like experience at a theater, vis a vis said recliner seats. But the difference here is that if you’re using your phone while watching a flick at home, you’re only affecting yourself and maybe your significant other — not the 100 or more people who paid to get into the theater. Movie theaters and places of worship are a few of the remaining places where using a cellphone is verboten, and by pandering to this demographic’s horrible habit AMC is stripping away common courtesy and setting a gross precedent in the name of profits.

Aron says that certain sections where texting would be allowed is one possibility for this, while the more likely situation would be having specific auditoriums set up to be “more texting friendly.” If the chain is willing to kick out someone wearing Google Glass for fear of piracy, though, how is it going to differentiate someone texting from a person recording what’s on the screen with their phone?

Contrast this with The Alamo Drafthouse which will happily eject you from a showing if you’re talking or texting, or won’t even let you into the auditorium if you’re late. As you can imagine, Twitter is lighting up with people decrying this, and for good reason: It’s an absolutely stupid move that could drive away already loyal customers in an effort to chase those it isn’t reaching anyway.

“22-year-olds like to shoplift! What can we do??” — if the AMC CEO ran Macy’s

— Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) April 13, 2016

And that’s one way to keep me out of AMC theaters. Really hope they reconsider. https://t.co/DNthAggJIs

— Chris Pugh (@ChrisLikesDinos) April 13, 2016

No @CEOAdam, I don’t want to go to a theater where people can text. We already have that, it’s a living room. #amctheaters

— Rachel Stuhler (@RachelStuhler) April 13, 2016

Source: Variety

‘Save to Google’ Chrome extension compiles webpages for you

Google has a new alternative for all those save-and-read-it-later apps like Pocket: a Chrome extension called “Save to Google.” According to OMG! Chrome, the big G quietly released it as a feature that allowed users to stash away images you find online. This extension, however, expands the feature’s capabilities, allowing you to save even webpages to a central location. You can also tag everything you decide to set aside to make it easy to find things when you’re ready to peruse them. To use the feature, simply click the star icon the extension adds to your browser, tag away and look for them later on google.com/save.

Via: OMG! Chrome!

Source: Chrome Web Store

CBS Now Compatible With Apple TV’s Universal Search Feature

Apple today added CBS to its universal search lineup for the fourth-generation Apple TV, allowing fans of hit CBS shows like NCIS, Big Bang Theory and Supergirl to easily find their content via the Siri button on the Siri Remote. The move brings the total number of sources in universal search to 16.

Since launch, Apple has worked to expand the feature and add to the five original sources. In January, Apple added FOX NOW, FX NOW, National Geographic TV, PBS and PBS Kids. In February, the company added Watch ABC, Disney XD, Disney Channel and Disney Jr. Last week, Apple added Starz alongside the launch of the new Starz app.

While Apple has steadily added to the feature in the United States, Netflix and iTunes remain the only search options in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Other regions’ universal search options are limited to movies in iTunes.

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