Watch SpaceX launch a Dragon supply ship for the ISS today

SpaceX will send another Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station today at 4:43PM EDT from its base in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The weather is looking good so far and you’ll be able to watch the launch live on the SpaceX webcast.

This trip includes a Dragon resupply capsule carrying NASA’s Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, a living space that essentially inflates once it’s installed on the ISS. BEAM is the type of tech that NASA could use on a trip to Mars, since it’s small in transport, durable and easy to set up.

“BEAM is one of the first steps to test expandable structures as a viable alternative to traditional space habitats,” NASA writes.

Today, SpaceX will try once again to land its Falcon 9 rocket on top of a small rectangle in the ocean. While the SpaceX crew has brought a rocket back to Earth, it’s yet to successfully touch down on the ocean landing strip, despite multiple attempts. These sea landings are a crucial part of SpaceX’s plan to re-use its rockets and save money on each blast-off. By the end of the year, the company plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket every other week, Ars Technica reports, so ration your popcorn accordingly.

Update: Success! It landed!

The 1st stage of the Falcon 9 just landed on our Of Course I Still Love You droneship. Dragon in good orbit pic.twitter.com/SYyUCDZE3k

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 8, 2016

The future of music tailors itself to your pulse

If you’re like most people, then you probably have an uptempo playlist and a downtempo playlist stashed somewhere. But what if you didn’t need to? That’s the idea that Jonathan “j.viewz” Dagan is exploring with the interactive music video for his song Almost Forgot. Rather than a static YouTube clip, the iOS app scans your heartbeat and matches the songs tempo to suit. That way, if you’re in a sedate mood, the track plays as a slow ballad, and if you’re at the gym, it’ll be more like a dance hit.

The phone can monitor your pulse using the old camera-lens-as-an-optical-heart-rate-monitor trick that’s been knocking around these last few years. Android users shouldn’t feel left out, since they can visit the Almost Forgot website if they’re rocking Lollipop or Marshmallow. As Dagan says himself, he wanted to “let the listener create their own version of the song with their heartbeat.” Who knows, maybe this sort of curation will become commonplace as wearable devices get more prevalent and music playback gets smarter. We can imagine a whole new generation of artists blaming the poor reception of their next album entirely on the fact that none of us were pumping our heart hard enough to listen to it properly.

Via: Mashable

Source: App Store, Almost Forgot

The Panama Papers, a breach we can all get behind

Now here’s a breach and leak everyone can get behind (unless you’re a billionaire despot, that is). Selected excerpts from the Panama Papers dropped on Sunday, an unprecedented snatch-and-grab of offshore tax haven records released to a handful of global news organizations.

In them, the tax-avoiding dealings of the super-rich were exposed in a gigantic haul of data said to total around 11.5m files (2.6 terabytes). It was taken from shell-company specialist Mossack Fonseca by an anonymous source, who shared the Panamanian law firm’s trove with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

In turn, SZ shared the records with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The trove of emails, photos, PDFs and database excerpts was then winnowed down into digestible stories by a pool of around 400 journalists. All told, the project was a year in the making. Süddeutsche Zeitung said, “The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures.”

Believe it or not, those named in the papers haven’t necessarily broken any laws. That’s because exploiting loopholes in tax law, while ethically and morally dubious, is perfectly legal. Fonseca is adamant that the company hasn’t done anything wrong (and won’t be changing its ways).

Allergies include peanuts, ethics, security

Even still, a little Googling returns plenty of spilled digital ink on the firm’s rep as a place for secrecy and the slipperiness of its ethically compromised professionals. It’s exactly where you’d go if you were doing something wrong and wanted the trail to your dubious offshore tax havens to look squeaky-clean — if it could be found at all.

Mossack Fonseca helps firms and leaders of countries that are subject to sanctions. According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, “Mossack Fonsecas’ [sic] clients include criminals and members of various Mafia groups. The documents also expose bribery scandals and corrupt heads of state and government.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reports, “The files show how Mossack Fonseca thwarted Australian regulators and police inquiries, continued to act for individuals accused of fraud and embezzlement, and lobbied actively to prevent Australia from signing agreements that would allow the exchange of tax information with Samoa, a key tax avoidance jurisdiction.”

In the days since the publication of the Panama Papers, the prime minister of Iceland, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, a vocal opponent of offshore tax havens, was exposed as owning such a firm with his wife. He resigned within days of publication, and opposition parties have pushed for the entire government to stand down.

FIFA ethics committee member Juan Pedro Damiani also resigned after the papers connected him to a former FIFA official arrested by the Justice Department on corruption charges last December. The Swiss police swiftly raided the offices of UEFA (the beleaguered governing body of European football) to investigate the offshore dealings of FIFA’s new president, Gianni Infantino.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is also in the hot seat, having stalled inquiries for three days until he admitted yesterday to having owned shares in his father’s UK-tax-avoiding offshore trust. Vladimir Putin is implicated through associates, spawning conspiracy theories that this whole thing is an attack on the Russian president.

The despotic leaders of Sudan and Azerbaijan, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko are specifically named in the papers. China’s government is on damage control after the family members of eight Communist party elites were shown to have dealings with offshore companies. Meanwhile, Chinese officials have ordered reporting on the Panama Papers to be censored.

Sina Weibo is censoring search results for “Panama” pic.twitter.com/KuXHqBGP5N

— William Farris (@wafarris) April 4, 2016

​

It’s clear that no one named in the files was ready for what happened when they were exposed this week, and Mossack Fonseca was completely ambushed.

Mossack Fonseca and its clients were so blinded by privilege that they believed they were still at the top of the food chain and still enjoyed the luxurious protections provided by predigital information secrecy.

And they were wrong.

Oops, they did it again

You see, this was the second time that Mossack Fonseca has been popped — that we know of. Over a year ago, a data thief grabbed a much smaller set of Mossack Fonseca’s older internal records and sold it to German authorities for nearly 1 million Euros. Other countries including the United States, the UK and Iceland reportedly nabbed some for themselves, too.

Hackers have a strong homing instinct for bad security practices, and this story has drawn a flock of researchers. They’ve concluded that “negligent” doesn’t even begin to cover it. Everything is out of date, and the laundry list of ways one could obtain credentials is so long that you have to wonder who hasn’t rummaged through its files.

I’m not sure Mossack Fonseca docs being all over the internet is a shock, if their WP install is anything to go by. https://t.co/IsxmJPji4s

— Fenrir (@semibogan) April 4, 2016

The WordPress install on Mossack Fonseca’s website is months behind in updates (this scan shows two vulnerabilities). On April 1st, the company sent an email to its clients saying it had suffered “an unauthorized breach of our email server,” which isn’t surprising, considering that the law firm’s Outlook Web Access hasn’t been updated since 2009.

Its Client Information Portal (a “secure online account” in “a safe environment”) had its last update in 2013. Wired UK notes the portal is vulnerable to the DROWN attack, “a security exploit that targets servers supporting the obsolete, insecure SSL v2 protocol” and that “the version of Drupal used by the portal has at least 25 vulnerabilities, including a high-risk SQL injection vulnerability that allows anyone to remotely execute arbitrary commands.”

Mossack Fonseca’s security measures: Not good. #PanamaPapers https://t.co/AlvKUFlGTo (v/ @iblametom) pic.twitter.com/Hhv1hvI7Pi

— Rob Price (@robaeprice) April 5, 2016

There’s more, but you get the idea.

Someone hacks a law firm resulting in the ‘Panama Papers’. Imagine how and how long it took to download 2.6TB of data. And, no one noticed!?

— Jeremiah Grossman (@jeremiahg) April 6, 2016

It’s not a tumor

Because of the size of the data dump — records dating from the firm’s inception in 1977 to last December — common sense points to an inside job. But Ramón Fonseca, co-founder of Mossack Fonseca, denies that’s the case. He characterizes the firm as a victim, telling Reuters, “We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack.”

And what about those accusations of working with money launderers and dictators? Fonseca told Reuters, “The only crime that has been proven is the hack. No one is talking about that. That is the story.”

As if hiding money for ruthless murdering dictators and crooked politicians is a reasonable way to make a living, the firm told both The Guardian and Süddeutsche Zeitung:

It appears that you have had unauthorized access to proprietary documents and information taken from our company and have presented and interpreted them out of context. We trust that you are fully aware that using information/documentation unlawfully obtained is a crime, and we will not hesitate to pursue all available criminal and civil remedies.

Because, obviously, Mossack Fonseca is a victim that believes in justice.

[Image: Christopher Furlong/AFP/Getty Images (David Cameron)]

Facebook isn’t so much about status updates anymore

Chances are your Facebook News Feed is an endless collection of live video, memes, web links and other shared content. Remember when the social network was a place where people posted status updates? According to a report from The Information, the amount of personal sharing on Facebook is in decline. Between the middle of 2014 and halfway through 2015, overall sharing on the social channel dropped 5.5 percent and those personal updates saw a 21 percent drop. When we say personal updates, we’re talking about things like random thoughts, daily activities and other stuff about life in general. The amount of personal posts has continued to decline into 2016 too, falling 15 percent according to the report.

The Information also reports that Facebook has a dedicated team working on ways to increase those personal shares. That includes boosting the position of a friend’s status update in your News Feed. Facebook is constantly making changes to the News Feed with things like prioritizing live video, stories based on interaction and testing multiple topic-based feeds. As you might expect, the folks in Menlo Park are downplaying the numbers, saying that overall sharing remains at similar rates to previous years.

There a lot of other social networks now than there were when Facebook arrived. Twitter, for example, is not only a place to share web links and meme GIFs, but it offers another channel to provide updates about what’s going on during the day. It’s a constant stream of quips about life, news and more. Of course, this reported decline doesn’t mean the end for Facebook. It continues to grow and add new users. However, it will be interesting to see how usage patterns continue to change, specifically if the company can discover how to get folks to get personal once more.

Via: The Verge

Source: The Information

Senate Draft Encryption Bill Called ‘Absurd,’ ‘Dangerous,’ and Technically Inept

A draft of an encryption bill created by Senate Intelligence Committee leaders Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein was released last night, revealing the scope of the legislation that would require technology companies to decrypt data and share it in an “intelligible format” when served with a legal order.

The Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016, a copy of which was shared by Re/code, starts out by declaring “no person or entity is above the law.” It says that all providers of communication services and products, from hardware to software, must both protect the privacy of residents of the United States through “implementation of appropriate data security,” while still respecting the “rule of law” and complying with legal requirements and court orders to provide information stored either on devices or remotely.

To uphold both the rule of law and protect the interests and security of the United States, all persons receiving an authorized judicial order for information or data must provide, in a timely manner, responsive, intelligible information or data, or appropriate technical assistance to obtain such information.

In acknowledgement of the disagreement between the FBI and Apple, the legislation does include a clause that prevents it from authorizing “any government officer to require or prohibit any specific design or operating system to be adopted by any covered entity,” and it shies away from specific technical demands, but the wording of the act itself, with no contingencies for inaccessible data, makes end-to-end encryption impossible. Any data encrypted by companies must also be able to be decrypted.

Security experts have heavily criticized the bill. Daniel Castro of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation told Re/code the bill “sets up a legal paradox” while the ACT/App Association said it amounts to a government-mandated back door. Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski says the entire bill is dangerous, calling it “a hodgepodge of technical ineptitude combined with pockets of contradiction.”

The absurdity of this bill is beyond words. Due to the technical ineptitude of its authors, combined with a hunger for unconstitutional governmental powers, the end result is a very dangerous document that will weaken the security of America’s technology infrastructure. This will affect everything from the iPhone you hold in your pocket to how data is transmitted over the Internet, allowing the government to effectively break all electronic commerce and Internet security. This is bad legislation in every way, and it very subtly allows for unconstitutional government control of private industry.

In a report yesterday, Reuters said the White House has decided not to offer public support for the legislation, as “the administration remains deeply divided on the issue.” The bill is still in draft form, with the language subject to changes based on input from stakeholders. In a joint statement, Burr and Feinstein said they hope to have a final version completed soon.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Apple-FBI
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Land Sliders: Slide your way to victory [review]

Game developers are always in search of different ways of doing things to stand out in the Play Store. Be it an innovative game feature, very easy-to-use controls, punishing difficulty, or new mechanics, companies are always trying to add new stuff to their offerings. Land Sliders successfully mixes several of these elements in a cute, challenging game with dead-easy controls and several characters to choose from.

Developer: Prettygreat

Price: Free, with in-app purchases.

Highlights:

• More than 100 characters to unlock.
• Colorful, ever-changing worlds.
• The game can get a bit difficult.
• Variety thanks to quests, leaderboards, and enemies.

Setup

That’s why it’s called Land Sliders!

After the usual Google Play Games integration, the game asks to choose a character. You will have three choices: a little guy called Turny, a panda, and a fridge (seriously). Unfortunately, just as choosing your starter Pokemon, you will not be able to choose the remaining two later. Well, at least you won’t have a rival choosing a creature that has a type advantage against yours. Anyways, there are more than 100 characters available, unlockable via in-game currency or in-app purchases. Each character can develop one ability by leveling up, but more on that later.

Features

The game drops you right into a small tutorial after finishing its initial setup. Instead of opting for a text-based tutorial, the developer chose to teach you the controls in a smaller-scaled world created only for this purpose. To move your character, you need to “slide the world” by swiping on any part of the screen. This will make your character move throughout the world. If you prefer, you can also reverse the controls and slide the character instead. Tap anywhere on the screen and your character will screech to a halt. Controls feel responsive and are easy enough to understand, but they can feel a tiny bit imprecise in situations where you need bullseye accuracy.

The main screen isn’t actually composed of buttons that you have to press, but a small piece of land with platforms scattered over it. Sliding the world so your character presses any of them trigger the desired function. It’s a really neat way of implementing a main menu and, though it is slower to access each function this way, I think it’s a good trade-off.

Gameplay

The menu is very innovative and fun to navigate.

Hovering your character over the red Play button will start the actual game. The main objective in each level is to find a platform that takes you to the next level. When you do, there’s a cool animation in which the ground beneath you rockets into the air to the next level. On several occasions, this animation has skipped frames, but it’s good otherwise. A thing to note is that, even though you always traverse the world starting from level one, there are many variations of each stage, so the game never feels monotonous.

The game would be easy if there was nothing more to it than cruising through levels. However, it’s not. There are multiple hazards and enemies trying to block your way to victory. There are dinosaurs jumping across the land trying to murder your character. Bulls storm towards you in a straight line in an attempt to pulverize your dreams. There are big bears that throw snowballs at you, freezing you for a while. Not only you won’t be able to control your character, but also, it will continue to move in whatever direction you were going, so good luck with that.

Fortunately, not all creatures are bad. There are gold-coated rabbits and monkeys, which you can touch and they will explode into coins or bamboos/meats/whatever your character likes (more on that in a bit). Or they can turn into bombs. You’ll have to smash into the character and pray for the best.

A normal level includes a lot of variants to keep you entertained.

Also, some levels provide additional obstacles, such as having to get a key to open the gates blocking the platform to the next level, or some landmark-like structures that sometimes attack you.

There are also lakes and unprotected edges where you can fall, halting your progress. However, an exclamation mark will appear on top of your character when you’re at risk and you’ll have some very brief moments to return to safety.

Each world has elements scattered throughout it. Some of these items are dependent on the character you choose. For example, when choosing a panda, bamboos are dispersed all over the land. The game will sprinkle oxygen tanks when you choose an astronaut, Likewise, you’ll have to collect meat if you choose the lion as your main character.

Even though these items are different in appearance, their function is the same: leveling up your character. Since every character has a special ability, such as making opponents slower or decreasing the time you’re frozen by bears, this special trait gets more powerful the more you level up, making the game a bit easier.

Speaking of which, this game can get really hard. The first two or three levels are relatively easy (especially the first), but later on, there are so many threats and hazards that you won’t be able to avoid. You’ll have multiple things trying to kill you at once, and with environmental hazards, cliffs and water, you’re gonna have a difficult time. Even worse, you only have one life, and you get only one chance of reviving in case you die, triggered by a 30-second video ad. There’s no way of reviving otherwise, even with real money.

I’ll show you the world!

There are special platforms dedicated to quests. These are events that you can complete to receive more loot. Examples of these include hitting silver rabbits, getting a dinosaur to jump into a lake, get a certain amount of elements, and similar. Also, you can get an invincibility sauce, which works exactly as the star in Mario Kart. Smash through your enemies until the time runs out to annihilate them immediately.

Options

Going through the rest of the menu options, you’ll see a place where you can buy new characters. Each one costs $0.77, but, since there are more than 100, things can get very expensive quickly. There’s also an option to change your hard-earned coins for new characters (at random). Also, there’s a free gift option that lets you open a gift box after a certain amount of time to receive coins and other perks.

Thanks to its Google Play Games integration, the game can show you leaderboards to compare your scores with people around the world. Also, you can get achievements if you’re into that. If you want to share your deaths and frustrations with the rest of the world, there’s also a Share function. The game supposedly shares a captioned screenshot of your last frame and then sends it to registered apps. However, I could never get it to work.

Graphics and Sound

That dinosaur is totally going to kill me.

Graphics-wise, the game has vibrant, colorful elements. Characters and environments look blocky (slightly similar, but not equal, to Minecraft) and very simple, but because they’re meant to. This design choice makes every element more charming and gives the game an identity of its own.

Music follows the upbeat and happy theme that the graphics set, with different tones for the home menu, character unlock, and land sliding. Sound effects are appropriate, with bears growling very loudly and dinosaurs making a funny sound while they jump (because watching a dinosaur jump is really funny). Also, there’s an alert sound when some enemies notice you, so make sure you don’t miss those.

Conclusion

Land Sliders is a game with such an easy mechanic that you could master its controls within minutes. However, difficulty spikes really quickly, but what’s life without a challenge? There are many characters to choose from and Google Play Games integration to squeeze more fun out of it. Aside from minor issues, such as the inability of reviving through methods other than video ads, and some minor concerns about replay value, it’s a fun, polished that incorporates a lot of variety to its gameplay and can (and will) keep you entertained for days.

Download from the Play Store.

iClever IC-BTS03 Waterproof Bluetooth speaker: review

Nowadays, it seems like Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen. This is actually a very good thing as now you can pick up a feature rich Bluetooth speaker for an affordable price. iClever has a few different offerings in this arena, but in this review, we’ll be looking at the IC-BTS03 waterproof Bluetooth speaker.

iClever IC-BTS03 Waterproof Bluetooth speaker overview

The first thing I noticed about the iClever speaker was its diminutive size. It’s only about three and a half inches tall, 2 inches thick, and four inches wide. Despite it being small, it still manages to pack two audio drivers into the speaker. The front driver is dedicated to the mid to high range sounds while the rear driver cranks out the bass.

There are only four buttons. The power button is the only non-multifunction button. The volume buttons also change the song being listened to when they are long pressed and the pause button will answer and hang up incoming calls as well as redial the last called number when long pressed.

The speaker is housed mostly in plastic and rubber but the speaker grills are metal. It also features a very sturdy leather strap and a mounting screw hole. There are only two ports on the entire speaker, a charging port, and an auxiliary port. Both ports are covered by a waterproof rubber flap. In fact, the speaker is rated with an IP65 waterproof rating. This means that it can be splashed and sprayed by water but not submerged.

iClever IC-BTS03 Waterproof Bluetooth speaker setup

Because the iClever IC-BTS03 automatically enters pairing mode whenever it’s turned on, it’s extremely easy to setup. All you need to do is search for Bluetooth devices from your phone and connect.

iClever IC-BTS03 Waterproof Bluetooth speaker usage

There are several things that I really like about this speaker. The first is its size. It is very portable, but with its front and back audio driver design, it also packs some decent sound. Of course, it doesn’t compare with high-end speakers like Bose, but for $29.99 it doesn’t have to. I was surprised at how good the sound actually was.

The overall feel of the speaker is a little plasticky but I was surprised at was how durable it was. Not only did it survive a tumble down my stairs, but it came away unscathed. As I have three children, this is not an uncommon occurrence.

The battery life is rated at 10 hours of playtime, but I still haven’t used it continuously for that length of time. I’m still running on the same charge a week and a half later.

Of course, with it being waterproof I had to try it out in the shower. It worked wonderfully and it may just end up finding a permanent home in there since that would be the only area where I would actually need a waterproof speaker. One thing I noticed was that if the speaker had too much water in the speaker grill it interfered with the sound quality. A couple of good taps was enough to fix that problem. You probably won’t even have to worry about it unless the speaker grill is directly sprayed with water.

One thing that I would like to have seen included with the device is voice dialing. Instead of redialing the last called number, long pressing the play button could initiate Google Now. That feature would end up making it my go to speaker. But alas, for $29.99 what can I really expect. I’m already getting a lot for the price.

3.9 out of 5 stars

Overall you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better speaker in this price range. In the very least, its small size and many features make it a great option worth considering when purchasing your next Bluetooth speaker. The speaker is currently on sale for $29.99 at Amazon.com.

How much does the design of your 360 camera matter?

Your 360 camera isn’t a GoPro, but that won’t stop people from trying to use them like one.

Even though relatively few people use action cams compared to more traditional cameras and smartphone cameras, the GoPro camera designs have become iconic. This is fascinating for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the design itself. With exception to the Hero Session, GoPro cameras are not what most folks would consider attractive or stylish. They’re purpose built, industrial by nature, and they get the job done. There’s also a nearly endless supply of incredible videos captured through these cameras, which surely doesn’t hurt.

While you can take a handful of GoPros and arrange them to take 360 degree videos, the cost and complexity of doing so has lead to a rise in consumer-priced 360 cameras from an increasing number of manufacturers. 360 cameras are not necessarily action cameras, but the variety of designs seen over the last couple of months calls into question how careful manufacturers need to be with the design of such a device.

Current generation 360 cameras have had a distinct focus on being as GoPro-like as possible, meaning they’re compact and built to be installed somewhere. Take a look at 360fly and Kodak PIXPRO, and you see designs built for mounting and using remotely. These designs aren’t great for walking around and grabbing a 360 degree photo, which is where designs like the Ricoh Theta line started to take shape. There’s no shortage of incredible photos from Theta handhelds, but video is often a little clumsy. It’s usually someone walking or running, and the shaky feeling isn’t nearly as enjoyable to watch.

Durability is often a concern for these kinds of cameras.

With LG and Samsung entering the 360 camera market, we’re seeing these designs continue to evolve. LG is going the route of the handheld accessory, with a tripod mount on the bottom and a big friendly button for taking photos. You’re unlikely to strap this camera to a motorcycle and go for a ride, and the perspective from the video is always going to be a few inches away from your own. Samsung, on the other hand, built the body around the lenses so the whole design is more compact if you decide to mount it to something. There’s vaguely Portal-turret-like tripod that can be connected to the base of the sphere if you want to hold it and walk around or just prop it up somewhere, but the overall design seems more mount-friendly.

More than visual, the functional design of these cameras is significant when it comes to what you can actually do with them. 360fly is capable of descending 5ATM under water out of the box, with no special casing or anything. That is something only likely to appeal to a diver, but it’s a nice feature when you think about being able to throw it in the water with kids. It’s got a rugged design that encourages being mounted in GoPro-like fashion, whereas the Samsung Gear 360 isn’t nearly as well rated for water and dust. Durability is often a concern for these kinds of cameras, as the lens — or lenses, as is increasingly the case — are completely exposed and have no real protection.

More than anything, Samsung and LG’s offerings feel like they’ve been designed less for flinging yourself down a snowy mountain and more for capturing the world around you in day to day life. It’s a clear line of separation between the more GoPro-like cameras when you go and do the research, but it’s not overtly apparent when looking at the cameras on the shelf. It’s the kind of thing folks looking for a 360 camera will need to figure out as they’re shopping, and a lot of that will come down to the design.

Is a handheld design more functional for day-to-day life than something mounted, assuming it means you’re not worrying about it being damaged over time? Is the location of the lens a big deal when it comes to capturing the world around you? All of this comes down to the design of the camera, and knowing how you’re going to use it when you make the purchase. That’s not going to be easy for everyone, but the sheer volume of options over the next year will absolutely show which designs are the most significant to people voting with their wallets.

Which 360 camera design are you a fan of?

Dish customers can stream Netflix in 4K with the Hopper 3

Dish took a major leap forward at CES 2016, introducing its first 4K receiver and DVR. But, as great as it is for customers to have that option, Hopper 3 needs compatible content in order to show true value. With this in mind, Dish has announced support for Netflix’s 4K repertoire, which will let users watch some movies and series in Ultra HD. That includes most of the streaming service’s latest original shows, including the acclaimed Daredevil and House of Cards, among others.

That said, you do need a subscription for the 4K plan on Netflix (plus a fast internet connection), which is $11.99 per month. Although the majority of 4K televisions come with a Netflix app built in, now you can access the app’s Ultra HD programming directly from your Dish set-top-box.

Source: Dish

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 release date, rumours and everything you need to know

Samsung has already announced two flagship smartphones this year but chances are that won’t be the last we hear from the company and its smartphone arm before 2016 is out.

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge both debuted at Mobile World Congress in February, but rumours began floating around for the company’s larger smartphones before the event in Barcelona was even confirmed. Now it’s well and truly over and focus has turned towards what Samsung will launch next.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge+ and the Galaxy Note 6 have both been speculated upon but the latter device is what this feature is focusing on. This is everything we know about the Galaxy Note 6 so far, but as usual, we will be adding to this feature as more leaks and rumours appear so keep casting your eyes back for the latest.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 release date

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 launched on 13 August 2015 alongside the Galaxy S6 edge+, but the Note wasn’t destined for European waters in a bid to push the S6 edge+ as the phablet to consider instead.

Reports suggest Samsung considers this to be a mistake though and it has since been suggested that the Galaxy Note 6 will bring the Note device back to the UK in favour of the Galaxy S7 edge+.

Sources claim the Galaxy Note 6 will launch in Europe in August 2016, which fits with the company’s previous release cycle from last year. Previous to 2015, the Note device used to launch at the beginning of September at IFA.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 design

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 arrived with an all-metal build, moving away from the faux-leather and plastic materials offered by its predecessors. It measures 153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6mm, hits the scales at 171g and comes complete with the S Pen.

The rumours are few and far between when it comes to the Note 6’s design at the moment but we wouldn’t expect a dramatic change compared to the Note 5.

The Samsung S7 and S7 edge both followed the same design lines as the S6 and S6 edge with a few refinements so chances are this will also be the case for the Note 6 too given the Note 5 saw quite a few changes compared to the Note 4. Both the S7 and S7 edge added IP68 water and dust resistance however, which is something that has now been touted for the Galaxy Note 6.

It has also been claimed an iris scanner will be on board, but details were scarce so it isn’t clear if it would be infrared like Fujitsu, a light like the Lumia 950, or something more advanced.

The one feature that will almost certainly appear is the S Pen but other than that, it’s a guessing game at the moment. Metal build, some kind of security scanner whether fingerprint or iris, and the classic rectangular Note shape would all be very plausible predictions though.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 display

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 arrived with a 5.7-inch display offering a 2560 x 1440 resolution that delivered a pixel density of 515ppi. The Note series has always been praised for its display, with the AMOLED technology delivering vibrant, punchy colours and deep blacks.

Rumours suggest the Note 6 will continue the Super AMOLED trend but it looks like the display size could increase very slightly to 5.8-inches. The resolution is said to be sticking to Quad HD which if all true, would mean a slightly lower pixel density of 506ppi. This however, will not be noticeable to the human eye so you can still expect a great display experience from the Note 6.

Things may change in this department over the coming months but for now, these rumours seem more than reasonable.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 camera

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 comes with a 16-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, both of which offer an aperture of f/1.9, which is wider than the Note 4.

According to a Weibo report, the Note 6 will be coming with a 12-megapixel main camera offering “Super OIS Plus”. The front-facing camera sensor wasn’t detailed. Both the Note 4 and 5 were both praised for their camera capabilities so wd expect the Note 6 to follow suit.

The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge both have 12-megapixel rear cameras and a 5-megapixel front camera so perhaps the company will use the same sensor for the Note 6. This would make sense given the praise both the S7 and S7 edge have received. Both the front and the rear snappers offer an aperture of f/1.7 to help them excel in low-light conditions so we’d like to see the same capabilities in the Note 6 at the very least.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 hardware

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has an octa-core Exynos chipset, 4GB or RAM and 32GB of 64GB of internal memory. The aluminium body means microSD support was removed as was a removable battery, the capacity of which dropped to 3000mAh from the 3200mAh of its predecessor.

The Galaxy Note 6 is said to be coming with either a Qualcomm Snapdragon or Exynos chipset depending on the region, along with 6GB of RAM, according to Weibo. Samsung’s S7 and S7 edge both come in two models, one of which offers the Qualcomm SD820 chip and the other of which uses the in-house Exynos Octa 8 processor so this suggestion of two variants depending on region is plausible.

Storage options have been touted as 64GB and 128GB but there was no mention in the Weibo report as to whether microSD support will be reintroduced. It has been on the S7 and S7 edge so here is hoping. Battery capacity wasn’t mentioned either but we don’t expect smaller than the Note 5 and we suspect it won’t go back to being removable either. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 software

The Samsung Note 6 will almost certainly launch with Android Marshmallow 6.0 along with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface over the top and the various feature extras that complement the S Pen.

We’d suspect a look towards the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge will offer a good indicator as to what we can expect from the Note 6, although no doubt there will be some improvements and refinements.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 conclusion

Whilst the rumours have started to circulate for the Samsung Galaxy Note 6, they are few and far between at the moment so there is currently a lot of guess work happening.

Based on what we have heard so far, we’d expect the Note 6 to arrive in August 2016 with a similar design to the Note 5 including S Pen functionality.

Hardware specs are likely to improve over the Note 5 including a faster processor, possibly more RAM and an improved camera experience. We will update this feature as more leaks appear so hang tight for now.