Postmates adds ‘free delivery’ subscription for $10 a month

Attempting to bring the delivery fight to Amazon, Postmates is launching Plus Unlimited, a delivery subscription service that costs ten bucks a month and gives both customers and companies using it free delivery on all orders over $30. The delivery startup is also celebrating 1 million deliveries a month — so there’s definitely some demand. There’s no service fee if you’re paying monthly, and the company is promising no surge charging when all of a sudden, everyone in your neighborhood wants a burger.
That said, the company is limiting the service to deliveries under $30 so it’d have to be enough McD for a good chunk of the neighborhood in the first place. The company says overs over that amount account for 50 percent of its business. As TechCrunch notes, other companies like Sprig and Munchery have brought in subscriptions for its oft-repeating customers. Postmates is also attempting to give the service an initial boost, by offering free memberships to merchant partners, staff as well as senior drivers and riders that do the actual Postmates delivering.

Source: Postmates

Samsung reps can remote control your S7 for troubleshooting

You know those calls you get from a friend or family member who just can’t seem to figure out how to operate a smartphone? Samsung+ app’s new feature could save you the trouble of having to spend hours helping them figure out how to switch on their mobile data connection or to connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones. The app’s latest update adds a feature called “Assist,” which allows representatives to take over and troubleshoot their phone for them.

They will have to call or contact a rep via video chat on the app’s new live support feature to give him access. But once that’s done, the rep can take things into his own hands. Bad news is that Assist is only available on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge for now, though other devices will get it through carrier updates in the weeks to come. Those who don’t need a rep’s help — or those new to Samsung’s devices — however, can look at the app’s troubleshooting FAQ and tips and tricks library instead. The app’s latest version is now available, and those who don’t even have it yet can get it from Google Play.

Source: Samsung

Teardown Finds iPhone SE and iPhone 5s Displays Interchangeable

Yesterday, Chipworks’ teardown of the iPhone SE confirmed that the new device uses a potpourri of components from several past iPhones, including the iPhone 5s. iFixit has completed its own teardown of the device, and its findings show that the new device includes several components that are interchangeable with iPhone 5s parts.

iFixit found that the iPhone SE’s speaker, chassis, vibrator, SIM tray and display assembly, which includes the LCD, digitizer, front camera, earpiece speaker and proximity sensor are the same parts used in the iPhone 5s. According to iFixit’s testing, the components are easily swappable and work in a “plug and play” fashion.

The non-swappable parts include the logic board, rear-facing camera, Lightning connector assembly and battery. The iPhone SE’s battery comes in at 1,624 mAh, which is up from the iPhone 5s’ 1,560 mAh battery. However, iFixit notes that the SE’s battery comes with a different battery connector, so iPhone 5s users hoping to install a larger battery in their phones are out of luck.

The camera on the iPhone SE also comes with a different connector, using far fewer pins than the connector on the iPhone 5s’ camera. Other differences include a Lightning connector that’s a little different from the iPhone 5s’ Lightning connector, failing iFixit’s compatibility test. The power button bracket also has a contact cable “doohickey,” likely for grounding.

iFixit awarded the iPhone SE a repairability score of 6 out of 10, with 10 being the easiest to repair. While the iPhone SE’s similarities to the iPhone 5s make it easier to repair, it’s still difficult to open because of the Pentalobe screws on the device’s exterior. Like most iPhones, the Touch ID cable is also easily damaged if a user is not careful when opening the device.

Tags: iFixit, teardown
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StubHub app uses VR to show how good (or bad) your seats are

You’re about to buy tickets for an upcoming baseball game, but before you check out, you have to choose your seats. Should you cough up $100 more for club level or should you go for the bleachers and cross your fingers your view isn’t totally horrible? It’s a decision that many a sports fan have faced. But thankfully, StubHub is about to make the process a lot easier. Starting today, the online ticketing service is venturing forth into VR, letting customers get a 360-degree view from available seats before purchase.
You’ll be able to see said view from the StubHub app on Android and iOS, where you can swivel around to see what’s around your selected location. And if you want, you can pop your phone into a VR viewer like Cardboard to get a much more immersive feel. The experience is limited to just Houston’s NRG Stadium (just in time for the Final Four) and AT&T Park (for upcoming San Francisco Giants games) for now, but will likely expand to other venues depending on interest. It’s also worth noting that the “views” you get are just 3D renderings. Rukkus, another online ticketing firm, is working on a similar option but with panoramic photography instead.

“It’s not a feature; it is a platform,” said Devin Wenig, the CEO of eBay, to Re/Code (eBay is StubHub’s parent company). He also plans to bring the same VR tech to eBay itself. You could potentially take a close-up look of high-priced goods like cars or antiques, so you’d know you’re getting your money’s worth. “The plan is to start to attack some of those more emotionally driven categories where the trust gap is hard to bridge.”

Source: ReCode

Researchers believe they’ve discovered ‘anti-memories’

According to new research out of Oxford University, and published in the journal Neuron, a team of scientists believe that they’ve found the neurological equivalent of anti-matter. Just as anti-matter acts as the mirror image of subatomic particles, these “anti-memories” may exist as the bizarro versions of our memories.

Memories, at their fundamental level, are simply electrical connections between neurons. When you make a new memory, the connection between a set of neurons is strengthened. However, if that were the only mechanism in play, the development of new memories would eventually lead to runaway electrical activity in the brain. There must be, as the Oxford team hypothesizes, an inhibiting system that keeps that activity in check. And that’s where anti-memories come in.

These are neural connections that generate the opposite pattern of electrical impulses as the neurons creating the actual memory. This doesn’t impact the memory itself — that is, the physical connection between neurons — but rather it mutes the electrical activity that that connection generates. If it didn’t, memories could potentially trigger one another, resulting in a schizophrenic-like mental state.

Currently the researchers are relying on evidence derived from mouse-based experiments and theoretical models to support the hypothesis, though they have devised a means of testing it with humans. First, subjects are taught to make a connection between a red square and a green one, represented by the orange lines between them in the diagram above. Normally, an anti-memory (represented by the grey lines) would inhibit the memory’s electrical activity, however, if mild electrical stimulation is applied to the brain where the anti-memory is active, the original memory is revealed.

You can actually see that activity in the diagram’s lower row. The small squares represent the neurons associated with the memory. Initially, the neurons only fire when the subject thinks about the red box (A). But after making the new memory, the neurons fire for both the red and green boxes (B) — at least until the anti-memory kicks in and silences the extra activity (C). And when the researchers disrupt that anti-memory, the neurons will once again activate for both the red and green boxes (D).

While these are only preliminary results, they could potentially revolutionize the field of neuroscience. A number of psychological disorders — from schizophrenia to autism — are believed to be instigated by asymmetric electrical activity in the brain. This discovery could open a number of new research and treatment options.

Source: Neuron, The Conversation

Mortal Kombat eSports tournament has a $500,000 prize pool

If you need any more proof that eSports is getting bigger, here it is. Warner Bros. is launching a huge Mortal Kombat X eSports program in April, and the prize pot is just as big: $500,000. The project includes the third season of ESL Mortal Kombat X Pro League, which will pit the best players around the world against each other starting on April 3rd. The top sixteen players will then compete in front of a live audience on June 12, and the final eight finalists will play for a chunk ($200,000) of the prize pot.

They only get 200 grand, because Warner Bros. is also holding tournaments across North America, Europe, the Russian Commonwealth and Latin America. Plus, those who aren’t exactly ready to play against pros can still win money from the Challenger Cup’s online matches for PS4 and Xbox One gamers, which will begin on April 2nd. Bet you wish you took learning those crazy combos seriously now.

Whistle, maker of an activity tracker for dogs, acquired by Mars Petcare

Whistle, the maker of a GPS tracker and activity monitor for dogs, has been acquired by Mars Petcare. Speaking to TechCrunch, Whistle confirmed that it has indeed joined Mars’ pet divison:

“Whistle is excited to join the Mars Petcare family. This opportunity connects the industry’s global and technology leaders, enabling a new era of pet care,” the company tells TechCrunch. “Mars Petcare and Whistle shared a core belief around the importance of pets in our lives, and we look forward to connecting nutrition, healthcare, and technology to improve the lives of pets and their families.”

According to the report, Mars Petcare purchased Whistle in February for more than $100 million — though Whistle did not confirm the figure.

For those unfamiliar with Whistle, the company makes what has been called the “Fitbit for dogs.” Its activity tracker and GPS monitor can be attached to a dog’s collar, from which it then reports activity time, types of activity and more to a connected Android or iOS app.

Emoji search comes to Google Photos in time for April Fools’ Day

If you’ve ever been eager to search your photo collection with nothing but emojis, Google Photos will now let you do just that. Okay, so maybe this is just an April Fools’ Day joke from the folks at Mountain View … but it actually works.

As you can see in the video above, there’s no longer any need to mess around with pesky words. You can simply drop an emoji of what you’re looking for and Google will do the work. For example, dropping a dog emoji in the search box will bring up any picture of dogs you have in your Google Photos library.

We’re unsure if this will stick around past April Fools’ Day, but you can try it out for yourself in the Google Photos app now.

Google Photos

• Getting to know the new Google Photos
• Get your Google Photos library started
• Manage Google Photos backup settings
• What happens when you delete pictures in Google Photos?
• Managing your shared photo links
• Where did Auto Awesome go?
• Discuss Google Photos in the forums!

Google Play

It’s not just you: Snapchat is down for some

If you’re experiencing some hiccups using Snapchat this evening, it’s not just you. Snapchat’s support account confirmed on Twitter that some users are running into issues with the app, and the company is on the case:

Some Snapchatters are having issues using the app. We are aware of this, and looking into it!

— Snapchat Support (@snapchatsupport) March 31, 2016

A quick look at Twitter shows that a number of users can’t send or receive snaps, and Stories don’t seem to be loading for others. According to Down Detector, reports of issues started spiking around 5:30 p.m. ET and have continued to rise since.

We’ll update this post once things look to be in the clear.

April Fools’ Day 2016: The best stories from around the web

Today is the day to be cautious when sharing exciting new stories from your social media feeds, if you don’t want to be labelled the fool this April.

April Fools’ Day has well and truly taken the internet by storm with big companies like Samsung, Sony, Barclays and Ford all getting involved. Expect plenty of pranks for the 2016 April Fools’ Day too as it’s fast becoming an annual online tradition for tech companies.

So if you want a laugh, or want to separate the real from the ridiculous, check below. We’ve compiled all the tech related April Fool’s Day stories that have been unleashed on the world today so you don’t have to look elsewhere.

Get ready for a good laugh, with plenty of pranks to share and fool others with. Check below for all the best pranks of the day and be sure to keep coming back as we’ll be updating throughout the day as more get unleashed.

Samsung smart trousers

Imagine a pair of trousers with Wi-Fly that can intelligently alert you to a low fly via your smartphone. Or pressure sensors that get you moving after detecting you’ve been sitting too long. How about a system that detects when your waist tension is too tight and locking the fridge? The Samsung Internet of Trousers can do all that and will even track heart rate and blood pressure to remind you to keep your trousers on when things get hot and heavy but you’ve set them to help you stay in control.

Honda

Emoji number plates

Honda has chosen today to show off a world first, the emoji number plate. This is aimed at its younger buyers who want to express more than just numbers and letters on the front of their car can offer.

The Honda Civic Type-R is shown with the new plates. Honda is in talks with the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency with plans to have these motive plates on the roads by 2017. Perhaps in time for next April Fools’ day?

Sony

The Proton Pack

Remember the Proton Pack from The Ghostbusters films? Sony has made one.

Sony says: “Superconducting temperatures are maintained by a liquid helium reservoir, and an active cryocooler ensures that operational time vastly exceeds that available from a cryogen dewar alone”. On top of all that fancy ghost capturing tech it’ll even pack in a Sony Cyber-Shot RX camera, Short Throw 4K projector and Stamina battery mode – ideal for winding down after a day of ghost hunting.

Houzz

Houzz Smartz

The company behind home furniture shopping of the future has come up with its own line of smart furniture. Not only are the items spacially aware, to offer placement advice, but they track changes too. The furniture will be able to alert the home owner to dirt build up, smudges and even wrinkles.

The furniture is interactive so, Houzz says, “spending time with your furniture is like being with friends”.

Firebox

Star Trek White Noise sleep aid

Sometimes the one thing you need to send you off to the land of nod at night is the sound of an intergalactic space vessel. Search no further.

ThinkGeek has come up with a device that will replicate (heh) up to eight sounds from five different spacecraft. It will even project a moving star field onto your ceiling to really lull you off to sleep.

First Direct

First Direct 

Save Zap is a new wearable from First Direct capable of recognising a wearer’s location and zapping them when they get too close to a shop they’ve set as a no go area. Simple, yet painfully effective.

WaterPik Shower Belt

Never slip up in the shower again with the Shower Belt. Not only will the belt suction-attach to the shower at three anchor points, to avoid falling, but it’ll double as a tool belt too. Load up with your shower gel, razor, shampoo and anything else you can cram into the Shower Belt and, even with all that weight, you don’t need to worry about falling. Good luck cleaning your waist area though.

Firebox

i-Dodge

Walking and staying connected are not friends. Pesky pedestrians, roads and cars can all get in the way of a nice stroll with your head down in your phone – or they did until now. The i-Dodge from Firebox is a slimline case designed to alert the user to pedestrians. The unit has a built-in flashing light which will illuminate to make sure you don’t walk into a potential collision. Safety and multi-tasking functionality all for £50? Worth it.

Sealy

Sealy Snore Blocker

Worry about a noisy bed partner no more, thanks to Sealy’s new Snore Blocker. Specifically tuned to activate when it detects snoring this devices “uses technology” to create a sound barrier that blocks up to 90 per cent of snore noises.

Virgin

Virgin Active Personal Trainers

What better way to keep motivated when at the gym than have a personal trainer built into your kicks? That’s what these trainers do thanks to built-in speakers that shout tips as you train. But there’s more.

The laces can’t be removed until 2000 calories have been burned, plus there’s a projector to display over 100 workouts for you to follow. Watch out personal trainers, you’ve got some serious competition… or you would if it were actually serious.