High-profile women in tech push diversity with Project Include

Take a look at the diversity statistics from many tech companies, as we did with our 2015 Diversity Report Card, and you’ll notice a consistent issue. The tech industry, for all of its meritocratic grandstanding, has a big inclusion problem — and many companies are only now beginning to take that seriously. Now several women with significant clout in the tech world are launching Project Include, a non-profit that aims to tackle the diversity dilemma in tech with — you guessed it — data.

“Though startups are making an effort to implement diversity improvement strategies, the reality is that most are taking limited, potentially harmful actions, including one-off training, blaming the pipeline, using language like ‘lowering the bar’ and describing the current state of the tech industry as a ‘meritocracy,’” wrote Project Include co-founder Ellen Pao, the former Reddit CEO who was also embroiled in a gender discrimination lawsuit with VC firm Kleiner Perkins. “Unfortunately, we have seen tech culture become even more exclusive and less diverse over the last five years.”

The non-profit’s other co-founders include Erica Joy Baker, a senior engineer at Slack; Tracy Chou, a software engineer at Pinterest; Laura I. Gomez, CEO of Atipica, which helps companies hire more diverse employees; bethanye McKinney Blount, CEO of Cathy Labs; Y-Vonne Hutchinson, founder of ReadySet, which works on diversity solutions; Freada Kapor Klein, a partner at Kapor Capital and the Kapor Center for Social Impact; and entrepreneur and investor Susan Wu.

All of the co-founders have worked on solving inclusion issues on their own, but Project Include will serve as a more concentrated effort. The organization aims to help technology companies deal with their diversity problems by offering recommendations on best practices, research and tools. Most importantly, it’ll serve as a way to collect data around those diversity efforts and share them with the wider tech community.

Pao says Project Include is currently focusing on CEOs and managers in early and mid-stage startups. The idea is that it’s far easier to implement strategies for inclusion early, rather than trying to shift the mindset of a large and established company.

“We want CEOs to use Project Include as a resource for creating meaningful solutions and to tailor our recommendations to their startups and situations,” Pao wrote. “We want executives and managers to understand that diversity and inclusion is a company-wide effort driven from the top down to every employee: If a CEO isn’t invested in the success of D&I, these programs will not succeed.”

A single organization focused on diversity initiatives could be a good thing for the tech world — it gives companies a resource to guide their own efforts. And with constant gaffes around inclusion happening today, like Twitter hiring a white dude as its head of diversity, the tech community needs all the help it can get.

Source: Project Include, Ellen Pao (Medium)

Google Maps takes you inside Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic venues

Google Maps adds indoor views of major attractions on the regular. Ahead of this summer’s Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, the company is taking you inside the 25 indoor venues that will host sporting events in a few weeks. There are “enhanced views” of the 12 outdoor venues as well, with maps for these stadiums and arenas showing locations for restrooms, concession stands, info desks and ATMs. Real-time transit info for the Brazilian city was added to Google Maps recently, so if you’re traveling to the games, you’ll have a familiar guide. If you’re not making the trip, you can still scope out where the games will be held from the comforts of home.

Source: Google Maps

Nextbit Robin drops to $299 on Amazon from May 4-10

Amazon will see the Nextbit Robin for $100 off the regular price.

Just a week after it first popped up on Amazon, the Nextbit Robin will be available on through the online retailer with a significant discount. From midnight PDT May 4 until May 10, Amazon.com has the device up for sale at $299, down from the regular $399 retail price. That’s the same as the original Kickstarter early adopter price for the minty, cloud-connected handset.

Last week the Nexbit Robin got a sizeable software update, with battery, camera and overall performance tweaks, as well as an overhauled camera UI and audio tuning from software firm Arkamys. So if you’ve been holding out, now’s a great time to splash out on one of the best niche handsets of the past year.

See Nextbit Robin on Amazon (Mint) See Nextbit Robin on Amazon (Midnight)

Nextbit Robin

• Nextbit Robin review
• Nextbit Robin unboxing
• Nextbit Robin specs
• Join the Nextbit Robin forums

See at Amazon

The Galaxy Note 6 could enable an awesome new Gear VR experience

The possibility of USB Type-C in the Galaxy Note 6 has huge implications for the next generation of Samsung’s Gear VR.

For all it’s done to act as a gateway drug for virtual reality, smartphone-based VR has been pretty crude thus far. Even the best mobile VR experience out there — Samsung’s Gear VR — involves fiddling with focus sliders before immersing yourself in a decidedly low-res world.

But that quaint, blurry experience may get a huge upgrade later this year. Reports have surfaced in recent days suggesting the Galaxy Note 6 will feature USB Type-C connectivity — and that presents some tantalizing possibilities for the next Gear VR.

Let’s take a closer look.

First of all, if Samsung goes USB-C in the Note 6 then it has to release a new Gear VR headset this year. The current headset uses good old-fashioned microUSB, as opposed to the newer reversible connector. And VR is so important to Samsung that launching a new high-end phone without a compatible Gear VR is basically unthinkable.

More: What you need to know about USB-C

It makes little sense to just recreate the current Gear VR with a different port and call it a day. Sure, that could happen. But in doing so, Samsung would miss a golden opportunity to take advantage of USB 3.1 — the standard that would likely accompany the new port. (We’ve already seen the latest USB 3.1 Gen1 spec implemented in one major Android phone, the HTC 10.)

USB Type-C in a Note + Gear combo would enable one crucial feature: Ultra HD video output.

Among the many features enabled by USB 3.1 is Ultra HD video output — sufficiently powerful USB 3.1-enabled hardware can easily push 4K video to a high-res monitor or TV. As for the phone doing the number crunching, UHD is no problem for the current crop of flagship processors either — Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 can output 4K at 60Hz, and Samsung’s Exynos 8890 marketing slides also boast of 4K support.

You can probably see where we’re going with this.

In building a Gear VR with USB-C connectivity — which it would have to do for a Type-C-enabled Note 6 — Samsung has the opportunity to create a new, premium VR product that relies not on the changeable, unreliable display density of whichever phone happens to be present, but new, higher-resolution integrated displays in the headset itself. The Note 6 might slot into this new Gear VR just like current models, but instead of using its own display to drive the experience Samsung could craft smaller, significantly higher-density panels around each eye. We’ve already seen this approach — though slightly differently executed — in LG’s 360 VR.

There’s one big advantage to this: Since you’re not relying on a smartphone screen to drive your VR headset, you’re no longer hobbled by the pixel density limits of phone screens. It’s impractical to use a 800-plus pixel-per-inch display in a phone — as proved by Sony’s 4K-resolution Xperia Z5 Premium, which hilariously upscales most content from 1080p. Integrated displays in the next Gear VR would mean Samsung could continue using 2K panels in its high-end phones — a resolution which actually makes sense in a handheld device — while using its considerable OLED display might to craft even more pixel-dense panels for the next Gear VR.

A resolution bump would be the most meaningful upgrade Samsung could give the Gear VR.

This makes way more sense than pushing all the way to a 4K panel in the next Note (or for the sake of argument, the one after that) just for the VR benefits. (Not least when you consider that nowhere near the full panel size is actually used by the Gear VR.)

Doing so would represent the most meaningful upgrade possible for smartphone-based VR, assuming Samsung Display is currently capable of pushing past the ~600ppi boundary we’re seeing in modern phone displays.

But there are a few inevitable compromises. A higher resolution doesn’t guarantee all content will automatically look better. Right now most games on the Gear VR are rendered at 1024×1024 per eye, then stretched to fit the viewport size. So content would need to be re-tooled to take advantage of ultra-dense integrated displays. And this new premium Gear VR would certainly be much more expensive than the current model. Integrated displays could easily push the cost of the headset north of $200. And the cost could make this more immersive, more detailed VR experience less accessible to casual consumers.

Regardless, Samsung has all the parts at its disposal for an amazing new mobile VR experience. And if the Note 6 does pack USB-C support, it’s going to be really interesting to see how Samsung moves things forward.

What would you like to see in a next-gen Gear VR? Hit the comments and let us know!

Samsung Gear VR

• Gear VR review
• Five Gear VR games that shouldn’t be missed
• Inside Samsung’s Gear VR web browser
• Gear VR vs. Google Cardboard
• Where to buy Gear VR

Amazon
AT&T
Best Buy
Samsung

Nova Launcher’s latest customization tweaks include Android N-style folders, night mode

Nova Launcher, one of the more popular choices when it comes to launcher replacements, has received an update that brings a couple of interesting new customization options. For those who find the new app folder style in Android N attractive, Nova Launcher will now let you change the look of your folders to match. The update also includes a new “night mode” option that darkens the settings, app drawer and search bar to help prevent late-night eye strain.

Here’s the full rundown of what’s new in Nova Launcher 4.3:

• Night Mode
• Android N Folder Preview style
• Improved search bar configuration
• Bug fixes

If you’re eager to give night mode or the new folder styles a shot, you can grab the latest version of Nova Launcher on Google Play now.

Telus promises 99% LTE coverage in Ontario and Alberta by end of 2016

Telus has announced that it plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into its wireless networks in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta this year.

As part of its staged infrastructure investment rollout across the country, the company says that by the end of 2016 it plans to cover 99% of Alberta and Ontario, and 98% of British Columbia, with LTE signal.

Nearly $400 million of that investment will go to the Greater Vancouver area, filling in coverage gaps along popular highways, such as Highway 16 between Prince Rupert and Prince George. According to a press release issued today, the improvements are part of an agreement between Telus and the BC government, which sees the telco obliged to connect the province’s population to high-speed wireless and fiber optic networks in rural areas.

Telus co-owns a wireless network with Bell, which yesterday announced it would purchase Manitoba Telecom Services for $3.9 billion.

Everything you need to know about 4G LTE in Canada

The science of wireless

It’s pretty well understood that 4G LTE is faster than 3G. Millions of Canadians have upgraded from phones that used to operate on 3G, or third-generation wireless networks, to LTE, which is considered the fourth generation.

In addition to faster data speeds, LTE improves upon previous generations in a number of ways, including spectrum efficiency, latency, cost of deployment, and more.

What is 4G LTE?

In Canada, LTE has rolled out to nearly every carrier operating across the country (with the exception of Wind Mobile, but we’ll come to that). When referring to LTE, we’re referring to the type of signal that connects the phone in your pocket to the tower operated by your cellphone provider. Both of those pieces need to be in play for you to receive ultra-fast LTE speeds; if your smartphone supports LTE but you’re in a part of Canada where the cell towers have not yet been upgraded to LTE, you’ll likely see the symbol change to H+ near the top right of your phone, which denotes that you’ve dropped down to 3G speeds.

In Canada, LTE has rolled out to nearly every carrier operating across the country… with one major exception.

Practically every phone sold on the Canadian market today supports LTE in some form. When connecting to your phone provider’s towers, the network provider (Rogers, Telus, Bell) tells your phone that it wants to connect on a particular frequency, or band, which transmits the wireless signal on particular wavelength. You may have heard some people use terms like “AWS” or “700Mhz”, both of which refer to particular frequencies and bands that Canadian smartphones connect to. (While they’re technically different, I’m going to use the term “band” and “frequency” interchangeably in this explainer. A band is merely a combination of frequencies, determined by the 3GPP, a body that standardizes radio frequency combinations throughout the world.)

While it’s not particularly important to know the specifics of each band, most smartphones don’t just connect on one: they use a combination of low (700Mhz) and high (AWS, or 1700/2100Mhz)) to ensure that they can glean the most coverage and speed throughout the day, depending on your location. Generally, the lower the frequency, the longer that signal can travel, but at a slower speed; the higher the frequency, the greater the potential throughput, but at an expense of distance and penetration.

Which bands do Canadian carriers use?

Nearly every Canadian carrier uses a combination of different bands to achieve consistently good LTE performance.

The four main LTE bands in use in Canada right now are:

• Band 12/17 (700Mhz)
• Band 13 (700Mhz)
• Band 4 (1700/2100Mhz)
• Band 7 (2500/2600Mhz)

Some carriers, such as Bell and Telus, have refarmed part of their aging 3G networks for the purposes of LTE transmission, which include:

• Band 5 (850Mhz)
• Band 2 (1900Mhz)

Other carriers, such as Bell and Telus, use small amounts of other frequencies, such as Band 29, just for downloads, so Canadians can get their video with no buffering.

Here’s how the main three Canadian network providers stand when it comes to LTE:

Just how much spectrum?

Every carrier wants more spectrum. That’s the takeaway from half a dozen government-run spectrum auctions and dozens of regulatory-scrutinized exchanges over the past few years. Acquisitions, such as Telus’s purchase of Public Mobile, Rogers’ pursuit of Mobilicity, and Shaw’s blockbuster bid for Wind Mobile had more to do with spectrum than the value of their cumulative client base.

While the story of Canada’s spectrum is longer than this article, know this: until 2008, when the government set aside a certain amount of AWS spectrum for what would become Mobilicity, Wind Mobile, Videotron, Public Mobile and Eastlink, almost all of the country’s wireless waves were controlled by Rogers, Bell and Telus.

Today, that is still the case (and, increasingly with consolidation, returning to those heady days of the mid-2000s), but the Canadian government has committed to ensuring a fourth competitor in each retail wireless market.

The Canadian government has committed to ensuring a fourth competitor in each retail wireless market.

Since that AWS auction, the government has auctioned off airwaves in three additional key bands: 700Mhz; 2500Mhz; and AWS-3. The two former frequencies are largely already deployed, increasing LTE capacity in the high and low end.

The latter, AWS-3, has yet to be deployed anywhere in Canada, and it is the one band, Band 66, on which much of the country’s wireless future rests. That is because when the government auctioned it, it set aside a large portion for Wind to scoop up a bargain-basement prices. When Shaw purchased Wind late last year, it snuck into the spectrum party without much investment. (Though the sticklers will surely point out that Shaw purchased a large swath of spectrum during the original 2008 AWS auction, and ended up selling it to Rogers in 2013 after deciding not to enter the wireless market on its own. Yes, confusing!)

Suffice it to say, Rogers, Bell and Telus cumulatively hold many hundreds of megahertz of spectrum, both “legacy” — Band 2 (1900Mhz) and Band 5 (850Mhz) — and “modern” (AWS, 700Mhz, 2500, AWS-3). But because they hold some 90% of the wireless market share, they are always looking to acquire more, both in anticipation of future demand, and present constraints.

Back when Telus and Bell were building their respective LTE networks, they decided to continue a network and tower-sharing agreement established during their time as nascent HSPA+ 3G operators. Competing against Rogers, which was the only GSM-based provider for much of the 2000’s, Bell and Telus essentially split the country in two, building a nationwide network with Telus taking the brunt of the infrastructure costs in the West, and Bell in the East. That stands to this day, though the specifics are highly confidential. But when one refers to nationwide LTE networks, there are two: Rogers, and Bell / Telus.

Talking LTE-Advanced

While the definition of LTE-Advanced is more than a little bit fluid, according to the 3GPP standards body, the specification focuses on higher capacity, mainly through carrier aggregation, multiple antenna devices (MIMO), and relay nodes.

Most Canadian carriers support LTE-Advanced in one way or another. Whereas the earliest LTE releases limited speeds to between 75Mbps and 100Mbps, LTE-Advanced utilizes a number of improvements in Release 10 and 11 of the LTE standard to reach speeds approaching 1Gbps.

Category 6 and Category 9 LTE

The baseline speeds for LTE-Advanced were achieved with between 15 and 20Mhz of deployed spectrum, compared to between 5 and 10Mhz for regular LTE.

Most network providers want to gain as much so-called contiguous spectrum as possible — that is, blocks of 5 or 10Mhz that are right next to one another, so they can form singular large blocks of up to 20Mhz at one time. The wider a channel, the faster that connection can perform; current smartphones, under the latest Category 6 LTE specification, can achieve speeds of up to 300Mbps with the right combination. But the most recent devices, like the Samsung Galaxy S7, can access Category 9 LTE, which is capable of speeds up to 450Mbps using tri-carrier aggregation (see below).

The problem with contiguous spectrum is that it is relatively uncommon, especially in Canada. While Rogers does own large swaths of contiguous AWS and 2500Mhz spectrum, Bell and Telus have been forced to use another method to achieve LTE-Advanced speeds.

Carrier Aggregation

Today, most carriers achieve incredibly high LTE speeds using carrier aggregation. Think of carrier aggregation as a bowl that is trying to fill with candy as quickly as possible. If you only have one pair of hands digging into the candy packet, it can only gain so quickly. But with three pairs of hands, each dipping into the packet at varying times and speeds, the bowl can be filled in no time.

At its core, carrier aggregation combines spectrum from various frequencies. In Canada, most carriers achieve high LTE speeds with dual-carrier aggregation, which combines two frequencies, normally one high and one low. A common combination is 700Mhz and AWS, used most often by Rogers.

But Bell and Telus have achieved triple carrier aggregation, which combines three channels. The most common combination that I’ve experienced is Band 2 (1900Mhz), Band 4 (AWS) and Band 17 (700Mhz). Combining 20Mhz, 10Mhz, and 15Mhz of the aforementioned bands gives us 45Mhz to work with, resulting in potential download speeds of 335Mbps.

VoLTE

At its core, VoLTE, or Voice over LTE, moves the voice call from slower, lower-bandwidth 3G networks to the same IP-based network used to transmit data. This results in much better voice quality with less compression; faster call connections, from seven seconds to under two; and the ability to retain an LTE connection while on a call, for faster browsing. The standard also supports video calls, though very few phones actually have that native ability.

Of all the Canadian networks, Rogers, Bell and Telus have rolled out Voice Over LTE to some extent, with an expanding footprint and device portfolio every few months. Because Rogers began its rollout first, it currently has the highest number of supported devices.

The future of LTE in Canada

Canadian carriers have traditionally been early adopters of new wireless technology, such as LTE-Advanced and VoLTE. While Rogers, Telus and Bell claim that their LTE networks are approaching the 97-plus percent coverage of their existing 3G HSPA+ networks, there is one company many Canadians are hoping will bring down the cost of monthly cellphone ownership, that has yet to launch its LTE network.

Wind Mobile, which is now owned by Shaw Communications, plans to launch an LTE network in late 2016 or early 2017, pending the availability of devices supporting the burgeoning AWS-3 specification. Unified under Band 66, AWS-3 and AWS-1 will co-exist on future smartphones and tablets, but until those devices hit the market, Wind Mobile can’t realistically make an impact.

At that time, Wind will begin refarming some of its AWS-1 spectrum, which at the moment exclusively broadcasts 3G signal, to LTE, allowing existing devices to connect.

In the interim, Rogers, Bell and Telus will continue trying to convince Canadians that higher prices are justified for the consistent quality, speed, and coverage they receive. Regional providers, such as Videotron, Eastlink, SaskTel and others, will focus on their limited coverage areas while working with national incumbents to mimic national networks through reciprocal roaming agreements.

Questions about LTE in Canada? Leave them in the comments and we’ll get to them in a future column.

Battleborn Tap mobile title lets you take rewards back to the main game

Gearbox Software and 2K Games have released Battleborn Tap, a free-to-play game that offers players rewards for the just launched Battleborn MOBA shooter on the PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Battleborn Tap allows players to control a squad of heroes on an alien planet so they can defeat waves of enemies. Here’s a look at its main features:

• Unlock, hire, and command your heroes to dominate the field of battle
• Collect loot by defeating waves of enemies to earn new gear and abilities
• Upgrade your heroes’ stats and active abilities
• Collect gear from 5 different rarities to boost your hero’s capabilities
• Earn in-game achievements to collect special rewards
• Unlock exclusive rewards for Battleborn on PS4/Xbox One/PC

People who download Battleborn Tap and link it with their SHiFT account from Gearbox will be able to unlock the Gold Orendi skin in the PC and console version of Battleborn. You can download Battleborn Tap right now in the Google Play Store.

The Rock’s new motivational alarm app will help you crush your day

Have you ever wished you could wake up to the smell of whatever The Rock is cookin’? Well, while it doesn’t contain any smells, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new alarm app can bring you one step closer to that dream.

Called The Rock Clock, the free alarm app is billed as a “motivational alarm clock from Project Rock.” To help you cut down on excuses and stay motivated, the app lets you set goals that will are intended to keep you on track. And if that doesn’t work, you can look forward to new messages from The Rock every morning to kick your butt into gear. Oh, and there is no snooze button, so don’t even think about it.

As if that weren’t enough, the app also includes 25 ringtones created by The Rock himself. And yes, they do get ridiculous (think The Rock personally serenading you to guitar-laden tunes). To top things off, you can even set yourself to “Rock Time,” which will sync your alarm with The Rock’s own so you can wake up together.

If you’re smellin’ what The Rock is cookin’, you can go ahead and grab the app on Google Play now.

Marshmallow’s share jumps to 7.5% in latest Android distribution numbers

Google has released its latest update to the distribution numbers for each version of Android, with data that was collected on May 2. According to the latest numbers, Marshmallow’s share saw a notable jump up from 4.6% in April to 7.5% in May.

Google’s data shows the previous Android version, Lollipop, went down slightly from 35.8% in April to 35.6% in May, but it remains as the version of Android with the most installs.

KitKat went down from 33.4% in April to 32.5% in May. Jelly Bean went down from 21.3% to 20.1% in the same period, while Ice Cream Sandwich dropped from 2.2% to 2.0%. Gingerbread went down from 2.6 to 2.2%. Finally, Froyo is still hanging on by a thread, totaling just 0.1% of all Android devices.