Spotify Replaces Hamburger Menu With Navigation Bar on iPhone

As a few users have noticed over the past day, Spotify has begun rolling out a small but significant design change to its iOS app that does away with the hamburger menu and replaces it with an easier-to-understand navigation bar across the bottom of the experience. The new bar more closely resembles the rest of the apps in Apple’s ecosystem, particularly the navigation menu on its own streaming music service, Apple Music, which is now rumored for a design overhaul announcement at WWDC.

Before the update, Spotify users had to tap on the three-line hamburger button in the top-left corner of the app to open up a launch pad menu that would bring them to other sections of the service like its radio and music library. Hiding much-needed areas of Spotify from the immediate view of its users made it somewhat of a hassle, especially for newcomers, so the introduction of the straightforward traversal cues presented by the navigation bar should help everyone out.

Specifically, the new bar houses tabs for Spotify’s Home launching pad, an area to browse new music, a search function, access to radio, and your own library of music. Understandably, some in-house testing by Spotify discovered that with the tab bar, user interactivity with these menu options jumped up 30 percent over the hamburger UI, while also encouraging new music and artist discovery and keeping users inside the service instead of seeking alternative solutions in other music streaming apps.

iPhone users in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Sweden will begin seeing the navigation bar update as the rollout continues today, with the company promising additional markets and platforms in the coming months. Spotify Music is available to download from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

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Kohl’s Becomes First Retailer to Support Store Payments and Rewards With One Tap in Apple Pay

Kohl’s has announced that customers can now pay for their purchases with Kohl’s Charge store-branded credit cards and simultaneously earn Yes2You Rewards loyalty points with a single tap using Apple Pay.

The combined functionality is currently available in approximately 250 Kohl’s stores in the United States, and the department store chain expects one-tap checkout to be available in all stores nationwide later this month.

Kohl’s is the first retailer to offer a one-tap solution for payments and rewards using Apple Pay. Customers can simply add both their Kohl’s Charge and Yes2You Rewards cards to Apple Pay and simultaneously pay and collect loyalty points upon checkout with one Touch ID tap for verification.

Kohl’s has supported Apple Pay since June 2015, and last October it became the first retailer to allow store-branded cards to be used with the iPhone-based contactless payments service. JCPenney is also rolling out store card support.

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple Pay is “growing at a tremendous rate,” with transaction volume up five times compared to a year ago and the service gaining one million new users per week. Apple Pay is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, China, and Singapore.

Cook noted that Apple Pay will launch in additional regions “soon,” including Hong Kong and Spain through a partnership with American Express later this year. Visa and/or MasterCard support may also be coming soon in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Micromax’s Yu aiming to ‘redefine flagships’ with its upcoming phone

Micromax’s Yu Televentures has failed to make a mark in the Indian market, but the vendor is once again trying to drum up excitement for its upcoming phone with a new teaser on YouTube. The clip shows CEO Rahul Sharma breaking a model ship with a hammer in a move that’s meant to signify how its upcoming phone will “redefine flagships.”

Sharma also took to Yu’s official forums to share more details about the phone:

Post the YUTOPIA launch, we have been working at a different clock speed and momentum to break all that’s conventional and boring.

Excited to tell you all that our next device is round the corner and its nothing short of Incredible. It’s insanely beautiful and it will break some hearts. It will break records, it will break the conventional, it will break the rules…WAIT, it will break the flagships.

All we know for now is that the phone will make its debut later this month. We’ll have more to share once we have additional details.

Nextbit Robin is now up for grabs for $299 at Amazon

Nextbit Robin is now available from Amazon for $299, a $100 discount off of the phone’s $399 retail price. The discount is valid on both the Mint and Midnight color variants of the phone, and is valid until May 10.

The Robin picked up a sizeable update last week, bringing Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow along with tweaks to the camera, battery life, and overall performance of the phone.

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

HTC 10 pre-orders are now starting to ship from Verizon

The HTC 10 is now being shipped out by Verizon. Some of those who placed pre-orders for the latest flagship from the carrier have been alerted to their order being sent out by courier. Verizon previously stated that orders would hit consumers on May 5, so these reports slot in comfortably with company plans.

Has your order been shipped too? Let us know in the comments!

Where to buy the HTC 10 in the U.S.

Marshmallow update hitting Xperia Z2, Z3, Z3 Compact, and Z2 Tablet in India

Sony is rolling out the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update to a slew of phones in India, with the Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3, and Xperia Z3 Compact receiving the update. The Xperia Z2 Tablet is also picking up the OTA update, which is now going out to consumers in the country.

In addition to Doze power-saving mode and Now on Tap, the update brings the following:

• Enhanced privacy settings: Manage and control your application data permissions
• All new camera interface: Switch between modes and customise settings with simple gestures
• Xperia Messaging: Express yourself and get creative with easy in-app access to Stickers
• Direct Share: Share activity with friends, recent contacts and app lists

If you’re using any of the aforementioned devices in India, now would be a good time to check for updates.

Lenovo Z1 will make its way to India on May 10

Lenovo has announced that it will launch the ZUK Z1 in India on May 10. From the image below, the phone will feature Lenovo’s branding, followed by a “powered by ZUK” moniker.

From Facebook:

The Lenovo Z1 runs Cyanogen OS, making it the first device to offer the popular ROM since Micromax’s Yu signed an exclusive deal with the vendor back in November 2014. The exclusivity agreement has ended, paving the way for other phones with Cyanogen OS to make their way into the country.

As for what’s on offer, the Lenovo Z1 features a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 64GB internal memory, 13MP camera, 8MP front camera, LTE, Bluetooth 4.1, and a 4100mAh battery with fast charging. There’s also a fingerprint scanner at the back of the phone.

Given the specs on offer, it is likely the phone will be targeted at the budget segment. We’ll know more next week.

Now TV Kids Pass coming to give children their shows in the one place

Now TV will soon add an all-new subscription offering and it’s just for children.

From 21 June, you will be able to pay £2.99 a month for a Now TV Kids Pass. It will give access to six live TV channels and all the box sets and catch up content to view on demand from Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, NickToons, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Cartoonito, CBeebies, CBBC and Channel 5’s Milkshake.

The dedicated section of the Now TV user interface will be designed specially for kids. It will have a space-theme, featuring new characters Dixie, Norbert and Jessie, who help guide children through the experience.

Navigation will be more picture-led, there will be immediate access to favourites, next episodes will auto-play and there will be plenty of parental controls to set, especially on the smartphone and tablet apps.

READ: Now TV Box (2015) vs Now TV Box vs Roku 2: What’s the difference?

Shows like Adventure Time, Spongebob Squarepants, Paw Patrol and the all-new series of Morph Sky is making will be available on the service.

One downside will be that Nickelodeon, Nick Jr and The Disney Channel will no longer be available as part of the Now TV Entertainment Pass.

They are currently available as part of the £6.99 subscription but will be switched onto the Kids Pass instead. You will therefore have to pay an extra £2.99 a month from 21 June if you still want to access them. That said, you do get so much more besides for the extra outlay.

Neo Geo Wild has also been added to the Entertainment Pass as an extra channel from today.

At internetmatters.org parents can find all the advice they will need to keep their children safe online. Designed specifically for parents, the site offers a wealth of up-to-date, unbiased information and advice about how to deal with online safety. Parents can learn about the latest issues and technologies, get great tips on how to talk about online safety with their children and get the best advice on dealing with issues and taking action. Created with experts, Internet Matters provides detailed information, but also signposts to best-in-class resources from individual expert organisations. Our goal is to ensure parents can always access the information that they need, in a format that is clear and concise.

Best juicers to buy in 2016: Make being healthy easy

The point of a juicer isn’t just to cram you full of healthy vitamins and minerals to make you feel and look better. It’s to make you feel like the king of nature, able to reduce mighty fruit to mere mush in minutes. We say mere mush – we mean nectar of the gods that will make you wonder how you ever lived without a juicer.

Juicers allow you to ingest more fruit and veg than would be possible eating them. The payoff is a bit less fibre but for all those extra vitamins it’s surely worth it. 

There are generally two main type of juicer. Centrifugal use a spinning disc and filters to create the smoothest juice fast and masticating juicers are slower but arguably easier to clean with more juice attained from the fruit and veg.

Here are the best of each that the internet has to offer right now.

Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain

$150, breville.co.uk

Breville has been a big name in the kitchen for decades and its latest juicers do it proud. The JE98XL is an 850-watt powerhouse that has dual speed options and can handle larger fruit and veg thanks to a 3-inch feeder tube. 

The parts are dishwasher safe, including the one litre juice jug and the large capacity pulp collector. All that and there’s a one year warranty too.

Philips

Philips Viva Collection Juicer

£85, philips.co.uk

This top-loading (centrifugal) juicer (as shown above) has a big enough feeding tube (75mm) to let you chuck in whole fruits, produces two-litres of juice and is easy to clean.

After the 700w motor makes short work of whole apples and oranges, for example, Philips claims the QuickClean tech means your juicer will be clean in a minute. This is thanks to an electropolished sieve, all the pulp being collected in one place, and the parts being machine washable. And the mixing chamber is clear so you can watch the magic happen.

Sage Nutri Juicer

£150, sageapplicance.co.uk

This centrifugal juicer, sponsored by Heston Blumenthal, gets 70 per cent of the vitamins and minerals from fruit, quickly.

The huge feeding tube lets you change an apple from solid to juice in just two seconds – the kind of speed you would expect from Sage, which invented the first whole-fruit juicer. The titanium reinforced Nutri Disc should stay sharp for longer, even when running at the powerful 1200w setting. The only downside is a one-litre capacity, but with a froth separator and three-litre pulp tray we’re not complaining.

Lequip

L’Equip Omni Juicer

£180, ukjuicers.com

This is a masticating juicer. That means it takes longer to juice but produces less oxygen and heat so the nutritional value of your glassful is greater in the end.

The Omni Juicer is particularly good for those who want to juice a wider range of fruit and veg that centrifugal juicers can’t handle. The L’Equip Omni exerts a crushing force on fruit and veg in three progressive stages to maximise nutrient extraction from deep within the fibres and cell membranes of the plant material you are processing. Ideal for things like wheatgrass and green leaf vegetables that you’re not likely to eat without a juicer.

Super Angel

Super Angel Juicer

The Super Angel Juciers, which come in varying levels to suit different budgets, are all about quality. The stainless steel design not only looks good but offers a low 82rpm juicing speed to optimise enzyme and nutrient retention by avoiding getting too hot.

The system works in three stages: one is to crush the fruit and veg, two and three grind and process it to a dry pulp for maximum extraction. And there’s a 10 year warranty so you should be able to use it worry free.

The Super Angel Juicer range starts at $1,150.

Omega

Omega 9000 Centrifugal Juicer

£200, omegajuicers.com

Aside from sounding like a killer robot, the Omega 900 is also special because of its treatment of pulp.

Rather than ship it off to another compartment like most juicers do, this keeps it in the centrifuge basket making sure to extract every drop of nutrient and flavour. It will take a bit longer but the end result will be a tastier, healthier juice.

Andrew James

Andrew James Red Smoothie Maker

£28, amazon.co.uk

For a low priced option this is a do-it-all gadget.

The Smoothie Maker comes with four different attachments for multiple functions including: smoothie maker, blender, grinder and centrifugal juicer. With a one-litre capacity and two speed settings it really offers a lot for the price.

READ: The best GoPro photos in the world, prepare to lose your breath

Blackberry BBM video calling comes to Android and iOS

There are lots of ways to make video calls, including Skype, Hangouts and Facebook Messenger. But if you’re still wedded to BlackBerry’s rapidly declining ecosystem, you can make video calls to your Android and iOS pals via beta versions of the BBM messaging app for those platforms. There is no sign-up, fee or approval required for the feature, but it will only be in Canada and the US for now, ostensibly to shake out any beta bugs. However, BlackBerry says the feature will roll out globally in July.

BBM is one of the few BlackBerry apps that a lot of folks still use, though its secure reputation took a hit with reports that the RCMP had unfettered access to user data. Recently, the Canadian company made several privacy features free on the app, including a Snapchat-like timer and the ability to retract messages. Blackberry has its own Android device now, of course, so, it makes a lot of sense to keep the Android and iOS versions current with the BlackBerry 10 version. While folks have been able to text across platforms since 2013, BBM users on BlackBerry 10 — who’ve had video for quite a while — can finally see who they’re talking to.

Via: Venture Beat

Source: BlackBerry