Florida man fined $48k for jamming cellphones while driving
The Florida man who stashed a high-powered phone jammer under the passenger seat of his Toyota Highlander has been fined a cool $48,000 for disrupting cellular service on his daily commute to Tampa. According to the FCC’s order to pay up, driver Jason Humphreys “caused actual interference to cellular service along a significant portion of Interstate 4, and disrupted police and other emergency communications.”
When he was busted in 2014, FCC agents and police had actually been tracking Humphreys for several days trying to pinpoint the source of the moving cell service deadzone. Humphreys, for his part, told authorities he was “fed up with watching cell phone usage while people were driving.” Despite his best intentions, Florida doesn’t actually have a ban on cell phone usage while driving, only texting. The FCC does, however, have some pretty strict regulations when it comes to messing with emergency workers and their ability to communicate.
As for the cell phone jamming devices themselves, the FCC doesn’t take kindly to those either. The agency recently fined Chinese company CTS Technology Co. just shy of $35 million for marketing 285 different models of signal jammers.
SoundCloud Go is available to creators for $2 a month
When SoundCloud’s long-rumored streaming service launched in March, the same rate applied to all users. The audio hosting site has been offering Pro plans to creators for quite some time, with the priciest Pro Unlimited tier including unlimited uploads, advanced stats and more for $15 a month. When SoundCloud Go arrived, there was no mention of a discount for paying customers. If they wanted access to the new tunes, they had to pay the $10 monthly fee.
Today, the company announced that Pro Unlimited subscribers would be able to add SoundCloud Go for $2 a month — an $8 discount. That rate applies to creators paying for the plan in the US, UK, Ireland, and France. However, there’s no mention of a reduced price for folks who are paying for the regular Pro plan that costs $7 a month. We’ve reached out to SoundCloud for more info and we’ll be sure to update this post when/if we here back.
Of course, upgrading to the Pro Unlimited account with the $2 Go add-on will cost the same per month as paying for the reduced plan and streaming service at full price. If you’re willing to pay 12 months in advance though, you can save a few more bucks.
Source: SoundCloud
Twitter reportedly disbands Commerce team behind its Buy button
A couple of years ago Twitter slid into commerce by enabling a “Buy” button that would let users flow directly into the purchase process from an ad. Now, according to a report by Buzzfeed, the company has “curtailed” development on the button, and for the team behind it, many have left the company, while others have been reassigned to work on customer service or dynamic product ads.
The “Buy Now” card is still active, and in a statement Twitter said it “made a change 3 months ago to INCREASE our investment in commerce by moving fully into Dynamic Product Ads.” Focusing on ads may do better for Twitter, but as mentioned in Fortune, the other question is how well commerce efforts are going at competitors like Facebook and Pinterest — which have so far been quiet about results from similar features.
Source: Buzzfeed
Pebble 2 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Pebble might not be the largest name in smartwatches, but it was one of the first brands in the category, and its watches still do things that others don’t: Always-on screens. Battery life that lasts about a week for most models. You can swim with them. They work equally well with Android phones and iPhones, but also work independently as fitness watches when the phones aren’t nearby. And, on average, they’re more affordable than most premium smartwatches.
Pebble’s new duo of watches arrives this fall, and while they look different, they still deliver all of those great features while adding heart rate monitoring to the mix. Combined with Pebble’s ever-improving fitness and sleep tracking, these could end up being the best everyday fitness tracker smartwatches we’ve seen yet…especially if you care about not having to charge your watch every day.
Pebble Time 2 (left), and the more affordable Pebble 2 (right): similar function, step-up design.
John Kim/CNET
The original Pebble, revamped
The Pebble 2 is a long-overdue reboot of the original plastic Pebble, adding many features that were in the Pebble Time that debuted last year. It’s got a black-and-white display, but it’s now covered in Gorilla Glass. It has a microphone for voice responses to messages, something that Time watches can do but the original Pebble couldn’t. It has optical heart rate monitoring. All it lacks is fancier looks and a color screen.
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Even with its pared-down plastic design, the Pebble 2 has sharp looks. It’s small, too: I tried both the black and white models on (it comes in five colors), and I loved the way it felt on my wrist. At $129 (that converts to about £90 or AU$180), or less if you preorder it via Pebble’s current Kickstarter campaign, it’s one of the most affordable smartwatches around. It will run Pebble’s current timeline-based OS, and will get all the software features on their way later this year, too.
Pebble 2 has a clean, basic design.
Scott Stein/CNET
CEO Eric Migicovsky doesn’t seem concerned about making Pebble a more feature-packed smartwatch as much as a more efficient watch, one that handles fitness tracking and notifications better while focusing on long battery life. His focus is on speed. “If you’re gonna spend more than 5 or 10 seconds on your watch, then you might as well take out your phone.”
That said, one nod to battery life is how the heart rate tracking is implemented. It passively monitors every ten minutes, and then switches to active monitoring during exercise. (It wasn’t clear if the shift happened automatically or needed to be toggled manually, because I didn’t get to test the prototypes I wore briefly.)
Two new OS features seem like welcome additions. Pop-up notifications will peek up below the watch face instead of taking over the whole screen, and a new Actions menu will pick quick tasks faster and assign roles to the Pebble’s buttons. Checking weather or calling an Uber should be faster, skipping app-opening completely.
Pebble Time 2: larger screen, similar look to Time Steel.
Scott Stein/CNET
Step-up Time 2 adds a larger color screen and steel
The more expensive Pebble Time 2, at $199 (that converts to about £135 or AU$275), is like the big brother of Pebble 2. It has the same functions, the onboard heart rate, plus longer battery life (10 vs 7 days) and a larger color screen (53% bigger than the current Pebble Time Steel). Otherwise, it looks exactly like the Time Steel, but at a lower price. It arrives this November, instead of the September debut of the Pebble 2.
The Pebble 2 and Time 2 are like a casual and premium version of the same watch. They work with the same magnetic Pebble Time charge cables, and are both compatible with future Pebble smart straps, should you choose to get one.
What about smart straps? Good question. Pebble’s promised that extra features could come via straps that connect to the Pebble’s data and power, and a few small projects have debuted so far. But Pebble’s not making its own smart straps. Not yet.
Could these be the perfect casual fitness watches we’ve been waiting for?
Pebble’s automatic fitness tracking software updates on its existing watches has gotten pretty good. With heart rate, these could be great. But these are modestly improved, enhanced Pebble watches. Not radically different watches. They lack touchscreens, and speakerphones. Some people might find that’s a very good thing.
But the smartwatch and fitness-tracker landscape has gotten a lot more competitive and a lot less forgiving. Later this year there will be a new wave of Android Wear watches, and possibly Apple and Samsung watch updates, too. The Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 might face the closest competition from Fitbit Blaze, a fitness watch that does some smart things too.
There’s no way to tell how Pebble will fare, but at least the watches are sticking to what works…and doing things a bit differently. It’s hard to tell if that will be enough, but I want to wear one.
Status Audio CB-1 review – CNET
The Good The Status Audio CB-1 headphones sound much better than their low price might suggest. Extra padding on the ear cups and headband give you all-day comfort. Removable coiled and straight cords included.
The Bad Though comfortable, the ergonomic ear pads don’t offer the best sound isolation. The generic design is, well, generic. No case is included. Their big size and lack of a cord with an in-line mic make them less attractive for mobile use.
The Bottom Line Those more interested in getting excellent audio quality for their money than high-end design or a big brand name will appreciate the Status Audio CB-1 over-the-ear headphones.
The Status Audio CB-1 headphones’ generic looks don’t do justice to their audio quality. Frankly, after not being overly impressed with the company’s HD2 premium over-the-ear consumer headphones, we almost passed on reviewing the CB-1s. That would have been a mistake.
True to the company’s claims, the closed-back, over-the-ear headphones sound flat or neutral, which is typically what you want for studio work. They’re well balanced, making them a good choice for listening to a wide variety of musical styles. Also, their neutrality allowed me to use them all day without fatigue. For their $79 cost (about £55 or AU$110), I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
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The Status Audio CB-1 over-ear headphones are comfortable and feature a rare lack of branding.
Sarah Tew/CNET
That said, if you’re used to consumer headphones that pump up bass or accentuate vocals, the CB-1s might sound dull. Similarly, the Audio-Technica M50x, one of our favorite monitor-style headphones, have brighter, more detailed audio with tighter bass. The CB-1s just don’t seem to seal out as much external noise as the M50x, either. Basically, in this category the M50xs are a better choice for the extra cost (they run about $120). If you don’t want to spend more, the CB-1s are a safe bet, and better than the comparably priced Audio-Technica M30x in sound and build quality.
There is no hint of company branding on the headphones, and although that’s completely intentional, it doesn’t help them look any less generic. They are comfortable, due in part to the hefty ear pads that are slimmer at the front and get wider at the back, so they hug the curve of your head. The headband is also well padded and I had no problem wearing these headphones hour after hour.
The left ear cup has the cable input and Status Audio includes a coiled cable and an extended-length straight cable as well as a 1/4-inch adapter (but sadly no storage case or bag). Just make sure you twist and lock the cable in place or you’ll likely get some static from not having a solid connection.
Unless you’re really looking for a flashier design or are willing to pay more, the Status Audio CB-1 headphones are a very good bargain.
Mophie Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 6/6S review – CNET
The Good The Mophie Juice Pack Plus more than doubles your iPhone’s battery life. An indicator light helps you keep tabs on power levels, and its burly plastic construction protects against drops.
The Bad The case is pricey and its matte finish attracts fingerprints.
The Bottom Line Mophie’s backup battery case remains one of the best in the biz, but it’s pricier than others, so consider it an investment.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
If your iPhone’s battery is running low and you don’t have your charger handy, a case with a built-in battery can be a blessing. This is especially true if a clunky external battery pack that you have to plug into your phone sounds cumbersome. One option is Mophie’s Juice Pack Plus, which has been around in one form or another for years. This particular model features a 3,300mAh battery inside its hard-shell case, which promises 120 percent more battery power.
At $119.95 and £109.95 (or about AU$167) the Mophie Juice Pack Plus is pricier than its competitors like Incipio, Trianium and Anker (which fall between $60-80). But it’s a good buy for the person who cares tremendously about effortlessly keeping the phone powered up and who doesn’t mind carrying extra bulk.
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A sliding toggle switch gets the case charging when your iPhone’s power starts to dip; indicator lights on the back of Mophie’s slide-on case help you keep tabs on how much power it has left. Since the Juice Pack Plus adds extra bulk, Mophie includes a short headphone jack extension in case your pair of headphones don’t fit.
There’s also a Micro-USB charging cable, which you use to charge the case. That means your iPhone’s eight-pin Lightning charger won’t work, which is a common case for third-party battery cases (if you’re adamant on using only one cable, Apple’s own battery case uses the Lightning port).
An indicator on the back shows how much juice the case has.
Josh Miller/CNET
It took about 50 minutes for the case to charge an empty iPhone 6 50 percent, and a little over 2 hours to fully charge, with a little power left over.
Pleasantly, the case didn’t obstruct the iPhone’s audio or silent toggle, though its matte coating attracted fingerprints and smears. If you don’t see yourself going through extra-long stretches without charging, you might be fine with a less expensive, lower-capacity charging case or small external power brick. But if you want a charger you don’t have to worry about, the Mophie Juice Pack Plus is a reliable option that will last you days.
Huawei Watch Jewel review
One of the more common complaints when it comes to smartwatches is their big, bulky, and often industrial design that sometimes looks out of place even on average-sized wrists, and seem to be catered exclusively towards men. While not the most compact smartwatch out there either, Huawei attempted to address some of these concerns last year with their Android Wear offering, the Huawei Watch, which featured a very elegant design, and one of the classiest we’ve seen thus far.
- Huawei Watch review
However, there was a market requirement that needed to be filled, and Huawei did just that, with the introduction of the Huawei Watch Elegant and Huawei Watch Jewel, first unveiled at CES earlier this year. While these devices will look great on anybody’s wrists, they were certainly designed with women in mind. Today, we’ll be taking a closer look at the latter, in this in-depth Huawei Watch Jewel review!
Buy the Huawei Watch Jewel now
Buy the Huawei Watch Elegant now
Unboxing
As was the case with the original Huawei Watch, the classy, elegant, and high-end experience that is on offer with the Huawei Watch Jewel starts not with the device itself, but the packaging as well. You get a beautiful unboxing experience with this smartwatch, with a stylish box that springs open to reveal the watch in all its glory, nestled within the soft, fuzzy, velvet interior, with the words, “timeless design, smart within,” printed at the top. Pulling up on the small gold handles, included to ease the struggle with lifting the internal cover, removes the encasing. Below this is where you will find the usual device documentation, the proprietary charging cable, the magnetic charging platform, and an AC wall plug.
Design
As mentioned, Huawei has released that two smartphones that have been designed to cater to women. The one we will be taking a closer look at in this review is the rose gold Huawei Watch Jewel, which gets its name from the 68 1.5 mm Swarovski Zirconia stones that border the display, while the other, the Huawei Watch Elegant, comes with a rose gold stainless steel body as well, but replaces the stones in favor of a knurled pattern ring around the screen.
As is the case with its namesake, the Huawei Watch Jewel comes with a round display, which is the direction more and more Android Wear device manufacturers are heading, allowing for a more traditional look and feel. The round display can make viewing some content a little bit difficult, but in terms of design, this is definitely the better option. The crown is positioned for easy access at the 2 o’ clock position, and while it does rotate, it only functions when pressing it. Pressing the crown turns the display on or off, and a long press will take you directly into the Settings menu.
There are a few options available when it comes to watch straps, with the standard version of the Jewel and Elegant coming with blue and white Italian leather straps respectively. However, this particular review unit features a white leather strap with a snakeskin pattern, that adds to the overall elegance of the watch. With a width of 18 mm, the band itself is thinner than the 21 mm strap that is available with the original, which not only puts a bigger emphasis on the watch itself, but allows for it to sit very comfortably on the wrist.
That said, the new designs mean the Huawei Watch Jewel body is actually larger than the original Huawei Watch, with the diameter increased to 44 mm from 42 mm, and the thickness bumped to 12.45 mm from 11.3 mm. The large size can take some getting used to, but actually adds to the elegance of the design by offering ample space for the larger number of stones. Yes, it’s certainly bigger but it’s not unbearable and considering the added stones and increased beauty, the larger design is not an issue.
This watch may be the rose gold version, but you don’t really see the pink hue that is usually associated with this color option. In fact, it looks much closer to the regular gold version, with a pink tinge appearing only when the body of the watch catches the light at the right angle.
The striking element of this design has to be the jewels, 68 1.5 mm Swarovski Zirconia stones, that are encrusted into the top ring. These stones don’t fail to sparkle regardless of what the lighting condition is, and will definitely catch the eye and turn heads. However, this ring around the frame sits high up and above the level of the display, which can make it a touch difficult to pull menus from the sides of the screen with your finger.
The Huawei Watch was already a stylish and flashy smartwatch to begin with, but the company takes things to a whole other level with the Watch Jewel. It may seem a little out of place in certain situations, and is difficult to pair with more casual attire. For example, the Watch Jewel will certainly stand out like a sore thumb if you are planning to wear it to the gym. That being said, the design is absolutely fantastic, and the rose gold version of the Huawei Watch Jewel is definitely one of the most flashy and luxurious smartwatches that is currently available in the Android Wear space.
Display
Apart from the design, everything else remains the same when comparing the Huawei Watch Jewel and its namesake. As such, the Watch Jewel also comes with a 1.4-inch AMOLED display, with a 400 x 400 resolution, and allows for one of the best smartwatch display experiences available right now.
Using an AMOLED display has its advantages, with it helping keep the watch from using too much power, given that for the majority of your day, the watch will be in an ambient mode, that utilizes a black background, with a white outline of your watch face. Not only does this look great, with the deep, inky blacks that are seen, but there is a lot of power saving here, with only around 10 percent of the display being lit.
The major gripe with the Huawei Watch is the lack of an ambient light sensor, which means that the brightness of the display has to manually be set by you. At the highest levels, it can be blindingly bright in low-light conditions, and will require a little more micromanagement than you’d like. The good news is that the brightness at the preset level proves to be good enough to allow for comfortable outdoor visibility.
Performance
As mentioned, things under the hood remain identical to the Huawei Watch. What you get here is a Snapdragon 400 processor, backed by 512 MB of RAM, which is the standard processing package as far as Android Wear devices are concerned. 4 GB of on-board storage is also available for those looking to locally store any data, like music. Android Wear isn’t very processor-intensive at all, and as such, the performance is as smooth and snappy as expected, with no notable performance issues found with the Watch Jewel.
The Watch Jewel comes with a 300 mAh battery, which stands up well to Huawei’s claims of the device allowing for 1.5 days of use. However, this does mean that you will find yourself having to at least top up the charge everyday. Included in the box is a magnetic charging platform, which isn’t the most elegant solution when it comes to charging your smartwatch. Although it is magnetic, you still have to make sure that the pins line up correctly before snapping it into place. It can be quite annoying to get this alignment right, and if you aren’t careful, you may end up with an uncharged watch the next day.
Software
The Huawei Watch Jewel is running Android Wear, and if you’ve ever used an Android Wear smartwatch before, you will be right at home with the software experience, given that it is identical across the board. Notifications are found in the form of cards, and you have the option to dismiss them, or swipe to the left to further interact with them. There’s a pull down menu for certain settings, and swiping to the left on the watch face brings up apps, contacts, and Google Now. It is a very streamlined and simple experience, and provides a great way to help avoid having to pull your phone out of your pocket every few minutes.
Android Wear can best be described as a notification center, and while Huawei as included their own Health suite, things remain largely the same. However, there are big exciting changes coming with Android Wear 2.0, which will take the Huawei Watch Jewel smartwatch experience to an entirely different level when it is released later this year.
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Pricing and final thoughts
The Huawei Watch Jewel is priced at $599.99, with the Elegant iteration without the Swarovski Zirconia stones available for $100 less.
So there you have it for this closer look at the Huawei Watch Jewel! Between the beautiful AMOLED display, and the elegant crystals that surround it, the Watch Jewel is in a class of its own. It is admittedly very flashy, which can be a turn off for some users, but some women will certainly appreciate that there is now a smartwatch available that was designed with them in mind.
- Huawei Watch Review
The Watch Jewel is also definitely on the higher side of the price spectrum, and if you are looking for something a little less showy, the Watch Elegant is priced at a 100 dollars cheaper. However, the new designs are certainly worth the price, and if you are in the market for a elegant, classy smartwatch, the Huawei Watch Jewel is one of the better options out there.
Buy the Huawei Watch Jewel now
Buy the Huawei Watch Elegant now
Apple reportedly looks into making electric car charging stations
Any electric car maker worth its salt knows that their vehicles are only as good as the charging stations that keep them running… and that includes Apple, apparently. Reuters sources understand that Apple is asking charging station manufacturers about their technology for the sake of its oft-rumored electric car project. It’s not certain how deep the talks go or who’s involved (the companies certainly aren’t talking). However, NRG Energy issued a vague response noting that it’s talking to “every potential manufacturer of tomorrow.” We wouldn’t rule it out, then.
There’s more evidence than that. An unnamed worldwide engineering company has already offered to help Apple build charging stations, Reuters says. Meanwhile, Apple has publicly hired EV charging experts from BMW, Georgia Tech and Google.
If true, the approach is a logical fit for Apple. Part of Tesla’s success in EVs comes from its willingness to build a network of high-speed charging stations — you’re more likely to buy a Model S if you know that you can drive it long distances without spending hours waiting for a recharge. Apple may need that same kind of reassurance. And let’s not forget that Apple’s strategy revolves around controlling as much of the experience as possible. It only makes sense that the company would want optimized charging stations instead of leaving drivers to use generic stations that might not work as effectively.
Source: Reuters
Magic Leap partners with messaging startup Twilio
We still don’t know all that much about super-secret mixed-reality startup Magic Leap. But today we learned that it will be partnering with communications company Twilio to make chatting with holographic-looking versions of your friends and family eventually happen.
Twilio CEO, Jeff Lawson was joined onstage via telepresence robot by Magic Leap CEO, Rony Abovitz who said that the companies will be “working to integrate what I think are amazing services and components for communication.” The two companies also announced that 10 lucky developer teams in the Twilio community will have a chance to build for the mixed-reality hardware via an SDK.
The companies and developers will have to deal with some pretty expectations. For example, while addressing the Twilio Signal conference audience, Abovitz talked about an image that shows a mother virtually wishing her child a happy birthday. He said it’s “almost like the spiritual essence of your mom is there. You can look her in the eye. You’re talking in real time. This is absolutely the kind of thing we’re going to be enabling at Magic Leap.”
Of course like the actual release date of the yet-to-be-seen-by-the-public device, there’s no word on when these developers will get to see Magic Leap. When asked by Lawson if device would be available to show off at next year’s Signal conference Abovitz grinned and used both hands to switch between a thumbs up and thumbs down.
Netflix’s ‘BoJack Horseman’ returns on July 22
Netflix’s BoJack Horseman rides again for a third season on July 22, the streaming service announced today. The animated series, which stars Will Arnett as a talking horse, has garnered a surprising amount of critical acclaim over its first two seasons. Naturally, that’s something BoJack ends up making fun of in the teaser trailer below. On the surface it’s simply funny and crude like so many mature animated shows these days, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find a surprisingly deep reflection on relationships and depression. Just don’t ask why animals and humans are sleeping together.
AIVAnet 