What’s on your HDTV: ‘Battleborn,’ ‘Marseille’

This week Netflix premieres its first French original production with Marseille, starring Gérard Depardieu in a political drama. For gamers, the week’s biggest release is Gearbox Software’s Battleborn, aka the game that definitely is not Overwatch (which, coincidentally, just allowed early access to its open beta) and has an episodic plan for its single player mode. Meanwhile the Xbox One and PS4 swap exclusives as Superhot and Shadow Complex Remastered make their respective platform debuts. The Good Wife is ready to call it a series, and Netflix has season two of Grace and Frankie. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

• Independence Day (20th Anniversary Edition)
• Top Gun (30th Anniversary Edition)
• The Choice
• Joy (4K)
• The 5th Wave (4K)
• True Crime
• Easy Rider
• The Last Ship (S2)
• Battleborn (PC, PS4 & Xbox One)
• SUPERHOT (Xbox One)
• Shadow Complex Remastered (PS4, PC)

Monday

• Mike & Molly, CBS, 8 & 8:30PM
• Reign, CW, 8PM
• Gotham, Fox, 8PM
• Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
• American Dad, TBS, 8:30PM
• Houdini & Doyle (series premiere), Fox, 9PM
• Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, HBO, 9PM
• 12 Monkeys, Syfy, 9PM
• Bates Motel, A&E, 9PM
• The Odd Couple, CBS, 9:30PM
• Turn, A&E, 10PM
• Hunters, Syfy, 10PM
• NCIS: LA (season finale), CBS, 10PM
• Damien, A&E, 10PM
• Blindspot, NBC, 10PM

Tuesday

• The Mindy Project, Hulu, 3AM
• New Girl, Fox, 8 & 9PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8PM
• The Flash, CW, 8PM
• Grandfathered, Fox, 8:30PM
• Real O’Neals, ABC, 8:30PM
• Containment, CW, 9PM
• Deadliest Catch, Discovery, 9PM
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC, 9PM
• Chicago Med, NBC, 9PM
• America’s Greatest Makers, TBS, 9PM
• The Grinder, Fox, 9:30PM
• Person of Interest (season premiere), CBS, 10PM
• The Night Manager, AMC, 10PM
• Stitchers, Freeform, 10PM
• Awkward, MTV, 10PM
• Chicago Fire, NBC, 10PM
• Beyond the Tank, ABC, 10PM
• Faking It, MTV, 10:30PM

Wednesday

• The Path, Hulu, 3AM
• Survivor, CBS, 8PM
• Rosewood, Fox, 8PM
• Heartbeat, NBC, 8PM
• Arrow, CW, 8PM
• The Goldbergs, ABC, 8:30PM
• Maron (season premiere), IFC, 9PM
• Catfish, MTV, 9PM
• Empire, Fox, 9PM
• Criminal Minds (season finale), CBS, 9PM
• Rogue, DirecTV, 9PM
• Supernatural, CW, 9PM
• Black-ish, ABC, 9:30PM
• The Real World/Road Rules Challenge (season premiere), MTV, 10PM
• The Americans, FX, 10PM
• The Last Panthers, Sundance, 10PM
• Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, CBS, 10PM
• Nashville, ABC, 10PM
• Underground, WGN, 10PM

Thursday

• Marseille (S1), Netflix, 3AM
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 8PM
• The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8PM
• Strong, NBC, 8PM
• Bones, Fox, 8PM
• WWE SmackDown, USA, 8PM
• DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, CW, 8PM
• The Odd Couple, CBS, 8:30PM
• Live from Daryl’s House (season premiere), MTV Live, 9PM
• Scandal, ABC, 9PM
• The 100, CW, 9PM
• The Blacklist, NBC, 9PM
• The Eighties, CNN, 9PM
• Mom, CBS, 9PM
• Alone, History, 9PM
• 2 Broke Girls, CBS, 9:30PM
• Inside Amy Schumer, Comedy Central, 10PM
• Archer, FX, 10PM
• Rush Hour, CBS, 10PM
• The Catch, ABC, 10PM
• The Real World, MTV, 10PM
• Orphan Black, BBC America, 10PM
• Gigolos (season premiere), Showtime, 11PM
• Adam Devine’s House Party (season finale), Comedy Central, 12:30AM

Friday

• Grace & Frankie (S2), Netflix, 3AM
• Ali Wong: Baby Cobra, Netflix, 3AM
• Tumble Leaf (season premiere), Amazon Prime, 3AM
• The Amazing Race, CBS, 8PM
• The Vampire Diaries, CW, 8PM
• Beyond the Tank, ABC, 8PM
• Adele Live in NYC, NBC, 8PM
• Brand: A Second Coming, Showtime, 9PM
• Shark Tank, ABC, 9PM
• Hawaii Five-0, CBS, 9PM
• Blue Bloods (season finale), CBS, 10PM
• Banshee, Cinemax, 10PM
• Vice, HBO, 11PM

Saturday

• The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story, Lifetime, 8PM
• Twinsters, Freeform, 8:30PM
• Outlander, Starz, 9PM
• Party Over Here, Fox, 11PM
• Saturday Night Live: Brie Larson/Alicia Keys, NBC, 11:30PM

Sunday

• Once Upon A Time, ABC, 8PM
• Little Big Shots, NBC, 8PM
• Call the Midwife, PBS, 8PM
• Madam Secretary (season finale), CBS, 8PM
• The Girlfriend Experience, Starz, 8PM
• Game of Thrones, HBO, 9PM
• Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN, 9PM
• House of Lies, Showtime, 9PM
• Fear the Walking Dead, AMC, 9PM
• The Family, ABC, 9PM
• The Carmichael Show, NBC, 9PM
• The Good Wife (series finale), CBS, 9PM
• Wallander (season premiere), PBS, 9PM
• Dear Mama, VH1, 9PM
• Crowded, NBC, 9:30PM
• Dice, Showtime, 9:30PM
• Penny Dreadful, Showtime, 10PM
• Silicon Valley, HBO,10PM
• United Shades of America, CNN, 10PM
• Mr. Selfridge, PBS, 10:30PM
• Elementary (season finale), CBS, 10PM
• Girls, HBO, 10PM
• Quantico ABC, 10PM
• Veep, HBO, 10:30PM
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11PM

(All times listed are ET)

One-handed typing is a reality on the stock Android keyboard

Competition is good for everybody. Case in point: Google recently dropped a massive update for the stock Android keyboard that brings in a ton of new features that we’ve seen from the likes of the now-Microsoft-owned SwiftKey and the Redmond company’s multiplatform Word Flow apps. For starters, there’s a one-handed mode and quicker access to the number pad and emoji. If you’d rather have a taller keyboard for your phablet now, that’s an option as well, in addition to finally having an option for borders on individual keys.

Gesture typing has a few new tricks, too, involving how you delete and edit any typo’d words. Android Police says the update is rolling out right now, so if it isn’t available on Google Play for you, the publication is hosting a download for the APK file.

Via: Android Police

Source: Google Play

Why Nintendo chose ‘Animal Crossing’ over ‘Mario’ for mobile

Last week, Nintendo announced that it will bring popular titles like Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem to its new smartphone game lineup. While this was good news for fans of those franchises, it still raised some questions, like why those franchises specifically? During a special Q&A session after Nintendo’s latest earnings report, current president of Nintendo Tatsumi Kimishima chose to shed some light on the situation, explaining that Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem were selected to “follow Miitomo from the viewpoint of increasing the diverse types of consumers interested in Nintendo, and widening opportunities for gameplay.”

Kimishima specifically noted that “The Animal Crossing series has been played by a wide range of consumers including children and women. I think there is a good chance that those consumers would enjoy this.”

In short, Animal Crossing is a great choice since it’s played by a wide range of consumers. On the flip side, choosing Fire Emblem was as simple as making the decision to reach out to the franchise’s “diehard fans” and bring in as many consumers as possible.

Unfortunately, there are scant details as to what we can expect from these games just yet. While Nintendo says the mobile versions of both franchises will be “more accessible” takes that offer “great value,” there’s still a bit of a gray area as to what we can realistically look for in terms of gameplay or how the apps will tie into possible console versions for both Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing. Either way, it’s easy to appreciate Nintendo’s strategy considering both series are well-loved by fans across the globe.

Source: Nintendo, Gamespot

iPhone 4s Inspired Fitbit to Redesign Fitness Trackers With Bluetooth 4.0 Support in 2011

In a wider piece on Fitbit and its efforts to escape from the shadow of Apple, The New York Times shared an interesting anecdote about the way the iPhone 4s influenced the features in Fitbit’s line of fitness trackers back when it debuted in 2011.

The iPhone 4s was the first iPhone to include support for Bluetooth 4.0 to allow accessories to connect to the device, and following the introduction of the new phone, Fitbit CEO James Park decided to re-engineer Fitbit products to support Bluetooth. It was a decision that set Fitbit’s product releases back by six months.

When [Phil Schiller] introduced the iPhone 4S in 2011, for example, Mr. Park had a realization.

At the time, the new iPhone added a capability to synchronize with wireless accessories using the standard called Bluetooth. Fitbit trackers back then lacked Bluetooth connectivity, but Mr. Park wanted them to be able to synchronize data immediately with the iPhone.

“It could enable a lot of possibilities in terms of real-time feedback,” he said.

Announced in 2012, the Fitbit One and the Fitbit Zip became the first Fitbit devices to support Bluetooth 4.0, syncing data like steps tracked, distance, floors climbed, calories expended, and sleep quality to iOS and Android phones. According to The New York Times, the two devices were highly successful.

Since then, Park says Fitbit has made an effort to stray away from Apple’s approach to product design, focusing on simple devices to make wearables more approachable.

“We look at it from a consumer point of view,” Mr. Park said. Apple Watch “is a computing platform, but that’s really the wrong way to approach this category from the very beginning.”

Fitbit’s simplicity, and its lower price point, has allowed it to thrive even after the launch of the Apple Watch. Fitbit sold 21.4 million devices in 2015, earning $1.86 billion in revenue. While Apple doesn’t break out sales of the Apple Watch, IDC and Strategy Analytics estimates put sales at approximately 11.4 million.

Going forward, Fitbit plans to add additional features to compete in the wearables market, but Park says the company is going to be “very careful” to avoid the feature overload mistake he sees being made with smart watches.

Tag: Fitbit
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Android app pirate pleads guilty to criminal copyright infringement

An individual involved in running third-party Android app marketplace Applanet has pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced. According to the DoJ, Aaron Blake Buckley entered his guilty plea in response to charges that he sought to help distribute pirated versions of Android apps normally available on Google Play worth over $17 million. An associate of Buckley’s, Gary Edwin Sharp II, previously plead guilty to the same charges in January.

From the DoJ:

According to statements made in court, the conspirators identified themselves as members of the Applanet Group. From May 2010 through August 2012, they conspired to reproduce and distribute more than four million copies of copyrighted Android apps through the Applanet alternative online market without permission from the victim copyright owners, who would otherwise sell copies of the apps on legitimate online markets for a fee. On Aug. 21, 2012, the FBI seized the Applanet website, which marked the first seizure of the domain name for a website involving a mobile device app marketplace.

The release also notes that Sharp has also admitted to having a role in running a separate third-party app marketplace called SnappzMarket Group. Both Buckley and Sharp are scheduled to be sentenced on August 1.

It turns out the camera on your phone matters

In last week’s poll we asked how important the camera on your phone was. Many people always carry around their phone, and primarily use the camera there. That means that deciding whether the camera on your phone matters will directly impact how awesome all of your photos look. Trying to decide how much the camera on your phone matters can be difficult when faced with choices, but it’s worth thinking about.

First place was snatched up by “Very important” snatching up a respectable 58.6 percent. “Kind of important” took second place, with 25.18 percent of the vote. “Not particularly important” managed to take third place with 8.81 percent of the vote. In fourth place, with 3.45 percent of the vote was “not very important”, followed by “Not important” in last place with only 2.96 percent of the vote.

Is there something more important than the camera on your phone? Be sure to pop into the comments and let us know!

Casey Neistat’s social video app Beme comes to Android

Beme, a social video app that was launched by popular YouTuber Casey Neistat on iOS in 2015, is now available on Android. In addition to launching on Android, today also marks the app’s official foray into full release territory after having been in beta since last year.

If you’re unfamiliar with Beme, the app is meant to encourage you to share video of what you’re doing without taking you out of the moment. Rather than staring at your phone’s display while you record, you simply open the app and then hold the phone’s screen to your chest to instantly start capturing what you’re looking at. Once you’re done, just pull the phone away to stop recording and your clip is instantly shared. Of course, you can also record by simply holding a hand over the sensors on the front of your phone, but the screen will remain a solid color to keep you from watching the viewfinder.

The goal, of course, is to allow you to stay “in the moment” and share real experiences without filtering the content. You can also browse through the app to check out clips from other users around the world, then send reaction shots to the uploader.

If you’re interested, you can grab Beme on Google Play now. Also be sure to check out Neistat’s rundown of the app in the YouTube video below.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 and maybe new Gear VR could have USB Type-C

Although Samsung has already announced two flagship smartphones this year, rumours have been floating around for the company’s next phablet, the Galaxy Note 6, including a recent report about the larger phone featuring USB Type-C.

According to SamMobile, the South Korean phone maker is working on the successor to the Galaxy Note 5. It is reportedly a water- and dust-resistant device, like the Galaxy S7, and it could feature fancy stuff such as an Iris scanner and a USB Type-C port. Samsung is expected to adopt the reversible connector, though it’s unknown if it will support USB 3.1 or an older standard.

If the Note 6 were to support USB 3.1, the connector would provide USB Power Delivery 2.0 for faster device charging as well as the ability to deliver HDMI and Display Port video signals. Now, here’s the thing: Samsung’s Gear VR virtual reality headset works with select Samsung Galaxy devices, including last year’s Galaxy Note 5, but neither of those products offer USB Type-C.

If the Galaxy Note 6 were to have a USB Type-C port, would that spur Samsung to release a new Gear VR with USB Type-C alongside the Note 6? The current headset comes with a microUSB port, but SamMobile said it could imagine a second-generation version with the connector upgrade.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 launched in August 2015, so we’ll likely have to wait until later this summer before we know for sure.

New Hulu subscription service to stream broadcast, cable TV channels

Hulu is reportedly working on a new subscription service for US cord-cutters.

Cord cutters are people who ditch cable television in favour of an internet-based service, and according to The Wall Street Journal, they’ll soon have a new service to choose from a company that already offers on-demand programming. Hulu, which is similar to Netflix in that it lets subscribers watch content from major networks, is developing a service that’s all about live TV.

Details are scarce but the idea is that the service will offer popular broadcast and cable TV channels. It’s a cable TV-like service that hasn’t yet been named, but it’s thought to be subscription-based and likely priced around $40 a month. It won’t offer hundreds of channels, as Hulu, which is co-owned by Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox, wants to focus on quality and not quantity.

Disney’s ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, the Fox broadcast network, Fox News, FX, and Fox’s national and regional sports channels are all expected to be offered with the service. Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal, which is also an owner in Hulu, so far hasn’t agreed to license its networks.

However, at that price and with those live TV channel offerings from Disney and Fox, it appears as though Hulu’s upcoming subscription service will be a lot like Sling TV and Sony’s PlayStation Vue, both of which stream live programming and cost a bit more than, say, Netflix.

SoundCloud Go music streaming expands to the UK, Ireland

We thought SoundCloud Go could use some polishing when it launched in the US just over a month ago, but the ad-free, offline-enabled option is already expanding to other countries. CTO and co-founder Eric Wahlforss tells Reuters that the subscription option is now available in the UK and Ireland for 9.99 pounds/euros per month, with plans to roll out in “multiple” additional countries this year. There’s no word on the number of paying customers yet, as Wahlforss says many users are still in their trial period. Still, he says the company is “well funded” and even though it’s not profitable yet, it’s looking to go worldwide with the paid option over the next couple of years. If you signed up day one then you’ve already exhausted your free month so let us know, are you sticking with SoundCloud Go?
Are you paying for SoundCloud Go?

Source: Reuters