‘Prisma’ App’s Art-Inspired Photo Filters Take Social Media by Storm
Amid all the hype for Pokémon Go this week, one non-game release that’s enjoying relatively quiet success in the App Store is a new photo editor called Prisma.
The brainchild of a team of Russian developers, Prisma describes itself simply as an “editor for Instagram”, but has attracted far wider attention thanks to an impressive series of stylistic and art-inspired filters.
The app uses a server-side combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence to apply the 33 different filters, which can be changed in intensity using a sliding scale. The results can be immediately shared over Instagram or Facebook, or using the options found in the iOS Share Sheet.
The app is currently available in 25 different countries and has achieved 300,000 downloads each day in 10 of those markets, leading developers scrambling to double their server capacity to process all the information.
Once Prisma’s developers have got to grips with the surge in popularity, the team says the app will soon add support for videos and immersive VR.
Prisma is a free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]
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Android Auto makes its way to Japan
Android Auto has made its way to Japan, the third-largest producer of cars. At a press conference in Tokyo, Google announced Android Auto support for select vehicles from Audi, Volkswagen, Honda, Maserati, and BMW, with Nissan and Panasonic launching head units. Toyota and Mazda are yet to announce support for the platform.
An update coming later this year will bring the full Android Auto experience to the app, but for now, you’re need a compatible car or a third-party head unit. According to The Verge, Android Auto in Japan offers support for local music streaming services, and more apps should be added to the list once it picks up momentum.
All About Android Auto
- Getting started with Android Auto
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Grab the BlackBerry Priv for just $299 at DailySteals
DailySteals is offering the BlackBerry Priv for just $299, a discount of $400 from the phone’s launch price of $699. The model on sale is a brand-new unlocked AT&T edition.
DailySteals is also offering extended warranty options, with a two-year warranty plan setting you back $35, and a three-year option costing $49. The Priv runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box, but a beta update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow is available for the phone.
See at DailySteals
Google’s latest update for Hangouts lets you record and send video messages
Google has begun rolling out an update on the Play Store for the company’s Hangouts app, which is said to add support for recording and firing off video messages. According to Phandroid, the update will bump the app up to version 11, adding the ability for up to a minute of video to be recorded in a conversation.
With the update installed, you’ll be able to fire out video files to contacts, ideal if you wish to leave a quick message. It’s possible to record one through the app, or select one from on-board storage. As an added bonus, while the Android platform has had to endure a painful wait for this feature to finally hit the store, it appears as though 1080p is supported while the iOS app can only handle 360p.
You can download Hangouts from the Play Store. If you do not yet see the update, be sure to give the store some time to propagate the new release. Let us know if you’ve installed the update and tried out the new video recording functionality.
Lifelogging app Instant’s chatbot shows you just how addicted you are to your phone
Indian startup Emberify’s lifelogging app Instant has picked up a major update to version 4.0 that adds a coach feature, delivered in the form of a chatbot. The feature analyzes your phone usage trends and gives you a daily overview of time spent on particular apps, places visited, sleeping and fitness activity, and so on. There’s also the option to query the chatbot for insights from a particular day. For instance, if you’re interested in finding out how much time you’ve spent playing Pokemon Go, you can ask Instant’s chatbot and view the relevant information.
All data is logged automatically, and you can view detailed statistics over your phone usage. From Shashwat Pradhan, founder and CEO of Emberify:
The problem users are facing with the Quantified Self movement is that they are not being able to stick to it. This has been happening since self-tracking hasn’t been automatic or too many apps are needed for it. In some cases, users track themselves for years and then realise that they aren’t getting value out of the data.
With Instant we have made self-tracking automatic and seamless using the smartphone OS/sensors. Further to add value to the data we have created reports that convey data through story-telling techniques and the Chatbot coach to analyse trends and correlations
Instant also collates data from Google Fit, and syncs with Android Wear smartwatches. All the data that’s collected by the app stays on your phone:
Instant keeps all the user’s data only on the smartphone which can be cleared at anytime. The Chatbot is built-in the app so that data doesn’t need to be sent from the smartphone to a server.
Instant has slowly gained momentum on Android and iOS, with the app seeing over 75,000 monthly active users. The app is free to use, but there’s a pro version that costs $2 per month, or $8 for a lifetime license that shows app usage history, weekly reports, and the ability to backup data to Google Drive should you wish to do so. Hit up the badge above, or head to the Play Store to download Instant.
Nokia and Samsung announce patent licensing deal expansion
Nokia and Samsung have agreed to expand the cross license agreement covering patents, extending said coverage over additional patent portfolios of both parties. This newly acquired access on both fronts will enable Samsung and Nokia to further develop, launch and support more advanced technology.
While the exact list of patents already covered by the license, as well as the new specific listings, are rather vague Nokia did note in its press release the company expects revenue from patent and brand licensing to hit a combined total of approximately €950 million (just over $1 billion).
Press Release
Nokia and Samsung expand their intellectual property cross license
Espoo, Finland – Nokia and Samsung have agreed terms to expand their patent cross license agreement to cover certain additional patent portfolios of both parties. This agreement is in addition to the outcome of the arbitration between the two companies that was announced on February 1, 2016.
The agreement announced today expands access for each company to patented technologies of the other and reinforces Nokia’s leadership in technologies for the programmable world. With this expansion, Nokia expects a positive impact to the net sales of Nokia Technologies starting from the third quarter of 2016.
With this expanded agreement, Nokia Technologies’ annualized net sales related to patent and brand licensing is expected to grow to a run rate of approximately EUR 950 million by the end of 2016.
“With intellectual property portfolios from Nokia Technologies, Nokia Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia has a wealth of technologies relevant to mobile devices and beyond,” said Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies. “We welcome this expanded agreement with Samsung which recognizes the strength of our assets, and we continue to pursue new licensing opportunities across a number of diverse industries.”
Pokémon Go European release begins in Germany
Komm’ und schnapp sie dir!
Pokémon Go is already a huge global phenomenon, even though the game isn’t officially available outside of a handful launch countries. However there are signs that could be changing, with the game appearing on Google Play for some German Android users this morning.
So far the rollout seems to be confined to Germany, with the Play Store in the UK and other countries still the game as incompatible. As generally happens when an app is opened up to more countries, the process will be gradual, and some users may see it before others. So hold tight — we should know more as the day progresses.
In the meantime, be sure to hit the comments and let us know if you’re seeing Pokémon Go in your country, if it wasn’t available there already.
Pokémon Go
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No more Oculus Rift delays, pre-orders shipped and you can buy one now
Almost four months after its consumer launch, the Oculus Rift is now available to buy without having to wait for ages.
Oculus has finally fulfilled the last pre-orders and newly ordered headsets will be packed up and shipped to customers within two to four working days.
In addition, the company is selling Oculus Rift headsets in retail locations around the US, with select Microsoft stores having units for sale to walk-in consumers. More than 500 Best Buy stores around the States will also have demo spaces to give customers a flavour of what the Rift can do.
The news came as the company announced its third annual developers convention. Oculus Connect 3 will be held 5-7 October in San Jose, with registration opening on 2 August at 9am PT (5pm BST).
- Oculus Rift: Price, shipping date and everything you need to know
- Oculus Rift preview: The VR revolution begins here
During that event, we’ll also find out when the Oculus Touch controllers are likely to be launched. Oculus says that it is still “on track to launch Touch later this year”.
More than 30 new titles, which are also expected for release this year, will also be demonstrated at Connect.
The Oculus Rift VR headset launched on 28 March, roughly the same time as the HTC Vive. Both are soon to be joined by major rival, the PlayStation VR, which is considerably cheaper and has the benefit of running from a standard PS4 console rather than a high-end PC.
NPD finally adds digital tracking to its game sales reports
For years, the NPD Group has tracked and reported video game sales figures. Every month, the company issues an email to the media detailing the top ten selling games for the month prior, total amount spent on games, hardware and accessories and year-over-year and generation-over-generation growth or decline. The glaring hole in those reports is that they didn’t account for digital game sales from places like Steam, PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. But that’s changing and with this month’s data, we’ll finally have steps toward a true, comprehensive picture of how much a particular title has sold, both from retailers and digital distribution.
It’s something that’s been in the works for five years, and the NPD Group has struck agreements with a number of publishers to track their digital data. Those include Activision, Capcom, Deep Silver, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive. You’ll notice some pretty big gaps there: Bethesda, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. NPD spokesperson Liam Callahan said that if the group waited for everyone to come on board, that the tracking wouldn’t have ever launched. “If we waited to have every publisher in the world to sign up it would take forever,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
In addition digital full-game purchases, add-on packs and micro-transactions will be tracked as well, but those sales numbers won’t be divulged to the press or public. And instead of separating the digital sales numbers from physical sales, they’ll instead be combined — much like the company doesn’t break down game sales by system. Games that come from publishers who aren’t disclosing digital sales data will be denoted as such.
Frankly, it’s about time that the NPD did this. As digital sales have ballooned (especially with the current crop of consoles), the firm’s reporting has been incredibly incomplete. With this, we’re getting closer to actually knowing exactly how popular a particular month’s games are in terms of sales.
Can you hear that? It’s the sound of the NeoGAF crowd and comment sections cheering over more data to scrub through and lord over each other’s heads come the third Thursday of every month.
NASA is making a small carbon nanotube telescope for CubeSats
A team of NASA Goddard scientists are developing a lightweight and low-cost telescope small enough to fit inside CubeSats. Those mini satellites provide the agency an inexpensive means to send various experiments to outer space. By creating a small telescope sensitive to ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelength bands that can fit inside a CubeSat, NASA will be able to explore space for cheap. Obviously, the images it sends back won’t be as high-res as the photos taken by Hubble or by one of the humongous ground-based telescopes. However, the team says it could be a great “exploratory tool for quick looks that could lead to larger missions.” It will also likely be the first one to use the new carbon nanotube mirror the team designed.
Other telescope mirrors are made of aluminum or glass, but the team’s was created using carbon nanotubes embedded in an epoxy resin. Since carbon nanotubes are exceptionally strong, the team’s mirror is tough and is an efficient conductor of heat. It also doesn’t require polishing, which is a time-consuming process, bringing costs down even further. While NASA’s scientists plan to use off-the-shelf components for the telescope, it might still take a while before we see the finished product. Their carbon nanotube mirror is a brand new technology and requires loads of testing before it’s ready for space.
Source: NASA
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