Redbox is getting back into streaming and downloads

Redbox’s ill-fated attempt to take on Netflix and Hulu shut down in 2014, but Variety reports that it’s ready to try again. From the ashes of Redbox Instant rises Redbox Digital, which ditches the subscription element entirely in favor of all-video on-demand all the time. It’s focused on the rental and purchase experience, although for now only invited users can try it out.

The app is already live on iTunes, and the screenshots show off the possibility of downloading or streaming videos, and support for Google’s Cast feature. The only problem with video on-demand is that while it’s more convenient than disc rentals at a kiosk, it will probably be more expensive. Most of the online video stores have stayed open (with the exception of Target Ticket), so Redbox may have a better chance with this attempt, but we’ll wait to see the prices before getting too excited about skipping the line at a DVD kiosk.

Source: Variety, iTunes

Here is Facebook’s internet-beaming plane completing its first test flight

One day soon you may access the internet via a wireless-internet-beaming plane rather than fiber optic cable.

Facebook wants to blanket the world with internet using a fleet of solar-powered aircraft called Aquila, and after two years of engineering and scale-model flights, the company has finally completed its first full-scale test flight. It reported on Thursday that on 28 June it conducted a low-altitude test flight that lasted for 96 minutes – more than three times its planned mission length.

Facebook

The test flight provided Facebook’s aeronautics team with data on Aquila’s performance, including “the autopilot, motors, batteries, radios, ground station, displays, basic aerodynamic handling, structural viability, and crew training,” Facebook said. The company published a blog post, which you can read here, to detail some of its early learnings from the test flight and the data it collected.

The full-size Aquila, which can fly at 60,000 feet on 5,000 watts of power (equivalent to three hair dryers, apparently), has the wingspan “comparable to a commercial airliner’s, but weighs only one-third as much as a car”. Although it was in the air for less than two hours, it’ll eventually remain airborne for months to transmit wireless signal between other aircraft and the ground.

Facebook

The aircraft’s first full-scale test flight was deemed a success, although it had a structural failure just before landing. It was able to still stick the landing, however. You can see the action unfold for yourself, as Aquila was loaded with cameras so Facebook could release a promo video.

Over next several months, Facebook plans to continue studying the data from this initial flight and conduct more test flights.

Anonymous and unrestricted browsing for life: TigerVPN full lifetime subscription (93 per cent off)

These days, if you’re not using a virtual private network (VPN) to secure your online activity, you’re inviting serious trouble.

Hackers of all types are highly motivated to get their digital hands on your sensitive data and personal information–identity thieves, government surveillance, snooping loved ones, you name it.

You can safeguard yourself once and for all with TigerVPN, delivering full 256-bit SSL encryption and a world of privacy options for your digital security. For a limited time, you can pick up a TigerVPN Full: Lifetime Subscription for a discounted £33.86 (U.S. $49) from Pocket-lint Deals.

Whether using public Wi-Fi or your own home network, or while traveling abroad, TigerVPN’s Full plan offers has you covered with more than 60 servers worldwide. Delivering unlimited data on easy-to-use mobile apps, your TigerVPN Full subscription delivers top-tier security for your online activity anywhere, anytime. 10Gbps servers are optimized to limit latency, while bandwidth health detection is provided to take the guesswork out of your online experience.

Additionally, TigerVPN eliminates geo-blocked content restrictions, so you can catch up on your favorite Netflix shows from anywhere in the world, anytime you want. Unlimited premium access to restricted content is quite a bonus, and makes for an unprecedented experience in digital convenience and confidence.

For a limited time, you can take 93 per cent off a TigerVPN Full: Lifetime Subscription on Pocket-lint Deals. There’s also a three-year option for £13.88 ($19) available, if you’d prefer that option instead.

Edit photos like the pros with the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle (94 per cent off)

How many people do you know with framed Instagram or Snapchat photos?

Likely none, and for good reason: those fad photo-filter apps don’t come anywhere near the quality and beauty of a well-edited photo using professional photo editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

Now you can establish confidence and comprehensive ability through the expert editing techniques taught in the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle, now available at 94 per cent off on Pocket-lint Deals.

Skip the smartphone filters once and for all and dive into an 8-course tutorial to establish full editing mastery, for a lifetime of frame-worthy shots. The Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle courses will familiarize you with a world of tools and options with industry-standard software Adobe Photoshop, establishing a concrete foundation in the three major avenues of editing: layers, selections, and color correction.

From there, you’ll explore Photoshop CS6 and CC, learning advanced beauty retouching tips and tricks, as well as the essential theories and concepts behind the  gorgeous professional shots you see in magazines and on billboards. You’ll learn key methodologies for creating images for specific industries and media, including social media, while gaining free access to all the Photoshop documents (PSDs) provided in your training.

Adobe Lightroom’s advanced capabilities will soon be second nature as well, as you establish confidence in use of the tools available in versions 4 through 6, including video editing. Master the best workflow for your particular needs in Lightroom, as you gain momentum in technique and fluidity in editing professional-grade images.

When you’re ready to take the leap into high-level photo editing with lifetime access to your instructional materials, pick up the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle at an impressive £22.73 ($29.99) on Pocket-lint Deals.

Verizon to Cut Off Unlimited Data Customers Who Exceed 100GB of Usage Per Month

Verizon Wireless will begin disconnecting its grandfathered unlimited data customers from its network if they use more than 100 GB of data a month and don’t switch to one of the company’s new wireless plans, according to a report from Droid Life. Verizon partially confirmed the news to Ars Technica.

“Because our network is a shared resource and we need to ensure all customers have a great mobile experience with Verizon, we are notifying a very small group of customers on unlimited plans who use an extraordinary amount of data that they must move to one of the new Verizon Plans by August 31, 2016,” a Verizon spokesperson told Ars. “These users are using data amounts well in excess of our largest plan size (100GB). While the Verizon Plan at 100GB is designed to be shared across multiple users, each line receiving notification to move to the new Verizon Plan is using well in excess of that on a single device.”

Verizon didn’t confirm what would happen to customers who did not migrate to the new plans by August 31, but Droid Life reported they would have their access to the network cut off. Customers would be able to reinstate their accounts if they switch to a new plan within 50 days.

Last October, Verizon raised the price of its grandfathered unlimited data plan from $30 to $50 per month. Verizon’s largest limited data plan is a 100 GB option that costs $450 a month. More recently, the company debuted a revamped version of its plans, adding features like Carryover Data and Safety Mode, which allows users to avoid overage fees and opt for throttled data speeds instead. The new plans start at $35 per month for 2 GB of data. The company also recently debuted a $20 fee when upgrading a device.

Tags: Verizon, Droid-Life.com
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Confirmed: The Moto Z *will* receive security patches

There’s been much speculation today that the Moto Z and Moto Z Force would not regular security updates. Moto has confirmed to Android Central that such information in not correct, and that they will receive security patches.

While Moto left a little wiggle room — neglecting to say if they’d receive patches monthly, as Google pushes them, or on some other schedule — that’s a far cry from the implication that its newest flagships would be left out to dry at launch.

In addition, Moto tells us that the phones — which shipped to reviewers with the May security patch — will be updated shortly after the July 28 launch.

The confusion stemmed from the Ars Technica review of the Moto Z, in which they erroneously claimed that the phone would not be receiving regular updates:

The new Motorola has a terrible policy when it comes to software updates. Motorola has stated the Moto Z will not be receiving Android’s monthly security updates. Since the shipping version only contains the May security patch, Motorola will be shipping an insecure phone right off the bat. There’s a whole list of known vulnerabilities for June and July, most of which the Moto Z will be susceptible to. This is completely unacceptable for devices costing $600 and $700.

Here’s the full statement from Moto:

Moto Z and Moto Z Force will be supported with patches from Android Security Bulletins. They will receive an update shortly after launch with additional patches.

So there you have it, the Moto Z and Moto Z Force will be getting security patches, just like any other Android phone worth buying.

Moto Z and Moto Z Force

• Our Moto Z review!
• Moto Z specs
• Moto Mods custom backs
• Moto Z and Moto Z Force will be Verizon exclusives until the fall of 2016
• The latest Moto Z news
• Discuss in our Moto Z forums

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Watch NASA’s year-long timelapse of Earth from a million miles away

A new NASA video published to YouTube shows a full year of life on Earth from about a million miles away.

Around this time last year, the US space agency also released the first image of the sunlit side of Earth. It was taken by NASA’s EPIC camera aboard the orbiting DSCOVR satellite. That same camera has been taking a new picture every two hours ever since then, capturing the constantly-changing motion of clouds and weather systems and whatnot, allowing scientists to better understand climate factors like ozone layers and vegetation.

From its orbit at Lagrange point 1, approximately 1 million miles from Earth, where it is balanced between the gravity of our home planet and the sun, the EPIC camera has now recorded a full year’s worth of footage, which NASA compiled into a beautiful time-lapse video (below). Jay Herman, EPIC’s lead scientist, narrates the video, explaining just how monumental the timelapse is and how similar EPIC footage is scientifically useful.

Data from DSCOVR, which is a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Air Force, could help with real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, as the EPIC camera is capable of capturing enough images for scientists to properly study ozone and aerosol levels in Earth’s atmosphere, cloud height, vegetation properties, and the ultraviolet reflectivity of Earth.

This data is critical to the accuracy of space weather alerts and forecasts. 

If you want to see even more EPIC footage, check out this amazing view of the moon transiting Earth.

• NASA funding quiet supersonic jet, a friendly Concorde for everyone
• Here are the first really up-close NASA pics of Pluto and its moons
• NASA discovers Earth 2.0: Here’s what you need to know

See how Google uses machine learning to expand comic bubbles

Google has made it a lot easier to read digital comic books on your mobile device – and it did so using machine learning.

Google Play Books introduced vertical scrolling last year to help you better consume comic books, but Google obviously realised more handy features were needed in order to make reading illustrated panels even easier on phones and tablets, because it launched at this year’s Comic-Con a new tool called Bubble Zoom, which automatically detects and zooms in on speech bubbles as you read.

Previously, when reading a digital comic book in Google Play Books on your mobile device, you had to use two fingers to zoom in and read speech bubbles, but now, thanks to Bubble Zoom, you can enlarge those speech bubbles with a single tap. But the best part is your page will remain at full-screen view. Google explained how Bubble Zoom works via a blog post:

“We wanted to use our superpowers, like machine learning, to improve the digital comics experience even further. Machine learning is the technology that makes the digital things in your life more useful, like finding the right image in Google Photos by searching for ‘hugs’ to ‘dogs.’ So what happens when we bring our machine learning capabilities to the world of comics?

“We just announced Bubble Zoom: a new way to read digital comics on phones and tablets. Using the same technology to recognize objects in photos, we trained our system to identify speech bubbles in comics. Bubble zoom expands the speech bubbles of a comic one-tap-at-a-time, making them super easy to read on your mobile device. It’s much easier to read digital comics one-handed as Bubble Zoom automatically identifies and expands each speech bubble for readability. No more compromising the full-page experience or getting lost while panning.”

Google also published a video – below – to discuss how it used machine learning for Bubble Zoom. Apart from Bubble Zoom, Google Play Books is adding a feature for those of you reading one-handed on your phone; you can use the volume buttons to toggle back and forth. Bubble Zoom is available on the latest version of Google Play Books app for Android, as a technical preview, initially.

All Marvel and DC collected volumes are supported. Also, to celebrate these new features, Google is offering a 50-per cent off sale on select DC Comics and Marvel comics in the Google Play Store. Just use the code SDCC2016 by 24 July.