Judge Dismisses Key Claims of Monster’s Lawsuit Against Beats
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Fahey today dismissed the key claims in a lawsuit that alleged that Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre double-crossed former partner Noel Lee, founder of cable maker Monster, reports The Associated Press. The allegations were made in a lawsuit that was filed last year.
Monster’s lawsuit accused the Beats co-founders of orchestrating a “sham” deal with HTC that would terminate Monster’s stake in Beats. Monster used to design and sell Beats by Dre headphones, but that changed when Beats sold 51 percent of the company to HTC in 2011, invoking a change-of-ownership clause in the Beats and Monster deal.
Beats Electronics later repurchased HTC’s stake in the company and convinced Lee to sell part of his 5 percent stake. Lee alleges that the moves were made to exclude Monster from Beats by Dre profits and, later, the Apple acquisition, which would have netted Lee more than $100 million if he had kept his stake.
Judge Fahey concluded that Beats’ actions were allowed under the contracts they had signed with Lee and Monster, and that Lee and his company had entered into business with Beats as sophisticated investors. Fahey also dismissed Monster’s claims against HTC America.
Last July, Apple revoked Monster’s “Made for iPhone” license after the lawsuit. The trial is still scheduled to go on next week, but will be limited to Beats’ effort to force Monster to pay its attorney fees.
Tags: Beats by Dre, Monster, Beats Electronics
Discuss this article in our forums
T-Mobile’s confusing ‘One’ unlimited plan, explained – CNET
Close
T-Mobile moves to unlimited data for all
Drag
T-Mobile’s “One” plan might seem a bit confusing at first.
T-Mobile is “doubling down” on its single, unlimited data plan — T-Mobile One — by making it super confusing.
Let me explain: On August 18, T-Mobile announced that it was killing all of its current data plans in favor of a “single, unlimited data plan” called T-Mobile One. Of course, by “single,” T-Mobile meant ‘”with multiple add-ons” (for things like LTE tethering and HD video), and by “unlimited,” T-Mobile meant “limited to 128kbps tethering speeds” and “limited to 480p video quality.” Like I said: confusing.
This announcement rubbed many T-Mobile customers the wrong way, especially those who have been paying less — $50/month for 2GB of data, instead of the new $70/month for “unlimited” data — so T-Mobile has “listened to customers” and come up with…more plans and more limitations. Perfect. Here are the plans, which will take effect for new customers on September 6.
By the way, existing T-Mobile users are not required to switch over to the new plans and may keep their current plan for the time being.
T-Mobile One
The base unlimited plan (which is actually full of limits) starts at $70/month for the first line. The price drops to $50/month for the second line and $20/month (with autopay turned on) for each additional line, for up to eight lines. It offers unlimited text, talk and data — but here are the limitations:
Limits:
- All video streaming quality is limited to 480p, unless you purchase an HD Day Pass (see below)
- Tethering is limited to 512kbps (3G speeds)
- Smartphone and tablet usage is prioritized over mobile hotspot usage, so you may notice slower speeds if you are tethering
- If you go over 26GB of data in a month, your data speeds will be throttled
T-Mobile One HD Day Pass
If you have the base unlimited plan and you would like to view video — like Netflix, YouTube and so on — in 1080p HD instead of 480p, you can purchase a 24-hour HD Day Pass for $3. Or sign up for T-Mobile One Plus.
T-Mobile One Plus
Because T-Mobile’s base unlimited plan is not actually unlimited, you can purchase the T-Mobile One Plus unlimited plan (which is…more unlimited, I guess) for an additional $25/month per line. The total for the base line would then be $95/month.
The T-Mobile One Plus plan gives you unlimited HD Day Passes, unlimited 4G LTE tethering speeds and faster speeds abroad (“twice the speed,” or up to 3G where available). The HD Day Passes are cumbersome, though: They last 24 hours and must be reactivated each time you want to use them — also the default video resolution is still 480p even when you turn them on.
Limits:
- HD Day Passes must be reactivated every 24 hours; default video resolution is 480p
- Smartphone and tablet usage is prioritized over mobile hotspot usage, so even though you get 4G LTE mobile hotspot speeds…you may not get 4G LTE mobile hotspot speeds on your laptop
- If you go over 26GB of data in a month, your data speeds will be throttled
Woohoo! No limits!
Honor 8 Review
Earlier this year, Honor released the Honor 5X, which we proclaimed to be one of the best sub-$200 smartphones available in the United States. Huawei is now looking to further build up their Honor brand with the Honor 8, Honor’s take on the “affordable flagship.”
Interested in ZTE?
- Honor 8 hands on
- Honor joins the ‘flagship killer’ fray with the Honor 8
- Huawei announces super-affordable honor 8
- Honor 5X review
At $400, does the Honor 8 have what it takes to go up against segment leaders ZTE and OnePlus? Let’s find out in our written review of the Honor 8!
Buy the Honor 8 now!
Design
The Honor 8 is an absolutely gorgeous smartphone. Even before digging into the details, it’s difficult to associate the Honor 8’s design with its price; its level of premium appeal is comparable to that of the more expensive Samsung Galaxy S7.
The dual glass panel design is admittedly reminiscent of the Galaxy S7 and even more so of the Xiaomi Mi 4S. It is still quite remarkable, however, with the rear’s 15-panel light-refracting glass composition. This composition primarily enables some very enthralling light patterns.
Both glass panels curve down to meet with the chamfered aluminum band, which gives an impression of cohesion. The tactile power and volume buttons can both be found on the right edge of the phone. There is a nice texture on the power button, but I wish it was less subtle.
There is an IR blaster at the top of the device which can be used to control TVs and other household appliances. It worked quite well in my testing, and I think it’s a valuable addition.
Despite the metal band, handling can be a bit challenging due to the device’s slippery glass profile. You’ll want to be especially careful when setting the Honor 8 down, especially on uneven surfaces. The glass has what could be described as an “ice cube effect,” where it slips and slides very easily.
The build quality seems strong enough to resist most damage
During my five days with the device, it fell a total of three times. Thankfully, the build quality seems strong enough to resist most damage, but you’ll probably still want to consider adding a case. That’d also help cover up any fingerprints, which can collect surprisingly easily. Huawei has designed a few cases that compliment the 8’s beauty, which should be available soon.
I would have preferred capacitive keys in place of the “honor” chin branding, but the on-screen navigation keys are still very pleasant to use. I also really appreciate the added software option to change the key layout as well.
Display
The Honor 8 is sporting a 5.2″ 1080P LTPS display, which looks great with a good amount of sharpness and saturated and punchy colors. Color reproduction could have been more accurate, however. Mainly, the display’s color temperature is very cool. Thankfully, you can make adjustments in the settings to compensate for this, but it’s a shame that the device didn’t ship with a better calibrated display.
The smaller display size does make handling easier in comparison to larger devices on the market. In fact, the Honor 8’s smaller size may seal the deal for some, as we rarely see this, especially at this price. The display brightness maxes out at 455 nits, which is about average. Sunlight readability is consequently good, especially for the price.
Performance
It should come as no surprise that the Honor 8 is powered by one of Huawei’s own in-house processors, a HiSilicon Kirin 950. The Kirin 950 offers comparable performance to that of the high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
See Also: In-depth look at the Kirin 9508
As expected, performance was absolutely excellent. Everything is very smooth and responsive, which is what you’d usually expect from a more expensive device. Thankfully, there is 4 GB of RAM in both US models, so you can expect a smooth multitasking experience as well.
In my experience, the Honor 8’s Mali-T880 MP4 GPU performed very well when playing mobile games. Do keep in mind, however, that it may not be as future proof as the high-end Adreno GPUs. For example, in a 3Dmark test, the ZTE Axon 7 with the Adreno 530 scored a 2580 whereas the Honor 8 with the Mali-T880 MP4 scored a 964.
Hardware
As is the case with many Chinese smartphones, the Honor 8 is unlocked and includes dual-SIM card support, meaning that you can use up to two different lines with this single phone. In the US, carrier support includes AT&T, T-Mobile, and their respective MVNOs. The phone also supports Band 12 LTE, so you’ll receive T-Mobile’s extended range coverage.
If you’re willing to give up one of the SIM card slots, you can expand the phone’s base 32 GB of storage via microSD card, up to 128 GB. This is always a great option to have, even if you don’t think you’ll need it.
The USB Type-C charging port is accompanied by the headphone jack on the left and a single speaker on the right. The speaker is decent; it gets the job done, but sounds hollow and distorted. I would say that it performs slightly below average overall.
The fingerprint reader on the back of the Honor 8 is quite good: it’s fast while still being accurate. It’s comparable to the one found on the Axon 7, but that’s before considering the unique functionality that Huawei has implemented.
Since the reader also doubles as a tactile button, or what Huawei calls a “smart key,” you can program different shortcuts including flashlight, screenshot, or voice recording to tap, double tap, and hold. You can also have it open an app instead, if you find that useful. It’s a pretty nifty idea, and I’ve found my settings for double tap for flashlight and hold for Google Now to be quite handy.
Battery Life
Huawei provides three battery profiles out of the box: performance, smart, and ultra. While the default smart mode does seem to marginally improve battery life, I noticed that it prevented many of my apps from sending notifications. This made me miss a few important messages in Slack and a couple of Snapchats within the first few hours of using the phone, so I had to switch to the less power-conservative performance mode in order to continue with my review.
Heavy users may need to charge up more than once per day
In my testing, the 3000mAh battery delivered lackluster results. Battery life is long enough to get most light to moderate users through a full day of use, but heavy users may need to charge up more than once per day. While three and a half hours of screen on time isn’t terrible, it’s not nearly as much as what some competing options offer.
Also check out: Best USB Type-C Cables16
Thankfully, the Honor 8 supports 9V/2A fast charging with the factory supplied charger. You can charge the phone from 0 to about 42% in 30 minutes, which is almost as good as competing options. I do wish that the phone supported fast charging with third party 9V/2A chargers, but Honor has informed us that they will be selling compatible chargers directly to US consumers in the future.
Camera
The Honor 8 includes a 12 MP dual-camera configuration with an f/2.2 aperture and hybrid autofocus (laser assisted). One of the lens captures color, while the other is monochrome; Huawei states that this setup helps the phone capture better, crispier looking images.
It’s a great shooter overall
And for the most part, the Honor 8 takes great, contrasty images with a good amount of sharpness and excellent dynamic range. I was surprised at how well it handled balancing the highlights and shadows in many of the images I took.
Honor 8 camera samples:
It’s a great shooter overall, and you’ll likely be very pleased with the images it takes. It’s not going to outperform the Samsung Galaxy S7, but that’s okay considering the Honor 8’s price. The 8 MP front-facing camera is also good.
Low-light performance was surprisingly strong, unlike many other affordable smartphones. Images don’t turn out excellent, but they’re more acceptable than those taken by the Axon 7 and even the OnePlus 3.
One of the perks of having the dual camera setup is the wide aperture mode, which allows you to set an aperture from f/0.95 to f/16 when taking a photo. Once you take the image, you can go back and change the aperture or focus point. This worked pretty well in my testing overall, although the widest of apertures weren’t as convincing.
Unfortunately, there’s no 4K video recording, and you’re limited to 1080P/60p. That’d be acceptable on its own given the phone’s price, but the video quality itself is poor as well with disappointing colors. You can see a sample clip in our video review, featured above.
The camera app is fairly nice, and offers some very useful manual controls. Unfortunately, they don’t rotate when switching to landscape mode, which is quite annoying. The myriad of camera modes can be overwhelming too, and many of them feel half-baked.
Software
For software, the Honor 8 is running Huawei’s Emotion UI 4.1 over Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Overall, the software is very different from stock Android: there’s no app drawer, the UI is iOS-like, and there are a great number of additions. Some users will enjoy this experience, but it may not be for everyone.
Some users will enjoy this experience, but it may not be for everyone
Some of Huawei’s additions are certainly appreciated, but a lot of them can come across as gimmicky. For example, the knuckle gestures are cool in theory, but don’t always work in practice. There’s also a good number of bloatware apps, which I quite frankly wasn’t expecting.
EMUI also has an entirely different scrolling mechanic than stock Android, which is smoother but slower. It looks pretty nice, but you have to wait for the inertia scrolling to completely stop in order to select something. This is incredibly frustrating in day-to-day use, as you’ll find yourself having to repeatedly tap on something until the phone finally responds.
It’s not all bad, however, as the lock screen view is refreshing, the timeline notifications are kind of cool, and the power management tools are quite useful. I just wish that Huawei would have approached software wholeheartedly and made more refinements instead of including a bunch of features that few people will actually use.
On a positive note, Honor has committed to updating the Honor 8 with new features every three months for the first year, and then providing security and bug fix updates for an additional year. With this phone, the question is not whether you will receive the Android 7.0 Nougat update, but rather, when it will arrive. It’s great to see this kind of software support, especially at this price.
There’s also the recently announced partnership with XDA-Developers that aims to create developer interest in the Honor 8. While it’s difficult to say just how many custom ROMs will be available for the phone in the future, this is certainly a step in the right direction.
Gallery
Price
The Honor 8 is now available for pre-order from Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, and HiHonor starting at $399.99 for the 32 GB storage option or $449.99 for the 64 GB storage option. There are several promotional offers available, including a $50 gift card, which can certainly sweeten the deal. The color options include blue, black, and white.
If you accidentally crack the Honor 8 within the first three months of owning it, Huawei will repair it for free. This is a great protection to have, although I wish it covered the phone for a bit longer.
Buy the Honor 8 now!
Conclusion
Huawei has brought what many have wanted from an affordable flagship for a while now: a gorgeous design, a smaller size, and a great camera. In addition, the Honor 8’s excellent performance and IR blaster are not always common on an affordable smartphone.
While the Honor 8 is indeed a great value for the money, it is important to recognize that this is a very competitive price segment so you have many options to chose from. It would be wise to consider what you value most in a smartphone and base your final decision off of that.
- Honor 8 hands on
- Honor joins the ‘flagship killer’ fray with the Honor 8
- Huawei announces super-affordable honor 8
- Honor 5X review
We want to know: what are your thoughts on Honor’s affordable flagship? What do you value most in your smartphone? Let us know in the comment section below!
Washington Post open-sources its ‘Trump Revealed’ biography
Last week, after the Washington Post published its new Trump Revealed biography, the Republican Nominee was quick to give the book a harsh, “Don’t buy, boring!” review. While Trump may believe the reporting in the book is inaccurate, the Post decided to respond to the allegations with a blast of sunshine. On Tuesday, the paper published a huge chunk of the notes, documents and transcripts that went into the book, effectively open-sourcing the work so other journalists could build on it.
The @WashingtonPost quickly put together a hit job book on me- comprised of copies of some of their inaccurate stories. Don’t buy, boring!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2016
While the bulk of the book was based on 20 hours of interviews Post staffers Marc Fisher and Michael Kranish conducted with Trump himself, the Trump Revealed Reporting Archive contains nearly 400 documents, including “thousands of pages of interview transcripts, court filings, financial reports, immigration records and other material.” Although the paper scrubbed the documents for off-the-record interviews and other items it didn’t have the rights to publish, the entire archive is searchable and downloadable. According to the paper, the archive is “meant as a resource for other journalists and a trove to explore for our many readers fascinated by original documents.”
As Nieman Lab points out, amateur and professional sleuths alike are already finding fresh details that didn’t make it into the biography itself, and more are sure to come as others dig into the documents. While the Post isn’t the first to give outside reporters access to a vast reporting archive of sensitive materials, open sourcing the project is a refreshing counterpoint to a campaign that has frequently tried to paint the media as heavily biased and untrustworthy.
Via: Nieman Lab
Source: Washington Post
‘TowerFall’ ups the mayhem with eight-person local multiplayer
The developers behind TowerFall are working on more than just a game about climbing a mountain. That’s right: Matt Thorson has also released an official mod that brings support for up to eight players to the charming, retro (and possibly violent, depending on your friends) local multiplayer component of TowerFall. It’ll run you a fitting $8.88 to download from the game’s itch.io page. Thorson is quick to note, however, that this isn’t TowerFall proper.
“This is not an expansion for TowerFall, but a stand-alone game,” Thorson writes. “This package does not contain the core TowerFall experience. This is an official mod for TowerFall that only includes Versus mode, and is heavily modified specifically for 5 to 8 player matches. it is also still possible to play with 2 to 4 players on the new levels.”
But, this is strictly a PC release for now. Eurogamer writes that this includes every arena from the Dark World expansion and that it’s running in widescreen. You’ll need Xbox 360 gamepads or PlayStation 4 controllers to jump into the fracas though, and Thorson recommends connecting everything to a USB hub prior to firing the game up.
If that leaves you with a hankering to play the game on console and you don’t own a PS4 (or an Ouya), Thorson recently tweeted that he’s working on an Xbox One version that’ll include Ascension and Dark World. When that will land isn’t clear, but Thorson says he’s playing it and that it’s awesome. Fair enough.
TowerFall news 3/3: TowerFall Ascension and Dark World are coming to XBox One! No release date yet, but I’m playing it and it’s awesome 🙂
— Matt Thorson (@MattThorson) August 26, 2016
Via: Eurogamer
Source: Itch.io
Mophie Announces Next Generation of Powerstation External Battery Lineup
Mophie today announced the next generation of its Powerstation family of external batteries, focused on delivering extra battery power to multiple devices in different situations. The complete Powerstation family now includes the new Charge Force Powerstation and Powerstation USB-C alongside updates to the Powerstation Plus and Powerstation lines.
The first new device is the Charge Force Powerstation, an extension of Mophie’s wireless charging ecosystem. The device is compatible with all Charge Force Juice Pack cases as well as other Qi wireless charging-enabled devices. It delivers 10,000 mAh of battery capacity, which Mophie says is nearly 5X additional battery life for most smartphones.
The redesigned Powerstation Plus upgrades its built-in charging cable with a new switch-tip, allowing users to easily adapt the cable for either iOS or Android devices. The new, slimmer design comes in Space Gray, Gold, and Rose Gold and three storage configurations: the 4,000 mAh Powerstation Plus mini ($59.95), the 6,000 mAh Powerstation Plus ($79.95), and the 12,000 mAh Powerstation Plus XL ($99.95). However, the XL version does not come in Gold. The Plus also comes with a second USB port that allows users to charge two mobile devices at the same time.
The fourth-generation Powerstation line also sees a redesign, with colored aluminum plates on the top and bottom of the devices. This line comes in four upgraded storage configurations: the 3,000 mAh Powerstation mini ($29.95), the 6,000 mAh Powerstation ($49.95), the 10,000 mAh Powerstation XL ($69.95), and the 20,000 mAh Powerstation XXL ($99.95). Mophie says the XXL, which is only available in Space Gray and Rose Gold, is the largest capacity universal battery the company has offered to date.
The Powerstation comes in White, Space Gray, Rose Gold, and Gold while the Powerstation XL comes in Space Gray, Rose Gold and Gold. Mophie says the Powerstation mini is inspired by the street art of Los Angeles, coming with the bolder color options of pink, blue, purple, black, and white.
Finally, the Powerstation USB-C is a 10,000 mAh battery in an aluminum casing that comes with both USB-C and USB-A charge ports with cables included. Mophie touts that the device is capable of powering “all past, current, and future smartphones.” It’s available for $99.95.
The new Powerstation and Powerstation Plus external battery packs are currently available on Mophie’s website, while the Charge Force Powerstation and Powerstation USB-C are coming soon to Mophie.com and select retailers.
Tag: Mophie
Discuss this article in our forums
As we await a refresh, Google ends sales of Chromebook Pixel 2015
With refreshes imminent, there’s little need to keep selling a $1300 18-month-old Chromebook.
After discontinuing the lower-end $999 model back in April, Google has taken the axe to the last remaining Chromebook Pixel model it was selling. The higher-end $1299 version of the Chromebook Pixel 2015 is no longer on sale from the Google Store or the handful of retailers that were still selling the prohibitively expensive laptop, and VentureBeat received a statement from Google indicating that it isn’t coming back.
At $1299, the latest model of the Chromebook Pixel wasn’t even a great purchase back when it was announced in February 2015 — but 18 months after it was first released it didn’t make sense for anyone to buy. Google’s doing everyone a favor by cutting off sales of such an old device, particularly since the volumes really couldn’t have been strong at that price or this late in its lifespan.
This Fall would be a great time to launch a new Chromebook Pixel
It also makes sense for the old Chromebook Pixel to gracefully fade away in order to potentially be replaced by a fresh model. As we rapidly approach the fourth quarter, a time in which Google typically unveils its latest hardware, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see a refresh of the Chromebook Pixel line — be it at a high or more accessible price — alongside new phones and any other initiatives Google is currently working on.
Though the Pixel C tablet was an interesting little tangent late last year, we’re all interested to see what Google has in store for its Chromebook Pixel line now that Android apps are currently part of the Developer Channel of Chrome OS. Expectations are that we won’t have to wait long to hear for sure.
It’s now easier to create and customize Snapchat Geofilters
If you’re one to continually try out Snapchat’s On-Demand Geofilters to spruce up your snaps, starting today you’ll be able to edit and place themes and designs straight from within the On-Demand website before you purchase your Geofilter.
You can start by choosing a theme, adding a design, then customizing the text and colors that’ll appear on the filter. Once you’re done you can click “finish” to round it all out and finish your purchase. It’s a much more streamlined process than before, and should be a lot simpler to create for birthdays, holidays and other various events you want to spruce up.
In addition to making Geofilters simpler to design and expanding the offerings, Snapchat has also rolled out an app update with a bundle of new features. New caption options including highlighting, bolding, italicizing and underlining text have made their appearance (finally) and you can now animate larger captions on top of your Snaps. Tapping on your face once lets you use Lenses now, and you can preview public stories via the Stories page before you add users as friends.
If you’re interested in creating your own Geofilters, you can do so here now.
SETI researchers investigate an unusual signal
The hunt for alien life might have turned up something special. A Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence team using Russia’s RATAN-600 radio telecope (above) is investigating an unusually strong signal from a star 95 light years away, in the Hercules constellation. It’s far from conclusive evidence of sentient beings. However, it’s interesting enough that team members have called for “permanent monitoring” of their target, and have managed to get help from both the Allen Telescope Array in California as well as Panama’s Boquete Optical Observatory.
There are a few reasons to be optimistic: the star has roughly the same age, mass and metal composition as the Sun, so it’s not out of the question that there could be a life-supporting planet (researchers have only detected one, Neptune-like planet so far). However, there are plenty more reasons to be cautious, as Wired points out.
To begin with, the signal could be be the product of noise (including from Earth), a one-off blip, or even a microlensing effect by the star. The telescope covers a very wide 1GHz frequency range, so it’s not certain whether this a narrow- or wide-band signal. If there’s a civilization at all, we don’t know how sophisticated it is. And importantly, the testing methodology is shaky: the SETI team only caught the signal once out of 39 tries (the Allen Telescope won’t alert anyone until it gets a signal 12 times), and waited over a year to report what they saw. Even if it’s an honest-to-goodness alien broadcast, there’s a chance that they gave up between the initial discovery and collaboration with other teams.
The main hope now is that further studies will turn up a repeat signal and give scientists something to work with. That still won’t amount to a confirmation of an alien presence (it could just show that there’s a naturally occurring phenomenon), but it would represent a large leap forward.
Via: Observer
Source: Centauri Dreams
More of Sierra’s classic adventure games come to Steam
Sure, Sierra’s biggest adventure game titles (such as King’s Quest and Space Quest) have been around in their original forms on Steam for a while, but many gamers remember playing a lot more than that. What about arresting perps in Police Quest, or saving the day in Quest for Glory (aka Hero’s Quest)? You’re set from now on. Sierra and Activision have released a wave of further classics on Steam, including the Police Quest Collection, the original Gabriel Knight trilogy and the two Phantasmagoria games. You’ll get a handful of non-adventure titles published under Sierra’s wing, too, such as Arcanum and Caesar 4.
As a rule, the adventure franchises are worth a look. Police Quest was a police procedural at a time when cops in video games were cartoonish at best. Quest for Glory merged adventure and role-playing game elements, and Gabriel Knight had a novel-like quality. And did we mention that the first Phantasmagoria broke ground in both live-action video and pushing the boundaries of mature content in games? There’s a good reason that Sierra founders Ken and Roberta Williams received honors at the Game Awards.
This definitely isn’t a comprehensive expansion of the Sierra roster. Where are The Black Cauldron, Freddy Pharkas and Gold Rush, dammit? Still, it’s a good way to either revisit the Sierra hits of your youth or see how far adventure games have progressed over the years.
Via: Wired, The Verge
Source: Steam
AIVAnet 