Win a new Note 7 and metal kickstands from Spigen and Android Central!

We recently took a look at Spigen’s new U100 Universal Kickstand. We put the kickstand through its paces and overall we were really pleased with its aesthetics, as well as its functionality. Make sure you check out the full review! So we’ve now teamed up with Spigen this week to give 100 of you a free Universal Kickstand for your phone, and what’s even cooler is one other winner will also be taking home a brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 7! Keep reading for all the details and to get yourself entered!

THE PRIZE: One Android Central reader will be taking home a brand new Note 7, and 100 additional winners will receive a free Universal Kickstand!

THE GIVEAWAY: Head down to the widget at the bottom of this page. There are multiple ways to enter, each with varying point values. Complete all of the tasks for maximum entries and your best shot at winning! Keep in mind that all winning entries are verified and if the task was not completed or cannot be verified, a new winner will be chosen. The giveaway is open until September 5th, and the winner will be announced right here shortly after the close date. Good luck!

Please note that due to sponsor restrictions, this contest is only open to residents of the US. International residents, we currently have a contest for you HERE!

Win a new Note 7 from Spigen and Android Central!

First major Nougat update coming soon, new Developer Preview landing this fall

Android is moving ‘into a new regular maintenance schedule over the coming quarters.’

Now that Android 7.0 Nougat has been released we’re starting to hear the first details on what’s next for Google’s OS. In a post on the Android Developers blog, Engineering VP Dave Burke lays out what’s next for Nougat.

We’re moving Nougat into a new regular maintenance schedule over the coming quarters. In fact, we’ve already started work on the first Nougat maintenance release, that will bring continued refinements and polish, and we’re planning to bring that to you this fall as a developer preview. Stay tuned!

So it appears that the Android Beta Program will live on, though the nuts and bolts of how devices will get back on the dev. preview channel (from the current stable Nougat release) aren’t entirely clear right now.

The timing suggests the first Nougat MR (maintenance release) could land around the same time as the widely rumored HTC-built 2016 Nexus phones. Indeed, one build.prop leak from the smaller of the two phones identifies “Android NMR1” (Nougat MR1). (A maintenance release is not to be confused with Android’s separate monthly security patches, which operate independently.)

The quarterly maintenance release cycle is also a big change for Android, raising the possibility of a 7.1 release before the year’s end, and maybe a 7.2 or 7.3 early in 2017. That’s going to put pressure on phone manufacturers and carriers, most of whom are already struggling to cope with Android’s yearly updates.

Android 7.0 Nougat

• Android 7.0 Nougat: Everything you need to know
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• All Android Nougat news
• How to manually update your Nexus
• Join the Discussion

PlayStation Plus memberships will cost more starting in September

PlayStation Plus will cost you a lot more starting next month – but only if you live in the US and Canada.

Starting 22 September, PS Plus’ yearly fee will increase by $10 (from $49.99 to $59.99), while the 90-day one will only increase by $7. If you’re a new subscriber, you’ll immediately get the new pricing if you join next month, but all current subscribers won’t feel the impact until it is time for them to renew their memberships. So, if you’ve been mulling a subscription, it’s cheaper for you to join now rather than later at a higher rate.

PS Plus is Sony’s online service that is mandatory for online multiplayer on the PS4, but the service also doles out free games, discounts, and more to paid members. The 90-day subscription used to cost $17.99/£11.99 (or a full year was $49.99/£39.99, but if you let the subscription expire, your downloads would be taken away. If you re-subscribe though, your digital rights to all your downloaded games are given back.

Since launching the service in 2010, Sony has kept membership pricing the same. Now, however, prices will increase in the US and Canada. Sony said the new pricing will reflect “the current market conditions”. Nothing else will change, meaning you will get all the same benefits and features, including online multiplayer, free games, exclusive discounts, and online save storage.

Sony said the one-month subscription will remain the same price at $9.99. Also, if you’re a subscriber and don’t want to continue with the new pricing, Sony said you should disable auto-renewal in your account settings by the cut-off date.

Did Barbra Streisand of all people just slip iOS 10’s release date?

Barbra Streisand, the 74-year-old singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker, can add a new title to her resume: Apple leaker.

During a NPR radio interview over the weekend, Streisand talked about how Siri’s pronunciation of her name has annoyed her since Apple launched the assistant in 2011. Siri apparently makes a “Z” sound in the middle of “Streisand”, whereas Streisand claimed it’s supposed be pronounced with “a soft ‘s’ like sand on the beach”. The entertainer said she has been saying her last name like that for her “whole career”. 

But that’s not the most interesting part of her interview… Streisand then said she personally called up Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, to ask him to fix the problem – as one does.”So what did I do? I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook. And he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name finally with the next update on September 30th,” Streisand explained. 

Here’s where it gets even more interesting: the next update to iOS – iOS 10 – is expected to launch next month, but it should arrive before 30 September. The because the next iPhone – iPhone 7 – is rumored to be shipping on either 16 September or 23 September, and it will launch with iOS 10 preloaded. Older iOS devices are expected to get the update earlier, likely 14 September.

Did Streisand just leak iOS 10’s release date? It’s hard to tell if she just mixed up the date, or if she was given bad information – because all rumours point to that specific date as being unlikely. She might have been told the update is rolling out at the end of September, and so she simply guessed the date, or Cook could have revealed that a patch, 10.0.1, would be ready by then.

Curiouser and curiouser. 

Middle-earth Blu-ray set is gorgeous, but insanely expensive

Yes, many Lord of the Rings fans (including this writer) may be obsessive collectors, but the latest movie collection that Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema are releasing this far takes things into the realm of the truly crazy. The just-announced “Middle-earth Limited Collectors Edition” includes the extended editions of all six of director Peter Jackson’s films set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagined world on Blu-ray. That gets you the three movies based on The Hobbit and three more movies that make up The Lord of the Rings. It all comes in a lavish and beautiful presentation — but that lovely physical package will set you back a whopping $799.99.

You read that right — we’re talking almost $800 for six films. Granted, there is a ton of extra material here. Each film comes with extensive documentaries chronicling the creation of each film; the press release says that all bonus content ever released for both the theatrical and extended editions of each movie is included. That adds up to 30 discs total.

As for the physical product, you’re not getting any pedestrian plastic cases here. Each movie comes in a “faux leather” book, and the six books fit on a solid, “Hobbit-style” wooden shelf with a design selected by Peter Jackson himself. There’s also a recreation of the famed Red Book of Westmarch (which Bilbo and then Frodo pen their story in) — this version contains 100 pages of sketches and artwork from conceptual artists Alan Lee and John Howe. Both Lee and Howe worked on all six films, and both artists have worked in Tolkien’s universe since long before Jackson’s films arrived. A bunch of watercolor reproductions of their art are included as well, ready for framing.

From the lone picture released here, it looks like a wonderful set for those of us who still love physical media… but that price is just bonkers. However, this Middle-earth collection is hardly the first obscenely-priced media package, and it surely won’t be the last. Still, it feels like this set could absolutely have had a more approachable price point while still residing in the “limited” space. For the rest of us, you can drop about $125 on Amazon to get all six extended films, without the lavish treatment.

Source: The Hobbit movie shop

The 2016 Pebble Beach Concept Lawn was nuts as always

Walk along the priciest mini car show in the world. The Concept Lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is like the smallest, most expensive car show you can imagine. A bunch of unobtanium concepts and almost-production models line an irregularly shaped putting green for people to stare at while on their way to see other, older insane cars. This year’s crop was a particularly good one.

We’ll walk through the gallery above in order:

• That’s a new Ford GT. Not quite a concept, but it’s not in production yet, so we’ll let it slide.
• Then there’s the one-of-a-kind Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo that was recently bought by a Saudi Prince along with a matching Chiron.
• Next up is the Lamborghini Centenario Roadster, which was unveiled last week and is already sold out.
• This orange automobile is BMW’s 2002 Hommage with its latest livery, a Jägermeister-themed affair called Turbomeister.
• This silver Infiniti, the Q80 Inspiration Concept, is an oldie but a goodie. It first appeared in Paris in 2014.
• The extremely long automobile after that is the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, which was unveiled in Monterey this year. The 6 in the name is because it’s 6 meters, or about 18 feet, long. Most of that’s the hood.
• Next we have the one-of-99 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato coupe, which continues to be beautiful.
• After that is a Fisker Karma with a V8, the VLF Destino. Thank you, Bob Lutz.
• The black sedan you see after that is the Cadillac Escala Concept, which also made its debut in Monterey this year.
• Then we have a Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Badge. Not a concept, but exclusive enough to join the others.
• Next is the McLaren 570GT customized by MSO that arrived for Pebble 2016. It has special design touches plus an electrochromic panel to replace the normal glass roof.
• The light blue car is the Genesis New York concept. The name didn’t change even though it was in Monterey.
• Then we have the large and in charge Lincoln Navigator concept, taking up two regulation concept spots.
• The red car with suicide doors is Acura’s Precision Concept, which we first saw at the Detroit show this year.
• Another non-concept, the Lexus LC 500h at least looks futuristic enough to be a show-specific car.
• And here’s a 2017 Maserati Quattroporte, which is definitely not a concept.
• A Bentley Mulsanne EWB, because why not? It’s not available in the US, so that almost qualifies for concept status.
• Then there’s a reproduction Lister Knobbly, which we could stare at all day.
• And last but not least, the electric Corvette Z06 that holds the street-legal EV speed record.

Related Video:

Chinese scientists study usefulness of manned lunar radar station

China is currently investigating how feasible it would be to build a special manned radar station on the moon due to pricing constraints and how useful such a base would actually be.

While the project, funded by the government to the tune of 16 million yuan, launched earlier this year, would be used for scientific research and defense monitoring, it could also monitor areas on land as well as undersea and underground areas. It would feature a radar antenna 50 meters high and special astronauts’ quarters as well.

The radar itself would be capable of generating 1.4 gigabytes of data per second, which outclasses the bandwidth available from long-distance space communications tech, but it would require on-site astronauts to aid in processing the data there. It would be an extremely pricey endeavor, which is what lead researchers to call it a “lunatic idea” or denounce it entirely, suggesting spy satellites could perform the same tasks at a fraction of the cost.

The Chinese goverment is supposedly looking for a “significant breakthrough” in the plan when 2020 arrives, as will the deadline for the responsible team’s final report.

Via: South China Morning Post

FBI finds 14,900 more files from Hillary Clinton’s email server

Just because the US Attorney General isn’t bringing charges over Hillary Clinton’s private email server doesn’t mean that it’s all over — far from it. FBI investigators have unearthed 14,900 more files (email and documents) on the server, or almost 50 percent more than Clinton’s lawyers originally turned over to the State Department. Just what’s in those documents isn’t clear, although they come from a disc the FBI obtained that includes email and attachments sent directly to or from the former Secretary of State. Clinton’s attorneys had initially turned over ‘just’ 30,000 messages that they considered work-related, although the FBI didn’t find signs that she or her staff had deleted anything in a bid to hide it.

Whatever the contents, Clinton will face added pressure. A judge in a lawsuit over public records has tossed the State Department’s proposed plans to release documents starting October 14th, and is pushing for an earlier release. That won’t happen too much sooner if the judge is successful (the Department will only have to present a revised plan on September 22nd), but it’ll be enough to shake up the government’s disclosure strategy.

Source: Washington Post