You can now pre-order the second-gen Amazon Echo Dot for $50

Amazon has officially unveiled the second-generation of its Echo Dot and you can place your pre-order for it now. Refining the hardware a bit, the Echo Dot allows you to play music, control smart home devices and much more with just your voice. The seven far-field microphones allow for it to hear you from across the room or in noisy environments, and the built-in speaker works as an alarm clock, an assistant and much more.

Some of the other features include:

• Uses Alexa to play music, control smart home devices, provide information, read the news, set alarms, and more
• Connects to speakers or headphones through Bluetooth or 3.5 mm stereo cable to play music from Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn
• Controls lights, fans, switches, thermostats, garage doors, sprinklers, and more with compatible connected devices from WeMo, Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Nest, ecobee, and others
• Hears you from across the room with 7 far-field microphones for hands-free control, even in noisy environments or while playing music
• Includes a built-in speaker so it can work on its own as a smart alarm clock in the bedroom, an assistant in the kitchen, or anywhere you might want a voice-controlled computer
• Always getting smarter and adding new features, plus thousands of skills like Uber, Domino’s, and more

Don’t forget you’ll also be able to use the Echo Dot with your Sonos speaker in the coming months to control it with just your voice. You can pre-order it now in black or white for just $50 and it will be officially available on October 20. Amazon is running some promotions for the speaker, like buy five and get one free with the coupon code DOT6PACK, or you can buy 10 and get two free with coupon DOT12PACK.

See at Amazon

No new Android Wear watches from Huawei, Moto or LG this year

Google and ASUS might be the only big tech brands to release any Android Wear devices in late 2016, reports CNET.

While Android Wear hasn’t been a runaway success, some of last year’s Android smartwatches have shown promise. However relatively few Android wearables have emerged from the usual suspects — that is to say, phone makers — in the past twelve months. Instead, devices from more traditional watch brands like Casio and Michael Kors taking their place.

Now a new report from CNET reveals that neither LG, Moto nor Huawei will release new Android Wear hardware in 2016. A Moto spokesperson quoted in the report talks up the possibilities of cellular watches, but says the tech behind it hasn’t matured yet. Similarly, an unnamed Huawei exec is quoted saying the firm is waiting on current smartwatch tech to become smaller and more efficient.

2015’s Moto 360 and Huawei Watch had been among the better-received Android smartwatches, but neither offers cellular connectivity.

Moto and Huawei holding out for new tech, LG waiting to see what resonates with consumers.

Cellular smartwatches like the LG Watch Urbane Second Edition LTE have a tendency to be bulky, due to the larger batteries required to drive LTE radios. Qualcomm has been working on new and more efficient processors for Android smartwatches, most of which use ancient Snapdragon 400 chips, however even its latest Snapdragon Wear 2100 is built on a relatively old 28nm manufacturing process. (That’s as opposed to the 14nm process used in its highest-end phone chips.) New Snapdragon Wear chips built on more efficient processes are surely coming.

For LG, it seems, the barrier isn’t technical. The Korean firm “wants to see what sticks” with consumers, senior global communications director Ken Hong is quoted as saying. Hong’s remarks underscore how most smartwatch makers (and to a certain extent their customers) are still trying to figure out what they’re for. LG’s last major Android Watch, the aforementioned Urbane LTE, was pulled from shelves at the last minute in late 2015 due to an issue with the display, only to re-emerge early this year.

All of which leaves ASUS, with its ZenWatch 3, as the only big name in tech to launch an Android Wear watch this year. Google is rumored to be launching its own Android wearables, in two different for factors, alongside its two Pixel-branded smartphones later in the year, and these will likely be among the first Android Wear 2.0 gadgets to go on sale.

The lack of movement in Android Wear hardware this year leaves Apple and Samsung largely unchallenged at the top of the pile. Apple last week announced two new lines of its Apple Watch. Meanwhile Samsung’s going after a male audience — the main demographic snapping up smartwatches right now — with its rugged, heftier Gear S3.

Don’t miss these awesome deals on Kmashi’s portable battery packs!

Right now you can score some sweet savings on Kmashi’s portable battery packs at Amazon with a coupon code. For as little as $9 you can grab a 10000mAh power bank to charge your favorite gadgets while on the go without tethering yourself to a wall. The batteries are rather small and high capacity, with both 10000mAh and 15000mAh units available. Both have two USB outputs to charge multiple devices at the same time if needed, and recharge via microUSB.

These two are currently on sale with coupons:

• 10000mAh power bank – $9 with coupon UOFBXBF3
• 15000mAh power bank – $13 with coupon W8WP6GHU

If you find yourself needing extra power during your day, you will want to have one of these around. At these prices, you may want to pick up some gifts for others as well. Be sure to act quick, as this deal likely won’t last long.

See at Amazon

Add some royal flair to your phone with these castle wallpapers

Whether you’re stuck in the city or the suburbs, we all want to escape.

Some want to escape to the beach, some want to escape to the mountains, but you know where you should really want to escape? A castle. Castles are majestic, they’re powerful, and they’re well-fortified against revolutionary uprisings or zombie apocalypses. Okay, your mileage may vary on that one, but nevertheless, castles are for more than pretty princesses, and we’ve got some castle wallpapers for every kind of aspiring royal.

Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the most picturesque castles in the world, nestled in the mountains of Germany. A poster of it hung above my bed in college, and probably hangs on a lot of walls because it is a beautiful castle — it was even the inspiration behind Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland. While most pictures show the castle draped in snow or summer splendor, this image of the castle surrounded by ruby red foilage is a certain kind of badass. Like a giant blood-red cape draped around the castles shoulders.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Who says castles have to be western, with lots of turrets and towers? Shimabara Castle in Japan is a breathtaking sight in its own right. It’s simple lines and symmetry instill peace and balance within visitors and viewers alike. Just imagine walking these grounds when the cherry blossoms are blooming!

Shimabara Castle

Castles in America may be a little harder to come by, but smaller castles like Boldt Castle are intimate and enchanting in their own right. Situated on an island in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River, this structure alongside the main castle was built by George Boldt as a present to his wife, but when she died, he stopped construction and never returned. Decades later, the island and the castle were purchased and restored for tourists from both Canada and New York to treasure.

Boldt Castle

If there isn’t some sort of fairytale romance film filmed at Peles Castle at some point, I might cry. Look at it. This Romanian beauty looks like it jumped straight off the page of an old Hans Christian Andersen fable! You have to wonder what majesty and mystery this castle has hosted over the years…

Peles Castle

You didn’t really think I’d have a castle roundup without a Disney castle, did you? Silly. The newest castle in the Disney Parks collection is the positively massive Enchanted Storybook Castle at Disneyland Shanghai, which is as beautiful as it is big. Visible miles from the park, Enchanted Storybook Castle hosts not one but two attractions, a fabulous restaurant, a beautiful Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and a stunning stage. Day or night, rain or shine, Enchanted Storybook captivates all who visit, and while I may never have the chance, this wallpaper gives me a bit of that magic to keep in my pocket.

Enchanted Storybook Castle

Future medical wearables could be powered by body heat

Researchers at NC State think that they have developed a new way to harvest body heat and turn it into electricity. The team has developed a patch that’s roughly a centimeter squared, that would attach to a person’s bicep. The device would then be able to generate anything up to 20 Microwatts, a significant increase on previous technologies. It’s not enough to power a smartwatch, but it’s possible that it may be enough to juice a medical sensor, reducing the number of bulky cables a patient has to trail around them.

The patch creates electricity by using the difference in temperature between your body and the air that surrounds it. The heat is pushed through a wearable thermoelectric generator and the hardware itself is just two millimeters thick. The team also developed a version that would integrate into a t-shirt, and while the gains were less impressive than on the bicep, could take up much more real estate than on the upper arm.

MC10 is a wearables startup that was borne out of research by medical wearables pioneer John Rogers. The first generation of its body monitoring technology is thin, but the biggest component by far is the battery. If, however, such hardware was able to generate the power locally, you’d instantly eliminate the need to add-in expensive and bulky power cells. That would, hopefully, have the knock-on effect of reducing the cost and complexity of body sensors. Let’s hope that NC State’s researchers can

Via: TechCrunch

Source: NC State, Applied Energy

iOS 10 Now Installed on 14.5% of Devices, Early Adoption Rates Outpacing iOS 9 Adoption

Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 10, is seeing quicker adoption rates than iOS 9 saw during the same adoption period last year, according to data collected by Mixpanel. As of 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, 24 hours after iOS 10 was released, the OS is installed on 14.45 percent of devices.

Comparatively, 24 hours after iOS 9 was released, it was installed on 12.60 percent of devices, also based on data gathered from Mixpanel. That’s also similar to iOS 8 adoption rates in 2014, suggesting iOS 10 is slightly outpacing both updates, likely due to the wide range of new features introduced.

iOS 10 saw some early installation issues that have undoubtedly made people weary of downloading the update and have slowed adoption rates.

Shortly after iOS 10 was released, users began seeing their installations fail, requiring them to connect to a computer to repair the installation or restore via iTunes. Apple fixed the issue within an hour, but not before it impacted hundreds.

Since then, iOS 10 has installed smoothly and we’ve seen few bug reports, suggesting it’s stable and safe to download. iOS 10 adoption will likely jump up as we hit the weekend, as people will have time to do the installation, and with the iPhone 7 releasing on Friday, there will be millions of new devices running the operating system.

With iOS 10 adoption on the rise, the number of devices running iOS 9 is steadily falling. iOS 9 is now installed on 81.09 percent of devices. 4.46 percent of devices continue to run iOS 8 or earlier.

iOS 10 is a free update that’s available for the iPhone 5 and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad 4 and later, and the 6th generation iPod touch.

Related Roundup: iOS 10
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