Twitter counted over 2 million viewers for Thursday Night Football
Twitter’s first big splash in TV arrived with last night’s NFL simulcast, and now the numbers are in. According to the stats, the livestream averaged some 243,000 viewers that it says watched an average 22 minutes of action, with 2.3 million people watching at least 3 seconds of the game or pregame show. Despite being mostly well received by viewers, those numbers are quite a bit lower than the 2.36 million average / 15.2 million unique Yahoo noted for its stream of a London NFL game last year.
This Jets/Bills game was also a national simulcast on CBS and NFL Network, with a viewing audience across platforms that had an average audience minute basis of 15.7 million. Another difference is that Yahoo had a number of international viewers, and featured the game on its homepage which still gets a lot of traffic.
Oh hey, how’s the #TNF Twitter livestreaming goin… dammithttps://t.co/QKDpn8nAgP pic.twitter.com/RkmbvJ9KFf
— Richard Lawler (@rjcc) September 15, 2016
I checked out the stream last night and found it on point in terms of the technology. Twitter relied on Bam Tech (formerly MLBAM) for a stream that was high quality and didn’t drop, although it was anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute or so behind the TV broadcast. I had trouble starting the Twitter app on Xbox One, but on Apple TV it worked reliably, and displayed the Tweets next to the broadcast, mostly filtering out any trollish or unrelated #TNF conversation.
Thanks for watching #TNF LIVE on Twitter! Catch the @Patriots vs. @HoustonTexans next Thursday right here 👇 https://t.co/eCsgy1y604
— Twitter (@twitter) September 16, 2016
Twitter proved itself as a capable platform for distributing this type of media, however at least from my view, it didn’t do enough to make the conversation a part of the experience. The tweets didn’t bring much more to the game than watching with my phone or laptop, and most people weren’t really replying to or reading one another. It did help make viewing at home seem more lively, and the company has nine more games this season to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
it doesn’t seem like anyone’s actually reading or interacting with the Twitter stream. Although, it makes viewing more “live.”
— Richard Lawler (@rjcc) September 16, 2016
We’ve seen plenty of smart TVs try to build in Twitter integration and fail, as well as apps that tried to bring social aspects to TV. Since Twitter already has the audience, it’s a natural fit for hosting broadcasts, but it still has to prove that people will come to Twitter to watch and engage at a higher level than they would on other platforms. Facebook apparently turned down the streaming package, while trying a different approach to pump up sports talk on the platform. Real-time conversation around TV broadcasts is coming, but it’s still hard to see exactly what that will look like.
Source: NFL, CBS Press Express
iTunes and App Store Down for Some Users
According to Apple’s System Status page, both the iTunes Store and the App Store are down for some users. The iTunes Store has been experiencing issues since just after 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time this afternoon, and while the App Store outage period is not listed, MacRumors has seen several complaints about accessing it going back an hour or two.
Apple’s System Status site says some users may be unable to sign into the App Store and the iTunes Store, an outage that comes at an inconvenient time as the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus were just released, so many people are trying to set up their devices and download new apps.
There’s no estimate given for when services might return to normal.
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LG X Power Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The X Power promises monster battery life.
César Salza/CNET
Two days of battery life. That’s how long LG says its X Power phone, which it officially announced earlier this summer, is expected to last between charges.
You might think that such a giant 4,100mAh battery would top a list of other high-end hardware, but LG takes the opposite approach, surrounding the (nonremovable) battery with midrange specs that help pin the full retail price to $130.
Already available for US Cellular and Cricket Wireless, Sprint and Boost Mobile’s version contains one important difference: it uses MediaTek’s Helio P10 chip (1.8GHz octa-core) rather than the quad-core Qualcomm processor found in other models.
While we haven’t yet been able to compare this with the Qualcomm variation, that’ll be one of the first things we do when we get our hands on both phones.
Curious about the other important specs? The LG X Power also has:
- 5.3-inch screen with a 1,280×720-pixel resolution
- 8-megapixel rear camera
- 5-megapixel front-facing camera
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow software
- microSD card slot
The LG X Power goes on sale today at prepaid carrier Boost Mobile, and arrives at Sprint next week.
SpeedX Leopard AL Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
SpeedX
Smart bikes are real, and more affordable than you might imagine.
SpeedX debuted the Leopard and Leopard Pro smart road bikes on Kickstarter earlier this year. Both bikes featured carbon fiber frames, built-in bike computers with integrated GPS and a price that seemed too good to be true.
The campaign would go on to become the most funded bike on Kickstarter. I was initially skeptical, but that changed once I got a chance to test ride the Leopard Pro. SpeedX is now back with its third and most affordable bike yet, the Leopard AL.
The Leopard AL is a midrange bike that is designed for the entry-level cyclist. It lacks the carbon fiber frame and high-end groupset from the Leopard and Leopard Pro, but it does have an aluminum frame and fork with full internal wiring, a first for an alloy bike. The components are middle of the pack — a 10-speed Shimano Tiagra 4700 groupset — but it does include hydraulic disc brakes, which the previous Leopard models didn’t have.
But what makes the Leopard AL stand apart from brands like Trek, Cannondale and Giant is the built-in bike computer and internal sensors, which essentially replaces the need for a separate Garmin or Polar computer. The Leopard AL includes GPS, an altimeter and speed sensors all integrated into the frame.
These sensors are used to measure moving time, distance, speed, altitude, cadence, calorie burn and can provide navigation. There’s also Bluetooth and ANT+ built-in for connecting a power meter or heart-rate sensor. All of this data can be viewed in real time on a 2.2-inch color screen, which can also display incoming calls and notifications when your smartphone is connected.
The Leopard AL is available now for $1,200, which is about $350 cheaper than the comparable Giant Defy Advanced 3, which lacks a bike computer like the Leopard AL packs. International pricing wasn’t immediately available, but the US price converts to about £905 in the UK and AU$1,600 in Australia.
As I said when I wrote about the Leopard Pro, SpeedX is still a company we know very little about. This isn’t like buying a bike from Trek, a company that has been around for over 40 years and has made a name for itself with reliable service and strong frames. While SpeedX does offer a lifetime warranty on the frame, but for a company with little history some might find that warranty hard to have faith in.
Specs
- SpeedX 6061 alloy frame and fork
- Shimano Tiagra 4700 groupset
- Shimano Tiagra hydraulic disc brakes
- Forumula 24h double wall wheelset
- Vittoria Zaffiro – 700x23c road tires
- KMC X10 chain
- Integrated bike computer with 2.2-inch color display
- GPS, Altimeter, speed sensors
- Bluetooth, ANT+
- 9.9 kg (about 22lbs) for 45cm model
Sevenhugs HugOne Sleep Tracking System Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The SevenHugs HugOne Sleep Tracking System.
SevenHugs
French tech startup SevenHugs has a fancy-looking sleep tracking system that’s available now in the US.
Called the HugOne, the $180 system is a colorful, family friendly set of gizmos. Place one of the system’s sleep sensors on the corner of your bed (one for each person sleeping in it), and it’ll track your movements throughout the night. In the morning, after you’ve woken up, the sensor will transmit the data back to the base station using SevenHugs’ proprietary frequency, letting you track everything on your Android or iOS device.
The sensors also track the temperature and humidity conditions in each room. If anything’s amiss, the base station will change from a blue glow to a pink one to let you know to take action and open a window.
SevenHugs
The system is also compatible with a few notable smart home gadgets. Sync it up with a Nest Learning Thermostat, and you’ll be able to trigger your thermostat whenever everyone’s in bed, and again when everyone wakes up. You can also connect it with Philips Hue’s smart LED lighting system and trigger your bulbs to turn off when you get in bed, or to fade on in the morning. Take advantage of the system’s channel on the free automation service IFTTT, and you’ll be able to trigger even more smart home gadgets.
The system is also compatible with Amazon’s Alexa, which lets you ask the voice-activated virtual assistant to tell you the air quality in each bedroom.
This isn’t the first we’ve seen of SevenHugs. Back in January, at CES, the startup offered CNET a look at a prototype of a touchscreen remote for the smart home, with contextual controls that change depending on what you’re pointing it at. The SevenHugs team had it on hand again at this week’s CEDIA tech expo in Dallas, but tells us that it’s still a work in progress with an ETA of early 2017.
The HugOne sleep tracking system is available now through Amazon Launchpad. Additional sensors cost $50 a piece.
Japanese tax investigation ends with Apple paying $118 million
After an in-depth investigation, one of Apple’s Japanese subsidiaries paid ¥12 billion ($118 million) in back taxes, according to a report from the Yomiuri Shimbun. Japanese tax authorities ordered the payment after determining the company hadn’t correctly paid taxes on funds it had quietly funneled out of the country. This whole thing might sound a little dry, but hey — what better way to spend a Friday than to dig into some corporate cloak-and-dagger dealings? Let’s take a closer look.
First, here’s a little background. If you live in Japan and you buy an iPhone from Apple, that money goes to (who else?) Apple Japan. If you buy apps, movies or music from iTunes in Japan, however, that money goes to a different subsidiary: iTunes K.K. Ah, but there’s more: much of Apple’s intellectual property is owned by two subsidiaries in Ireland, and other Apple business units around the world pay those entities royalties to use that IP. iTunes K.K. had one such arrangement set up — when people used the iTunes service to listen to music or watch videos, the subsidiary owed part of its profits to an Apple-owned holding company in Ireland as royalties.
And why Ireland? Well, Apple had a lucrative structure in place that allowed the company to pay hardly anything in corporate taxes on that cash. (Tim Cook, by the way, strongly asserts this isn’t true.) Moreover, Apple has never and will never talk about how much those licensing fees are, so they’re widely seen as a tool to help keep Apple’s money away from the governments who want to collect their share. So, iTunes generates profits in Japan, and Apple ultimately wants it to go to Ireland where it’ll barely get taxed. The problem is, Japanese income tax law holds that a Japanese company (like iTunes K.K.) has to pay a roughly 20 percent withholding tax on royalties paid to foreign companies… like Apple’s Irish operation. That’s no chump change, so the parties involved had to get a little crafty.
iTunes K.K. didn’t make royalty payments to Apple’s Irish subsidiaries — it paid them to Apple Japan, the company’s other, separate half. Then, Apple’s Irish subsidiary sold iPhones to Apple Japan by way of an affiliated company in Singapore. Tokyo’s Taxation Bureau alleged that Apple Japan bundled those royalties into the price of the iPhones it was buying so the holding company in Ireland ultimately wound up with the amount the iPhones actually cost plus software profits that never got taxed. Apple kept this up between 2012 and 2014 and moved around ¥60 billion (or about $586.5 million) in the process. Japanese tax authorities wanted — and reportedly received — the back taxes on that shifted money, and now the case is closed.
If all of this sounds a little familiar, well, you’re onto something. Apple had to pay Italy’s tax bureau €318 million (or $348 million) after it was alleged the company underpaid its corporate taxes for six years. Oh, and then there’s the whole “having to pay back $14.5 billion to Ireland” thing for creating a tax structure EU regulators have called “illegal.” Playing by the rules won’t make anyone as obscenely rich as if they hadn’t, but man — Apple is probably getting a little tired of being batted around.
[Image credit: ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images]
Source: The Japan News
See if your Galaxy Note 7 is safe with Samsung’s new tool – CNET
Crushader/Reddit
You may have heard by now that Samsung Galaxy Note 7s are catching fire. Unlike other phones exploding or bursting into flames in the past, this is not an isolated event and Samsung urges customers to turn in their Note 7s.
Yesterday, with a total of 92 incidents received, Samsung finally issued an official recall.
Samsung notes that Note 7s purchased after September 15 in the US should not be affected by the battery issue which is causing the fires. This does create some gray area, however. So Samsung has also provided an IMEI checker tool, which you can find here.
Is your Note 7 safe?
First, to check if your Note 7 is safe to continue using, find your device’s IMEI or serial number. To do this, go to Settings > General Management > Status > IMEI information. There, you should see your IMEI or serial number.
The IMEI is also located on the back of the phone, near the bottom.
Josh Miller/CNET
If you have trouble locating it in Settings or you don’t want to risk powering on the phone, you can also check for the IMEI or serial number under the Note 7 logo on the back of the phone.
The IMEI checker will tell you if your phone is affected by the battery issue and eligible for return. If your phone is not eligible, your phone is not affected by the battery flaw and you don’t need to exchange the phone.If your Note 7 is eligible for replacement, by no later than September 21, you should power down the phone immediately and make your way to the carrier or retailer from whom you purchased it for a full refund.
You can also exchange your Galaxy Note 7 with a new Note 7 which has been approved by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge. If you exchange for a device of lesser value, you will receive a refund for the price difference.
AT&T, Best Buy, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon have landing pages to help you through the exchange or return process. If you purchased the phone from Samsung directly, call 1-844-365-6197.
Customers who exchange a Galaxy Note 7 will receive a $25 incentive in the form of a gift card, in-store credit, accessory or bill credit from their carrier or retailer.
Samsung says replacement stock of new Galaxy Note 7 will be available no later than September 21.
Talking about everything Android adjacent
There’s a lot more to Android than the OS.
The launch of the HTC G1 was significant for two reasons. First and foremost, this phone was weird because it was Google’s effort “against” Apple and their iPhone and somehow it might actually compete well. Second, and in my mind the most important, Android was positioned from day one as a platform where third-party apps could be submitted and people could choose whatever apps they wanted. It took Apple a little while to catch on, but in the next revision of iOS they did.
Now, apps are everything and everything has an app. The second part of that sentence is significant, because it’s a big part of what I am passionate about. Android phones are exciting to me because they are pocket-sized hubs to everything, and I’m going to spend a lot of time talking about that experience.
You may have noticed recently that we started talking a little more about PlayStation here at AC. It’s a decision that came with some obvious feedback — what does this have to do with Android? PlayStation has just as much to do with Android as drones, robot vacuums, smart thermostats, or pillar-shaped talking speakers — there’s an app that improves the overall experience for those who use Android. Instead of limiting the conversation to the app, we’re going to talk about the whole product. If something has a fantastic Android app but is a garbage overall product, the glowing review that follows does everyone a disservice.
This isn’t going to detract from our normal Android coverage.
We’re not so much changing our existing editorial focus as we are more clearly defining it. The Ring Doorbell doesn’t run Android, but those who use Android can benefit from its existence. If something Android adjacent is a great product with a great app, we’re going to talk about the whole product. That includes the drone you clip onto paper airplanes so they can fly farther, the Sous Vide cooker that updates you with notifications, all things Amazon Echo, some VR that directly applies to Android, and occasionally some cool things you can do with your PlayStation.
This isn’t going to detract from our normal Android coverage, but it’s something we’re going to have some fun with. We’re not going to fill the homepage with tutorials on how to fix a stuck button on your connected scale, but we are going to let you know what we think after using it. Here’s hoping you’re ready to have some fun with us!
This iPhone 7 case gives you a headphone jack again
Some people simply don’t want a world where a new iPhone comes without a headphone jack.
Unfortunately for those stubborn few, Apple has already made its decision, and there is no going back now. However, not all hope is lost. A Reddit user, who goes by DungJohnson, has posted photo of an iPhone 7 prototype case he’s developed. It is built not only with a 3.5mm audio input jack for headphones, but also dual Lightning ports. Check out the gallery to see its current state.
It’s made with metal bumpers to encase the sides of your iPhone, as well as a clear rear shield that comes in various colour finishes, and raised rubber edging to provide screen protection. It’s described as lightweight and versatile, and it’s approximately 3mm thick and 22mm in length. There’s already a website for the case, which is called Daptr, and it’s been given a price: $49.
The prototype has apparently been cobbled together using “heavily modified electronics” from an iPhone 6 battery case. According to the Daptr website, a finished version should be available by December 2016, though its creators are considering launching a Kickstarter campaign.
Check out Pocket-lint’s round-up for other iPhone 7 cases you can buy.
- Best iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus cases: Protect your new Apple device
AIVAnet 