T-Mobile ONE Plus Now Starts at $15 Per Month Extra, Unlimited LTE Tethering Still $25 Per Month Extra
T-Mobile has announced that ONE Plus, its premium upgrade option for T-Mobile ONE, is now available for $15 per month, rather than $25 per month as charged previously, but without unlimited tethering at up to 4G LTE speeds.
For $15 per month per line, T-Mobile ONE Plus customers still get unlimited HD video streaming, unlimited international data roaming at up to 3G speeds, unlimited monthly Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi, Voicemail to Text, and Name ID call protection.
A new $25 per month tier called T-Mobile ONE Plus International continues to offer those add-ons plus unlimited tethering at up to 4G LTE speeds and Stateside International Talk for unlimited calling from the U.S to landlines in 70+ countries and mobile numbers in 30+ countries, along with discounted calling to 200+ countries.
The cheaper ONE Plus and new ONE Plus International upgrade options became available on Tuesday. Customers already paying $25 per month for the old ONE Plus option will be automatically upgraded to ONE Plus International, and must call or visit a T-Mobile store to switch to the cheaper $15 per month option.
The base T-Mobile ONE plan itself offers unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data for $70 per month. A second line can be added for $50 per month, while up to six more lines can be added for an additional $20 per month each. The total cost for a family of four, for example, would be $160 per month.
Tag: T-Mobile
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Algoriddim Brings ‘djay Pro’ to the iPhone
Algoriddim, known for its industry leading djay software, today released a brand new pro-level app for the iPhone, finally expanding djay Pro across Apple’s full line of iOS and Mac devices.
djay Pro for iPhone, which brings the pro features djay is known for to a pocket-sized device that can go anywhere, follows the release of both djay Pro for iPad and djay Pro for Mac and comes as Algoriddim celebrates its 10 year anniversary.
The app has been built for iOS 10 and the iPhone 7, incorporating features like 3D Touch and haptic feedback. The interface will be immediately familiar to anyone who has used one of djay’s other Pro apps, with support for two waveforms and up to four decks in either vertical or horizontal orientation.
The entire app has been optimized for the iPhone’s interface and while simple enough for a beginner to use, it goes deep enough to suit professionals. Tools are layered to accommodate a smaller screen, but everything is still right at your fingertips.
“djay Pro has been a huge hit on Mac and iPad,” said Karim Morsy, CEO of Algoriddim. “iPhone 7 has enabled us to completely transform the user experience of djay Pro by using haptic feedback and 3D Touch. It puts a fully-featured DJ system in your pocket so you can be creative no matter where you are.”
On the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, waveform haptic support means users can actually feel the beats when scratching and scrubbing music for a much more visceral music making experience. 3D Touch has also been incorporated in an innovative way, letting users set cue points without needing to lift a finger from the iPhone’s screen.
Spotify integration, one of the features that really sets djay apart from other apps, is included as is full video integration for mixing and scratching two or more videos (including video shot directly with the iPhone’s camera).
Full hardware support is included in djay Pro for iPhone, so an iPhone can be plugged into a range of professional DJ controllers like the Reloop Beatpad, Reloop Beatpad 2, Pioneer DDJ- WeGO 3 and 4, and Numark Mixdeck Quad.
Like djay Pro for iPad and Mac, the iPhone version of the software features full accessibility options like haptic integration, VoiceOver options, and more. A built-in Apple Watch app also serves as a remote control for browsing through playlists, cueing up and mixing songs, and controlling advanced audio effects.
djay Pro for iPhone is available for a limited time launch price of $4.99. While built for the iPhone 7, it’s compatible with the iPhone 5 and later. iOS 10 is required. [Direct Link]
To celebrate the release of djay Pro for iPhone, Algoriddim is discounting its other products. The original djay 2 app for iPhone and iPad is available for $0.99, while djay Pro for Mac is available for $39.99 and djay Pro for iPad is available for $9.99.
Tag: djay
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AirPods Tidbits: Hidden Apple Watch Features, Durability Test, and High Resale Prices
Apple’s AirPods are now making their way into the hands of the first round of customers who ordered the wireless headphones last Tuesday, and more tidbits of information about the device have been shared online as users play around with Apple’s newest product.
Apple Watch Features
As more and more users begin wearing the AirPods, cool new features for the headphones are coming to light online, particularly a few buried menu items on the Apple Watch.
One Apple Watch wearer noticed that when a call comes in through the wearable, there’s a custom AirPods button when the headphones are connected and playing music. The AirPods button replaces the usual green answer button, simply designating that the call will be relayed through the AirPods and not through the Apple Watch speaker.
Users of Apple’s wearable can also swipe up from their watch face, tap battery percentage in control center, and check on their AirPods’ battery levels from the Watch. Otherwise, the AirPods’ battery levels can be checked in the iPhone’s battery widget.
Durability Test
As is the case with most new Apple devices, durability tests are also underway, and YouTube channel EverythingApplePro this week shared one of the first major real-world drop and water tests with the AirPods. In the video, the headphones are put through basic drop tests from waist and ear height, and then to upwards of ten feet. Scuffs and marks hit the charging case hardest, but the AirPods themselves made it through largely unscathed thanks to their lightweight build. Most importantly, both the AirPods and the charging case continued to work normally after each drop.
Water tests were also conducted on the AirPods, including a washing and drying cycle that confirmed the headphones and the case will survive and function as expected even after accidentally including them in a load of laundry. The channel’s ultimate stress test was five minute submersion under one foot of water. Even with those extreme conditions, the AirPods synced up with the iPhone immediately after submersion, and both headphones were “working perfectly.”
Resale Prices
Naturally, with so many people looking to gift the AirPods to family and friends for Christmas, resale prices are rising on eBay. Most auctions are sitting around the $250 mark with hours left to go, and guaranteed shipping by Christmas, but some Buy it Now prices are set at upwards of $350 and $500. Prices will only continue to inflate as Christmas grows closer and shipping costs rise to overnight packages.
Availability and Tracking
Certain retailers like Best Buy in the United States and Carphone Warehouse in the United Kingdom have restocked AirPods throughout the week, but Apple’s online website now has an estimated delivery in mid-February for most countries. Anyone who wants to keep as up to date as possible on AirPods availability can use iStockNow’s tracking map to see where the headphones are currently available.
Users are likely to see a map filled with red pins indicating no stock available, but we’ve seen occasional green pins show up throughout the morning. You’ll have to move quickly though, as they sell out very quickly.
Tag: AirPods
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The Earth’s core has a ‘jet stream’ of molten iron
You know jet streams as fast-flowing air currents in the atmosphere that can help predict temperature and help planes fly faster. According to data sent back by a trio of ESA satellites called Swarm, though, there’s also a jet stream deep beneath our planet’s surface, and it’s made of molten iron. A team of European scientists have discovered the jet stream in the Earth’s outer core that’s located 1,900 miles underneath its crust. It moves at 25 miles per year, three times faster than the speed of the other layers in the outer core and a thousand times faster than our planet’s tectonic plates.
Now, 25 miles per year doesn’t sound speedy at all, considering jet streams in the atmosphere can go as fast as 250 mph. “[B]ut you have to remember this is a very dense liquid metal,” Dr. Chris Finlay from the National Space Institute at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) told BBC. “[I]t takes a huge amount of energy to move this thing around and that’s probably the fastest motion we have anywhere within the solid Earth.”
The scientists who discovered the rapidly-moving stream of metal believes it’s the result of two core layers moving towards a single boundary due to buoyancy or changes in the magnetic field within the core. When the liquids meet at that boundary, the mixture is squeezed out sideways to form the jet.
ESA’s Swarm satellites measure and track the different magnetic fields caused by the Earth’s core, crust, oceans, mantle and even the ionosphere and the magnetosphere. By monitoring magnetic fields, the satellites give scientists a way to figure out how the core’s layers move — it’s like having access to a detailed x-ray of the Earth. In fact, scientists discovered the jet stream thanks to bright spots in the magnetic field over Alaska and Siberia.
Swarm mission manager Rune Floberghagen said this is one of the first deep-Earth discoveries made possible by the trio of satellites. “With the unprecedented resolution now possible,” he said, “it’s a very exciting time — we simply don’t know what we’ll discover next about our planet.”
Via: LiveScience
Source: Nature, ESA
Families of Pulse nightclub shooting sue Google, Facebook
Google, Facebook and Twitter are facing a lawsuit filed by the families of three victims killed by Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen in Orlando. The plaintiffs are accusing the tech titans of providing “material support” to Mateen, who was known to have pledged allegiance to ISIS and its leader. According to their lawsuit, the families are suing the companies for allowing the terrorist group to create accounts to raise funds and to spread propaganda with the intention of attracting new recruits.
The material support these tech giants provide, the lawsuit says, “has been instrumental to the rise of ISIS and has enabled it to carry out or cause to be carried out, numerous terrorist attacks.” In addition, the plaintiffs are accusing the companies of profiting from ISIS-related posts by combining them with advertisements and of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act in the United States.
This is far from the first time a tech company has been sued for providing support to terrorist groups. Back in July, the families of five victims killed in the Palestinian attacks on Tel Aviv sued Facebook for playing “an essential role in Hamas’s ability to carry out its terrorist activities.” The wives of two American contractors killed in a shooting spree in Jordan, on the other hand, sued Twitter for allowing ISIS activity to flourish on the microblogging site.
However, tech companies are pretty well-protected by the law, particularly by Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act. It says providers and website owners are not liable for information published by their users. That’s why the judge who presided over the American contractors’ case ended up tossing the lawsuit.
Source: Reuters
LeEco plans layoffs in India and other markets as it consolidates strategy for 2017
LeEco is downsizing operations as it looks to revamp strategy for 2017.
LeEco hasn’t fared well in recent months, and the company is now planning layoffs in several markets on account of the “overall volatility and uncertainty that is forecast for the global economy.” LeEco will downsize its operations in “all its offices in various geographies,” including India. Toward that effect, LeEco is suspending its plans to sell phones offline via retail stores in the country, slashing its advertising budget, and slowing down new product launches.
In the statement provided to Gadgets 360, LeEco affirmed that the layoffs were not due to “performance or competence parameters but entirely guided by business imperatives.” The company said that it was “open to offering outplacement services to affected employees who specifically seek assistance:”
As we transit to a more strategic phase of our operations in India, it is the appropriate time to assess and take steps to ensure the sustainability and profitability of our business.
Following its over-the-top launch in the U.S., LeEco CEO admitted to a cash crunch, stating that the company “blindly sped ahead” and “over-extended” itself.
Since then, the company raised $600 million in fresh funding, with $300 million earmarked for its electric car business.
LeEco’s business model relies on selling phones and TVs at manufacturing cost, with the company turning to its digital content subscription pass — LeEco EcoPass — for profits. But as we’ve seen, the subscription pass in and of itself doesn’t justify buying the company’s products.
Want to help Google Home improve? Here’s how to send feedback directly to Google
Google Home is a product that still needs a lot of help.
With Actions on Google, we’re finally starting to see Google Home capabilities expand, but that’s not to say this product is anywhere near perfect yet. Google is going to be improving Home for years to come (or at least, let’s hope it’s years to come), and do you want to know how you can help them make this little air freshener lookalike more helpful in your own life? Give Google some feedback! It’s easy, too!
The easy way
If you’ve got a bug or issue you can easily articulate, simply say “OK Google… Send feedback.” Google will reply and ask you what needs to be improved. Answer it, and the voice recording will be sent to the Google Home team to listen to and act on.
If your issue is long-winded, technical, or you just feel like writing it instead of saying it aloud, you can do that, too!
The slightly-less-easy way
Open the Google Home app.
Tap the three-line menu button in the top left corner of the screen.
At the bottom of the menu, tap Help & feedback.
Tap Submit Feedback Request at the bottom of the screen.
Select Google Home from the list of services to give feedback on.
After typing in your feedback, tap the arrow-shaped Send button.
Keep in mind while submitting feedback that you should provide details for the problems or improvements you’d like to see, but keep things concise. Also try to limit each feedback request to one issue rather than turning a single feedback report into a laundry list of issues, as it can make it harder for support to redirect each issue to the proper people.
Google Home
- Google Home review
- These services work with Google Home
- Google Home vs. Amazon Echo
- Join our Google Home forums!
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Bose SoundSport Pulse review: Fine sounding sports earphones
In the current age of wearable technology it can be tempting for manufacturers to shove as many sensors and features into their products as possible. Watches are mini computers, bracelets can tell us if we’ve had enough sleep and earphones are slowly becoming full-on digital fitness coaches.
The Bose SoundSport Pulse come equipped with a heart-rate monitor, to act as a fitness tracker directly in your ears, while managing to stay true to Bose’s promise of quality audio. Are these sporty in-ears any good?
Bose SoundSport Pulse review: Design
- 28 x 23 x 30mm; 64g
- Carry case included
- Built-in heart-rate monitor
- In-line remote control
As in-ear headphones go, the Bose SoundSport Pulse are pretty chunky because the large plastic casing contains the battery, Bluetooth radios and audio drivers.
When placed into the ear, the big tooth-shaped exterior is hard to ignore, and almost feels unbalanced. Thankfully, they never fell out of our ears, and even if they did then the build and design is sturdy enough that we wouldn’t be worried about them breaking.
Pocket-lint
This large black plastic exterior casing is covered in a grippy black plastic and attaches to the glossy polycarbonate earphone. On the right ear, this exterior housing plays home to the power/pairing button as well as the micro USB port, which is covered by a water-sealing flap.
On the left earbud, there’s nothing built on or into the black plastic housing, but there is a heart-rate sensor built into the underside of the earbud to read your pulse.
Like the Lightning connector-equipped JBL earphones we reviewed earlier in the year, the Bose SoundSport Pulse has squashed cone-shaped eartips. Think those cones you had to dribble a football around during PE lessons, make them tiny and use a grey soft silicone, and you’re there.
While it’s not an usual design for an in-ear headphone, this cone shape has its benefits. First of all, it’s more comfortable to have shoved in your ear canal than round ball-shaped tip. What’s more, because it gets wider towards the base, it does a better job of sealing off outside noise, and does it without feeling like you’re pushing all of the air out of your ears and creating an uncomfortable vacuum like so many other earbuds.
As is usually the case with in-ears, the SoundSport Pulse ships with three different sized ear tips. Curiously however, they’re built into the same piece of silicone as the fins that help the earphones stay in your ears. We can’t help but feel it would be better if they were separate, to make it a more customised fit. It does have one major upside this way though: it’s easy to remove and re-attach. You don’t have to mess with two fiddly, hard-to-apply bits of silicone.
Pocket-lint
There’s a three-button inline remote built into the cable which attaches the two earbuds to each other, complete with a small clothing clip. This remote is placed about two inches below the right earbud, so is very easy to reach while jogging along, and the indented multi function button is easy to find without having to look with your eyes.
This remote features a microphone for hands-free calling, volume up/down buttons and a main central button used for playing, pausing and skipping tracks. It also happens to have a built-in NFC chip for automatic pairing with compatible Android phones.
Bose SoundSport Pulse review: App and fitness tracking
- Bose app for quick wireless pairing
- Third-party fitness apps only
Bose clearly knows what it’s good at: making quality sound. It’s not a fitness tracker company, so the built-in heart-rate monitor is designed to work with third-party apps.
You can connect the earphones in-app and then have real-time heart-rate data tracked by Strava, Endomondo, MapMyRun, Runkeeper or Under Armour’s Record. All the major bases covered there.
Pocket-lint
Bose does have an app for SoundSport, called Connect, but it’s kept things simple. Once downloaded, it automatically detects the earphones are nearby (if they’re switched on), then simply drag down on the image of your earphones to connect them.
Disappointingly there’s no equaliser built into the Bose Connect app. Depending on which app you use for music streaming, however, you can adjust the balance with one of those. Spotify, for instance, has a load of preset audio settings.
Bose SoundSport Pulse review: Performance and connectivity
- 9m/30ft wireless Bluetooth range
- 4-hour battery life approx
- USB charging
You can pair the SoundSport with multiple devices. We used them connected to a PC, OnePlus 3T, iPhone 7 Plus and the fourth-generation Apple TV. In each instance it remained connected and clear.
Pocket-lint
More importantly, however, is that the SoundSport stay connected when out running. During our testing there was never a single instance of the audio dropping out, not even for a split second, which sometimes happens with Bluetooth earphones. And this was with the phone wrapped around the waist in a snug-fitting belt/pouch.
Bose promises five hours of playback on a fully charged battery, but in our testing it came up a little short. They needed charging after approximately four hours of use.
Bose SoundSport Pulse review: Sound
Bose has made something of a name for itself when it comes to sound quality. Despite being a pair of sports earphones the SoundSport Pulse continue that reputation with great balance of frequencies.
The audiophile might take a listen and think there’s too much bass, but it serves to provide a fullness and immersive feel to songs when out exercising. Mids and trebles are suitably levelled to produce tracks that are easy to enjoy, regardless of the genre of music.
Pocket-lint
If there’s any criticism, it’s that sometimes the higher-end lacks a little clarity. It’s certainly not something you’ll care about while you’re getting your sweat during a 10k run, or bench-pressing the equivalent of a small bus at the gym. You’ll just be enjoying the fact that there are wireless sports headphones with no real compromises on sound.
Verdict
When choosing earphones to use while exercising there are three key features: they need to stay in your ears, they need to stay connected to the phone, and they need to sound good. The Bose Soundsport Pulse deliver in each of these key areas, plus they’re comfortable to wear.
Sure, they aren’t the most fully-featured fitness headphones on the market, but they don’t need to be. Bose has stuck to what it knows best, and by associating the built-in heart-rate monitor with popular third-party fitness apps rather than trying to create one of its own.
But above all else it’s that signature Bose sound quality that makes the SoundSport Pulse a winner.
Bose SportSound Pulse: Alternatives to consider
Pocket-lint
Jabra Elite Sport
£229
If you don’t mind forking out an extra £50, you can grab the truly wireless Jabra Sport Elite earphones which – like the Bose set – have a built-in heart-rate monitor. However, these add to that with gyroscopes and sensors for measuring distance and cadence while you run. With the included battery pack case, you can get nearly nine hours of playback before needing to plug them in too.
Pocket-lint
JBL Reflect Aware
£169
They may not be wireless, and be iPhone exclusive (thanks to the Lightning connector), but the JBL Reflect Aware are very comfortable to wear, much lighter than the Bose and have secure fit in the ear.
The Morning After: Wednesday December 21, 2016
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
The end of the year is creeping closer, and our latest candidate for a 2016 look-back is Tesla. Beyond Elon Musk’s big year, we’re digging into CG actors from Rogue One, what’s up with Macs, and The Emoji Movie.
N.E.R.D.Why “Rogue One” is a warning sign for digital resurrection
If you haven’t seen the latest “Star Wars” flick yet, avert your eyes. Lucasfilm used CG to include Peter Cushing in the role of Grand Moff Tarkin, despite the fact that Cushing passed away in 1994. Some found the special effect distracting, and Devindra Hardawar investigates what this means for the future of actors both living and dead.
No, you don’t have to wear shadesLG’s laser projector is bright enough to work in the daytime
Ahead of CES, LG revealed a new projector that won’t wow you with its resolution, but manages to be a showstopper anyway. That’s because this 1080p beamer is capable of 2,000 lumens of brightness, all from a 4.6 pound package small enough to sit on a table.
Because it’s not the iPhoneWhy Apple is ignoring the Mac
We haven’t seen a new Mac desktop computer in a long time, and a Bloomberg report looks inside Apple for reasons why. A lack of direction from the top, and a drain on resources caused by iOS and issues with the MacBook Pro are cited as specific issues. Of course, Apple says it has “great desktops” on the roadmap, so the real question is how long the faithful will wait for a refresh.
Cleaner energy and safer roadsTesla’s master plan was realized in 2016
The road from niche sports car builder to mass-market sensation has been a long one, but Tesla is almost there. Despite a few setbacks, like Autopilot accidents and problems with doors on the Model X, it’s in position to be the company Elon Musk has always dreamed it could be. Now it’s time to deliver on the hype.
366 miles between fill-upsHonda’s next-gen hydrogen car is here
The first of Honda’s next-generation hydrogen-powered cars has just arrived in California. The new model is more efficient than the ones it replaces, and is available for $370 a month for three years with just under $3,000 down. That price that includes 20,000 miles per year and up to $15,000 of hydrogen fuel. Given the amount of “free” fuel involved, Honda is virtually giving these cars away to people willing to give hydrogen a shot.
Everything but the kitchen sinkSamsung Gear S3 Frontier review
Samsung’s Gear S3 Frontier does everything you’d want a smartwatch to do, but because it runs the company’s Tizen OS, there aren’t many apps to add to the experience. What’s there, though, is very good: An LTE radio, automatic fitness tracking, Samsung Pay and a great interface to boot. If you can deal with the considerable size, it might be worth your time. But with watches based on Google’s Android Wear 2.0 coming soon, senior mobile editor Chris Velazco suggests it might be smart to hold off on a purchase for now.
But wait, there’s more…
- Prostate cancer laser treatment cures half of trial subjects
- “The Emoji Movie” teaser trailer
- Prisma’s AI-powered photo app drops the squares and adds a GeoFeed
- Get your votes in for the first-ever Steam Awards
Taiwan to get first dibs on ASUS’ Zenbo home robot
At Computex, ASUS captured the hearts of many with its cute home robot, Zenbo, with Chairman Jonney Shih hinting at a retail launch before end of this year. Well, he’s not too far off in the end. At today’s local launch event, the company announced that its Intel-powered bot will be up for grabs in Taiwan on January 1st, albeit in a limited quantity for the first batch. Price-wise it starts from NT$19,900 or about US$620 — just a tad more than the intended $599 price point — for the 32GB standard package, and then there’s a 128GB model plus self-charging dock for NT$24,900 or about US$780.
But the biggest news today is perhaps ASUS’ collaboration with Taiwan’s National Police Agency, in order to enable emergency video calls with the police via Zenbo. Details are vague at the moment, but we did see a live demo in which a demonstrator pinged the actual call center (which is probably why they only did the demo once). When this feature eventually rolls out, my guess is that this will require a special voice command or gesture for toggling, and maybe the police can even take over Zenbo’s control to better assess the situation.
Other additions made to the Zenbo’s voice-controlled feature list mainly surround local services, including food delivery, taxi or van booking, online shopping, banking, medicine prescription, music streaming, house cleaning, gaming and more, but we’ll have to wait and see how far voice commands will take us for these.
With kid companionship being one of the big selling points, Shih also unveiled a simple Blockly-based programming suite that will let children as young as five years old use basic logic to automate a Zenbo’s movements. As for the even younger kids, they’ll also be entertained by simple games and story-telling, which now include an optional subscription featuring Shimajiro the Tiger (aka Eric in Taiwan) — the 32GB model comes with a one-month free subscription with 19 stories, whereas the 128GB model offers an extra month.
As for the basic set of features, Zenbo is able to control your TV plus stream content to it, be remote-controlled to roam around home for surveillance purposes, human fall-detection alert via a ZenWatch 3, and offer remote screen assistance to help those who aren’t as tech savvy. All of these go on top of the Zenbo’s collision and drop avoidance capabilities thanks to the sensors dotted around its body, as well as its depth camera in its head for facial and object recognition.
For those living outside of Taiwan, it’ll likely be a while before Zenbo makes its way to other markets, which is just as well since such a product will only learn quicker as its user base grows. Besides, it’s much more useful when local services plus speech recognition are properly tuned in each market, so it’ll be worth the wait. But of course, you can always fly over to Taiwan to pick up a Zenbo — just make sure you have an extra plane ticket for the little guy.
AIVAnet 