Latest Galaxy S8 leak suggests ‘infinity’ display, 3.5mm jack, and a desktop dock

Bezel-less “infinity display,” 3.5mm jack, iris scanner, and DeX.

Yesterday, we heard that the Galaxy S8 will be the first phone to be powered by Qualcomm’s 10nm Snapdragon 835, with the handset expected to go on sale in the month of April. Citing anonymous sources, The Guardian has revealed additional details about Samsung’s upcoming flagship, stating that the phone will feature a bezel-less “infinity” display.

According to The Guardian, the Galaxy S8 will be sold in variants with screen sizes between 5.0 and 6.0 inches, much like the Galaxy S7. However, unlike last year, both variants will sport dual curved screens, with the “infinity display” taking up most of the real estate at the front. Samsung will likely get rid of the home button altogether, and move the fingerprint sensor to the back of the phone.

The iris scanning tech that debuted on the short-lived Galaxy Note 7 is also making a comeback, and the Galaxy S8 will retain the 3.5mm jack. The camera at the back is said to offer “built-in object recognition,” and the phone is likely to come with 64GB of storage as standard, along with a microSD card slot, USB-C, and an AI assistant.

An interesting addition is a new desktop dock called DeX, which is said to offer a Continuum-like experience. By placing the Galaxy S8 on the dock, you’ll be able to transform the handset into an “Android desktop computer,” allowing it to be connected to a monitor, keyboard, and other hardware. Android isn’t great as a full-fledged desktop replacement, and it’ll be interesting to see how the South Korean company tackles the issue.

Overall, the Galaxy S8 is definitely turning out to be a very interesting device. The Guardian claims that the phone will be unveiled sometime in late March, with availability kicking off in April. What do you guys think of the latest leak?

BeatMoovz preview: The crazy wearable that adds a soundtrack to your life

Character Options might have stolen the London Toy Fair, at least where adults are concerned. It demonstrated a wearable wristband that prompts special effect noise and/or music as you move.

The bands, which cost £49.99 for a pair and will be available from June, look much like fitness trackers or the LED devices often found at Coldplay gigs. However, they dispense of many of the normal tracking sensors and focus purely on motion.

That’s because they link, via Bluetooth, to a smartphone or tablet with one of two apps installed. The first is an audio board with up to 40,000 sound clips that play with certain movements and motions.

Pocket-lint

The second app is an interactive graphics generator that can feed different visual effects to a big screen via an output on your mobile device or, presumably, through wireless screen mirroring.

Both apps are included as free downloads, making the overall price of BeatMoovz very reasonable.

Multiple BeatMoovz bands can be linked with the apps too, so extra users can join in. Or you can wear two on your wrists, two on your ankles to make your limbs musical instruments.

Pocket-lint

In our demo, the inventor of BeatMoovz showed us how to create dance music by simply waving and flicking his wrists. But more exciting for us, as old-school kung fu movie fans, is that you can switch to a soundboard of cheesy karate effects, or robotic noises. It’s basically like having Police Academy’s Michael Winslow follow you around making innapropriate, funny noises.

We were told that anywhere up to a thousand people can be wearing BeatMoovz and interacting at once, although we’re pretty sure our Bluetooth devices can’t handle that many connections. But the point was that this could go down as well in a nightclub as an after school club for the kids.

It’s definitely good to see a tech toy that isn’t just for the sprogs.

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Dell unveils 2-in-1 Latitude and Chromebook laptops for schools

This year marks a first for Dell’s education-focused computer family: 2-in-1 laptops. Like the company’s other computers destined for schools, the Dell Latitude and Chromebook 11 Convertibles are built to withstand classrooms and student abuse. They both sport the same basic design — rubberized shock protection for falls, sealed keyboards to handle spills and lots of rounded corners — but one runs Windows 10 and the other is powered by Chrome OS (we’ll let you guess which is which).

As with most convertibles — including Dell’s recent XPS 13 2-in-1 — the new 11-inch laptops can be used in a traditional mode, folded in a tent formation, or have their screen wrapped all the way around like a tablet. Stylus-wise, they support Dell’s optional Productivity Active Pen. The Latitude 11 Convertible will be powered by Intel’s seventh-generation Pentium and Celeron chips, while the Chromebook model runs sixth-generation Celerons.

Dell also redesigned its 11-inch and 13-inch Latitude and Chromebook laptops with a slimmer, more minimalist look. They’re also built to withstand falls and spills, and they’ve received the requisite processor upgrades over the last generation. Once again, the Windows versions will get more CPU options, with seventh-generation Intel Pentium and Celeron chips for the Inspiron 11 and newer Core i5 processors for the Inspiron 13. The Chromebook variants, meanwhile, are stuck with sixth-gen Celerons (the Chromebook 13 also has a Core i3 option). All of the company’s new education laptops will be available on February 7th, and we’re still awaiting pricing details.

In other news, Dell also announced two new Interactive Touch 4K displays, a 55-inch and 86-inch model. They follow in the footsteps of the company’s 70-inch 1080p touch display, and they’re meant to offer more options for educators who want to have a large collaborative screen for their classes and meetings. They pack in DisplayPort and VGA connections for plugging in computers, as well as the expected HDMI ports (three for the 55-inch and four for the 86-inch). They’ll be available on March 30th for $5,000 and $11,000, respectively.

Amazon club gives your kid a science toy every month

A well-made educational toy can do a lot to foster curious young minds. But what if you’re not sure where to start shopping, or wonder which toys are appropriate at your kid’s age? Amazon is taking an unusual step to help out. It just launched a STEM Club that delivers one pre-selected science, tech, engineering or math toy to your door each month in exchange for a $20 subscription fee. The internet retailer gives you a choice of age ranges (3-4, 5-7 and 8-13), and promises to pick only the best toys from “top trusted brands.” Shipping is free, too.

This isn’t going to suit everyone. Amazon is promising an eclectic mix of toys ranging from “robotics to natural sciences,” but there will undoubtedly be desirable toys that cost a lot more than $20. Look at it this way, though: if you’d rather buy a chemistry set or math game for your little one instead of the latest doll, you now have an easy way to make that happen.

Source: Amazon

Gaming chat app Discord adds a paid tier with cosmetic upgrades

Herding your friends into voice chat before a gaming session has always been a bit of a chore, especially going through the rigmarole of hosting servers and exchanging passwords. The scrappy chat service Discord aimed to simplify all that, cribbing some of Slack’s better features alongside its pièce de résistance: Click-and-join servers that don’t require software installation or logins. Two years after launching and 25 million players later, they’ve activated a new $5-per-month paid tier — Nitro — for fans to support the service.

The added bonuses are nominal: Nitro boosts the image file upload limit from 8MB to 50MB, allows users to upload GIF avatars and use custom emojis in any server or DM. They’re deliberately non-essential upgrades to keep the core service pure, reserving the paid option for folks who voluntarily want to kick some money Discord’s way. Nitro costs $5 monthly or a discounted $50 up front for a year pass.

On top of keeping their main service free, Discord’s got several new features cooking for 2017, including chat history search, screen sharing, admin audit logs and collapsible channel categories.

Source: Discord blog

Apple Offers More Details About Upcoming App Store Review Policy Changes

Yesterday, Apple announced it was introducing new App Store review features in iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 that would allow developers to respond to customer reviews for the first time. A few more details of note have emerged from Apple since then, courtesy of The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber.

Speaking to Gruber, Apple said that developer responses to App Store reviews will show up in the store as a single response, but rather than having threaded conversations appear, customers will be able to edit their reviews and developers will be able to edit their replies. Notably, iOS users can now use 3D Touch to label reviews left in the App Store as “Helpful”, something that couldn’t be done before.

Currently, App Store review rating averages are reset each time a developer updates their app. However, although in-app review request prompts are to be limited to three a year, this limit won’t be reset each time a developer subsequently updates their app. This is likely to frustrate developers, but it looks as if Apple has come down on the side of customers who are often subject to apps hassling them too frequently for reviews.

Perhaps most significantly for users, Dalrymple revealed that a “master switch” will be included in the next update that turns off user review request prompts across all installed apps.

On a final note, Apple told Gruber that existing apps won’t have to change their review prompt behavior immediately after the APIs containing the policy changes have been implemented, but Apple offered no timeline for when the sanctions will come into force.

iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 are currently only available for developers, but Apple will likely release public betas for public beta testers in the near future.

Tag: App Store
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‘Knockout League’ brings cartoony boxing to virtual reality

The Nintendo Switch has Arms and now the VR-minded folks at Grab Games and Vive Studios have dropped Knockout League onto Steam’s Early Access label. The arcade-y boxing game’s in-development version only has four cartoony pugilists for now, according to VentureBeat, but each one has a different fighting style. And some aren’t even human. Like Sir Octopunch, a mustachioed octopus with a stance like an old timey English boxer. Sure!

It’s more Ready 2 Rumble in tone and presentation than, say, Fight Night’s simulation leanings, but the aesthetic works really well based on footage from the trailer below. VB reports that the full version should be ready by the second quarter this year (so, some time between April and June) and should have some additional bits by then. For now, the version with a quartet of boxers will run you $18. Time to lace up the gloves… err, Vive wands and Oculus Touch controllers.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: Steam

Reuters: Trump admin telling EPA to pull climate change info

Despite a gag order, Environmental Protection Agencies are talking to Reuters, informing the outlet that their bosses have been instructed to remove this page from its website (Archive.org). On the official White House website, a page devoted to climate change is now only accessible in its archives, and the EPA section could meet a similar fate. Currently, the webpage displays the effects scientists have already recorded (like 2016 being the hottest year on record), and government initiatives trying to combat the issue

Trump’s selection to head the agency, Scott Pruitt, has not yet been confirmed but is a noted skeptic of the issue and has sued the EPA before. Myron Ebell led the transition, and told Reuters that “My guess is the web pages will be taken down, but the links and information will be available.” The White House has said it’s working to “finalize” its online presence, but given Trump’s campaign promises to eliminate the Climate Action Plan and Waters of the US Rule, it seems unlikely most of this info will return for easy access.

A group of scientists concerned about the government’s ideological agendas is already planning a march on Washington, although details are scarce. Also, scientists have worked to back up climate change data they fear could be removed by the new administration, on projects including Climate Mirror and The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative. To see how other government websites have changed through administrations, the End of Term Web Archive has caches saved from 2008 and 2012.

Source: Reuters

Tumblr’s mobile apps finally have photo filters and stickers

In a move possibly inspired by Snapchat, or even Instagram, Tumblr is bringing photo filters and stickers to its iOS and Android apps. But that’s not it: The feature will also work with GIF posts, which is going to let you spice up your feed even more than you already are. Tumblr says you can choose from over 100 “extremely relevant” stickers, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding one that fits the message you’re trying to get across. And fret not if you don’t see these in your Tumblr app yet, as the update just started rolling out today to the App Store and Google Play.

Source: Tumblr, TechCrunch

Now you can download Netflix shows to your Android’s SD card

Netflix rolled out a new feature in its latest update for the Android operating system on Tuesday: the ability to download shows to your device’s SD card. When saving a show for offline viewing, users will now be prompted to choose a download location, either Device Storage or the SD card.

Android​ Users – You can now download to your SD card so there’s always room for more. pic.twitter.com/Uqt2GSjPw5

— Netflix US (@netflix) January 24, 2017

This could offer an interesting new way for users to consume their video content. Theoretically, it could allow users to download far more episodes and films than they would otherwise and build up huge catalogs of offline shows. However, as a Netflix rep told Engadget, “You can download content to multiple SD cards. However, there are limits to how many simultaneous downloads a member can download at one time, along with limits on how long a download will remain accessible. This ensures that the feature is being used for its intended purpose.” Additionally, users won’t be able to share SD cards amongst multiple devices as the content on the card will only play on the device that it was originally downloaded with, the rep explained.

Source: Netflix (Google Play Store)