BlackBerry aims to help you visualize and share your ideas with new Notable app

Why it matters to you

If you or your team uses BlackBerry’s Hub+ suite to keep informed and on schedule, the addition of the Notable app should make communication even easier.

BlackBerry released a suite of Android applications last summer under the Hub+ banner that came pre-installed on the company’s own devices, but could be used on other phones as well. BlackBerry is adding to the platform with a screen capture markup app called Notable, now available for the BlackBerry PRIV, DTEK50, and DTEK60, and coming to other phones running at least Android 6.0 Marshmallow at a later date.

Apps like Notable that allow users to scribble and decorate screenshots — and then share their creations with friends — are common on Android, and usually come pre-installed by manufacturers on new devices. What differentiates Notable somewhat is that it integrates tightly with Hub+ services, and can be launched via a swipe gesture or, on BlackBerry devices, the convenience key. If your team is using Hub+ for all its productivity needs, Notable might be the best visual note-taking app for the task.

More: Hub+ puts the best of BlackBerry on your Android phone … for a price

If you’re unfamiliar with Hub+, it’s BlackBerry’s collection of business-minded software that features a unified inbox for multiple email, social media ,and instant messaging accounts, along with additional utilities, like the company’s Calendar, Contacts, Password Keeper and Tasks apps, as well as a unique launcher with bespoke widgets. The service runs for a subscription fee of $1 per-month for non-BlackBerry devices, but the first 30 days are free. Users who don’t pay up after the trial period are subject to ads, and lose some functionality.

Having struggled in the business of building their own devices, BlackBerry is counting on services developed by its Mobility Solutions Group to find a way into the Android devices people are already using. It’ll have to fend off the likes of Samsung’s Focus and Microsoft’s Outlook productivity suites to gain a foothold, but the company’s cachet in the professional community might make that an easier task than going to-to-toe with the juggernauts of the mobile hardware industry.

Pick up a Chromecast Ultra for $10 off at select retailers right now

If you’ve had your eyes on the Chromecast Ultra but have been waiting for it to drop in price a bit, you won’t want to miss out on this. Right now select retailers are offering $10 off the streaming media player, dropping the price down to just $59. With the Chromecast Ultra you can stream Netflix, YouTube and other media in 4K on a compatible TV set, something that previous generations were not able to do. If your wireless connection isn’t the greatest and may not be able to handle 4K video properly, you can also use the built-in Ethernet port to get a more stable connection.

You can pick one up from Best Buy, the Google Store, B&H Photo, and Target for the discounted prices right now. You’ll need a 4K TV to take advantage of all the benefits, and if you don’t already have one you can pick up a great set for around $500 these days.

Everything you need to know about streaming 4K on the Chromecast Ultra

For more great deals on tech, gadgets, home goods and more be sure to visit our friends at Thrifter now!

Playing Elite: Dangerous on HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift

Upgrade your Elite: Dangerous experience with VR.

There are many ways you can make Elite: Dangerous a more compelling, immersive game. A solid HOTAS controller, great audio hardware, and a decent high quality display will improve your experience substantially, but there’s still more you can do. Adding a VR headset to this game puts you in the Captain’s Chair in the most literal way possible. Being able to turn your head and see the menus on your dashboard light up while you grip the throttle and joystick is amazing, but which headset is going to offer you the best experience?

Here’s a quick look at the merits of using an HTC Vive versus an Oculus Rift to play Elite: Dangerous!

Read more at VR Heads!

Android Wear 2.0 has me itching to spend money on an LG smart watch

New software and some shiny new watches from LG make Android Wear a little more interesting.

So, we’ve got a significant platform update for Android Wear and two carefully created watches to showcase it. It’s overdue. Most anyone who is familiar will tell you that Android Wear was getting a little stale and needed a watchOS-level update to freshen things up. And I think that describes the new update pretty well — what was lacking in software was addressed and delivered without going overboard and trying something that just isn’t ready. The new Google has grown up a bit and no longer throws everything into the air and later collects what works to keep.

Android Wear needed a refresh with the right features — not all the features.

Of course, the watches themselves dominate the stage because they are required to have everything the new update offers right now. That will change and we’ll see fully working builds of Wear 2.0 come to last year’s hardware, and some of them will even work well with it. Others will have the software shoehorned in and we’ll wish they had never been updated at all. That’s how this whole Android thing works, though to a much lesser extent on watches than phones. We’ll worry about that when it happens, but for now, I want to talk about the LG Watch Style and LG Watch Sport.

Like most of you, I haven’t been able to actually use either. That means there are going to be plenty of things I can’t say because I don’t know. But I did have the luxury of spending a week talking with Flo and Andrew and peppering them with questions and off-the-wall requests to build a mental checklist and see how they measured up to my wants — and to see if I even cared at all. I just could never find a reason to love Android Wear, and the few times it did make my life better wasn’t enough to justify having one more thing here that needed to be charged every night.

That’s changed, and I’m interested again. And not in the watch you think I would be interested in, and not for the reasons you might think, either. I’m really digging the LG Watch Style because to me, it looks good the way a watch should look good.

LG delivered exactly what they needed to deliver with the Watch Sport. It screams Wear 2.0.

I don’t hate the Sport. In fact, I want to talk about it first. Google did exactly what so many people wanted them to do with Wear 2.0 and added standalone functionality and payment processing to the platform. Then LG looked over at Samsung and built it in the shape of a Galaxy Gear. There is zero shame in that. There are no unique ideas left and Samsung looked at countless Casio and Timex watches to make the Gear S2 and S3. I’m sure someone at Timex looked at something when they built the first Ironman watch. This is how a thing we like gets refined with each new model and, if left to continue, everything will look exactly the same. People clamoring for a round Apple Watch with a sweet sporty rubber strap don’t want one because it would look like a Gear S3. They want one because they think it would be better for them. They’ll probably get one eventually.

Feature-wise, the Sport ticks the right boxes, too. Standalone everything so you can set it up once then just be you and use it forever is what many of us were demanding. Use your GPS to find a Jamba Juice so you can pay for delicious drinks with your watch, then answer a phone call from your wrist so you can annoy everyone around you by yelling at your arm while they are trying to chill and slurp on a smoothie. We asked. LG delivered. And if you’re not into it all, you don’t have to use any of it (and can grab your smoothie and find somewhere else to drink it).

The Sport should be a successful product for LG. One they didn’t lose money on and one we remember as being pretty good a couple years from now. And really, that’s the best any company can hope for at this point.

But that Style. I think I’m going to get a Style.

It’s not hard to figure out why, because I already said the one thing I wanted to see from all this new stuff — something that looks good. And the Style looks good to me. Titanium and black with an antique bell-style crown matches a couple watches I already have. With the right watch face — I’ll make my own if I have to because Android Studio makes it so damn easy now — it will be something I want to wear on my wrist. Yeah, shallow, I know. I don’t care and I like shiny things sometimes.

The LG Watch Style does what I want a watch to do and looks good while doing it.

I really do not care about the things the Style is missing. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I’ll never go anywhere without my phone and everything I need is on my phone, including Android Pay. My watch really only needs to do two things — remind me what day of the week it is and tell the time. Both things my phone can also do, but reasons to justify buying a new watch that costs too much only because I like the way it looks. Wouldn’t be the first time, as my wife would be quick to point out.

Again, this is first impression, off-the-cuff thinking. There’s a good chance I’ll get a Style and not like it or see something that makes me wish I had gone with something else or just not bought anything right now. That would also not be a first. I might even change my mind if I roll into a Best Buy and rub all over one. I’m in the same boat as most everyone else here.

And to be honest, it’s kind of fun.

Android Wear

• Everything you need to know about Android Wear 2.0
• LG Watch Sport review
• LG Watch Style review
• These watches will get Android Wear 2.0
• Discuss Android Wear in the forums!

National Academy of Sciences endorses embryonic engineering

The next generation of humans may well be genetically modified. The National Academy of Sciences on Tuesday issued a 216-page report endorsing human germline modification in the future, but only in certain cases that would otherwise result in children being born with serious genetic diseases.

Germline engineering refers to modifying a person or embryo’s genetic code in such a way that the changes are passed onto their offspring. This differs from the more-accepted “somatic cell” method, better known as gene therapy, wherein the changes only affect the person being treated.

“Heritable germline genome editing trials must be approached with caution, but caution does not mean that they must be prohibited,” the report read. A 22-member panel made up of prominent scientists and researchers spent a year compiling it. And while the panel is in favor of pursuing the technology, they warned that it must be done with “stringent oversight” and only as a corrective measure “preventing a serious disease or condition” — not as a means of enhancing people with, say, super-strength, better looks or heightened intelligence.

The panel also stated that, in addition to preventing genetic diseases, gene editing to make people less susceptible to diseases like HIV, cancer or Alzheimer’s would be acceptable. “We do not view prevention as a form of enhancement,” the panel’s co-chair, R. Alta Charo of the University of Wisconsin, told MIT Technology Review. “But whether it’s permissible is up to regulators.”

This recommendation stands in stark contrast to current legal regulations in both Europe and the US. Here in America, germline engineering has been outlawed since 2015 when Congress added a rider to the Health and Human Services appropriations bill which banned the FDA from considering any proposal employing such modifications. China, on the other hand, has no such qualms with the technology and has already begun experimenting with it.

Source: MIT Tech Review

Facebook to Launch Video-Focused Apple TV App ‘Soon’

At the Code Media conference in Dana Point, California, Facebook’s Vice President of Partnerships Dan Rose announced that Facebook is planning to launch an app for set-top boxes like the Apple TV in the near future.

Focused on video content, the app will allow users to watch the “same kinds of video” available on Facebook’s app and website, except they’ll be viewable on the larger screen of a television set.

The Facebook for Apple TV app will recommend videos for users to watch or will allow users to view videos previously saved on other devices. A Facebook account will be required, but at launch, the app will not include ads.

News of Facebook’s work on an app for set-top boxes was first shared by The Wall Street Journal in late January. The site also said Facebook is speaking with media companies about licensing long-form TV-quality “premium” programming that will presumably be available in the upcoming app.

Media companies say Facebook is aiming for videos that are over 10 minutes and are created specifically for the social network, with a focus on everything from scripted TV shows to sports.

Facebook plans to launch its set-top box app “soon,” and it will be available on the Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TV.

During the Code Media conference, Facebook also made a few other announcements. Autoplay videos in the News Feed will now automatically play with the sound on unless a phone is on silent, a picture-in-picture feature is coming for watching videos while scrolling through the News Feed, and vertical video viewing is rolling out.

Tag: Facebook
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24: Legacy interactive Facebook Messenger game throws you into the action ahead of the show’s premiere

24 is back on our screens tomorrow, Wednesday 15 February, with a new actor and new plot. The series revolves around a race against the clock to prevent a terrorist attack on US soil. But rather than just watch the events on screen, you can take part in the action through a new interactive game on Facebook Messenger.

The game works using Messenger’s chatbot technology, whereby Agent Matthew Ward speaks to you, sends you photos, audio and video feeds, to help you with your mission. Following each piece of intel, you can make a decision on what route to take. The decisions you make affect the rest of the story. To start, there’s only one option to take, but as the game progresses, you get to choose between a few.

You’ll receive notifications over time, so make sure you set them to on, and from an initial look at how the game is played, you will need to devote some time to it. Fortunately, it seems you don’t need to make a decision immediately, you can choose to leave it and come back to it at a later time. 

It’s certainly an interesting concept and we like the idea of a new style of gameplay. While the multiple choice route may have been done before, doing it an interactive way through a social media site like Facebook is refreshing.

If you’re a 24 fan, you’ll definitely want to try it out. You can play the game here and catch the new 24: Legacy TV show on Fox from 9pm on Fox.

Huawei P10 confirmed, announced during MWC on 26 February

After many rumours, leaked renders and all, the Huawei P10 smartphone has been officially confirmed.

It will be formerly announced during Huawei’s Mobile World Congress press conference on Sunday 26 February.

We already knew about the event itself, but the company has confirmed that the “flagship device” it previously talked about is the P10. A YouTube video entitled #HuaweiP10 is coming was posted on its official Huawei Mobile channel.

Not much is revealed during the teaser clip, save for a massive hint that the dual lens cameras seen in many a leaked image will be a main focus (pardon the pun).

• Huawei P10 and P10 Plus: Release date, rumours and everything you need to know
• Curved screen Huawei P10 will launch this spring
• Huawei P10 video render shows more rounded edges and front-mounted home button

Little else can really be gleaned from it, but we have heard in the past that there could be two models – the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus. They are rumoured to have 5.2 and 5.5-inch Quad HD displays respectively and could feature a curved edge design.

The processors could be part of Kirin 960 and 965 chipsets, with 4GB of RAM the commonly tipped. A 6GB of RAM variant has also been mentioned in the past.

The two phones should be unveiled on stage at the event with Pocket-lint in attendance. We’ll also hopefully bring you a livestream of the press conference nearer the date.

Engadget giveaway: Win a handcrafted desk set courtesy of Grovemade!

There’s something relaxing about a neat and organized work space (at least for some of us). Less clutter can mean less distraction when you’re trying to get things done. Grovemade has been helping people in this quest to find workplace zen for over five years, serving up handcrafted home and desk accessories. The products are all designed and assembled in Portland, OR., using natural materials including eastern hardrock maple, black walnut and vegetable tanned leather. To help one reader fine-tune their work space this week, Grovemade has provided a selection of accessories including a monitor and laptop stand, a desk lamp, planter, pen cup and leather mouse pad. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning this starter set of Grovemade products. The product line even includes a pair of wood-encased speakers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
• Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winners will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive a set of Grovemade desk products in walnut wood including one (1) monitor stand ($119), one (1) laptop stand ($139), one (1) mousepad ($99), one (1) tall planter ($40), one lamp ($99) and one pen cup ($40).
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
• This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Engadget and AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
• The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
• Entries can be submitted until Feb. 15th at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!

Dodge Beyoncé’s haterz in the 8-bit game ‘Lemonade Rage’

If you’ve ever dreamed of being Beyoncé for a day, you’re in luck. A small group of game designers created Lemonade Rage: an 8-bit adventure where you dodge haterz, bullshit and Illuminati conspiracists to smash cars, fire hydrants and good hair ads. It’s basically the video game version of Beyoncé’s video for the song “Hold Up” where she strolls down the street doing damage with a baseball bat. The more mayhem you cause, the more lemons you earn for lemonade.

No game is complete without an accompanying soundtrack and Lemonade Rage features the appropriate 8-bit sounds from 8 Bit Universe to complement the visuals. The small group of developers — Joe Laquinte, Justin Au, Line Johnsen, and Colby Spear​ — explained to Pigeons & Planes that the more they thought about the “Hold Up” music video, the more they felt like it could easily translate to a video game. The results really are quite good, but don’t take my word for it: Go make your own lemonade inside your browser of choice.

Via: FACT, Pigeons & Planes

Source: Lemonade Rage