Entertainment Network ‘Epix’ Debuts App for Apple TV

Entertainment network Epix today launched an app for the fourth-generation Apple TV, allowing anyone who is subscribed to Epix through a cable provider access to the service’s collection of premium film and television content (via Variety).

For those who haven’t signed up for Epix yet and download the Apple TV app, they can get a four week free trial to test out the service, but afterwards will have to go through the same cable TV provider sign-up process if they wish to continue using Epix.

Although it’s taken a few years to launch, Epix CEO Mark Greenberg mentioned in a statement that the company is now “proud” to have its catalogue of content available for Apple TV users. The content includes around 2,000 movies and original television shows like “Berlin Station” and “Graves.”

“Apple has been a renowned leader in shaping the digital landscape and I’m proud to make our content available on Apple TV,” Mark Greenberg, Epix’s president and CEO, said in a prepared statement.

The Apple TV app will allow Epix users to watch live TV, add videos to a queue, browse movie trailers, and more. Those interested in ordering Epix can visit the company’s website to find out how to do so through compatible paid-TV providers.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Tag: Epix
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Don’t Buy)
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T-Mobile and Verizon Are Basically Tied in Network Speeds and So-Called ‘Availability’

Verizon is fighting back against T-Mobile’s recent attempts to steal the network spotlight as the so-called “Un-carrier,” according to the results of OpenSignal’s latest State of Mobile Networks report published today.

Verizon regained a statistical tie with T-Mobile in overall network speeds, with an average download speed of 14.63 Mbps versus 14.7 Mbps for T-Mobile, according to OpenSignal. The metric factors in combined 3G and LTE speeds, in addition to the availability of each network technology, which can affect overall speeds.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile came within 2 percentage points of Verizon’s lead in nationwide 4G LTE availability, according to OpenSignal. The report found T-Mobile customers had an LTE connection available to them 86.6% of the time, up from 83.2% in August 2016, compared to Verizon’s leading 88.2% availability.

It is important to note that OpenSignal’s “availability” measurement does not reflect geographical or population-based coverage.

OpenSignal’s ‘Availability’ measures the proportion of time users have network access. By continually measuring whether users have a connection or not we are able to extend our assessment of networks to account for what happens when users are indoors and when they are moving around. We build up a holistic, user-centric measurmement of networks that expresses how users experience them.

The two carriers won or shared every award in every category of the report, leaving AT&T and Sprint with zero accolades.

Verizon still appears to have the faster network in a number of metro areas, including Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

Verizon ranked highest in speed in 14 of the 36 cities we analyzed, compared to four cities for T-Mobile and one for AT&T, but in seven other metro areas the speed contest between Verizon and T-Mobile resulted in a statistical tie. In three other cities we recorded a draw between AT&T and either Verizon or T-Mobile, while in the remaining markets, we saw ties between three or more operators.

Verizon had the lowest average LTE latency, the delay data experiences as it travels between points in the network, at 59.84 ms, compared to 61.28 ms for Sprint, 61.56 ms for T-Mobile, and 65.62 ms for AT&T. T-Mobile had the lowest average 3G latency at 115.76ms, according to OpenSignal.

OpenSignal said it parsed 4.6 billion measurements collected by 169,683 smartphone users in the fourth quarter of 2016 to gauge the 3G and 4G performance of the “Big Four” networks in the United States: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Read the full report for the complete results and methodology.

Tags: T-Mobile, Verizon, OpenSignal
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Flipboard for iOS Updated With New Deeply Personalized ‘Smart Magazines’

News-focused iOS app Flipboard today announced an update that introduces a new UI which creates custom, curated magazines based on various user “passions.” The Version 4.0 update is said to be a direct response to the overabundance of news sources — from magazines to online outlets and social media — and serve as a way to “effortlessly get you to the things you love.”

The heart of the new update is a featured called “Smart Magazine.” Here users can search and specify specific passions and topics they care about (photography, movies, etc.), and Smart Magazine will create a digital collection of up-to-date stories and news on each topic, and continuously update the section as new stories break. The new tool is said to be curated “by experts and enthusiasts.”

Flipboard 4.0 is a response to our ever-growing ecosystem of publishers, Flipboard Magazines, topics and more. With over 30 million magazines created, thousands of publishers on our platform, and tens of thousands of topics—plus input from social networks like Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn—we re-imagined Flipboard to more effortlessly get you to the things you love.

Long-time readers who follow lots of content should find a more streamlined experience, while new users will be able to dive right into their passions with minimal setup.

Users will be able to pick from a collection of sub-categories once they search for a Smart Magazine passion to follow, and a learning algorithm will improve Flipboard’s news aggregation features over time. On the Home carosuel users can have up to nine Smart Magazines.

Flipboard originally launched on iPad in 2010, and then on iPhone in 2011, accompanied by a Tweet from Phil Schiller who remarked that the app was “very nice.” Since then, Flipboard has gained a bevy of competitors in the online news aggregation space, including Apple News. In 2015 one competitor, Zite, bowed out of the race and encouraged fans to migrate to Flipboard in its stead.

At the time of writing, the update hasn’t hit the App Store yet, but it should appear later in the day. Flipboard is available on the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Flipboard
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Pokemon Go is spreading the love for Valentine’s Day, double candy and higher spawn rates for pink Pokemon

The Pokemon Company and Niantic are feeling very generous and to celebrate Valentine’s Day, are spreading the love in the form of more candy and a greater chance of catching certain Pokemon when playing Pokemon Go. Starting from 7.00pm tonight, 8 February, you will be able to collect double the amount of candy when catching, hatching and transferring Pokemon, while your Buddy Pokemon will go out its way to find double the amount of candy for you, their trainer.

• Pokemon Go review, or The Trials and Tribulations of a Pokemon Go addict

The love doesn’t end there though, as pink Pokemon including Chansey, Clefable, Porygon and others will have higher spawn rates, meaning there’s a greater chance of you catching one to add to your collection, or collect more candy to evolve them.

Other second generation pink Pokemon such as Cleffa, Igglybuff and Smoochum will have a higher chance of hatching from eggs you collect. Last but not least, any Lure modules you deploy will be active for six hours as opposed to the standard 30 minutes.

Pokemon Go has had several new features added to it in recent months to help encourage players to continue their quests, or to entice players back that may have felt the novelty had worn off. The introduction of second generation Pokemon and Ditto were certainly welcomed with open arms, and Pokeballs, while the improved nearby feature has made it much easier to track down any elusive pocket monsters you’re missing from the Pokedex.

• Pokemon Go: How to play and other tips and tricks
• How to catch Ditto in Pokemon Go
• Pokemon Go: Sightings and nearby will super-charge maps and help you find Pokemon

Be sure to make full use of this new feature for Valentine’s Day though, as the double candy and increased chance of catching pink Pokemon will end at 7pm on 15 February.

Corsair teases its first whole computer

You likely know Corsair as a computer parts and peripherals manufacturer. It makes DRAM modules for laptops and desktops, flash drives, PC cases, SSDs, keyboards, mice and so on and so forth. An ad published in Maximum PC’s March issue, however, reveals that the company has become a full-fledged PC maker. Its first ever whole computer is fittingly called Corsair One, and it features a dark, Tron-esque design.

The ad called it a “category-defying new PC” that was “built from the ground up to power anything and everything you love to do.” That’s pretty much the extent of what the ad divulged, though it also has the URL to Corsair One’s barebones landing page. You can sign up on the website to get updates, but rest assured that we’ll also share more details when they become available.

Source: Corsair One

Netflix wants its own TV merchandise empire

As the lineup of Netflix originals swells, it’s no surprise to hear that the company wants to push into merchandising. As Bloomberg reports, the video streaming provider has posted a job opening for a “licensing, merchandising and promotion” senior manager, tasked with “pursuing consumer products” that will “drive meaningful show awareness.” The move makes perfect sense, given the popularity of shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. T-shirts, caps and mugs seem obvious; it will be interesting to see how, if at all, the company experiments.

Intriguingly, the new job description references “books, comics, gaming toys, collectibles, soundtracks and apparel” as possible licensing opportunities. A Narcos graphic novel? Or maybe a special Stranger Things version of Dungeons & Dragons? The opportunities are endless.

A merchandising push would help Netflix on multiple fronts. The additional revenue would help pay for new originals, follow-up seasons, and the renewal of third-party TV shows and movies. Raising show awareness would also have the knock-on effect of driving new subscriptions. If you’ve long stopped paying for Netflix, but suddenly see someone raving about The Crown, you’re more likely to consider shelling out again. It’s a tactic which companies like Disney and Warner Bros. have long mastered to boost interest in their movies. Which leaves the big question: what Netflix merch would you actually spend money on?

Via: Bloomberg

Source: Netflix

Who wants to play games on their smartwatch?

It’s always been possible to play games on your smartwatch, but is that really the best way to use that device? The makers of that Minecraft Gameband your niece and nephew won’t shut up about think so, and have launched a Kickstarter to prove it. FMTwo’s Gameband is a smartwatch that purports to be the first “fully dedicated gaming smartwatch” that’s “optimized for on-the-go-gameplay.”

Gameband is packing a 1.63-inch AMOLED display paired with Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip clocked at 1.2GHz. Other features include a 400mAh battery, USB C, Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi as well as an integrated microSD card slot. The unit runs a tweaked version of Android Marshmallow and will work with both Android and iOS devices. You can also use it much like its predecessor: as a mobile storage device for PC-dependent games like Minecraft and Terraria.

The device will come in three different flavors: a vanilla Gameband, as well as versions with Terraria and Atari branding. Each one, we’re told, will come with 20 mini games pre-loaded, including versions of Pong, Asteroids and Centipede built for the small screen. In addition, the latter two will have a choice of limited-edition branded straps and digital watch faces to show your allegiance to the respective brand.

Should you wish to grab one of these, then you can do so at the low price of $99, should you be an early backer on Kickstarter. Later backers will be asked to cough up $149, while latecomers will need to spend $199 if it meets its planed street date this September.

Source: Gameband

Facebook adds ways to find and offer help through Safety Check

Facebook’s Safety Check feature has proven useful as a quick and easy way for people to tell their family and friends they’re safe during times of crisis. But safety is one thing; what if you still need food and shelter? Or perhaps medical supplies? That’s why Facebook has introduced a new feature called Community Help. Now when you check in to say you’re safe, you’ll see some follow-up queries to either find help if you need it, or to give help if you have the means to do so.

These “Find Help” and “Give Help” options will be integrated in the same interface as the Safety Check page. Hit Find Help, and you can select from a number of different categories, like food, shelter or water. Pick shelter, for example, and you’ll see posts from people in the community offering their homes or apartments as a place to stay. You could even see spots plotted out on a map thanks to approximate location data.

Posts from friends or mutual friends will appear on the top, since they’re probably more trustworthy than strangers. Each individual post will have a Message button at the bottom, so you can easily send them a message and hopefully get the help you want. Once the person asking for help and the person giving help have been matched up, the request can be closed out so that they will no longer show up on the search results and map.

Of course, there’s always the potential danger of con artists taking advantage of bad situations. Facebook has tried to curb this by implementing a few safeguards. First, when you do hit Find Help in the app, there’ll be a warning that teaches you a few safety tips, like always meeting the other person in public and vetting their profile to see if they’re legit. There are also controls to report posts if they seem particularly sketchy. Plus, only those ages 18 and older are allowed in. And in order to prevent bots and spam, accounts that are extremely new won’t be able to gain access to the group.

Still, Facebook seems pretty hopeful that scams like these will be few and far between. Preethi Chetan, a product designer for Safety Check, said that in their research, she’s been pretty heartened to see a lot of people wanting to give help any way they can. “It’s nice to see good will like that in the community,” she said.

This feature exists within Safety Check itself, so it’s useful to have some background on how the whole thing actually works. First, an incident has to be important enough to trigger an alert by global crisis reporting agencies NC4 and iJet International. Once that happens, Facebook automatically starts looking for keywords and location data for posts about the incident in the area.

If there’s enough of a critical mass of folks talking about it, Safety Check will then trigger for that particular event, calling for locals to mark themselves safe. Once they do, they can also immediately check up on their friends by inviting them to do the Safety Check as well. The entire process is community-activated — it’s been that way since November last year — though Facebook employees do perform oversight to make sure everything’s running smoothly.

Right now, Community Help will only be for natural and accidental incidents in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and India. It’ll roll out to more countries and more incident types as the team learns more about how people use the tools. “As with any activation, we’re looking to get feedback and listen and improve our products for communities in need in the future,” said Chetan.

Pink creatures will invade ‘Pokémon Go’ this Valentine season

Pokémon Go will look a lot rosier than you’re used to these next few days. For V-day 2017, pink Pokémon like Chansey, Porygon and (the evolved form of Clefairy) Clefable will spawn a lot more often than usual. But if you want some cute pink baby Pokémon instead, then start incubating some eggs, because they’re more likely to hatch into Cleffa, Igglybuff and Smoochum, as well.

In addition to pink species’ invasion, you’ll receive double the amount of candy when you catch, hatch or transfer a Pokémon to the Professor. Oh, and you may want to hold onto those lures until the event begins — each one will keep attracting Pokémon for six hours instead of the usual 30 minutes. Keep an eye on your watch, assuming you still play Pokémon Go, don’t live in China and actually want to catch pink squishy creatures. The event begins today, 11AM PST/2PM EST, and will run until 11AM PST on February 15th.

‘Gears of War 4’ gets bromantic update for Valentine’s Day

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Microsoft has decided to woo gamers with a week-long Gears of War 4 event. Taking a few tips from Cupid, February 10th will see the week-long return of popular multiplayer-mode Torque Bow Tag. The limited-time event also includes daily Valentine’s themed bounties, a new craftable character and introduces two new maps – Impact Dark and War Machine.

While the fleeting holiday-themed event will come and go, the two additional maps are here to stay. Impact Dark is a reworked version of existing Gears 4 arena – Impact. Swapping the original’s bright daylight setting for the dark of night, the map also increases the tension by covering the battlefield in visibility-reducing smoke.

The other map accompanying the update is a reimagined version of the popular War Machine stage from the original game. Making its way to Gears of War 4 for the first time, War Machine has now uprooted from the dingy train station of old to a grandiose looking COG settlement. Despite the drastic visual overhaul, developer The Coalition claims that the core map design fans remember has remained intact.

In a bid to stop you rage-quitting, this new patch also brings with it a whole load of gameplay tweaks, including long-requested improvements to the game’s Guardian Mode. The February update is available to download now, with season pass holders able to play the two new maps today. For everyone else, the new stages will be playable on February 10th. While not as fully-fledged as Gears of War 4’s Christmas update, we can’t think of a better way to celebrate Valentine’s than devouring a gift box of chocolates, ignoring your significant other and settling in for a week-long frag fest.

Source: Xbox