Facebook’s video app lands on Apple TV

You no longer need to own a brand new Samsung TV to use Facebook’s video streaming app. Facebook Video has launched on the 4th-generation Apple TV, giving many more people an opportunity to watch social clips on the big screen. The interface clearly encourages you to sit back and relax — it’s divided into sections that automatically play videos back to back, such as those shared by your friends, recommended videos and live streams.

The app is also poised to come to Amazon’s Fire TV, Chromecast and other devices, so don’t fret if you don’t live in Apple’s ecosystem. However, you may have to get used to ads. The current experience is blissfully ad-free, but you may well see mid-roll promos in the future as Facebook makes a push toward longer, higher-quality (and thus more profitable) videos. And the app could be particularly important for Facebook’s live video ambitions now that it’s hoping to broadcast sports and other content that benefits from TV-sized viewing. In short, this could just be the start of something much bigger.

Source: Variety

Watch LG’s G6 wallpaper get assembled by hand

During my visit to LG’s headquarters in South Korea a few weeks ago, one surprising thing I learned was that the G6’s hero wallpaper — the one with a subtle “6” in it — was not a digital render, but was in fact a combination of paper, acrylic, paint and two months of patience.

In the official making-of video, you can see how some elements were cut to shape, sprayed with paint (with color guidance from Pantone) and eventually toyed around with different lighting plus positioning. All of this, of course, was done with the FullVision display’s 18:9 aspect ratio in mind, so the elements adhere to match the G6’s screen composition. The result is a vivid wallpaper with natural colors and varied textures.

But the work didn’t stop there. LG used different materials to assemble three more versions of the same layout, one for each optional UI theme to match the phone’s color: Ice Platinum, Astro Black or Mystic White. It’s no wonder this project alone took two long months. To be fair, though, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen big companies spend far too long making a background: Google and Microsoft have both done similar in the past. Still, they all get marks for effort.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from MWC 2017.

Yelp buys a company that helps you shrink restaurant wait times

Yelp partnered with Nowait last year to let you line up remotely at restaurants and, ideally, skip the physical queue altogether. So how well did it work? Quite well, apparently — so much so that Yelp is acquiring Nowait outright. The buyout gives Yelp an opportunity to tightly integrate more of Nowait’s technology, and should shrink the time it takes to go from finding a place to eat to scoring a table.

The big challenge after the deal may simply be expansion. Nowait’s virtual seating system is active with 4,000 restaurants in North America, but there are clearly many more eateries than that. Yelp may not make the most of the acquisition until the feature is relatively ubiquitous — what good is skipping the physical line if it’s not an option at your favorite place? If Yelp pulls this off, though, you’ll have a good reason to use its app for restaurant searches over Google Maps and other generalized apps.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: BusinessWire

Netflix becomes your personal trainer with its new DIY device

Working out can be tough, but inversely, watching Netflix is super easy. The streaming giant doesn’t want to distract you from your fitness goals, though. Netflix would much rather be your workout buddy, which is why it posted instructions for making a DIY personal trainer gadget.

For the technologically savvy among us, Netflix’s directions include a materials list and all the files you’ll need to make the Arduino-based device yourself. The personal trainer is part of the company’s Make It initiative, which launched in 2015 with directions for creating a “Netflix and chill” button.

Getting this thing up and running might be an ordeal, but using it is simple. It connects to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth and uses an accelerometer to detect whether you’re reaching the activity threshold you set for yourself. Fall below that level, and it will pause your music or Netflix video to deliver a motivational quote from your chosen Netflix character. Users can get comic relief from Bojack Horseman, positive reinforcement from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, or tough love from Ultimate Beastmaster’s Terry Crews, among other options. Pick up the pace, and your media will resume as normal.

Even if you’re not in the market for a workout companion, this project could still be a solid introduction to working with Arduino. Knowing your way around these inexpensive computers is worthwhile, since they can be used to make just about anything from a robot insect to a LEGO drone.

Source: Netflix

FCC puts its broadband privacy rules on ice

New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said his agency would halt broadband privacy rules due to go in effect on March 2nd, and he’s making good on his word. The Commission has stayed the regulation at the last minute, giving the regulator time to create a more “comprehensive and consistent” privacy framework (that is, one that encompasses everything) in tandem with the FTC. This doesn’t mean that your internet provider will run roughshod over your privacy in the meantime, the FCC argues. It’ll just have to honor the rules that have been in place for roughly two years, and will still have to account for rules kicking in later this year.

The question, of course, is whether or not these harmonious privacy guidelines will make broadband customers happy. The newly-paused rules would have required an opt-in for personal data collection like your browsing history and location, and would have demanded that ISPs explicitly inform you about what data they’re collecting as well as any breaches. There’s no guarantee you’ll get any of that from a harmonized rule set — especially not when Pai has made deregulation his primary goal. Your internet privacy may not erode significantly, but don’t expect it to improve much, either.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: FCC (PDF)

Second-Generation Apple TV Added to Apple’s List of Obsolete Products

Apple today updated its official list of vintage and obsolete products to add the second-generation Apple TV, originally released in 2010.

The second-generation Apple TV was the first Apple TV that featured a black body and an aluminum Apple Remote, an updated look compared to the silver and white Apple TV that was originally released in 2007.

Apple sold the second-generation Apple TV from September of 2010 until 2012, which is when the company released the third-generation Apple TV with an A5 chip and support for 1080p content.

The second-generation Apple TV is now classified as “vintage” in the United States and Turkey and “obsolete” in the rest of the world. Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years ago, while obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than 7 years ago.

Both classifications essentially mean Apple is no longer providing hardware service for the device except in Turkey and California, where local statutes require that Apple continue to provide service and parts for a longer period of time.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Tag: vintage and obsolete
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Oculus Rift Support for Macs Not ‘Currently on the Roadmap’

Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell recently sat down with TechCrunch for an interview discussing the future of the Oculus Rift, where he said that while Mac support is something the company would like to implement, it’s not currently in the works.

According to Mitchell, while Mac support is “near-and-dear” to his heart, Oculus is “just not quite there yet.” Mac integration is, in fact, so far off that it’s not even on the Oculus roadmap for the next six months.

“We do want to do OS X (macOS) support for Rift, it’s not something that’s currently on the roadmap for– I can even say– the next six months,” Mitchell tells me. “We will continue to revisit it, the real challenge for us is just how much we invest into that space because it does require a lot of our time and energy to get it right and to deliver a great experience.”

Early versions of the Oculus Rift did work with some higher-end Mac machines, but during the product’s development period, Oculus was forced to drop Mac support. Mac development was put on hold in order to focus on “delivering a high quality consumer-level VR experience,” on Windows machines with more robust hardware.

Last year, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey made headlines when he said the Oculus Rift wouldn’t offer Mac support until Apple releases a “good computer.” He said Oculus Rift support was ultimately “up to Apple,” and that the company needed to “prioritize higher-end GPUs.”

Hardware requirements for the Rift became less stringent in October thanks to software advancements and will now run on any machine equipped with an Nvidia 960 or greater, an Intel i3-6100 or greater, or an AMD FX4350 or greater. With the changes, some Macs, including the latest MacBook Pro, could potentially work with the Rift, but Oculus isn’t yet prepared to delve into Mac development.

Starting today, Oculus is dropping the price of the Rift and Touch controllers by $100, dropping the price to $598 for both products, a much more affordable price point. Individually, the Rift is now priced at $499 and the Touch controllers are now priced at $99.

Tag: Oculus Rift
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