2017 March | AIVAnet

Mar

New Samsung Galaxy S8 leaks show phone’s interface, gold paint job

Let’s face it: In 2017, there’s no such thing as a surprise phone announcement.

Thanks to teases and leaks and rumours and analysts and pundits, we know everything there is to know about a phone well before it is officially unveiled on a stage in front of hundreds of journalists and television crews. And the upcoming Galaxy S8 from Samsung is no exception. SamMobile has posted several leaked screenshots of the smartphone’s launcher and updated app icons.

The leaked screenshots, which were discovered inside the APK of the latest version of Samsung’s Smart Switch application, provide a better look at what we can expect from the user interface of Samsung’s next flagship. The smartphone will undoubtedly run Android 7.0 Nougat, and from what we can tell in the screenshots, will sport a clean and simple UI with the Samsung Experience skin.

When is Galaxy Unpacked 2017 and can you watch it online?

But that’s not all: Another leak from Monday shows the Galaxy S8 in gold. PocketNow said unverified Chinese tipsters provided live photos of the “regular” Galaxy S8 and plus-sized Galaxy S8 Plus, and although you can’t see the rear of either device, it’s obvious from the photos that they’re sporting gold paint jobs. We can also see their curved front panels, top sensors, and on-screen buttons.

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are expected to debut on March 29. Check out Pocket-lint’s round-up of rumours for more.

Mar

This Google test helps change the look and feel of your Android phone

Once you decide to buy a specific smartphone, the hardest part is deciding how to set it up.

When it comes to Android phones, there are so many launchers, icon packs, and wallpapers to choose from. We at Pocket-lint play with new Androids on a sometimes weekly basis, and so setting up these phones to suit our preferences is a regular, tedious task, one which takes up a lot of time. In an effort to reduce the time it takes us all to customise our Androids, Google has released a test full of quick-fire questions.

Android O: What’s the story so far?

The test, called #myAndroid Taste Test, is designed to serve up the best wallpaper, launcher, and icon set based on your preferences. You have to answer questions about whether you like squares or circles or are more of a “geometric” or “organic” type of person. There’s even a goofy question that shows hotdogs (or legs) and you have to decide how to answer. And for all these questions, Google urges you to think fast.

Google

We took the test and were served up Zedge Wallpapers, which were described as muted and minimalist, as well as the Delta icon pack, because they’re flat and abstract and modern. Google also told us to download Peek Launcher, due to our skill level and interests, as well as the Gboard for a keyboard, though we’ve seen reports from other users claiming they were told to download Gboard every time.

So, this test may be a clever advert for Google’s own Gboard keyboard. Nevertheless, it’s still a pretty neat way to see what’s on Google Play Store in terms of switching up the look and feel of your device.

Get ready to discover the home screen for you. The #myAndroid Taste Test is here: https://t.co/bYl8Y2PgvJ pic.twitter.com/aj6uCZkCfa

— Android (@Android) March 11, 2017

Mar

This iPhone case is basically an Android phone

iPhones have a reputation for being user friendly, but ultimately, Android can do a lot of things iOS can’t. Aspects of Android could be useful to all phone users, but straying from the Apple ecosystem can be intimidating. Now, there’s a new way for iPhone users to easily access Android features like expandable storage and multiple SIM cards. Entrepreneur Joseph Savion and his company ESTI Inc. decided to (almost literally) strap an Android phone to the back of an iPhone. That sounds like a strange idea, but that’s basically what ESTI’s Eye phone case does.

The case, which is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, adds a 5-inch AMOLED display, a 2.3GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU, a 2800mAh battery, up to 256GB of microSD storage, dual SIM slots, a headphone jack and wireless charging, among other features. There are two versions of the case: one with cellular connectivity and one without. A comment from Savion on the Kickstarter page says that the Android device can make use of the iPhone’s internet connection. While there is some other integration between the devices — they share the iPhone’s speaker, microphone and cameras — they pretty much function as their own machines.

The case runs Android 7.1 Nougat, and if Eye is starting to sound more like a standalone phone than an iPhone case, well, it’s priced like one too. It’s expected to retail for $189 (or $229 for the 4G version), although early Kickstarter backers can get theirs for $95 ($129 for 4G). That said, $95 for a phone is pretty cheap.

The main question is, who this product is even for? Most iPhone users seem happy with their devices, and probably don’t need a product like this to “improve” it. Even for users wanting to test the Android waters, there are plenty of non-Apple devices available for under $100 that could satisfy their curiosity without adding bulk to their current phone.

Ultimately, Eye seems a lot more interesting than it does practical. As of this writing, the case has raised over $84,000 of its $95,000 goal with 32 days to go. So, it might not be necessary, but it will probably come to market anyway.

Via: The Verge, 9to5Google

Source: Kickstarter

Mar

Bloody sci-fi shooter ‘Strafe’ lands on PS4 and PC in May

Strafe is a lovely little homage to classic games like Doom or Quake — it’s built to feel like a first-person shooter from 1996 but features modern mechanics, updated graphics and buckets of blood. We got our hands on the game during E3 2016 and had a blast shooting space monsters in the face. Everyone will have a chance to do the same on May 9th, when Strafe lands on PlayStation 4, PC and Mac.

This is actually a delay from Strafe’s original release date of March 28th. The studio building Strafe, Pixel Titans, says the game just needs a little more time in the (pixelated, alien-packed, bloody) oven.

“We are incredibly close to being done with the game!” Pixel Titans writes in a Kickstarter update. “We’re cramming the last few secrets in, working on gun polish and game balance, but that doesn’t leave us with enough time for the level of polish and optimization we want so we are delaying the game for just over a month to May 9th. …We will have post-release support but Strafe is not an early access game so we want to make sure it plays great out of the gate.”

STRAFE® will be in the oven a little longer so that the middle isn’t soggy. We will release May 9th on PC, MAC & PS4. pic.twitter.com/LSbhLvFRCE

— STRAFE® (@STRAFEgame) March 13, 2017

Strafe is a rapid-fire, single-player, first-person shooter built with roguelike mechanics, meaning once you die, you start all the way at the beginning. However, procedural generation makes the game different every time you load it up. It’s a streamlined kind of FPS, with ammo drops and weapon-upgrade machines strategically positioned throughout the levels. Plus, whenever you kill a space beast, its blood and guts remain on the ground — or floors, or ceiling — so you always know whether you’ve cleared a room. So thoughtful.

Pixel Titans raised $207,847 on Kickstarter in 2015 to develop Strafe, meaning there are at least 4,953 people patiently waiting for the game to come out. We’re pretty excited about it, too — so make that 4,954.

Mar

SolSol’s baseball hat can charge your phone using solar power

Solar technology is still far from becoming ordinary, but we’re seeing more and more of it make its way to consumer products. And now that includes hats. SolSol, a startup from Los Angeles, made a baseball cap that has a small solar panel built into its brim. You can use it to charge your smartphone, tablet or any other device that needs to be plugged in via USB. It looks kind of odd to have a cable hanging down from your head, but the hat could come in handy if your gadget’s battery is running low and there are no other outlets nearby.

I tried it on at SXSW and it felt like any other baseball cap I own, although the brim did feel a bit on the heavy side due to the embedded solar panels. SolSol says it’s tech, which is patented, can charge a device at about 200mAh per hour. The company is already working on improving that rate, along with making more types of hats, including those dad caps everyone in Hollywood loves so much. SolSol’s baseball cap is up for grabs now for $56, in case you’re interested in rocking one the next time you hit the streets.

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

Mar

V-MODA Forza Review: the best $100 sport in-ear headphones

Although wireless earphones are becoming the norm for runners, bikers, and gym-goers, there is still something to be said about wired workout earphones. While wireless ones keep you from having to deal with a cord while you’re working out, wired earphones provide better sound and never require charging so you won’t get to the gym and find yourself without music.

Unfortunately, many wired earphones are fairly bulky and heavy when compared to their wireless counterparts, which can get tiresome during long workouts. Thankfully, it appears V-MODA is coming to the rescue with a pair of extremely light, wired earphones that don’t compromise on sound quality – the Forza.

Design

When I first opened the box, I was amazed at just how small the Forza actually is. The earbuds themselves are smaller than most in-ear headphones I have used, and the entire look of the Forza is streamlined. The cable has a rubber coating to increase durability and help protect it from damage. Along the cable leading to the right earbud, you will find the in-line controls and mic. V-MODA touts that these controls are made for Android devices, which I was excited about since I had used so many earphones with in-line controls that didn’t work with my phone.

Unfortunately, the controls on the Forza do not work with every Android device, and my Alcatel IDOL 4S is one of them. The center play/pause button worked flawlessly along with the volume up button, but for some reason, the volume down button did not work at all. All the controls worked with my Nexus 6 so your experience will vary depending on the phone you have.

Taking a look at the earbuds themselves, I was impressed at their small size. The body of the earbuds is fully plastic to keep weight down, and I was glad to see that they still felt durable even with the plastic body. The Forza is water and sweat resistance and has military-level durability (according to V-MODA), so these earphones should last through even the most vigorous workout sessions.

The lightweight and compact design of the Forza helps most when it comes to the fit, and I found that the Forza fit securely in my ears without the need for fins or earhooks. For those of you who want even more of a tight fit, V-MODA includes three sizes of fins along with a set of earhooks that attach to the Forza and keep it frozen in place. The fins attach securely to the earbuds, and the fit is so seamless I would be surprised if anyone could tell the fins were not part of the Forza itself.

Sound

I have always been a fan of V-MODA and the sound that their products deliver, but I must admit that I was skeptical of the Forza when I first saw it. The tiny size reminded me of the inexpensive earbuds you purchase at a convenience store on a trip when you forgot to pack yours. To my delight, my first impressions were entirely wrong. The Forza comes with a 5.8mm driver that is designed to be lightweight but still provide excellent sound. I can confirm that the Forza delivers on both those fronts.

The sound from the Forza is well balanced with strong bass, clean mids, and clear highs. I was impressed with the amount of bass these little earphones could produce. The small size of the earbuds helps you get a better fit that in turn increases both noise isolation and sound quality.

Unfortunately, the Forza does have some cable noise from it rubbing against your clothes while you run or workout but using the included earhooks helps to minimize it. Even with the slight cable noise, I would still put the Forza at the top of the pack in terms of sound at this price range ($100).

Customization

For those of you who like to add a personal touch to your stuff, you have some customization options for the Forza through the V-MODA website that most other earphones do not have. Starting with the less exciting stuff, you can choose from three color options: Black, Orange, and White. However, you can go much further than this.

The Forza comes with the option to add custom 3D-printed caps that attach to the end of the earbuds. You have three designs to choose from: a steampunk design, the V-MODA logo, or a lion head. If you want to leave it there, you can have any of these printed in black acrylic for $20 bringing your full price to $120.

But I say if you are going to go this route, you must go all the way. And by “all the way,” I mean getting these caps made with a precious metal. Oh, yes. I’m serious. If you want to go the easy way, you can simply get them made of out bronze for a total price of $250. Or, you can work up the price ladder through gold plated, sterling silver, and 14K rose gold caps all the way to the top – full platinum caps costing a whopping $7500 dollars. Is this absolutely ridiculous? Yes. Is it also kinda awesome? Yes.

Conclusion

If you could not tell from the review, I think the Forza is an awesome set of earphones and the best workout headphones you can get at this price. The design is sleek and compact, the sound is full and clear, and the customization options are incredible. While these may be hard to recommend if you are thinking about going the platinum route, for those just wanting the earphones themselves, you would be hard pressed finding a better pair of wired workout headphones for $100. You can customize a pair for yourself at the V-MODA website or grab one from Amazon!

Mar

Senate bill would require a warrant for border phone searches

Did US border agents insist on searching the contents of your smartphone during your latest trip, privacy be damned? You’re not alone — Homeland Security has revealed that searches by Customs and Border Protection are surging, growing from under 5,000 in all of 2015 to 5,000 just this February. However, there might soon be legislation that keeps these searches in check. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is preparing a bill that would not only require a warrant before border officials can search the devices of US citizens, but strictly forbid them from asking for passwords. They’d need a legitimate reason to believe your phone holds something shady, not just a hunch.

Right now, these searches are completely legal. While the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment normally protects you against warrantless searches of your devices, that doesn’t count for border crossings within 100 miles — officials can even keep devices for 5 days without offering an explanation. In that regard, Wyden’s bill would close a gap in civil rights for at least some of the population. CBP’s own policy hasn’t been updated since 2009, at a time when smartphones were only just becoming popular and data privacy wasn’t as paramount an issue as it is today.

There’s no guarantee that the bill will become law. Senior intelligence officials speaking to NBC News understand that the massive increase in phone searches was prompted by “domestic incidents” where neither the FBI nor watch lists were enough to stop American citizens from conducting attacks. And yes, the new White House’s immigration policy is believed to be contributing to the spike — officials feel like they have more justification for their searches. The bill’s backers will have to convince Congress that warrant requirements can protect your privacy without undermining security.

Source: NBC News

Mar

Pandora Premium ad-free streaming service kicks off at $10 per month

Why it matters to you

Pandora Premium is Pandora’s answer to Spotify, Apple Music, and others, and it’s not a bad start.

Pandora, the 17-year-old streaming music service best known for its ad-supported free radio stations, is launching a paid tier aimed at the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, SoundCloud, and Google Play Music. It’s called Pandora Premium, and it offers on-demand and offline access to more than 40 million songs for $10 a month.

The bulk of the Pandora Premium experience takes place within a smartphone app. Unlike apps from some of Pandora’s competitors, it doesn’t feel overwrought — it’s minimalist, simple, and streamlined. There’s a carousel of recently played albums and stations, a list music saved for later listening, and filters that let users to search for specific albums, artists, and song lists. A simple toggle makes it easy to hide explicit music on radio stations and in search, and a New Music section offers tracks tailored to individual tastes.

More: Pandora’s website gets a makeover, giving it a more modern, streamlined design

Premium boasts a more than just music, though. An curatorial team is tasked with getting rid of karaoke, tribute songs, and duplicate tracks, which Pandora said will improve the quality of search results. Premium has millions of curated and auto-generated radio stations that offer variations on a theme — like ’80s party hits, Smooth Jazz, and Orchestral. And a “favorites” feature put songs users give a “thumbs-up” into a personalized playlist.

Pandora has made it easy to grow music collections over time. An “add similar songs” feature lets users add algorithmically related tracks to an existing playlist, and a soon-to-launch AutoPlay feature will create a station based on the song or album you just listened to.

The launch of Pandora Premium comes 15 months after Pandora acquired assets from Rdio, and shortly after the company launched a $5-a-month Pandora Plus with ad-free listening, downloads, high-quality streaming audio, and an unlimited number of skips and replays.

More: Pandora has finally unveiled its Spotify competitor, set for early 2017 launch

The competition is fierce, but Pandora thinks its recommendation features give it a leg up. Its Music Genome Project, a decade-long effort to “capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level” using over 450 attributes to describe songs, powers Premium’s song suggestions. And the company is using dozens of additional signals to offer “intelligent” and “informed” recommendations.

But Premium will have to contend with exclusives. The past year has seen Apple Music and Tidal ink timed deals with Kanye West, Drake, Frank Ocean, Chance the Rapper, and Beyoncé. The broader music industry is against the idea — Universal Music Group has banned exclusives, as have Lady Gaga, Adele, and Spotify — but that won’t change the fact that Pandora Premium subscribers will have to wait longer for some singles and albums than others.

And compared to some of the competition, Pandora Premium is fairly bare-bones. For example, it’s launching without a desktop app or an iPad app and there aren’t music videos. And while it works with Chromecast, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto, it doesn’t support Sonos or Amazon Echo devices.

More: Pandora’s upcoming Spotify killer has one major problem

But despite all that, Pandora’s convinced that it can convert at least a few of the 80 million users who listen to Pandora each month to Premium customers. To entice existing users, it’s offering a free two-month trial for all account holders and a six-month trial for Pandora Plus subscribers.

Pandora CEO Tim Westergren said the company is aiming for 6-9 million paying customers by the end of the year. “We have very grand ambitions for what this can be” Pandora CEO Westergren told The Verge. “No one has solved the ease of use and personalization part of the on-demand world. I don’t think there’s really a true premium product out there yet … we think we’re bringing something really different here.”

With Premium, Pandora is angling to nab the more than 100 million collective people who pay for music subscriptions globally. Apple Music is paying subscribers number north of 10 million (out of 20 million), and Spotify crossed the 100-million-user threshold earlier this year.

More: Pandora renames $5 subscription service, adds offline playback and other features

Time will tell whether Pandora can wean users away from their music streaming service of choice, but it’s off to a strong start. According to research firm MusicWatch, Pandora earned 28 percent of all streaming music hours in 2016. YouTube (including YouTube Red subscriptions) was second at 27 percent and Spotify came in third (17 percent).

Pandora is rolling out Premium on iOS and Android, with current users first in line. It’s only available in the United States, for now, but the company has plans to roll it out to territories in Australia and New Zealand.

Mar

Apple’s ResearchKit may be a viable alternative to traditional studies

Why it matters to you

The successful use of this platform could lower the cost of medical research studies involving the collection of similar survey data.

Apple launched ResearchKit, a software medical platform that helps researchers recruit participants for studies, back in 2015. Since then, it’s been tapped by the University of Oxford, Stanford Medicine, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to track trial progress, deliver surveys, and collect medical data. But it has faced questions of efficacy, and some in the medical community have challenged its accuracy.

In at least one case, though, researchers found Apple’s ResearchKit to be a viable alternative to traditional pen-and-paper studies.

In a study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, researchers at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital used Apple’s ResearchKit to crowdsource data from asthma patients. Nearly 50,000 iPhone users download the asthma app, and of these, about 7,600 people enrolled in the six-month study after completing the consent form. (About 2,300 ended up being “robust users” — folks who filled out multiple surveys.)

More: GlaxoSmithKline is the first drug company to use Apple’s ResearchKit

Participants in the study took surveys on how they treated their asthma, and researchers cross-referenced their responses with data on external factors like air quality and location.

The results ended up matching fairly well. Around the time there were wildfires in Washington state, for example, patients in the area reported worse asthma symptoms. And elsewhere, researchers were able to correlate data related to heat and pollen.

But collecting data via smartphones presented other challenges ways. The study’s retention rate was relatively low — about 85 percent of participants completed one survey, and only 30 percent completed more than one over the course of six months. Because participants were required to self-report, it’s possible they submitted untruthful, misleading, or incomplete information.

More: Apple will let you participate in medical trials with ResearchKit

There’s the potential, too, for an unrepresentative sample. As The Verge points out, Android phone owners were precluded from participating in the study because Apple’s ResearchKit platform doesn’t support third-party operating systems.

Still, the researchers concluded that ResearchKit could be useful for short-term studies.

“We […] found that this methodology is particularly suitable for studies of short duration that require rapid enrollment across diverse geographical locations, frequent data collection, and real-time feedback to participants,” Dr. Yvonne Chan, principal investigator of the study and the director of Digital Health and Personalized Medicine at the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, said in a statement. “Our study demonstrates the power of mobile health tools to scale and accelerate clinical research so that we can derive the evidence needed to inform clinical practice and improve patient care.”

More: Apple ResearchKit epilepsy study gains insight into how seizures are triggered

That’s good news for the scientific community. At the time of the study, there were an estimated three billion smartphones in use around the world, a number that’s expected to double by 2020.

“We now have the ability to capture rich research data from thousands of individuals, to better characterize ‘real world’ patterns of disease, wellness, and behavior,” Dr. Eric Schadt, senior author on the paper, said in a statement. “This approach provides a more comprehensive and accurate view of our patients that was not feasible in the past due to logistical limitations and prohibitive costs.”