Raising an Oreo to Android 8.0 [#acpodcast]

We’ve quickly nearing a new release of Android, and Daniel, Andrew, and Jerry are excited af! Well, maybe not af but definitely a bunch!

Along with a new release of the Android O developer preview, we learned that the new version will be version 8.0 — but the number was not the only new thing! The guys dig deep into the new release.

And along with talking about their reviews of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium and Moto Z2 Play, the guys dig into all the latest juicy rumors of the OnePlus 5, which has an official unveiling date.

Show notes:

• Sony Xperia XZ Premium review
• Revisiting the Moto Z2 Play
• Android O Developer Beta 3 is here!
• Is Android O really a big enough release to justify a whole number jump to 8.0?
• All the latest OnePlus 5 rumors

This episode of the Android Central Podcast is brought to you by Thrifter, the best place to get great deals in your inbox every day!

Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral339.mp3

Best Smart Smoke Detector

Update, June 2017: We’ve kept our choices unchanged for now, since the Nest Protect is really the best smart smoke detector around.

• Best overall
• Best for integration

Best overall

Nest Protect

See at Amazon

When it comes to connectivity options, the Nest Protect has most everything covered. That’s an important reason to want or need a smarter smoke detector and gives the Nest Protect a clear advantage and our pick for the best Smart Smoke Detector you can buy.

The bottom line: You need your Smart Smoke Detector to alert you of fire, smoke, and CO2. The Nest Protect is great at its main task and is able to let you know no matter where you might be.

Why the Nest Protect is the best

The Nest Protect ticks all the boxes on our list when looking for a Smart Smoke Detector. It’s small and easy to install and has the three kinds of detection sensors you’re looking for — photoelectric, ionization and CO2. And once it’s been triggered, it has plenty of options to make sure you know when you’re away from home.

The connectivity is what sets it apart. Nest has excellent apps for Android and iOS, the Nest website can tell you what you need to know about any alarm state and an interface with Alexa and Google Home can link in and extend the ways you are alerted.

Of course, it has to be a great smoke detector, too. The Nest Protect is a two-sensor detector with a stand-alone CO detector. It’s designed to catch any fire early so there is less chance of any injuries or property damage and the latest software does a great job at ignoring false positives without missing any real ones.

Best for integration

First Alert Z-Wave 2-in-1

See at Amazon

If you’re looking for something with deep integration in a complete smart home setup, you should consider the First Alert Z-Wave 2-in-1 detector.

It has the same three-sensor setup all of the best models share but instead of using Wi-Fi to connect through its own service and app, the First Alert connects to a Z-Wave hub. This connection can be bridged into any self-built system and most package home automation systems like Nexia Home Intelligence and Samsung SmartThings play nicely with Z-Wave devices. For the more technical buyer, these low-priced battery operated detectors can be part of a great complete home monitoring system

Bottom line: Z-Wave radios are a flexible way to work a detector into a home monitoring and automation system but setting things up can be complicated.

Conclusion

For most of us, a Smart Smoke Detector that’s easy to set up and can “talk” to our phones is what we want when we’re shopping. Of course, it has to do its primary job — warning us early when there is a real problem — very well. The Nest Protect excels at both.

Best overall

Nest Protect

See at Amazon

When it comes to connectivity options, the Nest Protect has most everything covered. That’s an important reason to want or need a smarter smoke detector and gives the Nest Protect a clear advantage and our pick for the best Smart Smoke Detector you can buy.

The bottom line: You need your Smart Smoke Detector to alert you of fire, smoke, and CO. The Nest Protect is great at its main task and is able to let you know no matter where you might be.

Ben Heck’s Logic Gate board game: Adventures in LCD screens

After deciding to use an LCD screen for the Logic Gate board game, Ben gets to work on programming the Pic32mz series microcontroller in MPLab X IDE. Using the programming software and Direct Memory Access (DMA) transfers, Ben learns how to display everything from TrueType Font (ttf) text to images and photos on the screen. After some soldering, Ben gets stuck and has to make a trade-off due to the amount of available RAM on the microcontroller to make sure that as little memory is used as possible. Do you have any experience driving LCD screens? Or do you want to chime in on the Logic Gate board game build? Let the team know over on the element14 Community.

Watch EA’s E3 2017 event in under 13 minutes

The action at E3 2017 has officially started. EA tipped its hand today with an event full of big announcements. If you weren’t able to catch the news on Madden 18, FIFA 18, Battlefront II, A Way Out, Anthem and more earlier today, don’t worry. We’ve distilled the news down to less than 13 minutes so you can catch up with a quickness over the weekend. Be sure to check out our conversation with EA’s Patrick Soderlund on what the company has planned for the rest of the year, too.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

Apple Offers Free Redeem Codes for AirPano’s Virtual City Book App

The official Apple Store app is currently offering free redeem codes for AirPano’s City Book app, which lets iOS users explore bird’s-eye view panoramas of 10 famous cities from around the world.

Each high-resolution cityscape consists of multiple connected spherical photo panoramas that users can rotate and zoom 360 degrees via touch or by physically moving their iPhone or iPad in the direction they want to look.

Tapping a circled dot on the skyline transports the user to another area of the city map, which can include views from the air, from the ground, and sometimes from inside famous landmarks, such as St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Alternatively, users can scroll horizontally through a panel of the various views at the bottom of the screen to skip between locales more quickly.

Cities contained in the book include New York, Paris, Barcelona, Dubai, Amsterdam, Singapore, Rome, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, and Moscow, with a short city guide accompanying each. The locations are best viewed on Retina iPads.

The AirPano team is a group of Russian enthusiasts, specializing in taking high-resolution aerial panoramas from helicopters, airplanes, blimps, hot-air balloons and drones. AirPano’s panoramas are frequently published in leading journals and have earned multiple international photo awards. AirPano’s Travel Book is available as an in-app purchase, with the Wonder Book listed as “coming soon”.

To get the $2.99 app for free, download and open the Apple Store app, scroll down the Discover pane and then tap the Featured App “Exclusively for you”. A link to the App Store should appear with the redeem code already filled in, allowing users to download AirPano City Book at no cost.
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‘Everyone is a curator.’ Beats 1 radio’s Zane Lowe on DJing in the streaming age

Before he was calling Jimmy Iovine boss, world-renowned radio DJ Zane Lowe spent 12 years as BBC Radio 1’s music guru from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Monday through Thursday.

He was playing Adele songs in 2007. He got god proclamations from Kanye West in one of his many interviews. When he said a song was the Hottest Record in the World — a segment in his shows — the temperature was usually right. And yet, as we chatted before his DJ set at the Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City, Lowe said his first two years as Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio creative director “changed the way I think about everything in terms of media, broadcast, and radio.”

Lowe is constantly moving, even under grey New York City skies dreary enough to slow the most caffeinated mind. During our frenetic interview, he brushed off his knee and fidgeted with the string on his sweatshirt in the middle of his answers. Later on he’ll proceed to rip through dozens of songs in 40 minutes during his first live DJ set in years, eventually cueing up Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock to send the crowd of millennials into a frenzy.

And, it would seem, as the chief of Apple’s always-on internet radio station, Lowe can’t stop moving until the music does.

The two year anniversary of Beats 1 Radio is coming up on June 30. How do you see these past two years in the context of your long career in terrestrial radio? 

“More than ever now that the artist can reach the audience and the audience can reach the artist directly.”

When I first arrived at Apple I brought a lot of credible experiences I had at Radio 1 BBC, and some of those we applied successfully. A lot of them didn’t fit, because it’s a streaming service and it’s just not the same. That became really evident really quickly, especially when you’re broadcasting on a global platform on a device that is in someone’s hand at all times. You have to move at a different pace and you have to think about the world differently and focus on different things. … We had to realize we weren’t that local heartbeat that you get when you wake up in the morning and you find out what the traffic is saying, or what happened in your city at that time.

It was good, because it made us really realize we’re doing it for the good of music. It was a really distraction-free environment based around supporting artists and driving the best, exciting music to the audience and just adding value to that relationship. That relationship is all that ever mattered, and more than ever now that the artist can reach the audience and the audience can reach the artist directly. So, if you are going to get in between that and be a part of that conversation, you have to add value, and that’s what Beats 1 does.

Beats 1 has a lot of big artists who have their own radio shows. In just two years, those programs have resulted in huge moments from Drake, Travis Scott, DJ Khaled, Frank Ocean and so many others. How did that all come about?

That idea came from just sitting around and talking with a few people who work with me on Beats about how we can build something that feels very directly connected to the artist. I always thought a lot of times artists would come through to my radio shows and it would feel like a job. … Promotion, that’s where the job starts. I always wondered why couldn’t radio feel creative to the artist … Why can’t it be an extension of the creative process? Making an album, doing a music video, designing a set, making a setlist … those are all creative exercises. [We asked] “Can we make promotion creative?” I think that and the fact that we had very little time to build it, we didn’t want to run around the world reaching out to all our favorite radio DJ’s and getting in that whole traffic jam of trying to convince everyone to come over one way or another.

We’ve been overwhelmed by A) how good it’s been and how great the artists are at doing it, and B) how much demand there was to want to do it. That’s what’s been really cool. You’ll see artists and they’ll say … “Can I lead up to the release of my record by doing this?” “Can I take some control of my message?” … probably the most fun part of the job is sitting around and working out what the radio station needs or getting a phone call and email from somebody like, “Hey man, can I ride with you guys for a few months, or for a while and try this out?”

Those radio shows bring back the feeling of music being a communal event. When Drake premiered his album More Life on his show, it felt like everyone was tuned into Beats 1. Which moment of the artists shows had the biggest impact? 

It’s hard to say because for me, personally, when I would listen to the Chilly Gonzalez show (Music’s Cool) once a month, I would get this huge thrill. This guy is talking through the similarities between Chopin and Drake and playing it on his piano, adding value to my life. This feels like a podcast with music. … But, then when Drake plays More Life out, you realize the whole world is listening and it’s exciting. Equally, when I hear Mike D come out with echo and delay all over his voice on his Echo Chamber show I’m just so blown away that Mike D is with us and put so much time and love into his show. So, all of them have their own moment and sometimes the impact is surprising.

We just look at everybody who gets involved and wants to make radio with us, and do cool shit with us.

We love it when artists take over their own message and their own music, and own that moment. That’s a big part of why we built it. … Equally, just hearing Beats 1 go out on the playlist hour, and hearing what we’re doing with our Up Next [documentary series], and tying into what the playlist sounds like, then playing a bit of an interview we did with an artist … I’m just sitting there like, “Wow, this doesn’t stop.” The whole idea is this ADD experience. We don’t get into who did better on any level or any numbers, because we don’t look at it that way. We just look at everybody who gets involved and wants to make radio with us, and do cool shit with us. We look at it with respect.

Apple Music has had a lot of exclusive releases, but labels seem to be cutting back on streaming-service exclusives in general. Has that affected Beats 1’s listenership?

It hasn’t at all. Distribution is a choice. Artists can choose to put their music out however they want and there are enough platforms for them to do that. Arcade Fire just put their song out on vinyl at a festival before it went on streaming services. … Our job is to present [the music] in the best way possible. That’s why Beats 1 exists. To basically create excitement and context around records.

In this day of streaming content, music has become this: (rubs index finger and thumb together). It’s not tangible. You can’t really hold it anymore and you don’t know where it goes when you put it out. … What we try to do is say, “Hey, let’s try and bring that conversation, that community, that excitement around the releasing of music.” We need that moment when it is real and tangible to feel exciting, too.

You have an extensive history of discovering and putting the world on notice of new artists. Has the music discovery process changed moving from traditional Radio to an online streaming service like Beats 1?

Really good question. Undoubtedly, at the end of the day. When I first started in radio it felt more controlled and felt like things were being delivered to you: “If you like it, we’d love if you played it.” Now, I’m getting music coming at me left, right, and center. You have to listen a lot more, open your ears a lot more, and you trust the audience completely, which I already did, but a lot of that conversation is being led by you [the listener]. You have ways to distribute and share music with your friends.

Here’s the thing: Everyone talked about going into this curation age. What that means to me is everyone is a curator. It’s not just me, or 10 other people who have been given this responsibility of finding music. Everyone is doing it all the time. You can find a record right now, share that link to your friend, send a picture, take a shot of it at a concert, put it up on your social media. You’re curating your life and the lives of the people you know. You’re constantly curating, all the time.

Rather than try to put ourselves in front of all of that, what we’re saying is we want to build a place where you as a curator can listen and learn something too, so it’s not a singular experience for yourself. You can go to Beats 1 and go, “This speaks my language, as a curator.” … It’s kind of like a club house for that. It’s like a satellite broadcast for everyone who cares enough about music to curate and share it fast. That’s why we move so fast. The way I discover music, it’s like it’s the most exciting and wide open time ever. Ever!

Who is your favorite artist you have discovered since joining Beats 1?

Great question, man. I love 6Lack, I’m so glad we got to kick off the Up Next program with him. It was great to see that really take shape. I love A.CHAL. I’m waiting for that to connect and just fly. I think Jessie Reyez is amazing. I heard she had a great show [at the Governors Ball]. I think where she’s going is super special.

Halsey

A.CHAL

6Lack

Jessie Reyez

I’m just going to straight up say it: Halsey. That first week [of Beats 1] playing New Americana was — a moment. It was a really cool moment. It almost felt like her journey started when our journey started. We talk about this all the time whenever I see her.

You’ve been in the music industry during its transition from physical to digital to streaming. As a huge music lover, are there any features you wish existed or were more popular in the new streaming era?

I’m going to get in trouble for this, but I would like there to be a more obvious and more visible way for credit to be shared. Who wrote what, who produced what, who engineered it, who made the coffee, who contributed to this experience? Making music isn’t just an end result, it’s a process. Everybody that sits in a studio and lovingly works on something deserves to get their credit. By the way, that credit is important for the survival of people who are doing their jobs.

I only know who Jimmy Iovine is because he produced Tom Petty, U2, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, and all of these amazing artists. … Now I know him as my boss. Before that, I knew him as this incredible record producer. I knew that because I would turn the record over and look at the back of it.

I’m not trying to say we need to go backwards, I’m all about going forward. I just think some things should come along for the ride. I think there should be a way to see who wrote and produced what, without it being on a social media post.

Follow Windows Central’s #XboxE3 live blog and find out about Project Scorpio!

Project Scorpio will be named, priced and detailed, and Windows Central has everything you need!

I have an Xbox One in my living room. It’s right next to the NVIDIA Shield and Synology NAS that I use far more often, but it’s there for whenever I want to play a bit of Titanfall 2 or NBA 2K17. Still, I’m excited about what Microsoft is going to talk about at this year’s #XboxE3 event, since Project Scorpio is one of the more interesting things the Redmond-based company has done in some time.

If the rumors are true, it’s going to be very much a powerful Windows 10 PC optimized for the big screen, and could fulfil a number of the original promises that Microsoft talked about back when the Xbox One was announced four years ago. Man, time flies.

For all of the coverage and the boots-on-the-ground hot takes, follow Windows Central’s live blog and subsequent content.

• When is it happening? Sunday, June 11 at 2PM PT / 5PM ET / 10 PM BST / 2:30AM IST.
• What’s it all about: Read WC’s “Everything we expect from Xbox E3 2017: Rumors, Project Scorpio, and a whole heap of 4K games” for the lowdown.
• Where do you watch it?: Here’s everything you need to know!

What are you most excited about at Microsoft’s E3 keynote? Let us know in the comments below!

SpaceX could send its biggest rocket to space in three months

SpaceX is preparing a used booster for relaunch on June 17th, but it’s apparently getting its heavy lift rocket ready for lift off sometime this year, as well. According to company chief Elon Musk’s response to one of his Twitter followers, all three of the Falcon Heavy cores should be at Cape Canaveral in two to three months. If everything goes well, the rocket could make its way to space a month after that. That means the Falcon Heavy’s first journey could take place as early as September, which is consistent with what the company has been planning for a while now.

All Falcon Heavy cores should be at the Cape in two to three months, so launch should happen a month after that

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 8, 2017

The 3-million-pound Falcon Heavy can carry as much as 140,000 pounds to low-earth orbit, almost thrice the payload the Falcon 9 can. It’s able to fly such a big amount to space, since it was designed with manned missions to the moon and to Mars in mind. According to previous info from the private space corp, it might try to reland the rocket’s upper stage during the demo flight. It’ll be extremely tough due to the vehicle’s weight — Musk even admitted that the odds of success are low, but it’s still worth a shot.

While it’ll be great to see the Falcon Heavy leave for its first journey soon, don’t forget that SpaceX and other space companies are known for pushing back timelines. Sometimes, it’s to give their personnel more time to perfect their work, other times it’s due to unfortunate accidents. In SpaceX’s case, it had to push back several planned launches after its rockets exploded. If the Falcon Heavy’s demo flight does push through, make sure to keep an eye out for a live stream of the historic event.

Via: Business Insider

Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)

Apple Announces Imminent Opening of Taiwan’s First Apple Retail Store

Apple has posted a message on its regional Taiwan website to announce the imminent opening of its first official retail store in the country. The store is located in the Xinyi District, on the ground floor and basement level of Taipei 101, the fourth tallest skyscraper in the world.

A specific opening date for the store has not yet been provided by Apple, but Taiwanese site AppleDaily speculates it will be by the end of the month, and the wording on Apple’s website suggests it can’t be far away now. The text on the celebratory page roughly translates to the following:

Taiwan’s first Apple Store will soon open in Taipei!

Apple Store – Taipei 101 will provide a space for people to experience Apple’s full range of products and services; At the same time, for people to come together to create, share and learn.

Much like how Taiwanese often gather under trees, with a pot of tea, to exchange ideas, share fun, and be prepared for the next journey.

To celebrate the opening, we have invited Taiwanese paper cutting artists, Shih Yi Yan, incorporating the same “tree as a gathering place” theme, to create a large cutout artwork to showcase the beauty of gathering. We welcome everyone to visit the Apple Store when you get a chance.

AppleDaily has grabbed some shots of the hoarding currently concealing the store, which covers 1,322 square meters across two floors.

Image via AppleDaily
Last July, we reported that Apple had posted its first job listings for a Taiwan store, which was soon followed by confirmation of its plans to set up a retail outlet in the country.

Image via AppleDaily
Apple currently only markets products in Taiwan through third-party resellers and direct through its regional online store, so today’s announcement should come as good news for Apple fans there.

The company has opened 495 retail stores across 17 countries, including 270 in the United States and 225 elsewhere, since May 2001. We’ll let readers know of the Taipei store opening date as soon as we hear of it.

Taipei 101 from afar (Image: Peellden)
(Thanks, Andrew!)

Tags: Apple retail, Apple Stores, Taiwan
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‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ trailer shows combat, but no release date

Our long wait for Kingdom Hearts 3… is probably not close to ending. Still, fans can enjoy a new trailer that Square Enix premiered tonight at the LA performance of the Kingdom Hearts World Tour. There’s plenty of gameplay and combat, as Sora, Donald & Goofy team up with Hercules in a Mt. Olympus level, as enemy bosses Maleficent, Pete and Hades discuss a mysterious box that could be linked to last year’s Kingdom Hearts 2.8.

Four years after our first glimpse of the game we still don’t have a release date, but this ends with a tag promising another trailer and a new world at the D23 Expo on July 15th. Last month Square Enix informed investors that KH3 (and the Final Fantasy 7 remake) are part of its release plans for fiscal year 2018 and beyond, so keep those PS4s and Xbox Ones on ice, for now. Oh, and dedicated fans can expect patches tomorrow that will fix some issues on the PS4 Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX edition.

At the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour, we debuted Sora, Donald & Goofy helping Hercules battle various Heartless on Mount Olympus! #KH pic.twitter.com/rRmoPKNdNv

— Kingdom Hearts (@KINGDOMHEARTS) June 11, 2017

日本時間6月12日14時頃に『KH1.5＋2.5』の修正パッチと追加パッチの2つが配信されます。各国、日本の配信時間と同タイミングに配信されます。 #_KH

— キングダム ハーツ (@_KINGDOMHEARTS) June 11, 2017

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

Source: Kingdom Hearts (YouTube)