Twitch tackles foreign language trolling you didn’t even notice
It might be easy to broadcast your gameplay on Twitch, but engaging with the audience, attempting to be entertaining, playing whatever game you’re streaming proficiently and keeping an eye on chat for trolls simultaneously is the exact opposite. A new feature from the Amazon-owned company should make at least the latter part a bit simpler though. When you set your native tongue in “Broadcaster Language Mode,” only folks who choose your selected language can chat. Basically, it’s a way to help prevent people from using a different language to say stuff that’d otherwise get them banned.
It’s totally optional for hosts, must be turned on via the broadcaster dashboard or options and works on mobile as well. The thing is, even if you choose the channel’s language as your own you can still chat in whatever language you want, which robs the feature of a lot of its potential power; it’s basically like an age gate on a porn site in its current state. Twitch explained the reasoning to us as such:
Broadcaster Language Mode is an opportunity for foreign language broadcasters to create communities inclusive of their native language for a more cohesive chat experience. This helps create vibrant foreign language communities that can easily engage with one another.
It’s up to the broadcaster and their moderators to decide how exclusive their channel is. Therefore, all messages will be sent since we don’t moderate for what language is being used in a chat with Broadcaster Language Mode enabled. A broadcaster may like that they have viewers with a different language participating in chat, or they may have viewers who use English colloquialisms. We don’t want to force any of that out on our side.
If Twitch could promote chat questions pertaining to Lightbar support, then we’d really be in business.
[Image credit: camknows/Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Twitch
Amazon wants to build drive-up grocery stores
If you enjoy the luxury of ordering groceries online but would rather not wait at home for your food deliveries, Amazon might soon come to your rescue. Silicon Valley Business Journal understands that Amazon is working on a drive-up grocery store in Sunnyvale, California (a possible concept rendering is shown here) that will rely solely on internet orders — you’d schedule pickups instead of wandering aisles. Think of it as an AmazonFresh depot that could save you shipping costs while adapting to your schedule.
Amazon isn’t commenting on the project, and it’s not clear just how many of these stores will pop up. The Sunnyvale experiment is likely to expand to other areas in Silicon Valley, but there’s no certainty that it’ll ever rival a big chain like Safeway. However, there’s no question that the concept makes a lot of sense for Amazon. It eliminates many of the headaches associated with shipping food directly to your door (how do you deliver a mix of fresh and frozen foods, for example?) while giving you an incentive to skip traditional supermarkets. You’d miss out on the joy of discovering tasty treats at the store, but you also wouldn’t have to spend more than a few minutes getting your weekly sustenance.
Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal
Amazon accused of spying on reviewer’s social media profiles
Amazon has reportedly blocked a person from reviewing an e-book because the company thinks that they are friends with the author. Imy Santiago attempted to post a review of an unnamed title several times, each time being told that it was in violation of the site’s policy. When she pushed the retailer to explain why, the response came back that the piece was stopped because she knew the author personally. At first blush, that makes sense, since it stops unethical authors from garnering unfair praise on unworthy titles — but then you start asking questions, like how in the hell did Amazon know that these two were friends?
Santiago says that the only connection she has to the author is that she started following them on social media after reading their first book. As far as she’s concerned, that’s the only relationship that she has with the question (although we only have that evidence to go on). The easy conclusion to reach, then, is that Amazon is somehow data-mining everybody’s Facebook and Twitter accounts to better understand its customers. Although how it’s able to do that to such an extent that it’s capable of swooping down on a single relationship, we’ll never know. It’s also unclear if eBook authors and reviewers are being monitored more closely than anyone else.
Unfortunately for us, the naturally-secretive company isn’t likely to divulge how it made that connection any time soon. That hasn’t stopped us from emailing in the hope of getting some sort of response, but we’re 99 percent sure that all of our questions will be met with a firm “no comment.”
Via: Consumerist
Source: Imy Santiago
Amazon beats quarterly estimates, posts $23 billion in revenue
Amazon posted their Q2 earnings for 2015, and the internet retail giant smashed analyst estimates. The company pulled in $23.18 billion in revenue with a profit of 19 cents per share, which is significantly better than their estimated 14 cent loss per share. Amazon’s share prices obviously soared, and ended up well above $500 per share.
Amazon’s operating expenses were still as high as ever, chewing up almost all of their revenue for the quarter. At this point, that’s pretty typical for Amazon, but it did help that the company’s web services grew about 81% from last year, bringing in $1.82 billion. That’s still a small part of Amazon as a whole, but it’s a quickly growing portion of their business.
North America still accounts for Amazon’s biggest source of revenue, growing 26% this year, compared to international growth of just 3% year-over-year.
Amazon is projected net sales of between $23.5 and $25.5 billion next quarter, and between a $480 million loss and a $70 million profit.
source: Amazon
Come comment on this article: Amazon beats quarterly estimates, posts $23 billion in revenue
How to turn a $39 Fire TV Stick into the ultimate media center
Amazon’s Prime Day certainly evoked a flurry of mixed emotions. Many people were disappointed, but many were also able to score a deal. Personally, I scored Amazon’s Fire TV Stick for $25. Amazon reportedly sold hundreds of thousands of Fire TV Sticks within a 1-hour period. So if you want to get the most out of your Fire TV Stick, make sure and pay attention.
First let’s talk about why the Fire TV Stick makes such a great platform for a media center.
Low Price
Even at its $39 full retail price, the Fire TV Stick is a real steal. It’s closest competitors are priced higher and have lower specs. Yes the Chromecast is technically cheaper $5 cheaper than the Fire TV Stick, but it’s dead in the water without another device to initiate the media streaming and it has nowhere near the capabilities of the Fire TV Stick.
Multi-purpose
The Fire TV Stick runs Amazon’s Android off-shoot called Fire OS. Because Android is at the core of Fire OS, the Fire TV Stick can play games and use other apps found on Amazon’s App Store. You can also side-load apps from other sources onto the device, but we’ll talk about that a little later.
Fire TV Stick Specs
The specs on the Amazon Fire TV Stick are impressive for its $39 price.
- Processor: Broadcom Capri 28155, dual-core 2xARM A9 up to 1 Ghz
- GPU: VideoCore4
- Storage: 8 GB internal
- Memory: 1 GB
- Wi-Fi Connectivity: Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO); supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks.
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0 with support for the following profiles: HID, SPP
- 1080p video streaming
- 7.1 Dolby Digital surround sound
How to set it up
The first thing you have to do is connect it your wireless network. This is a fairly easy thing to do and the Fire TV Stick will walk you through the process.
If you purchased your Fire TV stick from Amazon, then it will already come attached to your Amazon account. If you purchased it elsewhere you will either need to sign into your Amazon account or you will need to create one. Once you’ve logged in then you’re just about done. Just download your favorite apps and enjoy.
Legal media options
There are several options here. The Fire TV Stick supports just about every streaming platform out there. Here is a sizable, but not comprehensive by any means, list of popular apps.
- Netflix
- Hulu Plus
- Amazon Instant Video
- Crackle
- YouTube
- Pandora
- Sling TV
- HBO GO
- Fox Sports GO
- PBS Kids
- WatchESPN
- Bloomberg TV
- Twitch
- Showtime Anytime
- Spotify
If you wish to play your own media, there are a few options for you. You should be aware that the Fire TV Stick does not support USB storage, so any media that you wish to play will need to first be downloaded to a shared location on your network or downloaded locally to the Fire TV Stick itself.
The first option is Plex. In order to use Plex, you first need to download the Plex media server found here. You’ll need to run through the setup prompts and select the folder where your media is located. Once you have done this, Plex will scan your media and download cover art and media information. While this is happening you’ll want to make sure and download the Plex app from the App Store. You’ll then be able to browse and play the media you have on your computer.
The second option that I’ll cover is VLC. VLC allows for local and network playback of media. However, as the local storage on the Fire TV Stick is limited to 8GB, you’ll want to stick to a networked storage solution. The upside of VLC is that it does not require a secondary media server to play media. The downside is that it does not give you the cover art and media center options of Plex.
The third and final option I’ll cover is Kodi, formally known as XBMC. Kodi is my preferred option as it does not require a media server to be running on a separate PC, but it will still scan your media and download the associated art and media information. Kodi also allows for 3rd party add-ons and skins that can customize and add functionality to Kodi.
Kodi isn’t an officially supported app on the Fire TV Stick. so you’ll need to sideload it onto your device. This can be a fairly complicated process, as one method requires you to use ADB command line. I won’t cover this as there are other much easier options.
The option I’ll be covering is the Fire Installer app found on Google Play. Before you fire up the app, you’ll need to download Kodi from Google Play and install it on your phone or tablet because Fire Installer will only install apps to your Fire TV Stick that are already installed on your phone or tablet.
Once you have installed Kodi on your phone or tablet go ahead and fire up the Fire Installer app. You’ll first be greeted by a set of setup instructions. The short version is that you have to enable ADB debugging in the Fire TV Stick’s settings and enter the Fire TV Stick’s IP address into the Fire Installer app. From there it’s as easy as selecting Kodi from the list of installed apps and pushing it over to your Fire TV. Keep in mind that this process will take a few minutes as Kodi can be a fairly large app. You can also use this method to install other apps not found on Amazon’s App Store.
It’s important to note that side-loaded apps will not show up in the recent apps list. In order to launch the apps, you’ll need to go to Applications found in Settings, select Manage Applications, and then select your app and launch it from there.
Other media options
Warning: The following information is for educational purposes only. Neither the author nor AndroidGuys.com endorses this or any other method that will allow for the illegal consumption of copyrighted material. We do encourage you to use any of the legal options found in this same article and to support the copyright holders by legally purchasing the media.
There are a plethora of 3rd party plugins for Kodi. Many of which allow for the streaming of copyrighted media for free. I won’t be endorsing any one particular plugin, but I will be talking about the Fusion Installer from the guys at TVAddons.ag. The Fusion Installer will give you access to install individual plugins one at a time, or the Hub Wizard which will preconfigure Kodi with the most popular add-ons. The Hub Wizard is the second easiest method.
Which is the easiest method? The crew at TVAddons have created a version of Kodi, which comes with the most popular add-ons preinstalled and preconfigured. If you want to try this method, then it’s as easy as downloading the TVMC app from their website and sideloading it onto your device.
If you’ve already installed Kodi then you’ll want to use the aforementioned method. Here are the instructions from their website.
- Step 1: Navigate to the “File manager” tab under the “SYSTEM” menu.
- Step 2: Click on the “Add source” option.
- Step 3: Select the top text input box marked “<None>” under the “Enter the paths of browse for the media locations” field.
- Step 4: Using the on-screen keyboard, type in “http://fusion.tvaddons.ag” without quotations, and then press the “Done” button. In case you’re having trouble, press the “Symbols” button to insert the colon and forward slashes.
- Step 5: Select the bottom text input box under the “Enter a name for the media Source” field.
- Step 6: Using the on-screen keyboard, type in “fusion” without quotations, and then press the “Done” button.
- Step 7: Press the “OK” button at the bottom of the window.
- Step 8: You’ll now notice that “fusion” is listed within the “File manager” window.
- Step 9: Return to the main menu, then Navigate to the “Settings” tab under the “SYSTEM” menu.
- Step 10: Select the “Add-ons” option from the left side menu bar.
- Step 11: Press the “Ok” button when prompted with the “First run help…” dialog.
- Step 10: Select the “Install from zip file” option.
- Step 11: Select the “fusion” folder from the listing.
- Step 12: You’ll now be able to open whichever folder from which you wish to install add-ons for Kodi.
- Recommended Method: You’ll find easy configuration tools such as the Config Wizard, Addon Installer, and Fresh Start program add-ons within the “start-here” folder.
- Alternative Method: If you’d like to install your desired add-ons for Kodi the “old school” method by manually installing your desired repositories and enabling each add-on one by one, you’ll find all the best Kodi repositories within the “xbmc-repos” folder.
- Congratulations! You’ve now configured the Fusion Installer for Kodi. You’ll want take a look at our Config Wizard and Addon Installer guides at this point.
What do you think? Are you going to give the Fire TV Stick a try? Are you already using it? Let us know in the comments below.
The post How to turn a $39 Fire TV Stick into the ultimate media center appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Updated Yureka Plus announced with new camera and 1080p display
It has been less than eight months since Micromax launched its Cyanogen OS powered Yureka smartphone, which offered compelling mid-range hardware specifications at a competitive price. The company has now announced an updated version of the handset with improved specifications, known as the Yureka Plus.
Gone is the old 720p display, which has been updated to a Full HD (1080p) pixel count. This is a more suitable resolution for the large 5.5-inch screen, which results in an excellent 401 pixels per inch. The smartphone’s rear camera has also been updated. The resolution remains at 13 megapixels, but there’s a new Sony IMX214 image sensor with 5 element Largan Blue lens and f/2.2 architecture, which should produce better looking snaps. The 5 megapixel front facing camera is the same module as before.
The rest of the smartphone’s internal hardware remains unchanged from the previous launch. The Yureka Plus still comes with an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot, dual-SIM support, category 4 LTE, a 2,500mAh battery and Cyanogen OS 12.
The Yureka Plus is already available for pre-registration through Amazon India, which started today, and will go on sale on the 24th of July at 12pm. The smartphone will retail with a price tag of just Rs. 9,999 (approximately $155) and is available in a moondust grey and white finish.
Amazon Prime rumored for Indian launch later this year
India is becoming an increasingly important market for gadget manufacturers and retailers, and Amazon apparently wants a bigger slice of the pie. The e-commerce giant is preparing to invest $5 billion into the country in a bid to rival local retailers such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
As part of its India expansion, Amazon is apparently planning to launch its music, instant video and Amazon Prime subscription delivery service in the country later this year.
In order to bundle an impressive line-up of music and video content for its regional Prime service, Amazon has already apparently begun talks with music labels and content producers. Amazon appointed former Sony Entertainment executive Nitesh Kripalani to spearhead this initiative late last year.
“Overall, the bet on India will pay off well for Amazon it’s a high-volume, low-margin business in the US; Amazon India will be similar. I don’t expect high profits from India but definitely good scale” – Kartik Hosanagar, professor at The Wharton School
The Indian retail market has become increasingly competitive over the past few years and Amazon’s rivals have also been raising funds for further investments. Flipkart recently generated around $3 billion following several rounds of funding, and Snapdeal raised nearly $1 billion since 2011. Amazon itself raised $2 billion in India last year.
Amazon is already one of the most popular e-commerce websites in India after just a couple of years operating within the country, but it isn’t the most profitable. Expanding its range of services in India could help Amazon realize additional revenue.
We’ll keep an ear to the ground for some official details later in the year.
Podcast 024: Prime Day, Shmimeday
With Andrew Grush out with his family and Joe Hindy nursing a little illness, we have a panel including Nirave Gondhia and Jonathan Feist for this week’s Android Authority Podcast! The guys talk about Prime Day and how much it pretty much sucked (but Amazon Prime is still amazing), how awesome the Huawei Nexus might be because it means more than just the device itself, and how mad Josh is about the new Galaxy A8.
It’s another great episode of the Android Authority Podcast – discussing topics in Android every single week.
Links to Podcast
RSS Feed
iTunes
Stitcher
SoundCloud
Direct Download
Relevant Links
Amazon Prime Day
Huawei Nexus: it’s more than just a smartphone
Samsung Galaxy A8
Follow our Hosts
Joshua Vergara
Twitter | Google+
Andrew Grush
Google+
Jonathan Feist
Twitter | Google+
Nirave Gondhia
Twitter | Google+
Recorded on July 17, 2015 – Hosted and Produced by Joshua Vergara
Deal: JBL Micro Wireless speaker now only $28.99 from Amazon
Even mobile devices with the best in-class sound quality pale in comparison to most Bluetooth speakers. This is especially the case with JBL audio products, which offer great sound while staying relatively affordable.
Today’s Amazon Gold Box Deals comes to you from the Woot store and further sweetens JBL’s offers by giving you a 55% discount on the JBL Micro Wireless. This ultra-portable speaker usually costs $60-$70, but today you can have it for only $28.99.
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It’s not easy to beat this deal when you consider JBL is well-known for its quality products. One of its Bluetooth speakers made it to our Best Bluetooth Speakers of 2014 list (which you can always refer to if this option doesn’t convince you). Though we haven’t tested this specific unit before, we are sure it can provide more than enough bang for your buck.
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The JBL Micro Wireless comes with an integrated bass port, said to generate a thump that’s “superior to comparable portable products”. And if one of these is not enough for you, you can even connect multiple of JBL Micro Wireless speakers to generate a much fuller sound. Battery life should average at about 5 hours of playback, which is definitely not bad tiny speaker like this one.
Interested? You best sign up for this deal now, as Amazon’s Gold Box Deals only last for one day. You can opt between three colors: black, red and white. The only downside is it doesn’t include Prime shipping, but you can get free standard shipping for orders above $35. Who’s buying?
Buy JBL Micro Wireless Speaker for $28.99
Update brings the ability to listen to live concerts on the Amazon Echo
Amazon are adding some new features to their smart speaker the Amazon Echo. Users can now ask it sports scores and team schedules for the WNBA women’s basketball league. Another cool feature is the ability to ask to listen to live concerts and events using TuneIn.
Amazon already offers scores and schedules from the MLB, MLS, NHL, NFL, NCAA, and NBA. The addition of the WNBA is welcomed. To access scores simply ask questions like “Alexa, who won the world series?” or “Alexa, when is the next Toronto Maple Leafs game?”. The Echo will then quickly look it up and respond back an answer similar to how Google Now or Siri would. To listen to TuneIn live events you can just say “Alexa, play BBC Live Event on TuneIn.”
If you already have an Amazon Echo you can also download the Google Play app to control the Echo from your phone or use it to stream music etc to it.
Come comment on this article: Update brings the ability to listen to live concerts on the Amazon Echo
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