California kill switch bill goes into effect today – all phones to come with theft protection
Smartphone theft is a huge problem – one that costs mobile consumers about $2.5 billion a year. California is one of the first to take action by introducing a law that requests every phone sold in the state to include what has been commonly referred as a “kill switch”.
California bill SB-962 was finalized last August, when we were also informed the new regulation would go into effect starting July 1st 2015. Fast-forward nearly a year later and we are seeing things come to fruition. The day has come and the law goes into effect immediately.
For those who may be out of the loop, a kill switch is a system (hardware or software) that deems a smartphone unusable if reported stolen. Apple has been implementing its own technology for some time, but they are no longer alone. In fact, a long list of manufacturers, carriers and tech companies are backing this movement, including Google, Microsoft, Samsung and HTC.
Our beloved Google kept its promise to provide an effective kill switch with the introduction of Android Lollipop. It comes in the form of Factory Reset Protection, which allows smartphone owners to set a password the user would need to input before a factory data reset is performed. This, in combination with Android Device Manager (which can lock phones remotely), makes for a full kill switch method without any loopholes.
How many of us have gotten our smartphones stolen? It has happened to most of us, which means something definitely had to be done. Not everyone was for this kill switch idea. In fact, it was voted down by the senate at first, and those who make a profit out of phone insurances (carriers, insurance companies and the CTIA) were not too happy about the possibility of losing part of its $7.8 billion yearly profits.
The issue here is that this is a proven method and it’s already reducing smartphone theft! Kill switch systems have been put into effect by some companies before the law required phone makers to do so, and it’s doing wonders. Though about 2.1 million Americans had their smartphones stolen in 2014, this is a huge improvement over 2013.
Theft went down by 32%. More specifically, New York saw a 16% drop in handset robberies, and Apple phones had a 25% decrease in losses. Another report published this February also indicates San Francisco’s theft numbers went down by 40% in the last 12 months, while London was the star with a whopping 50% reduction. And it makes total sense! If every phone out there will be unusable when stolen, thieves will have very little incentive to steal them. That is, unless they want an amazing paper weight.
Even with all these advancements, though, 2.1 million thefts in 2014 is a big number. We certainly need to do better than that. For starters, people need to make sure they know how to protect themselves and actually use these kill switches. The implementation of this law keeps you protected only if you know how to operate the tools handed to you. We all still need to educate ourselves; only then can we make kill switches ubiquitous, and hence, effective.
How many of you guys have used these kill switches? Did it ever actually help you recover your device? Do you think kill switches are even the answer? Hit the comments and share your thoughts with all of us.
Facebook sharing more ad dollars with video creators
Facebook’s shiny logo isn’t all that’s new for the social network today: The outfit’s also announced how it plans to split video ad revenue with publishers. Like YouTube, Facebook will give content creators 55 percent of ad revenue and keep the rest, according to Fortune. Early publishing partners include Funny or Die, Fox Sports, Hearst and the NBA. And if you’re curious about how ads will work with video, it doesn’t seem like you’ll have to worry about them auto-playing loud and proud while you’re scrolling through your news feed on mobile. On the handheld platform, when you tap a clip you’ll go to a different screen with “Suggested Videos” and once your selected video finishes, an ad will play before the next one’s served up.
It’s still in testing (and only with what Forbes says is a scant few iOS users), but the feature opened up a bit more today will add even more users soon. As is often the case with Facebook and its new stuff, Apple’s mobile ecosystem gets it first while Android and desktop are slated to pick up the rear here.
[Image credit: Darren Abate/Invision/AP]
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Facebook
Source: Fortune
Clash of Clans get big update with Dark Spell Factory
One of the highest grossing apps of all time just got a major update today; Clash of Clans received an update dubbed Dark Spell Factory, which brings a ton of functionality.
The strategic app still has one of the highest and most loyal fan base, generating millions in in-app purchases daily. The update will no doubt keep users engaged for longer and generate yet more income for the company. In fact, according to last estimates, Clash of Clans had 4,136,284 active daily users, and is being installed more than 220,000 times a day.
For those not aware of Clash of Clans – it is a strategic peer-to-peer battle game where you build a base with defences to protect your mined resources, as well as troops to attack other bases to steal resources for yourself. It is supported by in-app purchases to speed up production of buildings and materials and was one of the first apps to use the freemium model.
You can grab the latest update to Clash of Clans using the link below, as well as see the full rundown of what the new update brings.
Clash of Clans update
The Rise of Master Spellcasters and Legends
* The Dark Spell Factory is here with three new spells!
* Dragon level 5 sets its golden gaze on Town Hall 10
* A second Air Sweeper will help clear the skies, starting at Town Hall 9
* New Leagues are here, including the Legend League Tournament and Legend Trophies!
The Dark Spell Factory
* Harness Dark Elixir to make spells with advanced tactics, starting at Town Hall 8
* Poison Spell: Make a toxic cloud that slows and drains the health of defending troops
* Earthquake Spell: Rattles away the hitpoints from buildings and Walls
* Haste Spell: The fastest speed boost ever, at half the storage space of a Rage Spell
* These Dark Spells take half the space of regular spells. Mix, match and experiment!
New Leagues and the Legend League Tournament
* Introducing Titan League and the ultra-prestigious Legend League at 5000 Trophies!
* Legend League Tournaments are a new challenge for top players, ending once a month
* Tournament Legends get their final standings featured in the Top Players tab and profile
* Each tournament resets Legends to 5000 Trophies and converts extras into permanent Legend Trophies!
Game Balancing
* Training times in the Spell Factory have been reduced
* Extra Spells can now be queued in Spell Factories, even if your Spell Storage is full
* All resource storages are now immune to all direct spell damage
* Clan Tournaments are one month long and award more gems to more players per Clan
* Barbarian, Archer, Dragon and P.E.K.K.A training cost adjusted for some levels
* Several building hitpoint values have been increased
* Inferno Tower’s Single firing mode now charges to full power slightly faster
* Dragon level 4 has been moved to Town Hall 9
* Archer towers arrows travel faster so they “miss” less of their shots at range
A.I. Improvements
* Troops and Heroes are less likely to target walls unnecessarily (even the Archer Queen)
* Troops and Heroes will not continue bashing through walls to get to a destroyed target
* Wall Breakers now avoid retargeting towards unnecessary walls when deployed in groups
* Fixed rare cases where defending Heroes or defenses might get stuck and not attack
Interface Improvements
* Train your army with a new Training button just above Attack – no more Barracks-hunting
* Army Overview lets you view, request troops and edit your army, including spells!
* Quick-tabs have been added to training views to make cycling between buildings easier
* Troop selection when attacking has been cleaned up with new visuals and sounds
* You can now filter offensive Clan Chat by enabling the Clan Chat Filter in the Settings
* Arabic and Traditional Chinese languages are now supported!
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Android Lollipop 5.1 rolling out to Motorola Droid Turbo
If you are an owner of Motorola Droid Turbo, then there is a good news for you. After months of rumors and delays , the Verizon exclusive Motorola Droid Turbo is finally getting the long overdue Android Lollipop 5.1 OTA update.
Motorola and Verizon announced in March that they would skip Android 5.0 update, and would go directly to Android 5.1. Most of us assumed that the update would arrive soon after the announcement, but we were quite wrong. It was a great choice to skip 5.0 as that update proved to be littered with issues like battery drain and memory leaks.
The Android Lollipop 5.1 update is rolling out for the Droid Turbo starting today. The new update will bring Google’s Material Design, Lock Screen notifications, a new Recent Apps menu, new battery features, smart lock and other performance improvements. However as reported by users, Motorola did eliminate basic features from Lollipop – Guest Mode and Multi-User support.
The update, which Verizon says will bring the device’s software version to 23.11.38, will roll out to devices in stages. There are a lot more new features and improvements included in Android 5.1 Lollipop for the DROID Turbo. You can find the change log and how to install OTA update instructions in the source link down below.
Source : Motorola
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Microsoft possibly looking at reality (finally) by reconsidering Windows Phone
Information from an internal conference that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had with senior Microsoft employees regarding the future of Windows Phone leaked this week. Details included expanding further into Android by making apps that could potentially replace some Google services like Maps, Search, and maybe even YouTube.
Windows Phone sales are such a small percentage of the smartphone market as it is, so Microsoft could be saving money by axing their mobile operating system. Windows Phone 10 is scheduled to released later this year, announced by the very same Microsoft so these talks seem to be another version of leadership laying out its options.
Who do you genuinely know that actually likes Windows Phone? It seems like such a niche operating system at this point due to the combined market shares of iOS and Android, fragmentation aside.
Source: The Inquirer
Come comment on this article: Microsoft possibly looking at reality (finally) by reconsidering Windows Phone
UK police seize thousands of Android streamers modded for piracy
As set-top boxes help deliver streaming services like Netflix and Now TV into our homes, they’re also giving rise to less-than legal methods of watching films, TV shows and sport. As manufacturers have embraced the open nature of Android, enterprising users have found ways to install apps that facilitate piracy, which has become a business in its own right. This week, a number of police forces conducted raids on sellers of “pirate” Android streamers, confiscating thousands of units in the process.
On June 30th, the Metropolitan Police’s London Regional Intelligence Unit, with help from the Government Agency Intelligence Network (GAIN) and Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), seized over 2,000 set-top boxes and a “large quantity of sat-navs” in dawn raids on properties in Feltham and Sunbury. In Dudley, West Midlands Police found 35 streamers along with “computers, mobile phones and sat-navs” in a bust on the same day.
While many Android-powered devices can be easily be altered to run pirate apps at home, police and copyright authorities are mainly targeting people who sell pre-programmed boxes on a large scale. It suggests that Brits are moving away from torrents and browser-based streams in the pursuit of dedicated streamers that purely deliver illegal streams, something that Apple TV and Roku boxes can’t do without complex workarounds.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: TorrentFreak
Source: West Midlands Police, Met Police
Living with the Galaxy S6 Edge: Is that curve worth the cost?
Samsung launched two Galaxy S6 models this spring, but let’s face it: The spotlight was really on the curvy, attention-grabbing S6 Edge. I know I was dead-set on trying that one-of-a-kind smartphone as soon as I could. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was really, truly worth the $100 premium to turn heads and score a couple of clever features. Moreover, would that design actually hold up in the real world? There was only one way for me to find out. I spent several weeks with the Edge to see whether its curved display would grow on me, or if I’d be desperately wishing I had made the safer choice and snagged the regular S6. As it turns out, the answer was a bit of both.
There’s no question that the S6 Edge and its more traditional counterpart are breaths of fresh air after a few years of Galaxy S phones held back by cheap-feeling designs and not-so-useful gimmicks. It’s consistently fast, with less software cruft than before; it’s well-built, with metal and glass that feel good to hold (if overly slippery); the camera is one of those rare gems that consistently snaps sharp, colorful photos, even in low light. And did I mention that the S6 has the first fingerprint reader that I enjoy using on an Android phone? Where the Galaxy S5 felt bogged down by features included solely for bragging rights, the S6 feels lightweight and cohesive, as if everything was designed to work well together.
Well, almost everything. While the lack of expandable storage wasn’t a big problem for me (I prefer streaming music and movies), the battery life was… less than ideal. I could make it through a typical day of email, Instagram and Twitter, but I would invariably feel nervous by nightfall. All it took was about 30 minutes of streaming music or web browsing to knock as much as 15 percent off the battery, making me worry about how quickly I could reach a wall outlet. I don’t insist on a removable battery, but that’s only when the battery life is good. Here, it would have been supremely handy to swap power packs. At least the fast charger was quick enough that I could get a top-up before I rushed out the door.
That curved display helps make up for some of those flaws, though. It’s mesmerizing, even weeks after the novelty should have worn off. Photos pop, and there’s an overall sense of depth that isn’t there on a flat screen. It’s decidedly easier to get around apps that use edge swipes, too. Frankly, it feels like a better value than the supposedly more functional Galaxy Note Edge. I never got much mileage out of the Note’s ticker-like side strip (which sometimes hindered more than it helped), but I’m still smiling at the S6 Edge’s iconic looks from time to time. This is certainly the device to get if you see most smartphones as uninspired slabs of glass. It isn’t a work of art, but it’s genuinely interesting.
However, it’s not all sunshine and roses. Those curves don’t leave much space on the sides to hold the phone, and I found that to be a real nuisance. Getting a solid grip on the S6 Edge wasn’t nearly as much of a challenge for me as it was with the Note Edge (where the sheer size prevented me from grabbing it tightly), but there was still the occasional moment where I was frightened that it would slip out of my hands. On top of that, it was all too easy to fret about dropping a phone where the sides are as likely to shatter as the front, no matter how strong the glass may be. And the few software features meant to use that curve weren’t at all useful. I don’t know anyone who voluntarily turns their phone face down, yet still needs to know who’s calling based on flashing colors… and you really don’t need a funky display to get access to your favorite contacts with a swipe.
As such, I just couldn’t recommend the Galaxy S6 Edge if you’re looking at it from a purely rational perspective. You’re paying more money for a screen that doesn’t really add much, and occasionally makes things a bit worse. With that said, I’d argue that you’re missing the point if you base your decision on cold, hard logic. To me, the S6 Edge works precisely because it’s appealing to the irrational, impulsive side of the brain as well — it’s a great (if imperfect) phone that also catches your eye and makes you grin. I wouldn’t fault anyone for getting the regular S6 if cash or the grip is an issue, but I’d splurge on the Edge in a heartbeat if I was determined to get more than just a utilitarian handset.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Listen to Beats 1 Radio on your Android device now
Do you want to see what all the hype behind Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio is about? Well since released yesterday alongside Apple Music, Beats 1 Radio is taking off and exciting everyone everywhere. In case you weren’t aware Beats 1 is a 24-hour radio station that provides live DJ’s from 3 different areas of the world.
When Apple Music was announced at last month’s WWDC, Apple was sure to announce that the service would also come to Android devices. However, that isn’t expected to drop until later this year. In the mean time, there are a few ways for you to listen to at least the Beats Radio 1 music station.
A Twitter user by the name of TheRumbler found a URL hidden in Apple Music and has decided to embed the URL into his site. This allows folks to play and listen to Beats 1 from wherever they are, regardless of the device.
All you need to do is click the link found here, and get to listening. Let us know what you think about Beats 1 and if you are excited for the release of Apple Music for Android devices when it comes later this year.
Source: Phandroid
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HTC & Verizon offer $100 Google Play Credit
For the next 60 days, with the purchase of an HTC One M9 at Verizon, customers will receive a $100 Google Play credit to use towards music, movies, games, or apps.
The offer is available exclusively on the Verizon HTC One M9 between 7/1/15 and 8/31/15. A credit activation code will be emailed after submission of Proof of Purchase and other requested information at www.get100GooglePlay.com. The offer expires on, and must be added to a Google Wallet account by 9/30/2015. Once added, a credit must be used on or before 9/30/2016.
For further details check out the HTC site.
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Ziggy Zombies: zig-zag roads of fun (app review)
We are all aware of the Zombie Apocalypse that never comes, and what to do when it does. Countless games and movies have been made about it, and of course, there are numerous ways to kill a zombie. Ziggy Zombies is one such game that will make running over zombies a fun-filled experience.
There are some pretty intense zombie killing games out in the Google Play Store that deliver a really immersive game experience with all the shooting and killing. However, if you are looking for a unique game then Ziggy Zombies is your kind of game. TinyBytes has recently released this fun zig-zag driving game that will keep you on your toes without the bloodshed.
The gameplay is extremely simple. You have to just tap the screen to change the direction of your car. There is a good variety of map scenarios like halloween, snow, or just your regular zombie-infected neighborhood. Ziggy Zombies is very fast paced and requires good reflexes to play. You start with a normal car which can be switched for another vehicle as you progress. As you drive your vehicle down the zig-zag roads, there is also an indicator which keeps telling you how many zonbies you crushed so far.
The game is ad-supported, and there is an option to remove the ads, as well as an in-app store to purchase more vehicles. There are many vehicles to choose from starting with a car, to a truck, tractor or even a tank! Ziggy Zombies promises endless hours or gameplay and you will certainly come back for more even if you play it once. The soundtrack is also pretty good and the unity game engine delivers crisp, clear graphics as well. Ziggy Zombies is a total time killer!
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One thing that really bugged me was the occasional choppiness or lag that came into play. There was some mildly frustrating frame skipping at times that made me put it down. I hope a future update will get rid of this. Also, the ads kind of interrupt the gameplay, since they often block off your screen. It would be better if the developer had left it off on the top of the screen instead of the huge pop-ups.
What we like:
- Intuitive gameplay
- Good graphics and sound
- Good replayability factor
What needs improvement:
- Occasional lag in gameplay
- Ads placement
At the end of the day, I do pick up my phone and play Ziggy Zombies once more before going to bed. Yes, its really interesting. Check out the download link below and give it a try. Let us know how many zombies you killed or if you beat my high score (69).
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