Sainsbury’s oft-forgotten streaming service comes to Chromecast
Supermarkets can now insure your car, offer broadband and mobile services and, on the odd occasion, actually sell you food. In recent years, some of these grocers have expanded into streaming, launching online video, music and book services to supplement their DVD, CD and paperback sales. Not long after Tesco divested itself of all of its Blinkbox services in an attempt to battle back from its £6 billion yearly loss, grocery rival Sainsbury’s is doing more to remind people that it too is in the streaming game. Today, the company has announced that its movie and TV streaming apps have gained Chromecast support, finally bringing it in line with bigger rivals like Netflix and Now TV.
A quick look at the Sainsbury’s Entertainment apps shows that the supermarket added the feature to its Android app earlier this month, with its iOS app gaining Chromecast integration over this past weekend. Once set up, you’ll be able to buy or rent titles from its catalog and throw them over to your big screen with a touch of a button, allowing you to then use the app as a dedicated remote control. After adding a dedicated Roku channel late last year, Sainsbury’s is slowly adding devices to its list of supported hardware, maybe in the faint hope you’ll choose its marketplace over the more the established streaming services already competing for your money.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Internet, Software, HD, Mobile
Source: Sainsbury’s Entertainment (App Store), (Google Play)
Apple Watch App Store is ready to equip your device upon arrival
If you’ve already ordered Apple’s smartwatch, it should arrive sometime in the next few weeks. To prep for that delivery, the App Store’s selection of Watch-specific apps is available for browsing on the web or with that trusty iOS device. The Wall Street Journal reports that over 3,000 software options now reside in iTunes, ready to outfit the wearable with tools for keeping tabs on scores, fitness data, news, social channels, payments and more. Of course, if you haven’t secured one yet, you won’t be able to nab the gadget at your local retail store tomorrow, so you’ll have to wait until it arrives by mail.
Filed under: Wearables, Software, Apple
Source: Apple
Uber co-founder’s new app wants to be your personal shopper
Shopping these days is easy peasy. You can either buy online if you want to stay in your pajamas or go to a store if you need a sales rep’s help. One startup believes it can combine both experiences, though, through a fledgling concierge service called the Operator. The service has been (quietly) in development for the past two years, a brainchild of Uber co-founder Garrett Camp and former Zynga executive Robin Chan, who serves as its CEO. The app’s homepage clearly states what it can do with the tag line “Looking for something? Make a request and we’ll find it for you.” And based on what the startup showed TechCrunch, that’s exactly how the service works. You fire up the app and send out a text through it detailing the item you’re looking for.
Your request will then be sent to an “Operator” aka a sales rep, who will, in turn, send you a description and pictures of a product that matches your description. If you click “I’ll take it,” the system will use your credit card on file to make the purchase. The execs told TechCrunch that the Operators in charge of finding the right items are either employees of the retailers themselves or people trained to know brands’ inventories inside and out.
With how easy it is to buy goods from big e-commerce websites like Amazon and to look up items on Google first before making an informed purchase, one has to wonder what kind of plan the startup has to drum up interest for the service when it launches. We could see it being really useful to extremely busy (or lazy) folks who don’t have time to research their own purchases, though, or to those in desperate need of a gift at the last minute. At the moment, the app is still in private beta, but you can sign up to participate if you want to give it a shot.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Operator
WhatsApp’s voice calls arrive on iOS
When its calling feature hit Android gadgets a couple weeks ago, WhatsApp founder Brian Acton said the tool would make its way to iOS soon enough. Well, today’s the day. WhatsApp calling is rolling out to folks wielding Apple devices, allowing you to chat with friends and family around the world. If you’ll recall, the feature uses WiFi rather a data connection, so you won’t have to worry about international rate hikes. While the new version of the app is already available at iTunes, the release notes warn that the calling feature is rolling out slowly, so it may not be available for you immediately.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Facebook
Source: iTunes
Samsung S Health app posted to the Play Store
Samsung has not been a manufacturer that makes many apps available to the Google Play Store, but the recent addition of the Samsung S Health app may be a sign that things are changing. Over the past couple years manufacturers have increasingly used the Play Store as a distribution channel for their proprietary apps, a move that saves consumers time in waiting for updates to be released as part of a device update. Samsung seems to have resisted that move, possibly due to their own app store being available to owners of their devices as well as their desire to maintain some control over their ecosystem.
The new S Health app comes on the new Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. The version released to the Play Store appears to be the same one that was delivered on those devices. Owners of other Samsung devices can now update or add the app, although it does require Android 5.0, so only newer devices that have received the Lollipop update will be able to make use of it.
Like so many health and activity apps on the market today, the S Health app is designed to collect data from wearables like Samsung Gear devices and then display this through the app in a way that will help consumers live more healthy lifestyles. Besides basic tracking of data, users can set goals and then measure their progress.
If you have a Samsung smartphone with Android Lollipop, you can use the links below to grab the S Health app or update the version you have.
Come comment on this article: Samsung S Health app posted to the Play Store
Samsung launches new Galaxy S6 Accessories app
Samsung has just launched a new app for Android called Galaxy S6 Accessories. As the name suggests, the application allows users to browse and purchase any of the company’s official accessories for the handset, without having to visit an independent reseller.
Check it out in the screenshots below:
Via: SamMobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung launches new Galaxy S6 Accessories app
BBC Sport widget delivers the news without annoying you
If you’re a serious ports fan, keeping up with the latest results, injuries and transfers can feel like a full-time job. Plenty of apps offer all of this information in one place, but then you’re often left with two options: continuously open the app, or set up push notifications and face an onslaught of vibrations in your pocket. Now, the BBC is trying to tackle the problem with a new “Top Stories” widget for its Sports app. On iOS, that means you can read the most popular headlines from the Notification Centre and jump through to the app if one grabs your interest. They work well enough, although some of the headlines are a little too short and ambiguous. On Android, however, the new home screen widget lets you choose from different sizes and sports. Neither addition is particularly earth-shattering, but they could prove useful if your smartphone is becoming a notification nightmare.
Filed under: Cellphones
Via: BBC Blogs
Source: BBC Sport (Android), (iOS)
YouTube app will soon stop working on older smart TVs and iOS devices
If you own a smart TV or an iOS device that’s getting a bit long in the tooth, you may need to do some upgrading this week if you want to continue using the YouTube app. Due to certain changes in the app’s API, it’ll no longer work on a number of models released in 2012 or earlier, including second-generation Apple TVs, Panasonic TVs, Sony TVs and Blu-ray players, as well as devices running Google TV versions 1 or 2. You’ll know you’re affected if a video showing the notice above plays upon firing up the app, though most models released in 2013 or later are safe.
Now, if you want continued access to the YouTube app, you’ll have to update iPhones, iPads and iPods to iOS 7, at least. Third-gen Apple TVs need a platform upgrade, as well, while Google TV version 3 or 4 devices need the latest app update available on Google Play. Just because your product is too old for upgrades doesn’t mean you’ll have to bid your YouTube binges farewell, though. The website still loads on Safari (even on older iOS devices) or on any smart TV browser than supports flash/HTML5.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, Google
Via: Android Central
Source: YouTube Help
Google Chrome for iOS gets easier to use with one hand
Don’t like that Chrome makes you use two hands to comfortably surf the web on your iPhone 6? Your life just got a bit easier. Google has updated Chrome for iOS so that you can pull down to not only refresh web pages, but open and close tabs. At this rate, you might only have to reach up when you want to type in a site address. There’s also a Today View launcher widget that includes voice search, suggested answers for common searches and support for password managers like 1Password and LastPass. All told, you should spend more time browsing and less time stretching your fingers — that’s a worthwhile upgrade in our books.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Chrome Blog, App Store
Google’s Android search now pulls content from apps you haven’t installed
Thanks to Google search on your Android phone, you can not only bring up search results from the web, but also content from apps that are installed on your phone. Soon, however, that capability will be extended to apps you haven’t downloaded at all. Google has announced today that thanks to its app indexing efforts, you may now start to see Play Store suggestions in your search results that’ll lead to relevant content. So, for example, say you’re searching for “Michelin star restaurants” on your phone. You’ll not only get the usual search results for that, but also see suggestions for apps like OpenTable or Yelp if you don’t already have them installed. If you do install them, the first thing you see when you launch them is a list of, yep, Michelin star restaurants in your area.
Rajan Patel, a principal engineer from Google, tells us that the company started to index content within apps almost two years ago. Developers would implement the app indexing API in their apps, which would then deliver the relevant deep link info to Google. “As of today, we’ve indexed over 30 billion deep links in apps,” says Patel. “We’re able now to understand and index the content of those deeplinks, and rank them organically on search results.” As you might imagine, plenty of apps have signed for Google’s app indexing already; they include Airbnb, Twitter, Yelp, OpenTable, Trulia, Pinterest and yes, Engadget as well. The app index is still smaller than Google’s web index, of course, but it should still be decent enough for you to find exactly what you’re searching for… as long as you have an Android phone.
Source: Google
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