Dark Sky brings its ‘hyperlocal’ weather forecasts to Android
Dark Sky has been a darling of the iOS app scene years. It has a nice design, and all the features you’d expect from a weather app, but its unique selling point is “hyperlocal” reports that can pinpoint rain to the minute. To do this, it “statistically aggregates” data from 19 meteorological sources, as well as from users themselves. Although the competition has improved in recent years, and despite being a paid app in a sea of free alternatives, it remains on many a “best weather app” list.
The Android app can offer everything the iPhone one does — barring the option to send barometric data to improve local reports — but whether it does will depend on if you pay or not. While the iOS app is a $3.99 one-off purchase, Dark Sky on Android is a free app with a paid subscription option. For free, you get current conditions, a 24-hour forecast, a 7-day forecast and weather maps. So… it’s basically any weather app.
If you’re willing to pay $2.99 per year, you’ll get access to the stuff that makes Dark Sky worth talking about in the first place: hyperlocal minute-by-minute forecasts, notifications and alerts. You’ll also get something that iOS users won’t: a weather widget for your home screen.
Dark Sky admits the pricing scheme is “a bit of an experiment.” In order to win users over, it’s offering a two-week free trial for the premium features, in the hope that they’ll be hooked by the time it comes to actually paying.
There’s one other thing worth remembering about Dark Sky: it’s not a worldwide app. While it can offer basic forecasts for anywhere on the globe, its local reports are mostly restricted to the US, the UK, Ireland and parts of Canada and Australia. If you’re not sure if you’re covered, you can type your location into Dark Sky’s Forecast site — if you get a “local” tab, you’re good to go.
BT to stream Champions League and Europa League finals on YouTube
BT will broadcast coverage of both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League finals for free on YouTube. The company confirmed today that it will show both matches on BT Sport TV channels across Sky, Virgin, YouView and Freeview, but will also give streamers the opportunity to view the action via the official BT Sport YouTube channel.
It comes after BT admitted it was considering whether to extend its coverage to Google’s streaming service. BT Sport operates a paid subscription for all of its sporting programmes, which includes Champions League and Europa League games, but was forced to provide free coverage as part of UEFA’s conditions after snatching TV rights from terrestrial broadcaster ITV.
In its press release, BT also confirmed that EE “will launch a new BT Sport offer to millions of its customers” in the coming months. Details are scarce but the company says that it will be available to customers on EE’s 4G pay monthly plans ahead of the new Premier League season.
With TV figures rumoured to be on the low side, BT appears to be shifting its strategy to engage with customers on as many formats as possible. It already delivers coverage via TV, apps and its website, but getting younger users to engage on YouTube and bringing on board the UK’s biggest mobile operator will only serve to improve its metrics.
Source: BT
Google’s own interpretation of Amazon’s Echo is coming soon
All of a sudden, it’s as if everyone is working on voice-controlled personal assistants, and reports suggest that Google’s version of something similar to Amazon’s Echo could land as soon as the Google I/O event next week — which would make sense. According to sources at Recode, it’s currently being developed under the codename, Chirp.
Interestingly, Nest (now a part of the same company) shied away from the idea of an Echo like device, citing privacy concerns about talking to Google, its search engine, algorithms and other internet magicks. Recode’s sources suggest voice search and intelligent responses from your Google devices will be the centerpiece of Google’s showcase, alongside virtual reality developments. Okay, Google. Show us what you’ve got.
Source: Recode
Some YouTube users now have access to its in-app messenger
YouTube has developed an in-app messenger, and according to Wired, it’s now rolling the feature out to small number of users. The video service’s director of product management, Shimrit Ben-Yair, said they created the feature, because her team believes it would result to even more sharing. Messages remain in a separate tab that can be accessed anytime, giving people a quick way to toss links, say of an amusing music video or a Let’s Play playthrough, to a whole group of people.
If it catches on, it could cut out the middleman (i.e., other chat apps) and make videos trend even faster. It’s also probably a way for YouTube to ensure users are spending more time on its website and apps in an effort to squash current and upcoming rivals. While only a lucky few are getting in-app messaging today, those who do get it can spread the feature further by inviting friends and contacts to chat.
Source: Wired
Google adds commenting capabilities to shared albums in Photos
Google is rolling out two new features for its Photos service: the ability to comment on shared images and albums, and a tool that suggests photos to add to specific albums. The commenting ability allows users to leave messages on albums and pictures that have been shared with them — without leaving the app. Google Photos isn’t a social networking service on its own, but the new functionality takes cues from sites like Facebook that allow commenting on images.
The second new service offers “smart suggestions” for shared albums. Google Photos will analyze your uploaded images by time and location, and then determine which ones might belong in an album that’s been shared with you. This should streamline the process for grouping together pictures from multiple people taken during weddings, birthdays, road trips, school projects and other events.
Google Photos doesn’t use facial recognition to make these suggestions, TechCrunch notes. That’s probably a good call, since Facebook is currently in hot water over its own facial recognition systems, particularly those used in Moments.
Source: Google
Nest opens the networking code for its smart home devices
Nest already has a bunch of companies lined up to use its Thread network protocol in their devices (over 30 submitted right now), but it’s not content with what’s on deck. The Alphabet-owned company has created an open source version, OpenThread, that lets anyone implement the smart home-oriented technology in their connected gadgets. In theory, it doesn’t take much work — Thread is already an IPv6 protocol, so any device that handles the 802.15.4 standard (used for low-rate personal networks) should only need a few tweaks to play nicely.
The hope is that OpenThread will become the de facto connection format for Internet of Things devices that aren’t explicitly Thread-certified (the certification program isn’t going away). A smart home startup could not only use ready-made networking code, but submit changes if they think the tech could stand some improvements. Whether or not other companies take it up is another matter. After all, it’s tempting to either cling to the most universal standards (even if they aren’t ideal for IoT gear) or else write proprietary code. Would-be users will have to see that there’s a clear advantage to using OpenThread instead of going their own way.
Source: GitHub
Google Translate now works in apps on any Android phone
If you hate having to paste foreign language text into Google Translate just to understand it, your worries are over. Google has updated Translate for Android to introduce Tap to Translate, an expansion of the translation-anywhere feature it introduced on Marshmallow last fall. Anyone running Android 4.2 or later can now decipher unfamiliar text on the spot simply by copying it — helpful if you frequently run into messages or social posts that aren’t in familiar tongues.
There’s more rolling out over the next few days, including things for the non-Android crowd. Translate for iOS now includes offline support, giving you a way to communicate in other languages when you don’t have data service (say, on vacation). And if you regularly visit China, you’ll be glad to know that camera-based Word Lens translation on both Android and iOS now supports simplified and traditional Chinese. If you’ve ever struggled to make sense of a Beijing restaurant menu or a Shanghai street sign, you can rest easy.
Source: Google Play, App Store
Google’s Nexus update images save you from wiping your device
Google has long made Nexus and Pixel C factory images available for people who just can’t wait to install new Android versions (or want an alternative restore option). However, they’ve always come with a big gotcha: since it’s a complete system image, you have to wipe your phone clean. You won’t have to start from scratch after today, though. Google has posted over-the-air update images for all its currently supported Nexus and Pixel C devices, giving you the satisfaction of an immediate upgrade (no weeks-long waits here) without nuking all your data.
The concept of downloading an OTA image isn’t strictly new. Third-party sites have hosted them for years, and Google itself has offered OTA images for Android N preview users who either run into showstopping glitches or want to roll back to Marshmallow. The difference is that you don’t have to either trust unofficial sources or run pre-release code to give this a shot. If you’re just concerned about getting the latest bug and security fixes as soon as they hit the internet, your life just got considerably easier.
Via: Android Police, 9to5Google
Source: Google Developers
Google Translate Gains Offline Translation in 52 Languages
Google’s Google Translate app was today updated to version 5.0.0, adding a new feature that allows users to translate words and phrases even when offline in 52 of the 103 languages available in the app. With the offline update, the app remains useful when no cellular or Wi-Fi connection is available, making it ideal for traveling.
Today’s update also adds instant camera translation between English and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), which is useful for reading signs and other content without needing to type words into the app. Instant camera translation is now available in a total of 29 languages and camera mode, which allows users to take pictures of text for higher-quality translations, is available in 37 languages.
What’s New
– Offline translation in 52 languages
– Instant camera translation: English to/from Chinese (Simplified and Traditional)
– 13 new languages
Google Translate can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Tags: Google, Google Translate
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Google takes a stand against predatory lending ads
From July 13th, Google will ban adverts that promote predatory lending and other dubious financial products. In a blog post written by David Graff, the firm’s director of policy, it’s said that adverts for loans with repayment terms of less than 60 days will automatically be excluded. In addition, if a product in the US has an annual percentage rate of 36 percent or higher, it’ll be blacklisted. Graff says that these loans can result in “result in unaffordable payment and high default rates,” and that Google wants to protect its users from “deceptive or harmful financial products.”
As income inequality worsens, the issue of financial companies taking advantage of people with very little money is being discussed more widely. Google quotes civil rights leader Wade Henderson as saying that predatory lending traps “customers into outrageously high interest loans.” He added that these loans frequently target “those least able to afford it.” It’s not the first thing that Google has refused to advertise: it also won’t promote topics relating to weapon sales, tobacco products and recreational drugs.
Google’s willingness to wade into a policy issue raises something of a thorny issue with people on both sides of the aisle. On one hand, it’s pushing a positive and responsible attitude towards not exposing its customers to what it perceives as harm. On the other, it’s using its enormous power to dictate what is and is not appropriate behavior on behalf of both users and other companies.
It’s a tricky time within the tech industry as politics becomes more of a prominent issue for many of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies. Facebook — which also banned gun sales — has recently been sent a letter of concern by the senate after the social network was accused of censoring conservative news sources. In addition, Mark Zuckerberg has come under fire for using his lobby campaign to protest the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. However, at the same time, Zuckerberg has also pledged to sponsor the party’s convention in July.
Via: Washington Post
Source: Google
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