CNN snaps up Casey Neistat’s video sharing app Beme

In the hopes of bringing in a younger audience, CNN has acquired the social video sharing app Beme, which was most notably the brainchild of YouTube star Casey Neistat. Beme, which let you quickly shoot and upload four-second videos, will be shut down, the New York Times reports. Neistat and the app’s 12 other employees will be working on a new project for CNN which will debut sometime next year. While the app only received around 1.2 million downloads, the deal mostly seems to be a way for CNN to bring Neistat aboard, a successful YouTube personality who’s managed to cultivate a desirable millennial viewership.

“By joining forces with CNN, we’re able to give our mission more than just one, startup-budgeted shot,” Beme CTO and co-founder Matt Hackett wrote in a blog post. “We are going to hunker down and create something new. To do that with the full focus it deserves, we have to say goodbye to Beme.”

Beme started out as a Snapchat competitor with a unique hook: Instead of holding your phone up to take videos, you just need it to your chest. The app would then shoot a four-second video clip and upload it to your followers, without any fiddling on your part. It was an attempt to make video sharing even easier than Snapchat, but Beme failed to find much traction beyond Neistat’s faithful followers. While it’s unclear what Neistat’s CNN project would be, I wouldn’t be surprised to see his team working on an app for the network’s iReport citizen journalism initiative.

Source: New York Times

The best deals for Cyber Monday

Did you miss out on Black Friday bargains, or decide that packed stores and overwhelmed websites were too much? Not to worry. We’re collecting some of the best gadget bargains you’ll find on and around Cyber Monday, the online-centric shopping event that follows Thanksgiving weekend. And don’t think that you’re getting leftovers. Some of these deals are just as substantial as the ones you saw on Black Friday. Whether you’re looking for a 4K TV, a new phone or some games, we have what you’re looking for when November 28th arrives… and in some cases, beyond.

Pixel-rich VR display eliminates the ‘screen door’ effect

The problem with using smartphones to power VR headsets is simply that their screens weren’t made for displaying virtual reality. Smartphone displays, although often high-resolution, just don’t have the refresh rate that VR demands, leading to “screen-door effect,” where you can make out the lines between pixels.

In a bid to reduce that pesky effect that plagues so many headsets, screen manufacturer Japan Display (JDI) has been working on cramming more pixels into every inch, resulting in its brand new VR-tailored screens. The company, which is a joint venture between Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi, is currently developing a 3.42-inch screen, 1,440 x 1,700 screen, packing in a whopping 651 pixels-per-inch.

The image below shows the difference the added pixels make, noticeably reducing the immersion-breaking effect.

But a higher pixel count alone isn’t enough; so the new display also has a 90 Hz refresh rate and very fast response times of between 3ms-6ms that will considerably reduce motion blur.

The picture below demonstrates this, with the left shot illustrating the motion blur you can expect from a normal phone screen and the right from JDI’s VR screen.

Seeing the difference additional pixels can make, the company has confirmed that it’s also working on a screen that will support 800 pixels per inch.

Where exactly JD’s new display and its 800 PPI successor will fit into the VR market is unclear. The HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR all have 90Hz (or higher) displays already, so the real development here is in pixel density — all three have much lower density displays. JD will either need to prove this tech works across a larger screen size (to make it suitable for smartphones), or put a lot of work into persuading headset makers to switch technologies for the next generation of VR headsets.

Either way, it’s encouraging to see companies focusing on tackling the early problems of VR.

Source: Press Release

EE’s 4G coverage now bests all UK 3G networks

EE’s 4G coverage now exceeds that of any 3G network in the UK, the carrier has announced, after it switched on 800MHz spectrum capacity at 700 cell sites across the country. This filled in 5,000 square kilometers of 4G ‘not spots’ and improved indoor coverage in half a million homes overnight, according to the provider (the low-frequency signals penetrate trees, walls and such better, you see). EE hopes to add 800MHz capacity to a further 3,000 sites before the end of next year, too.

Thanks to the new spectrum rollout, parts of Shropshire, Somerset, Snowdonia, Oban, Glasgow, Berkshire and Derbyshire have been graced with 4G coverage for the first time. There is a bit of fine print attached to this, though. Because these areas are only covered by 4G frequencies, customers need a Voice over LTE (VoLTE)-capable phone to make calls on the network. EE began enabling VoLTE on its network this summer, and plans to launch a compatible own-brand device for under £100 next year.

From January next year, EE will begin reporting coverage in geographical terms, and it’s calling on competitors and regulator Ofcom to make it the new industry standard. Historically, mobile providers have reported population coverage, and where those numbers are concerned, there’s little to separate them. With the largest 4G network around, now covering 75 percent of UK land area, it’s obviously in EE’s interests for this to happen so it can boast the best numbers.

EE hopes to have 95 percent of the UK covered by 2020, though it’ll have to do that with limited spectrum. Just a few days ago, Ofcom banned the behemoth that is BT and EE from bidding on one of two slices of new spectrum in next year’s 4G auction. This doesn’t go quite far enough for Three, however, which has accused the regulator of letting deeper-pocketed carriers horde spectrum.

It’s no surprise EE mentioned how many not spots it killed with its new spectrum, either. A cross-party group of MPs recently called for an amendment to the in-transit Digital Economy Bill that would allow Ofcom to fine operators that failed to meet 2014 coverage targets. You may remember that same year, the UK government was thinking about forcing carriers to share their networks to eliminate coverage not spots. There were serious concerns it would be a technical nightmare, however, and the big four carriers convinced the government to ditch the plan by committing to invest £5 billion in infrastructure.

Source: EE