Apple adds SIM-free iPhone 7 and 7 Plus option in the US
Apple has started selling SIM-free iPhone 7 and 7 Plus — on its US website, at least — just like it did for the previous models. It’s the way to go if you’d rather not be tied down with a two-year AT&T, T-mobile, Sprint or Verizon contract. The unit you’re getting is also unlocked and supports both CDMA and GSM networks, so you can take it to any carrier you want to get the best plan for your lifestyle.
The moment you click “SIM-free” on the iPhone 7 section, you’ll get taken through a series of pages where you can choose its finish and storage size. Take note that you’ll have to wait twice as long (six to eight weeks) to get the Jet Black version, which isn’t really surprising, since it sold out way back in mid-September. Also, you’ll have pay for the phone’s full price, though Apple does offer up to 18 months of special financing. If this is the first time you’re getting a SIM-free iPhone, don’t forget to read the FAQ on the website to make sure you know exactly what you’re getting.
Via: 9to5mac
Source: Apple
Sony is releasing at least five mobile games in Asia
Sony’s PlayStation division has finally revealed how it plans to conquer mobile device. According to Wall Street Journal, the unit aims to release five to six PS games for both iOS and Android devices under the ForwardWorks subsidiary it formed in March. The company didn’t reveal a timeline along with the announcement, but it’s apparently looking to launch all of them before March 2018. All the titles will initially be available in Japan, followed by other Asian countries. Unfortunately, fans in the US and in Europe will have to wait for further info — the regions aren’t part of Sony’s current plans.
ForwardWorks is Sony’s second attempt at getting into mobile. Its first one, which offered cross-platform purchases between the PS Vita and Android, shut down for good in July 2015. As the WSJ mentioned, mobile gaming is much bigger than console gaming in Sony’s home country. It only makes sense for the company to give it another shot, especially now that its long-time rival joined forces with Apple to bring Mario to iPhones and iPads. Mobile gaming also continues to grow in the US, where it earned more money than PC and console games for the first time earlier this year.
Sony didn’t mention what it plans to bring to mobile devices exactly, but the WSJ said possibilities include the long-awaited game The Last Guardian, as well as classic titles Hot Shots Golf and I.Q.: Intelligent Qube.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
GM’s car-sharing service Maven lands in San Francisco
There’s a new option to getting around the streets of San Francisco. GM has announced the immediate availability of its car-sharing platform Maven in the City by the Bay. The automaker — which has a substantial $500 million investment in Lyft — will continue to expand the service to other metropolitan areas as it dives deeper into alternatives to individual vehicle ownership.
As expected the service only rents GM vehicles. From the Chevy Volt hybrid EV to the gigantic Escalade. Prices start at $8 an hour for cars and $14 an hour for SUVs. In all, 60 cars will be available at 30 sites throughout the city with a focus on the Financial District, SOMA, Embarcadero and Mission District.
In addition to San Francisco, Maven is currently available in Ann Arbor, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington DC and New York City.
Like ZipCar, City CarShare and Enterprise CarShare, the vehicles must be rented and returned to same site. San Francisco doesn’t allow car-share full-size vehicles to be picked up and dropped off on the street. So don’t expect a Car2Go or ReachNow type service anytime soon from the automaker or any other company. Although the company does say it’s investigating that feature.
What Maven does have going for it that other car-share services are sometimes lacking is that post-signup, the acceptance process is relatively quick. “Usually within a few hours,” according to Jeff Shields, West Coast regional director of Maven. Although, it could take up to 48 hours.
But once you are a full fledged member, members use their smartphone as their key ass opposed to the NFC cards used by ZipCar and Enterprise CarShare. Couple that with the built-in OnStar feature that can help members find a destination and even extend the length of a reservation Shields boasts that it’s a “seamless experience.”
Source: Maven
Google will launch dedicated search results for mobile
In a few months’ time, you might notice getting different sets of search results on a phone and on a computer even if you use the same terms. That’s because Google has decided to start indexing mobile websites separately, according to Search Engine Land. Mountain View has been toying with the idea since last year — the continued growth in the number of mobile users might have finally convinced the tech titan to push through with it. Gary Illyes, the company’s trends analyst, has revealed the info at digital marketing conference Pubcon, where he also assured people that Google will still have a desktop index. It just won’t be as fresh and as up to date as the one for mobile.
The big G launched several other features in the past meant to encourage website owners to tweak their domains for phone users. Last year, it made sure its mobile search results prioritize websites optimized for phones. More recently, it started marking Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) on the results page, so people can choose the website with the fastest loading time.
.@methode: Google creating a sep mobile index, which will be it’s primary index. Desktop will be a secondary index,less up to date #Pubcon
— Lisa Barone (@LisaBarone) October 13, 2016
Google will still have a desktop index, it just won’t be as fresh as the mobile index. #pubcon
— Lisa Barone (@LisaBarone) October 13, 2016
Via: Business Insider
Source: Search Engine Land
Tinder ‘Smart Photos’ uses swipe data to select your best pic
When you’re swiping through Tinder it’s pretty easy to dismiss someone based on their first photo. Maybe it’s poorly compressed, from the delivery room or the church steps on a person’s wedding day. Those might be red flags that push people to instantaneously dismiss a potential match before looking deeper at a person’s profile. To help your right-swiping sojourn, though, Tinder is using data to make sure someone’s best picture is the first you’ll see.
The new feature is called “Smart Photos.” As the company tells it, in the background, the app will alternate the first photo other people see and will reorder your glamor shots to show the ones with the highest positive response in descending order. And it goes both ways, of course; your own picture order will be altered in a way that hopefully serves you better too — all without paying for it.
In tests, Tinder reports that users saw an up to 12 percent increase in matches. “Smart Photos takes into account each individual’s swiping pattern when selecting which photos they’ll see first,” a blog post reads. “It’s a system that gets smarter with more input: the more you swipe and the more you’re swiped on, the better the algorithm serves you.”
Now, this isn’t exactly new for dating apps and services. OKCupid, for instance, has offered something similar before. But, the rub there was you had to opt in and then manually set the photo others deemed the best as your default. Think of this as passively outsourcing your love life.
The feature is the result of an internal hackathon, machine learning lead Mike Hall writes. Working with the app’s in-house sociologist (and presumably, the algorithm) Hall found that not smiling, covering even a small bit of your face and being in a group of people dramatically lowers your chances for love. Same goes for wearing a hat or “any kind of glasses.” Ouch.
The Tinder Dev blog goes pretty deep on the algorithm used (“epsilon greedy”) and testing process if that’s the sort of thing that turns your crank. However, if you’d rather just swipe using the new feature, it’s live now. To further up your game, you could always change your anthem from Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” to Katy Perry’s “Rise” and see if that helps.
Source: Tinder (1), (2)
Streaming to Periscope is no longer confined to phones
Twitter’s live-streaming service is moving beyond the phone. Today, Periscope CEO, Kayvon Beykpour, announced that Periscope will stream videos from, well anything. The new “Producer” feature is aimed at content creators who might not want to be limited to just streaming from their phone.
In the near future, users can point their live streams to the Periscope servers whether it comes from a handset, drone or other connected camera. Those videos then show up on a user’s account as if they were shot on a phone. The difference being that the video can originate from a high-end camera, computer or hardware encoder (which opens this up to gaming streams, too). If the images can be streamed to a URL, it can be sent to Periscope.
During a demo, Periscope user Alex Pettit showed how using OBS Studio (an open source video streaming app for macOS, Linux and Windows) he could add graphics, footage from his phone, and pre-roll to this Periscope feed.
In fact, Periscope noted that companies like TechCrunch, Disney, Louis Vuitton, CBS 12, Telemundo and others have been beta-testing Producer for the past six weeks. While power users like Pettit and content-creating companies will start using the feature, it’s unlikely your average streamer is going move away from the phone and start using higher quality equipment for streams.
Beykpour notes that those who use this new feature will be a very small subset of users. “There are far more people who are interested in sharing what is happening in the world with their phones,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the company has added support for something other than phone. GoPro cameras have been able to stream to the app since January.
Beykpour says the company thinks it’s about how viewers interact with live video that’s important. Today’s announcement is just an additional way to get that video onto Periscope’s platform. “It’s a natural evolution for us to cover as wide of a spectrum as possible,” Beykpour said.
The new feature will begin rolling out very slowly and interested users will initially have to fill out a questionnaire to be whitelisted and have the feature added to their app. No solid timeline on when the feature will be available to everyone. Plus at launch, it’s iOS only but engineer Sara Haider said that Android support was coming.
Source: Periscope
Shazam adds in-app music video channels
You still probably got Shazam pegged as the app to launch when you want to ID a song. And it still does that, expect it now also comes with a bunch of extra features. The latest addition to its offerings? Videos, thanks to its partnership with music video platform Vadio. Now, when you ID a song, a curated music video channel will pop up that you can play within the application itself. It’s not clear at this point whether you’ll get something relevant to the song you Shazamed or something completely random.
Vadio assembles channels in different ways, so expect some to be on point and others to be more of a mixed bag. The platform employs human editors to create curated streams, but it also uses an algorithm that automatically generates them based on the latest trends. Plus, it allows brands to create their own.
Fabio Santini, the company’s Chief Product Officer, said in a statement:
“We continually look for new ways to expand the ways in which our users can discover music. We want to give fans a great reason to spend more time with Shazam by giving them access to a rich and immersive music video experience. In turn, this creates new revenue opportunities for artists and, moreover, powerful ways of gaining exposure for brands.”
Since the new feature will be available everywhere the app is active, you can test it out to see if it’s worth exploring or if it’s just another thing to ignore. Users in India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria and Venezuela who couldn’t care less about Shazam’s extra offerings, however, can always download its new stripped-down version for Android.
Source: Shazam
Apple Store fires staff for stealing customers’ private pics
Another Apple Store in Australia is embroiled in a scandal, and this time, it involves explicit photos. According to Courier Mail (membership required), the Carindale Apple Store in Queensland fired four male employees for not only stealing sensitive images from customers’ phones sent in for repair, but also for taking creepshots of their female co-workers. The four reportedly shared their loot with other employees in chat, where they rated women’s body parts out of 10. By the time their MO was discovered, they already had quite a collection going: the publication says they were in possession of over 100 creepshots and stolen images, including close-ups of women’s chests and derrières.
The whole thing was apparently blown wide open when a staff member found one of the employees involved browsing a customer’s iPhone in the repair room. Courier Mail says the Carindale store then brought in an HR executive from overseas to investigate the issue.
In a statement sent to the various publications, Apple insists that its investigator didn’t find evidence that the employees transferred customers’ photos and took inappropriate shots of female co-workers without their consent. Nevertheless, Cupertino confirmed that the store already sacked several people as a result of its findings. It’s unclear why the company would fire anyone if nothing improper took place, so we reached out for clarification.
Here is Apple’s full statement:
“We are investigating a violation of Apple’s business conduct policy at our store in Carindale, where several employees have already been terminated as a result of our findings.
Based on our investigation thus far, we have seen no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or that anyone was photographed by these former employees. We have met with our store team to let them know about the investigation and inform them about the steps Apple is taking to protect their privacy.
Apple believes in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behaviour that goes against our values.”
Last year, an Apple Store in Melbourne landed in hot water after employees kicked out a group of black teenagers. Their reason? They were worried that the kids would “steal something.” The store apologized for the incident, and Apple chief Tim Cook sent out a company-wide email calling the incident “unacceptable.”
Via: Mashable
Source: Courier Mail
US couriers issue strict guidelines for returning your Galaxy Note 7
If you can’t walk into your carrier’s store to turn in a Galaxy Note 7 in person, you’ll have to ask them for Samsung’s fire-proof box and wait for it to come in. FedEx and UPS have announced that they won’t ship out the phone unless it’s inside one of the special containers Samsung has prepared for it. This container is actually comprised of several boxes you’ll have to stack like a Russian doll, though the outermost one is lined with ceramic fiber designed to keep potential fires under control. Meanwhile, the US Postal Service will accept your shipment, so long as it’s inside hard cardboard or plastic boxes.
While it could be a hassle having to wait for the insulated box to arrive, it’s still a step up from the couriers’ previous stance: they originally refused to ship the plus-sized phones back to carriers altogether. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for our friends in the UK. The Royal Mail has banned sending the devices entirely, suggesting that Note 7 owners get in contact with the retailer that sold them the phone in the first place.
Take ‘note’ that you might have to wait a while before the phone gets to your phone carrier, since Note 7s are not allowed on planes anymore. To comply with the Department of Transportation’s rule that prohibits recalled products with lithium-ion batteries on planes, the devices are now only eligible for ground shipping.
Samsung’s earnings for July to September weren’t affected by its Note 7 problems, but things likely won’t be the same the next quarters. After it decided to stop making the phones completely, the chaebol adjusted its profit guidance to expect a $2.34 billion loss for the current quarter. Analysts also believe that the conglomerate will end up spending around $1 billion to make and ship out the insulated recall boxes. While Samsung’s growing display and chip business could make up for those losses, the future of its extra-large phone line is now up in the air.
Source: Bloomberg, Fox6Now, The Washington Post
Samsung offers Note 7 owners $100 off another Galaxy phone
In an attempt to keep users, Samsung is issuing a $100 credit to exchange the defective Galaxy Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 Edge or other Samsung device. By comparison, it’ll give you just $25 if you switch to Apple, HTC or any other brand. It has also expanded the recall to include all Galaxy Note 7 devices, including those issued as replacements for the original defective phones. That move was expected, since both have proved to have defective batteries that can cause fires and explosions.
Following the initial recall of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung issued refunds or replacement devices to consumers, along with a $25 credit. However, the new phones also had problems and caused incidences like a fire on a Southwest Airlines flight. The company has now killed the phone altogether, and advised buyers to shut it off immediately.
Samsung is trying to keep users from straying to other brands, while also trying to stop further financial bleeding from the debacle. In a post, it said that the incentives are to compensate customers for the “big inconvenience” of exchanging the device. That’s an understatement, because customers have been forced to handle devices with gloves and return them in a fireproof box. Then, they must wait a considerable period for the replacements, which can only be shipped by ground.
The best option might be to avoid the exchange and get a full refund. Buyers likely paid full price for the Galaxy Note 7, which was just released. The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, on the other hand, have been out for six months, and can be found at a considerable discount. For many users, the difference likely amounts to more than the $100 exchange incentive.
Source: Samsung
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