Chicago allows Airbnb to operate under restrictions
Alternate housing fans touring the Windy City, rejoice. Chicago’s city council passed two measures yesterday to allow short-term rentals, permitting users to post their spaces on Airbnb so long as they play by new rules. Only so many living areas can be listed at one time in multi-unit residences, so get ready to ask your neighbors who’s scheduled to rent out their apartment on which days.
The restrictions are an attempt to give Chicago citizens a greater say in how residences are used by requiring short-term renters to register every listed unit with the city. The exact limits they have to abide by depend on the size of the building. Those with five units or less can only list one at a time, while larger complexes can only list six apartments or 35 percent of the total, whichever is less. Areas with single-family homes can petition to ban short-term rentals outright in their area or restrict it to the “primary residences” of the listed properties. Naturally, that petition can be petitioned.
Each company like Airbnb will have to pay fees to the city including a $10,000 annual license to operate, along with a $60 charge for each Chicago address listed on sites. The city will also take a 4 percent tax on every rental which goes to homeless services. The measure’s proponents, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, maintain that the incoming funds will make up for the inconvenience, but that will all depend on how well they follow up with regulation.
Via: Consumerist
Source: Chicago Tribune
CBS and Paramount release ‘Star Trek’ fan film guidelines
While Paramount and CBS’s lawsuit against Axanar Productions is still ongoing, the two studios have finally produced a set of guidelines meant to govern fan-made Star Trek productions in the future. While the guidelines might be a good start, and a sign that studios could be warming up to community input, they are still extremely limiting.
“[W]e want to show out appreciation by bringing fan films back to their roots,” the two studios wrote in an announcement. “The heart of these fan films has always been about expressing one’s love and passion for Star Trek. They have been about fan creativity and sharing unique stories with other fans to show admiration for the TV shows and movies. These films are a labor of love for any fan with desire, imagination and a camera.”
However, according to the guidelines themselves, Paramount and CBS would like those fans to keep their creativity limited to “less than 15 minutes for a self-contained story” or no more 30 minutes for a truly epic two-parter. Also: no sequels or additional seasons are allowed, so aspiring Trek writers will have to be careful about reusing their own original characters. Also, the material “must be family friendly” and cannot include “profanity, nudity, obscenity, pornography, depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any harmful or illegal activity,” or basically anything else that might hurt the brand. (Which makes one wonder how “The Naked Now” ever got the green light at CBS.)
Aside from those creative restrictions, the new guidelines also limit fundraising to $50,000 and require indie filmmakers to use only officially licensed merchandise “and not bootleg items or imitations” as props and set pieces. Any fan films that make it through those production hoops will also have to distance themselves from the official productions with an obligatory disclaimer.
The guidelines, which have already been called “onerous” and “super uncool”, would obviously kill a production like Axanar, which pulled in $1 million in funding from a kickstarter campaign. But the production team remains unfazed. Today, the group fired back with another teaser trailer that flies in the face of these restrictions:
‘Upfront’ Uber pricing replaces estimates with guarantees
Soon, when you open up Uber and request a ride you’ll see the pricing in a different way. Instead of its current method of displaying the rate (and multiplier, if surge pricing is in effect), with a fare estimate in a second screen, it will just display a guaranteed price to take you to your destination. Of course, that doesn’t mean surge pricing is going away, just that it will already be figured in to the price you’re quoted (with a “Fares are higher due to increased demand” note.)
Of course, if you need to make a change during the ride, either you or the driver can update it with a new destination, and immediately see what the new price will be. Also, the quoted price will still be in effect even if your driver gets lost or takes a different route. UberPool riders already see pricing this way, and Uber says it’s been flipping the switch in some cities since April with hundreds of thousands of trips taken so far.
Miami, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego and Seattle are the first US cities where it’s rolling out, and other areas should see it in the next few months. The only question now is if seeing the actual price up front will make riders more likely to use the service.
Source: Uber Newsroom
Adele’s ’25’ heads to streaming services now that you bought it
Chances are you’ve already purchased Adele’s 25 if you really wanted to hear it or obtained it through other means. Now that the artist has enjoyed seven months of albums sales, the collection of songs will debut on streaming services tonight at midnight ET. According to Billboard, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, Spotify and Tidal confirmed that the album will be available in their respective libraries this evening. Mashable reports that Google Play is a landing spot for the singer’s latest work as well.
The popular British singer decided to skip streaming services entirely when her album debuted last November. In a Time cover story in December, Adele explained that she looks at streaming as a “disposable” way to listen to music. “I know that streaming music is the future, but it’s not the only way to consume music,” she said in the interview. “I can’t pledge allegiance to something that I don’t know how I feel about yet.” 25 spent 10 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, and now that streaming is factored into those rankings, it stands to get a boost at the end of the week.
Via: Mashable
Source: Billboard
Apple Discontinues Thunderbolt Display
Apple today told several news sites that it plans to discontinue it Thunderbolt Display, which has been available for purchase online and in Apple retail stores since it was first introduced in the summer of 2011.
“We’re discontinuing the Apple Thunderbolt Display. It will be available through Apple.com, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers while supplies last. There are a number of great third-party options available for Mac users,” said an Apple spokesperson.
Apple will continue to sell existing Thunderbolt Display stock so long as it remains available, but once stock is exhausted, the Thunderbolt Display will no longer be available as production is ceasing. It is not clear why Apple has decided to make an announcement concerning the discontinuation of the display and if it means a new 4K or 5K display is on the horizon.
Stock shortages ahead of WWDC sparked rumors that Apple might be planning to introduce a new display at the event, but no new hardware appeared and Apple instead focused on software for iOS devices, Macs, Apple TVs, and Apple Watch devices.
Rumors have suggested Apple is still working on a 5K display set to launch later in 2016, which could feature a resolution of 5120 x 2880 pixels, USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 peripherals, and a design that mimics the latest iMacs. Speculation suggests it could come equipped with a built-in GPU or use a DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport setup to stitch two halves of a display together to make one seamless display.
If a new Thunderbolt Display is in the works, it could launch alongside next-generation Skylake Retina MacBook Pros, which are rumored to be in the works for late fall.
Related Roundup: Thunderbolt Display
Buyer’s Guide: Displays (Don’t Buy)
Discuss this article in our forums
Steam’s summer sale: All the best game deals and hardware discounts
Summer is here!
You know what that means? It’s time to sit inside all day and play Steam.
Steam has announced that 12,845 games are now on sale as part of its annual summer sale, which is called the Steam Summer Picnic Sale this year. It went live at 10 am PST on 23 June and will last until 4 July. You’ll find lots of great deals on some of the most popular PC games today, and you’ll even notice steep discounts on Steam hardware.
We’ve rounded up the most notable sales and listed them all below.
Steam’s summer sale: Game deals
NBA 2K16 – $11.99 (80 per cent off)
Call of Duty – 50 to 67 per cent off every game and bundle in franchise
Assassin’s Creed – 35 to 75 per cent off every game
Fallout 4 – $29.99 (50 per cent off)
Doom – $35.99 (40 per cent off)
Dark Souls 3 – $44.99 (25 per cent off)
Deus Ex – 75 per cent off every game
Hotline Miami 2 – $3.74 (75 percent off)
Steam’s summer sale: Hardware discounts
Steam Link – $34.99 (30 per cent off)
Steam Controller – $34.99 (30 per cent off)
House sit-in shows the power and potential of livestreaming
Forget the final few minutes of the NBA Finals. Forget BuzzFeed tying rubberbands around a watermelon until it exploded. Forget a woman trying on a Chewbacca mask in a car. Sure, these are all moments that have been livestreamed, sometimes to millions of viewers. But it’s events like the sit-in by House Democrats that have truly shown the power and potential of live internet video.
When the sit-in protest started, House Republican speaker Paul Ryan called for a recess and turned off the cameras and microphones. That means that C-Span, the network that typically broadcasts congressional sessions, wasn’t able to show the protest in progress. But in the age of smartphones, this wasn’t a deterrent.
Aside from taking to Twitter with the #NoBillNoBreak hashtag, a few representatives opted to livestream the event. In particular, Congressmen Scott Peters and Eric Swalwell broadcasted the sit-in via Periscope, while Congressman Beta O’Rourke did the same over Facebook Live.
Suddenly, not having cameras wasn’t a problem. This was a momentous occasion, and the only way anyone could see it, was through their computers or their smartphones. Soon, C-Span simply changed its feed over to the congressmen’s livestreams, because that was the only source of the news. CNN and MSNBC reported the event with that same broadcast.
LIVE on #Periscope https://t.co/WRxWGI67xH
— Scott Peters (@ScottPetersSD) June 22, 2016
This is the potential of mobile livestreaming realized. As long as you have a smartphone and an internet connection, you can offer a window into a world immediately, no camera crew required. Paul Lewis, a reporter for The Guardian used Periscope to broadcast interviews from the Baltimore riots last year. Christal Hayes from the Orlando Sentinel did the same in the aftermath of the shooting in Orlando.
Of course, livestreams don’t always have such noble purposes. More often than not, livestreaming videos tend to veer toward the trivial, like behind-the-scenes footage of a Jimmy Fallon show or silly antics to promote a particular brand. Most of the time people tend to use it just to broadcast their lives, which certainly could be interesting — perhaps it’s a video of a skydive or a Beyonce concert — but they’re still just using it like a personal vlog. Worse still are those that use livestreaming to broadcast horrific deeds like rape or suicide. It becomes a cry for attention in the worst way possible.
And yet, if it wasn’t for livestreaming, nobody would have seen yesterday’s historical sit-in take place. The same way social media like Twitter and Facebook was crucial to the Arab Spring movement, Periscope and Facebook Live have the potential to be a powerful democratizing force. It’s unclear if livestreaming will be particularly sustainable or profitable going forward, but as the House sit-in demonstrates, it’s important — perhaps even vital — that it exists.
How to make your Android look like a BlackBerry
In recent weeks, I’ve shown you how to make your phone feel like a Nexus, a Windows Phone, even an iPhone. Next up was BlackBerry, but in all honesty, some things just can’t be replaced and replicated. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few tweaks that bring back a little of that old BlackBerry magic — and I’m gonna share them with you — but there’s no magic icon pack or launcher that just pulls it together into a real complete BlackBerry theme.
That’s a testament to BlackBerry’s unique design — and its (sometimes painful) simplicity.
BlackBerry fans, if you haven’t jumped over to Android yet (or you jumped over a few years ago and are in the market to upgrade), you can buy a phone that’s entirely Android yet distinctly BlackBerry. The BlackBerry Priv has the best physical keyboard on an Android phone in years, is getting security updates just as fast as Google’s Nexus phones. And there are decent deals to be had if you know where to look. So if you want BlackBerry design, BlackBerry security, and a BlackBerry keyboard, this is your answer.
If you don’t have that much room in the budget for a phone, or the Priv just isn’t an option for you, all hope is not entirely lost. You won’t have an exact BlackBerry theme, because BB10 was — how do I put this delicately?— unique. Even our friends over at CrackBerry who gave me the reference material for this post said BB10 was rather basic. And to that end, here’s how to bring some of that basic beauty back to your phone.
Home screen
While it’s not quite the same system as BlackBerry 10 (which was little more than a recents page and an app drawer), the closest I’ve come to the BlackBerry layout for a launcher is the newly beta’d ADW.Launcher. ADW is still very much a beta, but contains the numbered home screen and app drawer pages. If you really want it to feel like a BlackBerry, you’ll keep the first home screen page clean except for maybe a date/time widget, and you’ll put all your apps on pages 2-5.
For icons, you can take one of two paths. The first path is to download what few stock BlackBerry icons you can and apply them to system apps as custom individual icons and then just take the stock Google icons for the rest, the same way BlackBerry itself has done on the Priv. The second path is to forget the BlackBerry icons and just grab a consistent, good looking icon pack that’s dark, has depth, or both. Here are a few often touted among the CrackBerry community and of our own choosing:
Belle UI Icon Pack, left, and Moko icon pack
Retro icons pack, left, and Stealth icons pack
- Belle UI Icon Pack (Free) is all very rounded squares with soft shadows and subtle depth to them. Belle UI supports an impressive number of launchers and while we always wish it themed more icons, it’s a beautiful pack to start with.
- Moko – Icon Pack ($1.00) is another rounded rectangle icon pack, but this one is a bit more pastel, a bit more a bit flatter, and absolutely adorable. It features over twice the number of icons Belle UI does, and has supports icon masking on most launchers to keep things consistent.
- RETRO ICONS Pack (Free) gives all its icons a faded, far-out, retro vibe (hence the name), and is based off the awesome, now open-sourced Moonshine icon pack. It’s a definite departure from the polished, businessy look of BlackBerry, but this was a pack that was recommended a fair bit in our CrackBerry forums.
- Stealth Icon Pack ($1.99) however, was the most recommended icon pack we came across on CrackBerry, with the dark, shadowy pack showing up time and time again in icon pack recommendation threads and home screen threads.
I’ll repeat it as long as I have to, but I implore you to use a wallpaper that brings some personality and life to your device. But if your heart is set on using one of BlackBerry’s wallpapers, they’re all right here… Please at least use one of the fun ones!
Lock screen
The lock screen that best brought back the BlackBerry magic — and used by CrackBerry editor-in-chief Chris Parsons in his own quest for a BlackBerry theme — is Next Lock Screen by Microsoft, another company that knows a thing or two about productivity. We covered it last week in our Windows theme, it’s not so much a lock screen replacement as it is a layer atop your lock screen, and so long as you’re using a fingerprint to lock your phone or frequently using Smart Lock, you shouldn’t notice the dual layers much.
Next offers a quick launch bar for your most-used apps and shows your latest notifications and appointments on your lock screen, giving you a glanceable way to check your phone without having to unlock it during a meeting or do a lot of swiping. The only major change for most users will be swipe down to unlock rather than the traditional swipe over/up.
A quick word on BlackBerry apps
I would love nothing more than to direct you to all of BlackBerry’s apps for Contacts, Passwords, Calendar, and all their other services. Unfortunately, while they’re all listed in the Play Store for easy updating, they are not available for any other device besides the BlackBerry Priv. Sorry, folks, but BlackBerry really wants you to buy a Priv, as opposed to Google or Microsoft who want you to use their services in the hope that you’ll buy more services or hardware from them. The only BlackBerry app available to non-Priv Androids is BlackBerry Messenger, which is actually published under a different account.
It’s not as though the Priv is a bad phone, it has the best keyboard on the Android smartphone market and is one of the most secure phones to boot. It’s just not a phone everyone can use, or afford. But whatever phone you’re using, you’ve got plenty of options for bringing a bit of BlackBerry nostalgia to your handset.
So, what BlackBerry touches have you been missing on your Android phone? Are there are more tweaks you have for getting that old BlackBerry magic on your device? Share you tips, tricks, wants and desires in the comments below!
Enter to win a Moto G4 Plus from Motorola Canada and Android Central!
Do you live in Canada? Want to win a Moto G4 Plus? You’re in the right place!
We’ve teamed up with the awesome folks at Motorola Canada to give away an awesome Moto G4 Plus to one lucky Canadian. As we’ve talked about already, the Moto G4 Plus is a great phone for its price, or any price, and is a big improvement over the company’s previous Moto G line. With a fingerprint sensor, a huge 32GB of internal storage, and an excellent 16MP rear camera, even the most critical of Android users will be happy with this handset.
The Prize: One new-in-box Moto G4 Plus (also known as the Moto G Plus) in black, unlocked.
How to win: That’s easy! Just head to the widget at the bottom of the page and complete as many tasks as possible. You’re automatically entered if you comment on the post below, but there are a number of ways to increase your chances to win, including following Android Central and Motorola on various social media platforms.
The contest ends on Thursday, June 30th! Good luck to everyone who enters!
Win a Moto G4 Plus from Motorola Canada and Android Central!
Please note that service is not included with the phone. Also, this contest is only open to Canadians. If you don’t live in Canada, instead of complaining — we have lots of international-friendly contests — tell your Canadian friends about the awesomeness that is Android Central, and bring them here.
Best T-Mobile prepaid phones
Shopping T-Mobile’s prepaid plans? Get the best phone to match.
What’s awesome about T-Mobile’s prepaid plans is that you can shop their selection of phones or bring your own unlocked phone. We’re running down the best phones you can buy or bring to T-Mobile to use with its prepaid plans.
- Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge
- LG G5
- HTC 10
- OnePlus 3
- iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus
Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge
Of course, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge top our list of the best T-Mobile prepaid phones. Samsung built on what was already outstanding about the Galaxy S6 and made it even better.
The camera is at the top of the Android phone game, especially when it comes to low-light shots and the Quad HD Super AMOLED displays on both phones show off your photography skills in crystal clarity, which makes video watching a vivid experience.
The battery life has been improved significantly so your phone will keep up with you, no matter how busy your day gets. Samsung still has a way to go with some of their software but overall its Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are tops.
Need to know more? Check out our reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.
See at T-Mobile
LG G5
Another contender in the great camera category is the LG G5. The two rear-facing cameras take excellent shots; one is the 16-megapixel main camera and the other is an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, though the front facing camera still snaps terrific selfies.
The modular design from LG is unique and the removable battery is an added bonus. The 5.3-inch Quad HD quantum display is ideal for video viewing and game playing and the Snapdragon 820 processor is powerful and makes multitasking a breeze.
Added perk? You’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of LG’s Friends ecosystem, which is set to expand in the near future.
Want to learn more about the LG G5? Have a look at our review to get in the know.
See at T-Mobile
HTC 10
If music is your soul food, you should get your hands on the HTC 10. The BoomSound Hi-Fi set up gives you a front-facing tweeter and a bottom-facing woofer, each with a dedicated amp and the headphone jack has a dedicated amp that makes earphone listening an impressive and powerful experience.
The HTC 10 is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM and also supports adoptable storage, which lets you mount your microSD card as a permanent part of your phone.
The 5.2-inch SuperLCD5 screen is well laid-out but a bit challenging in bright, outdoor light. The phone features a fingerprint scanner that doubles as a home button, but watch for the back and recent apps keys surrounding the home button; their order is in reverse compared to Samsung, if that’s a style you’re used to.
Learn more about the HTC 10 by reading our extensive review.
See at T-Mobile
OnePlus 3
The latest phone from upstart manufacturer OnePlus offers superb value, selling for just $400 unlocked and SIM-free. And naturally, the U.S. version of the phone will work great on T-Mobile with prepaid service.
So what does your 400 bucks get you? How about the latest Snapdragon 820 processor, a premium metal design, a 5.5-inch 1080p Optic AMOLED display and a 16-megapixel camera with OIS (optical image stabilization.) Meanwhile OnePlus’s proprietary Dash Charge tech lets you charge to 60 percent in just 30 minutes.
So that’s more hardware than is on offer from many rivals around this price point. What’s more, the OnePlus 3 also boasts OnePlus’s OxygenOS software, which closely matches the look of stock Android, while adding useful shortcuts and tweaks throughout.
For even more on the OnePlus 3, check out our full review.
See at OnePlus
iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus
We may be on Android Central but we can’t leave out the offerings from Apple when we’re looking at the best phones for T-Mobile’s prepaid plans.
First and foremost, let’s talk size. The iPhone 6s has a 4.7-inch screen and the iPhone 6s Plus screen comes in at 5.5 inches. Both feature the Retina HD display that has become Apple’s calling card.
If you can’t do without photo and video-taking on a daily basis, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are just as much cameras as they are phones. For example, the iPhone 6s shoots in 1080p, which is already outstanding, but the iPhone 6s Plus shoots in 4K and features optical image stabilization to compensate for the subtle movement of your hands when recording.
There’s more to know about both phones. Check out iMore’s reviews of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
See at T-Mobile
The more you know
Still not convinced by any of our selections? Have a look through a few more options suitable for T-Mobile on our list of the best unlocked phones and take your pick.
