Amazon Prime Instant Video finally comes to Android
We’ve been waiting for what seems like forever, but today’s the day that Amazon finally lets Android users watch video on the go. The company has updated its core shopping app to bake-in Prime Instant Video, enabling users to catch digital re-runs of The Sopranos whatever device they’re rocking. The updated app also now lets customers access every part of Amazon’s online retail catalog, so they can pick up a kitchen appliance or two in line at the DMV. The app is available for free on Google Play, with 5GB of free cloud photo storage with Amazon Cloud Drive thrown in as a sweetener.
[Thanks, Anthony]
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Amazon
Source: Amazon (Google Play US), (UK)
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SheTaxi’s Uber-for-women service launches in NYC later this month
As sad as it is to admit it, there are a lot of creeps in this world, which is why we wouldn’t blame anyone for feeling nervous about getting a late night taxi. That’s why a new startup is launching SheRides in NYC and SheTaxi in Westchester County and Long Island, an app-based car service for women that only employs female drivers. In the same way that Lyft operators adorn their hoods with a hot pink mustache, SheRides drivers will wear a pink scarf to identify themselves to passengers. The app will ask a user if they’re female, or if there’s a woman in their group, and if not, they’ll be directed to another app-based car service.
Now, the app will launch on September 16th for iOS users, with the New York Times reporting that an Android version will come “eventually,” but its devs still have a hurdle to overcome. A spokesperson for the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission told Motherboard that SheRides’ drivers will have to follow the same rules as their yellow cab counterparts, which means they’re prohibited from refusing anyone service. The spokesperson wouldn’t elaborate on how that will affect the app’s launch, but if it does become operation and successful, then users can expect the service to grow further. Its creators plan to bring it to Washington, Chicago and Miami within the next year, even if it is a sad state of affairs that something like this should exist.
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Software, Apple
Via: Brokelyn
Source: The New York Times
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Google Cast Beta extension for Chromecast gets an update with 1080p tab casting Support
The Google Chromecast device is still one of my favorite little additions to my home. It makes things extremely easy to keep the cord cut in our home. A new update to the Chrome Cast Beta plug-in for your Chrome browser has landed and offers up a nice little bit of options for your casting needs. Similar to the Chrome Beta app for Android, the Google Cast Beta plugin is more like a testing ground for the brave to play with additional features that may or may not find their way to the more standard, and often times more stable, release of the same plugin. The update to the Beta version of this plugin brings in some nice little tweaks.
In the plugin’s settings you will find a section towards the bottom called ‘Custom mirroring settings’. They make sure to make a special note that this section is for ‘Advanced users only.’ In this section you can adjust your minimum and maximum bitrates in kbps, along with adjusting the maximum capture framerate. A final setting in the list lets you swap around from 854 x 480, 1280 x 720 and 1920 x 1080. The standard Google Cast extension only offers three options and none of the fancy adjustment options that the beta version offers. It keeps you at a maximum of 720p with a High or Extreme bitrate option.
It is fun to play about with if you have a little knowledge and respectable internet connection/router. I gave it a whirl myself and the image is much crisper on my 39′ HD TV. Sadly there are some nefarious internet issues plaguing the area today, so anything that requires any sort of good connection speed is worthless for me.
Head to the Chrome web store to install the Google Cast Beta extension and play about with the settings.
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The post Google Cast Beta extension for Chromecast gets an update with 1080p tab casting Support appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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‘Destiny’ launches tomorrow — watch us play it live today!
The folks who created Halo have a new game, Destiny, and it launches tomorrow on both last-gen and current Xbox and PlayStation consoles. While that prospect might be enough for some folks, there are no doubt many more of you unsure if Destiny is worth your ducats. Thankfully, the game’s servers are online one day early and we’ve got a PlayStation 4 copy handy to give it a live run before it’s officially available tonight at midnight (via retail and for pre-load on current-gen consoles). Join us for a jaunt through the next big online game from Bungie Studios, just beyond the break. And bring your best Peter Dinklage impersonation!
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft
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Trading ‘presence’ for untethered virtual reality: Gear VR versus Oculus Rift
Standing up and moving around with a virtual reality headset is risky. What if you walk into a table? Or step on your dog? Or bash your face into the wall? Standing up and moving around while wearing Samsung and Oculus VR’s Gear VR headset isn’t suggested. But when you put it on, seated, and turn your whole body around to look behind your virtual self, and no cords get in the way, that’s a magical experience. “There are going to be different categories of VR,” Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe told Engadget in an interview last week at IFA 2014 in Berlin, Germany.
On one side, there’s a tethered experience like Oculus Rift, where, “There’s going to be this bigger, more expensive experience … that has a much bigger sense of ‘presence’ right now all attached to a computer where you have power plugged into the back,” he said. That’s the concept of being transported to another world and actually being there: a sense of “presence.” On the other side, there’s mobile VR: untethered, intended for mainstream accessibility and able to use your existing devices (such, as, say, your cellphone). “It’s untethered, but there’s now limitations and restrictions around the GPU/CPU,” Iribe said.
Virtual reality, right now, is all about trade-offs. This discrepancy between mobile and tethered VR is the biggest trade-off there is: Do you want convenience, or do you want “presence”?
If you answered, “I want both,” we’re right there with you. Sadly, that’s not a reality just yet. Iribe explained:
“There are certainly trade-offs. We don’t know how long it’ll take to get to the magic VR sunglasses that are untethered. It’s a dream. We all believe in that future of a mobile, VR pair of sunglasses, but that’s pretty far away.”
Gear VR is a staging ground for mainstream virtual reality. It uses the Note 4. It’s focused on media consumption. It’s light and pretty. Heck, when it launches this October alongside the Note 4, everything you can do on it will be free experiences. That’s part of the plan of pushing virtual reality into the mainstream. Hook ‘em with casual VR, then show off the big guns with tethered, interactive virtual reality.
Having spent a lot of time with Oculus VR’s second development kit, I was skeptical of the experience being offered with Gear VR. The graphical fidelity is, of course, nowhere near that of a dedicated PC. There’s no depth-tracking, so if you move your head forward, the scene remains static. These are major barriers to delivering on “presence,” the concept of feeling as though you’re physically there while wearing a VR headset. “Presence” is at the core of VR: It’s what distinguishes virtual reality headsets from head-mounted displays.
Oculus VR CTO John Carmack agreed, and said that his team is hard at work on taking those next, necessary steps to make mobile VR more capable:
“We are absolutely tackling position tracking, multi-user experiences, better gaming — all these things — in the coming year. It’s an exciting train we’re hitched onto with Samsung here, because there technology ticks twice a year. And that’s a treadmill that we’ve chosen to get on, and we’re going to do our very best to stay on that and continue innovating at that pace.”
After Gear VR, Carmack expects the competition from other electronics giants will step up tremendously. “This is good enough that it’s going to attract competition from the other significant players,” he said. And that competition is good for us, the VR users, as it means rapid innovation. Video passthrough on Gear VR is a perfect example: If Oculus’ Rift doesn’t ship with some form of video passthrough — what Carmack calls his “Diet Coke button” — that would be tremendously surprising.
Characteristically, Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey doesn’t see video passthrough as just the ability to interact with reality while wearing a VR headset. He wants more, like augmented reality. “It’s one thing to have a convenience window,” he told us. “It’s another to try and make something where that’s a core feature of the device like AR. That’s a much harder problem to solve.”
Despite the trade-offs, Gear VR offers Oculus a chance to get its name out there on a virtual reality product and to set a foundation for software on the first consumer version of the Rift. The basics — the dashboard and store UI, for instance — will be familiar on the Rift. “Our dashboard, the basic interface, platform and store: Expect it to be similar between the two,” Carmack said.
It also enables VR developers to start making some money. Beyond just helping push VR into the mainstream, Gear VR enables virtual reality developers to start building a financial foundation for future projects. “The critical thing, from the developer standpoint, is we’re actually going to have a market where they can sell and get checks from Oculus with this sooner than on the PC front,” Carmack noted.
In the long-term, mobile virtual reality and tethered virtual reality won’t be separate entities. Carmack foresees a not-so-distant future where the Rift has a dedicated processor that enables both tethered and untethered VR. That’s always been the end goal, really. How soon it’s coming is up for debate.
“I have my vision for where this goes for Oculus,” Carmack said, “Where Oculus starts building systems that might as well include systems-on-a-chip (SOCs), graphics renderers and things inside ours. Not state-of-the-art necessarily, something that will boost the cost all that far up. But then Oculus version three or five or whatever it ends up being is something that can be use unplugged — we’d have our own Android stuff and all that — but you could plug it into the PC and use that.” An interesting vision of the future indeed. Here’s hoping it’s even sooner than we expect.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Peripherals, Wearables, Software, HD, Mobile, Samsung, Facebook
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What you need to know about dashboard-mounted car cameras
We’ve all had it happen while out walking, cycling or driving. Somebody does something foolish and it results in an accident or a near miss, a giant meteor comes streaking through the sky or we catch a rare glimpse of a hoverbike-riding robot. Something memorable always happens when your phone is cached safely in your pocket. This typically leaves you shaking your fist at the missed opportunity.
Victim of road rage? An accident? Ever had your car dinged while parked in a public lot? These are all great reasons to invest in a dash cam. And with prices for decent units at well under a hundred bucks, the cost of admission is easy for just about any budget. While the technology may not appeal to everyone, the payoff in the unfortunate event of an accident might just make it a must have. So if you’re in the market for a dash cam or a just plain curious what they’re for, here’s what you need to know.
WHAT IS IT?
A ‘dash cam’ is exactly what its name promises it to be: a camera that’s mounted in or around your car’s dashboard. The cams are easily attached using a suction cup mount, direct dash friction mounts (those sticky rubber pads), and even built right into a not-too-conspicuous replacement rear mirror for your ride. Powered by batteries, hard-wired into your vehicle’s 12-volt system or via cigarette lighter, the dash cam faithfully records all it sees as you go about your daily business.
The cameras come in every conceivable configuration, from single lens to multiple lenses allowing for simultaneous front- and rear-recording. While 1080p-capable cams are now becoming standard fare, VGA versions exist and can be had for pocket change. Of course, while dash cams are seen most often in cars, these cameras aren’t just reserved for the auto industry. It’s become commonplace to see a cam perched on the heads of two-wheeled vehicle riders, too. Purpose-built cameras are slowly beginning to occupy the space that was once reserved for pricey sport action gear. Both cyclists and motorcyclists have long complained about how dangerous car drivers are and are now taking advantage of the chance to prove it.
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
The camera’s footage can be used for all kinds of fun and positive stuff: from sharing videos of hilarious vanity plates, to shots of beautiful cars and scenery. Pedestrian shenanigans you happen to roll past can transform a mundane commute into a Facebook highlight reel. We’ve seen great time-lapse coverage of long drives, animals doing cute stuff, weather footage during storms — the possibilities for entertainment are endless.
But of course the more pragmatic use is for video evidence in cases of personal accident insurance or proof of innocence (or guilt) in an accident. Consider your options without any proof other than your word: Your insurance may have to pay, your rates climb and the jerk gets off scot-free. The Internet is stuffed to bursting with videos of people willingly diving in front of cars in traffic, accepting minor injury for an insurance payout.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Most dash cams simply plug in to power, automatically start when your car does, and record video onto removable storage. When you hit your storage limit, the system will begin to overwrite the oldest files in a never-ending loop. Of course, more sophisticated versions exist that geotag your files so you can pinpoint the location of what’s been recorded and also monitor speed, time and date for the recordings. Shock sensors can even tag recordings upon impact to ensure they’re not overwritten in the event of a collision. Some cams are able to sit in a standby mode and only begin recording on impact — pretty neat! Consider if somebody bumps you and then drives away in a parking lot: The footage from your camera, combined with any footage from the lot itself, might help the police track down whoever bumped into your whip.
WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY AND HOW CAN IT PROTECT ME?
The law generally says that dash cams are legal. As long as you’re not infringing on people’s privacy, you’re fine. There’s no reasonable expectation of privacy while in public, which is exactly where the roads you’re driving and recording on are. In fact, we’d argue that has potential to simplify the police officer’s job at an accident scene.
Video aside, if your unit records audio in the car, you’d be wise to alert your passengers that the system is recording at the beginning of your trip.
As for a real-word use case, I was recently the victim of some pretty crazy road rage behavior. After the police were contacted, license plate info and car description were handed over. We were quickly told that the most that could be done was to issue the other driver a warning, as it was our word versus the other driver’s. In this case, a dash cam recording would have provided irrefutable evidence and empowered the police to take legal action.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
If you want to see some samples of footage, just Google “Russia dash cam winter driving” and prepare for chaos. Not comfortable shopping online? No worries: dash cam videos have become so popular that even BestBuy has a section and display dedicated to this new frontier of video recording.
[Image Credits: Pocketnavigation.de]
Filed under: Cameras, Transportation, Wearables, Software
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Spotify giving 30 minutes of nonstop music if you watch a video ad
Though a quarter of Spotify users pay $10 a month to avoid ads, the other 30 million have to put up with them. Now, Spotify is set to roll out a new form of advertising that may ease (or add to) some of that pain: video commercials. There will be two forms: “Video Takeover” ads will be played regularly on Spotify’s desktop apps, but allow advertisers to buy an entire slot of time. Meanwhile, “Sponsored Sessions” will let mobile users watch short videos in exchange for 30 minutes of ad-free listening. In either case, ads will be limited to 15- or 30-seconds. It might seem odd to play TV commercials on a radio service, but Spotify pitched the idea to advertisers in June at Cannes and major players like Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Ford signed on. Ad Age said that Spotify will start playing the ads for those brands later this year and make the service will be available to all comers by 2015.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Via: TNW
Source: Spotify
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Facebook tackles YouTube with video counter, hits a billion plays per day
Though it’s still far from YouTube, Facebook fired a shot across its competitor’s bow by saying it now serves up a billion native video views per day. In addition, its latest update (rolling out soon) has a YouTube-like view counter for public videos, making it easier to find popular selections or see how your own uploads are doing. Facebook said two-thirds of video views were from mobile devices, a stat no doubt helped significantly by the new auto-playing feature that’s on by default. A recent video ranking change also gives frequent video watchers more options. But as the NY Times pointed out, Facebook’s social nature can also send a video viral quickly. Beyoncé, for instance, garnered 2.4 million Facebook pageviews for a VMA video in four hours, while YouTube only chalked up a few thousand in the same time. Facebook also touted improved metrics for publishers, and is clearly interested in generating more video revenue — it recently purchased a video ad firm called LiveRail.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Facebook
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Facebook
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IRL: How the University of Michigan failed to cure my jetlag
I’m not complaining about my life, but one of the downsides of international travel is that it’s an in-and-out process. That means I land, scratch together a few hours of fitful sleep and then dive head-first into the breakneck pace of covering a trade show. By the time I’ve adapted to a new time zone, it’s time to pack up and go home. That’s why an app called Entrain from the University of Michigan was such an exciting prospect, since it promised to help my circadian rhythms resume normal operation in record time and hopefully make those first few days a little less painful
The app works by building a model of your body clock, so if you normally wake at 7 AM and go to bed at 10 PM, it’ll start working out the best way to painlessly adjust your sleep cycle. When you schedule a trip to a new country, you can start making tweaks ahead of time. It does this by telling you to spend periods in darkness and light, since it’s these stimuli that affect your ability to regulate your body’s rhythms.
How this works in practice is that if you’re preparing to fly from the UK to the US, you should spend three or four days beforehand with a 10,000-lux lamp pointing at your head overnight. When you then land at the other end of your journey, you need to plunge yourself into darkness just as the day begins. To this day, I can’t work out if I’m meant to be sleeping or just sitting in rooms with a blindfold on my face. The university asks you submit your lighting schedule to the app so it can tweak settings accordingly for the following day.
There are two problems with this approach.
Firstly, the app isn’t particularly well designed, and while I feel bad for kicking sand in the eyes of the graduate students who put this together, it’s not that easy to use. You select “Schedule Travel” for instance, and set a regime, but if you mistakenly go back to the dashboard, you have to reselect and reschedule your travel if you want to go back to your pre-arranged program. Given that it resets the start date of your program at this point, the app was advising me to start training for a trip in October on August 14th. Rather than being able to simply bulk-select which hours you were in “light” and which you were in “darkness,” you have to press each hour slot individually until the correct option comes around, which gets tremendously tiresome.
Then there’s the fact that the sort of people who need to overcome jetlag quickly and efficiently are precisely the sort of people who can’t follow the program because they have jobs. Those “dark” and “light” periods before my flight would have directly flown in the face of my working hours, and I doubt too many other people could legitimately not come into the office because they’re “entraining.” On my last trip to San Francisco, it was lunchtime, and I had to go from the hotel straight to the office. The app, on the other hand, advised me that I should sit in a darkened room for the remainder of the afternoon.
If you’re on holiday — or you have very understanding employers — this app may offer some benefit to your future trips. If you have to work for a living, I’d suggest doing what I did: If you’re able, just take your running clothes to the office and go for a nice long run when you clock out, drink plenty of water and eat dinner at local time. It’s not perfect, but if you don’t have infinite free time, struggling on through the headaches and lethargy is still your best solution.
Filed under: Software
Source: Entrain
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Steve Ballmer wrote Windows’ first Blue Screen of Death error message
Whether Microsoft likes it or not, Windows’ Blue Screen of Death error is iconic — it’s the universal sign that something really bad has happened to your software. But who wrote the original message that would grace the screens of sick PCs worldwide? None other than Steve Ballmer, according to company veteran Raymond Chen. The executive (then in charge of the Systems Division) reportedly didn’t like the warning text that engineers first wrote, and took up a challenge to write better material himself. As it turns out, Ballmer did a good enough job that his version made it into the shipping product “pretty much word for word.” The message has long since changed and thankfully appears much less often on modern computers, but it’s fun to think that the owner of the LA Clippers is also responsible for an app crash alert seen by millions of people.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Via: SlashGear
Source: The Old New Thing
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AIVAnet 