The director behind Alien and Blade Runner is producing a Halo project
That’s right, folks: the man behind sci-fi classics like Alien and Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, is executive producing a Halo-based “digital feature” (read: short film) for release “later this year.” The project is headed by Microsoft’s in-house Halo studio, 343 Industries, and Scott Free Productions — Sergio Mimica-Gezzan was tapped for directing duties.
This is a pretty different project from the other Halo show in the works; that one’s helmed by Steven Spielberg and is live action, whereas this sounds more like the digital Halo work we’ve seen in the past. Color us seriously surprised if this doesn’t arrive alongside the release of a new Halo game; one of those is even planned for 2014! How about that!
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Microsoft
The horse riding simulator that pairs the Oculus Rift with an exercise machine
In the midst of the mind-boggling Nico Nico Chou-Kaigi, an event hosted by one of Japan’s leading video streaming sites, there was no shortage of Oculus Rift demos for attendees to drop their jaws at. Our allies at Engadget Japanese toured military carriers, controlled robot arms… generally did a load of fun things and pretended like it was work. The Hashilus horse riding simulator looked to be the most intriguing, however. It combined a horse riding exercise machine with an Oculus Rift set (oh and a fan, for immersion), to offer a relatively straightforward no-bad-guys-to-kill race, up and down a few hills. It’s a simplified experience, there’s no steering here, but players can use the tambourine-ish controller to speed up, or slow down, their steed, all while drinking in that Rift-provided 360-degree view. Bikes, schmikes.
Extra: It looks like Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey even got the chance to try it out earlier this month. You can see his reaction after the break — he seemed to like it.
Filed under: Peripherals, Transportation, Software
Source: Engadget Japanese
Amazon gets rid of in-app comic book purchases in Comixology’s iOS app
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Amazon
Source: Comixology
U.S. Cellular pushing out Android 4.4.2 to their Galaxy S4
Hot on the delayed heals of Verizon, or possibly the other way around, U.S. Cellular customers are being treated to Android 4.4.2 KitKat for their respective Galaxy S4′s too. In their “What’s New” guide they talk about memory optimization, faster touch screen response time, and better multitasking.
The update is trolling out via a typical OTA and could take a little while to hit every user out there. If you are a bit impatient, you can hook your Galaxy S4 up to your PC and use Samsung Kies to push the update onto your device. Either way, be sure you have well over 50% battery life before you get going on this.
Via U.S. Cellular 1 / 2
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
Verizon Galaxy S4 Finally Seeing Android 4.4.2 KitKat Update
If you held off from grabbing a Galaxy S5 and are still rocking your fully functional Galaxy S4, then we have some good news for you. looks like the long wait for Verizon to catch up to the times is finally over. A number of user reports are being confirmed that Android 4.4.2 KitKat is finally making its rounds. We checked in with the Verizon support pages for the Galaxy S4 and came across the PDF for the update.
Along with the few things in the image above, the document outlines a few other important things regarding the update:
THE FOLLOWING CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE:
• Google+ Photos is now Photos
• Play Magazine is now Play Newsstand
• VZ Security is now VZ ProtectTHE FOLLOWING APPS ARE NOW PRE-LOADED:
• ISIS Wallet
• VZ Protect (version 2.0.0)
• Verizon Cloud
• Audible app (version 1.5.4)
THE FOLLOWING ISSUES HAVE BEEN FIXED:
• Shortcut Folders on Home screen
• Contact issue when using messaging and dialer apps
• Backup Assistant Plus contact sync
• Bugs when using KNOX appTHE FOLLOWING IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE:
• Phone book and contact syncing to some Bluetooth car kits
• “Locked up” display and device heating
• Group messaging performance on the messaging app
• Stability and power cycle issues
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• Bluetooth audio disconnect when using Music/Navigation app
• ISIS activation issue
• Now supports roaming to Canada (TELUS) network
• Improvements to Accessibility (subtitles) settingsTHE FOLLOWING ADDITIONS HAVE BEEN MADE:
• SMS to Google Hangouts
• Google Printing framework
• Google+ User Location widget has been added
As always, this is going to be a staged roll-out, so many of you might not see it today. You can always head into Settings>About Phone> Software Update to see though. Make sure you have a good 50% or more battery remaining, a solid Wi-Fi connection and some time to kill while it does its thing.
Anyone seeing the update hit their Galaxy S4 today?
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
Need more music apps? Amazon has over $40 of them for FREE right now
Amazon has certainly been tossing a lot for free apps out to the Android world lately, more so than just their free app of the day promotion that is always on going. Today we see that Amazon has 6 music related apps up for grabs at the magical price of free.
Some of the apps are ones you might be pretty familiar with but haven’t gone through with the purchase of in the past. Shazam Encore being one of them with a normal retail value of $5, is a steal at free. Litterally. Amazon rounds out the offering with TuneIn Radio Pro, Ultimate Guitar Tabs, jetAudio Music Player Plus, iReal – Music Book & Play Along, Metronome: Tempo, Guitar Riff Pro and Treble Cat – Learn to Read Music. Not a bad selection for music listeners, lovers, learners and players all wrapped up into a great package.
To pick up any one of these, or all of them, you will want to visit the Amazon Promo page that is up and running. You will need the Amazon app store installed on your device if you want to download them and get them installed.
Via 9to5Google
Update: Just fixed the link. Not sure what happened there.
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
French Galaxy Note II users seeing Android 4.4 Updates
The highly sought after Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for the Galaxy Note II (International GT-N7100) is starting to make it’s first official appearance today. The update isn’t going out in a typical OTA fashion though, it is only popping up through Samsung Kies. The build number associated to the update shows off as N7100XXUFND3.
If France is starting to pick it up, then we can only hope that it will start to filter its way around the globe over the next couple months. All depending on the network and the roll out of course. If you are anti Samsung Kies, SamMobile has the file and install instructions available as well to do it all manually.
Source: SamMobile Via AndroidPit
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
British Gas’ smart Hive thermostat can now respond to a home owner’s location
Since its launch nearly seven months ago, British Gas’ connected thermostat, the Hive, has enjoyed steady succcess. Now operational in more 75,000 British homes, it recently gained another competitor in Nest, the learning thermostat now owned by Google, so news of the company’s new feature rollout could not have come at better time. In an iOS update that went live earlier this week (not yet live on Android), British Gas added geolocation support to the Hive app, allowing users to receive notifications or set triggers depending on where they are. For instance, Hive owners now receive alerts when the heating has been left switched on and they leave the house, or set the app to automatically begin heating the house as soon as it detects the owner has left their workplace. They’re features that Nest users will already be familiar with, but will be welcome additions for those who decided to go smart with their existing energy provider.
Filed under: Household, Internet, Software, Mobile
Via: The Guardian
Source: Hive (App Store)
IFTTT Android App lands on Google Play Store! Get ready for some unique Android related recipes
IFTTT fans! It’s a great day for us. IFTTT has released their official Android app on the Google Play Store. IFTTT or If This Then That is a free service that lets you connect various web applications together through simple conditional statements.
IFTTT Android App
Users can create unlimited ‘recipes’ from nearly 100 different web services including social networks, cloud storage products, sharing services, sports score providers and Android as well as iOS related channels, etc. IFTTT has been praised by a lot of tech experts and publications such as Forbes, Time, Wired and the NYTimes.
IFTTT Android App Screenshot
You can use it to duplicate files between Dropbox and Google Drive or send a text to yourself when it is going to rain. IFTTT for Android allows adding even more Android related channels such as location, SMS, notifications, calls and photos. You can use these new channels in collaboration with other already existing web services to create your custom recipe as per your need. It would be great if IFTTT works in collaboration with Tasker, yet another Android app which makes possible condition based results.
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
IFTTT brings its recipe-based app automation to Android
iOS users have been privy to IFTTT’s (If This Then That) formulaic behaviors for automating app tasks on their mobile devices. Well as of today, the Android faithful can get in on the action too. The outfit’s software is now available in Google Play, bringing with it photo, call, notification, SMS, location and device settings channels specific to Google’s OS. What does that mean for you? Well, you can tweak the setup to have your ringtone silenced when you connect to the office WiFi, automatically set your latest Instagram snapshot as your device’s wallpaper and get a push notification if you’ll need an umbrella tomorrow. Selecting all of those “recipes” can take some time, so we’ll let you hop to it via the source link down below.
Source: IFTTT (Google Play)
AIVAnet 