Barclaycard to launch NFC payments on Android ahead of Apple Pay
Since Apple Pay launched in the UK, several banks have been dragging their heels when it comes to supporting the contactless payment platform. Lloyds and Halifax begun a gradual roll-out just last week, casting renewed shade on Barclays, which appears to be more interested in its bPay gear (and jacket) than throwing iPhone and Apple Watch users a bone. The banking giant said some time ago it’ll eventually play nice with Apple Pay, but it’s decided in the interim to turn its attention to Android users. Its credit card arm, Barclaycard, announced today that from November, its Android app will begin supporting NFC payments. These payments won’t be limited to the (recently raised) £30 contactless cap, too, with transactions of up to £100 allowed with PIN authentication (similar to Apple Pay).
Additional features coming to the updated Barclaycard app include a direct line to the customer call centre to report a lost, stolen or damaged card, and receive an “instant card replacement.” A new, virtual card will be added to your app so you can begin using it straight away, while you wait for the physical counterpart to turn up in the post.
As Barclaycard now has a contactless payment system in place for Android users, it might decide to forego support for platforms like Samsung Pay and Android Pay when they come to the UK in the near future, preferring to go it alone instead. Barclays continues to show a vested interest in contactless payments, but on its own terms. It’s only a matter of time before Apple Pay becomes part of the equation (Barclaycards are supported in the US, after all), but Barclays isn’t rushing to draft a middleman in just yet — especially one that’s expecting a cut.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple
Via:
Press Association (Yahoo! News)
Source:
Barclaycard
Tags: apple, applepay, barclaycard, barclays, ContactlessPayment, MobilePayments, mobilepostcross, nfc, NfcPayments
VLC’s media player app will launch on Apple TV
Plex isn’t the only one bringing a fan-favorite media app to the new Apple TV. Jean-Baptiste Kempf has quietly revealed that VLC, VideoLAN’s signature media player, will reach Apple’s latest set-top box. It’s still early, but this could open up your playback options for music and video — you may have more choices for formats and sources than you get out of the box. While you aren’t going to get total freedom (you certainly won’t be playing DVDs on an Apple TV), this beats having to rely primarily on streaming services.
Filed under:
Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Apple
Via:
VentureBeat
Source:
Jean-Baptiste Kempf
Tags: app, apple, appletv, hdpostcross, internet, streaming, videolan, vlc
Microsoft unveils new Windows 10 devices on October 6th
Microsoft will host an event featuring new Windows 10 devices plus remarks from CEO Satya Nadella on October 6th in New York City. The briefing (fittingly) begins and 10AM ET. Microsoft is light on specifics, but it promises Windows 10 hardware, so we might get a closer look at things like the Surface Hub, a product we recently learned will start shipping to customers on January 1st, 2016. That one is priced between $7,000 and $20,000. Plus, there’s always the Surface tablet, Lumia smartphones, Xbox One and PC devices, too. And we can’t forget about HoloLens, Microsoft’s augmented reality headset.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Desktops, Displays, Misc, Handhelds, Tablets, Wearables, Software, Microsoft
Tags: microsoft, MicrosoftEvent, SatyaNadella, windows10
Animated code art uses all of its colors once in every frame
You probably know that the display on your computer or phone can display millions of colors, if not more. However, have you wondered what it would look like if you tried to represent all of those colors in a single piece of art? Well, you’re looking at it. Qubit researcher and math guru Mike Swarbrick Jones has posted a code-driven animation that shows all the colors in a 24-bit RGB palette exactly once in every frame. The technique (which relies on mapping colors to voxels, or 3D pixels) produces a kind of “rainbow smoke” that, as you can see in the clip below, is rather hypnotic — it’s tempting to watch it on a loop and meditate. While this won’t produce a masterpiece, it’s proof that a good idea and the right calculations can lead to some truly eye-catching (not to mention mind-bending) visuals.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/138957563?portrait=0
Filed under:
Software
Source:
Mike Swarbrick Jones
Tags: 24-bit, algorithm, animation, art, code, color, math, programming, rgb, software, video
The Verizon Moto X (1st gen) has started its soak test for Android Lollipop, finally
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More often than not, Verizon tends to be on the receiving end of jokes about late updates, though it’s not exactly doing itself any favours. The Verizon Moto X (1st gen) has started its soak test for Android Lollipop, which is probably cause for celebration for owners of the device, but once again makes Verizon a laughing stock when it comes to updates, especially considering how early Motorola has always made its updates available. Users have reported that they have been receiving two updates, one to prime their device, and the second being the full 712MB Android 5.1 update for the device.
As a rule of thumb, once the soak test has completed successfully, it usually takes a week or two for the update to roll out to the wider community, so even though you’ve waited until now, you’ll have to be patient for just a little bit longer.
What do you think about the Verizon Moto X (1st gen) getting its update now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Droid-life
The post The Verizon Moto X (1st gen) has started its soak test for Android Lollipop, finally appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Cortana could be the Cyanogen OS personal assistant of choice
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The virtual personal assistant space became a little more crowded when Microsoft announced Cortana for not only Windows Phone devices, but Android and iOS as well. What’s more interesting is that everybody’s favourite alternative to Android that’s still Android, Cyanogen, could be looking heavily into integrating Cortana with their next version of Cyanogen OS. This news came out due to some comments that Cyanogen co-founder and CEO, Kirt McMaster, said during an interview:
“When Apple launched Apple Music at WWDC, they showed the Siri integration with Apple Music. Siri doesn’t power Spotify like that so we can do these kind of things with for example, integration of Microsoft’s Cortana into the OS enabling natural language to power Spotify and other services.”
“Natural language coupled with intelligence is very important but as an application it doesn’t rally (sic) work because you need to be embedded into the framework of the OS because that is where you get all the signal from the services that makes that intelligence smarter.”
In case you missed that last bit, it sounds like Cyanogen is looking at integrating Cortana into Cyanogen OS itself – when Microsoft released Cortana for Android a few months ago, its notable limitations were because it couldn’t hook into the system like Google Now could. If Cyanogen succeeds in doing this, we could be saying “Hey Cortana” to our Android devices at some point in the future.
What do you think about the news that Cortana could be the Cyanogen OS personal assistant of choice?
Source: International Business Times via TalkAndroid
The post Cortana could be the Cyanogen OS personal assistant of choice appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Research tool can save phone battery by intelligently killing apps
Even if you’re a task-killing ninja, there are still plenty of apps that somehow bite into your battery life. And that problem can be even worse when your phone is asleep, when you can’t even tell which apps are being battery hogs. A new tool called Hush, which was developed by Purdue researchers, aims to solve that dilemma for Android phones by intelligently stopping apps that run in the background while your phone is asleep. It prioritizes the apps you use a lot and stops apps that you rarely use from gumming up the works. Researchers say it can save around 16 percent of battery life — that’s not huge, but it could be very useful if a similar tool were embedded with phones. You can test out Hush for yourself via its Github page, but it’ll likely be a while before it’s available in a more polished form.
“During screen-off, the phone hardware should enter the sleep state, draining close to zero power,” Charlie Hu, a Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering said. “Apps wake the phone up periodically during screen-off to do useful things, but then afterward, they should let the phone go back to sleep. They are not letting the phone go back to sleep because of software bugs and, specifically, due to the incorrect use of Android power control application programming interfaces called wakelocks.”
Both Apple and Google are already implementing “low-power” modes in their most recent mobile operating systems, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see something similar to Hush implemented directly in the future. It’s a simple tool, but one that could have a lasting impact.
Source:
Purdue
Tags: Hush, mobilepostcross, smartphones
Microsoft puts Windows 10 installer on PCs even if you don’t ask for it
Taking the idea of “automatic updates” to the extreme, Microsoft has confirmed that it’s downloading Windows 10 installation files on PCs just in case you might want to upgrade, The Inquirer reports. As a Microsoft rep tells it, the company is placing the files on computers that have opted into automatic updates through Windows Update. Normally that just entails getting a few security fixes every few weeks, but the Windows 10 installer can take up around 3.5GB and 6GB on your system. That’s a lot of precious hard drive space for something you might not even want (though it’s definitely worth upgrading). Microsoft probably figures it’s worth preloading files to make the Windows 10 installation faster, but it seems like a boneheaded move when storage is scarce on some machines (especially if you’re stuck with flash memory or a small SSD). It makes more sense for Microsoft only to preload the files after you’ve decided to “reserve” the free upgrade.
Basically, it seems like Microsoft is just a bit over-eager to juice Windows 10 installation figures. It already announced that the new OS reached 75 million PCs after just one month, but Microsoft said earlier this year that it hopes to bring it to a billion PCs within a few years. But rather than forcing Windows 10 on people, Microsoft would likely be better off just extending its free upgrade offer for existing Windows 7 and 8 years beyond one year.
If you’re on automatic updates and don’t want Windows 10 at all, you can delete the installation files (located in the hidden $Windows.BT folder) by following these instructions from Addictive Tips.
[Photo credit: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Filed under:
Software, Microsoft
Via:
Ars Technica
Source:
The Inquirer
Tags: microsoft, Windows10
ICYMI: Homo sapien ancestor, AR Pokemon game and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: We are pumped about the discovery of a previously unknown homo sapien ancestor who looked ape-like but still cared enough to bury its dead. Color blind people who have long struggled with watching TV will have the option of buying a device that has a chipset designed to boost colors for their needs. And Pokémon is rolling out an augmented reality game that combines a bluetooth ball with GPS in your phone to hunt the little rascals down in virtual real life.
From the cutting room floor: This bluetooth device will alert parents’ smartphones if babies have been left in their carseats and is worth sharing with friends.
And just because we think the video is cool, please join us in being mesmerized with some fun dominoes action.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Misc, GPS, Meta, Science, Internet, Software
Tags: AugmentedReality, babytech, colorblind, colorblindTV, disabledtech, dominoes, engadget, engadgetdaily, engadgetdailyshow, engadgetvideo, homesapien, homonaledi, icymi, InCaseYouMissedIt, Pokemon, PokemonGo, techfordisabilities, video
The future of Apple starts with ‘Hey Siri’
“Hey Siri.”
It was a cutesy tag line for the Apple event invitation. The company even pre-loaded its digital assistant with canned answers to questions about what the company was going to unveil. But by the end of the never-ending shindig it became abundantly clear that Siri has become an important part of the entire Apple ecosystem. It’s the UI that begs not to be touched and Apple is going all in with Apple TV, iOS 9, HomeKit and iPhone 6s. But will users stop tapping and start talking?
“Voice has the power to cut through all that noise of platforms and services to get to quickly what you want. Who loves hunting and pecking a multi-tiered menu?” Jared Benson, co-founder and executive creative director of interface design company Punchcut, told Engadget. Benson would know; he’s worked with Toyota on implementing a next-generation voice-activated system and partnered with “a major technology company” on voice control home automation. While we’ve come to expect devices like new cars to support voice controls, for many the first time they interacted with a system like this was with Siri.
Siri made its debut at an iPhone event in 2011. The digital assistant answered questions about the weather and sports, gave directions and queried Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha. If you weren’t embarrassed to talk to your phone in public and it understood what you were saying, it was sort of useful. It ended up being more of a party trick seeing if Siri could answer a question or unravel your localized accent than a feature people actually used.
Siri did get better over the years at understanding folks while adding a few more tasks it could handle. But it was still relegated to primarily answering questions and giving you directions. Then HomeKit appeared.
Apple’s answer to the IoT fragmentation mess relies heavily on Siri to make your home easier to manage. Any device that supports HomeKit can be controlled via the virtual assistant. Plus, in your house you’re less likely to feel self-conscious talking to your phone. It also helps that the iPhone 6s supports voice activation of Siri without it being plugged in. Just say, “Hey Siri,” to launch and you can start turning lights on and off from across the room.
For any developers wanting to be part of HomeKit or CarPlay, Siri is now an incredibly important platform. Both of those systems are almost entirely run by voice commands. While the Siri integration on tvOS is currently limited to partners like Hulu, Netflix and HBO, there’s the potential for developers to create new and interesting ways for users to interact with apps that include voice. If you’re a developer, you should be thinking about Siri as a platform, because your competitors are.
CarPlay vehicles are making their way to showrooms and you can finally buy HomeKit devices. But it’s been slow going and it’ll be a while before a lot of people are driving those cars and using Apple’s system in their homes. For now, the company went ahead and launched its own voice-powered in-home device: the new Apple TV.
Like the Amazon Fire TV, you access the new Apple TV’s voice feature via the remote. Just press and hold the mic button to enable Siri and tell it what you want to watch. It’s the end of using the remote to navigate the onscreen keyboard. But it’s about more than just searching Netflix; ask, “What did he say?” and Siri will back up and replay the last 10 seconds with closed captioning on. It’s like having a friend sitting next to you (one that isn’t completely useless).
Nuance has spent the past 10 years enabling voice control in devices. Recently it’s noticed that its fastest-growing segment is the TV. “Using text on your TV is painful,” said Mike Thompson, executive vice president of Nuance’s mobile division. He notes that it’s much easier to say, “Movies by Harrison Ford,” than to try to type into the horrible onscreen keyboard.
As for a world controlled by your voice, it’s already here according to Thompson: “I think that’s upon us now actually. The phenomenon of voice-enabled capabilities and accuracy and its usefulness has crossed the threshold of mainstream popularity.”
Apple isn’t breaking any new ground with Siri. All the companies in this space are feeding off each other. After Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that apps are the future of TV, a representative from Amazon told Engadget, “We’ve thought that apps and voice are the future of TV since we launched Amazon Fire TV 16 months ago. We’re flattered that Apple agrees with us.”
Still when people think voice-controlled assistant, they think Siri. That marketing gives Apple a leg up and helps train users. It also pushes other companies, according to Punchcut’s Benson. “I certainly think Apple has done a really good job bringing people up to a certain standard,” he said. “Once Apple has come out with a technology, that sets the bar for others.”
And voice isn’t going away. Nuance told Engadget that its mobile cloud service processed 4.07 billion voice transactions in Q2 2015. That’s a roughly 49 percent increase from the 2.74 billion transactions during the same period in 2014.
So get ready for a future where you’re spending more time talking to Siri. Apple’s actual voice-assistant roadmap (in typical Apple fashion) is a bit of a mystery. But in the home, expect the voice assistant to take on an increasingly larger role as HomeKit and the Apple TV evolve and gain traction. CarPlay vehicles will become increasingly available to new car buyers and the iPhone will still tell you what the weather is outside.
Your voice is the new user interface and Apple is building a platform just to hear what you have to say. It was a cute tag line for an invitation, but the future of Apple could very well be distilled to the two words that will be uttered by the owners of almost all future Apple products: “Hey Siri.”
Filed under:
Misc, Household, Peripherals, Internet, Software, Mobile, Apple
Tags: apple, CarPlay, HomeKit, iOS9, mobilepostcross, Siri
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