Google announces new Nexus update policy, devices to see monthly security updates
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will at least have heard something about the security scare that was Stagefright. Fortunately Google has already come up with a solution to the problem and has started to roll out updates to its Nexus devices – everybody else, you’re at the mercy of your manufacturers and carriers. However, in announcing its fix for Stagefright, Google also formally announced what its Nexus update policy is going to be moving forward. Rather ambitiously, it’s going to be releasing security updates monthly for Nexus devices, starting this week with the Stagefright patch.
Also notable is that Google said it would only be supporting devices for 3 years from its initial availability or 18 months from when it stops being sold on the Google Store, whichever ends up being longer. While that’s good news for recent Nexus devices, the Nexus 10 and Nexus 4 look like they won’t be getting updates for much longer – not that the development community won’t keep these devices alive, however. While it’s a bit sad knowing exactly how much longer the Nexus devices are going to be supported, it’s still better than being left in the dark.
What do you think about Google’s Nexus update policy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Android Blog via Android Police
The post Google announces new Nexus update policy, devices to see monthly security updates appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Apple Music recruits 11 million trial users in six weeks
Over 11 million people are now using Apple Music following the June 30th launch. “We’re thrilled with the numbers so far,” Apple senior VP Eddy Cue told USA Today. The service is in a free trial phase until September, so nobody has paid for it yet. The number of users is actually higher, though, as Apple said that 2 million of those folks are on the family plan, which allows six people to use it at once. Still, is 11 million free subscribers a lot? Everyone who updated an iPhone or iPad to iOS 8.4 was nagged to sign up, and it remains to be seen how many will opt out once they have to pay.
The brief time period makes the feat pretty impressive, though. It took Spotify around six and a half years to get to 20 million paid subscribers (as of June), with 75 million active users total — though it picked up half of those users in just the last year. Meanwhile, Apple is rumored to be seeking 100 million subscribers, which would be over twice the number of users that have paid subscriptions with all the other streaming services put together.
Cue acknowledges teething problems with Apple Music, especially for folks migrating their music collection. “We’re aware that some users have experienced some issues, and we hate letting them down, but we’re releasing updates as fast as we can to address those issues,” he said. Once the trial period nears an end, Apple will roll out a huge Music marketing campaign. Beats Music’s Jimmy Iovine said “for many people outside of the US, you still have to explain what it is and how it works,” adding “there’s still the issue of winning over millennials, who never pay for music.”
On another note, Cue said July was a record month for the App Store, with $1.7 billion in transactions. He chalked up the feat to “particular momentum” for Apple in China.
Filed under:
Home Entertainment, Software, Apple
Source:
USA Today
Tags: 11 million, app store, apple, Apple Music, Eddy Cue, subscribers, trial
Now you can drive around Mars with NASA’s Curiosity simulator
Want to explore the surface of the red planet without signing up for the Mars One mission? No problem: NASA has built two interactive web applications that will let you explore the planet to your heart’s content from the comfort of your armchair.
Both of NASA’s new toys will give you a closer look at the surface of Mars, but from two very different vantage points. Mars Trek takes the Google Earth approach, laying over 50 years of NASA exploration data over an interactive 3D globe. It’s incredibly deep, including 3D and 2D views, video-game inspired controls and bookmarks showing off points of interest from previous NASA missions — in fact, it’s detailed enough that NASA is already using the program to scope out potential landing sites for its 2020 Mars rover.
If you’re in the mood for something a little more personal, you can take the controls of NASA’s latest Mars rover with Experience Curiosity. This is no mere map — this is a Curiosity simulator with manual drive controls, multiple camera view angles and a guided tour of both the rover itself and narrated lessons about the area of Mars it explored. Both tools are designed to work in any web browser and are completely free to use and play with. Check them out at the source links below.
Tags: curiosity, curiosityrover, mars, nasa, rover
Shazam update adds songs to Spotify and Rdio playlists
Shazam is great for discovering new music and settling a friendly bet. While you could already listen to full-length songs from Rdio or Spotify inside the app, now you can add identified tunes to your playlists parked at those two streaming services, too. Without leaving Shazam, simply hit the plus in the top right corner of the screen after the app gives you the track details. Shazam will then display a list of saved playlists for you to choose from. Once you make a selection, you’re directed back to the song page in the music discovery app. I gave it a shot this afternoon and it works well, especially if you want to put a song somewhere other than the playlist that Shazam automatically creates, and continually populates, for songs after you link your streaming subscription.
Source:
iTunes, Google Play
Tags: app, audio, mobilepostcross, music, playlist, playlists, rdio, shazam, software, spotify, update
Windows 10 has a $15 DVD player app that you shouldn’t buy
Microsoft may have inadvertently made a good case for embracing movie downloads and streams. The company has released an official DVD Player app that lets you play old-school disc-based movies in Windows 10. Sounds convenient, right? It is, but there’s one big problem: it’s $15. Yes, if you got your Windows 10 upgrade for free, it’ll cost you more to play that dusty copy of Armageddon in DVD Player than it did to get an entire operating system.
It wouldn’t be surprising if DVD licensing costs are a factor behind the pricing, as the patents behind the technology still aren’t cheap. However, you don’t really need to pay anything to watch these titles — free apps like VLC will not only play DVDs, but many of the formats that Windows 10 can’t handle out of the box. And did we mention that the official software doesn’t do Blu-ray movies? Unless you’re holding on to a large DVD collection and insist on first-party programs for your PC-based viewing, you’ll probably better off either using an alternative app or signing up for a streaming video subscription.
Filed under:
Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Microsoft
Via:
Windows Central
Source:
Microsoft Store
Tags: dvd, dvdplayer, hdpostcross, microsoft, software, windows, windows10, windowsdvdplayer
Adidas buys Runtastic to boost its fitness tech
Adidas is no stranger to technology by any means, but it clearly feels that it needs a leg up — the fitness equipment maker has bought fitness tech firm Runtastic for just shy of $240 million. Both companies are wonderfully vague about what the deal entails, beyond extolling the virtues of a “perfect match” and helping Adidas “unleash its knowledge of sport.” However, you’ll be glad to hear that this isn’t likely to deprive you of those all-important apps or wearables. Runtastic will live as a separate entity within Adidas, and it doesn’t expect much to change on a day-to-day basis. For the most part, this means more cash and technical possibilities.
The deal could help Adidas keep pace with a fitness industry where having a good app is as important as a high-performance pair of athletic shoes. Runtastic got its start in activity-tracking software, and it could help fend off Nike and other competitors that have a strong track record with apps. Also, the smaller company has experience with technology that Adidas hasn’t really explored, like virtual reality — this gives Adidas some know-how that it would otherwise have to develop from scratch.
Filed under:
Wearables, Software
Tags: acquisition, adidas, fitness, health, runtastic, software, sports, wearable
Tell us how you really feel about Windows 10
Windows 10 became available for download last week, and in our review we hailed it as the “most refined desktop experience ever from Microsoft.” We were able to recommend it “without any hesitation,” and with free upgrades for Windows 7 and 8 users, there are plenty of reasons to give it a shot. Sure, a few other outlets have reported running into some bugs, which might be a good reason to hold back. But that didn’t stop over 14 million people from making the leap within the first 24 hours. So, we’d like to know what our intrepid readers think. Write us a user review on Engadget’s Windows 10 database page to tell us all about the highs and lows of what Microsoft is calling “the last version of Windows ever,” and we’ll feature the most interesting or insightful ones in an upcoming post.
Comments have been turned off for this post; please go to the Windows 10 page to write a review. If you don’t have a database account, sign up here!
Filed under:
Software, Microsoft
Tags: microsoft, userreviewroundup, userreviews, Windows, Windows 10, Windows10
Amazon’s UK Instant Video iOS app now supports HD streaming
With Amazon Instant Video set to become the new home of the Top Gear team, we’re sure many of you are looking at the value of a Prime subscription in a new light. And if you needed a little more persuading, perhaps the new features Amazon’s added to its Instant Video app for iOS will be enough push you over the edge. Most importantly, the updated app now lets you stream content to iDevices in high definition, a mobile feature previously reserved for Amazon’s Fire Phone and select Fire tablets. The other major change is you can now stream over mobile networks, not just WiFi, bringing the iOS app up to date with its Android counterpart. If these new features ring a bell, it’s probably because the iOS update dropped over in the US a few months ago, but better late than never — especially if you’re looking forward to Clarkson & Co returning to your screens next year. Let’s hope he can keep his fists to himself this time.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Software, HD, Mobile, Amazon
Source:
Amazon Instant Video (App Store)
Tags: amazon, AmazonInstantVideo, hdpostcross, mobilepostcross
Dr. Dre’s ‘Compton’ is an Apple Music exclusive
If you want to listen to Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre before it arrives on Friday, Apple Music has you covered. Cupertino’s streaming service will offer an “exclusive” stream of Dr. Dre’s new album starting Thursday at 9 PM ET and running to 12 AM ET when it’s officially released. Compton was inspired by Dre’s work on the N.W.A. film Straight Outta Compton that hits theaters August 14th. When it arrives on August 7th, the album will be an iTunes/Apple Music exclusive, making it one of the first high-profile releases for Tim Cook & Co. Of course, since Dr. Dre officially works for Apple now, having a show on Beats1 and all, it’s no surprise that his new project would only be available through the service.
For those of you who are still waiting on Detox, it won’t be released. During an episode of his Beats1 show “The Pharmacy” last week, Dr. Dre said ditched that album entirely after releasing two singles because “it wasn’t good.” If those first two tracks were any indication, it was probably for the best, despite the masses clamoring to hear the follow up to The Chronic: 2001.
BREAKING: Exclusive stream of @DrDre‘s #Compton – this Thursday (6PM – 9PM PT) on #AppleMusic. pic.twitter.com/L9fxCOyiTo
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) August 4, 2015
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Listen to the premiere of #COMPTON uncensored and exclusively on Apple Music, from 6PM – 9PM PT Thursday August 6th. Album out August 7th. PRE ORDER NOW: http://smarturl.it/Compton
Posted by Dr Dre on Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Filed under:
Portable Audio/Video, Software, Apple
Tags: apple, applemusic, audio, compton, drdre, exclusive, music, musicstreaming, streaming, video
Chrome beta previews custom tabs, improved media controls for Android
Back at I/O, Google previewed a few new items in Chrome. More specifically, it detailed a tool called custom tabs. Basically, it’ll allow app developers employ a pop-out browser window for link previews inside their apps instead of booting you elsewhere (see an example after the break). Those custom tabs are part of the Chrome Beta 45 for Android that arrived this week at Google Play. What’s more, the in-app browser of sorts also keeps all of your saved info from Chrome handy (log-ins, etc.) so that you don’t keep typing them in. The beta also includes updated media playback controls and Bookmarks interface. You can nab the software via the source link below if you’re itchin’ for access before the official release.
[Lead image credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu]
Filed under:
Software, Mobile, Google
Source:
Chrome Releases Blog
Tags: android, beta, browser, chrome, google, mobilepostcross, software
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