The next HTC

The next HTC-made Nexus could have a 5-inch screen

Earlier this year, HTC was essentially confirmed as the maker of the next generation of Nexus phones — codenamed at Google as Marlin and Sailfish. Now, Android Police is following up on its initial report with rumors of what we can expect to see built into the Sailfish. We’ve got:

• 5-inch, 1080p display
• Quad-core 2.0GHz 64-bit processor
• 4GB RAM, 32GB storage
• 2770 mAh battery
• 12-megapixel rear camera
• 8-megapixel front camera
• USB-C port
• Fingerprint scanner
• Top-mounted headphone jack

Android Police gives its speculation an eight out of 10 on the reliability scale, so I suppose that’s resounding enough? Hopefully we’ll get more concrete details and maybe even a photo leak soon.

Meanwhile, these specs show some interesting decisions on HTC's part. Its move to keep the headphone jack goes against Apple and other companies' work to rid our world of traditional headphones. The iPhone 7, for instance, is rumored to come without a headphone jack and LeEco launched three jack-less phones earlier this year. You're going to love dongles and Bluetooth. That being said, the new Nexus does fit into the small-is-back phone trend. The iPhone SE had Apple retreating from its 6 and 6S Plus and moving back to a 4-inch screen. Such trends.

HTC last manufactured the Nexus 9 for Google, which wasn't great, but its original Nexus One was actually good, so maybe Sailfish and Marlin will be the re-do HTC needs.


source: theverge

iPhone 7 w/ similar design

WSJ: iPhone 7 w/ similar design and removed headphone jack this fall, major changes next year

iPhone 7 rumors have been notably tame this year, and that’s because the next-generation iPhone is widely expected to be a further revision to the iPhone 6 series and not a radically different design. The Wall Street Journal is the latest to report on Apple’s expected plans for the iPhone 7, describing a situation where the iPhone 7 closely resembles the iPhone 6s minus the headphone jack. WSJ reports that this will result in a thinner design that’s more water-resistant than current models.

But the report also believes the 2017 iPhone will be dramatically different, featuring an OLED display like the Apple Watch and embedding the Touch ID sensor in the display while losing the Home button…

For years, Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive has expressed a desire for the iPhone to appear like a single sheet of glass, according to people familiar with the matter. The current design ideas for the 2017 iPhones are expected to push the handsets in that direction by eliminating much of the bezel around the display, with the OLED screen.

Aside from the headphone jack’s removal on the iPhone 7, rumors point toward a redesigned antenna design that creates a cleaner look on the back side and potentially a new color option. A deep blue color option could replace the space gray option that Apple has used since the iPhone 5s in 2013; Apple perviously used a deep blue finish on its black models with the iPhone 5 in 2012 with a color it called slate.

As usual, camera upgrades are expected to be a big selling point for the updated iPhones this fall. The larger 5.5″ Plus model has been rumored to include a dual-camera sensor, a first for the iPhone, and storage options could include 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB. Flagship models currently ship in 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB models.

The big deal here is that since the iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS, Apple has demonstrated a pattern of introducing an iPhone design one year, using mostly the same external design the next year, but dramatically improving performance and features. The rumored iPhone 7 is set to change that pattern by adding an extra tock to the tick-tock pattern and saving the major redesign for 2017 when the iPhone sees its 10th anniversary. The issue, however, is that iPhone sales in 2016 haven’t climbed year-over-year, which is a first for the product.




source: 9to5mac

Smarter home security camera recognises intruders says maker

Smarter home security camera recognizes intruders says maker

Netatmo Welcome is one of a growing number of smart home security cameras competing for its share of the market. Developed by a French company, it uses smart face recognition technology to identify family members and friends and alerts home owners of unwanted visitors.

Owners can build up to 16 individual profiles. Only people recognised by the device can enter the home, and users are informed in real time of a human presence inside the house thanks to a dedicated smartphone app.

The company says the device is far more efficient than systems based on movement sensors.

“Current security cameras are not that smart,” says Janina Mattausch, Product Marketing Manager at Netatmo. “So they can tell you if something is moving but they don’t necessarily know if it’s a human being or if it’s your kids, they don’t know the difference. So they will alert you all the time, also if lighting conditions change, and it can be very annoying. But, if you’re a very busy working professional, you want to know what’s going on at your place and therefore we developed face recognition technology so you would know if your kids are back home or if there’s an intruder at your place, for example.”

The camera relies on a home’s wi-fi network to communicate. It is equipped with infrared LEDs for night vision and has a field of view of 130 degrees. But detractors say it lacks many common home-security camera features including sound detection and two-way audio.

And while its makers say the system only requires a couple of glimpses of a person’s face to build a full picture, critics say its facial recognition technology is “far from reliable” and results in exactly the kind of vague alerts it promises to eliminate

“There is a face recognition algorithm, a deep-learning algorithm in the camera. Basically what it does is make a mathematical representation of the face. So we’ll calculate all the distances and all the characteristics on your face and thereby build a representation of your face in terms of numbers and algorithm,” says Janina Mattausch.

The company claims its face-recognition camera has already helped at least one user catch a thief. Damien decided to test the smart security camera after noticing money kept disappearing from the living room drawer in his Paris apartment.

He was able to give the police images of the burglar, who was arrested and sentenced to nine months in prison.

“I was at work when my phone vibrated,” explains Damien. “At first I thought, ‘It must be a false alert, I need to make some adjustments’. But the notification on my phone was not only telling me there was movement in my flat but also that there was a face that the app wasn’t familiar with, and this person was wondering around my flat, and I could see this live in video mode.”

The face recognition security camera is not only targeted at home owners worried about security. A key market is also busy parents trying to balance work and childcare. The device allows you to set a curfew time for notification, for example when your kids are meant to arrive home from school.

According to Janina Mattausch: “If there was an intruder in my house, then I would be alerted with the camera, so I don’t have to spend time worrying about what’s happening at home or worrying, ‘Where are my kids? Are they already home?’ Because I know I will be alerted by the camera.”

All video is recorded locally in a data card that slots into the back of the camera – there is no external storage backup. While this eliminates the cost of monthly storage fees, it also means that if your camera is stolen, so are the recordings it contains, depriving you of any forensic evidence.

source: euronews

Nintendo talks mobile gaming, VR and its future at E3

Nintendo talks mobile gaming, VR and its future at E3

Nintendo has never been afraid to go against the grain of prevailing industry trends. In fact, the refusal to follow the pack has become a defining aspect of the gaming giant’s business strategy during the ascendance of chief console competitors Sony and Microsoft. So it comes as no surprise, really, that it did something markedly different at this year’s E3 show. But just how different came as a bit of a surprise to many who follow the industry closely.

Even as rumblings about a new console turned to actual news, the company made it clear in the days and weeks leading up to E3 that this show would not be about hardware for Nintendo. Instead, it would focus, as it so often has, on games — or rather, one game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. More than three years after the next installment in one of the company’s most beloved franchises was first announced, Nintendo was finally ready to show it off in a big way.

In a show dominated by VR, Nintendo constructed a wholly impressive shrine to the open world adventure, a high-walled to-scale model of Hyrule, complete with changing weather patterns triggered by Nintendo employees via switches on the ground. NX, the company’s forthcoming mystery console, hardly received mention as the company altogether eschewed a keynote presentation, instead devoting its daylong Treehouse Live stream to the new title.

“We announced about a month ago that it would be a Zelda only game for us. And we also announced that Treehouse Live would be the primary way that we communicated with the public,” Charlie Scibetta, the company’s Senior Director, Corporate Communications told TechCrunch, standing against a balcony in the company’s booth overlooking the temporary Hyrule. “There’s always speculation at a show like E3, but for us, we stayed true to what we intended to do.”

The exec added that while this year’s E3 presence marks a notable shift from past presentations, it doesn’t represent a new precedent moving forward. “Every year we look at it fresh and don’t think about what we did the year before,” Scibetta said. “It’s about what we want to talk about this year and how we want to get the word out. For future years, it could be an execution like we did this time, we could go back to a presentation, we could do more Treehouse Live, we could go to a digital event, we could do something new.“

This year’s E3 felt transitional in many respects. For most that means a huge push toward virtual realities. Inside the company’s sky-high walls, however, immersion has a distinctly Nintendo tone, as a huge Bokoblin points a bow and arrow atop a rickety watch tower. Nintendo certainly hasn’t been afraid to experiment with different form factors, even dipping its toes in the waters of VR in the mid-1990s with the extremely short-lived and red-hued Virtual Boy. It’s easy to see how the company might be wary leaping full force back into the virtual waters.

“We’ve had ups and downs and ebbs and flows when it comes to what works,” Scibetta said when asked whether the failed mobile console has made the company reluctant to embrace the current VR trend. “Certainly motion control worked on the Wii. We have the gamepad going right now on the Wii U, that’s a great way to interact with two different screens. We have 3D with our handhelds. We have Amiibo, that’s a great way to interact with games. We try different technologies, but it comes down to what’s right for the game. We wouldn’t do it because it’s a gimmick, we do it because it enhances gameplay and brings something to the consumer that they weren’t getting otherwise. “

That’s not to say that Nintendo has failed entirely to embrace prevailing trends. After what might be regarded as either reluctant hesitation or measured forethought, the company finally dipped its toes into the mobile space with the social app Miimoto earlier this year, with more titles based on popular franchises like Pokemon and Animal Crossing coming soon.

Scibetta explained that the company doesn’t regret not getting into the space sooner. “What we’re trying to do with mobile is introduce a whole new generation of people to our IP,” the exec said. “They can have a great time playing on their smart device, and if they like what they get there, they can also come over to our more dedicated systems like Nintendo 3DS or Wii U. There are so many phones and tablets out there that we didn’t want to pass up on that opportunity anymore. We didn’t do it up until the point that we did because we wanted to make sure we picked the right IP. And one of the things Nintendo always wanted to do was make sure the control scheme worked for the software.”

source: techcrunch

Dallas Could Be Next City to Get Google Fiber

Dallas Could Be Next City to Get Google Fiber

The company has begun preliminary discussions with officials to check out the feasibility of Google Fiber high-speed Internet in Dallas.

Dallas could become the third city in Texas to receive Google's Fiber high-speed Internet service.
The company has begun preliminary talks with officials to scope out the work involved in bringing the gigabit service to the city.
As part of the process, Google will work with officials to get details on the city's topography and existing municipal-owned utility poles and electricity, gas and water lines to figure how and where to place the fiber lines needed for the service.
Google's formal 18-page checklist of items for Fiber includes getting details on state laws and city ordinances pertaining to the reuse of existing infrastructure where possible to build out the network. Google will also require city officials to provide details on the permits and the processes that it will require to go through to build out and deploy Fiber in Dallas.

"Building a fiber-optic network through a dense and complex urban environment like Dallas is challenging," Jill Szuchmacher, Google's director of expansion for Fiber, wrote in a blog post this week. "These discussions will help us deploy our network efficiently and responsibly."

Google launched Fiber about six years ago as a high-speed, relatively low-cost alternative to the available Internet services from the major incumbent carriers. More recently it has begun bundling a TV service option as well, and earlier this year, the company announced a $10 per month Google Fiber phone service that customers can sign up for when subscribing to Fiber.
The company offers two plans for residential customers—one at $70 per month featuring up to 1,000M-bps download and upload times and unlimited data, and the other at $130 per month for high-speed Internet and TV service.
Google has so far rolled out the service in six major metro areas, starting with Provo, Utah, and Kansas City, and adding Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Nashville and Austin, Texas. Google is in the process of actively deploying Fiber in another four cities—San Antonio, Huntsville, Ala., San Francisco and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. It is currently considering another 12 metro areas, including Dallas, as potential sites for rolling out the service.
Google previously claimed that Fiber's gigabit speed service will benefit not just consumers but small businesses, as well. Some analysts have predicted that the company's entry into the telecom space could have broad ramifications for the major players and force them to introduce similar high-speed services at similar price pints.
So far, though, those predictions have not quite played out the way some had predicted. Earlier this year, an analyst from MoffettNathanson Research said his review of data from the U.S. Copyright Office showed that a mere 53,390 customers had signed up for the Google Fiber TV option across all the cities where it was available as of Dec. 31, 2015.

While the number of customers for the stand-alone Fiber broadband service is likely higher, the relatively low number of subscribers to the TV service raises questions about just how popular Fiber really is, the analyst had noted in widely reported comments at the time.


source: eweek

Analysis From Apple’s Developer Conference

Analysis From Apple’s Developer Conference: A Series of Upgrades

At its annual conference for software developers on Monday, Apple was trying to demonstrate that it was still a purveyor of high-quality software and services. Credit Tony Avelar/Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — When Steven P. Jobs ran Apple, the company’s devices were distinguished by their polished software and famous iTunes store. Today, critics and even loyal fans are taking shots at Apple’s buggy software and Apple Music, its new streaming music service.

With its hardware sales now slowing, Apple is under pressure to fix its software and online services, which have become increasingly important to consumers. So at its annual conference for software developers on Monday, the iPhone maker tried to demonstrate that it was still a purveyor of high-quality software and services.

Brian X. Chen, Farhad Manjoo and Vindu Goel attended Apple’s conference keynote in San Francisco and analyzed what matters about the announcements that Apple made.

Apple announced:

■ Improvements in the Apple Watch operating system.

■ Changes in the operating system for Apple TV, called tvOS.

Tim Cook, after leading the conference in a moment of silence for the victims of the attack in Orlando. Credit Stephen Lam/Reuters

■ A rebranding of its Mac operating system.

■ An expansion of Apple Pay.

■ Opening up Siri to developers.

■ Improvements in photos and maps.

■ Subscriptions through Apple News.

■ Opening up its messaging service to developers

■ A new interface for Apple Music.

Here were the main points:

Xbox site outs new slim “Xbox One S”

Xbox site outs new slim “Xbox One S” ahead of Monday reveal

A leaked promotional image for the Xbox One S confirms news that Ars had gathered ahead of this year's E3 conference.

Ars can confirm support for 4K video, lack of power brick; price, date not yet known.

Rumors and insider tips have pointed to an Xbox One "slim" model being revealed at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, and the news was so good, someone at Microsoft couldn't wait to spill the beans.

Images found by multiple NeoGAF forum members confirm the news of the new "Xbox One S"—and the ability for gamers to pre-order it soon enough. Multiple Xbox sources had recently confirmed to Ars that some sort of "slim" system would be announced at this year's E3 and that a major part of its bulk reduction (which has been measured by Microsoft as "40 percent") will come from the removal of its AC adapter's "power brick," which will make this the first Xbox-branded console to nix that bulky portion.

The leaked announcement image also confirms news that the Xbox One S will support 4K output, though Microsoft sources have informed Ars that 4K support will mostly manifest in the system's menus and in any streaming app that announces support for 4K output in the future—meaning, this will not include the kind of hardware upgrades needed to automatically boost current software to 4K resolution. The announcement image also trumpets support for high dynamic range (HDR) imagery, a vertical stand, and a "streamlined" controller, though we have yet to learn what exactly will be streamlined or changed in that controller.

Oh, and it's going to be white. Quite white, from the look of things.

The leaked image did not include a price point or launch date estimate. We have reached out to Microsoft asking about the accuracy of the leaked store listing, and we will update this report with any response.


source: www.arstechnica.com

Google is now equipped to map the entire world

With Tango, Google is now equipped to map the entire world -- inside and out

The ambitious new technology, which Lenovo just launched on a consumer phone for the first time, could make for a "better blue dot" on Google Maps.

Open up Google Maps on your phone and, depending on where you are, you'll see some streets, some buildings and a blue dot. That blue dot is you, in "YOU ARE HERE" form. When you move, it moves. The dot is helpful when you're walking around outside, but if you're indoors -- in an airport, a mall, or even a conference venue, like I am today -- you might as well be in no-man's land.

Google wants to change that with something called Tango.

The initiative, previously called Project Tango, is Google's ambitious plan to map the indoor world. Google Maps is already wildly popular, with more than 1 billion users. But where Maps is a cartographer's dream on steroids, Tango isn't concerned with streets and rivers and national parks. Tango is for everything underneath rooftops: hallways, offices, ballrooms and -- perhaps more importantly for Google's advertising ambitions -- the stuff inside those rooms, like furniture and products on shelves.

On Thursday, the Chinese device maker Lenovo unveiled the first consumer smartphone infused with Google's Tango technology. The $500 phone, called the Phab 2 Pro, will have a 6.4-inch screen and be available by September. (The phone itself is hulking, and Jeff Meredith, the head of Lenovo's mobile business group, said phones with both smaller and bigger screens are coming.)

But back to the maps -- and that blue dot.

When you're indoors, "all it tells you is, 'You're in the airport!' Which is not super helpful," Johnny Lee, head of Tango, said in an interview Thursday at the Masonic, the San Francisco venue where Google and Lenovo unveiled the Tango phone. It doesn't come in handy when you want to tell someone to meet you at Baggage Claim 4.

For Google, the stakes are huge: If Tango takes off, the company has the potential to have the most complete picture of the physical world -- both outdoors and indoors -- that anyone has ever had. It already owns a satellite company called Skybox that can take detailed pictures of Earth from space.

"Being able to search the physical world, kind of like you'd search the web, is really interesting," said Lee. "One day, it's something we could hopefully do."

With a Tango phone, you'd be able to peer inside buildings. The technology lets you map out a room, with the phone's sensors and four cameras capturing all of the parameters and measurements of the room itself and everything inside it.

The idea is that venue owners would use Tango's technology to map out their building's interiors and release that data to Google so people with Tango phones could use that information when they're in the building. Lee won't reveal how many venue partners Google already has, but says he hopes there will be a "few" live later this year. One partner is the home improvement chain Lowe's. Lee says Google has also done a pilot test with the San Jose International airport. (Google has another project for mapping the interiors of buildings using a special laser-scanning backpack called the Cartographer, but Lee says that's a separate project.)

As with any Google service, there are privacy implications. Lee said you can think of Tango-related data as you'd think of YouTube videos. When you shoot a video on your phone, you can keep it on the device or you can upload it to YouTube and share it widely. With Tango, when you map a room, it creates a computer file with the exact specifications of that room, and the file stays on the device. Or you can share it, as Google hopes venue owners will do.

Dinosaurs and sofas

Lenovo has a roundabout history with Google. The Chinese company owns Motorola Mobility, which it bought from Google in 2014. Google originally bought Motorola for $12.5 billion in 2012, before selling it off to the Chinese phone maker two years later for $3 billion. Google didn't come away empty-handed though; it kept a cache of important patents. It also retained Motorola's experimental hardware division, which became Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group, or ATAP. That division created Project Tango.

The technology isn't only for traditional maps. Google wants you to use it for everything from shopping to education to gaming. (Tango is actually a part of Google's virtual reality division.) On Thursday, the company showed off a handful of demo apps, including one for creating elaborate, digital dominoes setups, and one from the American Museum of Natural History, which will show you a digital image of a Tyrannosaurus Rex on your phone, at scale if the room you're in is big enough. The common thread among all these experiences is that Tango has all that information about the size of the room. Because of that, it can show you 3D images on your phone's screen as if they were there in real life, something in tech-speak called "augmented reality."

Shopping could be one of the most lucrative uses for Tango. One of the biggest boons of the technology is helping to guide consumers around stores, said Richard Maltsbarger, chief development officer at Lowe's. The retailer has an app that will help you pick out furniture and see if it will fit in your house.

"We have 200 million square feet of retail," Maltsbarger said. "So we're looking for the day where we actually know where every item is in that 200 million square feet." That's for both customers and employees, he says.

Lee adds that, in the future, Tango could lead people "to a store, to an aisle, to a shelf, to a product."

Google may already be laying the groundwork for cashing in on Tango. Last month, it announced a new advertising unit called promoted pins, which would let retailers highlight specific product deals at nearby stores when consumers are using Google Maps. At the time, Sridar Ramaswamy, Google's senior vice president of ads and commerce, said it was too early to talk about linking Tango to Maps advertisements. On Thursday, Lee said, "there's nothing we can commit to right now" with Google Maps.

But the possibility is there. And that blue dot might as well be an X on a treasure map.


source: Cnet

Moto Z Force Combines Power And Durability In One Sleek

Proof Moto Z Force Combines Power And Durability In One Sleek Design: What You Need To Know.

The Moto Z Force was recently unveiled and the flagship will feature a shatter-proof display, modular expansions and impressive specifications. Here's what this powerhouse has to offer.  ( Motorola ) 

Moto Z Force, the indestructible modular smartphone, has finally arrived, and Lenovo loaded quite a few goodies into its 2016 flagship killer.
Design
The Moto Z Force packs a bit more bulk than its smaller sibling, but the shiny metal chassis elegantly sports the protruding camera module.
The general dimensions of the device are 6.13 x 2.98 x 0.27 inches, which keep the screen-to-body ratio at a decent 70.76 percent. In comparison, the iPhone 6s has a thickness of 0.28 inches, making the Moto Z Force a slim flagship rival.
Below the screen we get a square-shaped fingerprint sensor, which first came loaded in the Moto G4 Plus.
It should be noted that the Moto Z Force uses zero capacitive navigation buttons, as it relies on the Android home, virtual back and recent apps buttons.

To the upper right side of the handset sit three buttons: the power and volume buttons.
It looks like the axing of the headphone jack permeated Lenovo's design team as well, and the device lacks the popular 3.5-millimeter jack. This implies that all compatible headphones should sport a USB Type-C connector, or a normal jack and an adapter for the novel technology.
Keep in mind that the handset introduces backplate modules.
Dubbed Moto Mods, the pads snap to the Moto Z Force via a metallic bar and a 16-pin connector, which sits neatly at the bottom half of the device's back. Those of you concerned with aesthetics can get one of the variously colored Moto Style Shells to cover the pads. Additionally, with a Moto Style Shell, the bulk caused by adding the Mods will be less noticeable.
The modules presented at the smartphone's release include a JBL Sound Boost, an InstaShare projector and a Power Jack module, along with Style Shells that sit over the modules for a posh look.

Display

The Moto Z Force is equipped with an AMOLED screen measuring 5.5 inches, capable of rendering QHD resolutions of 1,440 x 2,560p. This puts the ppi density at 534, toe-to-toe with premium flagships from the competition.
We have to commend the introduction of a shatter-proof panel on the Moto Z Force's screen.
The technology was first embedded into the DROID Turbo 2, which was the first device to see ShatterShield technology — a type of display protection that can withstand the clumsiest, or even the meanest and most aggressive drops.
The Moto Z Force takes the ShatterShield lesson and perfects it with the second generation of the protective layer. Although you might want to avoid putting it directly to the test, previous attempts to wreck it showed little damage. This means that your phone is safe from scratches and cracks, even when you accidentally drop it onto concrete.

Specs

The Moto Z Force relies on the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 for processing power, which gets backed by 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Internal memory varies between 32 GB and 64 GB, but a microSD card slot is there for memory intensive libraries.
The main camera looks impressive, as well. The main sensor is a 21-megapixel working with 1.12um pixels and a wide aperture lens of f/1.8, making it apt for great low-light results. Mobile photographers will find a combination of phase-detection autofocus with laser-assisted autofocus with the new smartphone.
Not only that, but Lenovo touted that zero shutter lag will also be one of the handset's features.
The power source of the device is a mighty 3,500 mAh battery, which Lenovo claims can deliver 40 hours of mixed usage. Fast-charge capability will get the phone from 0 to 50 percent in only 20 minutes.
Pricing And Availability
Lenovo did not officially say how much the device will cost, but it did point out when the handset will hit the shelves.
During the summer, both the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force will go live in the United States. Both devices will be launched under Verizon's brand, as Moto Z DROID and Moto Z Force DROID. The unlocked version of the smartphones will reach the U.S. during the fall, about the same time when the gadgets will enter the European markets.

source: Tectimes

Why I have finally taken off the Apple Watch for the last time

Why I have finally taken off the Apple Watch for the last time.

Gone for good: my wrist without an Apple Watch. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Towards the end of May, I took off the Apple Watch I’d been wearing for nine months. I’ll never put it on again.

I’d been wearing the £479 38mm Apple Watch with a sapphire screen, stainless steel shell and white sport band – something I genuinely appreciated as an article of jewellery – since we bought it at the launch in April last year.

I’d taken it off before of course, not only every night to charge, but when my colleague Samuel Gibbs reviewed it and then reviewed its updated operating system. But this time, while another colleague used it, I realised there was no point in wearing it.

Taking off the Apple Watch. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

I’m no style guru (I’m now wearing a bashed-up Casio B640W), but I liked the look of the thing. It’s nicer in the flesh than in pictures, and there’s a certain dorky charm to having a computer on your wrist. But that’s faint praise for something that costs almost half a grand.

Before the Apple Watch came out, the key fear on the part of would-be early adopters was over the battery life. We pored over statements like Tim Cook’s: “We think you’re going to end up charging it daily. Overnight, that’s what we think.” How could anyone use a watch that needed charging every night?!

It turns out it’s really easy. You just take it off every night, and charge it. You don’t use your watch at night, because you’re asleep.

We all adjusted to this shifted expectation when smartphones were introduced, and while many would wish for a phone with a bit more battery life, few would trade their current device for a Nokia 3310, even through that got weeks out of a battery. And heck, unlike my iPhone, the Watch never once ran out of battery in a single day.

But that’s not necessarily a good thing. The reason why the Watch’s battery lasted so long is largely because I never really used it.

I wore the watch for nine months. In the week since I stopped wearing it, I have missed precisely one thing: the Dark Sky “complication” in the top left-hand corner of the watch face.

The (very) dear departed Apple Watch, with the much-loved Dark Sky complication in the top left. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Dark Sky, a weather app, was one of the first apps I installed on the Apple Watch. But it, like every other watch app, was hampered by the fact that it takes an insanely long time to open: correctly hitting the right icon is a fiddly business requiring your full concentration, and it’s not really any better than just taking out your phone.

But when Watch OS 2 launched, in October, Apple gave third parties the ability to add “complications” – small data feeds – to the face of the main watch. That meant Dark Sky could now put the temperature on the watch face, visible at a glance, and replace it with a small umbrella icon if rain was predicted within the next 15 minutes.

It’s a small thing, but it was something I habitually checked every morning, as I was getting dressed, to help me decide what to wear (see above re: Not a Style Guru).

Tellingly, after a week of wearing an old-school digital watch, it is the only thing I find myself trying to do. Every single other use case – checking notifications, setting timers, or recording physical activity – has seamlessly, painlessly, slipped back to the state it was before the Apple Watch arrived in my life.

My replacement for the Apple Watch. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

It would be boring to go through every feature point by point to explain why it’s useless. But a few fundamental flaws of the watch suffice to explain 95% of the issues: the watch is too slow to act as a speedy alternative to your phone; the user interface is too fiddly to use on the move; the notification model is too limited to do anything other than encourage you to pull out your phone repeatedly; and Siri sucks.

That last is bigger than it seems. The future of the watch can’t be the same iterative improvements that Apple has pulled off with the iPhone, iPod and iPad. The interface is just too ill-thought-through to work, even if the device itself is sped up significantly. But the most obvious alternative is to massively increase the amount of voice control the watch offers, and Apple simply doesn’t have the technical chops to do so. While Google and Amazon have been creating voice assistants that people seem to actually use and wax lyrical about, Apple … hasn’t. There’s no easy solution there.

But the saving grace for Apple is that the broader problem isn’t the company’s fault. It’s that smartwatches are a solution in search of a problem. A technology created, not to serve consumer demand, but to serve the need of device manufacturers to fill the revenue hole created by declining smartphone growth. You don’t need one, and neither do I. It just took me nine months of wearing it to realise.

source: theguardian

Pebble Releases v3.13 For Time Series Smartwatches

Pebble Releases v3.13 For Time Series Smartwatches

smartwatch

Pebble are an independent, kickstarter-funded designer, manufacturer and seller of a range of smartwatches that work with both iOS and Android-powered devices. Indeed, the company has announced a new element to their Kickstarter program by requesting funding for three new smartwatch models, the Pebble Core, Pebble 2 and Time 2 devices. Whilst organizing this, the company has been busy working on new software updates for its existing portfolio of smartwatches, which is has just released. The new update, available for several models, puts the software version up to v3.13 and includes updates to existing applications and a revised, improved Weather application.

In addition to the new software for smartwatches, Pebble have updated the companion application for smartwatches. For customers to update their watches, they must first update the application on their device, which I’m sure means for the majority of our readers, go ahead and fire up the Google Play Store and let the application update. Once updated, a connected Pebble smartwatch should prompt for a software update but if not, customers can go into Menu, Support and then Update Your Pebble to prompt the process.
The improvements include updates to the Pebble Health application; Pebble have improved the step and sleep algorithms to improve accuracy. One of the biggest improvements they’ve made is to prevent the smartwatch from assuming movement during sleep is a step, so this should result in a clearer picture of our activity and rest. Pebble have also updated the mobile graph software including requested features such as 24-hour support and clearer messaging. There’s a new Weather application available, in conjunction with The Weather Channel, which shows current temperature and conditions, the high and low point for that day, and what The Weather Channel predicts is happening the following day. In common with many other software updates for late 2015 into 2016, Pebble have reworked and added a number of emojis into version 3.13.

Unfortunately, customers owning the original Pebble Classic and Pebble Steel will not yet receive the device software update, but it will be available for Time series devices (the Pebble Time, Time Steel and Time Round smartwatches). We’ve no word on when the Pebble Classic and Pebble Steel will receive the update.

source: androidheadlines

The best Android phones you can buy June 2016

The best Android phones you can buy June 2016

The summer is here, and that means we’ve seen a lot of new Android smartphones announced in the first half of this year. Starting off the year was the Huawei Mate 8 and Honor 5X at CES in January, of course followed later by Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 edge as well as the LG G5 in February at Mobile World Congress. But which ones are the best buys? Keep reading to find out
Whether you like a pocket-sized phone that offers more in terms of raw features, or a phablet-sized phone that sticks to stock Android, you’re sure to find something to fit your preference when you go with Android. The platform can be found on more than 80% of smartphones on the planet, and there’s a reason for that.
After all, Google’s mantra for the platform is “Be together. Not the same.”, and that rings true in the sheer diversity of Android phones, tablets, watches, and in-car consoles. If a phone is what you’re after, though, you’ve come to the right place. Below we’ve listed our favorite Android phones as of May 2016, their ups and downs, their specifications, and the best prices you’ll find anywhere on the web.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Active.

Samsung and AT&T came out to announce the Galaxy S7 Active earlier this month, and just like last year’s Galaxy S6 Active, the phone is basically an S7 with a beefy case built in. You’ll find a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, and a 12MP rear camera. There’s also a huge 4,000 mAh battery within which AT&T says offers up to 32 hours of talk time. As with the Galaxy S7, the S7 Active sports Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 and a microUSB port to charge this battery (sorry, no USB-C).

We’ve already had our hands on the device for a while now, so be sure check out our own Jeff Benjamin’s experience with the phone in video form. He says that the S7 active is much better looking than last year’s model, featuring “a simplified rear, improved front face buttons, and an overall design cohesiveness that showcases the line’s growth.”

You’ll be able to purchase the phone on AT&T Next starting on Friday, June 10th for $26.50 for 30 months or AT&T Next Every Year SM for $33.13 a month for 24 months. It will be available in three colors: Sandy Gold, Titanium Gray, and Camo Green.

Sony Xperia X

The Xperia X was announced all the way back at Mobile World Congress, but it wasn’t until just last week that the phone became available to preorder for those in the United States. The new flagship from Sony has a full HD 5-inch IPS LCD display on the front, a seamless flat sheet of metal on the back, and Sony’s trademark smooth rounded metal frame all the way around the edges. Like the Z5, the X has a fingerprint sensor built in to the power button on the side.

As you’d expect from Sony, this phone packs a fantastic 23MP camera on the back. Our own Cam Bunton said earlier this year that it can “focus within the blink of an eye, has PDAF and 1080p video recording.” There’s also an impressive 13MP front facing camera. The phone runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with a “relatively light” Sony skin on top and is powered by a Snapdragon 650 processor, which is paired with 3GB RAM and a 2,620mAh battery.

The Xperia X is currently $550 shipped to pre-order at Amazon.

Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge

Likely the most notable members of this list, Samsung launched a pair of absolutely stunning flagship phones this year. Building on the formula that was started with the Galaxy S6 — featuring an all-glass front and back, minimal bezels, and an overall premium feel — the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge might just be the best Android phones that you can buy right now. They still feature Samsung’s long-hated TouchWiz Android skin, but — whether you get the Snapdragon variant or the Exynos variant — they’re definitely powerful, smooth, and polished.

The regular S7 has a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED panel and its Quad HD (2560 x 1440) resolution gives the screen a pixel density of 575 PPI. The US, Japan, and China will be getting the 2.2GHz quad-core, Snapdragon 820-powered chips while other markets are set to get the 2.4GHz octa-core Exynos-equipped versions. The S7 features a 3000 mAh battery, and the S7 Edge has a much-praised 3,600 mah battery. Unfortunately, Samsung decided not to go with USB-C, instead opting for microUSB. 32GB and 64GB models available.
The Galaxy S7 is currently $604 shipped on Amazon, but we’ve seen it as low as $530 shipped.

Moto X Pure Edition

Moto X Pure Edition (also known as Moto X style internationally) was unveiled by Motorola in July of 2015, becoming its top-of-the-line offering for those looking for a good-looking powerhouse. The company also unveiled a second Moto X called the Moto X Play (later to be known as the Droid Maxx 2 in the US), which is more rugged and offers better battery, but is less powerful in terms of tech specs.

The Moto X Pure Edition, which still holds its own against 2016 Android phones, packs a 5.7-inch Quad HD display and the Snapdragon 808 running at 1.8 GHz, 3GB of RAM, 4G LTE, and storage tiers at 16, 32, and 64GB. The phone has a beastly 21MP main camera with a f/2.0 aperture and 4K video capture, a dual-tone flash, a 5-megapixel front cam, and a front-facing flash as well. As for the battery, the Pure Edition sits at 3,000 mAh.

The Moto X Pure Edition is customizable via Moto Maker just like its predecessors, and introduced a new silicon rubber material as a new back cover option.

The Moto X Pure Edition is currently $299 shipped from Amazon, which is the lowest we’ve seen.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

Samsung’s 2015 flagship Note 5 phablet is the successor to the Note 4, and was launched in August of last year alongside the Galaxy S6 Edge+. The phone features the infamous S Pen (this one is supposedly better built than previous pens), and this generation of the phone lets you jot down notes and ideas even when the screen is completely turned off. It’s a nice phone, and it’s perfect for those who have larger hands or just want a pocket-sized tablet-like experience.

As for specs, the Note 5 has a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display, 4GB RAM, a 64-bit octa-core Exynos 7420, a 16MP rear camera, a 5MP front facing camera, and a 3,000 mAh battery. You get fast charging, fast wireless charging, the typical connectivity interfaces like ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, and storage options in both 32 GB and 64 GB. The phones are set to be available August 21st. It doesn’t have some 2016 luxuries like a USB Type-C port, but it’s more than capable even compared to the likes of the Galaxy S7 edge.
The Galaxy Note 5 is currently $521 shipped from Amazon, which is the lowest price we’ve seen.

HTC 10

HTC has had a rough few years, and this phone may not save the day, but the HTC 10 is at least on par with the competition. It’s a solid all-metal bodied smartphone with the latest specs some huge chamfered edges on the rear, a great camera, and the latest version of HTC’s Sense UI. There’s nothing that really stands out about the HTC 10, but so far reviews are positive and we think that it might be the perfect option for those looking for a phone closer to the 5-inch range.

As for the HTC 10’s all-important specs, (it should easily compete with the likes of the LG G5 and Galaxy S7 series phones), it’s equipped with a 5.2-inch Quad HD SuperLCD5 display with a pixel density of 546ppi. Additionally, the latest in HTC’s lineup is powered by a current-gen Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB RAM. The phone’s 32GB internal storage is expandable via microSD card all the way up to 200GB, but HTC says that it will be compatible with 1TB cards in future.
The HTC 10 available from $630 on Amazon

Nexus 6P

From a design standpoint, this is the most premium-looking Nexus we’ve seen since the original Nexus. Huawei’s taste for metal unibody phones shines with this handset, with the 6P sporting an incredibly elegant design despite its large size. The aluminum chassis will come with a choice four different anodized finishes: Aluminum, Graphite, Frost, and Gold. The only part which isn’t metal on the back is the slightly protruding camera “visor”. It’s big, but it’s smaller in every dimension than the previous-generation Nexus 6.

The 12.3MP rear camera is housed in a large pill-shaped glass panel along with a dual-LED flash. It’s also equipped with optical image stabilization and 4K video recording, along with an f/2.0 aperture to ensure low light pictures look as good as they can from a sensor this small. On the inside of the Nexus 6P, you’ll find a 5.7 inch WQHD (2560 x 1440) AMOLED display at 518 ppi, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, 3GB of RAM, and a 3450 mAh battery.
The Nexus 6P is currently $419 shipped from Amazon, which is the lowest price we could find.

Huawei P9

Huawei has been getting more and more attention since it launched the excellent Nexus 6P, and recently the company launched yet another stunning flagship. The Huawei P9 is a larger phone like many of the others on this list, but it’s also a great phone. This handset features a dual camera that the Chinese company launched in conjunction with LEICA, which takes some great shots in both color and grayscale.

Spec-wise, the device has a full HD 5.2-inch display, a Huawei in-house HiSilicon Kirin 955 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. If you need more space and RAM, there’s also a 4GB/64GB storage model. It has a 3,000 mAh battery and rapid charging support, and Huawei claims I’ll get through a day’s use without even trying. As mentioned there’s a dual camera set up, and it features a dual LED flash and laser autofocus.
The Huawei P9 isn’t available in the US, but you can grab it from Carphone Warehouse for £419.99.


source:  9to5google

Comcast Offers Gigabit Internet Speeds in Nashville

Comcast Offers Gigabit Internet Speeds in Nashville

COMCAST

Comcast Internet customers in Nashville now have the chance to upgrade to gigabit speeds.

The provider's DOCSIS 3.1 Internet service, which delivers gigabit-like speeds without major installation hassles, rolled out in Atlanta in March, and is now available in Nashville. It's scheduled to hit Chicago, Detroit, and Miami in the second half of the year.

DOCSIS 3.1 runs through standard cable connections already in place at your home or office; no fiber installation necessary. Just sign up for a plan and plug in a new modem.

Nashville customers must be selected to receive gigabit speeds, however. New and existing customers can visit Xfinity.com/gig to get in line; Comcast will then choose certain customers to participate in the Nashville trial. "These initial users will also be encouraged to give Comcast feedback about their service, which will be used to help ensure future market rollouts deliver the best possible customer experience," Comcast says.

Initial customers will have the choice of a promotional contract price of $70 per month for 36 months or $139.95 per month with no contract.

"We're delivering on our promise to make Nashville customers among the first in the world to enjoy this new Gigabit technology," Comcast's regional senior vice president, Doug Guthrie, said in a statement. "The capabilities of DOCSIS 3.1 are incredibly exciting, and we are proud to be the first to market with a Gigabit offering that runs over our existing cable infrastructure."
Comcast's Gigabit Pro service, meanwhile, uses fiber to provide speeds up to 2 gigabit per second. Launched last year in Atlanta, the program will reach Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Nashville, and several other markets. It is currently available to 18 million homes, but costs about $230 per month.


source: pcmag

Facebook Messenger will change banking

Here’s how Facebook Messenger will change banking.

Facebook Messenger

The Facebook Messenger platform opens many doors for easier, better digital interactions by enabling businesses to embed codes in chat conversations. Businesses can now obtain user messages, translate them into action requests, and send back automatically generated or manually-typed-by-human responses to the users. This is a faster, simpler, and richer experience than mobile app interactions, which require users to navigate through a mobile app, click on different links, load new pages, and wait for confirmation.

The new Messenger platform will affect the banking industry significantly because most banking services are tasks that can be automated, and instructions can be provided in simple human language (e.g. “pay my Internet bill”).

Today, if I want to send money to someone, I must complete the following tasks:

1. Open my banking app
2. Login to my account
3. Wait for authentication
4. Navigate to Send Money
5. Enter payee information, my account, and amount
6. Submit request
7. Confirm order
8. Receive confirmation

There are usually a few seconds of wait time between each of these steps as new pages are loaded and I navigate to the right buttons in order to interact with the app.

With Facebook Messenger, I can just type “Send $200 to Jack Nielson” in a message to my bank. By looking at my list of payees, my bank will know who Jack Nielson is (if it doesn’t know, it can ask for more information) and which account the money is coming from (if it can’t decide, it can ask again). Of course, some technologies must be built to make sure that the correct action is taken upon receiving a user’s message, but such programming challenges will easily be overcome over time.

Chat bot applications for banking

Thanks to mobile banking and online banking, visiting a branch is no longer necessary for day-to-day banking. In fact, many digital banking startups feel there is no need for a branch-based business model and run their whole business on the web and mobile. Chat bots will help banks automate tasks further by making it seamless for the users to submit their inquiries.

Chat bots are also a great tool for the banks to simplify their digital interfaces, while being easier to maintain than an app. To support a new Messenger command (e.g. “what’s my credit card balance?”), there is no need for an app to be developed and published in the App Store. All the bank has to do is to write code that translates the message to a certain set of actions in the back end. Thanks to new solutions such as Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft Bot Platform, turning a message into a request is simple.

Here are some of the immediate applications of chat bots for banking.

Alerts: Chat bots are great tools for delivering alerts to users’ accounts. You can get a quick sense of the experience by subscribing to CNN’s Messenger bot, a great alert tool that sends a summary of news items to subscribers every day. Banks can leverage the alerts capability to enable features such as “send daily account summary” or “low balance alert” for users.

Alerts

Day-to-day banking: Facebook users will soon be able to transfer money, pay bills, and deposit checks via Facebook Messenger. Creating a simple money transfer experience on Messenger will take some time. There will of course be challenges such as authentication, user mistakes, and privacy that must be addressed.

It is interesting to note that Microsoft has launched a Bot Framework that makes it easy for businesses to build a translation engine that translates user messages into actionable requests. Users will eventually be able to send a screenshot of a check to their bank, expecting that their bank will turn that image message into a money deposit request.

day to day banking

Inquiries: Instead of opening a banking app, users will find it more convenient to go to Facebook Messenger and ask questions such as “what’s my balance today?” It is also simpler for the bank to add support for new inquiries in Messenger than to support it by revising a mobile application. To support “what’s my balance today?” in Messenger, a bank doesn’t need to worry about UX, app development, managing mobile sessions, etc. All it needs to do is to act on the request and send an automatically generated response back to the user.

inquiries

Search: Searching in Messenger will be radically different than searching in a browser. It’s a lot easier to type a question on Facebook Messenger than to go to a browser or a bank app. In addition, a user will always have access to previous inquires and can easily access them by scrolling up.

search

News and education: It hasn’t been easy for banks to develop a content delivery strategy for customers because financial education is not an interesting topic to a large segment of the public. Using chat bots, banks can push personalized financial educational content to any of their chat followers, including those who are not customers. Users can select their topics of interests and receive information that matches their needs. In addition, the bank can look at customers’ previous Messenger inquiries and optimize their personalized content accordingly. If a customer is asking questions about his or her balance, for example, a bank can send money management tips. If a customer is asking about mortgage rates, the bank can send content about buying a house and applying for a mortgage.

news and education

Customer support: It is more convenient for the average user to speak to a customer support agent on Facebook Messenger than on a private chat service on a website or an app. On Messenger, a user can post a question without giving it their full attention and come back to it at a later time to review the response. Users don’t need to wait for an agent to respond immediately.

customer support

Offers: Banks can present offers and promotions in Messenger. The offers can be personalized (e.g. “pay off your $2,000 credit card debt today”). There is also an almost 100% guarantee that customers will see these messages. After all, there is only one way for a customer to contact their bank – via Messenger.

These are just a few practical uses that highlight the importance of Facebook Messenger to the future of banking. It is crucial for banks to take advantage of Facebook Messenger if they wish to retain or increase market share.

offers

How bots benefit banking

Some of the applications mentioned above have direct impacts for banking. Below are some of the more significant benefits.

Increased user engagement: With Messenger, it will become easier for users to engage with their banks. No more 1-800 calls with confusing automated menus, long wait times to speak to an agent, call center business hours, or delayed response times in chat rooms. There will now be fewer reasons for people to visit a branch, call customer support, or visit a website. Users will say and type what they need and will expect their bank to handle the rest. It is a pleasant experience for users to be able to connect with their bank anytime, anywhere, and without having to give full attention to the interaction.

Access to big data: Banks will be able to aggregate Messenger messages to learn significantly more about their customers. They can use conversation histories to offer more relevant content, offers, and automatically generated responses. After all, it is a lot easier to understand customers’ behavior and intentions by reading their requests in simple English than by analyzing clicks and navigation behavior.

Lower development costs: Supporting a new functionality on Facebook Messenger costs less than supporting a web or mobile interface. To launch a new feature for a web or mobile application, a significant amount of development, QA, and usability testing efforts are required to develop a user friendly interface. To support a new inquiry on chat bot, the bank simply has to develop the back office capabilities that support that request and set an automatically-generated response.

Reduced call center calls: Customers will no longer have to call for answers to their inquiries. They can just post their questions on Messenger. Imagine a user simply typing “my credit card is lost. Please cancel it,” instead of calling a 1-800 number and speaking to an agent.

Banks will discover many other benefits to supporting Messenger. It’s a path all banks will eventually take, just as they launched online banking and mobile banking.

Challenges with bots for banking

Although the benefits of chat bot banking are many, there are some risks that must be addressed.

Authentication: Facebook’s Messenger Platform V.1 does not currently offer an integrated authentication solution. If I message 1-800-Flowers, for instance, and ask to send roses to my wife, they will ask for my name and payment information because they don’t currently have a way of connecting my 1-800-Flowers account to my Facebook Messenger account.

This is a temporary limitation that will eventually be addressed by either Facebook allowing third parties to enable authentication inside their chat bots, or by the adoption of Facebook Connect by businesses. Facebook certainly prefers the latter approach, but many businesses, especially banks, will not be comfortable using Facebook Connect as an authentication solution due to fraud concerns.

I believe that Facebook will soon open the Messenger platform for third-party service authentication inside chats. The solution might be something as simple as contextual data (e.g. typing speed and pattern) or biometric authentication (e.g. Touch ID). In any case, a bridge will be built between Facebook accounts and businesses’ client profiles. Allowing businesses to complete their own authentication inside Messenger is certainly better for the banks as this approach eliminates the need to install Facebook Connect in their online banking systems.

User error: Typos can create frustration when using Messenger. Imagine if a customer enters an extra digit, or misses a digit in a money transfer request. There are a few UI solutions (e.g. requesting confirmation of amount) that can address these challenges, but it will take some time for the banks to optimize their Messenger interface to handle these scenarios.

What’s next for Messenger banking?

Due to the high scalability of Facebook Messenger, it is predicted that the adoption rate for Messenger bots will be much higher than any disruptive software or hardware device in the past. Bank of America has already announced plans to launch support for Messenger.

Given the importance of security and privacy in banking, it is essential for banks to start playing with chat bots as soon as possible. Due to the current limitations with authentication in Facebook Messenger, banks should begin by focusing on areas that do not need authentication, like search, news, education, and general inquiries. Phase 2 can include more complex services such as live chat and alerts. Phase 3 will include services such day-to-day banking in Messenger with secure authentication.


source: venturebeat