Ahmed Kaludi – Page 4

Google’s made several ‘Star Wars’ VR experiences for Cardboard

Suddenly it’s not so important to own a car that’s “the ultimate driving machine,” as opposed to “the ultimate app machine.” I drive my Honda Pilot instead of my Volvo XC90 whenever I can because the Honda can connect to my smartphone over Bluetooth, plus it has a great navigation system. My Volvo has neither — all it does is drive.

Car manufacturers have picked up on this trend, recognizing that our apps are increasingly important in our car-purchasing decisions.

Given how important in-car technology has become — and the sluggish pace at which it updates — more automobile manufacturers are turning to smartphones to drive innovation. While people swap out their cars infrequently, we change our smartphones every two years or so, making the smartphone ideal as a target for car-app innovation. John Ellis, head of Ford’s developer program, explains:

The only one that puts software on the head unit is Ford Motor Company. We don’t allow you access to the head unit but through a dedicated set of APIs. In our philosophy, the phone drives the head unit: the head unit is a display. Innovation is much faster on the phone than it could be on the head unit. Certainly for us, we’re very bullish on this model. People are starting to see that it just works.

Apple plans to launch Apple Pay in China by February

Well, here’s a surprise: Mountain View now accepts PayPal payments for apps, games, books and other digital goods on Google Play. If you’re not exactly fond of paying through credit cards cards or carriers, you can activate the option by clicking Add Paypal and typing in your log-in details. The option has a huge limitation, though: you can’t exactly use it to buy devices and accessories. So, if you want to buy a new Android phone or a Nest thermostat, you need to bust out that plastic. That said, Play has also expanded carrier billing and gift card availability to more countries, and anyone waiting for either may want to check Google Support for the full lists.

Movado delivers a smartwatch inspired by its classic Museum Watch

Samsung’s Gear Fit had every chance to be by far the best activity tracker you could own. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. And there’s nothing sadder than unrealized potential. The advanced curved Super AMOLED touchscreen display and interchangeable bands of Samsung Gear Fitmake you look cool even during the most strenuous of activities.

What Is It?

It’s a stunning fitness tracker slash smartwatch wristable. It counts steps, tracks sleep, displays notifications from your phone, and even takes your pulse. It only works with Samsung devices.

Why Does It Matter?

Yes, you’re basically not allowed to be a tech company if you don’t make a wearable device these days. But the Gear Fit is by far the best-looking entrant in an increasingly crowded field. It also promises the best of both fitness tracking and smartwatch worlds. What could possibly go wrong?

Design

It’s lovely to ogle. Front and center, the Gear Fit features a 1.84-inch, curved, full-color AMOLED touch display. It’s got the same inky dark blacks and those vibrant colors we love in devices like the Galaxy S5. It’s encircled by a shiny chrome bezel, a familiar Samsung note. There’s a single button that you use to wake up the screen, go back to the home screen, or turn the Gear Fit off. Simple!

Using It

On paper, the Gear Fit seems fantastic. It counts your steps, it reliably displays any notification from any app you want (and not from apps you don’t) from your Samsung Android phone, and it can track your exercise in tandem with the S Health app on your phone to give you even more data. It would be the perfect little package, if it actually did all three of those things halfway decently.

Like

The hardware is near-perfect. Really, all it’s missing is an ambient light sensor, and maybe a mic for quick replies to email. But the screen is lovely, the band is comfortable, and the whole thing just looks great. Four days of battery life is totally respectable, as is its water resistance. Also, seeing a brief summary of emails, texts, @replies, and Facebook message as they come in is legitimately convenient and helped me stay on task and out of the attention vortex that is my phone. It’s nice to be able to control your music player from your wrist.

No Like

The software is unforgivably bad. Tragically bad. It feels as if the Gear Fit and the S Health teams barely spoke to each other at all. Which is especially bedeviling since Samsung made the conscious choice to sell a wearable product that only works with Samsung products. At least when Apple locks you into an ecosystem, things actually (mostly) work.

Should You Buy It?

No. Absolutely not. This incredibly promising device is utterly ruined by bad software. Also, it’s $200. If Samsung does a major software overhaul—and I mean from the ground up—then it could be a great device. But for now, the fact that it only works with Samsung phones, and it only barely works with Samsung phones at all, makes this a very easy decision: hard pass.

What’s the catch with off-brand prepaid wireless services?

Master Chief is getting a face-lift with an HD collection of his exploits. We’ve learned that Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 are being collected in a Master Chief-focused HD remaster coming from Microsoft. Our sources say that the set will zero in on Halo‘s most famous soldier to refresh audience’s memories ahead of Halo 5: Guardians‘ release, so curiosities like Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach likely won’t be a part of the package. The game’s developer is unknown at this point, but considering that Saber Interactive handled Combat Evolved Anniversary and is also working on an unannounced Xbox One project, the team is a likely suspect. Also unclear are plans for digital distribution, resolution and frame-rate (Microsoft bragged that that the next Halo will run at a “blistering” 60fps), piecemeal releases, or if the games will surface on other platforms as well (PC, anyone?).

Microsoft has gone on record saying that it would love to have Halo release more than once every three years. It’s used different developers to fill that task since, but we’re still pushing two years since Halo 4 launched. To commemorate the first game’s 10th birthday, Microsoft released Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary for the Xbox 360, which served as a stop-gap for the 343 Industries-developed Halo 4; there’s precedent for this sort of thing. This remake makes a lot of sense for Redmond for a couple of different reasons: it satisfies the more-frequent release desire and it helps fans get caught up on the story. It also gives them the chance to re-experience some of the best console shooters with better looks and sound — everyone wins!

Dell to fix flaw of its own making that puts its computers at risk

Google has acquired Quest Visual for an undisclosed amount. In doing so, the company has picked up a means for augmenting its translation capabilities in Android and Google Glass, in addition to bolstering its own Google Translate service with Quest Visual’s eye-catching technology.

Quest Visual’s primary app, Word Lens, allows a person to flip on the camera of their Android or iOS device and use it to frame a series of words they don’t otherwise understand — like a road sign printed in a foreign language, for example. In a perfect world, Word Lens recognizes the text and automatically replaces it with whatever you’ve elected to translate it to: French to English, English to Spanish, et cetera.

The app is primary for going between English and a second language, and vice versa, as language packs that one could previously purchase (and are now free, thanks to the acquisition) are all combinations of English and another language: Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, German, or Portuguese. The app works without any kind of network signal, which is a boon for those travelling. It also works with Google Glass, for those of you who have become recent explorers for the $1,500 device.

New in our buyer’s guide: The iPhone 6s, Surface Book and much more

You can use 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with your MacBook Pro (Retina, Late 2013) or Mac Pro (Late 2013) computer. You can use these displays at the following resolutions and refresh rates with the built-in HDMI port.

3840 x 2160 at 30 Hz refresh rate
4096 x 2160 at 24 Hz refresh rate (mirroring is not supported at this resolution)

With OS X Mavericks v10.9.3 or later, the following DisplayPort displays are supported at their default 30 Hz using single-stream transport (SST).

Sharp PN-K321
ASUS PQ321Q
Dell UP2414Q
Dell UP3214Q
Panasonic TC-L65WT600

MacBook Pro (Retina, Late 2013) or Mac Pro (Late 2013) also support 60 Hz displays using multi-stream transport (MST). These displays need to be manually configured to use MST. Follow the steps below to use the display’s built-in controls to enable this feature.

Sharp PN-K321: Choose Menu > Setup > DisplayPort STREAM > MST > SET
ASUS PQ321Q: Choose OSD menu > Setup > DisplayPort Stream
Dell UP2414Q and UP3214Q: Choose Menu > Display Setting > DisplayPort 1.2 > Enable
Panasonic TC-L65WT600: Choose Menu > Display Port Settings > Steam Setting > Auto

Your Mac will automatically detect an MST-enabled display. However, your display may require a firmware update to support 60Hz operation. Please contact your display vendor for details. If your specific DisplayPort display is not listed above, check with the display’s manufacturer for compatibility information.

Apple and Google settle Motorola patent disagreement and agree to cooperate on patent reform

(Reuters) – Apple Inc and Google Inc’s Motorola Mobility unit have agreed to settle all patent litigation between them over smartphone technology, ending one of the highest profile lawsuits in technology.

In a joint statement on Friday, the companies said the settlement does not include a cross license to their respective patents.

“Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform,” the statement said.

Apple and companies that make phones using Google’s Android software have filed dozens of such lawsuits against each other around the world to protect their technology. Apple argued that Android phones that use Google software copy its iPhones.

The two companies informed a federal appeals court in Washington that the cases should be dismissed, according to filings on Friday. However, the deal does not appear to apply to Apple’s litigation against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, as no dismissal notices were filed in those cases.

The most high-profile case between Apple and Motorola began in 2010. Motorola accused Apple of infringing several patents, including one essential to how cell phones operate on a 3G network, while Apple said Motorola violated its patents to certain smartphone features.

Xiaomi announces Mi Band Pulse, a $16 wearable heart rate monitor

(Reuters) – Intel Corp’s Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich mingled with electronics buffs at Silicon Valley’s annual maker mecca on Saturday as the chipmaker looks to amateur inventors to inspire a new wave of smart clothing.

With sales of smartphones losing steam, technology companies including Intel believe that wearable computing devices – a still undefined category including smart watches, fitness trackers and Google Glass – could become a major trend in personal computing.

But smartwatches and fitness bands launched by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other tech companies in the past year have yet to really take off.

At the Maker Faire in San Mateo, California, Krzanich told Reuters that successful smart clothes will come from individual inventors focused on their own needs.

“The trick to making the perfect wearable is going to be when you figure out what problems you’re trying to solve, and I don’t think you’re going to be able to build a wearable that does it all for everyone,” he said.

“Who better to design the next athletic wearable than an athlete,” added Krzanich.

Thousands of people attended the open-air event, which gives hobbyists and their families a chance to socialize and check out other people’s projects. Among the most popular attractions were demonstrations of flying drones, voice-activated robots and a giant metal octopus shooting fire from its tentacles.

Pinterest wins new funding, raising valuation to $5 billion

(Reuters) – Pinterest has raised a new $200 million round of funding that gives it a valuation of $5 billion, the photo pin-up site said on Thursday.

Pinterest, which allows users to create online bulletin boards based on various themes such as travel, decorating, or sports, said in a statement it would use the capital to invest in technology, develop its advertising program further, and expand internationally.

Pinterest said it raised money from existing investors SV Angel, Bessemer Venture Partners, Fidelity, Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital, and Valiant Capital Partners.

The company last raised money in October 2013 at a $3.8 billion valuation in a round led by Fidelity Investments.

News of the funding round was first reported by ReadWrite.

Pinterest said it has raised a total of $764 million so far from the time of inception.

Couchbase – Consolidation Begins In Big Data Space

One of the common comment from those watching the Big Data space is that there are too many projects that makes it too difficult to chose the right set of tools for the user needs. Well, the consolidation process has started with the merger of Membase (see previous CloudAve coverage), the company supporting open source memcached project, and CouchOne, the company behind open source CouchDB project (see previous CloudAve coverage). The new company called Couchbase will offer comprehensive, end to end family of NoSQL database products. This is clearly a big move targeted to attract organizations trying to tap into NoSQL data stores for their big data needs.