Headlines Archives - Page 16 of 58

Porsche Ditches Android Auto Over CarPlay

October 7, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Porsche ditches Android Auto and choose Apple’s CarPlay instead due to some privacy concerns. Porsche unveiled the many features that their 2017 911 model will pack, but unfortunately for Google, Android Auto isn’t one of them.

Motor Trend reports that Porsche didn’t opt out of Android Auto because of technological reasons. The 2017 911 won’t feature Google’s AA because of ethical reasons. Its massively upgraded PC system can easily run it as well as Apple’s CarPlay.

Motor Trend continues by stating that if Porsche would have went through with Google, they would have been obligated to hand over valuable data such as engine revs, oil and coolant temp, throttle position, vehicle speed and other significant information. This basically means that Google would have been allowed to read the complete OBD2, which is the on-board diagnostic dump.

Also, offering so much information to a multi-billion dollar company that is currently developing their own car isn’t really a good idea. Simply put, Porsche doesn’t want their secret sauce to be leaked to another future competitor.

Porsche Ditches Android Auto Over Apple CarPlay for its new 2017 911 model

Porsche 2017 911 interior

Yet, Apple doesn’t need the on-board diagnostic dump, it just wants to know if CarPlay is in use while the car is moving.

So, Porsche ditches Android Auto because Google wants to be some sort of helicopter parent.

However, Google comes with a rebuttal and denies that it collects so much data from Android Auto enabled vehicles. The company told PCMag that they take privacy very seriously and they don’t grab data as the Motor Trend articles claims. Google notes that they offer the user a chance to opt in to share the information, because doing so will improve the Android Auto experience – a more accurate navigation via the car’s GPS and if the system is hands-free, or not, when in Drive mode.

Porsche Ditches Android Auto Over CarPlay because of privacy reasons

2017 911 Porsche concept

Google follows by saying that sharing the GPS location with the driver’s smartphone can save power juice and it’s more accurate. AA requires to know if the user’s car is in drive or park for obvious safety reasons. Also, if it’s night or day in order to better optimize the vehicle’s screen for viewing.

This isn’t the first time these issues come to light. During the Summer, Reuters showcased that the majority of auto manufacturers aren’t that keen to share valuable data of your travels with Google and Apple solely because both companies are trying to break into the auto industry. This means that it will cost everyone a lot of money because two tech giants want to take a chunk of the auto-moto pie.

Apple and Google cars are coming. When, we don’t know. What we do know is that they will definitely change the industry.

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The Apple Watch Hermes Collection is Now Available

October 6, 2015 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

The Apple Watch Hermes collection is now available and it ranges from $1,100 to $1,500 – it comes with Hermes-infused colors, bands and clock faces.

Apple’s new Watch collection was announced in September during the big iPhone 6s event. The Apple Watch Hermes collection is now available in select Apple and Hermes stores. Locations include Los Angeles, Toronto, Miami, New York, San Francisco and several other cities in Asia and Europe.

Depending on the style of the band and how big you want it to be, the Hermes collection will vary in price. The special French-designed Watch comes in three completely different styles and five exquisite colours – this leads to ten different looks to choose from.

Apple’s new collection will showcase three new leather band designs. Cuff, who is the bulkier of the bunch is inspired by equestrian fixtures, notes Apple. Single Tour follows the same equestrian style and Apple says that the buckle resembles the one found on the straps of a horse’s girth. The last design is the Double Tour, which is exactly what you’re thinking of – you can wrap the band two times around your wrist.

Size really matters when it comes to Apple Watch.

The Double Tour Model

Take the 38mm Double Tour – it comes in four colours such as Brown – Fauve, Grey – Etain, Light Brown – Capucine and Blue – Bleu Jean.

The Single Tour Model

The 38mm Hermes-designed Single Tour can be bought in Fauve, Capucine, Black – Noir, while the bigger 42mm model of Single Tour is only available in Fauve and Noir.

The Apple Watch Hermes Collection showcases the bulkiest model, called The Cuff.

The Cuff Model

The last one of the bunch, and the bulkiest one too, is The Cuff. It’s available only in 42mm sizes with a Brown strap. It’s also the most expensive Hermes-Apple Watch model you can buy – it costs $1,500.

According to sources close to Apple and Hermes, their alliance has started way before Apple announced their first Watch iteration. All of the smartwatches included in the Apple Watch Hermes Collection have special new clock faces designed by the luxury brand, as well as their logo stapled on the back.

Worth noting is that this is the first time Apple has allowed so much material branding from an outsider on one of their products. We kinda figured that 2015 and 2016 will be the cornerstone for Apple, but we didn’t thought that they are keen on redesigning themselves so fast.

In all fairness, the Hermes branding is done in traditional Apple style – keeping everything simple and elegant.

Target will be selling the Apple Watch starting with the 25th of October, but it won’t have the new Hermes collection in store. At least, not for now.

Hermes brings more elegance and a certain style to Apple’s smartwatch don’t you think?

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The Beginner’s Guide Tries to Make You a Better Human

October 5, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

The Beginner’s Guide isn’t your run of the mill video-game – it’s thought-provoking and it asks gut-wrenching existential questions. More or less . It opens with a huge dilemma. Can you know someone by analyzing their art?

As you play the game – a fairly short experience mind you; compelling problems arise. They relate to how you can recognize selfishness, fostering intimacy – how it’s more important to some than to others; and how does someone maintain a friendship and its difficulty throughout the years.

Even though it’s rather short, clocking slightly over the two hour mark, The Beginner’s Guide is a beautiful mourning filled with the very best kind of surreal. Images of a wormhole suddenly appearing and opening during a self help talk, that ominous door aimlessly floating in space, and that country coffee shop that turns into a prison will haunt you for days to come.

It starts with the The Beginner’s Guide author, Davey Wreden communicating with the player. Davey even gives his e-mail – unfortunately, he didn’t reply to my message.

It sets a comfortable and patient tone throughout the game just because Davey makes a personal calling. It seems like he’s saying to just relax and take it as it is. Afterwards, he tells the gamer that he’s going to be playing a few games developed by Coda, one of his friends.

Yet, these games are somewhat broken and abstract. Because they are deeply flawed, Wreden says, the human element is painstakingly obvious.

Don’t go in expecting Tim Schafer writing, nor Limbo-like puzzles – you are just observing these games, you are grabbing as much information as you can and Wreden solves them for you. You don’t have a set objective, an ultimate quest to fulfill. As the game’s description showcases, The Beginner’s Guide is about the story of a person who struggles to deal with something that he just can’t understand.

That something is another human and the game makes it painfully clear that you never truly know someone, regardless of how much time you spend together, or how many things you both went through.

Just scraping the surface, the story seems to be about a tortured soul – a recluse artist who creates games that are ultimately incredibly hard to play. You can take it as a relationship between an idol and his fan, with the latter exploring his misguided expectations.

In the end, you’ll be prone to think that The Beginner’s Guide is about utter loneliness, how friendships dissolve through time and how these connections can be easily shattered, never to be rebuilt again.

I highly recommend The Beginner’s Guide to casual and hardcore gamers alike. Casual gamers will fall in love with how immersive the world is – beautifully painting surreal experiences on top of an abysmal sadness. Veterans should play Wreden’s title to get a glimpse of how hard it is to actually develop a game that pleases players. At the same time, hardcore gamers could learn a valuable lesson – in the end, it’s all about having fun and building relationships while gaming.

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Verizon Launches Free Go90 Video Service

October 3, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

The telecommunication behemoth just launched their free Go90 video service designed to be a sort-of next generation TV for smartphone lovers born after the year 2000.

Go90 is filled with almost 8,000 TV clips and episodes – more will be added on a regular basis. The Go90 video service has 35 exclusive original TV shows from Verizon’s partners – Endemol Beyond, New Form Digital, Vice and Awesomeness TV.

Yet, with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon already battling each-other for the throne, does Go90 stand a chance?

Analysts are more than skeptical of the new video service’s prospects. It’s clear that Verizon is buying, or developing content to appeal to millennials, but what is unclear is the long term costs they are facing, Paul de Sa, a Bernstein Research Analyst said in his notes.

Brian Angiolet, known as the senior Vice President of consumers products for Verizon says that Go90 is somewhere between Netflix and YouTube. The company wants to bridge the gap between Netflix, Hulu, other premium subscription-based VOD services, and everything that goes on YouTube.

To be fair, Verizon is buying original series left and right and is paying for actual TV shows from CBS Sports, ESPN, Viacom, Discovery Communications, Univision, and Scripps Networks Interactive – shows include the new Daily Show hosted by Trevor Noah and the classic MythBusters.

Original series will be produced by AwesomenessTV, Icon Network and even Vice. A new daily live show type called Top Five Live will feature YouTube star Hunter March – it will be hold in front of a live audience and it will be about recapping the hottest online topics, with guest appearances from the mainstream and digital medium.

Michelle Phan of Icon Network, as well as Vice, will develop an original programming to Verizon – nobody knows what it will be all about.

What we do know is that New Form Digital has six scripted series already lined-up – expect announcements to roll out soon.

The Go90 video service is available for Android and iOS devices. This means a huge potential for social media features. Verizon announced a few of them – crews can be formed with other social media users that have the same common interest, as well as the ability to clip content segments and share them on Facebook.

Publicis Groupe just made a huge commitent to Go90, AOL’s global head of mobile Chad Gallagher said recently. Publicis announced that its agencies and clients will have exclusive advertising inventory on Verizon’s new Go90 video service for three months. This deal begins in the fourth quarter, and it will extend to Q3 of 2016.

Whether the Go90 video service will be a hit or not, we’ll have to wait at least until 2017. Until then, let’s jump on it and see what TV series we can binge watch this weekend.

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Ad Blockers – Who are they? Why are they blocking?

October 2, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Who are the ad blockers and most importantly – why are they blocking?

In the past couple of months we’ve been constantly hearing about the surge of ad blockers on Apple’s iOS. This adds to the ever growing trend of ad blocking. According to the latest infographic made by Global Web Index, the profile of your average ad blocker is somewhat the same across the globe.

More than a quarter of internet users across the interwebz are using an ad blocking service – in Europe, it has surpassed the 30% mark. This trend is led by teenagers and young male adults.

Ad blocking is on the rise and there’s no obstacle in place for it.

Moreover, those who choose to block ads seem to spend a lot of time online on a daily basis i.e. those who use the world wide web for financial purposes. The biggest concern is that businesses are using their personal data to sell it to various advertisers.

Another motive for people wanting to block pesky ads is the fact that they just want to work without any unwanted interruptions. Yet, this assumption is somewhat inaccurate. The UK-based Internet Advertising Bureau conducted a survey via YouGov that took into consideration 2,000 adults. About 52% of them said that they want to block all the ads that they encounter.

The rest 48% noted that they just simply want to block certain types of adverts on particular sites. However, 73% of them added that they block ads on sites that obstruct their browsing experience – like huge hard-to-close pop-ups that appear out of the blue while reading an article.

Fifty-three percent said that they find the format and design of ads annoying – bright and popping colored ads tend to be infuriating.

Forty-six percent noted that they block ads because they think they are not relevant for them.

The SVP of Internal Sales at the Teads ad agency, Jeremy Arditi believes that the advertising industry needs to do something about ad blocking in order to keep the internet free – more exactly, nobody wants to make content creators set up a subscription plan, because then, everybody will lose something.

Arditi ads that they, the ad industry, need to better engage the user, not find better ways to interrupt their browsing experience. Arditi continues by saying that finding new formats on how to expose ads less invasive to consumers is crucial. We need better placed ads to give the consumer the ability to somehow control what he does and does not want to see.

Yet, every ad blocking service has a white list and the majority of users tend to add their most visited websites on it so their favorite content creator gets paid one way or the other.

Are you one of the ad blockers? Why are you blocking ads?

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Work Startup Asana Gets a Visually Rework and Retool

October 1, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

Work startup Asana has been retooled by Facebook co-founder Moskovitz. It’s a brand new start for the magical tool that replaced the so-dubbed tyranny of the E-Mail!

The work-collaboration market is estimated at $50 billion – no wonder Moskovitz decided to redesign Asana so it can push it to more businesses around the world.

Asana isn’t the only company that tries to take a chunk out of the huge billion-dollar-filling pie. Companies such as Basecamp and Slack are looking more into new ways on how to revolutionize work collaboration tools by leveraging how humans naturally work together.

This is also Asana’s main quest at the moment.

Asana is six years old and it was started by one Facebook co-founder named Dustin Moskovitz, and a former Facebook lead engineer called Justin Rosenstein. Yesterday, they announced that their software aims to further simply how groups of people interact at work.

Key features that you can find in the new Asana tool include a complete makeover on how we use e-mail. Called Conversations, it will turn your old timey e-mail into a huge organized thread with a ton of options and actionable lists.

Another new feature, Track Anything will allow Asana users to easily group search using information found on a spreadsheet form.

Moskovitz notes that the Track Anything feature was a vision of his since the beginning of his venture company. At the current moment, Moskovitz’s company has about $40 mil in funding and over 140,000 corporate users, with 10,000 of them paying customers. Users include the Major League Baseball and The New Yorker publication.

Moskovitz noted on Wednesday that the company’s revenue has more than doubled over the past year.

Work startup Asana has a basic version which is entirely free – it’s aimed at a group of people that has no more than 15 members. The premium version however, costs $21 a month and its designed for teams of five members and it can even go upwards.

Rosenstein notes that he wants to put a stop to people who decide to talk about doing work, instead of actually doing it. Moskovitz adds that he feels a sort of sense of accomplishment when he sees non-profit organizations plan an attack strategy for the betterment of a community using his tool.

All of the changes have gone live starting today, except for the Track Anything feature. It’s still in its beta phase and Moskovitz says that it will be ready for users sometime in early 2016.

Newly hired Chris Farinacci, who formerly worked for Google for Work as a top exec, is now in charge of work startup Asana as a business operations manager.

Get Ready for Minecraft on Oculus Rift

September 28, 2015 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

Get hyped – Minecraft on Oculus Rift just got real.

According to Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus Rift, Minecraft is headed towards the highly-anticipated VR platform this spring. The built-it-yourself game is popular than ever and its growth doesn’t seem to dwindle.

During the Oculus Connect event that took place in Hollywood this morning, Luckey went on stage and unveiled some of their plans for 2016, Gamasutra reports. However, fans that wish to play Minecraft on Oculus Rift will need the game’s Windows 10 Edition, according to Lydia Winters of Mojang.

It looks like our fantasies of digging huge caves and battling mythical blocky nether-drakes just got real – well, virtually speaking.

This hints at a new step forward for the gaming industry. Luckey took to explaining how we move, slowly but surely, to the metaverse i.e. an intense virtual reality world. With the help of Minecraft, Rift will build a sturdy foundation for VR enthusiasts.

Microsoft’s Hololens also takes to Minecraft to help them sell their headset – which is a fusion between augmented reality and virtual reality, but with more AR elements present.

There are a ton of devs that work on gearing up games so they can be easily played in VR. Yet, the majority of titles that are set to be released in 2016 feature realistic worlds that use small amounts of space. We are more than curious to see how VR developers are going to make exploring a virtually limitless world with minimal issues from the get-go.

Luckey and his team seem to be excited about the whole virtual reality trend and this gives us some sort of assurance that the end product will at least be passion-driven.

Fighting dinosaurs in ARK sounds superb, and flying an airplane in War Thunder is more than rad, but there’s something about exploring Minecraft with a VR headset that just makes me want to jump up and down out of pure excitement.

Oculus Rift is shaping up to be a huge ecosystem filled with all sorts of virtual reality experiences.

However, let’s not jump on the bandwagon so fast. Next year will be all about VR and VR pioneers trying to take a huge chunk out of the virtual pie. In theory, Minecraft sounds awesome, but we don’t really know how this will equate to real world standards. It has to be fun, and more importantly, it has to be comfortable and easy to use.

There’s a reason why Kinect failed – nobody wants to commit to standing up just to play a video-game when they can just jump on the couch and relax after a hard day’s work.

Yet, Wii was a huge success, mainly because it is gimmicky.

Regardless if it’s going to be a hit or miss, I can’t wait to try Minecraft on Oculus Rift when the time comes.

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BigDelta 3D Printer Can Build an Entire House Out of Clay

September 27, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Considered the world’s largest 3D printer, BigDelta can build an entire house out of clay. The perfect eco-friendly, low-cost solution to combat society’s problem with homelessness.

Installing spikes to keep homeless people away from certain city-areas isn’t a rational solution. In fact, it’s as stupid as it gets. We aren’t living in a cartoon were villains have wacky catch-phrases and even wackier plans to take over the world.

We are real human beings that need to treat one another with the respect we deserve.

The BigDelta 3D printer has been unveiled by the Italian collective called WASP, which stands for World’s Advanced Saving Project. BigDelta can basically create affordable mud huts in one continuous process.

Thanks to 3D printing, we have all the tools at our disposal in order to make things easier for people across the world – whether it is through a variety of prosthetics, heart valves, and now homes for the less fortunate among us.

The BigDelta 3D printer is a humongous machine that uses clay materials to build a house that takes inspiration from traditional architecture. It employs widely-used construction methods, and the 12 meter high machine looks like something from an Asimov book.

United Nations have announced that by 2013 approximately four billion people will require low-cost housing. This means that four billion people will have an income of under $3,000 by 2013. This is a scary thought.

WASP says that these kind of devices, pointing at the BigDelta 3D printer, prove to be a better alternative than the current method of constructing buildings i.e. let’s put a stop to pollution-heavy and high-cost building methods.

The BigDelta 3D printer uses dirt, natural fibers, water, clay and mud to construct a house. This equates to a better environment friendly machine – the consequences of building using cement are dire, and too few people understand this.

Better yet, clay houses don’t require that much maintenance and once set up, they can last for years. Homeowners just need to add a thin layer of clay over the external surface every five years.

It uses the same mechanism as your average 3D printer, but, of course, at a much larger scale. It looks quite imposing with all of those ginormous frames, but WASP notes that it’s lightweight. It’s also easily assembled and it can be ready for transportation in no time.

The BigDelta 3D printer is a revolutionary machine and if it gets the necessary funding, we could very well see the end of homelessness as we know it.

There’s another alternative though. A Chinese company has developed a new process that consists of separately assembling 3D printed parts to make a dwelling. The costs go under $5000.

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Improved Samsung Gear VR Costs $99, Sells this November

September 26, 2015 By Kenneth Scott Leave a Comment

When Samsung initially released its virtual reality headset for mobile platforms earlier this year, they called it Innovator Edition. Now, the Korean-based company is preparing their product for release – it’s finally consumer-ready!

The new and improved Samsung Gear VR will cost $99 and it will start shipping this November.

The announcement was made on the 24th of September during the Oculus Connect 2 developer conference that took place in Los Angeles. Peter Koo, who is Samsung’s Vice President of Mobile took to the conference’s stage to announce their plans.

This comes right in time for US’s Black Friday event. It will start selling worldwide shortly after its United States debut.

More so, proving that it wants the virtual reality industry to bloom, Samsung is committing to Oculus Rift’s goal – to make VR a mass-market product. That’s the only way to entice VR enthusiasts to buy a headset.

The new and improved Samsung Gear VR will work with all the company’s flagship phones that where released in 2015. This means that if you have recently acquired a Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 and Note 5, you own a VR compatible device.

Samsung’s VR headset now sports a 22 percent lighter hardware. Koo notes that this makes the headset more comfortable to use for extended periods of times. Also, the touchpad found in the side of the headset has received a somewhat complete make-over. Yet, Koo didn’t care to talk more about what this actually entails.

Users will have access to an expanding universe of premium content, Koo noted. This, however, is more than confusing, and nobody knows what he is talking about. Will Samsung build a special platform a la Steam for their Gear VR headset?

This sub-$100 price feels like an aggressive strategy to gain dominance over the VR market, which is yet to crown a king. Furthermore, we don’t even have an industry standard at the moment.

Joining the ranks of Google’s Cardboard, Zeiss VR One and DODOcase, the new and improved Samsung Gear VR will most likely be a hit this holiday season.

Samsung Gear VR headset comes with its very own controller.

A more performance-driven headset will be released at the beginning of 2016. Yes, we are talking about Facebook’s Oculus Rift. But don’t expect Oculus to go under the $100 threshold. Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe has hinted that their device will retail at around $500. Yet, if you want to use their headset you’ll have to use a $1000 machine.

VR is coming strong in 2016 and the mobile platform is one of its key destinations due to its large distribution capabilities.

There’s also a little VR device called Full Dive aimed at emerging markets that is yet to surface. Read our interview with one of Full Dive’s co-founders if you are interested in more details.

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Activision Announces Call of Duty E-Sports Competition

September 26, 2015 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

On the brink of publishing another Call of Duty title, Activision has announced a new Call of Duty e-sports competition.

The plan is to expand from an annual tournament to a year-round international league a la League of Legends and DOTA 2. The publishing company is also increasing the competition’s prize pool from $1 million to a whooping $3 million.

Whether you are an amateur or a professional, you’ll have a place in the competition. The year-round tournament will feature all sorts of divisions aimed at newcomers and veterans alike. At the end of the year, a championship will be held to crown the best team/player.

Rob Kostich, who is the Senior VP and General Manager for Activision’s Call of Duty, said that this will be a cornerstone for Call of Duty e-sports. He continues to add that Activision is keeping up their promise of promoting professional gaming across the world. They want to make a fun and competitive year that will culminate with a huge Call of Duty championship.

The official name for the championship will be Call of Duty World League. The Californian-based Activision says that the competition will start at the beginning of 2016 with league-like events in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and North America. The Santa-Monica publisher says that there will be three territories that will feature independent seasons. This will eventually lead to 32 teams qualifying for the Fall 2016 Call of Duty e-sports competition.

The company first hosted a Call of Duty e-sports competition in 2011 with a prize pool of $1 million. Since 2013, it has been an annual event.

Kostich wants these kind of e-sports events to have a deeper impact on the average gamer. He, along with Activision, wants to encourage pro gamers to delve more into their hobby, while at the same time entice aspiring competitors and casual fans to take up Call of Duty on a more serious level.

Call of Duty’s Senior Director of Product Management, Sam Cooper notes that their goal is to help the crème de la crème actually make money by competing in events aimed at pro gamers. The top 150 professional player will have the possibility to make a living by playing Call of Duty.

However, he didn’t comment about the financial prospects that this entails. What figures are you talking about Sam Cooper?

Events will be broadcast online, but Sam refused to specify what service they will be primarily using – Twitch, or Google’s YouTube Gaming platform?

To continue the trend, Kostich also refused to comment regarding the sensitive subject if Activision would test players for drugs.

The Electronic Sports League started administering random drug tests during the ESL One Cologne tournament this August.

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