The screen size could determine the price of your movie in the future

Most of the time, DVDs cost, more or less, about the same price. However, it is illogical that watching a movie on TV costs the same as watching it on smartphones. After all, on our smartphones, the experience is somewhat limited in terms of audio and visual quality.

Well, maybe the price of your movie could be based on the media its displayed with in the future. Or at least that's the vision of the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg:
 
"A movie screen will be $15. A 75-inch TV will be $4. A smartphone will be $1.99"


Although this seems pretty logical, this model may be difficult to implement because of the difficulties a security system might encounter recognizing the exact screen size: who's to say that a user won't play a $ 1.99 film on a big screen TV?
 
That said, it is an interesting idea and Katzenberg is convinced that this pricing model will eventually be a standard in the industry. Until then, would you pay less to watch a movie on a smartphone?

Source: The Verge

"The bird is back"

After the withdrawal of the application, many developers have tried to ride the success of Flappy Bird by creating clones. But the question we've all asked is: how can someone give up $ 50,000 a day like this? 

After all, it all might be a marketing strategy since the author announced its return on all smartphones and tablets on YouTube. There are no pictures of the game yet, just a dove and the famous pipes!


 

The author of the game no longer communicates on his Twitter account and there is no way to verify if he's the one who posted it.
So, for the moment, we can only assume that the withdrawal of the application was for marketing purposes. 

Personalized ads might be coming to Gmail Android

Recently updated, the Gmail application for Android carries signs of the imminent arrival of advertising.

The Android Police website, analyzed the last updated Gmail for Android 4.6. The site was not disappointed, since among the novelties of this version, they came back with clues about the arrival of advertising on the app.

A new library named "ads" - has appeared. In it, a series of XML files evoking multiple ad formats, but also a command that refers to the page of the user's preferences, suggesting that the custom settings (used for targeting) could be part of .
 

Even thought Google has already started sending Sponsored mails via Gmail, the service does not appear, for the moment, to include advertising. This situation could change in the future, at least for the Android application, if the company decided to integrate the elements cited above in its APK.

Stay tuned!

Does IOS7 make your Iphone waterproof?

iOS7, available since September 18, does not make your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch waterproof. This is the kind message that Apple is making us broadcast to a handful of users.  

Many believed a false advertising that made the rounds on the Internet recently. It showed "Update to iOS 7 and become waterproof." Obviously, this story is not true. It has not prevented some users from falling into the trap so far. They tested their iPhone to dive into the water and there was the drama.
 
The ad below has quickly made ​​the rounds on social networks. It comes straight from 4Chan.
 

 
It is true that the advertising is rather well done. All evidence suggest that Apple is behind it, I think that their intention was to test how well their marketing strategy since 2001 is going and I think it is safe to say that they succeeded to prove how gullible and stupid their users are! (I personally don't mind a chat with an Apple sheep...)

Do not believe everything you read. Ask yourself the simplest question before you start conducting experiences: How a simple software update can render a device resistant to water?

Meanwhile, several users have reported their anger on Twitter
"Anyone who said that iOS7 was waterproof, fuck you!"
"Now my phone has water damage."

Source: iphoneaddict

YouTube offline: Vevo is categorically opposed

Last week, we learned, not without joy, that the YouTube application for Android mobile devices will soon allow watching videos offline. Once the video is loaded on your device, you'll be able to watch it as much as you want in a period of 48 hours.A new feature that can be useful when you are in a bad coverage area, when you carefully monitor your 3G consumption or simply if you intend to listen repeatedly to the same song over and over again.

Vevo: A party pooper!

  

Unfortunately , apart from our expectation about the eventual integration of offline mode on YouTube, Vevo sees this novelty as evil.

"We’re not going to allow viewing of our music videos or other programming in offline mode"
 
The ultimate promotion tool on the net of giants like Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, Vevo account, aren't counting on  losing a dime generated by advertising, nor will consider the risk that they might be overshadowed by Youtube's own application. A choice that is anything but a wise on their part and should further encourage piracy.After all who want to wait four minutes loading whenever he wants play a song when you can just download it illegally to be available on the SD card as soon as you want? It is clear that only way to attract music consumers in making it accessible . But obviously, Vevo couldn't care less.

However, Vevo's decision should not compromise the integration of offline mode in the YouTube application, expected in November .

The Apple handkerchief 1.0

Apple hit hard by announcing its integrated within the iPhone 5S fingerprint reader. We know for sure that third-party developers can not use this technology, but what wasn't announced is the Apple handkerchief you get whenever you buy a 5S: a very useful accessory in the company of this smartphone!


      

The future iPhone 5S owners, shall, to unlock their phone, put their finger on the home button. However if you have sweaty fingers Touch ID may not recognize you. In this case, you can say goodbye to the ability to unlock your mobile. A shame isn't it?

However, if the phone was restarted, or it hasn't been unlocked for 48 hours (sweaty fingers? ...), an option with a password you pre-registered will be displayed for you to avoid the hassle of "brick in your pocket."

What's really going on between Google and Nestlé?

After the quite unexpected announcement Google made about the name of the next version of Android, some additional explanations were published today to clarify that this agreement was non monetary .
  
  

For every major new version of Android, Google gives a new name corresponding to a dessert. And for each new version, the first letter is incremented in an alphabetical order. Thus, with the letter K we were expecting Key Lime Pie, but finally Android 4.4 KitKat has been announced to take us by surprise.

Obviously, many questions have been raised about this partnership with the Swiss food giant. Many tech writer started to talk about a financial settlement that has been reached between the two firms. But this is not the case.

Thanks to a publication of the BBC, we learn that this marketing operation began in a telephone meeting between the Android sales manager and Nestlé's advertising consulting agency. Then all that was finalized at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, last February. More importantly, no money has been raised, only an exchange of visibility between the two giants has been concluded.

Shortly, you now should expect to find Android shaped chocolate bars since Nestlé plans to distribute more than fifty million of these treats, stamped Android. And maybe we'll get then the chance to win one the latest Nexus, or gifts from Play Store.

And finally to learn more about this, visit http://kitkat.com, which is, I might say the most perfectly designed website I've seen so far. It is just AWESOME!

Microsoft agitates the world of smartphones

Since the announcement of the "cooperation" between Microsoft and Nokia at Mobile World Congress 2011 , observers have been waiting for what looked very much like an inevitable logical sequence, with this recurring question: When will Microsoft buy the once was Finnish giant ?  
As I was struggling to sleep -it was 5 am here-, I checked twitter to find out that #Microsoft is trending. We finally got an answer:  Microsoft announced the acquisition of Nokia for $ 7.2 billion. The news were received by surprise and mockery.


In an email sent yesterday evening to employees of the firm, Steve Ballmer , CEO leaving Microsoft , announced the acquisition of Nokia 's Devices & Services business , a deal that includes smartphones and mobile division development and design teams , manufacturing units in the world, and operational teams: marketing and support. In total 32,000 Nokia employees will pass directly under Microsoft's banner.
 
Ballmer said that the transaction is " a big step for the future and is in line with the changes announced on July 11". Lumia and Asha in one basket Besides the Nokia Lumia range smartphones composed exclusively of the Windows Phone operating system from Microsoft, this purchase also covers "basic" Asha phones , which will enable Microsoft to expand its hold on mobile telephony.
A major challenge to the two companies , which have failed to negotiate in good time and in the best of their place in the great upheaval of telephony and mobile internet , especially on the smartphone market , monopolized by Apple , Samsung and Google's Android OS , which in turn has also offered another manufacturer , Motorola .  

So, what remains to Nokia? 

Three activities " software, network and services":  Their mapping service, the network infrastructure NSN and Advanced Technologies, and business license and development .  
For Microsoft , it's not big surprise. Their goal was clear, to regain the special privileges they granted Nokia to adapt Windows phone and then to end Nokia. So it is safe to say that the next phone after the latest Lumia ( to be released on the 2nd of October) will be signed Microsoft.

Pebble Smart Watches : pre-orders exceeded 275,000 units

The pre-orders of Pebble smartwatch, had surpassed the 275,000 pre-orders, in addition to having received nearly 1 million app downloads to date. Of the 275,000 pre-orders, about 85,000 of them were received during its Kick starter campaign. Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble said: "This is great news for users and for developers. More Pebble = a bigger market and more demand for Pebble watchapps. With the objective to see Pebbles appear on many wrists as possible, our team is constantly working to improve the quality of this product and to increase its capacity. Every day thousands of new Pebbles are produced. "  

Yelp allows you to avoid hipsters in your city

Do you find the sight of a hipster in her/his tight slims "fun"? Tired of seeing them everywhere you go? Yelp will help you avoid using a heat map!
 

First, let us return to what Yelp is. It is a service of research and popular opinion in the United States who bought Qype last year for 50 million dollars.

Today a new feature appeared taking the form of a world  heat map that reveals hot spots with the most popular terms used on Yelp in a selected city (including the term "hipster ", obviously). We can therefore find out where the largest concentration of bar or otherwise avoid tourist areas and hipsters.

More android apps

The first smartphone with a watercooling system

Desktop computers are often equipped with a water-cooling system, to support overclocking and/or intensive operations for extended periods. Our smartphones always demanding more power they are also subjects. NEC has developed the first smartphone with water-cooling.

X Medias N-06E, will be the first smartphone to benefit from a water-cooling system.
 

Why? Simply because the quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro that drives the device can be boosted up to 1.9 GHz, and in these cases, the temperature rises rapidly.

If however decided to keep the processor at 1.7 GHz (and therefore a water-cooling benefits should not really be felt), the owners of the X Medias N-06E, mainly Japanese (expected release in late June NTT Docomo) will have in their hands a smartphone equipped with two heat pipes.

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will be available on Android and iOS

Yesterday, at a conference held in Orlnado, BlackBerry has announced that its instant messaging, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), would arrive soon on the Android and iOS smartphones.

Until now reserved for BlackBerry, BBM was one of the main strengths of the brand. It allowed to communicate between BlackBerry devices, receive acknowledgments and reading, sharing media files, start discussions or spend several videos. As complete as it is, the system has gradually been overtaken by other companies offering the same kind of service as iMessage on iPhone and most importantly, other services compatible with multiple operating systems like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
 

From the Blackberry conference on Tuesday 15/05/2013 in Orlando

To revive its messaging service, the Canadian company has decided to make BBM available on Android to version 4.0 and higer and iOS to version 6 and higher. 
   
"Different applications should be available this summer on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. We'll begin with messaging and groups, and later we will bring voice, screen sharing and other services" - Thorsten Heins, CEO of BlackBerry.
 

Making the service available to many other platforms might sound like a good idea but it also presents some disadvantages. First, you might agree with me that this move is a bit late, after Whatsapp and Facebook messenger dominated the market and it would be hard for someone to choose the BBM service over any of those mentioned, and secondly, according to a poll on the Blackberry blog :What Do You Do on Your BlackBerry Smartphone? 30% of 8000 voters chose the instant messaging service and 20% went for social networking, and as well know some people buy Blackberry just to profit of it's famous BBM.
So we cannot but wonder: is making the BBM service available on other platforms going to give Blackberry users the push to finally quit using Blackberry devices and switch to Samsung, HTC or Apple?

Samsung announces 5G

Samsung Electronics has successfully tested a mobile network to the  5G standard _ that will hit the market in 2020 at the earliest_ for ultra high transmission speeds.

The South Korean giant has announced that it managed to transmit data at a speed of 1 Gbps over a distance of two kilometers between two terminals while current 4G networks transmit at 75 Mbps, and download movies in a second.

"Users will benefit from a wide range of services such as 3D movies and playing games and streaming (live) content in ultra high definition (UHD)," Samsung stated in a report.

The new technology uses extremely high frequency bands (EHF) but still doesn't comply with any recognized international bodies telecom standard.

Source : AFP.

Make every screen 3D-compatible with a simple plastic film

A team of researchers from Temasek Polytechnic and the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) has developed a new screen filter. It's not only a protector, but this filter allows you to view in 3D format without recourse to the famous glasses.

This plastic filter has been called revolutionary. Install it, simply to see with the naked eye 3D content on the screen of a phone. In fact, this screen protector is designed from the nanoimprint technology specially developed for this purpose. Boasting a thickness of less than 0.1 mm, this innovative accessory enables viewing in landscape and portrait mode. Meanwhile, the team is developing applications for iOS and Androidfor users to read 3D content. Even 2D images can be converted into 3D with a compatible application. Game developers will also have their share with the software development kit that transforms games into 3D.
 

New lithium-ion battery that recharges 1,000 times faster

This time, the innovation lies in its charge time. It is a microscopic battery developed by a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.



  

Recharging mobile gadgets in seconds, is the main objective of this ingenious battery. The share of the traditional principle of the anode assembly, cathode and electrolyte, but in another form concept. This time the researchers rely on micro-structures consisting of 3D electrodes. To maximize the flow of ions and electrons, these mini-cells form a structure of microscopic polystyrene spheres.

The anode is formed by a mixture of nickel-tin whilst the cathode, is composed by an ore called manganese oxyhydroxide.  

In the end, this type of battery would be 2000 times more powerful than existing batteries. Better yet, with its smaller size, it is able to recharge 1,000 times faster.
This innovative battery will be submitted to testing by the end of the year.

For more details check out this link: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/153614-new-lithium-ion-battery-design-thats-2000-times-more-powerful-recharges-1000-times-faster

The battery of the future : 10 times more autonomous.

SiNode Systems announced earlier that they won the grand prize of Rice Business Plan Competition, which recognizes start-ups and promote the most innovative projects. In addition to the main prize, the young company has obtained various other rewards for a total of 911,400 dollars.
  

The company founded by six students from Northwestern University under the guidance of their teacher is developing technology that could significantly extend the life of our batteries by adding a layer of Graphene(a substance composed of pure carbon).

 

Simply put, they use a Graphene layer pierced instead of graphite found on the anodes of the current lithium-ion batteries. According to initial tests, this "simple" change multiplies by ten the life of the battery and allows to significantly accelerate the cool down process while being suitable for traditional batteries.

The results are already conclusive: all that's left is to industrialize the process for the market by carrying themselves to manufacturing, selling the license of this technology. It may therefore happen sooner than we think.

Facebook Home, is it really an innovation?

Facebook presented Thursday night, its innovations related to Android. As planned, a new smartphone, HTC First, with the default application, Facebook Home, were announced.
Which was anticipated in a previous post on the platform : Facebook mobile, how real is it?

The surprise has not been a great one, since expectations were much higher, but it was an opportunity to finally lift the suspense.  
At the premises of Facebook in Menlo Park, Mark Zuckerberg introduced the newest social network in mobility: Facebook Home, an Android application with the same principle of Nova Launcher, Go Launcher or Smart. In other words, it is an application that can replace the Home screen and application menu of android smartphone.

As we see the Facebook Home integration is between the OS and the apps menu.

 

The new home screen, Coverflow, can only have access to Facebook friends publications.You can easily comment or like one of these publications using the buttons provided. Moreover, thanks to Facebook Home, Facebook Messenger application and received SMS messages will now appear superimposed on the screen with the profile picture of the contact that we wrote. Finally, notifications are displayed directly superimposed over Coverflow.

However, these innovations will not bypass the classic features of Android. Other applications remain accessible by sliding your finger from the screen bottom to the top. It will only be possible to add widgets or shortcuts on the home screen reserved for publications.  

Facebook Home will be available as an application on 12 April, downloadable directly from the Google Play Store. Not all smartphones are compatible yet, but as promised Facebook application will be updated each month, particularly to support more devices. For the tablet version of the application, it will need to wait "a few months".

HTC First, the first smartphone integrating Facebook Facebook Home by default works simpler by choosing to use the default Home rather than the typical desktop by pressing the home button, Facebook is also working with manufacturers to integrate Home by default in smartphones. If Samsung and Sony already have projects, the Taiwanese HTC which will launch on April 12 with the First HTC which will be marketed in the U.S. operator AT & T. It will be compatible with AT & T's 4G LTE and is available in cyan, red, black or white, will sport a 4.3-inch screen, run on Android 4.1 and is equipped with a Snapdragon processor double heart 400.

Finally, all I can say that the Facebook Home is nothing but another disappointment, for it's leak of creativity and innovation. And sadly, confirms the fact that big companies are so comfortable, they have no more interest into presenting more creative gadgets to the brainwashed mass. And after so many disappointments this year, I think we should all be less excited about the Motorola X phone.

Twitter unveils new interactions within your tweets

An event took place yesterday in the Twitter HQ in San Francisco, where the press was simply not invited. Twitter seeking to hold a "head to head" with developers had unveiled their new interactions with which they were able to stay up to the game.  

The first announcement will interest mobile application developers. In fact, you may have heard of Twitter Cards (or extended tweets), which is the feature that will show an image, a photo, a video or an article summary directly from the Twitter.com interface. Its use could become widespread in the near future with names like Flickr, Path, Foursquare and Etsy who had the privilege to incorporate a little early. Simply put, if a person shares a Flickr photo on Twitter, you will be able to view the photo directly following the updates on your mobile application.  
If you have Flickr app on your phone, a link at the bottom offers you to see the photo in the application, and if you don't, you will be prompted to go and download it.  
Twitter could so quickly become a new download source for application developers. 

New Cards Twitter adds some new options for cards with the full list here:
Summary Card: information for sites that wish to put the title of an article, the lead-in, a small image and logo of the media.Photo Card: to include one photograph in a tweet.
Card Gallery:  to include up to 4 photos in one tweetApp Card: to transform iTunes links and Google Play in descriptive card applicationCard Player: to include a video in a tweetProduct Card: To add a product to an online e-commerce site(as with the example Etsy)
The Twitter Cards are good news for Twitter, which will make it more complete flow and therefore more interesting AND good news for developers who are going to benefit from it to increase their traffic, download applications, or sell products.

A new Facebook smartphone?

"Come and see our new home on Android". The news came yesterday, Facebook has invited the press to an event on April 4 to find out about the new home of Facebook on Android. A theme somewhat mysterious but simulates the famous rumors of a Facebook smartphone. 

Last year already, there has been talks of  Facebook developing its own smartphone, an idea that has always been rejected by the most popular social network in the world. Some HTC smartphones had a previous collaboration experience with Facebook, like ChaCha and Salsa, who tried take advantage of a better integration by dedicating a new button.



HTC and a revamped OS menu! 
The Taiwanese manufacturer has once again in the highlights (and I know this because it isn't very often that the latest five posts on your blog are labeled HTC) and should take care of the hardware part. UnwiredView evoked early this March a smartphone with a dual-core processor at 1.5 GHz, a 4.3-inch 720p screen, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of non-expandable, a 5 Megapixel camera on the back and 1 , 6 megapixels for the front. 
The software is Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2  but according to TechCrunch, the latter embark an "overlay" in the image of "Sense" on the HTC smartphones running under Android.
Finally, if one believes 9to5google a Facebook / HTC ad campaign is ready in California.  
A modified version which would put the social network in advance, propose its own App Center and has every interest to capitalize on any mobile at any time since the social network is longer available on smartphone than on PC.


The application also keeps Messenger to enrich new coming today compete SMS and calls with VoIP. Finally remember this tweet from Bloomberg from the summer of 2012, that mid-2013 will output a Facebook smartphone in partnership with HTC. 


Hard to believe today, it is a mere rumor!