Starbucks Order & Pay Mobile Ordering Now in 25 States
Posted: June 16, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, Driving app, iOS, Mobile ordering, Order & Pay, Range Rover, Self Driving Cars, Starbucks Leave a commentIf you’re wide awake, there’s a good chance caffeine is involved. Good news for coffeeholics…Starbucks expects mobile ordering to be complete nationwide this year…and according to geekwire.com, has 4000 cafes live today. The Order & Pay service is available in 25 states…amazingly, California is not one of those! This amounts to about half of Starbucks stores. You should know they don’t have plans to include the ones in grocery stores and airports. Coffee drinkers are embracing the service…19% of all US Starbucks transactions are now done from the app. Order & Pay is iOS only right now, but they will add Android users later this year.
There’s a lot of activity moving us towards self-driving cars, but you might remember the James Bond movie where Bond drives a BMW with his smartphone. Techcrunch.com reports that Range Rover has a prototype Sport model that can actually be driven from an app! It’s not intended for fast getaways from foreign spies…the speed is limited to 4 mph, and the phone has to be within 10 feet of the vehicle. Rover sees it as a possible help for tight parking spaces or for treacherous terrain. No word on its availability to the public, but Rover is working on making it use voice commands, and also keeping it super secure…so crooks can’t just hack and drive away your SUV from a distance!
Samsung’s (Even) Bigger Galaxy S6 Edge Plus
Posted: June 12, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 140 Character limit, Android, DM, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Samsung, Twitter Leave a commentSamsung is apparently subscribing to the philosophy ‘go big or go home.’ Previously, we reported they were working on a Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, which would sport a 5.5 inch screen. According to bgr.com, which picked up a report from usually reliable SamMobile, that screen size will be a 5.7 inch dual edge display. It looks to drop third quarter, and will have a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor running Android 5.1.1.
While we’re talking bigger, the big news at Twitter has been that CEO Dick Costolo is resigning, but another big announcement you might be more interested in flew under the radar. Appleinsider.com says Twitter will be raising the 140 character limit in direct messages to 10,000 some time in July. The down side is with last April’s change to allow messages from people you don’t follow, now more spam direct messages may be popping up with other peoples’ DMs you get on Twitter.
Tiny LiteOS Prepares for the Internet of Things
Posted: May 20, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Amazon Web Services, Android, AWS, Cloud, DOS, Google, Huawei, Internet of things, iOS, LiteOS, Microsoft Leave a commentHuawei is readying their minuscule operating system, LiteOS, to power everything from wearables to cars to the electronics around your home. The system is 10 KILObytes! For a little perspective, Apple’s iOS 8 takes a gigabyte of space, and ancient DOS 2.11 was 28 kilobytes! The mini-system is designed for zero configuration, auto-discovery, and auto-networking. The verge.com says it isn’t intended to compete with iOS or Android, but to power small internet connected gadgets from light bulbs to toothbrushes.
From the very small to the biggest on the block…or in this case, the planet. Despite growing competition from Microsoft and Google, Amazon is the 800 pound gorilla of the cloud world. According to geekwire.com, Amazon Web Services not only increased market share in 2014, but operates more cloud capacity than the next 14 providers combined! Google cut cloud prices by 30% just yesterday, to try to grab more share, but it’s a long climb. Microsoft’s strategy is to provide more complete services for a price, where Amazon sticks to a la carte pricing. Microsoft’s revenues from cloud were up 96%, making them the leader by that metric.
New Technology Recaptures Phone Energy and Extends Battery Life
Posted: May 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, Battery life, Bluetooth, Cellular, Dropbox, iOS, Kickstarter, Microsoft Office, Nikola Labs, Recycle RF, wi-fi Leave a commentOne of the most ingenious gadgets ever is in the pipeline. Nikola Labs has cooked up an iPhone 6 case that harvests electricity from the cellular, wi-fi, and Bluetooth transmitters in your phone. According to techcrunch.com, they will launch a Kickstarter by the end of the month for $99, and have a case out by September. Nikola claims they can recycle enough RF energy to give you 30% more battery life! The tech can be used in other devices that have little RF transmitters like smartwatches and tablets.
Dropbox is going to drop an update for iOS in the next few weeks that will let you create Microsoft Office files from scratch online…not just edit them. Engadget.com reports that it will also bring commenting functionality. No word on when an Android release is coming, but you can bet it’s in the pipeline, too.
Tesla’s Home Batteries Could Be Leased
Posted: April 27, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, Elon Musk, Facebook, Home Batteries, iOS, Leasing, Rent Sharing, SolarCity, Splittable, Tesla, Venmo, WhatsApp Leave a commentThe poorly kept secret Tesla home batteries may be leased instead of sold. Engadget.com picked up a report from the Guardian that says some have already been leased to a few SolarCity customers. SolarCity is, of course, run by Tesla boss Elon Musk. The 10 year deal has been test run at $1500 down and $15 a month, or $27.50 a month, making the decade lease cost $3300. Subsidies from energy companies could drop the price even lower. Whatever the deal will be should be revealed in a few days.
A new app is out for renters, that works like Venmo for shared meal tabs. Splittable lets housemates divvy up rent and expenses evenly…a big help in places like the Bay Area and New York City, where house and apartment sharing are common. It was already given a trial run in London for 1000 renters, and is available on Android, iOS, and the web. TEchcrunch.com says you can invite housemates over email, Facebook message, or WhatsApp.
A Car Parks Itself…Without You In It!
Posted: April 23, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 7 Series, Android, Apple Watch, BMW, Google Store, LG, Self-parking, Watch Urbane Leave a commentA number of cars have had self-parking for a while now. BMW just took it up a notch, with the 7 Series. The latest version of BMW’s tech-heavy Display Key lets you park the car by remote control, while you’re outside the car…valet parking without the valet!If you have the change to buy the car, now you can grab that parking space that’s a little too tight at the airport! Check geek.com for more details.
With the first Apple Watches on the way to excited buyers, the wearables market continues to heat up. LG’s all metal Watch Urbane will be available late this month at the Google Store in the US and 10 other countries. The price will be revealed when it goes on sale, but it’s expected to be a premium compared to other Android smart watches. Hit 9to5google.com for more info.
Looking for a Place to Eat? Check Your Wrist
Posted: April 19, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AdMob, ads, Amazon, Android, Apple, Apple Maps, Apple Watch, DoubleClick, Encryption, Google, Google Display Network, TestDrive, Yelp, YouTube Leave a commentYelp has announced an Apple Watch app with local listings and reviews. 9to5mac.com says you will see the majority of the info you’re used to seeing about eateries right on the small screen, without having to fish in your pocket or purse for your phone. As with the Yelp smartphone app, the Watch app is integrated with Apple Maps, too.
Google has announced that it’s encrypting the vast majority of its search ads and YouTube ads….finally. TechCrunch.com notes that gmail was encrypted back in 2008. The new HTTPS encryption will apply to Google Display Network, AdMob, and DoubleClick, and will be in place by June 30th.
Amazon is dropping one of the coolest features of its Android app store. Engadget.com reports they are killing TestDrive, the try before you buy feature where you could run apps on a virtual machine, and compare them before downloading. Amazon points to the fact that the vast majority of apps are free now anyway as the reason for dropping the service.
Strong Galaxy S6 Sales Affect Apple’s Next iPhone Model
Posted: April 18, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, Apple, Galaxy S6, Google, Halo, Halo Spartan, iPhone, Microsoft, Samsung, TSMC Leave a commentThe strong pre-sales of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge may indirectly hurt future iPhone 6s sales. Bgr.com says Apple had previously announced that the new A9 processors would be built entirely by Samsung, but now Samsung may not be able to keep up with the demand as Galaxy sales pick up. Now, Apple will look to Taiwanese maker TSMC to build 30% of their processor chips. TSMC already builds chips for the present iPhones.
Google now lets you install apps directly from search on Android. According to thenextweb.com, when you search for an app, there’s an install button right with the search results that takes you directly to the Google store and downloads the app.
Microsoft has enjoyed a lot of success with their Halo game franchise. Forbes.com reports that Redmond has released Halo spinoffs for iOS, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and the gamer favored Steam machines. The 3 Halo Spartan games can be bought in a bundle for $9.99 in the various app stores.
Following LG’s Lead, Samsung Forms An Apple-Specific Display Team
Posted: April 15, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, Apple, displays, Huewai, LG, P8, Samsung Leave a commentSamsung is is the strange position of being a major supplier to Apple, one of its biggest rivals. Apple insider.com says they have now joined LG in forming a team dedicated to Apple products. 200 Samsung employees will focus exclusively on displays for Apple.
Huawei, the 4th largest smartphone maker, has just rolled out it’s new flagship, the P8. According to engadget.com, it has a 5.2 inch screen in a metal Apple-like body, and sports a 13 megapixel main camera that can take long exposure shots in low light.
Android devices are everywhere. With the European Union antitrust suit against Google and Google’s response memo, bgr.com reports we now know HOW widely Android is used. Google lists over 18,000 different devices running Android now!
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