Image via <a href="http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2014/10/16/will-introduces-wearable-puls/" target="_blank">The Next Web</a>

Pop musician Will.i.am has just taken the wraps off of his first wearable, the Puls smartwatch, during Salesforce’s Dreamforce 2014 conference (via The Next Web). The watch ships with a software suite that includes Facebook and Twitter connectivity, Instagram, and even integration with Salesforce. It also features a voice control system dubbed “Aneeda” that’s powered by Nuance. Aneeda also supports basic features such as reminders, music control, alarms, and more.

On the hardware side, the watch sports standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections along with a pedometer, GPS, acceleromter, and even a 3G connection powered by AT&T (or O2 in the UK) that will allow users to place calls or send text messages and emails without pairing the Puls with a phone at all. The battery is built into the strap, providing plenty of space beneath the face for the other internal components, which includes 16 GB of storage space and a full gigabyte of RAM. It also has built in speakers for music and alerts.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnsR-kZUx6o]

The app-powered Anki Drive cars first demoed during WWDC 2013 are finally gaining very limited Android support, TechCrunch reports. Nearly one year to the day after the official launch on iOS, the artifically-intelligent racers are finally available to users on select Android devices.

The only devices that will support Anki Drive out of the box today are the Nexus 5, Galaxy Note 3/4/10.1, or the Galaxy S4/S5. Unfortunately, the app will not support cross-platform play, which means everyone playing has to have the same operating system: Android users can only play with other Android users and iOS users can only play with other iOS users.

Anki Drive was updated in January with new customization options and a new car. The starter kit can you yours for $150, with additional cars available available for $50.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Basis, a company backed by Intel, has announced a new smart watch compatible with iOS devices that places a focus on health and fitness applications. The device is capable of keeping track of several health-related data points, such as steps, calories, heart rate, prespiration, the temperature of your skin, and in-depth information about your sleep habits.

The Peak doesn’t yet support basic smart watch features like email and text notifications, but Basis says those functions will come in a future software update.

The company says that the device will be available by the holidays. Pricing information hasn’t been revealed yet. You can see photos and the full press release for the Peak below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Consumer Reports released a new video today taking on claims of overly-flexible iPhones that have appeared online recently. Apple noted that only a handful of complaints have come in and gave journalists a look at its testing procedures. Regardless of Cupertino’s claims, Consumer Reports kept its promise to conduct testing that was a bit more scientific in nature than previous YouTube videos.

To address these claims, several different phones were tested under up to 150 pounds of pressure to see when each model would stop “snapping back” to its original shape. The devices tested were the iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5, HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and LG G3.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Two days ago 9to5Google exclusively provided details of Motorola’s upcoming Nexus 6 (or Nexus X) device, a 5.92-inch smartphone similar in design to the Moto X using the development codename “Shamu.” The following day a few photos of the phone appeared online, confirming the original report and design mockup.

Today, even more photos of the Nexus device have been posted online, as discovered by Android Police. The photos show a smartphone very similar (if not completely identical) to the first set of photos, matching up once again with the original design leaks. This model features a 5.92-inch qHD display, 13 MP rear camera, 2 MP front-facing shooter, and 3,200 mAh battery.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this week it was revealed that if you bend your iPhone 6 Plus, it will bend. This shocking news took the world by storm, but left some people wondering if other phones would also flex under pressure. To answer the question, YouTuber Unbox Therapy attempted to repeat his earlier experiment with iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, HTC One M8, newest Moto X, and Nokia Lumia.

After applying roughly the same force to each of these handsets, he discovered that the iPhone 6 Plus was in fact more flexible than the rest. The Moto X ended up coming out top of the pack, with next to no flexibility at all. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 was also found to be much less “bendy” than the larger model, though it did get a very small curve with enough force.

You can check out the video of all five phones being tested below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google said today that the upcoming Android L release would enable data encryption by default when users set up a new device. Previous versions of Android included the security measure as an option, but many users did not choose to activate it. Now the feature will automatically be turned on, meaning no data on the phone will be accessible without the owner’s password.

Essentially this will prevent anyone—including police—from reading stored text messages, viewing photos from the phone’s library, or checking the call history (among other things) even if allowed to do so by a court order. Apple rolled out a similar feature to its iPhone users with an update yesterday.

As reported by the Washington Post:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung was already taking shots at the iPhone 6 this morning with some new ads, but the Android handset maker has gone even further by releasing a set of new videos on YouTube today mocking everything from the iPhone 6 livestream problems to the device’s hardware (via Engadget). The ads are part of the “Note the Difference” campaign, and these specific videos belong to a playlist called “It Doesn’t Take a Genius.”

The ads feature two guys in blue shirts—the titular Apple Store “Geniuses”—discussing the upcoming device’s features (and lack of a stylus) and the companion Apple Watch. Each ends with a promotion for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. You can check out all six ads in the playlist below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Motorola has just announced the newest additions to its smartphone lineup: the second-generation models of the Moto X and Moto G, and a Bluetooth headset called Hint.

First up is the new Moto X. It looks a lot like the previous model, but don’t be fooled: it’s got an entirely new spec list and even some tweaks to the design. The display is now 1080p versus the first-gen’s 720p version, and has gotten a slight size bump up to 5.2 inches. The edge of the phone is also now wrapped with aluminum rather than plastic. The camera has been bumped to 13 megapixels and now shoots 4k video (compared to a 10 MP still shooter with 1080p video support on the last model).

The Moto Maker online tool for customizing your phone has also been updated with new options, including custom colors for the volume rocker and power button. New back plate options include the previous wood design, as well as a line of all-new real leather options.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Image via <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2014/08/26/google-eyes-giant-offices-in-historic-los-angeles-airplane-hangar/" target="_blank">WSJ</a>

Google is considering the possibility of opening up a new office space in a Los Angeles airplane hangar owned by Howard Hughes in the 1940s, according to the Wall Street Journal. The building was once used for airplane construction, but was later used as a filming location for movies such as Michael Bay’s recent Transformers and Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day.

Aside from film production crews, the 300,000 square-foot building, which is located north of LAX, has been mostly vacant since the 80s. The real estate development firm that currently owns the property has been searching for a company to use it for offices for about four years now, and the unconventional design seems to fit right in with Google’s tastes.

Expand
Expanding
Close

As we’ve previously covered, the state of California has been in the process of passing a bill that would require all smartphones sold within the state to come with a remote killswitch option to deter thieves. The bill was passed by the state legislature earlier this year, and today it was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, as noted by CNET.

The law goes into effect in July 2015, and will require all smartphones sold within the state to include an option for remotely disabling a stolen device. Google has already plans to meet the requirements of this law with its upcoming Android L release, but now such features will be required by law on all future Android, Windows Phone, and other handsets by default, meaning OEMs distributing older versions of Android will need to find a new solution.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The popular anonymous social sharing network Secret may be under fire in Brazil, but in the U.S. and abroad the software lives on, and today received a big new update on the Android platform. The new version both adds and removes several capabilities to the app.

One of the most important changes in the new build is the removal of the ability to access photos saved to a device’s photo library. The camera is still fair game, but Secret is attempting to cut down on personally-damaging photos by taking away the option to upload older images.

That’s not to say that the camera is the only way to upload photos, though. The app now supports Flickr search so users can still find just the right photo for their posts without the need to go through their photo libraries.

Expand
Expanding
Close

A judge in Brazil has had it with the anonymous bullying carried out on social networking apps like Secret  and has stepped in to put a stop to it, according to a report from  Estadao [translation]. Judge Paulo Cesar de Carvalho has ruled that Google must delete the application from its Play Store, but the ruling doesn’t stop there.

According to the report, the judge has demanded that Google remotely delete the application from every device that has installed it in the country. While that might sound like a hilarious case of a judge not understanding how technology works, you may be surprised to learn that it’s actually a capability that Google has, sort of.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Sprint has unveiled its newest family data plans in an attempt to win back customers that have fled to rivals AT&T and Verizon. The new plans offer twice as much data as the competition at about the same prices. It’s the latest move by the floundering carrier following the less-than-stellar reception of its recently-announced “Framily” plans.

The new plans allow up to ten lines with a shared data pool of 20 GB—paired an additional 2 GB per device as part of a limited-time offer—for a grand total of up to $40 GB of shared data through 2015. A pricing chart (below) breaks down how all of the charges in the new plans work, including an additional $10 per tablet and shared data packs of up to 60 GB.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google has acquired Jetpac, a city guide application for iPhone, the app’s developers announced today (via The Next Web). The free app (and others by the Jetpac team) will be removed from the App Store in the coming days, and the service that powers it will be shut down on September 15th.

Google hasn’t said exactly what it plans to do with the company’s technology, which automatically scans users’ photos to detect local points of interest like coffee shops or “hipster hangouts.” The service featuerd data for over 6,000 cities, according to the App Store description.  It seems logical, however, that Google would attempt to integrate these features with Google Maps or a location-based Google Now feature.

You can grab the Jetpac app for free on the iTunes Store, though it won’t be very useful beyond its mid-September shutdown.

Image via Cnet

Last month Samsung ramped up the anti-Apple rhetoric with a new ad campaign that depicted iPhone users as “wall huggers,” constantly tethered to a power outlet due to the inferior battery in their non-Samsung smartphones. Today Cnet reports that the company has taken its campaign one step further by trolling real-life iPhone users at power outlets throughout major airports.

The new ads take the form of posters near power outlets that read, “Samsung Galaxy S5 with Ultra Power Saver Mode,” followed by a tagline that appears to poke at Apple’s own recent ad campaign: “So you have the power to be anywhere but here.” If you’d like to take a gander at the latest salvo in the ever-escalating flame war between Apple and Samsung, you’ll be able to do just that very soon at JFK, O’Hare, and Midway airports. Samsung says even more airports could be getting the ads if they’re successful in the first three.

Apple is currently planning to announce the iPhone 6 on September 9th, though rumors say it doesn’t look like the new model will provide much hope for the “wall huggers.”

Verizon Wireless has announced its plans to launch support for Voice over LTE service (or VoLTE) on its cellular network later this year, according to FierceWireless. However, the company says it has moved back its plan to release a VoLTE-only phone until 2016, and will continue releasing CDMA-capable phones until that time. Such a device was originally anticipated for the end of 2014.

The carrier originally announced earlier this year that it would support the new voice service, which provides higher-quality phone calls by utilizing high-speed data connections, but declined at the time to say exactly when it would happen. Other U.S. carriers, including T-Mobile and AT&T, have already started rolling the technology out in select markets.

Expand
Expanding
Close