Sony teases Android Soft Keys that will be introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop

Sony has already confirmed that it will be releasing the new Android 5.0 Lollipop update for its latest flagship Xperia Z3 next month. Now it looks like the Japanese electronics giant is also going to release some new Android on-screen soft keys too.

Sony has been using the same custom soft keys on its devices for some time now but these keys are set to get an update with the Lollipop. Sony recently released an update to its Movie Creator app for Xperia smartphones. The company teased these new Android soft keys in the screenshots showing features of the newly updated Movie Creator app. Looking at the screenshots, it can be seen that Sony has not adopted Google’s Android soft keys totally. The back button and the recent app button have been retained but Sony has tweaked the Home button. The original round outline of the home button has been changed to the outline of a home. Well, now no one can mistake what it stands for!

          

Since Sony will begin pushing the Android 5.0 Lillipop updates to its Xperia Z3 family in February, those having Xperia Z3 devices will soon see these soft keys on their handsets along with a multitude of other new features and performance enhancements that come with the new Android version.

What do you think of Sony’s new soft keys?

Source Xperia Blog

Sony teases Android Soft Keys that will be introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop

Qualcomm said to update its Snapdragon 810 chipset for Samsung Galaxy S6

There has been quite a lot of suspicion going on with whether Samsung would bake the Snapdragon 810 chipset in its next flagship. Moreover, the recent sources have claimed that the initial 90% of Samsung Galaxy S6 devices would come with the company’s home made Snapdragon 810 chipset. Additionally, Qualcomm is also struggling to work upon the heating issues with its octa-core Snapdragon 810 chipset. Recently LG came out as the first company to support this chipset in its newly launched LG G Flex 2. LG however claimed that it itself is able to work upon the heating issues with the chipset maybe with some software algorithm.

Now the recent report shows that chip making giant Qualcomm is working on a re-design of its chipset to come over with the heat emission issue and should come with a solution for this till March when Samsung is expected to launch its next flagship the Galaxy S6. It seems that Qualcomm need to work upon it soon as many smartphone manufacturers would want to launch their high-end flagships ahead this year.

However, Samsung may this as an opportunity to increase its base in chipset market with its Exynos CPUs. Check out our article that explains the in and out of the Snapdragon 810.

source: The Wall Street Journal

Qualcomm said to update its Snapdragon 810 chipset for Samsung Galaxy S6

Mid-Range version of Xiaomi Redmi Note with LTE spotted at TENNA

Well, Xiaomi started its year 2015 with the two big launches of flagship handset Mi Note and Mi Note Pro and a entry level handset Redmi 2 – an successor to its Redmi 1S. Now according to the reports, we can expect a more refreshed version for the Redmi Note as a similar device has appeared at the Chinese certification TENNA. This might be an bit marginal improvement over the existing affordable Redmi Note.

The listed specs for the device at TENNA show it to be having a quad-core Snapdragon 400 chipset along with the LTE support. Moreover, it would have a 5.5” HD 720p display with 1GB of RAM support and memory options of 8GB of built-in storage expandable via microSD card. To its back would be a 13MP primary snapper with LED flash and the front would be having a 5MP secondary snapper. The device would be running the Android 4.4 KitKat on-board.

There is no doubt to it that just like its predecessor, this too would be aggressively priced. Here are the images from TENNA.

source: TENAA

Mid-Range version of Xiaomi Redmi Note with LTE spotted at TENNA

Recommended Security Apps for Your Smartphone and Tablets

Not only computers, nowadays, smartphones or tablets are also prone to hackers. Normally, hackers will steal information such as account details, passwords, important texts, intimate photos etc. Fortunately, smartphones are a little bit harder to crack than average computer. Therefore, normally, hackers will do hidden Wi-Fi attacks or simply walk off with your gadgets. In this entry, we are going to show you how to prevent this.

1. Keep viruses and malware off of your phone.

There are a few ways that viruses and malwares can be downloaded into your smartphones or tablets. Hackers can either use your contacts to send you malicious links or they also can use websites to trick you into downloading vulnerable apps. To prevent this, there are two apps which can be downloaded as a protection. Lookout and avast!

Lookout can help to track your smartphone if it is stolen or accidentally left behind in a specific location for example: cafe. Avast! will help to scan, remove and protect your phones from potential threats.

2. Protect against Wi-Fi attacks.

If you are using public Wi-Fi, you are prone to hackers who are able to snoops your data. There are two apps which can be downloaded to prevent this. avast!SecureLine VPN will help to encrypt you data when you transfer using public Wi-Fi. Alternatively, you can also use HotSpot Shield VPN. It is a popular apps from the apps store since it routes your Web traffic through a secure network that hackers cannot penetrate.

3. Always have a last resort.

When you lost your smartphone and tablets, it is useful if you download these two apps, “Find My iPhone” and “Android Device Manager”. “Find My iPhone” will help you locate your iPhone or iPad using built-in GPS whereas “Android Device Manager” will let you track all your Android devices.

Recommended Security Apps for Your Smartphone and Tablets

The Massive Labor Force Behind Content Moderation Social Media

Social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter is a fast growing industry these few years. A lot of people in a wide range of age are using it. One of the things that you can do in these social media is to share news.  Therefore, some users under a certain age who are using these social apps can be exposed to the internet’s panoply of jerks, racists, creeps, criminals and bullies.

To prevent this news to be shared to the unintended readers, companies like Facebook and Twitter rely on an army of workers to remove the postings which is considered offensive. Hemanshu Nigam, the former chief security officer of MySpace who runs online safety consultancy SSP Blue, has estimated that the number of employees who remove these postings from social media sites, mobile apps and cloud storage services to be over 100,000 people. This is about twice the Google employee and 14 times of Facebook employees.

These works are mainly done in the Philippines.  It is because Philippine is a former US colony and they have maintained close cultural ties to the United States therefore; Filipinos can help to determine what American find offensive. On top of that the wages of moderators in the Philippines are a fraction of American wages.

There are two types of moderation processes. One is what it called “active moderation” which is a labor intensive process in which every single post is screened real time whereas the second type is “reactive moderation” which is the content can only be removed after it has been flagged objectionable by users.

The Massive Labor Force Behind Content Moderation Social Media

Nike working with Apple to develop new ‘Stealth’ and ‘Stylish’ wearables

Although Nike has abandoned FuelBand, its fitness tracking bracelet, it is not out of the wearables arena. The company has teamed up with Apple to work on a new wearable device that will be less obtrusive, more ‘stealth’ and ‘stylish’ and will work with existing devices, according to Mark Parker, CEO of Nike.

Nike’s partnership with Apple in wearable technology goes a long way. It first partnered with Apple in 2006 for its Nike+ running sensors that connected to the iPod wirelessly. Nike abandoned its FuelBand in April last year and shut down the team involved. Consequently, two of its engineers moved over to Apple for working on its Apple Watch. But Mike Parker still thinks wearable technology is a key factor in the future of Nike.

As Parker said to Bloomberg TV in an interview:

“I think it’s going to be a big part of the future, absolutely. I think the form it takes is critical. You can go from the very geeky kind of wearables today – we’ve all seen some of those – to what I think you’ll see in the future, things that are more stealth, more integrated, more stylish and more functional, yes.”

Parker stated that having Apple’s CEO Tim Cook on Nike’s board was a big advantage because Nike has worked well with Apple earlier and Parker had personally worked with Apple’s founder Steve Jobs.

“Technologically we can do things together that we couldn’t do independently,” said Parker. “So yeah, that’s part of our plan, to expand the whole digital frontier in terms of wearables, and go from what we say is tens of millions of users – right now there’s 25 million Nike+ users – to hundreds of millions.”

Nike axed its 70-member dedicated FuelBand team just a few months after its 2nd generation fitness band was released, which though didn’t come as a complete surprise, was somewhat sudden. Apple’s entry into the wearable’s segment might have been one of the reasons. Nike said that it wanted to focus back on its existing business of fitness devices in shoes and on the Nike+ software.

It is not yet known what wearable technology Nike is developing in collaboration with Apple. Nike+ app will probably be on the Apple Watch. However, Parker’s comments suggest it will be much more than a mere smartwatch app.

 

Via The Guardian

Nike working with Apple to develop new ‘Stealth’ and ‘Stylish’ wearables

Pic Scanner app can help you to scan old photos and store them digitally by using only your iPhone

If you have a lot of old photographs, fading, crumbling, many of them black & white, lying around gathering dust but don’t have a scanner at home, there’s good news for you. The Pic Scanner app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is here.

The Pic Scanner app makes scanning of old photographs quick and easy. You can scan max. 4 photos at a time and if you have loads of photos, it will save you a lot of time. The photos get automatically cropped and straightened. You can also rotate and enhance them and apply various filters for a vintage or atmospheric look. You can even add captions, dates and locations to the photos and organize them into albums. The cameras of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus are quite efficient to give you some great results.

The Pic Scanner has been developed by App Initio Limited. The developers have also included leveling and perspective adjustments in the app so that you won’t have to worry if you hold your iPhone slightly off-kilter while taking the snaps. You can preserve these memories in your iPhone/iPad or archive them in your Dropbox. The Pic Scanner even allows you to share these pics with your family and friends on all major social media networks.

The app works on iOS 6.1 or later and is available on Apple’s itunes store for only $2.99, seems like a small price to pay for capturing and preserving your precious old memories.

Via PhoneArena

 

Pic Scanner app can help you to scan old photos and store them digitally by using only your iPhone