Monthly Archives: September 2015

BLU intros the Pure XL with 6-inch Quad HD display and 24MP camera for $349

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BLU has made quite the name for itself over the years by introducing plenty of low to mid-range Android devices that pack worthwhile specifications into a package that’s not too hard on the wallet. That trend continues with the company’s latest smartphone.

BLU has just introduced the Pure XL, a smartphone that boasts a Super AMOLED display that measures in at 6-inches and offers a resolution of 256×1440. Inside the unit, there’s an octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor, which BLU says makes the Pure XL the first device to launch with this particular chipset in the United States. There’s also 3GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage with a microSD card slot, and a battery that measures in at 3500mAh. It has 4G LTE connectivity, but it doesn’t support T-Mobile’s band 12 LTE.

As far as the camera systems go, BLU has included a 24-megapixel shooter on the back, which features an f/2.0 aperture, optical image stabilization, dual-LED flash, real-time HDR support, and phase detection autofocus. BLU also included what it calls Magic Focus, which will let owners alter the focus in photos after they’ve been taken. On the front, there’s an 8MP camera.

The Pure XL also features stereo speakers with support for high-quality audio, and it rocks a metal unibody design. It’s running Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box, all for $349.99. It launches on September 29 by way of Amazon.

What do you think of BLU’s Pure XL?

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In September, Lollipop is installed on 21% of all Android devices

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Google has updated its Android platform versions statistics page today, and after a pretty uninteresting few months there’s finally a new milestone to report.

In September, Lollipop was installed on 21% of the Android devices out there. This is the first time that Lollipop is seen crossing over the 20% threshold, after having moved past 10% back in June. As can be seen from the chart below, this calculation takes into account both Android 5.0 and Android 5.1 installs, since both of those versions are named Lollipop.

KitKat still leads though, with 39.2% of installs, followed by the three Android Jelly Bean iterations which collectively have 31.8% market share. After that there’s a big abyss in terms of numbers, with Gingerbread still somehow commanding 4.1% of the market and Ice Cream Sandwich being at 3.7%. Definitely last is Froyo with a 0.2% install base.

Keep in mind that no such official reporting is possible for even older versions, since the stats come from the new Google Play Store app which is only compatible with Android 2.2 or later. Also note that any versions with less than 0.1% distribution are not shown.

So it looks like Android device makers are releasing more and more products running Lollipop from day one, while at the same time updating their older wares to the new OS. However, there’s still a long way to go, and Android still is nowhere near iOS when it comes to how many devices in use run the latest iteration.

Source |…

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I Played ‘Until Dawn’ So I Could Keep All The Women Alive

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My mission in playing the new slasher-trope Playstation 4 game, Until Dawn: save all four female characters. Not just the virginal, easy-to-like woman voiced by Heroes’ “Save The Cheerleader, Save the World” Hayden Panettiere, but the slutty one and the bitchy one and the geeky one—each of whom are written as obligatory irritating movie archetypes designed to make you hate them.
That’s the cool thing about Until Dawn. It’s got everything slasher movie fans expect—eight teens alone in a cabin in the woods, complete with its own bad history. Josh (voiced by Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek), on the anniversary of his twin sisters’ mysterious disappearance, invites his hottest, horniest friends back to a cabin to … celebrate? Naturally, the cabin is so secluded, it’s reached via a cable car over a canyon the teens must operate themselves. Ultimately however, the player can subvert some of the slasher genre’s most tired tropes. I know from my share of horror that women, the more sexual and outspoken the better, are destined to end up dead before the end of a horror film. Until Dawn let me change that story.
Saving all those women wasn’t easy, mind you. Players must alternate between all eight characters as they foolishly explore their surroundings (investigate a shrieking noise in the woods? Sounds good to me! Check out the abandoned sanitorium? Don’t mind if I do!) These cerebrally challenged characters are more than game for the ride. At its heart, Until Dawn is a choose-your-own-adventure game. It’s up to the player to determine characters’ fates by making decisions and executing (or failing) skillful button-mashes.
See also: ‘Until Dawn’ Review: Scary, Cheesy, Campy, Horror Fun
Now, people who have played Until Dawn might think I’m a little crazy for wanting to try so hard to save any of these characters, much less the lives of such vapid, unlikeable women.
You’ve seen these characters in horror before: Jessica, the alpha-girl homecoming queen; Ashley, the shy but sexy geek; Sam, the frequently towel-clad ingenue who is the least sexually available (and as a result, telegraphed most strongly to survive). And then there’s Emily, the straight-A student who thinks she’s always right, whom one character flat-out labels “bitchy.”

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SPY Car Act Is Crucial First Step In Securing Our Cars From Hackers

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What happens when an automaker needs to recall over half its expected annual sales? Just ask Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Given the multitude of recalls announced by other automakers, the industry must take action. FCA’s recent 1.4 million vehicle cybersecurity-related recall is not a one-off occurrence. These types of recalls can be minimized, however, it will not be a singular effort by a single automaker. Today’s connected car includes upward of 300 million lines of code compared to a 747, with roughly 75 million lines. Automotive vulnerabilities are at an all-time high and FCA’s recent recall is perfect evidence of said vulnerabilities. The real question is, who is taking the necessary action?

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Latest Android distribution numbers show Lollipop’s steady growth

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For those that like to keep tabs on Android’s distribution, the Android Developers blog is more than happy to oblige by offering regular updates on that front. To help encapsulate the trend of Lollipop’s adoption, Google’s latest distribution numbers show Android 5.0 and 5.1′s steady growth.

The latest results show devices that checked into the Google Play Store over the 7-day period ending on September 7. With that in mind, both Android 5.0 and Android 5.1 saw increases in their percentage numbers, with the former at 15.9% and the latter positioned now at 5.1 percent. Compare that to the 15.5% that Android 5.0 registered on in August, and the 2.6 percent that Android 5.1 was tracking in the same month, Android’s latest version saw the biggest bump in a month’s time.

Android 4.4 KitKat is now registering on 39.2 percent of devices checking into the Play Store, which means that’s actually down from the 39.3% that KitKat pulled in during the month of August. Meanwhile, Android 4.1 through Android 4.3 Jelly Bean came in at 31.8%, which is down from the 33.6% the Android Developers blog showed in August.

Android distribution Sept 2015

As should be expected, the percentages drop quite a bit from then on. Android 4.0.3 to 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich is now on 3.7% of devices, while Android 2.3.3 to Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread is now on 4.1% of devices. Finally, the last version that the Android Developers blog is tracking is Android 2.2, Froyo, which is now only on 0.2% of devices.

While the majority of devices are still running Android 4.4, it’s at least good to see that Android 5.1 is seeing a rising number of devices registered with its software.

Which version of Android are you running on your daily driver?

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El navegador de Adblock llega oficialmente a iOS y Android

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Amado por muchos (400 millones de instalaciones en equipos de sobremesa para ser exactos), Adblock Plus llega por fin a los dispositivos móviles. Lo hace a través de un navegador oficial para iOS y Android, de forma que los usuarios puedan “navegar d…

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