Blocks modular smartwatch hits Kickstarter, passes financing goal in a few hours

Right on time, the Blocks modular smartwatch has arrived on Kickstarter today. And in just a few hours, it’s already reached and passed its financing goal of $250,000. Right now people have pledged more than $300,000 for the project, with 37 days to go in the campaign. So it’s safe to assume that this has the potential to be a very successful Kickstarter.

And that’s understandable, because Blocks is pretty unique. It’s the world’s first modular smartwatch, coming with a core and several modules, each having its own function. These modules actually make up the strap of the watch, they are its links effectively.

As you’d expect, you can pick and choose which modules you want to have on your smartwatch, tailoring the hardware to your needs as much as possible. The people behind Blocks promise that they’ll continuously release new modules in the future, so conceivably once a new hardware feature is possible, you’ll be able to get it in this way and update your existing wearable – thus not needing to buy a new one each year.

If you’re interested, you’ll need to pledge at least $195 to get the Blocks watch. For that amount of cash, you’ll receive the core and a strap. You can then add a modular strap in the future. For $275, you get the core and 4 modules of your own choosing. There are many other, more expensive options too.

The biggest caveat is that shipping is only estimated to start in May 2016, so it will be many months before you’ll actually use your fancy modular smartwatch.

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Refurbished Nexus 6 down to $269.99 on eBay

Google recently introduced two new Nexus devices, which has accordingly sent the price of the Nexus 6 into a tailspin. The price has been dropping all over the place, but this latest sale takes it as low as we’ve seen. Guaranteecellular, an eBay seller, has priced the 32GB manufacturer refurbished Nexus 6 at just $269.99, making it a steal for anyone looking to get a great phone at a great price.

Even at a year old, the Nexus 6 is still a fantastic device, bringing in a gorgeous 6-inch QHD AMOLED display that’s perfect for consuming media on. Combine the impressive specs list with the power of Google and its speedy update process and you’ve got a killer combo that’s still got a lot of life in it. If you’re looking for a bargain, this is the one you should jump on. Follow the source link to check out the eBay listing.

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How to Find Facebook’s New ‘On This Day’ Filters

How to Find Facebook’s New ‘On This Day’ Filters

Facebook’s On This Day feature is a nostalgia machine, seemingly created to send you clicking through years-old photos of college parties or pining over your ex. Because of that emotional heft, Facebook has introduced some new filters to the tool, so that you can make sure to block certain memories from your notifications. Here’s how […]

The post How to Find Facebook’s New ‘On This Day’ Filters appeared first on WIRED.

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OnePlus Mini gets listed by Amazon India, specs outed once more

Over the past few days we’ve seen the upcoming OnePlus Mini stopping by the FCC as well as getting certified in China by TENAA. And earlier today the handset has been inadvertently listed by Amazon’s Indian arm. The retailer has since taken down the listing, realizing its mistake, but some enterprising individuals were able to capture a screenshot of the product page thankfully.

Although this doesn’t give us a new picture of the OnePlus Mini, it does first of all confirm that name – so it’s not going to be called OnePlus X after all. Next up, Amazon also helpfully lists the phone’s specs, most of which have been rumored before at one time or another. Still, it’s good to get one more confirmation for these.

So, the OnePlus Mini will apparently come with a 5-inch 1080p touchscreen, one that will feature Synaptics’ ClearForce technology (basically making the display pressure-sensitive – think Apple’s 3D Touch). The panel will be covered with Gorilla Glass 3.

The MediaTek MT6795 chipset will run things, better known as the Helio X10, and it comes with a 2.2 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and a PowerVR G6200 GPU. Some past leaks talked about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 replacing it, keep that in mind.

Moving on, 2GB of RAM is in tow, and a 2,450 mAh battery keeps the phone juiced up. Interestingly, the OnePlus Mini is said to be launching with Android 6.0 Marshmallow on board, courtesy of the Chinese company’s own Oxygen OS 3.0. Depending on when exactly this handset gets released that could make it one of the first non-Nexus devices to run the latest version of Android from day one.

The metal frame that we’ve seen in the leaked pictures is confirmed too, and it’s said to come with Side Touch functionality, which sounds intriguing. Sadly, there’s a mention of “invite-only” on the product page, so it looks like OnePlus isn’t ready to give up on its much-hated device release system.

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Destiny’s New Emote Store Is Live, And Its Prices Have Been Revealed

Destiny just pushed a new half-gig patch live, and with it comes the grand opening of the Eververse Trading Company, the new microtransactions store run by the long-missing Tess Everis. In this first experimental stage of the process, Everis is selling a collection of 18 different emotes, expressions players can map to their D-pad. Since launch, the expressions have only been “point,” “sit,” “wave,” and “dance,” but now there are over a dozen more to choose from for use in a variety of situations, from a baseball home run swing to the “Carlton” dance from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I guess a few Dark Age TV relics must work somewhere in the Tower.

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Why Alibaba Can Expand Faster Than Amazon?

Alibaba, the largest e-commerce player in China, is often compared to the U.S. online retail giant Amazon. However, Alibaba’s business model is more akin to that of eBay. It provides the technology infrastructure and marketing reach to businesses, enabling them to leverage the power of Internet and conduct their business online. Alibaba does not have any inventory of its own. Amazon, on the other hand, primarily sells its own merchandise, in addition to providing a marketplace to other players. The retailer owns warehouses, stocks inventory and functions like any other retail player with an online store. Therefore, we believe Alibaba’s business model is more nimble and could help it expand much faster compared to Amazon.

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VLC 1.6 se actualiza con menor número de permisos exigidos, mejoras en el rendimiento y soporte a 4K

VLC 1.6

Con esta nueva versión de VLC accedemos a algo, que no solemos atender en los últimos tiempos con una enorme cantidad de apps que, cuando las actualizamos, exigen más permisos para que puedan seguir ofreciendo lo mismo en características. Aunque tengamos ahora la novedad que supone en Android 6.0 Marshmallow los nuevos controles de permisos para las apps, que una aplicación como VLC ofrezca como una de sus mayores novedades lo que es un menor número de permisos, es algo que hay que mencionar y destacar.

En la versión 1.6, los desarrolladores han lanzado una serie de características que mejoran la experiencia de reproducción de vídeo, aparte de lo que es una cantidad menor de permisos tal como he comentado al principio de la entrada para un dispositivo que tenga Android 4.4 o superior. Estos permisos son ahora el acceso al historial de apps y dispositivo, acceso a los archivos con contenido multimedia y lo que sería la información identificativa del dispositivo.

Un ejemplo a seguir en lo relacionado a los permisos

Que una aplicación, que sirve para reproducir contenido multimedia en forma de ficheros de audio o vídeo, se encargue de exigir al usuario ciertos permisos que no tienen que ver nada con su funcionalidad, a veces no se llega a entender. Por lo que VLC se desentiende de esa forma de actuar para exigir los menos posibles. Esos tres que he mencionado son recogidos en una tablet que funciona bajo Lollipop, el ejemplo a seguir por demás aplicaciones.

VLC

Tampoco es que vayamos a decir que no los necesiten, pero si pueden reducirlos siempre será bienvenido por el usuario para que no sienta que se inmiscuyen en ciertas partes de su teléfono que no tienen que ver con lo que luego ofrecen.

Mejoras en el rendimiento

Para VLC, esta versión 1.6 es una de esas actualizaciones mayores. La lista de cambios en el log enumera una serie de mejoras en el rendimiento al igual que en la velocidad de descodificación y lo que sería la velocidad de la interfaz. Al mismo tiempo que esta serie de novedades, también se prepara para Android 6.0

VLC

A continuación, la lista de novedades:

  • VLC en Android 1.6 es una actualización mayor a VLC
  • Se ha trabajado mucho para mejorar la velocidad de descodificación interna y la velocidad de la interfaz
  • El número de permisos necesitado se ha reducido, especialmente para KitKat 4.4 y la más reciente
  • Se ha acelerado la velocidad de reproducción de vídeo, para el soporte a 4K
  • La interfaz ha sido retocada y mejorada con un diseño más a lo Material Design
  • Unas cuantas nuevas características como son la detección automática del USB, una mejor sincronización de audio y vídeo o un mejor soporte a los capítulos

La actualización ya está lista desde la Play Store, por lo que puedes acceder desde el widget a continuación para obtener esas mejoras en el rendimiento a niveles generales para la navaja suiza que significa VLC para la reproducción de todo tipo de contenido multimedia.

Si queréis obtener mayor rendimiento de esta app, podéis acercaros a esta entrada para aprender cómo reproducir vídeos en segundo plano.

WP-Appbox: VLC for Android (Free, Google Play) →

El artículo VLC 1.6 se actualiza con menor número de permisos exigidos, mejoras en el rendimiento y soporte a 4K ha sido originalmente publicado en Androidsis.

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