Hot on the heels of more Galaxy Note 5 photos leaking, we now know the date on which Samsung’s next phablet will be officially shown off.
Samsung’s next Unpacked 2015 event will go down at 11:00 am ET on August 13. The company teased its shindig with the image you see above, showing black lines against a white background. But wait…There appears to be something in the middle of those lines that has two sloping sides. Something shaped like a phone with a dual curved edge display.
While Samsung’s not saying what it plans to show at the event, it’s likely that we’ll see the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ there. Both phones have been leaking like crazy lately, and reports have suggested that Samsung wanted to move the Note 5 up from its traditional early September launch to give it more time in the spotlight before Apple announces its new iPhone.
So now we’ve got a little more than two weeks to go before two major new Android phones are released. The wait could be difficult, but if the rumor mill is anything like it’s been lately, we’ll see some more leaks to help pass the time until August 13 rolls around.
With the wealth of video content online these days, it has become increasingly difficult to find the time to consume it all. You could spend hours watching videos across social media sites and in mobile apps and still only scratch the surface of the day’s popular video offerings before tomorrow rolls around and brings with it a fresh wave of interesting clips.
Minute is a video discovery app that wants to make this video viewing experience simpler and more efficient. And it aims to do so by synthesizing the best of viral video and by bringing you a personalized daily digest of the web’s video content based on your likes and dislikes.
When you first open the free Minute app, you’ll be greeted with a couple of splash screens explaining the purpose of the app — “All the best videos, just shorter” — before jumping straight into the content. There’s no need to create an account, you can simply begin watching videos straight away.
Using crowd-sourced data and some algorithmic smarts, Minute presents users with sections of 6-10 videos to peruse. At the top page, you’ll see a section labeled ‘Your Daily News’ containing a collection of the day’s important, interesting, popular and noteworthy videos from a variety of publishers and on a broad spectrum of topics. Below it, lie curated sections dubbed ‘Entertain Me!’, ‘World of Sport’, ‘Geeks Only’, and ‘Funny as Hell’ to name a few. These can feature anything from movie trailers to wildlife to extreme sports and more.
Minute isn’t simply curating video playlists, though. When you enter into one of the sections, the videos within are presented in a card-like interface and are shortened to just the 15-25 seconds determined to be the most relevant and interesting part. Using various metrics, Minute’s data analysis algorithm is capable of identifying the best snippet of a video to present to you allowing you to breeze through a selection of videos in a fraction of the time it would take you in order to watch them all fully or skipping around to find that important moment. If a video strikes you as particularly interesting, you have the option to watch it in full at the tap of a button or bookmark it for viewing later.
The algorithm is excellent for shortening the viewing experience, allowing you to get a gist of more content in less time, and quickly decide if a clip is for you or not. Generally, it did find the best part of a video, cutting out a lot of the filler, but a couple of times I found the provided snippet to be just slightly off the mark. When watching highlights from this month’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, for example, the clips occasionally cut off footage of goals awkwardly. While I understand 25 seconds is restrictive, and the option to watch the full video is there, the experience was jarring when it happened (however infrequently it was).
Minute also learns from the videos you like (and dislike). That card-like interface, akin to Tinder in many ways, also operates a bit like the dating app in terms of its functionality — swipe right to like and left to register your dislike. Future video recommendations are tailored to your tastes and over time I found that my feed began to reflect my interests more and more.
As well as being great for some light entertainment, I actually found Minute to be a really useful way to quickly catch up on the day’s news. The ‘Your Daily News’ section was always up to date and most days has brought me a good cross-section of news I am interested in. The same can’t always be said for the other curated sections which sometimes managed to surface videos that were over a year old.
The overall user experience of Minute is superb. The app is fluid, easy to pick up and very polished. Being video-heavy by nature, the video loading speed can determine how great your experience feels but on a fast Wi-Fi or LTE connection you shouldn’t run into any problems. One small qualm I had with the app was when sharing a link to a video or playlist which requires the recipient to then open the video in Minute’s web view (from which it is difficult to open the video at its original source). Not a deal breaker by any means, but worth noting.
Minute is a unique, fun and easy to use way to consume video. While there are some areas for improvement, for the most part Minute achieves its aim of streamlining the video watching experience and allows you to indulge in multiple video highlights from different topics without spending hours trawling the web and social media. The app is well put together and the experience is of a high quality.
It looks like Google and all Android manufacturers have a very serious issue on their hands. A new security flaw was discovered in Stagefright, the media playback tool that Android uses, that allows an MMS message to seriously compromise your device. And worst of all, it affects almost all Android devices since Android 2.2.
The way it works is an attacker only needs to know your phone number. They send you an infected MMS message, which often doesn’t need to be opened to be activated. Many SMS apps auto-retrieve MMS messages for quick viewing, meaning you’ll be infected in the background. This allows access to photos stored on SD cards, Bluetooth, and even activating recording of audio and video.
Google is aware of the bugs and the guys who found the exploits have submitted patches that Google will be pushing out. Nexus devices will likely be getting the fixes first, though it’s known that the Nexus 6 isn’t even safe at the moment. When it comes to other devices… good luck. An update might not be available for a while.
I don’t know if it’ll help, but set auto-retrieve MMS to off in your messaging app of choice, and don’t open MMS messages from strange numbers. Stay safe and hope the next update fixes what may be the worst Android security flaw ever found.
El experto en seguridad Joshua Drake, de Zimperium, ha sido el encargado de encontrar la vulnerabilidad y aportar más información al respecto, una información que desde luego, no es nada alentadora. Desde la versión Android 2.2 Froyo hasta la más reciente, Android 5.1.1, es susceptible a sucumbir al ataque del hacker, o lo que es lo mismo, el 95% de los terminales Android actualmente activos.
Hangouts es la puerta de entrada del malware
Al parecer, el fallo de seguridad se encuentra en la librería Stagefright, que puede dar vía libre a un tercero para controlar al 100% el terminal después de que este haya sido infectado con software malintencionado a través de un vídeo. Es decir, cualquier aplicación de comunicación que permita el envío de archivos multimedia, como las de mensajería, sería una vía de entrada para el hacker.
Sin embargo, el mayor problema se encuentra en Google Hangouts, de la que ya hemos oído hace no mucho otro problema importante de seguridad reconocido por la propia Google. Si la tenemos seleccionada como aplicación de SMS por defecto, basta solamente con recibir el vídeo para infectarnos. Ni es necesario abrir el mensaje, ni reproducir el vídeo, ni hacer nada. Nuestro dispositivo puede estar en manos de otro sin que tengamos la menor idea, y puede ocurrir incluso antes de que escuchemos el sonido de la llegada del mensaje.
¿Podemos estar tranquilos?
La respuesta corta es no. Al menos yo no lo estaría, y cuanto más antigua sea nuestra versión del sistema, aún menos. Google ya ha admitido el problema, que curiosamente existe desde el pasado mes de abril, aunque ha sido ahora cuando ha salido a la luz. La solución pasaría por actualizar con un parche de seguridad todos esos terminales en peligro –recordemos, el 95%–, cosa en la que los de Mountain View ya han empezado a trabajar, y de hecho ya ha contactado con las empresas fabricantes para que se pongan manos a la obra para combatir este problema.
Pero dese luego, sería muy inocente creer que todos estos terminales podrían recibir algún tipo de actualización, sobre todo los más antiguos. El propio Drake ha asegurado que solamente el 20% de los actuales smartphones en activo podrán recibir la “cura”, una cifra que con suerte podría aumentar, como mucho hasta el 50%. Esto depende ni más ni menos que de los fabricantes, y de las ganas que tengan estos de proteger a los usuarios.
Aunque claro está, la primera que debería aplicarse el cuento en esto de la seguridad es Google, al menos esforzarse más de lo que ya lo hace. De momento, lo más sensato es quitar a Hangouts como aplicación de SMS, y por supuesto, alejarse como podamos de cualquier vídeo que nos llegue y del que desconozcamos su origen o dudemos de su intención.
The further Android comes, the more it seems Google focuses on security. Luckily, this hasn’t much affected those who modify their devices, and this will be no different. Google has posted a new support page related to an upcoming verified boot system, which provides warnings about security when booting.
There are currently three warnings that Google has shown us. The yellow warning means that the device software has been changed, the orange warning means that the bootloader is unlocked and can’t check the software, and the red means something has been seriously modified. These warnings will pop up either due to intentional or unintentional changes, but custom ROMs are guaranteed to set them off.
If you’ve purposefully modified your software, don’t worry about the warnings. They disappear after 10 seconds, and hitting the power button dismisses them immediately. This verified boot system will likely be added to Android M, which is coming out soon.
Un nuevo terminal de gama media del conocido fabricante con sede en Taiwán, el HTC Desire 626, llegará a España a partir de Otoño para competir directamente contra el dispositivo americano, el Motorola Moto G.
Sabemos de su existencia desde principios de año, el terminal de gama media fue presentado al público hace unos meses pero no será hasta el mes de Octubre cuando lo veamos en las tiendas de España. Este dispositivo se convertirá en uno de los mejores smartphones en calidad/precio se refiere. El HTC Desire 626 viene a competir directamente contra el teléfono inteligente americano, el Moto G 2015.
HTC Desire 626, bueno, bonito y asequible
Se abre una nueva guerra entre los fabricantes para ver quién tiene el mejor dispositivo de gama media en calidad/precio del mercado. El dispositivo tendrá unas especificaciones que son parecidas al terminal de Motorola, por lo que a partir de Otoño, el consumidor podrá elegir uno u otro terminal dependiendo de sus necesidades ya que, como veréis a continuación, ambos terminales parecen hermanos gemelos en cuanto a especificaciones se refiere.
Su pantalla será de 5 pulgadas con resolución de alta definición ( 1280 x 720 píxeles ). En el interior de este terminal encontramos un procesador Snapdragon 410 fabricado por Qualcomm. Junto a este SoC le acompañan 2 GB de memoria de RAM que hará que el dispositivo funcione con una fluidez suficiente. En cuanto a su apartado fotográfico, vemos como el dispositivo contará con una cámara trasera y principal de 13 Megapíxeles y una cámara frontal de 5 MP ideal para las vídeollamadas y realización de selfies.
Como vemos las especificaciones son muy similares al próximo Motorola Moto G 2015 que será presentado durante los próximos días. Sin embargo y como es lógico, su aspecto físico no tendrá nada que ver. El Desire 626 tiene un diseño llamativo, bonito y con la posibilidad de elegir entre cuatro colores diferentes ( gris, violeta, azul y blanco ). Por lo que respecta el terminal de Motorola, se podrá personalizar al gusto del consumidor gracias a la herramienta Moto Maker.
Estos terminales son muy similares, tanto por especificaciones como por el precio ya que, el HTC Desire 626 podría rondar los 200 €, mismo precio que tendrá la versión más básica del Moto G 2015. Estaremos atentos a estos dos dispositivos ya que, será interesante hacer una comparación entre ambos terminales en nuestro canal de Youtube. Y a vosotros, ¿ Qué os parece esta nueva batalla por tener el mejor smartphone de gama media del mercado ?
With the new design direction that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge have taken, many of us have been interested in what the company will do with the Galaxy Note 5. And thanks to these latest leaks, we can now check the device out in clear, sharp photos. Spoiler: It looks just like a big Galaxy S6.
Ya estamos llegando al final del primer día de esta nueva semana, y por tanto, es hora de repasar toda la actualidad relacionada con nuestro sistema operativo favorito en las “Noticias Android”. Como cada semana, esta última ha sido una llena de novedades, y muy importantes, pues estamos muy cerca de la presentación de algunos de los terminales más esperados del año.
Every week we cover new Android apps with Fresh Meat on Wednesday, followed by Android Gaming on Thursday and Top 10 App Updates on Friday. When Monday rolls around, we look back to see which apps were the most appealing to our audience. Read on for the five most popular Android apps from last week. These apps are ones that are most likely new and haven’t appeared in the top five list more than three times.
1. Google Photos
App info:Google Photos is the home for all your photos and videos, searchable and organized by the people, places, and things that matter.
App info:Microsoft Hyperlapse is a new technology that creates smooth and stabilized time lapses from first-person videos. Want to show your friends what you saw on that 12-mile hike you took last weekend, or let them experience how it felt to fly down the mountain on your recent ski trip?
App info:Product launches tend to be the same. An auditorium, a keynote, and a seated audience. For the OnePlus 2 launch, we didn’t want a barrier between us and our community; we want to invite you into our world, because you’re a major part of it.
After months of speculation and rumors, Razer has made it official: the company has purchased Ouya.
Announced in a press release, Ouya, the Android-based home video game console, is now a part of Razer, the peripheral company who has had an interest in Android for some time now. As a part of the acquisition, Ouya’s CEO is now gone and Ouya hardware is officially dead. Razer apparently saw value in Ouya not for its hardware but for its software and distribution channels.
While the Ouya Store will be re-launched as Cortex for Android TV, Razer does plan on still releasing some software under the Ouya moniker. As for current Ouya owners, Razer has a plan on action in the works:
In the near future, Razer will be providing existing OUYA users with a clear path of migration to the more advanced Forge TV micro-console and Serval controller bundle. Razer’s intention is to allow OUYA users to bring their games, controllers, and accounts to the Cortex TV platform on the Forge micro-console, advancing the experience of Android gaming on TV that they have previously enjoyed. Additionally, Razer is planning deep product discounts for incoming OUYA users to purchase Razer hardware, and a spate of freebies, giveaways, and promotions to enjoy on their new Forge consoles.RazerOuya acquisition announcement
It’ll be interesting to see what Razer is able to do with Ouya as Android TV matures. Razer is ready to make the commitment, hopefully it will pay off.
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