Sequoia Capital has made a minority investment in the do-it-yourself home security company Simplisafe in a play on the home security and automation market, TechCrunch has learned. The investment from Sequoia came on the heels of Google’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest Labs, which showed just how lucrative the home market can be. That deal netted a healthy return for investors, including… Read More
In what seems like a long-running tease, vague hints that a BioShock movie could again be in the works has surfaced. In March, Sony Pictures registered three BioShock-related domains, two … Continue reading
You may have heard about a weird and wonderful new thing called Palcohol
Beats Music launched earlier this year and given the Beats by Dre name and the fact that the people behind the service are some pretty big names in the music industry, not to mention veterans, you would think that the music streaming service would be pretty fast in gaining subscribers.
Unfortunately according to a report from Billboard, it seems that the popularity of Beats Music isn’t quite as high as many would have thought. While specific numbers were not given, the report claims that Beats Music’s subscription is apparently somewhere in the low six-figures, meaning that it has yet to break the 1 million mark.
One of the disadvantages to Beats Music is that unlike other music streaming services, they do not offer up a free-tier. Instead all they offer is a free 7-day trial, after which listeners will have to subscribe in order to continue using the service. Beats Music had initially reported that there were millions who signed up at the start, but we guess due to the limitations of the trial, many chose not to continue their subscription once the 7 days were up.
However recently Beats Music has added in-app subscriptions to their service, thus allowing iOS users to subscribe to the service via iTunes. Since pretty much all iOS users have an iTunes account setup, it’s more convenient compared to having to maintain two separate billing accounts. Will this help drive subscription? Maybe, maybe not, but what say you? Are any of our readers happy subscribers of Beats Music?
Beats Music Subscription Reportedly In The Low Six-Figures , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Audio, Beats Music,
Google’s Project Ara is unique in the sense that it allows users to swap out certain components for another component, so for example if you wanted to upgrade your phone’s camera, you’d just have to swap out the part for something else, as opposed to having to buy an entirely new phone. That being said we’ve seen how Project Ara can also be linked to wearables, but what about gaming?
In a concept cooked up by designer Samuel Herb, it shows how thanks to the modularity of Project Ara that it is possible to create a device for gaming as well. Dubbed Flippypad, it shows how third-party OEMs could create gaming shells or specific gaming modules that could be attached to the device, thus turning it from a smartphone into a handheld gaming console.
The concept also shows how the shell could incorporate features such as shoulder buttons which are pretty rare as far as gaming accessories for mobile phones are concerned. This could open up the door to different types of games that could take advantage of that feature. Unfortunately like we said, this is only a concept at the moment but its designer is hoping that the word will spread which will hopefully be able to grab Google’s attention.
It’s clever and while we’ve yet to see how well modular smartphones will do in real life, we are definitely excited at the possibilities and this is one of them. In the meantime what do you guys think? Do you think this is something Google should explore and take seriously?
Flippypad Concept Shows How Project Ara As A Handheld Gaming Console , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, Concepts, Google, project ara,
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen some alleged changes that Google will be making to the Android UI. Some of the changes are drastic, like the change with the Calendar app, and some a bit more subtle with changes in color, like Gmail, and now it looks like Google’s Dialer app for Android could be getting a slight change in design as well.
This was actually confirmed by Google themselves, perhaps inadvertently, via the Google Nexus Twitter account who responded to a question posed by a user. In their response, they revealed the dialer which appears to have gotten a new coat of paint. Unlike Calendar, the Dialer app has not received a drastic overhaul.
As you can see in the comparison screenshot above, it’s pretty much the same as the old app, except that the title bar is now colored in blue and the image in the contact has also been changed slightly to look “flatter”, which seems to be a new design language that Google could apply to Android.
The idea that apps could be getting colors in their title bars also seems to be in line with rumors about Project Hera. The project is meant to merge Google’s products and services on the web, Chrome, and Android, thus allowing them to sync and update themselves in real time a lot better. Not much is known right now but perhaps more will be revealed at Google I/O which will be taking place in June.
Leaked Android Dialer App Screenshot Shows Slight Makeover , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, Android, Google,
North Dakota will soon get a glimpse of a future where farmers can monitor their crops using small, flying drones. That’s because the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given the state the go-ahead to start…
Chances are you won’t see these rare animals at the local zoo because their population is down to the last hundreds. In some cases, it’s much worse than that with only a couple left. Some of these animals you’ve never heard of but others on the verge of extinction are related to animals you know and love—like certain types of tigers, frogs, leopards, turtles, dolphins, etc. In 10 years, they might not exist at all. Sad.
For this week’s listings we’re switching things up a bit, with a deeper look at some of the highlights. Check after the break for what we think is especially worth watching this week, and drop in the comments if you see any highlights that we’ve…
We’ve seen several rumors and leaks regarding the anticipated LG G3, and now word has surfaced on its smaller cousin, the LG G3 Mini. According to My LG Phones, the … Continue reading
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