Sep 30
Did you miss our real-time coverage of Microsoft’s Windows 10 reveal? You can now watch all 40 minutes of the presentation yourself in this video. [YouTube via The Verge]
Sep 30
LG G3 Announced For US Cellular, Arriving In October
Posted in: Uncategorized
The LG G3 was announced and released a few months ago, but if you had a US Cellular customer, you might be pleased to learn that the carrier has recently announced that they will be stocking the LG G3 come October. This means that your envy of your LG G3 wielding friends from other carriers will be coming to an end.
Unfortunately no specific dates was mentioned save for the general October timeframe, so we guess we will just have to keep our eyes peeled for more information. According to Joe Settimi, the VP of products, pricing, and innovation at US Cellular, “We are excited for our customers to get the LG G3 experience and see how its features can simplify and enhance their lives.”
It has also been revealed that customers who purchase the LG G3 from US Cellular will also be eligible to receive a rewards program where they will be able to earn points. These points can be used towards the purchase of other devices, accessories, and so on.
For those who might have missed our review of the LG G3, here’s a quick run down on some of its key specifications. For starters the phone will feature a 5.5-inch display with a QHD resolution, making it higher than most phones out there. It will also be powered by a Snapdragon 801 processor and will also feature a 13MP rear-facing camera with a laser auto-focus system. The phone will be priced as low as $0 down on an installment plan with the carrier.
LG G3 Announced For US Cellular, Arriving In October
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Sep 30
While the digital version of Minecraft: Xbox One Edition has been released and is available to Xbox One gamers, we guess there are probably some gamers out there who would much prefer owning a physical copy of the game. Perhaps they’re more comfortable with physical copies, or maybe they have a bad internet connection, or maybe a physical copy will look nice as part of their collection.
Well whatever the case is, if you’re after the physical copy of Minecraft: Xbox One Edition, you will be pleased to learn that Microsoft will be releasing the retail copy of the game in stores come 18th of November where it will be priced at $19.99. Just like the digital copy, gamers will be able to transfer their work and progress from the Xbox 360 version to the Xbox One version.
Microsoft adds that gamers will also be able to transfer “most” of the downloadable content to the Xbox One as well, although they did not share any specifics. Unfortunately if you were to purchase the retail copy of the game, you will have to pay full price for it, unlike gamers who went the digital route and only had to pay $4.99 for the upgrade if they already had the Xbox 360 version of the game.
Retail Minecraft: Xbox One Edition Arriving 18th November
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Sep 30
When Apple announced Activation Lock, government officials seemed to be pretty happy with the feature and if the reports are to be believed, it seems that smartphone theft has actually decreased in the wake of the new feature being offered in iOS 7. However it seems that not everyone in the government is too happy about Apple’s more recent security changes.
As you might have heard, Apple has announced a new way of encrypting their smartphones which would essentially make it impossible for the Cupertino company to hand over your information, even if they wanted to. Attorney General Eric Holder is one of those critics. According to a report from Reuters, it seems that Holder feels that the new device encryption is “too secure” and that law enforcement should have a way to access these devices if they need to.
Holder could also be trying to look for middle ground and was quoted as saying, “It is fully possible to permit law enforcement to do its job while still adequately protecting personal privacy.” Apple isn’t the only company he is worried about as Google themselves have recently announced a similar encryption feature that would be arriving in the Android L update.
For those wondering about the encryption, basically Apple and Google will no longer hold the encryption keys to their devices. What this means is that only the owner of the phone or those who knows the phone’s passcode will be able to access the data. Of course this is assuming that your data is stored locally. While this is great news for privacy advocates, we can only imagine that it will also complicate things for law enforcement.
US Attorney General Not Pleased With Apple And Google’s New Encryption
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Sep 30
According to recent reports of iOS 8.1, it seems that the update has a hidden Apple Pay settings which seems to suggest and confirm Apple’s earlier promise of enabling Apple Pay in the near future. It also seemed to suggested that Apple Pay could be arriving on the iPads. However according to new reports, it seems that Siri will be involved in Apple Pay as well.
As it stands if you were to ask Siri to show you a credit card, it will bring up Apple’s Passbook app, which unfortunately at the moment does not allow users to add credit cards to the list. However with iOS 8.1, it has been reported that users will be able to use Siri to pull up credit cards that they might have on file.
This will come in handy if the user has more than one credit card stored or if their hands are busy. Apple has confirmed that Passbook will be the app that they will use to manage Apple Pay cards, but we guess it looks like Siri can also be used to access the cards you have saved.
There are also reports that Apple is currently developing iOS 8.2 and 8.3 alongside iOS 8.1. This seems to corroborate earlier reports that suggested that Apple had prioritized the development of OS X 10.10 Yosemite and that iOS 8’s features would be introduced over the course of several updates, but hey, better late than never, right?
Siri Can Be Used To Access Apple Pay Credit Cards In iOS 8.1
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Sep 30
As you might have heard, Microsoft has officially announced Windows 10, the company’s next-generation Windows operating system. According to Microsoft, the reason they went with Windows 10 is because they felt that it was not right to call it Windows 9. Speaking at the event, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson was quoted as saying, “Windows is at a Threshold and now it’s time for a new Windows. It wouldn’t be right to call it Windows 9.”
That’s all and good, but the question is when can consumers expect to get their hands on the latest operating system? According to Myerson during a Q&A session, he revealed that Microsoft has planned for a mid-2015 release of Windows 10 and it seems that Microsoft will be hosting a BUILD conference in April 2015 where presumably more details will be shared.
Pricing of Windows 10 was not revealed, although previous it was suggested that the upgrade to Windows 10 would be free for Windows 8 users, at least according to Microsoft Indonesia’s president, although a recent report suggests that it might not be the case. Given that Microsoft did not mention anything about price, there is a good chance the latest rumors could be true.
In any case we will be keeping our eyes peeled for more information regarding Windows 10’s release date and pricing, but in the meantime if you missed out on Microsoft’s announcement today, you can check out the video above where Joe Belfiore takes us through a preview of the new operating system.
Windows 10 Pegged For Mid-2015 Release
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Sep 30
Back in the day when we wanted to buy an album, we’d go to a record store and pick up an album there. However as time moved on, the way we consumed music changed. We started frequenting record stores less and relied on digital purchases and downloads to consume our music, but even then that is changing.
Well perhaps it’s a marketing gimmick, or perhaps it could be a new medium of selling music, but hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan has recently released their new album, and one of the ways to purchase the album would be to buy a specially designed wearable speaker that contains the group’s music in it.
The speakers are built by Boombotix and according to the company’s CEO, the speaker was a customized version of its Boombot speakers and had to be reworked to include flash memory and a file management system to store the album on. Speaking to Billboard, the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA explained how the idea came about.
“I had the idea pop up into my head, for a while, about music being kind of disconnected to us. Of being so digitized and accessible, but yet not tangible. But this thing here, a tangible item, like your old Walkman or your old cassette, or your old record, that’s what this is bringing back.”
It seems that the speakers will be a limited run as only 3,000 of them will be sold at $79.99 each where it will be made available in November ahead of the group’s album release, but what do you guys think of this new method of distributing music?
Hip-Hop Group Wu-Tang Clan To Sell Their New Album Inside A Speaker
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Sep 30
Indoor cycling normally isn’t as fun as the outdoor variety, and it certainly isn’t as social. Where’s the thrill of blowing past a rival? That’s what Zwift’s upcoming massively multiplayer cycling game promises to solve. So long as you have a…
Sep 30
No End: Richard Fulco Talks Music, New York and Writing His First Novel
Posted in: Uncategorized
Music blogger and playwright Richard Fulco has recently released his debut novel, There Is No End to This Slope. The book is equal parts love letter and bitter reproach to New York, as seen through the eyes of his struggling protagonist, John Lenza. Richard talks about the unexpected challenges of completing his first novel while balancing work and family.
Elford Alley: For years you were primarily a playwright who blogged about music on the side. What inspired you to switch gears and write a novel?
Richard Fulco: Actors. I’m kidding, of course. Seriously, after my play Get Out of Jail Free was produced at the New York Fringe Festival in 2007, I realized that it might work better as a novel. I also realized that I wasn’t such a terrific collaborator and that I needed to work on a project where I was in complete control — no actors, no directors, just me.
Alley: In recent fiction it seems there’s a lot of emphasis on writing relatable and likeable characters. Did this influence your decision to make your protagonist, John, such an unlikeable character?
Fulco: You should have read an early draft. John Lenza was downright detestable. I worked diligently to make him a more sympathetic character. Sure, he’s a delusional, pill-popping wannabe writer, but he’s also coping with the loss of a dear friend, wrestling with a dead-end job, and struggling with a recent divorce.
John Lenza isn’t for everyone. I knew that from the onset. Hate him. Love him. Don’t feel lukewarm about him. It was my intention to create a “real” character replete with flaws and shortcomings that might make the reader feel uneasy.
Alley: With Havannah you created a character who seems self-aware and often breaks the fourth wall. Did you see her as a voice for the audience, trying in vain to knock a little sense into your protagonist?
Fulco: I don’t quite see Havannah as the audience’s mouthpiece, though I could see why you might think she is. Havannah is my version of the Greek soothsayer Tiresias. She is all-knowing, all-knowledgeable, even John Lenza’s subconscious. I’m not even sure that Havannah is a person. She might only exist in John’s head.
Alley: Music is a huge part of your novel, and John often reminisces about his one gig in high school. Is music a major influence on your writing style?
Fulco: This is such a difficult question for me to answer. Music is an influence on everything I do: my writing, my characters, the way I raise my own children, what I eat throughout the day. Three-minute rock songs have influenced me more than any teacher, preacher or Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist has.
Alley: Many of your characters offer contradicting views of what New York represents, but everyone seems to agree it’s a city you love and hate in equal measure. What was the biggest challenge in representing such an iconic city in your novel?
Fulco: I think a true New Yorker has a love-hate relationship with his or her home. As a native New Yorker, I by no means consider it a paradise. It’s home. I love the people, the food, the diversity, but the hectic pace of it all can wear you down. Still, it’s my home.
The wonderful thing about New York is that it’s always evolving. The most challenging thing about living in New York is that it’s always evolving. For John Lenza the city’s constant evolution can lead to nostalgia. And nostalgia can kill your dreams.
Alley: When you were writing the novel, your life was going through major changes, including the arrival of your children. What was the greatest challenge in completing a novel with newborns in the house?
Fulco: Thankfully, I completed the bulk of the novel before my twins arrived in July 2011. I remember telling my wife, Colleen, that I was racing against time. I felt a sense of urgency that was manifested by my laptop, which was ready to explode. The touchpad on my Mac was cracked down the center, and by the end I couldn’t close my laptop entirely because the touchpad lifted up so high and eventually cracked in half.
I worked on the final draft from January to June 2013. Chloe and Connor were a year and a half. I worked full days while a babysitter looked after them. It depleted our savings account and placed quite a strain on the family, but I’m forever grateful to Colleen for supporting our family. She’s our rock, and without her spiritual and financial guidance There Is No End to This Slope would probably be my desk drawer.
Alley: The “lost borough” of Staten Island features prominently in your novel. Why did you choose this locale to have such a huge bearing on John’s life?
Fulco: I grew up in Staten Island — born in Brooklyn, but my parents moved to Staten Island as part of “white flight.” There Is No End to This Slope was the first time I was able to write about Staten Island in a fairly objective way. There are things you despise about your home, and there are things you cherish. It took me a long time to discover the ways in which Staten Island had shaped me.
Alley: John and other characters often complain about gentrification and the removal of the seedy element from Times Square and Brooklyn, as if something special was lost. Do you think a New York removed from the grime and crime of the ’70s and ’80s has lost a little bit of its character?
Fulco: Since Mayor Giuliani’s administration in the ’90s, New York has rather aggressively become a fairly generic city, a playground for rich people and college students. My wife and I think that if some crime crept back in NYC, the Midwesterners would flee. Not that I’m condoning crime, but if the “squeegee guys” came back to the West Side Highway, some of the investment bankers might go home.
Sep 30
PHOENIX (AP) — The Obama administration has urged a court to reject Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s appeal of a ruling that blocks the state from denying driver’s licenses to young immigrants who have avoided deportation under a change ordered by the president.
Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing Tuesday that the state policy is trumped by federal law. They argued the state won’t accept documents issued to the immigrants in question as proof of their legal presence in the country, yet it continues to accept such records from other immigrants. “The state has failed to identify any reason why the same documents should not similarly suffice for plaintiffs,” the Justice Department said in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in a lawsuit by young immigrants who challenged the policy.
The federal government didn’t challenge the driver’s license policy, but it was asked by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to offer input on the case. In July, a three-judge panel of the court blocked the driver’s license policy and suggested the rules were intended to express hostility toward the young immigrants.
The governor is now asking for a 15-judge panel to reconsider the ruling. The Obama administration said no such review is warranted.
Brewer spokesman Andrew Wilder said in a statement that the filing demonstrates how lawless the Obama administration has become.
“Rather than secure U.S. borders or enforce existing federal immigration laws, the Obama administration continues to afford preference and privileges to people who enter our country illegally and whose presence is unauthorized,” Wilder said. “States, not the Obama administration, have the right to determine who is issued a driver’s license.”
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The Obama administration also chimed in on Tuesday on another Arizona immigration policy by urging a judge to throw out the state’s 2005 immigrant smuggling ban. The federal government argues the state smuggling law is trumped by a similar federal law, while Brewer’s attorneys contend there is no such conflict with federal law.
Brewer and the Obama administration have clashed over illegal immigration before, most notably in a federal challenge seeking to throw out Arizona’s 2010 immigration law, SB1070.
In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law’s most contentious section, requiring police to question, while enforcing other laws, the immigration status of people suspected of being in the country illegally. Other parts, such as a requirement that immigrants carry registration, were struck down.
The state driver’s license policy was a reaction to steps the Obama administration took in June 2012 to shield thousands of immigrants from deportation and expand their legal rights. About 580,000 people have been approved to take part in the program, including about 20,000 in Arizona.
Brewer issued an executive order in August 2012 directing state agencies to deny driver’s licenses and other public benefits to young immigrants who get work authorization under the program.
Immigrant-rights advocates argued that the state let some immigrants with work permits get driver’s licenses, but it wouldn’t let immigrants protected under Obama’s program have the same benefit.
The state revised the policy last year by saying it would stop issuing driver’s licenses to all people who receive deportation deferrals from the federal government, not just young immigrants given protection under Obama’s policy. The governor’s attorneys argued the revision makes the young immigrants’ equal-protection arguments moot.
Brewer’s attorneys have contended the decision to deny driver’s licenses grew out of liability concerns and the desire to reduce the risk of the licenses being used to improperly access public benefits.
Lawyers who sought to overturn the policy said the rule change made it difficult or impossible for such young immigrants to do essential things in their everyday lives, such as going to school, going to the grocery store and finding and holding a job.
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