Tip: Quickly Search Through Your Installed Apps By Pulling Down On Nova Launcher's App Drawer

Nova Launcher is easily the top pick for conventional Android home screen replacements, and a "daily driver" for a good chunk of Android Police's staff. The latest update added a Material Design user interface, but there are other goodies hiding just below the surface. For example, version 4.0 includes a simple app search function hidden in the app drawer. It's especially handy if you've got hundreds of installed apps (like Artem) or just don't like organizing your apps into folders (like everyone else).

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HTC's Exclusive Mail App Arrives In The Play Store

Like other manufacturers, HTC has made it a thing to publish its stock apps to Google Play, allowing for easier updates. The latest addition is HTC Mail.

 

I used Mail on my One M7 for quite a while, and it's nothing fancy. The app pulls down your messages via IMAP or POP3 like a traditional email client. In terms of features, you have the essentials. You can manage multiple accounts, organize messages into folders, format text, and search through your inbox.

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This Two-in-one Solar Cell Can Generate More Electricity at Low Cost

Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell

In the past few years, solar energy has experienced a massive upsurge and is now widely popular and considered a very good and eco-friendly alternative to non-renewable sources of energy. Despite much research and progress, until now, we were not able to harness most of the solar energy available to us and the reason is that our solar cells are not efficient enough. In fact, the efficiency of the best solar cells is merely around 25%.

A plentiful mineral called perovskite was pointed as a possible solution to the poor performance of solar cells by earlier research work, but it was just a piece of theory at the moment. Now, a team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University have devised theory into action by constructing tandem silicon-perovskite two-in-one Solar Cell.

Tandem solar cells, sometimes referred as multi-junction solar cells, consist of more than one semiconductor material. They have the potential to boost up the efficiency of solar cells considerably, but their use has been very limited because of high cost and manufacturing complications. The team focused especially on these designs because they believed that there is much scope for improvement in them.

Perovskite is a crystalline organometal mineral that exists in geological deposits almost all over the world and also, it can be produced inexpensively in labs. It was known to scientists since decades that perovskite has light absorbing abilities and semiconductor properties, but it was only in 2009 that it was used in solar cells. The main advantage of using perovskite in solar cells is that it can be integrated in layers as thin as a micrometer.

Recommended: Get Electricity from Solar Energy-harvesting 3D Printed “Trees”

The tandem solar cells created via this experiment will be helpful in improving the connection between silicon and perovskite layers. This might prove beneficial for incorporating advancement in manufacturing of various technologies and gadgets. The connecting layer or tunnel junction consists of heavily doped p-type and n-type silicon which makes the energy barrier between two different layers almost zero. An additional titanium dioxide layer is added to allow electrons from perovskite solar cell to flow freely into the tunnel junction. Here, they recombine with the electrons from silicon panel.

Perovskite is a crystalline organometal mineral

A tandem solar cell based on perovskite and silicon is far more efficient and can absorb a larger fraction of solar radiation available to us.

Moreover, these solar panels minimize the phenomenon that we call as thermalization. It occurs when the energy of photons is released as heat. Silicon is best at absorbing photons towards the top of the solar energy spectrum while perovskite is good at capturing photons from the lower infrared segment. Hence, these specialized absorbing layers can convert sunlight into electricity more efficiently than a single absorbing layer.

The result of this experiment was much promising. A tandem solar cell showed near about 50% increase in its efficiency. The researchers believe that refining the perovskite layer and using more advanced silicon solar cell could yield better results. Until then, this research has been a milestone event in this arena as it is going to give solar energy a massive boost by making the solar cells far more efficient than they were earlier. So, now we have to use just 1 solar cell to attain the fruit of 2.

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‘Cicada’ U.S. military’s new swarm of mini drones for spying

“Cicadas” are U.S. military’s ‘Robotic carrier pigeon’, these mini drones can be used for eavesdropping and picking up details of the enemy submarine during war front.

A new miniature drone that fits into the palm of a hand has been invented by the U.S. military researchers. This tiny drone is named “Cicada” and it can be used for a myriad of purposes in civil missions as well as on the war fronts. In addition, the drone can also be used as a spy to eavesdrop on the enemy troops and even pick up details of enemy submarine.

The “Cicada” aka Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft, actually is a “micro air vehicle” that has been specifically created to carry out missions in remote battlefield and hence it is much smaller, cheaper and designed to be simplistic in comparison with other robotic aircrafts.

For a long time U.S. military researchers have been engaged in creating drones of various sizes and Cicada is one of the tiniest creations ever.

The mini drone has received its name from an insect “Cicada” as the researchers were inspired by the unique profile of these insects.

The insect Cicada has an unique life cycle and are known to live underground for a major period of their lives till they attain their adult stage. Once they achieve adulthood they emerge in great swarms, undergo reproduction and finally the newly hatched nymphs drop to the ground and the next cycle would begin, on the other hand the adult Cicada lays dead on the ground.

Aaron Kahn of the Naval Research Laboratory told AFP: “The idea was why can’t we make UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that have the same sort of profile.”

He added: “We will put so many out there, it will be impossible for the enemy to pick them all up.”

Cicada is made up of only 10 parts and it resembles a toy airplane with circuit board.

Kahn, also mentioned that the cost of the prototype was only few thousand dollars and in future a single mini drone would cost about $250, hence these minuscule drones are much cost effective.

Researchers, further mentioned that these Cicadas aka micro disposable air vehicles are configured to GPS (Global Positioning Systems) programs. Thus it was confirmed that these drones would be controlled by some engineer located at the naval lab indicating that it is not a fully automated drone.

Hence, when the Cicadas are dropped from an  aircraft or a balloon or larger drones they can glide like birds under controlled supervision.

Way back in 2012, a ‘flight test’ was carried out in Yuma, Arizona wherein Cicada drones were dropped from a height of about 17,500 meters which is almost 57,600 feet. The tiny drones dropped at the rate of 11 miles and landed within 15 feet of its target.

Researchers further mention that the drone can fly at a speed of 75 kph which is roughly 46 miles. Since there are no motors or propellers, the mini drone’s flight is noise less.

Daniel Edwards, an aerospace engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory, said:“It looks like a bird flying down.“  he added : “the drone is very difficult to see.”

During the flight test, the Cicadas were equipped with sensors which recorded the weather readings for temperature, air pressure and humidity.

Researchers feel that besides war front, the mini drones could also be used for a variety of myriad missions such as monitoring traffic, forecasting weather, even during some natural calamities.

Edwards said: “They are robotic carrier pigeons. You tell them where to go, and they will go there.”

These mini drones could be equipped with light weight sensors like microphones that can help in eavesdropping the enemy troops.

Kahn said: “You equip these with a microphone or a seismic detector, drop them on that road, and it will tell you ‘I heard a truck or a car travel along that road.’ You know how fast and which direction they’re traveling.”

One more possibility is to outfit the mini drones with magnetic sensors so as to pick up details of the enemy submarines.

For now researchers feel that the drones cannot be deployed to take video feeds due to its shortcomings in regards to bandwidth.

The researchers say that the tiny Cicadas are surprisingly robust.

Edwards said: “You can throw them out of a Cessna or a C-130. They’ve flown through trees. They’ve hit asphalt runways. They have tumbled in gravel. They’ve had sand in them. They only thing that we found that killed them was desert shrubbery.”

As per the researchers, Cicada program has succeeding in creating great interest among every branch of the U.S. government including some intelligence agencies after it was on display at the Pentagon’s “lab day” this week.

Edwards said:“Everyone is interested. Everyone!“

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Top 10 best free Android apps of the Month

Top 10 best free Android Apps which every smartphone user must have in their device

Google keeps adding innumerable apps and games to its Play Store. While most of these apps and games go unnoticed. For the month of May 2015, our team has picked up few interesting Android apps which we believe is a must for your Android device and would want you all to give it a try.

Trepn Profiler: 

Trepn Profiler app is a power and performance profiling app for your Android devices. It has been observed that certain apps are just bloatware which adds up as a burden to your data and battery life together making the device to work slower. Now, this app has been specially designed to identity and strike out the apps that hog your CPU, consumes extra data or drains the battery of your device. This is a must for all the Android users and you can get the app from here.

Dubsmash:

Dubsmash app allows users to choose their favorite sound or dialogue or any quotes. Just get your lips synchronized to the dialogue or whatever sound you choose and record its video. Send this dubbed video to your friends across the social networking sites. This app helps Android users to send across hilarious videos to friends and at present it is the most wanted app. The Dubsmash fever is the in thing right now. The app comes with some pre-loaded dialogues, songs and quotes as well as sounds and users can also upload any sound that they want to. Get the app downloaded fromhere.

Mindly or Mind Mapping:

This app is apt for creative people, for those who want to stay organized and even for bloggers. With the help of the app a person can stay focused on their ideas, concepts and thoughts. It is an easy way to help a person to organize their thought structuring, one can also set a meeting or plan a project, for idea collection, prepare for a speech and lot more. Mindly app is an app which helps to organize the inner universe and users must give it a try. The app is an innovative approach to get your thoughts connected in the form of bubbles. User needs to put their ideas and plans in these bubbles and just give them different colors on the basis of priority. The app helps a person to improve on their ideas and stay on the track of their thoughts and schedules. Mindly can be downloaded from here.

Google Handwriting input:

Google keyboards are one of the best; however if you are tired of swiping the keyboards, then you definitely need to get the Google Handwriting input app right away. This app has been introduced recently. Users would just need to scribble and the app is efficient enough to recognize and transcribe whatever has been written. So get this app downloaded and forget tapping the keyboards and just glide on the screen and enjoy. The app is most useful when a person is texting in hurry. Get your Google Handwriting input app from here.

AppChat (Alpha):

Android users must have encountered this scenario when they were not able to understand certain app or game and then they have to toggle between the app and the browser to get their doubt clarified. Well, now with the AppChat (Alpha), this problem will be solved once and for all. With the AppChat (Alpha) users will be automatically connected to a chat room for every app that has been installed on their phone. In addition the app helps users to chat in real time with other users who have downloaded the same app. Hence, users will be guided by other Android users who have already used the particular app, well must say an innovative idea. To get the AppChat (Alpha) follow this link.

Mailbox: 

Mailbox app is one of the lightest, fastest and user friendly app that helps the user to get their emails in place. It has a simplistic design and it helps user to perform the actions just with single swipes. Besides, the app is much more faster than Gmail app and the default inbox apps that are shipped with the Android device. Currently, the app works only for Gmail and iCloud accounts however developers are working to extend their support to other email platforms. Mailbox app can be downloaded from here. this link.

Clarity Keyboard (beta):

Clarity keyboard app is still under developmental stages and its beta version has been released. This app is a part of the SwiftKey Greenhous beta program. The unique feature of Clarity app is that it asks the user for their preference wherein user can ask the app for auto correction or for grammatical corrections. Furthermore, the app has a feature of multi-correction wherein it can correct multiple words in the same sentence. User also has an upper hand, suppose if they feel the auto correction is not correct then they can undo the auto correct by backspace and with this user can restore whatever they have written earlier. The app is compatible with Android 4.4+. To try this app user needs to download the link from here.

Handpick:

Google introduced an app specially for the foodies. Handpick helps an user by browsing through various dishes in its database as well picks up the dishes that are listed in Instagram, food blogs and well known food websites. The app is also smart enough to display the latest trending food recipes and if one wants some specific food items they can get it by searching the particular recipe with a hashtag. Simply fabulous. What more the app chooses only those recipes that have been cooked by some of the world’s best cooks! Get the app downloaded from here.

Funny or Die:

Are you among those who love to watch new funny videos everyday? So you are the apt person for the Funny or Die app. This is a video feature app and it brings one of the funniest trending videos on the internet. The app brings one of the most popular and fresh videos everyday. Users can give this app a try by getting this downloaded from here.

Tiltagon:

Tiltagon is a cool game for all the game lovers with the only difference being it is a bit difficult to play. Tiltagon basically is made up of hexagons of different sizes and shapes and the player needs to balance a rather frisky ball on different hexagons with a lot of hurdles which makes the game a challenging one. However, its this challenge which makes the game all the more interesting and fun filled. Do get this game downloaded from here.

The above top 10 Android apps would help users to enhance the performance of their device, organize themselves in much better way, aid in their entertainment, help them in their connectivity, allows them to play mind boggling games and last but not the least help foodies to get more recipes.

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Google purpose-built self-driving cars all set to be tested on public roads

Google purpose-built self-driving cars get a green light to be tested on public roads

Despite all the criticism it has been facing regarding the accidents it has had, the Google’s driverless cars have been green lighted for testing in the open roads. Consequent to the approval by the road authorities, Google will be testing the purpose-built robot cars on the roads around Mountain View, California, where the it is based.

The Google robot cars have thus far been driven only on test tracks and have not been mixed with regular traffic to test their road worthiness. Before testing the robot cars, Google has tested autonomous vehicles on public roads but all of them have been heavily modified Lexus SUVs.

Google Blog states that purpose-built robot cars will not be completely autonomous, but will have safety drivers on board who can take over if needed.

“Every moment has been building towards putting these cars on the roads where we can start learning even more from them,” said Jaime Waydo, systems engineer in the self-driving project, in a video released to accompany the announcement.

As per Google plans, the robot cars will not have any steering wheel or control mechanism  in future though the forthcoming cars undergoing tests will have detachable version. The top speed of the cars will be capped at 25mph (40km/h) during the tests.

Google has been under fire for the crashes involving the the driverless cars. As many as eleven Google driverless vehicles have been involved in minor accidents on California roads over the past six years during testing, the company said on Monday, stressing that none of its cars were at fault in any of the incidents.

Google made the admission on 11th May after a report from the Associated Press said two Google driverless cars, while controlled by computers, had been involved in accidents since last fall, when the state gave the company official permission to start testing the technology on public roads. Nobody was hurt in any of the crashes, Google said.

Better preparations for public road test

In preparation for their public debut, said Ms Waydo, the cars had been put through a series of demanding reliability and durability tests. Each vehicle has been clocking up thousands of miles each week on the test tracks – some of which resemble Californian highways and streets.

Mixing with real-life traffic will help Google engineers refine the on-board software to cope with many situations the cars have not encountered during testing, said project head Chris Urmson in a blog post.

“Getting these cars out in to the public and allowing people to react to them, allowing us to see them out there, that’s a huge deal and most importantly it’s the necessary step to getting them to drive themselves,” he said.

The video released by Google called ‘Ready for the Road’ is given below :

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Japanese firm launches worlds first Iris-scanning smartphone

Forget finger print and face recognition to open your smartphone; Japanese firm to bring Iris-scanner to smartphones to make mobile payments and unlock it

Japanese carrier, NTT DoCoMo in collaboration with Fujitsu will start selling the Arrows NX F-04G, one of the first phones with iris scanning biometrics, starting in late May. Users will be able to use the technology to unlock their phones with their eyes, log in to a number of Docomo services and make mobile payments. The duo claims that this is the world’s first smartphone with iris recognition technology that can be used to both authorize mobile wallet payments and unlock a device.

The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil. The user of the phone must first save its iris pattern in the phone by staring at animated circles on the screen to use the new security feature. According to Fujitsu, it does this by merging an infrared camera and infrared LED to shine light on a user’s eye and seize their iris pattern.

Beyond iris scanning, the Arrows NX F-04G comes with a 5.2-inch QHD screen display with 2560 × 1440 QHD resolution, 3GB of RAM, runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, 32GB of built-in storage and a 21 MP main camera.

Fujistu first presented the prototype of the iris scanning phone that unlocks a phone at the Mobile World Congress in March. It consisted of thin lightweight hardware that was inserted onto a regular smartphone. The company asserted that the error rate of the prototype was about one in 100,000. The validation technology set by the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance is supported by companies such as Microsoft, Google and PayPal.

In January, Viewsonic had introduced a similar technology in a promotional video for its V55 smartphone. However, the phone is yet to be released to the public. Unlike fingerprint scanners that are found on the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Apple iPhone 6, the iris scanner allows users to unlock their phones without removing their gloves or worry about criminals making copies of their fingerprints.

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MicroSD cards from SanDisk and Kingston are of extremely poor quality:Hugo Barra of Xiaomi

Hugo Barra gives reason why Xiaomi Mi 4i doesnt have microSD expansion

When the world is moving to more memory smartphones, Xiaomi Mi 4i ships without expansion slot because Hugo Barra of Xiaomi is against it

Memory is the lifeline of any good phone. When you need to save those 1080p HD quality movies or tonnes of songs on your smartphone, you need memory. This is one field where Android smartphones beat iPhone because of Apple’s insistence on fixed memory aboard them. When the Android smartphone manufacturers are ganging up to give more memory to you, the user, one company is bucking the trend and released its latest smartphone without extended memory. You may ask why? Because Hugo Barra,  Vice President of International and other top honchos at Xiaomi dont think it is necessary.

Speaking to Engadget, Hugo clarified why his company dislikes microSD cards.  First things first, Barra says SD cards impede the functions of a smartphone, “For high performance devices, we are fundamentally against an SD card slot.” says Barra.

Xiaomi’s latest offering, the Mi 4i provides a second SIM slot instead of microSD card slot, because, Barra says microSD cards are “are incredibly prone to failure and malfunctioning of various different sorts.”

He then gives a more definite answer by Xiaomi Mi 4i lacks external storage,

“You think you’re buying like a Kingston or a SanDisk but you’re actually not, and they’re extremely poor quality, they’re slow, they sometimes just stop working, and it gives people huge number of issues, apps crashing all the time, users losing data, a lot of basically complaints and customer frustration. It’s gonna be a while before you finally accept that maybe the reason why it’s not performing is because you put in an SD card, right? You’re gonna blame the phone, you’re gonna blame the manufacturer, you’re gonna shout and scream and try to get it fixed, so many different ways until you say, ‘Actually, let me just take the SD card out and see what happens.'”

Barra says that Xiaomi smartphones may remove external memory slots all together from future releases. “It is a trend: SD cards will disappear,” Barra stated “You should basically not expect SD card slots in any of our flagships.”

Another important feature of the Xiaomi smartphones is they dont have removable batteries. Barra says its just for making the Xiaomi smartphones cost effective. “Our thinking is if you’re gonna have a removable back for the purposes of having an SD slot, you might as well make the battery removable,” Barra said. “It doesn’t really increase the cost of the battery that much.”

Most new releases from big smartphone manufacturers like Samsung, Asus, Huawei and LG feature expanded slot for 128GB memory which may be increased in future if Samsung’s new chip, 3-bit NAND-based Embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC) 5.0 storage is brought into use.

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5G Network with 1TB Download Speed Coming Soon

University of Surrey achieves 5G speeds of 1Tbps during tests

How would you like a download speed of 1TB per sec on your smartphone? Sounds unbelievable, doesnt it! Researchers at University of Surrey have managed to achieve a breakneck speed of 1TB under test conditions, while testing Fifth Generation Mobile Telephone or 5G network in University of Surrey labs.

This was disclosed by Professor Rahim Tafazolli at the #V3 Enterprise Mobility Summit.  Professor Rahim Tafazolli is the director of the 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) at University of Surrey and has been overseeing the 5G tests.

Prof.Rahim told V3 that, “it was the first time in the world that such speeds had been achieved, far faster than any other tests such as Samsung’s 7.5Gbps results.”

Explaining the working of 5GIC, the professor said that it had been researching on the latest technologies which can support 5G services. The technological innovations meant that the research team had been able to achieve the 1TBps results. “We have developed 10 more breakthrough technologies and one of them means we can exceed 1TBps wirelessly. This is the same capacity as fibre optics but we are doing it wirelessly,” he told V3.

Prof. Rahim said that the research team carried out the tests in lab conditions over a distance of 100 meters using transmitters and receivers build by them. He added that they will conduct test outside the university premises in late 2016 or early 2017 and hoped that they could hold a public demonstration in early 2018.

Hoping to stay ahead of other research teams from South Korea, Russia and Japan, the professor stated that, “We want to be the first in the world to show such high speeds.”

Ofcom believes that speeds of 50GB/s is possible on 5G networks when they are deployed commercially but 1TB seems a bit far fetched in the tough physical conditions outside the university test labs. But the professor does not think so, he says that this speed seems achievable provided they can come up with higher latency and reliability.

“An important aspect of 5G is how it will support applications in the future. We don’t know what applications will be in use by 2020, or 2030 or 2040 for that matter, but we know they will be highly sensitive to latency,” he said.  “We need to bring end-to-end latency down to below one millisecond so that it can enable new technologies and applications that would just not be possible with 4G,” he added.

Though 5G is only on lab stage right now, commercial deployment of 5G networks will hopefully be started by the year 2020.

Source : V3

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All you need to know about Google's Android M and Google I/O 2015

Google I/O 2015 conference schedule is released and it gives us a hint of future prospect of Android M operating system and other Google Products.

This year the Google I/O 2015 conference will be held on 28th and 29th May at San Francisco. While revealing its schedule for those two days it seems by chance, Google also leaked the information regarding announcement of Android M for its Day 1 session. Google has removed the information from  schedule as of now, because Google does not like to give away the details of its conference way ahead before its actual conference session.

In the meantime, ArsTechnica was able to get a few details as to what all new developments are stored by Google for its Android. The session details have been summed up here:

• Android M details :
  • Release date: Android Lollipop seems to have hit just 10 percent of the smartphones and now Google is ready to announce its latest version Android M; however as per Google’s earlier history there was a gap of almost a year between Android Kitkat and Android Jelly Bean and the Android Lollipop updates, hence as of now it seems that though Google will announce its Android M during its conference; the actual rolling out of this version would be in fall or early winter.
  • Certain features of Android M: Android M is expected to have certain tremendous changes in its interface and design as compared to its earlier version Android Lollipop. It is expected Android M will have an improved notification, Smart home feature which will have a complete control over all the connected devices at home and in the office via Nest and other third-party makers. It seems Google will introduce some advanced features for Security enhancements in Android M.
  • Android ‘M’ name: It has been observed that Google uses the alphabetical order to name its new Android version, the chronological order so far is: Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat, and Lollipop. Hence with “M” it could be  Muffin, Milky Way, Marshmallow, M&Ms, Mud Cake, and Mars!! as Google seems to be fascinated with sweets.
• Android for work update: Earlier this year, Google had announced that it has plans to build the software with regards to design and interface in such a way that it will be more appealing to the corporations, indirectly hinting that now Google would reach the corporate workplaces as well. Android M is expected to bring an evolutionary change in Android’s interface rather than its external appearance. Google plans to bring a dual persona feature to its Android and what would this mean? It would mean that Google will provide two versions of its Android one for work data and the other for personal data so that user can easily demarcate and keep these two data separately. The ‘Android for Work Update’ session says, “Android M is bringing the power of Android to all kinds of workplaces.” However, the report also brings it to our notice that Google will have to combine its Android M and new version of Work together for more app separation because current implementation does not seem to be working for high security businesses.
• Android Wear: Google’s Advanced Technologies and Products group is expected to announce some wearable. Android M is further expected to bring some development in the way its smartwatch and smartphone interacts with regards to notification and voice commands. Some feel that Google may even introduce AI robots on Android M!! so seems Google will now bring its new version to many more elements right from pocket, to wrist watch, to car, home etc. to name a few.
• Voice Command: “Your app, now available hands free” this is a session scheduled during the event and it gives a brief about the same:  “In this talk, we introduce Voice Access, a service that gives anyone access to their Android device through voice alone.” It seems that Google will introduce a Voice Access feature which will give users to access their Android device exclusively through voice. It could be some Driving app probably. Users will have to use lots of voice commands in order to use the app and on the other hand Google too would need to work on ensuring the app understands the accents and dialects across the globe.
• Real time satellite imaging: Another session “The Earth in real time” will have some future plans regarding the Skybox implementation. Actually, Google acquired Skybox, a satellite imaging company, last year for $500 million. Now Google and Skybox together are set out to launch about 24 satellite images into space with the purpose of real time satellite imaging. It seems Google has some announcements to make in regards to its progress in this field.
• Google Cloud Messaging: Google seems to be all set to introduce its Cloud Messaging 3.0 which is a new version of Google’s push messaging platform.
• Chromecast 2: There is another session known as “Designing games for Google Cast”, it seems Google is expected make announcements for its Chromecast wherein it will discuss “designing for the mobile and television experience on multiple screens, and adapting existing game design patterns to a multi-screen interactive format.” Further, there is one more session that includes the discussion on “using Android and iOS mobile devices as game controllers to unleash new interaction models for Chromecast and other Cast devices.” All these discussions indicate that Google might be launching Chromecast 2 during the conference.

Miscellaneous: There is a session “Hands-on with Polymer 1.0,” which indicates that the current Polymer 0.8 will be updated to Polymer 1.0. Polymer is Google’s UI toolkit  that is used to making websites which offer an app feel. Google might also be testing tools to woo developers further details will be revealed soon in the conference.

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iOS 9 Leaked, new look for Siri

First details of Apple’s next iOS version leaked show a new look Siri which matches Apple smartwatch

Apple will be announcing the newest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 9, at WWDC on June 8 according the Apple tracking website 9to5Mac.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple reveals the new software features it plans to bring to iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks and this year it is not going to be any different.9to5Mac Mark Gurman claims have some details what to expect from Apple’s next big iPhone update.

According to his report, the iOS 9 will not be a game changer of any sort but will have some tweaks and new features plus the usual security updates.

Redesigned Siri : According to Gurman, iOS 9 will feature a new and improved Siri which will be similar to the Siri on Apple watch.  The Siri on the Apple watch is much more colourful than it is on iPhone and iPad.

iOS will also have new wallpapers and colour themes and will come in a blue and green colour scheme by default.

A relaunched Beats Music Streaming service is also expected to be a big announcement at WWDC but some rumours suggest the software isn’t ready just yet.

Gurman had reported in February that Apple wont go in for a big visual change in the iOS 9. Instead Apple is focussing on overall improvements to stability and performance. So users can expect a stable iPhone and iPad. Apple will also try to keep the size of the update manageable so that it’s easier for users to actually install the update. This is because with iOS update, many iPhone and iPad owners complained that it required too much of space.

According to sources iOS 9 will be rolled out in fall this year after the iPhone 6s is released. In the meantime Apple engineers are readying the iOS 8.4 update which will bring security, stability and a redesigned Music app to the iPhone and iPad.

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Internet Without Data Connection? Use Pangea With Data-Over-Voice

Life without internet is nearly unimaginable in the recent times. It is hardwired and deep-rooted into our daily life and routine. Everyone needs to access internet for myriad reasons, but the reality is that don’t all have access to it. As it is said where there is a problem, there are solutions to it as well. Same is true in this case.

Pangea has taken the initiative to get the unconnected people online by using a much familiar concept in a brand new way: sending and receiving data over infrastructure used to send voice calls. It should be noted that a promising startup named Outernet is already providing free internet in many parts of the world.

The idea may seem to be obsolete, yet it is much promising and far more intricate. Their method involves turning data into a sound wave, modifying it to a human voice to a Telco’s end, and then retrieving it back to data on the user’s device.

Every single time the user wants to send an email or check twitter, it will make a call (nearly 10 sec) and transfer the requested data at up to 64 kilobits per second. For now, Pangea is only available for text content but co-founder Vlad Iuhas said that over time, it will provide full android experience but it can be a bit slower.

To get access to internet through Pangea, one requires installing an app on the phone which is yet again problematic as the user has to use internet. The startup’s intermediate solution is to have an initial user in a city or town who downloads the app and then transfers it to the village residents via Bluetooth or such media.

The company is planning to open service in Nigeria this summer, working with one of the Africa’s largest wireless carriers. If that goes well, the company will deploy the service across the continents in near future.

They are surely aiming high as they aspire to connect each and everyone around the globe. The task is obviously not so easy, but living in a world brimming with possibilities and opportunities, everything is possible.

With inputs from Techcrunch

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OnePlus Two to have Snapdragon 810 SoC onboard and to be priced at $400

OnePlus CEO says OnePlus Two will sport Snapdragon 810 SoC and cost CNY 2,499 ($400/Rs. 25,000)

OnePlus Two the much awaited smartphone from OnePlus will be made available to buyers in Q3 of 2015 according OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. Other than that not much is known about the upcoming OnePlus Two.

However, on Wednesday, OnePlus CEO Liu Zuohu aka Pete Lau asked his followers on the Chinese microblogging website, Weibo as to what should be the price of OnePlus Two if it will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC.

After many of his followers gave their suggestions, Lau agreed with some of the followers who had suggested a price of CNY 2,499 (roughly $400/ Rs. 25,000).

Zuohu asked his followers, “If OnePlus Two comes with Snapdragon 810, what do you think will be the price?” and then later replied, “2,499 Yuan seems to be a reasonable price.”

The Wiebo tweets now confirm two things, one is that OnePlus Two will have the Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 810 SoC onboad and other is that it will be priced in the range of  $400.

OnePlus had said last month that OnePlus Two will be a cheaper headset and perhaps the price $400 may not classify as a cheap smartphone. It also remains to be seen whether OnePlus Two could match sales corresponding to the earlier OnePlus One in view of stiff competition from Xiaomi and Asus who are bring one of the best powered smartphones to market. The company had then also said it aims to sell between 3 and 5 million smartphones in 2015, and 10 million in 2016.

OnePlus Two will have a 5.5-inch display panel similar to the one on its predecessor, OnePlus One, but with an increased resolution from full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) to QHD (1440×2560 pixels).  It is also tipped to have a massive 4GB of RAM and 32GB internal memory, in addition to the Snapdragon 810 processor. The OnePlus Two will have a 16MP rear shooter and a 5MP front-facing camera. The connectivity options included were 4G networks, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Micro-USB and OTG connectivity. It will be powered by a 3300mAh battery.

It remains to be seen how OnePlus deals with the overheating problems in the Snapdragon 810 SoC. There are conflicting reports of the heating issue in 810 chip with Qualcomm today strongly defending its latest flagship and saying that heating issues are a rumour.

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Xiaomi’s 2015 Roadmap gets Leaked

Even though by the standards of many Xiaomi should still be considered a startup, this is a company that has come selling nothing, to being one of the three top smartphone sellers in just a few years. The company’s attention to detail in design, and its affordable approach to the market have already crowned it the king of smartphones in China. Its only problem at the moment is how close Apple is to defeating its supremacy, and a leaked roadmap shows us Xiaomi’s action plan.

Four Mi devices were just leaked in the company’s road map for the rest of the year, and there’s a lot of hot on this list. First of all we’ve got the Xiaomi Mi 4S which sports a 5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 810, 13 megapixel optically stabilized camera and a 5 megapixel front-facing camera. We should expect this device for a launch in June. Then we’ve got the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 which sports more mid range specs with a 5.5-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 410, 13-megapixel primary camera and a 5 megapixel front-firing shooter. There’s also word on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Pro with a 5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 615, and similar details to the rest on the list.

The hottest product here is the rumored Xiaomi Mi 5, which we might not see until November. We’ve got a 5.2-inch QHD display, Snapdragon 820 processor, and a 20.2-megapixel camera. This would definitely place Xiaomi in flagship territory at a time when we should expect the next-generation iPhone. We’ll keep an eye on this as it develops.

Source: mobile-dad (pulled)

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Cyanogen and Truecaller collaboration to bring caller id on Cyanogen powered smartphones

Cyanogen partners Truecaller to bring caller ID to Cyanogen powered phones

Cyanogen has announced a strategic partnership with Truecaller and under the terms of the deal, all Cyanogen OS powered smartphones will get web enabled caller ID.

According to the Verge, Truecaller will come as a built-in service on Cyanogen OS and users are required to enable it. After enabling Truecaller on their smartphones, Truecaller will pull caller details from its web server and inform the user about the identity of the incoming caller within few seconds.

Dave Herman, Cyanogen’s vice president of product says that Truecaller on Cyanogen OS is more than merely identifying numbers. Besides identifying an incoming caller, it lets users report bad numbers and keep spammers at bay. Truecaller database includes about 1.7 billion numbers and if any incoming caller has been spammer, scammer or unsolicited advertisers, the Truecaller will show it on the user’s screen.

Herman added that customers still see the phone number, but then they see that 635 people have marked it as a spam call and instantly they can answer it or decide whether to reject it. According to Herman, around 100 million people are using Truecaller worldwide.

Cyanogen is preparing to live out of the Google Android shell. It has already inked a deal with Microsoft to bring native integration of Microsoft Apps like Bing, Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook and Microsoft Office into Cyanogen OS later this year.

The Truecaller integration into Cyanogen OS is a part of grand strategy of Cyanogen Inc to diversify and come out of Android shadow. Users who already have the app installed will also be able to keep using it.

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