The Silver Ink

Wednesday, January 16, 2019
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Microsoft adds new features to Xbox application and Windows 10

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xboxMicrosoft is working hard to improve the Xbox experience. The company is previewing some new features across Xbox app and Windows 10.

The Xbox application for Windows 10 will automatically get updated on PCs to May preview version once it is available in the Windows Store.

When the PC receives the update the version shows as 5.5.20022.00000 or higher. Gamer’s can verify it in the settings of the application.

The preview will include some features, like the Avatars, gamer’s can download the Avatars app directly within the Xbox app. Once it is installed, gamer has to select customize and then edit avatars such as dressing or buy new items.

Friends feature makes it easier to add friends. Gamer can designate favorites and share their names. They can also block or report others.

Gamer’s can now edit the keyboard shortcuts that are used to open Game Bar, stopping or starting recording, taking screenshots and more. They can also view their cloud based game clips.

Game hubs features allow viewing game specific feeds, friends who have played a specific game and individual achievement progress.

New feature testing allows the Xbox team to test streaming, this can help them to optimize streaming through Xbox ones to Windows 10.

The connect menu is also updated, this update allows turning on /off the console from Windows 10, if they are on the same network.

This update also brings some changes to Xbox one.

The team will test Xbox one Digital TV with previous audience in Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Austria, Ireland, Denmark and Belgium.

It will also refine the functioning of Micracast with the help of Wireless Display app.

Xbox Wire said, “We appreciate all the great feedback you’ve sent us and the team continues to make improvements to the Miracast functionality in the Wireless Display app based on that feedback.”

Some of the new features we’d like to see at Google’s I/O conference

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io15Goolge’s I/O conference is a meeting point where tech giants present its latest accomplishments.

This conference is a meeting point where developers, creators, engineers come together to discuss and showcase their successful ideas.

Some of the much anticipated projects expected are Android wear, Android TV, project Fi or android M Talk.

Unlike Previous I/O conferences, there are little to no rumors to fuel predictions.

Here are some of the things we’d most like to see at the conference.

Project ARA

The Project ARA is scheduled to begin this year in Puerto Rico; this project represents Google’s efforts at producing open hardware which supports highly modular smartphones.

Google hopes to create wearable technology capable of blowing one’s socks off. But a smaller screen takes from a user’s experience, so Google wants to provide both.

Android Auto

Android Auto has still remained fairly untapped. Everyone is expecting to see whether the platform will actually work as users need it to, especially since the potential dangers of malfunction are unlike those you would expect from a tablet or phone.

Little information is revealed about Android Auto, but rumors suggest that there may be shift in focus towards built in Android Auto.

Android M is expected to offer the possibility of integration with Auto.

Android TV

After this year’s CES, its clear which devices will be capable of running Android TV and which won’t.

They are still in making and the platform isn’t expected to change dramatically until they come out.

Glass 2.0

Augmented Reality headset didn’t muster the enthusiasm Google may wished for .2.0, however they may just highlight at the conference.

Rumors begun spreading that Glass 2.0 may be preparing for launch and some inside sources hinted towards a Glass 3.0.

There is lot of work to be done, so let’s see whether the I/O 2015 will come up with satisfying announcements.

 

38 Brand New Emojis Coming In 2016

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38 Brand New Emojis Coming In 2016

Online conversation has evolved enormously in the last few years, and the emoji phenomenon is on its way to becoming the biggest thing to hit messenger apps out there since the invention of the smiley face. In 2016, 38 new enmojis will be included in the emoji keyboard that are expected to become all time favorites in the future.

These upcoming 38 emojis are going to offer racial and gender equity to the whole emoji gang, by bringing in definite hits such as the “Prince” emoji or the “Mrs. Christmas” one.

Furthermore, it is set to offer very useful graphic representations of day to day things that people mention heavily in their messages, tweets and Facebook comments. For instance, the “Clinking glasses” emoji will be the life of every party and the “Handshake” will mark every conversation among friends.

As for the “Selfie” emoji, it has the potential to break the internet, as if embodies two of the most powerful and popular things in online media at the moment. This one is bound to be literally everywhere in 2016.

Among other upcoming additions there are future hits like the “Nauseated face” and the “Face palm”, that are expected to dominate mean comments on any social media website out there.

Also, quite a few additions are being made to the list of foods, that is getting more and more diverse. This one is set to include the exotic “Taco”, the elegant “Croissant”, the nutritious “Avocado” and the beloved “Bacon”.

Nowadays, online conversations  include more and more emojis and fewer and fewer words. It has actually gotten to the point where people have entire conversations constituted of nothing else than these amusing illustrations.

Moreover, an entire code system has been developed so as to define a wide range of things by using a succession of emojis, that otherwise does not make sense. Entire online campaigns have been made by using emojis only.

These new 38 emojis are going to be available in 2016 as components of Unicode 9.0, after the Unicode Consortium finalizes their approval formalities. While there is great chance that all of the 38 new emojis will make it, it is not guaranteed. But hopefully emojis with such amazing potential like the “Selfie” or “Face palm” will not be kept from the online world.
Image Source: highsnobiety

Google and Skrillex partner to make smart phone cases

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smartphone casesGoogle has come up with the new idea where the smartphone case is designed to be smarter.

The search engine giant is teaming with artists to create a new line of cases for some Nexus and Samsung smatphones.

On Wednesday, Google has announced the first installment of the line called Editions that is designed by the DJ Skrillex.

Kari Clark, senior manager of Google Accessories said, “We spend a lot of time with our phones every day. They’re essential to how we communicate and for many users, an extension of our style.”

“We think that means your phone—and its accessories—deserve to be as interesting as you are. So we decided to seek out some of the world’s top artists to make that happen.”

 

Each edition will be designed by a different well known artist, and the first edition is designed by Skrillex.

The case which is smarter actually does some smart things. The case will connect to your phone and will automatically update your wallpaper on your screen.

During the day, the wallpaper will show pictures of earth as depicted by the satellite which Google launched into the stratosphere for the project.

During night, the wallpaper will show constellations that are visible from where you and your phone are standing.

The satellite is launched by Skrillex himself and named it after his dog Nanou.

Skrillex said, “We let our little baby Nanou up into the stratosphere on little balloons—he flew away, we waved bye to him and he’s up there right now, all by himself taking photos of the earth. Who knows, maybe he’ll even run into something unexplained. Hopefully, he’ll run into some UFOs.”

 

The case also had button that will lead to content from Skrillex, like early access to an album from his record label.

Google isn’t the first to get into art and accessories. Apple’s acquisition of Beats Electronics gave it the hip hop icon Dr. Dre and the company’s trendy headphones business.

The cases are available for Google’s Nexus 5 and 6 and Samsung’s Galaxy s5, s6 and Note 4.

It is available on Google’s online store and costs $40.

Google’s new cases are slightly smarter than the Apple socks which is tried to sell for its ipod music players.

LG is rolling out G4 for sale worlwide

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lg-g4LG has confirmed that it has started rolling out its new device G4 for sale worldwide, and it is starting with Hong Kong.

The smartphone has gone up on sale in its native Korea first and will be coming in markets of Turkey, Russia and Singapore.

The phone will be released over the next months in other markets including North America, Southeast Asia, Europe, CIS, Middle East Africa, and South/Central America.

The smartphone is 5.5 inches and have new quantum display feature, this new feature offers better color reproduction and the phone is having a redesigned camera with a large sensor.

The phone is powered by a 64 bit hexacore CPU Snapdragon 808 processor and it comes with hand crafted leather back and also having subtle curve.

It is having 3 gigabytes of RAM, a 16-megapixel camera in the back and an 8-megapixel camera in the front.

The phone will be coming with the Google’s productivity apps preinstalled in the phone and the default browser would be Chrome, with Chromecast support baked right in.


LG G4 smartphone was first unveiled on April 28. It is primarily an update to G3, with changes to its camera, display and design. It has so far received positive reviews for its upgrades.

The price of the device is going to vary worldwide. Reports suggest that it will retail for around 600 dollars without a contract and for 200 dollars as part of a US carrier deal.

Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company said, “The LG G4 is our most ambitious smartphone yet because it is unlike any other flagship mobile phone on the market today. Our vision is to create our own set of standards without worrying about what trend other smartphones are following. We think we have a winning formula because the initial reaction to the G4 has been tremendously positive.”

Nokia turns down consumer mobile comeback reports

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NokiaN95

Finnish tech company Nokia on Sunday turned down the reports that it is planning to return into the smartphone business to boost its profit and user base.

In a blog post, Nokia discredited the reports that have been making rounds since last week.

“The company reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets. These reports are false, and include comments incorrectly attributed to a Nokia Networks executive,” Nokia said in the message posted on its official website.

It has been a year now since tech giant Microsoft has closed the deals of purchasing the phone business of Nokia. However, the prevailing situation has failed to discourage the murmurs that Nokia would resume the business someday.

In its report last week, tech website Recode has said that that Nokia is working on re-entering the consumer handset market likely by next year. The report cited two unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, the market analysts said whatever is Nokia’s plan, but the company is completely restricted by its agreement with Microsoft. Under the agreement, Nokia cannot use Microsoft’s brand on phones until Q4 of next year.

Google Maps embarrassed again: Android robot seen urinating on Apple logo

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google map1.jpg2

In another incident of map spam, search engine company Google Inc. had to meet with an embarrassment again when its one of the most popular services, Google Maps, showed an inappropriate third-party generated image of the Android robot urinating on the official logo of the rival company Apple Inc.

According to the reports, a small region in Pakistan was edited to make the disgraceful changes in the maps.

Currently, Google allows users to add and edit maps, just like Wikipedia, through a crowd-sourced program called Google Map Maker.

The user-generated image appeared as a green land region just south of Rawalpindi in Pakistan.

The image appeared on both Android and desktop versions of Google for a few hours on Friday till it was finally removed by the company.

The image was also accompanied by a digital mischief art creation that featured a sad face along with a message “Google review policy is crap”.

Extending apology for the inapt content, Google spokesperson Caroline Matthews said, “We’re sorry for this inappropriate user-created content; we’re working to remove it quickly. We also learn from these issues, and we’re constantly improving how we detect, prevent and handle bad edits.”

google map1

“The vast majority of users who edit our maps provide great contributions, such as mapping places that have never been mapped before,” Matthews added.

This is not for the first time when any user-generated inappropriate content on the Google Maps has brought embarrassment for the search engine giant. Recently, Edward Snowden appeared on the Google Maps sitting in the White House. The Google Map also showed a snowboard shop, called “Edward’s Snow Den”, inside the American President’s residence. It was accompanied by reviews such as it was a “great source of classified information”.

Luxottica teams up with Google for building Google Glass version 2.0

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Italian eyewear making company Luxottica has teamed up with search engine giant Google for developing version 2.0 of the eye wearable Google Glass device.

According to the reports, the company had announced in its general meeting in Milan that “it is working on version 2.0 of Google Glass that is currently in preparation”.

“The partnership with the American technology company to build Glass is going ahead,” Massimo Vian, chief executive official of Luxottica, said.

The chief executive, however, did not provide any details about the specific timing of the launch of the next version of Google Glass.

During the general meeting, Vian informed the shareholders about the new product saying, “In Google, there are some second thoughts on how to interpret version 3 of the eyewear. What you saw was version 1 and now we are working on its version 2.”

Talking about the new development, a Google spokesperson said that “the team is heads down building the future of the product”.

The spokesperson, however, declined to talk about the specifics.

Google Glass was launched as a prototype in the year 2012. The company has distributed the product to a select group as a part of Explorer programme, who paid USD 1,500 to become the early adopters.

The search engine company had earlier this year silently withdrawn selling of Google Glass to the consumers over drop in its popularity, but continued to support it as an enterprise product.

 

 

 

Facebook’s mobile advertising revenue surges in Q1 2015

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A smartphone user shows the Facebook application on his phone in Zenica, in this photo illustration

Social network giant Facebook on Wednesday reported a significant surge in its user base as well as advertising revenue from its mobile service in the first quarter of this year.

The company reported that a significant share of its 1.44 billion users and about three-quarters of its revenue from advertising came from smartphones and other mobile devices during the first quarter.

According to the analysts, Facebook is making healthy business out of its mobile service as compared to its traditional website format. Moreover, the world’s largest social network website company is expected to make a similar transition from the regular text format to the video one.

Reports show that Facebook’s existing users are already watching four billion videos per day, i.e. an average of four per person.

Internet analyst Mark Mahaney, from RBC Capital Markets, said, “More than any other firm right now, Facebook is the single biggest beneficiary of this shift to video and mobile. This growth is going to be more sustainable than people realize.”

The company reported revenue of USD 3.54 billion in the quarter, a surge of 42 percent from the USD 2.5 billion it brought in during the same period in 2014.

The net income of Facebook was USD 512 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with USD 642 million, or 25 cents per share, in 2014.

 

Amazon removes ‘try-before-you-buy’ AppStore TestDrive service

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safe_image

Online retail giant Amazon on Wednesday quietly scrapped its ‘try-before-you-buy’ AppStore TestDrive facility from its forum, stopping customers from previewing their favorite apps via the functionality before making a final purchase.

In a blog post dated April 16, Amazon said that it had “decommissioned” the ‘AppStore TestDrive’ facility a day before making announcement regarding axing of the service.

Amazon’s Corey Badcock said that more than 16,000 applications had been launched through TestDrive.

“With the growing use of “free to play” business models, we have seen a significant drop in customers using TestDrive, and effective 15th April 2015, we will decommission the TestDrive service,” Badcock said.

Badcock said, “Amazon customers would continue to see applications that are currently using TestDrive service which is promoted in the Appstore, but without TestDrive functionality.”

Amazon has introduced the ‘try-before-you-buy’ feature for the customers in March 2011. The tech experts considered the feature as a clever way to entice more customers and raise more sales of its apps.

The company hasn’t broken out the figures for revealing exactly how much usage of its TestDrive feature had tumbled.

Test Drive was began as a browser-based emulator for Android apps of Amazon. The company eventually allowed use of Test Drive its customers from within the Appstore app.

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