â€&lsqauo;iOS 8 features already available on Android
Apple on Monday unveiled the latest version of its iOS mobile operating system at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The company has labeled iOS 8 as "the biggest release since the launch of the App Store," however Android fans have nothing to fear. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- well, many of Apple's "new" features are already available on Google's operating system and have been for quite some time. iCloud Photo Library Apple improved cloud photo and video storage in iOS 8. Users previously were limited to storing 1,000 photos for up to 30 days. With the new iCloud Photo Library, photos are automatically stored in the cloud and can be accessed from all of your devices. AppleAndroid users have Google+ photos, which will also automatically sync all of your photos in the cloud. Unlike Apple, which only offers 5GB for free, Google gives users unlimited storage for photos and videos. iCloud DriveThe other improvement Apple announced for iCloud was iCloud Drive, a Dropbox-like service for storing documents in the cloud. In addition to Dropbox, Android and Apple users already have Google Drive. Yet again, while iCloud is limited to 5GB of free storage, Google Drive offers 15GB for free, while Dropbox initially offers 2GB for free with the ability to earn up to 20GB for referring others. AppleiCloud Drive will be available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC, while Google Drive and Dropbox also support Android. QuickType and third-party keyboardsApple made a big deal about its brand new QuickType keyboard. The keyboard features predictive typing and is able to learn based on your typing habits. In addition to QuickType, iOS 8 will also bring support for third-party keyboards. This all sounds fine and dandy, but Android users have had these features for years.Tim Stevens/CNETBoth the official Google Keyboard and SwiftKey, another popular third-party keyboard, among many others, have predictive features, gesture typing, and more. WidgetsApple users will finally get access to basic widgets in iOS 8. Unlike on Android where you can place widgets on your home and lock screens, however, iOS 8 widgets will be limited to the iPhone and iPad's pull-down Notification Center.'Hey Siri'The iOS 8 update also brings improvements to Siri. Apple's voice assistant has added 22 new dictation languages and will now be capable of song recognition with Shazam, purchasing iTunes content, and streaming voice recognition. One of the biggest changes is the ability to launch Siri by speaking the phrase "Hey Siri" when the phone is plugged into a car.Sound familiar? Android 4.4 owners are able to launch Google Now with the phrase "OK, Google" from the phone's home screen, while the Moto X can actually wake the phone up with the same phrase. Interactive NotificationsiPhone and iPad users will have the ability to respond to a notification without launching an app with Interactive Notifications. Simply swipe down and quickly reply to a text message or even like a Facebook post. Tim Stevens/CNETThis feature is also built into Android. For example, a Gmail notification can be quickly archived in the notification menu, although the Gmail app will be opened when you attempt to respond to the message. CyanogenMod, a popular third-party Android interface, adds the ability to quickly call or respond to a text message notification. TestFlight TestFlight, a technology Apple acquired earlier this year, will give iPhone and iPad owners the ability to beta test apps before they are officially released in the App Store. It shouldn't be a surprise that Google has allowed Android users to beta test apps for quite some time now. App PreviewsAnother improvement to the App Store is what Apple calls "App Previews," which gives users the ability to watch a video demo of an app before downloading it. Android developers have always had the ability to add video demos of their apps on Google Play. Tim Stevens/CNETiMessage voice and videoApple's messaging app will also be getting an update with iOS 8. iMessage users will be able to send audio and video messages and share their location with others. Audio and video messages can also be set to self-destruct after a set time, a feature Snapchat is known for on Android and iOS. WhatsApp, another popular cross-platform messaging app, allows users to share their location with contacts and also send audio and video messages.
How Starbucks is trying to change the media
How Starbucks is trying to change the media
Caffeine behemoth Starbucks on Tuesday finally unveiled its revamped Web hub, a landing page that's only accessible from its in-store Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. Teaming with the likes of Yahoo (the main technology partner), The Wall Street Journal, GOOD, The New York Times, iTunes, LinkedIn, and Foursquare, Starbucks has packed the new site full of news both local and mainstream (including content that would normally be behind paywalls), free music download promos, local information like weather and bike trails, and movie trailers.It's an interesting concept. Starbucks calls this the Starbucks Digital Network, or as senior vice president of digital ventures Adam Brotman called it in an interview with CNET last week, "the digital version of the community corkboard."But what's almost equally as interesting is what Starbucks isn't calling it: the Starbucks Digital Network could easily have been pitched to consumers as a "digital newspaper." The slick, iPad-optimized news and media site is designed to effectively take the place of the stack of newspapers next to the cash register that many a caramel macchiato buyer has simply stopped noticing. And "digital newspaper" has become a sort of a buzzword of late, mostly because of News Corp.'s current construction of one, but also because of interest on behalf of other brands--not even necessarily news outlets--in seizing upon the mobile-reader craze to revive interest in reading what would otherwise be print content. Case in point: the Virgin Group and its forthcoming "Maverick" publication.The content on the Starbucks Digital Network is carefully selected to be of interest to coffee-shop-goers: local information, downloadable music, quick bites of news and video. This ties into something that has always been true but conceptually hasn't been feasible for a media company to address until our current age of mobile devices and ubiquitous Wi-Fi: that consumer choice in news consumption may depend not solely on personal interest or geographic location but on a far more immediate notion of when and where. Restricting access to the Starbucks Digital Network to company-operated stores can give them an idea of just who's reading and what they might want to read. They're not at home. They're not at the office. They probably aren't sticking around for more than a few minutes.To Starbucks, the concept of the hyper-hyper-local--not only are you in a given neighborhood in a given city, but you're in a specific coffee shop--is more than marketing. It's a new, more malleable way to detect what kind of content consumers are more likely to want to pair with their coffee to go.The Starbucks Digital Network will, quite likely, be visited by many people. Through a new deal with AT&T this summer, Starbucks Wi-Fi has gone from paid to free. Brotman told CNET that there are now about 30 million logins to the chain's Wi-Fi each month and that the majority are on mobile devices like cell phones and iPads.The challenge for Starbucks is to make sure those customers stick around rather than just hastily click through to their FarmVille homesteads.
Caffeine behemoth Starbucks on Tuesday finally unveiled its revamped Web hub, a landing page that's only accessible from its in-store Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. Teaming with the likes of Yahoo (the main technology partner), The Wall Street Journal, GOOD, The New York Times, iTunes, LinkedIn, and Foursquare, Starbucks has packed the new site full of news both local and mainstream (including content that would normally be behind paywalls), free music download promos, local information like weather and bike trails, and movie trailers.It's an interesting concept. Starbucks calls this the Starbucks Digital Network, or as senior vice president of digital ventures Adam Brotman called it in an interview with CNET last week, "the digital version of the community corkboard."But what's almost equally as interesting is what Starbucks isn't calling it: the Starbucks Digital Network could easily have been pitched to consumers as a "digital newspaper." The slick, iPad-optimized news and media site is designed to effectively take the place of the stack of newspapers next to the cash register that many a caramel macchiato buyer has simply stopped noticing. And "digital newspaper" has become a sort of a buzzword of late, mostly because of News Corp.'s current construction of one, but also because of interest on behalf of other brands--not even necessarily news outlets--in seizing upon the mobile-reader craze to revive interest in reading what would otherwise be print content. Case in point: the Virgin Group and its forthcoming "Maverick" publication.The content on the Starbucks Digital Network is carefully selected to be of interest to coffee-shop-goers: local information, downloadable music, quick bites of news and video. This ties into something that has always been true but conceptually hasn't been feasible for a media company to address until our current age of mobile devices and ubiquitous Wi-Fi: that consumer choice in news consumption may depend not solely on personal interest or geographic location but on a far more immediate notion of when and where. Restricting access to the Starbucks Digital Network to company-operated stores can give them an idea of just who's reading and what they might want to read. They're not at home. They're not at the office. They probably aren't sticking around for more than a few minutes.To Starbucks, the concept of the hyper-hyper-local--not only are you in a given neighborhood in a given city, but you're in a specific coffee shop--is more than marketing. It's a new, more malleable way to detect what kind of content consumers are more likely to want to pair with their coffee to go.The Starbucks Digital Network will, quite likely, be visited by many people. Through a new deal with AT&T this summer, Starbucks Wi-Fi has gone from paid to free. Brotman told CNET that there are now about 30 million logins to the chain's Wi-Fi each month and that the majority are on mobile devices like cell phones and iPads.The challenge for Starbucks is to make sure those customers stick around rather than just hastily click through to their FarmVille homesteads.
$20 Ultraviolet dongle on the way -- but will anyone buy it-
$20 Ultraviolet dongle on the way -- but will anyone buy it?
Ultraviolet has struggled to match the popularity of streaming providers such as Netflix and iTunes. The service, which is backed by all the major movie studios except Disney, allows you to own a cloud-based digital version of movies and TV shows -- often thrown in as a freebie with DVD and Blu-ray purchases. Now, a new HDMI dongle aims to make it easier for you to access your Ultraviolet digital "locker". The proposed dongle, from startup Toggle Inc, would act as a physical key to your cloud locker and stream supported content to any TV with an HDMI input. The idea has the backing of movie studio Warner, and Toggle expects the dongle will compete at a similar price to the Google Chromecast -- about $20.The Toggle device would include a remote, come with apps preloaded, and be "easy to navigate", Toggle promises. At least one retailer is already lined up to sell the device in October, Home Media reports.Is hardware the real problem?While anything at such a low price has marketplace potential, it's important to note that Ultraviolet is already available on some of the best-selling mobile and home video hardware, thanks to Ultraviolet-compatible apps like Vudu and Flixster.What the proposed device would look like.Toggle Inc.Using those apps, you can access your Ultraviolet collections on your iPhone, iPad, Android device, and -- on your TV -- your Roku box, which start at just $50. The $35 Chromecast doesn't have an Ultraviolet-compatible native app yet, but you can "cast" Web-based Vudu or Flixster streams from your laptop to the Google dongle.The point is: anyone with an Ultraviolet collection can watch it on their TV or mobile device already. Instead of a new dongle, the Ultraviolet group should instead focus on making the content easier to setup and access to begin with. Unlike, say, iTunes or Amazon, Ultraviolet usually requires you to establish at least three accounts -- one with Ultraviolet, one with the studio that released the movie, and one with the Ultraviolet-compatible app. In fact, Ultraviolet was so confusing for new users that Warner was forced to offer rebates to viewers of the "Veronica Mars" movie earlier this year, after many simply gave up on the UV version and opted for easier iTunes and Amazon downloads instead.That issue, and the aforementioned dearth of Disney content -- which includes Marvel, Pixar, and "Star Wars" movies -- seems like it should loom larger on Ultraviolet's to-do list.(Via Home Media Magazine.)
Ultraviolet has struggled to match the popularity of streaming providers such as Netflix and iTunes. The service, which is backed by all the major movie studios except Disney, allows you to own a cloud-based digital version of movies and TV shows -- often thrown in as a freebie with DVD and Blu-ray purchases. Now, a new HDMI dongle aims to make it easier for you to access your Ultraviolet digital "locker". The proposed dongle, from startup Toggle Inc, would act as a physical key to your cloud locker and stream supported content to any TV with an HDMI input. The idea has the backing of movie studio Warner, and Toggle expects the dongle will compete at a similar price to the Google Chromecast -- about $20.The Toggle device would include a remote, come with apps preloaded, and be "easy to navigate", Toggle promises. At least one retailer is already lined up to sell the device in October, Home Media reports.Is hardware the real problem?While anything at such a low price has marketplace potential, it's important to note that Ultraviolet is already available on some of the best-selling mobile and home video hardware, thanks to Ultraviolet-compatible apps like Vudu and Flixster.What the proposed device would look like.Toggle Inc.Using those apps, you can access your Ultraviolet collections on your iPhone, iPad, Android device, and -- on your TV -- your Roku box, which start at just $50. The $35 Chromecast doesn't have an Ultraviolet-compatible native app yet, but you can "cast" Web-based Vudu or Flixster streams from your laptop to the Google dongle.The point is: anyone with an Ultraviolet collection can watch it on their TV or mobile device already. Instead of a new dongle, the Ultraviolet group should instead focus on making the content easier to setup and access to begin with. Unlike, say, iTunes or Amazon, Ultraviolet usually requires you to establish at least three accounts -- one with Ultraviolet, one with the studio that released the movie, and one with the Ultraviolet-compatible app. In fact, Ultraviolet was so confusing for new users that Warner was forced to offer rebates to viewers of the "Veronica Mars" movie earlier this year, after many simply gave up on the UV version and opted for easier iTunes and Amazon downloads instead.That issue, and the aforementioned dearth of Disney content -- which includes Marvel, Pixar, and "Star Wars" movies -- seems like it should loom larger on Ultraviolet's to-do list.(Via Home Media Magazine.)
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