HTC Loses Its Second Chief Designer

HTC Loses Its Second Chief Designer In Less Than a Year

11 months after HTC's longtime chief of design, Scott Croyle, was revealed to be leaving the company, one of his former allies who stepped in to fill the void has also departed. HTC has confirmed that Jonah Becker has left the company, having previously served as its head of product design. Becker and Croyle joined HTC six years ago, when their design studio One & Co was acquired by the Taiwanese company.

The design of the new HTC One M9 has been criticized for being too similar to the phones that came before it, but that seems unlikely to have been the impetus for Becker's departure. Pictured in the tweet above with Scott Croyle on his left and Claude Zellweger on his right, Becker was a part of a close-knit team and may simply be following Croyle out of the company now that the M9 project has been completed.

Htc

Zellweger and Becker took over industrial design responsibilities from Croyle last year, with the former spending more time on connected devices like the HTC Grip fitness band and Vive VR headset and Becker remaining focused on smartphones. Daniel Hundt, another long-serving member of HTC's design team, will now step in to fill Becker's shoes. HTC's full statement on the matter:

"We can confirm that Jonah Becker has left HTC; he had been with the Company since HTC acquired One & Co over six years ago. We would like to thank Jonah for his work with HTC, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He has been succeeded by Daniel Hundt, based in our San Francisco design office."

In the month since the official announcement of the One M9, HTC has changed CEOs and now placed a new person in charge of its smartphone design. While the demotion of former CEO Peter Chou seemed enforced by ongoing concerns about the company's overall performance, Jonah Becker appears to have left of his own accord. These two key changes open the door for a fresh start for HTC's flagship smartphone line, though the new faces aren't new to the company and may still choose to remain faithful to its established design language.

via Vlad Savov

The FTC explains why it didn't sue Google

The FTC

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Trade Commission was deeply divided over whether to sue Google for anticompetitive practices after investigations began in 2012. But the FTC has now countered that report, claiming that its decision on the allegations "was in accord with the recommendations of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, Bureau of Economics, and Office of General Counsel," and that "not a single fact is offered to substantiate [The Wall Street Journal's] misleading narrative."
The FTC's investigation began in 2012, and looked into whether the company had broken antitrust laws by demoting search results, incorporating information from sources such as Yelp into its own results, and removing results entirely from searches. Google made minor changes to its practices in response to the investigation's findings, but The Wall Street Journal says the FTC was seriously considering punishing the search giant further. Confidential documents reportedly referred to the FTC's decision not to issue a complaint to Google as "a close call."
In a statement attributed to three senior FTC officials, including chairwoman Edith Ramirez, the FTC said it regretted its inadvertent disclosure of the documents after a freedom-of-information request. While the statement notes that "some of the FTC's staff attorneys on the search investigation raised concerns about several other Google practices," the the company's search practices were not "on balance, demonstrably anticompetitive." The FTC says The Wall Street Journal's article "makes a number of misleading inferences and suggestions about the integrity of the FTC's investigation" by suggesting meetings between FTC and Google representatives affected the final decision.

via Rich McCormick

Historically Accurate Star Wars Anime Short

Paul Johnson's seven-minute TIE Fighter is a dialog-free short movie that details a dogfight in space between Star Wars' Imperial and Rebel forces. Influenced by the 1994 PC game of the same name and put together by Johnson over the course of four years, the film is action-packed, beautifully drawn, smoothly animated, and — most importantly — impressively accurate to Star Wars' fiction.
The short starts with an Imperial probe droid, warbling its familiar refrain as it spots a small Rebel fleet loitering near an asteroid field (sound, as science has proven, carries in Star Wars' space). The probe's discovery summons a fearsome fleet: several Star Destroyers and a ship that looks like a particularly tubby cousin of the iconic triangular spacecraft. That bulbous ship is no Star Destroyer — it's an Immobilizer 418 Interdictor-class cruiser, and its four bulges are filled with gravity well generators that, when activated, stop nearby ships from jumping to hyperspace. The Rebels aren't attacking it because it's a fair fight. They're attacking it because they need to get away.

Star Wars Anime

The ambushed fleet beats the Empire's in capital ship numbers, but the bigger Rebel craft have no hope against the Star Destroyers' turbolasers. Two Corellian Corvettes — the same ship swallowed up by the Star Destroyer at the beginning of Episode IV — are only there to guard against frigate-sized craft, and the shellfish-shaped transports are only good for carrying troops. The biggest ship on offer is a Nebulon-B frigate, a ship known best for its role as a hospital ship at the battle of Endor and its glaring structural weakness at its mid-point.
Where X- and Y-Wing starfighters are blessed with shields, life support systems, and hyperdrives, the majority of Sienar's TIE craft aren't. X-Wings can jump through hyperspace in formation with their escort charges; TIE fighters have to be scooped up and dumped out at each stop like laser-equipped ducklings. As Johnson's film shows, the Rebel fighters are tougher, able to take a number of laser salvos and shrug them off thanks to their shield. But TIE craft are both more nimble and more numerous, cheap to replace and maintain, their pilot chairs easily filled with fresh recruits.
Even the less (fictionally) plausible events in Johnson's film are explainable in Star Wars' lore. The Interdictor-class vessel is presumably able to deflect incoming torpedoes by manipulating its gravity well generators. The TIE bomber — traditionally a sluggish sitting duck of a target — is able to deploy missiles to knock off half a squadron of Rebel fighters in one strike because its pilot, as explained in the short's accompanying materials, has developed her own advanced armaments. This devotion to canon makes the film, already enjoyable for its explosions and excellently '80s hair metal soundtrack, even more satisfying.
We're used to seeing the Rebels win, but the desperate group in Johnson's film are outnumbered, outgunned, and out of time. Unable to break through a screen of screen of chaff to knock the Interdictor down, the small fleet is easy prey to TIE Fighter's anime-ified Empire — a slick and delightfully accurate Star Wars-themed game of "who would win in a fight between..."

via Rich McCormick

More Than 130 Top YouTube Creators Have Joined Vessel

Streaming Service Vessel Free For A Year
Late last year, former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar showed off Vessel, a premium streaming service aimed at building new businesses for YouTube stars and other popular video creators. For $2.99 a month, Vessel gives subscribers early access to the videos that will eventually be posted to YouTube and elsewhere. Following an invitation-only public beta, Vessel is now available to everyone — and if you sign up in the next 72 hours, you can get it free for a year.

Vessel

That’s right, a year. To entice creators to begin "windowing" their videos, Vessel needs to offer them large audiences. And those audiences may be skeptical of paying a monthly subscription to get an advance look at videos that will be available for free as little as three days later. That’s why Vessel is offering 12 months of free access to its premium service — and you won’t even have to provide your credit card number to get it. (There’s also an ad-supported version of Vessel that features non-exclusive videos; that will always be free.)
There are now more than 130 creators who are posting their videos to Vessel first, including Phil DeFranco’s show "The Vloggity," GloZell Green, and Tré Melvin. How tempted you are to subscribe to Vessel likely depends on whether you consider yourself a true fan of any of the individual creators. (The company says its creators reached a combined audience of 200 million people on free services.)

The early-access videos are complemented by clips from big conglomerates, which are part of the free version. NBC will offer clips from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers, and the NBA is providing game recaps. You’ll find plenty more videos from other partners including Machinima, Funny or Die, CollegeHumor, and VEVO.

Vessel is available on the web and on iOS, with Android to follow in the coming months. And it’s a beautiful place to watch videos: the design replaces YouTube’s manic clutter with what Kilar likes to call a "clean, well-lighted place." Video thumbnails are large, and many of them are animated. Dozens of former Hulu employees left to come work at Vessel, and you can tell: the interfaces are similarly clean and intuitive.

It remains to be seen whether fans will pay extra for early access to their favorite web stars. And there’s a second looming question: if Vessel is successful, how will YouTube respond? If there turns out to be a billion-dollar business in serving what is essentially windowed YouTube content, you can assume Google will have something to say about it.

In the meantime, though, it’s worth checking out what Kilar and his team have built. In a year where the big social networks are all making big investments in video, Vessel may be the most interesting experiment of all.

via Casey Newton

Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi

Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi Where Chi Stands For Compromise
Take a look at the side profile of your laptop. Chances are, it's anywhere from a half an inch to an inch thick, replete with a handful of USB ports, a power plug, headphone jack, and maybe an SD card slot. I can all but guarantee that it's thicker than the laptop I'm currently using to write this article, Asus' Transformer Book T300 Chi. The $699 T300 Chi ($899 as tested) is a sliver of a computer, closer in size to the average tablet than a full-blown laptop.

Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi

In fact, the T300 has a lot more in common with an iPad than an ultrabook. As with many Windows 8.1 machines, it's a convertible laptop, with a detachable keyboard and full touchscreen. But unlike many other convertibles, the T300's tablet portion is only 7.6mm thick and it doesn't have any full-size USB ports, HDMI ports, or SD card slots. Like Microsoft's Surface Pro 3, all of the T300's major components are crammed into the tablet area, including its 12.5-inch, 2560 x 1440 pixel IPS display, Core M processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD. The Core M processor lets the T300 do away with the fans (just like Apple's upcoming new MacBook) and gives it that tablet-like profile. When attached to its Bluetooth keyboard, the T300 is still only 16.5mm thick, though the combined 3.14lbs of the two parts is more laptop-like than tablet-like.
In place of the standard ports you might expect to find on a laptop, the T300 has one Micro USB port, one Micro HDMI port, and a microSD slot hidden on its bottom edge. That means connecting any peripherals requires the use of adaptors, whether you just want to plug in a standard thumb drive, output video to an external display, or use a wired mouse. Those are the compromises that come with such a thin computer, and Apple's upcoming MacBook will require jumping through many of the same hoops. 

But there are other compromises with the T300 that make it tough to use as a daily machine. The Bluetooth keyboard (which is included and matches the main computer's attractive, but fingerprint prone sapphire blue finish) offers a large layout, but the keys are shallow and don't have backlighting. The deck below the keyboard is very short and isn't enough to support my hands for long periods of time. And the trackpad, while responsive to both single and multi-touch gestures, is very small and tedious to use. The two halves of the T300 connect with magnets, but unlike the Surface Pro 3, they don't talk to each other through the attachment point. The keyboard communicates with the main tablet part strictly via Bluetooth, which means there is often an annoying delay as the keyboard wakes up and pairs with the tablet when I open the computer and type in my password. Further, the T300 Chi has a slight wobble when it's on a flat surface and the screen is tilted all the way back (which isn't very far).
Like so many other Windows 8.1 convertibles, the T300 is also rather awkward to use as a tablet. It's over one and a half pounds without the keyboard, and its large display combined with fat bezels make it much more clumsy to use than an iPad Air 2. The 12.5-inch, 16:9 screen works best in landscape mode, and while it has lots of resolution and wide viewing angles, there is uneven backlighting that's distracting and hard to ignore. Combined with the fact that Windows 8.1 is better suited for desktop environments than as a tablet interface, the T300 is best thought of as a laptop that can work as a tablet in a pinch, not the other way around.
The Core M processor in my review unit is clocked at 1.2GHz and combined with the 8GB of RAM on tap, has no trouble handling most basic computing tasks. It surely won't play any modern 3D games, but working in Chrome, Word, and other Windows 8.1 apps is no issue. I'm able to have as many tabs open in Chrome as I need without the system grinding to a halt, and switching between apps is quick and painless. I often forgot that I was using a computer that was more tablet than laptop, though the heat from the back of the T300 was enough to remind me that this is a full-blown Windows 8.1 machine and not a crippled charlatan faking the role.
In addition to the heat, the speed and power in the T300 Chi come with less battery life than you'd expect from a tablet or even a modern ultrabook. The T300 lasted for 6 hours and 38 minutes in our rundown test, and in normal usage of browsing the web in Chrome, chatting with coworkers in Slack, and typing in Microsoft Word, the battery would kick the bucket in about five hours. That's a lot less than the iPad Air 2 musters, and it's far behind what you can get with the Surface Pro 3, which might be the T300's closest analogue in terms of performance and design (if not price). The T300 could be the ultimate road warrior's computer, but its average battery life make it hard to go all day away from an outlet.

Many have looked at Apple's upcoming MacBook as the future of laptop computers, even if it's too forward-thinking for where we are today. The T300 Chi is very similar to the MacBook in many respects: it's incredibly thin, solidly built, and attractive to look at. It also comes with many of the same compromises as the MacBook, namely a lack of port options. But the T300 does things differently than the MacBook will, and its attempt to be both a laptop and tablet at the same time don't do it any favors.

I'd love to have a Windows ultrabook that's as thin and powerful as the T300, but doesn't pretend to be anything else. Give me a full laptop chassis in place of the detachable keyboard, longer battery life, and a slightly better display with the bezels of Dell's XPS 13 and I'd have a machine that I could easily use all day. The T300 is close, and as a taste of the future, it's pretty cool, but it's not quite there yet.

via Dan Seifert

DJ in HTML5 Online

DJ with five different drum machines in HTML5

If you don't own any kind of synth, but harbor fantasies of being a DJ (who doesn't?) a new site in HTML5 is about to make your dreams a whole lot easier. HTML5 Drum Machine lets you mess around with a bunch of different drum machines in your browser. Sure, it's just an emulation, but it gives you a pretty okay sense of what it's like to work with actual equipment. Plus, it's fun.

html5 drum machine

The HTML5 Drum Machine lets you choose from five different kits: an acoustic kit, the TR-808, TR-909, the Linndrum, and Elektron’s Machinedrum. You can change the pitch, create 16-step patterns, and save your work for the next time you're feeling musical. The app even lets you export your finished pattern as a WAV file, so you can make mixtapes to share with your adoring fans.

via Lizzie Plaugic

While I Find ISIS Despicable In Every Other Way

While I Find ISIS Despicable In Every Other Way, I Strongly Identify With Its Love Of Pickup Trucks

In an already war-torn, destabilized region with hundreds of thousands of refugees, ISIS has used lawlessness and violence to further its sickening extremist aims. It is a despicable organization that needs to be dealt with using unequivocal force, although, if I’m being honest, I strongly identify with its evident love of pickup trucks.

Don’t get me wrong. I am deeply appalled by ISIS’ horrific spree of terror and bloodshed in the Middle East and its complete disregard for human life, but its affinity for pickup trucks is apparent, and that’s something I’d love to pick its members’ brains about. Sure, I’d condemn all supporters of ISIS if given the chance, but I’d also have questions for them, like, “Do you have to lower your suspension to make sure you don’t spin out?”

ISIS

In a different life, these Islamic jihadist guys wouldn’t be insane, homicidal terrorists, but would just be peaceful truck-lovers like me, spending most of their days in garages tinkering with their timing belts or towel-drying their carburetors. Alas, it cannot be, and I hate these monsters with whom I probably have quite a bit of common ground, truck-wise. I just bought a 2014 Dodge Durango, and I love it.
ISIS has recruited troubled young men from all over the world, and we need to be taking steps to prevent this migration. These men need to know that there is no glory in joining up with brutal ISIS killers. And if they are joining just to floor a Nissan Frontier across a desert ridge, we need to inform them that this can be accomplished in many different locations other than the violence-ravaged Middle East.

It’s hard to imagine how truly terrifying it would be to be taken hostage by ISIS. But, if that unthinkable thing were to happen to me, I’m fairly certain I could at least take a look under the hoods of its fleet of pickup trucks and offer some suggestions that have helped me keep my own trucks running clean. I imagine these guys take pretty good care of their trucks, considering the harsh climate, but I’m sure I can still offer a few nuggets given my long history with trucks.

So, my message to ISIS is this: Stop your deplorable, unconscionable acts of hate and cruelty so that we can talk about trucks. Please. I really want to talk about trucks with someone.

via Kurt Gelt

Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Low

Arctic sea ice reaches record winter low

Scientists say preliminary data points to a troubling trend. The amount of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean likely reached its lowest winter level on record last month, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Arctic sea ice typically reaches a high point around February or March, as it expands with colder temperatures. According to the latest figures from the NSIDC, this year's maximum point is the lowest since satellite observations began in 1979.

Arctic Data

Arctic sea ice appears to have reached a maximum on February 25th of this year, when it covered 5.61 million square miles — 50,200 square miles lower than the previous lowest winter maximum in 2011. The NSIDC acknowledges the difficulty in identifying the exact high point, due to variability in seasonal trends, though there was "a clear downward trend" in ice coverage for several days following February 25th. "Over the next two to three weeks, periods of increase are still possible," the NSIDC said in a report published Thursday. "However, it now appears unlikely that there could be sufficient growth to surpass the extent reached on February 25."

Overall, Arctic sea ice grew by 3.83 million square miles this winter, which is significantly lower than last year. Sea ice levels reached a record low in 2012, and the NSIDC says this year's low maximum is likely due to unusual wind patterns that led to warmer conditions over the Pacific side of the Arctic. Once sea ice reaches a maximum, it begins melting during the warmer spring and summer months, typically reaching a minimum around September. Declining levels of arctic sea ice could have a range of environmental and social implications, as Vox explains in greater detail. The NSIDC will release a comprehensive analysis of 2014-2015 winter ice coverage in April, after data for March has been collected.

via editor, Amar Toor

Microsoft's new Lumia 430

Lumia 430 is its cheapest Windows phone yet at just $70

Microsoft's new Lumia 430

Microsoft is continuing its push into the low-end smartphone market today with the launch of the Lumia 430. At just $70 before taxes, Microsoft labels it the "most affordable Lumia to-date," and its basic specifications clearly help achieve that impressive price point. For the money you’ll get a 4-inch WVGA display, 8GB of storage (with a microSD slot), and 1GB of RAM. This is all powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, and a relatively small 1500 mAh battery. To put this all into perspective, you could buy nine of these Lumia 430 phones for the price of a single iPhone 6. You obviously won't get the same experience, but it shows just how cheap modern smartphones are getting.

"Available in April in limited regions"

The Lumia 430 joins the Lumia 435 and 532 handsets in Microsoft’s lowest-priced Windows Phones, and its camera capabilities are very similar. There’s only a 2-megapixel camera at the rear of the Lumia 430, with a VGA 0.3-megapixel camera at the front. That won’t give you stunning smartphone photography, but for the price it’s understandable. Microsoft says it’s planning to make the Lumia 430 available in April in APAC, IMEA, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

If you’re still waiting on the company to release a high-end flagship Windows phone then that wait will continue until the summer at the earliest. Microsoft previously revealed that it won’t be launching a new flagship handset until Windows 10 is available. The software maker promised to launch Windows 10 in the summer earlier this week, but with the Windows 10 for phones preview lagging behind its desktop counterpart it’s not clear whether phones will actually launch with the software in the summer period. Either way, no successor to the Lumia 930 or Lumia 1020 will arrive until later this year.

via Tom Warren

Acer Chromebook 15

The Big Chromebook Has Arrived

Say the word “Chromebook,” and the image that comes to mind for most people is a small, cheap, basic computer. That’s exactly what most Chromebooks are. The best Chromebooks you can buy have 11- or 12-inch displays, are priced well under $400, and do basic web browsing and not much more.

But the reality of the matter is that most people looking for a cheap laptop don’t want an 11- or 12-inch model. The vast majority of computers purchased in the $400–$600 range have big 15.6-inch displays. And they run Windows. Even though Chromebooks have long been billed as the computers for “everybody,” they haven’t been the computers for most people.

That’s starting to change, however, as Google’s Chromebook partners are beginning to embrace the larger Chromebook. Last year, one of the most popular models on the market was HP’s Chromebook 14, an arguably terrible option with poor build quality and a lousy display whose only saving grace was that it was big. Now Acer is launching the Chromebook 15, the first Chromebook with an even bigger 15.6-inch display. It goes right for the heart of the cheap Windows laptop market: the giant hulks of laptops priced around $400–$500 that fill Best Buy and Walmart’s shelves.

The Chromebook 15 actually starts at $249, a significantly lower price than most Windows laptops. But that rock bottom price comes with a low-res 1366 x 768 pixel display, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been using the $349.99 model, which steps up to a 1080p display, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. It’s powered by a dual-core Intel Celeron processor — a real laptop chip, as opposed to the lower-power mobile processors used in other Chromebooks. I strongly recommend ponying up for the more expensive model; the increased screen resolution and added RAM make for a much better experience. And even with those upgrades, the Chromebook 15 still falls under the price of the average entry level Windows notebook.

The Chromebook 15’s most defining feature is its most obvious: it’s big! In fact, it’s bigger than the 15-inch MacBook Pro I use as my daily workhorse. It’s kind of clunky, kind of chunky, pretty ugly, and the white textured finish on my review unit doesn’t do any favors to hide its bulky dimensions. (Acer is also selling a black model, which is definitely more pleasing on the eyes.) That makes it difficult to use on the go: it barely fit on my lap during my commute on the train to the office, and forget about fitting this thing on the seatback tray of an economy seat on an airplane. The all-plastic Chromebook 15 also weighs nearly five pounds, which is practically an anvil in the Chromebook world and is even heavier than my aluminum MacBook Pro.

But none of those things really matter if your computer sits on a desk for the majority of its life. Instead, the big dimensions of the Chromebook 15 prove to be an asset here: the screen is 27 percent larger than a 13.3-inch Chromebook, the keyboard is full-sized and spacious, the trackpad is the biggest you can get on a Chromebook, and there are two big, loud speakers on the deck that pump tunes straight up, instead of to the side or off of another surface. It doesn’t skimp on ports or connectivity either: there’s a USB 3.0 port, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, a full-size SD card slot, a headphone jack, and support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. For someone that’s going to buy a basic computer for simple tasks and leave it on a desk the vast majority of the time, those are all attractive features.

The 1080p display won’t impress anyone used to the color-rich, high-res panels on MacBook Pros or high-end Windows ultrabooks. But it’s adequately bright, has acceptable viewing angles, and has a matte finish with virtually no glare, which is really easy on the eyes. It also doesn’t suffer from the graininess or harsh colors often seen on other Chromebooks. Aziz Ansari’s latest Netflix special didn’t look great — his black suit and the dark backgrounds on the stage were various shades of dark grey instead of black — but the jokes were no less funny on the Chromebook 15 than they were when I watched it on my plasma TV. The extra screen real estate afforded by the 1080p resolution also lets me put two browser windows side by side, proving that you can actually multitask with a Chromebook. It lacks a touchscreen, but Chrome OS’ support for touch is still nascent, and I don’t miss having one.

The chiclet keyboard is quiet and comfortable to type on, as opposed to the slippery and noisy keyboards on other Chromebooks I’ve used. Its travel is shallower than my MacBook Pro’s, which isn’t much of a surprise, but it isn’t fatiguing to use. The only thing it’s missing is backlighting, but you’ll have to step up to the thousand-dollar Chromebook Pixel to get that on a Chrome OS computer.

Like the keyboard, the spacious trackpad is actually a joy to use. For some reason (Google says it’s thanks to the Pixel), Chromebooks have been racing ahead of their Windows counterparts in trackpad performance, and the Chromebook 15’s trackpad is fast, responsive, and arguably the best trackpad you’ll find on a computer in this price range. It’s got just the right amount of friction to make multi-touch gestures like two-finger scrolling work effortlessly, and it never caused my cursor to jump around erratically. Its low-cost roots are betrayed by the cheap clacking sound it makes when you depress it, but that didn’t hinder its functionality in any meaningful way. To beat this trackpad, you pretty much have to step up to a MacBook Air (or the aforementioned Chromebook Pixel). It’s that good.

Chromebook

The worst part of most cheap computers is their laggy, slow performance when you’re just trying to check Facebook or pay a bill. A lot of Windows laptops and a number of other Chromebooks (especially models with fanless, mobile processors) are frustrating in this regard. The Chromebook 15 doesn’t have this problem: as I’m typing this review, I have 22 tabs open across two windows, plus another window running the Sunrise calendar Chrome app, and it’s not breaking a sweat — the fans aren’t even on. It’s actually disheartening to say that Chrome OS on this $350 computer runs as well as the Chrome browser does on my $2,500 MacBook Pro, but performance has not been an issue the entire time I’ve been using the Chromebook 15. (It also demonstrates how badly Chrome runs on OS X, but that’s a complaint for another time.) Pages load quickly, scrolling is smooth even on resource-heavy sites like ESPN’s front page, and there’s no lag when moving windows or tabs around. Chrome OS is still mostly just a browser, but it sure feels like more than that when I think of all the things I’ve been able to get done on the Chromebook 15.

It’s obvious that the Chromebook 15’s main purpose is to sit on a desk and stay there, but if you do need to move it around and work unplugged, the battery life is actually pretty great. It lasted 11 hours and 32 minutes on our rundown test — significantly more than the 9 hours that Acer claims. In real-world use, it consistently goes for 7 to 8 hours between charges, which is well above the usual 3 to 4 hours you get from entry level Windows laptops.

For years, I’ve been recommending Chromebooks to people looking for a simple, inexpensive computer to do day-to-day tasks, only to be shut down when I suggest a model with an 11- or 12-inch display. There are other reasons stopping people from picking up Chromebooks: networked printer support is abysmal, and if you have a large library of music, the tiny SSDs and 100GB of Google Drive storage aren’t going to get it done. But the Chromebook 15 addresses the number one roadblock for most people: screen size. It also offers many of the features that make other Chromebooks so desirable: fast, simple operation, a great trackpad, and a low sticker price.

I rely too much on desktop apps to make the Chromebook 15 my main computer, but for a lot of people looking for an inexpensive machine to pay the bills, do the occasional video call, and browse Facebook, it’s more than sufficient. And it has the big screen that so many of them are looking for.
The Chromebook 15 is pretty much the exact opposite of Apple’s new MacBook or Google’s new Chromebook Pixel: it’s big, chunky, has more than one port, and is pretty ugly to boot. It’s also about a quarter of the price. But if the MacBook and the Pixel — expensive, technological tours de force with golden and aluminum finishes — represent the future of laptop computers, the Chromebook 15 represents the computer of today. It’s the laptop for the average person that values price over design or portability, but also doesn’t want to put up with the lousy, frustrating experience so often associated with cheap computers.

It may sound counterintuitive, especially if you focus on the bleeding edge of laptop technology, but the biggest Chromebook yet arguably had a real chance of becoming a success in the mass-market, entry-level laptop world. It’s not the computer for people who work all day on a laptop, or for people who are constantly on the road. But for a lot of other people, the Chromebook 15 offers the size they are looking for without the headaches of entry-level Windows computers. There’s your revolution.
$350 can buy you a hell of a computer.

via Dan Seifert

eBay launches with Sotheby's

eBay launches high-end auctions with Sotheby's

eBay is taking another step into high-end auctions. Delivering on a partnership announced last summer, eBay is today launching a new area of its website built specifically for the auction house Sotheby's. The section provides a much cleaner and more informative experience than you'd find elsewhere on the site and allows visitors to register for online access to live auctions.

While browsing items up for auction at Sotheby's, you'll be able to quickly skip from one item to the next and read information about each piece. There will also be editorial content interspersed, targeted toward new collectors.

Sotheby's plans to feature a variety of item types on eBay, including photos, paintings, sculptures, and jewelry. "We're really engaging and calling out the items for sale that may appeal to an online audience," Josh Pullan, e-commerce director for Sotheby's, tells The Verge. For now, only items at its New York location will be included.

The intention, from both eBay and Sotheby's, is to make high-end auctions accessible to a broader audience. Sotheby's already offers online bidding through its own site, but its site is more likely to be used by people who feel comfortable in that high-end world. eBay, on the other hand, has 155 million active buyers who it can introduce these auctions to.

"When you pair that with Sotheby's ... it really opens the doors of our brick-and-mortar auditions in New York," Pullan says. "And [it] does so in a way that's really engaging and, we think, exciting."

ebay nand sotheby

eBay says that its goal is to give people the same rush you'd get being in the actual auction room. It already offers live auctions through other partners, and that experience isn't changing here. Live auctions from Sotheby's will have a number of items being sold in succession, and the auction page will switch from one to the next after each item is sold. In many cases, live video feed of the auction will be streamed on the page.
Notable, this is not the first attempt at a partnership between eBay and Sotheby's. The two companies partnered over a decade ago, in 2002, for about a year before calling it quits. Asked why it'll work this time around, eBay says that it's just a matter of how much technology has changed. "That was a bit too head of its time, frankly," one company representative tells The Verge.

And eBay has at least some reason to believe that these pricey auctions can actually catch on this time. It says that collectibles accounted for $8 billion of its business last year, and that more than 3,500 auctions each day close with prices above $5,000. Live auctions, which launched in October, are already responsible for "regularly" selling art and jewelry in the $15,000 to $25,000 range. Attracting eBay buyers willing to spend that much will be necessary to make auctions from Sotheby's work, and the hope is that this new website will get their attention.

via Jacob Kastrenakes

Supercar Dating: High-Speed Networking

Supercar Dating: High-Speed Networking For People Who Love Fast Cars

Bugatti Veyron

Society has long dictated that the guy with the nicest car is the one who gets the girl. Everyone had that guy at their high school who got a car before everyone else and had no problem finding a date for prom. If he happened to drive a Mustang or Camaro, forget it, he’d be beating away the girls with a stick.

But as we all know, life in high school is very different from the real world that awaits us when we graduate, and even the most successful and wealthy people encounter challenges when it comes to finding love. Well, the new UK-based networking site SupercarDating.com is here to help with that.

Aimed at bringing together high-end sports car enthusiasts, the website allows people to connect and bond over their passion of revving engines, burning rubber and breakneck speeds. While the site admits that many wealthy and successful people don’t have trouble attracting the opposite sex, its goal is to facilitate the process of meeting like-minded individuals who share a mutual appreciation for the “supercar lifestyle.” The best part? You don’t even need to own a supercar to be able to sign up to the site.
According to the site’s founder Sangeeth Segaram (proud owner of a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster), he found that many successful professionals struggle to find time for conventional dating and have trouble meeting people who share similar interests. Likewise, singles using high-end dating services often find themselves deceived by people pretending to be wealthy when in fact they’re not, or simply don’t have anything in common with the men or women they end up meeting. SupercarDating.com solves these problems by bringing together passionate people who share a common interest which provides a crucial first building block for potential relationships.

The network was launched in February 2015, but the buzz has been building since mid-2014. Supercar owners pay £65 ($95 USD) per month, £150 ($220 USD) for 3 months, £275 ($405 USD) for 6 months, or £380 ($560 USD) for a full year’s subscription to the site. On the other end of the spectrum, non-supercar owners or “Fine Living Companions” as the site refers to them, are charged an annual fee of £135 ($200 USD). Before you get any ideas, according to Segaram 20% of supercar owners are women and the site also caters to same-sex couples. There’s also a ratio of one supercar owner to seven non-owners signed up, meaning they are very open to any motorheads looking to meet new people..
The site was recently profiled in The Sunday Times in an article that shed some light on the intricacies of supercar dating. Most high-performance and luxury cars owners are accepted for membership; basically those who drive anything from Ferraris and Lanborghinis to Rolls Royces a Land Rovers. However, the line is drawn at fast cars from less prestigious brands. Your Subaru Impreza WRX STI won’t allow you to be admitted to these exclusive circles.

So what kind of activities can you expect to do with your new supercar enthusiast partner? SupercarDating.com discourages first date meetings in a supercar, but the company does organize lots of activities for its members to partake in which provide a safe environment for first encounters. Events include “live comedy, Michelin fine dining, high octane experiences, go carting, beauty pageants and supercar meets.” While this service is currently only available in the UK, Supercar Dating will be coming to the United States and Canada in 2016 and the company aims to be worldwide by 2020.

via writer, Robert Flis

Emailgate Hillary Clinton

Emailgate 2015 Is Just Another Example

hillary clinton

It’s the story of the month: Former first lady and likely 2016 presidential contender Hillary Clinton is in hot water after allegedly breaking government rules regarding her email accounts. *facepalm*

Hindsight is 20/20, but we really should have seen this one coming. Because let’s be honest: Emailgate 2015 is just the most recent of many examples of emails.

I remember when this Clinton news broke, I immediately thought, “Here we go again: emails.” It really needn’t have come as a surprise. Emails have been around for years. And what’s happening right now is nothing but the latest chapter in the continuing saga of email-related events.
It’s the same predictable story each time. First, someone does something to do with email, then someone else writes a story about it, then we’re off to the races! It happened in 2007 when Google rolled out its email service, Gmail, then again in 2008 when Barack Obama sent all those fundraising emails. Following the David Petraeus email story in 2012, did we really think we’d heard the last of emails? Of course not.

The pattern is unmistakable. Emails keep happening. We’re seeing them time after time after time. At the risk of fanning the flames, I have four unread emails in my inbox even as I write this.

Thanks to Hillary Clinton, emails are back in the news once more. The truth is, they never went away. Emails are as big in 2015 as they were in 2010, and barring something unexpected, it’s only a matter of time before emails are taking over the internet again.
"No one wants their personal emails made public, and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy." This is true, however most Americans aren't being sued by the Associated Press for access to their 62,320 emails from 2009 to 2013. This lawsuit alone, in addition to the possibility of becoming the first female president in American history, separates the former Secretary of State from every other person who values privacy.
When asked why she used personal emails exclusively, Clinton answered "I opted for convenience to use my personal email account...because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two." Again, this could be true, however there are plenty of Americans who use multiple cell phones, email accounts, computers, and even cars for work related purposes.
Unlike Clinton, the people interviewed in The Wall Street Journal article have no problem with utilizing several devices at once. In fact, many claim that owning several cell phones is even more convenient than just one. In addition, the article explains that people use multiple devices to enhance security; an issue that Clinton has dodged from the beginning of the scandal.

Like Nixon and Watergate, the longer Clinton evades turning over her emails, the greater the chance that people associated with the former Secretary of State will be asked to lie on her behalf. Similar to Watergate, people could end up resigning from her staff or feel the pressure to leak the information. Or, loyal aides could help her circumvent responsibility from explaining the existence of what The Atlantic describes as a "private server that Clinton was running out of her Chappaqua home."
Once Clinton discloses the remaining emails, explains clearly why private servers were used (convenience might not be the only issue), and assures the public that no security breaches took place, then any issues with FOIA will cease to remain contentious topics.

In his iconic interview with David Frost, Nixon stated "It snowballed, and it was my fault." More press conferences, or "press encounters," will only hurt Clinton's chances in 2016. I want Hillary Clinton in the White House instead of Bush, Walker, or any other Republican. However, battling both the GOP and an AP lawsuit won't help in securing another Democratic presidency. Once Clinton addresses the issue of secure servers, remaining emails, and questions regarding security, 'Emailgate' will become simply another political attack, rather than a serious scandal.

via Sarah Rowan and H. A. Goodman

Google Feud

Google’s hilarious autocomplete suggestions have been turned into a game

"Google Feud But it's not very fun"

For anyone who's ever taken a screenshot of a strange Google autocomplete suggestion, or realized the rest of the world was also staying up late conducting internet research on body hair, here's a game for you. It's called Google Feud, and it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Like Family Feud, the game presents the first half of a phrase and players must guess the second half based on their limited knowledge of what the rest of the human race is thinking.

Users collect what seem to be arbitrarily determined points for each correct answer. The game gathers answers from Google's API, so the results are a real-time depiction of what the world is Googling. Problem is, trying to guess the second half of a phrase gets dull pretty quickly, and if you win, all you get is a vague satisfaction that you're tuned into the thoughts of the internet. The site also features a very realistic warning message: "Beware, certain results may be offensive and/or incomprehensible."

If you're in the habit of Googling every single question that pops into your head — be it pressing and serious, embarrassingly trivial, or even just weird — you may have an edge when it comes to the internet's new favourite-thing-ever-of-the-day. Introducing Google Feud: A free, online quiz game that fuses Google autocomplete predictions with the long-running TV game-show Family Feud (though it is an independent project and not affiliated with either company.) While there aren't any teammates, cash prizes or moustachioed hosts involved, Google Feud is essentially played exactly like its namesake is. Players are presented with a question and a board of concealed "answers" that they need to guess accurately before striking out three times. Each strike means a big red "X" for whoever's playing. Three red X's means you're out. Unlike a traditional game of Family Feud, however, the answers on this game's board aren't based on responses to an audience survey.

They're based on real-time Google autocomplete suggestions, which as anyone who pays attention to what pops up in the search bar while they're typing well knows, can be as disturbing as they are hilarious.

"Google Feud is a web game based on the Google API. We select the questions, then the results are pulled instantly from Google's autocomplete," reads an about section on the game's website. "​Beware, certain results may be offensive and/or incomprehensible."

With millions of people using Google to search the web every day, the top autocomplete suggestions on any given term are significantly harder to guess than the top answers given by a few hundred game show audience members would be. Some players are actually finding the game a bit too challenging because of this fact. But for everyone griping about how hard Google Feud is to play, there are dozens more raving about the game on Twitter — and likely even more too busy playing it right now to even weigh in. So many people have been playing the game since it started going viral that its website actually crashed under an influx of traffic on Thursday evening, just a few hours after it hit Buzzfeed.

The game's creator, writer Justin Hook, foreshadowed the impending crash on Twitter shortly before it happened. "Thanks, everyone playing Google Feud! And by 'thanks' I mean 'Ahh!! You're killing our servers!!'" he wrote. "Doing our best to keep up..." At 5:45 p.m. ET, Hook officially announced that his site was down. "Sorry, all, Google Feud is temporarily down," he tweeted. "Host @ASmallOrange, is demanding large sums of money. Not even letting me post an error page." Fortunately for everyone who was crushed by losing access to the game, it was back online about an hour later.

You can play Google Feud if you're up for the challenge, and can avoid freaking out when you see that "Costanza" doesn't even crack the top 10 autocomplete suggestions for the word "George." We couldn't.

Google Code is Closing Down Because Developers Aren't Using It

Google Code is Closing Down

google code

Google Developers (previously Google Code) is Google's site for software development tools, application programming interfaces (APIs), and technical resources. The site contains documentation on using Google developer tools and APIs—including discussion groups and blogs for developers using Google's developer products.

There are APIs offered for almost all of Google's popular consumer products, like Google Maps, YouTube, Google Apps, and others.

The site also features a variety of developer products and tools built specifically for developers. Google App Engine is a hosting service for web apps. Project Hosting gives users version control for open source code. Google Web Toolkit (GWT) allows developers to create Ajax applications in the Java programming language.

The site contains reference information for community based developer products that Google is involved with like Android from the Open Handset Alliance and OpenSocial from the OpenSocial Foundation.

Google is closing its programming project hosting service, Google Code, after nine years of operations. Google stopped users from creating new projects yesterday and will make existing project read-only this August, ahead of a complete closure scheduled for January 25th, 2016. The search giant  says it started Google Code when project hosting options were limited, but since launch in 2006, it's seen a "wide variety of better project hosting services" such as GitHub and Bitbucket rise to the forefront.

To "meet developers where they are," Google itself has transferred nearly a thousand of its own open-source projects to the popular coding repository GitHub. The migration of developers to new services has left Google Code dealing with a deluge of spam and abuse — the company says that recently the administrative load has consisted almost entirely of abuse management, and when it polled the remaining constructive projects, it decided the service wasn't worth maintaining.

"Google has transferred projects to GitHub"

The closure is the latest in a line of projects Google has shuttered after they were beaten out by opponents. But Google Code was not another Google Wave — Google's programming repository existed before the current industry leaders, and the company freely admits its rivals win out in terms of functionality. To that end, developers with projects still on Google Code can port them to GitHub or Bitbucket using dedicated tools noted on the official Google Code blog.

via The Verge, Rich McCormick

Phone Vaio Sony

Sony VAIO Phone Just Released

vaio phone

VAIO Corporation was formed when Sony sold its laptop business, but now the new company is entering a product category in which Sony still remains: smartphones. The VAIO phone was announced today through Japanese MNVO B-mobile, which is pricing it to move: you’ll pay ¥3,980 (about $33) a month for the hardware plus voice service and data.The phone itself is a mid-range affair: there’s a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, a 5-inch 720p display, and a 13-megapixel camera. It’s 7.95mm thick and runs Android 5.0. The phone looks a lot like a Nexus 4, with a glass back panel and staid black front, but Japanese site Blog of Mobile points out that it's near-identical to a Panasonic handset available in Taiwan called the Eluga U2. 

"It's nearly identical to the Panasonic Eluga U2"

The VAIO phone will almost certainly never make it to the US, and even in Japan, there’s little to set it apart unless you have nostalgia for the brand and want to save some money over offerings from the big three carriers. But it’s intriguing to note VAIO’s entry into the market nonetheless, as speculation rumbles over whether Sony’s own smartphones have a future.

No longer a part of Sony, VAIO likes the look of that smartphone market, and has decided to go up against its former parent company's Xperia series with its own creation -- one that looks very familiar to our smartphone-seasoned eyes. It's called the VAIO Phone, and it's launching in Japan in collaboration with one of the country's smaller carriers, b-mobile, on March 20th.

Remember this isn't the giant Sony we're dealing with any more: VAIO is now leaner and well, a whole lot smaller. However, it seems they put their best brains on the flagship laptop series because there's really not much to scream and shout about its first smartphone. There's five-inch display, Android 5.0, 13-megapixel camera and enough power behind the purposely unassuming shell: two gigs of RAM and 1.2GHz processor. And it all looks, well, just... okay.

There's a very flat, glossy back, curved plastic sides and it's generally very unassuming. VAIO is calling it "simple and stylish" but we interpret that as "nondescript", at least going from our early play with it. Fortunately (probably due to the smaller phone carrier involved) there's no app-based bloat, something that still lingers in Japan on its mobile phones. There's really not much more to say however: it's a smartphone. It looks like a lot of smartphones that came before it. There's no crazy camera tech, eye-bleeding screen (it's only 720p, pixel fans) or object-reading magic. But it will be priced to sell -- just shy of 33 bucks (4,000 yen) per month will get you VAIO's first smartphone as well as unlimited data. Japan residents can also pick up the phone for about $420, or 51,000 yen. Not such an easy sell.

Update: That's especially true when an all-but identical phone as already launched. As noted on Blog of mobile, Panasonic's Eluga U2, launched in Taiwan, has the same specs and looks the spitting image. Oh and it's a fraction of the price.

Sailor's Salary $300,000

A Sailor's Salary $300,000, If He Works for Ellison

a sailor women

A lawsuit against Larry Ellison’s sailing squad, which has led to the seizure of one of his million-dollar boats, is also revealing how much the Oracle Corp. founder is willing to spend to win the America’s Cup: $300,000 a year for a rank-and-file sailor. The litigation is the latest in a series of legal battles that have surrounded the billionaire’s sailing successes.

On Monday morning, two federal marshals walked into the San Francisco waterfront base of the sailing squad, Oracle Team USA, and seized three gray, whale-size containers holding the disassembled parts of a 45-foot-long, seven-story-tall yacht called an AC45, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer and a U.S. Marshals spokesman.

The marshals tagged the three containers, which can’t be moved until a judge issues a ruling on the seizure or allows the team to post a bond on the boat. The vessel, a smaller version of Oracle’s victorious 72-foot-long boat in the 2013 America’s Cup, is being held as a lien, or collateral, in the case. The plaintiff asked for the seizure.
The plaintiff is Joe Spooner, who spent a decade as an Oracle sailor until the team dismissed him in January. A 41-year-old New Zealand native, Spooner in February sued the team for $725,000 in wages over a 2½-year span, as well as double-wage penalties, punitive damages and legal fees, alleging the squad wrongfully discharged him without cause.
A team Oracle spokesman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. A spokeswoman for Ellison, who is Oracle Corp.’s executive chairman, also declined to comment.
“It is a match race and Spooner has the lead at the first mark!!!!!” Patricia Barlow, Spooner’s lawyer, said in a statement shortly after Monday’s arrest of the Oracle yacht. A match race is a head-to-head contest between two competitors.
Court filings show that Spooner signed a contract with the Oracle team that would have paid him $25,000 a month, which equates to $300,000 a year, from July 2014 to the end of the next America’s Cup, the world’s most prestigious yacht race, which is scheduled to be held in Bermuda in 2017.
In Spooner’s termination letter, team Oracle general manager Grant Simmer said Spooner asked for raise to $38,000 a month to relocate from San Francisco to Bermuda. Simmer said in the letter that the team wasn’t prepared to modify the squad’s relocation policy specifically for Spooner, and that the team also declined to increase his pay.
“For these reasons, and in the light of the stated position that you will not otherwise relocate to Bermuda, this letter constitutes prior written notice of termination” of Spooner’s contract, Simmer wrote.
Spooner was one of six grinders on the 11-man Oracle team that won the 2013 America’s Cup. In sailing, grinders are the equivalent of football offensive linemen, cranking hand-powered winches to power a boat’s hydraulics system. They are typically the lowest-paid members of a sailing team; the people who adjust the sails and helm the wheel can get paid double, or even more.
Oracle is the world’s top sailing squad, having won the past two America’s Cup contests, and Ellison has spent lavishly to retain the world’s best yachtsmen. The managing director of Emirates Team New Zealand, the runner-up in the 2013 Cup, has estimated that his sailors got paid half as much as Oracle’s, an appraisal that other sailing experts this week said sounded accurate.
Ellison spent at least $115 million overall on his team’s 2013 America’s Cup campaign, the Oracle team’s chief executive has said.
During Ellison’s recent Cup victories, his lawyers have taken the field almost as often as his sailors. He first captured the 2010 Cup after a 2½-year legal battle over the competition’s rules. Among other accusations, the Swiss team Alinghi alleged it caught a man who was hired by Ellison’s crew to spy on Alinghi operations. An Oracle spokesman said at the time that those were trumped-up allegations that had nothing to do with the legal matter at hand.
Another team Oracle grinder, Matt Mitchell, has sued the team for $68,000 in legal fees that he said he accumulated while fighting allegations that he helped alter an Oracle racing boat in preliminary competition before the 2013 Cup. An Oracle team spokesman declined to comment.
An international jury had concluded that Oracle was guilty of making illegal modifications to the boat and forced the team to start the first-to-nine-wins 2013 Cup races with negative-two victories. On the brink of defeat, Oracle ended up winning the final eight races of the 2013 contest to stage one of the most dramatic comebacks in sports history.

via WSJ, Stu Woo

President USA Bolster $100 Million

Barack Obama Announces $100 M Initiative to Bolster Tech Hiring

Obama

After going after the minimum wage, President Obama is turning attention to the tech sector, with a plan that calls for the hiring of more tech workers. Announced yesterday, the TechHire Initiative is a mix of agreements between the government and private companies in more than 20 different areas, as well as $100 million in federal investments. The end goal is to get Americans training to work in higher-paying technology jobs.

The program aims to train people in skills such as coding, both through the universities and colleges that have traditionally produced tech workers, but also through nontraditional online training courses and bootcamps. The government is working with business advisory groups to construct both an aptitude test employers can use to gauge candidates who have completed nontraditional courses, and a guide for recruiting tech workers who aren't necessarily computer science graduates from four-year universities. Two-thirds of the country's tech jobs are in unrelated sectors such as healthcare — the new guidelines are expected to help employers choose candidates they might not have found before.

"The focus is on nontraditional courses and bootcamps for tech training"

To support the initiative, the Obama administration will offer $100 million in grants to training programs that help individuals with barriers to training, such as disabilities, child care responsibilities, and limited English proficiency. Groups in the private sector have also committed to offer free training courses and expanded coding bootcamps to low-income individuals and groups underserved and underrepresented in tech, including women, minorities, and veterans. Cities with close ties to tech such as San Francisco and Los Angeles were among the 21 communities that committed to the government's new scheme, but the group also includes areas without established ties to the tech industry, such as rural Eastern Kentucky, Memphis, and Albuquerque.

"It turns out it doesn't matter where you learned code," the president said, explaining why his administration was pushing employers to consider nontraditional courses for employees. "it just matters how good you are at writing code." Of the 5 million jobs the White House says are available in America today, more than half a million are in IT, in fields such as software development, network administration, and cybersecurity — many of which, the White House notes, didn't exist ten years ago. The TechHire Initiative, with its focus on rapid training in new skills, could help the government fill those empty jobs in months, rather than years.

via the verge

Apple’s Watch Event

Apple’s Watch Event on Monday March 9

Monday's event March 9, 2015 in California may be the biggest that Apple holds this year. The event starts Monday at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Not only is Apple expected to unveil final information on the Apple Watch and detail a release plan for it, it may also discuss a new MacBook, an update to iOS, and a whole lot more. Below is everything you can expect to see on Monday — and a few things you shouldn't expect just yet.

• Apple Watch pricing and availability

Here's the big question: we know that the Apple Watch will be available starting at $349, but how much higher will it go? It seems like a very safe assumption that $349 will get you the Apple Watch Sport. With its aluminum body and synthetic rubber strap, it's clearly the cheapest option and meant to be sold to the masses. It's possible that there will be multiple configurations of the Sport, but we really know nothing yet of how Apple plans to sell this. All Apple Watch models are available in two different sizes, and we'll also find out how much more the larger model will sell for than the smaller model.

Even with all of those questions, there's still plenty left to speculate on. The first question is what the standard stainless steel Apple Watch will cost. Apple pundit John Gruber, of Daring Fireball, wrote a lengthy piece on this late last month: he speculates that the standard Apple Watch will have an average price of around $1,000, which sounds like a reasonable guess. He also suspects that it may start lower, at around $700, but could jump up to well over $1,000 depending on what band it's paired with.

"How much for the gold watch?" Then there's the question that's received the most heated attention: how much will the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition models cost? Many are speculating that their pricing could be around what you'd pay for a fine analog watch. Gruber is in that camp, placing the price between $10,000 and $20,000, also depending on what band they're paired with. Developer Marco Arment, on the other hand, writes on his blog that he suspects these high guesses could be off the mark, with the real pricing landing around $5,000. Either way, it should be one of the most expensive products Apple currently sells, and everyone's going to be talking about whatever price Apple chooses. Apple has already said that the Apple Watch will begin shipping in April. On Monday, it should announce the exact date, where you'll be able to get it, and when preorders will begin.

• Bands and accessories

Personalization is a big part of the Apple Watch, and — as with most watches — swappable bands play a major role in that. Apple already showed quite a few bands during the Apple Watch's introduction event last year, but this time we should learn about which ones you'll actually be able to buy — and how much you'll pay for them. It seems likely that all of the sport bands will be available for sale. But the story could be different for the leather and metal bands, especially given that some of them have body color-specific attachments. This may make them more expensive to sell on their own or simply impractical to sell, whereas the sport bands all terminate in their own color, thus preventing this issue.

"Some bands could cost a lot more than others" As for third-party bands, we may have to wait to hear about that. Apple doesn't often discuss accessories from other manufacturers on stage, so even if it is encouraging manufacturers to make these — another thing we don't know yet — we may find out after the fact. The big exception might be if Apple, as a report at TechCrunch brings up, provides a way for manufacturers to create smart bands that interface with the watch. While this would be a nice addition, it doesn't appear to be in the cards — at least for this version of the watch.

Apple could also discuss an accessories program for the Apple Watch. Apple's biggest products all have vibrant accessory ecosystems, and part of that is because Apple monitors them through an accessories program. You can bet that, one way or anther, accessories are going to start showing up for the Apple Watch very soon. Whether Apple decides to make it official on Monday isn't clear, but it's something to look for down the road.

• Watch apps

Apple previewed a number of apps during the Apple Watch's introduction, but it'll have a lot more to show this time around. That's in large part because of third-party apps: developers have had coding tools in their hands for almost four months now, and you can be sure that Apple will want to show off the biggest and the best on stage. Expect to see a lot from outside developers, possibly large and small, and potentially even some from Apple itself that it didn't show last year.

Along with previewing apps, Apple may also detail what it's doing with the App Store to account for them. For now, it's possible that there won't be many changes. Apple Watch apps will all be running off of iPhone apps, so they may just exist inside of iTunes as they do today. Eventually, Apple plans to bring native apps to its watch, so Apple could have a Watch App Store app to show off. If not, that may be something for another time, such as when native apps become available later this year.

• A new MacBook

Apple is due to introduce a new notebook, and it's looking like Monday could be the day. Apple is expected to debut the successor to the Air — be it a new MacBook line or simply a new version of the Air — that's lighter, smaller, and has a much better display. "A smaller, lighter laptop that cuts out everything it can" 9to5Mac first detailed the new model in January, reporting that the laptop will have a 12-inch display, but in a body that's in most ways smaller than the current 11-inch Air. Notably, Apple was said to be exploring a version of the laptop that only included two ports: a headphone jack and the new USB Type-C connector — not even a separate power connector. That'd be a bold and, certainly, divisive move, but it's probably safe to expect an impressively small laptop as a result.

The new MacBook is expected to be the line's first model not to include a fan. That would be wonderful news for anyone who's sick of being unable to hear Netflix because their laptop's fan is blaring. The laptop is also believed to no longer have a clickable trackpad — you'll instead have to rely on taps. The keyboard, according to 9to5Mac, is also supposed to be slightly narrower than on other MacBooks. The new MacBook is expected to ship between April and June, according to The Wall Street Journal. That makes Monday a fairly good time for Apple to talk about it.

• Updated MacBook Airs

Don't expect Apple to throw out the old Air just because it introduces a new one. Apple loves to hang onto older products and sell them at different prices, and it would require little effort for it to give the Air the basic spec refresh that it's due for. The Air was last updated in April 2014 to include Intel's Haswell processors. Those are now a generation old, and it's a safe bet that Apple will want to put Broadwell processors in them sometime soon. Don't expect anything too exciting, but it should mean new Airs that are faster or have longer-lasting batteries. If Apple does, in fact, introduce a new MacBook, there may be some price shifting, too.

• iOS 8.2

The Apple Watch can't work without talking to an iPhone, but first, iPhones will need to learn how to talk to the Watch. That's all happening with iOS 8.2, which introduces support for the Apple Watch. Most notably, it includes an Apple Watch companion app that'll allow you to change the watch's settings, as there's a lot that's easier to do on the phone. Otherwise, the updates in iOS 8.2 are expected to be minor, including some bug fixes and tweaks to the Health app. Perhaps the biggest disappointment here is that you'll have to wait until iOS 8.3 for that awesome new emoji picker.

• Don't expect: a larger iPad, a new Apple TV, or a streaming music service

Two big products that Apple is said to have in the pipeline probably won't be showing up on Monday. The most notable of those is the larger, 12.9-inch iPad, which more and more reports have come out on over the past year. It very much seems like something in the works, but the latest news, from Bloomberg, says that manufacturing on it isn't expected to start on it until around September. That would put its release in line with most other iPads, in the October / November timeframe.

For a while now, Apple has also been said to have a new Apple TV in development. Those reports have largely subsided over the past year, seemingly as Apple focuses on the bigger projects that we're expecting to see on Monday. So hang tight… Apple will have to release a new Apple TV someday. "Some of this is expected later in the year"

Lastly, Apple's said to be transforming Beats Music into its own iTunes streaming service. That's almost certain to come out soon, but the latest report, from 9to5Mac, says we shouldn't expect it until Apple's developer conference in June. Oh, and probably nothing yet on that Apple car. Maybe next decade.

via writer, Jacob Kastrenakes

The Different Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge

Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge Battle of Design

S6 Edge

Following countless leaks and endless teasers, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones. The pair of S6 phones succeed the Galaxy S5, Samsung's prior flagship announced one year ago, and will be available across the world starting on April 10th. All four major US carriers plus US Cellular have committed to carrying both the S6 and the S6 Edge, while smaller carriers such as Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, and MetroPCS will only offer the S6. The Galaxy S6 Edge will be priced higher than the standard S6, though Samsung isn’t saying exactly how much either one will be at this point. The S5 was largely considered a misstep by Samsung: its advanced display and plentiful features were overshadowed by its plasticky build and ho-hum design, and during the course of 2014, Samsung's smartphone profits fell dramatically as a result. Clearly Samsung does not want a repeat of the Galaxy S5 and 2014. So consider the S6 phones complete reboots of Samsung's top-end Galaxy, a back to the drawing board approach that has resulted in the most visually stunning devices Samsung has ever produced. Where the 2014 S5 looked almost identical to 2013's S4, the S6 and S6 Edge have all-new designs that look and feel significantly different than the older Galaxy devices.

Samsung is essentially splitting its flagship model into two distinct, but very similar designs. The Galaxy S6 has a flat display, metal frame, and glass front and back panels. Its counterpart, the S6 Edge, has all of the above, but throws in a curve to the sides of its front and rear glass, giving it a distinctive character. The curved glass is similar to the curved display and glass Samsung utilized on the Note Edge, but it’s not as aggressive and is found on both sides of the phone instead of just the right. Needless to say, the S6 Edge is the far more interesting looking and feeling phone of the pair. Both of the new phones are made entirely of metal and glass: the cheesy and cheap-feeling plastics that have dominated Samsung’s products for years are no where to be found. This change can’t be overstated: Samsung finally has made flagship products that look and feel like they are worth the premium price tag they command. The flat S6 will be available in white black, gold, and blue, while the S6 Edge can be hand in white, black, gold, and green. Samsung’s lead designer on the project says the company spared no expense when it came to materials that they could use in the new phones. The front and rear glass panels are Gorilla Glass 4, and the metal frame is significantly nicer than the plastic used on Samsung’s prior phones (and even the metal frame used in the Note 4 and others released late last year). With Samsung competing in the high-end market against Apple and HTC, both of which use premium materials in their devices, it’s important that Samsung shows it can hang. For the most part, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge do.

Samsung didn’t just focus on design for the new phones either. In typical Samsung fashion, the Galaxy S6 phones are packed with the latest technology: an octacore Samsung Exynos processor (for the international version, Samsung would not confirm what processor the US models will use); 5.1-inch QHD Super AMOLED displays; 3GB of RAM; 32, 64, or 128GB of internal storage; 16-megapixel cameras with optical image stabilization; a new fingerprint sensor in the home button that no longer requires a swipe; an infrared heart-rate monitor that Samsung says also helps the camera obtain accurate white balance; integrated support for both Qi and PMA wireless charging; fast USB charging that’s 1.5 times faster than the Galaxy S5; a speaker that’s 1.5 times louder than the S5’s; and integrated support for Samsung Pay, which uses either NFC or MFT (LoopPay) technology for transactions. But while Samsung certainly improved upon the Galaxy S5’s design in dramatic ways and upgraded the phone’s technology at the same time with the S6, it didn’t come without cost. Hallmarks of Samsung’s phones, such as removable batteries, microSD card slots, and waterproofing are nowhere to be found on the S6 or S6 Edge. That will likely upset some die-hard users and Samsung loyalists that relied on those features, but it’s clear that Samsung prioritized the phone’s design and its look and feel over things that appeal to a smaller segment of its customer base. Samsung also trimmed back the software features, claiming that there are 40 percent fewer features in the Galaxy S6 than the S5. Overall, the software feels largely the same as before, however. (It's based on Android 5.0 Lollipop.)

It’s easy to see where Samsung took its inspiration for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge: the design is strikingly similar to the iPhone 6 in many places, and the features that Samsung did focus its efforts on are all things the iPhone has had for years. Look at the S6 from certain angles and you’d immediately think it’s an iPhone. Put your thumb on the home key and the phone unlocks almost instantly, just like an iPhone. Even the camera mount protrudes out from the rear of the phone, preventing the S6 from lying flat on a table, just like an iPhone 6. (The flat S6 looks like the lovechild of an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 6, while the S6 Edge is a little more distinctive.) Samsung has be known to copy Apple’s design before, which led to record sales and record-breaking lawsuits. It’s hard to say if the Galaxy S6 will bring about any lawsuits, but the similarities between it and the iPhone 6 are undeniable.

Of the two, I’m particularly drawn to the S6 Edge. While the standard S6 has a very generic design that could have come from any number of phone makers out of China, the Edge’s curved sides look cool and make it easier to swipe across the screen. The curves aren’t overly dramatic and the symmetrical design is far better than the Note Edge’s side panel. Also unlike the Note Edge, Samsung isn’t really using the curved sides to display specific information. It still has the bedside clock feature (activated by swiping back and forth on the curved part of the screen), but the news tickers, app launcher, and notifications panel are gone.

Design considerations and copycat accusations aside, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are sure to be great phones in their own rights. Samsung made them 2mm narrower than the S5, which doesn’t sound like much but does wonders for one-handed maneuverability. In my brief time with the two phones, performance was quick and snappy and it was easy to access all of the phone’s features with just my thumb, something I haven‘t been able to say for Samsung’s earlier devices. Perhaps most impressive is the new camera. Samsung says it has listened to criticisms levied against its past cameras and has improved the S6’s camera to address them. It’s exceptionally quick, can be launched from anywhere with an easy double-tap on the home key (Samsung says it starts up in 0.7 seconds, and I have no reason to dispute that claim), and takes sharp, well-exposed photos. It also has automating focus tracking for moving subjects, a first for a mobile device. And Samsung claims that the infrared sensor on the back of the phone used to measure your heart rate can also pulls double duty to improve white balance quality when taking photos. I have a feeling it will see far more usage assisting the camera than it will measuring heart rates when the S6 hits stores. Most of those claims will need further scrutiny once we have a review unit of the Galaxy S6 to test, but my first impressions with the camera are really good.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge both support Samsung’s new mobile payments program, called Samsung Pay. It uses technology Samsung acquired through its LoopPay purchase to let you make purchases at any retailer that has a standard credit card swiper. It also works with NFC tap-to-pay systems and is authenticated with the fingerprint sensor in the phone’s home button. Between the two systems, Samsung says it will be accepted at 90 percent of retailers. Samsung Pay will work with both MasterCard and Visa, as well as American Express, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and U.S. Bank. It’s very obviously Samsung’s answer to Apple Pay, but it won’t be available until later this summer, a few months after the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge hit store shelves.

Samsung is also announcing a version of the Gear VR that will work with both the S6 and S6 Edge. It’s 15-percent smaller than the Gear VR for the Note 4, and it has improvements such as USB charging. Samsung is still calling it an "Innovator Edition", which means it’s not really designed to be used by everyday consumers. (Presumably, consumers will still be able to buy it pretty easily, however, just like the Gear VR for the Note 4.) I wasn’t able to test the S6’s Gear VR, so we’ll have to wait and see if it’s an improvement over the older model. With sales falling and profits going down along with them, Samsung needed to do something much bigger and better this year than it did with the S5 last year. For most intents and purposes, the S6 and S6 Edge are just that: they are dramatically nicer and better phones than Samsung has ever produced. But it’s hard not to say that this is the phone the S5 should have been a year ago, and Samsung is still going to be playing catch up with Apple. The S6 and S6 Edge are certainly great phones, with solid performance and finally a design that Samsung can be proud of. Whether or not that’s enough to put Samsung back on top remains to be seen.

via the verge, Dan Seifert