May 2016 – Page 34 – news.buyenne.com

Samsung is done with Android Wear watches, says Tizen is the future

Samsung is reportedly shunning Google’s smartwatch OS in favor of its own.

As one of the world's biggest electronics manufacturers, Samsung is an important partner if you're trying to get traction for a nascent operating system. When it comes to smartwatches, Google will have to make do without the Korean juggernaut—Samsung says it's done with Android Wear.

After a chat with Samsung executives, a report from Fast Company says that "no more Samsung Android Wear devices are in development or being planned." Samsung apparently sees its in-house operating system, Tizen, as the wearable future. The report says that Samsung executives are going with Tizen because it's "far more battery-efficient than Android Wear" and "the standard OS on other Samsung products from TVs to refrigerators."

Samsung has given Android Wear a single try: the square "Galaxy Gear Live" smartwatch, which was one of the first Android Wear devices. For Tizen, the company has released the Gear S2, the Gear S, the Gear 2, and the Galaxy Gear. Android Wear recently launched a developer preview of version 2.0, which features an all-new design, new text input options, and more standalone functionality for watches with LTE modems.

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Pebble Core: A tiny music player and fitness tracker with GPS and 3G

Smartwatch maker Pebble is launching its first device that’s not a smartwatch. The Pebble Core is a tiny $99 device that has no screen… but which does have GPS, a 3G modem, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a headphone jack.

It’s designed for runners that want to track their distance and routes while listening to music… you can even stream music over 3G from Spotify. The Pebble Core does not require a phone to work (although it does need a SIM card if you want to use mobile data).

Continue reading Pebble Core: A tiny music player and fitness tracker with GPS and 3G at Liliputing.

Kickstarter: Pebble Core als GPS-Anhänger für Hacker und Sportler

Pebble bietet mit dem Pebble Core eine neue Hardware an, die erstmals keine Smartwatch ist, sondern als Fitnesstracker genutzt werden kann. Sie wird auch nicht am Handgelenk getragen, sondern beispielsweise an der Kleidung oder am Schlüsselbund, und beinhaltet einen GPS-Empfänger. (Kickstarter, GPS)

Is “MH” Nintendo’s next handheld? There’s reason to doubt it

Off-handed mention in an analyst note is not likely a leak.

Artist's conception of the mysterious "MH" portable. Or a hacked-together portable N64. One of those.

A new report out of Japan could be the first indication of a new handheld console in the pipeline for Nintendo, with the codename "MH." But despite some breathless reports on the news, there is reason for skepticism.

The rumor mill got churning this time thanks to off-handed mention in a report from the business analysts at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley (published in Japanese here and here). A couple of translations of that report predict that future economic growth for Nintendo through the 2020 fiscal year will be driven by "the next generation game console NX and next generation portable game console MH (Tentative title) [or (temporary name), depending on the translation]."

The translated wording certainly seems certain enough, and the specificity of the codename suggests an actual product in the works at Nintendo rather than mere speculation. Still, it's pretty odd that the first public mention of a major new hardware initiative at Nintendo would come in an aside in a business analyst's note rather than from Nintendo itself.

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Virtual Reality: Facebook kauft Two Big Ears für 360-Grad-Sound

Besserer 3D-Ton für Videos und das Oculus Rift: Facebook hat den 360-Grad-Sound-Spezialisten Two Big Ears übernommen. Für Entwickler bedeutet das kostenlosen Zugriff auf die Tools. (Oculus Rift, Raumklang)

Hollywood Withdraws Funding for UK Anti-Piracy Group FACT

The UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft has received a major blow after the Motion Picture Association advised the anti-piracy group it will not renew its membership. The termination of the 30-year long relationship means that FACT will lose 50% of its budget and the backing of the six major Hollywood movie studios.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT)is the most aggressive private anti-piracy group currently operating in the UK.

In recent years the organization has been responsible for investigating dozens of alleged pirates and has secured many convictions, largely on behalf of its movie and TV industry partners.

Now, however, FACT faces a somewhat uncertain future after the Motion Picture Association, the movie industry outfit that supplies FACT with half of its funding, decided to pull its support for the anti-piracy group.

The MPA, which represents the interests of Disney, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros, has recently advised FACT that it intends to terminate its 30-year long relationship by not renewing its membership when it expires in six months’ time.

Speaking with Screen Daily, MPA Europe president Stan McCoy explained that local funding for FACT had been withdrawn in favor of financing larger regional hubs with a wider remit.

The relevant regional office dealing with the UK is the MPA’s EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) in Brussels which aims to provide “a nimble local presence and a direct relationship with local law enforcement.”

McCoy acknowledged FACT’s efforts over the last three decades but said that the changing nature of piracy, including the shift away from physical to online infringement, requires “a more flexible approach” than the one currently in place.

“We live in a world now where a piracy website can have its nexus in Sweden one day, then move in a few months to Eastern Europe, then to Thailand, or it can operate in all three of those jurisdictions at once,” McCoy said.

For FACT the withdrawal of the MPA and by extension the major studios is a massive blow. The MPA currently provides FACT with around 50% of its funding, leaving the balance to made up a range of partners including the UK Cinema Association, the Film Distributors’ Association, the Premier League, and broadcasters including ITV.

FACT confirmed that its MPA funding is being withdrawn and is said to be considering its options. In the meantime, however, it’s unlikely that the UK will become a care-free piracy zone. The MPA says it intends to continue its work protecting copyright in the UK which will include the pursuit of more site-blocking injunctions and increased cooperation with the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit.

That being said, it will be interesting to see how this situation plays out. FACT provided “boots on the ground” for the studios in the UK and undertook investigations against pirates that in some cases the police were reluctant to take on and in others carry through to a prosecution. Abandoning that local touch could be risky strategy for the MPA, but only time will tell.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Wirtschaftsminister Olaf Lies: Beirat der Bundesnetzagentur gegen exklusives Vectoring

Die Bundesnetzagentur unterstützt das Recht der Telekom auf exklusives Vectoring. Doch der Vorsitzende des politischen Beirats der Behörde und niedersächsische Wirtschaftsminister Olaf Lies (SPD) stellt sich öffentlich dagegen. (Vectoring, DSL)

Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 smartwatches hit Kickstarter, each sporting heart rate sensors

Pebble’s smartwatches were among the first to hit the market, and in addition to letting you view notifications from your phone and run third-party apps, every model released to date has had some very basic fitness-tracking features: they could measure your step count.

Now Pebble is adding a bit more health-tracking capability to its smartwatch lineup. The Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 smartwatches are expected to ship this fall, and they’re up for pre-order via a Kickstarter campaign.

Continue reading Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 smartwatches hit Kickstarter, each sporting heart rate sensors at Liliputing.

Four wild technologies lawmakers want NASA to pursue

House budget provides funding for Mars helicopters, super fast propulsion, and more.

A proposed helicopter could triple the distances that Mars rovers can drive in a Martian day. (credit: NASA)

Imagine a tissue-box sized device, with blades a few feet long, whirring to life after charging for a full Sol on Mars. It then flies ahead of a rover to search for hazards and targets of interest. Deeper in the solar system, on Europa, a large spacecraft lands near a fissure and drops small probes into the ocean far below. Beyond the Moon, a telescope with a specially fitted shade images an Earth-like exoplanet for the first time, possibly finding chemical markers of life. Finally, in a few decades, powered by hitherto undreamed-of propulsion, a spacecraft takes off for Alpha Centauri at a significant fraction of the speed of light.

It all sounds like science fiction, but a new budget for NASA proposed by the US House of Representatives includes seed money for all of these initiatives, some of which are receiving funding for the first time. The budget must still be reconciled with that of the Senate, but the House and Senate committees have worked well in the past to finalize NASA’s funding. Most of these concepts should therefore survive.

Ars caught up with the author of this budget Monday evening, John Culberson, a Texas Republican who represents one of the most conservative districts in the conservative state of Texas. He’s a proud member of the Tea Party and would like nothing more than to tear up Obamacare. But Culberson is also a science geek through and through, and while he’d like to cut the federal budget, he’d just as soon plough those savings into NASA to fuel new innovations.

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4.6 inch Sony Xperia E5 smartphone coming soon (leaks)

Sony may be using a new name for its flagship smartphones, with the new Xperia X series of phones replacing the Xperia Z, C, and M series. But it looks like the cheaper Sony Xperia E family is alive and well.

The next addition appears to be called the Sony Xperia E5, and the company apparently posted a few pictures a bit prematurely on its Facebook page, before removing them.

According to several recent leaks, the phone is expected to feature a 4.6 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display, 1.5 GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage as well as a MediaTek MT6735 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor with Mali-720 graphics.

Continue reading 4.6 inch Sony Xperia E5 smartphone coming soon (leaks) at Liliputing.

The next addition appears to be called the Sony Xperia E5, and the company apparently posted a few pictures a bit prematurely on its Facebook page, before removing them.

Continue reading 4.6 inch Sony Xperia E5 smartphone coming soon (leaks) at Liliputing.