World's thinnest smartphone gets a Snapdragon processor and LTE

World's thinnest smartphone gets a Snapdragon processor and LTE

by Steven Johns
Neowin

A while back we covered the GioneeElife S5.5 and how it shattered records, being that the device was only 5.55mm at its thickest point. Back then, the Elife S5.5 had a Mediatek MTK6592 chipset which only supported a limited amount of bands, limiting it to 3G, and wasn't able to support alternative ROMs like Cyanogenmod. Things have since changed, however, as the folk at Gionee have switched up the specs of the device and gave a welcomed boost to the display, battery and chipset.
The phone retains its 2GB RAM, 13 megapixel Sony front camera and 5 megapixel ultra-wideangle rear camera, however the phone is now sporting a much more interesting (albeit outdated) Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset, meaning it should be fully compatible with all phone networks in Australasia, Europe and North America. The new chipset also provides LTE support, which is always a welcomed addition above 3G and older technologies.

Powering the new 1080p Samsung display is a new battery, which now has a larger 2450mAh capacity. Unfortunately the bump up in battery capacity has cost the device extra 0.2mm in width, and the latest iteration now measures in at 5.75mm.
Repackaged as the Gionee Elife S5.5L, the new model is expected to be available for sale in July and maintain the same ~$330 USD price tag as the previous model.

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GE announces $15 connected LED light bulb controlled by Wink app!

The “Internet of things,” the “Connected Home,” the “Smart Home,” whatever you want to call it, it’s just a fancy way of turning your stuff on and off with your smartphone. Now GE has introduced a cheaper way to stay on the couch and control your lights.

The low-cost connected Link lightbulb from GEwill set you back less than $15. The bulb is controlled by the Wink app (available for iOS and Android) from Quirky. In addition to switching lights on and off from anywhere (not just your couch), the app lets you schedule things like on/off times and brightness.

Smart bulbs are nothing new, but the less than $15 price point should help with adoption of the connected devices. For anyone that wants more control over their Wink-controlled devices, a Wink hub will be available July 7 for more control of a variety of connected devices including the Aros smart air conditioner.

The Link comes in three flavors: A 60-watt replacement LED bulb for lamps; an LED indoor floodlamp and an LED brighter indoor/outdoor floodlamp. The $15 price is for the LED bulb for lamps. No word on what the other two lights will cost.

The lights will be available for pre-order from Home Depot on Monday, June 30 and available at Home Depot stores this fall.

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Aereo Puts Service on 'Pause' As It Weighs Next Steps

Aereo Puts Service on 'Pause' As It Weighs Next Steps

Ted Johnson

Variety 

Following the Supreme Court's ruling on Wednesday in favor of broadcasters, Aereo announced early Saturday that it was pausing its streaming TV service at 11:30 a.m. ET.

"We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps," Aereo CEO and founder Chet Kanojia wrote in a letter to subscribers.
All users will be refunded their last paid month, he wrote.

He urged consumers to "keep your voices loud and sign up for updates at ProtectMyAntenna.org - our journey is far from done."

The company emphasized that it was not shutting down but waiting as the case returns to the lower court in New York, although it is unclear what options they have. Another question is whether networks and broadcast stations will seek monetary damages.

The broadcasters challenged the district court's decision to decline their motion for an injunction to halt Aereo, and the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals also sided with the streaming service. The Supreme Court's decision reversed those lower court rulings.

Kanojia's full letter is below:

A Letter to Our Consumers: Standing Together for Innovation, Progress and Technology - An Update on Aereo
"The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress." -Charles Kettering, inventor, entrepreneur, innovator & philanthropist
A little over three years ago, our team embarked on a journey to improve the consumer television  experience, using technology to create a smart, cloud-based television antenna consumers could use to access live over the air broadcast television.
On Wednesday , the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision in favor of Aereo, dealing a massive setback to consumers.
As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower Court. We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps. You will be able to access your cloud-based antenna and DVR only until 11:30 a.m. ET today.
All of our users will be refunded their last paid month. If you have questions about your account, please email [email protected] or tweet us @AereoSupport.
The spectrum that the broadcasters use to transmit over the air programming belongs to the American public and we believe you should have a right to access that live programming whether your antenna sits on the roof of your home, on top of your television or in the cloud.
On behalf of the entire team at Aereo, thank you for the outpouring of support. It has been staggering and we are so grateful for your emails, Tweets and Facebook posts. Keep your voices loud and sign up for updates at  http://protectmyantenna.org/- our journey is far from done.
Yours truly,
Chet Kanojia

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Google Cardboard: What is it and how you can build your own

Google Cardboard: What is it and how you can build your own:

by Timi Cantisano

Neowin 

Google I/O has become known for its fairly generous support for developers by handing out gifts to its attendees. As the keynote for I/O 2014 was concluding, attendees became excited with the prospect of leaving Moscone Center with lavish devices like smartphones, laptops, or tablets. Interestingly, Google decided to hand out something a bit more modest this year, when it announced to its attendees that they would be receiving Cardboard. While this left most attendees confused, they soon understood what Google was talking about and why it was a perfect giveaway.


While you might be shaking your head, Cardboard is actually a fairly neat piece of equipment. Traditionally, in order to experience VR, you’ve had to invest in expensive equipment or experience it at a convention or trade show. Google has brought that experience home, in an inexpensive project that will allow smartphone
owners a chance to experience it.

 Cardboard is a do-it-yourself kit that comes with all the pieces you will need to create your own virtual reality headset. That's right, this simple piece of cardboard, when built, will become a fully functional VR headset. It does this by utilizing your Android device, a couple of very clever, but inexpensive hardware pieces, and a VR app.


When built, you will be able to experience a handful of VR demos just like people at Google I/O. But, how do you get your hands on this device if you weren't in attendance at I/O? Luckily, Google has made the schematics available so you can create your own at home. First, you must have an Android handset. This works best with a cell phone like the Nexus 5.

Next, you will need to purchase a couple of components that are available either online or from your local hardware store. The links to these items are available on Google's Cardboard website. After you've carefully constructed the device, you will slide your phone into the front of the device with the Cardboard VR app installed, and starting experiencing VR on the cheap.

While this might seem like a fun toy, Google is actually experimenting with VR and is focused on improving the experience. Although this is a small step, it's a giant step for virtual reality that could lead to a whole new movement in VR and how its consumed. By getting virtual reality into more hands, it will create a broader audience that could push the technology to the next level.

If you want to place an order then direct yourself over to DODOcase.com and get it rolling.

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Injured Niall Horan and bandmate Liam Payne watch tennis at Wimbledon

"Injured Niall Horan and bandmate Liam Payne watch tennis at Wimbledon"

The famous pop star Niall Horan and fellow band member Liam Payne caused chaos at Gate 13 when fans besieged them as they entered the All England Club in London.

Niall Horan looked good cheering during a tennis match at Wimbledon, His white button-down shirt and stylish shades were perfect for taking in the game.

Niall was interviewed by Laura Robson (a totes amaze tennis player who had to withdraw this year due to injury), before he posed for the above pic with charity wristbands.

Elsewhere, Liam was spotted making the most of his courtside view by taking a few snaps of the game.

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Filipinos to receive disaster alerts on cellphones

Filipinos to receive disaster alerts on cellphones

Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has passed a law that requires cellphone companies to send warnings to millions of people in the path of deadly typhoons, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in an effort to reduce the high number of fatalities that occur almost every year.

The measure was in response to one of the deadliest typhoons ever to make landfall — Typhoon Haiyan, which killed over 6,300 people and displaced 4 million in the central Philippines last year.

The Free Mobile Disaster Act, which was signed last week by President Benigno Aquino III but announced on Friday, directs cellphone operators to send out alerts about storms, tsunamis or other calamities whenever required by national disaster agencies.

Similar early warning systems are in place in a number of other countries, including Japan.
The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons a year in a region. It also sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common.

The new law says the alerts should include up-to-date information sent directly to subscribers in or near the area to be hit by a potential calamity. The messages should also include contact information for local governments and other agencies and possibly details such as evacuation or relief sites and pickup points for those fleeing their homes.

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Google will pay for coding lessons for thousands of female tech workers

Google will pay for coding lessons for thousands of female tech workers

Sharif Sakr

Engadget

We know the stats by now, and they're grim: women hold just a quarter of IT jobs, and they make up a mere 18 percent of recent computer science graduates. At this year's I/O, Google has announced a new program that, it hopes, will do something to correct this imbalance. It's going to pay for "thousands" of female tech workers to discover basic coding through self-learning courses, presumably in the hope that this will advance their careers and turn them into better mentors and role models for youngsters.
A cynical view might be that Google is simply throwing cash at the problem, because this isn't really a long-term solution: The company is actually just handing out voucher codes so that women can enrol for three months of free online classes at the Code School. However, Google is also running deeper projects to tackle female underrepresentation in education and employment as part of its Made w/ Code program. And besides, it probably deserves credit for taking the unusual step of highlighting just how bad its own diversity problem is, rather than hiding behind the tech industry as a whole.
Google is offering the Code School vouchers directly to female I/O attendees and others "inside the tech community," but if you're interested and don't want to be overlooked, then you can put yourself forward here.

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Facebook Search Warrant Disclosure Reveals Scope of Government Requests

Facebook Search Warrant Disclosure Reveals Scope of Government Requests

Cat Zakrzewski

TechCrunch

Facebook announced Thursday it’s been pushing back against a bulk set of search warrants requesting private data from its user accounts since last summer.

In a blog post, the social media network announced a court in New York requested personal data for 381 users, including photos and private messages. The company argued the request was unconstitutional, but the courts prevailed and the information was turned over.

This information is just coming to light now as Facebook filed an appellate brief Friday in an attempt to force the government to return the data it had seized and retained. Facebook says the government responded by moving to unseal the warrants and all court proceedings, allowing the company to notify the users their information had been taken.

Only 62 of the 381 people who were subjected to the searches later had charges brought against them in a disability fraud case. The government still has the data from more than 300 affected users who were never charged.

But the most surprising revelation made by Facebook in its announcement today is that the bulk warrant request is one of the largest it has ever received. The post said it “by far the largest we’ve ever received — by a magnitude of more than ten.” That means the bulk search warrant requests Facebook has responded to in the past have never affected more than 38 people.

Chris Sonderby, Facebook’s deputy general counsel, tells me in his four years with the company, the largest search warrant request he had seen before this one had been for about 30 people. Facebook then appealed that request, and the size of the request was then narrowed down to just one person.

Sonderby also said Facebook “scrutinizes” all government requests it receives. He said these requests were also unusual because they asked

 for almost all of the users’ information. He said requests differ on a case by case basis, but Facebook often is able to get the government to limit its request to specific information or a certain time period. Facebook was unsuccessful in limiting the size of the request or the amount of data in this case, he said.

Facebook users have repeatedly questioned the amount their personal data is subjected to government searches without their knowledge. Although the company now provides a report of government requests to the public, it initially dragged its feet on making such disclosures.

Thursday’s revelation applies only to search warrants, typically used by law enforcement authorities like police. According to a Facebook’s transparency report, between July and December 2013 in the United States the company responded to a total of 5,814 search warrant requests that affected 9,122 users. The company reports data was produced in 84.81 percent of these cases.

Although Facebook was able to get the gag order lifted this time and reveal this large search, it still faces strict limits in disclosing requests the government makes for national security purposes through the FISA courts. These are the types of requests that came under scrutiny in the wake of former government contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the National Security Agency surveillance programs.

Due to federal laws, the company is required to disclose the number of FISA orders it receives in increments of one thousand. It also requires Facebook to wait six months for disclosing those numbers, so the most recent data currently available is from January to June 2013.

During this time, Facebook received fewer than 1,000 FISA content requests that affected between 5,000 and 5,999 users. Those are broad ranges that don’t give the average Facebook user a good idea of how many people are actually affected by these requests.

Facebook provided a timeline of the legal motions it filed in court, and it’s clear that the company tried very hard to not disclose its users data. The request first came in July, and Facebook pushed back until December when it had to comply with the order in the face of potential criminal penalties. The company continued to fight for its customers until June, when the government finally allowed it to notify them.

In its post Facebook noted “there is still more work to do” as government requests should be “narrowly tailored, proportionate to the case, and subject to strict judicial oversight.”

Just as Facebook has more work to do when it comes to pushing the government to return the information it sought under the search warrants especially for the more than 300 people who weren’t charged, it also has more work to do when it comes to making disclosures about requests the government makes for national security reasons.

Although today’s news shows the scope of the search warrants the company receives, it’s important that the public one day has a better understanding of how frequently Facebook receives all types of government information requests.

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Meet the future of public transport: electric cycles with onboard tablets

Meet the future of public transport: electric cycles with onboard tablets

Leo Mirani

Quartz 

If various surveys of happiness, peacefulness, and prosperity (and the endorsement of Tyler Brûlé) are to be believed, Scandinavia is the best place in the world. Judging by Copenhagen’s bikes, they may all be right. The capital of Denmark is in the process of rolling out a new bike-share program that makes the rest of the world’s municipal cycles look positively archaic in comparison: they come with electric motors; they’re fitted with on-board tablets; and they cost 25 Danish kroner ($4.50) an hour, less than half the price to access one of New York’s clunky Citibikes.

It wasn’t always this way. When Copenhagen became the first major city to install a bike-share program back in 1995, it was with old-fashioned machines—no fancy electronic display, no tracking, and no time limit. The only added functionality was a map of the city glued to a board on the handlebars. Like European supermarket trolleys, all riders needed to get going was to insert a 10- or 20-kroner coin into the bike, which they got back when they docked it. In theory, you could only ride it in certain parts of the city, but the bikes turned up all over the place due a lack of enforcement. In 2012, Copenhagen discontinued the program in order to replace it with something more modern.

Now the city that started the world on its current craze for bike-sharing schemes is leapfrogging its imitators. The first 250 new “GoBikes” hit the streets on March 31, with 20 docking stations between them. The program is funded by the Danish train company Danske Statsbaner (DSB), the city of Copenhagen, and the city of Frederiksberg, which is adjacent to Copenhagen. Once Copenhagen approves the expansion of the scheme, which is expected to happen by the end of the summer, there will be 1,860 white electric bikes plying the streets of Copenhagen and its environs.

So why electric bikes? And why risk attaching an expensive tablet to something that lives outside, exposed to rain, snow, and vandals? The city did not set out with the intention of getting electric bikes, says Andreas Røhl, who heads the Mobility and Urban Space unit at the Copenhagen municipality. The key to that decision lies in the fact that pretty much everybody in Copenhagen already has a bike, says Røhl. This is not for the city’s residents: It would be a waste of tax-payer money to simply give them more bikes. (That is also why the first half-hour is not free, as is common practice in other cities.) Instead, the city determined that GoBikes should be attractive to people who may not be used to cycling—such as tourists and suburbanites.

Think of GoBike program, Røhl says, as an extension of public transport.

People who commute into Copenhagen don’t bring their bikes with them, so they would be big beneficiaries of the program. Tourists can also use the bikes to explore the city more extensively than they would if they had to rely on their own stamina. If the program is successful in Copenhagen, it could be extended out to other Danish cities, creating a network of familiar cycle systems across the country.

So far, the bikes have proven surprisingly resilient. Røhl says there have no cases of vandalism or attempted theft of the tablets. Sure, a few bikes have gone missing, but that is a hazard with any such program.

The tablets are there not just to look cool. They offer GPS and maps built around OpenStreetMap, an Wikipedia-style mapping project, because they were better for cycling than commercial maps made around the requirements of motorists. And they also reduce the cost of running the scheme. At busy times, when some docking stations are short of bikes, the tablets offer cyclists incentives (in the form of discounts on future rides) to park them in particular areas.

 That saves the city money by reducing the need to pick up and redistribute the bikes. Moreover, unlike less-sophisticated city bikes that lack GPS or locks, Copenhagen’s bikes can be parked anywhere, which means people can hang on to them while at a meeting, without having to worry about finding a docking station.
Would something like this work in bigger cities with higher crime rates, such as New York or London? With the right precautions, it isn’t impossible. In London, for example, only one bike goes missing in every 800,000 trips. And smaller cities have already started taking a cue from Copenhagen: Stavanger in Norway and Rotterdam in the Netherlands have placed orders for the same bikes.

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Mobilink Discover - NUST Business Plan Competition 2014 Launched

Mobilink Discover - NUST Business Plan Competition 2014 Launched

Mobilink in collaboration with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) has launched Mobilink Discover – NUST Business Plan Competition – 2014.

The competition is organized on a national level and is aimed at encouraging students to introduce innovative business and entrepreneurship ideas.

2500 students from 70 universities are expected to be a part of Mobilink Discover- NUST Business Plan Competition 2014.

A total of Rs. 2.5 million will be given away to the winners of the competition. Winning team will be awarded with half million rupees, while first runner up will be able to win Rs. 300,000.

Apart from the learning and networking cash prizes will also be awarded to the top Five Teams from each track as per details below:

Omar Manzur Director Corporate Communications, Mobilink said” Corporate as well as individual patronage has always been one of the core motives of Mobilink. Mobilink Discover – NUST Business Plan Competition 2014provides the youth with the opportunity to showcase their skills and play their part in bringing innovation to the business industry.

 I am confident that the competition will play a positive role incontributing to the economic development and bringing better business opportunities to the country. I wish all the participants the best of luck for Mobilink Discover – NUST Business Plan Competition 2014”

The competition was first held in 2011 and is one of the few events endorsed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

In 2013 the competition attracted more than 1600 students from 55 different universities and was recognized on an international forum for the business ideas it generated. Winners and Finalist of 2013 Discover were awarded at the inaugural ceremony of the 2014 Chapter held earlier this year. Students received cash prizes by Honorable President Islamic republic of Pakistan, His Excellency Mamnoon Hussain. Several participants of Discover Business plan competition are now successful entrepreneurs running their own companies.

Students and universities interested in registering for the competition may register online by visiting www.mobilinkdiscover.com or

www.facebook.com/discover.nbpc till 14 Sept 2014; the grand finale will be held in December this year.

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Dota 2 prize fund now over $10 million: Not bad for a free-to-play PC-only game

Dota 2 prize fund now over $10 million: Not bad for a free-to-play PC-only game

Early this morning, the prize fund for the upcoming Dota 2 International esports tournament crossed the $10 million mark. Remarkably, just $1.6 million of the prize fund was provided by Valve; the rest was contributed by members of the Dota 2 community who were eager to get their hands on some in-game items, and to support their favorite teams and the nascent esport as a whole. With a prize fund of over $10 million (and still another three weeks to accrue an even larger pot!), The International 4 is now larger than The Masters golf tournament. Viva la esports!

The $10 million prize fund is even crazier if you consider that only 25% of Compendium sales went towards that total. Each Compendium (an interactive digital guide that accompanies the tournament) costs $10, but only $2.50 from each sale was added to the total; the other $7.50 filled Valve’s coffers. If we remove the $1.6 million that Valve originally contributed to the prize fund, this means Dota 2 players actually paid $33.6 million to boost the fund by $8.4 million. Valve pocketed the remaining $25.2 million. Not bad for a free-to-play game developed by a company with around 300 employees (that would be a take-home bonus of $84,000 each, in case you’re wondering).

Dota 2, The International 4 prize tracker graph [Image credit: Cyborgmatt]

At this point, considering Dota 2 still has a relatively small player base compared to League of Legends or console kiddie games like Call of Duty, you’re probably wondering how – how did a free-to-play PC-only game raise $10 million ($33.6 million!) for a bunch of relatively unknown esports players, mostly kids from Europe and Asia? The answer probably lies in engagement. There is something about Dota 2 — the way it relies on five people (often strangers) working together to beat five other people — that seems to bring the community together, to galvanize its collective resolve. If you ever visit the Dota 2 subreddit, you will very quickly notice that the Dota 2 community really, really wants the game to succeed — both on a casual level, and in the worldwide theater of competitive esports.

There will be some roadblocks along the way to the global recognition and respect, of course. Most notably, it still isn’t really feasible to pick “esport champion” as your chosen career path. Yes, the winners of The International 4 (TI4) will walk away with millions of dollars – but if you lose, there aren’t really any other annual tournaments that will net you a livable salary. As a result, there are lots of Dota 2 players (mostly young people) who spend their entire lives practicing, but will probably never make a cent.

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Why Shailene Woodley Hates Talking to Her Fans

After landing lead roles in the blockbuster movies Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars, Shailene Woodley is definitely Hollywood's latest It Girl. The actress hasn't been able to adjust to her new fame, however. In a recent interview she opened up about how hard it is for her to handle the concept of having fans.

“The whole fan thing is very strange to me, because I’ve never had anybody that I have gone crazy for, like whether it was an actor or a musician," she explained. "And so it’s a weird thing for me to relate to, especially the screaming sort of young fandom, the Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergentworld caters to. So I kind of actually try to like actively remove myself from the situation."

Shailene also spoke about how she finds it difficult to talk with fans because they're too busy being super excited when they meet her!

"I’ve met people where I’m like, ‘Hi, I’m Shai,' and they can’t even see me because they’re screaming, and I’m making eye contact with them, but they’re not there. And that, to me, is weird," she said. "So I don’t know how quite to do that except remove myself from the situation and live my life, and if that inspires people, then I guess that’s what a role model is."

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