Google Text-to-Speech hits the Play Store, brings charming British accent with it

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/07/google-text-to-speech-app-play/

Google is continuing its trend of pushing Android's built-in apps directly to the Play Store with Text-to-Voice. The application isn't very flashy on its own, but when coupled with Google Books it can read you a bedtime story or even integrate with Google Translate for aural pronunciation examples. Mountain View also added Korean language support, which could be useful if you ever want to ask a question while touring Samsung HQ. However, to use the app you have to be running Ice Cream Sandwich at the minimum -- you're still out there, right?

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Via: Phone Arena

Source: Google Play

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Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite review: What does it take to make an $800 version of a $1,400 Ultrabook?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/06/samsung-ativ-book-9-lite-review/

It is what it sounds like. The Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite, announced at the same time as the ATIV Book 9 Plus, is a mid-range version of the company's flagship laptop. Priced at nearly half the price ($800 vs. $1,400), it's made of plastic instead of aluminum, with an AMD chip instead of the usual Intel Haswell processor. But it has generally the same look, and is nearly as thin and light as the real thing. In fact, it stands as one of the most lightweight machines you can get for this price, even if it doesn't qualify as a bona fide Ultrabook. So is it worth getting this and saving yourself six hundred bucks? And how big a deal is the difference in specs?%Gallery-slideshow103483%

Filed under: Laptops, Samsung

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The New Mobile Advertising Ecosystem Explained

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-mobile-advertising-landscape-2013-11

Mobile advertising has carved out a significant share of overall digital ad revenues faster than many expected. But increased spending hasn't made the mobile ad ecosystem any less complex.

Ad networks, ad exchanges, real-time bidding platforms, and many other self-styled mobile ad "solutions," seem to offer everything to everyone, including the best data, the best and most varied targeting technologies, and access to the most premium sites and apps.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we cut through the noise, identify the most meaningful shifts in the mobile ad landscape, and demystify the actual role played by the different entities and technologies, explaining each player's strengths and weakness. We also look at how the rise of programmatic buying will affect buyers and sellers across the mobile landscape. 

Here are some of the key developments in the mobile ad ecosystem:

• The industry is simultaneously consolidating, and growing more complex. Ad exchanges, supply-side platforms and mobile ad networks are all reaching for scale and the latest ad technology. Increasingly, the lines between these entities are blurring.
• These companies are all vying for advertiser dollars and making big promises about the data and inventory they can provide buyers. But the fractured landscape makes it difficult to determine which companies have the best set of offerings to meet mobile advertisers' goals.
• Programmatic is growing at a fast clip in developed mobile markets like the United States, 56% annually by some estimates. Within mobile programmatic, real-time bidding, which allows for the serving of personalized ads to app and site visitors, is particularly influential. We explain why RTB is crucial in mobile. 
• The rise of programmatic is leading to a reshuffle of the entire industry. Many of this year's mergers and acquisitions in mobile ads can be traced to either the need for scale or the rise of data-focused programmatic ad trading. 
• Demand-side platforms and agency trading desks face a major barrier to their rise as engines for the demand side of the programmatic equation: media agencies and media planners remain locked into their comfortable one-on-one relationships with traditional ad networks.  

In full, the report:

• Sizes the mobile ad market and provides charts and data showing how that spend is breaking down in terms of format and company revenues.
• Clearly defines the different players in the mobile ad ecosystem, both old and new, and how they work together — and apart.
• Examines the benefits and weakness of each of the different players within that ecosystem.
• Explains how programmatic is becoming one of the most important developments changing the game for ad buyers and sellers.
• Considers programmatic's limitations for the time being, and its projected impact in the future.
• Articulates the biggest consolidations and mergers within the mobile ad ecosystem ! and what these changes mean for mobile advertising.

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UK retailer offers 7-inch tablet with speedy Tegra 4 chip for £180

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/06/advent-currys-pc-world-dixons-tegra-note-advent-vega-stylus/

Hey, do you remember Advent? It turns out that the Dixons-owned brand has slapped its logo all over NVIDIA's Tegra Note reference design tablet in preparation for the holidays. Packing a 7-inch 1,280 x 800 display, the Advent Vega Tegra Note comes with a Tegra 4 paired with 1GB RAM, 16GB storage and Jelly Bean. 'Round back, you'll find a 5-megapixel primary camera and a 2-megapixel webcam up front, and there's micro-USB, micro-HDMI-out, Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi finishing off the spec list. As with the original, the slate comes with a stylus, which NVIDIA promises will be incredibly responsive thanks to its DirectStylus know-how. Pre-orders begin tomorrow, and the hardware will start hitting doorstops on November 15 for the rather reasonable sum of £180.

Filed under: Tablets, NVIDIA

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Source: Advent Vega (PC World)

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Swype 1.6 for Android adds mini keyboards for big screens

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/06/swype-1-6-for-android/

Nuance isn't letting SwiftKey's customizable keyboard layouts go unanswered. The company has just launched Swype 1.6, a big update to its Android add-on that provides a similar amount of control. Users with giant phones can choose separate mini keyboards for both landscape and portrait views, and exacting typists can either fine-tune the dimensions or pick a secondary language. There's also a pair of upgrades for those who don't like to type at all -- Swype now offers both continuous dictation as well as support for voice recognition in a different language than the keyboard. Whatever your input preferences, you can buy a fresh copy of Swype 1.6 for $4 from either Google Play or the Amazon Appstore.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Google Play

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I Bought an Apartment Just to Rent It Out on Airbnb

Source: http://gizmodo.com/i-bought-an-apartment-just-to-rent-it-out-on-airbnb-1458666661

In 2012 I bought an apartment specifically to rent out on airbnb. I've been managing it remotely for the past year. This post includes everything I learned as well as some revenue numbers.

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This Quadcopter Turns Into a Self-Balancing Rolling Wheel

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-quadcopter-turns-into-a-self-balancing-rolling-whe-1458696855

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have managed to teach a quadcopter some impressive new tricks that vastly expand its capabilities past flying. Their Multi-field Universal Wheel for Air-land Vehicle—or MUWA for short—features variable pitch propellers so the thrust can be directed in opposite directions, allowing it to balance on edge like an autonomous bike wheel.

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Bubl's 360-degree camera records Street View-like spherical footage (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/05/bublcam-360-degree-camera/

Many of the 360-degree cameras on the market will only shoot footage on a horizontal plane, which isn't very helpful if a subject sails overhead. Bubl's upcoming, baseball-sized Bublcam should provide a more complete view of the world. The gadget's four cameras are arranged in a tetrahedral layout that captures seamless, spherical images; software for Android, iOS and PCs lets viewers pan anywhere in the shot, much like they would with Google's Street View. It's also relatively internet-savvy thanks to its built-in WiFi, which lets owners both stream to a nearby device and upload their recordings to Dropbox, Google Drive and Younity. Bubl is crowdfunding the project, with pledges starting at $399 CAD ($383 US plus shipping) for those who want a Bublcam to call their own. Should the company reach its $100,000 goal, backers should get their extra-immersive cameras beginning in May. Check out a demo of the playback software after the break.

Filed under: Cameras

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Source: Kickstarter, Bubl

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Good news, fitness freaks: Nike's Move app, which brings Fuelband functionality to the iPhone 5s usi

Source: http://gizmodo.com/good-news-fitness-freaks-nikes-move-app-which-brings-1458662128

Good news, fitness freaks: Nike's Move app, which brings Fuelband functionality to the iPhone 5s using its M7 motion-sensing co-processor, is now available in the App Store.

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Square Enix's streaming service uses virtual supercomputers to kill game latency

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/square-enix-project-flare/

Streaming game services are nothing new, but Square Enix thinks they need a fix. Today, the company behind Final Fantasy and Deus Ex: Human Revolution (seen above) announced a new cloud gaming platform that it claims kills game latency dead. It's called Project FLARE, which it describes as a "technological breakthrough in cloud game architecture." It claims to harness the power of "virtual supercomputers" to offer powerful performance and incredible "Hollywood-level" animation that current streaming services just can't handle. Though Project FLARE is just exiting its R&D stage, Square Enix has already engaged Ubisoft as an early partner. It's currently shopping its technology around to other developers, and hopes to bring games to beta in about two years.

Jacob Navok, Square Enix's director of business development, tells us the secret sauce behind Project FLARE is a technology that lets them run CPUs and GPUs in separate servers to turn up the graphic potential and efficiency of any game. In a hotel room in San Francisco, the company showed several demonstrations of this, such as incorporating video streams into Final Fantasy gameplay, real-time camera switching in Agni's Philosophy and the ability to dramatically increase the number of objects on screen in Deus Ex without affecting the game's frame rate. Since developers can now fill the screen with lots of items, Navok hopes this will result in far more realistic battle and crowd scenes in the future.

Filed under: Gaming

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Source: Project Flare

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Nikon's $2,750 Df DSLR lets you shoot full-frame digital images like it's 1959 (hands-on)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/nikon-df-camera/

Reincarnation is the new innovation -- the camera industry's latest salute to days gone by comes compliments of Nikon. The 16.2-megapixel Df blends a full-frame sensor and modern capabilities with a "timeless design." It may look like something you just dug out of your great grandfather's secret chest in the attic, but people on the other end of your images will assume those snappy shots are the product of a serious professional tool. And they'd be right -- even if pros prefer something more modern for their day jobs, the Df stands up extremely well on paper. In fact, it contains the same incredible sensor found on the flagship D4, along with the same level of weather proofing you'd get with the D800 -- all wrapped in a 710-gram (1.56-pound) body that feels great and is the lightest in Nikon's full-frame range.

Other key specs also stand up to scrutiny: the Df has an EXPEED 3 processor, a 204,800 top ISO, 39 AF points, a 2,016-pixel 3D matrix metering system and 5.5 fps burst shooting. In addition to the 3.2-inch, 921k-dot LCD, you can also frame shots using the pro-grade, glass pentaprism viewfinder, which has virtually 100 percent coverage and also lets you remove the visible AF points when shooting in manual focus -- something a lot of photographers will do if they're using very old lenses. Speaking of which, the Df is compatible with not only current AF, AF-S, DX and AF-D lenses, but Ai and non-Ai Nikkor glass going all the way back to 1959, the year in which the manufacturer introduced its first F-series SLR. This compatibility comes with enhanced functionality courtesy of a new metering coupling lever on the bayonet mount.

You also get a full array of dedicated dials, including EV, shutter speed and ISO, all of which have the same tactile gravitas you'd get on something like the 30-year-old Nikon F3. Additionally, Nikon is announcing a special edition 50mm f/1.8 lens, which is set to retail for $3,000 in a kit with the camera or $280 on its own. The Df will also be available individually in the US and ships later this month for $2,750.%Gallery-slideshow102871%%Gallery-slideshow103026%

Filed under: Cameras, Nikon

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Get $200 at Target with any iPad Trade-In, Even A First Gen Model

Source: http://lifehacker.com/get-200-at-target-with-any-ipad-trade-in-even-a-first-1458268904/@Shane_Roberts

If you've been thinking of upgrading up a new iPad Air, or if your old iPad is just gathering dust, Target is offering a rare opportunity to get decent trade-in value from your old model.

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This morphing table can create a virtual version of you in realtime

Source: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/this-morphing-table-can-create-a-virtual-version-of-you-1458375473/@barrett

Keiichi Matsuda is excited about this invention and I can't blame him: A solid table that reproduces a virtual version of anything that you put under its sensors—in realtime. You can see how it reproduces the hands moving in the clip above, but there's more:

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First helium-filled 6TB hard drive launched, just not for you

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/first-helium-filled-6tb-hard-drive/

At first glance, an enterprise-class hard drive with unparalleled areal density sounds like a pretty dull affair, right? While the new Ultrastar He6 drive from Western Digital's HGST subsidiary does fit that nap-inducing description, it's also got a couple of exclusive honors to boast about. You see, not only is this the first sealed, helium-filled HDD, but also the largest in a standard 3.5-inch footprint, packing 6TB over seven stacks. We learned during the drive's development that helium's lower density compared with air allows for this storage bump, as well as making it lighter and more energy efficient. It's destined for data centers and the like, with outfits like HP, Netflix, Huawei and CERN already registering their interest. You'd think these HDDs are pretty pricey currently, but let's hope HGST can dial its costs down and do the noble thing of bringing it to consumer rigs in the future.

Filed under: Storage

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Via: AllThingsD

Source: HGST

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Google+ Connected Classrooms offers virtual field trips with the help of Hangouts

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/google-plus-connected-classrooms/

Field trips are usually restricted to points of interest that can be easily reached by bus during regular school hours. Now, Google has a tool for enabling virtual visits to educational stops near and far via Hangouts. The folks in Mountain View have launched Connected Classrooms through Google+: a project that brings destinations students may never have the chance to experience in real life within reach inside their classrooms. Trips to the Seattle Aquarium, Minnesota Zoo and Solar Impulse hangar are the first three stops for the program, and soon enough, teachers will be able sign up for virtual tours with over 20 partners. There's also the ability to collaborate with fellow educators and access content all within the confines for Google+. For a glimpse at the potential, head on past the break for a quick video teaser.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Google+ Blog

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