Macy's will give you location-based discounts through your iPhone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/macys-stores-get-ibeacons/

Macy's experiments with location-sensitive shopping have apparently paid off -- in the wake of a successful trial, the retail behemoth has unveiled plans to put iBeacons in all of its stores. Once they're activated this fall, you can get discounts and other promos on your iPhone as you wander through the store; you only need to install the Macy's app and keep Bluetooth turned on. There will only be regular deals at first, but an upgrade in the spring will offer department-specific discounts. You may get a special deal on a coat right as you're swinging by the men's or women's clothing sections, for instance. You're probably not going to go out of your way to shop at Macy's just to see bargains appear on your mobile screen, but this could be a useful perk if you're already a frequent customer.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: ZDNet

Source: Macy's

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Here's How Apple Came Up With The Apple Watch (AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-inspiration-apple-watch-ipod-nano-2014-9

Less than a week after Apple unveiled the Apple Watch, we're learning about how the tech goliath came up with its newest product category.

The Apple Watch was inspired by the 2010 iPod Nano, according to the New York Times' Brian X. Chen.

"The watch, according to a former Apple designer, had its origin with a tiny iPod Nano Touch, introduced in 2010," writes Chen. "People attached a strap to the minuscule media player, and wore it on their wrist, listening to music while jogging."

Chen is talking about the 6th-generation iPod Nano, which had a tiny square face resembling the Apple Watch sans a strap. It looked like this:

People soon realized that one could make a DIY-smartwatch by slapping a band on the Nano. The result is something very closely resembling the Apple Watch:

Apple has clearly made an effort to burnish the Apple Watch with a luxurious face, but the genesis of their smartwatch is completely evident.

SEE ALSO: How Steve Jobs Surprised Tim Cook In 2011 By Asking Him To Be CEO

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Panasonic LX100: A Whole Lot of Juice In a Not-Quite-Compact Design

Source: http://reframe.gizmodo.com/panasonic-lx100-a-whole-lot-of-juice-in-a-not-quite-co-1633121101/+kcampbelldollaghan

The race to make the most capable camera in the smallest possible package is a death-match of features versus size. Panasonic has a notable new gladiator in the LX100, which combines a large(ish) micro-four-thirds sensor with 4K video and a lens to be reckoned with.

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âCanon G7 X: Canon Catches Up With a Tiny 1-Inch Sensor Point-and-Shoot

Source: http://gizmodo.com/canon-g7-x-canon-catches-up-with-a-tiny-1-inch-sensor-1634777775

From about 2009-2012, Canon's S-series point-and-shoots were the best tiny little cameras you could buy. Then, Sony's RX100 line conquered it with similar functionality, but a much larger 1-inch image sensor that blew Canon's dinky 1/1.7-inch chips away. With the PowerShot G7 X, Canon strikes back.

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Panasonic GM5: The Smallest System Camera Around

Source: http://reframe.gizmodo.com/panasonic-gm5-the-smallest-system-camera-around-1633146184/+kcampbelldollaghan

Last year's Panasonic GM1 was an absolutely tiny camera with interchangeable lenses. It seemed like a curious design, because once you changed lens from the kit pancake to a normal-sized lens, it turned out to be not-so-tiny anymore. That hasn't stopped Panasonic from pushing out a similarly small follow-up, the souped-up GM5.

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Panasonic CM1: A 1-Inch Image Sensor Crammed Into an Android Phone

Source: http://gizmodo.com/panasonic-cm1-a-huge-1-inch-image-sensor-crammed-into-1634798769

Amongst Panasonic's big announcements the Photokina show in Germany came a whopper of a surprise. The Panasonic CM1 is a 4.7-inch Android smartphone with a 20-megapixel 1-inch image sensor. This could be the best smartphone camera of all time.

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Sony a7 Owners Get a New Super-Wide Lens, With New Primes Coming Soon

Source: http://reframe.gizmodo.com/sony-a7-owners-get-a-new-super-wide-lens-with-new-prim-1633008639/+ericlimer

Sony's trio of full-frame mirrorless cameras, the a7, a7r, and a7s, are wonderfully capable machines . Unfortunately there just aren't that many native lenses to choose from. Today, a new super-wide zoom enters the fold that will hopefully make these slick bodies more appealing, with some primes on the way.

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Canon's bringing back the square selfie cam with PowerShot N2

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/canon-powershot-n2/

Early last year, a Canon rep pulled out a point-and-shoot with a very peculiar design. Instead of the rectangular form factor we'd grown used to, this camera was square. The PowerShot N was designed to be held any which way, making it a good fit for both righties and lefties, but without any pronounced grip, it didn't feel quite as natural to hold. We were a bit relieved, then, when Canon debuted the N100 with a more familiar look and feel, but at Photokina, the company's returning to the original shape and size with the PowerShot N2. The N2 replaces the original N -- the N100 will remain on the market -- bringing a slew of new features for social sharers and video bloggers alike.

There's a new 16.1-megapixel sensor, a faster DIGIC 6 processor, a 28-224mm f/3.0-5.9 8x optical zoom lens (with improved IS) and a 461k-dot, 2.8-inch touchscreen that now flips 180 degrees for self-portraits (and videos). You still get WiFi (after all, this camera's all about creating sharable content), but the N2 now includes NFC, making it easier to get up and running with a new device. The camera can capture 1080/30p video and thanks to a few added touchscreen controls, you can tweak exposure compensation, turn on the flash and adjust the smoothness of your skin (to decrease sharpness with certain facial features), all from the selfie mode. Canon's expecting to ship the PowerShot N2 to customers this December; the camera is priced at $300.

Filed under: Cameras, Canon

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Panasonic's 'connected camera' pairs an Android smartphone with a one-inch sensor and f/2.8 lens

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/panasonic-lumix-cm1/

Compact, point-and-shoot cameras are dying, simply because people would rather use smartphones and tablets to snap their dinner and instantly share them to Instagram. Unfortunately, that's a segment of the market that Panasonic abandoned (at least in Europe) back in 2013. That left the company without a convincing rival to the Lumia 1020 and Samsung's various phone / camera hybrids. That's why the company has now launched the DMC-CM1, a "connected camera" (i.e. a smartphone with a proper lens) that's capable of taking 20-megapixel stills and record 4K video thanks to a one-inch MOS sensor.

For its part, Panasonic knows that the device won't beat equivalent smartphones on a spec-for-spec basis. Instead, it wants people to concentrate upon the photographic equipment that's been crammed into this slender device. Perched atop the aforementioned one-inch sensor is an f/2.8 Leica DC Elmarit lens. The lens is fixed, but works equivalent to a 28mm zoom lens, packing an aperture that'll run all the way up to f/11. A manual control dial runs around the lens, which you can assign to a function of your choice, lending this an old-school feel. In fact, the CM1 looks like the Lumia 1020 by way of Dieter Rams, all austere chrome with cracked-leather style back, and has a weird retro-futuristic look that's tremendously attractive.

On the surface of it, it's no slouch in the phone department either, packing a 4.7-inch full HD touchscreen that'll offer full manual control of your images. Sandwiched between the frame is a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 with 2GB RAM and Android 4.4. The 16GB of internal storage can also, thankfully, be improved with microSD cards up to 128GB in capacity. Battery-wise, there's 2,600mAh unit lurking inside the hardware, although we'd be concerned that it won't hold enough juice to get you through a full day of snappin' and callin'. If there is one downside, it's that the CM1 is only earmarked for release in France and Germany of Christmas of this year. Still, we imagine that plenty of camera enthusiasts will be racing to get back in contact with some long-lost Gallic grandmother in the hope of scoring one of these as a present.

Steve Dent contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cameras

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Article: The State of Antivirus for Android

Over 80% of smartphones today run Android. With such a large amount of phones using Google's operating system, Android has become an ever more viable target for malware developers. The question is, are currently used antiviruses effective? The answer is more complex than yes or no, but is leaning...

http://www.androidauthority.com/state-antivirus-android-523684/

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Voice Calling Spotted in the Latest Version of Whatsapp on iOS

Source: http://gizmodo.com/voice-calling-spotted-in-the-latest-version-of-whatsapp-1634763542

Voice calling is definitely , definitely coming to WhatsApp and what's more, it's round the corner. A reference to the feature was spotted in the latest iOS update to the app by NDTV Gadgets, an Indian news portal.

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Artist gets Google results removed to 'highlight' his new work

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/14/google-right-to-be-forgotten-artist/

Ever since Google announced that it's complying with the European Commission's "right to be forgotten" ruling, it's been inundated with requests to take down all sorts of search results. Many of those sought to bury negative reviews or write-ups, but in this particular case, the search result Google took down was neither negative nor damaging. In fact, it used to lead to a five-year-old article published on Worcester News, which called the piece's subject (an artist by the name of Dan Roach) "excellent" and "very talented." That's right -- you can apparently ask Google to remove anything from its results pages in the European Union, even if it's not dangerous or offensive... and maybe even if it's helpful to some people. Worcester News editor Peter John was so dismayed by what happened, that he called it "the most absurd and silly piece of censorship" when he talked to The Guardian.

If you're wondering, it was likely Roach himself who asked the tech giant to remove a link to an article that describes him as a brilliant artist, based on the statement he gave Worcester News. Roach, who's now fully experiencing the Streisand effect, said: "The decision to ask for the link to be removed from Google was based on no more than a wish to highlight my new work, rather than the old." John, however, couldn't help but question why the request was granted.

He told The Guardian:

An artist wanting to remove part of his back catalogue did not strike us as the sort of principle that the European court of justice had in mind when it came up with the right to be forgotten ruling. Would Google remove early Hirsts or Monets on request?

To be fair, Google itself was opposed to the EU Commission's ruling from the start, but it had no choice but to comply.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: Poynter

Source: Worcester News

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Chromebook-to-Chromecast video? Yes, with Google Drive

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/chromecast-google-drive-video/

As if Android apps hitting Google's Chrome OS wasn't enough excitement for Mountain View's operating system for one week. Now, you can play movies stored in Google Drive via the OS' video player app on your Chromecast. According to Googler François Beaufort, doing so is pretty easy too: simply open the Files app, select a video clip from Drive and hit the sparkly new Cast icon. Voila, cloud-stored videos are now viewable on the biggest screen in your house and even more media functionality for your Chromebook. Of course, since this is in the developer channel there might be a few bugs here and there -- if you spot 'em be sure to let the Chromium team know.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Google

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Source: François Beaufort (Google+)

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Olympus' E-M1 camera gets a silver hue and a slew of pro features

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/olympus-e-m1-updates/

Olympus' OM-D E-M1 may still be hot stuff as far as high-end mirrorless cameras go, but it's easy to point out flaws: it's missing a few big pro features like tethering, and that businesslike black exterior isn't very charming. Well, consider both problems licked. The company has just unveiled both a retro (and fairly stylish) silver edition of the E-M1 and, more importantly, a big 2.0 firmware update that could help you make a living from your photos. To begin with, tethering has arrived; like with other camera systems, you can both send photos to your PC as you shoot and control the camera from the computer's screen. It's now easy to use the E-M1 for studio shoots or live events, where you often need to put your photos on a computer as quickly as possible. The refresh also lets you correct lens distortion in-camera, and preview long exposure shots like you can with the E-M10. Olympus' smartphone app is more useful, too, offering support for self-timed photos, timelapses and speed-sensitive panning shots.

The silver-clad cam will ship this month for the same $1,400 (body-only) as its all-black counterpart, and you can grab the 2.0 update on September 24th at 10PM if you're already an owner. Whether or not you're new, you may want to go lens shopping -- Olympus is also releasing a high-end 40-150mm telephoto that touts both a bright, constant f/2.8 aperture and heavy-duty weather resistance. It'll cost you a steep $1,500 when it ships in November, but it could be the only glass you need for that next big photo safari.

Filed under: Cameras

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Source: Olympus

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Google reveals the first low-cost Android One phones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/google-reveals-first-android-one-phones/

As predicted, Google has just revealed the first Android One phones at an event in India today. Micromax, Karbonn and Spice Mobiles are the companies working with Google at launch, all three launching new handsets this morning. What can we expect from an Android One device? Karbonn, for example, is launching the "Sparkle V Red," (pictured below) which comes with dual SIM slots, a 4.5-inch display (480 x 854), a 5-megapixel primary camera, 1GB of RAM and, importantly, the latest version of Android (KitKat).

The Android One initiative is Google's big push into developing markets. India is a huge growth opportunity for smartphones, and Android One is designed not only to make more affordable handsets (the new ones will cost around 6399 Rupees -- about $100), but it's also a way of bringing a consistent Android experience. There are plenty of cheap devices that run the operating system, but they suffer from lack of updates. With One, Google can manage the software updates directly, ensuring a much better, less fragmented experience. The three new handsets should go on sale later today.

Google also confirmed that it has negotiated special data plans with Indian operator Airtel that means users on that network will get software updates to the phone delivered without incurring data charges. It was also revealed that there will be a special YouTube app that allows users to download videos for offline viewing. This is something Google goes to great lengths to avoid, usually, but the idea is that this will allow users to grab a video one, and watch it later without either the need for data, or, again, incurring charges.

Lastly, Google made it clear that One phones will be in the first wave of devices to get the anticipated Android L update -- in a similar way to how Nexus handsets currently do. A blog post outlining the program also mentions Acer, Alcatel Onetouch, ASUS, HTC, Lenovo, Panasonic, and chipmaker Qualcomm (current phones have MediaTek processors) among others as hardware partners that have signed up to the program.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Reuters, Snapdeal

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