LTE Direct Will Let Your Phone Get Alerts With No Towers in Sight

Source: http://gizmodo.com/lte-direct-will-let-your-phone-get-alerts-with-no-tower-1640722664

Picture this. You walk into the subway but you don't lose service. Instead, your phone lights up with useful alerts—the train is delayed, a nearby kiosk is running a sale, your friend is standing on the other end of the platform. Meanwhile, there's not a cell tower within 500 yards. This is the world powered by the future of smartphones: LTE Direct.

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12 Voice Commands To Try On Your New Android Wear Watch

Source: http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/12-voice-commands-to-try-on-your-new-android-wear-watch-1640271442/+megneal

If you've splurged on one of the new Android Wear watches then you'll know it's very much a case of learning as you go. Since you probably won't immediately know what these devices are capable of, so here are 12 useful voice commands you can experiment with to get your watch to do your bidding.

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Pebble drops prices by $50 and adds continuous fitness tracking

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/30/pebble-update-price-drop/

If you've been thinking about getting a smartwatch but haven't been persuaded to plunk down a lot of cash, Pebble's trying to make the decision a little easier for you. The watch maker is lowering the price of its full lineup by $50, which means you can now get the sporty original model (above, right) for $100 and the fancier Steel (above, left) for $200. Usually significant price drops like these are a reaction to slowing sales, but CEO Eric Migicovsky says that on the contrary, sales are still as strong as ever and the ecosystem is growing. The company wants to offer the "right price for the product" and properly represent Pebble watches in light of the swelling competition in this category, Migicovsky said. Indeed, with the debut (and proliferation) of Android Wear this year and Apple Watch next year, Pebble wants to add cost to its list of competitive advantages alongside battery life and cross-platform functionality -- especially as the holidays approach and smartwatch choices become even tougher.

The news doesn't stop there. Pebble is also pushing out a software update that makes its watches more appealing to health and fitness fans. One of the biggest frustrations about Pebble's firmware has been that fitness tracking apps were nearly impossible to use continously throughout the day (and into the night) because the watches couldn't run in the background -- if you wanted to track your steps or the distance you ran, you'd have to keep that app open and running the entire time. Today's update fixes that problem, so now all of your fitness activity can be tracked continuously, even if it's tucked away behind your favorite watchface.

Among the developers taking advantage of the new update is Misfit, which is releasing an updated app with 24/7 activity tracking and sleep monitoring; Jawbone, which is launching a watchface for Up users; and Swim.com, which -- as the name implies -- runs algorithms that let you measure your distance, pace, strokes and time. Pebble says that the functionality will be open to all developers, so we expect to see a lot more fitness-related apps get updated in the near future. Given the emphasis on health and fitness tracking in many of the latest smartwatches on the market, it's good to see Pebble take steps in that direction and address one of the biggest frustrations experienced by its user base.

As a final note, Pebble is also expanding its retail presence internationally in the UK, Scandinavia and Benelux in October. Up until now, buyers in those regions have been able to order watches through the company's official site, but this will be the first time they can grab one through other means.

Filed under: Wearables, Wireless, Mobile

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You can hot-swap nearly all Project Ara modules on the fly

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/30/project-ara-hot-swappable-modules/

Back in April, Project Ara's Module Developers Kit revealed that the phone's battery will be hot-swappable; in other words, you can replace it without having to switch the phone off. Nifty trick, right? Well, the feature's apparently not limited to the device's battery. Project director Paul Eremenko has recently divulged in a keynote that you'll be able to swap the phone's other modules around, save for the CPU and display, even if you're in the middle of typing out a message or of a phone call. You've got the modified version of Android L that the team developed with non-profit org Linaro to thank for that, as it was the key ingredient Team Ara needed to make most of the phone's components hot-swappable.

Say you're taking pictures of friends when you suddenly remember that you have a module equipped with a better camera -- you can presumably just switch the two right then and there while your friends are in mid-pose. Other than that, Eremenko has also revealed that Google plans to build an online store that sells different types of modules (think Google Play, but for Ara parts), so ready your wallets if customizing phones are your thing.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Via: Phonebloks

Source: YouTube

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Here Comes Atlas, Facebookâs Plan To Tackle Google With Its Own Ad Network (FB)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/introducing-atlas-facebooks-plan-to-tackle-google-doubleclick-2014-9

Facebook will reportedly roll out Atlas, the ad platform it purchased from Microsoft last year, to help companies and marketers track their ads’ effectiveness around the web, according to Re/code’s Peter Kafka.

In Atlas, ads are not bought through Facebook. Advertisers can purchase ad campaigns through Atlas, and they can choose whether or not to include it on Facebook, but "using Atlas is not predicated on having a Facebook campaign," according to a Facebook spokesperson.

Companies can purchase ads on websites and apps outside of Facebook. The company insists the ads won’t be "Facebook ads,” but by using Facebook’s targeting data, they’ll be “more effective than other big ad platforms,” according to the social network.

Facebook’s Atlas will reportedly involve several partners, but the social network has only announced two so far: Omnicom, the ad holding giant that already has deals with most of the biggest names on the internet including Google, Twitter, Facebook, and others; and Instagram, the photographic social network purchased by Facebook in early 2012.

As far as privacy’s concerned, Facebook insists its ads will be able to know “some basic facts about you,” but your actual identity will remain totally anonymous to publishers and advertisers. 

Atlas will likely serve as a foil to Google’s DoubleClick display ad business, even though search ads still comprise the vast majority of revenue for Google.

The first details about Atlas leaked in August, when The Information described how Facebook was “pouring resources into Atlas in advance of a big new push with the product, expected to coincide with the Advertising We! ek trade show in late September.”

SEE ALSO: This Is What Facebook Thinks The Future Of Cookies Look Like

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