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Rabu, 01 Maret 2017

No more renders or blurry shots, this Galaxy S8 leak is as legit as it gets

We aren't even at peak Galaxy S8 leak yet.

The steady flow of Galaxy S8 leaks continues, and while each gives us a little more information about the design of this phone it's starting to feel a little familiar. We know the phone is going to be extra tall like the LG G6, and whether it's a good thing or not the bezels on the side of this thing are going to basically not exist.

This latest leak gives a higher quality look at the outer shell of this phone, and just how impossibly small these bezels are.

The folks at BGR scored a number of decent body shots of the Galaxy S8, and it's starting to become clear that the outside isn't really going to tell us anything new. As impressive as that display looks in these shots and some of the videos that have leaked recently, it's clear the really important things aren't going to be on the outside.

A lot of people got really excited when it looked like the bottom navigation bar could be customized, and when you couple that with the "Bixby" AI we keep hearing about and the race to make the software more polished and the camera even better, the outer shell isn't really as exciting anymore. Some of this is because we've seen this form factor leak quite a bit, but really Samsung's big reveal for the S8 is going to be about how capable this phone is and how unique an experience it can create for users.

The outside of this phone is beautiful, but come on leakers. There's a lot of time between now and when the Galaxy S8 is officially unveiled at the end of March. Lets see a little more of the good stuff!

Google expands its Launchpad Accelerator program to Africa and Europe

The submission process is now open to more technology startups based in emerging markets.

Google is expanding its Launchpad Accelerator program to two more continents. African and European countries have been added to the lineup. They include Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary.

Launchpad Accelerator already fields entries from Latin America and Asia. Those countries include Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The six-month mentorship program provides equity-free support for technology startups. Startups that have been funded in the past include HashLearn, an Android app in Indian that offers on-demand tutoring; iGrow, an app that helps people in Indonesia essentially pay farmers to grow food for them; and Delivery Direto, Brazil's own on-demand food delivery service.

Entries are open until April 24. If you're interested, you can apply here. Training at the Google campus in San Francisco begins on July 17.

Here's a reel of last year's Launchpad Accelerator startups.

YouTube TV FAQ: All your questions answered!

YouTube TV is coming, and you probably have questions.

It's always exciting to see a company like Google offer something new, but YouTube TV is not the first time this company has tried to do something innovative with streaming video. Here's what you need to know about Google's latest efforts to shake up television as we know it.

What is YouTube TV?

Think of YouTube TV as an internet-based cable television subscription. For a monthly fee, you can stream live television directly to your phone without needing an account through your local cable company. You can use this as a way to watch live television when you aren't at home, or you can completely replace your home cable service with YouTube TV.

Aren't there other apps that do this right already?

As a matter of fact, there are three rather popular services offering similar services. Sony's PlayStation Vue lets you watch and record live TV across many different screens, DirecTV Now is a satellite-free alternative to cable companies, and SlingTV exists as an alternative to watching your favorite shows with a cable box.

YouTube TV is looking to compete with these services by offering a price point in the middle of these services, with expanded features a promise of more consistent streaming video quality.

What channels do I get with YouTube TV?

Currently, YouTube TV is offering:

ABC
CBS
FOX
NBC
NBCSN
USA
FX
FreeForm
Oxygen
Bravo
MSNBC
Fox News
CNBC
FXX
FXM
SyFy
Fox Business
Local Now
Disney
Disney Junior
Disney XD
The CW
E!
Universo
Universal
Sprout
National Geographic
Nat Geo Wild
Chiller
ESPN
ESPN 2
ESPN 3
ESPN News
ESPN U
SEC ESPN
CSN
Fox Sports
BTN
NBC Golf
Telemundo
FS1
FS2

YouTube TV also includes YouTube Originals, which are shows and movies previously available only to YouTube Red subscribers.

There will also be the ability to add networks to your subscription for an additional fee. Currently, Fox Soccer Plus and Showtime are on the list of add-on networks to be available at launch.

Can I record shows with YouTube TV?

You can! YouTube TV includes a "Cloud DVR" service that allows you to record multiple shows simultaneously so you can watch them later. This feature includes a commercial skipping feature if you're watching a recorded show, available with a simple tap in the YouTube TV app.

This Cloud DVR service comes with unlimited storage, and videos you have recorded can only live on your account for nine months before they need to be erased.

How many people can use my account at the same time?

Each YouTube TV account allows you to connect up to six accounts in a family plan for no additional fee. Currently no other live TV streaming service supports six simultaneous users as part of the base price, and each of these connected accounts will get separate recommendations and offers based on their viewing habits. This means you kids can watch all the Pokemon they want and it won't interfere with reminders about Game of Thrones or Football.

So far, Google has not mentioned any need to prove those six people live in the same house or share any other Google services.

What do I need to use YouTube TV?

According to Google, YouTube TV will work on just about everything with a screen. Android and iOS apps will be available, as well as a website for watching and controlling your account.

If you have a TV with a Chromecast dongle or Google Cast service embedded, you will be able so stream anything from YouTube to your television easily.

How much does YouTube TV cost?

Right now Google is offering a flat rate of $35 per month for YouTube TV. There's currently no mention of the individual costs for the add-on networks.

This monthly plan does not include any contracts or commitments, so you can quickly cancel the service if you decide you are unhappy with it.

What about people outside of the US?

As is often the case with Google products and streaming TV services, YouTube TV is currently US only and will likely remain US only for quite a while.

In order to launch in other countries, Google needs to secure streaming rights in each country. That kind of thing takes a lot of time, so the current focus is delivering in the US for now.

Can I get YouTube TV now?

Not yet! YouTube TV is going to be available "soon" and when it is actually available it won't be available across the whole US all at once. Google's plan is to make the service available first in the largest US markets and expand rapidly after the launch. In case you are curious, the 10 largest media markets in the US are:

1 New York, NY
2 Los Angeles, CA
3 Chicago, IL
4 Philadelphia, PA
5 Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
6 San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA
7 Washington DC/Maryland
8 Boston MA/NH
9 Atlanta, GA
10 Houston, TX

To sign up so you can be notified of when this service is available in your area, head here and let Google know you're eager to try YouTube TV.

We'll be sure to update this FAQ as more information becomes available!

Binge your heart out with these anime wallpapers!

There's so much anime out there, it's enough to make a fangirl blush.

Back when I was in high school, there weren't that many places to watch anime (legally). Now, look at the market! We've got anime everywhere! Toonami is back and more awesome than ever, Crunchyroll and Funimation have teamed up to offer more awesome subs and dubs mere hours after they air in Japan, and the diversity and quality of the anime out today is jaw-dropping. Now, there's a whole, whole, WHOLE lot of anime wallpapers out there for the discerning fan, but unfortunately, most of it is going to have to wait for another week, because these come first!

Classicaloid is kinda like Hetalia (or more recently Bungo Stray Dogs) taking some of history's most famous composers and reimagining them as crazy superpowered characters. We have famous composers like Bach, Chopin, and this absolutely savage-looking Beethoven. He's fierce, he's sporting a leather jacket in this reincarnation, and he is a BOSS.

He's also introduced with the nickname Beethes and he likes to play with flamethrowers.

FEEL MY MUSIC!

ClassicaLoid Wallpaper 07 by sanoboss

This awkwardly-named anime features an adorable schoolgirl who always has her awesome, blood-red headphones on. Truly, a girl after my own heart… and one that's gonna crush my heart when she dies. But until then, I shall savor that blue hair, those red headphones, and those eyes that see straight into my music-loving soul!

Fuuka Minimalist Wallpaper by Fremy-Speeddraw

SWORD ART ONLINE IS BACK! Forgive me for shouting, but I'm so happy! I've been jonesing for more SAO for a while, and this time we're getting a feature-length film, and not one of those fake-out recap films like Extra Edition. It wouldn't be a new chapter of Sword Art Online without a new BEST GIRL for the cast, and this time around it's the singer Yuna, seen here dueting with the ultimate best girl Asuna. In bikinis. Because why not?

Ordinal Scale is coming to theaters in America on March 9th, subtitled, and you should really grab tickets before they're completely sold out!

Asuna and Yuna! by Fulbring

Volume Four of RWBY ended at the beginning of February, and while it's been a whole season since Pyrrha died, it still stings. Her fabulous red hair, her piercing green eyes, her unbridled skill… Pyrrha's romance with Jaune was adorable and delicious, and now that it's gone it's left a void. Her sword may live on in Jaune's, but it's not the same…

Long live Pyrrha!

Battle Armor Pyrrha by dishwasher 1910

KonoSuba is a standout in a great and growing field that pokes fun at the traditional fantasy world RPG narrative, pairing a NEET gamer with a haughty but mostly worthless goddess, a masochist tank who gets off on getting beat up and humiliated, and this adorable little fireball. Megumin is an oddly-speaking magician who has no patience or tolerance for anything but the most ridiculously powerful Explosion spell. She can't move once she casts it, she can only use it once a day, and she refuses to learn or use any other magic, meaning she's a one-shot cannon and a liability the rest of the time. But that doesn't stop us from loving Megumin or her one-track magical mind.

EXPLOSION!!!

Megumin-KonoSuba by Matcha2

Here's how you access YouTube links in Daydream

Opening up YouTube links in Daydream is easy, provided you know what you're doing.

Everybody has navigated to YouTube at least once, whether it's for a movie trailer, a music video, or just a news clip that they want to watch. What you may not have realized is that YouTube has a pretty significant offering of 360 degree videos that can be enjoyed from within VR. If you've found one of these videos, and you're ready to watch it in VR you may have a pretty obvious question. 'How in the devil do I open this YouTube link in Daydream?' Well have no fear, it's simple and we have the details for you here.

The death of bezels isn't as great as you think

A lack of bezels sure makes a phone look better, but does it affect usability?

I've been lucky enough to use an LG G6 for the past three days, and it's great. The phone is well-built, it's fast and stable, the extra-tall screen is wonderful, and it's compact. So compact, in fact, that LG claims it fit a 5.7-inch phone into the same physical space as a typical 5.2-inch device from another company.

LG claims it fit a 5.7-inch phone into the same space as a typical 5.2-inch device.

How LG did this remarkable thing was by removing as much of the excess area around the LCD panel itself — typically known as the bezel — as possible, increasing the so-called screen-to-bezel ratio. The way the company pulled this off is quite ingenious, too: instead of sticking with a typical 16:9 aspect ratio, which forces the phone to get wider as the screen gets taller, it changed it — to 2:1.

The G6's screen is exactly twice as tall as it is wide — 18:9 — which gives LG more breathing room to distribute the phone's necessary parts while minimizing overall space. Everything that needs to be in the phone is still there — it's just up higher, instead of wider.

So we're left with a relatively narrow phone that has almost no bezel above and below the screen. This has proven popular with the vocal group of people who have decried that particular reality of phones since touch screens were invented, and based on the response from the release of the Xiaomi Mi Mix late last year, and the rumored near bezel-free Samsung Galaxy S8, the G6 is in good company.

I foresee a few days of unintended screen touches and awkward readjusting.

But buyer beware. I've been using the phone for the last few days, and all isn't perfect in the world of infinity. For a long time, bezels existed out of necessity, as a way to hide various components underneath. We're moving away from those physical constraints, so if bezels are to continue to exist, they need to be there for a reason. And not having them on a device like the G6 makes it pretty clear why they exist, aesthetics aside:

On Android, bottom bezels force your thumb to rest at a natural point above the pinky, which rests underneath the phone in a cradle. Without that extra space, the pinky is thrust out to allow the thumb additional room to move lower, which either stretches the tendon or compromises the hand's grip on the already-slippery device.
The lack of bottom bezels also make it difficult to grip the phone from the bottom, as I enjoy doing while reading an article or watching a video in portrait mode. Granted, this isn't a common occurrence, and I could merely wrap my hand around the phone, but I've always found gripping the bottom between thumb and forefinger a comfortable and stable way to hold a phone for long periods without tiring. On a device like the G6, the virtual buttons are so close to the bottom that such a grip isn't possible.

These are not game-ending issues, and in the few days with the phone I've already grown accustomed to the new form factor. But I foresee, for early adopters of the LG G6 and Galaxy S8, a few days of unintended screen touches and awkward readjusting. I also wonder whether, after years of criticism against bezels, the industry is overcorrecting by eliminating a necessary tenet of phone hardware that people don't realize they need merely because it mars the aesthetic.

One way to mitigate this problem is by ensuring that devices with slim bezels are not too wide, so they're relatively easy to grip and manipulate with one hand. The 5.7-inch LG G6 is just narrow enough for my thumb to reach from one end to the other without strain; the 5.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S8, which is rumored to have a similar 18:9 aspect ratio, may be slightly too wide.

The end of bezels is surely coming soon, but there may come a time when we yearn for the simpler days of having a place to grip, and a respite from the endless screens we spend all day staring at.

LG G6

Best HTC Vive experiences for kids

What games can kids play on HTC Vive?

The HTC Vive is a wonderful VR system that has an incredible library of games and other experiences thanks to support through Steam. A lot of VR is based around shooting or scaring the pants off of you — blame it on the gun-like Vive controllers and the immersion level — but there are plenty of great experiences that are also suitable for children.

Remember, it's never a bad idea to follow the recommended age guidelines set by the manufacturer. In HTC's case, they recommend 13 and up, but that isn't set in stone as long as you remain precautionary.

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