MacRumors reports on Google’s launch of a Newsstand app for Android.
The best form of flattery, as they say.
Two tech geeks.
Google launches Newsstand app for Android
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Google lets you tour Middle Earth
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The Business insider reports on Google’s interactive map that allows users to explore Middle Earth.
This map lets you click through all the important places where the action takes place (complete with music and a voiceover). You can look at things close-up, in 3D.
Tolkien fans would love this. It also highlights how powerful of web sites and web browsers have become.
Samsung gives US-based Galaxy Note 3 owners $50 Google Play credit
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The Next Web reports on Samsung giving US-based owners of Galaxy Note 3 a $50 credit in the Google Play store.
It’s one way of attempting to get its users into the habit of spending in the Google Play store. However, it might be more than what most of the users will ever spend.
Samsung claims to have sold 800,000 Galaxy Gear watches
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Reuters reports that Samsung is saying it has sold 800,000 Galaxy Gear, making it the world’s most popular smartwatch.
Does the figure exclude Galaxy Gear sets that consumers get for free when they buy a Galaxy Note 3? I think not.
Update: I forgot to link to an earlier article about poor sales of the Galaxy Gear. The article reports that “this product has cumulative sales under 50,000, with daily sales of only 800-900 units”. Samsung’s figure is the number of Galaxy Gear shipped, not the number sold.
LG tracking viewer habits with its Smart TVs
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A user claims that his LG Smart TV is sending his viewing information to LG.
He found an LG video pitching to potential advertisers:
LG Smart Ad analyses users favourite programs, online behaviour, search keywords and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences. For example, LG Smart Ad can feature sharp suits to men, or alluring cosmetics and fragrances to women.
Furthermore, LG Smart Ad offers useful and various advertising performance reports. That live broadcasting ads cannot. To accurately identify actual advertising effectiveness.
The TV settings has an option to turn “Collection of watching info” ON or OFF. But he found that the data was still transmitted regardless of the setting.
When he asked LG for comments about it, the company directed him to the retailer he bought the TV from instead:
The advice we have been given is that unfortunately as you accepted the Terms and Conditions on your TV, your concerns would be best directed to the retailer. We understand you feel you should have been made aware of these T’s and C’s at the point of sale, and for obvious reasons LG are unable to pass comment on their actions.
Explore Life on iPad
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Apple launches “Life on iPad” section on its website to showcase how the iPad has changed people’s lives.
We designed iPad to be the best tool for all the things you do. But we never imagined where you’d end up taking it. Here are just a few stories.
This is a continuation of the theme raised by the video showed at the iPad event in October 2013.
Dropbox’s new look on iOS
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Dropbox has released a new look for its iOS app..
The new iOS 7-inspired design is gorgeous.
The addition of AirDrop support is great news. I hope this marks the start of greater adoption of AirDrop as a way of sharing files on iOS.
Apple App Store introduces video trailers
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Apple finally releases Clumsy Ninja and this latest Editor’s Choice app debuts with a video trailer.
This is a big change in how developers can showcase their apps.
Elon Musks: MBA is a bad idea
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The American Physical Society interviewed Elon Musk.
But even if someone has no intention of ultimately being a physicist, I still believe that the training of physics is excellent. So as they’re going through their academic career I would recommend studying physics as a good base and then a broad range of engineering courses and then some degree of specialization in an engineering field where it fulfills someone’s interest, and then arts and sciences courses, particularly history. And a few business courses are helpful so you at least know the terminology. You can probably do it with one accounting course, [although] I hate accounting. It’s worth it to have some business courses but you don’t need too many. And I wouldn’t recommend an MBA. I’d say no MBA needed. An MBA is a bad idea.
It teaches people all sorts of wrong things. They don’t teach people to think in MBA schools. And the top MBA schools are the worst. Because they actually teach people that you must be special, and it causes people to close down their feedback loop and not rigorously examine when they are wrong.
I hire people in spite of an MBA, not because of one. If you look at the senior managers of my companies, you’ll see very few MBAs there.
Scientists invent self-healing electrode
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SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reports that scientists have invented an electrode that heals itself.
To make the self-healing coating, scientists deliberately weakened some of the chemical bonds within polymers – long, chain-like molecules with many identical units. The resulting material breaks easily, but the broken ends are chemically drawn to each other and quickly link up again, mimicking the process that allows biological molecules such as DNA to assemble, rearrange and break down.
This has profound implications should it prove to be a practical solution as such batteries are used by electric cars, cameras, mobile devices and other gadgets. These batteries will be able to go through more recharge cycles and it might mean we no longer need to have to change batteries. Manufacturers could choose to make the batteries not removable, and concentrate on crafting a seamless design.