Two tech geeks.

  • Reddit’s new user agreement lets it use your content freely

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    Jenxi

    Mashable reports that Reddit has updated its user agreement to let it use user-generated content in anyway, even commercially..

    You retain the rights to your copyrighted content or information that you submit to reddit (“User Content”) except as described below.

    By submitting User Content to reddit, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, or publicly display your User Content in any medium and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so.

    You agree that you have the right to submit anything you post, and that your User Content does not violate the copyright, trademark, trade secret or any other personal or proprietary right of any other party.

    Please take a look at reddit’s privacy policy for an explanation of how we may use or share information submitted by you or collected from you.

    While it is understandable that Reddit needs to ensure it has the ability to continue hosting user content legally, the updated policy empowers the company to use user-generated content even for commercial uses.

    If we are using a service for free, is it fair for the service provider to make money in this way? After all, they need revenue to continue making the service available.

  • What can you do with iBeacons in your home?

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    Jenxi

    Mike Elgan shares what he envision the home would be like with iBeacon.

    Scanning the vast, emerging innovations for low-cost, mobile-controlled home automation (much of it on crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter at present), it’s pretty clear that the home of the near future (3-5 years) will operate something like this:
    As you pull into the driveway after a long day at work, the driveway and footpath lights come on. The door is unlocked for you as you approach it.

    • Upon entering, the lights turn on, music starts and a soothing voice greets you, giving you updates about when your spouse will be home and letting you know who came to the door earlier.
    • You tell your invisible personal assistant — let’s call it “Siri” — “Hey, put on the game.” (An Apple patent surfaced recently for a special dock for using Siri in the home separate from a mobile device.) Siri knows enough about you and your interests and habits to turn off the music, turn on the TV and tune into the Knick game currently in progress.
    • You go into the bedroom to change and the TV in there comes on with the game, then off again when you leave the bedroom.
    • You don’t have a TV in the kitchen, but when you go into the kitchen to start on dinner, the audio from the game automatically plays for as long as you’re in there.
    • Whoops! You spill some mustard on the floor, so you say: “Siri, I spilled something.” As you leave, you cross paths with the floor-mopping robot, which Siri has dispatched at your request.
    • You get the idea. All of this will happen without you taking the phone out of your pocket. Apple’s iBeacon system is perfect for this entire scenario, which of course requires some kind of indoor location system.

    Sounds far-fetched? I don’t think so. We are within a few years of that becoming reality.

  • How Apple can deploy iBeacons rapidly

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    Jenxi

    Matthew Panzarino reports for TechCrunch about how Apple could have 250 million iBeacon units by 2014.

    Specifically, most of the coverage of iBeacons so far has failed to recognize a very important reality of this system: every iOS device since the iPhone 4s and iPad 3rd gen is already capable of being either an iBeacon receiver or transmitter, as long as it’s properly configured.

    But some of the iBeacons deployed in Apple stores are not specialized hardware at all, they’re just regular iPads or iPhones that have been configured as iBeacons. And that capability extends to any Apple device with Bluetooth Low Energy and the latest major version of iOS. Let that sink in for a minute and you’ll start to realize the forward-thinking strategy Apple has been implementing over the course of the last few years.

    Imagine using an iPad as an interactive display and an iBeacon.

    “This would present a major advantage to Apple, as many businesses have already implemented these devices into some part of their business, so iBeacons could essentially be turned on all over the business landscape with just a little education and awareness,” Paul told us. “This would further the value of using tablets in retail, as they can both display and transmit messages to those who have displays in their pocket. Apple would widen the gap between themselves and other tablet manufactures, because now their existing hardware plays nicely with your iPhone or iPad and would require such close proximity to make a handshake. NFC has failed to provide this value as evident in the ISYS hardware rollouts that see little adoption.”

    Apple will be able to scale micro-location services faster than any of its competitors, not that there are any competitors at the moment. With so many user and provider transmitters already in the hands of consumers, Apple would not have to worry about lack of adoption, unlike NFC.

  • Deutsche Post latest company to test out drone delivery

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    Jenxi

    Digital Trends reports that Deutsche Post claims to be in the middle of testing delivering packages using drones.

    Partnering with a pharmacy in Bonn for a week-long pilot project, Deutsche Post spokeswoman Dunja Kuhlmann told the Wall Street Journal its plans were in the early stages, although it had already thought up a rather nice name for its flying machine: the Paketkopter.

    “There are a number of scenarios we’re evaluating, including delivering medicine that’s needed quickly, or to hard-to-reach places,” Kuhlmann said.

    Various flying restrictions, however, mean the drug-carrying quadcopter can’t launch from, for example, residential areas. In one of its first test flights, the Paketkopter took off from an open space close to the pharmacy, before flying over the Rhine River and landing 0.6 miles (1 km) away on a lawn beside Deutsche Post’s head office.

    Unlike Amazon Prime Air, Deutsche Post’s tests were conducted using a manually operated drone.

    The flight was manually controlled, as opposed to it being an automated mission using GPS coordinates. Further test flights have been conducted, with the company planning to evaluate the results to determine whether it can incorporate drones into its delivery service.

  • IFTTT now supports location-based triggers

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    Jenxi

    IFTTT is one of my favorite services. It works so unobtrusively that I always forget that I’m using it, though I enjoy the results of it almost on a daily basis. Adding support for location-based triggers is something that could be really useful.

    A simple example would be if you’re required to fill out a time sheet every time you arrive at work, you could just set up IFTTT to do it whenever you arrive at the office, which would increase the accuracy of the timing, not to mention eliminate the possibility of you forgetting to do something.

    There are so many ways that IFTTT can be used, and with this update, it’s only getting better. The location-based triggers currently only support iOS, but the Android version is in the works too.

    IFTTT’s Ingenious New Feature: Controlling Apps With Your Location

    Paired with IFTTT’s expanding repertoire of hardware channels—it works with the Smart Things home automation kit and various WeMo plugs—the new locational chops open up the doors to some obvious applications in the home. You could have it turn on your Philips Hue when you walk in the door, no fiddling required. The update also adds location triggers to some existing channels for popular social media sites. You could create a recipe that saved all the Instagram uploads from a certain region, for example, auto-snagging every shot of a wedding or a party.

  • Smarty Ring wants to rule them all

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    Jenxi

    Forget smartwatches, apparently quite a few folks think that the next big thing is a smart ring. A campaign on Indiegogo for the Smarty Ring has surpassed its funding goal of $40,000 by breaching the $300,000 mark. Despite it’s relatively small size, the ring touts the ability to display the time, accept or reject calls, control your music, and much more. An interesting use of it is that it can function as an invisible leash for your smartphone, notifying you if your phone ends up 30 feet away from the device.

    A nice design choice for this ring was to allow it to be charged wirelessly on a charging pad, removing the need for an ugly charging port on the ring. The Smarty Ring offers a 24-hour battery life, which should allow it to comfortably get through the day.

    I’m not sure that it’ll catch on, but it would be a rather unique thing to have as a fashion accesory.

    The first smartring has an LED screen, tells time, and accepts calls

    The ring can display the time, accept or reject calls, control music, trigger the smartphone’s camera, and initiate speed-dial calls. It will also alert the wearer with light-up icons for texts, e-mails, Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts, and Skype. It supports dual time zones and comes with a countdown timer, a stopwatch, and an alarm. It can work as a tracker for your phone, too—if your smartphone is more than 30 feet away from the ring, Smarty Ring will trigger an alarm.

  • Instagram Direct lets you share your photos and videos privately

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    Jenxi

    Instagram has announced Instagram Direct, its new feature to allow users to send private photos and video messages.

    I mentioned two weeks ago about the increasing rumours about an Instagram messaging service, and Instagram has finally unveiled the feature.

    Over the past three years, the Instagram community has grown to over 150 million people capturing and sharing moments all around the globe. As we’ve grown, Instagram has evolved not only into a community of photographers, but also into a means of visual communication. From a photo of your daily coffee to a sunrise shared from the top of a mountain hike, every Instagram moment contains something you find special—something you broadcast to your followers when you tap “share.”

    There are, however, moments in our lives that we want to share, but that will be the most relevant only to a smaller group of people—an inside joke between friends captured on the go, a special family moment or even just one more photo of your new puppy. Instagram Direct helps you share these moments.

    Instead of calling them messages, Instagram calls them direct posts. Posts that you share directly with certain people. Each Instagram direct post behaves like a normal Instagram post, so viewers can like and comment on it. The direct posts are not visible to public but everyone that you shared the photo with will be able to see its likes or comments.

    You can choose to send to just one person or to a group of fifteen people. If you send the post to someone who doesn‘t follow you, they get to decide if they want to view the post. Instagram will remember who you allow to share directly with you. All direct posts will be stored in an Instagram Inbox.

    It is interesting to note that Instagram’s foray into messaging still tries to stick to its roots as a photo and video sharing app. It boosts user engagement by allow them to privately interact with other users, while it avoids being just another messaging service.

    Twitter is also encouraging users to engage each other via private messaging. It has made its direct message feature available on the home screen of its app. Direct messages were previously hidden in a button on a user’s profile page view. Earlier this week, Twitter also announced a new feature that allowed users to include images in direct messages.

    Given the explosive growths of messaging apps such as LINE, and Tencent’s WeChat and QQ, it is no wonder that Instagram and Twitter want a slice of the pie as well.

  • FC Barcelona now comes with Intel Inside

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    Jenxi

    The Next Web reports that Intel and FC Barcelona have announced a partnership to make the latter one of the world’s most technologically advanced football clubs.

    “This is more than a sponsorship to Intel,” says Deborah Conrad, Intel’s Chief Marketing Officer. “The technology we are deploying and the programs we are working on together are designed to elevate FC Barcelona into one of the most technologically advanced soccer clubs in the world, and to launch an ambitious slate of educational initiatives.”

    I like how the logo is inside the jersey. Yes, inside. And it says “Intel Inside.”

  • John Gruber on why Scott Forstall disappeared since he left Apple

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    Jenxi

    John Gruber writes on Daring Fireball about why there was no news about Scott Forstall in the past 13 months.

    What I’ve heard is that when Tim Cook fired him, Forstall was offered (and accepted) a big truck full of money as part of a severance package. The terms of the severance agreement included a period of time during which Forstall can not (could not?) work for any other company, nor make any public statements.

    While other news outlets report on the mystery of what happened to Forstall or that he was laying low, Gruber provides something more insightful.

  • Spotify music streaming finally available for iOS and Android for free

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    Jenxi

    The free service isn’t an exact copy of what you get on the desktop, since you’ll only be able to select an artist or playlist and hear a stream of shuffled tracks, instead of actually selecting the tracks that you want. Of course, if you want to have full control of your music, you can always subscribe, which won’t break the bank.

    I’ve been hoping for this for a long time now as I’m currently using the free plan from Spotify on my desktop and have been looking to replace the radio station in my car with a Spotify station. Say what you may about Spotify, but the ads are considerably less irritating and less frequent compared to the terrestrial radio channels.

    Spotify announces free streaming on Android and iPhone, but only in Shuffle mode

    At an event in New York today, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced a free streaming product on Android and iOS smartphones, and also on tablets. “We don’t want to make another radio-type service,” Ek said. “We want to make something that’s really great — that really fits into people’s lives,” said Ek. Thus, the focus for Spotify Free on mobile is a Shuffle feature that lets you pick an artist or playlist and hear a stream of shuffled tracks. In other words, the service isn’t straightforward ad-supported streaming on-demand, but is instead more random, like Spotify’s current Radio feature on mobile for free users.