Apple and Android fans on reddit join forces to boycott CurrentC

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In a shocking turn of events, Apple and Android fans on reddit have joined forces to collectively boycott the unethical blocking of NFC payment system by certain retailers, which affects both Apple Pay and Google Wallet users.

If you're not aware, some of the retailers in the US have started disabling their NFC systems in their stores to prevent people from using Apple Pay or any other NFC based payment system. The reason for this is that these retailers are part of an organization called Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, which has its own payment system Called CurrentC.

Instead of a secure, wireless system, CurrentC requires users to download an app and fill in their debit card information in that. Then every time you have to purchase something you have to scan a QR code with the app, and then pay for it. The app is also used to shove promotional content and coupons to users, which they may or may not want.

Other than being inconvenient and annoying, CurrentC is nowhere as secure as either Apple Pay or Google Wallet. But having an alternate payment system is one thing. Blocking out competitive services entirely so that users have to either pay cash, card, or use CurrentC is another, entirely unethical and anti-competitive business strategy.

While the law would eventually come into the picture, people are now starting to boycott this practice. /r/Apple and /r/Android are fairly popular subreddits and if the two can actually come together and manage to get this done it will for the good of everyone.

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The Seek Thermal Infrared Camera for iPhone and Android

I think that at some point in the future, smart phones will have a built in infrared camera. But for now, you are going to have to use an IR camera add on. This is the Seek Thermal infrared camera. What do I think about it? Let’s find out.

An Infrared Review

But what does an IR camera do? What can you use it for? Here is a more detailed overview of the physics of infrared light, but I will give you the short version.

• Solid objects produce electromagnetic radiation. We like to call this stuff “light” (not to be confused with visible light).
• When objects increase in temperature, two things happen. First, they produce more light. Second, the wavelength of light gets shorter. Note that they don’t just produce one wavelength, but in general the hotter the object the shorter the wavelength.
• If you look at the wavelength of light (technically, the wavelength of the highest intensity light), you can get an estimate for the temperature of that object.

The best example is your stove element. Before you turn it on, it is room temperature and produces light. Just about all of this light from the element has a wavelength that is much too large for your human eyes to detect. Instead, you see the element because light reflects off the surface and enters your eye. If you turn on the element, it starts to get hot. Eventually, it will get so hot that you can see the light emitted since the wavelength is short enough to be in the visible spectrum.

So the infrared camera take the light that you can’t see and displays a false color image where different colors correspond to different temperatures (mostly).

New Android Commercial (Nexus 6/X?!)

Microsoft's latest Android Wear app tries your finger for smartwatch typing

Microsoft Research may have a solution for text input on small smartwatch screens, and it’s using Google’s Android Wear platform to test it out.

The company has developed an “Analog Keyboard” app for Android Wear, letting users string words together by drawing each letter on the screen. If you’ve enabled ADB for sideloading apps—that is, the same trick that lets you run Windows 95 on a smartwatch—you can download and install the keyboard from Microsoft’s Website.

Microsoft says its solution offers a few advantages over other potential text-input methods: Unlike a software keyboard, handwriting doesn’t require ultra-fine motor skills, and it even lets users write without looking at the screen. And compared to speech-to-text, handwriting is more discreet and less prone to background noise.

However, the current app has some limitations due to the computational load required. It currently can’t tell uppercase letters from lowercase ones, and it runs into problems with responsiveness. It also tends to be a battery hog. In the future, Microsoft hopes it can alleviate these issues by offloading some computation to a paired smartphone or to the cloud.

Why this matters: Even with Microsoft’s approach, the idea of writing an entire text message on a smartwatch seems kind of nightmarish. Still, the keyboard could be useful as an editing tool, letting users clean up any words that speech-to-text gets wrong. While there are no plans to release the keyboard as a finished product, with enough polish it might be a good fit for Microsoft’s existing OneNote Android Wear app.

HTC One M8 Vs. Other Flagship Smartphones

The HTC One M8 is one of the best Android smartphones on the market right now, with the LG G3 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 as its main competitors.

According to a report from the Inquisitr, the HTC One M8 competes with the new iPhone 6 and the popular Nokia Lumia 1520 for the best overall smartphone for the holiday season.

The HTC One (M8) is HTC’s flagship, and one of the best Android smartphones on the market. Improving on the popular HTC One (M7), HTC continues its brushed metal design and has introduced its unique Sense UI 6 on top of Android. The 5-inch 1080p display meets the market standard, but the camera is where the HTC One (M8) stands out. Dual 4MP cameras with the unique 2µm pixel size offers great low-light photos. UFocus allows users to modify the focus point of the photo even after the photo has already been taken. The HTC One M8 also packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, one of the fastest processors on the market, making it a very speedy device.

Similarly, the LG G3 sports a 5.5-inch Quad HD resolution screen. The phone also uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 and has a 13MP camera. The speakers on the LG G3 are what set it apart: 1W speaker with 1.5W boost amp produces clear and loud sound. The HTC One M8 has front-facing speakers, still relatively new, but do not publish the specs of its speakers. The LG G3 also has a rear key for ambidextrous use. The button lays flat and is ergonomically designed for improved usability.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes in both dust and water resistant forms, making it the most durable of all three smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a 5.1-inch Full HD display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and a 16MP camera. Sensors is where the Samsung Galaxy S5 excels, coming equipped with a fingerprint and a heart rate sensor for security and health. The Samsung Galaxy S5 also comes with a new ultra power saving mode for extreme cases where battery life is crucial.

All three devices come with microSD card slots that support up to 128GB. The minimum storage is 16GB for all three devices, but the LG G3 offers up to 3GB of RAM for those who need it while the HTC One M8 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 only offer 2GB. All three run on the newest Android operating system, Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

All three phones go for $199.99 with a contract. Without, the LG G3 goes for $460, the Samsung Galaxy S5 goes for $520, and the HTC One M8 goes for $555.

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Apple iPhone 6 to start at Rs 53,500 and 6 Plus for Rs 62,500: Pre-orders start tomorrow

“iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available in India beginning Friday, October 17, from an expansive network of Apple Authorized Resellers. Customers can pre-order iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus beginning Tuesday, October 7,” Apple India said in a statement today.

The company did not disclose the price at which it will sell iPhone 6 series in the country, but said, “Pricing details will be soon made available by Apple’s partners: Ingram Micro, Redington, Rashi Peripherals and Reliance.”

However, authorised Apple partners have given us a sneak peek into the pricing – 16GB, 64GB and 128GB iPhone 6 will be priced at Rs 53,500, Rs 62,500 and Rs 71,500 respectively. On the other hand, the larger iPhone 6 Plus will carry a price tag of Rs 62,500 for 16GB model, Rs 71,500 for 64GB and Rs 80,500 for 128GB.

Last week, Airtel listed the iPhone 6 Plus, the larger of the two devices, on its website, putting an end to all the drama surrounding the delayed India launch for the nifty Apple devices.

The authorized dealers will begin taking pre-orders next week and the device is expected to go on sale on October 17, as revealed earlier. This also means, like last year, the new iPhones will reach the Indian market just in time for Diwali.

It should be noted that when the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus page went live on the Apple website, it showed 26 September as the initial release date for India. The date was then changed to 17 October and after that the launch date completely disappeared and has found no mention on the page at all. Post all of this, rumours had gained traction that the India launch could be delayed until November.

Owing to the reports about a delayed launch, several iPhone 6 units had gone on sale in the grey market and selling at outrageous prices that went well over a lakh. However, as the buzz around Apple’s plan to start selling the device officially by mid-October or first week of November rekindled, there are several iPhone 6 units now selling online for under Rs 60,000 on some e-commerce websites.

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5 of the Best Smartphones You Can Buy Today

2014 has been a banner year for smartphones, especially if you like them big. Even Apple(AAPL) finally caved into the reality of consumer demand for big screens with the iPhone 6 and the super-sized iPhone 6 Plus.

While Apple was going big, some of the Android camp were winning kudos for offering a smaller flagship option. Sony’s(SNE) Z1 Compact, for example, had a 4.3-inch display and was one of the stars of the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show.

If you are one of the many people who has been holding off on a new smartphone purchase until the new iPhones dropped, decision time is here — at least unless you want to wait until next year (when the madness starts all over again).

With most of the current generation of smartphones now on store shelves, which should you buy? Much of that will depend on whether you prefer iOS or Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system, how big you like your screen and whether you prefer plastic or metal.

To help make your decision a little easier, here are five of the best smartphones currently on the market, along with details on what makes them such winners.

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Top Two Game Apps On IOS And Android Using Crossbows

The top two game apps on iOS and android that use a crossbow are Defender II and Shoot the Zombirds. These two games both generally fall into the Tower Defense type genre of games.

Defender II by Droidhen is the sequel to the successfully Defender. The main objective of the game is to defend your castle from waves and waves of enemies. To attack, you simply touch and point it to the direction of your targets. It will automatically shoot when your finger is pressed so no need to tap constantly. Aside from it, you will also gain access to spells which can decimate your foes. When enemies reach your castle, the castle's life is lessened. The game is over when it reaches zero.

Each level increases in difficulty and also the number of enemies to defend from. Some levels have bosses which will prove to be an additional challenge. As with its predecessor, you will gain crystals and coins after each level completed. These will enable you to upgrade your weapon. You can upgrade its various stats. Increasing strength will increase your damage. Increasing agility will increase arrow frequency. By unlocking also these stats, you will gain access to more skills and types of crossbow as well. Upgrading the mana tower will increase your mana for spells and it now also shoots your enemies.

New to this version too is the ability to deploy a lava moat before your castle. The lava moat will incinerate and torch all those enemies which fall to it. The biggest addition to Defender II is Battle mode. Now you can challenge other players to whoever survives the longest. Defender II is available free on iOS and Android with options to buy virtual currency to upgrade your skills and weapon.

Shoot the Zombirds by IDream is the successor to Shoot the birds. The gameplay involves you as Pumpkin head or boy shooting the undead birds in the sky and saving little pumpkids along the way. You tap to the direction where you will shoot.

Unlike Defender II which does not run out of arrows, this game does. It forces you to focus more on precision and timing rather than just careless shooting. You will not lose an arrow when you hit a target but will be lost when you miss. The level is over when you reach the number of pumpkids you can afford to lose.

There are fast and slow birds. Aside from birds carrying pumpkids, there are flying skulls which you can hit for gold coins. These gold coins can be used to purchase upgrades such as one time use powerups such rain of arrows or freezing all enemies on screen. You can use them also to increase the amount of arrows and the number of pumpkids you can afford to lose. Costumes are also available to be purchased if you want to change the look of your character.

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Nexus 5 2014 with Android Lion leaked in benchmark test

The new Nexus might just be called the Nexus 5 when it will be released, according to a benchmark test from GFXBenchmark and it might come with Android 5.0 Lion.

Is Android L going to be called Lion? We’ve no certainty of that and the following information should be taken with a grain of salt, but supposedly, Google might choose Lion as the identifier for the new Android OS. Lemon Meringue Pie and Lollipop might also be among the names Google is pondering upon, but we don’t know which is the one that will stick.

The Nexus 5 2014 was listed in the leak with a 5.2 inch Quad HD display, Snapdragon 805 clocked at 2.7 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage, a 12 MP rear and 2 MP front camera. So far, these are mildly impressing specs, the best feature of the Nexus 5 2014 being its Snapdragon 805 CPU. This device might also be the one we’ve been hyping about so much, dubbed Nexus 6, Shamu or even Nexus X, but it might as well be a wholly different device.

We suspect an Adreno 420 to be on board, since older Antutu Benchmark results showed the presence of the GPU in their listing. Wireless charging will also be among the features of the Nexus 5 2014, carrying it on from its predecessors. 4G and a fingerprint sensor might also be built into the device. Other rumors say that the gadget will sport a 5.9 inch screen instead of the 5.2 inch screen many are talking about. That would justify the Nexus 6 name for the handset, although that might raise copyright issues with a certain sci-fi author, Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep).

What’s most interesting about the new Nexus 5 2014 leak is the choice of Lion as Android L’s official name. If you think about it, the name might be a possibility, keeping in mind the previous partnership with Nestle, that brought us KitKat. There has been no word on Google’s part about what name the new Android OS will have when it is released, though.

Both Android L and the Nexus 5 2014 or Nexus 6 or Nexus Shamu or Nexus X, whichever name you choose to believe, will be launched sometime next month. The new Nexus 5 will probably be manufactured by either Motorola or LG, the scales tipping towards the first. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the new Nexus device, so we will just have to wait another month to find out what’s really going on at Google.

iPhone 6 launch: what do you want from Apple's new phone - and wearable?

Apple is launching the iPhone 6 on Tuesday 9 September. What features would you like to see? Photograph: Aly Song / Reuters/Reuters

Will it have a reversible USB cable? Are rumours of “unscratchable”sapphire screens true? And an NFC payment system? And just how big will the iPhone 6 be, exactly?

How about the rumoured wearable device? Is this the must-have exercise accessory you’ve been waiting for? Is your doctor pacing the floor impatiently, demanding your digitised biometric data? Or is this a long shot for Apple, and one you don’t care about?

Whatever Apple has planned will be revealed by CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday at Apple’s biggest launch event yet, with 2,500 people invited to the Flint Centre in Cupertino, California. The company is also expected to introduce its new iPhone and iPad software, iOS 8, which includes many new features focused around flexibility and interaction with Apple’s desktop and laptop computers.

You’ve heard the rumours – but what features would you like to see from the new iPhone? Are you happy with what you’ve heard about it so far? Or are there more design features Apple could add before you decide to buy? Let us know in the comments below and we may feature some suggestions above the line.

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Apple Explores Augmented Reality Navigation For iPhones

Apple has two new patent applications out today (via AppleInsider) that show it’s been working on boosting the iPhone’s navigation abilities with augmented reality features. The patent describes a way that the iPhone could use its camera in combination with on-device software to generate virtual maps of your surroundings, which are overlaid on a real feed, and which can do things like provide a look inside surrounding buildings.

The patents describe a way to use GPS, Wi-Fi and sensor information to pinpoint a user’s position and then download a 3D model of their surroundings, including points of interest. To compensate for the fact that using sensor data alone would likely result in an imperfect matching of virtual and real environment (as has been the case in other similar AR mapping apps), Apple uses live video feed from the iPhone’s camera, and lets a user actively match up virtual elements with their real-world equivalents in the resulting image. Once it’s locked in with a match, users can do things like virtually “peel back” the outer layers of buildings to reveal their interiors.

Apple already offers its “Flyover” feature in iOS Maps, which provides a 3D representation of satellite imagery for a more interactive cruise through city streets, but it has yet to employ AR tech. AR apps that similar functionality to that described in these patents has been used before, by companies including Layar and other startups, but Apple’s system is clearly designed to make it less rough around the edges and more of a utility than a neat tech trick.

iOS Maps could use some flashy features to help it stand out, but I wouldn’t expect this one to make its way out to shipping software anytime soon. Still, it’s an interesting direction, and could work together nicely with Apple’s indoor positioning ambitions.