LEAKED: This Might Be Google's Next Major Tablet Release (GOOG)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-nexus-tablet-2014-specs-rumors-2014-7

Google hasn't updated its Nexus line of tablets since it introduced the latest Nexus 7 about one year ago.

It's about time for an upgrade, but don't expect another standard Nexus successor this year.

A new leak suggests that HTC is working on a new tablet codenamed Volantis.

This tablet is expected to be released under Google's branding, which means it's either a new Nexus tablet or one of the first devices to launch under the company's rumored Android Silver program.

Even if it is a new Nexus device, it probably won't look much like Google's current Nexus tablets based on reports we've seen. 

The photo shown in this story is said to be a leaked press image of the tablet obtained by Android news blog Android Police.

However, Twitter account @evleaks, which has a strong track record for leaking products before their unveiling, claims that this image is fake. We won't know for sure until Google officially unveils its next tablet. 

Evleaks also claims to have revealed the tablet's specifications, which suggest that Volantis could be a strong competitor to other Android tablets out there. It's expected to come with a sharp 8.9-inch 2560 x 1600 resolution display, which would pack 281 pixels per inch. Android Police, however, reports that the display resolution will be 2048 x 1440. 

The higher the pixel density, the sharper the image. So, this would make the Volantis' screen slightly less sharp than those of the iPad Mini (326 ppi) and 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S (360 ppi) if @evleaks' information is true.

The tablet is also expected to run on a 64-bit processor, which could enable performance that's f! aster, m ore efficient, and better at multitasking than 32-bit processors. This seems plausible since Google announced at its most recent developer's conference that devices running on Android L will support 64-bit processing by the end of the year. 

If you're a fan of the HTC One's design, chances are you'll take a liking to Volantis. Rumors from both @evleaks and Android Police suggest that the HTC tablet will feature the same zero-gap aluminum construction found in the HTC One. It'll have the company's signature BoomSound speakers too, which deliver audio that's superior to other phones on the market.

There are a few inconsistencies between @evleaks' newest report and previous rumors. While @evleaks reports that this is probably one of Google's first Android Silver devices, Android Police's report calls it the Nexus 9. Regardless of what it's called at launch, it seems likely that HTC's tablet will be sold under Google's brand.

SEE ALSO: Which Android Phone Should You Buy?

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Optical illusion painting changes its perspective as you move around it

Source: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/optical-illusion-painting-changes-perspective-as-you-mo-1598919895/+caseychan

When I started to watch this video I thought I wasn't looking at a painting but a high definition flat display that tracked your eyes, modifying a 3D model to give you the illusion of real depth. And then the magics finally get revealed. It's so simple and so damn cool.

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Stuntmen in LED Suits Made This Impossible Parkour Run a Reality

Source: http://gizmodo.com/stuntmen-in-led-suits-made-this-impossible-parkour-run-1598488091

The advent of CGI has allowed us to realize things on-screen we never thought would be possible—from living, breathing dinosaurs , to giant transforming robots . But it's become so over-used that over-the-top practical effects now draw the biggest wows from audiences, like Lexus' use of countless LED-suit clad stuntmen to create one unbelievable parkour run across Kuala Lumpur.

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drag2share: Googleâs killer Android L feature: Up to 36% more battery life thanks to Project Volta

source: http://gigaom.com/2014/07/02/googles-killer-android-l-feature-up-to-36-more-battery-life-thanks-to-project-volta/

When the next version of Android arrives, don't be surprised if your phone can run longer on a single charge. Project Volta, part of Android L, is the reason. Google devoted an entire session at Google I/O to Project Volta, which optimizes power consumption on an Android device and also provides some developer tools to help make more battery-efficient apps.

While Android L is only available in a developer preview, we can already see the potential of Project Volta thanks to Ars Technica's Ron Amadeo. He used the same standard and repeatable battery test Ars typically uses to measure Android device battery life. The findings with Android L? Amadeo's Nexus 5 phone lasted two hours longer with Android L as compared to Android KitKat, a gain of 36 percent.

So what's the secret sauce in Project Volta that makes Android L more power-efficient? It's a number of different things that quickly add up to more battery life. In the Project Volta session at Google I/O, Google said it scrutinized how different components use power, and for how long, in various but typical circumstances.

Passing data through the cellular radio obviously causes a spike in power usage, for example, but the radio doesn't drop back to a sleep state for several seconds. Turning on the phone's display just to check for new notifications can quickly gobble up battery power as well. After examining these and other use-cases, Google determined that for every one second of "active" use on a typical phone, standby time is reduced by a full two minutes. If you have 50 apps that are active for a second, then — say for synching, polling or showing notifications — that's 100 minutes of standby time gone.

Enter Project Volta, which groups and schedules certain tasks in a more efficient manner. It also includes new APIs for developers to take a similar approach and reduce the overall number of power-intensive activities needed for their apps to work. There's a new network activity awareness API, for example, so that apps can determine if the cellular radio is active, in which case an app can "piggyback" on the connection instead of later waking up a sleeping radio.

That's just one of many Project Volta enhancements; you can hear about all of them in this recording of the Project Volta session from Google I/O 2014.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

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Apple May Be Killing iPhoto, But It Sounds Like The New Photo App Will Be A Lot More Powerful

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-apple-will-upgrade-photos-for-os-x-2014-7

Last week, Apple announced it would halt development on two of the company’s signature photography applications, Aperture and iPhoto, instead shifting its focus to the new Photos app introduced at WWDC last month.

For those worried the Photos app might not be robust enough to handle the needs of professional users, Ars Technica’s Sam Machkovech learned from an Apple representative that the new Photos app will include “professional-grade features such as image search, editing, effects, and most notably, third-party extensibility.”

Here’s the full statement from Apple:

With the introduction of the new Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, enabling you to safely store all of your photos in iCloud and access them from anywhere, there will be no new development of Aperture. When Photos for OS X ships next year, users will be able to migrate their existing Aperture libraries to Photos for OS X.

You read that correctly: Though Photos may eventually introduce some great features for professional and casual photographers alike, Photos for the Mac won’t be available when OS X Yosemite ships this fall. It will instead release at some point in 2015.

However, the inclusion of third-party extensibility in the new Photos app will be a nice touch. 

For those uninitiated, Apple introduced “extensibility,” or app extensions, at its WWDC keynote last month, which is Apple’s way of letting applications talk to each other and even project software elements into other ! apps whi le still maintaining a highly secure environment. 

In the case of Photos, this means app developers will soon be able to build sharing options within the Photos app to link to their own applications. For example, this could let users apply photo-filters from third party apps that aren’t available in the new Photos app.

The new Photos app will offer plenty of tools to keep your photos looking beautiful and organized, and it’s all tied together with a search engine that lets you explore your photos based on the date or time the photo was taken, its location, or by albums or favorites. You can also drag and drop your photos to customize the order in which they’re displayed, and all of your changes will immediately auto-sync across all your devices.

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