The Next Web |
- Whistle adds Android support to its wearable activity tracker for dogs
- Moshi Karts: Mind Candy’s new free-to-play iOS game
- Google releases 360-degree Street View photos for the ‘polar bear capital of the world’
- Wonders of Life for iOS takes you on a spellbinding tour of planet Earth
- Avicii’s Wake Me Up is now the most-played Spotify track of all time
- Motorola teases Buggy Night, a follow-up to its Windy Day interactive film for Moto X owners
- Boeing flies into the smartphone market with a super-secure Android device James Bond might use
- Report: Games revenue grew fourfold on Google Play and doubled on iOS in 4Q 2013
- Google debuts online education tool Oppia to help anyone create interactive activities for teaching others
- Shanghai clamps down on taxi-booking apps, which could affect Uber’s future in China
| Whistle adds Android support to its wearable activity tracker for dogs Posted: 27 Feb 2014 05:00 AM PST  Now that humans have all manner of fitness bands to help us get in shape, it only makes sense that dogs get one too. Whistle has launched its activity monitor collar attachment for dogs on Android. The $129 accessory loops around your dog's collar and syncs up over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with the accompanying iOS or Android app. You can set daily goals for your dog's exercise and receive notifications when it meets them. Alongside the Android launch, Whistle has added several new features to the iOS version. The accessory is now able to break down activity into different categories, such as walking, playing and resting. Running and swimming are planned down the road. You can also now take advantage of Facebook and Twitter sharing if you want to show off how healthy your pet is.
I've been testing a Whistle on my dog for the past week. It's definitely a fun accessory that lets you peer a bit into your pet's world, but I'm not convinced it has enough functionality to make it worth the $129 yet, unless you're a self-professed dog lover or a frequent traveler. I already know that my dog is active, and Whistle isn't yet answering the questions I do have, like whether she's getting enough (or too much) food and how her overall health is. That said, there's definitely a market for pet wearables, especially as the quantified self movement starts to bleed over into other aspects of our lives. Whistle's still at an early stage of development, but it's off to a running start. ➤ Whistle This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Moshi Karts: Mind Candy’s new free-to-play iOS game Posted: 27 Feb 2014 04:53 AM PST  Just two months after Rovio launched Angry Birds Go!, Moshi Monsters creator Mind Candy is releasing a kart-themed video game of its own called Moshi Karts for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Although it may look like a traditional kart racer similar to Mario Kart and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Moshi Karts appears to be an endless runner (of sorts) similar to Subway Surfers and Sonic Dash. You hold the device in portrait and then swipe horizontally to shift the kart between three different lanes, collecting gems, avoiding obstacles and hitting boost pads along the way. The app offers 40 tracks in total and players can also upgrade the hero Katsuma's kart to help them jump, smash and drift their way to the finish line. It's a free-to-play title, so while there is no upfront fee in the App Store, Mind Candy will be offering extra in-game currency in exchange for players' hard-earned cash. The UK-based startup stresses in the app description, however, that all of the content in the game can be unlocked without spending money –presumably, you'll just need to play for a little longer. The app is already live for players in Canada and Australia, and Mind Candy says a global roll-out will begin tomorrow morning. If you can't wait another 24 hours, Mind Candy has a handful of existing Moshi Monsters-themed apps available on iOS, including Moshi Monsters Village, Moshi Monsters Music and Moshi Monsters: Moshlings. On Android or Windows Phone? Bad news. A company spokesperson told TNW that it only has plans to launch Moshi Karts on iOS at the moment. ➤ Moshi Karts | App Store This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Google releases 360-degree Street View photos for the ‘polar bear capital of the world’ Posted: 27 Feb 2014 03:54 AM PST  To celebrate International Polar Bear Day, Google has released a new set of Street View photos documenting the majestic creatures in Churchill, Manitoba – otherwise known as the 'polar bear capital of the world'. Google fitted its Street View Trekker, a colorful contraption that captures 360-degree images, to a specialized vehicle called the 'Tundra Buggy' and then journeyed across the coastal town to capture what is considered to be one of the largest polar bear populations on the planet.
With support from Frontiers North and Polar Bears International, Google spent October and November last year travelling across this beautiful corner of Canada's tundra, recording panoramic photos of the polar bears as they hunted for food and waited for the ocean to freeze over once more. The full set of photos from the Churchill, Manitoba expedition can be seen here, but we recommend heading to this page on Google Maps Views to see the best shots featuring these mesmerizing animals. Google has also released a mini-documentary video (below) on YouTube to give some further insight into the project and the challenges that Polar Bears are facing in the region due to climate change. In the past, Google has captured Street View imagery for the River Thames, Venice, the Galapagos Islands, a deserted city caught up in the Fukushima disaster and Mount Everest. ➤ Street View Treks (Via Blog Post) Image Credit: REMKO DE WAAL/AFP/Getty Images This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Wonders of Life for iOS takes you on a spellbinding tour of planet Earth Posted: 27 Feb 2014 03:21 AM PST  Remember Brian Cox's Wonders of the Universe app? The multimedia, 3D beauty that redefined what an iPad book should look like? Well, as we hit the two year mark since its launch, publisher Harper Collins has rolled out the welcome mat for its follow up – Wonders of Life. The Wonders of Life is optimized for both iPhones and iPads and, as with its predecessor, is based on the TV series of the same name, which was produced by the BBC and aired in early 2013. Based on our initial dabblings, we have to say – it's pretty special. The lowdownIn a nutshell, Wonders of Life takes you on a 3D tour of the world, serving up a visually stunning showcase of the coming together of science and nature.
The app features thirty creatures and habitats, illustrated by more than one thousand images that let you zoom in and get up-close. But it's the more than 2.5 hours of HD video that really set this apart.
You can also unlock 'bonus' content by creating an account and signing in, which is basically more video. Interestingly, you can also access the full text from the TV series' accompanying book, also called Wonders of Life.
Covering everything from freshwater caverns and insects that walk on water, to the Great White Sharks that live around the South Neptune Islands, Wonders of Life really is a treat of an app. Available now for $1.99/£1.99, Wonders of Life was built by The Other Media, the same team behind Wonders of the Universe, on behalf of publisher Harper Collins. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Avicii’s Wake Me Up is now the most-played Spotify track of all time Posted: 27 Feb 2014 02:35 AM PST Avicii catapulted to fame last summer after releasing Wake Me Up, a single that blends folksy vocals and guitar riffs with mainstream dance beats. The chart topper has accrued over 280 million plays on YouTube so far, but today it's hit another impressive milestone – it's now the most-played song of all time on Spotify. After being streaming more than 200 million times, Avicii has surpassed the previous titleholder Imagine Dragons with Radioactive. Wake Me Up is the fastest track to reach 100 million plays on Spotify, blasting through the figure with ease last September. It's now being played 850,000 times per day on the streaming service, and is most popular in the following cities: Stockholm, Oslo, Gothenburg, London, New York, Madrid, Malmö, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Los Angeles. As Spotify's user base continues to grow it will only get easier for artists to beat its 'most-played song of all time' streaming record. Even so, we tip our hats to Avicii – 200 million streams is still quite a feat. Read Next: Daft Punk breaks Spotify's first-day album streams record, set to beat Mumford & Sons for first week streams / Check out DJ and Producer Avicii's attempt at creating a global crowdsourced hit This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Motorola teases Buggy Night, a follow-up to its Windy Day interactive film for Moto X owners Posted: 27 Feb 2014 01:43 AM PST Last October, you may remember a small orange sombrero appearing on the home screen of Moto X smartphones. It triggered an interactive film called 'Windy Day', which you could explore by physically moving the handset. Motorola has now dropped a teaser video for its follow-up Buggy Night. It uses the same gorgeous, papercraft-inspired art style and returns to the charming, leafy forest created by Jon Klassen for the original Windy Night project. Rather than following a small mouse called Pepe though, this particular adventure revolves around an as yet unnamed insect who like to shy away from the spotlight. Former Pixar animator Mark Oftedal – the character designer on Windy Day – is working on the new project but it's unclear at this point whether Jan Pinkava (who directed Ratatouille) is returning as director. The YouTube teaser says Buggy Night is "coming soon". Watch this space. ➤ Buggy Night (Via Google+) This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Boeing flies into the smartphone market with a super-secure Android device James Bond might use Posted: 27 Feb 2014 01:03 AM PST  Boeing is best known for manufacturing airplanes, but it has now stepped into making smartphones by unveiling the 'Boeing Black' — an extra-secure device designed for government-level "missions." Yes, that makes it sound like a smartphone built for spies, à la James Bond. In a filing to the US Federal Communications Commission, Boeing says the device "will be sold primarily to government agencies and companies engaged in contractual activities with those agencies that are related to defense and homeland security."
The 4.3-inch Android smartphone weighs 170 grams, is powered by a 1590mAh battery and has a dual-SIM capability for users to switch between government and commercial networks. Of course, Boeing has made tweaks to its Android operating system — it has a specific software security policy configuration so users can configure the device for "maximum mission productivity and security." Even the device's hardware has embedded security features to help ensure that user data will be safe, Boeing says. "Hardware media encryption and configurable inhibit controls are embedded to protect the device, its data, and the transmission of information, significantly reducing the risk of mission compromise due to data loss," the Boeing Black's product card notes. A Reuters report also says that any attempt to open the Boeing Black's casing will trigger an automatic deleting of all data and make it entirely inoperable. Sounds like the Boeing Black is one smartphone James Bond will definitely appreciate. Headline image via Shutterstock This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Report: Games revenue grew fourfold on Google Play and doubled on iOS in 4Q 2013 Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:49 PM PST  A new report issued today by the International Data Corporation (IDC) and App Annie sheds some light on how portable — and in particular mobile — gaming is rising in terms of spending worldwide. The report shows that gamers spent more than four times as much money on Google Play smartphone and tablet games in the fourth quarter of 2013 as they did a year earlier, while the revenue brought in by games on iOS App Store more than doubled over the same period. In terms of absolute value though, iOS game revenue continues to lead that on Google Play "by a wide margin," the report notes.
"While consumers have traditionally spent more on games versus other types of apps, more than 75 percent of combined iOS & Google Play consumer app spending in 4Q 2013 came from games," says App Annie CEO Bertrand Schmitt. He notes that it is a "significant increase" compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, proving the popularity of mobile gaming. According to the report, Candy Crush and Puzzle & Dragons were the big winners across both dominant smartphone platforms for the full year of 2013. These were the top three grossing games, listed by platform:
Meanwhile, spending on gaming-optimized handheld platforms, typified by Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's PlayStation Vita, rose about nine percent between 4Q12 and 4Q13. In particular, spending on games in Asia-Pacific increased across the board, with the region's total portable game spending outpacing that of any other major global region last year. Lewis Ward, the research director of gaming at IDC, says: "The Google Play ecosystem in particular benefitted from a big regional upswing in the installed base of smartphones and tablets in 2013, but rising living standards in Asia-Pacific countries generally also buoyed game spending." Headline image via Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2014 08:50 PM PST  Google today launched a new online education tool called Oppia, currently an open source project with the goal of making it easy for anyone to create online interactive activities that others can learn from. Called explorations, these activities can be built and contributed to by multiple people from around the world through a Web interface, without any programming required. Here is how Google describes its latest venture:
And in typical Google style, here's the YouTube video: Google says Oppia does more than just present content: it gathers data on how learners interact with it and offers it to exploration authors so they can fix shortcomings in an exploration. For example, if many learners are giving an answer to which an exploration is not responding adequately (for example, the difficulty changes abruptly, or the next question appears to be unrelated), an author could create a new learning path for it. In this way, the exploration continues to get better. Here's Oppia's current feature list:
Unfortunately, there's no indication of the amount of resources Google plans to dedicate to Oppia. The disclaimer "Oppia is not a Google product" seems to suggest the company is hoping a community forms and takes over. Google's reasoning for why Oppia exists is simple: the company believes online education can be delivered via more than just video, audio, and text. In learning, feedback is key, and as the company says: "one does not learn to play the piano by watching videos of many virtuoso performances." Top Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shanghai clamps down on taxi-booking apps, which could affect Uber’s future in China Posted: 26 Feb 2014 08:15 PM PST  It seems like authorities in China's various cities are still trying to figure out a way for taxi-booking apps to exist in the transport ecosystem, seeking to strike a balance between their usefulness and the lack of accountability within the industry. The latest move to regulate such taxi-booking apps comes from authorities in Shanghai — where private car hire service Uber officially launched earlier this month — as they announced new rules aimed at cracking down on such apps. The new regulations, published in a notice on the website of the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority (via Reuters), state that taxi drivers are banned from using taxi-booking apps during peak hours and should not pick up calls or use their smartphones while ferrying passengers. "We think that while taxi-booking apps have changed the pre-booking model for taxis and increased their operational efficiency, the marketing methods, price increases and the lack of regulations in terms of driver registration have affected the fair and equitable operation of the taxi industry," the notice says. More notably, Shanghai authorities have also banned the use of booking apps entirely by private cars contracted for hire starting March 1 — which could be a major roadbump for Uber if the rules are strongly enforced, given that private car chauffeurs do tend to use Uber in their free slots. It is expected that Uber will take steps to maneuver its way around the regulations via discussions with authorities, but it remains to be seen what the solution will be. After all, even after authorities in Beijing took steps to regulate the taxi-booking app industry in July last year, such apps have been growing and getting funding from Chinese Internet giants. Beijing's transport authorities gave four apps the green light to operate in the city, including Didi Dache, which recently secured a $100 million funding round from investors that included Chinese Internet giant Tencent. Previously, e-commerce giant Alibaba invested an estimated $1 million in Kuaidi Dache, while car rental firm Yonchi — which runs Dache Xiaomi — was said to have landed a round in the 'tens of millions of dollars' bracket. We have reached out to Uber for comment and will update with any response provided. Read – Uber is bullish about its potential in China, but it won't discuss rivals or reveal figures Image Credit: Mark Ralston via AFP/Getty Images This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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