Pixel phone marketing paying off for Verizon, 'demand is exceeding supply'

Verizon is advertising its Google Pixel phone model on par with heavy hitters like the iPhone 7 or Galaxy S7, and the campaign is really paying off, it seems. According to research firm Wave7: “It is clear that demand is exceeding supply… Most Pixel XL SKUs are shipping in March and most Pixel SKUs are out of stock as well.” The Wave7 crew did a survey in 50 carrier stores last week, and found out that Google’s Pixel phones rang up 9.5 percent of Verizon’s smartphone sales last month.


That’s pretty impressive for a just-launched brand, but, given the phones’ virtues … – Source

Pixel phone marketing paying off for Verizon, 'demand is exceeding supply'

Leonie the shark don't need a man, begins impregnating herself instead

Parthenogenesis — a natural form of asexual reproduction — is something that’s common amongst plant species, insects, amphibians and many other life forms.

Meaning “virgin creation” in Greek, it describes the development and growth of an embryo without fertilisation.

The phenomenon occurs in sharks too, but one shark has shown a remarkable ability to switch between reproduction styles.

SEE ALSO: Twitter is freaking out about the existence of hairless animals

Leonie the leopard shark (also known as a zebra shark) from Reef HQ aquarium in Townsville, Australia, has stunned researchers by becoming the first of her species with a recorded mating history to switch to asexual reproduction. …

More about Asexual Reproduction, Leopard Shark, Conservation, Science, and Animals – Source

Leonie the shark don't need a man, begins impregnating herself instead

Unlocked Windows 10 Mobile version of Alcatel Idol 4S available from the Microsoft Store

Back in October, we showed you training material for T-Mobile reps that revealed a dual life for the Alcatel Idol 4S. Sure, everyone knew that the handset was rockin’ Android 6.0. But when no one was paying attention, the same device was being sold at T-Mobile powered by Windows 10 Mobile. Not only that, but this variant of the phone does include a VR headset that comes out of the box. Actually, to be more accurate, the VR headset is made out of the box.

While the Windows 10 Mobile version of the phone has been available only from T-Mobile in the states, it now can be purchased unlocked … – Source

Unlocked Windows 10 Mobile version of Alcatel Idol 4S available from the Microsoft Store

The internet is loving this pizza guy's brutally honest 'sick note'

You know what it’s like: You’re having a great time day drinking with your pals, when suddenly you remember there’s that thing called work. What to do?

The answer, according to Blake Pendlebury, is simply tell the truth.

SEE ALSO: Restaurant’s response to unusual order from sick customer will warm your cold heart

After spending an afternoon at a horse race, betting and drinking, business owner Pendlebury decided he was definitely too drunk to open his Queensland shop, Gaslight Pizza, in Australia.

Taking to Facebook, he made a public announcement, possibly aided by alcohol’s confidence-imbuing properties. …

More about Australia, Gaslight Pizza, Blake Pendlebury, Day Off, and Horse Racing – Source

The internet is loving this pizza guy's brutally honest 'sick note'

StorePower helps groceries deliver like Instacart without giving away the keys to the store

A startup called StorePower wants to take a bite out of the grocery delivery business by giving supermarkets an alternative to working with courier marketplaces like Instacart, Postmates, Amazon Fresh or Google Express. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of early stage funding from Exigent Capital, and individual angels, according to co-founder and CEO Richard Demb.… Read More

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StorePower helps groceries deliver like Instacart without giving away the keys to the store

Latest WhatsApp beta for Android finally has full support for the Nougat notification system

If you have an Android smartphone that’s lucky enough to be among the 0.7% that currently run Nougat, and if you also use WhatsApp often, then surely you have noticed how messed up the messenger’s notifications have been on the latest version of the OS. Essentially, WhatsApp has been ignoring Google’s guidelines for the new revamped notifications system in Nougat and how apps should make use of it. WhatsApp has only shown the latest message of a conversation in its notifications, and if you used the quick reply function your message would disappear when you got a new one from the same…

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Latest WhatsApp beta for Android finally has full support for the Nougat notification system

Reuters: Note7 fires were caused by defective batteries, not a design flaw or firmware issue

The saga of the Galaxy Note7 was one of the most surprising and disastrous events in the tech industry last year. The Note7 received very positive initial reviews, but soon after, several reports of the device catching fire were made public. After acknowledging that the problem was with the Note7, Samsung began recalling all units.

To make matters worse, Samsung started production of a new ‘safe’ model shortly afterwards, only for those devices to start catching fire as well.

Read More

Reuters: Note7 fires were caused by defective batteries, not a design flaw or firmware issue was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Reuters: Note7 fires were caused by defective batteries, not a design flaw or firmware issue

Do you use mobile payments? [Poll of the Week]

Last week’s poll summary: Out of over 1,800 total votes, 32.3% of our readers said their favorite announcement from CES 2017 was the new ASUS ZenFone AR. 13.3% said they were most excited for Samsung’s Chromebook Plus & Pro, while 11.7% said their favorite announcement was the Faraday Future FF91.

Mobile payments have been around for a pretty long time now, but they didn’t start catching on until the release of Apple Pay and Android Pay a few years ago.

While Google, of course, wants all Android users to use Android Pay, Samsung wants its users to use Samsung Pay, and the same goes for Apple with Apple Pay. And if for some reason you aren’t fully satisfied with those three options, we have access to plenty more mobile payment services to round out the already crowded landscape. Chase Bank and even Walmart have their own proprietary services, for example.

Android Pay: what is it, how does it work and who supports it?

Samsung Pay: what is it, how does it work and how do I use it?

Whichever service you decide to use, though, mobile payments are designed to make your life easier and save you time.

So tell us – do you use mobile payments, or are you still not convinced they save time and effort? Be sure to cast your vote in the poll attached below, and speak up in the comments if you have anything else to add. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Next:

Android Pay vs Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay

April 27, 2016

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Do you use mobile payments? [Poll of the Week]

The man with the world's most confusing Twitter handle just had another terrible weekend

LONDON — Cases of mistaken identity aren’t exactly uncommon on Twitter — it’s why we have those little blue ticks.

But little blue ticks only go so far.

SEE ALSO: Thanks to Trump, Rep. John Lewis is dominating Amazon’s bestsellers list

John Lewis, a computer science educator from Blacksburg, Virginia, may be the best example of this.

Meet John Lewis, owner of the world’s most confusing Twitter handle.

Image: twitter/@johnlewis/mashable composite

Basically, if you search for “John Lewis” on Twitter, you’ll get something like this:

Image: twitter

The man at the top is the Congressman and civil rights hero who has …

More about Uk, Twitter, Donald Trump, John Lewis, and Watercooler – Source

The man with the world's most confusing Twitter handle just had another terrible weekend

Samsung heir could be put behind bars in South Korean bribery scandal

The heir to Samsung’s empire is embroiled in a bribery scandal.

South Korea’s prosecutor is seeking a warrant to arrest Samsung Group’s Jay Y. Lee over bribery and embezzlement allegations. The 48-year-old executive is poised to take over control of Samsung’s business empire from his father, Lee Kun-hee. Jay Y. Lee is accused of bribing Choi Soon-sil, an aide to South Korean president Park Geun-hye, in order to secure political backing for the $8 billion merger of Samsung C&T Corp and Cheil Industries Inc.

The exec is said to have paid up to $36.4 million (43 billion won) in bribes, with the prosecutor stating that the profits were split between Choi and president Park. As news of the political involvement broke last year, the South Korean parliament moved to impeach the president. The country’s special prosecutor is now going after Samsung’s heir, and with the company accounting for 17% of Korea’s economy, the move will have far-reaching consequences:

The special prosecutors’ office, in making this decision to seek an arrest warrant, determined that while the country’s economic conditions are important, upholding justice takes precedence.

In a statement to Reuters, Samsung denied any wrongdoing:

It is difficult to understand the special prosecutors’ decision. It is especially hard to accept the special prosecutor’s assertion that there was improper request for a favor related to the merger or succession of control.

Lee is expected to appear for a hearing at the Seoul central district court on Wednesday, which is when the court will decide whether to approve the warrant for his arrest.

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Samsung heir could be put behind bars in South Korean bribery scandal

Samsung's Note 7 investigation to be released on January 23, with battery issues cited as the main reason behind fires

Samsung Electronics has conducted a thorough investigation to determine what caused the Galaxy Note 7 fires. The company is making good on its promise to release the results of the probe before the end of this month, and will officially do so on January 23 (a day before it publishes its earnings for Q4 2016), according to an anonymous source who has contacted Reuters.

The same source also suggests that battery issues caused the Note 7 fiasco, as Samsung was able to replicate the fires under laboratory conditions and could not detect any defects with the device’s … – Source

Samsung's Note 7 investigation to be released on January 23, with battery issues cited as the main reason behind fires

Deal: Free Gear Fit 2 with purchase of Samsung Galaxy S7 edge in UK

Samsung has launched a new promotion in the UK where-in those purchasing a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge will be getting a Gear Fit 2 fitness band. The promotion was launched late last week, and runs through February 28.

Those willing to avail the offer will have to purchase a Galaxy S7 edge from a participating retailer, then click the ‘claim now’ button on the offer page on Samsung’s UK website (link at the bottom), and finally, complete and submit the online claim form.

Once that is done, you’ll receive a confirmation email within 30 days, following which you will receive your Gear Fit…

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Deal: Free Gear Fit 2 with purchase of Samsung Galaxy S7 edge in UK

Yet-to-be-announced vivo V5 Plus already available to pre-order

The vivo V5 Plus, which is set to be made official later this week, is already available to pre-order. Specifically, Malaysian retailer DirectD has the device listed on its website for RM 1,799 (or around $400).

Specs-wise, the listing reveals the phone is powered by Snapdragon 625 chipset with octa-core CPU, and sports a 5.5-inch full HD display. RAM is 4GB, while internal memory is 64GB.

In terms of camera, the handset features a 16MP rear unit and a dual front camera set-up (20MP + 8MP). Measuring 153.8 x 75.5 x 7.6mm, the vivo V5 Plus runs Android Marshmallow and packs in a…

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Yet-to-be-announced vivo V5 Plus already available to pre-order

Google says Pixel audio issue is a hardware problem

You might recall the story we told you last month about Mark Buckman. He went through five different units of the Google Pixel XL, and his wife owns the smaller Google Pixel model. Each phone suffers from static distortion at high volume. As an example, Buckman created a video showing how the affected Pixel models could not clearly play the Perfect Piano keyboard app when the volume was cranked up. To show us what it should sound like, he used the same app on a Nexus 6 at the same volume level. The Motorola built Nexus 6 sounded like Carnegie Hall while the HTC produced Pixel XL sounded like the … – Source

Google says Pixel audio issue is a hardware problem

Drone captures travel blogger's hectic brush with a great white shark

It’s one thing to hope to catch a glimpse of shark while on vacation, but it’s another to be stalked by one. Ask French blogger behind “Travelling with Isa,” Isabelle Fabre.

It seems like she found herself being shadowed by a great white shark while kitesurfing off Fitzgerald River National Park on the Western Australian coast. The footage captured on video by drone and posted on Facebook on Jan. 9.

“As usual, I was first thinking that it was my kite shadow… but no. Then I thought it was a dolphin trick. You know, when they spring out just in front of you! But no,” Fabre explained in French. …

More about Blogger, Isabella Fabre, Drone, Video, and Videos – Source

Drone captures travel blogger's hectic brush with a great white shark

Joe Biden, surprised with Medal of Freedom, sparks one last meme - CNET

President Obama’s presentation to the vice president, about a week before they leave office, has inspired a batch of humorous tweets. – Source

Joe Biden, surprised with Medal of Freedom, sparks one last meme - CNET

Clean Burnt Residue Off of Pans With Baking Soda

Burnt, stuck-on food may seem like a dishwasher’s worst nightmare but, with the help of baking soda, it can be removed super easily without any scrubbing at all.

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Clean Burnt Residue Off of Pans With Baking Soda

How a robot got Super Mario 64 and Portal “running” on an SNES

If you missed it live, watch TASBot’s AGDQ 2017 run then read about it below.

Can you really, playably emulate games like Super Mario 64 and Portal on a stock standard SNES only by hacking in through the controller ports? The answer is still no, but for a brief moment at this week’s Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) speedrunning marathon, it certainly looked like the impossible finally became possible.

For years now, AGDQ has featured a block where TASBot (the Tool-Assisted Speedrun Robot) performs literally superhuman feats on classic consoles simply by sending data through the controller ports thousands of times per second. This year’s block (viewable above) started off simply enough, with some show-offy perfect play of Galaga and Gradius on the new NES Classic hardware (a system that TASbot organizer Allan Cecil says is “absolutely horrible” when it comes to automation).

After that, TASBot moved on to a few “total control runs,” exploiting known glitches in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mega Man to insert arbitrary code on the NES. This is nothing new for the computer-driven TASBot—the basics of the tricks vary by game, but they generally involve using buffer overflows to get into memory, then bootstrapping a loader that starts reading and executing a stream of controller inputs as raw assembly level opcodes. The method was taken to ridiculous extremes last year, when TASbot managed to “beat” Super Mario Bros. 3 in less than a second with a very specific total control glitch.

Read 19 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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How a robot got Super Mario 64 and Portal “running” on an SNES