Category: News

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Netflix made some changes to its public API Monday night that make it harder to figure out which movies are going to be taken off the service. The company will no longer provide the expiration date of movies through its API, which will mean that third-party tools like Instantwatcher.com’s Expiring Soon on Instant list will stop working.

“With the frequent, often last minute, changes in content flow the title expiration data available through our API has been inaccurate, so we have decided to no longer publish this information,” a Netflix spokesperson said via email. The company’s Director of Engineering – API Daniel Jacobson reiterated this point in a post on the company’s developer blog, adding that members will still be able to find the expiration date for each movie or TV show episode on the title’s web page.

The move will likely impact a number of third-party services, and comes two months after Netflix essentially closed its public API to all newcomers. Back in March, Netflix said that it was no longer issuing new API keys because the way the company was changing the API had changed: Initially meant to enable third-party apps, Netflix’s API has been playing a key component for the technology behind the company’s streaming service.

Restrictions to public APIs have been a common pattern for companies like Netflix and Twitter in recent months, but it looks like there may have been another reason for Monday’s changes: Netflix took a number of titles off its catalog in early May, leading some publications to write about “the great Netflix Instant vanishing of 2013” or even a “Streamageddon purge.”

Not all of those stories were completely accurate. Some reported a number of 2000 titles disappearing, but Deadline put the number close to 1000. And reports that Warner was pulling titles off of Netflix to power its own streaming service were quickly denied by the studio.

Netflix clearly wasn’t happy about all that streamageddon talk. Now it looks like it pulled the plug on another part of its API to prevent us from freaking out in the future — like at the end of the month, when a number of Viacom shows are set to disappear from the service.

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Google has long been rumored to be developing a Game Center rival for Android smartphones and tablets. Information from a new Google Play Services file, which was obtained and broken down by Android Police, indicates that Google Play Games isn’t too far off. The service appears to include a number of interesting features such as multiplay support, cloud syncing, matchmaking and game invites, achievements, a leaderboard and even support for in-game chatting. All the social aspects of the service are expected to be managed by Google+, allowing users to chat and share achievements with specific friends and followers. Google is expected to announce its new Play Games service on Wednesday at its I/O Developers Conference in San Francisco.

TuneIn Radio is a popular app internet radio streaming. It features over 70,000 different stations that stream anything from pop music to talk shows, as well as tons of podcasts. Well, Android users have gotten an update to the TuneIn app that will now allow you to quickly purchase a song you’re listening to on the Play Music Store. You can also favorite music to go back and purchase it with a direct link later on. If you’re already a TuneIn user, this is a pretty useful feature for you. If you haven’t tried it yet, why not test out a new music discovery service? Hit the download link below.

Play Store Download Link (Free)

Play Store Download Link (Paid)

Come comment on this article: TuneIn Radio gets updated to allow Google Play Music Store purchases

With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!!

Reviews

Quiz of Seers [Brain & Puzzle]

WeVideo – Video Editor [Media]

Google

Android’s Sundar Pichai teases Google I/O 2013 plans

Google Play developers now able to reply to user reviews

15GB of free storage now offered between Drive, Gmail and Photos

Hardware

NVIDIA Tegra 4 devices to be announced this quarter

Phones

HTC First reportedly to be discontinued by AT&T barely a month into its release

Possible Motorola X Phone benchmark shows up on GFX Bench

Another white Nexus 4 appears in the wild, preparing for a Google I/O release?

Verizon Galaxy S 4 to launch in stores on May 23rd

Samsung Galaxy S 4 in ‘Blue Arctic’ color spotted in Japan

First photo taken from the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Zoom surfaces online

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Mini pictures leaked, smaller and less-powerful version of its bigger brother

Sony unveils Xperia ZR, a mid to high-end waterproof device made for underwater photography

Tablets

Samsung working on a tablet/pc hybrid behind the scenes

New project hopes to bring Android apps to HP Touchpad sans dual boot

Amazon Coins now available for Kindle Fire owners

Archos ChefPad appeals to the cook in us all

Notion Ink brings okay specs and an interesting display tweak with the Adam II

Updates

T-Mobile rolling out Android 4.1.2 update to Samsung Galaxy S III customers

Miscellaneous

Consumer preferences towards larger smartphone screens on the rise

 

Come comment on this article: TalkAndroid Daily Dose for May 13, 2013

Hey do you folks remember when Notion Ink told us about their newest tablet the Adam II? Do you also remember when we saw a sneak peak of that same tablet 11 months later? Well fast forward a year and four months later and it appears that the Adam II is ready to ship. Finally right? Back when it first debuted it was to sport top of the line specs however as time progressed those specs have become a little bit outdated. They’re as follows:

• ARM Cortex A9 1.5Ghz Dual-Core Processor
• 10.1-inch 1280×800 IPS display
• 2MP Front/Rear HD Cameras
• 1GB DDR 3 Ram
• 6000 mAh rechargeable battery

The hardware will at least run the most current version of Android (at least for now). It comes with a nice set of peripheral ports like HDMI and a microSD slot expandable up to 32GB. Even with that though, the most interesting feature will be the edge display that is supposed to mimic the spine of a book. With that display one will be able to see notifications and contextual data.

Notion Ink has been known to entice with fancy features only to lose steam in the end. The edge display is interesting, but it may not be enough to hold the attention of many. Right now it’s only slated to be released in India but when it comes to when; your guess is as good as mine. We’ll let you know when we find out.

 

source: AndroidOS.in

 

Come comment on this article: Notion Ink brings okay specs and an interesting display tweak with the Adam II

Google knows that everybody loves more free storage space, so they have tripled the amount of free cloud-based storage they offer on Google Drive from 5GB to 15GB. Kind of. Previously, Google Drive offered 5GB of storage, and Gmail 10GB. Now, 15GB of free storage in their cloud will be shared between Drive, Gmail, and Google+ photos (previously Picasa), so while there is still the same amount of space being offered, users can now freely choose how they want to split up their 15GB. Compared to other free cloud storage competitors, Dropbox offers 2GB of free storage, Apple iCloud 5GB, and Microsoft SkyDrive 7GB.

In addition to the additional free space, the previous lowest tier option for additional storage space, $2.49 per month for 25GB, has been removed, making the new cheapest option $4.99 for 100GB. All of these changes will roll out in the next few weeks.

Source: Google Drive Blog

Come comment on this article: 15GB of free storage now offered between Drive, Gmail and Photos

Google’s I/O Developers Conference is scheduled to take place later this week and expectations are as high as ever for the annual event. There have been a flurry of reports that have suggested that we could see a variety of new products and services being announced at the event. One device that won’t be making an appearance, however, is the Nexus Q. According to a report from AllThingsD, Google’s ill-fated streaming device that debuted at last year’s event will not be relaunched at this year’s show. The Nexus Q was initially criticized for its $299 price tag and limited capabilities. Google eventually decided to postpone the launch of the device to “work on making it even better,” although we have heard little about it since. Google’s I/O Developers Conference is set to kick off on Wednesday in San Francisco.

A special committee that is evaluating the offer from investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management to acquire Dell is seeking additional information about the bid, Reuters reported. Icahn and Southeastern, two of Dell’s largest shareholders, offered a deal worth up to $21 billion in cash that would allow people who own Dell stock to keep their current stakes in the company. Shareholders would be given the option to receive either $12 per share in cash or $12 in additional shares valued at $1.65 per share. The offer counters a $24.4 billion bid led by Dell founder Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners to take the company private.

Continue reading…

The Associated Press revealed on Monday that the Justice Department secretly obtained records for more than 20 phone lines belonging to its reporters and editors. The seizures affected both personal cell phones and office lines in AP bureaus in New York, Hartford and Washington.

The AP’s CEO, Gary Pruitt, revealed the existence of the phone record seizures, which took place in early 2012, in a public letter to Attorney General Eric Holder which states in part:

“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters [..] We regard this action by the Department of Justice as a serious interference with AP’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news.”

Various reports of the seizures have suggested they are tied to the Justice Department’s investigation of media leaks related to a CIA operation in Yemen.

According to David Schulz, a lawyer for the AP, the Justice Department may have violated Watergate-era regulations that require the Attorney General to sign off on subpoenas directed at members of the media. In a phone interview, Schulz told me that the government’s broad request interferes with the basic ability of a free press to report on the government.

While the national security aspects of the story are not entirely clear, some media outlets are framing the phone record seizures as further evidence of the Obama Administration’s hardline attitude towards press leaks, which has resulted in several high profile prosecutions in the past five years.

Leaks have become easier to trace in recent years given that so much communication involves technology that leaves virtual fingerprints of one kind or another. At the same time, national security letters and other legal trappings of the post 9/11 era mean it’s become easier for a wide variety of government and law enforcement agencies to obtain phone records without a warrant.

Government seizures of reporters’ communications also appears at cross-purposes with calls for a federal shield law to protect journalists from having to disclose their sources; if such a law were passed, the AP episode shows the government could try and determine sources by looking at reporters’ phone records.

The AP news compounds a bad start to the week for the White House which is already battling allegations that a politicized IRS singled out its political enemies.

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The on again, off again saga of the Motorola X Phone continues with a new entry today courtesy of graphic benchmarking site GFXBench. Going by the codename “Ghost” a Motorola XT1058 showed up sporting an 1196 x 720 screen resolution and Android 4.2.2. The device lists a MSM8960 chipset, which makes it seem likely it is running a Snapdragon S4 Pro or Snapdragon 600, although the testing results may reveal something more.

Despite the seemingly modest hardware, relative to early rumors and expectations, the XT1058 did post some impressive benchmark scores. The device scored higher than the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 on the T-Rex HD and Egypt HD 3D animations tests. The question then is whether Motorola has figured out a way to squeeze some extra power out of the current line of Snapdragon processors or is there something else in the device helping things along in the graphics department?

Other than helping confirm the existence of a “Ghost” phone from Motorola, the benchmark tests that were published do little to help us peg where this new device will enter the market relative to the competition.

source: GFXBench
via: Android Authority

Come comment on this article: Possible Motorola X Phone benchmark shows up on GFX Bench

 

The HTC First launched just last month, but sources say that the device known as the “Facebook phone” will soon be discontinued by AT&T. The source told tech website BGR that AT&T has sold less than 15,000 units nationwide, and will will be returning their unsold inventory back to HTC as a result of its poor performance. We should have seen this coming last week when AT&T dropped the phone’s price from $100 to 99¢ just a month into its availability.

Despite the report, a statement by an AT&T spokeswomen said, “as mentioned previously, we do pricing promotions all the time and have made no decisions on future plans,” giving a glimmer of hope to those who are fans of the phone with Facebook Home in-built.

Source: BGR

Come comment on this article: HTC First reportedly to be discontinued by AT&T barely a month into its release

Medical device maker Theragenics Corp said it had received a takeover offer of $69.9 million to $71.4 million from Juniper Investment Co, representing a premium of 51-54 percent to its closing stock price on Friday.

(Reuters) – Medical device maker Theragenics Corp said it had received a takeover offer of $69.9 million to $71.4 million from Juniper Investment Co, representing a premium of 51-54 percent to its closing stock price on Friday, Reuters said.

The company’s shares rose about 36 percent to $2.03 in early trading on the Nasdaq. Juniper Investments is offering $2.25 to $2.30 per share in cash, Theragenics said.

In a letter dated May 10, Juniper had offered Theragenics $2.05 to $2.10 per share. Theragenics said the latest offer represents a negotiated increase from the initial bid.

It also said it would negotiate exclusively with Juniper through June 11 regarding the acquisition. If the two reach a deal, Theragenics would seek interest from potential suitors through a “go shop” provision, the medical device maker said.

Theragenics is being advised by financial advisor VRA Partners and legal advisor Bryan Cave LLP.

The post Theragenics Gets Buyout Offer from Investment Firm; Shares Jump appeared first on peHUB.

Emerald Oil also announced it would sell 10 million shares of common stock in a secondary offering. Emerald Oil has agreed to issue and sell 19.9% of common stock, including warrants held by White Deer, to the energy private equity firm. The closing of the White Deer private placement is scheduled occur within 10 days of the public offering. Denver-based Emerald Oil is an independent exploration and production operator.

PRESS RELEASE

Emerald Oil, Inc. (NYSE MKT: EOX) (the “Company”) announced today it has signed a definitive agreement with affiliates of White Deer Energy (“White Deer”), an energy private equity firm, to issue and sell a number of the Company’s shares of common stock that, inclusive of the warrants held by White Deer, equals 19.9% of the Company’s common stock outstanding immediately after the closing of the Company’s previously announced proposed public offering at a purchase price per share equal to the net price per share of the proposed public offering, plus 0.95% of the gross price per share of the proposed public offering. The closing of this private placement is scheduled to occur within ten days business following the closing of the Company’s proposed public offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this private placement, along with the net proceeds from the proposed public offering, cash on hand, cash flow from operations, proceeds from the sale of assets and additional borrowings under the Company’s credit facility, to fund the Company’s capital budget in 2013 and for general corporate purposes, including working capital.

The shares of common stock offered and anticipated to be sold to White Deer pursuant to the purchase agreement will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful.

ABOUT EMERALD OIL, INC.

Emerald Oil is an independent exploration and production operator that is focused on acquiring acreage and developing wells in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana, targeting the Bakken and Three Forks shale oil formations. Emerald Oil is based in Denver, CO. More information about Emerald Oil can be found at www.emeraldoil.com or by calling investor relations at 303-323-0008 x200

The post Emerald Oil to Sell Stake to White Deer appeared first on peHUB.

We all kind of knew that Twitter’s path to making money was paved with data, and the announcement on Monday that it’s buying analytics startup Lucky Sort makes it official. Unless I’m totally misreading the writing on the wall, this move is all about giving advertisers — and anyone, in theory — the tools to learn about what people are talking about.

Word that Lucky Sort is shutting down and that several of its team are joining Twitter’s revenue engineering department suggests this is exactly what the acquisition aims to accomplish.

As it stands, companies use Twitter as a way to track how people are talking about them and maybe, if they’re really advanced, do some sentiment analysis. If they’re willing to pay a third party, Datasift and Gnip are more than happy to broaden marketers’ views to encompass the entirety of Twitter’s data, both real-time and historical. What companies really can’t do, though, is run their own advanced analytics about topics straight from the Twitter platform.

The value proposition from such a product should be obvious at this point. Facebook, Google and Yahoo all collect a lot of data about how people are using their platforms and what topics are trending, and they all offer it up via a variety of products targeting marketing types and the public at large. If Twitter wants to be taken seriously as a venue for advertising budgets and a platform for measuring the pulse of the nation, people need to be able to ask questions of its data without relying on an intermediary or the occasional Twitter blog post.

As a journalist, I’d love to have access to this type of tool to track trending topics in real time and spot possible stories as they’re happening. The appeal to marketers should be obvious. As IBM’s Erick Brethenoux told me recently, “[Marketers] talk a good game about social data. Very few actually leverage it effectively today.”

At Twitter, though, data is a slightly different beast than at other web companies. Twitter’s value lies largely in real-time data — topics can be peak, crest and all but vanish within a 48-hour window. This situation has hampered some of Twitter’s efforts to surface optimal search results, and it has spurred the decision to buy companies such as Backtype (for its streaming-processing Storm technology) and parallel-processing startup Ubalo.

The latter move, which happened last week, should help Twitter’s development team create new features without worrying about the intricacies of making them run — and run fast — across a cluster of machines. (You can learn a lot more about how companies such as Google, Facebook and Box are rethinking infrastructure to handle their unique data needs at our Structure conference next month in San Francisco.)

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