Destiny’s House of Wolves expansion launches on May 19th – watch the first trailer
Eight months after Destiny's debut, the second expansion finally has a release date. On Monday, Bungie published a CG trailer for House of Wolves, the expansion that will send any Guardians still immersed in the worlds of Destiny to The Reef, a location that players have been dying to explore since it first appeared in the campaign.
Time Warner Cable can dramatically boost your Internet speed at no cost… but only if Google Fiber’s around
In the past we've often marveled at how quickly real competition can get incumbent ISPs to really up their games. Our latest example, via Redditor Xeppo, is Time Warner Cable's vow to "transform TV and Internet experience in the Charlotte area." Not coincidentally, Charlotte is one of the markets where Google Fiber this year announced it's expanding to.
Surprise! Apple releases its first beta for iOS 8.4
If you thought iOS 8.3 was the end of iOS 8 releases, you were mistaken. Apple on Monday released its first beta for iOS 8.4, which will be the last major iteration of iOS 8 before the unveiling of iOS 9 at this year's WWDC. Per 9to5Mac , it seems that the highlight of iOS 8.4 will be the launch of a completely new music application that will eventually serve as the basis for the music streaming service Apple is expected to unveil at WWDC.
Whatever you do, don’t watch this new Terminator: Genisys trailer
Don’t. Watch. This. Trailer.
I mean it, I wish I could unsee it but it’s too late for me, it spoiled the entire movie.
Apple Seeds First iOS 8.4 Beta to Developers
Apple today seeded the first beta of iOS 8.4 to registered developers for testing purposes, just five days after releasing iOS 8.3 to the public. The beta is available for download from the iOS Developer Center.iOS 8.3 introduced several new features like diversified emoji, an updated emoji picker, new Siri abilities, and Wireless CarPlay support. It is not clear yet what updates iOS 8.4 will bring, but it has been rumored to be the update that will include Apple's new music service.
Watch: HDD and floppy drives play amazing version of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’
If you're looking for an incredibly creative video to watch to kill some time, you'll be hard pressed to find something better than this. Using just HDD and Floppy drives, YouTube user Arganalth recently put together an amazing rendition of Nirvana's iconic song, Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Don’t panic: Your Apple Watch will likely arrive sooner than when Apple told you
If you're one of the estimated 1 million people who preordered an Apple Watch over the past few days, there's a good chance that you're bummed out because Apple told you that you likely won't be getting your watch delivered until June or later. However, MacRumors is reporting that Apple actually expects those projected wait times to get much better, which means you'll likely get your device earlier than you initially expected.
Watch: Samsung’s new Galaxy S6 ad highlights one of its most useful features
Samsung on Monday released a new TV commercial for the Galaxy S6 that focuses on one of the phone’s main features... but the company is not pushing the novel curved display of the Galaxy S6 edge model and is instead focusing on something more useful.
Apple Responds to Concerns About Apple Watch Launch: Deliveries Could Arrive Sooner Than Estimated
Many people have been concerned with the long wait times for the Apple Watch, which saw shipping estimates slip for many models less than an hour after it became available for pre-order. All models sold out in less than six hours, and orders placed today won't ship for months. There are a lot of buyers who are facing delivery times than span into June, July, and August, but Apple believes that some of these orders could ship out earlier than their estimated shipping dates.
The Apple executive team member that spoke to Andrew referenced long wait times for earlier devices like the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, noting that shipping estimates were often much longer than actual wait times and suggesting that the same thing might happen with the Apple Watch.
[Apple] said that June preorders will most likely ship sooner than June. Of course he didn't make any promises, but that's the reason Apple is announcing such an extended ship date after all - to avoid disappointment through false guarantees.
Andrew's email focused on Apple's decision to advertise April 24th as the Apple Watch launch day despite the fact that it won't be purchasable in store on that date, a point that stood out to both Apple's executive team and Tim Cook, who personally read the email.
"I think it'd be silly not to believe that there will be queues lined up around the globe on launch day if the "online exclusive" information regarding the (false) advertisement of a launch day isn't spread soon and fast."
The email echoed some of the problems Apple executives are debating, and Andrew was told the discussion over in-store stock on launch day and the advertisement of the 4/24 launch date for the Apple Watch are being considered by Apple with "great concern." Apple said it doesn't want people lining up at stores if there's no stock available to purchase.
Due to supply constraints and the desire to provide the best purchasing experience for customers, Apple has so far decided that all Apple Watch orders must be placed online. There will be no walk-in Apple Watch purchases available on April 24, unless the company's plans change. Andrew was told Apple's plans are not final, but it is unclear if Apple would be able to sell Apple Watch units in-store on launch day given the significant supply issues.
The executive Andrew spoke with said Apple "cares deeply" about the launch experience and hopes to improve the way people wait in line through the new Apple Watch reservation system. Online-only reservations are new territory for Apple in the United States, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that the company could revert back to traditional sales methods if its Apple Watch sales experiment does not work out.
Andrew's full email can be read on the MacRumors forums, as can more detail on the response that he received from Apple.
Apple Collects 15% of Revenue Generated From HBO NOW and Other Apple TV Apps
Apple collects 30% of revenue generated from the sale of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps, including in-app purchases, so the commission for Apple TV apps is half the amount developers are forced to hand over through the App Store. While the difference does not make a difference for consumers, the lower cut could make Apple TV a more attractive platform for HBO and other cable channels.
"But it’s even more interesting to think about Apple’s tiers of fees as we enter a world where lots of people are going to be selling Web video subscription products via platforms like Apple’s. Whether Apple is charging 15 percent or 30 percent a month, it’s giving distributors a much better deal than the 50 percent that pay TV providers usually charge premium networks like HBO. That makes the platform even more enticing to cable channels that are thinking about stepping outside of the traditional pay TV bundle — and it puts more pressure on the cable guys to sweeten the deals they already offer."
The report adds that HBO is in negotiations to reach HBO NOW distribution deals with its existing pay TV distributors, enabling them to sell the service to their existing subscribers as an add-on. HBO is said to already have a deal in place with Cablevision and is reportedly in talks with Cox and Verizon as well. HBO NOW is exclusive to the Apple TV among streaming boxes for three months, at which point it should expand to other devices and platforms.
Oh, the irony: Xiaomi is fuming about rivals ripping off its designs
Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has a rich history of blatantly copying both Apple software and hardware, a skill it has perfected to such an extent that it's become quite the profitable entity -- to the tune of $45 billion. In fact, in China, Xiaomi is now sells more phones than both Samsung and Apple.
Sharp just unveiled a 4K smartphone display with a ridiculous 806 pixels per inch
If you think 2K displays are unnecessary for a smartphone, just wait until you see what's coming next year. As Techblog.gr reports, Sharp has already announced such a screen that’ll fit 5.5-inch phablets at some point next year, bringing users an ultra-sharp resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, or 806 pixels per inch (ppi).
Deal alert: Get $100 off one of the world’s best Android Wear watches