Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" Brings Small Changes, Long-Term Support

Canonical released the latest version of Ubuntu Linux this week, with a bit of polish all around. Here's what you'll find.

The latest version, 14.04—also known as "Trusty Tahr"—doesn't bring a ton of new feature to the OS, instead adding a bit of polish to the OS for its "long term support" release. 14.04 comes with a number of small tweaks to the appearance, like borderless windows, a new lock screen, some theme changes. It also brings menus back to the apps (rather than a universal menu bar along the top). And, as usual, built-in apps have been updated to their latest version.

Ubuntu One is unfortunately no longer, but the rest of the OS is a worthy update for Ubuntu users. Hit the link below to check it out, or see ZDNet's review for a more in-depth rundown of what's new.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

View the Original article

Landbay Brings The P2P Finance Model To Buy-To-Let In The UK

P2P lenders have sprung up in recent years online. Zopa in the UK pioneered the model, and has raised significant funding. And the P2P finance model has even spread to insurance.

Now the model is spreading again, in a rather specific vertical.

In the UK property is no longer mere property. It has morphed into a form of money. This has seen an explosion in the ‘buy to let’ boom where property is bought and sold as an asset. The boom has largely been driven by the wealthy, and in London by the super rich. Just read this Vanity Fair article from last year.

Now a startup is aiming to bring the P2P revolution to this market, democratizing the process and making buy-to-let easier to reach for the less monied. It’s a big market. Some £21 billion went though buy-to-let mortgage lending in the UK in 2013.

Just launched in Beta, Landbay is a seed- funded startup with a platform for P2P lending for property.

It will offer lenders attractive (at lest compared to banks) returns (3% to 10% dependent on risk taken), on all secured against UK residential property to offer buy-to-let mortgages to borrowers. It claims to do this with a faster, more intelligent application process.

With a minimum investment level of £100, that means it’s pretty accessible.

Landbay is hoping to appeal to savers and investors who have struggled to secure low risk returns at rates above inflation, whether from cash accounts, savings accounts, bonds or other traditional financial products.

Competitors to Landbay’s model are Assetz and LendInvest, however, they focus mainly on lending for riskier commercial property and developer lending, not the residential buy to let mortgage market. It is not playing in the much riskier commercial property or bridging loan markets.

The founders are CEO John Goodall, a founded of a recruitment consultancy who sold his stake. He’s joined on the tech side by CTO Gray Stern, who is a property tech specialist and Maulik Sailor.

The UK property market is, in a word, bonkers so we’re likely to see other such sites appear soon.

Chrome Beta update brings undo button for closed tabs, and ‘some’ other stuff

Google’s Chrome Beta on Android has a few new tricks up its sleeve. Admittedly, we’ve already seen these features on the desktop browser, but now possible on Android will be the ability to reopen a closed tab, fullscreen HTML5 video playback, support for some multi-window supporting devices and the ability to send some video to your Chromecast.

We are always excited to see new features injected into Google’s Chrome Beta browser. Not only are new features exciting for the bleeding edge users that enjoy the beta channel, but, true to the ‘beta’ moniker, they serve as a strong indicator of possible things to come for the normal Chrome browser.

The ability to reopen your last closed tab operates as a small popup with an Undo button, visually very similar to the ‘undo’ notification you may be familiar with in your Gmail on the desktop. You’ll see it at the bottom of your screen for a few seconds after closing a tab, making it best for recovery of accidental closes. This feature only works for the last tab closed, but there is a Recent tabs option in the main menu if you need to go back further.

Fullscreen HTML5 video playback supports subtitles and has on-screen controls, but Google says that the controls are not yet complete, so beware of that. Multi-window support is only available for some devices. There is no list of which multi-window capable devices Chrome Beta now supports, they simply say it works for some. We’ll have to keep our eye on this as it matures, it will be interesting to see which devices are actually supported and how the feature operates.

Similarly to the support of ‘some’ devices for multi-window support, Chromecast support will only work for some video types. With a notable absence, you will not be able to cast YouTube videos from the browser, but there is always the YouTube app for that. Sadly, in our quick tests of the most popular video services, we could not find any videos that would cast, but we’re still very excited to watch this evolve into a solid feature, just one step closer to our dream of being able to cast an entire Chrome tab from Android.

As is usually the case, Google offers no promises as to if or when these features may graduate to the mainstream Chrome browser that most of us have on our Android devices. For now, you’ll have to install or update your Chrome Beta from the Google Play Store if you want to take these new features a spin.

Are you a Chrome Beta user, or do you prefer to just wait for features to hit the stable release? If you have already been testing out the new features, what do you think so far?

previous post

---

CloudMagic Email app – Indie app of the day

next post

---

Deezer lifts music streaming cap; Galaxy S5 users get premium access

Landbay Brings The P2P Finance Model To Buy-To-Let In The UK

P2P lenders have sprung up in recent years online. Zopa in the UK pioneered the model, and has raised significant funding. And the P2P finance model has even spread to insurance.

Now the model is spreading again, in a rather specific vertical.

In the UK property is no longer mere property. It has morphed into a form of money. This has seen an explosion in the ‘buy to let’ boom where property is bought and sold as an asset. The boom has largely been driven by the wealthy, and in London by the super rich. Just read this Vanity Fair article from last year.

Now a startup is aiming to bring the P2P revolution to this market, democratizing the process and making buy-to-let easier to reach for the less monied. It’s a big market. Some £21 billion went though buy-to-let mortgage lending in the UK in 2013.

Just launched in Beta, Landbay is a seed- funded startup with a platform for P2P lending for property.

It will offer lenders attractive (at lest compared to banks) returns (3% to 10% dependent on risk taken), on all secured against UK residential property to offer buy-to-let mortgages to borrowers. It claims to do this with a faster, more intelligent application process.

With a minimum investment level of £100, that means it’s pretty accessible.

Landbay is hoping to appeal to savers and investors who have struggled to secure low risk returns at rates above inflation, whether from cash accounts, savings accounts, bonds or other traditional financial products.

Competitors to Landbay’s model are Assetz and LendInvest, however, they focus mainly on lending for riskier commercial property and developer lending, not the residential buy to let mortgage market. It is not playing in the much riskier commercial property or bridging loan markets.

The founders are CEO John Goodall, a founded of a recruitment consultancy who sold his stake. He’s joined on the tech side by CTO Gray Stern, who is a property tech specialist and Maulik Sailor.

The UK property market is, in a word, bonkers so we’re likely to see other such sites appear soon.

Google Play Music update brings Sonos support

Owners of Sonos sound systems can now play music straight from Play Music for Android, without having to switch to the Sonos app.

Even with native support for Sonos, you will still need the dedicated Sonos app installed on your device, but not having to stop your tunes to jump to a new app when you get home from jogging is a convenience we appreciate. The added Sonos support doesn’t entail any interface changes, as Google made use of the existing chromecasting icon. Pressing it will show all your Sonos devices, in case you own more than one, with the only requirement being that you are on the same Wi-Fi network. If you prefer using the Sonos controller app, you will be given the option to select Play Music from there (Android and iOS users alike).

Play Music is the first big music service that gains this sort of integration with Sonos products. “In Google Play Music, we’ve found a great partner to bring this vision to life for the first time on a global scale,” said the Sonos team in a blog post.

previous post

---

Wind-Up Knight 2 finally released worldwide

next post

---

Google unveils plans to bring continuous malware monitoring to Android

WhatsApp beta update brings new camera function [APK]

Loie Favre 2014-04-08T18:00:00Z22 hours ago

Loie Favre

Loie Favre is a Canadian-German, food-loving, live-music-craving globe-trotter. Coming from a humble background in the Canadian Prairies centred around nature and the Arts, she studied Translation and Languages in Edmonton. She left his home on the Pacific Coast of Canada, to seek her fortune in Berlin. She is now an Editor and Manager for AndroidPIT.com and is enjoying discovering about everything and anything under the sun about Android.

There’s a new beta version of WhatsApp for Android that brings a new camera feature. On top of showing you this new function, we've also go the APK link for the update.

© AndroidPIT

The new beta version under build number 2.11.209 doesn’t offer the awaited free calls just yet, like we saw arrive to Facebook Messenger with its most recent update four days ago. For the time being, there are only very minor changes, however it is still in development, meaning this isn't necessarily the final version. There isn’t much to see yet in terms of new functions, aside from two that really stand out.

New functions

After installing the APK and starting a conversation with a contact, you’ll spot the first of the changes. Next to the microphone icon on the bottom, there’s also a camera icon, giving you access to an in-app camera feature right from a conversation.

Before and after the beta update to WhatsApp for Android. © AndroidPIT.

When tapping on it, you’ll be brought to the camera viewfinder screen that looks a little new as well. The interface is still simple, but now includes a flash icon to be able to change the flash from automatic, off or on. You still get the icon that serves the purpose of switching from back to front camera and vice versa. Now the name of the contact will also appear at the top part of the screen.

Before (left) and after of WhatsApp udpate. © AndroidPIT

I also noticed that though the person receives the picture, there is no trace of it in the gallery app on my phone.

Here is the link for the WhatsApp for Android update APK.

 Previous

The Walking Dead: Season One comes to Android, two years late

 Next

How to manually replace the non-removable Nexus 5 battery

View the Original article

Pocket update brings immersive mode and more language support

Kris Carlon 2014-04-09T10:00:01Z6 hours ago

Kris Carlon

Putting down roots in Berlin after six years of traveling is a major step for Kris Carlon, who has spent more time living out of a tent lately than sitting at a desk. Kris comes to the AndroidPIT Editorial Team via a lengthy period spent writing on art and culture in Australia and other places he has lived. He joined the Android community while resurfacing in civilization back in 2010 and has never looked back, using technology to replace his actual presence in other people's lives ever since.

Pocket, the offline reading app for Android has just been updated which takes advantage of KitKat's immersive mode, which pushes system bars off screen and floats your navigation buttons above whatever it is you're doing. The update also brings additional language support and some other reading optimization goodies.

The best just got better: Pocket is now optimized for immersive mode on KitKat. / © Pocket

The update to version 5.4 should appear automatically on your device in the very near future, and you'll get a splash screen announcing the update along with a changelog if you want more information. For the lazy, you'll get immersive mode on KitKat devices (and hidden status bars on Android 4.1+), providing you with a much nicer reading experience, and a ''refined layout and typography'' and ''automatic adjustments to layout and formatting when adjusting text size to deliver the most readable view''.

Pocket is an indispensable app for anyone that likes to read on their Android. / © AndroidPIT/Read It Later

Pocket now also supports Chinese, Dutch, Korean, Polish and Portuguese languages. If you're the kind of on-the-go person that always intends on coming back to an article later on and then completely forgets about it, Pocket is the perfect reminder. Simply share anything you come across to Pocket and have it ready for offline reading at your leisure.

You'll get the familiar reading view (left) when you open a Pocket article, but as soon as you scroll you'll enter immersive mode (right). / © AndroidPIT/Read It Later

Check out my list of three apps to improve your web browsing experience on Android as well as other awesome offline apps for Android.

Are you using Pocket? What other offline apps do you recommend?

Source: Google Play

 Previous

Galaxy S5 vs HTC One M8: power saving modes

 Next

The Walking Dead: Season One comes to Android, two years late

View the Original article

Eyeview Brings Its Personalized Video Ads To Internet-Connected TVs

Personalized video advertising company Eyeview is announcing that its ads will now work on Internet-connected TVs, specifically those with Roku and Microsoft Xbox devices.

Eyeview’s technology allows ads to be customized using viewer data. For example, it allows a big chain to create a national ad that will include local stores and deals depending on where it’s is shown.

Co-founder and CEO Oren Harnevo already suggested that this was a likely direction for the company when he announced its Series C funding last year. He told me at the time that because the system works by creating “hundreds of thousands” of variations for each ad (rather than personalizing it by using a Flash overlay, like some competitors), Eyeview could bring its ads to other devices like connected TVs.

When discussing today’s announcement, Harnevo acknowledged that on TVs, smart or not, there are no cookies and therefore less data for Eyeview’s targeting and personalization. However, he suggested that the company will know the time of day, the location, and basic demographic information, which will allow it to deliver ads that are “a lot more relevant” than traditional TV campaigns.

Harnevo also acknowledged that the size of the current audience on smart TVs means that “the scale is not huge,” so it’s more likely that advertisers will see these ads as a “complementary” part of larger campaigns. That doesn’t mean it’s not valuable, though, and he argued that as audiences embrace the on-demand TV model and as companies like Eyeview enable this kind of advertising, “I think you’ll see the brand dollars shift very quickly.”

Eyeview says its ads can appear on “all broadcast and cable networks” on supported devices.

AutoCast brings the power of Tasker to Chromecast: multi-tasking, voice control and more

Ever since Google released its official SDK for the Chromecast we’ve seen a major increase in the number of apps that support the media streamer, and in turn the Chromecast’s functionality has greatly improved.

Think your Chromecast is already more than impressive? AutoCast takes your casting experience to a whole new level and puts just about every other app to shame! AutoCast is by the same developer as the impressive Tasker plugin, AutoPebble and largely works the same way.

With AutoCast, you can can not only cast video, audio and images from sources such as Dropbox, VIMEO and other locations, but you can also receive notifications from your smartphone directly over to your Chromecast’s screen. There’s even the ability to cast multiple different types of content at once — such as showing off a slideshow while playing music.

Equally impressive, AutoCast allows you to control the entire experience using your own voice, giving you the ability to fastforward and rewind content, do Youtube searches and so much more.

Out of the box, Chromecast might not offer nearly as much functionality as Roku, Apple TV and the new Fire TV, but efforts like AutoCast illustrate just how flexible the Chromecast can be. It’s hard not to be impressed when you consider that the Chromecast is less than half the price of its biggest competitors.

To check out AutoCast for yourself, you’ll want to give the fry app a try. Keep in mind, the free version only works with select content and is designed to give you a better idea of what to expect before buying the premium version. Thankfully, the paid app is very affordable, and can be unlocked for just $1.37.

What do you think of AutoCast, impressed? Anyone try it out yet, if so, what do you think so far?

previous post

---

Galaxy S5 wireless charging cover now available for preorder

next post

---

Google expands ability to access app content from within Google Search, adds 24 new apps and global support

BBM update brings stickers, larger attachments and group photo sharing

Kamran Farooqui 2014-04-02T12:16:51Z1 day ago

Kamran Farooqui

Curious by nature and a big techie at heart, Kamran is a big Android enthusiast, absolutely loves his Nexus 4 and believes that there is a special place in hell for people who prefer skinned Android over stock. When not vegetating, you will probably find him either struggling with his university essays or playing football or Call of Duty.

Blackberry has announced today the latest version of BBM which finally puts BBM on par with other popular messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Viber. The BBM update brings with itself support for larger file attachments, picture sharing in group chats and the introduction of free and paid stickers.

The sticker packs would be available in a variety of different shapes, sizes and themes, and would be available as both free and paid packs from the BBM shop which is integrated in the app. In addition to stickers, BBM now supports files up to 16 MB (Up from 10 MB) and users can now share photos in group chats as well.

Even though Blackberry might be struggling to compete in the smartphone market against the likes of Apple and Samsung, its BBM platform is still pretty popular and is growing at a healthy rate, and actually has a higher engagement level in major European markets than similar popular messaging apps such as Tango and LINE.

Blackberry has said that the latest version of BBM should be rolling out today for Blackberry 10, iOS and Android, so you can download it for free from your device’s respective App Store. The correct version for Android is BBM 2.1 so look out for that on Google Play.

So what do you think about the latest update to BBM? Personally, I never really understood the charm of purchasing a bunch of stickers when emojis more or less does the job for me, so perhaps a kind reader could explain to me the rationale behind it that has so far eluded me. I’d rather save that money to buy some gems for Clash of Clans. At least it’s FUN.

Via: TechCrunch

 Previous

Sonic CD free only today in Amazon Appstore

 Next

Galaxy S5 mini tech specs leak: Super AMOLED display, KitKat and more

View the Original article

IFTTT Brings App Automation to the iPad, Adds Collections, and More

iOS: If This Then That's iPhone app is already an easy way to automate all kinds of things on your phone, and now the app is available on the iPad. Alongside the new iPad version also comes a new collections feature as well as some new triggers.

As with the iPhone version, you can create IFTTT recipes that tap into your iPad's apps. For example, you could set up a trigger so your iOS photos automatically upload to Dropbox. For the most part, the iPad version of the app works identically to the new iPhone version with the exception of being nicely scaled up on the bigger screen. IFTTT also added a new collections feature to the iOS apps where you can browse recipes based on type. For example, you can look at recipes catered to photographers, travelers, or nature lovers.

Also new is a notifications channel where you can send custom notifications to your iOS device based on recipes as well as a new photos trigger where a recipe runs when you take a photo in a specific area.

IFTTT (Free) | iTunes App Store

View the Original article

Google Brings Back the "Search Nearby" Feature in Maps

S

The new Google Maps is looking great, but many of us sorely missed the superb and simple "search nearby" function that unexpectedly vanished. Now, it's finally back.

Although it was little more than a text link at the bottom of your search results, the "search nearby" function in Google Maps was hugely popular for drilling down into exciting locational discoveries. When the revamped Google Maps went live, there was a quiet outcry when "search nearby" was found missing. But casual cartographers around the world are throwing their hats in the air as the function has just been returned to the all-new Google Maps experience.

For the uninitiated, "search nearby" narrows your location searches to the on-screen map, allowing for local places of business and interest to be revealed without actually knowing precisely what you're looking for. It begins by searching for an address—let's say a friend's house you're visiting—and then clicking the "search nearby" link in the results. For example, you might want to find bars or pizza places near your friend's house, so the search engine narrows its field of vision to that particular area. Simple and classic.

Head over to Google Maps to try it out.

View the Original article

Google Keyboard gets a new update, brings personalized suggestions

It looks like Google Search isn’t the only Google app receiving an update this Wednesday. Google Keyboard has also a new update in store for us that brings a few bug fixes, a new settings icon when long-pressing the mic button and personalized suggestions.

Personalized Suggestions is without a doubt the most important change here. These new suggestions use data from other Google apps and services to improve the keyboard’s suggestions. In other words, it gauges the way you type throughout all your Google apps to provide the most accurate recommendations possible.

Although apps like SwiftKey already can learn your writing style by using Facebook, Gmail and other sources — it’s nice to see Google bring this functionality to the default keyboard. Don’t like the idea of Google collecting this data? Rest assured that everything is stored locally, and there is a way to disable the feature.

Keep in mind that, in usual Google fashion, the update is rolling out in stages and so it may not be available for your device just yet. To check for the update, you’ll want to head over to Google Play.

Like this post? Share it!

previous post

Google Search update introduces ‘Take a Picture’ and ‘Take a video’ voice commands

next post

OnePlus will offer StyleSwap replaceable back covers: bamboo, denim and more

‘MarkAsRead for Gmail’ app brings a Read button to Gmail notifications

Right now, if you receive a Gmail notification, you have one of two options: you can either archive it or reply. Wish there were more choices than that? Thanks to a new app appropriately named “MarkAsRead for Gmail” you finally get the option to simply mark the message as read, without having to do anything else.

MarkAsRead works by intercepting Gmail notifications, it then dismisses them and sends a clone to our notification tray that adds a handy “Read” button in between the Archive and Reply options. Although this is a simple app, it’s still a welcome change that we wish Google would bring us directly.

You can grab the app for yourself from Google Play for $1.31. While this is a little hefty of a price to pay for an app that has just one function, remember that you’re not just buying the one feature, but your investing in the developer and the work they’ve put into it. And for what it’s worth, the developer already has more “MarkAsRead” ideas in store for us in the future, such as possibily bringing similar functionality to SMS messages.

What do you think, is getting a “Read” button worth $1.31 in your opinion? Anyone try this yet, if so, does it work for you as it should?

Like this post? Share it!

previous post

Newsbeat app creates a radio show based on your favorite news sites

next post

Samsung Galaxy S5 up for pre-order from AT&T starting tomorrow, US Cellular also confirms its plans