Google announced its Marshmallow platform last year and began to roll it out late in March beginning with Cambodia. It is currently the latest Android operating platform available and has been rolled out for a number of devices. It was recently released for the Galaxy Note 5 too, so here is all the features you should be aware of.
Marshmallow has been rolled out by Samsung for unlocked phones while carriers around the world have released it for phones under contract- beginning late March. A number of patches and updates have been made available since to fix certain issues brought about after the Marshmallow update.
So if you use a Samsung Galaxy Note 5, you should be able to download Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 quite easily. You can look for the update manually under Settings > About Phone > System Update. While most carriers have already made the update available, some are expected to do so by the end of May.
Four interesting features on Marshmallow are:
Doze
The new mode is intuitive and allows your phone to go into ‘sleep state’ which helps conserve battery on the phone. This in conjunction with the OS’s optimization provides longer usage cycles on devices.
Now on Tap
Devices running on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 are now able to pull up a ‘smart assistant’ by holding down the ‘Home button’. It enables the user to look for information on the web even if they are within another application.
Google Pay
Just like Apple Pay, Marshmallow comes along with Google ‘Pay’ on the newest platform that allows you to authorize purchases and payments faster from your device. You will also be able to authorize payments with your fingerprint sensor.
Advanced App Permission controls
The new OS allows users to toggle between app permissions in one unified list rather than the old way of managing each app’s permissions individually on different screens.
You’ll find a number of other aesthetic improvements throughout the new Marshmallow OS, as well as shortcuts that can be accessed from your notification center screen.
Our obsession with selfies — we take millions of them a day — is finally generating something useful: innovation.
World, meet the automated selfie stick. It extends, or telescopes, on
its own, has a pair of beauty lights that extend from the back of the
iPhone holder and even fans that fold out to blow your hair back for
that perfect, wind-swept look.
SEE ALSO: Sorry selfie lovers, the first-gen iPhone was not made for you
It’s the craziest and most impractical selfie stick ever. It’s also, sadly, not available for purchase.
Created by Thinkmodo — the madcap hacker/video-makers/marketers that brought you Devil Baby and Super Strong Meter Maid Lifting Taxi —
the automated selfie stick is a working gadget, but there are only two
(one is a backup) and they were built to promote the upcoming season of
Lifetime’s Unreal.
Unreal is a fictional, behind-the-scenes look at the making of a The Bachelor-like show. It’s a funny but trenchant look at manufactured reality.
"We think it’s something Kim Kardashian would love to get it for Christmas."
"Lifetime wanted something that communicated self-image
manipulation," said Thinkmodo co-founder Michael Krivicka, who edited
and directed the above video.
Krivicka, Thinkmodo co-founder James Percelay and producer Sam
Pezzullo came up with the idea of a sort of next-gen selfie stick to
help market the show, which premieres on June 6.
Lifetime loved the concept, said Pezzullo.
Not your ordinary selfie stick
Thinkmodo spent three months building the device, which features a
large black and red handle that houses the wiring, motors and batteries
necessary to auto-extend the stick, and the phone holder that houses the
lights and fans. There’s even a second battery on the back of the phone
dock to power the beauty lights and the motors that extend them and the
fans. Did I mention this is a heavy selfie stick?
The automated selfie stick quickly attracted attention.
Image: Thinkmodo
"It’s
a little bit heavier than a regular selfie stick, but did you see the
features?" said Miami-based actress Noa Lindberg who is featured in the
video. "Every time they add a feature, it gets heavier, but it’s totally
worth it."
Lindberg said she didn’t need to be trained on how to use the
sophisticated selfie stick. There’s a clearly labeled button for each
main feature.
"All the parts are custom-made," said Krivicka. "The fans were designed from scratch."
In the video, Lindberg sidles
up to other selfie-takers who are clearly stunned when she whips out
the automated stick, which starts extending with a press of a button.
"Generally, they said, 'Oh my god, it’s so amazing, where can I get
it?'"
How it works
Like a regular selfie stick, this one connects to your phone via
Bluetooth (iPhone only) and the photos in the video were actually shot
using it. Even the fans work, though Thinkmodo admits to using a little
artistic license in the shoot.
The retractable beauty lights were a nice touch.
Image: thinkmodo
"The fans are strong enough to blow hair, but like in any commercial, we might have added some wind effect to enhance it."
Lindberg, who is currently shooting a vampire movie called The Soiree,
said she has a favorite automated selfie stick feature. "[It]
definitely is the lights. It’s just fantastic. It’s like a to-go
studio," she said.
Unlike some of their
previous video outings, this wasn’t a prank and Thinkmodo didn’t use
hidden cameras. Even so, during the two-day shoot, "when the boom
extended, crowds gathered quite fast," said Krivicka. They all wanted to
know where they could buy it.
Which is nowhere.
Thinkmodo has no plans to mass produce the stick.
"We hate to see an awesome idea like this going to waste," said
Krivicka. "If there was enough demand, we’d go back to Lifetime, put our
heads together and see what we can do with this."
But would anyone really want it? The handle looks huge and is quite
heavy. Plus, we don’t even know how much it would cost. Thinkmodo
refused to tell me how much they spent (and Lifetime paid) to build it.
Sure, the automated selfie stick is just about promoting a TV show, but Thinkmodo built it to actually work.
Image: thinkmodo
If
they ever did commercialize the Automated Selfie Stick, Lindberg said
she would buy it, and Krivicka believes there is at least one other
virtually guaranteed customer. "We think it’s something Kim Kardashian
would love to get it for Christmas."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
They call him the "Oracle of Omaha" because he just seems to know how to pick stocks that go up.
Still, Warren Buffett (and his deputies) aren't perfect. Buffett's company, Berkshire
Hathaway, dropped about $1.1 billion on Apple stock in the first quarter
of 2016, snapping up 9.8 million shares in the company, according to a company filing on Monday. It's Buffett's first major bite of Apple, and so far, it's a bit sour. Apple's stock has struggled so far this year after reporting its first sales decline
in more than a decade. Buffett's original investment is now worth about
$888 million, a decline of more than $200 million in a matter of
months. Companies like Berkshire Hathaway are
required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their
investments at the end of each quarter, meaning that four times a year
the public gets a look at how some of the biggest investments are
positioned. Buffett's investments, through
Berkshire Hathaway, are some of the most closely watched. His career has
become legendary among investors. Buffett began selling chewing gum as a six-year-old to one of the richest self-made people in history. His net worth is now estimated to be around $66 billion, according to Forbes. Buffett's popularity means that when
he buys certain stocks — or more precisely, when it's revealed he has
purchased certain stocks — they tend to go up partially just due to his
influence. That appeared to happen on Monday morning, as Apple shares rose 2.2% to start the week. It is, however, important to note
that reports indicate Buffett himself did not make the investment. It
was made by one of his deputies, who also have control of billions of
dollars in investment capital.
Even without Buffett's personal touch, the move came as a bit of a
surprise. Buffett is known for avoiding tech companies, since they tend
to be rather expensive by some classic investing metrics.
That position seems to be changing slightly. Buffett has also been associated with a bid for Yahoo, although only in terms of financing for another party.
Reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge came out Tuesday, and they were overwhelmingly positive.
"Head of the Smartphone Class," concluded Geoffrey Fowler in The Wall Street Journal.
"On the edge of perfection," summed up Dan Seifert for The Verge.
"Inching Toward Perfection," suggested Darren Orf on Gizmodo.
Samsung last month introduced the S7 line at the Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona, and "there was a lot of talk about how
unimpressed folks were during the introduction," recalled Wayne Lam, a
principal analyst at IHS Technology.
Still, "I've been really impressed at the added design improvements Samsung has made with the S7," he told TechNewsWorld.
What Reviewers Like About It
The S7 camera scored high with reviewers.
It beats the iPhone 6s Plus "in every low-light situation I've
tested," Fowler enthused. The 12-MP camera is lower resolution than its
S6 counterpart, but each pixel can capture 95 percent more light.
Samsung's camera app "is one of the best available for Android," The
Verge's Seifert wrote. He liked the camera's launch speed, and said the
camera "produced brighter, sharper images than the iPhone 6s Plus and
was faster to autofocus, especially in poor lighting."
The S7 screen "is a stunner, packing in more than three times as many
pixels as the iPhone 6s," Fowler wrote. "And its blazing fast processor
is well-suited for the new world of virtual reality."
The S7's SD card slot also won kudos, as did the return of the
water-resistant capability, which was available on the Galaxy S5 but was
removed from the S6.
Battery life -- always a problem for Samsung smartphones -- has improved considerably, a huge plus.
Reviewers also liked the S7's design, look and feel.
"The past several versions of the Galaxy S series left something of a
bitter taste in users' mouths for multiple reasons," remarked Ramon
Llamas, a research manager at IDC. "What the S7 line does, and does smartly, is it comes back to the basics and does the basics well."
Samsung is "hitting the right notes with improved battery life,
external storage capacity and the quality of the camera, he told
TechNewsWorld. "At the end of the day, you want the phone to work -- and
all the bells and whistles don't matter otherwise."
What Bugged the Reviewers
The "glacial pace" at which TouchWiz receives official Android updates
"continues to make it difficult to whole-heartedly recommend software
that will a.) be late to update its device with the latest build of
Android and b.) not even implement some of Android's best features, like
adaptable storage," noted Gizmodo's Orf. It's not a deal breaker
overall for the S7, but "definitely a checkmark in the 'cons' column."
The S7 doesn't allow the use of third-party apps, including some of
the built-in Android apps for Always On notification, he pointed out.
Also, it "can't quite match the load speeds of iOS" when it comes to
opening big apps and detailed documents.
Carrier bloatware is another issue. Verizon adds 13 apps, for
example. the phone Seifert tested had two email, two photo and two
text-messaging apps; three music players; two voice control systems; and
two app stores. The apps can be disabled but not entirely removed.
The edge feature that gives the "Galaxy S7 edge" its name doesn't
feel necessary, Orf said. "My home screen is already a shortcut to the
apps I use most. I don't really need a shortcut on top of a shortcut."
No. 1 With a Bullet?
Samsung is "taking another page out of Apple's playbook," IHS' Lam
pointed out, with the S7 being "a similar product strategy to the iPhone
6 and 6s iterations. The S6 "was a brand new design philosophy and the
S7 a further refinement."
However, the iPhone "is still very much the leader and in demand," maintained Susan Schreiner, an analyst at C4 Trends.
That said, the S7 appears to have been optimized for Samsung's mobile
Gear VR ecosystem, she told TechNewsWorld. "We expect that the Gear
360 camera [will] let users finesse VR content creation and limited
editing on the device.
