Alcatel OneTouch Watch pre-sales now open for $149.99

Alcatel today announced that their OneTouch Watch — which was revealed at CES 2015 — is now available for pre-order directly from their website for 9.99. The OneTouch Watch isn’t an Android Wear watch, though that’s due to the fact that they wanted it to be compatible with both iOS and Android. It runs OneTouch’s proprietary operating system which they claim will deliver better battery life and a smoother user experience.

Whether those promises will hold up remain to be seen, though the company is bold enough to advertise that the watch’s 210mAh battery can last anywhere between 2 and 5 days depending on usage. Other specs include a

• Thickness of watch face: 10.5 mm


• Diameter of watch face: 41.8 mm


• Thickness of wristband: 3.5 mm


• Width of wristband: 20 mm


• USB 2.0 charging port that charges in one hour and exists on the wrist strap instead of the watch itself


• Bluetooth 4.0 LE


• 1.22-inch 240 x 204 circular display


• accelerometer and gyroscope


• NFC


• heart rate sensor


• Compatible with Android 4.3 or iOS 7 and higher

Want one? Be sure to head right here and place your order. They ship with a sporty black wrist band as standard, though OneTouch tells us they’ll have more options available as 2015 rolls on. No word on when these are expected to ship just yet but we’re hopefully you’ll be able to get one before indulging in some Spring and

This 17 minute video shows you exactly how to open a Samsung Galaxy S6

We’ve heard how hard it is to open the Samsung Galaxy S6 and we’ve even seen early looks at its innards thanks to brave souls who got the phone early, but we haven’t seen the process laid out on video. eTrade gave us that look, though, and there’s no bigger confirmation that it’s a sunnavagun to disassemble than the fact that they broke the display on their first attempt. Ouch.

Watching this man take the phone apart can seem a bit like surgery to anyone who hasn’t ventured into this territory. All the more reason why you shouldn’t ever try to take your phone apart yourself. Give it a quick viewing above if you’re the type to take interest with what’s under the hood.

Google could be working on a built-in VPN service for use on open WiFi networks

Android 5.1 might not have a horde of obvious changes above the surface, but there’s no doubt Google put in a lot of work under the hood. Another interesting new change has come to light — the company might be working on bringing a built-in VPN service for use on public WiFi networks.

The change was noticed when a new app — called Google Connectivity Services — was found among the list of other apps installed on the latest stock build of Android 5.1. Using an app like QuickShortCutMaker will allow you to launch the following activity within the app:

com.google.android.apps.gcs/com.google.android.apps.gcs.WifiAssistantOptInActivity

Launching said activity brings up a dialog box letting you know that you will be connected to a Google VPN to transmit your data in a secure fashion. Clicking “Got It” takes you to the standard VPN menu, though the phone fails to connect to any VPN at that point.

So is Google working on a free VPN that anyone can access? It’s possible, though there are a couple of other things to consider:

• This could be a feature of the carrier’s upcoming MVNO service that was confirmed at Mobile World Congress. Google’s MVNO will leverage the use of both public WiFi and cellular networks for calling, messaging and data activity. Such a solution certainly could benefit from encrypted data. We expect to hear more about these efforts at Google I/O.


• It’s possible this could eventually be offered for Android for Work users who transmit sensitive data to and from the workplace.


• It could be a free-for-all where anyone and everyone who needs VPN access can easily get it with just a few clicks.

But without any official word from Google, it’s all just a series of guesses. The “learn more” button on the dialog box links to a generic support page so there are no answers to be had there.

We’ll be looking for answers from sources of our own, though, and will update you accordingly if we hear anything. Built-in VPN that anyone can use at any time? That would be a game changer, but let’s try not to get too excited before we know what, exactly, El Googs is planning.

[via Pocketables]

Sprint announces upcoming cities getting ‘Direct 2 You’ traveling reps, now open to new or existing customers

We thought that maybe if we had time to stew it over a little bit, Sprint’s Direct 2 You program would make a little more sense to us. But here we are, a little over a month later and it still sounds like a really strange to move to us. Not bad, mind you. Just strange for a carrier struggling to keep that #3 spot in the US.

In either case, Sprint has announced the next few cities that will benefit from their traveling representatives. Direct 2 You will officially become available in New York City, San Francisco, and Denver starting June 1st. Sprint says their “Xperts” (reps) bring the full in-store “Xperience” straight into the confines of your home. Getting up off the couch to make a trip across town is now obsolete.

The service is completely free, and where it was previously only available to Sprint customers in Kansas City, Miami, and Chicago looking to upgrade their devices (and needing help with setup), it’s now opened to anyone. That means even if you’re currently on T-Mobile and have your heart set on switching to Sprint, Direct 2 You can be at your door in a jiffy.

All you have to do is schedule an appointment by calling Sprint’s 800 number (which can be found at sprint.com/direct2you) and pick the time and place you’d like a Sprint rep to meet with you and give the rundown on your new phone. Sprint says some people have even set up appointments in hotel lobbies or restaurants, so just about anyplace is fair game. Now that’s service.

[Sprint]

Meerkat’s Twitter-driven live streaming service is now in open beta and in the Google Play Store

Meerkat is the newest quick live streaming platform that allows you to quickly launch a live stream from your phone and broadcast it to your followers on Twitter. It’s been in closed beta to this point, but the company has made it available to anyone able to download apps from Google Play as of today.

Meerkat’s schtick is that they don’t allow folks to rewatch broadcasts after the fact — once it’s over, it’s over (though you’re free to save a copy on your end and upload it to YouTube if you want). Other than that, there’s nothing really over the top or out of the ordinary about it.

It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s free and it’s now available for anyone to download. Oh, and it’s also in beta so expect some weird quirkiness as they work out the kinks — otherwise you might find yourself turned upside down like Derek did when he gave it a spin for himself. Head here for the download.

Samsung introduces Arduino-like open development platform named ARTIK

Samsung has introduced a new compact development board system for developers interested in making products for the booming “Internet of Things” category. It’s called Artik, and it’s essentially an Arduino-like platform that’ll equip developers with the sensors and tools needed to prototype internet-connected devices.

Artik isn’t very special in that regard, save for the fact that it’s an open platform with no proprietary bits holding you back. Samsung Artik also emphasizes the use of wireless communication sensors where many Arduino boards don’t.

Samsung will have three different modules available at launch depending on what you’re yearning for:

• ARTIK 1, the smallest IoT module currently available in the industry at 12mm-by-12mm combines Bluetooth/BLE connectivity and a nine-axis sensor with best-in-class compute capabilities and power consumption. It is specifically designed for low-power, small form- factor IoT applications.


• ARTIK 5 delivers an outstanding balance of size, power and price-performance and is ideal for home hubs, drones and high-end wearables. It incorporates a 1GHz dual-core processor and on-board DRAM and flash memory.


• ARTIK 10 delivers advanced capabilities and high-performance to IoT with an eight-core processor, full 1080p video decoding/encoding, 5.1 audio and 2GB DRAM along with 16GB flash memory. The Samsung ARTIK 10 includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE and ZigBee connectivity and is designed for use with home servers, media applications, and in industrial settings.

Unfortunately the platform isn’t quite ready for general availability just yet, though developers interested in trying it out in the early going can apply for Samsung’s Alpha Developer Kit right here.

[via Samsung Artik]

 

Google, Microsoft, Apple and more urge Obama to protect smartphone security and privacy in open letter

It’s that time again, folks — a cause so important has resulted in the country’s top tech firms joining hands to stand up and fight. This time, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Adobe and many more companies, technology experts and security experts (including some within his own cabinet) have all signed a 6 page letter to President Obama (which was recently published by The Washington Post).

The letter urges Mr. President to reconsider supporting legislature that would require device makers to give police and law enforcement backdoor access to users of their products:

We urge you to reject any proposal that U.S. companies deliberately weaken the security of their products.

We request that the White House instead focus on developing policies that will promote rather than undermine the wide adoption

of strong encryption technology.

Such policies will in turn help to promote and protect cybersecurity, economic growth, and human rights, both here and abroad.

This comes at a time where all three companies responsible for the world’s top mobile operating systems are doing more than ever to strengthen the security of their users’ devices as they become more popular not only with common consumers, but also with businesses and government agencies that handle sensitive data.

For Google’s part, Android 5.0 Lollipop introduced full device encryption, though the company has yet to implement or activate policies that would force manufacturers to enable the encryption by default.

No one wants more for it to be easier to catch baddies than the American public, but giving up basic civil liberties and privacy is where most will draw a hard line. And it’s not just about taking the government’s word that the access would be used in a responsible manner, but you also have to consider the matter of exposing millions of devices to potential cyber security threats and possibly exposing sensitive data to any ill-mannered black hat hackers.

The full letter isn’t very long at all (in fact, the list of signees takes up 66% of the document’s pages), so give it a read and see if you agree. Our bet is that you will, and that you’ll send your thoughts to POTUS himself on his shiny, brand new Twitter account right here.

Amazon Echo’s Alexa becomes an open platform to add a digital assistant to any smart item

It looks like Amazon had bigger plans for Alexa than we thought. The digital voice assistant — which is the star of the show for the Amazon Echo that recently went up for pre-sale — is becoming an open platform which developers can use to add voice assistant features to their products.

They’ll do so through the use of the Alexa Skill Kit and the Alexa Voice Service, a collection of APIs and services that’ll allow you to implement Alexa in your products with ease. The Skill Kit is what will allow developers to support Alexa as if their app is one of Amazon’s own, while the Voice Service is what device makers use to implement Alexa in internet-connected hardware.

To kick things off and spur development, Amazon is also putting up a cool 0 million — called the Alexa Fund — to promote development of Alexa apps, devices and give startups the tools they need to be successful with it.

Amazon’s hope is that the end-result will be a wide range of Alexa-capable products that can make your smart home smarter than it already is, and without the need to buy their homegrown unit to do it.

Exciting times ahead indeed, and we can’t wait to see what comes of it. You can take a look at our Amazon Echo review to learn more about Alexa and how it can help you stay on task and up to date on everything in life.