Google collaborates with En Masse art collective for new Pixel cases and wallpapers

Customization is one of the key aspects of Google's Pixel smartphones with a variety of customizeable Live Cases and corresponding wallpapers available to make each Pixel look unique. Google has extended their customization to include orginial works from the Montreal-based En Masse art collective.

The new Artworks Live Case designed by EN MASSE, a multi-artist collaborative drawing project that explores the creation of highly spontaneous, large-scale collaborative black and white drawings and public installations.

Click to read more ...

Reviewer's Choice Gift Guide: Home Technology

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

When deciding to create a series of gift guides for the Holiday and Christmas Season, we decided to focus on technology and products that we have tested and used ourselves, products that have made our lives easier in 2016 and which we would happily purchase after having tested. Here's the first of a series focusing on technology and devices for the home.

Click to read more ...

Netflix becomes top-grossing iPhone app in a number of countries

With Netflix bringing the ability to download videos to its service, one good thing came out of it for the streaming service: they’re topping the charts as top-grossing iPhone app in a number of countries. The app has surpassed the likes of Mobile Strike, Candy Crush Saga, and other subscription services like Spotify and Pandora. Netflix has reached number one in the U.S., India, Mexico, and Colombia, according to app performance tracker SensorTracker.

Apple has also something to gain with this news. The company initially gets a 30 percent cut on in-app fees but has lowered that to 15 percent for users who stay subscribed for 12 months or longer. Apple is also said to be considering lowering the fees to 15 percent for video apps that join the new programming guide for Apple TV.

Source: Variety

Report shows design flaws that cause Samsung Galaxy Note7 explosions

A high resolution image from an Instrumental station shows the tight XY clearances to the battery. It's also possible to see the pocket formed by aluminum walls on all sides, which prevents the rough edges of the PCB from touching the battery pouch. (Instrumental)

An independent test by quality assurance firm Instrumental claims the Samsung Galaxy Note7’s issues have more to do with the phone’s design than with its batteries. Instrumental engineers say in a blog post that they discovered “intellectual tension between safety and pushing the boundaries” during a recent teardown of the smartphone.

The teardown showed little space between the battery and the rest of the components that the slightest pressure like sitting on the phone while in the back pocket could cause the polymer separator layers that keep the battery safe to come in contact with one another. The engineers found a thin shield protecting the battery, which could be seen as Samsung’s effort to mitigate the effects of pressure. But enough pressure applied could still squeeze the separators to a point where the positive and negative layers would touch and cause the battery to explode. Samsung hasn’t really been clear about what’s causing the Note7 to explode, this might give us a bit of an idea as to what happened with the beleaguered device.

Source: PC Mag