Opera buys Bemobi, a Netflix-like smartphone app subscription service

You might know Opera more for its data-saving browser but the company wants to create a name for itself in the app industry as well. They just bought Bemobi, a mobile app discovery and subscription service. Much like Netflix, you pay a weekly fee on your phone bill to access as many “premium” apps as you like. It’s a move that’ll help Opera expand in Latin America but there are global plans for the service as well. It’ll still operate under its own name but its English-language marketing site goes by the name Apps Club.

Source: Opera | Via: Engadget

Video: Dash is the hotel amenity delivery robot of your dreams

Crowne Plaza hotels are testing Dash, a smart amenity delivery robot which might soon replace bellhops, pages or porters. Dash can be programmed to deliver various amenities to specific hotel room guests. It can navigate the hotel, dash to the hotel room door, call the guests and when the door is opened- it completes the delivery. No need to tip Dash but you can rate timeliness or level of service and if Dash receives a good rating, it will break out into an R2-D2 type happy dance. The robot is being tested and has so far delighted various guests, Crowne Plaza is looking to deploy Dash in various hotels around the world.

Samsung bringing back attention to SPen prior to Galaxy Note 5 launch

Boasting that its smart-stylus is the 'evolution of the Pen', Samsung seems to be priming us for the launch of the Galaxy Note 5 on August 13th. The Note line, has been a consistent performer for Samsung and a big earner. The Galaxy Note 4 was widely hailed by users and reviewers alike for a solid feature set, better build and materials and some truly innovative pen-based functionality.

Reeling from poor sales of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge flagship phones, which has forced Samsung to slash prices to boost demand and hopefully push sales, the Galaxy Note 5 is the model that Samsung hopes will stick and help it regain its foothold in the smartphone market. The Galaxy Note 5 might not be met with much enthusiasm if it is true that Samsung is removing the microSD card slot and the user-replaceable battery. 

Source: Phandroid

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