Motorola's Made-in-America Moto X Smartphone to Be Announced Today

Motorola's Moto X hasn't exactly been the company's best-kept secret, but later today the official details of the made-in-America smartphone will be released.

The much-hyped Android phone from the Google-owned company is said to have a few differentiating features, many of which the company is hoping can give it back some edge against smartphone giants Apple and Samsung.

Here's what we know so far.

This much Motorola has said. The company's CEO, Dennis Woodside, announced in June that the Moto X would be made at a new 500,000-square-foot production facility in Fort Worth, Texas. More than 2,200 employees have already begun to make the smartphone, which will be assembled and will ship right from the factory.

It is highly customizable with different colors.

Being close to home is going to allow Motorola to make the Moto X a highly personalized device, ABC News first reported last month.

Through a website, buyers will be able to select from a palette of different colors, sources told ABC News. One color can be used for the back case and another can be selected for the trim of the phone. Users will also be able to engrave a name or message on the back cover, as well as upload a personal photo through the site to be used as the wallpaper on the phone's screen. Various reports say the phone has a larger 4.7-inch display.

It has advanced software features.

Similar to the phones just released by Motorola for Verizon, the Moto X is said to always be waiting for your command and will leverage the same "OK Google Now" commands as the Droid Ultra. With the Ultra, similar to how you navigate Google Glass, you can say "OK Google Now" and the phone will be woken up. Say "OK Google Now Call John" and it will dial up John's number.

Given that the phone will be the first that the company has worked on from start to finish since being acquired by Google in August 2011, the integration with Google's services makes sense.

There are some other tricks, too. Our sources said that instead of having to fumble for the camera icon or button, you will be able to flick the phone to launch the camera faster. Sources who were testing the phone said it was running Android 4.2.2. Google, however, released Android 4.3 last week.

It is coming to the major U.S. carriers.

Pricing and availability are still the two big missing pieces, but Motorola has said that it will be available at some of the largest carriers in the nation. Given that the launch is happening today, we assume it will be available soon.

# Motorola, #Moto X
Source: ABC News

Chromecast Is a Cord Cutter’s Dream for $35

The Chromecast's main purpose is to reduce the amount of time between wanting to watch a video on Netflix or YouTube and actually doing it.

Every night, it’s the same situation. My wife and I are on the couch, TV off, immersed in our respective computing devices, when she breaks the silence: “Let’s watch something.”

From there, it’s a process. I look for the Xbox 360 controller and twiddle my thumbs while it boots, or if it’s out of reach, maybe I get up and turn on our media PC instead. I return to my comfy seat and fumble with one remote or another, none of them really ideal for shuffling through vast menus of video content. By the time we’re actually watching something, 10 minutes have passed.

This is the life of a cord cutter. We save insane amounts of money every month by not subscribing to cable TV, but the alternative of watching Internet video sometimes feels like a chore. I’m really hoping Chromecast is the solution.

Chromecast is a $35 dongle that plugs into an HDMI slot on your television, and its main purpose is to reduce the amount of time between wanting to watch a video on Netflix or YouTube and actually doing it.

The big assumption with Chromecast is that when you’re on the couch, you already have a phone or tablet in your hands. Instead of reaching for a remote, all you have to do is open your Netflix or YouTube app, find the video you want to watch, and press a little “Cast” button to send the video to your television.

Chromecast is supposed to handle the rest. Over Wi-Fi, your phone tells the dongle what to watch. The dongle automatically turns on your television, switches to the appropriate input and begins streaming the video you’ve chosen.

It’s a subtle but important distinction from AirPlay, the method Apple uses to beam videos to an Apple TV. With AirPlay, the video gets streamed directly from your iOS device or Mac. Chromecast streams straight from the Internet; your phone or tablet merely sends the instructions to the dongle. Because the phone or tablet isn’t actively sending data the entire time with Chromecast, you’re not wasting battery life, and you’re free to do other things on your phone or tablet while the video plays on your TV.

Chromecast has another big advantage: It supports Android as well as iOS devices. I bounce between both platforms, so the fact that AirPlay only works with Apple products was the main thing holding me back from Apple TV.

In my experience, Chromecast isn’t quite as magical as Google makes it seem. While setting up the device, I got an error message saying I needed to tinker with my router settings to get the Wi-Fi connection working. But then I just tried to connect again, and everything worked.

One other nitpick: The dongle itself connects through HDMI, but it’s powered by USB, and not all TVs have powered USB jacks on them. If your TV has a “service” USB port, it won’t work. The only other option is to plug the dongle into a wall outlet, which detracts from its overall slickness.

I also had to adjust my television’s settings to get Chromecast to automatically turn on my TV and switch inputs. As GigaOM’s Janko Roettgers explains, Chromecast uses a little-known technology called HDMI-CEC to control your television, but every TV maker refers to this technology differently. To get the controls working on my Sharp TV, I had to find the “Aquos Link” menu and toggle the setting for “Auto Power On.”

After getting those issues straightened out, Chromecast worked flawlessly. When you open Netflix or YouTube on an iOS or Android device, the app recognizes that there’s a Chromecast in the house, and presents the option to send videos to your television. You can start controlling Chromecast playback on one phone, then switch to another and pick up the controls from there.

Depending on your situation, this may not be ideal. Letting any phone or tablet control Chromecast could lead to a power struggle in your living room. And if you have a lot of people over, choosing a video on your phone might not be as fun as letting everyone see their options on the big screen. But even then, Chromecast could still be great for those moments when you suddenly want to share a YouTube video with everyone in the room.

The bigger drawback for Chromecast is that it only works with a handful of apps: YouTube, Netflix, Google Play Music and Google Play Video. Pandora support is coming soon, and other developers are free to add Chromecast support to their apps, but it’s too early to assume that the Chromecast ecosystem is going to boom.

Chromecast also lets you send any browser tab to the big screen from Chrome on a Windows PC, Mac or Chromebook. But right now, Google’s calling this a beta feature, and it’s easy to see why. In my experience on both a Chromebook and a powerful Windows desktop, streaming video regularly fell out of sync with the audio. And unlike the video streaming from a phone or tablet, you must leave the current tab open for it to stream on the television. That puts a strain on your computer’s battery life and prevents you from doing other things at the same time. The Chrome-based streaming is a fine feature for viewing online photos or other static web pages, but I would not recommend getting a Chromecast for the sole purpose of sending video from a laptop to your television.

Those issues haven’t prevented me from buying a Chromecast for myself. (The one I’m using now is on loan from Google.) Netflix streaming alone accounts for the vast majority of my video-watching at home, and $35 is well worth the convenience of being able to select and watch videos faster than I have before. If more developers end up supporting Chromecast, it’ll just be icing.

On that note, some critics see the lack of a dedicated remote and TV interface as a problem for Chromecast. I see it as an opportunity. It allows app developers to support Chromecast without the extra work of creating separate television apps, which they largely haven’t done for the perpetually-flailing Google TV. And as someone who gave up clunky cable remotes a long time ago, I’m ready for those button-laden monstrosities to be replaced by phones and tablets. Chromecast is the first device that envisions the touch screen as your primary remote control. It probably won’t be the last.

Source: http://techland.time.com

Regions Bank website down, debit cards being declined

Statement issued by Regions via Facebook at 2:18 p.m. Thursday. “Access to regions.com and Online Banking were disrupted intermittently for some customers today by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. Some customers may have also been unable to use their Check Cards at ATMs or at merchants. We apologize for the difficulties this has caused and are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.”

Update: Statement issued by Regions via Facebook at 1:03 p.m. Thursday. “We are continuing to work to resolve the current issues and appreciate your patience. In the meantime, if we can answer questions about your account, please email askRegions@regions.com with your phone number. One of our Customer Care representatives will call to assist. Thank you.”

Update: The website appears to be back online, though the web page had to be refreshed several times before it appeared.  However, a message on the website says, “Regions Online Banking is currently unavailable.”

For the second time this year, Regions Bank is having website problems and customers are being left in the lurch. Regions is the largest bank in Alabama.

The bank acknowledged that the website was down with a statement on their Facebook page.  Customers complained of debit cards being declined in the comment section below the announcement.

“We apologize if you’re experiencing issues accessing regions.com. Our team is working diligently to resolve the issues. We will continue to post updates and additional information here. Thank you for being patient with us,” the post stated.

Customers, who were also inconvenienced in April when Regions neglected to renew their web domain, were irate over the continuing IT problems with the bank.

“Same old, same old. It’s getting old, Regions,” Brandi Cash posted.

Regions customer Ashlea Rauth stated, “… according to Regions customer service. You have to go in a branch to get your money out. ATMs are not recognizing cards.”

Regions has not responded to any of the customers’ comments.

There has been no word on when service will be restored. The last update posted on the bank’s Facebook page was at 11:52 a.m. on Thursday.

Source:http://www.trussvilletribune.com

Nexus 7 Trade-Ins Suggest Lots Of Upgraders To New Model

Source:http://techcrunch.com

The new Google Nexus 7 is a big improvement over the original with a bunch of additions like LTE and a super high-resolution display – the best in tablets, in fact. And that’s driving a lot of first generation device owners to trade in their old Nexus 7, according to gadget buy-back site Gazelle. There was a 333 percent spike in the number of Nexus 7 tablets traded in compared to the same day last week, for example.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, that spike was even higher – a 442 percent jump in Nexus 7 tablets happened between the day before Google’s official unveiling of the new model, and the day of. The Nexus 7 trade-in activity spiked so high that it made up nearly a quarter of all trade-ins for non-iPad tablets since the site began accepting them earlier this year.

Wednesday, the day Google made its announcement, was also the biggest Nexus 7 trade-in day at Gazelle to date, beating the next biggest day by 380 percent. That previous record was set when the new Nexus 7 leaked on July 17, which clearly prompted early adopters to take advantage of a small head start ahead of the big reveal.

The news means that Google Nexus 7 owners are probably happy with their devices and eager to grab new ones, by trading in their last-gen devices to fund their purchases, but there’s another stat that tells another side of the story: Gazelle saw no appreciable increase in iPad trade-ins on the new Nexus 7 launch day. That means Google probably isn’t luring iPad owners away from the iOS fold.

It’s probably not surprising to longtime tablet space watchers that the new Nexus 7, with all its apparent merit, isn’t an iPad killer. The Apple camp seems happy where they are, but the tablet market has plenty of room to grow; we’ll see if Google can expand outward, or if it’s mostly eating its own Nexus tail with this new model.