On Gear Live: Samsung S95C: The OLED TV You Can’t Afford (to Ignore!)

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Apple Beats Electronics

After weeks of rumors, it's now official: Apple has announced it is purchasing Beats Electronics for the cost of $3 billion. This makes it the largest purchase in Apple's entire history, and obviously the biggest public decision made by Tim Cook since he stepped in as CEO.

"Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

“I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple,” said Jimmy Iovine. “The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special."

Beats Electronics is the make of the Beats by Dr. Dre line of headphones and music accessories, and also the Beats Music subscription service that competes with other offerings from companies like Rdio, Spotify, Rhapsody, and the like.

Click to continue reading Apple purchases Beats Electronics & Beats Music for $3 billion, Dr. Dre & Jimmy Iovine join company


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OS X Mavericks 10.9.4

Apple just released the first OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 beta to developers just two weeks after the public release of OS X 10.9.3. No word yet on what changes are found in the new beta, but we're hoping that some of the Mac Pro (2013) niggles are fixed, as many who own the new, sleek Mac are complaining of issues with multi-monitor support since installing the last update.

Of course, Apple is also set to release the OS X 10.10 beta on Monday at WWDC 2014, so there'll be two OS X betas rocking at once.


LG G3 smartphone

LG has finally announced its G3 smartphone, it's new flagship device. As previously leaked, the LG G3 features a 5.5-inch Quad HD display with a fantastic 538 ppi count thanks to the 2560 x 1440 resolution--yes, that's the same as you'd find on a 27-inch iMac display. LG was also proud to show off the 13-megapixel rear camera with OIS+ (that would be Optical Image Stabilization Plus) with Laser Auto Focus that the company says allows the camera to focus faster than any other smartphone currently on the market.

Following the trend found on the iPhone 5s and HTC One (M8), the LG G3 has a metallic housing and polished skin on back. While the phone has a 5.5-inch display, LG worked hard on making it usable with one hand. That goal is the inspiration for the Floating Arc design. The volume keys are on back (similar to the LG G Flex, actually,) and the software interface have been redesigned with a flatter appearance.

Of course, the internals have also been upgraded. You'll find a quad-core 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 processor on the inside, paired up with 3GB of RAM, and your choice of either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. If that's not enough, you can expand the storage space with a microSD card up to 128GB in size. A removable 3,000mAh battery is definitely nice to see, as is 802.11ac Wi-Fi support. As for colors, you can pick up the LG G3 in red, gold, white, black, violet, and red, depending on carrier. The LG G3 goes on sale in Korea starting tomorrow.


Latest Gear Live Videos

Apple WWDC 2014 video

This morning Apple announced that it will be live streaming its upcoming WWDC 2014 keynote, which takes place on June 2nd at 10:00 am PDT. While Apple has streamed select events in the past, this one is interesting for a few reasons. First, Apple has not ever announced a live-streamed keynote this far in advance on its Web site. Secondly, the company has promised "exciting announcements" will be made. Of course, the company isn't giving anything away in advance, but it definitely wants not just the press watching--they want the average consumer and Apple fan to tune in and see what it's been working on. That would imply that there will be more than the simple developer-focused announcements.

Will you be watching? It'll be at 10:00 am PDT this Monday.


Mario Kart 8

The summer months can bring drought conditions in many areas across the world, but as any hardcore gamer will tell you, the gaming industry suffers the same condition each year. It's even tougher in years like 2014, where two major consoles just launched and early adopters are clamoring for new software for their pricey investments.

While I can't do anything about the lack of new games that are set to drop this summer, I can certainly help you get through it. Over the next two months, right before summer hits, we are going to see a few high profile games released that we think will dull the summer gaming blues. Some are old favorites, while a couple are brand new IP that look to offer unique gaming experiences. Here's my list of the five games to pick up this summer, in order of release date:

Click to continue reading 5 big game releases to get you through the coming summer drought


We show you how to install the Nest Protect smart smoke & carbon monoxide detector in this episode. The Nest Protect gets affiliated with your Nest account,which allows it to communicate with other Nest Protect devices in your home over Wi-Fi, as well as the Nest Smart Thermostat. It lights your path when you walk under it, and uses a proximity sensor to know when you are home in order to assist the thermostat in saving money. It also uses a human voice to alert you of fire and carbon monoxide danger. If you have any questions about the setup process, let us know over on our Patreon page.

Don't forget to check out our Nest Protect unboxing, and Nest Protect setup video as well!

Don't forget to subscribe to Gear Live's YouTube channel--also, we are giving away awesome perks for our Patreon backers - thanks for your support!

 
Here's how to get the show:
[Download] - iPod-formatted H.264
[Download] - 720p HD
[Download] - 1080p MP4

Click to continue reading Bleeding Edge TV 510: How to install the Nest Protect


Samsung Galaxy S5 copper gold

If you're a Sprint customer who is looking to get their hands on the Copper Gold Galaxy S 5, be ready, because May 30th is the day. In just one week's time, you'll be able to get the exclusive hue with its HD Voice and Sprint Spark features in select Sprint markets. Order online or over the phone, and you'll even get a matching Samsung HM1900 Bluetooth headset thrown in for free. Let's be honest though, if you really wanted a Galaxy S5, you probably weren't holding off on purchasing until the Copper Gold model came out, were you?


WWE 2K15

2KGames has announced that WWE 2K15 is set to launch on October 28, 2014 here in North America, and on October 31 in international markets. No other game details have been released just yet, but we do know that it'll be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. For those keeping score at home, this will be the first time that the WWE franchise appears on the next-generation Xbox One and PS4 consoles, so it'll be interesting to see that 2K is able to do with the beefier hardware in the graphics department.

What do you think? Are you excited to get your hands on WWE 2K15?


Pixelmator 3.2 features

Pixelmator's newest update, known as Sandstone, is now live in the Mac App Store and brings with it some cool new features, one if which is a new Repair tool that'll automatically fix and remove blemishes from areas of of image that you paint over using the tool. You can even remove whole objects from a photo. Nice, right?

One thing we've always loved about Pixelmator is how inexpensive it is when compared to a tool like Adobe Photoshop, while maintaining a professional feature set. Also included in Pixelmator 3.2:

  • 16-bits per channel support: 16-bits per channel support offers the flexibility to make color adjustments that go to extreme lengths while keeping the image color rich and vibrant.
  • Lock Layers: When creating large and complex compositions, layer locking makes it easy to protect layer content from any further changes so that you can freely edit the rest of your composition.
  • Convert Selection into Shape: A handy new feature that lets you quickly and easily create all kinds of shapes from any selection.

If you already own Pixelmator, you can grab the update for free in the Mac App Store. If not, you can purchase it for $29.99.


Twitch.tv YouTube google

If you live in the world of video gaming, you probably know about Twitch. It's a sound concept. Watch other people play video games. I know I did it when I was nine, there was always a group of us kids around the the guy with the Gameboy playing Mario as we cheered him on.

Now it comes down to watching strangers play over the internet in real time and instead of five guys looking at a handheld console over their friend’s shoulder, it's 43 million people watching a sum total of 6 billion hours of video game coverage every single month.

Those are some big numbers, and if there is one company that has a good nose for big numbers and the internet, it's Google. Now sources connected to Google have let it slip that the internet giant YouTube, owned by Google, is looking to acquire Twitch for $1 billion.

Should the deal go through, Twitch would gain access to Google's nigh-unlimited resources to expand. It also could run afoul of United States monopoly laws, granting Google a majority share of internet video game streaming services.

Twitch alone accounted for 1.35% of all downstream bandwidth in North America in March, with Youtube raking in 18.67%.

It's still in the rumor stage unfortunately, with Youtube and Twitch refusing to confirm talks, naturally. We'll see what banner I'm streaming under when July rolls around.


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