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Nokia to release smartphones again, this time running Android
Say Goodbye to Front-Door Keys with Sesame Smart Lock
Facebook Messenger Now Features Video Chat
AMD release new ATI Open Source drivers for Linux

Nokia to release smartphones again, this time running Android

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 10:31 AM PDT

After selling their phone assets to Microsoft and exiting the industry less than a year ago, Nokia seem to be ready for a comeback, this time even running Android firmware.

The website G for Games surprised us all with some heavy news: Nokia is looking to jump right back into the smartphone market, this time creating Android phones. The Finnish company is preparing these new devices for the year 2016, and will return to activity where they were the strongest. And now that we know this is happening, what does Microsoft have to say about it?

These news were revealed by Mike Want, president of Nokia China, while also discussing the company’s plans for 2016. Besides, they’re planning to use a factory located in Sichuan as the central base to produce this new generation of devices.

Nokia’s agreement to step out of the phone business expires this 2015, and was signed along with Microsoft. This was an express prohibition to investigate, create or produce new smartphone designs, but once this period is done with, the company will be ready to return to the market that saw them bloom and act as a third pillar of the industry at one point. Will they be able to surpass themselves?

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Nokia's new, secret gadget is an Android tablet and Nokia claim to be "up to something", tease black box.

Say Goodbye to Front-Door Keys with Sesame Smart Lock

Posted: 27 Apr 2015 01:48 PM PDT

Locking and unlocking doors has become part of our daily lives, and just when keys seemed to be here to stay, two Stanford students proved us otherwise. Sesame is a smart lock that works with many types of deadbolts and relies on wireless connectivity to open doors.

Che-Ming Ku, a robotics student at Stanford, and Jongho Shin, a cybersecurity student at the same university, launched last month a crowdfunding campaign for their invention. Candy House Inc., as the startup created by these two geniuses is called, made a name for itself when the Kickstarter project raised north of $1.4M, more than 14 times the funding goal.

“Technology is changing so rapidly these days, and you're likely to upgrade your phone every year,” explained Ku, “but you’re probably not going to change your lock every year because a new and improved digital lock is available. Sesame lets you upgrade your lock without any hassle.”

One of the main purposes of Candy House was to make the Sesame smart lock as simple and intuitive to use as possible. That easy that you could even provide access to friends, or restrict access for uninvited guests. Hackers are not an issue, as Sesame features AES 256-bit military-grade encryption. Using an additional Wi-Fi access point, users can connect Sesame to their local Wi-Fi network and open the door remotely, in case the situation requires it.

“With many of these types of devices, there's a learning curve that gets in the way,” added Ku. “Sesame is extremely easy to install and works with almost any deadbolt.”

There are several ways users can unlock their door using Sesame and a smartphone. First of all, there’s a companion app for iOS and Android. Next, people can set Sesame to unlock the door when a secret knock is performed either on the phone or on the door. Of course, Sesame will use Bluetooth to check if the paired smartphone is nearby before opening the door to anyone who knows your custom knock. Not at last, users have to option to shoot up Google Now and say “OK, Google, open Sesame!” It really doesn’t get any easier than that!

Early birds could get Sesame for $89, or $139, respectively, with the Wi-Fi access point included. Now that the crowdfunding campaign is over, the price will go higher, when the smart lock will hit the shelves. The first batch of Sesame smart locks will get to Kickstarter backers as early as May.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Sony’s Qrio smart lock, or the heartbeat authentification for contactless mobile payments.

Facebook Messenger Now Features Video Chat

Posted: 27 Apr 2015 12:43 PM PDT

The social network’s mobile IM app is more like Skype now, as it also allows users to have video conversations, besides text-based ones.

The update announced on Monday for both the iOS and Android versions of the Messenger app carries video chat functionality, fact that puts Facebook’s app in direct competition with Skype and Viber. Currently, the update is only available for 18 markets including U.K., France, Greece, Ireland, Mexico, Portugal and the U.S., but there’s no doubt that Facebook will expand it to more countries in the near future.

“More and more of everything starts from a text conversation,” explained Stan Chudnovsky, Facebook Messenger’s Head of Product. “We think the same thing will happen with video.”

According to Chudnovsky, adding video chat capabilities to Facebook Messenger was the next logical step. In case you’re confused by the fact that the social network hasn’t added video calls to its other messaging app (WhatsApp), then you should know that this feature has been rumored for a while and it will be coming there soon, as well.

Starting a video call on Facebook Messenger is equally easy on Android and iOS. When initiating a text-based conversation with one of your Facebook contacts, you’ll see a camera in the upper right corner, provided that you’re in one of the countries where the update is currently available.

It’s becoming clear that Facebook Messenger goes well beyond just text-based messaging. Recently, the developers of this app have added peer-to-peer payments and even turned Messenger into an open platform others can build upon.

There has also been a major change in focus in terms of the devices targeted with each of Facebook’s messaging apps. Whereas WhatsApp was promoted as a perfect IM solution for emerging countries where Internet connection are not exactly top of the class, Facebook Messenger is also getting praised now for its compatibility with low-end devices and slow Internet connections.

It’ll be interesting to see what other type of functionality will Facebook add in the near future to its messaging apps. The good news is that their main app and Messenger are no longer the resource hogs they used to be not long ago. It also remains to be seen how the video call quality will stack against Skype’s or Viber’s.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Facebook Hello social caller ID app for Android, or the trimmed-down Facebook Lite for Android.

AMD release new ATI Open Source drivers for Linux

Posted: 27 Apr 2015 12:24 PM PDT

Linux users who own ATI’s Radeon HD 7000 series videocards (or above) can celebrate, as AMD have released the base driver for AMDGPU. This driver is essential to make the jump to the new video cards, belonging to the line R9 285, which are also going to work with an only ATI driver, at least when it comes to Linux. What does that mean, exactly?

There are two types of ATI drives for video cards on Linux. The Radeon Open Source (that means, anyone can download and improve them) developed by the free software community and the ones developed by ATI themselves, called "Catalyst". These are both completely isolated and different. With these newly released AMDGPU drivers, AMD intend to make them use the same base driver starting from the moment the Linux 4.2 Kernel releases. This would also improve the OpenGL 3.3 support, which are the video APIs necessary to run 3D games on Linux – which have been releasing officially via Steam once the gaming giant decided to support this OS creating their own version of it, "SteamOS", and advertising huge incoming titles such as Batman: Arkham Knight.

All of this is happening on top of ATI’s permanent support of free video technologies such as Vulkan (a series of APIs for 2D and 3D multiplatform development), FreeSync (a technology to improve tearing on LCD screens), OpenGL (the most popular API for development in 3D) or OpenCL (a programming framework).

Dig this? Check out other great articles from Walyou: Super Mario Crossover Getting a 3.0 Update This Summer and Walyou Interview With Lara From "Lara Plays Videogame Music"