What updates should Android developers focus on from Google I/O?
In this video, Android Engineer Kris Pena picks out the most important pieces of information that came out of this year's Google I/Oconference.
She dissects all the changes to Android app permissions, like prompting users just to allow ccess to location services or cameras in real time, versus presenting them with a long list of permissions before an install.
She also discusses some of the exciting new APIs released with the Android M preview, as well as Google's new Design Support Library, which makes it easier for designers to implement many of the features of material design without a lot of extra work.
Enjoy, and don't forget to subscribe to our Ask a Dev YouTube channel to catch more videos like this.
The $129 Polaroid Zip Instant Photoprinter is a pocket digital printer that prints up sticker pics from your smartphone or tablet. It's possibly Polaroid's most exciting product in years.
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I love being able to hold pictures in my hands, but I love being able to stick my pictures on things even more.
Sticker pictures are back, and they're more fun to print out than they were before thanks toPolaroid's $130 pocket-sized Zip Instant Photoprinter.
Before digital cameras, before cellphone cameras and before Facebook and Instagram, there was the photo booth. And then for a short period of time in the mid to late 1990s, photo booths from Asia that printed "sticker pics" became really popular worldwide.
SEE ALSO: Can Fujifilm Bring Instant Film Cameras Into the Selfie Era?
It was a much simpler time. Sticker pics let you express yourself and show off your goofy side. They were a precursor to selfies, if you will.
You and a few friends would cram into a tiny photo booth and select frames and borders and make faces into the camera. Afterwards, you'd divvy the stickers up and slap them onto your notebook, CD player, pager (if you were so lucky to own one) or other personal items.
In recent years, instant film cameras have seen somewhat of a resurgence in popularity. Despite the unlimited number of digital photos we can now snap and share immediately with our phones,
people are falling in love with pictures that they can hold in their hands again
people are falling in love with pictures that they can hold in their hands again.
I'm as guilty as everyone else. Since I bought my Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 last year, I've taken hundreds of instant pictures. I bring it with me whenever there's a party, wedding or social event. There's still something delightful about watching instant pics develop and then giving them out to people as gifts. Look in my wallet and you'll find around six instant pics tucked inside that are rotated with new ones every couple of months.
But as great as instant film cameras are, they're still analog gadgets. Polaroid's Zip Instant Photoprinter takes your most used camera — your phone — and lets you print your pics out on the fly.
Ink-less prints
The digital printer is no larger than a small portable hard drive or battery pack and weighs only 0.41 pounds. I tested the white model (it also comes in black, magenta and cyan), and it's sleek with rounded corners and edges. Polaroid's iconic rainbow stripe runs down the front and back. There's a single power button and Micro USB port for charging and that's it. If not for the rainbow stripe, it could pass for an Apple product.
Slide the top cover off and you'll gain access to the paper tray. The Photoprinter prints pics using Polaroid's ZINK Zero Ink paper (2- x 3-inch stickers). ZINK paper comes in packs of 50 for $25, which works out to 50 cents per shot. It sounds like a lot, but compare that to Fujifilm Instax mini film, which is anywhere from $1 to $1.50 a shot, and it's peanuts.
What's ZINK paper, you ask? It's special paper with colored crystals embedded inside. When heat from the printer is applied onto it, the crystals activate and the photos develop. ZINK paper is the digital equivalent of instant film, without the downsides of having to keep it stored in the dark for fear of accidental exposure. And since the technology is not like an inkjet printer that applies ink on top of paper, you'll never have to buy ink cartridges or deal with smudges.
The Photoprinter isn't Polaroid's first stab at digital printing. A few years ago, I tried Polaroid's Z2300 instant digital camera, which has a built-in ZINK printer, but I thought the quality of the prints was crummy.
This time around, instead of a camera with a built-in printer, the company's simply selling a printer that connects to your smartphone or tablet and prints out pictures from there.
So easy to use
IMAGE: MASHABLE, MILES GOSCHA
The Photoprinter connects to iOS devices with Bluetooth and to Android devices with either Bluetooth or NFC. I tested the Photoprinter with an iPhone 6, HTC One M9 and Galaxy S6, and I had no real troubles pairing them to the printer.
Printing pictures is very easy to do. Everything is handled through the free Polaroid Zip app. The app itself isn't the best-designed one, though. It looks a little dated with its brushed metal aesthetic, kind of like something circa 1999 when the brushed metal look was all the rage.
The Polaroid Zip app works, but it's not the easiest to use.
IMAGE: MASHABLE, SCREENSHOT BY RAYMOND WONG
With the app, you can make a quick print either by taking a pic or selecting one from your photo gallery; make collages; create a quick business card; and edit pictures by adding filters, text, fun frames/borders and other icons and emoji.
The editing process can be tricky; it's not fully thought out. For instance, you can't use a pinch gesture to shrink and enlarge text or emoji, and you can't turn them to rotate. Several Mashableeditors kept trying to use gestures until I explained to them the correct way to make edits. You have to press and hold on these tool icons that pop in the corner like so:
Imperfect prints full of charm
ZINK paper prints aren't going to blow you away with crispness or clarity — actually, the color is pretty off and is darker than what you see in the app before printing — but it's really good for a pocket printer.
It's tough to notice, but there are some subtle differences in print quality depending on what smartphone/tablet you use. Here's a case where
having more megapixels and a better camera that takes pictures with less image noise is desirable
having more megapixels and a better camera that takes pictures with less image noise is desirable.
Print quality is especially noticeable when you print out selfies; prints from the iPhone 6's 2-megapixel front-facing camera look worse than selfies from the 5-megapixel front camera on the GS6.
It's not a deal-breaker at all, to tell you the truth. In fact, I quite like the somewhat lower resolution for some prints; it feels like you're getting something as imperfect as a picture developed from film. The grain in some pics actually gives them more charm and character.
It takes a little over a minute for pictures to print out — 30 seconds or so to send the data to the printer and another 30 seconds or so for the printer to warm up and print. Yes, I know, a whole minute, but it's not like instant film doesn't take a minute or two to develop; there's that same sort of excitement in waiting for the unknown.
More fun than Instagram
If my headline didn't clue you in from the start, the Photoprinter is just so much fun to use. It's a little pricey at $130, the battery lasts only about an hour for around 25 prints, and the app can make me grind my teeth a few times, but the overall product is delightful.
We all take hundreds (or like me, thousands) of pictures with our smartphones, but how many of those do we actually look at again? The value of a smartphone pic posted to Instagram is quickly lost to the sands of time. That selfie you posted 15 minutes ago is only memorable until you post your next one.
ZINK paper includes sticker adhesives on the back — perfect for personalizing your stuff like how I did to this MacBook.
IMAGE: MASHABLE, RAYMOND WONG
Not only does the Photoprinter give your smartphone pics tangibility, but it also increases the value of each pic printed. Stick them on the back of your phone or on your laptop lid or on your fridge and you'll remember those moments and cherish them more. They're daily reminders of the good times.
In today's ephemeral digital lifestyle, a physical photo is worth more than a million digital ones.
Polaroid Zip Instant Photoprinter
The Good
Sleek, lightweight design • Cheap ZINK sticker paper • Works with iOS and Android •Lots of funky frames, emoji and images to overlay on pics
The Bad
Occasional connectivity issues • Weak battery
The Bottom Line
The Polaroid Zip Instant Photoprinter is a little pricey at $130, but damn it if it's not a whole lot of fun to print your smartphone pics.
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BY JEFF MALMAD
This article is part of SWOT Team, a series on Mashable that features insights from leaders in marketing, brand-building and public relations.
The Apple Watch is blowing up. Analysts predict that around 15 million units will be sold this year. That's a great start.
To compare, Android Wear sold 720,000 units in 2014. And while Apple hasn't released sales numbers, an interview with Apple's finance chief indicates that the launch day figures may have beat those of the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010.
SEE ALSO: Game of phones: Will marketers be prepared for the mobile storm?
But the launch of the watch isn't just great for Apple or consumers; it’s also a big step for all wearable tech. There are more than 500 consumer wearables in market right now and the press and buzz around the Apple Watch means increased usage for other devices, too.
IDC’s new estimates put worldwide wearable shipments at 72.1 million devices this year — a 173% increase from 2014. What was one of the big catalysts for growth? The category of "smart wearables," like the smartwatch.
IMAGE: MASHABLE, CHRISTINA ASCANI
So, here's our mantra for marketers: Think of the smartphone as Batman, and the smartwatch as Robin. They can each work independently — but, together, they're a dynamic duo.
Your smartphone is the ultimate wearable device — you take it with you everywhere. But when coupled with a smartwatch, consumers can get a lot of enhanced value.
And value is what's key here. Advertising on a wearable device isn't about running a banner, a video or a highly intrusive message on a watch face. It's about giving consumers utility and information.
For example, Starbucks allows you to use your watch for payments. Chipotle allows you to order food directly from your watch face. IHG released a language translator that helps you learn essential foreign phrases while traveling.
Here are five things that brands and marketers should consider with the smartwatch.
1. Embrace push notifications
These are the main way that people interact with their smartwatches today. And when people opt into notifications from a smartphone app, they appear on their smartwatch as well. From a brand perspective, you can control what goes out and when. If done correctly, you'll be giving consumers high-value information when and where they want it.
2. Make them action-oriented
IMAGE: LUKE LEONARD/MASHABLE
You only have a very small screen to push a notification to a consumer. This message should be action-oriented and drive value once engaged. Whether you're providing content or a brand offer, use terms that resonate with consumers based on their context. For example, consumers who are standing in a grocery store will want a notification that alerts them of relevant content and savings from a brand.
3. Ask yourself if you really need your own app
It’s true of the smartphone and even more true on the watch — not all companies and brands need their own app. Think about working with a content publisher instead. Those partners are the ones who have the most scale in the smartwatch space.
4. When working with publishers, create an ownable experience
Don't just deploy a “sponsored by” message on the watch.
Don't just deploy a “sponsored by” message on the watch.Instead, create additional value by helping publishers deploy a new feature or experience that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. For example, we recently launched a campaign where the publisher and brand provide customized daily fitness regiments — delivered directly to your wrist.
5. Be adaptive
It’s a new space and the lessons are fresh and constantly evolving. Leveraging opt-in data about location, user history, etc. will help you tailor your messages and create better marketing programs for the immediate future.
As the biometrics space grows, it'll come to represent a whole new area where we've only scratched the surface. Some apps know a consumer's height, weight, and activity level. Now, more than ever before, we can create relevant messages that adapt to the user instead of just something generic.
The smartwatch space is valuable to consumers, which makes it valuable to marketers. But it's important that we don't overstep ourselves. We should provide utility over intrusion — just like Batman and Robin.
Have something to add to this story? Tell us in the comments.
Getting stuck behind a slow, smelly semi-truck is no fun, but big vehicles are often too hard to pass on a narrow two-lane road. But Samsung just came up with a very clever solution to this problem.
The Argentinian arm of the South Korean tech giant is showing off what it calls a Safety Truck, a semi truck with a wireless camera mounted on the front, displaying the road ahead on a screen tacked on to the back of the truck. The move is a part of an effort to reduce head-on collisions from passing.
SEE ALSO: Google launches website to address safety concerns about self-driving cars
The front-mounted camera broadcasts its signal to four monitors on the back of the truck
The front-mounted camera broadcasts its signal to four monitors on the back of the truckto give drivers behind the truck a good view ahead. In addition to making passing safer, Samsung says that this would let drivers see any obstacles in the road ahead, preventing the need for sudden emergency braking.
Samsung said the truck used for testing isn't currently operational anymore, but it is working with government and non-government safety agencies to develop the tech further.
It seems like it would work well on two-lane roads, but it wouldn't really have much use on multi-lane highways. The screen could also prove to be a distraction, and image quality issues could be a concern as well.
It's an innovative approach to road safety, but Samsung hasn't provided much of a timeline for its development, so who knows when, or even if it will be adopted.
The microwave has been a household staple since its inception nearly 50 years ago, but hasn't seen much in innovation despite major tech breakthroughs.
It was only a matter of time before a company stepped in with a concept to fix a common problem: Leftovers are just not as good the next day.
SEE ALSO: The Internet of Things: Everything You Need to Know In 2 Minutes
The RF cooking concept from Freescale Semiconductor uses solid-state radio frequency (RF) technology to heat meals quickly without sacrificing taste.
For 30 Rock fans, it's essentially a smarter, real-life version of the Trivection oven that Jack Donaghy owes his success to in the pilot episode. (The Trivection oven was actually a real thing created by GE that blended radiant heat, convection and microwaves, but never took off.)
Freescale Semiconductor's appliance gives users much more control by allowing them to direct where, when and how much heating energy is directed onto food. According to the company, you'll be able to avoid overcooking and destroying nutrients often zapped in the microwave. It's also possible to cook food at different intensities and heat up multiple dishes at the same time in the same unit. It can bake, poach, sear, brown and crisp food, too.
If the device delivers on its promise, there could be one big takeaway: so long, soggy pizza.
If the device delivers on its promise, there could be one big takeaway: so long, soggy pizza.Leftovers could be just as tasty as they were the day before (and the day before that).
The RF cooking concept is connected to the Internet, so it can add and store recipes (or learn new ones) and adapt to consumer cooking preferences.
While the company hasn't revealed when or if this will officially go on sale — right now, the company is just testing the concept — a 21st century-inspired microwave is something we'd like to see happen.
