B.A.Tech

Thursday, November 20, 2014

YouTube Music Awards return in March 2015 sans stage show

Just about this time last year, the folks at YouTube took over Pier 36 in Manhattan to put on an hour-and-a-half-long awards show to celebrate the musicians that blew up the internet in 2013. It was... alright at best (unless you really like watching grown men rummaging through cakes), but despite over 50 million views on the show video itself, the live stream almost definitely didn't blow up the way the people in charge hoped it would. Ouch. YouTube was fond enough of the idea to take another stab at it, but thankfully this time the company's dropping that tired, ancient (not to mention expensive) awards show format.

When the Music Awards roll around again in March 2015, there won't be a stage show component at all -- instead, the video giant's planning to highlight nominees with "new and unique music video collaborations with top directors" which fans will apparently have a hand in creating in the lead up to the event. As always, you'll be able to vote for your favorite artists too, though we're not sure when yet. YouTube's promising to hit us all with more detail in December and January, so get cracking on your list of nominees -- if Octagon vs. Masked Hexagon doesn't somehow qualify for something, your author's gonna pitch a fit. And in the meantime, feel free to relive the awkward glory of last year's show below.

Original Article at: Engadget

Britain's first 'poo bus' hits the streets

Thanks to a range of new technologies, Britain's buses are steadily swapping traditional fuel for greener alternatives. Over in Bristol, however, Wessex Water believes more can be done with the brown stuff. That's why it's today put the UK's first bus powered entirely by human and food waste into service. The Bio-Bus, as it's known, is a 40-seater shuttle capable of travelling up to 186 miles on a full tank of bio-methane gas, which is generated via a process called anaerobic digestion.

Supermarket giant Sainsbury's uses the same technique to power one of its stores. Its branch in Cannock, West Midlands is exclusively powered by energy generated from bio-methane gas expelled by unusable food from its shelves. Bath Bus Company, the company operating the service, believes the "poo bus" will carry 10,000 passengers between Bristol Airport and Bath city centre each month. While it's perfectly set up to run the Number 2 route, it'll disappointingly run on the A4 service locally.

Original Article at: Engadget

Basis Peak to get its smartwatch-like features in December

In our recent review of the Basis Peak, we pointed out its potential to be a pretty good smartwatch, just as it is a fitness tracker. And, thanks to a firmware update set to arrive next month, Basis, which is now owned by Intel, will be making its wearable better than it already is. Around mid-December, the Basis Peak is going to begin supporting notifications from Android and iOS devices, including those that come from your calendar, text messages and phone calls. While you'll have to wait for those smartwatch-like features to come to the Peak, something new that's available now is the ability to share your heart rate data with third-party fitness apps via Bluetooth. What's more, the Basis Peak is expanding availability outside of the US, to Canada and the UK in the middle of December as well -- Basis says international pricing will vary depending on the region.

Original Article at: Engadget

Spread the word about 'BanterAboutTech'

Banter About Tech is a Blog/Community about everything and anything Technology related. We pull articles from all over the internet and compile them in one location giving our users a one stop shop for the latest tech news.

We are off to a strong start just would like you enlist you all in spreading the word out our wonderful blog to help us grow! There are a few things that would greatly help, and we will go into detail below.

1.) First step would be Following our Blog using your Google account:

The more followers we get the better!

2.) Second Step is to Google +1 us on google plus. This will help spread the blog around the Google + Community!

Any +1's would be GREAT!

3.) Step 3 has multiple smaller steps, but pretty much all the same concept. Spreading each blog post through social media. At the end of each blog post you will see links for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. If you have accounts please feel free to share the posts, these links make it quick and easy!

4.)The Fourth step is to follow us on Social Media. Everything we post on our blog gets posted to our Twitter Page, Facebook Page, Pinterest Page, and Google+ Page. All of the link for each are listed below!

Facebook: Banter About Tech Facebook Page

If you could please Like and Share our Facebook page that will help create some awareness! Right now any Blog posts posted to our main site (www.banterabouttech.com) gets posted to our Facebook page also.

Twitter Handle: @scubastevo2005 - Everything that is posted to our blog gets sent there. I have multiple people who retweet and like the links we share. Please follow @scubastevo2005 for your latest tech news from Banter About Tech. Anything that is posted to our main site (www.banterabouttech.com) gets posted to our Twitter page also.

Google +: Google+ Page

This page we just started and are working on getting all the details sorted out. But as of right now any Blog posts posted to our main site (www.banterabouttech.com) gets posted to our Google+ page also.

Pinterest: Banter About Tech Pinterest Page

Follow Banter About Technology on Pinterest. Similar to the Above social networks everything gets posted to our Pinterest page, We separate our posts into categories that fit the post so things are easier to find also!

5.) The 5th thing to keep things rolling along smoothly would be to PLEASE spread the word about www.banterabouttech.com. Feel free to copy all of these links and spread them over the Web!

6.) The 6th thing we can do as a community is to leave comments and have open discussion on blog posts! Any comments are welcome and will be checked as soon as they come in.

7.) The last and final thing if Ads, Ads help keep us a float so please make sure ad blockers are turned off so ads can be displayed properly!

With all these small items we should be able to make Banter About Tech a great Technology brand/news source! Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance from the banter about tech team!

How To Delete Your Old Tweets Now That All of Twitter Is Searchable

The news that Twitter has made its entire archive searchable may have caused you to cheer loudly or break out in a cold sweat. If it's the latter, don't panic just yet—locating and deleting your old tweets isn't too difficult. Read on to find out how to take advantage of Twitter's newly expanded search capabilities and erase those old embarrassing tweets if you need to.

FOR FULL INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DELETE TWEETS CLICK HERE

Original Article at: Gizmodo

3 Theories For Why Intel Is Merging Mobile And PC Divisions

WSJ reported recently that Intel will merge its PC and mobile divisions, with both being run by Kirk Skaugen, who is currently the chief of the PC arm of the business. This announcement comes after Intel has already lost over $6 billion with its mobile division over the past two years by heavily subsidizing OEMs who would choose its Atom chips in their mobile devices.

Intel has been hoping that once it reaches a certain level of sales in the mobile market, it can end the subsidies and can either increase the price of its chips or keep the price the same, but offer lower-end chips for that price. That's a strategy Intel has already used with Chromebooks this year.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

Original Article at: Toms Hardware

YouTube Music Key Hands On: Streaming Music Has Never Been Easier

Last week, YouTube announced its new streaming music service, which is finally rolling out in beta form. It comes complete with out-of-app background listening, cacheable videos, ad-free music, and a 6 month free trial. It turns YouTube into a great little music player. I just tried it out and so far, so good.

To see if you've got access to the beta, just go boot up the YouTube app you already have. If it's there, it'll walk you through the specifics of Music Key in great detail, twice. Once you join up for a six month(!) trial by attaching some sort of payment method, you're good to go. No new app to download or find your way around. The barrier to entry here is basically nil.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

Original Article at: Gizmodo

Confusion Over Whether Nintendo Will Offer Paid DLC For Smash Bros.

That Mewtwo downloadable character for Super Smash Bros.? It's supposed to be a freebie to those who buy both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game. It's supposed to be. But one day, Nintendo says, you might be able to purchase the character. Maybe.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

Original Article at: Kotaku

The next Battlefield game will return to its military roots in 2016

2016's Battlefield release will see the franchise return to its military-centric roots, continuing the theme of previous mainline entries in the series and not the cops-and-robbers style of Battlefield Hardline, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen announced during the 2014 UBS Global Technology Conference attended by GameSpot.

This upcoming Battlefield release, which was announced last month, is shaping up to be a "fun, new Battlefield," said Jorgensen. "That will be a return to a Battlefield military-style game; more to come on that."

Battlefield Hardline is EA's next core Battlefield title, and is scheduled for a March 2015 launch. There will not be a new Battlefield release for holiday 2015, however, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson previously stating "We want to give Battlefield 4 and Battlefield Hardline players more time to enjoy these games and immerse themselves in a game, the live service, and the community."

As was previously announced, The next major Battlefield game - the one after Battlefield Hardline - is slated for a release during the third quarter of EA's 2017 fiscal year. In calendar terms, that means Battlefield 5 (or whatever it may be called) will arrive sometime between October and December 2016.

Original Article at: Polygon

Call of Duty franchise tops $10 billion, Advanced Warfare sales not released

I don't know what's more interesting: That the Call of Duty franchise has now topped $10 billion in sales worldwide since kicking off in 2003, or that Activision didn't release any hard numbers for the launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Instead, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick fell back on generalities to hit home the point that the latest in the robust franchise was a hit.

"Since Activision created the Call of Duty franchise in 2003, franchise revenues have exceeded $10 billion in sales worldwide, far exceeding box office receipts for such household movie franchises as Hunger Games, Transformers, Iron Man and Avengers, combined," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "Advanced Warfare is the biggest entertainment launch of 2014 in terms of revenue, surpassing all movie, music and book launches this year."

While that's an impressive factoid, it's not backed up by any hard numbers. Compare that to previous Call of Duty games where Kotick positively crowed about the huge numbers for Activision's big money earner.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, for instance, pulled in $310 million in revenue in the first day of sales in the U.S. and U.K. Modern Warfare 3 grossed $400 million in the U.S. and U.K. within 24 hours of going on sale. Black Ops sold through 5.6 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. in the first 24 hours and Black Ops 2 grossed $500 million in the first day. When relatively poorly-received Ghosts launched, Activision talked about how many copies they sent to retailers. And now with Advanced Warfare all we hear is that it out-earned other entertainment products this year and that its first week was better than Ghosts'first week.

The company did say that the game is the "highest-selling digital launch in console history," that according to Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and their own estimates. But still no solid numbers.

What numbers we do get are all connected to player time. The first week after launch ofAdvanced Warfare, according to Activision, resulted in gamers playing more than 370 million online matches and leveling up over 200 million times in online multiplayer.

"We poured our hearts into making Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare an epic ride, and we are pleased with the performance," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing, Inc. "Sales and engagement are up through the first week compared to last year. Season Pass sales are up, as well. The game has been very positively reviewed and the response from fans has been tremendous. We believe Advanced Warfare will be the most successful game of the year and we thank our fans for making it the biggest entertainment launch of the year."

Original Article at: Polygon