All you need to know about the anticipated OnePlus 2 smartphone

 

The upcoming launch of OnePlus 2 is among the most awaited events of the year. First, the OnePlus Cardboard virtual reality (VR) headset went on sale. Now, the OnePlus 2 Launch app (that can be used to watch the launch event) has landed in the Play Store. Over the weekend, OnePlus officially opened the invite system by allowing everyone to register for the reservation list. With less than 24 hours for the VR-based launch event to go live, we have rounded up everything we know about the successor of the OnePlus One.

OnePlus 2 is likely to have a 5.5-inch quad-HD display. There have been talks about the new design and metal built. The leaked images show a physical home button below the display. It is also believed that a fingerprint sensor will be added to this physical button. A few features the company revealed through social media are the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM and USB Type C. The company claims that the rear camera is a "high priority" and will "have a bunch of things that will set the OnePlus 2 apart." It will be LTE enabled with support for bands in USA, Europe and rest of the world. Most importantly, the OnePlus 2 will be on Oxygen operating system based on Android 5.1 Lollipop and not Cyanogen OS. It will also have a 3300mAh battery onboard. With lot of speculations doing rounds, the company's CEO Pete Lau clarified that this won't be a super expensive smartphone and will be priced under $450 (approximately Rs 30,000). It was revealed in an interview that the company took more than 400 days to make this smartphone.

India will be among the first countries where the smartphone will be launched. The company plans to sell the OnePlus 2 through invite system, which will be much smoother than the last time.

While on papers everything looks great about this smartphone, I have a few concerns about OnePlus 2: the first being the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset which has got heating issues and second, the Oxygen OS.

The OnePlus 2 launch event is scheduled for 7:00 PM on July 27 Pacific Time. While anyone can install the app on their Android smartphones to view the event, those with the Cardboard will get an immersive experience.

OnePlus is a Chinese smartphone maker founded in 2013 and the company only has one smartphone (in two storage capacities) in its portfolio. OnePlus came to India in December last year and has done fairly well in the county. OnePlus has over 900 employees globally and has sold over 1.5 millon smartphones across 35 countries since launch.

This story has been edited from the source material.

Cr  : Albawaba

LeBron James teams up with Warner Bros. to make TV and film

 
LeBron James (right) stars in the film "Trainwreck" with comedy actress Amy Schumer.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Basketball superstar LeBron James is widely referred to as King James. On Wednesday (July 22), he extended his realm to entertainment.

James' entertainment company Springhill announced a production partnership with Warner Bros. to produce content for television, film, and digital platforms.

Word of the deal immediately sparked speculation that it could mean that Space Jam 2 could be in the works. The original 1996 Space Jam, starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, still has a cult-like following. A Warner Bros. spokesperson, however, had no comment.

It won't be his first entertainment venture — he currently stars in the movie Trainwreck. He had founded the SpringHill Entertainment company in 2013 with a business partner.
In announcing the deal, James said that "telling meaningful stories have always been my passion."

"In everything I've done, from Nike commercials to 'Uninterrupted' and 'Survivor's Remorse,' it's always about connecting with people of all ages and providing unique content they can all enjoy," he said.

"Uninterrupted" is a video series on athletes' stories for the online site Bleacher Report, which like CNNMoney and Warner Bros, is owned by Time Warner. "Survivor's Remorse" is a comedy for the Starz channel about a young basketball player in the NBA.
Details of the arrangement were not released.

Cr : CNN

President Barack Obama makes last appearance on Jon Stewart's 'The Daily Show'

 
























President Barack Obama joins Jon Stewart for a taping of "The Daily Show" on Tuesday, July 21, 2015 in Manhattan. This is the president's last appearance with Stewart, who is leaving the show early next month. For Barack Obama, this is the seventh appearance on the Daily Show, the fourth while he's been president. Photo Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas 


President Barack Obama defended his administration's nuclear deal with the Iranians -- on "The Daily Show" with comedian Jon Stewart.
Responding to skeptics who think Obama's team should have pushed harder at the negotiating table, Obama said: "When you hear the critics talk about well it's a bad deal, we could have got a better deal, you then ask them, well, what represents a better deal?" Obama said, in a discussion that touched on veterans, health care and Obama's legacy. "Typically, they are vague and they fall back on, 'Well, if you beat your chest a little bit more, or if you brought Dick Cheney to the negotiations . . .' "

Obama was making his seventh and final guest appearance since 2005 on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." The funny man's final episode will air Aug. 6.
"You know, I can't believe that you're leaving before me," said the term-limited Obama. "In fact, I'm issuing a new executive order -- that Jon Stewart cannot leave the show."
Said Stewart: "I have to say, for me, this is a states rights issue."

 Stewart ditched his usual monologue and devoted nearly the entire show, which aired at 11 p.m., to Obama.

Pressed about the Iran deal and other subjects, Obama encouraged Americans to participate in politics, because: "If people are engaged, eventually the political system responds despite the money, despite the lobbyists, it still responds."

Stewart retorted: "Is that the advice that you then bequeath to future President Trump?"
Obama said: "Well, I'm sure the Republicans are enjoying Mr. Trump's dominance."
Stewart added: "Anything that makes them look less crazy."

Cr : Newsday (  MATTHEW CHAYES )

Blake Lively reveals the 'perks of breastfeeding' in bikini

Blake Lively is certainly enjoying the benefits of breastfeeding.

The 27-year-old actress Instagrammed this pic of herself in a bikini on Thursday, breastfeeding her daughter James in a picturesque setting. Blake's currently in Bangkok, filming her latest movie, All I See Is You.

WATCH: Halle Berry Talks Breastfeeding on 'Ellen: 'My Baby's Sucking the Life Out of Me!'

"The PERKS of breastfeeding," she joked about the cleavage-baring shot.

The stunning Age of Adaline actress also showed off her "bronde" hair -- blonde mixed with brunette -- hashtagging the close-up, "#YesThatsRiceInMyHair #BlondevsBronde #BrondeJamesBronde."

Blake gave birth to her first child with husband Ryan Reynolds last December. In April, she talked about how life has changed for the new parents.

"Everything is different, you know?" she told Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa on Live! With Kelly and Michael. "You see a balcony and you're like, 'Oh, my God! The hotel needs to demolish this balcony because my child can't go anywhere near it.' So everything is just so much more heightened."

"We're crying all the time for no reason," she joked.

Cr  :  Fox News

Greek Lawmakers Weigh Bailout as Tear Gas Fired in Athens

Greek police clashed with protesters in central Athens as lawmakers debated a new bailout of up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion) that will impose further austerity on a country already ravaged by recession.



The protests show the challenges Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces convincing a country whose economy has shrunk by a quarter in the last five years to accept further spending cuts. In a July 5 referendum, 61 percent of Greeks voted “no” to a package of cuts less onerous than the one Tsipras accepted on Monday after capitulating to creditors’ demands.
“I want to say something to my comrades,” Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told lawmakers. “On Monday morning, at 9:30 a.m., it was the most difficult moment of my life.

 It was a decision which will be a burden for me for the rest of my life. I don’t know if we did the right thing. But I know we did something to which there was no alternative.”

Echoes of 2011

U.S. stocks fell after the violence started, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipping as much as 0.3 percent. The euro was little changed at $1.1095.

The scenes outside parliament were reminiscent of the turmoil that rocked Greece at the height of the crisis in 2011, when hooded protestors in gas masks fought running battles with police. About 13,000 people gathered to protest in central Athens tonight, police spokesman Takis Papapetropoulos said, though by about 9:45 p.m. many had been dispersed by riot officers.

Hotels and shops around the square pulled down shutters and deployed security guards as night fell. A few blocks away, business continued as normal in the tourist-heavy Plaka district.

Television images showed a protester throwing a Molotov cocktail shortly before the tear gas was fired.

The events highlight how Greek politics have gone through the looking glass since Tsipras and his Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, came to power in January. As the sound of percussion grenades reverberated across Syntagma Square, lawmakers who had campaigned against austerity just six months before now prepared to vote for just the opposite.

Syriza Defections

Tsipras is likely to lose the support of 30 to 40 Syriza lawmakers in tonight’s vote, and to be forced to rely on opposition lawmakers to pass the bill, Eurasia Group analyst Mujtaba Rahman said in a note to clients.

As a result, “Tsipras will reshuffle his cabinet and may call a vote of confidence,” allowing him to rule with a minority of the legislature at least for a few weeks, Rahman said. After that, a “national unity” government comprising the major Greek parties could be formed.
The vote is a key milestone in the plan to unlock fresh aid for Greece. Banks have been closed for more than two weeks to stem withdrawals and without an injection of funds the government will miss a July 20 payment of 3.5 billion euros to the European Central Bank.
The Frankfurt-based ECB plans to make a decision on extending emergency liquidity to Greek banks on Thursday, after the parliamentary vote, which may allow Greek lenders to gradually re-open. The bailout deal must also still be approved by six other euro-area national parliaments, including the lower house in Germany.

Cr  :  Bloomberg

Team Win Recovery Project Now Available For The Original ADT-1 Android TV Box

Team Win Recovery Project Now Available For The Original ADT-1 Android TV Box

 There are only a few people who have the original ADT-1 Android TV device - those who attended Google I/O 2014, or those who got lucky on eBay and bought one of them from attendees. That being said, the owners of the Tegra-powered set-top box are probably among the most dedicated of Android fans, being either developers willing to travel to Google's extremely limited and expensive conference or regular users willing to spend a ton of money on the aftermarket for a pre-release device. 

Those people now have an easier method of flashing custom ROMs and other modifications to the ADT-1. The prolific Team Win Recovery Project, better known as TWRP, is now available for the original Android TV box. It's downloadable in app from the Play Store or as a direct download (if you've already rooted your ADT-1) or as a standard Fastboot image. The second option requires flashing it with a PC via a MicroUSB cable, which (depending on your setup) may mean taking it and its power supply out of the entertainment center. This build is the latest version of TWRP, 2.8.4.

Why root or ROM what's essentially an entertainment terminal? Probably because Google isn't going to update it any time soon. The last time the ADT-1 was updated was to Android 5.0.2 back in February, and it hasn't been given an Android M developer preview build like the Nexus Player. That's particularly frustrating for users, since Android M adds considerable functionality to Android TV. Head to the source link below for a download. 

Cr  :  Android Police

Related Site :  Android TV Box

John Doyle: Ray Donovan is network-ordinary dressed up as a cable ferocity

 

 

Liev Schreiber, left, as Ray Donovan, Jason Butler Harner, middle, as Varick and Guy Burnet as Casey in Ray Donovan. (Michael Desmond/SHOWTIME)

 

The kids, a boy and girl, both teenagers, are discussing dad. The son says, “Dad is a thug.” His sister snaps, “Dad is not a thug!” The son replies, sarcastically, “I mean it in a cool way.”

The dad is Ray Donovan (Sundays, TMN and on-demand) and that conversation about Ray pretty much sums up the series. Ray is a depressive thug, a fixer in L.A., one of those men with multiple issues. Family, fidelity, religion, violence and narcissism.

 Now in its third season, Ray Donovan the series, from Showtime, has many fans. No wonder – it is extremely well-made nonsense. It’s a predictable network-type drama tarted up as a cable-quality, challenging narrative. But take away the foul language, sex scenes and occasional bursts of gory violence, and it’s very, very ordinary.

From the start, Ray (Liev Schreiber) was a guy with some big-time Catholic upbringing problems. All smooth and chillingly cool in the L.A. setting of big money and famous people, he carried the baggage of his Boston-Irish background. His dad, Mickey (Jon Voight, who remains the best element of the series), is a career criminal newly released from jail. He had brothers, one of whom was abused by a priest, and the family ran a gym where a lot of male rage is unleashed in the boxing ring.

As for the women in his life, Ray’s wife, Abby (Paula Malcomson), was his harbour in a sea of cruelty and perversity. But Abby always wanted more than an occasionally alert and loving Ray and was essentially a nagging figure who cramped his style.

At this point in the narrative, Ray has acknowledged his own sexual abuse as a boy, he’s estranged from Abby, one brother is in jail, people have died because of his actions and his dad is facilitating a prostitution ring at a rundown hotel.

More than before, the series feels forced, contrived to be something of deep seriousness when it is very superficial.

The first thing we hear is Ray’s old pal Ezra (Elliott Gould), a powerful Hollywood attorney who has often used Ray’s services, saying, “You don’t know who you are any more, Ray.” Well, we knew that.

There is also a lot of dramatic business to let us into the fact that Abby is as lonely as Ray is lost. Inevitably, there’s a fight involving Ray and some guy who didn’t pay a hooker. And then a new, sinister force comes into Ray’s life.

That’s movie mogul Malcolm Finney (Ian McShane), who hires Ray to recover his son who has been kidnapped. Soon, Ray is also required to work for Finney’s daughter Paige (Katie Holmes, who isn’t really acting, but seems to be imitating some female Hollywood flake she encountered), and the neat structural contrast between the Finney family and Ray’s family is complete.

The dialogue turns bizarre. “What is it you do?” Finney asks Ray. “I change the story,” Ray replies with the sort of grumpy grandiosity he does so well. Soon, Finney is quoting Kafka to Ray.

At the end of the first episode, we see Ray lost and brooding and Abby getting acquainted with a new family pet. The music on the soundtrack is Hotel California by the Eagles.

Strip it of its gloss of pretend-seriousness and Ray Donovan could be on CBS at 9 p.m. on weeknights. What saves it from utter ordinariness is Mickey. There’s a dry, malevolent wit to Mickey and Jon Voight is having the time of his life in the role. A scene in which Mickey dreams up the idea of a whorehouse in a doughnut shop is priceless.

The best of premium cable drama reaches far beyond what Ray Donovan does, and delivers. The truly great ones – Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire and many more – contain disturbing commentary on class, family and work. They have sociological depth. They don’t rely on Hotel California to establish a mood.

Ray Donovan is, as such, an interesting example of the true differences between network and premium cable drama. The show is mundane, at its core, but presented to us in a cool way

Cr  :   The Globe and Mail