Author: Juan Carlos Bagnell

Juan has been obsessed with consumer electronics since before computers had GUI’s. Out of college he worked on a JIT computing contract which supported DOE facilities in New Mexico. He’s been featured on numerous podcasts and radio shows lending his tech insights. You can also find him in LA directing voice over actors and producing spoken word recording.
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LG Releases Teaser Video for the G3

lg g 3Under the banner of “Simple is the New Smart”, LG teased the Android community today with some footage of the next G flagship.

Rumors are swirling with what will actually be inside the phone. The G2 was fairly ahead of the curve from a specs perspective, so it’ll take some significant hardware to wow the specs-obsessed Android elite.

We’ll all know more come LG’s proper announcement on May 27, but until then we at least have some confirmation that the G3 looks like it will follow in HTC’s footsteps with an aluminum build. Hit the vid below, and try to keep the drool off your keyboards. Let’s maintain a little dignity ok folks?

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Entry Level Moto E Smartphone Official at $129, Moto G Gains LTE

Moto_E_White_ShellsAfter the leaked and blurry pictures, it’s nice to see Motorola continue applying pressure to the entry level market.

The Moto G started a “low cost” conversation, and we’ll see it get a nice little update. Already showing up on MotoMaker and Amazon, G gets LTE support and still maintains its $229 price point.

Moto_E_Single_NAThe big news is Moto E however, as it steps into an even lower cost market. Motorola is delivering a solid spec sheet for a $129 price. A 4.3″ qHD screen (960×540) will be powered by a Qualcomm 200 dual-core and 1GB of RAM. A 1980 mAh battery should get this low powered wonder through a solid day, and a 5MP camera is on board for photos and vids. Plus the phone will feature a removable backplate to customize the design.

It’ll also offer up some great “Offline” features like an FM Radio and a MicroSD card slot, notable as this phone will be targeted at areas where data coverage is spotty or prohibitively expensive.

Exciting stuff, as less than three years ago this would have been a premier phone in the $600 price range. Motorola released a fun welcome video, and you can read the full PR below.

Continue reading “Entry Level Moto E Smartphone Official at $129, Moto G Gains LTE”

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‘JohnnyExpress’ is a Funny and Creative Computer Animated Short Film

johnnyexpress short filmIt’s smart. It’s creative. It’s funny. It’s beautifully animated.

Take five minutes out of your day and watch ‘JohnnyExpress’ by AlfredImageWorks.

You’ll thank me later.

Continue reading “‘JohnnyExpress’ is a Funny and Creative Computer Animated Short Film”

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‘Breaking Bad’ Coming to Netflix in 4K!

breaking bad 4k netflixNetflix debuted their Ultra-HD service this year with the second season of House of Cards, allowing viewers to watch the series with an image resolution four times that of 1080p.

Now Netflix has announced via their blog that the next series to make the transition to 4K will be Breaking Bad, giving me yet another reason to re-watch the whole series… Again…

Netflix recommends at least a 20Mbps data connection to stream 4K video, as the stream stream clocks in at around 16Mbps. Puts that “50 megs innernet” offered up here in LA into perspective. The future is coming, and our current infrastructure probably wont handle it well.

If you’re groovy enough to own a 4K TV, be on the look out for Breaking Bad in Ultra-HD starting in June.

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Let’s Speculate: What Will Apple Do With Beats Electronics?

dr dre jimmy iovine billboard beats audioI’m leaving this one up to you folks! The pundits are weighing in on the announcement that Apple will be snatching up the love child of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine for $3.2 Billion. The general consensus? No one really knows why Apple is making this move now, or what they really stand to gain from it.

tim cook apple logoIt makes some sense following the announcement that the former head of the Nokia camera division was moving to Apple, that Cupertino is looking to make a bigger multimedia push for future devices, but if the Beats buyout is approved, it’ll mark Apple’s biggest acquisition in the company’s history.

Also, Beats recently bought out HTC’s stake in the company to fly solo. At the time they discussed diversifying the brand and moving into more professional audio solutions. An Apple buyout would seem to contradict those plans.

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine Buy Beats Back From HTC

Drop me some comments below. What does Apple really stand to gain here? Does the Beats brand help restore some of Apple’s “cool factor”? Will consumers be more likely to consider Apple products if they come with Beat Audio?

Honestly, my readers out there are probably better informed than the pundits commenting on this story, so let’s speculate! Go nuts!

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Netflix Hikes Price for New Subscribers, Current Users Stay at $7.99 for 2 Years

netflix price increaseWe’ve already heard rumblings of the Netflix price increase. New customers will see a $1 rate increase to $8.99 for unlimited streaming.

Confirmed via an email which was sent out today, current customers will have their $7.99 rate locked in for the next two years. It’s a nice gesture, and one which is appreciated considering the extra expenses Netflix might face fighting for Net Neutrality and negotiating bandwidth with carriers and ISPs.

To continue adding more movies and TV shows and delivering a great streaming experience, we previously announced that we planned to increase our price slightly for new members. That increase is happening today. We are increasing the price of our service by US$1 a month for new members. Existing Netflix members get to keep their current (US$7.99) price for two years, enjoying HD-quality movies and TV shows on any two screens at the same time.

Not bad at all as we’re also going to see a lot of new original content going into production soon as well.

More info on the Netflix Blog

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How I Plan to Continue Using Google Voice on Windows Phone After Support for MetroTalk Ends

google voice on windows phone

We posted a reminder yesterday that Google will soon be pulling support for 3rd party Google Voice clients. No big deal for people who use Android and iOS, as the Voice will likely get rolled up into the Hangouts app.

However Windows Phone users are getting caught in the cold war crossfire between Microsoft and Google, and it’s unlikely we’ll see a “Live Tiled” version of Hangouts any time soon. In the meantime, here’s how I’ll continue to use Google Voice on my Windows Phone…

Continue reading “How I Plan to Continue Using Google Voice on Windows Phone After Support for MetroTalk Ends”

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PSA: Windows Phone Users Only Have One Week Left to Use 3rd Party Google Voice Apps

unhappy windows phones google voiceJust a friendly reminder folks. This is the last week to use those terrific 3rd party Google Voice clients like MetroTalk on our Windows Phones.

Rumors are pointing towards merging Voice and Hangouts on Android handsets, but that’ll leave WP users out in the cold as there is no Hangouts app for people who happen to prefer Live Tiles.

Live it up. Send a few extra texts. Make a few more phone calls. In seven days the cord gets cut.

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