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Ben & Jerry’s made a binge-worthy Netflix and Chill’d ice cream flavor
With official support from Netflix, Ben & Jerry's has announced a new flavor called Netflix and Chill'd. The ice cream is about as about decadent as you expect. It's made with peanut butter, salty pretzel swirls and fudge brownie chunks. The lid displays the company's logo and declares that you're about to eat "A Netflix Original Flavor." The front of the tub, meanwhile, features three cows huddled together on a couch, presumably about to watch the latest Netflix Original.
Nissan's zero-emission ice cream truck uses recycled EV batteries
For some, chasing the neighborhood ice cream truck is a favorite summer tradition. But many ice cream trucks have diesel engines, and older models keep those engines running to power the freezers. That means you get a hefty side of CO2 emissions with your cone. Nissan thinks it can change that. To celebrate the UK's Clean Air Day, Nissan unveiled a zero-emission ice cream van concept, called "Sky to Scoop."
LG's SnowWhite is like a Keurig for ice cream
SXSW 2019 isn't just about films, politicians, designers and social media founders. There are also gadgets here to check out. Enter LG's SnowWhite, a concept machine designed to let you easily make ice cream at home. The SnowWhite is basically like a Keurig, featuring a pod-based system that allows you to choose the base and flavor for a variety of frozen desserts. That means it isn't just limited to ice cream: You might also be able to make gelato, granita, sorbet, yogurt and more. I say "might" because LG is adamant that the SnowWhite is only a prototype right now -- this is more about showing off what the company thinks it can create for your home. That said, LG did just introduce its automated HomeBrew machine at CES 2019, so the SnowWhite could eventually become a reality. If it does, LG says you'll be able to make ice cream, gelato or any of the other desserts listed above in two to five minutes. In addition to that, the system can clean itself and may offer both a touchscreen and physical dial for controlling its settings. Unfortunately, the SnowWhite at SXSW wasn't a working model, which is disappointing because it would've been great to have a scoop in this Texas heat. But, considering the popularity of Keurigs, the SnowWhite isn't a bad idea. Now I just hope LG adds some sort of smartphone integration in the future, because that would make my life even easier. I could just pull out my phone, use an app to tell the SnowWhite what to make me and in a few minutes, boom, I'd have ice cream waiting for me in the kitchen. Ultra lazy status achieved.
Survey shows 42% of iPhone users run out of storage space once a month or more
Not to harp this on this issue, but 16GB isn't really a lot of storage. God forbid you try to get by with less than that, say 8GB. But how much does living with 16GB actually impact your life? A new study from the cloud photography app IceCream and Ondevice Research says it impacts regular usage for 42 percent of users at least once a month. The study interviewed 1,000 iPhone users in the USA and UK, but didn't specifically specific storage requirements. In the study, IceCream found that 76 percent of respondents had a 16GB or lower storage device. Here's how their numbers break down. This ties back into the slow initial adoption rate for iOS 8, when users were constantly running out of storage they certainly won't have the extra space required for a 5GB installation. Ice Cream's interest in this issue is simple; their app aims to solve this problem by keeping your full resolution images in the cloud while leaving smaller preview image files on your phone. Head over to their site to read their full report entitled "Dear Apple, why is my iPhone always full?"
Barely Related: Hoaxes and True Detective cast lists
Happy weekending, folks! Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
Turn in violent video games, get ice cream in California county
The District Attorney of Marin county, California, is hosting a buyback day for residents' toy guns and violent video games, in an effort to highlight issues of domestic violence during October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. District Attorney Ed Berberian is working with the Center for Domestic Peace and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream for the event, to be held on October 4 at Novato police headquarters. Participants will receive ice cream, Marin IJ says. "As we know, domestic violence incidents almost always have children present and these children develop over time imprinted images of the family violence," Berberian said in a written message. "These children then carry those experiences into their adult lives and often repeat the pattern of violence in their own family units."
Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Flavors of WoW
Each week, Blog Azeroth hosts a shared topic for bloggers to answer on their own blogs and then link to in the forum. Last week, Cymre from Bubbles of Mischief asked: It would not be uncommon to hear about the initial release of World of Warcraft as Vanilla or Classic. In terms of ice cream or gelato (which is my preference), Vanilla was once considered the most popular flavour of it's time. So if Vanilla represents Classic WoW, what flavours could represent the following expansions? Mmmm, ice cream. The crusade for deliciousness When I think of The Burning Crusade, I think of brightly colored to the point of garish. I also think of things that I wouldn't necessarily have thought would have gone together -- like outer space and Azeroth. While I really liked the expansion, being forced to go back there in order to get through to the next content gets a little old. Ice cream flavor: The Creamsicle. It has a garish orange outside and is vanilla ice cream on the inside. Orange and vanilla? I never would have chosen those two tastes together, but it was a favorite treat from the ice cream truck in days of yore. I eat one now and it tastes good, but I definitely don't want to fill the freezer with them.
Ice Cream Sandwich takes a bite out of Gingerbread, represents 15.9 percent of Android devices
Two major updates later (three if you count the tablet-exclusive Honeycomb), and Gingerbread is finally starting to falter. According to Google's latest two week survey of devices accessing the Play store, Ice Cream Sandwich is on the rise, filling out 15.9-percent of the Android user base. That's a full five points ahead of Android 4.0's July score, and it's eating into the OS' other flavors: Gingerbread (Android 2.3) dropped by 3.4-percent, Froyo (Android 2.2) by 1.8 and Eclair (Android 2.1) by a meager half a percent. Google's latest confectionery update, Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), made an appearance as well, eking out a shy 0.8-percent of the market. Check out Google's collection of charts for yourself at the source link below or let us know where your devices falls in the comments.
Ice Cream Sandwich consumed by one in ten Android devices
The latest Dashboard numbers for Google's Android operating system have been released. The verdict? One in ten devices is leveraging Ice Cream Sandwich as their mobile OS of choice. The numbers, which are current as of July 2nd, put Gingerbread (Android 2.3) in first place with a 64-percent install base; followed by Froyo (Android 2.2) with 17.3-percent and ICS with 10.6-percent. Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), announced just last week at Google's IO Developer Conference, was not included in this instance of the report (as it is not officially available yet). Hit the source link to view all the stats, and feel free to let us know what Android codebase your handset is rocking via the comments.
ViewSonic adds ViewPad G70, E100 and P100 to its tablet collection
In addition to the ICS phone trio, ViewSonic's also just announced three new tablets ahead of the MWC party. Pictured on the left is the 7-inch "super light, super slim" ViewPad G70 -- to be sold alongside the E70 -- featuring Android Ice Cream Sandwich, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, microSD expansion, a two-megapixel imager and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera, along with various ports including mini HDMI, micro-USB and mini-USB. Oddly enough, ViewSonic hasn't confirmed the G70's processor specs, but we'll let you guys know when we do.Another ICS tablet in this lineup is the 9.7-inch ViewPad E100. While we're still waiting for its press shots, we're told that this slate packs a 1,024 x 768 IPS display, a 1GHz chip, and the usual selection of connectivity like HDMI, USB and microSD. All of this comes in a package weighing 620g and at 9.1mm thick.Last but not least, we have the Windows 7-powered ViewPad P100 pictured on the right, featuring a 10-inch 1,280 × 800 IPS display, a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom N2600 and a camera on both the front and the back. No deets on pricing and availability just yet, so stay tuned as we scan the MWC show floor next week.
ZTE to unleash eight new phones at MWC, hopes multi-core chipsets and LTE push them into third place
If the trio of slabs ZTE announced earlier this week weren't enough for you, sit tight, the outfit just announced it's bringing a total of eight new phones to Barcelona next week. The new handsets will reportedly flaunt multi-core processors, LTE radios and the latest versions of the Android and Windows Phone platforms. This announcement both echos and one-ups the recently announced Mimosa X, which gets its dual-core chops from an NVIDIA Tegra 2, but boasts only HSPA+, rather than the promised LTE. ZTE says it hopes the new devices will help it become one of the world's top three handset providers by the year 2015. Seem far off? Don't worry, at least the phones will be here by Monday. Read on for ZTE's official press statement.
ZTE Mimosa X official: ICS, Tegra 2, HSPA+ and 4.3-inch qHD display, arriving in Q2
And then there were three. Not 24 hours after announcing a pair of Android 4.0 handsets, ZTE is back with the Mimosa X, a 4.3-inch, HSPA+ device running Ice Cream Sandwich. Interestingly, this is the first time since NVIDIA acquired wireless chip maker Icera that we've seen a phone packing both Tegra 2 and an NVIDIA-made modem (in this case, the 21Mbps-capable Icera 450). In its press release, NVIDIA also goes so far as to say this is the first time "a premium mobile computing experience is coming to the mainstream smartphone market," as if Tegra 3 hadn't already pushed Tegra 2 down into mid-range territory. Anyhow, marketing spin aside, this is indeed a middle-of-the-road device, with a qHD (960 x 540) display, 5-megapixel camera and 4GB of internal storage. It also supports A2DP Bluetooth and DLNA, and makes room for dual mics and a gyroscope. No word yet on how much it'll cost or even what markets it'll hit, though we do know it will go on sale sometime in Q2. Until then, something tells us we might get our first look much sooner, sometime in Barcelona next week.
Live from Google I/O 2011's day 2 keynote!
No, you aren't losing your mind. You're really tuned in to the second Google keynote in as many days, and if we had to guess, we'd say Chrome and / or Chrome OS will take top billing. Things haven't started just yet, but your patience (or impatience) is greatly appreciated. Have a look below to see when things get going! 06:30AM - Hawaii 09:30AM - Pacific 10:30AM - Mountain 11:30AM - Central 12:30PM - Eastern 05:30PM - London 06:30PM - Paris 08:30PM - Moscow / Dubai 12:30AM - Perth (May 12th) 12:30AM - Shenzhen (May 12th) 01:30AM - Tokyo (May 12th) 02:30AM - Sydney (May 12th)
Google Ice Cream Sandwich coming in Q4 2011 to smartphones and tablets alike
"One OS that runs everywhere." There you have it, folks! Google intends to meld its Honeycomb tablet wares and Gingerbread smartphone software into one delicious Ice Cream Sandwich. Maybe that's why the "sandwich" bit is in the name, eh? Either way, it'll be a universal OS that runs on everything from teeny tiny Android phones to 10-inch tablets and will intelligently adapt to each form factor with things like a resizable status bar. Some other fancy new additions were demonstrated during Google's I/O 2011 keynote, including face-tracking and camera focus shifting based on voice recognition, but most of the salient details remain under lock and key for now. We'll be sure to dig around Mountain View campus fridges in search for more clues about the next major iteration of Android. %Gallery-123220%
Google details some of the Honeycomb features coming to Ice Cream: action bar, 'hologram' visual style
Google has already confirmed that its Honeycomb and Gingerbread iterations of Android would be combined in the next version of OS -- dubbed Ice Cream by all accounts -- and it's now also providing a few more details about what Honeycomb features will be carried over to smartphones. Speaking to Phone Scoop, Google Android Engineering Director Dave Burke said that the contextual "action bar" at the top of the screen on Honeycomb tablets will be used on phones as well, but that the system bar at the bottom of Honeycomb might not make the transition. You can apparently expect the so-called "hologram" visual style of Honeycomb to carry over though, along with the multitasking app switcher that provides a snapshot of each app running. That's about all the details there are at the moment, but you can be sure we'll be digging for more.
Next version of Android will combine Gingerbread and Honeycomb, arrive on a six-month cycle
Eric Schmidt didn't give a ton of details about the future of Android during his MWC 2011 keynote, but he did drop one interesting tidbit: the next version of Android will "start with an I, be named after a dessert" and combine Gingerbread for phones and Honeycomb for tablets into a cohesive whole. We'll just go out on a limb and say that he's talking about Ice Cream, and that we'll see that Fragments UI construct used to bridge the phone / tablet display size gap. Unfortunately, Eric didn't say anything about timing -- just that updates have been happening on a "six month cycle." Considering that Honeycomb has yet to officially launch on any devices, we'd say that's not so long to wait -- but of course we're also dying to know more as soon as possible. We'll let you know if we hear anything good.
Ben & Jerry's stores in Singapore giving away free iPhone cases
Popular ice cream chain Ben & Jerry's is giving away a set of pretty awesome iPhone cases -- but only in Singapore. Customers in that country will be able to trade in four carton tops to stores there and pick up one of 5,000 completely free iPhone covers. You can see what the covers look like above -- there are twelve shops involved in the promotion, and each one of those shops also has one limited edition cover each to give away to an extra lucky customer. As for why this is only available in Singapore, you can probably guess -- Ben & Jerry's could probably use the exposure there, and of course, the iPhone is hotter than ever in Asian markets at the moment. A similar promotion here in the US would cost a lot more and be a lot more trouble to carry out. But that is a nice-looking case. Hopefully we'll see someone give away some nice cases here in the West as well.
Android 'Ice Cream' the sweet toothed followup to Honeycomb?
Ah, the age old alphabetical dessert guessing game. Pretty soon we'll have more future Android versions named than existing ones on the market. And you know what? That's okay, because we're hungry. Apparently the President of ARM, Tudor Brown, spilled the vanilla beans to Elizabeth Woyke of Forbes, saying that Android 4.0 will be called "Ice Cream," and while it seems like a bit of an obvious choice for an "I" dessert, that's never stopped Google's crack naming crew before. (Donut, anybody?) Somehow we get the feeling that Google spends a lot less time thinking about potential names for desserts than we do, and that's alright: they've got a lot of OS work to do. Us? We just have to whine about Android fragmentation for an hour or so a week on the podcast. Hardly a full load. [Image courtesy of Robot Dreams]
Robot sells ice cream, we love him for it
Now, two of our favorite things in the world just so happen to be ice cream and robots. So combining the two could only lead to awesome things, right? Well, that's Yaskawa-kun is: a robot that vends ice cream. And yes, it's super fantastic. Currently working a Tokyo Summerland, Yaskawa-kun has a touchscreen ordering panel, and you can even watch him make your treat for you. While the video below is pretty impressive, this is one thing we just need to see for ourselves.
Ben & Jerry's app adds augmented reality "Moo Vision"
When I heard about the updated version of Ben & Jerry's iPhone app, "Scoop of Happiness," now with augmented reality, I really wanted to give it a try. After all, I've finally upgraded to a phone that can do all that neat/gimmicky augmented reality stuff, so why not? The app has a few typical (and not-so-typical) features you'd see in a restaurant or store chain app, such as a store locator. Then it has something new called "Moo Vision," which has that added augmented reality flavor. You point your iPhone's camera at the lid of one of several qualifying pints of B&J's, and, after a few seconds, you're staring at the lid with an odd 3D image atop of it. I'd love to show an example of this first-hand. The problem is, I don't eat Ben & Jerry's ice cream. So, short of looking like a real loon in the frozen food isle at the local grocery store, it wasn't happening. However, I had a little luck fooling the app by pointing it at an image on my laptop screen of one of the qualifying flavor lids. Give it a try yourself (only Milk & Cookies in the image works). I'm all for doing neat things with the iPhone camera, compass and gyroscope, but this usage appears to be severely lacking. It's more fun trying to see if you can trick the camera with a web image than it is to actually see it in full action. The Ben & Jerry's Scoop of Happiness app is currently available and free in the App Store. [via Mashable]
