4oD's Android app is no longer an Inbetweener with 3G/4G streaming

Channel 4 has updated its 4oD app for Android to offer programme streaming over 3G and 4G mobile networks.

The update comes precisely two weeks after the broadcaster finally updated its PGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy5ob3N0aW5na2l0YS5jb20NIiB0YXJnZXQ9Il9ibGFuayIgcmVsPSJub2ZvbGxvdyI+aU9TIDwvYT4=app to accommodate mobile data streaming of live and on demand content.

Until very recently users of the application on both platforms were limited to streaming programming over Wi-Fi.

Users were, and still are, available to download programmes from the last 30 days for offline viewing, but the addition of mobile data streaming will enable those spur-of-the-moment viewing decisions.

Parity

The feature now gives 4oD parity with the BBC iPlayer and ITV player apps which also have the ability to stream over 3G and 4G

The updated app, which can now be downloaded from the PGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cDovL2hvc3RpbmdraXRhLmNvbQ0iIHRhcmdldD0iX2JsYW5rIiByZWw9Im5vZm9sbG93Ij5Hb29nbGUgPC9hPg==Play store, also brings access to 4Shorts, offering hundreds of classic clips from the archives along with a host of original shorts.

Users are, of course, advised to use Wi-Fi whenever possible so as not to drain their data allowance.

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Via Engadget

After smartphones, Amazon's next trick could be slimmer Kindles

With anticipation running high for this week's rumored Amazon smartphone unveiling, interest in all things Amazon is at its peak, making this a perfect time to see what's coming next.

BloombergBusinessweek has offered a glimpse into the top-secret lair where Amazon does most of the R&D work for new hardware such as Fire TV, not to mention a smartphone expected to be announced at a media event on Wednesday.

Known as "Lab126," the facilities are home to more than 1,600 employees, many who have been working there since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos set up the division to create the first Kindle e-book reader back in 2004.

Amazon's hardware gurus will reportedly return to the Kindle well for a new "remarkably thin" version of the Kindle Paperwhite codenamed "Ice Wine," with insiders also dishing on a Square-style credit card reader Amazon may use to shore up its payment business.

Science projects

The report from "The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon" author Brad Stone doesn't offer details as to how Amazon plans to slim down the Kindle, instead offering a tantalizing peek into other devices spearheaded by the billionaire CEO.

According to loose-lipped employees, Amazon's rumored smartphone has been in gestation at Lab126 since 2009, along with other so-called "science projects" that include a device capable of projecting computer images onto any surface.

Said to be powered by a forked version of PGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy5ob3N0aW5na2l0YS5jb20NIiB0YXJnZXQ9Il9ibGFuayIgcmVsPSJub2ZvbGxvdyI+QW5kcm9pZCA8L2E+similar to the company's Kindle Fire tablets, Amazon's smartphone will reportedly offer a 3D user interface that uses four infrared cameras to track the user's face and pupils as they're looking at the display.

Known internally as "Duke," the Amazon handset may wind up an AT&T exclusive at launch thanks to the carrier's Sponsored Data program, capable of offloading some or all mobile data expenses to a user's annual Amazon Prime subscription.

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