Android Phones hit with Judy Malware attack

A new malware that is being called “Judy” is on the loose in Android devices worldwide. There about close to 37 million Androids that are currently affected by “Judy”. The malware came in through 41 different apps in the Google Play Store. Some of the apps that were affected were in the store for years. Since the malware has been found Google has since removed the apps from the Play Store.
How did the malware get past the Google Bouncer system? The apps did not contain the malicious part of the code. According to BBC once the app was downloaded the apps register the devices to a remote server and then send malicious ad software to open a website that generates revenue for the website when you click on them. Some adds do not allow you to close them without a click. The apps came from Korean app developer Enstudio. Android users beware and make sure you are protected from the malware. Stay tuned next week for a brand new, Cyber Security article detailing the many types of malware and ow to stay protected!

Justin Kushnir is a tech blogger at CPS Central who researches highly enticing tech topics and puts out blog posts every Monday. His post range from Music to gaming to sports and everything in between! Make sure to visit our website every Monday for more posts by Justin.

Visit us at cpscentral.com for all the best warranty coverage on all phones.

Catch a ride?

Have you ever seen a car driving by you and notice something weird about it? Maybe there was no driver in the driver’s seat. Now while that is quite a sight to see don’t worry you’re most likely taking a look at Uber’s self driving vehicle. Since 2016 certain Uber driver’s in Pittsburgh were able to take a ride without a driver. This technology was tested out in Arizona, San Fransisco and Pittsburgh who recently have fallen out of love with the self driving vehicle.
Now how do we maneuver these self driving vehicles? First there are over 20 camera equipped with the car that are able to view pedestrians crossing the street, pedestrians and other obstacles that might get in your way. To see street lights the car has a colored camera to see traffic light changes. Don’t worry about overworking, the car has a cooling system that keeps it from overheating. With Antennas on the roof the car has exact GPS location on it at all times.
Uber is not the only company moving forward with self driving cars, companies such as Google has also tested themselves out with their Waymo vehicle technology. People in Arizona, Washington, California and Texas have all had the ability to test out the self driving car technology. Waymo’s technology build is almost the same as Uber’s self driving car, except for some details such as the 8 camera in and around the car that help it sense things like weather, fog, and objects in it’s way. According to Business Insider, the sensors can detect a football helmet from 2 football fields away, (talk about a good eye).
Just last week Lyft, one of the biggest competitors to Uber, partnered up with Waymo to use their cars. There will be pilot rides involving Waymo technology through Lyft, so next time you call a Lyft in an eligible state don’t be surprised if you don’t have a driver. This could be a strong way for Lyft to close the gap between them and Uber in regards to actual sales. Waymo believes they are past the testing point for their vehicles and believe their cars are ready to it the road sooner rather than later.
Not all aspects of these self driving vehicles have been great though, Uber has seen its fare share of trouble involving their technology. One of their first test runs in 2016 ended with a car running a red light, which Uber said was a human error but the New York Times reported that  the internal logs showed the system failed to recognize the traffic light, a significant technological issue to say the least. Also in 2016 the DMV of California revoked Uber’s licenses to drive after they refused to obtain the $150 license needed to operate. In Pittsburgh the most recent city that had test runs from Uber it has also gone south, the company which promised that these self driven rides would be free have began to charge for the rides. The problems are beginning to stack and up and we can’t help but wonder will these cars ever make it countrywide?

Visit us at cpscentral.com for more blog posts and all the best coverage on your items!

Justin Kushnir is a tech blogger at CPS Central who researches highly enticing tech topics and puts out blog posts every Monday. His post range from Music to gaming to sports and everything in between! Make sure to visit our website every Monday for more posts by Justin.

These three are considered giants of the music industry, but which one stands superior to the others? A study by Edison Research says that Americans listen to up to four hours of audio a day, that’s a lot of time spent listening to music, videos etc. How we stream this audio is a whole different […]

via Music to our ears?(Spotify, Apple Music or Tidal) — CPS Warranty Solutions – Consumer Priority Service

Google Assistant coming to IOS

Watch out Siri, here comes Google Assistant to take your place! Google announced on Wednesday that they will be bringing their assistant to iPhone’s through a separate app on their store. While the announcement loomed large the features that come with the assistant are rather small, it can only send over messages and play songs from Spotify. Another negative that comes with this is that you’re home button is still programmed to take Siri commands. So while the announcement came in strong at IO17, the resulting product seems to disappoint for IOS based products so seems like Siri still holds her throne.

Dive into virtual reality(Part 2)

Samsung Gear VR headset with over 5 million units sold.

Yesterday we took a look at the capabilities of virtual reality and all of the perks it has. Today we will look at the top virtual reality gear and their capabilities. From Sony to Samsung, virtual reality has taken the world by storm and it can only get better over time with new technology constantly releasing.
    Lets take a look at some of the best headsets available at the moment…
*All Items are covered by CPS Warranty, to purchase visit us at cpscentral.com/
Oculus Rift
Price: $600.00
What does it do?: The Oculus Rift is when of the first major virtual reality  systems to release in association with Facebook. The price starts at 600 dollars but a major add on, The touch motion controller was once  considered an add on but as more games come out for the Oculus the more likely you needed the touch controller to play. With the touch controller you have the ability to pick up objects, move objects and so much more, not buying them would dramatically ruin the virtual reality experience. With a item like the Rift you have access to thousands of experimental projects created by the PC given you tons of options to play with while using the Rift. To connect the Oculus you get a long cable that you plug directly into your PC.  The Rift shows a 1,080-by-1,200 picture resolution to your eyes for a good quality experience. The play space on the Rift is 5×11.

Htc Vive
Price: $800.00
What does it do?: Taking a quick look at the Htc Vive one of it’s major selling points is their compatibility with Steam the online gaming website. The Vive offers over 500 games to work with in virtual reality. To connect the VR you have three wires that connect into your PC and these are put together tight to make it seem like it is one long cord. When it comes to audio any set of headphones are compatible with the Vive. The screen graphics are 2160×1200 on a LED screen. The mapping area for the Vive is 15×15 as well giving you a larger play space than the Rift and Playstation VR. This gives you more space to move around in your own reality while taking on all of those zombies.

Playstation VR
Price: $400.00
What does it do?: At the moment Playstation’s own virtual reality kit is the only console only virtual reality available. The screen graphics run at a 1920×1080 OLED display. With this it is able to handle all 1080p games. There are close to 50 games available right now to work with the Playstation VR. To move around you can use the Dualshock Playstation 4 controller along with the Playstation move controllers that first made their debut with the Playstation 3. To use the headset you have to plug in a cable from the headset to the Playstation 4. You are allowed to use many headphones with this headset but some just do not work with the bulkiness of the headset, so you might have to mix and match before you find the perfect headset or you can feel free to use the free little headphones that come with the gear.

Samsung Gear
Price: 129.99(With controller)
What does it do?: With the Samsung Gear VR  you have over 700 apps to choose from and can play directly from your Samsung phone. The gear comes with a wireless battery powered controller that allows you to move, touch, pickup, shoot and more. With this VR gear the newer your phone the better the experience. Playing with a brand new S8 will give you a much better experience than working with a older Galaxy S6. One perk of working with these headsets is that they are wireless, simply pair your phone with your headset snap it in and you’re off to the races. I would recommend using the gear if you have a newer version of Samsung items.

Google Daydream
Price: $79.99
What does it do:? Get your android phone ready and experience virtual reality. The Google Daydream works with any android operating phone and gives you access to close to 200 apps. The Daydream comes with a small remote control as well that helps you navigate across the world of VR. The remote is connected through Bluetooth and is motion controlled so to race just move it left or right and watch yourself move past the competitors. Google also has a secondary VR item that is much cheaper and is made out of cardboard.. which brings us too our final item

Google Cardboard
Price: $15.00
What does it do: This piece of equipment is really for people looking for a small glimpse into the world of virtual reality. All you need is a piece of cardboard and a couple of glass lenses. The cardboard is available to be created by you with labels from Google on what part goes where. For the cardboard the smaller the phone usually the better the viewing with a small display screen. The Google cardboard is one of the few virtual reality systems that are compatible with android and IOS operating systems. There is around 50 apps that can be used to work with on the cardboard.

To conclude all of these items are in the works and newer systems are to be developed as time goes on. One thing about virtual reality is you have to be careful when playing for long periods of time, if you stay under the glasses for ours at time people are more susceptible to dizziness and their eyes hurting from all the starting. So enjoy these items but do not go overboard.

For all warranties on items visit us at cpscentral.com/
Justin Kushnir is a tech blogger at CPS Central who researches highly enticing tech topics and puts out blog posts every Monday. His post range from Music to gaming to sports and everything in between! Make sure to visit our website every Monday for more posts by Justin. Feel free to share and contact him at jkushnir@cpscentral.com.

Into another dimension(Virtual Reality Blog Part 1)

Have you ever wanted to be on the moon while sitting on your living room couch? Of course you have and with virtual reality the options are endless. Since 2010 VR gear has seen a major increase in development and sales. There are over 100 of options when it comes to these headsets. Prices range from $15.00 for the Google Cardboard to $800.00 for the Htc Vive headset. What started as a fantasy for most has turned into all too real
“reality” for all.
How did we get our start with Virtual Reality headgear? In 2010 a teenager Palmer Luckey created a prototype VR, this headset soon turned into the Oculus Rift. To commercialize it he started a $250,000 kick-starter campaign that ended up raising over 2 million dollars. In the next two years the teenagers 2 million dollar business turned into a 2 billion dollar business after it was purchased by Facebook creator Mark Zuckenberg. After the initial Oculus Rift was put into circulation HTC and Playstation soon followed.
Working with VR might sound tough but in reality it is the exact opposite. To start all you need is a headset and a good pair of headphones for the sound. The headset is able to display graphics from a system or smartphone and put it right in front of you in 3D. To get it going you connect the headset with the console, PC or smartphone that you are working with and then watch as your screen is filled with images from the operating system. As you move your head the screen tends to move with you. One of the large parts of virtual reality is the moving with the program. Each operating system has a different way of creating movements. The android for example uses your phone to track movements using the phone’s  accelerometer gyroscope and magnetometer. For PC powered VR such as the Oculus and the and Htc Vive a remote is used to control movments with the VR. These special remotes uses up to 70 different sensors that track and allow you to move freely around the room.
The possibilities when it comes to virtual reality tend to be endless, and with more and more heavyweights of the tech industry developing this software who knows where we could be in 5 years from now!
Check back for tomorrow for part 2 of our VR deep dive with top VR products and special features of virtual reality.

Justin Kushnir is a tech blogger at CPS Central who researches highly enticing tech topics and puts out blog posts every Monday. His post range from Music to gaming to sports and everything in between! Make sure to visit our website every Monday for more posts by Justin.

Amazon Echo Show

A picture of the Echo Show due to release June 28th. (Photo credit to Droid-Life)

The latest Alexa inspired innovation from Amazon is here with the Amazon Echo Show. The Echo show is a tablet infused with Alexa voice control. The device is set to be available in stores June 28th with pre-orders beginning Tuesday May 16th. The retail price for the tablet will be $229.99.
The new Echo show has all the abilities of the voice only Echo but has an added screen feature which allows you to delve further into Alexa’s capabilities. The screen function allows you to watch videos from Youtube and Amazon Video among others videos. With Amazon Music lyrics can now be displayed on screen and photos can be shown from Prime Photos. Home security is another feature the Echo show brings, with the ability to connect to Wifi connected security cameras. Video and voice calls will also be supported on the new tablet, Skype is not one of the video calling options at the moment but anyone with the Alexa app is able to video chat. A new feature included is called Drop- in and it allows you to directly call anybody else with the Alexa app and see them while the receiver gets 10 seconds to accept or reject the call. These people who can “drop in” are from a selected list that you choose yourself, and don’t worry there is also a do not disturb button if you do not wish to be dropped in on.
The echo comes with a 7 in touch screen, and is said to be visible from 7 feet away, even in a sunny bright environment. The microphone on the echo show is a 8 microphone array compared to 7 on the original Amazon Echo, and a dual 2 inch speaker.
The addition of video adds a whole new dimension to an already successful product. Instead of just hearing the weather report when you say “hey Alexa show me the weather” now view the weather report in depth. When asking for sports scores now view highlights from the game as well. With the Amazon Echo Show the possibilities seem to be endless.

*Amazon Echo’s and Echo Show’s will be covered by Consumer Priority Service, visit us at cpscentral.com for more details.

Justin Kushnir is a tech blogger at CPS Central who researches highly enticing tech topics and puts out blog posts every Monday. His post range from Music to gaming to sports and everything in between! Make sure to visit our website every Monday for more posts by Justin.

Music to our ears?(Spotify, Apple Music or Tidal)

These three are considered giants of the music industry, but which one stands superior to the others?

A study by Edison Research says that Americans listen to up to four hours of audio a day, that’s a lot of time spent listening to music, videos etc. How we stream this audio is a whole different story, Spotify, Apple Music an Tidal are three giants in the music streaming service. As of March 2nd Spotify’s numbers were at an astonishing 50 million subscribers while Apple Music trailed with 20 million as of December and Tidal was far behind with a total of 800,000 subscribers in March of 2016.

Subscription Price and perks

We start with the pricing of these three music services, Apple Music gives two separate plans for Apple Music customers after the initial three month free trial,  there is the individual plan which is $9.99 a month, the student(college) plan for $4.99 a month  and the family sharing plan which is $14.99 a month and can be used for up to six people on an ICloud family sharing program. With an iPhone the perks of Apple Music are Siri can launch any song on your playlist, your iTunes library can integrate with your Apple Music playlist and Beats 1 radio station. This is one of the large perks of Apple Music, many artists that have exclusive deals with the company debut their albums on different radio shows on the station. These include Drake’s recent album More Life premiered first on the station.
Spotify also has multiple plans these include a free plan(none of the other two streaming services mentioned have this option), a $9.99 monthly plan, a $4.99 student subscription plan and a $14.99 family plan. Their monthly, student and  family plan stack up identical to the subscription plans that Apple Music offer but some people can use the app for free. Some perks of Spotify include places you can stream music, such as your PlayStation 4, Amazon Echo and all Smartphones. Spotify also has a free streaming plan where you can view their entire catalog of over 30 million songs. Hi-fi streaming service may also soon be coming to Spotify, which is a higher level of sound quality.
Tidal has two plans to choose from one is the basic $9.99 streaming plan and the other is a $19.99 streaming plan that includes hi-fi sound. Tidal also has some exclusives such as some of Jay-Z’s albums and they were the first to obtain the Prince discography after he passed away and released rapper Future’s Mix-tape. They are also the only company as of this post to offer Hi-Fi Streaming.

How do these companies outdo each other?
Exclusive deals and signing artists have been a long time way of one-upping another service. Apple music had strong pulls such as Taylor Swift, whose entire catalog of albums is Apple Music only with only a couple appearing on Tidal. Spotify is in the dark when it comes to music by Taylor Swift. Some of music industries biggest names such as UMG’s  Lucian Grainge have decided to fight against this practice of offering exclusives to the streaming service. This decision came two days after Blond an album by Frank Ocean was released first exclusively  on Apple Music according to Bob Lefsetz. UMG is the only label at the moment curating a ban on exclusive deals. This was a main way the Apple Music and Tidal were trying to catch on to Spotify and dethrone them as the leader in streaming services but with the ban’s being curated it makes it easier for Spotify to keep it’s ground.

Services offered by each service
Radio: With Spotify when choosing a artists radio you are able to get many songs and artist that relate to that artist or song but not much else except similarities. Tidal gives you realistically the same thing as Spotify with music and artist radio stations. Apple Music is the clear cut leader of the radio battle between the three offering Beats 1 24 hour radio stations with special hosts, new music and more. Apple Music also has non musical radio stations such as BBC, ESPN and NPR, with this large variety of radio stations Apple Music is ahead of the competitors with radio stations for everyone.
Radio Winner: Apple Music
Personal Playlists and Music Discovery: Apple Music has a share and create your own playlist feature which helps share music among friends, it also tailor makes playlist specifically for you with albums that Apple Music feels like you would like to listen to. Tidal also has a create and share playlist feature. Spotify offers a multitude of user generated content and playlists. One of it’s two biggest playlists our new music playlists that come out every Friday and a release radar playlist that debuts all types of new music from artists. This gives user one place to discover all the latest songs. Users are also able to upload their playlists to Spotify for everyone to listen to, these include public playlists and playlists shared among friends. Spotify also allows you to follow your friends and keep tabs on what they are listening to and what they like. Every Monday on Spotify you have a new Discover Weekly playlist that has music tailor made for you, it includes up to two hours of playback with music that you have not listened to before and deep cuts from artists you love. With all these outstanding options Spotify takes a win in Personalizing your music.
Personal Playlist and Music Discovery Winner: Spotify
Usability of Apps and websites: Apple Music has an easy bottom screen with the search tab a library Tab a browse Tab and radio tab. All these features are easily accessible and Apple Music is usable with Siri, just say your command and Siri brings it up. This feature though is exclusive to iPhone only taking away from android users. Tidal has all of the same features to find music through the sidebar on the app with playlists, search bar and a place for your music. Spotify has many sub categories and categories to store music and has a higher output of where it can be streamed then any of the other two. Spotify works with top tech items such as the Google Chromecast, Amazon Echo, and Playstation 4(Covered by Cps Warranties https://www.cpscentral.com/). The Amazon Echo system also responds to commands such as “Alexa play Spotify”. At the end of the day with the easiness to move around the app/website and the amount of music output, Spotify again holds the upper edge against the other two.
Winner in Usability of Apps and websites: Spotify.
With all the different comparisons made one thing is evident and it is that Spotify still reigns supreme over Apple Music and Tidal and without exclusive contracts it should continue to do so.

*All electronic items mentioned in the article are covered by CPS warranties, visit us at https://www.cpscentral.com/ for more details today.

Justin Kushnir is a tech blogger at CPS Central who researches highly enticing tech topics and puts out blog posts every Monday. His post range from Music to gaming to sports and everything in between! Make sure to visit our website every Monday for more posts by Justin.

StatCast in the MLB

The stats shown are for a batter with different traits who hits the ball at high speed. Photo Credit to MLB.com

That ball is long gone! It was crushed! This is a common thing to hear after a player crushes a home run during a baseball game. But how long did it really go? With the implementation of Statcast in the 2015 MLB season all of thee questions are easily answered. Baseball advanced media(BAM) took on  a 3 million dollar risk tracking players every move on the field. Flash forward to 2017 and we have one of the mos popular on field tracking devices in sports. These stats let some unappreciated players show off their skill set. This is not just for hitters though, Stat cast also measures pitch rates such as spin rate on a baseball, the velocity of the pitch, etc.
The longest home run in the 2017 Statcast season is Jake Lamb with a home run that measured 481 feet. Along with the distance another important stat that Statcast’s measures is exit velocity or how fast the ball hit off your bat, the hardest hit ball of the year came on New York Yankee’s Aaron Judge 435 foot home run that left the bat at a 119.6 exit velocity. Talk about heavy hitting, Now the next question most people have is how? How is major league baseball able to measure so many small statistics during the course of a game. The data is collected using optical cameras and radar equipment that are able to track locations and movements of the balls and players on the playing field. This is another example of technology taking over the sports world. Prior to Statcast players could go under the radar or underappreciated while in a slump, but looking at the numbers that are available now you can see that all it is, is the player is unlucky. They can be hitting the ball at 94 mph but it might be finding the other teams glove, with the information provided you can now see that this “player” should be getting out of his slump soon. One strong example of good hitting with bad luck would be in 2016 when Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton hit the hardest ball in Statcast history at 123.9 mph, you would think the result might be a home run right? Rather than a home run Giancarlo hit in a double play which is two outs.
Pitching is also calculated with the strongest pitch ever recorded came from Yankees Closer Aroldis Chapman and clocked in at 105.1 MPH. The fastest pitch speed on average from a starting pitcher is Noah Syndergaard of the New York Mets who’s pitches are clocked at an average of 98.7 MPH. The higher the spin rate and velocity of a pitch on average it would be that much harder to hit a pitch at that speed.
The two biggest innovations that have caught on from Statcast are exit velocity and pitch speed as these are the easiest two translate directly into the game. Players,teams and announcers have all caught on to the stat and use it in their everyday routine. One example is Arizona Diamond backs third baseman Jake Lamb who in a Sports Illustrated article said that when he was in his cold streak in 2016 he was watching a MLB show when he noticed that he was leading the league in exit velocity he realized he did not have to change a thing while he was struggling he was destroying the baseball he just couldn’t get it to pull through. So thanks to the new Statcast tracking a player like Lamb is able to realize that this is just a cold streak and he is doing everything right. Every team has also added an analytics team to their roster to study these traits and habits of players, Technology is big in baseball and is changing the way the game is viewed and played.
One website that can really help the analytics in baseball is fangraphs.com who track may different stats in baseball and use graphs and other helpful charts to give out information. With this they are able to project players and the trend they are moving in. Who said we would never use math again?