Facebook’s Crazy 360 Degree Camera; New Kindle Out; Apple Owns Teens
Posted: April 13, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 20 months standby, Amazon, Apple, F8, Facebook, iOS, Kindle, Oasis, Surround 360, Teens, Wearables Leave a commentAt F8, Facebook revealed the “Surround 360”, a 17-lens 3D VR camera yesterday that looks like a UFO on a stick and requires almost no post-production work. They won’t make or be selling the Surround 360. Techcrunch.com says that later this summer Facebook will put the hardware designs and video stitching algorithms on Github. All the parts can by bought online for $30,000.
As expected, Amazon has launched a brighter, smaller, thinner Kindle Oasis for $290, with a leather case increasing battery life to 20 months standby time, It has a funky bump on one side Amazon says helps make it easier to hold with one hand like a book. Theverge.com says it’s available for pre-order today, and ships April 27th.
For decades, it’s been a marketing truism that if you get buyers when they’re teens, you can often keep them for life. Apple seems to be doing this…they did it with the original Macs in schools, and now with iOS and wearables. According to a Piper Jaffray survey picked up by appleinsider.com, only 12% of teens had a smartwatch. Of those, 71% were Apple’s. 69% of teens owned an iPhone, and 64% an iPad. The iPad percentage is up slightly…analyst Gene Munster says probably with the introduction of the 9.7 inch iPad Pro that can use a Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil. Parents…keep your wallet handy!
HTC 10 Pre-Orders Start Now; Facebook Announces Chatbots at F8 Conference
Posted: April 12, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Chatbots, F8, Facebook, HTC, HTC 10, Messenger, Quick Charge, Tweeter, Woofer Leave a commentAs we reported last week, HTC has dropped the new model 10. It comes with 4GB of RAM and a 5.2-inch 2K display packs 564 pixels per inch behind layered Gorilla Glass. And the fingerprint sensor unlocks the phone in 0.2 seconds. HTC claims the 3,000mAh battery provides 2 days of use, and can charge up to 50 percent in 30 minutes with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 through the new USB-C port. According to geekwire.com, it has a separate tweeter and woofer, on the top-front and bottom respectively, each have their own amp. The camera also got a bump. A new 12MP sensor has improved low-light performance thanks to the bigger “Ultra Pixels.”
Pre-orders start today, April 12, with an expected ship date of early May. The unlocked device will go for $699.
Today at the Facebook Developer Conference…F8…the social media giant officially announced it was adding the rumored chatbots to the Messenger app. Gizmodo.com says the bots can book a hotel, order a meal, find a restaurant, hail a cab, and do much more through text chatting. They also will be a lifeline to smaller businesses who have been depending on sketchy websites and 800 phone numbers. They can basically operate as an app within an app. Facebook’s F8 Conference continues this week…more to come, no doubt.
Contradictory Apple Watch Rumors; Solar Cell Makes Electricity from Water AND Sunlight
Posted: April 11, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 40% thinner, Apple, Apple Watch 2.0, Electricity from rainwater, Solar cells Leave a commentAccording to usually reliable KGI Securities, Apple Watch shipments will drop 25% this year compared to last, and version 2.0 will be out third quarter. They say it’s mostly due to an ‘immature wearable device market.’ Meanwhile, Brian White, an Apple analyst with a somewhat more sketchy track record, says Watch 2 will be out at WWDC in June, be 40% thinner. Macrumors.com reports that both analysts look for a FaceTime video camera, better Wi-Fi, and better battery life.
Engineers in China have come up with a clever way to leach electricity from rain water in solar cells. According to gizmodo.com, they coat the cells with a thin sheet of graphene. Rainwater isn’t pure…it contains small amounts of a ammonium, calcium, and sodium, all of which ionize when in a solution. The graphene creates what the engineers call a ‘pseudo capacitor,’ where electrons move from one side to the other…presto! Electricity. At this point, the cells are only 6% efficient, while most solar cells are 20% efficient at converting sunshine to electricity, but still…6% is not bad for a cloudy, rainy day when the cells will be able to grab precious little solar energy.
Galaxy S7 Is a Hit Compared to the S6; Facebook Adds Video Search
Posted: April 8, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Facebook, Galaxy S7, Live Videos, S7 Edge, Samsung, Video search engine Leave a commentAfter just a month, the new Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are handily outselling their S6 predecessors year over year. In fact, 9to5google.com says sales are up 25% overall, and 30% in the US. The company had a shortage of screens for the curved Edge model, but that’s not the case this year, and they say it is now accounting for 47% of S7 sales.
Facebook is pulling out all stops to get users to watch original videos. Earlier this week, they launched the dedicated video browsing hub, and now have announced a video search engine. According to techcrunch.com, they are also now baking Live videos into Trending Topics on the home page. Facebook is trying to use live video to reverse a trend of less original sharing. Apparently, only 57% of weekly users post on a given week, and only 39% post original content. We all know a few people who re-post a couple dozen memes a day, though!
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ AR Headsets; Amazon & Microsoft Look to Mapping for Self-Driving Cars
Posted: April 7, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, AR, Audi, Autonomous cars, BMW, Contact Lenses, Digital Mapping, Google, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nokia, Novartis, Samsung, VR Leave a commentHaving just recently had a conversation with a couple of friends in tech about how everyone is excited about virtual and augmented reality, but no one all that much about wearing big, bulky headsets, this caught my eye immediately…and it may be catching your eyes sooner, not later, and immersing them in VR and AR. Cnet.com reports Samsung has gotten a patent for smart contact lenses that will house a camera, movement sensors, transmitter, and display unit. They work in conjunction with a smartphone. You can look at photos and videos from the phone through the lenses. Google is also working along with medical provider Novartis on some smart contacts, albeit ones centering around health. Shrinking VR and AR down to contacts and earbuds? Now THAT’s something that can really take virtual reality mass market!
According to a report, both Amazon and Microsoft are close to getting involved with Here, the digital mapping business for autonomous vehicles. Here was started by Nokia, but bought by a group of German car makers….Mercedes, BMW, & Audi. Theverge.com says a board member at Daimler-parent of Mercedes-confirmed that both Amazon and Microsoft were interested in providing cloud computing capabilities for the mounds of data being gathered by Here’s sensors for autonomous vehicles.
Facebook’s New Dedicated Video Tab; Huawei Shows New Dual Lens Leica Branded Cam in Latest Phone
Posted: April 6, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Dual lens camera, Facebook, Huawei, Leica, Live Video, Messenger, Samsung Leave a commentIn an update, Facebook has replaced the Messenger tab that was front and center at the bottom of the app with the live video tab. Theverge.com reports that the tab has different sections for broadcasts happening around the world and broadcasts by your friends and the pages you follow. You can also search for videos by topic. Facebook says the tab is rolling out initially to “a very small percentage” of users. If you like Periscope, you’ll find that they have borrowed features shamelessly from them.
Speaking of cameras and video, Huawei has showed off its latest flagship smartphones. The P9 has a 5.2 inch screen and the P9 Plus a 5.5 inch one. Both feature a Leica branded dual lens camera. TechCrunch.com notes that Huawei says the cam is co-engineered with the famous optics maker, so don’t expect actual Leica lenses! The dual lens rollout now gets the drop on Apple by almost 6 months. Huawei is the 3rd largest smartphone maker by global market share, behind Samsung and Apple. The setup is supposed to give better color and clarity, and allow refocusing after the fact as the old Lytro camera. They also have a ‘Leica film mode,’ which mimics 3 old film processing styles…for those that like to kick a smartphone camera old school.
Rent a Charger at Your Coffee Spot; Roku Shows New Quad Core Streaming Stick; New Kindle Rolls Out Next Week
Posted: April 5, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Anker, Ankerbox, Kindle, Portable battery pack rentals, quad core, Roku, Streaming stick Leave a commentA division of Battery charger maker Anker is preparing to roll out Ankerboxes that rent out portable battery packs to charge your mobile devices in a couple hundred bars, restaurants, cafes, and gyms in Seattle, with 500 planned by May. As with bike sharing services, you download an app, go to an Ankerbox in the establishment or an a portable kiosk, charge up, then return the drained battery pack to any location. It’s 30 minutes of free charging when you rent a charger— a buck 99 a day if you keep it over a day. Even if you don’t return the charger or lose it, you never pay over 30 dollars. The little chargers can give 3 full charges, with two 3350 mAh power cells in each one. Look for them April 15th in Seattle, and in other cities later this year.
Roku has dropped a new quad core streaming stick, and at just $49.99. TechCrunch.com reports that the processor bump should make the software feel much speedier than before, and it also allows for private listening through headphones plugged into your smartphone…or via wireless Bluetooth cans. Roku says the entry level sticks are the fastest growing segment of the streaming market. They also have a ‘hotel and dorm room connect’ feature, that makes it easier to connect to WiFi with an authentication page.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Tweeted yesterday that a new top line Kindle will be shown next week. No date or details, but we’ll have those when they’re available. The verge.com notes that Amazon usually doesn’t announce products until they’re ready to go.
It’s All About the Money- Apple Pay Not Catching On; Amazon Taking on PayPal
Posted: April 4, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Amazon Payments Global Partner Program, Apple, Apple Pay, Login and Pay with Amazon Leave a commentSome people in the tech media are noticing how Apple hasn’t said much…if anything…about Apple Pay. The nextweb.com points out that Apple Pay has been out for 8 months in Europe now, and longer in the US, and not a peep from Cupertino about how many users, transactions, etc. the site got some information from Transport for London, and since Apple Pay is the only smartphone pay app available there right now, calculated it’s less than half of one percent of those transactions. Part of the problem may be availability, not the people don’t want to use it. Personally, the only places I go that have Apple Pay are Trader Joe’s and Panera Bread. I’ve always been an early adapter, but it seems that after a year and a half, more places would offer it. It may be a lot slower road to contactless payments than everybody thought.
Speaking of separating you from your money faster and easier, Amazon just announced the spread of its payments service, Amazon Payments, to more third party websites. They have dubbed it the Amazon Payments Global Partner Program, and the online giant is working to help e-commerce platform providers and other developers integrate with Amazon Payments for use at checkout. Amazon already offered ‘Login and Pay with Amazon’ to individual merchants. Payments allows merchants to tap into Amazon’s already gigantic user base, and eliminate the need for these customers to create a separate username and password on the merchant’s website. By making checkout quicker, it presumably increases sales.
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