Honda Announces Rare Earth Free Hybrid Motor; Verizon Testing Gigabit 5G Service; Samsung 4TB SSD
Posted: July 12, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4 terabyte SSD, 5G, China, Gigabit, Honda, Hybrid motor, Japan, Rare Earths, Samsung, Verizon Leave a commentIn what amounts to a pretty big deal, Honda says it has co-developed the world’s first motor for hybrid cars that uses no heavy rare earth metals, a breakthrough that would reduce its dependence on the expensive materials, which are controlled mainly by China. Reuters.com notes that Japanese car makers have been working towards this since China put a temporary moratorium on rare earth exports to Japan in 2010. There are caches of rare earths in the US and Australia, and the US just last year began to reactivate a mine in Southern California. Mining the metals is an environmental issue.
Honda hopes to get from 5% ‘new energy’ vehicles now to 2/3 of it’s line up by 2030.
Verizon has announced final specs for its 5G service, and will indeed offer gigabit speeds….faster than cable internet in a lot of places. Bgr.com reports that Verizon is testing in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Texas. We’re a few years from seeing this, as federal regulators have to sign off on the specs, but 100 mbps plus speeds in your pocket will be quite welcome as soon as we can get it!
The great news for data hogs…Samsung has a 4 terabyte SSD drive for laptops. The bad news….it costs as much as a MacBook Pro at $1500! If you can slide by with less storage though, thenextweb.com says they’ve dropped the 2 TB model to ‘only’ $675, and 1 TB clocks in at $317. If you’re on any kind of budget, you probably ought to opt for an old fashioned spinning drive for these higher storage options!
Pokemon Go Takes Off at Warp Speed; Amazon Prime Now Covers Half of Amazon Users
Posted: July 11, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Nintendo, Pokemon Go, Prime Day Leave a commentPokemon Go has eaten the mobile world…at least for now. Similarweb.com reports that the game app, which dropped July 7th, had more installations than Tinder by July 8th, and was on over 5% of US Android handsets. Reuters says Nintendo’s stock is up 25% on the heels of the hot new game. Yes, a body was found by someone playing, but please keep your nose out of your phone and don’t become a body yourself. Also, be aware that crooks in Missouri have already used the game to track where people are going, and robbed them at gun point. Again…look up once in a while! The game launches in Europe and Asia in a few days.
According to new information picked up by geekwire.com, a study shows that Amazon Prime has now surpassed half of the Amazon customer base…63 million users. The study is from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, and is out just in time to remind you that tomorrow…July 12th…is Prime Day, so have your fingers and plastic ready to shop for some major bargains.
Samsung Smart Glow LED Coming to Galaxy J2 & Galaxy 8; More Memory for iPhone 7; The Chemputer Will Grow Drones & Our Robot Overlords
Posted: July 6, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 3D printing, Apple, BAE Systems, Chemputer, Galaxy J2, Galaxy S8, Growing drones, iPhone 7, LED notification ring, Memory, Samsung Leave a commentSamsung has been working on an LED ring that glows different colors and flashes different patterns surrounding the rear camera for notifications. 9to5google.com reports that it will be out on the Galaxy J2 next week in India, and will be a feature on the upcoming Galaxy S8 we should see next spring. It’s designed to give notification of priority messages or calls you can set from people you most want to her from.
After some iffy rumors elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the iPhone 7 will indeed ditch the 16GB tier. For the first time ever, the base iPhone model will come in at 32GB. It’s looking like the 7 will have 64 and 128 gig options, and the bigger Plus or Pro will have 128 and 256 gig memory at additional cost. With bigger, better cameras, Apple figures we’ll all be shooting more pictures and video than ever.
BAE Systems has posted concept video footage of a process to create drones of the future. The so-called Chemputer could enable advanced chemical processes to grow aircraft and some of their complex electronic systems, conceivably from a molecular level upwards. They have trademarked the word chemputer, btw.
The video shows a drone being produced in a large vat of chemicals and then moved to a staging area where a robotic arm inserts what are, presumably, the drone’s engine components. Sure this is just a concept, but BAE Systems has a track record of turning concepts into reality. It’s kind of a logical extension to making things too complicated for 3D printing. Get ready to welcome our drone and robot overlords!
Leak Points to Couple Surprises With iPhone 7; 10 Million Twitterers in China; Samsung Sailing Towards Great Numbers With Galaxy S7; Apple Sandbagging With iPhone 7
Posted: July 5, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, China, Galaxy S7, iPhone, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, Samsung, Twitter, VPN, Water resistant, Wireless charging Leave a commentA leaked slide from a Foxconn internal presentation shows a couple of features that may be coming on iPhone 7 that have been rumored, but not really solidly. Bgr.com reports that the Apple handset may indeed have an IP68 water and dust resistant rating and wireless charging support. If this slide posted by myDrivers.com pans out, it may be a ‘one more thing’ that Apple was saving back for the iPhone 7 rollout in September.
Twitter estimates it has 10 million users in China, which gives an indication of how many people there are using VPN to get around government censorship. According to techcrunch.com, earlier estimates were as high as 35.5 million. There’s no solid data, since the VPNs the scofflaws are using to Tweet show up as being in other countries besides China. With only around 10 million users out of Twitter’s 310 million, it’s not a crucial part of their business, but does give an idea of the people using VPN to get around the government censorship….and that’s usually journalists, activists, prominent business leaders, and decision makers. This is a significant leak in China’s ‘Great Firewall.’
According to analysts, Samsung is heading for the best quarter in a couple years, when they release smartphone numbers later this week. After some iffy quarters and phones that underwhelmed, Reuters.com says the Galaxy S7 has done better than expected…with about 16 million pumped out between April and June, and the curved screen model outselling it’s flat screened sibling.
Speaking of marketing, most everybody is predicting that since the iPhone 7 will be more like a 6 SS, and not a wow-year upgrade, it will mean a sales slump. Business insider.com reports that this may be intentional. Some Apple watchers are now saying that the so-called ‘tick-tock’ system of a major iPhone upgrade every other year is not sustainable, and Apple is just going with the math. Normally, about 33% of iPhone owners might upgrade this fall…that’s been consistent for 6 quarters, but if things really are a little disappointing, Apple can look forward to a huge jump of about 43% for the next 5 quarters after an iPhone 7S, or 8, or Anniversary model or whatever the 2017 model will be called. That will be a bonanza for them, and it sounds like just the kind of thing a nuts and bolts guy like Tim Cook might ‘cook up!’
Less Than 2 Weeks to Amazon Prime Day; Apple Patents Concert Recording Killer Tech
Posted: June 30, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 000 deals, 100, Amazon, Apple, Deadheads, Infrared, Museum exhibits, Prime Day, Recording blocker Leave a commentGet your plastic ready, Amazon Prime members! The 2nd Prime Day is coming up July 12th, and Amazon is touting 100,000 deals according to geekwire.com. They also say some customer complaints have been addressed…you’ll be able to track deals by item and category through the mobile app now. Prime Day last year eclipsed Amazon’s biggest Black Friday for sales.
Apple has patented a sure fire way to make sure no Deadheads ever buy another iPhone. Thenextweb.com reports that they’ve patented a way to block recordings of concerts using infrared signals. It can basically remotely disable your camera! On the plus side, the tech also would allow messages to pop up about museum exhibits, or you could point it at an item and get a tip about a discount, so there’s that. Before everyone starts marching on Cupertino, keep in mind just having a patent granted doesn’t mean Apple is going to be using the tech, either soon or ever.
Google May Be Designing Its Own Phones; iPhone 7 & Apple Watch Rumors
Posted: June 27, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, Apple, Apple Watch, Force Touch, Google, GPS, Haptic feedback, HTC, Huawei, iPhone 7, LG, Motorola, Nexus, Space Black, Waterproofing Leave a commentIn a report from the Telegraph picked up by thenextweb.com and others, Google is rumored to be designing its own Android phones for release later this year. While they do now have a hardware division being run by a former president of Motorola, this would really be a curve ball to other Android makers…especially LG, Huawei, and HTC, which have built the Nexus phones for Google. It’s not clear how an in-house designed phone would be more perfectly optimized for pure Android than the ones they already specify for their partners making the Nexus…stay tuned.
A report from an unconfirmed source (but one physically near Apple HQ in Cupertino) says iPhone 7 will come in a ‘Space Black’ color similar to the Apple Watch…no deep blue color. 9to5mac.com also reports that the Home button will include haptic feedback to simulate a click, like Force Touch. As for the Apple Watch, the version 2.0 may have GPS for accurate workout logging, and along with cellular would drop the need to carry an iPhone, and would gain the ability to track swimming…indicating a high level of waterproofing.
Sharp May Be Third Supplier of OLED Screens for 10th Anniversary iPhone; Netflix May Launch Downloading
Posted: June 24, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Downloads, iPhone 8, LG, Light Reading, Netflix, Offline viewing, OLED screen, Samsung, Sharp Leave a commentAccording to 9to5mac.com, Apple may not need to rely completely on the two major manufacturers of OLED screens for the iPhone 8. While Samsung and LG currently manufacture most of the world’s OLED screens, Sharp expects to be doing the same ‘before 2018’.
A story in Light Reading picked up by bgr.com says Netflix will go live by the end of the year with downloading, which would allow offline viewing as an option. Not surprisingly, Netflix will not confirm or deny this. Although most people are generally happy streaming TV shows and movies, this would be a big plus for road trips and flying, or places where you know they aren’t going to have a fast or reliable internet connection.
Samsung Gets Laptop That Converts to Tablet; Repositioned Sensors on iPhone 7 Mean New Cases
Posted: June 23, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Bendable hinge, Convertibles, Intel, iPhone 7, laptop, Lenovo, Notebook 7 Spin, Samsung, sensors, tablet, Windows 10 Leave a commentSamsung is getting in on the growing market for laptops that convert to a tablet, thanks to a bendy hinge. Lenovo has had success with their convertibles, and Mashable.com reports that now Samsung had dropped the Notebook 7 Spin in 13.3 and 15.6 screen sizes. They run Windows 10 with Intel’s Core i5 or i7 processors, and start at $800 for the 13 incher and a grand for the 15. The Notebook 7 Spins should be in Best Buy stores the 26th.
Besides moving the antenna bands, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus should be indistinguishable from the 6S models…that is, unless you are a case or screen protector maker. According to appleinsider.com, Apple has moved the ambient light and proximity sensors, on the front panel. Those, in addition to the larger camera openings needed will make present case models and screen protectors obsolete. I will probably go for the larger phone model anyway, but for those who aren’t…thanks a lot, Apple….you’ll have to buy new cases when you upgrade.
clarkreid 
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