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.
Distance Detector May Make Routers Safer; Transparent Wood Could Replace Glass
Posted: March 31, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cheaper solar panels, Drones, Hack Resistant, Transparent Wood, WiFi, Wood windows Leave a commentWhether it’s someone outside a cafe stealing WiFi, or concerns about someone snooping or hacking into your home system, geniuses at MIT have developed a slick solution. Engadget.com says that in the past, it took multiple routers to triangulate in order to figure out if someone was outside a business or your home, but the MIT engineers calculate ‘time of flight’ for the signal and then multiply by the speed of light to get the distance. It’s 20 times more accurate than triangulation, and can pick out a correct room in a home 94% of the time and if someone is outside a cafe 97% of the time. It also works with drones with a 2 inch margin of error. There’s already a working prototype, so your next router may be much better at keeping out thieves or hackers.
Transparent wood? What are those Swedes smoking? Actually, scientists at the Royal Institute of Technology have found a way to make transparent wood that is suitable for mass production. It can not only be used for eye catching architecture, but could lead to cheaper solar panels and windows. According to gizmodo.com, they strip out the organic compound that makes the wood brown, then add a polymer to increase strength and provide transparency. Veneer can be made from the material, and it can be laminated to make load bearing panels and beams. Hail resistant skylights could let in more natural light, and lower your heating bills. You may be spending more on curtains or blinds, though!
Microsoft- ‘Conversation as a Platform’; Apple Patents Stackable Magnetic Connector
Posted: March 30, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, Build Conference, Chatbots, Conversation as a platform, Microsoft, Stackable magnetic connector Leave a commentA major theme of Microsoft’s Build conference is artificial intelligence…essentially chatbots being utilized as what they are calling conversation as a platform. Geekwire.com notes that a preview millennial chatbot Microsoft rolled out had to be pulled from the web when it was taught to be racist, so the tech is in a very early stage. Nonetheless, Microsoft is pushing forward with conversation as a platform. As we’ve reported, Microsoft, Google, and Apple are all working towards what may ultimately become the next big operating framework…augmented reality…and AI could play a very big part in that.
Meanwhile, at Apple, they have patented a stackable magnetic connector. Think of the mag safe connector MacBooks have used for power, only allowing for power, data, and peripherals to be daisy chained to the same base device simultaneously. Theverge.com notes that it could be used for more than just connecting a keyboard to a tablet. Theoretically, you could mount your iPhone or iPad like a drive on the desktop of your laptop…and conversely, access files and information on your laptop on a connected phone or tablet. Stay tuned…this could be a cool feature from Cupertino.
Facebook Messenger Getting In-Store Purchasing and ‘Secret Conversations’; Kuvee Making a ‘Keurig for Wine’
Posted: March 29, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Facebook, In-store purchases, Keurig for wine, Kuvee, Messenger, Secret conversations Leave a commentFacebook is looking to roll out new features for its Messenger app. Thenextweb.com reports that someone has spotted code in the iPhone version that points to in-store payment for goods and services. There are also references to secret conversations…but it’s not clear if they would be encrypted, or it’s just a way to hide conversations on a smart device using the app.
Here’s a concept that grabbed my attention immediately…a Keurig for wine. According to engadget.com, Kuvee plans to roll one out by October. The prototype looks like a large square bottle with a touch screen on one side. Spun metal canisters of wine go inside, and it pours the selected wine, but keeps air out of the refill canister. Wine supposedly lasts a month! It will be $200, and only available initially in California and Massachusetts. Also, they will have 50 varieties of wine at launch, but you can only use their choices they sell in the canisters.
Future iPhone May Have Curved Glass Case & 5.8’” AMOLED Screen; Your Free Future Fridge
Posted: March 28, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AMOLED screen, Apple, Face & Iris scanning, Free refrigerator, Internet of things, iPhone, Smart refrigerator, Wireless charging Leave a commentOver the weekend, appleinsider.com got hold of a note to investors from KGI Securities saying the 2017 iPhone may use curved glass front and back…similar to the iPhone 4S, but curved. It will also allegedly have an AMOLED screen…which, as we’ve noted, gives brighter colors and blacker blacks. The screen would be 5.8 inches, a little bigger, but smaller bezels would let Apple put it into the same sized phone. Wireless charging and face and iris scanning for security also may be incorporated.
A new fridge for free may be in your future. At least some people think so. At this year’s CES, Samsung introduced a refrigerator touted as truly “smart,” with connected cameras inside the fridge, an ability to run Pandora with built-in speakers and even grocery shopping through Amazon’s Alexa or a new, dedicated app called Groceries by MasterCard.Techcrunch.com reports that as an effect of the internet of things, and refrigerators like this one, your consumption can be tracked…and the fridge could automatically reorder the foods for you. Grocery sellers and manufacturers would subsidize this, as it locks in customers…like you are for the ink cartridges that go into cheap, subsidized printers. Are you ready for a fridge that makes recommendations, and has a subscription service for auto purchase of the foods? It looks like that’s coming!
Leak-HTC 10 More Powerful than Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6S; Google’s Echo Clone & Nest Security System
Posted: March 25, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon Echo, Benchmark, Galaxy S7, Google, HTC, HTC 10, iPhone 6S, Nest, Security System, Siri Leave a commentAfter disappointing with the M One 9, HTC looks poised to come roaring back and nip at Samsung and Apple with the HTC 10. The 10…they’ve dropped the ‘M’ designation…will be revealed April 10th, but a couple of big leaks shed a great looking phone, and one that tests out better by benchmarked AnTuTu than either the Samsung Galaxy S7 or Apple’s iPhone 6S. It has a 5.1 inch screen, 12 Mp cam with laser-assisted autofocus, and 4 gigs of RAM.
Google is apparently working on a voice recognition device that competes with Amazon Echo…basically Siri in a box. According to arstechnica.com, Google already has the voice tech in place from Android and google.com, so now they’re working on baking it into a box. It’s code named ‘Chirp.’ They are also working on a security system from Nest with a wireless hub dubbed ‘Flintstone’ for now. The hub would connect with window and door sensors using the low power Thread communication standard. As with a lot of projects, these may or may not be released by Google.
Apple Pay Coming to Websites by Holidays; Sony Bringing PS Games to Mobile
Posted: March 24, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Pay, ForwardWorks, Mobile Games, Paypal, Safari, Sony, Websites Leave a commentApple is getting ready to move Apple Pay beyond apps to mobile purchases over the web. Recode.net reports that the service will be available on iPhones and iPads with TouchID using the Safari browser by the holidays this year. Paypal has already had a system called One Touch that more than 250 top retailers use, but Apple Pay will be quicker and cleaner at checkout, with just the touch of a fingerprint, and you’re done.
In other big mobile news, Sony has formed ForwardWorks corporation to develop games using PlayStation titles and characters for mobile games. 9to5google.com notes that they won’t be porting full blown PlayStation games over to Android and iOS, but even ‘lite’ versions of many titles will please mobile users…and considering that there are billions of them, that should be a huge market.
Amazon Hosted Secret Robotics Meeting; GM Starts Pre-Production of All Electric Bolt
Posted: March 23, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Amazon, Bolt, Electric Car, General Motors, Model 3, Robotics, Tesla Leave a commentThis week in Palm Springs, Amazon hosted an invitation only conference for experts on AI, robotics, and space exploration. Geekwire.com reports the people from Toyota, Rethink Robotics, MIT, UC-Berkeley and others were present. Amazon not only has a big interest in robots….they have over 30,000 of them working in their warehouses, made by Kiva…a company they acquired in 2012.
General Motors has begun pre-production on the all-electric Chevy Bolt, just ahead of the showing Tesla plans for their Model 3. Both vehicles are intended for a mass market, with price tags under 30 grand. Thenextweb.com notes that pre-Production may mean GM isn’t far from full production, so the Bolt could possibly be out in the Fall as a 2017 model…at least 6 months ahead of the smaller sized Tesla Model 3.
Apple’s iPhone SE & Smaller iPad Pro, etc; Chromecast Becomes Googlecast
Posted: March 22, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Watch, Chromecast, Google, Googlecast, iPad Pro, iPhone SE, Vizio Leave a commentIf there was a ‘one more thing’ at Apple’s event yesterday, it didn’t come from Apple. The FBI put on hold it’s demand for Cupertino to crack the San Bernardino terrorist iPhone, claiming it had outside help to do so. Since two former CIA directors have said the NSA could do it, that’s a pretty good guess. Meanwhile, back in Cupertino, Apple showed the 4 inch iPhone SE, the new 9.7 inch iPad Pro model, and new Apple Watch bands. the iPhone SE is pretty much an iPhone 6S squeezed into an iPhone 5S case. It starts at $399 for the nearly useless 16 gigs of memory, and is $499 for the more useable 64 gigs. Preorders start Thursday, and it’s available March 31st.
Apple has shoehorned its iPad Pro into a smaller 9.7 inch version. You get the same 4 speakers and Apple Pencil stylus support. It weighs less than a pound, and has it’s own version of the keyboard case. The smaller Pro…Pro-ette? comes in silver, gold, space grey, and rose gold, and starts at $599 for 32 gigs. A loaded up one with the Pencil will pretty well murder a grand. It is also available for preorders starting Thursday and out on the 31st.
As expected, Apple Watch gets a so-called ‘Spring lineup’ of bands, but the big news is the price cut from $349 to $299. It’s a good guess that an Apple Watch v. 2.0 will be out in the fall with this price reduction.
Over at Google, or if you insist…Alphabet…Chromecast has morphed into Googlecast. 9to5google.com says some Vizio TVs will come with Googlecast built in, and there are some new Googlecast enabled speakers. The app is also renamed Googlecast, and the updated version will be out on Android and iOS this week.
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