iPhone 5se in March & More on the iPhone 7; Galaxy S7 Out in March

Posted: January 25, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Several sources say the updated smaller iPhone will carry the 5se name when it drops in mid-March. 9to5mac.com also reports that the smaller phone will probably be powered by the current iPhone 6s’s A9 and M9 processors. Apparently, when the iPhone 7 comes out in the fall, Apple doesn’t want the 5se to have chips that are two generations older than the iPhone 7’s expected A10 system. The M9 chip will allow the 5se to have the always-on ‘Hey Siri’ feature. It’s also now thought it will replace the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the fall when iPhone 7 comes out.

Before all that happens at Apple, we now know the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will launch in the US on March 11th. Samsung is widely expected to show the phones at a special event February 21st, or at Mobile World Congress the 22nd through the 25th in Barcelona. Bgr.com says the S7 will probably have a pressure sensitive display…a nod towards Apple’s 3D Touch, as well as Vivid Photos, which appears to be an answer to Apple’s Live Photos.

More iPhone OLED Display Rumors; Google Makes WHAT from Android?

Posted: January 22, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Japan Display says it will start mass producing OLED displays within the next 2 years, according to a Reuters report picked up by theverge.com. This is being seen as angling for the Apple iPhone business Samsung and LG are gunning for. It’s been widely rumored that iPhones will use OLED screens by 2018. Numerous Android phones already have them, with Samsung touting Super OLED. Those screens are lighter and thinner than the LCD displays Apple uses, and have more vibrant colors and greater contrast.

Those pesky lawyers! An attorney for Oracle said in court that Google’s Android generated revenue of $31 billion and $22 in profit. If my math is correct, that’s around a stunning 70% profit margin! Bloomberg.com says the disclosure was made January 14th in an Oracle suit accusing Google of using Java software without paying for it to develop Android. Meanwhile, Oracle’s copyright suit against Google also revealed that Google dropped a cool billion with Apple in 2014 to keep it’s search bar on the iPhone! Note to Apple: I’m available for adoption.

UberEATS Going Live in 10 Cities; More On iOS Nightshift and New Music Memos App; GM Launches Ridesharing Business

Posted: January 21, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If you’re really wanting carry out, but don’t want to get out, and don’t want a pizza, there have been limited options. Uber has been testing UberEATS, where they’ve partnered with restaurants to deliver food to your door. According to thenextweb.com, UberEATS will go live in March in LA, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago, NY, Austin, Washington, D.C., Houston, San Francisco, and Atlanta. The test service has been lunch only, but in March, you’ll be able to order breakfast, lunch, or dinner delivered.

Nightshift, the new feature coming to iOS that dims the blue portion of screens evenings so users don’t disrupt their sleep so much, may be available on the Control Center pull up. Macrumors.com says it has showed up on Apple Canada’s iOS 9.3 preview page there. It may not fit on the smaller iPhone screens, but there’s room on the Plus models and iPads. Apple also rolled out a nice companion app to GarageBand. Music Memos lets musicians and songwriters record, analyze, and manipulate uncompressed audio on iPhones and iPads. You can also overlay the tracks with added bass and drums…it calculates the correct tempo and chords. GarageBand has added Live Loops, a visual feature to help in loop creation, and gesture controlled DJ type effects.

Just days ago, we reported that General Motors quietly bought defunct ride sharing business Sidecar, and previously had put $500 million into Lyft. Now, detroitnews.com reports that GM has launched Maven, a car sharing brand, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The citywide service-something like Zipcar- features GM vehicles in 21 spots around the city a person can rent for as low as $6 and hour. Although the auto maker sees private car ownership continuing for some time, they note that 5 to 6 million people right now already use transportation sharing services. The cars are equipped with 4G wireless internet, and sync smartphones with Apple Pay and Android Auto while the owner uses the GM shared vehicle. Price includes insurance and fuel.

MS Recalls Some Surface Pro Power Cables; Nanoparticles May be Able to Kill Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Posted: January 20, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft is recalling some Surface Pro power cables. ZDnet.com says they have overheating concerns. The cords are apparently wound too tightly, and as they are twisted or pinched over time, a small number of people have reported the heat issue. The recall does not affect the Surface Pro 4, or non Surface Pro models. If you have a Surface Pro, Pro 2, or Pro 3 bought before March 2015, you should be getting a new power cord.

Researchers at University of Colorado Boulder have found that light activated therapeutic nanoparticles may one day be used to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to bgr.com, the so-called ‘quantum dots,’ 20,000 times smaller than a human hair, can act directly on the infection without affecting the healthy tissue around it. The key these researchers have discovered is to taylor the dots to specific infections by activating the tiny particles with certain light wavelengths. Previously, the quantum dots had been known to kill bacteria, but also damaged the tissue around the area. In tests, the light activated ones killed 92% of the drug resistant bacteria! If perfected, the treatment could also be effective therapy for HIV and cancer.

Apple Investigates Li-Fi for Mobile Devices; GM Quietly Buys Sidecar

Posted: January 19, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Not long ago, we reported on Li-Fi, and how it could use light to replace Wi-Fi, only with much more speed and bandwidth. Now, thenextweb.com has found a reference to Li-Fi compatability in Apple’s iOS 9 code and iOS 9.1 firmware. This, along with an Apple patent dug up from 2013 that appears to be a Li-Fi transmitter point to Cupertino baking it in to iOS devices. Don’t look for it by the iPhone 7, though…the infrastructure doesn’t even exist yet…no one’s built a Li-Fi router, for example.

Recently, General Motors dropped $500 million into Uber rival Lyft. The plot thickens, and now it’s been revealed that they have quietly purchased failed rival Sidecar for $30 million. Most of the employees are moving over to GM. It looks like their plans to build autonomous vehicles specifically for ride sharing are heating up. Ford and Mercedes are also working on similar projects. Uber has lots of valuation and a head start, but it looks like the car makers are getting serious about not going the way of the buggy whip.

German Car Makers Heating Up on Hydrogen; Samsung New Smartwatch/Fitness Tracker?

Posted: January 18, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audi and Mercedes are getting excited about hydrogen fueled cars. For Mercedes, it’s back to the future…they first had a fleet of them in 1980, but with a 150 mile range and 45 minutes to fuel up, killed the project. Now Audi has showed it’s h-tron Quttro fuel cell SUV at the North American International Auto Show, and according to arstechnica.com, Mercedes has green-lighted production of it’s fuel cell version of the GLC SUV to sell in 2017. BMW has showed an i8 and a 5 series with fuel cells, but neither is set for production so far. General Motors has partnered with the Army to investigate suitability of fuel cell EVs for military use. Toyota and Honda are well along in hydrogen fuel cell tech, too. Toyota has the 2016 Mirai that’s actually for sale. California…where you can buy a fuel cell EV, has now increased the subsidy on them up to $6500 on top of any federal incentive. A combination of hydrogen fuel cell and electric may be the wave of the automotive future…along with driving by Jarvis, apparently.

Details are sketchy, but Samsung may be about ready to launch new wearable, possibly to replace the less than exciting Gear Fit. It’s called SM-R150 for now, and a watch version has a rotating bezel like the Gear Fit. The interesting thing is a picture with one on a shirt…like a removable that you don’t have to keep on your wrist. Engadget.com points out that leaks so far don’t indicate if it will be a full blown smart watch or something more like a Fitbit, but expect it to be revealed in the coming months.

Netflix From Outside Your Country Going Away; 300 Hyatts Hit By C-Card Skimmers

Posted: January 15, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

If you’ve been catching up on Netflix shows while traveling abroad, you’re about to get a rude surprise. 9to5mac.com reports that Netflix is going to start blocking proxies in the coming weeks. That means users tunneling in with proxy apps like VPN Unlimited will be out of luck. Netflix indicates the content owners are pressing them to do so. Many of the agreements are based on the old fashioned system where content providers sold to local TV networks, and so don’t cover other countries.

Hyatt said last year that malware had been found in its systems that could grab credit card names, numbers, verification codes, and expiration dates. This went on between August 13th and December 8th, according to engadget.com. Most of the skimming took place at restaurants in Hyatt hotels, but now we find it affected over 300 Hyatt locations! Hyatt claims it has upped security, and has the infected locations listed on its website, but check your credit card bills if you stayed at a Hyatt between August and December!

Samsung Looks Like Apple’s Primary OLED Screen Supplier; Microsoft Planning 2 New Flagship Phones

Posted: January 14, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

There’s been a lot of buzz that Apple will move to OLED screens, like a number of Android phones have and as Apple uses in the Apple Watch. Now, 9to5mac.com reports that a deal is all but signed for Samsung to supply the bulk of OLED iPhone screens. Don’t look for a screen with the more vivid color and deeper blacks in the iPhone 7, though…they’re unlikely to get the new screens into a phone before 2018.

Every now and again, Microsoft does something to remind the world that they still make smartphones. According to businessinsider.com, Redmond may be planning a pair of flagship phones, which they’ll show next month at Mobile World Congress. The Lumia 850 would replace the 830, and there’s a 750 to take over for the 735. Microsoft appears to be keeping the 950, which came out in October. No details on the 750, but the 850 will have a 5.5 inch screen, Qualcomm processor, and 2 gigs of RAM.

Apple Owns Smartwatch Market; Skype Adds Mobile Group Video Calling

Posted: January 13, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Most of 2015, we heard about Apple’s big fail with the Apple Watch, and it’s lackluster sales…all the while Apple claimed it was doing fine. A Juniper Research report picked up by mashable.com shows that Apple was right…fine doesn’t even describe it…Apple grabbed 51.5% of the world smartwatch market in 2015. The numbers aren’t large compared to the 10s of millions of iPhones…only 8.8 million shipped, but over half the market is nothing to sneeze at. Android Wear watches were just 10%. Note that the smartwatch category does NOT count Fitbits.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve had 10 years of free video calling over Skype. Now, the verge.com says Skype has added mobile group video calling to the mix over iOS, Android, and Windows 10 Mobile. Look for it in the coming weeks, but you can preregister now on the company’s dedicated 10th anniversary website to check out an early version. Google Hangouts has had the feature for a while that handles up to 10 friends, but Skype says their group calling can handle up to 25.

Periscope Live Video Tweets in Twitter Stream; Lenovo’s Moto Plans’ Musk on Apple Car

Posted: January 12, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Twitter bought Periscope a year ago, and now the live video is available in your feed…in fact, you can broadcast live video directly into your feed without leaving the Twitter app. Businessinsider.com reports that Periscope…which only launched in March 2015…is consistently one of the top 20 social networking apps on iPhone. Twitter hopes this will help engagement, like Facebook has done with Facebook Live Video.

Lenovo is killing the Motorola name for Moto, and now, we hear that all Moto phones in 2016 will have at least 5 inch screens and fingerprint sensors. That’s according to Chen Xudong of Lenovo, in a story from 9to5google.com. For now, at least, Lenovo will use its Vibe brand for smaller and low end phones, and keep Moto as the flagship oriented line. The only down side is they plan to stop using the pure version of Android for a custom version…like almost everyone else.

Elon Musk is on a roll…in an interview yesterday covered by appleinsider.com, he says the Apple electric car is an open secret in Silicon Valley. Musk points out that they’ve hired a thousand engineers, including a number they have poached from Tesla. Musk claims that whatever Apple does automotive-wise won’t hurt Tesla. Apple now holds the domains apple.car, apple.auto, and apple.cars.

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