Lyft & GM Roll Out Car Rental Program; Glass Goes From Clear to Opaque in a Second
Posted: March 15, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Blinds, Car Rental, Chevrolet Equinox, Elastomer, General Motors, GM, Harvard, Lyft, Nanowires, Opaque glass, Tunable glass Leave a commentA major change for Lyft, as their partnership with GM bears fruit. Reuters.com says General Motors will begin supplying rental cars, so that Lyft drivers will no longer have to own a car. For starters, GM will provide a fleet of 125 Chevrolet Equinoxes in the Chicago area by month’s end. Drivers can rent the cars for up to eight weeks. Depending on how many rides drivers complete, the cost will range from $99 a week plus 20 cents per mile to free for drivers who complete at least 65 trips a week. Lyft and GM will pay for maintenance and insurance.
Those quickie blind making companies are going to be gnashing their teeth. Cnet.com reports that scientists at Harvard have developed ‘tunable glass,’ which can go from clear to opaque in less than a second. The problem up to now has been that this type of pane has been difficult to make and expensive. The new way has a sheet of glass sandwiched between two sheets of clear, soft elastomer, sprayed with a coat of silver nanowires. Turn on the electrical current, and presto….it turns opaque. They are working on making it turn with less current at this point. One does wonder if all the windows would turn back to clear with a power failure. You might not want to walk around naked during a storm!
Galaxy S7 Costs Samsung About What the S5 Did; Amazon Applies for Pay By Selfie Patent
Posted: March 14, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S7, Pay By Selfie, Qualcomm, Samsung, Snapdragon 820 Leave a commentCosts are dropping for high end smartphone components apparently. 9to5google.com reports that an IHS teardown shows it costs Samsung about $255 to make the new Galaxy S7. That’s in the same range as the S5 cost 2 years ago. The priciest item? The Qualcomm quad core Snapdragon 820 processor at $62. In the US, the S7 sells for $670 unsubsidized, so Samsung pulls in $415 each on them. Of course, they have to cover marketing, R&D, software development, etc, so that’s not all pure gravy.
Amazon has filed a patent application for a process that lets people pay by selfie, instead of keying in their password. According to recode.net, it’s a companion patent for one Amazon has on tech to verify a user by photo or video. Amazon believes this will encourage customers to buy when they’re out and about, or chatting with friends….you do that right? ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got to buy this thing right now from Amazon?’ All joking aside, it actually should be a simpler and safer way to log in than remembering a password.
GM Buys Self-Driving Car Kit Startup; Mini Fuel Cell for Drones; & Apple’s Event
Posted: March 11, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Cruise Automation, Drones, General Motors, GM, iPad, iPhones, Lyft, Miniature Fuel Cell, Pohang University, Self Driving Cars Leave a commentGeneral Motors has announced it is acquiring San Francisco based Cruise Automation, which is making sensors to turn regular vehicles into self-driving ones. Techcrunch.com reports that the price is undisclosed, but Fortune reports its over a billion dollars. GM had already partnered with Lyft. GM President Dan Ammann says the automotive giant plans to integrate the Cruise tech into its fleet of vehicle brands as soon as possible! Since GM sells about 10 million cars a year worldwide and 3 million of those in the US, that would put a substantial number of self driving cars on the roads in just a few years!
Pohang University of Science and Technology has built a miniature fuel cell they say can keep a drone in the air for an hour, rather than the usual 15-20 minutes batteries provide. Slashdot.org says the miniature fuel cells could also find their way into smartphones and other devices in the near future. The new type of fuel cell is claimed to have increased performance and higher long term durability.
Apple sent out invites to the tech media yesterday to an event at Cupertino Monday, March 21st. In their usual cryptic style, it merely says ‘Let Us Loop You In.’ It’s widely expected that Apple will show the new 4 inch iPhone SE, a revamped 9.7 inch iPad which may get the Pro designation, and new bands for the Apple Watch. Since it’s Apple, there could always be ‘one more thing!’ Stay tuned!
Future Apple Watch Might Call 911 Over Heart Attack; Nest Update Vastly Improves Auto Away
Posted: March 10, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Watch, Auto Away, Away mode, Call 911, Family account, Heart attack, iPhone, Medical Emergency, Nest, Nest Cam Leave a commentApple has applied for a patent that uses the Apple Watch and iPhone to detect and report a medical emergency like a heart attack, and call 911. 9to5mac.com reports that the patent describes sensors detecting one or more so-called ‘care events,’ and…depending on the severity of the problem…email a family member, or in the event of a heart attack, call 911. It would use the accelerometer to detect sudden movement and heart monitor to detect loss or a reading. As a safety, it might ask for a response before calling. To allow for false alarms of a fall, it would use data to ignore the fall if you were at a bungee jumping facility. No information on when they might implement this.
Being rolled out right now…and update to Nest software. Theverge.com reports that Nest will be able to use the app update to detect when you leave the house, and set the thermostat to ‘away’ mode, then turn the heat back on when you’re getting close to home. It can allow for multiple family members with a family account setting that handles up to 10 smartphones with the app. They are also updating so data can be used from NestCams and the Nest Smoke Alarm to determine auto away.
Amazon Gets Planes for Logistics; Ear Echoes for Bio-Identification
Posted: March 9, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Amazon Fulfillment Services, Biometrics, Boeing 767, Earbuds, Earhole Echo, FedEx, Keycard, Logistics, NEC, UPS Leave a commentWe have reported that Amazon was looking to go full tilt into logistics, cutting out UPS and FedEx to a great degree, and how they were working to acquire planes. Now, zdnet.com reports that they’ve inked a deal with Air Transport Services Group to lease 20 Boeing 767 freighters to expedite order deliveries for Amazon Fulfillment Services. ATSG will operate the planes, along with ABX Air and Air Transport International. It’s a 5 year deal, and Amazon has rights to acquire just under 20% of ATSG over that period.
Biometrics seem to be a pretty rock solid method of identifying a person…unless it’s a James Bond movie, no one is going to poach your eyeball for an iris scan in real life. Here’s one that goes even deeper…NEC has developed an earpiece with a tiny speaker and microphone that detects the unique echo in your earhole. Geek.com says the device looks and works like a regular earbud you listen to music through. When identification is needed, it sends a series of sounds, the mic detects them and they’re compared to an earlier recording. It takes less than a second. NEC expects to have the tech out commercially by 2018. In addition to transactions, it could even replace the venerable key card you use to get around in the building at work!
Galaxy S7 Getting Rave Reviews; The F-35 Fighter Jet’s Radar Issues
Posted: March 8, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Galaxy S7, IHS Jane, iPhone, Pentagon, Radar, Samsung Leave a commentThe gorgeous new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are generally getting rave reviews. Bgr.com reports that most reviewers love the quality of the glass and metal case and beautiful screen…although you may want to wrap that beauty…more than a few people had sad faces due to Apple’s glass back a few years ago. The phone is certified water proof for 30 minutes in over 3 ft of water, and is dust proof. The cameras are great, and some reviewers say it easily beats the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The net consensus is, it’s by far the best Android phone you can buy right now…a couple say the best smartphone, PERIOD…including Apple’s. Of course, iPhone 7 drops in September.
Most people have heard of the many flaws of that flying (or really non-flying) lemon, the F-35 Joint Strike fighter jet…the trillion dollar boondoggle aircraft that is supposed to replace planes of all the US services. The Pentagon has even released a report detailing dozens of problems and bugs. Now, according to an IHS Jane report, there’s the radar: basically it sometimes degrades or fails completely. The fix: the pilot has to reboot the radar…in flight….in battle. Talk about flying blind! Oh…and for all the bugs….the aircraft is yet to be tested for hacking! Happy landings.
Firefox May Come to Internet of Things; First Ransomware on Macs
Posted: March 7, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bittorrent, Firefox, Internet of things, KeRanger, Macs, Mozilla, Project Smart Home, Ransomware, Transmission Leave a commentMozilla bowed out with its Firefox OS for mobile the end of the year, but now, may be positioning the platform for the Internet of Things. Techcrunch.com says we could soon have a ‘personal user agent’ that understands your preferences for all the connected devices in your home. One TechCrunch staffer remarked that it was reminiscent of the personal assistant Samantha from the movie ‘Her,’ or even a light version of IBM’s Watson. Mozilla thinks that its Project Smart Home will fill the gap between do it yourselfers and tightly controlled IOT setups using Apple HomeKit. It would be cool to tell your IOT assistant ‘please turn the lights off upstairs,’ or turn the heat up a couple degrees!
Over the weekend, the first ransomeware showed up on Macs. It’s been around for a while on PCs, but Reuters.com says researchers at Palo Alto Networks first spotted the malware late Friday. Ransomware, one of the fastest-growing types of cyber threats, encrypts data on infected machines, then typically asks users to pay ransoms in hard-to-trace digital currencies to get an electronic key so they can get their data back. This ransomware has been dubbed KeRanger, and it first showed up on the Transmission website. Transmission offers open source software that some Mac users use to download videos, music, etc via BitTorrent peer-to-peer. Transmission has since released version 2.91 of their software, and advises to stay away from 2.90, which was infected.
Uber Launches Separate UberEats App; Drone Catcher Nets and Neutralizes Rogue Drones
Posted: March 4, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Airports, Drone catcher, Drones, Food delivery, OpenWorks Engineering, SkyWall100, Uber, UberEats Leave a commentThis week, Uber launched its free standing UberEats app, starting with service in Los Angeles. Availability will start to show up in other cities around the country through the month. Businessinsider.com says what had been just a lunch service will now be for lunch and dinner, and will allow for deliveries of select dishes or full-menu items from restaurants. After you order, a specially trained Uber driver equipped with lunch bags to keep food warm or cold will deliver the food while you track it with the app. Uber has designed to app to open with professionally shot pictures of food to entice you…they expect people to keep the app open even after the food is ordered…hence, the tracking feature.
A British company called OpenWorks Engineering has showed off the SkyWall100, a shoulder mounted cannon that can fire a projectile that catches potentially hazardous drones with a net instead of destroying them. According to gizmodo.com, the programmable projectile shot from the 22 pound compressed gas powered launcher can net the drone, then parachute it to the ground in one piece. The device is equipped with ECM jamming, too. It should be a big help in keeping places like airports clear, and allows for forensic analysis of the captured drone, to find out who was operating it.
Big 3rd iPhone 7 Model May Be Out This Fall; Google Killing Wallet With Recognition App
Posted: March 3, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Dual lens camera, Face recognition, Google, Hands free pay, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Pro, KGI Securities, Wallet Leave a commentThis seems to be way out there as a rumor, but the source is KGI Securities, which has a pretty stellar track record on things Apple. Forbes.com reports that besides the 4 inch iPhone SE out in weeks, there will be 3 iPhone 7 models in September…a 4.7 inch 7, a 5.5 inch 7 Plus, and a new premium model based on the Plus currently dubbed the iPhone 7 Pro. The key feature? The dual lens camera from the Israeli company Apple bought we’ve already reported on. KGI says they may not be able to produce enough in volume to put the cam in the other iPhone 7 models, so a limited edition Pro model may carry the camera with a 2-3 power zoom, better speed and low light shots, and the ability to shoot video and still pictures simultaneously. We’ll have to wait until fall to see if KGI Securities is right or wrong!
Google has rolled out a replacement for Wallet for hands free pay, if you’re ready for it. Basically, it’s an app that calculates when you are close enough to a cash register or checkout kiosk. Bgr.com reports that the app then transmits your photo and initials to the receiving register. When you check out, the cashier just looks at you and the picture and asks your initials to verify, and you’re done. It remains to be seen if users will be comfortable with this.
Apple Leases Former Sunnyvale Pepsi Plant- Apple Car; Paying With Your Face…or Your Car Coming
Posted: March 2, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Car, MasterCard, Mobile World Congress, Pay with car, Pay with selfie, Project Titan, Visa Leave a commentApple has leased a nearly 100,000 square foot building in Sunnyvale that used to be a Pepsi bottling plant. 9to5mac.com says the facility is more like a warehouse than office building, and sits on 5 acres…and is probably for Project Titan, the Apple Car. Apple already has an 80,000 square foot building and a 140,000 square foot facility in Sunnyvale thought to be for the project…both are a 10 minute walk from the old Pepsi plant.
Last year, MasterCard announced its pay with a ‘selfie’ option. Now, they’ve showed it off at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. It uses the front camera of a smartphone and a single blink to identify a buyer. Cnet.com reports that rival Visa showed off a connected car that pays for your gas or for parking seamlessly. A chip in the car ‘talks’ to the gas pump or parking meter. It might be thrifty…pumping just enough gas to fill up, or paying for only the exact time you are parked.
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