Your Internet May Be Coming Via Lightbulbs Before Long
Posted: October 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Airpaper, Comcast, Cord cutting, Internet of things, LED bulbs, Li-Fi, wi-fi Leave a commentThe news this week had a story of a random hacker stealing Wi-Fi passwords, and having been hacked a few years ago by someone parked outside my home, I’ve always worried that even the top security level and a strong password aren’t enough for Wi-Fi. As thenextweb.com reports, we may all be safer and have better coverage with the next big thing…Li-Fi. As more of us add LED bulbs around the house…my son has them in every single fixture, I have them in about half…we also gain the ability to transmit signals on light frequencies…which can’t be hacked if your curtains and shades are closed, and will make available far more spectrum to handle the traffic of ‘the internet of things,’ like your fridge, thermostat, and virtually everything else electric with a chip that lives in your home with you. There are already companies in Scotland and France offering Li-Fi. It could be in your home in the next few years.
Perhaps nothing is as aggravating as trying to cancel a service, especially a tenacious one like Comcast cable, which actually has a manual and trains people on how to block your cancellation every step of the way. TechCrunch.com says there’s a new service called Airpaper that will do it for you for 5 bucks. You do, of course, have to give them your name, address, phone number, and Comcast account number. They claim not to use the info for any other purpose. It could get hacked…they could sell that info, but I’m betting a lot of people will roll the dice anyway, just to not have the hassle of dealing with trying to cut the cord.
Samsung Says TVs Don’t Have a ‘Volkswagen Problem’
Posted: October 2, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Watch, Best Buy, ComplianTV, European Union, Motion lighting, Samsung, Target, TVs Leave a commentA testing group in Europe funded by the European Union accused Samsung of using software to make its TVs look better in regulatory lab tests yesterday. Now cnet.com reports that Samsung has strongly denied its gaming the system. The feature is called motion lighting, and it reduces screen brightness, and therefore energy consumption when the picture on screen is in motion. ComplianTV said they detected the behaviors, but were unable to prove that Samsung was gaming the system…but they got that impression. Samsung says motion lighting is a default setting that works in the lab and at home to reduce environmental impact. This reporter confirmed that on his own TV after digging through a deep stack of menus. Let’s just be glad we don’t have diesel TVs!
Apple will begin selling some models of Apple Watch at some Target stores this week. Expect to see the Watch at target.com by October 18th, and at all Target stores effective October 25th. According to thenextweb.com, there will be 20 models available, priced from $349 to $599, in both the 38mm and 42mm sizes. In other words, Target will have all but the expensive Edition models. By adding Target to Best Buy, Apple is giving a more mid-market aura to the watch heading into the holidays.
Skype Getting Real Time Language Translation on PCs
Posted: October 1, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Batteries, Canada, Elon Musk, France, Instant Charging, Lithium-Ion, Micro-supercapacitor, Microsoft, PCs, Skype, Translator, Wearables, Windows Leave a commentMicrosoft has announced that Skype Translator, which has been freestanding and Spanish to English only, will be coming to Windows PCs in the next few weeks. Geekwire.com reports that it will be a baked in feature to PC based Skype, and will also add French, German, Italian, and Mandarin for voice, plus 50 written languages. They won’t have it out for smartphones, at least for a while. Microsoft admits it’s not perfect, but early tests indicated people can carry on a conversation with it.
Battery life just sucks, and virtually every gadget we use runs by battery power. Something better may be on the way, at least for the smaller devices. According to engadget.com, scientists in Canada and France have come up with a micro-supercapacitor with the same energy density of most lithium ion batteries. Even Elon Musk has lusted for capacitors as a replacement for batteries, since you can recharge them infinitely without loss of capacity. The rub with the micro-supercapacitor is it’s built from exotic materials like gold and ruthenium oxide, so crazy expensive when you scale up in size. The scientists say for replacing micro batteries, though, the capacitors can store 1000 times the energy of those tiny batteries. They may be showing up in wearables before long, but we’ll have to wait a while for instant charging cell phones and electric cars.
Google Shows New Smartphones, Tablet, & Drops New Chromecast
Posted: September 30, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5X, 6P, Android 6.0, Chromecast, Chromecast Audio, Google, Nexus, Pixel C Leave a commentGoogle rolled out two top line smartphones at its big Nexus event in San Francisco Tuesday…first, the brand new Nexus 6P. It’s made by Huawei and sports a 5.7-inch AMOLED display, powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor. The 6P has a unibody aluminum design. For comparison it weighs 178 grams… Apple’s new iPhone 6s Plus has a smaller 5.5-inch display and it weighs 199 grams.
It comes with 3GB of RAM, a 12.3-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing selfie camera, a massive 3,450 battery and either 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of storage. So how much? it starts at $499 off contract, and you can preorder at the Google Play store, with shipping sometime in October.
Google also showed a smaller handset…the Nexus 5X. This year, Google is taking a page out of Samsung and Apple’s playbook and offering two distinct flagship phones, one with a smaller screen and one that’s phablet sized. The Nexus 5X features a 5.2-inch LCD display with full HD resolution. A 2GHz 6-core Snapdragon 808, and 2GB of RAM. The phone will be available with either 16GB or 32GB of storage. It sports a 12.3-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front facing camera, and fingerprint scanner. The Nexus 5X will start at $379 with no contract, and like the 6P, it’s available for preorder now in the Google Play Store, and ships in October.
Google rolled out an actual tablet, too… the Pixel C. This tablet, unlike the Pixel devices that preceded it, will launch not with Chrome OS, but with Android — 6.0 Marshmallow to be exact. There’s an optional detachable keyboard you will probably want. This tablet is amazingly made by Google, and not just built for them.
The Pixel C features a 10.2-inch screen. It will ship sometime in November, starting at $499 for the tablet itself at 32 GB (and $599 for the 64 GB), and $149 for the attachable keyboard.
As you heard or read here last week, the 2nd generation Chromecast is out. Besides the lollypop shaped dongle, the device offers improved WiFi and connectivity features, a new home screen that features new “feeds” for displaying content on-screen while your device is in standby, and “Fast Play,” which allows your devices to connect to Chromecast faster and easier than ever before…the Chromecast Audio, including Spotify support is also out now. Chromecast 2.0 is $35. You’ll be able to grab one from the Google Store, Best Buy, and Walmart.
Laser Razor May Help Us to Ditch Blades and Save Water
Posted: September 29, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Aclima, Air quality, Environmental Defense Fund, Google, Laser razor, Skarp Leave a commentIt’s such a great thought, ditching razor blades and buzzy electrics for a sleek, laser razor. Such a great thought, that a Kickstarter project from Skarp Technologies blew past it’s goal of $160,000 in 2 days, and now is approaching a million in funding. Mashable.com says the Skarp Laser Razor should be out by spring. No throwing away blades, and no wasting water…although they say you can still shave in the shower if you want to. The laser melts the hair shaft right at the surface of the skin, so the roughness caused by traditional razors, which cut at an angle, are no longer a problem. What’s taken so long? One of the founders, Morgan Gustavsson, who invented Intense Pulsed Light still used for hair removal and dermatology, says getting just the right frequency…up to now, lasers could cut dark hair, but not light or gray hair. No retail pricing has been announced, but expect it in the next 6 months.
After a test run in Denver, Google is starting to equip its street view cars in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and California’s central valley with Aclima, it’s mapping technology for air quality. The googlegreenblog says this comes out of a project last year where Google partnered with the Environmental Defense fund to map methane. They will pass on what the street view cars sample to scientists and air quality experts, and hopefully eventually help Californians to enjoy cleaner air.
iPhone 6S First Weekend Sales Set New Record, & Feature to Turn off NOW
Posted: September 28, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, iPhone 6S, Wi-Fi Assist Leave a commentApple’s new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus blew past last year’s first weekend sales records, putting 13 million phones in the grip of fanboys and fangirls. Last year, including presales delivered, the number was 10 million. So much for the ’S’ years being the off years! The Cupertino giant still has 40 countries to launch in starting October 9th. Bgr.com reports that it’s thought that having an extra week of presales in China compared to last year boosted the numbers.
Whether you have a shiny, slippery new iPhone 6S or and earlier model you upgraded to iOS 9 (and half of owners already have), you probably want to turn this feature off now! It’s a great idea called Wi-Fi Assist…and it switches your phone to cellular when a Wi-Fi signal gets weak. Nice, but may end up costing you a fortune. Go to Settings, Cellular, and scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see the Wi-Fi Assist button…it’s on by default…switch it off, unless you have a millionaire’s budget for your cell phone bill!
New HTC Phone Revealed that Mimics iPhone
Posted: September 24, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Aero, AI, Android, HTC, IBM, Watson Leave a commentA big leak has revealed the next big HTC smartphone…the Aero…and surprise! It looks a lot like an iPhone, right down to several of the colors it will be available in. HTC has a product unveiling September 29th, when the smartphone will be officially introduced to the world. It features at 5 inch AMOLED screen, 2 gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of storage, with a micro SD slot for more memory. The Aero has a fingerprint sensor, and a 13 megapixel camera. It will run Android 6.0 Marshmellow. Six color choices are available, including the three that mimic Apple’s. We should see pricing on the 29th.
IBM has announced that it’s opening a second headquarters in Sn Francisco next year for it’s AI system Watson. The New York Times reports the center will eventually employ several hundred people. Watson is also getting additional capabilities including speech, language understanding, image recognition, and sentiment analysis. IBM already has 350 companies partnering and using Watson to make products, with about 50 of those on the market. It could eventually become something of a super operating system…doing much more than winning at Jeopardy!
Thoughts On The Coming Apple Electric Car
Posted: September 22, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Electric Car, EPA, Foxconn, Google, Mac, Microsoft, Office, Office 365, Self Driving, Windows 10 Leave a commentIt was all over the tech news yesterday, and first reported by the Wall St. Journal, that Apple had put it’s Project Titan…their car project…on the front burner, and want an Apple car on the road by 2019. Google has spoken out couple times, underscoring that they are NOT planning to actually build a Google self-driving car, but will partner with car makers. Apple’s electric car project, by the way, will apparently not be self-driving. Apple will not be building their own car. As bgr.com snarked, who is going to build it…it won’t be Foxconn! I predict that Apple will have to partner with one or more actual car maker. Right now, it takes a car maker a minimum of 4 years to get a model out, and they have the actual plants and equipment to build cars at scale. Apple doesn’t, and can’t possibly be ready to produce them by 2019. Even an electric with no EPA emission requirements will still have to meet federal standards in various countries for safety. Which manufacturer or manufacturers will they partner with, and will it be sold from present dealerships or out of Apple branded car stores, like Tesla is doing? Stay tuned.
From Microsoft’s Office blog, comes something that’s NOT vaporware…Office 2016 for Windows and Office 2016 for Mac are available now to everyone. The Windows version is more tightly integrated with both Windows 10 and Office 365, and subscribers can get more frequent updates with new features and improvements. Microsoft says the Mac version had been out since July for 365 subscribers, but now is a one-time purchase option open to all with several new and enhanced Office 365 services. As is typical for Office and Microsoft products, the features and even pricing are beyond the time constraints we have here.
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