Waymo Self-Drivers More Independent Last Year; Apple Watch Owns Wearable Market; AT&T Starting 5G Rollout
Posted: February 2, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5G, Alphabet, Apple, Apple Watch, AT&T, Fiber, Gigabit, Safety, Samsung, Self Driving Cars, Waymo, Wearables Leave a commentAlphabet’s Waymo division continues to march relentlessly towards fully autonomous self-driving cars. 9to5google.com says California DMV figures showed far fewer safety related disengages in 2016 and considerably more miles driven. In 2015, there were .8 disengages per 1000 miles, and in 2016 that dropped to .2 per thousand. Both numbers are exceptionally low, and now word is, Waymo has started using an updated sensor suite just last month…which presumably will drive the figures lower.
Apple said they had record sales 4th Quarter for the Apple Watch, but still doesn’t release details. According to data from Strategy Analytics, though, they pumped out 5.2 million of them for the holidays, grabbing 63.4% of the market. Samsung was next at 9.8%. Overall, smartwatches were up a tiny 1% in 2016 from 2015.
Later this year, Austin, Texas and Indianapolis, Indiana will be first to get blazingly fast 5G service from AT&T. Theverge.com reports that speeds will hit 400 Mbps. That’s not true 5G, which is 1Gigabit, but AT&T claims some top speeds will hit that by year’s end. At any rate, it’s 40 times faster than 4G, and unquestionably in the ballpark with fiber speeds.
White House Kicks in $400 Million for Fast 5G Testing; Google Search for Voter Registration
Posted: July 15, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 100 times faster, 5G, Advanced Wireless Research Initiative, AT&T, Google, Register to vote, Search, Verizon, White House Leave a commentOn the heels of yesterday’s FCC vote to adopt new rules to guide the development of 5G technology, the White House has announced a $400 million Advanced Wireless Research Initiative. Engadget.com says the project aims to build four “city-scale testing platforms” over the next 10 years. Part of the plan is to free up spectrum above 24 GHz for the high-speed networks that are said to be 100 times faster than the 4G we use today. Both AT&T and Verizon have already announce testing plans, and there’s sure to be others to follow soon.
According to thenextweb.com, Google has a announced a new Search feature to make it easier for people in the US to register to vote and find out more about their local requirements. Just type in ‘register to vote’, and the Search will show guidelines for registering online, by mail, or in person. You can also see the requirements (such as being 18 years old and not being in jail for a felony), as well as registration deadlines depending on how you choose to register.
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!
The Two Biggest Carriers Now Testing Blazing Fast 5G; Facebook Testing SMS Integration With Messenger on Android
Posted: February 12, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5G, Android, AT&T, Facebook, LTE, Messenger, Multiple Accounts, SMS, Verizon Leave a commentLast year, Verizon began testing its 5G network, and now AT&T has said they have as well. According to 9to5mac.com, AT&T expects speeds of 10-100 times faster than today’s LTE. Verizon has estimated their 5G system will be 30-50 times faster. AT&T says at 1 gigabit per second, you will be able to download a TV show in less than 3 seconds! Because standards have to be agreed upon, full 5G won’t hit until 2020, but some carriers are planning to offer at least some service by next year.
Facebook is testing out bringing back SMS message support to Messenger for Android. They had dropped such support in 2013 due to lack of use, but now think it will take off. Venturebeat.com says they are also adding multiple account support. Facebook says this will allow family members and friends to access their individual accounts from a shared phone, or a person to use their personal and business page accounts from the same device. For now, both SMS and multiple account access are only out on Android in the US.
Verizon To Test Insanely Fast 5G!
Posted: September 9, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5G, Google, Google Express, Verizon Leave a commentLater this year, and into next, Verizon will be testing out 5G for mobile devices. It’s insanely fast! How fast? Faster than Google Fiber’s direct connection into homes. 30 to 60 times faster than 4G. For example, you could download ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ in 6 minutes over 4G, but with 5G, it’ll be downloaded to your smartphone in 15 seconds! Cnet.com says according to Verizon, some commercial deployment will start by 2017. All that blazing speed and responsiveness will become more important as we add to the ‘internet of things’ around the house and office, and more connected cars come online. South Korea and China are pushing to upgrade to 5G quickly, too…South Korea hopes to have it showing up by 2018, but Verizon may well beat them by a year.
Yesterday, Amazon announced they were rolling out restaurant food delivery via Prime Now, starting in Seattle. Google is jumping into food delivery, but fresh food and groceries, starting later this year through Google Express. According to bloomberg.com, they will begin trials in San Francisco and one other city to be named later. Whole Foods and Costco will be among the rollout partners for the grocery delivery service. Grocery delivery is already a space populated by Amazon Fresh, and startup Instacart. Note that they will be delivering fresh food…they won’t have the capacity for refrigeration to deliver refrigerated or frozen items. For those, you’ll have to drag yourself to the supermarket!
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