iPhone is 10; Freshened iPads Coming, Waymo Says It’s Cut Self-Driving Equipment Cost in Half; Mercedes Autopilot Will Give Tesla a Run

Posted: January 9, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ten years ago today Steve Jobs…remember him?…stood in front of the crowd at Macworld, and introduced the iPhone. Of course, we didn’t get it until almost July, but smartphones were absolutely revolutionized. Now, we wait until September to see if the iPhone 8 will be anywhere near as revolutionary with a wraparound screen that covers the front and wireless charging.

Meanwhile, 9to5mac.com reports that KGI Securities is expecting 3 updated iPads, and they believe a sales slump will be blunted. Apple appears to be preparing a 12.9” model, 10-10.5” size, and a 9.7” version. The first two will get a higher end A10X chip, with the smaller one keeping the A9. More business and enterprise users will gravitate to the larger models, but KGI thinks the cheaper model will grab 50-60% of total iPads sold. They may drop this spring.

The Waymo self driving car division of Google…or if you insist, Alphabet….has cut the cost of LIdar sensors for the rigs by 90%. They’re still pricey, but in 2009 ran $75,000! They have done it by building the sensors in house, according to recode.net. At $7500, and likely to fall more, self driving tech is becoming something that can roll out in vehicles to the mass market soon!

Mercedes showed off its Drive Pilot in conjunction with CES in Las Vegas. Theverge.com says it actually works better than Tesla’s system…in fact, so well, that Mercedes has ‘detuned’ it a bit to make it move around in the lane so drivers won’t be lulled into dialing out completely. It does the emergency stop routine like the Tesla, but in the case of the Mercedes, automatically calls the Mercedes SOS service to connect a live person…a nice touch since both are in the luxury car strata. Drive Pilot will bow this summer in the S class Mercedes cars.

Alphabet & Chipotle Test Drone; iPhone 8-No Home Button, etc; Samsung to Kill Phone Jack; iOS 10 Bricking Issue Supposedly Solved

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

It’s really all about the food, right? Alphabet and Chipotle are testing drone deliveries at Virginia Tech, according to 9to5google.com. So far, the Project Wing drones have only flown short distances, and they have pilots standing by…but it’s a peek into the future when you could have a burrito or pizza delivered to your door in 20 minutes or so by…drone. The drone won’t expect a tip, either!

There have already been plenty of rumors about the iPhone 8 next year being ‘all glass’. Zdnet.com says expect a full front screen with no home button..it’ll be haptic and under the screen. The screen may also wrap around the edges. As for Jony Ive’s all glass phone, don’t expect that…actually, according to bgr.com, it may be a Zirconia ceramic and polymer body. One of the new Apple Watch 2’s is ceramic. It’s stronger and more scratch resistant, dissipates heat better than aluminum, and no antenna bands….they can transmit right through it.

The hating goes on over no phone jack on the iPhone 7. Meanwhile, thenextweb.com says Samsung is considering following Apple’s lead and ditching it, too. On top of that, Sammy may roll out their own proprietary jack like Apple’s Lightening connector, so they can charge licensing fees to accessory makers. It looks like we can kiss universal standards like USB and phone jacks goodbye when it comes to phones.

Some users upgraded to iOS 10 yesterday, and bricked their phones. According to macrumors.com, the only cure was to plug into your computer and update through iTunes. That’s fine if you were near your computer or have a computer…some don’t. Apple put out a statement within hours, saying the bug is squashed, and it’s all clear…but you might want to wait another day in case. Messages has gotten a lot of add ins, and there’s a redesigned lock screen and much more, when you finally download it.

Blue iPhone 7 After All; Alphabet Gets Approval to Test Delivery Drones

Posted: August 3, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early on, it was rumored Apple may add a blue color with the iPhone 7. That’s been tamped down up to now…until pictures appeared from China Unicom. Bgr.com reports that China Unicom posted an image that actually says iPhone 7, and shows 4 different colors….including blue! The others shown are the present Space Grey, Gold, and Rose Gold. The graphic also shows the double sized camera opening, as has show up in a number of leaks, and believed to be from the iPhone 7 Plus or Pro.

Alphabet’s Project Wing will be allowed to test its unmanned aerial vehicles in designated areas in the US. The test flights were announced as part of a new initiative unveiled by the US National Science Foundation, which plans to spend $35 million over the next five years on unmanned flight research. This just comes after Britain gave permission for Amazon to test delivery drones there a couple weeks ago. Google has said it plans to start using drones for delivery by 2017.

Google Hasn’t Entirely Killed Off Google Glass

Posted: September 17, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Google had previously said they were killing off Google Glass, but apparently, there was a change of mind. Engadget.com reports that they’ve hired engineers and software developers from Amazon’s Lab126 for what they’re calling ‘Project Aura.’ They will work on other wearables besides Glass. Apparently Project Aura will stay under the Google ‘aura,’ instead of being a separate entity under the Alphabet umbrella. Ivy Ross will still head up the operation, but she’ll report to Nest CEO Tony Fadell now.

Speaking of Amazon, they’ve shown their answer to Apple TV…it’s a Fire TV box with Alexa and 4K video support. Theverge.com says that similar to Apple’s ‘Hey Siri,’ you will be able to command Alexa to go look for shows you want to watch. Amazon plans to add reordering through amazon.com later, like with the Echo speaker. Don’t expect to be able to set alarms or timers as you can on the Echo, though. The new Fire TV box is $99. Amazon has also upgraded the Fire TV stick with newer software, and a new remote in a $50 bundle. There’s also a gamer-specific edition of the Fire TV box for $140, that comes with a useable controller and two free game downloads. It’s all open for preorder now, and all three products ship in October.

HTC One Max Fingerprints Stored in Plain Sight

Posted: August 11, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

HTC has been having plenty of trouble of late, despite making a really cool phone, the One Max. Part of the problem is that HTC is selling phones for just over a penny profit…not a good business model for a device that costs hundreds. Their stock value has plummeted to the amount of cash on hand. For the HTC One Max OWNER, there’s a BIG problem. Geek.com notes that the Max stores fingerprints as an ordinary image file in an unsecure location. Worse…it saves a fresh copy that can be stolen every time you swipe your finger! Researchers at FireEye tipped HTC of this glaring mess, and they’ve issued a patch, so if you own a One Max, update the software!

By now, you’ve heard all about Google starting an umbrella company called Alphabet to be the parent to all their brands: Google, Google X, and so on.
It seems that the execs came up with this naming plan so quickly, no one bothered to check if the name was available online…and it’s not…for now. Theverge.com reports that an individual has @alphabet on Twitter, and alphabet.com is owned by Alphabet Fleet Management…a BMW company, which also owns Facebook.com/alphabet. With Google’s (and now Alphabet’s) billions, they’ll be able to buy up the online names, but a word to the wise for the rest of us…check first!

Newer Entries →