iPhone 8 Possible Pricing; 4K Zoom Nest Cam; Twitter Has Considered Premium Subscription
Posted: May 23, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4K, Alphabet, Apple, iPhone 8, Nest, Nest Cam, Premium, Pricing, Subscription, Twitter, Zoom Leave a commentIn a report picked up by 9to5mac.com an analyst from UBS says the iPhone 8 won’t start at a grand, as has been speculated. He claims the new Apple hero phone will debut this fall for $870, and go up to $1070. The thought is, Cupertino won’t want to break that important thousand dollar psychological barrier with the base model of their new hero phone. He also predicts it will take up 45% of iPhone sales next year.
Alphabet owned Nest is working on a 4K indoor security camera. According to Android Police, it’s not that anyone needs 4K for that, it’s for a smart zoom feature. If you zoom in on an area with this cam, it won’t become all distorted, but give you a nice 1080p section of the view…like we’ve seen in movies for years! The new Nest Cam may be out shortly, and will reportedly cost over $300…yes, for ONE camera!
Twitter, the social network so many love and rely on, but which can’t seem to find a way to make any real money, is considering offering a premium subscription service. Recode.net reports that the short form firehose of information hasn’t decided to do it for sure, but if they do, it would include access to special features and services. CEO Jack Dorsey did stress that it was very important to them that Twitter be free and open to everyone around the world, however.
iPhone 8 May Be Slightly Taller Than 7s; ARM Chips For Brain Injury Implants; Emojis Prove Intent in Court
Posted: May 22, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, ARM, Brain implants, Court, emoji, iPhone 8, Israel, Landlord, Spinal injuries, Tenant Leave a commentMolds for new iPhones (the design of which is probably finalized by now) have been spotted that show the iPhone 8 as slightly taller than the 7S, but not as tall as the 7S Plus. Bgr.com says the mold pics were originally shown by Weibo, and they also show the vertical rear camera that has been widely reported for the 8…and no cutout or knockout for a rear fingerprint reader…so Apple must have gotten the under screen one to work. They are expected to be rolled out in September.
ARM is working with researchers to develop tiny, very low power processors that can be implanted in the brain. According to bbc.com, they would be made to help people with brain and spinal injuries, and would be placed inside the skull. The goal is to let people with such injuries carry out tasks and receive sensory feedback. They might be available within 10 years.
It hasn’t happened in the US yet, but in Israel, a court has ruled that emoji can be evidence of intent. Mashable.com reports that it was in a landlord/tenant dispute. The parties had exchanged texts for days, The court found that a sting of positive emojis from the prospective renter, while not enough to consist of a binding contract, did convey their desire to rent the place. The landlord relied on the text, and took down the ‘for rent sign.’ He was awarded $2200.
Mercedes to Bring Home Storage Batteries to US; Digital Assistants to Outnumber People by 2021
Posted: May 18, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alexa, Amazon, Apple, Batteries, Bixby, Cortana, Google, Google Assistant, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Powerwall, Siri, Solar power, Tesla, Vivint Solar Leave a commentIn more of a broadside than a shot across the bow to Tesla, Mercedes-Benz Energy has partnered with Vivint Solar to sell home storage batteries in the US. Techcrunch.com says homeowners who hire Vivint Solar to install an array on their roof can add up to 8 2.5 kWh Mercedes batteries for a whopping 20 kWh of storage! This is a major direct competitor to Tesla with their Solar City, solar shingles, and PowerWall. As the move to greener and more self-sustaining power systems picks up speed, expect more big players in this area.
Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft all have them, and are aggressively pushing them into our lives….digital assistants, that is. According to research by Ovum picked up by cnet.com, the number of devices with digital assistants will be over 7.5 billion by 2021, which will then exceed the population of the world! By the way, there are already 3.5 billion of the sometimes helpful little devils active in the world right now! Ovum projects that Google Assistant will command the market, followed by Chinese assistants, Siri and then Bixby form Samsung…mainly due to the count of cell phones and tablets. Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana are primarily in devices other than smartphones.
Apple Watch Rumor-Glucose Monitoring; Amazon-4K Alexa TV and Now = Walmart X2; BMW, Intel, & Mobileye Add Delphi to Self-Driving
Posted: May 16, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4K TV, Alexa, Amazon, Apple, Apple Watch, BMW, Delphi, Glucose sensors, Intel, Mobileye, Self Driving Cars, Smart watch bands, Walmart, Westinghouse Leave a commentIt’s been no secret that Apple has wanted to get deep into the weeds regarding heath monitoring for the Apple Watch. The do have north of 200 folks with PhDs working on various projects. Now, macrumors.com reports that they may be close to rolling out non-invasive sensors to monitor blood glucose. This would be something of a Holy Grail for diabetics, meaning no finger sticks all day. Apparently, the sensors would be built into interchangeable smart watch bands, along with other functionality. This way, people who buy Apple Watch that don’t need those functions wouldn’t have to pay extra for them. The sensors are due in ‘an upcoming Apple Watch,’ but it’s unclear if they will make the third generation one out this fall.
Amazon has announced 4K TVs running Alexa. They will be sold under the Westinghouse brand, according to theverge.com. Preorders are open now, with prices ranging from $449 for a 43 inches to $899 for a 65 inch display. They are expected in stores next month. A lot has been made over Apple and Google valuation…Apple at 800+ billion and all…but ponder this….Amazon now has a market cap of $459 billion…that’s just about TWO Walmarts! Amazon has just been a public company for 18 years!
BMW, Intel, & Mobileye have now been joined by Delphi in their self-driving platform development. Techcrunch.com says Delphi will supply key computing components to the system. Intel and Delphi had previously worked together on autonomous tech. They are shooting for 2021 to bring their platform into production…not just for BMW vehicles but for other auto makers and system developers.
Lyft & Waymo Partner on Self-Drivers; EV Battery That Charges in 5 Min; 10.5 Inch iPad Pro at WWDC, Google Asst Coming to iOS
Posted: May 15, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5 minute charging, Apple, Batteries, EV, Google, Google Assistant, I/O, iOS, iPad Pro, Lyft, Self Driving Cars, Siri, StoreDot, Supercharger, Tesla, Waymo Leave a commentLyft and Google’s Waymo will team up on self-driving cars, according to a report from the New York Times. The plan is to introduce a wide swath of people to them using fleet services. Waymo had already started a public pilot in Arizona where they will pick up people and families on demand. The Lyft deal will quickly help them to expand that, and explore not only demand modeling, but efficient routing as well. Meanwhile, a judge has banned a Uber employee, who was a former Google manager and is the subject of a lawsuit, from working with Lidar at all for the time being.
If this pans out to any degree, it will be a game changer for electric vehicles. StoreDot, and Israeli startup, has shown its new battery model for EVs at the CUBE Tech Fair in Berlin. Engadget.com reports that the battery can reach full charge in FIVE minutes, and run the car for 300 miles! Compare that to Tesla’s Supercharger, which takes two hours to fully charge a Tesla EV. StoreDot also claims their batteries are safer than litihum-ion. They use layers of nano materials and proprietary organic compounds not used in batteries before.
Apple will probably show a new 10.5 inch iPad Pro at WWDC next month. Theverge.com says KGI Securities, generally one of the most reliable sources, is reporting this. Ming-Chi Kuo, of KGI also says it’s 50-50 that Apple will launch their Siri powered speaker at WWDC.
Siri could be in for some ‘Siri-ous’ competition soon. Google may be rolling out Google Assistant on iOS, and could show it at I/O this week! It will debut first in the US, and apparently will be slightly different than the Android version. The voice controls will be the same, but it will used the chat style fro Allo. This is probably necessary since it will be a free standing app, and not a baked in extension that’s part of the Google platform.
More Cortana Driven Smart Speakers; Waymo Logs Millions of Miles; Apple Buys Sleep Tracker; iPhone 8 Leaked CAD Drawings
Posted: May 10, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alaphabet, Alexa, Amazon Echo, Apple, Beddit, Cortana, Google, Harman Kardon, HP, iPhone 8, Microsoft, Self Driving Cars, Skype, Sleep tracker, Smart Speaker, Waymo Leave a commentEarlier this week, Harman Kardon unveiled Invoke, their Cortana powered Amazon Echo competitor. Now, techcrunch.com says HP is also jumping into the smart speaker market. Instead of following their rather successful Surface marketing effort of rolling their own, Microsoft seems to be using the formerly wildly successful PC model of licensing to numerous makers. The speakers will reportedly use Skype for calling. The Amazon Alexa device can take and make calls, and Apple’s is expected to as well.
Waymo, the self-driving car people from Alphabet/Google, says they have now logged 3 million miles on public roads. According to 9to5google.com, a million of those self-driven miles have been in the last 7 months! In March, Waymo greatly expanded their fleet with 500 Chrysler Pacifica minivans.
Apple has bought Beddit, a company that tracks sleep. According to business insider.com, they make a $150 sleep monitoring pad that goes between the sheets. The monitor tracks a person’s heart rate, awake time, and snoring, then the companion app calculates a ‘sleep score’ and can wake users at an ‘optimal’ time with a smart alarm. The page linked to the Watch App Store is gone from their website, but the app is still live there as of today.
Some CAD drawings have leaked out from a manufacturer of the upcoming iPhone 8. 9to5mac.com says that these show no fingerprint sensor on the back, but do depict the all glass front and back with stainless steel edges and the vertical dual cams on the back. The phone appears to be thicker than the current iPhone 7 and Plus. It’s still possible the 8 will have an ugly and clumsy fingerprint sensor on the back like the Samsung Galaxy S8, but we probably won’t know that until Fall.
Amazon Touchscreen Echo Leak; Smart Speaker Market Set to Double; Spray On Touchpads
Posted: May 8, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alexa, Amazon, Apple, Echo, Electrick, Google, Spray-on, Touchpads, Touchscreen Leave a comment
As with all tech companies, Amazon plays with different versions of products. Thenextweb.com got its hands on a pic of one version for the upcoming Alexa powered touchscreen Echo, and the tech media collectively threw up. The wedge shaped gadget with a 7 inch screen has been universally panned. A prior leak had a short round tower with a smaller touchscreen angled on top. Let’s hope the previous leak is closer to what actually drops…probably later this month. It is said to be equipped to make video calls, and may have visual recognition, like the hapless Fire phone.
With a touchscreen Echo in the pipeline, the Google speaker finding homes, and Apple reported to be working on a high end smart speaker, 9to5mac.com has picked up a report from Reuters that says smart speaker use will double in the US this year. They are looking at 35.6 million. Amazon is expected to hold a little over 70% of the market.
Want a touchpad somewhere? Just spray it on! That’s the concept behind Electrick (with a ‘k’), a design from some brainy folks at Carnegie Mellon University. Techcrunch.com says it is mainly the brainchild of a PhD student named Yang Zhang, and it uses small electrodes attached to the edges of a painted surface. You can put a touchpad on wood, plastic, dry wall…reportedly even Play Doh and Jell-O. The tech is set to be demonstrated at a conference in Denver.
Windows 10 S Laptop Guns for Chromebooks; 43 Inch LG Monitor Supports 4 Sources; Twitter Adds More Streams and Shows
Posted: May 2, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4K, Apple, Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, Chromebook, Education, LG, Live Nation, Microsoft, Minecraft, Monitors, Office 365, Twitter, Video streams, Windows 10 S, WNBA Leave a commentMicrosoft has revealed its answer to Chrome OS. Windows 10 S is a ‘streamlined and secured’ version of Windows 10…translation….it’s sandboxed. That’s not the biggest part, though. Techcrunch.com reports that Microsoft has talked most major PC makers into making Windows 10 S machines. Base level ones will start at $189, and should be out this summer. Redmond expects school districts to snap up the laptops at that price point. They come with a one year free subscription to Minecraft: Education Edition, and Office 365 apps are free for both students and teachers.
As Apple announced they were getting out of the monitor business (then had a change of heart of sorts), other companies have jumped in with displays to take up the slack. Now, 9to5mac.com says LG has quietly unveiled a 42.5 inch 4K job that has 4 HDMI ports and supports up to 4 display feeds….for under $700! Four feeds, so you could keep a browser open, watch a game, PLAY a game, and have a window for actual work!
We heard yesterday that Twitter was building out a 24/7 streaming video service with Bloomberg. Now, they’ve announced live video plans with Live Nation, Buzzfeed, The WNBA, and almost a dozen partners. According to recode.net, the partners look so far to be heavy on sports, then news, with a little entertainment sprinkled in. It remains to be seen how much of the new content will materialize and when.
Apple Echo-Type Smart Speaker Coming; Galaxy S8 Random Reboots; Samsung Approved for Testing Self-Driving Cars in Korea
Posted: May 1, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon Echo, Apple, Galaxy S8, Google, Hyundai, Korea, Random reboot, Samsung, SD card, self-driving car, Siri, Smart Speaker, WWDC Leave a commentThere are now two sources saying Apple will make a smart speaker like the Amazon Echo or Google’s speaker. Bgr.com reports that now KGI Securities says they will launch a ‘Siri Speaker’ at WWDC in June. No word on the cost (don’t think cheap), but it’s expected to hit stores and the web in the second half of the year. It will reportedly have 7 tweeters and a subwoofer, which should give it great sound. It will use some type of Beats tech and run a version of iOS.
Samsung’s Galaxy S8 had record preorders, but as it gets to peoples’ hands, there’s word that some are having random reboots. 9to5google.com reports there’s quite a thread about this on Samsung’s forums. It can happen when in use, or just sitting around. The phone does fully reboot, and it appears it may be related to an SD card issue, as removing the SD card seems to fix the problem until Samsung rolls out a software patch.
Speaking of Samsung…for those of you who thought they only made phones and TVs, etc, the Korean giant is now approved to test self-driving cars on roads in Korea. According to techcrunch.com, Hyundai has been at it for about a year now, so Samsung will be playing catch up to an extent. Samsung started as a trading company, and has interests in shipping, insurance, and more. The Korean approval allows for operating without steering wheels or pedals, which is also part of proposed new regulations in California and which Michigan already allows.
iPhone 8 Supply Will Be Gorgeous and in Short Supply This Fall; Larry Page’s Flying Car; Audi Adds Useful ‘Nanny’ Feature
Posted: April 24, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: A4 Allroad, Apple, Audi, Flying Car, iPhone 8, Kitty Hawk, Larry Page, Short Supply, Touch ID, Ultralight Leave a comment
The iPhone 8 will just have a slight curve and very thin stainless steel bezels, according to the latest leak. It will also be in tight supply….possibly through the end of the year because of production issues that are causing production to start late. According to bgr.com, it will have the all glass front and back design, and the stainless bezel will be black to make it look virtually seamless. Apple has apparently cracked the code to put the Touch ID under the OLED screen, and the front camera will also be nearly invisible under it as well. Benjamin Geskin posted several pics of a mockup, one of which is shown here. For more, hit bgr.com.
Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk startup will release their flying electric ‘car’ later this year. 9to5google.com notes that what’s been seen of it so far looks more like a platform on pontoons that a rider can fly over land or water…primarily water It HAS, however, gotten FAA approval as an ‘ultralight’ that can be flown over uncongested areas. Kitty Hawk says the first iteration will be mainly for recreation, and will be different from the prototype, but still features 8 rotors powered by electric motors. You can lear to fly it without a license in less than an hour.
In the cars you can actually buy now department, the Audi A4 Allroad talks to you. While this seems like it could be annoying, venturebeat.com reports in a truly useful ‘why didn’t they think of that before’ feature. As with many current cars, you can plug your phone into a USB port to charge it while you drive. When you get ready to get out of the car, it will sense that, and remind you to take your phone with you! Cars are truly becoming computers on wheels…or maybe Alexa on wheels!
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