iPhone 17 Look Ahead; Amazon Expands Ad Business; Google Launches Beta ‘Daily Listen’ Lab; Delta Partners With YouTube on In-flight Entertainment

Posted: January 9, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The next iteration of iPhones, the 17 series, is just months away. On this date that Steve Jobs revealed the original iPhone back in 2007, here’s a look at what we might see in the iPhone 17s this September. Macrumors.com is hearing we may lose the titanium frame for an aluminum one, or at least a combination of aluminum and titanium. Besides that, the backs of the phones will have a part aluminum, part glass design. The camera bump  will remain a rectangular bump, but will be bigger and also be aluminum. Some rumors have the lenses being horizontal or vertical, but them are likely to stay in a triangle arrangement. Of course, the 17 models will get the latest A19 chip with a speed bump, and at least one model will get Apple’s in-house designed Wi-Fi chip. We may see a 24 MP front cam, and a 48MP telephoto, which would be quite a jump from the paltry 12MP the present phones have. It now appears all 4 models will get the 12 gigs of ram, which will improve performance…as well as make Apple Intelligence run. 

Amazon is expanding its Ad business…this time, letting other sites use its ad tech for their own stores. According to cnbc.com, the new functionality is called Amazon Retail Ad Service. It allows companies to show “contextually relevant ads in the right place and at the right time” in search results, product pages and other areas of their site. It’s initially available for U.S. retailers, which will pay fees based on usage levels. Prices have not been disclosed.

In an experiment that sounds positively Orwellian to me, Google has started a new experiment in Search Labs called ‘Daily Listen.’ 9to5google.com says that via Discover and Search, Google is aware of what you are interested in, and it takes that into account while it creates a 5 minute episode that provides an overview of stories and topics you follow. The audio is AI. You can give the Daily Listen a thumbs up or down, and controls include play/pause, 10 second rewind, next story, and mute…if you would rather read. Android and iOS users in the US can enable Daily Listen in Search Labs from the top-left corner of the Google app. Welcome to the Ministry of Truth…

Delta Airlines has partnered with YouTube on a new in-flight Delta Sync entertainment ‘experience.’ Macrumors.com reports that Sky Miles members who log into their accounts will be able to watch their favorite creators, podcasts, and musical artists ad-free on board most Delta flights. The YouTube videos will be available on the Delta Sync setback units. The airline also announced that it is bowing new seatback hardware starting in 2026 that features a 4K HDR QLED display with a theatre-like viewing experience, Bluetooth capabilities for connecting earbuds, a recommendation engine tailored to customer preferences, and options for features like a Do Not Disturb mode for communicating with Delta employees.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Two Wild TVs From CES; iOT-Everything Including the Kitchen Sink; Alexa Baked into Some New Windows 10 PCs; Sony Bows 3 New Phones

Posted: January 8, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s CES week, the BIG Show for consumer electronics, and you can always count on some off the wall, ‘wow’ items. Theverge.com reports there are a couple of TVs that won’t disappoint in that department. Samsung has rolled out a 146 inch TV called The Wall. It uses Micro LED, which has a lot of the same benefits of OLED, and is ‘module based.’ The modules can be assembled to make a TV just the size to fit your needs…although 146 inch would probably be perfect for a man cave. You have to think the price will exceed that of many houses, though! The Wall launches this spring.

If a wall sized TV isn’t to your liking, how about a 65 inch screen that rolls up like a piece of paper? LG is showing their updated roll-up TV. It’s a 4K model that rolls down into a base when not in use. No word from LG when this marvel might be available.

The old joke is something has ‘everything but the kitchen sink.’ Well now, the Internet of Things can even control that! According to mashable.com, Delta is showing a sink that can be controlled by Alexa. They plan to have these in model homes to show the tech off by later this year, with the sinks hitting the market sometime in 2018.

Speaking of Alexa…and I realize you know what I did there, last year Amazon and Microsoft announced plans to let Cortana and Alexa talk to each other on Windows 10 PCs. Now, arstechnica.com says Acer, Asus, and HP have all announced that Alexa will be baked into some of their notebooks that will be coming out this year. All will apparently use the Alexa Windows 10 app that will be released later this year. It should be just about like using an Echo.

Sony has unveiled 3 new smartphones at CES. According to bgr.com, they are mid-range phones, not flagship type devices. Nothing spectacular about them, with one exception….the Xperia XA2 Ultra has two FRONT facing cams, and a 23 megapixel rear cam! The phones should be out late this month, giving people a chance to see if the buzz over the cam setup is worth it, or just a cool gimmick.