Moto Z3 Play; Intel Tech Points to 28 Hour Laptop Batteries; Udacity & Google Partner for Free Career Courses; Dave & Buster’s Gets Multiplayer VR Arcades; Tesla Near Model 3 Goal

Posted: June 6, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Motorola has unveiled the Moto Z3 Play. It is mostly an incremental upgrade according to 9to5google.com. The handset does sport a bigger 6.01 inch display and smaller bezels all around, though. The fingerprint sensor has migrated from the front to a slightly thicker aluminum side rail. The Z3 Play runs a Snapdragon 636 processor, has 4 gigs of ram, and holds either 32 or 64 Gigs of storage. It does have a 3,000 mAh battery with fast charging. It’s $499 and available globally this month.

New tech from Intel may make laptop batteries regularly last up to 28 hours! The chipmaker made the announcement at Computex, and mashable.com says they have developed a low power display tech that can cut LCD power consumption in half. Keep in mind that they get that battery life at 150 nits of screen brightness…which is probably darker than you can really work for very long, so as the saying goes, ‘your mileage will vary.’ So far, the tech will only work with Intel chips, not Nvidia or AMD graphics.

Bringing resume and cover letter help to recent grads and ‘mid-career’ professionals, Udacity has partnered with Google for a number of free courses. According to techcrunch.com, they will not only offer free courses for basics like resumes and cover letters, but also optimizing your GitHub profile and beefing up your LinkedIn network. There are even courses in ‘Data Structures and Algorithms in Python’ as well as a course on Apple’s Swift platform. A total of 12 courses are available.

The Dave and Buster’s chain is in the process of installing multiplayer VR arcades, running HTC Vive hardware. Cnet.com reports that there will be 114 of them when complete, and a total of 500 VR headsets. According to HTC, the setups will be a ‘proprietary, multi participant motion platform’ built custom for Dave & Buster’s. Happy Holodecking, gamers!

Elon Musk says Tesla is going to be hitting their goal of 5,000 Model 3 cars a week by the end of June. As businessinsider.com notes, 5,000 is the ‘magic number’ Musk cites that will put Tesla into the black with the Model 3. Up to now, they have been burning cash like crazy. The company has had to shut down the production line twice to fix and upgrade their systems. Musk even took to sleeping at the factory in a conference room for a while until they got the bugs worked out.

Posted: April 9, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook is going to provide some of its data to elections researchers selected by a new panel of experts. Ahead of Zuckerberg’s appearance before Congress this week, axios.com says the outside experts will “develop a research agenda about the impact of social media on society — starting with elections.” A group of private, blue chip foundations will pay for the effort. (Frankly, Facebook should reimburse them, with all the money they make!)

As rumored over the weekend, Apple has rolled out Product (RED) iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models today. According to theverge.com, preorders open tomorrow, the 10th, and the phones should start shipping on Friday the 13th…ooh, scary. The price is the same as other colors, starting at $699 for the 8 and $799 for the Plus.

Earlier in the year, Tesla registered new VINs that correspond to dual motor Model 3s. As reported here last week, the company is now producing more than 2000 of the smaller model per week now. Yesterday, Elon Musk Tweeted that they need to hit 5000 per week before adding the complexity of a 2nd motor. He then sent out a follow up Tweet saying ‘So probably July.’ the added motor will increase both the acceleration and extend the range of the Model 3. That is also when they will add white interiors…at the present, only black upholstery is available.

Word is, Spotify has been working on hardware for cars…either an in-car controller or standalone player. Now, engadget.com reports that some people have received offers for such a device, with plan pricing from $12.99 to $14.99 a month…when they clicked on the offer in the Spotify app, an error page popped up. A few sharp eyed users said their offer noted the gadget had built in 4G cellular. Spotify does have an event April 24th…maybe we’ll get more info at that time.

Apple Working On Own CPUs for Macs; Cheaper Google Pixel 3; Tesla Model 3 Production Scramble; Facebook Adds HD Video and 360 Degree Photos to Messenger

Posted: April 3, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just as Intel is rolling out i9 and updated i7 chips, comes word that Apple is working on Macs that run its own CPUs. Arstechnica.com reports that Apple could be shipping computers running its own processors by 2020, but it will take a serious rewrite of the MacOS. On the plus side, the Apple designed chips will use less juice, increasing battery life on MacBooks, and developers will be able to publish apps that run on both the MacOS and iOS for mobile devices. Apple is thought to be treading carefully in this, and would continue to use Intel CPUs for a time, as developers still need to build apps that run on Intel processors, and they would not want to take a huge hit to the App Store if developers balk at non-intel processors.

Google is apparently going to have 3 models in the Pixel 3 lineup pater this year. According to bgr.com, one will be a more affordable model. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news? The cheap model may only be available in India and similar markets, and not here in the US. As a mid range device, it would also lack features most smartphones offer as standard…specifically, the other two Pixel models. The lower priced Pixel 3 could hit the market in July or August. No date range for the two higher line Pixel 3 phones yet…or pricing.

By now, Tesla was supposed to be cranking out 2500 Model 3s per week. They are still falling short, but are now producing 2000 per week, so at least have gotten into the ballpark after a number of production hiccups. Theverge.com says Elon Musk claims to be sleeping at the factory until they hit the 2500 number. Tesla has promised to be building 5000 per week by later the end of the 2nd quarter, as they try to clear the backlog of orders and deposits still numbering several hundred thousand. The continued misses, have spooked Wall Street and the stock has dropped 22% in March.

Facebook is trying to put on a happy face in the wake of all the negative news about privacy. The social network’s newsroom has announced that Messenger will now be able to handle 360 degree photos and panoramic shots, as well as HD quality, 720p videos right from the camera roll of smartphones. They note you will need to download the latest software update to Messenger to get the new features.

Google Pay Replaces Android Pay; Android P Blocks Unannounced Cam Use; Samsung’s Monster 30TB SSD; Site Tracks Musk’s Space Tesla

Posted: February 20, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Google had previously pulled all its payment tools into the Google Pay tent except for Android Pay. Today, that changes. Techcrunch.com says an update to Android Pay brings it into the fold and adds some new functionality….including displaying stores nearby that accept it. Google Wallet now becomes Google Pay Send for sending and requesting money.

Android P should be unveiled at google I/O in a couple months. Meanwhile, it looks like word of a new security feature has gotten out. According to 9to5google.com, it’s to ease users minds about surreptitious camera use by apps (which has happened.) The new feature will block use of cams by any app not actively in use. If the system detects that the app is idle (running in the background), it is blocked from cam access.

We talk about Samsung smartphones all the time, because they are such a high profile, widely used product, but Samsung the company is into enough different businesses to fill a book. Now, cnet.com reports they have started production of a record breaking solid state drive weighing in at 30 TB…you read right, not 30 gigs, terabytes! While it’s unlikely you will need such storage, it will be great for government, health care, and education users that have massive troves of data. To give you a handle on how much that is, it’s enough room to store 5700 HD movies at 5 gigs each!No price has been disclosed, but you probably can’t afford it or justify it at any rate!

Practically the whole world watched as we saw shots of Elon Musk’s red Tesla roadster in space with the dummy in the spacesuit dubbed ‘Starman’ in the driver’s seat. It had been expected that batteries would allow 12 hours of transmission from space, but they died after only 4 hours. No more pictures, but now, bgr.com says at least you can track the little red car and Starman on their journey. A developer named Ben Pearson has built a site called ‘Where is Starman?’ It updates continuously, so you can check obsessively on where they are.

Next iPhones May Sport Smaller Notch; Tesla Model 3-Lots of Voice Commands; Google Devices Causing WiFi Outages

Posted: January 16, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

After getting universally panned for the notch at the top of the screen, it seems reviewers and actual people really embraced the blacked out area on the iPhone X where Face ID and the front cam live. Now, macrumors.com hears that Apple is looking into combining Face ID and the front cam to produce a smaller notch in the iPhone X successors that will be out in September 2019. It doesn’t look like the combined setup will make this year’s phones. It isn’t clear at this point how they would roll the infrared camera, dot projector, and flood illuminator all into the cam module, but Apple has dumped $821 million into LG Innotek, the company that will make most of all the 3D sensing modules for the upcoming iPhones.

With an answer to a question on Twitter, Elon Musk revealed that the Tesla Model 3…once production is really humming….will be getting a whole slew of voice control options. TechCrunch.com reports that Musk said in response to the question that once the software people got the core product right, you’ll be ‘able to do pretty much anything via voice command’ in the Model 3. So how about “Tesla…Tea. Earl Gray. Hot?”

This isn’t exactly something you want to hear…Google Home and Chromecast devices are causing temporary outages on many routers from ASUS, Linksys, Netgear, TP-Line, and Synology. According to 9to5Google.com, some become completely inoperable for a little bit, and others just drop their internet connection. The short explanation: the Google devices send a giant burst of information when they wake from sleep mode, causing the routers to drop their net connection or shut down the connection to the device. Google says they have a team working quickly to come up with a fix.

Analyst Claims No Touch ID on iPhone 8; Tesla Model 3 Production Starts Friday

Posted: July 3, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Frequently reliable KGI Securities has put out a list of predictions about the iPhone 8….most of which everyone has been reporting on by now. According to 9to5mac.com, one has people scratching their heads. The analyst says no Touch ID…under the screen or on the back. It is widely believed that the new iPhone will have a facial recognition feature, but dropping Touch ID would not only anger buyers, but banks that Apple has wooed to use Apple Pay. There may be a somewhat obvious answer…KGI Securities has also said the iPhone 8 screen will have a ‘function area’ at the bottom of screen that’s not part of the main display. The Touch ID button may be integrated into this much like it is on the MacBook Pros. On them, there is an OLED strip that runs the width of the keyboard with the Touch ID button at the end. A close examination reveals that the Touch ID button is actually separate. That may be how Apple does it. KGI is very accurate in touting upcoming Apple features, but not 100%…number crunchers say more like 44%…which is very high when predicting, but not spot on.

Some day, there may be a little book of the Tweets of Elon Musk. Among them will certainly be one which just appeared today. Arstechnica.com reports that Musk has Tweeted that the Tesla Model 3 has passed all regulatory requirements, and goes into production Friday. Musk says they should be cranking out 20,000 a month by December!

Varjo VR Headset With ‘Human Eye Resolution’; Ikea May Partner With Apple on AR; Musk Talks ‘Boring’ LA

Posted: June 19, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A company out of Finland called Varjo is working on a formerly secret VR headset code named 20/20 which they claim has ‘human eye resolution.’ Engadget.com reports that the rig will display over 70 megapixels per eye…that compares to 1.2 per eye for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The company says they have patented a tech that mimics how the eye actually works, building on work by scientists that were formerly at Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, and Rovio. They are shooting for shipping professional level products by late this year.

On a related note…augmented reality, furniture giant Ikea could partner with Apple when they roll out their AR setup. According to 9to5mac.com, Ikea already has 3D images of their furniture, and Apple may be able to take those and drop them into and AR system so you could see how the furniture could look in your house ahead of trying to head to the store to buy, and then bringing home to assemble. If they REALLY want to get crazy with the AR, they could show the assembly directions with it!

Call him crazy, call him brilliant, maybe straddling both, but it’s hard to avoid Elon Musk and his ideas. Cnet.com says Musk Tweeted Sunday about talks he’s had with the mayor of LA about using his Boring Company tunnel machine to criss-cross LA with a network of tunnels to move cars, bikes and pedestrians. Musk has said that getting the permits from local governments has been more of a challenge than the tech!

Galaxy Note Nightmare Continues; Two Tesla Launch Events This Month; German Bundesrat Votes to Ban Internal Combustion Engine

Posted: October 10, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

After a 4th of the new, supposedly safe replacement Galaxy Note 7’s caught fire, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have stopped selling the phablet, and now Samsung is ‘temporarily’ suspending production of the device. 9to5google.com says Samsung has yet to comment on the suspension of production, which includes a plant in Vietnam that is responsible for global shipments of the Note, aside from saying they are ‘adjusting’ production.

Doing his best Apple impression, Elon Musk has tweeted that the company is planning two product launches in October. According to thenextweb.com, the first will be October 17th, and Musk claims it will be unexpected by most. The second is a joint Tesla/Solar City event scheduled 10 days later for October 28th. There’s some speculation that the first one will be for the Model 3. Musk has already indicated that there would be a joint unveiling of an integrated Powerwall 2.0 and Tesla charging unit. Tesla has recently added land that would allow them to double the size of the Fremont, CA factory.

In something of a shockwave, the German Bundesrat has voted to ban internal combustion engines by 2030. Arstechnica.com reports that it’s a non-binding resolution, but still a hell of a shot over the bow coming from the country where the internal combustion engine was invented, and where Karl Benz built the first ‘patent motorcar.’ Germany produces more cars than any country in Europe and the third most in the world. The Bundesrat is the federal council of all 16 German states.

Tentative Date for Tesla Autopilot Update; Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Apology & Recall; Clarkson Netflix Show November Start

Posted: September 16, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Elon Musk has announced that Tesla hopes to begin a worldwide rollout of V. 8.0 of their Autopilot software next Wednesday. Bgr.com says this is barring any last minute issues popping up. The revised version will utilize radar a lot more than previous versions…which primarily used it to supplement cameras. The update will be pushed out over the air as in the past.

Samsung’s president has issued a video apology for the fires and explosions of Galaxy Note 7s. According to 9to5google.com, they have replaced 130,000 of the 2.5 million bad handsets so far. They have implored people to power present devices down until they can be replaced. Since the Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped in, Samsung has said that replacement phones will be available no later than September 21st, and now you can take yours in and get your money back, then just go buy the new one when they are available.

The new car show starring the original Top Gear guys: Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, will premiere on Amazon November 18th. It’s called The Grand Tour. If you’re a Prime member, you can watch it free, or pay a monthly video subscription of 8 bucks a month.

Delphi Tests Self-Driving Car; Thinner Apple Watch 2; Tesla Buying Solar City

Posted: August 1, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Giant auto parts supplier Delphi is testing a fleet of self-driving cars in Singapore. According to theverge.com, by later this year you should be able to book a ride in a self-driving Audi cab there using your smartphone. Singapore had partnered earlier with MIT to advance self-driving research. There will initially be 3 fixed routes for 6 vehicles, all in the central business district. Delphi has already been testing an autonomous fleet in Silicon Valley, and plans to expand to other US locations and to Europe.

Solar City announced today that they have agreed to be acquired by Tesla for $2.6 billion. The majority shareholder of both is Elon Musk, who says it’s a necessary step in order to build what the companies are calling the world’s only vertically integrated sustainable energy company. Businessinsider.com says the deal may be finalized by the end of the year.

The version 2.0 Apple Watch will use a so-called One Glass Solution, and be thinner and lighter. Bgr.com reports that Apple will drop glass on glass to make more internal space…possibly for more components and bigger battery. Apple also plans to switch from and OLED display to Micro-LED, but that won’t make it into the Apple Watch 2…it’s expected in 2017. Most leaks point to the Apple Watch 2 being rolled out with cellular connectivity and a FaceTime camera along side the iPhone 7 in September.

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