Future Fuel Cell Powered Macbook Could Run Days or Weeks

Posted: September 4, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We just reported about 10 days ago about a British company called Intelligent Energy working with Apple on a fuel cell battery case that can keep your iPhone going for a week. Now, businessinsider.com says Apple has a patent for a fuel cell battery that could run some of its devices for days or even weeks. This one describes a “portable and cost-effective fuel cell system for a portable computing device,” and it joins others Apple already had on the books. This one seems to be aimed at MacBooks…the filing mentions the ‘MagSafe’ connector, but not the Lightening connectors used on iPhones and iPads. Apparently, you would just replace a fuel cartridge ‘detachably affixed to the fuel cell system’ when the fuel runs out.

It seems like everyone has a smartphone now…and that perception isn’t far from reality. According to an analysis by ComScore picked up by marketingland.com, US smartphone penetration hit 77% in July. In the social media race on smartphones, Facebook dominates more than ever. They stay #1, and Facebook’s freestanding Messenger app is now #2, bumping YouTube to third place. Don’t shed a tear for Google though…their apps hold down slots 3, 4, 5, and 6! Pandora radio, Gmail, Instagram, and Yahoo stocks round out the top 10.

Facebook’s New Virtual Assistant

Posted: August 27, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook has begun a soft rollout of ‘M,’ its new virtual assistant that runs in the freestanding Messenger app. According to wired.com, it will not only make restaurant reservations, shop for a birthday present for your sweetie, suggest-then-book a weekend getaway…Facebook claims it will perform tasks Siri, Google Now, and Cortana can’t. That’s because it doesn’t just rely on artificial intelligence…the secret ingredient in Facebook’s M is people.The people Facebook has in place behind the AI interface have customer service backgrounds. You’ll know when you get the new assistant when a new button appears at the bottom of you Facebook Messenger mobile app.

New cars come with a fair amount of connectivity, and a few companies like Automatic, and Zubie sell gadgets that let you turn an older vehicle into a connected one. Now, Forbes.com reports that Verizon is getting into the act with Hum. The communications giant will offer it directly to consumers, and Hum is designed to be installed by the user in their own cars. It has two pieces of hardware…a cellular modem that plugs into the ODB diagnostic port, and a Bluetooth connected speaker that lives on your visor. It should be able to spot issues before they get out of hand, and relay miles per gallon, overall vehicle health, and so on, which will display on a mobile app. Hum also comes with roadside assistance, emergency assistance, parking info, and a vehicle finder. The hardware is $120, and subscription to the service is $15 a month.

US Phone Carriers’ Switch to Installment Plans = Quicker iPhone Upgrade Cycles

Posted: August 12, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

With big player Verizon now making the move to installment plans on smartphones from contract subsidies, a well-respected analyst says we could see quicker iPhone upgrade cycles. Appleinsider.com notes that Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray has crunched the numbers, and the switch to installment payments may net Apple an extra 2.9 million iPhone upgrades 3rd quarter, and 4.4 million 4th quarter. The installment plans drop the subsidy for a 2 year contract, and you just pay for the phone service, plus either buy the new phone outright…which almost no one does, or you have an installment payment rolled into your bill, and the carrier makes interest on you.

Facebook is building a Twitter-esque app that lets news providers send mobile breaking news alerts out en masse. The stand alone app is part of the Facebook for Business initiative. When it goes live, users can download the app and select what news providers or topics they want to follow for breaking news. The mobile alerts have 100 characters of text…40 less than Twitter…and a link to the article on the news provider’s website. Right now, the app won’t allow links to other sites…in other words, news organizations can’t just ‘reTweet’ another’s link.

Airbus Working on Hypersonic Plane; Facebook Patents Friend List Creditworthiness

Posted: August 5, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Airbus appears to be developing a hypersonic jet that would fly from London to New York in just one hour. For comparison, the Concorde needed three and a half hours to travel the same distance, and regular commercial flights need seven to eight hours for the trip. The hypersonic plane just take three hours to get you from San Francisco to Paris or from Tokyo to Los Angeles. Businessinsider.com says the new Airbus jet, described in a recently discovered patent application, would reach speeds as high as Mach 4.5, or four and a half times the speed of sound. Comparatively, the Concorde reached top speeds of Mach 2 in its glory days.
It would use a variety of engines that would serve different purposes, and power would be provided by various forms of hydrogen stored aboard.
Two turbojets under the fuselage and a rocket motor in the rear would be used during takeoff. The Airbus would lift off the runway vertically like the Space Shuttle, and the turbojets would be shut down and retracted into the belly of the plane right before it reached the speed of sound.
The rocket motor would then be used to climb to a cruising altitude of more than 100,000 feet. Then that engine would be shut down and retracted into the fuselage, and the ramjets on the wings would push the Airbus to a top speed of Mach 4.5.
The bad news is that the hypersonic jet might be extremely expensive. Airbus says the aircraft can be used for both military and commercial applications. In the latter version, the airplane would have enough room for just 20 passengers.

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Facebook has been awarded a patent that could help filter spam emails and offensive content, improve searches and, according to thenextweb.com, allow lenders to use your social habits to determine a credit approval. Under the process described, if you apply for a loan, your lender could potentially check out the credit rating of your Facebook friends. The average credit rating of your friends collectively needs to be at least a minimum credit score for your loan to be approved. Do you know your friends’ credit scores? Yeah, I don’t either. Scary stuff!

Facebook’s Experimental ‘Watch Later’ Button

Posted: July 16, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Here’s a solution in search of a problem. Facebook is testing a ‘Watch Later’ button for videos. Video is a big deal to Facebook, because it’s one of their fastest growing categories, with 4 billion views a day the last quarter. Techcrunch.com says they’re testing a little tab in the upper right corner…mouse over it, and a save box pops up. Facebook is intent on really competing with YouTube in videos. It will be great for more views on Facebook, and more of your data they can make a buck off of, but do you really want or need this? I don’t.

Apple is reported to be talking with the cell providers about launching new ‘e-SIM’ cards for their phones. The latest iteration of the iPad has the feature, so it’s not like a bolt out of the blue, but the carriers are much more protective of the handsets than tablets. 9to5mac.com reports that Samsung is also involved in the talks, so a universal embedded e-SIM card could become standard…enabling users to switch cellular providers more easily. Of course, the carriers would still put limitations on this, to avoid an exodus to competitors. AT&T and T-Mobile parent Deutche Telekom are among the telecoms involved in the talks. The e-SIM could appear in phones as early as next year.

Google Rolls Out “Purchases,” Their Mobile Buy Buttons

Posted: July 15, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s been rumored for a couple of months now, and today Google dropped Purchases on Google. According to TechCrunch.com, you’ll see a ‘buy’ button in some of the promoted mobile search results. When it’s clicked, you jump to a page where you can buy the advertised product. Unlike Amazon Marketplace, Google just hosts the pages…the actual fulfillment will be handled by the merchants running the ad. Right now, there are over a dozen retail partners powering Purchases by Google, but expect many others to join in by year’s end.

A new study from Pew Research and Knight Foundation says Facebook and Twitter users spanning all demographics are increasingly using the social networks as news sources, albeit for different content on each platform. Niemanlab.org reports that 63% of both Twitter and Facebookers get their news from the social nets. That’s up from 52% of Twitter users 2 years ago and 47% of Facebook users. Nearly double the Twitter users follow breaking news…59% as opposed to 31% of Facebook users. Now 10% of American adults get news on Twitter, and about 40% get news from Facebook.

Facebook Testing ‘Floating Videos’

Posted: July 7, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook is testing a new feature, so you may see a new button on the lower right of the control bar at the bottom of videos. Thenextweb.com reports that it allows videos to float, and move to the lower left corner, allowing you to continue to scroll through your newsfeed while watching the video. You can drag the video window anywhere, and it can be shared at any point. It automatically goes away if you click to another Facebook page.

There continue to be advances in solar cell tech, and now the army…yes, the US Army…has built smaller, cheaper, tougher solar cells. According to engadget.com, instead of single crystal silicon, the army has super thin sandwiches of sliver and gold between semiconductor layers. Normally infrared and ultraviolet solar rays heat, warp, and crack all-silicon panels. With the gold an silver layers, they can use a fuller spectrum of solar wavelengths to generate power without that damage. The new panels also generate the same amount of energy regardless of the angle of sunlight…they don’t have to be on expensive, motorized tracking stands. The panels are still in the testing stage, but could be a major breakthrough in solar technology.

iCracked Expands Phone Repair and Warranty Coverage

Posted: June 23, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Phone repair service iCracked is looking to expand. Techcrunch.com says they have launched iCracked Advantage, a kind of warranty program for the 40 million people they claim will break phones this year. For 7 bucks a month, you get their same-day, on-demand repair service by a local iTech. Each time you break your phone, it’s a flat $25…including cracked screens, water damage, bad batteries, and home button replacement. A family plan covers 5 devices for $25 a month. According to iCracked’s CEO, 70% of phone owners have no insurance. They plan to have a trade in service up and running by early next year, too. iCracked is in 13 countries right now.

From the more than a little bit creepy department, Facebook has an experimental algorithm they’re working with in their artificial intelligence lab that can recognize people even when it can’t see their faces. According to New Scientist, it picks up other cues like hair cut and style, clothes, face shape, body shape, and more to identify people with 83% accuracy.

Tesla’s Home Batteries Could Be Leased

Posted: April 27, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The poorly kept secret Tesla home batteries may be leased instead of sold. Engadget.com picked up a report from the Guardian that says some have already been leased to a few SolarCity customers. SolarCity is, of course, run by Tesla boss Elon Musk. The 10 year deal has been test run at $1500 down and $15 a month, or $27.50 a month, making the decade lease cost $3300. Subsidies from energy companies could drop the price even lower. Whatever the deal will be should be revealed in a few days.

A new app is out for renters, that works like Venmo for shared meal tabs. Splittable lets housemates divvy up rent and expenses evenly…a big help in places like the Bay Area and New York City, where house and apartment sharing are common. It was already given a trial run in London for 1000 renters, and is available on Android, iOS, and the web. TEchcrunch.com says you can invite housemates over email, Facebook message, or WhatsApp.

Coming With Apple TV Update

Posted: March 21, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The next version of Apple TV should make its debut at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Thenextweb.com says it will sport a new faster processor, more storage, Siri and HomeKit integration. They are likely to reveal more about their streaming TV service at WWDC, and preview an App Store just for Apple TV.

If you are really considering a smart watch, but worry about the poor battery life most have, bgr.com reports that Vector has a couple models available for preordering now. They claim 30 days of battery life for both the rectangular and round dial versions. A ‘sensor activated notification system’ pulls up notifications with the flick of a wrist. They sell for between $244 and $425.

According to tech crunch.com, next week at their F8 developer conference, Facebook will announce new ways for third parties to offer experiences through its messenger app. Facebook is wanting to turn Messenger into a freestanding platform.

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