Samsung Folder-Massive Battery; Huawei Nova 4 Has 48 MP Cam; Apple Steals Top Tesla Designer; Google Dropping A Billion on NY Campus

Posted: December 17, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More is seeping out about Samsung’s folding phone, after the brief and slight showing of it last month. Bgr.com says the Infinity Flex screen phone will have a crazy high price of $1700 or $1800 dollars, will run a Snapdragon 855, and have dual 12 MP cams, with an 8 MP selfie cam. There will be TWO battery cells, for a total capacity of 5,000 mAh or 6,000 mAh. The folder will be out next year, and analysts think that it might drop in price by 2022 to $1300…which will be the price of an iPhone by then!

With most of the news about their CFO being arrested in Canada, Huawei has rolled out a new phone that should grab headlines back for their actual business. Theverge.com reports that the Nova 4 features a 48-megapixel main camera with 3 lenses, and a ‘hole punch’ cut out for the front cam…which is a whopping 25 megapixels…on a selfie cam! Samsung has a similar ‘hole punch’ setup on the galaxy A8. The Nova 4 has a 6.4 inch display, 8 gigs of RAM, 128 gigs of storage, and a 3750 mAh battery. It will run about $490 in the US.

We’ve all heard for over a year that the Apple car…Project Titan, was dead, and that Apple was focusing on self-driving software and hardware for other cars. Now, that may be questioned a bit. According to macrumors.com, Cupertino has poached Andrew Kim, who reimagined Microsoft’s design language, then moved to Tesla in design. With Kim now at Apple Park, as well is Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer…who returned to Apple earlier this year. Kim had worked on the designs for the Models, 3, S, X, Y, the new Roadster V2, and the Semi.

With Amazon busily working on its two HQ2s outside D.C. and in NY, and Apple announcing a huge new billion dollar campus in Austin, TX, you knew Google couldn’t be sitting on their hands. Now, techcrunch.com says Google has announced it will pump a billion into setting up a campus at Hudson Square in New York. Google already has 7,000 located in NY, and this will double that over 10 years…in a 1.7 million square foot campus the company is touting as ‘the primary location’ for Google’s ‘Global Business Organization.’ The facility will be operational by 2020.

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Apple Could Make More iPhones Outside of China; Intel’s New Sunny Cove Chips & Archetecture; Amazon NYC Warehouse Workers Push for Union; Top 10 2018 Google Searches

Posted: December 12, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

With the continued threat of higher tariffs from the Trump Administration, Apple is looking at moving more iPhone production out of China. Techcrunch.com says Apple is looking at more production in India, and in Brazil, where Foxconn has had a factory since 2011. If there ends up being a 10% tariff, Apple (through Foxconn) will probably stay with China. If the tariff hits 25%, Apple will say goodbye to production in China (with the exception of phones built for sale within China proper.)

Starting new year, Intel will release Core and Xeon chips with a new architecture…the add a number of instructions that accelerate frequently used workloads like cryptography and compression. Intel claims a 75% improvement in compression performance. Arstechnica.com reports that Sunny Cove chips will be built using the 10nm process. It is a derivation of Skylake, but can execute more instructions in parallel with lower latency.

In news that will give Jeff Bezos heartburn, Amazon workers in New York City are pushing to unionize. They are working with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, and according to the verge.com want to address safety concerns, long unpaid security checks, what they term unreasonable hourly quotas, and insufficient breaks. A leak recently of an anti-union training video Amazon made has increased interest. Among other things, the video encourages managers to express opinions like ‘Unions are lying, cheating rats.’ Even the raise to $15 per hour doesn’t begin to cover things for workers living in NYC, which is also true of other costly areas like Connecticut and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Because we love lists, and think it gives us insight into what the collective of humanity is (or was) thinking about, here are the top 10 Google searches of 2018: #10 (imagine some echo on the numbers if you must) Kate Spade; at 9, Stephen Hawking; XXXTentacion was in the 8th slot; #7 Anthony Bourdain (note that all of these people had died); the #6 most searched was Meghan Markle; 5 actually wasn’t a person…it was ‘Black Panther’ the movie; Stan Lee was 4th; #3 was Mac Miller; in 2nd place was Avicii; and the top spot was the World Cup. Don’t you feel so much more informed?

Ultrasound Powered Qualcomm Fingerprint Sensor; Snapdragon 855; Google & Amazon Making AirPod Alternatives; Apple Adding Health Sensors to AirPods

Posted: December 5, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Adding an extra layer to fingerprint sensor security, Qualcomm is baking in ultrasound to beef up its in-display fingerprint sensor. Engadget.com reports that the ultrasound will allow creation of a 3D mold of your finger, which will be much harder to copy. It will pick up on the ridges and even pores. As a bonus, the sensor should be able to tell it’s you, even though you still have a little of today’s lunch on your finger (wash up, you slob!) They didn’t allow testing at the demo, so we’ll have to wait to see how fast the new tech is.

Speaking of fast, Qualcomm also showed off its Snapdragon 855 at its event in Hawaii. According to 9to5google.com, the chip will power the 2019 flagship phones, including from Samsung. It will support multi-gigabit 5G, which also rolls out next year in a number of markets. Qualcomm says the chip has 3x the AI performance of last year’s chip.

It’s not that there aren’t already cheaper alternatives to Apple’s AirPods on the market, but a couple are coming from some heavyweights…Google and Amazon appear to be preparing to launch competitor products.

9to5mac.com says Apple isn’t exactly waiting around for the increased competition…they are working on more water resistance, support for Hey Siri, and interchangeability…so you could put one in an ear without checking to see if it’s Left or Right, and the AirPod would orient itself and the audio automatically. Apple is also expected to integrate health sensors into the next gen AirPods, and integrate the data with Apple Watch as well as the health app on iPhones. Well known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says to look for Cupertino to sell 26-28 million sets this year, 50-55 million in 2019, and over 100 million in 2021.

Google Personalizes Search Even if Logged Out; Tesla Denies Leaked Model Y Schedule; Bose ‘Audio AR’ Sunglasses; Apple 10% Veteran & Military Discount

Posted: December 4, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

So…you’re searching incognito or logged out…think it keeps you anonymous, huh? Right. 9to5google.com is reporting that a study (disclosure: done by DuckDuckGo) shows that you can’t get around the so-called ‘filter bubble’ that Google applies to search just by logging out of your account or browsing incognito….in fact, not even by doing BOTH. The likely explanation is that by now, Google has so much data on you, that it can recognize you from a 3 key word search, and personalize the result to you! In the big picture of things, it may not really matter, but basically, you are never getting a 100% ‘neutral’ search result. Google said in a statement that search results can change ‘by the minute and sometimes even by the second,’ but had no comment about the personalization aspect.

Late yesterday, a story came out that Tesla would be building Model Y small SUVs at the Gigafactory in Nevada, and be producing 7,000 a month of them there by the end of 2020. Now, according to engadget.com, Tesla has denied this timeline, saying that the leaked information is outdated. The Model Y will probably be built there, and so will an additional Model 3 production line…that information is based on filings with the Chinese government included when Tesla filed to build a 2nd Gigafactory in Shanghai.

Bose is looking to make ‘AR audio’ sunglasses. No, not AR…audio only! Techcrunch.com says the shades would be intended to provide a more immersive audio experience…no head up display, or any display at all besides that which your eyeballs take in of the real world. The glasses will have a 9 axis head motion sensor and use the GPS of a tethered Android or iOS device, and will adjust the audio you hear based on those inputs. They do use small speaker grilles, not earbuds or bone conduction. Sound won’t be as immersive with the ambient noise around you, but it will be a lot safer crossing streets and such. The glasses/headset will be out in January at $199, with two styles available. Battery life is given at 3.5 hours on a charge with 12 hours standby.

Apple has just rolled out an online store that gives a 10% discount on ‘select products’ for active duty military and vets, along with members of their households. Macrumors.com reports that, for example, the iPhone XS is available at $899 ($100 bucks off), while the XR is priced at $674 (normally $749) at the regular Apple online store. Apple has had discount programs for years for educators, students, and government employees, but these discounts for active duty military and veterans exceeds those via the online educational store.

Storied Harley Readies e-Bike; Comcast Cord Cutter Stream Box; BigBox Building Online VR Games; Google to Rebrand Nest

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

LiveWire 2018. Spain

Every early morning it’s not pouring rain, I can hear a number of roaring Harley-Davidson bikes thunder nearby on a freeway I’m close to. That thunder may be fading as H-D will be releasing details of their new electric bike in January. Engadget.com says range, acceleration, price, and other specs will be announced then. Right now, we know all H-D dealers will have Level 2 fast chargers, and will be selling Level 1 chargers for home. The bike is called the Live Wire, and it comes with 7 different riding modes you can program, and has an adjustable color touchscreen. Oh…and as pictured….it looks awesome!

Comcast can see the writing on the wall…or at least on screen. The big cable provider is working on a streaming set top box for cord cutters. Theverge.com reports that the box would be able to offer streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube, and include a voice control remote for navigation. If you think this sounds a lot like their X-1 system without the cable, you’re right. Will it be able to compete with Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku for cord cutters? That remains to be seen…a lot may hinge on what they price it at. The cord cutter box should be out next year.

Several refugees from Valve and Disney have now raised 5 million to supercharge BigBox. The company is building online VR games. According to geekwire.com, BigBox has been around since 2016, but the new round of funding will help them build out more online VR games and the ecosystems that support them. Their first title is positioned as something of a ‘Counter-Strike meets Mario Kart.’ It’s called ‘Population: One,’ and lets gamers climb, fly, and shoot like they were doing so in real life, but without some of the discomfort from earlier VR tech. The biggest challenge with BigBox and others…getting more headsets into homes. The devices have been selling well for commercial training purposes, but need to be penetrating homes closer to the level of traditional gaming systems to really take off.

Google has been looking to expand its line of smart home devices, and now may be considering a rebrand of Nest. 9to5google.com says after moving the Nest line back under more direct Google control, they are angling for a way to tie the Nest hardware products more closely with Google’s other hardware and software products.

Google Announces Native Android ‘Foldables’ Support; Coming-Facebook 10 Minute Grace Period to Unsend Messages; Mercedes’ AI Package Delivery Tech

Posted: November 7, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

With a maker in China already having released a folding smartphone, Samsung releasing more about their Galaxy F, and LG on the verge of unveiling one, Google today announced Android support for a ‘foldables’ category. 9to5google.com reports that the new category of phone that unfolds into a tablet will have native Android support, allowing for makers to give you a phone with a screen like we all have, but unfolding to reveal a larger, phablet screen on the inside that is double the size of the ‘outside’ screen. Google’s ‘screen continuity’ will allow you to start with an app on the outside screen, then unfold and seamlessly continue on the bigger inner screen without a hitch. Samsung has been working closely with Google on this Android category, and is expected to release the Actual Galaxy F model early next year. The internal screen is said to be 7.3 inches.

If you have sent a Facebook private message, and instantly regretted it, you will like this. For some time, Facebook has had an ‘unsend’ feature for their top brass. Now, according to engaeget.com, the social media giant may be getting set to release the feature to everyone. It’s not an hour to change your mind like What’sApp, but a 10 minute grace period ought to be enough for people who hit send, and have nearly instant remorse. Of course, even with this feature, if the recipient has already seen the message within the 10 minute period, the deletion won’t undo whatever damage has been done to your relationship with them!

The engineers and programmers at Mercedes have been experimenting with a number of different ways to help automate delivery vehicles, so the driver/delivery person can get packages to you more quickly and efficiently. Some have ended hilariously…like one with a Ferris wheel and baskets…that one ended when a gallon of milk basically exploded all over a van. Now, the German conglomerate is trialing its latest idea. Cams and sensors light up shelves, and show the driver which shelf and spot is best for a package…lighting up green. On arrival at a drop off, it lights up green again…and everything flashes red if the person grabs the wrong item. The built in sensors also allow for less hand scanning, which should shave additional time off deliveries. AI not only helps figure out the best spot in the truck for the packages, but plots out the delivery route based on what packages are loaded and their destination addresses. Mercedes thinks this system will help the likes of FedEx and UPS, but will be even more beneficial to smaller delivery company, like those indie operators contracted by Amazon.

Amazon May Have 2 HQ-2’s; Samsung Folder and OS Tomorrow? Google May Help Avoiding Food Poisoning; Bill Gates in the Toilet

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

After months and months of suspense, lots of wooing by cities to get Amazon to open their HQ2 second headquarters in their town, it now appears that Amazon may split the HQ2…so HQ2a and HQ2b?? According to bloomberg.com, the most likely candidates appear to be Crystal City, part of Arlington, VA, and Long Island City, in the New York borough of Queens. Amazon has had no comment. One of the reasons given for the split is that Amazon hasn’t been able to find sufficient tech talent in a single location. Amazon already has more employees in the two areas than anywhere in the country, except for their main HQ in Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Yesterday, we reported that Samsung is expected to roll out their folding smartphone tomorrow at their developer conference. Now, 9to5google.com says we will also get some information on how Samsung thinks the user experience will change with the foldable phablet with an outside screen for normal smartphone use. For example, how will it handle running an app on the outside screen, when you open it up? Will it deactivate the outside screen so random touches won’t cause actions you hadn’t planned on? One thing we probably won’t see…an actual working model of the phone. That isn’t expected until next year.

If you think lower letter ratings or Yelp reviews got restaurant owners riled up, wait until they get word of this! Google has built a model that identifies restaurants that could give you food poisoning. Engadget.com reports that they worked with researchers from Harvard, and have tested a machine learned model in Chicago and Las Vegas to identify search queries like ‘stomach cramps’ or ‘diarrhea’, then cross-referenced them with saved location history data on smartphones relating to recently visited restaurants. Health inspectors visited restaurants…not being told if due to traditional consumer complaints or the AI model. Unsafe restaurants detected by the model ran 52.3%, while those found with traditional methods were spotted 22.7% of the time. Good news for people who don’t want to eat bad food…and just wait for the outrage from restaurants over this!

Ok, so Gates isn’t really in the toilet…and he could ACTUALLY afford all solid gold ones, better than a certain president who seems to adore gold…and orange. The former CEO of Microsoft opened the ‘Reinvented Toilet Expo’ in China…touting the biggest sanitation advances in 200 years. According to geekwire.com, Mr Gates has been thinking about crappers for the past 10 years…and the poor sanitation in a number of poor countries he traveled too. The Gates Foundation is leading the way in commercialization and adaption of off-grid toilet tech and sanitation systems for 3rd world countries. Discretion being the better part of valor, I will leave it to you to google a pic of Bill Gates holding up a jar of poop at the podium at the Toilet Expo! The latest tech in off-grid toilets can break down waste to the point that clean water and solids left behind can be used as fertilizer or be disposed of safely without any further treatment.

Driverless Waymo’s Hitting Cali Roads; Ford & VW May Share e-Platform; Apple Pulls watchOS Update; Solar Cell-Electricity & Hydrogen Simultaneously

Posted: October 31, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The application went in last spring, but yesterday, Google’s Waymo got permission from California to start testing driverless cars on public roads. 9too5google.com notes that Waymo was already operating in 25 US cities, but always with a safety driver on board. Waymo will start initial testing in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto…all near the Google and Alphabet campuses. The DMV permit allows for day/night testing on city streets, rural roads, and highways with posted speed limits of 65 mph…so pretty well anywhere in the above communities and their surroundings. Perhaps Waymo should strap in a realistic dummy to make other motorists feel more comfortable!

With the move to electric vehicles, a number of auto makers are partnering with others. Toyota has hooked up with Subaru and BMW, for example, and now Ford and Volkswagen may be teaming up. Cnet.com reports that Ford and VW may share a platform for EVs. VW had previously said it might open up its MEB platform to others. Ford and VW had announced a ‘memorandum of understanding’ about possible collaboration last summer. Ford had previously announced that it would be bringing 40 EV models to market, and that it was investing some 11 billion in electrics by 2022. As long as we don’t have a Musta-Beetle or the like, all will probably be well with the EV world!

After their big show yesterday on iPads and Macs, Apple dropped iOS 12.1 and watchOS 5.1. Now, according to zdnet.com, they have pulled the Watch update. It was apparently bricking the newest, greatest Watch Series 4 models. The Watches just stopped booting at the apple logo, and couldn’t be force quit or rebooted, even if unpaired from an iPhone. Many users attempted to take the devices into Apple Stores, but most were out of Series 4 models, and they are being shipped from overseas by 3 day air. Apple says it is a very small number that were affected.

Researchers at Berkeley Lab have developed a process that can turn sunlight and water into electricity AND hydrogen! Engadget.com says its an ‘artificial photosynthesis’ process, but a big step up from previous attempts…going from 6.8% to 20.2% efficient. The team is moving into experimenting with real-world applications of the tech, but both electricity and hydrogen (for fuel cells) from one source could be a giant step towards more clean energy.

Details Out on Google Pixel 3 & 3 XL; Netflix Buys Studio;LinkedIn Picks Up Glint; Princeton Identity-Walkthrough Biometric Scanner

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

With the non-stop leaks the last month or so, there wasn’t a ton we didn’t know about the Google Pixel 3 and 3XL, but now that they have been actually unveiled…yes, there are a few things to report. First of all, the prices are out now…Pixel 3 will start at $799 for 64 Gigs, the 3 XL will bow at $899. For 128 Gigs, add $100 more to either. Both phones run a Snapdragon 845, and have 4 Gigs of RAM. Screen size is bigger on both, thanks to thinner bezels. The 3 has a 5.5 inch display, and the 3 XL is 6.3 inches. Interestingly, both just have a single 12.2 MP camera on the rear…but TWO front facing cams. One gives a wider field of view for getting more people into a selfie, or taking in more of your surroundings.

Even with the single lens rear cam, Google has further beefed up software to carry on as one of the best…if not the best shooters on the market. New AI enhancements include a Top Shot option that picks the best image from a burst. Super Res Zoom uses multiple frames to deliver a sharper final photo, even without optical zoom.

Both Pixels now support wireless charging with a glass back, and there’s a Pixel Stand you can buy for charging. Phone-wise, the Pixels can use Google Assistant to screen spam calls, and let you decide to block or get a reminder to call back later. The phones answer themselves, and show you a transcription. Both phones will be exclusively on Verizon in the US, as has been the case with previous Pixel phones….although you can buy them unlocked directly from Google.

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Netflix is buying ABQ Studios in Albuquerque, and is indicating they will be investing a billion dollars in new TV and film projects. Bgr.com says the studio has already produced The Avengers, The Lone Ranger, and Sicario. The Netflix buy is expected to bring up to 1,000 production jobs to Ne w Mexico as they ramp up to produce original material at ABQ. A fun piece of trivia came out of the deal…the GPS coordinates of the location where Walter White of “Breaking Bad’ buried his barrels of cash are actually those of ABQ Studios!

LinkedIn is buying employee survey software company Glint for $400 million. According to businessinsider.com, Glint specializes in employee surveys measuring satisfaction with management, compensation, and other internal issues. LinkedIn expects to offer better insights than ever combining Glint’s data with their info about the broader workforce. Glint was already used by Alphabet’s Waymo, Dish Network, United Airlines, and other major companies.

Princeton Identity has showed off it’s new walk through biometric scanner. Techcrunch.com says it’s basically built into a shipping container. You walk through, pause to get your fingerprints scanned, and it also scans your face and irises as you walk through. The Biometric Conex can process 20 people a minute at normal walking pace, and Princeton claims near perfect accuracy, what with the fingerprints, face, and iris scans. The self-contained, air conditioned unit is actually smaller than a shipping container, and can be moved nearly anywhere on a heavy duty truck. It can integrate with almost any government database. The rig runs $280,000.

Facebook Launches Portal Video Chat Screens; Google’s Pixel 3 Event; Microsoft Game Streaming Service; Oct Windows 10 Update Pulled

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

Facebook has dropped its first hardware product in the Portal line. TechCrunch.com says they are auto-zooming video chat screens ranging in price from $199 to $349. The Portal units will run Alexa and eventually Google Assistant in a countertop video chat screen that zooms to always keep you in frame. The big question will be whether people will want a Facebook cam and microphone in their house, even with a physical clip-on privacy shield. At any rate, the presale starts now. For $199, you get the 10 inch screen Portal, and for $349 you will be the proud owner of a 15.6 inch swiveling screen with a hi-fi audio Portal+. Save $100 if you buy any two Portal devices. The screens come with ‘Hey Portal’ voice navigation, bluetooth and voice activated music, Facebook Messenger for video calls, Spotify and Pandora. More video provers to come. Facebook claims there is built in privacy…no facial recognition but something called 2D pose that runs locally on the device to keep you in picture. They claim the unit only turns on with the wake word, and that it doesn’t save recordings…also they have data encryption. With a tap you can automatically disable the cam and mic, and it does have a plastic privacy shield you can slide over the cam if you still want to chat…without video. They ship in November. You can preorder at Portal.Facebook.com, Amazon, and Best Buy.

Tomorrow, October 9th, Google will be showing their latest at an event scheduled for 11am Eastern, 8 Pacific. Theverge.com reports that the flood of leaks has given us a good idea of what to expect. The Pixel 3 and 3 XL phones top the list…in fact, someone got hold of a working Pixel 3 in Asia a couple days ago from a source…talk about a leak! The phones sport target screens, wireless charging, and a second selfie cam. Also expected is a wireless charging stand for the handsets. There MAY be a Google Home speaker with a smart display to compete with the Amazon Echo Show. An expected item is the Pixel Slate, A Google branded Chrome OS tablet. Rumors have it with a detachable keyboard, and expect it to be fairly high end like the iPad Pro and Surface Pro.There will probably be a Pixelbook update, but probably not a major overhaul there. We’ll have details after the actual event tomorrow.

Look for a beta in 2019 of Microsoft’s game streaming service, Project xCloud. According to engadget.com, the idea behind the cloud system is to allow users to play any video game where they feel the most comfortable or where it’s convenient….on a console, a computer, or mobile device. Of course, Microsoft is most interested in making it as frictionless as possible for users to play their own Xbox One games. Even with the beta out next year, Redmond cautions that this is a complicated project, and may take a while longer to perfect.

Microsoft has pulled the October update to Windows 10 (version 1809) after complaints that it deleted user’s files. ZDnet.com says some users said they couldn’t even recover all files using a recovery product like Recuva. There was a similar issue with the April, 2018 update. In that case, Microsoft delayed the update until the end of the month to squash the bugs.

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