iPhone is 10; Freshened iPads Coming, Waymo Says It’s Cut Self-Driving Equipment Cost in Half; Mercedes Autopilot Will Give Tesla a Run
Posted: January 9, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alphabet, Apple, Drive Pilot, Google, iPad, iPhone, iPhone 8, LIDAR, Mercedes, Self Driving Cars, Tesla, Waymo Leave a commentTen years ago today Steve Jobs…remember him?…stood in front of the crowd at Macworld, and introduced the iPhone. Of course, we didn’t get it until almost July, but smartphones were absolutely revolutionized. Now, we wait until September to see if the iPhone 8 will be anywhere near as revolutionary with a wraparound screen that covers the front and wireless charging.
Meanwhile, 9to5mac.com reports that KGI Securities is expecting 3 updated iPads, and they believe a sales slump will be blunted. Apple appears to be preparing a 12.9” model, 10-10.5” size, and a 9.7” version. The first two will get a higher end A10X chip, with the smaller one keeping the A9. More business and enterprise users will gravitate to the larger models, but KGI thinks the cheaper model will grab 50-60% of total iPads sold. They may drop this spring.
The Waymo self driving car division of Google…or if you insist, Alphabet….has cut the cost of LIdar sensors for the rigs by 90%. They’re still pricey, but in 2009 ran $75,000! They have done it by building the sensors in house, according to recode.net. At $7500, and likely to fall more, self driving tech is becoming something that can roll out in vehicles to the mass market soon!
Mercedes showed off its Drive Pilot in conjunction with CES in Las Vegas. Theverge.com says it actually works better than Tesla’s system…in fact, so well, that Mercedes has ‘detuned’ it a bit to make it move around in the lane so drivers won’t be lulled into dialing out completely. It does the emergency stop routine like the Tesla, but in the case of the Mercedes, automatically calls the Mercedes SOS service to connect a live person…a nice touch since both are in the luxury car strata. Drive Pilot will bow this summer in the S class Mercedes cars.
Apple Wins the Holiday; Galaxy S8 May Have a Stylus Supporting Model; How About a Paper Airplane Machine Gun?
Posted: December 28, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 3D, Apple, Galaxy Note 7, Galaxy S8, iPhone, Paper airplanes, phablets, S Pen stylus, Samsung Leave a commentEver since the Galaxy Note meltdown in late summer, the year has gone south for Samsung. Now that holiday figures are in, we know the extent. According to Flurry Analytics, if you got a phone for the holidays, it’s likely it was an iPhone. 44% of new phone and tablet activations were for Apple devices. Samsung didn’t quite hit half of that, with 21%. Huawei was a distant third at 3%, with 5 other phone makers tied for 4th at 2%. Medium phones are still most popular at 45%, but phablets are gaining fast…picking up 10% year over year to capture 37% of the form factor share.
A new rumor may throw a bone to Samsung’s hardcore Galaxy Note 7 fans. Bgr.com reports that there may be a ‘plus’ sized Galaxy S8 that will accept the S Pen stylus. The leak out of China says it won’t fit inside the phone, and will sell separately. Still, it’s a popular feature that may bring a lot of Note fans back to buy a new S8.
Everyone’s been to sporting events where they inspect for weapons and such. Everyone has also seen the occasional paper airplane sail down to the court or field. Now, gizmodo says you might see a blizzard of them without such checkpoints. A fellow named Dieter Krone has developed a 3D printed machine gun that folds and shoots 120 paper airplanes a minute! Take that, opposing team!
Apple iPhone ‘Ferrari’; Wearables Market Hitting the Skids
Posted: December 21, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Watch, Ferrari, Fitbit, iPhone, iPhone 8, Wearables Leave a commentAs we’ve reported, it’s looking more and more like there will be 3 iPhone models next year….a couple of incremental upgrades to the 7 and 7 Plus, and a ‘wow’ factor model. Bgr.com reports that a new leak says the top line iPhone 8 is code named ‘Ferrari.’ The leak also outed the internal code numbers for the models. Interestingly, Chinese site cnBeta claims Apple will drop prices noticeably on the 7s and 7s Plus models to grab market share, with the 8 commanding a premium price…maybe even more than the present models do.
Apple still says its Watch sales are ‘doing great,’ without releasing figures to back that up, but according to a report from eMarketer picked up by techcrunch.com, wearables like the Fitbit and Apple Watch were supposed to grow 60% from 2015 to 2016, but only grew 25%. It should be pointed out that a lot of product categories would kill to have growth as high as 25%, but in a newish tech category, expectations are always high. Without making a clear case for people to want or need a smartwatch, those wearables in particular have failed to impress enough buyers. eMarketer expects wearable devices to hit 15.8% of the population this year, and 21.1% by 2020. Apple Watch did sell better in the runup to the holidays this year, but market watchers are skeptical that Apple alone can save the wearable category as a whole.
Galaxy S8 Goes Stereo; iPhone 7s Will See Red; Fitbit Buys and Kills Pebble
Posted: December 7, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Fitbit, Galaxy S8, Glass case, Harman, HTC, iPhone, Kickstarter, Pebble, Red, Samsung, Stereo speakers, Wireless charging Leave a commentSamsung has had some of it’s best successes borrowing things from Apple, so one would think they’d poach the dual cameras of the iPhone 7 Plus for the Galaxy S8. Well, according to bgr.com, the feature they are thinking about grabbing and highlighting is actually stereo speakers. This rumor comes from Fone Arena, and Samsung will not only pick up on iPhone’s stereo speakers, but look to HTC for the marketing. HTC has featured a stereo setup they called BoomSound, and Samsung will be cooking up a flashy name for theirs. Sadly, it won’t be Harman. Although they bought the upscale audio company, they won’t be able to integrate Harman luxury tech into the Galaxy series until 2018.
Apple iPhones are going to see red next year….and we’re not talking about Product (Red.) 9to5mac.com reports they will actually have a red chassis color to add to Black, Jet Black, Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold. 9to5mac.com picked up the rumor from Macotakara, which correctly touted the demise of the headphone jack. They do differ with KGI Securities, though on the upcoming iPhones. The Japanese site says there will be a high line iPhone 8 with wireless charging and the glass case, but the other two models will be named iPhone 7s and 7s Plus, and will keep metal cases without wireless charging, but will get upgraded internals.
Fitbit has officially bought Pebble. Thenextweb.com says, they also took about 40% of the employees…virtually all from the software side, and they are killing off the smartwatches and Pebble OS. They will be doing more to develop apps for Fitbit products, and haven’t decided if they will even use the Pebble brand. People who contributed to Kickstarter for upcoming Pebble products will get refunds.
Will iPhone 8 Bring a ‘Supercycle’ of Upgrades; Amazon Prime Offers HBO & Cinemax for Additional $$
Posted: December 1, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Cinemax, Cord-cutters, HBO, iPhone, iPhone 6, iPhone 8, Netflix, Prime Video, Supercycle Leave a commentThe second half of 2017 may bring what’s being called a ‘supercycle’ of iPhone upgrades. Businessinsider.com reports that KGI Securities has been polling Apple suppliers, and Apple may be gearing up to ship between 90 and 110 million iPhone 8 models the second half of next year. It’s possible that they may even blow past the 113 million iPhone 6’s they sold the back half of 2014. Besides KGI, 3 other analysts believe 2017 could be a banner year as the anniversary iPhone bows.
Just a day after Netflix plays catchup by offering downloads for viewing later, which Amazon has already had, Amazon Prime Video introduces HBO for an additional $15 a month and Cinemax for $10 a month. Venturebeat.com notes that cord cutters could be induced to buy in….but for 30 days, Prime members can try them for free!
Samsung Buys Harman for Audio & Car Tech; iOS Finally Gets Twitter Highlights; China Will Block iPhone and Other Imports If Trump Imposes Tariffs
Posted: November 14, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Airbus, Android, Auto tech, Boeing, China, General Motors, Highlights, Internet of things, iOS, iPhone, Samsung. Harman, Tariffs, Twitter, While you were away Leave a commentSamsung has dropped a whopping 8 billion buying US automotive and audio maker Harman International. This gives them name audio brands like Harmon Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson, and a partnership with British audio specialists Bowers & Wilkins. It also buys them into auto tech. 9to5mac.com says Harman has deals with Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Chrysler, Jeep, Toyota, VW, among others. Along with the Internet of Things, car tech is looked at as one of the big future growth areas.
After almost a year on Android, Twitter finally rolls out Highlights for iOS users. Highlights is kind of a ‘While You Were Away’ on steroids. According to thenextweb.com, it’s a great way to catch the best Tweets while you weren’t checking the app…this is especially helpful if you follow people or accounts that are halfway around the world that may be Tweeting while you’re sleeping.
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump often spoke of putting in massive tariffs on US imports. Now, arstechnica.com reports that China has threatened a tit for tat response if he does so…including batch of Boeing orders—replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China would suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports would be halted. China might also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the US. There are 131 million iPhones in China…more than any other non-Chinese maker has in that market. China is a huge market for General Motors, which killed better selling Pontiac a few years ago because the Buick brand was better liked in China. It’s actually unlikely that Trump will follow through on tariffs, which were a big part of US revenue over 100 years ago, but haven’t worked well in the global economy.
Peeking Ahead at Apple; Samsung’s Amazing Coming AI Assistant; Future Tesla Buyers & Superchargers; New Old Sega Genesis Goes into Production
Posted: November 8, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI assistant, Apple, AR, Augmented reality mapping, Energous, Find My iPhone, Galaxy S8, Genesis, iPhone, Jet White, Samsung, Sega, Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, Viv, Wireless charging Leave a commentApple has a few things up its tree, including something fresh for the present iPhone 7. Thenextweb.com says they may be readying a ‘Jet White’ shiny new color to the 7 and 7 Plus to bookend the Jet Black color.
As for the future, they may add a feature to Find My iPhone that would surreptitiously turn the phone on for you with the proper authentication, so you could find a stolen phone without alerting the thief, according to bgr.com. What about the iPhone 8? We reported earlier that they were working with Energous on wireless charging. Now, again according to bgr, this is moving forward with Energous getting an infusion from a power management chip maker. You would be able to charge your phone from a source 15 feet away…no charging pad…and it would draw current whether you were at home, work, or wherever!
Appleinsider.com has discovered that Apple was just granted a patent detailing an augmented reality mapping system that harnesses iPhone hardware to overlay visual enhancements onto live video, lending credence to recent rumors suggesting the company plans to implement an iOS-based AR strategy in the near future. Tim Cook has strongly hinted about this.
Meanwhile, over at Samsung, a sea change in digital assistants. The Galaxy S8 will have a digital assistant that takes ‘smart’ to a new level. Samsung will add Viv, from San Jose’s Viv Labs (which they bought last month). Reuters.com says Viv not only can answer questions and look things up, but can effectively write software on the fly to accomplish tasks that you ask it to! This is beyond Star Trek, folks!
A huge change for future Tesla buyers. According to theverge.com, anyone getting a Tesla after January 1st, 2017 will have to pay a small fee to use Tesla Superchargers. Previous owners will still get to use them for free. Tesla says the fee will be much less than the cost of filling a car with gas.
For hardcore Sonic fans, here’s something cool from the dailydot.com: The Sega Genesis is officially back in production. TecToy is making the machines, with Sega’s blessing. Aside from the SD card slot, it’s pretty well a duplicate of the original. It comes with 22 games on the SD card. Preorders are $125 for the box. Are you hearing the Sonic the Hedgehog theme?
Pixel Preorders Outstrip Demand; Microsoft VR Headset Partners; Surface Book i7; Renewables Pass Up Coal
Posted: October 26, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Galaxy Note 7, Google, Hololens, HP, iPhone, Lenovo, Microsoft, Pixel, Renewables, Samsung, Solar, Surface, Surface Book i7, VR headsets, Wind Leave a commentSince the sputtering flameout of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Apple has increased production of iPhones, expecting to pick up new customers. According to 9to5google,com, they aren’t alone. Google Pixel phone preorder deliveries have now slipped to mid-November. Some phones originally slated for delivery this week will now be shipped November 18th!
At their event today, Microsoft announced they are working with partners to release standalone VR headsets starting at $299. Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer are all involved. Thenextweb.com says Redmond also showed off a ‘HoloTour’ app that was initially developed for the HoloLens that lets you take Street View like trips around the globe.
Microsoft adds the Surface Book i7 to the Surface family. It contains a number of internal upgrades according to arstechinca.com, including a welcome 16 hour battery life! More from the Microsoft event-which is going on now-tomorrow.
Noting a major milestone, slashdot.org reports that renewable energy sources like solar and wind have passed up coal as the world’s largest source of power capacity! The International Energy Agency says a million solar panels were installed every day last year, and two wind turbines were added every hour last year in China alone.
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