Bendable, Foldable Samsung Smartphone by Next Year; In-Flight Wi-Fi to Become Much More Useable

Posted: June 7, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Samsung has developed the tech for folding screens to the point they may roll out smartphones with it next year. Engadget.com picked up a story from Bloomberg saying that a couple of devices will have flexible OLED screens- one folding like a cosmetic compact and another that transforms from a 5-inch smartphone-sized screen to a roughly eight inch screen …basically, converting from a phablet to a tablet. If the rumors hold up, we could see these by Mobile World Congress next February!

If you’ve tried it, you know in-flight Wi-Fi is more like in-flight dial up…but that’s about to change. According to bgr.com, American has signed a deal with Viasat, and is ditching Gogo. Where Gogo has relied on ground stations, Viasat use satellite tech to get Wi-Fi to travelers. They are claiming 12Mbps to every passenger, which would be enough to stream movies, make Skype calls (with some lag) or surf the web without feeling like you want to commit homicide. Gogo is also rolling out a satellite system, but it only gives 70 Mbps to the entire plane to share, which won’t be much better than what they already offer. American’s fleet should be equipped with the Viasat faster internet by September 2017.

Xiaomi Getting Ready to Bring Their Smartphones to the US; Apple’s WWDC Starts June 13th

Posted: June 2, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

After following the lead of Samsung and shamelessly aping Apple’s iPhone in their home country of China, it looks like maker Xiaomi is ready for their US closeup. Bgr.com reports that they have become the fastest growing smartphone maker, and now they’re coming to the US. Their latest crop of phones barely resemble the iPhone now, and they’ve purchased about 1500 patents from Microsoft. Xiaomi is known now for selling affordable smartphones with designs and specs that rival much more expensive ones, so if you’re on a budget but want a top flight phone, this could be the real deal.

We knew it was coming soon, and now we have a date. Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference will kick off in San Francisco Monday, June 13th, with the keynote at the usual 10 am Pacific. Bill Graham Civic Auditorium will be crammed to the rafters with tech reporters and developers. By noon that day, we should have lots more details about the next version of Apple’s iPhone/iPad software — iOS 10 — as well as news on Apple Watch, Apple TV and Macs. Cnet.com says they’ll have live coverage, as will a number of other tech sites. We’ll recap things right here. Stay tuned…

New ARM Chip Will Be a Big Boost to Samsung Phones; Apple Working on Flexible Touch Displays; Base iPhone 7 Gets a Simple, Big Upgrade

Posted: May 31, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ARM will have new chips out in time for next year’s flagship smartphones like those from Samsung that will boost performance by 30% while giving 30% better power efficiency. Cnet.com says ARM claims you will be able to run a phone’s chip at full speed for the duration of a movie, game, or VR experience! It’s the Cortex-A73 computing processor and Mali-G71 graphics processor. The graphics processor gives 50% higher performance with 20% energy savings. Samsung and a couple others have already licensed the tech…no word about Apple, but they’ve used ARM in the past.

An Apple supplier, TPK…which is a division of Foxconn, has a silver nanowire tech rolling out that will allow for flexible touch screens. Since Foxconn is the major supplier of iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, patentlyapple.com notes that there’s a high probability that you’ll be seeing these everywhere in the next 2-5 years. More to the point, TPK says they expect their clients to launch flexible touch panel devices in the 2nd half of 2016! If they’re talking about Apple, a folding 7 inch tablet or display that wraps around your arm will be one hell of a ‘one more thing! Stay tuned!

One of the most boring, yet important tidbits has just dropped about the iPhone 7…bgr.com reports it will finally ship with 32 gigs of memory instead of the nearly useless 16 gigs in the base phone. No more cheapskate Apple buyers whining about having to delete pictures and songs from their iPhones anymore!

Apple Rolls Out New 12” Retina MacBooks; Android App Keeps Screens Away From Kids’ Faces

Posted: April 19, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple has refreshed its 12 inch Retina MacBook. According to 9to5mac.com, there are new Skylake processors, increased overall performance, and a new rose gold color. They say the updated internals give you an additional hour of battery life. It continues to have the single USB-C port and edge to edge keyboard, and remains $1299. A quibble with Apple: their so-called rose gold is a lot more pink than the rose gold you find in watches, pens, and musical instruments. You can always go space grey or silver, though. Processor speed gets bumped to 1.2 gigs, and it comes with 8 gigs of memory standard, and the graphics are 25% faster. It’s available today at Apple’s website or Apple Stores and resellers.

Samsung has built an Android app that alerts kids….or adults for that matter, when they have mobile device screens too close to their face. According to thenextweb.com, it’s called Safety Screen, and uses facial recognition to calculate if a smart device is too close to the user’s face. If so, a cute animation pops up to let the user know…it disappears when the gadget is moved to a safer distance. The app’s creators say kids are more at risk for developing computer vision syndrome than adults. Parents set it up, and password protect the app, and it’s ready to go.

iPhones to Finally Get OLED Screens in 2017; Huawei VR Headset Coming

Posted: April 15, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

OLED screens are known to have more vivid blacks and better viewing in bright sunlight, and have been used by many smartphone makers for years. Now, according to 9to5mac.com, Apple has cut a deal worth some 2-1/2 billion with Samsung to buy 100 million 5.5 inch panels by 2017. This probably means the iPhone 7S in 2017 will be a major upgrade. Because OLED screens are thinner and require less power, it could be a thinner iPhone.

Huawei has announced it’s putting out its own VR headset. Like rival Samsung, you’ll need a late model Huawei smartphone to use it. According to thenextweb.com, it has a touch panel and control buttons on the back so you can adjust the lenses to suit your eyes. The Huawei VR has a 95 degree field of view, and anti-blue light filter to cut down on eyestrain. They haven’t given the release date or price yet, but did tout 4000 movies and 40 games that will be available free at launch.

Galaxy S7 Is a Hit Compared to the S6; Facebook Adds Video Search

Posted: April 8, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

After just a month, the new Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are handily outselling their S6 predecessors year over year. In fact, 9to5google.com says sales are up 25% overall, and 30% in the US. The company had a shortage of screens for the curved Edge model, but that’s not the case this year, and they say it is now accounting for 47% of S7 sales.

Facebook is pulling out all stops to get users to watch original videos. Earlier this week, they launched the dedicated video browsing hub, and now have announced a video search engine. According to techcrunch.com, they are also now baking Live videos into Trending Topics on the home page. Facebook is trying to use live video to reverse a trend of less original sharing. Apparently, only 57% of weekly users post on a given week, and only 39% post original content. We all know a few people who re-post a couple dozen memes a day, though!

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ AR Headsets; Amazon & Microsoft Look to Mapping for Self-Driving Cars

Posted: April 7, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Having just recently had a conversation with a couple of friends in tech about how everyone is excited about virtual and augmented reality, but no one all that much about wearing big, bulky headsets, this caught my eye immediately…and it may be catching your eyes sooner, not later, and immersing them in VR and AR. Cnet.com reports Samsung has gotten a patent for smart contact lenses that will house a camera, movement sensors, transmitter, and display unit. They work in conjunction with a smartphone. You can look at photos and videos from the phone through the lenses. Google is also working along with medical provider Novartis on some smart contacts, albeit ones centering around health. Shrinking VR and AR down to contacts and earbuds? Now THAT’s something that can really take virtual reality mass market!

According to a report, both Amazon and Microsoft are close to getting involved with Here, the digital mapping business for autonomous vehicles. Here was started by Nokia, but bought by a group of German car makers….Mercedes, BMW, & Audi. Theverge.com says a board member at Daimler-parent of Mercedes-confirmed that both Amazon and Microsoft were interested in providing cloud computing capabilities for the mounds of data being gathered by Here’s sensors for autonomous vehicles.

Facebook’s New Dedicated Video Tab; Huawei Shows New Dual Lens Leica Branded Cam in Latest Phone

Posted: April 6, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In an update, Facebook has replaced the Messenger tab that was front and center at the bottom of the app with the live video tab. Theverge.com reports that the tab has different sections for broadcasts happening around the world and broadcasts by your friends and the pages you follow. You can also search for videos by topic. Facebook says the tab is rolling out initially to “a very small percentage” of users. If you like Periscope, you’ll find that they have borrowed features shamelessly from them.

Speaking of cameras and video, Huawei has showed off its latest flagship smartphones. The P9 has a 5.2 inch screen and the P9 Plus a 5.5 inch one. Both feature a Leica branded dual lens camera. TechCrunch.com notes that Huawei says the cam is co-engineered with the famous optics maker, so don’t expect actual Leica lenses! The dual lens rollout now gets the drop on Apple by almost 6 months. Huawei is the 3rd largest smartphone maker by global market share, behind Samsung and Apple. The setup is supposed to give better color and clarity, and allow refocusing after the fact as the old Lytro camera. They also have a ‘Leica film mode,’ which mimics 3 old film processing styles…for those that like to kick a smartphone camera old school.

Galaxy S7 Costs Samsung About What the S5 Did; Amazon Applies for Pay By Selfie Patent

Posted: March 14, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Costs are dropping for high end smartphone components apparently. 9to5google.com reports that an IHS teardown shows it costs Samsung about $255 to make the new Galaxy S7. That’s in the same range as the S5 cost 2 years ago. The priciest item? The Qualcomm quad core Snapdragon 820 processor at $62. In the US, the S7 sells for $670 unsubsidized, so Samsung pulls in $415 each on them. Of course, they have to cover marketing, R&D, software development, etc, so that’s not all pure gravy.

Amazon has filed a patent application for a process that lets people pay by selfie, instead of keying in their password. According to recode.net, it’s a companion patent for one Amazon has on tech to verify a user by photo or video. Amazon believes this will encourage customers to buy when they’re out and about, or chatting with friends….you do that right? ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got to buy this thing right now from Amazon?’ All joking aside, it actually should be a simpler and safer way to log in than remembering a password.

Galaxy S7 Getting Rave Reviews; The F-35 Fighter Jet’s Radar Issues

Posted: March 8, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The gorgeous new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are generally getting rave reviews. Bgr.com reports that most reviewers love the quality of the glass and metal case and beautiful screen…although you may want to wrap that beauty…more than a few people had sad faces due to Apple’s glass back a few years ago. The phone is certified water proof for 30 minutes in over 3 ft of water, and is dust proof. The cameras are great, and some reviewers say it easily beats the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The net consensus is, it’s by far the best Android phone you can buy right now…a couple say the best smartphone, PERIOD…including Apple’s. Of course, iPhone 7 drops in September.

Most people have heard of the many flaws of that flying (or really non-flying) lemon, the F-35 Joint Strike fighter jet…the trillion dollar boondoggle aircraft that is supposed to replace planes of all the US services. The Pentagon has even released a report detailing dozens of problems and bugs. Now, according to an IHS Jane report, there’s the radar: basically it sometimes degrades or fails completely. The fix: the pilot has to reboot the radar…in flight….in battle. Talk about flying blind! Oh…and for all the bugs….the aircraft is yet to be tested for hacking! Happy landings.

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