Amazon’s British Drone Tests; New (Old) Apple Car Boss; Future iPhones—Iris Scanning and Glasses-Free 3D

Posted: July 26, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon has gotten permission to test drone deliveries in the United Kingdom, according to venturebeat.com. They will test beyond line of sight operations, obstacle avoidance, and single-person supervision of multiple, highly-automated drones. FedEx and UPS have also shown interest in drone delivery.

Former Apple exec under Steve Jobs Bob Mansfield has come out of retirement to run Project Titan, the Apple car project. Businessinsider.com reports that he originally intended to retire in 2012, but moved to a special projects team that built the Apple Watch. Since then, not much has been heard from him. Apple allegedly intends to start selling vehicles in 2021.

A couple of interesting features may be coming to iPhones, one in 2018. Appleinsider.com says we might see ‘Iris ID’ replace Touch ID, as Apple brings iris scanners to the iPhone family. Meanwhile, Samsung may introduce iris recognition tech in its flagship Galaxy S series this year. More exciting than Iris ID, Apple has patented a method of ‘autostereoscopic’ displays. This would allow for 3D without the special glasses. It uses a pixel array featuring a second array of subpixels and lens structures, the latter emitting light at a number of different angles. The key component though would be the “beam steerer,” pointing the correct light at the viewer. No word on when we might have this in our hands yet.

Google Self-Driving Tech in Chrysler Minivans Next Year; New iPhones We Can’t Live Without

Posted: May 3, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tech companies and car makers are moving at warp speed towards self-driving vehicles. Now, 9to5google.com has picked up a Bloomberg report that Google self-driving tech will be featured in 2017 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans. The non-exclusive deal may be in place this week. The vans will have a 30 mile electric only range, have a gas V-6 that kicks in after that, and the battery can be recharged in 2 hours when plugged into 240 volts.

In an interview Monday, Apple’s Tim Cook teased that the next generation of iPhones will have features you ‘can’t live without, that you don’t even know you need today…’ So far, Wall Street is not impressed, and the stock is still down, but it does make one wonder if there’s One More Thing or maybe Two that Apple has kept under wraps so that KGI Securities and other usually reliable sources haven’t been able to get wind of. We’ll know in September whether it’s just Tim Cook channeling Steve Jobs’ legendary reality distortion field, or if Apple is really going to knock our socks off with some killer feature or features.

Force Touch in iOS9 & Jony Ive’s Elevation at Apple

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

Apple looks like they’re integrating ‘Force Touch’ across the upcoming iOS 9. Another big feature is supposed to be split screen for iPads…so you can switch quickly between a couple of open apps (I hope this will work on older models!) Future MacBooks with Force Touch could lose trackpads, making for even more insanely slim and small footprints…you could swipe your fingers across the keyboard and different amounts of force on the keys could allow for multiple functions. Force Touch might also help the new super slim Macbook, which has gotten rapped for its keyboard. apple is expected to show it off iOS9 at World Wide Developers’ Conference. WWDC is June 8-12…also at Moscone Center in S.F.

At Apple on Monday, Jony Ive was elevated to Chief Design Officer, and two of his trusted lieutenants were made VPs and will handle the day to day management of design teams. There has been a bit of hand wringing this week as analysts and Apple watchers are worrying that Ive may partially retire, move back to England, and Apple will go down the tubes. Apple didn’t implode when Steve Jobs left the planet, and it probably won’t if Ive leaves entirely, but it does provide lots of fodder for the tech chattering class.