Dates for Galaxy S8 Release; Apple- 5 Groups Working on Wireless Charging; Tesla Formulating All-in-One Pricing & More Gigafactories
Posted: February 23, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: All-in-one-pricing, Apple, G6, Galaxy S8, Gigafactories, Inductive Charging, Insurance, iPhone 8, LG, Long range charging, Maintenance, MWC, Qi, Samsung, Tesla, Wireless charging, Wireless Power Consortium Leave a commentSamsung had originally wanted to show the Galaxy S8 at Mobile World Congress, but the Note 7 mess threw a wrench into that plan. Now, bgr.com says they will show the latest handset on March 29th, and likely preorders in the US will begin on April 13th. Competitor LG WILL show their new G6 model at MWC, and it will go on sale March 10th.
Apple reportedly has 5 groups working on wireless charging. There has been speculation for months about the iPhone 8 getting that feature, but disagreement about whether it would be inductive charging…which other phones have…or a longer range system. According to macrumors.com, they have also been testing 10 different versions of the iPhone 8. It’s likely things are pretty well finalized, and Apple did join the Wireless Power Consortium, which pushes the Qi inductive system. They may be looking to the across the room charging systems for future iPhones.
Tesla is working on formulating all-in-one pricing for their cars, which would include lifetime insurance and maintenance. Thenextweb.com reports that the insurance would come from traditional insurers. Tesla feels that with their autopilot and future self-driving, the accident rate would be low enough to make this work financially. Their electric cars have far less mechanical systems to maintain already. Also, Elon Musk wrote to shareholders that they may be looking at adding 3 more Gigafactories. The first one is in Reno, and they call the solar plant in New York Gigafactory 2.
Cheaper Android One Phones Coming to US; Tesla Will Build Model 3 Motors & Gearboxes at Gigafactory; Body Armor iPhone Case
Posted: January 18, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android One, Body Armor, Gigafactory, Google, Low priced phones, Model 3, Otterbox, Pitaka, Slim fit cases, Tesla Leave a commentAndroid One, the platform from Google, was initially introduced to make cheap Android devices available in developing markets. Now, theverge.com says they are opening up the US market to it for low cost and mid price phones. Having an Android platform that gets regularly updated and which is free of bloatwear should pick up market share for Android. You should start seeing phones running it by midyear…although don’t expect actual Google branded phones aside from the premium level Pixels.
Tesla will build motors and gearboxes for the Model 3 at the Gigafactory in Nevada. According to techcrunch.com, the production will add on 550 jobs there. The electric motors and transmissions for the Model S and X will continue to be made in the Fremont, CA plant.
Want good protection for your iPhone but don’t want a big, heavy Otterbox case? Now you can get a case made of body armor that’s as thin as a dime. Bgr.com reports that the PITAKA Aramid Fibre Super Slim Fit cases are available for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. It has a grippy surface and has a ballistic tempered glass screen protector. About $38 bucks for the 7 and $43 for the Plus.
iPhone Claws Back Market Share from Android; Tesla’s Gigafactory Will Be Solar Powered; Amazon Prime Bows Cashback Rewards Visa Card
Posted: January 11, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Cashback rewards, Chase, China, Galaxy S7, Germany, Gigafactory, iPhone, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, Powerpack, Prime, S7 Edge, Samsung, Solar City, Solar Panels, Tesla, UK, US, Visa Leave a commentAccording to the latest data, Apple’s iPhone picked up 6.4% in market share in the US for the 3 months ending last November. 9to5mac.com also says that Apple did the same in 7 of 9 other key markets. The iPhone 7, 7 Plus, and 6s were the 3 most popular phones in the US for the period, combining for 31.3%. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge where next, grabbing 28.9% share. Apple snagged a whopping 9.1% in the UK…mainly crushing the hopes of Windows phones.They did drop 5.4% in China to local brands and lost out 3.2% in Germany, where Android picked up share.
Theverge.com reports that Tesla plans to power its Gigafactory with a 70 megawatt solar installation on the roof! That would make it 7 times larger than the present largest rooftop solar array. Excess power picked up would be stored by Powerpack storage units for use after dark, etc. The solar panels will all come from Solar City of course. Tesla acquired them last year.
If you need a reason to spend even more money with Amazon, have they got a deal for you. TechCrunch.com says Amazon is partnering with Chase to offer Prime members an Amazon Prime Visa card with 5% cash back on Amazon purchases. The card would give 2% back for restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores, and 1% elsewhere. There’s no annual fee on the card. Amazon is believed to have between 58 and 69 million members, or roughly half of US households. The card is available today.
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.
Samsung & Google Partner on New Chromebooks; Batteries Now Rolling off Lines at Tesla Gigafactory; Energous Wireless Charging Debuts This Year; Nvidia Co-Pilot Driving Computer
Posted: January 5, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Bosch, Chromebook, Chromebook Plus, Chromebook Pro, Co-Pilot, Energous, Gigafactory, Google, iPad Pro, iPhone 8, Model 3, Nvidia, Powerpack 2, Powerwall 2, Samsung, Surface Pro, Tesla, Wireless charging, Xavier, ZF Leave a commentThe Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Pro have finally bowed from Samsung, in collaboration with Google. Theverge.com says they will be worthy competition for Apple’s iPad Pro and Microsoft’s Surface Pro. The Plus is out in February for $449, and sports baked in Android app support, a self-contained stylus, and on-screen inking. It has a 360 degree hinge to allow for both tablet and laptop modes. The Pro will be out later this year, and is basically the same except for a more powerful processor.
It took almost 3 years from the groundbreaking, but batteries are now rolling off the lines at Tesla’s Gigafactory. The first of the custom cells will go into Tesla’s storage products…the Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2, but are designed to fit into all Tesla cars according to theverge.com. They will start installing them in the new Model 3s when they start production this year. Tesla says the Gigafactory will eventually crank out enough batteries for 1.5 million cars.
Energous will begin shipping its truly wireless systems by later this year, but is holding off due to a partner. Macrumors.com notes that most believe that partner to be Apple, and that the Watts Up system will debut in the iPhone 8 in September. The difference between Energous and other wireless systems is that theirs is truly over the air, and can charge a device from up to 15 feet away…no need to lay the phone on a charging pad. Energous did show off several devices that use contact charging at CES this week.
Nvidia had teased a powerful AI system earlier, and now has announced Co-Pilot. They are baking the tech into their Xavier drive computers they are making to assist drivers when they are doing the driving. Techcrunch.com reports that the system will utilize data from sensors inside and outside a car, and alert a driver when they need to take action. The system can either operate in self-driving mode, or as the Co-Pilot, continuing to monitor and warn drivers to react…say, should you not spot a pedestrian. They are already partnering with ZF in Europe, and may with Bosch as well.
Google & Chrysler Pairing for Android Powered Infotainment System; Theatre Mode for iOS; Tesla Autopilot Update
Posted: January 2, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android Auto, Apple, Chrysler, Dark Mode, Full self driving mode, Google, HW2 Autopilot, iOS 10.3, Pandora, Spotify, Tesla, Theatre Mode, Uconnect Leave a commentGoogle and Chrysler are partnering on more than just self-driving tech. 9to5google.com says they are also working on an Android powered infotainment system. This is not Android Auto…it’s built on the Android Open Source Platform, and should provide full access to Google Assistant, Maps, and other resources like Pandora, Spotify, NPR One, and Pocket Casts. It will probably live within the Uconnect system on rollout.
Bgr.com reports that Apple’s iOS 10.3 is getting something called ‘Theatre mode.’ It’s not clear what it is….a popcorn icon denotes it on the screen….but it’s thought to be a Dark Mode something like ‘Do Not Disturb’ where all sounds are muted, and many apps display white text on a black screen. Twitter already has a dark mode for its iOS app, and it works well…easy on the eyes and discreet.
Tesla has started rolling out what they call HW2 Autopilot updates to cars made since October. By next week, according to techcrunch.com, the rest of the Tesla fleet will start seeing the updates. The rewrite of the Autopilot software will eventually enable full self driving mode in Tesla cars. Tesla wants to test complete autonomy by the end of 2017!
New Tesla Powerwall Has Twice the Power; More on New MacBooks
Posted: October 31, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Dongles, F# chord, Macbook Pro, Powerwall 2, SSD drive, Tesla Leave a commentA pleasant surprise from Tesla…the upcoming Powerwall 2 will hold twice the charge as the present model’s 14 kW hours. Elon Musk says that’s enough to run lights, sockets, and fridge in a standard 4 bedroom home for an entire day! According to tech crunch.com, production will start in the next few weeks, and the rig will run $5500. Of course, you will need to add a few thousand to have it installed along with a power converter. Along with solar cells, you could do some serious cord-cutting….or at least unplugging for a good part of the day!
With lots of people up in arms about the new MacBooks losing ports, and the thoughts of buying a bag full of dongles, and other issues…like no physical escape button many programmers use, Apple has apparently thrown a bone to business and power users. 9to5mac.com reports that the SSD drive is replaceable and upgradable, at least in the low end model sans Touch Bar. In the prior models, it was soldered in. We’ll have to wait until some of the Touch Bar models are delivered to see if this is true across the line…if so, it would be welcomed. A couple of other notes…or lack of notes…the F sharp chord at startup is gone. The new Pros start when you open the lid, and it’s almost no difference from the wake when you open the lid of a machine that has already been booted up…except that it obviously takes a little longer. A moment of silence for the venerable Apple chord.
Galaxy Note Nightmare Continues; Two Tesla Launch Events This Month; German Bundesrat Votes to Ban Internal Combustion Engine
Posted: October 10, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AT&T, Bundesrat, Cars, Elon Musk, Engines, Fires, Galaxy Note 7, Germany, Internal combustion, Powerwall, Samsung, Solar City, T-Mobile, Tesla, Verizon Leave a commentAfter a 4th of the new, supposedly safe replacement Galaxy Note 7’s caught fire, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have stopped selling the phablet, and now Samsung is ‘temporarily’ suspending production of the device. 9to5google.com says Samsung has yet to comment on the suspension of production, which includes a plant in Vietnam that is responsible for global shipments of the Note, aside from saying they are ‘adjusting’ production.
Doing his best Apple impression, Elon Musk has tweeted that the company is planning two product launches in October. According to thenextweb.com, the first will be October 17th, and Musk claims it will be unexpected by most. The second is a joint Tesla/Solar City event scheduled 10 days later for October 28th. There’s some speculation that the first one will be for the Model 3. Musk has already indicated that there would be a joint unveiling of an integrated Powerwall 2.0 and Tesla charging unit. Tesla has recently added land that would allow them to double the size of the Fremont, CA factory.
In something of a shockwave, the German Bundesrat has voted to ban internal combustion engines by 2030. Arstechnica.com reports that it’s a non-binding resolution, but still a hell of a shot over the bow coming from the country where the internal combustion engine was invented, and where Karl Benz built the first ‘patent motorcar.’ Germany produces more cars than any country in Europe and the third most in the world. The Bundesrat is the federal council of all 16 German states.
Pictures Are Out of Google’s Pixel Phone a Day Before Launch; Tesla Makes Record Deliveries; 1st Test of Solar Road Tiles
Posted: October 3, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Fast charging, Google, Idaho, Pixel phones, Record deliveries, Sandpoint, Solar road tiles, Solar Roadways, Tesla Leave a comment
There’s already quite a bit of information about Google’s new Pixel phones that will be rolled out tomorrow, but thanks to a new leak, there are good pictures and more. 9to5google.com notes that in the pictures, you can see a couple of cutouts next to the USB-C port that look like two rear firing speakers. Google will also tout fast charging…claiming a 15 minute charge will get you 7 hours of battery life. A big feature will be what they’re calling ‘Your own personal Google Assistant.’ Google is also going to brag that Google photos will give you ‘unlimited storage for your photos and videos,’ all at full resolution. Of course, we’ll know all after tomorrow.
Tesla has ramped up and delivered a record number of cars in the 3rd quarter. Theverge.com says they got 24,500 Teslas into the hands of customers, a 70% increase over the previous quarter. Tesla said there were another 5500 cars in transit, but that didn’t get delivered, too. They still expect to put 50,000 cars into garages and carports the 2nd half of this year.
When we reported on this idea a while back, it seemed a bit like pie in the sky….solar road tiles. Now, according to engadget.com, Solar Roadways has installed its first public energy tiles in the pavement in Sandpoint, Idaho. Besides a light show, the panels will produce power for a fountain and restrooms in a public square. Sandpoint has put in a webcam so you can see the light show part yourself.
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