Samsung Will Have 5G Phone in 2019; Apple-All New AirPods, But No 5G Phone Until 2020; Amazon Testing King Sized Amazon Go Store
Posted: December 3, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5G, AirPods, Amazon, Amazon Go, Apple, Intel, iPhone, Qualcomm, Samsung, Verizon, Whole Foods, Wireless Leave a commentSamsung is partnering with Verizon to bring a 5G smartphone to the US in the middle of 2019! Cnet.com reports that they will show off a concept handset this week at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit in Hawaii. 5G is expected to significantly boost the speed, coverage, and responsiveness of wireless networks. Phones will upload and download data at anywhere from 10 to 100 times faster than the 4G network we have today! Samsung has not said if the phone will be exclusive to Verizon, and did note that they will continue to work with other wireless partners.
Over at Apple, the word is that it will be at least 2020 before a 5G iPhone will be in peoples’ hands. According to macrumors.com, Apple will hold off a bit instead of being on the leading edge…which they have done before when new generations of wireless capability rolled out. Bloomberg points out that there has often been poor coverage when a new layer of connectivity rolls out, with phones often having to drop back to the old tech, or jumping back and forth between the two systems. Besides Samsung, Huawei and Oppo will also put out 5G smartphones next year…although neither of those two are really factors in the US market like Samsung is. Part of the delay for Apple may be the ongoing litigation with Qualcomm. Apple is partnering with Intel on 5G chips, and those won’t be out in time to get phones to market in 2019.
There will be all-new AirPods in 2020, but prior to that, Apple will release wireless charging AirPods early next year. 9to5mac.com picked up a report from well known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that says the wireless model will also include yet to be disclosed upgrades, but that the total revamp will be set for a 2020 release.
Amazon is reported to be testing out a large-sized Amazon-Go type store, sans cashiers, in Seattle. Geekwire.com says it is set up to look more like a traditional grocery store. Now what grocery store could it be designed like…oh, yeah…Whole Foods, which Amazon owns! They are particularly working on seeing if the system that tracks what shoppers grab off the shelves works well with the higher ceilings and bigger spaces with vastly more products. It remains to be seen when or if the tech will reach Whole Foods or other stores. Amazon has said in the past they have no plans to add the tech to Whole Foods stores…but such claims are often made, then things change. We do know Amazon is planning opening up to 3,000 Amazon Go stores by 2021.
Xiaomi F1- Cheap Flagship Power; Huawei Caught Cheating on Cam Photos-Again; VW-Huge Electric Truck Order; Verizon Throttled Firefighter Data
Posted: August 22, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ambev, Brazil, Electric trucks, F1, Firefighters, Huawei, Pocophone, Snapdragon 845, Throttling, Verizon, VW, Xiaomi Leave a commentChinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has announced a new sub brand called Pocophone, and released a new model F1 smartphone in India. The interesting thing about it is that the phone sells for $300, but has the power of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845…the present top line processor used in flagship Android phones. Not only that, the phone has 6 gigs of RAM, 64 GB of storage, and a 6.18 inch LCD screen at HD+. What about the battery? 4,000mAh. Right now, there are no plans to bring it to the US, unfortunately. A lot of people would love flagship phone power for $300 instead of $800-$1000!
In a repeat of earlier cheating for ad photos, Huawei has been caught using a pro DSLR camera’s pics and passing them off as being from their Nova 3 smartphone. Arstechnica.com reports that one of the actors in the shots posted some behind the scenes photos from a shoot to Instagram, and you can see the DSLR on a tripod shooting the actual shots.
VW has gotten an order for 1600 electric trucks from Ambev’s Brazilian brewery division. According to electrek.co, the beer maker will convert a third of their fleet to electric by 2023. The vehicles will start being delivered in 2020.
Verizon throttled firefighters, and has been sued. Santa Clara County fire says the throttling had a significant impact on their ability to provide crisis response and essential emergency services during recent fires. Arstechnica.com says the fire department’s declaration was added to a brief filed by 22 state attorneys general in the ongoing lawsuit over the FCC net neutrality rules overturn. Stay tuned.
Galaxy S9+ Cam Best Yet; Carriers Tout Phone # App Authentication; Uber Health Launched
Posted: March 1, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: App authentication, Apple iPhone X, AT&T, Camera, Galaxy S9, Google. Pixel 2, HIPAA, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, Uber, Uber Health, UberCENTRAL, Verizon Leave a commentIt will probably only last until the new models of their competitors come out, but Samsung’s Galaxy S9+ camera has snagged the highest DxOMark score ever at 99. Fortunately for the cellphone makers, the scale doesn’t end at 100! Bgr.com reports that the Galaxy has narrowly eclipsed the cameras on the Google Pixel 2, which had a 98, and the iPhone X with a 97. Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro also scored a 97. No matter how objective these test try to be, with photos, there’s still a subjective element…just like a painting, the art is in the eye of the beholder…but for now, Samsung reigns supreme!
The 4 major US phone carriers, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, & T-Mobile, have rolled out plans for an authentication platform that would add extra security for people downloading apps to Apple’s iPhone and other handsets. Appleinsider.com says the tech uses a ‘cryptographically verified phone number and profile data’, info such as how long you’ve had the number, the account type, IP address, and SIM card info. The carriers plan to trial the system in the next few weeks, and launch it later this year. It is hoped the extra layer of security will help counter fraud and identity theft.
Uber has launched Uber Health, a new ride hailing platform for healthcare. According to techcrunch.com, the service is like UberCENTRAL, their ride-booking service for business customers. With the service, the riders don’t have to have the Uber app, the healthcare provider can book rides to and from appointments. Uber says it is HIPAA compliant, and can be used by the clients via a landline. The ride hailing company points out that the service is just for appointments, and is not designed to replace 911 or ambulance rides for emergencies.
Waymo & Fiat Chrysler Expand Ride-Hailing; Facebook Looks to Local News; iPhone X Top 3 Worldwide; Verizon Won’t Carry Huawei Line
Posted: January 30, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alphabet, Apple, AT&T, Facebook, Fiat Chrysler, GM, Google, Huawei, iPhone X, Kantar, Local news, Lyft, Mate 10 Pro, Samsung, Self Driving Cars, Uber, Verizon, Waymo Leave a commentFiat Chrysler is preparing to provide Google’s Waymo with thousands of Pacifica hybrid minivans, as Waymo’s self-driving division rolls out public ride hailing services later this year. Reuters.com says this could press GM and Lyft to pick up the pace, as well as Uber, which already has a test fleet running. Waymo had been been testing out 500 Fiat Chrysler self-driving mini-vans through 2017 in 25 cities.
Facebook plans to start showing more local news in user newsfeeds. According to businessinsider.com, they will start this in the US, and expand to other countries later in the year. The Facebook definition of ‘local’ is if its links ‘are clicked on by readers in a tight geographic area,’ not the logical ‘is actually IN a local geographic area!’
With reports out that Apple is cutting iPhone X production from 40 to 20 million this quarter, some good news popped up. 9to5mac.com reports that Kantar found the pricey Apple hero phone was the #3 phone in all the regions they monitor during December. That includes Europe, China, Japan, Australia, and the US. iOS sales overall were down half a percentage point in the US, but loyalty hit a record high 96%. Apple and Samsung account for more than 2/3 of the US market at a combined 70.8%.
Under pressure from the government, Verizon has dropped plans to carry Huawei mobile devices. 9to5google.com says AT&T had previously backed out of carrying the Mate 10 Pro. The government apparently is concerned about the closeness of the Chinese government to the phone maker and their possible ability to manipulate upcoming 5G cellular networks.
3 New Macs Coming; Google Home Catching Up With Amazon Echo; Nationalized 5G Network; Nissan Self-Parking Slippers
Posted: January 29, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5G wireless, Alexa, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Custom co-processors, Echo, Google Home, Government, HomePod, Mac Pro, Macbook Pro, Macs, Nissan, Self-parking slippers, Verizon Leave a commentApple is reportedly working on 3 new Models (maybe more). They will be integrated with custom co-processors, and Cupertino has both new laptops and desktops in the works, according to macrumors.com. Some could be out yet this year. Apple had already confirmed it was working on an new, modular Mac Pro, but what other models could be refreshed are only an educated guess at this point. The MacBooks and MacBook Pros could use it for sure, as well as the Air, and Mac Mini.
Amazon has held the lion’s share of home speakers with it’s Echo line, powered by Alexa, sitting at 69%. 9to5google.com points out that Google Home has grown from almost nowhere to 31% already, though, and now with the Apple HomePod just out, expect more erosion in that number. Google Home barely registered in June of 2017, but during the holidays grabbed 40% of sales…mainly due to success of the Home Mini! Microsoft’s Cortana speakers haven’t really moved the needle, but Apple could…recall how they jumped into the already going portable music market years ago with the iPod, and virtually took that segment over.
You have to go a ways to freak out and infuriate both the far left and the far right, but it looks like an idea from the Trump Administration has done just that. According to businessinsider.com, they are exploring a form of nationalized 5G wireless network. The government apparently fears a huge cybersecurity threat…mainly from China…if they don’t. Folks on the left and the right are more freaked out by the prospect of the government controlling the wireless network. The administration is looking at a totally government one, or a national network in partnership with the wireless companies. Both AT&T and Verizon have responded, noting that they are ‘already well down the road’ to 5G wireless networks nationwide. In other words…’bug off!’
Self-driving cars? Pfft! Get me some of these self-driving, self-parking slippers. Bgr.com says Nissan has made some for a Japanese hotel, the ProPILOT Ryokan. Little wheels drop out of the bottom, and a small electric motor run by a processor magically returns the slippers to their proper place! Apparently the TV remote will do the same in rooms, and the bedding is wired with tricks of their own. Personally, I bow down to our robot overlords…and request that my slippers head over here to my feet!
More Galaxy S9 Rumors; Huawei Mate 10 Coming to US New Facebook Tools & Facial Recognition; Worst Passwords
Posted: December 19, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, AT&T, Bad passwords, Battery life, Blocking, Facebook, Facial recognition, Fast charging, Galaxy S9, Huawei, iPhone X, Mate 10, Samsung, Verizon Leave a commentIt appears that Samsung will be again aping Apple, and the Galaxy S9 will be something of an ’S’ model…virtually identical on the outside to the present model. According to bgr.com, though, there will be some desirable upgrades inside. First off, it looks like a beefy 3200 mAh battery, up 7% from the S8. Also, the S9 reportedly will support Quick Charge 3.0 tech and 12W fast wireless charging. For comparison, Apple’s iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus just have 7W fast charging. We should see the Galaxy S9 and S9+ in late February, and they should be in hand by March.
Huawei has be rumored to be working on coming to the US via at least one of the mobile carriers. Now, 9to5google.com reports that we will probably find out who at CES next month, and that the Mate 10 will go on sale in the US in 2018. The rumor is, the Huawei hero handset will be offered through AT&T and Verizon.
Facebook has announced some new features, including one that keeps people you’ve blocked from making up a new profile and trying to contact you. Techcrunch.com says the tool kit detects the IP address and other signals to make sure the person stays blocked. They also have added one to ignore conversations, and move those to your filtered messages folder. A really slick addition now uses facial recognition to notify you if someone uploads a photo with you in it…even if you’re not tagged. You can choose to stay untagged, tag yourself, or report the photo if you think it’s inappropriate.
What are the worst passwords of the year? Splash data has put out the list, taken from over 5 million passwords that were leaked across 2017 by hackers. Macrumors.com reports that the top one is an old favorite from way back. Here are the top 5…PLEASE tell me none of you reading this has ever used these!!
1. 123456
2.password
3. 12345678
4. querty
5. 12345
If you ‘have a friend’ who’s using any of these, ask them to change to something stronger, and don’t admit it!
Google Home Max Out; Big Apple Watch Series 3 Sales Uptick Coming; Deactivated Keylogger in Some HP Laptops
Posted: December 11, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Best Buy, Google, Home Max, HomePod, HP, Keylogger, Laptops, Verizon, Watch Series 3 Leave a commentGoogle Home Max is rolling out to stores….it should be available in limited numbers today in Best Buy and Verizon stores, according to arstechnica.com. The $399 Home Has has dual 4.5 inch woofers and custom tweeters, and Google says it’s 20 times more powerful than the original Home. You can set it up either horizontally or vertically, and it has an aux input jack. Google’s ‘smart sound’ measures the room and it adjusts itself sonically to fit. With the delay of Apples HomePod, this gives Google a head start now in the premium home smart speaker market.
Number crunchers scouring supply lines are predicting that the Apple Watch Series 3, which was up in record territory for a wearable in November, will grow by 20% in 2018. 9to5mac.com reports that the Series 3 will hit 25 to 35 million units sold next year. The addition of health tracking, Gym Kit, Apple Pay Cash, and of course LTE connectivity seem to have been the magic combination that are propelling Watch sales now.
It’s bad enough that the FCC may be voting to allow paid fast lanes on the internet this week. Now, here’s a chilling nugget: Some HP laptops have a deactivated key logger on them. Techcrunch.com says the software has been found on over 460 HP laptop models. It’s deactivated by default, but could be turned on by any hacker getting physical access to the laptop. Upon raising the issue to HP, they have responded that it is a debug trace, that that there’s a software update out to remove it. Here’s a link to download the update: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05827409
Mac Pro Will Rise Again; Nintendo Switch Warping issue; Oath for Pete’s Sake
Posted: April 4, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AOL, Apple, CPU, Dock, GPU, iMac Pro, Mac Pro, Modular, Nintendo, Oath, Pro display, Speed bump, Switch, Verizon, Warping, Yahoo Leave a commentApple has…well kind of…admitted that the ‘trash can’ Mac Pro was a dumb design, and lifted the curtain slightly on the next generation of Pros. Daringfireball.com’s John Gruber was one of the handful of journalists that got to peek at it. The bad news is…it’s due next year. On the plus side, it will be more modular, and accommodate high end CPUs and GPUs, and won’t need to look like a dongle octopus! There will also be an Apple branded Pro display. For those that can’t wait, Apple will also release a Pro level iMac yet this year….so, can we call that one ‘semi-pro?’ In addition, the present ‘trash can’ Mac Pros get a speed bump as an upgrade, and the price is right…the $2999 entry level model gets a 6 core processor, and the $3999 model goes from 6 cores to 8.
In a literally ‘not cool’ item, the hot new Nintendo Switch is a little TOO hot when docked. Bgr.com says with heavy play in the dock, they are physically warping. Apparently, there is a thread on Reddit talking about the issue, complete with pictures of the bent Switch units. For some of the early complainers, the company says that they would either repair the unit or transfer all of its data to a new console and then ship it back. They have yet to publicly acknowledge the problem, though.
In what is becoming a rather long line of stupid rebranding names, Verizon’s Frankenstein mash up of Yahoo and AOL will be called Oath. Maybe the clown who came up with this name should be called an OAF! Techcrunch.com says the name was first acknowledged on Twitter yesterday. The company is modestly claiming that they are launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital. Yeah, with a moniker like Oath, good luck with that.
iPhone 8-Bigger Screen, Smaller Form Factor; WWDC Moves to San Jose; Verizon Snags Drone Management Software Maker
Posted: February 16, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Cupertino, Drone management, Facial recognition, Form factor, iPhone 8, Iris scanning, McEnery Center, OLED screen, San Jose, Skyward, Verizon, World Wide Developers Conference, WWDC Leave a commentWe’ve written plenty about the iPhone 8’s OLED screen, as has everybody, and how it will have a 5.8 inch size. Now, macrumors.com, in a report from KGI Securities, picks up some new tidbits. The form factor of the handset will be about like the 4.7 inch iPhone 7, easing one hand operation. Because the front will be virtually all screen, the display size will be like that of the 5.5 inch iPhone Plus in the smaller chassis. The bottom of the screen will feature a row of virtual buttons, but KGI Securities says it may not have a home button or fingerprint sensor at all…instead, adapting ‘other biometric technologies,’ like iris or facial recognition.
Apple has announced WWDC 2017. 9to5mac.com says it is moving from San Francisco to the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, and will be June 5th through the 9th. Registration for tickets starts March 27th. The San Jose venue is roughly the same size as Moscone Center in San Francisco, so will accommodate 5000 developers and around a thousand Apple engineers. The Proximity to Apple’s Cupertino HQ and Campus 2 will ease attendance of more Apple engineers.
Verizon has picked up Skyward, a startup out of Portland that makes drone management software. According to geekwire.com, the code helps commercial drone operators track, connect, and manage drones. The software can be used by businesses in agriculture, construction, film production and telecommunications, and helps smooth compliance with FAA regulations.
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