As we told you earlier this year, Sony is the only FIFA 2014 World Cup official partner that manufactures phones. Its collaboration with FIFA allowed it to put the 2014 World Cup logo on the retail box of the newXperia Z1 Compact. But Sony also makes smartwatches, among other things, and that’s why it will launch a SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition soon.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition comes with a wrist band that features the colors of the Brazilian flag. As you probably already know, Brazil is where FIFA 2014 World Cup will take place starting June. Other than the yellow-green wrist band, the SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition seems to be similar to the original version.
It looks like the Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition will be launched in the UK starting March. Alongside it, a Silver metal edition will also be available (obviously featuring a silver metal wrist band). Retailer Clove will sell both new SmartWatch 2 models for $215 (£132) each.
Like most of Sony’s latest smartphones, the SmartWatch 2 is water resistant (IP57). It offers a 1.6-inch transflective LCD screen with 220 x 176 pixels, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and a battery that should provide up to 3-4 days of "normal usage."
source: Clove via Xperia Blog
It's official: Microsoft’s search for a new CEO is over. Following recent speculations, the software giant is indeed appointing Satya Nadella as its new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer. The 46-year-old Nadella will take over immediately, allowing Ballmer to retire early. Nadella had been one of a number of candidates that Microsoft is believed to have interviewed for the role; the company originally said it was pushing to name its Ballmer successor before the end of last year. Despite the fact that the search extended into 2014, the timing of the CEO announcement is important as it places Nadella in charge ahead of the closure of Microsoft’s Nokia deal and the company's ongoing reorganization.
"Today is a very humbling day for me," says Nadella in an internal memo to Microsoft employees. "It is an incredible honor for me to lead and serve this great company of ours." In the broad letter, Nadella outlines his reasons for working at Microsoft, along with his 22-year history at the company. "While we have seen great success, we are hungry to do more," he notes. "This is a critical time for the industry and for Microsoft. Make no mistake, we are headed for greater places — as technology evolves and we evolve with and ahead of it. Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world."
As Nadella takes over as CEO co-founder Bill Gates steps down as chairman today;his new official title is founder and technology advisor. "I'm thrilled that Satya has asked me to step up, substantially increasing my time at the company," says Gates in a videocommenting on Nadella's new position. "I'll have over a third of my time available to meet with product groups and it'll be fun to define this next round of products working together."
In a similar video, former CEO Steve Ballmer also congratulates Nadella on his new role: "I have absolutely no doubt Microsoft is in good hands, with Satya and the rest of the senior leadership team that is in place," says Ballmer. "We have so many strong leaders … the future of Microsoft is incredibly bright." It's clear that Microsoft's former CEOs back Nadella, and he also has the unanimous support of the board.
Nadella is a Microsoft veteran, having joined the company over 20 years ago. Born in India in 1969, Nadella studied Electrical Engineering at the Mangalore University before moving to the US to study computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He originally worked at Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems before heading to Redmond to work on research for Microsoft’s online services division. He has held a number of roles inside the company: he's worked in the company’s business division on Office and even has some experience building the Bing search engine. Most importantly, however, he has been instrumental in transforming Microsoft’s cloud business and has previously led its server and tools business.
MICROSOFT'S SERVER AND ENTERPRISE GUY
Nadella’s work on Microsoft’s server and tools business helped boost the division’s profitability and smoothed its transition from traditional client-server computing to cloud infrastructure like Windows Azure. Recently, Nadella has been focused on Microsoft’s cloud businesses, pushing the company’s underlying infrastructure and services into products like Bing, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, and Skype. While Nadella has little experience running consumer-facing businesses like Xbox or Skype, he does have a deep understanding and knowledge of the computing and engineering required to develop and build services and applications that are used by millions. Given Microsoft’s "devices and services" push, he’s clearly well positioned to help steer the company in one particular direction.
While Nadella has made a name for himself inside Microsoft as an intelligent and charismatic leader over the years, he’s not a household name to consumers, and even to most businesses. He has surged through the ranks with technical expertise and a focus on enterprise, but has little involvement in Microsoft’s devices and mobile future. His appointment will come as a surprise to those who expected former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to take over from Ballmer. While Elop has run a publicly traded company, Nadella lacks this key experience. Elop will still rejoin Microsoft shortly to lead an expanded devices team focused on Surface, Windows Phones, and Xbox.
Microsoft’s core strength currently relies on enterprises and businesses purchasing licenses or using software and services that the company develops. While Windows is struggling thanks to a decline in PC shipments, Microsoft’s enterprise, Office software, and services are continuing to bring in impressive revenues for the company. Nadella compliments this strength perfectly, but he will now need to prove he can complete Microsoft’s vision for devices and its ongoing mobile push.
As we told you earlier this year, Sony is the only FIFA 2014 World Cup official partner that manufactures phones. Its collaboration with FIFA allowed it to put the 2014 World Cup logo on the retail box of the newXperia Z1 Compact. But Sony also makes smartwatches, among other things, and that’s why it will launch a SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition soon.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition comes with a wrist band that features the colors of the Brazilian flag. As you probably already know, Brazil is where FIFA 2014 World Cup will take place starting June. Other than the yellow-green wrist band, the SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition seems to be similar to the original version.
It looks like the Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition will be launched in the UK starting March. Alongside it, a Silver metal edition will also be available (obviously featuring a silver metal wrist band). Retailer Clove will sell both new SmartWatch 2 models for $215 (£132) each.
Like most of Sony’s latest smartphones, the SmartWatch 2 is water resistant (IP57). It offers a 1.6-inch transflective LCD screen with 220 x 176 pixels, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and a battery that should provide up to 3-4 days of "normal usage."
source: Clove via Xperia Blog
Contextual apps and services are considered by many to be the next big frontier in mobile devices. Google has been pushing the benefits of contextual data with Google Now in Android and iOS, while Apple has integrated similar services to a limited extent in iOS 7. Startups such as Cover and recent Yahoo acquisition Aviate, provide wildly different smartphone experiences based on contextual data such as location or time of day.
EverythingMe, a homescreen and app launcher for Android available today, provides yet another take on using contextual data to make your smartphone even better. Co-founder Ami Ben David calls it "Smartphone 2.0" (as opposed to the static launchers in Android and iOS, i.e. smartphone 1.0) and promises that it will make your phone smarter and more efficient to use.
EVERYTHINGME WILL FEEL FAMILIAR TO MOST ANDROID USERS
EverythingMe looks more like a traditional Android launcher than its main competitor Aviate, with five homescreens, an app drawer, and a search bar at the top. It's more familiar to someone that has used Android before, and doesn't require you to completely relearn where all of your apps are. It's more dynamic than traditional launchers, with its changing backgrounds and swift animations. It feels more alive as you use it.
The project initially started as a way to improve search on your phone, and EverythingMe claims its search bar now offers the fastest in-phone search available on Android. Finding apps or contacts only requires a tap or two in the search bar at the top of your screen, and the entire interface will rearrange itself as you type based on what you're looking for. More frequently used apps or contacts will bubble to the top of the results, while searches for specific artists or albums will be transferred to appropriate apps. A search for "movie" pulls up quick shortcuts to the YouTube, Netflix, and IMDB apps on my phone, as well as links to Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, and other relevant web sites. The background changes to a relevant image from James Cameron's Avatar , which provides a more colorful and dynamic feel than the stark white backgrounds in Google's Search app.
EverythingMe also offers Smart Folders, folders that automatically populate with related apps. A Smart Folder of social apps will automatically contain your Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat apps, for instance. If you download Instagram, it will automatically be added to the social folder when it is installed. The Smart Folders go beyond just what's on the phone by offering shortcuts to related websites below the installed apps, similar to the web shortcuts available when you use the search bar. Some Smart Folders, such as sports, news, or weather, attempt to anticipate what you are looking for with stylish Google Now-like cards that tell you current conditions or the latest headlines.
SMART FOLDERS AUTOMATICALLY GET UPDATED WITH EACH NEW APP YOU INSTALL
The most contextual feature of EverythingMe is its Prediction Bar, a widget of sorts that sits at the bottom of your main homescreen and displays apps that it thinks you are most likely to use at a given time. The bar will change which apps are presented based on your location, time of day, and how often you use them. It includes an agenda-type app that changes during the day with current weather, upcoming appointments, and more. The widget will also show relevant apps if you plug a headset into the phone, or if you have a missed call from one of your favorite contacts. David says that it takes a few days of using EverythingMe before the Prediction Bar becomes its most effective as the launcher changes its suggestions based on your habits.
EverythingMe's goal is to anticipate what you want to do with your phone in any given situation and then make it easy to accomplish that task. David likens it to a real life human assistant that has your coffee just the way you like it on your desk before you even step into the office. I've been using the latest version of the launcher on my Moto X for a couple of days and while it's definitely not as capable as a real human assistant (it has yet to get me a cup of coffee), it has surprised me on a number of occasions by presenting the app or information I'm looking for with little to no input from me. It's also fast and responsive and the extra information it pulls in for the Smart Folders and other functions don't seem to slow it down.
EVERYTHINGME'S BIGGEST CHALLENGE WILL BE GETTING USERS TO INSTALL IT
The biggest challenge for EverythingMe will not be figuring out what app I want to use next but to actually get people to download and install the launcher. The company claims that it saw over two million downloads during its eight month public beta test, which while impressive, is only but a small fraction of the Android userbase. The truth of the matter is that most users are content with they way their phones come out of the box or aren't even aware that they can install a different app launcher.
For now, the company is independent (though it has raised considerable funds, employs over 60 engineers, and has caught the eye of Samsung) and it is offering the app at no cost, hoping that it will continue to grow via word of mouth. EverythingMe makes money by promoting and suggesting apps to users based on their search criteria and it has a partnership with Mozilla to power the search features in Firefox OS. David insists that no promoted app will rank higher than an actual app installed on a user's phone, and I didn't find the suggestions to be obnoxious or obtrusive in the time I've used the app.
EverythingMe is hoping that context will be everything to everyone, and there's a very good chance that the smartphones of tomorrow will be using contextual data in ways that we can only imagine. Until then, EverythingMe is one way to take advantage of all of that data that your smartphone already knows.
SOURCEEVERYTHINGME (GOOGLE PLAY)
Samsung nigh-confirmed that it will officially announce the Galaxy S5 on February 24th at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with those‘Unpacked 5’ invitations it sent out to the media yesterday, but there was one man who warned us about the earlier than expected launch nearly two weeks ago.
We’re talking about Russian insider and blogger Eldar Murtazin, and now he claims he knows the exact specifications of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5.
Samsung’s 2014 flagship is said to come with a 5.24-inch screen with a whopping 2560 x 1440-pixel, Quad HD resolution. If true, this would make the Galaxy S5 the first Quad HD smartphone in the Western hemisphere (the Vivo Xplay 3S outpaced it to become the first Quad HD smartphone in the world, but it’s availability is limited to China). This would also make the Galaxy S5 the world’s first smartphone to break the 500ppi barrier, as its pixel density comes in at 560ppi.
Moreover, the Galaxy S5 should feature a whopping 3200mAh battery, and hopefully, an increase in battery life. In comparison, last year’s Galaxy S4 came with a humbler, 2600mAh battery, but it also features a smaller display with a lower resolution.
Interestingly, the phone is rumored to come with increased internal storage, as there would be a 32GB and 64GB internal storage models, and no 16 gig version. Murtazin, however, does not mention whether the S5 will have a microSD card memory expansion slot.
Samsung is preparing a new TouchWiz interface that might debut on the Galaxy S5
Under the hood, the Galaxy S5 is said to be available in two versions - an international one with a Snapdragon system chip, and another one with an Exynos 6 chip. It’s not yet clear whether the international S5 would have Snapdragon 805 or Snapdragon 800 (likely the MSM8974ac version) at launch.
The camera is once again said to be a 16-megapixel one on the back, and a 3.2-megapixel up front. This falls in line with earlier rumors about a 16-megapixel ISOCELL camera in the next Samsung flagship, so we're not all that surprised about this.
Additionally, the Galaxy S5 should launch with a lot of smarthome software and a few new accessories including an S Band bracelet. Interestingly, plans for a thinner Galaxy Gear smartwatch launching alongside the S5 have allegedly been scrapped at this time.
Finally, do keep in mind that all of this - despite coming from an inside source - is still a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt, at least until we see the new Samsung flagship soon.
Another week has come and gone, meaning that it is now time for a news round-up. Right on top of our list is a story that you shouldn't have missed, namely the announcement that Motorola Mobility will have a new owner soon. Google has agreed to sell the company to Lenovo in exchange for $2.91 billion.
In other news, Apple made over $13 billion dollars over the last quarter. Part of that money came from the 51 million iPhones and 26 million iPads that were sold. Samsung, however, sold an even greater number of smartphones over the same period of time. The Korean company managed to move 86 billion smartphones out of its warehouses. Unsurprisingly, Samsung now holds a significant chunk of the global smartphone market.
Speaking of Samsung, the company added another phone to its portfolio – the Galaxy Note 3 Neo. That's a phablet, as you can probably tell, sporting a spacious 5.5-inch display and an S Pen digital stylus. It will be available later this month for a price that has yet to be revealed.
The upcoming HTC M8 will look ‘strikingly like’ its predecessor, the HTC One, according to the web’s most prominent leakster @evleaks. The rumored information claims that the similarity is so striking that HTC could easily name the upcoming flagship the ‘HTC One S’, if the company hadn’t already used that name.
What does ‘strikingly’ similar mean? Chances are, the HTC M8 will allegedly inherit the excellent, sturdy unibody construction of the HTC One with its dual front speaker setup. Those two key features were universally praised, and the overall HTC One design has won it multiple awards.
With all this in mind, keeping the HTC One visuals in the M8 is probably a good decision for HTC, despite the fact that some people might have wanted to see something slightly improved.
Most recently, we’ve heard whispers that the HTC M8 will launch in late March at an event in New York City.
It is said to come with a slightly larger-size 1080 x 1920-pixel display, more powerful silicon, and - most interestingly - a dual camera setup on its back suggesting new photographic experiences.
source: @evleaks
Samsung GT-I9515 is a new and unannounced smartphone that’s been discovered in a benchmark test, as well as in the database of Zauba (which lists imports and exports to and from India).
The new handset’s model number, GT-I9515, is closely related to the model number of the original Samsung Galaxy S4 from last year (GT-I9500). Its features also seem to match the features of the old S4: 5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixels, and a 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor with Adreno 320 GPU.
However, unlike the Galaxy S4, the GT-I9515 appears to run Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Dutch website GalaxyClub speculates that this could be a Galaxy S4 Neo. Samsung has already introduced a Galaxy Grand Neo and a Galaxy Note 3 Neo, so maybe it’s also readying an S4 Neo.
Unfortunately,
only Samsung knows for sure what the GT-I9515 is, and if it’s going to launch it anytime soon - or ever. In case you’re wondering, no, this is certainly not the Galaxy S4 Black Edition revealed last week (this one has the model number GT-I9505 and runs Jelly Bean).
Perhaps the GT-I9515 will be announced by Samsung later this month at MWC 2014. We’ll let you know if it happens.
A 13-year-old girl from Maine has suffered first and second degree burns after her iPhonecaught fire in her pocket. The smartphone allegedly caught fire last Friday while the girl was in class. Some reports indicate that the device in this case was an iPhone 5C, but that is unconfirmed.
The girl reportedly had the iPhone in her back pocket when she sat down. She reportedly heard a popping sound from her back pocket where the phone was and saw smoke. The boys in class were reportedly asked to leave the room while the girl removed her pants.
The teacher covered her with a blanket and she was taken to the hospital where she was treated and released. Officials investigating the fire say that they think the smartphone shorted out when she sat down.
The principal of the school says that the girl did the stop, drop, and roll procedure taught in school. The officials say that people need to be cautious when putting smartphones in their back pocket out of fear of causing an electrical short. There have been no official comments from Apple on the case.
SOURCE: USA Today
The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 was announced late last year but only now we find out that the mid-range 5.25" Android phone has an LTE version. That version carries the model number SM-G7105 (model numbers for LTE-enabled devices end in 5).
The device is not official yet, but its user manual (PDF) and its SAR information have been uploaded to the Samsung site. The SAR search tool returns two devices – G7105 and G7105L – but the L model hasn’t been tested yet (it's probably a carrier-specific version).
Skimming through the user manual, nothing seems to have changed in terms of specs but then there's no info on the chipset (which likely has changed). We're waiting for the official specs to go up to confirm if there have been changes to the quad-core chipset.
The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 also comes in the G7102 version, which is a dual-SIM model, but that's a 3G-only device.
Source 1 (PDF) • Source 2
A £90.89 solar smartphone charger called Beta.ey features a ball lens and minuscule multi-junction solar cell that can charge a smartphone one and a half times per dayRawLemon
Solar panels might be the solution to climate change, but they sure are ugly. RawLemon, a startup founded by architect André Broessel, wants to change the way we perceive solar power. Instead of covering roofs and building façades with nasty photovoltaic cells, he believes we can harness the power of the sun using giant, water-filled glass spheres embedded in the curtain walls of skyscrapers and desktop power stations.
The theory underlying RawLemon's work is that gleaming crystal globes can concentrate diffused sunlight, or even moonlight, onto a tiny, hyper-efficient photovoltaic cell. Paired with a dual-motion tracking system that keeps the sun's energy focused on the cell throughout the day, the hope is that these efficiency gains will make solar power a practical solution in parts of the world where it's previously been a non-starter.
Ball lenses are a novelty in solar power, but they are commonly used as a coupling tool in laser-based applications, endoscopes, and barcode scanners. Conceptually, the idea is similar to how many modern solar panel manufacturers employ Fresnel lenses, angled sheets of plastic that help reorient light rays that don't fall directly on the panels, to maximise exposure.
The spherical form catches the eye, but according to Broessel, much of the value is provided by the patent-pending motion system that keeps light focused on the solar cell. "The breakthrough for higher efficiencies in solar applications lies in the unique design of our dual-axis tracking," says Broessel. "This really opens up the possibility of having concentrator solar panels on façades."
Broessel's vision is architectural in scale, but in order to prove out the concept and generate investment he has put the principle to work in consumer product form. The result is a $149 (£90.89) solar smartphone charger called Beta.ey that features a minuscule multi-junction solar cell, measuring just a centimetre square, that can charge your phone one and a half times per day -- completely off the grid.
Inspiration Strikes
The unconventional idea to employ ball lenses didn't come to Broessel in a classroom or solar energy symposium, but at his breakfast table. He was working on the design for a new building and became frustrated when preliminary calculations showed there wasn't enough surface area to make green energy work. He noticed his daughter was playing, putting marbles into her egg cup, which to most parents would seem like innocent play, but it reminded him of the Campbell-Stokes Sunlight Recorder.
The Cambell-Stokes Recorder is an obscure astronomical tool that was popular in the 1850s and recorded the amount of sunlight in a given area by focusing it through a ball lens which would then burn a trace into a piece of paper. He realised that if that concentrated energy could be applied to a solar cell, higher gains could be achieved in much smaller spaces.
Broessel believes his innovations could lead to massive, quantifiable gains. "Compared to the maximum theoretical efficiency ceiling of a silicon cell of 33.7 percent, the concentrator multi-junction cell has already reached 43 percent efficiency of its theoretical limit of 86 percent and this is expected to improve through further research."
The big question remains -- does it work? -- and the crystal ball has not provided a definitive response. Bold claims are plentiful, and Broessel is quick to point to diagrams or YouTube videos that demonstrate the concepts, but published scientific data or even rigorous white papers aren't readily available on the RawLemon website.
The science seems sound and the entrepreneur couldn't be more passionate, but be warned. After all, the federal government lost hundreds of millions of dollars backing solar panel makers with flawless credentials and published papers. Risk aside, if you want to try and shock the power industry, Beta.ey is raising funds on IndieGoGo until 8 February.
This story originally appeared on Wired.com
Nokia X or Normandy is getting even closer to release. Аccording to a Senior Executive over at Nokia India, the device will be launched in March as a member of the Asha lineup.
The specs seem to mirror those of the Lumia 520 save for the OS being Android instead of Windows Phone. There will be a 4" WVGA (480 x 800) screen, 5 MP camera, dual-core 1.2 GHz chipset, 512 MB RAM and 4 GB of expandable storage - pretty much what we've known so far.
There would be an optional dual-SIM version as well. Currently we've seen what the device might look like, what it could do in HTML-based benchmark BrowserMark 2 and even got some details of theVietnamese availability.
The latest report on the market share for particular operating systems is in from Net Applications. The new report shows that the Windows operating system is still by far the most popular on the computing market. Windows with all its versions holds 90.72% of the OS market.
Mac OS holds 7.68% of the market with Linux having 1.60%. There are several flavors inside the Windows chunk of the pie. The most popular flavor of Windows is Windows 7 with 47.49% of the market share. The second most popular is Windows XP holding 29.23% of the overall windows market.
The share of the Windows pie that Windows 8.1 holds has grown quickly since the latest version of the OS launched in October. Windows 8.1 has 3.95% of the OS market. That puts Windows 8.1 ahead of the market share that Windows Vista holds with 3.30% of the market.
Windows 8 holds 6.63% of the Windows share. The market share of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 combined only changed slightly in the latest report gaining 0.09%. Despite Microsoft actively trying to get people off Windows XP, it actually gained a bit of ground in the latest report gaining 0.25% with a climb from 28.98% at the end of 2013 to 29.23% in the latest report.
SOURCE: TheNextWeb
Military defence contractor Lockheed has successfully sent a robot truck convey through urban areas. They didn't crash or hit any unsuspecting pedestrians despite being human-free at the wheel.
The military want the ability to send in truck convoys, to warzones, without the need to risk soldiers sat in the driving seat. This would mean supplies can be sent to the front line without human risk, as well as getting troops out of danger.
The Autonomous Mobility Appliqué System (AMAS) program uses GPS and LIDAR to navigate. The GPS shows the truck where to go but the LIDAR "sees" obstacles using laser radar, so collisions can be avoided. Then other trucks can be added to the lead so they follow it in a convoy.
Lockheed said: "The [successful] test involved driverless tactical vehicles navigating hazards and obstacles such as road intersections, oncoming traffic, stalled and passing vehicles, pedestrians and traffic circles in both urban and rural test areas."
While these smart driverless vehicles have been in development for years, including at Google. We've not seen them used in the real world yet. A battle situation, where lives rely on machines, is the ultimate test. We'll be keeping an eye on Lockheed to lead the driverless revolution.
READ: UK puts plan in place for driverless cars, will pick one city as testing ground
Via: The Register
With each successive generation of smartphones comes more power, more pixels, and more everything. Year after year we're treated to what sometimes feels like a preset 'upgrade' curve, where the processors, cameras, screens and just about everything else gets a bit better with each new model. But wholly new, exciting features emerge every now and then, mostly on the software side, but sometimes we even get something kind of exciting in terms of hardware, too. One such trend-setter is inductive charging, most commonly referred to as wireless charging, and today is going to be all about this new tech that has proved intriguing, tenacious and forward-looking -- or the Holy Grail of qualities that every up and comer in this industry seems to exhibit at a particular point.
So what is this tech wizardry that charges your smartphone's battery as if from thin air? Actually, it's nothing really fancy, and by saying that we're in no way trying to detract from the achievement that it is. That said, it's worth noting that many credit the bizarre and eccentric scientist from Serbian descent, Nikola Tesla, with laying the groundwork for wireless charging all the way back at the turn of the 20th century. Tesla actually filed a patent that described a device that he believed could transmit electricity from one conductor to another with no wiring whatsoever, and though his work never actually bore practical fruits, his idea evidently stuck. Fast-forward to today, and we have a number of 'alliances' rallying up behind different wireless charging standards, the most popular of which is the Qi standard. Despite the hardware incompatibility between those, they all rely on what is basically the same thing: inductive charging using an electromagnetic field to transfer electrical power between a 'charging station' (a pad, if you will) and a compatible smartphone (or an accessory, like a case). More specifically, once the 'station' is connected to the grid, a little coil within it (the transmitter) passes on an alternating current onto a coil in your smartphone (a receiver), generating a magnetic field. This induces voltage into the receiver coil, which, in turn, charges up your phone's battery. This is what is called 'inductive coupling'.
L1, the transmitter coil, passes on an alternating current onto L2, the receiver coil, inducing voltage and charging up your phone.
Unfortunately, there are some limitations of note with the technology, at least at this time. We mentioned the existence of several incompatible standards, of course, but you need to also consider a few other things. For starters, the 'wireless' part is not technically true, as the charging pad still needs to be connected to the grid with a wire. Moreover, the argument over whether wireless charging can be as efficient (and fast) as wired charging does not seem to be completely settled just yet, though the folks behind the Qi standard seem to think that, under what are likely advantageous circumstances, wireless charging could be just as fast and efficient.
On the positive side, the Qi team claims that it has developed a system that will consume just 0.0001 Watts in standby (when nothing is being charged, but its being plugged to the grid), while the typical wall charger is said to consume about as much power when in standby, as when in use. Apart from the 'green' appeal of the tech, wireless charging is inherently compelling for those of us lucky enough to own a smartphone, since battery life is often less than satisfying. More out-of-the-box (read: radical) ideas picture a world where our entire desks, even entire building floors, have millions of those inductive coils transmitting energy throughout the entire surface, allowing you to basically charge your device wherever it is. If the technology does get cheap enough, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that a time might come, when our devices will be continuously charged throughout the day, pretty much wherever we are.
references: WirelessPowerConsortium, Tesla universe, Texas Instruments
One of the big differences between the PS4 and the Xbox One game consoles in the eyes of consumers is price. The Xbox One at $499 is $100 more expensive than the PS4. Rumors have been circulating that Microsoft is working on a cheaper Xbox One.
The rumors claim that the cheaper Xbox One would do without one important bit of hardware to get the $100 price cut compared to the current console. That piece of hardware is its optical drive. That would mean any cheaper Xbox One without the disc drive would be good for digital downloads only.
One Microsoft exec has now stepped up and denied that the company is working on a disc free version of the Xbox One. The denial came in the form of a tweeted response to another tweet talking about the rumored $399 disc free Xbox One.
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg simply said that you couldn't believe everything you read online. Greenburg is the Chief of Staff for Devices and Studios Group at Microsoft. He would certainly know what was coming from the software giant.
He could also be denying the cheaper Xbox One to save sales of the current console. Tech firms are notorious for denying something is in the works right up until it launches. With broadband speeds not that great in many parts of the world, I can’t see a disc drive free Xbox One being that appealing for many. It's also hard to imagine cutting a disc drive alone saving $100. The rumors this week also claim that a white version of the Xbox One is coming soon.
SOURCE: Escapist Magazine
If you're a die hard BlackBerry fan, the kind that can't imagine using any other keyboard than the one on the BlackBerry Q10, you might have been concerned by the appointment of John Chen to replace Thorsten Heins as CEO of the Canadian manufacturer. With the reputation as someone who has turned around a troubled company (Sybase) and dressed it up to be sold to a much larger one (SAP), the fear was that Chen would concentrate on areas like the enterprise, BES and let the consumer handset business die in its sleep.
But Chen recently confirmed that the consumer smartphone business is still a top priority at Waterloo, despite the challenges of taking on a rather entrenched duopoly in iOS and Android. With the enterprise business, BlackBerry has BES although the CEO recently said that the company has lost users since BlackBerry 7 was retired.
Hand in hand with the enterprise business is BlackBerry's reputation for security. Chen says that no platform is as secure as the BlackBerry OS. And while this once might have been more important to the businesses and government agencies who are transmitting confidential information on a smartphone and storing it on the device, the NSA 'scandal' has brought the issue of security to the general public. That could benefit BlackBerry's consumer sales.
"People who love their BlackBerry have always appreciated that their device allows them to get things done. And central to our productivity focus is our keyboard. BlackBerry has invested years of research and development to create the world’s best mobile keyboard, and that will continue to be a central focus for us...One critical challenge we have been addressing is the company’s broad approach on both enterprise and consumer markets...doesn’t mean we are turning our back on the consumer--far from it--but it’s important we narrow our focus on our core strengths. I believe in the values of this brand and I’ve assembled the right team and strategy with the strong confidence that we will rebuild BlackBerry for the benefit of all of our constituencies."-John Chen, CEO, BlackBerry
With some research firms reporting that BlackBerry had 0% of the U.S. smartphone market in the fourth quarter, keeping the faith is going to be hard for those die-hard fans that the company still has left. Chen earlier said that the company is working on some high-end models for the U.S.market that are not covered by its 5-year pact with Foxconn. This is where BlackBerry has fallen flat on its face before. If it can come up with a device that can challenge the competition specs wise, perhaps BlackBerry's strengths in the physical keyboard and security areas can help it bounce off the bottom of the consumer smartphone market. This seems to be what John Chen is counting on.
source: FastCompany via BerryReview
Facebook has begun to test its Graph Search product within its iOS and Android applications, the company has confirmed.
The change was first noticed by Mashable reporter Seth Fiegerman, who tweeted a screenshot of the interface that looks very similar to Graph Search found on the web.
Graph Search was launched in limited testing by Facebook in January 2013 and available to all users in June 2013 on desktop. It is designed to let you filter through all the content you are connected to on Facebook and find the relevant information and images you want or need.
Read: What is Facebook Graph Search?
During Facebook's fourth quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerburg said: "We're really early in the game on [Graph Search]. You can see that because we haven't even really rolled out our mobile version of Graph Search yet and we're a mobile company. Pretty soon, you should expect us to roll out the mobile version of this. I think that's going to be an important step because most of the usage of Facebook overall is on mobile."
Facebook further said it now has 945 million monthly active users on mobile, which is a 39 per cent increase over the year-ago quarter. As Facebook's user base becomes more mobile attached, it's a necessity for Facebook to move Graph Search past just the desktop.
Zuckerburg's "pretty soon" words on Graph Search are here sooner than expected, even though the testing on mobile on a very limited basis. It's not clear when it may launch to the public.
Via: The Verge
Source: Seth Fiegerman
