Headlines Archives - Page 28 of 58

Amazon Reveals New Kindle Paperwhite

June 18, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

The new Kindle Paperwhite will go on sale on June the 30th.

Amazon has worked hard to redesign their Kindle device, and the company has managed to stick with the same price – even though it has a ton of added features, and improvements.

The new Kindle Paperwhite sports 300dpi which doubles the existing resolution that his older sibling has. Amazon also announced that they have a new font available for the Kindle called Bookerly. It’s specially designed to work on Kindle’s new screen, and it will offer a more pleasant reading experience – it’s super easy to read at any point size.

Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos has stated that – ” The new Kindle Paperwhite obsesses over the details that matter most to readers – we’ve added our highest-resolution display so the words are crisp and clear on the page, a new font that is crafted exclusively for reading Kindle books, and a new typesetting engine that makes pages beautiful.”

Battery life stays mostly the same, even thought the screen can output a better resolution. Also, as I said before, the price will remain the same – that’s $119. The WiFi, and 3G variant will be a little bit more expensive, and it will result in you coughing up $189. You can pre-order yours right now on Amazon.

Their new Paperwhite will be on par with the Voyage device – both of them are offering crisp, and excellent quality images, and text.

A spokesperson for the company has noted that – ” With twice the pixels as the previous generation Kindle Paperwhite, the display delivers laser-quality text, making it easy to read comfortably at any font size, including at smaller fonts so you can fit more words on each page.”

The really good thing about Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite is the fact that it feels and looks just like the old one – why fix something that ain’t broken?

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

Google Owned Nest Labs Launches Nest Cam

June 18, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Google-owned Nest Labs, which is their smart-home automation company, has just announced Nest Cam.

Nest Labs has been working hard on improving their already released products to better suite smart-home dwellers, and in addition to that, the company just announced their new home-monitoring camera. It has a microphone, speakers, motion-sensors, and night-vision – to ensure that everything is safe 24/7.

The Nest Cam was built-upon Dropcam’s highly applauded top-quality camera – a company which Nest Labs acquired last Summer for the sum of $555 million.

It shoots 1080p video with the help of a wide-angled lens, and a three megapixel sensor. If you’re having problems with your storage capacity, Nest Labs offers a new cloud service that will be fully integrated with their Nest Cam. It’s called Nest Aware and it will cost you an additional monthly subscription – $15 to $45 depending on what plan you may choose.

Meet The Nest Cam

Considering the fact that the Nest Cam retails at $310, I say that it comes down to the almost expensive kind. Sure, there are a ton of other high-definition cameras available, but how many of them are going to help smart-home owners?

The Google-owned company also announced a new addition to their fire safety product line – a redesigned version of their Protect line includes sensors that can detect fire, smoke, and CO2 emissions.

Also the company has announced that major improvements were made regarding their software. Nest’s 2011 original thermostat software received an upgrade. Nest also notes that the company’s mobile app has been updated to the 5.0 version – improvements have been made, and now a smart-home owner can control and interact with Net’s suite of products more easily.

Nest Thermostat

“At Nest, we always wanted to build more than a thermostat. Our vision was to create a thoughtful home, a home that takes care of itself and the people in it. Five years later, all the pieces are in place.” said Tony Fadell, now the chief executive of Nest, and one of the co-founders, along with Matt Rogers. They launched the company in 2010, and last year it was acquired by Google for $3 billion.

” We have three products today, they work well on their own, they work better together, and they work great with third-party products.” noted Lionel Paillet, Nest’s general manager for Europe.

The Internet of Things has seen a major growth in the past year, and more and more manufacturers are working towards developing internet-connected devices.

Nest Co-Founders

The key players still remain Google, and Apple. Both recently announcing improvements in the area – Google launched Brillo, which is an operating system designed for connected devices, and Apple detailing their HomeKit framework designed for communicating, and controlling connected accessories.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Facebook Launches Moments – A Photo Sharing App

June 17, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The social media behemoth Facebook just launched a new photo sharing app called Moments.

At the current moment – pun not intended; the app is only available for those who reside in the US – it can be downloaded for iOS, and Android. Availability to more countries will follow in the near future.

Moments is not your basic photo sharing app – it makes it easier to share photos with your friends. You can synch your gallery with whomever you want to. Moments uses a facial recognition software that detects who is in a photo, and it will synch, privately I may add, with who recognizes to be your friends. It also recognizes when, and where the photos were taken – sort of like what Google Photos does. No, it’s exactly like Google Photos.

If you’re familiar with the tag option, then you’ll have no problems searching for photos. You can use a filter to search only through one of your friend’s photos, or a certain location, a certain time, and of course date.

You have the option to limit these tags, and Facebook says that this won’t pose as a threat to your privacy.

Of course, you need to grant access to Moments so the app can be able to synch your gallery. If you tag a person that isn’t your friend on Moments, they will get a message on Facebook telling them that some photos are awaiting approval, and if they wish to join the new platform. Some may find this a little bit intrusive.

The really great thing is that you can share pictures with your friends on Moments that you don’t necessarily have to share on Facebook. Okay, so you went to the beach today, and you already shared two pics. Do you really want to fill my news feed with your road-trip? Share them on Moments, set a privacy setting, and only you and your friends can have access to them.

Given the fact that Google Photos has just launched, can Moments do something to the big G’s new service? Facebook isn’t known to have a successful app releases – their Poke, Camera for iPhone, and Slingshot failed, miserably actually, and they were eventually removed from the Apple App Store. Yikes.

I’ll give it a try, but I’ll most likely stick to Google’s Photos app – unlimited free storage for 1080p videos, and pictures up to 16 megapixels sounds exceptional. It ain’t the best option for professional photographers, but for my crappy holiday pictures it’s more than enough.

So, with what service are you sticking with? Facebook’s Moments, or Google’s Photos?

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

AMD Will Launch 8K Capable Fiji Radeon 300 GPU

June 17, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

This year’s E3 event seems to be filled with surprises – not only gaming wise. AMD noted that it will launch an 8K capable GPU called Fiji Radeon 300.

8K? Holy jumping jacks Batman, I have yet to own a 4K capable machine. At this point, it’s better to wait for the 8K capable GPU to be released. Sure, it will cost a little bit more, fine, a lot more, but you get a much bigger, and crisper resolution.

Most people at an E3 event are interested on what new games they will be able to play in the following months, and the year to come. The majority of companies that have their own keynote are doing just so. But here comes AMD to focus only on hardware and talk about their new products – and I have to say that the Fiji Radeon 300, and its siblings, are just phenomenal.

AMD will be focusing on the company’s Future Graphic Technologies which includes High Bandwidth Memory (HBM).

“Our latest pioneering breakthrough in memory technology, smashes through performance walls and establishes a new, open industry standard,” said an AMD spokesperson.

According to the company, AMD will bring the ” new era of gaming” with their new Fiji product line – the new High Bandwidth Memory succeeds GDDR 5.

You can take a look just down below at an 8K screenshot – 7680 x 4320; that was made available by AMD. It showcases Battlefield 4. I embedded the image, but I had to resize it to fit the page. If you want to see it at its full resolution you can do so right here.

This is just jaw-dropping. I’m really curious how it’s like to play an 8K Battlefield 4 multiplayer match. I’ll most likely get distracted by all the details in the game, and I’ll get killed, or kicked for exploring.

At the current moment, we don’t know if the 8K capable graphic card will be made available for purchase right after E3 – most likely it’s going to be released sometime this Summer.

It seems that AMD is fighting back and their trying to get some of their customers back – Nvidia currently has 70% of the marketshare.

It’s been a tough period for AMD. Users have reported that AMD builds output lower performance than Nvidia builds, even though both of the builds have almost the same exact technical specifications. An 8K capable GPU might entice former customers to come back to their initial love, but it seriously depends on what the new graphic card’s price will be.

Are you thrilled about the new 8K capable GPU? Are you going to buy it when it’s made available?

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

A Ton of Games Are Being Developed for Project Morpheus

June 16, 2015 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

Project Morpheus

Wired has somehow gotten Sony to spill the beans about their Project Morpheus virtual reality headset. It’s going to come out sometime next year, and Sony’s focus is to build a huge library of games.

Sony was supposed to showcase their Project Morpheus and talk about their VR device Monday at their E3 keynote, but it didn’t happen like we expected. Sony just stated that it’s going to be a social event. Fortunately for us, Wired managed to get the president of Sony’s Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida to talk.

” We need to convince PS4 owners to spend several hundred dollars to purchase a Morpheus headset, on top of the PS4 they already have, and more gaming content is what will convince them.”, Shuhei Yoshida has said.

Project Morpheus

Can’t say I disapprove with their view on things, and I actually applaud their stance. When the time comes to look for virtual reality headsets I’ll choose the one that offers a huge library of games, and not just a headset that will allow me to watch movies and surf Facebook – I’m looking at you Oculus Rift, which, hopefully, you won’t become a Facebook VR platform.

Yoshida, and Adam Boyes, who is Sony VP of publisher and developer relations, said that the company will showcase during E3 almost 20 demos so users can get a taste of what Project Morpheus is all about. Besides ““small indie teams [and] outfits.” as Boyes puts it, Sony will also support development of Horizon: Zero Dawn, a new IP, for their VR device, and a version of Ubisoft’s Trackmania.

“We have 30 or more games being developed that we are tracking — not all of them will come out at launch, but there are serious efforts being made on all of them,” the two have been reported of telling Wired.

Project Morpheus

More so, the two also point out that porting a virtual reality game from Oculus Rift to Project Morpheus may take only about a couple of days, and that the company is trying its best to fully support developers, and make their lives easier.

But can Project Morpheus go against the really popular Facebook-owned Oculus Rift? The VR company just announced its partnership with Microsoft, and Oculus managed to snag a couple of well-known dev companies to release exclusive titles on their platforms – Square Enix, Insomniac Games, Ready at Dawn, amongst others.

And let’s not forget HTC, and Valve’s alliance – can their SteamVR, also known as Vive, manage to get the needed attention from gamers? Valve has announced that they will feature a huge library of games easily downloadable through their Steam platform.

Project Morpheus

I’m going to wait this battle out, and I’m not going to jump head first. I’m more inclined of buying the SteamVR to be honest – Project Morpheus also seems really great. Don’t know what to say about Oculus Rift – since the news that they have been acquired by Facebook has been publicly announced, I’m feeling a little bit sceptical. The might sway me over – the company has announced that they are supporting developers with over $10 million.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

A Bigger iPad Pro Might Be Coming, iOS 9 Code Notes

June 16, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

The new iPad Pro resolution should be 2732×2048 – code found in the new iOS 9 states that Apple’s new device will feature a larger keyboard. Thus making us think that their new iPad Pro will most likely be bigger.

Thanks to developer Hiraku Wang, we should be seeing the 12.9-inch iPad Pro sporting a pixel density of 263ppi.

Reports earlier this year were noting that Apple’s new device will most likely be bigger, but now we’re closer to confirmation. Although, there isn’t an official announcement from Apple, and don’t expect this to happen any time soon. Apple isn’t known to reply to these kinds of rumours, and they’ll focus on doing their own thing.

As expected, Apple’s new mobile software isn’t expected to roll until this Fall, although if you’re a developer you can get your hands on the dev release, and meddle with it. Probably Apple wants to pair the release of their new software with the announcement of their new bigger iPad Pro product line.

It’s not unlikely that Apple will talk about their iPad Pro at their iPhone 6 plus event, but don’t hold your breath for this actually happening.

Apple spent quite some time at their WWDC conference speaking to devs, teaching them that the best way to design an app, and offer the best kind of experience, is to have size fluidity in mind. Of course, Apple is also sticking to their traditional views that apps should also be made elegant and simple, and nobody should sacrifice design in order to release their apps. *Doh* Apple, thanks for being Captain Obvious once again.

Apple’s new keyboard will be scalable to sizes that are unseen on their already-released devices. It will also feature more keys that what the present devices have, making us think that although the size will be quite bigger, keys might be clustered a little bit. This isn’t a serious issue, and one might use their iPad Pro for more serious issues rather than just typing away on Facebook, or looking for that cute cat video on YouTube.

Apple seems to focus more and more on multi-tasking, and size fluidity. Don’t get me wrong, they are making steps forwards, and we, the consumers, should be thrilled that Apple is working towards a more intuitive UI, but what about a better battery life? I’ve been ranting about this for the past year. Sure, we get better screens, great software, but battery life seems to be forgotten.

A few months ago we wrote about a new aluminium battery being developed at Stanford that can be re-charged in just one minute. It’s not perfected yet, and it can output only a meager 2 volt, and can only carry 40 watts of electricity per kilogram. Hopefully, we’ll see this issue being tackled by the big corps too.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

Google is Set to Launch YouTube Gaming for Streamers

June 15, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Google has just officially announced that they will tackle video game streaming with their new YouTube Gaming. It feels like a direct attack to Twitch and their service.

Google’s new platform will add all of Twitch’s features, while sporting a few new ideas of its own. Gamers will be able to share their original content as easily as they would have on Twitch.

YouTube Gaming is set to launch sometime this Summer, and users can be a part of the new platform by sharing Let’s Play content, and other live streams, in a different hub – separate from YouTube itself.

According to product manager Alan Joyce, and his statement on the YouTube official blog – ” YouTube Gaming is built to be all about favorite games and gamers, with more videos than anywhere else. From Asteroids to Zelda, more than 25,000 games will each have their own page, a single place for all the best videos and live streams about that titles. You’ll also find channels from a wide array of game publishers and YouTube creators.”

Alan also added that their new platform will be centred around live streaming, but the company doesn’t discourage gamers to upload their original content. As you might have known already, YouTube Gaming will let gamers easily live stream at 60 frames per second, automatically converting their video without problems.

The platform’s in-built search engine will be modified around games, so if you are to search for Lego, you’ll get Lego Worlds, and other Lego related game results, and not videos about the real-life Lego bricks.

YouTube Gaming will be Twitch’s direct challenger, which is now the go-to place for video-game streamers around the world. Twitch is owned by Amazon, and their latest report states that they have a monthly audience of over 100 million viewers at the end of 2014.

Google will be present at this year’s E3 conference, and they will most likely detail their new live streaming platform. What we do know at the moment is that their new service will be launched in the US, and UK. For those of you living in Europe, don’t despair, the platform will come eventually – maybe even at the end of 2015, but rumours have it that it will be released sometime in the early 2016.

PewDiePie is the most known Let’s Play streamer.

It is unknown at the moment if Google will offer this service to Asia, Australia, or other zones.

If you want to be notified about details regarding YouTube Gaming, follow their official channel on Twitter – it’s up and running!

I can’t wait to stream playing The Witcher 3 – I need to let people know how much Roach sucks, and what a bad horsey he is!

Are you going to change venues from Twitch to YouTube? Tell us in the comments section below!

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

Apple Watch 2 to be Released in 2016 Tech Sites Report

June 15, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The Apple Watch 2 is rumoured to be released in 2016 – prestigious tech sites are reporting.

We’re still toying with Apple’s first smartwatch iteration, announcing that the Apple Watch 2 is currently being developed might stop some potential clients of acquiring said product. Apple has simply crushed the smartwatch market with their product, and most likely they’ll continue to do so with their next gen device.

At the current moment, Apple doesn’t have a serious challenger. Sure, we got Pebble Time, and the okay’ish AndroidWear product line, but reports have shown that consumers are just going mad over Apple’s device. No wonder, it’s super simple to use, it has a minimal and elegant design, and Apple is working round the clock to add features to the Apple Watch.

GForGamers, which is a Korean-based news outlet has stated that Apple will once again use LG as its main supplier of the Apple Watch 2’s display.

“LG Display (LGD) will be the exclusive supplier for the panels used by second-generation Apple Watch due out for next year, in addition to first-generation Apple Watch launched in April,” said sources.

Apparently, Apple is in a tight relationship with LG, and they are praising their hardware as top-notch, and best-choice on the market. Also LG’s display will feature P-OLED, which involves a plastic organic light that emits diodes – ” it offers higher resolution than liquid crystal display (LCD) and is a display plastic substrate which uses plastic, instead of glasses, to make it flexible.”

The article also added that – ” “(T)he Cupertino-based giant considered multiple suppliers for the next gen Watch’s display, but eventually settled with LG as an exclusive partner. This strategy goes against Apple’s usual M.O. of using multiple suppliers for a specific component, but sources add that Apple settled on this decision because LG’ performance on the P-OLED smartwatch display market is unmatched, offering high quality products and good yield.”

With Apple Watch launching only seven weeks ago, considering the fact that Apple Watch 2 is currently being developed might make one think that Apple will stop supporting their first gen smartwatch, but this isn’t the case.

Apple’s smartwatch product line will most like follow a 12 month cycle due to the fact that a) it sold tremendously well since its release, and b) it wants to continue its domination of the market. Also, Apple Watch 2 might be released at the same time with Apple’s new iPhone device – possibly even bundling them up together.

I have yet to buy Apple’s smartwatch, but if it’s going to be released in just about a year from now, I think I’ll patiently wait for the next gen device. What about you? Are you the proud owner of an Apple Watch? Or are you waiting for the next one?

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

BlackBerry Might Launch an Android Device

June 14, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

According to Reuters, BlackBerry is seriously considering building a smartphone that will use Google’s Android OS.

Their reliable source, who wishes to remain anonymous because he isn’t authorized to discuss anything about the company’s plans, has said that BlackBerry is quite serious about this.

By all means, BlackBerry should equip their smartphones with the Android OS. We don’t want to see a company with such a long history bankrupt themselves because someone’s ego is too big.

BlackBerry knows that their latest product line didn’t appeal to the masses, and the era when they were considered top dogs in the business sector has long set.

BlackBerry, who back in the day dominated the smartphone market now holds about 1 percent of its share.

The BlackBerry 10 Line

In 2010, the company released their BlackBerry 10 line, praising themselves that they will win back their crown. I would feel a little bit embarrassed if I were in their place. The company has massively lost in front of iOS, and Android devices.

In an email reply to Reuters, the company has stated that – ” We don’t comment on rumors and speculation, but we remain committed to the BlackBerry 10 operating system, which provides security and productivity benefits that are unmatched.”

Also, a Google spokesperson has declined to comment on the situation.

Really subtle guys, really subtle.

The biggest issue that the company might tackle is proving to its customers that their new line of devices can provide its device management software across a variety of platforms – subsequently working successfully.

Anonymous sources have reported that BlackBerry is going to release an Android slider device that will incorporate a keyboard and a touchscreen – trying to appease the masses, aren’t we BlackBerry? I would definitely buy a top-of-the-shelf smartphone that wields a physical keyboard. I got really big sausage fingers, and typing away on touch screens is a pain. I know for sure that I’m not the only one in this predicament.

BlackBerry could snag some big market points by providing a device for this particular niche, but only time will tell if they can get passed their ego, and actually try to reinstate themselves as challengers in the Apple, Samsung, and Google dominated industry.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company has made some much needed cuts regarding its personal. Gone is the day that BlackBerry had 17.500 employees. In February of 2015 the company had about 6.200 people employed, and in May a spokesman for BlackBerry announced that they will be making further cuts in their device sector.

Tough times require tough decisions.

Are you going to buy a BlackBerry device if they launch it featuring Android OS, and sporting a physical keyboard and a touch screen?

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Oculus Rift and Microsoft Have Announced Their Partnership

June 14, 2015 By Karen Jackson 1 Comment

The internet is in an uproar. Oculus Rift has just announced their partnership with Microsoft. More exactly, their virtual reality headset will come paired with an Xbox One controller.

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe also announced that their Oculus Rift device will fully support Windows 10, and its users will be able to play Xbox One games directly inside their, er, heads via Xbox-to-Windows streaming.

It is unknown at the moment what other services Microsoft will provide for the Facebook-owned virtual reality device.

Microsoft’s Head of Xbox Phil Spencer sported a huge grin on his face when it was time to take to the stage and announce their unlikely partnership. But even though the internet hates it, for whatever reason, I seriously applaud their entrepreneur spirit.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s a way to counter attack Sony’s Project Morpheus, and who would be better to do so than one of the most known virtual reality headsets on the planet. Oculus Rift has a super-high brand recognition – mostly because it was the first that tackled this trend, and partly because Facebook acquired it and made everyone wonder how Zuckerberg will tackle social media in the VR medium.

Oculus Rift is already built, and it’s in the polishing process – can’t say the exact same thing about Project Morpheus; we have no clue what Sony’s up to.

It’s a pure win-win situation for Microsoft. They don’t have to maintain the VR hardware, they only have to make their software compatible, and easy to use. Unlike Sony, who will most likely adopt the same thing for their VR headset. Sony needs to develop its product first, and then tackle compatibility issues that it may encounter. Or maybe Sony will shock as all, and when the time comes it will have all its problems fixed.

Whether the trend will ship towards augmented reality, or it will stay in the VR medium, Microsoft is more than prepared. The big M has enough time, and resources to focus on their HoloLens project and not worry about Oculus – which big daddy Facebook can easily take care of by opening its deep pockets. Some say that they are filled with gold, and others warn that they are drenched in tears of social media users from around the globe.

This might also be Microsoft’s chance of winning the console wars. Its Xbox, and Xbox 360 were gold, but when you talk about next gen consoles, PlayStation 4 is the reigning king.

Oculus Rift is also offering up to $10 million to help indie developers build games for their VR headset. I think they’re off to a tremendous head start, and Sony might just release their VR headset in time to barely taste the dust.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Categories