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Mark Zuckerberg revealed yesterday that he will be working on an AI butler for his home this year. He hopes to make it efficient enough to be able to recognise his friends’s faces and let them in, to keep an eye on his baby daughter’s room and take care of other basic controls of the house like music, temperature and light.
Zuckerberg put up a status update on his Facebook page stating,
My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work. You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man.
He intends to use his work on the AI to also help him with research in VR as he says, “On the work side, it’ll help me visualize data in VR to help me build better services and lead my organizations more effectively.”
This won’t be the first time, however, when someone is going the Tony Stark way. Tesla’s Elon Musk already has a lab which is heavily inspired by the snazzy Avenger character.
Looks like things on the tech-front are going to get quite interesting as real-life tech geniuses borrow from popular culture to add that extra edge to their lifestyle.
Every year, I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside my work at Facebook. My challenges in…
Motorola is kicking off 2016 with some exciting new offers for its newly launched Moto 360 (2nd Gen) smartwatch. Consumers can avail the Moto 360 (2nd Gen) men’s collection on Amazon.in from today. The collection includes cognac leather, black leather and black metal variants of the smartwatch. The collection also introduces, for the very first time in India, a 46mm Cognac Leather variant.
Other than the size and range, there have been very subtle changes to the new design from the previous Moto 360, such as – a re-positioning of the button to the 2 o’clock position and one can even customize the finish of the small bezel that surrounds the display. With respect to the processor, Motorola has upgraded its device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor.
They have also further improved the battery life and say that the 46 mm watch will last up to two days between charges, while the 42 mm watch will be able to last about a day and a half.
The Live Dials of Moto 360 Gen 2 give access to summarised information in one glance. Depending on what matters to the user most, the watch will give weather updates from among footsteps count, rate of heart activity and calorie count etc. The Moto Body is a feature that will keep an account of not just footsteps and heart rate, but also sleep patterns and nutrition of the user.
Additionally, the watch is rated at IP67 which means it can be soaked in 1 m (3.3 ft) of water for half an hour. The watch further boasts of voice controls. You can check out our unboxing of the Moto 360 (2nd Gen) to know more.
The product will be available at the given below prices.
Everyone loves listening to music at the highest quality possible. For a long time now, not much has been done to improve the sound quality of music or audio in general. This year could prove otherwise. A company called BoomCloud 360 has created a device that uses algorithms to enhance the sound of anything it’s plugged into.
The BoomStick dongle is one among a suit of products BoomCloud 360 is planning to unveil at CES 2016. At $99, the BoomStick makes for a great purchase . It’s a small and light device that has a battery life of up to 14 hours. Using the dongle is fairly simple. You plug in your headphones to the dongle, and the dongle to the smartphone.
The company promises an improved audio experience likening it to the evolution from black and white to 4K TVs. The device os promising in that it hints at a future where the technology could be fitted within a phone. However, for now, a separate dongle might be a little too cumbersome for people to carry around everywhere.
You can try the BoomStick’s sound quality on the company’s website. There people can choose a handful of pre-selected songs, and a virtual BoomStick will let you toggle on and off to hear the difference. We’ll just have to wait and see all the devices BoomCloud has up its sleeve at CES.
LG has taken foldable and bendable displays a step ahead this year. The company had hinted at similar tech last year at CES but had kept mum the entire year. However, now the company is ready to display a prototype at CES ’16 this time around.
LG is ready with a prototype of an 18-inch rollable screen it will showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show this time around. Similar concept displays have been seen in the past by companies like Samsung, Sony and Sharp. Now LG follows suit and marks an important moment for displays of smartphones, tablets and television sets. It is concentrating on making OLED screens bendable, curvable and rollable.
The company is also expected to unveil a 25 inch curvable screen installed in a car as part of the Auto Zone of CES ’16. We can also expect to see a 55-inch “paper thin” television with all its components installed independently according to LG. Watch this space for more updates.
Over the next few weeks, you can expect a lot of leaked images and specs of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship devices. Since we’re getting closer and closer to the launch, there’s a lot of hype and expectations surrounding the devices. Recent rumours suggest that Samsung might unveil 4 Galaxy S7 variants – two flat screen, and two with dual-curved displays.
Today, we have a leaked photo that reveals a 5.7-inch Galaxy S7. A Redditor posted an image showing a 5.7-inch screen (with 1440 x 2560 pixels) that’s curved, which suggests it might be the Galaxy S7 Edge Plus.
The photo also reveals some important specs. The 5.7-inch Galaxy S7 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset and Adreno 530 GPU, 4 GB of RAM, 12 MP primary camera and a 5 MP front. It has been speculated for a while that Samsung is looking to improve its camera quality rather than upgrade its pixels. So a 12 MP camera for the S7 series wouldn’t be all that surprising.
Needless to say, you should take this with a pinch of salt. Samsung is likely to unveil its flagship devices at the MWC in February. Follow this space for more.
According to reports, Apple is holding an official event in March where it is expected to unveil the iPhone 6c along with iPad 3 and the new Apple Watch. Needless to say, the rumour mill is working round the clock. Here’s a look at some of them:
Release Date:
Even if the Apple Watch 2 gets announced in March, it won’t be ready for shipping before April at the earliest, suggests 9to5Mac. Another rumour places May as the probable date for the Watch.
Quant, the Chinese manufacturer of the previous model of the Apple Watch, is expected to manufacture the second generation model as well. Therefore when Bary Lam, the Chairman of Quant comments on this, we sit up and listen. Reportedly, he claims that near the end of Q2 2016, a limited stock of the Apple Watch 2 would be available, followed by more in Q3. Following this, the Apple Watch 2 can be expected to make an appearance in June this year.
Camera:
The Apple Watch 2 is expected to have a front camera to allow for FaceTime; the user would now be able to receive and make video calls from the Watch itself, if this speculation turns out to be true. The front camera will probably be embedded in the top bezel of the face of the Watch.
Wireless Chipset:
Other than some basic features like playing music or tracking activity, the current version of the smartwatch relies almost entirely on an iPhone to perform any other function. However, the new , updated smartwatch is expected to come with a wireless chipset which would make the Watch ‘tether-less’. It would no longer require connection with an iPhone to perform functions, owing to the chipset which would make it more independent of the phone.
Battery:
One of the main drawbacks of the first generation Apple Watch is its battery life. Even though it was initially expected to last an entire day, many users discovered to their disappointment, that this was not so. The Watch would be drained of battery even before the day ended. Additionally, it was a big strain on the battery of the iPhone it was connected to.
However, there are not any big rumours about battery improvement in the second gen. This news is a little disheartening for Apple fans all over.
Apple Watch
Design:
In terms of design, Apple is expected to introduce a new variant priced between the steel Apple Watch at £949 and the Apple Watch Edition at £8,000. We hope for some more variety like a circular watch face as well as a thinner design, along with more strap options to choose from.
Some of its other features we hope Apple would include in the second gen smartwatch are in-built GPS and better durability against water, dust and scratches. We’ll keep you updated as more rumours hit the scene and if anything gets confirmed. Let us know what would you want to see in the Apple Watch 2.
There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the launch of HTC’s next flagship device. The HTC One M10 has been floating between CES and MWC for a while. HTC is still enjoying the launch of the One A9, but fans have already been asking about the One M10, and HTC is likely to reveal the device within the first quarter. Here’s everything we know about the flagship device so far.
Display
Being a successor to the One M9, the HTC One M10 will look to improve on specs wherever it can. The new iteration is said to come with a 5.5-inch QHD display. You can expect some bright, crisp colours under a Gorilla Glass 4 protection.
HTC One M9+
Design
The design of the One M10 is expected to be slimmer and sharper than its predecessor. To help with that, the device will carry the all-metal, unibody form factor associated with HTC flagships, along with curved edges and bezels to give it an attractive look.
Camera
The One M9 had 20 MP primary camera that proved a little underwhelming, especially in comparison to the sharper, brighter images seen in Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and LG’s G4. HTC is going to have to make some serious improvements in the camera department if it wants to be a killer device. Rumours suggest that the One M10 will sport a bigger 27 MP camera with face detection autofocus technology.
The front camera also boasts of high megapixels for selfie lovers. However, these rumours should be taken with a pinch of salt. It is also possible that HTC will continue with a 20 MP camera and will rather focus on improving the quality of images.
HTC One M10 Concept
Processor
HTC is perhaps waiting till the end of March to release the One M10 so that it can release its device with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset under the hood. You may remember that Samsung has claimed exclusivity of the new chipset for the first three months.
If HTC wants to come out with a powerful new flagship, then it will need to sport a powerful new chip to compete with the likes of the upcoming Galaxy S7 and Xiaomi Mi 5 devices, to name a few. Apart from the Snapdragon 820 chip, the One M10 will also use a graphics card that will improve graphic quality of images for visually appealing gaming experience,
Other Features
One of the highlights of the upcoming flagship is that it will feature a Touch ID fingerprint scanner for maximum security for the device. Other than that, the One M10 will likely sport 4 GB of RAM with 16 GB and 32 GB internal storage variants. The device is also rumoured to feature a battery capacity of 3,500mAh. The device will come pre-installed with Android 6.1, which is another good piece if information.
The above mentioned specs are merely a roundup of all the rumours that have been floating around. Over the next few weeks, you can expect more details to emerge as well as some confirmation for the existing rumours and some images of the device as well. Follow this space for more on HTC’s upcoming flagship smartphone.
It’s a beautiful thing when science meets Star Wars. A group of Taiwanese tech researchers at PVD+ have created an app for the Apple Watch that allows you to control a drone using your arm movements. Yes, the Force is strong with this Apple Watch.
Reuters caught the motion-controlled drone in action. You can check it out in the video below. “Previously we’ve needed complicated controls to fly drones, but now we can use a wearable device, and through human behavior and gestures directly interact with them – using a hand to control and fly drones directly,” PVD+ founder Mark Ven told Reuters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX8ZkgFk_Rw
But that’s not all. The researchers also channeled their inner Jedi to create an app that controls light levels and colors via hand movements, and a spherical robot resembling the adorably rolly BB-8 droid seen in Star Wars: The Force Awaken. “We can also control a ball, like that in Star Wars’ BB-8 droid, using a wearable device as well,” Ven said.
PVD+ is calling the software Dong, and is working on securing a patent for it. Looks like it won’t be long before the line between science fiction and reality disappears completely.
2016 is going to be the year of the virtual reality. People around the world have been eagerly waiting to get their hands on some VR headgears that were demoed last year. One of them is the popular Oculus Rift VR headset. The headgear will start shipping in the first half of 2016. However, there is some bad news as well.
Turns out, you will have to wait a while longer to be able to wave your arms around in the air to control whatever you’re looking at in your giant VR headset. We’re talking about the Oculus Touch – the hand controllers that would allow you to do just that with the Oculus Rift have been delayed and won’t be shipped until the second half of the year.
Oculus VR has stated that pre-order for the Oculus Touch will begin a few months before its official launch (which is still unconfirmed).
“On Touch hardware, we’ve made significant advances in ergonomics, and we’re implementing many changes that make Touch even more comfortable, reliable, and natural. We’re also implementing changes that improve hand pose recognition,” reads Oculus’ blog post.
“The feedback on Touch has been incredibly positive, and we know this new timeline will produce an even better product, one that will set the bar for VR input. We appreciate your patience and promise Touch will be worth the wait.”
Founder and CEO of Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey recently announced that preorders for the headset would start “soon after new year”. We still don’t now the official pricing of the virtual reality headgear, but Luckey has stated that the price would be low considering all that’s in the device. “Rift will be sold insanely cheap considering complexity – multiple high end OLED monitors+motion tracking+fancy mechanicals in one device,” he tweeted.
So, while you’ll have to wait for the second half of 2016 to fully experience the virtual reality world with the Oculus Touch, you can still embrace the future a little early with the Oculus Rift headset. Follow this space on the official launch and pricing of the Oculus Rift VR.
Asus is set to launch the Zenfone Max on the 4th of January, with a massive battery of 5000mAh. The company posted a tweet today reminding fans to mark their calendars. The new device in the Zenfone line sports a 5.5-inch HD IPS display with 267 ppi pixel density and Corning Gorilla Glass on top.
Under the hood you get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410 chipset with a 1.2GHz Cortex-A53 quad-core processor. The device will be offered in 8GB and 16GB storage variant (expandable up to 128GB), with 2GB of RAM. on the camera front, the Zenfone Max packs a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie shooter with laser autofocus, dual-LED, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection and panorama.
The handset will run on Android 5.1 Lollipop (upgradable to Marshmallow) with Asus ZenUI on top. The massive battery on the Zenfone Max also lets you use the device as a power bank to charge other smartphones and tablets.
Lastly, the device will be available in black and white colour options and can be purchased exclusively from Flipkart starting January 4. You’ll have to wait till the 4th for the official price of the device.
CES, short of Consumer Electronics Show, is the place where new and shiny gadgets are revealed that sets the tone for the technology that year. CES 2016 will be no different. The event will take place at in Las Vegas from Wednesday, January 6 to Saturday, January 9, 2016. Here are some of the many technologies that will be unveiled at the four-day conference.
Samsung
Samsung is likely to draw a lot of attention at CES 2016. Or perhaps that may have been the case when it was expected that the company would launch its next flagship Galaxy S7 devices at the event. However, this rumour has been almost completely denied. Samsung’s invitation puts highlight TVs and home appliances as their main showcases.
But this doesn’t rule out a phone launch by the company. It may not be the Galaxy S7, but Samsung has many other handsets in its pockets that are just waiting to come out. It is likely that the Korean-based company will reveal some mid-range devices – possibly the Galaxy A4 and A7 smartphones, or perhaps the new Galaxy Tab Pro and Note Pro tablets. On the TV front, you can expect some 4K and 8K products in the offing.
Camera Tech – BRITECELL
BRITECELL is Samsung’s new camera technology that IS expected in the upcoming Galaxy S7. The technology will be showcased at CES and viewers will get a sneak peek into what they can expect from the flagship handset, at least on the camera front.
Huawei Mate 8
Huawei has been eager to launch the Mate 8 in the U.S and has received the green light for it. The device has already passed FCC and will be unveiled at CES 2016.
For those of you unaware about the Mate 8, the device sports a 6-inch 1080p touchscreen display and will be powered by Huawei’s new Kirin 950 chipset and an ARM Mali-T880 GPU. Furthermore, the handset will be available in 3GB and 4GB of RAM with 32GB and 64GB and 128GB storage variants. The Mate 8 has a large 4,000 mAh battery and will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
HTC One M10
There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the launch of HTC’s next flagship device. The HTC One M10 has been floating between CES and MWC for a while. HTC is still enjoying the launch of the One A9, but fans have already been asking about the One M10, and HTC is likely to reveal the device soon enough.
HTC One M10 Concept
What we know so far about the One M10 is that the handset will likely sport a 5.5-inch screen with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB storage. The device will come pre-installed with Android 6.1, which is a good piece if information. More details will be known as we get closer to the unveiling.
VR
Smartphones and other technology aside, it in VR and autonomous cars that the CES 2016 will revolve around. The two technologies are set to be the highlights at the press conference. We’re slowly moving towards an age of wearable technology and virtual reality is the next big leap. 2015 has already seen the the Oculus Rift and in action, but 2016 will see the official launch of the headgear in the first quarter.
The Oculus Rift will not be the only VR headgear at the CES. Sony’s Project Morpheus, now known as Playstation VR, will also be at the event. Furthermore, Samsung may also reveal a second version of the Gear VR, though nothing has been confirmed on that front. Lastly, HTC is also likely to present a developer version of the Vive VR at CES 2016.
While these were the major names in the department let it be known that there are more than 40 companies presenting VR gear at CES. If that doesn’t tell you how the future of technology looks, nothing will.
Autonomous Cars
Finally, the other major focus at CES 2016 will be on smart cars. A number of players in the automobile industry are set to unveil autonomous or self-driving vehicles. Some of the speculated names include BMW’s i8 Spyder and the Apple Car. Volkswagen is also keen on shifting people’s attention from the the dieselgate scam, which is why the company is also ready to unveil its first all-electric autonomous vehicle. A teaser revealed earlier this month showing a boxy shape front has raised suspicion that VW is ready with its much-talked about microbus revival.
Popular video-streaming service Netflix is finally going to come to India, according to reports by Hindu Business Line. The announcement of Netflix in India will likely be made at the upcoming Consumer Electronic Show 2016 that will take place in the coming weeks. Netflix has been eying India for a while now, but did not make any headway due to piracy and slow internet speeds in the country.
Now, it looks like the company is ready to launch its service in the country and will tie up with an Indian telecom company for its 4G network. Presumably, this company will be Airtel as currently it is the only operator in the country that has made its mark in the 4G domain, though Reliance is joining in too, having launched its 4G service for its employees just last week.
Netflix is a subscription-based service where one can stream television programmes and movies legally. The service is well established in over 50 countries with around 62 million subscribers. The company has also expressed interest in entering Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea markets by early 2016. We’ll have to wait and see if fans in India will finally be able to enjoy binging on their favourites shows on Netflix soon.
Last month, we heard that BlackBerry was planning to leave Pakistan due to privacy concerns. BlackBerry refused to accept the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s plea for “unfettered access” to use users’ information that included emails and BBM conversations.
The request made by the PTA would directly infringe on users’ privacy. And BlackBerry is not one to jeopardise the privacy of its customers. Earlier in July, the PTA sent out notifications to the country’s mobile phone operators stating that BlackBerry’s BES servers won’t be allowed to operate in the country starting December due to “security reasons”. It was then that the Canadian phone company decided to leave Pakistan for good.
However, after some “productive discussions”, the government is willing to let go of its order.This means that BlackBerry is staying put in Pakistan and will not be risking its privacy. Marty Beard, chief operating officer of BlackBerry, wrote on the company’s blog: “We are grateful to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the Pakistani government for accepting BlackBerry’s position that we cannot provide the content of our customers’ BES traffic, nor will we provide access to our BES servers.”
Looks like Asus is all set to launch a new smartphone under its budget Pegasus lineup of devices. The X005 has passed China’s TENAA certification, which means the device is ready to be sold in the Chinese market soon.
The certification also revealed some details about the device. The Asus Pegasus X005 will sport a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 13 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 5 MP front, a 1.3 GHz octa-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 4G, and dual-SIM functionality. The handset runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with Zen UI on top.
The specs of the X005 are similar to the Pegasus X002, but the design of the new model is something new in the lineup. The X005 sports a metal frame and a unibody design, according to the image. The handset will come in three colour variants – Blue, White and Gold. You can expect an official announcement of the Asus Pegasus X005 soon.
There’s some exciting news in store for OnePlus fans in India. The company has announced the launch of a colour variant for OnePlus X. It’s called the Champagne and is a beautiful white and gold version of the handset.
OnePlus X Champagne goes on sale starting at midnight tonight on Amazon. This new variant joins OnePlus X Onyx. It can be bought by using existing OnePlus X invites which can be redeemed both for the Onyx and the Champagne versions.
Specification
OnePlus X
Display
5-inch full HD AMOLED screen, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
