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David Egbert's Geeky Blog
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Setup Wars – Episode 12
Windows 10's Latest Preview Build Sports Dedicated Gaming Features, Shows Download Progress in Store
Microsoft on Friday released a new build (15019) of its Windows 10 Insider Preview with several new features such as Beam built-in streaming app, a new game section in settings, a dedicated Game Mode, improved full-screen support for Windows Game bar, ability for Edge browser to read aloud e-books, and more. The new build importantly shows the download progress for apps and games from Windows Store in the Action Center.
It seems like Microsoft is focusing on gamers with its recent changes to the platform and the newly-introduced dedicated section for gaming in settings and the 'Game Mode' further show company's inclination toward gaming community. The new gaming section in settings consists of options regarding Game bar, GameDVR, Game Mode, and broadcasting and streaming.
"Not all elements of this section will be visible in today's Windows Insider build, but we'll continue to develop and deploy Gaming settings over time," Dona Sarkar, software engineer in Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group, said in a blog post.
This build comes with 'Game Mode' that aims to optimise the user's PC for improvement in gaming performance. "To enable Game Mode, go to Settings > Gaming > Game Mode toggle the feature on. Doing this will give you the ability to enable the feature for each UWP and Win32 title you play by pulling up the Game bar (Windows + G) and the clicking the Settings button," Sarkar said. From Game bar, users can choose the games that will be able to make use of Game Mode.
With this release, the Redmond-based company has added full-screen mode with Windows Game Bar for 17 games including Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Zombies, FIFA 14, FIFA 17, FIFA Manager 14, Grim Dawn, Guild Wars 2, Left 4 Dead 2, MapleStory, Paragon, Payday 2, Rocket League, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Sims 4, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, and Warface.
Microsoft has admitted that this new build comes with certain platform related bugs that will impact users' "ability to play popular games" on their PC but it says that it has still decided to roll out the build to get customer feedback on the changes it is about to introduce. The company has further clarified that the issues are not related to the new gaming features such as 'Game Mode'.
Interestingly, the new build adds a 'read aloud' feature (at the top-right of the screen) that allows Microsoft Edge browser to read aloud your ebooks. Apart from this, it brings along changes to the Blue Light feature, which is now called 'Night Light' in order to better depict its functionality, as per the company. Microsoft claims that the company has made some improvements in the range of color temperatures in the night light feature as well.
You can find the entire list of features and changes that the latest build brings along over on the company's blog post.
Top 5 Gaming Life Hacks!
Audible: http://www.audible.com/austin My top 5 gaming life hacks! What are yours? Click to Subscribe! http://bit.ly/SubAustin Twitter ...
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Unlike the competition, Alcatel schedules event during MWC 2017
Alcatel is about to “Light Up” MWC 2017. For real. Not the day before, as everyone else will be doing events on Sunday, February 26. Saturday’s taken up by parent company TCL’s operation for BlackBerry.
So, for the first official day of Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Alcatel will take on a mid-morning press event. It is expected to launched five smartphones, including one modular device.
Another device, supposedly leaked this week, seems to have been alluded to in the invitation. The honeycomb-patterned backing is said to hold a grid of colorful LEDs.
The Best Holiday Gifts | 12 Days of Tech
A List of some awesome tech gifts for any occasion! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ▻US◅ Otium Wireless Earbuds: ...
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Chrome Hidden Features
In this video I go over several hidden features in Google Chrome including about:flags Click to Play, Tab Sync, memory usage in Chrome, viewing and removing ...
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Windows 10 Cloud Spotted; Said to Be Simpler, Cheaper Option to Rival Chrome OS
Chromebooks are fast becoming a popular choice for many users, now more so, with the integration of Android apps and the Google Play store to the platform. Microsoft's Windows 10 platform is a popular choice among many, but education-related buying appears to be inclining more towards Chromebooks because of their simplicity. Another sign of the popularity of the platform came last year, when Chromebook shipments overtook Mac for the first time in the US. Microsoft is now reportedly working on a simplified version of the Windows 10 for fighting the rising competition from Chromebooks.
According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, a long-time Microsoft watcher, the Redmond-based company is working on a simpler, cheaper, and safer OS called Windows 10 Cloud that will only be able to run only Unified Windows Platform (UWP) apps installed from the Windows Store. The report further states that it could be more like Windows RT version or the Windows 8.1 with Bing SKU, but Microsoft will not position it that way when it releases the OS.
Just to recap, the Windows 8.1 with Bing Edition was made available to OEMs at a very cheap price and it came with Bing as the default search engine. Windows RT worked on Surface RT, Surface 2, and other ARM-based laptops and tablets, and could only run few apps from the Windows Store that were specifically built for the RT platform.
"Windows 10 Cloud is meant to help Microsoft in its ongoing campaign to attempt to thwart Chromebooks with a simpler, safer, cheaper version of Windows 10, my contacts say, though Microsoft is unlikely to position it that way (publicly)," Foley notes. She adds that the new version should debut in April this year, alongside the roll out of the Creators Update.
In the meanwhile, Petri.com and Thurrot.com editor Brad Sams shared a screenshot of the Windows 10 Cloud SKU showing up in the Windows 10 Creators Update latest test build, further testifying to its imminent release. Sams adds that two versions were visible - Cloud and CloudN - with the latter said to ship without Windows Media Player pre-installed.
Lyft now has Scheduled Rides with calendar syncing
In a political firestorm that has somehow pulled Lyft above Uber on the moral ground, the former continues to catch up in terms of amenities.
If you happen not to be coming into the Lyft app through another app or website with an linked address, you can add your calendar into Lyft’s address book and then select events where you’ve locked in an address. Just make sure your calendar is either the native one or synced with the native one — that’s the one Lyft is pulling data from.
You can also now book a ride up to a week in advance, if you happen to know where you’re going to get picked up from.
How to Get Started on YouTube (2016 Edition)
Here is my guide for how to succeed on YouTube (in 2016)! From collaborating with other YouTubers to forming an upload schedule, here's what you can do to ...
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The Best Bluetooth Speaker?
UE MEGABOOM - http://amzn.to/1WB3qbv These bluetooth speakers from Ultimate Ears are quite surprising. In this video I test out the UE Boom, UE Megaboom ...
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LG UltraFine 5K Display, Apple's Thunderbolt Display Substitute, Is Reportedly Useless Near Routers
Tech giant Apple killed off its Thunderbolt Display series in October last year, and instead, introduced LG's UltraFine 5K Display as a substitute. The company claimed the monitor was especially made for connecting the new MacBook Pro laptops to a bigger display. However, reports of issues when the monitor is kept near a router are now cropping up, with LG UltraFine 5K Display supposedly flickering, blacking out, and even freezing the connected computer when a Wi-Fi router is placed too close to it.
9to5Mac first spotted this issue, and even spoke with LG customer care for more clarity. The spokesperson suggested that the router and display be placed far away from each other - at least 2 metres - for proper functioning. After the Wi-Fi router was moved away, the problem of flickering on screen disappeared, and the display starts to work fine.
When the router is placed in the 2-metre radius, the display reportedly starts to flicker, and moving it too close will cause it to go completely black, rendering it useless. The report notes that the LG UltraFine 5K Display's manual warns the display should be installed "where no Electromagnetic Interference occurs" but doesn't specifically mention routers.
A reviewer on the Apple site claims that the flickering depends on 'how much Wi-Fi traffic goes through the WAP'. Furthermore, the customer care executive also clarified that this issue was only restricted to LG's 5K monitors, and not any other displays in its portfolio.
This WAP proximity issue is a serious flaw overlooked by Apple and LG both. For now, the LG UltraFine 5K Display is the best alternative to the Thunderbolt Display, and it comes with a 27-inch display that can support resolution up to 2880x5120 pixels. The 27-inch display offers more app real estate for MacBook Pro users for editing and other purposes. It connects with the MacBook Pro through a Thunderbolt 3 port, so apart from being connected, it even keeps it charged.
Can a CONSOLE match desktop VR? – PSVR Review
With PSVR sales "on track" according to Sony, will this product be remembered as the first mainstream introduction of "good VR?" Chefsteps Joule available now ...
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Monday, January 30, 2017
MOAR Acoustic Foams! – VLOG #6
Products featured in the video: Acoustic Foams: http://goo.gl/Dz3iHy ▻Bored? Check my other Vlogs: https://goo.gl/Ji3lYP Follow me for all the updates!
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iMessages and FaceTime on the iPhone 4S
Check Adam out! http://www.youtube.com/TechTechManTV In this video we give a demo of iMessages and FaceTime on the iPhone 4S. This tutorial on how to ...
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A Galaxy S8 render and a thought about concept renders
What you see above is what is being circulated around the media town. We found it through SamMobile. It is an approximation of what the Galaxy S8 might look like, based off of an evleaks picture.
It’s a nice picture. Really, it feels faithful to the picture. But this is coming from Benjamin Geskin, a Latvian concept designer that Android Police found was responsible for a supposed “LG G6” leak to The Verge. Yes, this one.
The media can fall hard for things like unattributed “leaks” and anonymous talkers — though, in this industry, we rely on such sources exclusively for run-up coverage of upcoming devices. We do, too. All we can do when we find out is clarify, correct and label for future purposes.
Concept designers aren’t the spurn of the world for us — they make some pretty darn interesting takes on devices of the far-off future (though the wishlist of specs that typically accompany these renders can get quite disgusting). And sometimes, we’ll feature one or two of them if there’s been no movement on a high interest subject for a long time. Oh, and for debunking “leaked” renders as concept renders that aren’t based on original reporting — you know, something we typically put more trust in when making opinions and decisions.
So, there we go. Benjamin Geskin “Make[sic] Realistic Renders Based On Rumors and Leaks. Designer.” Got it.
Seagate Planning to Launch a 16TB HDD Next Year
After releasing its 10TB BarraCuda Pro Hard Drive, last year as part of its Guardian Series that's targeted at home use, Seagate is now planning to release a 16TB HDD next year. The company is expected to launch its high-capacity hard disk drive within the next 18 months.
The 16TB drive will be a standard 3.5-inch SATA drive and will be Helium-filled much like some of the other drives released by Seagate itself and Western Digital in last two years, Geek.com said in its report. Apart from the 16TB drive, the company is also testing a 12TB drive, the company's CEO Stephen Luczo told Geek.com. Luczo says that the initial response to the drive has been positive.
As per the report, there is a third Seagate 14TB drive in works as well. Just like the 16TB drive, the 12TB and 14TB hard drives will also be filled with Helium. Helium is used to reduce drag and friction between the spinning hard drive platters and the read/write heads that float above them, allowing for denser platters and lower power consumption.
The 10TB hard drive, which was released last year by Seagate, was priced at $535 (roughly Rs. 36,350) by the company and therefore the price of 16TB HDD will, in all likelihood, be higher. However, we will have to wait for the official announcement by the company for specific details about pricing as well as availability.
Even though prices for SSDs have come down considerably in last few years, there are still users who prefer hard disk drives and are likely to rejoice the high-capacity storage drive when it is finally announced by Seagate.
Setup Wars – Youtuber Edition | Episode 5
Submit your Desk Setup and get featured on my channel! Massdrop X AKG K7XX: http://dro.ps/techsource-k7xx ...
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Make Chrome Faster and More Secure
In this video I show a simple way to make Google Chrome faster and more secure by enabling click to play plugins. With this enabled plugins such as Flash, ...
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OPPO and Huawei share 2016 China smartphone domination, Apple ‘remains vulnerable’
After providing an in-depth analysis of the paramount Indian smartphone industry, where there’s still plenty of room for growth for Samsung, Apple and especially Chinese brands, Counterpoint’s Q4 2016 and full-year Market Monitor is now also out as far as the world’s most populous country is concerned.
While demand for intelligent mobile devices in China has lingered a little of late, shipments during the recent October – December quarter were actually up quite a bit, both annually (12 percent), and sequentially (9 percent), helping local yearly volumes set a new record.
Unsurprisingly, the super-fast-growing OPPO – Huawei – Vivo triad was largely responsible for year-end surges, with OPPO claiming the quarterly crown, Huawei the overall 2016 gold medal, and Vivo in third place in both rankings.
Also unsurprisingly, Apple “remains in a vulnerable position” in the largest smartphone market, registering an annual decline in sales of no less than 21 percent, thus having to settle for fourth and fifth place respectively in the Q4 and full-year OEM charts.
Worse yet, the iPhone’s dominance streak in the best-selling models hierarchy was broken after five years by the OPPO R9. OPPO, by the way, more than doubled its 2015 shipment numbers this past year, while Vivo, Gionee, Huawei and Meizu also posted robust increases.
Alongside Apple, Samsung, ZTE, Xiaomi, Coolpad and Lenovo saw their annual scores slip by anywhere between 5 and 79 percent, with not even a single “star” in Samsung’s Galaxy among the country’s top-selling 20 smartphone models. OPPO, instead, had a whopping five handhelds on the list, Apple and Xiaomi followed with four, while Huawei propelled three on the blockbuster charts.
Lenovo ThinkPad 13 Review
Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops usually make for excellent workhorses for students or even professionals who prioritise productivity. The hallmark feature for us has always been the ergonomic ThinkPad keyboards which are hard to beat.
The ThinkPad 13 is a new model catering to students and professionals on a budget. It's built with durability in mind, and claims to be able to withstand humid environments and extreme temperatures. However, even though Kaby Lake refreshes have been announced already, this model still uses a Skylake-generation CPU.
Let’s see if the ThinkPad 13 offers a good enough value proposition to warrant a recommendation.
Lenovo ThinkPad 13 design and build quality
The 13.3-inch screen makes the ThinkPad 13 fairly compact and easy to carry around. It’s pretty lightweight too at roughly 1.4kg and has good weight distribution. The body is built from plastic but it doesn’t feel cheap. The matte finish on the lid provides a rubber-like feel, which helps keep pesky fingerprints at bay. There’s a ThinkPad logo on the lid and on the palm rest area, with an illuminated dot on the letter 'i'. The lid provides decent protection for the display as there’s little flex, and it doesn't warp easily when pressed from the back.
The dual-hinge mechanism offers good torsion, even when you flip the lid to its extreme which is about 170 degrees backwards. The 13.3-inch display on the Lenovo ThinkPad 13 features an anti-glare coating and a resolution of 1366x768, which is entry-level. There are slight visible jaggies around icons and text but it’s not that bad. Brightness is good enough for indoor use, but we needed to max it out when using this laptop outdoors.
The one thing that ThinkPads usually get right is the keyboard, and the ThinkPad 13 is no exception. Despite its compact size, Lenovo has managed to fit in well-spaced keys which are the size of what you’d find on a standard desktop keyboard. Unfortunately, there’s no backlighting. You have the trademark TrackPoint input controller nestled between the G H and B keys, and the corresponding mouse and scroll buttons below the spacebar. The trackpad isn’t very wide but does a good job, and left- and right-clicks are recognised well. You also get a fingerprint sensor that’s placed next to the trackpad.
The ThinkPad 13 has a good set of ports spread out on both sides. You get three USB 3.0 ports, a USB Type-C port (USB 3.1 Gen1), a headphone and microphone combo socket, HDMI, an SD card reader, and a proprietary OneLink connector for connecting a ThinkPad OneLink dock. The exhaust vents are placed on the left, near where your hand will be, but we didn’t find the heat bothering us during our review period. There are vents on the bottom for for the intake of cool air, and the battery is non-removable.
Lenovo ThinkPad 13 specifications
The Lenovo ThinkPad 13 unit we received was configured with an Intel Core i5-6200U CPU, which is a dual-core model with Intel’s Hyper-Threading feature. There’s a single 8GB stick of DDR4 RAM and a 192GB M.2 SATA SSD. Other specification include a HD webcam, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and Bluetooth 4.1. The ThinkPad 13 is not available online in India, and that's because it's currently being sold only to corporate customers. However, Lenovo tells us that new models with Kaby Lake CPUs will be available online in India by the end of January, and that there shouldn't be any major price difference.
The version that we received has a discrete TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip which is used to encrypt critical information. The BIOS also gets an anti-theft technology from Computrace. Our test unit came without a Windows installation but if you buy the retail model, you should expect Windows 10 with some preloaded software like Lenovo Companion, Lenovo Settings, REACHit and SHAREit. A trial version of McAfee LiveSafe should also be bundled.
Lenovo ThinkPad 13 performance
We loaded up Windows 10 Pro and updated the drivers and software to get the ThinkPad 13 running. The SSD helps in shortening boot and application load times but the write speeds are a bit disappointing. In SiSoft Sandra’s file system benchmark, we got a sequential read bandwidth score of 459MB/s while the write bandwidth was a mere 143MB/s. Out of the 192GB of storage space, you actually get 172GB, and of this, around 15GB is taken up by the OS leaving you with about 150GB for programs and files. This is a decent amount of space for work or school needs, considering there’s always cloud storage. However, if you have a lot of media or large files then you’ll probably run out of space pretty soon. A 256GB SSD would have been preferable here.
The laptop returned decent scores in benchmarks, except for graphics-heavy tests. In PCMark 8, we got scores of 3255, 3756, and 3088 in the Home, Creative, and Work test suites respectively. 3DMark gave us just 715 points in the standard Fire Strike benchmark, which shows that the integrated Intel HD Graphics 520 GPU isn’t really designed with gaming in mind - then again, neither is the ThinkPad 13.
However, don’t rule out its multimedia capabilities just yet. The ThinkPad 13 can handle 4K video playback with ease, and sound is surprisingly good for a “business” laptop. There are two speaker slits on either side of the body, firing downwards, that manage to produce rich and wholesome sound. The volume level is very good, and mids and highs sound good. The HD webcam doesn’t produce a noisy picture indoors, although it is a bit hazy overall.
The built-in 3-cell, 42Whr battery lasted for 2 hours and 26 minutes in Battery Eater Pro, which is fairly normal. In real-world usage, we easily managed to go around 7 hours at a stretch. This means that even if you do forget your power adapter at home, you should be able to get through most of a work day without worrying.
Verdict
While you won't be able to pick this specific model up right now, we're told that refreshed ThinkPad 13s with Intel's Kaby Lake CPUs are only a few weeks from hitting our shores. You can expect the price range to be from Rs. 62,000 to Rs. 75,000, depending on the configuration you select. The best part is that the refreshed units will have backlit keyboards, something we sorely missed here. There should be variants with touchscreens too, so it's definitely worth waiting a little while.
ThinkPads have always commanded a premium compared to regular laptops, and for the most part, it's worth it if your work involves a lot of typing or you need something durable that can withstand the jostles of a daily commute. However, the ThinkPad 13 that we reviewed today feels a bit underwhelming, especially because of its premium price. The body, while sturdy, could have used some metal reinforcements. A backlit keyboard, a higher resolution display and a larger SSD would have helped make things more balanced.
That said, even in its current avatar, the ThinkPad 13 does make for a decent alternative to the Apple MacBook Air. Sure, it isn't as thin or stylish as Apple's current low-end offering, but if you're looking purely at productivity, it has similar specifications and has a better selection of ports at roughly the same price.
Price (MRP): Rs. 62,000
Pros
- Excellent keyboard
- Very good battery life
- Compact size, sturdy build
- Good audio quality through the speakers
Cons
- No backlit keyboard
- Display brightness/resolution could be better
- Weak SSD write speed
Ratings (Out of 5)
- Design: 3.5
- Display: 3.5
- Performance: 3.5
- Software: NA
- Value for Money: 3.5
- Overall: 3.5
Nintendo Theme Parks Are Coming!
Think Nintendo Land, but in real-life! Nintendo and Universal are teaming up to build some theme parks based on Nintendo's games and mascots. Get ready for ...
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Speaker Made Of Cardboard – Does It Suck?
Unboxing every iPhone 7 - https://youtu.be/vv_MLOAytl0?list=PL7u4lWXQ3wfI_7PgX0C-VTiwLeu0S4v34 Pulpop Cardboard Speaker (USA link) ...
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Sunday, January 29, 2017
Tiny, Silent, Gaming Monster – ASUS G20CB
Mini compact gaming PC done right. Enter our Razer giveaway: https://gleam.io/RuQ8C/razer-kraken-pro-v2-giveaway Buy Kraken Pro V2: http://geni.us/tlKYKk ...
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Setup Wars – Episode 14 (LG Edition)
Submit your Desk Setup and get featured on my channel and win $$$! 5 Desk Setup's get featured each week starting on Monday's and you guys get to vote on ...
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Nintendo DSi Unboxing
In this video I unbox the Nintendo DSi. I have to say I'm impressed with it so far, the matte finish is nice and the larger screens make the games pop. Stay tuned ...
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Clearer pictures, possible prices for LG Watch Style
As noted leaks reporter Evan Blass gives us new insight to one of Google’s two supposed lead smartwatches that will sport Android Wear 2.0, we’re learning more about how much you’ll pay to sport this watch on your wrist.
LG Watch Style, in silver (top) and rose gold (bottom) pic.twitter.com/JlHaq35bZ0
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 28, 2017
To the photo highlights of the LG Watch Style first, where we see better pixel counts than the initial photo leak. Some intensely matte-looking materials seem to be at play with a metallic finish for that watch face ring. A chunky and leathery band can be changed out for others, according to rumors.
A “trusted source” to Android Police claims that the Watch Style will come to market at $249. Its tougher and heftier sibling, the Watch Sport, is likely to come in cellular as well as Bluetooth models. Both versions will have GPS, NFC, a heart rate sensor and a bigger display, so we’re not exactly sure how much more you’ll pay going either way, though we’re pretty sure that a $100 premium will be easy.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Specs Shows Its Similiarities With Samsung Galaxy S7 Smartphone (4GB RAM, UFS 2.0, 4K Camera)
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 leaks have been plentiful the last two weeks, and during the weekend it’s been possible to study another round of leaks to try and figure out what more specs the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will have.
And it really does look like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will have faster UFS storage as well as 4GB of RAM, possibly LPDDR4 RAM.
Related:
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Specs Benchmarked
The most recent benchmark tests of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 SM-T825 4G LTE version, benchmarked it with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, a processor that supports UFS 2.0 storage. And what’s more, upon inspection, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 SM-T825 performs nearly 99.9% identical to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 editions of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones, both of which has UFS 2.0 storage and 4GB of DDR4 RAM, as well as a retina AMOLED display.
In particular, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 read/write speeds are now about twice as fast as before, and it even has a memory bandwidth of up to 18GB/sec, twice of what it was before.
Another thing that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones have, are 4K cameras on the back, and with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 having been benchmarked with a slightly higher resolution camera than the smartphones, at 12.9MP, 4K video on the Tab S3 looks very, very likely now too.
Above I’ve compared the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 (on the left) with the Samsung Galaxy S7 (on the right) so you can see how similar they perform, both tested with Android 7.0 Nougat.
– Tom Bowen
Microsoft Surface Pro 5 to Launch in Q1 2017, Report Claims
Microsoft is said to be working on a new version of its Surface Pro tablet that's set to arrive in the first quarter of 2017.
The new Surface Pro 5 2-in-1 will sport an UHD 4K display and magnetic charging stylus, with Pegatron Technology that will manufacture the device, DigiTimes reported on Friday citing a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report.
Microsoft launched the Surface Pro 4 (Review) back in October 2015. It sports 12.3-inch (2736x1824 pixel) PixelTouch display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 - which as the company noted is only 0.4mm thick. It was launched with a new Surface Pen that came with an eraser and could detect 1,024 points of pressure.
The Surface Pro 4 ships with a choice of Intel's 6th-generation Core processors, from Core M3, to Core i5 and Core i7. These configurations are powered by Intel HD Graphics 515, Intel HD Graphics 520, and Intel Iris Graphics respectively.
It features a full-size USB 3.0 port, a microSD card reader, a 3.5-mm headset jack, a Mini DisplayPort, a Type Cover port, and SurfaceConnect port. Microsoft claims the Surface Pro 4 will offer up to 9 hours of battery life. It bears an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
The company is also reportedly planning a new Surface Pen to support the Surface Pro 5 that would use magnetic charging - a first for the company's Surface Pro line.
Written with inputs from IANS
$650 Gaming PC Build – October
The best gaming PC you can build for only $650 is here. Meet #ZEON. Gaming Benchmarks and Rendering Tests included. ▻Parts below◅ ▻Get your 10 day ...
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Build a Gaming PC for Under $900 (September 2011)
Expand for the links! Intel Core i5-2500k CPU: http://amzn.to/rp2XCM Thermaltake TR2 Power Supply: http://amzn.to/s8Fqhl GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 ...
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Galaxy S8 Rumor Round Up, Apple AI, and No HTC Smartwatches | #PNWeekly 237
Galaxy S8 rumors are sprouting up like, well, sprouts. We’ll try to collect the newest leaks. Apple might be stepping up its AI game soon, while Facebook gains a new VP for VR. And No. Unequivocally, there will not be an HTC smartwatch. At least, not any time soon.
Those stories, plus we answer YOUR viewer questions, so make sure you’re charged and ready for the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast!
Watch the live video broadcast from 10:00pm Pacific on January 26th, or check out the high-quality audio version right here.
For folks watching live, you can comment and ask questions by using the #PNWeekly hashtag on Twitter during the broadcast. For folks watching later, you can shoot your listener emails to podcast [AT] pocketnow [DOT] com for a shot at getting your question read aloud on the air the following week!
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January 26, 2017
Juan Bagnell
Jules Wang
This week’s episode of the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast is made possible by:
We get it. You’re busy. That doesn’t mean you don’t have time to put together interesting meals using high quality ingredients. Blue Apron takes the guess work out of cooking, delivering the exact amounts of food you need for each recipe. All ingredients, meats, and vegetables are sourced ethically using sustainable sources.
Meals are delivered to 99% of the continental United States, and the costs are under $10 per serving. Meals in January include Seared Pork Chops with Cranberry Chutney, Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms and Garlic Knots, and Spicy Shrimp with Korean Rice Cakes. Each week you can customize your menu to fit your particular tastes and dietary restrictions, including vegetarian options. Blue Apron has an extensive collection of recipes, and subscribers won’t encounter the same meal twice over the course of a year, unless requested.
Cooking together can help improve family bonds, and Blue Apron families cook together three times more often. You will love how good it feels, and tastes, to create incredible home cooked meals with Blue Apron, so don’t wait! Check out this week’s menu and get your first three meals free by going to http://blueapron.com/pocketnow.
9:50 | Galaxy S8 rumors are in full swing. AI, Screen, Specs, Navigation Controls, Always on Logo?
37:47 | Apple soon to join Artificial Intelligence partnership?
42:40 | Amidst lawsuits, Qualcomm still working with Apple on new chips
49:27 | No. HTC will not be making a smartwatch (any time soon)
56:59 | Japan LCD officially shows of flexible displays
1:04:39 | Hugo Barra leaves Xiaomi for Facebook VR
1:12:20 | Weak LG G5 sales blamed for overall company losses
1:25:34 | T-Mobile mocks DIRECTV NOW and AT&T’s quarterly earnings dip
1:35:31 | Verizon adds international options to calling plans
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See you next week!
Lenovo Refreshes ThinkPad X1 Carbon, ThinkPad X1 Yoga, ThinkPad X1 Tablet at CES 2017; Unveils Miix 720
Ahead of CES 2017, Lenovo has launched a host of products under its portfolio including ThinkPad X1 Carbon, ThinkPad X1 Yoga, ThinkPad X1 Tablet, Miix 720, Lenovo Active Pen 2, Lenovo Legion Y720 Laptop, Lenovo Legion Y520 Laptop, Lenovo Smart Assistant, Lenovo Smart Assistant Harman Kardon Edition, Lenovo Smart Storage, Lenovo 500 Multimedia Controller, and Lenovo New Glass C200. Here, we look at the ThinkPad and Miix launches.
The 2017 ThinkPad X1 Carbon notebook by the company has been touted as the lightest notebook in its class, weighing in at 1.13kg. It comes in two 14-inch display variants with screen resolutions WQHD (1440x2560 pixels) and full-HD (1080x1920 pixels). The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is available with Intel's seventh-generation Core processors and can be configured with up to 16GB of RAM. It is available with up to 1TB of SSD PCIe storage.
In terms of connectivity, the 2017 ThinkPad X1 Carbon features several options like two USB Type-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports, and an HDMI port. The Windows 10 laptop comes with Lenovo's iconic TrackPoint as well. In terms of security, the laptop features a fingerprint scanner and an infrared camera at front that supports facial recognition with support for Windows Hello logon. The laptop will be made available in colour variants Black and Silver by the company. It has been priced starting $1,349 (roughly Rs. 92,200) and will be made available from February.
Lenovo has further updated its ThinkPad X1 Yoga, which now has a redesigned rechargeable pen-ThinkPad Pen Pro (2017). The convertible Windows 10 laptop is available with 14-inch display variants including WQHD OLED (2560x1440 pixels), WQHD IPS (2560x1440 pixels), and full-HD IPS (1920x1080). It comes with Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 or Intel HD Graphics 620, depending on the processor chosen. The connectivity options include two Intel Thunderbolt 3 ports, three USB 3.0 ports, and an HDMI port, microSD card reader, and a Micro-SIM card slot.
The company has further made some improvements to the keyboard. "The new keyboard retracts fully flat in tablet mode offering greater stability and user comfort and anchoring the keycaps delivers better long term key durability and reliability," it said in its release. The Windows 10 laptop is capable of offering up to 16 hours of battery life, barring the OLED variant, which can offer up to 10.5 hours of battery life. It is available with up to seventh generation Intel Core processors and up to 16GB of RAM. The convertible laptop has been priced starting $1,499 (roughly Rs. 1,02,000) and will be made available in from February.
Apart from these devices, the company has also updated its ThinkPad X1 Tablet. The company claims that the updated ThinkPad X1 Tablet offers up to 5 hours of additional battery life over its predecessor. The tablet features a 12-inch 2K (2150x1440 pixels) IPS touch display and is available with an option of up to seventh generation Intel Core processors. The tablet is available with up to 16GB of RAM.
It is available with a fingerprint scanner option as well. The tablet sports an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel camera at front. Users also get a platform choice between Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro. The tablet is further available with a wide range of docking options. It has been priced by the company at $949 (roughly Rs. 64,800) and will be made available from March.
Lenovo's new 12-inch Windows 10 tablet, the Miix 720, comes with a QHD+ (2880x1920 pixels) display and is available with up to seventh generation Intel Core i7 processor. The tablet is available with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB PCIe SSD for storage. It comes with company's new Active Pen 2 and has an infrared camera for Windows Hello support. The Lenovo Miix 720 further comes with a detachable keyboard cover with a kickstand. The tablet has been priced by the company at $1,000 (roughly Rs. 68,300) and will be available from April.
Microsoft Lumia 940: Rumors & Concepts (2015)
With Nokia out of the way, the Microsoft Lumia 940 could actually be the best Lumia phone yet! Here's what to expect from this upcoming Windows Phone 10 ...
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The Human Powered iPhone!
Giant Mystery Unboxing - https://youtu.be/xUr-4DyRhJA This iPhone 6s case is made by a company called Ampware. This case allows you to crank charge your ...
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Saturday, January 28, 2017
Acer Swift 7 – The Thinnest Notebook Ever
The race to paper-thin notebooks continues with the Acer Swift 7... TunnelBear message: TunnelBear is the easy-to-use VPN app for mobile and desktop.
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Should Google make a Pixel Watch?
Rumors suggest that Google may be joining the ranks of the smartwatch markers along with a host of other OEMs, but you know, not HTC. This is an interesting rumor because it makes for a fantastic debate. There are a lot of good reasons why Google should make a Pixel Watch, and a lot of good reasons why it should stay the heck out of it. I was giddy when I read this story, because it is totally my thing.
Too many cooks
On the one hand Google has no real reason to make a smartwatch. The reason for this is because, Google already has a ton of smartwatches. They’re just not made by Google. But every smartwatch out there that runs Android Wear runs basically the same thing. There are no Android Wear skins or anything like that. Android Wear is Android Wear is Android Wear. About the only variance you get is on the hardware side, which is as varied as anything else. Suffice it to say that Google has really nothing to add to this conversation.
Google is already stepping on toes when it comes to smartphones and the new (ok, well not totally new) line of Pixel phones. Already Google is competing with the likes of Samsung, HTC, LG, Hauwei, and a host of other smartphone OEMs on the phone side and darn it, now they’re going to have to keep up on watches too? Well, except HTC that is.
Not the most popular
And HTC is out for a good reason – smartwatch adoption isn’t exactly tearing up the charts. Smartwatches are devices for geeks and nerds and Apple fans. It’s not like any company is really making a living on smartwatches. Heck, we just saw two companies fall in the past month. This is not a good time to be pushing the smartwatch, because it hasn’t caught on yet.
The Nexus phone program made sense because it offered geeks and developers a pure Google experience, as Google intended. It was basically a reference device to build on. But since every Android Wear watch runs the same software except for a few custom watch faces, there’s nothing new here. We don’t need a Google Nexus Smartwatch.
And yet…
But maybe that’s not what this is meant to be. Considering Google is now taking an entirely new approach to hardware, why shouldn’t that extend to all facets of mobile, including wearables that don’t make you look like a d******? Google is putting a lot of stock into its image as a high-quality OEM. It really only makes sense that Google would offer a high end watch at the same time.
If you want to talk about keeping up with the Joneses, also consider what Google’s main competitor is doing – Apple. Apple offers a high end tablet, smartphone, and smartwatch, all built to run together. If Apple can do it, shouldn’t Google do it as well? Well, wait maybe Samsung is Google’s main competitor. Same story. From a strictly image standpoint, failing to offer a great option in any category could be disastrous.
How can I assist?
Plus, Google is now pushing its Google Assistant out in an array of devices. It only makes sense that Google should also have a watch that works with Google Assistant as well. Any time anyone wants anything, regardless of where they are or what they’re wearing, Google Assistant should be there, waiting to help. Smartwatches offer the ubiquity and presence that even a smartphone doesn’t offer – there all the time. It’s the best way to get Google Assistant into the spotlight.
Finally, now Google will have control over the smartwatch hardware as well. No longer will it have to hope that other OEMs are using sufficient hardware to give the user a good experience. This is Google’s chance to tell the smartwatch story in its own words. Like the Pixel tablets and phones, Google will have its finger in this pie from day one. Its success will be Google’s success. Google will now control its own destiny of four platforms, if you count Google Home. That is a great position to be in, no matter who you are.
So what do you think? Is Google taking too big a risk here to bring a device that isn’t even all that popular yet? Or does Google need to control its destiny regardless of screen size, from one inch to however big it wants to go? Does the host of Android Wear watches out there make Google’s offering already obsolete? Or are you excited to see what Google can do on your wrist? Sound off below in the comments with your thoughts and let’s see if we can figure this out.
Xperia Z3 vs iPhone 6 Plus – Speed Test (4K)
We put the brand new Xperia Z3 against the Apple iPhone 6 Plus. ☆ Get the most cash for your old or used iPhone! ☆ ▻▻▻▻ http://CellCashier.com ...
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Build a Gaming PC for $600 – December 2012
Expand for the links! Intel Core i3-3220 Processor: http://goo.gl/VkfHE Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 Graphics Card: http://goo.gl/sWlSo - Not available? Try this: ...
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Tablet, Accessories, And Gadget Clearout Sale With Gearbest USA Warehouse Relocation
I’ve been informed that Gearbest is relocating its warehose in USA these days, and because of that, they are having a huge clearance sale on the inventory in the warehouse they are moving from instead of moving it over to their new warehouse. These deals are exclusive to the US warehouse though, and only lasts as long as the itmes are still left in their old warehouse.
About 40 hot gadgets are 60%-50% off, with another 30 popular products 30% off, and the remaining 210 other products 20% to 10% off. The price will change when customers pick the US-LA in “Warehouse Option” above the price.
Tablets and 2-in-1 tablets begin at $42, with even Intel Core m powered tablets starting at a record low $260! Various accessories like microSD cards can be picked up very cheaply too, and so can other tablet accessories or other gadgets that are simply on clearance sale until it’s sold out.
$42 – Vido T99 3G, 7-inch Android phablet or a very cheap 3G tablet powered by an Intel Atom “Sofia” processor with and GSM+WCDMA 3G and GPS.
$14 – Samsung 64GB EVO microSD cards
$127 – Onda OBook 20 Plus, 10.1-inch Windows/Android tablet with 4GB RAM, Full HD display.
$69 – Teclast P80 3G Phablet, the cheapest 8-inch phablet I’ve ever seen.
$169 – Chuwi Hi10 Pro Windows / Android tablet with USB Type-C port, FHD, 4GB RAM.
$124 – Chuwi VI10 PLUS, Remix tablet at 10.8 inches powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor.
$260 – Cube i7 Windows 10 ultrabook. Now the cheapest Intel Core m tablet ever.
$164 – VOYO V3 Mini PC and 128GB TV box
$42 – Beelink MINI MXIII II TV Box Amlogic S905X 4k dual-band
http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_446535.html?wid=8
$159 – JISIWEI I3 Smart Robotic Vacuum Cleaner
http://www.gearbest.com/robot-vacuum/pp_437121.html?wid=8
$99 – with coupon code “US5000X” for SJCAM SJ5000X 4K Sport Action Camera
http://www.gearbest.com/action-cameras/pp_243426.html?wid=8
$25 – JJRC H37 ELFIE Foldable Mini
Foldable selfie drone with Wi-Fi video, controllable by tablet or smartphone.
50% off – Walkera Upgraded Runner 250 FPV Quadcopter and JJRC JJPRO – P175 5.8G FPV
$21 – HUANJIE 12V portable car refrigerator/cooler
– Jim Miller
Lenovo Legion Gaming Laptops, Lenovo VR Headset Unveiled Ahead of CES 2017
At CES 2017, Lenovo launched a series of products in different categories. It bet big on IoT and launched smart home assistant, smart glasses, and even a smart storage system. Furthermore, it also introduced a sub-brand called Lenovo Legion dedicated only to gaming PCs and launched two new laptops made with the feedback received from the gaming community. To further its gaming efforts, Lenovo also unveiled its first ever VR headset that intends to work with the Windows Holographic program as well.
The Lenovo Legion laptops are targeted mainly at gamers, and they look to offer good graphics performance, powerful processors, and efficient cooling systems. The first two laptops to flag off the series include the Lenovo Legion Y720 and Legion Y520.
Lenovo Legion Y720
The Lenovo Legion Y720 laptop is powered with up to seventh generation Intel Core i7 processors and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB of GDDR5 video RAM, making it VR compatible as well. The laptop sports a 15.6-inch UHD (3840x2160 pixels) or full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS display with anti-glare for gamers who prefer playing outside. It is touted to be the world's first laptop to come with Dolby Atmos technology for superior audio quality. The laptop offers support for the Xbox One wireless controller, and comes with an optimised thermal cooling system for keeping the laptop in normal temperature during intense game fights. The Lenovo Legion Y720 laptop offers up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and you can customise with it 128GB, 256GB, 512GB of SSD storage, or 1TB, 2TB of HDD storage. Lenovo claims that the laptop offers five hours of battery life and weighs 3.2kgs. Connectivity options include the fast Thunderbolt 3 port. The Lenovo Legion Y720 laptop starts at $1,399.99 (roughly Rs. 95,700), and will be available sometime in April.
(Also see: Lenovo Launches Smart Home Assistant and Smart Glasses at CES 2017)
Lenovo Legion Y520
The Lenovo Legion Y520 laptop comes with a 15.6-inch full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS display with Anti-glare as well. It is also powered by up to seventh generation Intel Core i7 processors and up to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card. It offers the same storage and memory configurations as the Y720. The laptop comes with two Harman speakers for good audio quality, and weighs only 2.4kg. Both the laptops come with backlit keyboards for ease in gaming in the night as well. The Lenovo Legion Y520 laptop starts at $899.99 (roughly Rs. 61,500), and will be available sometime in February.
Lenovo VR Headset
Lenovo even ventured into the VR segment, and demoed its first ever VR headset for all attendees to experience. The company has not announced any shipping details of the headset, but it will be priced less than $400 (roughly Rs. 27,400) whenever it arrives, reports Engadget. The design of the headset is such that the lens rests on your forehead instead of the nose. It uses two 1440x1440 pixels OLED panels for display, and the company looks to make it really lightweight, when compared to the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Importantly, the Lenovo VR headset will work with Microsoft's Windows Holographic Program.
Photo Credit: Edgar Alvarez, Engadget
Lenovo ahead of CES 2017 also launched the Thinkpad X1 Carbon, Thinkpad X1 Yoga, and the Thinkpad X1 Tablet as well. It also refreshed the Miix series with 12-inch Miix 720 tablet running on Windows 10. The Miix 720 comes with a detachable keyboard and a fold out kickstand for multi-purpose usage. All of these products will hit the market before April.
Setup Wars – Youtuber Edition | Episode 8
Submit your Desk Setup and get featured on my channel! ▻Cheap CD keys for any game!: https://goo.gl/8ZkIow ...
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Dell Launches New Alienware and Inspiron 7000 Gaming Laptops Ahead of CES 2017
Dell ahead of CES 2017 has launched the 2017 models of its Alienware laptops, as well as the new Inspiron 7000 Gaming laptops. Separately, the company also launched the Latitude 5285 2-in-1 for business customers.
Starting with the Alienware offerings, Alienware 13 R3 (2017) laptop has been priced starting $999.99 (roughly Rs. 68,300), the Alienware 15 R3 (2017) laptop has been priced starting $1,199.99 (roughly Rs. 81,990), while the Alienware 17 R4 (2017) laptop has been priced starting $1,349.99 (roughly Rs. 92,300). All three will be available from Thursday, January 5 in the US.
As for the new Inspiron 7000 Gaming laptops, Dell has launched two models - the Inspiron 14 7000 Gaming and the Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming. For now, the company has only provided pricing and availability details of the latter, larger laptop, which starts at $799 (roughly Rs. 54,600) and will be available from Thursday in the US.
Getting back to the Alienware (2017) laptop models, the company says the new lineup features build materials such as anodised aluminium, magnesium allow, steel, and copper, making the laptops both strong and as lightweight as possible. Users can now also easily access laptop internals with the new bottom door mechanism, while Tobii IR Eye-tracking configurations will also be made available on the Alienware 17 model. The laptops all offer support for the Alienware Graphics Amplifier, which levers the power of an external graphics card. All three also feature the steel-reinforced Alienware TactX Keyboard with 4-zone multi-colour RGB lighting and AlienFX lighting controls (8 to 13 programmable zones).
The new Alienware laptops also sport a brand new speaker design with "internal smart-amps" that monitor waveforms to ensure the entire thermal margin of the speakers is utilised. All configurations also include Killer Networks Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity. The designs are very similar to the third generation Alienware laptops unveiled in September last year, but coupled with the new seventh generation Intel Core 'Kaby Lake' processors. All three laptops ship with a choice of 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 10 Pro. While the Alienware 13 and Alienware 15 feature a stereo speaker configuration, the Alienware 17 adds a sub-woofer. All three are only available in Epic Silver colour variants.
The Alienware 13 R3 (2017) comes in 13.3-inch HD (1366x768 pixels) TN display, full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS display, and QHD (2560x1440 pixels) OLED display variants. Processor configurations include an Intel Core i5-7300HQ or Intel Core i7-7700HQ, with up to 32GB 2400MHz DDR4 RAM. As for graphics, the base model ships with Intel HD Graphics 630 + Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 with 2GB GDDR5 video RAM, and goes up to GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 video RAM.
While storage options on the Alienware 13 R3 (2017) start at 180GB M.2 SATA SSD, they go up to 1TB PCIe SSD (boot) + 1TB PCIe SSD (storage). Ports on board include Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, one USB 3.0 Type-C port, one Thunderbolt 3.0 port, one Alienware Graphics Amplifier port, one HDMI 2.0 port, one Mini-DisplayPort 1.2, one audio out port, and one headphone port. It measures 330x269x22mm and has an average weight of 2.6kg. It sports a 76Whr battery with an 180W adapter.
The Alienware 15 R3 (2017) has 15.6-inch full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS display, full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) 60Hz IPS display with Nvidia G-Sync, full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) 120Hz TN+WVA Nvidia G-Sync display, and UHD (3840x2160 pixels) IGZO IPS display variants. One can choose between an Intel Core i5-7300HQ, Intel Core i7-7700HQ, or Intel Core i7-7820HK processor, with up to 32GB 2400MHz DDR4 RAM. Base model graphics include Intel HD Graphics 630 + Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 2GB GDDR5 RAM, and go up to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 with 8GB GDDR5 video RAM.
The Alienware 15 R3 (2017)'s base model has a 180GB M.2 SATA SSD, one can opt for up to 1TB PCIe SSD (boot) + 1TB PCIe SSD (storage) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD. Ports on board include Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, one USB 3.0 Type-C port, one Thunderbolt 3.0 port, one Alienware Graphics Amplifier port, one HDMI port, one Mini-DisplayPort 1.2, one audio out port, and one headphone port. It measures 389x305x25.4mm and has an average weight of 3.49kg. It ships with a 68Whr battery and 180W adapter, though a 99Whr battery and 240W adapter is also an option.
The Alienware 17 R4 (2017) is offered in 17.3-inch full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS display, full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS display with Tobii IR Eye-tracking, full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) 120Hz TN+WVA Nvidia G-Sync display with Tobii IR Eye-tracking, and UHD (3840x2160 pixels) IPS display with Tobii IR Eye-tracking variants. Users have the choice of a quad-core Intel Core i7-7700HQ processors or Intel Core i7-7820HK processors, with up to 32GB 2400MHz DDR4 RAM. Base model graphics include Intel HD Graphics 630 + Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 2GB GDDR5 RAM, and go up to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X video RAM.
The base model of the Alienware 17 R4 (2017) comes with a 180GB M.2 SATA SSD, though options up to a 1TB PCIe SSD (boot) + 1TB PCIe SSD (storage) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD configuration exist. Ports on board include Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, one USB 3.0 Type-C port, one Thunderbolt 3.0 port, one Alienware Graphics Amplifier port, one HDMI port, one Mini-DisplayPort 1.2, one audio out port, and one headphone port. It measures 424x332x29.9mm and has an average weight of 4.42kg. It features a 68Whr battery with an 180W adapter, though a 99Whr battery with a 240W or 330W adapter can be chosen as welll.
As for the Dell Inspiron 14 7000 and Inspiron 15 7000 laptops, the company calls them the most powerful Inspiron laptops ever. Dell says they are less than 1-inch in thickness, sport dedicated forward as well as rearward thermal vents, bear a subwoofer, provide Waves MaxxAudio Pro audio processing, and also come with an oversized service bay door on the bottom to simplify access to internal components. The new gaming laptops are said to "feature the most aggressive performance design and components offered within the entire Inspiron laptop family." While both laptops ship with Windows 10, the Inspiron 15 7000 also comes with an Ubuntu option.
The Dell Inspiron 14 7000 and Inspiron 15 7000 share several specifications, such as the choice of processors - Intel Core i5-7300HQ and Intel Core i7-7700HQ - and up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM. The standard memory configuration is 4GB of DDR4 RAM. Other common specifications include Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v4.2, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, and the same ports - one HDMI 2.0, three USB 3.0 ports, one SD card reader, one Ethernet port, and a combo headphone and microphone jack. Both laptops will also be available in Matte Red or Matte Black colour variants.
Getting to the specifics, the Dell Inspiron 14 7000 only comes with a 14-inch full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) LED-backlit display, and no other display options. Apart from integrated Intel graphics, users will get the choice of GeForce GTX 1050 4GB GDDR5 video memory dedicated graphics. The base configuration sports a 128GB SSD with a 500GB 5400RPM HDD, going up to a 256GB SSD.
The Dell Inspiron 14 7000 ships with a full-size spill-resistant keyboard, though users have the option to go in for a backlit keyboard (with Red colour available in some regions). It bears a 56Whr 4-cell battery and ships with a 90W adapter.
On the other hand, Dell Inspiron 15 7000 ships with a choice of 17.3 full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) LED-backlit display, full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS Truelife LED-backlit touch display, or UHD (3840x2160 pixels) IPS LED-backlit display. Apart from integrated Intel graphics, users will get the choice of GeForce GTX 1050 with 4GB GDDR5 video memory or GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB GDDR5 video memory. The base configuration sports a 1TB 5400RPM HDD and goes up to a 512GB PCIe SSD.
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 ships with a full-size spill-resistant keyboard with numpad, though users have the option to go in for a backlit keyboard (with Red colour available in some regions). It bears a 74Whr 4-cell battery and ships with a 130W adapter.
Build a Gaming PC for $350 – February 2013
Expand for the links! AMD A10-5800K APU: http://amzn.to/13i1cUC MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Motherboard: http://amzn.to/11ZgJCe The original Samsung RAM ...
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Google I/O 2017 to Be Held in Mountain View; Starts May 17
Google, after some delay, has finally revealed the dates and venue for the annual developer event this year. The company however this time around hasn't actually announced the dates or venue but has instead dropped few hints on GitHub for people to figure out. Much like 2016, the Google I/O 2017 will be held in Mountain View, California on May 17 through May 19.
The hints were dropped on Twitter by Google Developers and Firebase accounts who shared the same tweet with a link to a dedicated savethedate website. The tweet read, "Around the world, from here to there, to the most clever minds, the secret will share" and were accompanied hashtags #googledevs and #savethedate. One of the hints at GitHub also confirms that the I/O 2017 will take place at Google's Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. This will be the second consecutive year when Google I/O event will take place at the company's backyard. The dates and venue were confirmed after solving the five puzzles at GitHub repository. The dates and venue was first revealed by few enthusiasts at Hacker News.
Unfortunately, the official I/O website hasn't listed the dates or venue for the annual event and still notes, "Check back soon for more details." Google can be expected to reveal the registration process for the I/O 2017 event soon.
Much like previous years, Google this year can again be expected to utilise the event to reveal the next Android version for mobile device and make it available to developers and enthusiasts as a preview build. Last year, the company revealed Android N (later named as Nougat). Additionally, Google can be also expected to announce changes to apps and its cloud products.
Apple Watch vs. Microsoft Band
It's a battle between two of the very best wearables yet! Which is better: the premium-looking Apple Watch or the fitness-focused Microsoft Band? Thanks for ...
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Apple scores record 2.5 million 2016 iPhone sales in India, but Samsung and Chinese brands rule
A glimmer of good news for the world’s most profitable smartphone brand in one of two major markets it’s still having trouble controlling. Just as it reportedly comes closer than ever to striking a deal with the Indian government for local iPhone production, Apple takes a commanding share of 62 percent in the so-called “premium” segment during Q4 2016, finishing the year in tenth place overall.
Of the record-setting 2.5 million units sold over the course of the full calendar year in India, no less than a third came in a “landmark” fourth quarter, when the iPhone 7 launch greatly boosted the iOS family’s appeal.
But 2.5 million sales are nothing compared to Samsung’s market-leading 25 percent slice of an ever-growing 300M+ pie. And while domestic vendors completely lost their mojo during the holiday season, more than 83 million of yearly shipped smartphones were “Made in India”, as well as 75 percent of the Q4 total.
The sky would therefore be the limit for Cupertino’s regional progresses with enrollment in the aforementioned program, and possible resulting iPhone price drops. The sky, as well as a robust group of budget-focused Chinese brands, which raced to capture a combined 46 percent of year-end shipments, up a staggering 65 percent from a modest overall share of 14 percent during Q4 2015.
Vivo somewhat surprisingly led the glory-hungry pack, followed closely by Xiaomi, Lenovo and OPPO, with Lenovo (Motorola included) in third place for the year, behind Samsung and Micromax, and ahead of Intex and Reliance Jio, plus its own indigenous rivals.
UNBOXING HOT FIRE!
Instagram - http://instagram.com/unboxtherapy Subscribe for more - http://bit.ly/SubUnbox FOLLOW ME IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES Twitter ...
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Friday, January 27, 2017
Final Deployment of My New PC! – Personal Rig Update 2015 Part 5 (FINALE)
Thanks to Braintree for supporting our channel. To learn more, and for your first $50000 in transactions fee-free, go to http://www.braintreepayments.com/linus It ...
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Cool Tech Under $50 – August
dbrand skins: http://bit.ly/1KMuMpu Checking out the coolest tech deals that are under $50 for the month of August! ♢Cool Tech Deals Playlist♢ ...
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Google Nexus 10 Review!
Google Nexus 10 Inch Tablet Review! Today I do a hands on review of the Google Nexus 10 tablet made by Samsung. With Android 4.2, a Retina Display ...
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Apple Officials Said to Have Met Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Senior officials of the US-based iPhone maker Apple on Tuesday called upon Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The meeting assumes significance as the technology giant is seeking concessions like duty exemptions to set up its manufacturing unit in India.
"The meeting lasted for 40 minutes. There were three officials from the company, including the company's Global Vice President Priya Balasubramaniam," sources said.
The company executives will on Wednesday meet a group of senior officials from different ministries on their demands.
In a communication to the government, the Cupertino-based technology major has asked for several tax and other incentives, including long-term duty exemptions, to enter the manufacturing sector in India.
Apple Is Ready to Start Making iPhones in India - at a Price
Currently, the government provides support by way of benefits under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS) to boost electronic manufacturing.
The company sells its products through Apple-owned retail stores in countries like China, Germany, the US, the UK and France, among others. It has no wholly-owned store in India and sells its products through distributors such as Redington and Ingram Micro.
Why are we still using instant messaging apps at all?
A while back, you may have seen Adam Doud’s article “A weekend with Allo: When tech geeks unite!” where a bunch of us tech geeks used Google’s new instant messaging app Allo to keep in touch while wandering New York City. I didn’t use it though because my newest Android phones either won’t turn on (HTC One) or don’t have any non-WiFi active internet access (Moto Z), and they all have crappy cameras compared to my Nokia Lumia 1020. So if anything important was decided, someone else would email me or call me. Having to switch our tech geeks group from communicating over email (which was working great) to Allo instant messaging (which isn’t platform agnostic at all), reminded me of the old days when instant messaging was new and actually had a reason for being.
IM was necessary in the 90’s
Back in the 90’s we had the advent of “instant messaging” programs. This was necessary on the public internet since electronic mail was largely a “pull” experience meaning the software on your PC had to periodically go out and check for messages. The messages didn’t just appear right away (“push”) as they do now. With “instant messaging”, we could have a little program running on the PC at all times (or while connected to dial-up) and whenever someone sent a message, it would pop up right away. ICQ was one of the first and most popular instant messengers at the time. AOL had an instant messaging function but that was only for AOL subscribers. Eventually they opened that up to anyone for free with the AIM software and that competed a lot with ICQ. Then Microsoft made one too called MSN messenger, which actually allowed you to send messages to AOL users as well. This was awesome news since having all of these incompatible instant messaging programs was a real hassle.
Switching IM programs with every other message
I had one friend who would exasperate the annoyance of running multiple instant messaging programs by starting a conversation on AIM, then replying on MSN, then replying to my reply on ICQ. Many of my other friends dreamed of a world where you only needed one Instant Messaging program and anyone could contact you. The Internet Engineering Task Force actually tried to develop an open-source platform agnostic instant messaging protocol. They founded the Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol Working Group in 1998 which worked to create the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. This would have been great! The protocol was actually implemented by MSN Messenger, Google Chat, Jabber, AIM and Facebook Messenger at one point or another, but EVERYBODY has dropped support for the protocol (except maybe Jabber), and still none of the instant messaging programs are cross-app-compatible.
An IM app infestation
Now that smartphones are popular in this decade, we’ve seen a resurgence in instant messaging apps with a gabillion new ones that come and go fairly frequently. You probably have a special folder set up on your phone that contains a huge variety of internet-based instant messaging apps like: WhatsApp, Line, Telegram, BBM, Google Chat, Allo, Hangouts, Skype, Viber, WeChat, Kik, LiveProfile, Facebook Messenger, Tencent QQ, AIM, iChat, iMessage, Yahoo, ICQ, GroupMe, Vkontakte, Mail.Ru Agent, Odnoklassniki, Yandex chat, Mamba.Ru, Mig33, SINA Weibo, Renren, Fetion, Gadu-Gadu, MeinVZ and Jabber. I know it sounds like I’m just rambling gibberish right now, but all of those are basically proprietary programs designed to transfer text-based electronic messages from one client to another with varying degrees of extraneous features. The hassle of running multiple instant messaging apps and switching between them has increased exponentially.
Transferring text-based electronic messages from one person to another
Guess what, we already have a way of transferring text-based messages between electronic devices over the internet and it works with anything that has ever been able to connect to the internet. We call it Email and since about 2005 just about all email servers and email clients have supported “push” technologies for near-instant delivery just like the instant messengers of the 90’s. Those proprietary connections aren’t really necessary anymore. Exchange ActiveSync and the IMAP IDLE push technologies used by most email servers these days work really well.
But Instant Messengers are easier than Email
Are they really? Replying to an instant message usually happens like this:
- Tap app icon
- Tap thread to open conversation
- Tap text input field
- Type message
- Tap send
Replying to an email usually happens like this:
- Tap app icon
- Tap email message
- Tap reply
- Type message
- Tap send
Making email chat-like is only a matter of software design.
Both only take 5 steps. So, it’s just about exactly as easy to reply to an email as it is to reply to an instant message in that scenario. Where instant messaging improves the usability and efficiency of text-based communications is only when you already have the app open and are staring at the conversation. Ain’t nobody got time for that. That is one advantage though for streamlining rapid fire chat communications if both people do keep the app open at the same time and are watching the conversation in real time. You know, like Internet Relay Chat invented in 1988, but with proprietary lock-ins.
However, is there any reason why an email client couldn’t be made to sort emails as conversations and instantly load new messages into a conversation thread as you’re looking at it? No there isn’t, and Microsoft Send actually does (or did) that with Office 365 Business accounts. Getting that to work with other email accounts and servers should be pretty trivial. Tech support systems already do that kind of thing with tags in the subject line.
Instant Message programs become much less easy to use when they’re tied to specific devices. If I’m sitting in front of my computer and an instant message comes in on my phone, it can become really annoying to have to start using my phone to reply to those instead of being able to access the communications on the device I’m currently using. I can’t even get WhatsApp to run on a phone with no SIM card. Then when you’ve got a dozen instant messaging apps on your phone, switching between them becomes extremely annoying. With email, I need just one app and it’s probably already built into any new internet-connected device that I buy. I log in with my email address & password, and I’m done. No need to transfer accounts between phone numbers or whatever.
Email management is far more robust
Other than the huge advantage that Email already works on everything and everyone already has an email account (it’s practically a requirement to be on the internet), another advantage is that email software (and servers) often have far more robust management features compared to instant messengers. In Outlook on Windows desktop, I can set up conditional formatting rules that make particular emails show up in specific colors to make them stand out from the others in my folder lists. That’s extremely useful for visually separating the important stuff. I can also make custom auto-reply rules based on keywords, or send notifications via SMS. For emails that have actionable items, I can flag them with reminders and they’ll show up in my task list. On Windows Phone 8, I can make a live tile People Group that animates and flips over when new emails arrive from specific people. On Windows 10 Mobile, I can pin a subfolder of email as a live tile and set specific notification settings and sound effects for that. On the server side, I can automatically apply categories to emails based on keywords, automatically filter them into specific subfolders, ignore specific threads or subject lines, and even set specific spam confidence levels based on any number of criteria. Even searching is extremely robust. It’s easy to find conversations and references from decades ago. Long before something like WhatsApp even existed. WhatsApp only recently got the ability to save outgoing messages in an outbox while you have no internet access… something email programs have had since the past century.
If only we had such powerful email management software on a phone!
What about security?
Most instant messengers these days require your communications to pass through their proprietary servers. That means everything is in one place so that if there is some kind of security compromise, everybody is vulnerable. With email there are millions of individual servers communicating with each other, so intercepting messages needs to be more focused on a specific domain, but capturing and reading the contents of emails can be pretty easy if you have access to the servers they pass through. You can of course add encryption to emails that require digital ID certificates on both ends and communications within a single domain can be secured even more strongly by running your own internal server (or server farm).
How do you deal with spam?
This is an easy one. Don’t let spammers know about your email address. Some of the best advice I heard a couple decades ago was to make a separate email address that you use for internet stuff like shopping sites, message boards, non-humans, etc. and keep another one only for real people like friends and family. With that, I can set notification settings and a priority-placed live tile/widget for my important friends/family emails and give less priority to the email accounts that are going to get all the spam. Of course I have a few other email addresses for work stuff as well. Spam blockers and filters on most servers are highly configurable with the ability to add real-time-block-lists that keep publicly known spammer servers out. With email, it’s possible to design clients that prioritize emails based on certain criteria. I can filter all of my VIP emails into a sub folder and add specific notification sound effects to that folder in order to keep those messages up front while subduing the extraneous noise. I can even set an email account to be completely exclusive and only allow incoming emails from specific people (for example, the ones in my contact list). That kind of thing isn’t really possible with most instant messaging apps. Most instant messaging apps are just always obtrusive as long as they’re installed and it’s very difficult to sort out the unwanted messages.
Emoji and Stickers are fun!
Yeah, ok, but guess what… most of those are just regular animated GIF graphics that we’ve been able to embed in emails since email clients started supporting the HTML format decades ago. Sure, some email clients still don’t support playing animated GIFs, but there’s nothing keeping them from doing so and there’s nothing keeping me from inserting inline graphics into HTML emails. Some email clients actually automatically replace ASCII emoticons with graphical emoji. Some email clients in the past, Pocket PC 2000 for example, even had quick access buttons for adding voice recordings and handwritten digital ink to emails.
Message delivered and read notifications
Many instant message apps these days have little icons that indicate when the message was delivered as well as when it was read. That’s a pretty great feature for the stalkers out there who get annoyed when people don’t reply to their messages right away and are wondering where the other person is. Of course, this has been possible with email for a very long time. Exchange Server has supported read receipts and delivery receipts at least since the 90’s when I first started using it. Unfortunately, not all email servers treat read receipts the same way or at all. So that’s an aspect of email that’s hit or miss, but of course the feature is absolutely possible.
Do you really want your personal phone number out there?
Another thing that seems really naïve to do is putting your personal phone number into an app folder full of proprietary web-based instant messenger apps. A lot of the new ones these days associate your account with your phone number instead of a username/password log-in. This makes things easy on the user since they don’t need to remember a password, and the app developers can scan your contacts list, cross reference it with all the other users that have installed their app, and show you a list of who you know that is already using this particular instant messaging app. It makes contacting your friends (who have installed the app) really easy, but it’s also kind of a creepy invasion of privacy especially if the company who developed the app decides to change the privacy policy later on (like WhatsApp recently did).
Email will probably be around forever
Another huge disadvantage of all of these proprietary instant messenger apps that require you to peer-pressure your friends into downloading the app and signing up for an account is the fact that they change so frequently. Skype is going to completely stop working on Windows Phone 8, 8.1 and Windows RT next year (and never worked on Xbox 360). WhatsApp has changed their policies and will be sharing your info with Facebook. They’re also dropping support for a good number of platforms in 2017. MSN Messenger no longer exists. Facebook Messenger is going to require a ridiculous 2Gb of RAM on your phone soon and is becoming quite bloated. Instant messenger apps get bought up by other companies and support stagnates all the time. Other instant messengers have added tons of annoying ads once they started getting popular… and subsequently died off in popularity. Email has none of those problems, especially if you own your own domain so that you can switch email services whenever you want (or set up your own server). It’s just like old land-line telephones; you can get one from anywhere (build your own), plug it in and it’ll work.
You can’t get WhatsApp on the awesome old Nokia N8, but email still works.
What about SMS/MMS texting?
SMS and MMS (short message service and multimedia message service) were invented in the 1980’s as a means for sending text-based electronic messages between mobile phones over wireless networks (originally GSM networks). Multimedia message system obviously added the ability to include more than just text, such as pictures, videos, and audio attachments. SMS/MMS texting really started taking off when cross-network communications were enabled around the turn of the century. The reason we needed SMS was because mobile phones didn’t have internet access and therefore couldn’t send/receive regular email. Texting was an inexpensive work-around for that limitation and including the advantages of being “pushed” to the receiving device long before the wide variety of email servers became capable of push. I remember using some smartphones that actually used SMS to initiate an email “pull” when a particular email was seen on the server.
Today, there’s a heavy interest in being able to send and receive SMS/MMS messages on desktop PCs, tablets, and laptops. Apple has a feature called Continuity that lets you do that via iMessage apps on your Macs & other iOS devices logged in with the same Apple ID. Microsoft has SMS sync and relay built into their new Skype Preview app on Windows 10. Google has SMS capabilities in the Google Voice service that’s accessible from any browser. Back in 2005, we had PC apps for Windows Mobile that let us connect to the smartphone and send/receive SMS as well. All of these hacks to get SMS on more internet-connected devices seem a lot like how email has already been working the whole time. To this day, none of those SMS sync services work between platforms though. I can access my email conversations from practically anything that has internet access by (in many cases) simply typing my email address & password into the email program built in. And since I’ve set my Google Voice phone number to forward all text messages to an email account, I can reply to those from any internet-connected device too. It really makes SMS feel unnecessary and extremely obsolete… as long as I’ve got internet access. SMS still shines in those areas where GSM may have reception, but the data connection does not. Those no-internet situations are becoming far less frequent though, and SMS conversations have remained far less manageable and far less capable than email.
Just make better email apps!
The bottom line is, we don’t really need a gabillion different ways to send text-based electronic messages to each other. What we need is a single standard that everyone can communicate on and some more customizable/flexible ways to send and manage those messages. Maybe you want a messaging program that sorts your messages in a chat window with blue and green bubbles and a cute background image. Maybe I want a messaging program that puts all the incoming messages in an “Inbox” folder where I can color code everything with categories and hit the flag button to add them to my task lists or write macros that auto-respond to specific keywords. The interface I like and the interface you like shouldn’t interfere with our ability to send text-based electronic messages to each other!
Conclusion
There seem to be a lot of people and companies that want to replace your open electronic internet communications with their own proprietary systems that lock you in to a particular service. If you’re overwhelmed with email, it might be because you haven’t learned how to take advantage of some of the great management features out there. One of the best ways to get a handle on your email is to keep separate accounts for separate uses. My email account that only friends & family know about is completely noise free. That’s where my priority conversations are and it works on everything that has an internet connection.
These other instant messaging companies want to lock you in to their specific service so that once you start depending on it, they can start sending advertisements and make lots of money. We know this because it’s all happened before. They want you depending on their apps/services because you are the product.
A clever developer could probably collapse the whole instant messenger market by designing a platform agnostic email client that supports all the things email does already, but adds a more chat-like experience interface. Stickers, emoji, backgrounds, etc. could all be easily added as HTML embeds. Conversations could easily be organized with subject or header tags. Then some open-source standard-API server extensions could be added for things like read-receipts and presence sharing so that all email servers could be updated with IM-like capabilities while maintaining backwards compatibility with all existing email programs. We did it with the world wide web and HTML standards compliant browsers that can load any website. Why can’t we do it with electronic text-based communications?
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