WSJ: Apple shelved its HDTV plans last year
Ever wondered what happened to that Apple HDTV we’ve been hearing rumors about for years ? According to The Wall Street Journal, those rumors weren’t baseless speculation, as the company did work on a television set for nearly a decade. Unfortunately, you won’t be seeing one anytime soon: the project’s reportedly been shelved since last year, because Cupertino couldn’t come up with anything to make its television different enough from competitors’. Apple apparently toyed with the ideas of 4K TVs, using a transparent laser-powered display and even adding sensor-equipped cameras that can move to capture the speaker’s face during FaceTime calls. In the end, none of those seemed “compelling enough” for the company’s bigwigs.
At the moment, Apple’s concentrating on giving the Apple TV box a slimmer design and creating an online TV service, the WSJ said. Cook and cohorts are already talking to people to offer TV channel bundles, which could be announced as soon as June and launched this fall. Despite the publication’s report, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, one of Apple’s largest shareholders, has published an open letter to Tim Cook that forecasts a “push into the TV market” for 2016. Whether Icahn’s prediction comes true remains to be seen, as Apple didn’t completely kill its TV dreams — it just put them on hold for now.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Apple Nixed Plans for Apple-Branded Television Set ‘More Than a Year Ago’
Apple shelved plans to introduce a full-blown television set more than a year ago reports The Wall Street Journal, citing sources with knowledge of Apple’s plans. The company reportedly spent more than a decade researching the possibility of releasing an ultra high-definition television set before deciding to nix the project because it couldn’t find untapped features that would give it an edge in the television market.
Apple had searched for breakthrough features to justify building an Apple-branded television set, those people said. In addition to an ultra-high-definition display, Apple considered adding sensor-equipped cameras so viewers could make video calls through the set, they said.
Ultimately, though, Apple executives didn’t consider any of those features compelling enough to enter the highly competitive television market, led by Samsung Electronics Co.
One of the technologies Apple investigated in the mid-2000s was a transparent display that used lasers to display an image, but it used too much power and resulted in poor image quality. Another potential feature Apple explored was video calling similar to FaceTime, but it ultimately “didn’t seem compelling enough” for Apple to enter the television market.
The Wall Street Journal‘s report comes following comments from investor Carl Icahn, who today shared a letter covering on products he believes Apple will introduce over the course of the next several years. Icahn suggested Apple will dominate both the television and automobile markets, introducing 55 and 65-inch television sets in 2016 and a car in 2020.
Rumors about an Apple-branded television set have circulated for many years, but picked up in 2011 after the launch of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography where Jobs’ interest in the television industry was highlighted. “I finally cracked it,” Jobs was quoted as saying.
Rumors continued through 2012 and 2013, pointing towards television prototypes in Jony Ive’s studio and work on television designs, but rumors died down in late 2013 as a product failed to materialize. Focus turned instead to Apple’s ongoing content struggles and its efforts to release a new set-top box, with the television team being disbanded and sent off to work on other projects. The television set project was not, however, officially “killed.”
Apple is expected to unveil a new Apple TV and a new streaming television service at its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, set to begin on June 8, but according to The Wall Street Journal, the status of the announcement hinges on the completion of Apple’s deals with media companies.
The new Apple TV is said to include a full App Store, Siri support, additional storage, and a redesigned form factor. The television service may feature a bundle of approximately 25 channels priced at $30 to $40 per month, with programming beginning in the fall following the prospective June announcement.
Starbucks Partners With Spotify for Interconnected Loyalty Programs, In-Store Song Picks [iOS Blog]
Longtime iTunes partner Starbucks today announced a brand new music partnership with music streaming service Spotify. Starbucks members will have access to in-store music within the Starbucks app powered by Spotify, and Spotify users will have opportunities to gain Starbucks rewards points.
“We plan on building one of the most robust digital ecosystems of any retailer in the world. Given the evolution of the music industry and the proliferation of streaming technology, it was natural that we would partner with Spotify in offering our customers a new way to engage with their favorite music,” added Kevin Johnson, president and coo of Starbucks.
The coffee company’s 150,000 U.S.-based employees will receive a free Spotify Premium subscription and will be able to use Spotify to influence in-store playlists. Those playlists will then be available to stream within the Starbucks app. Spotify users will also be able to gain rewards points for the Starbucks app and will be able to listen to the in-store playlists within the Spotify apps.
It’s unclear whether Starbucks will continue its music partnership with Apple’s iTunes. The two companies first established a partnership in 2007, allowing iPod users to figure out what was playing in Starbucks stores. Later, the coffee company began giving away free iTunes songs, which can still be accessed within the Starbucks mobile app. In 2011, Starbucks and Apple extended their partnership to the App Store. More recently, the two companies began teaming up for (Product) Red iTunes / Starbucks gift card combinations.
The new partnership will roll out to the U.S. later this year, with Canada and the United Kingdom to follow thereafter.
Microsoft marks 25 years of Solitaire with a tournament
Microsoft Solitaire, aka Windows’ biggest productivity killer, is turning 25 this year — and the team in Redmond is going to mark the occasion in style. The company is starting with an internal tournament this month that will determine who rules the roost within its own ranks. You’ll get to participate in June, when the company releases the tournament’s challenges to the public through its Solitaire Collection. If you’ve spent years mastering the art of ordering cards, your finely-honed (if not exactly practical) skills are about to pay off.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Microsoft
Source: Blogging Windows
L’Oreal is 3D printing its own human skin to test cosmetics
The L’Oreal Group hasn’t tested its products on animals worldwide since 2013, instead relying on a predictive model that utilizes a “Reconstructed Human Epidermis” — basically bits of skin grown in a lab — to ensure that its products are safe. Now the French cosmetics giant is teaming up with 3D bioprinting company Organovo to create the real thing…or at least as real as human skin that comes out of an ink jet nozzle can be.
L’Oreal has, in fact, been growing skin since the 1980s. A 60-person team grows roughly 100,000 skin samples every year (that’s 5 square meters of skin or a full cow’s-worth annually) at its lab in Lyon. Currently, the company receives bits of donor skin from plastic surgery procedures. Then L’Oreal breaks the samples down into individual cells, re-cultures and grows them into .5 cm testing squares. The whole process takes about a week to complete but could soon be done much faster thanks to Organovo’s NovoGen Bioprinting Platform. This device uses a pair of printer heads — one for placing human cells, the other for placing a hydrogel support matrix — to create skin samples on a commercial scale.
The program is still in its planning stages but should it come to market, the cosmetics company will retain exclusive rights to the samples for use in non-prescription skin care products. Organovo, on the other hand, will have the right to sell the tissues for prescription drug and toxicity testing as well as for future organ transplants. The bioprinter has already partnered with Merk to create liver and kidney tissues (the first samples of which should be ready by next year) but this reportedly is the first time the beauty industry has employed such technology.
[Image credit: Organovo]
Filed under: Science
Source: Organovo
Oppo R1x Review
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The Bottom Line
- Gorgeous design and build
- Fluid software experience with no hitches
- Vibrant display despite only 720p
- Lower end specs for the price when compared to the competition
- Average camera with poor low light performance
- No VOOC fast charging
While the Oppo R1x lacks a standout feature to differentiate itself from the competition, what it does offer is a device that simply looks, feels, and is built like a flagship.
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Flagship smartphones continue to impress with their incredible specifications, performance, and features across various aspects of the smartphone experience, but there is always going to be a need for devices that aren’t as demanding on the wallet. The increased focus on the mid-range segment has been a boon for consumers, with a budget-friendly price tag no longer indicative of a significant compromise in quality. As the competition in this space heats up, we’ve seen some great devices from numerous OEMs, including Oppo. What does the company’s latest mid-range offering bring to the table? We find out, in this in-depth review of the Oppo R1x!
What does the company’s latest mid-range offering bring to the table? We find out, in this in-depth review of the Oppo R1x!
Design
Oppo’s penchant for great design and build quality, even when it comes to their more budget-friendly offerings, really shines through with the R1x. Maintaining the design language of its predecessor, the R1x features a thin aluminum chassis, and CNC-machines with the now very popular diamond cutting techniques help deliver the mirror smooth chamfers which surround the various buttons and ports.
Speaking of buttons and ports, the volume rocker and SIM card slot are found to the right, with the power button on the opposite side, along with the headphone jack and micro USB port placed at the top and bottom respectively. The micro USB is flanked by what might look like a dual speaker setup, but instead houses a single speaker unit on one side, and a microphone on the other, with the grill design present for the sake of symmetry. Below the display is where you will find the capacitive home, back, and recent apps keys.
The R1x also retains the glass sandwich design of its predecessor, akin to the Sony Xperia Z line of smartphones, this time with a sapphire glass backing that should do a great job at keeping things scratch free, along with a reflection pattern that shines no matter what angle the phone is held. Even with a thickness of just 6.8 mm, Oppo has managed to avoid a camera bump that can be found with even some flagships out there, allowing for a sleek and uniform look throughout.
Display
The Oppo R1x features a 5-inch IPS LCD display with a 720p resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 294 ppi. We’ve certainly seen devices in this segment with higher resolutions, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a valuable visual experience to be had in this case. Helped along by the bright and colorful user interface, everything is still clear and detailed enough, with IPS technology bringing with it the great viewing angles and good brightness it is known for.
Performance and Hardware
Under the hood, the Oppo R1x packs a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, clocked at 1.7 GHz, backed by the Adreno 405 GPU and 2 GB of RAM. This is the processing package powering quite a few mid-range offerings out there, and continues to prove its capabilities. Moving around the various elements of the user interface, as well as the animations, are all smooth and snappy, with there being no hint of any lag or hiccup. Going in and out of applications and multi-tasking are a breeze, and gaming is also handled very well, save for the most graphic-intensive of situations. The experience may not be as fast as what is possible with the current crop of flagships, but there isn’t much to complain about when it comes to the performance of the R1x.
The R1x comes with 16 GB of onboard storage, with expandable storage up to 128 GB available via microSD. While the device does features dual-SIM support, it has to be mentioned that the R1x comes with a tray setup with two slots, leaving it up to the user to choose between dual-SIM capabilities or microSD expansion with a single SIM in place. The standard suite of sensors and connectivity options are available, along with support for 4G LTE, even though it might be compatible with LTE networks in the US. Call quality is decent, and the single speaker unit at the bottom certainly gets loud enough, even if the sound quality isn’t particularly rich.
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On the battery front, the Oppo R1x packs a non-removable 2,420 mAh unit, which comfortably allows for a full day of use with moderate to heavy usage. During a day with usage that involved using Google Maps periodically, texting, sending emails, web browsing, and watching videos on Youtube, the device managed just under 3 hours of screen-on time, with the battery just about making it through the full day. Serviceable is the operative word here, and while it may not be the best performer, the battery life isn’t close to the worst either. The R1x does not come with Oppo’s incredibly fast VOOC fast-charging capabilities though, which is quite a disappointment, being one of the best features of any Oppo device, but unfortunately, it looks like Oppo is saving this feature for its more higher-end offerings.
Camera
On a mid-tier smartphone like this, you might feel you’d be completely cheated out of any reasonable camera experience, and while you’re definitely missing out on 4K video capabilities with only 1080p max, you’re still getting a solid 13 MP shooter with at least passable outdoor capabilities. It produces subdued colors, but the images aren’t lacking in detail. Understandably, indoor photography suffers more, even with its f/2.0 aperture. The camera works hard to bring brightness to the image with an ISO increase, but then makes for a grainy unattractive image.
All of the automatic settings are controlled by what Oppo calls Pure Image 2.0+, that changes the settings to create the optimal image. Manual controls are available too, so those with the technical know how are given the opportunity to tweak the settings for a better image, with access to white balance, ISO, exposure, and manual focus. The camera app is packed with features though, with even more choices available for the user to install later such as GIF creator, RAW image capture, and After Focus, to name a few. For what amounts to being an average camera, you do get almost every software feature you could possibly think of.
The device also packs a 5 MP front-facing unit, which certainly packs enough pixels, but also allows for only average shots when outdoors, with a noticeable drop in quality when indoors, with images coming out noisier than expected, with a post-processing on the software side that ends up crushing detail in the image to compensate. Of course, the seemingly standard Beauty Mode is also available, to add a little extra to your selfies.
Software
When it comes to the software, the Oppo R1x runs Color OS 2.0.1 based on Android 4.4.4 Kitkat. As mentioned, the software experience is very smooth, with snappy animations without any hint of lag. As is the case with the software seen with a lot of devices from Chinese OEMs, there is no app drawer available, which could take some getting used to, and leaves you dependent on folders to stay organized, and of course, you do always have the option to utilize a third-party launcher from the Google Play Store to return to a more traditional experience.
But Color OS itself has its own toolbelt of features that does make it a compelling UI option, including a robust theme store to customize the look to better suit your tastes. Other features include the Exclusive Space and Live Weather widgets, with the latter allowing for weather themed animations for your wallpaper, and the former introducing Oppo’s take on widgets for your camera and music player. It may not be a standout feature, but are certainly a fun, fresh take on the widget side of things.
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The Color OS on the Oppo R1x works pretty well, but the device does come with the ability to get back to a more stock iteration quite easily. In the Settings menu, that is well laid out into three categories, General, Sound, and Display, you have the option to switch to the Google Now launcher, and set Google Hangouts to be the default messaging up, resulting in a more standard Android experience. That said, Color OS isn’t an uncomfortable experience by any means, and the ability to play around with the look and feel via themes is something that users may prefer.
Specifications
| Display | 5-inch IPS LCD display 720p, 294 ppi |
| Processor | 1.7 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Adreno 405 GPU |
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Camera | 13 MP rear camera with LED flash 5 MP front-facing camera |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, USB 2.0 |
| Storage | 16 GB, expandable up to 128 GB |
| Software | Color OS 2.0.1 based on Android 4.4.4 Kitkat |
| Battery | 2,420 mAh |
| Colors | Dark Blue White |
| Dimensions | 140.6 x 70.1 x 6.8 mm 130 grams |
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Pricing and Final Thoughts
The Oppo R1x is priced at the equivalent of approximately $450 in various markets around the world, with availability in the US, and compatibility with US LTE networks, not confirmed for now.
So there you have it – a closer look at the Oppo R1x! The device arrives at a time when the competition in the mid-range space is as intense as ever, and while it does to prove to be quite capable, with a beautiful, albeit low-resolution display, and more than decent performance, what the R1x lacks is a standout feature to differentiate itself from the competition. With that said, what it does offer is a device that simply looks, feels, and is built like a flagship, but at a much lower price point.
Google releases new crop of Chromebooks for the Indian market
Google has just teamed up with a couple of OEMs in India to bring a new set of Chromebooks to the region. The Mountain View giant has teamed up with XOLO and Nexian in the region and aims to target the budget segment.
The Chromebooks are super affordable, making them an attractive proposition for students and people who are simply looking to give Chrome OS a go. These Chromebooks were spotted in an ad recently as well, so we’ve been anticipating its arrival for quite some time now.
Both Chromebooks are running on Rockchip SoCs, so the users can’t expect much in terms of performance. Initial hands-on opinions of the devices suggest that the XOLO offering looks to be more refined in terms of ergonomics and overall design.
As for the pricing, the XOLO Chromebook will be available through local retailer Snapdeal for Rs.12,999 ($204). The Chromebook by Nexian will be available through Amazon India and carries the same price tag.
Both Chromebooks carry the same 11.6 inch display, so it’s very hard to differentiate in terms of hardware or even the price for that matter. The Chromebooks also have 16GB of onboard storage (expandable), 2GB of RAM and 4,200 mAh battery units.
Source: Amazon India, Snapdeal
Via: Tech Crunch
Come comment on this article: Google releases new crop of Chromebooks for the Indian market
T-Mobile prepaid customers could get the LG Leon smartphone for free: Rumor
After the innumerable discounts offered by T-Mobile for its prepaid customers, a new one has just cropped up which could easily take the cake.
According to an internal memo accessed by a popular fan site, the company will offer the LG Leon LTE smartphone for free on the 20th of May for customers who sign up for a prepaid plan higher than $40 or pick the Simple Choice No Credit (SCNC) plan.
The smartphone is expected to hit the shelves along with its bigger sibling the LG G Stylo, so the promotion will come across as attractive to potential buyers. It must be noted that the Leon LTE will be offered for free only after a rebate by the carrier.
Discount amounts vary depending on what plan you’ve chosen, as TMo News states. Those who chose the regular prepaid option will see that the price of the smartphone has come down to $50, which will then be reimbursed to you in the form of an online rebate. But for those on the SCNC plan, the Leon LTE will cost $149.76, which will also be fully discounted in the form of a rebate. So regardless of which plan you pick, you stand to save some money if you choose the LG Leon LTE.
How does it sound?
Via: TMo News
Come comment on this article: T-Mobile prepaid customers could get the LG Leon smartphone for free: Rumor
James Cameron backs a contest to build better movie drones
You can already record some decent footage with a drone if you’re so inclined, but “decent” isn’t good enough for director James Cameron. He’s lending support to C-Prize, a New Zealand competition meant to improve drone technology for the movie and TV producers. The challenge will reward those who develop tech that makes drones quieter, more stable and better at tracking moving subjects — all important when you’re shooting your magnum opus with a robotic camera. You’ll have to pitch your idea by July 5th, but the mad scramble could be worth it if it earns the gratitude of Cameron and other filmmakers hoping to spice up their aerial shots.
[Image credit: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Cameras, Home Entertainment, Robots, HD
Via: Stuff.co.nz, Gizmodo
Source: C-Prize
Starbucks picks Spotify for radio, and baristas are the DJs
Starbucks and Spotify are teaming up to to build a music ecosystem across retail stores. By joining forces with the popular streaming service, the giant coffee chain hopes to create an experience that will benefit loyal customers, particularly those who are part of the My Starbucks Rewards program. If you’re one of them, you’ll have the chance to earn Stars as Currency points for subscribing to Spotify Premium, which offers access to millions of songs that can be played offline, ad-free and without any skip limitations. In addition to this, Starbucks will be curating a set of playlists for all Spotify users to enjoy, featuring tunes that have been popular at its coffeehouses in the past 20 years. The new partnership is set to kick off in the US later this fall, with Canada and the United Kingdom expected to follow suit soon thereafter.
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Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Software, Mobile
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