Facebook tests critic reviews in your restaurant searches
Ever had a Facebook friend rave about a restaurant, only to find out that it leaves your own tastebuds underwhelmed? Facebook might just come to your rescue. It’s experimenting with a feature that adds critic reviews to certain restaurant pages in New York and San Francisco, so you’ll know whether or not that burger joint is really as good as your aunt says. This is ultimately a response to Google’s Zagat ratings, but you probably won’t mind if it saves you from taking some bad dinner advice — here’s hoping that the feature expands quickly.
Chip production battle heats up as Samsung announces 10nm plans
Although we all see the fruits of the chip manufacturing battle in the form of sleeker, faster, longer running mobile devices, not many people are aware of just how intense the competition in the industry has become. Two of the biggest rivals, Samsung and TSMC, recently moved to 14nm/16nm production for newer devices, with Samsung leading the way. The ability of Samsung to jump ahead in shrinking the manufacturing process let it move the Samsung Galaxy S6 to its own Exynos chips and has it in the lead to produce chips for the Apple iPhone 7. Samsung hopes to retain that position by moving to a 10nm production method by the end of 2016.
Amidst the clamor of these two players, Intel is quietly sitting on the side where industry analysts believe the company is “ahead of everyone” when it comes to 10nm development. Whether Intel can capitalize on that development lead with some commercial success remains to be seen. Intel has not made any public statements about their 10nm plans, possibly in an effort to keep buyers interested in their 14nm processes.
Against Samsung’s announcement, TSMC has indicated they expect to start shipping 16nm chips later this year and will start testing 10nm chips by the end of this year and they too will have 10nm chips ready for production by the end of 2016.
With everyone targeting the end of 2016 for 10nm production, one big question will be manufacturing capacity. Besides speed to market, part of Samsung’s recent success was driven by their ability to meet expected demand. Samsung says they now have four facilities ramped up and producing 14nm wafers – two in Korea, one in Texas, and one in New York. Demand for new chips primarily comes from Apple and Qualcomm, the two largest buyers in the market.
Industry analysts point to high definition video demands, especially real-time live streaming, as a big factor in the recent drive for more powerful chips that consume less space and power. This has introduced some volatility to the manufacturers who are now racing to meet these new targets, which require significant capital investments, and looking for buyers with enough volume to justify the investments. The shorter life cycles between these changes is going to limit opportunities.
source: EE Times
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Samsung’s working on a refresh of the Galaxy J1
The folks over at SamMobile have leaked some information on an upcoming Samsung-branded budget-friendly smartphone, which has been dubbed the Galaxy J1 Pop. Although we are not sure at this stage if this is a codename or the actual name of the device.
Unfortunately, no details or specifications were published, but we do know that the handset will receive a worldwide launch, starting off in Brazil, India and Russia.
This leads us to believe that the Pop will follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, the Galaxy J1, packing a 4.3-inch WVGA display, a dual-core Spectrum processor, 512MB of RAM and a 2MP front-facing shooter.
What do you think of Samsung’s latest budget-friendly smartphone? Let us know in the comments.
Source: SamMobile
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Motorola slashes $100 off the price of the Moto 360
Earlier today, Motorola lowered the cost of the Moto 360 by $100 on its website, so you can now pick one up for $149. This move strengthens rumors that the company is almost ready to launch its second-generation smartwatch.
The Moto 360 isn’t old hat by any means, though. It’s still one of the best and most reliable wearables currently on the market and is set to receive the Android 5.1.1 update in the coming weeks, which will transport a bunch of new features to the device.
If you’re in the market for a Moto 360 and want to bag yourself one for the reduced price of $149, hit the source link below.
Source: Motorola
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Microsoft, Sony drop out of top 10 smartphone manufacturers in Q1
While Samsung stood tall as the top smartphone manufacturer in the first quarter of 2015, both Microsoft and Sony dropped out of the top ten rankings, according to former Nokia executive and market analyst Tomi Ahonen.
Samsung shipped 82.8 million devices in Q1, holding a whopping 24.3 percent market share. Apple held a 18 percent share, with Lenovo, Huawei and LG finishing the top five, with 5.5, 5.1 and 4.5 percent shares respectively.
Microsoft and Sony will look to rebound this quarter, especially as Microsoft prepares to release Windows 10 for its smartphones and tablets.
Source: Communities Dominate Brands
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OnePlus teases the release of a new product on June 1
OnePlus took to its Twitter account earlier today to tease the release of an upcoming smartphone, which we believe is the much-anticipated OnePlus 2.
Unfortunately, the company doesn’t give much away in the tweet. It merely claims that it’s “always looking for ways to shake up the tech industry” and that it “thinks it’s time for a change.”
With regards to specifications, the OnePlus 2 is expected to pack a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a 2GHz quad-core Cortex-A57 processor, 2GB of RAM, an Adreno 430 GPU and a 16MP shooter.
Thankfully, we don’t have to wait too much longer to find out what the company has planned as it has scheduled an event for June 1.
What do you think OnePlus has up its sleeve for its next flagship? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Source: Twitter
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Apple Seeds Fourth OS X 10.10.4 Yosemite Beta to Developers, Public Beta Testers
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of OS X 10.10.4 to developers, just over two weeks after releasing the third OS X 10.10.4 beta and a month after releasing the first OS X 10.10.4 beta. OS X 10.10.4 has been in testing since mid April, following the early April release of OS X 10.10.3 with the new Photos for OS X app.
The new beta, build 14E26a, can be downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Mac Developer Center.
OS X 10.10.3 brought several consumer-facing changes including the new Photos for OS X app, a redesigned emoji picker, and diversified emoji, but OS X 10.10.4 appears to be an under-the-hood update that brings performance enhancements and bug fixes. Thus far, OS X 10.10.4 betas have not included outward facing design changes or feature additions.
The first two updates to OS X Yosemite, OS X 10.10.1 and OS X 10.10.2, were also minor behind-the-scenes updates that improved performance through bug fixes and enhancements.
Apple Considering $1.6 Billion Bond Sale in Japan [Mac Blog]
Apple is considering issuing about 200 billion yen ($1.62 billion) in bonds as early as June in Japan, in what would be the company’s first fundraising activity in the country, according to Nikkei. The report claims that Apple plans to take advantage of low interest rates in Japan to procure the funds, which could be used to boost shareholder rewards and expand Japanese operations.
“Early this month, Apple started gauging potential demand for the yen-denominated bonds among regional banks, life insurers and other institutional investors,” claims the Nikkei Asian Review. “The bonds will target Japanese investors but will likely be sold to overseas investors as well.”
Apple has issued 2.8 billion euros ($3 billion) and 1.25 billion Swiss francs ($1.31 billion) in bonds since last year, and will reportedly benefit from an interest rate on bonds in Japan about 1 percentage point lower than in the United States. It was also reported in February that Apple was planning to raise $6.5 billion in a corporate debt sale. The funds are used for corporate purposes such as repurchasing of common stock and payment of dividends through Apple’s capital return program.
Google exec confirms Android M will be released this year
It wasn’t too long ago that we first heard whispers of the next version of Android, thanks to an error on the official Google I/O 2015 schedule. We have a strong suspicion that Google will introduce Android M at this year’s developer conference, but we haven’t actually received any confirmed information regarding the next release. However, thanks to a recent interview with a Google exec, it’s now confirmed that Android M will be released to the public before the year’s end.
Read more: What will Android M bring?
In an interview with Fast Company, Android’s Vice President of Engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer spills some details regarding Android M, and what Google’s plan is for future releases:
As we’ve grown as a platform, we realize that to some extent predictability is important for the whole industry: developers, manufacturers, operators, and consumers, frankly. So we’ve landed with sort of a yearly cadence of big releases, so, for instance, one year we release J, the next year we release K, and then the year after that L, and then this year we’ll launch M, and so you can predict what will happen next year.
This certainly isn’t any groundbreaking news, as we were already assuming that Google would release Android M the same way it released Android L – launching a developer preview at Google I/O, then releasing the final build to the public before the end of the year, likely with some new hardware. Even so, the interview does provide some helpful information, since we now know that Google is planning for yearly release cycles for bigger versions of Android. Lockheimer didn’t make any more comments on Android M in the interview.
We’ve already heard that the next version of Android may feature native fingerprint authentication and new voice controls, but what else do you hope Android M will bring? Let us know in the comments below!
U.S. Cellular to sell LG G4 on June 4
U.S. Cellular is the latest wireless carrier to announce sales and pre-sales for the LG G4. Available for purchase starting on June 4, its version of the flagship phone will be sold in Gold, Black Leather, and Metallic Gray.
Pricing for the LG G4 shakes out to $0 down and monthly payments of $29.50 each if you opt for the Gold or Metallic Gray. Pick the Black Leather and you’re looking at a slight premium of $30.50 per payment.
Customers who don’t want to spread out the cost of the G4 can pair it with a two-year service agreement. Going that route sees the phone priced at $199 with a contract.
As part of a limited time promotion, buyers who preorder the handset will receive a free 32GB microSD card and an extra battery with charging cradle at no cost.
U.S. Cellular will let interested buyers preorder the LG G4 as early as May 29.
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