Huawei’s scheduled to hold a launch event for the Honor 7 in the UK on August 27
Huawei has just announced that it will hold an event on Thursday, August 27, in London, UK, to launch its flagship smartphone of 2015, the Honor 7. The handset will be up for grabs after the event in SIM-free form, but, unfortunately, we have no information with regards to pricing as of yet.
As for the specifications the device packs a 5.2-inch Full HD display, a 2.2GHz Kirin 935 System-on-Chip (SoC), 3GB of RAM, 16 or 64GB of expandable internal storage, a 20-megapixel rear-facing camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing shooter and a 3,100mAh battery.
On the software side, the Honor 7 will ship running the latest build of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop skinned with the Chinese company’s ultra-customizable EMUI 3.1 custom user interface, which enables users to easily install their own themes.
Do you live in the UK? If so, are you planning on picking up an Honor 7 when it launches next month? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Come comment on this article: Huawei’s scheduled to hold a launch event for the Honor 7 in the UK on August 27
[Deal] Google kicks off new Chromecast promotion
Google has just kicked off a great new deal in which it’s offering a $15 discount to anyone who purchases two Chromecast units before Friday, July 31. One Chromecast will set you $35 back, but you can grab two for just $55 with this promotion.
If you like the sound of this deal and want to take advantage of it — hit the source link below.
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: [Deal] Google kicks off new Chromecast promotion
Google’s balloons to provide Sri Lanka with high-speed internet
Google’s Project Loon is ready to provide the entire country of Sri Lanka with high-speed internet access after two years of testing and improving its technology. As you know, the X Labs creation uses stratospheric balloons that transmit signals to the ground to provide internet coverage even in rural locations. That’s why Sri Lanka’s government news portal is proudly proclaiming that the nation is “on its way to becoming the first country in the world to have universal internet coverage.”
According to Physorg, Sri Lankan foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera said Google plans to start releasing balloons in the coming months until March 2016. Each one can stay aloft for 100 days, and local internet providers can tap into their connections to lower their operational costs. In turn, they’re expected to offer cheaper services to locals. Sri Lanka is a tiny island nation ten times smaller than Texas, but it still has 2.8 million mobile internet and 606,000 fixed-line users. It’s a good starting point for Loon’s experimental technology, which will likely be deployed in bigger countries if this venture turns out to be a success.
Filed under: Google
The latest ‘King’s Quest’ adventure starts today
In case Shenmue 3 and a Castlevania spiritual successor were a bit too recent and console-centric for your nostalgia kick, maybe the new King’s Quest will tickle your fancy. The hand-painted adventure game’s first episode is out today across a wide swath of platforms (PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 an Xbox One, Windows). Creative director Matt Korba writes on the PlayStation Blog that the aim was to make a family-friendly game in an effort to bridge the gap between players of yore and today. What’s more there are apparently quite a few references to the original games hidden here and there. Should you want to try and find ’em for yourself, it’s $9.99 per episode or $39.99 for the season pass.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: PlayStation Blog
Nintendo sells 10 million Wii Us, still not making much money
Nintendo has posted yet another slim profit as it moves beyond the financial difficulties of the past few years. The slow launch of the Wii U and the stagnation of its handheld sales caused Nintendo to fall dramatically from grace after the runaway success of the Wii. After recording its first annual profit since 2011 earlier this year, though, it’s proved it can stay in the black in spite of the Wii U’s meagre popularity, making just over $9million in the latest quarter.
Nintendo only managed to sell 470,000 flagship consoles over the past three months, down slightly from last year’s 510,000. That at least pushes the Wii U’s total sales above the 10 million barrier. For context, it took over 30 months for Nintendo to sell what Sony managed in less than a year with PS4. Software sales were still remarkably strong — 4.55 million over the quarter — proving that, while the Wii U may not be a big seller, its gamers definitely love Nintendo games. Splatoon sold 1.62 million copies, and Wii U owners now own (on average) six games for their console.
While the Wii U still languishes in third place, Nintendo had a very strong quarter for 3DS, with sales of 1.1 million. That’s up 23 percent from last year, likely due to the availability of the new 3DS, and software remained fairly steady at a shade under 8 million. It’s worth noting that the first quarter is historically a tough one for Nintendo, and these figures actually represent the company’s strongest showing in a few years. But with no big releases on the horizon for either system, the company is unlikely to see a huge leap in sales next quarter. That’s curious, given it’s predicting around a $400 million profit for the year, and has so far managed less than 3 percent of that figure. It’s hoping that the release of Super Mario Maker, Star Fox, and Mario Tennis will pick things up for the holiday season, before it’s ready to show us something totally new in 2016.
Source: Nintendo (PDF)
Deal: get a unlocked Galaxy S5 (GSM) for $340 from Target via Ebay
There’s a flurry of attractive devices coming in the $300-$400 price range, with the OnePlus 2, Moto X Style, and ZTE Axon among the latest. But if you can’t wait for these devices to go on sale, or if you just prefer Samsung devices, you can get a very capable Galaxy S5 for just $340 right now.
The deal is run by Target through its eBay presence, and sees the price of an unlocked Galaxy S5 (blue, black, or white) 16GB down to $340, which is $60 less than the current price on Amazon. This is a GSM-only device, so it will only work on AT&T’s, T-Mobile’s and certain MVNOs’ networks.
The Galaxy S5 has been one of the worst sales performers for Samsung (proportions kept), but that’s not because the device itself is bad. If you’re fine with the design, the Full HD AMOLED display, 16MP camera, and Snapdragon 801 processor are still excellent features. Plus you get some things the newer Galaxy S6 doesn’t offer: a large removable battery (2,800 mAh) and a microSD card slot.
Head over to eBay to get the device if you’re interested – quantities are limited.
Intel unveils 3D XPoint memory that’s 1000 times faster than flash
Intel and Micron have announced a new class of non-volatile memory that claims to offer a breakthrough in memory chips. Known as 3D Xpoint (cross point), production of this memory has already begun and could be heading to laptops, super computers and smartphones in the future.
3D XPoint is targeted to replace non-volatile memory, such as the NAND flash used in the current smartphones, but it works quite differently. Rather than using traditional transistors that have to be accessed in entire rows, XPoint is built from a 3D crosshatch patten, allowing access to individual cells to write or read those all-important 1s and 0s.
This is where Intel boasts that 3D XPoint could offer speed improvements of up to 1,000 times compared with current NAND flash. Rather than having to shift, wipe and write data into an entire block of cells, XPoint can access cells individually, which takes less time.
“This new class of non-volatile memory is a revolutionary technology that allows for quick access to enormous data sets and enables entirely new applications.” – Mark Adams, president of Micron
Furthermore, Intel’s crosshatch design allows the company to stack layers 10 times more densely than before, which means big increases in storage capacity without an increase in chip area.
Intel and Micron initially plan to manufacturer two-layer chips that store 128 Gigabits (16GB) of data, which is a similar size to memory in a number of smartphones. In the future, the technology can be stacked for larger capacities and could be implemented into solid-state drive like hard drives.
LG made 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold last quarter
LG’s latest earnings report shows just how tough the smartphone market is getting. On the one hand, LG Mobile shipped 8.1 million LTE smartphones, its best result ever. On the other hand, it sold fewer premium models in Korea and spent a lot of money marketing its flagship G4 in the US against models by Apple, Samsung, et al. (The company singled out Apple, saying that iPhone sales hurt its earnings this quarter.) The net result was a mobile operating profit of just 200 million won ($172,000) or 1.2 cents per phone. The good news is that the LG G4 has only been on sale in the US for two months, so it may have a stronger impact on LG’s bottom line next quarter.
On top of a tight smartphone market, LG’s Home Entertainment division said that global demand for LCD TVs was “soft,” as revenue dropped 22.7 percent to 3.93 trillion won ($3.59 billion). However, the company is bullish on its 4K OLED TVs, and plans to expand its lineup “with newer designs at more attractive price points.” For the quarter, LG saw an overeall drop in sales of 7.6 percent and earnings that were down 45 percent over last year to 226.4 billion won ($195 million). And if not for the company’s profitable Home Appliance division, that number would’ve been a loss.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, LG
Source: LG
LG made 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold last quarter
LG’s latest earnings report shows just how tough the smartphone market is getting. On the one hand, LG Mobile shipped 8.1 million LTE smartphones, its best result ever. On the other hand, it sold fewer premium models in Korea and spent a lot of money marketing its flagship G4 in the US against models by Apple, Samsung, et al. (The company singled out Apple, saying that iPhone sales hurt its earnings this quarter.) The net result was a mobile operating profit of just 200 million won ($172,000) or 1.2 cents per phone. The good news is that the LG G4 has only been on sale in the US for two months, so it may have a stronger impact on LG’s bottom line next quarter.
On top of a tight smartphone market, LG’s Home Entertainment division said that global demand for LCD TVs was “soft,” as revenue dropped 22.7 percent to 3.93 trillion won ($3.59 billion). However, the company is bullish on its 4K OLED TVs, and plans to expand its lineup “with newer designs at more attractive price points.” For the quarter, LG saw an overeall drop in sales of 7.6 percent and earnings that were down 45 percent over last year to 226.4 billion won ($195 million). And if not for the company’s profitable Home Appliance division, that number would’ve been a loss.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, LG
Source: LG
UK lawsuit may force Uber to treat drivers as employees
Should Uber drivers be classified as employees or independent contractors? The ride-hailing company has always leaned towards the latter, because it means it can avoid paying potentially expensive staff benefits, insurance and expenses. However, a California Labor commission ruled last month that an Uber driver was, in fact, a company employee — and now a union is pushing for a similar decision in the UK. GMB, which represents professional drivers, argues that Uber is breaching its legal duty to provide drivers with basic rights concerning their pay, holiday, health and ability to file complaints. It’s now instructed the law firm Leigh Day to take legal action on behalf of Uber drivers.
In particular, the union wants Uber to conform with UK employment law that ensures drivers are paid the minimum wage, receive paid holiday and can take rest breaks during their working week. “It owes the same responsibilities towards its drivers as any other employer does to its workers,” Nigel Mackay, a Leigh Day lawyer said. The pressure appears to be mounting — Uber is appealing the California ruling, but at some point it might have to accept that it’s fleet of drivers are staff, not partners. Doing so would raise its running costs considerably, and perhaps put a dent in its relentless global expansion plans.
“One of the main reasons drivers use Uber is because they love being their own boss,” a spokesperson for Uber said. “As employees, drivers would drive set shifts, earn a fixed hourly wage, and lose the ability to drive elsewhere. The reality is that drivers use Uber on their own terms: they control their use of the app”.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: GMB
AIVAnet 