Brikk Launches Pre-Orders for Diamond-Studded iPhone 7 Models Costing Up to $1.3 Million
Less than two months before Apple is expected to unveil its iPhone 7 lineup, Los Angeles-based luxury accessory maker Brikk has announced that it is now accepting pre-orders for diamond-studded and other customized versions of the smartphones, with prices ranging between $4,295 and $1.3 million.
Brikk’s mockups for its Lux iPhone 7 appear to be based on leaked photos and schematics of the purported 5.5-inch iPhone 7 with a dual-lens camera system, and it also advertises other rumored iPhone 7 Plus features such as a faster A10 processor, 3GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of flash storage.
Brikk describes the Lux iPhone 7 as “the most opulent iPhone the world has ever seen,” and offers three different collections:
– Standard: 10 different color options with multiple diamond logo choices. Scratch resistant matte or glossy finishes. Prices start at $4,295.
– Deluxe: 24 carat yellow gold, 18 carat pink gold, and 950 platinum options with Heptagon-shaped engravings and French enamel accents.
– Bespoke: Fully customized designs between the customer and head Brikk designer Cyrus Blacksmith. Up to 60 carats of diamonds. Priced up to $1.3 million.
Brikk states that each iPhone is disassembled, hand polished, prepared, and then plated with five layers of various metals and two layers of either 24 carat yellow gold, 18 karat pink gold, or 950 platinum. The iPhone is then reassembled and the precious metals are certified using laser and x-ray testing equipment.
The customized iPhone is then packaged in a custom Zero Halliburton case with a carbon fiber and suede leather interior, with the user manual and all standard accessories included in the box. All models come with a diamond-embedded certificate of authenticity and Brikk’s sapphire glass screen protector.
Deluxe versions include Brikk’s customized gold studio headphones, and other Lux-branded accessories will also be available, such as a matching gold and diamond power bank, car charger, world charger, and desktop dock. Each Lux iPhone 7, assembled in Los Angeles, includes a 1-year warranty.
Prospective buyers can fill out a form on Brikk’s website to receive a Lux iPhone 7 catalog and price guide for pre-ordering. A deposit of an unspecific amount is required for pre-orders. Brikk expects to begin shipments 3-4 weeks after Apple officially releases the iPhone 7, which is expected to be introduced in September.
Brikk also offers the Lux iPhone 6s and Lux Watch, a diamond-studded Apple Watch that costs up to $75,000. See real-life photos on Instagram.
Tag: Brikk
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DARPA’s AI-powered radio challenge is officially on
DARPA’s done ironing out the details for its next Grand Challenge, which revolves around the development of AI-powered radios that work with each other to avoid wireless congestion. The contest will apparently be divided into three year-long phases, starting in 2017. Teams that make it through the preliminary phase will advance to the next stages, ending with a championship event in 2019. The team that comes out on top will take home a $2 million cash prize and could also get into a funded contract with the agency. Teams that finish second and third will get something out of the deal, as well, in the form of $1 million and $750,000 cash prizes, respectively.
As DARPA pointed out, an AI-powered radio that can optimize spectrum usage will be especially useful for the military, which needs its wireless devices to work anywhere soldiers are on the battlefield. It will also benefit the rest of us, though, seeing as manufacturers are adding wireless capabilities to just about anything out there, including cars, drones, fridges and other appliances.
Source: DARPA
Argos to stock network-hopping Anywhere SIM cards
Anywhere SIM, a company that wants to solve poor signal problems in the UK, has snapped up its first retail partner. Argos will be selling its SIM cards both in store and online, giving the upstart some much-needed visibility on the high street. The SIMs are unique because they automatically monitor and switch between three different UK networks — O2, Vodafone and EE — depending on which one has the strongest signal at the time.
It’s handled by a clever bit of business and partnership engineering: the company is working with Manx Telecom, an operator based on the Isle of Man, and has a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement with O2 in the UK. That deal is what allows you to have a UK mobile number. The other two networks — as well as countless others scattered across Europe — are handled with international roaming agreements. So apart from O2, you’re always being treated like a holidaymaker abroad.
Anywhere offers three different pay-as-you go plans — Home, UK and EU. With Home, you can only make calls on O2 (described as its “home network), but you can receive calls through any carrier. Calls are 5 pence per minute, texts are 5 pence per pop and data is 5 pence per megabyte. The UK option lets you make and receive calls on any of the three networks, but the price of a call and a megabyte of data is 10 pence. The EU plan, lastly, gives you access to all of Anywhere’s roaming agreements in Europe. The price of a call is upped to 12 pence per minute, however.
If you’re interested, there are some major caveats to consider. For one, there’s no 4G. For another, there are no monthly plans, although the company promises to add both sometime this autumn. Also in the pipeline is access to Three’s UK network, which should go live in August. While these might sound like deal-breakers, Anywhere SIM isn’t too bothered. The company believes that the bulk of its business will come from older UK citizens that like to travel a lot or live in places with poor coverage.
Given its target market, the new partnership with Argos makes sense. If the company is to build a subscriber base, it needs to make sure its SIM cards are visible in the right places. Few retailers have the footprint of Argos, so outside of launching its own brick-and-mortar stores, this is probably the fastest way for Anywhere to build a presence on the high street.
Source: Anywhere SIM
Fastest-ever production drone is also one of the smartest
As a rule, the fastest drones tend to be either prototypes or one-off homebrew models. Even the quickest off-the-shelf drones are pokey in comparison. Teal, however, doesn’t think you should have to compromise. It’s launching a namesake drone that it claims is the world’s fastest production drone. At 70MPH, it’s so fast that it could outrun cars on the highway… within its maximum 2-mile range and 20-minute flight time (using a high-endurance pack), anyway. And no, it’s not as dangerous as it sounds. The Teal drone is stable in high winds (up to 40MPH in testing), touts high-accuracy GPS and comes with multiple modes to accommodate rookie pilots.
Crucially, this isn’t meant as a one-trick pony. On top of a 13-megapixel, 4K-capable camera, Teal packs NVIDIA’s Tegra TX1 (a beefy processor for a drone) and a software platform that encourages third-party apps. If you can imagine a flight mode, you can probably implement it. There are built-in apps for command and control flying, racing and a follow mode like you see on some camera drones. Also, Teal promises support for future modules that add radar-guided avoidance, thermal imaging and vision-based positioning.
If you suspect that this no-compromise design won’t come cheap, you’re right. It’ll cost you $1,299 to pre-order now, although you will get the high-endurance battery if you make your move before August 15th. Should everything go according to plan, early orders will arrive by the holidays. That’s a lot to pay and a long time to wait. Look at it this way, though: a DJI Phantom 4 officially sets you back $1,399, and it flies at ‘just’ 45MPH. While it does last longer at 28 minutes of air time, Teal may be the better buy if you’re a thrill junkie, a budding programmer or both.
Source: Teal Drones
The first episode of ‘Life is Strange’ will soon be free
The first episode of the narrative adventure game Life is Strange will be free to download across platforms from tomorrow. Publisher Square Enix says the change is indefinite. It’s clearly a move to get more people interested in the episodic game, and if you get hooked on episode one, you’ll be able to pick up the other four parts for $16.99 (the full season pass previously cost $19.99).
Life is Strange won multiple awards including a BAFTA for Best Story, and featured among our favorite games of 2015. Its developer, Dontod Entertainment, says it’s “really glad” that Square Enix has made the decision, “so more players can begin their journey and see why people have fallen in love with the game for themselves.” You’ll be able to get episode one gratis from July 21st on Mac, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Source: Life is Strange
DARPA wants modular chips for its killer robots
To add smarts to machines, you need to design circuits and chips, a time-consuming and costly business. The US military’s skunkworks arm, DARPA, wants to change all that with its new “CHIPS” program. The goal is to put entire circuit boards on modular chiplets, then tile them together to make a device. That would allow feats like “identifying objects and actions in real-time video feeds, real-time language translation, and coordinating motion on-the-fly among swarms of fast-moving unmanned aerial vehicles,” DARPA said in a blog post.
Each chiplet would perform a specific function like data storage, computing and signal processing. Those could then be assembled in a mosaic configuration on an “interposer,” or tiny circuit board, to perform specific functions. In addition to making it easier to design and add logic to robots, drones and other machines, the devices would potentially be faster and more efficient, since the overall circuit size is smaller.
A US Navy drone swarm takes flight.
Another problem DARPA’s trying to solve is the cost and complexity of intellectual property (IP). Using a standard circuit board often requires the manufacturer to buy multiple patent licenses for unneeded functions. The US Department of Defense thinks that if chiplets are separated by function, it would reduce costs by limiting the required IP. “This should be a win for both the commercial and defense sectors,” DARPA’s Dr. Daniel Green asserts.
Though DARPA wants the tech for military and security use, it says the chiplets would be useful in the commercial, non-killer-robot sector, and it need private companies to help make it happen. “Key to the success of CHIPS will be standards and interfaces, and this means we will be working with a community, not all by ourselves,” says Green. To facilitate that, it has posted a request for information (RFI) to get ideas from industry experts for chiplets that could be built at existing semiconductor foundries.
Source: DARPA
‘Pokémon Go’ Delayed in Japan Due to Leaked McDonald’s Sponsorship Details
Niantic has decided to postpone the launch of Pokémon Go in Japan today, due to an unexpected email leak that revealed details about the company’s rumored sponsor partnership with food chain McDonald’s. A source close to the company confirmed the delay to TechCrunch, referring to a specific email chain between Pokémon Go’s creators and McDonald’s as the reason behind the move.
The two companies — in addition to The Pokémon Company and Nintendo itself, presumably — believed that the all-but-confirmed launch of Pokémon Go in the country would create a hype that “would overload the game” for a lot of its players, not just within Japan. The creators of Pokémon Go now hope that a restructured, less publicly expected launch will prepare the game’s servers for an influx of players in the country that will undoubtedly be quite high.
When Pokémon Go does launch in Japan, it will be the first territory to introduce sponsored retail partnerships, which aim to lure players to restaurants like McDonald’s in order to generate revenue for both Niantic and the corporate food chain. According to these sources close to the launch, all 3,000 McDonald’s locations in Japan will be turned into gyms where players can battle opposing teams to take over the location, or train their Pokémon with teammates if they’ve already conquered the gym. It’s unclear if any locations will be PokéStops instead of gyms.
The debut of Pokémon Go in Japan is now said to be “imminent,” with a report from Nikkei suggesting the new launch date could be as soon as tomorrow, July 21. Over the weekend, the game launched in Canada and 26 countries across Europe, and it’s already been available in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Japan will mark its first launch in Asia, with an expected rollout to other countries in the region in the coming weeks.
Thanks to Pokémon Go’s success, Nintendo’s market value has more than doubled since the game launched earlier in July. The company is now worth $42.5 billion, and it even broke the single-day trading record in Tokyo last Friday when $4.5 billion worth of stock was traded. Nintendo’s new valuation now puts it ahead of Sony, which has a market cap sitting around $40 billion.
Tag: Pokémon GO
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Canon’s New MAXIFY Printers Support AirPrint on Mac and iOS
Canon has announced that its series of five new MAXIFY inkjet printers support AirPrint, including the MB5420, MB5120, MB2720, MB2120, and iB4120 models.
AirPrint enables wireless printing from iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac without having to install additional software or drivers. The technology is supported by dozens of printers sold by Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, Lenovo, Lexmark, Panasonic, Ricoh, Samsung, Toshiba, Xerox, and other manufacturers.
Canon’s MAXIFY lineup of all-in-one printers are designed for home or small office use, with built-in copying, scanning, and faxing capabilities alongside cloud-connected features through the free Canon PRINT app. The all-new printers retail for between $149.99 and $399.99 on Canon’s website based on U.S. pricing.
Tags: Canon, AirPrint
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Sony Xperia X Performance now available from Unlocked-Mobiles
If you’re looking at channels to purchase the Sony Xperia X Performance, you’re also in luck should you shop at Unlocked-Mobiles in the UK. The retailer has just shared with us that stock for the X Performance is now available for shipping. Priced at £599.98 (including VAT), this premium handset packs a punch and will be more than capable of handling anything you throw at it.
Available in black, the Xperia X Performance comes with LTE support, a 5-inch 1080p display, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, Snapdragon 820 processor, 23-MP main shooter to capture those moments, and a 2700mAh battery. As an added bonus, the device is SIM-unlocked, meaning you’ll be able to throw a SIM card from any network in the UK.
See at Unlocked Mobiles
BBC’s new hub app brings together all your favorite content
The BBC has launched a new app for iOS and Android that acts as a hub to bring together online iPlayer content, weather forecasts, recipes and more all in one place. While a myBBC account is required so the BBC can more conveniently track your use of the new app, it serves as your new centralized hub for all things BBC. Whether you’re wanting to catch-up on your favorite original series or wish to check out tomorrow’s forecast, you can do all this with BBC+.
As noted by the BBC in its own coverage, the corporation hopes the launch of BBC+ will help avoid a situation where consumers become confused with multiple apps for different types of content. This isn’t the only move the BBC has made to consolidate content into a single offering. The corporation recently shut down BBC Newsbeat and moved all content to the BBC News umbrella. When firing up the BBC+ app for the first time, you’ll be asked to choose at least three topics from a rather lengthy list.
This enables the app to curate an “at a glance” geed that will help keep you in the loop without requiring multiple menu entries to find content covering numerous topics. The myBBC connection brings with it a few neat features, one being the ability to save tracks heard on shows that can be listened to at a later date. Head to the Play Store to download BBC+ and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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