Tim Cook Announces R&D Center to Be Built in China ‘By the End of the Year’
Apple is planning an all-new research and development center in China, attempting to boost its presence and market share in the country following multiple reports of the iPhone’s dwindling returns as users flock towards low-cost alternatives. The R&D center, said “to be built by the end of the year,” will mark Apple’s first location of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region (via Reuters).
The announcement comes from Apple CEO Tim Cook, on a visit in China this week, who spoke with Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Tuesday and detailed the company’s plans for the center. Those details weren’t specifically disclosed to the public, so it’s still unclear where the new R&D center will be located, or how many employees it might house.
Apple’s new research and development center will be built by the end of the year, Cook told Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, one of China’s most senior officials, according to the official Chinese state broadcaster.
The pledge comes after the head of China’s industry and technology regulator in May told Cook he hoped Apple could deepen its cooperation with the country in research and development and stressed information security.
Cook’s August trip marks his second visit to China this year, following a tour of Beijing in May where he met with App Store developers and Didi Chuxing president Jean Liu. Although once Apple’s second largest market in the world, the company announced during last month’s earnings report that its revenue in China dropped 33 percent year-over-year, ultimately allowing Europe to overtake China as its second biggest market, following the United States.
Concern about Apple’s future in China stems from the country’s heavy focus on potentially invasive foreign products and services, leading to events like the closure of the iTunes and iBooks store earlier in the spring, due to the launch of a controversial dystopian film. Apple has faced lawsuits due to similar occurrences as well, making it hard for the company to focus solely on helping the iPhone gain traction against China’s plentiful low-cost smartphone options.
Tags: China, Tim Cook
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Best tempered glass screen protectors for OnePlus One
What’s the best way to protect the screen on my OnePlus One?
The OnePlus brand is all about beautifully designed products using the best build materials. It even has an aspirational motto, Never Settle. But even the best built phone have glass screens that need an extra layer of protection from the scratches, falls, and everything else life throws your way.
Your best bet for saving your screen is a tempered glass screen protector for the OnePlus One, so let’s get to it.
Note: This post is about the OnePlus One, not the OnePlus 3. We have your OnePlus 3 accessories, too!
- Orzly Oneplus One Premium 0.24mm tempered glass screen protector
- amFilm OnePlus One tempered glass screen protector
- iFlash three-pack of OnePlus One tempered glass screen protectors
- PThink 2.5D Round Edge 0.3mm Ultra-thin tempered glass screen protector for OnePlus One
- Nillkin Anti-burst tempered glass screen protector for OnePlus One
Orzly OnePlus ONE Premium 0.24mm tempered glass screen protector
With a thickness of 0.24mm, this offering from Orzly is the thinnest tempered glass screen protector you will find for your OnePlus One. Featuring an industry-standard 9H hardness rating, it should easily withstand scratching if you put your phone in the same pocket as your keys. Orzly also included an oleophobic coating to ensure your screen stays fingerprint and smudge-free and rounded edges to prevent chipping and improve the in-hand feel of your phone.
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amFilm OnePlus One tempered glass screen protector
Claiming to offer 99.9% transparency, you may well forget you’ve installed amFilm’s tempered glass screen protector on your OnePlus One. One thing that separates this option from the competitors is the decision to cut out around the sensors and earpiece speaker instead of leaving a slim bridge of tempered glass that’s susceptible to cracking. It still covers the front-facing camera, but due to that transparency, you shouldn’t notice any effects on your selfies. Package includes the screen protector, Micro-Fiber Cleaning Cloth, Plastic Squeeze Card, Installation and User Guide, and a lifetime replacement warranty.
See at Amazon
iFlash three-pack of OnePlus One tempered glass screen protectors
We use tempered glass protectors to take the brunt of the daily abuse our phones endure. As such, if a nasty fall occurs it’s the screen protector’s job to shatter first. iFlash offers the best value here with a three-pack of tempered glass screen protectors — featuring the hardness and oleophobic coating you’d want — so if you smash one up you don’t have to live with a cracked screen protector. It’s like an insurance policy on your insurance policy. Package includes three complete sets for installation: screen protector, alcohol cleaning wipe, microfiber cloth, bubble removal card, and a dust-removal adhesive strip. iFlash also offers a one-year manufacturer replacement warranty.
See at Amazon
PThink 2.5D Round Edge 0.3mm Ultra-thin tempered glass screen protector for OnePlus One
PThink offers another reliable, quick-to-install option for protecting your OnePlus One screen. At 0.3mm, it’s thin enough to be barely noticeable, with rounded edges offering a precise fit and avoid chipping. If and when this screen protector gets damaged, the nano glass cracks behind a film to prevent the glass edges from being exposed, which allows you to continue safely using the screen protector even when cracked. Package includes a cleaning kit to prepare your screen ahead of installation. Hammer and disembodied hand sold separately.
See at Amazon
Nillkin Anti-burst tempered glass screen protector for OnePlus One
Another outstanding option for protecting your OnePlus One screen is this offering from Nillkin. Made of AGC glass material rated to the standard 9H hardness rating and featuring HARVES nano-technology to repel water and grease, your phone will be well protected. Along with the screen protector itself, the package includes a wet wipe, electrostatic dust film, de-dusting cleaning film and a professional screen wipe cloth to make installation a breeze.
See at Amazon
What do you use?
Have you had any experiences with the screen protectors we’ve recommended? Let us know in the comments!
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Oculus Rift available at UK retailers from 20 September, here’s where
Oculus announced this morning that its high-end VR headset, the Oculus Rift, is going to be available to buy from UK retailers starting on 20 September.
Customers will be able to purchase the Oculus Rift from Amazon, John Lewis, Curry’s PC World, Game and Harrods for £549 from that date.
If you want to be sure to get one on the first day, you can pre-order from the aforementioned online retailers from today.
- Oculus Rift: Price, shipping date and everything you need to know
- Oculus Rift: The best experiences and games available right now
As with all Rift purchases, the headset comes with a popular VR title called Lucky’s Tale as well as a large collection of free 3D 360-degree videos and VR movies. Of course, you’ll get access to the entire collection of Oculus Store apps and games too.
Between now and the retail launch, Oculus is going to roll out several demo experiences in a number of retail locations across the country. These experiences include VR films and games, one of which is a film called Henry, narrated by Elijah Wood.
Before ordering a Rift, you do need to be sure that you have a PC powerful enough to run the VR headset. You’ll need a video card as good as (or better than) the NVIDIA GTX 970/AMD R9 290, an Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater processor, at least 8GB RAM, HDMI 1.3 video out, three USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port. You’ll also need Windows 7 SP1 64 bit – or newer – software.
If you want to schedule your own demo, head on over to the Oculus Live website to check when and where your nearest demo experience is.
If you’re not sure whether the Rift is the best VR headset for you, be sure to check out our extensive feature comparing all the best headsets out there right now.
Samsung Gear S3 launch date confirmed for 31 August, and you can watch live
There’s now no doubt that Samsung is going to be launching the Gear S3 in Berlin on 31 August. The next version of the Samsung’s smartwatch is set to launch as IFA 2016 opens in the German capital, with Samsung choosing the same venue it used to launch the Gear 2 in 2015.
Hitting its social channels, Samsung has invited the world to watch as the latest Gear is unveiled. On Twitter, Samsung posted a gif showing the moving hands of a watch, with the tagline “talk about 3”. If you’re doubting it’s Gear S3, Samsung has helpfully put the Gear branding in the bottom corner.
Stay tuned for a timely innovation. August 31. Berlin. pic.twitter.com/kUMG3l6BEs
— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) August 15, 2016
Using its own press channel, Samsung again repeated that message, running with the title “Samsung’s New Gear Launch Event”. So that’s that.
Samsung will be live streaming the event, confirming that you can watch on Samsung’s news channel as well as on Samsung.com. We will of course be attending to event to bring you all the details from Berlin as they happen.
- Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch: What’s the story so far?
- What to expect at IFA 2016
The Samsung Gear S3 is the latest version of Samsung’s Tizen-based smartwatch. Rumours suggest that it will retain the rotating bezel that made its debut on the Gear 2, but that the watch will carry more sensors. There’s said to be several different versions of the Gear S3, and we’re hoping that it feels a little more substantial than the last version.
We’ve been tracking the rumours over the past year, so you can catch up on everything expected come launch day.
Google Duo, insanely simple video calling app for Android and iPhone now available
Google has announced that its new FaceTime and Skype competitor, Duo, is available to download. With Duo, the aim is to make video calling as easy and reliable as possible. No complicated sign up procedure, no remembering usernames and no unintuitive user interfaces.
Google first introduced its innovative new video calling app, Duo, in May at its I/O conference in San Francisco, and the company claims the app takes all of the complexity out of video calling.
- Google Duo for iPhone and Android takes on Skype and FaceTime
- The Google I/O 2016 announcements that matter: Assistant, Home, Android N, Instant Apps, Allo, Duo and Daydream
The entire user interface is designed to be intuitive and simple to use. Even the set up process is simple and requires just your phone number, according to the search engine giant. Once set up, a video call can be initiated with just a single tap.
Part of the attraction of Duo is that Google built in the capability to stay online and connected even when you’re on a slower network. The video quality is reduced “gracefully” to ensure that calls aren’t disconnected, and don’t break up. And you won’t have to wait ages for the call to connect either. It’s quick, regardless of your network’s reliability.
One of the most interesting features of Duo is Knock Knock, which lets you see a live video of your caller before you answer. Then to answer the call you slide up the icon and dive right in to the call without any interruption or delay.
For those worried about security, Google says that all calls are end-to-end encrypted, so that no one can listen in on your calls.
Duo is rolling out for Android and iOS from today, and will be live across the globe within the next few days. It’s free to download and free to use, as with pretty much all of Google’s services.
Hyperloop One could build its first commercial route in Dubai
While Hyperloop One isn’t quite done building its test structure, it already has a potential location for its first ever commercial route: Dubai. The company has teamed up with DP World, one of the biggest port operators, to examine whether building a route for Port Jebel Ali would make it more efficient. To be exact, they plan to conduct a feasibility study assessing the use of high-speed Hyperloop tubes to ferry cargo from ships straight to a separate container depot. That would allow the operators to free up space at Jebel Ali for other (profitable) uses. Company CEO and ex-Cisco president Rob Lloyd told TechCrunch that the wealthy city certainly has “the infrastructure, regulatory movement and kind of capital in place needed” to make it happen.
A Hyperloop route is essentially a network of tubes big enough for passenger or cargo pods to pass through. Those pods are expected to float slightly above the surface of the tubes, similar to a maglev train, and to reach speeds up to 750mph. To put that in perspective, Japan’s maglev train only reached 366mph when it broke its own world speed record.
If Dubai and the company determine that the port will benefit from a high-speed cargo route, they’ll build a network that’s partly submerged in the ocean and partly suspended in the air, as you can see in the render above. It might not be the only Hyperloop route in Dubai, as well — the city is also thinking of building a network that can ferry people to Fujairah, which is on the other end of the UAE, within 10 minutes.
Source: Hyperloop One
VR will vie for awards at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that it will accept submissions from virtual reality producers In 2017. It’s the first major festival that will allow the category (which includes VR, AR and 360 videos) to compete against mainstream films for awards. “As the technology and tools proliferate … we feel it is the right time to expand and support artists on these growing platforms in a broader way,” festival Director Genna Terranova said.
As Engadget detailed earlier this year, Tribeca featured VR content in 2016, but films were hosted in a special “Virtual Arcade” away from the main festival and were not eligible for prizes. Submissions included the 20-minute animated short Allumette, the Deep VR underwater experience that’s supposed to lower your stress, and Old Friend, a film that lets you dance in your seat using an HTC Vive headset and controller.
VR is still feeling its way as an entertainment format. There are technical problems for users, like the need to be tethered to a cable, a pixelated “screen-door” effect and discomfort from wearing a heavy headset. Filmmakers still aren’t sure how to handle the format either, as it doesn’t work well with rapid edits, and lighting and other challenges abound.
A Tribeca rep told Venture Beat that mainstream films are still the “DNA of the festival.” With awards on the line for virtual reality next year, however, it might encourage filmmakers to explore the limits and create content that does more and more justice to the hardware.
Via: Venture Beat
Source: Tribeca Film Festival
Ex-Apple CEO’s quirky Android phone comes to the UK for £99
Obi Worldphone garnered a fair amount of attention when it announced its first smartphones around this time last year. Understandably so with a former Apple CEO among its founders, but John Sculley’s new venture is in the business of making more affordable devices — the opposite end of the spectrum to iPhones, in other words. Now, having made headway in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and more recently, Latin America, Obi Worldphone has expanded its reach to the UK with the £99 MV1 in tow.
The MV1 features more or less what you’d expect from a sub-£100 smartphone: A 5-inch, 720p display, 8- and 2-megapixel cameras, a 2,500mAh battery, a 1.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 212 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16 gigs of internal storage (microSD cards up to 64GB welcomed). Throw in 4G and dual-SIM support, and you’re looking at a device on par with the £90 Wileyfox Spark, the soon-to-be-launched £99 Moto E (2016) and plenty of other smartphones available at a similar price point on pay-as-you-go deals.
The 2 gigs of RAM is a little out of the ordinary (in a good way), but Obi Worldphone wants its handsets to be defined by more than just the numbers. With design studio Ammunition in its corner, the company is out to craft beautiful devices that rise above the rest of the low-cost Android “jungle,” as Obi exec Ankush Chatterjee puts it. And the MV1 is nothing if not a little quirky, sporting Obi’s “signature floating glass display” that sits a millimeter or two above the main body of the handset.
According to Obi, this is intended to highlight the part of the phone you interact with most, though it does make the most breakable of components feel unusually exposed. Gorilla Glass 3 is on hand to provide a decent level of protection, however. The main bulk of the device is pretty atypical itself, with soft rounded curves on the bottom edge juxtaposed with a sharper, flat top. This cap has a silver, metallic finish too, further contrasting against the black or white polycarbonate body.
Whether it’s to your tastes or not, the MV1 is comfortable enough in the hand, though the raised display isn’t a particularly elegant feature. It’s a thin, sharp edge after all, which your fingertips come into contact with regularly. Also, since the screen sticks out, it draws attention to how big and bulky the MV1 is for a 5-inch device, though that does help it feel robust.
The focus on design carries over to the MV1’s software: Cyanogen OS 12.1.1 (based on Android 5.1 Lollipop). Growing in popularity of late, one of the draws of Cyanogen OS is easy personalisation. Obi’s preloaded an angular, colourful theme onto the MV1, as well as what it calls Lifespeed UI, which is basically a lock screen widget that offers easy access to the dialer and camera.
The MV1 is available now for £99 directly from Obi or through Amazon, meaning it joins a plethora of other online-only brands competing in the affordable Android space. And on paper, it has everything you’d demand from a sub-£100 device. Obi hopes its design-led philosophy is the key to finding success where other players maybe haven’t, however, both in the UK and throughout the rest of the world.
Source: Obi Worldphone
Lenovo unveils two compact, VR-ready desktop gaming PCs
Desktop PCs are becoming a tough sell, thanks to rival laptops with NVIDIA mobile graphics chips nearly as powerful as desktop graphics cards. That’s perhaps why Lenovo launched a couple of oddball Windows 10 desktop models at Gamescom that emphasize portability and gaming power. The first is the IdeaCenter Y710 Cube, a compact, handle-equipped model that, we can’t help but notice, slightly resembles a killer robot.
The idea is to give gamers high-end desktop power that’s easy to “transport between gaming stations,” as Lenovo puts it. Tucked in the small form factor is up to a sixth-gen Intel i7 CPU, GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 256GB SSD (or 2TB hard disk). You can also equip it with Dolby Audio, high-end WiFi, an Xbox One controller and an Xbox One wireless receiver that supports up to seven additional controllers. With those specs, of course, it’ll easily handle your HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.
The second model is the IdeaCenter AIO Y910 all-in-one, aimed at gamers who want power but lack space. The entire computer is packed into the 27-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 borderless monitor (with 144Hz refresh and 5ms response), freeing up space that a case would normally take up. Yet, Lenovo has managed to pack in the exact same specs of the Y710 Cube. You’ll get up to a sixth-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, a 2TB HDD or 256 GB SSD and twin 5 watt Harmon Kardon speakers.
Even though they’re trapped in a fairly tight space, you can still swap out parts thanks to a detachable back panel. Naturally, this model also conforms to the virtual reality minimum specs set by HTC and Oculus.
There’s a price for the combination of power, small size and portability. While the basic Y710 Cube model starts at €899 (around $1,000), the VR-ready model with an NVIDIA GTX 1070 runs €1,699 ($1,900), quite a premium over what you could build yourself. The all-in-one Y910 starts at €1,799 ($2,000), with a VR-friendly GTX 1070-equipped model priced at €2,199 ($2,500). The basic Y710 Cube arrives this month, the VR-friendly Y710 and the basic AIO Y910 will be available in September, and the high-end, VR-ready Y910 AIO will hit shelves by October, 2016.
Apple Rolls Out iTunes Carrier Billing Feature to Switzerland and Taiwan
Apple has green-lighted its carrier billing feature for iTunes users in Taiwan and Switzerland, allowing them to charge app and media transactions directly to their cellphone bill (via Mashable).
The two countries join Germany and Russia in allowing customers to pay for music, movies, apps, books (excepting Taiwan, since Apple doesn’t sell books there), Apple Music memberships, and other iTunes content with just their phone number, instead of using a credit or debit card.
At present, the option in Taiwan is only available to Far EasTone contract holders, but is expected to roll out to other carriers soon. Salt (previously Orange) reportedly lets its customers use carrier billing in Switzerland, but we’re still waiting to learn which other carriers in the country support the feature.
Users wanting to take advantage of carrier billing can sign into the iTunes Store or App Store, navigate to the ‘Payment Information’ section, and choose ‘Mobile Phone’ from the payment options list. Further details can be found on Apple’s support page covering mobile phone billing.
Apple debuted the billing scheme in Germany back in October 2015, before rolling it out to users in Russia a month later. Apple is likely to continue to expand the initiative to more countries as it seeks to secure deals with carriers for lower transaction handling rates.
Tag: carrier billing
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