Moto G5 will make its debut in India on April 4

Moto G5 with Snapdragon 430 is coming to India next week.

After launching the Moto G5 Plus in the country earlier this month for ₹16,999, Motorola is getting ready to introduce the Moto G5 next week. The phone will make its debut in the country on April 4.

The Moto G5 has a 5-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 430, 2GB/3GB of RAM, and will be available in 16GB and 32GB storage configurations. There’s a 13MP camera at the back and a 5MP shooter up front, and a 2800mAh battery with Motorola’s TurboPower fast charging.

It isn’t as feature intensive as the Moto G5 Plus, but that should allow Motorola to hit a lower price point. With the G5 Plus selling for ₹16,999, Motorola will be looking to price the Moto G5 at around the ₹12,000 mark, making it compete directly with the Redmi Note 4 and Honor 6X.

Google Home and Google Wifi launching in the UK on April 6 for £129

The latest products in Google’s hardware family are coming to the UK next week.

After a brief teaser last month, Google has today officially announced the launch of Google Home and Google Wi-Fi for the UK.

The new devices see the company building out its “made by Google” hardware range internationally, following last October’s Pixel phone launch. Home and Wi-Fi represent new frontiers for Google in the UK, where Amazon has been selling its Echo-branded smart speakers since late last year.

More: Google Home review

Google Home will go on sale on April 6 priced at £129, and it’ll feature a wide range of new UK-specific capabilities. Google has partnered with the BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Sun, The Telegraph, Huffington Post, Sky News, and Sky Sports to deliver a daily news brief, and you’ll be able to play music from Google Play Music, Spotify, TuneIn, and access live radio from the BBC.

Google Wi-Fi will also go on sale starting April 6, with a 1-pack retailing for £129 and a 2-pack for £229. The latest additions in Google’s hardware family will be available from the Google Store as well as Argos, Dixons, John Lewis and Maplin. The Google Home will also make its way to EE shortly, and the Google Wi-Fi will similarly go up for sale on Amazon at a later date. Customizable bases for the Google Home will be available starting at £18 for fabric and £36 for metal bases.

More: Google Wi-Fi review

OnePlus 3T Midnight Black color option is now up for sale for $479

You can now pick up the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black color option without waiting in line.

The sleek Midnight Black color option for the OnePlus 3T is now available for purchase. The phone is up for sale on OnePlus’ website for $479 in the U.S., €479 in Europe, and £439 in the UK.

The Midnight Black variant features “space-grade aluminum with three carefully applied dark coatings 14 microns thick” to bring out the natural look of the metal. It also undergoes two sandblasting treatments with various sizes of metal, and has an anti-fingerprint coating to prevent smudges.

Other than that, the hardware itself is unchanged from the standard variant, and includes a 5.5-inch Full HD panel, Snapdragon 821 SoC, 6GB of RAM, 128GB storage, 16MP front and rear cameras, and a 3400mAh battery with Dash Charge tech.

OnePlus has mentioned that the device will be sold in limited quantities, so if you’re interested, you’d best act fast.

See at OnePlus

Ikea goes after Philips Hue with own budget smart lighting collection

Ikea just introduced a “Smart Lighting” collection.

The range, which will arrive in UK stores in April, includes energy-efficient LED bulbs, as well as lighting panels and doors. These different products can be managed remotely via an app, called Tradfri, which Ikea said will let you completely personalise your home lighting setup. The Swedish retailer’s Smart Lighting collection is part of its “Home Smart” initiative that aims to make expensive, smart home devices more affordable.

Ikea has described its new range, which starts at £15 for a kit with a steering device and an LED bulb, as a “plug-and-play solution”, meaning that there is no need for hardwiring. You can simply switch your traditional lightbulb with a Tradfri LED bulb, for instance. Other pieces in the range include the £69 Tradfri gateway kit (includes two white spectra LED bulbs), £29 Tradfri dimming kit white spectrum, £25 Tradfri wireless motion kit sensor, and £90 LED light doors and panels. Again, all of these can be managed and customised via the Tradfri app for phones and tablets.

• What Philips Hue smart bulbs are there and which should you buy?

The lights can be switched from warm to cold light using a remote control or the app, and you can group individual lamps together to create lighting moods. And sometime this autumn, Ikea said the Tradfri app will be updated with an “Away from Home” function that will allow you to set lights to timers or remotely turn lights on and off. If any of this interests you, check out Tradfri at IKEA’s UK website.

Ikea is basically going after Philips Hue and other smart LED lamp products, but unlike Hue, this offering is much easier on the wallet. We plan to test them out soon and will let you know how they compare to similar products we’ve reviewed.

NASA prepares the ISS for its second space taxi dock

NASA has begun preparing the ISS’ second space taxi dock for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Flight controllers at NASA Johnson Space Center have taken control of the station’s robotic arm, the Canadarm 2, to relocate one of its Space Shuttle-era docking modules. To prepare for the move on March 26th, two crew members conducted a spacewalk to detach the power and data cables connecting the module to its old location. Now, it’s placed right next to the first dock astronauts installed last year.

The 2,600-pound module called Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 (PMA-3) was flown to the ISS on October 2000. While it worked on its own for NASA’s space shuttles, the agency has to install an adapter on top of it for the companies’ space taxis that use a more modern docking system. It employs low-impact technology and can be used for both piloted and autonomous dockings.

On March 30th, ISS crew members will conduct another spacewalk to connect PMA-3 to its new power and data cables. They will then install a docking adapter on the module like crew members did for the first one when it arrives aboard SpaceX’s CRS-16 flight. ISS’ operations integration manager Kenny Todd said they’ll “be ready to install a docking adapter [on PMA-3] at the end of the year [or] first of next year time frame that will provide that second docking port that we’re going to desire when we start seeing commercial crew coming to station.”

Source: CollectSpace

IKEA launches its own low-cost smart lighting range

For many people, their first foray into the world of home automation begins with lighting. There’s a good reason for this: smart bulbs easily fit into existing furnishings and can be operated using just a smartphone, which (mostly) everybody now owns. Philips, with its Hue range, is perhaps the most well known smart bulb maker, but that could soon change thanks to a new entrant: IKEA. That’s right, the world’s biggest furniture is today debuting its own smart lighting range in the UK. As you’d expect, the prices are a lot easier on the wallet.

The Smart Lighting collection consists of TRÅDFRI LED bulbs and remote control, a gateway kit, a motion sensor kit, dimming lights and a selection of LED light panels and doors that can be built into kitchen and bedroom cabinets. To begin with, all of IKEA’s new bulbs provide various shades of white, so don’t start dreaming of a multi-colour setup just yet.

For £69, the gateway kit provides two white LED bulbs, a remote control and a gateway that connects to your router via ethernet. The bulbs are controlled by the TRÅDFRI app, which offers to personalised and user-created presets of warm or cool light. The £29 white spectrum dimming kit, on the other hand, is a lot more analog and requires the use of a handheld control that will change the white colour to one of three settings. IKEA says the bulb is perfect for switching your dining room from a makeshift office into a low-lit dinner party setting, but it could also work as a child’s night light.

There’s also a warm white dimming kit, which comes in at £15. This cheaper plug-and-play kit includes one bulb and a magnetised remote (available in black, white and yellow) that will dim the light between “subtle and strong warm white light” with a simple twist.

With the TRÅDFRI wireless motion sensor kit, which costs £25, IKEA says it wants to “give you and your home a sense of safety with lighting that responds instantly.” When you walk into a room, the light will automatically switch on and remain lit until one, five or 10 minutes have passed. Like all of IKEA’s Smart Lighting products, the sensor itself does not need to be fixed, allowing you to place it in a spot that suits you.

Rounding off the collection is a selection of SURTE, FLOALT and JORMLIEN door and light panels that range between £55 and £100. They’re designed to fit in BESTÅ cabinets and METOD kitchens, offering personalised lighting in one of the most important areas in the house.

Although the lights are going on sale in the UK for the first time, customers in Europe have been able to get their hands on the remote controlled solutions since September last year. The gateway kit, however, is new to all markets and allows customers to add new bulbs starting from £9, depending on the fitting. There’s no word on US availability, but as this is Ikea, you never know.

Source: IKEA

Google Home and WiFi launch in the UK on April 6th

Google’s Home speaker is coming to the UK on April 6th, the company said today. Hosting an event in a makeshift London home, the search giant unveiled its hardware plans for Europe, confirming that the smart speaker will cost £129, undercutting the Amazon Echo by £20. That isn’t all, though: Google WiFi is also coming to the UK on the same day, starting at £129 for a one pack and £229 for two modules.

The Home launched at Google I/O almost a year ago, but has been only available to US customers since November. However, in the time between launches, the company has localised the smart speaker, integrating a number of services and sources tailored specifically for Britons. The BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Sun, The Telegraph, Huffington Post, Sky News and Sky Sports are available from launch, with more being added over time.

The launch of the Home in the UK sees Google go up against one of its biggest rivals: Amazon. The Echo and Echo Dot has largely had the smart speaker market to itself until now, but the Home — with its intelligent Assistant — builds on top of Google’s existing search and AI expertise. It taps into Knowledge Graph, delivers weather updates and keeps you on top of news, while connecting to streaming services like Spotify and Google Music and radio.

Google says the Home and WiFi router will be available via the Google Store, as well as Argos, Dixons, John Lewis and Maplin. The swappable coloured bases will start at £18 for fabric and £36 for metal.

IKEA Announces Affordable Smart Lighting Product Range

Swedish home furniture store IKEA announced its own affordable smart lighting system today called Trådfri, which means “wireless” in Swedish.

The Smart Lighting range of products includes Trådfri LED bulbs, a remote dimmer switch puck, a gateway kit, a motion sensor kit, and dimming lights. IKEA is also introducing a selection of LED light panels and doors that can be built into cabinets for the bedroom and kitchen.

The Gateway starter kit will cost around $80 and includes two bulbs, a remote, and a gateway hub to connect everything to the app. The Trådfri bulbs have three white color temperature options (2200K, 2700K, and 4000K) that IKEA claims each last around 25,000 hours.

“The Ikea vision is to bring affordable home furnishing solutions to the many people. We know from research that existing smart lighting technology is perceived to be too expensive and difficult to understand, so we have worked to remove those barriers to make smart lighting more accessible,” IKEA Home Furnishing expert Helen Longford said in a statement.

Like the Philips Hue series, IKEA’s first range of automated lighting products is based on the ZigBee Light Link standard that got released in a number European countries late last year and should see a larger rollout at the end of this month.

IKEA gives a March 31 availability date for the lighting range in Sweden, with the range expected to arrive in the U.K in April, making them likely to roll out to other countries soon. The IKEA website makes no mention of compatibility with existing smart home platforms like Apple HomeKit, but support for other standards seems likely at some point down the line.

Tag: Ikea
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Apple May Join SoftBank-Backed Investment in Didi Chuxing to Avoid Dilution of its Stake

Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing is considering a $6 billion investment offer by the Japanese SoftBank Group that could dilute Apple’s stake in the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bloomberg on Tuesday reported that the potential funding would be the single largest for a Chinese technology startup on record, but that it would mean Beijing-based Didi would have to balance the interests of its more than 100 investors, which include the likes of Alibaba and Foxconn. Apple is now said to be considering if it should join the investment on a pro-rata basis to avoid dilution of its stakes, according to sources.

Apple invested $1 billion in the company last year, earning it a seat on Didi’s board. However, overall the startup amassed $10 billion in cash in 2016 in order to fund its efforts to develop driverless technology. The company currently faces stringent regulations that limit the number of private vehicles and drivers it operates, which may delay its timeline for an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the company’s business strategy.

SoftBank has been a Didi backer since 2014, but it’s not clear if its $6 billion bid would come from Softbank Group or its $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, which is expected to close soon and also counts Apple among its investors. Apple has yet to comment on the matter.

Tag: Didi Chuxing
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SpaceX prepares to reuse the first rocket it landed on a barge

We might be days away from witnessing SpaceX make history. The private space corporation has conducted a static test fire (yet again) of the first rocket it landed on an ocean platform. SpaceX wants to make sure it’s in tip-top shape for lift off, because it has finally decided on a date after almost a year of putting it off: March 30th. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin already sent a used rocket back to space in early 2016. But if the launch on Thursday is successful, it’ll be the first orbital mission ever to fly with a used rocket.

SpaceX has a lot riding on the mission, seeing as it’ll prove that its Falcon 9 rockets truly are reusable. It’s been working on the technology for quite some, as it will save NASA and companies sending payloads to space a lot of money. The first company to take a chance on SpaceX’s booster is Luxembourg-based communications satellite owner SES S.A. In fact, Thursday’s launch will ferry an SES-10 satellite into geostationary orbit to deliver direct-to-home broadcasting, broadband and mobile services in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

We’ll let you know more about the launch once we hear more, but as always, it could be delayed due to weather issues and other factors. For now, check out NASA Spaceflight if you want to read up on the test fire’s technical details.

Static fire test complete. Targeting Thursday, March 30 for Falcon 9 launch of SES-10. pic.twitter.com/0tZ7u6gngI

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 27, 2017

Via: SpaceX

Source: SpaceX (Twitter)