Chinese bike rental giants eye the UK as next battleground
London’s for-hire ‘Boris bikes’ have been cruising the capital’s streets for nearly seven years now, while similar projects operate in other parts of the country. Two Chinese companies believe there’s still room for more innovative bike rental schemes, however, and both are expanding outside of Asia to compete anew in the UK. One of these is Mobike, which today announced that its plans to move into Europe begin in Manchester and Salford, where 1,000 bikes will be available to hire starting on June 29th. The launch comes after rival Ofo began a UK pilot of its own in Cambridge two months ago, though it’s a much more modest trial with only tens of bikes dotted around town.
These companies have an edge over existing cycle hire programmes in that they don’t rely on docking stations. Instead, users find the nearest dormant bike, which is tracked by GPS, within their respective apps. In Ofo’s case, people are sent a numerical code to unlock the two-wheeler, while Mobike’s app asks users to scan a QR code on the bike for the same outcome. Whenever the rider is done pedalling, they simply park the bike up anywhere it’s legal to leave them, lock it back up, and the app automatically charges them for the rental period.
These bike-sharing schemes are big business in Asia. Ofo has the backing of ride-hailing behemoth DiDi Chuxing, for instance, and Mobike counts Tencent and Foxconn amongst its investors. Competition between the two, as well as several other identical companies, is particularly fierce in China, and not without its problems. As exposure and accessibility is key, firms have saturated Chinese cities with tens of thousands of bikes each. Sometimes there simply isn’t space to park them up, leading people to dump them in huge, twisted piles.
This eventuality hasn’t gone unrecognised in the UK. Cambridge city council raised concerns about potential pavement clutter ahead of Ofo’s pilot, and in today’s Mobike announcement, Manchester officials note a code of conduct has been drawn up to ensure the influx of bikes don’t become a nuisance.
Via: The Guardian
Source: Mobike
Sharp says its US TVs are ‘shoddily manufactured’
Sharp has been selling TVs in the US since 1970s, so it was pretty shocking when it sold its US name rights to Chinese manufacturer Hisense for a mere $27.8 million. That seemed like an especially pitiful sum after Foxconn purchased Sharp for $3.5 billion, but the company’s new parent has decided to take action. It’s suing Hisense to get back US rights to the name, claiming the firm is sullying the brand with “shoddily manufactured” TVs and misleading advertising, according to the WSJ.
In court documents, Sharp says its brand and trademark “are at risk of being destroyed” by Hisense, which acquired a Mexican factory and five-year license to sell Sharp-branded products in North and South America. Sharp says the sets violate FCC rules on electromagnetic interference emissions, and that Hisense gave consumers deceptive information about picture size, brightness levels and the 4K resolution.
In a statement to the WSJ, Hisense said it “categorically denies Sharp’s claims in the litigation and looks forward to presenting its case in the appropriate forum.” It adds that it is in full compliance with the license agreement and “will continue to manufacture and sell quality televisions under the Sharp brand.”
Sharp was forced to sell its name under duress, as the company was struggling financially in an extremely competitive TV market. However, it has already swung to a small profit under Foxconn, which has taken on manufacturing chores while leaving management control to a Japanese team. It badly needs the Sharp name for the US, one of the biggest TV markets, if it wants to expand that success.
Foxconn builds Apple iPhones, PS4’s, Xbox One’s and other products, and is also bidding to buy Toshiba’s NAND memory division, with help from Apple and Amazon. “We are also hoping that Toshiba’s memory unit will survive into the next 50 to 100 years at least, like Sharp,” CEO Terry Gou said.
Source: WSJ
10.5-Inch iPad Pro Reviews: Impressive Screen and Hardware Update That Will Improve With iOS 11
One week after Apple introduced the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro at the WWDC keynote in San Jose, California, reviews for the device have begun circulating online. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro has replaced the 9.7-inch device, offering a larger display with 40 percent smaller bezels, ProMotion display technology with refresh rates of up to 120Hz, a 12-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, and more.
In its review, TechCrunch points out that the overall impressiveness of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is largely dependent upon the device running iOS 11 — which includes an array of iPad-specific updates. Of course, the new software won’t launch until the fall, well after the 10.5-inch iPad Pro arrives to first adopters this week, but TechCrunch called it an “amazing” iPad when it does run iOS 11, saying that, “It pays off years of setup in ways that come home when you see how well iOS 11 works.”
Image via Engadget
Even without iOS 11 the site did enjoy the new screen size, noting that it hit the sweet spot in terms of tablet form factor, and going so far as to say that Apple may decide to drop the 12.9-inch iPad Pro at some point: “I’d expect to see all iPads at 10.5 inches at some point. It’s just the right size.” TechCrunch ultimately concluded that, with the debut of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, “the iPad is a full-fledged computer.”
Science fiction movies and books have for decades displayed tablets as the future of mid-range computing. And it makes sense. In a world of artificial intelligence, greater mobility and voice-first systems, a keyboard feels stupid and archaic.
With the iPad Pro, especially when it’s armed with iOS 11, it’s beginning to feel possible to see Apple in this world. The combination of custom silicon, a still robust and specifically attuned software ecosystem and a focus on security, Apple has everything it needs to make a strong showing here.
Whether it leads to future growth of the category I don’t yet know – but this particular recipe is coming to maturity. The iPad is a full-fledged computer, and you can argue against it but you’re going to increasingly sound like an idiot.
One of Ars Technica’s favorite additions to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is the device’s screen and its refresh rate, which has been bumped up from 60Hz to 120Hz. Apple calls the technology behind the refresh rate bump “ProMotion,” and it allows for overall smoother animations and motions on the iPad’s display, creating a better user experience and reducing input lag. When the iPad doesn’t need a full 120Hz refresh rate, it can dip to as low as 24Hz, “and pretty much anywhere in between,” in order to save battery life.
As for how it is to use a 120Hz display, I can say that it’s undeniably slick and it makes animations and transitions look great; it’s also easier to read text and scroll simultaneously, since the “ghosting” effect you get at 60Hz is much-reduced. None of the display improvements that Apple has made post-Retina—an ever-longer list that now includes the DCI-P3 color gamut, True Tone, and ProMotion—have had quite as big an impact as those sharper screens did, but the 120Hz refresh rate comes close. The sooner this trickles outward to the iPhone and Apple’s various Macs, the better.
Ars Technica called the new display, “The best screen Apple ships,” and hopes for Apple to soon introduce the technology into iPhone and Mac sometime in the future. The site also dove deep into performance tests of the new iPad Pro, noting that single-core performance was up 25 percent with the A10X chip, while multi-core performance improved by nearly 80 percent, “If you’re using an app that can hit all three of the high-performance CPU cores at once.”
The Verge got between 8 and 9 hours of battery life on the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, describing the tablet as a “stupendous device” that most people should probably not buy at launch. The site explained the expensive price point an iPad Pro becomes to turn it into a main computing device, including extra-cost accessories like Apple Pencil, Smart Keyboard, and upping storage, while also continuing the theme of many reviews posted today about the new iPad: it’s launching too early.
Now that we know that the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is an impressive device and that we further know that iOS 11 is going to radically change how you use it, let’s get back to that value equation I mentioned earlier. Basically, should you buy it? The iPad Pro 10.5 presents a conundrum: it is a stupendous device that I firmly believe most people shouldn’t buy just yet.
If you’re going to spend that much money on an iPad, you should know exactly what you’re going to do with it that takes advantage of all the Pro features. There are people who are already doing that, but I don’t think the majority of computer users can be comfortable using an iPad as their main device. For those who can, go out and buy the hell out of this thing (unless you already have the iPad Pro 9.7).
For the rest of us, my advice is to hold out and see whether iOS 11 changes the calculus.
There are a wealth of other opinions about the 10.5-inch iPad Pro to read today, including reviews posted from the following sites: Engadget, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, MacStories, CNET, and The Loop. For other WWDC-related review roundups, check out the first impressions of the new MacBook and iMacs, as well as opinions on HomePod.
Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Buyer’s Guide: 10.5″ iPad Pro (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums
Creative looks to woo audiophiles, gamers with its Sound BlasterX AE-5 sound card
Why it matters to you
Audio is an often overlooked aspect of a gaming desktop, but Creative’s Sound BlasterX AE-5 could make all the difference in your gaming experience.
Since the advent of onboard motherboard audio and audio output on graphics cards, dedicated sound cards have mostly been relegated to an optional component of gaming PC builds. But for those who strive for the best possible sound experience, a sound card can make all the difference. Creative recently unveiled their newest sound card, the Sound BlasterX AE-5, and it’s armed to the teeth with high-end components aimed at both the audiophile market and serious PC gamers.
The Sound BlasterX AE-5 features a quad-core Sound Core3D audio digital signal processor (DSP), and a 122dB ESS Sabre-Class digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Having a powerful DAC is important, as it’s where the conversion from digital data to analog sound signal takes place, and Sabre’s chips are some of the best in the industry. They’re often used in high-end Yamaha receivers and Astell & Kern’s premium portable devices. With these chips, Creative promises the Sound BlasterX AE-5 will multiply your onboard motherboard audio quality by up to 32 times. The soundcard’s playback quality tops out at a whopping 32-bit/348kHz, which is well above the average 28-bit/198kHz of most hi-res audio.
While it is armed with the necessary specs for hi-res playback, the Sound BlasterX AE-5 also features an onboard Xamp Headphone Amp for driving headphone and headset audio. Each of the channels is individually amplified thanks to dual-amp design, which essentially means that each channel is separated, resulting in high clarity for each channel. Creative claims the Xamp can drive everything from sensitive in-ear earphones to studio-grade headphones thanks to an output impedance of 1 to 600 ohms. Beyond driving headset audio, the AE-5 also can support a 5.1 surround sound speaker setup.
The thought of sacrificing space in your case for a sound card may be off-putting for some, but Creative seems to know the market it’s aiming for, and has anticipated the desire of PC aficionados to customize their devices to aesthetically fit in their desktop setups.
The AE-5 has a built-in Aurora RBG controller which can light up the card via PCB and supports up to four LED strips. These different lighting elements can be controlled with Aurora’s Reactive Lighting System, which gives users the ability to chose from 16.8 million colors to display and program custom effects or variations. This RGB controller can also control various other devices, supplanting the need for an external RGB controller, and freeing up space for other components.
The Sound BlasterX AE-5 launches in July with a price of $150. Starting June 13, customers can pre-order the sound card from Creative’s website, or from retailers like Fry’s, Newegg, or Micro Center.
Samsung reportedly completes work on its proprietary mobile GPU
Why it matters to you
Samsung’s proprietary GPU is only just being finalized, but it could be an important part of your Galaxy smartphone as early as next year.
For years, Samsung has had the ambition to develop its own proprietary graphics processing unit (GPU) for use in its mobile devices. Now, there are reports that the company has finally completed work on the first iteration of the component, which is apparently being referred to internally as the S-GPU.
In September 2016, it emerged that Samsung was in talks with both AMD and Nvidia with regard to licensing technologies to further its GPU project. It’s currently unclear whether either company contributed to the finished product, or whether Samsung elected to pursue other options.
Samsung is an enormous company, and has plenty of experience making its own components for use in its consumer devices. The firm already produces its own displays, and in some cases, processors — which makes a lot of sense, given how many smartphones and tablets it sells around the world.
Bringing GPU production in-house allows Samsung to cut costs by eliminating the need to secure components from an outside company. It remains to be seen whether this move will result in lower prices for the consumer, or will simply empower Samsung to better compete with the deep pockets of its biggest rival in the smartphone market, Apple.
Rumors have been swirling about Samsung’s GPU project since at least 2014, so it’s clear that the company has put considerable time and effort into the research and development process. Now that work on the first-generation version of the component has been completed, it’s only a matter of time before we see the fruits of this labor.
It’s expected that the S-GPU will be put through rigorous internal tests for the remainder of this year, according to a report from Sam Mobile. Assuming that those tests yield the desired results, we could see the component implemented in Samsung’s Exynos chipset as early as 2018.
Samsung reportedly completes work on its proprietary mobile GPU
Why it matters to you
Samsung’s proprietary GPU is only just being finalized, but it could be an important part of your Galaxy smartphone as early as next year.
For years, Samsung has had the ambition to develop its own proprietary graphics processing unit (GPU) for use in its mobile devices. Now, there are reports that the company has finally completed work on the first iteration of the component, which is apparently being referred to internally as the S-GPU.
In September 2016, it emerged that Samsung was in talks with both AMD and Nvidia with regard to licensing technologies to further its GPU project. It’s currently unclear whether either company contributed to the finished product, or whether Samsung elected to pursue other options.
Samsung is an enormous company, and has plenty of experience making its own components for use in its consumer devices. The firm already produces its own displays, and in some cases, processors — which makes a lot of sense, given how many smartphones and tablets it sells around the world.
Bringing GPU production in-house allows Samsung to cut costs by eliminating the need to secure components from an outside company. It remains to be seen whether this move will result in lower prices for the consumer, or will simply empower Samsung to better compete with the deep pockets of its biggest rival in the smartphone market, Apple.
Rumors have been swirling about Samsung’s GPU project since at least 2014, so it’s clear that the company has put considerable time and effort into the research and development process. Now that work on the first-generation version of the component has been completed, it’s only a matter of time before we see the fruits of this labor.
It’s expected that the S-GPU will be put through rigorous internal tests for the remainder of this year, according to a report from Sam Mobile. Assuming that those tests yield the desired results, we could see the component implemented in Samsung’s Exynos chipset as early as 2018.
HD HomeRun modernizes the old-school over-the-air TV game
HDHomerun is the perfect over-the-air addition to an already excellent Android TV experience.
The thing about being a cord-cutter is that you’re always trying to plug holes. It doesn’t matter what streaming video service you ultimately go with — there’s almost always something missing. For many of us, that hole comes down to local channels. And while services like YouTube TV are trying to fill that hole, there’s still something to be said for a good, old-fashioned broadcast antenna.
This generally is simple enough. You stick an antenna somewhere, and it plucks the local broadcasts out of the air and pumps them directly into, well, wherever. (Generally that’ll be a TV, but hang on a second …)
There are a couple problems with this, though. First is that if you’re going straight from the antenna into a TV (assuming it still has a tuner, and not all models do these days), you’re pretty limited. One antenna, one TV. Second is that broadcasts can be pretty directional, especially if it’s on a VHF frequency. In other words, if the antenna isn’t pointing the right way, you might well be missing channels.
So the key here is flexibility. I’ve dabbled in wireless antennas. But as many have pointed out, there’s a better way. A much better way.
Enter HDHomerun. Or, more specifically, HDHomerun Connect.
Here’s the gist: You plug your antenna into this little gem of a box, which then connects to your router via Ethernet. From there, it spits out the broadcast channels over your wireless network, to be picked up by the HDHomerun app, or any number of third-party apps — on nearly any platform you can think of. The box has dual tuners, so you can watch on two devices simultaneously, and it downloads channel listings, too, so you’re not guessing what’s on. (Like we had to do in the bad old days of OTA TV.)
If it sounds like I’m skipping some setup steps involving scanning and networking, well, I’m not. This has been one of those rare products that just works. Plug in the antenna. Plug in the Ethernet cable. Install the Android app on a phone or tablet or Android TV. Watch local TV, for little more than the expense of the HDHomerun box ($99 and change), and an antenna. As an added bonus, it works great with Android TV’s Live Channels app, keeping more things in one place.
HDHomerun fills the content gap on nearly every platform and is ridiculously easy to set up.
What can you watch on? Damned near everything. Mac. Windows. Linux. (!) Android. iPhone and iPad. Xbox via the Media Center app. You can record what’s coming in through any number of methods, including Plex and HDHomerun’s own DVR service. That ups the complexity of this little endeavor by a decent amount, and you can venture down that rabbit hole just as far as you want. If all you want is live TV, though, it couldn’t be simpler.
Now’s the time to mention that there are three products here, actually — HDHomerun Connect, Extend — which includes a hardware transcoding which makes recorded playback easier on your network — and Prime, which is meant for Cable Card situations. For me, Connect has been just fine.
Yeah, it’s another expenditure in the quest for cheaper TV. But in this case it’s absolutely been well worth it, plugging what for me was a pretty big hole in my lineup.
See at Amazon
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Honor 9 goes official with 6GB RAM, Kirin 960 chipset, dual rear cameras
Honor 9 picks up key upgrades for 2017.
Right on schedule, Huawei sub-brand Honor has unveiled its latest flagship phone in China. The Honor 9 will go up for sale in the country starting June 16 for the equivalent of $340, continuing the brand’s tradition of offering enticing hardware on a budget. There isn’t a lot to visually differentiate the Honor 9 from its predecessor, with Honor offering a similar metal-and-glass design. The key change is the position of the fingerprint sensor, which is now located at the front of the phone.
The Honor 9 features a 5.15-inch Full HD display with DCI-P3 color space and 2.5D curved glass, and the device is powered by Huawei’s Kirin 960 chipset — just like the Mate 9 and the Huawei P10. The SoC offers four Cortex A73 cores along with four Cortex A53 cores, along with a Mali G-71 MP8 GPU. The Honor 9 will be offered in three storage configurations — a base model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage, a variant with 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage, and a model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. All versions include a microSD slot.
The phone also offers dual rear cameras at the back, with a 12MP RGB sensor augmented by a 20MP monochrome sensor. There’s an 8MP shooter up front, and a 3200mAh battery should be more than adequate to ensure the phone lasts a day. Other specs include Wi-Fi ac, NFC, VoLTE, and a headphone jack.
The Honor 9 will be sold in five color options — gold, blue, black, amber, and grey. The phone is being positioned as a more affordable variant of the Huawei P10, and while it misses out on the Leica branding, there’s plenty to like. The model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage is set to retail for ¥2,299 ($340), the version with 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage will be available for ¥2,699 ($400), and finally the variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage will be sold for ¥2,999 ($440).
There’s no information regarding global availability, but we should know more in the coming weeks.
Jaguar Land Rover invests $25m in Lyft for self-driving car tech
Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by Indian company Tata and is Britain’s biggest car manufacturer, has invested $25 million (£20m) in American taxi-hailing service, Lyft. The money has been provided by JLR’s InMotion Ventures subsidiary.JLR has given Lyft the money to help it develop self-driving car technology, which is seen as the next big thing not only for cars in general, but for taxi cabs that can be hailed using an app on your phone. It should eventually help make rides cheaper as there won’t be any driver to pay. Jaguar Land Rover will also give Lyft a fleet of vehicles, a mixture of Jaguar and Land Rover models to assist with the development of the self-driving tech.
John Zimmer, Lyft president and co-founder said: “We’re excited to join forces with Jaguar Land Rover and InMotion,”
“Lyft envisions a future where shared mobility will transform cities and improve people’s lives.”
- Lyft now lets you hail a cab from within FB Messenger, Slack and more
- What is Uber and how does it work?
- Uber plans to demo its fleet of electric flying cabs in 2020
- See all our Land Rovers news and reviews
Lyft is seen as the biggest rival to Uber, although their valuations are leagues apart: $7.5bn compared to Uber’s $70bn. Lyft is only focusing its attention on expanding in the US for now, whereas Uber has expanded worldwide. However Uber has come under fire for some controversies in the past, which has helped Lyft secure funding and partnerships, as well as attracting new customers.
Xbox One X pre-order: How, where and when to pre-order
There’s a new Xbox in town and it’s being called the most powerful console made. The new Xbox One X is the go-to-market name for Project Scorpio.
Initially announced in 2016, we now know how much Xbox One X will cost and we know the Xbox One X release date too, so it’s time to start saving.
The Xbox One X has powerful hardware, offering a custom eight-core Scorpio Engine and liquid cooling, while pushing out 4K 60fps visuals, with an Ultra HD Blu-ray player on board too.
Despite the jump in power over the Xbox One S, the new console is actually smaller, but as this is one Xbox platform, you’ll be able to play the same titles across different consoles, but with the Xbox One X delivering the fastest and most beautiful graphical experience.
The Xbox One X will be available internationally on 7 November 2017. The suggested retail price has been set at $499 in the US, or £449 in the UK.
Currently there’s little information about where you’ll be able to buy the console, but there has been some confirmation from retailers. You’ll be able to but it directly from Microsoft, with confirmation that pre-orders will open later in the year, but a final date hasn’t been revealed.
Xbox One X pre-orders UK
- Amazon.co.uk – see it on Amazon
- Game.co.uk – see it on Game
- GameStop.ie – see it on GameStop
Xbox One X pre-orders US
- Amazon.com – see it on Amazon
- Bestbuy.com – see it on Best Buy
- Walmart.com – see it on Walmart
Xbox One X pre-order deals
Currently there are no pre-order deals for the Xbox One X, but we expect that a number of retailers will announce deals to save you money or help you score the latest games with your new console. We’ll update when we have more information.
AIVAnet 