Apple Reportedly Planning to Release Most Affordable 9.7-inch iPad Ever in Late 2018

Apple is “considering” releasing an updated low-cost 9.7-inch iPad next year with a starting price that’s $70 cheaper than its existing equivalent, according to sources from upstream suppliers.

In March 2017, Apple released its most affordable iPad, a $329 entry-level 9.7-inch device with internal specs similar to the iPad Air 2, but with a thicker and heavier enclosure. According to DigiTimes, Apple’s 2018 version of the 9.7-inch iPad could cost even less at around $259, in a bid to attract more demand from price-oriented consumers and maintain its current tablet shipments of 10 million units a quarter.

With the new device, the sources expect the tablet market to witness a new wave of price competition among first-tier players including Samsung Electronics, Amazon, Huawei and Lenovo.

The sources pointed out that Apple’s new iPad may arrive in the second quarter of 2018 and in addition to regular consumers Apple is also looking to expand the inexpensive iPad into the industrial and service sectors.

In its November earnings call, Apple reported double-digit unit growth in iPad sales for the second consecutive quarter, but did not provide a breakdown of sales across tablet models. Prior to that, in the June quarter, the company reported sales of 11.4 million iPads, an increase of 15 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. iPad revenue was also up, but only 2 percent year over year, suggesting Apple was selling a lot of new lower-priced 9.7-inch iPads in particular.

The worldwide tablet market declined for a tenth straight quarter on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter of 2017. When the news broke in May, Apple reported that it sold 8.9 million iPads in the quarter, down from 10.2 million iPads in the year-ago quarter, marking the 13th consecutive quarter that it had sold fewer iPads on a year-over-year unit basis.

According to the sources cited today, Apple’s aggressive pricing strategy with the next 9.7-inch iPad aims to offset the continuing overall decline, which has seen most second- and third-tier brand vendors already step out of the market.

According to the same sources, Apple is likely to outsource the production of the new 9.7-inch iPad to Compal Electronics, while giving the device’s PCB orders to Compeq and Unitech Printed Circuit Board. However, all the companies declined to comment on their orders or clients.

Related Roundup: iPad (2017)Buyer’s Guide: iPad (Caution)
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Google iOS App Now Responds to Voice Searches in Multiple Languages

Google updated a couple of its most popular iOS offerings late on Thursday, including bringing multilingual support to its namesake app.

Users of the Google Search app can now search by voice in multiple languages. The option needs to be enabled first for it to work – to do this, go to Settings, tap “Voice Search”, then tap “Language” to input additional languages. (There are over 50 to choose from as of writing.)

From there, a whenever the mic icon is tapped or the user says “Ok, Google” to start a voice search, they can ask a question in whichever languages they’ve added and Google will automatically respond and return results in the same language.

Meanwhile, in the Google Photos app, a new iMessage extension allows users to quickly share photos and videos through the Messages app. Once the update has been applied, the extension should appear in the iMessage apps panel automatically. In addition, Google Photos support for Drag and Drop on iPad has also been included.

Google Photos is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

The Google Search app is also a free download for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tags: Google, Google Photos
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Lego AR-Studio puts virtual dragons in your physical sets

After the costly failure of its toy-to-life video game Lego Dimensions, Lego is turning to augmented reality to mix real sets with virtual elements. The new Lego AR-Studio app for iOS taps into Apple’s ARKit platform to add animations and audio-visuals to the company’s physical toys. Hold your smartphone over select Lego City and Ninjago sets and you’ll be able to summon fire-breathing dragons, trains, and firetrucks dousing flames with hoses. Plus, any special escapades can be captured using the app’s built-in camera. Whereas it may not awaken your inner-child (leave that to Nintendo), Lego-mad tikes should get a real kick out of it.

Best of all, the app is free — of course, you’ll still have to stump up for those physical Lego sets to get it to work. The virtual extras also equate to less sorting of clutter (because not everyone can build an AI to organize the colourful blocks).

Bear in mind, this being ARKit, only Apple’s flagships packing either the A9 or A10 processors can handle the heat, which boils down to the iPhone 6S and beyond. Alas, that may not bode well for those parents that are overly-protective of their brand-spanking new iPhone X. In addition, the app is also available on the 2017 iPad, and the iPad Pro (10.5-inch, 12.9-inch, and 9.7-inch models).

The arrival of Lego AR-Studio doesn’t mean the toy-maker is giving up on video games. It’s still cranking out movie tie-ins like clockwork, and this year it released its Minecraft rival, Lego Worlds. But, for the time being at least, it’s leaving the toy-to-life trend to Skylanders.

Vine co-founder teases fans with hint at ‘follow-up’ to the looping-video app

Remember Vine? The once-popular app let users upload looping six-second videos, some more entertaining than others …

Twitter gave Vine a major boost when it snapped it up in 2012, but at the beginning of 2017 Twitter ended its support, leaving fans with the pared-back Vine Camera and an online repository of Vine videos. And that was pretty much that.

But now one of Vine’s three co-founders has offered hope to its diehard devotees, suggesting that the looping-video app — or at least something like it — could be making a return. Taking to the very service that ended up turning its back on Vine, Dom Hofmann on Thursday tweeted that he’s planning to begin work on “a follow-up to Vine” after receiving lots of encouragement, presumably from former Vine users who still haven’t gotten over the loss of their beloved streaming service.

Hofmann said he intends to fund it himself — perhaps using some of the $30 million Twitter reportedly paid for Vine five years ago, if he has any of it left — but declined to offer any details, saying only that he would reveal more “as it develops.”

i’m going to work on a follow-up to vine. i’ve been feeling it myself for some time and have seen a lot of tweets, dms, etc.

— dom hofmann (@dhof) November 30, 2017

At one stage Vine looked to be going places, gathering 200 million monthly users before Twitter announced it was ending support for the video service as it sought to cut costs and concentrate on its live-streaming offerings.

At the time, another of Vine’s co-founders, Rus Yusupov, voiced his disappointment at Twitter’s decision, warning other fledgling startups: “Don’t sell your company!”

Vine magic?

Whether Hofmann can create some of the Vine magic with his next effort remains to be seen, but other apps produced by the co-founders since Vine’s closure have so far failed to gain much traction, indicating the scale of the challenge that lies ahead.

One of Hofmann’s post-Vine efforts, a social app called Peach, has failed to make any great impact and hasn’t received an update for Android users since July, 2016. Hofmann now heads up Byte, a New York-based startup that’s produced two other apps, Music Maker and Byte, both iOS only. Vine’s other two co-founders, Yusupov and Colin Kroll, launched a live-streaming app à la Periscope called Hype. No new features have been added to the iOS version since February, 2017, and there’s no version for Android.

Still, Vine fans will be crossing their fingers in the hope that Hofmann follows through with a new version of the once-popular video-looping app, or something similar. If Vine somehow passed you by, check out one of our favorite Vine creators who found a niche with his wacky video tricks, or hit the Vine website that remains online and showcases lots of six-second efforts from its heyday.

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Twitter’s Lite app reaches 24 more countries

Twitter’s data-saving application has landed on the local Google Play stores of 24 new locations. The social network has released its Lite app in Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nepal, Panama, Peru, Serbia, El Salvador, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Tanzania and Venezuela after a successful test run in the Philippines.

Twitter launched the app in the Philippines back in September to conduct some on-the-ground user research, which yielded positive feedback. People appreciated its small size, its ability to use minimal amounts of data and to load quickly in a country not exactly known for blazing fast internet speeds. “Based on these positive results,” Twitter product manager Jesar Shah said, “we have decided to bring it to more people around the world.”

Twitter apparently saw a 50 percent increase in the number of tweets ever since it debuted Lite earlier this year. That was likely due to the data-saving version’s quick loading times even on 2G and 3G networks, 3MB install size, offline mode and data saver mode that only loads images and videos you actually want to see. All those features make it especially ideal for people in developing nations where not everyone has data plans or constant access to WiFi, though you can access it anywhere you are through its mobile website.

Source: Twitter

GM plans to launch robot taxi services across U.S. sooner than you may think

“Zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion.” That’s what GM is aiming for with its self-driving car plan, and on Thursday it elaborated on how it intends to move toward its ambition.

The company said that by 2019 it can have in place a driverless ride-hailing service in multiple cities, a proclamation that will have the likes of Uber, Lyft, and just about every cab driver working today, sitting up and taking notice.

The service would use fully autonomous electric cars — like the self-driving Chevy Bolt it’s developing — and could, with widespread rider adoption and falling electric-vehicle costs, charge as little as $1 a mile by 2025, about a third of what existing ride-hailing services charge.

GM’s service could launch in any major city across the country depending on demand, though of course local regulators would have the final say.

The automaker said that its most recent projections suggest its robot taxi service would have the potential to make more profit than its current vehicle sales business. Signaling what could develop into a major change to its business model, GM president Dan Ammann told investors this week that whereas now the company receives an average of $30,000 over the lifetime of a new vehicle that it sells, that figure could balloon to several hundred thousands of dollars for a self-driving car deployed as part of a revenue-generating ride-hailing service.

GM hit the gas with its autonomous car plans in 2016 with the creation of its Autonomous Vehicle Development Team, following up soon after with the acquisition of startup Cruise Automation for around $1 billion.

Interestingly, at the start of 2016, GM invested $500 million in ride-hailing service Lyft, which is also developing robot taxis. Ammann declined to mention if Lyft would be involved in its own ride-hailing venture using driverless cars. Apparently keen to keep its options open, Lyft also partnered with Ford recently, with the same vision of developing autonomous cars for a driverless taxi service.

The GM president certainly sounded bullish on Thursday about his plans for a ride-hailing service using robot taxis, saying, “If we continue on our current rate of change we will be ready to deploy this technology, in large scale, in the most complex environments, in 2019.”

With Uber and Waymo, among others, also moving toward launching full-fledged autonomous taxi services, the race is on to be the first to make it happen and make it work. GM has for the first time spelled out its ambitions regarding its own effort and we can’t wait to see how it turns out.

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These are Google Play’s best apps, games, and movies of 2017

These are the most popular apps, games, and movies on Google Play in 2017.

Google has published its Best of 2017 list, highlighting the most popular apps, games, movies, books, and songs of the year. Pic Tools’ Photo Editor turned out to be the most popular app of 2017, followed by weather forecast app What The Forecast?!! and Cartoon Network’s Boomerang service.

Game of Thrones is once again the most popular TV show on Google Play (for obvious reasons), followed by Rick and Morty and The Walking Dead. Kendrick Lamar’s single HUMBLE edged out Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You to claim the top spot in the music category, and last year’s animated hit Moana beat out Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in movies.

Most popular new apps of 2017

• Photo Editor – Beauty Camera & Photo Filters
• What The Forecast?!!
• Boomerang
• TopBuzz Video: Viral Videos, Funny GIFs &TV shows
• Yarn – Chat Fiction

Most popular new games of 2017

• Super Mario Run
• Bubble Witch 3 Saga
• Magic Tiles 3
• CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars
• Ballz

Top five streamed songs of 2017

• HUMBLE. by Kendrick Lamar
• Shape of You by Ed Sheeran
• DNA. by Kendrick Lamar
• Mask Off by Future
• Body Like A Back Road by Sam Hunt

Top five movies of 2017

• Moana (2016)
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• Wonder Woman (2017)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• Doctor Strange (2016)

Top five TV shows of 2017

• Game of Thrones
• Rick and Morty
• The Walking Dead
• The Big Bang Theory
• Doctor Who

Top five books of 2017

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
• It by Stephen King
• The Battlemage by Taran Matharu
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Looking for the full list? Hit up the Play Store from the link below to find the best apps, games, movies, books, and movies for your region.

Google Play’s Best of 2017

‘PUBG’ console version will run at 60 fps on Xbox One X

In a magazine interview, PlayerUnknown himself Brendan Greene dropped a few details about the console version of his popular shooter. One tidbit is that when PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds arrives in Game Preview December 12th, developers are expecting to have it running at 60 fps on Microsoft’s just-released Xbox One X, however it may be lower on Xbox One. From the November 194 issue of Games™ (via Wccftech):

On Xbox One, we’re not sure. We may have to limit it at 30FPS, maybe, but the last time I saw it, it was running at about 30 to 40. We’re still constantly improving it so, you know, the aim is to get to 60. That’s why we’re doing Game Preview, because I think the great thing about console is it’s a locked hardware system, so we can do really specific tweaks that tune it for those systems.

The PC version hasn’t always shown incredible levels of polish, so it’s not surprising that the $30 console release may have its rough edges as well. Still, the game’s popularity — and the popularity of possibly too-similar competition — hasn’t been hurt by it. Gamers will also have to wait for 4K textures on PC and Xbox One X, as Greene says the artists have a plan for that, however HDR support is confirmed. While the game is still in testing on PC, players can expect to see a gameplay preview of its new Desert map next week on Thursday, December 7th during The Game Awards.

Don’t miss the first-ever gameplay of the new desert map from @PUBATTLEGROUNDS live during @thegameawards on Thursday, December 7! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/HKAmltzoCz

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) November 30, 2017

Via: Wccftech

Source: Games™

Dishwasher smelling ripe? Here’s how to to get it clean and fresh again

You’re probably reading the headline of this article thinking, “don’t dishwashers clean themselves when they clean the dishes?” Sadly, much like how a shower collects grime over time, dishwashers can also get a little gunky if not cleaned properly. With all the dirty dishes that go into it, food particles begin to cake the walls and door of the machine over time. If your machine is really dirty, it can create terrible smells and slow down, or even impede, the washing process. In order to keep your dishwasher running efficiently and smelling pleasant, we recommend washing it at least once a month, or whenever funky smells begin to creep in. Fortunately, the process is simple and straightforward, and it takes virtually no time at all. Here’s how to clean a dishwasher in a few easy steps.

Required materials

• A washcloth or sponge
• Dish soap
• 2 cups of white vinegar
• A dishwasher-safe cup
• 1 or 2 cups of lemon juice

Step 1 — Empty the dishwasher and remove attachments

Andriy Popov/125rf

First off, there can’t be any dishes in the racks or else your dishwasher will clean the dishes and not the actual dishwasher. That said, take out anything you can easily remove, such as the blades at the bottom or the silverware rack. Rinse the gunk off any attachments before returning them to the dishwasher. Try not think about what that gunk might be — just close your eyes and get it done.

Step 2 — Check the filter and wipe down the door

baloon111/123rf

If your dishwasher has a filter at the bottom, reach down and see if anything has gotten stuck, such as a container or a spoon. This is really important because if anything is blocking the drain, you’ll be left with standing, dirty water (not to mention an even bigger mess than the one you started with). Once finished, use a cloth and some dish soap to clean the edge and outside of the door, along with any other spots the water doesn’t reach when the machine is turned on.

Step 3 — Vinegar wash

patrickhastings/123rf

Now, place 2 cups of white vinegar in a dishwasher-safe cup and place it on the top rack. Next, run the dishwasher. This will safely kill germs and remove stains. Using bleach or any other chemical cleaner is dangerous because, if not rinsed properly, they can stick around and get on your dishes. Sticking with white vinegar ensures that, even if you do accidentally ingest any residual liquid, you won’t be taking in toxic chemicals. Plus, the latter is cheap and has myriad other uses around the house, both in cooking and for cleaning.

Step 4 (optional) — Lemon juice wash

Joshua Resnick/123rf

White vinegar will get rid of the smell of old food, sure, but it will likely replace it with the smell of vinegar. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it will dissipate over time. However, if the vinegar smell bothers you, place a cup or two of lemon juice in the top rack and run the dishwasher again. This will make your machine smell lemony fresh.

That’s it! That’s all you have to do to thoroughly clean your dishwasher. If you feel really dedicated to cleanliness, you can even unscrew the mechanism that moves the blades and clean underneath, but that really isn’t as necessary. Depending on how well you rinse your plates before throwing them in the dishwasher, you shouldn’t have to repeat this process very often — just when it gets too ripe for you to handle.

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iPhone X Shipping Estimates Improve to Under One Week in United States

Shipping estimates for the iPhone X continue to improve, and in the United States, iPhone X models ordered today will arrive in just about a week.

Apple’s online store in the U.S. is currently listing a delivery date of December 8 for all new iPhone X orders, meaning iPhone X orders will need to ship out in just a matter of days to meet that estimate.

The new under a week shipping estimates follow improved 1 to 2 week shipping estimates that were introduced on November 22.

iPhone X shipping estimates have also improved in Canada and multiple countries in Europe, while estimates are beginning to improve in Asia Pacific countries. The Canadian online store lists a shipping estimate of five business days, for example, while European stores list delivery dates of December 11. In Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, shipping estimates range from several days to two weeks.

Over the course of the last month, Apple has been significantly ramping up production in order to meet demand for the iPhone X, and as a result, we’ve seen shipping estimates that have improved drastically since the iPhone X first launched.

Following the October 27 pre-orders for the iPhone X, shipping estimates were as high as 5 to 6 weeks, but Apple has been able to improve supply earlier than expected. Initial rumors suggested the iPhone X would be heavily constrained and in short supply until well into the new year, but given the improvements we’re seeing, Apple will likely reach supply/demand balance in the near future.

In addition to improving stock for online orders, Apple has also been shipping out iPhone X pre-orders more quickly than expected. Customers who initially had December order dates have been receiving their devices throughout November, and Apple retail stores have also been receiving regular shipments.

Back at the beginning of November, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was working to ramp up iPhone X production week by week to get the new smartphone out to customers “as soon as possible.”

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the improved iPhone X shipping estimates are indeed due to better-than-expected improvements in production rather than a lack of demand for the new device.

Related Roundup: iPhone XBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
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