iPad regains share in a shrinking mobile tablet market
Apple’s share of the tablet market has been sliding for a while, but it’s making a comeback… if not for the reasons the company might prefer. Strategy Analytics estimates that the iPad climbed from 19.1 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2015 to 19.9 percent a year later. However, that’s mainly because the market as a whole shrank 10 percent. The analysts believe that many tablet manufacturers’ shipments dropped year-to-year, and that Apple simply experienced a smaller decline than most. The one major exception is Amazon, whose $49 Fire tablet helped its shipments more than double.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple is on the wrong track. Strategy Analytics argues that the iPad Pro line puts Apple “on the path to recovery” by giving the company a laptop-like tablet that wasn’t an option before. However, it does show that Apple is consciously veering away from the strategies of its peers. Many of its Android rivals are shifting attention to 2-in-1 Windows tablets, like Lenovo’s Yoga series or Samsung’s TabPro S. Researchers say that Windows hybrid and tablet shipments jumped 25 percent year-over-year in the third quarter — some of those are bound to be from companies no longer convinced they can sell Android tablets as full-on computer substitutes.
The data suggests that the tablet market isn’t so much dying as maturing. Basic mobile tablets will still have an audience among those who just want to read books or watch video, but higher-end slates are taking hold. People want “everyday computing devices” that really can fill in for a conventional PC, according to analysts, and they’re willing to pay more for these devices.
Source: Strategy Analytics
Outlook now displays coworkers’ availability on your phone
Sunrise is officially dead, but Microsoft just added a new feature to the Outlook iOS calendar that might help you forget it. In a trick borrowed from the desktop app, the iOS version of Outlook has a new scheduling assistant that makes it fairly easy to book a meeting. All you need to do is create an event and add coworkers in the “people” field, then choose the date picker.
From there, you can see times in white, yellow or red, indicating spaces where everyone is available (or not). Then, you can tap the time picker and drag it around until it turns green, giving you a slot that works for everyone. From there, you can fill in the rest of the information and save the event, which will automatically notify the other parties.
Many of Outlook’s calendar features come directly from Sunrise, so at least Microsoft is using the IP it paid for. Redmond integrated Sunrise’s “events” and “interesting calendars” feature last month, and added the time and date picker shortly afterwards. The scheduling assistant from Outlook desktop is icing on the cake, but whether it convinces diehard Sunrise fans to switch remains to be seen. The new feature is only on iOS, but is coming to Android and Windows 10 Mobile “shortly.”
Source: Microsoft
The bottom line: Our quick verdict on Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL
What happens when Google designs its own phones, as Apple does with the iPhone? You get some of the best handsets money can buy, that’s what. The 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL are well-built, with fast performance, excellent cameras and great screens (especially on the larger model). No product is perfect, though, and indeed, we’ve identified a few areas where Google can improve with the inevitable second generation. In particular, we were disappointed to see that these phones are less water resistant (and arguably less stylish) than other handsets you’d find in this price range.
Speaking of the sort, these things are expensive, with starting prices of $649 and $769, respectively. That’s on par with other flagships, but for the money, we don’t want to see too many “cons” in those review cards you see below. Thankfully, the pros here vastly outweigh the few shortcomings, and both Pixel phones both earn our strong recommendation.
The Morning After: Monday October 31st 2016
While today officially marks Halloween, we’re sure you’ve already made, worn and irreversibly damaged your costume over the weekend. That’s fine; we all have to come back to reality some time. And at least there are dinosaur brains, rep-counting headphones and a tour around Xiaomi’s HQ — the world’s next tech giant — to soften the blow of those Monday blues.
Clever girl.This brown lump was once a dinosaur brain.
Scientists say they have discovered the first known example of a dinosaur brain tissue fossil. It’s a particularly rare find: the researchers think they got lucky, theorizing that the dinosaur’s brain was preserved in highly acidic water (possibly from a bog or swamp), protecting its form before the whole animal was buried. It’s already offered a better insight into how dinosaurs’ brains differed from reptilian and bird gray matter.
Foodie TV without restriction.Alton Brown’s internet cooking show is the spiritual successor to ‘Good Eats’
If you were a fan of ‘Good Eats’, it’s time to get excited about Alton Brown’s new internet cooking show. As he revealed on a live Facebook chat, Brown will be looking to explore cooking beyond the constraints of mainstream TV broadcasting. That might include rabbit and sous vides — and that’s just the entree.
C’mon, just two more pull-ups.These headphones count reps so you don’t have to
Jabra’s new Sports Coach earphones can measure and coach not only your running but also cross-training style bodyweight exercises. Well, most of the time. Mat Smith struggles with push-ups in this heartwarming tale of man vs. gravity vs. sports headphones.
But wait, there’s more…
- Touring Xiaomi’s HQ – and its Apple-esque store
- Teen arrested for sharing an exploit that almost brought down 911
- Apple’s MacBook Pro isn’t the touchscreen laptop it ought to be
Touring around Xiaomi’s headquarters and Mi Home store
Xiaomi was quite a different animal when I first visited back in August 2011: It only occupied three floors in a small building, the cubicles were tight, security was loose (I literally just walked in almost every time) and people were working crazy long hours almost seven days a week. That was right after the company launched its very first device, the original Xiaomi Phone, which set a new definition for affordable flagship smartphones in China. Fast-forward to today and you’ll find yourself looking at a global brand that has gone well beyond mobile and online, while its latest smartphones — namely the Mi Note 2 and Mi MIX — are looking better than ever. To see for yourself, check out our photo tour around Xiaomi’s latest headquarters and a Mi Home store nearby.
Facebook goes full Snapchat with filters and vanishing messages
Facebook has “borrowed” a lot of ideas from Snapchat lately, including the concept for Instagram Stories and Facebook Live selfie filters. In perhaps its most audacious move yet, the social network has started testing a new camera that lets you take selfies and videos with filters, effects and masks, which you can then share with friends in your News Feed. If nobody replies within 24 hours, they’ll disappear.
Of course, those tricks pretty much make Snapchat what it is, and Facebook now has very similar ones in the heart of its app. While the test is just limited to Ireland, if Zuckerberg & Co. adopt the features widely, it’ll mean that Facebook’s 1.4 billion monthly users will be able do a lot of the things that used to make Snapchat unique.
Facebook purchased its filter technology from MSQRD back in March, but so far, has only used it in Facebook Live with Rio Olympics and Halloween-themed masks. The company also launched Prisma-like filters lately, with more advanced blending options than the original. Now, both types of technology have been integrated in the new camera, at least in a limited test.
Even while Facebook’s user base is growing, sharing of images and other personal content is on the decline. By contrast, Snapchat has dramatically increased photo and video sharing aided, no doubt, by all the fun ways to mash it up. The company famously declined Facebook’s $3 billion offer to buy it out, something many people thought crazy at the time. However, it’s now better at monetizing its content, and figures it could make up to $1 billion in revenue next year.
Clever SIM sticker makes no-signal mobile payments possible
Mobile wallets aren’t just for getting in and out of Starbucks that bit quicker. In several parts of the world, many people rely solely on mobile wallets for all their financial needs. These are particularly prevalent in Kenya, for example, where 58 percent of adults manage their money with mobiles. And we’re not talking about smartphone apps and contactless payments here, but simpler systems like M-Pesa that work on feature phones and verify transactions via SMS messages. These are entirely reliant on the presence and performance of mobile networks, though, which a project called DigiTally is trying to address with a SIM sticker that lets users make and receive payments when there’s no network connection whatsoever.
Born out of the University of Cambridge and supported by a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, DigiTally is a new type of mobile wallet that can be installed on even the simplest of phones by way of SIM sticker that sits over the standard contacts. This effectively adds DigiTally as a SIM service. While users still need to visit somewhere to add money to their DigiTally wallets, transactions don’t need to be authorized over a mobile network. Well, not immediately anyway.
Users make payments to each other simply by exchanging eight-digit verification codes between their mobiles, and the transactions are instantly reflected in both of their balances. Say this occurs where there is no mobile signal. Whenever the two users next get a connection, the transaction history is uploaded to a server and account balances re-synced.
The idea is not only to enable mobile payments in areas with no cell coverage, or where congestion is such that SMS-based systems are slow, but also to cut costs for users. As the system isn’t reliant on text messages, savings could be made there, as well as bundling transactions to reduce associated fees. DigiTally has already been successfully trialled earlier this year in Nairobi, Kenya, and the plan is make the project open-source in early 2017.
Via: New Scientist
Source: University of Cambridge
Geohot cancels his self-driving add-on amid legal scrutiny
George “Geohot” Hotz, PlayStation and iPhone hacker extraordinaire, has canceled production on Comma One, a $1,000 aftermarket add-on that he said would allow some cars to operate semi-autonomously. He claimed the tech was “about on par” with Tesla’s Autopilot and it used cars’ video feeds to navigate the roads. It was due to start rolling out at the end of this year. But, after receiving a special order from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today, Geohot decided Comma One wasn’t worth the paperwork.
Geohot said on Twitter that the special order opened “with threats” rather than an attempt at dialogue. “Would much rather spend my life building amazing tech than dealing with regulators and lawyers,” he tweeted just before officially canceling the Comma One. “It isn’t worth it.”
The comma one is cancelled. comma.ai will be exploring other products and markets. Hello from Shenzhen, China. -GH 3/3
— comma ai (@comma_ai) October 28, 2016
The letter and special order sent to Geohot by the NHTSA outlined the administration’s role in overseeing the safety of motor vehicles and asked for detailed answers to 15 questions about how the Comma One would work.
“We are concerned that your product would put the safety of our customers and other road users at risk,” the letter said. “We strongly encourage you to delay selling or deploying your product on the public roadways unless and until you can ensure it is safe.”
The NHTSA asked for Geohot to submit his answers by November 10th. The one line that could reasonably be construed as a threat, as Geohot called it, was the following: “If you do not timely or completely respond to the Requests in the Special Order, you may be subject to civil penalties of up to $21,000 per day.” The letter closes with contact information for a member of the NHTSA legal staff.
When Geohot revealed the Comma One in September, we were impressed but understandably skeptical. His company, Comma.ai, seemed to be moving remarkably quickly — perhaps that’s because Geohot skipped some of the standard paperwork.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Scribd, @comma_ai
The Morning After: Friday October 28th 2016
Apple’s big MacBook event introduced a new family of Pro machines, with nary a mention of the MacBook Air. The company also expelled standard USB 3.0 ports in its new range, replacing them all with (USB-C-shaped) Thunderbolt 3.0 ports — but hey, at least there’s a fancy OLED “Touch Bar.” Meanwhile, Turkey’s government shut down internet across 11 cities in the Kurdish area of the country, Oh, and Twitter killed Vine.
There’s still a headphone jack.Apple’s thinner MacBook Pro comes with an OLED touch strip, different ports again.
An even richer Retina display, more processing power, and a smaller model along with it: Apple’s newest MacBook Pro (like its newest iPhones) is a possibly divisive upgrade for the company’s faithful. The new OLED Touch Bar on the 15-inch model had some compelling use cases from Apple, but we’re still waiting to see how it all handles during a review.
Dongles for days.Your new iPhone and new MacBook will need a new cable to connect to each other.
Apple went all in on Thunderbolt 3.0 for its new MacBook Pro. But while it’s evolving its ports , it also just made every iPhone owner who wants one of these computers buy a new dongle. Sold separately.
Just ask first.The FCC has some new privacy rules to help protect your data from internet providers.
If internet service providers want to collect data about what you do and where you go on the internet, they’ll have to ask first, thanks to some new rules approved by the FCC today. That’s a change from before, when ISPs only had to offer a way to opt out of tracking behaviour like browsing habits, app usage and location or financial data. Expect to see an updated TOS from your internet provider any minute now.
Is this what a modern TV guide looks like?The Apple TV gets a guide, but it’s missing something.
Finding something to watch on streaming services isn’t quite easy enough, even with that new Siri Remote, so Apple’s TV solution is … TV. Really, that’s the name of its TV guide app, which detects the services you’re signed into and lets you browse through their content all in one place. TV works on the iPhone and iPad too, but at least so far, it doesn’t work with Netflix or Amazon. We’ll see if that changes before it launches on Apple TV in December.
Gone in six secondsTwitter killed Vine because it doesn’t fit
Twitter announced that it’s killing its six-second video app in the next few months. There are many reasons why, but perhaps the strongest is that it didn’t really fit with CEO Jack Dorsey’s vision of “the people’s news network.”
But wait, there’s more…
- Watch Apple’s MacBook event in less than nine minutes
- The original emoji character set is going to MoMA
- Turkish government cuts off internet access in 11 cities
- Alphabet’s experimental companies are getting better and losing less money
(Lead image credit: @Darth)
Yahoo brings all its bots together in one app
Yahoo has quietly introduced a new app called Yahoo Bots, as recently spotted by VentureBeat. The application, available for iOS and Android, acts as a hub to connect you with all of the company’s virtual assistants. You’ll find bots that provide information from Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather and Yahoo Finance, and more could be added in the future. Meanwhile, Blitz helps Fantasy Football players research their team and manage it, as well as get real-time stats, player news and personalized roster recommendations. If you want to check it out, Yahoo Bots is a free download from the App Store or Google Play.
Via: VentureBeat
Source: App Store, Google Play
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