William Harper | Page 5 | World Tech Today

Apple to BOMB the Music industry with Beats Music Streaming service at WWDC in June 2015

Mar 7, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is expected to launch the Beats Music Streaming under its name any time in the month of June this year, report suggests. The streaming service that was earlier scheduled to be launched in 9^th March’s “Spring Forward” event has been rescheduled for the launch on June 8 this year.

Apple purchased Beats Music in May, last year, and since then, the music company has been inactive in the market. Apple has finally decided to do something with the valuable asset they’ve acquired without any hard effort.

The music streaming service is expected to be added as an inclusion in the iTunes, with some special features, two of which includes a curated playlist and cloud storage support, to store user’s favorite libraries safely on cloud servers.

The service is expected to cost about $7.99 monthly, which is in competition with other cheap services like Beats Music, Spotify, and Radio. Apple stated that the service was planned to be introduced in early 2015, but there has been a lot of delay due to many factors that include declining manpower, Beats workforce integration, and limited technology resources.

Sources claim that the new service will be embedded in Apple devices, with a new iOS update coming on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, but there has been no official announcement related to this. We can also expect to see iOS 9 later this year, which is very likely to be arriving with the Beats music streaming service, in the newer Apple gadgets.

The Cupertino giant has tried its luck with the iTunes radio in the past, but it was not much successful and failed to create a buzz among the customers. This service will be Apple’s attempt to enter the subscription-based music streaming zone, where it has to face rivals like Spotify and Google Play music.

Hyundai recalls 24000 Genesis sedans over faulty gearbox

Mar 7, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

The South Korean automobile manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Co, is recalling its 24,000 luxury sedans, Genesis. The cause of the recall is stated to be a fault in the gearbox, causing the instrument panel to show wrong gear on the gear selector.

The primary reason, as diagnosed by automobile experts is the tendency of water leakage in the rear lights causing the malfunction. The reason being the gear shifter, which is electronically connected to the rear lights, malfunctions upon water leakage, but only in rare cases.

The recall covers the models manufactured between February 21, 2014 and January 24, 2015, and the dealers will fix the issue without any expense from the customer.

Hyundai said, the issue can cause the gear selector to malfunction, causing the car to inappropriately shift to the wrong gear modes — park, drive, reverse or neutral, which might result in a serious accident. Hyundai till date, has received no reports of crashes or injuries, caused due to gearbox malfunctioning.

Hyundai said in a statement that the problem came to light when the company received a few warranty claims because of this issue. The Genesis is the flagship luxury sedan from Hyundai, and it is a matter of embarrassment for the company to have such issues in one of its high-end luxury cars.

The company is still working out to find the permanent fix to the problem, but till then, the dealers will fit in sealing pads in the rear lights, as a prevention measure to stop the water leakage, and at no cost to the customers.

While the company figures out the proper solution to the problem, there may be some expansion in the number of vehicles recalled. Hyundai dealers will start calling the car owners from April onwards, to get their cars fixed at the respective service centers.

Nissan recalls 878000 Altima sedans due to secondary hood latch problem

Mar 7, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Nissan Motor Co. has announced a recall of 878,000 Altima sedans in the United States. The recall is done due to the problem in secondary hood latch, which may cause the hood to fly open while the vehicle is being driven. The recall includes models of Altima sedans manufactured between 2013 and 2015.

A secondary latch keeps the hood down if the primary lock is not engaged. The latch in the cars, produced in the period mentioned above, may not hold the hood correctly and it may fly open while driving, causing some serious hazards on the road. Nissan said the reasons for the problem are unknown yet, and it is indefinite whether the recall needs expansion in the United States.

“Altima drivers can be sure their hood will not fly up as long as they don’t pull the primary hood release while driving or leave the primary hood release undone prior to driving,” Nissan said in a statement. It further added, that there have been no reports of any crashes or injuries due to this issue, but there have been incidents of the fly opening of the hood, causing damage to the car.

The Altima is a treasured asset for Nissan in the United States, as it accounts for about one-fourth of the company’s sales. It was the second best-selling car in the United States, after Toyota’s Camry.

The company recalled about 238,000 vehicles in the same issue in the last October, and now the recall has expanded to 640,000 more cars, which rises the recall toll at 878,000. To rectify the problem, Nissan will be modifying the latch lever, along with cleaning and lubricating of the secondary latch joint. The faulty latch assembly will be replaced.

While Nissan finds the solution to the problem, the recall toll might expand in the near future.

Rock Band 4 to rise again later this year on PS4 and Xbox One

Mar 7, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

The most popular game from Harmonix, Rock band, is back again in its fourth sequel this year, called the Rock band 4. The game for air guitar shredders and drummers is back again in its fourth avatar for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.

“With Rock Band 4, we’re doubling down on the energy and excitement of playing music live with your friends,” Harmonix CEO, Steve Janiak said in a statement.

The game currently aims to support existing peripherals and DLC, for the current versions of Rock band, along with some new hardware, designed in partnership with Mad Catz for the new version of mock the rock band game. The new version of the game supports over 2000 legacy DLC tracks from the earlier console generations.

“We have been working with Sony and Microsoft to support legacy entitlements, so that DLC you bought on the PS3 will carry forward to the PS4, and same with the Xbox 360 to the Xbox One,” Harmonix product manager, Daniel Sussman said. He bluntly stated that the team is “working their asses off” to support the old controllers with Rock band 4.

According to Sussman, Rock Band has been a music platform since the very beginning. Music enthusiasts and casual players have supported the game by downloading hundreds of their favorite tracks and building an immense library of their collection. Respecting their purchases, Harmonix will allow to carry forward the libraries of the users with their purchased content over to the new generation Rock Band game. Thanks to this, the new game will have about 2,168 songs in the collection, allowing the users to shred to their favorite tunes.

The announcement of a new Rock Band game has come out after five years of the previous release. The exact launch dates are expected sometime in May, this year.

Samsung acquires LoopPay mobile payment firm

Feb 20, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Samsung Group is in talks to acquire one of the mobile payment firms in the country, LoopPay to compete with the existing Apple Pay. Its been said that the company will integrate the LoopPay in its upcoming smartphones for easy and quick payment processing.

LoopPay, unlike the Google Wallet and Apple Pay, does not uses the NFC mode of transmission to transmit the credit card information from the smartphone to the Point-of-Sale terminal, however, it generates a special magnetic field that is similar to the one that is produced while swiping the card.

LoopPay was first seen on the Kickstarter last year, and it puts a little add-on to the device which uses the company’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) to to transmit the magnetic fields for the payment processing. It is almost similar as swiping a card on the terminal. LoopPay’s technology allows the vendor to use the existing payment terminals for the mobile payments. Unlike, NFC payment systems, it doesn’t requires any special hardware amendments and works on the traditional PoS.

“NFC is currently only available in less than 10 percent of U.S. retailers despite NFC’s mobile launch almost a decade ago,” a Samsung spokeswoman said via email. “MST solves the merchant acceptance issue that has prevented other mobile wallet solutions from reaching mass adoption.”

In addition to it, JK Shin, head of Samsung’s mobile division said, “Our goal has always been to build the smartest, most secure, user-friendly mobile wallet experience, and we are delighted to welcome LoopPay to take us closer to this goal.”

The acquisition will apparently put the South Korean smartphone giant ahead of all in the mobile payments system. Currently one of the major competitor is the payment system from its closest rival Apple Inc. Cupertino giant last year introduced a new payment system called Apple Pay.

BlackBerry sues Typo again over infringing the copyrights for keyboard rip-off

Feb 18, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

BlackBerry has filed a lawsuit against the TV and radio star Ryan Seacrest lead company, Typo, for infringing the copyrights. According to reports, it is not the first when the Canadian smartphone giant has filed a lawsuit against the firm. Typo has been manufacturing the keyboards that are complete a rip-off of the keyboards found in BlackBerry smartphones.

However, the start-up has introduced yet another Typo2 keyboard in two variants for iPhone 5/5S and 6. The rip-off is similar to an iPhone cover and slides on to it for the hardware keyboard. Since, these devices do not have the hardware keyboard, Typo can be an excellent accessory for typing more accurately and comfortably. However, it has not been endorsed by any of official sources.

BlackBerry believes that apart from other software services and hardware, keyboard is also an essential component that helps the struggling technology company to sell its smartphone. BlackBerry has already received an injunction on the sales of keyboards but charged the Typo for selling them to the vendors overseas and the friends in US for further selling. It even started selling them at a discounted price.

“The Typo2 Keyboard still blatantly copies BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard trade dress designs that have been embodied in numerous BlackBerry smartphones from the 2007 BlackBerry 8800 to the current Q10 and Classic models,” BlackBerry said in its complaint this week.

Not just the design, but Typo used almost every concept ranging from the backlighting, keyboard layout and typing automation in its Typo2 keyboard. The keyboard feels like as if it was ripped off from a BlackBerry smartphone and was placed on an iPhone. There is no visible difference in between the two.

Ryan Seacrest is yet to give a reply to this, however, BlackBerry is demanding the company to stop its sales without claiming the monetary loss.

Standardized Packaging can deter smoking, says research

Feb 18, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

A new study reveals that standardized cigarette packaging can cut short cigarette smokers and can also deter non-smokers from getting into smoking. Scientists found that removing labels from the packs and larger images showing health problems might have an enormous effect on smokers.

“Plain packaging may reduce smoking rates in current smokers by reducing the extent to which the package acts as an unconscious trigger for smoking urges,” according to a press release published in the journal Addiction.

The study is primarily based on the Australia’s policy of standardised packs for all cigarette brands without label passed in 2012. Researchers found that the Australia’s move have resulted in the reduction in cigarettes sales. Smoking in public areas including bars, cafes and restraints have significantly declined. People now don’t show their packs by keeping it on the desk. Moreover, same packaging kills the desire to try every brand by making it less appealing, study said.

Primary goal of the plain packaging is to keep new smokers away by making the product less appealing. However, researchers acknowledged that standardized packing might not have a significant effect on regular smokers but its impact on kids can’t be ignored.

“Even if standardized packaging had no effect at all on current smokers and only stopped 1 in 20 young people from being lured into smoking it would save about 2,000 lives each year,” lead author Robert West said.

Opposing the research tobacco industry said that they conducted a study that included vast consumer base between 1973 and 2002. In the study, it was found that shape, size and color of the pack had a negligible effect on the cigarette sales. In addition, they said cigarettes sales haven’t declined in Australia since law was passed back in 2012.

Moreover, UK is also looking forward to passing the law for standardized cigarette packaging by the end of March this year. The law will be in effect from next year if passed.

The US will face unprecedented drought this century, predicts NASA and NOAA

Feb 18, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Southwest and Central Plains in the USA might suffer “Unprecedented drought conditions” in the later part of this century, say researchers. California recently experienced drought. However, the upcoming calamity will be far worse that might last for years. Scientists believe that the megadrought will be the worst in past 1000 years.

“Nearly every year is going to be dry toward the end of the 21st century compared to what we think of as normal conditions now,” said study lead author Benjamin Cook, a NASA atmospheric scientist. “We’re going to have to think about a much drier future in western North America.”

NASA researcher observed the average temperature in the country. Last year the country witnessed highest average temperature, following the trends there are more than 80 percent chances that south-west states of US will suffer drought that will last for more than 35 years. Scientists also took account on ever increasing carbon emission and conducted several complex simulations for the research.

The study found that groundwater recharge will decrease by nearly 5 percent each year due to thinning of forests that will also play a crucial role in the upcoming calamity. Drought will not only reduce ground water recharge but will also decrease surface water supplies, forcing the people to draw more water from the ground.

The drought will affect the agriculture severely resulting in food price rise. “Our cities will survive, our industries will survive, but our agricultural systems are going to be devastated. And probably, unless we’re smart, our ecosystems will be devastated,” says Peter Gleick, president and co-founder of the Pacific Institute, which focuses on water-resource issues.

Researchers warned that if some aggressive steps including reducing carbon emission, water harvesting, restoring forests, etc. to prevent the drought aren’t executed now then the megadrought would affect the economy badly.

Apple to remove health sensors from Watch releasing next month

Feb 18, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Apple Inc is probably going to slice out almost every health-related sensor from the upcoming Apple Watch. The WSJ reported that the company will be removing these sensors for the reason that they are not as accurate as they should be, and due to the unavailability of advanced sensors, Apple will not consider putting them in its debut.

WSJ termed the Apple Watch as a ‘Black Hole’ since it has been consuming the company’s resources for nearly four years, and Apple engineers are yet not ready with the announced version of the device. Apple is technically failing to release a Watch that was presented during the iPhone 6 launch event. It’s apparently not the Cupertino giant’s fault but the unavoidable reasons that includes the unavailability of the sensors that can precisely measure the body parameters. There are several factors that affects the data obtained by these sensors, such as sweating, distance from wrist and hairs on the hand.

Except these features, Apple Watch is still a better choice as a smart watch, however, it won’t be having any health monitoring features. Apple has recently ordered 6 million Watches out which half are Apple Watch Sports edition with a remaining share going to other editions of it.

Apple Watch is expected to go on sale in the first week of April 2015, however, there is no confirmation about its pricing.

In some other reports, Apple Inc is also expected to launch a revamped MacBook Air with 12-inches of screen and an iPad Pro with same display size. There have been some significant design changes in the new rumored MacBook Air, and it has a curved body with comparatively smaller footprint.

Sleep deprivation causes increase obesity, finds study

Feb 13, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Sleep deprivation might increase weight, says a new study. A part of the brain known as salience network might prompt you to eat more fat and less carbohydrate following a poor night sleep that may increase body weight.

“Although this study examined the effects of acute total sleep deprivation, similar changes may occur in response to the chronic partial sleep restriction that is so prevalent in today’s society,” said study’s senior author Hengyi Rao from the University of Pennsylvania.

Researcher analysed 34 sleep deprived participants and 12 controls in a sleep lab for five days and four nights. All the subjects were kept under supervision round the clock. All the participants were deprived of a good night rest. Scientists found that due to poor sleep participants consumed nearly 1,000 calories more than the average intake while they were awake. In addition, healthy people consumed more fat-rich diet and fewer carbohydrates than less healthy people.

While explaining Rao said that increased activity was recorded in a brain region called salience network after a poor sleep that might lead to more fat intake and less carbohydrate consumption which further triggers weight gain and may lead to obesity eventually. It is the first time that any study has found an interlink between poor sleep and obesity.

Obesity is becoming a common disease among young Americans. However, with obesity comes several other illnesses including high blood pressure, cardio diseases, diabetes, etc. Moreover, poor sleep is also related to several other diseases like depression, stress, poor work productivity. Sleep deprivation is very common among people working in shifts. Thus, researchers warned people to take a good night rest that will help them in long run eventually.

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

« Previous Page
1
…
3
4
5
6
7
…
10
Next Page »