Apple MacBook and MacBook Air Laptops Refresh

April 20, 2016

Apple has upgraded its 12-inch MacBook with the latest chipsets. The America based technology giant has also made slight changes to its MacBook Air range.

American multinational technology company brought in the MacBook in 2015. Now, after one year or so, the company is refreshing its slimmest 13.11 mm and lightest 2-pound laptop.

The new revamped MacBooks, just like their precursors, begin at $1299. The renewed edition of the laptop packs in the sixth generation Intel Core M SoC clocked at either 1.1GHz or 1.3GHz.

The latest Apple device also features advance Intel graphics and a speedier flash storage.

The battery backup has also been enhanced. However, the revamped version of the laptop still features 12-inch Retina displays

Apple MacBook, released in 2015, was an ultimate stunner and the latest model follows in the footsteps of the original edition.

A new color has also been introduced to the existing range of MacBooks. Thus, the new MacBook will be available in Gold, Silver and Space Gray options along with a new Rose Gold variant.

The company has three major lines of its laptops, including the MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. However, Apple still has to face an aggressive competition from the regular bunch of contenders.

The most serious competitor of Apple is HP which recently launched an exclusive notebook dubbed ‘Spectre 13’ featuring a 13.3-inch display. The HP device is even slimmer than the Apple MacBook.

Speculations suggest that Apple might employ Force Touch technology in the keyboard. The patent filed by Apple has also disclosed that the company is testing a layout for a pressure-aware technology.

The latest patent also hints at the end to the days of physical keys, enabling the device to be even more slim.

The new Apple MacBook laptops will hit the retail today. The $1299 variant features 8GB of memory along with 256GB of flash storage.

DJI M600 High Powered Drone for Professional Aerial Photography

Jia Khan

April 19, 2016

DJI recently launched its most high-powered drone to date. Christened DJI M600, the latest drone is the flagship device of the Chinese technology manufacturer.

The latest M600 has specifically been designed for professional aerial photographers, photography enthusiasts, film producers, and amateurs. In addition, the image capturing drone can also be employed for industrial applications.

The highlight of the drone is its Payload feature. DJI has claimed that the latest M600 can haul a 6KG Payload for around 16 minutes and a 5.5KG snapper for 18 minutes.

This feature will come in handy for the film producers if they have to shoot with their own huge professional standard cameras.

DJI M600 comes with an A3 flight controller. The A3 controller is a GPS-equipped device which can calculate various specifications required for flying with different payloads.

It can precisely readjust and can also be updated to A3 Pro mechanism, which flaunts progressive diagnostics algorithms.

DJI M600 is also compatible with Zenmuse gimbals including the Zenmuse X series snappers and Z15 range.

According to Paul Pan, Senior Product Manager of DJI proudly praised the latest M600 drone.

“The M600 is the most –powerful and easiest-to-use professional platform DJI has ever produced. We’ve pre-programmed all M600 platform data and information into the A3 flight controller, remote and transmission system to minimize setup and get you flying as quickly as possible.”

In addition, the new DJI M600 also features a latest video downlink module called the Lightbridge 2. The module which is capable of streaming 1080p content at 60fps and can continually remain connected up to as far as 3 miles.

DJI M600 comes in two battery choices and it can reach as high as 2.5km. The price for the device begins at $4,599 (about 920,000 Naira) which is approximately Rs. 3,06,052. The specifications and features of M600 promise a superior photography experience.

Amazon Kindle Oasis looks shockingly different

Jia Khan

April 15, 2016

The popular American e-commerce and cloud computing company Amazon has recently launched its latest Kindle e-reader. Kindle Oasis is the company’s eighth device. Oasis Reader is also distinguished to be the thinnest Kindle in the order.

The device also houses a charger inside its cover. Kindle Oasis is also being released for the Indian consumers at a cost of Rs. 23,999. The company is likely to begin shipping of Kindle Oasis in the forthcoming weeks.

Kindle has established itself as the most powerful e-reader in the market. Amazon is expecting to attract more readers with the slim layout and enhanced battery life of the latest e-reader.

According to Amazon, the latest Kindle features a dual battery mechanism. The dual battery layout implies that the device will automatically start recharging once it is put in the cover. Kindle Oasis weighs 4.6 ounces and measures 3.4mm.

The CEO and founder, Amazon, Jeff Bezos, said in a statement:

“It’s the most advanced Kindle we’ve ever built – thin and ultra lightweight, it gets out of the ways so you can lose yourself in the author’s world.”

In terms of design, Kindle Oasis flaunts a lightweight polymer chassis coated with metal. The device comes with a high-resolution Paperwhite display with 300ppi pixel density

In a press release event for Kindle Oasis, Amazon stated,

“A redesigned built-in front light features 60% more LEDs for our brightest Kindle display ever and leverages new cylindrical diffractive patterns to increase the consistency and range of screen brightness for improved reading in all types of lighting.”

The company has also claimed that with its latest kindle, it is now convenient to turn the page by using either the touch display or physical buttons.

The latest e-reader comes with all the features that have established the Kindle range as one of the best e-readers like World Wise and Whispersync.

NASA Probe detects Interstellar Dust for the first time

Emmanuel

April 15, 2016

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft for the first time ever, has detected, and analysed interstellar dust coming from beyond our solar system.

Cassini has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004, studying the giant planet, its rings and its moons. It has also sampled millions of ice-rich dust grains with its cosmic dust analyser instrument.

The spacecraft detected 36 tiny grains among millions streaming through space – but the discovery is exciting NASA researchers, as the particles are of a uniform composition that has never been seen before.

The grains all had a surprisingly similar chemical make-up, containing major rock-forming elements like magnesium, silicon, iron and calcium in average cosmic proportions. However, they contained less sulfur and carbon than is found elsewhere.

The uniformity of the composition of each grain surprised scientists and they concluded that the specks of material came from interstellar space, i.e. the space between the stars.

“Cosmic dust is produced when stars die, but with the vast range of types of stars in the Universe, we naturally expected to encounter a huge range of dust types over the long period of our study,”

Frank Postberg of the University of Heidelberg said.

The scientists speculate that the dust captured by Cassini had been made uniform through some repetitive processing in the interstellar medium, perhaps through shockwaves from dying stars.

“We’re thrilled Cassini could make this detection, given that our instrument was designed primarily to measure dust from within the Saturn system, as well as all the other demands on the spacecraft,”

Marcia Burton, Cassini fields and particles scientist at Nasa said.

“We always hoped we would be able to detect these interstellar interlopers at Saturn with Cassini,”

Nicolas Altobelli, Cassini project scientist at the European Space Agency and lead author of the study that detailed the find added.

This isn’t the first time particles of this type have been detected. In the 1990s, the ESA/NASA Ulysses mission made the first observations of this material which were later confirmed by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft.

Tesla Model 3 pre-orders hits 325,000

Emmanuel

April 8, 2016

Pre-orders for Tesla’s Model 3 Electric sedan has risen above 325,000 a week after it was announced by the American automotive and energy firm.

In a blog post, Tesla announced that more than 325,000 people have put down the $1,000 reservation to get in line to buy the Model 3 Electric Sedan at some point in the future.

This means over 325,000 people have laid down their money in expectation to buy the car, which is yet to be fully revealed.

If everything goes according to plan, Tesla won’t start making the car until the latter part of year 2017. It’s however expected that more details of the Model 3 Electric Sedan would be revealed before then.

According to the blog post, the preoders corresponds to about $14 billion in implied future sales, making this the single biggest one-week launch of any product ever.

“This interest has spread completely organically. Unlike other major product launches, we haven’t advertised or paid for any endorsements. Instead, this has been a true grassroots effort driven by the passion of the Tesla team that’s worked so hard to get to this point and our current and future customers who believe so strongly in what we are trying to achieve. Most importantly, we are all taking a huge step towards a better future by accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation,” the post added.

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk however said the car wasn’t talked about as much as one would believe.

“Over 325k cars or ~$14B in preorders in first week. Only 5% ordered max of two, suggesting low levels of speculation,” he said on social media.

Nevertheless, the number is massive. The news leaves the company simultaneously celebrating and facing the daunting task of building not only far more cars than it’s ever built, but also the expanded network of superchargers that will be needed to support this new fleet of electric cars.

Tesla’s Model 3 has been a long time coming. As the company’s fourth production car, it is aimed squarely at the mass market in an overt attempt to drive mainstream adoption of electric vehicles.

Radioactive Supernovae Debris found on Earth

Emmanuel

April 8, 2016

A team of scientists has found evidence that the earth was hit by debris from a series of massive supernovae near it millions of years ago.

Supernovae are explosions that occur when a star runs out of energy and explodes. It leads to the creation of many heavy elements, one of which is radioactive iron-60.

This particular radioactive debris, iron-60, which is aged between 3.2 and 1.7 million years old have been found in sediments and crust samples from the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans on the earth.

“The iron-60 was concentrated in a period between 3.2 and 1.7 million years ago, which is relatively recent in astronomical terms,” the team’s lead researcher, Anton Wallner, said.

Wallner is a nuclear physicist at the Australian National University (ANU) in Australia.

Evidence of iron-60 from an older supernova around eight million years ago was also found. This coincided with global faunal changes in the late Miocene period, which was 11.6 million to 5.3 million years ago.

“We were very surprised that there was debris clearly spread across 1.5 million years,” Wallner commented, adding that it “suggests there were a series of supernovae, one after another.”

The team believe that the supernovae were less than 300 light years away and were close enough to be visible during the day and comparable to the brightness of the Moon.

Although Earth would have been exposed to an increased cosmic ray bombardment, the radiation would have been too weak to cause direct biological damage or trigger mass extinctions.

The team was awed by first hints of iron-60 in samples from the Pacific Ocean floor, found a decade ago.

They then decided to search for interstellar dust from 120 ocean-floor samples spanning the past 11 million years.

After the extraction of all the iron from the ocean cores, they separated the tiny traces of interstellar iron-60 from the other terrestrial isotopes and found it occurred all over the globe.

They then inferred that the Earth was hit by a series of radioactive debris millions of years ago. Who knows, maybe the earth was formed from one of those supernovae.

HP unveils EliteBook Folio, Elite X2 hybrid laptop

Emmanuel

April 7, 2016

American firm, Hewlett Packard, has unveiled two new business laptops following the announcement of its new line of business printers.

The two laptops launched are the new EliteBook Folio which starts at Rs. 1,30,000 (about 390,000 Naira) and the Elite x2 1012 2-in-1 laptop which debuts for Rs. 84,599 (approximately 253,000 Naira). Both notebooks are already available for order in India.

The new EliteBook Folio is HP’s thinnest and lightest business-class laptop at the moment, being 12.4mm thick.

It has an aluminium body and a backlit keyboard which is quite comfortable to type on and can easily be used in the dark.

It weighs less than 1kg and has military grade protection which enables it to remain undamaged if it drops accidentally.

The HP EliteBook Folio has a 12.5-inch full-HD display with an option for a UHD (4K) variant. The screen can also be tilted all the way back up to 180 degrees.

The laptop is powered by Intel’s 6th generation Core M vPro processors and boasts of a battery which HP says can power the laptop for up to 10 hours on a single charge. It runs on Windows 10 Pro Operating system.

Connectivity includes two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt and is compatible with HP’s Travel Dock for additional ports.

HP EliteBook Folio also bears Bang & Olufsen speakers, HP’s Noise Reduction software, and HP Clear Amp for better audio.

The HP Elite x2 1012 on the other hand is built using milled CNC aluminium. It sports a 12-inch anti-glare display which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It also comes with a built-in kickstand, making it a hybrid device.

The 2-in-1 laptop comes with the HP Active Pen which features over 2048 point of pressure sensitivity.

One can also pair the hybrid with HP’s optional Advanced Keyboard which integrates a smart card reader inside or the Travel Keyboard.

Under the hood the new HP Elite x2 runs on Intel’s 6th generation Core M vPro platform and is the first device to ship with Thunderbolt 3.

HP will also offer Elite USB-C Docking Station for powering dual-2K displays; the Elite Thunderbolt 65W Dock for dual-4K displays and Advanced Wireless Docking Station which works on WiGig wireless technology.

Huawei TalkBand B3 in more styles, better audio

Jia Khan

April 7, 2016

Huawei has announced the new model of its wearable, the TalkBand B3. The latest edition of TalkBand was announced during the press event held yesterday by the Chinese multinational to launch Huawei P9 and Huawei P9 Plus.

TalkBand B3 by Huawei sports a regular Bluetooth earpiece that rests atop the wristband. The company has made quite a few tweaks to the Bluetooth earpiece.

The incorporation of a more advanced chipset to the device allows it to deliver 25% higher volume in comparison with the TalkBand B2.

The tweaks have also enhanced anti-wind noise erasure by 80%. This will ensure an enhanced audio experience for the users.

In terms of design, Talkband 3 does not look too different from its predecessor, B2. The device flaunts identical conventional wristband and removable Bluetooth headset. However, TalkBand 3 offers three different styles to choose from.

The device features curved Gorilla Glass shielded PMOLED display with 80 × 128 pixels resolution. Huawei TalkBand B3 is powered by a 91 mAh battery that takes around one and half hour to charge completely.

A fully charged battery is sufficient to keep the device keep working for consecutive 3 to 4 days. The wearable can last up to six days on standby. In addition, the wearable is also dust and water protected.

The Fitness Tracker will feature 3 new styles including ‘Elite’ with Titanium Grey color, ‘Active’ with Black and White colors and ‘Classic’ having Brown and Beige colors.

The least priced version of Huawei TalkBand B3 is the Active variant flaunting a rubber band and hanging a price tag of $192.

The Classic variant, on the other hand, will cost its users $227, whereas the most expensive one, dubbed Elite, comes with a hefty price tag of $284.

The company has not yet announced that when and for which specific markets TalkBand 3 will be officially available.

HP Spectre 13 ultrabook launched

Emmanuel

April 5, 2016

American multinational tech firm, Hewlett Packard, has unveiled a new ultrabook, the HP Spectre 13, which will give Apple’s Macbook lineup a run for its money.

The new Spectre 13 ultrabook is thinner than the Macbook and also sports more powerful features.

The laptop packs top-of-the-line hardware in a body that is only 10.4 mm thick, making it the thinnest laptop in the world.

In addition to this, the HP Spectre 13 has three USB Type-C ports on the back of its copper-coated edge.

Although the ultrabook is the thinnest laptop in the world, it is not the lightest as it weighs 1.11kg. Hp’s EliteBook (0.99kg) and MacBook (0.92kg) weigh less.

The laptop comes in a 13.3-inch display, which is protected by a 0.4mm Corning Gorilla Glass layer. HP is giving users an option to choose the processor, storage, and RAM, but the display remains fixed at full-HD (1920 x 1080 pixels).

Interested buyers can choose between Intel’s sixth generation Core i5 or Core i7 processors. Users can also get up to 512GB of SSD storage, and up to 8GB of RAM.

According to HP the battery inside the Spectre 13 can keep the laptop running for 9.5 hours on a single charge. The device also runs on Windows 10.

The HP Spectre 13 has a starting price of $1,169 (roughly 240,000 naira), with pre-orders to be opened on April 25 in select regions. The device will reach retailers in May 2016. It is available only in brownish-ash color.

The company also unveiled two luxury models of the HP Spectre 13. The first is designed by Tord Boontje and comes in an 18-karat gold design.

The other is a gold-plated and diamond model designed by Jess Hannah. The price of either of the variants hasn’t been revealed yet.

HP also unveiled a new logo for its brand. The company is moving away from its standard logo to four minimal slashes orchestrated to stand in a way such that it reads “HP”.

The new HP Spectre 13 has this logo emblazoned on its back.

Tesla Model 3 Electric Sedan Unveiled

Emmanuel

April 1, 2016

Auto manufacturing company, Tesla have unveiled its much-anticipated Model 3 electric car which is the company’s lowest-cost vehicle to date and will be produced en mass.

The vehicle isn’t scheduled to go on sale until late 2017, but had racked up over 180,000 reservations in the first 24 hours that order banks were opened.

Long queues, reminiscent of the crowds at Apple stores for early models of the iPhone, were seen at Tesla stores in Hong Kong, Austin, Texas, Washington D.C. and so on with buyers putting down the $1,000 deposit to reserve the car.

The base version of the Tesla Model 3 has a starting price of $35,000 (that’s about 7 million Naira), making it less than half the cost of Tesla’s previous models.

However the first units of the Tesla Model 3 to be delivered are expected to sell for far higher prices, due to customers adding more features like a bigger battery pack with greater range.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the base model will go at least 215 miles when fully charged, about double what drivers get from current competitors in its price range, such as the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3.

The vehicle can accelerate from 0-60 mph in under 6 seconds, with the more expensive options going much faster.

Tesla Model 3 will also come with the “autopilot” safety features found in existing models, which allow the cars to steer themselves and avoid collisions.

All versions of the Model 3 will support Tesla’s supercharging network, which charges electric cars fully in minutes, for free.

Tesla aims to double the number of places offering supercharging to about 7,200 worldwide by the end of 2017.

The Tesla Model 3 provides storage room at the front and the rear and can fit five adults comfortably. According to Elon, one “can fit a 7-foot long surfboard on the inside” of the vehicle.

He also expressed confidence that the first Model 3 vehicles will be delivered, as planned, by late 2017.

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