Tesla will give Rebates to existing owners and a free Model X if they refer Friends

July 31, 2015

Are you a Tesla Model S owner? Then be a pal and refer your friends. You might just walk (drive) away with a Model X SUV.

To get people talking about Tesla, the company has devised a new business plan. A select few owners of the Model S will be given a Model X SUV if they refer 10 friends.

Also, new and existing owners will still get a $1000 rebate on the purchase of a new car and a chance to buy the Model X at a significant discount.

So here’s what Tesla basically is offering:

Tesla has stated the first person in North America, Europe and Asia to refer 10 new owners will get the free SUV.

Tesla has sent an email to all existing Tesla S owners with an attached link. The link provides the allowance for new purchasers to get o rebate of $1000. The person who referred them are also entitled to get $1000 off, but it has a limit of 10 referrals per account.

Now, if you think your probability of being the first in your respective geographical area to recommend 10 friends- is very low- don’t give up already as Tesla will offer you the opportunity to buy a Model X Special Edition for the price of the Base model.

And if you could not rack up that 10 recommendations to friends but managed to get at least five then you will receive an invitation (with a plus-one) to the grand opening of the Tesla gigafactory.

Now the reason for setting up such a competition may lie in the fact that Tesla is undergoing problems in opening direct-to-consumer shops.

“If we can amplify word of mouth, then we don’t need to open quite as many new stores in the future.”

So to sum this all up, existing Tesla S owners are given till October 31 to encourage 10 of their friends to buy a Tesla. And wanna-be Tesla owners are advised to befriend an existing Tesla owner and get $1000 off.

Calm Down Angry Birds 2 is Here for iOS and Android

Nitish Singh

July 31, 2015

Angry Birds 2 has arrived and the birds are angrier than ever before with new gaming elements to make life more miserable for the pigs.

Now admittedly the Angry Birds have been to space, Rio, made some friends (Angry Birds friends). They have also played make-believe as being ‘Star Wars’ characters and as ‘transformers’. We also saw Stella.

And though there have been 11 versions of the game till now, yesterday (July 30th) we had the official Angry Birds 2 unveiling.

Currently, the game is available for iOS and Android. The Windows version for Angry Birds 2 is coming soon.

So here is what Angry Birds 2 has stored:

Well, just as the original game all players are going to have to get their slingshots ready; the birds are in the mood to be shot and the pigs are in for a lot of troubles.

However, sequel allows you choose which birds you get to shoot instead of the old shoot-as-you-get play style. This new improvement also gives the game new strategy elements.

Angry Bird 2 also features a new bird called Silver. Players will get spells instead of the accustomed power-ups.

Some levels will have boss fights where the bosses will have a health bar, and players are supposed to use the environment to their advantage if they wish to come out victorious.

Gifts and cards are new elements of the game and can be acquired inside the levels.

Back in 2009 when the Angry Birds were launched for the first time, it took the whole world by storm. It became immensely popular and the original version and has been called:

“one of the most mainstream games out right now.”
“one of the great runaway hits of 2010”
“the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far”

As of July 2015, the series has reached over three billion downloads making it the highest downloaded freemium games of all time.

So it is only natural to have high expectations from the official sequel to the Rovio masterpiece. Lets hope Angry Birds 2 lives-up to expectation.

The HERO4 Session: GoPro’s newest, and smallest Camera

Jia Khan

July 30, 2015

HERO4 Session, the latest creation of GoPro, is the ultimate compact camera with half the dimensions as of its cousin the HERO4 Black action cam. HERO4 Session has been designed as a waterproof camera like the Black and Silver before it.

The remarkable feature of HERO4 Session is of course its size. With modest dimensions of about 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches, HERO4 Session is a power packed compact camera.

The camera is also considerably lighter than the previous models of HERO4 making it easier for the professionals to carry and use it.

The second remarkable feature is the ease of use. The two button design of HERO4 Session is extremely easy, main button is used for capturing videos and pictures while the second button turns Wi-Fi on or off.

Priced at $399.99, HERO4 Session boasts videos resolutions of 1080p @ 60 fps, 720p @ 100 fps and 1440p @ 30fps.

Similarly HERO4 Session is ideal for capturing remarkably crisp and clear pictures with its 8 megapixel camera. The photos can be captured in burst and time lapse modes as well.

“With HERO4 Session, we challenged ourselves to produce the smallest, lightest, most convenient GoPro possible,”

said Nicholas Woodman, GoPro CEO.

“HERO4 Session combines the best of our engineering and user-experience know-how to deliver our most convenient life-capture solution, yet.”

Woodman adds,

“I’m so excited about the launch of HERO4 Session because now I can finally use mine in public!”

The camera does not look much different from HERO4 Black but once placed in housing, the difference in size and space consumption is hard to miss.

Another exciting feature of GoPro HERO4 Session is its extended battery life. The new camera gives up to 2 hours of battery life with consistent use. However the added feature of easy turning on/off helps to improve the battery life further.

GoPro’s latest invention is sure to capture the attention of camera lovers from around the globe.

Apple Watch heading to Best Buy Stores in August

Nitish Singh

July 27, 2015

The Apple Watch started out as an exclusive product only available via the Apple Store or an online order via the company’s website, but recent reports claim the smartwatch will be available in some Best Buy stores this August in the United States.

What really happened?

Current news has it that the Apple Watch will be available for purchase at some Best Buy stores.

The device is presently available at Apple’s own retail stores since June, but now starting August 7, a few hundred Best Buy stores will also sell the device.

The watch will first be available at select Best buy stores, but by the end of the year (the holiday season), the Apple Watch will be available at about 300 Best Buy outlets.

Now the Apple Store is reputed for its fine ambience and modern looks, hence giving the customer a “premium” feel about buying a “premium” product, henceforth charging a “premium” price.

Now the nicest Best Buy stores are highly doubted to be able to replicate this “premium” feel which Apple had aimed for with their early marketing of the Watch.

Never the less Best Buy will only be selling the lower end watches and the $10,000 lustrous golden version will be available at Apple’s own watch boutique.

Jason Bonfig, Best Buy’s Senior Category Officer said,

“The Apple Watch is an important addition to an emerging product category, and we know our customers want it,”

particularly considering the quickly arriving Holiday Season.

The total number of complaints coming to Best Buy have also decreased drastically. And they have become quite good distributors as late.

Who knows, maybe this step by Apple will help them get a better footing in the new Smartwatch market.

2016 Honda Accord will have Android Auto and CarPlay

Nitish Singh

July 26, 2015

The 2016 Accord, Honda’s new full-sized sedan will come with Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto.

The iPhone and Android connectivity will be accessible via Honda’s 7-inch Display Audio touchscreen infotainment system.

Android Auto and CarPlay Makes its entry

Android Auto and Carplay are available as options on the Dashboard display, and will be a standard feature for the 2016 Honda Accord.

As seen previously on an array of cars, Honda’s implementations will similarly allow Android and iOS devices to take control over their dashboard display.

As such the dashboard itself can be used for apps, streaming media content and navigation purposes.

However, Honda has said that this step will provide a bigger-than-average impact than in the case with other cars.

The viability of the statement is easily accessible when we take into account how many Honda Accords are sold in the market.

It might not be the 1st car to incorporate CarPlay and Android Auto, but it surely the 2016 Honda Accord is “among the first high-volume cars in the marketplace” to be doing so.

We all know how many useful navigation applications are available on our Smartphones. And if they were integrated into the car itself, it will provide a very efficient means of navigation.

Also, media streaming will become less distracting and hence safer.

Honda R&D Americas’ president Frank Paluch has said

“We hope to cut in half the number of collisions involving our vehicles by 2030 and to completely eliminate collisions by 2050,”

Now apart from these new software features, the 2016 Honda Accord gets an improved (subtle) car design also.

The Hood is now Made of aluminium and there are upgraded LED lights.

2016 Honda Accord will come in two variant- one having a 3.5-litre VTEC V-6 and the other having a 2.4-liter inline i-VTEC 4- cylinder.

You will have the option to choose between a Sports trim or a Touring trim.

Big Changes Coming to Windows Store

Nitish Singh

July 26, 2015

With July 29 coming near, it is quite evident that we would get news of new changes. Today, Microsoft in a blog post released new changes to the Windows app store.

Microsoft is aiming to go for a universal approach to web and mobile apps and have made quite some changes in the algorithm.

What are the algorithm changes?

The improvements would be in the app organization, discovery, and search. This will help them to propel customers to the marketplace.

The marketplace has always been a topic of debate as it was not at par to other marketplace, especially iOS and Android Marketplaces. With an improved marketplace, both developers and customers can take part in the better experience.

Microsoft’s Bernardo Zamora, the head product manager for the Windows store and apps added the following:

“The Store has been built from the ground up for Windows 10 providing for scalability, and the ability to support a single Store for apps, plus a wider variety of content types: apps, games, music, video, and TV (and more content types in the future).”

The main changes would be in 3 main segments.

1. Store Lists and Search updates

The main aim is to find a balance between user experience and developers listing and rankings. Microsoft is aimed to improve the search results of apps, games, movies and music from left to right importance.

Developers now need to focus more on listing and have to target keywords to reach users.

2. Changes to App Listing and Web Stores

A lot of changes are brought because of the integration of Windows phone and Windows phone apps.

According to the blog post

“The product description pages have several changes resulting from the integration of Windows and Windows Phone apps. We also launched a new web Store that for the first time is able to show not only apps and games, but also music, movies and TV shows. As all of these capabilities are new, some of the previously existing functionality is not available in this initial launch.”

3. Reviews and ratings updates

The new algorithm will enable Windows 10 users to see the Windows phone stores reviews, but the converse is not true.

With so many changes to the Windows Store, we hope that the end user is benefited in the right way. Microsoft is saying that they will bring more changes and fix things in the future.

We can wait and see what Microsoft has in store for us.

Cortana for Android in Beta Microsoft Hyperlapse video app opens universally

Nitish Singh

July 21, 2015

Back in March Microsoft had announced Cortana; the truly “personal” digital assistance will be available for Android and iOS. It will take a few months for the official release but Cortana is available in beta for Android as of now.

Cortana in Android will come with all the features she has in Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10.

You can create reminders, send emails, she will even sing you Happy Birthday if you wish. Cortana has a handy feature called Notebook, which its competitors Google now and Siri lack.

Notebook lets you fine-tune the information Cortana will and should know about you. You can also add/delete details about you and your life in the Notebook.

It’ll be quite interesting to see how Cortana will be received in non-native platforms. Having to access a virtual assistance via opening an app is not quite immediate and users might revert to their native virtual assistant.

Anyhow Cortana’s Notebook is quite a handy feature which doesn’t come with Google Now or Siri and her Voice Detection is best of its kind so these are quite positive areas for Cortana.

Now Cortana might be a beta app now but Microsoft has released officially their Hyper lapse Video app.

The app lets you create silky smooth time-lapse videos by capturing a sequence of images by your camera and processing it. On-board images can also be imported to the app and it will work its charm.

Windows 10 on USB drive: pre-order opens on Amazon

Nitish Singh

July 18, 2015

Windows 10’s official release is due on July 29. As the day draws near, Microsoft has confirmed that physical copies of the software can be bought in the form of a USB flash drive.

Pre-order pages have popped up on Amazon. You can now pre-order Microsoft Windows 10 Home for $119.99 and Microsoft Windows 10 Pro for $199.99.

Pre-order Windows 10 Home USB Flash Drive Here or Pre-order Windows 10 Pro USB Flash Drive Here

Now other retailers will also be involved in the distribution of Windows 10, including Microsoft Store.

We learnt from VentureBeat, where a Microsoft spokesperson recently said

“Windows 10 will be available on USB drives for purchase in retail channels shortly after launch.”

and also assured that

“The suggested retail prices for Windows 10 in the U.S. are the same as Windows 8.1.”

Now the date of shipment of Windows 10 is quite ambiguous, whatever the site maybe. For example, Amazon has stated the delivery date to be on August 16, 2015, which has all of a sudden changed to August 30th.

The reason maybe with Microsoft’s strategy of releasing Windows 10 is waves. Again Microsoft should be blamed as they have explicitly said that the availability of Windows 10 as the USB flash drive will be “shortly after launch.”

Now Windows 10 is going to be available for us in waves. So if you’re not with insiders program, the free upgrade might take a while to arrive. Again the free upgrade you will receive will only be for one specific device.

If you plan to install Windows 10 in machines, where the free upgrades are not applicable then the USB pre-order is mandatory.

Samsung launches new JS7000 4K SUHD TV

passyjango

July 17, 2015

Samsung Electronics America has added a new TV to its premium 4K SUHD TV lineup. The Samsung JS7000 SUHD TV has been added to the lineup.

Following three families of SUHD TVs launched earlier this year, the new 4K SUHD TV with its water-clear screen and vibrant rich colors is expected to bring the premium viewing of the SUHD class to a more affordable price range.

“The JS7000 SUHD TV is the best TV ever produced by Samsung that will fascinate its customers through its alluring looks,”

said Bill Lee, Vice President of TV Marketing, Samsung Electronics America.

“In addition to the marvelous features in this device, this 4K TV includes Quad core platform that enables the users to plug and play from anywhere and with any device they use,”

he added.

The new generation smart TV allows its users to browse internet, play favorite songs and enjoy favored games. It also features smart phone display option that acts as an interface for your smart phone to convert data to and from JS7000.

The JS7000 4K SUHD is powered by a quad-core processor, 4 HDMI slots, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet.

It also features a camera that allows the users to control their TV using hand gestures.

Samsung JS7000 4K SUHD TV includes a mirroring feature that connects your smartphone to your TV wirelessly thus transforming the TV screen into your phone’s home screen the feature allows you to share special moments with your family on a big and wide screen.

The 4K TV provides 4x resolution compared to a full HD TV and gives a dynamic color selection range. It is available in three sizes including 50-inch, 55-inch, and 60-inch.

With these fabulous features and color enriched display, this TV is quite affordable and comes with a price tag starting at just $1,299 (UPP).

The new Samsung JS7000 SUHD TV is being speculated to give the competitors a run for their money.

The Samsung JS9500 still sits on top of the SUHD TV line while the JS7000 appears to be the entry level member of the lineup.

Angry Birds 2: Get ready for the RAGE on July 30

Nitish Singh

July 17, 2015

The next installment of the immensely popular Angry Birds franchise by Rovio is due on July 30th. And though technically it’s the 16th variation of the game, the official name is Angry Birds 2.

Will Angry Birds 2 be successful?

Angry Birds 1 or the first game of this franchise was launched in 2009. It became ridiculously popular.

The game has very basic rules.There are some birds. These birds are “Angry” on the mean green Pigs. So these birds which have some special powers, hurl themselves on the pigs to destroy them (maybe kill them?!) along with destructible construction behind which the pigs take cover.

Angry Birds in total has spawned 11 follow-ups with themed levels. Online play and gameplay tweaks were also introduced in the follow-ups.

A Star Wars and Transformers based Angry Birds game was also launched.

Till date, the game has been downloaded over 3 billion times.

So it’s very exciting to see what Angry Birds 2 is going to do.

“Back in December 2009, when we were just a small games studio, we released our 52nd game featuring colorful birds, green pigs, a slingshot and a super catchy theme tune. Fast forward to 2015 and Angry Birds has taken the world by storm,”

reads Rovio’s statement.

“With 3 billion game downloads, millions of fans across the globe, multiple mashups and spin-offs, collaborations with A-list celebrities and much more, we’re really proud that Angry Birds is the mother of all mobile game apps. And now we’re proud to announce the mother of all sequels – Angry Birds 2!”

Rovio currently hasn’t revealed much about the game but has assured more info on July 28, just 2 days prior to the game release.

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