APPLE ANNOUNCES NEW IMACS, INCLUDING THE AWAITED 21.5-INCH 4K MODEL

Apple wowed us with their event back in September and kept the suspense alive as they remained tight lipped about the iMacs that were not released at the time. Well, the wait is over and they are here!
Apple launched its new Retina 4K display for the 21.5-inch iMac and a 5K display for the 27-inch iMac in California, today.

The much anticipated display makes photos and videos even more crystal clear than they were in the pervious iMacs. The exterior of the iMacs sport Thunderbolt 2 ports and more storage options that makes the desktop look promising.

In addition to this, Apple also announced a number of wireless accessories like the Magic keyboard 2, Magic Mouse 2 and (obviously) Magic Trackpad 2. These devices, we guess, are magical due to the fact that they have rechargeable batteries and require no aid of disposable batteries, whatsoever.

We saw the introduction of Force Touch technology to the iPhone 6s and Apple has taken that a step forward by introducing the technology to the Magic Trackpad of the desktop.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president, Worldwide marketing said:

“From The First IMac To Today, The Spirit Of IMac Has Never Wavered — Deliver The Ultimate Desktop Experience With The Latest Technologies, Gorgeous Displays And Cutting-Edge Designs,”

Specs wise, it has a 4096 x 2304 resolution and 9.4 million pixels, which is reportedly 4.5 times more than the standard 21.5-inch iMac display. The 27-inch iMac features a Retina 5K display with a resolution of 14.7 million pixels. 5K and 4K displays feature a wider P3-based colour gamut that provides a 25 percent larger colour space.

The 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display now comes with sixth-generation Intel Core processors. The new 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display, on the other hand, features a fifth-generation Intel Core processor and is enhanced by Intel Iris Pro Graphics. The Thunderbolt 2 ports come with 20Gbps data transfer speeds for external drives and high-performance peripherals. The RAM has also been improved across the board from 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 to 8GB of 1867GHz LPDDR3, upgradeable to 16GB.

Pricing & Availability

Finally talking about the price, the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display is available at select Apple Authorised Resellers. The 27-inch iMac comes in three models priced at INR 148,900, INR 164,900 and INR 188,900. Additional technical specifications are available online at www.apple.com/in/imac/.

The 21.5-inch iMac is available at select Apple Authorised Resellers. The desktop is also available in three models priced at INR 91,900 and INR 107,900 and with a Retina 4K display starting at INR 123,900. Additional technical specifications are available online at www.apple.com/in/imac/.

Lastly, the Keyboard is available at INR 8,300, while the Mouse 2 will be be priced at INR 6,600 and the Trackpad 2 for INR 11,200.
Admittedly, these prices are sky rocketing and seem really unaffordable but Apple promises a better experience, as is the case with all its products. So it’s up to you to empty your pockets, or not.

1

NEW ONEPLUS X TEASER REVEALS SPECS AND LAUNCH DATE

What's This?

A listing on Amazon, which has since been taken down, showed us a device called the ‘OnePlus Mini’. According to the listing, this handset will come with a 5 inch display, along with a 1080 pixel resolution and will be powered by a MediaTek MT6795 processor. It will also house 32GB internal storage with  2GB of RAM. Here is what OnePlus India’s general manager, Vikas Agarwal has to say:

“We’re Introducing A New Device By The End Of This Year. Diwali Would Be The Ideal Time..”

The OnePlus Mini is also said to feature the Force Touch technology, similar to the 3D Touch display available on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Apart from this leak, OnePlus has posted a new teaser on its India Facebook page showing off the OnePlus X that will be unveiled on the 29th of October, 2015.

Hence, taking a cue from the leak and the teaser, we can safely assume that OnePlus might announce two different smartphones by the end of this year. However, there have been no official reports about the OnePlus Mini, so we’ll just have to sit tight and find out what the Chinese smartphone maker has in store for us until the 29th of October.

DISNEY IS HELPING MAKE ‘IRON MAN’ AND ‘STAR WARS’ BIONIC HANDS FOR KIDS

Some stories can melt your heart in an instant. Disney has always been something for children and the child in you. So, it pleases one to hear that the mass media and entertainment giant will be helping a UK-based start up in making prosthetic hands for children more appealing. And how will Disney help with that? By doing it the Disney way, of course.

Open Bionics is the name of the UK-based start up that focuses on low-cost 3D-printed prosthetics. The company is also a part of Disney’s Techstars Accelerator program. Disney is giving Open Bionics royalty-free licenses to create prosthetics modeled off of Iron Man, Elsa from Frozen, and a glowing, buzzing ‘lightsaber hand’ familiar to millions of Star Wars fans.

But the fun doesn’t just end with the design. It also does things, too. Take the lightsaber hand, for example. You can turn on a set of LED lights that illuminate the prosthetic which also give off the lightsaber-like buzzing sounds. A button also lets you change the saber’s colour because fans know that characters like Luke Skywalker, Yoda and Darth Vader favour different couloured lightsabers.

Similarly, the Iron Man gauntlet will let the child shoot off “rockets”. Well, not really, but with the LED lights and sounds and a vibrating motor it does give off that feeling. But the prosthetics aren’t just expensive toys. They’re made to help the child and provide physical therapy while having fun. The motor gives a haptic feedback to the child when he non-threateningly fires from the Iron Man gauntlet and also serves to indicate the strength of the grip being exerted by the child. Apart from serving a fun light show, the LED lights also lets parents and doctors understand what signals are being sent to the device.

Open Bionics CEO Joel Gibbard told Independent that, “the power of these prosthetics is that the public perception is completely different. All of a sudden they’re not being asked how they lost their hand, they’re being asked where they got their cool robot hand, how does it feel, and how does it work?”

Earlier this year, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) himself paid a visit to a seven-year old boy and gave the kid a custom-made Iron Man prosthetic gauntlet. Watch the video below that is sure to bring a smile to your face today.

Open Bionics is hoping to make a big difference with these prosthetic hands and is aiming to have them available by the end of next year at a reasonable price of around $500.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership could spell the end of filesharing sites

According to documents leaked by Wikileaks -- specifically, the TPP's finalized chapter on Intellectual Property -- the days of filesharing sites could quickly be coming to a close.Per the agreement, which would be enforced across all 12 member states, ISPs would be required to "remove or disable access" as soon as they "become aware" of a court decision that deems a piece of content infringes upon an existing copyright. This is a more extreme version of America's DMCA takedown notices and would effectively tie domestic ISP actions to another nation's legal decisions. So if, say, a court in Malaysia says a piece of content infringes on a Malaysian copyright, ISPs in America (really ISPs in all 12 member nations) would be required to remove it -- regardless of whether or not it infringes upon any local copyrights.

This is especially worrisome for Canada, which has a rather relaxed "stepped" approach to content takedowns where every involved party must be notified before any action is taken. "The broadly worded provision could force Canadian ISPs to block content on websites after being notified of a foreign court order—without first having to assess whether the site is even legal under Canadian law," internet law analyst Michael Geistwrote in a recent blog post. This would constitute a significant change to Canadian copyright law and one made without input from Canadian voters.

But don't freak out just yet. This is just the currently agreed-upon wording. The entire deal still has to be ratified by the member nations, which could see further debate and clarification on this issue. It will be a couple more months until the rest of the agreement will even be publically released -- and President Obama has promised the American people ample opportunity to review the documents once they do come out -- so just keep your pants unbunched until then.

HERE’S WHAT’S NEW ON THE APPLE IPHONE 6S AND 6S PLUS

New IPhones Don't Have A New Design But Lots Of New Features.

Apple like clockwork at an event today launched their revisions to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Named appropriately, and in Apple’s yearly naming system, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Apple claims that they have changed everything inside the iPhones. But what all has really changed?

Build And Design

The new iPhones will come in an all new rose gold colour to match with the new Apple Watch colour. Design wise they look the same, with the same identical button layout. The new iPhones, however, are thicker; with the new iPhone 6s now at 7.1 mm up from the 6.9mm of last year and the iPhone 6s Plus up to 7.3mm from 7.1mm on the iPhone 6 Plus.

Weight wise the iPhones are heftier with iPhone 6s up to 143 grams vs last years 129 grams on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s Plus now at 192 grams vs 172 grams on the iPhone 6 Plus.

A lot has also changed in the construction of these iDevices. New Apple made series 7000 Aluminium along with extra reinforcement ensures that “bendgate” doesn’t happen this year.

There is also an all new glass layer that Apple claims is tougher than any glass on the market, pointing at Gorilla Glass 4.

Hardware

The new iPhones come with a 64 Bit A9 chip with a new M9 co-processor that improves performance and graphic capabilities vs iPhone 6 and 6 Plus that came with A8 chip with M8 Co-processor. The M9 co-processor is now always ‘on’, detecting your movement, vs the M8 which was activated on movement.

The displays remain the same with the same size and same resolution, however the addition of 3D touch will improve user experience considerably.

Camera

New camera’s will include a 12 MP main camera on both iPhones. Again, like last year only the iPhone 6s Plus gets optical image stabalization. Both iPhones with the newer camera now have the capability of shooting 4k Video and a new “Live Photos” feature that allows you to capture photo moments.

Slo-mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps and 720p at 240 fps, and video stabalization only works up till 1080p video.

The front camera on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus also gets a much needed bump to 5 MP from a paltry 1.2 MP last year, along with an interesting new selfie flash feature which will make the display turn into a true tone flash with 3 times the brightness.

The new iPhones will also support more LTE bands vs last year. Unlocked iPhones will support 23 LTE bands including TD and FD-LTE. The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will include VoLTE (Voice over LTE) for better communication capabilities in areas supporting the VoLTE functions.

Software

Apart from running iOS 9, thanks to the addition of the new hardware the software will work slightly differently. The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus feature a new 3D Touch display powered by a Taptic engine. A physical piece of hardware which monitors the input and pressure of a users finger and allows the operating system to respond accordingly.

This will save up time allowing you to decide what part of the app you need to access prior to launching the app. Just like a secondary click it allows for more interaction in gaming and in productivity apps as demonstrated by Apple at their event.

The new photos app will allow for live photos that are captured by the iPhone, vs static photos seen up until now. The images will capture a few seconds of cache video allowing you to replay the moment as it occurred. HTC introduced a similar feature on the original HTC One M7 a few years back , however it required you to be in a specific mode with specific features turned on prior to capture. Apple includes this as standard for each photograph, without compromising on speed of capturing a picture.

Thanks to the new hardware you can now call up Siri using “Hey Siri” even when the iPhone is not connected to the charger.

The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus cost the same as last year on contract in the US. However their unlocked phone pricing is the same as well.

Specifications	iPhone 6s	iPhone 6s Plus
Display	Retina HD display with 3D Touch, 4.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit widescreen	Retina HD display with 3D Touch, 5.5-inch LED-backlit widescreen
Resolution	1334 X 750-pixel resolution at 326 ppi	1920-by-1080-pixel resolution at 401 ppi
Processor	Embedded M9 motion coprocessor	Embedded M9 motion coprocessor
Chipset	A9 chip with 64-bit architecture	A9 chip with 64-bit architecture
OS	iOS 9	iOS 9
Internal Storage	16GB/64GB/128GB	16GB/64GB/128GB
Exapandibility	N/A	N/A
Rear camera	12-megapixel iSight camera with 1.22µ pixels, ƒ/2.2 aperture	12-megapixel iSight camera with 1.22µ pixels, ƒ/2.2 aperture, Optical image stabilization
Rear Camera Video	4K video recording (3840 by 2160) at 30 fps	Optical image stabilization for video,  4K video recording (3840 by 2160) at 30 fps
Front Camera	5-megapixel photos, ƒ/2.2 aperture, Retina Flash	5-megapixel photos, ƒ/2.2 aperture, Retina Flash
Front Camera Video	720p HD video recording	720p HD video recording
Body Dimensions	143 grams	192 grams
Special Features	Fingerprint sensor, 3D force touch, live photo	Fingerprint sensor, 3D force touch, live photo
Connectivity	23 LTE and faster Wi-Fi	23 LTE and faster Wi-Fi
Variants	Silver, Gold, Space Gray, Rose Gold	Silver, Gold, Space Gray, Rose Gold
Price	$199, $299 and $399 respectively for 16GB/64GB/128GB on contract.$649, $749, $849 for 16GB/64GB/128GB respectively unlocked	$299, $399 and $499 respectively for 16GB/64GB/128GB on contract. $749, $849, $949 for 16GB/64GB/128GB respectively unlocked

Can't accept autonomous liability? Get out of the game, says Volvo

by Autoblog | | 16 Hours Ago

 
 

Volvo has an easy answer for all the hand-wringing about whose responsible when self-driving carscrash.Volvo chief executive officer and president Håkan Samuelsson says one of the most vexing challenges facing the auto industry can be solved with a simple statement: Manufacturers should be held responsible if their autonomous technology causes car accidents. Two days after the Swedish automaker pledged to be "fully liable" for accidents caused by its self-driving technology, Samuelsson pushed the entire industry to follow Volvo's lead.

"We are the suppliers of this technology and we are liable for everything the car is doing in autonomous mode," he said Thursday during an appearance in Washington DC. "If you are not ready to make such a statement, you shouldn't try to develop an autonomous system."

Google and Mercedes-Benz have made similar pledges, but it's not yet clear whether other automakers will follow. A spokesperson for the Auto Alliance, an industry trade group representing major OEMs says the organization has no position on whether the industry should be held liable.

"If you are not ready to make such a statement, you shouldn't try to develop an autonomous system."

But in the span of a few short days, the series of announcements from Volvo, Google, and Mercedes-Benz set a substantial precedent. Even though self-driving cars aren't yet on sale, the industry has been mulling questions over autonomous liability for some time, and no clear answers had emerged. Samuelsson said further inaction would hinder progress on commercial implementation of autonomobiles and stumped for federal guidance and regulation that would ready roads for deployment.

Details of Volvo's liability pledge are still being discussed, but the CEO said his plan was ultimately a simple one. Volvo would accept liability for all crashes caused by the self-driving technology. It would not include coverage for incidents that occurred when autonomous-capable cars were under human control, nor would it cover instances when a car operated in autonomous mode could not avoid the reckless actions of another vehicle.

"If the system is causing an accident or over-speeding because it didn't read a sign in the right way, that is what I mean," he said. "That is what should be included."

Signs might not even be needed in an autonomous future, a possibility raised during a panel discussion at the House of Sweden, where Samuelsson made the announcement. If that prospect struck some in the transportation community as far-fetched, it struck others as obvious, just as the notion that automakers should be held responsible for their products did.

"Why would Volvo accept liability for autonomous vehicles?" asked Alain Kornhauser, faculty chair of Princeton's Autonomous Vehicles Engineering program. "Because they know it's not going to cost them anything. They're going to make it safe. They're going to sell these suckers and make money off it, and insurance companies that see that will get rich off that."

More than 32,000 people are killed and 400,000 injured in car crashes every year in the United States. Automakers haven't said their autonomous technology will be perfect, but with human error responsible for 94 percent of accidents, they believe they can sharply improve on that toll. Embracing the liability may be a signal the technology is nearing readiness for deployment.

"Any corporation putting its name on something that will be driven without a driver is going to do that," said Ron Medford, director of safety for Google's self-driving car project. "Regulation is fine, and we support efforts being made to make sure the vehicle is safe. But the primary responsibility will be with the manufacturer, because it has to be."

"The primary responsibility will be with the manufacturer, because it has to be."

Another sign autonomous deployment may be nearing: After testing cars on public roads for six years, Google recently hired auto-industry veteran John Krafcik as the first CEO of its self-driving car program. While technology may be ready, public policy still needs development and refinement. Samuelsson, pictured above, pressed both the industry and federal government to find ways to ensure laws and regulations are adopted and consistent across the United States. In Europe, he said a patchwork of varying laws may hamper the sale and functionality of autonomous vehicles crossing from one jurisdiction into the other. He said the US could adopt a lead role by avoiding such confusion here.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials say they're researching ways to create uniform testing practices and have initiated the process of rule-making for vehicle-to-vehicle communications, which could affect how self-driving cars interact in a broader traffic environment. The irony of an automaker calling for regulations and standards, which are often loathed by industry insiders, wasn't lost on NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind.

"From where I sit, you can have all kinds of strong voices literally yelling at us – 'Don't regulate, you'll constrain innovation!' – and at the same time, President Samuelsson is saying you need some consistency across the board," he said.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai does some exec shuffling

Sundar Pichai must have gotten used to his shiny, new CEO seat, because according to Recode, he's just announced the first exec shuffling under his leadership. By the looks of things, a number of Googlers are celebrating their promotions at the moment, one of the biggest winners being Hiroshi Lockheimer, who used to be the Android division's VP. While he's been overseeing Chrome OS' development and Android's expansion into cars and wearables since last year, he's now officially the Senior Vice President handling Android, Chrome and Chromecast. Android VP Dave Burke, on the other hand, has taken up more leader-level engineering duties.

In the ads department, Mountain View's display and video advertisement division has a new SVP in Neal Mohan. He's been involved with Google's videos and YouTube business since it acquired his company DoubleClick in 2007. Recode says Mohan is an in-demand advertising exec and was almost poached by Twitter and Dropbox on separate occasions. He and Phillip Schindler, another ads VP who's now the SVP of Global Sales and Operations, are now responsible for expanding Google's display and video businesses in the face of growing competition.

Leaked Images Reveal Specs of Three New Microsoft Lumia Models - 950, 950 XL and 550

Over the past few months, Microsoft has been leaking images of its two new flagship phones – the Lumia 950 and the Lumia 950 XL. The handsets will be launched on the 6^th of October in New York City, along with the Surface Pro 2 and Microsoft Band 2

Now apart from these devices, Microsoft also plans on bringing out a new budget device called the Lumia 550. The Lumia 550 is rumored to have a 5-inch display, 1GHz processor, and 5-megapixel camera. The lumia 550 will look to replace other 5xx models such as the 540.

Some slides of what appears to be a Microsoft presentation in Spanish were posted in Forever Nokia Latin America’s Facebook page. The slides reveal a whole bunch of specs and features for the three new Lumia phones. The slides also show that the phones (except the 550) will feature a version of Windows Hello, which is Windows 10’s facial recognition technology.

According to the slides, here are the specs for the Lumia 950 and the Lumia 950 XL. These specs also match the earlier leaks that have been floating around.

Lumia 950

• Display: 5.2 inches, QuadHD
• Processor: Qualcomm 6-core Snapdragon 808
• Camera: 20MP PureView rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and dual flash; 5MP HD front camera
• Storage: 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage
• Battery: 3,000 mAh, with rapid charging via USB-C

Lumia 950 XL

• Display: 5.7 inches, QuadHD
• Processor: Qualcomm 8-core Snapdragon 810
• Camera: 20MP PureViw rear camera with OIS and triple LED flash; 5 MP front camera
• Storage: 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage
• Battery: 3,300 mAh, with rapid charging via USB-C

The Lumia 550, on the other hand, reveal specs that suggest the handset will aim at the low-end market. According to the slide, the Lumia 550 is set to have the following features:

Lumia 550

• Display: 5 inches, HD resolution
• Processor: Qualcomm quad-core Snapdragon 1GHz
• Camera: 5MP rear autofocus camera with flash; 2MP front camera optimized for Skype
• Storage: 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage; 128GB microSD card
• Battery: 1,905 mAh with rapid charging

Microsoft will also look to incorporate other Windows 10 features such as Cortana, OneDrive cloud storage, and others. No details on the price or release dates of the phones have been revealed yet.

Image Source: NIKIA FOREVER LATINOAMÉRIC
A