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Month: April 2018

  • The Genesis Essentia Takes the Cake.

    The Genesis Essentia Takes the Cake.

    NEW YORK—The New York International Auto Show was chalk full when it came to concept cars. Jaguars debuted the anticipated I-Pace and Hyundai’s Kona Electric vehicles created quite the buzz. But the star of the show was the jaw dropping, strictly protoype car, Genesis Essentia.

    The Essentials.

    The Essentia has a lightweight carbon-fiber body and a multi-motor electric powertrain engine. The grille is an “evolution of the Genesis Crest” and the clear hood allows for an glitsy and impressive view of the pushrod suspension. It gets “quad lights,” similar to what Genesis premiered on the Air outlets behind the front wheels reduce drag. The sleek body matches the extremely slim, borderline dangerous head and tail lamps. The body’s perfectly ergonomic frame almost completely eliminates undercarriage turbulence. “Slim lights are difficult because it’s hard to get them bright enough with the given surface area,” a designer stated, “But this will be a Genesis signature, driven by tech.” He alluded to the fact that South Korea has become a world leader in LED technology, adding to the cultural DNA of the car.

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    The super futuristic-looking interior features an oversized and almost panoramic display stretching the length of the dash and hand sewn seats that match the interior doors and footwell. That main widescreen in front of the driver is operated by a central rotary controller. Genesis commented on all the expected technology that comes with the car and it’s pretty impressive…vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity, pairs with smarthomes, features voice recognition, etc.. According to the car designers, “The last thing we want to do is create a retro design, even though we talked about which cars meant a lot to us, and the Cobra Daytona Coupe as well as the Ferrari Lusso came into the discussion, but modernism is just as important, plus we use unique design solutions that make this a modern car,” Selipanov told Ars. “We’ve recently launched concept cars here at NY, so we decided to show something even more special and inspirational indicating strong brand direction. We also had the idea this should be an electric GT, but overall, our guiding theme of athletic elegance would be foremost.”

     

    The Summary.

    Even though the Genesis Essentia is likely to stay the prototype car of our dreams, the design efforts made will not be in vein. These prototypes often set precedents and create so much influence on mainstream car manufactures. I hope to see it’s impressive designs and features resounding through companies for years to come.

     

  • Smartphone Spotlight: Razor Phone

    Smartphone Spotlight: Razor Phone

    No no the the Motorola Razr phone you are thinking of, The Razor Phone.  Razor phone set the standard in mobile gaming with the Razer Phone: the world’s first 120Hz screen on a mobile phone. Powered by UltraMotion™ technologyand accurate touch response, you get zero lag or stutter—just fluid, buttery smooth motion for all your games.

    The Great

    • Dolby Atmos Surround Sound
    • Unique, handsome design
    • Display and Ultramotion are gorgeous
    • Top-notch performance
    • 24-bit DAC built into USB Type-C adapter
    • Loudspeaker is LOUD
    • 120 Hz Refresh Rate

    The Not

    • Terrible photography experience
    • Display could be brighter
    • Too big for one-handed use
    • No headphone jack
    • Battery life only average

    The Conclusion

    The question is, does it do anything another high-powered smartphone can’t? I’ve found the camera to be lackluster, but this is a phone that certainly has some standout features.

     

    This Is a big for with minimalist in mind. Lets start with the the LCD 5.7-inch screen size and resolution aren’t what make the Razer Phone’s screen special. Rather, it’s the first phone with a screen that offers a 120Hz refresh rate. This means it’s able to show you more frames on the screen per second. It’s especially helpful when gaming, as it makes playing games smoother and more visually impressive.

    This is a gamers phone, built with gamers in mind. It shows with the 120 hz rate. Now the differences in day-to-day use between 60Hz — the standard in smartphones — and 120Hz is like spotting the differences between 1080p and 1440p. They’re there, but only visible in some situations to the eagle-eyed. You can choose your preference of refresh rate (between 60, 90, or 120Hz) in the Razer Phone’s settings, and scrolling through your Twitter feed in 60Hz and 120Hz reveals only a small change in smoother scrolling.

    It’s the same when scrolling around the Android operating system. You’ve got to want to see differences to spot them, and we couldn’t find many differences between the experience on it and a Samsung s9

    Biggest Weakness is the Camera

    Speaking of being less than stellar, the camera isn’t great. Put lightly, it’s a bit of a mess. We already had our caution hats on after the hands-on over a month ago, when we saw that the dual camera set up was lacking features, or even a slider to show which lens you’re using. Despite all the time that’s passed since then, it’s a shame to see Razer hasn’t added much optimization, speed, or features. Dual 12 MP cameras provide either normal or telephoto zoom levels. The regular focal length lens pumps in light at f/1.8 aperture compared to the other’s f/2.6. And without OIS, the camera is already a bit behind its competition.

    Responsive Android Software

    This is due in part to the screen and the third-party Nova launcher software, but the Razer Phone has a really smooth and responsive user experience. Everything loads quickly thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip and a limited amount of bloatware.

    Switching between apps or even using two at the same time in side-by-side mode is never a sluggish experience. Even my recent Samsung Galaxy S8+ started getting bogged down quickly after I got it, and that’s not something I’ve had to deal with on the Razer Phone.

     

    The Final Thought

    After using the Razer Phone for the last  month, I’m comfortable calling it an amazing smart device. It is available now for $700, and it easily competes with other high-end phones in that price range with one glaring exception. Do you want to trade your camera for a better refresh rate? Kinda, I like Netflix.

  • Xiaomi Rumors and Gossip

    Xiaomi Rumors and Gossip

    Xiaomi is getting ready to launch a gaming-oriented phone, similar to what we’ve seen with the Razer phone. The phone is slated for an official unveil next Friday, April 13, and a new teaser out  gives us a glimpse at the design language. So far not alot of details have been released, we all know what it will probably look like.

    Unlike previous Xiaomi phones, the upcoming device will feature the Black Shark branding and not the Mi label, suggesting this could be the first phone in a new gaming-focused sub-brand.

    While we don’t know much, my inside sources tell me it will host the Snapdragon 845, with 8gb of ram and a 256 gb hd.  The hd size gives good indication this will be aimed at the gaming market. The Razor supported a 120 Hz refresh rate, Its safe to expect the same.

    As can be seen in the image, the Black Shark Phone looks set to take on the shape of an X with the top and bottom sides of the device being much more angular than traditional smartphones. In fact, a total of eight sides are featured on the device’s frame. Because of this, the company chose to include the antenna bands on both the top and bottom corners, meaning four antenna bands will be included – the Chinese OEM’s device is the first to feature this antenna layout. Beginning clockwise, the top-left corner will be dedicated to the GPS and Wi-Fi antennas, while the right side will be reserved for LTE. Moving on to the bottom, the right-sided antenna will be for Wi-Fi MIMO, and the left module will once again be dedicated to LTE. Now, although this is only a sketch, Black Shark itself later confirmed the accuracy of it, stating that the layout should help improve signal reception even when a user is gripping the device.

     

    The launch is set for next Friday the 13th, we should know all about Xiaomi’s upcoming Black Shark phone then. Until then we can fantasize about holographic screen projections and full VR experiences. See you next friday

     

  • Apple Promises a New Mac Pro for 2019

    Apple Promises a New Mac Pro for 2019

    The last major redesign for the Mac Pro series of computers was debuted in 2013 and hasn’t really changed since. But now, Apple is finally promising a new Mac Pro model to be released in 2019.

    Creative Professional Criticisms

    The last Mac Pro was released with much fanfare and is an amazing piece of engineering. But it was met with a healthy dose of criticism. The most common complaint is the inability to easily upgrade the system. As time has gone on, the lack of hardware upgrades has been a sticking point as well.

    For creative professionals who need all the power Apple can throw at them, this is a bad thing.

    Backed into a Corner

    Techcrunch reported that last year, Apple admitted that it had “painted itself into an architecture corner by being aggressively original on the design” of the 2013 MacPro. There was nothing left to do than start over with a new design.

    The lack of a modular design and depending on thunderbolt as the only real path for expansion was met with groans for the most part.

    New Model Dropping in 2019

    Techcrunch reported that back in 2017, no promises were given on the delivery date for a newly redesigned Mac Pro. 2018 was not a guarantee, and now it has been confirmed there will be no new Mac Pro this year. However, Apple confirmed that a newly designed version of the pro computer would be in the 2019 lineup.

    “We want to be transparent and communicate openly with our pro community, so we want them to know that the Mac Pro is a 2019 product. It’s not something for this year,” said Tom Boger, vice president of hardware engineering. “In addition to transparency for pro customers on an individual basis, there’s also a larger fiscal reasoning behind it.

    “We know that there’s a lot of customers today that are making purchase decisions on the iMac Pro and whether or not they should wait for the Mac Pro,” Boger continued.

    Pro Workflow Team

    One thing that Apple really wants to drive home to its pro customers is that they are focusing on workflow. They have heard the complaints and are listening. To that effect, Apple has been sitting with pro users to learn about their workflows and try to address any related problems.

    They realize that modular systems are still important to some users and so they have confirmed that the new Mac Pro would be a modular system. Furthermore, Apple is working on a display for a modular system.

    Whether creative professionals will return to the Apple fold remains to be seen. It may be too late for some who have already migrated to Windows computers. Apple is clearly wooing the professional community, however, and seem to want to fix their past mistakes.

  • Tech Throwback: The Newton

    Tech Throwback: The Newton

    I like to take a look at where I’ve been to evaluate where Im going. Technology is cyclical after all… wait no its not. That said I still like all the feels that come rushing back like a flood of nostalgia every time I get my hand on the tech I grew up with. Im going to go back periodically and take a looking at the stuff that used to blow our hair back and get our minds rolling. Some of these device blew up and changed the world, some where ahead of their time and some just fell flat and became colossal failures. Today I’m powering up the old Apple Newton..

     

    Give Me The Back Story

    The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants, PDAs as i like to call them, But that term wasent used and adopted till years after the Newton. It was developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. An early device in the PDA category – the Newton originated the term “personal digital assistant” – it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Apple started developing the platform in 1987 and shipped the first devices in 1993. Production officially ended on February 27, 1998. Newton devices run on a proprietary operating system, Newton OS; examples include Apple’s MessagePad series and the eMate 300, and other companies also released devices running on Newton OS. Most Newton devices were based on the ARM 610 RISC processor and all featured handwriting-based input.

    The Newton was considered innovative at its debut, but it suffered from its high price and problems with the handwriting recognition element, its most anticipated feature. The handwriting software was barely ready by 1993 and its tendency to misread characters was widely derided in the media. I my hands on one the first time when I was 12, almost 35 years later im ready to dive back in.

     

    Powering this up, shocked it still works. picked this working newton off eBay, with the flash card and assured it would turn on for $150. Yes its abit much for the actual functionality but that is not why I bought it. The Nice this is it runs off of AAA batteries, got to change them pretty frequently and you lose all your data each time they die but I’m able to pick them up at any store so the device will never die completely.

    Its pretty bulky I cant fathom how at the time they thought this was compact enough to carry around. its is a little over an inch thick and 7 inchs tall. Meanwhile I complain my phablet is to big.

    What’s This One Do

    It literally does nothing and I can barley see the green screen, its only functions are a contacts applications and a notepad,  a calendar,  calculator, currency converter and a timezone map. All the things I use on a daily bases, would be completely useless with out, and take for granted on a daily bases.  I do remember being able to get software application for it on a 3.5 floppy disk though.

    You can get up to a 4mb flash memory card for storage to prevent the battery erasing issue, a 4 mb card would store about 200 note, 250 contacts, 500 calendar events.  I do have to note that the flash memory seriously slowed down the processing power. So about 3 weeks worth of info for me.

    As much as I’ m laughing at this technological failure, it truly was ground breaking and revolutionary. We would see viable tech like it for almost 10 years and even still they hadn’t made much advancement on it. It really was ahead of its time and paved the way for the iPhone that would be released 20 years later. It was the first affordable device to compute handwriting, the first pocket touch screen, we still weren’t seeing full sized touch screen and wouldn’t for many years.  I think the commercial failure of this device dragged technology back a decade and had it been a corporate success who know where we would be today.

     

    The Final Thought

    Its magically revolutionary and fantastically simple. Its is the true prototype of our world today, it set the table for us and we ignored it. If Apple could have just crammed in a beeper, we could have had a primitive text messaging device. Im keeping it and will put a back up of info on it just in case of a tech apocalypse.

     

  • SmartPhone Spotlight: OnePlus 5T

    SmartPhone Spotlight: OnePlus 5T

    OnePlus’s deal has always been offering flagship-level internals coupled with minimalist software, all for significantly less than similarly-specced devices. The OnePlus 5T has all the right stuff you’d expect for late 2017: a Qualcom Snapdragon 835 processor, SoC, a 6-inch, 18:9 screen, and a dual-camera. Is the the smartphone you deserve?

    The Great

    • Beautiful Screen
    • Blistering performance
    • Great battery life
    • Flagship-caliber cameras
    • Very fast charging:
    • Amazing value

    The Not

    • No wireless charging or microSD slot
    • Lacks optical zoom
    • Not water resistant

    The Conclusion

    If you’re willing to put up with a few small compromises then you could argue the OnePlus 5T could be even further up this list. One thing is for sure though: in terms of value for money it won’t disappoint.

     

     

     

    If it’s an affordable flagship you’re after, well, see what theThe OnePlus 5T has to offer. It’s bringing facial recognition, a 6-inch 18:9 display, dual rear cameras, a premium metal body and the latest power under the hood, all for a price that comfortably undercuts Apple, Samsung and friends.

     

    Screen:

    The 6-inch AMOLED display on the OnePlus 5T is fantastic, especially given the low price tag. It’s the best screen ever seen in a OnePlus handset and features the same 18:9 aspect ratio seen on the other Android flagship phones.

     

    Battery life:

    Solid all-day battery life is what you’ll get out of this phone. So it fits nicely in with the competition then – not as good as the LG V30 but comfortably as good as the Galaxy S9 and the rest.

     

    Camera:

    The camera, again, is decent without being standout. You won’t have any problems with it and you’ll be able to take some amazing photos with it. It’s not as good as the Pixel 2 but the far cheaper price tag will explain why.

     

    Quick Spec Look

    • Release date: November 2017
    • Weight: 162g
    •  Dimensions: 156.1 x 75 x 7.3mm
    •  OS: Android 7.1
    • Screen size: 6-inch
    • Resolution: 1080 x 2160
    •  CPU: Snapdragon 835
    •  RAM: 6/8GB
    • Storage: 64GB/128GB
    • Battery: 3,300mAh
    •  Rear camera: 20MP + 16MP
    • Front camera: 16MP

     

    The Final Thought

    If you are seriously looking at this phone, you shouldn’t be. This is the phone you get when your parents got a buy one get one free deal at their local cell phone shop. IF you are looking for a quality android, this has the specks but there are better options, go grab the LG V30.

  • Best 5 Laptops Under $500 in 2018

    Best 5 Laptops Under $500 in 2018

    Laptops are very essential these days- for school, work, or just personal use. The price of a premium new laptop can cost up to $1,000, which is pricey for anyone. Numerous companies have made laptops more affordable while keeping the quality and capabilities of more expensive laptops.

    You don’t have to feel like you’re settling when shopping for a laptop under $500. There are value-priced notebooks that include full-HD displays, solid performance and long battery life, plus all the ports you need. We picked all the best all-purpose laptops in $500 price range which we think are best laptops to suit the wide range of requirements of people. Here is a list of the best five laptops under $500!

    1. Dell Inspiron i3567 Laptop

    The latest version of this Dell laptop has a powerful system in place with 8GB of memory and a 128GB hard drive and a Intel Core i3-7100U 2.4GHz processor. It has a professional feel in it’s all black look with a 15.6-inch laptop with a screen resolution of 1366 x 768. The operating system runs smoothly with Windows 10 and is backed with a 12 month warranty, with 12 months of tech support.

    • A new, powerful hardware system
    • Has many ports and slots to use your external devices
    • 8 GB Ram
    • 7th Gen Intel Core i5 processor
    • It is not backlit enabled
    • Battery life up to 5 hours

    2. Acer Aspire A515-51-50RR Laptop

    The Acer Aspire 5 is one of the best budget full-size laptops you can find in stores today. It checks most of the right boxes: well built, slim and fairly light, gets a decent keyboard, an IPS screen and modern hardware, performs well, runs cool and quiet and lasts for a long while on a charge. This slim and sleek laptop is a great all round performing laptop, especially for the price. The visuals are spot on with vivid, bright colors.

    • LCD display and is backlit
    • 2.50 GHz Intel Core i5-7200U processor
    • Storage: 1TB hard disk
    • Intel HD 620 graphics
    • Battery life up to 7 hours
    • All-plastic chassis

    3. HP 15-ay191ms Laptop

    The HP 15-ay191ms, a signature edition laptops that comes with a seventh-generation Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB DDR4 system memory, 1TB of storage and a touchscreen, but still remains insanely affordable. It’s one of those laptops you’d buy without a second thought if you find inexpensive chromebook attractive, but really, really need Windows. If you love touchscreen, this one’s for you! This laptop contains the Kaby Lake processor which makes this laptop consume little power. Apps are not an issue here, they all run very smoothly.

    • Touchscreen
    • Intel Core i3-7100U processor
    • 8GB RAM
    • 1TB hard drive
    • Lag-free performance
    • Battery life up to 6 hours

    4. Dell Inspiron i3567-5185BLK Laptop

    Yet another Inspiron made this list! This version comes in different color options and a textured finish.  Packed with a large 15.6 Inches display and a decent 7th Gen Intel Core i5-7200U up to 3.1GHz CPU processor. This Dell laptop model would work well for portability with its 4.85 Pounds lightweight design and sleek black look. Great for school work or the family computer. A huge bonus with this laptop is it doesn’t heat up much!

    • 2.4 GHz Intel Core i3-7100U processor
    • 8GB RAM
    • TB hard drive
    • LED display with a built-in webcam and mic
    • Battery life is up to 6 hours

    5. ASUS Chromebook Flip

    This is one of the best convertible laptops on the current market. The Asus Chromebook Flip C302 is worthy of its premium stature with a gorgeous screen, tactile keyboard and a classy design that’s equally as comfortable to use in tablet mode or as a traditional laptop. The screen is a full HD touchscreen and can be converted from a laptop to a tablet by turning the screen. A top pick for a college student!

    • Intel Core m3 processor
    • 4GB RAM
    • 64GB of SSD storage
    • Battery life of up to 10 hours

  • Apple to Make Their Own Processors for All Products

    Apple to Make Their Own Processors for All Products

    Good news everybody, apple is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel , according to people familiar with the plans.

    Code Name Kalamata

    The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices — including Macs, iPhones, and iPads — work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.

    The shift would be a blow to Intel, whose partnership helped revive Apple’s Mac success and linked the chipmaker to one of the leading brands in electronics. Apple provides Intel with about 5 percent of its annual revenue. That’s not an unnoticeable hit. Intel’s stock dropped sharply on Monday after Bloomberg reported that Apple would ditch Intel chips for an in-house model on Mac computers.

     

    “The market is over reacting to Apple’s announcement for using an internally developed CPU for its Mac systems as early as 2020,” analyst Kevin Cassidy wrote in a note to clients entitled “Potential Apple Move Not a Major Threat to Intel” on Monday. “According to IDC, Apple had 7.3% traditional PC unit market share in 4Q17.

     

     

     

    “We think that Apple is looking at ways to further integrate their hardware and software platforms, and they’ve clearly made some moves in this space, trying to integrate iOS and macOS,” said Shannon Cross an analyst at Cross Research. “It makes sense that they’re going in this direction. If you look at incremental R&D spend, it’s gone into ways to try to vertically integrate their components so they can add more functionality for competitive differentiation.”

     

     

     

    The Final Thought

    Many of us remember when Apple made their own chips previously. There G line chips where far superior to intel’s and created the Mac resurgence in the early part of the century. Apples A series chip far out perform anything snapdragon cant slap out, so this is a welcome hurrah.

  • SmartPhone Spotlight: Sony Xperia XZ

    SmartPhone Spotlight: Sony Xperia XZ

    The Xperia XZ Premium features the new Motion Eye a camera so advanced it captures motion that the human eye can’t see. And with its unified design, astonishing 4K HDR display, and intelligent features, it’s Sony’s most groundbreaking smartphone to date.

     

    The Great

    • Nice HDR Screen
    • Good Power

     

    The Not

    • No 4k Content
    • Lot of Bezels
    • Poor design

     

     

     

    The Conclusion

    The square corners won’t appeal to everyone but if you want to watch 4K video and review your photos in as much detail as possible, this is a great phone.

     

     

     

    Sony’s 4K-screened phone sounds like a gimmick, but the display is packed with so much technology that it impresses despite that. The color reproduction and pixel quality is superb, and the camera really rewards those that make an effort to get the best out of it.

     

    Battery life

    The XZ Premium does pretty well given how many pixels it’s driving on that 4K screen. It’ll last you a full day with a little more to spare on moderate use, thanks to some dynamic screen technology that actively alters how much is being used.

     

    Camera

    Sony’s got this new camera gimmick called the Motion Eye. The Motion Eye™ camera with Super slow motion records video at 960 frames per second, for playback four times slower than any other smartphone. Predictive Capture stays one step ahead of the action, as it starts buffering images even before you press the button. I will say the pictures are impressive

     

    Screen

    This is the only phone out there with a full-blown 4K screen, and it also comes with HDR tech. The amount of HDR content for mobiles is increasing all the time, but even without that this screen makes even the most mundane image look brighter and more colorful, and the rest of the phone is impressively powerful.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Quick Spec Look

    •  Weight: 195g |
    • Dimensions: 156 x 77 x 7.9mm
    • OS: Android 7
    • Screen size: 5.5-inch
    • Resolution: 3840 x 2160
    •  CPU: Snapdragon 835
    • RAM: 4GB
    • Storage: 64GB
    •  Battery: 3,230mAh
    • Rear camera: 19MP
    • Front camera: 13MP

     

     

     

    The Final Thought

    This is one of the top 20 smartphones on the market for 2018. It has its moments of wow, it also falls short in every category next to an iPhone or even top tier android. If a deal and a steal comes your way, Sony’s new phone won’t disappoint and will take you through the next year and half but upgrading will always be on your mind.

  • Speak Up For a Cause with Amazon’s Alexa

    Speak Up For a Cause with Amazon’s Alexa

    Your favorite smart assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, has a new skill and it’s going to benefit great causes! Using Amazon Pay, you can now ask Alexa to donate to a number of charities. Alexa Donations is as easy as telling her to play your favorite song.

    There are only 48 charities and non-profit organizations that you can currently donate to using Alexa Donations. You are able to donate to ones like the American Cancer Society, the American Red Cross, and some internet-oriented groups as well. Amazon says this list is going to grow! Donations can be anywhere from $5 up to $5,000.

    You may be wondering, how exactly does donating with Alexa work?

    Donating is as simple as anything Alexa can do, you use your voice! You could say, “Alexa, donate $10 to the American Red Cross” or whichever charity you choose. Another option would be to say “Alexa make a donation” and the virtual assistant would then prompt you to tell her which organization and how much you would like to donate. If you are not sure what organization to donate to, she can help with that, too! Can it get any easier than that?!

     

    Next question, is Alexa going to keep credit card information safe?

    The charity you donate to may have access to your name and email. But have no fear, absolutely NO credit card information is shared with any of the charities. Amazon claims that the company has already had over a million people make donations using Amazon Pay, so it is very trustworthy!

     

    All in all, Alexa can do virtually anything! Which organization will you donate to first?