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Month: May 2018

  • What Is Going on With Tesla Right Now?

    What Is Going on With Tesla Right Now?

    Tesla—the brainchild of real-life Tony Stark, Elon Musk—has been in the headlines a lot lately. We’re pretty sure Musk isn’t actually building a cyborg dragon, as he Tweeted earlier this week, but he’s certainly been busy. Here’s a roundup of the news you might have missed.

    Record Revenue…and Record Losses

    Although Musk promises that Tesla will be in the black by Q3, the company reported net losses of over $780 million for the first quarter. This is despite also reporting record-setting revenue for the same quarter. The troubled production of the Model 3 (see below) has been a stumbling block for the company.

    Model 3 Production

    Roll-out for the Model 3, the most reasonably priced of Tesla’s electric vehicles, has been anything but smooth. Last year, they only managed to produce 260 cars during Q3. Considering that Musk’s stated goal was 5,000 cars a week, there were obvious problems afoot.

    Production seems to be back on track, however, with April showing a rate of 2,270 cars per week. The goal is still 5,000 per week, a number that Tesla expects to hit before the end of summer.

    Nikola Versus Tesla

    Nikola Motor Company and Tesla have been at odds since day one. Both are named after the legendary inventor, and both are developing electric vehicles. Nikola filed a lawsuit that alleges Tesla’s electric truck infringes on their patents. The truck company is seeking $2 billion in damages, claiming that Tesla’s design has created “confusion in the market” and will “harm Nikola’s ability to attract investors.” Musk has dismissed the lawsuit as baseless.

    Workplace Safety Concerns

    California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) is investigating Tesla’s Fremont factory for evidence of workplace hazards. The factory has been running night and day to hit the ambitious Model 3 production numbers, and reports claim that Tesla has been underreporting injuries on the factory floor. A separate 2016 investigation found that Tesla’s plant had significantly more injuries than the average auto manufacturer.

    Self-Driving Ridesharing

    Self-driving cars are the current Holy Grail for auto companies. Tesla hopes to create an autonomous ridesharing network by the end of next year. Musk described his idea as something of a hybrid between Uber and Airbnb, where you can let others use your car for a fee during times you don’t need it.

    Considering that both Tesla and Uber have been in the news for crashes of their autonomous vehicles, the world might not be ready for this idea.

    Model Y on the Horizon

    Finally, Musk announced that the long-awaited Model Y—a crossover-style vehicle—will go into production sometime in 2020. Model Y will be built at an all-new factory, the site of which has not been decided. This isn’t the first time that Tesla has teased the electric crossover, however, and eager consumers might need to prepare for another pushback.

  • Tablet Talk: Amazon Fire HD 10

    Tablet Talk: Amazon Fire HD 10

    Tablets are the mash of our technology dependence theses days. They are big phones or weak laptops or any combination of the two. They can be big, they can be powerful, They can be an all in one device or just a side gadget. In all future set movies or media the tablet is a main stream tool, they call them data pads or data cards, but no one uses a keyboard in the future. This being said there are a lot of tablets with many options to navigate through so Im going to break them down in an easy to read guide to help you find the tablet match of your dreams. Today we are going to talk about the Fire HD 10.

     

    The Great

    • Bright
    • Vivid screen
    • Sharp performance
    • Significant RAM and processor upgrade

     

    The Not

    • Expensive
    • Lack of Google Apps
    • Slow Gaming

    The Conclusion

    While its 10.1-inch Full HD display is the best of any Amazon tablet you can buy, it’s also the most expensive Fire, costing three times as much as the Fire 7 and $70 more than the Fire HD 8

     

     

    The Design

    The Fire HD 10’s matte shell — which comes in black, orange and blue — is made of a plastic that feels far more reliable than it looks.Weighing 1.1 pounds and measuring 0.4 inches thick, the Fire HD 10 is slightly thicker than the Lenovo Tab 4 10 (1.1 pounds, 0.3 inches), but heavier than the 7-inch Amazon Fire 7 (0.7 pounds, 0.4 inches) and the 8-inch Fire HD 8 (0.8 pounds, 0.4 inches). It is bigger but it has a cheap plasticy feel to it that is disappointingly low class. The rest looks uninspired and functional with no sleek tech feeling at all.

     

     

    The Display

    Bright.Vivid. Easy to read. That is there angle. The Fire HD 10’s 1920 x 1200-pixel panel produces crisp, bright and vivid images, making a case for its larger 10.1-inch screen. The HD 10’s panel is significantly more colorful than its competitors’, producing 104 percent of the sRGB spectrum. That’s similar to the 99-percent tablet average and above the 87-percent Tab 4 10, the 78-percent Fire 7 and the 79-percent Fire HD 8. This display is not the sharpest or most beautiful ive seen in a tablet, but its brighter and easier to read then any other.

     

    The Other Stuff

    The Fire HD 10 features two stereo speakers, as well as Dolby Atmos for headphones, which helps to make surround-sound audio more immersive. Amazon also included a 2-megapixel camera on the rear, which is a laughably low resolution for a front-facing camera these days. Alexa works kinda cool on this,  you can simply say “Alexa” out loud, even when the tablet is asleep. It works much like Amazon’s Echo devices, except you also get some on-screen feedback in addition to the assistant’s voice responses. I do have to note some Alexa functions are missing, but some one shouting hey Alexa buy 10 bottles of shampoo will still result in me getting $500 worth of tea tree shampoo rushed to my home.

    Fire HD 10 Quick Spec Look

    • Display10.10-inch
    • Processor1.2GHz quad-core
    • Front CameraYes
    • Resolution1280x800 pixels
    • RAM1GB
    • OSFire OS
    • Storage16GB
    • Rear Camera5-megapixel

     

    The Final Thought

    Never been a big fan of amazon tablets, they to me always seemed like old people tablets. In reality they’re not bad, especially given their low prices, but they’re much slower than I am accustomed to. However for the Price, you cant beat the screen size and it functions much better then expected.

  • Facebook Wants to Help You Find Love

    Facebook Wants to Help You Find Love

    Are you one of the 200 million Facebook users who listed themselves as “single”? Soon, you’ll be able to try out their new matchmaking feature. After all, Facebook knows more about you than all but your closest friends, so the company may have a better shot at introducing you to the love of your life than, say, your coworker or an acquaintance from book club.

    The new feature was announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook’s annual F8 developers conference. Considering that Zuckerberg originally created Facebook to rank the relative hotness of his female classmates, it seems only fitting that the social media platform would make a foray into online dating.

    How It Works

    Although we don’t yet have a firm release date for Facebook Dating, we have an idea of how the service will work. According to the official announcement, it will “mirror the way people meet in real life — through the experiences they have in common.”

    Once the feature becomes available, users can opt in by creating a profile. This will be quarantined from the rest of your social media presence so that your friends and family won’t know that you’ve signed up. You also won’t be matched with anyone already on your friends list. Instead, you’ll be able to browse Groups and Events in your area to find other Facebook Daters and browse their profiles.

    If you find someone you like, you can exchange messages through a text-only system, meaning that you won’t be able to exchange pics—wanted or otherwise. The communication system will be separate from Facebook Messenger.

    Tinder Stock Plummets

    Although it uses some of the same mechanics as hookup apps like Tinder, Facebook Dating is more focused on matchmaking for long-term relationships. Despite this, Tinder’s parent company Match Group saw their shares drop by 17 percent following Zuckerberg’s announcement.

    It’s not clear yet whether Facebook users will embrace the dating feature. On the one hand, it could be an effective way to meet like-minded singles in your area. But on the other hand, do you really want to give Facebook even more influence over your life and the data collected about it?

    Concerns Over Safety and Privacy

    Facebook is still trying to do damage control over the Cambridge Analyitca scandal, and many people are already wary about the way the company handles personal data. It doesn’t help that in April, Grindr was discovered to have shared sensitive information—including HIV status—with its advertisers.

    Beyond concern over how Facebook will use the information it gathers, there’s also a question of how safe those who opt in to the dating service will be from creeps and stalkers. Facebook Dating profiles will show your first name as well as the city you live in, and potentially your workplace. Determined stalkers could easily use that information to find you.

    Zuckerberg did not address these privacy concerns at F8, but the company should be very careful as it proceeds to ensure that its users are protected. Otherwise, it’ll be Cambridge Analytica all over again.

  • Hulu Hopes Updated Features Will Entice New Customers

    Hulu Hopes Updated Features Will Entice New Customers

    In the battle of the streaming media titans, Hulu has long been struggling to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime. The company announced several new features and updates, along with the renewal of their most popular original show, The Handmaid’s Tale. But will it be enough to continuing growing their customer base?

    Manage Your Suggestions

    One feature that’s been missing from Hulu is the ability to stop the site from suggesting you watch shows that you’re not interested in viewing. After the twentieth time the streaming service helpfully recommends you check out the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlburg movie Daddy’s Home, you just want it go away.

    “We want you to be in control of the experience. If you don’t like something, you should be able to tell us,” said Hulu’s Head of Experience, Ben Smith. With that in mind, you will soon be able to choose “Stop Suggesting” whenever Hulu offers up a show or movie you don’t want to see. The button will be underneath the suggested content.

    New Original Series

    Hulu’s original content has lagged behind their competitors, but the company hopes that their new slate of projects will change that. In addition to securing an exclusive agreement with DreamWorks Animation to stream their feature films, Hulu will also be premiering several new prestige series this season.

    George Clooney will be bringing Joseph Heller’s mind-bending war novel Catch-22 to the small screen, while Mindy Kaling will be producing a comedy series based on the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral. Blumhouse, the studio that brought us The Purge, Split, and Get Out, will be dipping its toe into television with a one-hour horror anthology called Into The Dark, which will roll out a new episode on the first Friday of each month beginning in October.

    Offline Viewing

    Other streaming services have offered offline viewing for a while, but Hulu is doing it in a slightly different way. Subscribers will be able to download content for future viewing, but there’s a catch—if you don’t have a premium commercial-free membership, you’ll be forced to sit through ads. Hulu will be the first streaming platform to package commercials with downloaded content, and since the ads can’t be skipped, advertisers can be confident that their message is being seen.

    That’s good news for the company and its advertisers, but slightly less good news for viewers. Only time will tell how much pushback Hulu will get from its downloadable ad-supported content, but if it works, you can expect to see other streaming services trying something similar.

  • 4K UHD Blu-ray Player Round-Up

    4K UHD Blu-ray Player Round-Up

    If you are planning to upgrade to a shiny new 4K television, then your next step will likely by purchasing a 4K Blu-ray player. After all, how else will you be able to watch The Last Jedi or Bladerunner 2049 in all of their 4K glory? Read on for our list of the best 4K Blu-ray players currently on the market.

    Xbox One X – Around $500

    Watching movies in 4K is a phenomenal experience – but so is gaming! If you are interested at all in the modern era of video games, then you should consider Microsoft’s Xbox One X to pull double duty as your 4K player and gaming machine.

    The interface is slightly awkward and you’ll need to purchase a universal remote if you don’t want to power own a controller every time you want to start a movie, but we think that the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to versatility and power.

    If the Xbox One X is out of your price range, consider the Xbox One S. You’ll get similar 4K UHD capability at a much cheaper price. The visuals on some games will be less impressive than the Xbox One X, but that’s why the X costs twice as much.

    Sony UBP-X800 – Around $250

    The Sony UBP-X800 should be your top choice for a more media-focused experience. It supports almost everything you could throw at it. Of course, it supports 4K UHD Blu-rays, but you can also upscale standard Blu-rays, 3D Blu-rays and DVDs at superior quality. HDR and Bluetooth audio support round out the features.

    The machine comes ready to stream and supports most of the major services and has a customizable menu. It’s a sturdy feeling machine with a metal chassis that gives off a premium vibe. If you’re not interested in gaming, this should be your go-to player.

    Samsung UBD-M8500 – Less than $200

    The Samsung UBD-M8500 is a solid entry-level and budget-friendly 4K player that will handle your UHD content with crisp and beautiful clarity. Compared to the Sony, however, the upscaling of DVDs and 1080p Blu-rays are a bit lackluster. HDR is supported but note that 3D Blu-ray discs are not.

    You can also use this unit to stream your content from the major providers. The menu system on this model takes advantage of 4K screens and looks better than Sony’s menus. The Samsung SmartHub UI gives users quick access to key menu features and apps without having to go back to a home screen.

  • 2018 is Saddling Up to be The Year of the Cowboy

    2018 is Saddling Up to be The Year of the Cowboy

    Pirates are so yesterday. There seems to be some real cowboy synergy happening this year with the release of some highly anticipated television and games based on the storied era of the wild west. If you are a fan of the western genre, then be sure to take note!

    Westworld Season 2

    No need to caution – we will avoid spoilers! HBO has begun airing the highly anticipated second season to one of the best western/sci-fi shows to ever hit television. The legendary Michael Crichton (whom you may remember wrote the book Jurassic Park was based on) wrote and directed a film in 1973 that the current show is loosely based on.

    HBO spared no expense when it came to Westworld season 1, and it looks like season 2 will take it even further. Featuring a stellar cast with beautiful cinematography and a storyline that will keep you guessing, Westworld is an absolute must-watch. Sure, there is a heavy dose of sci-fi mixed in, but we think any fan of the western genre will find something to love here.

    Red Dead Redemption II

    Rockstar Games is delivering a sequel to one of the best western games ever created later this year. The first Red Dead Redemption followed a character named John Marsten, a former outlaw whose wife and son are taken hostage by the government in exchange for his services as a hired gun. The first Redemption took place in 1911, when the frontier was declining. The new sequel appears to be a prequel, taking place in 1899 and featuring a different protagonist.

    Rockstar Games, known best for their Grand Theft Auto games, are masters as creating open-world environments that allow players to pursue different interests and tasks. Red Dead Redemption II will surely feature a great story with top-notch voice talent, but players will also be able to leave the beaten path and just explore the countryside. There’s no better way to feel like a real cowboy from the comfort of your couch.

    Wild West Online

    Wild West Online is a massively multiplayer game where potentially thousands of players will all simultaneously inhabit the same world. The game is still in development, but early access packages will be available on May 10.

    It’s set in a fictional county with a general time period feeling between 1870 and the early 1900s. Players can assume various roles: hunters, farmers, miners, prospectors, bandits and more. Rather than offering a story-driven narrative, the developers aim to create a systems-driven open world environment peppered with small stories. This allows players to create their own stories rather than be railroaded into a certain narrative.

  • Three of the Best SSD Drives to Speed Up Your Computer

    Three of the Best SSD Drives to Speed Up Your Computer

    Of all the upgrades that you can perform on an existing computer, swapping an old spinning hard disk with a solid state drive (SSD) will net you the best results. Your computer will boot up faster, copy/paste/load files faster and generally feel snappier.

    SSDs were incredibly expensive when they debuted, but as with all tech prices have steadily fallen. Here are some of the best upgrade options if you are shopping for an SSD drive.

    Samsung 850 EVO

    Consistently rated among the best SSD drives available, now is a great time to find a deal on the Samsung 850 EVO. Prices can fluctuate, but the introduction of the new 860 model will help a great deal.

    Available in both M.2 and mSATA configurations, the 850 is available in a variety of storage sizes. Fast read and write speeds built around 3D NAND flash storage backed by a 5 year warranty makes the Samsung 850 EVO a great choice for upgrading to SSD.

    Crucial MX500

    If your budget is the main priority for your upgrade, then the Crucial MX500 may be a better option than the Samsung 850 EVO. It comes in the standard 2.5 inch drive size that will fit any desktop (you may need a mount) and many laptops.

    While performance isn’t quite what the Samsung can offer, this is still a massive upgrade from a spinning hard drive. It features 3D NAND flash storage and a 5 year warranty.

    Adapta XPG SX7000

    While most M.2 SSD drives are much more expensive than their SATA counterparts, the Adapta XPG SX7000 has managed to keep their prices relatively competitive while giving you a super-fast M.2 PCIe option for your SSD storage.

    You’ll need to research your computer’s motherboard to see if it is compatible with an M.2 SSD, but if it is then you are in for a treat! Outperforming SATA drives by a wide margin, the Adapta SSD is perfect for hardcore gamers and professional word that requires a lot of file manipulation.

  • The 5 Strangest Biohacks That Turn Man into Machine

    The 5 Strangest Biohacks That Turn Man into Machine

    While many of us already carry or even wear technology to help us streamline our day-to-day lives or collect health data, a group of biohacking “ginders” take it one step further. Why wear the tech when you can go full transhuman and implant the tech directly into your body?

    While gory and somewhat unsettling to see, biohacking seems to be a niche subculture that is here to stay.

    5. The Eyeborg Project

    05-eyeborg

    inverse

    Filmmaker Rob Spence wanted to create the perfect “point-of-view” filming experience. In order to do that, his team worked with ocularist Phil Bowel to design a prosthetic camera and electronic eye shell housing. A miniature camera, created by engineers working with RF Links, was designed to fit the housing. The result? An eyecam that creates a literal POV feed.

    Next, Spence wants to design an eyecam that looks less Terminatorand more human.

    4. Biomagnets

    04-biomagnets

    digitaltrends

    Biomagnets are small magnetic implants shaped like discs implanted to dense nerve-ending areas like fingertips which give humans a new way to sense and interact with the world. “Magnetic vision” is a field sending ability where the augmented human can sense magnetic fields. Essentially, in nerve-ending rich area like a fingertip, even the smallest movement of the biomagnet can be felt.

    Of course, magnets can also be implanted for lifting purposes. These magnets are more cylinder based and are less useful for sending magnetic fields – instead their purpose is simply to lift.

    The usefulness of biomagnets can certainly be argued, but one thing is for certain – augmented humans may be much more likely to negatively interfere with electronic devices.

    3. Blood Test

    03-blood-implant

    digitaltrends

    Not all biohacks are bizarre subculture inventions, some come straight from the lab. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) developed a device which could assist future doctors by monitoring substances in the body. The five sensors on the implant is capable of reporting lactate, glucose and ATP levels.

    After the device analyzes the user’s blood, it can transmit the information to a doctor over a cellular network. While still in a research phase, the scientists at EPFL believe it could be ready for the market within a few years.

    2. The North Sense

    02-north-sense

    cyborgnest

    Cyborg Nest’s North Sense device isn’t actually implanted into the wearer. Instead it is attached to the surface of the skin, but we think it still qualifies as a biohack. Right now, the functionality is incredibly basic – the device simply vibrates with the wearer is facing magnetic north.

    The North Sense is an experiment in new stimuli input. Cyborg Nest is looking to further their technology by developing new ways to interpret panoramic audio and visual sensing, which could give the wearer 360 degrees of awareness. Pretty sweet!

    1. Bioluminescence

    01-bioluminscence

    Ryan O’Shea

    There’s no way to recreate actual bioluminescence in humans (yet), so for not you’ll have to settle for the LED variety. Grown out of the reoccurring request for glow-in-the-dark tattoos, implanted LEDs are about the closest thing to emulating the bioluminescent look.

    These are purely cosmetic biohacks with little else to offer, but if you can’t imagine life without a Tony Stark-like glowing implant then this may be for you.

  • MoviePass Is Back

    MoviePass Is Back

    A few weeks ago MoviePass tried to quietly downgrade its movie theater subscription service to a limit of 3 movie per month. Thankfully MoviePass has come to their senses and went  back to its old one-movie-per-day plan. CEO Mitch Lowe now says the subscription service is “absolutely committed” to keeping it that way. This is Good News and just in time for summer.

    Now there are still some updates to their Unlimited plan. From now on including those of us on the former unlimited movie plan, we are only able to use the movie pass once per movie. I found this out the hard way when I tried to see Infinity war for the second time. This hurts, I was planning on seeing Solo everyday for an entire month..

    This isn’t the first time we have seen MoviePass make updates, tweak or change their plans. Actually the only constant in the MoviePass subscription plan is that it is ever evolving. We know the company is hemorrhaging money as they struggle to make the brilliance of bringing folks back to the theaters a profitable venture. Do you all remember the plan from last fall, the annual subscription plan for $89.95 upfront, which worked out to a lower monthly fee, but didn’t allow users to ask for refunds.

    The 3 movie a month plan is still available for $7.95 with the Iheartradio promotion, if you want to save that $2 a month. Its not a horrible plan either, how many good movies a month come out that you want to see.

    The Final Thought

    MoviePass is on to something here, people are talking about. Not in a negative way either. They are making noise, alot in the way Netflix did early in the millennia. Something is telling me the movie theater business model may end up molding to MoviePass subscription base. Ill continue to keep an eye on this and update you when necessary in the mean time their stock is trading at less then $3 a share, like Netflix did early in the millennia

  • Tech Throwback: The Original iPhone

    Tech Throwback: The Original iPhone

    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’s throwback is at the very center of our every day life, The iPhone.

     

    Eleven years ago  Steve Jobs announced a wide-screen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet device. But it wasn’t three products. It was one product. And we got it, Steve. We got iPhone. Its mind boggling today to consider life with out this device. As a very early adopter, Yes I had my first of many iPhones the night before the release. One of the perks of working for Cingular at the time, I was instantly dependent on it. Since that day I have never spent another day in which I haven’t touched an iPhone.

    Steve said at the legendary iPhone reveal” iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”

    The Stats

    The original iPhone, based on the P2 device of the Project Experience Purple (PEP) team, code-named M68 and device number iPhone1,1, had a 3.5-inch LCD screen at 320×480 and 163ppi, a quad-band 2G EDGE data radio, 802.11b.g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, and a 2-megapixel camera.

    It was powered by an ARM-based 1176JZ(F)-S processor and PowerVR MBX Lite 3D graphics chip, manufactured by Samsung, with a 1400 mAh battery, and had 128MB of onboard RAM. Two NAND Flash-based storage tiers were available at launch: 4GB or 8GB.

    More importantly, iPhone also included several sensors to enhance the experience, like an accelerometer that could automatically rotate the screen to match device orientation, a proximity sensor that could automatically turn off the screen when close to the face, and an ambient light sensor that could automatically adjust brightness.

    Getting Back in Touch With My Roots

    First grip on this old original iPhone, its so small, I feel like i could crush it with just a squeeze of my palm. I always like the look of it a lot more then the 3g or iPhone 4 models, something about the brushed aluminum. The power cord is huge, the 30 pin adapter is so ancient looking. As I power it on, I see the absence of so many crucial apps. No app store, no tv app no iMovie or podcast. Its like an iPhone with out the bloatware? where is Garage band or iTunes U? no emojis, or Facebook, or text tones or background pictures, newsfeed, drop down or drag up options,  As the white girls would say.. This is so basic. but it dose have a native YouTube app, so that is neat.

    The iPhone is still 2g, not 3g so the internet is dreadfully slow and I can not send a multimedia message.. yeah, no picture messages. I did find a work around for this by emailing them to there sms number in an email format. I checked my Myspace which was still logged in on after 10 years. The cool thing about this particular iPhone, aside it being a day one model is I upgraded immoderately to the 3g the following summer, and I never updated the software after the December 2007 update, so this remains a pretty original iPhone.

    All the pictures are fuzzy old mobile phone pictures, I used to think they where amazing. It did make for some crazy action shots though. What has really astounded me is the battery still functions, It was only used for a year then a second year as an ipod but still 11 years is a long time for a battery to hold.

     

     

    The Final Thought

    This was the spark that set us up for this bizarre world we have evolved to. We all know it and love it, When school kids 100 years from now look back at this time in the world, they will study about the iPhone on a device that was inspired by the iPhone.