The Year 2020 has arrived – GPS bullets to end high-speed car chases – Details

Tech News

GPS bullets are now a real deal.

Imagine a police officer pulls over a vehicle and then the car screeches off. A high-speed pursuit entails, which often ending in a crash.

Now say hello to GPS Bullets. A police force in the American mid-west is using GPS bullets that deploy tracking technology which reduce the need and the dangers of high-speed car chase. The theory is that by GPS bullets are fired from police cars and attach to the target car, which can the can then be followed, even if the drivers get away outrun the police. The GPS bullets allow for the getaway car to be tracked and hunted down.

As they say, you can out run a police radio. Now you won’t be able to outrun satellites.

Source

MODE watch bands for Android Wear

Android, Tech News, Wearables

Finally, Google has launched MODE watch bands to make changing and customising your Android Wear watch without any effort. The concept with the Google method is that the strap pin stays on the watch. The strap has a quick release mechanism.

Such a simple idea and one that couldn’t come soon enough!

Watch the video below for more info or head over to Google.

Highlights of the Apple’s Q2 Earnings call – Plus Editorial

Apple, Tech News, ,

So Apple held their Quarter 2 earnings call last night.

Below are the key highlights –

– 51.2 million iPhones sold vs 61 million sold the year before
– Mac sales 4.03 million down from 4.56 million from the year before
– 10.2 million iPads sold down from 12.6 million from the year before
– Quarterly revenue of $50.6 billion / net income of $10.5 billion /$1.90 per diluted share.
– Apple Music revenue up from £11m paying subscribers in Jan to £13m in April.
– Apple makes more money from its services than selling macs. App Store, iTunes and iCloud services have increased 35% from last year
– Apple Pay income not significant enough to declare figures.

Is it doom and gloom that sales have declined around 13%. Not at all. Apple also still has $233,000,000,000 in cash.

Lets repeat again what Apple sold despite the decline. It sold over 51 million iPhones, 4 million macs, 10.2 million iPads along with accessories and Apple Watches. And the net income is still $10.5 billion. That is still one hell of a result.

ZTE Nubia X8 – A Chinese Powerhouse – Should other manufacturers worry?

Android, Tech News, ,

1 ZTE-Nubia-X8

ZTE Nubia X8 has got leaked and it looks like it is going to be a monster of a smartphone based on the specs. Specs could include a 4K 6.4-inch screen, Snapdragon 823, 6GB RAM, 128 or 256GB internal storage. Other specs are all top of the line from metal build, slim bezels and a fingerprint scanner.

And here lies my point. Are these specs for specs sake? Will this phone get full worldwide support on all the network bands. Will this phone get software and security updates and for how long? What if you damage the phone? 4K screen and 6gb ram. This might be needed for Virtual Reality but really isn’t needed for anything else.

But then there is the other side of the coin. If Chinese manufacturers can keep pushing ahead with inventions will their be a new “Apple” brand but from China? It is not impossible but it will take a mammoth task to beat Apple at marketing and world wide distribution!

Source – pocketnow.com

The LG G5 review – 2 weeks later

Android, Reviews, Tech News, , ,

I am now into my second week of the LG G5 and will start to put pen to paper to document my thoughts on the LG G5.

I want my review to include at least 4 of the LG G5 Friends so that I can provide a FULL experience. I also want to wait until the first firmware which is due very soon, to see if any of the small bugs are fixed and also what new features are added. (new features are coming).

The G5 uses USB Type C and that meant having to make sure I had enough cables and USB Type C adapters. Now that I have a wide selection and more devices using USB Type C, I just cannot look back at micro USB. It feels so primitive. It is the same feeling after using Apple’s lightning cable.

So it is at this point in time, if you have anything you want included in the review, please let me know. I already have been asked about GPS performance.

Are Chromebooks about to become awesome? – Editorial

Android, Editorials, Tech News,

Several tech websites are reporting that Google is about to introduce some new updates to Chrome OS to allow around 1 million android apps to work on Chromebooks. This is likely to be introduced at Google I/O.

Is this happens, the Chromebook will become the most compelling laptop type device in ages. I have used several Chromebooks and for 95% of my workflow they worked beautifully. Super fast and cheap and easy to wipe clean and pass on to another person too. And with just a few of my android apps a Chromebook would take on a new lease of life.

Would android apps working on a Chromebook make you re-evalate purchasing one?

Fancy a Free Phone when you buy 1? – You Can

Tech News, Windows, ,

Microsoft Canada has a genius plan to double handset sales. Buy a Microsoft Lumia 950 and get one free. This deal will likely drift overseas at some point, hopefully.

Whilst this might seem a measure of desperation, it actually it one way of getting the phone into more people hands.

I will be honest, even if one was free, I wouldn’t be interested. I am waiting for Microsoft to have a Eureka moment and re-invent the smartphone. Anything is possible in the world of tech in just 18 months.

LG G5 BCK-5100 Hybrid Battery Charger & Portable Battery review

Android, Reviews, Tech News

image

Welcome to my review of the LG G5 BCK-5100 Hybrid Battery Charger & Portable Battery.

The LG G5 BCK-5100 is available and in stock from Clove Technology. It costs £39.99.

So what do you get in the box and why is this a hybrid charger.

image

Apart from a few leaflets you get the charging dock, a LG G5 battery and a plastic protective case for the spare battery to transport it in.

So unlike most current flagship phones none offer a user swappable battery like the G5. So with this kit, you can change the G5’s battery with the spare recharged one. This means rejuicing from 0% to 100% in seconds. The fastest quick charge ever!

The dock connects using the usb type C cable that came with your G5. Its annoying that a cable isn’t included especially at the price being charged. You place the battery inside and the led lights flash until all of them turn solid indicating a full battery.

But this is a hybrid charger meaning you can connect any USB cable and recharge another device. So in essence it doubles up as a portable battery charger as well.

The specifications are –

– Input : 5V, 1.8A (USB C type) 
– Output : 5V, 1A (USB A type)

If you have a LG G5 then this is a must have accessory. It is superb going from a flat battery to 100% in seconds and also having the ability to recharge another device.

Available from Clove Technology.

Pocket Casts for iOS – Details of the Big Update

Apple, apps, Tech News,

The developers of the superb Pocket Casts app have been working on a huge update for iOS. The android version has been updated ages ago and includes many features not found on the iOS version.

In a recent blog post, Shifty Jelly the developers explained what has happened with Pocket Casts for iOS and why it has been delayed by several months.

Fast forward to September and things seemed to be tracking well. Both Pocket Weather and Pocket Casts were cruising along, and we felt fairly confident in our estimates. So we did what any tech company does in this case, we published a blog post. In it we (foolishly, in hindsight) said we’d ship both Pocket Casts and Pocket Weather before 2015 was done. There was a real buzz at Shifty Jelly, this was going to be an awesome set of releases!

After the holiday period, we regrouped in January. Jeff would spend as much time as he could give us working on version 5.2, which added a dedicated full screen iPad interface, and I went back to work on Pocket Casts.

I’m working on it full time now, 5 days a week. When will it be out? When it’s ready. I’m sorry. It is however being worked on today, and tomorrow, and every day after that until it’s ready. It’s our core focus, our singular mission. So if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to coding.

So basically the app is being worked on full time and will be ready when its ready. As they say, better late than never. For the full transcript hit the source link below.

Source – Shifty Jelly