iPad Air 2 teardown reveals the ‘magic’ of Apple’s thinnest tablet: A smaller battery

How undignified: The iPad Air 2 — the world’s thinnest tablet! — has only been officially released for a few hours, and already the brutes at iFixit have torn down Apple’s new fondleslab to find out what magical gubbins lie within. Most notably, the teardown reveals that the iPad Air 2 is thinner and lighter than the original Air because… it has a much smaller battery. This explains why the listed battery life for the iPad Air 2 is the same 10 hours as the Air 1 — and why, in practice, some reviews have found that the new Air 2 actually has less battery life than its predecessor. Curiously, the teardown also found that the iPad Air 2 does have an NFC chip — even though reviews of the tablet show that NFC isn’t available.
Just like the original iPad Air, iFixit found that the iPad Air 2 is almost unrepairable, netting a Repairability Score of just 2 out of 10. Like the original iPad Air, the only way into the device is by removing the screen — and there’s so much adhesive that there’s a significant risk of cracking the display while trying to leverage it out. The Lightning connector is still soldered to the logic board, too, meaning it can’t be easily or cheaply replaced — and yes, removing the battery and its oodles of adhesive glue goo still requires a lot of fiddly elbow grease.

Removing the iPad Air 2’s display is hard work. The ‘tube’ thing is heated in the microwave, then used to melt the glue.

Speaking of the battery, the iPad Air 2 now has a 27.62 Wh (watt-hour) battery, as opposed to the 32.9 Wh unit in the original iPad Air — a reduction of about 17%. Amusingly enough, that reduction is almost exactly tied to iPad Air 2’s thickness, which is 18% thinner than the original iPad Air (6.1mm vs. 7.5mm). Apple maintains that the iPad Air 2 is still capable of the same “10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video or listening to music,” but some reviews have found that there is indeed a battery life hit. Recode, for example, found that the iPad Air 2 lasted 10 hours and 37 minutes in a battery life benchmark — a full 86 minutes less than the 12 hours and 13 minutes of last year’s iPad Air 1.
Rounding out the rest of the teardown, iFixit found the same NFC module that’s present on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, 2GB of Elpida RAM, and a new 8MP iSight camera that, despite the same name and pixel count as the camera on the iPhone 6 Plus, clearly isn’t the same piece of hardware (which explains why the iPad Air 2 still doens’t take great photos). The WiFi antennas have been moved to the top of the iPad Air 2 (they used to be along the bottom), which should improve reception a bit. The NFC module is a bit weird, considering the iPad Air 2 apparently (according to both reviews and Apple) doesn’t have NFC/contactless payments enabled. Maybe Apple will enable NFC at a later date?

iPad Air 2 logic board. Orange = RAM. Red = the A8X SoC. Green = the NFC module.

A closer look at the iPad Air 2 logic board, showing the A8X SoC

So, there you have it: If you were wondering how Apple could make a very thin and light tablet even thinner and lighter, it wasn’t some magical feat of engineering — they just made the battery thinner. Apple was obviously hoping to compensate for the smaller battery with the new A8X SoC — and no doubt some other small system-wide power savings elsewhere  — but seemingly didn’t quite pull it off. It’s worth pointing out that the iPad Air 2’s 10-hour battery life is still comparable to other flagship tablets on the market — but it is somewhat ironic that it’s beaten by last year’s model.

As I’ve said before, our shift towards mobile computing is still very much hindered by battery tech; displays are still doubling in resolution every few years, and chips are posting huge power reductions year over year, but at least for the foreseeable future, batteries are moving very slowly. If you want faster smartphones and tablets, and brighter and higher-resolution screens, battery life is going to take a hit — there’s currently no two ways about it, and there probably won’t be for many years to come.

Source: http://www.extremetech.com

Windows 10 Start menu: Taking a closer look

As you’ve probably heard by now, Windows 10 will see the illustrious return of the Start menu — except it isn’t quite the Start menu that you’re used to from Windows 7 and Vista. In fact, it’s better! The Windows 10 Start menu is the best Start menu yet. There, I said it.Let’s break it down. The left side of the Windows 10 Start menu is, except for some new coloring and formatting, is mostly identical to Windows 7. There are a few improvements, however: The power button has moved to the top, and the right-hand menus like Documents, Computer, and Control Panel have moved to the left, to a “pinned” section at the top. This frees up the right side of the Windows 10 Start menu for… live tiles!
 

Before you all run away screaming, the live tile/Metro portion of the new Start menu is surprisingly not that painful. By default, you get a bunch of Metro apps like Skype, Weather, Mail, and Store. You can remove any and all of these tiles (so that there are no live tiles at all) — or you can add just about anything you want, too. So, for example, you could just use the right side of the Start menu for large icons of your favorite apps and games (screenshot below). If you’re worried about the live tiles being too alive, you can turn off their updates/animations, too.

The Windows 10 Start menu is also quite customizable — or at least, more so than the stock Windows 7 Start menu. You can change the background color (right click > Personalize), drag live tiles around, and pin your favorite apps on the left hand side. Perhaps most importantly, you can customize which “system” items appear (Control Panel, Documents, This PC, etc.) — right click the taskbar > Properties > Start Menu > Customize. Very few of these items are on the Windows 10 Start menu by default, though.

In case you forgot, here’s the default Windows 7 Start menu

Windows 10 Start menu properties: Adding some system locations

Here I’ve added Control Panel to the left, then pinned an applet to the fly-out menu. Cool.

Otherwise, the Windows 10 Start menu functions pretty much as you’d expect it. You can type application names into the search/run box at the bottom, and if the name matches an app it will usually launch (some apps worked for me; some didn’t) — if you don’t get an exact match, the Search app pops up, which is basically just Bing in a browser window (but you can’t change it to Google, it seems). Clicking All Apps shows you the same All Apps view as Windows 7. The power button works as you’d expect. Clicking your portrait lets you lock or sign out of the PC.

You can also switch back to the Start screen via the taskbar properties window, if you so wish. So far, it seems the Windows 10 Start screen is identical to Windows 8.1. Switching to and from the Start screen/menu requires you to sign out and back in.

My Windows 10 Start menu at the moment, with some apps and games pinned

Windows 10 Start menu, in green. The taskbar changes color with the Start menu — I don’t think you can change them independently

I think that’s about it. So far, I’m pretty impressed with the Windows 10 Start menu. It’s a nice, updated version of the Windows 7 Start menu — with the added bonus that it might actually get mouse-and-keyboard users to open some Metro apps. Be sure to watch the hands-on video embedded above, which shows off most of the Windows 10 Start menu’s new features.

Source: http://www.extremetech.com

ET deals: Dell Venue 8 tablet for $150

Tablets are getting bigger and better all the time, as the bar raises for what can be considered a budget device. With an 8-inch 1080p display and Android 4.4, and selling for just $150 right now, Dell’s Venue 8 tab is an example of just how much you can get today without spending big.

8-inch tablets have become increasingly popular, in large part due to the ability of manufacturers to easily get more pixels and more power into the thin slabs of their tablets, making them more effective at both productivity and entertainment. That extra inch of real estate really comes in handy for both of those purposes, at just a slight cost to portability. Dell’s Venue 8 features an 8-inch display with 1920×1200 resolution — which is actually even higher res than your typical widescreen 1920×1080 display — giving you excellent pixel density. Powered by a dual-core Intel Atom Z3480 processor, it’ll provide solid performance for typical tablet uses like watching movies and browsing the net.

This Venue 8 includes 16GB of built-in storage and can be expanded via a microSD card, so it’ll be easy to access your entire media collection. Aside from a microUSB and a headphone/mic jack there’s not much else in the way of physical ports, but there is 802.11AC and Bluetooth 4.0 to cover your wireless needs.

Video chats will look good thanks to the 2MP front shooter, and there’s a 5MP rear camera as well for more detailed shots. At just 8.95mm thin and weighing 0.74 pounds, it’ll be simple to place it in a bag or just pick it up to take on the go. Dell backs it with a one year warranty. Take advantage of this rare doorbuster price on a capable tablet while it’s here.

Dell Venue 8 (3840) 16GB Android 4.4 tablet for $149.99. Get $50 savings instantly.

For those looking for tablets with a bit more oomph, or for professional use, we’ve got some great deals on larger tablets from Dell, Amazon and Microsoft for you to check out too. The Kindle gives you integrated 4G mobile access via AT&T, and the Dell Venue 8 and Surface Pro both offer tons of storage, a large screen size, and the full Windows 8 OS (Windows 8 Pro in the case of the Surface). Take a look below.


Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 4G LTE wireless tablet (refurb) for $159. Get $140 savings instantly.
Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 10.6-inch 128GB tablet (refurb) for $419.99. Get $580 savings instantly.
Dell Venue 11 Pro Core i5 Windows 8.1 1080p 128GB tablet for $649.99. Get $564.28 savings instantly.

Source: http://www.extremetech.com

Microsoft Band: A cross-platform fitness-oriented smartwatch for $200

 

Right on schedule — just a couple of days after the release of Google Fit, in fact — Microsoft has unveiled its first modern attempt at a wearable computer: the Microsoft Band, a fitness tracker with a small screen and some smartwatch-like properties. To get the most out of the Band, you’ll also need Microsoft Health, a quantified self/mobile health app that produces pretty graphs and tracks your various fitness-related activities (or lack thereof). Microsoft Band is available to buy today (in the US) for $200, and the Health app is available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

First, let’s talk about the Microsoft Band. Yes, it has an awful name — but I guess the only other option was the Windows Band or Surface Band, both of which are pretty bad, too. The Band is pretty much your standard fitness tracker, but with a rather large selection of sensors, including GPS, heart rate, and even UV, so that you know when to reapply the sunscreen lotion. There’s also a 1.4-inch touchscreen display (33mm by 11mm) with a fairly high resolution of 320×106. The whole thing, including 24-hour heart rate monitoring, will apparently have a battery life of 48 hours.

The interface, as you’d expect, looks like Windows Phone — in that it uses the same kind of typography and animations — but it has obviously been reworked specifically for a small, narrow screen. It looks like there’s a lot of swiping left and right — but you do have Cortana, if you want to take a note or set a reminder. The Microsoft Band also relays notifications, text messages, and incoming calls from your phone (though I don’t think you can actually answer the call on the Band). These features are apparently all cross-platform compatible — you don’t need a Windows Phone to use the Band; an iPhone or Android works just fine. (This is important, as the Microsoft Band’s prospective market — the rich middle class — are more likely to have an iPhone than a Windows Phone.)

Microsoft Health is a cloud-based “actionable insight” engine that takes data from your Band (or other compatible fitness tracker) and gives you feedback on how to better live your life. Apparently Health can tell you which exercises during your previous workout were the most effective, how long you need to rest before your next session, and how well you slept last night. There’s also a Health app for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone that links into this cloud-based engine to show you some pretty graphs and statistics. The Health website doesn’t explicitly say so, but I assume there’s also a web-based interface that you can log into from your PC.

Microsoft Health app, running on a Windows Phone

Microsoft Band, exploded

All in all, I’d say Microsoft Band — along with Health — is both well placed and well timed. $200 is a little bit on the expensive side, but the inclusion of a screen, Cortana, and relayed notifications definitely add some value — plus, $200 is still well within the “oh, maybe I’ll buy this as a Christmas present” range. $200 is also nicely placed against the Apple Watch, which will probably be in the $300-400 range. Samsung’s Gear Fit, which pretty closely resembles the Microsoft Band, is also $200 — but without the excellent cross-platform compatibility, and some interesting sensors, that Microsoft is promising.
Finally, it’s worth noting that Microsoft is handling the release of Band and Health rather oddly. There was no launch event, no coordinated PR carpet bombing, no review units — just a silent launch of their respective websites. We also don’t know what operating system the Band runs (presumably a cut down version of Windows Phone?) nor whether the claimed 48-hour battery life actually stands up to everyday use. Still, I’m sure everything will be clarified in the next few days and weeks.
The Microsoft Band is available from online and real-world Microsoft Stores for $200, starting today — but only in the US.

Source: http://www.extremetech.com

Microsoft launches wearable fitness device

NEW YORK: Microsoft Corp launched a device called "Microsoft Band" that will allow users to monitor their fitness and exercise regime, marking the world's largest software company's debut into the wearable technology market.

The wrist-worn device has sensors that monitor pulse rate, measure calorie burn and track sleep quality, Microsoft said in a blog post.

Microsoft said the device will be available in the United States in limited quantities from Thursday for $199.

Apple Inc unveiled a smart watch on Sept. 9 that will combine health and fitness tracking with communications and will go on sale in early 2015, while Samsung Electronics Co unveiled its Galaxy Gear smart watch in September 2013. The Apple Watch will be priced at $349.

Microsoft also launched a health app called "Microsoft Health" that includes a cloud service for users to store and combine health and fitness data.

The Microsoft Health app will collect data from the fitness band and will work on iPhones and Android smartphones, as well as its own Windows Phone. (REUTERS)

Source: http://www.samaa.tv

Can You Make the Web Safer? Facebook Might Have $300K for You

 

Have a great idea to help secure the Internet? You could win serious cash, courtesy of Facebook.

The social network just announced it will offer up to $300,000 to the winners of its Internet Security Prize in 2015, up from $50,000 this year. The contest is intended to reward those who are making the Web a safer place.
"Securing the internet is a challenge that grows more important every day, and it's something Facebook cares a lot about," the social network's Chief Security Officer, Joe Sullivan, said in a statement. "Reports of security vulnerabilities tend to grab the most attention in the industry, but some of the most promising ideas for a more secure Internet actually come from the academic world and can sometimes get lost in the mix."
Facebook will work will USENIX, a security research organization, to evaluate submissions. Prize money will go to researchers "who introduce the best new ideas along with working prototypes that promise real security gains." The funds are intended to help researchers continue their work and focus on making security solutions more accessible.


The social network in August awarded its first Internet Defense Prize of $50,000 to Johannes Dahse and Thorsten Holz (right) from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany. The researchers developed a method of detecting so-called "second-order vulnerabilities," in which malicious files are installed on a Web server and later used to cause harm.
If you're interested in participating in the contest this year, start getting your ideas together because Facebook said it will be accepting submissions soon. Winners will be announced at USENIX Security 2015 on August 12-15, in Washington, D.C. Head over to the Internet Defense Prize site for more info.

Source: http://www.pcmag.com
 

Putting the Cloud to Work

 IT budgets evolve with cloud services 
The obligations of maintaining an in-house server infrastructure are many, forcing most companies to focus on wringing the most ROI out of every penny spent on IT personnel and hardware. Adopting cloud-based strategies like virtualization, cloud-based server redundancy, and managed cloud services can help defray some of those costs. And that does more than just save money - it fundamentally changes IT’s role within the company, allowing the IT team to harness its skillset for larger tasks like maximizing server uptime, and to set its sights on greater prospects. 
“I believe the budget distributions are shifting and a lot of that change is squarely due to the rapid growth of cloud technologies in the past decade,” explained Andrew Storms, senior director of DevOps for CloudPassage. 
With a managed cloud solution, the minutiae of server storage and maintenance are left to the cloud provider, allowing companies to avoid costly investments in hardware and software. In addition to cutting capital expense, it also frees up time for internal IT staff. With more time left in the day, they’re able to focus on higher-level concerns, like helping the business scale smoothly. 
Cloud service partners can provision growing SMBs with an expanded infrastructure while helping to prepare IT departments for rapid growth. They can also advise and execute on new demands as theSMBs evolve, instantly adding or removing bandwidth and only charging for what is used. With that taken care of, IT departments can help their company scale in other ways, like implementing new features, expanding support offerings, experimenting with new technology, or researching and developing new workflows and protocols. Now, IT’s role in the company’s growth isn’t limited to maintaining and expanding the IT infrastructure – it’s offering strategic contributions directly tied to profit and growth. 
Storms goes on to say, “The overall percentage of budgets associated with each department in a company often changes as the company morphs during its maturity.” Many businesses are tempted to move budget away from IT as the company expands, investing it into areas that are more traditionally and closely tied to profits. During a time when cash flow is King, that’s an understandable knee-jerk reaction. 
“For example, early on a company will spend more money on research and development, and then later - as the product matures - budgets begin to shift more into sales and marketing,” Storms continues. 
But as the modern IT department, enabled by flexible cloud solutions, shifts its focus away from day-to-day updates and time-consuming backups and becomes more capable of impacting revenue, this classic shift that Storms describes will become less common - and less advantageous for the company. With the time and skillset to discover, evaluate, and integrate new technology, the IT department is where the future of your company will be determined. 
The cost savings of the cloud have been a boon to small businesses. When properly managed, cloud services help keep priorities and structure intact as a company grows. Most importantly, the cloud frees up your IT team to tackle a broader range of more challenging issues. It is not, however, a magic bullet that instantaneously maximizes profitability upon adoption – it requires a well-executed strategy catered to your business needs. Your cloud provider should help you plan out your approach based on your market, budget, and projections, and offer support and guidance as your company expands.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com

Gmail Inbox: Hands on with Google’s latest attempt to fix email

Ah, email. Essentially unchanged since its inception some 40 years ago, email — with a few extensions along the way to support other character sets and multimedia attachments — has had remarkable staying power. No one quite knows why email has stuck around for so long, but it’s probably because it’s so simple and completely platform agnostic; you can send an email from your laptop or smartphone or car or refrigerator to any other internet-connected device. Try that with Apple iMessage or Google Hangouts.
That isn’t to say that people haven’t tried to replace email over the years. Because email is so old, and because it’s a messy mishmash of standards, and because email has to retain support for ancient and embedded devices, it has plenty of problems and limitations that can’t really be fixed. So far, none of these email replacements have ever managed to establish a beachhead — they usually enjoy lot of activity in the short-term, but when the users realize that everyone else is still using email, they fall quickly back in line.

Ah, Google Wave, how I loved thee

Google itself has already tried to replace email once with Wave — a short-lived web app that, way back in 2009, tried to merge email, IM, wikis, and social media into a single uberplatform. Google quickly realized that replacing email wasn’t going to work; so it turned to fixing email instead — first by adding a social layer with Buzz, then with Priority Inbox in 2010, and Smart Labels in 2011. Buzz would eventually become Google+, and Smart Labels would become Gmail’s current tabbed view.

And now… and now there’s Gmail Inbox.

Gmail Inbox

Gmail Inbox — or “Inbox by Gmail” to give its full name — is, in a nutshell, the tabbed version of Gmail taken to the next level. Instead of clicking the Social or Promotions tab, they now appear as a bundle in your main email stream. So, with Inbox, your main interface consists of your primary inbox (all your important/flagged emails) — and then bundles of emails that you can click to expand.
Inbox increases the number of bundles over Gmail’s tabs, too — there’s now Travel, Purchases, Finance, Social, Updates, Forums, and Promos. In my early testing, these all seem to be very good at picking out the right emails. You can also add your own bundles (they’re basically just labels, but promoted to your main email feed). I don’t know if user-created bundles can be “intelligent” like the pre-defined bundles, or if they can only match specific rules/conditions. (I’ll update this post as I find out more, over the next few days and weeks.)

Gmail Inbox: Snoozing an email. You can also see the buttons for pinning and “done.” (Click to zoom in.)

Other than bundles, Inbox introduces the following new features:

• You now see thumbnails in your main feed (you can open videos, images, and other attachments directly without opening the email).
• You can pin emails, which makes them appear on a new “pinned items” page — but you can no longer star an item, or mark it as important.
• You can mark an email as “done,” which moves it to a new “Done” list. (This is the same as archiving an email in Gmail.) By default, all your sent email seems to go to the Done list.
• You can snooze an email (or email thread) until a certain date or time. It then magically reappears at the top of your main email feed when the snooze expires.
• There’s a new “sweep” function that moves everything on your screen (or all selected items) to the Done list.
• There’s now a red button in the bottom right corner that lets you compose an email, set a reminder, or quickly email your three most-regularly-emailed friends (pictured below).

What’s it like to use Gmail Inbox?

Gmail Inbox: Behind the red button — set a reminder, or email your most frequent contacts

Obviously, Inbox looks nothing like Gmail; the font is the same, but that’s about it. There’s a lot more empty space, and each screen shows a lot less information.
Bundles are the core concept of Inbox — and so far, I quite like them. The idea is that you can click into a bundle, check what’s going on, and then press escape (or click anywhere outside the bundle) to close it. Like Gmail, you can reply in-line by hitting R or A.
Overall, Inbox feels very fast, very responsive — perhaps even more so than Gmail. (Maybe Google tweaked the JavaScript or something?) The improved speed and responsiveness might make up for the lower visual bandwidth of Inbox; you can’t see as many emails on-screen with Inbox, but maybe the ease of using bundles, setting reminders, and switching to your Pinned and Done views will make it worthwhile? Google could always add a “compact” view to Inbox, too, to squeeze more data onto the screen.

Gmail Inbox: Pinned view. You toggle the pin button at the top to enable/disable this view.

Gmail Inbox: Main menu. For some reason, its hidden behind a button in the top left corner.

One of my biggest irks so far is that all of your labels, bundles, screens, etc. are hidden behind a menu button in the top left corner. As far as I can tell, you have to physically click the top left corner to open the main menu. (A keyboard shortcut might be added later.) There is plenty of empty space for permanent tabs across the top or side of the page, if Google so wishes — but maybe bundles are so good that you just don’t need to move away from your main email stream? (I’ll need to use it for a few more days to find out.)
The two features that I like the most are the ability to snooze emails, and being able to set reminders directly from my inbox — or even from within emails. (Having said that, Google could easily add both of those features to conventional Gmail.)
There is also an Inbox app for Android and iOS. I’ve only tried the Android version, which looks and works a lot like the web interface, but functions like snoozing and pinning are activated by the dreaded push-and-hold. It’s also a bit crazy that Inbox can only squeeze four or five emails onto my smartphone’s 1920×1080 screen, too.

The rather claustrophobic interface of the Gmail Inbox app for Android

Does Inbox stand a chance?

Other than burying the main menu behind a mouse click, the only problems I’ve found so far is that you can’t snooze a bundle (it sure would be nice to snooze my Social bundle for a few hours), and using Inbox may adversely affect your old Gmail inbox — for example, some emails that used to be in my Forums tab of Gmail have now magically moved to the Promotions tab. As far as I’m aware, I didn’t do anything to make this happen: it just happened automatically when I started using Inbox.
Google says that you can use Inbox and Gmail at the same time — and indeed, I’m doing that at the moment — but you may end up getting a bit confused, especially if you start snoozing, pinning, and “doneing” emails. Google recommends that you stick with one or the other, and I’d suggest the same, too. The good news is that no actions in Inbox are destructive; you might move a few emails to the archive, but that’s about it. If you want to try Inbox for a few days, and then go back to Gmail, everything should be fine (with the exception of any bugs, which are likely at this early stage of the beta).
What’s the end goal here? From what I’ve seen so far, I think we’re just looking at the next iteration of Gmail. It might look nothing like Gmail now, but it wouldn’t be hard for Google to offer a theme with a permanent left-hand menu and more condensed/compact rows. There’s nothing in Gmail Inbox that seeks to replace email, or to break compatibility with other big email providers (Yahoo, Microsoft, etc.) — I don’t think this is some kind of crazy move to replace or deprecate email. If anything, it’s an attempt to keep people using email, instead of moving to social platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
Gmail Inbox is essentially just another attempt to make your inbox more manageable — which, given the name of the product, makes a lot of sense. I’ll be using it extensively over the next few weeks to see if it actually increases my productivity or quality of life. Stay tuned.
Gmail Inbox is currently invite-only. You email inbox@google.com if you want to get on the waiting list. Sadly, I haven’t yet been given invites to hand out.

Source: http://www.extremetech.com

Antares rocket explodes during launch

Last night, an Antares rocket — CRS Orb-3 — exploded 14 seconds after launch. The Antares, developed by US company Orbital Sciences, was meant to carry around 5,000 pounds (2,200 kilos) of supplies to the International Space Station. No one was harmed by the explosion, though the launch site will have sustained significant damage. We don’t yet know the cause of the explosion, but I’m sure that Orbital Sciences’ decision to use ancient (but refurbished) Russian NK-33 rocket engines will come under a lot of scrutiny.
The six astronauts currently aboard the ISS will be fine; NASA says they have months of supplies — and anyway, Russia successfully launched its own Progress resupply craft last night, just a couple of hours after the Antares went kaboom.

Source: http://www.extremetech.com

Find hidden gems with new apps

TORONTO: News apps are helping users share information about sights and hidden gems in cities and countries around the globe so other people can benefit from their knowledge.

Findery, a free app for iPhone and Android available worldwide, lets people view trivia and stories about favorite locations, whether it's a building, beach, or a landmark like the Eiffel Tower.

"We want to help bring curiosity, adventure and exploration into daily life,” said Caterina Fake, founder and chief executive officer of Findery, based in San Francisco.

When users open the app they can read notes and inside tips or view photos and videos by others about nearby locations, which can be viewed on a map.

“I was standing in front of a building I pass a thousand times and found out that Ann Rice wrote 'Interview with a Vampire' there,” Fake said of the vampire novel by the American author.

The app includes copious notes about cities like New York and San Francisco and information about countries around the globe.

“We want to ground people in the place they’re standing and where they are, which technology has the tendency to take us away from,” Fake said.

Findery and other apps aim to enhance the travel experience.

Wikipedia recently re-introduced a feature called Nearby on its free iOS and Android apps that shows people entries about nearby places, landmarks, historical events and monuments.

“It’s a great thing to do when wandering through a new city, and it’s the number one thing people asked us for," said Katherine Maher, chief communications officer of the San Francisco-based Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging the free distribution of educational material.

HistoryPin, free for iOS, Android and Windows phone, allows people to explore history through photos geo-tagged on a map. Users can also overlay historic photos over the present view with the app’s augmented reality view.

People wanting to discover hidden culinary locations can use apps such as  Find. Eat. Drink, for iPhone, and Chefs Feed for iPhone and Android. Foodies profile their favorite restaurants on the apps.

Craig Palli, chief strategy officer of Boston-based mobile app marketing firm Fiksu, says Findery is likely to strike a chord with consumers, but its long-term staying power will depend on people contributing notes.

“It will need to hit critical mass. If they can hit scale, I think it’s an excellent premise,” he said. - REUTERS

'Ambulance drone' hovers in Holland

LA HAYE: A Dutch-based student on Tuesday unveiled a prototype of an "ambulance drone", a flying defibrillator able to reach heart attack victims within precious life-saving minutes.

Developed by Belgian engineering graduate Alec Momont, it can fly at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour).

"Around 800,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest in the European Union every year and only 8.0 percent survive," Momont, 23, said at the TU Delft University.

"The main reason for this is the relatively long response time of emergency services of around 10 minutes, while brain death and fatalities occur with four to six minutes," he said in a statement.

"The ambulance drone can get a defibrillator to a patient within a 12 square kilometre (4.6 square miles) zone within a minute, reducing the chance of survival from 8 percent to 80 percent."

Painted in emergency services yellow and driven by six propellers, the drone can carry a four kilogramme load -- in this case a defibrillator.

It tracks emergency mobile calls and uses the GPS to navigate.

Once at the scene, an operator, like a paramedic, can watch, talk and instruct those helping the victim by using an on-board camera connected to a control room via a livestream webcam.

The prototype has already attracted the interest of emergency services including that of Amsterdam, the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad said.

The Dutch Heart Foundation also applauded the idea, the newspaper added.

Momont however wants his drone to become a "flying medical toolbox" able to carry an oxygen mask to a person trapped in a fire or an insulin injection to a diabetes sufferer.

However, the drone is still in its infancy as far as developing its steering mechanism and legal issues regarding its use are concerned, Momont said.

He said he hopes to have an operational emergency drone network across the Netherlands in five years.

The drone is expected to cost around 15,000 euros ($19,000) each.

"I hope it will save hundreds of lives in the next five years," Momont said. (AFP)

Google seeks way to scan bodies for disease

SAN FRANCISCO:  Google is exploring a way to search inside people's bodies for early signs of deadly illnesses such as cancer or heart disease.

A Life Sciences team at the special projects Google X Lab are experimenting with having "nanoparticles" hunt for signs of medical trouble in bloodstreams and then essentially report findings to sensors people could wear.

"This is still early-stage research, but we've done a number of promising experiments, so we're going to keep going," Google said in a description of the project made public Tuesday.

Imagined applications include a test for enzymes given off by arterial plaques that are about to rupture and cause a heart attack or stroke, or a way to watch for cancer cells after surgery or chemo treatments.

Early detection is known to dramatically increase chances of successfully treating a number of life-threatening diseases.

Batches of specially crafted nanoparticles, each microscopic in size, could be swallowed in pills and then absorbed into bloodstreams where they would stick to targeted cells such as cancer.

Magnetic qualities designed into nanoparticles allow them to be drawn to worn devices and counted using non-invasive detection methods such as light or radio waves, according to Google.

If successful, the technology could "help physicians detect a disease that's starting to develop in the body," the California-based technology titan said.

Google said that it would license the technology to companies interested in using it for medically approved diagnostics.

Google Life Sciences team innovations include contact lenses that measure glucose levels in tears to allow people with diabetes to track blood sugar, and eating utensils that cancel out trembling hands caused by diseases such as Parkinsons.

Google also last year formed a company called Calico with a mission to address problems of health and aging by harnessing advanced technologies. (AFP)

Apple's good and bad news

NEW YORK: Apple Inc forecast a strong holiday quarter after a better-than-expected 16 percent jump in iPhone sales, and the strongest growth in Mac computer shipments in years helped the company surpass Wall Street's targets.

The company on Monday projected stronger-than-expected revenue of $63.5 billion to $66.5 billion in the December quarter, when new iPads and iPhones vie with rival devices from Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc for consumers' holiday outlays.

Shares of Apple rose 1.3 percent to about $101.10 in after-hours trade.

But sales of the iPad, which helped launch the mainstream tablet market in 2010, slid for the third straight quarter. A gradual decline in tablet demand worldwide has worried investors already concerned with Apple's slowing growth, who are awaiting a new device that can energize its expansion.

Sales of Apple's tablet slid more than 7 percent from the previous quarter to 12.3 million units, and were down 13 percent from the year-ago period.

Some investors hope that Apple's recently forged alliance with International Business Machines Corp, intended to drive tablet and phone sales to corporate customers, may help reverse a decline in sales of the tablet device.

Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview that the pair of tech giants had already signed on 50 "foundational" or initial clients, and the two intend to introduce their first jointly designed software apps next month.

"The level of interest from the corporate world has been incredible," Maestri said.

WAX AND WANE

Apple's fortunes, however, still largely hinge on the iPhone, which accounts for half its business, and the company's ability to again re-define markets with new technology gadgets. The Apple Watch, the company's entry in the nascent wearables category, will not hit store shelves till 2015.

Orders for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus began in September, helping Apple chalk up a 12.2 percent jump in revenue last quarter to $42.12 billion. That exceeded the roughly $39.9 billion that Wall Street analysts had predicted, on average.

The new iPhone, which comes in larger sizes and a heftier price tag, marks Apple's best product launch on record. That helped push overall smartphone sales to 39.27 million in the September quarter, beating the roughly 38 million some on Wall Street had anticipated.

Maestri said in an interview that the new iPhones, which went on sale just last week in China, had already surpassed the previous-generation model in terms of volume.

The company also posted the strongest percentage growth in Mac sales, of 21 percent to 5.5 million units, since the December quarter of 2011.  REUTERS

New iPads aim to boost Apple in premium tablet market

SAN FRANCISCO: With the global tablet computer market showing signs of cooling, Apple's expected unveiling of its new iPads Thursday looks to shore up its position at the high end.

The iPad event in a small auditorium on Apple's campus in the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino comes with Google reportedly set to introduce a new Nexus tablet powered by Android software and manufactured by Taiwan's HTC.

Google-backed Android software has the biggest share of the global tablet market due to the ubiquity of low-priced devices they power, according to Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa.

Apple tablets driven by the company's iOS software have the second largest market share, with a small portion going to devices running on Microsoft's mobile Windows operating system.

"Apple has a limited addressable market, because Apple products, in general, are not for everybody," Kitagawa said of the company sticking with its formula of premium products at top-end prices.

"I think Apple is going to keep on with the premium segment; I don't believe they are going to have a cheap iPad."

The overall tablet market is moving toward low-cost devices, meaning that hardware makers unwilling to let go of premium pricing will tend to lose share, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) analyst Jitesh Ubrani.

Apple's current line of iPads starts at around $400 for the "mini" tablet and $500 for the larger iPad Air in the US market, nearly twice the cost of many Android devices.

Analysts predicted the Apple event on Thursday to be low-key, showcasing iPads enhanced with features such as fingerprint reading and the Apple Pay mobile wallet which are also built into top-of-the-line iPhones.

- Holding tablets longer -

Freshening the iPad line is not expected to dramatically boost sales in a tablet market that has been cooling.

"A substantial redesign of the iPad is required to help give much needed momentum to iPad sales and the tablet market as a whole," Ubrani said.

Many tablet makers mistakenly assumed that people would replace the devices as often as they bought new smartphones, according to Gartner analyst Van Baker.

It turns out people are holding onto tablets much longer, because they typically supplement other screens and telecom companies don't subsidize prices the way they do with smartphones.

"As long as my iPad 3 does what I want it to do, there is little incentive to get a new one," said Baker.

While the tablet boom appears to have quieted in developed economies where there is more cash to spend on premium products, opportunity is seen in the business world where the devices can make some jobs more efficient.

- On the job -

"One way for Apple to secure their market is by getting more business users," Kitagawa said.

"It is not the most productive device for many types of work, but some jobs that involve moving around are perfect like health care or sales or insurance inspectors."

In contrast, jobs that require sitting in an office tending to data, documents or spread sheets are better suited for now to computers with keyboards, large monitors, and mouse controllers.

System administrators at major businesses long reliant on Microsoft software understandably lean toward Windows tablets, but are often pressured to accommodate personal mobile devices such as iPads that workers want to use on the job.

Microsoft Surface tablets have been geared for business needs and aimed squarely at workplaces.

Tablets won't eclipse personal computers as fast as previously thought, according to market watchers.

"The tablet market is going through a bit of a lag as buyers figure out what it is good for; what they want, and how much they want to spend," said Forrester analyst Frank Gillett.

"Some people figure they can't replace a laptop with a tablet, so are essentially deciding whether to commit to a third gadget in their lives."

IDC earlier this year cut its forecast for shipments of tablets and "two-in-one" devices combining tablet and laptop features to 233.1 million, saying growth would be about half of what was originally predicted.

While shipments in mature markets such as North America and Western Europe were forecast to remain flat, those in emerging regions were expected to climb overall by 12 percent.

Meanwhile, the outlook for personal computer (PC) shipments was less dreary than originally envisioned, due in part to businesses replacing machines powered by outdated Windows XP software.

"The PC (personal computer) is not dead," Kitagawa said.

"Tablets and PCs are going to live together." - AFP

Britain threatens Internet 'trolls' with two years in jail

LONDON: People found guilty of Internet "trolling" in Britain could be jailed for up to two years under government proposals outlined on Sunday, following a number of high-profile cases of abusive and threatening behaviour on Twitter.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "This is a law to combat cruelty -- and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber-mob."

There has been increasing concern in Britain about the growing scourge of Internet "trolls" who post hate-filled messages on social media, often threatening their targets.

The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among the most recent victims, and last month a man was jailed for 18 weeks for what prosecutors described as "a campaign of hatred" against a female lawmaker.

"These internet trolls are cowards who are poisoning our national life. No-one would permit such venom in person, so there should be no place for it on social media," Grayling said.

"That is why we are determined to quadruple the current six-month sentence."

Victims have long been calling for police and prosecutors to take online abuse more seriously and lawyers had anticipated an increase in sentences for those convicted of trolling.

"There is a public interest in having people put away for a long time," Chris Holder, of London law firm Bristows, told AFP earlier this month.

"It is putting someone in fear of their life and fear of physical harm. I think the law will develop and the sentences will go up and up."

However, some lawyers and freedom of speech campaigners have warned that criminal sanctions should be the last resort.

"Do we want to criminalise every social conduct that we find problematic?" Barbora Bukovska, a senior director at campaign group ARTICLE 19, said earlier this month.

Prosecutions can currently be brought under a number of different laws, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last year introduced guidelines to address any confusion.

It said messages sent via social media could be a criminal offence if they contain "credible threats of violence" or target an individual in a way that "may constitute harassment or stalking".

The government proposes to amend two existing laws to extend the maximum jail term and also the time limit for prosecutions, from six months to three years. - AFP