Wednesday, November 30, 2016

iFixit teardown reveals 13-inch Macbook Pro with Touch Bar difficult to repair

iFixit teardown reveals 13-inch Macbook Pro with Touch Bar difficult to repair

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iFixit has got its hands on the 13-inch Macbook Pro with Touch Bar, and did what it does the best, rip it apart to know what it holds within. Comparing it with the 13-inch Macbook Pro without the Touch Bar, there are some significant differences.
macbook_pro_ifixit
To begin with, both MacBook Pros come with same dimensions, but the one with Touch Bar is 20 grams lighter due to the smaller battery. It gets a very poor score of 1/10, highlighting how the device is not easily repairable. Though the trackpad can be removed without first removing the battery, there are just too many sore points. The internal elements have been redesigned in such a way that there is room for the Touch Bar. The flex cable that connected the Touch Bar to the mainboard is wrapped under it and that made removing it all the more difficult.
The iFixit report also pointed out that fixing a faulty power switch will need replacing the entire logic board. “The Touch ID sensor doubles as the power switch, and is paired with the T1 chip on the logic board. Fixing a broken power switch may require help from Apple, or a new logic board, iFixit explains.
Moving to the battery, the report adds that the battery assembly is entirely, and very solidly, glued into the case, thus complicating replacement. Moreover, proprietary pentalobe screws continue to make working on the device unnecessarily difficult. You can read the complete report here.

Samsung, Apple, Motorola and Micromax make 65 percent of the second hand market in India: Cashify survey

Samsung, Apple, Motorola and Micromax make 65 percent of the second hand market in India: Cashify survey

(Image: Reuters)
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Lurking somewhere behind the booming smartphone segment is an active ‘seconds’ market. And, hasn’t it always been there?
Go back by a decade, and most of us will remember walking into a local mobile store, and exchanging our older phone for a new/used shiny device. In the last couple of years, the e-commerce space has tried to emulate the same online, with a push given especially by premium brands like Apple and Samsung, often with their full page advertisements persuading consumers to exchange older devices. And, there are many online players helping ecommerce companies and others achieve just that.  There is an entire ecosystem for the seconds market like Quikr, OLX and Ebay, and one such is Cashify.
Cashify is basically involved in disposing off your old electronics through an online/app journey that includes doorstep pickup service, and also instant payment of your choice. Fort doing so it has teamed up with some of the major online as well as offline players including Snapdeal, Amazon, eBay, Croma, Google and HP, among others. CEO, Mandeep Manocha tells us that, “Cashify has build custom software interface and embedded these in many such e-commerce players enabling them to offer exchange as a sales promotion to their customers from an affordability perspective.”
Cashify is now out with its internal research report showing the peculiar pattern of the exchange market conducted over a sample size of 90,000 users (in the period August to October). To begin with, it says 40 used smartphones are being traded in the second hand smartphone market for every 100 new smartphones. And, the average selling price of 70 percent of the phones sold were in the range of Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000.
The report shows a massive growth in buyback in the month of October, which could be possibly owing to the festive season. But, the number of unique models traded online were higher in August compared to October.
growth-in-buyback
Image: Tech2 Data source: Cashify
total-unique-models-traded-online
Image: Tech2 Data source: Cashify
And, only 7-8 percent of all devices traded are above Rs 18,000 in value, and this constitutes mainly of iPhones and some high end Samsung devices. However, Manocha explains the demand may be dynamic but the brand perception remains largely unchanged. That pretty much explains why the iPhone shows the slowest depreciation rate. However, when it comes to exchange of devices, Samsung leads by a good margin. The reason is simple Samsung release phones on varying price point and is still the seasoned OEM that has been conveniently filling the gap left by Nokia. Then, we also have the likes of Chinese vendors such as Xiaomi and OnePlus, among others who have managed to become a part of the market.
In terms of the brand share, 65 percent share in the second hand smartphone market has been captured by four brands – Samsung, Apple, Motorola and Micromax.
brand-tradein-percentage
Image: Tech2 Data source: Cashify
“Brands like OnePlus and Xiaomi and Lenovo have significantly added to the secondhand market options both in terms of price-points and device variety, as they have to the new device market. The market acceptance of such brands has further driven their second hand demand,” he added.
brand-tradein-percentage
Image: Tech2 Data source: Cashify
He also points out a significantly lower refresh cycle for low priced second-hand devices “With the entry of an array of low priced devices that have captured large market share has seen a fair number of such phones further entering the second hand market. Such devices will not only have a lower first refresh cycle but an even lower second refresh cycle. So customers buying low priced second-hand phones would find themselves needing to replace their device much sooner than expected. A secondhand customer who would have ideally come back to the market for another second hand device in a 6 to 11 months is now back in 3 to 6 months. This keeps the demand going,” he said.
Cashify survey also reveals that Delhi saw the maximum second-hand phone sale, followed by Bangalore and Mumbai.

Nissan to use big data to alert users about maintenance of the upcoming connected cars

Nissan to use big data to alert users about maintenance of the upcoming connected cars

Image: MirrorLink
Nissan Motor Co will make its first major foray into internet-connected cars by offering an option in some new vehicles that will use big data technology to notify drivers when vehicle maintenance is required. As automakers compete fiercely to develop self-driving cars and improve the customer experience inside vehicles, Japan’s second-largest car maker said on Tuesday it will begin rolling out the service in Japan and India in 2017, followed by other countries through 2020.
With the availability of new mobility options including ride-hailing and car-sharing services threatening to cool demand for individual car ownership, automakers are looking for new ways to attract loyal drivers. Toyota Motor Corp, Japan’s biggest car maker, announced earlier this month that it will have a similar alerting feature in the domestic version of the upcoming Prius plug-in model.
And Ford Motor Co last month announced that by year’s end, some of its models will be able to communicate with smart home devices using Amazon’s Alexa voice service. Nissan said that it would also market the device required to access the service, which can be retrofitted into existing models. In the future, 30 percent of its existing vehicles would eventually be equipped with the hardware, it said.
The new service will be enabled by a telematics control unit which will enable the automaker and its dealer network to access information about the car’s diagnostics and location, alerting the driver to any required maintenance work. “With connectivity we can provide better information and better service offerings to our customers,” Kent O’Hara, Nissan corporate vice president and head of its global aftersales division, told reporters at a briefing.
“We’ll know what’s wrong with that vehicle, we’ll know where the vehicle is, we’ll know what parts are needed for the vehicle … and we can provide convenient service and alternative transportation options.” He added that connectivity services and other new technologies would contribute 25 percent of the automaker’s aftersales revenues by 2022, from “low, single digits” at the moment.
Aftersales generally account for around 14 percent of automaker revenues, according to industry experts. O’Hara said that connectivity services would enable Nissan to “enjoy some growth in our retention of customers over what we experience today”. Nissan declined to offer pricing details on the device, but the company is focusing on marketing new technology in mass-market models. Many automakers often reserve sophisticated services and functions to higher-end models.
Earlier this year, Nissan launched a minivan in Japan which can self-drive on single-lane motorways and navigate congestion, while this month it launched its new gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain in its Note subcompact car for the Japanese market.
Reuters

Huawei P10 curved display variant leaks in renders

Huawei P10 curved display variant leaks in renders

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Huawei is one of the global leaders in the smartphone market thanks to its respectable phones. While their budget segment Honor range has been a decent seller, their high-end devices like the Huawei P9 and the Nexus 6P did impress the masses.
Huawei is expected to announce the update to the dual-camera lens equipped P9 smartphone somewhere next year and leaks have already begun. According to a recent render leak, the company might bring in a curved variant of the P10. There is a possibility that the company might go the Samsung way by announcing a curved and a standard display variant of the smartphone. Whatever be the case, the render does look genuine.
Apart from the dual-lens camera setup, we can see the Leica branding just like the the P9. Which means that Huawei will once again capitalise on the popular camera brand association. Alleged specifications of the smartphone were seen on a GFX benchmark listing pointing a 5.5-inch Quad HD display, a Huawei Kirin 960 processor. It will also feature 6GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage, which is presumed to be expandable via microSD. Other lower RAM and storage variants are also expected.
While the render clearly shows the Leica branding, there is a possibility that Huawei will bump up the resolution of the camera to 16MP. Expect an announcement around of the smartphone somewhere around Q2 of 2017.

MediaTek to foray into making chipsets for the automative industry

MediaTek to foray into making chipsets for the automative industry

Image Credit: REUTERS
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MediaTek is known for making chipsets for smartphones, connectivity, home entertainment and IoT devices. The company has today announced its new plan to foray into the automotive industry in the beginning of Q1 2017.
According to the company, the market for connected and autonomous vehicles is growing rapidly and there is need for advanced technologies that offer a blend of power-efficiency, processing power and affordability. MediaTek believes that with its technology expertise in chipset design. It positions the company well to bring innovative multimedia, connectivity and sensor solutions to the automotive industry.
MediaTek solutions for automobile manufacturers will cover four key areas, including:
  • Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (Vision-based ADAS): Reimagined from the ground up, MediaTek’s ADAS system will feature cutting-edge, decentralised Vision Processing Unit (VPU) solutions to optimally handle large amounts of real-time visual streaming data. MediaTek employs Machine Learning to increase the accuracy and speed of detection, recognition and tracking, making it more comparable to human decision-making performance.
  • Precision Millimeter Wave (mmWave) Radar: MediaTek is drawing on its technology expertise and heritage in high frequency RF and connectivity, bringing the automotive industry mmWave radar solutions that use higher frequencies to gain better object resolution and more precise detection. Residing in the high frequency band, mmWave radar can recognise targets more accurately and is more resistant to fog, rain, snow and other weather conditions than current types of radar.
  • Superior In-Vehicle Infotainment: MediaTek has developed powerful 2D and 3D processing technologies to ensure its application processors perform at the highest levels of efficiency and speed. MediaTek in-car entertainment solutions offer a high level of integration of navigational and multimedia features and connectivity options.
  • Enhanced Telematics: MediaTek Telematics is a robust solution to handle a variety of high-bandwidth information transfers and can support a wide variety of connectivity standards (Cellular 4G/3G/2G, Wi-Fi, BT/BLE ) and map-based applications. MediaTek Telematics offerings align with the company’s core strengths: power-efficiency, highly integrated system-in-packages, broad networking and connectivity support.
“The demands of connected and autonomous vehicles require a unique portfolio of technologies. MediaTek’s core competencies create a natural progression for us to design for the future of driving,” said JC Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the New Business Department Business Unit at MediaTek.
“We have a strong technology portfolio generated from $10 billion in research and development investment over the past 12 years from modem and RF advancements, computing technologies and connectivity to intelligent algorithms. We are developing semiconductor solutions to make an impact in the automotive industry and are focused on core areas of in-vehicle Infotainment, Telematics and safety ADAS to further the evolution toward autonomous driving. The complicated systems of tomorrow’s high-tech cars will require a high degree of integration, innovative power management and improved functionality to support both the highest level of safety demands and driving experiences consumers need. MediaTek will bring one integrated package of semiconductors to the market – a holistic solution that is now lacking in the auto industry.”

Google cracks the whip on fake reviews, ratings on Play Store

Google cracks the whip on fake reviews, ratings on Play Store

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Not many would consider buying a product, service, app or even watch a movie without referring to expert/consumer reviews. Our lives are dependent on online reviews, at least most of us would agree. It simply means gauging from the experience of people who have been there, done that. But, what if these reviews are a part of a foul-play, wherein a product seller or app developer is adding reviews to popularise his or her product.
Google has now announced some major improvement in the backend that will help identify fake reviews. It has basically improved the ways in which it identifies and removes fake reviews and ratings. Now, it can identify as well as remove more fake reviews and ratings with greater accuracy, Google claims.
Google wants app developers to promote their apps, but using legitimate promotion practices. So, the thumb rule is simple – reviews should come from genuine users, and developers cannot use techniques to manipulate it.
It is in line with the announcement on 31 October. “From time to time, we observe instances of developers attempting to manipulate the placement of their apps through illegitimate means like fraudulent installs, fake reviews, and incentivised ratings. These attempts not only violate the Google Play Developer Policy, but also harm our community of developers by hindering their chances of being discovered or recommended through our systems. Ultimately, they put the end users at risk of making wrong decisions based on inaccurate, unauthentic information,” Google had said.
This isn’t something new. In October 2015, Amazon sued over 1000 people for writing fake reviews. The lawsuit emphasised on how the false reviews damaged brand reputation and were inauthentic. Amazon said there were 1,114 defendants, termed “John Does” offering false review service for as little as $5 (£3.24) on the website Fiverr.com, with most promising five-star reviews for a seller’s products. It should be noted that Amazon sued the people, and not Fiverr.
In May 2014, Italy’s anti-trust board had fined TripAdvisor $600,000 over failure to stop fake reviews. TripAdvisor argued how it has process in place to detect fraudsters and also automated tools and algorithms that work against people trying to cheat the system. The extent at which we rely on online reviews, duping people into paying for something by calling it the best is nothing but a scam.

Meizu M3X and Pro 6 Plus Geekbench benchmark listing leaked online

Meizu M3X and Pro 6 Plus Geekbench benchmark listing leaked online

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Looks like Meizu is on track to release its latest smartphones – the Pro 6 Plus and the M3X. Both have been spotted on Geekbench according to a latest leak.
Meizu Pro 6 Plus
Image: Geekbench
The Meizu Pro 6 Plus is expected to come with an unknown chipset (alleged to be Exynos 8890 according to GizChina) with an octa-core processor clocked at 1.48GHz, 4GB RAM and Android 6.0.1 out of the box. The phone will most likely come with the latest Flyme UI atop the Android OS. As seen in the benchmark, the Meizu Pro 6 Plus scores 1462  on the single-core test and 3693 on the multi-core test. These numbers aren’t really a representative of a high end device.
Meizu M3X
Image: Geekbench
The other phone that was leaked online is the Meizu M3X. This shows the presence of a MediaTek MT6757 chipset with an octa-core processor which was clocked at 1.64GHz during the test. The M3X is expected to come with 3GB RAM and will have Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow preloaded. The Meizu M3X shows strictly mid-range numbers in the test screenshot.
It looks like Meizu is working on many phones simultaneously. The Meizu X is expected to be launched today in China. It comes with a blue coloured body that resembled the Honor 8. It is expected to come with MediaTek Helio X20 which has a 10-core processor inside. It is also expected to come with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage.
There is no word on when Meizu plans to launch the Meizu X in India. So we will have to wait and watch.

Apple will make these four Mac products obsolete in 2017

Apple will make these four Mac products obsolete in 2017

The file photo of Macbook Air. Image: Reuters
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Apple is known to add products to its list of Vintage and obsolete products, and 2017 will see the addition of four more products. The list will soon include Mac from 2009 to 2011. Among the product there are 15-inch MacBook Pro (early 2011), 17-inch MacBook Pro (early 2011), Mac mini (early 2009) and 13-inch MacBook (mid 2009).
Once added to the list, either vintage or obsolete, these products will no longer be eligible for repairs and part replacements from Apple or any other authorised service providers. Unless, if they were bought in the US or Turkey until 31 December, 2018 (read more in the exceptions part later). This announcement shouldn’t affect many, but if you still own one of these products then its time to get it repaired/fixed before the year-end.
Apple describes vintage products as those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years ago. Apple has discontinued hardware service for vintage products, but there are a few exceptions that can be read here.
obsolete_list
Obsolete products are the ones that were discontinued more than seven years ago. And, Apple has discontinued all hardware service for obsolete products with no exceptions.
Moreover, service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products. All Apple Retail Stores and the Canadian, European, Latin American, and Asia-Pacific operating regions follow the US product list, but make no distinction between vintage and obsolete. When applied to Apple Retail Stores and these operating regions, products on the US vintage list (all models) are considered obsolete.
Some of the other obsolete products include the iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPod nano 4th generation, iPod Shuffle second gen, to name a few. See the complete list here.

Intel creates Automated Driving Group following partnership with Delphi and Mobileye

Intel creates Automated Driving Group following partnership with Delphi and Mobileye

Image Credits: REUTERS
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Intel has created a new organisation dedicated to autonomous driving technologies, called Automated Driving Group (ADG). The move follows close on the heels of an announcement that Intel chips would be used in self-driving cars being made by Delphi and Mobileye. ADG will be creating the next generation of driver assist systems and other solutions needed for autonomous vehicles.
doug-davis_1
Doug Davis, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the ADG group
Intel has appointed Doug Davis as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the ADG group. Davis has been working at Intel for over 30 years, and has been at the forefront of some of the most disruptive technological innovations at the company. Davis started his career at Intel in the Military Division, and has worked with the Embedded Microcomputer Division, the Network Processor Division, the Infrastructure Processor Division and the Embedded and Communications Group over the course of his career. Davis has extended his retirement to take up the position. Most recently, Davis was the General Manager of the Internet of Things group.
Davis will be assisted by Kathy Winter. Winter was previously the Vice President of Software and Services for Automated Driving at Delphi. Winter is now the Vice President and General Manager of the Automated Solutions Division (ASD) at Intel. Winter will be working on solutions for automated driving. Winter was recognised for the first cross country drive in an autonomous vehicle in 2015. Before Delphi, Winter had worked in senior positions at Motorola Mobility.

Cyber attacks in China and Hong Kong grew 969% from 2014 to 2016, says survey

Cyber attacks in China and Hong Kong grew 969% from 2014 to 2016, says survey

Image credit: Reuters
Cyber attacks on Chinese companies have soared in the past two years, according to a survey, with new technologies that connect household items to the internet and allow them to receive and send data seen as particularly vulnerable.
The average number of cyber attacks detected by companies in mainland China and Hong Kong grew 969 percent between 2014 and 2016. The number of attacks averaged more than 7 a day for each of the survey’s 440 China-based respondents – around half of the global average of 13.
However, the average number of attacks fell by 3 percent globally over the last two years, and 30 percent since 2015, in contrast to the rise in China.
China’s rapid adoption of new consumer and industrial technology for the ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’ era may be part of the reason. PwC said such connected devices are the leading targets of cyber-attacks.
“IoT devices in general have not paid attention to cyber security,” said Marin Ivezic, a partner on cyber security at PwC in Hong Kong.
“In China and Hong Kong … we have more adoption than anywhere else in the world,” he said, noting China was also one of the biggest manufacturers of these items.
Chinese-made connected home devices such as webcams with security loopholes that gave way to botnet malwares were blamed by security researchers for a massive cyber attack in the US last month that temporarily paralyzed major internet sites.
The Chinese companies surveyed had cut their cybersecurity budget by 7.6 percent in 2016 compared with flat global spending. Thirty four percent of them identified competitors as a source of attacks, a rate higher than anywhere else in the world.
The PwC survey does not track the country of origin of the attacks, which Ivezic said is “almost impossible”. The drop in the global number of cyber attacks did not reflect a safer environment, he said, but was rather the result of more sophisticated cyber criminals who more selective in who they targeted.
Reuters

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