Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon: Price point and feature-set that will only appeal to a business user

• By Nimish Sawant /  10 Oct 2016 , 15:26

The ThinkPad series of laptops in the Lenovo lineup address the business users. ThinkPad X1 Carbon series was introduced in 2012 and is updated yearly. The X1 Carbon takes the ThinkPad design philosophy and adds a bit of finesse to it. So you get a thinner, lighter laptop which offers ThinkPad basics such as spill resistant keyboard, track point, powerful internals and so on. This time around the X1 Carbon is in its fourth generation, so let us see how it fares.

Build and Design: 8 / 10

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is quite portable

There are few names in the Windows laptops ecosystem that command as much respect in the build quality and design segment as the ThinkPad series. Meant purely for business users, the ThinkPad series has over the years evolved in terms of it design language making itself attractive to non-business users as well. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon uses carbon fibre and magnesium in its construction, which gives it that sturdy feel, while at the same time ensuring that the weight is

NASA is using students to identify plants to be used by astronauts

By tech2 News Staff /  10 Oct 2016 , 12:16

Students of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Florida, United States have received plant growing stations similar to the ones used by NASA scientists for research. The institute is collaborating with Veggie, a NASA funded program for researching the growth of edible plants in orbit. NASA is using the students to study the best species of plants that can be used in orbit, in space and on the surface of other planets, with a focus on Mars. The innovative approach uses student citizen scientists for actual research that will benefit long duration space missions, including space stations in orbit and interplanetary travel.

Trent Smith, project manager for Veggie said “Once you tell the students that the plants are candidates for space and for astronauts to eat on their journey to Mars they start paying a lot of attention. These answers are not in the back of the book. Whatever they find when they grow their plants, they are finding it out for the first time for anyone.” Amy Padolf, director of education at Fairchild said “It’s very powerful to put the science in the hands of the students. It is putting what they have learned to use in

NASA test fires OSIRIS-REx thrusters during the journey to Asteroid Bennu

Image Credits: NASA Handout to Reuters

  10 Oct 2016 , 15:49

The US space agency has successfully maneuvered its spacecraft on way to asteroid Bennu, fine-tuning its trajectory to reach it and bring back samples from a potentially dangerous asteroid that could collide with the Earth. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is on a journey that could revolutionise our understanding of the early solar system.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft fired its Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) thrusters for the first time last weekend in order to adjust its trajectory on the outbound journey. “We’re very excited about what this mission can tell us about the origin of our solar system, and we celebrate the bigger picture of science that is helping us make discoveries and accomplish milestones that might have been science fiction yesterday, but are science facts today,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

The $800 million mission’s main goal is to collect a small sample of rocks and surface soil from Bennu that finds a place in NASA’s list of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Asteroids like Bennu are remnants from the formation of our solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists suspect that asteroids may have been a source of the water and organic molecules for the early Earth and other planetary bodies.

Although the odds are low, scientist have calculated that Bennu — which is the size of a small mountain — may impact Earth sometime between 2175 and 2199. If all goes according to plan, OSIRIS-REx will arrive in August 2018 and spend the next two years photographing and mapping the asteroid’s surface to

Google Chrome 55 will consume less RAM, promises Google

By tech2 News Staff /  10 Oct 2016 , 16:58

Google Chrome is a notorious resource hog. It’s been known to gobble up all the free RAM on your system and drain your battery at an alarming rate. Come December, and all this is set to change.

Chrome 55, which debuts on 6 December, will reportedly use an updated JavaScript engine,reports CNET. Google says that the updated engine uses much less RAM and that the benefits can amount to 50 percent more free RAM.

As far as most of the web-browsing world is concerned, however, they’d rather be using Chrome than any other browser. There are those who’ll stick to the default browser, be it Safari or Internet Explorer (IE) or even Edge, but those folk are unlikely to care about things like RAM consumption and battery life.

On a side note, using Safari on macOS or Edge on Windows 10 will give you better battery life and consume less RAM on that platform than Chrome. In fact, Opera goes so far as to claim that their browser, in battery saver mode, can knock the socks of any other browser in the battery life department.

That said, Chrome’s newfound frugality should have little impact on your battery life or browsing performance. If you’re on a device that’s struggling for

The Huawei Honor 6X will launch on 18 October in China at an expected retail price of Rs 12,999

Image: TENAA

By tech2 News Staff /  10 Oct 2016 , 17:28

Huawei has confirmed that they will launch the Honor 6X smartphone in China this month.

The phone was spotted on Chinese telecom equipment certification site TENAA last month, giving us an idea of its hardware configuration. The TENAA listing indicates a device with a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon 625, 2-3GB RAM depending on variant and 32GB of storage. A finger print scanner is placed on the back, a USB Type-C port at the bottom and dual-SIM support is present.

The phone is also rumoured to be carrying a dual-camera setup at the rear which outputs 13MP photos. The front camera is expected to be a 5MP unit, reports Android Authority.

Huawei has experimented with dual-camera phones in the past, particularly since their partnership with Germany’s Leica Camera. Unlike the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual-camera setup, the camera setup Huawei uses features a monochrome camera and a colour camera. The final image is a combination of the images from the two sensors.

The Huawei P9 uses such a dual-camera setup, developed with Leica, as does the Honor 8, but the Honor 8’s unit doesn’t have the Leica branding. The same should be the case with the Honor 6X as well.

Android Authority points out that the 6X is a replacement for Honor 5X and concludes that the new phone should retail at the same price in

US Supreme Court to hear arguments in Apple vs Samsung patent and copyright dispute

Image: Getty Images

  10 Oct 2016 , 17:41

After five years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in the bitter patent dispute between the world’s two top smartphone manufacturers over the amount Samsung should pay Apple for copying the iPhone’s distinctive look.

The justices’ ruling, due by the end of June, could have a long-term impact for designers and product manufacturers going forward because the Supreme Court, if it agrees with Samsung, could limit the penalties for swiping a patented design.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd paid Apple Inc $548.2 million last December, fulfilling part of its liability stemming from a 2012 verdict for infringing Apple’s iPhone patents and copying its look.

But Samsung will argue before the Supreme Court that it should not have had to make as much as $399 million of that payout for infringement of three patented designs on the iPhone’s rounded-corner front face, its bezel and the colorful grid of icons that represent programs and applications.

It will be the Supreme Court’s first case involving design patents in more than 120 years, when the products at issue were carpets and rugs.

Cupertino, California-based Apple sued its South Korean rival in 2011, claiming Samsung stole its technology and the iPhone’s trademarked appearance.

Samsung has said it should not have had to fork over all of its profits on phones that infringed the patents, which contributed only marginally to a complex product with thousands of patented features.

Apple has said Samsung was properly penalized for ripping off its work.

With the many years of fighting behind these fierce rivals, this case has become mostly about money, said Michael Risch, a professor at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

“The infringement has been affirmed, now it’s whether this huge judgment should be affirmed,” he said.

Risch joined a group of 50 university professors who filed a

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 will include a surprise, says company CEO Lei Jun

A leaked image of the Mi Note 2

By tech2 News Staff /  11 Oct 2016 , 10:41

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 to pack a surprise, says CEO Lei Jun while taking to a Chinese publication called ‘Science bacteria’ on toutiao.com. The company is working on several smartphones including Xiaomi Mi 5s, Xiaomi Redmi 4 in addition to Mi Note 2. According to several reports online, the company will launch Mi Note 2 during in October.

Jun did not give any additional details about the surprise and what to expect from the upcoming device. The surprise can do anything to do with the pricing of the smartphone, but Xiaomi is known for the low pricing of the smartphones. It can also do

Emergency agencies choose to not enable encryption on their radio communications

Image: Christiaan Colen, Flickr

  11 Oct 2016 , 10:58

Some police and fire departments are bucking a trend to conceal dispatch communications from the public, acknowledging that radio encryption has the potential to backfire and put first responders in danger.

Agencies with digital radio systems have turned off the encryption to their main dispatching channels and others have decided not to turn it on. They say their officers and firefighters may not be heard during emergencies by responders at neighboring departments with radio systems that either don’t have access to their encrypted channels or aren’t advanced enough to have encryption capability.

Officials also say they are addressing concerns from critics who argue encryption decreases police transparency at a time when it is needed, especially in the wake of shootings of unarmed black people by police officers. “The overwhelming opinion of encryption is that it works great for preplanned tactical environments like SWAT teams staging a situation,” said Eddie Reyes, deputy chief of Amtrak police and chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police communications and

Dell XPS 13 9350 review: Power packed Windows ultrabook with a lovely display

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• By Kunal Khullar /  11 Oct 2016 , 12:00

Dell is one of the few trusted laptop brands that is known to produce quality products. It has always been a slightly premium in terms of pricing, but then the company has always had some really well made machines.

Speaking of well made machines, I got to test the XPS 13 which to me looks and sounds like the perfect portable Windows machine and quite a competitor for the Apple MacBook. Here is what I think about the sleek notebook.

Build and Design: 9/10

The XPS range has been known to offer stunning looks, ever since the range was introduced, and this early 2016 model of the XPS 13 proves it right. The XPS 13 offers a metal finish with a textured carbon fibre finish on the palmrest to offer a good grip while typing.The lid and the base are made out of machine-cut aluminum and feel very premium.

Of course, apart from all the high-standard materials, you will notice that the XPS 13 has a size of an 11-incher but boasts a 13-inch (almost) bezel-less display. Dell has managed to cram in a 13-inch display onto an 11-inch frame by trimming the bezels, allowing the whole chassis to be way smaller than traditional 13-inch laptops. The XPS 13 is technically the smallest sized 13-inch notebook in the market today.

Overall the construction of the notebook is solid. There is no

Samsung Galaxy Note 7: Are faulty batteries really to blame for this whole fiasco?

By Anirudh Regidi /  11 Oct 2016 , 17:38

The mysterious case of the exploding Galaxy Note 7 devices is yet to be fully resolved, but that doesn’t stop us from taking a shot at a solution ourselves. If you’re so inclined, here are the facts and pointers that you need to pass judgement on the situation.

The case of the explosive Note 7

The short version of the whole story is as follows:

• Samsung sold 3.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.
• 35 Note 7 phones explode over a period of 3 weeks.
• Samsung issues a worldwide recall of 2.5 million phones, excludes China from recall.
• Battery maker Samsung SDI is blamed for the explosion as Samsung alleges manufacturing defects.
• Samsung claims Chinese battery maker ATL is safe, points to 1 million perfectly functional Chinese Note 7 phones as proof.
• China’s ATL is now the primary supplier of Galaxy Note 7 batteries.
• Replacement Note 7 phones with ATL batteries start to spontaneously combust.
• Samsung kills the Note 7.

If you want a detailed timeline of the whole Note 7 fiasco, head here.

Pointing fingers

Image: Hui Renjie

Samsung conducted an investigation and concluded that Samsung SDI, a Samsung affiliate that made 65 percent of the batteries used in the Note 7, was at fault. Samsung SDI made batteries for all Note 7 phones sold outside China. Note 7 devices sold in China used batteries made by Amperex Technologies Limited (ATL).

Samsung claimed that there was a

Samsung to lose $17 billion in sales as it permanently discontinues Galaxy Note 7

Image Credit: REUTERS

By tech2 News Staff /  11 Oct 2016 , 17:18

Samsung just announced that the company would permanently stop the production of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices. This is a massive blow to Samsung as it has decided to stop Galaxy Note 7 production despite doing a round of global recalls and replacements. The company had taken around three weeks to ship what it called ‘safe phones,’ after the first recall.

By ‘Safe’ the company meant that the new phones would not explode. But, within three weeks, we have heard about five cases of the ‘safe phones’ exploding. This is just the number that we know of through media reports. Samsung responded saying that the company is looking into the matter after the second case of replacement devices caught fire.

Soon after the report, the company announced that it will be halting the production of Note 7 to fix the matter. But, soon after the announcement the company issued a freshstatement to Al Jazeera stating that they will halt the production permanently:

“We recently readjusted the production volume for thorough investigation and quality control, but putting consumer safety as top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of Galaxy Note 7s.”

It is better for the company to move away from the Galaxy Note 7 and concentrate on Samsung Galaxy S8 next year. Earlier the company estimated a loss of $1 billion during the first recall but now the loss is estimated up to $17 billion in the sales as reported by Android Authority. According to the estimate by analysts, the company will lose $17 billion just in terms of sales, the loss related to the disposing the current Samsung Note 7 devices safely along with compensation.

The existing Note 7 users have been requested to switch off their devices and return them to the place of purchase. The company has instructed all the carriers to allow Note 7 users to switch the troubled device with any other device from Samsung or any other manufacturer.

Alleged HTC ‘Halfbeak’ Android Wear watch images surface online, but it’s already missed the party

Image: Weibo.com/gsmcn (via 9To5Google)

By tech2 News Staff /  11 Oct 2016 , 17:43

The almost forgotten HTC smartwatch finally makes an appearance online. We’ve seen a prototype in a behind-the-scenes video a couple of years ago, but it’s been a no-show from the company. What can HTC offer a market that’s already saturated with a plethora of offerings from Pebble, Samsung, Motorola, Apple and more.

Now, years later, five images of the alleged HTC Halfbeak watch have surfaced online (via9To5Google). The images reveal a round display and the watch might remind you of the Moto 360 and it seems to have been built in partnership with Under Armor. What you see is a non-removable silicon band with a matte black/red body. One will also find a heart rate monitor and three physical buttons on the sides. One of the images also reveals Android Wear support.

HTC had a great start in 2014 with the stellar One M8. Soon after, it released an

Audi Q3 gets special offers and discounts this festive season

By tech2 News Staff /  11 Oct 2016 , 17:43

The festive season is here and that means special offers from car makers and dealers. The recent one comes from German automobile maker Audi as the company has announced a range of discounts and offers on its popular SUV, the Q3.

This year the luxury car brand has announced city based offers which include:

1. Delhi and NCR: Down payment of Rs 5.99 lakh with EMI of Rs 48,888.
2. Mumbai and Greater Mumbai: Base model starting price of Rs 30.78 lakh with an EMI package of Rs 26,999.
3. Bangalore: Zero percent interest loans.
4. Chennai: Four years manufacturers warranty with a four year service plan. Also, four years guaranteed buyback at 45 per cent of original value with a four per cent rate of interest loan

According to NDTV, these offers have been confirmed and are