CES 2015: ASUS releases teaser video with a hidden message to build up curiosity

With CES 2015 just round the corner, ASUS has sent out a teaser video probably to get everyone excited about the big event to be held in Las Vegas. The teaser video has a hidden message which the viewers are expected to decode.

So what is the hidden message? Well, the message says “See what others can’t see” followed by a morse code. Those who know morse code will be able to decipher it right away but most of us don’t. Morse code is a method of transmitting a message by sending a series of long and short clicks or light signal and mostly used in radio communication. These short and long signals are called dots and dashes and each alphabet has different combinations of them.

According to International Morse Code, the dots and dashes in the message point to the word “Optical Zoom”. For instance, ‘- – -‘ means ‘o’, ‘.- – .’ means ‘p’ and so on. You can check it out here if you are interested.

A representative of ASUS has confirmed that the “Optical Zoom” feature is one of the company’s highlights at the CES show. The clue may mean that ASUS is either coming out with “Optical Zoom” for its smartphone cameras or it may introduce the feature in some other device. Samsung has released a few Galaxy Zoom smartphones with optical zoom.

Well, a few more days and we will know what exactly ASUS has up its sleeve. The company is holding a press event on January 5 at the CES 2015. Stay tuned for more!!

Check out the video:

 

 

Via PhoneArena

CES 2015: ASUS releases teaser video with a hidden message to build up curiosity

A new 4-inch Apple iPhone 6s mini on the cards this year?

Last year Apple launched bigger phones, iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch display and iPhone 6 plus with a 5.5-inch one. Both the phones became very successful and are still selling well. Around Christmas time we heard reports that Apple was working on a smaller sized 4-inch phone dubbed the iPhone 6s mini which would have a design like the iPhone 6 and power like the iPhone 5s.

Now we have another report from Zacks Equity Research, a US investment firm, claiming that in view of the continued interest by people in smaller iPhones, the Cupertino giant is being “forced” to launch a 4-inch handset in 2015 which might be called iPhone 6 mini or the iPhone 6s mini.

The new iPhone 6s mini would be considerably cheaper than the regular iPhone 6 and according to reports, Apple wants to sell a minimum of 10 million pieces of the “mini” handsets this year. Additional advantage of a “mini” iPhone is that it easy to handle and easily pocketable.

Currently, iPhone 5c is the cheapest phone in Apple’s portfolio but is still quite costly with its SIM-free version costing $450. It will be interesting to see what price tag Apple puts on the iPhone 6 mini. Rumors suggest that Apple may equip the “mini” with a little lower grade hardware to keep its price low.

Looks like Apple wants to target the low-price market segment with its affordable 4-inch iPhone 6s mini. It remains to be seen whether Apple is really coming out with a cheaper 4-inch iPhone this year and if so, how much lower it is prepared to go with its price tag if it wants to compete with the variety of cheap Android phones currently available in the market.

 

Source MyDrivers

Via BGR

A new 4-inch Apple iPhone 6s mini on the cards this year?

Pixel Battery Saver app for AMOLEDs displays

Consumers are often facing problems of battery drain issues in smartphones. Increasing bigger batteries inside are not the only option but technology makers have to create more efficient optimized algorithms. One of the interesting application named Pixel Battery Saver is available which takes full advantage of AMOLED displays’ ability to control every pixel.

AMOLEDs doesn’t have a backlight and they achieve deep blacks by turning down required pixels. Pixel Battery Saver superimposes a black mesh on display and provide users to adjust its density. As a result, it renders half or more of the pixels without leeching energy. However, this might degrade the image quality since it removes pixels away. But we can still enjoy the content with proper adjustment by saving much battery life.

The tactic makes sense considering the battery drain issues nowadays due to fast chipsets and demanding displays. Pixel Battery Saver app is not to be used as a constant running app. It can be used as a supplement to manually dimming the display during low battery. The application is developed considering AMOLED display’s new features, such as enabling the mesh automatically at specific battery stages.

Pixel battery saver (PBS) is available free in play store , with premium version coming in future.

Pixel Battery Saver app for AMOLEDs displays

Alcatel OneTouch to showcase its new affordable Smartwatch at CES 2015

French smartphone brand Alcatel OneTouch has announced a series of new products that it will showcase at the CES 2015 in Las Vegas beginning January 6. One of them is an elegant but affordable smartwatch touted by the company as “A Smartwatch at a Smart Price”. With this, the company steps into the growing smartwatch segment.

The Alcatel OneTouch smartwatch is round shaped with a stylish design and is called ‘WATCH’. It offers a wide choice in terms of design and styles. Like other smartwatches, it packs several sensors and apps to monitor the daily activities of the user. This will probably include distance walked, steps taken, heartbeats etc. The WATCH also connects to an Android smartphone and allows the user to get notifications, take photographs, remotely control the music and more.

According to the company, the WATCH has the “same look and feel as a traditional watch”. Alcatel OneTouch also claims that the WATCH will come at a very affordable price. However, the company has not mentioned the price tag. We also do not know what kind of hardware and OS it will have. It can be Android Wear as the WATCH is compatible with Android smartphones. Some reports also suggest that it will be an OS developed by the company in-house.

Alcatel OneTouch has got a booth at the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2015 where it will display its new products. We will know more about the WATCH at the show. Stay tuned!!

Source PRNewswire

Alcatel OneTouch to showcase its new affordable Smartwatch at CES 2015

Ö Bluetooth Ring is a 3-D printed smart ring that shows time, gives notifications and more

Wearable technology is getting quite popular what with smartwatches, smart bracelets, smart clothes and smart rings. Several smart rings have been developed out there including the MOTA SmartRing, Smarty Ring, Ringly and Fin. Now we have the Ö Bluetooth Ring that tells you the analog and digital time, gives email alerts, Twitter notifications and much more.

The Ö Bluetooth Ring is a 3D printed ring fitted with a monochrome OLED display of 64 x 32 resolution, a touch button, a 16MHz microprocessor and a 40mAh rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery having a life of 4+ hours. The chipset is NRF51822 with 256k of flash and 16k of RAM, most of it taken up by the Bluetooth gear. The ring connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth and gives you alerts and notifications.

After seeing many crowdfunding campaigns for smart rings, Kevin Bates, creator of the Ö Bluetooth Ring wanted to see if he could himself make one. He told Gizmodo in an email:

“I made this just to see how small I could get the technology. I became inspired after seeing several crowdfunding campaigns for smart rings become hugely successful. I wanted to see if it was possible to develop a technology more advanced than what they had displayed in their promotional materials. …

In general, I think people should be more skeptical of hardware crowdfunding and demand to see more behind the scenes operation of the underlying technology.”

He has made a prototype of the ring which you can see in the video below:

 

Kevin Bates has already got several quotes from manufacturers and he will be pushing ahead with production of the first batch this year.  Price of the Ö Bluetooth Ring has not been revealed yet.

 

Source Arduboy

Via Gizmodo

Ö Bluetooth Ring is a 3-D printed smart ring that shows time, gives notifications and more

Samsung to introduce its new Ring Radiator 360 degree speakers at CES 2015

Korean tech giant Samsung has recently released images of the Rin Radiator speakers which the company is expected to introduce at the CES 2015 expo next week. The two models of the speakers the WAM7500 and WAM6500  will be unveiled along with other audio products at the expo. The USP of the speakers is that it transmits sound in 360-degree meaning it can even be placed at the center of the room to get sound in all directions. This is due to the 360 degree Ring Radiator technology that the speakers incorporate giving a perfect balance between bass and treble.

This product is said to be developed at the company’s own audio lab in Valencia, California. The exteriors of the speakers are made up of premium material. Out of these two models mentioned above the WAM7500 would be of stand type while the WAM6500 would be of Movable type. The latter of these two comes with a built-in battery however both posses the ability to connect with soundbars, mobile devices and TV sets.

The company is also expected to unveil the soundbars for curved TVs at the CES. The scheduled date for Samsung’s event is January 6^th. Stay tuned for all the latest updates from CES 2015.

Samsung to introduce its new Ring Radiator 360 degree speakers at CES 2015

TSMC Will Supply A9 Processors To Apple As The Primary Supplier Not Samsung

Apple and Samsung have been a great competition for each other in the field of technology for last few years. Other than the criticism over general and obvious status, Samsung is still the major manufacturing partner of Apple, which was verified by Tim Cook several times.

Lately, Apple has distant itself from Samsung and has been approaching different companies. As 2015 has arrived it has been cleared that TSMC would be responsible for manufacturing Apple’s A9 processor.

Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, shortly TMSC, has been in business with Apple sky-rocket for the past few years. Other than that, Touch ID fingerprint sensor is one of the chief productions of TMSC.

While Samsung has managed to build such processor which is new in technology, it was supposed that A9 processors’ leading manufacturer would be Samsung but it turned out that TMSC would be taking this responsibility instead.

A report from Taiwan stated that the chief supplier of the processor would be TMSC, which has already providing 70 percent of A8 processors. It was whispered that Samsung would hold a greater part of manufacturing this time but according to Taipei Times Apple will continue with its present setup.

All this report was presented to make clear that Samsung will continue to produce A9 chips and it has already made a deal with Apple, but TSMC will have the greater responsibility than the South Korean technology giant.

By expanding the manufacturing process with the help of several companies, Apple will have minimum amount of risk. Even the TSMC got the major burden, but Samsung will remain behind-the-scene image of presenting iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 in the market.

TSMC Will Supply A9 Processors To Apple As The Primary Supplier Not Samsung