You Might be Able to Request for Uber Ride with Other Apps

Uber is an app which provides transportation service to the consumers. Uber has two types of consumers, one is the drivers who sign up to provide the service, and another one is the consumers like you and me who need to use the service. It seems to be a good app, however, many government and taxi companies have protested against Uber since the drivers might be unsafe or illegal.

In August 2014, Uber launched its API to open up the service to third-party apps developer.  However, this API has limited features; it only allows the third party apps to send the destination address of the consumer to Uber as well as for the consumer to view ride histories.  With the updated API, there is a new feature added called “Request endpoint”.  Therefore, the third party apps will have the full Uber experience by using the updated API. On top of that, it also opens more possibilities on how users will use the app in the future.

One way that this Uber plugin can be used is on occasion when you want to decide where to have dinner today and you open an app that provides restaurant review, as you read the review, you can also request the Uber service by using the same app. You will not have to open the Uber app specifically to do that.

Uber has already working with companies such as Starbucks, United, OpenTable, TimeOut and TripAdvisor for an affiliate program.

You Might be Able to Request for Uber Ride with Other Apps

Apple Rumors: Upcoming iPhone 6S Plus to feature Force Touch display

We have already heard rumors that after bringing Force Touch display to Apple Watch, Apple is working to provide the Force Touch feature to its next iPhone.  The rumors have surfaced again, this time from the supplier who has provided the Force Touch panels for Apple Watch.

The supplier is TPK from China and according to a report by UDN, industry insiders say that TPK is set to record a significant growth in profits in the second half of this year because it is supplying Force Touch sensors to Apple along with GIS, another China-based supplier. These new sensors are meant for iPhone 6S Plus.

Force Touch display has a sensor embedded inside it which can distinguish between a light tap and a hard press on the screen by the user. This is a whole new functionality found in the Apple Watch and in the trackpad of the new Macbook. Now it looks like Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6S Plus will be getting it too.

Since the Apple Watch’s Force Touch display is smaller at 1.5-inch and 1.65-inch, it costs around $4 to $5 per unit. In comparison, the iPhone 6S Plus will have a much larger 5.5-inch display and the Force Touch sensor for it will cost about $13 to $14 which is 2.5 times that of the Apple Watch.

The interesting point to note is that iPhone 6S doesn’t seem to be getting the Force Touch display, only it’s bigger counterpart, the iPhone 6S Plus will feature it.

Well, this is not confirmed news, so better to take it with a pinch of salt. We’ll keep you informed when we know more. Stay with us.

Apple Rumors: Upcoming iPhone 6S Plus to feature Force Touch display

Samsung to Win Apple Contract for A9 Chip Orders for the Next iPhone

This might be a good year for Samsung. There are rumors that Samsung Electronics Co. will manufacture Apple A9 processor chips for possibly the next Apple’s iPhone model.  Samsung Electronics has lost the contract to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to manufacture the A8 processor chips for the previous iPhone model. One of the reasons was because Samsung and Apple were not in a good working relationship due to legal disputes back in 2011.

The Apple A9 processor chip will be manufactured in Samsung’s Giheung plant in South Korea. The order spillover will be done by Samsung’s partner Globalfoundries Inc. According to analyst at HI Investment & Securities Co, Song Myung Sup, if Globalfoundries could quickly adopt Samsung’s most advanced technology and increases yield, the company could also won orders from Qualcomm.

In this way, Samsung was expected to turn its business from 1 trillion won ($914 million) lost last year to a 1 trillion won gain this year. Samsung is the second chip manufacturer while Taiwan Semiconductor is the world’s biggest chip manufacturer which budgeted a record of $12 billion for plants and equipments.

Samsung shares has risen 8.1 percent this year when compared with a 6.8 percent advance for the benchmark Kospi index. As for Apple, there is no official announcement on specifications or designs of the next new iPhone.

Samsung to Win Apple Contract for A9 Chip Orders for the Next iPhone

Motorola’s Possible Next Android Wear Device with Codenamed Smelt Comes with Higher Resolution Display

Moto 360 can be considered as the first generation Android Wear device even though it was marketed rather late compared to Android Wear devices like Samsung Gear Live or LG G Watch. Recently there is a sneak peek of what could be the next follow up for Moto 360 as posted by Lenovo CEO on a social media. Last year, Lenovo bought Motorola for $2.91 billion.

There is a tip from a popular app developer who noticed that there is an unknown Motorola-built Android Wear device pinging his Android developer console. The signal comes from Mundelein, a city near to Motorola’s HQ in Chicago, Illinois. It turns out that the device has the codename “Smelt” and is running Android 5.1. On top of that, it comes with 360 x 360 screen resolution and powered by “armeabi-v7a”.

As the original Moto 360 comes with codename “Minnow”, it is only make sense if the device codename “Smelt” could be the next follow up for Moto 360. As “Smelt” can be defined as “small silvery fish”. The upcoming device could be more premium than Moto 360 according to the image leaks.

However, the official Motorola Android Wear device is Moto 360 as of now. Hopefully, we can see the real product for the image some time later this year. We can only wait and see.

Motorola’s Possible Next Android Wear Device with Codenamed Smelt Comes with Higher Resolution Display

Apple patents new camera technology for iPhones that uses a single sensor and multiple camera lenses

There has recently been a spurt in patents relating to the camera technology from Apple hinting that the Cupertino giant may be planning something bigger for the iPhone cameras. Last month, Apple got a patent for a new True Zoom Lens system for the camera. It has also patented Mirror Tilt Actuation to get better quality photos. And now we have another patent filed by Apple for a new camera system mechanism.

A new Apple patent filing published by the US Patent and Trademark Office is titled “System and method for capturing images”. This image capture device will include two or more apertures to admit light from different directions and direct it to an image sensor. The system would use a series of electrically switchable mirrors, movable lenses and other components that will direct light from two or more apertures on to a single image sensor device.

This means that a single image sensor would be sufficient for light coming from two different apertures. Current Apple mobile devices use two cameras, the rear camera and the front-facing one which have been branded as iSight and FaceTime HD respectively in the iPhone 6. The front-facing camera uses a smaller, low resolution sensor compared to the 8MP rear camera due to space constraints. The new invention could mean that only one image sensor would be needed for both the cameras, thus saving precious space.

In the new mechanism, light will enter the device from two opposite directions like in the iphones, and then instead of falling directly on the image sensor after passing through the lenses as it does now, it will be bounced off a series of “machine controlled mirrors”. So the image sensor need not be directly behind the lenses.

The electrically controlled mirrors can switch between reflective and transmission modes when an electric current is applied to them so that they can manipulate light without moving parts. The lens apparatus is also movable to compensate for the difference in distance between the first aperture and the image sensor, and the second aperture and the same image sensor.

This new camera technology will save space and could result in smaller camera modules and consequently sleek devices without the “camera bump” which is obvious in iPhone 6 because of its slimness.

It is not clear if Apple will deploy this new camera technology in its upcoming iPhone.

Apple patents new camera technology for iPhones that uses a single sensor and multiple camera lenses

Cyanogen OS Can Become Google"s Android OS Competitor

Google might be facing another competitor on its open source Android OS from Cyanogen. Cyanogen has received about $80 million funding to hire talents to speed up the process of developing another open source OS platform. If it is possible, it should be better than Google’s Android OS. The funding comes from Twitter Ventures, Qualcomm, Telefonica Ventures, Rupert Murdoch and many others.

There is a lot of news about this upcoming open source OS platform from Cyanogen, however, there is no further detail about it. Kirt McMaster, Cyanogen CEO, has released some information regarding the company’s future hardware partner in interview with Forbes.

The manufacturer company responsible to create the first phone running on Cyanogen OS is Blu, a manufacturing company based on Miami. Blu’s CEO, Samuel Ohev-Zion, hopes that the phone will be using Amazon Appstore, Opera web browser, Dropbox, Microsoft’s OneDrive for cloud storage, Nokia Here for maps and lastly Spotify for music consumption.  On top of that, the phone will use Bing for web searches and Microsoft’s Cortana for voice assistant.

Google has faced similar competition with Acer back in 2012 which resulted in Acer canceling the launching of CloudMobile A800. It is because CloudMobile A800 is running on a forked version of Android, Aliyun OS, but the OS is incompatible with Google Services.  Google warned that with the launch of the device, it will jeopardize Acer’s Android partnership.

Hopefully Google will not use the same way towards Cyanogen. We just need to wait and see what is the outcome in the future.

Cyanogen OS Can Become Google"s Android OS Competitor

Google Japan Introduce A Way to Type without Using Keyboard

Google has kept on trying to find a way to make people’s life easier. This time, Google Japan, has come out with a small device which when you attached to a party horn, it is able to send some signal to the smartphone through Bluetooth which then these signals are translated into Japanese characters on the editor app in the smartphone. It is pretty interesting, is it not? However, unfortunately, it is only working with Japanese language.

It is a very simple process to type when your situation does not allow you to conveniently type the character on your smartphone. You might carry a lot of things during that time or doing some other task when you also need to send message to somebody. It is also suitable for people who are not tech savvy.

In the future, the team wants to place a wind-mill inside the device for wind-generated energy or to also utilize the CO2 included in the air that the user breathe out or even sunlight. On top of that, the team also is working on the Mouth Free version so that the user also able to talk to other people or eating while typing the message.

These ideas are surely out of the box and interesting if it is implemented in the real world.

Google Japan Introduce A Way to Type without Using Keyboard