Sunday, December 13, 2015

Ease weed app Startup Backed By Snoop Dogg

Ease weed app Startup Backed By Snoop Dogg


A startup company called “Ease weed app” has raised $ 10m (£ 6.8m) in a financing round from investors including rapper Snoop Dogg.


The artist’s Casa Verde Capital Company backed marijuana supplier Eaze, which connects the medical marijuana card carrier with local dispensaries in California.


They claimed that they can set user with the drug for delivery in less than 10 minutes. Recreational use of marijuana is illegal in the state, but Eaze says it isn’t breaking any laws.


The company raised $ 1.5 million (£ 1m) in November and has approximately made 3,000 deliveries since it was launched.


Eaze wants to use the money to hire 50 people in 50 days, and plans to expand into other states where recreational and medical marijuana legally available.


Washington DC, Colorado and Alaska have legalized recreational use of the drug, while 23 states allow the medicinal use.


Neither Google nor Apple have Eaze in their app stores currently, obviously they did not want to be seen as promoting or endorsing drug use.


Uber, a taxi app that can let you book a car at the touch of a button on a smartphone, made the on-demand trend popular.



Ease weed app Startup Backed By Snoop Dogg

Sharp 4K Smartphone

Sharp 4K Smartphone display with a ridiculous 806 pixels per inch


If you think 2K displays are not necessary for a Smartphone, just wait until you see what’s coming next year. AsTechblog.gr reports, Sharp has already announced such a screen that will fit 5.5-inch phablets sometime next year with an ultra-sharp resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels or 806 pixels per inch

Sharp 4K IGZO displays will take on Samsung 4K AMOLED displays, which are also expected to debut in the near future to take some time, with the Galaxy Note 5, the first device is believed to have a pack of 4K screen.

It’s too early to say what 2016 Smartphone will have 4K IGZO screens, but Sharp is already making IGZO display technology for Apple for certain products, with the iPad Pro also rumored to pack IGZO screens. Considering that Apple has a phablet in its lineup now, there would be no surprise there if we find a next-gen iPhone Pack of Sharp 4K display.



Sharp 4K Smartphone

Retina MacBook sold out

Retina MacBook sold out


Yes, Apple’s new Retina MacBook is already sold out, too. As it turns out, the Apple clock is not the only device that Apple sold out of on Friday.

From 9 clock ET, Apple’s online store is the estimating that both models of the Gold 12-inch Retina MacBook will not be available for another 3-4 weeks. The Space gray and silver MacBooks are also sold out, but these should start shipping again in the next 1-3 business days.

Based on a quick spot check from MacRumors, most retail stores are not even offering the new MacBook. If you want to get you hand on one any time soon, getting it online is your best bet.

Reviews for the new MacBook began popping up on Thursday and although the design is undoubtedly one of Apple’s most attractive to date, the lack of additional ports just does not add up in 2015. Despite Apple’s insisting on working for a cordless future, the industry is moving at its own pace. Apple cannot accelerate that with just a fancy new laptop.

The new MacBook starts up at $ 1,299 for the 256GB model, which features a 1.1 GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 5300 and Turbo Boost to 2.4 GHz. The 512 GB model costs $ 1,599 and features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor.


Retina MacBook sold out Retina MacBook sold out Retina MacBook sold out



Retina MacBook sold out

Beats Solo2 headphones now available in Apple-esque colours


Since its US $ 3 billion beats buyout, Apple has apparently concentrated all their efforts on reviving the Beats music streaming service, which is expected to roll out later this year once.

But the Cupertino company now has its own stamp on the Beats headphones line by adding three new colors to theBeats Solo2 range; Gold, silver, and space gray.

Not surprisingly, these are the trademarks of Apple colors on all of their devices, including the iPhone 6 & 6 Plus iPhone, iPad, MacBook and Apple clock feature.

The three new versions went on sale yesterday and it just happen on the same day that the new MacBook went on sale and Apple watch officially went on pre-orders.

The wired headset Solo2 sells at £ 169, while the wireless models cost £ 100 more, with a £ 269 price tag Never mind, you can still pick up Solo2 headphones in the original red, black, white and blue colors.

The new range can only help you customize your device with your cans; something Apple fanboys have probably been dreaming of.



Torrent based browser released for Windows

BitTorrent’s experimental, torrent based browser has been released in beta for Windows


Late last year, BitTorrent announced an ambitious project for making the web more open: a browser that can access the websites that are hosted through the BitTorrent protocols rather than on centralized servers. The Chromium-based Maelstrom browser project began life in a closed Alpha, but as of today, BitTorrent is releasing it as an open beta. The only catch now is that it is only available for Windows users, though BitTorrent says future versions of the browser for Mac and Linux users will be available as well.


BitTorrent also shared a few hints on how the platform has changed since the Alpha began in December last year. The company has more than 10,000 developers enlisted (the BitTorrent describes as building Maelstrom-compatible applications and programs) and 3,500 publishers (specifically the creation of web pages or BitTorrent content bundles) built sites that will work with the Project Maelstrom , But until now only some of these developers and publishers were actually able to work on Maelstrom-compatible projects.Torrent based browser Torrent based browser Torrent based browser


That’s changing now, as Bittorrent has gone ahead and released its full set of developer publishing tools for project Maelstrom. Everyone can now access these tools and start building sites over on GitHub. It is still very early days for the project Maelstrom, but now with the beta browser and development tools available for everyone, BitTorrent, hope to see the example of how its idea of open web project will manifest.



Torrent based browser released for Windows

UK gets 100 billion barrels of oil near Gatwick Airport

Britain just discovered 100 billion barrels of oil near Gatwick Airport


UK Oil & Gas investment, exploration, development and production group revealed that it discovered around 100 billion barrels of oil near Gatwick Airport.

The group said in a regulatory statement that it could be up to 100 billion barrels of oil ashore under the south of England, after it drilled a well at Horse Hill near Gatwick Airport, West Sussex last year. It added that the area could hold 158 million barrels of oil per mile.

“Drilling the deepest wells in the basin in 30 years, along with the ability, concepts, techniques and technologies that were not available in the 1980s, has provided the understanding of new innovative data and interpretations of the range of potential oil resources of the area “said Stephen Sanderson, CEO of UKOG in a statement.

However, UKOG added that it estimates that only 3% to 15% of the oil could be recovered, when compared with similar geology in the United States and West Siberia.

Nevertheless, this is a windfall for the UK, where Scotland’s North Sea oil industry continues to struggle with dwindling oil production. It has only produced about 45 billion barrels in the last 40 years.

In 2014, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), lead out how the North Sea oil industry is in a crisis. The average oil production in 2013 from the North Sea clocked its lowest level since 1977.



UK gets 100 billion barrels of oil near Gatwick Airport

British Airlander 10 get $2.7 million grant

British Airlander 10 get $2.7 million grant to revolutionize transport


The British Airlander 10 – the largest aircraft in the world – continues to attract investment. Designer of the craft, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) have won a € 2.5 million ($ 2.7 million) grant from the EU from a fund to develop green transport initiatives. This sum is awarded on top of a £ 3.4 million grant from the British government earlier this year, with HAV also aiming to raise an additional £ 2 million through equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

The British Airlander 10 can land anywhere and stay afloat for days.

Although airships like the Airlander 10 look awkwardly bulky, it has a number of unique advantages over traditional crafts. Since the Airlander uses inert helium to provide most its lift, it can stay afloat for days with nominal fuel costs. When it moves, it can only consume one-third of the fuel of other traditional aircraft (although much slower – only reaches speeds of up to 100mph). Its capability to hover means it can land anywhere including on water. The Airlander 10 also has one of the lowest carbon emissions of any aircraft in the world, and it’s capable of carrying up to 50 tons of cargo for distances up to 1,600 miles.

The craft was originally designed for long-term surveillance and reconnaissance by the US military, but when a budget cut scrapped the project, it was bought back by HAV. Now the company wants to use it for a variety of commercial purposes, including for freight, aid distribution, advertising, surveillance, communications and luxury passenger.” This latest grant from the EU will be used to develop a legal framework for the Airlander, a necessary step before orders for the craft can be placed.


British Airlander 10 British Airlander 10



British Airlander 10 get $2.7 million grant

Jay-Z"s Tidal Music service going to go up in flames

Yet another reason Jay-Z’s Tidal Music service is going down in flames


Why is Jay-Z’s Tidal Music service going to go up in flames? For many, many reasons, not least of which is the fact that it charges twice the rate of top rival Spotify for a monthly subscription.

Business Insider noted that the UK pop star Lilly Allen this week made some good points about how both Tidal high subscription price and its promotion of exclusive content is going to increase the rate of piracy in the music industry rather than decrease it.

“Hosting exclusive consent of the biggest stars in the world on a single paying platform: while I agree with his intention, I am afraid it will send people back to pirate / torrent sites,” she said.

That is true. Whenever you take a commodity that’s easy to pirate and then make it both expensive and difficult to obtain by legitimate means, chances are that people who pirate it will increase significantly. Acclaimed music critic Bob Lefsetz recently also suggested that Tidal Music service reliance on exclusive content might.


TIDAL offers high-fidelity CD sound quality, high quality video, expertly curated content and editorial, and unique artists experiences. If Tidal is to be successful, it has to convince music-lovers that its service is the best option out of all the others—a high aspiration for a company that’s fallen out of the spotlight and can’t seem to keep its management in place.


 



Jay-Z"s Tidal Music service going to go up in flames

CanTheySeeMyDick.com a website about the NSA

CanTheySeeMyDick.com a website about the NSA


CanTheySeeMyDick.com is a new website that educates people how NSA and US government spies and collects images of your private parts


Yes, John Oliver meet with Edward Snowden in Russia to discuss dick Photos (among other issues) to speak, but even if this moment seemed a farce, it’s actually very instructive that it leads people through the functions of the various monitoring programs in the (presumably) relatable context of sending nude photos on the Internet.

Consider, then, the website Can They See My Dick as aptly titled Further Reading. Created by Olivier Lacan appreciating the interview, can they see my dick specifies how programs such as Section 702 (“one-end foreign dick”), Executive Order 12333 (“dick smuggling”) and Section 215 (“dick-metadata” ) actually work in terms of … yeah, you guessed it. It is also just so amazing that this URL was available.

This is the subversive beauty of Oliver / Snowden segment in the first place. Yes, it’s just one long dick joke, but it is a dick joke, that teaches you something important.


 


CanTheySeeMyDick.com  CanTheySeeMyDick.com CanTheySeeMyDick.com CanTheySeeMyDick.com


CanTheySeeMyDick.com a website about the NSA

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Apple"s Touch ID bypassed by a 7-year Old

Apple’s Touch ID bypassed by a 7-year Old


Touch ID is meant to be Apple’s answer to the smart phone theft protection, and protects the contents of your device. Supposedly, the function is pretty safe and apart from a few reports, and here and there, the security of the Touch id seems pretty good with relatively little complaint.


However, according to a report by CNN, it seems that a 7-year-old boy managed to get his father’s Touch ID in the most direct innocent bypass possible. How,? Very easy. He went to his sleeping father took his thumb and put them on the touch-sensor-ID, thus unlocking the phone in the process.


Now we are sure that some of you are wondering, how is that a big deal? For starters, it is a bit ironic, because the boy’s father Matthew Green teaches cryptography and computer security at Johns Hopkins University. On the other hand, it also serves to emphasize that despite the fact that the Touch ID is a relatively safe way to lock your phone from thieves, there is really no stopping the thief or even a police officer from pressing with your thumb/finger on the sensor and unlocking your phone.


According to Green, “This is a really serious problem. In a situation where you’re under arrest, biometric data are not very good in protecting your information at all”. Indeed, the good old passcode is still a better way to protecting your data, at least from the authorities since you could always rely on the Fifth Amendment and not give the passcode out.


Touch ID bypassed Touch ID bypassed Touch ID bypassed Touch ID bypassed Touch ID bypassed Touch ID bypassed


Apple"s Touch ID bypassed by a 7-year Old

Formula E at Long Beach

Formula E at Long Beach


FORMULA E at LONG BEACH – It is the sixth race of a completely new formula series, an FIA race sponsored by electric car called Formula E. In the five races so far, from Beijing to Buenos Aires, e.dams Renault team lead with 110 points, well ahead of the next runner up Audi Sport ABT 79 points.


This day’s race in Long Beach, California, mark the start of the second half of the season, starting number six, followed by Monte Carlo and finally ends in London. After the race, the drivers at the track in Long Beach will speak how the track is the fastest in the series so far, a Grand Prix track that has seen the Indycar and Nascar races, Similar to the Grand Prix circuit in Monaco, a number of downtown streets form the Long Beach track. On weekdays, workers and vacationers pilot these roads, but this time, 20 of the best drivers in the world are trying to keep their positions or change their luck in Formula E series.


All the trappings of an international Formula E race series are here. We have teams and drivers from around the world. Each team has a crew of racing technicians who service and maintain the car. At the end of the day, three drivers will be on the podium, holding high trophies and spraying champagne on the crowd.


However, the purist might scoff at Formula E, pointing out that the race only last an hour, and that the drivers get to move into a completely new car halfway through. The cars have a limited maximum speed of 140 mph with the engine performance to 202.5 hp. Then there FanBoost, a unique feature of the formula E where the three drivers who get most social media love #FanBoost obtained an additional 40.5 PS they can apply during the race for 5 seconds.


All these seem to makes formula E a lesser event than other Formula races.


Nevertheless, standing near the track, as the cars flash by, and you can see the dynamics, feel the thundering power as the drivers’ race down a straight. When the driver brakes before a curve, the whine of the engines Pop in a lowering bass as the drivers work the five-speed transmission in their cars.


After the race, China Racing driver Nelson Piquet pointed out some of the challenges of driving Formula E. Together with the handling of turns, jockeying for position, trying not to get behind, the driver must also observe the temperature and charge states of their batteries. Audi Sport ABT driver Lucas di Grassi had experience a fire from the auxiliary battery pack in his car in a previous race.


For the first season in Formula E, all the teams raced with the same type of car, the spark SRT_01e, an open-wheel single-seater made by Renault and a company called Spark. This car is similar to the aerodynamics and engineering to F1 cars, but instead of a gasoline engine, it makes the use of an all-electric power train. Formula E rules restrict drivers to only 56-kilowatt hours of electricity during the race, not counting what can be gained by regenerative braking. For future seasons, Formula E plans for the creation of opportunities for the teams to tune their cars, which in turn could lead to advance in battery and fuel engine technology, but for now, the formula E is a single spec race.


For now, it all depends on the skill of the driver.


Each round of the 1:32 mile long beach course lasts just under one minute. At the end of the starting straight, a chicane makes up turn 1 and turn 2. Another straight follows, ending in turn 3, a hard right. Another straight up Pine Street and another hard right straight long back where drivers can maximize their speed. Turn 5 is a hard right turn 6 is a sweeper, then drivers are thrown a hairpin at Turn 7 and its back to the main straight.


After grabbing an early lead, Nelson Piquet would come out as the winners of the 39 laps Formula E Long Beach race, followed by Andretti driver Jean-Eric Vergne in the second and di Grassi in third. However, scores total would put di Grassi as the overall leader for the season with 75, followed by Piquet with 74 points.



Formula E at Long Beach

Galaxy S6 Edge bendgate

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge bendgate is just as bad as the iPhone 6 Plus and will crack under pressure


Do you remember the #Bendgate drama that unfolded last year because of iPhone owners bending their new handsets when placing them in the front pockets? As Android users, it deserves a good laugh or two right? Well, maybe it’s time to stop giggling quite as much today as one of our own has been shown to be as bendable as the iPhone 6 Plus. I’m talking about none other than Samsung Galaxy’s S6 edge.


That’s right, has Samsung Galaxy S6 edge set provide for all types of electronic devices through their paces by SquareTrade, the guys who control plans. In the test, put the Galaxy S6 Square Edge, iPhone 6 Plus and the HTC One M9 (review) to a hydraulic press. The HTC One M9 came out the best, camp under a £ 120 load before bending. The Galaxy S6 Edge managed to 110 pounds of force before bending, the same amount as the iPhone 6 plus to withstand. However, because of their dual edges, the Edge broke S6 glass immediately, while the other two handsets managed a higher load before cracking on.


The takeaway from all these is that no matter what you buy as handset, you should be careful with them all the same. Putting them in unnecessary danger will probably have the handset tragically damaged. It should be self-evident, if you own a Galaxy S6 Edge or not, you should not be performing bending or drop tests on your phone at home.


Galaxy S6 Edge bendgate Galaxy S6 Edge bendgate Galaxy S6 Edge bendgate Galaxy S6 Edge bendgate


Galaxy S6 Edge bendgate

Scientist are now contacting Aliens

Scientist conceives a new way of contacting Aliens


If aliens are out there, do we really need to let them know that we are here especially since we have not yet created a global planetary defense system. More importantly, do we have to do it in a way that will make them to immediately hate us and want us to vanquish us as soon as possible? That’s what Seth Shostak, the director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute, suggests in the New York Times With a crazy plan, beam the entire Internet in the space.


“We could beam the contents of the Internet into space” writes Shostak. “Such a large corpus – with text, pictures, videos and sounds would enable wise aliens to decipher our society a lot and formulate question that could be answered with the material at hand. sending the web on the way. would take months, if a radio transmitter is used. A powerful laser, conveying bits more like to an optical fiber, could send these data in a few days.”


I’m sorry, but this is absolutely the worst idea ever.


I spend most of my day searching the internet for interesting news to write about and I will tell you, there are times when the Internet makes me want to see humanity gone.


Whether it’s trolls driving Zelda Williams from Twitter after her father died last summer, or people issuing death threats because of video games or people who setting up revenge porn sites, the Internet is filled with humanity behaving at their absolute worst. And do we really want to aliens learning about human communication via YouTube comments? Imagine a spaceship landing on Earth, and the first thing the tiny green man inside says is “Take me to your leader” but “1/10, would not anally probe.”


Not everything on the Internet is bad, of course, but it probably will not make us overly decent beings in the sight of beings from other planets. For example, aliens may find it nice that we are very obsessed with taking videos of our cats … until they realize that we scoop their feces from a litter box each day. What kind of “intelligent beings” voluntarily scoop waste of a lesser creature on a regular basis?


In any case, I do not think this idea is everywhere so it’s not something that should get us worried. But the next time you want to Photoshop sperm on the face any celebrity and post it on 4chan for the lolz, remember that in the future, that image could the very first impression that aliens have about humanity.



Scientist are now contacting Aliens

Apple Watch Edition

Apple Watch Edition


The Apple Watch Edition is Apple’s high-end wearable and is expected to cost from $ 10,000 and go up to as high as $ 17,000. At these prices, you could easily grab a luxury watches timepieces the traditional variety, so why would anyone want to doll out $ 10 to 17.000 on an Apple-clock? The red carpet treatment, of course.


According to the folks at 9to5Mac, they have learned from their sources that customers who purchase the Apple’s Watch Edition will receive preferential treatment in the sense that they will have a special Expert who will be focused on attending to their needs and requests. They will also give them a personalized “journey” from the beginning of the appointment, all the way until the end of the event that will reportedly last an hour.


They will also always have access to a special Apple’s Watch Edition phone support line that will work 24/7. In addition, they do not have to wait in line, as customers who are interested in the Apple’s Watch Edition, will have priority access. Such services are not unusual with credit card companies, banks, hotels and car companies who provide service to the elite. So, it’s interesting to see Apple potentially moving into this market. The Apple-clock will on go pre-order from April 10 and will be available for purchase come on April 24.



Apple Watch Edition

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Why BBM is Thriving in Africa

BBM is Thriving in Africa


BlackBerry Messenger, also known as BBM, is thriving Africa, with more than 22 million registered users in the market. Why is BBM seeing extensive growth in Africa, while facing serious hurdles in the U.S.?


Africa is decidedly a mobile-first marketplace, and for many African users, it’s mobile only. The majority of people access the Internet from their phone, instead from a desktop or laptop. With more and more people from the continent joining each year, there’s a huge opportunity for BBM to grab new market share. On BBM for iOS and BBM for Android alone, the company has gains more than half a million registered customers each month, and this rate is growing as there’s increased network availability across Africa. Nigeria and South Africa are BBM’s biggest markets thus far.


In light of the massive customer influx in Africa, with nearly 10 million visits to the BBM Shop per month and over 26 million ad request per day, BBM is refocusing their monetization strategy on the region. As Africa proves to be a key market, BBM recently announced that they would be putting their first ad sales representatives on the ground there.  Why BBM is Thriving in Africa   Why BBM is Thriving in Africa   Why BBM is Thriving in Africa 


Particularly, BBM notes that the advertising demand in South Africa and Nigeria offer some of their largest global opportunities. In these two countries, the company experiences considerable daily ad inquiries, and receives their highest click-through rates in the world. Despite the fact that South Africa and Nigeria are often considered developing economies, BBM has found them to be two of their top revenue-generating markets.


BBM’s international advertisers have followed suit, with large brands like Datsun, KFC, First National Bank, Levi’s, and Lenovo opting in to the platform in the African market. This month alone, BBM onboarded 50 individual advertising campaigns in Africa.


BBM has embraced this vibrant and promising market, by adding local content and value-added services to engage and retain customers, and attract potential advertisers. It’s a new and exciting era for the company in terms of this high-potential developing market.


BBM is Thriving in Africa BBM is Thriving in Africa BBM is Thriving in Africa BBM is Thriving in Africa 


Why BBM is Thriving in Africa

Instagram hits 400 million users, tops Twitter

Instagram hits 400 million users


Instagram hits 400 million users, the Facebook-owned photo sharing platform, hit a major milestone, as their user base topped to 400 million people. The company announced their achievement via a statement, celebrating the massive community they’ve developed since the company’s founding in 2010. In contrast, Twitter’s growth has slowed and stands at just over 300 million users.


Instagram’s platform is increasingly global, with more than 75% of users living outside of the United States. Of the last 100 million people to join, more than half are based in Asia and Europe. Specifically, Brazilian, Japanese, and Indonesian users joined at the highest rates.


Instagrammers post more than 80 million photos daily, of everything from the first surface image of Pluto, to white pools in Turkey, and the Champions League celebrations.


Instagram hits 400 million users Instagram hits 400 million users Instagram hits 400 million users

Notably, Instagram’s advertising revenue will top $600 million this year, and is expected to increase over 146% to hit $1.48 billion in 2016, per eMarketer’s estimates. By 2017, Instagram ad revenue should make up 14% of Facebook’s total mobile ad revenue, making clear how important the app will be for the parent company as a whole.


In their statement, Instagram shared “When Instagram launched nearly five years ago, 400 million seemed like a distant dream. Now, we continue to strive to improve Instagram — helping you experience the world through images and connect with others through shared passions.”


 



Instagram hits 400 million users, tops Twitter

Snapchat tops 6 billion views, closes in on Facebook

Snapchat


In 2013, Snapchat, the photo and video messaging app company, reportedly turned down a $3 billion cash acquisition offer from Facebook. Just over 2 years later, Snapchat hit a new milestone of 6 billion daily video views, according to the Financial Times, making their once-controversial rejection of the offer look increasingly justified. This achievement puts them just behind Facebook’s 8 billion video views per day.


Only 6 months ago, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel reported that the company was attracting 2 billion video views per day, making the latest numbers even more remarkable. During that period, Facebook was more than doubling Snapchat’s views.


It’s worth noting that platforms often have disparate measures for what a “view” is. For example, Facebook considers a view as any user who watches for more than 3 seconds, while a YouTube viewer would have to watch for 30 seconds for Google to count it as a view. As a result, advertisers often express concern that users are barely watching the paid placement videos, and so their advertising dollars are going to waste. Still, the Snapchat’s 6 billion daily views promise great things for the company.


Snapchat has successfully monetized their views, by focusing on and growing their video content advertising, one of the most profitable areas in social media. After increasing usability for advertisers, by offering video ads and media partnerships, Snapchat was valued at $19 billion in February 2015.


The 6 billion daily view milestone comes after a recent controversy, after  changed its privacy policy. In these new privacy terms, the company reserved the right to republish, modify, and save user photos. Angry and concerned users forced Snapchat to go on the defensive, and publish a blog post clarifying the changes. They assured their 100 million daily users that their standard policy is to delete all photos from servers once they have been viewed or expired.


 



Snapchat tops 6 billion views, closes in on Facebook

WhatsApp grows by 50% in 2015

WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging app, shows 50% growth since April


WhatsApp, a cross-platform mobile messaging service, hit more than 900 million active users last quarter, showing record growth since Facebook purchased them for $22 billion in 2014. In the past six months alone, the app has added 100 million users.


This growth milestone represents a 50% increase in WhatsApp’s user base since August of 2014, when it topped 600 million users.


In comparison, Twitter and Instagram each have about 300 million monthly active users, while Facebook Messenger, the social network’s other messaging platform, has 700 million users in total.  Facebook itself recently exceeded 1.5 billion monthly active users. Admittedly, the reliability of monthly active users has been called into question, as it doesn’t account for messages sent or time spent on the app. A user might only spend a few minutes per month on the platform, and still be considered an active user. Still, it’s a major milestone for a relatively new service.


Despite their 50% growth in users, WhatsApp has yet to prove how it will monetize its impressive base. Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg points to the Facebook monetization playbook; the company will look to get people organically interacting with businesses on Messenger and WhatsApp, before allowing companies to pay to reach customers. We’ve seen the beginnings of this strategy rollout with the addition of Facebook Messenger’s personal assistant component in August.


 


Facebook-owned Instagram’s advertising model may be a sign of the success to come down the road. Although Facebook has yet to release figures on how advertising on Instagram is performing, eMarketer estimates Instagram will bring in $595 million in ad revenue in 2015.



WhatsApp grows by 50% in 2015

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Facebook records 1 billion users in a single day

Within its earnings update in July 2015, Facebook said month-to-month active users increased 13 percent from a year ago to 1.49 billion. Facebook boasted of the new benchmark Thursday in its apparently inexorable march to Internet ubiquity: a billion individuals used the social network in one day.


“We just passed a significant milestone,” chief executive and co-founder Draw Zuckerberg declared inside a post on his Facebook page.


“On Mon, 1 in 7 people that is known used Facebook to touch base with their relatives and buddies.”


“When we look at our financials, most of us use average amounts, but this differs,” Zuckerberg added.


“This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it’s just the beginning of connecting the full world”


Zuckerberg also submitted a video specializing in the achievement.


Within its earnings update last month, Facebook said month-to-month active users surged 13 percent from a year ago to 1.49 billion.


Facebook on Thursday also said it’s building new technologies that video creators may use to guard next to their works being copied at the social network without having permission.


“This technology is tailored to our platform and allows these creators to spot matches of their particular videos on Facebook or Myspace across pages, profiles, groups, and geographies,”a short article said.


“Our matching device will evaluate an incredible number of video uploads quickly and accurately, when matches appeared, publishers will manage to report them to us for elimination.”


Facebook planned to soon begin testing the newest matching technology which has a select group regarding partners, including mass media companies.


The California-based social network said that it’s got word from several publishers that videos can be uploaded to Facebook or Myspace without permission inside a practice often called “freebooting.”


Facebook is using a Hearable Magic system that uses audio “fingerprinting” to spot and block copyrighted videos from turning it into the social network without proper consent.


“We want creators to obtain credit for the videos they own,” Facebook or Myspace they said.


“To deal with this, we are already exploring ways to further improve our rights management tools to higher empower creators to overpower how their video clips are shared in Facebook.”



Facebook records 1 billion users in a single day

Twitter takes off 140-character limit on it"s Direct Message feature

Twitter has taken off the 140-character limit about the site’s Direct Message feature – turning it into the first aspect of the social media platform free from any word restriction. The tech giant said this is to allow users to “express themselves” more freely since the feature is folded out globally.


Direct Messages – also known as “DMs” – may be the private messaging aspect of the Twitter software where users could communicate directly collectively away from the public section of the site.


The micro-blogging web site’s co-founder and interim chief executive Jack Dorsey just lately admitted the service wasn’t doing well enough when it comes to making the web page better for users and attracting brand new interest.


Twitter currently possesses about 300 thousand global users while rival social network Facebook has more than 1.4 billion. It also verified that public tweets would carry on and operate by the particular 140-character limit tip.


Sachin Agarwal, product manager for Direct Messages at the firm, said: “I think that you’re going to definitely see folks being more expressive normally.


I think previously you might have felt restrained to 140 characters so you had to cut words out here or right there, but now what you get with these lengthier messages are individuals being able to pass their points across and undertake it in much more funny ways.


“They could add more emojis, much more photos, things like that – which merely let them be somewhat richer in their particular expression.” Mr Agarwal said the this was to make Twitter feel similar to a “casual chatting platform” the way it looked to enhance its appeal.


“Messaging is extremely familiar to users; we’ve been using messaging in a lot of ways for decades, and we think it’s simply a really great compliment towards public side regarding Twitter,” he said.


“So, what we want is always to create this experience where one can go back and forth between the public Twitter content along with your private conversation actually seamlessly and within the enjoyable way.”



Twitter takes off 140-character limit on it"s Direct Message feature

Instagram launches 30 seconds video Ad

Advertising and marketing gives the actual payments for several support businesses, to that end, Instagram has introduced a number of alterations in its advertising system meaning users can rapidly discover 30-second online video media advertising campaigns.


By simply using Facebook’s infrastructure, Instagram has achieved it much easier compared to most companies (large or small) to arrive at target audience. Publishers are able to display ads approximately thirty seconds and able to ‘engage with thicker storytelling’, whilst individual users remain limited to 15 seconds segments.


Ads are for sale in over thirty nations – including Italy, Spain, South America, the Indian subcontinent in addition to Southern region Korea. Publishers are likewise able to add actionable buttons in the advertising campaigns, empowering users to put in applications or maybe search for a web page from the ad.


As an advanced Instagram consumer, what exactly do you think on the approaching thirty next online video media ads? Let us know in the remarks down below.



Instagram launches 30 seconds video Ad

Ashley Madison - from private to public: Five laws for life online.

Recently hackers made good over a threat, publishing the info belonging to around 30 million accounts from adultery dating website Ashley Madison. This impact this breach might on millions of marriages, on the lives of celebrities or politicians and also people typically out of your public spotlight could be historical. While the implications of the data breach like this have been analysed previously, the lessons are already largely ignored.


Take this moment to think about the five laws of your life online. Like laws in the state, whether or not you know or agree with these laws and regulations is irrelevant, as you can be tried by them regardless.


1. Assume all you could do and say will probably be made public.


2. Do not possibly be seduced by comfort settings and accounts, which are short-lived illusions that distract from your reality of the last point.


3. Be aware that context and data can be one and identical. When you enter information on-line, assume that you add some who (you), the particular what (the data), the particular when (the moment of data input), the where (the site where the data has placed), the how (the device where you input the particular data), and the why (the aim of the site).


4. Believe that all your credit card transactions are being kept in any colossal, searchable ledger that you day will be made available for all to analyse.


5. Believe that data won’t disappear when anyone deletes it.


Everything goes mainstream ultimately. Soon you’ll manage to say you were paranoid before it was cool. Take solace in knowing everyone may now become a member of the ranks regarding celebrities, who have lived for many years in constant concern about the infringement of the privacy. Now, most of us will all possibly be celebrities, and our gossip-worthy dramas will probably be of our individual doing, should we definitely not consider our activities have repercussions — even those things we perform in private?


A little more caution when online won’t cause you sleepless nights?



Ashley Madison - from private to public: Five laws for life online.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

TOP SMARTWATCHES OF 2015

TOP SMARTWATCHES OF 2015


 


Top smartwatches of 2015 are some of the wearable computers we think that would dominate the industry next year. Smartwatches have come of age with custom made mobile operating system and mobile apps. Some smartwatches models, also called watch phones, feature full mobile phone capability, and can make or answer phone calls. Others are ‘sport watch’ with features such as activity tracker. Designed to be worn on the wrist with usually a touchscreen display, its main benefit is the ability to constantly keep one updated with smartphone activities.
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1) Pebble Steel


Pebble Steel is still a strong contented in our top smartwatches of 2015 pending the advent of the Apple watch. As part of the wearable pioneers Pebble works with iPhones and Android phones. The screen is visible in broad daylight. The waterproofing is confidence as it is swim and shower friendly. It has a built in pedometer, so for fitness lovers this is an additional bonus. Upto 8 apps can be installed in it. Battery is also nice as it needs charging only twice a week and its on sale for £179 online. All such features have made this product everyone’s favorite and so its still one of our favorite top smartwatches of 2015.


2) LG G Watch R


For people wanting a trendy attractive watch piece, this may be your first choice. With its round design, angular metal frame and selection of gorgeous watch faces, the LG G Watch R is the most attractive Android Wear Smartwatch around. This product’s pricing is varied depending on your region. The battery life of this gadget is reasonably standard but can be made better for heavy users. The watch’s design is sleek, so if you are looking for ‘Back to the Future’ type of smartwatch this may not be for you. If you want a decent smartwatch with an attractive look then you can fetch this one. During the just concluded International CES 2015, LG impressed us tremendously with quality of their displayed smartwatches. The LG G Watch R is a top smartwatches of 2015, selling on amazon from £179.


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3) Sony Smartwatch 3


Sony’s efforts to give the market a decent smartwatch has failed in the past. But the company has never stopped trying. The Sony Smartwatch 3 is however different because it was designed with flaws from previous watches in mind. The waterproofing feature has also been improved to a large extent. The straps are now interchangeable. Another important development is that it runs on Android Wear. Android Wear is the software developed by Google that provides a unified platform for companies like Sony, Samsung, LG and Motorola to load on to their products and allow developers to create apps that can run equally well across all devices. Sony has made a great effort with this wearable device and truly deserves a place in our top smartwatches of 2015.


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4) Samsung Gear S


Samsung has produced a wearable phone in with its new Samsung Gear S. It has a big, bright curved display and catches everyone’s attention. The battery life is also decent. The best thing about this Gear is that you do not need a phone nearby to access 3G network. This gear supports 3G connectivity. Its appearance is a bit large but this does not become an inconvenience. It is a complete on-wrist phone. This gear too requires a few developments. It does not pair with the latest Samsung phones and its standalone features do not work with all apps and notifications. The Gear S app library is still weak as compared with Android Wear. It may fail some people’s expectations but is still a gadget worth trying. We had a preview during CES 2015 and can’t wait for full review but its already in our top smartwatches of 2015.


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5) Motorola Moto 360


Moto 360 is a classic timeless smartwatch designed with quality craftsmanship. It is powered by Android wear so you are rest assured of timely update at a glance. Its round design and premium materials look sharp. It is very comfortable to wear because of its sleek leather band and its light weight. The inductive charging cradle makes it convertible into a bedside clock as well. Its battery life is not that impressive. Its Android wear software is also lacking in many aspects but with the new updates like Moto Body activity tracking just got better. The weird black bar at the bottom also seems like an inconvenience. With a few improvements, Moto 360 is definitely one of the top smartwatches of 2015.


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6) Martian Watches


Martian Watches, a California-based developer

of fashionable smartwatches, recently unveiled new designs which includes the Martian Commander, Aviator, Electra and Monarch. These smartwatches are stylist wearables with smart functionality like dual mode functionality, that includes voice command via Classic Bluetooth. Martian Watches are water resistant and compatible with both iOS and Android operating systems. The notification alert can be customized with over 1000 apps and programs available. Its available in stainless steel and rugged resin and designed for active individual. This means you can talk, listen and watch from your wrist. Martian’s has team up with watch designer Guess to release some fashionable smartwatches.


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7) Polar M400 GPS


The Polar M400 is a GPS watch that combines activity tracking. It supports wireless heart-rate monitor and also has an automatic sleep tracking. So, when you think that you are not sleeping well then just give a glance to your smartwatch. This device has a good battery life and the best thing is it will sync with your phone. Charging it is also not a big deal. It uses a normal Micro-USB for charging. It includes GPS and activity tracking. It has a permanently on display with a backlight, inactivity alerts and is waterproof. The Polar M400 was recently updated to support the Footpod and smartphones notifications. It does not support Android at the moment but will later in 2015. The GPS signal was fluctuating and is not strong enough but the new update fixes most of these issues. It is well waterproofed at 30 meter and delivers a decent 8 hours on GPS mode.


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8) Basis Peak


The Basis Peak is a fitness and sleep tracker. It passively measures heart rate and steps with little intervention from the user. It has an excellent battery life that enables the user to use the gadget for days after a single charge. Its swipe based interface is almost too smart for its own good. The upgrade was unveiled during CES 2015 from the solid design update and fantastically responsive display to the hardware responsible for data collection. The design comes with five sensors with a touch screen display. Basis Peak is available on iOS and Android platform available in matte black, or brushed metal and white at $199. It is best for its fitness focused features but comes with a contextual software that actually knows when you are busy or still.


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9) Garmin Vivoactive


The Garmin Vivoactive is a smartwatch designed for athletes, a multifunctional sports tracker with GPS. Its not as rugged as some other Garmin watches but very user friendly with a colour LCD and upto 50m water resistance, the Viviactive is a serious contender.  It supports for heart-rate straps, GPS tracking, log running, cycling, swimming and golf, as well as everyday activity tracking. It also connects via Bluetooth to receive notifications from your smartphone and has a three weeks battery life on activity mode compare to 10 hours on GPS mode according to Garmin. You can download third party apps and get more fro Garmin’s new IQ connect app.


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10) Withings Activite


The Withings Activite is arguably the most fashion forward smartwatch in the market. It is an analogue looking watch but a fitness wearable that you will actually want to wear. This Swiss-Made watch was designed to encourage healthy lifestyle while looking stylish and classic. Designed with stainless steel and sapphire glass, it has a great battery life. Withings Activite has a fantastic fitness app and honestly beautiful. Although it works with only iPhones at the moment through Bluetooth connectivity. It has no Android support yet, the Health Mate app can only handle one Withings activity tracker and sleep tracking temperamental.


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11) Samsung Gear Live


The Samsung Gear Live is one of the first android wear smartwatches. It has a clean metal body which gives it a very sleek and stylish edge. The gear live has an attractive design, comfortable to wear with exchangeable straps.  It can work with many Android phones (4.3 or later) and has an impressive Google Voice Recognition. Some disadvantages are its terrible battery life and its bad display quality in daylight. A strange card based notification system does not always pop up with the info you want. The Snap-On charger is also very annoying. With slight modifications this device may top the market.


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12) Apple Watch


Apple Watch is first and foremost an incredibly accurate timepiece.You won’t just send and receive messages, calls and mail more easily and efficiently. You’ll express yourself in new, fun and more personal ways.Apple Watch is designed to keep you more efficient, organised and productive, it’s also made to keep you moving. Because being active is vital to living a healthy life.Everyone’s style is different, as is everyone’s wrist. So Apple Watch comes in two case sizes: 38mm and 42mm. Both of which can be set up to work on either your left or your right wrist.Every new product we’ve introduced has been defined by a unique input device. With Apple Watch, it’s the Digital Crown.  One of the best features on Apple Watch is the new Apple Pay System. The launch will be a turning point for Apple as well. For now we just have to wait and see!


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All these smartwatches are brilliant in some ways and lacking in a few. After CES 2015 we are convinced that wearable tech is here to occupy and smartwatches are leading the way.



TOP SMARTWATCHES OF 2015

Sunday, January 18, 2015

MERCEDES AT CES 2015

MERCEDES AT CES 2015


Mercedes at CES 2015 unveiled what they believed as the future of automobile transportation in the F 015 car. The F 015 car was launched at this year’s CES with an incredibly moving presentation from Dr Dieter Zetsche, head of Mercedes-Benz cars, who said the car “is developing exceedingly beyond its purpose as a basic agency of transport which will hopefully transformed into a mobile living space”.


That’s the reason why the cocoon-like self-driving vehicle, hosts the best interior which is suitable to easily seat four personal swivelling chairs. The occupants go into the car through rear-hinged doors that opens to 90-degrees as well as sit opposite one another to make sure Mercedes aspirations will rejuvenate the social interaction examined by our remote relations.


As the challenging process of driving a car is sorted out, the interior will be coated in sophisticated technology with the purpose of enabling persons travelling inside to act jointly with the vehicle on a number of phases. Each entrance panel provides a wide display screen that is controlled by eye-tracking devices and gesture switches.


You can also find HUD units on the windscreen that display distinctive driving information, a primary driver screen in the dashboard and a screen in-between the back seats, which is located at head level to simulate a rear window


The automobile is in addition deliberate to individuals in the outside society as well as other road users, since the “Extended Sense” sensor system continuously monitors it’s environ in a 360-degree radius. Fancy LED displays at the front and back of the car, also warn others of possible barriers. For instance, if a pedestrian crosses the road in front of the car, LED lamps at the back will track his or her movements and flash up a lighting display to alarm following cars not to overtake.


Certainly the F 015’s trick is its power to project a zebra crossing on the road ahead of it making use of laser-light technology, signalling to pedestrians that it is safe to cross and even audibly greeting them over an inbuilt loudspeaker.


The F 015 is truly designed for the future and will definately dominate our third space. It is a breath of fresh air to see how innovation is changing our lives and spaces and Mercedes is up for the challenge.


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MERCEDES AT CES 2015

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet

The Venue 8 7000 Series, is the world’s thinnest tablet, thinner than iPad 2 at 6mm. It is winner of CES 2015 best of innovation under the tablets, e-readers and mobile computing category. It is fitted with Intel® Atom processor Z3500 series. It features a stunning 2560×1600 OLED infinity edge-to-edge display which is one of the best displays on a tablet anywhere in the world.


The Venue 8 7000 Series is also the first to integrate the Intel RealSense Snapshot Depth Camera, which captures a depth map for every picture taken. Together with the Dell Gallery application, people will have much more flexibility when editing photos with selective filtering and refocus functions to change the brightness separately on a foreground object or background object, or refocus on any part of the picture.

The Venue 8 7000 packs a 2.3GHz quad-core chip, and it has 2GB of RAM. It runs Android 4.4 “KitKat.” Storage is a measly 16GB, but there’s a microSD card slot for augmenting that.


Dell Gallery is the ultimate photo organiser as it arranges your pictures. It can gather photos from multiple sources — including Dropbox, Picasa and Facebook — then organize them into “smart” albums based on time, geography and even facial recognition.


The Dell Venue 8 7000 is available now on the Dell website for $399.99.



Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet

Samsung 34-inch Curved Monitor

Curve is the new flat as Samsung has demonstrated with their 34-inch Samsung’s SE790C Curved Monitor. To be honest it is a beauty and a beast. It has a 21:9 ultra-wide aspect ratio, it’s like having two 4:3 monitors side by side which delivers a stunning immersive viewing experience of the ultra-wide curved screen. Enjoy big, bold and stunning panoramic views while you work and play in this 34″ Ultra WQHD SE790C monitor thanks to its 3440 x 1440 resolution, which is 2.5 times the resolution of Full HD. It has a 3000:1 static contrast ratio makes vibrant, lifelike colours, deeper blacks and brighter whites come to life like never before, so you can enjoy the ultimate viewing experience. Its selling on Amazon and EBay at the moment from $1,199.99.


Samsung 34-inch Curved Monitor:



Samsung 34-inch Curved Monitor

Sharp Aquos Beyond 4K TV

Sharp Aquos Beyond 4K TV:


Sharp at CES 2015 made a bold statement with the unveiling of their beyond 4K Ultra HD TV. It seems Sharp is heading for 8K although we are still getting used to 4K. At the unveiling press conference at CES 2015, this amazing technology blow me away. The specs are staggering with 66 million subpixels, 42 million more than standard 4K Ultra HD. With more subpixels, this TV is able to produce an image up to an effective 7640×4320 resolution. According to Sharp this next generation Proprietary Upscaler unleashes the full potential of this stunning resolution, whether it’s HD or 4K UHD content.


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It will be in late 2015 starting at 80-inch (diag.) class screen size. I must say this TV delivers an amazing picture detail with the highest standard of colour and contrast. It is design with latest Quattron technology, which provides a billion more shades of colour, this TV displays more colour than any AQUOS TV before it. High Dynamic Range technology and a full array LED panel with local dimming provide extremely deep blacks and white whites.

As a tech guru, I’m surely excited but as a consumer sceptical considering the lack of native content and probably the heavy price tag that will come with it.



Sharp Aquos Beyond 4K TV

Monday, January 5, 2015