Tech Roundup: Nokia Normandy, CES 2014 & More
[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]
Nokia does have Android in its plans?
Finnish handset maker Nokia's acquisition by Microsoft hasn't dampened the company's efforts to build an Android phone. If latest leaks, courtesy the popular tipster @evleaks, are to be believed, Nokia is prepping a budget Android smartphone under the codename Normandy. Said to be running on a heavily customized version of Android KitKat, the phone is tipped for a launch during Mobile World Congress (MWC) next month in Barcelona.
Next-gen TV's and wearables dominate Consumer Electronics Show:
The tech industry came out in full force at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week betting big on next-gen TV's and wearables including a host of smartwatches and activity trackers. Google announced the Android-based Open Automotive Alliance with Audi, Honda and others to bring Android to cars.
WebOS made a comeback with LG Smart TV's (after its acquisition last year by LG), while Samsung introed NotePro and TabPro tablets with a new Magazine UI that takes more advantage of the bigger screen. One surprise element is that the hardware menu button has been tossed out in favor of a 'Recent Apps' button, something we can hope to see in its upcoming phones as well.
But if there was one company that showed great promise, it was Sony. In a move that could potentially revolutionize the way we play games, the company announced PlayStation Now, a cloud service that allows streaming of games to any Sony device, a new cloud TV service, a futuristic interface concept called Life Space UX that augments walls, table surfaces and ceilings to offer immersive viewing experiences and lastly a no compromise small-screen device the Xperia Z1 Compact. Packing in a 4.3-inch IPS display, a 20.7 MP camera and other goodies found on its flagship Xperia Z1 (and the newly announced Z1S for US markets), the Z1 Compact is Sony's best phone yet.
Gmail gets more social, thanks to Google+:
Search giant Google has announced a new update to its free email service Gmail that lets anyone with a Google (and a Google+) account email others, friends and strangers alike, without even having to know their email addresses. The move has predictably sparked off privacy concerns, among others that Google is trying to force-feed its fledgling social network upon its users. The feature however is an opt-out, meaning it is enabled by default. If you want this turned-off, select the gear icon on top right, go to Settings -> General, look for 'Email via Google+' option and select 'No one' from the drop down and hit Save changes. That's it.
The major tech fails of 2013:
One must have the bad along with the good, don't you agree? 2013 was an year of many tech triumphs, but it was also an year when companies and governments made glaring blunders, and so here's the list of major tech flops:
>> Facebook smartphone: Social network Facebook and HTC partnered to bring the first (Android) smartphone running on Facebook's homescreen replacement, and needless to say the phone, aptly named HTC First, was the last and an undeniable disaster.
>> Twitter #Music: In an era of Spotify, Pandora and countless other music streaming apps, no one had even the time to bother about Twitter's music app. Last heard, the service could be scrapped any day.
>> Yahoo! Mail: Yahoo!'s redesign of its web apps gained major traction after ex-Googler Marissa Mayer stepped in as CEO, and its email service, which underwent a Gmail like design makeover, was buggy and a massive outage last December only piled on the miseries.
>> YouTube commenting system: Want to add your thoughts on a YouTube video you just watched? Just make sure you have a Google+ account. Google's attempts to improve quality of comments may have been well-intentioned, but it was also a move to make more people create a single virtual identity across its services.
>> Surface RT: Even Microsoft was so confused that it decided to drop the RT moniker altogether from its Surface (RT) tablets that ran a stripped down version of Windows called Windows RT. In fact the dismal sales of Surface tablets made Redmond write off a billion dollars to cover unsold inventory.
>> BlackBerry: The Canadian manufacturer's smartphone sales were lackluster, and added to that, it tried to sell itself only to back off, leading to several top-level exits and thousands of employees being handed the pink slips.
>> NSA Revelations: The USA's large-scale surveillance operations rightly triggered concerns about user privacy, and Edward Snowden, whether what he did was lawful or otherwise, deserves the highest amount of praise for bringing this to the notice of people.
In other news:
Nokia does have Android in its plans?
Finnish handset maker Nokia's acquisition by Microsoft hasn't dampened the company's efforts to build an Android phone. If latest leaks, courtesy the popular tipster @evleaks, are to be believed, Nokia is prepping a budget Android smartphone under the codename Normandy. Said to be running on a heavily customized version of Android KitKat, the phone is tipped for a launch during Mobile World Congress (MWC) next month in Barcelona.
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| Xperia Z1 Compact |
The tech industry came out in full force at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week betting big on next-gen TV's and wearables including a host of smartwatches and activity trackers. Google announced the Android-based Open Automotive Alliance with Audi, Honda and others to bring Android to cars.
WebOS made a comeback with LG Smart TV's (after its acquisition last year by LG), while Samsung introed NotePro and TabPro tablets with a new Magazine UI that takes more advantage of the bigger screen. One surprise element is that the hardware menu button has been tossed out in favor of a 'Recent Apps' button, something we can hope to see in its upcoming phones as well.
But if there was one company that showed great promise, it was Sony. In a move that could potentially revolutionize the way we play games, the company announced PlayStation Now, a cloud service that allows streaming of games to any Sony device, a new cloud TV service, a futuristic interface concept called Life Space UX that augments walls, table surfaces and ceilings to offer immersive viewing experiences and lastly a no compromise small-screen device the Xperia Z1 Compact. Packing in a 4.3-inch IPS display, a 20.7 MP camera and other goodies found on its flagship Xperia Z1 (and the newly announced Z1S for US markets), the Z1 Compact is Sony's best phone yet.
Gmail gets more social, thanks to Google+:
Search giant Google has announced a new update to its free email service Gmail that lets anyone with a Google (and a Google+) account email others, friends and strangers alike, without even having to know their email addresses. The move has predictably sparked off privacy concerns, among others that Google is trying to force-feed its fledgling social network upon its users. The feature however is an opt-out, meaning it is enabled by default. If you want this turned-off, select the gear icon on top right, go to Settings -> General, look for 'Email via Google+' option and select 'No one' from the drop down and hit Save changes. That's it.
The major tech fails of 2013:
One must have the bad along with the good, don't you agree? 2013 was an year of many tech triumphs, but it was also an year when companies and governments made glaring blunders, and so here's the list of major tech flops:
>> Facebook smartphone: Social network Facebook and HTC partnered to bring the first (Android) smartphone running on Facebook's homescreen replacement, and needless to say the phone, aptly named HTC First, was the last and an undeniable disaster.
>> Twitter #Music: In an era of Spotify, Pandora and countless other music streaming apps, no one had even the time to bother about Twitter's music app. Last heard, the service could be scrapped any day.
>> Yahoo! Mail: Yahoo!'s redesign of its web apps gained major traction after ex-Googler Marissa Mayer stepped in as CEO, and its email service, which underwent a Gmail like design makeover, was buggy and a massive outage last December only piled on the miseries.
>> YouTube commenting system: Want to add your thoughts on a YouTube video you just watched? Just make sure you have a Google+ account. Google's attempts to improve quality of comments may have been well-intentioned, but it was also a move to make more people create a single virtual identity across its services.
>> Surface RT: Even Microsoft was so confused that it decided to drop the RT moniker altogether from its Surface (RT) tablets that ran a stripped down version of Windows called Windows RT. In fact the dismal sales of Surface tablets made Redmond write off a billion dollars to cover unsold inventory.
>> BlackBerry: The Canadian manufacturer's smartphone sales were lackluster, and added to that, it tried to sell itself only to back off, leading to several top-level exits and thousands of employees being handed the pink slips.
>> NSA Revelations: The USA's large-scale surveillance operations rightly triggered concerns about user privacy, and Edward Snowden, whether what he did was lawful or otherwise, deserves the highest amount of praise for bringing this to the notice of people.
In other news:
- NSA reportedly building a quantum computer to break all existing encryption standards; intercepts computer deliveries to plant spyware and had total access to iPhone data since 2008, reveal latest surveillance leaks.
- Scientists measure the distances to galaxies located six billion light years away to 1% accuracy.
- Newly detected greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA), is 7,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
- Vast freshwater reserves found beneath the oceans off coasts of Australia, China, North America and South Africa.
- German scientists successfully create artificial bone marrow with the help of synthetic polymers.
- Obesity quadruples to one billion in the developing world since 1980; one in three people worldwide now overweight.
- Facebook begins rollout of auto-playing video ads.
- Google's acquisition spree continues - buys Boston Dynamics, Timely and home automation company Nest; to shutdown file transfer app Bump and social collaboration service Schemer this month.
- Apple mandates app developers to ensure iOS 7 compliance by Feb 1 as the mobile operating system adoption rate hits 78%.
- Samsung rumored to be readying Galaxy S5 smartphone for April launch this year in metal and plastic variants with iris recognition, head-tracking controls, a 16 MP camera and Android 4.4 KitKat.
- Twitter co-founder Biz Stone launches Jelly, a social question-and-answer app for Android and iOS.
- Apple redesigns dialer with iOS 7.1 beta 3; ditches squircular buttons for circles.
- Microsoft Windows 9, codenamed Threshold, could be released as early as April 2015.
- Android Jelly Bean on 59.1% of all Android devices, Kitkat's upward march continues.
- Tech rivals Apple and Samsung agree for mediation talks before patent battle.
- Messaging service Snapchat hacked by SnapchatDB, leaking 4.6 million usernames and their corresponding phone numbers by exploiting a long unfixed security loophole; Snapchat forced to apologize for jump in spam.
- Next version of USB will be reversible much like Apple's Lightning connector.
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