Bendy iPhone 6

Yesterday reports emerged that the iPhone 6 Plus wasn't strong enough to survive a few hours in a front pocket, with several users complaining that it was bending.

One person, Lou from Unbox Therapy, put the complaints to the test with his bare hands. The video results are below.

Apple just lost the global smartphone war to Google

Much has been reported about Apple’s biggest volume day to date — selling 4 million iPhone 6’s in 24 hours worldwide this past Friday. It’s a tremendous achievement for any company.

Less has been said on how Google will sell 2 million smartphones by year's end in one country alone — and how it will beat Apple in the process.

Google launched a smartphone that can’t be bought in the US, in a country where most Americans can’t find on a map and at a profit margin that made Wall Street boil.

It’s the Android One, it was just released in India, and it’s proof that Google gets the global smartphone game.

The iPhone 6’s markets are saturated; the Android One’s markets are not.

Many pundits classify Apple as an “aspirational” brand--they make products that more people want than can afford. It's a great position for any company to be in, but the cachet can come at a cost: arrogance. 

For the last decade, Apple has thought locally and applied it globally. So in their mind what works in Cupertino will also work in Beijing, Mumbai and Mexico City. They've gotten away with it until now, but there's a problem: saturation.

In Apple’s primary market—the US, it controls 42% of smartphone sales. That’s a problem because the US is saturated with smartphones--roughly 75% of Americans own one. Most developed economies have similar ownership levels. When you factor in that growth within the high-end smartphone market--their sweet spot--has plateaued, Apple should be exploring new markets.

Instead of adapting to price sensitivities within emerging markets, Apple’s iPhone 6 starts at $649 (without contract) and tops out at $949. That's an impossible purchase when the average household income in India is just US$7,700.

While Apple's CEO Tim Cook might claim that China is now its biggest market, the company gave up 30% of its market share in the last year to local competitors Huawei and Xiaomi. (This happened despite blistering iPhone sales.) After flubbing the iPhone 5C launch in China, he still has not set a release date for the 6 and 6 plus—despite it being manufactured there.

In Mexico, its share dropped by 50% in the last 12 months. In fact, Apple has lost ground in almost all major economies in that same time period. Apple has lost its global mojo.

Google’s Android One launched in India this week for just $105, and carrier subsidies will drive that price down into the $60s. Amazon India's massive inventory sold out in a matter of hours. Google understands what works in Mountain View might not in Mumbai or Manila.

iPhone 6 sales are mostly upgrades; Android One sales are all new.

The last major iPhone update was over two years ago. That’s a lifetime in the fast-moving mobile world. Their pre-sales figures show how pent up the demand is today and will likely remain in the months to come.

While the iPhone 6 will eat into some of Samsung’s higher-end market share, a majority of these revenues will come from upgrades from existing customers. This will generate massive revenues (and profits) for Apple, but lead to minimal growth in its market share at best, and not help them long term.

In contrast, Google didn't design the Android One for the 1.75 billion people who already have a smartphone. They have created it for the 5+ billion who don’t and priced it accordingly.

The iPhone 6 is sourced globally; the Android One is sourced locally.

Apple’s hardware is often second-to-none in its quality and build. A vendor's success is nearly guaranteed when Apple selects them. This pattern also happens within two other companies: General Motors and Ford. It doesn't take a logistics expert to tell you how global sourcing drives up costs and production times. (Maybe that’s why the iPhone 6 is delayed for release in China.)

Google took a different approach. It worked with local chipmakers and phone manufacturers to control costs in India.

Likewise, they’ll partner with other manufacturers like Alcatel, Lenovo and Panasonic to ensure that this sourcing model will be replicated in other emerging markets.

The iPhone 6 software is locked by Apple; so is the Android One by Google.

Apple has a long history of tightly controlling software on all of its platforms. That hurt them in the PC age, but has helped them improve the user experience in the mobile age.

Google took notice. Manufacturers like Samsung load up their Android devices with bloatware to the angst of users. Google limits Android One manufacturers to its stock OS.

Google has also eliminated OS access from wireless carriers--like Apple did with AT&T seven years ago. Google took it a step further by understanding the great expense of mobile data for most users within India. They partnered with Airtel to allow Android One users to get free OS updates for the first six months—in time for a critical update to their more energy-efficient Android L OS. These users will also get up to 200MB of free data for app downloads per month.

Unless there are radical changes coming to Cupertino, Apple just lost the global smartphone war to Google.

Source: LinkedIn

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus review

Apple unveiled two new versions of the iPhone, boosting the screen size of the iconic smartphone.

Watch the above video from Apple for more information or click the linke below for more information on the features.

http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/

Please click the link below for unofficial Hands On review of iPhone 6.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/iphone-6-1264565/review

Watch 1000 years of European Borders change in 3 Minutes

Watch this amazing time-lapse video, you can see how 1000 years of European history plays havoc on the stability of the border we take for granted today.

Google announces Android Auto

Google announces Android Auto to bridge cars and smartphones in the near future

Given the fact that we human beings simply love staying connected at all times, Google has come up with a swanky new way to stay in the loop while driving around town. Unveiled at Google’s I/O conference recently, the Android Auto is Google’s newest solution to smartphone-car connectivity. Using this, owners will simply need to plug their smartphones into their cars’ system for a complete voice-activated experience that includes Google Play Music, Google Maps, text message play back and lots more! And that’s not all! Google will also enable third party developers to craft applications for the Android Auto.

Currently, Google has made no official statement in regards to which automobile manufacturer will first embrace this technology upgrade. However, given the fact that Google today has a long-standing reputation in the realm of technology, we do expect a host of automakers to grab the new technology. From the looks of it, major car manufacturers like Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan and Volkswagen could soon begin using the Android Auto. With this, drivers could soon text, switch between songs, navigate and have their emails read out to them, without having to leave the steering wheel! Welcome home Android Auto, you’ve been long awaited.

Source: http://newlaunches.com/archives/google-announces-android-auto-bridge-cars-smartphones-near-future.php

Amazon unveils its first smartphone called Fire

Amazon's Fire Phone

Some highlights of the phone:

Screen : 4.7-inch screen

Processer: a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 graphics and 2GB of RAM.

Camera: 13MP snapper on the front, complete with OIS and an industry-leading f/2.0 lens and 2.1MP for front camera

Extra features : 3D features, Firefly

For more info click on the link below:

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/amazon-phone-release-date-news-and-rumors-1085821

Galaxy S5 vs. HTC One (M8): Which is the best Android phone in the world?

Are you wondering which Android phone you want to by? Want to know which one is the best out there right now.

Click on the link below to know which can be crowned the best Android phone in the world:
http://bgr.com/2014/04/17/galaxy-s5-vs-htc-one-m8-review-comparison-best/?socid=social_M8_BuyNow23317344

69 interesting & surprising facts about New Zealand

Click the link below to know some interesting and surprising facts about New Zealand.

Picture: Blue Lake, in the Nelson Lakes National Park, has the clearest water in the world, with visibility tests showing visibility of up to 80 metres.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jemimaskelley/things-you-did-not-know-about-new-zealand

Glow-in-the-dark roads hit the streets in the Netherlands

One stretch of road in the Netherlands may make you feel like you're cruising through a video game. A new glow-in-the-dark pavement has replaced power-sucking streetlights for a 500m (.3mi) piece of the highway. 

Please access the link below for more information:

http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/14/netherlands-glow-in-the-dark-road/

New Zealand ranked first in the world for social and environmental progress

New Zealand has come first in a global index that ranks countries by social and environmental performance rather than economic output in a drive to make social progress a priority for politicians and businesses.

The Social Progress Index (SPI), published on Thursday, rates 132 countries on more than 50 indicators, including health, sanitation, shelter, personal safety, access to information, sustainability, tolerance and inclusion and access to education.

For more info, click on the link below:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/new-zealand-ranked-first-social-environmental-progress

US company to beam free wi-fi to entire world from space - Is this possible?

A US company is planning to build an 'Outernet - a global network of cube satellites broadcasting Internet data to all the people on the planet - for free.

The idea is to offer free Internet access to all people, regardless of location, bypassing filtering or other means of censorship, according to the New York based non-profit organisation, Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF).

MDIF proposes that hundreds of cube satellites be built and launched to create a constellation of sorts in the sky, allowing anyone with a phone or computer to access Internet data sent to the satellites by several hundred ground stations.

The organisation claims that 40 per cent of the people in the world today are still not able to connect to the Internet - and it's not just because of restrictive governments such as North Korea - it's also due to the high cost of bringing service to remote areas, 'phys.org' reported.

An Outernet would allow people from Siberia to parts of the western US to remote islands or villages in Africa to receive the same news as those in New York or Tokyo.

The Outernet would be one-way - data would flow from feeders to the satellites which would broadcast to all below.

MDIF plans to add the ability to transmit from anywhere as well as soon as funds become available.

MDIF has acknowledged that building such a network would not be cheap. Such satellites typically run $100,000 to $300,000 to build and launch.

The timeline for the project calls for deploying the initial cubesats as early as next summer.

Once turned down by Facebook and ended up selling a thing to FB for $19 billion

Heights of how things change. 

Look at the timeline of events that happened with Brian Acton who is whatsapp co-founder.

Facebook buys Whatsapp for $19 billion

Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock, as the world's largest social network looks for ways to boost its popularity, especially among a younger crowd.

The acquisition of the hot messaging service with more than 450 million users around the world stunned many Silicon Valley observers with its lofty price tag.

But it underscores Facebook's determination to win the market for messaging, an indispensable utility in a mobile era.

Combining text messaging and social networking, messaging apps provide a quick way for smartphone users to trade everything from brief texts to flirtatious pictures to YouTube clips — bypassing the need to pay wireless carriers for messaging services.

And it helps Facebook tap teens who will eschew the mainstream social networks and prefer WhatsApp and rivals such as Line and WeChat, which have exploded in size as mobile messaging takes off.

WhatsApp is adding about a million users per day, Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said on his page on Wednesday.

Guess who's credit card have been hacked for shopping spree - PayPal president's credit card

PayPal President David Marcus said on Monday that his credit card details were stolen and the information was used to finance a fraudulent spending spree.

Marcus said the card was probably "skimmed" at the hotel he was staying at, or at a merchant he visited, during a recent trip to the U.K.

"They then cloned it and went on a shopping spree," the executive wrote on Twitter.

Marcus noted that his credit card had EMV chip technology, a more secure system currently in use in Europe. But that didn't stop the data from being stolen and used for a "ton of fraudulent" transactions, according to the PayPal chief.

A skimmer is a device fixed to the front of an ATM or point-of-sale terminal that secretly swipes credit and debit information when customers slip their cards into the machines to withdraw cash or pay for something. This malicious technology has been around for years, but skimmers are constantly improving it, according to cyber security expert Brian Krebs.

PayPal's Marcus did not waste an opportunity to tout his company's security benefits, saying the breach would not have happened if the merchant had accepted PayPal as a form of payment. PayPal says it does not share card or bank account details with merchants when shoppers use the service to buy something.

PayPal is trying to expand from its online roots to become a common way to pay in physical stores. The security of card transactions in retail locations has been questioned recently by the massive theft of customer data from Target.

"Obfuscating card data online, on mobile, and now more and more offline remains one of PayPal's strongest value props," Marcus added on Twitter.

Indian Luger Crashes at 70 MPH, Rolls Back on Sled Mid-run

Shiva Keshavan, a 31-year-old luge athlete, is one of the early viral stars of the Sochi Olympics after GIFs and videos of his incredible mid-run crash – at a speed of approximately 70 MPH – and recovery hit the web. 

Keshavan is from India, but he's racing under the Olympic flag owing to his home country's suspension by the IOC. Earlier this year, footage of his training regimen – which includes using a Himalayan highway as a training track – gained attention online. 

Apparently, there are no rules against falling off a sled mid-run, so Keshavan's run will stand. (It was just a practice, though.) 
Medal or not, Keshavan has already won the internet.  

Microsoft Names New Chief; Satya Nadella

Microsoft on Tuesday announced that Satya Nadella was its next leader, betting on a longtime engineering executive to help the company keep better pace with changes in technology.

The selection of Mr. Nadella to replace Steven A. Ballmer, which was widely expected, was accompanied by news that Bill Gates, a company founder, had stepped down from his role as chairman and become a technology adviser to Mr. Nadella.

John W. Thompson, 64, a member of the Microsoft board who oversaw its search for a new chief executive, became the company’s chairman, replacing Mr. Gates.

“During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella,” said Mr. Gates, who remains a member of Microsoft’s board. “Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together.”

NSA Can Access Basically Everything On iOS, Android and Blackberry

Check this interesting article about NSA spying on your smart phone:

Click on the links below for more info:

http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-can-access-basically-everything-on-ios-android-1272773413?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin#!

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/privacy-scandal-nsa-can-spy-on-smart-phone-data-a-920971.html