Earlier this month a rumor surfaced that LG would be unveiling its new G Pad 8.3 tablet on October 14 in Korea. Today LG officially announced the launch of the LG G Pad 8.3 tablet in the US. The tablet is available to purchase right now online. The tablet will be available in retail locations […]
BitLock is a smart lock for your bike that uses Bluetooth LE/4.0 to do away with physical keys — allowing you to lock and unlock your ride based on the proximity of your smartphone to your bike (or directly within the app). The device exists in prototype form only for now, as its San Francisco-based makers are seeking $120,000 on Kickstarter to go into production.
As with similar smart lock concepts for the home — such as Lockitron — there are more advantages to ditching metal keys and going for software than having one less key to carry around with you: BitLock’s system means you can tap into the sharing economy by sharing access to your bike with others, provisioning and revoking digital keys as you see fit.
The app will also let you view the location where you last locked up your bike on a map (based on recording your smartphone’s GPS at the time), and get maps of your rides and activity data — such as average speed, distance pedalled and estimated calories burnt. Bundling lots of handy functions in one.
Best of all: BitLock’s battery life is apparently good for five years’ average use (based on five lock/unlock operations per day), thanks to the low-energy requirements of Bluetooth 4.0 and a Lithium thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl 2) battery. In London at least, it’s far more likely that your bike will get lifted long before the battery runs out.
On the theft/security front, BitLock’s makers claim the lock’s reinforced, heat-treated and cut-resistant steel “cannot be defeated using any kind of bolt cutter or hacksaw”. While the digital keys are covered by banking-grade encryption. The lock is also designed to resist the weather, with internal electronics sealed and waterproofed and able to operate “under an extended temperature range”.
What about if you lose your phone? Access to your bike can be disabled by resetting your account password. And if you want to unlock your bike when you’re without your phone (or if its battery has run out) BitLock has a couple of contingencies: one being a 16 digit binary code (that can be generated when you register the lock) to use to unlock the device. “Write down the code on a piece of paper, and keep it in your wallet,” they suggest.
Or there’s the cloud route — meaning you’ll just need to borrow someone else’s smartphone or use another Bluetooth 4.0 device and then log into your BitLock account to be able to unlock your bike.
Current devices compatible with BitLock include the iPhone 4S (or newer) on the iPhone side, and on Android there’s a clutch of compatible phones including the Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, Note 2 & Note 3; the HTC One; Google’s Nexus 4 & 5; and Motorola Moto X (and others). Expect more to be added to that list by the time BitLock makes it to market — with close to a year to wait til shipping date — assuming it hits its funding goal.
BitLock looks to be on track to hit its funding goal — although it’s still a ways off, it’s raised close to $41,000+ of the $120k target with 28 days left to run on the campaign.
How much is BitLock going to set you back? There’s a handful of early bird $79 Kickstarter pledge levels left to get a lock, with an estimated shipping date of July 2014. Once those are gone the price rises to $99.
Samsung and Apple are currently fighting it out in the courts, with Samsung claiming that Apple has infringed upon their patents and vice versa. Apple claims that they offered Samsung a licensing deal to license some of Samsung’s patents, which are standard essential patents, but Samsung has refused Apple’s offer, claiming Apple’s offer is too low. However now it seems that Samsung has had something of a change of heart and have stated that they are willing to drop all litigations related to mobile standard essential patents if the other party (which is currently Apple) is willing to license a particular framework.
To top it off, Samsung also claims that they will not seek an standard essential patent-related injunctions against the other party in the European region for a period of 5 years. This move comes about as Samsung is about to face a $18.3 billion antitrust fine which would be about 10% of their 2012 annual revenue. Apple has yet to respond to this latest offer by Samsung, but it sounds like the South Korean tech giant is willing to settle and hopefully this will be a start to the end of the patent wars.
Samsung Willing To Offer Injunction Relief To Avoid Antitrust Fine original content from Ubergizmo. 
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With Windows 8.1 officially launching today, refreshed operating systems are on the minds of a lot of computer users. If your tastes lie in an operating system other than Windows, you may be interested in the latest version of Ubuntu Linux that launched yesterday. Ubuntu 13.10 launched on October 17 bringing a number of improvements […]
If you’re planning on picking up the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for yourself, it seems that there have been a recent bout of complaints about the device, of which a proper resolution to the problem has yet to be discovered. According to some of the reports, some Galaxy Note 3 units are experiencing boot loops and based on the discussions about the issue, there should be no reason why the device is even experiencing such a problem. The issue occurs after the device randomly restarts on its own, after which it will see itself stuck in a boot loop that can only be stopped when the battery is manually pulled from the device.
For some users complaining of the problem, this occurred after installing a newer version of the software on their handset, and then installing their apps from the Google Play store. For others the reboot is done intentionally, but it is noted that if the reboot is done in flight mode, the boot loop does not occur. Presumably this is a software issue that can be addressed with a software update, but for now Samsung has yet to comment on the problem, but hopefully as this issue gets more coverage, Samsung will address it soon. In the meantime any of our readers experience this boot looping problem with their Galaxy Note 3?
Some Galaxy Note 3 Users Encountering Boot Loops original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Amazon just announced its latest tablets are available for pre-order in the UK and Canada. While the updated Kindle Fire HD will begin shipping in both countries on October 24th, Canadian customers will have to wait until November 26th, almost two weeks later than their UK counterparts, to get their …
Back in August it was rumored that Nikon could be announcing a new Nikon DSLR camera in the form of the D5300 and sure enough the rumors have come true. The Nikon D5300 is Nikon’s latest DSLR and this particular model finds itself in Nikon’s mid-ranged lineup, meaning that it should come with the specs and the price point where photography enthusiasts might be interested in checking it out. The Nikon D5300 is also the first Nikon DSLR that comes with WiFi connectivity built into the camera itself, meaning that Nikon photographers will no longer have to deal with WiFi dongles which are just asking to get misplaced or lost.
The D5300 is also the successor to the D5200 and will come with a new 24.2MP sensor, but it will not come with an optical low-pass filter. It will be powered by an EXPEED 4 processor for 1080p/60p videos and 5fps stills along with a slightly improved battery life, allowing photographers to snap around 700 shots per full charge, compared to the 500 shots on a full charge for the previous model. The camera will come with an accompanying iOS and Android that will take advantage of the camera’s built-in WiFi. Priced at $1,400, the camera will come with an 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, or $800 for body-only, and will be available for purchase in stores later this month.
Nikon D5300 With Built-In WiFi Announced original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Radiation is serious—especially in Japan. With the country still dealing with a nuclear disaster, people need to protect themselves.
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We’ve known since August that today was the official launch date for Windows 8.1. Microsoft has now officially announced that Windows 8.1 is available globally. If you’ve been following Windows 8.1, you may already know some of the things that the new version of the operating system brings to the table. Microsoft promises that Windows […]
Verizon’s third quarter results are out, and it’s not suffering any malaise after its break-up with Vodafone. In fact, it landed 1.1 million new mobile customers and over 300,000 new subscribers to its FiOS internet and video services during the three-month period. More than 67% of people on the …
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