LG has placed its trust on Google Assistant and has given it the power to control its smart appliances. While it teamed up with Amazon earlier this year to give its refrigerators built-in access to Alexa, its partnership with Google is much bigger in…
Sirin Labs, the company behind the $14,000 Solarin smartphone, is now developing an open-source model that runs on a fee-less blockchain. The Finney — named in honor of bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney — will be the only smartphone in the world that’s fu…
Apple’s new iPhones this year are definitely more expensive than ever, take for example the iPhone X which is priced starting at $999, a price tag that’s considerably higher than any base iPhone model we’ve seen. The iPhone 8 is priced lower and more reasonable at $699, although it is also a slight increase from before where the base iPhone 7 was priced at $649.
According to a report from Bloomberg that cites data from research firm IHS Markit, it seems that this is due to several new hardware components that Apple has chosen to use, such as the new A11 Bionic processor, flash memory, as well as the chassis of the iPhone in which the glass and mechanical enclosures are more expensive.
The total material cost for the iPhone 8 is said to be $247.51, versus the $237.94 of last year’s model. The iPhone 8 Plus is also more expensive to build with a reported material cost of $288.08, versus the iPhone 7 Plus which costs $270.88. Of course all of this pales in comparison to the iPhone X which is said to cost a whopping $581 to build.
However as we had previously noted, the cost of materials listed does not necessarily reflect the actual price of what Apple paid. This is because Apple could be paying heavily discounted prices due to their volume purchases, plus it also doesn’t factor in other costs related to making the iPhone, like R&D, marketing, prototyping, manpower hours, and so on, but we suppose at the very least it does somewhat explain why the iPhones this year are more expensive than before.
Apple’s iPhone 8 Has A Reported Material Cost Of $247.51 , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Image credit – Bob Wilder/University at Buffalo
When it comes to biometric security features, we are seeing methods like fingerprint scanners, iris scanners, and facial recognition as some of the more common methods available today. However in the future it is possible that we could be using something else entirely, like maybe using the size of your heart.
Researchers over at the University of Buffalo (via Engadget) have come up with a new method of security in which it uses the size of your heart to determine who you are. This relies on the use of a low-level Doppler radar that will continuously scan your heart’s dimensions, meaning that as long as you’re sitting in front of your computer and in the right spot, you will be able to keep using it.
For example if you were to move away, your computer could lock itself and only unlock when it detects your heart again. This means that users don’t need to manually lock or unlock their computers when it could be as simple as walking away and coming back. It could also be used to authenticate people at the airport where it can apparently authenticate people from as far as 98 feet away.
At the moment the plan is to shrink down the technology so that it could potentially be installed into the corners of computer keyboards.
Researchers Use Heart Size As A Biometric Security Feature , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
It is a common belief that piracy has an effect on product sales. For example if you were to illegally download an album instead of buying it, it means that the record label has sold one less album that they could have otherwise sold. The same can also be said for video games, but apparently that isn’t necessarily the case.
According to a recent report published by the EU Commission (via Games Industry), it seems that they have found no evidence that piracy actually affects video game sales. The EU Commission acknowledges that piracy does exist, but whether or not it prevents consumers from purchasing the game legally later on is a different story.
The report reads (in part), “In general, the results do not show robust statistical evidence of displacement of sales by online copyright infringements. That does not necessarily mean that piracy has no effect but only that the statistical analysis does not prove with sufficient reliability that there is an effect.”
Basically it suggests that even though some gamers pirate a game, it doesn’t mean that they might not buy the original later if they enjoy it. After all piracy is a way for gamers to experience a game in full that sometimes a trial version might not. The report also found that techniques like cutting prices do not affect the propensity for piracy either. It’s an interesting read and the findings do seem controversial, but what do you guys think?
EU Commission Claims No Evidence That Piracy Affects Video Game Sales , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Ever wonder what happened to Sony’s PS Vita console? Back in 2015, it was reported that gamers probably shouldn’t expect to see a successor anytime soon, and last year there were also rumors that the console could be discontinued in North America. If you’re still holding out on the hope that Sony will have a new console soon, you’ll be disappointed to learn that it really doesn’t seem like it will happen.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Sony’s PlayStation boss Andrew House has stated that he sees “limited global potential” when it comes to handheld gaming consoles, at least as far as this day and age are concerned where smartphones are more than capable of being powerful gaming devices.
House also states that outside of Japan and Asia, the PS Vita did not see much demand. “The Vita experience was that outside of Japan and Asia, there was not a huge demand. The lifestyle shift toward the dominance of smartphones as the single key device that is always with you, was the determining factor.”
It is an interesting sentiment considering that Nintendo is making a bet that handhelds will continue to be popular, especially with the launch of the Switch which is a hybrid of a home console that can also be taken on the go. According to House, “The folks at Nintendo have their strategy and that’s great. We remain focused around a highly connected gaming experience and also coupled with having a great range of other entertainment experiences so you can reach multiple people on the big screen in the household.”
PlayStation Boss Sees ‘Limited Potential’ For Handheld Gaming , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Next week Google is expected to take the wraps off their next Pixel handsets which as far as we know will be known as the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. In terms of hardware, for the most part it seems to be fairly standard but a recent tweet by Android Police’s Artem Russakovskii has revealed some potential additional details.
One of those details, which he claims is from a new source who has apparently played around with Verizon’s Pixel 2, is an always-on song recognition feature. The tweet reads, “New feature that listens to music all the time so if there’s a song playing in the bg it will put the artist and title on your lockscreen.” It sounds like a pretty nifty feature, although we’re not sure it could end up being battery/data intensive.
Other features of the Pixel 2 includes a squeezable frame, which we’ve heard about, and according to Russakovskii is meant to trigger Google Assistant, which we guess is similar to the hardware Bixby button on Samsung’s new devices. The Pixel 2 is also rumored to have a camera mode similar to Apple’s Portrait Mode, but it is expected to be software induced as the Pixel 2 will not come with a dual camera setup.
In any case take it with a grain of salt for now, but like we said, Google will have the official details next week so check back with us then for the updates.
Pixel 2 Rumored To Have Always-On Song Recognition Feature , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
“Racism is so powerful and it’s been around for so long, it’s so deep.”
“Sad!”
“They’re just trying to protest the fact that there are some injustices in America.”
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