Jun 11
Jun 11
Square Enix’s E3 2018 showcase has wrapped and the results are pretty disappointing. The entire showcase only lasted for about 30 minutes, and it mostly featured stuff that we were already expecting (such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Kingdom Hearts 3). Still, there were a couple of surprises, so if you missed the showcase, here are all of … Continue reading
Jun 11
Netflix has invested a lot of energy into GLOW’s second season, and now we have an inkling as to whether or not that trust is well-placed. The service has posted a trailer for the new GLOW that makes it clear the stakes are higher this time around. T…
Jun 11
Tunic looks like a game that’s taken a lot of inspiration from SNES era Zelda titles — and when Xbox’s E3 2018 showcase is an awful lot of games with guns, zombies or unexplained apocalyptic surroundings, it was a welcome panacea. Meet the…
Jun 11
It’s not uncommon for cryptocurrency exchanges to get hacked and the losses often run into tens of millions of dollars. Whenever something like this happens, the bitcoin price tends to take a hit as a result and that’s precisely what has happened after Coinrail, an exchange based in South Korea confirmed that it was hacked and that hackers made off with $40 million worth of tokens and altcoins.
Bitcoin’s price has subsequently taken a hit and has been hovering above its two-month low of $6,500 today. Some of you might already be aware that Bitcoin has lost over 50 percent of its value over the past few months after it hit a peak of $19,000 late last year.
Coinrail’s official statement on the matter didn’t reveal how the hack took place but it confirmed that hackers stole more than $40 million worth of tokens and altcoins. The stolen coins and tokens include NPER, NPXS, and ATX. The exchange is now looking into the targeted system and says that all of the coins that were exposed have been successfully frozen while other cryptocurrencies are stored in a cold wallet right now.
Local media reports suggest that the police have begun an investigation into the hack with a spokesperson confirming that “We secured the access history of Coinrail servers and we are in the process of analysing them.”
Bitcoin Tumbles After $40 Million Cryptocurrency Hack , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jun 11
Microsoft’s Adaptive Controller for the Xbox was designed with accessibility in mind. It brings the needs of people with disabilities to the forefront, ensuring that they can use their existing accessibility tools with a gamepad that was designed wit…
Jun 11
Facebook’s On This Day and other nostalgia-driven posts are helpful for reminding you of moments from years past, but they eventually drift out of your News Feed. What if you want to revisit them at any time? You can now. The social site has launc…
Jun 11
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be the next flagship smartphones from Samsung that is expected to be launched later in the year. Samsung has not officially announced everything but it has not stopped the rumors or leaks from finding their way online, all of which have been compiled into this article.
Design
Image credit – 91mobiles & @OnLeaks
So far Samsung hasn’t really introduced any wild or crazy designs for its smartphones in recent years. The company did make some waves when they introduced curved displays to their phones, but following which the company’s smartphones have pretty much all adopted that design ever since.
The Note 9 doesn’t appear to be the exception and leaked renders have shown that to be the case. However what’s interesting is that according to the leak, the Note 9 might end up actually being slightly thicker than its predecessor where it would have a thickness of 8.8mm versus the Note 8’s 8.6mm. Whether or not users will be able to notice this thickness remains to be seen, although it’s not exactly a deal-breaker.
Display
Image credit – 91mobiles & @OnLeaks
In terms of display, the Galaxy Note series tends to feature larger displays compared to the Galaxy S series which makes sense as the Note series is marketed towards those who like to use a stylus. Last year’s Note 8 had a 6.3-inch display and based on the rumors, the Note 9 is also expected to retain its 6.3-inch display. As for resolution, there doesn’t seem to be any rumored changes on that front so expect the same 2960×1440 resolution from the Note 8.
Processor & RAM
It probably goes without saying that the majority of this year’s flagship smartphones will be packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. This is expected to be the case with the Note 9, although there have been benchmarks that have revealed that the use of the Exynos 9810 is a possibility.
More than likely we’ll see the use of both where some markets will get the Qualcomm variant while others will get the Exynos variant, as is the case with the Galaxy S9. Both are expected to perform identically, although on paper there might be some differences. As for RAM, some rumors are claiming that the Note 9 could be bumped to 8GB of RAM versus the 6GB found in the Note 8.
Whether or not this matters depends on how you use your phone, but the Note 8 was pretty speedy as it is so we’re not sure how much of a perceived difference an extra 2GB of RAM would have.
Camera
Image credit – 91mobiles & @OnLeaks
The camera is probably something that many are interested in given how much we use our phones to take photos and videos these days. The Note 8 had a pair of 12MP rear-facing cameras with apertures of f/1.7 and f/2.4. There hasn’t been much talk about the specifics of the Note 9’s cameras, but the rumors are claiming it will be an “upgrade”, although what exactly that means is anyone’s guess. However historically all the Note cameras have typically offered the same base cameras features as the Galaxy S series, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the Note 9 had the same camera specs as the Galaxy S9 and S9+, but maybe with some software improvements here and there.
Security
Samsung has been including its iris scanning technology in its phones as of late and we expect that to carry on in the Note 9. However there is a big question and that is will it continue to use a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, or will we be getting an in-display sensor? Some rumors are claiming no, while others say yes.
Samsung had previously stated that they would not release such a feature until they were sure it worked 100% of the time, but whether or not this means it will make it into the Note 9 remains to be seen. Worst case scenario is that the Note 9 will continue packing a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor which while some might argue isn’t really ideal, is not exactly a deal-breaker either.
Bixby
Samsung has confirmed that Bixby 2.0 will be launching alongside the Note 9, but the company has remained mum on what kind of new features, changes, or improvements we can expect.
Battery
The Note 8 comes with a 3,300mAh battery which was an odd choice given that it was smaller than the Galaxy S8+. However the good news is that the Note 9 could be bumping up the battery size considerably. Some reports are claiming it could go up to 3,850mAh, while others claim 4,000mAh, but either way the general consensus seems to be that it will be increased, but exactly by how much is anyone’s guess.
Launch Date, Availability, Pricing
So far there have been more than a few rumors suggesting that the Note 9 could be launched earlier than expected. The most recent rumor we’ve heard is that it could be officially announced on the 9th of August. This makes the announcement earlier compared to the Note 8 by a couple of weeks.
As for availability, that will most likely depend on the region it is launched in, but so far what we’ve seen is that Samsung typically releases its devices about 2-3 weeks after the official announcement, so we expect that to remain the same with the Note 9. Pricing wise will also most likely vary from region to region, but this is a flagship phone so expect it to cost roughly the same amount as the Galaxy S9/S9+.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Release Date, Specs, Features & News , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jun 11
Turns out, the “b” stands for “burgers,” not “buzzkill.”
Jun 11
LifeDoor crowdfunds the production version of its fire-thwarting door-closer
Posted in: Today's ChiliAt CES in January I was pleasantly surprised by the LifeDoor, a smart home gadget that’s actually worth having. These little boxes automatically close doors when smoke detectors go off, inhibiting the spread of fire and smoke. The company is heading to KickStarter to fund the production version of the device, which has several improvements over the prototype I saw.
The simplicity and practicality of the device made it a standout at a show flooded with useless junk; the small team essentially made a gadget that automatically does what firefighters all insist you do: close the door in case of fire. That can be hard to remember to do or enforce, but the LifeDoor makes it so you don’t have to do either.
Installation, on any standard door hinge, shouldn’t take longer than a minute or two. It doesn’t detect smoke or heat, but rather lets your smoke detectors and other gadgets do that — instead, it listens for the beep when smoke is detected, and quickly (but gently) shuts the door against the threat. It’ll then light up and sound its own alarm in case you didn’t hear the first or the door muted the noise.
The version I saw was fully working, but was 3D-printed and the team was still making improvements. The production device is only about two-thirds the size of the prototype, which wasn’t too big to begin with. The new enclosure should help with detecting alarm signals as well. The microphone subsystem also will now sit idle unless it hears something, saving power and allowing the LifeDoor to go for up to two years on one battery.
Right now they’re looking to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter — they’re going for a little less than $100 each as perks. My guess is all the backers so far are firefighters. I can say honestly that if I had an actual house I would buy a couple of these things in a second. I’ll leave myself open to accusations of shilling here because unlike most smart home knick-knacks, this one is more than useful — it could save lives.
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.