Feb 22

Xiaomi Takes On Google’s Home Hub With The XiaoAI Touchscreen Speaker

Posted in: Today's Chili

Xiaomi is a company that many of you might know as a smartphone manufacturer. However the company also dabbles in a variety of products that aren’t smartphone related, such as table lamps, kettles, screwdrivers, air purifiers, and so on. Now it looks like Xiaomi wants to take on te likes of Amazon and Google by launching the XiaoAI Touchscreen.

This seems to be the company’s answer to Amazon and Google’s smart speakers, like the Echo Show and the Google Home Hub, except that it will feature Xiaomi’s own digital assistant, or at least that’s what we’re assuming. This is because Xiaomi hasn’t really shared much details about the device, save for the fact that they are working on it.

However it is expected that this device will be capable of controlling Xiaomi’s own smart home products, and because it has a display, it will also be able to double up as a digital clock that you can put next to your bed. It will also be able to play video from a variety of Chinese sources, and it is unclear if YouTube might be in the cards.

No word on pricing or availability yet, but Xiaomi is expected to begin the open beta next week, so it could be a while before we see it released to the market.

Xiaomi Takes On Google’s Home Hub With The XiaoAI Touchscreen Speaker

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Apple Reportedly Launching A Credit Card This Year

Posted in: Today's Chili


Apple may be looking beyond mobile payments with a credit card of its own. A new report claims that the company will be teaming up with Goldman Sachs to launch a credit card of its own which will be available to the public later this year.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the credit card would be made available to the public following a trial run with Apple employees. A physical card would enable Apple to get a bigger chunk of revenue from swipes even though it continues to roll out its Apple Pay mobile payments service in more markets across the globe.

The credit card would obviously integrate with the Apple Wallet app to provide additional functionality to cardholders such as debt, money, and rewards management. The report mentions that the UI might borrow from Apple’s Health app with “rings” that track users’ daily spend and notifications that alert them if they go over set monthly targets. Perks may include 2 percent cash back on most purchases with the percentage likely going higher for spending on Apple products.

It will be backed by Goldman’s Marcus online bank which stands to gain a lot of customers by linking up with Apple. The financial giant is reportedly spending $200 million on the card’s back end infrastructure to create an internal payment handling system and customer support call centers.

Apple Reportedly Launching A Credit Card This Year

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Garmin’s VivoActive 3 Music Gets Spotify At Last

Posted in: Today's Chili


Garmin launched its music-focused VivoActive 3 fitness watch last year. It didn’t have support for Spotify, though, which is the world’s most popular music streaming service. That might have prevented some customers from picking up this device. Not anymore. It has been confirmed that Spotify is finally available on the Garmin VivoActive 3 fitness watch.

Some of Garmin’s other fitness watches already have support for Spotify so it was only a matter of time before the VivoActive 3 Music got it as well. However, Garmin didn’t say why this has taken so long. It’s pertinent to note here that the Garmin Fenix 5 Plus series and the Forerunner 645 Music models got support for Spotify in October last year.

That being said, VivoActive 3 Music owners can finally access Spotify on their smartwatches. If they have a Premium account they are freed from having to carry a phone around with them for streaming. The Premium subscription allows them to download tracks for offline listening.

The fitness watch can store up to 500 tracks. Users just have to create playlists and sync them with the smartwatch over Wi-Fi. They can then be accessed using the Spotify app on the VivoActive 3 Music. Spotify’s updated app for this device is now available for download from the Garmin Connect IQ store.

Garmin’s VivoActive 3 Music Gets Spotify At Last

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

HTC Unveils Vive Focus Plus With New Motion Controllers

Posted in: Today's Chili


HTC has unveiled a new version of its standalone Vive Focus headset. The Vive Focus Plus comes with an updated pair of HTC’s motion controllers which the company first launched as developer hardware in October last year. The original controllers had three degrees of freedom support while the new ones have support for six.

The Vive Focus Plus controllers have six degrees of freedom support which means that the controllers can be tracked as they move around instead of just when they’re rotating on the spot.

The updates that HTC has made to the headset and controller put the Vive Focus Plus in competition with the Oculus Quest, a new standalone headset that the Facebook-owned company is due to launch in a couple of months. It also comes with a pair of controllers with Facebook saying that they will be capable of “arena-scale” tracking.

Other than the controllers, the Vive Focus Plus also supports six degrees of freedom tracking, runs on the Snapdragon 835 platform and has a 2880×1600 pixel resolution AMOLED display. It’s powered by the Vive Wave platform with users being able to download VR content from the Viveport online store. HTC hasn’t confirmed the pricing for the Vive Focus Plus as yet.

HTC Unveils Vive Focus Plus With New Motion Controllers

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Huawei’s First Flagship Store Outside China Will Be In Vienna

Posted in: Today's Chili


Huawei has become one of the fastest growing smartphone vendors on the planet despite the fact that its smartphones are effectively banned in the United States. Even though it doesn’t have access to this key market, the company has been able to perform very well in the global smartphone market. The company will now be opening its first flagship store outside China in the Austrian city of Vienna.

Reuters reports that Huawei is going to open a flagship store for its smartphones in Vienna. It will be the first such outlet for its smartphones outside China. The company is looking to further improve its fortunes in the European market.

The company does have existing relationships with all three major telecom groups in the country which include A1 Telekom Austria, Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile Austria, and Hutchison Whampoa’s Drei Austria. CEO of Huawei’s Austrian business Pan Yao said that the company is ready to work with these operators to help them build out 5G networks.

Huawei says that it’s the second biggest smartphone vendor in Austria with a market share of 28 percent. Yao said that the company is also considering investing in research and development in the country but did not provide any additional details about those plans.

Huawei’s First Flagship Store Outside China Will Be In Vienna

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Nokia 9 PureView Renders Leave Little To The Imagination

Posted in: Today's Chili


We have been hearing rumors and reports about the Nokia 9 PureView since late last year. The company was originally expected to release this device in 2018 but is believed to have delayed the launch to MWC 2019. Nokia’s MWC 2019 teaser essentially confirmed that this handset will be unveiled in Barcelona. Now, official press renders of the Nokia 9 PureView have been leaked online.

HMD Global, the company that makes Nokia-branded smartphones, has confirmed that it will conduct a press event on February 24th in Barcelona to unveil new smartphones. The Nokia 9 PureView will undoubtedly be the highlight of the event. The other devices HMD Global might launch at the event include the Nokia 4.2, Nokia 3.2, and the Nokia 1 Plus.

From what’s known about this handset so far, the Nokia 9 PureView is going to have five cameras at the back in addition to a display-based fingerprint sensor. It may also feature a 5.5 inch QHD+ display and will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset.

One would expect a premium smartphone in 2019 to use the Snapdragon 855 platform instead. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Nokia 9 PureView. However, some reports have suggested that HMD does have a 5G variant of this device in the pipeline which will use that platform. It’s expected to arrive at some point later this year.

Nokia 9 PureView Renders Leave Little To The Imagination

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Pokemon Go Gets AR Portrait Mode On Android

Posted in: Today's Chili


Pokemon Go developer Niantic confirmed earlier this month that it would be rolling out an AR portrait mode for the popular game on Android. This feature is called “Go Snapshot” and it lets players use the app to take AR photos. This feature is now live for Pokemon Go on Android devices.

Do bear in mind that the Go Snapshot feature can only be accessed by players or are a Level 5 or above trainer. This means that you can’t just start playing the game from scratch and use this feature. You’ll have to go out and walk around to capture some Pokemon if you’re able to take AR photos with your favorite monster.

It has already been possible to take photos of the Pokemon that you see in the wild using the app. However, with this feature, the app lets you take photos of the Pokemon that you have already captured with the real world as the backdrop. The way you do that is by tossing a Pokeball towards the background you want. It will also be possible to make the Pokemon interact with real-life objects.

As previously mentioned, this functionality is now available for the Android version of the game for now. Niantic hasn’t said when the feature is going to be released for iOS. “Trainers on other devices, stay tuned!,” it says, so hopefully that won’t take too long.

Pokemon Go Gets AR Portrait Mode On Android

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Russia To Fly Space Tourists To The International Space Station

Posted in: Today's Chili


Russia has been flying space tourists to the International Space Station since 2001. It has taken up seven people so far who were willing to go and had the pockets deep enough to pay for the trip. The country is going to add to that number in a couple of years as it’s going to fly two space tourists to the ISS in late 2021.

Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, has inked an agreement with Space Adventures to take two “spaceflight participants” to the International Space Station in late 2021. They will hitch a ride on a Soyuz spacecraft for a trip that has been described to be of a “short duration.”

The identities of these space tourists have not been revealed but it can safely be assumed that they have the resources to pay for a trip of this sort. Such trips help Roscosmos to fund the country’s spaceflight industry, a fact that the agency noted in its press release. This also helps generate publicity for future missions of the sort.

Some private companies have also been working to take up space tourists. They include the likes of Virgin Galactic that’s actually aiming to take non-astronauts into space before the late 2021 Roscosmos launch. It goes to show that money can indeed buy you anything.

Russia To Fly Space Tourists To The International Space Station

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Amazon Will Fund Computer Science Courses In Over 1,000 U.S. High Schools

Posted in: Today's Chili


Amazon is expanding its investments in educational initiatives for school students in the United States. The company has announced that it will be funding computer science courses in more than 1,000 high schools in the United States. The high schools are located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The courses are funded through Amazon’s Future Engineer program and will reach thousands of students across the country. It’s part of Amazon’s larger $50 million investment in computer science and STEM education.

With its Future Engineer program, Amazon aims to impart computer science education to more than 100,000 underprivileged kids in 2,000 low-income high schools across the country. 100 students will also receive four-year $10,000 scholarships annually in addition to internships at Amazon.

High schools across the United States will offer the Intro to Computer Science and AP Computer Science classes. The courses will be provided through curriculum provider Edhesive. Amazon’s funding will cover the lessons, tutorials, teachers’ professional development, digital curriculum for students as well as live online support for both students and teachers.

Amazon will also provide students enrolled in the courses with a membership to AWS Educate which provides them with free computer power in the company’s AWS Cloud for their class projects as well as other content to learn more about cloud computing.

Amazon Will Fund Computer Science Courses In Over 1,000 U.S. High Schools

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments
Feb 22

Apple’s ‘Project Titan’ Might Turn Out To Be An Electric Van

Posted in: Today's Chili


It has been rumored for several years now that Apple is working on an electric car of its own. Subsequent rumors suggested that the company had given up on its automotive ambitions and the project was now focused on developing software for autonomous cars. A new report in a German magazine suggests that the so-called “Project Titan” could eventually yield a product which won’t be a car but an electric van.

Manager Magazin hears from multiple unnamed sources that Project Titan isn’t for an electric car as has been suggested previously. It’s claimed that the project which is still in prototype stage could end up being launched as an electric van.

Prototypes of this product have reportedly been spotted in black and silver colors. The report doesn’t provide any specifics about the vehicles, only that Apple is actually testing vans instead of cars as previously believed. Apple’s engineers are now said to be working on the interior of this vehicle.

Apple has remained mum on what Project Titan is all about. There are multiple conflicting reports about it with some still suggesting that the project is nothing more than software for autonomous cars that Apple aims to sell to conventional car manufacturers. However, it seems many still subscribe to the possibility that Apple could make an actual automobile. Whatever it ends up doing, Apple’s “car” wasn’t expected to arrive before 2023 at the earliest so we’ll have to wait a bit to find out what the truth really is.

Apple’s ‘Project Titan’ Might Turn Out To Be An Electric Van

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

No Comments