Samsung Galaxy Note 4 announced

Credit: Samsung/BusinessWeek

A few features worth noting:

● Metal/premium construction/premium product/quality feel/etc — Samsung has a record of using less glass & metal than some other manufacturers in its phones. Reviewers have been banging on about this for years. With the Note 4, Samsung has incorporated some metal into the case. One of the reasons I abandoned the iPhone 4 was its fragile glass/metal construction. Have you ever dropped a phone? Is there anyone who hasn't? If I'm carrying hundreds of dollars worth of hardware, that I depend on for a large & growing list of functions, I'd prefer something with the resilience of a basketball. That's not going to happen, but a minimum of glass, & replacing metal with shock-absorbing plastic is a good start. Better is to put it in a case/cover as well, which, fortunately, can make glass/metal/plastic construction moot, if you manage to chose the right one.

● Ultra low power mode lets it run all night on standby mode with only 5% battery.

● Fast charge to 50% — between this, ultra low power mode & the very slightly larger 3220 mAh battery, this thing should never let you down.

● Increased resolution — screen size is unchanged at 5.7 inches, but resolution has been increased from 1920 x 1080 to 2560 x 1440. Attention all mobile phone manufacturers: it is some time since anyone has been able to see the individual pixels in the display of top-of-the-line mobile devices. Enough already! The only practical consequence of further increasing resolution is the negative effect on battery life.

● Front facing camera resolution has been increased from 2 megapixels to 3.7 MP. Focal length has been shortened, increasing the viewing angle to 120 degrees. Although this will let you fit more people into a selfie, increased fish-eye effect won't make them look any better.

● Rear camera — resolution increased from 13 to 16 megapixels & optical image stabilisation added, adds up to better images.

Reviews:

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/hands-on-review-samsung-galaxy-note-4-and-note-edge-20140904-10c6yn.html

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3512336/samsung-galaxy-new-note-4-release-date-price-specs-uk-photos-video-teaser-today/

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/09/samsung-galaxy-note-4-better-in-all-the-right-places/

http://bgr.com/2014/09/03/galaxy-note-4-review-pt-1-hands-on/ / long distance wireless charging Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Snapdragon 800 3 GB RAM Samsung phablet Galaxy Note 4 faux fake leather like effect rear metal frame 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen quad HD QHD resolution 2,560 x 1,440 extra grunt 2.3GHz Qualcomm 805 cpu processor Snapdragon 800 phablets stylus phones mobile phone cell smart phone smartphone metal-frame metal frame Samsung Galaxy Alpha Korean S5 big screen phones brushed aluminium fingerprint sensor Super AMOLED 13 MP 16 MP OIS optical image stabilisation quad core processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset2.5GHz Adreno 420 GPU 4GB of RAM 3GB RAM 64-bit processor Android octa-core Exynos 5433 four low-powered cores 1.3GHz four higher powered cores 2.3GHz Mali-T760 GPU 16 32 64 GB microSD storage 128GB stylus tablet phablet Ultra Power Saving Mode TouchWiz UI charger wireless charging charging plate charge QHD display quad octa core processor aluminium frame QHD screen /

If anyone can get delivery drones legalised, it's Google

Delivery drones have been around, as a concept, for some time. But so far, regulations have been in the way. Now, Google has thrown its hat in the ring.

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/09/if-anyone-can-get-delivery-drones-legalised-its-google/ / commercial drone industry powerful loaded Google secret drone delivery program Project Wing tech titan now commercial UAV unmanned aerial vehicle drone Remotely Piloted Aircraft RPA delivery drones law commercial drones banned by the Federal Aviation Administration case-by-case approved approval Amazon federal approval publicity stunt airborne delivery robots FAA requested permission hired lobbyist firm influence policymakers war chest influence policy fleet of autonomous vehicles self-driving cars self-flying vehicles U.S. airspace Indiegogo campaign promote innovation /

Google’s self-driving cars: not yet ready for prime time

Credit: Google/gizmag.com

Despite all the progress that Google has made with its self-driving-car, there are still many things that they can't do.

Google's system depends on detailed, up-to-date road maps (much more detailed than anything in Google Maps), so it is likely to be confused by changes to roads & traffic lights added since the last update. To date, only a small part of the the United States have been mapped to this degree of detail. Additionally, it has been questioned if mapping all of the US to the required level of detail & keeping the database up-to-date is even possible. Other things it can't deal with are construction zones & uncovered manholes.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/530276/hidden-obstacles-for-googles-self-driving-cars/ / self-driving car know knew parking snow heavy rain drive straight over gaping pothole Google Self-Driving Car robotic vehicle thoroughly tested Chris Urmson director Google car team Google’s cars safely driven more than 700,000 miles public technology issues solved Steven Shladover researcher University of California Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies outstanding challenges legally drive intricate preparations made beforehand exact route driveways extensively mapped data multiple passes special sensor vehicle pored over meter by meter computers humans vastly more effort Google Maps mapping omissions new stop light appeared overnight obey it slow down stop on-board sensors detected traffic obstacles Google’s cars detect respond stop signs temporary signs construction sites complex situation unmapped four-way stop fall back slow extra cautious driving avoid making a mistake identify almost all unmapped stop signs remain safe miss a sign traffic pedestrians and other obstacles Alberto Broggi professor studying autonomous driving Italy’s Università di Parma map-dependent system route changes Michael Wagner Carnegie Mellon robotics researcher transition autonomous driving very early-stage technology maintaining maintain constantly updating map national nation nation’s millions miles roads driveways steering wheel required states allow testing David Fierro, spokesman DMV Nevada Google run runs test car’s sensors /

Swatch to release its own smartwatch

Credit: swatch.com

Smartwatches — will they achieve popularity, or will they remain a technical curiosity & geek toy?

After letting the horse bolt on the digital watch, the Swiss, or at least Swatch (Swiss watch), are making sure this horse doesn't get away.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/gadget/3542397/swatch-release-its-own-line-of-smartwatches/ / Fitbit Force Flex Pebble Samsung Galaxy Gear Sony smart watch Kickstarter crowd funding source sourced sourcing wrist firmware update SMS text email color TXT display user interface phone smartphone smart phone Bluetooth /

Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting ...

Credit: all-free-download.com

Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value. — R. Buckminster Fuller

Looks like this principle is about to be demonstrated once more, this time, by the coffee industry.

Processing coffee requires large amounts of water. As the producer of 70% of the world's coffee, much of the coffee processing occurs in South America, where waste water is a major source of riverine pollution. Things are about to improve, however, as this hitherto misunderstood resource is about to be turned into a source of green energy.

http://phys.org/news/2014-08-sites-energy-coffee-good-results.html / Latin America coffee environment community health coffee production wastewater released untreated rivers affecting aquatic fauna flora downstream communities coffee wastewater organic waste high toxicity affects soil generates greenhouse-gas emissions methane health environmental problems coffee wastewater Central American farmers coffee wastewater generate energy UTZ Certified Energy from Coffee Wastewater project protect water resources generate energy treating discharge from coffee mills Han De Groot coffee production fresh water sustainable wastewater treat treatment treated environment oxygen aquatic life /

Samsung's Gear S smartwatch — curved display, 3G connectivity & Tizen OS

Credit: Samsung/gizmag.com

Smartwatches to date have relied on a Bluetooth connected smartphone for Internet connection. Samsung's latest, for release in October, has its own 3G connection for voice & data.

Screen is curved, with 2 inch diagonal & 480 x 360 pixels. OS is Tizen, running Gear apps.

http://www.phonedog.com/2014/08/27/samsung-gear-s-is-a-new-tizen-smartwatch-with-a-2-inch-screen-and-its-own-3g-connection/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/27/samsung-gear-s-smartwatch/

http://www.gizmag.com/samsung-gear-s-smartwatch-details/33566/ / wearable Samsung Gear S wristwear smartwatches paired smartphone communications 2G 900/1800 850/1900 3G 900/2100 850/1900 make calls send TXT SMS text messages emails onscreen keyboard on screen Gear S 2-inch 480x360 Super AMOLED display face display curved fit comfortably user user's wearer wearer’s wrist 1GHz dual-core processor 4GB storage 512MB RAM software features S Voice S Health sensors accelerometer gyroscope compass heart rate ambient light 300mAh battery Along with the Gear S launch headset-style device Gear Circle receive calls issue voice commands Bluetooth connection wearer’s neck vibrate alert user incoming calls alerts /

California Governor signs law mandating "kill switch" on all smartphones sold in state

Mobile phones figure prominently in robbery statistics around the world. 65% in San Francisco, for instance.

As a deterrent, the US state of California will require, from 1 July 2015, that all phones sold in the state, have a kill switch, which will allow the legitimate owner to disable, &/or remotely erase their phone, if stolen. Also required, is the ability to re-enable the phone after it is recovered.

Legislation does not specify how the kill switch is to be implemented, but it will probably vary from existing "find my phone" capabilities only in that it will be installed & enabled by default.

Existing solutions for idevices include FoneHome & Apple's Find iPhone.

Android solutions include Where's My Droid & solutions included in security packages such as AVG, Norton, Lookout & CM.

Just search for "find phone" on the relevant app site.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/130546-california-governor-signs-law-mandating-kill-switch-on-all-smartphones-sold-in-stateS / California state governor Jerry Brown mandated Monday every smartphone sold California 1 July 2015 device useless if stolen historic legislation prevent smartphone theft majority robberies smart phone smartphone theft San Francisco Oakland bill SB 962 manufacturers implement develop kill switch all smartphones sold online physical stores turn their smartphones back on phone is returned remotely erase data legislation law enforcement officials endorsed every other state in the union equipped with theft deterrent technology purchase new phones Apple Google Samsung agreed to add a kill switch feature enable by default carriers reluctant implement kill switches $7 billion smartphone insurance market /