Boring Blog

Police in the US has announced the arrest of 17 persons in connection with robberies targeting  Apple  Stores across 19 counties in California that has caused a loss of over $1 million (about Rs 725 crores). E lectronics worth tens of thousands of dollars were stolen from the Palo Alto Apple Store in California in less than 12 hours during the  iPhone XS  launch weekend.  Palo Alto store was robbed of $107000 (about Rs 77.5 lakh) worth of iPhones, computers and electronics. Seven adults were arrested on September 25 and booked in the Alameda County Jail. Another is in custody in Sonoma County. Arrest warrants have been issued for nine other suspects.  Between late August and September six Apple Stores in the region were reportedly robbed at least nine times.  On Sunday  Apple Store in Santa Rosa area was also looted for the second time in less than a month. Follow on social media for quick updates: Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/In...

Apple  fans around the world have their hands on the latest and greatest from Apple but issues are being reported by some users. The most recent development states that some of the new phones are not charging automatically even when plugged into a power source and require some sort of manual input from the user to initiate charging. It all started with a post on Apple’s Communities portal on September 24 when a user  claimed  a Lightning port charging issue with his newly bought iPhone XS Max. “I connect the Lightning cable to my phone to charge and most of the time it’s automatically charges. However I’ve noticed several times plugging the phone in and no charge comes up. Tried unplugging and plugging back in sometimes it’ll work”. He goes on to mention that keeping the unit untouched doesn’t work and he has to illuminate the screen for the charging icon to pop up. Apple has not responded to the ‘charge-gate’ issue yet. I hope if its a software issue apple ...

The  Nova 3  and  Nova 3i  has been launched in India by  Huawei.  The key features of the two smartphones are 6.3 inch full HD+ displays and dual camera setups on both front and back. PRICE The Huawei Nova 3 price in India has been set at Rs 34,999 and it will be available in a 6 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage variant. Huawei Nova 3i price in India has been set at Rs 20,990 for the 4 GB RAM/ 128 GB inbuilt storage variant. Both smartphones will be available in the country in Iris Purple and Black color variants. SPECIFICATIONS Huawei Nova 3 runs EMUI 8.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo and features a 6.3 inch (1080x2340 pixels) full HD+ display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 85 percent NTSC colour gamut. There is an octa core Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 970 SoC coupled with Mali G72 GPU and 6 GB of RAM. The dual rear camera setup of the handset includes a 16 megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and PDAF and a 24 megapixel secondary sensor wi...

Fortnite Android  may be exclusive to the  Samsung Galaxy Note 9 . Epic Games battle royale sensation could feature heavily at Samsung's Unpacked 2018 event and remain exclusive to the smartphone for a 30 day period. Fortnite is currently the most popular game in the world and is on Nintendo Switch, iOS, PS4, Xbox One and PC. While a Fortnite Android release date has been slated for "summer". Samsung to entice consumers to bother with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Fortnite could be key.  Anyone that buys Galaxy Note 9 is also going to get some free V Bucks, free skins and more. V Bucks are used to buy a battle pass and skins, dances or gliders in the game. This will all be bundled with the phone when it launches.  Samsung Galaxy Note 9 pre orders would come with Fortnite Android micro transactions in the range of $100 to $150. And if you aren't interested in Fortnite Android you can get wireless AKG headphones that the site states are presumably worth around th...

Flipkart  will shut down  eBay India  and launch a new platform to sell refurbished goods in the country. The move signals the strategic partnership between the two e commerce companies is coming to an end.  eBay India has confirmed the report saying that it will stop accepting new orders from August 14, 2018.  eBay India on its Transition FAQ page has  announced  that the site will stop accepting new orders from August 14 and sellers can list new items only till the end of this month July 31. It asked users to visit its global site to continue buying and selling products internationally. Sellers also would not be able to transition their seller status between platforms and will need to register as a seller again on Flipkart. CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy informed that the company has built a new value platform launching with refurbished goods. He said that the platform's customer base and F1 Info Solutions & Services, Flipkart can solve the i...

Mi A2  and  Mi A2 Lite has  a metal unibody design with an arc structure that the company claims make it easier to hold the phones. USB Type C, 7.3 mm thickness and 2.5 D Gorilla Glass 5 are some of the key features of the smartphones. Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite will come in Gold, Blue and Black color options. The battery has been optimised using AI to ensure it delivers day long battery life and phone will get Google's new navigation system with the next software update. PRICE Mi A2 price is EUR 249 (roughly Rs 20,000) for the 4 GB RAM + 32 GB storage variant and EUR 279 (about Rs 22,500) for the 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage option and EUR 349 (approximately Rs 28,000) for the 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage model. Mi A2 Lite price is EUR 179 (roughly Rs 14,500) for the 3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage variant and EUR 229 (about Rs 18,500) for the 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage option. SPECIFICATIONS               ...

Xiaomi  backed wearable brand  Huami  on Tuesday announced the launch of its  Amazfit Bip  and  Amazfit Stratos  smartwatches in India. PRICE Amazfit Bip supports an Always On display and is claimed to offer a battery life of 45 days is priced at  Rs 5,499.  Amazfit Stratos with a circular display is the more premium of the lot and is priced at Rs 15,999. SPECIFICATIONS Amazfit Bip supports a 1.28 inch trans reflective always on color display with a resolution of 176x176 pixels, 2.5 D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Sensors on board the smartwatch include a 3 axis acceleration sensor, barometer, electronic compass, GPS, geomagnetic sensor and optical (PPG) heart rate sensor. It also comes with IP68 dust and water resistance. When used in the basic Watch mode, the 190 mAh battery in the Amazfit Bip claims to last up to 4 months on a single full charge that takes about 2.5 hours. Amazfit Stratos ...

The Oppo A3s is launched in the South Asian market that comes with a 13 megapixel and 2 megapixel dual rear camera setup along with 8 megapixel AI enabled front camera. Oppo says its 'AI Beauty' technology employs a cloud database from premium suppliers that have sufficient power to support diversified facial recognition in smart terminals.  The 6.2 inch display comes with a notch and 88.8 percent screen to body ratio. To improve the screen ratio Oppo has used flux dispensing technology to narrow down the border by 16 percent to 2.05 mm thin. PRICE The Oppo A3s price in India has been set at Rs 10,990. The smartphone will go on sale from July 15 via Flipkart, Amazon and Paytm along with the offline stores. Oppo A3s will be available in Dark Purple and Red colour variants. SPECIFICATIONS Oppo A3s runs Android 8.1 Oreo based ColorOS 5.1 and features a 6.2 inch HD+ (720x1520 pixels) 'Super Full Screen' display. There is an octa core Qualcomm Snapdrago...

Xiaomi has launched a product called Mijia Quartz Watch. The analogue watch has a few smart features like a calorie counter and a pedometer  when paired with the company's app. Mijia Quartz Watch comes with a price tag of CNY 349 (roughly Rs 3,500) and will go on sale on July 17 at 10 am in China. The watch will be made available at T mall, Mi Home app, and  Mi online store. Mijia Quartz Watch will be available in White, Grey and Black color options. The 40 mm dial has a cobblestone like shape with it being slightly thick in the middle and has 3.2 mm thiness at the edges. It has a small second dial inside the large dial that shows the number of steps you've taken. The leather straps are replaceable and watch pairs with an app via Bluetooth version 4.0 to perform functions like automatic time adjustment, set call and interval reminders or set the alarm clock. Users can set up to 10 alarm reminders for the watch and the watch will vibrate without ringing to not disturb...

The US Department of Commerce on Friday lifted a ban on US companies selling goods to  ZTE   allowing China's second-largest telecommunications equipment maker to resume business.  The Commerce Department removed the ban shortly after ZTE  deposited $400 million  in a US bank account as part of a settlement reached last month. The settlement also included a $1 billion penalty that ZTE paid to the US Treasury. The administration has clashed with lawmakers from its own party over issues related to China and this was no different.  A photograph circulating among employees around midnight showed ZTE new chief executive and 10 other managers each giving a thumbs up to the news. The reprieve follows threats by the Trump administration this week to impose 10% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods in a trade war.  ZTE relies on US components for its smart phones and networking gear ceased major operations after th...

If not regulated or controlled soon artificial intelligence  could become an "immortal dictator" and there will be no escape for humans  Tesla  and  SpaceX  CEO  Elon Musk  has warned.  At least when there's an evil dictator that human is going to die. But for an AI there would be no death. It would live forever and then you'd have an immortal dictator from which we could never escape. If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it.  Musk has also quit the board of  OpenAI  a non profit AI research company he co founded that aims to promote and develop friendly AI that benefits the humanity.  Musk has been speaking frequently on AI and has called its progress the biggest risk we face as a civilisation.

Reliance Jio  announced that the telecom giant would be deploying pre  5G  /  4G  advanced  Massive MIMO  (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium and Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla stadium to offer high speed Internet access to users during the entirety of the latest edition of  Indian Premier League .  IPL 2018  will be held from April 7-May 27. Both stadiums will get connected with an array of massive MIMO, 4G eNodeBs and several Wi-Fi cells to create a wide ranging network. Massive  MIMO  offers five times the capacity of a 30 MHz wide band spectrum in high density areas.  Jio being the fastest growing network in the world has to offer a seamless experience to our customers and this advanced pre 5G will enable high capacity network with enhanced digital experience at the IPL match venues.  Jio had l aunched  its latest Rs. 251 prepaid pack that has been targeted towards fans of the IP...

HTC is reportedly to announce the  HTC U12+  which has code named  HTC Imagine . HTC U12+ is reported to have come across issues in the manufacturing process. The launch has reportedly been delayed by a few weeks and the phone will probably be announced in early May instead of late April. T he smartphone will support a 5.99 inch LCD display with an QHD+ resolution and featuring a near bezel less design similar to the  HTC U11 EYEs . The Phone  is said to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6 GB of RAM, 64 GB/ 128 GB inbuilt storage and 3420 mAh battery. Phone should come with Android Oreo out of box according to reports, 8 megapixel front camera, IP68 water and dust resistance rating and Face Unlock technology. HTC U12+ is expected to bear dual cameras on the back with a 16 megapixel primary sensor and 12 megapixel secondary sensor alongside an LED flash and a rear mounted fingerprint sensor below the camera module. Phone will run the second gen...

Google  has now claimed that its mobile operating system is as secure as the competition mainly I OS . Google has also separately published its fourth annual year in review to highlight various advancements in Android security. The  56 page report  has a significant focus on  Google Play Protect  that was  released  at the I/O developer conference last year. The prime aim of machine learning backed Play Protect is to protect users from suspicious apps that Google calls Potentially Harmful Apps. Machine learning found to have detected 60.3 percent of all Potentially Harmful Apps within Google Play. Play Protect particularly scans more than 50 billion apps on a daily basis. This already helped to remove nearly 39 million vulnerable apps last year. Google updates Play Protect to respond to trends that have been detected across the ecosystem. In October Play Protect received an offline scanning feature that helped to recognise nearly 35 perc...

Elitegroup Computer System (ECS) has come out with a new model called the LIVA Q. It is a pocket sized mini pc that features Intel Apollo Lake processors with 4 GB RAM 64 GB eMMC storage and HDMI 2.0. It is capable of handling 4K content.  LIVA Q  comes with support for Windows 10 and system will be capable of running Ubuntu Linux. LIVA Q 4 GB RAM 32 GB storage variant with Windows 10 Home will be available at Rs. 15,500 and same LIVA Q model without an operating system will go on sale at Rs. 13,500. Both the devices will be available in India through authorised ECS partners, other reseller channels and e commerce channels. ECS LIVA Q is based on a quad core Intel Pentium N4200 or dual core Celeron N3350. Computer offers up to 4 GB of LPDDR4 memory and up to 64 GB of eMMC storage. The computer has a microSD card slot, USB3.1 Type A port and USB2.0 port, one HDMI port for video output, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1. LIVA Q measures 70x70x31.4mm and weights 2...

Mi MIX 2s  will be launched by the company on March 27. While Xiaomi had already noted that the Mi MIX 2s will be the company's first handset with the  Qualcomm Snapdragon 845  SoC not many official details have been available about it. Chinese company has now let out a teaser which confirms the presence of wireless charging technology support on the Mi MIX 2s. Xiaomi has  tipped the feature  via its official Weibo account. The teaser posted on the website does not mention wireless charging explicitly. The image in the poster contains a text which translates to "Not Just" alongside a symbol which is similar to Qualcomm's quick charge technology. Also present in the picture is a battery charging sign and a device which appears to be a charging pad. All of the above points to fast charging as well as wireless charging support.

Samsung  posted a list of handsets as well as a timeline on when they will receive the Android Oreo update. Samsung has rolled out the update only on  Galaxy S8  and  Galaxy S8+  smartphones. Samsung latest flagships  Galaxy S9  and  Galaxy S9+  come with Android 8.0 out of the box. Handsets like the  Samsung Galaxy Note 8 ,  Galaxy S7 ,  Galaxy S7 Edge ,  Galaxy A7 (2017) ,  Galaxy A5 (2017)  and  Galaxy A3 (2017)  will get the latest Android OS soon. Galaxy Note 8 will be the first of the handsets which will get the Android 8.0 Oreo. March 30 has been marked as the date for pushing the update after which Galaxy Note 8 users will be able to update their handsets from Android Nougat to Android Oreo. The next smartphones in line to receive the update will be Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. The update for these smartphones will start on April 13. Samsung Galaxy A7, Galaxy A5 and Galaxy...

The  Jio TV  app will now give users more options to personalise their viewing experience for the Nidahas Trophy. The tri-nation T20 competition between India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is being streamed on Jio TV. Jio TV users watching the Nidahas Trophy matches on the app can switch between five camera angles to customise the viewing experience. To give users “an immersive feel” the telecom operator is giving users the option to hear audio from the stump mic to fully experience the stadium ambience. Users will also be able to pick between the commentary language between Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

Google owned  Waymo  said that its self driving trucks will haul cargo bound for the internet giant data centres in Georgia.  Waymo driverless trucks will go to work in the Atlanta area Monday as part of a pilot programme intended to help integrate autonomous big rigs with the operations of shippers, ports, terminals, factories and distribution centres. Autonomous vehicle technology has been touted as having potential to save fuel, ease congestion and make transportation safer.  Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao released new guidelines that permit more testing of self driving cars and address regulation between the federal government and states. S elf driving technology could reduce accidents and improve mobility for the elderly, disabled and other restricted populations.

LG Electronics  on Monday announced the launch of its 2018 TV lineup with new  OLED  and Super Ultra HD models at an event in South Korea. These new TVs feature LG's  ThinQ  artificial intelligence ( AI ) technology and the company's α (Alpha) processor. Ten new models have been launched in the OLED TV range W8, G8, E8, C8 and B8. Nine new models in the Super Ultra HD range SK80, SK85, and SK95. LG's OLED TVs has a different highlight like Picture-on-Wall, One Glass Screen, Picture-on-Glass and Cinema Screen Design. LG says the Alpha processor allows the OLED TV to offer better image rendering and colour reproduction with enhanced viewing angles. The TV also have  Dolby Atmos  audio technology with screen sizes range from 55 to 77 inches. LG's SUHD TV variants of LG's 2018 lineup come with an LCD display that has features like Nano cell and FALD backlighting. These models are also claimed to offer improved shadow details, better...