Apple releases iOS 9.2.1 public beta

Right on the heels of yesterday’s launch of the iOS 9.2.1 developer beta, Apple has released iOS 9.2.1 to those registered in its public beta testing program.

If you’re already a registered member of the public beta program, or if you’d like to join, just venture over to Apple’s beta website to get going.

To get started with the public beta on your iPhone or iPad, simply log in to the beta program website, and enroll your device. Once enrolled, updates will be conducted in typical OTA style.

Yesterday’s developer-centric release was pushed out with no change log, which isn’t at all out of the ordinary for Apple to do with its minor release versions. There are likely only bug fixes to report in the incremental update.

Google to make driverless cars an Alphabet company in 2016: Report

Google plans to make its self-driving cars unit, which will offer rides for hire, a stand-alone business under its parent company Alphabet Inc next year, Bloomberg reported. The service could be launched in San Francisco and Austin, Texas locations, where it has tested the cars extensively, Bloomberg said, citing a person briefed on the company’s strategy.

The fleets could be deployed first in confined areas like college campuses, military bases or corporate office parks, Bloomberg reported. Alphabet declined to comment.

The company reorganized itself in August to separate the core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars.

Under the new structure, search, advertising, maps, YouTube and Android are part of the Google unit. Alphabet’s businesses include connected home products maker Nest, venture capital arm Google Ventures, and Google X, the secretive research arm which houses the self-driving car unit.

Alphabet’s pet project of driverless cars started in 2009 and it along with other automakers have said the technology to build self-driving cars should be ready by 2020.

The company said in July it was testing a fleet of 23 specially equipped Lexus prototypes, which had logged more than 1 million test miles.

In June, the company began testing tiny, bubble-shaped self-driving prototype vehicles of its own design on public roads around Mountain View. The company has also started testing self-driving prototypes in Austin.

Google’s move to put the self-driving cars up for hire will put it in direct competition with ride hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.

Uber also currently uses Google Maps to help users hail a cab as well as chalk out routes. But, Uber awarded TomTom a contract in November to provide digital maps and traffic data for the software used by its drivers.

Google-owned online mapping company Waze in July launched a carpooling pilot programme called RideWith in Israel where commuters pay fellow drivers a small fee for a ride.

Android N name might be decided via an online poll, says CEO Sundar Pichai

He runs global internet giant, but the question that stumped Sundar Pichai on his first India visit as Google CEO was whether the popular mobile operating system Android can be named after an Indian dessert!

A smiling Pichai replied he will ask his mother for suggestions and Google can even go for an online poll to decide the name. He was interacting with students at the prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce on the second day of his India visit.

Some of the suggestions that came at the event itself included ‘peda’, ‘neyyappam’ and ‘nankhatai’. Previous versions of Android OS have been named after sweets like Donut, Eclair, Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, Kitkat and Lollipop. The latest version is called Android Marshmallow and is being rolled out across mobile devices.

Asked why Google did not have any Indian dessert as Android version name, Pichai said, “When I meet my Mom, I will ask for suggestions” and added that Google could conduct an online poll to decide the name for Android N. He also revealed that he didn’t like sweets as a child and mixed sambar with payasam, so that the payasam wouldn’t taste sweet.

The one-hour session was similar to the Townhall of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who conducted a session at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in October. Zuckerberg was also stumped when an audience member asked when would Facebook would stop the unwanted invites for Candy Crush mobile game.

Pichai’s session at Shriram College of Commerce was moderated by cricket commentator, Harsha Bhogle, who called the India-born executive the ‘Rahul Dravid of the tech industry’. Pichai suggested students to do their own thing in life. He said while India has a culture of valuing education, the system here should encourage creativity and make sure it doesn’t penalise the person for being different.

When asked how much he had scored in his class 12 exams, Pichai quipped: “Not enough to get into Shri Ram College of Commerce."

Inshorts app included in Google’s ’50 best apps of India’ list

Inshorts, which curates news items of the day and crunches them into 60 words, has been included by Google in its list of 50 Best Apps of India. The other popular apps in the list include Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Skype, TrueCaller, Zomato, and Gaana to name a few.

The Google apps list is a ready reckoner listing the best apps and games (both free and paid format) that were featured this year on Play Store, thus enabling the audiences to see how their favorite apps and games have fared throughout the year.

“The inclusion of Inshorts in Google’s list of top 50 apps for 2015 validates our brand promise of keeping our users informed by the means of simple, precise and short form content which could be consumed in less than 15 seconds. In 2016, our focus would be upon serving relevant content to relevant users, ” said  Azhar Iqubal – CEO and Co-Founder, Inshorts.

The company was founded in 2013 by three IITians – – Azhar Iqubal, Anunay Arunav and Deepit Purkayastha. The application can be downloaded on Android/iOS.

Inshorts has grown from less than 100,000 downloads at the beginning of the year to more than three million downloads by December 2015, the company said. The app serves more than half a billion page views everyday and 80 per cent of its users as of today come fromNew Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur.

The app has recently launched a Hindi interface to make inroads in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and based on its success, plans a foray in Marathi, Kannada and Tamil by mid 2016. With these initiatives, Inshorts aims to increase its reach by an additional 5 million users by April 2016.

Inshorts is currently working on building India’s first intuitive content recommendation engine and is testing its efficiency with the help of its community of beta users called ‘Insiders’ which has more than 20,000 users.

With the content recommendation engine, the app aims to identify its users based on their content consumption habits and serve them more alternative content in the genres of their interest. The company is also in the process of partnering with popular alternative content publishers and helping them to increase the reach of their content through the Inshorts platform.

Sketchy rumor claims Apple’s been secretly working on its own GPU for years

Apple is making its GPU to cut the cord from Imagination Technologies and has been secretly developing its own GPU in-house for a few years now. That’s what a sketchy rumor published Thursday by Fudzilla contends, citing sources in the graphics industry.

An in-house-designed GPU would let Apple reduce the cost of its own mobile chipsets further. More importantly, such a move would help it advance the iPhone and iPad’s graphics capabilities beyond what Imagination’s designs (that Apple licenses) permit.

For end users, this should result in an even smoother iOS and flashier graphics in games (the overhyped term “console-quality” comes to mind) with more realistic special effects.

A risky endeavor

“Rome hasn’t been built in a day and it sure takes at least a few years to create a fully functional mobile GPU,“ reads the report. “This is why Apple has been working under extreme secrecy for a few years,” according to Fudzilla’s source in the graphics industry.

Apple A8X floorplan courtesy of chipworks (blue rectangles are GPUs).

Indeed, developing a mobile GPU is an incredibly challenging endeavor.

Take, for instance, Samsung which has been developing a mobile GPU of its own for more than half of a decade and yet has nothing to show for it. In fact, the South Korean firm has yet to ship its own custom CPU cores, which should debut along with its new Exynos 8890 chipset in 2016.

With that in mind, an Apple-developed GPU might take years to ship. The report also states that Apple is not working on a LTE/4G modem chip for the iPhone 7, as previously suspected. “It has already given the work to Intel for the future iPhone,” writes Fudzilla.

Apple and Imagination Technologies

Apple’s been designing iOS device chipsets in-house for years now. It originally licensed GPU cores from Imagination, a fabless UK-semiconductor maker in which Apple has invested, and CPU cores from ARM, another UK-based fabless outlet.

Apple’s engineers tweaked those designs to its needs and applied various optimization and power-saving techniques. But starting with the A7 chip in 2013, Apple stopped licensing ARM designs and started developing its own fully customized CPU cores.

The GPU cores in A-series chipsets, however, continue to be licensed Imagination designs. The iPad Pro’s A9X chipset, for instances, packs in Imagination’s six-core PowerVR Series 7XT GT7600 GPU.

Tile-based rendering vs. shaders

The biggest problem in using Imagination’s GPUs is their reliance on tile-based rendering, a technique that results in fast graphics but with limited special effects.

It’s a reasonably efficient way of painting pixels on the screen, but it requires plenty of dedicated bandwidth. GPUs from Nvidia and AMD, on the other hand, feature so-called shaders that create ambiance with materials and surfaces that mimic reality.

Wrapping it up

We know Apple hired graphics experts from both AMD and Nvidia and common sense tells us these experts probably are not wasting their time and expertise optimizing AMD and Nvidia GPUs for use in the Mac, as some suggested.

And if talk of a fifth-generation Apple TV with a “dramatically improved” graphics and “new hardware functions” has any merit to it, Apple could be looking to boost its graphics prowess to take on dedicated gaming consoles whilst tackling the technological challenges of outfitting future iPhones and iPads with 4K screens.

Apple launches Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader for iPad and iPhone

In addition to the long list of Apple updates including the all-new Apple Smart Battery Case was the launch of a small yet useful Apple accessory called the Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader. The accessory is priced at $29.99 (approximately Rs 2000) at the online Apple Store and will also work on your iPhone.

Indeed the sole purpose of the adapter is to get photos and videos from your camera on to your iPhone or iPad. Aimed at professionals as well, the key feature here is transfer speeds. The SD Card Camera Reader supports the fast USB 3.0 transfer speeds (up to 640 MBps) on the new iPad Pro, which is a first, as every other Apple accessory in the past was limited to USB 2.0 speeds.

According to Apple, the Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader supports standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW, along with SD and HD video formats, including H.264 and MPEG-4.

But the boost with speeds is only available with the iPad Pro, since its special lightning port shows pins on both sides indicating that it can do more. For the rest of the lightning devices including the same will be limited to a mere 60 MBps (USB 2.0). Apple just recently updated its iPhone with iOS 9.2 that also enabled support for the SD Card Reader and the older USB Camera Adapter for iPhones something that was never supported in the past even though the accessory was widely available.

Apple iPad Pro coming to India next week; here’s all you need to know

Apple is all set to launch its new iPad Pro in India, which is likely to hit store shelves next week.

The exact availability and pricing hasn’t been revealed yet. However, citing sources at Apple,TheQuint has revealed that the 32GB iPad Pro Wi-Fi will be priced at Rs 67900, 128GB iPad Pro Wi-Fi at Rs 79,900 and 128GB iPad Pro Wi-Fi Cell at Rs 91,900. The report also adds the availability of the device from the second week of December.

The iPad Pro  with 12.9-inch 2732 x 2048 pixel Retina Display is just 6.9mm thick and weighs 713 grams. On the inside, the iPad Pro sports the Apple A9X chipset which Phil Schiller had said offers better performance than 80 percent of portable laptops out there. According to Apple, the A9X offers desktop-grade CPU and console-grade GPU. It promises a 10-hour battery life as well.

To complement the iPad Pro, Apple has finally made a stylus called the Apple Pencil. This white coloured pressure sensitive stylus that it launched at $99 and is aimed more at the creative professionals who want to get precise and accurate output for their ideas. There is no word on the Apple Pencil pricing in India.

The other additional accessory is the Smart Keyboard which can fold up to become the iPad Pro cover. You can orient the keyboard to be used for typing, for watching content on the display and covering the iPad Pro. This is also sold separately.

The recent iFixit teardown leaves the Pad Pro with a poor score of 3/10. iFixit gave it a repairability score of 3 out of 10 and pointed out that the Smart Connector port is virtually impossible to replace and also, that the fused front panel increases the cost of screen repair along with the risk of damaging the LCD when opening.

Steam Machine: Valve has placed big bets on Linux, for gaming!

As the owner of the Valve the company behind Steam — the most popular online store for digital games — Gabe Newell saw Windows 8 as a threat to the freedom of the Windows software market. The idea of Windows being locked to installing software from a Microsoft-controlled store isn’t a pleasant one if your core business is to run a software store.

Valve decided to bet on Linux, and they bet big. Over the past three years, Valve has not only brought Steam and all its own games to Linux, but they have also created their own Linux-based OS called Steam OS. The number of games available natively for Linux has expanded from a few dozen to over 1500 as of this writing.

Their latest effort, a Linux / Steam OS-based device called the Steam Machine has just come to fruition along with their own keyboard-and-mouse compatible Steam Controller.  They also created the Steam Link, a tiny device that allows you to stream games from a gaming PC to your TV. With these three devices they aim to expand PC gaming to the living room.

Console or PC?
The comparison to consoles like PlayStation 4 and XBox One are obvious, but the Steam Machine is different enough to that a simple checkbox-comparison table  doesn’t cover it.  Part of the trouble with understanding what Steam Machines are is the false dichotomy between PCs and consoles. The distinction between those two devices is mostly artificial.

Current generation consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One are both essentially made from PC hardware. Both those devices feature AMD x86-64 processors, and graphics card not very different from the kind you’d find on a standard desktop.

The real difference between a desktop PC and a console then is that consoles provide a stable and fixed hardware and software platform for the lifetime of the device. This stability ensures that which allows developers to target and optimise to a standard platform.

It is this stability that is entirely lacking for Steam Machines. Valve while being behind Steam, Steam OS and Steam Machines, doesn’t make them themselves. They only provide Steam OS to preinstall on these devices and hope that developers will target it. The actual machines are made by third parties like Alienware and Syber.

Unlike the highly locked console devices where end-consumers cannot upgrade hardware, change OS, or write their own software, a Steam Machine is just a PC that comes with SteamOS preinstalled, includes a Steam controller, and looks like something designed for the living room rather than a desk.

You can change the OS, and in most cases upgrade most of the hardware components like RAM and disk drives. SteamOS itself includes a full desktop experience that allows you to install traditional desktop software on your machine, and even games from other stores than Steam.

Also unlike traditional consoles, Steam Machines come in all kinds of configurations, from a cheap machine that can play most games at 720p quality to machines capable of possibly running even upcoming games  in full 1080.

Those looking to be generous with the Steam Machine can compare it to a new console launch. New consoles do not launch with over a thousand games already available, and do not generally give you access to games you already own on PC.

However it’s also important to look a few years down the line. In five years, a PS4 or XBox One will still play the latest games, but will the Steam Machine?  Valve may have something up its sleeve when it comes to this or game makers might themselves ensure compatibility with popular configurations. However unlike consoles, the Steam Machine offers no guarantee that any PC games released during the lifetime of the device will play on it.

Linux on a Console!
It is natural to worry about the choice of OS as well. With a rather small user base, Linux isn’t exactly a the most lucrative platform for selling games. However the choice of OS is a distraction; it’s simply not important. The PlayStation 4 for instance runs a Unix-based OS but that doesn’t excite any concerns. Game developers don’t avoid the PS4 because Unix games don’t sell. The PS4 sells, PS4 games sell, hence they will target whatever software platform the PS4 provides.

Likewise the availability of games on the Steam Machine has nothing to do with the popularity of Linux, but on the popularity of Steam Machines. A comparison with Android can be made, which despite being Linux-based is still widely supported. Unlike Android though, “Steam OS games” can still run on Linux and vice versa.

This makes Steam Machines a rather safe bet if you find the hardware satisfactory. As a Linux-user it pains the author to consider this, but even if Steam OS doesn’t work out and developers stop targeting Linux, it is always possible to install Windows on the device and keep playing games.

With the Steam Machine in the worst case you are getting yourself a neat little computer that can connect to your TV and plays games, which isn’t a bad bet if you’re a PC gamer looking to take your gaming to a larger screen.

Reliance’s Jio Chat now available in nine countries

Jio Chat, the instant messaging app from Jio is now available across nine countries, including India. Customers in Canada, USA, UK, UAE, South Africa, Singapore, Australia and China can now download Jio Chat and chat with friends and family across these countries. It is available for Android and iOS devices. This app competes with popular apps such as WhatsApp, Line, WeChat and Hike in India.

In terms of features, the app supports messaging, voice calling, video chat, conferencing and audio notes. It also adds in doodles, stickers and emoticons. The app will also have location sharing along with status sharing features. The app will work over mobile data as well as Wi-Fi networks.

Contacts will be synced upon downloading the app and free SMS invites can be sent to all. Jio Chat also offers chat channels which allows users to stay updated about their favorite celebrities, brands or even news as well. Users will also find special promotions in this section. The app will also offer an offline chat option, which can be used to store typed messages after which they can be sent once the user comes online.

Sharing more details, a spokesperson of Jio Chat said, “We are excited to launch our services in eight new countries as it will help in boosting our international presence and will also let our customers based in India connect seamlessly with their loved ones abroad.”

T-Mobile is increasing data caps, but there are a few catches

When T-Mobile introduced Binge On yesterday, they also announced that new data limits would come for customers. However, with that also came a few changes to some areas of their offerings, including pricing and Data Stash.

Under T-Mobile’s old system, the data plans were 1 GB, 3 GB, 5 GB, and unlimited data, priced at $50, $60, $70, and $80 respectively. The new plans announced yesterday are 2 GB, 6 GB, and 10 GB, with the unlimited plan sticking around as well. But the prices have been increased for the 6 GB and higher plans, which will now cost $65, $80, and $95 respectively, along with other changes.

Here is the full breakdown of the plan changes that will take affect this Sunday, November 15th.

• 1 GB $50 per month plan—this plan will no longer be available.
• 3GB $60 per month plan—this plan will no longer be available.
• 5GB $70 per month plan—this plan will no longer be available.
• New 2GB plan—This plan replaces the 1 GB plan, but stays at $50 per month.
• New 6GB plan—This plan replaces the 3 GB plan, but increases to $65 per month.
• New 10GB plan—This plan replaces the 5 GB plan, but increases to $80 per month.
• Unlimited data plan— This plan increases to $95 per month.

So unless you’re on a 1 GB plan and want to double up to 2 GB, it will cost you more per month than before. That is especially true for users of the unlimited plan (which includes myself), where the hotspot increases to 14 GB from 7 GB, but at a cost of $15 more per month.

Families will be affected by the changes too, depending on the data amounts each line has. If all lines have the same amount of data, they will get the “Family Match” option, which decreases prices per line depending on the data amount. For example, for the 6 GB option, the additional lines will only cost $10 per line instead of $15. Here is the full chart of changes.

The Family Match only applies if every member of the family plan has the same amount of data. If even one member has a different amount, Family Match is not offered. So if you have one family member who uses a different amount of data than any other line, you’re out.

T-Mobile’s Data Stash feature, introduced last year, is also seeing some changes. Data Stash will now be capped at 20 GB total, which is changed from there previously not being a cap. This applies to all customers, not just people on the new plans. You can opt out until December 16th, but that causes another problem.

If you opt out from the Data Stash cap, you will not be able to take advantage of Binge On in any capacity, whether it’s video not counting at all or just being compressed. So while you won’t have a Data Stash cap, you won’t be saving data with Binge On.

If you’re an existing customer, the only changes you will see are the Data Stash cap. You can continue to use the old plans for the life of your account or until you want to upgrade. The data plans change this Sunday the 15th, so you have until then to choose an older plan if you’re a new customer. However, T-Mobile is also offering a special deal for new customers.

For new customers, T-Mobile will offer a fourth line for free. If a family of four chooses to use the 6 GB per line option, they will pay $120 total, or $30 per line. This is before any installments of course, so your cost will vary depending on what phones you choose to get.

PDF Expert 5, normally a $9.99 app, is Apple’s Free App of the Week

If you wish to read and annotate PDFs on the iPad, then there is perhaps no better app to do so with than PDF Expert 5. The latest in the long standing series of PDF annotation tools from developer Readdle, PDF Expert 5 is a well-respected app that normally commands a $9.99 purchase price.

If you’ve yet to purchase PDF Expert 5, then I have some good news for you: For the next week, the app is available as a free download from the App Store as a part of Apple’s Free App of the Week promotion.

PDF Expert 5 on iPad Pro

The promotion comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s significant update to the app, which brought along support for the just-released iPad Pro, adds settings syncing via iCloud, adds hand off support, and more. Needless to say, it’s a good time to get in on PDF Expert5, and even more so because it’s free.

As a side note, Readdle also just released PDF Expert for the Mac, which means that you’ll be able to easily go back and forth with your PDF annotating needs between the desktop and iPad.

Again, PDF Expert 5 is available as a free download, but only for the next week, so act fast.

Researchers have developed cheaper server-based image processing techniques

Researchers have developed a new technique that consumes much less battery and bandwidth while processing images taken through smartphone cameras.

The system sends a highly compressed image to a central server, and the server sends back an even smaller file, which contains simple instructions for modifying the original image.

As smartphones become people’s primary cameras, there is growing demand for built-in image-processing apps in smartphones.

But image processing quickly drain a cellphone’s battery. Some mobile applications try to solve this problem by sending image files to a central server, which processes the images and sends them back.

But large images could incur costs for increased data usage.

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and Adobe Systems have developed a system that can reduce the bandwidth consumed by server-based image processing by as much as 98.5 percent, and the power consumption by as much as 85 percent.

Study’s first author Michael Gharbi from MIT said the technique could become more useful as image-processing algorithms become more sophisticated.

To save bandwidth, the new system sends out a very low-quality JPEG image.

The server system introduces some high-frequency noise into the image, which effectively increases its resolution.

Then the system breaks the image into chunks of 64-by-64 pixels. For each pixel patch of the uploaded image, the server sends back just 25 numbers.

The phone then performs the modifications described by those 25 numbers on its local, high-resolution copy of the image.

To the naked eye, the results are virtually indistinguishable from direct manipulation of the high-resolution image.

The results were presented at the Siggraph Asia conference held at Kobe, Japan, earlier this month.

Gumdrop’s Drop Tech offers military-grade protection for your iPad

If you have ever let a toddler play games on your unprotected iPad Air 2, you have probably experienced that sense of dread thinking about the little one dropping it on the kitchen floor. We want to share technology with children, but don’t want it to turn our tablets into $500 paperweights.

Gumdrop makes a Drop Tech case for the iPad Air 2 that is specifically designed to keep your tablet secure when little Bobby wants to read Wheels on the Bus while chasing his sister around the living room.

The exterior of the case is made from silicon and has a soft grip feel. The interior is made from rigid plastic and the corners have been reinforced with rubber bumpers. It has been certified with a military standard of 810G. According to the company, it can successfully protect 26 drops from four feet. Plus, it’s internal frame has been tested from six feet onto flat concrete.

The front and rear cameras are exposed and there is a cutaway for access to Touch ID. There are also dust-protection covers for the device’s volume and Wake buttons. There is also an integrated, replaceable screen shield that snaps into place over the iPad screen.

The case does add significant bulk to your iPad Air 2. However, when your four-foot tall four-year-old decides that your tablet isn’t fun anymore and drops it in exchange for seeing what the dog’s food tastes like, you won’t mind having the extra bulge.

The Drop Tech case for iPad Air 2 comes in black, blue with lime green, red with black, black with red, or white with gray and costs $60 on Amazon. The company does have a version for the iPad Pro, which also has a holder for the Pencil, available for preorder now with an estimated delivery date of Dec. 3.

Samsung reportedly on the verge of supplying OLED screens for future iPhones

Samsung, which uses AMOLED screens in many of its flagship smartphones and tablets, could become a major provider of OLED panels for the iPhone maker as a deal is all but secured, according to an ETNews report Friday citing a Samsung Display employee.

The report arrives hot on the heels of a research note that KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sent to clients earlier this week, in which he estimated that Apple won’t be switching to AMOLED screens for iPhones anytime soon and will continue using the existing LCD display technology for at least the next three years.

The Apple link

Samsung Display is apparently selling entire Cheonan Gen.5 LCD manufacturing facilities’ L5 equipment to China-based Trulywill and will funnel funds received from selling the facilities toward expanding OLED production lines.

The L5 production lines, pictured below, stopped operating at the end of the last month, with Samsung retooling the plant to increase OLED output.

“A reason why Samsung Display is extending its OLED lines is because its negotiation with Apple about supplying OLEDs has been progressing rapidly,” the report reads. “It is heard that Samsung Display is recently having a negotiation with Apple about supplying OLEDs for iPhones.”

There is a high chance that L5 facilities will be used for Apple

Assuming it signs a long-term contract with the Cupertino firm, Samsung Display is said to consider building lines to exclusively produce OLEDs for Apple devices.

“Even if Samsung Electronics extends its A3 OLED Line that is currently operating, it will not be able to meet all of Apple’s supplies.” said a person from the display industry.

“However because it will be able to solve this problem if it operates lines exclusively for Apple, it is currently examining a method about preparing new OLED Lines by receiving certain amount of fund from Apple.”

Such a move wouldn’t be unheard of: back in May 2015, Japan Display received a cool $1.72 billion to build a new Gen. 6 Flexible LTPS OLED facilities.

“Although it is true that Samsung Display decided to sell all of L5 equipment, we did not decide on whom to sell it to.” said an unnamed Samsung Display employee. “We also cannot reveal any information on our deal with Apple.”

(AM)OLED iPhones would be awesome

While the traditional LCD screens with IPS technology that Apple uses for iOS devices and Macs allow for the wider sRGB range and more natural colors than AMOLED screens, OLED (used in the Apple Watch) or AMOLED technology benefits from significantly reduced power consumption because only the pixels in use are being lit up and no power-hungry backlight is needed.

In addition, AMOLED technology offers much deeper blacks and more vivid colors, with the disadvantage of being oversaturated compared to TFT LCDs.

Google to stop the Great Online Shopping Festival from this year

With online players like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal witnessing phenomenal growth in their Diwali sales, technology giant Google Tuesday said it is discontinuing its ‘Great Online Shopping Festival’ (GOSF) from this year.

Started in 2012, GOSF began as the Indian version of “Cyber Monday” to encourage Indians to shop online by offering discounts and deals across categories.

“Today, India has many flourishing and successful e-commerce companies and there are multiple deal days being hosted by various e-tailers delivering great value to shoppers across India.

“Users don’t have to wait for 12 months to get the best deals online, small and medium businesses no longer have to wait for www.gosf.in to find customers from all across India,” Google India Industry Director (E-commerce, Local and Classified) Nitin Bawankule wrote in a blog.

He added that while there were learnings for the company and the industry with the GOSF, “the time has come for us to bid adieu” to it.

“Back then, India had 130 million Internet users with only 8 million Indians shopping online, and the total online shopping industry was approximately $2 billion (roughly Rs. 13,100 crores),” he said.

Fast forward to 2015, India has over 350 million Internet users and over 50 million online shoppers projected to reach 100 million by 2016 and the industry is already over $10 billion (roughly Rs. 65,501 crores), he added.

In the maiden edition of GOSF, Google saw over 90 retailers participating and traffic from over 5,00,000 points.

This grew to over 240 retailers and 2 million in traffic in 2013 and further to more than 550 retailers and 14 million in traffic last year.

“We will continue to invest in initiatives to empower small and medium businesses and work along with the industry to make Internet a growth engine for the country,” Bawankule said.

The three leading players Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon have hosted their Diwali sales this month. They claim to have seen multi-fold growth in sales on their platforms over last year.

Update: The Re 1 flash sale at 2PM saw device go out of stock in seconds, the next flash sale will start at 6PM today.

It’s the Day 2 for Xiaomi’s Diwali celebrations and the pattern will be pretty much similar to what we saw yesterday. At 10 AM, the company’s Mi Band and Mi in-ear earphones will be up for grabs priced at Rs 799 and Rs 299 respectively, followed by Re 1 flash sale at 2PM and 6PM.

Yesterday, the in-ear headphones and the band flew off the shelves quickly, within minutes. But, users will get yet another chance today, as well as tomorrow to get their hands on these accessories.

Xiaomi has geared up for the Indian festive season and announced Diwali with Mi that includes flash sales, discounts and prizes. The Re 1 flash sale will be held later today at 2PM and 6PM. To be eligible for the flash sale, users will have to share the flash sale promotion on mi.com/in via Facebook or Twitter. It will introduce the Light me up game and users playing this game stand a chance to win coupons to make purchases from the Mi store. Users who transact on the Mi store app during the sale period could get lucky to win the bumper prize – a Mi TV 2S.

The company is also mentioned exciting prizes, which means we can expect a contest. However, it’s the flash sale starting at Re 1 that most users would look forward to. Users opting for PayU will get 5 percent cashback. Read the complete rules for the Diwali sale here.

The Xiaomi Re 1 flash sale saw Mi products go off the shelves within seconds.

While some customers were told they are in the queue, some others managed to bag devices at Re 1. A customer has tweeted out that he has managed to grab a Mi 5200mAh power bank at Re 1.

Xiaomi’s Diwali celebrations will continue until tomorrow. Earlier this year, as a special promotional offer, the first 1,000 registrants of the Mi Band had received it at Re. 1.

Microsoft slashes free online storage on OneDrive

NEW YORK: Microsoft is getting stingy with online storage. The company just cut the free space it offers through its OneDrive service by two-thirds, making it the second major company to retreat from a consumer cloud-storage boom that tempted users with price cuts and ever-larger free offers.


Starting next year, Microsoft will cut its free option to 5GB, down from 15GB now. Microsoft says the new allotment is enough for about 6,600 Office documents or 1,600 photos.



Earlier this year, Amazon eliminated a free 5GB storage plan, although it still offers that amount to those who pay for its Prime loyalty program.



Microsoft is also effectively doubling prices for some storage plans. It will charge $2 a month for 50GB of storage, including the free allotment, rather than the 100GB it currently offers at that price. The company is eliminating a $4-a-month, 200GB plan.


Subscribers to Microsoft's Office 365, which offers word processing, spreadsheet and other apps starting at $7 a month, will now be limited to 1TB, or 1,000GB, of storage. The company is killing off an "unlimited" option that it said a "small number of users" had abused by backing up numerous personal computers and storing entire movie collections.



As with similar services from Google, Dropbox and others, OneDrive can store just about any type of files. Apps can automatically sync what you store on a device.



Under CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has emphasized mobile and online services such as OneDrive over traditional sales of Windows and Office software for personal computers. The company has offered services for free as a way to hook people into using other services, such as Microsoft's ad-supported Bing search engine and the Office 365 subscription.

Microsoft didn't explain why it was cutting back its storage offer, or why it advertised an "unlimited" option if actually using large amounts of storage posed a problem. The company declined to comment beyond a blog post it published Monday night.


Microsoft says it will give people time -- up to a year in some cases -- to remove files that exceed its new limits.

Here's a look at some of the alternatives:

Dropbox: People get only 2GB for free, but can earn bonuses by getting friends to sign up or by uploading photos automatically from phones. After that, it's $10 a month for a terabyte of space. Business plans with unlimited storage cost $15 a month per person, with a minimum of five people.

Google Drive: It's 15GB of free storage to start, but that includes Gmail messages on the account. Photos of up to 16MP, which covers most phones, won't count toward the limit. For more storage, prices range from $2 a month for 100GB to $300 for 30TB.

Apple's iCloud: Free storage starts at 5GB, which includes what's needed for iPhone backups. Those needing more can pay $1 a month for 50GB, $3 for 200GB or $10 for 1TB. iCloud storage works best with Apple devices.

Amazon Cloud Drive: Amazon offers unlimited photo storage and 5GB for video and other files for $12 a year, or $1 a month. For unlimited storage of all files, it's $60 a year, or $5 a month. Members of Amazon's $99-a-year Prime loyalty program get the lower option for free. Amazon eliminated its 5GB free plan in March.

Yahoo: Although Yahoo doesn't have a general file-storage service, it offers a generous 1TB for e-mail and an additional 1TB for photos and video through Flickr.