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  • Trump Administration Contemplates State-Run 5G Network

    Trump Administration Contemplates State-Run 5G Network

    The Trump administration is said to be planning on developing a secure 5G network that could be placed under federal control. The idea, which reportedly came about due to concerns about competitions and cybersecurity threats from China, was immediately met with backlash from the FCC and the wireless industry.

    Axios reported over the weekend that National Security Council officials released a memo stating the United States requires a centralized 5G network system in the next three years. The memo further outlined that the best choice would be for the government to finance and build the infrastructure before renting to telecommunication companies like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

    Officials from the White House have told Axios and Recode that the memo Axios reported on was an old and out of date one. However, two anonymous administration officials claimed that discussions about the proposed 5G network were still in the early stages.

    The current administration is known for being concerned about the security and economic threats posed by superpower China. The Asian giant has been aggressive in its development of 5G and it seems the Trump government is wary that China might spy on American citizens and businesses.

    The idea of an administration controlling the country’s next-generation wireless system is unheard of, and the pushback from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was equally surprising, considering its chairman was an appointee of the president.

    FCC Chairman Ajit Pai quickly issued a statement opposing the “proposal for the federal government to build and operate a nationwide 5G network.” He further described the proposed endeavor as “a costly and counterproductive distraction from the policies we need to help the United States win the 5G future.”

    Pai also suggested that the government should instead “push spectrum” into the marketplace and put up regulations that would encourage private companies to develop and implement the next-gen system.

    A group comprised of telecom industry’s leaders like AT&T and Verizon also opposed the plan and said on Monday that a competitive marketplace is the way to ensure the country remains as a trailblazer in 5G technology.

    5G technology is expected to provide even faster speeds and almost unlimited Internet capacity when compared to the previous iterations of the wireless technology. It’s also essential for the further development of new technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), self-driving cars, and virtual reality. AT&T and Verizon already finalized plans to introduce 5G service in limited sectors in 2018.

  • Google to Launch Cloud-Based Digital Store, Teams Up with Mobleiron

    Google to Launch Cloud-Based Digital Store, Teams Up with Mobleiron

    Google is trying its best to catch up to its competitors in the cloud computing industry, especially the current market leader Amazon Web Services (AWS). In a recent announcement, the search engine giant—and one of the top players in the cloud segment—revealed that it will launch a digital store offering a slew of white-label cloud-based software products for use by companies and organizations.

    Google will launch the online store in a joint venture with MobileIron, a company that offers cybersecurity tools for cell phones. Google also plans to bring Orbitera’s commerce platform to the deal while MobileIron will capitalize on its expertise in app distribution, analytics, and security to make the project work.

    With the new online store in place, a company will be able to purchase cloud services for eventual distribution to its employees while, at the same time, keep its corporate data secure. The platform, which is expected to roll out later this year, will be accessed through mobile telecom providers.

    In its online post, Google promised a host of advantages that the online cloud store could bring to resellers, enterprises, OEMs, and ISVs. For instance, customers can customize bundles, customize branding for both the marketplace and its customers, offer one centralize bill for various services, enjoy a more secure cloud access as well as analyze usage data to see when apps are being used.

    In 2016, Orbitera was acquired by Google in a deal estimated to be worth around $100 million, a move that could help Google compete against cloud rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure. Orbitera created a buying and selling platform for cloud-based software.

    News on MobileIron’s partnership with Google was positively received by the market. MobileIron shares climbed as high as 14 percent or a high of $4.60 during Tuesday’s trading until it eventually settled $4.62 by afternoon’s close.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • Microsoft Announces Huge Price Cut for Azure Cloud Services, Now Just $100 Per Month

    Microsoft Announces Huge Price Cut for Azure Cloud Services, Now Just $100 Per Month

    Microsoft Azure customers were pleasantly surprised today. The cloud computing company just announced that it has substantially dropped the price for its Azure Standard support to just $100 per month, making it the most affordable support package among the big three cloud computing firms.

    The price slash of the Azure Standard support, which was previously priced at $300 per month, was announced in a post via Microsoft Azure’s website. Despite the drop, however, the company promised an even faster initial response time of 1 hour, which was previously set at 2 hours, for critical cases. The company also promised the continuation of the current package’s feature of unlimited 24/7 technical and billing support for the client’s entire organization.

    The price cut is being offered to eligible Azure customers. These are customers who purchased the Azure Standard support package directly from the Azure.com site under the Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement (MOSA).

    However, the $100 per month offer is not applicable to all regions. For still unspecified reasons, customers based in Germany are apparently not included in the price cut.

    Azure’s drastic price reduction for its Standard support could start a price war among the big three players in the cloud computing industry. It is possible that competitors Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as Google Cloud Platform, might be forced to introduce price cuts of their own to make the pricing of their services even more competitive.

    At $100 per month, the AWS Business plan costs as much as the new Azure Standard support. However, that is only the starting price because clients usually end up paying more for additional charges based on their monthly usage fees.

    Meanwhile, Google is charging a higher monthly rate for its standard support at the moment. Basic support costs $150 per month and its response time for business critical issues is even slower at 4 hours compared to 1 hour for Azure customers.

    [Featured image via Microsoft]

  • Amazon Introduces Unified Auto Scaling for AWS

    Amazon Introduces Unified Auto Scaling for AWS

    One big reason why businesses find cloud computing attractive is its scalability. But Amazon Web Services (AWS) just brought scalability to a whole new level by launching a new feature called AWS Auto Scaling, which allows clients to adjust the scaling features of multiple AWS services via a single interface.

    With cloud computing’s scalability, companies no longer need to unnecessarily spend on computing hardware that they rarely use. Cloud computing providers offer clients very flexible options; they can scale up hardware capacity in times of heavy demand as well as scale down on their computing resources allocation for times when computing demand is low.

    Realizing this enormous advantage, companies usually use multiple AWS services to handle the different aspects of their operations and applications needs. Until now, adjusting the scaling of these different AWS services were done independently. However, with the new AWS Auto Scaling feature, keeping track and tweaking the scaling of their company’s different cloud computing services with AWS should now be a breeze, as explained in a post by AWS’ Chief Evangelist Jeff Barr.

    “You no longer need to set up alarms and scaling actions for each resource and each service. Instead, you simply point AWS Auto Scaling at your application and select the services and resources of interest. Then you select the desired scaling option for each one, and AWS Auto Scaling will do the rest, helping you to discover the scalable resources and then creating a scaling plan that addresses the resources of interest.”

    Of course, the end game for this auto-scaling feature is for companies to have greater control over their desired mix of availability versus cost which would ultimately determine the number of computing resources they would get from AWS.

    As can be seen above, there are three settings on the new feature such as Optimize for availability, Balance availability and cost, Optimize cost and Custom.

    The new feature is now live in the Asia Pacific, US East (Ohio), US East (Northern Virginia), EU and US West (Oregon) regions.

    [Featured Image via Amazon Web Services]

  • File-Sharing Giant Dropbox Reportedly Makes Plans to Go Public

    File-Sharing Giant Dropbox Reportedly Makes Plans to Go Public

    If you are one of those investors who specialize in trading shares of technology companies, you might have one more company to play with in the coming months ahead. People privy to the deal are now claiming that the next big tech company to go public will be the file-sharing giant Dropbox.

    In fact, San Francisco-based Dropbox has already filed confidentially for a U.S. IPO, according to a Bloomberg report. The publication said that the IPO plan has been confirmed by people who are familiar with the details but declined to reveal the sources’ identities because the filing has not officially been made public at the moment.

    According to the unnamed sources, Dropbox, a company privately valued at $10 billion, is gunning for IPO by the first half of 2018. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. were named as the possible institutions that will lead in the future listing. Meanwhile, other banks will be approached this month for various roles in connection with the IPO.

    At the moment, Dropbox, as well as JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the issue.

    If Dropbox’s IPO pushes through, the company will be under close watch by investors. Naturally, the investment community will want to see how the company’s share price will fare in the post-IPO period. The upcoming IPO follows SnapChat’s disappointing performance since its IPO last March 2017. Snap’s share price had fallen 15 percent from its IPO value.

    But there are indications that Dropbox won’t be suffering the same sad fate as Snapchat. Unlike Snap, Dropbox has a positive cash flow and a gargantuan annual sales figure breaching the $1 billion mark. In addition, companies in its line of business seem to be resilient. The company called Box, Dropbox’s competitor that went public back in 2015, has been doing well since then. Box’s share price even managed to climb more than 50 percent since its IPO.

    [Featured Image via Dropbox]

  • Data is the Foundation of Innovation

    Data is the Foundation of Innovation

    Intel CEO Brian Krzanich told his Keynote audience at CES that data has now become the foundation of innovation. Data started as a static tool used by companies to see trends and process information, but it has now reached the point where it is the critical element that is driving technology and is revolutionizing all aspects of society.

    Below is an excerpt of Krzanich’s talk about data’s amazing impact on our world.

    Data is Driving the Technology Revolution

    Data is the unseen driving force behind the next wave of the technology revolution. In fact I think it is even bigger. Data is going to introduce social and economic changes that we only see perhaps once or twice in a century.

    In the 19th Century we saw this change with the combustion engine. That led to the rise of the automobile which ushered in the modern transportation system of trains, cars and planes. Just 50 years ago we saw another inflection point with the creation of the integrated circuit and the rise of the semiconductor industry. This is the story of Moore’s Law which has shaped every aspect of modern technology. We need to think about data changing our society in the same way.

    It is Time to Rethink the Importance of Data

    Data will redefine how we experience life in our work, at home, in school, and even how we enjoy sports and entertainment. It’s going to make possible experiences that know one has even started to imagine. I think the time has come for us to entirely think about the importance of data differently. The breakthrough came from computing power. Computing has become so fast and so powerful that we can now generate and capture information capable of prediction, decision making, recognition, and even thinking.

    What Do We Mean by Data?

    Let’s start with some basics. Almost everything associated with technology generates data. Any device with a plug, every email, every podcast, every picture you post on Instagram, and even the blog you are writing about this Keynote tonight. All of it creates and shares an incredible amount of data, and it’s all connected. Today, the cloud is filled with billions of bytes of data, going from our devices to the data center and back again. We’ve created literally a flood of data.

    That’s really staggering, by 2020 the average person will generate one and a half gigabytes of data a day, which is about 2 times what a person creates today! That’s small in comparison to an autonomous car which will generate about 4 terabytes of data per day, or 2,500 times the data a person will generate. A connected airplane will generate about 40 terabytes a day and a smart factory will generate 1 petabyte of data per day. That’s the equivalent of 700 thousand people.

    That data is moving all around us at an unimaginable speed. That speed allows the device in your hand to make decisions in an instant, and this is a big shift in how edge devices provide value.

    All Technology Starts with Data

    There was a time when data was something that was stored and processed and very carefully shared. Some businesses would analyze that data and that led to some pretty interesting insights, but basically data was a static commodity. All that has shifted in just the last few years. Today, data is the foundation of innovation.

    Almost everything you will see here at CES, virtual reality, smart cities, autonomous driving, and above all artificial intelligence, all start with data. People have been writing about artificial intelligence since the 1950’s, but what we are seeing emerge today is a rush of breakthroughs using data and AI. This includes facial recognition, devices controlled by voice commands, robots, autonomous vehicles, and even art itself.

    Art and space are just two examples of how data is going to reshape our world. Devices operated by voice command, visual intelligence and precision medicine… I spent my whole life watching technology dramatically leap forward, and the advances with data and AI we’ll see in the coming years will dwarf all of that.

    If you are impressed in what you see today, well stay tuned. We are still discovering new ways to apply the power of artificial intelligence and data and these discoveries will impact almost every sector and that is what is meant to reimagine data.

    Watch Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s full CES keynote below:

  • Apple Shares Source Code For Machine Learning Framework at WWDC 2017

    Apple Shares Source Code For Machine Learning Framework at WWDC 2017

    Apple’s recent WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) saw the unheralded release of Core ML, which will reportedly make it easier for developers to come up with machine learning tools across the Apple ecosystem.

    The way this works is that developers need to convert their creations into an API that is compatible with the Core ML. They then have to load their programs into the Apple Xcode development before it can be installed on the iOS.

    Developers can use any of the following frameworks: Keras, XGBoost, LibSVM, Caffe, and scikit-learn. To make it even easier for them to load their models, Apple is allowing them to come up with their own converter.

    According to Apple, the Core ML is “a new foundational machine learning framework used across Apple products, including Siri, Camera, and QuickType.”

    The company explained that this new machine learning tool would be “the foundation for domain-specific frameworks and functionality.”

    One of the primary advantages of the Core ML is that it speeds up the artificial intelligence on the Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and perhaps the soon-to-be-released Siri speaker. If it works the way that is billed, any AI task on the iPhone, for instance, would be six times quicker than Android.

    The machine learning tools supported by Apple Core ML include linear models, neural networks, and tree ensembles. The company also promised that private data by users won’t be compromised by this new endeavor. This means that developers can’t just tinker with any phone to steal private information.

    Core ML also supports:

    • Foundation for Natural Language Processing
    • Vision for Image Analysis
    • Gameplay Kit

    “Core ML itself builds on top of low-level primitives like Accelerate and BNNS, as well as Metal Performance Shaders,” the company added.

    But Apple is reportedly not content with just releasing the Core ML. According to rumors, the company is looking to fulfill its promise of helping to build a very fast mobile platform. In fact, if the rumors are true, the company is also building a much better chip that can handle AI tasks without compromising performance.

    Though Core ML seems promising, Apple is certainly not blazing the trail when it comes to machine learning. In fact, Facebook and Google have already unveiled their own machine learning frameworks to optimize the mobile user’s experience.

    The new machine learning framework is still part of Apple’s Core Brand, which already includes Core Audio, Core Location, and Core Image as announced earlier.

  • Microsoft Launches Latest Surface Pro With 13-Hour Battery Life

    Microsoft Launches Latest Surface Pro With 13-Hour Battery Life

    Microsoft unveiled the new Surface Pro during a recent event in Shanghai, touting faster performance for the gadget on the strength of its seventh-generation Intel Core processor.

    These processors, dubbed Kaby Lake, are supposed to be 35% faster than the fourth-generation chips. It’s not clear, however, how these new processors will fare compared to the sixth-generation series, or the Skylake, since they are built on the same 14nm architecture. Although some reports claim that the Microsoft Surface Pro will be faster and have a longer battery life.

    Microsoft says that there is a 20% improvement in performance for the new Surface Pro compared to its previous iteration. In terms of battery life, user will be able to use it for about 13 hours from a full charge, which is about a 50% improvement from the old device. For comparison, the MacBook Air can only last 12 hours before needing a charge.

    At first glance, there seems to have been no changes made to the physical design, although the thinner and lighter new Surface Pro is more rounded and less edgy. The 12.3-inch Pixel Sense touchscreen display has been retained, but it doesn’t have a USB-C port, but rather the USB 3.0 Type-A, as well as the patented Surface Connect port. There’s also a microSD card slot and a mini DisplayPort.

    The biggest change, perhaps, is the kickstand which can now lie almost flat on the table. This modification will come as good news for digital artists.

     

    The new Microsoft Surface Pro starts at $799, with the Surface Pen and the keyboard accessory sold separately. These two accessories are available in platinum, cobalt blue, black and burgundy.

    The new stylus is billed to have less input lag, as Microsoft quadrupled the sensitivity from 1024 levels of pressure to 4096. The buyer can also use the same pen as a creation tool on the Surface Dial.

    It’s interesting to see how the new Surface Pro will impact the sagging laptop industry, which has been spiraling down for the past nine years now. For its part, Microsoft’s Surface line fell 26% based on first quarter data against the same period in 2016.

    The new Pro joins the growing Microsoft Surface family, including the Surface Book, the Surface Laptop, and the Surface Studio PC. Microsoft Surface Pro will come in three variants, the Core i7, Core i5, and Core M, and will launch in June of this year. Pre-orders will start next week.

  • New Gadget Allows iPhone to Print ‘Moving’ Pictures

    New Gadget Allows iPhone to Print ‘Moving’ Pictures

    Mobile printing startup Prynt has unveiled their latest gadget that can print colored photos in just 30 seconds, and makes use of augmented reality to produce “moving” pictures.

    The gadget is certainly cool, but don’t expect to get high-quality images. The printing quality of the gadget is reportedly pedestrian and doesn’t even match up to photos from Polariod. However, the faster printing speed, easy functionality, as well as better connectivity to iPhones, make it a good buy compared to most Bluetooth mobile printers.

    Here’s how it works: when the users choose an image from their iPhone to print, the application will upload a clip from the Live Photo—or the Boomerang app from Instagram—to the cloud. After they scan the static image using the Prynt app, the video will be superimposed on top.

    Prynt co-founder Clément Perrot said, “It’s the best of both worlds. You get something that is tangible, unique, but you also have a sense of the context of what happened at that time.”

    “Here’s a way to capture all of that and put it into something that people would look back at. If it stays on their phone, you don’t necessarily look at it again,” he added.

    A mobile printer is not exactly new, considering that Polaroid has its own Insta-film technology, apart from its own mobile photo printer. HP also has the Sprocket (which sells for about $130).

    Perrot hopes that the new technology will encourage people to print their most precious photos. While the convenience of camera phones allows people to take as many pictures as they want, they rarely go through the photos after uploading them on social media. In most instances, they just delete the photos after sharing them on Facebook or Instagram.

    Perrot stated that this is what Prynt is trying to fill with its mobile printer. The nostalgia that physical photos possess, where “you can touch something and go back to it.”

    For now, the Prynt app is only available for the iPhone. However, an app dedicated for Android will be launched later this year. The app uses inkless paper from Zink, which can be activated using heat.

    The Prynt pocket printer sells for $138 on Amazon. Users will have to buy another pack for the sheets of paper to be fed into the device. One pack with 40 sheets will cost $20.

  • Nokia 9 Smartphone: Leaked Promo Video Confirms Specs!

    Nokia 9 Smartphone: Leaked Promo Video Confirms Specs!

    Images of the new Nokia 9 have been leaked online, which teases the first high-end phone from HMD Global. It’s not yet clear if this leak is “accidental,” but it did create hype for the new Android phone from Nokia.

    The phone itself was encased in a thick blue screen, which some tech news sites agree covered much of the details of the boxy gadget. However, some of the images do lend credence to earlier speculations that it will come with dual 13-megapixel cameras, 4K recording, as well as LED flash.

    There seems to be a USB-C port at the bottom of the gadget and a 3.5mm headphone jack, which seems to indicate that the Nokia 9 won’t be competing against the newer iPhones in that regard.

    Underneath, the phone will have a 5.3-inch, 2560 x 1440-pixel QHD display, with 4GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage. The Nokia 9 will allegedly be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and will run on Android 7.1.1.

    There is also a fingerprint sensor at the front of the phone, while the design suggests a thick bezel. The design itself has failed to impress, but this is still a prototype, so it’s unfair to judge the Nokia 9 based on unofficial images.

    This is not Nokia’s first foray into Android phones since Microsoft sold the brand to HMD Global and Foxconn late last year. In January this year, HMD released Nokia 6, which boasts a 1.1GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor mated to 3GB of RAM and sold for about $250.

    HMD already released Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and the new iteration for the Nokia 3310. Based on its schedule, Nokia 7, Nokia 8 and Nokia 9 will likely be released this year. In fact, a video of what seemed to be an ad for Nokia 8 was also leaked. Reportedly, the ad was taken down immediately, but not before it was saved by users.

    It is still unclear how the Nokia 9 will match up to the Samsung Galaxy S8 or the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7+ because the specs for this new phone are not out yet. Between now and its release, there might also be additional features that will be added by the company’s engineers to show to the world that Nokia, indeed, is back.

    HMD has not issued any statement regarding the Nokia 9 leak.

  • Google Unveils Standalone VR Headset to Rival Oculus Rift

    Google Unveils Standalone VR Headset to Rival Oculus Rift

    Just seven months after the launch of its Daydream View, Google has introduced the latest evolution of its virtual reality (VR) headset.

    Unlike Daydream View, where the user needs to be attached to a smartphone or computer, this new device can operate without a cable connection.   

    The standalone headset was developed in collaboration with Qualcomm, which designed the product, wrote Clay Bavor, vice president for Virtual and Augmented Reality. The search engine giant also partnered with HTC and Lenovo to work on the VR space and mobile and computing, respectively.

    Bavor mentioned that they will be using WorldSense technology for positional tracking. “The headset tracks your precise movements in space – and it does this all without any external sensors to install,” he explained.

    “Standalone headsets don’t require a phone or PC. Instead, getting into VR is as simple as putting the thing on,” Bavor added.

    The release of this standalone device doesn’t mean that Google will abandon Daydream View, however. In fact, new smartphones such as the Galaxy S8 and S8+, along with LG’s new flagship devices, will come equipped with Daydream-support software.

    Google is not aiming to reinvent the wheel with its new VR headset. By building on the Daydream platform, the company will ensure that there are sufficient app support and game titles by the time it gets launched later this year.

    There’s no price point yet for this VR device, but it’s safe to say it will cost more than the $79 Daydream VR and less than the Oculus Rift, which requires a powerful PC and commands a market price of $500.

    Google also announced several new updates during this year’s I/O Conference, such as the Google Lens, which will feature image recognition technology. Using the app and focusing the camera on a flower, for example, will allow the user to recognize its species. Travelers to a foreign country can also translate the menus or signs with Google Lens.

    Another significant update is the new smart assistant for Android devices, which is seen as a rival to Apple’s Siri. Google is also looking to bring spatial tools to another level with its Visual Positioning Service (VPS). While Google Maps can bring people to a store, VPS will lead them right to the particular item they are looking to buy.

    The VPS is powered by Tango, the same core technology that is used to gauge space and track motion in Google’s Daydream VR and augmented reality devices.

  • iPhone 8 Will Not Have a Home Button According to Rumored Specs

    iPhone 8 Will Not Have a Home Button According to Rumored Specs

    Apple has not revealed the release date for the iPhone 8, yet speculations about the highly-anticipated device continue to circulate over the internet. The latest on its rumored features seem to confirm the scrapping of the Home button.

    Images of the alleged dummy phone were leaked recently and it confirmed some of the talk about Apple’s latest gadget featuring a bezel-less display. The 5.8-inch OLED screen, meanwhile, envelops the whole front face of the device which is similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S8 Edge.

    While Apple fans are still trying to get used to the audio jack-free iPhone 7, the Cupertino-based company is trying to force-feed another innovation. Instead of the Home button at the bottom, users will see a Touch Bar that will likely include a Touch ID and fingerprint sensor, which will be integrated into the display.

     

    If the rumors prove true, users won’t need to push a button; rather, they just have to rest their fingers on this specific spot to access the menu.

    The rumored specs for the iPhone 8 also elude to an upgrade of the secondary speaker for the device. This is a departure from its design for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus which utilized the earpiece as a secondary speaker, but didn’t really impress users.

    This change will reportedly enhance the audio quality. However, there are no specifics yet, particularly on whether the quality will be similar to the primary loudspeaker on the iPhone 7 dual stereo device.

    The iPhone 8 will supposedly also be as thin as its predecessor (7.1mm) and have the same size overall. It should, however, look larger due to the bezel-less display. The other rumored specifications include wireless charging, 3GB of RAM, and a “3D-sensing front camera.” It’s also rumored that the device will come bundled with the wireless AirPods to replace the earpieces that come with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

    Previous reports alleged that the iPhone 8 will have 30% more battery life, thanks to having an L-shaped battery pack. If that proves true, the upgrade will likely push the price of the device over $1,000, which is $200 more than the current generation of Apple’s flagship phone.

    The iPhone 8 will reportedly be released in the fall of 2017, although Apple has yet to confirm this.

  • HoloLens Creator Alex Kipman Says Smartphones are Dead

    HoloLens Creator Alex Kipman Says Smartphones are Dead

    “The phone is already dead. People just haven’t realized,” said Alex Kipman, the creator of Microsoft’s augmented reality headset HoloLens, in an interview with Bloomberg. Kipman added that their augmented reality headset will soon take the place of smartphones everywhere. This was backed by a statement made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that said they may be releasing phones “that don’t look like phones.”

    While these claims may sound a bit radical now, it’s not unlikely to happen in the near future. Aside from Microsoft, companies like Apple are also known to be performing studies on how to make better use of mixed reality in some of their projects. Details of the study and progress of their studies, however, have yet to be shared with the public.

    Microsoft is one of the tech brands who are more open about their standpoint on mixed reality and how it can be fully incorporated into some consumer devices. Currently, Microsoft is preparing to launch their latest operating system, the Windows 10 Creators Update, that is equipped with tools that are designed to “spark and unleash creativity” through the use of mixed reality and 3D content. These recent innovations will definitely highlight the need for mixed reality in some of our tasks like video editing, 3D painting, virtual learning, and more.

    In an interview with MarketPlace, Nadella revealed that while Microsoft is far from abandoning their mobile phone efforts, they are working on incorporating augmented reality into their newer mobile devices and software.

    While Microsoft’s Windows Phone global market share is down by 0.5%, statements both from Kipman and Nadella proves that the company is far from withdrawing from the race. With their Windows and hardware team now working together under one roof, Microsoft is certainly finding ways to improve the way they develop their devices in one seamless process.

    Microsoft is clearly hard at work as they continuously find ways to make mixed reality technology more accessible to the public. Alongside the release of their latest operating system, the company will also begin shipping mixed reality headsets for only $299. At that price, the company is offering one of the most affordable MR devices out there today.

    We can definitely see an increase in usage of mixed reality in the way we play, learn, and create. Only time will tell when we can start using this technology to make calls and send messages right from the palm of our hands.

  • Microsoft Releases Windows 10 S in Response to Chrome OS Challenge

    Microsoft Releases Windows 10 S in Response to Chrome OS Challenge

    Microsoft has promised stability and security to users as it launched Windows 10 S, a stripped down operating system (OS), to ward off the increasing threat posed by Google Chrome OS.

    The new software is intended as an education tool and the company showed in a demo that the device can accept user logins in around 15 seconds. However, one drawback to Windows 10 S is that users will only be able to install apps downloaded from the Windows Store. This means that executable programs won’t be recognized unless they are listed by Microsoft.

    “Everything that runs on Windows 10 S is downloaded from the Windows Store,” Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Windows chief, said. For those who are worried about being stuck with Microsoft Edge, Myerson clarified that “Windows 10 S will run any browser in the Windows Store,” provided that Chrome or Firefox is listed.

    This was the same model adopted by Microsoft on its controversial RT-operated tablets. The software giant stopped production in February 2015 after suffering a paltry reception. PC manufacturers also refused to carry the OS due to restrictions on API access.

    Running only native apps to the Universal Windows Program, the Windows 10 S is touted to have a longer battery life. Another advantage for schools is that vulnerabilities in their PCs and IT systems have been eliminated.

    While Windows is still the preferred option for PCs and tablets (there are 1.25 billion computers running a version of Windows today), Chrome is quickly creeping up on Microsoft. This would have been unthinkable eight years ago when Chrome OS was first announced.

    However, Google invested in improving the performance, speed, and stability of their OS and schools have started to take notice. They then started purchasing Chromebooks, putting a dent in Windows’ dominance of the market. In fact, by May of last year, Chrome-based devices have outsold the Mac for the very first time.

    Prices for PCs running Windows 10 S will start at $189. There’s also an upgrade option for schools, which need more functionality. They can opt to upgrade to Windows Pro without any additional costs. Home users, however, will have to pay $50 for that option.

    Along with the purchase of Windows 10 S, schools will also receive free access to Minecraft Education Edition for one year in addition to Office 365 for Education with Microsoft Teams.

  • Apple Patent Hints at Plan to Use Wifi Routers for Wireless Charging

    Apple Patent Hints at Plan to Use Wifi Routers for Wireless Charging

    Hoping to get an edge over their competition, Apple Inc. is developing technology that will allow users to charge their phones via wireless routers.

    The Cupertino-based tech giant has been granted a patent filing by the U.S. Patent and Trademark, according to documents publicly revealed on Thursday.

    According to a recent report, the “Wireless Charging and Communication Systems With Dual-Frequency Patch Antennas” technology will make it possible for people to replenish the battery life of their devices using Wi-Fi.One of the many challenges of wireless charging is the limited range of Wi-Fi. But Apple suggested the use of dual mode circuitry and “dual-frequency patch antennas.” If the company manages to realize the dream, it can make use of Wi-Fi routers (both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) through a cellular frequency link somewhere between 700 MHz and 2700 MHz using a transmitter and receiver.

    The concept of latching on to wireless routers to charge devices is not new, as small gadgets, like smartwatches for instance, have been proven to be charged using a Wi-Fi connection. However, this would be the first time that something as ambitious as charging a more powerful mobile phone is being pursued. It would also have greater impact on the future of charging devices, taking mobility to another level.

    Apple already has existing technology in its AirPort Extreme routers that use “beamforming antennas” in order to scour and latch on to a signal. While AirPort promises to amplify the user’s internet speed, the technology itself can be used to search for nearby Wi-Fi networks to charge a cellular phone.

    For now,  Apple remains mum about its intentions regarding the patent, but chances are consumers can expect to see an overhaul in how we power our electronic devices in the coming years.

  • Oracle Buys StackEngine For Public Cloud

    Oracle Buys StackEngine For Public Cloud

    Oracle announced that it has acquired StackEngine. It didn’t say much about it other than that StackEngine will become part of Oracle Public Cloud. Here’s the full announcement:

    On December 18, 2015 Oracle signed and closed an agreement to acquire StackEngine. All StackEngine employees will be joining Oracle as part of Oracle Public Cloud.

    StackEngine didn’t say much beyond that either, simply pointing its own site visitors to that announcement for additional information.

    Oracle did announce plans to build a “cutting-edge” cloud campus in Austin. This is part of its global hiring initiative to expand its cloud and attract millennial talent.

    The company said it will purchase housing for employees to live affordably and conveniently near the campus.

    “Austin was a natural choice for Oracle to invest and grow,” said Scott Armour, Senior Vice President, Oracle Direct. “We already have a high-performing employee base in the region, and the surrounding technology community is teeming with creative and innovative thinkers. Our state-of-the-art campus will be designed to inspire, support and attract top talent – with a special focus on the needs of millennials.”

    “What Oracle is doing in Austin reinforces what I’m talking about when I say that great cities do big things, especially in the technology sector,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “With this significant investment, Oracle demonstrates that it believes in Austin and its future, and it’s serious about creating fantastic job opportunities in our community. I look forward to working with major employers like Oracle to tackle our biggest challenges, including Mobility and Affordability.”

    “We’re positioning the State of Texas to become a home for innovation and technology,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “Thanks to our skilled workforce, combined with our low-tax and low-regulation environment, one of the largest tech companies in the world has chosen to expand in Austin. As Governor, I will continue to pursue policies that invite the expansion and relocation of tech companies to Texas.”

    The 560,000-square-foot complex and parking development will be constructed on the waterfront of Austin’s Lady Bird Lake.

    Image via StackEngine

  • Oracle Buys Micros Systems for $5.3 Billion

    Oracle Buys Micros Systems for $5.3 Billion

    Oracle, no stranger to large acquisitions, has just announced a $5.3 billion buy of Micros Systems – a top provider of both hardware and software for the hospitality industry.

    Oracle says that the acquisition will allow the two companies to “help hotels, food & beverage facilities, and retailers to accelerate innovation, transform their businesses, and delight customers with complete, open and integrated solutions.”

    “Oracle has successfully helped customers across multiple industries, harness the power of cloud, mobile, social, big data and the internet of things to transform their businesses,” said Oracle President Mark Hurd. “We anticipate delivering compelling advantages to companies within the Hospitality and Retail industries with the acquisition of MICROS.”

    Known for their big acquisitions, Oracle has made 11 such purchases in the past year-and-a-half. This $5.3 billion buy is their second-largest in recent history – the largest coming back in 2009 with a $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems.

    “MICROS has been focused on helping the world’s leading brands in our target markets since we were founded in 1977, including running more than 330,000 sites across 180 countries today,” said Peter Altabef, President and CEO, MICROS. “In combination with Oracle, we expect to help accelerate our customers’ ability to innovate and differentiate their businesses by utilizing Oracle’s technologies, cloud solutions and scale. We are very excited about the great opportunities this will create for our customers and employees.”

    Post by MICROS Systems Inc.

    The deal will close later this year.

    Image via MICROS Systems, Facebook

  • Oracle Linux And Oracle VM Get OpenStack Support

    Oracle Linux And Oracle VM Get OpenStack Support

    Oracle announced OpenStack support for Oracle Linux and Oracle VM. The company introduced a preview of an OpenStack distribution that allows users of either to work with the open source cloud software.

    Oracle says it provides customers with more choices and interoperability while taking advantage of “efficiency, performance, scalability, and security” of its offerings.

    At no extra cost, the distribution comes as part of the Oracle Linux and Oracle VM Premiere Support offerings. Users can install the preview in their test environments with the latest version of Oracle Linux and he beta release of Oracle VM 3.3.

    “Oracle is working closely with the OpenStack community across many areas,” said Wim Coekaerts, senior vice president, Linux and Virtualization Engineering, Oracle. “Oracle will continue to help deliver OpenStack capabilities to enable our customers to more efficiently deploy, manage and support their large Oracle data center deployments.”

    “We are excited to see the OpenStack eco-system growing,” said Mark Collier, chief operating officer, OpenStack Foundation. “As Oracle and others integrate OpenStack into enterprise IT environments, users will have new choices for deploying OpenStack in their data centers.”

    Oracle says customers can use Oracle Linux as the base OS for OpenStack deployments where they can take advantage of Oracle Ksplice’s patching capabilities.

    OpenStack’s compute, network and storage management services can be downloaded from the Oracle Public Yum Server and Unbreakable Linux Network.

    Those who deploy the OpenStack distribution can get Oracle’s enterprise-class support.

    Image via Oracle

  • Oracle Is Buying BlueKai For Big Data Marketing

    Oracle Is Buying BlueKai For Big Data Marketing

    Oracle announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement to acquire cloud-based big data platform BlueKai, which offers a solution for personalizing marketing campaigns.

    According to Oracle, BlueKai has the “world’s largest third party data marketplace to augment a company’s proprietary customer data with actionable information” with over 700 million profiles.

    The company intends to integrate BlueKai with its Responsys offering for B2C purposes as well as Eloqua for B2B.

    “Modern marketers require new ways of acquiring, centralizing, interpreting, and activating customer data across marketing channels so that they can enhance the customer experience and maximize the return on their marketing spend,” said Steve Miranda, Executive Vice President, Applications Development, at Oracle. “The addition of BlueKai to the Oracle Marketing Cloud enables marketers to act on data across both known customers and new audiences and precisely target customers with a personalized message across all channels.”

    “As a leader in marketing data management, BlueKai’s innovative products convert fragmented and disparate marketing data into high-performance results for companies,” added BlueKai CEO Omar Tawakol. “We are thrilled to join Oracle and extend Oracle’s Customer Experience portfolio to include the industry’s most effective big data cloud platform for marketers.”

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed. AdExchanager estimates it at between $350M and $450M.

    Image via BlueKai