Nissan and UK-based design workshop Studio Hardie are transform Nissam zero-emission e-NV200 van. And this is the worlds first all-electric mobile office.
Nissan e-NV200 features are
An integrated fold-out desk,
Touchscreen computer,
Wireless internet,
Smartphone-controlled LED lights,
Wireless phone charging,
Bluetooth audio system,
Colour reversing camera
Nissan Intelligent Key
AM/FM/CD audio system
2 Speakers
15" Alloy wheels
Climate Control
Mini fridge and
Brista-character coffee robot.
The e-NV200 WORKSPACe concept not single-handedly highlights the customisable potential of its electric van, it paints a portray of what desk-based employment could see when in the well ahead as hot-desking and alert operational grows in popularity across the globe. Moreover, the one-off vehicle as well as provides an example of Nissans Intelligent Mobility vision, and the companys view of how the attachment in the middle of vehicles and people are changing.
Samsung was forced earlier this week to discontinue its
flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. For good. The Galaxy Note 7 turned
out to be a massive disappointment. The phone intended to fight the
iPhone 7 Plus this year was seen as one of the hottest Android devices
in town. Unfortunately, it also turned out to come with an unexpected
side-effect: the Galaxy Note 7 is a fire hazard. Even after Samsung
fixed it.
New manufacturing issues
Samsung has yet to explain what went wrong with its batteries in both
the original phones and the replacements. The Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC), which worked with Samsung on the US recall, said on
September 15th that batteries made by Samsung SDI were faulty.
Apparently, they were made slightly too large for the space available in
the phone. Installing them would crimp the corner, which could lead to a
short circuit, overheating and potentially a fire.
Samsung removed Samsung SDI batteries from its Galaxy Note 7 supply and turned to China’s Amperex Technology. However, Bloomberg reports
that even Amperex batteries proved to have a manufacturing
problem. Investigators of the latest Galaxy Note 7 incidents believe
that a flaw different from the one that caused the original recall is to
blame, according to Bloomberg.
The new issue hasn’t been explained, but it looks like it may have
crept into the supply chain after Samsung began replacing the faulty
phones. Samsung had no choice but to pull the plug. Neither Samsung nor
Amperex’s parent company TDK Corp. commented on the matter, Bloomberg says.
More disturbingly, Samsung is apparently leaving its carrier partners
in the dark about the problem. Samsung is asking partners to share
testing data, but Samsung isn’t reciprocating. Carriers have no idea
what to tell customers, one unnamed carrier executive said.
Fast charging
Another theory that tries to explain the numerous Galaxy Note 7
explosions has to do with the fast-charging feature of the battery.
According to the Financial Times, the problem comes from tweaks made to the processor to speed up charging.
“If you try to charge the battery too quickly it can make it more
volatile. If you push an engine too hard, it will explode. Something had
to give. These devices are miracles of technology — how much we can get
out of that tiny piece of lithium-ion,” an unnamed source said after
supposedly speaking with Samsung executives about the matter.
That beautiful design
The Galaxy Note 7’s looks might actually lead to explosions.
Specifically, it’s the symmetrical curvature of the phone, a feature
Samsung bragged about, that may have exerted pressure on battery packs
and caused the short circuits that eventually led to dangerous fires.
After the first recall, leaked documentation from the Korean consumer
protection agency said that Samsung SDI’s batteries were slightly
larger than the compartment they were supposed to be placed in.
Furthermore, the isolation plates that separate the anode and cathode
were too close to the edges.
One theory states that external pressure could have been applied to
those isolation plates during manufacturing. The plates are placed
towards the edge of the battery and when the phone is sealed, the
battery pack might be subjected to excessive pressure. The images below
show SDI battery packs with isolation plates placed too close to the
edge.
My colleague Vanessa Hand Orellana and I spent hours chasing pigeons, children, dogs and sunsets to put the two cameras to the test. The Pixel XL had its moments, but on the whole, we agreed the iPhone 7 Plus captured better video.
Its biggest advantages were color, image stabilization, sharpness, contrast, low-light shooting and zoom, unsurprisingly given its second camera.
The Pixel XL, which offers the identical cameras and image processing as the Pixel, did lead the iPhone 7 Plus in some areas, though. Its autofocus was faster, and it sometimes kept a nice exposure when the iPhone went overboard with brightness. Google's phone handily beat the iPhone 7 Plus when it came to slow-motion video with sharper imagery, too.
When Apple debuted the first iPhone in 2007, it couldn't shoot video at all. That's unthinkable today even for a low-end phone. Good mobile video is crucial in the era of YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat. Even if you're not into sharing, video is key to chronicling our lives. So it behooves you to pay attention to video quality.
Don't consider this a final judgment. Much of Google's approach to photography and videography involves extensive image processing, including its excellent HDR+ technology used for photos. There's no HDR+ for video, but Google still could offer camera app software updates to address some Pixel shortcomings.
Here's a look at some of the details of our tests.
Image stabilization
The two phones take a very different approach to image stabilization, a critical aspect of video quality. The iPhone 7 Plus uses an optical approach that physically moves lens elements to counteract the camera motion caused by shaky hands or movement when you're walking. The Pixel XL uses digital stabilization, which uses motion sensors and image data to try to mathematically compensate for camera movement.
Each has its advantages when it comes to camera size, component costs and other factors, but we found the iPhone's approach generally resulted in a smoother, more human feel. The Pixel XL would try hard to stabilize a shot, but when it figured out you really had pointed the camera in a new direction, there would be an abrupt stop-and-start shift to the new perspective. This made video jerky. The iPhone wasn't as good at compensating for the bobbing perspective you'll often see in videos shot while walking, but it still looked more natural.
And likely because the Pixel XL relies on its processor for stabilization, it struggled when shooting video at 60 frames per second -- double the rate of ordinary 1080p video and thus double the number of pixels to process -- or when shooting higher-resolution 4K video at 30 frames per second.
iPhone 7 Plus videos at times were overexposed, a problem I've found in iPhone photos, too, where foreheads and cheeks in the sun are glaring white, orange or yellow. In dim conditions, details in shadowy areas often disappeared into the murk. The Pixel XL handled exposure better overall, though I preferred the iPhone 7 Plus with sunrises and sunsets that are a challenge for any camera today.
The Pixel XL gets a big demerit in one area of exposure, though. When I shot while walking, sometimes the exposure would pulse darker with each footfall. This happened in several videos.
Color
The iPhone generally selected more pleasing, warm tones. In good lighting conditions both cameras were reasonable, but I found the iPhone 7 Plus colors to be vibrant while still natural -- perhaps a result of the wider P3 color gamut it uses compared to the Pixel XL's more limited sRGB range of colors.
Sometimes skin tones with the Pixel XL video had a yellowish cast. I think of this as the "putty effect." Under warm-hued indoor light, the Pixel XL showed people as too orange. It could switch color settings rapidly, too, in one case switching back and forth distractingly between an orange and blue tint.
Sharpness
Here the iPhone won, perhaps a result of its six-element lens design or better image processing technology that creates the video from the raw image-sensor data. The Pixel XL was usually adequate, but with videos of subjects like city skylines and nature landscapes, the edges on the iPhone were crisp without appearing over sharpened.
The Pixel XL was sharper taking slow-motion video, though. We shot at 240 frames per second, a speedup factor of 8 compared to regular video. Both the Pixel XL and iPhone 7 Plus can only shoot at 720p resolution, which is fine but not as sharp as full high-definition video at 1080p.
Of course, if you want to zoom, the iPhone 7 Plus has dual cameras -- 28mm and 56mm equivalent focal lengths -- and the 2X setup is much better for portraits, kids who aren't in front of you, concerts and many other situations with distant subjects. But there's a big caveat: there's no optical image stabilization for the 56mm camera. Because of that, and a lens that doesn't let in as much light, the iPhone 7 Plus uses the wider-angle camera in dim conditions, making it just like a plain old single-camera iPhone 7.
Lens flare
Both cameras suffered from lens flare, the streaked and washed-out areas that result from shooting toward the sun or other bright light sources. The Pixel XL sometimes would produce a ring around the sun even when the sun was outside the frame -- the Pixel XL "halo effect" that Google hopes to easewith better processing at least in photos. The iPhone 7 Plus would wash out details nearer the sun and add a green ghost image of the sun diametrically across the frame from the sun. I was disappointed in both cameras, frankly, but the edge goes to the Pixel XL for better contrast and less haze when shooting directly toward the sun.
Autofocus
I enjoyed the Pixel XL's snappy autofocus, especially its ability to lock in more quickly on close-up subjects. It also did better locking focus during slo-mo shooting, where you're more likely to notice a longer wait.
Low-light conditions
I had high hopes for the Pixel XL, whose pixels are 60 percent larger than the iPhone 7 Plus' and therefore in principle are better able to shoot in dim conditions where photons are scarce. Instead, the iPhone gave the Pixel XL a drubbing. iPhone video suffered from the transient jittering of noise speckles, but the edges were sharp, and the noise was far less distracting than the Pixel's crude, smeary noise reduction. Both cameras struggled at times to catch focus, a common affliction in the dark. When shooting indoors, the iPhone again showed superior performance, though in smaller rooms, the Pixel XL's wider-angle field of view is a big advantage.
Front camera
The Pixel XL did a nice job exposing faces and keeping focus, but it sometimes struggled with backlit faces, choosing to silhouette me. Sometimes it underexposed even without silhouettes. I liked its sharpness better, but overall the iPhone did a better job with skin tones and showed a more lifelike degree of contrast.
4K video
For this higher-resolution format, the Pixel XL was nicely exposed, but the iPhone 7 Plus outdid it when it comes to sharpness. And why bother shooting 4K video if you're not paying attention to sharpness? Again, the iPhone's optical image stabilization was more natural. On the Pixel XL, I spotted some compression artifacts in even-toned areas, a blue sky and a red ceiling.
Overall, it's an iPhone victory for video. Perhaps we'll see a software update from Google that will help it catch up.
The Apple Watch does a lot of things, but it didn't have a camera. Now it does, thanks to a new band. Are you ready to start taking wrist-snaps?
Glide, makers of a video chat app for iPhone, just launched CMRA, a new Apple Watch band that has dual cameras built in. Much like Samsung's long-departed Gear watches with cameras onboard, the CMRA will let you take photos and even videos on the fly. The band has an 8MP outer camera and a 2MP selfie cam, along with 8GB of in-band storage for photos and video clips.
CMRA band in all its colors (the sides get thick).
Glide
The band also has its own shutter button for photos.
CMRA promises real-time video chat via the Apple Watch Glide app, plus instant on-watch sharing of photos and videos to Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Live and YouTube. The band syncs content to the iPhone when the Apple Watch is paired.
The CMRA band comes in four colors, and has a rubberized design that looks like a thicker version of Apple's elastomer sport band. It doesn't ship until spring 2017, but the early-order price is $149 instead of $249 later on. The band also comes with a charging dock but you'll need to supply your own Apple Watch charge cable.
I haven't tried one out yet, but it certainly sounds promising. CMRA requires WatchOS 3 and iOS 10 to work.
Apple can’t seem to keep the Chinese market hooked on its products.
The tech giant’s overall retention rates fell to 75% in September compared to 82% during the same period a year earlier, according to a semi-annual survey from UBS. After polling some 6,500 consumers across five countries, UBS found that demand for the iPhone 7 was much lower in China than in the U.S.: Smartphone users who were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to buy the iPhone 7 fell to 43% from 54% for the 6s and 64% for the 6.
That’s largely because Apple aapl has lost a significant chunk of users in China to domestic brands like Xiaomi and Huawei. As Apple demand wanes, Chinese competitors are stepping up to offer better products, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While UBS projects the company will have a “soft” fiscal year in China in 2017, the firm believes Apple’s brand “remains strong.” As a result, UBS kept a “buy” rating on the company’s stock, predicting iPhone unit growth of 6% in fiscal year 2017 and 16% in fiscal year 2018.
Shares of Apple traded down 2% Tuesday, before remaining largely flat in after hours.
UBS’ survey results come on the heels of Apple’s disappointing fiscal fourth quarter in late October. The tech giant reported its third consecutive quarter of flagging iPhone sales, with revenue down 9% to $46.85 billion. Shares of Apple have fallen 6% since earnings were announced
Imagine this, except with next year's iPhone. The "iPhone 8" could have wireless charging. While it has been previously reported that Apple will introduce wireless charging into its phones, Foxconn Technology Group, one of Apple's main manufacturing partners, is making wireless charging modules for the 2017 iPhone, Nikkei Asian Review reports.
Wireless charging has been around for a few years, and manufacturers such as Samsung have been quick to incorporate this technology into their phones. While only the Apple Watch uses it so far, previous reports indicate that Apple has been acquiring engineers from wireless charging companies and cite 2017 as the year we will see this technology.
2017 will be the 10th anniversary of the iPhone's release, and it seems like a good bet that Apple has big plans, possibly including wireless charging.
The Nikkei report also speculates that the iPhone 8 will come with a curved OLED display. While this has not been confirmed by Apple, Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu mentioned that the next iPhone would have an OLED screen during a speech last week.
While the Nikkei report states that Foxconn is already producing the wireless charging module for the next iPhone, this does not necessarily mean it will make it into the version of the phone that's released to the public. Nikkei's source states that the release of the technology will "depend on whether Foxconn can boost the yield rate to a satisfactory level later on." Put simply, the factory has to get better at making the units before they have a shot at making it into the final product.
Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
SPUD is a huge, foldable portable display for your smartphone or a second screen for your laptop.
Smartphones are always going to be the best compromise between displaying content on the largest screen possible while still sliding effortlessly into your pocket. That could certainly change once we perfect roll-up displays or mobile projection, but until then we're limited by screen size or clever ideas that pop up on Kickstarter.
The latest of those ideas is the Spontaneous Pop-up Display (SPUD), which takes your smartphone and converts it into a 24-inch display without sacrificing portability.
A portable 24-inch display may sound like a contradiction, and it would be if it weren't for the fact SPUD collapses down to the size of a paperback book when not in use. Think of it like an umbrella. To use it simply open it up, connect your phone at the rear, and enjoy 24-inch high-definition visuals. It won't crack as it's made of a flexible polymer, and if it gets dirty you can simply wash it.
The 16:9 screen offers a resolution of 1,280 by 720 (720p) using rear projection, and while best suited for use with a phone, there's nothing to stop you from plugging in a tablet or even a laptop via HDMI or wireless so it can act as a second display. Inside there's a battery offering between 3-6 hours of power depending on how high you set the brightness, but you can also plug it into a power outlet.
When expanded, SPUD is reminiscent of old CRT monitors with a footprint of 21 by 11 by 14 inches, but folded away it only measures 5.64 by 2.17 by 7.52 inches and weighs just under 2 pounds. Where it does fall down is on price. The Kickstarter Super Early Bird price of $349 has already gone, and the $379 Early Bird price is disappearing fast. So you'll likely end up paying $399 for a SPUD.
As with all Kickstarter projects, you're taking a risk by backing such a project even if this one has reached its funding goal already. Nobody knows what the quality will be like or how durable it will be with repeated use. If you're desperate for a large portable display you can throw in your bag, it may be worth putting down $400. For everyone else, there are a number of smaller USB-powered displays out there for under $200.
