Microsoft Surface Studio

This is what happens when Microsoft goes full Apple and it is beautiful! The Microsoft Surface Studio has a 28 inch touchscreen with all the components built into the base and has a hinge they call the "Zero Gravity Hinge" that lets it go down nearly horizontal.

This thing looks really good, it comes with some decent specs too - 

1TB, Intel Core i5 with 8GB RAM and 2GB GPU.
1TB, Intel Core i7 with 16GB RAM and 2GB GPU.
2TB, Intel Core i7 with 32GB RAM and 4GB GPU.

Amazon's Echo and Uber.

Amazon's Echo is smart. Like really smart! You can now ask your Amazon Echo to book you an Uber.  All you have to do is go into the Alexa app on your phone, in the skill section you add the Uber skill. It's that simple! You can even ask it where the Uber is, how long it'll take to get to you and even cancel it if you change your mind. The makings of Skynet? I think so.

Microsoft Quietly Do Some Serious Patching

On Tuesday, Microsoft released a bunch of security updates for its currently-supported versions of Windows. Apparently its purpose was to fix an exploit that's been in every single one of its operating systems all the way back from Windows 95. Below is a statement that was sent from IBM, the discoverers of this vulnerability to Microsoft: 

"This complex vulnerability is a rare, "unicorn-like" bug found in code that IE relies on but doesn't necessarily belong to. The bug can be used by an attacker for drive-by attacks to reliably run code remotely and take over the user's machine — even sidestepping the Enhanced Protected Mode (EPM) sandbox in IE 11 as well as the highly regarded Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) anti-exploitation tool Microsoft offers for free."

IBM said this flaw has allowed every version of Windows to be remotely exploited since the release of Internet Explorer 3.0 in 1996. So far, there's no evidence that hackers have found and have been using this security hole for attacks. However, the BBC quotes Gavin Millard, from Tenable Network Security, as saying:

"Whilst no proof-of-concept code has surfaced yet, due to Microsoft thankfully being tight-lipped on the exact details of the vulnerability, it won't be long until one does, which could be disastrous for any admin that hasn't updated."

All unsupported versions of Windows, especially Windows XP are at risk since they wont be getting any security updates, Windows XP specifically because according to Net Applications, Windows XP is still being used by 17.18% of PCs worldwide.

Microsoft Have Phased Out "Nokia" For "Lumia"

Microsoft have decided to completely discontinue the use of the name "Nokia" in favor of "Lumia".

We all know that Microsoft have already re branded the "Nokia" apps to "Lumia" apps in the app store and have launched a new website, Microsoft Mobile Devices that redirects from Nokia's website. 

Although Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's handsets division was completed in April for $7.2 billion, we've still seen devices released under the Finnish brand over the past several months. The company's recently launched Lumia 730 and 830 phones sport Nokia branding but it's believed the two devices are the last ones to carry that name. It's also expected that Microsoft will soon do away with the 'Phone' in the name of its mobile operating system Windows Phone. During the unveiling of Windows 10, Microsoft had announced that it will merge all platforms under a single Windows product.

Nokia still exists as a separate company based in Finland that focuses on location based services including Here maps, and network equipment. Nokia had agreed to not make a smartphone or phone carrying the Nokia brand till the end of 2015.

speak to Cortana in Klingon!

To celebrate the launch of the Lumia 830 over in the UK and the Star Trek convention in London, Microsoft have taught Cortana how to speak in Klingon. She's got a load of phrases she can say in Klingon

The virtual assistant can now understand and retort in Klingon so all you Star Trek fans out there are going to love her even more!

Right from "Beam me up" to "Star Wars or Star Trek" there's loads of laughs to be had.

Apple Invites The Media For An Event On September 9th

Apple have sent out invites to the media for an event in Cupertino, California on September 9th. All the invite says is "We wish we could say more." 

This is probably going to be the event they announce the new iPhones at, the 4.7 inch and the 5.5 inch versions. Much of the speculation is also about the use of sapphire display screens and we may also get to see the new iWatch or what ever apple decides to name it (atleast we might hear about plans if not seeing the actual product). Seeing as they've filed patents for wristbands, it could be that they've got a new piece of wearable tech in the works.

Apple uses its September events to for its most important products. The iPhone, which accounts for half its business is gaining more prominence as tablet sales decline. 

LG Fixes The G-Watch Corrosion and Current Problem.

LG released a firmware update to address the issues with it's G-Watch, the Android Police reported that the devices have been causing skin irritation due to the fact that there is a current constantly flowing through the terminal pins even when the device is being worn and this problem was caused because the terminal pins on the back of the device started corroding after being exposed to sweaty skin. The update is basically to stop the current when a user has the watch on their hands.

Lumia 530

Microsoft has announced a new entry level Lumia device called the Lumia 530. It will come with Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box. Microsoft announced that the Lumia 530 will be out globally in August. It is the successor to the Lumia 520, which has become the best selling Windows Phone device.

 

Photo courtesy @evleaks

Microsoft released this video to announce the new Lumia device which is being marketed as an affordable smartphone that is capable of competing with the likes of the Moto G.

 

The Lumia 530 will have support a 128GB SD card to compensate for the 4GB of internal storage it comes with. This is what the phone looks like on paper;

Processor

• Processor type: Quad-core 1.2GHz 
• Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 200 

Display

• Display size: 4 ''
• Display technology: LCD 
• Display resolution: FWVGA (854 x 480) 
• Touch screen technology: Capacitive Multipoint-Touch 

Memory

• RAM: 512 MB 
• Mass memory: 4 GB 
• Maximum memory card size: 128 GB 
• Free cloud storage: 15 GB

Power management

• Maximum talk time (2G): 13.4 h
• Maximum talk time (3G): 10 h
• Maximum standby time: 22 days
• Maximum music playback time: 51 h

•  The official site - Nokia.com  
  
  

Shape Shifting Robots!?

Yeah you read that right, shape shifting robots might actually be a thing in the not too distant future. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have made a material from foam and a sort of wax that, much like any other wax has the ability to switch between a solid and a liquid state. It doesn't sound too fancy but in reality it is a serious piece of engineering. Anette Hosoi, the developer of this material is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and said that it could be used to build surgical robots that could move through the body and reach certain parts of the body without damaging any organs or tissues.

Working with robotics company Boston Dynamics, researchers began developing the material as part of the Chemical Robots programme of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Controlling a soft structure is difficult, It's harder to predict how the material is going to move and what shapes it is going to form, than it is with a rigid robot.

So the researchers decided that the only way to build a deformable robot would be to develop a material that can switch between a soft and hard state. This is where the foam comes in. Since foam can be squeezed down to a fraction of its normal size and then bounce back, The wax is used to coat the foam. When heated it goes liquid and when cooled it becomes solid. 

If you break this coating, you can simply heat the wax and when you cool it again the damage is repaired. The research was published in the scientific journal Macromolecular Materials and Engineering.

  

iPhone 6 Fix

As the September 15 release creeps ever closer, the iPhone 6's release has been hugely anticipated and with the announcement that there are going to be two versions, a 4.7 inch and a 5.5 inch there's really an iPhone for everyone if you ask me, the bigger phablet for people who like bigger screens and the smaller 4.7 inch for people like me who don't want a huge screen nor do we want a tiny one, the 4.7 inch is sort of in the sweet spot.

There have been photos of leaked sim card trays that hint at what possible colours the iPhone 6 will be available in, based off the colours of the trays, the phone may be available in Silver, Grey and Gold.

Apple's going to be using some serious build materials for this phone, they're using a sapphire crystal display which seemed indestructible to me! See for yourself, Marques Brownlee managed to get his hands on the front panel of the iPhone 6. Here's the video.

Finally, the iPhone 6 will be coming out with a battery between 1800 and 1900 mAh and the 5.5 inch version will be coming out with a battery between 2000 and 2500 mAh.

              

Windows Phone 8

So I've been all over the place in terms of mobile operating systems. Right from Symbian on the old Nokia's, to that Linux based Nokia N900 which I actually loved followed by BlackBerrys and ios and finally Android. But now I've started using a Nokia Lumia and I have to say that this is by far my favourite one yet. Now I've used all the above operating systems for seriously long periods of time and I've only been using this Lumia for a little over a week and despite the lagging app store (I've got all the apps I had on android on my Lumia so I'm a happy guy) I am absolutely loving Windows Mobile.

The UI is refreshingly different, everything is so simple and user friendly, you can customise exactly where you want each and every tile and even how big it is. Make apps you use often big and place them right next to your thumb for easy access. Everything is responsive and feels quick and snappy, the start screen is literally alive and constantly changing and updating its look based on your notifications from social networking sites and photos you take yourself. Everything is integrated and more often than not you can find everything you need from inside a single app without having to switch apps for example, the music and videos app gives you access to the Nokia music store, your phones radio and if you've downloaded the 8tracks app you can get to it from inside this one app. This holds true even for the camera app with the snapchat and instagram cameras located in the camera app for quick and easy access.

In conclusion i just have to say that Microsoft have really outdone themselves with this and with the update coming out the 24th of June its just going to get better and more robust. The lack of apps on the store isn't really that much of a problem cause you can just download a third party application and still get all the same functionality as on any other platform.

After using Windows Mobile, the other operating systems just seem lack luster to me and this whole thing was just my impression of the os and i know lots of you disagree with my opinion and that's fine, as for me i don't see myself moving back to ios or android anytime soon.

iPhone 6 Release Date, Features

Just a quick update on the iPhone 6. We've got quite a lot of news and rumors from the WWDC (world wide developers conference) in San Fransico, some of which reveal that Apple is working on improving the battery life of the iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 will also be the first phablet in Apple's history and will also be the first to feature a no bezel display, not sure just how true that is yet. The screen will be a 1704×960 display for better gaming and multimedia. Its going to be incredibly slim with a protruding camera.

In other news Apple's stock is at an all time high at $644.17 this mostly is resulting from the anticipation of their new flagship smartphone.

7 inch Samsung Galaxy W

Samsung just came out with their biggest phone yet, the 7 inch Samsung Galaxy W with its 7 inch HD screen is a phone-tablet, a phablet as the internet has taken to calling big phones. Only released for South Korea at the moment, the device supports LTE for 4G speeds.

It comes with a 7 inch screen with a 16:9 aspect ration and a 1280×720 resolution. The back is made of leather like the Galaxy Note 3 and like the Galaxy Note 3 it has many of the same features such as the app in app feature. It is powered by a Quad-core 1.2GHz processor with 1.5 gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of storage with an 8 mega pixel camera, all of which draw power from a 3200mAh battery the phone also comes pre-loaded with Android 4.3. The 7inch Galaxy W will cost around $490.

iPhone 6 - Release Date, Price etc

Since the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C didn't really bring anything new to the table, there's a ton of pressure on Apple with the iPhone 6. As with any apple product, in the time leading up to the launch, it manages to become the most anticipated product ever and that holds true this time around as well.

2014 is shaping up to be one hell of q year for smartphones, with things like the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z2, the pressure is on Apple to give us something we have never seen before.

iPhone 6 Release Date.

The iPhone 6 will be released this year. Since Apple always seems to launch things in September, the way it did with the last few iPhones, I'm willing to bet that they're going to stick with that tradition this year as well.

We've all heard the rumors that we might be getting two different versions of the iPhone 6, a 4.7 inch and a 5.5 inch version. I have no word her on exactly when the these two will be launched but its a safe net that the 4.7 inch version will be launched this year and the 5.5 inch version somewhere towards the end of this year or early next year.

iPhone 6 Price.

I have absolutely no idea how this phone is going to be priced. Its certainly going to come with a big price tag, it could possibly cost as much as or a little more than the iPhone 5S. The 5.5 inch version however will most definitely cost more owing to the larger display.

If it is priced like the predecessors, the 16GB model would be £549, the 32GB model would be £629 and the 64GB model would be £709. As I said earlier, a bigger screen means a bigger price.

Nexus 6 Will Not Be Released Nexus 8 Will Be And Android Silver.

The only vanilla android device being released this year will be the 8.9 inch Google Nexus 8 Tablet, the successor to the Nexus 7, leaving the highly anticipated Nexus 6 nowhere to be seen. According to pretty much every report out there, the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 won't be refreshed this year but, will instead be retired entirely. In other news, it's been confirmed that the Nexus 8 will be made by a collaboration between Google and HTC.

circling back to the Nexus 6, Google is working on a new project called Android Silver which will most probably be the successor to the Nexus line. Android Silver is like the next step in the direction after the Nexus programme, but instead of having just one device, Android Silver will be a programme consisting of different devices from different manufacturers all the while being highly controlled by Google.

The Nexus 8 release date is expected to be in the early third quarter of 2014 or in the immediate weeks following this year's Google Developers Conference on June 24 and 25.