I love Easter Eggs, and no, not the real ones - the ones that software developers and tech companies hide inside their products for us to find, revealing little tidbits that don’t add anything to the functionality of the device at all, but make using it all the more fun. Google’s been doing it for quite a while; game developers do it even more frequently. Today, we’ve stumbled across an Easter egg hidden inside our very own Mac, and it’s very very simple to reveal.
The concept of personal assistants has been around for a long, long time, and they indeed make one’s job a lot easier by sharing a hefty amount of your workload, maintaining schedules, prioritizing stuff, keeping track of projects and whatnot. With advancements in technology, a lot of that responsibility has shifted to our smartphones, further supported by the fact that not everyone can afford (or is entitled to) a personal assistant. Apple took the concept to the virtual world with its implementation of Siri, followed closely by Google Now and now, Microsoft’s Cortana for Windows Phone, with the latter being the highlight these days.
Just yesterday, Samsung took a clever jab at not just one of its competitors, but three of them at the same time, by unveiling a video on its YouTube channel showing the Korean flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S5, taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and nominating Apple iPhone 5s, the HTC One M8 and the Nokia Lumia 930 to do the same. It appears that two of the nominees - namely, HTC One M8 and Lumia 930 - have taken up the challenge and took a dip in ice cold water.
Google’s Chromecast saw a level of success that’s not easily achievable for any gadget. The device still holds a listing at the top of Amazon’s best seller in electronics, and rightly so - the low costing streaming dongle has a wonderful feature set to offer at a highly attractive price tag. There hasn’t been any direct competitor to the Chromecast yet, but it appears that Microsoft finally might be upping its game. The software company might be entering the arena with a similar device aimed at users of the Windows ecosystem, according to some recent FCC filings.
Apple's Lightning cable, which was first rolled out with the iPhone 5 in place of the long-standing 30-pin offering, has made life a great deal easier for iOS device users. Not only is the Lightning connector smaller, and more robust, but it's also reversible, putting an end to the days of accidentally jamming and causing damage, but unfortunately, this issue is still prevalent at the traditional USB end. It has long since been suggested that Apple will mark the introduction of the iPhone 6 with a revised Lightning cable that will be reversible at both ends, but whether this transpires or not, there's already a third-party option available.
The iPhone is not the best smartphone around when it comes to battery life retention, and from time to time we’ve heard occasional reports that users are experiencing subpar battery life those in ownership of an iPhone 5. And today, the issue has been officially confirmed by Apple and the problem lies in the hardware of the device itself, and luckily you’re eligible for a free battery replacement, if you qualify for it.
Once a dominant force in the smartphone industry, BlackBerry has lost its way in recent years, and having fallen way behind the Apple iPhone in the pecking order, the Canadian outfit has called out its Cupertino rival in the battle of the IM services. Having opened BBM up to iOS, Android and Windows Phone recently, the company is now busy trying to sell the once-popular instant-messaging service to the masses, and as is the case with most tech companies nowadays, BlackBerry has gone on the offensive against its fierce rival's corresponding iMessage.
It's strange that, given its status as a major carrier serving the Chinese market, China Telecom would post promotional iPhone 6 ads featuring renders mocked up by well-known designers, but that's exactly what it has done. In a new advertisement, in which the cellular operator suggests that it will sell a version of the iPhone 6 compatible with the nation's myriad of networks, we also get another glimpse of the fine work of Tomas Moyano and Nicolàs Aichino at Behance, and given how many times we've seen what is claimed to be the iPhone 6's final design, China Telecom's Weibo post is quite a misleading one.
While IM services these days take a simple conversation a little beyond text - thanks to the addition of photos, videos and location - but adding something a little extra above the usual has always proven itself to be fruitful in some cases.
There's scarcely an area of the mobile industry that Samsung has not touched upon, with the company having already delivered multiple smartwatches since launching the Galaxy Gear last year. With Google Glass gathering steam ahead of its release early next year and Facebook having recently acquired Oculus's VR technology, Samsung is angling for a piece of the pie with a virtual reality headset of its own, and apparently, the so-called Gear VR will be showcased at IFA. The notion of an imminent VR headset is nothing new, but now, we have some images to mull over, and below, you can check them out.
















