News Technology Update : FAA Clears Amazon Drones For (Experimental) Takeoff

 Summary: The Internet giant first unveiled its Prime-branded drone delivery program in late 2013 -- much to the simultaneous amazement and cautious fear of consumers everywhere.

 Amazon has cleared another hurdle, bringing its Drone-flying dreams one step closer to mass market reality.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave Amazon the green light on Thursday. While not an all out, open-ended ticket to the friendly skies, the FAA did grant Amazon Logistics, the e-commerce brand's delivery arm, with a certificate of "experimental airworthiness."
 

Basically, that means Amazon can start testing its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for research and development.

The Internet giant first unveiled its Prime-branded drone delivery program in late 2013 -- much to the simultaneous amazement and cautious fear of consumers everywhere.

Dubbed Prime Air, the technology is much more than a simple dream but not quite ready for action yet. The Seattle-headquartered company was aiming for takeoff within a few years.

The 'Everything' store tangentially followed up in September with an online Drone Store to cater to creative aerial needs, hawking accessories for UAV enthusiasts, such as cases, batteries and propellers.

Following Amazon and with projects sprouting out of the ground these days like daisies from Facebook and Google, among others, the FAA started to burst some bubbles with restrictions on commercial use issued last fall.

The federal agency followed up in February by publishing rules and regulations for the oversight of drone usage within the United States.

With its certificate in hand, Amazon has to adhere to the following guidelines:

1. All flight operations must be conducted at 400 feet or below during daylight hours in visual meteorological conditions.
2. Drones must always remain within visual line-of-sight of the pilot and observers.
3. UAV pilots controlling the drones must have at least a private pilot's certificate and current medical certification.
4. Amazon must report back and provide data to the FAA on a monthly basis. Data must include the number of flights conducted, pilot duty time per flight, unusual hardware or software malfunctions, any deviations from air traffic controllers' instructions, and any unintended loss of communication links.

The Prime Air program currently hosts development centers in the United States as well as the United Kingdom and Israel, with additional testing at multiple other unnamed international locations.

Posted by Unknown Friday, March 20, 2015

New Apple OS Update : iOS 9 Reportedly To Focus On Stability More Than New Features

Apple may use iOS 9 to add greater stability and performance enhancements to its mobile operating system.

Expected to be unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, iOS 9 will come packed with a number of "under-the-hood" improvements, according to 9to5Mac, which cited info from anonymous sources. A "huge" focus reportedly will be more on squashing bugs, ensuring stability and tweaking performance rather than just throwing in a bunch of new features.

Assuming the report is true, it would be a welcome change from the usual strategy of just cooking up a host of new features. Apple bumped into a slew of technical troubles with iOS 8, released in September, that frustrated users and forced the company to keep issuing one update after another over the course of just a few months -- from iOS 8.0 to 8.1.3. The pace of iOS 8 adoption has been slower than that of iOS 7, possibly because of all the bugs and frequent updates. So the time may be ripe for Apple to pull back and roll out a more stable and bulletproof OS to address the complaints with iOS 8.

One issue that hampered iOS 8 adoption was the storage space required just to upgrade. iOS 7 users needed at least 5.7GB of free space to store and install the latest version, a limitation that wasn't fixed until version 8.1.3. For iOS 9, codenamed Monarch, Apple will strive to keep the size of both the OS and its updates more manageable, 9to5Mac said, a factor that should help users who have only 16GB of storage on their devices and are low on free space.

One key question: which devices will iOS 9 support? Each new version of Apple's mobile OS typically is incompatible with certain older models. For example, iOS 8 does not support the iPhone 4 and older iPhones, the fourth-generation iPod Touch and older models, and the original iPad. Apple also typically discontinues some older models as it rolls out new iPhones and iPads.

If the iPhone 5C, the original iPad Mini and the fifth-generation iPod Touch are given the boot later this year, then all of the devices in Apple's lineup would be running the 64-bit A7, A8 or A9 chips, according to 9to5Mac. That would ease iOS development for Apple and outside developers, another factor that could help better stabilize the operating system and overall environment.

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, February 11, 2015

New Apple iOS Update : iOS 8.3 Has Wireless CarPlay, And 8.4 May Have iTunes Streaming

Earlier today, we heard an interesting rumor about iOS 9, which is said to offer up stability solutions rather than more features for us to play with. We’re a long way off from iOS 9, though, which leaves plenty of time to actually get us more features built into iOS for our iPhones and iPads. With iOS 8.3 already in testing and packing in some CarPlay functionality, it seems iOS 8.4 just might bring us that iTunes streaming service we've long been looking forward to.

The first of the iOS updates, iOS 8.3, is said to offer up CarPlay wireless functionality, so you can connect your phone to your CarPlay-enabled stereo system wirelessly rather than plugging in. The update also brings Google account log-in for use with two-factor authentication.

Apple’s iOs 8.3 has been seeded to Developers as a beta. It’s not clear when it might roll out, and we still actually need iOS 8.2 first, so don’t hold your breath.

With iOS 8.4, it seems we may be getting that iTunes streaming service that could be a Beats/iTunes combination straight from heaven. According to 9to5Mac, the iOS 8.4 update will come after the Apple Watch (which is all but confirmed for April), and is the update Apple is earmarking for launch of their Beats-inspired streaming service. None of the iOS 8.4 talk can be confirmed, obviously, but it puts Apple’s streaming efforts as launching right around June or so.

In updating to iOS 8, we were given a lot of new features. It makes sense Apple would continue to give us features incrementally with iOS 8 iterations should iOS 9 really concentrate on stability and bug fixes. Just keep in mind they’re not around the corner, though.

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, February 10, 2015

News Tech Update : Google Is Becoming A Wireless Carrier

Imagine one day buying an Android smartphone not through Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile -- but with Google Wireless. That day could be coming soon.

 
Google (GOOGL, Tech30) will start selling cell phone service along with its Android phones, according to multiple news reports. This has been a long time coming.

For years, Google has been assembling just about all the pieces it needs to become a mobile provider.

The search giant already makes the most-used mobile software on the planet, it designs and sells phones online, and it has become an Internet service provider with its Google Fiber initiative. It even has its own VoIP phone service called Google Voice, which allows people to get a Google phone number and call people through Gmail or Hangouts over Wi-Fi.

The missing link has been the cell towers needed to build out a nationwide network.

Rather than spending the tens of billions of dollars it would cost to create a wireless network, Google reportedly will carry its service over Sprint (S) and T-Mobile's (TMUS) networks. Google declined to comment.

Google is expected to pay those carriers just $2 per gigabyte, according to Macquarie Securities analyst Kevin Smithen. That means Google could choose to provide super-cheap service that gives Verizon (VZ, Tech30) and AT&T (T, Tech30) something to worry about.

Adding Google to an already competitive field that is in the middle of a major price war isn't likely to make the big carriers very happy -- that's why smaller carriers Sprint and T-Mobile are helping Google.

But T-Mobile and Sprint, in particular, are being cautious about the deal. Sprint worked a usage cap into its contract with Google that would allow the wireless company to renegotiate its deal if Google signs up a ton of customers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

That could happen. In 2018, Smithen believes Google will pay Sprint $750 million and T-Mobile $250 million for its service. That means even if Google chooses to break even, it could sell $1 billion in wireless services just three years from now.

But the chances of Google surpassing any one of the Big Four wireless carriers is practically nil. Existing carriers don't want wireless service to become a commodity. Short of building out its own wireless network, Google will have to go through one of the Big Four to get national coverage.

Still, the plan makes sense for Google.

Google makes money on Android by licensing the software to smartphone makers and by driving customers to use its apps and search services. Rather than relying on wireless companies to provide service, Google Wireless would give the search company the ability to deal directly with its customers.

There have already been a few skirmishes between Google and the cell phone companies that threaten Google's business. Over the past few years, Verizon has banned Google's Wallet app and made Microsoft's Bing the default search engine in some of its Android phones. Also, Google has spoken out against the data caps AT&T and Verizon put on customers, as well as T-Mobile's slowing of customers' speeds once they reach a certain limit.

Google is hardly the first to try its selling wireless service. Best Buy (BBY), Staples (SPLS) and Wal-Mart (WMT)all offer wireless plans to their customers. LightSquared, a failed wholesale 4G carrier, tried to become the backbone for so-called mobile virtual network operators around the country. (The FCC determined that its spectrum interfered with GPS signals, and it ultimately went bankrupt).

If successful, Google's plan could pave the way for Apple (AAPL, Tech30) to sell its own wireless service with every iPhone. And Facebook (FB, Tech30) and other companies with a vested interest in connecting people to the Internet could get involved too.

But there's a lot of risk associated with being a wireless carrier too. When service inevitably goes down or connections fail, customers will blame Google -- not Sprint or T-Mobile -- for the disruptions.

Posted by Unknown Monday, February 02, 2015

BlackBerry Messenger Gets Vocal With New Beta Feature

Summary: With BBM's free messaging functionality no longer a unique selling point for the BlackBerry platform, RIM has decided to bake in a Skype-like voice feature. However, it will only work over Wi-Fi.

BlackBerry Courier, the Analysis In Movement app that used to provide its foundation a exclusive advantage, is about to obtain a key new feature: speech.

RIM declared the BBM Voice function on Wed, saying it will provide company clients "enriched collaboration" performance. However, the no cost voice-calling device will only perform over Wi-Fi.

The function is available in try out type now for gadgets operating BlackBerry 6 OS or greater, and RIM says it programs to back again up gadgets on BlackBerry 5 OS "at a later date".

According to the organization, this is only the begin of an continuous update for BBM.

"With modern declaration, we're growing the abilities of the support for further public involvement and even greater cooperation, starting with speech performance," RIM BBM primary TA McCann said in a declaration.

"The new BBM Voice function is for when you're traveling and you want to reside in without concerning about cellphone expenses."

BBM is a key function of the BlackBerry foundation and has been essential to its usage by clients, particularly youngsters. However, nowadays it is only one of many no cost texting resources available to smart cellphone clients, with competitors such as Apple's iMessage and the progressively popular WhatsApp.

The new performance requires RIM up against other competitors such as Skype, whose velocity has been the other to that of BBM: it began out as a voice-centric foundation, but is progressively being steered by proprietor Ms into im area.

BlackBerry clients who get to try out BBM Voice will be able to change back again and forth between written text conversations and speech cellphone calls — a split-screen function will assistance both actions at once. Individuals will also be able to decline cellphone calls and easily react by written text, if they are in a conference.

Those wanting to try out BBM Voice can indication up via the BlackBerry Beta Area.
 

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, November 14, 2012