Monthly Archives: October 2017

What it’s like to ride in a Waymo driverless car

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Enlarge (credit: Waymo)

ATWATER, Calif.—I’ve never ridden in a car with no one in the driver’s seat before. Still, I wasn’t exactly blown away.

We’ve known for several years now that Waymo’s (previously Google’s) cars can handle most road conditions without a safety driver intervening. Last year, the company reported that its cars could go about 5,000 miles on California roads, on average, between human interventions.

On Monday, I was one of several reporters invited out to Waymo’s secret testing facility at the Castle Air Force Base in California’s Central Valley. There, I got a chance to ride in one of Waymo’s newest self-driving cars.

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Source: Ars Technica – What it’s like to ride in a Waymo driverless car

Here's When Microsoft Plans To End Its Free Windows 10 Upgrade Offer

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Here's When Microsoft Plans To End Its Free Windows 10 Upgrade Offer
In an effort to convince the entire world to make the upgrade to Windows 10—or at least every Windows user—Microsoft offered the OS as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 users for the first year, and then continued to offer it for free through its assistive technologies page. Customers who user assistive technologies can still upgrade

Source: Hot Hardware – Here’s When Microsoft Plans To End Its Free Windows 10 Upgrade Offer

Microsoft Officially Unveils The Surface Pro With LTE

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Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the next generation of their popular Surface Pro, and at the launch event, a new LTE model was also announced, but without a release date. That release date is now a bit more firm, with the company announcing that Surface Pro with LTE Advanced will be available to business customers beginning in December 2017.


The new model will feature a Cat 9 modem, which would be capable of up to 450 Mbps, and it will support 20 cellular bands for “global connectivity” over LTE. This isn’t the first Surface device to utilize LTE, but previously it was only the non-Pro models with the option. They only had Cat 6 modems, so the Surface Pro with LTE offers a 50% higher peak throughput for wireless data. While not as blisteringly fast as the latest smartphone modems, the Surface Pro with LTE does match the 2017 iPad Pro modems.


We got a chance to test out the latest Kaby Lake powered Surface Pro back in June, and for a full rundown on the changes, please check out our review.




















Microsoft Surface Pro
Processor Intel Core m3-7Y30 (2C/4T, 1.0-2.6GHz, 4MB L3, 14nm, 4.5w)

Intel Core i5-7300U (2C/4T, 2.6-3.5GHz, 3MB L3, 14nm, 15w)

Intel Core i7-7660U (2C/4T, 2.5-4.0GHz, 4MB L3, 14nm, 15w)
Memory 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB Dual-Channel
Graphics Intel Core m3-7Y30

Intel HD 615 (24 EUs, 300-900 MHz)
Intel Core i5-7300U

Intel HD Graphics 620 (24 EUs, 300-1100 MHz)
Intel Core i7-7660U

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 (48 EUs, 64 MB eDRAM, 300-1100 MHz)
Display 12.3″ 2736×1824 3:2 PixelSense

LG Display, Touch and Pen support

100% sRGB color + enhanced color, individually calibrated panels
Storage 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB PCIe NVMe PM971
Networking 802.11ac, 2×2:2, 866Mpbs Max, 2.4 and 5GHz

Bluetooth 4.1

Marvell AVASTAR
Optional LTE-A Cellular Modem, Cat 9, 20 bands
Audio Stereo Speakers (front facing)

Dolby Audio Premium
Battery 45 Wh, 45 W AC Adapter with USB charging port
Right Side USB 3.0

Mini DisplayPort 1.2

Surface Connect Port (charging and docking)
Left Side Headset Jack
  Power Button

Volume Rocker
  Keyboard Connector
Dimensions 292 x 201 x 8.5 mm (11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches)
Weight Core m3: 766 grams (1.69 lbs)

Core i5/i7: 786 grams (1.73 lbs)
Cameras Rear: 8.0 MP auto-focus

Front: 5.0 MP auto-focus and Windows Hello support
Extras Surface Pen and Dial (sold separately)

Surface Dock – 2 x mDP 1.2, 4 x USB 3.0, 1 x Gigabit (sold separately)

micro SD card slot

TPM 2.0
Pricing 128 GB Intel Core m3 with 4GB of RAM: $799

128 GB Intel Core i5 with 4GB of RAM: $999

256 GB Intel Core i5 with 8GB of RAM: $1299

256 GB Intel Core i7 with 8GB of RAM: $1599

512 GB Intel Core i7 with 16GB of RAM: $2199

1 TB Intel Core i7 with 16GB of RAM: $2699
Buy Microsoft Surface Pro on Amazon.com


For those that have been waiting for the LTE model, the wait is almost over. Microsoft hasn’t announced pricing or availability yet, other than it will be shipping to business customers in December 2017. Expect a small price hike over the non LTE models to accommodate the modem and antennae costs. Hopefully we’ll see it available for order soon on the Microsoft Store, where they should have all of the particulars.



Source: Microsoft at Future Decoded in London



Source: AnandTech – Microsoft Officially Unveils The Surface Pro With LTE

iPhone X First Look: Let's Talk About That Whole Face ID Thing…

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The iPhone X’s Face ID camera module has received a bit more press than Apple probably intended. The facial recognition security tech was the whiz-bang feature that caught everybody’s eye during the Tim Cook and friends keynote—and later it was repeatedly fingered as the culprit behind the long-rumored iPhone X…

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Source: Gizmodo – iPhone X First Look: Let’s Talk About That Whole Face ID Thing…

Google Has a New Plan for China (and It's Not About Search)

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An anonymous reader shares a report: More than seven years after exiting China, Google is taking the boldest steps yet to come back. And it’s not with a search engine. Instead, Google’s ingress is centered around artificial intelligence. The internet giant is actively promoting TensorFlow, software that makes it easier to build AI systems, as a way to forge business ties in the world’s largest online market, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. It’s a wide pitch targeting China’s academics and tech titans. At the same time, Google parent Alphabet Inc. is adding more personnel to scour Chinese companies for potential AI investments, these people said. “China is a tremendous opportunity for any company because it is by far the single largest homogeneous market,” said Kai Fu Lee, who headed Google’s China operations before the company left in 2010. The market dwarfs any other, given how many Chinese people are online, and data from that “can be used to advance products, especially those relating to artificial intelligence,” he added.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Google Has a New Plan for China (and It’s Not About Search)

Microsoft Surface Pro With LTE Officially Cleared For December 1st Launch

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Microsoft Surface Pro With LTE Officially Cleared For December 1st Launch
After apparently getting its signals crossed, Microsoft has finally settled on an official launch date for the Surface Pro with LTE. Microsoft Surface Chief Panos Panay made the announcement this week at the Future Decoded event, stating that the long-awaited tablet will be available on December 1st.

If you recall, this date was first revealed

Source: Hot Hardware – Microsoft Surface Pro With LTE Officially Cleared For December 1st Launch

Super Mario Odyssey Is A Mega Hit For Nintendo Switch Selling Faster Than Zelda

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Super Mario Odyssey Is A Mega Hit For Nintendo Switch Selling Faster Than Zelda
One of the few criticisms we could muster about the Nintendo Switch when the console first debuted last March was that it launched with a relatively weak catalog of games. Luckily for Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild turned out to be a fantastic title, and early on it even sold more copies than the console itself. Over time,

Source: Hot Hardware – Super Mario Odyssey Is A Mega Hit For Nintendo Switch Selling Faster Than Zelda

GameStop PowerPass Gives You Six Months of Unlimited Used Game Rentals For $60

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GameStop PowerPass Gives You Six Months of Unlimited Used Game Rentals For $60
We all know how it is, you roll into GameStop to pick up a used game, get it home, and find out that you don’t like it. Unfortunately, that’s just money down the drain. Or you get the game home and beat it in short order and need something new to play. GameStop has a new program set to launch in November that might appease gamers that have

Source: Hot Hardware – GameStop PowerPass Gives You Six Months of Unlimited Used Game Rentals For

The only Sony division to lose money this quarter was Mobile

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Kaz Hirai’s slimmer, fitter Sony hasn’t just turned a corner, it’s well on its way to earning its highest annual profit in years. The latest update on the company’s financial health revealed that it pulled in $18.25 billion in revenue and squeezed ou…

Source: Engadget – The only Sony division to lose money this quarter was Mobile

Apple Considers Ditching Qualcomm LTE Modems For iPads, iPhones Amid Protracted Legal Fight

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Apple Considers Ditching Qualcomm LTE Modems For iPads, iPhones Amid Protracted Legal Fight
Apple and Qualcomm are locked in an extended legal battle right now that has seen the latter party attempt to block production and sales of the iPhone in China. Rumors had swirled that in response, Apple was looking to shed Qualcomm hardware from its phones. People claiming to be familiar with Apple’s plans are now saying that Cupertino is

Source: Hot Hardware – Apple Considers Ditching Qualcomm LTE Modems For iPads, iPhones Amid Protracted Legal Fight

I Went for a Ride in a Waymo Self-Driving Car, Which Was Surprisingly Chill

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Waymo, the self-driving car group born out of Google’s secretive moonshot unit and recently spun out as its own company, has made a bunch of self-driving cars—around 500 of its current Chrysler iteration, with another 500 in the works, not to mention probably lots more than that in the future. Yesterday, Waymo let a…

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Source: Gizmodo – I Went for a Ride in a Waymo Self-Driving Car, Which Was Surprisingly Chill