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AfterDawn: News

DJI releases new and much improved Mavic 2 drones

Written by Matti Robinson @ 25 Aug 2018 11:26

DJI releases new and much improved Mavic 2 drones The leading quadrocopter – perhaps more commonly known as drones &Ndash; manufacturer, DJI, has released two new models. The second generation of Mavic drones consists of Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom.

The latter is the more affordable one that also comes with an 2X optical zoom. The camera setup offers 24 mm to 48 mm optical conversion which allows you to get closer up footage with a push of a button.

Pro version on the other hand features a Hasselblad branded camera system with an impressive one inch and 20 megapixel sensor. Adjustable aperture is said to range from f/2.8 to f/11. Mavic 2 Pro also has an improved color grading support with the new 10-bit DLOG-M profile.

Both drones capture video in 4K with h.265 compression and Mavic 2 Pro support HDR photos that combine several photos in one high dynamic one. They also have an improved, omnidirectional, obstacle sensing.

You can learn more about the duo by watching DJI's own video below. As for the price, DJI Mavic 2 Pro starts at $1449 and Mavic 2 Zoom at $1249.

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AfterDawn: News

Want to know what Nvidia's new RTX technology actually does? Here's an example

Written by Matti Robinson @ 24 Aug 2018 1:46

Want to know what Nvidia's new RTX technology actually does? Here's an example Nvidia finally revealed the first gamer cards from the new generation of GPUs earlier this week. The GeForce RTX 2000 series shares one major difference to the previous generation which might need some explaining.

For years Nvidia has had GeForce GPUs, and for many of those years, lately, the GeForce's were accompanied with a (faux) acronyms like GTX. Well, this time around Nvidia has changed the acronym to RTX, and this time around it kind of means something.

So RTX is what makes the new generation, the 2000 series, special. It all comes down to the RT Core that is a new processing unit in Turing architecture that takes care of ray tracing. Obviously, thus the RT is both RT Core and RTX.

So this technique in producing light and shadow effect in games has been majorly improved. But what does it exactly mean? Many times has Nvidia explained this in Giga Rays/s and so on, but that doesn't really tell you what it looks like.

Well, thanks to DICE, the developer of the upcoming Battlefield V, we have now real-time gameplay footage to feast our eyes on. As you can see, the differences are huge between RTX on and RTX off.

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AfterDawn: News

Google is updating Chrome UI on all platforms

Written by Matti Robinson @ 24 Aug 2018 1:28

Google is updating Chrome UI on all platforms Google is planning to revamp Chrome's UI a little in less than two weeks. The search giant's own browser will get an update to its 69th version on September 4 which will aim to improve the user experience.

The user interface will be changing no matter what version you use, be it desktop or mobile, and will include updated graphics in terms of colors and shapes of the elements. Google is moving towards what it calls Material Design, a design language that is playful with rounded corners and easy to approach in its simplicity.

The design isn't anything new really, many of Google's websites and services already sport the look that was originally developed in 2014, but Chrome has been lacking behind a bit.

In addition to new look and some changes in the UI, Chrome 69 will also support Windows 10 notifications, Windows 10 touchpad gesture navigation as well as few other minor improvements on Windows.

The biggest changes, though, are heading iOS's way. Chrome 69 on iOS will get a complete UI revamp and things like navigation buttons are going to be moving from the top of the screen to bottom.




AfterDawn: News

Netflix trying to avoid paying Apple by testing a new payment method

Written by Matti Robinson @ 23 Aug 2018 12:36

Netflix trying to avoid paying Apple by testing a new payment method As everyone knows, Apple is raking up major profits. One of the more impressive money making machines is the app ecosystem that rains straight into Cupertino coffers without Tim Cook having to lift a finger.

Some aren't that impressed, though, and even want to bypass what the harshest critique could consider rent-seeking. Netflix might not be one of those but nonetheless wants to minimize the fees Apple collects from the in-app purchase of Netflix subscriptions.

Apple's margin for in-app purchases is a very steep 30 percent for the first year, which obviously cuts deep into Netflix's profits. After the first year the royalty share drops to 15 percent.

According to TechCrunch, Netflix is testing a new payment method which involves their own mobile website through which the payment is made. The company is currently trying this out in 33 markets in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

This doesn't mean that you'll be keeping any of the 30 percent Netflix saves. The prices are the same, slowly increasing, slightly region specific ones that you've paid before.

The people selected in this trial will be automatically redirected to the new payment page instead of iTunes when selecting a subscription. The test period is said to end in September, but if all goes well expect the method to be applied more comprehensively.

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AfterDawn: News

Microsoft turning Xbox into a subscription

Written by Matti Robinson @ 23 Aug 2018 11:52

Microsoft turning Xbox into a subscription Microsoft is planning on unveiling a new type of service in the near future called Xbox All Access. The service, like its name suggests, not only gives you access to a extensive game catalog but the game system itself too.

According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft is going to start offering Xbox All Access with both Xbox One S and Xbox One X. The more powerful game console plus the Live Gold and Game Pass it comes with would cost $34.99 on a 24 month contract.

For now it is said that Xbox All Access, which I'm sure will soon be christened XAA or XBAA, is limited to those in the United States but one can expect expansion if people love it.

Smartphones have made the products as a subscription service a huge market, and one could imagine another technology driven product to fare similarly well. For customers the game subscription part makes even more sense, though, since the game prices are relatively high compared to the hardware.

Windows Central writes that the price of the cheaper Xbox One S with the Xbox All Access should be around $22. But that means you'll be missing out on the higher fidelity 4K experience.




AfterDawn: News

Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, turns 30

Written by Matti Robinson @ 22 Aug 2018 1:16

Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, turns 30 Internet Relay Chat, better known by its acronym IRC, is celebrating a birthday. In fact this year the chat protocol is turning 30, University of Oulu, the birthplace of IRC, reports.

IRC was developed in University of Oulu in Finland in the late 80s. The messaging platform was created in the Computer Science department as a replacement for their BBS-based messaging platform called MultiUser Talk, or MUT.

In August of 1988, exact date unknown, Computer Science student Jarkko Oikarinen released IRC, both server and client software, that he had developed over the summer. The first server was run by a Sun-3 computer in the Department of Information Processing Science lab.

If you aren't familiar with IRC, it's a text-based real-time chat software where users can create and join channels for example based on their interests or group of friends.

Obviously the implementation of IRC was very successful since its been used for 30 years and continues to be used, although in much more limited fashion compared to, say, mid- to late 90s.

Modern chat software, including the likes of Slack and Discord, borrow a lot from the classic channel-based messaging platform.

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AfterDawn: News

Nvidia unveils the new generation of gamer GPUs: An ode to ray tracing

Written by Matti Robinson @ 22 Aug 2018 11:12

Nvidia unveils the new generation of gamer GPUs: An ode to ray tracing Nvidia has finally come out and launched the new GeForce RTX series. The company unveiled the new graphics cards, three of them to be exact, at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany.

After the company released the first product using the new Turing architecture, the $10,000 behemoth RTX 8000, they've now released the real beef. Gamer-oriented RTX 2000 series includes RTX 2070, RTX 2080 and the top dog RTX 2080 Ti.

Each three cards will also come in a Founder Edition version, as expected.

What makes the new GPUs better than the previous GTX generation, you might ask. Well, pretty much everything you need to know is in the R of RTX, and that is ray tracing.

Turing-based GeForce RTX cards have now a separate ray tracing cored, called simply RT Core, that allows the GPU to excel at that specific technique. This makes the calculations on lighting and shadows much faster. That obviously means not only less computing time but potentially much more photorealistic detail.

When it comes to performance not regarding ray tracing, we'll just have to see after the first tests, but for now we can assume there's at least a slight boost.

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AfterDawn: News

Apple to release a new MacBook Air and first Mac mini in four years

Written by Matti Robinson @ 22 Aug 2018 10:54

Apple to release a new MacBook Air and first Mac mini in four years Maybe Apple has been focusing too much on the iPhone? Especially recently people have seemed to become less enamored about Apple's computer lineup.

Past few Macbook generations have been riddled with problems, most notably with the keyboards, and many of the beloved models have been forgotten altogether.

One of these is the tiny media powerhouse that is Mac mini. Fortunately, this Fall we are expecting a refresh in that department, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

Possibly to be unveiled in October, Apple is said to be releasing a few new computers. One of them is the aforementioned Mac mini, and another a replacement for the old MacBook Air.

This new product, whatever its name is, will be a more affordable, likely razor-thin, laptop for the masses. Bloomberg suggests it will feature a new Retine display as well as thinner bezels that bring along a slightly tinier footprint.

When it comes to Mac mini, there's not a lot of detail about specs, but according to the rumors Apple has decided to focus more on professionals and not only the media consuming greater public. However, upgrades to pretty much every technological facet of the computer are expected, after all it's been four years since the previous generation.

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AfterDawn: News

Windows Phone will officially die in 2019

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 21 Aug 2018 5:51

Windows Phone will officially die in 2019 In case you're one of the few remaining Windows Phone users, you might want to consider changing a platform soon. Or to upgrade your device to Windows Mobile 10, if that option is available for your phone.

Microsoft just announced several important deadlines for Windows Phone 8.1 operating system.

First of all, developers wont be able to add new Windows Phone 8.1 apps to the Windows Store after 31st of October, 2018. So, after that date, no new apps will arrive to Windows Phone. Ever.

Furthermore, the existing apps cannot be updated after 1st of July, 2019. Also, downloading of existing apps becomes impossible, effectively shutting down the app store for WP8.1 users.

The last important date is set to distant future: Microsoft will stop all the support for WP8.1 on 1st of July, 2023. The date is so far away in future that it is highly unlikely that there will be any WP8.1 users left by then.

These dates don't affect Windows Mobile 10 users, who will be able to use app store and to get support. So, if your WP phone is one of those that can be updated to use Windows Mobile 10, you're strongly recommended to do so. If not, you might start looking for alternative options.




AfterDawn: News

Netflix testing promo videos between episodes, Twitter erupts

Written by Matti Robinson @ 18 Aug 2018 1:04

Netflix testing promo videos between episodes, Twitter erupts Netflix has truly become a force to be reckoned with in the TV industry. For ten years now the company has managed to steal away cable customers with its ever-increasing content library and more expensive original programming.

Over the years Netflix has also improved the streaming technology, the performance and functionality of the service. This requires a lot of A/B testing and most of those tests will never see the light of day amongst the general public.

Netflix prides itself the king of binge, and the nonstop action is one of the more important reasons why people love Netflix over the old world competitors. Now Netflix is testing something that is definitely one of the most controversial features we've heard of from the streaming service.

The company has been offering test subjects promotional videos between episodes, which, for many, changes everything. When you are watching Netflix you just want to go through episode after episode with no intrusion.

However, the videos aren't the traditional kind of commercials you might see on Hulu for example, they are personalized content from Netflix promoted to the user. So maybe, just maybe, someone could get something out of them. After all you might find your next favorite show from the promo videos.

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AfterDawn: News

OnePlus 6T arrives in October - First model to get U.S. carrier partner

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 18 Aug 2018 9:28

OnePlus 6T arrives in October - First model to get U.S. carrier partner OnePlus has been one of the most rapidly growing Android manufacturers in the World. OnePlus has followed its own, pretty unique path and has typically just one phone model available at the time. OnePlus models are praised for offering the flagship phone features, but with almost half the price of those of big name manufacturers' flagship phones. But until now, company has had hard time conquering the U.S. market, where most phones are sold via carriers with the monthly contract.

Now, it seems that OnePlus is finally getting a carrier partner in the U.S. According to CNET's article, the upcoming OnePlus 6T model that is expected to launch in October, will be backed by T-Mobile in the United States. T-Mobile will get short-ish period when it will be the only operator to have the OnePlus 6T available. After that period, OnePlus will release an unlocked model to be used in other U.S. operators' networks.

Most important thing for OnePlus is to get to T-Mobile's selection that it will offer to its existing customers when they change phones. Enthusiasts have always managed to get unlocked OnePlus devices if they wanted to, but due the fact how economics work in phone business in the U.S., those sales can't be very big.

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AfterDawn: News

Google loses a court case - Ordered to remove search results that include personal information of a convicted murderer

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 17 Aug 2018 5:15

Google loses a court case - Ordered to remove search results that include personal information of a convicted murderer Google has just lost a court case in Finland. The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland decided today that the search engine giant has to remove search results from its index that include the personal details of a convicted murderer.

The case was brought against Google by the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsmand, the government entity that enforces privacy regulation in Finland. The Ombudsman's office asked Google to remove the results back in 2016, but the search giant refused, citing public interest and freedom of speech.

At the core of the dispute is a murder case that happened in 2012. The man in question was found guilty of murder but was also deemed to be mentally unstable. He was jailed for 10 years but was released last year.

In today's decision, The Supreme Administrative Court decided that the ability for anyone to find details of this person's medical history and illness on Google was detrimental to his life, extending beyond the prison time he served for his crimes.

Google now has to remove all search results listed on the court case from its index. Obviously, the information itself will stay in the Internet, but Google won't show links to those pages anymore.




AfterDawn: News

Google One replaces Google Drive – here's what's new

Written by Matti Robinson @ 16 Aug 2018 2:41

Google One replaces Google Drive – here's what's new As we already knew after their announcement in May, Google is revamping, and even rebranding, their cloud drive solution.

The search giant is trying to unify their cloud services by focusing everything under the same brand, Google One. This means that the cloud storage known as Google Drive will be in the future under the Google One umbrella.

This also means that if you're paying for a Google Drive service, you'll be automatically transferred to Google One. And don't worry, the deals are in many cases better.

The cheapest version (100 GB) is still $1.99/mo but there's now also another inexpensive 200 GB and $2.99 option that you couldn't get on the legacy service. The pricier $9.99 option is now 2 TB instead of Google Drive's 1 TB.

With the updated Google One, Google has also improved the cloud storage integration with Gmail and Google Photos. You can also add family members to your plan so you can share the storage efficiently, and get help from Google experts.

Google also promises extra benefits from other Google services, such as Google Play credits.

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AfterDawn: News

Google Home catching up to Echo, Apple far behind

Written by Matti Robinson @ 16 Aug 2018 2:17

Google Home catching up to Echo, Apple far behind Smart speakers are one of the most prominent technology trends over the past few years. After Amazon's original Echo, released in 2014, every major technology giant has joined in on the party and released their own voice assistant powered devices.

Now, most notably, we have the Amazon Echo, Google Home as well as Apple HomePod released earlier this year. But how do they compare when it comes to popularity?

Well, Amazon has been leading the pack with quite the margin until now. New 2018 Q2 figures from Strategy Analytics suggest that the lead is quickly narrowing.

Amazon still has the first place with a 41 percent market share but Google is on its heels with 27.6%. Only a year ago Amazon had still three quarters of the market to themselves.

Google has managed to more than quintuple the sales since last year's Q2. Apple hasn't yet made the mark they probably hoped for and still lack behind on the fourth place with a 5.9% marketshare behind the Chinese company Alibaba.

In total smart speaker sales volumes tripled from last years to 11.7 million units. Expect even bigger numbers in the future as the likes of Samsung get theirs on the market.

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AfterDawn: News

Want an Apple Car and Apple Glasses? You might be in luck soon

Written by Matti Robinson @ 15 Aug 2018 11:45

Want an Apple Car and Apple Glasses? You might be in luck soon The first trillion dollar company in the world, Apple, makes fair few different products. Be it the iconic iMac, what seems like a hobby horse Apple TV, or the ultimate money making machine which is obviously the iPhone.

However, in Cupertino they've been very hesitant at engaging in new businesses, and with good results. There might be a few other products that could make a lot of money for Tim Cook and his friends but chances are that most ventures would fail. And that would be unlike Apple.

Behind the scenes Apple is of course developing all kinds of technology and rumors have been suggesting for years that things like Apple car are in development. Now we have more evidence that it actually might be happening, reports AppleInsider.

One of the more revered Apple analysts, Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities, has suggested that Apple is planning on entering the car market with a vehicle in a few years. According to Kuo, Apple Car, or perhaps iCar, will be unveiled in 2023-2025.

His feelings are, and that's pretty much all it is for now, that Apple would not be willing to stay a bystander as the revolution in vehicles is happening. One would expect electric and autonomous vehicles from a technology powerhouse like Apple.

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