Most Apple users are surely familiar with Apple’s warranty service, dubbed AppleCare. It offers pretty good coverage for you tech, but if you desire some extra care and attention, there is always Cupertino’s paid extended warranty service – AppleCare+. Among other things, the special program enables users to bring in their devices for repair or replacement, if the former is not possible, any time they experience battery life problems.

The US giant has silently made a few upgrades to the said battery clause and devices are now eligible for servicing if they have lost just 20% of their original capacity. This used to be set to 50%, but, under the new conditions you can practically bring your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch into an Apple store with an almost perfect battery and still be eligible for a repair, or, as is often the case, a replacement with a shiny new unit. Read more »

Uber, the popular ride-sharing company, has really been extending its business lately. Besides launching in more and more countries around the world, it has also been branching out in often odd ways, like the UberEATS food delivery service in Barcelona. The international business has grown so rapidly that it might even be considering buying out a maps business for its own use, so, despite all the controversy and law suits, the service appears to be here to stay, at least for now that is.

Now Uber is launching yet another odd sub-service. It is called UberBOAT and the name mostly gives it away. The idea is centered around the Bosporus strait in Istanbul and utilizing certain local boats as a water-taxi service. Uber is actually already running similar services in other locations, under the very same name. The business partner in question is Navette-Tezman Holding – a local company that owns Beneteau boats, situated on the strait. The water service itself will be seamlessly molded into the Uber mobile app and boat ride suggestions will automatically pop up to users in close proximity to the Bosporus. Read more »

Wireless charging is definitely the new craze and with integrated support for both major standards – Qi and PMA in the Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung has earned some bragging rights. And a new commercial seems to prove that the Korean giant is not above dangling its new toy in the face of Apple and its “wall hugging” fans.

This advertisement tactic is really nothing new, but still exploiting the “look at what you are missing out on” angle has a powerful effect on users, especially trend-conscious ones. The real situation might be far from the tangle ball of cables the video portrays, but, there is some grain of truth, as Apple is guilty of requiring a ton of adapters and cables, just to get everything working together. For a company that puts such great value on simplicity and user experience, this is an issue that has persisted for surprisingly long. Read more »

Garmin has added two new gadgets to it rich device collection. The Garmin Edge 20 and 25 both fall under the category of bike or cycling computers and, although, they could easily be mistaken for a wearable, the devices are pretty tailor made and specifically geared towards bike usage.

Both are GPS and GLONASS enabled so you can track your rides, as well as set routes for yourself. The small devices also record time, distance, elevation and speed by default and can also be set-up with additional sensors for heart rate and cadence. Read more »

A few weeks ago, at WWDC 2015, the new iOS 9 was officially unveiled along with the promise for a free update on eligible devices this fall. There is no doubt that Apple wants to push the new version of its popular mobile OS as cleanly as possible and on a broad a scale as possible. Mass adoption will ensure better uniformity on the market and create a more-favorable environment for development and innovation.

If you have been an iPhone user for some time now, you surely remember the major update problems associated with iOS 8. Its 6GB free space requirement left a lot of Apple users struggling to cram everything in on their phones. This, along with some serious initial bugs, led to a slow rate of adoption, a setback that Apple doesn’t want to repeat with iOS 9. Consequently the tech giant has taken measures. An iOS 9 beta adopter managed to spot a rather intriguing prompt, revealing that if your device has insufficient storage to install the update, Apple can automatically delete some of your apps, with the promise of reinstalling them immediately afterwards. Read more »

Parrot has introduced five connected toy drones which can be controlled using smartphones. The new FreeFlight 3 app has been released which can be used on iOS or Android based smartphones or tablets.

Three different MiniDrones lines are Jumping Drones for land at $189, Airborne Drones for night patrol $129, cargo carrying ones at $99, and the hybrid Hydrofoil Drones at $179 that can even sail on water. Read more »

Mobile camera tech has really taken off recently, thanks to the introduction of advanced technologies, like OIS, color sensors, laser auto focus and PDAF. But, this technological leap can easily be overlooked by the average user, simply due to lack of understanding. Qualcomm has realized the need for more palatable explanations of recent advancements and has put out a short, upbeat video with a quick overview of how current Snapdragon chips achieve camera focus.

The technology in the company’s current SoCs is dubbed – “hybrid auto focus”, simply because it features intelligent algorithms for switching between laser and phase detection focus and for using them in tandem. There is nothing really hard to understand about both technologies, once you get a proper explanation. Read more »

In a bid to reduce traffic accident casualties, Samsung Argentina mounted displays on large trucks to make them “transparent.” The idea dates back to the Transparentius concept by Art Lebedev from 2009.

Dubbed Samsung Safety Truck, the Korean giant’s setup is quite simple and consist of a camera placed in the front of the truck and four large displays on its back. Read more »

The thirst for more storage seems unquenchable and the advancements in multimedia only boost our desire for space. We have definitely come a long way as far as cloud storage and various services go, but, there will always be the need for traditional storage media, one you can physically own and, better yet, carry around.

The Samsung P3 might look like just another portable hard drive, but, the Korean giant has managed to cram quite a lot of innovation into the small package, quite literally. The top of the line P3 model features 4TB of space and while this is nothing to rave about in itself, it is the form-factor that is impressive. The drive is only 19.85 mm thick and weighs 236 g, which is impressive for 4TB of storage. The secret is that unlike most competitors, Samsung doesn’t use a multiple drive design to achieve the huge storage. Inside the shiny case, there is a single drive. Read more »

Microsoft has really been working hard lately to get up to speed with contenders across the increasingly dynamic tech market. This involves major process and lifecycle changes, as well as restructuring of internal structures and departments. Both processes are already well underway, as clearly evident by the new open, feedback-driven approach the Insider program brought to Windows 10.

As it turns out, the US giant is making progress on the second point as well. The latest wave of company restructures has established a new Windows and Devices Group. It will unify the Windows and devices divisions, which is only natural, considering the company’s new one Windows strategy. CEO Satya Nadella, had this to comment: Read more »

Gameplay streaming and commentary have always been trendy with PCs and consoles – so much so, that quite a few people are making good money doing just that on media platforms, such as Twitch and YouTube. Yet, recording from mobile devices is still kind of a hustle and Samsung has realized the need to simplify the whole process releasing the appropriately named Game Recorder+.

The app is pretty straightforward – it can capture gameplay footage from your games as well as audio and video from your device’s front-facing camera for on-the-fly commentary. Once you have the said footage, Game Recorder+ allows you to quickly trim it and even upload the final creation to YouTube. Read more »

Microsoft has taken steps to tremendously extend its online market reach in India. The US tech giant just launched a store on India’s Snapdeal, containing its full range of products. The partnership could potentially be huge for Microsoft, as, it extends the company’s online reach in the vast new market to as many as 5000 cities.

This was perhaps an ideal course of action, as Microsoft can now capitalize on the existing popularity of Snapdeal in India, not to mention the functioning supply chain. Sharlin Thayil, group OEM director at Microsoft India, commented on the expansion: Read more »

British service provider EE has been working hard on its own device lineup and adding a connected tablet was just a matter of time. The device is called the 4G Harrier Tab and joins its two existing Harrier siblings – the 4.7-inch and the 5.2-inch handsets.

The 4G Harrier Tab covers the next form factor with an 8-inch screen. Underneath the hood, there is a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC with octa-core CPU clocked at 1.5 GHz, along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. The tablet has a dual-camera setup, although it is nothing impressive at 8MP for the main shooter and 2MP for the front-facing one. It boots Android 5.1 out-of-the-box and is powered by a reasonable 4,650 mAh battery. There is even a microSD card slot thrown in the mix. Read more »

Google has been trying to tackle the challenge of a driverless car for quite some time now. Now, the latest prototypes seem to be closer than ever and with tests already on their way to real-world environments outside Google campus, we should start getting used to the notion of a self-piloting car. Of course, there is still a long road ahead, not only in technological challenges, but also legal issues and public acceptance.

Still, from what we have already seen demoed, Google’s little smart car is driving like a champ and is well on the road to being truly independent. The amount of technology and innovation that makes an act that we perceive as relatively simple, fully automated is staggering, but, as in turns out, not as new and outlandish as some would think. A newly compiled infographic helps shed some light on everything going on under (and over) the hood. Read more »

Continuity is undoubtedly on of Apple’s coolest features of late. For anyone not familiar with the technology, it lets you handle your calls and text messages on your Mac, iPad or Apple Watch. Up until now, however, this was only possible if the two devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

This is definitely cool, but kind of limiting. With iOS 9, Apple has extended the feature and your iPhone no longer needs to be connected to the same network as your other Apple tech for Continuity to work. In fact, your handset doesn’t even have to maintain a Wi-Fi connection, as the system now works over any stable data connection. Read more »