Sky line Android app will turn your wallpaper into a live map of your location

              There’s a new Android app called Skyline that will turn your current location into your wallpaper, as first spotted by Life hacker. Skyline uses 3D terrain data from Mapbox to show either your current location or specific coordinates to create wallpapers in full detail.

                The app can shift the image when you unlock your phone or swipe through your launcher pages, and it features a parallax effect that’s visible when you tilt your phone.

                  You can toggle the depth effects in settings and choose the right framing for your map / wallpaper. Skyline will cost you $1.99 in the Google Play Store, which isn’t bad for a pretty inventive wallpaper app.

Steve Jobs changed the future of laptops 10 years ago today

             “It’s the world’s thinnest notebook,” said Steve Jobs as he introduced the MacBook Air 10 years ago today. Apple’s Macworld 2008 was a special one, taking place just days after the annual Consumer Electronics Show had ended and Bill Gates bid farewell to Microsoft. Jobs introduced the MacBook Air by removing it from a tiny paper office envelope, and the crowd was audibly shocked at just how small and thin it was. We’d never seen a laptop quite like it, and it immediately changed the future of laptops.

            At the time, rivals had thin and light laptops on the market, but they were all around an inch thick, weighed 3 pounds, and had 8- or 11-inch displays. Most didn’t even have full-size keyboards, but Apple managed to create a MacBook Air with a wedge shape so that the thickest part was still thinner than the thinnest part of the Sony TZ Series — one of the thinnest laptops back in 2008. It was a remarkable feat of engineering, and it signaled a new era for laptops.

              Apple ditched the CD drive and a range of ports on the thin MacBook Air, and the company introduced a multi-touch trackpad and SSD storage. There was a single USB 2.0 port, alongside a micro-DVI port and a headphone jack. It was minimal, but the price was not. Apple’s base MacBook Air cost $1,799 at the time, an expensive laptop even by today’s standards.

              It took Windows laptop makers years to catch up to the MacBook Air, all while Apple’s laptop kept winning praise from reviewers. It wasn’t until a few years ago that rivals even managed to surpass Apple’s laptop and introduce superior designs with better displays, specifications, and equivalent trackpads. Even today, Apple still sells the MacBook Air at a starting price of $999 with a design and display that now feels too dated against the modern competition.
          

            Apple has so far refused to redesign the MacBook Air to compete against the Surface Laptop, Dell’s XPS 13, and other rivals. Apple introduced the 12-inch MacBook instead, but it hasn’t had the same impression on the industry as the MacBook Air. It’s still possible Apple might surprise us with a new MacBook Air, but given its position between the 12-inch MacBook and the 13-inch MacBook Pro options, it feels unlikely. The existing MacBook Air hasn’t been updated for nearly three years, and it certainly looks like it’s now living out its final days after being so influential for so many years.

New Samsung phones in the US and Canada will have an active FM radio chip

       The beloved FM radio is getting a mobile revival with news that Samsung is teaming up with NextRadio to unlock the FM chips in new Samsung devices in the US and Canada. There are no hardware changes, as FM receivers are already present in most smartphones, but not all smartphone makers activate them.

       NextRadio is a broadcaster-backed app that works with smartphones containing active FM chips (including devices from HTC, Motorola, and LG), letting users listen to local radio stations. This uses less data and battery power than connecting to radio apps, though of course, there’s less control over what you listen to. Aside from the nostalgia factor, FM radio broadcasts can be life-saving, especially in emergency situations when information is transmitted via radio waves. If the mobile internet is down, having access to local radio stations through an FM chip would be an invaluable asset.

  

   The FCC has previously asked Apple to activate the iPhone’s hidden FM radio to aid public safety. Apple replied that its newer iPhone 7 and 8 models don’t actually have the necessary chip, and claimed that older phones already include other safety features. FCC chairman Ajit Pai has previously said that about 44 percent of the “top-selling smartphones” in the US had activated FM radios compared to 80 percent in Mexico.



    

Researchers found a way into WhatsApp group chats — but Facebook says it’s not a problem

           German cryptographers have found a way to infiltrate WhatsApp’s group chats despite its end-to-end encryption.           Researchers announced they had discovered flaws in WhatsApp’s security at the Real World Crypto security conference in Switzerland, Wired reports. Anyone who controls the app’s servers could insert new people into private group chats without needing admin permission.
              Once a new person is in, the phone of each member of that group chat automatically shares secret keys with that person, giving them full access to all future messages, but not past ones. It would appear as if the new member had the permission of the admin to join.
                 “The confidentiality of the group is broken as soon as the uninvited member can obtain all the new messages and read them,” Paul Rösler, one of the researchers told Wired. The researchers recommend in their paper that summarizes their findings that users who rely on absolute privacy should stick to Signal or individual private messaging.
                     On the surface level, WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, looks to have a pretty big security flaw. But how easy can it be to gain access to the WhatsApp servers? The WhatsApp servers can only be controlled by staff, governments who legally demand access, and high-level hackers.
            Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos responded to the report on Twitter, saying, “Read the Wired article today about WhatsApp – scary headline! But there is no [sic] a secret way into WhatsApp groups chats.”
                Stamos objected to the report, stating that there are multiple ways to check and verify the members of a group chat. He argued that since all members of a group chat can see who joins a chat, they’ll be notified of any eavesdroppers. It’s also worth asking what a redesigned, secure WhatsApp would look like without this flaw. According to Stamos, if the app were to be redesigned, that would diminish how easy it is to use.
Moxie Marlinspike, a security researcher who developed Signal, which licenses its protocol to WhatsApp, said that the current app design is reasonable, and that the report only sends a message to others not to “build security into your products,
because that makes you a target for researchers, even if you make the right decisions.”

Best smartphones of 2017

These are the best smartphones of 2017

The year 2017 was an exciting one for smartphones. While we had some of the best smartphone launches, it was also the 10th anniversary of the iPhone that the company believes will define smartphones for next decade. As the year comes to an end, here is our annual round up around the best smartphones of 2017. In no random order, these are the best smartphones of 2017.





Apple iPhone X:
This year Apple launched not just two (iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus), but a third smartphone as well. Celebrating the 10 years of iPhone, this new smartphone is also known as iPhone X (ten) and has some of the revolutionary features onboard. For the iPhone X, Apple has adopted FaceID for unlocking the phone and bid goodbye to finger TouchID. Many had doubts about how accurately will it work or how secure will it be but Apple doesn't launch anything half baked. Powered by Bionic A11 chip with neural engine, the phone is fast and also introduces Animoji. Apple has also used a vertical camera module at the rear and the FaceID camera at the front can also capture depth images.









Google Pixel 2 XL:
Google did a pretty impressive job with the Pixel smartphone last year and the company has just raised the bar with the Pixel 2 XL. Putting AI on the forefront, Google's Pixel 2XL is using technology in every best possible way. Just by slightly pressing the device from the sides activates the Google Assistant, which made us lazy to type. Unlike other players adding two camera module for capturing depth images, Google had put AI to use here as well. Even using a single camera, the Pixel XL 2 is able to create bokeh images. When capturing an image in portrait mode, the image is processed where the software identifies the subject and blurs the background. And there is no match to Pixel 2 XL's low-light photography. The screen offers rich colours and look superb. However, the Pixel was in news about screen burn on the OLED display but we didn't experience the issue on our review unit.






Samsung Galaxy Note 8:



Samsung's Note 7 was one of the best smartphones but the unfortunate incidents of the battery exploding on this device forced Samsung to recall the product. While the experts had their doubts about the next flagship Note, Samsung had put a great show with its flagship devices this year. Of the three - Galaxy S8, S8 Plus and Note 8 - our favourite is the latter. Samsung has improved the functionality of the S-Pen multiple folds. It now offers some unique features such as taking notes on the lock screen, live notes, using S-Pen to highlight a paragraph for Google Translation, and more. Samsung also added a dual camera at the rear for capturing bokeh images, which the company calls as 'Live Focus'. The Note 8 launched in India runs on Samsung's Exynos processor and had great processing power. Not to mentioned the super bright display is a delight to look at.









Xioami Mi A1:



Xiaomi has been really aggressive with smartphone launches in India this year. While the Redmi Note 4 was one of the best selling handsets for the company this year, Xiaomi teamed up with Google to launch the Mi A1 - an Android One device. It had the stock Android operating system and Xioami apps such as Mi Remote can be installed with a single tap. The Mi A1 also packs in a dual camera which is great at capturing depth images. Featuring a 5.5-inch full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection, the Mi A1 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor.






Honor 8 Pro
Coming from the house of Huawei, Honor launched a handful of dual camera phones in India this year, of which the Honor 8 Pro was the best. The highlight of the Honor 8 Pro is the dual camera. Unlike most dual camera smartphones where the secondary lens is a telephoto lens, it comes with one RGB sensor and one monochrome sensor. The former captures colour information whereas the latter captures more light. To capture DSLR like images with depth effect, one has to switch to wide aperture mode from the options displayed in the camera app. The camera instantly focuses on the subject, blurring the background and there is also an option to adjust aperture level between 0.95 to 16. There is also an option of wide aperture effects that can be used for adjusting focus and blur after capturing an image. Honor 8Pro's camera app also has a Pro mode for manual settings, monochrome mode for capturing black and white images, night shot for low light images and light paining to name a few. Images captured can be saved in RAW format and one can even turn on object tracking where camera tracks and focuses on the particular object.

The Changes To Mobile Phones Over The Last 30 Years

            The Changes To Mobile Phones Over The Last 30 Years

         

Although mobile phones have taken over our current society, they have been around for several decades in some form or another. Beginning in the late 1940s, the technology that would later be used in today’s cell phones was created and the idea of a mobile phone was introduced. This cell technology was first used in mobile rigs which was mainly used in taxis, police cars and other emergency vehicles and situations. Truckers also used a form of this technology to communicate with each other. Little did they know how far their idea would advance to make it accessible to the majority of the population.
The first mobile phones, referred to as First Generation or 1G, were introduced to the public market in 1983 by the Motorola Company. These first mobile phones used analog technology which was much less reliable than the digital technology we use today. The analog phones also had a great deal more static and noise interference than we are accustomed to today. The first mobile phones during this era were confined to car phones and they were permanently installed in the floorboard of automobiles. After a few years, they became mobile and consumers could take the phones with them outside of the car. However, they were the size of a large briefcase and very inconvenient. The main purpose of this First Generation technology was for voice traffic, but consumers felt insecure about people listening in on their conversations. These new mobile phones were also rather expensive, many of them costing hundreds of dollars. They were more of a status symbol during the decade rather than a means of convenience.
During the 1990s, great improvements were made in the mobile phone technology. These phones used Second Generation, or 2G technology. In 1990, the first cell phone call was made using the new digital technology that became characteristic of this era. The Second Generation cellular phone technology was faster and much quieter than its analog predecessor. As a result, it became even more popular than previous models, too. The new technology also made them capable of being smaller rather than the large briefcase-sized units from the 1980s. Smaller batteries and other technology that made the phones more energy-efficient helped contribute to their smaller sizes and their popularity. Companies also strived to make the prices more affordable than the mobile phones of the 1980s. You could buy a decent cell phone with 2G technology for approximately $200 along with an airtime service. The cell phone industry was beginning to take off.

The Third Generation technology, or 3G, is what many people currently use in their digital cellular phones today. This technology was created very soon after the excitement that the 2G technology created. This new technology is not only capable of transferring voice data (such as a phone call), but it is also able to transfer other types of data, including emails, information and instant messages. These capabilities have helped to increase the amount of sales and the popularity of these new phones. Many users prefer to use the instant messaging capabilities to “text” other users rather than call them in the form of a traditional phone call. Many cell phone companies offer free and very affordable phones for consumers who sign-up with their airtime service for a contractual period. Prices for the services range but the competition in the industry is helping to keep them more affordable than they have been in previous years.
You would think that there is little more that you could do with cellular phone technology. This is, however, not the case. There are currently plans in place to develop a Fourth Generation – 4G – technology. Goals for this new set of standards include a combination of technologies that will make information transfer and internet capabilities faster and more affordable for cellular phones. At this time, there is no one definition that can be attributed to 4G technology because researchers are still striving to make advances and build upon the technology that already exists.
The mobile phone industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds as it has in the past few decades. Even though it started a little more than 20 years ago, manufacturers have created an abundance of new technologies that keep cell phone users coming back for more. They continue to increase the number of capabilities and services to accommodate the growing needs of today’s “on the go” culture. Waiting anxiously is the only way to find out what they will think of next.
As the number and quality of WI/FI points become available and with the growth of Smart Phones that not only provide the basic functions expected in a mobile phone but provide so much more the market is changing and brand new players have entered the market including Apple with the successful Iphone and Research Machines with the equally successful Blackberry. In 2008 a new player enters the market providing an open source operating system for mobile phones that manufacturers can use and adapt, the new player is Google who make the Android operating system available and the first phone to appear is the G1 from T-Mobile, because the OS is open source the number of applications available is expected to grow and sites like The Android Library who provide a library of the latest free and commercial applications will grow. It remains to be seen if this latest entry of an Operating System in the Smartphone market will make a significant impact but many feel this could be the future for the market



2011 Update Mobile Phone Operating Systems
With the earlier entry of The Google Android Operating System for mobile phones the market hots up for the latest generation of Smartphones.
As the growth of Android increases new sites are appearing dedicated to Android that explains much more about Android.
Symbian OS 50% down from over 80% two years earlier
The Symian Mobile Phone Operating System is used by more than 50 percent of the world's handset manufacturers, the best known mobiles include.
Nokia N97 / E71 / 5230 / 5530 Mobile Phone
Sony-Ericsson Idou Satio Mobile Phone
BlackBerry OS 20%
All Blackberry Mobile Phones
Apple Iphone 14% Powers Apple Iphones all models
Windows Mobile 10%
Verizon HTC Imagio™
Sprint Samsung Intrepid
AT&T HTC Tilt™ 2
Google Android 3%
T-Mobile G1
HTC Dream
HTC Magic
T-Mobile Pulse,
Motorola Droid,
Nexus One release date 2010
The mobile phone Operating system is not just about what you see on your handset but will also be used in the next generation of electronic book readers, Incar computer navigation systems and possibly even netbooks which are the fastest growing area of growth in the home computer market. Unlike other Mobile Phone Operating Systems which are tied to a single phone ( Apple, Palm and Blackberry ) or mobile phones OS which cost a a license fee, the release of android is a free software and open source license
Over the last few years the growth in the number of applications for the Iphone has grown to more than ( June 2009 50,000 applications available on the iPhone App Store ). These applications including variety, quality and usefulness and have helped to grow the Apple Iphone user base. With Google introducing the Android open source software it will be interesting to see the number of Android apps that appear on the market currently (June 2009 5000 apps on the Android App Store ) a long way behind Apple.

IPHONE X

iPhone has changed the face of mobile communications over the past 10 years. But what are the prospects for the latest iteration, iPhone X – especially in China?

“A widescreen iPod with touch controls”; “a revolutionary mobile phone”; and “a breakthrough internet communicator” – this is how Steve Jobs, then chief executive officer of Apple Inc, introduced the very first iPhone 10 years ago, a true game-changer in the phone industry. 

Fast forward to now. The iconic Apple smartphone, which has evolved 15 models over the past 10 years, has embraced its next generation, which includes the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and the most talked about 10th anniversary iPhone – iPhone X.

Predictably, days after the 3 November release, a large number of Apple fans will line up outside the company's stores worldwide to get a first touch of the new handsets as soon as possible.

However, the sense of wonder once experienced by those thousands of customers who queued for the first iPhone outside Apple and AT&T retail stores in the US on 29 June 2007 may never recur today.

Although not every generation of iPhone changed the industry as revolutionarily as the first one, which perfectly responded to Jobs’ ambition of “reinventing the phone”, the gradual evolution brought by them all together has been inspiring enough.

The iPhone has also transformed people’s lives by widely broadening a phone’s usage from handling contacts and taking photos to online live streaming and playing games.

The past 10 years have witnessed how the market rewarded Apple, so that the company is ranked third on the Fortune 500 list this year with a market value of $753.7 billion as of 31 March, and is expected to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, a report by Fortune said.

However, having entered the Chinese mainland market nearly eight years ago, in October 2009, Apple only accounted for 7.1 per cent of market share in the second quarter of this year, according to research firm IDC China.

Domestic Chinese smartphone vendors have started showing their muscle and competing with Apple in the global market. In June and July, Huawei surpassed Apple as the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor for the first time, according to consultancy Counterpoint Technology Market Research.

As the road ahead for Apple faces uncertainties, let's revisit the past 10 years of iPhone.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A Pro

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A Pro

Highlights

· - 1.4GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 435 Processor
· - 3GB/4GB RAM With 32GB/64GB ROM
· - 5.5 Inch HD IPS Display
· - Dual SIM
· - 13MP Autofocus Camera With LED Flash
· - 16MP Front Camera With LED Flash
· - 4G
· - Bluetooth 4.2
· - Fingerprint Sensor
· - Infrared Sensor
· - 3080mAh Battery

                                    Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A Pro Specifications

	Network
Technology / Frequency Bands	GSM : 850/900/1800/1900 MHz HSPA+ : 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
	Battery
Type	Li - Ion
Capacity	3080 mAh
Standby	-
Talktime	-
	Built
Dimensions	153x76.2x7.7 mm
Weight	153 g
Form Factor	bar
Colors	Champagne Gold, Rose Gold and Platinum Silver
	Display
Size	1280x720 pixels
Type	color : LCD
Colors	16000000 colors
Secondary Display	no
	Camera / Imaging / Video
Camera	Yes 13 MP
Resolution	4208x3120 pixels
Zoom	yes
Flash	yes
Secondary Camera	yes
	Secondary Camera
Resolution	4640x3480 pixels
Flash	yes
	Connectivity
Bluetooth	Yes
Irda	Yes
Wlan/Wi-fi	Yes
USB	yes
GPS	yes
	Data
GPRS	Yes
EDGE	Yes
3G	Yes
Internet Browsing	Yes 2.0 , Android Webkit
	Media
Audio Playback	Yes
Video Playback	Yes
Ringtones	Polyphonic ringtones composer
FM Radio	Yes
3.5mm Headphone Jack	yes
	Memory
Inbuilt	32 GB
Memory Slot	Yes microSD/TransFlash
	Messaging
SMS	Yes
MMS	Yes
Email	Yes
Instant Messaging	yes
	Software
Operating System	Android 7.1

Samsung Galaxy J7 Plus

                Samsung Galaxy J7 Plus Full Details

Introduction and Camera

Samsung Galaxy J7 Plus is the latest variant of the J7-series. The device packs a punch especially with its dual rear camera and upgraded hardware. The smartphone sports a full metal body and looks similar to the other Galaxy smartphones in the market. The front-facing home button also acts as a fingerprint sensor.Users can record up to 5 fingerprints that can be used to unlock the device.
One of the most exciting features of the handset is the presence of dual primary shooters; the device comes with a 13+5-megapixel rear camera which is paired with an LED flash to help you shoot in the dark. Also, to assist good selfies and video calling, there is a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

Display and Battery

The Samsung Galaxy J7 Plus flaunts a 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display which reproduces bright and vivid colours even under the most demanding conditions. The device also has the Always-on display that helps you with the time and notifications without having to unlock the smartphone.
The device is fuelled by a non-removable Li-Ion 3,000mAh battery which is expected to keep the device functioning for close to 24 hours for a normal user.

Performance and Platform

The Samsung Galaxy J7 Plus runs the Android 7.0 Nougat operating system out of the box and is powered by a 2.39GHz octa-core Exynos chipset which is coupled with 4GB of RAM to ensure smooth sailing even while playing high-end games or working on multiple apps simultaneously.

Storage and Connectivity

Users should not feel any lack of storage space while installing apps or storing any data as the device is equipped with 32GB of onboard storage space which can be further expanded using a microSD card up to 256GB.
For connectivity, the handset is bundled with multiple options which include 4G, dual SIM support, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, NFC, and a microUSB 2.0 port.

4 technologies that will impact startups in 2018 Year

4 technologies that will impact startups in 2018 Year

As an entrepreneur, it’s crucially important for you to understand and adapt the ever-changing market condition to build a company. As we enter the new year, startups in both big and small scale will go through a flood of emerging technologies. We have listed four technologies that will have a high impact on startups in 2018.

1. Machine learning

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has increased the importance of machine learning. The AI implementation leads to programming systems to automatically learn and improve from an experience without programming it for a specific situation. The foundational piece of machine learning technology is to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs. Startups can leverage the trend and develop intelligent machine learning models to abstract key insights from data sets and processes. The technology is already being used in various ways to simplify the repetitive jobs.

2. Augmented reality (AR)

The highly ambitious technology has been making headlines from last few years. Augmented reality (AR) implementation was on surge towards the end of 2016. The early iterations of Pokemon Go were highly appreciated by the global users. Smartphones are the lowest device layer of AR, thanks to the advancements in smartphone technology, the devices are becoming highly efficient and powerful. Industries like retail will seek significant benefit from the developments of AR.

3. Blockchain

The technology that underlines cryptocurrency has become a key focus due to its robust nature and security. Blockchain has wide use-cases across the industrial sectors. Banking and financial services have already started implementing blockchain solutions to secure the data and minimize dependencies. Startups can ride the bandwagon and innovate using blockchain. There are already few startups developing highly ambitious blockchain-based solutions to solve real-world problems.

4. Voice control

A number of companies have already entered the space of voice-controlled technologies. Google and Amazon launched their first few versions of their voice-controlled smart products. These companies have already validated the market for startups to innovate in this space. In the world of connected devices, there are numerous things that can be simplified using voice-controlled smart gadgets.