Xiaomi to unveil Yi Erida drone and Yi 4K+ camera at CES 2017

With CES around the corner, all tech companies are gearing up for the event and have also started showcasing their products before the actual event. Xiaomi too has unveiled its new Yi Erida drone and Yi 4K + action camera that will be showcased at the CES 2017.

The new Yi Erida drone is an updated version of the previous Yi 4K that was launched earlier this year. Being an updated variant, the new drone comes with an addition of 60FPS mode while recording videos in 4K resolution, making it the first of a kind for any action camera.

While recording 4K video at 60FPS, this update comes handy, especially while capturing fast moving objects, which makes the video look more smooth and enriched, compared to the existing 4K at 30FPS.

The Yi Erida backs a Yi 4K action camera, with three-rotor design and comes with up to 40 minutes of flying time and boosts a maximum speed of up to 75mph (120kph approx.). The drone also gets a gimbal system that helps in keeping the camera steady to ensure smooth video recording, paired with manual camera controls and an advanced radar/sensor system.

Xiaomi also claims that the drone can be controlled via mobile app. The company claims that the Yi Erida is a "a remote obsolete".

The company hasn't really emphasised on the Yi 4K+ specs, but considering the Erida drone, this too will be very much like its predecessor apart from the improvement in its video recording options. The previous model came with a touch screen display that is placed at the back, along with a good battery output.

For more details on the two new products, we will have to wait till CES 2017 kicks off.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X rumoured to launch soon

Xiaomi always finds ways in getting the spotlight and this time it's in context to the new Redmi Note 4X. Although the company launched two new colours of its existing Redmi 4 smartphone in China recently, now the company has shifted its focus on the upcoming Note-series phones.

Rumoured reports suggest that Xiaomi is expected to launch the Redmi Note 4X soon, which would be a much powerful version of the Redmi Note 4. The Note 4X will most likely be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 processor, coupled with 4GB RAM and for storage might comes with 64GB internal storage.

The existing Xiaomi Note 4, which is likely to arrive in India soon comes with interesting specs too. The Note 4 features a 5.5 inch IPS LCD capacitive touch screen, with 1080 x 1920 resolution. The phone runs on Android v6.0 Marshmallow OS, skinned with MIUI 8.0 and powers on a 2.1 GHz Deca-core Mediatek MT6797 Helio X20 processor with Mali-T880 MP4 GPU. The phone gets two variants, the first being 2GB RAM with 16GB storage and the other a 3GB RAM version with 64GB storage. The phone comes with a microSD card slot that allows storage expansion of up to 256 GB and also features a Fingerprint senor, mounted at the back.

In terms of optics, the Note 4 at the back uses a 13 Megapixel camera with dual LED (dual tone) flash and on the front is a 5 Megapixel camera for video calls and clicking selfies.

Powering the phone is a Non removable Li-Po 4100mAh battery and comes with connectivity options like Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, microUSB v2.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. The Xiaomi Note 4 is available in five colour options of Silver, Gray, Gold, Blue and Black.

The Note series is a very popular phone line up in China and if the rumoured reports regarding the Redmi Note 4X are to be true, then we might have a much powerful phone with a much better performance.

Xiaomi Mi 6 likely to launch on Valentine’s Day

Xiaomi is tipped to make an entry at CES 2017 next year and reports suggest that the company, most likely will be launching its new flagship, the Mi 6 at the event. If rumours are to be true, then it's highly possible, since Xiaomi had launched the Mi 5, early in 2016 as well.

Weibo, the Chinese social media known for mobile leaks, initially pointed to a tipster, which said that Xiaomi would officially launch the Mi 6 in March, but now another conflicting report points that Xiaomi Mi 6 most likely will be announced on February 14, 2017.

If the leaks turn out to be accurate, then the Mi 6 would actually be the first smartphone to be announced with Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 CPU.

Other reports suggest that Xiaomi might launch the Mi 6 in three different variants, of which the international version would be called Xiaomi Mi 6S that will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, second being the Xiaomi Mi 6E that might run on MediaTek Helio processor and the third would be Xiaomi Mi 6P that might house the company's very own Pinecone processor.

In terms of specs, the phone is expected to come with a 5.2 inch display with 2.5D glass. Tipped to launch with three different processors, the handset might feature a 4GB and a 6GB RAM variant as well. It likely would back a dual 16 Megapixel camera at the back and would power on a 3000mAh battery with support for QuickCharge 4.0.

Point to be taken here is that, all information's tipped are sheer rumours and can't be confirmed till Xiaomi officially launches the phone.

5 things that suck about Apple’s new MacBook Pro

While mostly I’ve liked the new MacBook Pro in the weekend I’ve used it there are some glaring issues that I need to point out which make me question the use of the Pro nomenclature on these notebooks. Apple is obviously arguing otherwise, and there is some logic to what it is suggesting but some of the things with these notebooks are going to be deal-breakers for people. Even, I, someone who doesn’t really push the limits of the new Macs to their fullest has found some of the design decisions to be limiting. Let me elaborate.

1. The biggest issue is the absence of the standard USB ports. There really is not getting around the fact that at the moment you can’t plug in even a pen drive to this laptop leave alone a memory card or an HDMI cable. The only route is a dongle for one thing or the other. If you end up with Apple’s dongles, you will pay a lot of money and have ugly dongles hang out of the sides of this beautiful machine. I haven’t been able to hook up my camera, nor can I charge my iPhone on this machine. Ironically, the charger of this machine has come in handy in charging my Google Pixel, which is all kinds of strange.

2. The new keyboard is very shallow and people who like clattering the keyboard will find it hard to adapt quickly. Only after 4 days of heavy duty usage, I’ve become used to this keyboard. I can imagine people who are used long key travel will not like this keyboard. It really is a keyboard that’s likely to appeal to touch typists more than anyone else.

3. The battery life isn’t as good as the MacBook Air which will be a deal breaker for someone upgrading from an Air. The bigger issue is that it isn’t even as good as a 13-inch MacBook Pro from last year. Apple could perhaps make some improvements to the operating system with a software update, but until that happens, I am not getting more than 5 hours with the screen brightness at full and no more than 7.5 with it lowered to usable levels.

4. Apple reportedly made the display assembly so thin that it didn’t have any room left to add the backlit Apple logo on the top of the notebook. Instead, like the retina MacBook, the new Pro models get this machined Apple logo, which looks quite nice, but it doesn’t exude that level of coolness in the dark as the older MacBooks.

5. The touch bar, so far, it hasn’t proven to be life changing. Perhaps, that speaks of the amount of apps that are leveraging it or perhaps it also speaks about a pro user who has had years of training of Mac keyboard shortcuts would probably find it quite pointless. So far, the touch bar seems like something designed for a dummy, but not a pro user, which is the target audience of the MacBook Pro.

LG announces new K3, K4, K8, K10 and Stylus 3 ahead of CES

LG has officially announced its new K-series smartphones along with a new Stylus 3 smartphone, ahead of CES 2017 that is schedule for Las Vegas next month. As mentioned earlier, the new K-series phones and Stylus 3 handset will be marked in the mid range segment that will help the company strengthen its portfolio.

Juno Cho, the president of LG Electronics Mobile Communications went on to say at the launch that, “Our 2017 mass-tier, mid-range smartphones focus on giving our customers a wide variety of options and choices for their smartphone lifestyles. What's consistent in all our K Series and Stylus 3 devices is that they look and feel premium, offer replaceable batteries and all come with expandable memory slots, what customers consider key factors when buying smartphones in this category."

According to the company, its new mid-range phone will sport some features like rear fingerprint scanner and 120-degree wide-angle front camera lens. LG claims, that the new 2017 K-series phone have been designed with “"the diverse needs of consumers in mind" and will be making the devices available in weeks to come.

Following are the specs of phones officially launched by LG.

LG K3 (2017) 
The LG K3 features a 4.5 inch FWVGA IPS display with 480x854 pixels and sports a 1.1GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, paired with 1GB RAM. For storage the phone comes with 8GB of inbuilt storage that can be expanded to 32GB using microSD card. For capturing images and recording videos, the phone at the back uses a 5 Megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 2 Megapixel sensor on the front. Running on Android v6.0 Marshmallow, the device comes in many connectivity options like 4G LTE, 3G, GPRS/ EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, and Micro-USB. Powering this phone is a 2100mAh removable battery and the phone will be offered in two colours that include Metallic Titan along with Pink Gold.

LG K4 (2017) 
The LG K4 comes with a 5 inch FWVGA display with 480x854 resolution, with pixel density of 196ppi. This too runs on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor like the LG K3 and is backed with 1GB RAM along with 8GB internal storage, which can be increased to 32GB using a microSD card. This phone comes with a 5 Mega pixel camera, both front and back. The phone powers on a 2500mAh removable battery and will be offered in two colour options of Titan and Black.

LG K8 (2017) 
The LG K8 sports a 5 inch HD display with 720x1280 resolution with pixel density of 294ppi. It powers on a 1.4GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, paired with 1.5GB RAM. For storage, the phone comes with 16GB inbuilt memory that is expandable to 32GB, using a microSD card. To capture images and record videos, the phone at the back comes with a 13 Megapixel rear sensor, whereas on the front is 5 Megapixel camera for video calling and clicking selfies. The K8 runs on Android v7.0 Nougat and powers on a 2500mAh removable battery. The phone will be available in four colour options of Titan, Silver, Dark Blue, and Gold.

LG K10 (2017) 
LG K10 features a 5.3 inch HD display with 720x1280 resolution and a pixel density of 277ppi. It powers on an octa-core MediaTek MT6750 processor, which is clocked at 1.5GHz, paired with 2GB RAM. The phone will come in two storage options of 16GB and 32GB memory that can be expanded to 2TB via microSD card. To click images and video recording, at the back is a 13 Megapixel rear camera, whereas towards the front is a 5 Megapixel camera. The phone powers on a 2800mAh removable battery and runs on Android v7.0 Nougat. The LG K10 will be available in colour options of Titan, Black and Gold.

LG Stylus 3 
The LG Stylus 3 comes with a 5.7 inch HD display with 720x1280 resolution and supports a Stylus Pen. It comes powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6750 processor, similar to LG K10 and is backed with 3GB RAM. It supports 16 GB inbuilt storage that can be expanded to 2TB using a microSD card. At the back is an 13 Megapixel rear camera and towards the front is an 8 Megapixel sensor. The phone runs on Android v7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box and powers on a 3200mAh removable battery.

How to Develop Your Technology Idea

It’s pretty clear that technology rules the world. No business would be caught without technology backing their infrastructure, and consumers rely on their various gadgets and software daily. Getting into this market is a sure moneymaker. But if you have a brilliant tech idea and no background in technology, can you make it?

Yes! Hundreds of technology companies got started in some of the most unlikely places with people who didn’t know much about technology. Instead, they knew how to build teams and roll with ideas that their customers would love.

The inspiration for building your tech idea can be found in looking at where some of the largest tech companies started. David Packard and William Redington Hewlett, two regular guys, founded Hewlett-Packard in a garage in Palo Alto in 1939. Now, Palo Alto, and that garage specifically, is considered by many to be the birthplace of Silicon Valley.

Steve Jobs was more of an inventor and designer than he was a technology builder. He also started Apple in the Silicon Valley and ran the business from his parents’ house for a while. He grew his business by relying on teamwork. One of his more famous quotes is, “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” He lived by that motto and the foundation of Apple was built by teams of inventors, tech gurus, customer service reps, and business professionals.

Getting started in tech, just like Apple and Hewlett-Packard, is possible for anyone with a great product and the perseverance to get it done. However, in order to get started, you’ll need to do a few things.

Find Money

You’ll need some cash to build your prototype and get started, but you don’t need money on hand to start a business. There are plenty of options for financing, including taking out a business loan.

One of the more popular ways to build capital for production is crowdfunding. Through this venture, you’ll attract money from friends, families, fans, supporters, and angel investors who want to see your product grow to fruition.

Learn a Little Tech

You would be wise to learn a little about the coding and/or technology that goes into your product development. Complete ignorance is a good way to let people take advantage of you. Take a couple of night classes or watch endless YouTube videos for a foundation in the technology used for the production of your product.

Find Someone to Build Your Product

This is the first step for most, especially if you only have a vision of what your product looks like. You can’t very well build a prototype in your own home if you don’t know how to connect wires and such. There’s only so much you can learn on YouTube, after all.

There are a few choices for having your product built. The most common is meeting with a third-party development company to discuss your product and make sure the prototype is viable. This is the more favorable option since you’ll work closely with the developers and make necessary tweaks as you go. The costs can be high for this option, however, so people often choose a different route out of necessity.

Many are going for a hybrid model of sorts in which you have a middleman find an excellent developer and keep your prices down. You’re able to maintain control of the product while reducing your bottom line and taking some of the responsibility off your plate.

Over time, you’ll need to focus on ways to build your products in more affordable ways. This may require bringing production in-house, although this won’t occur until after you’ve made money from the product.

File for Patents

If you don’t protect your product, there’s nothing to stop your developers from selling it themselves or selling it to the highest bidder. There will also be copycats who will utilize cheaper production and competitive pricing.

Talk with a patent lawyer at the very beginning of product production. Once you have a prototype, you can begin filing for the patents you’ll need to protect it.

Build Your Business Plan

You’ll also need a business plan that focuses on bringing in the revenue. Oftentimes, your plan will simply be to develop a product, sell it to the highest bidder, and collect royalties for the rest of your life.

If you want to make and sell the products through your own platform, you’ll need a business plan that can sustain your business. That warrants a completely separate post, but here’s a great guide for creating a business plan surrounding your product.

Lenovo plans on launching Chrome OS version of YogaBook next year

Lenovo’s Yoga Books are some of the most innovative notebooks around. Certainly more so than Apple’s stylish MacBook Pros in terms of design. But these are Windows-based notebooks which means they are bound to be expensive. To bring them to the masses, Lenovo is looking at launching Chrome OS based versions of the YogaBook in 2017 claims a report by LAPTOP Magazine.

Lenovo’s VP and General Manager for Android and Chrome computing business group Jeff Meredith has confirmed the same to the publication. Already, there are versions of the YogaBook that’s based on Windows and Android, so this points towards the popularity of Chrome OS especially in the education sector.

"We've had a lot of interest. It's an interesting idea for education, especially with the form factor. Over time, we probably see the Android and Chrome versions melding together, especially based on the fact that we've now seen Chrome roll out the Google Play store capability into Chrome. We'll probably maintain the three distinctive products throughout this year at least," said Meredith said about the possibility of the Chrome OS-powered YogaBook.

Meredith also claimed that new features like Real Pen which Lenovo introduced for the Android version of the Yoga Book at IFA in September will also be available on the Chrome OS model.

The very same laptop was launched in India last week for Rs 49,990 and is available on e-commerce website Flipkart. That being said, in India, Lenovo has chosen to launch the Windows model, not the Android model pointing towards the usability of the Windows model.

The Yoga Book in India has a halo keyboard which is a touch enabled keyboard and the Real Pen. It has a 10.1-inch full HD screen, an Intel Atom X5 quad-core processor clocked at 2.4GHz and 4GB RAM. It also comes with 64GB of internal storage and also has a microSD card slot supporting up to 128GB memory cards.

Chrome OS based products over the last few years have grown in popularity and have started to give Windows based alternatives stiff competition in developed markets like the US. That being said, the future of the platform is clouded as there are rumours rife which suggest that Google is planning to merge Android and Chrome OS and create one OS called Andromeda.

Google Chrome now enjoys 2 billion active installs in desktops and mobiles

For many Internet user, Google Chrome is the most favourite browser because it’s speedy, includes leading standards support, strong security features, and a clean interface. And now at the Chrome Dev Summit that it currently taking place at San Francisco, Chrome Engineering VP Darin Fisher has revealed that currently 2 billion Chrome installs are in active use across desktops and mobiles. This information was revealed in a keynote delivered by Chrome Engineering VP Darin Fisher.

According to a Tech Crunch report, Google, however, didn’t reveal how many people are currently using chrome. “I wanted to make this point that there are a lot of Chrome browsers out there. What’s exciting about this to you all is that when you think about building for the web, there’ a lot of browsers out there that implement the latest web standards — that implement the latest and greatest web features,” the report quotes Fisher as saying.

In April this year, Google came out with a blogpost where it had revealed that Chrome had crossed 1 billion monthly mobile users. Besides this, the post had also informed that 771 billion pages load each month, which is pretty much same the number of pages in over 821 million dictionaries. It was also showcased that Chrome helps users with the option to search autocomplete, which saves one from 18,6528 years of typing for users.

As of October 2016, StatCounter estimates that Google Chrome has a 63% worldwide usage share of web browsers as a desktop browser. Its success has led to Google expanding the “Chrome” brand name on various other products such as Chromecast, Chromebook, Chromebit, Chromebox and Chromebase.

Lenovo ZUK Edge to launch on December 20

Lenovo’s ZUK Edge has been the talk of the town since quite some time now, and Lenovo has finally lifted the veil over the release date for the smartphone. The device is set to be unveiled on the coming Tuesday, December 20.

The smartphone has been surrounded by leaks and rumours. Current leaks suggest that the smartphone sports a 5.5-inch full-HD display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The display sports minimal bezels, hence the ‘Edge’ nomenclature. Moreover, these bezels also come with a slight curve around the edges.

Coming to the hardware on the smartphone, ZUK Edge is reportedly said to be rocking Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 chipset paired with Adreno 530GPU. The device is expected to be available in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants, and 64GB or 128GB storage variants.

Coming to the optics on the ZUK Edge, the device is expected to sport a 13-megapixel primary rear camera and an 8-megapixel selfie camera at the front. There are no further details for the specs of the camera as of now.

The device is expected to run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with ZUK’s near stock Android skin on top, which has been the case with almost all ZUK smartphones in the past. For battery, the device is said to sport a 3000mAh battery. The device would charge using a USB Type-C connector.

There are no hints for the device to support quick-charging as of now, but considering it’s rocking the 821 chipset, which already comes with Quick Charge 3.0, we could expect the quick charging capabilities be present on the ZUK Edge.

Google's Android Things is here to make IoT great again

Google's venture into the sphere of Internet-of-Things was through its Project Brillo. Now when IoT devices are increasingly coming under attack from hackers, Google announced a rebranding of the experimental project to 'Android Things' and even dropped a developer preview for users to test.

As the name suggest, this is Android for the smart devices that have started cropping up everywhere from the likes of a smart fridge to a room heater. Put it simply, it is a stripped down version of Android for low-powered IoT hardware. From today, the developer preview is offering 'turnkey' solutions for the NXP Pico, Raspberry Pi 3 and Intel Edison.

The new OS for IoT hardware enables developers to make smart devices using the Android APIs and Google ecosystem. In general, Android Things makes use of the usual Android Studio, official SDK and Google Play Services to 'smarten' up the devices. Developers also have the option of using Google Weave protocol to ensure communication between devices and Google Cloud Services.

Considering the dismal state of security when it comes to IoT devices, Google has actually taken some steps to improve the situation. While Android phones remain plagued with update issues and fragmentation, Google says it is trying to avoid the problem for IoT devices by promising updates directly from Google. The upcoming developer previews will have some sort of an infrastructure to allow developers push out OTA updates on their own.

Android Things joins Android Auto, Android TV and Android Wear as Google's answer for making everything from watches to cars to televisions to other consumer electronics smart enough to communicate with each other.

After the announcement, Project Brillo finally comes out of its closed 'invite' program and now awaits a public source code dump. Soon enough, we will realize the full potential of Google's venture into IoT.

4 Ways Technology is Improving Business Productivity

Productivity isn’t a buzzword that businesses can ignore. Productivity is at the heart of every single successful business process, regardless of the application or industry. But what happens when productivity wanes? Well, in 2016, your best bet is to utilize technology.

Boost Productivity One Step at a Time

In the business world, time is money. By spending a few extra hours on a process, you’re wasting money. By streamlining a process and finishing it ahead of schedule, you’re making money. It’s as simple as that. Thankfully, with new business technologies rising in prominence, saving time and enhancing productivity is possible.

Here are a few ways technology is leading the charge.

1.   Better Networking

In the past, if you met someone at a networking event or conference, you had to get their business card. Eventually, the majority of business cards got lost or thrown away. But today, you don’t need business cards. All you need is a name and you can send a LinkedIn invitation, find their email address, and set up an alert on your phone to touch base with them.

2.   Root Cause Analysis

For large organizations that operate warehouses and factories, avoiding bottlenecks and keeping things moving in a positive direction is tremendously important. The problem is that manual intervention can throw off processes and slow things down. That’s why many organizations are turning to root cause analysis.

According to Pinnacle Advanced Reliability Technologies, “Root cause analysis can help future-proof your facility by investigating why failures happen, leading to changes in procedures, processes, or design that can prevent similar failures from occurring unexpectedly.” In other words, it’s a tool that every business needs in their toolbox.

3.   Enhanced Collaboration

One of the most important business developments over the past decade has been the growth of telecommuting and mobilized workforces. At the heart of this trend is enhanced collaboration technology that cuts wires and allows employees to conduct work regardless of geographical location.

“Telecommuting can take either of two forms. One, perhaps the way people typically think of telecommuting, is an employee working from his or her home office or a coffee shop during normal working hours instead of going into the office,” says Jeffery M. Jones of Gallup. “But workers can also telecommute in addition to being in the office by logging on from home during evenings or weekends, when necessary.”

Some of the specific technologies that allow organizations to permit telecommuting include video conferencing, cloud-based servers and file storage, and remote desktop access.

4.   Improved Organization

Organization is a big thing for large companies. If you aren’t careful, you could end up having to hire someone full-time just to manage your data, spreadsheets, and critical information. Thankfully, there are technologies that ease this burden and make it possible to stay organized without overspending.

For example, let’s say your business employs a bunch of salespeople who spend their days driving around and calling on businesses and homes. In the past, businesses have tracked hours, mileage, and expenses using paper logs or spreadsheets, but this is a really inefficient way of doing things. Someone has to follow up, organize, and verify all of this data. Well, there are finally simple technologies that automate these otherwise complicated processes through singular interfaces that help companies maintain accuracy without demanding more human capital.

Productivity and Technology

Imagine for a moment that each individual in your organization had one extra hour per week in their schedules. If you employ 50 people, that’s 50 extra hours. How much more could you get done with an extra 50 hours of labor?

Well, by adopting the right technologies, you can streamline time-consuming processes and identify wasted hours. Plenty of other businesses are doing it – will you?

Hello Moto: Timely Android 7 Nougat update propels Z Force Droid over the Google Pixel XL

The Moto Z Force Droid Edition, see my full review, was launched in August and it demonstrated that a functional modular design was possible. I then purchased my own GSM Moto Z, but returned it because it was priced too high, the battery wasn't large enough, and I wasn't sure when it would get updated to Android 7 Nougat.

I bought my first 2013 Moto X because of the customization capability and the fact that it received upgrades from Motorola as fast as Google's Nexus devices. While these Moto devices were fairly stock, there were also valuable additions in the Moto Actions, Voice, and Display utilities.

After Lenovo's 2014 acquisition of Motorola Mobility we saw this upgrade strategy, and thus advantage over other Android devices, fall apart. Thankfully, with the new Moto Z line it appears that the Moto we knew is back in action. I was recently sent another Verizon Moto Z Force Droid Edition to test for a few months and shortly after it arrived the Android 7 Nougat update was released, along with the December Android security update.

It was impressive to see this version of the Moto Z upgraded so quickly since it is a Verizon-branded model and Lenovo hasn't been known for committing to quick updates. Needless to say, I was very pleased with the upgrade and am satisfied with the improvements on the Moto Z Force Droid Edition. Android Nougat improvements on this device include:

• Split screen support: You can now use two apps at once on the large 5.5 inch display of the Z Force Droid.
• Double tap of task switcher: This handy action has proven to be quite valuable on my Google Pixel XL so it's great to see support for it on the Z Force Droid.
• Settings area updates: The handy status lines in the settings, positioned below the name of the setting, are present. You will also find suggestions at the top of the settings page.
• Improved battery life: Improvements with Doze translate to longer battery life on a phone that already had solid battery performance.
• Google Daydream support: I purchased a Daydream View when I bought my Google Pixel XL and popped in the Moto Z to test it out. Everything I tried works perfectly and it's nice to have this functionality on a Moto device.

In addition to these Nougat improvements, the Moto Z Force Droid Edition is a fairly stock Android device that has Moto Actions for quick camera launching and flashlight enabling, Moto Voice for a custom Google Now launch phrase, and Moto Display for the best standby screen notification implementation on any smartphone today.

Given this rapid update and other Moto enhancements, the Moto Z Force Droid Edition is a compelling alternative to the Google Pixel XL. The Moto Z is priced at $720 (32GB) and $770 (64GB) while the Google Pixel XL is $770 for a 32GB model and $870 for a 128GB model. In addition to the lower prices, the Moto Z Force Droid Edition offers the following over the Google Pixel XL:

• Water repellant nano coating: I don't go swimming or try to dip my phones in the water, but it sure is comforting to know your phone might be able to survive an accidental dunking. Every high end phone should now have this capability.
• ShatterShield display: The display is designed not to crack or shatter, which is rather stunning. If you spend time outside or work in the field, it's an easy choice to pick the Z Force Droid over the Pixel XL for durability.
• Moto Mods: Instead of a select few lame modules like what LG launched with, there are good Moto Mods with new ones launching as well. I've tested the JBL speaker mod, projector, and Hasselblad camera. There are battery mods, including a new one from Mophie. Moto Mods are an easy way to extend the functionality of your phone, but most are still quite expensive.
• Expandable storage capacity: You can quickly and inexpensively add more storage to the Moto Z Force through a microSD card.

Have you made a decision between the Google Pixel XL and Moto Z Force Droid Edition? Do you agree that the Moto Z may indeed be the better choice?

IPhone 8: 4 Things We Can Expect

TheiPhone 7S, or iPhone 8 as many calling, will be the tenth anniversary iPhone and a lot have been expected of it. One of the main reasons for this is the underwhelming iPhone 7 that was released this year. The iPhone 7, despite introducing many featureslike the dual- lens camera and water resistance, it was a mere iterative update over the iPhone 6S. This led many tech writers and fanboys to believe that Apple may be holding off better things for its tenth anniversary iPhone. From curved display to wireless charging tech blogosphere is filled with iPhone 8 rumors. Here is what our expert analysis found reliable from the vast ocean of mostly baseless rumors. 

New glass on glass design
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been called the best Apple analyst on the planet, Apple willabandon its aluminum unibody design after five generations of iPhone. The iPhone 8 will have a radical redesign, especially considering that the last three iPhones, 6, 6S and 7, shares same design. It is expected that Apple will go back to its glass on glass design, that was seen in the iPhone 4 and 4S. The Nikkei Asian Review reported in August that Foxconn Group, who manufactures iPhone, has been developing glass casing technology since last year for manufacturing iPhone chassis in 2017.

iPhone made ofzirconian ceramics
Many sources point to the fact that Apple might create the new iPhone primarily from zirconia ceramics. Zirconia ceramics has high mechanical strength and toughness at room temperature and have the highest fracture toughness of any advanced technical ceramic. Its toughness, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance make it ideal for high-pressure applications notes writer Brian Roemmele in quora. Further , many of the recent patent filings by Apple, especially the patents they filed August 2015 and the landmark patent for the future direction of Apple products on September 2016, points to this. The patent, US 2016/0255929 A1titled: “ co-molded ceramic and polymer structure” clearly demonstrate Apple’s plan to have a ceramic built phone. The advantages of such a build are a better strength, radio transparency, heat conduction, and most importantly scratch resistance and ease of manufacturing. However, there may be a possibility of more than one iPhone coming with a glass variant and premium high storage version with the ceramic build.

The new iPhonewill feature edge to edge OLED display
From the early days of iPhone, it is well known that designer Jon Ive’s ultimate goal is to create an iPhone that will be essentially a single piece of glass. Rumors suggest Apple might be a step closer to this goal as the next iPhone is expected to feature and edge to edge display. Nikkei reports Samsung like curved display will be featured on the new iPhone.
It is being said that there will be a 4.7-inch model and a Plus variant in 5.5 inches. Additionally, Nikkei reports point to an additional premium variant with either 5.5 inches or larger and that might feature a curved display. This report goes hand in hand with rumors of a premium ceramic iPhone.
Foxconn’s recent acquisition of Sharp, one the pioneers of when it comes to display-manufacturing, points to an OLED display in future iPhone. An OLED display compared to LTPS screens offers better color contrast and power efficiency. Furthermore, OLED displays are flexible and allow manufacturers to create curved and even foldable screens. Additionally, Sharp president Tai Jeng-wu speaking to Nikkei, confirms new iPhones will adopt OLED panels.

No more home button
The iPhone 7 made a drastic change to the home button. Unlike the buttons existed before, the new home button is just a piece of glass with a haptic engine, that produce button like feedback.
Bloomberg reports that Apple, with the iPhone 8 will abandonthe home button as a whole. Sensors such as Touch ID, ambient light sensor, and front camera will be embedded in the display. Patents procured by Apple in recent years clearly shows that Apple has been working on a technology for embedding Touch ID and an ambient light sensor in the display.

3 Common Website Mistakes You Need to Avoid

  When creating a website, there are a number of elements you need to implement in order to make sure everything works perfectly and your website actually attracts a lot of visitors. Ensuring your website is actually effective is extremely important for establishing a strong online presence and boosting your reputation.

However, if you are not tech-savvy and you don’t quite know what you need to do when it comes to web design, you can very easily make a mistake that could not only cost you your website traffic and page views, but also your conversions and, of course, revenue. That is why you need to make sure you avoid the common pitfalls when it comes to your website and take the right turn towards making it as effective and successful as possible.

Take a look at some of the most common mistakes website owners make and, if you happen to recognize yourself in at least one of them, take proper actions to correct them as soon as possible.

Not Providing Mobile Experience

Despite the fact that the most of the internet traffic comes from mobile devices, many website owners still don’t have mobile-friendly websites. If you are one of those people, you need to understand that having a mobile-friendly website can have a huge impact on your business and that it can benefit you in a countless number of ways.

If your website does not offer a mobile experience, you risk losing a lot of customers, not to mention a lot of revenue, because the majority of people are browsing the internet via their mobile devices. More importantly, mobile responsiveness is one of Google’s ranking factors so, by optimizing your website for mobile devices, you will improve your SEO ranking and drive more traffic to your website, ultimately attracting more quality leads that you can convert.

Not Optimizing for Search Engines

You need to optimize your website for search engines in order to increase your online visibility and raise brand awareness. If your pages are not optimized for search engines, you cannot drive quality leads and generate more revenue.

You need to pay attention to your keywords and include them in your meta tag titles and H1 headings, as well as your URLs. Also, don’t forget about internal linking, since internal links not only make navigation easier for your website visitors, but they also help you build a higher domain authority in search engines.

There are quite a lot more elements regarding SEO that you need to implement into your website in order to improve your ranking and attract more leads, so make sure you learn everything there is to know about it. Proper SEO is the key for online success, so don’t underestimate its power and its critical importance.

Not Having a Content Strategy

Businesses that create blog content on a regular basis generate more income than businesses that don’t follow their lead. If you don’t even have a blog on your website, you should create one as soon as possible, since your blog can be one of the most effective tools for raising the awareness of your business and enlarging your customer base.

However, without a content strategy, you cannot really make your blog into an effective one. If you want to achieve that and even make money writing blog content, you need to develop a good strategy that will help you craft posts that provide relevant and useful information to your target audience. What’s more, you need to know how to promote your content in order to extend your reach and increase your ROI.

In order to accomplish that, you need to understand your target audience and know exactly what their customer pain points are, so that you can know how to provide them with the right solutions to meet their needs. Once you know how to reach that goal, you will be able to develop a long-term strategy that will help you capture the attention of many prospects and ultimately grow your business.

If you recognized yourself in these mistakes, you need to start undoing them right now. Don’t waste your efforts, but put them to good use and start improving your business. There are plenty more mistakes that people make regarding their websites, but these are definitely the most frequent ones that you need to be aware of, so make sure you don’t make them.

This blog was first published on: http://thinkdebug.com/blog/3-common-website-mistakes-you-need-to-avoid/

Growth in Website Security Tech a Good Thing

As the threat of cyber attacks and hacking has increased over the past couple of years, the website security industry has undergone some pretty significant developments and changes. Understanding how the industry is changing for the better is important for every webmaster and business owner.

The Growing Threat of Website Mischief

Just because your website hasn’t been compromised in the past doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Website attacks and threats are growing and incident rates are increasing alongside this alarming trend. Just consider the following statistics as published in the 2016 Internet Security Threat Report by Symantec.

• In 2015, there were nine “mega-breaches.” The total reported number of exposed identities was roughly 429 million. However, the actual number is much larger. Many companies chose not to reveal the full extent of their breaches. Thus, the actual estimate of breaches was more than half a billion.

• Despite the increased emphasis on website security, vulnerabilities are still found in 75 percent of websites on the internet.

• In 2015, spear-phishing campaigns targeting company employees increased by roughly 55 percent, while ransomware grew by 35 percent.

This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Cyber threats are growing and it’s imperative that businesses respond by securing their websites and protecting their information.

Three Ways Leading Companies are Responding

While some companies are sitting on the sidelines and refusing to believe the tales of destruction, others are listening intently and applying extra layers of security. Here are some of the things they’re doing:

1. SSL Certificates

“Also known as a secure sockets layer, an SSL certificate offers a high level of security for communication and the transfer of information over a network,” SSL Certificate Reviews explains. “This type of security is normally implemented by websites that process payments or accept information that needs to be secure at all times.”

If you process payments or accept customer information, then chances are, you need an SSL certificate. The good news is that they’re fairly cost-effective and, depending on your website host, easy to setup.

2. Complex Password Tools

“Everyone knows they should use complex passwords, but that doesn’t mean they always do,” says developer Ruald Gerber. “It is crucial to use strong passwords to your server and website admin area, but equally also important to insist on good password practices for your users to protect the security of their accounts.”

Gerber makes a really good point. While website admins have finally begun to understand the importance of complex passwords, many network users still do a poor job of creating sophisticated passwords. That’s why many companies are turning to password managers and encouraging their employees to use them for added security.

3. Server Side Validation

Smart companies make sure their websites are validating information both on the browser and server side. Browsers can catch some things, such as mandatory fields that are left blank. “These can however be bypassed,” Gerber mentions, “and you should make sure you check for these validation and deeper validation server side as failing to do so could lead to malicious code or scripting code being inserted into the database or could cause undesirable results in your website.”

How Will You Respond?

The time for sitting on the sidelines and hoping threats will go away is over. In the coming year, expect cyber attacks rates to increase rather dramatically from where they already are. You can also anticipate hackers getting more and more creative in their pursuit of compromising customer data. The only reasonable response is to double-down and secure your website using the new technology you now have at your fingertips.