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Amazon Added New Product to its Echo Speaker Series

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Amazon hosted its hardware event in Seattle, Washington, in the Amazon’s Spheres biodome, located next to its corporate office. In the one hour of the hardware event, senior vice president of devices and services, Dave Limp claimed to showcase 70 products, including 13 new devices and new software updates. The event was a sign that Amazon is trying really hard to expand in every field.

In the new launch, Amazon has focussed on its Echo-branded speakers as its priority. It has updated its Echo Dot, Echo Plus, and Echo Show speakers, enhancing the sound and look up to 70 per cent.

amazon
Image Source: techhive.com

The exterior of those speakers has also been changed to a better version increasing the size of the speakers. Even the addition o new features to the speakers, these are still available at the same price. The Echo Dot is available for $69.64 (Rs 4,499) and the Echo Plus, with a larger 3-inch Neodymium woofer is available for $208 (Rs 14,999). The Echo Show, on the other hand, is out with improved sound, 10-inch HD display and even support for Microsoft’s Skype for video calling. The Echo Show with its new update, have got a web browser access for the users, on which the user can play music or search any recipe. The cost of Echo Show’s new updated version is $228 (Rs 16,407).

The major new products that Amazon has launched, comprises the series of the Echo Companion speakers. The Echo Companion series covers the Echo Sub, Echo Link, Echo Link Amp, and the Echo Input. The cost of the Echo Sub is $130 (Rs. 9334) and can be used by plugging into one or two Echos. The Echo Link and Echo Link Amp are the Sub Bwoofer, that can be paired with a stereo, making the stereo an Alexa-powered sound station. The latter product is having an additional amplifier, as well. The Echo Link is $200 (Rs 14360) box and the Echo Link Amp costs around $300 (RS 21540). The Echo Input has a four-microphone array, that is built for receiving commands from any of the rooms in a house, and is designed to support multiroom audio, so, that you can play the same song in multiple rooms.

Amazon is not only providing you with the home speakers but, also has entered into your car. It has launched an in-car speaker, powered by Alexa: Echo Auto. The Echo Auto uses the Amazon Smart Plug, worth $24.99 (Rs 24.99), and the price of the former is $49 (Rs 3518), and $25 (Rs 1795) for special invites.

Along with the speakers and the subwoofers, a wall clock with a ring of LEDs around the clock face, compatible with all of the Amazon Echo devices, costing $29.99 (Rs 2153), the Fire TV Recast DVR box providing 500GB storage, costing $229 (Rs 16442) and a microwave oven enabled by Alexa, costing $59.99 (Rs 4307), were also launched during the event. The products are ready for pre-order and will be available by the end of October 2018.

Volkswagen Unveils MEB Platform Electric Vehicles at the AAI Event 2018

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Volkwagen-ID-Buzz-Cargo
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Volkswagen has got into the electric vehicles production to promote the ‘Electric for all’ motto, with its MEB (Modular Electric Drive Kit) platform launch this week. Volkswagen unveiled its series of the all-electric commercial vehicle at the 67th IAA Commercial Vehicles show, in Hannover. The main attraction of this launch was the new I.D. BUZZ CARGO.

The I.D. BUZZ is the joint venture of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volkswagen Passenger Cars. The two-toned cargo micro bus gives a retro feel as it is the look-alike of the micro-buses of 60’s. The I.D. BUZZ is manufactured on the Volkswagon’s MEB platform, that is designed to support a variety of battery sizes, according to the purpose and the budget of the vehicle. The different battery size support makes the micro bus run for 330 to 500 km, in one go, when the battery is fully charged.

The I.D. BUZZ is capable of carrying a payload of 800 kg. The vehicle is almost 5 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters high. The windows from the back of the driver seat have been dropped this time and the vehicle is having a solar roof and wide-opening doors, at its back. There is only three seats in the I.D. BUZZ, the one for the driver, and two for the passengers. The passenger seats can be folded to make more space for the cargo. It has shelves inside the backspace of the vehicle and the driver’s door, as well as the sliding door, opens electrically.

Many manufacturers are venturing into production of electric vehicles, and Volkswagen had also launched its first all-electric, a panel van, e-Crafter, back in August. At the AAI 2018, Volkswagen also added other vehicles to the electric vehicle family, including the ABT e-Transporter, ABT e-Caddy and Cargo e-bike. Volkswagen has designed the ABT e-Transporter and the ABT e-Cabby, jointly with Abt e-Line GmbH and will arrive in the middle of 2019. The vehicles are focussed on zero-emission and the I.D. Buzz can take some time to reach the markets, most probably by 2022.

Microsoft Chopping Off Older Features From the Updated Windows 10

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Microsoft is about to launch its new features, added to Windows 10, in the month of October. It has released the list of features that will be added as well as to be removed, from Windows 10 with the Windows 10 Version 1809, for the Windows Insiders.

Microsoft wrote, “Each release of Windows 10 adds new features and functionality; we also occasionally remove features and functionality, usually because we’ve added a better option.”

windows 10
Image Source: blogspot.com

With every Windows update, Microsoft also removes the features, that users do not use or are not needed, anymore. Like the Hologram app, which was used to create 3D word art. Now, since, it has been removed from Windows 10, the user can use the Paint 3D, to create one and view it using the Mixed Reality Viewer. Other features that have been deprecated with the new Windows 10 updates are:

Phone Companion: Microsoft has dropped the Phone Companion app, as from now on, the user can use the Phone Page to connect the phone with the PC.

FontSmoothing setting in unattend.xml: The FontSmoothing setting was used to antialiasing the font, but now Window 10 will use ClearType by default and the FontSmoothing setting is no longer needed.

Business Scanning: Business scanning app also called Distributed Scan Management (DSM) will be dropped out from the Windows 10 new version as there are no devices available to use these apps.

Snipping Tool: The snipping tool is used to take screenshots is not completely removed, but Microsoft has stopped developing it, and in future can be replaced by Snip & Sketch app.

TPM: In the coming updates, Microsoft has shifted the information stored in the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) management console to the Device security page in the Windows Defender Security Center.

limpet.exe: The tool used for accessing the TPM for Azure connectivity will be released as an open source.

One Sync: Microsoft will no longer develop the OneSync service for the Mail, Calendar, and People apps, although, it will add a sync engine to the Outlook app that will perform the same task.

Microsoft also wrote, “We’re no longer publishing new updates to the WEDU server. Instead, you may secure any new updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog.”

Microsoft has also released a list of the new updates that will be added to Windows 10, including Companion device dynamic lock APIS, OneSync service, Snipping Tool.

Microsoft has not clearly mentioned the date when the Windows 10 Version 1809 will be out, but it will definitely be launched in the month of October.

Apple’s Next-Generation iOS 12 Available On the Latest iPhones

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Apple, on Monday, launched its iOS 12, two months later the announcement of its launch in June. The much-awaited Apple iOS 12 is out and is available for the iPhones and iPad released in 2013 and later. The new iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and XR model will have this version of iOS inbuilt. Last year the release of iOS 11 was quite a disappointment as those flashy updates could not do any better for the iPhone’s performance, but slowing down the speed. After iOS 11, all the older users have been sceptical about the new updates as it had worsened the performance of their phones instead of making any improvements.

The iOS 12 has been pushed out with the claims of having better performance and new features added to it. It is good to know that this time Apple has put all its efforts in enhancing the performance of the iPhones, i.e. 40 per cent faster speed. Unlike the iOS 11, that just had a few flashy changes and redesigned the look and the appearance of the OS and the Apps.

Apple iOS 12
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In the earlier iOS versions, there used to be 10 different notifications for a single app at the same time. Now, iOS 12 has introduced group notifications for a single app. You can now manually turn off or mute the notification, for any of the apps, to avoid the disturbing notification sounds.

Like the new Android 9, Apple has also become considerate about the screen time of the user. The iOS 12 has provided an option for tracking and limiting the time the user spends on a particular app or on the phone. You can also set the time of sleep, and the app will notify you to stop using the phone and the screen will become grey. Although, you can still continue running the phone by changing the settings.

Also, the iOS has also updated its password management by providing two-factor authentication services. Similar to the iPhone X, now you can also swipe between the apps, notifications, and access the control centre, using the gesture navigation. You can also add your conversations and instructions to Siri with its new shortcuts.

The iOS 12 is also added with the feature for creating the Avatars, by mixing emojis and animoji, i.e., Memoji. You can create custom animated Animoji avatars that you can use in the real time on top of live pictures, messages and videos. The feature is currently available in the latest iPhone XS, XS Max, or XR models.

There have been many other changes as well, including easy photo sharing, easy photo searching, easy browsing eBooks, real-time object measurements, improved ARKit 2, Google Maps embedded to CarPlay, Group Video calls for up to 32 users. The group call feature has not been launched yet and will be available by the end of the year.

It is great that Apple has been thinking of improving its performance instead of the design of the iOS. And, the smaller iPhones and the older iPads will also enjoy these features without worrying about the poor performance.

Verizon to Step into 5G Internet Service With its Home Broadband

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Verizon 5G
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Last year, in the November, Verizon had indicated the launch of its 5G home network, by the end of 2018. It has been working on its 5G network for a long time and finally, it has announced its launch to be on October 1st this year. The 5G home is simply concentrated on providing faster wireless network, that will be a huge growth in the mobile technology. The 5G home internet will be available in the American metro cities including Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, and will be simply called 5G home.

The world’s first 5G commercial service, 5G home, is currently open for subscriptions and the installation will start on 1st of October this year. The 5G home is going to provide a basic speed of 300 Mbps and can reach 1Gbps, with no data caps, depending upon the locality and the signal range.

The early subscribers will get benefits like free installation, free YouTube and complimentary services for three months, and, also a free Chromecast or Apple TV 4K. The cost for the Verizon’s existing customers for the 5G home will be $50 a month, while the new customers will be charged $70, for their monthly subscription.

The 5G home is not purely a 5G service, but, is claimed to be faster than the 4G and LTE data networks. The 5G home is restricted to only a few cities and is a home broadband network. T-mobile has also announced a better 5G network, in competition with the Verizon 5G service and companies like Sprint and LG, are planning to launch the first 5G smartphones in the coming year.

Gmail to Hold All Google Inbox Features After its Discontinuation

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It has been more than a decade when Gmail was launched as the Google’s primary e-mail platform. In 2014, Google introduced a new e-mail app Inbox, that was developed as an experimental platform for trying new features that could be added to Gmail.

On Wednesday, Google announced that it is going to say Goodbye to the Inbox app and will close it down for further use, in March 2019. The main reason for shutting it down is said to be that Google wants to focus on Gmail as its main e-mail platform. Many features like snoozing e-mails to later, Smart Reply, Nudges, high-priority notifications, were tested and implemented on Google’s Inbox. All of these features are already integrated into Gmail and are working successfully.

The Product Manager, Matthew Izatt said, “We want to take a more focused approach to help us bring the best e-mail experience to everyone. As a result, we’re planning to focus solely on Gmail and say goodbye to ‘Inbox’ at the end of March 2019.”

However, Google’s Inbox could not create much client base, the ones who have already used the Google’s Inbox, are entirely against the closing down of Google’s Inbox. Google has even created an information guide for the Inbox app users for their easy migration to Gmail. Many Inbox app users have tweeted against its shutting down, saying that moving from Google’s Inbox to Gmail would be like going back to the stone age.

Google has given a time period of almost six months for the Inbox users to get comfortable with Gmail. Izzat, through his blog, also said, “All your conversations are already waiting for you in Gmail,” that means the Inbox users do not have to manually shift their e-mails from Google’s Inbox to Gmail. With the new features added to Gmail in the April of this year, Google had already given a hint that there can be a change in its e-mail platforms.