Analyst Says Cheap iPhone Makes Sense After Meeting With Apple

We’ve been hearing a number of stories in regards to the existence of a low-budget iPhone for months now. A number of analysts not only believe a budget iPhone does exist, but a number of them believe we could be seeing it debut as early as this summer. Another analyst is making some noise today saying a cheap iPhone launching this summer makes sense.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty is convinced a low-budget iPhone is in Apple’s future after meeting with Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer. She notes a number of reasons why a low-budget iPhone absolutely makes sense:

“1) iPad Mini is expanding Apple’s customer base with 50% of purchases in China/Brazil representing new customers to the ecosystem.

2) Chinese consumers show a desire to purchase the latest version of iPhone (instead of discounted older generations).

3) iPhone 4 demand surprised to the upside in the December quarter. Even at a low 40% gross margin and 1/

3 cannibalization rate, we see an “iPhone Mini” as incremental to revenue and gross profit dollars.”

We’re not sure exactly what Oppenheimer said  that made her feel so confident as to the existence of a low-budget iPhone, but for a meeting to make her speak out in support of the new smartphone has certainly made things interesting.

Goal Line Tech Will Feature in the 2014 Soccer World Cup

FIFA has announced that—finally!—goal line technology will be used to assess whether balls really do cross the line at the 2014 soccer World Cup, which is due to be held in Brazil.

Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, explained that goal line technology was successfully tested in the Club World Cup in December, so it's been given the green light for use in the 2014 World Cup.

Two systems—Goalref and Hawkeye—were used at the Club World Cup, reports the BBC, but it remains to be seen which one will be chosen for the competition in 2014. While they both provide concrete evidence as to whether the ball ever crossed the line to score an official goal, they're completely different systems: Goalref uses magnetic sensors to determine where the ball is, while Hawkeye uses cameras.

But FIFA is opening the contract up to any company that chooses to tender, so there will likely be some stiff competition. Now all we need is for every other sport to embrace these kinds of systems, too.

Chrome Delivers Voice Recognition Capability To The Internet

If you deal with web applications, or are currently looking into such an endeavor, I think you would be stoked to hear that today’s Chrome stable release will introduce support for the Web Speech API that was originally discussed in January, where it will allow developers to take advantage of speech recognition capabilities into their web apps. Just in case you want to get a better idea on how integrated voice recognition in a web app would work and look like, there is this particular demonstration that should pique your attention.

The demonstration would show just how you can speak to the web app in order to compose an email from scratch, now how about that? Apart from that, today’s release will also do away with the silent extension installs in Chrome for Windows. There is one very good reason for doing to – this ensures that Chrome will remain fast and safe to use, making sure that your consent is required for every extension that is about to be installed on your computer. The auto-update feature would mean you need not actively seek out the update, as these enhancements will arrive as the release rolls out. Bear in mind that you need Chrome version 25 or later for this voice recognition API to work.

Madhuri gets tech savvy!!

After making her Twitter debut and starting her website, Madhuri Dixit has another treat for her digital fans - she has launched a mobile app to stay in touch with them. Her team came up with the idea, which will enable users to get the latest updates from the actor and developments from her life. Madhuri says, "I wanted to give something back to the fans for all these years of love that they have given me. Earlier, my fans used to write me letters, but now the world has changed, so we made an app. We wanted to integrate everything under one roof so that updates from Twitter, Facebook and other happenings in my life will directly reach my admirers. I also like hearing their comments, so it's a wonderful way of keeping in touch with them."
The app will provide a behindthe-scenes exclusive look into Madhuri's life and there are other tabs where you can read about her opinion on the latest films and music. Fans will also get an opportunity to know about her favourite music and movies, and there are also tips on beauty and health.
The actor adds, "It's not just one section of my personality but many other things that I want to share with my fans which this app allows me to do." Information will be updated on a weekly basis for now with plans to go daily.
Madhuri is excited about the response so far. The app was launched a month ago on iTunes and Google Play. "There have been 10,000 downloads already. This is just the beginning as there's a lot more that we are planning to do in the digital media," says Madhuri.

Scientists develop computer that never crashes

Depending on what you are doing, a computer crash can be classified as anything from a minor annoyance to a complete disaster. I’ve been experiencing some BSODs lately of unknown origin and let me be the first to tell you, it’s pretty darn annoying when you are right in the middle of something important – like work – and everything shuts down before you get a chance to save.

Fortunately, researchers and scientists at the University College London have come up with a solution they say will end computer crashes forever.

Today’s computers typically work procedurally by pulling data from memory, working on the data then sending it back to memory. This usually happens in a fixed order and until something goes wrong, all is well. When a process fails or crashes for whatever reason, however, everything hits the fan and the computer will often times lock up. The computer that UCL has developed is different in the fact that data and instructions are essentially mirrored across several different systems. The systems work simultaneously although independent of each other – the only thing they share is a section of memory for context-sensitive data.

In the event that one system crashes or data becomes corrupted, the computer is able to rebuild that set of data from another system and start fresh again. The systems are said to execute in a random order using a pseudorandom number generator that acts as a task scheduler.

At this point, performance isn’t all that great but there’s certainly room to improve upon. If you’re interested in learning more about this developing technology, the developers will present their findings at the IEEE International Conference on Evolvable Systems in April.

Researchers testing frugal autonomous car system, aim for $150 price tag

Google certainly has pockets deep enough to trick out self-driving cars with any kind of pricey gear, but researchers at the University of Oxford have begun testing a solution that aims to keep things affordable. Currently, the system leverages an array of low-profile stereo cameras and lasers that rings up at about £5,000 (approximately $7,750), but the next goal is to knock the price down to £500, and eventually to a cool £100 (roughly $150). "Really, we do need to solve the engineering challenges of not relying on expensive sensors, but relying on cheap sensors," Professor Paul Newman told the Telegraph. "But doing some really smart things with those cheap sensor feeds."

Rather than a vehicle that acts as a chauffeur at all times, Newman's vision for the modified Nissan Leaf, dubbed RobotCar, is for it to take control on select occasions. While drivers go about their commute, the system composes a 3D map of the car's environs and commits it to memory. When the auto identifies a familiar setting and feels confident about its ability to take the reigns, it could let the driver know it's ready to assume control. Right now, the automobile's been tested on private roads, but the team behind it is working with the UK's Department of Transportation to roll it onto public streets. Head past the jump for a glimpse of RobotCar in action.

Eartha - world’s Largest Rotating Globe

Eartha is a 3-dimensional scale model of our Earth, made by map maker DeLorme, Eartha, with mountains and landforms in full 3D, that rotates and revolves, simulating the earth’s real movements.
It has the title of “World’s Largest Revolving Globe” by the editors of the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999. The 1:1,000,000 scale replica measures 41.5ft. in diameter.