How to apply cynoganmod 12.1 in your Android device

If you are looking to install CyanogenMod 12.1 on your Android device, but have no idea where to start, worry not as we are here. In this article, you will find all the details on how to install CM12.1 on your device, the pre-requisites, and other important things that you should be aware of.

e-requisites

It goes without saying that if you are interested in installing CM12.1 on your Android device, then it should be rooted with a custom recovery like TWRP or CWM installed. There is absolutely no other way to bypass this method.
If you own an Android device released in the last two years and it already has an official Android 5.1 build available for it, make sure to upgrade your device to it first. This will make sure that your bootloader and other low-level drivers are upgraded to work properly with the latest release of Lollipop.
Create a backup of all your important data on the handset. This includes your contacts, messages, music, photos and other important documents and files. You can also backup your app data using Titanium Backup, but I won’t recommend doing so since it can lead to compatibility issues when you try to restore it on CyanogenMod 12.1.
Select a build

The CyanogenMod team offers their ROM in two different flavours: Nightly and stable/Milestone. The former is meant for users who always like to get bleeding-edge features, even though it means sacrificing on stability sometimes. Nightly builds are released by the CyanogenMod team for their supported devices on a daily basis.

Milestone/Stable builds are released months after nightly builds for a particular version are released. For example, the first CM12.1 nightly builds started rolling out sometime in April, but it was only earlier this week that the CM team released the first stable build of the ROM for their supported devices.

You can download the Nightly or Milestone builds if CyanogenMod from their download page.

By default, CyanogenMod does not include any apps from Google due to licensing issues. You will have to flash a separate ZIP package, popularly known as the “GApps” package, to access Play Store, Maps and other services from Google on CyanogenMod. Thankfully, installing the Google Apps package is pretty easy. You can download the Google Apps package for CM12.1 from here.

Installation steps

Just like CyanogenMod 12 and any other custom ROM, the actual steps to install CM12.1 on any Android device are exactly the same as before.

Step 1: Transfer the CM12.1 ROM and the Google Apps package to the internal storage of your Android device. Double check to make sure that you have downloaded the correct build for your device.

Step 2: After transferring the ROM, you need to restart your Android device into Recovery mode. The procedure to boot into recovery mode is different for every Android device out there, and is usually a combination of the volume keys and power button.

If you don’t know the combination button to boot your Android device into recovery, download and use Quick Reboot from the Play Store. Open the app, select the ‘Recovery’ option. Make sure to grant it root access when prompted though.

Step 3: Once your device has booted into recovery mode, you need to wipe the /data and /system partitions of your Android device. Head over to the Wipe option, and then use the swipe bar at the bottom to do a factory reset of your Android device.

Do not use the format data option as it will wipe the internal storage of your Android device. To format the system partition, tap the ‘Advanced Wipe’ option, select ‘System’ from the list of partitions and then swipe the bottom bar to the right to confirm your selection.

Step 4: Now, you need to install CyanogenMod on your device by tapping on ‘Install’ button in TWRP and then navigating to the CyanogenMod ROM file that was transferred to your device in Step 1. If you are unable to find the ZIP file, make sure to check that you are inside /sdcard folder.

Step 5: Reboot your Android device by selecting the ‘Reboot system’ option. The first boot can take sometime, so be patient. Even if your device does not boot into Android after 10-15 minutes and is still stuck at the boot logo, repeat the above steps.

Step 6: If it does boot back into Android, switch off the handset once again and go into Recovery mode. You still need to install the Google Apps package, otherwise you will not gain access to Google Play Store and other suite of Google Apps. The process to install it remains the same; simply tap ‘Install’ and select the Google Apps ZIP file.

After the ZIP file has been installed, reboot your device back into Android. You can now set it up by logging into your Google account.

Upgrading from CyanogenMod 12 (CM12)

If you are already running CyanogenMod 12 on your Android device, you can easily upgrade your device to CyanogenMod 12.1. While you will be able to update to the stable release of CM12.1 without wiping your phone and losing any app data, you will need to make sure that you flash the compatible Google Apps package right after installing the ROM to avoid any compatibility issues.

Step 1: Download the latest CM12.1 nightly build and the compatible Android 5.1 Google Apps package, and transfer both files to the internal storage of your device.

Step 2: Boot your device into Recovery mode and flash the CM12.1 ROM without wiping the system or any other partition of the device. Then proceed to flash the Google Apps package and then reboot your device back into CyanogenMod.

The above steps will also work if you have modified the system partition of your CM12 running Android device by installing Xposed framework or anything similar. In case your device enters into a boot loop, you can try repeating the steps above. If that does not work, your only option will be to wipe your Android device and then install the ROM.

If you do end up installing CyanogenMod 12.1 on your device, do drop in a comment below and let us know how the installation experience was for you.

Octa-core vs Quad-core: Does it make a difference?

Quad-core or Octa-core: Is there a difference? Here's what you need to know about the processors packed into your smartphone and tablets

For smartphones in 2014 it was mostly about quad-core power. Now, a year later everyone is moving to octa-core processors. Whether its the Samsung Galaxy S6, the HTC One M9 or the recently announced OnePlus 2.

So is this really a big deal that we know have more cores powering our smartphones?

Octa-core chips have double the number of processor cores of quad-core chips, right? Yes. So they're pretty much twice as powerful, right? No. Not even close. It's not just about the numbers here.

And this is why some explanation of the difference between octa-core and quad-core is needed...

Smartphones Buyers Guide

Octa-core vs Quad-core: It's not about powerThe terms octa-core and quad-core denote the number of processor cores in a CPU. Octa is eight, quad is four. So far, so obvious.

But the key difference between the two – at least when talking about mobile chips in 2015 – is how these processor cores are set up.

In the case of quad-core chips, each core can be put to work simultaneously on a given task, enabling fast and fluid multitasking, smooth 3D gameplay, and super-speedy camera performance, among other things.

Modern octa-core chips, meanwhile, simply have two sets of quad-core processors, which split various tasks between them according to type. Most of the time, the lower-powered set of cores will be employed. When advanced tasks are needed, however, the faster set of four cores will kick in.

A more accurate term than octa-core, then, would be "dual quad-core". But that just sounds confusing, and it's not nearly so marketable. So, octa-core it is.

The table above shows multi-core benchmark performances of quad-core and octa-core smartphones and tablets 

Octa-core vs Quad-core: Purpose

What's the point of having two sets of quad-core processors handing off tasks to one another, then? It's all about energy efficiency.

The more powerful a CPU is, the more power it has to draw from a device's battery. This poses a problem, given that smartphone battery technology hasn't advanced at anywhere near the rate of mobile processor technology.

The result: as smartphones have gotten more advanced, so battery life has plummeted.

The truth, however, is that you don't really need that much processing power for the vast majority of smartphone tasks. Navigating through your home screens, checking messages, and even browsing the web aren't particularly power-hungry tasks.

However, HD video, gaming, and photo manipulation most certainly are.

Combined with the fact that CPU manufacturing processes have gotten so precise now that you can squeeze much more onto a single chip, the octa-core concept seems to be a practical, if slightly inelegant, way to lengthen a modern phone's battery life without compromising performance where it matters.

Octa-core vs Quad-core: Technology

All modern octa-core mobile chips are based on ARM's so-called big.LITTLE architecture.

This big.LITTLE octa-core architecture was announced in October 2011, enabling four low-power Cortex-A7 cores to operate with four high-performance Cortex-A15 cores. ARM has iterated on this setup every year since, providing more capable chips on both halves of the octa-core divide.

A number of major mobile chip manufacturers have based their efforts on this big.LITTLE, or octa-core, blueprint. One of the first and most notable was Samsung's own Exynos chip, which made its debut in Octa form – at least in some territories – with the Samsung Galaxy S4.

More recently, Qualcomm switched to the big.LITTLE octa-core setup with its new Snapdragon 810 CPU. This is the chip that powers the recently announced HTC One M9 and the LG G Flex 2.

At the start of the year, Nvidia unveiled the Tegra X1, its new super-powerful mobile processor that will be at the heart of the company's push into automotive computing. While the X1's headline feature is its console-challenging GPU, it also sees a shift to arm's big.LITTLE architecture. Yep, it's gone octa-core too.

Huawei's own Kirin 920 sported a similar big.LITTLE setup when it made its way into the Honor 6 late last year, while MediaTek is another chip manufacturer to adopt the big.LITTLE architecture with its MT6595 chip.

Octa-core vs Quad-core: Conclusion

So, what's the difference between octa-core and quad-core in the modern smartphone business? Very little, as it turns out.

That octa-core term is more than a little misleading, as it doesn't mean the doubling of quad-core multi-core performance that it suggests. Rather, it represents two independently operating quad-core set-ups squeezed together on one chip for the purpose of greater energy efficiency.

Is such an octa-core setup superior to a quad-core one? No, not necessarily. Apple manages to get decent energy efficiency and performance out of a dual-core setup, after all.

The latest news that Qualcomm's supposed processor of choice for smartphones in 2015 will be a 'quad-core' based Snapdragon 820 set up supports this as well. Having gone octa-core for its top end Snapdragon 810 and the mid-range 615 processors this year, both have had their issues. The 810 had the more high profile overheating issues that we experienced with the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus and the LG G Flex 2.

The problem could lie with Qualcomm's decision to swap four Krait cores for ARM's Cortex low-power cores, but it's clear that the company has taken a step backwards to hopefully repair the damage done this year and get manufacturers like Samsung back on board.

ARM's octa-core big.LITTLE blueprint can be seen as one possible solution among several to a long-standing smartphone problem – awful battery life. Once someone solves that particular issue, we suspect that we'll see the end of this curious dual quad-core setup.

Andriod Vs ios pros and cons compared

BlackBerry and Windows Phone are practically non-existent now, so for most of us, the choice of which phone platform to buy into comes down to choosing between iOS and Android. Since their launch in 2007 and 2008, iOS and Android respectively have had their share of fan following.

It is obvious that Android dominates the smartphone market share worldwide by virtue of its presence across wider price brackets, and being offered by a variety of phone makers. Apple has consistently maintained a healthy share of the global market despite having only about a relative minuscule number of devices on sale each year.

For the past few years, September has been the month when Apple unveils its new iPhones. While a new Android phone is launched almost daily these days, Google also usually introduces one Nexus phone a year, typically in October. Along with new hardware, this is also the time when both companies release the latest versions of their mobile operating systems.

Both companies have, over the years, made strong cases for why a user should choose them. This means that a typical iOS versus Android debate could run on for hours. Over the years, both operating systems have been filling the gaps, and Android has become more polished over time, while iOS became more flexible.

So how does one choose? Here is a list of pros for both platforms that should help you decide the camp you belong to.

Things you gain with Android

1) More functional apps

This is evident with useful apps like the TrueCaller family; a bunch of no-input expense logging apps like Smart Spends and Walnut; automation apps like SpeakerPhone Ex and Tasker. Due to limitations of iOS platform, the ones mentioned above either don't work as well or don't work at all on an iPhone. On Android, apps like these that can truly make the most advantage of the phone's capabilities.

2) Lower cost of ownership

The 'Apple Tax' is a term used to describe the premium one has to pay to own Apple products. Android phone makers have been consistently trying to price their flagship phones as high as iPhones for years, but most of them end up quickly discounting the price, to sell better. Then there are the new-age upstarts like Xiaomi and OnePlus that thrive on selling phones with near-high-end features at a cost that's less than half of what Apple charges for its flagship device.

It is not only the iPhones that sell at a premium. A simple charging cable from Apple for your iPhone will cost you an excess of a thousand rupees. Even upping the storage capacity from the base 16GB on an iPhone to the next step (64GB) costs Rs. 10,000 - the same amount of money required to buy a usable Android phone these days.

3) Innovative hardware features

Due to stiff competition amongst Android smartphones, phone manufacturers go the extra mile to innovate on the hardware front, as Google covers most of the software side of the story. As a result, you get phones with nifty useful features like an IR blaster, which lets you control TVs, set top boxes and other appliances in your home, via your phone. Front-facing stereo speakers are great while consuming audio-visual content without hacky solutions like holding your hand behind the speakers on an iPhone to bounce the sound back.

And in markets like India, many people also prefer using two SIM cards at the same time. Dual SIMs were largely restricted to entry-level phones at first, but today, you'll see dual SIM options in phones like the LG G4 and the OnePlus 2.

There are a lot of other features you can get if you go with Android thanks to the large number of phones out there. You'll find phones with double-sided displays, screens that curve at the edge, andwireless charging, to name just a few new features.

It's not to say the iPhone doesn't have any hardware features to boast about - things like a capacitive multi-touch display with the original iPhone, the Retina Display with the iPhone 4, the fingerprint-scanning Touch ID with the iPhone 5s, and the 3D Touch-toting iPhone 6s are some of the innovations that the rest of the industry has followed suit on.

4) Tight Google Integration

Apple makes its money selling hardware, Google makes its by selling ads. Since iOS is the second biggest OS in terms of market share after Android, Google makes all its services available to iPhone users.

But although Google has made several apps for iPhone, they are just not as well integrated as they are on Android, and this can matter a lot if you're highly reliant on Google's services.

Take the example of voice commands - say you want to translate ¿Cómo estás? to English. On an Android phone, just saying "Okay, Google" and then repeating that phrase will get you the answer. Or say you want to send a WhatsApp message to a friend using voice - it's doable with "Okay, Google". This kind of stuff is not possible with Siri, Apple's virtual assistant today, as it does not integrate with third-party apps. There is a Google app for iOS, it's just an app and not a part of the OS like on Android.

Take another example - every time somebody shares a location with you on WhatsApp, Apple Maps will open up by default, not Google Maps. And we all know how helpful Apple Maps are in India.

5) Deeper customisation 

No need to elaborate on this one too much - almost everybody's aware of the fact that you can customise Android to the way you like. Don't like the homescreen or lockscreen? Change it. Don't like how the default fonts look? Change them too. Want to open your favourite app when you swipe up anywhere on the home screen? No problem.

These are things you can do easily on Android, without any heavy modification to the software the phones comes preinstalled with; doing similar things on iOS is only possible by jailbreaking your device.

With Android, customisation has been allowed since day one, and that has also allowed hardware manufacturers to create their own flavours of Android. Phones like the OnePlus One were successful not only because of their bang-for-the-buck hardware, but also because of the highly-customisable variant of Android that came preinstalled on the device.

6) A universal charging port 

Last but not the least, there's a good chance you won't miss carrying your phone charger everywhere if you're using Android. The Micro-USB port is ubiquitous amongst all phone makers except for Apple. A transition to USB Type-C is now underway, which will cause some hiccups, but it's something that will quickly be resolved. On the other hand, even though Apple has adopted USB Type-C in the new MacBook, there is little indication that it will replace the proprietary Lightning port anytime soon on iOS devices.

Things you gain with iOS

1) Timely OS updates, and updates to older devices

The biggest advantage when the same company makes the hardware and software is timely updates. The newest iOS 9 update hit 50 percent of all devices in just 4 days. Android Lollipop reached 21 percent in 10 months, iOS 9 crossed that in 48 hours.

Android phone makers usually promise one major Android update for each handset. The iPhone 4s has received four major iOS updates since its launch 2011. I doubt there is any Android phone in the market that was made in 2011 that is running the latest version of the OS, which could bring in a host of new features and be a new lease of life to an old phone.

Sometimes important security fixes also are a part of newer updates, which will be hard for Android users to get.

2) Negligible fragmentation

Google generally releases a new version of Android every year, most manufacturers then take that OS and make their own variation of it (the manufacturers "skins", such as TouchWiz, HTC Sense, MIUI et al) and then sell it to customers. Then next year, Google releases the next Android software update. For Android phone makers to keep supporting older hardware with new versions of Android is tedious and cost-intensive (remember they stop selling that model after a year or two anyway) so you get lots of Android phones on the market, all of which are running different versions of the OS.

Then there's fragmentation within manufacturers' own UI overlays. Look at TouchWiz on a Note 4 and a Galaxy S6, and you'll notice they're not exactly the same and they have separate timelines for updates. Or let's take the example of how Xiaomi's MIUI 6 chose to keep some of its own feature implementations instead of Google's, while running Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Then there's hardware fragmentation that causes further software fragmentation, as there are a wide variety of screen sizes and display resolutions, processors, and different amounts of RAM available to developers.

With iOS, there is negligible software fragmentation as there are only a handful devices with fixed screen resolutions, processing power and hardware capabilities. With different screen sizes and multiple models, the iPhone is slightly more fragmented than it was a few years ago, but it is still a tiny variance, when compared to Android.

3) Unmatched cross-device syncing if you use other Apple products

This is a big plus if you're the owner of multiple Apple products. Thanks to software-hardware integration, no other software ecosystem lets you take phone calls that come to your phone on your computer without installing any additional software, then reply to SMSs from your tablet, and pick up an article you were reading on a tablet on your phone, right at the point where you left off.

4) Consistent hardware upgrade cycles

Many iPhone loyalists usually stick to a two to three year upgrade cycle. The reliable software updates are also an incentive to stick to your current iPhone, knowing that you'll get the same software features as the new one (unless they're hardware-dependent). Also, since 2011, a new iPhone consistently comes out by September each year. This is reassuring since you're buying something knowing when the next version is going to be out.

With Android, there's far too much distraction, with so many manufacturers vying for your attention with their devices. Unless you're loyal to one Android phone maker, the timelines are all messed up with tempting Android phones launching all along the year. You buy one thing, and some other phone maker will come up with their next best in a few months, making you yearn for a feature or two that it has, and yours doesn't.

5) A variety of high-quality, creative apps 

Two years ago, apps on iOS were better designed than the ones on Android. In the past two years, we've seen more and more developers make Android apps look good. Today, a fair share of apps we use on Android are certainly not poorly-designed. But iOS still holds the pedestal for good looking apps. Not only are apps well-designed, but some really excel in terms of their creativity. For example, the famous Paper app is to date exclusively for iOS. Infinity Blade, a game with cult following, has remained iOS exclusive for all three versions. One wonders if it would have ever gotten paid downloads in the same numbers, had it released on Android.

You may say there's a certain superiority complex among iOS-exclusive developers, but it boils down to the fact that iOS users are more willing to pay for apps than Android users and that they're simply pandering to that audience, by going the extra mile.

6) Comparatively lesser malware 

Apple's "walled garden" of apps comes with certain benefits when it comes to malware. Apple doesn't let you tinker with the OS in any meaningful way, and doesn't (for all practical purposes) let you install apps without using the App Store. It does not permit third-party app stores, and has stringent measures to prevent malicious apps from entering the app store. Okay, maybe this is a bad week to be writing this, but it's generally true.

Add to that the fact that Android has the lion's share of the global market, which makes it an appealing target for malware makers, the same way Windows users tend to get targeted more on PCs.

So there you have it - both platforms compared in 2015. Personally, I've kept swapping between Android and iOS every few years and although currently I swear by Android, iOS only has one shortcoming, in my view, the fact that I can't have system-wide default apps that don't belong to Apple. Come iOS 10, I hope Apple will finally let me pick Gmail as the default mail app.

YU yureka mobiles specs

Yu Yureka

• REVIEW
• KEY SPECS
• NEWS

• Design
• Display
• Software
• Performance
• Battery life
• Camera
• Value for money

• Good
• Good performance
• Great camera
• Highly customisable Cyanogen OS
• LTE support

• Bad
• Average battery life

detailed specifications

GENERAL

Alternate names	AO5510
Release date	December 2014
Form factor	Touchscreen
Dimensions (mm)	154.80 x 78.00 x 8.80
Weight (g)	177.00
Battery capacity (mAh)	2500
Removable battery	Yes
Colours	Moonstone Grey
SAR value	NA

DISPLAY

Screen size (inches)	5.50
Touchscreen	Yes
Resolution	720x1280 pixels
Pixels per inch (PPI)	267

HARDWARE

Processor	1.5GHz  octa-core
Processor make	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615
RAM	2GB
Internal storage	16GB
Expandable storage	Yes
Expandable storage type	microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB)	32

CAMERA

Rear camera	13-megapixel
Flash	Yes
Front camera	5-megapixel

SOFTWARE

Operating System

Cyanogen OS 11

CONNECTIVITY

Wi-Fi	Yes
Wi-Fi standards supported	802.11 b/ g/ n
GPS	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes, v 4.00
NFC	No
Infrared	No
Wi-Fi Direct	No
MHL Out	No
HDMI	No
Headphones	3.5mm
FM	Yes
Number of SIMs	2
SIM 1
SIM Type	Micro-SIM
GSM/ CDMA	GSM
3G	Yes
4G/ LTE	Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40)	Yes
SIM 2
SIM Type	Micro-SIM
GSM/ CDMA	GSM
3G	Yes
4G/ LTE	Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40)	Yes

SENSORS

Compass/ Magnetometer	No
Proximity sensor	Yes
Accelerometer	Yes
Ambient light sensor	Yes
Gyroscope	Yes
Barometer	No
Temperature sensor	No

Top 5 future ventures of Facebook

The user base of Facebook has already touched a billion in the recent past and the social networking giant is having a valuation of $240 billion but this stupendous growth story is not all that important compared to the great futuristic projects the company has for the users. Yes, over the years Facebook developed itself as a brand that is more intent on adding or creating value for the users and taking leads with an array of user friendly features. Here we explain top 5 upcoming projects of Facebook.

UAVs for providing network in remote areas

This is viewed as one of the top future projects of Facebook. For quite some time Facebook is planning to provide internet network in remote areas for its users with the help of UAVs. Recent speculation about Facebook’s buying of solar powered drones only confirms that. For sometime under the banner of Facebook.org the company is trying to bring internet connection for everybody around the world. Though it is still not clear how various nations would take these drones from the point of view of security, the move is supposed to leverage far greater access for the brand.

Flipboard like mobile news reader

Facebook is launching soon its own news reader service that shares the news contents shared by the users. This new Flipboard like news reader feature is developed with a view of making its mobile app more popular. The shared news published on a mobile friendly visual design format can help the readers to track potential news of their interests. As per latest reports, the project has found particular favor from Mark Zuckerberg and the design is planned keeping high end mobile devices in mind.



New version for office use

Work based social network sites like LinkedIn for some time giving Facebook a bit of competition, especially among professional people. To address this finally Facebook is going to launch a new version of its site keeping the demands of work based social network in mind. According to reports, this new website of Facebook dubbed as ‘Facebook at Work’ will offer an array of workplace features like chatting with colleagues, connecting professional contacts and collaborating with official documents. Even though the version has been rolled out for official use it will also allow users to keep their personal profiles. Expectedly enough, the move will create new viability of Facebook for the professionals and office users. This is one of those future projects of Facebook which is capable of enhancing its reach even inside the so called forbidden territory right now.

Self destruct timer for deleting photos

    This is one of the most exciting future projects of Facebook. Reportedly, Facebook is going to launch a new feature for automatic deleting of posts and photos. Dubbed as ‘self destruct timer’ the feature would help users to delete a photo or post automatically at the preferred time from their Facebook page. With this feature you can schedule deletion of a photo or post in your Facebook profile. A small amount of users already received this feature as part of test run drive.
 
 New App ‘Moments’ for great private sharing

How many times you have experienced that the privacy settings for sharing your Facebook content with a few selected ones failed? Yes, keeping that thing and the corresponding demand for privacy in mind Facebook is all set to launch a standalone app for private sharing. Named as ‘Moments’ this app would allow users to share their photos, media and contents within a selected group of few members. The app presently going under tests for bugs is expected to be launched anytime soon.


  Facebook as the largest social networking brand with greatest reach is always committed to add more value to the user experience and these new future projects of Facebook are only a testimony to that.

Michael Dell defends PCs against the iPad Pro

Who would have thought that the battle between Macs and PCs would take place in London? But that's precisely the location as Dell CEO Michael Dell fired back in an interview with the UK Telegraph to explain that the PC is not dead, despite Apple CEO Tim Cook's claims in an earlier interview with the same publication.

Some 13 years after Apple debuted its "I'm a Mac" campaign to extoll the virtues of its computers over a Windows machine, the renewed battle today is being fought by the iPad Pro and tradtional PCs.

"The post-PC era has been great for the PC. When the post-PC era started there were about 180 [million] PCs being sold a year and now it's up to over 300 [million], so I like the post-PC era," Mr. Dell said.

The ultimate computer

As the iPad Pro went on sale earlier this week, Cook said that he travels only with the 12.9-inch slate and an iPhone.

Cook asked, "I think if you're looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?" Apple has been busily promoting its new iPad Pro, which runs the mobile iOS software and not the desktop-class OS X operating system, as a PC replacement for "many, many people."

The tablet market

The success of the iPad Pro will be important for both Apple and Dell. Even though Apple's iPad line of tablets remain the market leader, consumers are not upgrading as quickly as Apple would have hoped, and Apple's larger screen smartphones are cannibalizing on sales of its slates.

Similarly, the PC market has been in decline. However, analysts forecast a bright spot with hybrid devices, also known as convertibles, which can replace both a laptop and a tablet, much in the same vein that Apple has been pitching the iPad Pro. PC makers are replicating the success that Microsoft has been having with its Surface line of slates. Dell even announced a re-imagined XPS 12 convertible with a 4K display and keyboard dock.

For a commercial device to be successful, it must satisfy the security and manageability needs of IT, be driven by design and a simple UI and come with peripherals that enhance productivity, said Raza Haider, Executive Director of Dell's Commercial PC Product Group.

Dell and its PC rivals may also soon get a boost from businesses as they begin the upgrade process to Windows 10 and Intel's new Skylake processors.

Intel is also pushing for PC users to upgrade their hardware. With more than half a billion PCs on the market that are more than five years old, Intel claims that Skylake will offer a vastly superior experience than what users are accustomed to.

The future

Even though the PC market remains vital to Mr. Dell's company, it's finding more competition from smaller, connected devices that are getting more powerful. Internet of Things devices collect more data, and there is incentive for companies to understand the data.

Apple is making a push into this space. In his interview, Cook hinted that Apple is working on a connected health-focused wearable device that will collect more data.

Last month at Dell World in Austin, Texas, Mr. Dell touched on the importance of his $67 billion acquisition of data storage provider EMC. The deal, one of the largest in tech history, also includes VMWare, which will allow Dell to progress in the cloud business. Dell and EMC could help other companies, like Apple, build servers to store, manage and analyze the collected data.

As Apple and Dell are fighting for consumer dollars, both companies are united in their views of privacy.

"To protect people who use any products, you have to encrypt," Cook explained. "You can just look around and see all the data breaches that are going on."

Mr. Dell and Cook are both staunch opponents of the UK's Investigatory Powers Bill, which would force technology companies to create encryption backdoors for law enforcement purposes.

"The reason it's a horrible idea is if you have a back door it's not just the people you want to get in that are going to get in, it's also the people you don't want to get in," Mr. Dell explained. "All of the technical experts pretty much agree on this.

Canon G series - A camera which is portable and professional in use

Canon’s G line of cameras are meant to offer better quality and controls than the typical cheap-o point and shoot. With two new members of the family, the G9X and the G5X, you have whole lot of options, depending just how much camera you want to carry.

Last year with the G7X Canon introduced a very nice 20 megapixel one-inch sensor into a pocket-size camera. This year’s G3X housed the same sensor but with a big ol’ zoom lens attached. These new cameras are similar beasts. They have the same one-inch sensor, which means they’ll have very similar image quality. The big differences are their size and external features.

G5X - $800

The G5X is the beefier of the new cams, and it is mostly so because it features a built-in 2.36 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder. Yay!


EVFs have been growing steadily in performance and popularity, and Canon has stubbornly refused to include one in its cameras until now. I was baffled that the G3X didn’t have one. So it’s about time. Viewfinders makes it easier to shoot in bright light and add stability when holding the camera to your face.


The lens is the same 24-100mm f/1.8-2.8 equivalent glas, used on the G7X. The camera inherits the Digic 6 processor as well inside. Additions include a hot-shoe for a microphone or flash, as well as an extra dial on the front for controlling exposure more easily. The camera aslo adds an LCD that flip-outs fully rotates.

G9X - $530

Smallest possible footprint is the approach with the G9X. It’s about the size of Canon’s older Powershot cameras like the S120 and S100. You’ll have no problem fitting this one in a pants pocket. It too has the same sensor and processor as its latest G-series brethren.


Of course, there are also fewer buttons and dials. You’ll be forced to rely on Canon’s touch interface for most settings changes—which isn’t the end of the world! Canon has pretty well-designed touch menu functionality. There is also a control ring around the lens, which performs different functions depending on the mode and settings.What you’re giving up with the small size is the tilting LCD—the G5X has a completely flat and fixed display, and some zoom range. Instead of a 24-100mm lens, the G9X has a 28-84mm f/2.8-4.9.

What else?

Like the G7X, both new cameras shoot 1080p video, but it should be the same crappy quality as before. Which sucks hard. Why Canon can’t offer decent video quality in their consumer cams is beyond me.

Other than that, I commend Canon for offering so many options in size and configuration with the G series. One size truly does not fit all when it comes to cameras, and Canon is recognizing that. The G5X and the G9X will both ship in November.

The last announcement by Canon is that of the EOS M10. It’s a new member of their almost-forgotten mirrorless camera lineup. The M10 is an entry-level version, with few bells and whistles. In terms of quality and overall makeup, it’s the same as the original EOS M with an 18 megapixel sensor. It does have an updated autofocus system to match the more advanced M3.

Oh, an the display now rotates upwards for selfie .

Hypersonic planes-A concept for timesaving future transp

Hypersonic Airliner concept who cross Atlantic in Just 40 Minutes

Sketched out by Canadian engineer and inventor, Charles Bombardier, this concept hypersonic airliner can theoretically cross the pond in just over 40 minutes! In chronological ascending order, we have the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927 in which Charles Lindbergh took 33 hours, 30 minutes, 29.8 seconds to cross the Atlantic ocean. Direct flights on large jets today last around six and a half hours. The (now defunct) supersonic Concorde could do it in three and a half hours. Finally, the Bombardiers Skreemr can achieve this feat in less than an hour.

Combining three fast technologies: rockets, scramjets, and magnetic rails, this airliner is headed for the win. First, the plane would accelerate along a special runway, much like this sled is hurtled from an aircraft carrier into the sea by an electromagnetic catapult. This was the magnetic rails part. Then, the rockets would get to work and boost the acceleration. The Scramjets would kick in once the supersonic speed is attained to further accelerate this jet to four times the speed of sound.

The goal with a capacity of 75 passengers is to use clean electricity for the magnetic rails and hydrogen fuel cells for the plane itself, as befits a largely hypothetical craft. Bombardier says, “the Skreemr concept aims to ignite your imagination around this idea.”

While such similar designs are expected to come up in the future, the airliner still has at least a century to see reality.