Bharat Ganrajya

Nokia 6 is a good option in 15k price range

Mahakala wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:57 am

Raja wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:00 am

Remember you heard it here first (OK in the now departed BRF Phone, Tablet & Gizmo thread):

Apple may only ship half the number of iPhone X devices it originally planned to this year

Issues with their SE as mentioned moons ago...what's strange is they couldn't fix it yet.

SE?

Secure Enclave

another munna this time a food czar in the bag
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/us/j ... icle-click

Here in Dera Mahab Ali, Deepika Padupadukone and her bae are pitching Oppo and Vivo from every post pillar and wall.

Singha wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:48 am

another munna this time a food czar in the bag
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/us/j ... icle-click

How come I don’t see a deluge of articles on NYT and ToIlet claiming US is the sexual predator capital of the world?? They were pretty quick to label India the rape capital of the world.

DeusEx wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 24, 2017 7:46 pm

Singha wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 04, 2017 3:48 am

i observe the middle class now avoid these junks and go with samsung or apple. even xiaomi and one plus are not so popular outside a narrow itvity munna segment which is a rounding error vs total market size.

You're correct about OnePlus but Xiaomi is huge. Like two digit percentage huge. Beats even Samsung.
Source: data from large eCommerce company operating in India

Based on RedMi being the largest selling device? Shipping unit data is not available for India in general so folks refer to quarterly IDC reports.

Q1 2017
Q2 2017

Impact of GST
The IDC report also provides some data on the impact of GST (Goods and Services Tax) on smartphone market. A GST rate of 12% was implemented on smartphones from July, which affected shipments in the second quarter as the focus was on clearing out the existing inventory before GST kicked in. A total of 28 million smartphones were shipped in Q2 2017. This marks a modest quarter on quarter growth of 3.7% and a year on year growth of 1.6%.

However, phone makers' decision to absorb the increased price due to GST helped to stabilise the pricing and the impact on sales.
First Published: Thu, Aug 17 2017. 12 18 PM IST

Unless a hefty surcharge is imposed on the imports, local assembly will shrivel.

They're not ones to preach really. An entire football squad plus officials plus coach covered up sexual abuse. Forgot the name of that place. And that is one school.

OK this is a really bad idea...surprised something like this got productized on Amazon which is more hardnosed about these things unlike Chacha....
Amazon Key is a new service that lets couriers unlock your front door

Instead they could have made a home mailbox version of their Amazon locker which gets connected to the cloud via the home's WiFi and has options for wall power and solar power.

BMW Self-Driving car will come out in 2021

Here's the interesting part - their self-driving cars were already doing daily roundtrips on 101 from SF to LA & back, in 2010. And it will take them till 2021 to bring out a level 3 autonomous vehicle suitable for consumer use. That's how much effort it takes to productize self-driving cars if legal stuff is in place. And outfits like WayMo who are not even at 70% of where these guys are, want to sell snake oil and claim they will productize faster. Possibly but certainly not safe products.

in india there is already a drop box in some apts and areas called Quikpod to receive couriers.
http://qikpod.com/

one part of my apt complex has it.

My dad sent me this news. He had met Kilby several times at TI campus when they both were there.

Prototype of Texas Instruments-Invented Microchip to be Auctioned Off in Dallas

One of the most important items in technology history is up for sale in Dallas next week. On Nov. 4, Dallas' Heritage Auctions will sell a early prototype of the world's first microchip. The minimum bid is set at $350,000.

Texas Instruments engineer Jack Kilby designed the first microchip, then known as the integrated circuit, at the company's Dallas campus in 1958.

"It was in a relatively deserted laboratory at TI's brand-new Semiconductor Building where Jack Kilby first hit on the idea of the integrated circuit," the TI website relates. "In July 1958, when most employees left for the traditional two-week vacation period, Kilby — as a new employee with no vacation — stayed to man the shop."

His invention solved a problem commonly known as the "tyranny of numbers," which referred to the very large computers necessary to house the number of components required to build them. Kilby's chip allowed multiple circuit components to be etched on a single piece of semiconductive material, vastly reducing the size of computers.

More on the Fruit FaceID SE fiasco....

Inside Apple’s Struggle to Get the iPhone X to Market on Time

I love gems of BS like this:

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said “Bloomberg’s claim that it reduced the accuracy spec for Face ID is completely false and we expect Face ID to be the new gold standard for facial authentication. The quality and accuracy of Face ID haven't changed; it continues to be one in a million probability of a random person unlocking your iPhone with Face ID.” (someone ask Trudy bibi what is the FRR for that 1:1M FAR?)

faceid will surely work, as everyone will follow apple into it.
enough money will be thrown at it like JSF to make it work.

It will eventually work. Not yet. Not enough data.

Raja wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:17 am

It will eventually work. Not yet. Not enough data.

Then why did they release it?
Mahdi would have thrown a major fit.

KJo wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:59 pm

Raja wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:17 am

It will eventually work. Not yet. Not enough data.

Then why did they release it?
Mahdi would have thrown a major fit.

After the Mahdi died, Fruit has been releasing buggy half baked stuff for a long time now. But that's not the case with Face ID. Its not buggy and they solved major technology challenges which folks like Chacha don't even know exist; it just doesn't have enough data to learn yet. And the way to learn best is to have it deployed in the field across the Fruit fan club base. So chicken and egg problem onlee. Right now I would expect their effective FRR to be no greater than 5% for 1:1M FAR, perhaps even 10-15%.

They have an advantage though. No matter how imperfect their system is, their fan boys will claim it is the best giving them enough time to get it working better

There are NIST benchmark tests where the algos go to get their badges. Have been trying to read up on OpenCv and other alternatives to see if it was possible to build a commercial alternative using open source software. Apparently the accuracy is just horrible. Raja, do you have any insights?

In other news, the X is out of stock everywhere. No chance of preorders either.

The matching algorithms for biometrics like fingerprint are closely guarded IP and rarely protected by patents.

Here in the US the X is available for order but delivery is 5-6 weeks.

Anybody interested in iWatch3? I just ordered mine. Had long delayed getting one but have been using the iW2 for about six months now and it has changed my life. The big reason to upgrade for me is that the new version has an independent cellular antenna thus eliminating the need to be in bluetooth range of your phone. The battery life sucks but for my purposes it is alright.

It will coat $300 to replace a broken ipX screen

Primus wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:13 pm

Here in the US the X is available for order but delivery is 5-6 weeks.

Anybody interested in iWatch3? I just ordered mine. Had long delayed getting one but have been using the iW2 for about six months now and it has changed my life. The big reason to upgrade for me is that the new version has an independent cellular antenna thus eliminating the need to be in bluetooth range of your phone. The battery life sucks but for my purposes it is alright.

How did it change your life? I would say it is YOU who changed your life. Studies have shown that smart watches have not really contributed to improving a person's health. I don't know if the Apple Watch is a good activity tracker. It seems to do a lot of things well, but for fitness seems questionable. Perhaps Raja can answer this as a runner. For cycling, having the ANT+ standard to keep track of cadence and speed are desirable, which the AW doesn't have.

BhairavP wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 28, 2017 4:07 am

In other news, the X is out of stock everywhere. No chance of preorders either.

From what I understand, next year all new iPhones will have face recognition. The iPhone X and 8 have the same processor and benchmarks indicate they are comparable. The battery life on the iPX seems to be questionable comparing it to the iP8+. I'll wait until there are some real-world use before ordering one in March. Using the iP7+ and iP8+, the iP8+ seems to have a bit more speed and finesse when using apps and the camera slightly better in PQ. It is not worth upgrading from the iP7/7+ to the iP8/8+ as not enough to be noticeable. In a year, the apps and OS updates will then match the A11 processor for performance to be noticeable.

Mort Walker wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:19 pm

Primus wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:13 pm

Here in the US the X is available for order but delivery is 5-6 weeks.

Anybody interested in iWatch3? I just ordered mine. Had long delayed getting one but have been using the iW2 for about six months now and it has changed my life. The big reason to upgrade for me is that the new version has an independent cellular antenna thus eliminating the need to be in bluetooth range of your phone. The battery life sucks but for my purposes it is alright.

How did it change your life? I would say it is YOU who changed your life. Studies have shown that smart watches have not really contributed to improving a person's health. I don't know if the Apple Watch is a good activity tracker. It seems to do a lot of things well, but for fitness seems questionable. Perhaps Raja can answer this as a runner. For cycling, having the ANT+ standard to keep track of cadence and speed are desirable, which the AW doesn't have.

A hyperbole perhaps MW, no it did not change my LIFE, but it made it much easier to do certain things.

I am not a fitness nut, never used any of these devices for health tracking although that is a bit of a bonus with the iWatch.

I resisted getting the iWatch for a long time until I saw a friend using it for things that I would. Went and bought it and it has really been a big help.

In my job I drive around a lot and the only way my office keeps in touch with me is through text messages, same when I am on call, my answering service texts me with any message I get to call people back. So do a whole lot of other people who need to reach me.These texts often come when I am behind the wheel, and in my car the phone does not make the sound alert for text (no matter what I tried), so the only way to know I got a message was to keep the damn phone next to my chest in an upper shirt or pant's thigh pocket. Then I would have to dig it out, look at the text, respond 'got it' or the OK_XX (where XX is a sequential number) to let my service know I got the message else they would keep sending it. My drive involves highways and I cannot just pull over, often would be on the road for 20-30 mts at a time. Everyone knows how dangerous it is to read/write messages on your phone when you are driving at 60mph.

The iWatch vibrates on my wrist so I never miss the alert. It also displays the message so I can read it in an instant without really taking my eyes off the road for more than a couple of seconds. I then tap the microphone button, speak normally with my hands on the steering wheel and hit send. All done without really taking my hands off the wheel, or my eyes off the road for too long. The voice recognition on the watch is so much better than on the phone at least for short sentences.

In my office or at home I do not keep the phone attached to me like an umbilical cord.As long as it is in the same area, the watch lets me know there is a text or a phone call, I can answer the phone from the watch, respond to the texts. I can find my phone with the 'ping' option if it is dropped off behind the sofa or fallen in the back of the car. Any timer I set on the phone can be turned off from the watch, I can use the watch to set wake up alarms that do not wake up SHQ.

I have not used the watch for emails but it can be set up for it. Also have not used too many other apps although there are plenty such as Apple Pay, various activity trackers, music, photos, control of home security, weather etc.

For me it really has been a most useful gadget, YMMV of course. The new watch iW3 has a separate cellular phone built in so I don't even have to have my phone in bluetooth range.