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Rumor: Samsung to release only one flagship from 2017

GadgetByte

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October 18, 2016

Rumor: Samsung to release only one flagship from 2017

If rumours are to be believed, Samsung might scrap the production of the Note Series from 2017. According to the Korean News outlet Nemesis, Samsung may release only one flagship device annually to ensure their flagship’s quality. Simply saying, Samsung might ditch their smartphone market strategy in favour of quality of the products they manufacture.

Many people believe that Samsung’s decision to release the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 before Apple released the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is the main cause of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Samsung has always had a tight schedule since it releases two flagships in a year. And now it is rumoured that Samsung could change its strategy for an effective and a tested flagship.

Not only that, it has also been reported that Samsung is halting and scrapping some of its Research and Development products because of lack of funds. The company could possibly lose $17 billion in potential revenue because of the Galaxy Note 7 crisis.

An official from one of Samsung’s partner firms said, “Samsung has not notified its suppliers of the plan to scrap the current two-flagship models strategy, but if so that could impact the parts suppliers to some extent.”

“For now, everything is up in the air about what Samsung will do to recover from the recent fiasco involving the Galaxy Note 7, but it will certainly make changes to its current marketing strategy and product portfolio”, the official added.

Please note that this is just a rumour and Samsung hasn’t said anything about this matter. Do you think Samsung is making the right decision if this rumour turns out to be true? Let us know in the comments.

How to Spoof MAC Address on Android Phones

GadgetByte

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October 18, 2016

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How to Spoof MAC Address on Android Phones

Today on How to section we are discussing one of the ways of spoofing MAC address in rooted android phones. A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a 12-character unique identifier assigned to a specific piece of hardware such as the network adapter of your Wi-Fi device. In simple words, a MAC address can be used to uniquely identify your Android phone on the Internet or the local network.

Before you spoof the MAC address, you need to record the original/current MAC address of your device which can be done according to the instruction below:

On the HomeScreen of your phone, tap Menu button and go to Settings.
Tap About phone and go to Status
Now scroll down to record the 12-digit code shown under Wi-Fi Mac address. An address would read something like: 08:00:28:63:5a:e1

Requirements for Spoofing the MAC Address

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Rooted Android Phone
BusyBox app installed on your phone
Once BusyBox is installed, you need to install Terminal app

Once the above requirements are satisfied, follow the instructions below to spoof your MAC address:

Open the Terminal app and type the commands as listed below:

$ su [HIT ENTER]

$ busybox iplink show eth0 [HIT ENTER]

(This will show your current MAC address, just for your confirmation)

Now, type the following command:

$ busybox ifconfig eth0 hw ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX [HIT ENTER]

(In the above command, replace XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX with your new MAC address)

3. You have now spoofed your MAC address successfully. To check for the change, enter the following command again:

$ busybox iplink show eth0 [HIT ENTER]

Now you should see your new MAC address.

Google AMP: Loads Web Pages in less than a second!

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GadgetByte

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October 17, 2016

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The Web as we know has always been this slow and ever loading series of web pages. No matter how high-bandwidth internet connection we have, some web pages are made in hell, with all their ads and unmanaged databases, which take ages to load. So that’s all about to change now, Introducing the Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

Google AMP is a way to build web pages for static content, well that’s a bummer right? Cause all the slow pages are usually dynamic! But it’s a start and the development of AMP is continuous. AMP is somewhat similar to the instant articles that you see on Facebook. For starters, it is a great way to boost traffic to your website. If your web pages load fast and the contents it has to offer are just that good, then you’ve hit a jackpot. Also, the AMP pages appear on the top of Google search list! If your site is based on WordPress, you have a plugin to convert your web pages into AMP. Any static web pages can be converted to AMP using simple HTML codes, to do so, you have to either create an alternate version of the web page for AMP or convert the whole website to AMP. Google provides a cache that can be used by anyone for free, and all AMPs will be cached by the Google AMP Cache.

To this day, over 600million AMP documents have been created by some major sites like eBay, Reddit, Shopify, WikiHow to name few. The speed is possible because of the Google’s Cache Server and also many restrictions that you have to put in your web page, to make it load faster, like most of the Javascript is not allowed, you cannot use certain HTML tags like forms, and you have to use streamlined version of CSS. So yeah! a lot of restrictions, but in the end, it’s totally worth it.

We have already seen traces of AMP in Google search here in Nepal as well. AMP uses 10 times fewer data than the non-AMP pages. Previously it was limited to Top Stories section on Google search, but now it is included in all Google mobile searches. To know it’s an AMP page just look for the bolt icon like in the Facebook Instant Articles. AMP is insanely fast, it takes no less than a second to view a web page.

The Ads are still there but they won’t be affecting the performance. Now this has got me really excited, what if all the web pages could open this quick? But the downside to all this, is that, all of the web pages will be stored in Google’s server, so, Google will be controlling all of that data which raises questions for privacy!

iPhones and Apple devices? No thanks

GadgetByte

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October 17, 2016

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Apple released the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last month amid massive fanfare, and a misdirected and deceptive attention. The company has again showcased its product in such a way that people are ready to lose anything just for the sake of buying them. Last year, two Chinese men were reportedly set to sell their kidney, just for the sake of buying iPhone 6s. It probably won’t be long until we will get to read news related to iPhone 7s and kidneys.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus went on sale over 3 weeks ago, and as always, we got to see people line up to buy the device. And all this because of what? Hard sell! Apple always makes their customers believe they are missing out on huge stuffs if they don’t buy their products.

I’m not saying Apple sells sub-standard products. All apple devices are well-built, and look sleek. The app environment and ecosystem is good too. All this is coupled with a good service. So, if you buy any apple devices you won’t have to suffer any problems related to quality and service.

But is quality and service enough for the pricing of the devices Apple makes? Is the pricing of the iDevices completely justifiable?

Take a look at the price iPhones are currently being sold in Nepal. The newly released iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are available for pre-order right now. The cheapest 32GB variant of the devices will cost you Rs. 92, 550 and Rs. 113,550 respectively. Likewise, the iPhone 6s is priced at Rs. 87,000 for the 16 GB variant while the older iPhone 6 Plus is priced at Rs. 88,000 for the same storage option. The three-year-old iPhone 5s is being sold for a whopping Rs. 55,000 for the 16GB version which shows how high iPhones that are well into their life cycles are valued.

The total manufacturing cost of the iPhone 7 is only $224.80 (Rs. 23,938.925). Considering this, the selling price of the device is way too high. Yes, Apple has to pay for marketing price, but isn’t the $649 selling price too high?

If some hardware-based specifications are taken into consideration, the midrange devices in the price range of Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 have similar specifications to the iPhones of these days. Yes, I know these devices aren’t realistically similar by any means, but does it make sense to pay six times more for a device that can’t be justified by its own hardware?

Some people might say that iPhones aren’t just about the hardware, arguing that the software experience is a greater factor for the complete experience. Yes, the software experience is great. But some android devices nick iPhones today. The interface is a mess, there is very little customization available, and the file transfers is complex, all thanks to iTunes. The iPhone users might find this to be wrong, but that was my verdict after I used iOS.

Another major problem: A friend of mine had to pay Rs. 94,000 just for changing the display of his MacBook. Another friend had to pay Rs. 60,000 just to change the logic board of her MacBook Air. Not only this, simple stuffs such as power adapters of MacBook will empty your pockets.

Apple isn’t trying to convince people to buy its products; it wants everyone to be included in its own program. And the lines of people standing outside Apple stores to buy their absurdly expensive devices tell the tale.

I am happy to let Google show ads here and there in exchange for the excellent software and customization experience I get to choose, that too from a wide variety of smartphones. I’m happy to stay away from iPhones and all other apple devices. But hey, if it’s not an iPhone it’s not an iPhone.

Panasonic Eluga Arc 2 and Eluga Note Launched in Nepal

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Yural Maskey

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October 16, 2016

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Panasonic Eluga Arc 2 and Eluga Note Launched in Nepal

Allied Tradeline, the authorized distributors of Panasonic smartphones in Nepal, has unveiled two new phones in the Nepali market — Eluga Arc 2 and Eluga Note. The Eluga Arc 2 is priced at Rs. 21,990, while the Eluga Note is available for Rs. 22,990.

The Eluga Note offers a bigger 5.5-inch FullHD display with no protection mentioned. The Eluga Arc 2 has a smaller 5-inch display with a lower resolution of 720P. The Eluga Arc sports a 2.5D Asahi Dragon trail glass on the back and the front. The Eluga Note has a plastic removable back that doesn’t feel as premium as its counterpart Eluga Arc 2.

Panasonic Eluga Note

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Powering the Eluga Note as well as the Eluga Arc 2 is a MediaTek processor (MT6753 and MT6725) which are obviously not the fastest SoC’s at this price range. However, Panasonic has included 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage on both these models. The storage can be further expanded via microSD card up to 128GB with microSD.

Panasonic Eluga Arc 2

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Both the Eluga Note and Eluga Arc 2 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Fithome UI. Both phones are not expected to get Android 7.0 Nougat considering the history of Panasonic in terms of updates. Connectivity options include Dual hybrid SIM slot with 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS. The Eluga Note features a 16MP rear camera with triple LED Flash, f/1.9 aperture, 6P lens, and 1080p video recording. The Eluga Arc 2 has a modest 8MP rear camera with LED flash. Both the phones houses a 5MP front camera. Fueling the Eluga Note and Eluga Arc 2 are 3000mAh and 2450mAh battery respectively.

Panasonic Eluga Arc 2	Panasonic Eluga Note
5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS on-cell touch 2.5D Curved glass display	5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS LTPS display
1.3 GHz quad-core processor	1.3 GHz Octa-Core processor
3GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD	3GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)	Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
8MP rear camera with LED Flash	16MP rear camera with triple LED Flash, f/1.9 aperture, 6P lens, 1080p video recording
5MP front-facing camera	5MP front-facing camera with 4P lens
Infrared sensor, 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, 4G LTE with voLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG	Infrared sensor, 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, 4G LTE with voLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG
Dimensions: 144 x 72 x 7.6mm; Weight: 147g	Dimensions: 146×74.5×8.15mm; Weight: 142g
2450mAh battery	3000mAh battery
Price: Rs. 21,990	Price: Rs. 22,990

FIFA 17 is now available for pre-order in Nepal

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Yural Maskey

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October 15, 2016

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FIFA 17 is now available for pre-order in Nepal

FIFA 17 is now available for purchase in Nepal too, thanks to online reseller iWishBag. The company is taking orders for the PS4 & Xbox One standard edition of FIFA 17 and has priced the game at Rs. 5,800.

Once the order is taken, your FIFA 17 DVD will arrive at your doorsteps in about two weeks time. As of now you can not pre-order the Deluxe Edition and Super Deluxe Edition from iWishBag.

Priced at Rs. 5,800, this is a fair deal you can get right now. Comparing it with the India pricing of INR. 4,000 (approx. Rs. 6,400), its actually cheaper by Rs. 600.

People who take selfies: narcissists, lonely and psychopaths

Opinion

GadgetByte

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October 14, 2016

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People who take selfies: narcissists, lonely and psychopaths

‘But first, let me take a selfie.’ You probably hear this every day, or even say it yourself right before the holy act of taking selfies. Thanks to smartphones, selfies have been a part of our life for a while now. But researchers and scientists warn that taking selfies or being a selfie addict could be associated with loneliness, vanity, and an act of getting approval of others.

You definitely know a certain someone who is always taking pictures of themselves, no matter what the occasion is. Selfies at home, in the office, at parties, selfies when they are alone and the list goes on. Not only that, that person’s Facebook or Instagram is an endless compilation of selfies. (Note: If you do not know that person, it might be you.)

Simply said, people are addicted to taking selfies these days. While many of us enjoy the act, it could make us insane if the urge isn’t taken care of sooner. Let’s take an example of 21-year-old Danny Bowman. His story of selfie addiction is quite shocking. Danny was addicted to taking selfies when he was 19. Believe it or not, he used to take up to 200 selfies each day on his iPhone. Over the next six months, he didn’t leave his house, and eventually dropped out of school. Danny used to spend 10 hours a day trying to take a perfect selfie. As his frustrations grew when couldn’t click that perfect picture, he attempted suicide.

Danny Bowman became frustrated that he couldn't take an ideal selfie. So he tried to kill himself. — Danny Bowman became frustrated that he couldn’t take an ideal selfie. So he tried to kill himself.

A research was conducted in over 1,200 men and women by psychologists from Poland and Germany. The results showed a connection between self-esteem and selfie posting among men. Those who thought highly of themselves tended to post more own selfies, although there was no relationship between self-esteem and the frequency of posting group selfies. [Sorokowska A, Oleszkiewicz A, Frackowiak T et al. Selfies and personality: Who posts self-portrait photographs? Personality and Individual Differences. 2016]

One of the lead authors of the study, Agnieszka Sorokowska wrote, “On the one hand, people with high, stable self-esteem might be eager to share their photos because they are not susceptible to criticism. On the other hand, people with low self-esteem might be even more willing to engage in online self-promotion in order to raise their self-esteem.”

Likewise, a research conducted on men by Ohio State University concluded that narcissism and psychopathy in a person resulted in the total number of selfies shared. [Published online in the journal Personality and Individual Differences] Another research published in ‘Scientific Research‘ revealed that the time people spent on using Facebook, going through other people’s profile, watching videos and even the way they view their own Facebook profile was linked with high levels of narcissism.

Researchers in Thailand recently conducted an interview with 300 students which mostly constituted of females aged between 21 and 24 measuring narcissism, selfishness, loneliness and attention-seeking characters. [Published in Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace]

They later found that intensity of usage of social media and selfie-liking was directly associated. In an interview with Daily Mail, Dr. Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol, lead researcher, said, “Individuals with higher degrees of loneliness tend to report selfie-liking to a greater extent. Taking selfies allows individuals to control what other people see in the photos, it is not surprising that those who exhibit these narcissistic characteristics tend to like selfies because it helps them achieve this personal goal.”

If you’re worried that you could be addicted to selfies, look out for the following signs (source: carteblanche)

You can’t make it through the day without taking at least one selfie.
You spend a lot of time thinking about selfies, planning where and when to take them.
There are instances when you simply cannot fight the urge to take a selfie, no matter how hard you try.
You often find yourself taking selfies when you’re meant to be doing something important.
You’ve realized you’re taking too many selfies, but can’t get yourself to cut down on the amount.
You are almost obsessively checking to see how many people like your selfie and you take it personally when there’s little or no response.
Taking selfies has interfered with your social life and relationships.
You start to think about everything you do as a possible selfie.
You feel better about yourself or more important when you post a selfie.

Although it may be little less hurtful than online bullying, trolling and other online crimes, it is important to acknowledge the addiction to taking selfies as a disorder in this transitioning connection between human beings and technology. We all know we have been narcissistic enough to check how many likes our selfies reached. Let’s hope that we use social media wisely and not have too many Dannys.

Here’s Why Apple Removed the Headphone Jack on iPhone 7

GadgetByte

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October 14, 2016

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Here’s Why Apple Removed the Headphone Jack on iPhone 7

When iPhone 7 was launched a lot of questions were raised for the Apple’s move on removing the historic 3.5mm jack for its new device. To address this issue Apple’s marketing chief had stated that “It really comes down to one word: courage. The courage to move on to do something new that betters all of us.” But if one digs deeper, ‘courage’ doesn’t seem to be the right word for this new step.

Apple claims the main reasons to be; courage to advance into wireless technology. The jack was said to be removed to create more space on the phone so that new features can be added .And lastly, Schiller described the Air Pods as small, lightweight and easy to connect and stated “vision of how audio can be”.

But the benefits for the consumer do not seem that promising. The connection is now made through a lightning port which makes most of the headphones incompatible and one requires a small adapter to connect other wired headphones. Also one cannot connect the wired earpiece while charging. The removal of 3.5mm jack doesn’t look overwhelming to the users. Apple has not introduced a wireless charging which has become a common affair in flagship phones today but removed its 3.5 mm jack. The big WHY still exists?

I phone 7 doesn’t come with any wireless headphone .The AirPods have to be bought separately and it sells at a whopping $159.And Apple currently owns Beats,the number one Bluetooth headphone company. Beats announced three new wireless headphones; the Solo 3 Wireless ($299.95), the Powerbeats 3 sports earbuds ($199.95), and a neck-wraparound called the Beats X ($149.95).Both Airpods and Beats will certainly make the most out of this situation.

More to that, any company that manufactures Lightning headphones has to pay a royalty fee for the Apple’s licensing to make the product. Apple gets a cut on Lightning headphones no matter who makes and sells them.

The reasons are speculative yet factual. So to explain the reason behind the current scenario, ‘Courage’ doesn’t seem to fit the case but ‘strategic business decision’ may be more accurate. At present, the removal of 3.5 mm jack does imply a win but the win appears to be more inclined towards the Bluetooth headphone companies rather than the consumers.

Honor Holly 3 is Official: First Huawei smartphone to be manufactured in India

Huawei

Yural Maskey

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October 12, 2016

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Honor Holly 3 is Official: First Huawei smartphone to be manufactured in India

Huawei has launched its first “Made in India” smartphone, the Honor Holly 3 for INR 9,999. It is clearly a budget-oriented phone trying to compete with Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and Lenovo K5 Note in India.

Specs wise, the Honor Holly 3 sports a 5.5-inch 720P display, is powered by a 64 bit octacore Kirin 620 SoC, which is a fairly midrange SoC, with performance comparable to that of Snapdragon 410 or MediaTek MT6753. The GPU that’s been used is a Mali 450 MP4, which is again an average performer. In terms of memory, the phone has 2GB of DDR3 RAM and 16GB internal storage which can be expanded by dedicated microSD card for up to 128GB.

On the camera department, the Honor Holly 3 boasts a 13 megapixel back camera with f/2.0 aperture lens, 28mm focal length, autofocus, and LED flash. It has an 8-megapixel front snapper. As far as software is concerned, it is running the latest Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Emotion 4.1 UI layered on top.

The Honor Holly 3 offers a 3100mAh non-removable battery and should provide excellent battery life considering the specs. Connectivity wise, the phone has support for dual SIM (4G+4G), WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth, and GPS. Missing, however, are features such as NFC, Fingerprint scanner, and dual-band WiFi ac. It is available in 3 color options: black, white, and gold color options.

Is Microsoft Planning to Launch the iMac killer?

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Yural Maskey

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October 12, 2016

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Is Microsoft Planning to Launch the iMac killer?

After the success of the Surface tablet, Microsoft is planning to launch desktop PC’s at an event in New York on the 26th October. The desktop PC’s is codenamed Cardinal and will be available in 3 sizes – 21, 24 ,or 27-inch screen.

According to Windows central, Microsoft surface all-in-one (AIO) PC’s will have modern and elegant” design. It could also be positioned as a product that can turn your desk into ‘a studio’. Microsoft is also expected to launch the newer version of its surface pro tablets with the latest Kabylake processor and new added features.

Currently, there are only 2 AIO PC’s manufacturers: Apple and Lenovo. If rumors hold true, the Microsoft Surface AIO PC would be an exciting device to look at.