Leaked LG G4 images point to minor design improvements


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LG G4 leak



A series of claimed LG G4 images have leaked, offering a potential insight into how the Korean manufacturer’s next flagship phone will look.


Seemingly set to be a modest update on the 2014-released LG G3, the prematurely outed G4 images point towards another slim-bezelled, arched-backed handset.


With reports suggesting that LG is looking to craft its future flagship phones from metal, the images – which surfaced via Imgur, show a device with a metallic looking rear.


It is current unclear, however, if this is actually a high-end design refresh or another metal-effect plastic imitation.


Sadly, the leaked images offer little insight into the phone’s specs sheet.


Showing off a similar UI to past LG handsets, the prematurely outed images have shown the handset to run the latest Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS.


The upcoming iPhone 6 challenger has also been shown to feature LG’s now trademark rear-mounted volume and power keys and an LED flash-enhanced primary camera.


An indent in the phone’s upper corner appears to point towards either the inclusion of a Galaxy Note 4 rivalling stylus – as previous leaks have hinted at – or a Korean market appeasing pull-out antenna. At this stage we feel the latter is more likely.


Related: LG G Watch R review


The LG G4 is expected to be formally unveiled later this summer, with LG looking to avoid a direct head-to-head battle with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the HTC One M9.


Past reports have suggested the device will adopt Qualcomm’s latest 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor and 3GB of RAM.


An improved 16-megapixel camera has also been tipped to make and appearance alongside a 5.6-inch 3K display.


Stay tuned to TrustedReviews for the latest on all things G4.




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What's cooking in the Disney Research Lab?


5 Disney Research projects currently in the works including artistic robots, wearables and interactive games


Disney is hard at work. Alongside creating some of the best loved family films ever (who doesn’t love a sing-along to Frozen once in a while?) the multi-billion dollar corporation is also working on something a little different, and rather surprising.

The Disney Research lab was launched in 2008 with the objective to combine ‘the best of academia and industry’ and create and research innovative technologies. It’s not just research though, these ideas are not solely conceptual but meant to be put into practice in the real world.


Let’s take a look at some of the best ideas, products and research to come out of the Disney Lab so far.


SEE ALSO: Best crowdfunding campaigns of the month



The Disney MagicBand


Wearables are the next big tech innovation. Or, at least that’s what we’re constantly being told. With the Apple Watch touching down next month, that vision might finally become a reality.

The main problem with wearables so far, especially smartwatches, is that they lack that killer feature. That one app that’ll make everyone stand up and take note.


Disney doesn’t seem to have that problem with its MagicBand, a new wristband that has already seen a $1 Billion investment.


At Magic Kingdom, one of Disney’s theme parks in Orlando, guests are getting a glimpse of the future with the MagicBand. Aside from making guests go ‘oooo’, the band’s main purpose is to completely replace cash and cards in the park, along with giving the many restaurants around the site a heads-up of your arrival. When you arrive, the staff will already know who you are and what you’re having to eat, so they can great you by name and bring out your meals without any messing around looking at menus.


It’s linked to your credit card too, so you just tap the band at one of the pay points to pay the dinner bill, or pick up a couple of souvenirs.


The real ‘lightbulb’ idea surrounding the MagicBand is how it’ll help build anticipation, especially for kids. You’ll receive the wearable in the post before your trip and by signing up to Disney’s Magical Express online service, you can input your entire trips itinerary into the band. Ditching all the paper and booking forms that normally accompany a trip to Disney World.




Truly Interactive Games


Another area Disney Research is exploring is gaming. But not your typical console style titles, oh no.

Instead it has built a platform for developers that allows them to create truly interactive games where your actions dictate how the story unfolds. Now, we’re not talking about an RPG here which might have three or four outcomes, but something that completely changes and reacts to whatever you do. The amount of outcomes and possible story arcs might be endless.


So, how does it work? Well Disney Research has developed a new system called interactive behaviours trees, or IBTs, which is a design language that accommodates multiple story arcs. This is then paired with a tool that detects and resolves problems with the unfolding story, ensuring everything is kept believable.


The initial tests are pretty simple, a couple of teddy bears needing a beach ball to complete a game, but the future is definitely looking bright for this idea.


SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's 5 craziest tech ideas




Robots with natural movement


Whether it’s in its parks or taking center stage in a movie, Disney is all about the robots. So it should come as no surprise that it’s looking to create the best, and most natural, looking one possible.


Instead of the usual array of valves, motors and pumps, these robots use pneumatic tubes and air pressure, ditching that slightly false movement you often see with robots and replacing it with smooth, real life moves.

Controlling these ‘mechanical puppets’ is done from a puppeteer, who can accurately replicate their movements. The above video shows the process probably better than we can describe, but we’re sure you’ll agree it looks pretty amazing.




Artistic robots that create sand pictures


Disney’s next robotic advancement is the ‘BeachBot’, a bright orange autonomous two foot long turtle-esque vehicle that can draw massive sketches in the sand. It looks amazing.

Give the BeachBot a 30 square foot patch of sand and in under 10-minutes it’ll fill with an image from any of Disney’s animated back catalogue. From Lion King to Finding Nemo. There’s also a snow based version in development too, perfect for sketching out a giant Olaf in the fresh powder for all the fans of Frozen.


Balloon wheels let the vehicle move across sand without ruining the art with tyre tracks, an obvious would be detraction, and special care has been taken to cover all the moving parts with rubberised seals so sand and salty water don’t clog up inside.


Disney goal predictions


Disney can even predict who will score next in a football match


Well, to a point anyway. We’re not exactly talking about some Research Lab boffins calling out exact Premier League results, or working out whether Leicester City will do the impossible and beat the drop this season, but it’s certainly interesting nonetheless.

Any football fan worth their boots will know that more shots don’t necessarily mean more goals, Brazil had more efforts between the sticks than Germany in last year’s World Cup semi-final and we all know how that turned out, but a recent Disney Research Lab paper aimed to work out just why this is.


Using an ‘anonymous professional’ and tracking data from analytics experts Prozone, the team scoured through the ten second period before 9732 shots were taken all in the hope of determining just how goal scoring chances were created.


The paper, snappily titled “Quality vs Quantity: Improved Shot Prediction in Soccer using Strategic Features from Spatiotemporal Data” came to the conclusion that most goals came from counter-attacks, followed by crosses from a free-kick, then corners, then open-play and finally free-kicks.


We’re not quite sure what to make of this data, but we do know that we won’t be learning exact scores before they happen quite yet.


Which of the Disney Research Lab projects sound the most exciting? Let us know in the comments section below



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Google hits back after White House influence claims


Google has issue a staunch defence of its regular visits to the White House following a Wall Street Journal report claiming to shed light on the tech giant’s alleged influence in Washington.


Earlier this week, the WSJ inferred Google had used its close ties to the Obama administration to sway a Federal Trade Commission anti-trust investigation in its favour.


During its reporting, the Journal claimed Google employees had visited the White House 230 times - approximately once a week - during the course of the President’s tenure.


Now Google, in a blog post (via VentureBeat) entitled “Really, Rupert?” (referring of course to WSJ owner Rupert Murdoch) has taken umbrage with the claims and sought to justify the frequent visits. The firm says 33 of the visits were from those not employed by Google at the time, so what of the other 197?


Well, over a dozen were for YouTube interviews with Obama, five were by a Google engineer attempting to fix the botched Healthcare.gov website, while several others were attended by other tech big hitters, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL.


"The meetings we did have were not to discuss the antitrust investigation,” said Rachel Whetstone, Google’s SVP of Communications and Policy.


“In fact, we seem to have discussed everything but, including patent reform, STEM education, self-driving cars, mental health, advertising, Internet censorship, smart contact lenses, civic innovation, R&D, cloud computing, trade and investment, cyber security, energy efficiency and our workplace benefit policies.”


Whetstone also went on to point out Microsoft, the chief complainant in the anti-trust investigation against Google visited the White House 270 times; more often than Google.


Read more: Apple users free to sue Google over Safari privacy breach


Earlier this week, the WSJ had claimed: “Google’s knack for getting in the room with important government officials is gaining new relevance as scrutiny grows over how the company avoided being hit by the FTC with a potentially damaging antitrust lawsuit.


“As the federal government was wrapping up its antitrust investigation of Google Inc., company executives had a flurry of meetings with top officials at the White House and Federal Trade Commission, the agency running the probe.”


Where do you stand? Do you think Google has too much political influence? Let us know your thoughts below.



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First Apple Watch game hits the App Store


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Apple Watch Rules



The first game with Apple Watch support has arrived on the App Store, ahead of the wearable’s release next month.


Following the roll out of the first wave of third-party apps on Thursday , the makers of the Rules! puzzle app have issued an update offering Apple Watch support (via TouchArcade).


Rules!, which requires users to remove number and picture tiles from the display in the correct order, has been available for the iPhone and iPad since August 2014.


This latest update brings a “brain workout mini game with daily goals for Apple Watch with leaderboards and statistics on your iPhone.”


As the Apple Watch doesn't have the ability to store standalone apps, users must download the iPhone apps with Apple Watch support in order to use them on the wearable.


A host of popular apps like Evernote, Dark Sky, Sky Guide, MLB.com, CNN, Line, Things, Expedia and the Wall Street Journal already have Apple Watch support.


Read more: Best Apple Watch apps to download


Apple has crowed about the range of activities users will be able to perform using the Apple Watch, but so far the firm has been very quiet on the gaming potential. However, it seems certain a host of popular iPhone games will make the transition to the wrist-bound device.


Puzzle and trivia games seem to be particularly suited to the smaller screen, while users may be able to control certain elements of strategy games like Clash of Clans via the wrist.


Which games would you like to see make the transition to the smartwatch? Share your wishlist in the comments section below.




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Vine finally serving videos in 720p HD, update hits iOS first


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Vine



The popular, Twitter-owned video-sharing app Vine has bumped up the quality of its six-second loops from 480p to 720p HD.


In a blog post promising ‘bigger and better Vines’ the company showcased a series of videos uploaded at the new hi-def format, with a discernible difference in quality.


The update has arrived on the iOS app today, with a boost for Android users “coming soon,” The higher quality videos will also appear in Vines embedded across the web, the company revealed.


Vine has a new, beautiful high quality format. Starting today, the stories you watch and share will look better than ever,” the firm wrote.


The move is Twitter’s latest effort to own a bigger slice of the online video pie. Just this week it introduced the Meetkat-like Periscope live streaming application. The company is also testing auto-playing videos within users’ timelines with an eye on creating greater revenue from the medium.



Read more: Vine wants to mesmerise children with new Kits app


The updates comes at a good time for them micro-blogging platform, given Facebook’s newly-announced video ambitions.


At the F8 conference this week, the rival social network revealed a new embeddable video player, which will allow clips from Facebook to be posted all over the web; a domain currently mainly occupied by Vine and YouTube.


Facebook is also investing heavily in immersive, interactive, 360-degree spherical videos as it progresses towards a VR future powered by the Oculus Rift headset.




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Apple Watch Workout app will ‘learn your stride’ over time


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Turlington Burns Apple Watch



The Workout app within the new Apple Watch will provide more accurate results by learning the wearer’s stride, according to the model and athlete Christy Turlington-Burns.


Turlington-Burns, who appeared on state during the Spring Forward launch event last month, is blogging (via Apple Insider) about her experiences with the Apple Watch while training for the London Marathon.


In her latest piece, the campaigner and newly-signed Apple advocate revealed that after “a few times” running with the watch and an iPhone, the Workout section adjusts to the individual’s gait.


She said she noticed the new feature and its importance when switching between outdoor runs and the treadmill while on holiday.


She wrote: “After you run with Apple Watch and your iPhone a few times the Workout app knows more about your stride. So you can run on a treadmill or outside without your phone and still get a really accurate workout summary.”


Read more: Best Apple Watch apps to download first


The Apple Watch has been criticsed for its lack of GPS connectivity, meaning users have to drag their iPhone along for the ride for a true sense of route and distance when out running.


However, this newly-outed feature could give the company’s first wearable more legs as a standalone fitness device, and help it supersede some of the other trackers on the market, which have no such means of adapting to wearer's running styles.


It could also give Apple Watch users more opportunity to accurately track their runs in different environments without the need for an iPhone.


Apple has not promoted Turlington-Burns’ revelation specifically, but has said "learns your activity and fitness levels to improve the accuracy of your measurements and suggest personalised all-day activity goals".


Perhaps this is what the firm meant?




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Valve to offer HTC Vive Developer Edition for free


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HTC Vive



The HTC Vive virtual reality headset will be made available free of charge to developers looking to build experiences for the platform.


An Ars Technica report reveals a selection of high-profile developers have already been seeded free versions of the exciting headset, while the scheme will be extended to others soon.


“More info and 'sign up' forms will be available to all interested developers, big or small, via a new site coming soon," Valve spokesperson Doug Lombardi told Ars. That sign up site may go live as soon as next week.


Lombardi says the Developer Edition kit “will be free, at least initially," as the video game company behind the Steam streaming platform makes a push to the get the headset to consumers before the end of 2015.


The dev kits will start rolling out this spring, the report says, and will come with a headset, two controllers and two base stations.


It’s not yet clear how many Valve plans to give away to developers, but the initiative gives HTC and Valve a great chance at having the widest range of gaming experiences available when the Vive hits the market.


While the developer kits will be free to those building the software, HTC and Valve are likely to make that up when the headset itself comes to market. HTC recently said consumers should expect a “slightly higher price point” because the Vive will be “at the high end” of the VR market.


Read more: Oculus Rift vs Microsoft HoloLens


The company’s plans to give away the units differs greatly to the likes of Oculus, which which has charged developers upwards of $300 to get their hands on pre-release Rift prototypes. Samsung is also charging $200 for the Innovator Edition of its Gear VR headset.




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Apple’s Tim Cook vows to give away his entire fortune


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Apple CEO Tim Cook



Apple CEO Tim Cook has today vowed to give away the lion’s share of his personal wealth.


Speaking to Fortune magazine, the chief executive revealed he would one day donate his entire fortune to charity.


That’s no small change either; Tim Cook has accrued masses of capital during his time working at the world’s most valuable company.


In fact, his wealth is estimated to be in the region of $785 million, although his personal net worth is lower – around $120 million. The remaining $665 million is held in restricted stock.


You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripples for change,” the Apple lead explained.


The CEO has reportedly begun 'donating money quietly', but he wants to take time 'to develop a systematic approach to philanthropy rather than simply writing cheques'.


Related: Apple Watch review


His statements come at a time when the trend of increasingly philanthropic, super-wealthy individuals appears to be growing.


US billionaire Warren Buffett has long encouraged the rich to give away at least half of their wealth, with Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Facebooks’ Mark Zuckerberg also having donated large sums of money from their personal coffers.


Cook hasn’t yet made clear which organisations will be on the receiving end of his cash, however.


Importantly, though, he did vow to pay for his 10-year-old nephew’s college education before he relieves himself of wealth entirely.




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Huawei: Kirin 930 chip will give Ascend P8 epic battery life


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Huawei Ascend P7



Huawei has offered more details about the upcoming Kirin 930 chipset, which is due to land in several of the company’s 2015 devices.


The Kirin 930, which is a custom-built Huawei chip, has already been confirmed to ship with the upcoming flagship Ascend P8, as well as the MediaPad X2 tablet.


To build up hype for the devices, the Chinese company has revealed that the Kirin 930 will use a new, reworked version of the Cortex A53 processor cores.


The existing Cortex A53 designs were originally developed by ARM, and are used across most of the industry’s mobile chips, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series and Samsung’s Exynos.


Huawei plans to use a modified version of the design though, dubbing the new cores ‘Cortex A53E’.


Related: Best Android Smartphones 2015


The Kirin 930 will lay its cores out in ARM’s big.LITTLE arrangement. This means that four A53E cores will handle the high-performance processing, while four standard A53 cores will deal with more casual tasks.


The A53E cores will also be clocked at 2.0GHz, which is likely to be significantly higher than the clock-rate we’ll see on the vanilla A53 cores in the Kirin 930.


Huawei made a point of explaining why it didn’t delegate high-performance tasks to the more powerful Cortex A57 processor designs, which are the current go-to flagship cores in the mobile chip sector.


The main reason was, according to Huawei, battery life. While the Cortex A57 cores are 56 per cent more powerful than Cortex A53 cores, they drain battery at 256 per cent the rate.


This means we’ll likely see impressive longevity from Huawei’s upcoming devices. That’s not surprising, as the Ascend P7 also boasted healthy battery life.




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Hailo slams driverless cars, beams cabbies’ faces onto London landmarks


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Hailo face

Will this cabbie soon be usurped by robots?




Hailo is unhappy with the burgeoning driverless car sector, and is showing its opposition in a very unique way.


The taxi app company is projecting the faces of London cabbies onto city landmarks, seemingly to sway the public in favour of human-operated motors.


The heartstring-tugging ploy is being called ‘face to faceless’, with cabbies’ mugs beamed on some of the most recognisable spots of the capital.


It’s reportedly in response to UK Chancellor George Osborne’s recent announcement of £100 million in extra funding for driverless car research.


Gary Bramall, Hailo’s CMO, said: “People don’t want robots; they need to know that their driver will get them from A to B safely and securely.”


“Nothing can replace the relationship a passenger builds with their driver and we need to stand up for drivers.”


He continued: “Cabbies have been a part of this city for hundres of years and the move towards driverless cars is killing not only an entire profession, but a huge part of Britain’s heritage.”


Related: What is Uber?


Hailo’s ‘Face to Faceless’ project comes one month before National Cabbie Day on April 27.


“By heroing cab drivers and projecting their faces over iconic London landmarks, we hope passengers remember there’s more to a journey than just the vehicle,” Bramall concluded.


Somewhat ironically, Hailo has actually been a bit of a pain in the backside for cabbies worldwide.


Along with rival ride-sharing service Uber, Hailo has come under fire for undercutting official taxi companies, and scooping up cabbie profits.




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Google fails to block UK lawsuit over Safari privacy breach


Google has failed in its bid to prevent consumers from suing the company in the UK over alleged privacy abuse.


Three claimants filed suit against the US-based company, claiming that Google had bypassed security settings on the Safari browser.


This workaround allowed Google to install tracking cookies on the users’ computers to improve advertising targeting.


This is achieved because cookies can gather significant data on user habits without the knowledge of the users.


Google requested that the UK’s Court of Appeal block the claimants from suing, but this appeal has now been declined.


The company claimed that there should not be a trial because the consumers targeted by the cookies did not suffer financial harm.


The Court of Appeal, in its judgement, said: “These claims raise serious issues which merit a trial,” as reported by the BBC.


“They concern what is alleged to have been the secret and blanket tracking and collation of information, often of an extremely private nature…about and associated with the claimants’ internet use, and the subsequent use of that information for about nine months.”


It continued: “The case relates to the anxiety and distress this intrusion upon autonomy has caused.”


One of the claimants, Judith Vidal-Hall, said: “The Court of Appeal has ensured Google cannot use its vast resources to evade English justice.”


“Ordinary computer users like me will now have the right to hold this giant to account before the courts for its unacceptable, immoral, and unjust actions.”


Related: 12-inch MacBook 2015 hands-on


The claimants can now proceed with the lawsuit, and potentially allows millions more users to also file against Google.


To qualify, a user would have to have used the Safari browser – available across iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Mac computers – during the period from summer 2011 to spring 2012.


Dan Tench, a partner at Olswang, the law firm representing the claimants, said: “Google, a company that makes billions from advertising knowledge, claims that it was unaware that it was secretly tracking Apple users for a period of nine months and has argued that no harm was done because the matter was trivial as consumers had not lost out financially.”


“The Court of Appeal saw these arguments for what they are: a braech of consumers’ civil rights and actionable before the English courts.


He added: “We look forward to holding Google to account for its actions.”


Google has already been forced to pay fines totalling upwards of $40 million in the United States as a result of the incident.


The USA’s Federal Trade Commission levied the charges separately across 38 states.



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Huawei cleared as security risk to UK, report finds


Huawei has been cleared of being a security risk to the UK in a new report on the Chinese firm’s British operations.


The company has long been deemed a concern to authorities both here in the US, with government agencies suspicious that the company might be providing intelligence to China.


In response, Huawei opened the ‘Cyber Security Evaluation Centre’ (HCSEC) back in 2012, hoping to assuage such concerns.


The centre made a point of testing all Huawei hardware and software used in the UK to disprove claims of foul play.


Unfortunately, the government still remained concerned because the centre’s staff was comprised entirely of Huawei’s own employees.


The following year, the UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee opted to combat the company’s self-policing, and decided to investigate the centre.


Today, the results of the investigation were released, and it seems Huawei has been given the all-clear.


Related: Huawei Ascend Mate 7 review


Investigators said that HCSEC was suitably separated from Huawei proper, and found ‘no major concerns’ about day-to-day operations.


The report declared: “Any risks to UK national security from Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s critical networks have been sufficiently mitigated.”


Speaking to SC Magazine, Ryan Ding, executive Director of the Huawei Group Board, said: “Huawei is pleased to be playing its part in providing reassurance to its UK customers of the quality of our products and solutions through HCSEC.”


It’s not over yet, however – the oversight board plans to meet three times a year to deliberate over HCSEC’s continuing operations, to ensure there aren’t any slip-ups in the future.


GCHQ will reportedly take the lead on HCSEC’s work, and the oversight board will be made aware whenever the centre makes any significant staffing changes.



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YouTube now lets you watch 4K video at 60fps


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YouTube



YouTube has been continuously upgrading the streaming capabilities of its video player, and it’s now taken another big leap forward.


The Google-owned company is now trialling 4K-resolution videos playing back at 60 frames per second, as first noted by TechCrunch.


The company first introduced 60 frames per second footage playback last year, with 4K content coming only last month.


Merging the two means YouTube now offers its highest quality content yet, although it’s only available on a very limited selection of clips right now.


It’s worth noting that most videos aren’t shot in 4K or 60 frames per second, so it’s still a fairly niche video output option.


Many cameras can shoot at ultra HD resolution with impressive frame rates, but they tend to be expensive rigs, and require plenty of processing heft to capture.


Related: Best 4K TVs 2015


It’s good that YouTube is getting the option in early however, as it means they’ll have sufficiently tested the standard well in advance of 4K/60fps footage becoming mainstream.


Anyone can view the new 4K/60fps clips, but you’ll need a display that can handle 3840 x 2160 natively to actually take advantage of the boosted quality.


If your rig isn’t suited to 4K footage then watching the videos will be fairly fruitless however, and will likely look worse than when played back at a lower resolution.


Buffer times will also increase too with the new video standard; that’s because there’s a significantly higher quantity of data being downloaded with such high quality, high framerate video.




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Formlabs Form 1+ Printer Review


Tested at €2999


What is the Formlabs Form 1+?


The Formlabs Form 1+ isn’t like most 3D printers you will have seen. Most consumer 3D printers are of the FDM (fused deposition modelling) variety, which means they squirt molten plastic through a nozzle in layers to build up a print. The Form 1+, however, is an SLA (stereolithography) model, which prints using resin and lasers. Sounds awesome, right?

The build platform, onto which the print is built, is upside down and dips into a pool of resin below, where lasers are used to harden a layer of resin to the correct outline. The platform raises a fraction for the next layer to be hardened, and so on and so on until the complete model is printed, rising wholly from the resin tank like a T-1000 forming from a pool of molten metal. But much, much slower.


The Form 1+ is capable of outstandingly detailed prints, but it’s not without its drawbacks...


Formlabs Form 1+ 4


Formlabs Form 1+ – Design


The Formlabs Form 1+ is a beautiful object – the most nicely designed and built 3D printer we’ve seen. If Apple made a 3D printer, it’d probably look like this.

The base, which houses the lasers and motors, is classily encased in metal. It has a simple three-line display on the front, as well as a button that’s used to confirm that you’re ready to start the print, and to cancel it if need be. The power button is a simple switch around the back, next to the USB socket.


The striking upper is dominated by an orange Perspex box that hinges backwards to allow access to the resin tank and build platform. The reason for the orange tint is that the resin is light-sensitive – hence why lasers are used to harden it – and shouldn’t be subjected to direct sunlight for any length of time.


The build platform is easily removed by pulling a handle on the top, which releases it so you can slide it off. The resin tank is similarly simple to slide out, meaning you can buy multiple tanks and have them each filled with a different colour of resin.


Formlabs Form 1+ 10

The resin tank slides out for cleaning or replacing


This is all proper future desktop stuff, not just because of the styling and build, but also its size. The relatively compact footprint means it’ll sit nicely alongside your iMac or similarly chic PC.


However, with that compact form comes a build platform that’s just 125mm square by 165mm tall. In 3D printing terms, that ain’t big.


Formlabs Form 1+ – Setup


The first step in setting up the Form 1+ is to download Formlabs’ PreForm software. This is where you’ll load your 3D print file, move or resize it as necessary, add any support structures that may be needed to print the model without it all collapsing, and choose the resolution of the print.

PreForm is clear and simple, covering all those basics nicely, although it took us a while to work out how to get full control over the viewing angle of the 3D preview. A few of the options are too well hidden and it takes a fair amount of investigation to discover features such as the layer-by-layer preview which lets you see a cross section of your model at any point in its height to check for thin walls or enclosed voids.


Formlabs Form 1+ 1


A nice touch is that it can offer you an estimate of how long the printing will take, before you even commit to the print. We found it to be accurate to within a few minutes, which isn’t bad considering how long the Form 1+ takes to build things. But we’ll come to that later.


Before you can start the print, though, you’ll need to prepare the printer. The resin tank has indicator lines showing roughly up to what level to fill it with the thick, gloopy resin. Formlabs then advises to drag a scraper (supplied) across the bottom of the tank, and then sift the resin with a comb (not supplied) to remove any solid residue.


This is the point where you realise what a sticky business this is. It’s a good idea to have something handy to place the scraper and comb on until you can clean them. Again, we’ll come to the cleaning later.


Formlabs Form 1+ 3


Sadly the Form 1+ doesn’t have an SD card slot, so it has to be USB tethered to your computer while the print uploads to it. Once the upload has finished, though, you can disconnect – so you’re not too restricted in where you keep the Form 1+ unless you use a desktop computer rather than a laptop.


The solitary button on the front of the Form 1+ then lights up and a message on the display asks you to press the button to confirm you wish to print. And you’re off...


Formlabs Form 1+ 5


Formlabs Form 1+ – Performance


For our first print, we went straight in at the deep end with a file we’ve tried a few times before with quite variable results – a case for a Samsung Galaxy S5. The Form 1+’s build platform was too small to print it flat, so the model had to be tilted heavily and then a support structure was added. It ended up looking like a crazy cyberpunk skyscraper.

Set at a 0.1mm resolution, it took the best part of five hours to finish printing. Even set to the lower 0.2mm resolution, the Form 1+ is a bit of a slowcoach. One of our test prints took 2 hours 10 minutes, compared to 2 hours 1 minute on the SeeMeCNC Orion Delta and 1 hour 35 minutes on the MakerBot Replicator 2X.


It does sort of makes up for the lack of pace by being rather quieter than most, though. It starts almost silently, then there are intermittent motor noises up to 69dB (from 1m away) as the resin tank and platform move.


Formlabs Form 1+ 7


You may have guessed one of the major drawbacks of having a print rise out of a pool of sticky resin. Yep, your model is still dripping like Winnie the Pooh’s paw popping out of the honey jar. This is where the supplied finishing kit comes in.


Having removed the build platform, being careful not to drip anywhere, you’ll need the scraper to get the print off the platform. There are a couple of sealable tubs supplied, one of which you’ll need to fill with isopropyl alcohol, which you’ll have to buy separately – it costs about £15 per litre from electrical goods shops. Dunk your print in the alcohol, give it a good shake to agitate it, and leave for a while until the alcohol’s washed most of the resin off.


Formlabs Form 1+ 8


In our experience, it took a few repetitions of this process before the surface stopped feeling rather tacky. And the fumes from that isopropyl alcohol are potent – took us right back to school chemistry lessons. Once you’re happy that it’s clean, it’s time to remove any support structures using the supplied pair of snips and tweezers.


Formlabs Form 1+ 9


The good news is that, after all this, the print quality is extremely impressive. Even at a fairly coarse 0.2mm layer resolution, the print detail was finer than we’ve seen from any other consumer 3D printer. It was particularly good at handling complex shapes, probably because there’s no print nozzle getting in the way. And at 0.1mm resolution it was just stunning.


Yay, SLA printers are the future! Well, hang on. There are again downsides to go with the upsides...


Because of the way the Form 1+ prints, you can’t see whether there have been any initial problems until well into the print process. With smaller prints, you won’t know whether they’ve been successful until they’re finished. And due to the high cost of the resin – €135 per litre – we’d really like to have been able to spot and cancel a failed print before too much precious resin’s been wasted.


Talking of wasted resin, you’ll find a certain amount of the resin cures on the bottom of the tank, leaving a layer that needs removing with the supplied scraper. Not removing it results in failed prints. You need to be extra careful if, like us, you use clear resin, as it’s extremely difficult to tell whether any has cured on the tank bottom – if the scraper encounters a little friction as it’s dragged through the tank, you probably need to get scraping.


It also struggles with large flat surfaces if they're positioned parallel to the built platform. Part of the learning process of using the Form 1+ was finding we had to tilt flat surfaces to around 45 degrees to avoid them coming out with a rough, blistered finish. It's another example of the differences between an SLA printer and the more common FDM models.


One last drawback of the SLA process is that a print that includes a large enclosed object will end up with uncured resin sealed inside them, so the 3D file has to be adapted beforehand with an added hole or two. Or you’ll have to get your power drill out afterwards.


Formlabs Form 1+ 6




Should I buy the Formlabs Form 1+?


If you want the absolute best-quality prints from a desktop 3D printer, and don’t need to make anything big, this is the one. While most FDM 3D printers turn out objects best described as prototypes, the Form 1+ gets very close to the finished product.

However, the long-term pricing places it firmly in the category of working tool rather than an enthusiast’s machine. Not only is there a hefty upfront cost, but the consumables are prohibitively expensive for most.


A 1-litre bottle of resin is €135 (around £100), and doesn’t last as long as a £30-ish 1kg spool of ABS filament for an FDM printer such as the MakerBot Replicator 2X. The resin tank also needs replacing regularly – after every two litres or so of resin – and costs another €55. Then there’s the isopropyl alcohol required for cleaning prints, which is about £15 per litre.


You have to really need this 3D printer, rather than simply yearn for it.


SEE ALSO: SeeMeCNC Orion Delta 3D Printer Review


Verdict


Capable of stunningly high-resolution prints, but the small build platform and enormous long-term costs place the Form 1+ in a rather tight niche.

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HTC’s lead designer leaves job after less than a year


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Jonah Becker

Jonah Becker, centre




HTC’s lead designer has left the company after less than one year working in the position.


Jonah Becker, whose official title was HTC Vice President of Industrial Design, announced his departure on Twitter.


His tweet read: “It’s been amazing seventeen year journey with One & Co and HTC, but it’s time for a new adventure. Stay tuned for details of what’s next.”


Becker originally worked at design firm One & Co, however the company was eventually bought out by HTC to help create the company’s smartphones.


Neither Becker nor HTC has given a specific reason for the departure, although Engadget claims there is an “ever increasing power struggle between the design team and sales team these days”.


A separate source cited the switch from the One M8’s UltraPixel camera to the One M9’s 20-megapixel shooter is an example of this alleged design disparity.


Related: HTC One M9 tips and tricks


HTC’s statement on the matter reads as follows: “We can confirm that Jonah Becker has left HTC; he had been with the company since HTC acquired One & Co over six years ago.”


It continued: “We would like to thank Jonah for his work with HTC, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He has been succeeded by Daniel Hundt, based in our San Francisco design officer.”


Becker originally became lead designer after the previous incumbent, Scott Croyle, left the company.


That means two of HTC’s lead designers have left the firm in a space of two years – that’s not ideal for design consistency.




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Meet Olio: The Apple Watch rival without any apps


The Apple Watch might be the talk of the wearable town, but there’s a new contender for smartwatch dominance called Olio that wants to do things a little differently.


Olio is - surprise, surprise - a San Francisco-based start-up that was founded back in 2013, and is now selling its very own smartwatch.


The first thing to note about the Olio watch is that’s both the hardware and software are built entirely from scratch. That means it’s not operating run-of-the-mill Android Wear, and there’s no Snapdragon chip inside.


It’s got the usual software on board, like stop watches, weather information, and alarm clocks.


It also handles notifications fairly sensibly too. Alerts are split into things you might have missed, and things that will happen in the future.


So if you swipe left, you’ll see what’s coming up, and if you swipe right, you’ll see a more conventional list of things that have already happened – text messages, missed calls, and so forth.


Another software perk is the inclusion of Olio’s own cloud-based personal assistant called Olio Assist, which will apparently organise your life direct from your wrist.


What’s most different about the Olio smartwatch from the Apple Watch, however, is the fact that it doesn’t have any apps. And it never will, either.


“There is no app store,” explained Olio CEO Steve Jacobs, speaking to Forbes. “Apps make a lot of sense for phones, but apps don’t make sense for connected devices as a category, let alone the small real estate of something you wear on your wrist.”


“Instead of forcing everybody to download all the same apps as on their phone over again or following the same paradigm that they do on a much larger device, what we do is connect the watch to all the apps and services that are important to you, vis-à-vis with the apps you already have on your phone.”


Olio 2

A premium design, with a suitably premium price tag...


Jacobs went on to describe how he thinks Apple made a major mistake with the watch, suggesting it tried too hard to emulate the iPhone’s app ecosystem for wearables.


“Apple said this was successful on the iPhone, so they’re porting it over,” said Jacobs.


“One could say they’re doing that because they’re still trying to find that killer functionality. But the last thing we need is another group of apps on smaller screens.”


He added: “You shouldn’t have to search through 300 different apps to find something that’s relevant.”


That doesn’t mean the Olio smartwatch can’t do some pretty cool stuff; it’s got plenty of ways of interacting with the world around you.


With Olio, you’ll be able to unlock your car door using the device, and it’ll ping you with the option when you’re near the vehicle.


Similarly, as you’re approaching your home, you’ll be offered the option to switch on your heating via Nest through an alert.


Related: Apple Watch vs Android Wear


In terms of hardware, it’s a fairly luxurious affair. The Olio boasts a stainless steel chassis that’s 48mm wide. That’s up on the Apple Watch’s 38mm and 42mm options. Visuals are provided by a 1.3-inch IPS display running at 216 pixels-per-inch. It’s waterproof to 50m too.


There’s a wireless charging coil built onto the back, with battery life estimated at around two days.


A host of tech is stuff into the device too, namely a Bluetooth radio, accelerometer, gyroscope, and a microphone that can be used for Siri and Google Now interaction. That means it’s Android and iOS friendly, for the record.


The device is up for pre-order today – two weeks prior to the Apple Watch launch – although it won’t start shipping until the summer.


In terms of pricing, you’re looking at $595 (£399) for the silvery Steel Collection - $645 (£430) if you want a link chain.


There’s also a Black Collection edition for $745 (£500), which bumps up to $795 (£530) with a link chain.


It’s also worth noting that the initial run will be limited to 500 units, so if you want one then you might want to get a shuffle on.



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Galaxy S6 Edge could become Samsung's main flagship phone


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Galaxy S6 Edge

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge




Samsung may be changing its mind about the Galaxy S6 Edge's niche appeal, with reports from Korea suggesting it could become the company's new flagship phone.


While the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is evidently the most advanced phone Samsung has ever made, its unusual design and premium price tag appear to have led to Samsung deciding to play relatively safe with it.


The Galaxy S6 Edge was only going to be made available in small quantities, with the regular Samsung Galaxy S6 taking the role of the company's flagship phone for 2015.


Now, however, Samsung might be changing its mind. According to South Korea's ET News, Samsung is considering expanding production of the dual-curved screen phone three-fold.


This follows massive interest from mobile networks around the world, not to mention the Galaxy S6 Edge's immensely positive early critical reception.


While Japan’s Alps Electronics is currently the sole supplier of the Galaxy S6 Edge's touchscreen panel, the report claims that Samsung is seeking out other suppliers to help meet the extra demand.


It seems as if the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge will be more than just an expensive niche device after all.


Read More: 10 best Android phones


Other than its dual-curved display, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge will be identical to the Samsung Galaxy S6. Both highlight Samsung's switch to a premium design language, with aluminium bodies and a shiny Gorilla Glass 4-covered back.


Both phones pack Samsung's own latest-generation Exynos processor, a streamlined TouchWiz UI layered over Android Lollipop, and a 16-megapixel camera with improved low-light performance.




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Future Tech: Biggest patents and acquisitions of the month


We look back at the biggest patents filed and acquisitions made this month including Apple, Uber and Twitter


Innovation is one of the most important facets of the technology industry. In terms of the day-to-day news that we at TrustedReviews cover, that innovation tends to manifest itself in two main ways: patents and acquisitions.

Whether they’re coming up with a bright idea themselves, or purchasing smaller companies that have had those bright ideas, all the big guns are active in these two key areas. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung - they’re all at it.


With that in mind, we'll be taking a look back at the most interesting patents and acquisitions launched each month, and how they might impact the services, products, and apps we use each day.


SEE ALSO: Best crowdfunding campaigns we'd invest in this month

periscope


Twitter buys Periscope


There was much hoo-ha at the beginning of March when app-of-the-moment Meerkat found that it had been, to put it politely, screwed over by Twitter. As it turned out, the reason Twitter withdrew its passive support for the live video streaming app was because it had purchased its own.

Mid-way through the month, Twitter confirmed that it had acquired Periscope, a live-streaming video app that allows users to broadcast live video from their mobiles.


While there was no Periscope app on the market at the time, Twitter has now launched Periscope onto the Apple App Store for now - and very slick it is too.


It marks the beginning of a new phase of social networking, where you don't just tell people what's happened - you show them what's happening, as it happens.


SEE ALSO: What is Meerkat?

Samsung patent


Samsung patents flexible phone design


There's been talk of flexible phones for several years now. The technology for bendy screens has been out there - it's just the rest of the components that pose a practical problem.

This month saw some advance on that with news of a patent application from Samsung. It showed that the Korean manufacturer has been working on a handset that pairs a flexible screen with a body that can be freely flexed both forwards and backwards.


It seems this phone's body could feature a series of interlocking panels that would render the phone rigid when straight, but which could unlock and slide when placed under pressure.


As is often the case, this patent is actually fairly old - it dates from a year ago - so Samsung may well have made progress on this concept in the intervening months.


PP


PayPal acquires Paydiant


Right at the beginning of March, it emerged that PayPal had acquired Padiant - a company that provides mobile wallet technology for a number of major banking apps and financial services.

With it, PayPal instantly made itself a major player in the mobile payments war - albeit a background schemer rather than a frontline slugger like Apple Pay.


PayPal's intention with this purchase is to enable its retail partners to continue creating their own branded wallets, whether that incorporates mobile payments, store cards, or loyalty cards.


In other words, PayPal wants to facilitate mobile payments, building the core technology to support them, rather than offering a complete solution.


It could well prove to be a smarter course than Apple's, which only seems to be causing friction and drawing opposition from those powerful financial institutions.


Apple camera patent


Apple's light-splitting camera patent


One of the strongest components of any iPhone these days is its camera. Most smartphone rivals simply can't get close for all-round photographic chops.

That excellence looks set to continue, as news recently emerged of an interesting Apple patent for a "Digital camera with light splitter."


The technology uses a cube to split light into three separate beams - green, red, and blue. Each colour is then received by a separate image sensor.


The purpose of this would be to gather more information than single, mixed image sensor can handle (especially one so small as a smartphone example) and to allow more pixels to be packed in without having to shrink them.


According to the patent, Apple would also use OIS to account for image blur, and movable lenses would also allow for optical zoom.


SEE ALSO: iPhone 6 camera tips and tricks

Uber


Uber acquires deCarta


This one rather slipped out early in the month, but it's an interesting one. Uber, the maker of the self-titled smart taxi app that has taken the world by storm of late, has acquired a small mapping company called deCarta.

The acquired mapping company will continue to offer its local search and turn by turn navigation services as a subsidiary of Uber, but it's what it might do for Uber that will be of interest.


Currently, Uber relies on Google Maps for pricing up fares and directing its drivers. While Google Maps is good for a lot of things, it's not the most precise navigation tool.


Uber is known to be investing in mapping, with ambitious things like multi-fare routes. So, this could all be part of an effort to go with its own, more precise mapping tool.



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Apple Watch stores opening in London, Paris, Tokyo on April 10


Apple has officially confirmed plans to open three dedicated Apple Watch stores in locations worldwide.


The outlets will be positioned inside existing department stores, selling Apple’s new wearable in London, Paris, and Tokyo.


We recently reported on an Apple Watch store being constructed inside the Isetan department store in Tokyo, but now it’s official.


The other stores will be placed inside Selfridges on Oxford Street in London, as well as Galeries Lafayette in Paris.


The stores will open their doors on April 10, but customers won’t actually be able to buy an Apple Watch until April 24.


It’s also worth noting that the stores will be used exclusively for viewing and selling the device, while repairs and support will be handled by Apple stores proper.


The Selfridges shop will be placed near the Wonder Room. That’s a shopping hall dedicated to peddling luxury goods, including jewellery and watches.


According to MacRumors, Apple has been drawing employees from other retail stores across the capital to staff the Selfridges branch.


The Galeries Lafayette outlet, meanwhile, will be placed across four balcony sections that overlook the main area of the department store.


Related: Apple Watch vs Android Wear


Apple unveiled its fledgling wearable late last year, and then held a second launch event earlier this month to confirm pricing details.


The cheapest Apple Watch will be the 38mm Apple Watch Sport, which is set to mark up at £299.


The most expensive Apple Watch, meanwhile, will be the Edition variant, with some models due to retail at £13,500.



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