Samsung Galaxy S7 due to be unveiled on February 21

Samsung is due to launch the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge on February 21 during this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), in a bid to retain its status as the global market smartphone leader.  The South Korean company has sent out media invitations for its Unpacked Event, which will take place at 19:00 CET on the Sunday evening.  It's possible the launch event may feature some form of virtual reality after Samsung featured its Gear VR headset in a short teaser clip.

  
While Samsung has not explicitly detailed the handsets' release details, it's highly likely given that the company launched the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge models during last year's MWC. The smartphones are expected to go on sale across Europe and the US on March 11. 

 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge: in pictures   Though details remain hazy, the handsets are likely to come in 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch display versions respectively, with 4GB of inbuilt RAM, 32GB/64GB of storage and 12MP camera. It's possible that Samsung may choose to reverse its controversial decision to do away with the microSD card which caused so much outrage last year. 

 The event could also see the launch of Samsung Pay in Europe, the company's answer to Apple's contactless payment system Apple Pay. Though Samsung Pay has been available in the US since last September, customers across Europe have been kept waiting. Apple Pay went live in the UK last July.  Samsung will be pinning its hopes on the S7 and S7 Edge to breathe life back into sales of its premium models, after its net profit slumped 40 per cent during the last three months of 2015 to  3.2tn won ($2.7bn, £1.9bn).

Whilst generally receiving positive reviews, the S6 and S6 Edge failed to sell in the volumes Samsung had hoped, despite spending a reported £45 million on advertising.  In July last year the company reported a year-on-year decline of 8 per cent after profits fell to 5.75tn won (£3.2bn, $4.9bn), alongside a 38 per cent decline in its mobile division's income.

 "Despite the launch of Galaxy S6, improvement to earnings was quite marginal due to low smartphone shipments and an increase in marketing expenses for new product launches," Samsung said in a press release at the time.  Despite weakening sales in the past few years, Samsung remains the world's largest mobile vendor, shipping some 317 million smartphones during 2015, according to Juniper Research. Arch rival Apple recently reported that growth in its iPhone sales had been the slowest in nine years, but alongside record profits of $18.4bn for the last quarter of 2015.

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Smart Connector looking likely in latest iPad Air leak

A new leak just dropped a massive hint about what to expect from the next iPad Air - and it could be great news for music fans and on-the-go typists.
A listing on Alibaba, China’s version of Amazon, shows what looks like a third party case for the iPad Air 3, complete with extra cutouts for more speakers and a Smart Connector.
The Smart Connector turned up on the iPad Pro in September, as an alternative (and more reliable) way to connect a Bluetooth keyboard. If the leak turns out to be true, it means the iPad Air 3 is in line for the same treatment - possibly with an official Apple keyboard cover to go with it.
The four speaker cutouts match rumours that first started swirling earlier this month. It would definitely be a step up from the iPad Air 2’s twin stereo speakers, and would be much better for watching TV shows or movies without plugging in a pair of headphones.

The other new addition is the larger camera cutout on the back of the case. That points to a rear camera flash - a first for the iPad and something the top-end iPad Pro doesn’t have.

The case was first spotted by Macotakara, and matches a lot of existing rumours, but don’t go placing bets on iPad features just yet. Cases and covers revealed ahead of launch are usually built off of rumours, rather than insider info direct from Apple.
We won’t know for sure until the iPad Air 3 launches. That should be in March, alongside the iPhone 6C (or 5se) and some new Apple Watch models.

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Wow! Scientists Are Now Creating Human Beings (See Photos)

The Scientists are not sleeping, They keep
Inventing and Innovating..
Here are pictures and videos of almost
Human being created by scientists.

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Latest Israeli technology offerings dazzle at Our Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem

You’re cruising along the highway. Suddenly, you hear a
sputter, your engine grumbles, and your car comes to a
screeching halt. The tow truck drags the car to a local
auto mechanic. Damage: $1,000.
You have no idea whether or not the mechanic is honest
— but you will soon, thanks to a new Israeli innovation.
READ MORE ON: Jewish World
Engie puts the car owner in the driver’s seat by providing
a special malfunction reader that simply plugs into your
car to assess the problem. It then transports the data on
the malfunction via Bluetooth technology to an app that
offers more information on the damage and helps
determine how much the repair should cost. If you want
to — and if you’re in Israel — you even can get quotes
from up to 100 mechanics in the Tel Aviv area.
According to Yaron Cohen, vice president of R&D for
Engie, there have been more than 40,000 app downloads
since the company launched its first round of pilot testing
10 months ago. He said that more than 700 million people
get their cars repaired by mechanics each year, incurring
costs of more than $150 million. Engie, a start-up that just
completed its first round of funding, expects to be
available in the United States within the next six months.
Cohen and his colleague, Ido Ozdoua, were among the
3,000 people either presenting or learning about Israeli
technologies — and the prospect of investing in them —
from January 25 to 26 at the OurCrowd Global Investor
Summit. The meeting, which brought technology leaders
and innovators from around the world to Jerusalem’s
International Convention Center, featured some of Israel’s
hottest start-ups. The agenda was packed with content,
including talks by Jonathan Medved, founder and CEO of
OurCrowd, the leading global equity crowdfunding
platform for accredited investors; Alan Boehme, chief
technology officer, chief innovation officer, chief architect,
and customer/commercial CIO for the Coca-Cola Company;
and Harel Kodesh, vice president and chief technology
officer for GE-Digital. A first-ever “crowd hackathon”
offered some insight into Israel’s ingenuity and creativity.
“It is amazing,” said United States Agency for
International Development Economic Growth Officer Jarir
Dirini, who was there. “But we expect to find it here.”
Take Bird, a small wearable device that turns any space
into an interactive playground, which was developed by
MUV Interactive. In a presentation, CEO Rami Parhan
showed how the gadget can turn anything you touch to
life.
“Remember the first time you touched a touch screen,”
Parhan said. “It was magic. You couldn’t stop swiping. We
have created a user interface that makes you feel that all
over again.”
Bird works with the devices and software you already use
(iPads, projectors, and AV/VR headsets), or with new
ones. It allows you to push, pull, touch, grab, and move
content from anywhere in the room, up to 100 feet away,
with a swoosh of your fingertip.
Bird now is targeting the corporate and education sectors,
and it already has placed 15,000 units in institutions of
higher education. It is being sold through both distribution
channels and re-sellers in the United States and Asia.
Then there’s freeD —”free dimensional video”— from Replay
Technologies, which is redefining what it means to watch
and experience sports. Founded in 2012, the technology
already is installed in stadiums around the world. It allows
for immersive reality experiences for individuals using a
smart screen, enables replays to be broadcast from
different views and angles within 60 seconds, and also
can be leveraged for commercial use. freeD already has
seed-stage funding partnerships with Samsung, Sony,
Facebook, Google, and others.
Other areas of Israeli technology also were showcased at
the summit, including green and agricultural, web, and
medical.
HIL Applied Medical’s CEO, Sagi Brink-Danan, spoke
about the company’s new class of ultra-compact high-
performance accelerators for cancer proton therapy. The
patented approach to particle acceleration and beam
delivery enables reduction in the size, complexity, and cost
of a proton therapy system.
Brink-Danan explained that proton therapy is nothing
new —”we have known about it for 60 or 70 years and it
has been practiced for more than 30 years,” he said.
Nevertheless, today, more than 95 percent of cancer
patients cannot benefit from the therapy because of the
size of the proton therapy machinery and the cost of
running it. The unique properties of laser-accelerated
proton beams allow for more savings in the ancillary
magnetic systems used for beam shaping and delivery,
while providing state-of-the-art clinical capabilities.

The next big thing in upright mobility, UpNRide from
UpNRide Robotics Ltd., is a new mobility solution for
people in wheelchairs. The device enables them to sit and
stand whenever they want to, and in all places — indoor
and outdoor. The rider pushes a button to enable the
standing position.
“They will be able to go up or down whenever any able-
bodied person does it,” Dr. Oren Tamari said, noting the
device’s unprecedented safety features — it can maneuver
on slopes and curves, and keeps the rider centered to
avoid dizziness or falls.
The wheelchair has existed for centuries, and while its
materials and technology have changed slightly over
time, it still is simply a chair with four wheels. There are
more than 8 million wheelchair users who suffer from
poor health because of their necessarily sedentary lives.
Their quality of life and self-esteem suffers. Each person
with a physical disability that relegates him or her to a
wheelchair incurs annual costs of $70,000 to $120,000
for the healthcare system. Enter UpNRide, which launched
in 2014 and whose team of inventors includes the brains
behind ReWalk Robotics, another Israeli venture of
Tamari, Dr. Amit Goffer, and Dudi Haimovich.
“It’s all about inclusion,” Tamari said. “We are changing
the world.”
JNS.org

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Uber driver 'pulls gun' on passenger in Florida

An Uber driver drew a gun after a passenger said he thought he was going to be sick in the car, according to police.

Patrick McDonald told officers in Florida that he took out the weapon, despite the firm's firearms ban.

The two got into an altercation when the driver tried to forcibly remove Shane Fabry from the car.

Uber said Mr McDonald, 67, has been suspended and that it would co-operate with police.

Mr Fabry and his fellow passengers told police they were picked up by Mr McDonald on Friday last week as they made their way home.

During the journey, Mr Fabry said he felt ill and asked the driver to pull over in case he was sick but, when Mr McDonald did so, the passenger said he felt fine to continue after all.

Patrick McDonald was bailed

Mr McDonald was accused of trying to drag Mr Fabry out of the car by his arm, telling him he must not be sick in a $75,000 (£52,600) vehicle. They said the driver took up an "aggressive fighting stance" and that, after a verbal altercation, he drew a black semi-automatic gun from the driver's side.

In sworn statements, the passengers said the Uber driver pointed the gun at Mr Fabry. While Mr McDonald admitted to police that he drew the weapon, he said he did not point it at his passenger.

According to the police report filed with the Manatee county sheriff's office, he said he had "grabbed it (the gun) because he was in fear for his life".

The report read, that when asked exactly how he was in fear, he said he had heard the passengers making threats.

The 67-year-old driver was released on bail by police in Florida, where the incident took place. He is due to appear in court on Tuesday morning on charges of aggravated assault, with a further appearance on a charge of battery scheduled for 19 February.

Police said Mr McDonald admitted drawing the gun but denied pointing it at the passenger

Uber spokesman Bill Gibbons told the local paper, the Bradenton Herald, that Mr McDonald's account was deactivated while the firm investigated the incident.

"We stand ready to provide law enforcement with any information that would be helpful to their investigation into this matter," Mr Gibbons said, adding that Mr McDonald started working as an Uber driver in mid-January.

It was reported in June last year that Uber changed its firearms policy to ban weapons after one of its drivers shot someone soon after dropping off a passenger in his car. Later that month, the Washington Times reported that another Uber driver was accused of shooting a passenger who was allegedly choking him, despite the policy.

And, two months later, a California district attorney said Uber's driver background checks were not good enough.

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Google 'paid $1bn for search on iPhone'

Google paid tech rival Apple $1bn in 2014 to keep its search function the default option on iOS devices, Bloomberg reports.

A transcript of court proceedings from a copyright lawsuit against Google allegedly contains reference to a deal between the Silicon Valley firms.

The alleged agreement involves Google paying Apple a percentage of revenue - as much as 34% - gained through iOS devices.

Both companies declined to comment.

The BBC has not been able to verify the claims independently.

Bloomberg added that the referenced document has since been removed from the web.

"The transcript vanished without a trace from electronic court records at about 15:00," the report noted.

The court proceedings in question regard a lawsuit by Oracle Corp. in which the firm claims that Google used its Java software to develop Android but failed to pay for it.

'Lucrative business'

Analyst firms, such as Morgan Stanley, have quoted the $1bn figure in the past, but this appears to be the first time that a reference has been found in court documents.

"It's a very lucrative business to be the browser of choice on a device or the search engine on a device," Chris Green, a technology analyst at consultancy firm Lewis, told the BBC.

"It really does, I think, highlight the importance that's being put on being able to own real estate and the conduits through which people access information."

However, Mr Green also noted that it was generally quite common for companies to pay hardware vendors fees for the placement of software and services on devices and that sometimes that may indeed be a percentage of revenue gained as a result.

Bad ads

Other details about how Google manages its services emerged this week - including the fact that the firm removed 780 million "bad" advertisements from its sites last year.

By bad, Google said it was referring to ads which linked to malware, promoted fake goods or covered up website content.

In a blog post, the company said it had more than 1,000 people within its organisation responsible for weeding out these ads and that the number that had to be removed was increasing.

Some figures published by Google on advertisements include:

• More than 17 million ads designed to trick or mislead people into clicking them removed
• 12.5 million ads blocked which violated Google's healthcare and medicine policy - such as ads for unapproved drugs
• More than 30,000 sites suspended for carrying misleading claims about weight loss programmes
• More than 10,000 sites and 18,000 accounts suspended for attempting to sell counterfeit goods
• More than 10,000 sites disabled for offering unwanted software

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