ASUS' $299 hybrid tablet is a good idea that's past its prime

When ASUS launched the original Transformer Book T100 back in 2013, it had a relatively novel concept on its hands: a low-cost Windows tablet that could double as a laptop thanks to its included dock. The company clearly thinks it's still a good idea, since it recently released the Transformer Book T100HA with more powerful guts and Windows 10. But does this concept still hold water in 2015, when 2-in-1 Windows laptops are commonplace and mobile tablets are increasingly powerful? I've been living with the T100HA for several weeks to find out, and the truth is that it's no longer as sweet a deal as it once seemed. There are still many things to like about ASUS' hybrid, but you'll have to make some compromises that shouldn't really be necessary in modern hardware.

Source : engadget.com

Ola Launches Ola Money App For Mobile Recharges, Transfers

New Delhi, Nov 13 Ola today said it will offer its mobile wallet, Ola Money, as an independent app, a move that will see the taxi aggregator competing with the likes of Paytm, Mobikwik and Freecharge in the booming digital payment market in India.Ola Money, powered by ZipCash, has over 40 million users.

Earlier available within the Ola app, Ola Money enabled users to pay for their taxi and auto fares. In August, the company announced its partnerships with a host of online platforms like Oyo Rooms, Lenskart and Saavn to allow customers to make cashless transactions.

"Ola Money has seen tremendous acceptance over the last three months, since the time we opened it up for third party merchants. We continue to add more merchants and build many more use cases with Ola Money, making it a seamless experience for users," Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said.

With the app enabling users to do a lot more including mobile recharges and money transfers, Ola is excited about the possibilities that Ola Money brings for the millions, who are beginning to prefer an easy to use mobile payment solution, he added.

With the new Ola Money app, users can pay partner merchants as well as get mobile recharges and money transfers done."The app will soon be usable for utility bill payments, across online and offline merchants and leading payment gateways as well, making Ola Money a holistic solution in the payment ecosystem," the statement said.

Zipcash has a semi-closed wallet licence that is needed for third party payment services. According to reports, Ola holds a minority stake in the company.Ola Money will compete with existing players like Alibaba-backed Paytm that claims to have over 100 million users and Mobikwik that has more than 25 million wallets in the country,

Source : techgignews.com

Microsoft's futuristic HoloLens headset is getting some competition

Microsoft executives try out HoloLens on stage.

ASUS has announced that it is making an augmented reality headset that would compete with Microsoft's HoloLens, CNET reports.

Details on the headset, which will come out "next year" according to Asus CEO Jerry Shen, are light. It will run Windows Holographic - just like the HoloLens does - and it will likely be cheaper than Microsoft's version, given ASUS' computing heritage.

Shen announced the plans during the company's earnings webcast. "It should be next year when we come out with a product. We think AR will be very important for people's lives," said Shen.

HoloLens has no official release date for consumers but a $3,000 (1,900) "Developer Edition" model is coming in early 2016. If HoloLens is delayed until 2017 for consumers, then ASUS could be the first to market with an augmented reality headset.

Source : ETCIO.com

OpenROV's Co-Founder Discusses the Future of Underwater Exploration

The ocean, like space, is a curious place. But in space there are points of light to guide us, moments that give us a feeling of awe. In the vast deep, there are no points of reference on the surface. It's contents remain hidden the dark shroud across its surface. When we do go down to take a peek, humans are only permitted a glimpse without scuba gear. Even with it, the scope of sight is limited.

"People have been exploring from the surface for as long as people have been getting to the ocean, but getting into the ocean is still tricky business and it's only in very recent times that we've had the technology that can take us more than as deep as you can go holding your breath," Oceanographer Sylvia Earle explained in an interview.

It's not hard to believe only 5-percent of our oceans have been explored thus far. But without the means of James Cameron or Jacques-Yves Cousteau, most of us must remain happy to merely glide across its surface.

Source: techtimes.com

Apple Releases Third OS X 10.11.2 Beta For Registered Testers

Apple has released the third beta for OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan to its registered beta testers just one day after it seeded the third beta version of the operating system to developers.

The release of the third beta also came just two weeks after Apple seeded the first beta for the OS version, and only three weeks after the public release of the final OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan.

Users that have registered as participants in the beta testing program of Apple could download the third beta for OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan through the Software Update system found in the App Store for Mac. For users that would like to sign up as a participant in the beta testing program, they can do so through the dedicated website.

The first two beta versions for OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan did not contain any standout updates or changes, with the minor update mostly likely only including security improvements, bug solutions and performance tweaks to address the problems that have been reported with Apple's release of OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan.

The release notes of Apple for the beta versions for developers ask the testers to put most of their focus on the operating system's graphics, Calendar, Wi-Fi, Notes, USB, Spotlight and Photos functions, hinting on where Apple made improvements to the OS.

OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan provided a minor update to the operating system's performance, along with several significant bug fixes. The compatibility with Microsoft's Office 2016 apps also received an improvement.

The latest publicly-released version of the operating system also improved the installer reliability for upgrading to OS X El Capitan, along with fixes to issues associated with the Mail function and Audio Unit plug-ins. The reliability for the VoiceOver function has also been improved and last but not least, the operating system upgrade also added more than 150 new emojis.

Source : techtimes.com

Uber Adds TomTom Navigation Data To Its Driver App

On-demand transportation service Uber lost out on its joint bid for Nokia’s Here mapping unit, so it’s moving ahead with putting together its own navigation, mapping and location services. Today, Dutch mapping company TomTom announced a deal to provide data to Uber for use in its navigation for Uber drivers (and specifically not Uber passengers). Specifically, Uber will use TomTom’s maps and traffic data “that will contribute to the navigation experience”, an Uber spokesperson tells TechCrunch.

The companies describe the deal as multi-year and global, with a focus on some 300 cities. Neither are disclosing the financial terms.

“We are excited to provide Uber with our best-in-class location data.” said Charles Cautley, Managing Director Maps & Licensing at TomTom, in a statement. “TomTom is a truly independent map provider with the platform for the future. With this platform, TomTom is the trusted partner for innovative and future proof location technology for the global automotive and consumer technology industry.”

“We look forward to working with TomTom, a leader in the mapping and navigation space,” said Matt Wyndowe, Head of Product Partnerships at Uber. “Their mapping and traffic data will help ensure we continue to provide a great experience for drivers everywhere.”

We have confirmed directly with Uber that TomTom will be providing data for the driving app alone. It is not replacing Google Maps, nor any other services that Uber currently uses.

“It’s part of the mix now,” the Uber spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We use a variety of sources in addition to Google Maps, and will continue to.” That mix includes Uber’s own mapping assets, which include its acquisitions of Microsoft’s Bing mapping assets and startup deCarta.

(A potential separation from Google Maps was apparently the first question on many people’s minds in the wake of the announcement, according to one source at TomTom. That’s because many have highlighted how Google’s own ambitions in transportation will put it into direct competition with Uber. This would be a complicated rivalry, given that Uber uses Google Maps data and is a big investment for Google Ventures.)

The move to improve mapping data for drivers comes at a time when Uber is facing a lot of competition from a wave of other app-based on-demand transportation services, many of them focused on more local markets than Uber and its global footprint.

For drivers who work on contract in their own vehicles and are beholden to no specific service, having an app that is more accurate and efficient in terms of getting them from points A to B and providing the most solid location information could be a tipping point for them in deciding which service to drive for.

TomTom provides mapping data for its own range of GPS-navigation hardware, but it also works with a number of third parties, with its data especially strong in urban areas. Perhaps most famously, it started to work with Apple as one of several partners on its native Maps application after Apple ditched Google in favor of its own in-house data and service.

Shares for TomTom, valued at around €2.44 billion ($2.6 billion), were up over 5% in morning trading after the news came out.

Little sidenote: Uber already has a team in Amsterdam working on the company’s global mobile apps, making the integration process potentially a little easier. Geography, however, apparently wasn’t what brokered the deal in the first place.

Source : techgignews.com

Zomato Blacklisted By 6 IITs for Campus Placements; Students Warned Against Contacting Them

7 year old Zomato, which is the poster-child of food tech based startups in India, having expanded to 22 countries and generating 1.9 million views page traffic in a month; having a valuation of more than $1 billion have been blacklisted by IITs from campus placements.

Atleast 6 IITs – Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Kanpur have confirmed this development.

Atal Ashutosh Agarwal, Vice-President, Technology Students’ Gymkhana at IIT-Kharagpur, said, “Any company which violates the procedural guidelines laid down by the AIPC may be blacklisted,”

Meanwhile, another placement official at one of the IITs have said, “No company should take the IIT system for granted,”

Back in July, Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato had lashed out against IIT Delhi, the place from where he had graduated. The issue was that Zomato was not provided day 1 slot for campus interviews, as the salary + ESOPs offered by them amounted to just Rs 26 lakh, a figure way too less for IIT Delhi’s standards.

He had said, “Campus placements in India are broken. Placement cells optimize only for money. Growth, esops, quality of work is secondary.”

Mohak Mehta, former placement manager at IIT Bombay says, “There are startups which get very egoistical about getting an early slot.”At that time, IIT Delhi had responded by saying, “Any company which has to compete for a slot has to match the cash salary offer. Zomato did not match the salary offer,”

The issue didn’t end, it seems. Placement heads from 6 different IITs have now ganged up, and entirely stopped Zomato from entering their premises for any placement related activity.

As per Times of India, the main reason for Zomato’s blacklisting may be the recent layoffs, wherein their management had fired 10% of their employees in one single go. IITs do tend to give a warning in case of such unprecedented actions by recruiting companies; and blacklisted in case of severe actions.

Students Warned Against Contacting Them

An unverified circular from IIT Delhi is making rounds in the social media, which explicitly warns students from contacting Zomato in any form. As per the circular, Directi, a domain and web hosting company along with Zomato are blacklisted from campus placements, and if any student is found aiding them or contacting them, on or off campus, then strict disciplinary action would initiated against them.This is most probably for the first time in history that IIT students are being warned from contacting a billion dollar startup!

Source : trak.in