iPhone 6: Update(2)

iPhone 6 release date

Some pundits predict a summer release for the iPhone 6, while Money Morning reckons that the iPhone 5's lack of NFC and Jumbotron display is because Apple's got a proper iPhone ready for a springtime release.
It's quite likely that Apple is moving to a two-phones-per-year upgrade cycle, but we'd bet on a springtime 5S model and a bigger, iPhone 6, update in the Autumn, probably September.
Even Digitimes reckons a springtime iPhone 6 is unlikely: it's predicting a summertime reveal for Apple's next generation phones, which again fits with a WWDC unveiling.

Apple may have a new roadmap, with new phones every spring and autumn

iPhone 6 cases

Multiple rumours say Apple's working on plastic cases for its next iPhone, mixing plastic and metal in such a way that "the internal metal parts [are] able to be seen from outside through special design."
It's unclear whether such cases would be for the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, or if Apple is simply considering making cheaper iPhone 4s to sell when the iPhone 3GS reaches the end of its life.
Speaking in March 2013, a KGI analyst said it believed Apple would turn to manufacturer Pegatron to make up to 75 per cent of low cost iPhone products.

Pretty, yes, but also horrifically scratch-prone. Will your next iPhone have a plastic back?

New charger design: Folding mode activated!

One scratch to a laptop is all it took for designer Min-Kyu Choi to redesign the power plug – with award-winning results. He and his business partner Matthew Judkins talk to BBC Future about a simple but ground-breaking rethink.

 

 

The UK power plug is a design which has remained almost unchanged since it started being plugged into electrical outlets in 1947. Back then, televisions were the size of a chest of drawers and music players could be the size of a child’s bed – hardly the kind of kit which required a travel-friendly plug.
Now, of course, our technological world is much more portable, and the plug’s prongs are capable of causing all manner of scratches and scuffs to laptops and the like when carried around.

BioShock Infinite: review

Formats PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Developer Irrational Games
Publisher 2K Games
Released 26 March 2013
PEGI 18 

There is a scene halfway through BioShock Infinite in which protagonist Booker DeWitt and his companion Elizabeth are searching the poor underbelly of the floating city Columbia. The shantytown is battered and filthy, kids singing dressed in rags, adults feverishly searching for food. In a basement, a child quivers beneath the rickety wooden stairs. Elizabeth spots a guitar propped up against a chair. She has been imprisoned and studied for her entire life, her experience of the world played out through books and phonogram recordings. “I wish I could play guitar,” she says softly. Without a word, you, as Booker, a man who has spent a great deal of his and Elizabeth’s time together killing to keep them safe, can walk over to the guitar, pick it up, and begin to play. As Booker strums softly on the instrument, Elizabeth sings along and unearths an orange before handing it to the boy under the stairs. Tentative at first, he hungrily grabs the fruit and begins to eat. Elizabeth stops singing, Booker stops playing and the pair make their way upstairs to find a way out of Columbia.

iPhone 6: Update(1)!

 
Apple’s iPhone 6 screen could be totally resistant to scratches, cracks and other terrible things
Apple’s iPhone 6 is rumored to sport a scratch-free, crack-resistant screen. A recent story from The News Tribe claims that this would likely happen if Apple makes the switch from Gorilla Glass to Sapphire Crystal glass.

Radical camera goes back in time

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Forgotten that old-school feeling of waiting for your photographs to be developed before seeing how they turned out? British design firm Conran may have the answer.
For BBC Future’s Imagineering project, in which designers are asked to reinterpret everyday objects, the designer chose to reimagine the digital camera with some of the joys of the analogue age.
Sitting in an apartment above the company’s London offices, senior designer Jared Mankelow unveiled the company’s vision. His bold design is a Post-it note-shaped square in bold blue, with two rings at the front for the imaging sensors (black) and a ringflash (white). A large hole bored straight through the camera serves as its lens and viewfinder.

Temple Grandin: Rethinking the way we think

Society must recognise that different people think in different ways.

Is JavaScript the Future of Programming?

JavaScript is the programming language that makes a website interactive. Slideshows, advertising pop-ups and Google's autocomplete feature are all examples of JavaScript at work. It was first created by Brendan Eich at Netscape in 1995 — nicknamed Mocha during development, released in beta as LiveScript and ultimately named JavaScript in order to piggyback on the popularity of Java (another programming language) for marketing reasons.

At first, developers didn't take JavaScript seriously, because it wasn't seen as a serious development language like Java, Ruby or Python, which are server-side languages. JavaScript was the frosting on the cake, only responsible for user experience. But the language continues to become more prolific, often recommended as a first language to learn for beginners. If you use JavaScript with a framework called Node.js, you can now actually use JavaScript as a server-side language.

The Future Needs Programmers

Bill Thompson at the BBC asks the question Who will write tomorrow's code?, and it's a similar question to the one I've asked before now. How do we get kids interested in programming computers, as opposed to just using them? Sadly we are creating a generation of computer-savvy kids. They know how to search the internet, write up reports and play their games. Many of them even know how to do things it took me years of playing to discover, but somehow we are not instilling the same level of joy or interest in actually creating the applications used to run the computers. Bill suggests, among other things, that's it's an education problem, and in some cases a simple access problem. The tools to develop software are not provided with many computers, without the tools, you are never going to encourage people to try it out. But I think it goes deeper than this - we just don't provide any encouragement or reason to learn programming. Let's face it, programmers are not exactly the trendiest part of the gene pool. I'm not saying we need role models, but perhaps we should be pointing out how much fun programming can be? Or how rewarding it can be? Perhaps, too, we should be more open about how programming works, and how easy it can be to produce fun stuff. Tools like Ruby on Rails, for example, make it very quick and easy to produce some fun and exciting stuff. Promoting tools like this for development would potentially start people people down the development slippery slope that leads to the bigger and more extensive projects.

Is there a place for humans in the future?

If any of our visions of technological revolution come true, then how will humans cope? Economist and futurist Robin Hanson presents his guide.

Hero Of The Week: Mark Zuckerberg!

Born	Mark Elliot Zuckerberg May 14, 1984 (age 28)[1] White Plains, New York, U.S.
Residence	Palo Alto, California, U.S.[2]
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard College (Dropped out)
Occupation	Chairman & CEO of Facebook, Inc.
Years active	2004–present
Known for	Co-founding Facebook in 2004; world's 2nd youngest self-made billionaire (2012)[3]
Net worth	US$ 13.3 billion (2013)[4]
Spouse(s)	Priscilla Chan (m. 2012)
Relatives	Randi, Donna and Arielle (sisters)
Awards	Time Person of the Year 2010
Website
Facebook.com/Zuck

Read Biography>>>

Building The Crash-Proof Car

Thousands of smart vehicles are already being tested on our roads as part of an ambitious – and little known - effort to eradicate car crashes.