Episode 1: Try to buy Snapchat

In 2013, Facebook offered to buy Snapchat for $ 3 Billion (that is over 19 thousand crore ₹). Two year old Snapchat refused to sell. So Mark tried to get back at Snapchat. How? In the following steps.

Episode 2: Try to make apps to weaken Snapchat

Facebook tried to make an app that would rival Snapchat called Slingshot. Basically the idea is to sling your shot back to see your friend’s shot. Naturally, this did not go well.

Source: The Verge

Episode 3: Launch a full fledged copycat campaign

When Facebook owned Instagram launched Stories to spite Snapchat, it wasn’t the last time they were going to try to spite Snapchat. The following images will tell you that.

Instagram Stories. Source: TechCrunch

New WhatsApp Status. Source: Instagram

Facebook Stories. Source: Business Insider

Episode 4: Deliver the death blow

Finally after Facebook copied the same thing three times, inevitably the fourth time was due. TechCrunch did a full cover on “Messenger Day” if you want to check that out.

“Messenger Day”. Source: TechCrunch.

Here’s what’s worrying. Facebook doesn’t care for originality anymore. Even though this has happened before with not so popular apps, Facebook has launched a full scale attack on a competitor. It’s dominating the social platform and making sure no one can come behind.

Finale: Why isn’t Snapchat suing Facebook? And is this the end?

Snapchat is not suing Facebook because it’s not strictly illegal. In one of the oldest of such cases, Apple computer v. Microsoft Corp., Apple tried to sue Microsoft citing that their Windows 2.0 Graphical User Interface (GUI) similar to Apple’s Lisa. Apple lost the case and the court ruled that Apple could not patent something because the “look and feel” of something was similar. The individual elements could be copyrighted but Apple did not have rights to them, Xerox did. Apple lost the cases and subsequently, Apple almost went extinct. Microsoft bailed Apple out by agreeing to invest in Apple for five years and continuing to build the Microsoft Office Suite for Apple’s devices in exchange for making Internet Explorer the default browser on the Macintosh. Apple only regained its strength after the revolutionary iPod hit stores in 2001.

Snapchat could sue Facebook but would inevitably lose the case because “ideas” or content “formats” (as the Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom says) cannot be copyrighted. The only way for Snapchat to survive is if they do something revolutionary as well. Filters or “lenses” as Snapchats calls them won’t cut it because as much as it is fun to use Snapchat lenses, it’s not revolutionary.

Personally I have no love for Snapchat or the “stories” feature, but we’re going to find out how it’ll work out with all of you.

The post Facebook vs Snapchat – the copycat spree appeared first on OutFocus.

A driver of a Tesla Model S was tragically killed when his car slammed into a tractor-trailer that had veered into his lane.

The Model S operated by Mr.Brown went underneath the trailer of a truck that had turned left in front of the car. The Tesla’s windshield hit the bottom of the trailer as it passed underneath, and the car kept going, leaving the road, striking a fence, crossing a field, passing through another fence and finally hitting a utility pole about 100 feet south of the road, according to the report by the Florida Highway Patrol.

Moreover, it is suspected that the driver Mr.Brown could have been distracted with the auto-pilot on. A witness says that he was watching a Harry Potter movie while the fatal accident occurred. A DVD player was found in the wreckage.

The Company blog post titled “A Tragic Loss” said that neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. It also added that it happened under extreme circumstances.

Tesla’s autopilot software, which debuted last October, uses sensors, a camera, computing, software, and wireless technology to take over various parts of driving like lane changing and steering. It’s available on many of Tesla’s new Model S and Model X cars.

From the moment it was introduced to the public, some drivers complained about the frequent crashes of the Auto-Pilot System. While Tesla denies such claims, this fatal accident would be its first major blow to tackle. How will this affect Tesla’s brand?

Electric car maker Tesla Motors revealed that regulators are evaluating how Tesla’s autopilot software operated during that fatal crash, the first known fatality while a driver used Tesla’s autonomous driving technology.

The Company blog post said

“Following our standard practice, Tesla informed NHTSA about the incident immediately after it (accident) occurred.”

If the software is found to have problems, it could be a blow to Tesla’s brand and the company’s practice of introducing software that it can update with fixes over time. Also, this incident might cast some shadows on the technology itself and the companies like Google and Ford who are experimenting with that technology.

But Tesla had already announced during the debut of Autopilot that the autopilot feature is still in public beta phase and requires the driver’s attention. Also by default, the Auto-Pilot is off and requires an explicit acknowledgement.

The blog added that

When drivers activate Autopilot, the acknowledgment box explains, among other things, that Autopilot “is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times,” and that “you need to maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle” while using it. Additionally, every time that Autopilot is engaged, the car reminds the driver to “Always keep your hands on the wheel. Be prepared to take over at any time.”

A host of subsequent videos posted by Tesla drivers on YouTube showed near-misses on the road with Autopilot, prompting Musk to say he might curb the function to minimize the possibility of people doing “crazy things.”

The police report identified Brown as being from Canton, Ohio and as the owner of Nexu Innovations in Stow, Ohio. A biography on the Nexu website describes Brown as a former Navy SEAL. Tesla’s blog post described the customer who died as a “friend to Tesla and the broader EV community, a person who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla’s mission.”

A YouTube account belonging to a Joshua Brown whose personal details, including the company where he worked, match those of the accident victim, includes a video posted on April 5 titled “Autopilot Saves Model S.” In the video, a bucket truck, the type used by people working on utility poles, cuts off a Model S.

The written description of the 40-second video states: “Tesla Model S autopilot saved the car autonomously from a side collision from a boom lift truck. I was driving down the interstate and you can see the boom lift truck in question on the left side of the screen on a joining interstate road. Once the roads merged, the truck tried to get to the exit ramp on the right and never saw my Tesla. I actually wasn’t watching that direction and Tessy (the name of my car) was on duty with autopilot engaged. I became aware of the danger when Tessy alerted me with the “immediately take over” warning chime and the car swerving to the right to avoid the side collision.”

Also in the description, he thanks Tesla with a footnote

“Tessy did great. I have done a lot of testing with the sensors in the car and the software capabilities. I have always been impressed with the car, but I had not tested the car’s side collision avoidance. I am VERY impressed. Excellent job Elon! Note: I have over 39,000 miles on the car and I’ve had it since mid-July 2015. Hands down the best car I have ever owned and use it to its full extent.”

Just 11 days after the May 7 crash Tesla sold more than $2 billion of stock at a price of $215 per share.

Carol J. Loomis, a veteran financial journalist working in Fortune Magazine said that the electric car maker Tesla had not disclosed the information about the crash to its shareholders. The company had had marketed Autopilot vigorously as safe and important to its customers. Elon Musk replied that the Autopilot Death is not material to the value of Tesla.

He also pointed out the rise in Friday’s stock value of Tesla after the company made public the news of the crash through its post the night before.

Musk also responded to Fortune editor Alan Murray on Twitter:

@alansmurray Yes, it was material to you — BS article increased your advertising revenue. Just wasn’t material to TSLA, as shown by market.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2016

The Company post also added

“This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated. Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles. Worldwide, there is a fatality approximately every 60 million miles. It is important to emphasize that the NHTSA action is simply a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the system worked according to expectations.”

Many automakers including Elon Musk contend that the regulations and laws for self-driving cars will move more slowly than the technology.

The post Evaluating the Tesla Model S Crash appeared first on OutFocus.

What exactly is the Hyperloop?

The Hyperloop system is a concept realized by the billionaire inventor and tech guru Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX programme and Tesla Motors. It is a rebuttal to the current Californian rapid transport system, a bullet train based conventional system which Musk feels would not do justice to modern needs.

The Hyperloop concept’s essential motive is to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles with the help of huge partially evacuated tubes. Pod like structures would commute through these tubes at speeds of over 700Mph, this is made possible by encapsulating the pod with an air cushion which allows unassailable travel at high speeds.

The High pressure pocket which builds up in the front of the tube would be sucked in by an air compressor which would provide the air cushion and also help in mitigating turbulence cause by air pressure build up in front of the pod, propulsion would be carried out with the help of energy efficient Linear Induction Motors which is typically the standard magnetic levitation system.

What would this solve?

Standard means of transport tend to be either expensive or environmentally harmful. Hyperloop comes as a good alternative for cleaner, safer and faster travel at moderate to long distances. The tubes enclosing the pods are to conceptually  carry solar panels which would make the Hyperloop system self-sustainable and extremely eco-friendly, it would not only reduce the current transit time by almost three fold, it will produce lesser emissions and would have a better scaling when constructed in a large scale. There is also a great speculation that Hyperloop would make a fail proof transport system if humans are ever to inhabit other planets where conventional jet engines would not be able to run. In this sense Hyperloop is a novel application of engineering to use existing technology to overcome hurdles of such conventional transport systems, As the first working models of the Hyperloop are conceptualized, it is not long before this replaces other mass transit systems for good.

The post Hyperloop – The next transportation marvel appeared first on OutFocus.

Freedom 251 is priced at INR 251 (Around 4$ as per current exchange rates) and was launched by a little known Noida based company, Ringing Bells. It was officially unveiled in New Delhi on Feb 17 evening at an event presided by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, MP, with the Union Defence Minister Sri Manohar Parrikar as the Chief Guest.

The company said on its website that

the launch is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for “empowering India to the last person, transforming India’s growth story”.

Ringing Bells says the Freedom 251 smartphone has been developed ‘with immense support’ from the government and is touting it as a success story of PM Modi’s flagship ‘Make in India’ scheme.

Freedom 251 : Specifications

The website also lists important specifications of the Freedom 251: 4-inch display, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage (expandable up to 32GB), 3.2-megapixel back camera, 0.3-megapixel front camera, and a 1450mAh battery. Along with this comes few preinstalled applications Women Safety, Swachh Bharat, Fisherman, Farmer, Medical, Google Play, Whatsapp, Facebook, Youtube and few others. The phone will come with a standard warranty of 1 year. According to the company’s website, “This warranty of the product extends for a period of 12 months for the host unit, 6 months for battery and charger, and 3 months for earphone commencing from the date of purchase.”

At present, smartphones available in the market are priced around Rs 1,500. Last year, DataWind had announced that it is teaming up with Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications (RCOM) to launch the world’s most affordable smartphone, priced at Rs 999. The phone is yet to hit the market.

Despite being a new entrant in the Indian mobile phone market, Ringing Bells (established last year) had launched one of India’s cheapest 4G smartphone at Rs 2,999, recently. It has also launched two other feature phones in the market.

The booking started today via its official website and most people are irritated by continuous crashes. While the booking ends on 21^st Feb 2016, the products are expected to be delivered 4 months after the booking ends.

Freedom 251 : Issues

Given its Ultra-low price tag, it is assumed that this would disrupt the smartphone market in India, but the satisfiability of the promises is yet to be seen. But there are issues to be addressed by the company.

There very first thing is the price. Even with the cheapest hardware, a smartphone would cost around 1500 INR. Given that there is no government involvement of subsidizing the product, such an endeavour is not possible.
Also there seems to be few flaws with company’s marketing. The product’s website featured a photo of a phone similar to it’s previous smartphone (SMART 101) while the print ad seems to feature another. What’s interesting is that the company’s website didn’t list the product. Also the website dedicated for the Freedom 251 updates uses a photo of SMART 101. (http://freedom251india.com/why-we-should-buy-freedom-251-smartphone/)

Hindustan Times published a review which indicated that the device is a jumbled mishmash of other existing phones. The screenshots of the Freedom 251’s UI clearly show ripoffs of icons from iOS. Apple’s Photos, Safari, and Email icons are sitting pretty beside standard Android Lollipop fare. That’s a copyright infringement lawsuit in the making. In addition, HT claims the trial device they were sent by the company actually featured branding of an entirely different company, Adcom. The brand name was whitened out adding another ominous bell. When googled, Adcom is an IT product importer from Delhi, and Adcom said that they have nothing to do with Ringing Bells.

To add flames to the fuel comes BIS. All phones sold in India must be certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Getting this certification done is both time consuming and expensive. However, it appears that the BIS registration of the Ringing Bells Freedom 251 has not been done. It is not listed in the list of manufacturers registered by BIS. This means that if the phone is a new device made by Ringing Bells, then it has not been certified as safe for use in India.

For list of Manufacturers registered by BIS : http://164.100.105.199:8071/cmd3/index.php?search=&submit=Search!

The post Freedom 251 booking: A Scam ? appeared first on OutFocus.

“Since the launch of Google Photos, we’ve had a lot of questions around what this means for the future of Picasa. After much thought and consideration, we’ve decided to retire Picasa over the coming months in order to focus entirely on a single photo service in Google Photos.”

Anil Sabharwal, Head of Google Photos.

Perhaps Google was waiting to see if its Photos caught on. It has. Google said the service crossed 100 million monthly users in October. Its main distinction from Picasa is the advanced machine learning feature that can automatically tag and organize images, something Google likes to talk about incessantly. Photos will now pick up Picasa’s users.

Google notes that the easiest way to access, modify and share the content from a Picasa Web Album is to log into Google Photos, as photos and videos will already be there for you, automatically.

Google shuts down Picasa:

But if you aren’t ready to say goodbye to yesterday, Picasa isn’t disappearing immediately. Google will phase out the desktop app and Web Albums feature in the coming months. Google will retire the Picasa desktop app on March 15th; you’ll be able to download it until then and the app will continue to work, but come March 15th, Google will no longer support the app. Web Albums will stick around a little longer—until May 1st.

“As of March 15, 2016, we will no longer be supporting the Picasa desktop application. For those who have already downloaded this—or choose to do so before this date—it will continue to work as it does today, but we will not be developing it further, and there will be no future updates.”

Until then, you’ll be able to access your Web Albums as you can now, and after that point, the company will provide “a new place for you to access your Picasa Web Albums data,” according to the blog post, just in case you don’t want to make the move to Google Photos but still want to access and save your Picasa data.

“One thing to make clear is that none of this is happening today—if you have a Picasa Web Album you can keep using it as normal. We’ll start rolling out these changes on May 1, 2016.”

Of course, Picasa is not the only ‘Google’ product to meet its death in recent times. We’ve seen products like Buzz, Orkut, get shut down lately.

For Google Photos: https://photos.google.com/

For more details about shutting down of Picasa:

http://googlephotos.blogspot.in/2016/02/moving-on-from-picasa.html

The post Google shuts down Picasa to focus on Google Photos appeared first on OutFocus.

What will the iPhone 7 be?

We haven’t seen any photos yet, but the design is expected to change. It will likely be thinner and lighter, and that unsightly camera bulge on the back might be removed. The screen is unlikely to change its size or resolution for the 7 or 7 Plus.

Extreme thinness and wireless connectivity are likely to be key features of the iPhone 7. It has been widely speculated and leaked by multiple insider sources  that the iPhone 7 will not have a headphone jack. Instead, users will be asked to use the Lightning port or a pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones.

Wireless Charging :

Though not the first to introduce Wireless Charging, Apple has planned to increase the efficiency of the wireless charging. Apple is now working with partners in Asia and the US to tackle the issue that  its competitors like Samsung and Sony are facing. The new technology is expected to allow the devices to charge faster and further away from the power source. Reports suggest that the inductive charging technology of Apple Watch could be replicated and adjusted to the new iPhone in order to make the wireless charging feature work.

 Removing the Home button :

Rumours claim the iPhone 7 will integrate a Touch ID fingerprint reader into the display, meaning you can unlock the phone by pressing anywhere. This would combine neatly with 3D Touch; a soft tap of the screen would work normally, whereas a firm press, would be like pressing the home button.

Thinner and lighter design :

According to reports,.you should expect the iPhone 7 to be the thinnest and lightest yet, measuring less than 6.9mm thick and weighing under 129g. But on the flip side, the battery life might get reduced. Apple also filed a patent on 7 January which hints at the possibility of the iPhone 7 supporting a twin camera system.

Waterproofing :

Although Apple has never listed it as a feature, the iPhone 6s has proved to be remarkably water-resistant than it’s predecessors. It is expected that this trend would continue. It is also expected that Apple would get rid of it’s 16 GB model and move with 32 GB or more!

Wireless Headphones :

Apple is reported to be working on replacing the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack with wireless headphones, making the phone slimmer than its predecessors. There are two scenarios to this case. Firstly, those who use wireless Bluetooth headphones will not mourn this loss, because they will carry on listening to music as before.

Next, for those who use wired headphones, it is likely Apple will send audio out through the Lightning port and sell an adapter to plug your regular headphones into it. It will also mean headphones can be plugged into the Lightning port while the handset is charged. It is also speculated that the wireless ear-pods in the iPhone 7, would come with noise cancelling capabilities.

But a petition has been gaining momentum, ever since the Speculations of ditching of 3.5mm jacket floated across the internet. The petition has strongly criticised Apple’s move stating that “it will single handedly create mountains of electronic waste — that likely won’t get recycled” as prospective iPhone 7 users will be forced to ditch their existing headphones completely.

The catch here is that the 3.5mm headphone jack is still being widely used by millions of iPhone users. Besides, the advent of proposed wireless earphones with every iPhone 7 will negate the need to buy or use existing 3.5mm headphones.

Despite the petition gaining momentum, it is very unlikely to impact the outcome of a proposed iPhone 7 launch without the 3.5mm jack.

But there arises a question. If the 3.5 mm jack and the charging port is removed for the shake of thinner design and bringing innovation, then it could very well ditch the lightning port as well and could work on more ways to bring an effective innovative futuristic iPhone!

Source

The iPhone 7 is likely to be announced this September, but we expect to see iOS 10 at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June, where we might see some clues of what the new phone will be like.

Before that, it is rumoured that Apple will be holding a media event in March where it will update the ipad Air and also reveal a new, smaller and cheaper iPhone, currently known as the iPhone 5SE.

Read More : How Apple is digging its own grave by ditching the 3.5 mm audio jack

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Written by  S G A Thomas.

The post iPhone 7 Rumors: What to expect ? appeared first on OutFocus.

Now Apple fans might argue that Apple caused a revolution by ditching the floppy. Let me tell you a “NO”. Even with the level of technological development post-2000, floppy discs were well used into 2005. That’s almost a full 7 years iMac users had to do without floppies. Doesn’t sound like a revolution to me. The biggest problem with Apple devices for me has always been compatibility issues. You need to have THE latest APPLE hardware for everything to work smoothly. If you have an old Macbook which works fine but you broke the charger, too bad, bud – you’d probably need a new MacBook to fit the new charger available.

Even worse is cross-platform compatibility. Is there even such a thing? If it was even possible, Apple would have their own word files format just to spite the user. I’m not saying Apple products are bad, no. I’m saying they’re just… you know… narcissistic and pompous. I found this awesome video on YouTube:

This clearly explains how Apple’s vision has (de)progressed through the years. And for those of you who think Apple is an innovative company, I want to make it clear to you that Apple’s best innovation was in marketing.

If you want to start your own mobile manufacturing company the same way Apple, here’s a quick step by step guide:

1. Take what’s best in the industry and repackage it.
2. Make it shiny and beautiful.
3. Tell people it’s a premium device just by having a 400% margin rate.
4. Market the hell out of it.
5. Watch sales skyrocket.

Quickly back to the topic at hand, Apple’s ditching the 3.5 mm jack means that the latest beats headset will not natively work on the iPhone 7. There are rumours of an adapter that can connect the traditional 3.5 mm audio jack to the new “lightning port” that ships with iPhone 7, but that’s just creating an inconvenience and later solving it.

Now, the author is not a blind accuser. What is a probable way to fight this develop-but-keep-compatibility issue? Even though I’m not very fond of Google either, Google has the right idea – Project ARA. The idea of a modular phone, with replaceable parts, is the best we could look up for in the near future. I only hope that project Ara, unlike many of Google’s projects, doesn’t get shut down. Now it’s just Google. Who knows what can be accomplished if other OSes (Microsoft fan alert) jump into the idea?

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Written by Muthu Kumar, Editor.

The post How Apple is digging its own grave by ditching the 3.5 mm audio jack appeared first on OutFocus.

Woah! The whole of Facebook seems to be buzzing with trends on Mobile updates. From the formal end of FireFox OS to rendered leaks of OnePlus 3, this week has been ups and downs for the Mobile World. And we thought to have a brief look on last week’s ‘never to be missed’ updates. Slide through next pages to catch up with the latest Mobile Updates !

The post Mobile phones to expect for 2016 (Leaked) appeared first on OutFocus.