Amazfit GT 3 series gets notification replies and more in latest firmware update
The Amazfit GTS 3, GTR 3 and GTR 3 Pro got a big new firmware update which adds smart reply to notifications, the ability to reject calls via text message as well as several other optimizations. Amazfit GTS 3 gets firmware version 7.42.5. 1 while GTR 3 Pro is treated to version 8.37.3. 2 in the US, Italy, India, the UK, Vietnam, with more regions being added soon.
Amazfit GTR 3 Pro update changelog
GTR 3 Pro gets the added benefit of custom replies to notifications via the Zepp app on Android. Other improvements across the GT 3 range include optimized smart alarm clock reminders, Bluetooth connectivity and overall system stability. In addition to updating your watch firmware users should also make sure they are running the latest Zepp app on their phones.
Counterpoint: Supply chain issues caused decline in India phone market in Q1
The India phone market had a tough first quarter of the year. According to Counterpoint Research, makers pushed 38 million smartphones, which is 1% less than they did twelve months ago.
Feature phones sales between January and March 2022 went off a cliff though, falling 39%. This brings the overall sales decrease to 16%.
The first quarter of 2022 began with a slow start due to the third COVID wave in the Asian country, Senior Research Analyst Prachir Singh revealed. The supply chain issues affected all major manufacturers who had to adopt different strategies for dealing with the problem. Some makers decided to expand the supplier portfolio, while others increased local sourcing.
However, the market is likely to remain stagnant in Q2 due to the current COVID situation in China which certainly will not help with bringing production and logistics to pre-pandemic levels.
Realme was the only major brand that recorded a yearly increase in sales, jumping from fifth to third place on the market.
The main reason for the company’s 40% rise is the adoption of Unisoc chipsets which helped with the sales of ultra-affordable devices but Realme was also aggressive in its online promotions, which also helped drive the growth.
Counterpoint also revealed Samsung was the top-selling company of 5G smartphones, while the OnePlus Nord CE 2 was the single best-selling 5G model in Q1 2022. The premium segment unsurprisingly was led by Apple, followed by Samsung.
Apple has just reported its quarterly results for its fiscal second quarter, which ended on March 26 and is thus confusingly the first quarter of the year (fiscal years are funny like that sometimes). It’s good news, however, for Cupertino, which has posted record revenues for its March quarter.
Apple’s revenue was $97. 3 billion in that quarter, up 9% year-on-year (aka compared to the 2021 March quarter). This resulted in quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1. 52, which you should care about only if you own Apple shares. Apple shareholders should also be aware that the board of directors declared $0. in cash dividend. 23 per share of common stock, an increase of 5%. This will be payable on May 12 to those who owned shares as of May 9.
Tim Cook was understandably giddy at the news, saying: “This quarter’s record results are a testament to Apple’s relentless focus on innovation and our ability to create the best products and services in the world. We are delighted to see the strong customer response to our new products, as well as the progress we’re making to become carbon neutral across our supply chain and our products by 2030. As always, we are determined to be a positive force in the world, in both what we do and what we take away. “
Interestingly, Apple CFO Luca Maestri revealed that the Services division of the company set an all-time revenue record this quarter, while revenues for sales of iPhones, Macs, wearables, home products and accessories were all record-breaking too, but only compared to any other March quarter.
Meet ‘Box’, a decentralized cloud server that lets you own your data instead of Amazon or Google
Building on the same ethos as Bitcoin and Web3 is, Box wants to do to storage what Cryptocurrency did to banking – break the chain of command. Instead of the status quo, where Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft make you pay subscription fees to store your data on their servers, Box has a better alternative. It allows you to buy and manage your server, and then store the data. But it’s one step better. Any extra storage you don’t use gets leased out to someone else, and you earn revenue for it.
Data on your Box works in a similar way to how data is encrypted on blockchain. Your Box works in tandem with other Boxes scattered around the globe. You have access to your data encrypted, and it is distributed across the Boxes so that you are the only one who can see them. This makes hacking virtually impossible. Your Box also participates in this “boxchain” of sorts. It hosts multiple pieces of data from other people and pays you.
Your photos, files and data are fully encrypted. Only you can access your data. You are the only one who can access your data.
What Box proposes is pretty unique, at least on paper. Instead of allowing big companies to store your data (and create profiles that they can sell to advertisers or governments), Box decentralizes it all, allowing people to store each other’s data. As simple as that was to explain, Box’s hardware reinforces that simplicity with an intuitive design that’s literally shaped like a box. Looking almost like a Rubik’s Cube from its top view, Box comes with a platform that lets you plug as many as 9 towers into it. The base Box provides one terabyte cloud storage. To expand this, you can either plug in framework expansion cards or add towers.
Box is stationary hardware that sits on your desk, syncs with your devices and provides all the advantages you’ve come to expect from cloud services.
Once assembled, the Box can be switched on to join other boxes and form the private, people-owned FULA Network. Fula, short for Functionland is a Blockchain-attached Storage Network that was developed by Box. This allows you to securely encrypt your data and make it inaccessible to others. Any storage that you don’t use gets rented to people on the FULA Network, allowing for you to get $FULA tokens. Your Box doesn’t mine coins. It just issues rewards based upon its Proof-of-Resource consensus. $FULA tokens have an intrinsic value that rises and falls over time too, just like any currency, and can be sold on compatible exchanges.
Fotos is a polished, forever-free app that provides swift, seamless, easy access to and sharing of your photos from anywhere, across any device.
All that technical jargon aside. Box is your personal cloud storage that you can use in a cheaper, more secure way than those offered by companies like Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. Box does not charge a subscription fee – you only pay for the hardware once. Box also makes money from the FULA network, but you can still cash in by renting additional storage to others. On launch, Box will come with its own photo storage and backup app called Fotos (which they say is free to use forever), and the company is encouraging developers and designers to make an ecosystem of apps for its users, promising rewards for them too.
When you start using Box, you start saving as much as $24+ per month, and earning $FULA tokens too.
Box’s hardware and software are both open-source, to that end… and for people worrying about the gas bills and electricity costs for blockchain-based data storage, Box’s makers say that the device is built on an energy-efficient framework, with electricity bills coming to a projected $15 per year.
Box is powered by Raspberry Pi 4, which consists of a high-performance 64-bit quad-core processor. It offers up to 8 GB of RAM, dual-band 2. 4/5.0 GHz wireless LAN, Bluetooth 5.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0. Box has multiple, expandable USB3 ports that serve to extend Box’s functions with more towers, or to enable it to act as a docking station.
So, is it worth investing in something like the Box? It makes good sense to invest in the Box if you are an expert on the technology. This will allow consumers to get onboard and help eliminate any kinks. As its community grows, Box’s network will become more reliable and more secure. Financially though, it’s really a no-brainer. On the one hand, you’ve got companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple charging an average of $200 USD per household per year for cloud storage (while simultaneously benefitting from your data).
Box, on the other hand, is just $299 for its Lite version, which is a single tower that provides a terabyte of storage. You can buy the cloud drive for that amount in perpetuity and expand it as you wish. Moreover, you even stand to make money from your Box by renting out the storage to other people. Why pay for cloud storage when your cloud storage could pay you, eh?
Belkin now says ‘it’s too early’ to talk about truly wireless chargers
Wi-Charge, an Israeli startup, announced its plans for a wireless charging system. This charger would be able to charge the phone without having to rest on a Qi-base. Ori Mor, Wi-Charge CEO mentioned earlier this week that the product might be available as early as this year due to a partnership between Belkin. However, now accessory manufacturer Belkin says it is “too soon” to discuss it.
Belkin spokesman Jen Wei confirmed in a statement (via Ars Technica) that the company has been working closely with Wi-Charge on product concepts. However, the launch of a truly wireless charger could still take years, contrary to what Wi-Charge’s CEO said.
According to Belkin, both companies are committed to studying and developing new technologies to make truly wireless charging a reality, but a product with this technology will only be released to the market after multiple tests to confirm its “technical feasibility.”
“Currently, our agreement with Wi-Charge only commits us to R&D on some product concepts, so it’s too early to comment on the timing of viable consumer products,” Wei said in an emailed statement to Ars Technica.
“The Belkin method is to thoroughly investigate technology viability and perform deep user testing before committing to a product concept. Here at Belkin, we only launch products when we confirm technical feasibility backed by deep consumer insights.”
It seems unlikely that Belkin would introduce a wireless charger in this year’s market. Even so, it’s great that companies are experimenting with this technology.
WiCharge technology uses a transmitter that plugs into a wall socket. This converts electricity to safe infrared radiations, which can be used wirelessly to send power. Devices around this transmitter can absorb energy within a radius of 40 feet or 12 meters. The transmitter can deliver up to 1W of power, which is not enough to recharge a smartphone but works well with accessories like headphones and remote controls.
Since the 2022 deadline has been ruled out, perhaps we’ll see the first products with this technology sometime in 2023.
Hands-on: GeForce NOW M1 optimization update [Video]
GeForce NOW is the go-to source for high quality game streaming across Apple devices, Android and PC. And NVIDIA’s released a substantial update to GeForce NOW that includes new features that M1 Mac users in particular will benefit from.
2.0.40 Update
The newest GeForce NOW 2.0.40 update enables the GeForce NOW MacOS app to fully support the Apple M1 Chip and all the Macs running on it. This is a big deal for the overall performance with Apple Silicon Macs. The M1 Macs are all about high performance with low power consumption. And this update is all about taking advantage of that. With the 2.0.40 update, you can expect noticeably lower power consumption, faster app startup times than ever before and an overall elevated GeForce NOW experience.
Updated Menu
Now members can more easily discover new games to play on GeForce NOW within the new Genre row in the main menu. And there’s useful sorting options that include the ability to see all the games within GeForce NOW that are available in specific regions. NVIDIA’s also improved the streaming stats overlay for GeForce NOW. This allows you to get a better view of your rendering frame rate while streaming.
Lost Ark Compatibility
Lost Ark is a new MMO game that takes perfect advantage of GeForce NOW. With an M1 MacBook Pro; you can stream Lost Ark at 1600p or on an iMac at up to 1440p at 60fps. And one of the best aspects of this membership is the freedom to customize your gaming experience with every game. With each game you can tweak individual graphics settings to refine the experience for whatever game you’re playing. This is just one of the many ways GeForce NOW brings the PC gaming experience to Mac users and beyond.
9to5Mac’s Take
GeForce NOW is free to join, but you can upgrade your membership for faster access to the GeForce Cloud servers. This grants you extended gameplay sessions, and gain certain RTX graphics features like Ray-tracing and DLSS. It’s great to be able to gain access to those features without needing a large gaming rig to power it all.
If you’re interested in checking out GeForce NOW, you can sign up for free! And if you want more timely updates on GeForce NOW, you can check out GFN Thursday which is a weekly celebration of new games and features. What are your thoughts on GeForce NOW? Sound off in the comments below!
Tim Cook says Apple won’t rule out acquiring large companies, but its focus is on IP and talent
During Apple’s fiscal Q2 2022 earnings calls, company CEO Tim Cook was asked about Apple’s strategy for acquiring other companies. Cook stated that Apple doesn’t care about acquiring large corporations, but rather about integrating new talent.
The question was specifically about why Apple doesn’t acquire big companies in the health, content, or fitness segment (in references to Peloton and Netflix). The questioner noted that Apple has billions of dollars on hand, which makes these acquisitions entirely possible.
Though Tim Cook stated that Apple does not rule out the possibility of acquiring large businesses, he also mentioned that Apple is focused on acquisitions in search IP and talent. This is what Apple can also find in startups and smaller companies.
Cook even joked about not discussing the list of potential companies to be acquired by Apple on his phone.
We are always looking at companies to buy. We acquire a lot of smaller companies, and we’ll continue to do that for IP and to incorporate talent. If an opportunity arises, we don’t hesitate to acquire a larger company. While I won’t be going through all of my lists with you during this conference call, we are always open to discussing them.
Multiple analysts in different markets have stated that they support Apple’s acquisition of Peloton to help with the creation of Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+. Some analysts believe Apple should have purchased Netflix rather than starting Apple TV+ completely from scratch.
Apple this quarter reported a revenue of $97. 3 billion, with a profit of $25 billion and earnings-per-share of $1.52. While the iPhone segment remains the most important for Apple, the services category was the fastest growing compared to last year with $19. 82 billion in revenue.
Read also:
Apple beats estimates with record Q2 earnings: $97. 3 billion revenue
Apple services subscribers grow 25% to new high of 825 million
Tim Cook: Record number of iPhone upgrades in Q2, ‘double digit’ growth in Android converts
Tim Cook says supply chain constraints are easing, despite ‘significant’ impact on iPad sales
WhatsApp is currently down for multiple users around the world [U: Fixed]
Multiple users are currently experiencing problems with WhatsApp’s popular messaging app. It is part of Meta. As of Thursday afternoon, there seems to have been an outage which has prevented users accessing the platform.
Update: WhatsApp says the issue has now been fixed. You can read the original article below.
WhatsApp has quickly become the number one subject on Twitter’s trending topics, as multiple users are complaining that they are unable to send or receive messages. We were able confirm via tests that WhatsApp was indeed experiencing an outage.
According to DownDetector, the first signs of the outage appeared around 1PM PT, and it seems that the outage has also affected Facebook. WhatsApp later confirmed the outage on Twitter.
As a result of the outage, competing platforms such as Telegram and iMessage are also on Twitter’s trending topics as users suggest alternatives to WhatsApp – which is one of the most widely used messaging apps in the world.
Were you affected by today’s WhatsApp outage? Let us know in the comments below.
You may be experiencing some issues using WhatsApp at the moment. We are aware of the issue and will work to resolve it. Keep checking back. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience.
Tim Cook says supply chain constraints are easing, despite ‘significant’ impact on iPad sales
Q1 2022 has been one of Apple’s best quarters in its history, according to The Wall Street Journal. Having reached $97 billion for the quarter, the company continues seeing double-digit growth year over year since it first released the iPhone 12 lineup with 5G. Prior to today’s conference call, the Cupertino company shared financial details from the beginning of 2022.
Apple’s revenue for the January-through March period rose 9% to $97. 3 billion, far exceeding analyst expectations for $94 billion. Earnings per share rose to $1. 52 from $1. 40 a year earlier–beating estimates for $1. 42 a share and setting a record for Apple’s fiscal second quarter.
This quarter, the company saw a rise in revenue by overcoming supply chain problems. In a Thursday interview, CEO Tim Cook stated that the supply problems were much less than those experienced in December. The supply issues aren’t over, unfortunately, as Cook also mentioned Apple anticipates a supply chain impact of $4-$8 billion in revenue for Q3.
Year-over-year statistics below:
In most of its segments, the company was able to increase its revenue year over year. There’s still demand for iPad despite revenue being down, however. Cook stated that iPad sales were being hampered by “very substantial supply constraints”. For several months iPads had been difficult to find in shops and online. Shipping took almost two months. Very recently, it’s become easier to obtain one.
Aside from supply chain issues, there have also been external factors last quarter that have challenged Apple’s resilience. Apple has halted sales to Russia despite the conflict in Europe. The company has made clear that COVID has not affected the March quarter.
The iTunes and App Store also saw notable growth in Q1, increasing 17% to $19. 8 billion.
Tim Cook: Record number of iPhone upgrades in Q2, ‘double digit’ growth in Android converts
Following Apple’s record-setting Q2 2022 earnings release, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with CNBC to offer some additional details. According to Cook, the iPhone attracted a “record level” of upgraders during the quarter, and the number of people switching from Android to iPhone also grew.
Speaking to CNBC, Cook said that the iPhone 13 cycle has proven to “clearly be a strong cycle” for Apple. iPhone revenue grew from $47. 88 billion in the same quarter a year ago to $50. 57 billion in Q2 2022, an increase of 5% year over year.
CNBC reports:
Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that iPhone sales had been a success with switchers, people who have an Android phone and then decide to purchase an iPhone.
” We had an unprecedented number of upgraders in the third quarter, and we grew switchers by strong double digits,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said to Steve Kovach on CNBC. Cook stated that it was a “strong cycle.”
Apple doesn’t report unit sales on any of their products anymore, so it is not possible to know how many iPhones Apple sold in the last quarter. Apple’s iPhone sales growth occurred amid supply chain problems, but Apple seems to have weathered these difficulties quite well.
Apple also said its active install base of all product categories hit a new all-time high during Q2 2022.
You can see our complete breakdown of Apple’s earnings here.
