The Tommykaira ZZ is Japan's answer to the Tesla Roadster (pictures)
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Get ready for Windows 10Do you have questions about Microsoft's upcoming OS 10? We got a sneak peek and have the answers.
Galaxy Ace 4 packs 4G and quad-core, but needs to be cheap to compete
Samsung
Samsung liebt Fortsetzungen. Das neueste Pony in seiner Galaxy-Stall geführt werden ist das Galaxy Ace 4, ein Follow-up zum letztjährigen Ace 3, erwies sich als ein mäßig verlockend Handy mit einem sehr enttäuschend-Bildschirm. Leider das diesjährige Modell aussehen legen, dieses Muster zu wiederholen.
Das Galaxy Ace 4 hat ein 4,3-Zoll-Display. Das ist viel kleiner als Züchter Samsung wie das Galaxy S5 oder Anmerkung 4 Handys, und ist auch ein bisschen mehr petite als das ausgezeichnete und sehr billig Moto G 4 G, die einen 4,5-Zoll-Bildschirm hat. Größe ist nicht das Problem jedoch--mehr ärgerlich ist, dass der Ace-4 eine 480 x 800 Auflösung, eine sehr ordentliche Pixelanzahl in der heutigen Zeit hat.
Weil das Display auf der Schmalseite ist, bemerken Sie möglicherweise nicht, dass niedrige Pixelzahl, die einige der Punch von Fotos und Videos auf dem Bildschirm stattfinden wird. Aber mit dem Moto G 4 G kostet nur £149, Ace 4 extrem billig ist, konkurrieren zu müssen.
Anderswo ist die Ass-4 weitere Schattierungen des gewöhnlichen. Gibt es eine 5-Megapixel-Kamera auf der Rückseite, ein 1,2-GHz-Quad-Core-Prozessor auf der Innenseite und Android 4.4 KitKat behandeln alle Ihre Anwendungen und Software-Anforderungen.
Die Ass-4 Kategorie 4 LTE, Verpacken, die ist eine Rasse des 4G, die höhere theoretische Geschwindigkeiten von bis zu 150Mbps, anbietet, wenn Einschränkungen bedeutet hast du derzeit keine Chance in der Nähe dieser Grenze. 4G ist ideal für schneller Downloads und Video-streaming (vorausgesetzt, Ihr Netzwerk bietet Ihnen ein gesundes Maß an Daten) aber die Ass-4 ist nicht an das einzigartige - Moto-G 4 G und EE Kestrel können diese höheren Geschwindigkeiten zu behandeln.
Die Ass-4 hits UK am 17. Oktober in Samsungs eigener Geschäfte und EE verfügbar. Später wird es auf den Verkauf von O2 sein. Mit ganz normalen Hardware werden wir für einen so niedrigen Preis betrachten, die es einen Limbo-Weltmeister erröten machen könnte. Stay tuned für die vollständige Überprüfung.
Apple still world's top brand, as Huawei enters rankings
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Apple and Google have held their top spots as the planet's most valuable brands, according to ranking firm Interbrand.
Interbrand
Apple and Google are the world's most valuable brands, according to fresh rankings from brand evaluation firm Interbrand.
The iPhone-maker held its grip on the top spot, having last year nudged Coca-Cola from number one. Google similarly held steady with a second-place ranking. Both firms have an estimated brand value of over 100 million dollars. Figures are calculated by analysing the financial performance of each brand, the role that the brand itself plays in influencing shopper decisions, and how important a is brand to a company's power to make money, or charge a premium price for its products.
Six of the top ten brands are tech firms, with IBM taking fourth place, Microsoft taking fifth and Samsung claiming the number six spot. Amazon and Facebook, which placed 15th and 29th respectively, were both deemed "top risers" by Interbrand.
A new entrant to the top-100 ranking is Huawei, the first Chinese company to ever enter Interbrand's rankings, placing 94th. Best known to shoppers for its low-price Android smartphones, Interbrand writes, "The company is working to change its image in the mobile handset market from that of the low-cost alternative to one of a more premium brand."
Francisco Jeronimo, analyst at IDC told CNET that Huawei has been "recognised by consumers as a strong brand that provides affordable products but with quality, which was not the case a few years ago, when we tended to associate Chinese brands with low price and low quality."
"Using a Huawei handset provides an experience similar to many other devices from top brands," Jeronimo added. "I can get a good experience and good specs for a much lower price." Jeronimo also noted that it was surprising to see Huawei ranked ahead of Nokia (which appeared 98th in the top 100 list).
Luke Westaway Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis. See full bio Facebook has no near-term plans for WhatsApp, report says
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Mark Zuckerberg says he's not yet sure how he plans to see a positive return on his massive investment in the messaging service.
If Facebook has a plan for WhatsApp, it's not telling just yet.Facebook is in no rush to monetize WhatsApp and see a return on its whopping investment, according to a new report.
Speaking in India on Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company has no near-term plans for how to make money off WhatsApp, according to Reuters, which was in attendance. While Zuckerberg stopped short of saying that Facebook isn't sketching out ways to monetize its WhatsApp acquisition, at least in the short term not much will change.
Facebook on Monday closed its WhatsApp acquisition, the largest deal ever for the social-networking giant. The acquisition, originally valued at $19 billion, includes cash and stock, and because of the rise in Facebook's share price, the value has swelled to $22 billion. Facebook reassured US regulators that WhatsApp would remain a standalone app and not find its way into the social network.
With over 600 million users, WhatsApp is by far the most popular messaging app in the world, heavily used for sending messages to and from mobile devices. When Facebook announces plans to acquire WhatsApp in February, analysts questioned how the company would find a way to generate enough cash to justify its hefty price. It appears at this point that Facebook hasn't settled on a plan just yet.
But with the closing of the acquisition, Facebook is now in a better position to get its hands around the company and see how it can improve its financial performance. Expect Zuckerberg to have more to say to shareholders about monetizing his massive acquisition at some point soon.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares in Facebook are down less than 1 percent to $77.20 in premarket trading on Thursday.
Don Reisinger Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications. See full bio iPhone 6 Plus pushes back launch of bigger iPad, report says
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The rumored large iPad likely won't be available until early next year as suppliers must worry about producing enough iPhone 6 Plus units.
Apple went larger with the iPhone 6 (left) and iPhone 6 Plus. So when will the iPad finally get supersized? Apple
The iPhone 6 Plus, boasting a 5.5-inch screen, is pushing back any chance for Apple to launch a larger-screen iPad this year, according to a new report.
Apple has plans to build a larger iPad featuring a 12.9-inch screen, but won't get going on that until early next year so its suppliers can focus on increasing output on the iPhone 6 Plus, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the company's supply chain efforts. Those sources told the Journal that Apple is facing major demand for the iPhone 6 Plus and that output so far has proven "unsatisfactory" on the larger device.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new iPhone models debuted in September. The iPhone 6 comes with a 4.7-inch screen, while the iPhone 6 Plus features a 5.5-inch display. It's possible in some cases to find an iPhone 6 Plus on store shelves, but it's exceedingly more difficult than getting the smaller phone. As of this writing, Apple's online store lists the iPhone 6 Plus lead time as three to four weeks. The iPhone 6 will ship in as little as a week.
Rumors have been swirling for months that Apple is planning to boost the size of its iPads. The iPad Mini has a 7.9-inch screen size, which likely won't change, but the iPad Air features the same 9.7-inch screen Apple has offered since the original iPad's inception in 2010. As an increasing number of devices from other tablet makers hit store shelves featuring larger screens, the onus is on Apple to respond with a larger tablet of its own. The 12.9-inch model could be just that.
According to the Journal's sources, the larger iPad was set to go into mass production in early December. The stronger demand and lower-than-expected production on the iPhone 6 Plus, however, has pushed that timetable back at least a couple of months, though the sources didn't say exactly when mass production might begin.
Apple is planning to hold a press event next week, likely announcing new iPads. It's unclear whether the company is going to announce the larger iPad at that event.
Don Reisinger Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications. See full bio Complaining customer says Comcast contacted bosses, got him fired
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A California man says his complaints over cable service led to his being fired from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers. Now Comcast has issued a public apology, of sorts.
Comcast's customer service is being called into question again -- and the questioning extends to how it is that the customer got fired from his job. Hezakya Mixologist/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
The idea of losing your job after complaining about your home cable service seems a touch absurd.
One Comcast customer, however, says that's exactly what happened after he complained to Comcast about its customer service.
No, he didn't work for Comcast. Instead, the customer, a California resident named Conal O'Rourke, worked for an accounting firm that performed consultancy duties for the cable provider.
Tensions that have been building for months finally escalated to the point where Comcast today issued "A Public Apology to Conal O'Rourke" on its corporate website. O'Rourke's lawyer, meanwhile, says an apology isn't enough.
So how could a customer complaint have led to this dramatic situation?
In initially telling his story to the Consumerist two days ago, O'Rourke says he had the sort of issues with Comcast that seem all too familiar in many service industries. There were allegedly billing issues, with O'Rourke claiming that Comcast misspelled his last name, so he didn't receive bills.
First, O'Rourke told the Consumerist, he wanted to cancel his service. But Comcast persuaded him it would do better. O'Rourke said the service didn't improve. He said he was sent equipment he hadn't ordered. And, being an accountant, he claims to have prepared a spreadsheet of all the alleged errors, which date back to February 2013.
(As an aside, O'Rourke's LinkedIn profile says: "In 2012 I achieved my long desire of living in California, using my Finance, Human Resources and enthusiastic people skills to work for PwC's Learning & Development as the Senior Associate, learning consultant for the San Jose and Rockies (Denver and Salt Lake City) markets.")
He was so frustrated, he said, that he contacted the office of the company's controller, which Comcast has confirmed. He admits that he suggested Comcast's billing practices should be subject to a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board investigation.
After that, he said, two service calls were arranged, but no service engineer actually arrived.
Then things really got out of hand. O'Rourke alleges that someone at Comcast contacted a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. That led, O'Rourke says, to an ethics investigation at PWC on February 7, 2014, after which O'Rourke says he was fired.
Comcast claimed that O'Rourke "did identify himself as affiliated with PWC," according to a letter dated August 18, 2014, to his lawyer, Maureen Ryan of Dhillon Law Group, and signed by Thomas Nathan, senior deputy general counsel for the cable giant. O'Rourke denies it. Instead, he told Ars Technica he believes that someone at Comcast went through his records, put two and two together, and deduced his place of work.
The cable company does acknowledge contacting PWC, saying in its letter to Ryan, which I have seen, that "Comcast communicated to PWC that a person claiming to be a PWC employee had called our chief accounting executive's office with complaints about his cable services and bills, and yelled at our employees who tried to assist him."
Ryan told CNET that O'Rourke never name-dropped his employer in talking to Comcast:
Comcast has not released the tapes of the call, or the email in which they accused Dhillon Law Group's client of trying to use his employment with PWC as leverage with Comcast. Because of this, the only proof we have is our client's word, and I believe him completely. The person he allegedly said this to has not gone on the record with his or her version of events, so he is the only person who has publically made a statement.
It would make no sense for Conal to say that he worked for PWC as leverage in his negotiations with Comcast, because PWC doesn't audit Comcast's books, instead, they provide consulting services. Comcast has all of the leverage in this client relationship with PWC, and they used it to get a good employee with a spotless record fired.
However, what of the role of O'Rourke's employers? He claims, as the Consumerist recounts, that he had only received good reviews before this incident.
"Mr. O'Rourke was employed in one of our internal firm services offices," a spokeswoman for PWC told me today. "The firm terminated his employment after an internal investigation concluded that Mr. O'Rourke violated PwC's ethical standards and practices, applicable to all of our people. The firm has explicit policies regarding employee conduct, we train our people in those policies, and we enforce them. Mr. O'Rourke's violation of these policies was the sole reason for his termination."
It's easy to speculate that the information that has so far emerged from O'Rourke's side is in part a legal push for financial settlement by a plaintiff's attorney. Indeed, according to the letter from Comcast to lawyer Ryan, recounting O'Rourke's demands, he is seeking "a retraction, an apology, $100,312.50 in damages and reinstatement to his former employment."
Which brings us back to that public apology by Comcast. Here it is in full, and attributed to Charlie Herrin, senior vice president for customer experience at Comcast Cable:
What happened to Mr. O'Rourke's service is completely unacceptable. Despite our attempts to address Mr. O'Rourke's issues, we simply dropped the ball and did not make things right. Mr. O'Rourke deserves another apology from us and we're making this one publicly. We also want to clarify that nobody at Comcast asked for him to be fired.
We're also determined to get to the bottom of exactly what happened with his service, figure out what went wrong at every point along the way, and fix any underlying issues. I'm a few weeks into a new role at Comcast which is entirely focused on what we can do to make the customer experience better. We need to make sure that every interaction is excellent ... from the moment a customer orders a new service, to the installation, to the way we communicate with them, to how we respond to any issues.
We're holding ourselves accountable and we are working hard to make real improvements across the board. While it will take us some time, we can and will do better than this.
That's not enough to satisfy O'Rourke's lawyer, who shared this with me today:
An apology isn't good enough at this point. If they contend that Comcast didn't ask for him to be fired, let them prove it. They should release the tapes and their communications with PWC.
Furthermore, the statement that they did not ask for him to be fired sounds to me like the type of careful phrasing that lawyers and public relations personnel use to get around damaging facts. Even if they did not ask for him to be fired in so many words, we contend that they knew, as accounting professionals, that a false accusation of an ethics violation would cause PWC to terminate Mr. O'Rourke. So even if they didn't specifically ask that he be fired, they knew it would happen as a result of their false and defamatory statements about our client.
The tale is bizarre. That a complaint could escalate to a customer losing his job borders on the macabre. The idea that private conversations between a customer and service provider could be elevated, behind a customer's back to his employer, is disturbing.
Comcast seems to feel it is somehow at fault -- otherwise, why would it issue a public mea culpa? But do note that it's apologizing only for problems with O'Rourke's service.
The company's customer service reputation hasn't been garlanded with hosannas lately. Comcast was one the worst-rated companies in customer service, according to a May 2014 survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. So the fact that Comcast is the company involved here adds an especially troubling tinge.
Chris Matyszczyk Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. See full bio An excellent, expensive, 3D printer that works right out of the box
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With the DeeGreen, the notion that 3D printers are a lot of work -- a lesson I recently learned from reviewing the Monoprice Dual Extrusion -- is not true. Not only does the DeeGreen works right out of the box, it also prints fast (for a 3D printer), performs reliably and can build objects with high details.
Before you get too excited, though, as a single-extruder 3D printer, the DeeGreen is very expensive at €1,500, and shipping internationally that's about $1,900, £1,200 or AU$2,200. It's almost twice the price of the Monoprice, which is a more advanced printer with a dual-extruder print-head and a slightly larger print platform.
But if you're into 3D printing, just the time saved from having to set the printer up and calibrate it already makes the DeeGree totally worth the extra cost. And the low rate of failed prints (I produced none during testing) is an extra bonus, considering it can take hours to finish printing a large object.
That said if you're looking to enter the world of 3D printing, the DeeGreen is an excellent entry. It's just a question of whether or not you can afford it.
The DeeGreen comes with a removable print plate. Dong Ngo/CNET
Measuring 19.4 by 15.5 by 15.3 inches (495x395x390mm), the DeeGreen is about the same physical size as the Monoprice. However, it takes just a fraction of the time to get set up and running. In fact, it was easier to use than some regular printers in my trial.
Out of the box, the printer is fully assembled with all of its important parts tied in place. There are just two parts you need to install.
First is the included 1.7-pound (0.75kg) spool of PLA filament of which the string needs to be loaded in to the print-head, which is an easy job since the filament loading tube has already been assembled. As the DeeGreen is a single extruder printer, it can only work with one filament spool at a time, so if you want to print objects of more than one color, swapping out the filaments, even during a single print, can be a frequent task.
Filaments are the print materials for 3D printing, as ink cartridges in inkjet printers. They come in different colors and are basically easy-to-melt, quickly congealing plastic strings that are fed through the print head nozzles during a print job. Be3D sells extra filaments at about $30 (£20, AU$35) per spool of 1.7-pound. The DeeGreen also works with other standard 1.75mm filaments, such as those sold by Monoprice or MakerBot. The DeeGreen can work with both PLA and ABS filaments, and even though be3D sells both, it recommends only PLA. On top of that, it also uniquely works with be3D's wood-based filament.
The second part to install is the 5.9-inch (150mm) square glass print plate that needs to be placed on its holder, the print platform, underneath the print-head. This plate comes with three magnetic metal feet designed to make it fit snugly and stay put on top of the platform while at the same time allowing users to remove it easily.
The machine comes with all of its parts already assembled and ready to use right out of the box. Dong Ngo/CNET
As for how 3D printers work, during a print job, the print head pulls the filament string from the spool, melts the plastic, and extrudes it onto the platform. The platform lowers gradually depending on the height, and the print head moves around depending on the width and shape of the object being built. As the extruded plastic piles on top layer by layer, it congeals very fast to slowly form the object. This process is called fused-deposition modeling (FDM), which is the 3D printing technology used in all consumer-grade 3D printers.
As you can imagine, the max size of an object a printer can print depends on the size of the print platform. In the case of the DeeGreen, this size tops at 5.9 cubic-inch, which is quite large. In reality you'll print much smaller objects.
Nonetheless, the DeeGreen's removable print plate is a nice design touch that helps with both preparation and post-print process. For preparation, you can easily put supporting materials or just lace the surface of the plate with glue to keep the to-be-built 3D object from being moved around during a print. And once you're done with a print, it's also much easier to remove the object from the plate itself, as well as cleaning the plate's surface from residual materials. The DeeGreen comes included with a glue stick and a palette knife, making it very convenient for anybody print multiple objects right away.
On the front the printer has a large 6-line resolution touchscreen and a SD card slot and on the back it has a power switch and a USB port to connect to a computer via an included USB cable. There's no need to use the USB cable since the printer prints from an SD card (a blank 4GB card is included) but you can use the cable to transfer a file to the SD card prior to a print. More on this below.
I was able to get the printer ready to print from out of the box in just about 10 minutes, partly thanks to a clearly illustrated "Make Your Printer Ready in Five Steps" poster. But mostly because the printer is just so easy to use.
Extruder 0.015-inch Nozzle Single Extruder Build volume 5.9 x 5.9 x 5.9 in. (150x150x150mm) Layer thickness 0.003 / 0.005 / 0.007 in. (0.1mm / 0.15mm / 0.2mm) Printable materials 0.068-in (1.75 mm) PLA, ABS, WOOD External dimensions 19.4 x 15.5 x 15.3 in. (495x395x390mm)With the DeeGreen, the biggest timesaver is the fact that the printer requires no calibration on the user's part. Calibration is an important part of 3D printing that makes sure the print platform's entire surface is at a consistent and perfect distance from the print-head's nozzle. Proper calibration determines the success and the quality of each print. The DeeGreen has a built-in sensor for this job and the machine is so well put together that this self-calibration process, which takes place before each print, takes just a few seconds to finish.