While technology zooms ahead with experimentation, it's raining some sweet deals too
When you book a Uber on your phone, the car might just drive up to your pick-up location by itself thanks to advancements in self-driving technology. While this is still far from becoming a reality in India, Uber has begun piloting self-driving cars in Pittsburg, USA. A majority of accidents worldwide happen due to human error and self-driving technology can surely reduce fatal accidents and save lives. But what’s still uncertain is if machines can respond effectively to road conditions such as traffic, pedestrians and bad drivers like a typical human would. Google has been talking a lot about self-driving cars and has been testing them, too, on US roads. Tesla cars, too, have an autopilot feature. The future of cars is surely going to be interesting for the passenger and less so for the driver.
Apple price cuts
While the Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are coming to India on October 7, starting at Rs 60,000 for the iPhone 7 32GB and Rs 72,000 for the iPhone 7 Plus 32GB, it’s a great time to pick up an iPhone 6S or 6s Plus right now as it has got huge price cuts in India. The iPhone 6S 128 GB version now retails for Rs 60,000, down from the earlier Rs 82,000 MRP. The iPhone 6S Plus 128 GB version with a larger display, bigger battery and optical image stabilisation in the camera now retails for Rs 70,000 down from the earlier Rs 92,000 MRP. Apple has released the much awaited iOS 10 software update for iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices. The watchOS 3 update for the Apple Watch is also available. This software update gives a new lease of life to your existing devices with host of new features including visual tweaks, performance improvements, upgrades to Siri and iMessage. It might be a good idea to take a backup of your device before proceeding with the update.
No more headphone jack
Apple finally axed the commonly used 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone7 but it is not just the Cupertino giant. leEco, formerly known as leTV, was in fact the first to launch a phone without the 3.5 mm jack and decided to use the USB type-C port for both charging and audio output. Motorola, too, decided to drop the port in the Moto Z device in favour of the USB type-C port. While Apple is shipping a pair of lightning earpods, leEco and Motorola are shipping USB-type C based earphones. We might see more handsets players join the bandwagon soon. Although dropping a very old port for packing more advanced features in a smartphone is understandable, it is definitely going to be painful initially. There has never been a better time to invest in a pair of wireless headphones for a hasslefree audio experience.