Sunday, May 29, 2016

Mobile Nations Weekly: Gems, Java, and smarts

Google wins in court, ZTE goes big, Tesla ramps up, Apple on the defensive, and the return of Windows Central Gems!

Windows Central Gems is back! With support from Microsoft we're checking out some great and maybe overlooked apps across the Microsoft ecosystem — and giving away a bunch of great prizes to boot!

Google just scored a big win in its ongoing court battle with Oracle over Java APIs. It's far from the end of the case, but it's a major turning point in the legal drama. ZTE impressed the hell out of us with the Axon 7, and we've got Moto X leaks and OnePlus 3 teases and for some reason a Batman version of the Galaxy S7.

As the ramp up to the Model 3, Tesla is going all out on fundraising and raking in $1.7 billion from a stock offering. Tesla's Autopilot system has also seriously extended its already long lead over competing autonomy systems by racking up 100 million autonomous miles, though we still can't recommend you sleep in the driver's seat.

Following Google's impressive smart assistant demonstrations at Google I/O, Apple's finding their Siri assistant unfavorably compared to Google and Amazon's Alexa, but Apple might have something up their sleeves to address that and help the company stay relevant.

If you're an Xbox gamer, you're no doubt giving consideration to the latest flagship game release. It's Overwatch, and it's simply phenomenal. And we're starting to get rumors of new Xbox hardware in just a few weeks at E3.

All of that and much, much more in this edition of Mobile Nations Weekly!

Android Central — I/O Hangover 2016

Google I/O is done until next year, and that means it's a week mixed with getting back to normal news and also breaking down all of the announcements now that we've had more time to take it all in. In case you missed it, Google has put up video replays for every session this year, and it's worth picking out a few you're interested in.

Pebble announced three new products, trying to follow up on Google's latest Android Wear news out of I/O. In more general Google news, the jury ruled in its favor in an ongoing court case where Google was being sued by Oracle over its use of Java. It's a big win for Google, but we're sure this isn't the last we've heard from Oracle on this front.

The OnePlus 3 will be unveiled in virtual reality, which is the popular thing to do nowadays. Per usual, rumors peg the new phone to have some great specs. At the same time, the OnePlus 2 and X have received price drops.

Also in the leak world, Lenovo's new Moto X gets a bit more interesting with new modules. So, what do you want to see in the new phone?

Let's all pour one out for the Nexus Player.

And how about a Batman Galaxy S7 edge?

CrackBerry — Sunsets

Priv app updates galore, a new software maintenance release scheduled for June and John Chen discusses why he came to BlackBerry, his future plans and more rounded out the week on CrackBerry. Oh and PayPal decided to let it be known they're killing off their BlackBerry app that most folks didn't even know existed as of June 30.

iMore — The Home assistant

Amazon has Echo, Google's working on Home, so now rumors are ablaze about Apple getting into the Hub game. We'll save the Siri vs. Alexa comparisons for those who forget the world has more than one country or language, but there's obviously a lot more Apple could do around the house. (Whether it's built into a next-generation Apple TV or not).

iPhone 7 rumors continue to abound as well, there's likely more health technology on its way, and Apple's WWDC 2016 event is only a few weeks away. Stay tuned!

Tesla Central — Autosleep

Tesla knows they're going to need a lot of money to build the 370,000+ Model 3s that have been reserved so far — so they raised $1.7 billion by selling new shares of TSLA. At the same time, an investment research firm came to the absurd conclusion that Tesla operates, at least on a financial basis, like a Ponzi scheme. Except for the part where Tesla actually makes cars.

Tesla's director of Autopilot revealed that the company has collected 780 million miles worth of data through the self-driving system, and that Autopilot has driven 100 million miles — far more than any competing autonomy system. That said, it's far from full autonomy and requires human attention, so it should go without saying, but apparently we still have to say it: Autopilot is not for sleeping.

And lastly, Tesla has sent out invitations for the grand opening of the battery-producing Gigafactory. It'll be on July 29th and we'll be there to show you what it's all about!

Windows Central — #DoMoreEveryDay

Windows Central Gems!

Gems is back! Or should that be the Gems are back? Who cares! All that matters is starting this coming Monday, Windows 10 Gems returns for another round of incredible apps along with a great bunch of prizes, thanks to Microsoft's generosity.

But that's the future. What about the past week? Well, there was some good news and bad news. Microsoft announced it was laying off another 1,850 employees, most of which work in Finland at the company's struggling mobile devices division. The Finnish government? Not so happy.

The good news comes from the Xbox side, on which Microsoft is riding a wave of big releases, like Overwatch to eventual hardware unveilings at E3, which is just over two weeks away.

Finally, a new build of Windows 10 for Fast Ring subscribers brings us one step closer to an official Windows 10 Anniversary Edition release.



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