Light Start – Floating smartphone, Nougat, Microsoft layoffs, skydiving sans chute
Brett Venter
Get a wireless charger that will also levitate your phone, because we’re in the future now
If you’re charging your handset, you don’t want to be mucking around with wires. Who still does that? But it’s not enough to just pop your phone down and let it charge, now you’re going to have to make it float. That’s the idea behind the OvRCharge, a wireless charging station that adds magnetic levitation into the equation. You put your phone into a case which can be suspended above the base station, where it will spin gently until you retrieve it. If you just want a rotating handset that’s cool but it’ll also transfer power wirelessly to your device through the case if you like. And we do like. So far the Kickstarter project has made CAD$26,000 of its CAD$40,000 goal, with another 17 days to go before funding time is complete. If you’re part of the backing then you can pick one up for around R2,500. Retail versions will cost more than that, with delivery expected by the end of this year.
You’re just getting used to Android 6.0 and here comes Android 7.0, which is looming just around the corner. That’s the word according to Evan Blass, he of the prolific and accurate smartphone leaks. According Blass’s @evleaks Twitter account we can expect Android 7.0 Nougat to start dropping this month. Overseas, that is. Service providers and manufacturers this side of the world will probably see to it that there’s a slight delay for South African smartphone users. The good news is that we should see native manual camera controls when Nougat drops, according to Android Police. Better pictures, right out of the gate? Sure, we’ll take that.
Microsoft’s smartphone division seeing almost 3,000 layoffs
We’re starting to think that Microsoft might be considering their smartphone foray to be a failed experiment. Nokia’s set to start making smartphones again and Microsoft keeps on laying off staff from their smartphone division. The latest loss, announced via a Securities and Exchange Commision filing, will see around 2,850 jobs being lost in their “…smartphone hardware business and global sales” areas. The specifics of the redundancies haven’t been made known and Microsoft hasn’t commented on the filing information. Even though the company has been shedding jobs in the smartphone area they have claimed that they’re not backing away from smartphones as yet. That’s not what this looks like but okay…
This is how you perform a parachute jump without the chute – and walk away at the end
So you think that your day could have gone south in a hurry? Unless you’re Luke Aikins, you’re probably not sure what impending death feels like. Aikins is a safety and training advisor for the United States Parachute Association and is known for doing aerial stunts for those who need it. He’s also the first person to intentionally leap from a plane, without a parachute, and make it to Earth alive, still without a parachute. The solution? A net. A large net, to be sure, but it doesn’t look that big if you’re free-falling towards it and there’s all that space around it… Plus he must have been weighed down by all that brass he seems to be carrying around. Oh, and this whole stunt was also broadcast live. Still, no pressure, right?
