Samsung Galaxy Note7 is suspected to have caused a house fire in South Carolina

WMBF News screenshot

The bad news just keeps rolling in for Samsung. This time the new smartphone is being suspected of having caused a fire inside the home of a firefighter from South Carolina. Wesley Hartzog plugged in his Galaxy Note7 in his garage before he left to pick up his two daughters. When they got back, he found his garage in flames. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire. Hartzog told Gizmodo he bought the phone around August 20, which was right when it was released in the US. He says he didn’t notice anything weird with the device when he plugged it in. Investigators haven’t also been able to determine if the phone was the cause of the fire.

Fujifilm introduces Instax mini Monochrome film

Add a dash of drama to your Instax prints with the new Monochrome film. Fujifilm Canada is introducing the new film built specifically for the Instax mini line. The Monochrome films are also credit card sized and bring that vintage, black and white feel to your shots. Each pack will come with 10 prints and will retail for $13.99. Wait for them to come out in the country next month.

This is one way you can listen to music while charging the iPhone 7

Much of the hullaballoo surrounding the new iPhone 7 is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack. For those who wanted a wired experience with the new iPhones, you’ll either need to use the supplied headphones from Apple or that adapter to plug in your preferred headset. But the caveat is you can’t listen to music while charging. Belkin has a solution with its new Lightning Audio and Charge Rockstar. The adapter comes with two Lightning ports so you can plug the charge in one port and the supplied adapter in the other. Yes, we can see the tangled mess it can become but at least here’s one solution. The adapter will retail for US$40 or around CA$50. Or you can just spring for the new AirPods or use/buy a Bluetooth headset.

Smart contact lens wins national James Dyson Award

A team of students from the University of Waterloo has won the national leg of the 2016 James Dyson Award with their project Smart Contact Lens Platform. Harry Gandhi, Huayi Gao and Maarij Baig’s company, Medella Health, is developing a smart contact lens that continuously monitors glucose levels in tear film for diabetes management. The information collected is sent to a user’s mobile phone so patients can better manage glucose levels throughout the day. The team will receive $4,000 for further research and development on their project and will progress to the international leg of the award.

Click to read more ...