Here are the winners of Mobile World Congress 2016

The Oscars might be awarding the best in its industry right now. But the recently concluded Mobile World Congress also awarded the best of the mobile tech industry. Some of the big winners include the LG G5 as the “Best new mobile device,” the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge as the “Best smartphone of 2015,” the “Best low cost smartphone” goes to Xiaomi Redmi 2, and the “Best mobile tablet” goes to Microsoft Surface Pro 4. There were 930 entrants this year and these were narrowed down to 170 nominees until we ended up with the 42 winners. The other winners of MWC are listed after the jump if you’re curious to check it out.

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Volvo brings semi-autonomous driving to 2017 XC90 model

Autonomous driving takes a step forward for Volvo as the company brings its Pilot Assist II technology as a standard feature for its 2017 XC90 model. Pilot Assist II is a semi-autonomous driving system that helps control acceleration, braking, and steering to follow traffic flow on well-marked highways. It can run on speeds of up to 81mph or 120 km/h and it doesn’t need a lead car to work as have other Volvo systems before. But you can override it anytime, all you need to do is deactivate cruise control using the brake, cancel/off button, accelerating, or turning the steering wheel. If you let go of the wheel for a few seconds, it will deactivate the system, too. What doesn’t deactivate the system is if you use the turn signal and wheel to make a lane change.

The 2017 XC90 is also getting PowerPulse for the diesel variant, which is said to get rid of turbo drag, and an update to Volvo’s City Safety, which adds large animals to its standard collision avoidance system. The updates coming to the XC90 will also be carried over to the S90 sedan and V90 wagon.

Source: Gizmag

Store your book thoughts on Shelf

A new iOS app makes it easier for you to keep your thoughts on the books you read in an app. And yes, you don’t even have to share it with other people. Shelf is a simple notepad of sorts to keep those thoughts in one place. It comes with a built-in book search engine. When you enter the book you’re currently reading you get a nice big image of the book you’re reading and then you can just add all the thoughts you want to add on it. Now, we wish this free app makes its way to Android, too.

Source: Lifehacker | Download: Apple App Store (Free)

March 21 tipped as new date for Apple's product event

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It seems that the earlier date of March 15 for the March Apple product event has been moved a week later to March 21st. Expected to be Apple's first product event for the year and which could focus on a smaller 4-inch iPhone (dubbed iPhone SE), the first glimpse of a new Apple Watch and the reveal of the iPad Air 3.

Recode's Kara Swisher broke the news while BuzzFeed's John Paczkowski,  who is usually dead on with these event date leaks, corroborated the information while adding that March 21 is a day before Apple has to face the FBI in a hearing regarding the iPhone unlocking issue that has divided a lot of people. The Loop Insight's Jim Darymple chimed in agreement on the March 21 date which all but confirms this event unless something else happens. Last year, Apple's "Spring Forward" event in March 9 showed off more information on Apple Watch plus saw the announcement of the new MacBook.

It's been a while since Apple's had a product event, the last one was the epic 'Hey Siri' event last September, which piled on a number of products including new iPhone 6S, the iPad Pro and Apple TV plus an assortment of new Apple bands and the Hermes edition Apple Watch.

This March event is expected to be way smaller and might be held at Town Hall in the Cupertino campus, this is understandable given that Apple and its key executives have a very high profile hearing to attend to the next day.

Source: Recode, BuzzFeed, The Loop Insight