Apple patent wants to turn iPhone’s backlight into a light beacon of sorts for runners

Apple has a couple of ideas we may or may not see in future iterations of the iPhone: turning the backlight into a safety light for runners or as a party trick of sorts to synchronize with music. The company filed a patent in May and was just published today with the title “Handheld devices as visual indicators.” As a party accessory, the filing describes that the light being transmitted can be configured with the playlists on the device and it’ll vary the “light level transmitted by the display in accordance with the song being played.” It could be a fun thing to play around with but, of course, expect it to be a battery drain.

The other feature is a bit more functional and useful for those who like going on night runs or walks. The backlight can be used to serve as a light beacon to alert cars and other pedestrians of your presence. The light can either blink, fade in and out, strobe, or pulsate. While useful, we can’t say yet if this will even make its way to Apple devices. A lot of the patents the company applies for don’t make it to the actual products. And we don’t know yet if the patent itself will be approved. What do you think? Is this a feature you’d want? There are third-party apps for this purpose already, if you are.

Source: The Verge

Huawei surpasses Apple as 'world's second-biggest smartphone maker'

Huawei has overtaken Apple Inc. as  the world's second biggest smartphone maker in terms of sales. Huawei surpassed Apple in sales for June and July, breaking the duopoly enjoyed by Apple and Samsung for at least five years according to figures from Counterpoint Research.

Apple has moved to third place, a position it hasn't seen since the heyday of BlackBerry and Nokia. Apple has held one of the top two spots since 2010 after unseating BlackBerry and later on Nokia, companies that are no longer considered serious platforms and merely serve as Android OEMs today.

Huawei's reign, however, is expected to be short as Apple is planning its biggest iPhone release in years starting next week. With multiple models expected to hit the market, the company is expected to rally in terms of sales even as initial supplies are expected to be constrained. 

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Forza 7 is complete, ready for September 19 demo

The green flag is about to drop on Forza Motorsport 7.The game goes live worldwide on Oct. 3, with Ultimate Edition owners hitting the track on Sept. 29. As we near the finish line, developers have been working non-stop to deliver fans the biggest and best Forza game yet and, today, they announced that Forza Motorsport 7 has officially gone gold.

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Duolingo to soon offer Korean and Klingon

According to the sign-up page for Korean for English speakers on Duolingo, there are—at the time this was written—216,343 people interested in taking Korean lessons on the language learning app. And it seems that time is almost here. Android Police reports that the course is finally launching. While we don’t see it in our app just yet, it’s best to keep your eye out for it. As expected, it follows the same style as other Duolingo courses with the use of associations, listening skills, and fun cards. There is a gamification aspect to the app to keep you coming back to polish your language skills.

On top of that, Trekkies better keep your eyes out for the launch of Klingon on the app as well. You can sign up to get notified here. The Klingon course is expected to on September 15^th.