Report shows design flaws that cause Samsung Galaxy Note7 explosions

A high resolution image from an Instrumental station shows the tight XY clearances to the battery. It's also possible to see the pocket formed by aluminum walls on all sides, which prevents the rough edges of the PCB from touching the battery pouch. (Instrumental)

An independent test by quality assurance firm Instrumental claims the Samsung Galaxy Note7’s issues have more to do with the phone’s design than with its batteries. Instrumental engineers say in a blog post that they discovered “intellectual tension between safety and pushing the boundaries” during a recent teardown of the smartphone.

The teardown showed little space between the battery and the rest of the components that the slightest pressure like sitting on the phone while in the back pocket could cause the polymer separator layers that keep the battery safe to come in contact with one another. The engineers found a thin shield protecting the battery, which could be seen as Samsung’s effort to mitigate the effects of pressure. But enough pressure applied could still squeeze the separators to a point where the positive and negative layers would touch and cause the battery to explode. Samsung hasn’t really been clear about what’s causing the Note7 to explode, this might give us a bit of an idea as to what happened with the beleaguered device.

Source: PC Mag

Wait for 'The Last Guardian' almost over as anticipated epic game ships tomorrow

Truly great things take time to make and this is true for Fumito Ueda's "The Last Guardian," a PlayStation 4 exclusive that's been in the works for almost a decade, and which could be considered a masterwork of game design and execution. 

'The Last Guardian, which is coming to PS4 tomorrow, is a gorgeously presented and fluid game. While the game is hinged on the relationship of a young boy and a giant magical creature. Trico, the giant creature reminds me of a pup, cat and griffin and is actually an A.I. (artificial intelligence) he learns from you and you build a bond.

The game is about logic, it is about gut feel and it is both contemplative and deeply immersive. The in-game animation is simply magical and looks like a cel-shaded anime epic. The controls and movement as well as the camera are slick and highly intuitive. If I didn't already own a PlayStation 4, I would buy one just to play this game, it is that good. 

Google helps you let loved ones know you’re safe with Trusted Contacts app

We can’t stop bad things from happening and so Google wants to make it easier for you to reach out in case of an emergency. The tech giant has a new app called Trusted Contacts that lets you share your location with select contacts even if your phone is offline or you can’t get to it. The app will let you choose which loved ones you’d want to have access to this information. And if you’re feeling unsafe, you can share your location with these contacts. Or if your loved one is worried about you, they can request to see your location.

If things are fine from your end, you can opt to deny their request. But if you don’t respond “within a reasonable timeframe” your location will be shared automatically with your loved ones to see if they need to help you out. You can, of course, opt to stop sharing your location or change your trusted contacts as well. The app is currently available on Google Play Store and should be up on iOS soon.

Source: Google

Amazon demos it's vision for in store shopping with Amazon Go

Amazon revolutionized online shopping in various ways, most notably with its 1-Click ordering which made buying goods and services deceptively easy and even more tempting than ever. Amazon just demoed its vision for in-store shopping solutions using its Amazon Go app and something it calls "Just Walk Out."

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