Microsoft throws down gauntlet on personal assistants by pitting Cortana against Siri

While Apple put the mobile personal assistant in the mainstream four years ago with Siri, the competition is now gunning for the top spot. Microsoft, whose Cortana personal assistant is powered by Bing, ships with Windows Phone 8.1 and apparently has a wider breadth of contextual search features.

Microsoft's resorting to 'comparison' ads by showcasing features available to Cortana that Siri doesn't have or can't do. What's weird is that we have an entry level Lumia being pitted against a more expensive iPhone 5s. Should be interesting to see where all this is headed once iOS 8 is released and Siri's new functions are finally revealed.

iBeacon gaining ground with Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor, Monk, and Hilton rollouts

Apple's iBeacon proximity sensor and communication technology is picking up steam as various retails stores are starting to deploy the technology to reach out to users of iOS devices and push opt-in updates on sales, rebates and other store and product-related information. Lord & Taylor (sister company of Hudson's Bay) and German restaurant group Monk as well as the Hilton group of hotels are going to rollout the technology soon. 

The Hudson's Bay is working with iBeacon provider Swirl on a system that will deliver location-aware content to its outlets. The initial rollout will target a number of Lord & Taylor and Hudson's Bay locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the flagship Hudson's Bay store in Toronto.  

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Refreshed 15-inch MacBook Pros with Retina Displays may be coming soon

Photos said to have come from Apple's Chongging, China Retail store hint at upcoming 15-inch MacBook Pros with Retina Displays. Sporting refreshed Intel Haswell processors as well as a standard of 16GB of RAM across the line. Specs of the three new models are said to be one with  Intel Core i7 2.2 GHz processor and 16GB of RAM and another with 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM. A third flagship model features 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of flash storage, and Intel's Iris Pro graphics plus a NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M. It is interesting to note that Intel released updated Haswell processors last week that correspond directly with the new Mac models. The MacBook Pro line saw its previous update late last year.

Source: Mac Rumors

Update on Monday, July 28, 2014 at 8:27AM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Real soon....Reports have the new 15-inch MBP's coming tomorrow.

Google wants to expand your horizons with Explore button in Maps

Google wants you to be a bit more adventurous the next time you travel or you’re out about town. Google Maps is getting an “Explore” button that shows up at the bottom right corner of the app (perhaps beside the location/compass button). This feature will show you new places to check out in the area. Aside from your location, it also takes the time of day in consideration when recommending places to you (so you won’t get a new bar’s location in the middle of the day).

Explore can also be used when you’re planning a trip to another city or country to find spots worthy of checking out. To get this feature, you would need to be signed in with location reporting and history. You just have to wait a bit for Google to throw the update to you.

 Source: Droid Life