Samsung patent shows us nearly edge-to-edge display

Samsung isn’t a stranger to the bezel-less design trend sweeping the smartphone market. You could even say they’re one of the pioneers for it. But it looks like they’re not nearly done shrinking down those bezels, or at least this design patent makes us say they’re at least thinking about shrinking it down further. GalaxyClub.nl discovered a design patent the company filed with the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) in May 2016. And as the diagram above shows, the bezels are almost non-existent with just a small notch on top that will most likely house things like the camera and speaker and whatever sensor is needed for the front panel.

However, we don’t know if this design patent will ever make it to a device. Companies will file different patents but these don’t exactly translate into actual product. But we can’t say we aren’t hoping they actually consider making this. What about you? Is this something you’d want?

Source: Android Authority

KFC restaurant concept in China lets you pay using your smile

There will come a day when you just need to smile at a camera and your meal will be paid for. At least it looks like we’re heading in that direction. A more health-conscious KFC concept restaurant called KPRO in Hangzhou, China has started to use Alipay facial recognition payment system that will let you pay for your meal with a smile and your mobile phone number. The kiosk that takes the orders will scan your face and require you to enter your mobile phone number to safeguard against fraud.

The system, which is aptly called Smile to Pay, is developed by Alibaba Group affiliate Ant Financial Services Group. According to the company, they’ve been improving the technology since the beta version was launched by Alibaba founder Jack Ma in 2015 at CEBIT in Germany. While it’s a first service of its kind, using facial recognition for payment services isn’t an exclusive to Ant. The likes of Samsung, PayPal, NEC, and MasterCard have also been testing out this technology.

Source: Alizila

Netflix brings HDR support to the Samsung Galaxy Note8 and Sony Xperia XZ1

It’s a very exclusive club. There were only three devices that supported Netflix HDR, namely the LG G6, LG V30, and Sony Xperia XZ Premium. Now the streaming service adds two more: the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Note8 and Sony Xperia XZ1. This feature promises to bring life-like images to your Netflix viewing. For mobile, it first became available on the LG G6 in May. This particular device is also the only one with Dolby Vision standard.

There isn’t anything you need to enable to get the feature to work. All you have to do is have a Netflix plan, one of these devices, and the latest version of the app and your phone’s latest firmware.

Apple’s annual Music Festival comes to an end after 10 years

The Apple Music Festival has met its end. Apple told Music Business Worldwide that it won’t be doing its annual London concert series anymore. What first started out as the iTunes Festival, it was the company’s way of trying to get more people to buy album on its service. Streaming music services or any streaming service was still in its infancy when Apple started doing this. And they’ve had some of the biggest stars perform throughout the years including the likes of Adele, Pharrell Williams, The Weeknd, One Direction, Lady Gaga, Oasis, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, etc.

But it looks like the advent of music streaming services, Apple is rethinking its strategy in the music space. They need people to keep subscribing to its Apple Music service and while a yearly festival might attract attention, it’s not enough to sustain listeners. Lately, the company has started to support individual shows like those of Haim, DJ Khaled, and Arcade Fire. They even sponsored Drake’s 32-date Summer Sixteen Tour in 2016. Apple has also gotten into episodic streaming video with Carpool Karaoke to keep listeners and viewers coming back.