Month: November 2016

Samsung’s Recalling 2.8 Million Washing Machines over Fire and Explosion Hazard

Dan Uff November 4, 2016 0

2016 has not been a good year for Samsung. First it had to recall its Galaxy Note device, now it has to recall its washing machines over explosion and/or fire hazards.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the recall early Friday morning. The CPSC said in a statement:

“The washing machine top can unexpectedly detach from the washing machine chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact.”

In the meantime, CNBC reported:

“733 reports washing machines experiencing excessive vibration or the top detaching from the washing machine chassis.”

Their have also been 9 reported injuries so far, including an injured shoulder and a broken jaw.

For more information about the recall, contact Samsung.

 TV

Apple’s Cowardly Apple TV

Dan Uff November 3, 2016 0

“If there’s one Apple product that would truly benefit from some courage, it’s the new Apple TV,” Jared Newman writes for TechHive. “Apple’s $150 streaming box isn’t a bad product, but it faces the same fundamental challenge as other streaming boxes: With so many apps competing for users’ attention, managing and sorting through them all can be a chore.”

“Last week, Apple provided a glimpse at its solution, a new app called ‘TV’ that acts like a universal viewing guide. Instead of bouncing between a dozen apps to find something to watch, TV pulls lots of content into one place,” Newman writes. “Apple will also offer a ‘single sign-in’ feature for cable-authenticated apps, so you don’t need to keep re-entering the same login credentials. Both features are due out in December.”

“There’s just one problem: Some of the biggest streaming services and TV operators aren’t on board with what Apple is doing. Netflix, for instance, won’t feed its content into the new TV app, and so far only Dish Network and DirecTV have confirmed support for single sign-in. It’s unclear whether major cable providers such as Comcast or Charter will participate,” Newman writes. “But rather than call these companies out for holding back the user experience, Apple is pretending as if nothing’s wrong. That seems uncharacteristic of a company that’s been congratulating itself on its own courage lately.”

“Comparing present-day Apple to the Steve Jobs era can be tiresome, but Apple itself hasn’t shied from doing so lately. When the company omitted a headphone jack from the iPhone 7, Apple’s Phil Schiller defended the move as courageous—seemingly a nod to an old Jobs quote about not supporting Flash on iOS devices,” Newman writes. “It takes courage to publicly tell powerful media companies that they’re wrong, but Jobs wasn’t afraid to do so…

Read more in the full article here.

 TV

Apple has NO IDEA what they are doing in the TV arena

Dan Uff November 3, 2016 0

“Aimless. Backwards. Confused.,” Yoni Heisler writes for BGR. “These are just a few adjectives which, to a frustrating extent, seem to perfectly encapsulate Apple’s glaring lack of vision in the TV space. Apple certainly understands that TV (and by extension, the living room) is important, but the more I see what Apple is doing with the Apple TV, and the more I hear Apple executives excitedly drone on about their comically boring TV strategy, the more I become convinced that the company has absolutely no idea what it’s doing.”

“Broadly speaking, I don’t believe that the higher-ups at Apple grasp, on an even basic level, what makes for a compelling TV viewing experience,” Heisler writes. “Power and leverage within the TV space is quickly being usurped by players like Netflix while Apple remains embarrassingly stuck on the sidelines.”

“What did we witness last week at Apple’s special media event? A whole lot of nothing. Just an app called TV that lets users browse through third-party apps from the likes of HBO, FX and others. Yawn. This is not the future of TV,” Heisler writes. “For a while, it seemed that Apple was aiming to release a lightweight TV subscription service but those plans have reportedly been put on hold due to disputes over pricing and disagreements over what channels would be included in the bundle. Meanwhile, AT&T beat Apple to the punch, recently announcing an internet-only TV service that boasts more than 100 channels for just $35. Not to be outdone, Hulu earlier this week announced that its impending TV streaming service will include channels such as ABC, ESPN, the Disney Channel, Fox Sports, Fox News, National Geographic, FX, TNT, TBC, CNN the Cartoon Network and more.

“In today’s world, content is king while interfaces, truth be told, simply need to be good enough,” Heisler writes. “Content aside, the shamelessly horrible design of the Apple TV 4 remote is even more proof that the higher-ups at Apple simply don’t get TV. Are we really supposed to believe that Apple understands the TV viewing experience when its remote is nothing short of a case study in backwards non-functional design?”

Read more in the full article here.