Apple Boring? Rumored 2016 MacBook Pro, 5K Display, iPhone 7 Could Provide Excitement

(Credit: Apple)

The next 6 months should see a stream of cool products from Apple AAPL +0.35%. Boring doesn’t leap to mind.

Last year brought the 12-inch Retina MacBook and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Both groundbreaking. (I say that as an everyday user of both.) The Apple Watch also became available. For those itching for more innovative products from Apple,

remember that Apple isn’t Samsung. The South Korean electronics giant churns out so many phones, tablets, wearables, and computers that innovation and product-standouts tend to be muted and/or lost in the shuffle.

iPhone 7 Plus or Pro with dual-lens camera? Apple likes the “Pro” moniker. Though applying “Pro” to a phone is a more tenuous argument than, let’s say, a MacBook, Apple could pull it off if it’s something, for instance, that photo professionals could flock to. Reports over the weekend from reputable Apple blogs offer more evidence of a second iSight camera on the back of the upcoming 5.5-inch iPhone. A dual-camera setup opens 

up lots of possibilities, including wide-angle shots, like the LG G5, or more detail, like the Huawei P9. And the expected improvement in sensor technology will move image quality up a notch. 

Of course, an iPhone 7 that looks more or less 

the same as the iPhone 6 and 6s would unleash a flood of Apple-has-lost-its-mojo stories. But dual-lens cameras is the next big step in smartphone hardware. And a dual-lens iPhone 7 with the Apple imprimatur would bring these new cameras to millions of American consumers for the first time.

MacBook Pro with OLED touch bar, USB-C, and Thunderbolt 3: I would suggest that the new MacBook Pro would be the biggest Apple announcement of the year. Consumers and professionals still lean heavily on laptops and 

MacBook Pros have a large, passionate user 

base chomping at the bit for a long-overdue redesign. As widely reported, the upcoming high-performance MacBook will likely be thinner and lighter (an Apple obsession) with an OLED display touch bar that replaces physical function keys. More recent rumors suggest that the OLED touch panel could be contextual, with buttons changing as the user moves among different apps. And Thunderbolt-3 USB-C ports 

would be welcome, of course.

 Thunderbolt display: This is probably the most iffy rumor because it’s hard to figure out if Apple is getting out of the display business altogether or staying in the game with a radical new design. Indeed, it has been confusing. For instance, one of the most discouraging things (for me) about the 12-inch MacBook is that no compatible Apple display appeared along with the new MacBook. I had to go with a Dell external display to hook up via Apple’s USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter. That said, rumors suggest that a new 5K Apple display with an integrated GPU is in the works. If this pans out, the excitement quotient would rank up there with the MacBook Pro.

And that Apple TV set? For now, those plans have been shelved.

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FIRST MAJOR DIABETES BREAKTHROUGH IN THE 21st CENTURY

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH!!!!

Diabetes exploitation to be relieved by this huge breakthrough from 

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

What is it?

An artificial pancreas would be available in the market within the next 2 years.

Why it's great?

Diabetes revolution: Artificial pancreas could spell the end of finger pricks and injections within two years

• 
  
• iPhone-sized device monitors blood sugar levels and transmits readings
• Control centre works out correct dose of insulin for pump to inject into skin
• 
  

• Will stop Type 1 sufferers from having to continually monitor levels
• 
  
• Also set to help people with severe Type 2 diabetes who need injections

An artificial pancreas which allows diabetes sufferers to lead ‘normal lives’ could be available within two years.

Scientists have developed an iPhone-sized device which monitors patients’ blood sugar levels and automatically injects the right levels of insulin.

The revolutionary product attaches to the wearer’s clothing from where it monitors glucose levels and provides insulin 


when required through patches on the skin.

It could prove a lifeline for around 350,000 Britons who suffer from Type 1 diabetes – a lifelong condition where the pancreas stops producing insulin.

Currently, patients must inject themselves with insulin up to five times a day to avoid serious health problems. 

The iPhone sized device monitors a patient's blood sugar levels (1) with readings transmitted to the control centre (2) before insulin pump gives the correct dose (3) to the wearer

But the amount required fluctuates every day depending on their diet and activity levels, meaning they must monitor their blood sugar with finger prick tests every few hours.

The device could also benefit tens of thousands of people who suffer from severe Type 2 diabetes. 

Around 3.1million patients have been diagnosed with Type 2, which is linked to obesity, of which 14 per cent have a severe form needing insulin injections.

Because of rising obesity levels, it is estimated that a total of five million Britons will have diabetes by 2025 – the majority with Type 2.

University of Cambridge scientists working on the artificial pancreas have found a way to combine two existing devices 
– pumps which deliver insulin and glucose monitors – into one automatic ‘artificial pancreas’ known as a closed-loop system.

MOTO G4 REVIEW

Introduction

The Moto G became the go-to phone for many people that wanted no fuss and guaranteed quality at an affordable price. Now the line is under new leadership, with new branding and retooled design.

Lenovo phased out the Motorola name in favor of the Moto sub-brand, which now stands along the in-house Vibe brand. While still produced under the name of the iconic American brand, the G4 family is actually the first set of devices to come out since Lenovo acquired Motorola.

Lenovo has a hands-off approach to the Moto lineup and the devices have retained the unaltered Android experience that Motorola phones were known for under Google. It wasn't just the software that made the G series so popular, their design and build were always among the best - even when you look at contemporary flagships.

The Moto G4 is no different. It has a high-quality build and a replaceable back if you want to add some color.

Inside, water repellent nanocoating protects the phone's interior from damage (the phone isn't designed to be submerged like the G3) but should be splash-proof.

The Moto G2 was the only model that had stereo speakers, and while the Moto G4 has only one, it's still positioned on the front. It's this kind of attention to detail that made the G-series so popular.

Moto G4 key features

• 5.5" IPS LCD display of 1,080 x 1,920px resolution; 401ppi
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset; quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Adreno 405 GPU; 2GB of RAM;
• 16GB/32GB of built-in memory; dedicated microSD card slot (up to 200GB)
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• 13MP main camera with f/2.0 aperture; dual-tone LED flash
• 1080p video capture @ 30fps video capture
• 5MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture
• Dual-SIM model available; Cat. 4 LTE support; 802.11a/g/b/n; Bluetooth 4.1 LE; NFC; GPS
• 3,000mAh battery; TurboPower quick charging
• Water repellent nano-coating

Main disadvantages

• No fingerprint sensor
• Older chipset
• The battery is not user-replaceable

To get the obvious things out of the way, no, there's no fingerprint reader on the Moto G4, you'll need to upgrade to the Moto G4 Plus for that. The G4 Plus also brings a better still camera, 16MP, but the sealed 3,000mAh battery remains the same.

The Moto G4 Play is another model from the product family. It's a completely different device with a smaller 5-inch display, unlike what the name might suggest.

While we haven't had a chance to check out the G4 Play, we can testify that the regular G4 we're reviewing today feels fast and smooth despite the conservative choice of chipset. It seems that without the burden of a skin and extra background services, the Snapdragon 617 can really shine and performing any task on the phone feels surprisingly brisk.

    
Moto G4 by Lenovo

We're happy to report that at least at first blush all these sub-brands have not divided the attention of the tech giant and the Moto G4 feels like a solid, well-built product. Let's find out if it holds up to closer scrutiny.

The Lenovo ThinkPad P70 Review: Mobile Xeon Workstation

It’s been almost a year now since Lenovo first announced the new P50 and P70 mobile workstations, which were 15-inch and 17-inch notebooks, respectively. The part of the announcement which likely caused the most buzz was that Intel was now going to offer their professional Xeon parts in a laptop, with the launch of the Xeon E3-1500M v5 chip. Previous to this, mobile workstations would only have the option of a consumer level processor, excluding the ability to have ECC memory, which is a staple in desktop workstations.

Lenovo was one of the first (if not the first) manufacturers to announce support for the mobile Xeon processors, and the ThinkPad P50 and P70 offer an option to upgrade to the Xeon E3-1500M series, in addition to the more traditional consumer level Core i7-6700HQ and Core i7-6820HQ models. With the Xeon options, Lenovo offers the Xeon E3-1505M, which is what is in the review unit, and the E3-1575M. They still have the same 8 MB of L3 cache as the higher end Core i7 parts, and add ECC memory support. Unlike some of the Xeon EP parts, there is no AVX-512 support, so other than the ECC support this is basically a higher frequency Core i7. But let’s not discount the ECC support, since that is important for many workloads where workstations are the name of the game.

Looking at the ThinkPad P70 in particular, this is a 17.3-inch notebook with a lot of options on configuration. In addition to the aforementioned processor choices, there is an array of professional graphics options. The lowest performance version is the 2 GB NVIDIA Quadro M600M, and you can also get the 4 GB M3000M, 4 GB M4000M, and 8 GB M5000M. The laptop supports up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory in 4 SODIMM slots, so you can upgrade the memory after purchase. There is room for up to four storage devices, including a 1024 GB PCIe offering from Lenovo. As far as performance, the ThinkPad P70 offers the maximum on all fronts, and the only way to get more in a laptop would be to use a desktop class processor.

Lenovo ThinkPad P70
	As Tested: E3-1505M, 16GB, Quadro M4000M, 512GB SSD, UHD, $3350 USD
CPU	Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core with Hyperthreading 2.6-3.5 GHz, 6MB Cache, 45W TDP Intel Core i7-6820HQ Quad-Core with Hyperthreading 2.7-3.6 GHz, 8MB Cache, 45W TDP Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 Quad-Core with Hyperthreading 2.8-3.7 GHz, 8MB Cache, 45W TDP Intel Xeon E3-1575M v5 Quad-Core with Hyperthreading 3.0-3.9 GHz, 8MB Cache, 45W TDP
GPU	NVIDIA Quadro M600M 384 CUDA Cores 837 - 876 (Boost) MHz 2GB 128-bit GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro M3000M 1024 CUDA Cores 1050 MHz 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro M4000M 1280 CUDA Cores 1012.5 MHz 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 NVIDIA Quadro M5000M 8GB 1536 CUDA Cores 1051 MHz 8GB 256-bit GDDR5
Memory	4 SODIMM Slots, 64 GB Max, 2133 MHz, ECC Optional
Display	17.3" 1920x1080 IPS No Touch 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS with Touch 17.3" 3840x2160 IPS No Touch
Storage	Four Storage Bays Samsung SM951 NVMe SSD up to 1TB Up to 1TB HDD
I/O	USB 3.1 Type-C x 2 with Thunderbolt 3 USB 3.0 Type-A x 4 RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet Docking Connector Headset jack 1.0MP Webcam Optional Smart Card Reader SDXC HDMI
Dimensions	416 x 275.5 x 29.9-31.5 mm 16.4 x 10.8 x 1.17-1.2 inches
Weight	3.43 kg / 7.56 lbs
Battery	96 Wh, 230 W AC Adapter
Wireless	Intel 8260-AC 2x2:2 with Bluetooth 4.1 and vPro (Optional) Sierra EM7445 LTE-A Model (Optional)
Price	$1862.10 - $5000+

Lenovo ThinkPad P70

On Lenovo.com

Lenovo offers some excellent display choices, with the standard model coming with a 1920x1080 resolution IPS display rated for 300 nits. You can also get this same panel with touch if required. The upgraded panel is a 3840x2160 UHD IPS offering, which features X-Rite Pantone color calibration as an option. If you are doing color sensitive work, having a built-in calibration tool should make the task very simple. The review unit Lenovo sent features the UHD panel and the X-Rite calibrator, so we’ll go over how it works later in the review.

Rounding out the package, the P70 offers four USB 3.0 ports, with one for charging devices, along with HDMI 1.4, mini DisplayPort 1.2, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, Intel Dual Band Wireless AC-8260 with a vPro option, touch fingerprint reader, SD card reader, and even an optional Smart Card reader. As a ThinkPad, it also supports a docking connector. With that much connectivity, the ThinkPad P70 should have no issues with expandability.

For those that really need their mobile workstation to be mobile, the ThinkPad P70 also offers an optional Sierra EM7445 LTE-A wireless modem.

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G RGB Review

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G RGB Review

In recent weeks we have analysed GTX 1080 partner cards from ASUS and GIGABYTE, and today we look at the Gaming X 8G model from MSI. This graphics card is supplied with a beautiful looking custom dual fan cooler and is overclocked out of the box. How does it hold up against the Gigabyte and Asus models ?

It is interesting to see that MSI are the only one of the three big Nvidia partners (MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS) who have opted for a dual fan cooler. Gigabyte and ASUS have felt the move to a triple fan configuration was worthwhile. I still feel that this MSI design is the most attractive of all graphics cards available on the market today however – I have said it before, but I will say it again – this really is the Cameron Diaz of graphics cards.

Like all the other GTX1080 cards we have reviewed in recent weeks, MSI have adopted an RGB lighting system. It certainly seems the feature everyone wants right now.

GPU	Geforce GTX970	GeForce GTX980	Geforce GTX 980 Ti	Geforce GTX Titan X	Geforce GTX 1080	Geforce GTX 1070
Streaming Multiprocessors	13	16	22	24	20	15
CUDA Cores	1664	2048	2816	3072	2560	1920
Base Clock	1050 mhz	1126 mhz	1000 mhz	1000 mhz	1607 mhz	1506 mhz
GPU Boost Clock	1178 mhz	1216 mhz	1075 mhz	1076 mhz	1733 mhz	1683 mhz
Total Video memory	4GB	4GB	6GB	12GB	8GB	8GB
Texture Units	104	128	176	192	160	120
Texture fill-rate	109.2 Gigatexels/Sec	144.1 Gigatexels/Sec	176 Gigatexels/Sec	192 Gigatexels/Sec	257.1 Gigatexels/Sec	180.7 GigaTexels/sec
Memory Clock	7000 mhz	7000 mhz	7000 mhz	7000 mhz	1250mhz	2002mhz
Memory Bandwidth	224 GB/s	224 GB/sec	336.5 GB/sec	336.5 GB/sec	320GB/s	256GB/s
Bus Width	256bit	256bit	384bit	384bit	256bit	256 bit
ROPs	56	64	96	96	64	64
Manufacturing Process	28nm	28nm	28nm	28nm	16nm	16nm
TDP	145 watts	165 watts	250 watts	250 watts	180 watts	150 watts

The Nvidia GTX1080 ships with 2560 CUDA cores and 20 SM units. The 8GB of GDDR5X memory is connected via a 256 bit memory interface. This new G5X memory offers a huge step up in bandwidth, when compared against the older GDDR5 standard. It runs at a data rate of 10Gbps, giving 43% more bandwidth than the GTX980 GPU.

The MSI card ships at 1,683mhz with a boost of 1,823mhz – the company call this GAMING MODE. The 8GB of GDDR5 memory is set at 1,251mhz.

There is an OC mode in software which offers a slight increase in clock speeds. In OC MODE the core increases to 1,709mhz with a 1,849mhz boost, and the memory increases to 1,264mhz. The MSI website (HERE) shows the three available settings, including ‘silent mode’ which downclocks the card to 1607mhz while reducing fan speeds. Unless you are running your system in a hot climate, have poor case airflow, or just loathe fan noise, then we can’t imagine too many people using ‘Silent Mode’. The Gaming X 8G is actually a fairly quiet card under general conditions, but more on that later.

We test the card in the fastest OC Mode as we are pretty confident that most users buying this card will install the software on the disc and push the ‘OC Mode’ button, shown above. We have also tested the Gigabyte and Asus cards at their fastest software rated profile settings, so this keeps everything on an even footing.