10 Likely Features Of Next IPhone

May 24, 2015

The next iPhone’s unveiling is more than a quarter away but that doesn't stop the rumour mill from churning out new information related to Apple’s upcoming flagship(s).

Ming Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, an analyst with a pretty good record when it comes to all things related to the fruit company, has predicted eleven new things about the new iPhone in his research note. We take a look…

1. New Rose Gold Edition

May 24, 2015

Apple will introduce a new Rose Gold casing colour for the iPhone in addition to the existing Gold, Silver and Space Gray models. This new variant will be similar to the Rose Gold Apple Watch Edition.

2. Camera To Get A Pixel Upgrade

May 24, 2015

The iPhone will finally see a new camera with a higher megapixel count. As per the analyst the new iPhone(s) will most likely sport a 12MP sensor, an upgrade from the existing 8MP one.

3. New Microphone

May 24, 2015

Kuo has also predicted that a new microphone will be added near the iPhone’s speaker for better voice quality. iPhone 5/6 already sport three microphones for enhanced noise cancellation.

4. New Processor, More RAM

May 24, 2015

The new iPhones will come with an upgraded Apple A9 processor with 2GB RAM. The current iteration features an A8 chip and 1GB RAM (not confirmed by Apple).

5. New Material, Design Changes

May 24, 2015

Apple will use different casing materials and make internal mechanical design changes to give extra strength to the phone and prevent bending.

6. Some 5.5-Inch IPhones To Have Sapphire Display

May 24, 2015

Kuo says Apple may endow some 5.5-inch screen iPhones with sapphire glass if the company is able to fix issues related to a drop test.

7. Gesture Control

May 24, 2015

Analyst Ming Chi Quo suggests that the upcoming iPhone will feature gesture control. iOS 7 and 8 already feature gesture control to a limited extent (including swipe to go back). Perhaps, the next iOS version will include more gesture-based functionality.

8. Force Touch

May 24, 2015

The new iPhone will include Force Touch technology, first seen in the Apple Watch and the new 12-inch MacBook. The technology allows devices to distinguish between a light tap and a harder press to offer additional options when a harder press is detected.

9. Touch ID Improvements

May 24, 2015

Kuo says the recognition rate of Touch ID will be improved in order to promote Apple Pay, Apple’s secure mobile payments solution that uses fingerprint recognition and NFC.

10. No Small Screen IPhone

May 24, 2015

According to the analyst, Apple will continue with the existing 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone models with the same screen resolution. There will be no compact-sized or 4-inch screen iPhone, as some rumours claim.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Turns 31: 12 Little-Known Facts

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg turns 31 today. Born on May 14 1984, Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire in the world at age 23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also wished Zuckerberg on his birthday.

"Mark, I wish you a very Happy Birthday! Your innovative zeal has left a deep impact on society and you remain an inspiration for the world. I warmly recall our meeting a few months ago. I pray that you are blessed with a long life filled with good health," wrote PM Modi on his Facebook page.

Here are 10 little-known facts about the man who made social networking synonymous with Facebook.

1. Started Programming In Pre-Teens

May 24, 2015

At the age of 12, Zuckerberg used Atari BASIC to create a messaging program his dad used in his dental office. While still in high school, he created an early music streaming platform Synapse, which AOL and Microsoft showed interest in, but were rebuffed by young Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg enrolled in Harvard University in 2002, where he quickly became known for his developer skills.

2. Doesn’t Work Long Hours

May 24, 2015

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a Q&A session revealed that he works approximately 50-60 hours per week, which is close to the number of hours most employees put in the office.

However, he added that he has remained focused his entire life if one counts the time he has spent on his mission. Zuckerberg said that he has spent most of his time thinking how to connect people and serve the community better.

3. One Rule For Hiring

May 24, 2015

For people who work directly for him, Zuckerberg has one rule: He will only hire people that he would have as a boss. The test has seen Zuckerberg hire some of the most famous technology executives in the world.

Sheryl Sandberg, for instance, was chosen by Zuckerberg to be chief operating officer at Facebook and is perhaps the most famous woman in the tech world. He considers Sandberg a mentor, and has said that she has helped make Facebook into a healthy business.

4. Favourite Quotes

May 24, 2015

According to Zuckerberg's official Facebook page, his three favourite quotes are:

*Fortune favours the bold: Virgil, Aeneid X.284

*All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up: Pablo Picasso

*Make things as simple as possible but no simpler: Albert Einstein

5. Youngest Billionaire In The World

May 24, 2015

Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire in the world at the age of 23 in the year 2008, according to a Forbes estimate. He was ranked 785 on the World’s Billionaires list.

With a fortune of $33.4 billion, he is the 16th richest person in the world, according to Forbes’s latest ranking.

6. Colour Blind

May 24, 2015

Facebook CEO is red-green colour blind, which means that the best colour he can see is blue. Zuckerberg reportedly once said, "Blue is the richest colour for me. I can see all of blue."

No prizes for guessing why blue is the most dominant colour on the world's top social networking site.

7. His Facebook Profile

May 24, 2015

Wondering what the founder of world's No. 1 networking giant likes? As per his Facebook profile, Zuckerberg likes McDonalds, In-N-Out Burger, Daft Punk, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Kate Perry among others.

8. Sticks To T-Shirts And Hoodies

May 24, 2015

In the year 2011, Zuckerberg topped the GQ's worst-dressed men in Silicon Valley list. Zuckerberg got the top honour for ill-fitting hoodies, jeans, T-shirts and Adidas sandals. Zuckerberg is mostly spotted in his trademark jeans with black tie over a T-shirt at most press events or special occasions.

He has said that even small decisions like picking what to wear or what to eat for breakfast can take up time and energy that he doesn’t want to waste on such matters. "I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community," Zuckerberg said, adding that he has "multiple same shirts."

9. A Love For Books

May 24, 2015

Mark Zuckerberg started a Facebook page called A Year of Books, where a book is recommended to followers every fortnight.

Started in January 2015, the page’s first recommendation was The End of Power. The current book, number 10 in the list, is The New Jim Crow.

10. Even His Dog Has 2 Million Facebook Followers

May 24, 2015

Zuckerberg owns a pet dog named Beast. A Hungarian Sheepdog, Beast too has his own Facebook page with over 2 million fans.

11. An Atheist Who Doesn’t Own A TV

May 24, 2015

Born to Jewish parents, Zuckerberg considers himself an atheist. According to a report in Business Insider, Zuckerberg doesn't own a TV.

12. Gets Special Protection

May 24, 2015

Zuckerberg receives special security protection paid for by Facebook, according to the company's SEC filing. This includes a security system at his house in Palo Alto, California, and the annual cost of security personnel.

“We require these security measures for the company’s benefit because of the importance of Mr Zuckerberg to Facebook, and we believe that the costs of this comprehensive security programme are appropriate and necessary,” according to the filing.

6 Tech Skills You Need To Know In 2015

Technology is one area that no one in any industry can afford to grow complacent about — tech is changing so quickly that skills you mastered last year may already be outdated. In such a quickly evolving industry, information decays at a rate of 30% a year, according to Research in Labor Economics, rendering nearly a third of last year's tech-related knowledge irrelevant.

But don't panic — there's a solution. Staying up-to-date with emergent technologies and trends — as well as the skills needed to master them — will help you offset the lightning-fast pace of skills disruption and keep you ahead of the curve.

On that note, here are the top six tech skills that Pluralsight has identified as not just "nice to know," but "need to know," in 2015.

1. Coding

May 24, 2015

As I've written recently, coding is the number-one skill in demand today worldwide. Although coding and computer science are still marginalized in the K-12 education system, it's clear that the ability to code has become as important as other basic forms of literacy like reading and math.

Fortunately, no matter what your age or current comfort level with technology, there are ways to pick up intro coding skills — and many of them are free.

2. Big Data

May 24, 2015

According to Forbes, big data will continue to grow in 2015, due in part to the rise of the Internet of Things, which has the power to embed technology in practically anything.

As ever-larger volumes of data are created, it's vital to know how to collect and analyze that data — particularly when it's related to customer preferences and business processes.

No matter what industry you're in, you'll miss out on key marketing and decision-making opportunities by ignoring big data.

3. Cloud Computing

May 24, 2015

TechRadar reported this month that 2015 will be the year that the cloud becomes the "new normal." The reason, writes Mark Barrenechea, CEO of OpenText, is that costs can be slashed as much as 90% through digitization of information-intensive processes.

Barrenechea predicts that by year-end, we'll see "a world of hybrid deployments in which some information and applications reside in the cloud and the remainder resides on-premise."

Learning to utilize the cloud's flexible power can improve everything from your data security to your collaboration ability.

4. Mobile

May 24, 2015

As Six Dimensions states, "If you don't have a mobile strategy, you don't have a future strategy." This has never been truer than in 2015, the year in which The Guardian predicts an increasing number of companies will learn how to mobilize their revenue-generating processes, like making purchases and depositing checks.

This is also the year that we'll hit critical mass with the fusion of mobile and cloud computing, according to Forbes. That means many more centrally coordinated apps will be usable on multiple devices.

5. Data Visualization

May 24, 2015

Data keeps multiplying, which means whatever message you hope to communicate online must find increasingly creative ways to break through the noise. That's where data visualization comes in, which involves using a visual representation of the data to discover new information and breakthroughs.

Fortunately, you don't have to be a web designer or developer to create compelling infographics. There are several free tools available you can use to visually enhance your data.

6. UX Design Skills

May 24, 2015

User experience (UX) designers consider the end user's ease of use, efficiency, and general experience of interfacing with a system (such as a website or application).

Smashing Magazine notes that while user experience has long been important, it has become more so recently in relation to the diverse ways that users can now access websites, including mobile and apps.

"The more complex the system, the more involved will the planning and architecture have to be for it," writes Jacob Gube. But it's not just professional designers who can benefit from understanding UX design — anyone can.