#smartphone repair schaumburg

[zombietechs]

Is Intel Optane the fastest SSD you can buy?

Currently Techradar rates Intel Optane SSD as the fastest available SSD of 2020. Due to falling costs and incredible proprietary improvements in the way data is stored, one would find it hard to argue that Intel’s Optane SSD isn’t a revolution in storage technologies that not only offers unique storage density where flash drives are concerned but also speed at a breakneck pace.

Many techies, geeks, and all around PC nerds have watched for years as Samsung climbed to the heights of speed and performance development and for all intents and purposes. In fact, Samsung has been so great at making SSD’s that they’re widely regarded as a preferred choice for SSD technology by many power users and I personally have been a huge fan over the years to the point that I wouldn’t use anything else for my main PC except Samsung. That’s likely to change for me very soon however if the prices become more affordable around Intel Optane components.

So why is Intel Optane so special that it could dethrone Samsung in a sense as the maker of the fastest SSDs in our day and age? To understand that, you first have to crack open their proprietary technology that makes all the magic happen. Behold, 3D Xpoint.

Cross-point array structure At the heart of 3D Xpoint is a stacking of memory cells, portrayed in the image above. The compacting of memory cells which store single-bit data allows for a high level of density and the shortest distance between memory cells for reading & writing data. Their inital technology can store 128gb per die across two memory layers and it is believed that future improvements on this technology will increase the number of those layers to create larger storage capacity. Further improving upon this technology is a transistor-less feature called a selector. While this is a relatively new term for me, my understanding is that ready and write commands from the rest of the computer to flash memory are based on changes in voltage which is done through transistors conventionally and still a dominating feature in CPU’s and graphics cores. The selector, working in tandem with sheets of layered memory cells allows faster read and write sequences to occur across the X point array.

Is Intel Optane the fastest SSD you can buy? was originally published on

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Motorola and iFixit—A Match Made in Mobile

Motorola was founded in the tiny Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois in 1928. With just $565 to their name, brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin purchased business plans from a bankrupt tech company, rented out a tiny corner of an office building, and hired just five employees to embark on what would soon become Motorola, Inc.

The company’s first products were battery-eliminators, devices that enabled battery-powered radios to operate on household electricity. But radio technology soon advanced, and, like all technology does at some point, battery eliminators became obsolete. However, Paul Galvin already had his eye on the next target: car radios. He challenged his engineers to design an inexpensive radio that could be installed in most vehicles. They were successful, and Galvin was able to sell enough orders to keep Motorola in business.

The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first commercially available mobile phone, released in 1984. Source: Wikipedia

It wasn’t until sixty years later, in 1983, that Motorola manufactured the world’s first commercial cell phone. In 2005, they transformed the mobile phone game with the brightly colored Razr flip phone. In 2011, the Motorola Droid Bionic became the most repairable smartphone we’d ever disassembled, scoring a 9 out of 10 on our repairability scale. And today, Motorola continues their dedication to putting consumers first—they’re the first smartphone manufacturer ever to supply OEM parts to iFixit. 

Like Motorola, iFixit started out small. Our founders, college roommates Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules, opened iFixit out of their dorm room in 2003 when they couldn’t find a repair manual for Kyle’s broken laptop. And even as we’ve expanded to supply replacement parts and tools to consumers and repair businesses around the world, we’ve made the conscious choice to stay small.

Some folks mistake our size and mission for meaning that we don’t want to work with larger manufacturers. That’s not true. In fact, most manufacturers don’t want to work with us. But not Motorola—they’re the first major smartphone manufacturer in support of what we stand for. And they’re a pioneer of the mobile phone and serve tens of millions of customers around the world, to boot.

For fixers like us, this partnership is representative of a broader movement in support of our Right to Repair. It’s proof that OEM manufacturers and independent repair can co-exist. Big business and social responsibility, and innovation and sustainability, don’t need to be mutually exclusive. Motorola is setting an industry-leading example of a company that’s looking forward—not just six months ahead to next quarter’s margins, but decades ahead when devices are damned for the landfill.

And the landfill is where many devices end up in a manufacturer-dominated repair market: E-waste is a 50 million ton global problem. The batteries smartphone-makers are stubbornly gluing into their phones contributed to 40 percent of the past two years’ e-waste recycling fires in California. We simply don’t have time to carry on with this throwaway culture.

Like the Galvin brothers’ battery-eliminators, no tech lives forever. But we can make sure it lives longer. And that’s exactly what Motorola is doing. By giving consumers easier access to parts, people are better equipped to fix their broken devices—and more fixing means less e-waste in our landfills.

It’s official—Motorola is the first major smartphone manufacturer to supply OEM parts to iFixit. Pictured: Moto Z Play.

We can’t fix the system alone. We need our community of fixers to spread the word online and in their local communities. We need legislators to make fair repair laws that hold manufacturers responsible. And most of all, we need manufacturers to make integral changes to their business models to put people and the planet before profit.

Motorola is setting an example for major manufacturers to embrace a more open attitude towards repair. If you’re a Motorola customer, you can now either send in your broken device directly to Motorola for repair—or you can fix it yourself with the highest quality parts and tools, plus a free step-by-step guide, all included in our official Motorola OEM Fix Kits.

The selection of tools included in each Motorola OEM Fix Kit.

That’s a model worth replicating, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to consider Motorola a repair ally.

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Phontronics in Schaumburg Now Offering Samsung Galaxy S8 Repair Services. Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners will be happy to hear that Phontronics in Schaumburg has recently added screen repair and water cleanout services for Samsung's flagship model smartphone. - PR12670266

[zombietechs]

Apple, Amazon, Google, and Zigbee team up to agree on open standards for Smart Home

Smart home controls on an Apple iPhone.

The Alliance between the smart home giants has recently announced they are moving to IP-Based standard for synchronicity across all of their smart home devices. Each respective giant plans to to manufacture devices so that they can be cross-compatible with a variety of operating systems belonging to each of the manufacturers and so that their new lineup of devices can also work in conjunction together. Many other reputable house-hold names have also joined the alliance like IKEA and Schneider Electric to help produce smart home devices that work seamlessly across the different operating systems. That means better control for the end users and consumers will finally have more practical uses for devices like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home, and Apple’s Siri. The future of these devices is based on an idea of controlling multiple aspects of home living by voice or app-based software on your phone. You can read more about the decision from Apple’s Website press release.

Apple, Amazon, Google, and Zigbee team up to agree on open standards for Smart Home was originally published on

[zombietechs]

TIME Magazine ranks iPhone X and Apple Watch 3 among top 10 best gadgets of 2017

The iPhone X is ranked #2 on TIME’S “Top 10 Gadgets of 2017”

Surpassed only by the Nintendo Switch for the #1 spot on their top 10 list, TIME magazine wrote a raving review about the iPhone X. The main reasons for this are the new facial recognition system called Face ID which works hand in hand with Snapchat and Warby Parker as those apps rely heavily on face mapping technology to place realistic masks over the eyes and faces of the app users. “That”, they write, “combined with a sharp camera, long battery life, and a large screen packed into a more palatable size, make Apple’s iPhone X a top pick.”

What makes the iPhone X special?

They call it the iPhone 10 in place of the  letter X. According to Apple, the iPhoneX represents the biggest technological leap forward since the introduction of the very first iPhone, introduced 10 years ago. Apple’s aim was to create an iPhone that’s all display and no buttons on the surface, creating less space between the physical object and the digital experience. The iPhone X sits in a highly polished stainless steel casing and the surface area of the display measures 5.8″ on the front screen. The two available color options are Space Gray & Silver with a black front panel. The edge to edge design also takes advantage of Apple’s newest OLED screen technology called “Super Retina” and it doesn’t disappoint. The screen features true-to-life colors and deep black pixels, previously not seen in Apple smartphones before. It also features a resolution of 2436 x 1125 with 458 pixels per inch. Those type of specs were rarely available on high end computer gaming monitors just 2-3 years ago. The iPhone also supports HDR, wide color, 3D Touch, and True Tone for adjusting the white balanced to match ambient lighting in the environment where the iPhone X is being used. At 5.8″ measured diagonally, this is the largest display that has been introduced on any iPhone at the time this article is written.

TIME Magazine ranks iPhone X and Apple Watch 3 among top 10 best gadgets of 2017 was originally published on

[zombietechs]

10% Off Service when you bring in a Starbucks Zombie Frappuccino

For a limited time only, take 10% off service with a Starbucks Zombie Frapuccino

Just bring a Starbucks Zombie Frappuccino to the store to receive 10% off service on your next repair! You can also get 5-10% off any product we’re selling up front in our store locations in Schaumburg and Des Plaines. Show some love for the Zombies! Call or stop by anytime during store hours to get a free consultation on your next repair or to check out all the cool gadgets and Apple products that we sell up front. Phones, Laptops, and more!

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Zombie Techs Computer and Cell Phone Repair Schaumburg, IL

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Zombie Techs Computer and Cell Phone Repair Des Plaines, IL

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10% Off Service when you bring in a Starbucks Zombie Frappuccino was originally published on

[zombietechs]

iPhone 8 glass breaks repeatedly during testing

iPhone 8 shatters over and over again during tests

Apple says the new glass developed by Corning for its new iPhone 8 is the most durable glass ever used in a smartphone. I can’t believe my keyboard didn’t burst into flames after I wrote that.

This video was made by SquareTrade which offers extended warranties for consumer electronics. They’ve taken the time to evaluate for themselves exactly how “durable” this new glass-bodied phone will be so that they can evaluate the likelihood of how often people’s phones will break and get replaced/repaired by their warranty. As you’ve seen above, the results speak for themselves. Most basic tests resulted in hairline cracks, chips, and deep fractures that would make the touch screen useless and the compromise the view-ability of the screen beyond redemption. A six foot drop in many tests left the phone’s front glass shattered and loosened from the assembly. A 22-mph catapult launch resulted in corner dings, hairline cracks on the screen, and edge cracks. But the 60 second tumble test resulted in almost a complete disassembly of the device. The video ends saying that the iPhone 8 cracks on all sides with the first drop…. ouch!

Additional drop tests for the iPhone 8.

This is a pretty informative drop test on the iPhone 8 which includes the use of some cases that concentrates on drop tests that were waist high. He goes on to say that a lot of the innards of the iPhone 8 has metal backing under the frame all over the back that would help reinforce the phone should it drop. However, there’s a hollow point toward the center of the phone on the back side that would result in a high possibility of breakage because of the lack of support behind the glass. In the first drop test, both the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 in a case left essentially unscathed. The second test resulted in dings on the corners and for the unprotected phone while the protected phone appeared completely undamaged. The 3rd test at waist height also proved that the phones were durable. But when the unprotected phone was dropped from waist height on its side, the unprotected phone developed a massive fracture going all the way through the home button. Furthermore, in the 5th test which saw the phones dropped from chest height, the unprotected Apple was damaged in the front and the back. Needless to say, the protected case still had no damage, even when dropped from 8-9 feet up.

iPhone 8 vs iPhone 7 drop test.

We can’t stop laughing about the fact that Apple says this is the most durable glass used in a smartphone ever. Here’s a video that shows the iPhone 8 in drop tests vs the iPhone 7 in drop tests. In the first 5 foot drop, the iPhone 7 picked up some dings but most of the damage was hardly noticeable on the back of the aluminum iPhone 7 Plus. When the iPhone 8 was dropped from 5 foot height, the back glass looked like the surface of the moon. It literally looked like a house window after a successful break-in. Next he drops the iPhone 7 Plus on it’s side and the metal backing picked up some more dings. The iPhone 8 Plus, falling on it’s side in the same test, finished off what was left of the back glass and left some new chips and cracks on the front side as well. Fortunately both phones still work at this point. The last and final test was a “front-facing” drop test which is basically a nightmare scenario for any phone user. Just watching this part of the video made us cringe and caused some sleep loss. As expected, the iPhone 7 Plus glass was totally ruined after the front drop test. The iPhone 8 front glass also got destroyed in the front test. The video goes on to compare which iPhone suffered more from the front face drop. As far as things go, the iPhone 8 Plus didn’t look quite as bad as the iPhone 7 Plus, but here we are talking about which phone LCD was damaged worse in a front face drop.

Drop tests are semi-reliable ways to test the strength of glass but we do these tests and comparisons because they matter. We, as users, rely on the integrity of the glass on our phones in order to interact with them throughout their life spans and also to get a good value from our phones when it’s time to turn them in and pick up newer model iPhones. It’s hard to conclude that this is the MOST durable glass ever to be used on a smartphone but it does seem that the iPhone 8 does hold out just a little bit better than it’s competitors or legacy models in these drop tests. For that however, you have to now worry about the back of your phone as it’s covered in glass and gives you twice the risk or cost if both sides get damaged.

iPhone Cracked Glass repair pricing.

Apple is a good company that cares, so if you buy an AppleCare+ warranty at $129 or $149, then Apple just charges you $29 for the replacement of a broken display. But a broken glass body will set you back an additional $99 falling under the category of “other damage.” These AppleCare+ plans supposedly cover two incidences of accidental damage. If you try taking this to Apple without an AppleCare+ plan, they will probably look at you funny and tell you $169 for the cost of the front screen and $399 for the cost of the body. Ouch!

iPhone Cracked Glass Repair near you.

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Everything you need to know about iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

Hello friends, I’m writing to you now because you’re all exhausting me with the same question: “Is it really worth upgrading to the iPhone 8?” You’re all asking me because we’re soon going to be offering iPhone 8 repair in Schaumburg and Des Plaines and we see tons of iPhones that come in for repair on a daily basis so here is the scoop.

The iPhone 8 back is made of glass

This is something we haven’t seen from Apple since they released the iPhone 4 (which was one of the best looking iPhone’s if you ask me). A lot of the design focus with Apple comes down to symmetry and frankly I don’t understand using a glass back because it shatters and we found ourselves replacing these glass backs on the iPhone 4 all of the time. Believe me when I say that I’d love to replace your back glass and get paid for it but my personal recommendation if you don’t want to see me ever couple weeks is to get a custom case for your iPhone 8. You can buy them in our store or at any major retailer that carries the iPhone 8 and you can also order online. I recommend you get a shock proof case like Otterbox because it will prevent a lot of drama in your life. To be fair, the makers of Gorilla glass are making the glass material for the iPhone 8 and every year they seem to be coming up with strong designs. Even so, iPhone cracked glass replacement is our number one repair for iPhones across the spectrum. We order like 30-40 replacement screens every week.

Colors!

If you’re like me, you have had a chance to try out every color of the iPhone and black or gold tend to be the best looking colors. The iPhone 8 is releasing a new gold colored iPhone that looks very sleek and appealing but has a soft shine that looks like butter scotch as opposed to what you might find with a nice watch on your wrist. I think the term I’ve heard most used around the internet is a “caramel” look. That said the phone does change colors slightly depending on the lighting which makes it shiny and oh so cool. If you have a case over it though, nobody will see it anyways.

A11 Bionic Processor

If you’re not in the loop on the iPhone 8 upgrade speed and performance, then you’re really missing out. The A11 processor is seriously powerful and it’s a 6-core unit that’s more powerful than Macbooks from 2008-2010 when you first started getting into Apple products and Steve Jobs was alive. The cool thing about the processor is that it has a built in performance controller that allows it to use all 6 cores simultaneously which makes it freakishly powerful, and I really mean that. By the way, it’s miles ahead of the Galaxy Note 8 an the Galaxy S8+ phones which say they have amazing processors. They’re not lying, but the new A11 processor completely waxes them. If you’re a silly goose and you need to see numbers, feast your eyes on this:

Built-in Apple Designed GPU

GPU stands for Graphics processing unit for those who don’t know.It’s primarily used for rendering images and videos, specifically where 3-D is concerned. In a nutshell, it’s a single-chip processor that creates lighting effects and transforms objects every time a 3D scene is redrawn. The work involved is super complicated from a mathematics and algebra standpoint but this is a technology that we all enjoy when we’re watching Netflix or playing video games. GPU’s are basically essential these days for anything that’s related to video imaging otherwise your CPU (central processor) has to do all the rendering work. If you relied on your CPU your machines would overheat, your graphics would be poor quality, your batteries would run out quickly, and you would basically not your life. Apple knows this and so they’ve ditched the London based company called “Imagination” which you can read about here and they’ve developed their own GPU to launch with the iPhone 8. So far reports are calling it a massive success. The main reason it’s so successful is that iOS 11 is design in such a way that it almost directly takes advantage of the GPU power. This is kind of the moment in history when motorcycles switched from carburetors to direct injectors, only for iPhone concerning image rendering.

Louder Built-in Speakers

Apple says their new iPhone 8 stereo speakers are also 25% louder and deliver deeper bass. You still can’t use the iPhone 8 to throw rave parties in your basement, but you’re a few steps closer. See: strobe light app for iPhone

True Tone Display

Remember Night Shift on the last iOS? It was a feature that deletes the blue lighting that comes from the pixels on your smartphone screen because those blue lights actually screw up your brain and prevent you from sleeping. Business Insider did an article about this confirming that blue light from smartphone screens also destroys your retina and messes around with your brains production of melatonin. Apple is a good company that cares, so they came up with Night Shift to help your poor brains at night. Now with True Tone Display, night shift actually works fully the way it’s supposed to and it also adjusts the colors on your screen to react to the ambient lighting in the room. So if you’re pumping tunes off your iPhone 8 at a basement rave party, at least you won’t fully damage your eyesight and melatonin production due to bright blue pixels on the screen.

Reduced Shutter Lag

This is probably something that many people haven’t paid much attention to in the past because the iPhone 7 was legitimately good for taking photos. However, photos taken during low lighting were often subject to lots of distortion and also delays with the shutter snap which caused additional blurriness in the photos and poor picture quality. If the shutter takes a long time to snap while it’s in your hands, the micromovements you make while holding it will cause pixels to basically blend together and smudge your duck-face bathroom selfie.

4K and 60 frames per second.

Some of the other “cool features” seem more like cool non-sense sometimes but they are legitimate improvements and demonstrate awesome miniaturization of technology. Most of you probably won’t care however until you read what’s next. The iPhone screens for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus now have 4k displays which means jaw dropping, slow motion recording and play-back while keeping UHD 4k resolution. 60 Frames per second basically looks more like-life because it refreshes 60 frames at second. If you’re reading this article right now from a phone or laptop that has a 60 fps screen you can check the video below to get an idea of what I’m talking about. It’s a massive step-up from traditional monitors that don’t have support for 60fps. Included with the enhance slow motion capture, you’ll be able to scale up to 240 fps on you new iPhone 8 which is double the frame rate of slow motion on the iPhone 7.

Wireless Charging

For the first time ever, Apple is joining the wireless charging club. Some newer cars have this technology built in and the iPhone 8 will be fully compatible with it. This is one of the reasons that Apple has returned to using glass backs on their iPhones but Apple will not ship with a wireless charging pad to help you out with your wireless charging aspirations. But Apple is a good company that cares and so they’ve recommended two wireless charging bases for the iPhone 8: Belkin’s Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad $59.99 , and Mophie’s Wireless Charging Base (not available yet).

Fast Charging

Straight out of the box, Apple is going to give you their standard 5-watt charging block for both versions of the new iPhone 8. You may find yourself dissatisfied with the charging capabilities of this device but if fast charging is important to you, you can use Apple’s 12-watt iPad charging block which cut charging time from 0%-100% by almost half. The company also makes a 29-watt adapter that’s used for Macbooks which you can also use with the iPhone 8 and it’s fully supported. You could charge up your phone from 0 to full in about 14-15 minutes with the high-end Macbook charger and a normal lightning cable (beware cheap knock-offs). As a side-note, if you do need chargers and cables, both of our smartphone repair stores in Schaumburg and Des Plaines carry all original types of charges for everything described above.

Things we don’t like about the iPhone 8.

At the top of the list of things we don’t like about the iPhone 8, is the 5-watt charging block they give you. It’s a tiny little thing that’s fairly reliable but leaves a lot to be desired in terms of how long your iPhone has to sit on the charger to get a full charge. One of the main things my customers complain about when it comes to iPhones is the fact that their iPhones don’t last even a full day on a single charge and have to be recharged constantly throughout the day. Most users notice that after 6 months, their battery capacity also becomes “poor” compared to what it was when they first started using the phone. Not to veer off on a tangent, but there is a LOT that you can do in order to maximize the battery efficiency of your phone. We wrote an article with lots of tips about maximizing the iPhone battery.

Another thing we don’t like about the iPhone 8 is that wireless charging is slow. It’s really slow. Apple says that they’re going to release an update down the line that would allow the iPhone 8 to get 7.5-watt charging for wireless phones which isn’t exactly high-speed but it’s about 7%-8% faster than charging it on the 5-watt charging block that you’ll get with the iPhone 8 out of the box. Sadly, without that technology released yet, you’ll be lucky to charge up to 11% battery life within 15 minutes on the Belkin wireless charger we named above.

The last main grief that we have about the iPhone 8 is that Apple is about to release an iPhone X this year. This is kind of like how Apple released their last generation of iPads, immediately followed by the release of an iPad PRO which has way more power and much larger screen. This is a very big deal when it comes to iPhone’s because they are by far Apple’s most popular product. Users and fanboys alike literally die in anticipation of more powerful Apple iPhones entering the market. Securities expert Ming Kuo said a few weeks ago that Apple is producing iPhone 8 at a rate of about 10,000 units a day and insisted that the demand for these phones is so high that you’ll still find them hard to get even by Christmas time. That means As of the time this article is being written, Christmas is 90 days away. If you assume that they’re going to make 900,000 phones by Christmas for a market of about 120 million users (about half of the population of United States), the iPhone 8 is going to be extremely in demand, even before they start production and shipments of the iPhone X. So just imagine what a riot the iPhone X is going to cause when it enters the market and people realize they won’t be able to get one until like Summer of next year due to laggish production. Why is the iPhone X such a big deal? We’re soon going to write a detailed article once we have the full scoop on this phone with all the juicy details. But for now, check out the video below to see the iPhone X hands on. It’s a little, it’s way more powerful, and it can read your FACE to open up the phone instead of your thumbprint.

For all of your computer and cell phone repair needs in Schaumburg, Des Plaines, and the whole Northwest Suburbs, think of Zombie Techs. We warehouse the best talent in the area for all of your smartphone and computer repair needs. We bring technology back to life!

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Everything you need to know about iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus was originally published on

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Leaked iPhone 8 screen protector reveals more than appearance

Leaked iPhone 8 screen protector

New images surfaced Monday morning from Chinese social networking site Weibo and later revealed by macrumors, shows a new tempered glass screen protector made for the yet unreleased iPhone 8 with 5.8″ display. The screen protector is the first we’ve seen this close to production time on the iPhone 8 and it confirms rumors that we’ve written about in previous articles that the iPhone 8 will feature a full glass display on the front without a home button. The front glass display is supposedly full engaged in biometric authentication too so it can read your thumbprint and unlock the phone regardless of where your thumb is placed on the front of the glass. The noticeably thin screen protector features cutouts for the from camera, ambient light sensor, and proximity sensor, and a mysterious 4th sensor which has not yet been reported on. Based on speculation and rumors around the internet, we believe this 4th cutout may be a 3D sensing module that will come standard on iPhone 8.

Whats the purpose of a 3D sensor module?

Well, if you’re paranoid about privacy, this will make sure you don’t sleep anymore. Rumors on the internet are circulating that the iPhone 8 is going to be using 3d sensor technology to use facial recognition to unlock your phone. Check the videos below for more evidence of 3D sensor technology. In fact, if you didn’t already know, your iPhone already has facial recognition enabled by default on your pictures library. When you click on your photos app within iOS, you’ll find an album titled “People” where the on-board deep learning system categorizes photos you have on your phone by recognizing the faces of people you have on your phone. A 3D sensor will enhance this deep learning system so that it cannot be tricked by 2D photos and so that it can study the nuances of your face to better identify it in 3D.

Key iPhone camera lens provider Largan Precision on Wednesday confirmed it would ship lenses for 3-D sensing modules in the second half of this year, according to the company’s chief executive.

“We will have lenses for 3-D sensing [module used in smartphone] ready to ship in the second half this year,” said Adam Lin, Largan’s chief executive in a press conference after the company’s annual general meeting.

Based on an article from macrumors.com

How will 3D sensors affect the pricing of the iPhone 8?

Given that an unprecedented amount of attention has been placed on the iPhone’s new look and new screen, we full expect replacement screens for cracked iPhones to be extremely expensive at the outset of the new iPhone. Though Apple does not cover cracked screen replacement damage with the built in 1 year manufacturer warranty, they will cover you under Apple care if you choose to pay. When new iPhone’s are released, we tend to see the same trend over and over again where the screen or LCD prices are around $400+ for the first week that the iPhone is released. By the next major holiday the screen prices take a dive to get under $200 and eventually by Easter they’re closer to $100 per unit. What consumers should be aware of is that over the last few years, given the ever increasing value of OEM iPhone screens, small companies have opened up all over America to provide computer and cell phone repair shops with refurbished or 2nd hand screens. It’s possible now to get a machine that would allow you to refurbish all major smartphone LCDs. This years iPhone release is going to be different however. Prices are being thrown around online that the iPhone 8 could easily cost $1000 or more even with a contract or plan. The screen’s are also supposed to be OLED and they’ll be the first release of a brand new technology and pattern by LG which will also start showing up in Samsung phones for upcoming releases. We expect this to drive the price of screens way up for both manufacturers.

iPhone screen refurbishing machine $2621.79

More on 3D sensor module on iPhone 8 front face.

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Leaked iPhone 8 screen protector reveals more than appearance was originally published on

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LTE to become standard feature on laptops soon - Microsoft

LTE enabled laptops coming soon

Remember when we were kids and dreamed of the day that laptops and gadgets would be able to charge up and also connect to internet anywhere on earth without cables? Those distant dreams are closing distance with reality. An article on 9t05mac says that Microsoft just announced 6 major PC manufacturers committed to pushing LTE-capable laptops.

We are collaborating with our ecosystem on a shared vision. This starts with a close partnership at the silicon layer, with Intel and Qualcomm and with our mobile operator partners to provide seamless eSIM connectivity. Microsoft device partners ASUS, HP, Huawei, Lenovo, VAIO, and Xiaomi, are committed to this new category of Always Connected PCs using eSIM technology. In addition, Microsoft announced Always Connected devices will be coming from ASUS, HP, and Lenovo on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. These new devices will feature Windows 10, always-on LTE connectivity and great battery life.

The move by Microsoft is putting a lot of pressure on Apple. Apple has been playing with the idea of having sim-enabled Macbooks for over a decade now but Steve Jobs went on record saying that he rejected the idea because it would complicate the device and he also didn’t want to lock his customers into contracts with any particular carriers. Things look much differently today however as LTE is pumping strong through the air waves and it’s easy to get a month-to-month plan for this kind of technology. The LTE speeds available are about as strong as high speed DSL was back in 2008 and comes in around 2mbps-4mbps/second. Fortunately for us that’s plenty enough speed to get e-mails and view webpages. You could even stream movies on Netflix with those kinds of speeds but you’d have to sacrifice any high quality streaming. The push from Microsoft will change the landscape from laptops and cause LTE embedded technology to become a mainstream standard feature over the next year and going forward into the future.

Do Apple users want LTE-enabled MacBook Pros?

A survey done by the team at 9to5mac shows that 42% of pollers would like the feature to come standard on MacBook Pros and 1/3 of pollers said that they would even be prepared to pay a premium to get it if the technology was available. Users best suited to take advantage of this technology are business person’s who work in the field with their laptops and MacBooks as well as students and traveling businesses/artists.

Remember that time Apple released a Macbook with only 1 USB port?

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LTE to become standard feature on laptops soon – Microsoft was originally published on

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Are Crypto Currencies gaining independence?

Are Crypto Currencies gaining independence?

Bitcoin Market Cap

Take a moment and type “bitcoin usd” into Google. What comes up? A built in conversion tool with up to the minute updated prices from the 24/7 bitcoin pool. Bitcoin and Ethereum have been on a complete tear since last year and frankly they show no signs of stopping. Analysts online are afraid to weigh in because they could not have expected this type of growth coming from the crypto asset class of currencies. Predictors and speculators have gone on the record saying they expected bitcoin to reach $2000/coin by year 2020, and bitcoin hit that milestone over 2 weeks ago (3 years ahead of prediction). Now there are some that say bitcoin will reach a value of $5000/coin by 2020.

Crypto prices surge

This year, several cryptocurrencies have experienced notable increases in value.

The price of bitcoin, for example, reached $2,791.70 25th May, which represented a more than 200% increase from the cryptocurrency’s price of roughly $923.67 at the start of the year, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Amid this sharp rally, bitcoin’s market cap has surged, surpassing $45bn earlier this week, a roughly 50% increase in the last month, additional BPI figures show.

At the time of report, the currency’s price and market cap had both fallen back somewhat, reaching roughly $2,440 and $40bn at 16:30 UTC.

quoted from coindesk.com

Is the bitcoin mania just a bubble?

An article on wealthdaily.com suggests that bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are really just a rapidly inflating bubble and investors should steer clear. The reason is that while currencies like bitcoin are considered to be a legitimate form of money, it’s being treated as a speculative investment. Move of bitcoins buyers are under the age of 35 (over 60%). In other words, most of bitcoins users are millenials with little experience in risk management as opposed to older investors. The currency form is also extremely volatile and still considered to be largely experimental.

Dutch Tulip Mania

In the 17th century, formal futures markets developed in the Dutch Republic, providing the infrastructure for a massive bubble in the price of tulip bulbs.

The tulip first became fashionable in France, where early modern ladies of the aristocracy began sporting the flower on their dresses. From there, the tulip became the flower to show off social status and wealth. The demand for bulbs subsequently skyrocketed, and prices immediately followed.

At the peak of Tulip Mania in 1637, a single tulip bulb could cost as much as 10,000 gilders, the price of a nice middle-class townhouse in Amsterdam. According to one author, 12 acres of land was once offered for one rare bulb. For a flower bulb!

Of course, the bubble eventually burst. The price of tulip bulbs collapsed, and fortunes in perceived value disappeared over night.

Source: wealthdaily.com

Dutch Tulip Mania / Bubble explained (Short version)

Dutch Tulip Mania / Bubble explained (Long version)

Are Crypto Currencies gaining independence? was originally published on

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Store Hours on Memorial Day

Computer and Cell Phone Repair

Good morning and Happy Memorial Day! Zombie Techs computer and cell phone repair in Schaumburg will be open today from 8am – 12pm for any of your immediate/urgent computer and cell phone repair needs. We are able to fix many cell phone and smartphone issues in under and hour’s time so if you do have an emergency, we are available until 12pm today. Normal pickup and drop-off services are available today as well between 8am-12pm. Below is a list of common repairs that you might need done in under an hour’s time:

cell phone screen replacement

dc jack repair

charging port repair

on/off button repair

phone camera replacement

laptop screen replacement

volume button repair

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Store Hours on Memorial Day was originally published on

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Fake iPhone 8 clones are starting to hit the internet

Beware the fake iPhone 8 clones starting to hit the internet

Everybody is rearing up and getting excited for the release of the iPhone 8. The most notable feature of the upcoming blockbuster phone is going to be a full surface screen backed by OLED screens which we have not yet seen real pictures of on the internet. Though we’re still a few months away from the release, bogus iPhone 8 videos are starting to appear online as part of a scam to get clicks and hype while taking advantage of the enormous buzz around iPhone 8.

This particular dummy device, said to be a CNC model, aligns with design drawings and rumors pointing towards an edge-to-edge display with a glass body encased in a shiny stainless steel frame. There is no Home button and no visible Touch ID sensor, suggesting it is built into the display, which would be in line with many rumors.

Taken from this article at Macrumors. Apple is still testing prototypes of the phone before they got into mass scale production so don’t be fooled by anything you see right now that offers you a glimpse at the new iPhone 8. When the photos leak you can count on us that we’ll be among the first to have it. As far as we know Apple still hasn’t agreed on a full out design and there are rumors circulating of a possible triple phone release when the phones come out.

What we know so far about the upcoming iPhone 8 release

The phone is going to have an aluminum frame with hidden antennas like previous models (pictured below)

It’s going to measure in at 149.5mm tall and 72.5mm wide, slightly larger than the 4.7-inch iPhone 7, which measures in at 138.3mm by 67.1mm. Apple’s work on an aluminum iPhone 8 prototype was first outlined by Bloomberg. Below you can find the best purported look leaked from China of the design schematic for the surface of the iPhone 8 with OLED technology.

There is also a rumor circulating that Apple will feature a new USB-C charging port and dump their lightning port cables. The move to USB-C chargers will also allow much faster charging time for Apple products that adopt this technology. The iPhone 8 is also supposed to feature wireless charging accorrding to securities analyst Ming Kuo. The processor for the upcoming series of phones is listed as Apple’s new A11 chip and takes advantage of a 10-nanometer FinFET manufacturing process. It’s supposed to be more power efficient and faster than the preceding A10 processor built on a 16-nanometer process and used in the iPhone 7 lineup of phones. The A11 processor is also supposed to be much better for battery efficiency and we’re expecting that to be the case based on the huge strides that the A10 processor made over previous chips that Apple was working on.

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  Fake iPhone 8 clones are starting to hit the internet was originally published on

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Can Apple become a trillion dollar company soon?

Could Apple soon become a trillion dollar company?

Notebook sales are up, the iPhone 8 is already poised for a massive success, the App store is having it’s most blockbuster year ever, and Apple is working on fully automated self-driving cars. So is there a possibility that Apple could soon become a trillion dollar company? RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani says the answer is yes, and it could even happen in the next 18 months.

An excerpt found on Marcumors of Daryanani’s research note, edited slightly for clarity:

In aggregate, we see a scenario where in the 2019 fiscal year, Apple sustains $12+ earnings per share and, assuming the valuation frameworks remains stable/improves, it should get AAPL stock toward $192–$195, which would equate to a market cap above $1 trillion.

Another major driving force in Amit’s calculation is the fact that Apple’s ability to be a service provider at their retail stores is widespread and improving. In other words, they’re in the business of fixing iPhones, iPads, Macbooks and more through their retail locations. So what does that mean for computer and cell phone repair companies like Zombie Techs? Companies like ours are part of a larger web of computer and cell phone repair companies that find their way into nature as an alternative to what the big boxes offer and we fill in the last leg of business that they cannot provide their customers due to the nature of complexity surrounding their gadgets. Though Apple is taking on a lot of iPhones and iPads for repair in their retail store locations, many customers are still coming through our doors reporting a laundry list of problems. Among them are:

long wait times

difficulty in scheduling appointments at the Apple store

customers are told to buy new Macbooks, iPads, and iPhones instead of fixing them

Macbooks, iPads, and iPhones are being consistently mis-diagnosed by staff

problems are not resolved on the first try and the turn around times are extremely long, even for repeat or redo work.

All of that said, Apple’s service category income stream came to a whopping $7.17 billion dollars in revenue just in the last quarter alone. That’s up from $6 billion last year according to an article at Macrumors.

Amit goes on to say:

Longer-term, we think there is potential for Apple to continue growing Services revenue by double digit year-over-year given the company’s expanding installed base [of devices], increasing App Store sales within the current installed base, demand for cloud storage/compute services, and further adoption of Apple Pay.

Apple is also turning heads in the stock market in unprecedented levels of success. Apple’s market-cap climbed over the 800 billion mark recently and for the first time ever. Shares are up by over $25 from a year ago and investors keep piling in anticipating the release and success of the iPhone 8. There are many analysts who still tout Apple as a gold mine and even those who say it is among some of the most under appreciated stocks in the market today.

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Can Apple become a trillion dollar company soon? was originally published on

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Nike coming out with matching iWatch bands and shoes

Nike to release Apple iWatch bands that match with shoes

Based on an article found on Macrumors, Nike released a brand new lineup of Apple iWatch bands to match their Nike Air VaporMax Flyknit “Day to Night” collection of shoes. The inspiration for these colors and this sales campaign are inspired by the shades of sky from dawn to dusk.

The “Day to Night” collection celebrates runners whenever they choose to run – at twilight, sunset and everything in between. Each of the colors is inspired by a shade of the sky, from dawn to dusk, and allows runners to – for the first time – make a statement by matching their Apple Watch Nike+ bands to their footwear.

The bands are made of a flexible fluoroelastomer material that’s going to feature perforations as seen above to help manage sweat and perspiration. Nike will make these shoes and watch bands available on the 1st of June through their website and Apple will be retailing them from their main site around the same time. The sports bands are purportedly going to be priced around $49.99 each and the shoes will be $190.00.

source

Nike coming out with matching iWatch bands and shoes was originally published on

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Tour of Apple Homekit Automated home.

Ever wanted to see what an Automated home by Apple looks like?

This is a 30 minute video made by a guy who is in love with home automation. He says his house was built in the 1870’s and he’s got tons of homekit devices that he controls from his Apple gadgets. He starts the video by giving a software tour of some of the apps he uses to regulate all the different home automation devices he has and shows that they’re broken down by room profiles within the apps. He adds that you don’t have to use the manufacturer’s app, you can also take advantage of the HomeKit app that comes built in with iOS10.

Triggers

Triggers can be set up within the apps so that they activate certain settings when particular conditions are met. For example, if you want your living room to shine ambient earth tones during the morning hours and switch to neon colors at night, you can configure that within triggers. This can also be set with different sets of light strips which you might use outside for the sake of festivity that would change after a certain date or for a certain holiday like Christmas or Halloween. In the video, you’ll see how he uses Siri to turn the lights off around the house just by using a voice command.

Benefits of Home Automation

The home in this video is actually an awesome candidate for some of the advantages of home automation. The home in this video is over a century old so when it was built there was not a lot of thought given to future technology or wiring. In other words you’d have to rip the house apart to wire everything together and this is an area where wireless technology can unify many different aspects of the house and you can use Siri as a remote control. You can also install retracting electronic shades on remote windows around the house that may be hard to reach and control them through HomeKit.

Thermostat

Nest is a product that fully integrates with Apple and Nest is a company that Apple actually purchased just 2 years ago. The 3rd generation of the product allows you to customize programs for heating, cooling, dryness, and long distance remote control. Nest also makes webcams that work as home intruder protection and provide feedback directly to your phone when people are coming and going.

Automated Smart Locks

One of the most exciting features in automated homes are smart-locks. There’s a wide variety of locks on the market place that take advantage of various biometrics and unlocking mechanisms. Many locks are Bluetooth enabled and can also be configured with certain programs that would choose when doors would open and when they would lock. This is also handy for commercial purposes in case an employee gets locked out of the store or in case he doesn’t have a key to lock up as an example. Again, many modern products can offer fully integrated remote control solutions from the comfort of an app on your iPhone, iPad, Macbook, or iPod.

Smart Fans

Though it’s not featured in this video, one of our favorite home automation products is the “smart fan.” The one we linked to features “unparalleled energy efficiency” and can be controlled like other smart products from the touch of a button. These smart-fans also have option LED lights that can be remote controlled and are crafted from a variety of materials. The same company also makes custom garage lights with powerful LED bulbs that can be integrated to come on under a variety of triggers.

Everything you need to know about Apple HomeKit

Expect to see a lot more coming this summer across a variety of products including home appliances and new innovations with accessibility backed by Apple. Tim Cook has recently mentioned in several interviews the importance of home connectivity and accessibility from the comfort of your favorite Apple Devices and iPhones.

Tour of Apple Homekit Automated home. was originally published on