News digest №84. Amazing nearby

The vice president Microsoft is testing iPhone with all his might, an unknown startup invents a perpetual motion machine, the Drone Racing League organizes the world's first drone races, and Google is building the world's largest public Wi- Fi network …

The middle of another working week, disgusting weather, stuck somewhere on the border of winter and spring thaw, a mixture of salt and dirty snow, disgustingly chomping underfoot, a flu epidemic … On such days the world seems gray, boring and disgustingly predictable. But in fact, it is filled with amazing events and unusual things, and to notice them, you usually just need to shake your head a little.

Microsoft Wordflow: round keyboard for iOS

Four years ago, a photograph was leaked on the net showing a keyboard invented by Microsoft. It had a semicircular shape and, as conceived by the creators, made it possible to comfortably type text with one thumb.

For many years, there was no news about the fate of this keyboard, but recently the resource Thurrott.com reported that the project is still alive. Soon this keyboard will see the light of day, only it is created not for Windows Phone, but for iPhone.

What surprised you? That for a change, this rumor may well be true. It is just not entirely clear whether it is trying Microsoft to make money on the users of someone else's platform, or to engage in sabotage in this way.

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ArKase – an eternal battery for your smartphone

Before us is nothing more than a smartphone case with a perpetual motion machine function. You heard right – ArKase will collect energy from working Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, recharge from temperature changes and sunlight, receive energy from air fluctuations and GSM signals. And although the developers have only a prototype so far, they are already quite sure that this revolutionary case will allow you to forever get rid of the cable for charging your smartphone and finally forget about the sockets.

What surprised you? The number of people who believe in miracles and 'warm tube' design in the style of cyberpunk. If the developer has time to establish mass production by April 1, there will be no end of buyers.

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Google Wi-Fi: One of the largest public Wi-Fi networks

This week in India, Google began building one of the world's largest Wi-Fi networks. The starting point was the central station in Mumbai, which will add about four hundred more stations throughout the country this year. The search giant's ultimate goal is to provide free internet to the 23 million people who use the railways every day.

The Internet can work not only on a smartphone, on and on two devices connected to it (tablets, laptops, and so on), and the quality of the connection will allow you to watch HD video online. The only limitation is an automatic slowdown after an hour of continuous use, thus insuring Google against 'non-core' use of its public Wi-Fi network.

What surprised you? Willingness to carry sleds, not just ride them. At the same time, helping everyone else to climb the mountain. That is, not just making money on displaying ads, but also honestly providing a huge crowd of people with high-quality Internet. Although the scale of the project is not so impressive after Project Loon, this time it is really something real and not an abstract concept.

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Drone Racing League: the world's first professional drone racing

Those who watched the first episode of the Star Wars movie saga probably remembered the completely insane races on the sandy planet Tatooine. So, the organizers of the Drone Racing League want to do something similar. True, pilots will not be forced to climb into the cockpits of fantastic ATVs. Instead of them, the most common drones will be used in races, and the image from their cameras will be broadcast directly to the helmets of the racers. So adrenaline is provided for them – not only does the maximum speed of the drones reach 130 km / h, but also the route will be three-dimensional. Competition venues will range from open-air stadiums to abandoned shopping malls, and the maiden flight will take place on February 22 at Miami's Sun Life Stadium.

What surprised you? That the difference between game and reality, between sports and e-sports, is becoming more and more blurred. Soon one will no longer be distinguished from the other – such a drone race could well be another computer game, and it is not a fact that even the pilots themselves could catch the difference. And where more spectators will gather, in real or virtual competition, is also another question. Especially if in both cases it will be about broadcasting.

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Auto-Warm Batteries: When Snapdragon 810 Is Not Enough

It's no secret that at subzero temperatures, modern batteries work much less efficiently. Scientists from Pennsylvania were able to solve this problem by equipping the batteries with an auto-heating function – the heat in them will be retained using an additional layer of special foil. Scientists separately emphasize that both the weight and production cost of such batteries will increase by no more than a couple of percent.

What surprised you? That there are British scientists in Pennsylvania too. However, the authors of the idea themselves are not thinking more about smartphones, but about drones, which can really suffer from subzero temperatures.

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HTC Desire T7: new tablet from Taiwanese company

According to news from w3bsit3-dns.com, HTC is going to return to the tablet market and plans to present HTC Desire T7 next month. It is supposed to be a seven-inch tablet with the following specifications:

• Screen size 6.9 inches, resolution – 1280×720
• Processor – Spreadtrum SC8830 quad core (1.3 GHz)
• Graphics accelerator Mali-400 MP2
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 GB internal memory
• Main camera 5 MP
• Front camera 5 MP

What surprised you? The presence of the words 'HTC', 'tablets' and 'return to market' in one sentence. With this segment, the company did not work out back in the days of HTC Flyer, and how much the Nexus 9 helped is a big question. Especially when you consider that the device was under the Google brand. However, the company's ideas have always been good, but their implementation (including the price of the final device) was far from always smooth. So let's hope for the best.

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Joe Belfiore & iPhone: Duty Tester

After 25 years with the company, the vice president Microsoft decided he was entitled to a well-deserved vacation. And since he now has to return to work only in the summer, he decided to go on a leisurely journey, visiting several countries at once. Being a modern person in all respects, he occasionally took photos with his smartphone and published them in Twitter. In particular, he posted such a photo on the network while visiting the Japanese city of Kyoto.

Users immediately noticed that the tweet was written with iPhone, which caused a variety of questions from many fans of Windows Phone. After all, while Joe Belfiore was at work, he constantly talked about how smartphones on Windows are almost the crown of the evolution of mobile technology and are superior to competitors in literally everything. And for some reason I went on vacation with iPhone.

The vice president's response was not long in coming. As it turned out, he uses the Apple technology exclusively on duty, deciding to support Microsoft even while on vacation and test competitors' devices on his own skin.

What surprised you? Yes, basically nothing. A person really has every right to a normal rest and to use that which is unpleasant for him is absolutely not obliged. Moreover, this summer he will again have to explain to everyone and everything that Windows Phone is the best.

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The Arcade Hotel: a hotel for gamers

There are hotels in the world where you can rent game consoles. There is a cafe where you can use the 'guest' iPad. There are all kinds of internet cafes and gaming clubs where you can work on a compact laptop or play games on a powerful PC. But about hotels, where the absence of a game console in the room is considered the same blatant violation of all existing norms as the absence of a front door or a bed, I have never heard.

Meanwhile, just such a hotel was recently opened in Amsterdam. It is considered the first hotel in the world that takes into account the interests of avid gamers: game consoles with a free set of games in each room, portable consoles for joint games with other guests in the lobby, a library consisting entirely of popular comics – these are just a few of the distinguishing features of this hotel.

According to the owner of the hotel, he strove to create all conditions for fans of computer games to feel at home or visiting friends.

What surprised you? That there are more and more people who are unable to tear themselves away from computer games even while traveling to another country. Is virtual Amsterdam in another popular shooter more interesting than real Amsterdam? I would like to think that the question is exclusively rhetorical. But in reality it is not.

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Samsung Galaxy S7: the beginning of sales

According to Evan Blass, better known to regular readers of the digest as @evleaks, Galaxy S7 will start selling in the US on March 11th. Whether this is true or not is unknown, but @evleaks' insights were usually accurate. A little later, a slide with a picture of a new smartphone appeared on the network.

What surprised you? That despite all the attempts, @evleaks was never able to quit publishing all kinds of leaks. No wonder they say that habit is second nature.

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