Items tagged with OTA
Sometimes, smart home technology can automate seemingly mundane tasks to make our lives easier. Smart thermostats, smart light switches, and other devices can be programmed to activate with a touch of a button, the sound of our voice, or automatically with schedules or geofencing settings. But while smart devices have the ability to make our lives easier, they can be downright hellish to deal with when things go wrong. Take the company LockState, for example. LockState manufactures a line of RemoteLock smart locks that can be used by residential homeowners and businesses. They are particularly popular (and approved) for the Airbnb Host Assist program, which allows a host to generate codes for...
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Your Lexus might not be your best navigation tool, unless you enjoy purple screens of death. A botched Lexus OTA software update has crippled the vehicle navigation and infotainment systems. Affected vehicles such as the RX350 are currently stuck in a boot loop following the update. Cindy Knight, a Toyota spokeswoman stated, “We have not found the root cause yet.” The glitch can also affect radio controls, which are displayed on the same dashboard screen. The company has not yet determined whether vehicles will need to return to dealerships in order to fix this latest glitch or if another OTA update will get customers up and running again. Many of our owner's vehicle head units stopped working....
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One of the biggest concerns revolving around ever-improving vehicle technologies is the risk of their security being breached and an exploiter causing something bad to happen. After all, our vehicles are now kitted out with computers - they are computers - and whether we're talking about the desktop, mobile, or enterprise, we see computers get breached a lot. Well, if you've tried to convince yourself that the computers in our vehicles are more bulletproof than those used elsewhere, you're about to have a rude awakening. Tapping into and controlling the remote vehicle Over at Wired, a proof-of-concept has been exhibited using a Jeep Cherokee. The writer, driving some 70 MPH in downtown St....
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The last time Tesla released a major over-the-air (OTA) update for its Model S electric sedan, it improved upon the already stellar “Insane Mode” found on the dual-motor P85D. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk has something even more promising in store with a new OTA update that will be available to all Model S owners. Musk sent out the following tweet to his followers early this morning:Tesla press conf at 9am on Thurs. About to end range anxiety ... via OTA software update. Affects entire Model S fleet.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2015 With TSLA stock taking a serious beating in recent months, there’s no question that Musk is looking to help restore some confidence in the company and this just may...
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HTC began rolling out an update to its One X smartphone today. Although the update doesn't include Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, it does offer a number of improvements to Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. After the update, users will be brought up to Android version 4.0.4. The 4.0.4 update will bring several new features and enhancements. The OS should now be more stable thanks to memory and platform tweaks. Additionally, HTC has improved tab management within the browser by adding a tab switching button. On the multimedia side, the camera is said to have better white balance and continuous autofocus. Beats Audio functions are also improved. Other features include a single sign-on feature for Facebook....
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ZOTAC Announces Far Cry 2 Game BundleZOTAC GeForce GTX 200 series ship with Far Cry 2HONG KONG – Nov. 07, 2008 – ZOTAC International, a leading manufacturer of NVIDIA-based graphics cards and motherboards, today kicks off the Christmas season with a new premium software bundle featuring Ubisoft’s Far Cry 2. It’ll be available with the award-winning ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 280 AMP! Edition, GeForce GTX 2602 and GeForce GTX 260 AMP2! Edition for a limited period.ZOTAC is pleased to provide gamers with Ubisoft’s highly anticipated Far Cry 2 game. With Far Cry 2, users can take advantage of the 3D power available with their new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 280 AMP! Edition, GeForce...
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With all of the recent hoopla surrounding Intel and NVIDIA as of late, today's announcement may come as a bit of a surprise to many of you. To say that there has been some tension between Intel and NVIDIA lately would certainly be putting it mildly. But the fact of the matter is, for now at least, the two companies share a somewhat symbiotic relationship. The products we'll be showing you here are proof of this fact. What we have on tap for you today is a new NVIDIA chipset with an mGPU (or IGP) designed for the Intel Socket 775 platform, the GeForce 9300. We should note, however, that NVIDIA is also announcing the GeForce 9400 today as well, the same chipset that powers Apple's new MacBook line...
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Forget David Blaine's recent antics of hanging upside down for 60 straight hours in New York City's Central Park. The real challenge of human endurance commenced yesterday morning about a mile south of Blaine's stunt, in the middle of Times Square. There in a makeshift "plexi-glass living room" for the world to see, eight brave souls commenced a competition to determine who is the world's greatest couch potato. The Netflix Movie Watching World Championship: The Quest for the Popcorn Bowl underway in New York City (Credit: Gothamist)The contest is sponsored by Netflix, and the winner takes home "a $10,000 cash prize, a lifetime subscription to Netflix and the first-ever Popcorn Bowl trophy."...
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In the conclusion of our coverage of the Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 launch, we posted this statement, "...dare we say a $300 graphics card represents an excellent value, from a price point perspective? These cards are definitely going to put significant price pressure on NVIDIA's GTX 200 series." At the time, the GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 were selling for upwards of $650 and $400 respectively, and ATI's newly released Radeon, which performed somewhat better than the GTX 260, was introduced at "only" $299.Of course, NVIDIA quickly responded with a hefty round of price cuts that brought the GTX 280's price down considerably and put the GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870 on roughly equal footing, but it...
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In the conclusion of our coverage of the Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 launch, we made this statement, "...dare we say a $300 graphics card represents an excellent value, from a price point perspective? These cards are definitely going to put significant price pressure on NVIDIA's GTX 200 series." At the time, the GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 were selling for upwards of $650 and $400 respectively, and ATI's newly released Radeon, which performed somewhat better than the GTX 260, was introduced at "only" $299.Of course, NVIDIA quickly responded with a hefty round of price cuts that brought the GTX 280's price down considerably and put the GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870 on roughly equal footing,...
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Many have modified their Priuses, and one of those possible modifications is a rooftop solar panel system. It seems that Toyota is considering the same as standard equipment for its own models, but only for high-end models, and only to power the AC. Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodelling, responding to growing demand for "green" cars amid record-high oil prices, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday. The panels, supplied by Kyocera Corp would be able to power part of the air-conditioning on high-end versions of the gasoline-electric Prius, the source said. "It's more of a symbolic gesture," said the source, who asked not to...
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Billionaire J.R. Simplot, whose wealth earned him the title of "spud king" of America, passed away Sunday at his Boise home (where else but Boise for the "spud king") at the age of 99.In 1980, at age 71, Simplot took a gamble on the next generation of businessmen, giving Ward and Joe Parkinson $1 million for 40 percent of what would become computer chip maker Micron Technology Inc. Over the years, he pumped in $20 million more to help Micron build its first manufacturing plant and to stay afloat. Micron went on to become a major producer of DRAM memory chips, which are used to store information in personal computers.At one time Simplot was a McDonald's board member, and later in life he could...
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So you've been through our CES 2007 wrap-up report and dug all the cool gear, along with random musings of El Wopo, but were still left a little parched for something a bit more outside of the box? Adult Toy or Cyber-Cool Air Freshener? You decide and you can share your humble opinion in our lounge area. In the mean, we know you're a bunch of kinks, so here's a CES 2007 bit from the fellas at Woot that should tickle your fancy.... errr, or something like that....
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If you've ever wondered what some of today's top supercomputers are up to, this article on CNN explains many of the more common applications. Some of them are used for tasks like forecasting weather, designing safer more fuel-efficient cars, mapping DNA, exploring the cosmos and even calculating the curvature of Pringles potato chips. "Supercomputers allow researchers to do in real time -- meaning days, weeks or months -- what could not be done during a lifetime with a single personal computer. "The amount of data that some of these supercomputers [produce] would be, maybe as much as 100,000 times more data than what you can put...
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If you are in need of a little motivation to convince you to upgrade that aging graphics card of yours, this nugget of information will be of interest. The folks at incrysis.com have a high-def video of in-game Crysis footage available for download. Crysis As good as the video looks, it still doesn't do the graphics justice. We've seen multiple live demos of the game in action first hand, and have been thoroughly impressed each time. If you thought the crew at Crytek did a good job with the visuals in FarCry, wait until you check this out. Mirror One Mirror Two...
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This has to be the most ironic twist to ever come out for the gaming console industry. And it makes perfect sense when you stop to think about how the folks at Nintendo have utterly nailed this release of their latest console with the most disruptive and groundbreaking innovation this market has seen in years. Go figure... Now it actually pays to get in shape for video gaming? Believe it. Whether your lunging at volleys and serves or slashing at evil villains, you better start thinking about getting that body by lazy-boy physique into gear. Or you just may lose your edge, all of it... "In Rochester, Minn., Jeremy Scherer and his wife spent three hours playing tennis...
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New Scientist Magazine's Invention blog reports that the German company, Thomson, is applying for a patent on a new optical media technology that could potentially result in up to eight times the data density. The method involves the way that optical media is recorded. Optical disks are covered with millions of microscopic pits. In current media, the pits are identical, but Thomson's method involves using an unevenly distributed laser beam to create asymmetrical pits with an orientation. The pits can then be created in up to eight different orientations, resulting in up to eight times the data density. "A modified reader would be needed to decode the extra information, but an ordinary...
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Two new movies of Crysis, which is due out sometime next year, have been made available. The two videos contain actual gameplay footage, showing off some great lighting effects, physics, and one hell of an explosion....
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Dell has just informed us that they have officially launched a preview of the company's Next Generation XPS system. For those who have been less than enthusiastic about the appearance of Dell systems in the past, you owe it to yourself to take a look at the new chassis. Dubbed "Heavy Ordinance", this new platform is equipped with a ton of new features such as an all aluminum chassis with stealth drive bays and exceptional thermal management. One thing is certain, the next Dell XPS will be unlike any Dell system you have ever seen. Rest assured, Hot Hardware will have one of these systems up and running in the lab the moment we get our hands on it....
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You know it folks, sooner or later your VHS tapes will degrade to a point where they're no longer enjoyable to watch. The technology to port them over to your computer has been around for a while now, but if you've never taken the time to learn how to do it, then PCStats will help get you started. "As you may have noticed, the VCR is a dying technology. DVD players are now equivalent in price, and their disks have practically crowded VHS tapes right off the shelves of your neighborhood video store. Give it another three years and you may be hard pressed to find a new release on tape. So what happens when your VCR finally breaks? In this PCstats...
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Good evening friends, welcome back to HotHardware :) The news flow slowed down this afternoon, but we managed to scrap up a few interesting articles for your reading pleasure. Here is your evening shot of juice... Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Review @ The Tech Zone "With a subwoofer enclosure that is 20 percent larger, the ProMedia Ultra 5.1 subwoofer incorporates a series of refinements designed to increase efficiency for more total output, lower distortion and deepen bass extension. These improvements include a lower tuning frequency, a voice coil that is 60 percent longer and a larger, slotted port. The subwoofer is a bass-reflex type with dual 8-inch side-firing woofers and...
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