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Weekly Recap: Fully autonomous Tesla, Nintendo Switch, Super Bike, Razer Blade Pro, etc.

October 21, 2016.

Fully autonomous Tesla

All model X and S Teslas will now come with all the hardware that will make the vehicles fully autonomous, said Tesla at a press conference. In other words, the car will come with a full battery of cameras, radars and sensors. This would also indicate that the attendant software is almost ready for release. To process all the data, Tesla is enhancing the onboard computer, increasing its processing capacity by a factor of 40. Elon Musk promised a live demonstration by the end of next year, with an autonomous trip from Los Angeles to New York. Tesla is using a staged approach, using its autopilot-enabled cars to collect data before deploying the new software to its entire fleet.

Recode, “Elon Musk says all Teslas will now be built to be fully self-driving.”

Tesla, “All Tesla cars being produced now have full self-driving hardware.”

 

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo’s new console is a tablet flanked by two detachable “Joy-Con” controllers. The tablet slides in a dock to connect to HDTV. No technical specifications have been released, but we know that the tablet is equipped with a SoC Nvidia Tegra processor. From what we can tell from Nintendo’s demo video, the tablet’s screen does not look like it’s touch-sensitive. The console will be available as of March 2017.

Ars Technica, “Nintendo’s next console, Switch, is a console/tablet hybrid coming in March.”

 

Android bike

LeEco bike.

Chinese bicycle manufacturer LeEco unveiled its new 30-speed Shimano Deore bicycle with built-in lighting, camera, fingerprint reader, alarm system, GPS, telephone, and 4-inch screen on the handlebars, among many other gadgets, all of this running on a version of Android called “Bike OS”. Bikes are about to get as technologically advanced as cars… No release date has been announced for North America.

Circuit Breaker, “LeEco’s ‘Super Bike’ has enough gadgets to save your life or kill you—your call.”

 

2016 Razer Blade Pro

The new Razer Blade Pro laptop boasts fairly impressive specifications (GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, 7-inch 4K touchscreen, 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor, etc.), and innovative design, with a large square trackpad to the right of the (mechanical) keyboard. Available as of November to the lucky few who can afford it, at US$3,700.

Circuit Breaker, “Razer’s new 17-inch gaming laptop has an amazing mechanical keyboard, costs $3,699.”

Razer, “Blade Pro.”

 

Macs are cheaper for businesses

PC vs Mac.

Big Blue says it saves hundreds per year when employees choose a Mac. When it comes to the total cost of ownership, Macs can end up being far cheaper than PCs for businesses that use them. Big Blue released data showing that it saves anywhere from USD 265 to 535 over a four-year period for each employee who uses a Mac over a PC. IBM is actually Apple’s largest corporate customer, with 90,000 Macs deployed and an expectation that it will top 100,000 by the end of the year.

Recode, “Macs are cheaper for businesses, and even IBM says so.”