Corning Again Criticizes Sapphire as Potential Alternative to Gorilla Glass

Corning Glass senior vice president Tony Tripeny spoke critically of sapphire as a material for displays during a question and answer session at the recent Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference (Via Seeking Alpha and CNET). His responses reiterate the company's earlier opposition to sapphire crystal.

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Corning Gorilla Glass 2

Morgan Stanley's James Fawcett asked Tripeny about sapphire versus glass now that "there is one large handset and device maker that people suspect maybe looking at Sapphire." This one large manufacturer is obviously Apple, which is building a plant in Arizona to manufacture sapphire for "a secret project," possibly the iWatch or the next generation iPhone. Tripeny didn't hold back in his criticism of the sapphire crystal material.
When we look at it, we see a lot of disadvantages of Sapphire versus Gorilla Glass. It's about 10 times more expensive. It's about 1.6 times heavier. It's environmentally unfriendly. It takes about 100 times more energy to generate a Sapphire crystal than it does glass. It transmits less light which it means either dimmer devices or shorter battery life. It continues to break. I think while it's scratch resistant product it still breaks and our testing says that Gorilla Glass, about 2.5 times more pressure that it can take than Sapphire on. So when we look at it, we think from an overall industry and trend that is not attractive in consumer electronics.
Fawcett continued to query Tripeny on the material with the Corning executive hinting that Apple is looking at sapphire for its marketing appeal as the material "has got a very sexy name." Tripeny also mentions the extra cost and lower manufacturing yield of sapphire crystal when compared to Gorilla Glass.
The formation takes about 4,000 times longer than Gorilla Glass at a significantly higher melting temperature. Its hardness makes machining more difficult and costly. Then the cost per unit increases exponentially because when you have defects in boundaries in the crystal growth process, you essentially cut them out and so unlike glass where we have developed technologies so that we can have very large pristine pieces of glass, when you have that on crystals, what you end up doing is always having a yield issue. So it is really those items that make things more expensive.
Corning now is manufacturing Gorilla Glass 3 for use in smartphones and tablets. Announced at CES 2013, the material is three times more damage resistant than its predecessor Gorilla Glass 2. The company earlier this year also announced a new shaped Gorilla Glass product for devices that require a curved display and a version of its Gorilla Glass with antimicrobial properties.

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Apple Working to Expand Siri's Third-Party App Integration for iWatch

As Apple continues work on its much-rumored iWatch, the company is placing a significant focus on expanding Siri's ability to interface with third-party apps, according to a report from The Information summarized by TechCrunch.

With input methods for the iWatch limited due to the device's size, Siri's voice capabilities may be one of the best tools for Apple to leverage, and that means improving Siri's capabilities.
The report points out how the Siri of today can’t do things like book a car rental or make a hotel reservation, or use a messaging app other than Messages to send a text. The improvements to Siri would potentially enable those types of things, enabling third-party integrations that don’t require one-to-one business arrangement between Apple and the external company. Current integrations like those with OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha do involve those direct deals, which limits the pace at which new third-party powers can be added to Siri.
The report also claims that Apple is working on technology to dynamically adjust what content is being shown on a device's display, offering the example of a running app automatically being shown when the user begins jogging. The technology would obviously be useful for a device such as the iWatch with very limited display size and input capabilities.

Apple has been rumored for several years to be working on a smart watch project, with the company reportedly placing a strong focus on biometrics to include health-related data tracking for the iOS ecosystem.

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Apple's A8 Chip Production for iPhone 6 Underway at TSMC

Apple's new chip partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has begun production on the next-generation A8 chip destined for the iPhone 6 later this year, according to a report [Google Translate] from Taiwan's Commercial Times picked up by AFP.
The world's leading contract microchip maker last month started producing the A8 chip, which is tipped to power the expected iPhone 6, the Commercial Times reported.

The report, which cited supply chain sources, said TSMC had won most of the manufacturing orders for logic and power management integrated chips for the new handset.
The report claims that the new 20-nanometer A8 will include a quad-core 64-bit processor and quad-core graphics, and that an earlier start to chip production compared to the previous years could give Apple the flexibility to comfortably launch the new iPhone in the third quarter of this year.

Samsung has been Apple's exclusive manufacturing partner for A-series chips, but Apple has long been reported to be trying to shift orders to TSMC. After years of rumors, Apple and TSMC reportedly struck a deal in mid-2013 to begin chip production in early 2014. TSMC and Samsung were initially reported to be splitting the production load for the A8, but Samsung is now said to have dropped out due to low yields.

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Beachbody is well-known for creating some of the most challenging home workout programs available. In the last several years, programs such as Insanity, Insanity Asylum, P90X, P90X2 and T25 have grown increasingly popular and brought the company to the forefront of the fitness world. Continuing this momentum, Beachbody will be releasing its latest and greatest workout program, and the third version of the P90X series known as P90X3.

If you are a fan of Tony Horton and the grueling P90X workouts, you will not be disappointed by this addition to the series to complete the trilogy. P90X3 is the perfect combination of the first and second P90X series in one. It offers workouts that are even more demanding than those in its predecessors, yet they can be completed in half the time. No more excuses to miss a workout. P90X3 will work your body to the extreme in as little as 30 minutes per day.

Introduction

P90X3 is Tony Horton’s latest workout program designed to shred your body, and get you in the best shape of your life in as little as 90 days. Tony has been working on P90X3 for over a year, and it is finally ready to be released to the masses on December 10, 2013. The first two programs he created, P90X and P90X2, included long workouts ranging from 30 to 60 minutes in length. With P90X3, Tony eliminates the ability to use lack of time as an excuse to get out of your workouts because each workout in the series is only 30 minutes in length. This is one of the biggest differences between this series and its predecessors, and one of the main reasons it will attract fitness beginners and fitness pros alike. Work and family demands leave little time for a workout, but virtually anyone can squeeze in a 30 minute workout each day. It is short enough to be completed before work, on your lunch break or before hitting the sack in the evening.

What’s Included in the P90X3 Program Series?

The P90X3 Series is available in three options. You can purchase it in the Base Kit, Deluxe, Ultimate or Challenge Pack. The four P90X3 Kit options and expected pricing are as follows:

P90X3 Base Kit $119.85

1. 16 Workouts on 8 DVDs
2. Standard 90 Day Workout Calendar
3. Nutrition Guide
4. Fitness Guide
5. Intro DVD
6. P90X One on One: On One Leg DVD
7. Free Online Support

P90X3 Deluxe Kit $239.70

1. 16 Workouts on 8 DVDs plus 3 Elite Extreme Workouts on 1 additional DVD
2. Standard 90 Day Workout Calendar plus the Elite Block Calendar
3. Nutrition Guide
4. Fitness Guide
5. Intro DVD
6. P90X One on One: On One Leg DVD
7. Free Online Support
8. 1 Month E & E Tub
9. 3 B-Lines Resistance Bands

P90X3 Ultimate Kit $329.55

1. 16 Workouts on 8 DVDs plus 3 Elite Extreme Workouts on 1 additional DVD
2. Standard 90 Day Workout Calendar plus the Elite Block Calendar
3. Nutrition Guide
4. Fitness Guide
5. Intro DVD
6. P90X One on One: On One Leg DVD
7. Free Online Support
8. 1 Month E & E Supplements Tub
9. 3 B-Lines Resistance Bands
10. P90X Chin up bar
11. Beachbody Jump Mat

P90X3 Challenge Pack

1. 16 Workouts on 8 DVDs
2. Standard 90 Day Workout Calendar
3. Nutrition Guide
4. Fitness Guide
5. Intro DVD
6. P90X One on One: On One Leg DVD
7. Free Online Support
8. 30 Day Supply of Shakeology
9. 30 Day VIP Team Beachbody Club Membership

If you are one of the first to purchase the P90X3 series and order in December, you will also receive the P90X3 hat. It is valued at $24.95, but it will be yours free with your order if you do so prior to January 2014.

What Equipment Will I Need?

One of the differences between P90X3 and previous versions is that you will need minimal equipment to complete the P90X3 workouts. This makes them even easier to do when you are at work, on the road for business or even away on vacation. Per Tony Horton, the only equipment you will need to complete the workouts in the P90X3 series are a good pair of cross trainer shoes, several dumbbells of varying weights and/or resistance bands, a pull up bar, a yoga mat and a medicine or stability ball. He stresses not to get running shoes because they are bulkier and do not allow for lateral movements as well as cross trainers do.

P90X3 Workouts

The majority of the P90X3 workouts are 30 minutes in length with a 2 to 3 minute cool down period in the end. The only exception is the Ab Ripper X3, which is only 15 minutes long. The workouts are designed to be completed in three blocks, each lasting between 4 to 5 weeks each. The first two blocks last 4 weeks and the last block is 5 weeks long. If you want to continue past the initial 90 day period, you can follow the Elite Block calendar and add an additional 4 weeks to the program. If you wish to do this, you will need to purchase the Deluxe or Ultimate P90X3 Kits since the Elite Block includes three additional workouts not included with the P90X3 Base Kit. If you prefer, these workouts can also be purchased separately in addition to the base kit itself.

In addition to the block schedule, you will also have the option to follow workout schedules depending on your fitness goals. The four options include the Classic, Lean, Doubles and Mass.

Classic

The Classic program includes a wide variety of workouts spread out throughout the 90 days. It aims to give you the best whole body workout with a balance between strength, cardio and conditioning.

Lean

If your goal is to lean out your physique and burn fat, you will want to choose the Lean workout schedule. This focuses more on the cardiovascular aspect of the program and emphasizes the workout videos that will get you there.

Doubles

Doubles is exactly as it sounds. It is double the workouts each day. If a 30 minute workout is not enough for you, you can choose to follow the Doubles workout schedule, and do two workouts per day instead of one. This will give you a one hour workout each day comprised of two workouts within the P90X3 series.

Mass

Mass is new to the P90X series in general and is geared towards men and women that want to increase muscle mass in their bodies. It focuses on the strength portion of the series and is designed to put on weight. If you opt for this schedule, you should already be at your desired weight and plan on gaining some weight as increased muscle as well.

Workout DVDs

Due to the fact that P90X3 is yet to be released, there is limited information available on the actual content of the workout DVDs. What we do already know is that they are short, targeted 30 minute workouts that promise to deliver an intense workout in half the time of P90X and P90X2. According to Tony Horton himself, after 90 days with P90X3, you will look like you have been killing it at the gym all day, every day with only a 30 minute per day time commitment.

The 16 workouts come in 8 DVDs separated into four categories. These are Resistance, Power, Cardio and Core, Flex and Balance. Below is an outline explaining how the workouts are categorized.

Resistance

• Total Synergistics
• The Challenge
• Incinerator
• The Warrior
• Eccentric Upper
• Eccentric Lower

Power

• Agility X
• Triometrics
• Decelerator

Cardio

• Cardio Vascular Extreme (CVX)
• Mark Briggs Inspired MMA Workouts (MMX)
• Accelerator

Core, Flex & Balance

• Pilates X
• X3 Yoga
• Isometric
• Dynamix

P90X3 Nutrition Guide

One of the perks of each and every Beachbody program is that they all come with a thorough nutrition guide to help guide what you eat as you reshape your body. Proper nutritional intake is responsible for up to 80 percent of the results you will see as opposed to exercise being only 20. If you want to see real results, you will need to incorporate the P90X3 workouts, along with the nutritional guidance into your daily activity.

The P90X3 Nutritional Guide includes various options depending on the type of diet you follow on a regular basis. It is even available with vegan options and encourages vegan customers to suggest tips and ideas on how to further modify the P90X3 meal plan to be more vegan friendly.

Free Online Support

Beachbody offers free online support all day, every day. If you purchase the program and have any questions, need encouragement or just want to get in contact with others going through the P90X3 program, you can log onto the online forum. There you will be able to communicate with countless Beachbody coaches, trainers and other P90X3 users to discuss your experiences, whether positive or negative, with the program. Occasionally, some of the top fitness trainers and fitness pioneers, including Tony Horton himself, participate in online forums and chats at Beachbody.com.

Android and iPhone App

In addition to the many resources already available for you on the Beachbody website, the new P90X app will also be made available for both Android and iPhone users. The app will help you track your workouts, weight, repetitions and overall progress any time via your mobile or tablet with any of the three P90X workout programs. The Android P90X app will be released at the same time as the P90X3 series on December 10, 2013. The iPhone app is expected to be released soon after.

What Can I Expect From the P90X3 Program?

One of the main differences between P90X3 and the previous versions of P90X is that it is a program geared towards individuals of every fitness level. You do not have to be in tip top shape prior to starting the program, nor do you have to have completed P90X and P90X2 before taking on the P90X3 challenge. The fact that P90X3 includes more condensed versions of the workouts at only 30 minutes each makes the program easier for you to incorporate into a busy schedule.

Tony Horton wanted the P90X3 program to deliver the best possible workout in the shortest amount of time. With that said, because the workouts are so much shorter, the movement will be non-stop. The P90X3 workouts are fast paced and intense. They require you to give it your all the entire 30 minutes, including a 20 second warm up and 2 to 3 minute cool down.

One of the other attractive features to the P90X3 program is that it includes modifications for virtually every exercise in the workout DVDs. This makes it easier for those that are not as physically fit to adapt to the program and succeed with it. If you are not in good physical condition prior to starting P90X3, do it once with the modifications included and, after you are used to it, more familiar with the moves and in better shape, you can take on the complete, unmodified P90X3 Challenge. If you start the program in top shape already, you can do the Doubles approach and even add the Elite Block to the 90 days to increase your workouts to 60 minutes per day for 120 days instead of 90. This will give you the toughest, most physically demanding version the P90X3 series has to offer.

As you can see, this program is easily adaptable to any individual’s fitness needs, schedule and workout preference. Beachbody and Tony Horton did their research when creating P90X3 and they have created a program that is truly for the masses.

P90X3 Pros

• Short, effective workouts that are easy to fit into a busy schedule
• 16 workouts to avoid repetition and boredom
• P90X app to help monitor your progress
• Modifications for all fitness levels
• Minimal equipment needed to complete workouts
• Four different P90X3 plan options depending on your individual fitness goals
• The ability to increase workouts to 60 minutes per day and 120 day cycle
• Vegan option included with the nutritional plan

P90X3 Cons

• Due to the fact that the P90X3 program is yet to be released, there are few , if any, reviews on the program, especially those that point out any cons. The only con we could come up with is cost. It can be expensive for some to shell out $200 to $300 for a home workout program but, when you compare that to the cost of a gym membership, it does not seem as unreasonable as one may originally thing.

Conclusion: Should I or Shouldn’t I Do the P90X3 Program?

The P90X3 program is definitely worth a try for anyone looking to get in shape, improve the workout routine they already have in place or try one of the P90X workouts for the first time. It includes a wide variety of workouts that target the whole body with cardiovascular and strength training exercises. The videos are fast paced so they provide a challenging workout in half the time you would spend at the gym.

Testimonials

Since the program is not yet released, there are no testimonials currently available. There are, however, plenty of before and after photos that demonstrate the impact this program can have on your body and fitness level. While there may not be many testimonials for now, P90X3 has received raved reviews and results from test group users . The initial test group had 40 participants in it and 39 out of the 40 participants lost at least 10 percent body fat. While losing 10 percent body fat in just 90 days is incredible, some lost up to 22 percent on the program.

OnLive Revived With New CloudLift Cloud Gaming Service

Cloud gaming company OnLive was revived today with the announcement of two new gaming services, including CloudLift and OnLive Go. CloudLift is a subscription service that allows users to play digital games, such as those from Steam, on any device, while OnLive Go for developers is designed to bring MMOs to mobile devices.

With CloudLift, OnLive is able to link games purchased from Steam or other services to OnLive, uploading the games and their metadata to the cloud to be played anywhere on any PC, TV, or mobile device, continuing where a save left off.

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Users only need to purchase a game from a distributor once in order to play it with the OnLive service, which streams the games as a video of game imagery from the cloud to the device. Games are delivered in 720p at 60 frames per second.

At the current time, CloudLift is limited to 20 launch titles such as The LEGO Movie Videogame, Batman: Arkham Origins, Scribblenauts Unlimited, LEGO Lord of the Rings, and Saints Row IV.

OnLive Go is similar to CloudLift, but it is designed to allow massively multiplayer games such as War Thunder or Second Life to be accessible on any device without having to wait for long installs. Players can access MMOs on mobile devices and can launch cloud versions of games while waiting for downloads on Macs or PCs.

OnLive's first Game Service was introduced in 2010, but issues with Internet connections, latency, and video compression caused it to receive unfavorable reviews. In 2012, the company was forced to lay off most of its employees, later being sold to Lauder Partners for just $4.8 million.

The company has now hired former IGN Chief Mark Jung as executive chairman and hopes to make a comeback with its new services and an expanded set of data servers. In an interview with VentureBeat, Jung said the company is aiming to deliver a higher value service to users.
"In this last year, we have been repositioning the company and redesigning our services for a positive business going forward," Jung said. "We have rearchitected it to deliver a much higher value proposition for the users."
The CloudLift service is currently available on Macs, PCs, and Android devices. OnLive has plans to bring connectivity to iOS devices, but the company told Pocket-Lint that getting the technology right around Apple's limitations is a difficult task.
"iOS is a big platform. We're not sitting here ignoring it," he said. "It's the same thing with Surface. We want to be platform agnostic. We continue to grow and we'll focus on growing across all of those."
OnLive's new CloudLift service is available for $14.99 per month, while OnLive Go is variably priced with Second Life gaming available for $3 per hour. Both CloudLift and OnLive Go require a solid Internet connection of at least 2 megabits a second.

OnLive is also offering its PlayPack subscription service, which provides users with 250 games, for $9.99 per month.

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Apple to Introduce Full-Screen Video iAds to Apps This Year

Apple plans to introduce full-screen video iAds for apps on the iPhone and the iPad later this year, reports AdAge. The new ads, described as "interstitials," will allow developers to opt into ads that play in between levels within a game or in between articles in a news-style app.

Full screen ads will mark a departure from Apple's typical advertising style, which has limited iPhone iAds within the App Store and iTunes Radio to less obtrusive banners that must be clicked for a video ad to be played. iTunes Radio also features audio ads, but full video ads within apps are arguably more interruptive.

Some free-to-play apps already feature full-screen third-party video ads. Zynga's Draw Something on iPad, for example, requires users to watch a video ad before allowing them to move on to the next level, a task that takes several seconds away from gameplay. Apple currently permits full-screen video iAd advertisements within some iPad apps, but today's report suggests the ads could also be extended to other iOS devices.

Since its 2010 introduction as a way for developers to make money on the iOS platform, iAd has been largely unsuccessful attracting developer interest and revenue. Apple has, however, been attempting to revive iAd with a new focus on iTunes Radio.
The in-app video ads may be a way for Apple to rekindle advertisers' interests in its fancy-but-flawed iAds. The ad product line was unveiled in 2010 with all the pomp and circumstance of a new iPhone, but they've struggled to gain traction in the market. Advertisers were initially asked to drop $1 million for the rich-media units, which more closely resemble a mobile microsite than a banner. That price tag has dropped to $100,000 over the years, even as Apple has added features like maps.
Few details are available on the video ads, including how Apple plans to sell and price the spots, but they may be positioned as a way to further entice new advertising partners to advertise via the service. The introduction of iTunes Radio, which has the potential to bring in quite a bit of revenue, already garnered Apple several major advertising partners, including McDonald’s, Nissan, Pepsi, and Procter & Gamble.

Apple's ad sales, which were at just $125 million in 2012 according to IDC, have lagged significantly behind those of other companies, including Google, but the new video ads along with revenue from iTunes Radio may shift those figures considerably in the years to

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Auto Safety Experts Concerned About CarPlay and Distracted Driving

Earlier this week, Apple announced its new CarPlay technology, which opens the door for easier hands-free calling, text messaging and navigation while driving. Consumers may be enthusiastic about this in-car technology, but auto safety experts are concerned about its contribution to distracted driving, reports CNN Money.

"The idea that people want to be on their phones, and therefore let's give them a way to do that -- that's not putting safety first, that's putting convenience and the desire to be in touch first," said Bruce Hamilton, manager of research and communications at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety."

Siri may allow for hands- and eyes-free interaction with a phone, but experts argue it still contributes to "cognitive distraction," which moves a driver's attention away from their driving and onto their phone. Recent studies have shown that the voice-to-text features included in personal assistant software such as Siri carry an "extensive risk" of distracted driving and have the potential to double driver reaction times. 

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Apple is aware of these distracted driving concerns and notes in a press release that Siri minimizes distraction by allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road.

“CarPlay has been designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPhone and iOS Product Marketing. “iPhone users always want their content at their fingertips and CarPlay lets drivers use their iPhone in the car with minimized distraction."

Apple's CarPlay technology is similar to existing in-dash smartphone systems in terms of driver attention, but these concerns over distracted driving are getting renewed attention because of Apple's high-profile launch. 

Apple's CarPlay will be available as an update to iOS 7 for iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 owners. It will debut in 2014 models from major automobile manufacturers such as Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, BMW, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai and others. 

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