Phone displays with curved edges on all four sides could be on their way soon

Smartphones are inching closer and closer to becoming pure slabs of glass. Just look at Samsung's Galaxy S8 and its "infinity display" which covers 83% of the front or the LG G6's "full vision" display and its 80% screen-to-body ratio.

As futuristic as those phones look, they're not quite fully bezel-less. They still have a slim "forehead" and "chin" to house essential features like an earpiece, iris scanner, and selfie camera.

A new report from Korea's ETnews, however, suggests phones with screens that cover almost 100% of the front could be on their way very soon.

SEE ALSO: Forget the Galaxy S8, Samsung's already working on the Galaxy S9

Both Samsung and LG are reportedly working on displays with curved edges on all four sides as opposed to on two (like on Samsung's flagship phones). By curving the display and glass on all edges, phones could have screen-to-body ratios of 98%, essentially covering the entire front.

It's a lovely dream that would make any sci-fi film nerd drool, but creating displays with curved screens on all sides isn't easy. The report says Samsung and LG are both struggling with the lamination process, particularly when it comes to enabling touch functions in the curved corners.

If either company could figure out how to solve the issues, though, phones could very well look like the concept iPhone render in the image above, albeit with the edges actually curved, of course. Maybe something more like the bottom of this Samsung concept, minus the physical home button and top bezel:

The benefits are obvious: bigger screens, smaller phone dimensions. The disadvantages are just as obvious: screens would be more prone to damage and cracks with no bezels to absorb impact.

Moreover, phone makers need to solve another challenge if such fully curved screens ever make become commercially available. They need to relocate the aforementioned earpiece, sensors, and selfie camera.

Phones like the Xiaomi Mi Mix and Sharp's Aquos Crystal, which have a bezel-free display on three of their four sides, solve these issues in a number of ways. Instead of an earpiece, the phones use a piezoelectric speaker to vibrate sound off their frames and into your ears. Sounds awesome, but in practice, they can actually be worse than a traditional earpiece.

In my review of the Aquos Crystal back in 2014, I said this about the phone's Direct Wave Receiver technology (it's own version of the piezoelectric speaker):

Calls sounded distorted and more tinny than on other budget Android smartphones like the second-generation Moto G. The Direct Wave Receiver technology didn't improve call clarity when in louder environments, either. I actually found it harder to hear voices on the Aquos Crystal than on devices with an actual earpiece.

As for the selfie camera and sensors (light, proximity, etc.), both phones merely relocate them to the bottom bezel — an awkward place that's not ideal for shooting flattering selfies. You can flip the phone's upside down to orient the selfie camera at a more traditional angle, but that's just inconvenient.

Ideally, the selfie camera, and light and proximity sensors will simply be embedded within the display. And that could happen, actually. Apple has a patent for embedding a camera's image sensor in-between the display's pixels. The tech giant also has a patent for a display with an integrated light sensor. Meanwhile, another startup called Elliptic Labs has actually figured out how to use ultrasonic sensors to replace the light and proximity sensors altogether.

None of these things will get solved overnight. It took nearly a decade to arrive at Samsung's curved screen edges and we're only just getting phones with screens that cover more than 80% of the front. It could be another decade before the bezel is extinct and we're literally just holding a sheet of glass in our hand.

Uber is ready to make its flying car project a reality

Uber is ready to make its flying car project a reality

Uber's flying car plans are coming together — and it looks like it won't be taking to the skies alone.

The company's aspiration to build an urban air transportation network took a major leap on Tuesday with its Elevate Summit event in Dallas. The three-day conference was billed as a chance to spread the news about Uber's plans for its flying cars and "identify and accelerate opportunities to collaborate within the community," boasting a diverse line-up of presenters with backgrounds ranging from NASA and public office to CEOs of aerospace companies. 

Uber first outlined its concept for an autonomous, on-demand flight system, dubbed Uber Elevate, in a white paper released last October. That plan depends on the development of electric vertical take-off and landing aircrafts, or eVTOLs, along with the infrastructure to make catching a flying cab just as easy as hailing a normal car. The company also hired veteran NASA engineer Mark Moore back in February to help spearhead the project's development.

SEE ALSO: Larry Page's flying car project finally takes to the air

Uber's Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden opened the Elevate event with a wide-ranging keynote address, covering the current state of Uber's project, its existing partnerships with aerospace companies and even cities, and the bold goal of debuting a prototype of a craft by 2020. "Flying cars have been promised for decades, but are arriving now," he said, staking out the company's aggressive goal to make flying cars a reality.

Holden's keynote rehashed many of the details the company previously published in its white paper, as he showed off some of the same figures and charts touting Uber's current ride sharing system and its nascent plans to develop a functional flying vehicle and urban aviation system. 

The big news from the keynote is the partnerships the company has or is pursuing to actually build the network, taking it from "the notional to the concrete," as Holden said. Uber has "begun conversations" about partnering with NASA and the FAA about development and testing for the air traffic systems needed to make Elevate possible, and Holden touted speakers from both agencies slated to present at the conference. 

He also announced partnerships with aviation companies that already have eVTOL systems in development, including Bell Helicopter, Aurora, Embraer and Mooney, to help develop the flying vehicles. Holden said the eVTOLs would first be manned, but eventually could become fully autonomous. There's also an agreement in place with Charge Point to develop the batteries and charging infrastructure needed for a wide eVTOL network. 

To cap off the keynote, Holden announced the eVTOL operations will launch in Dallas, with a goal to kick off the program by 2021. Uber will begin developing the physical infrastructure — landing pads called "vertiports"— needed for the system in the city as early as next year.

The project will expand internationally to Dubai, which has already proven to be primed for air taxi service. There, Uber will partner with the city's Road and Transport Authority to develop the network. The current goal is to have a working prototype or even conduct passenger flights as part of the planned Expo 2020 event in the city. 

"We're going to see how fast we can make this a reality," Holden said to close his remarks. "We know this is possible, we know this is going to happen." 

These plans and partnerships are undeniably exciting — if Uber can stick to its projected schedule, we could have a flying car before some automakers are even projected to roll out their self-driving systems on the road. 

But this is all speculative. As Uber's efforts in that self-driving space have shown, "move fast and break things" isn't always the best method to develop paradigm-shifting technology. We'll remain cautiously optimistic until the day we see the flying cars zooming overhead.

New photos show Tesla's massive Nevada factory is coming along

 Guess we shouldn't be too surprised that the what's going to be world's largest factory...continues to get larger. 

Tesla's Gigafactory, a gleaming white structure amid the muted browns surrounding Reno, Nevada, seems to be coming along, according to photos snapped by NM Group, a company that describes itself as specializing in "surveying and mapping, asset modeling and management, and engineering."

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk posts image that may or may not be secret tunnel project

The group was recently mapping the area for potential power lines on behalf of an electricity company, according to Tim Hustwayte, a senior client manager based in the United Kingdom. The route took them close to the Gigafactory, and they got some shots that appear to show the factory having bulked up since Tesla's battery cell began rolling off production lines at the start of the year. 

 The Gigafactory employed nearly 3,000 people at the start of the year, less than half of how many people are expected to be employed there by the end of 2017. Some of those are temporary positions related to construction, but Bloomberg reports that 6,500 people will work full-time at the factory by 2018.  

At the start of the year, it wasn't close to being even 50 percent complete.

New York to London in three hours? This supersonic jet startup wants to make it a reality

Jet startup Boom believes the future is supersonic, and it's now got enough money to prove it.

The company announced on Thursday that it raised $33 million for its first major round of funding, enough for the company to build a demonstrator of its XB-1 supersonic aircraft. 

Boom first emerged in 2016 with grand plans to create supersonic passenger jets that could reach 1,450 miles per hour. The company hopes to test its XB-1 demonstrator in 2017, with commercial flights still a few years away. 

That aircraft will be one-third the size of the passenger aircraft that Boom hopes to eventually build. The XB-1 "will demonstrate in flight the key technologies for practical supersonic travel" — essentially proving that the company's technology and design can make supersonic flights safe and efficient. 

If successful, Boom would mark the first reintroduction of supersonic travel since the Concorde program was canceled following safety and cost concerns. 

Boom believes that its supersonic passenger jets will cut travel times for long flights. In one video, the company claimed its jets will fly New York to London in three hours as opposed to seven. 

The company already has a partnership with Virgin Group, including its manufacturing arm, The Spaceship Company. 

Baahubali 2 - The Conclusion Trailer | Prabhas, Rana Daggubati | SS Raja...

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I can't believe how much I love this Samsung stylus that looks like a Staedtler pencil

I can't believe how much I love this Samsung stylus that looks like a Staedtler pencil

 I never thought I'd say this in a million years, but Samsung made a stylus I actually want.

Alongside announcements for its new Galaxy Tab S3 and Galaxy Book tablets that come with the most advanced S Pen Samsung's ever made, the company surprised everyone with a special edition Staedtler-branded S Pen that resembles the iconic black and yellow pencil.

SEE ALSO: Samsung's new tablets are out to destroy the iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4

Pencil-like design aside, the Staedtler S Pen works almost exactly like the S Pen that comes included with the new tablets. Hover the 0.7mm tip near the screen and the familiar Samsung Air Command bubble will pop up with a variety of features like Smart Select, Translate and Magnify.

 I tried the Staedtler S Pen on both the Tab S3 and the Galaxy Book for a hot second and it's remarkable how pencil-like it is. It's still got the regular S Pen's 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and the slimmer design is more balanced in your hand. 

Though I didn't have an Apple Pencil on hand to compare it with, I can honestly tell you it's one of the best tablet styluses I've ever used. Plus, it just looks so damn cool.

 There's just one thing that disappoints about the Staedtler S Pen: It's missing the regular S Pen's button. Without it, there's no way to use the useful "Screen-off memo" feature on the Galaxy Tab S3 that lets you write on the screen without needing to turn the entire tablet on. 

Still, Samsung deserves props for the sweet collaboration. Call me whatever you want for geeking out over a stylus that looks like a Staedtler pencil because I don't care — it's awesome. 

Neither Samsung nor Staedtler are talking pricing or release yet, but fingers crossed it won't cost $99 like the Apple Pencil.

              BAHUBALI 2 TREASER

Now we know: The Best Picture Oscar debacle was the accountants' fault

Now we know: The Best Picture Oscar debacle was the accountants' fault

Warren Beatty, you're off the hook. 

You too, Faye Dunaway. And to La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz: You handled this as well as anyone could have.

SEE ALSO: Even police are making jokes about that monster f*ck up at the Oscars

The blame for the Best Picture Oscar snafu has finally been owned: PricewaterhouseCoopers, the London-based accounting and "professional services" firm that has handled the Academy Awards winners for years, admitted Sunday night that they messed up.

Beatty was handed the wrong envelope.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' statement, sent to Mashable later Sunday night, reads:

We sincerely apologize to “Moonlight,” “La La Land,” Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar® viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.

The key here: There are always two identical winners' envelopes, kept by PwC officials standing on opposite ends of the stage. 

Somehow, Beatty — presenting Best Picture with Dunaway — had been given the envelope for Best Actress, which had already been announced as La La Land's Emma Stone moments before. On the other side of the stage, Beatty got handed an identical envelope.

As anyone would, Beatty tried to roll with it.

He looked over the card two times, then a third. He clearly wasn't sure — it didn't make sense that his envelope said "Emma Stone." And so he showed it to his fellow presenter, Dunaway, who saw the words La La Land. 

And, because the clock was ticking, she spoke them.

The rest of that story has been well-documented. The La La Land crew took the stage and began to give speeches — then were told by panicking production crew that they'd actually lost. Moonlight was the real winner.

For the next couple of hours, theories flew: Emma Stone called Beatty's explanation into question. Moonlight director Barry Jenkins said he saw "two envelopes." No one was sure exactly what happened or why.

But now we know: Somehow, someone handed off the wrong envelope to Beatty backstage. 

The PwC accountants, whose one job is to get this stuff right, got it wrong.

At least they owned it. Eventually.