The rumour mill is filled with leads and speculations regarding the very next version of the iPhone, the iPhone 5. Apple will want to wipe out the memory of the iPhone 4 which we know has antenna troubles, also to mollify those people who were unhappy with it. If these rumours are genuine, what can we look ahead to from the next iPhone model?
The name of the model alone is in speculation. Based on the the past of iPhones, the newest handset may not even be labelled the iPhone 5; it might very well be launched into the marketplace as the iPhone 4S or the iPhone 4G depending on the extent of architectural revision. With the fantastic features and radical design of the iPhone 4 (apart from the antenna issue), most observers will not expect a large amount of major changes with the next generation.
The rivalry against the iPhone 4 is closing in. So perhaps Apple is putting about these rumours concerning the upcoming iPhone 5 to stir interest and the thoughts of shoppers. Some of the handsets available in the market are actually at the same level or even better than the iPhone 4.
Speculative Features Of The iPhone 5
The general public is sort of excited about the iPhone 5 and there is certainly plenty of speculation about what sort of features it could carry. Again, taking a look at Apple's track record on updating the models, there is a great chance that the next iPhone will just be the updated version of the iPhone 4. The setback with the antenna will surely need to be be put right. All it takes is to install a more powerful processor and enrich many of iPhone features slightly, and presto! there's your iPhone 5. Some experts are saying that a really new feature is very doubtful up to this point.
Listed here are some of the expected features:
Near Field Technology (NFC) enabled, which can make your iPhone into a digital wallet
A monitor that is bigger than iPhone4
Addition of some more carriers into the network like AT&T and Verizon
4G network link
A brand new iOS 5 operating system
Probably the most anticipated feature of the iPhone 5 will be the inclusion of NFC technology. Dependable sources indicated the NFC will surely be incorporated and that the hardware for this will likely be supplied by NXP Semiconductor which is the leading manufacturer of NFC technologies. Probably spells the end of money as we all know it!
It is as plain as the nose on your face that Apple is preparing for their next iPhone model. With so many rumours circulating all around the Web, it is hard not to be excited. This type of state of affairs is what Apple actually desires because they know from experience that this will lead to more sales!
In case you are having any difficulties using your iPhone you are best off bringing it into one of your big Apple stores. What ever you do I would certainly advise that you avoid the market stalls for getting any repairs or updates sorted. They might be good for the odd accessory, but I certainly would not trust them with my iPhone.
Former President Barack Obama visited the Andreessen Horowitz offices in Menlo Park, California, according to a photograph posted late Friday by Andrew Chen, a general partner at the firm.
Other general partners in the photograph include Ben Horowitz, farthest left in a blue sweater; John O'Farrell, third from the left in a pink shirt; and Jeff Jordan and Jorse Conde directly to Obama's right. Felicia Horowitz is standing in front of Obama in the striped suit.
Chen didn't post any details about why Obama was visiting the venture capital firm's offices, but the former president is on a bit of a west coast trip, according to CNN.
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Obama made an appearance at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday. He also reportedly attended a fundraiser in Atherton, California on Friday.
In 2016, Obama hinted that he might be interested in venture capital as a post-presidency career, and Andreessen Horowitz is regarded as one of the top firms in Silicon Valley, investing in sectors like software, biotech, and crypto.
"The conversations I have with Silicon Valley and with venture capital pull together my interests in science and organization in a way I find really satisfying," Obama told Bloomberg in 2016. "You know, you think about something like precision medicine: the work we've done to try to build off of breakthroughs in the human genome; the fact that now you can have your personal genome mapped for a thousand bucks instead of $100,000; and the potential for us to identify what your tendencies are, and to sculpt medicines that are uniquely effective for you."
"That's just an example of something I can sit and listen and talk to folks for hours about," Obama continued.
Two of Trump's tweets were about ICE. Win McNamee/Getty
President Donald Trump fired off several tweets Saturday morning showing his support for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), calling it "one of the smartest, toughest, and most spirited law enforcement groups."
The Trump administration's crackdown on immigration has prompted some Democrats and activists on the left to call for ICE to be abolished. On Saturday, protesters are set to march in over 700 cities, including Washington, DC, to demonstrate against family separations and Attorney General Jeff Sessions' "zero tolerance" policy that sparked the crackdown.
Trump on Saturday claimed he has "watched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13."
He also tweeted that the "brave men and women of ICE ... are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements." He added that the "radical left Dems" would try to abolish all police if ICE was abolished.
Since the zero tolerance policy was implemented, 2,300 migrant children have been separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border. Trump signed an executive order ending his administration's policy of family seperation, but most of the children have not been reunited with their parents, according to CNN.
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This week, Democratic Kirsten Gillibrand of New York became the first senator to announce support for the abolishment of ICE. 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who unseated a powerful House Democrat in a stunning upset this week, made abolishing ICE a major platform in her campaign.
Drake released a new album, "Scorpion," on Friday.
The 25-track album has brought to light several revelations about the rapper, such as the fact that he's a dad.
Another revelation that really got fans talking was that Drake seemed to confirm a fling he reportedly had with Bella Hadid. Rumors circulated last year that the pair were casually dating, although neither ever confirmed or denied the rumor.
When fans heard two songs on the album — "Sandra Rose" and "Finesse" — they thought that Drake was rapping about Hadid. In "Sanda Rose," he mentions Mohammed Hadid, who is Bella's father. In "Finesse," he raps "Fashion week is more your thing than mine," and "You stay on my mind / You and your sister too hot to handle."
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Considering that Hadid is a model and sister to fellow model, Gigi Hadid, it all seemed very plausible that Drake was singing about her — until Hadid replied to a Tweet from Perez Hilton. Hilton asked if the dating rumors were true, citing Drake's new album. Twitter user Slipster1 replied "probably, who hasn't he banged. #jealous." Hadid then shot back that the songs aren't about her and that it's disrespectful to assume so.
Hadid also expressed frustration at never being able to just be friends with someone, without any insinuations, further making the point that there was never anything serious going on between her and Drake.
In response, many people rushed to support Hadid, while others gave suggestions for who the songs were really about.
For now, the song's lyrics remain a mystery. For more revelations you may have missed from Drake's new album, click here.
Protesters outside an ICE detention center in Los Angeles, California on June 14. Mario Tama/Getty Images
Just a month after President Donald Trump's inauguration, a 26-year-old undocumented woman with a brain tumor was taken against her will from a Texas hospital and placed in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Sara Beltran Hernandez, an asylum seeker who said she fled domestic abuse and gang violence in El Salvador, was viewed as the latest victim of the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
As news of her treatment spread, liberal activist and pollster Sean McElwee tweeted, "abolish ICE abolish ICE abolish ICE abolish ICE abolish ICE."
The message, sent to McElwee's tens of thousands of Twitter followers, resonated.
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As ICE arrests spiked over the next few months, McElwee was reminded of an August 2015 essay by the well-known white supremacist Jared Taylor laying out a radical wish list for immigration policy, which included targeting undocumented immigrants without criminal records for deportation.
"The main thing would be to convince illegals that ICE was serious about kicking them out," Taylor wrote.
McElwee drew a direct line between Taylor's ideas and Trump's policy.
"It became immediately clear, about a month or two in, that Stephen Miller and the Trump White House was pretty explicitly following the exact words that this white supremacist had written down," McElwee said, referring to one of the president's top advisers on immigration. "And it became clear what the goal was, which was to use ICE to execute a campaign of ethnic cleansing."
McElwee began regularly retweeting news reports on the agency's alleged abuses with the hashtag #AbolishICE. Left-wing groups, including Indivisible and Justice Democrats, promoted stories of ICE arresting undocumented immigrants in hospitals, workplaces, and as they picked their children up at school.
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And in recent weeks, as migrant families were separated on the Southern border under Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, the hashtag has picked up significant momentum. Between January and May, there were an average of 3,600 tweets mentioning the hashtag or phrase "Abolish ICE." So far in June, there have been about 25,000 such tweets, according to McElwee's organization Data for Progress.
On Monday, Rep. Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat, introduced the first ever piece of legislation to eliminate the 15-year-old agency. Over the last week, four Democratic House members and one US senator have endorsed abolishing ICE.
"It's no longer a hashtag, it's a movement," said Antonio Alarcon, a member of Make the Road Action, an immigration advocacy organization, and a DREAMer.
Protesters at a demonstration outside of the San Francisco ICE office on June 19. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
'A terrorist organization' born out of terror
ICE was created in 2003 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks as part of the new Department of Homeland Security.
Tasked with interior enforcement of immigration laws, the agency has since become the government's deportation force.
Many on the left argue ICE was born out of a moment of fear that resulted in a broad crackdown on civil and human rights, from airports, to Guantánamo Bay, to secret US detention centers around the world — and that it never should have been established in the first place.
Under former President Barack Obama, ICE arrests and deportations spiked, but the agency largely prioritized undocumented immigrants with criminal records, rather than those who had simply entered the country illegally, which is a misdemeanor offense.
Shortly after Trump took office, DHS issued sweeping new guidelines authorizing ICE to expand its raids, deport people with criminal records, and use local law enforcement to implement federal policy.
In 2017, the agency arrested 37,734 undocumented immigrants without criminal records — double the number arrested in 2016, according to The Washington Post.
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Critics of the agency argue it's mission is designed to punish and terrorize some of the country's most vulnerable communities. Cynthia Nixon, an activist and former actress running an insurgent challenge against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this year's Democratic primary, called ICE a "terrorist organization" last week.
Advocates argue that the US government should not be in the business of deporting people who have committed a simple misdemeanor offense. If an undocumented immigrant has committed a crime, they say, the criminal justice system is prepared to handle it.
"Deportation is, next to death, the worst thing a government can do to you — and yet we treat it as nothing, we routinize it," McElwee said.
Ratcheting up the pressure on lawmakers
In March, MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California whether she thinks ICE should exist.
A former federal prosecutor and state attorney general, Harris seemed almost confused by the question.
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"Should ICE exist?" she said. "There needs to be serious, severe, and swift consequences when people commit serious and violent crimes ... and certainly, if they are undocumented they should be deported if they commit those serious and violent offenses ... So, yes, ICE has a purpose, ICE has a role, ICE should exist. But let's not abuse the power."
But just a few months later, Harris — a potential 2020 presidential candidate and vocal defender of so-called Dreamers — has changed her tune.
"I think there's no question that we've got to critically reexamine ICE and its role and the way that it is being administered and the work it is doing," Harris told MSNBC's Kasie Hunt at the site of a detention facility on the Mexico-California border. "And we need to probably think about starting from scratch because there's a lot that is wrong with the way it's conducting itself."
Progressive challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon. Scott Heins/Getty Images
In just the last few days, the hashtag has been transformed into a policy position for a growing number of progressive Democrats. In cities including Portland, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York, "Occupy ICE" protests have sprung up outside detention facilities.
About two dozen House and Senate candidates have endorsed eliminating the agency, according to McElwee, who launched an organization, in partnership with Make the Road Action, last week to raise money for grassroots organizations fighting deportation and pushing policy reform.
"We should abolish ICE and start over, focusing on our priorities to protect our families and our borders in a humane and thoughtful fashion," Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon wrote in a Medium post Sunday.
On Tuesday, there was another landmark moment for the movement. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old progressive insurgent whose platform included abolishing ICE, defeated 10-term Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley of New York in a primary battle few were paying attention to.
Just days later, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York became the first senator to support abolishing ICE.
"I believe that it has become a deportation force, and I think you should separate the criminal justice from the immigration issues, and I think you should reimagine ICE under a new agency with a very different mission and take those two missions out," Gillibrand told CNN host Chris Cuomo.
Protesters at a Manhattan rally against the Trump administration's immigration policies on June 1. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Many Democrats are wary
The vast majority of elected Democrats either haven't addressed abolishing ICE or are doing their best to skirt it.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent who voted against the formation ICE in 2003, wouldn't endorse eliminating the agency during a Wednesday CNN interview.
"I think this disastrous immigration policy should be abolished," Sanders said. "Whether you abolish ICE or not is not the major issue — the major issue is having an immigration system which is effective."
Cecilia Muñoz, a former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Obama, has argued that advocating for the elimination of ICE is a political gift to Republicans.
"If the debate is whether there should be immigration enforcement, then I think we give the other side a really powerful tool to win hearts and minds," Muñoz told Slate in May. "I think that's a mistake. Look, abolishing ICE sounds very close to saying, 'Well maybe we don't need a border. Maybe we don't need immigration enforcement.'"
Indeed, conservatives have jumped on the opportunity to characterize Democratic immigration policy as radical and out of touch with average Americans. Trump recently called the effort an "extremist" call for "anarchy."
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Others have echoed the concern that calls to abolish ICE could, as Washington Post reporter Amber Phillips argued, "make it that much more difficult for Democrats to get out from under Trump's false claims that Democrats actually welcome illegal immigration."
While Democratic strategists say they don't yet have the polling data they need to advise politicians and lawmakers on messaging on this particular issue, many say the party needs to move left on immigration more broadly in order to do well with their political base in 2018.
"If Democrats want to tap into the turnout we need in November, we have to talk about what our values are and our values are fundamentally opposed to having the government put kids into cages," said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic consultant and former spokesman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
He added: "We know what the growing demographics are in America and if we want to represent those voters, we have to represent their interests and that means a more progressive stand on immigration and on pathways to citizenship."
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gestures as he speaks during a ceremony to mark the opening of the judicial year at the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) in Caracas, Venezuela February 14, 2018. REUTERS/Marco Bello
Venezuela's inflation rate has hit a new high, according to university research, with consumer prices in the crisis-ridden country rising by more than 40,000% annually for the first time on record.
Steve H. Hanke, an applied economics professor at Johns Hopkins University, told Business Insider on Friday that annual inflation in the country has risen as high as 41,838%. Hanke, who calculated the inflation figure, has tracked prices in the country for more than two decades.
Venezuela's government has largely stopped reporting economic data, including internal measures of inflation. The Central Bank of Venezuela, which did not immediately respond to request for comment, has not independently released inflation figures in at least a year.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has passed blame for the roiled economy onto others, including opposition activists and officials in Washington. At a campaign rally in May, he blamed hyperinflation on "criminal mafias."
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But economists point out that Maduro runs the unorthodox policies they say have pushed the country into economic crisis. The socialist leader has repeatedly refused international aid to Venezuela.
"It's internal," Hanke said. "Government spending continues to accelerate and the sources of revenue start drying up."
The government has defaulted on a majority of their outstanding bonds, which economists estimate add up to about $60 billion. Foreign exchange reserves have fallen by about $2.5 billion in the last three months, according to analysis by Capital Economics.
As state-run oil industry PDVSA falls apart, economists say a rise in global oil prices is adding to the pain. Brent crude oil is up more than 64% this year. And as President Donald Trump cracks down on Iran via zero-tolerance oil sanctions, the international benchmark has rallied more than 8% this week.
Production at PDVSA — which accounts for 95% of export earnings in the country and a quarter of gross domestic product — was cut in half from January 2016 to January 2018, according to the US Energy Information Administration. And as the crisis deepens, operations are continuing to wane.
Capital Economics
Those conditions, Hanke said, have all but killed investor sentiment.
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"There's an expectation part of it, too," Hanke said. "Everyone who has a bolivar wants to get rid of it like a hot potato because they expect it's not going to be worth anything tomorrow."
The International Monetary Fund estimated in January that Venezuela's inflation rate could rise as high as 13,000% for all of 2018. Hanke was unsurprised by the discrepancy, saying no one can "accurately forecast the course or the duration of a hyperinflation."
But economists and activists say hyperinflation's presence now is clear. A recent university study found that about 90% of civilians were living in poverty last year and most of those surveyed had lost an average of 25 pounds in body weight.
"The hyperinflation is devastating the economy," said Andres Abadia, a senior economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. He expects the economy to contract in 2018, for a fifth consecutive year, and sees no turnaround in the near-term.
Abadia said Venezuela is a "disaster area" and that as long as Maduro is in power, the economy will "continue to collapse." But Maduro reaffirmed a tight grip on power last month, as he easily won another six-year term in what was widely condemned as a fraudulent election.
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Maduro tripled wages earlier in June to 3 million bolivars per month, which Reuters reported at the time was equal to just more than a dollar at the black-market exchange rate.
When asked if the wage increase might improve living conditions in Venezuela, Hanke replied: "No, it's a joke. Hardly a drop in the bucket."
