Folding phones — the next big thing!

Both Samsung and LG are planning to launch devices which ‘unfold’ into larger screens — allowing users to keep a tablet-style device in a pocket. They’re very different from the old flip-phones, with hi-tech screens which can bend and fold up, according to analysts.

Samsung is expected to launch a device codenamed ‘Foldable Valley’ which turns into a 7-inch tablet when unfolded. Apple also quietly patented a foldable iPhone concept, filing on August 28, last year — detailing a device which uses ‘carbon nanotubes’ to allow the screen to fold while still working.

Recent patents for a Microsoft Surface phone suggest that the Windows giant is also working on a bendy handset.

Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at IBK Securities Company said last year, “This product could be a game-changer if Samsung successfully comes up with a user interface suitable for bendable screens.”

Samsung has previously teased the idea with various videos showing how a ‘bendable’ smartphone might work.

A bus tour just for dogs!

London has got another exciting popup for its canine residents — a snazzy tour bus, just for them.

The K9 bus takes dogs (and their owners) on a sightseeing tour around London, with stops in the best parks and walking spots, as well as a talking tour of the places in London with rich dog-related history — like the ministerial dogs of Downing Street, the corgis of Buckingham Palace, and London’s only dog cemetery.

Dogs can jump off the bus to stroll around the parks if they fancy, and owners are provided with leaflets mapping out nearby dog-friendly and restaurants so everyone can relax and refuel post-walk before hopping back on board.

The route lasts around an hour and a half, and is narrated by an expert commentator.

World’s first ‘floating city’ planned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

A company is planning to build the world’s first floating city in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The government of French Polynesia has signed an agreement with a US firm and they hope construction work will begin in 2019.

The Seasteading Institute has spent the past five years trying to work out how to build ‘permanent, innovative communities floating at sea’.

French Polynesia, a collection of 118 islands in the southern Pacific, is at risk from rising sea levels. The government of the islands has signed a memorandum of understanding with the San Francisco-based institute.

Randolph Hencken, executive director of the institute, said:

“They are a tourist-based economy and they’re excited to bring us in because we are a technology-based idea.”

After initial studies, it is hoped that a draft legislation will be drawn up next year and construction can begin in 2019.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 11th, 2017