Monday, February 17, 2020
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Adobe unveiled new video features coming to Adobe Creative Cloud that is reported to speed up production timelines, enable more seamless workflows and deliver powerful capabilities for filmmakers and video professionals. The updates include Adobe Sensei-powered animation, intelligent audio cleanup tools, selective color grading, advanced data-driven motion graphics templates and end-to-end VR 180 support.
These updates follow Adobe’s recent unveil of Project Rush, the all-in-one, cross-device video editing app designed specifically for online content creators. Project Rush delivers a streamlined and intuitive user experience that makes creating and sharing online content easier by harnessing the skills of Premiere Pro and After Effects, and Project Rush projects are seamlessly opened in Premiere Pro, as claimed by Adobe. Currently in beta, Project Rush will be available later this year.
New capabilities coming later this year to Adobe Creative Cloud include:
- You can mold layers into new shapes with new Mesh Sculpting tools that twist, bend and scale under your creative control in After Effects. Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning technology in Adobe Sensei, you can also create and animate unique, stylized puppets using a webcam and reference artwork with Character Animator’s new Characterizer.
- It allows you to improve audio with intelligent clean up tools, DeNoise and DeReverb, in the Essential Sound panel in Adobe Audition. Dial down or remove background noise and reverb from a sound clip that’s been adjusted by adaptive algorithms.
- You can take the guesswork out of curve adjustments and bring simplicity and precision to selective color grading and color management with new Lumetri Color tools in Premiere Pro and After Effects.
- You can drag and drop spreadsheet files to Motion Graphics templates to generate visual representations of information within video projects using data-driven infographics in Premiere Pro.
- One can add new support features for 180-degree immersive video in Premiere Pro and After Effects, including optimized ingest, effects and output in Google VR 180 for viewing on YouTube or other platforms.
- The creator can invite groups and individual collaborators for Team Projects and easily access team members from your enterprise address book to choose collaborators and save groups.
- Moreover, you can also search and sort millions of curated, contemporary 4K and HD cinematic footage and professionally-designed Motion Graphics templates, right from the Essential Graphics panel in Premiere Pro and After Effects.
The new features for Adobe Creative Cloud announced at IBC will be available with the next version of Creative Cloud coming later this year and the monthly subscription start at Rs 676
These updates follow Adobe’s recent unveil of Project Rush, the all-in-one, cross-device video editing app designed specifically for online content creators. Project Rush delivers a streamlined and intuitive user experience that makes creating and sharing online content easier by harnessing the skills of Premiere Pro and After Effects, and Project Rush projects are seamlessly opened in Premiere Pro, as claimed by Adobe. Currently in beta, Project Rush will be available later this year.
New capabilities coming later this year to Adobe Creative Cloud include:
- You can mold layers into new shapes with new Mesh Sculpting tools that twist, bend and scale under your creative control in After Effects. Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning technology in Adobe Sensei, you can also create and animate unique, stylized puppets using a webcam and reference artwork with Character Animator’s new Characterizer.
- It allows you to improve audio with intelligent clean up tools, DeNoise and DeReverb, in the Essential Sound panel in Adobe Audition. Dial down or remove background noise and reverb from a sound clip that’s been adjusted by adaptive algorithms.
- You can take the guesswork out of curve adjustments and bring simplicity and precision to selective color grading and color management with new Lumetri Color tools in Premiere Pro and After Effects.
- You can drag and drop spreadsheet files to Motion Graphics templates to generate visual representations of information within video projects using data-driven infographics in Premiere Pro.
- One can add new support features for 180-degree immersive video in Premiere Pro and After Effects, including optimized ingest, effects and output in Google VR 180 for viewing on YouTube or other platforms.
- The creator can invite groups and individual collaborators for Team Projects and easily access team members from your enterprise address book to choose collaborators and save groups.
- Moreover, you can also search and sort millions of curated, contemporary 4K and HD cinematic footage and professionally-designed Motion Graphics templates, right from the Essential Graphics panel in Premiere Pro and After Effects.
The new features for Adobe Creative Cloud announced at IBC will be available with the next version of Creative Cloud coming later this year and the monthly subscription start at Rs 676
Ayoub’s glove is an example of a trend as entrepreneurs, startups and companies like Microsoft and Google try to harness the power of AI.
Hadeel Ayoub slips a black glove onto her hand before beginning the swish of sign language that is meaningless to the untrained observer. Then she pushes a button on her wrist, and a small speaker relays the message drawn in the air: “Let’s Dance!”
“My dream is to give a voice to those who can’t speak,” says the 36-year-old inventor who is developing her BrightSign glove while working toward a PhD in assistive technology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Ayoub’s glove is just one example of a bigger trend as entrepreneurs, startups and companies like Microsoft and Google try to harness the power of artificial intelligence to make life easier for people with disabilities. The initiatives come as the World Health Organization estimates that the number of people needing assistive devices ranging from wheelchairs to communication technologies will double to 2 billion by 2050.
Improvements in artificial intelligence, combined with the decreasing cost of hardware, are making it possible for inventors to develop new products without the need for the deep pockets of governments or corporations. With the help of 3D printers and the increased processing power of home computers, they are creating devices designed for people with motor, vision, hearing and cognitive impairments.
Microsoft and Google are trying to spur work in this area, offering a total of $45 million in grants to developers of assistive technologies. Microsoft says it hopes to identify promising projects that can eventually be incorporated into widely available services.
“We’re certainly seeing an explosion of new technology that is looking to support people with disabilities,” said Zvika Krieger, head of technology policy and partnerships at the World Economic Forum. “There are a lot of innovators out there ... who are looking to move beyond maybe a dating app or a social networking app and are looking to do something that really helps the disadvantaged.”
While Ayoub hopes her efforts pay off financially, she says she is driven by a desire to create a world where disabilities become meaningless. She is trying to raise 1 million pounds to bring BrightSign to the market, estimating her gloves will cost “a few hundred dollars” each, compared with $2,000 or more for existing technology.
“My dream for BrightSign is to be the extension of the senses for the people ... who want to voice their feelings and opinions without having to always look for someone to help them out — to give them the independence that they need and control over their own communication,” she said.
The need for such products is only going to increase as the world’s population ages, increasing the number of people with physical, cognitive, vision and hearing problems, according to a WHO report published this year. The challenge is to develop new technologies while also increasing the availability of simple devices like spectacles and wheelchairs that many people can’t afford.
Companies are starting to recognize the financial potential of the market, as these innovations can improve products sold more widely, said Hector Minto, who has the unusual title of “accessibility evangelist” at Microsoft.
For example, Microsoft last year launched its free Seeing AI app, which turns a smart phone into a “talking camera” that helps visually impaired people do things like scan and read aloud text, recognize faces and identify products bar codes. Similar technology goes into the company’s text Translator service, which costs businesses $10 to $45,000 a month, depending on the number of transactions.
“Absolutely I think there’s a unique business case on its own, but definitely there’s a much larger business case for Microsoft in that the tools of the future quite often will come through a disability lens,” he said.
It’s important to remember that all of us have impairments at times, says Robin Christopherson, head of digital inclusion at the British charity AbilityNet, which helps older people and the disabled use computers.
He explains it like this: a person with perfect sight might have a visual impairment when trying to read a smart phone in bright sunlight, or a person with perfect hearing can struggle to understand a phone call when on the street outside. As a result, technology that helps people with permanent vision or hearing problems also makes products better for everyone. In the past five years, AbilityNet’s team of experts who test products to ensure they work well for the disabled has grown from six people to 22.
Innovation has not yet produced products good enough to offer complete freedom for the impaired, said Tom Kamber, executive director of Brooklyn-based Older Adults Technology Services, a non-profit that helps the elderly use technology. But there is reason for optimism because investors are actively looking for the next big thing in technology, he said.
“There’s no shortage of people in Silicon Valley that will take your call,” Kamber said. “The sector has advanced to the point that a lot of money is going to be made.”
The Holy Grail is for such technology to be integrated into off-the-shelf products, so people with disabilities can get the help they need without extra cost, said Christopherson of AbilityNet. Christopherson, who is blind, cited the iPhone, which allowed him to swap a backpack full of equipment and cables for one device.
And then there’s the opportunity for technology to help people with impairments experience the world in completely different ways.
Ford Motor Co. worked with the Aedo Project, an Italian startup, to create a device that helps blind people “feel the view” outside a car window by turning light into vibrations that, when combined with audio description, convey a sense of the scenery passing by.
While the technology is only in the prototype stage, one blind man who worked on the project described his amazement when he tried out the device for the first time.
“My first sensation when my finger went from the mountain to the sky felt like I had ended up in cream, something milky, something soft,” Antonio Bruni said. “They told me: These were clouds.”
Hadeel Ayoub slips a black glove onto her hand before beginning the swish of sign language that is meaningless to the untrained observer. Then she pushes a button on her wrist, and a small speaker relays the message drawn in the air: “Let’s Dance!”
“My dream is to give a voice to those who can’t speak,” says the 36-year-old inventor who is developing her BrightSign glove while working toward a PhD in assistive technology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Ayoub’s glove is just one example of a bigger trend as entrepreneurs, startups and companies like Microsoft and Google try to harness the power of artificial intelligence to make life easier for people with disabilities. The initiatives come as the World Health Organization estimates that the number of people needing assistive devices ranging from wheelchairs to communication technologies will double to 2 billion by 2050.
Improvements in artificial intelligence, combined with the decreasing cost of hardware, are making it possible for inventors to develop new products without the need for the deep pockets of governments or corporations. With the help of 3D printers and the increased processing power of home computers, they are creating devices designed for people with motor, vision, hearing and cognitive impairments.
Microsoft and Google are trying to spur work in this area, offering a total of $45 million in grants to developers of assistive technologies. Microsoft says it hopes to identify promising projects that can eventually be incorporated into widely available services.
“We’re certainly seeing an explosion of new technology that is looking to support people with disabilities,” said Zvika Krieger, head of technology policy and partnerships at the World Economic Forum. “There are a lot of innovators out there ... who are looking to move beyond maybe a dating app or a social networking app and are looking to do something that really helps the disadvantaged.”
While Ayoub hopes her efforts pay off financially, she says she is driven by a desire to create a world where disabilities become meaningless. She is trying to raise 1 million pounds to bring BrightSign to the market, estimating her gloves will cost “a few hundred dollars” each, compared with $2,000 or more for existing technology.
“My dream for BrightSign is to be the extension of the senses for the people ... who want to voice their feelings and opinions without having to always look for someone to help them out — to give them the independence that they need and control over their own communication,” she said.
The need for such products is only going to increase as the world’s population ages, increasing the number of people with physical, cognitive, vision and hearing problems, according to a WHO report published this year. The challenge is to develop new technologies while also increasing the availability of simple devices like spectacles and wheelchairs that many people can’t afford.
Companies are starting to recognize the financial potential of the market, as these innovations can improve products sold more widely, said Hector Minto, who has the unusual title of “accessibility evangelist” at Microsoft.
For example, Microsoft last year launched its free Seeing AI app, which turns a smart phone into a “talking camera” that helps visually impaired people do things like scan and read aloud text, recognize faces and identify products bar codes. Similar technology goes into the company’s text Translator service, which costs businesses $10 to $45,000 a month, depending on the number of transactions.
“Absolutely I think there’s a unique business case on its own, but definitely there’s a much larger business case for Microsoft in that the tools of the future quite often will come through a disability lens,” he said.
It’s important to remember that all of us have impairments at times, says Robin Christopherson, head of digital inclusion at the British charity AbilityNet, which helps older people and the disabled use computers.
He explains it like this: a person with perfect sight might have a visual impairment when trying to read a smart phone in bright sunlight, or a person with perfect hearing can struggle to understand a phone call when on the street outside. As a result, technology that helps people with permanent vision or hearing problems also makes products better for everyone. In the past five years, AbilityNet’s team of experts who test products to ensure they work well for the disabled has grown from six people to 22.
Innovation has not yet produced products good enough to offer complete freedom for the impaired, said Tom Kamber, executive director of Brooklyn-based Older Adults Technology Services, a non-profit that helps the elderly use technology. But there is reason for optimism because investors are actively looking for the next big thing in technology, he said.
“There’s no shortage of people in Silicon Valley that will take your call,” Kamber said. “The sector has advanced to the point that a lot of money is going to be made.”
The Holy Grail is for such technology to be integrated into off-the-shelf products, so people with disabilities can get the help they need without extra cost, said Christopherson of AbilityNet. Christopherson, who is blind, cited the iPhone, which allowed him to swap a backpack full of equipment and cables for one device.
And then there’s the opportunity for technology to help people with impairments experience the world in completely different ways.
Ford Motor Co. worked with the Aedo Project, an Italian startup, to create a device that helps blind people “feel the view” outside a car window by turning light into vibrations that, when combined with audio description, convey a sense of the scenery passing by.
While the technology is only in the prototype stage, one blind man who worked on the project described his amazement when he tried out the device for the first time.
“My first sensation when my finger went from the mountain to the sky felt like I had ended up in cream, something milky, something soft,” Antonio Bruni said. “They told me: These were clouds.”
The announcement marks a deeper foray into philanthropy for Bezos, whose fortune has soared to more than $160 billion
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Inc’s founder and the world’s richest person, on Thursday said he will commit $2 billion to helping homeless families and starting pre-schools for low-income communities.
The announcement marks a deeper foray into philanthropy for Bezos, whose fortune has soared to more than $160 billion thanks to his stake in Amazon, according to Forbes. Dominance in e-commerce and the nascent field of cloud computing has made Amazon the world’s second-most valuable public company.
Bezos solicited ideas on Twitter last year for ways to donate some of his wealth. While he has financially supported cancer research and scholarships for immigrants, among other causes, Bezos has primarily devoted his fortune to his Blue Origin rocket company, which he described Thursday as an “investment in the future of our planet through the development of foundational space infrastructure.”
His private ownership of The Washington Post, which has published articles critical of the White House, has also put him at odds with President Donald Trump.
The new philanthropic effort is called the Bezos Day One Fund, a nod to the executive’s management philosophy that organizations must view every day with the fervour of a new start, or face stagnation and decline.
Within this, the “Day 1 Families Fund” will support existing non-profits that offer shelter and food to young homeless families.
The “Day 1 Academies Fund” will start an organisation to operate a new network of full-scholarship pre-schools for low-income communities. Citing the Amazon mantra of customer obsession, Bezos said in a tweet, “The child will be the customer.”
Bezos has yet to join “The Giving Pledge” created by fellow billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, whose more than 180 signatories have promised to give more than half of their fortunes to philanthropy.
The Amazon chief’s wealth has become problematic for some.
Earlier this month, US Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, proposed a bill in Congress called the “Stop BEZOS” Act, which would make large corporations pay workers more or pay for public assistance programmes like Medicaid. Amazon has said the senator’s statements about the company are “inaccurate and misleading.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Inc’s founder and the world’s richest person, on Thursday said he will commit $2 billion to helping homeless families and starting pre-schools for low-income communities.
The announcement marks a deeper foray into philanthropy for Bezos, whose fortune has soared to more than $160 billion thanks to his stake in Amazon, according to Forbes. Dominance in e-commerce and the nascent field of cloud computing has made Amazon the world’s second-most valuable public company.
Bezos solicited ideas on Twitter last year for ways to donate some of his wealth. While he has financially supported cancer research and scholarships for immigrants, among other causes, Bezos has primarily devoted his fortune to his Blue Origin rocket company, which he described Thursday as an “investment in the future of our planet through the development of foundational space infrastructure.”
His private ownership of The Washington Post, which has published articles critical of the White House, has also put him at odds with President Donald Trump.
The new philanthropic effort is called the Bezos Day One Fund, a nod to the executive’s management philosophy that organizations must view every day with the fervour of a new start, or face stagnation and decline.
Within this, the “Day 1 Families Fund” will support existing non-profits that offer shelter and food to young homeless families.
The “Day 1 Academies Fund” will start an organisation to operate a new network of full-scholarship pre-schools for low-income communities. Citing the Amazon mantra of customer obsession, Bezos said in a tweet, “The child will be the customer.”
Bezos has yet to join “The Giving Pledge” created by fellow billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, whose more than 180 signatories have promised to give more than half of their fortunes to philanthropy.
The Amazon chief’s wealth has become problematic for some.
Earlier this month, US Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, proposed a bill in Congress called the “Stop BEZOS” Act, which would make large corporations pay workers more or pay for public assistance programmes like Medicaid. Amazon has said the senator’s statements about the company are “inaccurate and misleading.”
Spotify is increasingly attracting viewers as well as listeners to its free music streaming service and is finding new ways to target adverts and podcasts at customers, its head of global advertising sales told Reuters.
The Swedish company, which has risen 39 percent in value since it floated in New York in April, is seeing growth in video outpace audio ads and is broadening its audience with rapid growth in sponsored podcasts, Brian Benedik said at the dmexco digital marketing fair in Cologne, Germany.
“Video is our fastest-growing format, which is counter-intuitive for an audio-led platform,” Benedik said in an interview.
Spotify runs an ad-free ‘freemium’ model, with 83 million users paying a monthly subscription - more than its nearest rival Apple. Another 100 million or so listeners opt for a free service that is interrupted by advertising breaks.
With the company now worth $33 billion, analysts say it needs to justify its valuation by hitting ambitious growth targets of its founder Daniel Ek - who wants to grow revenue as much as 35 percent a year.
Most customers of the free service use mobile devices, which account for the majority of ad revenues where video is the fastest-growing advertising product.
Spotify tracks online behavior and, if it figures out customers are looking at the Spotify app, it runs a video ad. If they are listening passively, the ad would be audio.
Spotify is also ramping up its offering of podcasts and, although these don’t go to commercial breaks for premium subscribers, shows can be sponsored in much the same way that TV coverage of major sporting events is backed by major brands.
Benedik said he saw potential for Spotify to deploy its algorithms to recommend podcasts, along the lines of its ‘Recommended for You’ feature for music, that will get to know users’ interests and keep them coming back for more.
In Germany, podcast listening on Spotify has increased 150 percent, year-on-year. Growth rates globally are 367 percent.
“If we can figure out a recommendation around podcasts and serve them up to users, that would be great,” said Benedik, adding that if Spotify can get the user experience right this would open the way to make more revenue from podcasts
The Swedish company, which has risen 39 percent in value since it floated in New York in April, is seeing growth in video outpace audio ads and is broadening its audience with rapid growth in sponsored podcasts, Brian Benedik said at the dmexco digital marketing fair in Cologne, Germany.
“Video is our fastest-growing format, which is counter-intuitive for an audio-led platform,” Benedik said in an interview.
Spotify runs an ad-free ‘freemium’ model, with 83 million users paying a monthly subscription - more than its nearest rival Apple. Another 100 million or so listeners opt for a free service that is interrupted by advertising breaks.
With the company now worth $33 billion, analysts say it needs to justify its valuation by hitting ambitious growth targets of its founder Daniel Ek - who wants to grow revenue as much as 35 percent a year.
Most customers of the free service use mobile devices, which account for the majority of ad revenues where video is the fastest-growing advertising product.
Spotify tracks online behavior and, if it figures out customers are looking at the Spotify app, it runs a video ad. If they are listening passively, the ad would be audio.
Spotify is also ramping up its offering of podcasts and, although these don’t go to commercial breaks for premium subscribers, shows can be sponsored in much the same way that TV coverage of major sporting events is backed by major brands.
Benedik said he saw potential for Spotify to deploy its algorithms to recommend podcasts, along the lines of its ‘Recommended for You’ feature for music, that will get to know users’ interests and keep them coming back for more.
In Germany, podcast listening on Spotify has increased 150 percent, year-on-year. Growth rates globally are 367 percent.
“If we can figure out a recommendation around podcasts and serve them up to users, that would be great,” said Benedik, adding that if Spotify can get the user experience right this would open the way to make more revenue from podcasts
Uber Technologies Inc is spending millions of dollars in Toronto to open an engineering hub and expand its self-driving car operations, the strongest indication yet that the company is not retreating from autonomous vehicle development despite recent setbacks.
Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said on Thursday that Uber will invest more than USD 150 million over five years to bolster the ride-hailing company’s engineering capabilities, with a new office opening in early 2019, and expand its work in artificial intelligence. The San Francisco-based company expects to hire hundreds of new employees, boosting its overall headcount in Toronto to more than 500.
The investment will allow Uber the opportunity to expand its work on self-driving technology, an area where the company has lagged competitors. Uber opened a self-driving car research center in Toronto last year, and named University of Toronto associate professor Raquel Urtasun as head of the organization.
However, Uber’s self-driving car business stalled after one if its autonomous SUVs killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March. Uber quickly removed its robot cars from the road, laid off hundreds of test drivers and shuttered operations in Arizona, its autonomous testing hub.
Since the Tempe crash, Khosrowshahi, who took over Uber a year ago, has explored options that include more partnerships with companies developing autonomous cars and a potential sale of the self-driving business, sources have told Reuters. The investment in Toronto is a strong signal that Uber will continue to build its own self-driving technology, at least in the near term.
It also follows a USD 500 million investment from Toyota Motor Corp to jointly work on developing self-driving cars, providing the Uber business a badly needed boost.
However, the company still faces battles with regulators and local officials who have raised concerns over the safety of Uber’s program.
Six months after the fatal crash, Uber has not resumed testing its cars on public roads, although Khosrowshahi said he expects the company will by the end of the year after undergoing a safety overhaul.
The self-driving unit is a significant contributor to Uber’s losses, which in the second quarter were $891 million. Uber said it will not raise additional financing for the Canada investment.
The separate engineering office set to open early next year is Uber’s eighth such office outside of the United States, and will be used for building technology infrastructure for Uber’s products, such as ride-hailing and food delivery
Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said on Thursday that Uber will invest more than USD 150 million over five years to bolster the ride-hailing company’s engineering capabilities, with a new office opening in early 2019, and expand its work in artificial intelligence. The San Francisco-based company expects to hire hundreds of new employees, boosting its overall headcount in Toronto to more than 500.
The investment will allow Uber the opportunity to expand its work on self-driving technology, an area where the company has lagged competitors. Uber opened a self-driving car research center in Toronto last year, and named University of Toronto associate professor Raquel Urtasun as head of the organization.
However, Uber’s self-driving car business stalled after one if its autonomous SUVs killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March. Uber quickly removed its robot cars from the road, laid off hundreds of test drivers and shuttered operations in Arizona, its autonomous testing hub.
Since the Tempe crash, Khosrowshahi, who took over Uber a year ago, has explored options that include more partnerships with companies developing autonomous cars and a potential sale of the self-driving business, sources have told Reuters. The investment in Toronto is a strong signal that Uber will continue to build its own self-driving technology, at least in the near term.
It also follows a USD 500 million investment from Toyota Motor Corp to jointly work on developing self-driving cars, providing the Uber business a badly needed boost.
However, the company still faces battles with regulators and local officials who have raised concerns over the safety of Uber’s program.
Six months after the fatal crash, Uber has not resumed testing its cars on public roads, although Khosrowshahi said he expects the company will by the end of the year after undergoing a safety overhaul.
The self-driving unit is a significant contributor to Uber’s losses, which in the second quarter were $891 million. Uber said it will not raise additional financing for the Canada investment.
The separate engineering office set to open early next year is Uber’s eighth such office outside of the United States, and will be used for building technology infrastructure for Uber’s products, such as ride-hailing and food delivery
Vietnam has asked Facebook to open a local office as the Communist-ruled country increases pressure on global technology firms to abide by a controversial cyber security law.
Critics of the law, which takes effect on January 1, 2019, say it gives Hanoi more power to crack down on dissent because it would require Facebook, Google and other global technology firms to store locally personal data on users in Vietnam and open offices in the country.
“Acting information minister Nguyen Manh Hung suggested Facebook, given its successful business in Vietnam, should reserve revenue to invest in research and development and soon open an office in Vietnam,” the official government website said late on September 13.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said she had no comment.
Despite sweeping economic reforms and growing openness to social change, the ruling Communist Party tolerates little dissent and exercises strict control over media in Vietnam.
Global tech firms have pushed back against the provisions for locally-stored data, but they have not taken the same tough stance on the parts of the law which bolster the government’s ability to crackdown on online political activism.
Company officials have, however, privately expressed concerns that local data centers and offices could make it easier for the authorities to seize customer data and expose local employees to the threat of arrest.
Simon Milner, Facebook’s vice-president of public policy for Asia Pacific, met on September 13 with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Hanoi.
Phuc said Facebook should be responsible for the security, safety and protection of its 60 million user accounts in Vietnam, the government website quoted the prime minister as saying at the meeting.
Gil Kaplan, Under Secretary for International Trade at the US Department of Commerce, said on September 10 he would raise the cyber security issue in his meetings this week with Vietnamese government officials, including the Prime Minister.
In July, seventeen US lawmakers urged the chief executives of Facebook and Google to resist changes stipulated by the new law.
Last week, acting information minister Hung said Vietnam should promote home-grown social networks in order to compete with Google and Facebook and capture more of the social network market share in Vietnam, state media reported.
WELCOME TO IN MY SITE FOR TECHNICAL UPDATES FOR DAILY TECHNICAL UPDATES VISIT OUR SITE REGULAR AND REVIEW ON COMMENTS AND SUGGEST ME FOR WHICH TYPES OF UPDATES YOU WANT
Critics of the law, which takes effect on January 1, 2019, say it gives Hanoi more power to crack down on dissent because it would require Facebook, Google and other global technology firms to store locally personal data on users in Vietnam and open offices in the country.
“Acting information minister Nguyen Manh Hung suggested Facebook, given its successful business in Vietnam, should reserve revenue to invest in research and development and soon open an office in Vietnam,” the official government website said late on September 13.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said she had no comment.
Despite sweeping economic reforms and growing openness to social change, the ruling Communist Party tolerates little dissent and exercises strict control over media in Vietnam.
Global tech firms have pushed back against the provisions for locally-stored data, but they have not taken the same tough stance on the parts of the law which bolster the government’s ability to crackdown on online political activism.
Company officials have, however, privately expressed concerns that local data centers and offices could make it easier for the authorities to seize customer data and expose local employees to the threat of arrest.
Simon Milner, Facebook’s vice-president of public policy for Asia Pacific, met on September 13 with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Hanoi.
Phuc said Facebook should be responsible for the security, safety and protection of its 60 million user accounts in Vietnam, the government website quoted the prime minister as saying at the meeting.
Gil Kaplan, Under Secretary for International Trade at the US Department of Commerce, said on September 10 he would raise the cyber security issue in his meetings this week with Vietnamese government officials, including the Prime Minister.
In July, seventeen US lawmakers urged the chief executives of Facebook and Google to resist changes stipulated by the new law.
Last week, acting information minister Hung said Vietnam should promote home-grown social networks in order to compete with Google and Facebook and capture more of the social network market share in Vietnam, state media reported.
WELCOME TO IN MY SITE FOR TECHNICAL UPDATES FOR DAILY TECHNICAL UPDATES VISIT OUR SITE REGULAR AND REVIEW ON COMMENTS AND SUGGEST ME FOR WHICH TYPES OF UPDATES YOU WANT
WELCOME TO IN MY SITE FOR TECHNICAL UPDATESFOR DAILY TECHNICAL UPDATES VISIT OUR SITE REGULAR AND REVIEW ON COMMENTS AND SUGGEST ME FOR WHICH TYPES OF UPDATES YOU WANT.
The headphone comes with a dedicated button for receiving calls and it is said to work from a maximum distance of 10 meters.
MevoFit has launches its Bluetooth wireless neckband earphones— Play N100 which are meant to be used during sports activities.
The key features of the MevoFit Play N100 Sports wireless Bluetooth neckband headphones are:
- The Bluetooth 4.1 technology for playing media wirelessly. The headphones allow control of volume, play & pause of music tracks and also track controlling by next & previous. Noise Cancellation technology is said to allow you to experience detailed music and passive noise isolation keeps interrupting noises at bay.
- The headphone comes with a dedicated button for receiving calls and it is said to work from a maximum distance of 10 meters.
- MevoFit PLAY N100 comes with the water resistant technology, which also makes Bluetooth headset sweat proof. It is made of silicone that stays tough against sweat, rain, and dust. This headset is claimed to be both flexible and durable at the same time.
- The lithium-ion battery helps MevfoFit Play N100 can last up to 12 hours on a single charge, as told by the company, which has 300 hours of standby time. It is rechargeable through USB power sources. An hour of charge is supposed to provide 8 long hours of taking calls and listening to music together.
- The neckband and wire clip is ergonomically designed to make it comfortable to wear for long hours. By design, the headphones set is tangle free. The adjustable clip ensures that you gain the desired length.
- It has in-built magnets to keep the earphones attracted to each other when they are not in use.
- This headset is claimed to seamlessly pair with two devices at a time. It has CSR 8645 chip combined with Bluetooth 4.1 for clear connectivity up to a range of 30 feet.
- This wireless headphones set is compatible with both Android and iPhone.
- The IPX4 sweat proof and water resistant technology help this Bluetooth headphone to prevent the liquid damage.
The MevoFit Play N100 Sports wireless headphones sets are available on Amazon at Rs. 2,690. It comes with 1-year warranty. MevoFit is available in three color options - red, blue and green
The headphone comes with a dedicated button for receiving calls and it is said to work from a maximum distance of 10 meters.
MevoFit has launches its Bluetooth wireless neckband earphones— Play N100 which are meant to be used during sports activities.
The key features of the MevoFit Play N100 Sports wireless Bluetooth neckband headphones are:
- The Bluetooth 4.1 technology for playing media wirelessly. The headphones allow control of volume, play & pause of music tracks and also track controlling by next & previous. Noise Cancellation technology is said to allow you to experience detailed music and passive noise isolation keeps interrupting noises at bay.
- The headphone comes with a dedicated button for receiving calls and it is said to work from a maximum distance of 10 meters.
- MevoFit PLAY N100 comes with the water resistant technology, which also makes Bluetooth headset sweat proof. It is made of silicone that stays tough against sweat, rain, and dust. This headset is claimed to be both flexible and durable at the same time.
- The lithium-ion battery helps MevfoFit Play N100 can last up to 12 hours on a single charge, as told by the company, which has 300 hours of standby time. It is rechargeable through USB power sources. An hour of charge is supposed to provide 8 long hours of taking calls and listening to music together.
- The neckband and wire clip is ergonomically designed to make it comfortable to wear for long hours. By design, the headphones set is tangle free. The adjustable clip ensures that you gain the desired length.
- It has in-built magnets to keep the earphones attracted to each other when they are not in use.
- This headset is claimed to seamlessly pair with two devices at a time. It has CSR 8645 chip combined with Bluetooth 4.1 for clear connectivity up to a range of 30 feet.
- This wireless headphones set is compatible with both Android and iPhone.
- The IPX4 sweat proof and water resistant technology help this Bluetooth headphone to prevent the liquid damage.
The MevoFit Play N100 Sports wireless headphones sets are available on Amazon at Rs. 2,690. It comes with 1-year warranty. MevoFit is available in three color options - red, blue and green
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Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said on September 14 it will rejig its businesses and create new leadership positions aimed at building a second tier to CEO Lei Jun, amid increased scrutiny of governance and successions at Chinese tech firms.
The firm would introduce two new departments to advise Lei on strategy and oversee hiring, promotion and pay, Lei said in a memo to staff dated September 13 and shared with the press on September 14.
It also would reshuffle its four main business units into 10 to promote younger managers, Lei said, adding that a majority of the newly-appointed leadership belonged to the post-1980s generation.
“Our senior management team has implemented several changes that will provide opportunities for young talent to rise up the ranks,” said Lei, 48.
The changes come less than a week after Jack Ma, one of China’s best-known businessmen, said he would step down as chairman of Alibaba in a year and hand the reins to CEO Daniel Zheng, and underlined the need for sustainable succession planning.
Another Chinese tech giant, JD.com, has come under scrutiny recently after CEO Richard Liu - who controls 80 per cent of the company’s voting rights - was arrested in the United States on suspicion of rape before being released. JD’s board is essentially unable to make decisions without Liu present, according to company rules.
Liu, through his lawyers has denied any wrongdoing, as the investigation is ongoing.
Xiaomi listed its shares in Hong Kong in June in an initial public offering that valued the company at around $52 billion.
The company underwent a strategic shift in 2016 after sales fell sharply, forcing it to pull out of several overseas markets. It has since focused on offline sales and reversed its fortunes, and currently draws roughly a third of its revenue from outside China
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said on September 14 it will rejig its businesses and create new leadership positions aimed at building a second tier to CEO Lei Jun, amid increased scrutiny of governance and successions at Chinese tech firms.
The firm would introduce two new departments to advise Lei on strategy and oversee hiring, promotion and pay, Lei said in a memo to staff dated September 13 and shared with the press on September 14.
It also would reshuffle its four main business units into 10 to promote younger managers, Lei said, adding that a majority of the newly-appointed leadership belonged to the post-1980s generation.
“Our senior management team has implemented several changes that will provide opportunities for young talent to rise up the ranks,” said Lei, 48.
The changes come less than a week after Jack Ma, one of China’s best-known businessmen, said he would step down as chairman of Alibaba in a year and hand the reins to CEO Daniel Zheng, and underlined the need for sustainable succession planning.
Another Chinese tech giant, JD.com, has come under scrutiny recently after CEO Richard Liu - who controls 80 per cent of the company’s voting rights - was arrested in the United States on suspicion of rape before being released. JD’s board is essentially unable to make decisions without Liu present, according to company rules.
Liu, through his lawyers has denied any wrongdoing, as the investigation is ongoing.
Xiaomi listed its shares in Hong Kong in June in an initial public offering that valued the company at around $52 billion.
The company underwent a strategic shift in 2016 after sales fell sharply, forcing it to pull out of several overseas markets. It has since focused on offline sales and reversed its fortunes, and currently draws roughly a third of its revenue from outside China
Apple is trying to turn its smartwatch from a niche gadget into a lifeline to better health by slowly evolving it into a medical device.
In its fourth incarnation, called Series 4 and due out later this month, the Apple Watch will add features that allow it to take high-quality heart readings and detect falls. It’s part of Apple’s long-in-the-making strategy to give people a distinct reason to buy a wrist gadget that largely does things smartphones already do.
Since the Apple Watch launched in April 2015 , most people haven’t figured out why they need to buy one. Apple doesn’t release sales figures, but estimates from two analysts suggest the company shipped roughly 18 million watches in 2017. Apple sold almost 12 times as many iPhones — 216 million — last year.
Worldwide, about 48 million smartwatches are expected to be sold this year, compared with nearly 1.9 billion phones, according to the research firm Gartner.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has long emphasized the watch’s health and fitness-tracking capabilities. The original version featured a heart-rate sensor that fed data into fitness and workout apps so they could suggest new goals and offer digital “rewards” for fitness accomplishments.
Two years later, Apple called its watch “the ultimate device for a healthy life,” emphasizing water resistance for swimmers and built-in GPS for tracking runs or cycling workouts. In February, the company announced that the watch would track skiing and snowboarding runs , including data on speed and vertical descent.
The latest version, unveiled Wednesday, is pushing the health envelope even further — in particular by taking electrocardiograms, or EKGs, a feature given clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration, Apple said. The watch will also monitor for irregular heartbeats and can detect when the wearer has fallen, the company said.
EKGs are important tests of heart health and typically require a visit to the doctor. The feature gained an onstage endorsement from Ivor Benjamin, a cardiologist who is president of the American Heart Association. He said such real-time data would change the way doctors work.
Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen said the feature could turn smartwatches “from something people buy for prestige into something they buy for more practical reasons.”
It could also lead some health insurance plans to subsidize the cost of an Apple Watch, Nguyen said. That would help defray the $400 starting price for a device that still requires a companion iPhone, which can now cost more than $1,000.
Apple’s watch will use new sensors on the back and on the watch dial. A new app will say whether each reading is normal or shows signs of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rate that increases the risk of heart complications, such as stroke and heart failure.
Apple says the heart data can be shared with doctors through a PDF file, though it’s not yet clear how ready doctors are to receive a possible flood of new EKG data from patients — nor how useful they will find the electronic files.
Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, warned that the EKG feature could spur more tests than necessary, result in unnecessary prescriptions for blood thinners and overwhelm doctors with calls from patients who probably don’t need treatment.
He said that while the feature will probably save some lives and prevent strokes with early detection of heart trouble, “the ratio between the benefits and the costs remains a big unknown.”
Apple said the EKG feature will be available to US customers later this year, an indication that it may not be ready for launch.
Fall detection could also be significant, especially for elderly users. The new Apple Watch claims to be able to tell the difference between a trip and a fall — and when the latter occurs, it will suggest calling 911 (or the equivalent outside the US). If it receives no response within a minute, the watch will automatically place an emergency call and message friends and family designated as emergency contacts.
Only certain Apple Watch models support cellular calls, but those that don’t can still make emergency calls when near a paired iPhone or Wi-Fi service.
Apple says it monitored some 2,500 people — measuring how they fell off ladders, missed a step while walking or got their legs caught in their pants while getting dressed. It used that data to separate real falls from other heavy wrist movements, such as clapping and hammering.
The feature is available immediately worldwide and will turn on automatically for users 65 and over. Younger people can activate it in the settings.
“I can see kids buying one for their parents and grandparents,” analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights said.
But the Apple Watch still lacks one feature found in rival wrist gadgets: the ability to analyze sleep quality. Battery life in the new watch remains at 18 hours, meaning it needs a nightly recharge
In its fourth incarnation, called Series 4 and due out later this month, the Apple Watch will add features that allow it to take high-quality heart readings and detect falls. It’s part of Apple’s long-in-the-making strategy to give people a distinct reason to buy a wrist gadget that largely does things smartphones already do.
Since the Apple Watch launched in April 2015 , most people haven’t figured out why they need to buy one. Apple doesn’t release sales figures, but estimates from two analysts suggest the company shipped roughly 18 million watches in 2017. Apple sold almost 12 times as many iPhones — 216 million — last year.
Worldwide, about 48 million smartwatches are expected to be sold this year, compared with nearly 1.9 billion phones, according to the research firm Gartner.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has long emphasized the watch’s health and fitness-tracking capabilities. The original version featured a heart-rate sensor that fed data into fitness and workout apps so they could suggest new goals and offer digital “rewards” for fitness accomplishments.
Two years later, Apple called its watch “the ultimate device for a healthy life,” emphasizing water resistance for swimmers and built-in GPS for tracking runs or cycling workouts. In February, the company announced that the watch would track skiing and snowboarding runs , including data on speed and vertical descent.
The latest version, unveiled Wednesday, is pushing the health envelope even further — in particular by taking electrocardiograms, or EKGs, a feature given clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration, Apple said. The watch will also monitor for irregular heartbeats and can detect when the wearer has fallen, the company said.
EKGs are important tests of heart health and typically require a visit to the doctor. The feature gained an onstage endorsement from Ivor Benjamin, a cardiologist who is president of the American Heart Association. He said such real-time data would change the way doctors work.
Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen said the feature could turn smartwatches “from something people buy for prestige into something they buy for more practical reasons.”
It could also lead some health insurance plans to subsidize the cost of an Apple Watch, Nguyen said. That would help defray the $400 starting price for a device that still requires a companion iPhone, which can now cost more than $1,000.
Apple’s watch will use new sensors on the back and on the watch dial. A new app will say whether each reading is normal or shows signs of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rate that increases the risk of heart complications, such as stroke and heart failure.
Apple says the heart data can be shared with doctors through a PDF file, though it’s not yet clear how ready doctors are to receive a possible flood of new EKG data from patients — nor how useful they will find the electronic files.
Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, warned that the EKG feature could spur more tests than necessary, result in unnecessary prescriptions for blood thinners and overwhelm doctors with calls from patients who probably don’t need treatment.
He said that while the feature will probably save some lives and prevent strokes with early detection of heart trouble, “the ratio between the benefits and the costs remains a big unknown.”
Apple said the EKG feature will be available to US customers later this year, an indication that it may not be ready for launch.
Fall detection could also be significant, especially for elderly users. The new Apple Watch claims to be able to tell the difference between a trip and a fall — and when the latter occurs, it will suggest calling 911 (or the equivalent outside the US). If it receives no response within a minute, the watch will automatically place an emergency call and message friends and family designated as emergency contacts.
Only certain Apple Watch models support cellular calls, but those that don’t can still make emergency calls when near a paired iPhone or Wi-Fi service.
Apple says it monitored some 2,500 people — measuring how they fell off ladders, missed a step while walking or got their legs caught in their pants while getting dressed. It used that data to separate real falls from other heavy wrist movements, such as clapping and hammering.
The feature is available immediately worldwide and will turn on automatically for users 65 and over. Younger people can activate it in the settings.
“I can see kids buying one for their parents and grandparents,” analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights said.
But the Apple Watch still lacks one feature found in rival wrist gadgets: the ability to analyze sleep quality. Battery life in the new watch remains at 18 hours, meaning it needs a nightly recharge
BlackBerry has unveiled BlackBerry Spark, the only Enterprise of Things (EoT) platform designed and built for ultra-secure hyperconnectivity from the kernel to the edge.
Defined as the interconnectedness of people, organizations, and machines, hyperconnectivity is set to revolutionize the way people work and live. BlackBerry's new platform enables:
• OEMs to make complex 'things', like autonomous vehicles and industrial equipment which must have the highest levels of security and safety-certification, as well as consumer-friendly interfaces to complex processes and artificial intelligence (AI), such as voice-activated speakers with privacy protection designed in at the start.
• Enterprises to leverage AI and manage smart 'things' regardless of operating system (i.e., Android, iOS, Linux, QNX and Windows) via a single pane of glass, as well as snap-in existing platform services such as Android Things, AWS, Azure, and Watson.
• People to use and trust any hyperconnected 'thing' and the new experiences they enable by making military-grade security easy and intuitive to use. And, as the workforce continues to evolve, BlackBerry Spark will provide end users with the flexibility to move seamlessly and securely between their personal and work profiles.
BlackBerry Spark stands out in a fast-emerging market as the only platform designed and built for ultra-security and industry-specific safety-certifications, such as ISO 26262 in automobiles. As an open and extensible platform, BlackBerry Spark ships ready to "snap-in" IoT and other solutions from partners that include AWS, Baidu, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Samsung.
Sparking new ideas
BlackBerry Spark customers will be able to create entirely new user experiences that take advantage of hyperconnectivity. Below are some early examples of how BlackBerry customers can put EoT to work in their organizations.
• In a hospital, a patient's slowing heartbeat can trigger an alert to the right medical team and simultaneously prepare the patient's room for emergency care. This includes automatically raising the bed to the right level, starting up a ventilator or pump to deliver prescribed treatments, and bringing elevators to the floors where key personnel is located.
• Employees can soon put virtual assistants such as Alexa to work for the first time by giving them ultra-secure access to information and workflows they can't see today such as employee files, calendars, and emails.
• In transportation, BlackBerry Spark allows connected vehicles to communicate in real-time with other vehicles and critical infrastructure because the data transferred inside and outside the vehicle is encrypted and certified by BlackBerry Spark as genuine. For example, a salt truck could be deployed automatically to address a patch of black ice after receiving a notification from a connected vehicle.
"BlackBerry smartphones sparked a mobile-first revolution that changed the way most of the world lives and works," said executive chairman and CEO, BlackBerry, John Chen.
"The ultimate outcome of this inevitable convergence of ubiquitous mobility and computing power will likely turn on the cybersecurity decisions we make collectively over the next few years," added v.
"CCS Insight has long predicted the convergence of mobility, end user computing and the internet of objects inside businesses as computing technologies become increasingly ubiquitous and integrated across our work and personal lives," said VP Enterprise Research, CCS Insight, Nicholas McQuire.
"BlackBerry Spark is a bold but necessary step in helping organizations bridge these worlds, creating new connected experiences whilst simplifying and improving security from the chip to the edge," added McQuire.
"The rapidly expanding IoT universe contains within it a nasty surprise, every connected device is a potential access point for an attacker wanting to penetrate the network to do damage or steal personal data," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst, Enderle Group.
Unmatched privacy, compliance, and security
BlackBerry has long been fully committed to the principles of never monetizing client data and protecting customer privacy to the full extent of the law. BlackBerry believes that security and privacy are essential for people and machines to confidently trust what sensors and other endpoints are reporting.
BlackBerry Spark leverages the company's deep portfolio of technology that has earned 80+ certifications, which is more than any other IoT vendor. It includes FIPS-validated, app-level, AES 256-bit encryption to ensure data is always protected on a device, across the mobile network, and into a company's infrastructure. BlackBerry Spark will enable organizations to comply with stringent multi-national regulatory requirements. In fact, BlackBerry is the only EoT platform provider to achieve Common Criteria EAL4+ for both iOS and Android
Defined as the interconnectedness of people, organizations, and machines, hyperconnectivity is set to revolutionize the way people work and live. BlackBerry's new platform enables:
• OEMs to make complex 'things', like autonomous vehicles and industrial equipment which must have the highest levels of security and safety-certification, as well as consumer-friendly interfaces to complex processes and artificial intelligence (AI), such as voice-activated speakers with privacy protection designed in at the start.
• Enterprises to leverage AI and manage smart 'things' regardless of operating system (i.e., Android, iOS, Linux, QNX and Windows) via a single pane of glass, as well as snap-in existing platform services such as Android Things, AWS, Azure, and Watson.
• People to use and trust any hyperconnected 'thing' and the new experiences they enable by making military-grade security easy and intuitive to use. And, as the workforce continues to evolve, BlackBerry Spark will provide end users with the flexibility to move seamlessly and securely between their personal and work profiles.
BlackBerry Spark stands out in a fast-emerging market as the only platform designed and built for ultra-security and industry-specific safety-certifications, such as ISO 26262 in automobiles. As an open and extensible platform, BlackBerry Spark ships ready to "snap-in" IoT and other solutions from partners that include AWS, Baidu, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Samsung.
Sparking new ideas
BlackBerry Spark customers will be able to create entirely new user experiences that take advantage of hyperconnectivity. Below are some early examples of how BlackBerry customers can put EoT to work in their organizations.
• In a hospital, a patient's slowing heartbeat can trigger an alert to the right medical team and simultaneously prepare the patient's room for emergency care. This includes automatically raising the bed to the right level, starting up a ventilator or pump to deliver prescribed treatments, and bringing elevators to the floors where key personnel is located.
• Employees can soon put virtual assistants such as Alexa to work for the first time by giving them ultra-secure access to information and workflows they can't see today such as employee files, calendars, and emails.
• In transportation, BlackBerry Spark allows connected vehicles to communicate in real-time with other vehicles and critical infrastructure because the data transferred inside and outside the vehicle is encrypted and certified by BlackBerry Spark as genuine. For example, a salt truck could be deployed automatically to address a patch of black ice after receiving a notification from a connected vehicle.
"BlackBerry smartphones sparked a mobile-first revolution that changed the way most of the world lives and works," said executive chairman and CEO, BlackBerry, John Chen.
"The ultimate outcome of this inevitable convergence of ubiquitous mobility and computing power will likely turn on the cybersecurity decisions we make collectively over the next few years," added v.
"CCS Insight has long predicted the convergence of mobility, end user computing and the internet of objects inside businesses as computing technologies become increasingly ubiquitous and integrated across our work and personal lives," said VP Enterprise Research, CCS Insight, Nicholas McQuire.
"BlackBerry Spark is a bold but necessary step in helping organizations bridge these worlds, creating new connected experiences whilst simplifying and improving security from the chip to the edge," added McQuire.
"The rapidly expanding IoT universe contains within it a nasty surprise, every connected device is a potential access point for an attacker wanting to penetrate the network to do damage or steal personal data," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst, Enderle Group.
Unmatched privacy, compliance, and security
BlackBerry has long been fully committed to the principles of never monetizing client data and protecting customer privacy to the full extent of the law. BlackBerry believes that security and privacy are essential for people and machines to confidently trust what sensors and other endpoints are reporting.
BlackBerry Spark leverages the company's deep portfolio of technology that has earned 80+ certifications, which is more than any other IoT vendor. It includes FIPS-validated, app-level, AES 256-bit encryption to ensure data is always protected on a device, across the mobile network, and into a company's infrastructure. BlackBerry Spark will enable organizations to comply with stringent multi-national regulatory requirements. In fact, BlackBerry is the only EoT platform provider to achieve Common Criteria EAL4+ for both iOS and Android
A big screen change for Sony
Update: We've had the phone for two days, here's what we think so far, expect the full review in the coming week.
The Sony Xperia XZ3's OLED screen with Bravia technology is without a doubt, the best smartphone screen we've ever seen from Sony. In fact, this could be the best screen we've ever seen from any manufacturer to date - it's that good.
Two days in, and it isn't just the screen that's impressing us. The premium design and the fact it's running the latest version of Android all come together beautifully. With plenty of power and a respectable battery capacity, it also looks good from a specs point of view.
Having said that, the camera is the same module as that found on the Xperia XZ2 and XZ1 before it, neither of which were best in class. All said and done though, is the XZ3 a phone we would recommend?
You're reading our early impressions after 48hrs with the XZ3, check back in the coming week for our full review.
Display
The screen on the Xperia XZ3 is the core upgrade, and you can expect to see Sony start pushing this tech as being among the best on the market.
First off, the 18:9 aspect ratio and no notch design seen on the Xperia XZ2 is back here, but that's all the company has brought forward from the last generation phone when it comes to the screen.
There's a 6-inch screen squeezed in here, and Sony is embracing a new tech for the first time on its phone range.
Specifically, the Xperia XZ3 includes OLED tech for the first time – usually Sony uses IPS LCD panels – and it comes from the company’s BRAVIA tech division too. It's a similar tech to what the company uses for its Sony A1 TV range.
This screen tech makes video and images look bright, vivid and striking as soon as you lock eyes with the phone. It made a genuine impact, and its QHD+ resolution is more than enough to make video look great.
After two days of use, it's clear that the default display settings showcase a wonderful balance of deep, slightly muted colour, plenty of detail with an incredibly broad tonal range.
There’s less punch, pop and contrast than found in phones like the samsung galaxy Note 9 That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, with the results producing more of an HDR look. This applies to everything from pictures right through to the user interface.
So while Sony may be late to the OLED game, but boy are we glad they’ve arrived
The display tech will upscale content to varying degrees depending on the quality you’re watching. If you’re watching a Full HD video on YouTube, the phone should be able to upscale it almost to QHD resolution.
Unlike most other flagship phones in 2018, the Xperia XZ3 doesn’t feature a notch even though it has an 18:9 aspect ratio. Instead the company has opted to keep thicker bezels along the top and bottom of the display to house the speakers and front-facing camera tech.
For those who don’t like notches, you may be excited by this prospect, but even if you don’t mind a notch you likely won’t be disappointed here as the bezels along the top and bottom are still fairly thin considering each houses a speaker and more
This ability is called Side Sense and it gives you a quick way to open up apps on your phone. Double tap on the side of the display and it will open up a quick launch menu with all of your favorite apps listed in one place.
Want to go back a step within an app? Just slide your finger down the side of the screen for a bit and it will step back. It will even allow you to take photos by tapping the display edge within the camera app.
After two days of using the phone, Side Sense has definitely been more miss than hit. Activating multiple times unintentionally, failing to fire up at other times and loading after a significant delay if activated for the first time in a while – it definitely isn’t as polished as the rest of the UI.
It is useful when it works though, giving you quick access to predefined apps within easy reach. The smart, AI shortcut mode, which populates apps based on your usage also seems to learn quickly.
With any luck, stability and speed of the feature will be refined in updates, then it could be something we’d recommend keeping turned on. Until then, you may want to deactivate it if the continual misfires get on your nerves.
Design
If you’ve seen the Xpeira XZ2, you’ll know a lot of the design language here. There's a 3mm aluminum frame around the outside of the phone, with glass that protrudes from that making it much thicker. It's actually quite thick as a whole at 9.9mm, but we didn't particularly notice that when holding it in the hand.
There’s curved glass on the rear of the phone too, which probably helps it feel thinner. Both the front and back are protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and it comes in a selection of four different colors: black, white silver, forest green and Bordeaux red.
Black and white look good, but we particularly liked the red and green variants as they look different to a lot of other devices on the market. The darker shades help it look premium, but we found the back of the phone to be a bit of a fingerprint magnet even though we only used the phone for an hour or so.
After two days of usage, the XZ3 still feels and looks sleek, from both front and the back. It slides comfortably into a pocket and feels incredibly rich in the hand. We have the Bordeaux red version and it is standout – and despite the fact it attracts fingerprints readily, it isn’t as bad as many devices we’ve seen with similar glass finishes.
The bottom edge of the Xperia XZ3 features a USB-C port, but there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone so you’ll have to use Bluetooth headsets or an adaptor in order to be able to listen to audio privately on the move
Update: We've had the phone for two days, here's what we think so far, expect the full review in the coming week.
The Sony Xperia XZ3's OLED screen with Bravia technology is without a doubt, the best smartphone screen we've ever seen from Sony. In fact, this could be the best screen we've ever seen from any manufacturer to date - it's that good.
Two days in, and it isn't just the screen that's impressing us. The premium design and the fact it's running the latest version of Android all come together beautifully. With plenty of power and a respectable battery capacity, it also looks good from a specs point of view.
Having said that, the camera is the same module as that found on the Xperia XZ2 and XZ1 before it, neither of which were best in class. All said and done though, is the XZ3 a phone we would recommend?
You're reading our early impressions after 48hrs with the XZ3, check back in the coming week for our full review.
Display
The screen on the Xperia XZ3 is the core upgrade, and you can expect to see Sony start pushing this tech as being among the best on the market.
First off, the 18:9 aspect ratio and no notch design seen on the Xperia XZ2 is back here, but that's all the company has brought forward from the last generation phone when it comes to the screen.
There's a 6-inch screen squeezed in here, and Sony is embracing a new tech for the first time on its phone range.
Specifically, the Xperia XZ3 includes OLED tech for the first time – usually Sony uses IPS LCD panels – and it comes from the company’s BRAVIA tech division too. It's a similar tech to what the company uses for its Sony A1 TV range.
This screen tech makes video and images look bright, vivid and striking as soon as you lock eyes with the phone. It made a genuine impact, and its QHD+ resolution is more than enough to make video look great.
After two days of use, it's clear that the default display settings showcase a wonderful balance of deep, slightly muted colour, plenty of detail with an incredibly broad tonal range.
There’s less punch, pop and contrast than found in phones like the samsung galaxy Note 9 That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, with the results producing more of an HDR look. This applies to everything from pictures right through to the user interface.
So while Sony may be late to the OLED game, but boy are we glad they’ve arrived
The display tech will upscale content to varying degrees depending on the quality you’re watching. If you’re watching a Full HD video on YouTube, the phone should be able to upscale it almost to QHD resolution.
Unlike most other flagship phones in 2018, the Xperia XZ3 doesn’t feature a notch even though it has an 18:9 aspect ratio. Instead the company has opted to keep thicker bezels along the top and bottom of the display to house the speakers and front-facing camera tech.
For those who don’t like notches, you may be excited by this prospect, but even if you don’t mind a notch you likely won’t be disappointed here as the bezels along the top and bottom are still fairly thin considering each houses a speaker and more
This ability is called Side Sense and it gives you a quick way to open up apps on your phone. Double tap on the side of the display and it will open up a quick launch menu with all of your favorite apps listed in one place.
Want to go back a step within an app? Just slide your finger down the side of the screen for a bit and it will step back. It will even allow you to take photos by tapping the display edge within the camera app.
After two days of using the phone, Side Sense has definitely been more miss than hit. Activating multiple times unintentionally, failing to fire up at other times and loading after a significant delay if activated for the first time in a while – it definitely isn’t as polished as the rest of the UI.
It is useful when it works though, giving you quick access to predefined apps within easy reach. The smart, AI shortcut mode, which populates apps based on your usage also seems to learn quickly.
With any luck, stability and speed of the feature will be refined in updates, then it could be something we’d recommend keeping turned on. Until then, you may want to deactivate it if the continual misfires get on your nerves.
Design
If you’ve seen the Xpeira XZ2, you’ll know a lot of the design language here. There's a 3mm aluminum frame around the outside of the phone, with glass that protrudes from that making it much thicker. It's actually quite thick as a whole at 9.9mm, but we didn't particularly notice that when holding it in the hand.
There’s curved glass on the rear of the phone too, which probably helps it feel thinner. Both the front and back are protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and it comes in a selection of four different colors: black, white silver, forest green and Bordeaux red.
Black and white look good, but we particularly liked the red and green variants as they look different to a lot of other devices on the market. The darker shades help it look premium, but we found the back of the phone to be a bit of a fingerprint magnet even though we only used the phone for an hour or so.
After two days of usage, the XZ3 still feels and looks sleek, from both front and the back. It slides comfortably into a pocket and feels incredibly rich in the hand. We have the Bordeaux red version and it is standout – and despite the fact it attracts fingerprints readily, it isn’t as bad as many devices we’ve seen with similar glass finishes.
The bottom edge of the Xperia XZ3 features a USB-C port, but there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone so you’ll have to use Bluetooth headsets or an adaptor in order to be able to listen to audio privately on the move
Kids learn better with a friend. They're more enthusiastic and understand more if they dig into a subject with a companion. But what if that companion is artificial?
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have built a robot, named Minnie, to serve as a reading buddy to middle school kids, and Minnie's new friends grew more excited about books and more attached to the robot over two weeks of reading together.
"After one interaction, the kids were generally telling us that, sure, it was nice to have someone to read with," says Joseph Michaelis, a UW-Madison graduate student studying educational psychology. "But by the end of two weeks, they're talking about how the robot was funny and silly and afraid, and how they'd come home looking forward to seeing it again."
Michaelis and computer sciences professor Bilge Mutlu published their work with Minnie on Wednesday (Aug. 22) in the journal Science Robotics.
Research shows thatsocoal learing—pairing up with a peer to complete math problems or read a chapter in a textbook—is a powerful way to help students develop skills and interests, according to Michaelis. It improves students' comprehension by distributing the cognitive workload and reinforcing understanding through dialogue.
"Most interesting to me is that we know social learning strengthens interest and motivation," says Michaelis, who taught high school science before returning to graduate school. "A lot of kids who don't like reading, in particular, point out that it's an isolated activity, and people just sort of accept that isolation. But it can be demotivating and harder to learn and understand in that situation."
Michaelis and Mutlu believe companion robots will soon be a fixture in homes, and they wondered if those robots could serve as social learning companions for kids.
They designed a two-week reading program including 25 books representing a range of reading skill and story complexity, and programmed Minnie to be an interested listener. The children in the study read aloud to the robot, which could track their progress in the book and react to the story—every few pages or so, especially during important moments in the plot—with one of hundreds of preprogrammed comments
The goal is to try to make it as genuinely conversational as possible. If you were reading a book to me, and I was surprised, I'd say something like, "Wow, I didn't see that coming!" Michaelis says. "When a scary part of the book happens, the robot says, 'Oh, wow, I'm really scared.' It reacts like it would if it had a real personality."
With simple, oversized black eyes on a relatively featureless white globe of a head, Minnie can react and cajole and summarize and appear thoughtful. It even starts by following an initial introductory read by recommending (via an algorithm) a good book from its library of titles, which include the familiar Harry Potter and Goosebumps series and genre classics like "A Wrinkle in Time."
"That match is crucial. If you're trying to make a social connection with someone, and they say, 'You'd love this book,' and they're totally wrong? That ruins that credibility," Michaelis says. "Most kids said the robot did a good job suggesting books to them."
The connection grew from there. The number of children who told researchers the robot has a personality or emotions increased more than fourfold over the two weeks readers spent with Minnie. The number reporting they were motivated to read also spiked—and surpassed a control group following a paper-based version of the reading program. And kids who read with Minnie said they felt like they understood and remembered more about the shared books.
Mutlu, who studies human-robot interaction, said the illusion of personality in a robot is so fragile, it often breaks down in a matter of minutes.
"We're getting more used to interacting with things that talk to us now, with Siri and Alexa and others. When they are behaving in a way that kind of reveals their technical flaws or limitations, you realize immediately you're not having an actual conversation," Mutlu says. "The biggest shock in our study is that two weeks later, the kids are still relating to the character—rather than saying, 'This is stupid. I'm not talking to your robot anymore.'"
He attributes that success to the care taken in developing Minnie's speech repertoire, and also to a sweet spot robots enjoy among the age group in the study—a group that may be emotionally sophisticated enough to make connections, but not wary or snarky enough to push the envelope.
"The children are a match to the robot's capabilities, and vice versa," Mutlu says. "This robot supports an engaging reading activity, but it's not a social companion to the extent that you could have an open conversation with it. If you had a much more capable robot, that picture might change."
Not that other family members were left out. Minnie's homestays got to be comfy visits, with the robot and humans sprawled on the floor or propped up on beds with pillows.
"I had families send me pictures of themselves dressing up the robot. I'd get the box back, and it would have sorts of extra books in it that were just from the kids' shelves, just thrown in there. All kinds of random paper, markers, crayons," Michaelis says. "Your experiments don't get to live like that—to get that authenticity—in a lab."
Michaelis and Mutlu, whose work is supported by the National Science Foundation, see Minnie helping to spur otherwise reluctant students on in all sorts of academic tasks, and have already begun testing a version of the robot that shares in science studies. They hope to try out periods of interaction even longer than two weeks—an eternity for a robot interaction, but a blink of an eye in the development of a child.
They expect social learning functions could be part of a companion robot shared by a whole family, but acknowledge that future as fraught with design concerns over how to craft an engaging personality for users at different ages, protect family members' privacy and maintain the hard-won trust of a child that will also see therobot having private interactions with parents.
"This idea is in its infancy. But now we know if you really, carefully design this, it can actually sustain interaction and heighten kids' emotional experience with reading," Mutlu says. "That's a huge achievement."
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have built a robot, named Minnie, to serve as a reading buddy to middle school kids, and Minnie's new friends grew more excited about books and more attached to the robot over two weeks of reading together.
"After one interaction, the kids were generally telling us that, sure, it was nice to have someone to read with," says Joseph Michaelis, a UW-Madison graduate student studying educational psychology. "But by the end of two weeks, they're talking about how the robot was funny and silly and afraid, and how they'd come home looking forward to seeing it again."
Michaelis and computer sciences professor Bilge Mutlu published their work with Minnie on Wednesday (Aug. 22) in the journal Science Robotics.
Research shows thatsocoal learing—pairing up with a peer to complete math problems or read a chapter in a textbook—is a powerful way to help students develop skills and interests, according to Michaelis. It improves students' comprehension by distributing the cognitive workload and reinforcing understanding through dialogue.
"Most interesting to me is that we know social learning strengthens interest and motivation," says Michaelis, who taught high school science before returning to graduate school. "A lot of kids who don't like reading, in particular, point out that it's an isolated activity, and people just sort of accept that isolation. But it can be demotivating and harder to learn and understand in that situation."
Michaelis and Mutlu believe companion robots will soon be a fixture in homes, and they wondered if those robots could serve as social learning companions for kids.
They designed a two-week reading program including 25 books representing a range of reading skill and story complexity, and programmed Minnie to be an interested listener. The children in the study read aloud to the robot, which could track their progress in the book and react to the story—every few pages or so, especially during important moments in the plot—with one of hundreds of preprogrammed comments
The goal is to try to make it as genuinely conversational as possible. If you were reading a book to me, and I was surprised, I'd say something like, "Wow, I didn't see that coming!" Michaelis says. "When a scary part of the book happens, the robot says, 'Oh, wow, I'm really scared.' It reacts like it would if it had a real personality."
With simple, oversized black eyes on a relatively featureless white globe of a head, Minnie can react and cajole and summarize and appear thoughtful. It even starts by following an initial introductory read by recommending (via an algorithm) a good book from its library of titles, which include the familiar Harry Potter and Goosebumps series and genre classics like "A Wrinkle in Time."
"That match is crucial. If you're trying to make a social connection with someone, and they say, 'You'd love this book,' and they're totally wrong? That ruins that credibility," Michaelis says. "Most kids said the robot did a good job suggesting books to them."
The connection grew from there. The number of children who told researchers the robot has a personality or emotions increased more than fourfold over the two weeks readers spent with Minnie. The number reporting they were motivated to read also spiked—and surpassed a control group following a paper-based version of the reading program. And kids who read with Minnie said they felt like they understood and remembered more about the shared books.
Mutlu, who studies human-robot interaction, said the illusion of personality in a robot is so fragile, it often breaks down in a matter of minutes.
"We're getting more used to interacting with things that talk to us now, with Siri and Alexa and others. When they are behaving in a way that kind of reveals their technical flaws or limitations, you realize immediately you're not having an actual conversation," Mutlu says. "The biggest shock in our study is that two weeks later, the kids are still relating to the character—rather than saying, 'This is stupid. I'm not talking to your robot anymore.'"
He attributes that success to the care taken in developing Minnie's speech repertoire, and also to a sweet spot robots enjoy among the age group in the study—a group that may be emotionally sophisticated enough to make connections, but not wary or snarky enough to push the envelope.
"The children are a match to the robot's capabilities, and vice versa," Mutlu says. "This robot supports an engaging reading activity, but it's not a social companion to the extent that you could have an open conversation with it. If you had a much more capable robot, that picture might change."
Not that other family members were left out. Minnie's homestays got to be comfy visits, with the robot and humans sprawled on the floor or propped up on beds with pillows.
"I had families send me pictures of themselves dressing up the robot. I'd get the box back, and it would have sorts of extra books in it that were just from the kids' shelves, just thrown in there. All kinds of random paper, markers, crayons," Michaelis says. "Your experiments don't get to live like that—to get that authenticity—in a lab."
Michaelis and Mutlu, whose work is supported by the National Science Foundation, see Minnie helping to spur otherwise reluctant students on in all sorts of academic tasks, and have already begun testing a version of the robot that shares in science studies. They hope to try out periods of interaction even longer than two weeks—an eternity for a robot interaction, but a blink of an eye in the development of a child.
They expect social learning functions could be part of a companion robot shared by a whole family, but acknowledge that future as fraught with design concerns over how to craft an engaging personality for users at different ages, protect family members' privacy and maintain the hard-won trust of a child that will also see therobot having private interactions with parents.
"This idea is in its infancy. But now we know if you really, carefully design this, it can actually sustain interaction and heighten kids' emotional experience with reading," Mutlu says. "That's a huge achievement."
Showing prejudice towards others does not require a high level of cognitive ability and could easily be exhibited by artificially intelligent machines, new research has suggested
Computer science and psychology experts from Cardiff University and MIT have shown that groups of autonomous machines could demonstrate prejudice by simply identifying, copying and learning this behaviour from one another.
It may seem that prejudice is a human-specific phenomenon that requires human cognition to form an opinion of, or to stereotype, a certain person or group.
Though some types of computer algorithms have already exhibited prejudice, such as racism and sexism, based on learning from public records and other data generated by humans, this new work demonstrates the possibility of AI evolving prejudicial groups on their own
The new findings, which have been published in the journal Scientific Reports, are based on computer simulations of how similarly prejudiced individuals, or virtual agents, can form a group and interact with each other.
In a game of give and take, each individual makes a decision as to whether they donate to somebody inside of their own group or in a different group, based on an individual's reputation as well as their own donating strategy, which includes their levels of prejudice towards outsiders.
As the game unfolds and a supercomputer racks up thousands of simulations, each individual begins to learn new strategies by copying others either within their own group or the entire . population
Co-author of the study Professor Roger Whitaker, from Cardiff University's Crime and Security Research Institute and the School of Computer Science and Informatics, said: "By running these simulations thousands and thousands of times over, we begin to get an understanding of how prejudice evolves and the conditions that promote or impede it.
"Our simulations show that prejudice is a powerful force of nature and through evolution, it can easily become incentivised in virtual populations, to the detriment of wider connectivity with others. Protection from prejudicial groups can inadvertently lead to individuals forming further prejudicial groups, resulting in a fractured population. Such widespread prejudice is hard to reverse."
The findings involve individuals updating their prejudice levels by preferentially copying those that gain a higher short term payoff, meaning that these decisions do not necessarily require advanced cognitive abilities.
"It is feasible that automachnical machine with the ability to identify with discrimination and copy others could in future be susceptible to prejudicial phenomena that we see in the human population," Professor Whitaker continued.
"Many of the AI developments that we are seeing involve autonomy and self-control, meaning that the behaviour of devices is also influenced by others around them. Vehicles and the Internet of Things are two recent examples. Our study gives a theoretical insight where simulated agents periodically call upon others for some kind of resource."
A further interesting finding from the study was that under particular conditions, which include more distinct subpopulations being present within a population, it was more difficult for prejudice to take hold.
"With a greater number of subpopulations, alliances of non-prejudicial groups can cooperate without being exploited. This also diminishes their status as a minority, reducing the susceptibility to prejudice taking hold. However, this also requires circumstances where agents have a higher disposition towards interacting outside of their group," Professor Whitaker concluded
Computer science and psychology experts from Cardiff University and MIT have shown that groups of autonomous machines could demonstrate prejudice by simply identifying, copying and learning this behaviour from one another.
It may seem that prejudice is a human-specific phenomenon that requires human cognition to form an opinion of, or to stereotype, a certain person or group.
Though some types of computer algorithms have already exhibited prejudice, such as racism and sexism, based on learning from public records and other data generated by humans, this new work demonstrates the possibility of AI evolving prejudicial groups on their own
The new findings, which have been published in the journal Scientific Reports, are based on computer simulations of how similarly prejudiced individuals, or virtual agents, can form a group and interact with each other.
In a game of give and take, each individual makes a decision as to whether they donate to somebody inside of their own group or in a different group, based on an individual's reputation as well as their own donating strategy, which includes their levels of prejudice towards outsiders.
As the game unfolds and a supercomputer racks up thousands of simulations, each individual begins to learn new strategies by copying others either within their own group or the entire . population
Co-author of the study Professor Roger Whitaker, from Cardiff University's Crime and Security Research Institute and the School of Computer Science and Informatics, said: "By running these simulations thousands and thousands of times over, we begin to get an understanding of how prejudice evolves and the conditions that promote or impede it.
"Our simulations show that prejudice is a powerful force of nature and through evolution, it can easily become incentivised in virtual populations, to the detriment of wider connectivity with others. Protection from prejudicial groups can inadvertently lead to individuals forming further prejudicial groups, resulting in a fractured population. Such widespread prejudice is hard to reverse."
The findings involve individuals updating their prejudice levels by preferentially copying those that gain a higher short term payoff, meaning that these decisions do not necessarily require advanced cognitive abilities.
"It is feasible that automachnical machine with the ability to identify with discrimination and copy others could in future be susceptible to prejudicial phenomena that we see in the human population," Professor Whitaker continued.
"Many of the AI developments that we are seeing involve autonomy and self-control, meaning that the behaviour of devices is also influenced by others around them. Vehicles and the Internet of Things are two recent examples. Our study gives a theoretical insight where simulated agents periodically call upon others for some kind of resource."
A further interesting finding from the study was that under particular conditions, which include more distinct subpopulations being present within a population, it was more difficult for prejudice to take hold.
"With a greater number of subpopulations, alliances of non-prejudicial groups can cooperate without being exploited. This also diminishes their status as a minority, reducing the susceptibility to prejudice taking hold. However, this also requires circumstances where agents have a higher disposition towards interacting outside of their group," Professor Whitaker concluded
Humans have long been masters of dexterity, a skill that can largely be credited to the help of our eyes. Robots, meanwhile, are still catching up. Certainly there's been some progress: for decades robots in controlled environments like assembly lines have been able to pick up the same object over and over again
More recently, breakthroughs in computer vision have enabled robots to make basic distinctions between objects, but even then, they don't truly understand objects' shapes, so there's little they can do after a quick pick-up.
In a new paper, researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), say that they've made a key development in this area of work: a system that lets robots inspect random objects, and visually understand them enough to accomplish specific tasks without ever having seen them before.
The system, dubbed "Dense Object Nets" (DON), looks at objects as collections of points that serve as "visual roadmaps" of sorts. This approach lets robots better understand and manipulate items, and, most importantly, allows them to even pick up a specific object among a clutter of similar objects—a valuable skill for the kinds of machines that companies like Amazon and Walmart use in their warehouses.
For example, someone might use DON to get a robot to grab onto a specific spot on an object—say, the tongue of a shoe. From that, it can look at a shoe it has never seen before, and successfully grab its tongue.
"Many approaches to manipulation can't identify specific parts of an object across the many orientations that object may encounter," says Ph.D. student Lucas Manuelli, who wrote a new paper about the system with lead author and fellow Ph.D. student Pete Florence, alongside MIT professor Russ Tedrake. "For example, existing algorithms would be unable to grasp a mug by its handle, especially if the mug could be in multiple orientations, like upright, or on its side."
The team views potential applications not just in manufacturing settings, but also in homes. Imagine giving the system an image of a tidy house, and letting it clean while you're at work, or using an image of dishes so that the system puts your plates away while you're on vacation.
What's also noteworthy is that none of the data was actually labeled by humans; rather, the system is "self-supervised," so it doesn't require any human annotations
Two common approaches to robot grasping involve either task-specific learning, or creating a general grasping algorithm. These techniques both have obstacles: task-specific methods are difficult to generalize to other tasks, and general grasping doesn't get specific enough to deal with the nuances of particular tasks, like putting objects in specific spots.
The DON system, however, essentially creates a series of coordinates on a given object, which serve as a kind of "visual roadmap" of the objects, to give the robot a better understanding of what it needs to grasp, and where.
The team trained the system to look at objects as a series of points that make up a larger coordinate system. It can then map different points together to visualize an object's 3-D shape, similar to how panoramic photos are stitched together from multiple photos. After training, if a person specifies a point on a object, the robot can take a photo of that object, and identify and match points to be able to then pick up the object at that specified point.
This is different from systems like UC-Berkeley's DexNet, which can grasp many different items, but can't satisfy a specific request. Imagine an infant at 18-months old, who doesn't understand which toy you want it to play with but can still grab lots of items, versus a four-year old who can respond to "go grab your truck by the red end of it."
In one set of tests done on a soft caterpillar toy, a Kuka robotic arm powered by DON could grasp the toy's right ear from a range of different configurations. This showed that, among other things, the system has the ability to distinguish left from right on symmetrical objects.
When testing on a bin of different baseball hats, DON could pick out a specific target hat despite all of the hats having very similar designs—and having never seen pictures of the hats in training data before.
"In factories robots often need complex part feeders to work reliably," says Manuelli. "But a system like this that can understand objects' orientations could just take a picture and be able to grasp and adjust the object accordingly."
In the future, the team hopes to improve the system to a place where it can perform specific tasks with a deeper understanding of the corresponding objects, like learning how to grasp an object and move it with the ultimate goal of say, cleaning a desk.
The team will present their paper on the system next month at the Conference on Robot Learning in Zürich, Switzerland
More recently, breakthroughs in computer vision have enabled robots to make basic distinctions between objects, but even then, they don't truly understand objects' shapes, so there's little they can do after a quick pick-up.
In a new paper, researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), say that they've made a key development in this area of work: a system that lets robots inspect random objects, and visually understand them enough to accomplish specific tasks without ever having seen them before.
The system, dubbed "Dense Object Nets" (DON), looks at objects as collections of points that serve as "visual roadmaps" of sorts. This approach lets robots better understand and manipulate items, and, most importantly, allows them to even pick up a specific object among a clutter of similar objects—a valuable skill for the kinds of machines that companies like Amazon and Walmart use in their warehouses.
For example, someone might use DON to get a robot to grab onto a specific spot on an object—say, the tongue of a shoe. From that, it can look at a shoe it has never seen before, and successfully grab its tongue.
"Many approaches to manipulation can't identify specific parts of an object across the many orientations that object may encounter," says Ph.D. student Lucas Manuelli, who wrote a new paper about the system with lead author and fellow Ph.D. student Pete Florence, alongside MIT professor Russ Tedrake. "For example, existing algorithms would be unable to grasp a mug by its handle, especially if the mug could be in multiple orientations, like upright, or on its side."
The team views potential applications not just in manufacturing settings, but also in homes. Imagine giving the system an image of a tidy house, and letting it clean while you're at work, or using an image of dishes so that the system puts your plates away while you're on vacation.
What's also noteworthy is that none of the data was actually labeled by humans; rather, the system is "self-supervised," so it doesn't require any human annotations
Two common approaches to robot grasping involve either task-specific learning, or creating a general grasping algorithm. These techniques both have obstacles: task-specific methods are difficult to generalize to other tasks, and general grasping doesn't get specific enough to deal with the nuances of particular tasks, like putting objects in specific spots.
The DON system, however, essentially creates a series of coordinates on a given object, which serve as a kind of "visual roadmap" of the objects, to give the robot a better understanding of what it needs to grasp, and where.
The team trained the system to look at objects as a series of points that make up a larger coordinate system. It can then map different points together to visualize an object's 3-D shape, similar to how panoramic photos are stitched together from multiple photos. After training, if a person specifies a point on a object, the robot can take a photo of that object, and identify and match points to be able to then pick up the object at that specified point.
This is different from systems like UC-Berkeley's DexNet, which can grasp many different items, but can't satisfy a specific request. Imagine an infant at 18-months old, who doesn't understand which toy you want it to play with but can still grab lots of items, versus a four-year old who can respond to "go grab your truck by the red end of it."
In one set of tests done on a soft caterpillar toy, a Kuka robotic arm powered by DON could grasp the toy's right ear from a range of different configurations. This showed that, among other things, the system has the ability to distinguish left from right on symmetrical objects.
When testing on a bin of different baseball hats, DON could pick out a specific target hat despite all of the hats having very similar designs—and having never seen pictures of the hats in training data before.
"In factories robots often need complex part feeders to work reliably," says Manuelli. "But a system like this that can understand objects' orientations could just take a picture and be able to grasp and adjust the object accordingly."
In the future, the team hopes to improve the system to a place where it can perform specific tasks with a deeper understanding of the corresponding objects, like learning how to grasp an object and move it with the ultimate goal of say, cleaning a desk.
The team will present their paper on the system next month at the Conference on Robot Learning in Zürich, Switzerland
The European auto industry has a fear when it comes to the advent of autonomous driving.
It's that Europe is falling behind in the new technology race, losing the competitive advantage to companies in the U.S. and China, where advanced research is occurring faster and more freely.
Johann Jungwirth, for one, is visibly frustrated.
Volkswagen Group's chief digital officer knows that automotive companies are locked in a battle with tech companies for leadership in autonomous driving.
Jungwirth, a former Apple engineer, fears European regulations are hampering efforts to bring VW's battery-powered Sedric concept to market. VW management has decided to move Sedric, short for "self-driving car," into production. But instead of in VW's home market of Germany, it will launch first in the U.S.
"My goal is to be in the first U.S. cities with driverless cars in 2021," Jungwirth said as he presented the latest iteration of the car in Hanover, Germany. After that will come a rollout in China, Singapore and in Middle Eastern cities such as Dubai. "And then comes Europe. We would love to come earlier since it's our home market, but the legislation just isn't there."
European leaders and consumers are well aware of the potential of autonomous driving. Every year, half a million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in Germany alone could be saved by eliminating the search for parking spaces, which studies show account for up to 30 percent of inner-city traffic. Every year 1.25 million people die around the world, and as many as 50 million are injured in road traffic accidents, according to United Nations statistics. Every year children, the elderly or the physically challenged have little or no access to individual mobility
VW's Sedric and others like it could change that. Vehicles legally permitted to operate without any driver behind the wheel would revolutionize transportation.
But there are challenges.
Roadblocks
Carmakers looking to test vehicles such as the Sedric in small-scale pilot operations prefer California over Europe — at least initially. Many carmakers have teams of engineers around Silicon Valley, the population is tech-savvy and open to innovation, the streets are much wider, weather conditions are usually ideal and the state government supports them.
By comparison, one major roadblock in Europe is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, a standards-setting body responsible for regulating the homologation and use of motor vehicles. Roughly 60 countries participate in the oversight of European traffic, and no consensus has been reached over the rollout of self-driving vehicles. Regulators are focused on more gradual innovations.
Virtually the entire continent is governed by the U.N.'s Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. This largely restricts the use of self-driving vehicles on public roads to limited testing scenarios, and legalizing their commercial operation is years from becoming reality.
"We really have a competitive disadvantage because of the UNECE," said Jungwirth, who worries that those late to the market might end up fighting over the scraps left behind. "The winner could take it all."
No alignment
Responding to the criticism, the UNECE introduced a procedure that lets companies apply for a special exemption for a vehicle such as the Sedric. This is now subject to debate among UNECE member states, however, meaning the outcome of negotiations is uncertain and at least a four-fifths majority would need to vote in favor.
Neither the U.S. nor China has aligned its laws with European regulations on road traffic or type approval. This allows those nations to respond faster to technological advances, but also creates a patchwork of regulatory environments for carmakers.
"Progress must not stop at national borders," argued Daimler board member Renata Jungo Brüngger. "Legislation must keep up with technical progress, otherwise paramount innovations for automated and autonomous driving cannot be brought to the road."
VW's Sedric and others like it could change that. Vehicles legally permitted to operate without any driver behind the wheel would revolutionize transportation.
But there are challenges.
Roadblocks
Carmakers looking to test vehicles such as the Sedric in small-scale pilot operations prefer California over Europe — at least initially. Many carmakers have teams of engineers around Silicon Valley, the population is tech-savvy and open to innovation, the streets are much wider, weather conditions are usually ideal and the state government supports them.
By comparison, one major roadblock in Europe is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, a standards-setting body responsible for regulating the homologation and use of motor vehicles. Roughly 60 countries participate in the oversight of European traffic, and no consensus has been reached over the rollout of self-driving vehicles. Regulators are focused on more gradual innovations.
Virtually the entire continent is governed by the U.N.'s Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. This largely restricts the use of self-driving vehicles on public roads to limited testing scenarios, and legalizing their commercial operation is years from becoming reality.
"We really have a competitive disadvantage because of the UNECE," said Jungwirth, who worries that those late to the market might end up fighting over the scraps left behind. "The winner could take it all."
No alignment
Responding to the criticism, the UNECE introduced a procedure that lets companies apply for a special exemption for a vehicle such as the Sedric. This is now subject to debate among UNECE member states, however, meaning the outcome of negotiations is uncertain and at least a four-fifths majority would need to vote in favor.
Neither the U.S. nor China has aligned its laws with European regulations on road traffic or type approval. This allows those nations to respond faster to technological advances, but also creates a patchwork of regulatory environments for carmakers.
"Progress must not stop at national borders," argued Daimler board member Renata Jungo Brüngger. "Legislation must keep up with technical progress, otherwise paramount innovations for automated and autonomous driving cannot be brought to the road."
$65 billion
Fearing cash-rich tech companies will capitalize on their expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, most major carmakers are spending heavily to keep pace.
Renault unveiled its EZ-GO concept in Geneva that could form the basis for a self-driving vehicle fleet. Daimler plans to pilot a highly autonomous vehicle fleet in California in the second half of next year. Rival BMW looks to test in China and has formed a consortium around Intel and Mobileye.
All hope to bring the technology to market early next decade. Between tech and auto companies, AlixPartners estimates some $65 billion will be invested this year, up nearly tenfold from 2015.
In the lead, however, is industry pioneer Waymo, a spinoff from Google that has racked up 7 million miles of testing on public roads since it started nine years ago.
Now ready to launch its own branded mobility service starting this year in Arizona and California, Waymo is looking to branch out. With an eye toward Europe, it demonstrated its prototype Chrysler Pacifica in Italy in early June during an investor day held by industrial partner Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
"There are differences in the regulatory and policy environment that are really important, very different from what we're facing in the U.S., but there is also an opportunity for us to experiment here in Europe," Waymo CEO John Krafcik told the Automotive News Europe Congress in Turin.
But VW may have one clear advantage as it tries to narrow Waymo's lead. Neither Waymo nor its partner, FCA, has a purpose-built self-driving vehicle on the horizon. Public acceptance of the technology is important, and the perception of security could be a key competitive advantage.
The Sedric, with its sturdy, monolithic appearance, gives occupants the feeling they are safely ensconced in a vehicle impervious to damage. Waymo, meanwhile, has to make do with a bulky laser scanner on the roof, which Krafcik says assures passengers concerns through an outward symbol of the vehicle's intelligence.
Krafcik downplayed the need for vehicles such as Sedric that need to master all situations.
"We're pretty skeptical on Level 5," he said, adding. "It will take decades and I don't even think it's necessary."
Jungwirth disagrees.
"The technology is almost ready. I would love to see the legislation support us," he said. "Testing is fine, but what we need is commercial operation in order to scale up."
It's that Europe is falling behind in the new technology race, losing the competitive advantage to companies in the U.S. and China, where advanced research is occurring faster and more freely.
Johann Jungwirth, for one, is visibly frustrated.
Volkswagen Group's chief digital officer knows that automotive companies are locked in a battle with tech companies for leadership in autonomous driving.
Jungwirth, a former Apple engineer, fears European regulations are hampering efforts to bring VW's battery-powered Sedric concept to market. VW management has decided to move Sedric, short for "self-driving car," into production. But instead of in VW's home market of Germany, it will launch first in the U.S.
"My goal is to be in the first U.S. cities with driverless cars in 2021," Jungwirth said as he presented the latest iteration of the car in Hanover, Germany. After that will come a rollout in China, Singapore and in Middle Eastern cities such as Dubai. "And then comes Europe. We would love to come earlier since it's our home market, but the legislation just isn't there."
European leaders and consumers are well aware of the potential of autonomous driving. Every year, half a million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in Germany alone could be saved by eliminating the search for parking spaces, which studies show account for up to 30 percent of inner-city traffic. Every year 1.25 million people die around the world, and as many as 50 million are injured in road traffic accidents, according to United Nations statistics. Every year children, the elderly or the physically challenged have little or no access to individual mobility
VW's Sedric and others like it could change that. Vehicles legally permitted to operate without any driver behind the wheel would revolutionize transportation.
But there are challenges.
Roadblocks
Carmakers looking to test vehicles such as the Sedric in small-scale pilot operations prefer California over Europe — at least initially. Many carmakers have teams of engineers around Silicon Valley, the population is tech-savvy and open to innovation, the streets are much wider, weather conditions are usually ideal and the state government supports them.
By comparison, one major roadblock in Europe is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, a standards-setting body responsible for regulating the homologation and use of motor vehicles. Roughly 60 countries participate in the oversight of European traffic, and no consensus has been reached over the rollout of self-driving vehicles. Regulators are focused on more gradual innovations.
Virtually the entire continent is governed by the U.N.'s Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. This largely restricts the use of self-driving vehicles on public roads to limited testing scenarios, and legalizing their commercial operation is years from becoming reality.
"We really have a competitive disadvantage because of the UNECE," said Jungwirth, who worries that those late to the market might end up fighting over the scraps left behind. "The winner could take it all."
No alignment
Responding to the criticism, the UNECE introduced a procedure that lets companies apply for a special exemption for a vehicle such as the Sedric. This is now subject to debate among UNECE member states, however, meaning the outcome of negotiations is uncertain and at least a four-fifths majority would need to vote in favor.
Neither the U.S. nor China has aligned its laws with European regulations on road traffic or type approval. This allows those nations to respond faster to technological advances, but also creates a patchwork of regulatory environments for carmakers.
"Progress must not stop at national borders," argued Daimler board member Renata Jungo Brüngger. "Legislation must keep up with technical progress, otherwise paramount innovations for automated and autonomous driving cannot be brought to the road."
VW's Sedric and others like it could change that. Vehicles legally permitted to operate without any driver behind the wheel would revolutionize transportation.
But there are challenges.
Roadblocks
Carmakers looking to test vehicles such as the Sedric in small-scale pilot operations prefer California over Europe — at least initially. Many carmakers have teams of engineers around Silicon Valley, the population is tech-savvy and open to innovation, the streets are much wider, weather conditions are usually ideal and the state government supports them.
By comparison, one major roadblock in Europe is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, a standards-setting body responsible for regulating the homologation and use of motor vehicles. Roughly 60 countries participate in the oversight of European traffic, and no consensus has been reached over the rollout of self-driving vehicles. Regulators are focused on more gradual innovations.
Virtually the entire continent is governed by the U.N.'s Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. This largely restricts the use of self-driving vehicles on public roads to limited testing scenarios, and legalizing their commercial operation is years from becoming reality.
"We really have a competitive disadvantage because of the UNECE," said Jungwirth, who worries that those late to the market might end up fighting over the scraps left behind. "The winner could take it all."
No alignment
Responding to the criticism, the UNECE introduced a procedure that lets companies apply for a special exemption for a vehicle such as the Sedric. This is now subject to debate among UNECE member states, however, meaning the outcome of negotiations is uncertain and at least a four-fifths majority would need to vote in favor.
Neither the U.S. nor China has aligned its laws with European regulations on road traffic or type approval. This allows those nations to respond faster to technological advances, but also creates a patchwork of regulatory environments for carmakers.
"Progress must not stop at national borders," argued Daimler board member Renata Jungo Brüngger. "Legislation must keep up with technical progress, otherwise paramount innovations for automated and autonomous driving cannot be brought to the road."
$65 billion
Fearing cash-rich tech companies will capitalize on their expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, most major carmakers are spending heavily to keep pace.
Renault unveiled its EZ-GO concept in Geneva that could form the basis for a self-driving vehicle fleet. Daimler plans to pilot a highly autonomous vehicle fleet in California in the second half of next year. Rival BMW looks to test in China and has formed a consortium around Intel and Mobileye.
All hope to bring the technology to market early next decade. Between tech and auto companies, AlixPartners estimates some $65 billion will be invested this year, up nearly tenfold from 2015.
In the lead, however, is industry pioneer Waymo, a spinoff from Google that has racked up 7 million miles of testing on public roads since it started nine years ago.
Now ready to launch its own branded mobility service starting this year in Arizona and California, Waymo is looking to branch out. With an eye toward Europe, it demonstrated its prototype Chrysler Pacifica in Italy in early June during an investor day held by industrial partner Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
"There are differences in the regulatory and policy environment that are really important, very different from what we're facing in the U.S., but there is also an opportunity for us to experiment here in Europe," Waymo CEO John Krafcik told the Automotive News Europe Congress in Turin.
But VW may have one clear advantage as it tries to narrow Waymo's lead. Neither Waymo nor its partner, FCA, has a purpose-built self-driving vehicle on the horizon. Public acceptance of the technology is important, and the perception of security could be a key competitive advantage.
The Sedric, with its sturdy, monolithic appearance, gives occupants the feeling they are safely ensconced in a vehicle impervious to damage. Waymo, meanwhile, has to make do with a bulky laser scanner on the roof, which Krafcik says assures passengers concerns through an outward symbol of the vehicle's intelligence.
Krafcik downplayed the need for vehicles such as Sedric that need to master all situations.
"We're pretty skeptical on Level 5," he said, adding. "It will take decades and I don't even think it's necessary."
Jungwirth disagrees.
"The technology is almost ready. I would love to see the legislation support us," he said. "Testing is fine, but what we need is commercial operation in order to scale up."
Starting at Rs 34,999, a product with latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB RAM with 64GB storage, dual camera setup, posh design with a premium glass back, does not belong to any group. Calling it a flagship killer would be placing it in a category of flagship killers, which is an understatement by a mile. At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I say OnePlus with the launch of 6, is rewriting history by creating a whole new category that will carve a niche for itself.
Straight off the bat, OnePlus 6 looks stunning with an all-glass design. Well rounded at the corners, a curved back, the ergonomically placed fingerprint sensor, the dual camera set-up that looks like staring in the face of a vertical double-barrel, and the proprietary alert slider button all add up to this incredible design that feels like holding a cloud in your hands. But it is slippery, and the glass body is protected by one of the toughest in the business, the Corning Gorilla Glass 5. However, OnePlus 6 missed out on the opportunity to embed wireless charging capability, which is unfortunate but not a deal breaker. The curved design perfectly shows-off the 6.28-inch 2280X1080 resolution display with 19:9 aspect ratio, that makes the screen one of my favourites for playing video games and watching videos. It also crowns a smaller notch on the top centre of the display, offering a slightly bigger screen than most of the devices bitten by the notch-fever. Even though OnePlus hasn't used an OLED screen, the AMOLED display with 2280x1080p resolution feels bright, punchy and offers great colour reproduction. The proprietary alert notification slider has now been moved to the right, just above the power button, the left side of panel houses the volume button and the SIM tray, and at the bottom rest the speaker, Type-C charging port and a 3.5mm audio port. Expectations run high and rightly so from this vertical double-barrel styled dual-camera setup with a 16-megapixel Sony IMX 519 sensor, f/1.7 aperture main, and a 20-megapixel Sony IMX 376K sensor, f/1.7 aperture secondary camera. The Oxygen OS based on Android 8.1.0 looks polished and comes with some really neat features and can be upgraded to the Android P beta version too.
OnePlus 6 is available in the deep dark black colour christened as 'mirror-black' and 'mid-night' black, and a premium looking 'silk-white' having crushed pearl power. As mentioned above, the base variant comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage for Rs 34,999 and for Rs 5,000 more, you can get the second variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage for Rs 39,999.
And then there is the OnePlus 6 Avengers Limited Edition, which is a little more than just an Avengers logo. This limited edition is manifested by a carbon-fiber styled pattern dubbed as "Kevlar-style"on the back, which is accentuated by the OnePlus and Marvel Avengers logos adorning a shimmering gold colour along with a alert notification slider dipped in a similar subtle gold trim. This is the superhero of the OnePlus 6 series that comes in a 8GB RAM with 256GB storage config, an Iron-Man themed protective back cover, and your own one-of-six Infinity medals. You can team up with other OnePus 6 owners to unlock all 6 Infinity medals and stand a chance to win an adventure trip to Dubai's IMG World of Adventure featuring Marvel Zone.
At this price point and hardware under the hood, it doesn't take a genius to figure that OnePlus will give every other brand a run for its money. Expect a detailed analysis of the camera, gestures, performance and tests in a week's time
Straight off the bat, OnePlus 6 looks stunning with an all-glass design. Well rounded at the corners, a curved back, the ergonomically placed fingerprint sensor, the dual camera set-up that looks like staring in the face of a vertical double-barrel, and the proprietary alert slider button all add up to this incredible design that feels like holding a cloud in your hands. But it is slippery, and the glass body is protected by one of the toughest in the business, the Corning Gorilla Glass 5. However, OnePlus 6 missed out on the opportunity to embed wireless charging capability, which is unfortunate but not a deal breaker. The curved design perfectly shows-off the 6.28-inch 2280X1080 resolution display with 19:9 aspect ratio, that makes the screen one of my favourites for playing video games and watching videos. It also crowns a smaller notch on the top centre of the display, offering a slightly bigger screen than most of the devices bitten by the notch-fever. Even though OnePlus hasn't used an OLED screen, the AMOLED display with 2280x1080p resolution feels bright, punchy and offers great colour reproduction. The proprietary alert notification slider has now been moved to the right, just above the power button, the left side of panel houses the volume button and the SIM tray, and at the bottom rest the speaker, Type-C charging port and a 3.5mm audio port. Expectations run high and rightly so from this vertical double-barrel styled dual-camera setup with a 16-megapixel Sony IMX 519 sensor, f/1.7 aperture main, and a 20-megapixel Sony IMX 376K sensor, f/1.7 aperture secondary camera. The Oxygen OS based on Android 8.1.0 looks polished and comes with some really neat features and can be upgraded to the Android P beta version too.
OnePlus 6 is available in the deep dark black colour christened as 'mirror-black' and 'mid-night' black, and a premium looking 'silk-white' having crushed pearl power. As mentioned above, the base variant comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage for Rs 34,999 and for Rs 5,000 more, you can get the second variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage for Rs 39,999.
And then there is the OnePlus 6 Avengers Limited Edition, which is a little more than just an Avengers logo. This limited edition is manifested by a carbon-fiber styled pattern dubbed as "Kevlar-style"on the back, which is accentuated by the OnePlus and Marvel Avengers logos adorning a shimmering gold colour along with a alert notification slider dipped in a similar subtle gold trim. This is the superhero of the OnePlus 6 series that comes in a 8GB RAM with 256GB storage config, an Iron-Man themed protective back cover, and your own one-of-six Infinity medals. You can team up with other OnePus 6 owners to unlock all 6 Infinity medals and stand a chance to win an adventure trip to Dubai's IMG World of Adventure featuring Marvel Zone.
At this price point and hardware under the hood, it doesn't take a genius to figure that OnePlus will give every other brand a run for its money. Expect a detailed analysis of the camera, gestures, performance and tests in a week's time
After the display notch, it is the in-display fingerprint sensor that is the next upcoming innovation in the smartphone world. The Vivo X21 packs in both. But priced at Rs 35,490, can it compete against the likes of OnePlus 6?
After the display notch, it is the in-display fingerprint sensor that is the next upcoming innovation in the smartphone world. The Vivo X21 packs in both. But priced at Rs 35,990, can it compete against the likes of OnePlus 6?
In-display fingerprint scanner: Unlike the traditional fingerprint sensors that are placed either below the display or at the rear of the phone, the Vivo X21 packs one underneath the display. This technology was announced late last year and Vivo X21 is one of the first few phones to feature it. The area where the sensor is embedded underneath the display, illuminates, making it easy to identify where the scanner is. And placing the finger against the illuminated animation instantly registers the print.
Setting up the scan using the in-display sensor took a little more time in comparison to the traditional sensor - I had to continuously lift the finger and press it against the screen, at times with pressure. Initially, the sensor would fail to register the scan and would not unlock the phone. But with a little patience and observation of how much pressure to apply, the problem was sorted. A gentle touch on the screen or light pressure worked. However, the sensor failed to unlock the phone in case of dust or oil on the finger or on the screen.
Design: Complementing this new technology is the sheer beauty of this phone. It follows the latest trend of the bezel-less display with a notch. The 6.28inch full HD+ AMOLED display with bright colours dominates the front. The glass rear housing the vertical dual camera has a soft finish. In-between the two is the metal frame, which houses the power and volume button on the right, 3.5mm port on the top, and SIM tray, speaker grill and the charging port at the bottom. When held in hand, the screen seems to be placed on the top of the body of the phone, awarding it a good handfeel. At 7.4mm, the X21 feels slim.Camera: Another USP of the Vivo X21 is the camera setup that manages to capture some great bokeh images. The phone houses a dual camera setup at the rear - a 12-megapixel and a 5-megapixel sensor. Camera UI is pretty neat with various modes including take photo, video, AR stories, face beauty, panorama, professional and doc. The portrait mode is accessible within the default photo mode, which can be turned on by selecting the portrait icon that appears on the top. Once done, the device suggests placing the subject within 2 meters for better portrait bokeh results. Tapping on the subject in this mode allowed me to adjust the aperture from 0.95 to 16 for adjusting the depth effect. This feature worked smoothly as the phone was quick to lock the focus and show changes in real time. The images shot in Portrait mode came out well - with the subject in focus and blurred background. The option to re-focus anywhere within the captured image shot in Portrait mode and blurring everything else comes handy. Images shot in the normal mode in normal daylight looked vibrant and had details. The camera does a pretty decent job in low-light photography too there was visible noise too
Even though there is a single 12-megapixel camera at the front, it does a pretty good job at capturing selfie portraits with blurred background. But it doesn't support refocusing on the images shot using portrait selfies. The Face Beauty mode has various modes including AI that removes blemishes and marks from the skin and is available for both the front camera and the rear.
Performance: The Vivo X21 runs FunTouch OS4 build on Android 8.1 Oreo, which I am not a big fan of. All the apps were placed across multiple pages of the home screen. While the notification bar can be accessed from the top, I had to slide up from the Bottom of the screen to access shortcuts. Other than the default apps and Google apps and services, the other preinstalled apps include - UC Browser, WPS office, Easy Share, etc.. The Vivo X21 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor paired with 6GB of RAM. For most of the time - including browsing the web, streaming videos, capturing images and more - the X21 was a decent performer. There wasn't any sign of lag or loss of frame while playing games either. But for the same price, the OnePlus 6 comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, which feels snappier while gaming, switching between running apps and more.
Battery: With most of the mid-segment smartphones adopting Type C port, the Vivo X21 continues to have a micro USB port. It packs in a 3200 mAh battery that managed to last a day with an average usage including a couple of hours of camera usage, calling, web browsing, gaming and streaming videos on YouTube. The phone is accompanied with a fast charger, which manages to top-up 50 per cent of the battery in 30 minutes.
Verdict: The Vivo X21 ticks all the right boxes - it looks good, features an in-display fingerprint sensor, has a great camera and is a decent performer.
For Rs 35,990, Vivo X21 faces tough competition from the recently launched OnePlus 6 which offers a high-end performance, a better camera setup and a fingerprint scanner at the rear
After the display notch, it is the in-display fingerprint sensor that is the next upcoming innovation in the smartphone world. The Vivo X21 packs in both. But priced at Rs 35,990, can it compete against the likes of OnePlus 6?
In-display fingerprint scanner: Unlike the traditional fingerprint sensors that are placed either below the display or at the rear of the phone, the Vivo X21 packs one underneath the display. This technology was announced late last year and Vivo X21 is one of the first few phones to feature it. The area where the sensor is embedded underneath the display, illuminates, making it easy to identify where the scanner is. And placing the finger against the illuminated animation instantly registers the print.
Setting up the scan using the in-display sensor took a little more time in comparison to the traditional sensor - I had to continuously lift the finger and press it against the screen, at times with pressure. Initially, the sensor would fail to register the scan and would not unlock the phone. But with a little patience and observation of how much pressure to apply, the problem was sorted. A gentle touch on the screen or light pressure worked. However, the sensor failed to unlock the phone in case of dust or oil on the finger or on the screen.
Design: Complementing this new technology is the sheer beauty of this phone. It follows the latest trend of the bezel-less display with a notch. The 6.28inch full HD+ AMOLED display with bright colours dominates the front. The glass rear housing the vertical dual camera has a soft finish. In-between the two is the metal frame, which houses the power and volume button on the right, 3.5mm port on the top, and SIM tray, speaker grill and the charging port at the bottom. When held in hand, the screen seems to be placed on the top of the body of the phone, awarding it a good handfeel. At 7.4mm, the X21 feels slim.Camera: Another USP of the Vivo X21 is the camera setup that manages to capture some great bokeh images. The phone houses a dual camera setup at the rear - a 12-megapixel and a 5-megapixel sensor. Camera UI is pretty neat with various modes including take photo, video, AR stories, face beauty, panorama, professional and doc. The portrait mode is accessible within the default photo mode, which can be turned on by selecting the portrait icon that appears on the top. Once done, the device suggests placing the subject within 2 meters for better portrait bokeh results. Tapping on the subject in this mode allowed me to adjust the aperture from 0.95 to 16 for adjusting the depth effect. This feature worked smoothly as the phone was quick to lock the focus and show changes in real time. The images shot in Portrait mode came out well - with the subject in focus and blurred background. The option to re-focus anywhere within the captured image shot in Portrait mode and blurring everything else comes handy. Images shot in the normal mode in normal daylight looked vibrant and had details. The camera does a pretty decent job in low-light photography too there was visible noise too
Even though there is a single 12-megapixel camera at the front, it does a pretty good job at capturing selfie portraits with blurred background. But it doesn't support refocusing on the images shot using portrait selfies. The Face Beauty mode has various modes including AI that removes blemishes and marks from the skin and is available for both the front camera and the rear.
Performance: The Vivo X21 runs FunTouch OS4 build on Android 8.1 Oreo, which I am not a big fan of. All the apps were placed across multiple pages of the home screen. While the notification bar can be accessed from the top, I had to slide up from the Bottom of the screen to access shortcuts. Other than the default apps and Google apps and services, the other preinstalled apps include - UC Browser, WPS office, Easy Share, etc.. The Vivo X21 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor paired with 6GB of RAM. For most of the time - including browsing the web, streaming videos, capturing images and more - the X21 was a decent performer. There wasn't any sign of lag or loss of frame while playing games either. But for the same price, the OnePlus 6 comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, which feels snappier while gaming, switching between running apps and more.
Battery: With most of the mid-segment smartphones adopting Type C port, the Vivo X21 continues to have a micro USB port. It packs in a 3200 mAh battery that managed to last a day with an average usage including a couple of hours of camera usage, calling, web browsing, gaming and streaming videos on YouTube. The phone is accompanied with a fast charger, which manages to top-up 50 per cent of the battery in 30 minutes.
Verdict: The Vivo X21 ticks all the right boxes - it looks good, features an in-display fingerprint sensor, has a great camera and is a decent performer.
For Rs 35,990, Vivo X21 faces tough competition from the recently launched OnePlus 6 which offers a high-end performance, a better camera setup and a fingerprint scanner at the rear
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had shared glimpses of the retail box for the Mi Max 3 ten days ago. The specifications of the device have already been uncovered after it was listed on Chinese certification site TENAA
Xiaomi Mi Max 3 has been in the spotlight for some time now. When the Chinese tech giant said that it had a big announcement to make today, it was assumed that it would be about the new iteration of Xiaomi's phablet. Keeping in line with the expectations, Xiaomi has confirmed that it will be launching the Mi Max 3 on July 19. A poster shared by the company on its Weibo account claims that the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 will come with larger screen and bigger battery.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had shared glimpses of the retail box for the Mi Max 3 ten days ago. The specifications of the device have already been uncovered after it was listed on Chinese certification site TENAA. The Mi Max 3 will be powered by an octa-core CPU clocked at 1.8GHz. The exact chipset that will be used has not been divulged yet, though.
The Snapdragon 636 or the recently unveiled Snapdragon 632 might make an appearance with the Mi Max 3. The device will be available in three memory options - 3GB, 4GB or 6GB of RAM - with 32GB, 64GB or 128GB storage options. The smartphone could be packing a massive 5,500 mAh battery with support for fast charging.
The display on Mi Max 3 is expected to be a 6.99-inch panel with FullHD+ resolution. While the renders so far have not shown a notch at the top, the phablet is likely to come with slim bezels. The fingerprint sensor has been placed at the back, along with a vertically stacked dual camera setup at the top left corner.
In the optics department, the Mi Max 3 sports a 12MP Sony INX363 sensor at the back with a 5MP secondary sensor, similar to what has been seen on mid-range offerings by Xiaomi recently. The front camera is expected to be an 8MP shooter. Renders have shown that the Mi Max 3 will come with a USB Type-C port along with the 3.5mm audio jack. The IR blaster commonly found on Xiaomi phones and used for remote controlling appliances via Mi Remote will also be seen on the Mi Max 3.
A Mi Max 3 Pro with Snapdragon 710 chip set, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is also expected to be launched. While this higher-specced variant is still a rumor, the rest of the variants have been confirmed by the TENAA listing. The highest variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is expected to be priced at 1,699 yuan (or $253)
Apple launches iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max with A12 Bionic chip, advanced camera
Retiring last year's iPhone X, Apple announced the launch of 5.8-inch iPhone XS & 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max (the biggest screen on an iPhone ever), that are expected to come to India on September 28.
Retiring last year's iPhone X, Apple announced the launch of 5.8-inch iPhone XS & 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max (the biggest screen on an iPhone ever), that are expected to come to India on September 28. Another first for Apple, the new iPhones support Dual SIM through the use of a nano-SIM and digital eSIM and are IP68 certified which means it can withstand up to 2 meters of water for 30 minutes.
Both the iPhone XS and XS Max features a 12-megapixel dual camera system with dual optical image stabilization with 2x optical zoom, and a new two times faster sensor. There are new Depth Control settings that allow users to dynamically adjust the depth of field in the Photos app both in real-time preview and post-capture to create portraits. Portrait mode with Depth Control is also available on the TrueDepth camera for selfies.
The A12 Bionic chipset onboard is a 7-nanometer chip that Apple claims will deliver industry-leading performance in a more power-efficient design. It has a six-core fusion architecture with two performance cores that are up to 15 per cent faster, four efficiency cores that are up to 50 per cent more efficient and a four-core GPU that is up to 50 per cent faster.
The new iPhones will ship with iOS 12 out-of-the-box, which will introduce new features such as group notification where notifications from one source are stacked together. The much talked about feature of the iOS 12 is the addition Digital Health that keeps a track of smartphone activity, number of times the phone was unlocked, notifications responded to, the app you spent the most time on and more. There is a 'Downtime' option for staying away from certain addictive apps. The operating system greys out the selected apps once the set time threshold has been crossed.
Group FaceTime will support 32 participants in a group video call. Improvising Siri experience, the iOS 12 introduces Siri Shortcuts. Putting augmented reality at the forefront, the new iPhones also features Measure app that is pretty accurate in measuring objects by using the camera.
"iPhone Xs is packed with next-generation technologies and is a huge step forward for the future of the smartphone. iPhone XS is not one, but two new iPhone models and iPhone XS Max offers the biggest display ever in an iPhone with the biggest battery ever in an iPhone, delivering up to an hour and a half more battery life in your day", says, Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
As per the company, the iPhone XS lasts 30 minutes longer than the X, and the XS Max up to 90 minutes longer.
Pricing
The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB capacity models in space grey, silver and a new gold finish starting at Rs 99,900 and Rs 109,900 respectively