Nokia ReefShark chipsets with AI, nanometer chip technology and Future X 5G Architecture announced

Nokia today has unveiled the new ReefShark chipsets which are aimed to take leverage of the in-house silicon expertise and reduce the size, cost and power consumption of operators' networks and meet the radio requirements of 5G. The company has also outlined its implementation of Future X network architecture for 5G. The chipsets also incorporate the Nokia's artificial intelligence (AI) and nanometer chip technology. The ReefShark chipsets also leverage on the company's capabilities in antenna development for mobile devices and base stations. The chipsets for RF (radio frequency) are also said to significantly improve the radio performance and also results in reducing the size of massive MIMO antennas. ReefShark chipsets also reduce power consumption in baseband units by 64%, compared to such units in use today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdIPlXy_JsI The ReefShark chipsets for compute capacity are delivered as plug-in units for the commercially available Nokia AirScale baseband module which is a software upgradeable to full 5G functionality. These plug-in units also results in triple throughput with upto 28GBps to 84 Gbps per module AI in 5G networks enables real-time radio monitoring and optimization and brings in the ability to apply techniques such as network slicing to meet the service level demands of new business cases. The company is working on common toolkits ...

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 MIUI 9.2 update starts rolling out

Xiaomi announced the lightning fast MIUI 9 Global ROM back in November 2017, most of the devices already got the MIUI 9 update followed by MIUI 9.2, but Redmi Note 3, Redmi 3S/Prime, Redmi 4A and some old devices didn’t get MIUI 9 update. As per users, Xiaomi has started rolling out  a new MIUI 9.2 update (still based on Marshmallow) for Redmi Note 3, it seems that company decided to skip the MIUI 9 update for Redmi Note 3 and roll out MIUI 9.2 directly. The new update comes as MIUI 9.2.4.0.MHOMIEK and is of 290 MB in size, this update also brings January security patch to Redmi Note 3. Note that this is a Nightly build, Xiaomi releases Stable Nightly updates to random users to get feedback and the same update is rolled out to all users as a Stable build if feedback goes well, which is expected in 2 to 3 days, in case you wish to read more about Nightly ROMs refer to this post. This update brings Interactive and Fresh UI changes, New Gallery App, Calendar Cards, App Vault, Mi Video App, New Mi Explorer and Mi Drop to Redmi Note 3. Xiaomi might also enable Split ...

Google Clips goes on sale briefly, shipping excepted from March

Google's A.I powered clips camera was introduced back in October at the Pixel event. The tiny camera can be hooked onto your daily things like shirt, table, chair and will automatically record a seven-second video. The Clips hands-free camera is now on sale from the Google Store in the USA.  While the sale lasted for a brief period, deliveries aren't expected until March. Also, the sales of the Clips camera are now halted may be because Google sold its stock or wanted to resume the sale after a while, but the Google Clips listing on the Store now says to 'Join the waitlist.' Google Clips can record the moving image using machine learning technique without any human intervention. Connectivity features include Bluetooth LE and WiFi Direct which helps It to sync with Android and iOS and in quickly recording spontaneous moments. There is an option to create short movies using the recorded clips. It comes with a 12-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 aperture, 1.55 µm pixel size and 130-degree wide-angle lens and also has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It has 16GB internal storage. Google claims that it can offer up to 3 hours of smart capture on a single charge. Clips use USB Type-C port to ...

HTC files patent for mobile VR headset with magnetic phone case

HTC has filed a patent for a mobile VR headset with magnetic phone case according to the documents listings found in the database of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The VR headset is said to be bundled with a magnetic phone. The company originally filed the patent in July 2016 with the United States Patent. However, the patent was rejected last November for failing to explain the nature of the device, and its working, i.e., the features of the VR headset that allow it to be categorized as a new invention. HTC then following some modifications and now received the approval from the USPTO earlier this month. The creation of the device is described as an “accessory and lens system” consisting of two parts, a protective case to house a smartphone which has a rear magnetic plate and a foldable dual-lens setup that can be magnetically attached to the accessory. Once the smartphone is removed, it can be folded out to a small VR module reliant. Users can still slide in the phone into the device from the bottom and hold it in one or two hands while experiencing VR content. The foldable nature of the VR headset should make it extremely compact and easy to transport. While the build ...

Samsung Galaxy S9 said to feature ‘Intelligent Scan’ which combines face unlock and Iris scanner

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are a month away, and the details regarding the flagship started flowing in. We have recently seen the retail box leak of the Galaxy S9 revealing quite a few details and today we hear yet another interesting feature, the 'Intelligent Scan' which combines Face Unlock and Iris Scanner.  An APK teardown of the most recent Settings app from the latest unreleased Android Oreo beta for the Samsung Galaxy Note8, has revealed the 'Intelligent Scan' that is currently in works for the upcoming S9 and S9+. The feature reportedly said to combine both Face Unlock and Iris Scanner to improve accuracy and security even in the low or bright light conditions. https://youtu.be/TS68C4MMogQ The Galaxy S8, S8+, and the Note 8 feature the Iris scanner bio-metric security feature for the entry of passwords. However, nowhere in the software of the said phones mentioned the said feature indicating that the that the strings found in the APK teardown refer to a feature that will be seen on Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. Like the standard iris scanner, the Intelligent Scan can also be used to unlock the Galaxy S9/S9+ as soon as you turn on the screen. It can also be used to verify app logins provided the app supports ...

Apple iPhone X Plus, iPhone X 2018 said to feature 4GB RAM, bigger two-cell batteries: KGI

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities is back again with a trio of new investor notes that offers new light on the upcoming iPhones; the iPhone X, X Plus, and an entry-level 6.1-inch iPhone. The Analyst previously stated that Apple likely to introduce two new iPhones with OLED panels and an iPhone with an LCD display. Starting off with the entry-level iPhone, it is said to sports a 6.1-inch FHD+ 18:9 LCD display with ultra-slim bezels. Kuo predicts that it will pack a 2,850 to 2,950mAh rectangular shape battery that is nearly 8.5 percent larger than current iPhone X. Taiwanese manufacturers; Pegatron, Foxconn, and Wistron will be the key assemblers of the 6.1-inch iPhone, with 60 percent, 30 percent, and 10 percent allocation of EMS respectively. It is already known that Japan Display will supply around 70 percent of LCD“Full Active” LCD technology panels for the 6.1-inch iPhone that only require ultra-slim 0.5mm bezels on all four sides. It looks like the 6.1-inch iPhone is shaping up to become a low-cost iPhone X with an aluminum frame, lack of 3D Touch, single rear camera, and 3GB of RAM. Perhaps this is the first time we hear more details about the 6.5-inch iPhone and second-gen iPhone X. According to Kuo, the 6.5-inch ...

Xiaomi Mi Box 4 and Mi Box 4c Smart 4K HDR TV box announced

Xiaomi just announced Mi Box 4 and Mi Box 4c, the company next-generation smart TV box with support for 4K HDR videos. It comes with the same AI-based PatchWall interface as the predecessor that learns your viewing habits and offers content based on your liking The Mi Box 4 also comes with multi purpose Mi Remote Control with PatchWall artificial intelligence voice system, which also has infrared in addition to Bluetooth to work with most appliances such as setup box. It has Mi Touch that replaces traditional navigation buttons so you can use gestures to control your TV. The Mi Box 4c comes with the standard infrared remote. Xiaomi Mi Box 4 specifications 60fps 4K (3840 x 2160) HDR output 1.5GHz Amlogic S905L quad-core Cortex-A53 64-bit processor with 750MHz 3+ 2-core Mali-45 GPU 2GB RAM and 8GB flash storage Xiaomi’s proprietary AI-based PatchWall interface Dolby Digital Plus +DTS- HD audio dual decoding Mi Bluetooth voice remote control Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1+ EDR HDMI 2.0a x 1 port, USB 2.0 x 1, 3.5mm audio output x 1, H.265 4K2K at 60 fps, H.264 4K2K at 30 fps, MPEG1 / 2/4, VC-1, DivX4 / 5,  up to 1920 x 1080P at 60fps ; Support for HDR10 Xiaomi Mi ...

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ Android Oreo beta program ends, stable update expected soon

Samsung ended the Oreo beta program for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in India and UK earlier this month, now the company has announced to its beta testers through 'Samsung Members app' that it is ending the beta program in the USA from yesterday, i.e January 26th.  Samsung had released the 7th and final Oreo beta firmware for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ last week. Since the company is ending its beta testing, we can expect the final roll out very soon. The announcement states that there will no further beta releases, no further responses to feedback. However, communication will still be open to beta users. Though Samsung says that it will make sure to roll out the update as soon as possible, it still didn't mention any time frame as of now. That said, it shouldn't take long, since the beta testing is now concluded, the next pit stop will the official stable release of the Oreo build. Samsung in the previous beta notice that it posted in the app two weeks ago mentioned that " we will do out best to distribute the official S/W version in January as soon as possible." Source

Twitter is using neural networks for smart auto-cropping of Images

Twitter feed doesn't show images in full on the news feed, and the company thinks that it can be challenging in rendering a consistent UI experience and the photos more often than not are framed awkwardly. Today Twitter is solving the problem by using neural networks for smart auto-cropping of Images. The company previously used face detection to focus the view on the most prominent faces in the pictures which had its own limitations when presenting images. Now with neural networks, Twitter will focus on “salient” image regions. In general, people tend to pay more attention to faces, text, animals, but also other objects and regions of high contrast. This data can be used to train a neural network to identify what people might want to look at. The basic idea behind this is to use these predictions of the neural network to center a crop around the most interesting region. However, doing a pixel-level saliency analysis of all the pictures uploaded to Twitter can be a lengthy process so to address the concern, engineers developed a smaller, faster neural network that can identify the gist of the image. Secondly, Twitter is said to have developed a pruning technique to iteratively remove feature maps of the neural network ...

Google Bulletin hyperlocal and community news app released

Google just launched Bulletin hyperlocal and community news app for Android. The app is designed with an aim to inspire users to share hyperlocal stories on a community platform right from your phone. Google also hopes that the app highlights the inspiring the stories that aren’t being told. The bulletin stories are open for everyone to read, but then there will be some sort of moderation before the story goes live. Users have the flexibility to share stories in the form of text, images, videos similar to a blog post. The news will be shared other members of the community almost instantly. Users will also be able to share the links to stories via message, email, etc. Since it is a Google product, not much is required except for a working Google account and a smartphone in terms of setup. The app is free to use, however, Bulletin availability is currently limited to Nashville, TN, and Oakland, CA. If the testing phase goes well, we can expect the app to release officially for public very soon. Users can also request early access by signing up for the Bulletin Pilot program here. Source