News archive (1 / 2017)

Apple's iPhone has been the number one smartphone around the world for much of the last 10 years. Even in China, which the Cupertino, CA compnay had a slow and tough start but managed to clinch the number one spot in 2012.

After 2012 the ride hasn't been exactly smooth either, but the spot has been captured every year by Apple – until now. A new smartphone model has overtaken Apple's iPhone as the most popular smartphone in China, CNBC reports.

Last year Apple's most popular iPhone model was the iPhone 6s released in fall 2015 and it managed to move approximately 12 million units in 2016. Even though China's smartphone sales is far from the huge growth couple years back, Apple's 21 percent decline in sales is unnerving for the giant.

The new king of smartphones in China comes from the multitude of manufacturers their homeland produces. Although selling a whopping nearly 17 million million R9 (pictured: R9 Plus) units you might have not even heard of the brand, unless regularly watching America's Next Top Model which, as you might have guessed, has been sponsored by the company.

It is clear that artificial intelligence is going to be a huge part of future computing. It might not mean Haley Joel Osment's David from 2001 movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence is going to be reality for quite some time but computer learning and other AI technologies are going to play an increasingly important role in our lives even in the very near future.

This is definitely what most of the technology giants believe as they combine forces to educate the industries and public about what all of this might mean. The research collaboration is called Partnership on AI, shortened from Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society, and it has just added another big, perhaps the biggest, name to its already impressive list of contributors.

The creation of Partnership on AI tracks back to last fall, in September to be precise, when a number of leaders from the world's largest technology giants decided to have a serious conversation about what type of challenges AI poses to the society and what kind of benefit one could reap from its emergence.

Now the research firm has announced that one of the early collaborators, Apple, has been named one of the founding members alongside Google/DeepMind, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon. It also added six new members to its Board of Trustees to join the six board members that represent the founding members. New members come from leading AI foundations and universities, including OpenAI, UC Berkeley, and MacArthur Foundation.

Samsung is preparing one of its most important launches in quite some time as they are getting close to ready to launch this years Galaxy S flagship smartphone. Because of the catastrophic failure of Galaxy Note7 last year this launch carries a special significance.

The phone has been leaked in dozen or more photos and lists of features but now we have the first one that we should definitely take seriously. Evan Blass (@evleaks) of VentureBeat has revealed pictures and details of the upcoming phone.

Blass, known for his accuracy amongst the leakers and journalists alike, shows off pictures of the metallic silver device from back and front. The front picture reveals that there seems to be no home button, as suspected, and the back on the other hand shows the new position of the fingerprint reader next to the camera.

He continues to unveil the specs that bring a huge boost in screen real estate. The phone comes with two versions, S8 and S8 Plus?, like last year and they feature 5.8 and 6.2 inch displays respectively. Because the displays cover almost the whole phone their aspect ratio is also rather unusual 18.5:9 instead of the traditional 16:9.

The upcoming and anticipated Creators Update for Windows 10 is still a long way from being released but there are some parts of it that you could be getting to try soon. As a Windows Insider you get to try out the features early and this week Microsoft is bringing the Game Mode to testers.

Previously Game Mode was supposed to be added for Insider today but it's been delayed a bit. However, as some point this week it'll become available.

The idea behind Game Mode is rather simple but it should make gamers' lives a little easier. Entering the Game Mode the PC optimizes it automatically for the labor intensive future. The CPU and GPU are tuned for maximum performance and this should mean smoother gaming and better frame rates.

Microsoft wants testers to seek the complications within the Game Mode so it can iron out the end product. Obviously there are tons of games so Microsoft wants to get feedback from as many situations as possible before launching the feature.

In addition to the Game Mode, Microsoft will introduce Windows 10 a new Game Bar for shortcuts during the games. This will be available via the Win+G keyboard shortcut. From the Game Bar you can easily take screenshots, start recording video or stream gaming directly to Microsoft's Beam-service.

Apple and Foxconn are in talks about a display manufacturing plant in the U.S., Nikkei reports. According to the paper, the two mega corporations are planning to invest billions of dollars to a new facility that would employ tens of thousands.

The founder and chairman of Foxconn Terry Gou estimates that even though the plant would be highly automatized it could bring as many as 30 000 to 50 000 new jobs indirectly. The total cost of the facility could measure in the $7 billion range.

It has been previously reported that Apple has been asking Foxconn what kind of investment a manufacturing plant in the U.S. would require. According to Nikkei, display manufacturer Sharp has also been interested in a U.S. based manufacturing facility.

Bringing blue-collar jobs back to the U.S. was of course one of the main themes in Donald Trump's campaign as well as his inauguration speech three days ago. While it is still far from a sealed deal, this would be a huge victory for the new POTUS. However, Foxconn has estimated that this would definitely raise the prices.

Samsung's investigation into last years Galaxy Note7 battery problems has finally concluded but there might still be some worries for the Korean smartphone giant. The company has revealed that it will be delaying its next flagship phone's release.

In previous years Samsung has released their Galaxy S flagship during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This time around that won't be the case, the mobile chief Koh Dong-jin revealed Reuters.

For a while now rumors have had it that Samsung's investigation to battery issues would delay the upcoming Galaxy S8. Even though it is not confirmed yet that this was indeed the reason of the delay, Koh said that the company is working hard to regain trust by making sure every measure is taken to ensure product safety.

Samsung's investigation concluded that there was two separate problems in the batteries of two different batches. Both of them could be detected with the new safety protocol in place for new devices.

The company did not reveal when the press conference for Galaxy S8 release will be held. However, we can assume that it will happen sometime before summer.

Netflix has been growing steadily over the years, and the secret lately has been the international market which has given much needed boost to slowing down U.S. growth. New report from the company says the domestic customer base grew still with more than 2 million subscribers in the last quarter only.

The majority of added customers came from abroad, though, with 5 million new subscribers. This is a significant increase compared to previous years and quarters. Most of the investments are still made with U.S. customers in mind while growth overseas is stronger. However, Netflix Originals and other U.S. based programming have been hugely successful abroad.

According to TechCrunch, Netflix also said that localized content, like the first Brazilian original series 3% was a big success throughout Latin America. Netflix is investing $6 billion in content, up from last years $5 billion. That will have more room for increase in local content, including Japanese Anime for example.

Netflix had 93 million customers ending the year and it will cross the 100 million subscriber landmark somewhere in the first half of the year. If the company continues to exceed growth expectatations it might have already happened before the next quarterly results.

Nintendo's first official mobile game Super Mario Run has been on iPhone and iPad for months now but there is no Android version in sight. The company cited privacy claims when confronted about the release of Android version of the game end of last year.

Now, we finally have a release date for the Android after pre-registration was added in December, Neowin reports. Well, maybe not the date, since Nintendo has reveled that Super Mario Run will come available on the Play Store in March.

The aforementioned registration will allow you to be among the first to hear when the app has been added to the Play Store. Nintendo did not speak about the price but it is likely to be the same $9.99 as on App Store. The game has limited play for free.

Super Mario Run was downloaded more than 40 million times during the first four days of launch on iOS. While we might not see same kind of numbers on Android, rest assured, it will be one of the bigger games this spring.

Samsung has conducted an internal investigation regarding last years Note7 and its exploding tendencies. The company has now finally found out after more than four months of investigation what caused the problems.

The problem seemed to have in, wait for it, the battery! Yes, according to Reuters the investigation found out that the reason the battery spontaneously combusted was a flaw in the battery. Well, to be honest it isn't that simple and the fault could have been elsewhere.

For Samsung it must be hard to come to the conclusion – maybe that's why it took four months – because the batteries were made in-house. The batteries built by Samsung SDI have been the prime suspect all along but the company has also suspected the battery controller.

Samsung had certified the batteries in their own CTIA laboratories unlike most companies that use a third party companies to make sure batteries are safe and work properly.

It seemed that Samsung managed to pivot from the catastrophic failure of fall 2016 to new models coming in early 2017. Thus, official statements of these sorts are probably going to be released when the damage can be minimized.

Remember six years ago when Apple and Samsung were in court because of the claims that Samsung had copied iPhone's design and thus infringed on Apple's patents. Well, that case is still ongoing as the Supreme Court throws it back to the Court of Appeals.

Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court released documents saying it couldn't determine whether the reimbursement previous court ruled would be correct in the case. Thus it decided to put it on Court of Appeals to figure out how much Samsung owes Apple.

For a long time it hasn't been a debate whether Samsung abused Apple's design patents but instead the fight continues about how much they should pay Apple. Previous judgment of $399 million in damages was now overturned by Supreme Court because it wasn't sure that calculating the figures straight from Samsung's profits was right in this case.

Apple's view is that the blatant copying of patented features is stealing and needs to be punished accordingly. The Cupertino giant, as well as fashion designers rooting for the company, have made the point that design makes, and sells the product. Samsung wants the courts to determine the damages from certain components that infringed the patents, which, lets be honest, is going to be hard to calculate.

Nintendo has today announced new details on its newest gaming machine Switch. In a press conference earlier today the company gave us the pricing, release timeline, and some game footage.

In the United States the Switch will be available in March 3rd and suggested retail price is $299.99. In addition to the US, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and some markets in Europe will get Switch in early March.

Switch is a hybrid console that serves as a traditional gaming system connected to a TV as well as a portable tablet for gaming on the go. Switch includes a 6.2 inch 1280 x 720 HD display, an Nvidia chip, and 32 gigabytes of storage.

As you can see from the tweet below, the package includes the console, TV dock, left and right Joy-Con controller, Joy-Con grip, AC adapter, and an HDMI cable. Additional controllers cost $50 separately and $80 for a L/R combo. A pro controller which is meant only for the TV playing mode will also be available.

You can see game presentations, including Super Mario Odyssey, in the video of the press conference below. There are currently over 80 games, Skyrim and Fifa for example, in development for the Switch.

The inevitable decline of personal computer, as it was designed, has been documented in recent years. The so-called post PC era, predicted by the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, might not quite yet be here but according to sales statistics the trend is obvious.

The technology and market research companies IDC and Gartner have released their newest figures on PC sales. According to IDC, PC sales dropped 1.2 percent while the latter estimated the decline to be 3.7 percent.

During the last five years the sales has fallen 25 percent, a total of approximately hundred million units.

While sales of traditional PCs has fallen drastically there are some niches that have managed to keep the momentum. One is gaming gear which is selling better than perhaps ever. Most of the PC manufacturers have their own gaming brands that are trying to capitalize in the very competitive market.

There's no telling, though, if the we will hit any kind of plateau yet thanks to gaming or if the decline is going to go on. However, people are most certainly going to use PCs for work for a long time still thanks to their superior performance and other advantages.

The largest PC manufacturer was again Lenovo with 55 million units sold followed by HP, Dell, Apple, and Asus.

Google has been trying to reach more customers in a time when growth comes largely from new internet users. This means that one way to get customers is to offer internet connection to people that do now yet have one.

Enter Project Loon. Formerly known as Google X, now it's own company called X under the parent company Alphabet, has been developing a way to reach rural and remote areas with the power of internet. As you might guess from the project name it is done with balloons. Weather balloons to be more exact.

However, Alphabet also has another remote access internet project in terms of a company called Titan Aerospacen which was bought 2014. That one tries to achieve the same thing with drones. As drones are getting better stunningly fast you would imagine Alphabet would put most of its focus on this high tech instead of balloons.

Well, you'd be wrong. Alphabet is shutting down the development of Titan Aerospace as a part of savings strategy, 9to5Google reports. Project Loon, however, has not yet been touched, although, this probably makes them work that much harder.

In addition to Titan Aerospace projects like the modular smartphone Ara and imaging satellite business Terra Bella have been recently axed. Much of the workforce have been reallocated to other project within Alphabet's subsidiaries, including Project Loon.

It's been ten years since the iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs. Sparking the smartphone revolution the iPhone was essentially the same thing it is today. Just a big touchscreen with apps.

It always wasn't meant to be like that though. A newly surfaced video shows what two different prototypes of iOS looked like. In the video, shared on YouTube by Sonny Dickson, P1 and P2 are compared. The former is a version that was built based on the iPod OS by a team lead by Tony Fadell and the latter is one based on OS X by Scott Forstall's team.

As you can see neither one really looks like the current, or even the first released iOS, but it is in fact the one on the right that was developed to be the first iPhone's operating system. Even though the iPod system seems more finished one can easily see how frustrating and limiting it would be to use a virtual click wheel to navigate.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has yet to officially start but some of the major manufacturers have already unveiled their most anticipated pieces of new equipment. For LG that is the new OLED TV, or set of TVs, called the W Series.

Announced was the ultra high end W7, which comes in 65 and 77 inch versions and boasts a canvas-like OLED-panel. LG says that the simplicity, and perfection, comes from the beautifully thin panel that is not disturbed by speakers on the side or thick bezels.

The company plays around a lot with the thinness, which is understandable when you consider that it is only 2.57 millimeters thick. That is approximately one tenth of an inch which is so thin that you can bend the TV from the corners. No wonder LG calls it Picture-on-Wall and says that the W in it's name might as well come from either Wallpaper or Window, especially since the W Series can be attached straight to the wall.

The TV is connected to its Dolby Atmos enabled base unit by one cable and features industry leading infinite contrast typical to OLED displays. LG has been working with Dolby and Technicolor, as well as several HDR formats, to provide the best possible audio and picture quality.

Intel has today unveiled their seventh generation Core processors for desktop computers. Codename Kaby Lake is heavily based on the previous generation and bring only slight performance boosts but there are some improvements.

Intel announced the first Kaby Lake chips back in August last year. However, those were only for ultra portable laptops, and PC builders have been craving for new chips ever since. Unfortunately most of the updates are to 4K video processing and VR applications so you won't see huge boosts over for example the gaming performance on Skylake.

The newly announced chips include Series H for performance laptops, Series S for traditional desktop computers, Series T for low-power usage, and Series K for overclockers. The flagship model is the i7-7700K which costs $339 but you also have first ever unlocked and overclocking-ready Core i3 at $169 with the i3-7350K.

Even though there are gradual performance increases compared to the 6th generation Core processors one can easily skip this generation unless looking for specifically increases in 4K video processing. One good thing about the new processors is that they support LGA 1151 which makes upgrading from previous generation easier and more cost-effective.