My Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ Review at launch unboxed MWC

Posted by – February 26, 2018

Samsung releases the same phone again, this year still $900, but now they re-imagined the camera. It was already a great camera last year. But now it’s better for sure. Now the “amazing” S9 camera has a mind blowing dual aperture so that is supposedly good. The 960fps slow motion is grainy and blurry but it’s the same Sony did in their XZ phone last year. Samsung Dex is great but it seems they haven’t developed any productivity apps yet, just loading whatever is there for smartphone and tablet. The poop emoji is also here the highlight the most important revolutionary feature of 2018, as a copy of Apple’s poop highlight from last year. Also it’s great you can buy your next makeup using augmented reality. Welcome to my Samsung review!

Rockchip RK3229 Smart Speakers Solution runs Android Things with Google Assistant

Posted by – February 25, 2018

Rockchip has optimized their RK3229 and RK3036 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 System on Module solution to run Android Things or another optimized Linux OS to be able to support Google Assistant, Alexa, iflyertek, DuerOS for high-end to low cost smart speaker products and intelligent voice interactive products, supports sound source localization, sound field enhancement, echo cancellation and noise suppression technology. This Rockchip RK3229 Solution supports 8 channel digital silicon microphones directly connected chip solution, and thus achieves an overall solution of cost-effectiveness and high expandability for the Smart Speakers market.

Blade Shadow cloud gaming pc service launched in UK and California

Posted by – February 24, 2018

Here I film at the UK launch of the Blade Shadow cloud PC gaming service, at the Meltdown London e-sports bar, where they have setup a bunch of Shadow PCs for cloud based gaming PC streaming service
here powering their League of Legends tournament. Blade Shadow is a French startup who I also interviewed at CES here they have now launched their service to cover the UK and they have also activated their West Coast USA server to serve customers in California. For about $35 per month you get remote access to “your own” Xeon gaming desktop with an Nvidia GTX1080 GPU, 12GB RAM, 256GB SSD running Windows 10 Pro.

Google for Education at Bett 2018: Chromebooks, G Suite, Jamboard and more…

Posted by – February 22, 2018

Google booth tour at the BETT education technology conference, showcasing some of the newest Chromebooks released for the education market, new security features to help schools prepare for the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU (more information at Google Blog), collaborative tools for teachers and students, the Jamboard interactive whiteboard display device, Google Expeditions using Augmented Reality and VR. Chromebooks are the leading device for the K-12 education market in the USA and now also in Sweden, Canada and New Zealand with 25 million users worldwide. G Suite for Education is used by 80 million users worldwide.

CloudReady turns any old Laptop into a Chromebook

Posted by – February 22, 2018

Neverware CloudReady provides smooth dual boot or single boot of a very recent Chromium OS based OS, with automated security and feature updates coming automatically within 6 weeks after Google releases them, it works smoothly on most laptops released since around 2008, their officially supported devices list is here but many more Intel/AMD powered Laptop models also work fine but may not be supported by CloudReady officially yet.

$279 Acer C732 Chromebook and other latest Acer Chromebooks

Posted by – February 22, 2018

Acer C732 Chromebook is an education-focused Chromebook with IP41-rated durability, a quad- or dual-core Celeron processor, and the option for built-in LTE connectivity. It can be configured with an 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 IPS touchscreen, IPS non-touchscreen, or non-touch TN panel. It has two USB-C 3.1 ports as well as two USB-A 3.0 ports and a microSD slot. Pricing starts at $279.99 for non-touch and $299.99 for touch.

$219 Lenovo 100e Chromebook

Posted by – February 22, 2018

Lenovo 100e has a 11.6″ HD anti-glare display, powered by the 2.4 GHz Intel Celeron dual-core processor, military-grade durability with rubber bumpers, reinforced ports, a 180-degree hinge that won’t snap under pressure, compliant with MIL-STD-810G testing for shock and awe, it’s drop-resistant up to 29.5 inches (75cm), roughly the height of a school desk, a sealed touchpad and resists spills of up to 1.39 cups (330 ml),10 hours of battery life, two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports, 2 x 2 AC WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, Micro SD card reader.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e (5th Gen) Chromebook

Posted by – February 22, 2018

Extra-durable 11.6” HD IPS touch with Gorilla Glass convertible laptop for education, with the World Facing Camera, Garaged EMR Pen. A flexible 360-degree hinge and 10-point multitouch display, all day battery life, features up to 7th Gen Intel Core i5, Up to 8 GB DDR4, Up to 256 GB SSD, 2 x USB 3.0, HDMI, USB-C DisplayPort, 4-in-1 micro card slot, RJ45, 3.5 mm combo audio / mic jack, weights starting at 1.54kg.

Lenovo 500e Chromebook

Posted by – February 22, 2018

Lenovo 500e Chromebook is a 11.6” 2-in-1 Chromebook with a 360-degree hinge for four modes of interaction, a garaged EMR (electromagnetic resonance) pen, features like Two HD cameras, 720p front-facing camera and a 5MP world-facing camera.

Robin Saxby Lecture: Growing a start-up into a global powerhouse

Posted by – February 20, 2018
Category: Exclusive videos, ARM

At the 2017 IET Christmas Lecture, Hub Mentor and pioneering technology entrepreneur Sir Robin Saxby, founding CEO and Chairman of ARM Holdings (who I interviewed here) shares his advice for growing a start-up with limited resources into a global powerhouse. Under his leadership, ARM became the world’s leading semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) company, and now connects over 5 billion people, powering everything from supercomputers to each Whatsapp message on your phone.

[You can auto-translate the english subtitles to any language from YouTube on a desktop, the video is also available with only external subtitles here]

He answers questions like:
How can a small start-up compete with far bigger competition?
How do you build the right team?
What is the most common mistake technical founders make?

Sir Robin continues to champion entrepreneurship in the UK, and is a committed supporter of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub (https://enterprisehub.raeng.org.uk/)

Exciting Liverpool Technology start up:
http://www.sensorcity.co.uk/

Robin and Friends Bandcamp
https://robinandfriends.bandcamp.com/

Participated in creating this video:
Jan Mary Baloyo, IET
Nilar Shyun Mya, IET PSB Academy On Campus
Syafiq Shahul, IET PSB Academy On Campus
Stanley Liau, IET Singapore LN

Better Gaming with HDMI 2.1 using VRR, QMS, QFT, ALLM

Posted by – February 10, 2018

HDMI 2.1 Specification Supports a Range of Features for Enhanced Gaming:
– Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) reduces or eliminates lag, stutter and frame tearing for more fluid and better detailed gameplay.
– Quick Media Switching (QMS) for movies and video eliminates the delay that can result in blank screens before content is displayed.
– Quick Frame Transport (QFT) reduces latency for smoother no-lag gaming, and real-time interactive virtual reality.
– Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) allows the ideal latency setting to automatically be set allowing for smooth, lag-free and uninterrupted viewing and interactivity.

48Gbit/s HDMI 2.1 cable, up to 10K120

Posted by – February 10, 2018

HDMI 2.1 Specification Supports Ultra High Speed Bandwidth Up to 48Gbps enabling Higher resolutions and faster refresh rates including 8K60Hz and 4K120Hz and support for resolutions up to 10K120 compressed. The Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable supports 48Gbit/s bandwidth for uncompressed HDMI 2.1 feature support and has very low emissions of Electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Dynamic HDR with HDMI 2.1, Technicolor Advanced Dynamic HDR

Posted by – February 10, 2018

Dynamic HDR support ensures every moment of a video is displayed at its ideal values for depth, detail, brightness, contrast and wider color gamuts. Here this interview is with Technicolor about their implementation of Dynamic HDR supported as part of the new HDMI 2.1 Spec.

eARC with HDMI 2.1, Enhanced Audio Return Channel at up to 40mbit/s

Posted by – February 10, 2018

eARC in HDMI 2.1 simplifies connectivity and supports the most advanced audio formats such as object-based audio, such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, highest audio quality, and ensures compatibility between audio devices and upcoming HDMI 2.1 products, enabling to deliver those formats via an eARC-enabled HDMI port on a future HDMI 2.1 TV. eARC also provides support for the TV’s over-the-air tuner, streaming apps received by the TV, and audio from HDMI sources connected to the TV.

A key advantage of eARC is that it enables a TV-centric living room or home theater configuration that can provide a more seamless experience. Today, an AV receiver—or a similar repeater device—is necessary to extract high quality audio from an HDMI link, while the video is processed and passed through to the TV. The user may have to switch inputs on both the TV and an audio device to find the source of their content, and content sourced within the TV and from TV inputs is frequently limited to stereo or, in the best case, one of a very small number of compressed formats.

With eARC, it will be possible to connect all sources through the TV and send audio to the sound system completely uncompromised. Furthermore, eARC will make possible a new breed of audio-only receivers that will yield greater value and ease-of-use by eliminating a video subsystem. So, in theory anyway, overall video and audio performance will improve with eARC.

HDMI 2.1 Press Conference at CES 2018, premium HDMI cables, HDMI Alt Mode for USB-C

Posted by – February 10, 2018

This is the press conference by HDMI LA on HDMI Technology at CES 2018, covering HDMI 2.1 Spec, premium HDMI Cables, and HDMI Alt Mode for USB-C.

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Fujitsu SVE update, building the Arm HPC Ecosystem

Posted by – February 10, 2018

Fujitsu is developing a very advanced ARM Supercomputer. You can also watch my interview with Fujitsu about their upcoming ARM Supercomputer here.

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Filmed at the SC17 Supercomputing ARM HPC User Group event in Denver.

Mont-Blanc ARM Supercomputer with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (Next-gen ecosystem)

Posted by – February 5, 2018

Filippo Mantovani updates the audience of the GoingArm workshop at SC17 about the contributions of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center to the European Project Mont-Blanc.

Since 2011, Mont-Blanc pushes the adoption of Arm technology in the High Performance Computing deploying Arm-based prototypes, enhancing system software ecosystem and projecting performance of current systems for developing new, more powerful and less power hungry HPC computing platforms based on Arm SoC.

In the talk Filippo introduces the last Mont-Blanc system, called Dibona, designed and integrated by the coordinator and industrial partner of the project, Bull/ATOS. He also talks about tests performed at BSC of the Arm software tools (HPC compiler and mathematical libraries) as well as the Dynamic Load Balancing (DLB) technique and the MUltiscale Simulator Architecture (MUSA).

You can check out the Mont-Blanc and the BSC channels to know more about the research topics of this talk.

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Mellanox ConnectX-5 Interconnect showcased on Qualcomm Centriq 2400 Data Center Platform

Posted by – February 1, 2018

At SC17, Qualcomm and Mellanox jointly showcase super-fast 100 Gb/s networking card Mellanox ConnectX-5. This Arm-based solution is enabled and ready for the most demanding compute and storage workloads on the Qualcomm Centriq 2400, the world’s first 10nm server processor.

Qualcomm Centriq 2400 Arm Server presentation at the Supercomputing SC17 ARM User Group Meeting

Posted by – February 1, 2018

Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processor, based on the Qualcomm Falkor CPU, QDT’s own Armv8-based custom CPU core design, delivers leading-edge aggregate performance, the world’s first and only 10nm server processor. The Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processor delivers a phenomenal performance-per-dollar. With a list price of $1,995, the 48-core Qualcomm Centriq 2460 processor delivers 4X better performance-per-dollar versus Intel’s highest-performance Skylake processor, the Intel Xeon Platinum 8180. With a list price of $1373, the 46-core Qualcomm Centriq 2452 processor offers 3X better performance-per-dollar versus Intel Xeon Gold 6152. And, with a list price of $888, the 40-core Qualcomm Centriq 2434 processor offers 2X better performance-per-dollar versus Intel Xeon Silver 41166. Qualcomm Centriq 2400 delivers 2.5x better performance per watt than competing x86 server processor running the same SPECint_rate2006 benchmark.

Arm HPC performance results: Bristol/GW4 Isambard (Applications porting and performance)

Posted by – February 1, 2018

First public disclosure of Isambard performance results by Prof Simon McIntosh-Smith, University of Bristol, UK

Isambard is a new Tier 2 HPC service from GW4 built using:
Cray “Scout” system – XC50 series
• Aries interconnect
• 10,000+ Armv8 cores
• Cavium ThunderX2 processors
• 2x 32core @ above 2GHz per node

You can also watch my interview with Simon McIntosh-Smith about Isambard at the Cray booth at SC17 here.

Filmed at the Arm HPC User Group at SC17 in Denver.

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