Berlin-based new-space company PTScientists is taking you on a Mission to the Moon Working with key technology partners Audi and Vodafone, they aim to drive a pair of Audi lunar quattro rovers on the surface of the Moon, and re-visit the last place that humans set foot on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission 45 years ago. After doing a 384,000 km trip from Earth to the Moon, their ALINA spacecraft will attempt to land safely on the lunar surface to deliver their two Audi Lunar quattro rovers and a range of scientific payloads. Once safely on the Moon, their pair of Audi Lunar quattro rovers will use their four-wheel drive capability to explore the harsh lunar environment to attempt to Drive 500m on the Moon also to test a new lunar communications architecture, with a Vodafone-provided LTE base-station allowing the rovers to transfer data to ALINA. They will attempt to send HD images to the Earth 48 years after the final human footprints were left on the Moon, they will return to the Apollo 17 landing site to capture the first high-resolution images of the original Lunar Roving Vehicle (while taking great care not to disturb the site).
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ARM Machine Learning (ML) Processor
The Arm Machine Learning processor provides up to 4.6 Trillions of Machine Learning Operations Per Second, as part of the Project Trillium, Arm’s Machine Learning (ML) platform, enables a new era of advanced, ultra-efficient inference at the edge with Programmable layer engines for future-proofing, Highly tuned for advanced geometry implementations, Specifically designed for ML and neural network (NN) capabilities, the architecture is versatile enough to scale to any device, from IoT to connected cars and servers.
Built from the ground up for optimal performance and efficiency, Project Trillium completes the Arm Heterogenous ML compute platform with the Arm ML processor, the second-generation Arm Object Detection (OD) processor and open-source Arm NN software.
The Arm Machine Learning processor consists of state-of-the-art optimized fixed-function engines that provide best-in-class performance within a constrained power envelope. Additional programmable layer engines support the execution of non-convolution layers, and the implementation of selected primitives and operators, along with future innovation and algorithm generation. The network control unit manages the overall execution and traversal of the network and the DMA moves data in and out of the main memory. Onboard memory allows central storage for weights and feature maps, thus reducing traffic to the external memory and therefore, power.
Sony XZ2 with 4K HDR recording
Sony launches their XZ2 and XZ2 Compact Smartphone (https://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/phones/xperia-xz2/) based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with 4K HDR video recording support. Featuring a 5.7″ Full HD+ (2160×1080) HDR display (5″ on XZ2 Compact), Dynamic Vibration System with powerful stereo speakers, Full HD 960fps slow motion, 19MP Motion Eye camera with memory-stacked image sensor. 4GB RAM, 64GB UFS internal memory.
MediaTek helio P60, octa-core ARM Cortex-A73 and ARM Cortex-A53 with Mali-G72
MediaTek helio P60 is MediaTek’s most powerful chipset yet, built on TSMC’s 12nm FinFET production process, with MediaTek’s CorePilot 4.0, featuring four ARM Cortex-A73 cores at 2.0GHz, four ARM Cortex-A53 cores at 2.0GHz in a big.LITTLE configuration, ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU clocked at 800MHz. They also provide a Multi-core AI processing unit (Mobile APU) with a 280GMAC/s performance for deep learning facial recognition, object and scene identification, user behavior-informed performance and other AI and AR application enhancements good for computer vision enhancements on the cameras such as Single or Dual Camera bokeh, Real-time HDR recording and viewing and more.
Vuzix AR3000 Smart Glasses starts mass manufacturing
Vuzix is about to launch the mass manufacturing, they are already shipping a few samples to developers to prepare some of the killer apps that will be available. They will be providing two skews, one more basic consumer edition and more higher spec version for the enterprise. They support Alexa, it runs Android with all kinds of Augmented Reality and Smart Headmounted Dashboard type apps that can be developed. It also has a Smartphone app that simplifies the management of the smart glass, choosing which app to load in the UI.
World’s first 5G chipset: Huawei Balong 5G01
The Huawei Balong 5G01 chip is a 64bit ARM based chipset, the first in the world, the first to support the latest 3GPP standard for 5G networks, it can transfer data at 2.3Gbps speeds the use case here is for home or enterprise broadband where the 2.3Gbit/s bandwidth comes from the 5G network and broadcasts that as a Wi-Fi signal in the home or office. Later this year or soon, Huawei and others will be reducing the size of the 5G chipset to fit inside of phones and more.
My Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ Review at launch unboxed MWC
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
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
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…
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
