Koen Kooi, release manager at Linaro, talks about wanting to watch Netflix from inside Kodi and the work going on to make that possible. This video was filmed at the Linaro Connect Budapest 2017.
Category: Exclusive videos
MotoMods on Indiegogo and Hackathons for the ultimate Moto Z modular Smartphone platform
Posted by – March 5, 2017
The Lenovo Moto Z MotoMods ecosystem team got 700 submitions, launching 35 of those campaigns for ideas for new MotoMods on Transform the Smartphone challenge on Indiegogo with ideas ranging from barcode scanners, Edge Light LED lights for notifications wireless charging, sliding physical keyboard and many more ideas for new MotoMods that can be made for the Moto Z ecosystem. Motorola organized a Hackathon in San Francisco and one New York You can also see my video of the Moto Z and its MotoMods here and my 32-minute interview with the Motorola team about the Moto Z and its MotoMods ecosystem here
Voice control powered by NXP i.MX ARM Processors in Amazon Echo, Google Home and more
Posted by – March 5, 2017
NXP Semiconductors has on display the Amazon Echo, for which they are partners. An NXP representative explains the different applications for which NXP provides solutions, and how voice recognition can be run on multi-core ARM processors for power-efficient computing. The IMX 6, 7 and 8 series cover the full range from low-power to high-performance solutions, with applications for the 8 being consumer high-performance video and audio, automotive, and heavy industrial usage. NXP supplies everything from the CPU to the I/O to the software. The Kindle series use IMX 6 and 7 processors, for example. NXP talks about the upcoming i.MX8 Quad max, i.MX8M for multimedia and another i.MX8 coming for the embedded world.
SafeMotion smartwatch for personal alarm, safety for kids and the elderly
Posted by – March 5, 2017
SafeMotion provides mobility safeguarding assistance service for their consumer, here they are showing off their SmartWatch which works in entire Europe with multiple network provider without requiring to swapping the SIM card, instead, it chooses the best network available in the area. The watch allows user to generate SOS alerts which include calling up to 10 people automatically when the SOS button is pressed where user can add the company’s call center number in case if other people are not available, it also has feature of calendar, reminder, voice calling service and active GPS tracking facility which scans the user and generates an alert if the user goes outside of predefined area the monthly subscription for the service is USD 14.90 / month and price of smart watch is USD $249.
Oppo shows 5X lossless optical dual camera zoom
Posted by – March 5, 2017
Oppo showcases their technology that allows 5X zoom inside a smartphone body. The technique used involves a periscope-style structure that diverts light through a prism and onto a wide-angle lens, that allows for a claimed lossless 5X zoom. It is demonstrated on a prototype Oppo phone using a 6″ QHD with Oppo VOOC fast charging.
$799 Lenovo Yoga 520
Lenovo Yoga 520 is a 14″ or 15″ convertible laptop with a FHD display, Kaby Lake processors, and Nvidia GeForce 940MX GPU. There is room for both an SSD and HDD, with ram options up to 16 GB. There is also a fingerprint reader for security. There is an activie digitizer pen. Prices for the Yoga 520 series range from $799 and up depending on region and configuration also with the optional stylus pen input and an optional fingerprint sensor.
Qualcomm X50 modem for 5G New Radio
Posted by – March 5, 2017
The next step in cellular technology, 5G, is demonstrated here by Qualcomm. It is in the research phase, and the current application shown involves the broadcasting of RF power to a moving target at a frequency of 28GHz. A major limitation of 5G is the easy dissipation of the signal when faced with even minor obstructions, which Qualcomm aims to overcome by installing multiple towers and handing over users between them.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with Gigabit LTE
Posted by – March 4, 2017
Qualcomm demonstrates their X16 Cat16 Gigabit LTE modem integrated in the upcoming Sony Xperia XZ Premium using Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 which features 4×4 MIMO (multiple input multiple output). The phone uses 4 LTE antennaes instead of the usual 2 to boost throughput speeds to 1Gbps using carrier aggregation. The technology is expected to be more power efficient since the faster downloads would finish quicker, effectively lessening the time cellular data is used.
SD Card UHS-III with 624MB/s and microSD A2 (Application Performance Class 2)
Posted by – March 4, 2017
SD Card Association, the standard organization of SD cards, just released two new specification meeting new market needs.
The first is Application Performance Class 2 (A2) – a new performance class that consider Random & Sequential performance meeting the new need of storing and running applications from cards allowing means to consumers which cards to purchase in point of sale meeting their products needs. Coming after A1, introduced last November, A2 is a higher level of performance enabled by new features supported now by SD – like command Queuing and Cache.
The second enhancement of the standard is UHS-III. It is enhanced physical interface that enables byte rate of up to 624MB/s!
I am hoping that some device makers will implement devices with 2 or more microSD slots to increase the total available maximum capacity and even doubling the speed if a parallel access can be allowed.
Rockchip OP1 in Samsung Chromebook Plus
Rockchip made the OP1 the world’s most optimized Chromebook processor. OP1, also known as RK3399-C, Hexacore dual ARM Cortex-A72, quad ARM Cortex-A53 with Mali-T860MP4 GPU. Rockchip is the only chip maker which has been optimizing processors for Chromebooks over the past 3 years, with all the lessons they learned with the RK3288 quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 which shipped in several Chromebooks in 2015, they were able to improve on that, optimize every detail and in collaboration with Google and Samsung.
$299 Gemini PDA, QWERTY keyboard, PSION style, Helio-X25 Deca-core, 5.7″ QHD, now on Indiegogo
Interview with the Gemini PDA team of Planet Computers at MWC 2017, presenting the awesome looking Gemini PDA, designed by the PSION designer Martin Riddiford, with fully integrated tactile QWERTY keyboard, Android 7 and Linux dual-boot. 4G LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, dual USB Type-C. They’ll have 2 versions, one WiFi only starting at $299 and the other fully equipped with WiFi and 4G starting at $349 on Indiegogo. the final retail price might be more if they can get support to get it mass manufactured, perhaps at around $599. With the giant 8000mAh battery, it will have two weeks of stand-by time or 12 hours of talk time. With the fully tactile keyboard that is recognised as the smallest keyboard for finger touch typing. Dual side mounted speakers, Integrated Voice Assist button, SD card slot. The display will be a 5.7″ 2880×1440, 564ppi, 18:9 aspect ratio display (the same that LG is using in the LG G6).
Masayoshi Son Keynote at MWC 2017
Posted by – February 28, 2017
Masayoshi Son, CEO and Founder of SoftBank which is owner of ARM since September 2016, is giving the opening keynote at the 2017 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. You can also watch the official video of this keynote here. On his way out of the keynote area I was able to do my 1 minute Interview with Masayoshi Son which you can watch here.
Android Continuum: OXI by Auxens with Laptop Dock (Nexdock) with Vernee Apollo 2 on MediaTek X30
Posted by – February 28, 2017
At the Vernee booth, as Vernee is the first to announce their upcoming 10nm Vernee Apollo 2 smartphone, running on the Helio-X25 in the Vernee Apollo, they are introducing their French startup software partner Auxens presenting the OXI Android OS Android Continuum platform! OXI is a slightly modified Android OS (adding in a few extra APIs to the normal Android firmware), it can display a desktop-like user interface with multitask features such as multi resizable windows, desktop, notifications, “Start menu” and more. It can also display this interface on the external display using DisplayLink, wireless (miracast or chromecast) or by mhl or slimport. Meanwhile the smartphone screen is still completely usable and independent, with regular Android. OXI is compatible with any current Android app. It doesn’t require any specific action from the apps developers.
Auxens has posted some more info in some posts are at:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/rom-oxi-smartphone-computer-oneplus3-t3558293
In French: http://forum.frandroid.com/topic/254304-alpha-oxi-et-le-smartphone-devint-pc/
http://www.phonandroid.com/forum/oxi-et-le-smartphone-devint-pc-t166635
MediaTek Helio X30, 10nm Tri-Cluster 10-core dual ARM Cortex-A73, quad ARM Cortex-A53, quad ARM Cortex-A35
Posted by – February 28, 2017
MediaTek’s Tri-Cluster 10-core design features dual-core ARM Cortex-A73 at up to 2.5GHz, quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 at up to 2.2GHz and quad-core ARM Cortex A35 at up to 1.9GHz, with some really interesting features including low heat, high performance, 4K HDR, 4G LTE-Advanced WorldMode modem that uses 3x Carrier Aggregation with performance of 450MBit/s.
MediaTek Helio X30 increases performance by up to 35% and saves power by up to 50% over the MediaTek Helio X20.
CorePilot 4.0 with Centralized, Intelligent Task Scheduling, Thermal The 10nm fabrication by TSMC increases performance by up to 22% and saves power by up to 40% versus 16nm.
The 450MBit/s with 3x Carrier Aggregation downstream and 150Mbit/s with 2x Carrier Aggregation upstream for high volume content streaming and reliable connectivity. Category 10 4G LTE-Advanced WorldMode modem features new ETM 2.0 and TAS 2.0 technologies that saves battery power in everyday use by up to 35%, and up to 45% on multimedia specific scenarios.
X30 features Imagiq 2.0 with two 14-bit ISPs supporting 16+16MP dual camera functionality allows such as wide+zoom combination lenses allow real-time depth of field effects, fastest auto exposure, improved real-time denoise in low-light conditions. X30 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) paired to the Image Signal Processors (ISP) that provides a dedicated processing platform for numerous camera features, freeing up the CPU and GPU and saving power. Key advantages include:
– Programmability and Flexibility: The VPU provides a platform that allows brands the ability to customize camera functionality and drive product differentiation.
– Huge Power Reduction: The VPU is a dedicated camera-assisting hardware unit it has the ability to perform real-time processing functions, that were typically assigned to CPU or GPU, with only 1/10th power usage.
– Performance Boost: The VPU can still be used in isolation or as part of a team with the CPU/GPU, employing heterogeneous computing on same memory subsystem for advanced system or multi-application/function tasks.
The Helio X30 is the World’s first mobile SoC to bring a power efficient, hardware-based HDR cinema viewing experience to mobile devices. While other newly announced 4K HDR Smartphone SoCs might be doing the 4K rendering work in software, the X30 does it in hardware. 4K HDR10 standard offers a dynamic range of up to 10,000 nits. Paired with the latest, premium display technologies yields a never-seen-before quality and a true-to-life viewing experience.
Imagiq’s Dual Camera Zoom offers 2x optical zoom in a super slim form factor.
ClearZoom and Temporal Noise Reduction (TNR) technologies enable a sharp, crisp digital zoom up to 10x magnification.
Works for both video and photography.
MiraVision EnergySmart Screen is MediaTek’s advanced power saving technology for mobile displays, reducing power consumption (up to 10% of device’s total power or up to 25% of panel power, depending on brightness) while preserving viewing experience.
Instant AE
MediaTek Instant Auto Exposure (AE). The dedicated Camera Control Unit (CCU) hardware delivers considerably faster, automatic exposure adjustment when environmental lighting conditions change suddenly. AE convergence speed is up to twice as fast as competitive auto exposure performance.
Up to 8GB LPDDR4X
4×16-bit LPDDR4X 1866MHz memory is up to 50% more power efficient than previous generation LPDDR3, while also delivering up to 50% more performance.
Unique GPU Design: Deep MediaTek-Imagination Co-operation
The fully customized IMG PowerVR 7XTP-MP4 @ 800MHz is designed for lowest power usage while still delivering incredible performance. It saves up to 60% power versus while increasing performance by up to 2.4 times compared to the Helio X20.
Deep Learning
Access to MediaTek’s deep learning SDK featuring support for Caffe and Google’s TensorFlow frameworks, opening up the latest in machine intelligence to developers.
Huawei Watch 2 with Android Wear 2.0
Posted by – February 28, 2017
The Huawei Watch 2 is a smartwatch designed for exercise running on the latest Android Wear 2.0 platform which brings refinements and improvements to Android wear. The Huawei Watch 2 is a reference design for Android wear. The Huawei Watch 2 features a design similar to a regular watch and is available in multiple colors. Pricing ranges from $329 – 379 depending on region. The device has fitness features like GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, and music playback. The Huawei Watch 2 can be paired with Android and iOS devices. There is ip68 dust and water resistance. The battery can last up to 21 days they say.
Masayoshi Son Interview, SoftBank CEO, owner of ARM
Posted by – February 27, 2017
Masayoshi Son is the CEO of SoftBank, owner of ARM since September 2016, he answers few of my questions about the future of ARM, R&D investments to come, the excitement for the future technological developments to come. That was on the way out of his Keynote speech, video of which I will post a bit later tonight.
.tech .website .store .space .site .press .host .online New Domain Names by Radix
Posted by – February 27, 2017
Radix is a domain name service that offers new domain names other than the old ones ending in .net, .com or other common domain name endings. Radix offers domain names ending in .website, .space, .site, .fun, .press, .host, .tech, .store, .online, and .pw. Radix aims to expand what the Internet naming system has to offer with more descript domain names. Pricing of domain names varies with prices up to $30 dollars a year with pricing varying by domain name extension. There is also a domain name curating system to ensure domain names end up with the right users and to prevent reselling.
Openasapp turns Spreadsheets into Web and Mobile Apps
Posted by – February 27, 2017
Openasapp is platform for making mobile app development much easier. With Openasapp data from Excel Spreadsheets or Google Docs/Sheets can be turned into mobile or web applications. iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 10 and web are the platforms currently supported. There is a free triel for organizations with less than five people. The Business Pro tier costs €79/month, offering access to up to 25 people, while the Business Enterprise tier costs €1,499/month, offering access to up to 1,000 employees.
$100 REMI Smart Alarm Clock From UrbanHello
Posted by – February 26, 2017
REMI is an alarmclock from UrbanHello that is designed for children ages 0-10. REMI can provide custom lighting or music for bedtime and nap time. REMI’s time and display are customizable. REMI has a nighlight as well as lullaby’s. REMI will also keep track of your children’s sleep cycles. REMI will also listen to your baby remotely through the walkie talkie function. REMI will provide tips for the most optimal sleep cycles. There is Bluetooth connectivity via a mobile app. The price of REMI is around $100 dollars with a discounted price of $79 dollars on IndieGoGo.
$1700 ODG R9, $1000 ODG R8 Augmented VR Headsets
Posted by – February 26, 2017
ODG stands for Osterhout Design Group. ODG is a German producer of Virtual Reality glasses aimed primarily at enterprise with models for consumers and prosumers. ODG VR headsets are much smaller than normal VR headsets. The R8 headset features a 40 degree field of view and a 720p display for $1000. The R9 headset features a 50 degree field of view and a 1080p display for $1700. The R9 also features a front facing camera for augmented reality. The R9 features a MIPI port for different sensors. Both headsets feature a Snapdragon 835 processor and run on Android 7.0.
