Showing posts with label Tech news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tech news. Show all posts

Monday, October 10, 2016

Tech heavyweights race for artificial intelligence edge

File: Major technology firms are racing to infuse smartphones and other internet-linked devices with software smarts that help them think like people. 
SAN FRANCISCO - Major technology firms are racing to infuse smartphones and other internet-linked devices with software smarts that help them think like people.
The effort is seen as an evolution in computing that allows users to interact with machines in natural conversation style, telling devices to tend to tasks such as ordering goods, checking traffic, making restaurant reservations or searching for information.
The artificial intelligence (AI) component in these programs aims to create a world in which everyone can have a virtual aide that gets to know them better with each interaction.
Here are some of the offerings available:
Google
Google is making a high-profile push into AI, with the internet titan's chief referring to it as a force for change as powerful as smartphones.
Google Assistant software is being built into new Pixel handsets - aiming to outdo Apple's Siri - enabling users to organise and use information on the devices and in the cloud - to check emails, stay up to date on calendar appointments, news or ask for traffic and weather data.
Google also offers AI through its Allo messaging application which can be installed on smartphones, and its Google Home hub, a standalone device similar to Amazon's Echo which responds to voice commands to manage tasks and fetch information where people live.
Samsung
The South Korean electronics giant moved to jumpstart its AI efforts by purchasing the US startup Viv Labs, launched by the creators of Apple's Siri.
Samsung says the acquisition announced this month is part of its effort to provide AI-based voice assistance services its customers can use across all Samsung devices and products, from smartphones to televisions to washing machines.
Samsung is world's leading maker of smartphones powered by Google's free Android software, but also has its own Tizen mobile operating system, so how it may field its own virtual assistant technology remains to be seen.
Amazon
Amazon in 2014 unveiled its Echo home assistant, a voice-activated speaker, powered by its "Alexa" artificial intelligence program.
Users can ask for news or information updates, as well as ordering goods from the online retail giant.
Echo also serves as a connected-home hub which can control compatible appliances, lightbulbs and other devices.
Since introducing Echo, Amazon has launched a smaller version called "Dot" and integrated Alexa into its Fire TV devices.
Microsoft
Microsoft's personal assistant uses the name Cortana and is available on Windows devices and its Xbox console and as an application on Apple iOS and Android devices.
Unveiled in 2014, Cortana - a name based on a character in its blockbuster game "Halo" - responds to conversationally spoken requests or commands, using insights gleaned from calendars, contact lists, online searches and other smartphone sources to respond in a manner akin to a real-life aide.
Facebook
Facebook, heavily investing in artificial intelligence, is widely believed to be working on a personal assistant with the codename "M."
The social network's founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he wants to create a real-life version of "Jarvis," the assistant in the assistant in the Marvel Comics series "Iron Man."
For now, Facebook is enabling AI-powered "bots" on its Messenger mobile application that allows users to get answers to questions and engage in text exchanges as though chatting with the social network itself.
Apple
Apple was the first to offer its personal assistant, introducing Siri for the iPhone in 2011, and has been working to improve it over the years.
Recently, Siri was upgraded to interact with non-Apple applications, so users can book a ride with Lyft or make payments using Square Cash.
Apple has also introduced a Home application that can connect with smart appliances and other devices, and is reportedly working on a standalone speaker similar to Amazon Echo and Google Home.
IBM
Technology stalwart IBM made headlines nearly 20 years ago with "Deep Blue" software that beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov at his own game, and more recently with "Watson" artificial intelligence that triumphed over top human players in a Jeopardy television game show.
IBM has put Watson to work making business systems and services smarter with data and customers. Thousands of people are expected to attend a World of Watson conference later this month in Las Vegas

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2016 Rage expo a gamer's paradise

Snapshot of Rage 2016, 08 October. Northgate Johannesburg 
JOHANNESBURG - The 2016 Rage expedition was all about virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and eSports.
The geek fest, which wrapped up at the TicketPro dome in Johannesburg on Sunday, 9 October, was bigger than ever.
It featured tons of VR and AR stands from local companies offering the experiences to the biggest names in tech, like Sony showing off its VR headset, the PlayStation VR.
Another of the biggest crazes in the gaming world now is eSports, which is a multibillion-dollar industry. e-Sports involve teams or individual video gamers taking on one another in tournaments for prize money.
There was plenty of eSports at the expo, like "FIFA",  where there was a prize of R100,000.
White Rabbit Gaming were the biggest e-Sport winners, walking away with R1-million after winning the Telkom Digital Gaming League Masters Final. 
Rage 2016 promised to be the best way to touch, feel and experience the next big things in video gaming and technology and from what I experienced the future is really exciting.  
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Samsung suspends production of Galaxy Note 7

A model poses for photographs with a Galaxy Note 7 new smartphone during its launching ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, August 11, 2016. 
SEOUL - Samsung Electronics has suspended production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, a month after a recall prompted by battery explosions and a day after two major overseas distributors halted replacements, according to a newspaper report.
Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, declined to comment on the report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which was sourced to an unidentified official with an unnamed Samsung supplier.
The official told Yonhap the decision to temporarily halt production was taken in cooperation with consumer safety regulators from South Korea, the United States and China.
Samsung decided on 2 September halt the sale of the Galaxy Note 7 and recall those sold after complaints that its lithium-ion battery exploded while charging.
With images of charred phones flooding social media, the unprecedented recall was a humiliation for a firm that prides itself as an icon of innovation and quality.
The recall process initially stumbled but seemed to be on track until last week when reports emerged of similar problems with some of the replacement phones.
On Sunday, US telecommunications firm AT&T and German rival T-Mobile said they would halt exchanges of recalled Samsung Galaxy Note 7s pending further investigations.
The announcement saw Samsung's share price plunge by as much as four percent in early-morning trade on Monday - even before the Yonhap report came out.
At midday, Samsung shares were trading at 1.65 million won - down 3.2 percent from Friday's close.
AT&T said it would still offer customers the option to exchange Galaxy Note 7s for another Samsung smartphone or other device of their choice.
T-Mobile said it was halting sales of the smartphone, as well as the exchanges.
Samsung has so far declined to confirm any problem with its replacement phones.
The South Korean conglomerate's handling of the Note 7 recall has placed a spotlight on management at a time when it is navigating a tricky generational power transfer within the founding Lee family.
Industry experts have criticised the Lee dynasty for controlling the vast group through a complex web of cross shareholdings, although they directly own only about five percent of total stocks.
Samsung on Friday issued a stronger-than-expected operating profit forecast for the third quarter despite the impact of the recall that, according to some analysts, could cost up to $2-billion (R27.6-billion).
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Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Apple adds gender-diverse emojis in iOS 10

The new gender diverse emojis avaiable on iOS 10
The new gender diverse emojis avaiable on iOS 10
JOHANNESBURG – More than one hundred new and redesigned emoji characters are available to iPhone and iPad users with the iOS 10.
This update includes more gender options to existing characters, including new female athletes and professionals, a new rainbow flag and more family options.
Users can also select a policewoman, a female detective, a woman wearing a hard-hat and female basketball players, surfers or cyclists.
Sophy Ridge, a Sky News correspondent commented: “It's a refreshing change from the depressingly stereotypical depictions of women in emoji land, which include princesses, brides and women dancing or getting their hair cut”.
She added that women are more likely to use emojis more than men because for feminists, language matters – it can create norms and colour prejudices.
This update was well-received on Twitter:
Apple said they were working closely with the Unicode Consortium to ensure that popular emoji characters reflect the diversity of people everywhere.
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