Samsung’s robotic vacuum takes Amazon Echo voice commands

Samsung has revealed Powerbot VR7000, a robotic vacuum you can control with your Amazon Echo. The company says that, in fact, all of its WiFi-enabled Powerbot vacuums will work with Alexa, including, presumably, current connected models like the Powerbot WiFi. It didn’t say what you can command your bots to do, but the Neato Botvac (which beat Samsung to the punch by adding an Alexa “Skill” last month) basically just lets you start and stop cleaning.

The 20 watt robo-vac is considerably smaller (28 percent) than past models, Samsung said, helping it more easily duck under couches or beds. It can also get as close as a half inch (15mm) to a wall and avoid objects as small as a quarter inch, thanks to the front placement of the wide 11-inch brush and “FullView Sensor 2.0.” Other features include a self-cleaning brush, room contour mapping, adjustable suction levels depending on the surface and full remote control with a smartphone (via WiFi).

Samsung didn’t mention the price or availability, but it will show off the Powerbot VR7000 at CES 2017, which starts on Tuesday, January 3rd (yep, that’s in just six days). Since we of course want to command our robot servant to get cleaning, preferably while we sip a Mai Tai, we’ll try to get a closer look during the show.

Source: Samsung

Ford’s new self-driving Fusion almost looks like a regular car

Ford has shown the first images of its new self-driving Fusion Hybrid with a more powerful computer and improved, better-integrated sensors. It uses an upgraded version of the Fusion Hybrid platform, bolstered by self-driving hardware, a large new computer and electrical controls that “are close to production-ready,” the company said in a press release. It also packs lower-profile LIDAR units that appear to be the “Puck” models from Velodyne, a company in which it recently invested $150 million.

Cameras and other bits are smoothly built into the roof, making the hybrid less “hey, look at me, I’m a self-driving car” than other models. By contrast, the last autonomous Fusion model used since 2013 featured no less than four bulky LIDAR units. Ford was able to cut the number to two, while still giving the vehicle wider and better targeted vision. The hefty computer installed in the trunk (see the video, below) can process a terabyte of data in an hour to do navigation, object recognition, AI and computer vision, among other chores.

The new Fusion is a step towards a “high-volume, fully autonomous SAE level 4-capable vehicle by 2021,” a goal Ford revealed earlier this year. (SAE level-4 cars are fully autonomous in set geographic zones like college campuses, while level 5 means a vehicle can drive anywhere by itself.) The automaker plans to build 90 of the vehicles and test them in Arizona, California and Michigan over the next few years.

Source: Ford

Chinese hackers allegedly stole secrets from US law firms

Three Chinese hackers have been charged with insider trading after stealing secrets from American law firms. The Department of Justice has revealed that Lat Hong, Bo Zheng and Chin Hung installed malware on servers in order to access confidential data. The group was able to obtain documents relating to proposed mergers and acquisitions targets. Knowing what blockbuster deals were coming, the group bought shares in the target businesses. Through a series of deals, officials believe that the trio made upwards of $4 million in illegal profit.

The group was able to breach at least two different high-profile law firms based in New York, which the DoJ has neglected to name. Reuters, however, suggests that Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP may have been the targets. The Wall Street Journal also mentions those two outfits, although notes that spokespeople for both declined to make any public comment. The hackers also attempted to breach several other firms, although their attacks were apparently unsuccessful.

The story, as the DoJ tells it, begins with an unnamed company that enlisted lawyers to look at a deal to buy Intermune. A senior partner in the firm was tasked with examining the pharmaceutical business in the hope of deciding upon a purchase price. Shortly afterward, 40GB of files were stolen from servers, which included detailed financial breakdowns and the suggested share price. The trio began buying Intermune stock, securing 18,000 shares in the company, although that deal subsequently foundered. Not long after, however, pharmaceuticals giant Roche AG purchased Intermune for a reported $8.3 billion — netting the trio $380,000 in profit.

Those same lawyers are believed to have been retained by Intel in advance of its $16.7 billion acquisition of rival chipmaker Altera. The hackers, once again, used 2.8GB of illegally-obtained information which included the purchase price and terms of the deal. They subsequently purchased 210,000 shares in Altera, which netted them a profit of around $1.4 million when the deal was announced.

Another deal that the hackers were apparently able to learn about in advance was Pitney Bowes’ purchase of Borderfree Inc. That required hacking a second law firm with illegally-obtained login details of one of the firm’s employees. In that deal, the trio was able to score a profit of $841,000. The DoJ also mentioned several other instances of insider trading, but declined to offer any more information

Given the apparent ease of obtaining the data and the obvious rewards that are on offer, this is not likely to be an isolated incident. Cybersecurity is going to be a much bigger issue in 2017 as hackers become more sophisticated — not to mention politicized.

Source: Department of Justice

Some AirPods Users Facing Battery Drain Issues With Charging Case

After the AirPods launched online and then arrived to the first set of customers earlier in December, some users have begun realizing that the charging case that comes with the headphones isn’t holding Apple’s advertised 24 hours of charge. In theory, the charging case should only lose noticeable amounts of charge when the AirPods are low on battery and recharging within the case, and when users flip the pack open to check battery levels or otherwise activate Bluetooth with a connected Apple device.

The unlucky set of users facing the battery issues, however, are noticing that the AirPods case drains by upwards of 40 percent in mere hours, with the AirPods at 100 percent inside and minimal Bluetooth activation.

While some feared this is just the way Apple intended the headphones and companion charging case to work, Redditor severinskulls has posted about his experience with the problem, and the replacement AirPods he got that do not have an apparent faulty charging case. In most cases, the AirPods themselves are not facing any shortened battery life issues.

AirPods Charging Case dropping nearly 50 percent overnight
The old AirPods Charging Case:

I was having the exact same issue you had. Airpods in case, go to bed with full charge and waking up with 15%-20% of the case charge gone. Thats a full charge cycle for the airpods themselves!

I spoke to apple support online. They had no answer how long the charge of the case should last when the airpods are not in use. They made an appointment for me instore as all diagnostics at the moment are being handled instore they said. Cut to this morning, go in for my appointment. The genius was very friendly. I was his first airpods case. Turns out he also has no info on whether this rate of the battery draining is normal. He said that definitely they are designed to lose charge over time as cycling the charge improves the health of the airpod batteries. However as I pointed out, going from a full charge to empty in two days while they are sitting there unused seems way too fast. To be safe, he placed my airpods. So i got a brand new pair.

The new AirPods Charging Case:

Sooooo I just checked. Airpods and case were 100% at 9pm last night. Checked just now at 9am the next morning and they are STILL at 100%, both the pods and the case. I had bluetooth on my phone on all night too. With the other pair in the same situation, I would have lost 14-20% charge by now.

So there we go, case closed (pun?), there is a battery life problem suffered by the airpods. I’m going to write back feedback to apple now. You should get your airpods replaced because they shouldnt lose as much charge as what youre experiencing.

When the AirPods first came out, the initial impressions of the battery life for both the headphones and the charging case were overall positive. A handful of MacRumors forum members were fans of the speedy charge rate of the AirPods, the granular settings of the iOS battery widget, and the battery life of the charging case as well. Mentions of battery drainage issues with the AirPods case began about a week ago, around the time the first customers had been using the headphones for a few days.

In a teardown last week by iFixit, it was theorized that the Charging Case was the cause of the AirPods’ delay from October to December. The root of the problem was a few empty spaces discovered within the solder joints of the case’s chip. This is referred to as “voiding,” which iFixit said “could be evidence of low quality standards, or a rushed product release.”

The exact scope of the affected AirPods user base is unclear. Some users are theorizing that the problem could be an initial charge cycle hiccup that irons itself out over time, but some that have had the AirPods since day one are still posting about battery drainage with the charging case today. On the other hand, there are many other users who have reported normal experiences with the case and its advertised 24 hours of battery life. Apple hasn’t commented on any of the reports.

Tag: AirPods
Discuss this article in our forums

Hulu Inks Exclusive Streaming Deal With Disney, Gains 50+ New Titles

Hulu yesterday announced it has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Walt Disney Studios, which will see Hulu granted exclusive subscription video on-demand rights to a selection of Disney movies.

Hulu users are now able to exclusively stream popular Disney titles like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mulan, Pocahontas, Hercules, Sister Act, and AirBud.

“The Disney brand is synonymous with beloved movies that the whole family can enjoy,” said Craig Erwich, SVP, Head of Content, Hulu. “Expanding our offering of top-rated kids and family programming has been a top priority for us, and we know viewers will love watching these films over and over again on our service.”

More than 50 movies will also be available on Hulu for the first time over the coming months, like Con Air, Step Up, Gone in 60 Seconds, Pearl Harbor, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, The Mighty Ducks, Lilo & Stitch, Tarzan, The Emperor’s New Groove, Muppet Treasure Island, and The Princess and the Frog.

Tag: Hulu
Discuss this article in our forums

LG’s next headset is a wearable surround sound speaker, too

Sometimes you want to listen to music without having something in or on your ears. That’s the desire LG hopes its new Tone Studio wearable speaker will address. The new horseshoe-shaped unit features two full range speakers up up and a pair of vibrating ones, a digital to analog converter and DTS 3D surround sound. If you’re feeling generous, you can even pair two of the devices together and share audio from a single source.

Not into that? Then maybe the Tone Free might tempt you. The company says this model is the first wireless stereo unit that will charge the included wireless earbuds whenever they’re stored in the neckband. There’s still a charging cradle for the unit, of course. More than that, you can accept or dismiss calls with voice commands.

There are a few other models as well, with these and the Infinim and Ultra devices all being shown off at CES in a couple of weeks. Or, if you’re not heading to the show, in a few months you’ll most likely find them in your wireless store of choice where they’ll be an upsell item with your next phone.

Source: LG

Qualcomm slapped with $854 million anti-trust fine in Korea

Qualcomm might have to pay a hefty anti-trust fine in South Korea. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has slapped Snapdragon’s creator with a 1.03 trillion won ($854 million) fine for unfair patent licensing practices. According to Reuters, the KFTC came to its decision after determining that the company took advantage of its dominant market position to force phonemakers to pay royalties “for an unnecessarily broad set of patents.” Further, it gave rival chipmakers limited access to its patents, which hindered fair competition.

Apparently, 30 percent of the $25 billion revenue the chipmaker made last year came from patent-licensing deals. The KFTC believes this ruling will help “correct a business model that allowed Qualcomm to maintain and extend its dominance.” Qualcomm “strongly disagrees” with the anti-trust regulator’s decision (of course_ and plans to appeal to the Seoul High Court.

This is definitely not the first time Qualcomm has faced such a huge fine for its patent licensing practices. Back in 2015, the company had to pay $975 million in China after regulators in the country conducted a similar anti-monopoly investigation. The company is also under investigation in Taiwan and the United States for the same thing.

Via: 9to5google

Source: Reuters

Soft Gold OnePlus 3T will be up for sale on Amazon India from Jan. 5

The OnePlus 3T is coming soon in a golden hue.

The OnePlus 3T is currently available in a gunmetal color scheme on Amazon India, but if that isn’t to your liking, the company is all set to introduce the Soft Cold color option. The new color variant will be available exclusively on Amazon India starting January 5, and if you’re interested, you can now register to pick it up once it goes on sale.

The Soft Gold model will also retail for ₹29,999 on Amazon. It looks like the color option will be available with 64GB storage initially, followed by the 128GB model. The gunmetal variant is sold out right now — with more stock expected shortly — and Amazon has mentioned that it will have the gold color option on open sale from January 6.

See at Amazon

OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T

• OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
• The OnePlus 3T is official
• OnePlus 3 specs
• OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
• Latest OnePlus 3 news
• Discuss OnePlus 3 in the forums

OnePlus

Huawei P9, P9 Plus shipments exceed the 10 million mark

The P9 is Huawei’s first flagship series to cross the 10 million mark.

Huawei announced that it has shipped more than 10 million units of the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus since they made their debut in April. The phones are the first flagship-tier devices from Huawei to break the 10 million mark, and the milestone highlights the brand’s growth in the smartphone segment over the course of the year.

In Q3 2016, Huawei shipped 33.59 million smartphones, a 23% increase from the same period a year ago. Over 44% of the shipments were either mid-tier or high-end devices, and the company has said that it made “substantial breakthroughs” in European markets, including the UK, France and Germany.

Huawei’s growth in international markets outpaced that of its Chinese business. With the company set to roll out a significant update to its EMUI operating system that makes the UI more palatable to a Western audience, that pace will likely continue going into 2017.

Samsung’s upcoming wireless speaker will use algorithms to digitally upscale audio

Get ready for Ultra-High Quality audio.

Samsung has announced that it will show off its proprietary audio upscaling technology next week at CES. Called Ultra-High Quality (UHQ) audio, Samsung’s technology takes 8-bit to 24-bit audio signals and upscales them to 32-bit output on both wired and wireless connections. Samsung says that in doing so, it is able to deliver “rich sound that brings each note to life with incredible clarity.”

Samsung’s UHQ audio tech is making its debut in the H7 Wireless Speaker, a hi-fi speaker with a sleek brushed metal finish. The speaker has two control knobs — one to adjust volume and the other to select playlists from your streaming service of choice.

Samsung will also reveal the MS750 Soundbar, which is the company’s “first soundbar to embed subwoofer performance directly into the primary unit.” The soundbar also supports UHQ audio. Rounding things off is the M9500 UHD Blu-ray Player, an HDR-enabled Blu-ray player that automatically optimizes video and audio according to the content source.

Along with UHQ audio, Samsung will undoubtedly showcase a slew of SUHD TVs at the trade show next week.