Sharp Executive Says Plan for Foxconn LCD Plant in U.S. is Still ‘On The Table’

Foxconn and Sharp are looking closer than ever to building a manufacturing plant within the United States, according to one Sharp executive who said that the plan is still “on the table” (via Nikkei). The plant would mainly be focused on the manufacturing of LCD panels for TV sets and home appliances, but Foxconn is said to be considering moving iPhone production stateside as well.

The news continues a rumor from last year born out of President-elect Donald Trump’s comments on wanting Apple to make its products stateside. Foxconn laid out plans for such a move in December, along with Japan-based SoftBank Group, with each company hoping to create a combined 100,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next four years.

Nothing is yet official, however, and the same Sharp executive noted that “we will make a decision carefully.”

Hon Hai Precision Industry and its Japanese subsidiary Sharp have begun studying the possibility of building a liquid crystal display panel plant in the U.S., a Sharp executive said Friday.

With Trump urging American manufacturers to bring operations back to the U.S., Hon Hai is considering production in the U.S. due to its huge market for TVs and other home appliances.

Although details about the cost of the plant and its location remain unspecified, people familiar with the plan said Foxconn would spend about the same amount on constructing the U.S. location as it did on a similar facility in Guangzhou — around 1 trillion yen, or $8.69 billion.

As an incentive, Donald Trump in November told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he would offer the company a “very large tax cut” to make its products in the U.S. Cook was said to have remained largely neutral on the subject during his call with Trump, later pointing out that one of the major reasons Apple’s manufacturing is so heavily centered in China is due to the country’s large number of individuals with the required “vocational kind of skills.”

Foxconn and Apple both have manufacturing facilities on a very small scale in the U.S., but the newly discussed facility by Foxconn and Sharp would be notably larger. Currently, Foxconn has plants in Virginia and Indiana, along with logistic locations in California and Texas. Apple has a comparably limited facility in Austin, Texas which manufactures the company’s Mac Pro.

Tags: Foxconn, Sharp
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Xiaomi CEO admits the company grew ‘too fast,’ says that the ‘worst is over’

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun wants the company to focus on AI and internet finance in 2017.

During Xiaomi’s meteoric rise in 2013 and 2014, the company was quick to point out sales figures — which catapulted from 7.2 million in 2012 to 18.7 million in 2013 and 61 million in 2014. That stopped in 2015 when Xiaomi failed to meet its target of 100 million sales. In the end, the company managed to sell over 70 million phones, falling short of its revised goal of 80 million. 2016 was a better year for Xiaomi as it solidified its position in India and held steady in its home market of China, but the company isn’t ready to divulge sales figures.

In a letter addressed to Xiaomi employees, CEO and co-founder Lei Jun admitted that the company grew too fast, and that the brand will now focus on creating sustainable long-term growth:

Our accomplishments are impressive, but the challenges we faced were unforgettable. In the first few years, we pushed ahead too fast. We created a miracle, but also drew on some long-term growth. So we have to slow down, further improve in some areas, and ensure sustainable growth for a long-term future.

Lei Jun also mentioned that Xiaomi needs to “upgrade” its retail model, citing that online sales make up 20% of the overall smartphone segment:

E-commerce now makes up just over 10% of overall retail in China, and the online smartphone market only makes up 20% of the overall smartphone market. Xiaomi has great ambitions, and we are not satisfied with just being an e-commerce smartphone brand, so we have to upgrade our retail model, and incorporate offline retail for a new retail strategy.

Although Xiaomi was the first to start selling exclusively online, its rivals Lenovo and Huawei have caught up. Meanwhile, the likes of OPPO and Vivo have heavily invested in retail stores in tier 2 and tier 3 cities in China and India, scooping up millions of customers in the process. Xiaomi is now looking to expand its retail presence, with Jun stating that the company will open 200 new stores this year, and over 1,000 stores in the next three years.

Xiaomi will increase its retail presence as it sets a revenue goal of $14.5 billion.

Jun also shared details on how various business units performed last year. Xiaomi’s Indian unit crossed the $1 billion revenue mark, and is now the third-largest smartphone vendor in the country. The company also saw revenues of $2.17 billion from its Mi Ecosystem products, which include smart TVs, air purifiers, routers, a robot vacuum cleaner, and even a smart rice cooker. Revenues from internet services also doubled during the year.

For 2017, Xiaomi is setting a revenue target of $14.5 billion. To get there, the brand is going to turn its attention to five “core” areas: technological breakthroughs, new retail strategy, globalization, artificial intelligence, and internet finance. Jun is content on how the company performed in the first three sectors, and as such the focus is on artificial intelligence — which will be used for facial recognition — and finance:

In December 2016, we launched Sichuan XW Bank in a joint venture with partners including New Hope Group and the Hongqi Chain. We have a team of over three hundred people working on laying the foundation in the financial sector for loans, insurance, securities, finance, and payments, as well as securing the necessary licenses. This is extremely important for our future. Commercial giants of the future will not only be Internet companies, but also finance companies, because the future of finance lies in AI and big data. We are still a startup company, but we have great ambitions and capabilities too.

How to share GIFs and search for emoji in Gboard

Share the perfect GIF or emoji using Gboard for Android.

Gboard (formerly Google Keyboard) is probably the best keyboard you can use for Android, and thankfully it is preinstalled on many handsets sold today, even those not made by Google.

One of Gboard’s best little-known features is the ability to share GIFs straight into the text box of certain apps, as well as search for emoji when you just need to quickly find the perfect character. Here’s how to do both.

You must have Gboard downloaded and selected as your default keyboard.

Download Gboard (free)

How to search for and share GIFs in Gboard

Note: App must support GIF sharing, otherwise the option will be crossed out and unavailable.

Open the app that you want to send a GIF.
Tap on a text box The keyboard should appear.
Long-press on the Comma button (a smiley face should be in the background).
Swipe up to select the blue smiley face.

In the emoji selection screen, tap on GIF button.

Select GIF from carousel, or scroll through categories to choose a different one.
If you can’t find the right GIF, tap Search GIFs above the carousel.
Type in search term.
Select chosen GIF.
Press send or enter button above keyboard.

How to search for and share emoji in Gboard

Open the app that you want to send a GIF.
Tap on a text box The keyboard should appear.
Long-press on the Comma button (a smiley face should be in the background).
Swipe up to select the blue smiley face.

In the emoji selection screen, tap on Search emoji.

Type in search term.
Select perfect emoji from search results.
Press send or enter button above keyboard.

Which apps support GIF sharing?

Right now, only a small number of apps support GIF sharing from Gboard. The list is growing, so check back here often.

• Google Messenger
• Google Hangouts
• Google Allo
• Slack
• Twitter

Do I need to be running a particular version of Android to access GIFs on Gboard?

No! Well, yes, but you probably are running a phone with that version. See, Google initially launched the feature with support for just Android 7.1, but in an update to Gboard, Google backported the feature to support Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above, which comprises over 90% of the Android ecosystem.

Questions?

Can’t get it to work? Got an app that supports GIF sharing? Let us know in the comments!

OnePlus 3 and 3T owners, how’s the Nougat update treating you?

The phones with the best value in the business now have the latest software.

After a long wait of watching other phones get in on the Nougat fun, OnePlus 3 owners now have a full stable release of Android 7.1 for their phone. And though the OnePlus 3T is several months newer than its predecessor, the same feeling of “still waiting …” was palpable when the phone launched running Marshmallow.

Now with the software update rollout in full force, tons of OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T owners are chiming in with their experiences of upgrading and getting situated on the Nougat software that has finally graced their phones. The experience isn’t dramatically different from the company’s take on Marshmallow, but getting the latest features is always welcomed — especially amongst the enthusiast crowd OnePlus caters to.

So for those of you who have been using the new software for the past week, how have you found it? Are you experiencing any bugs or issues? Or is everything going as smooth as you expect? We want to know — so hit us up in the comments below!

OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3

• OnePlus 3T review: Rekindling a love story
• OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
• OnePlus 3T specs
• Latest OnePlus 3 news
• Discuss OnePlus 3T and 3 in the forums

OnePlus
Amazon

These renders give us the best look of the Samsung Galaxy S8 yet

Fresh renders to suggest what what the Samsung Galaxy S8 could look like have appeared online, in the form of cases, and a look at the phone based on those case designs.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 edge: What’s the story so far?

Pocket Now has obtained the case renders, one unnamed protective cover and a Ghostek Atomic 3 waterproof case. Unfortunately, while they both claim to be for the same phone, they have several differences. The unnamed protective cover shows cut-outs for a square camera module on the back, and a smaller module above it, which going by alleged images of the phone itself, is for a flash/heart rate sensor.

The case also shows three physical buttons on the left side, two for volume and one which could be a dedicated button for Samsung’s own personal assistant Bixby – originally Viv. There’s a separate cut-out for a button on the top of the case which will likely be for power.

The most interesting thing to take away from the unnamed case though is the cut-out for a 3.5mm headphone jack alongside one for a USB Type-C port. There have been several rumours already to suggest Samsung would ditch the headphone jack in favour of USB-C audio, so we’re taking this one with a pinch of salt.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 “confirmed” to ditch headphone jack and retain 2K display

The Ghostek case, which shows a mock-up of a Galaxy S8 inside however, doesn’t have the second cut-out for the flash/heart rate sensor. It does show the same three physical buttons on the side as the unnamed case, so at least there’s something they can agree on. The other thing the cases appear to agree on is the lack of physical front-mounted home button. It suggests Samsung will embed a fingerprint scanner in the screen, with all controls being on screen too.

There are only two shots of the Ghostek case, and neither of them show the bottom edge, so we’re not sure whether it also has the cut-out for a 3.5mm headphone jack. Considering the wealth of rumours to suggest there won’t be one, and that many other manufacturers are going the way of USB Type-C for audio, we expect Samsung to follow suit.

Sammobile

A reader of Sammobile has put together a render of what the Samsung Galaxy S8 would look like based on the case renders and it matches up with a leaked photo purporting to be the S8 that appeared on Weibo at the beginning of January. There’s no home button and a screen that takes up the majority of the front of the device with curved edges like the Galaxy S7 Edge.

• Huge picture leak seemingly confirms Samsung Galaxy S8 design

Of course, these are all just renders for now, so everything should be taken with a pinch of salt, but with some features appearing more often, we’re starting to get a good idea of what to expect come launch day.

How to pre-order the new Nintendo Switch console

Nintendo has now officially revealed the Switch price and release date, completing the picture on its next games machine.

The Switch wants to be a little different to existing consoles like the Xbox One or PS4 by letting you go mobile with it, lifting out the 6.2-inch display when you leave the house, or connecting to the TV when you’re at home. 

In the box you’ll get:

• Console
• Joy-Con left and right controllers
• Joy-Con grip (joins Joy-Con to use as one controller)
• Joy-Con wrist straps
• Nintendo Switch dock (to connect to TV)
• HDMI cable and AC adapter

The Switch will be in stores on 3 March and cost £279.99, and pre-orders are already open for this new console, from a variety of retailers. Currently there aren’t any Nintendo Switch deals, but there’s always the chance that will change as we approach the launch date in March. Stock will be limited, so pre-orders are limited to one console per person in most cases.

• Pre-order the Nintendo Switch (Grey) on Amazon for £279.99
• Pre-order the Nintendo Switch (Grey) on Game for £279.99
• Pre-order the Nintendo Switch (Neon Red/Neon Blue on Game for £279.99

Currently a number of stores like Argos and the Nintendo Store only have options to register interest. We’ll update if this changes.

Nintendo Switch preview: Return of the king

We are finally privy to all the details, price and release date of the Nintendo Switch. We have also finally got our hands on it and it’s good, it’s very good.

Driven by a modified version of the Nvidia Tegra X1 processor, we thought we’d be faced with a tablet masquerading as a games console, but this is the power of Nintendo at its best. Yes, the tablet unit drops to 720p when undocked. And yes, it has the basic feel and style of a tablet, but it’s so much more than that.

The Joy-Cons make an enormous difference.

We got to play several games on the new console at the dedicated Nintendo Switch Presentation event in London and used all the different control methods at our disposal.

Pocket-lint

Starting with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we played with the Switch docked and using the new Pro Controller. It is smaller than an Xbox One equivalent, but feels well built and perfectly suited for comfort.

Bar the weird button layout of the game itself, which’ll take some getting used to thanks to being fairly alien to Xbox and PlayStation fans, the controller is responsive and logical. We suspect many games will be played this way.

As for the game, we played the identical demo to the one shown at E3 last June, albeit on the Switch rather than the Wii U. It would have been nice to have seen both versions side-by-side but we swear that draw distances are better and the game seemed a little smoother this time around. We’re not sure if it was running at 1080p 60fps but it felt like it.

Pocket-lint

Playing Arms was an entirely different experience as we did so with the Joy-Cons only. It’s a fighting game where you box with a Joy-Con in each hand and is the closest thing to a Wii game we’ve played for a while.

To be honest, our demo was too brief to get a genuine feel for the game – save for a confusing battle with someone who’d played it far more often than us – but it did show us that the small, clip controllers are incredibly versatile and well built.

It’s a shame that the UK will be stuck with the grey ones initially, rather than the blue and orange variants we played with in our demos, partly because they help distinguish players in head-to-head local multiplayer. We’re sure that’ll happen in time though.

Pocket-lint

Our last gameplay session for now was on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a special version of the superb Wii U title optimised and remastered for Switch.

Not only did this give us a great idea of how one of our favourite games of all time is shaping up for the new console – superbly, as you can imagine – but we also got to play it on the undocked Switch screen with the Joy-Cons attached.

We were told it was running in 720p at 60fps on the device – the max for the undocked unit – and it’s super smooth. Indeed, we’ve never seen a native tablet game running as well. It gives us hope that Nintendo really has created something new and different.

First Impressions

Whether the Nintendo Switch will compete with Xbox One S, PS4 Pro or the Project Scorpio when it arrives at the end of the year is debatable. However, it might not need to.

Unlike the Wii U, the Switch is a big departure for the games industry. It’s not a traditional games console, nor is it a portable tablet. It is something in-between and we feel could find an all-new market. It truly offers high-end quality gaming wherever you go and will therefore appeal to a wide user base.

At least, that’s our initial thoughts.

We came to the presentation event expecting good things but also, secretly, expecting to leave disappointed. We haven’t. In fact it’s quite the opposite.

We need more time with the Switch to get a firm grip on its potential but from this brief showing there is every sign the king has returned. Nintendo is back in the game.

The Morning After: Friday, January 13th, 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Nintendo’s new home-and-away console has been unveiled in Japan. While we haven’t got to touch those unusual controllers just yet (that’ll be later today), we’ve got prices, launch titles, and a bunch of features that sound like a Nintendo fan’s wish list fulfilled. We also have HTC’s newest phone, the possibility of smartphones with folding screens, and a digital camera that leaves photo curation to AI.

$300, March 3rdNintendo reveals everything you want to know about the Switch

When our supercut of the press launch weighs in at 12 minutes, you know Nintendo had a lot to tell us about its new console. Where to start? We’ve already told you the price and the date, but how about no more region-locking (a Nintendo ‘tradition’), a proper touchscreen and more. While you will have to pay for online play, Nintendo is offering up some of its hits from yesteryear with online functionality — many of which didn’t have such a thing when they launched. The two controllers will also have even higher motion sensitivity, proximity sensors and each doubles up as simplified controllers when you’re playing with someone else.

What’s up with Mario’s hat?All the games announced for the Switch

A console is nothing without games, and Nintendo had plenty to show last night. Our gallery rounded up every trailer, but highlights included Super Mario Odyssey which is due during the holiday season, the freaky Arms boxing game coming in spring, Splatoon 2, which will arrive in the summer and of course, a launch title in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Bring a calculator and a voltmeterTesla explains how much Supercharging will cost new buyers

As of January 15th, Tesla’s lifetime offer of free Supercharging at its conveniently-located power stations comes off the table. Now, the company has revealed how much it will cost for future buyers of the Model S, X and 3 to top up their batteries. The plan will allow for 400kWh of charging per year for free, which Musk & Co. figure should cover 1,000 miles or most of the road trip-style access needed when drivers are away from home. After that, it’s billed per kWh or per-minute (which can vary if more cars are connected, slowing down the charger), depending on the area, with prices fixed within each state. All in all, an NY to LA trip could cost about $120.

Two screens, no headphone jackHTC’s new high-end phone is the U Ultra

This year’s premium HTC phone is stealing a trick from LG’s V20, as the U Ultra features a secondary display to highlight important information. What’s different here, however, is the use of AI to try and learn which notifications are important enough to pop up there. It also follows the iPhone 7 by losing its headphone jack, while keeping an expandable microSD storage slot.

Relonch tries selling a camera as a serviceAn AI camera failed to capture the magic of CES

Instead of selling you the best camera ever, the pitch for Relonch’s 291 is a free connected camera (in exchange for your mirrorless or DSLR camera) that uploads your pics for editing and processing in the cloud. It returns the pictures to you every morning, and you pay $1 each for the ones you’d like to keep. Aaron Soupporis’ CES experience suggested it’s more interesting than useful so far, but the service is still just in beta testing.

Echo everywhereAmazon’s Alexa ecosystem is exploding, for better and worse

In a little over two years, Amazon’s Alexa has gone from being a baffling product (a connected speaker, really?!) to an essential feature for any connected device. With more than 7,000 ‘skills’ — what Amazon calls third-party integrations — it’s the most robust voice platform around. Which probably also explains why we saw it everywhere at CES this year. That said, one thing we know for sure about voice computing in 2017: The competition will only heat up.

FoldphonesSamsung and LG could launch foldable phones later this year

While Samsung has teased them for a while, flexible-screen phones could actually arrive later this year — and LG is in on it too. Samsung reportedly began working on a phone that folds out and turns into a 7-inch tablet in August, and it’s expected to roll out over 100,000 units in the third quarter. Sources say LG is working on an identically-numbered rollout because of course it is.

But wait, there’s more…

• Google applies machine learning on your phone to massively improve image compression
• Exxon must turn over decades of climate change research
• FCC: Verizon and AT&T ‘zero-rating’ perks harm consumers

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t subscribe.

Massive meta-study confirms the health benefits of cannabis

After digging through more than 10,000 separate clinical studies, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine on Thursday issued a groundbreaking, 400-page report on the potential benefits and detriments posed by cannabis use. The biggest revelation: cannabis has verifiable medicinal uses, which are backed by large amounts of high-quality science. This could spell the end for weed’s categorization as a Schedule I narcotic.

The report was authored by a panel of health experts led by Harvard pediatrician, Marie McCormick. The study found, among other things, that cannabinoids (the active ingredients in cannabis) are potent pain relievers, especially for chronic pain. It also found that while cannabis smoke does not appear to cause cancer of the mouth, throat or lungs, toking up while pregnant can lead to reduced birth weights.

And though the study found that regular use may increase the risk of developing psychological disorders like schizophrenia, the biggest danger lies in weeds ability to temporarily stunt your cognitive abilities immediately after consumption. There is little evidence that it makes you dumber over the long-term. Similarly, there is scant evidence that cannabis can be linked to strokes and heart attacks or act as a gateway drug for users.

So, basically, everything they taught us in DARE was wrong. Unfortunately, given how steadfast previous administrations have been against rescheduling cannabis, not to mention Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions’ stance on the issue, don’t expect this report to do much good.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: National Academies Press

Snapchat’s new universal search bar is built for speed

While Snapchat has changed the way many people share photos and video on social media, the app’s user interface is a little unintuitive in places and can be confusing for first-time users. To help Snapchatters navigate easier and find the people they actually want to share with, the company has introduced a new universal search function that sits at the top of every screen inside the app.

TechCrunch reports that the new feature is designed for speed, encouraging you to find what you need and continue sharing photos, videos and contributing to Stories. Hit the search button and the “Quick Chat” menu will display the people you interact with the most, allowing you to instantly start messaging them or see if they’ve recently posted a Story. Tapping and holding your finger on that card will show their profile.

The search bar connects to Discover channels and can index Our Stories based on to their title. The idea is to deliver new content past the suggestions Snapchat offers on a particular day, which is why it now also allows users to submit to the app’s Our Story section from wherever they are (the feature typically only allowed users to contribute from pre-vetted events or locations where Snapchat expects an increase in activity).

It’s good to see Snapchat making it easier to communicate with people you already know but the new search bar doesn’t really improve the friend discovery process. Friend suggestions are still absent from the app, for example. The new features have already begun rolling out to some Android users but will be available to all iOS and Android users “soon.”

Source: TechCrunch