Google hires Apple veteran to design custom smartphone chips

Why it matters to you

Google’s future Pixel smartphones may pack processors custom designed by a former Apple engineer.

Google is reportedly designing chips that will power the next generation of Pixel-branded smartphones, and it has recruited a veteran hardware engineer from Apple to spearhead the effort. On Tuesday, Variety reported that Manu Gulati, who led the iPhone maker’s chip division for close to eight years, has been hired as Google’s Lead SoC (system-on-a-chip) architect.

The current generation of Pixel phones — the Pixel and Pixel XL — pack chips optimized by Google but supplied by Qualcomm, which produces silicon for HTC, LG, Asus, Lenovo, and other smartphone competitors.

Google has reportedly long desired to break free of the chipmaker’s monopolistic grip. In 2015, The Information reported that Google had conversations with chip manufacturers about fabricating its own chips. And in an interview with Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh, Bloomberg reported that planned that the company was planning Pixel devices powered by proprietary processors and other hardware components.

Gulati could be the man for the job. The Cupertino, California-based computer maker began working at Apple in 2009, and led the company’s effort to build custom chips for the iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV. He helped to design the architecture of the A4 chip in 2010, the first Apple-designed chip to power one of the company’s products. And he’s credited as an inventor on 15 of Apple’s chip-related patents, including a hardware-based system for Apple Pay that securely stores a user’s fingerprint on the iPhone.

Google’s efforts appear to be accelerating. Variety notes that the search giant has posted job offers for chip-related design positions, including one for a “mobile SoC CPU architect” and a “mobile SoC architect,” who will “help define the architecture of future generations of phone and tablet” chips.

Ultimately, Google wants to exert greater control over the microchips that power its Pixel devices; Apple’s custom approach makes it possible to optimize processors for both performance and energy consumption. It has already made overtures — In May 2016, Google unveiled a custom chip — a Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU — designed to accelerate machine learning and artificial intelligence applications. Google says that TPUs, which were implemented in the company’s data centers last year, have helped to improved the accuracy of map and navigation aids in Street View and the relevancy of Google search results.

But the search giant’s smartphone chip plans might not come to fruition this year. Rumor it that Google’s next Pixel smartphones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2B, sport processors from Qualcomm, Intel, or a combination of the two.

5 updates coming to Adobe Stock, including content from Reuters

Why it matters to you

Adobe Stock users now have even more photos and better ways to find them, including AI search filters and PowerPoint plug-in.

Two years after launching, Adobe Stock is now 90 million images strong and continuing to grow. With that much content available, Adobe announced two new features will make it easier to sift through: an artificial intelligence-based search filters and a Microsoft PowerPoint plug-in. The company is also expanding its editorial collection, through partnerships with Reuters and USA Today Sports. And, Stocksy’s collection will also join Adobe Stock as a premium collection.

As Adobe Stock’s number of images continues to grow, Sensei, the company’s artificial intelligence system, is powering more ways to find the right shot. With the new Aesthetic Filters, users can now filter images by both the depth of field (the amount of background blur) and the amount of color. The search filters, now in public beta testing, allows users to adjust sliders for sorting out images to better match the look they are going for.

“When an image is uploaded, Adobe Stock uses machine learning to return images with similar visual and semantic characteristics, which can be further refined with keywords,” Adobe says.

The depth of field slider allows users to choose more blur for added drama, while images with the least amount of blur tend to include more people in them.

The “vivid color” search parameter allows users to choose whether they are looking for a shot with a more muted look or an image with bright colors. The brighter side of the slider doesn’t dig up colors that are artificially saturated, Adobe says, but includes objects and surroundings that are more bright naturally.

The features, for now, are only live on the web-based version of Adobe Stock. Adobe expects to bring the features directly into the search function within Adobe Creative Cloud applications, which allows users to find stock photos without leaving programs like Photoshop. Additional atheistic filters are also in the works.

The new search parameters will come in handy since the Adobe Stock collection is getting even bigger, thanks to newly added editorial and premium content from Reuters, USA Today Sports, and Stocksy. The Reuters collaboration brings the news service’s editorial content starting today, while sports photography will launch shortly with the USA Today Sports partnership.

“Stock content is mainly models, people you don’t know,” Claude Alexander, the vice president of Adobe Stock, told Digital Trends. “Editorial is strictly the opposite, real people in real places doing real things.”

Since the editorial images are geared toward different users than the stock and commercial images, the collections will remain separate. Search filters allow users to include or exclude editorial images – editorial is excluded from the search by default. Adobe plans on adding the ability to narrow searches inside the editorial collection by date, but the feature isn’t part of today’s launch.

Reuters is the largest global news organization in the world and the new partnership brings 12 million new images and 300,000 video clips to the platform. Today’s announcement finalizes an earlier agreement that gradually added 12 million Reuters archives over the first-half of 2017. Now, new content will be added daily, covering a range of topics from events to celebrities. When the USA Today Sports collection becomes active, it will cover 10,000 events a year, including all major sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL.

Stocksy is the third new partnership announced, bringing a “distinctive, beautiful and highly-usable” set of images to the Premium Collection, Adobe says. The collection brings about 400,000 new stock photos.

One of the biggest reasons current customers like using Adobe Stock, Adobe says, is the direct integration with a number of Adobe platforms, making it easier to buy – and even sell – without leaving the program. That capability is now extending outside the Adobe Creative Cloud family with the launch of a plug-in for Microsoft PowerPoint, for both Mac and Windows. Users can find the plug-in by accessing the store from the Insert tab. Prices for PowerPoint users are the same as stock prices for CC users. Search tools are also similar, with the ability to search by text or by uploading an image.

The new partnership will bring Adobe Stock’s total images to well over 100 million, with daily additions expected for the editorial collection.

Sneaky Android virus can inject itself into system files and cover its tracks

Why it matters to you

New mobile malware pops up all the time, and it’s as important as ever to be wary of the apps you download.

Every week or so, there’s a new form of Android malware discovered that works in a unique way from what’s come before. Fortunately, in most cases, Google and third-party security experts identify the offenders before they do any serious damage. Kaspersky has just discovered one such Trojan, called Dvmap, located in an unassuming game on the Google Play Store called Colourblock with an unprecedented tactic — it injects code into the Android system library.

According to Kaspersky, this is the first example of malware on the operating system with that capability. Colourblock has reportedly been downloaded over 50,000 times, though Google took the game down after Kaspersky brought it to the company’s attention.

The danger of malware that overwrites contents in the system library in this particular instance is that it can disable Android’s Verify Apps function, allowing free, unchecked installation of downloaded software without the user’s knowledge or approval. By replacing the library, the Dvmap Trojan also eliminates key services that many apps rely on to operate properly. This means normally stable apps could very well start crashing your device.

Dvmap even deletes root access to cover its tracks. That’s particularly dangerous for apps dealing with sensitive information that rely on root detection to operate securely, like banking apps.

Kaspersky’s Roman Unuchek noted in his analysis that although the Trojan possessed the ability to download and execute files, it never received any commands during his investigation. This could mean that the developers are still expanding their reach and testing their methods before launching the full attack.

Interestingly, Colourblock has been able to sidestep action from Google and remain under the radar because the developers have been regularly “updating” the app by releasing a mix of clean and malicious versions. The first release was clean, but was then replaced with another containing Dvmap after a short period of time. That version was switched out with another clean app, and then again with an infected one. Kaspersky says the developers had performed the switcheroo at least five times between April and May.

Google’s new ‘Android Excellence’ program highlights best Android apps

Why it matters to you

Want to make sure you’re not downloading buggy apps? Google’s new Android Excellence program will help you do just that.

Google is looking for new ways to promote and show off apps and games that deliver a top-quality Android experience, and to that end the company has taken the wraps off of Android Excellence, a new program aimed at showcasing those great apps.

The apps on show have to meet a number of important criteria. Not only do they have to be generally good apps, but they also have to follow Google’s Android best practices, have a great design, perform technically well under the hood, and optimize well for whatever device they’re on.

“Every day developers around the world are hard at work creating high quality apps and games on Android,” Google developer marketing head said Kacey Fahey in a blog post. “Striving to deliver amazing experiences for an ever growing diverse user base, we’ve seen a significant increase in the level of polish and quality of apps and games on Google Play.”

Initially, there’s quite a list of apps and games that make the Android Excellence cut, including the likes of Evernote, HotelTonight, Runtastic, and Riptide GO: Renegade. You can check out the full list for yourself here. Not only that, but the list will be refreshed quarterly — so you can check in every few months to see what Google considers the latest and greatest Android apps. The apps can be found on the revamped Editor’s Choice section of the Google Play Store.

It’s nice to see Google highlighting apps that perform well on Android. It’s all too easy to look for an app, only to download it and find that it’s either badly designed, or buggy and doesn’t work well on your device. Hopefully, if you download from Google’s Android Excellence list, that issue should be a thing of the past. Even if you’re not looking for a particular app, the new list should be a great way to discover something new.

Refurbished Samsung Galaxy Note 7 R: News and rumors

Why it matters to you

The Note 7 isn’t dead yet. Samsung is considering selling refurbished units of the ill-fated phone in select markets later this year.

Update: Added ETNews report regarding an early July launch in South Korea.

Samsung is not one to let recalled phones go to waste — even fire-prone ones. The smartphone maker announced it is investigating ways to recycle the Galaxy Note 7 in an environmentally conscious way, which may include selling refurbished versions of the previously recalled device. Here is everything we have heard about the plan.

Where and when will it be sold?

Samsung hasn’t stated where it wants to release a refurbished Note 7, but we would be willing to bet the answer is something like, “Anywhere that will take them.” Rumors have covered a potential release in South Korea, India, and Vietnam. A spokesperson for Samsung India denied the reports a refurbished Note 7 would be sold there.

According to a report from ETNews by way of Android Authority, Samsung is planning a July 7 release for the refurbished Note 7 in South Korea and will call the device the Galaxy Note FE. The phablet will reportedly also feature Bixby, the company’s new virtual assistant. ETNews says Samsung was planning a late June release but wanted to increase production substantially, pushing launch into early July.

South Korea may be Samsung’s test market for the re-released Note 7 and for refurbished phones in general, ETNews previously reported. It would be the first time Samsung has sold a refurbished phone in its home country, and the report states it doesn’t require government approval to do so. However, it would still need to pass safety checks with authorities.

A June release in South Korea is possible, helping Samsung bridge the gap between the release of the Galaxy S8 and any subsequent release of the rumored Galaxy Note 8, likely to come in September or soon afterwards. The period is traditionally quiet for smartphone sales in South Korea, according to ETNews.

Before this, South Korea’s Electronic Times said Samsung will begin selling refurbished Note 7 phones in its home country in July or August, and aims to sell between 400,000 and 500,000.

What will change?

If Samsung is to sell the Note 7 again, the most obvious change it will have to make is to stop it catching fire. To do this, the battery will be reduced in capacity from 3,500mAh to 3,200mAh, according to a report from ETNews. It echoes previous information leaked in April, when images of a Galaxy Note 7 phone with a smaller battery were published online. The Note 7’s battery was squeezed into the original device, which was one of the primary causes of the fires, so a smaller cell should avoid this.

The name may be changed to the Galaxy Note 7 R, with the R presumably standing for refurbished (or recall, if we’re feeling sarcastic), says ETNews and several other sources. The same report, which initially said the Note 7 R will go on sale in South Korea this June, also added the device will cost the local equivalent of $620. That’s at least $200 less than the Note 7 cost when it first went on sale. It’s also less than the newly released Galaxy S8.

Samsung statement

Rumors had previously spread about the plan, but Samsung confirmed its intention in a statement released at the end of March 2017. It said some of its existing Note 7s would be “considered to be used as refurbished or rental phones,” while others would be subjected to recycling processes that will extract metals like copper, nickel, gold, and silver from the phone’s components. “The objective of introducing refurbished devices is solely to reduce and minimize any environmental impact,” the company said.

It’s not about to unleash millions of refurbished phones immediately though. Samsung says it will work with local authorities and carriers in markets where it intends to sell the devices, ensuring not only that there is demand, but also the new Note 7 phones pass regulatory checks. This is time consuming, and will affect any eventual release date.

Environmentalists

Environmental activists have urged Samsung to recycle the millions of Note 7 devices consumers returned after the recall. It’s a hot enough topic that members of Greenpeace interrupted a Samsung news conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to get the message across.

In a statement, the activist group said it welcomed Samsung’s decision to recycle some phones, and urged the company to carry out its plans in a “verifiable” manner. “Samsung’s announcement is the first step to show its effort to set a new path for recycling smartphones starting with Note 7s,” Greenpeace wrote in a blog post. “Greenpeace will make sure Samsung takes into account the voice of millions of our supporters and abides by its commitment.”

The Galaxy Note 7 R, or any refurbished model of the Note 7 phone, hasn’t been officially announced. We’ll keep you updated here regarding rumors and news.

Meizu Pro 7 news, rumors, and leaks

Update: Leaked images show a rear-facing display on the Meizu Pro 7.

Meizu will release a follow-up to the Pro 7, and it could be available as early as next month. A series of images have leaked giving insight into the upcoming phone’s design, as well as some of the specs that we can expect from the phone.

Interestingly enough, it’s looking more and more like the phone will have a borderless edge-to-edge design similar to the Xiaomi Mi Mix, which made headlines for having a huge display.

The latest leaks surrounding the Meizu Pro 7 show a very interesting and unique feature — a rear display that will show information like the time, date, and notifications. The leak comes in the form of a series of illustrations, posted on a Chinese social media website Weibo, but its based on previous image leaks that show a cutout for a display on the back under the rear-facing camera.

According to the leaks, which come courtesy of a few Weibo posts, the phone will boast a relatively large 5.62-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2160 x 1080. That’s actually not a very high resolution considering how big it seems the display will be. The ratio also seems a little weird, coming in at almost 2:1.

It also seems like the phone will be extremely thin — it’ll come in at only 6.5mm thick, according to the leaks. When it comes to the battery, it’ll offer mCharge 4.0, which can charge the phone completely in only 40 minutes. It’ll come with 6GB of RAM, which will likely become the standard for flagship phones in 2017, and will come with either 64GB or 128GB of storage.

Interestingly enough, the leaks also show a somewhat odd design for the front-facing camera, which pops out of the top of the phone and has a resolution of 8MP. The main front-facing camera is 5MP, and the rear-facing camera is 12MP. The battery is 3,060mAh.

Early leaks indicate that the phone may launch on December 24, but view that with some skepticism since this is just a leak. There are still a few things to learn about the phone, such as the processor. It’s likely we’ll discover more in the coming weeks.

Translate One2One generates spoken language translation in real time

Why it matters to you

This is one of the first earpieces that can translate languages without an internet connection.

Imagine if understanding a foreign language you have never learned was as easy as just listening. Australian startup Lingmo International has leveraged IBM Watson technology for its Translate One2One, an earpiece that can translate languages in near real-time.

Using IBM Watson’s Natural Language Processor and Language Translation APIs and Lingmo’s machine learning applications, the earpiece-equipped device can translate across English, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, and Chinese. The earpiece has a microphone built-in which picks up spoken words, allowing the earpiece to translate speech in seconds. An iOS app is available which offers speech-to-text and text-to-speech translation for even more languages.

If you find yourself in foreign lands and out of the reach of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Translate One2One can still work just as well. “As the first device on the market for language translation using AI that does not rely on connectivity to operate, it offers significant potential for its unique application across airlines, foreign government relations and even not-for-profits working in remote areas,” said Danny May, Lingmo’s founder, in a press release.

Translate One2One is not the first to the party. Last year, tech startup Waverly Labs released its Pilot earpiece which also translated multiple languages on the go. Similar to Translate One2One, Pilot can translate languages without internet connection by downloading language packs from a companion app. But, unlike Translate One2One, Pilot requires a cell phone connection to work offline.

The Translate One2One earpiece was unveiled earlier this month at the United Nations Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Good Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. It is available to purchase today at $179 and will ship by July. You can put your order in here at Lingmo’s official website. A travel pack with two earpieces is also available for $229 so you and someone who does not fully understand your language can have a pretty seamless conversation without having to yell “what do you mean?” at each other.

Translate One2One generates spoken language translation in real time

Why it matters to you

This is one of the first earpieces that can translate languages without an internet connection.

Imagine if understanding a foreign language you have never learned was as easy as just listening. Australian startup Lingmo International has leveraged IBM Watson technology for its Translate One2One, an earpiece that can translate languages in near real-time.

Using IBM Watson’s Natural Language Processor and Language Translation APIs and Lingmo’s machine learning applications, the earpiece-equipped device can translate across English, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, and Chinese. The earpiece has a microphone built-in which picks up spoken words, allowing the earpiece to translate speech in seconds. An iOS app is available which offers speech-to-text and text-to-speech translation for even more languages.

If you find yourself in foreign lands and out of the reach of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Translate One2One can still work just as well. “As the first device on the market for language translation using AI that does not rely on connectivity to operate, it offers significant potential for its unique application across airlines, foreign government relations and even not-for-profits working in remote areas,” said Danny May, Lingmo’s founder, in a press release.

Translate One2One is not the first to the party. Last year, tech startup Waverly Labs released its Pilot earpiece which also translated multiple languages on the go. Similar to Translate One2One, Pilot can translate languages without internet connection by downloading language packs from a companion app. But, unlike Translate One2One, Pilot requires a cell phone connection to work offline.

The Translate One2One earpiece was unveiled earlier this month at the United Nations Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Good Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. It is available to purchase today at $179 and will ship by July. You can put your order in here at Lingmo’s official website. A travel pack with two earpieces is also available for $229 so you and someone who does not fully understand your language can have a pretty seamless conversation without having to yell “what do you mean?” at each other.

Translate One2One generates spoken language translation in real time

Why it matters to you

This is one of the first earpieces that can translate languages without an internet connection.

Imagine if understanding a foreign language you have never learned was as easy as just listening. Australian startup Lingmo International has leveraged IBM Watson technology for its Translate One2One, an earpiece that can translate languages in near real-time.

Using IBM Watson’s Natural Language Processor and Language Translation APIs and Lingmo’s machine learning applications, the earpiece-equipped device can translate across English, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, and Chinese. The earpiece has a microphone built-in which picks up spoken words, allowing the earpiece to translate speech in seconds. An iOS app is available which offers speech-to-text and text-to-speech translation for even more languages.

If you find yourself in foreign lands and out of the reach of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Translate One2One can still work just as well. “As the first device on the market for language translation using AI that does not rely on connectivity to operate, it offers significant potential for its unique application across airlines, foreign government relations and even not-for-profits working in remote areas,” said Danny May, Lingmo’s founder, in a press release.

Translate One2One is not the first to the party. Last year, tech startup Waverly Labs released its Pilot earpiece which also translated multiple languages on the go. Similar to Translate One2One, Pilot can translate languages without internet connection by downloading language packs from a companion app. But, unlike Translate One2One, Pilot requires a cell phone connection to work offline.

The Translate One2One earpiece was unveiled earlier this month at the United Nations Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Good Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. It is available to purchase today at $179 and will ship by July. You can put your order in here at Lingmo’s official website. A travel pack with two earpieces is also available for $229 so you and someone who does not fully understand your language can have a pretty seamless conversation without having to yell “what do you mean?” at each other.

Robot ‘row bots’ test whether we’ve been rowing wrong all along

Why it matters to you

Robot experiments can be used to hone human efficiency. Even if sometimes it turns out we were doing it right all along!

Robots aren’t merely preparing to steal all our jobs and leave it at that. They’re also keen on informing us how we’re doing all sorts of other things wrong, too — and would really be so much better off if we just handed those leisure pursuits over to automation as well.

The latest example? An article from the journal Physics Today, in which researchers from the Laboratory of Hydrodynamics (LadHyX) at France’s École Polytechnique in Paris used a crew of robots to work out how teams of rowers could row more efficiently. The results came close to upsetting centuries of human-honed rowing know-how.

As you’ll be aware if you’ve ever watched rowing before, pretty much every rowing team rows with every team member rowing in time with one another. The reason for this is that it results in the smoothest possible trajectory for the vessel, resulting in the fastest possible row from point A to point B. Right? Well, almost.

In fact, the researchers found something a bit different when they built a tenth-scale racing boat with eight tiny Arduino-controlled robotic rowers. What their analysis showed was that when rowers row together it results in significant acceleration and deceleration periods — with the point between strokes, at which no-one is rowing, causing deceleration of around 20 percent. If, however, rowing is carried out asynchronously — or out of time — then there is 5 percent less friction on a boat’s hull.

When you consider Olympic rowing, that 5 percent could theoretically be the difference between a gold and silver medal. In fact, speed variance with asynchronous rowing is just 2 percent, down from the whopping 12 percent with regular synchronized rowing.

Don’t panic, though: As it turns out, despite this being the smoothest (and most robot-approved) way to row, it’s actually slower than the way that we do things. As the researchers explain:

“In our initial thinking, we failed to take into account that the rowers are not stationary. Indeed, the speed in the synchronized configuration keeps increasing at the beginning of the recovery stroke — that is, after the oars have been lifted from the water. If the velocity keeps increasing when the oars are out of the water, there must be an additional propulsive force that does not depend on oars. In fact, the force results from the motion of the rowers on the boat. When the rowers return together to the stern of the boat during the recovery stroke, they pull the hull beneath them and accelerate the boat. Since the crew of a coxed eight weighs several times what the boat does, the rowers generate a significant force. When they are desynchronized, that inertial boost is reduced.”

So to take all of this wildly out of context, when we all row together we can beat the robots. There’s probably a lesson for Skynet hidden in there somewhere!