Make more precise measurements with Cubit, now available on Indiegogo

Why it matters to you

Precision is of the utmost importance when it comes to home renovation projects, and Cubit is here to help.

Measure two times, cut once. That’s sage advice passed down through the ages, but there are times when getting precise measurements and then putting them to use in real-world projects can be a lot tougher than just marking a board with a pencil before sawing it. Saying it offers “measure-just-once” capability for regular and irregular objects and surfaces in consumer projects, Plott announced Cubit at CES 2017, and now, it’s available on Indiegogo.

Plott is a newly launched consumer subsidiary of NWi, a technology platform firm that specializes in helping construction companies scale designs up and down. NWi’s platform uses dimensional data to help its clients visualize projects’ end results before they actually start. It’s from this perspective — simplifying the measurement and dimensional aspects of projects — that NWi started Plott for consumers. Cubit is the first device in the line.

“Cubit is the only solution that partners with the user along their entire creative journey, allowing them to get over mental and physical hurdles, and bring their projects from idea generation to reality,” said Plott CEO David Xing. “We believe people should spend their time enjoying their projects, rather than struggling to figure out how to get them done. We’ve designed Plott’s ecosystem of tools as a direct response to that, leveraging best-in-class technology to remove complexity from the creative process.”

Cubit’s major features include real-time, accurate dimensional data from a built-in smart wheel, and a laser distance measurer. The data can then be used on a smartphone app in project planning and layout. According to the company, by minimizing measurement tasks, organizing project data, and taking care of all calculations, customers will be able to keep their focus on their projects. They can also attach photos, videos, and notes to the data points. Cubit will transmit data to the smartphone app with low-energy Bluetooth for efficiency and longer battery life.

Plott’s Cubit is now available on Indiegogo for the early bird price of $49, which is 50 percent off the retail price of $99. Included in your order is both the Cubit and a micro USB charger. For $90, you can grab two Cubits and two such chargers, with an estimated delivery date of November 2017.

Update: Cubit is now available for pre-order on Indiegogo.

Not even imprisoned execs and exploding phones can stop Samsung

Why it matters to you

Scandals may capture headlines, but they haven’t stopped Samsung from selling a lot of Galaxy S8 phones.

Samsung has seen significant revenue growth throughout its business over the past three months, despite ongoing scandals and the ghost of the Galaxy Note 7 hanging over it. It’s also very confident about the near future, trumpeting the arrival of the Galaxy Note 8, a series of new midrange and low-end smartphones, plus continuing demand for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.

From April through the end of June 2017, Samsung took in $54.8 billion in revenue, with $12.8 billion coming as profit, which it says is a record-breaking quarter for the company. It’s also a 72-percent increase over the first three months of 2017, and up again from the end of 2016, after the small slump it endured during the height of the Galaxy Note 7 turmoil. To put the $12 billion profit into perspective, at the end of September last year, it posted $4.5 billion in profit.

The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus have been instrumental in Samsung’s return to massive profits. In its earnings report, it says the “strong sales” of the new phones have driven the recent increases, and the S8 Plus in particular has been a big seller. Samsung states it makes up more than 50 percent of all Galaxy S8 phone sales, despite being larger and more expensive than the regular Galaxy S8. Samsung’s mobile shipment totals were harmed by falling demand for its cheaper phones, which it will counter with new models announced in the future.

Samsung’s next major phone release will be the Galaxy Note 8, expected on August 23, which it mentions throughout its earnings report. It’s going to market the phone hard, so expect to see plenty of ads and promotional activity surrounding the phone, something it warns investors will affect earnings in the next quarter. It’s also mindful of Apple and Google’s smartphone plans for the remainder of 2017, saying that while there will be an increase in demand for its devices, “competition is expected to intensify as new smartphone models are released by competitors.”

The Galaxy Note 7 isn’t the only scandal Samsung has endured over the past year. The ongoing bribery and corruption trial centered around former South Korean president Park Geun-hye has seen Samsung vice president Lee Jae-yong arrested and put on trial, with sentencing expected soon. The company’s stock price has taken several hits; but the earnings report proves none of these problems have affected the public’s willingness to go out and buy Samsung products.

LG’s mobile unit sees a sales decline in Q2 2017 as demand for the G6 wanes

LG’s overall profit margins take a hit as mobile unit posts a $117 million loss.

LG’s mobile unit recorded a strong 10% increase in sales in Q1 2017, but the resurgence was short-lived. In its second quarter earnings, LG noted that its mobile unit recorded a loss of $117 million (132.4 billion won) on revenues of $2.39 billion (2.70 trillion won).

LG attributed the decline to weaker than expected sales of the LG G6 combined with an increase in component costs. The G6 is LG’s strongest showing in years, but it looks like it wasn’t enough to mount a significant challenge to the Galaxy S8.

The South Korean company saw more momentum from its budget devices in the North American market, with sales increasing 13%. LG is now counting on the introduction of a new high-end model — likely the LG V30 — to boost sales in the premium segment next quarter. The company will also launch a new model in the Q series in the coming months.

LG as a whole netted a revenue of $12.8 billion (14.55 trillion won), a 4% increase from the same period last year. Operating income of $588.2 million (664.1 billion won) was 13.7% higher than Q2 2016, with LG’s other business units — home appliances, home entertainment, and vehicle components — posting healthy profits. The home appliance unit saw a 12% hike from Q2 2016, and the vehicle components division, which supplies telematics components to the Chevrolet Bolt, saw a 38% increase in sales.

With the mobile unit once again in the red, LG now has to rethink its strategy in the smartphone segment.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall, cancellation, and rebirth: Everything you need to know

Here’s all the information you need about the Galaxy Note 7 fires and recall — the events that led to the phone being discontinued — and eventually reborn as the Galaxy Note Fan Edition.

After almost a year of twists and turns since September 2016, the Galaxy Note 7 story has (effectively) come to an end. As is well known by now, Samsung faced battery quality issues in the handset, leading to personal and property damage. In the original, pre-recall Note 7, hundreds of phones worldwide had critical failures.

Following initial reports of fires, the phone was recalled in the U.S. once, and Samsung launched exchange programs in other countries. But the new models experienced further issues, with replacement units catching on fire in early October 2016. This led to Samsung telling Note 7 owners to stop using the phones and return them, before permanently discontinuing the Note 7 worldwide. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. CPSC officially issued a second recall.

In July 2017, the Note 7 was reborn as the Galaxy Note Fan Edition, built from new, unused Note 7 components, paired with a smaller 3,200mAh battery that had passed Samsung’s new battery testing standards.

Here’s everything you need to know about this unprecedented situation.

How did we get here?

Following worldwide reports of battery failures and fires with the Galaxy Note 7 in early September 2016 — including nearly 100 cases in the U.S. alone — Samsung and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a complete official recall of all Galaxy Note 7s in the U.S. Similar movements were made in Canada, as well as throughout Europe and Asia. Regions in which the phone had yet to launch simply postponed shipments of phones.

The whole saga lasted over three months.

Weeks later, with the recall in full swing and old Note 7s being replaced by hundreds of thousands of new “safe” models, reports started to arise of the same exact failures happening with these replacement phones. With consumers quickly losing faith in the Note 7, carriers in early October voluntarily offered free returns and exchanges for all Note 7s, and eventually stopped selling the phone altogether.

On October 10, Samsung issued a statement that it was halting sales of the Galaxy Note 7 globally and encouraging consumers to return their Galaxy Note 7 to where they bought it from. Shortly after, Samsung officially canceled the phone, and the U.S. authorities issued a second recall, banning sales of the Note 7, and forbidding passengers from bringing it onboard airplanes. Major airlines banned the use of the phone while on planes, shortly followed by the FAA officially banning it on all flights. (In-flight warning announcements continued well into 2017.)

On December 9, Samsung finally started pushing an update to Note 7s in the U.S. that would all but brick the phones, limiting battery capacity and functionality when not plugged in. It’s an update that had been released with various differences other regions, but the release in the U.S. marks a final push to get the last Note 7s still in the wild returned to Samsung. At that time, some 125,000 phones still remained in the wild.

Can I keep using my Note 7?

No!

Samsung’s official stance is that all Galaxy Note 7 owners — of both old and new phones — should immediately return their phone to the carrier or retailer they purchased it from. In the unlikely even that you still have a Note 7 kicking around, you should follow the manufacturer’s and return it for a refund.

Samsung has a Note 7 recall page with information on how to contact various U.S. retailers for a refund or exchange. The company has done the same in Canada, asking customers to call 1-800-SAMSUNG to find the closest place to return their Note 7.

The future of the Note

As far as the Note 7 is concerned, Samsung has put things to bed by announcing that the phone has been discontinued. Here’s the announcement that was made in October 2016:

Taking our customer’s safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7.

In July 2017, Samsung made good on its promise to reduce the environmental impact of the Note 7 recall by announcing the Galaxy Note Fan Edition. The Note FE was made from components of new, unused, unsold Note 7 devices, combining the core specs and feature set of that phone with a smaller, safe 3200mAh battery that has passed the company’s new eight-point battery safety checks. The Note FE was launched in South Korea but won’t be coming to the United States.

As for used Note 7s, Samsung plans to extract 157 tons of valuable rare earth metals from the handsets, including gold, silver, copper, and cobalt. It is also going to reuse camera modules and displays, along with some internal system chips.

The successor to the ill-fated Note 7, the Galaxy Note 8, will launch in late August 2017, following on from the broadly successful Galaxy S8 series.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall and cancellation: Everything you need to know
• Survey results: Samsung users stay loyal after Note 7 recall
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• Galaxy Note 8: Everything we know so far
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• Should you buy the Galaxy S8+ or wait for the Note 8?
• The buttonless future of Samsung phones
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Samsung’s record profits continue on the back of strong Galaxy S8 and DRAM sales

Samsung is firing on all fronts.

After recording its best-ever first quarter earlier this year, Samsung has managed to post record-breaking profits once again in Q2 2017. The South Korean manufacturer netted an overall revenue of $54.2 billion (61 trillion won), a year-on-year increase of 20%, or $8.8 billion (10.06 trillion won). Operating profit increased by a staggering 72.7% to $12.5 billion (14.1 trillion won), allowing Samsung to overtake Apple, who is projected to bring in $10.6 billion this quarter.

Net profit almost doubled from Q1 2017, and a lot of that is down to the strong showing of the semiconductor division. Healthy demand for high-density DRAM modules and SSDs for the enterprise segment led to a three-fold increase in profits to $7.2 billion (8 trillion won). It looks like the demand won’t abate anytime soon, as Samsung expects the components division to drive growth in the latter half of the year.

Qualcomm turned to Samsung for the fabrication of the 10nm Snapdragon 835, and the South Korean manufacturer is looking to expand capacity and improve production efficiency of its 10nm node. Looking ahead, the company is settings its sights on the 8nm node and EUV.

Strong sales of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ allowed the mobile unit to post revenues of $26 billion (30.01 trillion won) and an operating profit of $4 billion (4.6 trillion won). Samsung mentioned that its 2017 flagships outsold last year’s Galaxy S7 in “almost all regions,” with the larger Galaxy S8+ netting over 50% of the sales.

Galaxy S8 and S8+ outsold last year’s flagships in ‘almost all regions’.

While Samsung sold more premium phones, the company’s mid-tier and budget phones didn’t do so well, leading to unchanged sales figures from Q1. Looking ahead to the third quarter, Samsung is pushing to regain lost ground in the budget segment with the Galaxy J 2017 series, and continue its dominance in the premium category with the launch of the Galaxy Note 8.

Samsung is also planning an aggressive marketing campaign for its upcoming flagship:

For the Mobile Business, earnings are forecast to decline due to increased marketing costs related to the launch of a new Note device, with reduced profit contributions from the Galaxy S8 and S8+.

Samsung is forecasting decreased profit margins for the Galaxy S8 in Q3, but the company should have no problems moving millions of units during the latter half of the year.

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Unlocked

The Morning After: Thursday, July 27th 2017

Hey, good morning! Looking good, in that line-drawn, ’80s way.

There’s now a phone with a miniature screen for your selfie shots, and A-Ha is back in fashion. Oh, and we’ve got a Boring elevator.

Your Uber driver is overjoyed.
Waze finally works on Android Auto

Fans of Waze’s crowdsourced mapping data can finally get it on their car’s built-in touchscreen, now that the app is available through Android Auto. Until now, Google Maps was the only navigation option available, and while it pulls in some data from Waze, only one of the apps will give you a heads up about local speed traps. A push to abolish distractions also removes intrusive ads but leaves in highlighted locations for ‘partners.’ It’s still missing a few features from the phone app, but having it as an option is one thing Android offers that isn’t available with Apple CarPlay.

In return, it will use data you contribute to improve machine learning across its products.
Kaspersky launches its free antivirus software worldwide

Kaspersky has finally launched its free antivirus software after a year and a half of testing. The free antivirus doesn’t have VPN, parental controls and online payment protection like its paid counterpart, but it has all the essential features you need to protect your PC. It can scan files and emails, protect your PC while you use the web and quarantine malware. It’s better than no protection, for sure.

No new cables needed.
USB 3.2 doubles your connection speeds with the same port

The next generation of USB will effectively double the current USB 3.1 spec by adding an extra lane. As such, it will allow for two lanes of 5 Gbps for USB 3.0, yielding 10 Gbps, or two lanes of 10 Gbps for 20 Gbps with USB 3.1. As a bonus, the “superspeed” USB-C cable you’re currently using already has the capability for it built in.

The other part of that high-speed tunnel.
Watch Elon Musk’s Boring elevator hide a car underground

Total Batcave moment.

The Lollapalooza of mobile games.
Pokémon Go Fest’s big flop shows Niantic needs to think bigger

The festival in Chicago was intended as a love letter to those who stuck through it all and kept playing, while also giving the company a chance to unveil long-awaited legendary pokémon. Instead, it was a mess that showed the developer is still struggling with unexpected success.

Say cheese. To yourself.

Meizu Pro 7 has a tiny selfie screen on its backside

It’s been a while since China’s Meizu smartphone last caught our attention, but in a twist of fate, the freshly announced Pro 7 flagship series manages to pack some surprises. Most notably, these devices are the work of legendary design studio, Frog, and they feature a tiny 1.9-inch 240 x 536 (307 ppi) AMOLED touchscreen on the back. For selfie help.

The consoles you should invest in, and the titles you should play on them.
Back-to-school guide: the best gaming gear

Our back-to-school guide continues with gaming, and we’ve got consoles and notable titles to help you get through the next semester or two.

But wait, there’s more…

• “Take on meeeeeee, Take me onnnnnnnnn!”
• Now the TSA will make you take your tablets out, too
• ‘The Sims 4’ will get weird on PS4 and Xbox One November 17th
• Facebook and Snapchat are racing to claim their pieces of the television pie
• Samsung secured record profits in the second quarter
• The wearables battlefield is strewn with casualties

Russian charged over $4 billion bitcoin laundering scheme

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged a Russian Bitcoin exchange operator with 17 counts of laundering up to $4 billion since 2011. Alexander Vinnik was arrested earlier this week by Greek police, and shortly afterwards, security firm Wizsec identified him as a prime laundering suspect in the infamous $480 million Mt. Gox hack. “BTC-e was an international money-laundering scheme that, by virtue of its business model, catered to criminals — and to cyber criminals in particular,” the DoJ’s indictment reads.

The DoJ says that the exchange also laundered the proceeds from ransomware attacks, including “Cryptowall. Top top it off, it accused Vinnik’s exchange of laundering funds from the now defunct Silk Road drug and weapons site, via affiliated officials Carl Force and Shaun Bridges. “Through Vinnik’s efforts, BTC-e emerged as one of the principal means by which cyber criminals around the world laundered the proceeds of their illicit activity,” the DoJ wrote.

Along with the 17 money laundering charges, the DoJ accused BTC-e of not registering in the US as a “money service,” despite the fact that it did “substantial” operations there. The firm ran its US business in part through related shell companies, most of which were also not registered with the US financial crimes enforcement network (Fincen).

Through Vinnik’s efforts, BTC-e emerged as one of the principal means by which cyber criminals around the world laundered the proceeds of their illicit activity.

As for the Mt. Gox heist, the DoJ claims that 530,000 of the stolen Bitcoins were deposited into three currency exchanges, BTC-e, Trade Hill and a third-party Mt. Gox wallet. “Of this 530,000 Bitcoin, 300,000 of it was [later] sent directly to three separate BTC-e accounts: ‘Vamnedam,’ ‘Grmbit,’ and ‘Petr.’ These accounts were all linked to each other.” The rest were transferred from the other exchanges into a BTC-e account called WME that was controlled by Vinnik, so BTC-e effectively received 530,000 of the stolen Bitcoins, now valued at $1.15 billion.

Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles pleaded not guilty at a trial to charges of embezzlement related to the theft of the Bitcoins. In 2014, the exchange lost 850,000 Bitcoins, then worth about $500 million, though 200,000 were later recovered. Right now, those Bitcoins are worth around $1.8 billion. “I swear to God that I am innocent,” Karpeles told the Tokyo court.

The US government is now negotiating with Greece to extradite Alexander Vinnik (the two nations have had an extradition agreement since 1932). The BTC-e exchanged has been fined $110 million in civil penalties, and Vinnik personally faces a $12 million fine. All told, he could be imprisoned up to 55 years.

Source: US Department of Justice, US DoJ Indictment

Over a million Americans quit Twitter in just three months

Controversial presidential announcements and celebrity revenge porn are all in a day’s work for the social network everyone loves to hate. Now, Twitter has announced its most recent financial results and things aren’t looking good for the microblog beloved by the leader of the free world.

On the money side, Twitter managed to lose $116 million in the quarter, a little more than the $107 million it lost this time last year. If you compare the $535 million it pulled in from advertisers in Q2 2016, the $489 million it made in Q2 2017 doesn’t look great, either. The company believes that losses will be trimmed in the future, and the figures were only big because of some one-off charges.

Then there’s the issue of user growth, and Twitter thought that it had turned a corner at the start of the year, possibly thanks to our 45th president. Back in April, the company was crowing about a 14 percent bump in the number of monthly active users on the service — which had increased to 328 million.

Three months later and that number has remained exactly the same at 328 million, with any international growth being offset by domestic losses. The company claims that it’s growing at 12 percent for the quarter compared to 2016, but investors aren’t going to be thrilled at Twitter’s audience essentially stagnating.

In a statement, both CEO Jack Dorsey and COO Anthony Noto claim that the increased user growth is a sign of Twitter’s strength. Noto adds that the company’s push for live video met with a “positive response from advertisers,” although it’ll be a while to see if that will benefit the bottom line.

What matters to advertisers, however, is both that plenty of people are using Twitter, and that they’re clicking on the ads that they pay for. On that front, Twitter is doing well, and the number of engagements has increased 95 percent compared to the same period in 2016. Bad for Twitter, however, is that the cost of those ads has fallen by more than half.

The company also believes that it is gently freeing itself from the more burdensome parts of its business, and that losses will be trimmed in future. What’s interesting, however, is that while more users were engaging with adverts — up 95 percent compared to 2016 — the price of that engagement fell by more than half.

The biggest surprise is the flat overall growth, since it would have been reasonable to expect that the Trump effect would have helped the company. When the idea of cancelling press briefings was being kicked around, Anthony Noto was quick to suggest that Twitter be used as the alternative.

Twitter also believes that its smaller team — due to layoffs last year — has made the company more efficient, citing the speed of its most recent redesign. In addition, it again claims that its policies to tackle abuse on the platform have reduced the number of abuse reports it receives.

Source: Twitter (.PDF), (2) (.PDF), (3) (.PDF)

Tim Cook and Other Leaders Contacted by Trump Administration for STEM Education Advice

Members of the Trump administration have begun contacting technology, education, and business leaders to ask for advice on “shaping funding approaches” for education related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in United States schools (via Bloomberg).

Ivanka Trump is said to be involved in the effort, along with the president’s special assistant for technology initiatives, Reed Cordish. The two members of the Trump administration held an hour-long conference call with these politicians, educators, and CEOs on Wednesday, including Apple CEO Tim Cook and Laurene Powell Jobs, with Trump and Cordish specifically asking for advice regarding STEM education in public schools.

Not much else is known about the White House’s conference call, but the STEM effort is said to be in the “beginning stages,” with more outreach to experts expected to follow soon.

White House officials including Ivanka Trump have begun an outreach campaign to major technology, business and education leaders including Laurene Powell Jobs and Apple’s Tim Cook for advice on shaping funding approaches to science, technology, engineering and math education in U.S. public schools.

The effort is in its beginning stages with more outreach expected to follow, and the administration has not yet settled on details about funding or timetables for the effort, according to one of the people who discussed the call.

Others reached out to for the conference call included Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, Accenture North America CEO Julie Sweet, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and representatives from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Stanford, MIT, and Broward County, Florida, Schools.

Tim Cook has been involved with, and spoken out against, the Trump administration since the election last year, beginning with a tech summit in December 2016 that involved the discussion of trade, immigration, and vocational education. In June, Cook and other CEOs met at the White House to hold talks that centered around using tech to reduce government spending. During those talks, Cook pushed for making coding a required course in schools.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: Tim Cook, Donald Trump
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‘EVE: Valkyrie’ studio’s ‘Sparc’ hits PSVR on August 29th

CCP Games announced last month that it would be following up its popular EVE: Valkyrie VR game with the Tron-like VR sport title Sparc. Today, the studio announced it’ll come out for PlayStation VR on August 29th for $30.

The game bears more than a passing resemblance to Tron’s disc combat, but the neon-styled action relies on rebounding a scoring ball off walls and around barriers, sort of like a 3D Pong. It’s quick, fast-paced competition, which looks like it’ll sit in the same sweet spot of accessible yet skillful play that Nintendo’s Arms is occupying. Except, of course, Sparc’s playground is in VR. While the game will launch with 1v1 play only, CPP might introduce “doubles”-style 2v2 matches similar to tennis at a later time, according to a Reddit AMA the studio’s team did last week.

Source: PlayStation Blog