Samsung could offer AR Emoji chatting as an alternative to video

It looks like Samsung could be developing a new take on video chatting. The company was recently awarded a patent that combines Samsung’s somewhat strange AR Emoji with video chatting. That’s right, sometime soon you could be video chatting with your friends as an AR Emoji.

The patent was first spotted by PatentlyMobile and aims to enable video chatting without needing to use up the bandwidth that is actually required to transmit live video. Samsung’s AR Emoji are basically its version of Apple’s Animoji.

“Existing video communication systems typically require high bandwidth and are inherently high latency as entire image sequences need to be generated and compressed before transmitting the signal to another device,” says the patent. In other words, when your data connection is a little spotty, your AR avatar could serve as a stand-in for your actual image — and a much lower bandwidth stand-in.

The new system could solve more than just a bandwidth issue. As noted in the patent, when you’re video chatting you rarely seem to be looking directly at whoever you’re chatting to because of the fact that the camera is normally located above or below the display. If it’s instead a virtual version of you that is chatting, the image can be corrected to make it seem like the user is looking directly at the other user.

The system could use a range of data to accurately represent the user on the display. For example, the patent describes using biometric sensors, including heart rate sensor, pupil dilation sensor, EKG sensor, and more — all to determine things like the emotional state of the user so that the system can accurately represent them on the other side of the video chat.

Of course, there are a few important things to note. Samsung first applied for the patent in March 2016, two years before the Samsung Galaxy S9 was launched. The Galaxy S9 is the phone that really kicked off Samsung’s AR Emoji efforts but the AR Emoji video chatting feature is nowhere to be seen. Just because Samsung was awarded the patent, that doesn’t mean that it will ever implement it — and if it does, there is no knowing when it will do so.

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New code in Windows 10 preview hints at a Surface Phone arrival

Recently discovered code found within the next release of Windows 10 shows that Microsoft may be ready to re-enter the mobile space. The Windows 10 Insider Preview build contains new APIs for telephony features, fueling speculations that Microsoft may be close to releasing its oft-rumored dual-screen Surface Phone smartphone.

Windows 10 build 17650 contains the APIs that are typically found on phones used for dialing numbers, blocking calls, and supporting Bluetooth headsets. There is also video-calling support, Ars Technica reported, which could lead to video calls over cellular connectivity. While support for cellular connectivity has existed since Windows 8, it was used only for data connections — Microsoft’s own Surface Pro LTE is one such example. These newly discovered APIs cover capabilities for voice-based communications.

In the past, Microsoft was rumored to working on a phone device with two screens connected by a hinge. The screens could fold together, like a book, to take on a more compact phone-like form factor. However, when unfolded, the device could provide the benefits of a tablet with a larger display. This device was previously known by its Project Andromeda code name. If Microsoft is ready to launch such a device, it could use its Build developer conference early next month as the platform to show off this hardware publicly.

Given that the device’s potential Surface branding, it would likely arrive bearing the high-end hallmarks of the line, including a premium build with a metal shell, support for inking with a digitizer, and the ability to run Windows. Given Microsoft’s recent work with Qualcomm to bring the Windows operating system to ARM processors, it’s unclear if the Surface Phone would be powered by a Qualcomm processor or one from Intel.

Another simpler explanation for the presence of these newly uncovered APIs is that Microsoft is streamlining Windows with Windows Core OS. That effort could have resulted in important APIs merged together in an effort to reduce the number of variants of the operating system. Microsoft has been pushing developers to create Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps that could run on Windows, mobile, and Xbox, and the telephony APIs presence on Windows could be an extension of this effort.

If there are any significant changes to Windows, we will likely find out at Build next month.

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LG G7 ThinQ: Rumors, Specs, Release Date, and More!

The LG G6 was a solid phone that got overshadowed by the competition. With the G7 ThinQ, LG isn’t going to let that happen again.

When talking about underrated phones from 2017, it’s almost impossible to not mention the LG G6. LG made a huge comeback following the disaster that was the G5, but devices like the Samsung Galaxy S8 simply ate the G6 for breakfast and didn’t leave it with much of a fighting chance to stand out from the crowd.

LG needs a winner this year with the G6’s successor, and this is everything we know so far about its upcoming flagship.

April 23, 2018 — G7 ThinQ shown off again in best renders to-date

A few days after leaking an official press render for the phone, Evan Blass strikes again with an even clearer look at the G7 ThinQ.

As you can see from the photo above, the render reiterates a lot of what we’ve already been expecting — a notch, dual rear cameras, and a physical button for launching Google Assistant. Also, there’s a headphone jack!

April 18, 2018 — There will be a dedicated Google Assistant button

We’ve given Samsung grief countless times for its infamous Bixby button, and according to a report from CNET, LG will feature something similar on the G7 ThinQ. It’s said that the phone will come with a button dedicated to launching a virtual assistant, but instead of creating its own AI, LG’s having the button act as a shortcut for the Google Assistant.

The button is said to sit on the left side of the G7 while the power button is moved to the right, and as someone that uses Active Edge on the Pixel 2 every single day to trigger the Assistant, I’m excited to see more OEMs making it as easy as possible to access it.

LG’s adopting the notch, because why not?

Amidst all the announcements coming out of MWC 2018, LG gave certain attendees an early look at its upcoming flagship phone for 2018. The photos captured of the device were pretty blurry and not all that detailed, but thankfully TechnoBuffalo teamed up with designer Ben Geskin to give us a clear look at what we can expect from LG later this year.

First off, let’s get the elephant out of the room – LG’s next flagship will, unfortunately, have a notch. This is a trend a lot of Android OEMs are rushing to adopt, and it’s one I’m not a fan of seeing. LG will likely use a software trick to hide the notch with a black status bar, but even with that in place, a notch is still a notch.

The phone will have hardly any bezels surrounding said notch (save for a small chin at the bottom), and the back will be made out of glass and feature a fingerprint sensor and dual-camera setup.

While it’s not the worst-looking phone I’ve ever seen, I’m not sure playing copycat is the right move for a company whose mobile division has been losing money quarter after quarter. An original design would have played in LG’s favor considering how many other companies are also trying to mimic the iPhone X, but that doesn’t appear to be what we’re getting.

Mr. Phone also gave us an early glimpse as to what the G7 will look like thanks to a collaboration with @OnLeaks, and as you can see from the video below, it confirms most everything we’re already expecting.

We’ll get an MLCD+ display instead of an OLED one

Most all flagship phones are shipping with AMOLED or OLED displays, but after sub-par reviews of the V30 and Pixel 2 XL’s screens, LG will be changing gears and trying its hand at a new type of panel – MLCD+.

MLCD+ is fairly new in the mobile space, but it sounds promising. Compared to traditional IPS LCD screens, MLCD+ uses 35% less power, uses the RGBW matrix, and has a max brightness of 800-nits.

The V30’s OLED panel wasn’t necessarily bad, but it also paled in comparison to Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and Note 8. A new type of screen could help LG differentiate itself from the rest of the market, but a lot of this will hinge on the company’s execution of it.

The phone should be powered by the Snapdragon 845

As great as the G6 was, one of the main reasons you might have been inclined to choose the Galaxy S8 over it was because of the processor it shipped with. The G6 launched with the Snapdragon 821, and while the 821 was a perfectly fast CPU, the S8 launched just a few weeks later with the much newer 835.

This year, however, we aren’t expecting LG to make the same mistake. A report from The Investor last May said that LG would be partnering with Qualcomm to release the G7 with its Snapdragon 845 processor, and towards the end of December, a list was found showing that the G7 would launch with the 845 in February.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 is a big improvement compared to the 835, offering speed improvements, better camera performance, faster cellular speed, and a lot more. If LG can get this inside the G7, that’ll put it on a much more level playing field than what we saw with the G6 and S8 last year.

Based on the information we have and historical trends, we think this will be a close match to the G7’s final specifications:

LG G6

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Updated April 23, 2018: Updated with all the latest news about the G7 ThinQ!

HTC’s latest Vive Pro VR kit is built for business

You can already get HTC’s Vive Pro in a bundle aimed at first-timers, but what if you’re a business buyer who needs it for VR design and training? You’re covered now, too. HTC has released a $1,399 Vive Pro 2.0 Kit that includes just about everything you’d want to use the headset for work, including two controllers and (most importantly) two second-generation SteamVR base stations. The new stations are crucial to supporting a large 33ft by 33ft tracking area, although you’ll need to buy a pair of extra stations to get that full coverage.

There are also new service plans to keep the headsets up and running. A standard $199 plan gives you a two-year warranty, but a $299 option gives you immediate replacement parts without having to return any broken equipment first.

It may seem odd to offer a kit that’s even more expensive than the existing Pro options at a time when headsets like the Oculus Go are driving VR prices downward. However, HTC told Fortune that it wants its corporate sales to represent 30 percent of its VR revenue by 2020 — it needs to court the enterprise crowd with hardware that meets their exact needs. As it is, this audience may be more willing to pay the premium for an upgraded experience. While many home users are cost-conscious and might have a hard time justifying a Vive Pro, a $1,399 kit is a drop in the bucket for a large business. Whatever it spends could easily be recouped through more efficient design work and more realistic training scenarios.

Via: Fortune

Source: HTC

Facebook starts verifying political advertisers in the US

Early this month, Facebook announced it will change how political ads appear on the company’s platforms. Anyone advertising about elections or issues would need their identity ‘verified’ before the messages go online, and the messages themselves would be labeled ‘Political Ad’ with disclosure of who paid for it. Ideally, this could make advertisements on Facebook much more transparent, though we’ll start finding out as the platform began requiring US-based advertisers to get verified today. In the coming months, this will spread to ad buyers across the world.

Starting today, anyone based in the US running an electoral or issue ad will have to run through the authorization process to provide a government-issued ID and mailing address. Then Facebook confirms identity by mailing a letter with a unique access code that only the advertiser’s Page admin account can use, like an old-school version of email verification. And then, of course, they’ll have to disclose who paid for the ads before Facebook will put them up.

While the changes went into effect, Facebook posted a Q&A about what advertisers know about you. While the company maintains that they don’t know as much about us as we feared, by default, advertisers are still targeting users based on their interests and browsing habits. At least after these changes, we know a bit more about them.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Facebook

YouTube mistakenly pulls video exposing Alex Jones conspiracy

YouTube has been trying to reduce instances of mistaken video takedowns, but it’s evident there’s still some work to do. The company temporarily pulled a video from watchdog group Media Matters that exposed Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories surrounding his (since-retracted) claims the Sandy Hook mass shooting was fake. While YouTube didn’t outline what Media Matters had done wrong, the boilerplate message said the clip had been flagged for review and warned against using YouTube for “threats, harassment, bullying, or intimidation.” The company also applied a first strike against Media Matters.

The streaming service reinstated the clip soon after the Guardian asked about the clip. In a statement, YouTube said there was a “massive volume of videos” and that it sometimes makes a “wrong call.” The company wouldn’t comment specifically about the video, including who flagged it and why. It’s evident the video isn’t calling for harassment, though — it mainly draws attention to Jones’ theories using clips from his YouTube channel.

As you might guess, the concern is that YouTube was quick to take down a documentary video dissecting bogus theories, but not the videos spreading those theories — an odd move for a company that has promised to fight fake news. Media Matters argued that false claims like Jones’ amount to “pervasive” harassment of innocent people, and noted that his channel is just a strike away from a full-fledged ban. This suggests YouTube may have erred too far on the side of caution, and that it still has a ways to go before it can consistently apply its rules.

Via: Guardian

Source: Media Matters

Apple Inks Deal for Ed Sheeran ‘Songwriter’ Documentary

Apple today won an auction for world screen rights to “Songwriter,” a documentary about popular singer Ed Sheeran, reports Deadline.

Apple paid “low to mid-seven figures” for the rights to the documentary, and the company plans to make it an event release that will include a theatrical component along with a debut on Apple platforms.

“Songwriter” was directed by Murray Cummings, Sheeran’s cousin, and it is said to be an “intimate, beautifully photographed” documentary that covers the creation of Sheeran’s best-selling “Divide” album.

The film offers a glimpse inside the “intense collaborative process” that resulted in some of Sheeran’s biggest hits, and it provides a look back at Sheeran’s childhood through never-before-seen footage.

Along with Sheeran, the documentary will feature legendary producer Benny Blanco and musicians that include Amy Wadge, Johnny McDaid, Ryan Tedder, and Julia Michaels.

The documentary first premiered in Berlin, and tonight, will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

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Amazon might sell an Alexa robot in 2019

Employees are said to begin testing the robot later this year.

In just four short years, Amazon’s turned Alexa into a household staple for millions of people across the world. The virtual assistant can already help users out with various questions and commands in its current form, but now it’s reported that Amazon will be taking things a step further by creating an in-home robot.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon’s Lab 126 – the same team behind Echo speakers, Fire TV, Fire tablets, etc. – has begun development of a robot codenamed “Vesta” (the Roman goddess of the home and family). Vesta is still very much in its early days, but it’s said that Amazon plans on testing it in employees homes at some point this year before selling it to the public in 2019.

Did anyone think Amazon wouldn’t make an Alexa robot?

Although specifics on Vesta are still few and far between, one Amazon employee says that it’s supposed to act as a portable version of Alexa that can travel to different parts of your house where you don’t already have an Echo speaker. Early prototypes are reported to feature cameras and computer vision tech, allowing Vesta to safely make its way through people’s homes.

It’s hard to not get excited about an Amazon-made robot, but there are still a lot of important details we aren’t sure of. Vesta could feature moving arms and other limbs to help out with chores around the house, but on the flip side, it could also be nothing more than a glorified Echo speaker that just happens to move. I’m not saying that that last option would be bad, but the term “robot” can have a lot of different meanings.

Considering everything Alexa can do in its current stationary form, it’s hard to imagine what it’d be capable of when given the ability to move. It’s entirely possible Amazon will decide to scrap Vesta like it’s done with other Lab 126 projects, but this feels like the next natural move for the company’s assistant.

Are you ready to live with an Alexa robot in your house?

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Alphabet Q1 2018 earnings: $31 billion revenue leads to $7 billion income

First quarter sees strong double-digit growth overall, with advertising driving a bulk of the business.

Alphabet, the parent company comprised of Google and various other subsidiaries, has just released its Q1 2018 earnings. The top-level numbers are strong: $31.1 billion in revenue, leading to $7 billion in operating income for the three months. Those numbers are increases of 26% and 22% over the previous year, respectively, and earnings per share were $13.53. In short, Alphabet continues to have amazingly large growth for a company of its size.

Alphabet’s stock quickly spiked after the earnings release, but quickly leveled off to about $1070, just shy of where it last closed before the earnings release.

Unsurprisingly, Google’s advertising business is roughly 85% of its revenue.

The “Google” part of the business obviously continues to be the primary driver of revenue and income for the company, with the “Other bets” segment — a combination of small, speculative endeavors — delivering a relatively tiny amount of revenue and another quarterly loss. Other bets had revenues of just $150 million, leading to a $571 million loss — though that was an improvement of $132 million from last year. Google’s “other revenues,” which includes segments like its hardware business, the Play Store and Nest, had $4.35 billion in revenue, up over $1 billion from Q1 2017.

Advertising, primarily from Google’s properties, is the most substantial portion of Alphabet’s earnings, making up $26.6 billion of the revenue. Traffic acquisition costs (TAC, what Google pays to gain traffic to ads) went up once again, by 2 percentage points, up to 24% of advertising revenues. Paid clicks were up by 59%, and the cost-per-click was down 7% from a year earlier. This continues to be the trend for Google (if not the entire online advertising system): paid advertising clicks keep going up, but the cost for each is going down.

6 months after Pixel 2 launch, Google has nothing to say of its success

Alphabet’s cash position hasn’t changed much, now standing at $102 billion, and its effective tax rate was 11% — though that number is mostly lower due to a change in accounting standards. Outside of the money, Alphabet now has over 85,000 employees worldwide, which is a considerable jump of 11,000 from Q1 2017 — 2,000 of those new employees came from HTC at the start of the year.

The Q1 2018 earnings release conference call can be listened to below.