Are laptop webcams doomed or is there a way to move forward?

Fast, attractive, and boasting a beautiful display, Huawei’s new MateBook X Pro is a good laptop. Yet it has a problem, one that you won’t notice until you need to make a video call – and then, there’s no way you’ll miss the issue.

The webcam is in the keyboard. Yes, in the keyboard. Have a look for yourself.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bizarre as this may seem, it’s not without precedent or reason. Dell’s XPS 13 was first to take an, ahem, alternative approach to webcam placement in its otherwise excellent 2015 redesign, placing the camera below and to the side of the display instead of at the top, as usual. It was needed because Dell wanted to minimize the display bezels, so there simply wasn’t room for a webcam in the usual place.

Huawei dials that up to 11, reducing bezel size on all parts of the display, including the bottom. The result is a gorgeous 13.9-inch, edge-to-edge panel that commands your attention from the moment you open the laptop. The small bezels also make the laptop smaller overall. Though its display is nearly 14 inches diagonally, the Huawei MateBook Pro X is as small, or smaller, than many competitors with 13-inch displays.

That leaves no room for the camera, however, which leads to its hilarious, secretive position. It’s a fun trick that’s sure to earn a laugh from anyone you show it to, but if you need to use it, well… it’s a problem. The camera is so low that your knuckles take up a large percentage of the screen when you type.

It’s tempting to call Huawei’s decision stupid, but that would be short-sighted. The benefits of a thin-bezel display are obvious. Laptops and 2-in-1s will embrace it; in a few years, it’ll probably be the industry standard. Does that mean you’re doomed to web calls displaying your poorly maintained nostril hair?

Perhaps not. What if your webcam could be inside your display?

It’s an idea that’s simple in concept, yet difficult in implementation. The display is transparent, obviously, so it’s not a bad place to put a camera. In fact, it’s great place – your eyes will be centered on the camera, so your attention will appear to be on the person you’re conversing with, instead of somewhere off-screen. The problem is equally obvious. There’s a display there already, so putting a camera sensor in the screen isn’t easy.

Researchers have been working on that problem for a very long time. Microsoft published a video showing a proof of concept in 2009, and Apple patented a similar idea that same year. More recent rumors point to Samsung joining the competition.

I’ve had chance to see more recent versions of prototypes from various companies, and they seem close to ready for use. They’re smaller than before, and image quality is no longer a downgrade from a conventional webcam. Shrinking display bezels means this innovation isn’t a novelty, but required to build the designs major companies want to debut – not only in the PC space but also in mobile, where the Apple iPhone X’s infamous notch has made the problem with webcams obvious to millions of owners.

A webcam mounted behind a laptop or 2-in-1 display will happen. The only question now is who will make it a reality first. That’s impossible to say with certainty, but I’m sure we’ll know the winner of that race within the next few years.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Huawei MateBook X Pro review
• Is the MateBook X Pro’s hidden webcam innovative or just unnecessary?
• Dell’s new ultrathin displays bring HDR to your PC without emptying your wallet
• You should buy the Dell XPS 13 — just not with the 4K display
• Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 vs. Surface Book 2 15

Apple ProRes RAW promises faster RAW video workflows for Final Cut Pro X

Apple released a new version of its ProRes video format this week as the company continues to regain ground in the world of professional video editing. Called ProRes RAW, Apple claims the new filetype combines the flexibility of a RAW video file with the performance advantages of ProRes, all with a file size that is actually smaller than ProRes 4444 (the previous top-of-the-line version of the format).

As with RAW still photos, RAW video offers more latitude for making adjustments in post-production, capturing greater dynamic range and bit more depth than consumer formats like MP4. Unlike other RAW formats, ProRes RAW uses compression to keep storage requirements minimal. It supports multiple resolutions in 12-bit color and a data rate of 80 to 140 megabytes per second. 4K video can be recorded up to 120 frames per second, and can record 2K up to 240 fps.

DJI is one of the first companies to license the new format and will bring it soon to its Zenmuse X7 aerial camera that can be mounted to the Inspire 2 drone . The Zenmuse X7 uses a Super35 sensor (equivalent to APS-C) which produces excellent image quality, and while it already offered RAW recording via Adobe’s CinemaDNG standard, ProRes RAW should offer improved, real-time editing performance in Final Cut Pro X.

Select cinema cameras from Canon, Sony, and Panasonic will also be able to take advantage of the new format thanks to their ability to output RAW data over HDMI. That’s because Atomos, maker of external HDMI video recorders, will soon be integrating ProRes RAW into its Shogun Inferno and Sumo 19 recorders via free firmware updates. Not only will such a recorder capture the full color and dynamic range of a camera’s sensor, it will even save metadata like shutter speed, f-stop, and ISO.

Of course, the question that’s bound to come up is, can this be used to record RAW video from a mirrorless camera or DSLR? We reached out to Atomos for clarification on this, and the answer is a pretty hard no — at least, for now. While using an external recorder is a good way to bypass some of the limitations of your camera’s internal video processing, no mirrorless camera or DSLR currently outputs RAW data over HDMI. Even the video-focused Panasonic GH5S only outputs a 10-bit 4:2:2 feed; many other cameras offer just 8-bit color, and some don’t output a clean HDMI feed at all. Furthermore, these cameras “bake in” a color profile to their HDMI feeds, which may be a flat log profile, but is not actual RAW data.

Still, the existence of the ProRes RAW format is good news for the future of DSLR and mirrorless video. Should a manufacturer choose to allow its cameras to output RAW HDMI feeds, small cameras could truly compete, quality-wise, with much larger and more expensive cinema cameras. And while a RAW video workflow certainly isn’t for everyone, ProRes RAW may make it more approachable to a broader range of videographers, at least those working in MacOS and Final Cut Pro X.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Lightroom’s overhauled camera profiles make your RAW photos pop
• Bruno Mars wins big and Kesha delivers a raw performance at Grammys 2018
• Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II review
• The best digital cameras you can buy
• Panasonic Lumix G9 review

Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 vs. Dell XPS 15

Dell makes some of our favorite laptops and the new XPS 15 is one of them. More graphically powerful than the (arguably) best laptop in the world, the XPS 13 and with a larger display, it offers a lot to prospective buyers. But it doesn’t have a 360-degree hinge. Its 2-in-1 cousin does though and that’s not the only difference between the two.

In this head to head, we’ll pit the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 vs. Dell XPS 15 to see whether it’s better to have a laptop that can turn into a tablet, or enjoy some of the upgraded hardware of Dell’s newly refreshed XPS 15.

Specifications

Dell  XPS 15 2-in-1

Dell XPS 15 2018

Dimensions
13.9 x 9.2 x 0.63 inches (0.36 at thinnest)
14.1 x 9.3 x 0.66 (0.45 at thinnest)

Weight
4.3 pounds
4.0 – 4.5 pounds

Processor
8th Generation Intel Core i5, i7 Kaby Lake G

8th Generation Intel Core i5, i7, i9

RAM
8GB or 16GB (32GB planned)
Up to 32GB

Graphics
Radeon RX Vega M GL
Intel HD 630, Nvidia GTX 1050 or 1050 Ti

Display
15.6-inch LED-backlit IPS display
15.6-inch IPS

Resolution
1080p or 4K
1080p or 4K

Storage
128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB PCIe SSD
1TB HDD, 1TBSSHD. 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB PCIe SSD.

Networking
802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1
802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1

Ports
2 x Thunderbolt 3, 2 x USB-C 3.1, SD card reader, headset, Noble lock
USB-A 3.1 x 2, Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 2.0, SD card reader, headset

Webcam
720p widescreen HD
720p webcam

Operating System
Windows 10
Windows 10

Battery
75 watt-hours
56 watt-hours, 97 watt-hours

Price
$1,500+
$1,000+

Availability
Now
May

Review
3.5 out 5 stars
The 2017 model

Design

Although Dell has made some major strides to update and improve the XPS ‘look’ with its latest refresh of the XPS 13, the XPS 15 range is much more uniform. Built a little more for function over form, they’ve been traditionally good looking pieces of kit, but nothing overly eye catching. That’s the case with both the recently released XPS 15 2-in-1 and the newly announced 2018 version of the XPS 15.

Both sport the silver aluminum outer-casing that is typical of most laptops in the XPS range, with the black, carbon-fiber interior. They both sport underslung 720p webcams and the same slimline bezels, with much the same weight and dimensions.

The biggest design difference between the two though, is the hinge. Where the XPS 15 might have a little back and forth give to it, its 2-in-1 counterpart is designed to flip all the way through 360-degrees, turning into a tablet at a moment’s notice. It can also operate in tent mode for media viewing as required. That’s a level of functionality that the XPS 15 just cannot match.

There’s a little disparity in connectivity too. Where the wireless solutions are identical in both laptops, the XPS 15 sports a pair of legacy-supporting USB-A 3.1 ports, alongside a newer Thunderbolt 3 connector. It also has an HDMI 2.0 output for connecting up an external display and a full SD card reader alongside its headphone jack. The XPS 15 2-in-1, on the other hand, goes all in on USB-C, offering two 3.1 ports and a pair of Thunderbolt 3 supporting ports also. It too has an SD card reader and headphone port, as well as a Noble lock for security purposes.

The keyboard on the XPS 15 is one we’ve liked for a couple of generations and never feels tiresome to type on. The XPS 15 2-in-1 on the other hand isn’t as pleasurable to type on, especially for longer periods.

With both these laptops near-identical in most measures, whether you prefer one design over the other really depends on your use case. If you want a convertible laptop and don’t care for USB-A, then the 2-in-1 is better. If you don’t need a tablet mode, then the XPS 15’s keyboard and legacy port support are appreciated. It’s a toss-up.

Winner: Draw

Performance

The XPS 15 2-in-1 impressed us when it debuted as one of the first laptops to adopt the new Kaby Lake G chips that were built as part of the Intel/AMD team up. Performance from the Intel CPU with Vega graphics chip is solid, with great gaming potential and fast general processing that was easily comparable to other laptops with dedicated CPUs.

However, those numbers may well struggle to hold up to the new XPS 15. While we don’t have hands-on performance numbers for it just yet, its specifications suggest it could well set a new benchmark for 15-inch laptops. Entry level builds will utilize the four core Intel Core i5-8300H CPU with up to 32GB of RAM and Intel HD graphics, while the mid-range offering will up the ante to a Core i7 with six cores (and 12 threads) and a GTX 1050 graphics chip.

At the top end though, Dell has managed to pack a Core i9-8950HK CPU into the new XPS 15. It too has six cores and 12 threads, but can operate at up to 4.8GHz if well cooled enough. It’s paired up with a GTX 1050 Ti, which should offer a noticeable improvement in graphical performance over its predecessor’s GTX 1050.

So which is better? Well, it depends on what configurations you’re talking about. At the lower $1,300 configuration, you’ll most likely claim some gaming performance that outdoes an equally-priced XPS 15. On the higher end, though, the GTX 1050 Ti and Core i9 CPU will give you the performance edge.

Winner: Draw

Display

The XPS 15 2-in-1s display is one of our favorite features about it. Whether at 1080p or 4K, it remains bright and vibrant while you’re watching movies, playing games, or just browsing the web. Its color accuracy isn’t perfect, but it’s still one of the best displays overall that we’ve seen on a 15-inch laptop in years.

The XPS 15 is also slated to be quite the looker. Typically we’ve seen some great color accuracy out of XPS 15 laptops, so it may well pull ahead of the 2-in-1 when it’s released and with the same options for resolution, there’s unlikely to be much else to differentiate these two.

That said, touch-functionality will be missing from the new XPS 15 unless you opt for the 4K panel. That might be overkill if battery life is your main concern, but from our past experience, it’s hard to go back to a 1080p once you’ve used one of the beautiful 4K displays. The new XPS 15 4K panel is said to be more efficient too.

Winner: XPS 15

Portability

With both the XPS 15 2-in-1 and the XPS 15 evenly matched in weight and size, the biggest deciding factor for portability will be in the battery life of the two devices. The XPS 15 2-in-1 has a decent sized battery, but we found it massively impacted when having to power the 4K configuration of that convertible laptop.

The last generation XPS 15 also ran into problems there, though lasted a couple of hours longer than its 2-in-1 counterpart. The new-generation however, is said to sport a much less power-hungry panel, so should be more efficient. If you choose to not use the hard drive option, running an exclusively PCIexpress SSD storage solution, you can have the 97 watt-hour battery too, which Dell claims can go longer than 20 hours on a single charge.

Real world usage is unlikely to be quite as long and neither are expected to beat the class-leading Surface Book 2, but when combined with the new hardware, the XPS 15 should easily outlast the 2-in-1.

Winner: XPS 15

Pricing and availability

This is a tough category whenever you’re discussing pre-release hardware. On one hand, the XPS 15 starts at a much more competitive price point than the XPS 15 2-in-1 — especially considering its starting hardware option has newer hardware, with a Core i5 CPU that supports hyperthreading. But on the other, the newer version of the XPS 15 isn’t out yet and we don’t have full pricing information for the entire range of configurations.

Although it seems likely that the XPS 15 will be the more competitively priced hardware, the XPS 15 2-in-1 takes this category for now, by virtue of being available to purchase. You can always pick up the 2017 version of the XPS 15, though you’ll be getting an older generation CPU. If budget gaming performance is what you want, the lower configurations of the XPS 15 2-in-1 are your best bet.

Winner: XPS 15 2-in-1

It doesn’t all hinge on the hinge

Where you might assume that a comparison between laptops named the XPS 15 and the XPS 15 2-in-1 would mean that the biggest differentiating factor is the 360-degree hinge, it’s proved to be far more complicated than that. While both are stellar laptops — and one is a pretty decent tablet too — there are some substantial differences between them.

The XPS 15’s newer hardware is a real bonus, as it nets greater performance and improved energy efficiency. While it does lack some of the function of the 2-in-1, it sports a nicer keyboard and its battery life should keep you working (and even gaming) for longer. While we’ll need to see full pricing information and get our hands on the new XPS 15 to give a final judgement, even the older model is the laptop we’d recommend to more people.

Overall winner: XPS 15

Editors’ Recommendations

• Dell XPS 13 vs. Dell XPS 15 2-in-1
• Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 review
• Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 vs. Surface Book 2 15
• Dell calls revamped XPS 15 the ‘smallest performance 15.6-inch laptop’
• Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 vs. Microsoft Surface Book 2

Western Digital unveils its new 4K-ready NVME gaming SSD

While it tries to craft a microwave-assisted 40TB hard drive by 2025, Western Digital is releasing storage solutions for the nearer future. The company introduced the Black 3D NVMe, an SSD designed to run 4K and Ultra HD graphics quickly and seamlessly, which should suit gamers and high-end video producers.

The Black 3D NVMe comes in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB sizes, but it’s at the top of the line that you’ll see the fastest speeds. The upper two models offer up to 3,400 MB/s reading while the one terabyte achieves 2,800 MB/s write speed and 500,000 random-read IOPs for multi-threaded applications.

The 250GB, 500GB and 1TB models will retail for $120, $230 and $450, respectively. They will be available by late April in select Western Digital physical and online retailers and other distributors.

Watch Virgin Galactic’s new SpaceshipTwo take flight

As Virgin Galactic continues its quest to “open” space flight, it completed its first powered test flight since the 2014 crash that killed one of its pilots. Now we have video of the new SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, separating from its carry vehicle and using its rocket to reach supersonic speeds. It hit Mach 1.87 during its 30-second rocket burn and then coasted until reaching an altitude of 84,271 ft before preparing for its return.

Source: Virgin Galactic, Virgin Galactic (YouTube)

Facebook fined $33 million for failing to help Brazilian authorities 

Facebook has had a contentious relationship with Brazilian authorities, and its WhatsApp messenger has suffered multiple service bans for failing to cooperate. Two years ago, a court froze around $6 million of the company’s cash after it didn’t hand over data for a criminal investigation over drug smuggling. It seems the social media platform still isn’t cooperating. Reuters reports that a judge just handed down a 111.7 reais ($33 million) fine regarding Facebook’s failure to grant authorities access to messages as part of a health fraud investigation.

The case reaches back to 2016, when authorities looking into corruption in the Brazilian state of Amazonas requested WhatsApp messages exchanged by individuals suspected of scheming to defraud the state’s health system. The fine was originally one million reais, according to Reuters, but grew with interest every day Facebook didn’t comply with the order starting in June 2016 until the investigation was made public in September.

“Facebook cooperates with law enforcement. In this particular case we have disclosed the data required by applicable law,” a Facebook statement provided to Reuters said. “We understand this fine lacks grounds, and are exploring all legal options at our disposal.”

Source: Reuters

Stanford’s rice-sized implant treats diseases by zapping individual nerves

Jayant Charthad, Stanford University

If you ever dreamed of being a real-life cyborg, researchers at Stanford University are ready and willing to help. They developed a new type of tiny nerve-stimulation implant, which could be used to treat a wide range of different medical conditions.

“The biggest application for this work is for what are being recently called ‘electroceuticals’ and ‘bioelectronic medicine,’” Jayant Charthad, a researcher on the project, told Digital Trends. “The idea is that many diseases that are currently treated using drugs or pills can be more effectively treated — and with fewer side-effects — by using stimulation of nerves. Examples of diseases that can be treated by nerve stimulation include chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, bladder incontinence, even diabetes, and many more. In addition to therapeutic applications, medical researchers could also use our device for conducting scientific experiments for further understanding the nervous system and discovering new treatments for diseases.”

The tiny implantable stimulator is around the size of a medium grain of rice. This means that it could be easily implanted using minimally invasive surgery, or even injected using a needle. It’s also capable of functioning deep inside the body, through up to 10.5 centimeters of tissue, using ultrasound to communicate with the outside world. When instructed, the device can generate a very precise therapeutic impulse to a nerve. Because it contains both electrodes and an LED, it is able to carry out either (or both) electrical and optogenetic stimulation at a variety of amplitudes, durations, and frequencies.

“So far we have thoroughly characterized different parts of our system, and have performed in vitro demonstrations of the fully packaged implantable stimulator, as discussed in our recent paper,” Charthad continued. “We have also shown the capability of stimulating the sciatic nerve of a frog. The next step is to test the fully packaged devices in larger animals, which is what we are currently working on.”

Whether this exact model winds up being used on patients remains to be seen. However, it’s certainly an intriguing project which offers a glimpse at the future of medicine.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Shocking the brain with electricity can prompt people to remember old dreams
• Broccoli and reprogrammed gut bacteria team up to battle cancer
• Neuroscientists use electrical pulses to brain to curb Tourette syndrome tics
• New pressure sensor for medical uses dissolves in the patient’s body
• Superbugs may meet their match in this bacteria-busting molecule

Plex brings its virtual reality movie app to Gear VR and Oculus

Earlier this year, Plex jumped into VR with a Google Daydream app that puts you and up to four of your buddies into a virtual movie screening room. Now the media server company is bringing Plex VR to two more platforms: Gear VR and Oculus.

Just like on the Daydream version, Plex users on Samsung or Facebook’s VR platforms can watch videos in a virtual apartment, drive-in movie theater or just a blank void. According to Variety, though, the social features haven’t been implemented on the Gear VR version of the app. The company’s playful blog post notes that its customers can no longer give the app a one-star rating simply because it isn’t on their platform of choice anymore, though it does promise to continue to improve the Daydream app as well.

Via: Variety

Source: Plex

Korean university faces boycott over fears of AI weapons

For all the joking we do about Skynet-scenarios and killer robots, there’s some truth to the worrisome creations. To prevent Terminators from becoming a real threat, some 50 robotics experts are boycotting the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), a university in South Korea, given its decision to open an artificial intelligence weapons lab, according to Financial Times. The fear is that it’ll trigger a next-gen arms race and that ultimately, any safeguards put in place will be circumvented by terrorists and, more specifically, North Korea.

Since February, FT says KAIST has been working on a quartet of experiments at the Research Center for the Convergence of National Defense and Artificial Intelligence: AI-based command-and-decision systems, navigation algorithms for underwater drones, smart aircraft-training systems (with AI) and AI-based object tracking and recognition tech. While this might sounds normal for an academic setting, KAIST has a partnership with Korean arms company Hanwha Systems, whose parent company has apparently been blacklisted by the UN for making cluster munitions.

The boycott, in part, reads: “We will boycott all collaborations with any part of KAIST until such a time as the president of KAIST provides assurance, which we have sought but not received, that the center will not develop autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control.”

The worry from the signatories is that technology such as this could lead to bigger wars fought faster, according to regional publication KBS World Radio. Talks of how to deal with lethal autonomous weapons are scheduled for Monday in Geneva.

For its part, KAIST says it doesn’t intend to make killer robots and that it was “saddened” by the sudden negative response. Instead saying that its creations are designed to preserve life on the battlefield and minimize casualties in situations like landmine detection or defusing an explosive.

“As an academic institution, we value human rights and ethical standards to a very high degree,” KAIST president Shin Sung-chul said in a statement. “KAIST has strived to conduct research for better serving the world. I reaffirm one again that KAIST will not conduct any research activities to counter human dignity including autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control.”

That was enough for at least one signatory, boycott organizer professor Toby Walsh from the University of New South Wales, who said that the fast response led to “significant concessions” and an agreement to not develop autonomous weapons that lack meaningful human control, according to KBS.

Previously, KAIST has developed bipedal velociraptor-inspired robots capable of near-cheetah speeds and robots that can pilot aircraft in simulators. So, maybe the boycotters were onto something.

Source: Financial Times, KBS World Radio

Twitter tries to explain how it fights breaking news hoaxes

During the minutes and hours after shots rang out at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, many people used Twitter just as they have after other high-profile events: to spread fake information and hoaxes. In response to reports about how bad its “fake news” problem is (as a Buzzfeed reporter maintained a live thread collecting hoaxes, trolls started using an image of her in their fakes) Twitter published a post about “Serving the Public Conversation During Breaking Events.”

It didn’t mention hoaxes like the infamous “Sam Hyde” images by name, or the hacking of YouTube’s Vadim Lavrusk, but more broadly outlined its policies and aims for moderating posts during this type of event.

During these types of situations, some of the ways we evaluate content include:

Is the content posted to harass or abuse another person, violating our rules on abusive behavior?
Is this meant to incite fear against a protected category as outlined in our hateful conduct policy?
Could misrepresenting someone in this way cause real-world harm to the person who is targeted per our rules on violent threats?
Is this account attempting to manipulate or disrupt the conversation and violating our rules against spam?
Can we detect if this account owner has been previously suspended? As outlined in our range of enforcement options, when someone is suspended from Twitter, the former account owner is not allowed to create new accounts.

Twitter maintains that beyond just banning accounts and removing posts, it used tools like Moments to highlight information people can trust, although that may not match the way many people get their information — directly via reshares from people they follow.

Source: Twitter