What to expect at Apple's WWDC 2018

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple has announced that the WWDC 2018 Keynote will be livecast out of the McEnery Center in San Jose so the world can tune in to their Safari browsers (or Edge, Chrome or Firefox) or Apple TVs to see the announcements unfold. WWDC kicks off on June 4.

What's expected this year aside from the yearly updates to iOS, watchOS, macOS and other surrounding operating systems and ecosystems is more focus on Machine Learning, possibly a Siri redux hopefully making the pioneering but stunted smart assistant more of a player in the market.

Apple hasn't had a major event for 2018 but it has had various OS 11 and 11.3  issues as well as growing dissatisfaction with aspects of its hardware products like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro, reports of iPhone performance throttling due to sub-optimal batteries on older devices as well as a number of products announced but never shipped (AirPower, AirPods charging case).

Click to read more ...

Samsung now needs to pay Apple $539 million in copyright infringement damages

It's been seven years since Apple sued Samsung for 'slavishly copying' various aspects of its iPhone OS, functionality and smartphone design. The long legal battle has finally concluded in Apple's favour with Samsung losing and now being asked to pay the Cupertino company US  $539 million in damages.

More important for Apple, it sets the record straight on who copied whom as well as legitimizes the notion that Samsung made is smartphone fortune mostly on the back of the throusands of man hours and R&D Apple put into the iPhone.

“We believe deeply in the value of design, and our teams work tirelessly to create innovative products that delight our customers,” the company said.

Click to read more ...

Samsung opens second North American AI research centre in Toronto

Samsung Research America (SRA) announced that it is establishing a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) centre in Toronto, as part of a new venture to tap into and contribute to the flourishing AI industry growing in Canada's largest city.

Located in Toronto's downtown core at MaRS Discovery District, the new Samsung AI Centre will contribute to building the connected future by accelerating the adoption of intelligence on multiple devices ranging from household appliances to cars. 

"Toronto and the GTA are epi-centres of machine learning and one of the world's foremost hubs for AI research and development. Home to not only world-class talent, but also some of the most innovative start-ups in the artificial intelligence field," said Dr. Larry Heck, Co-Head of Global Artificial Intelligence Research.

Click to read more ...

Essential Phone 2 reportedly cancelled as company pivots to smart home products

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Some disconcerting news for fans of the Essential Phone. A report by Bloomberg states that the Andy Rubin backed  startup is scrapping plans for a successor to the Essential Phone and is also looking for a buyer to offload the company and assets.

The Essential Phone was one of the first devices to showcase a near bezel-less design and still has the most miniscule 'notch' housing the front-facing camera.

Made of high-grade Titanium and gorilla glass, Essential built-in a modular capability to attach accessories (it also created the smallest 360' camera as one of those accessories). Created because Android originator Andy Rubin didn't see much differentiation in the Android marketplace, Essential Phone was supposed to be the linchpin for various products including smart home accessories.

Click to read more ...