Business Articles

Rae Tae-moon has taken over the reigns of Samsung's smartphone division from DJ Koh. (Source: Samsung)

DJ Koh dumped as head of Samsung smartphone division in leadership shake up

Samsung has dumped DJ Koh as head of its mobile division on the eve of the launch of the Galaxy S20. In his place, the Korean tech giant has appointed 20-year company veteran Roh Tae-moon who was the second-in-charge of the divisi...

Sanjiv Sathiah, 21 Jan 2020 06:09

ASRock's new ITX board. (Source: Twitter)

ASRock has a new Gemini Lake Refresh-compatible ITX board

ASRock has a new mini-PC board ready to go. As it appears to be designed for the Intel Pentium Silver J5040 chipset, it may be pitched at the lower end of this market. It can drive up to 3 displays and has an HDMI port that suppor...

Deirdre O Donnell, 20 Jan 2020 22:27

Fitbits were found to detect 'flu at least as well as the CDC in a recent study. (Source: Fitbit)

Fitbit use may be used to help predict flu outbreaks, study finds

A study published in The Lancet has concluded that Fitbit use was associated with significant improvements in a technique used to detect influenza and similar conditions. This is due to the heart rate- and activity-monitoring feat...

Deirdre O Donnell, 19 Jan 2020 20:58

Samsara's new kind of carry-on. (Source: Samsara)

A new carry-on suitcase also packs a Wi-Fi hotspot, a power-bank and GPS

Samsara is a company that harnesses the trend towards tech-enhanced luggage. Its latest product is of the newly-expanded 23-inch carry-on size. It is the first from its OEM to have its own Wi-Fi hotspot. The suitcase also supports...

Deirdre O Donnell, 18 Jan 2020 22:17

WhatsApp will not display ads any time soon. (Source: WhatsApp)

Facebook abandons its "Ads for WhatsApp" plan

Facebook has encountered serious opposition to its intentions to use WhatsApp for ad revenue-building purposes. Now, a new report has indicated that the social media giant has ultimately dropped its efforts to achieve this aim, wh...

Deirdre O Donnell, 17 Jan 2020 23:09

Microsoft executives unveil the company's new carbon-negating plan. (Source: Microsoft)

Microsoft announces its goal of going carbon-negative by 2030

Microsoft's president, Ben Smith, has publicly acknowledged the scientific consensus that is anthropogenic climate change. Accordingly, the executive has announced an initiative by which the company aims to throw its carbon emissi...

Deirdre O Donnell, 17 Jan 2020 21:06

The Huawei Mate 30 5G variants. (Source: Huawei)

Huawei insists it did better in the 5G phone market than Samsung in 2019

Huawei has released its performance for 2019 to the Chinese media. It claims it shipped approximately 240 million units in total that year, 6.9 million of which had 5G. For context, Samsung has announced that it shipped about 6.7 ...

Deirdre O Donnell, 17 Jan 2020 20:28

The RTX 2060 Founders Edition now costs US$299. (Image source: NVIDIA)

NVIDIA responds to the RX 5600 XT; price cuts incoming

Is NVIDIA worried about AMD's RX product stack? Well, its latest round of price cuts would suggest so. The company has unexpectedly dropped the RTX 2060 Founders Edition from US$349, conveniently just ahead of the release of the R...

Alex Alderson, 17 Jan 2020 12:12

Alphabet joins Apple, Amazon and Microsoft with a US$1 trillion market cap. (Source: Alphabet)

Alphabet crests US$1 trillion market cap thanks to Google

Alphabet has become the US fourth company to crest the US$1 trillion market cap. This puts it up there with Apple, Amazon and Microsoft which are the only other companies to achieve the milestone.

Sanjiv Sathiah, 17 Jan 2020 10:34

Blu-ray is in decline as a medium. (Source: Wikipedia)

Blu-ray disc shipments are now projected to fall by over 150 million units over the next 5 years

Once, long ago, Blu-ray was touted as the gold standard in media playback. Now, however, it has sunk into obscurity among a world's worth of streaming services compatible with high-res displays. The format's market value is now th...

Deirdre O Donnell, 16 Jan 2020 20:32

The MediaTek Helio P70-powered OPPO F15 is launched in India

OPPO has released the F15 to the Indian market. It is technically a new device, although it ships with an older chipset: the MediaTek Helio P70. It costs the equivalent of US$280 and will ship from January 28, 2020.

Deirdre O Donnell, 16 Jan 2020 19:47

AMD has a new Radeon driver update. (Source: AMD)

The latest Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 update brings support for the newest Dragon Ball Z title

AMD has just announced the release of the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition (20.1.2). It confers support for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, as well as Vulkan 1.2. It also fixes a problem for some UE4-based games in...

Deirdre O Donnell, 16 Jan 2020 17:10

PC shipments are up, but only by a small percentage. (Image Source: BusinessKorea)

2019 PC shipments were surprisingly up for the first time in 7 years

PC shipments increased by a small percentage in 2019 and this is mostly due to Microsoft discontinuing support for the venerable Windows 7 OS. 261 to 267 million PC system shipping throughout 2019 are nothing to scoff at, but thes...

Bogdan Solca, 16 Jan 2020 16:09

HP ProBook x360 435 G7 coming this May with AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, Ryzen 5 4500U, and Ryzen 7 4700U options (Image source: HP)

HP ProBook x360 435 G7 coming this Summer with AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, Ryzen 5 4500U, and Ryzen 7 4700U options

The mid-range ProBook series will be refreshed with AMD's latest Ryzen 4000 U-series APUs for SMBs. HP is promising BIOS-level security features including Sure Start and Sure Sense to make up for the fact that there are not yet 3r...

Allen Ngo, 16 Jan 2020 15:00

Scalable Intel Xeon Platinum-M series to be depreciated; L-series to take its price-point

Intel has announced a shake-up in its line of Xeon scalable processors. The OEM will cease sales of the M variants of these server-grade SoCs (the Xeon Platinum 8280M, for example) will. However, their L (the Platinum 8280L, and s...

Deirdre O Donnell, 16 Jan 2020 07:00

Asus blog gives a handy rundown on everything they announced at CES 2020

Asus goes over core details on the upcoming VivoBook S series, Chromebook Flip C436, TUF Gaming A15/A17, G-Sync-enabled TUF Gaming VG27AQL1A monitor, ROG Strix GA35 gaming desktop, and the Zephyrus G14 laptop equipped with 4th gen...

Allen Ngo, 14 Jan 2020 22:01

MediaTek now offers a new line of mobile gaming SoCs. (Source: MediaTek)

Get ready for a year of budget gaming phones with the new MediaTek Helio G70 SoC series

MediaTek has announced the Helio G70 and G70T, a pair of processors that, like the G90s before them, are aimed at gaming-phone OEMs. However, the new chipsets are also intended for a lower tier of that market compared to their pre...

Deirdre O Donnell, 14 Jan 2020 15:14

Extreme events like the bushfires are likely to become more common (Image source: BBC)

Google's AI "precipitation nowcasting" can forecast extreme weather in near-realtime

Google researchers unveiled their AI-based "precipitation nowcasting" solution, which can predict rainfall at a 1km resolution, 6 hours ahead of time, with just 5-10 minutes of calculation. The new approach could mean better crisi...

Arjun Krishna Lal, 14 Jan 2020 15:00

Your Tesla could soon talk to nearby people (Image source: Wikipedia)

Elon Musk claims that Teslas will soon be able to talk to people nearby

The tech billionaire tweeted a picture of a Model 3 Tesla driving by as its speakers play a brief audio clip that says "Well don’t just stand there staring, hop in." The clip hints at Musk's plan to turn all Teslas into a giant fl...

Arjun Krishna Lal, 13 Jan 2020 17:09

The Galaxy Z Flip has been touted to have a similar form factor to the Motorola RAZR. (Source: CNET)

The Galaxy Z Flip is Samsung's second-generation foldable phone

Samsung is expected to release a new foldable phone at its Galaxy Unpacked event on February 11. Information points towards the phone sporting a Motorola RAZR-esque design, and it will apparently be called the Galaxy Z Flip.

Ricci Rox, 12 Jan 2020 20:57

The OnePlus 8 series may look like this. (Source: OnLeaks/91Mobiles)

The OnePlus 8 may launch as a Verizon 5G device in the US

The media outlet Android Police asserts that the OnePlus 8 will be compatible with Verizon's 5G network when it is released to the US market. Not only that, in fact, but it will also apparently launch through this carrier. However...

Deirdre O Donnell, 12 Jan 2020 19:24

The MarQ Falkon Aerbook is a thin and light laptop at a competitive price point. (Image Source: Flipkart)

CES 2020 | Flipkart launches the Falkon Aerbook under the MarQ label in India starting from ₹39,990

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has announced that it is adding laptops to its MarQ sub-brand with the Falkon Aerbook. The Falkon Aerbook is a thin and light laptop for professionals and students made in collaboration with Intel ...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 12 Jan 2020 15:44

Apple owners may be the most likely to replace their own batteries. (Source: Pixabay)

Apple products stand out in a study of 2019 mobile device repair

A study of device repair in Germany for the year 2019 found that 30.7% of those conducted by users were carried out on Apple phones. Samsung was second in these terms at 29.7%, followed by Huawei at 21.6%. Owners were most likely ...

Deirdre O Donnell, 11 Jan 2020 20:23

The new CTL Chromebook series. (Source: CTL)

CES 2020 | CTL announces new, rugged, Gemini Lake-powered Chromebooks

CTL has launched its new NL71 series of education-focused Chromebooks. They are intended to be durable, and some are also convertible PCs with touchscreens. These devices are also capable of advanced connectivity thanks to their u...

Deirdre O Donnell, 10 Jan 2020 23:03

AnyConnect has developed the Smarter Camera platform. (Source: AnyConnect)

CES 2020 | Asus and AnyConnect partner up to push Smarter Cameras to the Edge

The Smarter Camera platform is an AI-powered solution for the future of industries such as security, logistics and retail. It has been developed by the company AnyConnect, which has just announced a partnership with Asus to delive...

Deirdre O Donnell, 10 Jan 2020 22:18

The new Wacom One tablet. (Source: Wacom)

CES 2020 | Wacom launches a new, entry-level 13-inch creators' display

The Wacom One is a new, 13-inch digital-art display. It has an FHD panel and in-built, foldable legs for various modes. It is aimed at those looking to get into electronically-enhanced or -generated art, and can also leverage Micr...

Deirdre O Donnell, 09 Jan 2020 20:49

Apple scores win in China due to iPhone sales jump in December

iPhone sales in China leapt to 3.18 million units in December, a year-over-year increase of 18.7%. While many analysts are excited about what this could mean for Apple's sales in China, it should be noted that October and November...

Sam Medley, 09 Jan 2020 17:10

Micron is manufacturing the new DDR5 modules using its 1znm process. (Source: Micron)

CES 2020 | Micron already sampling DDR5 RDIMMs to partners

Initially expected to hit the market in late 2019, the DDR5 RAM standard will first be introduced to server systems in the second half of 2020, as Micron is currently sampling RDIMMs for its industry partners. DDR5-6400 modules ar...

Bogdan Solca, 09 Jan 2020 14:18

The Amazfit SMART GYM HUB and Home Studio. (Source: Huami)

CES 2020 | Amazfit's HomeStudio is a new line of personal, at-home fitness machines

Amazfit has launched a series of products in a category new to this brand: personal work-out equipment. It consists of the SMART GYM HUB, a 43-inch vertical screen with AI and a ToF sensor that can deliver fitness classes right in...

Deirdre O Donnell, 08 Jan 2020 22:34

Smart assistant activation can result in embarrassing situations. (Source: The Manifest)

Up to 64% of users have activated a smart assistant by accident

A new study of those who use voice-activated searches have found that 64% of this group set the assistant in question off by mistake during December 2019. An accidental press of a hardware button was found to be the culprit in 49%...

Deirdre O Donnell, 08 Jan 2020 21:46

Ossia is at CES 2020 to announce a new product. (Source: Ossia)

CES 2020 | Ossia is ready to bring truly wireless power to the home with its latest Cota product

Ossia has brought its new Cota HOME device to CES this year. It is a residential-grade transmitter for its truly-wireless system in which energy is "beamed" to compatible devices in lieu of cables of any kind. The OEM is confident...

Deirdre O Donnell, 08 Jan 2020 20:08

LocalRay's algorithmic approach apparently delivers playable ray-tracing performance, even on smartphones (Image source: VentureBeat)

Ray-tracing on 2W smartphones? Israeli startup Adshir's LocalRay solution claims to deliver

Israeli startup Adshir claims that its "algorithmic" LocalRay ray-tracing solution can be scaled to run on 2W smartphones. At CES 2020, the company showcased a non-RTX graphics card running LocalRay demos at 60 FPS. Is LocalRay se...

Arjun Krishna Lal, 08 Jan 2020 18:15

The OnePlus Concept One. (Source: OnePlus)

CES 2020 | OnePlus unveils the Concept One, its first "Electronic CMF" phone

OnePlus has come to its first CES event to unveil the Concept One. This device is built around the idea of color-shifting glass, and how it can be integrated into a phone to hide the main cameras while not in use. This material is...

Deirdre O Donnell, 07 Jan 2020 20:01

The Wearbuds now have a Pro version. (Source: Aipower)

CES 2020 | Aipower updates its Wearbuds with a Pro variant

The Wearbuds are well known as the first true-wireless (TWS) earbuds that come with an innovative wrist-band into which they can slot and use to charge, rather than a case that has to be carried around. Now, their maker Aipower ha...

Deirdre O Donnell, 07 Jan 2020 18:54

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold (Source: Lenovo)

CES 2020 | Lenovo is having its biggest CES yet with over 20 new product announcements. Let's try and list them all

Lenovo is starting out the new decade with a bang by announcing a deluge of new products all at once. We can expect gadgets as small as the silent Bluetooth mouse to expensive toys like the $2500 ThinkPad X1 Fold all launching wit...

Allen Ngo, 07 Jan 2020 00:00

The new Acer B250i LED projector. (Source: Acer)

CES 2020 | Acer unveils its compact, "Studio Sound"-enabled B250i LED projector

The B250i is Acer's latest projector. It uses LEDs to throw a FHD image at a brightness of 1000 ANSI lumens. The OEM has also outfitted it with 5W speakers, passive radiators and in-house TrueHarmony and Waves Maxx Audio technolog...

Deirdre O Donnell, 06 Jan 2020 20:48

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus. (Source: Lenovo)

CES 2020 | Lenovo's new ThinkBook Plus comes with an e-ink display on its lid

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus joins a growing list of productivity-focused notebooks with dual or secondary screens. This version has a unique twist in that the added display is an e-ink panel found on the PC's cover. The OEM asserts ...

Deirdre O Donnell, 06 Jan 2020 20:30

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold with flexible 4:3 OLED screen will be available mid 2020

CES 2020 | Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold with flexible screen will be available mid 2020 & cost a lot of money

After teasing the device last year, Lenovo is officially announcing the first ThinkPad with a flexible screen. The unique 4:3 OLED screen used here enables users to fold the device in the middle, giving this first its kind foldabl...

Benjamin Herzig, 06 Jan 2020 20:30

CES 2020 | MSI wants you to check out the new camo-finished GF65 Thin

The GF65 Thin is an MSI laptop that usually ships with a standard-issue dark-metal tones and logo. However, the OEM has developed new SKUs of this PC with an "on-trend" camouflage design. It is found on the notebook's lid, which m...

Deirdre O Donnell, 06 Jan 2020 20:16

MSI Creator 17 gets recognized for the CES “Digital Imaging or Photography” innovation award and it's not even out yet (Source: MSI)

CES 2020 | MSI Creator 17 will introduce mini-LED backlighting, gets recognized for the “Digital Imaging or Photography” CES innovation award

Mini-LED backlighting is the next big thing in consumer TV sets and MSI will be the first to integrate the technology onto laptops with the upcoming 17.3-inch Creator 17 designed for professional users.

Allen Ngo, 06 Jan 2020 20:00

Asus quietly renames the AsusPro B9 to the ExpertBook B9

CES 2020 | Asus renames the super-light AsusPro B9 to the ExpertBook B9, hopes no one notices

Asus has finally realized that the name "Asus AsusPro" is silly. The business-centric "Asus AsusPro" series will now be called the "Asus ExpertBook" series to better appeal to professional office users.

Allen Ngo, 06 Jan 2020 15:00

CES 2020 | Dynabook Portege X30L comes with more ports than you'd expect from a laptop weighing less than 2 pounds

The 13.3-inch Portege X30L will offer RJ-45, full-size HDMI, Wi-Fi 6, expandable RAM, a bright 470-nit matte display, vPro, and a hexa-core CPU all for well under 1 kg when it launches in the U.S. this Summer.

Allen Ngo, 06 Jan 2020 14:00

CES 2020 | HP Elite Dragonfly G2 promises 5G connectivity, 1000-nit touchscreen and an improved Sure View privacy filter

The Dragonfly gets a minor internal update with new Comet Lake-U processors, WAN options, and a "Sure View gen 3.5" display. There will be no Ice Lake version since Intel has no current plans to integrate vPro onto the Ice Lake se...

Allen Ngo, 06 Jan 2020 02:00

The Lenovo Legion Y740S. (Source: Lenovo)

CES 2020 | Lenovo calls the Legion Y740S its "thinnest and lightest" gaming notebook yet

At just 0.58 inches (14.9mm) in depth, the Lenovo Legion Y740S is a strikingly skinny 15.6-inch laptop. However, the OEM asserts it is rated for up to 8 hours of battery life. It can be configured with up to 10th-gen core i9 proce...

Deirdre O Donnell, 05 Jan 2020 21:00

There may be a phone called the Samsung Galaxy A01 coming this year

Samsung's popular Galaxy A series is into its 2nd generation this year. A new leak asserts that one of these phones will be called the A01. It has allegedly been certified alongside less surprising upcoming phones such as the Gala...

Deirdre O Donnell, 05 Jan 2020 19:52

CES 2020 | ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II: Lenovo updates external TrackPoint keyboard

For six years, Lenovo sold the "ThinkPad Compact Keyboard", the external ThinkPad keyboard with the iconic TrackPoint. Now Lenovo is replacing it – the new ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II is not a big revolution, but rather a smal...

Benjamin Herzig, 03 Jan 2020 18:00

CES 2020 | The NEC Lavie Pro Mobile is a stylish Ultrabook under 1 kg

The NEC Lavie Pro Mobile is an incredibly light laptop aimed at business professionals. The Core i7-8565U CPU is wrapped is a sleek Bordeaux case that weighs a mere 837 grams (1.85 pounds).

Sam Medley, 03 Jan 2020 18:00

AMD will likely soon replace Apple as TSMC's biggest 7nm client (Image source: The Verge)

AMD set to become TSMC's largest 2020 client

Citing supply chain sources, Taiwanese outlet Apple Daily predicts that AMD is set to become TSMC's largest 7nm customer by the end of 2020, displacing Apple in the process. The spectacular success of Ryzen and Apple's move to 5nm...

Arjun Krishna Lal, 03 Jan 2020 14:03

Despite facing international headwinds, Huawei's Mate 30 line appears to have sold well

12 million Huawei Mate 30, Mate 30 Pro units sold, Sina Mobile reports

Sina Mobile reports that Huawei managed to ship 12 million Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro units. The Chinese tech giant managed to ship these high volumes despite having been blacklisted by the US government. This raises questions about ...

Arjun Krishna Lal, 03 Jan 2020 08:34