Business Articles

Google and SiriusXM have partnered in order to enable streaming of the latter on smart speakers from the former. In addition, the content provider's subscribers will be able to activate and control their channels by asking the Assistant on their phones to do so. This update will start rolling out shortly in the US and Canada.

Nokia has reportedly hired nearly 400 new staff members to build its latest 5G-focused team. These employees are to be based in the company's native Finland. 240 of them will start on equipment pitched at carriers, whereas some of the rest are SoC engineers.

A recent publication has reported that 52% of all US households with high-speed internet would rather not buy into the smart-home concept. 25% of this group nominated worries about data security and privacy as their reasons to remain out of this market. This research also found that 71% of households who did the opposite worry about cybersecurity.

The Lenovo ThinkPad L590 is a solid business laptop at just under $1,000, but it is not without its problems. The 15.6-inch laptop appears to offer plenty on paper, with Lenovo including a quad-core Core i5 Whiskey Lake CPU, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of NVMe storage. However, its cooling system holds the device back, hampering its CPU performance.

The new NVIDIA SHIELD TV and TV Pro have been released, and they come with an interestingly-shaped new remote. The manufacturer has partnered with Netflix to include a button that summons this app directly on it. However, Reddit users have found that it can also be turned to other uses.

The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is an almost mandatory tool for developers, as well as those who simply like to modify their non-Apple phones in any kind of advanced way. It is traditionally dependent on wired connections, however. A new commit on the OS' Google Source website hints at the development of a wireless alternative.

Sony's PlayStation 4 catapulted past the original PlayStation and Nintendo Wii in sales this quarter. To date, the console has sold 102.8 million units, making it the second best-selling home console in history. Sony's PlayStation 2 still holds the crown at 155 million units.

It seems Essential Products truly has no plans to go away yet. A recent patent apparently filed in this company's name has been discovered. This claim is for its take on the under-display selfie camera.

Qualcomm has announced the 9205 LTE modem, a new component destined for internet-of-things (IoT) devices that will connect using this kind of mobile data. However, it will not require a conventional SIM to do so. The OEM has integrated Deutsche Telekom's novel nuSIM platform instead, which goes directly on a chipset to save on device footprint and circuitry.

Dynabook is promising up to 13 hours of battery life and an optional Dynabook USB-C Dock when the redesigned Tecra A40 becomes available in the coming weeks.

A tech blog claims to have dug up a number of Japanese-language patents, awarded to Sharp, that show this OEM's plans for its oneday line of foldable electronics. Some show rather slim-line devices that are most likely clam-shell phones, whereas others appear to be collapsible, mobile gaming machines. One may also be designed to process credit-card transactions.

The new 1000-nit display will be about two times brighter than the display of the XPS 15. FirstNet integration comes standard with optional Wi-Fi 6 and LTE to aid first responders with critical information.

The Rich Communications Service (RCS) standard has been touted as the ultimate messaging platform for some time. Unfortunately, its implementation and adoption worldwide could be described as sluggish at best. Therefore, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile have collaborated on the Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative (CCMI), which aims to bring it to their customers by 2020.

The two leading foundries unexpectedly dropped any patent infringement claims and struck an agreement that allows both parties to license each other’s existing patents. Additionally, the agreement would also cover any other patents that would be filed by any side in the next 10 years.

The rumor mill for the Samsung Galaxy S11 phones is starting to pick up, and code in the One UI 2.0 beta has revealed a few major details of the devices. They will be powered by the Exynos 9830 and Snapdragon 865, depending on region. UFS 3.0 storage and LPDDR5 RAM will also make an appearance on the phones.

Now there are two of them. Just yesterday, we received word of the Mi CC9 Pro, with the upcoming phone confirmed to sport five rear cameras, one of which will be a 108 MP sensor. Xiaomi has now announced yet another device, the Mi Note 10, with similar camera specifications.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has been busy registering some important terms with the Japan Patent Office. The trademarks are related to future PlayStation releases beyond the forthcoming PlayStation 5 console. The company has been securing all iterations up to number 10, which following past release schedules for PlayStations, could see the light of day by 2050.

Although it can also be used on iOS-powered devices, Google Play Music has just hit an impressive milestone with the help of its Android users alone — no less than five billion downloads. This music streaming service is available in 63 countries and will probably be replaced by YouTube Music in the long run.

Bitcoin had a wild ride this week. After dipping over 6% on Wednesday, the cryptocurrency rallied about 30% to finish the week 18% higher. Bitcoin is up over 50% since last October. The most likely causes of the swings this week involved Google's quantum computing success and Facebook's failures with Libra.

The Apollo Max is a new 10000mAh power bank that, according to its maker ELECJET, integrates the emerging graphene standard as a battery material. This, it is claimed, gives it an "unbeatable charging efficiency of 96%". This new product is currently available as a reward on its Indiegogo campaign page.

Redmi has teased a new promotion for the Note 8 Pro that ties in with the movie Terminator: Dark Fate. It will be available via the brand's Spanish division from October 29, 2019, and appears to consist of the offer of an appropriately-branded case with every sale of the standard 6GB model of the phone.

The consumer-grade security development group Nok Nok Labs has unveiled its new SDK. It asserts that it is the first such app software capable of conferring FIDO-based authentication on smartwatches. This, then, may help users depend more on their wearable for more functions typically carried out on a phone.

The Canon RF lens series has now added its 9th and 10th members, in the form of the 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM and 85mm F1.2L USM DS products respectively. The former is described as the most compact device in its class, whereas the latter debuts the novel feature of Defocus Smoothing. The OEM asserts that either would be an asset to those with EOS R or RP cameras.

The Xiaomi Mi A1 was released back in 2017 and has already received two major OS updates: Oreo and Pie. Owners of the phone have been curious about their chances of getting the Android 10 and, well, there's bad news for them.

The Nokia 9 PureView was plagued by several launch delays that saw it finally released earlier this year, with an outdated SoC. Its successor, the Nokia 9.1 PureView, has apparently been hit with a similar delay.

Motorola hasn't delivered a proper flagship in the last two years. That may be set to change in the near future, however, as a new report claims the company has its sights on a true flagship device that will sit above the sub-premium Moto Z line.

Phones with a headphone jack are becoming unicorns, especially in the premium segment of the market. After the launch of the Galaxy Note 10 duo, lovers of the 3.5mm jack now have their work cut out for them in the search for impressive phones with the ever-elusive port, so why not make things a tad easier for them?

Lenovo's mobile workstation scores points with great input devices, good battery life and a Thunderbolt 3 port. But the laptop isn't able to reach its full performance potential.

Intel CEO Bob Swan presented the Q3 2019 earnings report on Thursday. Intel's performance in enterprise ensured good earnings despite its consumer CPUs taking a backseat due to competition from AMD. Swan also confirmed that Intel's first dGPU, the Xe DG1, has achieved the important milestone of "power on exit".

OnePlus originally introduced the 7T Pro McLaren Edition in the absence of US availability or pricing. However, T-Mobile has just announced that it is to stock this phone in the country. Moreover, this carrier’s version will support 5G.

iPhone owners could be due a hefty slice of compensation following a Court of Appeal judgment against Google. The complainant, Google You Owe Us, is seeking up to £3.2 billion (~US$4.1 billion) to compensate over 4 million iPhone owners for the misuse of their data. There are a few caveats to be eligible for making a claim, though.

Samsung announced a brand new SoC, the Exynos 990, yesterday. The chipset's support for 120 Hz displays and 108 MP cameras may have led the public to believe it would be the SoC powering the Galaxy S11 phones but that will apparently not be the case.

Intel might think it can get away with an optimistic Q3 2019 earnings report, but AMD's rising market shares paint a different picture. Intel's ongoing CPU shortages and the difficulties encountered with the 10 nm jump are allowing AMD to relentlessly accrue market shares in the desktop, laptop and server markets.

Did you buy into the RED HYDROGEN project? Well, founder Jim Jannard has announced that the company is being wound up, effectively canning the HYDROGEN Two. However, there could be some positive news on the horizon for HYDROGEN One owners, with the release a much-anticipated camera accessory imminent, apparently.

Intel has released its new low-power solution in full today (October 24, 2019). It is an x86 microarchitecture associated with "significant" IPC enhancements compared to its predecessor. Tremont can also support an L2 cache of up to 4.5MB, as well as crypto acceleration that includes dual 128-bit AES units. It is pitched at IoT, server, client and connectivity applications.

Qualcomm's Venture division has announced the implementation of the 5G Ecosystem Fund, a source of investment worth up to US$200 million. As the name suggests, it will help support start-ups involved in new, innovative and potentially lucrative applications of the new mobile-data standard. The company also intends the new fund to help get 5G in devices besides smartphones.

Huawei has faced more than its fair share of troubles this year but the company's sales figures are completely unaffected and have even grown. The Chinese company has now confirmed that it has sold 200 million devices this year, over two months earlier than when it hit that same milestone last year.

Realme makes good value for money hardware but are usually panned by enthusiasts for their software. The company has identified that flaw, however, and is set to shake things up by adopting a new skin said to be similar to stock Android.

The new 12 GB low-power double data rate 4X UFS-based multichip package by Samsung combines four 24 Gb LPDDR4X chips and ultra-fast eUFS 3.0 NAND storage into a single package. This new mobile memory solution can hit a transfer rate of 4,266 Mbps, allowing mid-end handsets to shoot smooth 4K videos and run AI/machine learning applications.

A new report has claimed that Intel could be preparing to heavily discount its 9th Gen Skylake-X series of high-end desktop (HEDT) CPUs. The 8-core i7-9800X could end up being priced at around €360 (~US$400) while the top-end SKU, the 18-core i9-9980XE, has been predicted to be discounted to around €950 (~US$1,058).

Qualcomm has commissioned a Signals Research Group (SRG) study of 5G performance, efficiency and general UX in those countries and cities to which the new radio bands have been rolled out. It reportedly found that 5G can achieve up to 10X performance compared to 4G/LTE. In addition, it is also capable of 5 times the download speeds than the older standard.

The Hygon C86 is essentially an AMD EPYC Zen 1 chip with an additional cryptographic layer added by the Chinese joint venture company collaborating with AMD. The chip was manufactured by GlobalFoundries as a proof-of-concept, and future Hygon CPUs will most likely be manufactured through other foundries like TSMC.

September’s Steam Hardware and Software Survey has seemingly delivered more good news for AMD. The survey has measured data in regard to PC processor usage by manufacturer, which yet again has been thoroughly dominated by Intel. However, the red team has enjoyed another month of considerable growth, which could be down to its Ryzen 3000 generation of chips.

The Steam Hardware and Software Survey for September 2019 has shown some interesting changes in terms of PC video card usage. Although Nvidia still dominates the overall percentage share with the GeForce RTX 2060 going strong and the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER making an appearance, AMD’s Radeon RX 590 Series leads an upsurge in GPUs from the red team.

The Honor Play was released just over a year ago and has received one major update: Android Pie. That will apparently be the end of the road for the device, which is unfair to owners of the Kirin 970-powered phone. Even worse, though, is Huawei's justification for the decision.

The Google Pixel 4 phones don't have support for shooting 4K60fps videos even though Android phones have been able to do that for well over a year. Google has now explained the rationale behind the decision but it's woefully unconvincing.

LG's South Korean telecomms company has announced the debut of its new app, "U+ AR Shopping". It enables users to transform the content of 2 popular TV shopping channels into augmented reality (AR) experiences. Consumers can then leverage them to visualize and manipulate their potential purchases in 3D.