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mercredi 29 novembre 2017

Samsung Begins Mass Production of Second-Gen 10nm FinFET Chips

Samsung. Intel. TMSC. They're members of the exclusive club that fabricate the system-on-chips (SoC) in hundreds of millions of devices, and over the last few years, they've constantly been trying to outdo each other. The latest to make a move is Samsung, which this week announced it was ready to start mass-producing second-generation 10nm FinFET chips in Hwaseong, Korea.

That's a lot of jargon, but here's the gist: Samsung's new chips benefit from 10LPP (Low Power Plus), a new process that the company expects to start showing up in consumer devices in early 2018. With the introduction of the 10LPP process technology, its processors will be able to achieve 10% higher performance and 15% lower power consumption compared to the previous generation, which used 10LE (Low Power Early). 10LPP is derived from 10LPE technology,

"We will be able to better serve our customers through the migration from 10LPE to 10LPP with improved performance and higher initial yield," Ryan Lee, Vice President of Foundry Marketing at Samsung Electronics, said in a press release.

Samsung Electronics — the division within the company responsible for its SoC business — thinks 10LPP will confer a number of competitive advantages. First, it'll reduce the turnaround time for new chips — i.e., the steps between development and mass production. Second, it'll lead to much higher initial chip yields, which will stem losses incurred in manufacturing.

Samsung also announced today that its newest manufacturing line, S3, is ready to ramp up production of 10nm chips (and eventually 7nm FinFET chips). It's located in Hwaseong, Korea, and it's the third fabricator in the company's chip business. (The first two, S1 and S2, are in Giheung, Korea and Austin, Texas, respectively.)

Source: Samsung Newsroom

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Report: Samsung Likely to Source Fingerprint Sensors from Egistec for the Galaxy S9

These days, it's hard to find a phone without a fingerprint sensor. But not all fingerprint sensors are created equal. Take Samsung, for example, which shipped the Galaxy S5 with a swipe-based fingerprint sensor that didn't always work reliably. The Seoul, South Korea-based company switched to a much better touch-based sensor for the Galaxy S6, but two years later, Samsung was back in hot water for the Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus's awkward rear-mounted, off-centered fingerprint scanner. But it might make amends with the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus.

A Commercial Times report identifies Taiwan-based Egis Technology (Egistec) as the most likely fingerprint supplier for Samsung's fingerprint scanners, which are said to begin shipping in the first quarter of 2018. Historically, Samsung's been Egistec's biggest customer — the biometrics firm supplies fingerprint sensors for its Galaxy A, C and J series smartphones. But if it nabs the Galaxy S9 series contract, it'll mark the first time it's cut into the supply chain for Samsung's flagship phones.

It'd be payday for the Taiwan-based company. The Commercial Times report estimated that Egistec would generate net profits of as high as NT$2 billion (about $66.6 million) in 2018 by winning orders for fingerprint sensors for the Galaxy S9 series. That'd be up from net profits of NT$434 million (about $14 million) in the first three quarters of 2017, from losses of NT$65.64 million a year earlier.

According to the latest leak by Evan Blass on VentureBeat, the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are expected to feature fingerprint sensors on the back. However, the fingerprint sensor will be placed vertically below the camera and the heart rate monitor, ditching the off-centered layout of the phones' predecessors. It remains to be seen how good the speed and accuracy of the new fingerprint sensors will be, but judging by Egis Technology's expertise, there's nothing to worry about.

Via: Digitimes

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Andy Rubin Takes Leave of Absence from Essential as Google Investigation of “Inappropriate” Relationship Emerges

Essential Products, the startup founded by Android co-creator Andy Rubin, launched its first product — the Essential Phone — to great fanfare earlier this year. But the company's in hot water over a Google investigation that alleges Mr. Rubin, who took a leave of absence for "personal reasons" on Wednesday, carried on an "inappropriate relationship" with a female colleague while at Google.

For the uninitiated, Mr. Rubin and Android — the company he helped to found more than a decade ago — was acquired by Google back in July 2005. He stayed on at Google for nine years, overseeing the eponymous Android operating system's (OS) development before departing in 2013 to found Playground Global, a studio that provides resources, mentorship, and funding to hardware startups. According to multiple reports, his departure coincided with the start of Google's investigation.

The nature of Mr. Rubin's relationship was never detailed in the report, but states that the employee filed a report with Google's Human Resources department. Google's policy prohibits personal relationships between two employees in the same division, and the company's investigators reportedly concluded that "Rubin's behavior was improper and showed bad judgement."

While Mr. Rubin hasn't commented on the situation, his spokesperson, Mike Sitrick, said that "any relationship that Mr. Rubin had while at Google was consensual." Sitrick went on to say that Mr. Rubin "was never told by Google that he engaged in any misconduct while at Google and he did not, either while at Google or since."

It's another setback for Essential, which made major headlines but hit a few bumps in the road leading up to and following the release of the Essential Phone. In Mr. Rubin's absence, Niccolo de Masi, Essential's president, will be in charge for the time being.

"At our last regularly scheduled board meeting earlier in November, Andy asked for a leave of absence to deal with personal matters," an Essential spokesperson told The Verge. "The Board agreed and our President, Niccolo de Masi, will continue to run day to day operations at Essential."

Via: The Verge Source: The Information

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New Snapchat Redesign Separates the Social from the Media

If Snapchat was getting a bit too cluttered for your liking, you aren't the only one. Snap Inc., the company behind the popular social network, announced a redesign on Wednesday that streamlines the user experience (UI) by splitting it in two. Now, friends and third-party content inhabit distinct, separate sections of the application.

"Separating social from media has allowed us to build the best way to communicate with friends and the best way to watch great content – while addressing many of the problems that plague the Internet today," Snapchat said in a press release. "The new Snapchat separates the social from the media. This means that the Chats and Stories from your friends are on the left side of Snapchat, and the Stories from publishers, creators, and the community are on the right."

It's a palpable change to the way Snapchat works. When you fire up the application, you're instantly taken to the camera portion of the app. A swipe to the left of the camera shows content from your friends and other users who you communicate with every day, and a swipe to the right pulls up Snapchat's Discover feature. It's the tab where content from publishers, content creators, and the community live, and it's personalized to your tastes and preferences. (Your subscriptions and Snapchat Stories you're following are at the top.)

"Until now, social media has always mixed photos and videos from your friends with content from publishers and creators," Snapchat said. "While blurring the lines between professional content creators and your friends has been an interesting Internet experiment, it has also produced some strange side-effects (like fake news) and made us feel like we have to perform for our friends rather than just express ourselves."

Snapchat's also improved the Friends page. Starting today, your friends are listed in the order you want to talk to them.

It's a radical change for Snapchat, but it's probably for the best. Social networks started a medium for folks to keep track of and socialize with the people they know, but they've become one-stop shops for friends, celebrities, company, political, entertainment, and music updates. It's made it increasingly difficult to find the content you care about.

It's imposslbe to put the genie back in the bottle — we're used to social networks that do just about everything. But Snachat's move seems like a step in the right direction. Hopefully, others follow suit.

Source: Snap Inc.

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eBay Introduces a Personalized Shopping Experience for the Google Assistant

As useful as they are, Google Home and Google Assistant-enabled smart speakers are ultimately just another way to Google. But that's not necessarily a bad thing — especially when it comes to shopping. (Who doesn't like to shop hands-free, after all?) That's why companies like Walmart are getting in on the trend, and why eBay announced a personalized shopping experience for Google Assistant devices.

On Wednesday, eBay said it'll open up its storefront to Google Assistant-enabled devices including Google Home, Google Home Mini, home automation products from third-party manufacturers, and smartphones that support Google Assistant.

"We've collaborated with Google to be among the first to take advantage of the multi-surface switching capability, which lets you carry a voice conversation on Google Home over to your phone, seamlessly," eBay Lead Product Manager Jay Vasudevan wrote in a blog post. "So when you tell Google Home that you want to buy an item on eBay, you can easily switch to your phone, take a peek at the deal recommendation to make sure everything is correct and buy with confidence."

Source: eBay

It's basically like it sounds: Say, "ask eBay," followed by the product you'd like to find (e.g., "ask eBay to find me GoPro Hero 6"), and eBay's app for the Google Assistant does the rest. You'll be told how many product listings matched your query, and it'll recommend the best deal it could find. You'll then get the option of visiting the product page on your phone or refining your search.

That's not all that's new with eBay on the Google Assistant. The retail behemoth updated the "What's it Worth?" feature on the Google Assistant, which now lets you ask the trending price of any item you're thinking about selling.

It isn't Google's first foray into retail. Earlier this year, the search giant added Target to Google Express, a shopping service that acts as a middleman between buyers and brick-and-mortar retailers. With that came an announcement came a new shopping feature for Google Assistant.

Source: eBay

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Google Lens is Now Widely Rolling-out in Assistant on Pixel and Pixel 2

Google Lens, which was announced in Google I/O 2017 as the spiritual successor to Google Goggles, is a next-gen computer vision platform that classifies real-world objects. With nothing more than a smartphone's rear camera and a machine learning algorithm, Lens recognizes objects, landmarks, and even text in real time. It's exclusive to Google's first-generation and second-generation Pixel devices (though it isn't impossible to enable Lens in Google Photos for all devices using root), and starting this week, it's heading to the Google Assistant.

Several Pixel and Pixel 2 users are reporting that the update's begun in earnest. Two weeks ago, some lucky few spotted Lens in the Google Assistant app, but the rollout didn't appear to be widespread.

Google Lens in Google Assistant

If you're lucky enough to have gotten Lens, 9to5Google notes that the Google Lens icon will appear in the bottom-right corner of the Assistant user interface (UI) if the preferred input is set to Voice. If Keyboard is the selected method, it'll appear to the left of the microphone icon.

There's a brief tutorial when you first launch Lens, which explains what it can do, how it works, and what sort of information it's sending to Google's servers. After you tap through the messages, a carousel of four categories — Barcodes, Books & Media, Landmarks, and Text — serve as suggestions of what to try. Snapping a photo is as easy as tapping anywhere in the viewfinder; an icon in the bottom corner pulls up the live camera view, and a flash icon in the top-right corner switches on the flash.

Google Lens has a Share feature that outputs an image to any app, alongside any recognized text. Images taken with Lens appear in general Assistant history alongside the accompanying search result.

Lens in Assistant is set to roll-out in India, the UK, Australia, Canada, and Singapore on devices with English set as the default language. It's still early days for Lens, as it remains in a "Preview" state. And if you don't have a Pixel or Pixel 2, you're out of luck — Google hasn't said when Lens will come to other devices. Here's hoping that changes soon.

Via: 9to5Google

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Google Project Detects When Someone is Stealing Glances at Your Phone

Google's researchers are constantly experimenting. Some of their projects, like Gmail, are almost destined to become full-scale products. Others never see the light of day. But we're hoping that one — an artificially intelligent (AI) camera app that recognizes when more than one person is looking at a phone's screen — is in the former category.

Google's person-detecting demo, which will be presented by Google researchers Hee Jung Ryu and Florian Schroff at the Neural Information Processing Systems conference in Long Beach, California next week, uses the Google Pixel's front-facing camera and an eye-detecting algorithm to determine whether more than one person is looking at the screen. It's quick enough to recognize a person's gaze in two milliseconds, and runs entirely locally, meaning it doesn't need to be processed on Google's servers.

The embedded video above gives an idea of how it works in practice. (The researchers call it an "electronic screen protector.")

It's not Google's first foray into gaze detection (as Quartz points out, Google holds patents for vision-tracking computer pointers and Pay-Per-Gaze ad analytics suites), but it's arguably the most useful. These days, as an increasing number of people view family photos, check bank account statements, and enter payment information on the go, smartphones are becoming incredibly personal. And just like someone looking over your shoulder while you enter your ATM PIN number feels creepy, there's something uncomfortable about a stranger stealing glances at your phone's screen.

As Google accelerates its neural networks research and an increasing number of devices come equipped with AI-accelerated hardware, it isn't a stretch to say projects like these will become more common. But as with all internal Google projects, there's no guarantee they'll make their way into an application. At the very least, they're fascinating examples of how neural networks have the potential to affect our lives.

Source: Quartz

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