Smart cities are all the hype these days. Everyone from urban planners to private companies have been throwing the two words around lately, as a common aspiration for metropolitan cities in the coming years. It comes tied with a bunch of other complicated concepts, from the Internet of Things (IoT), to 5G, autonomous transportation and information and communication technology (ICT).
Short of Fuschia really becoming a thing, Chrome OS is, for all intents and purposes, the Google OS people have been speculating about years ago. From a limited, web-centric, and almost negligible platform designed for schools, Chrome OS has fully blossomed to become a serious threat to the duopoly of Windows and Mac on desktops.
As Chrome OS expands both its software and hardware ecosystem beyond its humble roots, it has the potential to become the consumption and production platform to beat. That, however, depends on one crucial, missing piece.
5G is coming and when it does, you’re going to interact with the device in your hand very differently from today. It’s indeed getting real, with multiple companies, the likes of Samsung and Huawei, announcing 5G devices just several weeks ago. US carriers rushing in to call dibs on the next-gen pie, eagerly launching 5G bundles and exclusives.
Content moderators on Facebook are going through hell to keep your feeds palatable. They sieve through videos of murders, suicides, explicit contents and other horrors day in day out. They have strict bathroom breaks and an annual salary of just $28,800. Their treatment certainly doesn’t make up for the daily torment. The Verge reported many workers have turned to smoking weed during breaks and questionable activities to take the edge off the trauma, not to mention the potential long-term psychological impact, which is an alarming concern.
There's no denying that the foldable phones are the new hot things at MWC this week, whether or not you actually find any practical need for them. To others, they are a dream of the future come true. But after all the hype and marketing has settled down, one thing is going to be clear. Unless you're an early adopter or have the cash to blow, you'll want to skip the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X. And it's not just because barely anyone can afford them anyway.
The opening shots have finally been fired. Going beyond somewhat dubious prototypes, Samsung and Huawei have finally revealed fully working samples of their respective foldable smartphones. Unsurprisingly, the two stood at opposite sides when it came to deciding how the device should fold, which could very well determine how lines will be drawn between other companies that will also be getting into the game. But which side is right and which side folds the best? We take a look at these two trailblazers and see where they win and where they fall.
The future of mobile is here - or, at least, it's here in prototype form, or behind glass, or as promising roadmap with little to show for it today. Mobile World Congress 2019 isn't immune to trade show hype, and this year there's a double-whammy of 5G and foldable phones to stoke expectations.
Just when you thought Samsung's Galaxy Fold was wildly expensive, along comes the Huawei Mate X to prove that when it comes to the price of foldable phones, the sky's the limit. With its sticker price working out to the equivalent of around $2,600 - or, for context, a well-specified MacBook Pro or several iPad Pro tablets - this latest folding smartphone wows both for its tech and its premium positioning.
On 14 February 2019, Airbus announced their A380s have been cancelled, with production ending in 2021; After 12 long years of shaky business and development, its closure didn’t come as a surprise, but rather a sigh of relief for a company burdened by the weight of its own ambitions - The dream is over for the world’s largest passenger airliner.
Chinese smartphones have taken the market by storm by sheer numbers. Disregarding international phones that are made or at least assembled in China, phones from Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus have filled every tier in almost every market with phones whose prices would make other manufacturers cringe and consumers drool. But if these phones are really that great and they offer the best value for your money, why have they failed to establish themselves as the smartphone brands to beat. Unfortunately, these days, it's less about actual technical or quality issues and more about public perception based on history and, sadly, some ill-advised decisions by a few key players.
Samsung opened its big Galaxy S10 event this week with its headline news: the flexible Galaxy Fold smartphone is not only real, it's really launching - not to mention it's also really expensive. It was a bold move by the phone-maker, one that ran the potential risk of overshadowing the more mainstream (and thankfully more affordable) Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e.
Another year, another new Samsung flagship, another series of questions on whether fans should make the upgrade or not. Gone are the days when consumers would grab the next shiny phone that comes out, partly thanks to the rising prices. Buyers now need a whole lot more reason to say goodbye to their old faithful companion beyond just better specs and new features. With a price tag nearly reaching $1,000, the Galaxy S10 definitely needs to make its case, especially with a distracting whole on its face.