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Oppo eliminates side bezels with its 'waterfall screen'
It's only been a year since Vivo and Oppo kicked off the all-screen, notch-less smartphone race, and now, the latter is literally pushing the boundaries with a new type of curved display. Earlier today, Oppo showed off a prototype device packing a "waterfall screen," which features an aggressive 88-degree fold on both the left and right sides. When viewed directly from the front, the bezels are practically invisible, which gives the device an even more premium look than today's curved-screen phones -- namely Oppo's very own Find X.
Sony is crowdfunding a wearable 'air conditioner' (updated)
Are you struggling to cope with the heat outdoors? Sony might have a solution, if not as soon as you might like. The company's First Flight program is crowdfunding a wearable 'air conditioner,' the Reon Pocket, that slips into a pouch in a special t-shirt. The stealthy device doesn't condition the air as such. Rather, it sits at the base of your neck and uses the Peltier effect (where heat is absorbed or emitted when you pass an electrical current across a junction) to either lower your temperature by 23F or raise it by 14F, all without bulk or noise. You could wear a stuffy business outfit on a hot day and avoid looking like you've just stepped out of a sauna.
Samsung will release the Galaxy Fold in September
Three months. That's how long it has been since Samsung announced it would delay the Galaxy Fold due to issues that arose after reviewers got their hands on its nearly $2,000 device. People pointed out a hinge that could let debris fall inside and its screen protector as problem areas, and Huawei similarly delayed its folding Mate X. We've had speculation about how the company could fix it, rumors that a redesign is complete and hints that updates are incoming, but very few official statements until now. Samsung has revealed the next step for the Fold, which is to release the device in September in "select markets." The company listed several changes in its press release, and they're in line with the earlier rumors. Along with the press release, Samsung also released a gallery of photos of the device, and it looks to our eye pretty much like the Fold already did.
DOJ could approve T-Mobile and Sprint merger tomorrow
T-Mobile and Sprint are still grappling with state lawsuits attempting to block their merger, but they can at least take some consolation from the federal government. CNBC sources claim that the Department of Justice is expected to approve the merger on July 25th (that's tomorrow, if you're reading in time). The union is contingent on T-Mobile selling assets to Dish, though. Reportedly, Dish will buy T-Mobile's prepaid phone business for $1.4 billion, and spend another to snap up $3.6 billion in wireless spectrum. You can likely say goodbye to a T-Mobile-owned Metro, then.
Astronomers believe the young Milky Way once swallowed a dwarf galaxy
Astronomers believe they've mapped an important sequence of events that shaped our galaxy 10 billion years ago. In a paper published in Nature Astronomy today, researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) share their findings that a dwarf galaxy, Gaia-Enceladus, once collided and merged with the early Milky Way. Their discovery offers a new understanding of how the Milky Way formed.
Huawei allegedly developed a spy-friendly phone network for North Korea
If Huawei was hoping to mend its reputation in the wake of the de facto US ban, it's about to be disappointed. The Washington Post and 38 North have published joint reports indicating that Huawei helped build Koryolink, North Korea's highly restrictive cellphone network that went live in 2008. According to documents, Huawei partnered with China's state-owned Panda International Information Technology on projects in North Korea for at least eight years, with cooperation starting when then-dictator Kim Jong Il visited Huawei's headquarters in 2006. Huawei provided elements like cellular infrastructure, network management and encryption, while Panda provided software and transported Huawei gear.
Samsung launches high-capacity smartphone RAM built for 5G and AI
It has only been a few months since Samsung unveiled the highest-capacity smartphone DRAM yet -- a 12GB LPDDR4X package for premium devices -- but it's already following that up with a faster model of the same size. The Korean tech giant has started mass producing what it says is the industry's first 12Gb LPDDR5 for phones, and it'll also start the mass production of 12GB LPDDR5 packages later this month. Samsung introduced its LPDDR5 chip technology last year in hopes of providing 5G phones with a fast, energy-efficient RAM that can power machine learning and AI applications.
Nintendo quietly upgrades the Switch with up to 9 hours of battery life
The murmurs of an upgraded Switch were true -- although you might want to put hopes for a Switch Pro on ice, at least for now. Nintendo has quietly unveiled a new revision of the standard Switch with dramatically improved battery life. Instead of the original's 2.5 to 6.5 hours, the new model manages a much healthier 4.5 to 9 hours. That's about 5.5 hours of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild versus the earlier three hours, Nintendo estimated. You shouldn't have problems playing through a cross-country flight.
Tesla workers say they used electrical tape in Model 3 production
Tesla may have broken its own records, manufacturing 72,531 Model 3 sedans in the three months that ended June 30th. But employees say in the push to ramp up Model 3 production, they were forced to cut corners and work in difficult, unsafe conditions. A handful of employees who work in Tesla's open-air GA4 production tent told CNBC that they used electrical tape to quickly repair cracks on plastic brackets and housings and worked through extreme heat, cold and wild-fire smoke.
Intel's ultra-efficient AI chips can power prosthetics and self-driving cars
Even though the whole 5G smartphone thing didn't work out, Intel is still working on hard on its Loihi "neuromorphic" deep-learning chips, modeled after the human brain. Now, it has unveiled a new system, code-named Pohoiki Beach, made up of 64 Loihi chips and 8 million so-called neurons. It's capable of crunching AI algorithms up to 1,000 faster and 10,000 times more efficiently than regular CPUs for use with autonomous driving, electronic robot skin, prosthetic limbs and more.
Galaxy Note 10 image leaks spoil Samsung's party
So much for Samsung maintaining even the slightest bit of secrecy around the Galaxy Note 10 ahead of its August 7th debut. Both Ishan Agarwal (via MySmartPrice) and WinFuture have obtained what look to be official press images for the regular Note 10 and its larger Note+ counterpart (shown above). As you might have suspected, the two phones appear to push the Galaxy S10's nearly-all-screen concept even further. The more rectangular design has virtually no bezel, and the only interruption is a hole-punch camera located at the top center of the display.
Nintendo's Switch Lite is a $200 handheld-only console
The rumors were true: Nintendo was working on a new kind of Switch, and here it is. The Switch Lite is a slightly different console, designed for handheld play, and will arrive September 20th priced at $200. When it does land, it'll come in three different color choices. No more neon red, you'll be able to pick from yellow, gray and turquoise options. But that substantial price cut comes with some spec differences.
Apple killed the 12-inch MacBook
Quietly lost amidst some upgrades to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is a notable absence from Apple's online store: the 12-inch MacBook has been discontinued. The laptop was first introduced in 2015 and ushered in a new era of MacBook design for Apple -- it was the first to use USB-C, the first with the controversial and problematic butterfly keyboard, and the first Mac laptop without a glowing Apple logo in years. Apple has confirmed to Engadget that the 12-inch MacBook is no more.
Bloomberg: Galaxy Fold redesign is complete
Still waiting for Samsung's first foldable phone? Bloomberg cites anonymous sources saying that Samsung has completed a redesign of the Galaxy Fold in just two months. The protective film now covers the entire screen and stretches into the bezel so people can't pull it off by accident, and hopefully reduce the appearance of a seam in the middle. Also, the hinge has reportedly undergone tweaking to make it flush with the display, and pushing the film up when the device is opened.
Apple once envisioned retractable bumpers for its self-driving cars
Apple once dreamed of self-driving cars with retractable bumpers. In 2015, the company filed a patent for "extendable bumpers" with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The patent was published this morning, but even if Apple were once serious about adding inflatable bumpers to its vehicles, the company has since pivoted and scaled back its Project Titan self-driving vehicle efforts.
Jony Ive reportedly felt that Tim Cook wasn’t interested in design
Jony Ive's departure was made official last week, but may have begun years ago because of Apple's shift in focus from design to operations, according to the WSJ and Bloomberg. Citing multiple unnamed sources, the reports stated that Ive was "dispirited" by Tim Cook's lack of interest in design, especially considering the close synergy he shared with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. At the same time, Ive was coming into Apple's offices much less often than before, "straining the cohesion central to product development," the WSJ stated.
Tesla is quietly developing its own EV battery cells
Tesla has powered its electric cars using Panasonic's battery cells for years, but it may ready for a greater degree of independence going forward. Employees talking to CNBC claim that Tesla is developing its own "advanced" lithium-ion battery cells as well as the processes to manufacture them at scale. The company reportedly conducts some of its research at a "skunkworks" facility minutes away from its Fremont plant.
Bacteria from your gut may be the key to running farther
What separates average athletes from elite ones? Aside from years and years of training, dedication to the craft and natural advantages, it may have to do with what is in your gut. In a paper published this week in Nature Medicine, researchers from the Wyss Institute at Harvard revealed that a particular type of bacteria called Veillonella was found in higher quantities in marathon runners. That bacteria could lead to better performance.
The new Raspberry Pi 4 is ready for 4K video
Like the Raspberry Pi but wish it had a little more oomph for your homebrew projects? The Pi Foundation might have what you need. The newly released Raspberry Pi 4 Model B mates the familiar tiny computer-on-a-board design with purportedly "ground-breaking" boosts to performance, particularly for media. Thanks to both a newer 1.5GHz quad-core Broadcom processor with H.265 decoding, two micro-HDMI ports and up to 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM (more on that in a bit), the Pi 4 can output 4K video at 60 frames per second. This could theoretically serve as a modern DIY media hub, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation even claims that it's fast enough to compete with "entry-level" x86 PCs.
A rogue Raspberry Pi helped hackers access NASA JPL systems
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) suffers from multiple cybersecurity weaknesses despite the advances it has achieved in space technology, according to the agency's Office of Inspector General (PDF). Investigators looked into the research center's network security controls after an April 2018 security breach, wherein a Raspberry Pi that was not authorized to be linked to the JPL network was targeted by hackers. The attackers were able to steal 500 megabytes of data from one of its major mission systems, and they also used that chance to find a gateway that allowed them to go deeper into JPL's network.
