TechEye |  |
- Samsung bloatware cripples Windows updates
- Telecom Italia becomes takeover target
- Huawei sells 50 million phones in 2015
- Europeans are falling for Google’s lobbying charms
- China goes for robots
- Wireless charging makes the grade
- Scientists create 3D graphene shapes
- Indie musicians endorse Apple streaming
- Sales of PC monitors slump
| Samsung bloatware cripples Windows updates Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:27 AM PDT
Samsung claims that this is to "help your windows configuration settings" and it was discovered by a researcher and Microsoft MVP . It comes with SWUpdate, Samsung's bloatware that comes with all their PCs. Samsung's says that by enabling Windows updates, you install the Default Drivers for all the hardware for a laptop which may or may not work. For example if there is USB 3.0 on laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update tool will prevent the Windows updates. That may be true, but Windows Update is also responsible for critical security updates. And come Windows 10, it will also be responsible for new versions of the OS. SWUpdate went unnoticed because it wasn't permanently disabling the update process. People could still start and stop it manually, though the automatic service would get disabled again with every reboot.
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| Telecom Italia becomes takeover target Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:25 AM PDT
On the face of it the outfit has little to offer. Run in a typical Italian way, which involves a lot of shouting and nothing being done, the outfit desperately needs to invest in its aging infrastructure. But like most things Italian, it is flat broke. However it has most of Italian telecommunications under its quasi-monopolistic belt and that is where it is a good deal for a company with the readies. France’s Vivendi has been tipped as a likely buyer, although so far it has been talking about increasing its stake in the company. It is already Telecom Italia's biggest investor with 14.9 percent. CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine told daily Corriere della Sera it had raised its stake in Telecom Italia to just under 15 percent, replacing Telefonica as its biggest shareholder and gaining a foothold in a country it said had significant growth prospects. Asked if the company would increase its stake further, De Puyfontaine told Corriere della Sera: “Time will tell, never say never.” All this will be good news for Italian consumers who are likely to get a much better service if Telecom Italia is better invested and under new management. |
| Huawei sells 50 million phones in 2015 Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:23 AM PDT
And that figure has been managed by ignoring the US market completely and concentrating on the Asian and European markets. Revenue during the same six month period came to approximately $6.9 billion US dollars. What is also amazing is that Huawei just rolled out its latest flagship device in April in a couple of Asian territories and this would not have affected the figures. The 5.2-inch P8 has not hit Europe yet although a 5 inch P8 lite version is available on Amazon at $250. The 6.8-inch P8 max, which Huawei says will cost $610 in China for a July release has not come out yet either. The Huawei P8 Max is powered by an octa-core Kirin 935 processor with four cores clocked at 2.2GHz and four more at 1.5GHz. The P8 Max comes with 3GB RAM and 64GB internal storage – there's no other storage options unlike the P8 which comes in Standard (16GB) and Premium (64GB) variants – while the microSD card can expand the storage by up to 64GB and doubles up as a secondary SIM card slot. The Honor 7, fast charging, Google blessed Nexus which Huawei is running next is also coming. Either way it is looking like Huawei is going to have a busy year with or without the US. [That’s enough about phones, Ed.] |
| Europeans are falling for Google’s lobbying charms Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:21 AM PDT
In a report analysing meetings held by European Commissioners and their staff with companies and organisations over the last six months, Transparency International found that officials held 29 meetings with the US search engine, which is the subject of two high-profile antitrust cases. Google said the high lobbying figure was because it wanted to do a better job of listening to Europe’s concerns and explaining how our business works in Europe. The only difference between the US and EU is that the new EU executive, which took office in November, has pushed for more transparency in its dealings with companies and organisations and has begun publishing details of meetings held by senior officials. The EU also tracks how much companies and organizations spend on lobbying activities, which is published in its Transparency Register. Google spent between $3.92-4.26 million in lobbying activities last year, according to the register. Transparency International’s report found that more than 75 percent of meetings were held with corporate lobbyists, compared with 18 percent with non-governmental organizations and four percent with think tanks. Daniel Freund, a policy officer at Transparency International, referring to the EU’s Transparency Register said that the evidence of the last six months suggests there is a strong link between the amount of money you spend and the number of meetings you get. Officials working in the fields of climate, energy, finance and digital policy got the most attention from lobbyists, Transparency International’s report said. |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2015 06:49 AM PDT
And that's causing the Chinese government to sponsor robot development in a 10 year plan called Made in China 2025. According to Taiwanese research company Trendforce, rising labour costs mean that it's not only China but Germany, Japan and the USA that are putting money into the development of "smart" robots. Germany is encouraging the development of factories making robots in a state of the art fabrication plant using the internet of things, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. There are already a number of "smart" robots which, are, however not yet quite smart enough. Softbank launched its Pepper robot last week and it sold out on the first day. And, said Trendforce, Japan is pushing the adoption of nursing care robots because of a shortage of humans wanting to do the jobs. Trendforce believes that "rapid advances" in artificial intelligence and cloud computing will speed the development of more clever robots in the future. |
| Wireless charging makes the grade Posted: 24 Jun 2015 06:40 AM PDT
So says market research company IHS, which surveyed people in the US, in the UK and in China recently. This year shipments of wireless power receivers in smartphones will be more than 120 million units, largely due to sales of Samsung's Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Of those units, 20 million will be wearable devices and in that sector Apple's iWatch will generate 70 percent of revenue. But even though 76 percent of the people surveyed had heard of wireless chring, only 20 percent of people use it, and 16 percent use it to charge their devices every day. Many people use mains charging and only use wireless charging occasionally. IHS said people wanted lower prices, the ability to charge more than one device on one charger, and improvements in speed. |
| Scientists create 3D graphene shapes Posted: 24 Jun 2015 06:39 AM PDT
But scientists at the University of Illinois said they've been able to form 3D shapes from those flat sheets. And that, they said, holds great promise for future graphene MEMS hybrid devices and for flexible electronics. SungWoo Nam, an assistant professor at Illinois, said a variety of structures can be created including pyramids, pillars, domes, and 3D integration of gold nanoparticles. "The flexibility and 3D nature of our structures will enable intimate biosensing devices which can be conformed to the shape and characteristics of human skin and other biological systems," said Nam. "We also expect that our new 3D integration approach will facilitate advanced classes of hybrid devices beween microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and 2D materials for sensing and actuation." |
| Indie musicians endorse Apple streaming Posted: 24 Jun 2015 06:37 AM PDT
According to the BBC, Merlin and Beggars Group have endorsed a new offer by Apple Music to pay for music under a three month free trial basis. Apple had originally said it wasn't going to pay musicians for using their music, causing an almighty stink. Merlin chief executive said that Apple had decided to pay for music on a per play basis and has modified a number of other terms and conditions. But just because the two umbrella groups have endorsed Apple's new offer, it doesn't mean that individual members or groups have to participate in the scheme. Merlin has more than 20,000 independent record labels under its wing. |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2015 06:35 AM PDT
IDC said the figures were 1.5 percent less than it previously forecast and it expects the decline to continue, at least in the short term. It now expects a year on year decline of 3.4 percent in shipments for the second quarter of this year, with a total of 120 million units shipping for the full year. LED backlight technology dominates the market, with a 98.5 percent share in the first quarter. And 21.5-inch screens have the biggest share in terms of size, for the tenth consecutive quarter. That size showed a 23.8 percent increase during the first quarter. Dell is the number one vendor for the quarter, with a 15.8 percent market share, amounting to over 4.6 million units. Samsung showed a big decline of 13.3 percent in the quarter, but nevertheless hung onto the number two position. Third was LG Display, and fourth was Lenovo, with a 9.1 percent share worldwide. |
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