Samsung Electronics plans to debut a smartphone, codenamed “Winner,” with a foldable screen early next year, according to sources. The screen measures about 7 inches diagonally and can be folded in half, similar to a wallet. In the folded position, the exterior has cameras on one side and a small display bar on the other. Unfolded, the phone will be almost entirely screen. Samsung’s phone could help spark a comeback in the smartphone market, where sales have dipped 0.3 percent in 2017, the first in the industry’s history, notes IDC. Continue reading Samsung Reportedly Plans to Debut Foldable Phone in 2019

Google engineers are working on Fuchsia, a project to create software that would replace Android. The new software is designed from the ground up to offer improved voice interactions, frequent security updates and “look the same” across multiple devices from laptops to IoT sensors. The move is in line with chief executive Sundar Pichai’s stated goal of integrating artificial intelligence with consumer products. Google first started posting Fuchsia code in 2016, and allowed some app developers to try out open source code. Continue reading Google Quietly Working on Fuchsia as Successor to Android

To help its Amazon Web Services customers keep their data secure, the AWS Automated Reasoning Group is beta-testing two new tools, Zelkova and Tiros, which analyze security configurations, provide automated feedback on various set-ups and help administrators avoid mistakes that could endanger their data. Tiros focuses on checking for “unexpected access from the open Internet,” and Zelkova aids developers in understanding how permissive their setups are compared to existing infrastructure. Continue reading Amazon Web Services Testing Two ‘Provable’ Security Tools

In the wake of posts that have incited violence in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and India, Facebook has tweaked its fake news policy and agreed to remove posts that could lead to physical harm. In the incidents that sparked this change, rumors spread on Facebook led to physical attacks on ethnic minorities. The attacks have involved the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Muslims in Sri Lanka, and other attacks in India and Mexico. Changes do not apply to Instagram or WhatsApp, despite the latter’s involvement in incidents in India. Continue reading Facebook Combats Fake News After Hoaxes End in Violence

Adobe Systems, now focused on a strategy to make its popular software compatible across multiple devices, plans to introduce a full version of its popular Photoshop app for Apple’s iPad, said sources. The app, which will likely be introduced at the company’s October creative conference, is also intended to drive new subscriptions. The new Adobe app for iPad will be released widely in 2019, although engineering could still change the dates. Adobe switched its business model to a software subscription model in 2012. Continue reading Adobe Updates Creative Cloud with Photoshop App for iPad

Streaming video giant Netflix is making a move into satellite radio by launching a commercial-free comedy channel with satellite-radio broadcaster SiriusXM. The two are partnering on a new radio channel dubbed “Netflix Is a Joke Radio” that will draw content from Netflix’s growing library of comedy programs. Netflix also plans to produce original content. The channel will serve as a promotional tool for Netflix’s stand-up specials and ideally drive some of SiriusXM’s 33 million subscribers to the streaming video service. The channel is expected to launch in January 2019. Continue reading Netflix Teams With SiriusXM on New Comedy Radio Channel

Thousands of film and TV titles from every decade require restoration, but the money isn’t there to fund much of it, and current restoration jobs are more likely to take place in China or Poland than Los Angeles. That was revealed at an event co-produced by SMPTE and the Visual Effects Society (VES) at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater. Restoration executives and practitioners from the major studios gathered to discuss the technological, artistic and business challenges of bringing classic film and TV titles back to life. Continue reading Film/TV Restoration Costs Lead to Outsourcing, Say Experts

Social media platforms such as Google and Facebook are exempt from liability for user-posted content, a protection that top Republican legislators want to end. House Judiciary Committee chair Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia) quizzed Twitter representatives about the exemption, asking why they should be “treated differently than,” for example, a hotel that faces limited responsibility for illegal actions on its property. Goodlatte is one lawmaker who also looked at the purported silencing of conservative points of view on the platforms. Continue reading Congress Scrutinizes Social Media Liability for User Content

To strengthen its AI Research division (FAIR) and focus on robotics, Facebook is adding five highly regarded computer scientists to its Menlo Park, California headquarters, as well as facilities in Pittsburgh, Seattle and London. The new hires include Carnegie Mellon University professors Jessica Hodgins and Abhinav Gupta, who will head a lab focusing on robotics, a newer area for Facebook. University of Washington’s Luke Zettlemoyer, an expert on natural language processing (NLP), will join the Seattle AI research team. Continue reading Facebook Explores Robotics and NLP, Opens More AI Labs

Amazon Prime Day — extended to a 36-hour period this time around — broke a number of online shopping records. According to Amazon, this week’s sale was the biggest shopping event in the company’s history, defeating Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and last year’s 30-hour Prime Day. While Amazon does not release specific sales figures, it noted that Prime members around the globe purchased more than 100 million products, while small and medium-sized businesses exceeded $1 billion in sales. In addition, Adobe Analytics reported that large retailers (those with more than a billion dollars in yearly revenue) experienced a 54 percent jump in sales as compared with an average Tuesday. Continue reading Prime Day Breaks Records, Boosts Sales for Large Retailers

Google has been fined a record $5.06 billion by the European Union for antitrust violations. The tech giant is accused of abusing the market dominance of its Internet search services and Android mobile operating system. The record fine underlines how European regulators are pushing for more control in today’s digital economy. Google has 90 days to comply and pay the EU fine, or face penalties of up to 5 percent of parent company Alphabet’s daily worldwide revenues (Alphabet earned more than $9 billion in profit for Q1; Google’s net profit for 2017 was $12.62 billion). Google already announced it plans to appeal the ruling; the case could potentially last years. Continue reading Google Fined $5 Billion by European Union in Antitrust Case

In Q2 2018, Netflix reported lower subscriber growth numbers than Wall Street predicted, causing its stock to fall 14 percent in after-hours trading. The company added 670,000 subscribers domestically and 4.47 million internationally, which significantly missed predictions of 1.23 million in the U.S. and 5.11 million international. The streaming content company also made predictions on its Q3 growth below the forecasts of analysts. Company executives said they did not know why subscriber growth was less than expected. Continue reading Netflix Q2 Subscriber Dip Likely Just a Blip in Overall Picture

Instagram is threatening to overshadow its parent company Facebook. The platform now has 1 billion users, more than Facebook had when it bought Instagram for $715 million, and, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, is worth more than $100 billion. Most critically, Instagram appeals to a younger demographic, which Facebook needs to keep growing. Other Facebook users are also gravitating to Instagram’s more lighthearted photo and video app, in the wake of Facebook’s involvement in privacy and political scandals. Continue reading Facebook Strategizes Ways to Draft Off Instagram’s Growth

Tech companies rely on artificial intelligence algorithms to recommend content, thus keeping users on their apps and platforms. While the benefit of that is obvious for the companies using AI, how the consumer might reap rewards is less clear. Some of those same companies are now asking themselves if they can both use AI to keep the consumer’s attention while also adhering to an ethical framework. IBM Research and MIT Media Lab have developed a recommendation technique that its research scientists say does just that. Continue reading IBM and MIT Media Lab Test AI Recommendation Algorithm

Microsoft is calling for regulation of facial recognition technology, with president Bradford Smith writing a blog post detailing its potential misuse, and comparing it to medicine and cars, both of which are highly regulated. He urged Congress to act, saying that, “government needs to play an important role in regulating facial recognition technology,” and that, “a world with vigorous regulation of products that are useful but potentially troubling is better than a world devoid of legal standards.” Continue reading Microsoft Calls On Congress to Regulate Facial Recognition