Tag Archives: Technology

Meta To Add Display To Ray-Bans As Race Over Smart Glasses Intensifies

Meta

Meta plans to add displays to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as next year, as the US tech giant accelerates its plans to build lightweight headsets that can usurp the smartphone as consumers’ main computing device, Financial Times reported.

The $1.5tn social media group is planning to add a screen inside the $300 sunglasses it makes and sells in partnership with eyesore group EssilorLuxottica, according to people familiar with the plans.

The updated Ray-Bans could be released as early as the second half of 2025, the people said. The small display would be likely used to show notifications or responses from Meta’s virtual assistant.

The move comes as Meta pushes further into wearable devices and what chief executive Mark Zuckerberg hopes will be the next computing platform, as rivals such as Apple, Google, and Snap also race to develop their own similar products.

In September, Meta unveiled its augmented-reality glasses prototype Orion. According to people familiar with the matter, the company has accelerated Orion’s development following the enthusiastic response of early testers.

These people said Meta has brought forward plans to turn the device into a consumer product, though any release is still likely to be years away.

Engadget reported: It looks like Meta is preparing to add displays to its popular line of Ray-Ban smart glasses. These screens could show up in a future iteration of the device as early as next year. The likely release window is the second half of 2025.

According to folks familiar with Meta’s plans, the screens will be on the smaller side and will likely be used to display notifications or responses from Meta’s AI virtual assistant. It’s highly unlikely that the company is planning on making this a full mixed-reality device just yet.

For that, Meta has the recently-unveiled Orion AR glasses, which are still several years out. The same report indicates that the positive response to the Orion glasses has likely accelerated development and possibly ensured a commercial release. It was uncertain if those glasses would remain an in-house prototype.

9To5Mac reported: Ray-Ban Meta have been the most successful smart glasses to date, offering an appealing mix of features in a form factor which is visually indistinguishable from normal sunglasses.

So far, all of the AI functionality, notifications, and messaging features have relied on the glasses reading things to you through integrated speakers, but a new report says a future model will get a display, and that it could launch as early as next year.

Meta showed off an early prototype of its Orion AR glasses back in the summer. While they are undeniably clunky, and reputedly have a manufacturing cost of $10,000, they did provide a persuasive look at what we can one day expect in something that looks and feels more like the company’s existing smart glasses.

In my opinion, people who want to use Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses will have to wait for a while before they can purchase them.

Albania Bans TikTok For A Year After Killing Of Teenager

TikTok

Albania on Saturday announced a one-year ban on TikTok, the popular short video app, following the killing of a teenager last month that raised fears over the influence of social media on children, Reuters reported.

The ban, part of a broader plan to make schools safer, will come into effect early next year, Prime Minister Edi Rama said after meeting with parents’ groups and teachers from across the country.

“For one year, we’ll be completing shutting it down for everyone. There will be no TikTok in Albania.,” Rama said. 

Several European countries including France, Germany, and Belgium have enforced restrictions on social media use for children. In one of the world’s toughest regulations targeting Big Tech, Australia approved in November a complete social media ban for children under 16.

Rama has blamed social media, and TikTok in particular, for fueling violence among youth in and outside school.

His government’s decision come after a 14-year-old schoolboy was stabbed to death in November by a fellow pupil. Local media had reported that the incident followed arguments between the two boys on social media. Videos had also amerced on TikTok of minors supporting the killing.

The Hill reported: Albania’s prime minister said the country will be banning TikTok for one year, citing violence and bullying among children after a teenager died.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said the app would be “fully closed for all,” and there will “be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania,” The shutdown will begin sometime in 2025.

The Hill has reached out for comment, but in a statement to the AP, the company said it was asking for “urgent clarity from the Albanian government” about the case involving an Albanian teenager.

A 14-year-old teenager was stabbed to death in November by a fellow schoolmate. Local media reported the incident happened after arguments on social media and other videos emerged supporting the murder.

The banning is part of a larger effort to make schools safer. Authorities have held more than 1,000 meetings with teachers and parents since the death.

BBC reported: Albania’s prime minister has announced the government intends to block access to TikTok for one year after the killing of a schoolboy last month raised fears about the influence of social media on children.

Speaking on Saturday Edi Rama declared the proposed ban would start in January.

TikTok said it is seeking urgent clarifications from the Albanian government about the proposed ban.

The social media platform told the BBC it had found no evidence the person who had allegedly stabbed the 14-year-old boy, or the victim himself, had TikTok accounts.

During a meeting in Albania’s capital Tirana with teachers, parents and psychologists Rama branded TikTok as “the thug of the neighborhood.”

In my opinion, I think that this violent incident is scary, especially for parents who don’t want TikTok to cause their teens harm.

NYSE will Not Delist Three Chinese Telecoms After All

Technology,

Recently, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced that it would comply with Executive Order 13959 and delist China Mobile Communications, China Telecommunications Corp, and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. Since then, NYSE has decided not to delist them.

On January 4, 2021, NYSE posted news titled: “NYSE Updates Guidance on Delisting Determination for Security of Three Issuers in Relation to Executive Order 13959”. From the news:

In light of further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities in connection with Office of Foreign Assets Control FAQ 857, available here, the New York Stock Exchange LLC (“NYSE”) announced today that NYSE Regulation no longer intends to move forward with the delisting action in relation to three issuers enumerated below (the “Issuers”) which was announced on December 31, 2020.

At this time, the Issuers will continue to be listed and traded on NYSE. NYSE Regulation will continue to evaluate the applicability of Executive Order 13959 to these Issuers and their continued listing status.

The three issuers are: China Telecom Corporation Limited, China Mobile Ltd., and China Unicorn (Hong Kong) Limited. To me, it sounds like these stocks can still be bought and sold on the New York Stock Exchange. What changed?

Reuters reported that China will take “necessary measures” to safeguard the interest of its companies after NYSE began delisting three Chinese telecom firms. It also called on the United States to meet China half-way and put bilateral trade relations back on track. To me, it appears that China is hoping that president-elect Biden will have a different relationship with China than President Trump did.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on January 3, 2021, that the executive order was for political purposes and “entirely ignored the actual situations of relevant companies and the legitimate rights of the global investors, and severely damaged market rule and order.”

NYSE to Delist China’s Major Telecom Operators

Technology,

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stated that it would comply with Executive Order 13959 and delist the following securities: China Mobile Comunications (CHL), China Telecommunications Corp (CHA) and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (CHU).

Executive Order 13959 was signed by President Trump on November 12, 2020. According to The Wall Street Journal, the executive order will block Americans from investing in a list of companies the U.S. government says supply and support China’s military, intelligence and security services. The ban starts on January 11, and investors have until November to divest themselves of their holdings.

There are 35 companies on the list – including China’s largest chip maker – as well as surveillance, aerospace, shipbuilding, construction and technology companies, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Guardian reported that China Mobile Communications, China Telecommunications Corp, and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited have the right to request a review of the NYSE’s decision. The Guardian also pointed out: All three firms are listed in the US and Hong Kong, and mostly earn their revenue by providing voice and data services in China. They all have little presence in the U.S.

The delisting of these companies by The New York Stock Exchange is a small part of a series restrictions that appear to be designed to stifle China’s ability to make money from U.S. technology. The various orders either cut off the access of of U.S. technology to several Chinese companies, or by requiring U.S. companies to obtain a license before selling technology to Huawei.

My understanding of this is that the delisting of certain Chinese companies from NYSE might cause them to lose some money. But, if The Guardian is right, the companies don’t make as much money in the United States as they make in China. I’m not entirely certain that the delisting will have much of an impact on those companies ability to thrive outside of the United States.

Touch Technology at 2016 CES

ces, Interview, , ,

AmtelPatrick Hanley, Marketing Manager at Touch Technology demonstrates their new oem touch screen controllers.

Patrick demonstrates a new force touch or three dimensional touch screen device mock-up, where increased pressure causes different reactions on the screen, such as a heavier line in a drawing.

Become a GNC Insider today!

Support my CES 2024 Sponsor:
$11.99 – For a New Domain Name cjcfs3geek
$6.99 a month Economy Hosting (Free domain, professional email, and SSL certificate for the 1st year.) Promo Code: cjcgeek1h
$12.99 a month Managed WordPress Hosting (Free domain, professional email, and SSL certificate for the 1st year.) Promo Code: cjcgeek1w
Support the show by becoming a Geek News Central Insider

 

Podcast (specmedia): Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

The Future of the Smartphone, a Pocket Appliance

mobile, smartphone, , ,

Apple MicrowaveThere’s an article that has been making the rounds the past couple of days or so stating that the smartphone will be a dead product category within five years. The premise of the article seems to be based on a consumer “study” that consists of interviewing a bunch of consumers and what is on their personal technological wish lists.

The smartphone as we know it isn’t going away any time soon. As an ultimate and matured convergence device, the vital functions smartphones are now being used for cannot and will not be replaced by some vague “machine learning” unspecified magic technology that will somehow suddenly appear and take over. At risk of being a stick in the mud, the real world doesn’t work that way. Forms can change, but basic needs that those forms fulfill remain stable.

For one small personal example, I frequently have to send business documents to my company. Back in the old days, this involved putting paperwork into pre-addressed, pre-paid postage company envelopes and dropping them into a mailbox, ultimately hoping they did not get lost in the mail. Later on, it evolved into companies that would overnight the paperwork back to the office. The next step in the evolution involved scanners hooked to computers with data connections. The final step in this evolution involves smartphones. I simply use a special dedicated smartphone app that takes a picture of each document, automatically corrects for the inevitable skewed image distortions, and turns the document photo into a black and white image that you would swear was scanned in a traditional scanner hooked to a computer. It packages these documents together, asks for a bit of additional identifying numbers, and then instantly sends the documents off to the company. I get an instant email receipt notification on the same smartphone letting me know the documents were successfully delivered to my company. This sort of functionality cannot and will not be replaced by some sort of pie-in-the-sky neural interface or voice-activated clothing. Let’s get real.

I recently purchased a new kitchen range that cost about the same amount as a high-end smartphone. Kitchen ranges have been around forever. They have had multiple doses of technology applied to their functions in an attempt to reinvent and reinvigorate the product category. Even with this injection of microprocessor technology, kitchen ranges are still appliances. Millions of people have to buy them, and they come in a wide variety of forms, from the low end to the high end, as fashionable and as expensive as you want. But they are still appliances. When was the last time you got excited by your microwave oven? Thought so.

Smartphones are rapidly in the process of turning into pocket appliances. They are extremely useful, and almost everyone you see has one and is constantly interacting with it. Nonetheless, it is turning into just an appliance.

Home appliances have varying lifespans that can kick out to 20 or 30 years depending on the quality of the item. As a pocket appliance, smartphones are under a lot more physical stress and need to be replaced much more frequently than refrigerators, cook stoves and washing machines.

It turns out that always having a high-quality internet-connected camera/computer in one’s pocket is incredibly useful. “Machine learning” isn’t going to replace that camera, nor will it replace the constant necessity to look up people, places and things and interact directly with them in real time during the day.

Five years from now, smartphones will still be around in very much the same forms they are today. It is likely we will be on average be keeping them longer. No longer a novelty, they are just a necessary appliance that will require periodic replacement.

Time to get those clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer.

Drones that Deliver Beer

Technology, ,

bigstock-Beverage-Series-Beer-110434The Oppikoppi Festival has been taking place in South Africa every year since 1995. It is a big music festival. For this year, the 19th year of the festival, they are going to be trying something new to help distribute beer to the people who attend.

According to HypeBot the festival will make use of small drones that will deliver beer directly to the person who ordered it. He or she won’t have to walk away from the music, and stand in a long line, in order to purchase a beer.

Instead, a small, 8-propeller helicopter drone, that has been loaded with beer, will fly over the festival and locate the person who ordered a beer. The drone will then drop a single beer, which has been attached to a small parachute. Use your smartphone to order the beer, and stay put. The beer will come to you!

This year, the Oppikoppi festival planners are intending to have people hand guide the drones. In other words, the drones won’t be functioning without a human guiding them along behind the scenes. If things work out well, there is potential that other large, outdoor, music festivals may decide to use some beer delivery drones.

Image by Stock Photo Beverage Series Beer by BigStock