What’s new
Ericsson launched a 5G design centre in the United States
The ASIC design centre in Austin, Texas will be used to develop and test core microelectronics with the aim of accelerating the path to 5G commercialisation. The Ericsson Austin Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) Design Center will provide jobs for around 80 designers by mid-2018, and encourage industry collaboration with nearby silicon-fabrication plants in Austin on designing solutions ahead of 5G commercialisation.
You can read more here.
Facebook launches Workplace Chat app for for Mac and PC
The app allows Workplace users to access Work Chat directly on their desktop and share files with another user. In addition, Facebook is building in support for screen sharing, which is rolling out both in app and on the web. “The desktop app is still in beta and being tested by Workplace customers who are providing feedback that we’ll use to improve the product before a wider rollout”, said Facebook spokesperson Vanessa Chan.
More info are available here.
New products
BlackBerry Motion
The phone will have 4GB of RAM, a 4000 mAh battery, and a Snapdragon 625 or 626 processor. It’s designed by and manufactured by the Chinese company TCL and will will come with an IP67 certification.
More info here.
Huawei Honor 9i
The Honor 9i has a 5.9-inch FHD+ display, Kirin 659 processor and 4GB of RAM. It has dual camera on the back with 16MP + 2MP sensors and dual camera on the front with 13MP +2MP sensors.
More info here.
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Apple Music is now available as a bot on Facebook Messenger
The announcement follows the integration of Spotify a couple of months ago, which offers the ability to create group playlists with help from AI. The extension can be accessed by tapping on the “+” icon next to the text bar to add Apple Music to a conversation. There’s also an option to interact directly with the Apple Music chat bot to ask for music recommendations.
You can read more here.
Google removed Android Wear from its official store
Google removed the Android Wear store page from the Google Store. Prior to the removal of this section, Google was selling a pair of LG watches, the Watch Sport and the Watch Style. These were the launch devices for Android Wear 2.0 in early 2017. Hoi Lam who works on Android Wear said on Twitter that the reason why the change took place is due to the Google Store now only stocking “Google made hardware”.
More info can be found here.
Fun stuff
A robotic cat pillow reacts to strokes and wags its tail
A Japanese company called Yukai Engineering has just unveiled a new product called “Qoobo,” a headless, legless robotic cat pillow that responds to touch and wags its tail. The demo video refers to the item as a “cushion-tailed therapy robot” and “a communication tool that doesn’t require words”. Qoobo is expected to cost around $100 when it launches in June 2018.
You can read more here.
