Important announcements
Apple’s AirPods made a sizable impact on the wireless headphone market
According to research from Slice Intelligence, wireless headphones accounted for 75% of all headphone sales online through the month of December. Since the AirPods launched last month, Apple has received more than a 25% share of all wireless headphone revenue in the market. In other words, AirPods have been significantly more popular than headphones from household brands such as Bose and Beats (which are also owned by Apple).
You can read more here.
New Google Assistant app will receive keyboard input and gesture shortcuts coming to Search
The current beta of Google Assistant contains a new keyboard icon, suggesting keyboard input as an upcoming feature. Another new feature headed to the Assistant is “Search gestures.” It will let users activate Google Search via gestures as an alternative to tapping the search bar.
More info are available here.
Prototypes of Razer triple screen gaming laptop stolen
Gaming company Razer is offering $25,000 reward for any information leading to the identification and arrest of a thief, after two of its prototypes went missing from its display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan said “Our teams worked months on end to conceptualize and develop these units and we pride ourselves in pushing the envelope to deliver the latest and greatest. We treat theft, and if relevant to this case, industrial espionage, very seriously”.
You can read more here.
Top new products
Lenovo P2
The Lenovo P2 comes with a 5,100mAh battery and a 14nm Snapdragon 625. It has a Super AMOLED display, 5.5 inches and 1080p resolution.
More info here.
Huawei Honor 6X
The phone comes with 5.5 inch display and dual-lens rear camera (12 megapixel and 2 megapixel). It has 3,340 mAh battery and a processor Kirin 655 octa-core. The company claims that the Honor 6X’s fingerprint sensor can unlock the smartphone in 0.3 seconds.
More info here.
Nintendo Switch will be launched on March 3
Nintendo Switch will play its games connected to a TV like a regular games console, or as a tablet-style handheld with its own controls. It has a 6.2-inch screen that can be propped up on its own kickstand, with detachable controllers that each act like their own miniature Wii Remote motion controllers.
More info here.
Top interesting info
LG will adapt machine learning into its after-sales service
LG will use machine learning, big data analytics, and other artificial intelligence technologies sequentially, starting in the first quarter of this year, to offer remote after sales services via its apps. Through machine learning data will be processed faster and LG will be able to offer services customized for the individual customer.
You can read more here.
Nokia might be working on virtual assistant called Viki
A new trademark application by Nokia suggests the company could be building a phone-based digital assistant. The EU trademark has the description: “Software for the creation and monitoring of mobile and web digital assistants working with knowledge and combining all data sources into a single chat and voice based interface”.
More info can be found here.
Google wants to make encryption easier for everyone
Google has announced the Key Transparency project to create a simple way to establish secure connections even through untrusted servers and to reliably scale to internet size. The move by Google has been initiated because most people have a hard time using encryption methods like PGP or even encrypted messaging apps because they require users to manually verify the recipients’ account.
You can read more here.
