CES 2018: Vuzix Wins 4 Innovations Awards for the Blade™ Augmented Reality Smart Glasses.

 Vuzix® Corporation , a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets, is pleased to announce that the Vuzix Blade™ was awarded four International CES Innovation 2018 awards. These awards are in the areas of Fitness, Sports and Biotech; Wireless Handset Accessories; Portable Media Players and Accessories as well as Computer Accessories.

The Vuzix Blade™ leverages our intellectual property patent portfolio and leadership position in the area of optics, head mounted displays and smart glasses, which allows Vuzix to bring to market the world's smallest and most sleek pair of AR smart glasses ever developed. The Blade weighs in at less than 2.8 oz. and is expected to ship in early 2018.  The Vuzix Blade™ represents the first pair of smart glasses that allows individuals to leave their phone in their pocket while presenting location aware content connected through the user's phone - among numerous other things.

Augmented Reality on smartphones is one of the most talked about concepts in 2017.  As cool and powerful as this concept is, the phone simply is an unnatural interface for allowing a good AR experience since the user must hold up and point their phone while looking at the phone's screen for the AR to work. 

The Vuzix Blade provides a natural view of the real world while allowing augmented reality content to be naturally overlaid on the view without holding onto anything or having to deal with the gyrations required for AR to work on a phone. The Vuzix Blade is a natural evolution for where augmented reality is going to be; and delivered in a form factor that people will not be afraid to wear. 

Users can experience overlaid and AR information such as mapping directions, restaurant menus, weather information, event happenings, stock information, video conferencing, sports updates, social network updates, health metrics…the list can go on and on! Truly revolutionary, Vuzix Blade is the perfect companion to your smartphone that provides hands-free access to all the critical alerts coming off your phone in a pair of glasses that you would actually enjoy wearing.

Vuzix created a short marketing awareness video for the media and potential customers that portrays just a few of its expected features around real-life situations.

"The anticipation around the Vuzix Blade™ has been very strong, and it's coming from all corners.  From our current development partners, to Fortune 500 companies, to wireless firms, to high fashion retailers and social media giants. Clearly there is robust demand for this kind of device and the Blade and Vuzix are leading the way," said Paul Travers, President and CEO of Vuzix.

About Vuzix Corporation

Vuzix is a leading supplier of Smart-Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets. The Company's products include personal display and wearable computing devices that offer users a portable high-quality viewing experience, provide solutions for mobility, wearable displays and virtual and augmented reality. Vuzix holds 59 patents and 42 additional patents pending and numerous IP licenses in the Video Eyewear field. The Company has won Consumer Electronics Show (or CES) awards for innovation for the years 2005 to 2018 and several wireless technology innovation awards among others. Founded in 1997, Vuzix is a public company (NASDAQ: VUZI) with offices in Rochester, NY, Oxford, UK and Tokyo, Japan.

LG launches its PJ9 magnetic levitation bluetooh speakers. Video.

LG Electronics introduces a Bluetooth speaker that lets you listen to music while floating in the air. 

■ Uses a magnetic field to float in the air and emit 360 degrees of sound quality. 

■ A luxurious matte white color applied to an elliptical shape of an aircraft turbine engine. 

■ Wireless charging, Convenience

□ In the air, when the battery discharges, it automatically  falls down to start wireless charging. 

º Waterproof grade IPX7 meets the environment and water can be used without worry. 

■ LG Electronics Korea HE marketing FD contact charge "Bluetooth speaker It will cause a blast in the market. "

LG Electronics released its LG Magnetic Permanent Speaker (Model: PJ9), sound emited at 360 degrees, and is now available to the public in South Korea.

It consists of an oval Bluetooth speaker and a cylindrical woofer station. A speaker grille was used to shape the aircraft turbine engine. The color is luxurious matte white color. The woofer station boosts the bass to help the loudspeaker produce a richer sound.

When the user presses the float button on the woofer station, the speaker slowly floats. This is a magnetic levitation technique using the properties of magnets pushing the same poles.

LG Electronics combined the technology of magnetic levitation with the design of LG alone to complete differentiated products. Self-injury technology is a known technology that can be used by anyone because the patent has expired.

When the battery discharges during operation, the speaker goes down to the woofer station and starts charging. The battery can be used for up to 10 hours once it is charged, and it is also suitable for outdoor use.

The upper speaker meets the waterproof rating IPX7. The IPX7 is rated at a depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. Users can enjoy music without worrying even in an environment where water splashes.

The shipment price of 'LG levitation speaker' is 369,000 won ($330), and it can be purchased at LG Electronics best shop and online shopping mall nationwide.

LG Electronics Korea HE marketing director of the FD handset, "eye-catching design will cause a blast in the Bluetooth speaker market," he said.

iPhone X arrives in South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and 10 more countries.

Apple today announced iPhone X, the future of the smartphone, featuring a revolutionary new design with a stunning all-screen display, wireless charging and an incredible rear camera with dual optical image stabilization, will arrive in 13 additional countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa as well as Macau on Friday, November 24.

iPhone X features a gorgeous all-glass and stainless steel design with a beautiful 5.8-inch Super Retina display, A11 Bionic chip with neural engine for powerful machine learning, augmented reality and immersive 3D gaming experiences, wireless charging and Face ID, delivering an innovative and secure new way to unlock, authenticate and pay. 

The TrueDepth camera that enables Face ID brings Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting to the front camera for beautiful selfies with a depth-of-field effect and enables Animoji, which captures and analyzes over 50 different facial muscle movements to bring emoji to life in a fun new way. 

A redesigned rear camera with dual optical image stabilization includes a new color filter, deeper pixels, an improved Apple-designed image signal processor and features Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting, allowing customers to capture stunning photos and videos. The all-glass front and back on iPhone X feature the most durable glass ever in a smartphone in two beautiful finishes, silver and space gray.

Pricing and Availability

iPhone X will be available in silver and space gray in 64GB and 256GB models starting at $999 (US) from apple.com, Apple Stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers and carriers (prices may vary).

iPhone X will be available to customers beginning Friday, November 24, in Albania, Bosnia, Cambodia, Kosovo, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey.

iPhone X will be available to customers in Israel beginning Thursday, November 23.

iPhone X is available in Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UAE, the UK, the US and US Virgin Islands.

Apple-designed accessories including leather and silicone cases in a range of colors will be available starting at $39 (US), while a new iPhone X Leather Folio will be available for $99 (US). Lightning Docks in color-matching metallic finishes will also be available for $49 (US), prices may vary. 

2018 iPad Pro 10.5 inch coming with iPhone X features.

Benjamin Geskin concept render

According to Bloomberg the 2018 model of the Apple`s iPad Pro 10.5 inch will arrive with Face ID, Animojis, no home button, faster processor (A11 Bionic chip with neural engine), a custom Apple graphics processing unit, True Depth camera and a new version of its Apple Pencil Stylus with new software tools.

The new model iPad Pro 2018 with no home button will allow to reduce the size of the edges at the top and the bottom.

All these information according to people familiar with the matter.

Not confirmed information are saying, the OLED display on the iPad Pro is not coming and will keep the LCD panel on them.

This iPad Pro redesigned unit will arrive in September instead of June 2018, probably.

Bloomberg

iPhone X 64GB and 256GB UNLOCKED

The iPhone X 64GB and 256GB Space Gray UNLOCKED are now available from re-sellers:

Apple iPhone X, Fully Unlocked 5.8", 64 GB - Space Gray

Apple iPhone X, Fully Unlocked 5.8", 256 GB - Space Gray

Intel Core 8th Generation processors ads.

Two ads of the Intel Core 8th Generation processors with some highlights:

Before related post :

Intel launches the 8th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor Family for Desktop. Available in October 5. Prices.

Intel first ARM chips coming by this year`s end.

Intel announced in 2016 a partnership with ARM to make ARM chips using their manufacturing proccess method.

These new chipsets are:

10nm 3.5GHz processor with 10 million transistors in (twice the density of comparable Samsung processor) and consumes only 0.25 mW/Mhz.

A 22nm FinFET ARM chip is also in the works and consumes 30% battery life than comparable 28nm devices.

Intel announced at ARM Tech Con 2017 the availability of them by the end of this year.

Intel will manufacture these chips for selling to OEM companies and is courting Apple for to take away Qualcomm from this business.

mspoweruser

Q3 2017: WorldWide Tablet market share: Apple 25.8%, Samsung 15%, Amazon 10.9%

Notes:

    Total tablet market includes slate tablets plus detachable tablets. References to "tablets" in this release include both slate tablets and detachable devices.

    "Convertibles" refers to convertible notebooks, which are notebook PCs that have keyboards that can either flip, spin, or twist, but unlike detachable tablets, convertible notebook keyboards are hardwired to the display.

    Data is preliminary and subject to change.

    Company shipments are branded device shipments and exclude OEM sales for all companies.

    The "Company" represents the current parent company (or holding company) for all brands owned and operated as subsidiary. 

The third quarter of 2017 (3Q17) closed with 40 million tablets shipped globally, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. Growing demand for smartphones combined with the lengthening replacement cycle of tablets and strengthening position of traditional PCs left the tablet market in an awkward middle ground that it has not been able to escape. Growth in 3Q17 declined 5.4% year over year, marking the twelfth consecutive quarter of annual decline.

"There's a penchant for low-cost slates and this holds true even for premium vendors like Apple," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. "However, many of these low-cost slates are simply long-awaited replacements for consumers as first-time buyers are becoming harder to find and the overall installed base for these devices declines further in the coming years."

Meanwhile, growth in the detachable tablet market has been slower than expected as Apple and Microsoft are essentially the only two vendors supplying the category and other PC vendors champion the convertible PC form factor.

"In a recent IDC survey, owners of both convertibles and detachables stated they were far more inclined to recommend a convertible to another shopper than a detachable," said Linn Huang, research director, Devices & Displays. "Market momentum has steadily shifted away from the latter towards the former over the course of this year. The 2017 holiday season may prove to be a critical crossroad for the detachables category."

Tablet Company Highlights:

Although Apple still enjoys a substantial premium over competitors, the lower-priced iPad has helped it to cement the first-place position. The latest version of iOS has helped make iPads a more serious PC competitor than ever before but the need for legacy apps (especially in the commercial segment) and strong value offerings from other PC and mobile vendors has prevented iPads from becoming the primary computing device for the masses.

Samsung offers one of the broadest range of detachable tablets that includes multiple screen sizes and operating systems yet detachable tablets account for less than 10% of its shipments in the quarter. These high-priced, halo devices have led to Samsung's premium image but the company still relies heavily on the lower cost Tab A and E series. This may create long-term issues as rival tablet vendors often offer products at a better value.

Amazon.com's aggressive hardware strategy in the tablet market has proven to be quite successful as the company managed to grow 38.7% on an annual basis. The low-cost hardware push has always been a means to create a long-standing and ongoing relationship with end users. To that extent, Amazon even offered the 7-inch tablet for under $30 during the Prime Day Sale.

Huawei and Lenovo managed to tie for fourth place as both companies have maintained a similar strategy of focusing on low-cost devices in Asia/Pacific and Western Europe. Huawei has managed to maintain some differentiation by concentrating on cellular-enabled tablets while Lenovo recently launched the Tab 4 lineup, which offers competitive specs and features at a great value. 

Q3 2017: Worldwide smartphone market share: Samsung 22.3%, Apple 12.5%, Huawei 10.5%, says IDC

According to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone OEMs shipped a total of 373.1 million smartphones worldwide in the third quarter of 2017 (3Q17). Third quarter volumes were up 2.7% year over year, and up 7.4% from the second quarter. Despite the annual growth being low, the fact that it is positive leading into the holiday quarter is a sign the industry still has momentum.

During the lead-in quarter to the holiday season all of the top 5 vendors experienced positive year-over-year growth, with Xiaomi growing the strongest by more than doubling its sales from this quarter a year ago. When all was said and done, the top 5 ranking did not change from the second quarter. Asia/Pacific, excluding China and Japan, performed the best by far. This market grew double digits, likely as a result of the continued slowdown in the China domestic market, which was close to flat year over year in 3Q17.

"As much of the focus has been on the wide range of high-profile flagship smartphones launched or announced in Q3, it is also important to look at what is happening with the rest of the industry," said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. "Collectively, the industry continues to grow, but at a much slower pace than past years. What is clear is that the 'Others' outside of the top 5 leading vendors continue to struggle and the industry leaders are quickly forming two camps. First, those able to drive significant volumes at the high end, which right now is basically Samsung, Apple, and Huawei, despite high-profile launches from Google, Essential, LG, and others. Second, a few other Chinese OEMs that are making tremendous headway outside of the China domestic market."

"With an overabundance of high-end flagships launching in the coming weeks, the fourth quarter will be extremely competitive as vendors will fight it out to win over holiday shoppers," said Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "Although these premium flagships will capture all the hype while driving up the average selling price in the quarter, we still believe a clear majority of shipments will come from more affordable models across many markets. IDC previously forecast the fourth quarter to grow at less than 1% year over year as initial supply constraints surrounding the iPhone X and higher than normal prices on many flagships could lead to consumers playing the waiting game until prices come down after the holidays or opt for a more affordable device."

Smartphone Company Highlights

Samsung once again remained the overall leader in the worldwide smartphone market with 83.3 million units shipped, up 9.5% from last year. Samsung's flagship devices continued to perform well in the quarter as the Korean giant introduced the new 6.3-inch Note8. Samsung's latest device has witnessed robust initial demand and looks to have officially put last year's Note 7 fiasco to rest. Despite the success of the three major flagship models (S8, S8+, and Note8) in the quarter, Samsung reported that overall revenue decreased within the mobile division quarter-on-quarter. The decrease was caused by a higher blend of more affordable models in the product mix as entry-level, and mid-range devices from the J-Series and A-series continued to drive most of the shipments in both emerging and developed markets.

Apple's newest iPhones helped drive third-quarter shipments of 46.7 million units, up 2.6% from the 45.5 million units last year. For the first time in its history, Apple launched three new devices at their fall event, as the new iPhone X joined the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus in the Apple line up. With the newly designed X just launching this quarter, demand for the new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models was timid compared to previous launches. Despite all this, the new 8 and 8 Plus brought wireless charging to the iPhone for the first time and a glass back that we have not seen since the iPhone 4S. Apple has also improved the camera, increased the memory, and added a new faster processor via the new A11 Bionic chip. Older iPhones such as the SE, 6S, and 7 all received price cuts late in the quarter which will balance the iPhone portfolio across all price tiers for the holiday quarter. The fourth quarter from Apple could be the first quarter with something for everyone as the new X will lead at the high-end and as older discounted models will offer something for everyone in between.

Huawei continues to gain momentum in the market as the Chinese giant shipped 39.1 million units, climbing a healthy 16.1% from last year. The current Mate 9 and P10 flagship models continued to drive volume at the high end while Huawei's Honor brand also found success with the more affordable 6X and mid-tier Honor 8. Much like Apple, all eyes will be on the new devices that launch next month. The new Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, and Porsche Design Mate 10 will bring premium bezel-less designs to the market along with built-in artificial intelligence from its new chip, the HiSilicon Kirin 970. These new models will challenge both Apple and Samsung at the top of the market regarding premium flagship offerings as well as in the race for overall worldwide market dominance.

OPPO grew shipments 19% year over year in 3Q17 with 30.7 million smartphones shipped in the quarter. The company remained the number 4 ranked smartphone vendor worldwide and its continued expansion outside of mainland China continues to be a success. Its widely seen marketing has proven effective, supported by its full suite of devices offered across low, mid, and (relatively) high-end. OPPO launched a couple of new models in India during the quarter, which is a market it continues to focus heavily on. It also started participating in the online festival sales along with expanding its exclusive stores. For China, the R11 (including the R11 Plus) was its most popular model that helped it to gain momentum in its home market.

Xiaomi remained in the number 5 ranking among worldwide smartphone vendors, but overall it had the strongest year-over-year growth. The company more than doubled its shipments from 13.6 million in 3Q16 to 27.6 million in 3Q17. The biggest catalyst for growth was success in the India market, heavily supported by mega online festival sales during the month of September. Discounts on most of the models along with the aggressive bank offers and easy financing options made Xiaomi's top models attractive for online purchase. In addition to its online growth, its continued expansion of its preferred partner program and MI store buildout helped Xiaomi to further cement its position in the offline space. 

Australia: First iPhone X owners.

At Apple store in George Street in Sidney , Australia you can see the first happy customers who got the new iPhone X at 8 a.m November 3, 2017 local time.

The iPhone X is arriving in stores around the world.

Apple

Halide 1.5 A camera app, outs the iPhone X notch.

The Halide 1.5 camera application for the iPhone X uses every pixel of the new edge-to-edge screen, including the upper corners. It means the upper notch with all those sensors will not show up for taking your pictures at all.

Halide 1.5 is a huge update which features a new camera UI, designed from scratch for iPhone X.

This new UI is designed to be usable with one hand. This completely unique design allows users to comfortably use the taller iPhone X without having to reach for features, yet ‘embraces’ the ‘ears’ on iPhone X by showing exposure values and a histogram in the corners of the screen. The viewfinder is also completely clear of any obstructions, letting photographers focus on their subject with perfect clarity. 

          Depth Mode 

Halide can now capture Depth in photos so users can apply effects like Portrait and Portrait Lighting to their photos later. 

HEIC Capture

Newer iPhones can capture photos in HEIC for higher quality captures with a smaller file size. 

Faster and more reliable RAW capture

We work with other app developers and Apple to ensure we have some of the fastest and best supported RAW capture out of any iPhone camera app.

You can download the Halide 1.5 app from Apple store

Halide Blog via slashgear