The company said in an announcement on Monday that ''in-cell touch'' technology used for premium smartphones was applied for the first time to large displays through cooperation with LG Display, a vital flat panel producer in South Korea. The price was not given.

 

In-cell touch technology enhances the speed of response and touch by incorporating touch sensors into LCD liquid crystal cells and matching actual touchpoints with areas where sensors react. Former touch technology of large displays had the issue of having air-gaps between liquid crystal cells and touch sensors.

 

LG said the new product has a thin display and a screen border of 29 millimeters, allowing users to implement a harmonious design with their surroundings. It's furnished with LG's software so that it can utilize a wide array of smart functions.

 

The new product's screen-sharing feature enables users to wirelessly connect with various devices including laptop PCs and smartphones, LG said, adding users can meet in a remote conference room while watching the same screen in real time.

 

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The army officer-turned-billionaire reiterated an offer Thursday to license out Huawei’s full portfolio of 5G wireless technology - which would come with chip designs, hardware and source code - to a single, exclusive licensee. That must be a U.S. company because Europe is home to close competitors like Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB and doesn’t need help to compete, he added.

 

Huawei, accused by Donald Trump’s administration of assisting Beijing in spying while spearheading China’s tech-superpower ambitions, is trying to claw back business and strengthen trust in its products. Ren reaffirmed an early on estimate that U.S. sanctions could lower the company’s sales by $10 billion annually. His lieutenants have lately echoed his 5G licensing proposal to reassure foreign customers Huawei’s gear is free of security loopholes. But a willing buyer has yet to emerge.

 

“We would like to offer an exclusive license to one company from the West so that it’s able to achieve economies of scale to support a business,” Ren said in a live-streamed discussion with visiting foreign academics. “With this one company, I think it should be a U.S. company.”

 

Critics charge that intellectual property theft from the likes of Cisco Systems Inc. and Motorola Solutions Inc. helped to Huawei vault into the upper echelons of telecommunications providers, while Ren and his executives credit years of investment and research. The wireless giant is now augmenting investing on artificial intelligence chips and mobile software. It is mobilizing its employees to source or develop other possibilities to American circuitry and software to keep its edge in smartphones and next-generation 5G wireless technology.

 

Huawei is on track to bring forth 600,000 base stations this year and 1.5 million of those the next. The company can make it work well without American components but it would prefer buying from U.S. suppliers, Ren said.

 

The billionaire has gone from recluse to media maven in the span of months as he fights to save the $100-billion company he started. The 74-year-old billionaire has taken the lead in Huawei’s defense after the arrest of eldest daughter and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou with regard to a much wider probe into the company. He's since become a central figure in a U.S.-Chinese conflict that is potentially the most important episode to shape world affairs since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 

“As time goes by, trust levels will increase,” he said during a discussion with Stanford lecturer Jerry Kaplan and fellow academic Peter Cochrane. “If we’re talking about a tech decoupling or separate governance, I don’t think it’s possible.”

 

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The latest version of UR’s e-Series cobots has a payload capability of 16 kg (35 lb), the ultimate payload the company has produced to date. It is making its North American debut at PACK EXPO Las Vegas this week, in addition to an application demo.

 

“The 3, 5, and 10 [kg] payload products were seriously product-driven, i.e., as a first market entrant, we kind of pushed the product into the market; we saw this requirement out there,” says Jürgen von Hollen, UR’s president. “What’s different about the 16e is the fact that we actually did a lot of communication with customers and end users to understand what was their true requirement, what were their specifications, what were they missing.”

 

There's always a battle between reach and payload, von Hollen says, but customers made it very clear that the payload was what they needed. “We found out that payload was the real driver for many, many customers because it turned out to be one of the barriers to opening up the market for collaborative,” he says. Actually, some customers commented that they were looking at the 10 kg product not because of its long 1,300 mm reach but because of its payload, he adds.

 

Starting up its innovation from an application perspective, UR specialised on the optimal payload to open up new markets. Along with the higher payload, the UR16e has a reach of 900 mm and pose repeatability of±0.05 mm, making it well suited for four major markets: packaging and palletizing, heavy machine tending, screw and nut driving, and heavy material handling.

 

“Those four markets alone have a potential to deliver a billion dollars in revenue,” von Hollen says. “They’re sizeable markets, all of them growing, in some instances expected to grow at over 50%.”

 

The release of the UR16e considerably grows the versatility of UR’s product portfolio, von Hollen notes, giving manufacturers more flexibility. “At the larger customer base, they were looking at UR and saying, ‘Look, if you don’t have a broader portfolio, you’re missing things that you could be doing in our factories, in our production environment,’” von Hollen says. “So having a full product portfolio really makes it very comfortable for large customers to say, ‘OK, we know with one supplier we can cover all our requirements from a collaborative perspective.’”

 

For certain customers — specifically in high-density areas like Singapore — space is a major consideration for opting for a cobot like the UR16e that can handle a heavier weight payload vs. traditional robots or automated machinery, von Hollen says. “In other areas, it is labor. And that’s becoming more and more what we see as being the biggest bottleneck or pain point for many customers is the fact that they just can’t find labor,” he says. “I think we’re just at the beginning of this phase of labor shortage. And it’s not just in the Western world. It’s everywhere, whether you go to Mexico, to China, to India. It’s always one of the major factors is labor.”

 

Just like the other cobots in the e-Series, the UR16e includes built-in force sensing; 17 configurable safety functions, including customizable stopping time and stopping distance; and an intuitive programming flow. Like all of UR’s cobots, the UR16e can be unpacked, mounted and programmed to work a task in less than an hour. The UR16e meets the most demanding compliance regulations and safety standards for unobstructed human-robot collaboration, including EN ISO 13849-1, PLd, Category 3, and full EN ISO 10218-1.

 

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Mi 9 Pro 5G is powered by Qualcomm's latest flagship processor Snapdragon 855 Plus, and supports 30W fast wireless charging and 40W fast wired charging that completes a 100-percent charge within just 48 minutes. Tuesday also saw the roll-out of the latest product of the company's futuristic Mi MIX series. Mi MIX Alpha includes a pioneering 108-megapixel camera and an innovative surround screen with a screen-to-body ratio of more than 180.6 percent. The front, side, and back of the phone are almost wholly display.

 

Both smartphones can support 5G bands of the country's three major carriers. Xiaomi is at the present time the world's fourth-largest smartphone brand, with over 60 million smartphones shipped in the first half of this year. Smartphone makers including ZTE, Huawei and Samsung have rolled out 5G handsets in China after the government greenlighted 5G commercial use in June.

 

China's smartphone shipments crumbled 4 percent from a year ago in the first eight months of this year to 240 million units, including 291,000 5G handsets, while nine 5G handsets were released during this period, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

 

China is forecasted to remain the largest 5G smartphone market, with 5G phone sales potentially hitting 80 million in 2020, according to a report by market intelligence firm Strategy Analytics.

 

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It was a good thought, the problem, however, was that it was very difficult to keep track of the performance of the machine and tie it into a real-time payment process. But then Senske found start-up company Steamchain Inc., which has an automated business process engine that utilizes the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain to retrieve the data from industrial machines and use it to execute financial transactions. Blockchain, widely associated with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is a secure and immutable digital ledger that logs machine output and calculates transactional payments.

 

The technology has worked really well that at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, Pearson (booth C-3106) will officially announce this new purchasing method, known as machine-as-a-service (MaaS). MaaS will allow manufacturers to use Pearson case erectors, sealers and compact palletizers with regard to their operation, but without the upfront equipment investment. As a replacement, Pearson retains ownership of the machines while customers pay for output.

 

Senske says MaaS is a good choice for companies who prefer to pay for automation gradually, or who have an immediate need for end-of-line machinery, but do not have approved funding. By excluding the upfront expense of machinery, manufacturers can devote their resources to other projects that improve operations or differentiate their businesses, such as new product development, he says.

 

Pearson will ship MaaS equipment to customer facilities, offer installation and start-up support, and train operation and maintenance personnel as part of the package. Machine users pay an established price per case, with the option to purchase the machines outright at any point during the contract term if their circumstances change.

 

MaaS customers can access data beyond basic case counts, such as information with regards to fault types and counts, and uptime and downtime durations. This data is useful in identifying month-over-month trends, proactively spotting potential issues before unexpected downtime occurs, or highlighting the need for further operator training. On top of that, troubleshooting efforts will be facilitated and response times can be implemented more swiftly with MaaS as automatic notifications are sent to Pearson’s service department, alerting them when excess faults, network outages, or other performance issues occur.

 

“This is by no means the perfect option for every manufacturer,” Senske says, “but customers have told us time and time again about the challenges they face obtaining funding for automation projects, and this offering was specifically designed to give those customers more flexibility in regards to financing.”

 

The company chose to release the MaaS offering at PACK EXPO as it is one of the largest shows in the industry. “People come to this event looking for what’s new,” says Pearson product manager Tim Hill. “Pearson has always differentiated itself from the competition by thinking outside the box and taking risks, and we’ll continue to do that to ensure our offerings meet the needs of our customers.”

 

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The Intelligent Wearables implementation at the Braskem Idesa plant consists of Honeywell hardware, software, and service integration; Wi-Fi infrastructure throughout the plant; and access to tracking of key performance indicators. These capacities provide Braskem Idesa the possibility to increase better operational performance and tie its plant performance directly to employee performance.

 

“Capturing all the relevant expertise and data within the organization and getting it to workers wherever and whenever needed will help get trainees safely into the field faster and ensure that every worker operates to Braskem Idesa’s best standards,” said Roberto Velasco Gutiérrez, industrial director at Braskem Idesa.

 

Some of the  Intelligent Wearables features used by Braskem Idesa include:

- Expert on Call—live access to experts in the central control room or elsewhere for troubleshooting, support, and advice;

- Video support—users can view videos demonstrating key tasks; and

- Paperless rounds—step-by-step instructions for common and complex tasks.

 

Honeywell mentioned that use of Intelligent Wearables should cut down on Braskem Idesa's need for on-site visits and give workers the opportunity to receive experiential learning that they can then share with their peers.

 

“Braskem Idesa has not only taken an important step toward Industry 4.0, but has now also replaced paper-based and manual operations with a sophisticated solution that’s both digital and wireless,” said Vincent Higgins, director of technology and innovation, Honeywell Connected Enterprise, Industrial.

 

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Also known as Hanguang 800, the company’s first self-developed AI chip is now being used within Alibaba to power product search, automatic translation, and personalized recommendations on the e-commerce giant’s web sites.

 

“The launch of Hanguang 800 is an important step in our pursuit of next-generation technologies, boosting computing capabilities that will drive both our current and emerging businesses while improving energy-efficiency,” Alibaba CTO Jeff Zhang said in a statement.

 

Alibaba has no instantaneous plans to sell the chip as a standalone commercial product, a company spokeswoman said. Overseas tech giants like for example Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc are likewise developing their own custom chips, targeting to improve the performance of specialized AI tasks at company-operated data centers.

 

The chip was developed by DAMO Academy, a research institute Alibaba established in late 2017, and T-Head, the company’s specialised semiconductor division.

 

TRONSERVE

 

According to a freshly released study funded by Microsoft, roughly 33 percent of companies utilizing the Internet of Things are using it for tracking their stuff. Quality location data is important for more than tracking misplaced tools; it is also necessary for robotics in manufacturing and in autonomous vehicles, so they can spot nearby humans and avoid them.

 

The escalating interest in locating things is indicated in updated wireless standards. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group estimates that with the updated 5.1 standard, the wireless technology can now locate devices to within a few inches. Elsewhere, Texas Instruments has built a radar chip using 60-gigahertz signals that can help robots “see” where things are in a factory by bouncing radio waves off its surroundings.

 

In August, NXP, Bosch, Samsung, and access company Assa Abloy launched the FiRa Consortium to deal with location tracking using ultrawideband radios (FiRa stands for “fine-ranging”). This is not the ultrawideband of almost 20 years ago, which offered superfast wireless data transfers over short distances much like Wi-Fi does today. FiRa uses a wide band of spectrum in the 6- to 9-GHz range and relies on the new IEEE 802.15.4z standard. The base standard is utilized for other IoT network technologies, including Zigbee, Wi-SUN, 6LoWPAN, and Thread radios, but the z formulation is designed specifically for securely ascertaining the location of a device.

 

FiRa provides location data based on a time-of-flight measurement — the time it takes a quick signal pulse to make a round trip to the device. This is different to Bluetooth’s method, which opens a connection between radios and then broadcasts the location. Charles Dachs, vice chair of the FiRa Consortium and vice president of mobile transactions at NXP, says FiRa’s pulselike data transmissions allow location data to be gleaned for items within 100 to 200 meters of a node without sucking up a lot of power. Time-of-flight measurements allow for additional security, since they make it harder to spoof a location, and they are so accurate, it is plain that a person is right there, not even a few meters away. Also, because the radio transmissions are not constant, it is possible for hundreds of devices to ping a node without overwhelming it. By comparison, Bluetooth nodes can handle only about 50 devices.

 

FiRa’s location-tracking feature will probably be the application that entices many companies to adopt the standard, but it can do more. The consortium also hopes that automotive companies will use it for firmly unlocking car doors or front doors wirelessly. However, there is a downside: Widespread FiRa use for locks would require either a separate fob or new radios on our smartphones.

 

It’s far more likely that FiRa will find its future in enterprise and industrial asset tracking. Historically, Bluetooth has struggled in this space because of the limited number of connections that can be made. Other radios have been a bit too niche, or not well designed for enterprise use.

 

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''As part of its commitment to U.S. economic growth, Apple today confirmed that its newly redesigned Mac Pro will be manufactured in Austin, Texas,'' the American technology giant said in a news release.

 

The latest tower-style computer was publicized at Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference in June. The new Mac Pro starts at $5,999 and will be available to order in the fall. Apple has made the Mac Pro at the Austin facility since 2013. But the California-based company reportedly had planned to shift assembly of the computer to China earlier this year.

 

The move to keep Mac Pro production in the U.S. came soon after Apple received tariff exemptions on 10 China-made components last week. The exemptions given by U.S. trade regulators let the company import some parts it needs for the new computer without paying the 25% tariffs announced by President Donald Trump in May.

 

Apple asked for exemptions on 15 parts for the Mac Pro in June. But Trump opposed the idea of a waiver, tweeting that ''Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!'' In response, Apple CEO Tim Cook reaffirmed the company's intention to keep Mac Pro production in the U.S. during the most recent earnings call.

 

''We thank the administration for their support enabling this opportunity,'' Cook said in the company's release Monday. Apple said the new Mac Pro features two and a half times more American-made components compared with previous models. The company also said it is on track to fulfill a commitment to invest $350 billion in the U.S. by 2023.

 

Last year, Apple announced plans to grow facilities in Austin and a dozen other American cities. Apple has been caught in the crossfire of the trade war between Beijing and Washington, with Trump frequently urging companies to leave China and bring more jobs to the U.S. The Mac Pro is the only major Apple product assembled in the U.S. The majority are assembled in China, such as the iPhones.

 

But Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, said ''We believe Apple is aggressively looking at alternative options within the supply chain in light of this U.S.-China trade battle,'' with the potential to move 5% to 7% of iPhone production to India or Vietnam.

 

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Samsung SDI signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreement with AKASOL at the 2019 International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sunday (local time) to supply the German battery pack maker its lithium-ion battery cells and modules from 2020 to 2027. Any kind of financial term was not unveiled.

 

Under the agreement, Samsung SDI’s cells and modules will be used in AKASOL’s recently developed third-generation battery packs, and they are enough to make total 13-Gigawatt hours (GWh) worth battery packs over the cited period. In general, 10 GWh is equivalent to battery capacity that can power up to 160,000 all-electric vehicles with each a driving range of 320 kilometers on a single charge.

 

The current deal is an extension of the partnership between Samsung SDI and AKASOL. The Korean company has been already supplying its lithium-ion battery cells and modules to AKASOL for the German partner’s first-generation battery systems. The stretched partnership with AKASOL is assumed to help Samsung SDI accelerate its expansion plans in the European battery market.

 

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Having the ability to focus the energy of a radio signal towards a given receiver means you can enlarge the range and efficiency of transmissions. If you know the location of the receiver, and are positive that it is going to stay put, you can simply use an antenna that is shaped to emit energy mainly in one direction and point it. But if the receiver’s location is not certain, or if it is moving, or if you'd like to switch to yet another receiver, then things get tricky. In cases like this, engineers often fall back on a technique called beam-steering or beamforming, and doing it at at a large scale is one of the key underlying mechanisms behind the rollout of 5G networks.

 

Beam-steering allows you adjust the focus of antenna without the need to move it around to point in other directions. It involves adjusting the relative phases of a set of radio waves at the antenna: these waves interfere constructively and destructively, cancelling out in unwanted directions and reinforcing the signal in the direction you want to send it. Different beam patterns, or states, are also possible - like for example, you might want a wider beam if you are sending the same signal to multiple receivers in a given direction, or a tighter beam if you are talking to just one. 

 

At present, researchers have designed an advanced liquid-based antenna system that relies on a readily available ingredient: saltwater.

 

To be sure, this is not the first liquid antenna: these antennas, which use fluid to transmit and receive radio signals, can be useful in situations where VHF or UHF frequencies are required (frequencies between 30 megahertz and 3 gigahertz). They are generally small, transparent, and more reconfigurable than conventional metal antennas. For these reasons, they are being explored in for some internet of things (IoT) and 5G applications.

 

Liquid antennas that depend on salty water have even more benefits, since the substance is readily available, low-cost and eco-friendly. Several saltwater-based antennas have been developed to date, but these models are limited in how easily the beam can be steered and reconfigured.

 

Having said that, in a recent publication in IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Lei Xing and her colleagues at the College of Electronic and Information Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China have proposed a new saltwater-based antenna that achieves 12 directional beam-steering states and one omnidirectional state. Its circular configuration permits complete 360-degree beam-steering and works for frequencies between 334 to 488 MHz.

 

The suggested design is comprised of a circular ground plane, with 13 transparent acrylic tubes that can be filled with (or emptied of) salt water on demand. One tube is located in the center to act as a driven monopole (the radio signal is fed in via a copper disk at the base of the tube). Surrounding it are 12 so-called parasitic monopoles. When only the driven monopole is aroused, this creates an omnidirectional signal. But the 12 remaining monopoles, when filled with water, work together to act as reflectors and give the broadcasted signal direction.

 

“The most challenging part of designing this antenna is how to effectively and efficiently control the water parasitic monopoles,” Xing explains. To do so, her team developed a liquid control system using micropumps, which she says can be applied to other liquid antennas or antenna arrays.

 

“The attractive feature of using water monopoles is that both the water height and activating status can be dynamically tuned through microfluidic techniques, which has a higher degree of design flexibility than metal antennas,” explains Xing. “More importantly, the antenna can be totally ‘turned off’ when not in use.”

 

When the antenna is switched completely off and drained, it is almost invisible by radar. On the other hand, this effect is hard to achieve with metal antennas. The new antenna’s operating range of 334 MHz to 488 MHz makes it a promising candidate for very-high frequency applications such as IoT and maritime applications, says Xing. One limitation of saltwater-based antennas, she notes, is that that the permittivity of saline water (a measure of how it interacts with electric fields) is sensitive to temperature variation. Xing says she plans to continue to explore various liquid-based designs for antennas moving forward.

 

TRONSERVE

 

1.  Drone Swarms 

 

The British, Chinese, and United States armed forces are assessing how interconnected, cooperative drones could be used in military operations. Stimulated by a swarm of insects working together, drone swarms could revolutionise future conflicts, whether it be by overwhelming enemy sensors with their numbers or to effectively cover a large area for search-and-rescue missions. The significant difference between swarms and how drones are used by the military today is that the swarm could organize itself based on the situation and through interactions with each other to achieve a mission. While this technology is still in the experimentation stage, the reality of a swarm that is smart enough to coordinate its own behavior is moving more closely to reality. Aside from the positive benefits of drone swarms to minimize casualties, at least for the offense, and more successfully achieve a search-and-rescue objective, the thought of machines equipped with weapons to kill being able to ''think'' for themselves is fodder for nightmares. In spite of the negative possibilities, there seems to be little doubt that swarm military technology will ultimately be deployed in future conflicts.  

 

2.  Spying Smart Home Devices 

 

For smart home devices to respond to queries and be as useful as possible, they need to be listening and tracking information about you and your regular habits. When you added the Echo to your room as a radio and alarm clock (or any other smart device connected to the Internet), you also enabled a spy to enter your home. All of the information smart devices collect about your habits such as your viewing history on Netflix; where you live and what route you take home so Google can tell you how to avoid traffic; and what time you in general arrive home so your smart thermostat can make your family room the temperature you prefer, is stored in the cloud. Of course, this information makes your life more convenient, but there is also the potential for abuse. In theory, virtual assistant devices listen for a ''wake word,'' before they activate, but there are instances when perhaps it will think you said the wake word and begin recording. Any smart device in your home, including gaming consoles and smart TVs, could be the entry point for abuse of your personal information. There are some defensive strategies like covering up cameras, turning off devices when not needed and muting microphones, but none of them are 100% foolproof.? 

 

3.  Facial Recognition 

 

There are some exceedingly useful applications for facial recognition, but it can just as perfectly be used for sinister purposes. China stands accused of using facial recognition technology for surveillance and racial profiling. Not only do China's cameras spot jaywalkers, but they have also monitored and controlled Uighur Muslims who live in the country. Russia's cameras scan the streets for ''people of interest,'' and there are reports that Israel tracks Palestinians inside the West Bank. Aside from tracking people without their knowledge, facial recognition is plagued with bias. When an algorithm is trained on a dataset that isn't diverse, it is less accurate and will misidentify people more. 

 

4.  AI Cloning 

 

With the support of artificial intelligence (AI), all that is needed to create a clone of someone’s voice is just a snippet of audio. In the same way, AI can take different photos or videos of a person and then create an utterly new—cloned—video that appears to be an original. It’s become quite easy for AI to create an artificial YOU and the results are so convincing our brains have trouble differentiating between what is real and what is cloned. Deepfake technology that uses facial mapping, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to create representations of real people doing and saying things they never did is now targeting ''ordinary'' people. Celebrities used to be more at risk to being victims of deepfake technology because there was abundant video and audio of them to use to train the algorithms. However, the technology has advanced to the point that it doesn't require as much raw data to create a convincing fake video, plus there are a lot more images and videos of ordinary people from the internet and social media channels to use.  

 

5.  Ransomware, AI and Bot-enabled Blackmailing and Hacking 

 

When high-powered technology lands into the wrong hands, it can be fairly effective to achieve criminal, immoral, and malicious activities. Ransomware, where malware is used to prevent access to a computer system until a ransom is paid, is growing according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Artificial intelligence can automate tasks to get them done more efficiently. When those tasks, such as spear phishing, are to send out fake emails to trick people into giving up their private information, the negative impact could be exceptional. Once the software is built, there is little-to-no cost to keep repeating the task over again. AI can easily and efficiently blackmail people or hack into systems. Although AI is playing a tremendous role to combat malware and other threats, it's also being used by cybercriminals to perpetrate the crimes.

 

6.  Smart Dust 

 

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), the size of a grain of salt, have sensors, communication mechanisms, autonomous power supplies, and cameras in them. Also called motes, this smart dust has a plethora of positive uses in healthcare, security, and more, but would be frightening to control if used for evil pursuits. While spying on a known enemy with smart dust could fall into the positive column, the invasion of a private citizen’s privacy would be just as easy. 

 

7.  Fake News Bots 

 

GROVER is one AI system with the capacity of writing a fake news article from nothing more than a headline. AI systems such as GROVER create articles more believable than those written by humans. OpenAI, a nonprofit company backed by Elon Musk, created “deepfakes for text” that produces news stories and works of fiction so good, the organization originally decided not to unleash the research publicly to prevent dangerous misuse of the technology. When fake articles are promoted and shared as true, it can have serious ramifications for individuals, businesses, and governments. 

 

Together with the positive uses of today’s technology, there is no doubt that it can be exceedingly risky in the wrong hands.

 

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Huawei’s hunt for more developers is made urgent by the fact that its new series of smartphones, to be launched later this week, will not have licensed access to Google’s apps. Together with its outreach Huawei has also offered to sell its 5G technology to foreign companies — a move that rotating chief executive Ken Hu on Wednesday said was meant to “lessen people’s security concerns”.

 

The US government views Huawei as a possible spy on behalf of the Chinese government, an allegation the company denies. Washington has put Huawei on a blacklist that has largely blocked US suppliers from selling to the company, and has lobbied US allies to cut the company out of their 5G mobile networks. Last week, in interviews with the New York Times and The Economist, Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei said the company had offered to license their 5G technology to foreign companies that could then manufacture 5G telecoms equipment and install it in networks outside of China, competing with Huawei abroad.

 

Such a proposal would “make the international 5G supply chain more competitive, and would certainly benefit consumers”, Mr Hu said at the telecoms company’s annual conference in Shanghai. He said Huawei had received over 50 5G contracts all over the world, and that although the new ones did not feed through to increased sales this year, he expected a revenue bump next year when 5G is expected to roll out on a commercial scale in China.

 

Even after being cut off from US suppliers that provide the company with crucial chips for its smartphones and telecoms equipment, Huawei’s self-reported sales increased 23 per cent in the first half of the year. But pressure on the company to resolve the US sanctions issue is increasing, because new smartphones — such as the Mate 30 series, due out later this week — will not have access to Google’s licensed apps under the current US Entity List restrictions.

 

Whether or not Huawei could continue to use Google’s apps has been up in the air ever since the Entity List came into effect in May. Google is one of a massive number of US suppliers that have been waiting months for a result on their applications for exemptions to the ban. President Donald Trump promised in July that the applications would be processed promptly, but none has yet been granted.

 

For Huawei, the worst-case scenario for its international customers already accustomed to the Google app ecosystem would be having to give up Google’s apps, such as the Play app store. Analysts expect the Mate 30 series to ship with an open-source version of Google’s Android operating system without Google apps pre-installed.

 

Huawei is also preparing its own version of Android, called HarmonyOS, although admits it will be hard to build a new ecosystem and that it will need to convince developers to write apps for its new operating system. The company will spend $1.5bn to maximize its pool of 1.3m existing partners in its “Fertile Soil” developer program — launched in 2015 with a $1bn payout — to 5m, Mr Hu said.

 

 

TRONSERVE

 

SEMI expects total investing on equipment in 2020 to rise to $55.8 billion from $52.1 billion this year. The organization is monitoring fab projects in China that are estimated to move in equipment next year. About 55% of those fabs will be for memory. Once again, Asia is going to be the most crucial location for investment in new production equipment next year, but this time it will be led by a number of projects in China, as it progresses toward becoming a key chipmaking nation.

 

“Samsung, SK Hynix and Intel will spend over $5 billion on equipment for memory in China next year,” Clark Tseng, director of Industry Research and Statistics at SEMI, told EE Times. We're currently tracking over $2 billion likely to be spent by Chinese memory suppliers, which translates to about 30% of memory equipment investments in China.”

 

SEMI predicts that China, South Korea, and Taiwan will be the top-three markets for chip equipment next year. In 2020, the China market is predicted to soar 24% from 2019 to $14 billion while South Korea is likely to be the second-largest market at $11.7 billion, followed by Taiwan at $11.5 billion and Japan at $9.0 billion. More upside is likely if the macroeconomy improves and trade tensions subside in 2020, according to SEMI.

 

A “mild” recovery in semiconductor manufacturing equipment is likely in 2020, with growth of 1.8%, following a decline of 13.5% in 2019, according to Dan Hutcheson of VLSIresearch.

 

“One has to remember that this cycle is mostly a memory boom/bust,” Hutcheson says.

 

China

 

China’s emergence as a chip manufacturer has long been in low-cost, lagging-technology nodes used primarily in MCUs and low-end consumer electronics. More recently, China has been attempting to enter higher-value segments such as DRAM, flash memory and microprocessors. These segments require more advanced fabs and additional manufacturing equipment. To approach the leading edge of chip-manufacturing technology, however, requires the development of considerable expertise that goes well beyond buying and installing the latest equipment, according to Linley Gwennap, principal analyst with The Linley Group.

 

“It makes sense that China’s total chip output would surpass that of any other single country within the next few years,” Gwennap told EE Times. “Becoming a technology leader in chip manufacturing will take longer.”

 

China has come to be a leader in designing devices for its domestic market, which can be seen in the quality of HiSilicon’s devices, VLSIresearch’s Hutcheson says. HiSilicon is the semiconductor unit of Huawei, the world’s most extensive telecom networking system supplier. China has also excelled in development of cryptocurrency chips and dedicated mining hardware. The nation leads the world in device construction and some packaging classes in terms of cost levels, according to Hutcheson.

 

“I give them less than a 5% probability of the spending approach locking in successful world dominance in leading-edge logic and memory wafer processing or semiconductor manufacturing equipment,” according to Hutcheson. “Moreover, they face an overwhelming multitude of productivity and technology challenges to be globally competitive on all fronts.”

 

Restrictions

 

The U.S. government sees China’s policy to build up a domestic semiconductor industry as a threat to American dominance. While the Trump Administration this year constrained sales of U.S. technology to China, many of American companies have sought to ease those regulations. Earlier this year, the Trump administration banned exports of U.S.-related technology to Huawei, for example.

 

Immediately after the U.S. government added Huawei to the Entity List, Trump said that some companies would be permitted permission to sell to the Chinese tech giant. Any transaction with a company on the Entity List is seen as a “red flag” by the U.S. government, meaning that the transaction should be monitored for illegal attempts at obtaining technology. More than 130 companies have applied for permission from the U.S. Commerce Department to sell to Huawei.

 

Cracks may emerge in the American restrictions.

 

SEMI denied to comment on whether European and Japanese suppliers of chipmaking equipment may skirt the U.S. regulations to tap the anticipated upsurge in demand from China. The limitations on shipping advanced technology to China apply to U.S., European and Japanese companies.

 

For the European and Japanese suppliers, “U.S. restrictions are largely in place due their being allies, which could be in jeopardy going forward due to the winner take-all attitude in Washington, D.C. these days,” Hutcheson says. “The result of U.S. semiconductor equipment companies losing share and thus R&D dollars to European and Japanese on this point is largely up to the respective governments, which is essentially unpredictable.”

 

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The new model will be produced in the same factory in Austin operated by Flex Ltd. that has produced the previous Mac Pro since 2013, Apple said in a statement Monday. Manufacturing of the new model was “made possible” after the U.S. government authorized on Friday Apple’s request for a waiver on 25% tariffs on 10 key components imported from China. The company was granted exclusions on several parts, most notably processors, power components and the computer’s casing.

 

While some essential components will be made in China and exported to the U.S. for final assembly, Cupertino, California-based Apple said the new version includes 2.5 times the value of American-made parts as the previous model. The new Pro will include components made by more than 12 U.S. companies in states such as New York, Vermont and Arizona for distribution to U.S. customers, Apple said. The company did not specify whether this includes Mac Pros being sold outside the U.S.

 

In a statement, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook thanked “the administration for their support enabling this opportunity.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said his state’s “economy is thriving as the tech and manufacturing sectors continue to expand. I am grateful for Apple’s commitment to creating jobs in Texas.”

 

Cook has met frequently with U.S. government officials, including President Donald Trump, in an attempt to help ease the impact of the U.S.-China trade war on Apple’s business. Over the summer there were reports that Apple would move production of the Mac Pro to China to get out of a widening list of tariffs on Chinese-made goods. Trump had earlier signaled that relief from tariffs on the Mac Pro would be declined, saying in a July 26 tweet that “Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!” However, the president later told reporters “we’ll work it out.”

 

While Apple did receive tariff ease for the 10 Mac Pro components, it has five other requests pending and hasn't been spared from all duties. Products such as the Apple Watch, AirPods and iMac computers were hit by 15% tariffs earlier this month, while the iPhone, iPad and other major Apple products are set to be impacted later in December. Apple has maintained that its products are typically designed in the U.S. and has grown its local investment since the trade war began brewing.

 

The new Mac Pro’s production will start soon, Apple said, without specifying a launch timeline. The renewed model was announced in June at the company’s annual conference for developers and starts at $6,000. In comparison to the preceding version, the new model is considerably more customizable and integrates with a new high-resolution external monitor.

 

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Google in a blog post at the end of July said it's going to support two new HMI features — facial recognition and motion sensing — in the impending Pixel 4 smartphone. The article revealed that the new features in the Pixel 4 are the result of the company’s Project Soli, run by the company’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) team. The team first initiated touting its motion sensing technology in 2015.

 

In a 20-second YouTube video posted with the blog, Pixel 4's gesture control function was displayed letting a user to skip from one app to the next using hand gestures, without ever touching the phone. The blog emphasized that 'these features are just the beginning. As Pixel gets better and better in the long haul, Motion Sense will evolve.' After the long wait, from May 2015 to the second half of 2019, the market hopes that Google's Project Soli will finally be ready to add its new HMI capabilities, and spark a new market for chips enabling the features.

 

KaiKuTek (aka CoolTech), which was established in January 2017 and based in Taipei, has developed a 3D gesture recognition solution based on 60GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) radar technology. Different from some manufacturers in the market that produce 60GHz millimeter-wave radars on a high-cost SiGe process, the KaiKuTek’s gesture recognition solution is based on a more mature – and affordable – CMOS process.

 

The company’s single-chip SoC solution mixes 1T3R antennas and millimeter-wave chips (MMICs). It also has a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator integrated. The die is mounted in an advanced AiP (Antenna in Package) package. The company claims its technology is capable of high-accuracy fine gesture recognition within 30 centimeters, while its AI accelerator draws below 1 mW of power consumption. It will be officially put into mass production next year. KaiKuTek lists TSMC as a partner on its web site.

 

At this point, about 30 employees of KaiKuTek are located in the 'NanKang IC Design Incubation Center' (NKIC), which was set up by Taiwan’s Industrial Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and operated by the ITRI team. It has been in a low-key 'stealth mode,' but CEO Mike Wang said that as Google announces that Pixel 4 will be loaded with gesture control functions, major mobile phone manufacturers will also have to add the features in their next generation of products to keep competitive. The attention to the solution is bound to grow higher and higher.

 

'It is time for more people to see our research and development results and value' Wang said. The company believes that in its two short years of existence, it has developed gesture recognition capabilities that at least match Google’s, if not exceed them.

 

Cooltech's strategic marketing director Griffon Lin added that Google's latest version of the mobile operating system Android Q (the beta trial version has been available for download) also included support for gesture control functions, which is likely to help accelerate the adoption of gesture recognition technology, feeding even more demand for the features. He also believes that a mobile phone will be the best tool for consumers to familiarize themselves with this new human-machine interface.

 

'It’s like when the smart phone was first introduced. People are more proficient in the use of touch interfaces because of games such as Angry Birds. When consumers become accustomed to using gestures on mobile phones, they can further extend this human-machine interface to other applications. Including cars, game consoles and smart homes, etc.'

 

Why gesture?

 

It all begs the question: does anyone really need gesture recognition as an HMI? Right now, the touch interface has almost replaced all mechanical buttons, and voice control is regularly used for a variety of functions, including answer incoming calls, switching lights, playing music and searching for information on the Internet. Is there a clear benefit for gesture control?

 

'Gesture control is not a complete replacement for touch,' said Wang. Using a touch interface to open various applications and answering calls on a mobile phone is an intuitive way to control those applications. Nevertheless, using the touch interface during game play may blot out the touch screen. The screen affects the smoothness, and it is inconvenient to limit the screen size when inputting text in the instant messaging software. Which brings up smart watches and other wearables that have screens considerably smaller than the screens on mobile phone. 'In places where these touch interfaces cannot be fully utilized, that’s where gesture control has the advantage,' Wang said.

 

As for voice control, although that already offers hands-free convenience, there are still many shortcomings in actual use. Lin pointed out that no matter where users are, there may be environmental noise interference affecting accuracy. Privacy can also be a big problem, not only when it comes to speaking commands in public, but also in instances when commands must be transmitted to the cloud for processing.

 

Wang added, 'The characteristics of the 60 GHz millimeter wave technology are such that the signal does not go that far, but we have turned this shortcoming into an advantage. Since the radar detection is only at a close distance, and because a directional antenna is used, there is no problem of adjacent devices interfering with each other.'

 

In the actual display, the solution can recognize subtle movements of the wrist, as well as finger movements. With regards to responsiveness, there is almost no delay, because the recognition processes are not executed on the main processor of the mobile phone; that’s the domain of the AI processor. 'Our solution is not just edge computing, it can even be sensor-side computing;' This is also the main reason why its solution can greatly save mobile phone power, and Wang said: 'We hope to put it on the mouse. All operational functions can be turned into gesture control.'

 

Diversified market strategy

 

Taking into account the different needs of different applications for gesture manipulation, KaiKuTek will provide custom made solutions it will develop with customers. Wang expects that eventually the company will offer gesture training as a service in the future. As an example, game developers might be interested in having the system recognize gestures specific to their games. A software developer might even want to support the ability of their customers to customize gestures.

 

Apart from preparing for the next generation of smart phones, KaiKuTek is also considering launching a dongle that allows mobile phones, laptops and other devices that do not have built-in millimeter-wave radar to support gesture recognition, and allow software developers to conceive a suite of development tools for more gesture recognition applications.

 

Wang accentuated that the development of gesture recognition is not easy, and requires expertise that won’t be easy for other companies to replicate any time soon. Wang, who went to the United States to study and work at a young age, has decades of experience in communication and wireless technology. He promoted the technology development process from the creation of the company, and is confident in the application prospect of 60GHz millimeter wave technology.

 

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Autonomous driving technology is growing at a rapid pace, but safety is the most pressing question. System redundancy or back-up systems would provide the most practical solution to making sure of reliability if functions like braking and steering fail.

 

Hyundai Mobis said proudly that its 'redundancy' brake system can be applied straight away to cars. The system operates on its own even if electronic devices fail or the brakes do not operate usually due to external shocks. It is an essential technology to ensure that the safety of full self-driving because level four and five autonomous vehicles are required to solve unexpected situations by themselves.

 

Hyundai Mobis said the system includes two electronic braking systems, a software platform and a unit that controls them. Typically, two control systems are connected to each other to exchange information. If the main brake system fails to operate normally, the controller orders an auxiliary device to run.

 

'With the rapid development of autonomous driving technology, the importance of cutting-edge safety technologies such as braking and steering is growing,' said Hyundai Mobis' Chassis Component Development Center senior director Kim Se-il.

 

Hyundai Mobis has expidited the development of sensors, cameras and parts for autonomous vehicles and infotainment. In March, Hyundai Mobis partnered with Yandex, a Russian company specializing in Internet-related products and services, to develop systems for a high level of autonomous driving that can be used for driverless taxis.

 

A month later, Hyundai Mobis disclosed an adaptive air suspension technology that will help autonomous vehicles travel smoothly in various road conditions while maintaining stability. The technology adaptively adjusts the height of a car and the softness of its suspension based on navigation map data.

 

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'We have a lot of challenges ahead of us. We need to beef up our computing power, explore new architectures, and develop processors that meet people's needs across all scenarios,' Mr Hu said at a tech conference in Shanghai.

 

Huawei has already been the world leader in telecom networking equipment, the No 2 smartphone producer, and is predicted to dominate in ultra-fast future 5G networks. But it has been swept into the trade war between China and the United States, with its future prospects now in doubt owing to a US campaign to isolate the company.

 

Washington says Huawei equipment could hold security loopholes that allow China to spy on global communications traffic. The US has presented no proof and Huawei denies the charge. A push into the market for computer architecture and software could add a new front in Huawei's battle with the Trump administration. Mr Hu cited independent estimates saying the market will be worth more than US$2 trillion by 2023, adding that Huawei would invest an additional US$1.5 billion toward that effort. He gave no timeframe or figures on current investment.

 

'We will continue to invest,' he said. 'Starting with the most difficult challenge ahead of us - making breakthroughs in architecture - to developing processors, we're going to help expand the industry and build out the ecosystem.'

 

The US is driving allies, with mixed success, to reject Huawei's 5G technology and has threatened to cut it off from US components and services that it needs, such as the Android operating system that runs its phones. In August the US Commerce Department effectively suspended those sanctions for a second time, but the possibility of future implementation has placed a cloud of uncertainty over Huawei.

 

For the time being, Huawei expects the roll-out of next-generation 5G wireless networks to start contributing to the firm's revenue from next year when China launches services, Mr Hu said. Huawei said that it has secured more than 50 5G commercial contracts. Mr Hu said that all the while the roll-out was accelerating, mostly in Asia, the company viewed that it would still need to 'wait for a while before 5G contributes a sizeable share to revenue'.

 

'We will have a clearer picture by mid-next year because by then the first batch of 5G commercial roll-outs in China will reach a certain phase,' he told reporters on the sidelines of Wednesday's conference, estimating that Huawei had now signed about 60 contracts.

 

China's big three state telcos are rushing to roll out 5G services in more than 50 cities this year, following countries like South Korea and the US which have already commenced the service that promises to support new technologies such as autonomous driving. Huawei's home market has become more crucial to the company since Washington in May banned US firms trading with it due to national security concerns, hitting the company's international business.

 

Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei last week told The Economist magazine that to be able to resolve US concerns, he is open to selling his firm's 5G technology to Western firms for a one-off fee. Mr Hu said that Mr Ren's suggestion was not complex and that a new player could help alleviate security concerns. 'If the proposal gets implemented it will on one hand support more competition in 5G across the global supply chain, and such competition is beneficial to consumers and users and also contributes to the industry itself,' he noted.

 

The company also on Wednesday introduced what it described as 'the world's fastest artificial intelligence training cluster', dubbed Atlas 900, and pledged to invest US$1.5 billion in its developer programme. Huawei is planned to release a new high-end smartphone on Thursday, despite uncertainty about whether the new handset will be able to run Google's Android operating system and apps.

 

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It involves 18 projects to enter into construction in 2020, up from 15 this year, though some work could be delayed amid a cooling global economy and the U.S.-China trade war. The projections show how mainland China is swiftly starting to be a major force in semiconductor investment.

 

China, where Beijing is endorsing domestic self-sufficiency in memory and other chips, accounts for 11 of these projects, worth $24 billion. Taiwan, a hub for leading chip foundries such as for example Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., is another heavy contributor to the total at virtually $13 billion. But weak memory prices are seen cutting investment in South Korea, home to industry giants like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The country ranked as the main buyer of chipmaking equipment in 2018.

 

Chinese moves in semiconductors include plans by the country's second-largest mobile chipmaker, UNISOC Communications, to launch a 5G chipset in 2020 to catch up with global leaders such as U.S.-based Qualcomm. Huawei Technologies' chip arm, HiSilicon Technologies, seeks to have one ready as soon as this year. SEMI's projections cover facilities for preprocessing, such as circuit etching, which make up the bulk of chipmakers' capital investment.

 

The prediction includes a note of uncertainty. Eight of the 18 expected projects, totaling more than $14 billion, have a 'low probability of materializing,' the report says. Protracted trade friction between Washington and Beijing could slow chipmakers' appetite for investment if demand from tech companies falls. This is mostly true in China, where many of these projects are considered as less certain. Excluding those leaves just four probable projects valued at $9.6 billion.

 

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The South Korean chipmaker said Thursday it has circulated 19 versions of the industry’s highest-performing SSDs backed by the latest three software innovations.

 

With fail-in-place (FIP) technology, the latest SSD models “never die” regardless if a chip fails on the drive, the company explained. The FIP technology solves the problem of having to replace an entire SSD even if a failure occurs in just one of several hundred NAND chips. The new SSD can detect a faulty chip, scan for any damaged data, and transfer the original data onto normally operating chips, automatically activating an “error-handing algorithm” to maintain stable high performance, the company added. 

 

The FIP technology marks a “new milestone” in the 60-year history of storage, saving system downtime and drive replacement costs even when errors occur at the chip level, a Samsung Electronics official said.

 

One other core technology, virtualization technology, offers independent virtual workspaces to several users, permitting a single SSD to be subdivided into independent virtual workspaces for various users. V-NAND machine learning technology leverages big data analytics to precisely read and verify data at high speeds.

 

Samsung Electronics said it commenced last month the mass production of its next-generation PCIe Gen4 PM1733 and PM 1735 SSDs that run at twice the speed of existing SSDs, fully incorporating the three technologies. The company plans to cement its dominance in the premium storage market by introducing more innovative software to its SSDs for servers and data centers, it claimed.

 

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