With an opening act that sounded more like the intro for an old-school Disney film, Samsung’s Unpacked 2019 event jumped right into the reveal of the Galaxy Fold. Yeah, that name’s official. And appropriate.
Author: Brett Venter
Samsung wasn’t content to reveal their first folding smartphone and three new Galaxy S10 models at this year’s Unpacked even in San Fran. No, they took the wraps off a set of wireless earbuds and two new fitness-focused wearables, too.
Though it’s not exactly unexpected, it’s nonetheless still a pity — Netflix has officially canned its last two Marvel offerings. Both The Punisher and Jessica Jones are no more, joining Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders on the list of toys Disney wants to keep for itself. Speaking to The Verge, a Netflix spokesperson said “Marvel’s The Punisher will not return for a third season on Netflix. In addition, in reviewing our Marvel programming, we have decided that the upcoming third season will also be the final season for Marvel’s Jessica Jones. We are grateful to Marvel for five years of our…
In this week’s Light Start, we’ve got a folding smartphone as well as a lack of one, Samsung stops making Blu-ray players, and a Tolkien documentary series.
We treat a lot of tech leaks with suspicion — not because it’s inaccurate, but because we can’t believe that they’re anything more than ‘leaks’. Hey, it happens. But sometimes a leak is actually a leak and we’d like to believe that this is one of them. If only because the circumstances are so weird. Samsung’s upcoming range of wearable tech, which should be announced alongside a whole mess of smartphones next week, was leaked yesterday. By Samsung’s own wearables app.
So much for speculative. LG, contrary to what the company’s Ken Hong had to say a few weeks back, has revealed that it’s indeed chucking the speaker in the upcoming G8 ThinQ. Except ‘chucking’ is the wrong term. LG’s augmenting its internal speakers with something else. Something a little different.
Technology bleeds. Not in the red-and-white-cell sense (yet) but development in one area can spread to another quite easily. Case in point: Motor company Ford has used its so-called ‘lane-keeping’ tech to create a new sort of bed. A bed that can keep each occupant on their own side, thanks to a conveyor belt and a few sensors… in addition to the smarts that keep Ford’s cars in their lanes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfSYjbODGUc Ford’s lane-keeping bed keeps partners on their own sides of the bed by revolving around when its pressure sensors detect a little nocturnal encroachment taking place. Rather than facing…
Cast your mind back to recent years and you might recall a little something called Project Ara. This was a modular smartphone project created by Google, the sole remaining bit of the company’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility. You know, before that company was sold to Lenovo. Honestly, we thought that Ara was dead but a pair of new patent filings by Google late last year shows that they haven’t quite given up yet. Two patents for a “Modular Device” device have been unearthed, one of which bears a resemblance to Motorola’s Moto Mods system, or that weird thing LG did…
VR, much like winter, is coming. One of the best things about it is that we’re not really sure what form it’s going to take. Microsoft’s HoloLens is an implementation that we’ve been impressed with from the start, combining the best bits of a full-fat VR system with what Google Glass was supposed to be. And it looks like we’re going to get a look at the sequel in short order. HoloLens 2 should be rearing its head(gear) at this year’s Mobile World Congress.
Samsung’s first Unpacked event for 2019 promises to be a big one. It’s scheduled for 20 February this year, a short while ahead of MWC 2019, and it’s widely expected to contain details about the Galaxy S10. But what’s also coming is Samsung’s new folding smartphone and the company really, really wants you to be aware of that fact.