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    I, Smartphone

    Another take off from Leonard Read's I, Pencil.


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    That will be much longer than I pencil.

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    Red face

    Blackberry to quit makin' Classic smartphone...

    BlackBerry to Stop Making Classic Smartphone
    July 05, 2016 — Smartphone pioneer BlackBerry Ltd. will stop making its Classic model, the company said Tuesday, 18 months after launching the device it had hoped would entice users who prefer a physical keyboard, rather than a touchscreen.
    Blackberry's move shifted its focus further away from its money-losing handset business and toward its software. Still, shares in the Canadian technology company fell more than 3 percent after an executive confirmed the move in a company blog post. The Classic was launched early last year, with a physical keyboard in the vein of its Bold predecessor and powered by the company's own overhauled BlackBerry 10 operating system.


    BlackBerry will continue to support the BlackBerry 10 operating system, but production of its Classic smartphone, shown at its launch in late 2014, will cease.

    BlackBerry has since launched a phone powered by Alphabet Inc.'s Android software and plans several more, and BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen last month expressed confidence the company's trimmed-down handset business could turn a profit by a self-imposed September deadline. BlackBerry has shifted focus from its once-dominant smartphones to the software that companies and governments need to manage their devices. Some analysts and investors have called on the Waterloo, Ontario-based company to jettison handsets entirely.

    Carriers informed

    Separately, an internal U.S. Senate memo sent by IT staff and obtained by Reuters on Tuesday said BlackBerry had told major U.S. carriers Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T that all BlackBerry devices running BlackBerry 10 had been discontinued. Asked specifically about the memo, a spokeswoman for BlackBerry said its device strategy was based on a cross-platform model and that it would continue to support BlackBerry 10.

    The company will no longer manufacture the Classic as it updates its device lineup "to keep innovating and advancing our portfolio," Ralph Pini, who joined BlackBerry in May as its new chief operating officer and devices head, said in a blog post. BlackBerry shares have withered in recent quarters as the company's revenues have fallen sharply. Its Toronto-listed stock was last down 3.3 percent at C$8.57, while on the Nasdaq it was off 2.2 percent at $6.61.

    http://www.voanews.com/content/black...e/3405172.html
    See also:

    Report: 7 Countries Benefit Most from Technology Innovation
    July 06, 2016 — The World Economic Forum says trends suggest individuals, not business or government, are driving the digital revolution and an already large gap in infrastructure between rich and developing countries is widening
    The United States, Singapore, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Israel are getting the biggest bang for their buck in economic and digital innovation, according to a survey released Wednesday by the organizers of the Davos economic forum.

    The Geneva-based World Economic Forum says in its new Global Information Technology Report that trends suggest individuals, not business or government, are driving the digital revolution and an already large gap in infrastructure between rich and developing countries is widening. "Governments or businesses are not leveraging digital technology sufficiently,'' said WEF competitiveness chief Margareta Drzeniek-Hanouz. Developing nations could benefit by providing affordable access to technology, she said, noting how some are exploring new business models to "leapfrog'' the Internet into mobile telephone payment systems, for example.


    Pepper, an emotional Robot, greets conference attendees during the Wall Street Journal Digital Live (WSJDLive) conference at the Montage hotel in Laguna Beach, California

    The 289-page report, whose authors also hail from France's Insead business school, Cornell University, and U.S.-based technology company Cisco Systems, said that Singapore topped the list in its Network Readiness Index, a gauge of countries' preparedness to tap into the benefits of emerging technologies. The United States and Japan joined seven European countries rounding out the top 10.

    In that ranking, Russia remained 41st and China rose three places to 59th. South Africa jumped 10 spots to 65th.

    http://www.voanews.com/content/repor...n/3406047.html
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    Robots Branch Out Across Workforce
    July 05, 2016 - From parking cars to greeting patients, robots gradually becoming part of everyday life across the globe
    Industrial robots started replacing humans long ago in tedious and dangerous jobs, such as welding thousands of identical parts for vehicles. Today, more sophisticated robots are capable of precisely lifting and moving huge loads, such as railway engines, or sorting merchandise for rapid shipment from massive warehouses. Skeptics say robots’ future as autonomous drivers might be a bit murky, but they can handle parallel parking like a pro. A robot valet named Geta can easily maneuver a car into a tight space that many drivers would bypass as too risky.

    Marco Wu, head of Yeefung Automation Technology, the Chinese firm that developed Geta, says the robot can safely park a car in about two minutes. "The robot can go everywhere without tracks, which is free and versatile and will reform parking in the future," he said. Geta looks like a platform on wheels. Directed by a laser guidance system, it slides under a car, lifts it up and rolls it into an available parking space before lowering it and rolling away. Wu says that, besides saving maneuvering time, Geta needs up to 40 percent less space when it positions a car, which could be crucial — especially in big cities.

    Another more human-like robot recently began working as receptionist at a hospital in Ostend, Belgium. Pepper, built by Zora Bots, can speak 19 languages and analyze voice tones and facial expressions. Its job is to greet patients, provide basic information and show them to appropriate rooms. With a full battery, the robot can work for up to 20 hours. Standing just over a meter high, Pepper is not considered intimidating to children, and it rolls along at a slow pace that allows even elderly patients to keep up. Developers say Pepper's main job is to make people feel better in a hospital setting.

    http://www.voanews.com/content/robot...y/3405349.html
    Last edited by waltky; 07-06-2016 at 01:38 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Another take off from Leonard Read's I, Pencil.

    Its really amazing how people who accept Darwin and how decentralized biological mechanisms can create emergent life somehow cannot acknowledge that decentralized economic decision making can have like emergent properties. Liberals simply need their Leviathan!

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    Question

    Will they be half-priced?...


    Samsung Plans to Sell Refurbished Galaxy Note 7s
    March 28, 2017 — Tech giant Samsung Electronics plans to sell refurbished versions of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, the company said late on Monday, signaling the return of the model pulled from markets last year because of fire-prone batteries.
    Samsung's Note 7s were permanently scrapped in October after some phones self-combusted, prompting a global recall roughly two months after the launch of the near-$900 devices. A subsequent investigation found manufacturing problems in batteries supplied by two companies — Samsung SDI Co and Amperex Technology. Analysis from Samsung and independent researchers found no other problems in the Note 7 devices except the batteries, raising speculation that Samsung will recoup some of its losses by selling refurbished Note 7s. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters in January that it was considering the possibility of selling refurbished versions of the device or reusing some parts.


    Samsung's announcement that revamped Note 7s will go back on sale, however, surprised some with the timing - only days before it launches its new S8 smartphone on Wednesday in the United States, its first new premium phone since the debacle last year. Under pressure to turn its image around after the burning battery scandal, Samsung had previously not commented on its plans for recovered phones. "Regarding the Galaxy Note 7 devices as refurbished phones or rental phones, applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand," Samsung said in a statement.



    A customer holds a Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 7 smartphone at the headquarters of South Korean mobile carrier KT in Seoul, South Korea



    South Korea's Electronic Times newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said on Tuesday that Samsung will start selling refurbished Note 7s in its home country in July or August and will aim to sell between 400,000 and 500,000 of the Note 7s using safe batteries. Samsung said in a statement to Reuters that the company has not set specifics on refurbished Note 7 sales plans, including what markets and when they would go on sale, though it also said it does not plan to sell refurbished Note 7s in India or the United States. The company said refurbished Note 7s will be equipped with new batteries that have gone through Samsung's new battery safety measures. "The objective of introducing refurbished devices is solely to reduce and minimize any environmental impact," it said.


    The company estimated that it took a profit hit of $5.5 billion over three quarters because of the Note 7's troubles. It had sold more than 3 million of the phones before taking the model off the market. Samsung also plans to recover and use or sell reusable components such as chips and camera modules, as well as rare metals such as copper, gold, nickel and silver from Note 7 devices it opts not to sell as refurbished products. Environment rights group Greenpeace and others had urged Samsung to come up with environmentally friendly ways to deal with the recovered Note 7s. Greenpeace said in a separate statement on Monday that it welcomed Samsung's decision and that the company should carry out its plans in a verifiable manner.


    http://www.voanews.com/a/samsung-pla...7/3785076.html

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    They keep getting more expensive. Granted there's constant innovation but there's also high demand for the latest and greatest.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Another take off from Leonard Read's I, Pencil.

    Its amazing when you think about it. I'd love to have a time machine. I'd go back just 20 years and show the video to people from 1997. They would have to watch it on TV though because youtube didn't exist until 2005. If you told people that the smart phone in the video was only 20 years away some would say it wouldn't or couldn't happen that soon. Things are happening at a rate now that I wouldn't even try to predict where we will be technologically 20 years from now.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
    Its amazing when you think about it. I'd love to have a time machine. I'd go back just 20 years and show the video to people from 1997. They would have to watch it on TV though because youtube didn't exist until 2005. If you told people that the smart phone in the video was only 20 years away some would say it wouldn't or couldn't happen that soon. Things are happening at a rate now that I wouldn't even try to predict where we will be technologically 20 years from now.
    And the most amazing thing is no one person knows how to make one, no one designs nor is in charge of making it.

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    Red face

    Granny uses a flip-phone dat can't do dat...

    Seven in ten smartphone apps share your data with third-party services, research says
    Friday 9th June, 2017 - Our mobile phones can reveal a lot about ourselves: where we live and work; who our family, friends and acquaintances are; how (and even what) we communicate with them; and our personal habits. With all the information stored on them, it isn’t surprising that mobile device users take steps to protect their privacy, like using PINs or passcodes to unlock their phones.
    The research that we and our colleagues are doing identifies and explores a significant threat that most people miss: More than 70 percent of smartphone apps are reporting personal data to third-party tracking companies like Google Analytics, the Facebook Graph API or Crashlytics. When people install a new Android or iOS app, it asks the user’s permission before accessing personal information. Generally speaking, this is positive.


    Social media network concept on phone.

    And some of the information these apps are collecting are necessary for them to work properly: A map app wouldn’t be nearly as useful if it couldn’t use GPS data to get a location. But once an app has permission to collect that information, it can share your data with anyone the app’s developer wants to – letting third-party companies track where you are, how fast you’re moving and what you’re doing.

    The help, and hazard, of code libraries

    An app doesn’t just collect data to use on the phone itself. Mapping apps, for example, send your location to a server run by the app’s developer to calculate directions from where you are to a desired destination. The app can send data elsewhere, too. As with websites, many mobile apps are written by combining various functions, precoded by other developers and companies, in what are called third-party libraries. These libraries help developers track user engagement, connect with social media and earn money by displaying ads and other features, without having to write them from scratch.

    However, in addition to their valuable help, most libraries also collect sensitive data and send it to their online servers – or to another company altogether. Successful library authors may be able to develop detailed digital profiles of users. For example, a person might give one app permission to know their location, and another app access to their contacts. These are initially separate permissions, one to each app. But if both apps used the same third-party library and shared different pieces of information, the library’s developer could link the pieces together. Users would never know, because apps aren’t required to tell users what software libraries they use. And only very few apps make public their policies on user privacy; if they do, it’s usually in long legal documents a regular person won’t read, much less understand.

    Developing Lumen

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