2018, Amazon, Augmented Reality (AR), Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Google, Internet, Microsoft, Mobile, Mobile Computing, News, Smartphones, Wearables

CES: Rokid unveils AR glasses prototype

AI and robotics firm Rokid has unveiled a prototype of its planned augmented reality product, Rokid Glass, this week at CES. The company, better known for its home assistant products (that bear similarities in looks and functionality to Amazon’s Alexa Dot and Google’s Home Mini), appears to be making its first foray into the augmented reality space. Reportedly, the glasses will operate as a standalone headset, but also provide functionality to connect to smartphones or other devices via Bluetooth or WiFi to bolster processing power and network range. The glasses run a variant of Android 6.0 — suggesting it may eventually leverage Google’s ARCore to

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3D, Amazon, Augmented Reality (AR), CPU, Graphics, Hardware, HTC, Internet, Mobile Computing, News, Virtual Reality (VR)

Smartphones gain PC-strength VR capabilities via new codec

NGCodec, a company that specializes in developing algorithms, silicon logic and FPGA implementations for cloud video processing, this week announced the availability of their potentially transformative cloud-based encoding technologies via the Amazon AWS Marketplace. The company’s RealityCodec acts as a low-delay H.265/HEVC encoder, which allows much of the processing load of VR video streams to be shifted into the cloud. The codec also boasts sufficiently low latency that it can reliably deliver VR streams to untethered, mobile, VR head-mounted displays. “We have worked diligently to bring our advanced video codecs to the Amazon Cloud and to demonstrate the potential for cloud media and virtual reality,”

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Amazon, Augmented Reality (AR), News

Amazon patent reflects another push into 1.7 trillion dollar industry

A patent issued on the first business day of the new year may herald a breakthrough in online fashion retailing. US Patent 9,858,719 was Issued on January 2nd to Amazon Services Inc. It suggests the company is developing an augmented reality-type system consisting of a mirror, display and camera combination that allows individuals to virtually preview the look of clothing prior to purchase, and to do so while also virtualizing their locale. The invention, as described, appears to go a long way towards solving the many issues pertaining to look and fit that tend to plague the purchase of fashion items online. Currently, these challenges

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Amazon, Augmented Reality (AR), Cloud Computing, News, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

Amazon launches Sumerian, a new VR/AR development platform

Amazon is one of the biggest names in tech, and this doesn’t stop with its status as a storefront. Another way Amazon has made its impact known is through its Amazon Web Services, which serve as a backend for applications worldwide. AWS offers server infrastructure and tools well beyond the scope of typical indie developers, and for this reason, it’s a favorite among enterprises and indies alike. So when Amazon makes an announcement in this space, everyone pays attention. Sumerian, software tools debuted by the retail giant, is an extension to the Amazon Web Services platform, and it focuses on the creation of virtual reality,

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Amazon, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Companies, Entertainment, Google, Hardware, Microsoft, News, Smart Home, VR World

Amazon willing to team up with Apple and Google

Amazon.com Inc. is willing to team up with competitors Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google if it would help improve customers’ experience with its Alexa voice-activated virtual assistant, an executive working on the platform said. The online retailer, which is already working with Microsoft Corp. on productivity features for Alexa such as calendar interactions, will put the user first in pursuit of any other partnerships, said Toni Reid, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa and Echo devices, who has been on the team since 2014. Just a few weeks ago, Apple was hiring brand new software engineers in Cambridge to help improve its Siri service. Sensing

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Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality (AR), Companies, Entertainment, Mobile, News, Operating Systems, VR World, Wearables

Amazon Wants You to Wake up and Travel with Alexa

Amazon, hoping to replicate the success of its Echo device, is poised to extend its eyes and ears into every part of your life with the launch of new voice-controlled and camera-equipped Alexa devices designed for bedrooms, living rooms and even your car. Amazon prides itself on its almost pathological focus on what its customers want, rather than what its competitors are doing. But its new Alexa products are clearly a response, at least in part, to new smart speaker offerings from Google and Apple. Amazon is betting that it can defend its franchise by using an old trick – aggressive pricing – and by finding ways

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Amazon, Apple, HTC, Intel, Samsung, Tesla, VR World

Top 10 Articles

In today’s edition of Top 10, we take a stroll the virtual information lane during May Day and see what’s interesting around the globe. Flying Cars, Electric Trucks and Human Face in VR. How Kuku Robots Create The New Tesla Model 3… http://www.nextpowerup.com/news/35523/leaked-images-reveal-tesla-model-3-production-robots/ “Tesla has received a large shipment of production robots that’ll play a major role in the assembly of its Model 3 electric vehicle. Leaked images from Tesla’s Fremont factory revealed the hundreds of Kuku robots the company has recently received and is now installing.” …who is getting ready to unveil the Electric Semi Truck? Yes, Tesla https://electrek.co/2017/04/28/tesla-semi-elon-musk-teaser-image-all-electric-truck/ “The CEO also confirmed that

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Amazon, AMD, Breaking, E3, , Gaming, Graphics, Hardware, Intel, Nvidia, Virtual Reality (VR)

GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080 Shortage Until August?

With the conclusion of E3 2016 trade show, which took place last week in Los Angeles, California – many international guests went on for the hunt for several hot ticketed items – HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and of course, Pascal-based GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080. The ‘retail’ mission was the only option after availability from online e-tailers simply did not transpire. HTC Vive is available in 3 out of five Microsoft stores we’ve checked, while Oculus Rift availability was tied to Intel’s Retail Experience. Best Buy in West Hollywood didn’t had Intel Retail Experience and there was no Rift, but the story changed in

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Amazon, Apple, Breaking, Cloud Computing, Entertainment, Google, News, Software Programs

Apple Music Can ‘Steal’, Delete Your Music

The pure nature of the cloud computing is that you are giving away your control over the content in order to enjoy convenience, and have access to the service for as long as you’re connected to the Internet. Apparently, Apple’s Music service decided to take that to the next level and start to actively match your music to the online catalog, and delete local copies. According to James Pinkstone from Vellum Atlanta, that’s exactly what happened to 122 gigabytes of his music collection: “What Amber explained was exactly what I’d feared: through the Apple Music subscription, which I had, Apple now deletes files from its users’ computers. When

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Amazon, AMD, Breaking, Cloud Computing, Dell, Enterprise, Intel, News, press releases, Software Programs

SPEC Benchmark Puts Cloud Computing to a Test

Many Cloud providers claim their service is the best for your cloud computing needs. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is a hotbed of computing for the better part of last decade, and we’re seeing the revenue and profit numbers delivered by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others. The rise of IaaS is also one of key reasons why Dell went on a bend in order to acquire EMC, and many others. Measuring the performance of infrastructure is a critical task, and this is where SPEC, an industry consortium comes along. Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation i.e. SPEC creates benchmarks based on real-world workloads, from professional / commercial graphics in

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Amazon, Breaking, Business, Entertainment, Hardware, Mobile, News, Tablets, VR World

Is Amazon Saving the Tablet Market?

Amazon Fire Tablet

ABI Research reports that Amazon has set the tablet market “ablaze” thanks to the launch of its $50 Fire Tablet. The device was released in late September 2015, sporting a 7″ display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, and 8 GB of internal storage. Even more, it features a microSD card slot allowing the owner to beef up the internal storage to a massive 136 GB (total). Amazon evidently expects customers to download media left and right from the company’s various online services. According to ABI Research, Amazon took a big chance by launching the tablet with such a low price point. The move was a

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Amazon, Android, Breaking, News, Tablets, Technology Security

Amazon Restores Fire OS 5 Encryption on Kindle Tablets

UPDATE: March 7th, 2016, 11:26AM GMT Amazon released a statement where the company backtracked on its earlier decision: “We will return the option for full disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring.” According to an Amazon spokesperson, the company announced its removal of Fire OS 5 encryption feature due to ‘internal belief’ in the company that there aren’t too many users which use this feature, and it was removed before the whole Apple vs. FBI case blew up. Encrpyting and Decrypting the data is tasking on the built-in SOC processors, and the company thought it could speed the performance. After a number of users complained and

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Amazon, Breaking, Cloud Computing, Game Developer Conference (GDC), Gaming, News, VR World

Amazon Enters Game Engine Industry with a Bang

In a move that might push gaming industry to new boundaries, Amazon just launched free game engine. A game engine that will enable game developers to create a AAA gaming experience through a Internet browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox etc. The story of Lumberyard started when Gunfire Games showcased their skill to a number of Amazon executives. They used CryTek’s game engine to create a workable prototype of a multiplayer shooter in mere three months, using limited resources. This got Amazon interested and the company created Lumberyard business division (to work alongside Amazon Games), teaming up with CryTek on creating a game engine which would integrate all the services that Amazon

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Amazon, Apple, Breaking, Business, Exclusive, Google, Microsoft, Mobile, Mobile Computing, News, Smartphones, Tablets

Microsoft to Offer Data Plans, Mobile Service

MVNO or Mobile Virtual Network Operator is becoming a thing of fashion among IT giants, and could start to slowly squeeze conventional telecom operators, especially among the early adopters. Among the traditional IT names, IBM was the first that ran its own MVNO that was accessible to non-employees (back in 1990s, you could subscribe to IBM’s modem service and use it globally), but that was not widely adopted until Amazon launched its Kindle tablet, which used Qualcomm’s MVNO, and later replaced it with an in-house, SIM-free architecture for Kindle devices more known as the Whispernet. As Google seeked a path to grow, the company decided to become a fully fledged

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Amazon, Apple, Audio/Video, Business, Google, Hardware, News, VR World

Report: Amazon To Ban Sales Of Apple TV And Google Chromecast

In a true “gloves off” scenario, Amazon will ban the sales of Apple TV and Google Chromecast devices in their shop, starting October 29th. This marks another chapter in the ever going battle of streaming services and providers. It seems that the online store giant is taking none of it from Google and Apple as it won’t allow Prime Video on neither the Apple TV and Chromecast devices. Likewise, the app is also not available for the Chromecast. The current generation of Apple TV (not the newly released one) is the 14th best selling device in the entire electronics section of Amazon. Currently is ranks 4th place

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Amazon, Android, Business, Companies, Operating Systems

Report: Amazon Will Forego Future Phone Development

According to a story on Wall Street Journal, Amazon will forego any further phone development. While not ruled out completely, the development of the next-generation Amazon phone is extended “indefinitely.” Sources of the paper say that a significant volume of Fire Phone engineers have been sacked, which marks the first round of layoffs in history of Lab126, Amazon’s secretive hardware division. The failure of Fire Phone (no longer available for sale) took Amazon in a direction of rethinking their hardware strategy. With the aformentioned device, even heavy subsidizing didn’t help – the phone wouldn’t sell even when the price was dropped from $199 – $0.99 in an effort

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