Financial services giant Citi reckons fintech startups are missing out on a major opportunity to disrupt institutional banking. Indeed, it’s inviting entrepreneurs to do so. Read More
Category: Mobile World Congress 2018
The Samsung Galaxy S9+ camera bumps the Pixel 2 for DxOMark’s top spot
You know the drill, right? A new flagship comes out and bumps the last big name out of the top spot. We’re still a couple of weeks out from the Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ release date, but the premium handset just got the DxOMark treatment, and it seems the company’s got another feather to put in its flagship’s cap. The site posted a 99 for the S9+, edging out the Pixel 2’s… Read More
Bullitt is turning smartphones into toolboxes
Given the fact that we already rely on them for pretty much everything else, why not just go all in and turn our smartphones in to literal toolboxes? Bullitt, the UK-based licensed phone manufacturer behind those Kodak handsets was on hand at Mobile World Congress this week, showing off a pair of super rugged handsets. They’re not for everyone, sure, but in a world where most phones… Read More
The top smartphones of MWC 2018
Like CES, this week’s Mobile World Congress feels like a bit of a down year, now that the smoke has cleared. Perhaps its was fact that Samsung’s big news stole the show before it even began. Maybe it’s companies’ continued push to launch handsets on their own terms. It could also be that, as many […]
View More The top smartphones of MWC 2018The top smartphones of MWC 2018
Like CES, this week’s Mobile World Congress feels like a bit of a down year, now that the smoke has cleared. Perhaps its was fact that Samsung’s big news stole the show before it even began. Maybe it’s companies’ continued push to launch handsets on their own terms. It could also be that, as many have predicted, the age of the smartphone is truly drawing to an end.… Read More
Asus’ Zenfone 5 is the king of the MWC iPhone X knockoffs
Sure, Apple didn’t have any sort of official presence at this year’s MWC, but this was the week the iPhone X really came into its own. The company’s premium flagship was everywhere in spirit, through the design choices from the competition. For some it was the mere legitimization of the notch — for others, the inspiration was a bit more unabashed. With Huawei’s… Read More
Haier jammed a tiny projector into a smartwatch for some reason
Sure wearables have been having a tough go of it lately, but maybe the problem is just a general lack of tiny projectors jammed into the products. It’s an idea a few folks have flirted with in the past, and it’s one the folks at Haier are ready to deliver in the future. The Asu is a gigantic new smartwatch from the company that regularly brings you things like transparent and… Read More
AI will create new jobs but skills must shift, say tech giants
AI will create more jobs than it destroys was the not-so-subtle rebuttal from tech giants to growing concern over the impact of automation technologies on employment. Execs from Google, IBM and Salesforce were questioned about the wider societal implications of their technologies during a panel session here at Mobile World Congress. Read More
Can a headphone company pivot to AI?
According to Bragi, headphones are just the “tip of the iceberg” of what the company’s been working on for the past four years. Last month at CES, the company announced Project Ears, an initiative aimed at enhancing hearing aid capabilities in the smart headphone category. This week at MWC, it’s pulling the curtain back on even broader ambitions to provide AI solutions… Read More
IBM Watson CTO Rob High on bias and other challenges in machine learning
For IBM Watson CTO Rob High, the biggest technological challenge in machine learning right now is figuring out how to train models with less data. “It’s a challenge, it’s a goal and there’s certainly reason to believe that it’s possible,” High told me during an interview at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Read More
Chinese smartphone maker Doogee shows off its vision for the smartphone camera
Doogee’s Mobile World Congress press conference is mostly what you’d expect from a company you’ve never heard of: small, low key, in the second basement meeting room at a hotel across from the convention center. It’s a bit like the smartphone farm system, the company’s hoping it can gin up enough awareness to rise above the din of news from the world’s… Read More
BMW says in-car digital assistants have to go beyond being ‘Echo Dots in a cup holder’
BMW wants to bring personal assistants to the car, but it doesn’t want to build its own. Instead, it wants to work with Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others to bring the best features of their platforms to its cars. “We don’t want Alexa to drive our car. That’s not a good fit,” Dieter May, BMW’s senior VP for digital products and services, told me during… Read More