The developer version of HoloLens, the Development Edition, started shipping on 30 March 2016, and is targeted to developers in the United States and Canada for a whopping price of $3,000. With other VR and AR game headsets coming to market in the next few months the Microsoft HoloLens headset definitely has some tough competition […]
During its press conference in Taipei a day before Computex starts, Nvidia announced a new line of laptops that will run its RTX graphics processing units, as well as a new software platform called Studio, with SDKs and drivers to make graphics rendering and other tasks faster. The units are targeted to creative professionals, like video editors, photographers and graphic designers, and meant to compete with the 15-inch MacBook Pro. One of Nvidia’s new Studio laptops, meant to compete against the MacBook Pro The series will include seventeen laptops made by Nvidia’s manufacturing partners (including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, MSI and Razer). The laptops will begin retailing in June, with prices starting at $1,599. The 17 laptops will be equipped with Quadro RTX 5000, 4000 or 3000 GPUs or GeForce RTX 2080, 2070 and 2060 GPUs. Nvidia claims they can perform up to seven times faster than the MacBook Pro. Studio laptops with Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs will have 16GB of graphics memory, and some of the devices will also have 4K displays and Nvidia’s Max-Q tech for building thin and lightweight laptops. The Nvidia Studio suite includes the CUDA-X AI platform for automating tasks like color matching videos or tagging photos. ... Read More
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has proposed merging its business with Renault that, if accepted, would create the third largest global automaker with 8.7 million in annual vehicle sales. FCA delivered Monday a non-binding letter to Renault’s board that proposes combining the business as a 50-50 merger. FCA’s proposal illustrates the growing desire among automakers to consolidate, or form partnerships, in an environment of increasing regulatory pressure, declining sales and rising costs associated with next-generation technologies such as autonomous vehicle technology. Under the proposal, the combined businesses would be split equally between FCA and Renault shareholders. The board would be a combined entity of 11 members, FCA said. The majority would be independent. FCA and Renault would get equal represent with four members each as well as one nominee from Nissan. The parent company would be listed on the Borsa Italiana in Milan, Euronext in Paris and the New York Stock Exchange. French automaker Renault has an alliance with Nissan Motor. The two companies, whose relationship has become stressed in the fallout over the arrest of former Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn and subsequent power struggle, share vehicle parts and collaborate on technology. Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan. Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault. Fiat Chrysler is best known in U.S. for the company behind the Jeep and Ram trucks. But its business is far larger. Fiat, which has a market value of $20 billion, is also one of Italy’s oldest companies and owns brands like Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, and Maserati. Fiat acquired a stake in Chrysler in 2009. The FCA people know today — which employs nearly 200,000 people — was created when the companies merged in 2014. The proposed merger would result in cost savings. However, FCA insists it would not come from plant closures. No factories would close as a result of the merger, FCA said in its proposal. In a release describing the proposal FCA states: The benefits of the proposed transaction are not predicated on plant closures, but would be achieved through more capital efficient investment in common global vehicle platforms, architectures, powertrains and technologies. The combined companies would realize more than 5 billion euros in estimated annual run rate savings by collaborating on products and in certain regions, particularly when it comes to the development and commercialize of new technologies. FCA noted that these areas included connectivity, electrification and autonomous driving. FCA argued that is has a history of “successfully combining OEMs with disparate cultures to create strong leadership teams and organizations dedicated to a single purpose.” Those cost savings will be crucial for both companies if there’s a downturn in sales — a reality that other automakers like GM and Ford are already preparing for. It would also allow the companies to pursue technologies such as advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. FCA, which operates 46 research and development centers, has invested in advanced driver assistance systems like its highway assist feature offered in its Maserati brand. It has also relied on partnerships such as the one with self-driving vehicle company Waymo . Last year, the company announced an expanded partnership with Waymo that will add up to 62,000 more Chrysler Pacifica minivans to Waymo’s self-driving car fleet. The two companies are also working on ways to license Waymo’s self-driving car technology in order to deploy the tech in cars for consumers. ... Read More
For better or worse, wireless audio is slowly becoming the norm for mobile phones and tablets. This has caused a lot of annoyance, but there are benefits, too. One is the ability to send audio signals to two separate Bluetooth devices simultaneously. Some Samsung phones can already do this, and according to a rumor from Japanese blog Mac Otakara (spotted via Mac Rumors), Apple might be bringing the feature to future iPhones as well. Being able to connect to more than one Bluetooth device can be helpful in a range of scenarios. You might want to connect your phone to your car’s audio system to give GPS instructions while also playing music through earphones, for example. Or, you and a friend might want to watch a film on a long journey.... Continue reading… ... Read More
ARM, the blueprint maker and instruction set designer for all the mobile chips we enjoy using in our smartphones today, has unveiled its latest set of premium mobile designs, slated to feature in 2020 devices. This includes two main components: the Cortex-A77 CPU core and the Mali-G77 graphics part. The immediate highlight with the A77 is a 20 percent improvement in IPC (instructions per clock) performance, which should translate into a tangible acceleration in completing complex tasks. Most system-on-a-chip designs, from the likes of Qualcomm, Apple, and Samsung, operate with two or four beefy cores like the Cortex-A77 and then a smattering of more power-efficient cores alongside them for basic tasks. With each A77 core being that much... Continue reading… ... Read More
Classification to come into effect January 1, 2022... Read More
Trump administration proposes tax on "essentially all products" coming from China as part of escalating trade dispute... Read More
This is an area for widgets. You can add and edit widgets from the WordPress admin.
