News
Huawei Mate 9 has two rear cameras, gets better the more you use it
Huawei took the mystery out of the Mate 9 when it officially introduced its latest signature phone at a launch event in Munich, Germany.
The introduction comes at a crucial time for the Chinese OEM, which is said to be losing its step in its native country where sales have declined through the previous quarter. Apple is wrestling with declining interest in the iPhone; Samsung is still picking up the pieces after a series of Note 7 (R.I.P.) explosions.
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And with the Mate 9, Huawei is hoping to seize the unique opportunity that has presented itself. At a glance, the Mate 9 is very much like the Mate 8 before it — not just in terms in design, but also in terms of purpose and positioning. It’s a metal phone fitted with a big, 5.9-inch screen and loads of attractive tech, including Huawei’s homegrown Kirin 960 chip that is said to give the iPhone 7 a run for its processor money.
It also has fingerprint hardware on the rear; a 4,000mAh battery with fast charging over a USB Type-C port (almost 60 percent after a 30-minute charge; a full charge after 90 minutes); an IR blaster for controlling TVs, entertainment systems, and the like; and a custom interface that has been tweaked for familiarity on top of Android 7.0 Nougat.
Speaking of software tweaks, Huawei says the phone learns its owner’s behavior over time and optimizes itself to get faster the longer it is used. Which is a bold claim considering that many Android phones suffer from performance issues further down their life cycle, not to mention Huawei stands to gain nothing from making a phone that ages like fine wine. It might even hurt the company’s flagship release cycle down the road.
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The Mate 9’s backside is home to a pair of Leica-branded cameras, similar to the Huawei P9. One camera, a 12-megapixel unit, shoots in color, while the other, 20-megapixel unit shoots in black and white, thus producing rich, detailed, and color-accurate shots. Or, at least, that’s the idea. We can’t say with certainty until we get our hands on a retail unit.
Perhaps the only “meh” choices here are the screen resolution — a 1080p affair (read: non-Quad HD) — and the price. The Mate 9 will retail for 699 euros (nearly $780) apiece when it launches across Europe and in select Asian markets at some point in the next month. It’s coming to the U.S., too, albeit at a much later date.
News
St. Peter reunited people with their deceased loved ones through tech
The new “If Heaven Could Write” campaign generates letters from the imagined perspectives of loved ones.
Grieving can take many forms. Sometimes, it manifests through a desire to hear a loved one again. We look at their old clothing, a gust of wind, or a butterfly, and imagine them talking to us one more time. This year, St. Peter, through the power of technology, gave 11,000 people that chance through its new “If Heaven Could Write” campaign.
During St. Peter Deathcare Week, which ran from October 27 through November 2, the deathcare provider started the “If Heaven Could Write” campaign, an interactive digital experience that offered participants a chance to reunite with their deceased loved ones. It was available in 37 St. Peter Chapels and 76 cemeteries nationwide.
Upon scanning a QR code which took them to a portal, participants answered questions about their loved ones. Then, the portal generates a personal letter from the imagined perspective of the participant’s loved one, giving them one more chance to converse.
Of course, an imagined letter can’t replace someone who passed away. Still, the experience affords us a way to grieve and process the loss. No, the letter isn’t really from your loved one, but you can imagine what they would have said while reading through it. And sometimes, that’s all we need.
Though St. Peter Deathcare Week has already come and gone for the year, those interested can still participate in the campaign through its link.
In a world with a love-hate relationship with extra buttons on a phone, Apple has gone to the deeper end and included two buttons in the latest iPhones: the Action Button and the Camera Control. Next year, Apple might consolidate the two buttons into one, ridding itself of the Action Button.
According to a Weibo leak from Instant Digital, Apple will merge the two buttons starting with next year’s iPhones. Though technically a new button in itself, the merged version will, based on the leak, retain more Camera Control than the Action Button.
Of course, both functions can coexist in the same button. The Camera Control activates with a single press, while the Action Button needs a longer press. In the merged button, a single press can still open the camera and a longer press can activate whatever the user sets it to.
Both buttons have had a storied past. The Action Button came in 2023, replacing the Ring/Silent Switch. Meanwhile, the Camera Control debuted a year later, offering control over the camera with a capacitive button. The current iterations retain both buttons on the same phone.
Personally, as someone used to creating content, the Camera Control button is ultimately a boon to get those shots quickly while in the moment. Retaining that functionality is definitely worthwhile.
Enterprise
NVIDIA CEO admits to having an affair with alleged Chinese spy
The company is currently investigating the allegations.
In one of the craziest headlines this year, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to having an affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
Over the weekend, a heavy allegation claimed that the NVIDIA CEO had a relationship with a person actively involved in Chinese intelligence. Since Huang is involved in business globally, the accusation isn’t a light one. In fact, it’s serious enough that Huang admitted to the affair late this past Sunday.
In an internal letter reported by Associated Press, the CEO acknowledged the existence of the affair with a business executive. Of note, Huang did not confirm the executive’s ties to Chinese intelligence. NVIDIA, however, will conduct its own investigations regarding the allegations. Despite the allegations, Huang will remain as the company’s CEO. The company is also confident that the alleged spy did not compromise NVIDIA’s secrets.
According to The New York Times, the executive, Alice Huang, was reportedly feeding information back to Beijing, despite being an executive of the Singapore-based Megaspeed, which is already a serious customer of NVIDIA.
Now, NVIDIA is currently in a prime position when it comes to the industry today. Formerly a huge proponent of gaming peripherals, the company is now one of the biggest names in AI hardware, allotting a lot of its products for data centers. Huang’s allegations come at an interesting time.
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