A few short takes in tech

Let’s look at a few tech developments. Galaxy S9 to be Unveiled Next Month: Samsung will unveil its next model of its Galaxy S series at the March 2018 Mobile World Congress. There will probably be a Galaxy S9 Plus as well. No specifics are known in terms of “killer” capabilities relative to the predecessors […]

Let’s look at a few tech developments.

Galaxy S9 to be Unveiled Next Month: Samsung will unveil its next model of its Galaxy S series at the March 2018 Mobile World Congress. There will probably be a Galaxy S9 Plus as well. No specifics are known in terms of “killer” capabilities relative to the predecessors – Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, which were by all means rated to be excellent gadgets in their own right, with critics even rating them favorably. The 8 series were launched at a Samsung event in New York City in March of last year. Curiously, however, Samsung is also touting the launching of a “formidable” phone in 2018 as well. No details have been given as to what “formidable” means, and neither is it known that the reference is being made to S9.

Activating the FM Radio in your Smartphone: It is well known that smartphones; at least the older ones, contain the chips to broadcast FM radio, even if they have not been activated. In Mexico, perhaps over 80 percent of the smartphones broadcast FM. However, in many countries, such as the U.S., FM radios in cell phones are mostly not activated. Samsung is planning to change this in its future smartphones. The company is reportedly teaming up with NextRadio to unlock the FM radio chips in new Samsung devices in the U.S., Canada, and perhaps in other locations around the world. Since FM receivers are already present in most smartphones, no hardware changes are necessary. FM radio broadcasts can save lives in emergency situations when information is transmitted via radio waves. That radio does not require the Internet to function emphasizes its usefulness.

U.S. Carriers Drop Huawei’s New Smartphones amid U.S. Lawmakers Concerns: Huawei has put its best foot forward, putting in all it could to impress potential customers, especially in the U.S.; displaying Chinese technological acumen like we have never seen before in the arena of smartphone innovation. To Huawei’s rude awakening, however, the fight isn’t over yet with the U.S. lawmakers and their longstanding concerns regarding the security in dealing with Chinese telecom companies such as Huawei. The U.S. lawmakers have been suspicious of Huawei’s alliance with the Chinese government, with concerns that Huawei uses its communication devices to acquire security-sensitive data in the U.S. and pass them on to the Chinese Communist Party.  Some of the fears about Huawei have its origin in the fact that the company’s founder was a big shot in the Chinese army, and the conviction that the company is an agent of China for spying. So, U.S. phone carriers don’t want to have anything to do with Mate 10, Huawei’s latest smartphone. Otherwise, according to Huawei, this phone boasts of an advanced screen, special artificial intelligence microchip, plus a cheap price tag to boot. Huawei is not the only Chinese tech company that is arousing the suspicion of the U.S. lawmakers as far as U.S. national security is concerned. ZTE, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, is also on the list. A new bill in the U.S. bans the U.S. government agencies using contractors with Huawei or ZTE technology. A 2011 congressional investigation found ZTE, Huawei, and other Chinese companies to be “directly subject to direction by the Chinese Communist Party.” Moreover, comments from the former head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) revealed that Huawei “shared with the Chinese state intimate and extensive technology of foreign telecommunications systems it is involved with.” As for ZTE, the company was fined over $1 billion for “violating U.S.-Iran sanctions by shipping products from the U.S. to Iran and then lying about its actions! 

Creepy Digital Assistants!  Do you use Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google Assistant? If you do, your life is probably an open book, as the things you do in your private life are being recorded. Ask Siri for a bit of information, and she makes references to things that took place around you a few moments ago. This obviously means that your activities are constantly being recorded and stored on Apple’s iCloud. This is pretty creepy stuff, folks. 

Promising Elvis Chidera: This 19-year old software developer with a humongous dream has a good story, and he is surely being noticed worldwide. Elvis started programming at the age of 11 years. Growing up in a remote village in Southeast Nigeria, he learned to program on a Nokia 2690 phone that a relative gave him, as Elvis was too poor to afford a regular computer. “I was inspired by Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook), but I want to go further and create something better (than Facebook),” Elvis said. He applied, and was accepted, for an Android developer position at dot Learn, which was setup by two MIT-based technologists working on a project that coincides with Elvis’ interest in technology and education. “Working at dot Learn I have met lots of awesome people from MIT, Harvard, and other places. As a team, we have been part of some testing competitions like the TechCrunch Battlefield Africa, Cisco Innovation Challenge, and the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge.” This is simply inspiring.