Knowles' voice control solution lets OEMs build headphones, headsets and wireless earbuds that allow consumers to talk directly to Alexa without having to press a button to activate the digital assistant first, it said Tuesday. It can enable “natural access” to voice services via the Alexa wake word to play music, place calls, access skills and request information hands-free, the company said.
Antennas made of carbon nanotube films are as efficient as copper for wireless applications, while being tougher, more flexible and can be “painted onto devices,” reported researchers Monday at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering. The conductive films can match the performance of copper films while being made thinner to better handle higher frequencies, which could have application in 5G devices, said researchers. At target frequencies of 5, 10 and 14 GHz, the antennas “easily held their own with their metal counterparts,” when extending to frequencies that “aren't even used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks today, but will be used in the upcoming 5G generation of antennas," said Amram Bengio, lead author of the research in the Rice lab. Bengio founded a company to further develop the material. The new antennas could also be suitable for unmanned aerial vehicles where weight is a consideration, as wireless telemetry portals for downhole oil and gas exploration and for future IoT applications, researchers said.
Advanced Micro Devices is “working through” the U.S.-China “trade situation” as “an industry,” Ruth Cotter, senior vice president-marketing, human resources and investor relations, told a Bank of America Merrill Lynch investor conference Thursday. The chipmaker is “partnering” with the Semiconductor Industry Association “and others” to mitigate the impact of the List 3 Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, which increased to 25 percent May 10 (see 1905090018), she said. “We're watching it carefully and ensuring that we are somewhat risk-mitigated as it pertains to tariffs and managing that for our customers.” AMD sources products from two “foundry partners” based outside China, she said. It also has “some backend manufacturing assets” and “test and assembly” operations in Malaysia, “so some of that is outside of China as well,” she said. “So kind of well-positioned from that perspective. I would say we're watching and monitoring the situation carefully.”
EnGenius Technologies announced the ESR580 tri-band mesh 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless router, said to provide a stable internet connection to remote parts of a home. The router has a dedicated band for the network backbone connection, ensuring smart devices maximize the internet connection, while enabling uninterrupted 4K video streaming and bandwidth-demanding online gaming, said the company Thursday. Cloud access is included, it said. When consumers connect an external hard drive, they can access stored documents, photos, music and video files from anywhere, said the company. It’s bundled in a two-pack for $249.
Apple recalled three-prong AC wall-plug adapters included in Apple World Travel Adapter kits sold before February 2015, said the Consumer Product Safety Commission Wednesday. The adapters were also sold with Mac computers and iOS devices. Apple has received six reports from other countries of wall-plug adapters breaking and consumers incurring shocks, including reports of two consumers who required medical attention, it said. No reports of incidents or injuries were reported by U.S. consumers. The kits include three- and two-prong plug adapters for different electrical outlets worldwide, with the recalled adapters made for use primarily in the U.K., Singapore and Hong Kong. The recalled three-prong AC wall plug adapters are white with no letters on the inside slot where it attaches to an Apple power adapter; redesigned adapters are white with gray on the inside portion that attaches to the power adapter, said CPSC. The kits were sold at Apple stores, apple.com and other home electronics stores nationwide January 2003-January 2015 for about $30. Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled wall plug adapters and contact Apple for free replacements, it said.
Dialog Semiconductor announced its first Wi-Fi networking SoC for battery-powered IoT devices Tuesday. The FC9000 enables direct connectivity to Wi-Fi networks, said the company. It's said to address pain points for manufacturers and end-users for IoT network compatibility. The chip’s power-saving algorithms operate on a few microamps, increasing overall battery life for end-devices, Dialog said.
Global demand for personal computing devices, including “traditional” PCs and tablets, is expected to decline 3 percent in 2019 to 392.5 million units, said IDC Monday. It expects shipments to decline at a compound annual growth rate of 1.6 percent the next five years, reaching 367.7 million units in 2023, it said. A 2.6 percent rise in average selling prices is expected to keep dollar growth flat this year at $237 billion, despite the unit decline, said IDC. “The consumer side of the market will remain challenged,” with shipments declining 6 percent this year, and CAGR declining 2.7 percent through 2023, it said.
Amazon is expanding the range of multi-modal devices that the Alexa Presentation Language supports to help developers and businesses reach customers with “voice-first visual skill experiences,” blogged developer Franklin Lobb. Amazon announced Wednesday the lower-priced Echo Show 5, a $90 smart device with a 5.5-inch display, speaker and built-in camera shutter. The Alexa-based Show 5 will automatically scale APL responses to fit the smaller screen, but Amazon strongly recommended updating responses to be optimized for the newer display. It’s taking preorders now, with shipping slated for late June.
Some 74 percent of U.S. TV households have at least one internet-connected device, such as smart TVs, streaming sticks, set-top boxes, connected videogame systems and connected Blu-ray players, reported Leichtman Research Group Friday. That’s similar to last year’s penetration and up 5 points from 2017, LRG said. Fifty percent of TV households have at least one stand-alone streaming device, up from 40 percent two years ago. Thirty-one percent of adults in U.S. TV households watch video daily on a TV via a connected device vs. 25 percent two years ago, 11 percent in 2014 and 1 percent in 2010. Among adults with a pay-TV service, 25 percent watch video via a connected device daily vs. 49 percent of consumers who don’t subscribe to pay-TV.
Wearables shipments grew 55 percent year on year in Q1, led by wrist-worn devices with 63.2 percent market share, while ear-worn devices (34.6 percent share) such as AirPods experienced the fastest growth, IDC reported Thursday. The elimination of headphone jacks and increased use of voice assistants are driving ear-worn wearables, said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. The category will become increasingly important as an “on-ramp” to wearables ecosystems that complement a smartphone “but also offer the ability to leave the phone behind when necessary,” Ubrani said. Wristwear, including watches and fitness bands, grew 32 percent, with a focus on health and fitness, IDC said. Apple continues to lead the category at 25.8 percent share with its Watch, AirPods and select Beats headphones, said the researcher, with the Watch seeing average selling price (ASP) growing to $455 from $426. Xiaomi held second position and Huawei third, at 13.3 and 10 percent, with Samsung shipping 4.3 million units, up 152 percent for 8.7 percent share, driven by Galaxy S10 smartphone bundling and low-priced JBL headphones. Fitbit rounded out the top five with 5.9 percent share, at 2.9 million shipments. The recent launch of Fitbit's Versa Lite and Inspire series devices have helped the company reach new users and encouraged upgrades at the expense of a lower ASP, said the researcher.