Tech News 2018

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Strange newly discovered aurora looks like glowing green dunes - CNET

Meet a form of northern lights that previously escaped the eyes of scientists and can let them observe invisible atmospheric waves.

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Kwikset's Kevo touch-to-open smart lock is now $90, its lowest price ever - CNET

Keep your phone in your pocket -- Kevo uses Bluetooth to know you're home and unlocks with a tap.

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Tesla Model Y is coming to customers ahead of schedule and with extra range - Roadshow

The Model 3's crossover cousin will start hitting customer garages in March with a decent range bump too, according to Tesla.

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Europe allows Huawei for 5G through security guidelines - CNET

But EU states must maintain diversity in their 5G suppliers, and limit access to core networks.

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Coinbase wants to make it easier for global institutional clients to store their crypto

Coinbase's custody unit has set up a new entity based in Dublin, in a bid to further expand its institutional efforts abroad.

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Fujifilm X100V full specs list leaks online

While we've been hearing about the Fujifilm X100V since December 2019, leaks and rumors having been trickling through the cracks in bits and bobs. Until now, that is, with reliable Japanese camera news leaker Nokishita unearthing what seems like an almost complete list of specs for the upcoming shooter.

With a leaked image of the camera already available, and the newly exposed specs, there aren't going to be any surprises left when Fujifilm makes the official announcement expected at the company's X Summit on February 4.

That said, most of the leaked specs matched what we were expecting from the camera anyway, starting with the 26.1MP X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor – the same one that's housed within both the Fujifilm X-Pro3 and the X-T3 – with a native ISO range of 160 to 12800 (as compared to the X100F's 200 base ISO from a 24.3MP sensor). However, extended ISO sensitivity goes from 80 to 51200.

The specs make no mention of the number of available autofocus (AF) points but, like the other new X-series shooters, a hybrid (contrast + phase) AF system is what we should expect, if there's any truth to the leak. The current X100F (which is now three years old) has 325 selectable AF points and we're hoping that's been taken up to 425 to match the newer X-series models.

Continuous shooting will, apparently, see a boost as well, with burst speeds of 11fps as compared to the fourth generation camera's 8fps.

Find the best travel camera to suit your needs
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Shiny and new

While expectations were high that there would be a new lens with a f/1.4 aperture, the specs sheet says otherwise – seems like the X100V will utilize a Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens. Whether it's a brand-new optic or the same old lens, remains to be seen.

The electronic viewfinder, though, is getting an upgrade, going from a 2.36 million dot OLED panel in the X100F to a much better 0.5-inch glass with a 3.69 million dot resolution. The rear LCD display, which early leaks revealed would be a tilting panel as opposed to the fixed one on the X100F, will come with a resolution of 1.62 million dots (an improvement over the current model's 1.04 million dot screen).

According to the leaked specs, video capabilities have definitely seen an improvement, with 4K/30p recording on board.

There's a USB-C port mention in the specs list, so you should not only be able to transfer files quicker, but also be able to charge the camera with the same cable. Battery life has also, seemingly, been given a boost, with the X100V rated for 350 (EVF shooting) / 420 frames (using optical viewfinder) as compared to the 270 frames (EVF) / 390 frames (OVF) on the current X100F.

While Nokishita is usually spot-on with it's reveals, we'd still err on the side of caution and take this news with a pinch of salt. But whatever the final specs will be, we're rather excited that there's finally going to be a fifth iteration of one of our favourite compact camera.

Best mirrorless cameras to buy right now

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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Saudi Arabia attracts $67m investment into its startup ecosystem in 2019

Saudi Arabia has seen an upward trend in the number of deals and total funding over the last five years, with 2019 being a record year.

In 2019, Saudi Arabia’s startup ecosystem saw an investment of $67m, registering a 35% increase compared to a year ago.

The Kingdom also witnessed a 92% increase in deals to 71 and there has been an increase in government initiatives, accelerator programs and the total number of investors as well.

According to startup data platform MAGNiTT’s report, sponsored by Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), one of the initiatives by the Small and Medium Enterprise General Authority (Monsha’at), the most notable funding rounds included the $8.6m raised by EdTech startup Noon Academy as well as the $6.6m for food and grocery delivery start-up Nana Direct.

Among the most active investors were the new Misk 500 Mena Accelerator and Misk Growth Accelerator, as well as (corporate) venture capital firms 500 Startups, OQAL and Wa’ed Ventures.
41 institutions invested in Saudi-based startups while accelerators accounted for 32% of all deals.

“As Saudi moves forward to achieve the Vision 2030, we will see a few trends. First, more investors will continue entering the market, utilising government support. Second, we will see corporates evaluating their innovation strategy, which has been sorely missing in the ecosystem from a startup engagement perspective. Third, experienced employees will leave their jobs to start companies within their field of expertise, disrupting some industries such as fintech,” Ahmed Al Jabreen Venture Partner at 500 Startups, said.

Strategy to mitigate failures

Nora Al Sarhan, Investment Director at SVC, said that SVC is well-placed to be the spearhead of quality investment by covering the capital gap in the market and by providing a strategy to mitigate failures through diversification of the risk for investors.

A total of 41 institutions made investments in Saudi-based startups in 2019, which is an increase of 58% compared to 2018. 68% of these investors are based in Saudi Arabia, whereas 32% of them are based outside of the Kingdom – mainly in the UAE.

“Newly established accelerators and other public and private initiatives spur the growing startup and venture capital ecosystem in Saudi Arabia,” Philip Bahoshy, founder and CEO of MAGNiTT, said.

Due to the steady increase in funding and number of deals, he said that Saudi Arabia increased its regional rank by total funding and number of deals, coming in third for both in 2019 in the Middle East and North Africa.

Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in the region, he said and added that with the government identifying innovation and entrepreneurship as one of their key focuses in line with Vision 2030, many new initiatives have been launched in 2018 and 2019.

Usually, these initiatives take time to come to fruition, but “we have already seen their impact on the ecosystem in the country and MENA region.”

With one of the largest economies and digitally-savvy populations in the region, e-commerce retained its top spot in 2019 and accounted for 27% of all deals, followed by delivery and transport industry at 26%.

Bahoshy said that rising industries are education and IT Solutions, which took the third spot by both total funding and number of deals in 2019.

“We will continue to see Egypt and Saudi Arabia grow in terms of market share and more consolidation among larger regional players are expected this year in fragmented areas such logistics, e-commerce and transport in a bid to gain a competitive edge,” he said.

The UAE maintained its dominance as the highest recipient of venture funding (60% of all deals) last year but Egypt has surpassed all countries in terms of the number of deals (25% of all deals).

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India Had a Big Role to Play in Apple’s Record Breaking Quarterly Revenues

Apple registered double digit growth in India particularly with strong iPhone sales, and is a critical market for iPad and Mac. Sign of the times ahead?

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Facebook to Get a New Board Which Will be Able to Overrule Mark Zuckerberg, But Will it?

Facebook will name board members later in 2020, which will take the strength of the content appeals board to 40 members.

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Apple Sets a New Revenue Record as iPhones And AirPods Set Sales Charts on Fire

Apple had estimated revenue between $85.5 billion and $89.5 billion for the quarter, finally clocking $91.8 billion with services and devices' strong showing

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Motorola Razr Australian release date confirmed for next month

Originally expected to arrive Down Under in January, it's now been officially revealed that the new Motorola Razr flip phone with foldable display will be available to purchase in Australia from February 24.

While fans of Razr's classic flip phone design have been eagerly anticipating the device, we have to wonder whether that nostalgia will be enough for them to justify paying the handset's eye-watering asking price, which is set at AU$2,699 locally.

Not-so spectacular specs

For the sake of comparison, that's AU$300 less than Samsung's similarly expensive Galaxy Fold device, but there's a key difference: the latter absolutely floors the upcoming Motorola when it comes to specs.

Boasting a decidedly mid-range chipset in the Snapdragon 710, the new Razr also offers a relatively small 2,510mAh battery, along with 128GB of onboard storage, 6GB of RAM and a 6.2-inch HD main display.

As pricey as the Galaxy Fold is at AU$2,999, Samsung can hardly be accused of skimping when it comes to the device's hardware, offering a flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset, a 4,380mAh battery, 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, along with a tablet-sized 7.3-inch QHD+ display when unfolded.

There's still hope

Even with those specs, the Galaxy Fold didn't sell anywhere near as many units as Samsung hoped it would, and we have to imagine that its exorbitant price was the main reason for that.

That said, there is a chance that the Galaxy Fold's chunky form-factor (which was like having two phones stacked on top of each other when folded) put people off the device – something relatively the slim and compact Motorola Razr doesn't have to worry about.

Of course, Samsung has its own foldable clamshell device on the way in the Galazy Z Flip, which could throw a major spanner in Motorola's plans, particularly if rumours of its surprising affordability are to be believed.

Those who are keen for the new Motorola Razr can pre-order the device now in Noir Black from Motorola's online store and JB Hi-Fi.

Motorola Razr 2019 vs Samsung Galaxy Fold

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