Turner Building Streaming Service

Recode

Turner wants to sell streaming subscriptions to its channels, including TNT, CNN and Cartoon Planet, directly to consumers.

For years and years, your boss [Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes] said he didn’t see real evidence of cord-cutters, or broadband-only homes.

Now they’re showing up.

Now there’s a debate about whether you’re seeing cord-cutters, cord-shavers or cord-nevers.

I think it’s a little bit of everything. It would be naive of us to think that the next generation, the early twentysomethings, they’re going to consume multichannel TV in the way that previous generations have.

We’re reinventing our company from the inside out. And we’re remodeling it when the plane is up in the air. We have to go from being a wholesale, linear cable TV company to being a consumer-focused, consumer-centric company.

RockChip Engineering Tour

Thanks Scott

An interesting tour of an engineering facility. Features what seems to be the ZTE Pico projector with PicoP inside. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockchip

New Video From Microvision

Personal Assistant gets MUCH better.

Sharp's after Foxconn acquisition -- smartphones

The news here is in the headline. 

WHY would Foxconn take what is now an ailing division of their company (Sharp) and focus it on something that has been declining in their market place and been a relatively dog-eat-dog market, where profit margins continue to become thinner? This doesn't seem like a smart move. They didn't acquire this company to lose money on it --- maybe Sharp has some kind of something new they can incorporate in their smart phones...

Sharp's Post-Foxconn Acquisition Plan Is To Dive Into Smartphones

ChinaTechNews

Even though rivals Coolpad and Xiaomi are showing declining smartphone numbers, Sharp has deviced to jump into the mobile phone market.

A few months after being acquired by Taiwan-based Foxconn, Japan's Sharp has launched two new phone products Sharp C1 and Sharp A1 in Beijing.

Now that it's in the Foxconn and Hon Hai family, Sharp is targeting young consumers born after 1990 and both of the two smartphones will be sold at CNY1,499.

Sharp C1 features a 13-million-pixel camera and rear camera with autofocus function. It has 64GB storage, 3D curved glass back shell, and 5.5-inch screen. Meanwhile, Sharp C1 has ideep cooperation with Chinese online video website Iqiyi and Sharp users can gain a six-month Iqiyi VIP membership.

Sharp A1 features Helio X20 flagship 10-core processor with strong performance and high speed. This product has a curved metal design, 16-million-pixel rear camera and eight-million-pixel front camera. It also carries LeEco's EUI system and supports all mobile networks. In addition, users will gain a six-month LeEco membership.

Both Sharp C1 and A1 will be sold at CNY1,499. E-commerce website JD.com already opened a booking channel for the two products, which will officially open for sale on September 7, 2016.

As Sharp wades in the swamp of smartphone businesses in China, others are not faring so well. Chinese smartphone maker Coolpad recently published its semi-annual performance for the first half of 2016, stating that the company's operating revenue was HKD5.277 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 39.9% from HKD8.783 billion, and it reported net losses of HKD2.053 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 173%.

During the first quarter of 2016, China's smartphone shipment reached about 104.9 million units, representing a decrease of 5% compared with the 109.8 million units in the same period of last year. During the first quarter of 2016, OPPO exceeded Xiaomi to become the second largest smartphone maker in China, behind Huawei.

The Path of Big Breakthroughs

Got a note that was from my friend Joe, that was one link. It's below. It's really good -- and something I keep in mind. 

CollaborativeFund

Big breakthroughs typically follow a seven-step path:

• First, no one’s heard of you. 
• Then they’ve heard of you but think you’re nuts. 
• Then they understand your product, but think it has no opportunity.
• Then they view your product as a toy. 
• Then they see it as an amazing toy. 
• Then they start using it. 
• Then they couldn’t imagine life without it. 

This process can take decades. It rarely takes less than several years.

Three points arise from this.

It takes a brilliance to change the world. It takes something else entirely to wait patiently for people to notice. “Zen-like patience” isn’t a typical trait associated with entrepreneurs. But it’s often required, especially for the most transformative products.
When innovation is measured generationally, results shouldn’t be measured quarterly. History is the true story of how long, messy, and chaotic change can be. The stock market is the hilarious story of millions of people expecting current companies to perform quickly, orderly, and cleanly. The gap between reality and expectations explains untold frustration.

Welcoming Morgan Housel

Morgan Housel Articles Motley Fool

@MorganHousel

Qihan Robot -- Likely to feature Sony Module (1920*720)

1920*720 Resolution is the Sony Lezab laser projector module signature, and this cites that. Call this a Microvision installation. 

The more of these prototype installations the better. These won't be installations of ten million units in a popular portable consumer electronics product. But we will get there.


QIHAN

About 3:20 for projecton

Sanbot is stocked with sensors, and is big enough to accommodate any new ones Qihan might want to add down the road. That could include sensors to pick up temperature, altitude, or air pressure. It’ll definitely include cameras and sonar, which will be used for object recognition — mainly so Sanbot doesn’t crash into those objects (it’d work similar to how a Roomba or Neato Botvac works). But, Qihan says that with the help of machine learning and microphones, Sanbot will also be able to interact intelligently with people. That would involve listening to and responding to natural language, but Qihan says they’re also working on getting Sanbot to recognize and adapt to human facial expressions and the emotions they convey. Sanbot will also have Wi-Fi and ZigBee connectivity, so it could be an Alexa-like smart home hub, too — a must for any potential robot butler.

Sanbot’s face shows up on a 10.1″ 1080p touch display, which can become a regular, tablet-like interface when needed. Qihan also went full R2-D2 and added a 1920 x 720 projector, too. Meanwhile, a massive 20 Ah battery would allow Sanbot to go for four hours before needing to head back for a recharge.

Read more at http://www.chipchick.com/2016/09/qihan-sanbot-become-robot-butler.html#tDYpy0gHZYkO0qS0.99

Tesla Glass

It's speculative, but one of those rumors that confirms things that have been suspected for a long time.

Microvision is a player in this space.

AutoEvolution

The project reportedly started close to the start of this year, so it can't be too close to its completion. Even though Elon Musk has demonstrated he is the kind of guy who thinks ahead (just look at his Master Plan for proof), we would be willing to bet that this mysterious "Tesla Glass" has very much to do with the Model 3 sedan. That doesn't mean it applies exclusively toTesla's next car, but we should be able to see its fruition as soon as the end of next year. Or maybe even sooner.

OK, but what is it all about? Well, it's about Tesla, and it's about glass. And when you put those two together, you can get all sorts of results. Let's start with what we'd like it to be: a completely new way of making a heads-up display in a car. While we realize that a HUD spreading the whole windshield would be pretty difficult to realize, it could still be done using some sort of eyewear. Think Google Glass. But that would just show a lack of imagination in the naming department from Tesla, so it's probably not that. 

However, even if it doesn't take the entire windshield surface, there's still plenty of room to improve the heads-up display technology, and everybody's been suspecting the Model 3 will have one ever since we caught a glimpse at that barren interior. So "Tesla Glass" having some sort of connection with HUD technology is most definitely a possibility.

Read more: http://www.autoevolution.com/news/word-of-a-project-called-tesla-glass-sparks-up-speculations-110945.html#ixzz4JUhNVR7l

Sony Aggressively into Mobile Gaming

We noticed forward works in April, and this new effort to grow mobile gaming can't hurt.


IB Times - UK

Sony is looking to "aggressively" make its way into the mobile gaming market citing the massive success of augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go, chief executive Kaz Hirai said. In an interview with the Financial Times at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Hirai said the GPS-powered app that has captivated millions of people around the world is a "real game-changer".

"[Mobile gaming] is something we are aggressively getting into," Hirai said. "It's quite a shift from being just a console-based business to being on mobile phones as well. Pokémon Go is real game-changer. I'm very interested in the fact that it has the potential to really change the way people move, literally."

Since the hit game's release in early July, millions of adventurous users have taken to explore their surroundings to try and capture the beloved pocket monsters using their smartphones. According to Hirai, the game's core augmented reality feature is a "great innovative idea that's going to lift all boats for the video game industry".

Hirai's comments follow Sony's formation of a new company dedicated entirely to making mobile games that was announced in March. The Japanese company's new mobile game division, ForwardWorks Corporation, was opened on 1 April.

In a statement at the time, Sony said the company will "leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters as well as the knowledge and know-how of gaming development expertise" it acquired over the years. As of now, the company plans to release these games only in Japan and Asia for iOS and Android devices.

Sony Projector with depth sensing

Thanks Mike

This is really cool. Whether or not PicoP is in THIS one -- it will be in the portable version.

Scan lines look like they've been compensated for, but not eliminated. 

The Alice in Wonderland version sure looks a lot like the Disney/Microvision project.

Micromax - exclusively on Amazon

This is a relationship that I find very interesting -- and it could be meaningful. It's not the first time I've seen micromax offerings "for Amazon." 

The Kindle Fire prototype is well remembered. I think Micromax is the regional player.


From Economic Times India

By Bhagyashree Nair

NEW DELHI: Micromax launched its new laptop, Micromax Neo, priced at Rs 17,990 Friday, expanding its product portfolio in the consumer laptops segment. It aims to break price-performance barriers in the Indian market and gain larger share.

The Micromax Neo has a 14-inch HD display and comes with Intel® Pentium® Quad-core N3700 Processor (Up to 2.40 GHz) and a 4GB RAM for seamless multitasking and running heavy applications. It has a 1.0m HD video camera and comes with 500 GB ROM.

The device has a massive 4800 mAh battery and comes in a sleek and light-weight form. The laptop comes with the latest Windows 10 out of the box and will be available exclusively on Amazon.