Dual Screen Flip Phone?

There are a couple of ways you could imagine this. One as the artists rendering in the article.

Or maybe the old rendering from Microvision.....

IBTimes -- more at the source. (including aggravating ads.)

The highly-rumoured Samsung Flip Phone 4 bearing model number SM-G9298 has allegedly entered the testing phase as per the latest tweet originating from China.

Microvision Twitter, Size of Market

1.4 Billion smartphones were sold world wide last year.

435 million mobile phone viewers in CHINA. That's a lot of people who will directly benefit from PicoP -- which is entering mass production.

This is just in case you had any doubts about the size market for PicoP. 

Microvision is producing with it's manufacturing and marketing partner ST Microelectronics.

The market is enormous -- and the one very consistent demand among smartphone users is "Bigger screen." Which is at war with their demand for "easier to carry."

PicoP turns contradictory demands into something that is easily possible.


Microvision's Twitter Feed

Rapid TV News

Research from eMarketer has found that China will have more than 435 million mobile video viewers in 2017, the rapid growth driven by what the researcher says is a seemingly insatiable demand for content and services.

Tactical Augmented Reality

The video is a little cartoonish, but this is very interesting and very promising. 

This is a space that Microvision has been active with in the past. They have had contracts to develop this kind of technology with the likes of Lockheed Martin. 

NOMAD was displayed at CES 2016.  (It outclassed other AR displays I saw there.)

OLD NOMAD ARTICLE 

The issues they had to "overcome" (highlighted below) Picop is certainly able to do...



Microvision / Lockheed Martin

US ARMY

WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- A novel technology called "Tactical Augmented Reality," or TAR, is now helping Soldiers precisely locate their positions, as well as the locations of friends and foes, said Richard Nabors. 

It even enables them to see in the dark, all with a heads-up display device that looks like night-vision goggles, or NGV, he added. So in essence, TAR replaces NVG, GPS, plus it does much more.

Nabors, an associate for strategic planning at U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC, spoke about TAR at the Pentagon's Lab Day, Thursday.

Geek

The key, according to electronics engineer David Fellowes, was miniaturizing the image to fit the one-inch screen. Existing tech can compress pixels enough to fit on a smartphone-sized window. But CERDEC’s main challenge was creating new hardware to meet their needs.

By 2010, the department achieved that goal, creating a system that works in black-and-white and a greenish monochrome, which has already been fielded in certain units.

And while those versions are bright enough to be seen in daylight, CERDEC wants to produce more advanced models in full color, with an advanced brightness display.

“TARs will provide soldiers with a much higher level of situational awareness than they currently have,” Fellowes said, adding that he expects the devices will “save lives and contribute to mission success.”

Essential Phone -- Andy Rubin

The Essential phone popped up on the radar a couple of months ago. 

It's being headed by the creator of Android, Andy Rubin.

It's Modular (Still a better bet than embedded for now.) Motorola's moto-mods and it's moto-mod projector did quite well.


From STUFF -- more at the source

More than a mere startup, Essential is headed by Android creator Andy Rubin – a man who presumably knows what goes into making a great smartphone.

****

The Essential Phone won't be arriving on its lonesome - it'll be joined by a whole host of modular accessories that (according to company head honcho Andy Rubin) "keep your phone cord-free, future-proof, and always up-to-date".

Right now, this includes a minature 360° camera capable of 4K video recording at 30fps, and the Essential Phone Dock for wireless charging.

It's all thanks to the Click cordless connector, which sits on the back of the phone so you don't have to mess around with powering down just to switch out accessories - like you did on the LG G5.

Other accessories are still a mystery, but clearly Essential reckons it'll be a major reason to pick up a phone come launch day. With no headphone jack on board (just a dongle in the box), maybe that should be high on the list of modular upgrades.

iBeacons at Gatwick Airport

Interesting part of the ecosystem for augmented reality. When near-eye displays are available, this is the kind of thing you'll be able to wear.

Notice that it has a feed-back system. Could save tons of time for a lot of people, because it could tell you to hustle up, or not-bother if you're too far away and would cause a huge delay. 

This relatively simple thing could save a lot of people a lot of time and prevent needless airline delays -- which are really expensive.

iDownloading -- More at the source

Gatwick Airport, the UK’s second busiest airport after London Heathrow, has installed 2,000 battery-powered iBeacons for indoor navigation and passenger tracking.

Available across Gatwick Airport’s two terminals, the system is accurate up to three meters, much more reliable than GPS and enables an augmented-reality wayfinding tool so passengers can be shown directions in the camera view of their mobile device.

It could be used to inform passengers they’re running late and help them avoid missing flights.

Conceivably, Gatwick Airport could also take advantage of iBeacons for efficient queue management and to reduce congestion by being able to determine whether to offload luggage if a late passenger is far away.

Skreens

The ecosystem for screens that can proliferate with little physical presence will be helped dramatically when managing the sources of the video content gets easier.

All of this improves the ecosystem for PicoP adoption.

I know almost nothing about this company, but it appears to me they're onto something.

Skreens

Skreens For Smarthome

Skreens simple and powerful interface allows you to deliver experiences combining broadcast and streaming video, gaming, social media and Internet content, home automation and security feeds seamlessly combined on a single screen.

Increase customer satisfaction by making entertainment more enjoyable, news more informative, games more fun, and home automation more accessible.

Improve your revenues with Skreens; simply and amplify the value of all the services to your home entertainment solution.

Everyone KNOWS Best Buy is going down, right?

Watch this one unfold. 

37,000,000 shares short.  

Short Float

13.65%

At Finviz

Renault to Acquire Software R&D from Intel

There is a LOT of interest in this area, and a lot of moving parts.  

What the exact results of this deal will be we don't know. It's possible that Renault wants to sell technology as much as automobiles. 

In the realm of hardware for self driving cars, Microvision has a very nice place at the table. A great mid-range laser scanning technology.

Don't forget the recent highlighting of cooperation between Microvision and Intel. (This is no accident.)

AutomotiveIT


The R&D unit specializes in embedded software, which is important for the development of connected and autonomous cars. Renault said the acquisition, set to be finalized this year, will bring more than 400 software experts to the company.

***

The transaction doesn’t mean Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, is losing interest in the car industry. The California-based company has recently stepped up its automotive activities, focusing on autonomous-driving technologies.

Earlier this month, Intel opened a Silicon Valley innovation center for autonomous driving. And in March, it signed a definitive agreement to acquire sensor specialist Mobileye. Sensors are an important source of data future cars will need to drive autonomously.

Business World

To address the major technological challenges of the future and pursue profitable growth, Renault has four primary focuses: international development; complementary coverage across its three brands (Renault, Dacia and Renault Samsung Motors); electric vehicles; and its alliance with Nissan.

Just-Auto

"They'll be bringing Renault expertise, advanced methods and tools, plus access to a sound network of suppliers, laboratories and partner companies. Some teams already have automotive-specific skills in multimedia and connectivity."



The acquisition will proceed through Groupe Renault purchasing a company formed by Intel to take in the embedded software R&D activity at the Toulouse and Sophia Antipolis sites. The new company will be attached to the Groupe Renault Alliance Systems Engineering Department.

Verizon to offer new Video Streaming service

This is pretty interesting. This would probably be an ad-driven model for profit. That is one of the reasons that the Yahoo acquisition is important to it.


TechCrunch

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed the company’s plans to launch an over-the-top streaming service later this year, according to a report from Variety, citing remarks the CEO made at a telecom conference in Boston this week. Verizon (which owns TechCrunch parent company AOL), will use the combined platform of AOL and Yahoo – and their 1.3 billion users – to test the new platform, McAdam said.

The company expects to close on its acquisition of Yahoo mid-June, so the over-the-top service could arrive any time after that.

Improved Battery Life

Improving battery life is going to have HUGE benefits for mobile devices. If this is what it's cracked up to be, it's just another thing improving the ecosystem for PicoP.

Thanks for the heads-up Joe.

Treehugger.com

If your phone's battery life is the bane of your existence, then this is for you. Engineers at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), led by Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Ruyan Guo, have developed a chip that can extend the battery life of almost any gadget.

The tiny chip is only the size of a pinhead, but its potential is great. The chip can make lower power electronics like smartphones work much more efficiently, cutting back on the number of times you have to plug in and slashing the energy consumption of the electronics in our lives.

"This chip can be used with anything that runs on a battery," said UTSA researcher Shuza Binzaid. "It manages power so that the device can last longer."

When people want to extend the life of their phone's battery, usually that means switching it into low power mode which turns off many of the phone's functions in order to preserve the battery charge. With the chip, the same power sipping mode could be achieved while the phone was running at full functionality.