Jumat, 04 Oktober 2019

Apple increases production of iPhone 11: sources - Nikkei Asian Review

TAIPEI -- Apple has told suppliers to increase their production of its latest iPhone 11 range by up to 10%, or 8 million units, the Nikkei Asian Review has learned, following better-than-expected demand worldwide for its new cut-price handset.

The increase in orders appears to validate Apple CEO Tim Cook's new strategy of enticing budget-conscious consumers with cheaper models amid the weakening world economy. The order boost of between 7 million and 8 million units is equivalent to total annual phone shipments this year by Google, a rising iPhone rival in Apple's home U.S. market.

"This autumn is so far much busier than we expected," one source with direct knowledge of the situation said. "Previously, Apple was quite conservative about placing orders," which were less than for last year's new iPhone. "After the increase, prepared production volume for the iPhone 11 series will be higher compared to last year," the source said.

Shares of Apple component manufacturers rose in Japan after publication of the Nikkei report, outperforming the broader market. Japan’s Minebea Mitsumi closed up 3%, troubled iPhone screen maker Japan Display rose by almost 2%, while Murata Manufacturing and Alps Alpine also gained.

Apple launched its three new iPhone models -- the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max -- in early September, and for the first time in its history reduced the starting price of the model upgrade, despite better cameras, to $699, compared to $749 for last year's iPhone XR.

Apple's new budget-conscious strategy came as the global smartphone market is expected to shrink overall for the third year running, according to research company IDC. In January, Cook acknowledged that "price is a factor" behind Apple's slowing sales, especially in emerging markets.

The recent surge in iPhone orders is concentrated in the cheapest iPhone 11 model and the iPhone 11 Pro model, sources said, while Apple has slightly revised down orders for its top of the range model, the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which has a starting price of $1,099.

Cook recently told German newspaper Bild that he could not be happier with the iPhone 11 launch and that its sales had enjoyed a "very strong start." Apple's share price has advanced nearly 40% this year and is now close to its October 2018 record high.

Nonetheless, suppliers remain cautious and said they were concerned that the higher level of orders would not be sustained.

"Demand is good for now. But we have to be careful not to be too optimistic," one executive-level source told the Nikkei. "I hope that this year's peak season lasts longer than last year."

One factor that may have helped boost demand temporarily is that Apple's iPhone 11 is still produced in China, and Washington has temporarily postponed a planned 10% tariff on China-made electronic imports. The delay in the tariff hike, from September to December 15, will help demand during the Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping seasons. Donald Trump has hardened his posture on trade talks with China, saying in September he did not want an interim truce.

Even so, the uptick in iPhone orders is a welcome change in recent fortunes for California-based Apple.

Last year, Apple asked key iPhone assemblers Foxconn, which formally trades as Hon Hai Precision Industry, and Pegatron to cancel additional production only weeks after the iPhone XR hit the shelves, as Nikkei Asian Review first reported in early November.

Then, this January, Apple made a rare move when it cut its quarterly sales forecast, blaming soft iPhone demand in China as its economy slowed.

A sustained rise in demand now would therefore counter the 2018 drop in iPhones sales -- the company's first since the iconic handset first launched in 2007.

"Apple's pricing strategy this year so far turns out to have boosted some initial sales and preorders. ... However, given the weakening world economy and uncertainties ahead, we are concerned whether the good demand will last long," said Chiu Shih-Fang, a veteran smartphone analyst at Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.

"Even if the second half is definitely better than the first half, we need to monitor if the lower average sale price could have an impact on Apple's total revenue."

Yasuo Nakane, head of global tech research at Mizuho Securities, said he had revised up 2019 iPhone production estimates to 194 million units from 178 million -- although that is still less than the 208.8 million iPhones sold in 2018.

All models in the iPhone 11 range have better cameras than last year's, and are equipped with facial recognition and wireless charging features similar to 2018.

Unlike rivals Samsung Electronics, Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi and Oppo, Apple did not introduce 5G compatibility, the next generation wireless communication standard that enables faster data transfer and low latency.

In the first half of 2019, Apple suffered a nearly 25% decline in iPhone shipments, compared to 2018, according to IDC -- far worse than its main rivals, Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies. The world's top two smartphone makers, respectively saw an almost 2% drop and a nearly 26% surge in shipments over the same period.

Apple declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Nikkei staff writer Yifan Yu

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https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Apple-increases-production-of-iPhone-11-sources

2019-10-04 07:06:00Z
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Apple orders 10% boost to iPhone 11 production - Nikkei - Seeking Alpha

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  1. Apple orders 10% boost to iPhone 11 production - Nikkei  Seeking Alpha
  2. Just Updated to iOS 13? Change These Eight Settings Now  How-To Geek
  3. Apple iPhone 11 Review  PhoneArena
  4. iPhone 11 Deep Fusion camera is now available to try in iOS 13.2 public beta  CNET
  5. Apple’s Shock New iPhone Revealed In Stunning Leak  Forbes
  6. View full coverage on Google News

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3503918-apple-orders-10-percent-boost-iphone-11-production-nikkei

2019-10-04 05:42:00Z
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Kamis, 03 Oktober 2019

The Morning After: Microsoft's Surface event and our dual-screen future - Engadget

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to Thursday and the aftermath of a very hectic Microsoft event that encompassed Surface Laptops, portables and the dual-screen future. Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation is warming up to cross-play possibilities, and we offer guidance in the confusing world of soundbars.


Our dual-screen future is here... next year.Surface Neo and Duo

Microsoft's Surface Neo, the larger laptop-sized device, and Surface Duo (pictured above), a more svelte phone, are bets on the future of dual-screen devices. They hearken back to the original Surface, which paved the way for the plethora of 2-in-1 and convertible PCs we see today. Devindra Hardawar even got some hands-on impressions of both -- unfortunately they weren't turned on for him to use.

The Surface Duo will run Android across two 5.6-inch screens that provide a total 8.3 inches of space for multitasking or comfortable thumb typing. It can fold 360 degrees to help you take a phone call, too. Currently scheduled to ship for the 2020 holiday season.

The Surface Neo tablet packs two 9-inch screens that combine into a 13-inch area that helps with multitasking. And if you need to type a long message, there's a compact wirelessly charging keyboard that effectively turns the Neo into a laptop. This is the first known device to use Intel's Lakefield processor, too, and it'll be the flagship hardware for Windows 10X. It's also scheduled to ship late next year.


Meet Windows 10x.Microsoft is making an operating system for dual-screen PCs

Windows 10X is considerably more efficient than standard Windows and sports an interface optimized for dual screens, including more elegant app placement and a more touch-friendly Start menu. It'll arrive alongside the Surface Neo and other dual-screen PCs in fall 2020.


You knew they were coming.Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X

Leaks exposed a lot of the Surface lineup early, but since these are the devices that will be available this year, we'll run down the details quickly.

The 13-inch Surface Pro X runs on a custom Snapdragon-influenced SQ1 processor that allows for an extremely slim and light (0.2in and 1.68lbs) body even though it packs LTE connectivity. According to Cherlynn Low, its PixelSense display looked bright and inviting, and it felt lighter than the Galaxy Tab S6 and iPad Pro. It goes on sale November 6th -- with a new Slim Pen stylus -- at a starting price of $999.

The Surface Pro 7 makes the leap to 10th-gen Intel chips, USB-C (plus USB-A) and more powerful microphones -- although the battery life has shrunk to about 10 hours. It'll come with 10th-generation Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors and start at $749, lower than its predecessor's $899 base price, when it goes on sale October 22nd.

Finally, the Surface Laptop 3 brings major revisions to the line with a 15-inch AMD Ryzen-powered model and 10th-gen Intel Ice Lake Core processors in the 13.5-inch system.


Your new office headphones?Microsoft's Surface Earbuds are productivity-focused true wireless headphones

Amid all the laptops and multi-screened devices, Microsoft's Surface Earbuds broke cover. They're touch- and voice-enabled with omnisonic sound and boast a pair of mics in each bud. They come with a charging case and have a battery life of up to 24 hours. The Earbuds are designed with Office 365 in mind and include Outlook calendar and email access with your voice.

If you wear them while giving a presentation, Microsoft will be able to display captions of what you're saying in real-time on the screen and even translate your speech into one of more than 60 languages. The Surface Earbuds will start at $249, and they'll ship during the holiday season.


Whether or not it's turning a profit is another story.Tesla's Q3 electric car deliveries set another record

Tesla's record-setting second-quarter deliveries weren't a fluke, it seems. The EV builder has broken its record again with about 97,000 cars reaching customers over the summer. That's not a huge leap over the 95,356 EVs delivered in Q2, but it's a stark contrast to the sharp drop-off at the start of 2019.

And crucially, these are newcomers adding to Tesla's ranks. Much like in Q2, "nearly all" of the 79,600 Model 3s delivered in the period went to customers who didn't hold a reservation. That's a sign of "strong organic demand," if you ask Tesla. For the company, the challenge will be turning this momentum into profit. Shrinking US subsidies have made it more expensive to buy a Tesla, and competition is looming.

Meanwhile, Tesla's Smart Summon has been used more than half a million times -- and regulators are carefully watching all those "fail" videos...


'Fortnite' and 'Rocket League' were among the first to add it through a beta.Sony opens up PS4 cross-platform multiplayer access to all developers

For a long time, Sony was resistant to letting people play PS4 games with their friends on other consoles and platforms. It eventually cracked open the door with a cross-play beta for Fortnite a little over a year ago, and now it's allowing all developers to make use of cross-platform capabilities. Sony didn't announce the news with huge fanfare. It was almost as an aside in a Wired story about its cloud-gaming ambitions. Let's see how many developers bite.

But wait, there's more...


The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't Subscribe.

Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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https://www.engadget.com/2019/10/03/the-morning-after/

2019-10-03 11:15:18Z
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Google Lens now has 'style ideas' to help you look fabulous - Android Police

Google Lens is a popular and nifty app with several powerful functions: search with your camera, translate text you see, identify objects, and more. Starting today, it's being upgraded with a new feature called "style ideas" that's meant to give you "outfit inspiration from around the web."

Here is how "style ideas" is supposed to work inside Google Lens: when you see an article of clothing you like, inside a store or on a website, take a picture of it. Google Lens will first display search results for what it thinks is the item and lay out merchant websites that sell it. When you scroll down further, Lens will show pictures of people wearing the said item in different outfit configurations and styles. After looking over these "style ideas," you are then meant to decide whether that clothes would be a good fit for your personal style and preference.

If you normally have a hard time imagining how a certain outfit will look on you, go open Google Lens (either from the below-linked app, or from the Camera app on some devices), start taking some pictures, and give "style ideas" a whirl.

Google Lens
Google Lens
Price: Free

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https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/10/03/google-lens-now-has-style-ideas-to-help-you-look-fabulous/

2019-10-03 10:00:00Z
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Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL full specs leaked - Android Police

We are 13 days away from the Made by Google event on October 15th and leaks about the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL continue gushing out. We've already seen the official press renders and covered new functions which are possibly exclusive only to the Pixel 4 devices. One of the latest leaks to come out spills the beans on what's inside the Pixel 4 devices and what will be included in the box.

The report by 9to5 Google confirms mostly what we already suspected — both Pixel devices will be powered by the Snapdragon 855 SOC, come equipped with 6GB of RAM, have 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, feature OLED displays, carry two cameras on the back, and include the Titan M Security Module. Here is the leaked photo of the official spec sheet:

The only significant piece of information that wasn't spotlighted by the previous leaks is the mention of the "Pixel Neural Core" — it's likely a new camera-related marketing term that supersedes the previous "Pixel Visual Core" terminology. We'll know for certain come the 15th.

Also leaked was a list of items that'll be included in the box for the US Pixel 4: a 1-meter USB-C to USB-C cable, an 18W USB-C charger, a Quick Switch Adapter, a SIM tool, and a Quick Start Guide.

With such an influx of leaks coming out on an almost daily basis, we wonder if there will be any surprises left before the phones are officially unveiled on the 15th.

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https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/10/03/google-pixel-4-and-pixel-4-xl-full-specs-leaked/

2019-10-03 07:42:00Z
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Rabu, 02 Oktober 2019

Google is making it easier to check if your passwords have been compromised in a data breach - The Verge

Google has a password manager that syncs across Chrome and Android, and now the company is adding a “password checkup” feature that will analyze your logins to ensure they haven’t been part of a massive security breach — and there have been oh so many of those. Password checkup was already available as an extension, but now Google is building it right into Google account controls. And it’ll be prominently featured at passwords.google.com, which is the URL shortcut to Google’s password manager.

Your login credentials are compared against the millions upon millions of known compromised accounts that’ve been part of major breaches. Google says that it also monitors the dark web to some extent for collections of passwords — but most of the database that password checkup compares against comes from crawling the open web.

If your password has been included in a breach, Google will encourage you to change the affected password. Same goes for if Google sees that you’re reusing passwords, which is a terrible practice; everything should have a unique login. And of course, Google will also notify you of accounts using weak passwords that are on the easy-to-guess end of the spectrum. In the case of the extension, passwords were hashed and encrypted before being sent to Google:

Since Password Checkup relies on sending your confidential information to Google, the company is keen to emphasize that this is encrypted, and that it has no way of seeing your data. Passwords in the database are stored in a hashed and encrypted form, and any warning that’s generated about your details is entirely local to your machine.

One point I raised with Mark Risher, Google’s director of account security, is that consumers are increasingly being asked to store their passwords in several places at once. Apple has iCloud Keychain. Google has this. And then you’ve got 1Password, LastPass, and other dedicated third-party password managers. What’s someone to do? Pick a horse and stick with it? Or try to keep multiple password managers in sync? The potential for mismatches or having an old, incorrect password in one of these places is pretty high. Google doesn’t really have a great answer for this issue, but says that it supports importing passwords and will be working to make that process smoother over the coming months.

To coincide with Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Google partnered with The Harris Poll to check up on the password habits of people in the US, and the results are pretty worrying. Too many are still including items that a stranger could easily find out — like a birthday, pet’s name, etc. — in their passwords. And not enough people are talking advantage of extra security measures like two-factor authentication (only 37 percent of respondents are using it) and password managers (15 percent).

66 percent of those polled said they use the same password for more than one online account. And when it comes to sharing with a significant other, only 11 percent said they changed their Netflix (or other streaming service) password after a breakup.

Password reuse is the main thing Google is trying to discourage, because using the same password for multiple services could put you in a dire situation should one of them be compromised. If you’re not a fan of digital password managers, just write ‘em down somewhere at home. Even that’s a good option if you can keep prying eyes away since you won’t repeat the same password.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/2/20892854/google-password-checkup-hack-detection-now-available

2019-10-02 10:00:00Z
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AMD Ryzen Pro 3000 series desktop CPUs will offer full RAM encryption - Ars Technica

Promotional image of computer with cityscape in background.
Enlarge / Mmmmm, business-y. Don't expect to build your own Ryzen Pro 3000 system—the new chips are, sadly, only available to large OEMs.
AMD

Monday, AMD announced Ryzen Pro 3000 desktop CPUs would be available in Q4 2019. This of course raises the question, "What's a Ryzen Pro?"

The business answer: Ryzen Pro 3000 is a line of CPUs specifically intended to power business-class desktop machines. The Pro line ranges from the humble dual-core Athlon Pro 300GE all the way through to Ryzen 9 Pro 3900, a 12-core/24-thread monster. The new parts will not be available for end-user retail purchase and are only available to OEMs seeking to build systems around them.

Model Cores/Threads  TDP Boost/Base Freq. Graphics Compute Units
 Ryzen 9 Pro 3900 12/24 65W 4.3GHz / up to 3.1GHz n/a
 Ryzen 7 Pro 3700 8/16 65W 4.4GHz / up to 3.6GHz n/a
 Ryzen 5 Pro 3600 6/12 65W 4.2GHz / up to 3.6GHz n/a
 Ryzen 5 Pro 3400G 4/8 65W 4.2GHz / up to 3.7GHz 11 CUs
 Ryzen 5 Pro 3400GE 4/8 35W 4.0GHz / up to 3.3GHz 11 CUs
 Ryzen 3 Pro 3200G 4/8 65W 4.0GHz / up to 3.6GHz 8 CUs
 Ryzen 3 Pro 3200GE 4/8 35W 3.8GHz / up to 3.3GHz 8 CUs
 Athlon Pro 300GE 2/4 35W 3.4GHz / up to 3.4GHz 3 CUs

From a more technical perspective, the answer is that the Ryzen Pro line includes AMD Memory Guard, a transparent system memory encryption feature which appears to be equivalent to the AMD SME (Secure Memory Encryption) in Epyc server CPUs. Although AMD's own press materials don't directly relate the two technologies, their description of Memory Guard—"a transparent memory encryption (OS and application independent DRAM encryption) providing a cryptographic AES encryption of system memory"—matches Epyc's SME exactly.

AMD Memory Guard is not, unfortunately, available in standard Ryzen 3000 desktop CPUs. If you want to build your own Ryzen PC with full memory encryption from scratch, you're out of luck for now.

HP's EliteDesk 705 G5 Small Form Factor and EliteDesk G5 Mini will be among the first PCs to feature the new Ryzen Pro 3000 CPUs. The SFF desktop PC will be available with the Athlon Pro 300GE APU, the Ryzen 3 Pro 3200G, or Ryzen 5 Pro 3400G. The Mini offers the same selection, along with the Ryzen 3 3200GE and Ryzen 5 3400GE low-power variants.

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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/10/amd-ryzen-pro-3000-series-desktop-cpus-will-offer-full-ram-encryption/

2019-10-02 10:30:00Z
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