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Is Samsung Overly Reliant on Smartphones?

Is Samsung Overly Reliant on Smartphones?

Samsung Electronics achieved record earnings in the third quarter of this year, but experts warn that the smartphone market faces huge risks. The biggest problem is Samsung's dangerously high reliance on smartphones to drive up revenues.

Although the electronics giant did not reveal earnings by individual business division, analysts believe the mobile division, which includes smartphones, accounts for 65 percent of total quarterly operating profit of W10.1 trillion (US$1=W1,070).

In turn, Samsung Electronics accounts for 66 percent of the entire Samsung Group's revenues. That means that slow smartphone sales could rattle the entire group badly. Experts warn that Samsung must come up with new growth engines for a time when the global smartphone market is saturated. Otherwise it could go the way of former rivals Nokia and Blackberry.

Samsung is confident that its strong performance in the smartphone market will continue. Sales of the Galaxy S4 rema in strong, and those of the Galaxy Note 3 released recently will be reflected in fourth-quarter earnings, according to the company.

But market conditions are not entirely favorable. Market growth for premium smartphones is slowing, and Chinese rivals are catching up quickly in low- and mid-priced phones, which have the strongest growth potential in the years ahead.

Even Apple, which stuck to high-end phones for years, has started to sell mid-priced phones as well.

It remains to be seen whether Samsung can meet its target of selling 100 million Galaxy 4Ss, said Kim Ji-woong at E*trade Securities. He said analysts lowered their earnings expectations for Samsung Electronics, triggering its share price and market cap to fall. In June, JP Morgan lowered its smartphone output forecast for Samsung, causing the company's market cap to decline by W15 trillion in a single day.

Read this article in Korean

User manual of the LG Nexus 5 leaked with specifications

User manual of the LG Nexus 5 leaked with specifications

What can I do to prevent this in the future?

If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware.

If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices.

As MacBook Air ages, Apple rivals show the way to Retina

As MacBook Air ages, Apple rivals show the way to Retina

HP Spectre 13 is 3.25 pounds, 15mm thick, and can be equipped with a 2,560-by-1,440 touch display. The raw physical specs mimic a 13-inch MacBook Air -- minus the very high resolution display.

(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

The Windows 8.1 crowd is demonstrating that a Retina version of the MacBook Air is possible if Apple is willing.

Certain aspects of the Air are getting long in the tooth. Particularly the display. That shortcoming forced me to trade in my Air -- I got the first MBA in March 2008 and used it and newer versions for the next four years -- for a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina.

I needed the extra desktop space the scaled display settings provide (1,680x1,050 in my case), and I appreciate the clarity of a Retina screen.

That said, I miss the Air's tablet-esque portability.

Enter the latest round of Windows 8.1 featherweight lappies, which trounce the MBA's unimpressive 1,440x900 (13-inch MBA) and 1,366 x768 (11-inch) resolutions.

Let's look at some of the competition that was announced this week to see just what Apple is up against now. All come with Intel's latest "Haswell" processors.

• HP Spectre 13: At just over 3 pounds and about 0.6-inches thick, it's pretty close to the current 13-inch MacBook Air. But it can be configured with a 2,560x1,440 touch display. That resolution is only a little less than the 13-inch MacBook Pro and not enough for anyone to see the difference: 227 pixels per inch for the MBP vs. 220 for Spectre 13. It starts at $1,000.
  
• Dell XPS 11: The XPS 11 weighs 2.5-pounds, is 0.57-inches thick, and sports a chassis made from machined aluminum and carbon fiber. Dell squeezes a 2,560x1,440 resolution touch display with 400 nit brightness into an 11.6-inch design. That blows away the 11-inch MBA. To wit, that's 253 pixels per inch for the Dell vs. a mere 135 for the MBA. It will start at $1,000.
  
• Sony Vaio Pro 11: While this was announced back in June, it's a good competitive yardstick. The 2-pound 11.6-inch Vaio Pro comes with a 1,920x1,080 touch screen. That handily beats the Air's screen. And the price isn't too bad either: $1,150 (and $1,100 at some online retailers) with a 128GB SSD.
  

Here's another feature the Windows camp can crow about. All of the above have touch screens.

Despite what Apple has said in the past about the ergonomic impracticality of a touch screen on a laptop (e.g., your arm will get tired pocking at a vertical screen), it's becoming a feature de rigueur.

A word of advice: Hey Apple, I know you're a "post-PC" company but let's update the Air and bring it into the post-grainy-screen era.

2013 MacBook Air. A good design that's getting old in some respects.

(Credit: Apple)

Valve reveals haptic game controller for release in 2014

Valve reveals haptic game controller for release in 2014

27 September 2013 Last updated at 14:32 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News The controller has two trackpads that provide haptic feedback

Games developer and publisher Valve has shown off its Steam Controller, the final part of its strategy to bring its PC-based platform to the living room.

The controller offers two trackpads which provide "haptic" feedback capable of delivering various physical sensations to the player.

Valve said it offers a better way to play games that have traditionally been controlled with a keyboard and mouse.

Gamers have been invited test the device before it goes on sale in 2014.

"Traditional gamepads force us to accept compromises," the company said via its announcement page.

"We've made it a goal to improve upon the resolution and fidelity of input that's possible with those devices.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis - Valve's week of news

John Walker Editor, Rock Paper Shotgun

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As innovative and successful a company as Valve certainly is, they're taking some risks here.

Not least their belief that the market they're aiming for is so large. PC games, those distinct to the platform, tend to be focused on more intimate interaction, with the vast complexity of a mouse and keyboard for controls.

It's not a medium that immediately lends itself to a handheld controller from the other side of a room.

It's also worth noting that their idea is not especially novel. Media boxes, and even wheezing PC towers, already sit by a lot of people's televisions, streaming appropriate games from machines in another room, or capable of gaming themselves.

A decent portion of that perceived audience who wants to play PC from afar has likely botched something for themselves. I know I have.

For this to work, Valve is going to have to pitch some really superb tech, running in a small, super-quiet machine, at a very competitive price.

Those are a lot of factors to get right, if they want to seriously compete with the behemoths of sitting room gaming.

"The Steam controller offers a new and, we believe, vastly superior control scheme, all while enabling you to play from the comfort of your sofa."

Research and testing

The controller is the third announcement the company has made this week. On Monday, it outlined plans to create an entire Linux-based operating system for running games, and followed up on Wednesday with details of the Steam Machine, essentially a new type of games console.

The widely-anticipated controller completes what Valve will hope is a strategy that can shift gamers that use traditional PCs - which is seen as a market headed for decline - and coax them into the living room.

However, the biggest challenge the company faces in doing so is in convincing gamers who have spent years playing titles, particularly first-person shooters, by using a combination of keyboard and mouse that a handheld controller can offer a more enjoyable solution.

The company said it had spent a year researching and testing different control methods. It said the haptic feedback offered new possibilities for creating immersive gaming.

"This haptic capability provides a vital channel of information to the player - delivering in-game information about speed, boundaries, thresholds, textures, action confirmations, or any other events about which game designers want players to be aware."

The company is to send out 300 early versions of the controller to people who sign up for beta testing.

Giant owl eyes

Rob Crossley, associate editor of Computer and Video Games, has been following Valve's announcements throughout this week. He has described the latest move as "fearless".

"Controller design standards haven't changed since the first PlayStation... the D-pad, the two sticks... that's evolved only slightly over the last 20 years.

"Sure, it looks a little funny - those two giant owl eyes - but I think that this could lead to a change in the way we look at controllers."

Valve is banking on the trackpads providing the same kind of precision offered by a mouse, Mr Crossley added.

Valve will solicit feedback on the controller from 300 early beta testers

"I think they believe this is their best attempt at trying to map the precision of the mouse onto a gamepad.

"If it does pay off, if they do manage to emulate the mouse on a controller, that opens up whole new genres."

Some had speculated - somewhat hopefully - that Valve would make a surprise announcement about the next instalment in its Half-Life series.

However, there was no mention of the game in any of Valve's announcements - but many now speculate that Half-Life 3 could be a launch title for the new Steam system and controller.

"The natural thinking is surely they will show off Half-Life 3 when SteamOS is launched," said Mr Crossley.

"A lot of people are also saying that it would be exclusive to the Steam Machine - but that would be a very un-Valve-like thing to do. They've always been very open."

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

Google unveils major upgrade to search algorithm

Google unveils major upgrade to search algorithm

26 September 2013 Last updated at 18:21 ET By Richard Taylor North America Technology Correspondent

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Google search expert Amit Singhal outlines his vision

Google has unveiled an upgrade to the way it interprets users' search requests.

The new algorithm, codenamed Hummingbird, is the first major upgrade for three years.

It has already been in use for about a month, and affects about 90% of Google searches.

At a presentation on Thursday, the search giant was short on specifics but said Hummingbird is especially useful for longer and more complex queries.

Google stressed that a new algorithm is important as users expect more natural and conversational interactions with a search engine - for example, using their voice to speak requests into mobile phones, smart watches and other wearable technology.

Hummingbird is focused more on ranking information based on a more intelligent understanding of search requests, unlike its predecessor, Caffeine, which was targeted at better indexing of websites.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We just changed Google's engines mid-flight - again”

End Quote Amit Singhal Senior VP, Google Search

It is more capable of understanding concepts and the relationships between them rather than simply words, which leads to more fluid interactions. In that sense, it is an extension of Google's "Knowledge Graph" concept introduced last year aimed at making interactions more human.

In one example, shown at the presentation, a Google executive showed off a voice search through her mobile phone, asking for pictures of the Eiffel Tower. After the pictures appeared, she then asked how tall it was. After Google correctly spoke back the correct answer, she then asked "show me pictures of the construction" - at which point a list of images appeared.

Big payoffs?

However, one search expert cautioned that it was too early to determine Hummingbird's impact. "For me this is more of a coming out party, rather than making me think 'wow', said Danny Sullivan, founder of Search Engine Land.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Tamar Yehoshua of Google Search demonstrates Google's new user interface, by looking for information on impressionist painters

"If you've been watching this space, you'd have already seen how they've integrated it into the [predictive search app] Google Now and conversational search.

"To know that they've put this technology further into their index may have some big payoffs but we'll just have to see how it plays out," Mr Sullivan said.

The news was announced at an intimate press event at the Silicon Valley garage where founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page worked on the launch of the search engine, which is fifteen years old on Friday.

At the event, the search behemoth also announced an updated search app on Apple's iOS, as well as a more visible presence for voice search on its home page.