Samsung Slows Down
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| Samsung Slows Down | |
| Number | 540 |
| Broadcast Date | JULY 6, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 3:24 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Samsung sales slow, Tinder gets loopy and a blind robot that can walk just fine.
Headlines
- Samsung says it expects Q2 operating profit of 58 trillion won with 0.7% decline in sales and an 11 percent increase in profit. That would end its streak of four straight quarters of record profits. The Galaxy S9 is estimated to be the lowest-selling flagship for the company since the Galaxy S3. Sales of OLED panels later in the year could give Samsung a boost, though one of its main customers, Apple, is expected to shift some OLED orders to LG Display.
- Friday, Sonos filed for an initial public offering of stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol SONO. The filing notes Sonos has sold 19 million products to 6.9 million households worldwide, almost 3 products per customer. Revenue was up 10% in 2017 for a net loss of $14.2 million. In the section on known risks, Sonos notes Amazon can terminate the license for use of Amazon Voice Services with limited notice. Sonos is valued between $2.5 and $3 billion.
- Netflix notified users it will remove user reviews from its service. Netflix says usage of the written reviews has been declining. CNET reports Netflix will stop accepting new reviews on July 30 and remove them sometime in mid-August.
- Tinder launched its new Loops feature that adds two-second looping videos to your profile in addition of still photos. The feature is live for iOS users in the US, UK, Canada and some parts of Western Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
- India's Reliance Industries announced its mobile service, Jio will begin offering fiber-to-home broadband. JioGigaFiber will begin taking registrations on Independence Day, August 15. It will be rolled out in 1,100 cities, connecting 50 million homes. Jio has quickly become a top wireless carrier with cheap plans and free phones. The JioPhone 2 will also become available August 15.
- MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has developed an AI called PixelPlayer that can recognize instruments in a video and isolate the sounds they produce. You can select an instrument visible in a video and PixelPlayer will elevate that instrument's volume while lowering the volume of other instruments. PixelPlayer can identify 20 instruments though it has some trouble telling similar instruments apart. It could be helpful for audio editing and detecting environmental sounds like animals, vehicles or appliances.
- LG's latest guidance expects operating profit rose 16.1% in the latest quarter, slowed a bit by marketing costs for TVs, smartphones and appliances. LG had its highest profit in nine years in the previous quarter due to high-end TV sales.
- HTC says its sales fell 68% in June, the biggest drop in two years. HTC's high-end phones sold less than expected and its mid and entry level phones have not introduced significant new features or specs.
- Scientists at MIT have developed a robot called Cheetah 3 that can run, jump and climb stairs with obstacles, all without using visual sensors. An algorithm helps the robot decide what to do when it encounters an obstacle and another algorithm determine how much force to use in each action.
Links
| Preceded by: "European Parliament votes against copyright reform" |
Samsung Slows Down |
Followed by: "Xiaomi opens down in its Hong Kong IPO" |