The Chinese governmental business registration agency, QCC, has recently updated its database in January 2022, and a reporter from ITHome has noticed that Xiaomi recently invested in a small tech startup called Ultraception that focuses on UWB technology.

From the database, it is known that Ultraception was established in 2019, registered under its CEO Dong Zongyu, and the company is currently worth 6.5 million in shares after Xiaomi had purchased shares of the company. From its company description, the company also dabbles in the data server business, the semiconductor business and in the telecommunications business as well. 

Ultra-Wide Band technology, also commonly referred to as UWB in the industry, is a radio-based communication technology for short-range use and fast and stable transmission of data. It is set to replace the infrared light sensors found inside of our technology today because UWB technology consumes less energy compared to infrared technology.

Although UWB technology has been with humanity since the early 1990s, it was until the 2020s when the technology was readily available to the general public with the technology incorporated into our smartphones, smart home and trackers. Most notably, the Samsung SmartTag Plus and Apple Airtags were launched in 2021 with UWB technology on board to enable more accurate tracking in a more power-efficient manner, since these devices are not meant to be plugged into a power outlet daily.

As for details of how Xiaomi may use this UWB technology for its products in the future, Xiaomi demonstrated that it will use UWB technology for controlling its smart home devices. With help from software calculation algorithms, Xiaomi had achieved centimeter-level positioning and ±3° angle measurement accuracy using UWB technology.

Xiaomi says that this Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology gives smartphone and smart devices spatial perception capabilities, similar to something like Indoor GPS. With this technology, the user can just point the smartphone to any device and a control card for the same will automatically pop up on the screen.

As of now, only the Xiaomi Mix 4 supports the UWB technology but hopefully, with the latest update on Xiaomi investing more into UWB technology, we hope Xiaomi brings this technology to more of its devices in the future.

RELATED:

• Xiaomi Debuts “Pure Mode” on its MIUI in China, similar to “Security Check” Found on ColorOS
• Xiaomi’s latest Mi Mix 4 teasers point to a UWB tech & UD camera; Tempered glass leaks
• Xiaomi demonstrates Ultra Wide Band technology for controlling smart home devices

(Via)

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The Apple Car has been surfacing on numerous reports and rumors recently. It is the company’s iteration of an electric car, which will arrive cutting edge technology. Now, a new patent has suggested that the EV may arrive with infrared headlights to improve visibility.

According to an AutoEvolution report, the Cupertino based giant is working on infrared headlights to offer better visibility to the driver by as much as three times compared to conventional headlights. Furthermore, the brand also aims to help its autonomous car be able to see in total darkness, and by extension, detect obstacles, hazards, and other hurdles on the road. In the recent patent, the company describes a complex night vision system that would be used in its automobile.

Its visibility system would use visible light, near infrared (NIR), and long wave infrared (LWIR) sensors as well to greatly improve visibility in low light scenarios. The patent states that “Having a limited effective range (e.g., about 60 meters) for detecting and or classifying objects can reduce safety and/or reduce the speed at which the vehicle can travel safely.” Notably, Apple states that it can achieve an effective visible range of up to 200 meters from the vehicle.

This range would allow the autonomous car to detect any potential hazard earlier, which would give it more time to make better decisions while reducing the risk of accidents as well. Keep in mind, this is still a patent and we have no way of confirming if the company is actually working on such a system or that it would be included in its upcoming Apple Car. So stay tuned for more, as we will be providing updates when additional information is available.

RELATED:

• Apple Glass may feature holograms to create 3D virtual objects
• Apple patents a unique Apple Watch design, features Wrap Around Display
• Volkswagen CEO: “Not afraid” of the upcoming Apple Car

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The OnePlus 8 Pro is currently the flagship smartphone from the company. It is by far, one of its most premium handsets that features top notch specs and great cameras. However, it seems that the device has a few hidden abilities as well, being able to “see through” certain plastics when using particular color filters from its camera.

One of the best examples #OnePlus8Pro Color Filter Camera can see through some plastic pic.twitter.com/UkaxdyV6yP

— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) May 13, 2020

According to a tweet by Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin), the OnePlus 8 Pro’s camera is observed to able to see through an Apple TV’s body to reveal its internals. Ben also shared a video, which was a video screen capture from the smartphones. Furthermore, this prompted others to also attempt the same feat with tech reporting agencies publishing their findings as well.

Editor’s Pick: Honor X10 poster reveals notch-less display, pop-up camera and triple rear cameras

Digital Trends did their own digging into this hidden ability and found that the OnePlus 8 Pro’s camera can even see through the Nintendo Switch Pro Controler. According to their tests, the color filters through the camera can only see through plastics that don’t have any form of infrared shielding. Notably, it was also discovered that the OnePlus 8 Pro’s camera can pick up on infrared LED lights and more that cannot be observed by the naked eye.

The color filter that allows this ability to be highlighted is “Photochrom,” which can be found in the default OnePlus camera app. Although this isn’t a ground breaking feature, it still is quite impressive for a smartphone to have pseudo X-ray like vision. Additionally, this ability may not be exclusive to just the OnePlus 8 Pro as more smartphones have a similar sensor and a few specialize in infrared technology like the Pixel 4 and iPhone 11 series, albeit you can’t use them in that manner.

UP NEXT: iPhone SE 2020 sale begins in India on May 20 with Rs. 38,900 (~$515) starting price

(Via:1,2)

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Huawei has just launched its most innovative smartphone yet, the Huawei Honor Magic. The phone comes with a unique design as well as some great features, read on to find out more about the device.

The Huawei Honor Magic comes with a special design that’s curved on all the eight sides. Usually, we have seen dual curved smartphones that feature a curved display on the left and right side of the screen. This phone features a similar display, but the company has ensured that all the other six sides, including the ones on the back continue with a curved design, following a true symmetry.

The phone seems to be inspired from space, hence the deep black color along with a rose gold metal frame going around the body. Symmetry is an important aspect of the device and hence the SIM card slot, speakers, microphone as well as the charging ports are located at the bottom of the smartphone. So, rest of the body looks flawless. The company notes that incorporating a dual SIM card slot at the bottom of the Honor Magic was not easy but the phone has managed that feat.

On the topside of the front, which is curved as well, you have a camera sensor. There are a few other sensors as well like the infrared camera, ambient light sensor, and infrared LED light. There seems to be a special UV coating on the phone to make sure that these sensors remain relatively hidden. At the back, the camera on board is a standard 12MP monochrome + black & white sensor module (probably similar to the Honor 8), however, what’s really interesting is the camera design. First of all, Huawei boasts that the camera is completely flat, so it goes well with the overall design. The two sensors are placed a few centimeters apart in horizontal symmetry. Besides the two sensors, you have the standard dual LED flash.

But the innovation is not just in the design department. The main highlight of the Honor Magic is in its user-friendly software experience dubbed as the Magic Live. Some of the amazing features of the Honor Magic Live system are given below:

1. When you have the phone in your hand, it will make a note of this and whenever you get a call, it will just vibrate and not ring.
2. The phone can automatically light up the screen when you look at it as the Honor Magic can keep a track of your eyes.
3. The Honor Magic can recognize its owner. So, if there’s a new message, you can see the details of the message, but if anyone else takes a look at it, the phone will not reveal the details on the screen.
4. If you are in the dark, the Honor Magic will sense this automatically and recommend flashlight app on the screen.
5. Magic Live can bring up some useful information even while you are chatting. For example, if you someone asks you, where are you? the phone will offer the option to share your current location. Similarly, if you are chatting about your current weather, details about the same will be provided to you. Even if you talk about the weather of a different city, for example Beijing or Shenzhen, the Honor Magic’s Live system is smart enough to bring you details about the same.
6. Booking a movie ticket is super easy with its smart software. The magic live system can intelligently recommend current movies, if you are talking about movies in the chat. Also, if you are talking about booking, it can bring up relevant information as well as help in booking the ticket.
7. If you have an unknown number calling you, the software is smart enough to bring you details about its previous history, if any.
8. The smart software can also classify unread mails as promotions / advertisements / bills / meetings etc, based on the content of the mail. It can also create smart schedules for events that pop up via SMS or WeChat.
9. The Magic Live is also a smart shopper. When you are about to shop on your smartphone, the phone will automatically show you the lowest price along with price comparisons among different shopping platforms. After you shop, it will smartly help you to store the tracking information in your ‘My Favorites’ page.
10. If you want to get details about a particular travel destination, the Magic Live helps in that as well, by bringing you relevant pictures, reviews, weather etc. And you won’t have to type a single thing as the assistant analyses specific keywords such as ‘how about we travel to xx place’ to sense that relevant travel information has to be brought up on the screen.
11. There’s even a Magic Auto which is in development (evolutionary version only) which will simplying using the phone while driving your car.
12. Finally, it learns from you as you use it and becomes smarter at helping around in your daily tasks.

Note that there are two Magic Live systems available — Magic Live Stable and Magic Live Evolutionary version (sort of a beta version). The stable version comes with monthly upgrade cycle while the evolutionary version updates every two weeks. You can switch between the two versions easily and Huawei has even launched a dedicated phone support number for Honor Magic users.

Well, analyzing chats, reading your messages and providing you with relevant information is all well and good, but this brings the big issue of privacy. Huawei seems to have thought about this as well, because the Honor Magic Live system reportedly processes all data locally. Plus, there’s an encryption chip onboard and everything works after proper authorization from you. I am assuming that these features only pop up when you, the owner, has used his/ her fingerprint to access the device.

Well, this was all about the software. Let’s check out some of the other features of the Honor Magic.

Like expected the Huawei Honor Magic comes with the super fast charging technology which charges the phone up to 90% in just 30 minutes of charging.

Then there’s the Magic Touch home button which incorporates multiple gestures like single click for home, double click for multi-task panel and swiping for back. The phone comes with Kirin 950 chipset inside with 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The display seems to be of 5-inches with 2K resolution. That chip and memory combinations are not really flagship grade, at least not according to today’s standards, but it’s still decent enough. I guess the long development cycle, especially perfecting the assistant and software features (probably after finalizing the hardware) did push the specifications a generation behind.

Unlike the special features, Huawei did not reveal much about the core specs of the phone, so we will have to rely on the specs sheet that crops up a few hours later for these details. But until then, digest the information that’s given above.

As for the pricing, the Huawei Honor Magic is priced at 3699 Yuan (~$533). To be honest, I’m surprised it’s under 4000 Yuan, but this pricing definitely makes the unique Magic smartphone worth checking out.

The phone goes on sale via Vmall, JD.com, Lynx and Suning from 20:00 December 16 i.e. today.

Before Huawei ended the conference, it also confirmed that Android 7 Update for Honor V8 and Honor 8 rolls out today. The Honor Note 8 gets the update early next year.

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On the 15th of September 2015 ProDrone officially announced the ProDrone BYRD, featuring advancements in UAV technology.

The new ProDrone BYRD is aiming to be the most powerful and portable consumer drone currently offered by any major drone manufacturer, by focusing on power and portability they have managed to give the ProDrone BYRD a maximum payload of 3.8kg, or to put it another way my Canon 6D weighs in at 770g and my 24-105L lens a substantial  667g or 1.44kg this is a far cry from the carrying abilities of other drones and could result in extremely high quality photographic or Cinematography results.

Most people should be able to get around 30 minutes of flight time, this will be effected by heavy winds and flying style, as well as by the weight of load that is being carried.

An interesting option on the ProDrone BYRD is its ability to be operated by dual controllers, this could be very usefull if you are still mastering the drone and need the confidence another pair of hands can bring, it could also allow for inflight handovers when filming further than standard operating transmissions allow.

With flight times of up to 30 minutes, the ProDrone Byrd allows more than one user to operate the drone at once due to it’s dual controller capability and as the ProDrone BYRD features a modular payload system users can quickly swap out gimbal/camera combinations, saving valuable time and allowing them to capture and share those spectacular moments without missing a beat. 

Best of all the ProDrone BYRD packs up to a convenient and backpack friendly size (around the same as an iPad but obviously thicker).

The ProDrone BYRD will be launching later in 2015 and will cost between $800-3,000 (£516- £1935) depending upon package chosen.  Full pricing will be announced at official launch in Q4.

It would be great to review the ProDrone BYRD on its release, this looks like strong competition to the industry leading DJI drones.

Please leave comments below

Regards Shane

Originally posted on gadgetz.tv

Product Features:

• First fully collapsible package
• Absolute reliability
• Longer flight time
• Modular gimbal/camera options provide easily swappable combinations
• Camera options include 4K, 1080, infrared and GoPro
• Multi-controller option allows for easy teaching and sharing of a single UAV
• Screen sharing on up to three devices
• Follow me technology
• Advanced interior positioning
• HD Transmission
• Comprehensive safety features

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