The phones will use the built-in Gemini Nano, Google’s most efficient model for large languages, and gain access to Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 technologies for text-to-image conversion via the cloud.

“We will reshape the technology landscape, we will open a new chapter without barriers to unleash your potential,” TM Roh, the president of Samsung’s mobile experience division, told a crowd in San Jose, California.

Live Translate

Live Translate is one of the first features announced that will translate phone calls in real time in 13 languages and 17 dialects.

New New New

Users will have the capability to utilize AI-driven summariza tion and classification functions within Samsung’s native applications like Notes, Voice Recorder, and the keyboard.

The Imagen model will empower users to execute intricate photo editing operations within the Gallery app, offering a tool that can enhance photo quality but also raises concerns about the potential for creating deceptive images.

Chat Assist

Chat Assist is the next feature that Samsung has introduced. Chat Asyst takes on the editorial role when writing messages – both in formal and informal environments.

Circle To Search

Additionally, the upcoming phones will feature Google’s “Circle To Search,” enabling individuals to encircle text snippets, segments of images, or videos to promptly retrieve search results related to the highlighted content.

Anticipated to hit the market by the end of January, these new phones promise enhanced functionalities and a seamless user experience.

For more details about the new features visit here.

Humanoid robot company 1X Technologies, based in Mountain View, California, has raised $100 million in Series B funding with participation from Swedish venture capital firm EQT Ventures.

The company was able to raise more than $125 million in less than a year after raising $23.5 million in Series A2 funding from OpenAI and Tiger Global in early 2023.

This funding will support the production of safe and advanced androids at commercial scale. 1X Technologies’ biggest goal to date is to meet global employee needs.

The funds will also support 1X’s corporate customers in logistics and security.

NEO – the new home assistant

Meet NEO

The humanoid robot company has intentions to use the new capital, for its second generation Android NEO. Designed as a bipedal humanoid, NEO has a mission to help with everyday domestic activities.

The company asserts that what distinguishes NEO from other humanoid robots is its gentle and inherently secure design. In contrast to industrial machines, NEO is devoid of pinch-points or potential hazards, aligning with our dedication to providing a secure and user-friendly Android for consumers.

This focus on safety is crucial in bringing our vision to fruition, aiming to introduce a dependable and practical android into everyday life.

NEO’s soft construction resembling human features makes it safer and more comfortable than other robots. With a head, arms and legs similar to our own, NEO interacts with the world in a familiar way, performing activities such as walking, grasping objects and expressing emotions through facial cues.

Although NEO finds application in various sectors such as security, logistics, manufacturing, machine control and complex task management, its overall vision extends to becoming a valuable home assistant.

Envisioned for a long-term role in performing activities such as cleaning and organizing, NEO aims to integrate seamlessly into home life, increasing convenience and support for users.

While the company’s EVE android is currently working in logistics and guarding serving the enterprise market, NEO will be introduced into domestic environments, entering the household market first. It is on a fast track to market release and will be launched and available for consumers to pre-order within a short time.

In May, the company said it planned to lay off employees to cut costs after suffering losses.

The cuts will take effect at the end of the month. According to sources, Intel will lay off 10 GPU software engineers, 8 system software development engineers, 6 cloud software engineers, 6 product marketing engineers and 6 system-on-chip design engineers, as well as other employees.

Earlier this year, in May, Intel announced its cost-cutting plan in a difficult macroeconomic environment.

In June this year, however, there were rumors that the company was planning to sell its Bengaluru office as it would continue to focus on the Hybrid-first model.

The FTC has been investigating the company on a number of fronts, and the upcoming case will be one of the highest-profile moves in the Biden administration’s difficult effort to rein in the tech giants.

The trial is expected to take place in August. According to sources, a number of Amazon’s business practices will be challenged during the trial. If won, it could lead to a $1.3 trillion judicial restructuring of the empire and determine the legacy of Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lina Khan.

Khan is notoriously skeptical of big tech, publishing an academic paper back in 2017 defining Amazon as a modern monopolist that needs to be reined in.

Some say the focus will turn to challenging Amazon Prime, Amazon rules that the FTC says block lower prices on competing websites, and policies that the FTC says force merchants to use Amazon’s logistics and advertising services.

Over the past three years, the FTC has collected millions of documents from Amazon and third parties to build its case, and has even questioned CEO Andy Jassy and former CEO Jeff Bezos, according to some people.

Among the potential lawsuits are allegations similar to existing lawsuits already filed by the attorneys general of Washington and California, according to sources. Those lawsuits center on Amazon’s rules that require third-party retailers to offer their lowest prices on Amazon’s platform, thereby cutting off the ability to lower prices elsewhere.

Moments before the end of the workday arrives, the only thing employees are dreaming about is slowly closing their laptops and walking to the elevator to finally get home.

The newly remodeled offices of software company Expensify in San Francisco represent a different way of working, proving that it may not be so boring and making employees look forward to the day they will start working again.

At the end of the working day it is in these offices that something unseen elsewhere happens. The bartender, whom employees like to call “the concierge”, uses a large cutlass to open the cap of a champagne bottle. Blowing the drink onto the beautiful blue carpet, the employees begin to cheer and clap.

Why is there a bartender in the office of a tech company?
The company’s newly renovated downtown space has a sleek bar on the 16th floor with premium liquor and a list of specialty cocktails. It seems like the perfect place where employees can work on their laptops, sip a Moscow mule or draft beer and keep working. Sounds like a dream come true, right?

The cocktail list includes standard drinks like martinis and negronis, as well as the most popular liqueurs, and also CEO David Barrett’s favorite: an old-fashioned with a branded ice cube depicting the first letter that begins the company’s name: “E.”

Compilation for productivity
Expensify’s head of public relations James Dean defines the bar as a kind of experiment, a combination between a social club and a place that predisposes people to be super productive.

The idea of creating this bar has been around since before the pandemic, which totally messed up everyone’s plans as people started working from their homes and remotely.

Video game rooms, foosball tables and more
San Francisco seems to boast other companies that are breaking the classic and, for some employees, boring work pattern by remodeling their offices, albeit after a brief pandemic-induced hiatus, with tech goodies like video game rooms and foosball tables (and a bar). And increasingly, many are also incorporating restaurant-style cubicles and more communal spaces to satisfy employees’ thirst for casual workplace interaction, the lack of which has caused telecommuting.

Expensify’s space, which the company calls a lounge, has no separate offices, but includes many meeting rooms located around the perimeter where employees can slip away to have a conversation or work in peace. There are meeting rooms with fresh and colorful couches, fluffy cushions that point to the streets of downtown. There are tropical plants, photos of exotic places and copper inlays everywhere.

Sabrage – Productivity lies in the unconventional?
The long table just behind the bar is where most employees choose to work, chat and write on their laptops before being interrupted by the afternoon “sabrage” ceremony known as opening a bottle of champagne with a sabre.

This roundtable style of working has been a hallmark of the company since it first moved into the building in 2015, before Expensify moved its headquarters to Portland, Ore. A much smaller table is set up in a side room, around which employees used to gather during work hours when they only had part of the 16th floor.

Since many bars and restaurants have closed since the pandemic began, the company has been licensed to sell about a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of liquor – far less than the $500,000 it was making before the pandemic, according to saloon operations manager Nikki Walroth, due to the massive closures.

As you read about this bar, you might be wondering if it is currently operating? The lounge is available for Expensify employees and for events, but will officially open to customers and guests on April 24.

Weddings, engagements and work
The original idea for the entertainment venue was to not only have a venue that offered free alcohol for employees, but also to create a perk for Expensify cardholders and customers.

And that’s still the case. But how the space will be used depends largely on the people who have access to it.

“My wedding reception was here”,

says Expensify employee Nick Tucker, sitting at the bar with an open laptop, sipping a Moscow mule as the sun illuminated the mahogany and crystal tones of the bottles in front of him.

The idea to share his most special moment at this place came from a colleague and employee of his who also had an engagement here.

The company has five offices, including its Portland headquarters, as well as offices in London, New York and Ironwood, Michigan. But because it is still sticking to its plans for remote work access while many other companies mandate a return to the office, the purpose of those offices has changed significantly.

Though it has invested heavily in office renovations – the Portland headquarters is located in an old bank building with soaring columns and a vault – Expensify doesn’t call on employees to fill desks. Rather, the current purpose of these offices are focused on the social aspects of the job that can’t happen while employees are confined to their homes.

“I’ll go home, but I’ll also work.”

says public relations manager Dean, who is an Ironwood native and plans to reunite employees at that office in August.

About 30 people from the company signed up to spend some time in the small Upper Peninsula Michigan town.

The desire to recapture the social aspects of work that the pandemic and telecommuting erased is even leading to new ventures. Social co-working clubs have sprung up in San Francisco and the Bay Area, attracting members supportive of socializing with people in a casual work atmosphere supported by an afternoon cocktail or glass of wine.

Expensify’s office is just one example. But even with the complimentary cocktails and social atmosphere, the lounge is still a place to work quietly and at the same time, a place to spend leisure time.

And that was obvious even before the champagne popped. There were about three employees at the bar, their eyes fixed on the screens of their laptops, cocktail in hand, while the rest worked quietly at the large central table.

Adding to the pleasant atmosphere was the music playing in the background, the afternoon sunlight gently creeping through the large windows, creating a beautiful glow on the leaves of the abundant greenery.

However, 3-D projectors are already used by The Burbank for casting moving images on sprays of water in the light shows “World of Color” and “Fantasmic” in Disney California Adventureland Disneyland.

The technology will be no available for a large audience. It will be geared for a small group of people around the parks. It will project images individually for them on objects, buildings and walls placed nearby the visitors. Special gadgets such as goggles or headset will not be necessary for seeing those images.

According to the patent, the secret of this technology is hiding behind peoples’ smart devices such as their smartphones. Their tracking information will be transferred to a computer and will be connected to devices located all over the park. Soon, after locating the visitors, the simulator will project an Image of a Disney character in front of the guests which will give the opportunity for people to even hear their voices. A spokesperson from Disney said:

“We are excited about the possibilities related to this type of technology.”

They also added that no current plans for introducing this technology into an upcoming experience are composed yet.

A report from Bloomberg says that Apple is now working on setting up a new team that is supposed to design more chip components in-house. That means that components from third-party manufacturers will no longer be necessary. What is more, Apple is hiring engineers for its new office in Irvine, South California. The new members of the team need to be experienced in modem chips and other wireless semiconductors.

According to Bloomberg, Apple’s decision to set up a new office to design wireless chips is “part of a broader strategy of expanding satellite offices, letting the tech giant target engineering hotbeds and attract employees who might not want to work at its home base in Silicon Valley.”

Furthermore, the publication notes at the new Apple’s office, engineers will be able to work on wireless radios, radio-frequency integrated circuits, and a wireless system-on-a-chip (SoC). They will also be given the chance to develop semiconductors for connecting to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. In this way, they will cover all the components that Apple currently sources from third-party manufacturers.

There is no information on when Apple’s in-house chips will show up in its devices’ lineup because at that stage, the company is still searching for experienced individuals.