Repertoire Magazine – June 2021
Galaxy A lineup is cheap
Samsung pulled back the curtain on a bevy of new affordable models for the U.S., including the company’s cheapest 5G smartphone yet, reports Engadget. At the top of the range is the $499 Galaxy A52 5G. Like Samsung’s more premium models, this phone will get three years of Android updates. The next step down is the Galaxy A42 5G. And then there’s the A32 5G, which at $280 is the company’s first crack at making a truly inexpensive 5G device. Rounding out Samsung’s lineup are the A12 ($180) and A02s ($110), which share the same 6.5-inch Infinity-V display.
Affordable internet for low-income families
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation in mid-April establishing a requirement for affordable internet for low-income families. The legislation requires providers operating in New York State to offer $15/month high-speed internet to low-income families, including households who are eligible or receiving free or reduced-price lunch, supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits, Medicaid benefits, the senior citizen or disability rent increase exemptions, or an affordability benefit from a utility.
Spot on
Verizon said its Hyper Precise Location (HPL) service – real-time kinematics service – would be available in more than 100 major U.S. markets in April. Verizon says the HPL can outperform today’s GPS technology and provides up to centimeter-level accuracy (compared with 3 to 9 meters with global positioning systems alone). It can be applied to HD mapping, robotics, construction, manufacturing, and can support emerging technologies that depend on high-level location accuracy, such as delivery drones.
Wireless wiring: It’s going to get better
Wireless charging has become more widespread, notes TechRadar in a recent article. So where do we go from here? U.S.-based company Aira is said to be looking to create a wireless charging solution that uses multiple coils across a larger area, which can intelligently detect the position of devices placed upon it. The end result is a charging pad that charges multiple devices without you having to worry about careful placement. Then there’s radiofrequency – RF – wireless charging. Energous’ WattUp solution envisions a future in which transmitters are built into larger objects like desktop monitors, which can then charge objects up to three feet away. Meanwhile, an Israeli company – Wi-Charge – is experimenting using infrared beams, which can detect and accurately deliver infrared beams to receivers anywhere in the room (so long as they are in the transmitter’s line of sight).
Disease hunters
One day, we will use our cellphones to scan for COVID-19 or flu particles at airports, stores, ATM machines – anywhere. Researchers at General Electric have been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to develop tiny sensors that can be embedded in mobiles to detect the presence of COVID-19 nano-particles, reports Engadget. “Our sensors are sort of like bloodhounds,” Radislav Potyrailo, a principal scientist at GE Research, was quoted as saying. With the help of the grant, the team will spend the next two years refining their fingertip-sized sensor in the hopes of placing it inside devices – ranging from phones to smartwatches to wall-mounted gadgets.
The pinging won’t stop!
“The nonstop ping of notifications has become the daily soundtrack of our working lives,” writes Cognizant’s Euan Davis in a recent issue of Tech Radar. “Video calls have not only replaced regular meetings that would have happened face to face or via phone call, they have multiplied in a bid to compensate for the decline in direct contact. As a result, our days are spent communicating digitally, almost non-stop, about the work that needs to be done or that we are planning to do, which is actually impacting our ability to do the work in question.”