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Essential Equipment For Video Production Companies

Essential Equipment For Video Production Companies

Many people wonder what equipment is essential to start their own video production company. Part of this is because there constantly seems to be new, shiny equipment and fads on the market. Even so, if you want to run a successful video production company like www.ajkellyproductions.com, there’s some gear you’ll need. Here are some recommendations of the equipment you’ll need for the various types of video production gigs.

You won’t need a lot of gear to get started. However, there are some essentials that you should have. You can always buy more equipment when you need it. Of course, renting equipment is also a great option, because it allows you to test out new gear before deciding to pay the full price for it.

A Camera

If possible, you should go with a full-frame camera. This will help you avoid the question of how full-frame will affect your crop-frame lenses in the future. The best camera for this is the Canon 5D Mark II or its newer brother, the Canon Mark III. However, Nikon and other brands also offer good options.

Camera Lens

Lenses

You need to consider what type of shots you want to capture. This will affect your decision as to which lens will work the best for you. Some of your options here include:

  • A walkaround lens that’s great for shooting most situations would be the Canon 24-70mm 2.8.
  • For close-up shots that don’t have the blown-out depth that makes people look like elves, choose the inexpensive Canon 50mm 1.8.
  • When you need to shoot longer range stuff, it’s a good idea to put a little extra money into getting a lens with stabilization. For this you’ll want the Canon 70-200mm 2.8.

Stabilization

While you may be like the many other amateur videographers who think it’s cool to shoot with a handheld camera, to get a real professional video you need to use a stabilizer or tripod. The Manfrotto MT190X3 is one of the best on the market today. You’ll also need numerous fluid heads to go with your tripod, but if you’re just getting started, chopping and changing the same one is an option.

You may also want to eventually invest in some sliders as well. Prices have noticeably decreased on these lately. Nonetheless, this is an awesome equipment although nonessential. The best on the market are the Konova brand, especially the Konova K3 slider kit.

Video Production Equipment

Computers and Storage

One of the biggest disagreements amongst videographers comes when discussing computers, because there’s always the debate as to whether you should go with a PC or a Mac. If you’re going to go with a Mac, the MacBook Pro is a great option. Make sure to get as much RAM as possible and the largest screen size you can afford. These factors are both vital to good video editing. Eventually you may want to get an iMac with a 27-inch screen though.

A great MacBook Pro alternative is the Microsoft Surface Studio 2. It has a Kaby Lake mobile processor and Nvidia Pascal graphics – making it quite a powerful and great PC for video editing. It comes with a great PixelSense display that supports a Surface Pen that’ll give you an entirely new way to interact while editing video. Software support is also great since it runs Windows 10 and the 2TB SSD will give you lots of room for storing video footage.

Regardless of what computer you choose to go with, you’re bound to need some additional storage. For your money, the LaCie Rugged and the Transcended Military tested hard drives are best. If you’re looking for a larger storage solution that you’re not going to be moving around with you, check out the G-Tech drive.

Memory Cards

Your camera of choice will need a high-quality memory card. If you buy the Canon 5D Mark II you should look at Compact Flash cards. Both the SanDisk Extreme and the Ultra ranges come highly recommended. Of course, these are just a few of the many choices you’ll have available to choose from. Regardless of what brand you choose, there are a few things that you should always remember:

  • Never buy a cheap card simply because you think you’re getting better value for your money. You don’t want to be cheap here, because you need a reliable card, not one that’s going to become easily corrupted.
  • You don’t want a memory card that’s more than 32GB capacity. Because when you put too much footage on one card and don’t upload it to your hard drive you’re just asking for trouble. Remember, the chance of losing your video or it becoming corrupted is an ever-present reality. It’s important for you to take steps to guard against such issues. During most shoots you’ll typically have some downtime to use for backing up your footage to a hard drive. Make sure you make good use of such time.

Sound

Unfortunately, most people undervalue sound, but it’s one of the most important elements of your film. While people will still put up with the occasional grainy footage, hearing terrible audio is akin to someone scratching their nails down the chalkboard. Since you don’t want to put your audience through this, you should get a RODE video mic to put on top of your DSLR. This will make it easy for you to record sound as you travel around an event. While it won’t always guarantee you high quality sound, it will get you some decent background hubbub sound.

Essential Equipment For Video Production Companies

Lighting

A basic SDLR attachment LED light for your camera is great for the entry level videographer. One of the best bargains for this type of lighting is the Neewer 160 dimmable LED light. However, if you want something that’s a bit more advanced you should go with the Neewer 2x 160 Dimmable Ultra High-Power Panel Digital Camera / Camcorder Video Kit. This is a great kit that comes with the lights, lighting stands and a soft box. Both setups will help with your image quality, especially in low light situations. Regardless of what you choose here, make sure it’s easy to use and efficient while giving you high quality.

Hopefully this information about video production equipment is helpful. This should include all the essential equipment you’ll need to get you started as a videographer.

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Tech News

Machine Learning is Improving Everyday Life

Machine Learning is Improving Everyday Life

We as humans learn from patterns and adjust our behaviors accordingly because of our amazing brains. But what if computers were able to do the same? Now that possibility is a reality with machine learning. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence in which systems learn to identify patterns from data, and are able to make decisions with little to no human intervention.

Machine learning is not new – the theory that computers can learn without being programmed to perform specific tasks has already been proven. However, recent developments have allowed systems to automatically apply complex calculations to big data at very fast speeds. This technology has the possibility to be applied to many aspects of our lives.

A More Efficient Way to Process Data

The growing research into machine learning has produced the ability to automatically produce models that can take extremely complex data (and bigger data) and analyze it. The results delivered are faster and more accurate than ever before. This has allowed companies who make use of machine learning to work much more efficiently than before, when working with large amounts of data.

Machine Learning

Banks and other financial service businesses have found machine learning very useful. They use it to identify important aspects in their large amounts of data, allowing them to identify investment opportunities and help their investors decide when to trade. It is also found useful for preventing fraud by quickly and effortlessly identifying high-risk clients, or pinpointing warning signs of fraud.

Similar to financial businesses, government agencies have also found a place for machine learning to detect fraud and prevent identity theft. In the health care field, wearable devices have become huge for assessing patient health in real time; machine learning is used to quickly and efficiently analyze data from these wearable technologies to identify red flags to help diagnose and treat patients. These are just some of the fields currently using machine learning, but there are others already.

Recent Uses in Hiring

The opportunities machine learning brings are endless and we are just getting started. Recently, the technology has been found useful for hiring. As technology advances rapidly into the job sphere, people have no choice but to work with it – in the case of machine learning, it is bringing improvements to the hiring process. For example, machine learning can make the process of hiring more efficient by processing applications faster than humans can. This greatly reduces the time it takes a company to recruit and hire a new employee.

Machine Learning is Improving Everyday Life

Instead of an HR recruiter going through countless applications on job sites, etc, they can rely on machine learning to find the best applicants and give good recommendations. Another advantage of machine learning is that it does not allow for bias. The algorithms will focus on skill-based data, rather than just where the candidate has studied or worked, or physical qualities. Machine learning can make the hiring process, both, more efficient and more valuable than it was before.

Future Application

Although machine learning has showed huge potential for making countless processes involving data more quick and efficient, there are some human qualities machine learning cannot replace. Humans will still be needed for any qualitative aspects, such as understanding why a job candidate is pursuing a certain job – are they looking for more money, or something to use for leverage in negotiations with their current employer?

There are many other examples of specific tasks that machine learning will not be able to complete as they can only work with quantitative aspects of the data. However, machine learning is an extremely helpful and versatile tool that will be used and improve our everyday life for many years to come.

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Tech News

Biometric Technologies and Their Different Uses

Biometric Technologies and Their Different Uses

The widespread growth of biometric devices and applications have opened a huge global market. With the adoption of biometrics comes the demand of parts, hardware, software, and services to increase. Requiring mass production of hardware and spares for biometric equipment would set in place an implementation of service delivery network.

As more businesses and professionals adopt biometric systems, it will catch the attention of bigger organizations to engage in biometric business. This would benefit consumers, because as more players get into the game of biometrics, so begins the price wars, capitalizing, making large investments, and the overall completion of a product. The recent rise in biometric systems as a service has now created basically a biometric ecosystem, consisting of identification and authentication services. These services include; fingerprint, palm vein, iris, palm print, DNA, voice, and last but not least; facial. All of which can be used in the security of many devices and/or accessibility for personal information.

Mobile Biometrics

Smartphones and tablets have played a role in the growth of biometrics. As they become more affordable to have, some of them even come equipped with fingerprint or another biometric hardware. Service providers have grown interest in using biometric authentication for smartphone applications. Counterpoint Research has said that mobile biometrics is going to have a huge rise with over 1 billion smartphones shipping in 2018 with biometric systems. Service providers have grown to use fingerprint authentication for customers to access their services.

Smartphones hold more important information than ever before, because of all the capabilities the devices have now. Recently Samsung, Apple, and other big phone companies (such as LG) have integrated some of their new products with innovative biometric features. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 has been equipped with the most accurate form of biometrics with the use of an iris scanner. The iris scanner is an infrared ray from the front camera to scan your iris in a non-contact way. The infrared allows you to use the biometric feature in any surrounding environment.

Mobile Biometrics

On the other hand, Apple has come up with a 3D facial recognition system in the new iPhone X. The system also uses an infrared camera that is consisted of 30,000 dots to create a perfect in-depth mapping of the user’s face. This way it can identify you, even if you are wearing glasses, a hat, or even if you want to grow out your beard and/or change hairstyles. The biometric system will not identify just a photo of the user since it is a 3D scanner.

Lastly, LG Electronics have a voice recognition system in their new smartphone. It has 21 voice recognition functions. The system analyzes the user’s distinct pronunciations, voice wave types, speaking speed, pitches, accents, etc. With more service providers continuing to use biometric systems, the biometric ecosystem will continue to benefit consumers and the industry alike.

Biometrics and its Involvement in the Future of Travel

Biometric systems have even made its way into the efficiency of traveling. Delta Air Lines has just enabled the use of biometric technology for travelers to gain access to airport lounges. On March 26, Delta Sky Club members that have signed up for CLEAR, may use their fingerprints to enter all 50 U.S. Sky Club locations.

Although you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to enroll and sign-up for CLEAR, this system provides an efficient service. It expedites the screening process, making a traveler’s experience more seamless, by verifying your identity using biometrics. Delta Air Lines have been testing this system for almost a year and have made improvements along the way, including; improved features to make processing easier to understand. Delta is undergoing another test with biometrics which consists with boarding experience. SkyMiles members that are enrolled in CLEAR would be able to scan their fingerprint in place of a paper boarding pass, which improves security as well.

Biometrics: Facial Recognition in Airports

On another note, LAX in Los Angeles has integrated biometric systems into their security process. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) held a 3-week trial to experiment with facial recognition and how it could speed up that process. Passengers in the Tom Bradley International Terminal would scan their passports and boarding passes. The biometric system at the gate then instantly verifies the information on both documents match, and it snaps a photo of the passenger. The photo would then could be compared to the one that is contained in the traveler’s passport, if the traveler has a newer passport that contains a microchip version of their passport photo. Once everything matches a green light would be given.

During this trial period they still had TSA agents there to verify that there were no mistakes with the system and passenger’s identities. One day TSA believes that using facial recognition will help expedite security processes, resulting in shorter lines and reduced waiting time.

Biometrics Growth into Our Lives

Technology has made its way into every aspect in our day to day life, from personal, work, to social life. In which case there will be a need to protect one’s information or the sanctity of others. Biometric technology has made authentication much simpler and efficient. This technology has grown and has been successful, which causes a chain reaction. Making people and organizations implement biometric applications.

Biometric Technologies and Their Different Uses

The adoption of biometrics has slashed prices of its hardware and software making it affordable to continue to be used in almost any occasion. We will witness a rapid growth in biometric modalities and its implementations it will have on our every day lives, making it almost overwhelming. But that’s not it. Biometric technology market, according to market intelligence firm Tractica, will have a compound annual growth rate of 25.3%. Its shocking to see something that we could only imagine seeing or using, is so close to being a reality around the world.

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Supercapacitors: Are Fossil Fuels Coming to an End?

Supercapacitors: Are Fossil Fuels Coming to an End?

The rise of technology research into replacing fossil fuels and decarbonizing the economy has become more prevalent in the recent years. Although most people are oblivious to how much gas and battery usage they may go through from a day to day basis, researchers have progressed into finding a solution to minimize or even replace the use of such fossil fuel usage and how energy is stored.

Even with the price of fossil fuels staying at what is now known as their ‘normal’ level in today’s standards and coming down from the previous extreme prices, electric powered cars have slowly made an impact on how we view fossil fuels; the cost/demand, and the harm we do using them.

Supercapacitors: Up and Coming Replacement

Supercapacitors, also known as ultracapacitors or electrochemical capacitor, are rapidly growing in popularity and are significant for powering electric cars and storing renewables. Much like most believe, we also believed electric cars are just simply ran by a battery device of some sort. But unlike batteries, which store energy chemically, electric car use supercapacitors. They have the ability to charge quickly and are good for rapid bursts of power.

Supercapacitors

Ultracapacitors not only have a super fast charging time, but have another advantage over batteries, which is their life cycle, with charges and discharges of up to a million times (don’t get that confused with their life expectancy which we will get to). They are currently used to start car engines and also have the capability of providing top-up power when it comes to supply and demand on national electricity grids.

At the moment, ultracapacitors have no issue when it comes to charging small devices, such as; power tools, phones, etc. but more of a problem when it comes to cars. The problem being that they cannot store as much energy as batteries, which indefinitely means they run out of juice and need a recharge in such a short period of time. Reassurance comes with Professor Andrea Balducci, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena in Germany, has admitted to a game changing device in the coming years of a combination with lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors in vehicles. She believes not only will this help on an environmental stand-point, but as an economic boost, these technologies will be huge to benefit from.

Skeleton Technologies

Skeleton Tech is a firm working on making the fast charging ultracapacitors last longer. Their products are already used in hybrid vehicles and are more focused on using them in buses and trucks. Skeleton has found a costumer with the European Space Agency to use their ultracapacitors in their satellites. The CEO of Skeleton Technologies had reported that their supercapacitors can deliver four times more power than anything else currently on the market, largely due to the use of graphene material.

Skeleton Technologies Ultracapacitors

The use of graphene material is what sets this company apart from others. Not only does their ultracapacitors produce four times the power, it also has a higher energy density of up to twice as much as others. For example, only one gram of graphene material covers a surface area of 2,000 square meters.

Think about that for a second, only two grams can cover up to the size of a soccer field. The company looks to help save energy and reduce CO2 emissions. They say ultracapacitors will impact industries, from bus and truck, green and renewables, industrial equipment and vehicles. Skeleton aims to make electrification cheaper and to bring it to more people around the world. Although this may not solve all our problems, they are making the right step towards fighting climate change.

Implementation of Supercapacitors

A ten-million-euro prize was set by the European Commission to help develop a new battery for electric vehicles. This challenge will put forth the efforts of companies, such as Skeleton, to develop a battery or energy storage that will be able to be charged in a few minutes, and allow the same driving range standard cars have. Elon Musk has said to believe that ultracapacitors will be the future of vehicles.

Supercapacitors: Are Fossil Fuels Coming to an End?

Within the next 5 to 10 years, the fast charging unit will literally be fully charged in just seconds at a charging station, and have the initial driving range of new cars available today. With the exciting prize and future of our interactions in day to day life at question, it is only a matter of time before supercapacitors becomes a reality, and they are believed to become that reality within the next decade.

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Facebook Leak Turns Users Interest to Mastodon

Facebook Leak Turns Users Interest to Mastodon

Since Facebook emerged it has become the biggest social media site with 2.2 billion users. In the past week, Facebook’s data analysis firm was revealed to have accessed the personal information of about 50 million users. This recent report has many Facebook users asking a lot of questions and overall deleting their profiles. In today’s standards it almost seems everyone is intertwined in social media some how, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or the recently growing Mastodon, and with Facebook users deleting their profiles where does this leave them?

What is Mastodon?

The social network, Mastodon, was created by 24-year-old German man by the name of, Eugene Rochko. Much like Twitter, Mastodon allows you to share posts or what is called Toots, not Tweets. Along with your posts you are allowed to have up to 500-characters instead of Twitters 140-character limit. Twitter is also the primary platform, but with Mastodon it gives you the ability to set up independent “instances” of the site.

How did Facebook Benefit Mastodon?

With Facebook’s recent mistake, Mastodon has seen a big spike in new users the past week. Still as a recently up and coming social network, Mastodon’s 1.1 million users doesn’t nearly match up to the impressive amount of Facebook users. The reveal of the personal information breach recently, has brought to people’s attention that Facebook’s network isn’t secure and nobody can just see how the network is designed, which leaves to just more questions.

Facebook Leak

Mastodon has become known for not being run by corporate executives like Facebook, but by its own users who set up their own servers. The new social network’s code is open-source, giving the ability to people to see its design. Facebook also gets its development costs paid by the marketing of users’ personal information, while its counterpart pays its development costs by online donations.

Wave of Innovation and Our Digital Fate

Designers like Rochko (creator of Mastodon) have aimed to get some of the power back from such people as chief executive of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg. Such designers believe they can restore some of the Internet’s earlier days when everything was open and inter-operable, not like Facebook benefiting from consumer’s dependence on centralized commercialism taking up users’ personal information.

Most people are unaware of the information and data we give just by using Facebook’s platform. People give information such as email addresses, birthdays, and etc. but data is also generated by things such as, ‘likes’, your friend connections, and a lot more. With this information and the recent Cambridge Analytica fiasco, you can see how when such things fall into the wrong hands can be quite dangerous to users.

Facebook has vowed to limit apps on its platform that may be leaking user’s data to third parties. Now with Facebook simply doing that, they just showed people how much they have control over our digital fate. Where in some cases our information could be spread to, well, anywhere and users wouldn’t even know.

Facebook Leak Turns Users Interest to Mastodon

The Innovation of Mastodon is brilliant when it comes to keeping user’s personal information safe by, like I said before, creating our own servers. Facebook had its big leak revealed and now it gives people the chance to see how dangerous the Facebook network can be with their own information, with no notice or knowledge of where their data might be. Simply I see this as a ‘Buyer Be Ware’ occurrence and to be ‘social’ on a network at your own risk.

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CRISPR: Gene Editing Technology

CRISPR: Gene Editing Technology

In 2012, CRISPR, a scientific tool that allows editing of genes of organisms, was discovered. Recently, studies done using the technology have skyrocketed. Researchers have tried it out on both plants and animals, and even human embryos.

CRISPR has the potential to do amazing things, ranging from just growing more plants to curing genetic diseases, but it could also cause some serious harm. It’s a powerful technology that is destined to change healthcare and many aspects of life for people in the near future.

CRISPR – What is it?

CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or in other words, a specialized stretch of DNA. The other part of its full name (CRISPR-Cas9) is an enzyme that acts as a pair of scissors that can cut strands of DNA. The technology as a whole is quite simple and allows for editing of genomes – researchers can easily alter DNA sequenced to modify gene function.

CRISPR/Cas9 System Applications

The inspiration for this technology comes from the natural defense mechanisms of single-celled microorganisms. When viruses and other foreign bodies attempt to attack, they use CRISPR-derived RNA and Cas proteins to cut up and destroy the DNA of the invader. These components are then interspaced among sequences of nucleotides in the CRISPR region of the DNA so that the bacteria can use them to recognize the virus if it were to attack again.

When it comes to CRISPR-Cas9 as a gene editing tool, the same mechanisms are used, only controlled by researchers. DNA sequences are changed in order to change the messages, and this is done by inserting a cut or break in the DNA and tricking the cell’s natural DNA repair mechanisms into introducing the changes wanted. In 2012, this knowledge was usewd to create the tool we have today for genome editing. It was found that Cas9 could be directed to cut any region of DNA by changing the sequence of cRNA using only a guide RNA and the Cas9 protein.

How Does it Work?

In order to use CRISPR technology, researchers design 20 nucleotide base pairs that match the gene they want to edit. Then, a complementary RNA molecule is constructed. The RNA along with the Cas9 protein will cut the DNA at that site, and the cell’s natural repair mechanisms kick in.

How Does CRISPR Work?

When repairing DNA, the cell introduces changes to the genome called mutations by either gluing the two cuts back together, or filling in the gap with a sequence of nucleotides. The former tends to cause errors, so the latter is most often used by scientists who can supply a DNA template of their choosing, which the cell will use to fill the gap. This allows researchers to write in any gene they want or correct a mutation.

Applications

CRISPR has gained popularity in recent years. It has been used in agriculture to engineer probiotic cultures and vaccinate industrial cultures against viruses, and also to improve yield, draught resistance, and nutritional properties in crops. It was used to edit human cells in an experimental setting for the first time in 2013, where it was found that it could be effective in correcting genetic defects, such as; cystic fibrosis, cataracts, and Fanconi anemia.

There is currently research being done studying how CRISPR could fix neurological diseases, and how it can be used on pigs to allow their organs to be harvested and transplanted into humans. Research is advancing at a rapid rate. Tests have been done on human embryos, and this year, there is a plan for actual testing on humans – meaning that medical treatments based on the research could reach hospitals and clinics in as little as five years. This could mean treatment for many diseases that previously never had one.

The Ethical Side of Things

But, with all the good comes concern. The rapid rate at which research is advancing has caused some worry about things spiraling out of control, because of how powerful the technology is. For one thing, changes made to embryos could impact future generations along with the technology not being completely safe yet – the limits on our knowledge of gene editing could cause unintended consequences for future generations.

CRISPR: Gene Editing Technology

According to Jennifer Doudna, CRISPR’s co-creator, is among those worried that CRISPR will move too fast for us to regulate its ethical use. Only two years after her discovery, in 2014, Chinese scientists used CRISPR to genetically engineer monkeys. If that was done so quickly, what has been done since, and how much unknown research is being done using the technology?

CRISPR Moving Forward

As the research advances, it is inevitable that conversations will have to be had about the technology and what is deemed to be ethical. Despite that, CRISPR will almost certainly bring many extremely important advances in the near future. Things that could never be done in the past are going to be able to happen, and things we cannot even think up right now are going to be possible.

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5G is Around The Corner

5G is Around The Corner

At the Winter Olympics this year in Pyeong Chang, South Korea, we got a glimpse of what a 5G network can do, and KT, South Korea’s largest telephone company, was able to complete a test run. If you missed it, South Koreans entered Pyeong Chang Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony with LED lights to form a giant dove.

These lights were powered by 5G, which is rumored to have data processing speeds 100 times faster than 4G. This network is expected to be implemented in developing countries as early as next year. But what exactly will 5G bring and what are the expenses?

Race for 5G

Globally, there is a race for 5G going on right now. As the Internet of Things revolution takes hold, it will become extremely important to connect all of our devices and keep them running at speeds faster than we have ever seen. South Korea is already a leader in the world when it comes to internet speeds and it hopes to be the first to officially adopt 5G. After its test run at the Olympics, KT is ready to launch its network next March with companies as the first clients.

5G is Around The Corner

This 5G network will offer true wireless service, rather than a fixed wireless service which they can already offer. They say they want to focus more on the true wireless service in order to commercialize the network for a bigger impact. Kwak Phil Geun, who is a researcher at the Korean Testing Laboratory, says it will be the infrastructure technology to drive other technologies, so, “…5G is more of an underlying technology that materializes [other technologies” (forbes).

In the United States, Verizon is hoping to launch its own fixed wireless 5G service later this year – the first in the country. Because it is fixed, it will require the use of a router and will only be capable of providing small networks to homes or offices. However, this could be a way to connect people who are not currently.

There are many rural, or poor areas in the United States without fiber cables to enable broadband service, and laying down the cables is expensive – fixed wireless 5G could solve the problem in a less costly way. On the other hand, when it comes to 5G smartphones, analysts believe it will be a few years before they take off.

5G Smartphones

Along with a 5G network comes smartphones. Next year, 5G smartphones are expected to go on sale in China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, but sales are not expected to be high. Besides the obvious reason of how expensive the devices will be to start, another reason is a lack of 5G network coverage, which means consumers don’t have much of a reason to buy a 5G smartphone.

5G Smartphones

However, analysts predict that by 2021, 5G networks will cover many urban centers which will give consumers more motivation to purchase devices and sales will go up. Moreover, coverage will continue to expand and by 2023, prices of the devices will fall and even more people will begin to own them.

What Does It All Mean?

When it comes down to it, the 5G network itself is the next big thing and 5G smartphones will follow in a few years. The 5G network itself has huge potential and is basically already here. The high speeds and responsiveness of 5G will allow for better and safer self-driving technology, along with allowing drones to fly anywhere in the country to do things such as deliver packages.

But these are just a few ideas. It is already quite evident that the 5G network will propel technology to different levels in many areas. As we continue to advance, the addition of a 5G network will allow for more growth and lead to advances we have yet to even think of.

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Big Expectations for the Samsung Galaxy S10

Big Expectations for the Samsung Galaxy S10

Samsung just released the Galaxy S9 early this year, shortly after Apple released the iPhone X, but people are already concerned with its successor. Although the S9 is a great device, and admittedly just an upgrade from the S8, it is no iPhone X. The iPhone X was created to be a completely different creature from past iPhones and other smartphones on the market.

There are a lot of features of the Galaxy S9 that just don’t stack up with the iPhone X ,such as processing power, the ability to create unique AI emojis, and Face ID for security. Now, Samsung may have an answer for the iPhone X – the Samsung Galaxy S10. Checkout Samsung Galaxy S9 VS Apple iPhone X for a full comparison of Samsung’s and Apple’s current smartphones.

To X or Not to X

The first question many will have is how Samsung will choose the name. Will they continue with the S10, or will they follow in the footsteps of iPhone and name it something like the “Galaxy X”? Or will they do something completely different?

One thing to consider is that while iPhone skipped 9 (there is no iPhone 9), Samsung chose to ignore that and continue on. For Apple, it was a marketing move to show consumers that it was a special edition phone – one that is vastly different than the other models and far more advanced. So now, Samsung is in danger of looking like it is behind Apple, unless of course Apple’s next phone is called the iPhone 9.

The head of Samsung’s mobile division, DJ Koh, has confirmed that the company is considering a name change, but all he said was that they are talking about dropping the “S” and adding something else. Only time will tell what the company will decide to do, but if they want to make the phone seem even more special, it seems the X branding is the way to go.

AI

Facial Recognition and AR – the Future

Although we don’t know much about the naming of the phone yet, there are reports of 3D facial recognition being a huge part of the Galaxy S10. This is a necessary next step as one of the biggest differences between the S9 and the iPhone X is the iPhone X’S revolutionary Face ID. A Korean news source, The Bell, has revealed that an Israeli startup, Mantis Vision, has been working with a camera module company called Namuga to build a 3D camera technology for the S10. This camera would be able to provide the technology for facial recognition and augmented reality (AR).

This would be extremely advantageous for Samsung, because facial recognition will give it the tool to really compete with Apple, and its AR could use some work as well. Although the Galaxy S9 does have AR Emoji, critics have not taken well to it, calling it stutter and creepy. On the other hand, Apple’s Animoji is far better because it uses TrueDepth 3D camera technology, which utilizes 30,000 IR beams to analyze your face.

Processing Power and Connectivity

Apple has always been ahead of Samsung when it comes to processing power because it uses its own operating system and A1 Bionic chip. However, Samsung is working hard along with other companies to compete with this when it comes to the Galaxy S10. Qualcomm is reportedly working on the Snapdragon 855, which should be smaller and more powerful than the current Snapdragon chip. There is also a rumor that Samsung is working on an AI-powered chip which would be like a neural processing unit. The AI-powered chip would allow the Samsung Galaxy S10 to perform much faster and smarter than the Galaxy S9.

Big Expectations for the Samsung Galaxy S10

Expected Samsung Galaxy S10 Release Date

Going off of Samsung’s usual release dates, we can probably expect the Samsung Galaxy S10 in the early months of 2019. This may be a busy year for Samsung, as a lot of upgrades are in store for the Galaxy S10. Like the iPhone X, this will be a vastly advanced phone compared to the S9. Once Samsung has the facial recognition technology, it will be back on track to really competing with Apple. Developing its operating system will be key along with the 3D camera. Will Samsung ever get ahead of Apple?

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