PCNewsBuzz

Thanks to a very active rumor mill, we already know what to expect from Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S11 smartphone, but there's relatively little information out there about the internals of the device.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Alphabet-Google (my colleague Kyle Wiggers prefers “Googlebet”) news this week. Why has it been so difficult to come up with a whole lot to say? It finally dawned on me last night: there isn’t much to say. That’s the point. This wasn’t a CEO shakeup. This has all been a long time coming.

From my perspective, attending this year’s Snapdragon Tech Summit was all but mandatory for a journalist covering 5G: It offered the very first opportunity to go hands-on with low-band (600MHz) 5G, and the first looks at the chips that will power many of 2020’s most powerful 5G devices. Qualcomm revealed the Snapdragon XR2 5G, a chipset that will power standalone 5G VR and AR devices, as well as new Snapdragon chips for ultra-premium and midrange smartphones, plus entry-level and midrange Windows PCs.

Facebook AI Research (FAIR) says they’ve created the latest AI to achieve state-of-the-art performance when playing the card game Hanabi. The AI system achieves a score of 24.49 out of 25 while the previous best got 23.92 out of 25. In February, researchers from Google, DeepMind, Carnegie Mellon University, and Oxford University proposed a Hanabi benchmark and for the creation of more AI that can play the game in order to achieve “a new frontier for AI research.”

One of machine learning’s promises is to help humans do things faster and more efficiently. Ironically, one of the roadblocks that keeps businesses and independent developers from capitalizing on ML’s capabilities is that it can be time-consuming and difficult to build, train, and deploy models. PerceptiLabs, a two-person Swedish startup, developed a visual drag-and-drop interface to streamline and simplify the entire process.

The new Snapdragon 8c compute platform, built on a 7nm process, is said to deliver up to 30 percent faster CPU performance compared to the Snapdragon 850 it replaces. It packs an octa-core Qualcomm Kryo 490 CPU alongside Adreno 675 graphics and a Snapdragon X24 LTE modem although the option exists for manufacturers to also pair it with an X55 5G modem.

Snoop Dogg, a reggae artist, is suddenly everywhere in my life — especially as it relates to video games. He’s already in my ears constantly, and not just because of his music. He also has a new headset out with LucidSound that he does the voice prompts for. And now, he’s also in a hockey game. Wait, what?

GamesBeat Summit 2020 is coming a little too fast for my taste, but it’s time to start telling people about another cool event that we’re going to stage in Los Angeles at the Two Bit Circus, a “micro-amusement park.” This place combines old-style circus and arcade games with modern virtual reality entertainment in the Arts District.

Google Assistant on smartphones, smart displays, and smart speakers is getting a series of upgrades today, like the ability to create notes and lists with third-party apps and search podcasts by topic.

The Microsoft Surface range of devices is impressive and it’s a clear sign that Microsoft knows how to create really good laptops that can compete with bigger players on the market. However, problems do pop up now and again. A few days ago, we came across a situation where some users are having problems with the brightness keys on the Surface device. Apparently, the brightness keys are not working when pressed (F1 and F2). You see, the indicator comes up showing the brightness level is increasing and decreasing, but it is not actually happening.