Copilot announced Wednesday an automated customer experience platform to help consumer electronics companies develop relationships with customers through connected products. The software-as-a-service program collects data from devices and allows device makers to send contextual communications to users automatically, co-CEOs Zvi Frank and Tsiki Naftaly told us. "The days of the closest consumers ever got to the manufacturer was the warranty postcard that fell out of box are over,” said Frank, who said the SaaS platform gives manufacturers insights into how consumers use products and enables communication between them. IoT products contain “valuable usage information” and can communicate by mobile, app, email and voice, enabling a “personalized experience for customers,” Naftaly said. On privacy, he said it’s important to “be forthcoming with customers,” telling them how and how often their data will be used.
InfinaCore announced a pocket-size portable Qi charger that, once charged, can charge devices wirelessly without being plugged into an AC outlet. The P3 can also function as an 18-watt power bank when plugged into a wall socket, offering USB 3.0 Quick Charge technology and USB Type C Power Delivery, it said.
Qualcomm said Monday it’s sampling Quick Charge 5 with customers, calling it the fastest commercial charging technology available for Android devices. It has new battery technologies, accessories and safety features, said the company. Devices can be charged from 0 to 50% in five minutes. It supports up to 100 watts charging power. Quick Charge 5 is supported on Snapdragon 865, 865 Plus, and future premium- and high-tier Snapdragon mobile platforms. It is expected to be in market in Q3.
As demand increases for IoT sensors and wearables, so does the need for efficient power, AirFuel Alliance President Sanjay Gupta emailed us Friday. IoT sensors and wearables such as smart glasses and hearables are typically powered by batteries that need to be replaced or charged frequently, a “significant pain point” the alliance hopes to address with an RF-based wireless power standard (see 2007230071), Gupta said. RF-based wireless power delivers power “in a 3D volume, can charge multiple devices safely and simultaneously, and can be readily integrated into small devices with no flat surfaces,” he said. Among the 30 alliance members listed are Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Huawei, Energous, TDK, WiTricity, EPA’s Energy Star and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The AirFuel Alliance is inviting worldwide participation in setting an RF wireless charging standard, it said Thursday. AirFuel RF uses RF wave to transfer energy from a few centimeters up to a few meters, which the alliance calls “true spatial freedom.” RF technology can be integrated into small electronic devices, such as wearables, hearing aids and IoT sensors, it said. The alliance didn’t respond to questions.
Samsung jumped the gun on its own Aug. 5 Unpacked event Wednesday, announcing its next foldable phone, the 5G version of the Z Flip, launched in February. The $1,449 Galaxy Z Flip 5G, built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G mobile platform, will be available Aug. 7, said the company. In free-standing Flex mode, the phone’s display automatically splits into two 4-inch screens, allowing users to view content on the top half of the display and control it on the bottom half. In YouTube with Flex mode, the phone shows a video on the top half, and lets users browse, read descriptions and comment on the bottom half, said the company. Four months of YouTube Premium are included. Consumers trading in an eligible device on Samsung.com can get up to $650 toward the purchase.
No company “has an obligation to commit its patents to a standard,” commented the App Association Monday (login required) in opposition to Nokia’s Tariff Act Section 337 complaint at the International Trade Commission alleging Lenovo laptops, tablets and desktop PCs infringe four H.264 patents, plus a fifth on data search and discovery (see 2007080048). When a company volunteers to commit its patents to a standard, “as Nokia has,” the “promise” it makes to the standard-setting organization to license the intellectual property on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms “acts as a crucial constraint on the abuse of market power” associated with standards-essential patents (SEPs), said the group. App Association members “rely on a competitive information and communications technology hardware environment, specifically with respect to SEP licensing,” it said. Without that, members would be “significantly hampered” in providing U.S. consumers and enterprises “with leading-edge software and hardware products and services that require an increasing amount of bandwidth and computing power to meet customer demands,” it said. The exclusion order Nokia seeks “should only receive consideration” when a licensee is “demonstrably acting unreasonable” or is acting “outside of the scope of the SEP holder’s voluntary FRAND commitment,” said the association. Lenovo is guilty of neither, it said: “SEP holders denied an exclusion order do not become disenfranchised as they have the ability to recover monetary damages through the courts.”
Best Buy signed on as a founding member of Parity.org’s Corporate ParityPledge in support of people of color, blogged the retailer Monday. The pledge is a public commitment to interview at least one qualified person of color for every open leadership role at the vice president level or higher, including the C-suite and board, it said. There are no quotas or deadlines, it said. Best Buy previously signed a similar pledge in support of women in leadership. “We know we won’t get there overnight, but we are committed to increasing the representation of people of color at Best Buy and being an inclusive employer that empowers and supports all of our employees,” said Mark Irvin, chief inclusion and diversity officer. Best Buy CEO Corie Barry last month appointed a group within the company to come up with ways of addressing racial inequalities and injustices after protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody (see 2006030030).
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security is considering imposing new license requirements on facial recognition software and surveillance items that may be used by China for crowd control reasons or to violate human rights. BIS seeks feedback by Sept. 15, said Friday's Federal Register. BIS said it's interested in imposing new license requirements for facial recognition software, “other biometric systems for surveillance,” voice print identification systems and other products.
Yank Technologies said its contactless wireless charger, MotherBox, landed FCC Part 18 certification. Yank introduced the automotive charging concept in 2017. MotherBox operates with a receiver and can charge multiple devices simultaneously. It’s Android and iOS-compatible and allows free movement of the devices being charged, said the company. Certification will help the company produce a high-power, scalable wireless charger for new industries, including the automotive market, it said.