frac

ike17055 said:

Wow. The negative comments seem so contrary to the attitudes of most readers to a tech site. Think big. And Try looking up the human passenger drone that is being rolled out in the United Arab Emirates right now. Literally a giant quad copter. Its navigation is all GPS driven. Includes collision avoidance radar, and It can fly on fewer than four rotors if needed for emergency landing. The safety issues are at least as solveable as they are for land vehicles. In time, i see these vehicles being commonplace flying above existing major roadways, as a form of a second level, or upper "deck" assisted by the same electronic sensors that will keep terrestrial autonomous vehicles on course and within their lanes. The drone style vehicle is vertical landing and takeoff adding added practicality for some forms of commuting. Not for everyone, or affordable for everyone, for sure, but an important tool, potentially, in expanding capacity of existing corridors.

avon b7 said:

foggyhill said:

franklinjackcon said:

I don't see the reader on the back as user unfriendly at all. If the phone is almost bezel-less then it has a smaller footprint so even someone with smaller hands can reach it. I have a phone exactly the same height as the S8 and my finger naturally rests on the back next to the camera but slightly closer to the edge. Not sure it's as comfy on the S8+ which is bigger

Its moronic to fracking extreme. You lose an important function for another, if your willing to go for that idiotic tradeof, good for you.

It's a question of preference. Mine is on the rear, centre placed right below the camera (which I never hit by accident). The scanner is a natural fit for my index fingers. I adore the rear placement and the scanner gestures.

You will find millions of people who prefer it on the rear. It's not moronic in the slightest.

wigby said:

AppleInsider said:

Apple is ramping up its efforts to create its own GPU designs, following the iPhone producer's decision to stop working with the U.K.-based Imagination Technologies, by advertising a number of job postings within the graphics field in London.

Appearing on the United Kingdom version of Apple's jobs board over the last month, the company has listed 12 "Hardware Engineering" job postings in London, located within Hanover Street. Spotted by The Telegraph, the listings are for Apple's "UK Design Centre," with 11 out of the 12 openings having some connection to GPU design.

In the listing for the Engineering Program Manager posted on March 29, the posting mentions a "newly formed graphics design team" that would work on the "definition of the architecture, spec, design, and verification of graphics IP from concept through to silicon." Another posting for a Design Verification Lead involves "RTL verification of blocks in graphics cores, requiring a "deep understanding of the micro-architectural details of designs, and how they work within the broader GPU."

Other roles advertised in the last month include a Design Verification Engineer, a Graphics Content Engineer, and an Emulation Engineer who needs to have an understanding of "CPU and/or GPU architecture and micro architecture."

The advertising for new graphics-related roles follow after it was revealed Apple was working on its own graphics technology to use in iOS devices in the future. The project was confirmed as part of a statement from Imagination Technologies, the UK firm that has provided Apple's mobile graphics processing architecture used in iPhones, iPads, and other devices for a number of years.

Apple has not revealed why it is moving away from its partnership with Imagination in favor of its own designs, but it is likely to be an attempt by Apple to exert more control over the hardware it produces. By designing its own GPU cores, like it does for its A-series processors, Apple could fine tune the technology to what it believes is required, eliminating potential limitations from work created by third-party companies.

It is unknown exactly when Apple will be bringing out products using its own GPU designs, but according to Imagination's statement, Apple will stop using its intellectual property in its new products within 15 months to two years.

In the same statement, Imagination advised it believed it would be extremely challenging for Apple to design a brand new GPU architecture from scratch without infringing its intellectual property rights, in what seemed to be a threat of potential legal action. Imagination requested evidence from Apple for its work, but was declined.

Can anyone explain why new job postings always seem to follow news or rumors? The same thing happened with Apple's security initiatives, car, watch, etc. Shouldn't these job postings appear months or even years before the new product rumor or announcement? Supposedly, Apple's been working on something big in AR for over a year now. Even I know they need some kind of customized GPU for such an endeavor so why are we only seeing job listings now?