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The 5 best laptops of Computex 2018

The coolest laptops of Computex 2018

When some of the biggest names in computing get together in Taipei, Taiwan for the biggest show of the year, announcements are plentiful.

Computex 2018 is no different, with the event recently kicking off and a slew of announcements following shortly after. From laptops and desktops to gaming accessories and peripherals, there’s almost too much to keep track of. Luckily, that’s why we’re here.

Even Intel joined in on the fun with a bold claim that it found a way to increase laptop battery life up to 28 hours with the help of some new display tech.

Until that dream becomes a reality, let’s take a look at five of the best laptops to come out of Computex 2018.

Asus ZenBook S

The Asus ZenBook S (UX391) is a 13-inch Ultrabook with a crazy-looking hinge. The ErgoLift hinge lifts the display up by nearly an inch, pitches the keyboard at a 5.5-degree slope and helps with cooling and improves audio performance — or so Asus claims.

Outside of a unique hinge, Asus claims the ZenBook S has a battery life of 13 hours. The 13-inch display has nearly no bezels, and looks stunning.

Starting at $1,199 (about £900, AU$1,570) the ZenBook S will be available with up to an Intel Core i7-8550U processor, 16GB of DDR3 memory and a whopping 1TB of PCIe SSD storage.

You won’t have to wait long before the ZenBook begins showing up on store shelves, with release in the US set for June 11.

Asus ZenBook Pro

Asus heard you like touch screens, so it put a touchscreen where the touchpad should be on the ZenBook Pro (UX580).

The ScreenPad, as Asus calls it, is a Full HD 5.5-inch screen. It’s designed for use as a normal touchpad, ready to handle all the gestures, taps and swipes you can throw at it. However, the ScreenPad doubles as a second display where users can place app shortcuts or program specific tools for ScreenPad-optimized apps.

Fancy ScreenPad aside, the ZenBook Pro will be available in two models. A 15-inch model starts at $2,299 (about £1,710, AU$3,000) in July, but release specifics about the 14-inch model aren’t available quite yet.

For those who really want to be at the bleeding edge of mobile computing, the ZenBook Pro will be available with an Intel Core i9-8950HK processor – just saying.

MSI PS42 Prestige

MSI is known for its gaming hardware, but with the PS42 Prestige the company is sure to attract some business users.

The Prestige won’t make its official appearance until later this year, but our first glimpse left us impressed.

The PS42 will feature the latest Intel Core i7 processor and an Nvidia GeForce MX150 GPU in a housing that’s only 0.62 inches (15.9mm) thick.

There are two questionable design choices with the Prestige, with the webcam sitting below the display, and a fingerprint reader embedded into the top-left corner of the touchpad.

That said, we will withhold judgement until we are able to fully test the PS42 Prestige.

Huawei MateBook D

Huawei’s latest MateBook D looks nice, and has the specs that make it even more appealing. A 14-inch Full HD display, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U processor, and Radeon Vega 8 mobile graphics are tucked into a laptop that weighs a comfortable 3.19 pounds (1.45kg).

Charging the MateBook D is done via a USB-C port – always a welcome addition to any modern laptop. Charging via USB-C not only adds convenience in sharing the same type of charger most Android phones use now, but it makes things like quick charging possible as well.

Another notable feature of the forthcoming MateBook D is its quad-speaker setup with split-frequency. Unfortunately, we have no idea what the new MateBook D will cost or when it will be available.

Credit: PC World

What’s better than one screen? Two screens, of course. Intel’s Tiger Rapids prototype is part laptop, part notebook. On one side of the Moleskin-like notebook is a 7.9-inch Full HD LCD where Windows 10 takes the main stage. PCWorld has a thorough writeup and interview with an Intel executive about Tiger Rapids that’s worth a read.

On the opposite side is an electronic paper display (EPD) that’s main purpose is for users to write and draw notes on. Due to EPD technology, the display draws very little power.

The EPD portion of the Tiger Rapids prototype isn’t relegated to being a digital piece of paper, however. It doubles as a software keyboard, or a second display for longer webpages or Excel spreadsheets.

We will likely never see Intel release the Tiger Rapids to the public. Instead, the company is using the prototype to inspire its hardware partners to create something similar.

http://www.techradar.com/news/the-5-best-laptops-of-computex-2018

Ikea’s smart speaker prototype doubles as a shelf

In case you missed the news late last year, Ikea is teaming up with Sonos to create a new series of smart speakers that goes by the name SYMFONISK.

Today, prototypes of the speakers were shown off at Ikea’s Democratic Design Day event in Sweden and they’re … well, interesting.

There will be a number of speakers in the range – which Ikea says will be more affordably priced than regular Sonos speakers – with the one pictured up above doubling as a shelf or hang beneath a kitchen cabinet without seeming out of place.

Ikea hasn’t nailed down a specific release date for the line-up (other than a vague “sometime after summer 2019” that it mentions in a blog post on its website) but claims that the first of these prototypes is within earshot.

The motivation behind SYMFONISK is to create a series of speakers that “save space, get rid of cords, make clutter invisible, and bring sound and music into the home in a more beautiful way” according to Björn Block, Business Leader for Ikea Home Smart.

It’s worth noting that, because these are prototypes, the final design might change before they release sometime next year – which is good considering there’s one that looks like it could be the unwanted sequel to Nintendo’s Virtual Boy console…

SYMFONISK’s debut follows yesterday’s announcement of the Sonos Beam, a slim smart soundbar that conveniently fits underneath your TV that’s developed exclusively by Sonos that comes out on July 17.

A speaker for every room

While it’s still early days for the SYMFONISK, Ikea certainly has a creative idea driving the innovation. That idea, partnered with the design company’s penchant for fitting furniture together in a utilitarian way, bodes well for the final product.

Beyond the addition of Sonos system compatibility, Ikea says that the SYMFONISK will also support its line of Trådfris smart home line of lights and switches.

The SYMFONISK is the second speaker collaboration for the Swedish furniture maker after its first project, the Eneby series of speakers, hit stores earlier this year.

Via The Verge

http://www.techradar.com/news/ikeas-smart-speaker-prototype-doubles-as-a-shelf

MIT creates ‘psychopath’ AI using the dark side of Reddit

Ever since the internet turned Microsoft’s Tay racist and genocidal, forcing Microsoft to shut down the chatbot within 24 hours, we’ve known how susceptible artificial intelligence (AI) can be to turning evil.

To study how AI can become corrupted by biased data, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) decided to intentionally turn its AI into a psychopath named Norman—a reference to the villain in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

The MIT team pulled images and captions from an infamous subreddit dedicated to photos of death and violence, then incorporated the captions into its data of how to describe objects.

When the team subsequently gave Norman some Rorschach inkblots to analyze, Norman’s responses—compared to a “standard image captioning neural network”—were incredibly alarming.

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Bright flowers became the splatter from a gunshot victim. Where the control AI interpreted an open umbrella, Norman saw a wife screaming in grief as her husband died.

The morbid nature of the AI’s assumptions blinded it from considering any other possibilities besides murder and pain.

Protecting our AI children’s young minds

Of course, with the darkest corner of Reddit as its only data set for interpreting the inkblots, Norman was destined to become monstrous, especially compared to an AI exposed to a controlled image set.

Facebook’s image-recognition AI uses Instagram captions to interpret objects

But MIT’s extreme example could hint at how any AI could have its interpretive criteria corrupted, depending on where it pulls data from.

AI for image or facial recognition are being relied upon more and more by tech companies and various organizations. Facebook, for example, uses Instagram captions to teach its AI how to interpret images.

If a subset of Instagram users began using racial slurs or sexist language to describe their photos, then Facebook’s AI could internalize these biases.

Norman’s creators invited people to provide their own interpretations of the inkblots in a Google Doc, and “help Norman fix itself”.

Their research could help future AI creators determine how to balance out against potentially pernicious data sources, and ensure that their AI creations remain as untainted and impartial as possible.

http://www.techradar.com/news/mit-creates-psychopath-ai-using-the-dark-side-of-reddit

Category: Technology