Samsung has kicked off the actual in-person business of the latest CES in Las Vegas in its usual spectacular style by unveiling its biggest – in every way – TV range ever.
There are many highlights to cover, but I suspect the news likely to excite AV fans the most is the revelation that Samsung will be not only launching a 77-inch Quantum Dot OLED TV to sit alongside new, improved 55 and 65-inch versions, but will also be selling two QD OLED ranges.
Both the premium S95C and more affordable S90C new QD OLED ranges will be available in 55, 65 and 77-inch screen sizes and use the new, improved generation of QD OLED panels.
Using the latest QD OLED panels means both ranges will benefit from the apparently substantial brightness and color performance improvements previously reported by QD OLED manufacturer Samsung Display. This will see brightness increasing by seemingly as much as 30% over 2022’s models, and color achieving more consistent, balanced and, above all, vibrant saturations.
The main differences between the QD OLED ranges will be that the premium S95C range will ship with external ‘One Connect’ connection boxes, and support a much more powerful multi-channel audio system.
Also promised by Samsung for its new QD OLED TVs is perceptual colour mapping designed to express colors so that they more closely resemble the way your eyes see the real world; an OLED brightness booster feature that works at pixel level to deliver optimised bright and dark areas; and 4K AI upscaling that now benefits from the combined knowledge of no less than 20 neural networks.
Gamers, meanwhile, will be excited to learn that Samsung’s S95C QD OLEDs will be the first OLED TVs ever to achieve AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro certification.
While I suspect Samsung’s new QD OLEDs will be for most consumers the star attraction of its 2023 CES showing, it’s actually Samsung’s Mini LED TVs that continue to be positioned as the brand’s premium models. So it’s great to discover that unlike its 2022 Mini LED models, Samsung’s 2023 sets will benefit from an increase in the number of dimming zones they use to illuminate their pictures. Samsung won’t discuss exact numbers, but it’s certainly implied that the number of extra zones introduced this year is pretty extensive, at least on the flagship QN95 4K and QN900 8K ranges. In fact, industry rumors suggest we could even be looking at as much as a four-fold zone increase in at least the top Mini LED models.
One of Samsung’s new TVs for 2023 in a house that definitely isn’t mine.
Photo: Samsung
The Mini LED TVs will get the latest version of Samsung’s Quantum Matrix light and power control system, as well as a neural quantum processor to apply the results of Samsung’s advanced picture AI system.
Among the new features delivered by the latest processor are Real Depth Enhancer Pro, which enhances the sense of 3D depth in the image by using deep learning to better understand which parts of any image your eyes will most likely be focused on, and then enhancing the image around that focal point to add more natural emphasis.
If you go for one of Samsung’s new 8K TVs, you will also benefit from improved 8K AI Upscaling that draws on the combined knowledge of a huge 64 neural networks in judging how to add the colossal amount of pixels required to convert 4K, HD and even SD to 8K. Previously this process only involved 20 neural networks.
After abandoning it for years, Samsung is also bringing back SDR to HDR conversion for 2023. The reason for the return of this feature is, once again, Samsung’s increased confidence in the deep learning algorithms of its AI picture analysis system, working in tandem with SDR and HDR image databases installed on Samsung’s latest chipsets.
The Object Tracking Sound systems in Samsung’s Mini LED TVs will also benefit from improvements generated by the new TVs’ improved processors, especially with the 8K models, creating a more immersive sound stage, delivering greater voice clarity, and providing a (very welcome) loudness equaliser.
One thing worth noting if you’re thinking of buying a Samsung 8K TV in 2023 is that your out of the box picture preset will likely look pretty dim – certainly much dimmer than the TV is capable of being – thanks to the EU’s ridiculously restrictive new TV power limitation regulations. So don’t forget to switch to another preset or turn off the TV’s eco picture settings to unlock what your new Samsung 8K TV is capable of.
if you’re looking for exact model numbers for Samsung’s 2023 Mini LED range, the Neo QLED 8K range will feature QN900, QN800 and QN700 models, all built around a premium super-slim design, while the Neo QLED 4K TVs will be built around QN95, QN90 and QN85 ranges.
Other more general new features common to Samsung’s latest mainstream TVs include extensive improvements to the ease with which they connect with other devices in the home, be they IoT devices, smartphones or Galaxy Buds headphones, as well as new light, sound and camera sensors allowing you to use the TV to set up light scenarios and the like in your home.
Another Samsung 2023 TV in another room that isn’t mine.
Photo: Samsung
Samsung’s desire to deliver the best TVs for gaming also sees it delivering multiple new gaming features, such as a Super Ultrawide Game view and an improved Game bar that introduces a 16:9 Mini Map zoom-in feature, mini-map sharing that now supports consoles, and dual screen support – where the game plays on alongside a window showing something else, such as a YouTube play guide – that will cover a wider range of sources without adding anything to the screens’ all-important response time. Talking of which, Samsung is pushing for consistent Game Mode input lag across its premium TV range of 5.8ms with 4K/120 content and under 5ms with 4K/144Hz content.
The Gaming Hub will be improved by better Gamepass compatibility too, and there will be a new Virtual Aim Point feature to enhance your FPS gaming skills.
In some territories Samsung will be upping its in-home healthcare support, including monitoring of heart rate, stress and even oxygen saturation and respiration rates, all, remarkably, without the need for external equipment.
Samsung’s new 8K TVs will introduce the facility to access 8K NFTs as part of Samsung’s Ambient ‘screensaver’ system in a bid to add more 8K content to the very limited amounts currently available elsewhere.
Samsung has also started to refine the new full-screen Tizen smart system that launched last year to rather unhelpful effect, taking steps to simplify the presentation and increase the personalisation options.
No Samsung CES announcement would be complete without another mention of Micro LED TVs that we (as in, people who can’t afford to own a mansion or a super-yacht) will likely never have a prayer of being able to buy. So for 2023 Samsung is saying it will be able to sell modular (stitched together from much smaller Micro LED ‘blocks’) Micro LED displays in 140, 114, 101 and, crucially for living room adoption, 89, 76, 63 and even 50-inch screen sizes.
The ability to offer new, much smaller screen sizes will see Samsung taking a new marketing approach to its Micro LED offering for 2023. With Micro LED manufacturing processes still not advancing as quickly as hoped, though, even if the smallest Micro LED screens really do come to market for a change, they’ll still unlikely be cheap enough to be accessible to the vast majority of consumers.
Wrapping up Samsung’s 2023 CES AV display announcements are some innovations to its increasingly successful ‘ifestyle’ product range. Particularly eye-catching here is the promised launch in 2023 of an 8K version of Samsung’s The Premiere ultra short-throw laser projector that’s capable of driving a screen size of as much as 150 inches.
Owners of Samsung’s extraordinary little Freestyle portable projector, meanwhile, will be able to enjoy a new Smart EDGE Blending feature in 2023 that enables users to use two Freestyles together to deliver a 21:9 aspect ratio image with no obvious seam between their pictures.
Samsung’s popular The Frame range of designer TVs will be able to be partnered with a new metal bezel design, and mounted on an optional rotating wall mount and stand, bringing the automatic rotation and vertical viewing experience familiar with Samsung’s The Sero TV to both The Frame and Samsung’s new Neo QLED TVs.
Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.
Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.
The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.
The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.
The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.
Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.
“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.
The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.
“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”
The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.
However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.
That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.
“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”
The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.
About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.
“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.
Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.
In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.
The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”
“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.
“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”
Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.
Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.
In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.
The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.
Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.
“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.
“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.
Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.
Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.
“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”
Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.
As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.
But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.
Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.
The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
