Google recently underwent a major internal reorganization. The company merged its Android and Hardware (Pixel) teams as part of this reorganization. If you don’t know already, the Android team was responsible for developing the Android OS and related platforms, while the Hardware team was responsible for Pixel smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and other hardware products.
This could be good or bad news for Samsung and other Android OEMs, depending on what Google does next.
Google claims merger of Android and Hardware teams will help it bring better features faster
This new team within Alphabet is now called Platforms and Devices and is headed by Rick Osterloh. It will now develop software for the Android ecosystem and Google’s hardware products. Earlier, Google maintained a distance between Android and Pixel products so that Android could be seen as a neutral provider for all brands, including Pixel. This meant that Google’s Pixel team wouldn’t have the upper hand compared to other smartphone OEMs. That distance is no longer present, with Android and Hardware teams being merged.
So, should Samsung be worried? Apparently not.
Google says its partner brands (like Honor, OnePlus, OPPO, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi) shouldn’t worry. The company says the merger should be seen as a positive, as the Android ecosystem can now develop things faster. Rick Osterloh met with Samsung MX CEO TM Roh recently and claimed the companies’ relationship has never been stronger.
In an interview with TheVerge, Rick Osterloh and Hiroshi Lockheimer (the previous head of Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS) revealed that they have been discussing this merger with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai for over two years. He said consolidating teams “helps us to be able to do full-stack innovation when that’s necessary.” He also said that with this merger, it can now bring AI to all its products faster.
Can we trust Google to follow through, though?
Google recently brought some of its features (Circle to Search and Wear OS) to Samsung first and then to Pixel devices. This move could be a way for Google to stop OEMs from worrying. However, we must wait and watch Google’s moves longer to know if it will stick to its promise. We know how many good products Google has killed over the years (check Google Graveyard), including the nifty little Chromecast.
If Google follows through with its promise, the Android ecosystem will improve greatly. The company has streamlined many of its platforms and services over the past few years. In collaboration with Samsung, it improved Google Home, Nearby Share, and Wear OS. However, it has also ruined many products, including Fitbit and Nest. Many of us know how quickly sometimes Google decides to throw in the towel (looking at you, Stadia).
If Google doesn’t follow through, it would be disastrous for Samsung and all other Android OEMs. Hopefully, Samsung is keeping a close eye on Google and how it is approaching Android and Wear OS.
Popular collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack and Google may be required to implement end-to-end encryption and interoperability if used by US federal agencies.
Legislation put forward by US Senator Ron Wyden, titled as the Secure and Interoperable Government Collaboration Technology Act is looking to boost security for such tools following a number of high-profile recent incidents.
Federal agencies don’t seem to use a single standard collaboration tool between them, making it necessary that when inter-agency communication does happen, it should be fully secure.
Communication is key
If written into law – which would most likely happen in 2025 due to the upcoming elections – the bill would require each collaboration tool used by federal agencies to be assessed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in order to understand how they can interoperate securely.
Email accounts linked to several agencies have been cracked by Russian hackers exploiting a chain of vulnerabilities linked to Microsoft corporate email accounts, and other government agencies have succumbed to a cascade of Ivanti VPN vulnerabilities that resulted in data exfiltration and persistent system access affecting businesses and government departments alike.
Speaking on the proposal, Wyden said, “My bill will secure the US government’s communications from foreign hackers, while protecting taxpayer wallets. Vendor lock-in, bundling, and other anticompetitive practices result in the government spending vast sums of money on insecure software.”
“It’s time to break the chokehold of big tech companies like Microsoft on government software, set high cybersecurity standards and reap the many benefits of a competitive market,” he concluded.
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Once signed into law, federal agencies would have up to four years to ensure their collaboration software meets the standards and requirements set by NIST, so while it isn’t an immediate fix to some of the security issues the federal government is experiencing, it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
Being cut off or having to hang up on important work calls when on the move could be a thing of the past thanks to a new Google Meet feature.
The video conferencing service has announced a new tool that will allow users to transfer between a call on a mobile device to a laptop (or vice versa) with just a click.
The new “Switch here” function should prove incredibly useful for those on the move, for example if you are heading into the office, but are running late for a call, so have to start it on your phone, before switching to your PC or laptop when you get to your desk.
Switch here
“In today’s world, getting our work done can happen from many locations, across many devices,” the company noted in a Google Workspace Updates blog announcing the news. “Beginning today, you can smoothly transfer between devices while on a Google Meet call without hanging up and rejoining.”
The Switch here option will be displayed when joining a meeting on a laptop or PC, allowing users to switch the call from a mobile device without losing or disrupting the conversation.
(Image credit: Google)
Once transferred, a notification will appear on the first device noting, “Call switched to another device”, meaning there’s no need to manually rejoin or even hang up on the initial call.
Google Meet promises “seamless” switching between devices, but in real life this may depend on network strength and the actual computing capabilities of your devices, but we’re keen to try it out.
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The function will be available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts, across Google Meet on Android and iOS mobile devices. It is rolling out now, with no admin action required.
The launch is the latest tweak to Google Meet as the company looks to make it more engaging and interactive for users. Recently, the platfom announced it would bringing its “Companion Mode” second screen tool to the Meet app for Android and iOS devices, offering a quick way to participate in meetings without opening a laptop, and giving more flexibility to the way users work and meet.
AMD is introducing two new adaptive SoCs – Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2 for AI-driven embedded systems, and Versal Prime Series Gen 2 for classic embedded systems.
Multi-chip solutions typically come with significant overheads but single hardware architecture isn’t fully optimized for all three AI phases – preprocessing, AI inference, and postprocessing.
To tackle these challenges, AMD has developed a single-chip heterogeneous processing solution that streamlines these processes and maximizes performance.
Early days yet
The Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2 adaptive SoCs provide end-to-end acceleration for AI-driven embedded systems, which the tech giant says is built on a foundation of improved safety and security. AMD has integrated a high-performance processing system, incorporating Arm CPUs and next-generation AI Engines, with top-class programmable logic, creating a device that expertly handles all three computational phases required in embedded AI applications.
AMD says the Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2 SoCs are suitable for a wide spectrum of embedded markets, including those with high-security, high-reliability, long lifecycle, and safety-critical demands. Purposes include autonomous driving, industrial PCs, autonomous robots, edge AI boxes and ultrasound, endoscopy and 3D imaging in health care.
The processing system of the integrated CPUs includes up to 8x Arm Cortex-A78AE application processors, up to 10x Arm Cortex-R52 real-time processors, and support for USB 3.2, DisplayPort 1.4, 10G Ethernet, PCIe Gen5, and more.
The devices meet ASIL D / SIL 3 operating requirements and are compliant with a range of other safety and security standards. They reportedly offer up to three times the TOPS/watt for AI inference and up to ten times the scalar compute with powerful CPUs for postprocessing.
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Salil Raje, senior vice president of AMD’s Adaptive and Embedded Computing Group, said, “The demand for AI-enabled embedded applications is exploding and driving the need for solutions that bring together multiple compute engines on a single chip for the most efficient end-to-end acceleration within the power and area constraints of embedded systems. Backed by over 40 years of adaptive computing leadership in high-security, high-reliability, long-lifecycle, and safety-critical applications, these latest generation Versal devices offer high compute efficiency and performance on a single architecture that scales from the low-end to high-end.”
Early access documentation and evaluation kits for the devices are available now. The first silicon samples of Versal Series Gen 2 are expected at the start of next year, with production slated to begin late 2025.
Amid political headwinds and economic uncertainty, we find ourselves in a challenging time for business. The economy is being impacted by the combination of ongoing high inflation and limited GDP growth. Meanwhile, supply chains are being disrupted by international conflicts (e.g., Ukraine, Gaza and the Houthi insurgency) and the ongoing impact of Brexit. And so, businesses are being pulled in multiple directions due to economic pressures and uncertainty – the two things they hate most. Due to these challenges, it’s safe to say we are living through a ‘cost of doing business’ crisis.
This crisis has seen cybersecurity teams suffer pushback from decision-makers about new investments. With instability resulting in spending decisions being delayed, they are faced with ‘in-real-terms’ or even actual budget cuts for the first time. This is forcing them to be as agile as possible to continue responding to the evolving security landscape because the classic market drivers – the evolving threat landscape, increasing digital transformation, mounting regulatory reform and the ongoing skills shortage – mean that security teams are being asked to deliver more with less. Thus, the knee-jerk response of ‘salami-slicing’ costs, let alone not acting at all, is simply not an option.
To maintain an appropriate level of security, finding a way to continue protecting their company will therefore be an uphill battle. Security leaders must find new ways to demonstrate the value of the investment decisions they seek.
Dominic Trott
UK product manager, Orange Cyberdefense.
Security as an enterprise risk management topic
Any organization failing to protect its sensitive digital assets from today’s increasingly sophisticated cyber threats stands to pay a high price. According to our recent Security Navigator report, there was a global surge of 46% in cyberattack victims in 2023.
A significant contributor to this is the tendency of businesses to view security merely as a checkbox on their compliance list rather than addressing it as part of a broader (and consistent) enterprise risk management strategy. This implies a lack of communication, with the C-suite not fully understanding the way that security delivers value across their organization.
However, cyber resilience should start in the boardroom, with organizations aligning cybersecurity closely with their business objectives. Achieving this requires enhanced collaboration between CISOs, security and the wider leadership team to foster a deeper understanding of internal security needs and how they can support business goals by defending their most important assets and maintaining ‘business as usual’ in the face of attacks.
Executive meetings should therefore regularly address security as an enterprise risk management topic, emphasizing the significance of partnerships and collaboration between the board and security teams. They can do this by making sure that they understand the risk management strategy of their business leaders, working to quantify the security risk that they face and presenting security decisions in terms that help the board to map this security risk posture against their risk appetite. This will allow security experts to advise on how budgets could be allocated most strategically and facilitate open discussions about the inherent risk versus cost challenges posed by potential cyber incidents.
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Always relate to the business strategy
Our research also found that the past year saw large enterprises account for 40% of security incidents. With more stakeholders, these organizations often suffer by trying to take multiple perspectives onboard, which can make business and security alignment more challenging. Security leaders must focus their activity and investments towards the most critical risks that are most contextually relevant. Otherwise, they risk ‘boiling the ocean’ – diminishing the impact of their spending power by diluting focus.
A lack of business focus on the security strategy can lead to organizations missing out on the adoption of new tools and technologies that could provide a competitive advantage. For example, at our annual Summit in November, an informal discussion between partners and customers found that only around a quarter of security leaders in attendance had ChatGPT enabled for staff, with the remaining citing it was blocked for security reasons. However, businesses that can find a way for security teams to enable such technologies safely will reap the rewards and put themselves ahead of their competitors.
To overcome this issue, security teams must learn how to ‘do business with the business.’ This means understanding what the wider business is struggling with and, crucially, being able to explain how they can support it. To achieve this, it is critical to make new tools ‘secure by design,’ as solutions that both enhance security while preserving usability can help to hone a competitive edge. However, this hinges on security teams being involved in new projects from the start so they can demonstrate their value for business initiatives.
Unfortunately, this stands in contrast to the traditional situation whereby security is brought in at the end and/or as an afterthought, perceived by the rest of the business as a ‘blocker’ that slows down or dilutes the value of such projects. By helping business leaders think creatively about how finance, security and business strategies align, security teams can help drive the business agenda.
Automation to the rescue
However, this level of collaboration with the broader business can be time-intensive for security teams, who are also trying to maintain appropriate defenses and respond to threats. One way of tackling this is by optimizing security operations and using automation so they can spend time on more meaningful tasks, without taking their foot off the gas.
Whilst every procedure holds importance, security teams need to reassess how they prioritize their time and how mundane, everyday tasks can be dealt with to free up – or ‘create’ – capacity. If this is done right they can improve security metrics, minimize incident response times and therefore reduce exposure to risk, while at the same time creating more time to work closer with business leaders to drive home the importance of their role.
Ultimately, security should be part of the answer not part of the problem when it comes to overcoming the ‘cost of doing business.’ By freeing up resources with the help of automation, security teams can build a more strategic role in the boardroom, and forge closer ties with business leaders to proactively address vulnerabilities and unlock a competitive advantage.
This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
New research has found that almost half (49%) of IT teams are suffering from burnout as a result of war rooms made necessary by the rampant ‘blame game’ being played between IT teams and third-party service providers.
A significant majority (91%) of organizations are still embroiled in hosting war-room-style meetings to get to the bottom of problems, increasing tensions, duration of incidents, and the risk of losing talent due to burnout.
As a result of such meetings, 46% of IT personnel have lost out on personal time during weekends and evenings, with one in five (21%) considering a change in job due to excessive stress.
Jumping ship to avoid the war room
The research, conducted by Dynatrace, found that less than a third (29%) of organizations use a single unified platform, along with the same data for both monitoring and managing digital services, which results in IT teams and third-parties working from their own version of events when things go wrong.
This lack of observability results in a blame game between IT teams and service providers, as neither are operating from the same data, in turn leading to the war-room-style meetings in order to piece together what went wrong, who was at fault, and what can be done to remediate the issue.
While the data is based on a small survey conducted at a cloud innovation event in Europe, the data points to a significantly larger problem within the IT industry. Rob Van Lubek, Vice President, EMEA at Dynatrace, said, “War rooms are an extremely negative approach to resolving problems, and against the backdrop of continued skills shortages, can significantly deepen resourcing challenges for many organisations.”
“What looked like ‘business as usual’ five years ago is no longer acceptable for many IT professionals, who reassessed their work-life balance during the shift to hybrid working. The high-stress environment of war rooms and the looming threat of emergency conference calls at any hour of the day can lead to a disenfranchised and disengaged workforce that is constantly on the lookout for their next employer.”
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Using Microsoft Teams on a smartphone should soon be a lot more straightforward thanks to a new update from the company.
The video conferencing service has announced it is working on a new feature that will allow users a much simpler way to take and carry out calls on their device.
The update will mean that when using the platform on a mobile device, users can now transfer their ongoing Teams calls to the phone’s native dialer, without any disruption or loss of context.
Microsoft Teams mobile call transfer
The change should mean that Teams users are able to handle and take part in more calls, no longer needing to fiddle between different apps and dialers, which can lead to annoying drop-outs or interruptions.
It should also make taking and participating in Microsoft Teams calls much easier when travelling or on the move, for example while driving or on a train.
The update is currently listed in the official Microsoft 365 roadmap as “in development”, but has an expected rollout start date of April 2024, meaning users shouldn’t have too long to wait to start using it.
Upon release, it will be available to Android and iOS users alike, and to users across the world.
The update is the latest from Microsoft as it looks to ensure Teams on mobile is an effective and efficient tool for users everywhere – including a new Microsoft Teams mobile layout that it says makes navigating around the Android and iOS apps a lot simpler, allowing users to quickly and easily find the channels or chats they need.
This includes a tweak that now shows the live status of a meeting, with the Teams calendar on mobile devices providing much more detail on what exactly is happening before you join a call, including the avatars of the participants who have already joined, as well as a new simplified way for users to join Microsoft Teams meetings when using a smartphone, removing some of the unnecessary steps and making sure users are set up the way they like when joining a call.
Samsung has announced a new partnership with Canada’s TELUS for 5G and the two companies will build the first commercial RAN network in Canada, they have been working together since 2020 and are now expanding their partnership.
With an Open RAN, TELUS is able to use components from different manufacturers that best meet its needs, while a virtualized radio access network (vRAN) allows the use of software instead of hardware. This provides TELUS with faster access to the latest technologies as they become available, helping enhance customer experiences and fuel network innovation, while increasing opportunities for equipment vendors.
“This is a very exciting milestone for TELUS and the industry overall, as we now have the most flexible way to offer a diversified set of services to Canadians, unlocking new levels of mobile experiences,” said Nazim Benhadid, Chief Technology Officer at TELUS. “We are proud to be the first Canadian telecommunications company to integrate this cutting-edge technology, together with Samsung and our other partners.”
“Innovation is not a result, but a continuous process that transforms our daily lives,” said Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “TELUS and Samsung have been spearheading a meaningful transformation in mobile communications and we look forward to continuing to unleash the full benefits of software-centric innovation, by advancing our industry-leading vRAN and Open RAN.”
You can find out more details about the latest partnership between Samsung and Telus over at Samsung’s website at the link below.
Source Samsung
Filed Under: Android News, Technology News
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Samsung has announced a new partnership with Transport for London to highlight Google’s new Circle to Search feature which first launched on the new Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphone with a new Tube Map. The original London Tube map was designed 90 years ago.
In a transformative collaboration, the world-famous Tube Map, which was designed by Harry Beck in 1933, has been reimagined into a circle to more clearly emphasise the Circle line. The temporary redesign champions the new Circle to Search with Google feature – a new tool on the Galaxy S24 device where users can instantly search anything you see on your phone, without switching apps. It can quickly help you find a recipe for something delicious you saw on social or where to buy the shirt someone’s wearing in a photo by drawing a simple gesture with the S Pen or finger.
As part of the two-week collaborative takeover, the limited-edition map, which has been designed to work as a functional map of the Tube network, will be on display on Circle line platforms at five stations: King’s Cross, Blackfriars, Westminster, Liverpool Street, Paddington. While not replacing the current Tube map, it shows all 11 London Underground lines, and also temporarily shows the Circle line as the ‘Circle to Search’ line.
You can find out more details about the new partnership between Samsung and Transport foer London and the new Tube Map over at Samsung’s website at the lionk below.
Source Samsung
Filed Under: Android News, Mobile Phone News
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Samsung has announced that it is integrating British Gas Services in the UK into its Samsung SmartThings Energy, and this is designed to help people manage their energy usage in their homes in the UK.
This initiative expands SmartThings Energy by incorporating British Gas’ PeakSave program, enabling users to enhance their home’s energy efficiency with minimal effort more details are below.
“As one of the U.K.’s most trusted brands, British Gas is the perfect fit for us as an innovative technology business,” said Chanwoo Park, Executive Vice President at Samsung Electronics. “Together we are now able to harness SmartThings Energy to provide customers with easier control into optimizing their daily routines and energy use.”
British Gas is the U.K.’s leading supplier of energy and home services, and it has been providing these services to Britain’s homes for over 200 years — having launched in 1812 as the world’s first utility company. In addition to supplying energy to 10 million UK homes and businesses, it is also focused on getting the U.K. to net zero by 2050 through helping customers to reduce their homes’ carbon footprints with a range of energy-efficient home improvements.
You can find out more details about the new partnership between Samsung SmartThings Energy and British Gas Services in the UK over at Samsung’s website at the link below.
Source Samsung
Filed Under: Gadgets News
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