New platform by QNX

NEW PLATFORM BY QNX TO INCREASE THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL INSTRUMENT CLUSTERS

By: S’nenhlanhla Mnqayi

QNX Software Systems Limited, a subsidiary of BlackBerry Limited announced the latest addition of its portfolio of automotive safety products, which is the QNX Platform for Instrument Clusters.

This new platform is set to enable the customers to deliver compelling user experiences of their vehicles while addressing stringent safety requirements.

Digital instrument clusters constitute is one of the fastest growing segments in automotive electrons. It uses its sophisticated 2D and 3D graphics, these devices can display traditional instrument cluster information, such as speed and RPM, as well as rich, context sensitive information supplied by other vehicle subsystems, including turn-by-turn directions, local speed limits, rear-view camera video and collision warnings.

According to the Strategy Analytics, the combined demand for hybrid and fully digital instrument clusters will increase from 8.7 million units in 2015 to 42.2 million by 2023.

QNX has become the leading software supplier for vehicle infotainment, with deployments in over 60 million cars. Since 2009, QNX technology has also been powering digital instrument clusters in vehicle brands such as Alfa Romeo, Audi, Corvette, Jaguar and Range Rover.

According to this leading technology company, these QNX Platform for Instrument Clusters builds on expertise to help customers create cluster solutions that offer a superior user experience while satisfying stringent safety requirements.

The new QNX’s platform that offers a comprehensive solution for instrument cluster developers includes, the QNX OS for Safety, an ISO 26262 that supports all of the automotive safety integrity levels, from ASIL A to ASIL D, a 2D/3D graphics framework that is based on Open GL and it works together with the ISO 26262 for functional safety standard, a software framework that projects safety-critical cluster functions and a reference implementation with source code, that gives developers a jumpstart on building fully digital instrument clusters.

“We are seeing growing interest in ISO 26262, which has emerged worldwide as a leading standard for automotive functional safety, especially in the software domain,” said Heinz Gall, Head of the Functional Safety& Security Business Unit.

To further accelerate development, the QNX Platform for Instrument Clusters will support application design tools from members of the QNX automotive ecosystem, such as Crank Software’s Storyboard Suite, DiSTI Corporation’s GL Studio, Elektrobit’s EB GUIDE, and Rightware’s Kanzi UI software.

This rich selection of tools will enable customers to choose the UI technologies and design approaches that best address their project requirements.

“QNX has become an automotive leader by offering comprehensive, one-stop solutions that allow customers to focus on differentiation and time-to-market, rather than on low-level

integration efforts,” said John Wall, Senior Vice President and Head of QNX Software Systems.

He also added that “The new QNX Platform for Instrument Clusters brings this proven approach to the digital cluster market, enabling faster development and helping customers reduce the effort and risk of qualifying their end-products to safety standards such as ISO 26262.”

The QNX Platform for Instrument Clusters is scheduled to be available to select customers under an early access program starting in August 2016.

For more information you can visit this site www.qnx.com  and follow @QNX_News.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH BY QNX IN MANAGING IN- CAR ACOUSTICS

By: S’nenhlanhla Mnqayi

QNX launched the acoustics software and already it has shipped in over 50 million automotive systems.

QNX Software Systems Limited, in subsidiary with Blackberry Limited announced that its acoustics software for hands-free voice communication has been given a lot of support particularly in telematics and infotainment systems.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) encourages automakers to adhere to standards for in-vehicle call quality that QNX Software Systems helped to develop.

“The quality of hands-free communications can make or break the driving experience, which is why so many automakers and tier one suppliers rely on QNX acoustics technology. It is engineered to enable the best possible UX, to eliminate the cost of dedicated hardware, and to simplify the tuning of complex acoustics systems,” said John Wall, the Senior Vice President and Head of QNX Systems.

About 20 automakers, including Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, GM and Honda, now use this newly introduced QNX acoustic software to enhance the user experience of their vehicles, and every 2.5 seconds it works well with these vehicles.

He also added and said that, “Being deployed in over 50 million systems by nearly 20 automakers is a testament to the value that our acoustics expertise brings to the industry, and to the trust customers place in our production-proven technology.”

It has been confirmed that QNX acoustics technology runs on a rich choice of automotive hardware and software platforms, such as the QNX Neutrino OS and it has been deployed in over 60 million vehicles worldwide.

This leading systems company has brought in these systems to improve the quality of communicating inside the vehicle so that everyone can be heard and the driver to be heard as well. By implementing these systems it will create a sense of having a distraction-free experience.

The QNX Acoustics for Voice offers better quality calls through support for Voice-over-IP calling and Voice-over LTE technologies and they provide with these software systems:

QNX In-Car Communication

A revolutionary technology that enhances the driver’s voice, allowing the passengers in the back seats to hear the driver clearly, even when the vehicle is driving at highway speeds.

This type of system helps in such a way that instead of the driver turning around or shouting to be heard, the driver can speak normally and continue to focus on the road without being disturbed.

QNX technologies for improving in-vehicle sound quality

This includes QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control, which reduces the low-frequency engine “boom” noise caused by modern fuel-saving techniques, and QNX Acoustics for

Engine Sound Enhancement, which enables automakers to create and maintain unique engine sound that enhance the appeal of their vehicles.

This includes QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control, which reduces the low-frequency engine “boom” noise caused by modern fuel-saving techniques, and QNX Acoustics for Engine Sound Enhancement, which enables automakers to create and maintain unique engine sound that enhance the appeal of their vehicles.

QNX Acoustics Management Platform (AMP)

This system combines all of the above technologies into an integrated solution. QNX AMP allows automakers to manage the total sonic experience of their vehicles, while reducing system costs and complexity.

For more information you can visit this website www.qnx.com and follow @QNX News on Twitter. For updates on the company’s automotive work, follow @QNX Auto and visit qnxauto.blogspot.com.

13 Ways To Help You Snap Like A Pro

CartierBresson is widely regarded as one of the greatest photographers of all time and once said, “To photograph is to hold one’s breathe, when all faculties converge to capture fleetingreality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.”

Murals - Shot using the #LGG5 by Fred Felton

LG's latest flagship, the G5 gives users the opportunity to fully experience the joy of photography. Here are 13 ways to get you snapping like a pro.

1. Accessing the manual mode:

One of the best ways to start capturing those significant moments with the LG G5 is by accessing the manual mode. To access the manual mode, you’ll have to tap the 3dot icon at the topleft

of the screen, which brings up the three main modes: Simple, Auto and Manual.

The manual mode allows you to control the white balance, focus, exposure, ISO, shutter speed and AEL.

The white balance allows you as the user to alter the colour tone, compensating for unnatural lighting or to create skewed colour effects.

The purpose of the ISO is that it determines the sensitivity of the sensor. When choosing darker

environments to take pictures, you will need to use a higher setting. The AEL, locks the xposure, letting you use the light level as a creative effect, making shots either much brighter or darker than the G5 would normally use.

2. How to use manual mode to get noise free shots

All you’ll have to do is set the ISO to 200 (it goes down to ISO 50), then use the shutter speed control to see how slow you need to go for low noise results. The benefit of using the G5 is that it has optical image stabilisation (OIS), you can make the shutter go fairly slow and still get sharp photos.

3. Shooting RAWs

RAW files are what you get when you take the 'raw' information from a camera sensor, before reducing the noise level and smoothing things out. Using RAWs allows you to do your own processing, often ending up with a finer detailed image.

The G5 allows you to shoot RAWs by simply accessing the manual mode and tapping the second icon from the bottom of the screen, over on the left column. This will allow for the shooting of RAW and JPEG files, rather than just JPEGs. RAWs come out as a file known as DNG (Digital NeGative file).

4. Using the second camera as "zoom out"

The G5 has dual cameras (16 MP f1.8 main camera has 78degree angle view and the 8MP additional camera captures a 135degree super wideangle image) to take your digital photograph to the next level. It has a new, unique feature like pop – out photo, capturing more with the zoom out. In the camera app you can switch between lenses via a button, and when using the digital zoom the camera switches seamlessly between the two modules. The autofocus is assisted by a laser that measures the subject distance.

5. Use the main camera for the best image quality

The 16MP wide angle camera of the LG G5 is the best Android camera on the market giving users a fisheye effect in every shot. What it means for the users is that the camera allows you to fit much more of the scene into a single photo.

6. Changing photo and video resolution

Should users want to play with different size images for that perfect selfie, they can switch to 4:3 or 1:1 images by tapping on the cog icon at the bottom left of the screen and selecting the top option in the menu that pops up. As well as changing the shape of photos, they can also alter the video resolution. The G5 normally shoots 1080p video users can levelup

to UHD (the exact resolution of '4K video').

7. Video stabilisation

For that perfect steady shot users can find the option for video stabilization near the bottom of the camera. For that perfect steady shot users can find the option for video stabilization near the bottom of the camera settings menu, which you access by tapping the cog icon. Tapping on this flicks between SteadyShot stabilisation and OIS, if you're using the standard camera lens in Auto mode. The former is what most phones use, a digital enhancer that uses the edges of the frame as a buffer to smooth out any movements. This leaves you with a slightly more 'zoomedin'

view than you get when taking photos. That's one reason why you might use OIS instead, which uses the little camera stabilisation motor to keep your footage smooth.

8. Simple mode is great for simple photography

Simple mode is found by tapping the 3dot icon at the top left of the camera app.

Simple mode takes away almost all custom features you get with the other options. All you do is tap on the object on which you want to focus and the LG G5 camera app both focuses and takes a shot as quickly as possible.

9. Shortcut key for instant photos

In the main phone Settings menu, go to the General tab and then select Shortcut key. In here you'll see a flick switch for Quick Shot. Make sure it's switched on. This lets you press the volume down button twice quickly when the phone is off to fire up the camera and take a photo.

10. Timelapse + wideangle camera = cool movies

The G5 has several 'creative' modes in its camera app and Time Lapse is one of the more interesting ones. This shoots video, but at 1/15 the normal speed. That means it takes two frames a second rather than the usual 30. Use this with the wideangle camera and you'll get footage that resembles some of the stuff GoPros are used for in action sport footage.

11. Use the grid display for landscape photography

The G5 has a grid option to stop those uneven photos and help you align or center pictures properly. What it eans for the user is that you get another reference point of where to lineup

the horizon, as well as helping you work out what you want the focus of the picture/image/photo to be. You'll find Grid at the very bottom of the camera app Settings menu, accessed by tapping on the cog icon.

12. Use 30sec exposure to make something special

The G5 can keep its shutter open for up to 30 seconds. What it means for the user is that it merges all the light information from that halfminute stint into a single image. What one can do while using the 30sec longexposure photography is shoot a road where car lights turn into streaming neon lines, and create noisefree night shots that almost look like daylight photos.

13. 360 Cam

The G5 is the only Android smartphone on the market that comes with a series of module accessories (Friends) that fit onto its bottom and one in particular where users have been raving about is the 360 Cam. The LG 360 CAM provides 2K video and 5.1 surround channel recording on three microphones to help users effortlessly create highquality 360degree contents. Having secured a partnership with Google, images taken with the 360 CAM can be uploaded to Google Street View and YouTube360, adding the fun of sharing creative content with others.

Reference: http://www.techradar.com/howto/phoneandcommunications/mobilephones/13lgg5cameratipstogetyousnappinglikeapro1321899

#LGPlayMore

What Is Mobile ROI?

ONE SMALL STEP TO MOBILE ROI

By Nader Henein, Regional Director – Advanced Security Division, BlackBerry

The ability to work from your smartphone, anywhere and anytime, has transformed the way business is conducted. But while most organizations have embraced the ability to be mobile, many are not taking full advantage of the opportunities mobility represents because they do not recognize the real value that going mobile can offer beyond the obvious benefits.

For most businesses and governments in the Middle East the extent of enterprise mobility is reached when they’ve setup an employee’s email account on their smartphone. From a purely commercial perspective, you’ve deployed a mobile device management platform, purchased licenses and in many cases bought a device and a new mobile subscription, so you’ve spent quite a bit to get email on the go. Don’t get me wrong, being able to stay on top of corporate mail while out of the office is critical for employees to be to be productive and efficient, but shouldn’t corporations get more for all that spend?

In short, the answer is yes. Corporations should get a better return for their investment. However, ROI is linked to the mobile maturity of a business. The more advanced a business is in their enterprise mobility strategy, the higher the value and the ROI will be.

The Mobile Maturity graph below outlines the journey for corporations towards truly getting the most out of their mobility spend.

One Small Step Moving beyond basic Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) and Messaging is a small step with large gains. It sounds as if it should happen organically but there is often a tendency with corporations that after they have deployed a product and it has reached stability, they then leave it alone. That essentially means that have not maximized their ROI.

Maturing from EMM and Messaging to Collaboration involves extending your corporate instant messaging capabilities to mobile devices, whether they’re with CISCO Jabber, Skype for Business (formerly Microsoft Lync) or otherwise. In many cases all this involves is pushing the correct App to your managed devices and configuring user access. Collaboration also involves document sharing. This is a fairly trivial step yet it has huge potential; email is great, but we need access to our corporate documents securely on the move whether they sit in shared network drives, Microsoft SharePoint or the cloud. For example with the multiOS platform BES12, this is a question of a few clicks either via Good Share or WatchDox by BlackBerry.

When you wake up tomorrow morning and reach out to your phone remember how important mobility has become in your day to day life. Then ask yourself – has it brought the same transformation to my work? If the answer is no, then there is substantial room for increased productivity and revenue with just a few clicks.

For more information, visit www.BlackBerry.com.

LG 360 Cam One Touch 360 Degrees

Having amassed a total of 33 awards at the Mobile World Congress (MWC)

2016 including the event’s top honour, Best Mobile Handsets & Devices Award, securing status as the most honoured company at the show. The G5 sees LG Mobile taking a revolutionary approach by launching a device that consumers can fully immerse themselves in.

The wins highlighted the Modular Type innovation behind LG’s latest flagship smartphone, the LG G5 and Friends. Now that the brand new, completely redesigned G5 has been unveiled to South African consumers, buyers are about to get even more excited with the offer of accessories – Friends. 

One in particular that has been generating a lot of buzz is the LG 360 Cam. The LG 360 Cam is a compact 360 degree angle camera equipped with two 13MP 200 degree wide angle cameras, 1,200mAh battery and 4GB internal memory, which can be supplemented by a microSD card.

What it means for consumers is that the 360 Cam can easily be connected to the LG G5 allowing you to create 360degree content. The LG 360 CAM provides 2K video and 5.1 surround channel recording on three microphones to help users effortlessly create highquality 360degree

contents. Having secured a partnership with Google, images taken with the 360 CAM can be uploaded to Google Street View and YouTube360, adding the fun of sharing creative content with others.

Specs:

The 360 Cam is compact and lightweight standing at 30 x 97 x 25mm and weighs 72 grams. There are two 13megapixel cameras mounted back to back on the LG 360 Cam. Each camera has a lens offering a 200degree field of view, meaning that each side can capture 180degrees.

When used together, these are stitched for the full 360 degree view.

LG has released a video showing how easy it is to use the 360 Cam with its new modular handset, the LG G5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vithqn0ZVc

With the use of the LG Friends Manager app, it will take users three steps to get connected to the LG G5 using the the 360 Cam. All you have to do is press the power button on the side of the accessory. Install the correct modular card, and press the shoot button on the front of the camera and you are on your way on taking your digital photography skills to the next level. The LG Friends Manager app allows you to control the 360 CAM from your handset and the pictures you take can be sampled on your phone using the app.

Life’s Good when you play more!

#LGPlayMore

This edition by Fred Felton

Twitter @fredfelton