Mobile World Congress: VR/AR, dual cameras, 360 video, and deep learning

For the first time in its history, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona welcomed over 100,000 visitors, most of them in suits. The mobile industry remains huge with more than 1.5B phones sold each year.

News from the show
Several new VR/AR displays were announced: Alcatel’s Idol 4 smartphone,LG’s 360 VREpson’s Moverio BT 300,HTC’s Vive VR, and Samsung’s $99 Gear VR. Dual cameras are coming to phones: the next iPhone may include oneHTC did it beforeLG now has one, and Huawei is slated to follow. Capturing more video with 360 cameras: LG announced their 360 Cam and Samsung its Gear 360Sony announced a wearable camera. Qualcomm and Mediatek showed deep learning demos that recognized objects in pictures taken with the camera.

Read our full report from the show

See us at the Embedded Vision Summit

Embedded Vision Summit LogoThe Embedded Vision Summit is coming up soon. Mark your calendars for May 2-4 in Santa Clara, California. This year we’re expecting over 1000 application developers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs to attend – all focused on embedded vision. As a sponsor, exhibitor and speaker, we can offer a 15% Videantis16 discount code when registering.

Jeff Dean of Google and Larry Matthies of NASA are keynote speakers and our own Marco Jacobs will give a presentation titled “Computer Vision in Cars: Status, Challenges, and Trends”. Just as cars replaced horse carriages in the 1920s, electronics will replace the human operators in our cars in the 2020s. These systems use cameras and computer vision techniques to understand the vehicle’s surroundings. Marco will provide an overview of the state of ADAS today and give a glimpse into the future.

Come see us at the event

Industry news

Honda’s new Civic includes ADAS
The Obama administration has proposed spending $4 billion to accelerate autonomous-car technology during the next decade. For $20,440, you can get a Honda capable of driving itself pretty well on a highway today. Honda is releasing automated safety features on its entry-level vehicle Civic LX sedan, a step that takes some of the most sophisticated technology on the market available. General Motors is the next compact car in line to add advanced-safety bells and whistles. Read article

Facebook buys face-swapping computer vision app MSQRD
Expect to see new faces on your Facebook in the future. The social network has purchased popular face-swapping app MSQRD, built by Belarusian startup Masquerade, with the app offering a range of features including live video effects for selfies and the creepy-sounding “celebrity masks.” (Facial overlays that make you look like famous person X.) Read article

Google’s explains self-driving car crash at SXSW
Taking the stage at Austin’s SXSW festival, Chris Urmson, director of Google’s self-driving car project, explained precisely what happened during a recent collision between a self-driving car and a bus. He talked further about the progress of self-driving car technology and how even that incident was a crucial learning experience for the technology. Read article

Upcoming Events

Embedded Vision Summit May 2-4, Santa Clara Come see our demonstrations at the main embedded vision event of the year.

Schedule a meeting with us by sending an email to sales@videantis.com. We’re always interested in discussing your video and vision SOC design ideas and challenges. We look forward to talking with you!

Was this newsletter forwarded to you and you’d like to subscribe? Click here.