Samsung's second quarter profit may flag as smartphone innovation dries up

collected by :John Smith

Analysts expect Samsung's smartphone sales to drop in the April-June quarter, following a more than 2 percent drop in the previous quarter as consumers flock to cheaper models from Chinese rivals such as Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK). Samsung's lead over Apple Inc (AAPL.O) in the global smartphone market is under pressure after the U.S. firm's iPhone X exceeded market expectations while a lack of technological innovation dogs Samsung offerings. Samsung's latest Galaxy S9 flagship phone, launched in mid-March, boasts lots of software but little in the way of technological wizardry. In China, the world's biggest smartphone market, Samsung's market share was just 1.3 percent in the first quarter, according to data from research firm Strategy Analytics, compared with Huawei's [HWT.UL], 22.5 percent. ADVERTISEMENTIn India, Xiaomi displaced Samsung as market leader last year and continued to lead in the world's second-biggest smartphone market in the first quarter, according to a report from research firm Counterpoint.

smartphone addiction: Teens using smartphone may develop symptoms of ADHD

NEW YORK: Think twice before handing over a smartphone to your teenager as new research warns that adolescents who frequently use digital devices are more likely to develop symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ). Teenagers who are heavy users of digital devices are twice as likely as infrequent users to show symptoms of ADHD, showed the findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association ADHD is a brain disorder with symptoms that include a pattern of inattention, hyperactive behavior and impulsiveness that interferes with functioning or development. "New, mobile technologies can provide fast, high-intensity stimulation accessible all day, which has increased digital media exposure far beyond what's been studied before," said Adam Leventhal, Professor at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in the US. "We can say with confidence that teens who were exposed to higher levels of digital media were significantly more likely to develop ADHD symptoms in the future," Leventhal added.The study focused on the impact of digital diversions, including social media, streaming video, text messaging, music downloads and online chatrooms, among others, on the mental health of the adolescents.The team analysed data from 2,587 teenagers for two years who were asked to report how frequently did they use, 14 popular digital media platforms, included for the study.The investigators sorted media use frequency into three categories - no use, medium use and high use.Then, they monitored the students every six months during the study period. They sought to determine if digital media use in grade 10 was associated with ADHD symptoms tracked through grade 12.The results showed that, nine and a half per cent of the 114 children who used at least half of the media platforms frequently and 10.5 per cent of the 51 kids who used all 14 platforms frequently showed new ADHD symptoms.Contrastingly, 4.6 per cent of the 495 students who were not frequent users of any digital platforms, showed ADHD symptoms, approximate to background rates of the disorder in the general population..

New study reveals smartphone use may affect teenagers' memory

as declared in The Swiss study of 700 teens found radio frequency electromagnetic fields may have adverse effects on the development of memory performance of specific brain regions exposed during mobile phone use. "We asked on which side they use their mobile phones, if they have hands-free devices and for those who agreed we used the operator data of call duration. "Basically we know that mobile phone radiation makes a slight temperature increase but we do not expect that it has some long-term effect on memory. However, we knew from previous laboratory research, that brainwaves are affected by mobile phones radiations. For instance, if participants in these studied used a mobile prior to going to bed, they had different brain waves.

Yes, your smartphone may be spying on you – but not how you suspect

Yes, your smartphone may be spying on you – but not how you suspectDavid ChoffnesElizabeth Weise | USA TODAYSAN FRANCISCO – Think your smartphone is spying on you? Also, none of the apps turned on the phone's camera and shot video of whatever it was pointed at. "This was actually good news," Dave Choffnes, a professor of computer science at Northeastern and one of the researchers, told USA TODAY on Thursday. It was actively making recordings of everything the user did on the app and sending it to AppSee, an app analytics platform. One possible use of the Appsee program is to allow a company to collect a random number of screen videos.