Samsung will restart selling Note 7 in South Korea

According to foreign media reports, Samsung plans to restart sales of Galaxy Note 7 mobile phones by replacing mobile phones with "no battery problems" for Note 7 users in South Korea starting from September 28. Due to fire and explosion accidents, Samsung has suspended sales of Note 7 mobile phones globally since September 2.

Samsung currently plans to recall and replace 2.5 million Note 7 units sold. A Samsung spokesperson said that starting from September 28, Samsung will restart sales of Note 7 in its home market of South Korea. The restart of sales in other countries will depend on the situation.

Battery issues have affected 0.1% of Note 7 phones sold globally since August. Yet the recall has wiped billions of dollars off Samsung's market value.

Relevant departments in many countries have banned passengers from using Note 7 mobile phones on planes, trains and buses due to the possibility of fire accidents. U.S. regulators said on Thursday that users should "immediately stop using the Note 7 and turn it off."

PC demand picks up, Intel raises revenue forecast for this quarter

Chipmaker Intel on Friday raised its third-quarter revenue forecast amid signs of improving demand for personal computers.

Intel said it expects third-quarter revenue to be US$15.6 billion, with a fluctuation range of US$300 million. The company's previous revenue forecast for the third quarter was US$14.9 billion, with a fluctuation range of US$500 million.

Intel said the increase in revenue guidance range was due to the need to replenish inventory at PC suppliers and that the company believed it was "seeing some signal of increased demand for PCs."

Intel shares are up 6% this year.

When Intel announced its second-quarter results in July this year, the company pointed out that even though revenue from its more profitable server chips grew less than expected, the impact of the declining PC industry on the company was easing.

Apple’s stock price bucked the trend and rose continuously, with its market value increasing by US$50 billion in three days

On September 16, according to market observation reports, Apple’s stock price closed higher for the fourth consecutive day in the U.S. stock market on Thursday, hitting a new high for the year, as there were signs that demand for the technology giant’s new iPhone smartphones was stronger than expected.

On the same day, Apple's stock price rose $3.80 in regular trading on the Nasdaq market to close at $115.57, an increase of 3.40%. Its trading volume exceeded the daily average in the first hour after the opening. The stock once hit $115.73 during the session, setting a new intraday high since December 10, 2015.

So far this week, Apple's stock price has risen by about 11%, setting its best four-day trend since it rose 13% in the four trading days ending April 29, 2014.

At the same time, as of Thursday, Apple's stock price has risen by at least 2% per day for four consecutive trading days, setting its best performance since the four trading days ending on April 6, 2009.

Apple attaches great importance to the AR market and has "poached corners" from companies such as Oculus

Apple has begun to brew AR-related content. According to Sina Technology, Zuyu Li, who once served as the chief computer vision engineer of Magic Leap, currently serves as a "senior computer vision algorithm engineer" at Apple. Former Oculus research scientist Yury Petrov currently works as a "research scientist" at Apple.

In addition to poaching these two senior talents, Apple is also said to be creating a dedicated VR and AR team and has been recruiting people in the past few months.

Cook believes that augmented reality technology has more growth potential than virtual reality technology, so Apple has invested heavily in these areas and will continue to pay attention and continue to develop it in the future. However, the specific product and content direction is still unclear.

U.S. House of Representatives report slams "whistleblower" Snowden

After a long period of silence, Edward Snowden, the person who exposed the "Prism" surveillance project and a former US defense contractor employee, has recently returned to the public eye. On September 16, American director Oliver Stone's new film "Snowden" will be released soon.

On the 15th, the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee released a report, criticizing Snowden as not being a "principled whistleblower" and that his actions seriously endangered the safety of U.S. military personnel and civilians. One day ago, two human rights organizations jointly petitioned US President Barack Obama, calling on him to "pardon Snowden" before the end of his term.

The brief report released on the 15th is an overview of a 36-page "top secret" report completed by the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee after a two-year investigation. The investigation was jointly launched by the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States, aiming to find out how Snowden obtained confidential documents, their contents and the harm caused to U.S. national security.

Baidu has received permission from California to test self-driving cars on the road

According to Reuters, Baidu has officially obtained a license from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test self-driving cars. Outsiders believe that Baidu’s research and development in autonomous driving will further accelerate as a result.

Baidu first announced its self-driving car plan in December last year. Recently, it has gradually increased investment and cooperation channels in this field, and has successfully launched road tests on Chinese roads.

For many car companies working on autonomous driving, California has always been a very important testing location, because many cutting-edge technologies developed by Silicon Valley companies were first put into use in this region. Additionally, California is home to many technology startups and automotive companies.

It is reported that Baidu’s autonomous vehicle has obtained the 15th autonomous vehicle road test license in the world issued by the California government in the United States. Other licensees include Volkswagen, Ford, Faraday and Google. After obtaining the license, Baidu said it would launch self-driving road tests in the region "soon."

Google acquires Urban Engines Introducing location analysis capabilities to Google Maps

According to 36Kr, Google recently acquired Urban Engines, a service provider that performs positioning analysis for urban planning. The latter team will join the Google Maps team, but the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Urban Engines, founded in 2014, is a location analysis service provider that uses big data technology to analyze spatial data. Its analysis results can help local governments and enterprises evaluate urban mobility while improving transportation services in surrounding areas.

Thanks to the sensors on smartphones, cars and various transportation vehicles, Urban Engines has collected "billions of journey data" and "helped millions of commuters improve their lives" - in fact, the founder's idea for starting a business came from his encounter with a traffic jam.

Urban Engines' customers mainly come from municipal departments and provide analysis services for "smart cities" in various places. It currently has business operations in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.