Knowledge Update

​Beijing, Jan 27 (IANS) Xiaomi, touted as the 'Apple' of China, slipped to fourth spot in 2016 as the demand for its smartphones declined 22 per cent annually in the country, a report revealed on Friday. The key reason for the decline was Xiaomi's rivals racing ahead with key features, innovation, bigger marketing budgets and wider online and offline distribution channel during the year. Huawei, Oppo and Vivo emerged as clear winners with Oppo and Vivo registering significant growth, said the report from by market analytics firm Counterpoint Research. "The final quarter of the year was marked with series of flagship upgrades from key brands such as Apple, Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi which catalysed the smartphone demand in China healthier than last year," said James Yan, Research Director, Counterpoint, in a statement. The demand for smartphones in China remained healthy during the fourth quarter of 2016 as smartphone shipments were up 12 per cent annually and nine per cent sequentially, driving the full-year growth. Only five brands registered healthy growth during the full year. Oppo, Huawei, Vivo, Meizu and Gionee drove the majority of the volume, capturing a combined 58 per cent of the total Chinese smartphone market. "Demand for rest of the brands declined, especially last year's star performers Xiaomi and Apple with lower-than-expected demand for their smartphones during the year," Yan added. Apple, with slowing traction for its flagship iPhone 6s during the year, saw its double-digit negative growth, being somewhat offset by relatively healthy demand for the newer flagship iPhone 7 series in fourth quarter of 2016, the findings showed. However, Apple still remains in a vulnerable position and there is higher expectation already with the next year flagship which is rumoured to be a substantial upgrade from both design and components perspective. In terms of features, the key focus remained on proliferation of smartphones with fingerprint sensors, 4G+/VoLTE ready, fast-charging, OLED displays, battery, adoption of dual rear cameras and higher megapixel front-camera for selfies, the report added.

​New York, Jan 27 (IANS) Questioning the decision-making ability of driverless cars, experts have suggested model driverless car regulations to ensure safety of the passengers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) experts David Danks and Alex John London from Carnegie Mellon University in the US argued that current safety regulations do not plan for autonomous systems and are ill-equipped to ensure that these systems would perform safely and reliably.

"Currently, we ensure safety on the roads by regulating the performance of the various mechanical systems of vehicles and by licensing drivers. When cars drive themselves we have no comparable system for evaluating the safety and reliability of their autonomous driving systems," said London.

In an opinion piece that appeared in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) Intelligent Systems, Danks and London suggested creating a dynamic system that resembles the regulatory and approval process for drugs and medical devices, including a robust system for post-approval monitoring.

"Self-driving cars and autonomous systems are rapidly spreading so we, as a society, need to find new ways to monitor and guide the development and implementation of these autonomous systems," added Danks.

The proposed phased process would begin with "pre-clinical trials," or testing in simulated environments, such as self-driving cars navigating varied landscapes and climates. 

This would provide information about how the autonomous system makes decisions in a wide range of contexts, so that we can understand how they might act in future in new situations, the duo said.

When a vehicle passes this test, the system would move on to "in-human" studies through a limited introduction into real world environments with trained human "co-pilots." 

Successful trials in these targeted environments would then lead to monitored, permit-based testing and further easing of restrictions as performance goals were met, the researchers noted.

Beijing, Jan 26 (IANS) Chinese think-tanks are among the world's best ones, with 9 of them making it to the best 175 in 2016, a report has said.

The number of Chinese think tanks has grown rapidly in the world last year, says Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, published by the think tank and civil societies program

London, Jan 26 (IANS) The number of cars made in the UK reached a 17-year high in 2016, the media reported.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Wednesday said that exports rose 10.3 per cent to 1.35 million vehicles, a record for the second consecutive year,

​New York, Jan 26 (IANS) Consuming a Mediterranean diet -- rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, high on healthy fats like olive oil and low in refined sugars and saturated fats -- may provide a good nutritious balance that can improve medication adherence and mental health in patients with HIV-positive and Type 2 diabetes, researchers suggest. People who received healthy food and snacks for six months showed dramatic improvements in depression, the distress of having diabetes, diabetes self-management, trading off between food and healthcare and HIV medication adherence. People with diabetes who ate the nutritious food showed better long-term control of their blood sugar, reduced hospitalisations or emergency department visits. They also consumed less sugar and lost weight. "We saw significant improvements in food security and in outcomes related to all three mechanisms through which we posited that food insecurity may affect HIV and diabetes health -- nutritional, mental health and behavioural," said Kartika Palar, Assistant Professor at University of California - San Francisco (UCSF), US. The Mediterranean diet fulfilled 100 per cent of daily caloric requirements for people living with HIV and Type 2 diabetes. The patients also had fewer symptoms of depression and were less likely to binge drink. For those with HIV, adherence to antiretroviral therapy increased from 47 to 70 per cent. The study appeared online in the Journal of Urban Health.

​Bengaluru, Jan 25 (IANS) Software major Wipro Ltd on Wednesday announced acquiring Brazilian IT services provider InfoServer for $8.7 million (Rs 59 crore).

The Sao Paulo-based 20-year-old InfoServer provides custom application development and software deployment services in the Brazilian market.

Tokyo, Jan 25 (IANS) Japan in 2016 recorded a trade surplus for the first time in six years, thanks to the low price of oil, according to figures released by the Japanese Finance Ministry on Wednesday.

​New York, Jan 25 (IANS) Google Home, a voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant for home automation, now lets you control Belkin Wemo and Honeywell products.

​San Francisco, Jan 25 (IANS) To help accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises, global networking giant Cisco is set to acquire AppDynamics Inc, a US-based application performance management and IT operations analytics company, for $3.7 billion.