COMPUTEX Taipei, Asia’s largest computer expo concluded last weekend, with a flurry of exciting announcements and demonstrations of the new products from the industry leaders (Intel, Asus, Nvidia, Microsoft, etc.), as well as, budding startups. Below we have briefed the major takeaways from the event.

1. Microsoft’s making meeting rooms smarter with Windows Collaboration Displays.
   Just a few weeks ahead of the event, Microsoft had unveiled the successor of its giant wall-mounted Tablet- Surface Hub 2, which now interestingly comes with a 4K+ resolution and portrait mode. Later, during the event, the company announced that it is partnering with other display manufacturers like Avocor and Sharp under the project named Windows Collaboration Displays.
   
   Image Credits: LiftLie
   The complete solution will then work with Windows 10 PCs and inbuilt sensors to create advanced conference meeting rooms, wherein Azure’s IoT special intelligence will adjust the temperature of the rooms sensing the presence within. All the multiple displays in the room will have high-res display, and support for stylus and multi-touch. The screens will also come embedded with cameras and far-field microphones for conducting a seamless experience of conferencing, with support from AI assistant Cortana.
2. Intel launches anniversary edition for 8^th generation processor that has mind-blowing turbo frequency of 5GHz and a PC concept named Tiger Rapids.
   Both AMD and Intel launched new processor chips, while Intel also launched the anniversary edition of the Core i7-8086K. The newer processor by the company, that would be available by the 4^th quarter of the year 2018, runs at the frequency of 5 GHz. It is notable though that the speed is the result of overclocking. AMD’s new processor, on the other hand, runs at the speed of 3 GHz with turbo frequencies at 3.4 GHz. Another major announcement from Intel was about the concept NoteBook called Tiger Rapid. Like conventional NoteBooks, the device will have an HD LSD display, but in place of keyboard, there will be an Electronic Paper Display for input that can be converted from digital keyboard to the stylus-based handwriting input tool.
   
   Image Credits: Claire Reilly/CNET
3. Nvidia launches  Jetson Xavier that will power autonomous robots
   The computer chip manufacturer Nvidia has launched two of its products in this year’s expo- Nvidia Isaac and Jetson Xavier. Where Nvidia Isaac is a new developer platform that simplifies the development and training processes of robots, Jetson Xavier is a compact hardware set that will offer autonomous robots a boosting processing power. The chipset Xavier houses multiple processing tools like deep learning accelerators, Core GPU, eight-core CPU, and processors for static media.
4. Asus replaces touchpad with a touchscreen and keyboard with a secondary screen
    In the new concept project, ASUS demonstrated the future of Laptops. Project Precog by the company replaces the keyboard in laptops with a secondary screen. The screen can be folded to 360 degrees allowing it to be used by two people in ‘tent-mode’, for multiple purposes like gaming. The prototype that the company demonstrated during the event also supported features like face and object recognition and typing correction. It was also claimed that the device will be self-adjustable for the users when they would be typing from the wrong position.
5. Innovex
   Like last year, the expo this year also hosted the separate segment for startups- InnoVEX. This year over 388 startups participated in the event, and many of them were working on IoT solutions. Previously, we have discussed how fragmentation of IoT is inevitable owing to the wide scope of the technology, now the proceedings of InnoVEX this year also hinted at the same prediction. Until now, despite being a clearly useful and lucrative technology, Internet of Things is still lacking the industrial leadership. This is why most of the attention for this particular technology was showered on the startups that are innovating with it. In the regards, Jamie Lin, co-founder of AppWorks Ventures a startup accelerator in Taipei, has said, “Computers continue to morph and there are no dominant players in IoT,” Lin said. “That’s why they need startups and that’s what makes the show relevant.” The same can be said for the progress of AI. In words of Tracy Tsai, a Gartner research VP in Taipei, “There’s a process, which is experimental — error and trial, error and trial – so there’s no one with a ready solution, and AI is so broad that one that can do it all.”

It is clear that this year’s expo has brought a lot of food for thought for all the innovators and tech businesses around the world. Another big event, in fact, the biggest in the world computer Expo- CEBIT 2018 will also conclude this week. Stay tuned to hear more about all the exciting on goings of the expo.

Resources

https://www.computextaipei.com.tw/en_US/show/info.html?id=980BCB33E83E8228D0636733C6861689&sFuncID=980BCB33E83E8228D0636733C6861689

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/5/17428534/intel-core-i7-8086k-anniversary-limited-edition-computex-2018

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/6/17433040/microsoft-windows-collaboration-displays-computex-2018

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/computex-taipei-2018-the-4-biggest-takeaways-for-business-leaders/

https://www.voanews.com/a/as-internet-of-things-lacks-world-market-leader-focus-turns-to-startups/4426785.html