Facebook beefed up features in its Portal video communications device, adding calling via WhatsApp and expanding outside the U.S. It began taking preorders Wednesday for the successor Portal ($179), redesigned with a larger 10-inch HD screen. The Portal ships Oct. 15, along with the $129 Portal Mini, both described as having a picture frame design. Facebook also introduced the Portal TV ($149) set-top box, which brings “smart video-calling” to a TV. It sits above or below a TV, allowing users to move around during calls. Under scrutiny for privacy practices, Facebook highlighted the devices’ privacy features, noting consumers can disable the camera and mic with a single tap or by sliding a switch. A red light next to the lens indicates the camera and mic are off; users can block the camera physically with a cover. “For added security,” said the company, the camera and sound technology in the second-gen Portal use artificial intelligence that runs on the device, “not on Facebook servers.” The company detailed Portal’s process for listening: If “Hey Portal” is enabled, the device listens for the wakeup phrase. If detected, Portal sends a “short audio recording” and transcript of the “Hey Portal” voice interaction to Facebook: “A trained team may review a sample to make our voice services smarter and more accurate for everyone.” Users can view, hear and delete any “Hey Portal” voice interactions, it said, and they can turn off voice storage, meaning, "your voice interactions are not stored or reviewed.” Other features include an adaptive display that adjusts brightness and color to the surroundings. The Portal and Mini have built-in speakers for music.

CTA standards for health wearables are a “great first step,” but were not independent, Scott McLean, senior manager-biomechanics at engineering consultant Exponent told a Sports & Fitness Industry Association webinar Tuesday. CTA approved voluntary wearables standards for heart-rate monitoring last year. Wearable tech companies “themselves generated those standards,” said the ex-Fitbit researcher. “What’s necessary here is a much stronger, more independent oversight on those standards.” The “biggest challenge” in wearables is what counts for sufficient accuracy in the devices, he said. “That is a really big issue with developing standards, but it’s something that really does need to be addressed.” CTA devised a “reasonable standard for a consumer grade of accuracy,” he said. “But as consumers use these products in new ways, then the question becomes, does that standard really hold true now for these new applications?” As wearable devices “proliferate more," he said, data reliability "can be challenged." There are "limited standards to hold these products against," he said. "Those that do exist tend to have been developed with very limited independent oversight.” CTA didn’t comment Tuesday.

Sony’s board voted unanimously to keep its semiconductor operations inside the Sony group, rejecting calls from hedge fund Third Point to spin off the chips business into a stand-alone public stock, said CEO Kenichiro Yoshida in a shareholder letter Tuesday. The "valuation discount" in Sony’s stock is “attributable primarily to portfolio complexity, which will be a permanent problem unless it is decisively addressed,” said Third Point, a $1.5 billion Sony investor, in a June 13 letter to shareholders. But Sony’s board, after a 90-day review, decided keeping the semiconductor business “is the best strategy for enhancing Sony’s corporate value over the long term,” said Yoshida. The chips business “is a crucial growth driver for Sony that is expected to create even more value going forward through its close collaboration with the other businesses and personnel within the Sony Group,” he said. The board and management team “are excited about the immense potential” the semiconductors business brings Sony, he said. “We expect it to not only further expand its current global number one position in imaging applications, but also continue to grow in new and rapidly developing markets, such as IoT, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, said Yoshida. Third Point declined comment Tuesday.

Retailers are continuing to sell the Apple Watch 4, though Apple is no longer selling it, we learned. The most recent Apple Watch, prior to release of the 5 this Friday, received no love during the company’s Sept. 10 event where it launched a trio of iPhones, a tablet and the Apple Watch 5 (see report, Sept. 11). Bigger news than the display that doesn’t sleep in the Watch 5 was the price cut from $279 to $199 on the model 3, setting a new entry point for Apple Watch, as the company looks to broaden its customer base. The Watch 4, meanwhile, is no longer featured on the Apple website and quietly took a modest price cut; Best Buy was selling a GPS-only version, with 40mm case and pink band Monday for $349, down from $399, with $50 cuts also applied to other models. The Apple website Monday featured the 5 starting at $399 for a space gray case with sports band going up to $1,399 for a ceramic case with stainless steel band. Deal hunters are likely to check retailers often heading into the holiday season as retailers look to clear Watch 4 inventory.

OK'ing Google Fiber waivers for some set-top box functions (see 1905140066), an FCC Media Bureau docket 12-108 order Monday encouraged expedited implementation of an accessibility solution. The bureau's unlikely to extend waiver for the four functions "absent compelling circumstances."

After Apple’s fall smartphone release Tuesday, ABI Research projected shipments of smartphones with foldable, flexible or rollable displays will begin picking up as early as next year, growing to 228 million units by 2028. New phones' Improved speed and bandwidth aren’t keeping up with annual circulation of updated models, said ABI, and camera image quality “isn't getting much clearer and screen sizes in their current form aren't getting much larger.” Foldable and flexible display screens could be a way to offer larger-screened options “without burdening consumers with bulky, unwieldy devices,” it said. Early attempts at foldable phones, such as the Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate, showed the difficulty of creating a bendable screen without compromising the form factor, it said. ABI predicts once kinks are worked out, demand for foldable phones will “skyrocket.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden took heat from journalists and social media for his 250-word answer to a question about segregation during Thursday’s Democratic debate that included this advice for how low-income parents can build a better home for their school-age kids: “Make sure you have the record player on at night.” Though record players “still have cachet among the hipster set, they faded from most American households decades ago," wrote Marisa Fernandez on Axios.com, typifying other reactions. “It's one of those moments that can long outlive an election.” Debate-watchers will argue whether Biden’s record-player remark did him political harm as evidence of his difficulty connecting with youthful voters. But there's no denying the rebirth in component turntables and vinyl LPs, though the hardware numbers are expected to experience modest declines for 2019. CTA forecasts the industry will ship 957,000 turntables in the U.S. this year worth about $138 million in revenue, which would be down 4 percent in units, 3 percent in dollars, from 2018, emailed spokesperson Danielle Cassagnol Friday. RIAA doesn’t provide shipment forecasts, but says 16.7 million vinyl LPs worth $419.2 million were sold in the U.S. in 2018, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier in units, 7.9 percent in dollars. That compared with a 40.7 percent unit decline and 33.9 percent revenue decline in CDs. Physical format sales paled in comparison with streamed-music revenue, which climbed 30 percent in 2018 to $7.4 billion, said RIAA.

Infrared wireless charging company Wi-Charge is showing what it calls the first wireless power kit for the Echo Dot and Google Home mini at CEDIA Expo this week. It can power smart home devices across a room.

Software development, data analytics, engineering and artificial intelligence remain the most “in-demand” tech-job fields of expertise, CTA said Thursday. The association canvassed 252 member-company executives in April and May, find 73 percent deem employee referrals as “the most popular strategy to recruit new talent." Health insurance (91 percent), incentive compensation or bonuses (89 percent), paid time off (88 percent) and flexible work arrangements (85 percent) remain “the most important non-salary benefits to retain employees,” said CTA. Nearly six in 10 don’t expect technological advances “will displace any of their workers in the next five years.” Though 29 percent expect job displacement, 68 percent plan to keep workers by offering “reskilling” programs, a 16-point increase from 2018.

Apple’s three-iPhone launch Tuesday, coming amid the third consecutive year of contraction for the smartphone category (see report, Sept, 10), captured fans’ eyes. Broad pricing and advanced camera features wowed consumers (see here) and critics (including CNET). The Pro series, Apple’s first with that designation, stole the show for camera fans. Phil Schiller, senior vice president-worldwide marketing, highlighted the wide aperture and focus pixels that cover 100 percent of the sensor; a telephoto camera said to let in 40 percent more light than the previous generation; and an ultrawide camera. A new A13 Bionic chip and a new-generation image signal processor enable “a whole new level of photography,” Schiller said. The company launched flagship phones starting at $999 for the 5.8-inch 11 Pro and $1,099 for the 6.5-inch Pro Max, spreading pricing for other phones starting at $449 for the 8. The XR, the top-selling smartphone over the first half of 2019, dropped from $749 to $599, with this introduction of the 11 at $699. CEO Tim Cook gave details of the Apple Arcade gaming service, which opens Sept. 19 at $4.99 per month. The company turned heads more with the offer of a free one-year subscription to its $4.99 monthly Apple TV Plus video streaming service that launches Nov. 1 to customers who buy new products. Other starts included a new watch and tablets.