Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has been “retired”

Samsung has been feeling unwell after its promising XXL Galaxy Note 7 turned out to be an unprecedented failure for the brand.

On the 11th of October, Samsung’s share price fell by 7.02% and $5bn went up in smoke, causing one of the largest drops in the company’s history.

On Oct 9th, Samsung stopped exchanging recalled devices due to reports of replacement phones catching fire. One day later, Samsung announced the permanent cessation of production of its Galaxy Note 7. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) had specified that 92 incidents have been reported in the country thus far, of which 26 related to explosions that caused burns. Since early September, sales of the Galaxy Note 7 have been suspended because of several cases of battery explosions reported throughout the world. The CPSC recalled one million devices, urged American owners to turn off their phones and stop using them and proposed two options: either have the phone replaced or get a full refund.

It had seemed that faulty manufacturing of the lithium-ion battery was to blame. However, according to independent engineers, the explosions of Samsung's smartphone are not due to the battery itself, but to a design fault. In short, Samsung was taking a risk attempting to shrink the battery size in order to produce a smartphone as thin as possible, and this proved to be beyond the technical limits of today.

Analysts have estimated the recall could have a lasting impact on the $211 billion company’s brand image. To win back the lost ground, Samsung will have a lot to do.

Weiming Bai

A high-flying invention

A high-flying invention

Loïc Fontaine

Edouard Graviere 

Man has been able to travel by air since the Wright brothers first flew their handmade plane back in 1903. But the dream of the birdman, epitomized by the ancient myth of Icarus, is still appealing.

The wingsuit, which appeared in the late 1990’s, was the first device allowing man to fly without an aircraft. Thanks to a surface area of heavy nylon fabric between the legs and under the arms, human beings can glide through the air like flying squirrels. A new extreme sport called “wingsuiting” became famous through numerous videos of reckless individuals jumping out of planes, then sailing over mountains for a dozen long minutes before finally opening their parachutes.

Now, former Swiss fighter pilot Yves Rossi - a.k.a. Jetman -  has invented the JetPack, bringing the dream of Icarus closer than ever. Wearing the 2.4-meter-long wing equipped with 4 jet engines, Rossi has demonstrated that he can fly at speeds up to 300 km per hour and land safely using a parachute. In November 2016 he even performed an aerial choreography with 2 other Jetmen and the Patrouille de France, France’s precision military aerobatics squadron.

Yves Rossi and the Patrouille de France

But with the JetPack, flying like a bird does means carrying 120 pounds on your back. Moreover, potential “Jetmen” require extensive training to learn to control it safely.  However, in a 2015 interview Rossi revealed that he was working on a lighter pack, and hoped that future technology would allow anyone to use his invention -- even his grandmother !

His project has already attracted financing from sponsors such as XDubaï, specialized in extreme-sport videos, which could help the large-scale development of the JetPack, and enthrone a new way to fly. 

http://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/2016/11/27/01008-20161127ARTFIG00124-incroyable-mais-vrai-des-hommes-volent-avec-la-patrouille-de-france.php

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/07/03/419537713/ever-dream-you-could-fly-jetman-has-let-him-tell-you-about-it