Tech Digest daily roundup: Samsung profits jump 50%

Technology giant Samsung Electronics has said it expects to post a 52% jump in profit for the last three months of 2021, amid the global chip shortage. The world’s biggest memory chip maker estimates that it made 13.8tn won ($11.5bn; £8.5bn) in the period. That would be its highest fourth-quarter operating profit in four years. The company’s earnings were boosted by strong demand for server memory chips and higher profit margins in its chip contract manufacturing business. “Samsung is well placed to profit from the record-breaking demand for PCs and electronics,” technology analyst Sam Reynolds told the BBC. BBC 

A video from Unbox Therapy has shown off what appears to be three dummy units of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S22 series of phones, giving an early look at the design of the handsets. Although the video has now been delisted, it’s been reuploaded on other channels, and a screenshot was taken by 9to5Google. The video emerged alongside other details of the upcoming phones, including camera specs, and images of a new fast charger. This isn’t the first time footage of Galaxy S22 dummy units has leaked online. Twitter leaker OnLeaks posted similar footage in the middle of last month. Unbox Therapy’s video appears to corroborate these previous designs, and also shows the handsets more clearly. The Verge

Well, OK… #Samsung #GalaxyS22 #GalaxyS22Plus #GalaxyS22Ultra #Dummy pic.twitter.com/CD8rnHhStx

— Steve H.McFly (@OnLeaks) December 13, 2021

Dogs can distinguish between languages when listening to people speak, researchers have found. Scientists from Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary trained 18 canines to lay motionless in a brain scanner, where they were played parts of famous novella The Little Prince in Spanish and Hungarian. The dogs taking part had only ever heard one of the two languages before. Their brains displayed different activity patterns depending on whether a familiar or unfamiliar language was spoken, suggesting they could differentiate between the languages. Sky News 

WhatsApp is great at letting you know when you have received a new message, but also gives you the option of quietening notifications for those times when you don’t want to be disturbed. Now there is a new preview version of the app available that introduces an important upgrade to notifications that make them even more useful. While a recent update added profile photos so you can easily see who has messages you, this new update takes things a step further. The change concerns notifications, and it means that you can more easily tell who has replied to you, or mentioned you, in a group message. If another member of a group chat replies to a message you have posted, or if they @ mentions you, the notification you see now includes the profiles picture of the person in question. Tech Radar