Apple Cuts iPhone Production 10%; Folding Phone at CES; AT&T Burned for Fake 5G Claim; FightCamp Motion Tracking Boxing Trainer

Apple is cutting iPhone production by 10%, according to businessinsider.com. The slowdown will be in effect between January and March. The projected production will be between 40 and 43 million, instead of the original 47 to 48 million.

It isn’t a Samsung, but a real folding phone is showing at CES. Engadget.com reports that it’s from Royole, and the FlexPai works…but it’s kind of rough around the edges as a product. That said, it will be available to developers for a princely $1300.

We noted a couple days ago that AT&T was branding its LTE network 5G. They have been badly burned by the Twitterverse and competitors, but none better than T-Mobile, which show someone taping a ‘9G’ sticker on an iPhone. (See Picture.)

Fight Camp showed their connected home boxing gym. Sensors in the connected gloves and sneakers track your workout and coordinate with training videos.

Sony TVs Getting Apple Airplay; Intel & Comcast-10 Gig Broadband & WiFi 6 Deal; Gillette Bows Heated Razor; AT&T Brands 4G ‘5G’; App Helps Kill Spoofed Spam Calls

After the announcement at CES yesterday that a number of Samsung TVs will feature iTunes and Apple AirPlay, today Sony revealed that it will also have 4K and 8K sets that will support Apple Airplay 2 and HomeKit. The full iTunes availability remains exclusive to Samsung for now. Engadget.com says the Sony sets will continue to offer Google’s Cast protocol as well, giving buyers more options than ever…including synchronized multi-room audio via your TV controls.

Comcast has cut a deal with Intel…announced at CES…that will enable fast broadband speeds of 10 Gigs per second and using WiFi 6, the latest WiFi standard that uses less energy. TechCrunch.com reports that this should be a plus for Comcast’s home gateway in that it will enable much more efficient hubs and control of Internet of Things devices in connected homes. The actual service should be rolled out in 2020, although some devices that use it will be available later this year. As more people cut the cord, Comcast seems to be positioning itself to be the ultimate home net supplier, as a way to fend off lightening fast 5G cell service.

Gillette has taken a bit of a beating lately…note that they are running TV ads after a long time away. The likes of Harry’s and Dollar Shave club are cutting into their business. With Dollar shave blades costing…well, a dollar, and Harry’s getting 2 bucks, it makes it tough to sell blades that are…at the cheapest….$3.66 each. Engadget.com says Gillette has taken a new tack. For decades, they’ve sold razors cheap, and made money on the blades. Now, instead of adding a ludicrous 6th blade, they have rolled out a heated razor. It has a gold, metal bar on the blade surface that heats up in a second and warms the shaving cream, giving you a ‘hot towel’ quality shave, like in a barber shop. That’s all great, but The razor will sell for $160! A Harry’s razor will set you back $9! No word on when the heated razor will hit the shelves and web.

So 5G isn’t ready to roll out yet, and phones don’t really have it? No problem! AT&T has re-branded their 4g LTE as ‘5G* Evolution.’ It will be 5G E for short. This is reminiscent of the old ‘Edge’ network, that was really 2.5G. According to arstechnica.com, when ACTUAL 5G is more widely available, AT&T will brand that 5G+! Don’t be sucked in…neither AT&T nor anyone else has real 5G in 400 markets or anything close, and the first true 5G handsets are just going to hit the market this year. It’s marketing, folks!

If you’ve been getting more and more spam calls that seem to be from the same area code and exchange as your number, a new app might help. A lot of folks have gone to Nomorobo, but that costs. Now, an app called No Neighbor is available on Apple’s App Store for free…normally $.99. Engadget.com says the app sends calls with the same number and exchange (next 3 digits) to voicemail automatically. Since a lot of spoof calls are using the technique of posing as one from your exchange, it should really cut down on those. Please note that it doesn’t whitelist any…so if you have a lot of friends with your exchange (I don’t), you will have to check VM and call them back. For me, it will cut down dramatically on the Chinese language fake IRS calls…a big win!

HP Chromebook Uses AMD; 3 Rear Cams-Next iPhone; Samsung TVs Get iTunes; Win 10 Build Mutes Cortana; Kroger Partners with Microsoft-Connected Grocery Store

Up to now, Chromebooks have all been powered by Intel and ARM. Now, according to 9to5google.com, AMD is getting into the game. The HP Chromebook 14 will be powered by either AMD A4 or A6 chips, and have AMD graphics chips as well. They launch later this month in 3 colors, with a starting price at $269.

A very early leak from Steve Hemmerstoffer (partnered with Indian tech site Digit) shows a new iPhone with 3 rear cams in a triangle orientation. Macrumors.com reports they protrude in a square box with the 3 cams, flash, and a microphone. Although Hemmerstoffer has a good track record going back years, he admits this is a ‘creakingly early leak’, and may not be the final final version. Still, it’s a good bet with some makers building handsets with 5 rear cams, that Apple will go to 3 on the next top line iPhone in September.

Still on the subject of Apple, Samsung is going to offer iTunes via a dedicated app on their 2018 and 2019 TVs. Theverge.com says it the app will play both your music and Apple TV show libraries, and will include support for Airplay 2. This is the 1st time Apple has allowed a third-party to access its video library outside of Windows PCs…but rumor has it that Apple will launch a video streaming service this year, which would also be available on the Samsung TVs.

Having mentioned Windows, it’s worth noting that the latest Windows 10 build features passwordless Microsoft accounts. You can now set up the initial sign in using SMS, which will prompt you to configure either a biometric or PIN authentication. From then on, you can used the biometric…face or fingerprint…or the PIN to log in. According to arstechnica.com, you no longer need to suffer through Cortana talking you through the installation process. This will be especially welcome in an office full of Win machines getting updated…no multiple Cortanas blathering away at different points. Clean installs of Win 10 Home will still have Cortana turned on by default for the install.

Microsoft and Kroger are teaming up, and shamelessly aping Amazon—building connected grocery stores. The companies have configured 2 pilot stores, one near each headquarters….in Monroe, Ohio and Redmond, Washington. Venturebeat.com reports that they are using tech powered by connected sensors and Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.

A feature rolling out to even more stores is digital displays on shelves in place of the paper price tags. The digital displays can quickly be changed in real time, replacing the tedious task of hand replacing those all over the stores. The more automated test stores use a dedicated Kroger app, which guides you around the store to find the items on your list. It will also tell you if an item is out of stock before wasting time walking over to its shelf.