Daimler Self Driving Trucks Hit US Road; Tesla-New Battery Could Last a Million Miles; Amazon Career Day in 6 Cities; Google Maps Learns New Waze

Daimler, the Mercedes-Benz parent, has started testing autonomous big rigs on Virginia highways. According to venturebeat.com, the semis are outfitted in conjunction with Torc Robotics, a startup in which Mercedes recently acquired majority stake. The Freightliner Cascadias are retrofitted with arrays of lira sensors, cameras, and radar…not to mention Torc’s self-driving software. As has been true in other over the road tests, there are trained drivers and engineers aboard just in case. Right now, Daimler says the rigs are classified as level 4, which is defined by the SAE as capable of operating with limited human oversight under select conditions. Daimler Trucks of North America has owned the Freightliner brand since the 1980’s. There are at least 4 other companies working on self-driving for semi trucks, so expect to see more of them fanning out across the country.

A researcher named Jeff Dahn and his team have been doing battery research for Tesla. Now, electrek.co reports they have released test results for an impressive new battery cell that they claim will go a million miles. That’s two to three times the life of the present Tesla battery cells. The new battery tested is a Li-Ion battery cell with a next-generation “single crystal” NMC cathode and a new advanced electrolyte. Tesla sees these as being ideal for ‘robo-taxis,’ which they believe will be a big market in the future. Tesla is also moving to manufacture its own cells, instead of relying on Panasonic, which could also be a big boost for the company.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em (or maybe both), it’s hard to argue with the success of Amazon. Now. geekwire.com says the company will hold Career Days on September 17th to try to fill more than 30,000 available jobs in the company…including warehouse workers, retail jobs and high-tech positions. For reference, 30,000 is about the number of jobs at the Kroger Company! The job fair will also include help for people looking to start their own businesses using Amazon platforms. Amazon presently has a headcount of some 653,000 people!

Google has ported over a couple handy new features from its Waze platform to Google Maps. Bgr.com notes that they are Street View support on Android and weather info on iOS. Now, they are going to add more, as Google Maps becomes more Waze-like. Incident reports and more public transit info are coming, and even the ability to save a user’s preferred public transit options for quick access. Google is cleaning up the interface, too. There will be just 6 notification groups instead of nine. Each is customizable by the user.

Galaxy Fold Release Date; Apple In-Display Touch ID in 2020; Facebook Exposes Millions of Phone Numbers; Amazon New Fire TV Cube

The latest word is, the delayed Galaxy Fold will be released in the US on September 27th. Businessinsider.com reports that this is based on a leak, plus a customer who preordered one who was notified of that. Originally to be released last April, the Fold was held up due to terrible reviews from a small number of reviewers who had phones end up breaking after only a couple days of use. The almost $2000 Fold will apparently only be available vie retail stores on launch, and not from Samsung’s website. The phone reportedly drops tomorrow in South Korea.

Since it’s less than a week before the 2019 iPhones roll out, naturally there are leaks about NEXT year’s models! According to theverge.com, Apple is planning an in-display fingerprint authorization tech like what Samsung an Huawei have. This would be something of a roll back to Touch ID, but most Apple watchers say it’s likely the company will keep Face ID, so users will actually have 2 ways of getting past the lock screen. The Apple version will apparently let users touch any spot on ‘a large portion of the display’ to authenticate. The lower cost iPhone (successor to the discontinued iPhone SE) expected next year would have Touch ID on the home button, as past iPhones before Face ID came into use.

Another day, another data breach. This time, it’s Facebook. Techcrunch.com says a huge cache of users’ phone numbers has been found on a server that isn’t password protected. Each record has the users’ unique Facebook ID and phone number listed with the account. It’s millions of numbers! Facebook said it’s old data, and the information was scraped before they made changes last year to remove people’s ability to find other users using their phone numbers. Well there’s that…but scammers and marketers apparently have had the info or been able to get it, so thanks for nothing, Facebook!

In Germany, Amazon showed off a number of new products, including a 2nd generation Fire TV Cube. According to engadget.com, it sports a new processor that enables local voice control with on-device processing. It also has far-field microphones which should pick up your commands better in noisy rooms. Amazon claims it is 4 times faster than the earlier model. It has HDR10+ for a better picture, and is available for pre-order now for early October shipping….$119.99 in the US.

Apple Plans New Cheap iPhone in 2020; Apple AI Glasses May Be Close; Amazon-Pay At Whole Foods With Your Hand; Nikola Gets Cash Infusion for Fuel-Cell Big Rig; YouTube Dinged $170 Million in FTC Child Privacy Settlement

With the hero iPhones topping $1000, Apple has only had the 2016 version of the iPhone LE as a cheaper model until lately. Now, it appears that Apple may be back with a 4.7 inch screen, cheaper phone by the spring of 2020. Businessinsider.com reports that it will be about the size of the 2017 iPhone 8. The SE was $399 before it was killed off, and the cheapest iPhone right now is the XR at $749. Sources say it will have the same components as the flagship phones, but will run a cheaper LCD screen. Apple hopes the cheaper model will jumpstart sales next spring, after the initial blast of orders of the new flagship phones starts to wind down.

In other Apple news, some code in iOS 13 indicates that Apple’s AR glasses may launch sooner than previously thought. A few insiders now think the Apple Glasses (or whatever they end up being called) may launch some time in 2020.

Amazon is investing in a hand biometric payment system, which it plans to eventually offer at Whole Foods stores. The system would allow shoppers to leave their payment cards…or even phones behind and just have their hand scanned for payment. According to fastcompany.com, Amazon thinks this is ‘less creepy’ than facial recognition. This tech doesn’t even require laying a hand on a scanning terminal, either. The shopper can just wave their hand over the scanner, and it will use computer vision and depth geometry to identify the customer and charge their card on file. It is reportedly much faster than using a traditional debit or credit card, taking 300 milliseconds. Cards generally take about 4 seconds to read. They claim it is already accurate within one ten-thousandth of 1%, but Amazon wants to hit a millionth of 1% before launch. They hope to make the launch in early 2020 at select Whole Foods, then expand to all US locations…depending on how customers and employees do with it.

Since Elon Musk already glommed on to the electrical genius’ last name for his cars, the alt-fuel semi-truck startup had to go with his first name….Nikola. Cnet.com says Nikola has just gotten $250 million towards their fuel cell powered big rigs. The money didn’t come from just anywhere, either. It was from CNH Industrial, which has two subsidiaries that are big players in the commercial vehicle and powertrain market. Their division Iveco operates 28,000 trucks and busses with natural gas engines. The investors and Nikola say hydrogen fuel cell tech is the logical step between diesel rigs and full electric battery rigs. Nikola plans to launch 3 models in Europe by 2022.

Google owned YouTube will cough up $170 million to settle with the FTC and New York Attorney General. The platform had been accused of earning millions by illegally collecting personal info from kids without parental consent. CNBC.com reports that the FTC voted 3-2 for the deal…with the two Democrats on the Commission asserting that it didn’t go far enough to punish YouTube. It’s the third time since 2011 that the FTC has sanctioned Google for privacy violations.

Samsung 6.7 Inch Pocket-Sized Folder; Apple Watch Sleep Tracking; Amazon’s Alexa Eyeing Your Car; Facebook May Drop Like Counts

After the disastrous almost release of their first folding phone, you might think Samsung would tread cautiously…but you’d be wrong! Bloomberg.com is reporting that they are working on a 6.7 inch phone that shrinks to ‘a pocketable square’ when it’s folded inward like a clamshell. On the plus side, it’s supposed to be lighter and thinner than the Galaxy Fold. When (and maybe even IF) it is released depends in part to the acceptance of the revised Galaxy Fold. It will have a hole-punch selfie cam at the top of the inner display like the Galaxy Note 10. The two outside cams are rear cams when it’s open….and a front cam when the device is folded up. It uses UTG or Ultra Thin Glass for the inner display. That glass is only 3% as thick as normal displays.

Most rumors about the latest Apple Watch, which rolls out a week from today, have it as very much an incremental update…no major changes. According to 9to5mac.com, one thing to look for is sleep tracking…which won’t require any additional hardware to work. The report says that since picking Beddit along with its app, Apple has been working to integrate the sleep tracker into the Watch. The update will remind you to take it off and charge it before bed, so you can put it back on to track your sleep. (Or, as some have suggested, keep your present Watch, buy a new one, and use the older model as your ‘sleep watch!’ Apple would like that!) One cool feature…if you get up before your alarm, the Watch will detect this and turn off the alarm for you. It will also automatically enable Do Not Disturb when you go to bed. It appears that most or all of the new features will run on existing Apple Watches…again, we’ll know a week from now.

It’s a long game, but Amazon has been working on Alexa for cars for a couple years now. Fastcompany.com says it will do the usual things like streaming, messaging, voice calls, and reminders. But They are looking ahead to have Alexa do much more…like rolling the windows up and down, controlling the cabin temperature at the verbal request of the driver. Besides in-car commands, they see you using Alexa from the house…’Alexa, ask my car to get ready.’ If it is an electric car, it could turn on and warm the cabin before you head into the garage. It could also calculate the charge in the batteries, and determine if you were good to go for your commute…or to drive elsewhere, like the airport to catch a flight. (If you had Tesla’s Auto Pilot and it was fully in effect, imagine the car dropping you off and going home…then driving itself to the airport to pick you up—no shuttle, limo, or expensive parking!) Personally, I am not ready for Alexa in the car…not until it can make the jerk in the Prius driving 50 in the fast lane ahead of me get his entitled butt over into one of the right hand lanes!!

Facebook may soon start hiring the ‘Like’ counter on News Feed posts…allegedly to protect users from envy, and dissuade them from self-censorship. According to techcrunch.com, Instagram is already testing this in 7 countries including Canada and Brazil. At present, the test just shows a few mutual friends who have liked the post as opposed to the total number. Facebook will have to balance this out if they go forward with it….if advertisers don’t go for it, it may not happen. If they do drop Like counts, rest assured that THEY will still have that data…YOU are the product, after all!