More NexGen Xbox Specs; Facebook Download Info-Some, Anyway; AirTags-Waterproof; Tesla Model 3 Outsells All EVs; Twitch Will Top 40 Million

Microsoft unveiled more specs for its next generation Xboxes. The biggie is that the new Series X will include 12 teraflops of GPU power, double what the Xbox One X has and eight times that of the original Xbox. According to theverge.com, it should produce graphics far beyond most mid-range graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD. That will be true for both this next generation Xbox and the Sony PlayStation 5. the new Xbox Series will also support 8K gaming and frame rates of up to 120 fps in games. One welcome feature that had already been announced…a so-called ‘quick resume feature.’ This is an expansion of the Xbox One’s resume feature, but apparently you will be able to resume multiple games from a suspended state. Microsoft will be revealing more at the Game Developers Conference next month and E3 in June.

Remember a couple years ago after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when Facebook rolled out ‘Download Your Information?’ Facebook said it would allow users to download all the information that the company has on them since the creation of the account. Yeah…about that. Privacyinternational.org notes that the list of advertisers is incomplete initially and changes over time. What do advertisers get? Usually just an email address, a phone number, an Advertising ID or a users’ Facebook UID, but it can go way beyond that. In the template provided by Facebook, advertisers can also include all sorts of information they might have, such as name, gender, country, street, zip code, age or even date of birth. The advertiser facing tool is vastly more comprehensive than the one provided to users. Since this actually violates the EU’s GDPR, it will be interesting to see what action the European Union takes against Facebook to make them comply.

There have been a number of rumors about Apple’s AirTags…their answer to the Tile, that helps you track items and devices. Now, macrumors.com reports that the AirTags will be completely waterproof, and will use magnetic wireless charging like is used on the Apple Watch. It’s thought that the AirTags were to have been introduced this Spring with the iPhone 9 or whatever they will ultimately call the new smaller, cheaper iPhone….but now, it looks like it will happen in the Fall with the 3 other iPhone models. The AirTag connected devices will show up on the iOS ‘Find My’ app. With the production disruption in China, it’s unlikely we will see Air Tags in any kind of numbers before next Fall.

A story came out over the weekend that Tesla now has over a half million pre-orders for its electric pickup. That’s a big deal, but a bigger one that has flown under the radar is the success of the Model 3. Electrek.co says that in 2019, Tesla sold more Model 3’s in California than all the other EVs combined. They got that figure from the California New Car Dealers Association, too! An even more amazing number? When you remove other Tesla models from the mix, the Model 3 still sold more than twice as many cars as all other manufacturers’ EVs combined! It is the 3rd best selling car overall in California after the Honda Civic and Toyota Camry.

Twitch is on track to exceed 40 million monthly active viewers by next year. Techcrunch.com reports that an eMarketer forecast shows the Amazon owned streaming service hitting 47 million by 2023. Actually, their reach is pretty significant right now, at 37.5 million. Twitch claims they have over 3 million active monthly creators and over 15 million average DAILY streamers. The company is focusing on minutes watched and concurrent viewers, as YouTube, Microsoft Mixer, and Facebook Gaming are eating into their user base. So far, this has just slowed Twitch growth…they remain number one, and eMarketer says they will manage to have 14.3% growth this year.