More Facebookies Get the Chop; Bad Botnet Gets More Dangerous; Starling & T-Mobile Satellite to Cell Service; Rivian EV Vans- Soon Selling to Other Than Amazon

It was announced last week, and now Meta has done the deed…another round of layoffs at Facebook and Instagram has begun. This week, they are cutting another 10,000 staffers on top of the 11,000 let go last fall. Theverge.com notes that they are also not going to fill another 5,000 open roles. That’s not all, either. Look for a second wave for tech roles in April, and yet another for business roles in late May. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a memo that it no longer makes sense for managers to have only “a few” direct reports and confirmed that many of them will be asked to become individual contributors throughout the company. Not to tell a billionaire how to run his company, but after losing $10 billion on the Metaverse in 2021 and $14 billion last year, maybe Zuck ought to cut back on that vaporware idea, and keep a few more people that make the present company run.

A nasty Botnet called Emotet that had been stealing info through phishing and other email tricks is back…with some even craftier tricks up its digital sleeve. According to arstechnica.com, the malicious spammer is now sending out email that seem to come from a known contact, know your name, and appear to be replying to an existing email thread. Here’s the ‘must know’ part…there will be an attachment like a Word document. The document has a huge section of invisible text…so much that most security products can’t scan the content. A popup will advise you that the document is protected, and to click on ‘enable content’ to read it. DON’T do it! Clicking runs a macro, which downloads a .zip file from a legitimate website that has been hacked. When it’s unzipped, the Emotet DLL will infect your computer, then the malware pilfers passwords and other sensitive data and uses the device to send malicious spam to other users. The malware can also download additional malware such as the Ryuk ransomware or the TrickBot malware. Just DON’T click enable content!

Starling and T-Mobile are getting ready to start testing their satellite to cellular service this year. This is according to a SpaceX executive, as reported by CNBC. A partnership was announced in August of last year, with the idea to provide “near complete coverage in most places in the U.S. — even in many of the most remote locations previously unreachable by traditional cell signals.” The idea is to create a new network, one that leverages Starlink satellites’ and T-Mobile’s mid-band 5G spectrum. There are several other companies working on this type of coverage. Apple already has emergency texting coverage via satellite, Samsung is getting ready to provide additional texting on top of emergency coverage, and a couple others are in the mix as well. In a few years, we may have full connections for our smartphones virtually every place on earth! 

Rivian has been unhappy that Amazon has only taken 10,000 of their electric delivery vans this year…on the low end of the promised purchase. Now, engadget.com reports that the EV maker is in talks with Amazon to wriggle out of their exclusive deal, and start to sell to other customers. Rivian site expects to sell 100,000 vans to Amazon by 2030. Amazon seems warm to the idea…a representative of the online giant saying Amazon wants ‘others to benefit’ from Rivian technology. Even if sales open up to other firms, Amazon still accounts for about a third of Rivian sales so far. 

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Silicon Valley Bank Possible Suitors; Meta Works on Twitter Competitor; Samsung Moon Shot Moon Photos; HomePod With 7 Inch Display Coming

It was alarm bells as the big story in both tech and banking over the weekend has been the takeover of Silicon Valley Bank. Now that the FDIC and other regulators have said that all depositors will have access to all their money, things are looking a bit better. According to axios.com, the agencies scrambled all weekend to get a buyer, but nothing worked out. At this moment, it appears that JPMorgan and PNC are potential suitors for SVB Financial group…that deal would exclude the commercial bank presently under government control. Apollo Management and Morgan Stanley are also in discussions about the holding company. The holding company without the commercial bank controls SVB Private, SVB Capital, and SVB securities…all of those together are much smaller than the SVB Bank itself. A British firm has already stepped forward to try to snap up SVB’s UK subsidiary, for a paltry one pound!

As Twitter continues to slowly melt down into a mess, Meta is at work on a decentralized Twitter competitor. Engadget.com reports that the platform is code-named P92, and it will let users post text-based updates, and will support the Activity Pub…the decentralized system used by Twitter competitor Mastodon. P92 will apparently carry Instagram’s branding and will let users log in with their Instagram credentials. At this point, we don’t know if the app is still just in the planning stage, or if Meta is already building a version of the app. 

Samsung has been touting its ’Space Zoom’ capable phones for a while now. The handsets take incredibly detailed pictures of the moon. Now, theverge.com says a Reddit post points out the massive computational processing Samsung is doing to get these shots, and in fact, actually adds detail that isn’t in the original shot. This was determined by shooting an intentionally blurry photo of the moon with an S23 Ultra…the phone added details…it didn’t just upscale blurry pixels or retrieve lost data. In response, Samsung says they use AI to detect the moon’s presence, and “then offers a detail enhancing function by reducing blurs and noises.” Whether adding detail that isn’t actually in the shot means its a fake picture of the moon or not is up to you…but it’s at least shady.

According to reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will be fielding a new HomePod in 2024, with a built in 7 inch display. Think Amazon Echo Show. This is reportedly to enable “tighter integration with Apple’s other hardware products, marking a significant shift in the company’s smart home strategy.” At this point, it is unclear if Apple is just experimenting with adding a display to the present just freshened HomePod, or will make a totally new all-in-one device. There have already been concepts showing the present HomePod Displaying more information on its top display panel. 

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Drone Deliveries Coming-and Not Amazon; Meta Bringing Messenger Back to FB App; Spotify New Design Melds TikTok & Instagram; Starfish Space to Launch Satellite Servicing Mini-Satellites

Drone deliveries will start fanning out around the country later this year, from original test cities. Amazon? Nope. They’re from Wing, the Alphebet-owned drone delivery company. CNET.com reports that they are putting together “a decentralized, automated system that can support high-volume drone delivery across a major metro area or a more sparsely populated region,” according to Wing CEO Adam Woodworth…who wrote in a blog post. The network will be consist of drones; pads where they take off, land and recharge; and auto loaders, which will allow packages to be preloaded for pickup by a drone. Wing is one of the companies trying to work on last mile delivery. Wing says that by mid-2024 it expects its “system to be capable of handling millions of deliveries for millions of consumers.”

Remember the day when Facebook Messenger was just built right into the Facebook app? Well, it looks like Meta is going to reverse the 10 year old decision to make people download the free standing Messenger App ro use the service on a phone. According to bgr.com, Tom Alison, Head of Facebook, revealed that the company is currently “testing the ability for people to access their Messenger inbox within the Facebook app,” and noted that testing will expand to even more users soon. “Over the coming year, we’ll build more ways to integrate messaging features in Facebook,” wrote Alison. “Ultimately, we want it to be easy and convenient for people to connect and share, whether in the Messenger app or directly within Facebook.” What a concept, huh?

Spotify has revamped the look of its home screen, in an effort to make it easier for users to find new things to listen to…and watch. Theverge.com notes that the home screen, which was previewed at Spotify’s Stream On event, seems to be a mash up of TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Going forward, when you open Spotify, you’ll still see a bunch of album and playlist covers at the top. But underneath, you might see an autoplaying video podcast, which you can jump into with a tap. Or you might see a big, Instagram-style photo meant to tell you a little more about a playlist you might like. Spotify remains the big dog in streaming, but seems to be looking over its shoulder and trying to diversify more into podcasts and videos to hold on to its users.

A startup out of Seattle founded by a couple of former Blue Origin vets has raised $14 million to develop a spacecraft designed to hook on to bigger satellites…to either boost their orbits or safely dispose of them. According to geekwire.com, it’s called Starfish Space. The company is working on a prototype servicing vehicle that is the size of a microwave oven, plus the full sized Otter spacecraft. They hope to get the prototype into orbit this summer, and then execute a series of maneuvers with the little xenon-fueled electric propulsion spacecraft. It will launch and hopefully return to the Space X Orbiter space tug. If all goes well, the full sized craft could be into orbit in the next couple years.

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Musk Issues Rare Apology; Twitch-Deepfake Porn =Instant Ban; Google I/O Dates; Gates & Bezos Backed Brain Implant Startup; GM Ultra Cruise to Debut on Cadillac 

If you haven’t been following it, Elon Musk actually apologized after mocking a disabled Twitter employee online. AP reports that Haraldur Thorleifsson had signed in to his computer to work last Sunday, and was locked out. He tried for 9 days to find out if he was fired…and finally Tweeted Musk. Musk responded by asking about his work…like did he actually do any, and questioned his disability. Thorleifsson has muscular dystrophy and is in a wheel chair. Twitter had bought his company for a substantial amount a few years ago, and Musk even said the reason the ex-employee Tweeted him was ‘to get a big payout.’ In fact, Thorleifsson’s contract calls for $100 million if he is terminated! Now, after some attorneys no doubt warned Musk to apologize publicly, perhaps the payout will not be quite as big in the inevitable lawsuit…but the mocking of a disabled person publicly isn’t going to be cheap. 

Twitch has posted ‘Addressing Explicit Deepfake Content’, in an effort to clean up the platform. According to theverge.com, it states that synthetic non-consensual exploitive images will not be tolerated. The post goes on to say that even a brief unintentional glimpse at those sorts of images “will be removed and will result in an enforcement,” the company writes. And if you intentionally promote, create, or share deepfake porn, that’s grounds for an instaban: doing that “can result in an indefinite suspension on the first offense.” Twitch is a bit late to the party on this, but it will be a welcome move. It comes after a streamer left a browser window open on his stream January 30th that showed the faces of other popular Twitch streamers’ faces “grafted onto the bodies of naked women.” Although the streamer, Brandon Ewing, posted a tearful apology, the outrage was finally enough to move Twitch to go to instabans.

We now have a date for Google I/O 2023…it will be Wednesday, May 10th. Google skipped 2020, and in 2021 had a small presentation in front of employees. Last year, the company put o the usual concert-venue sized production. This year’s will be before a ‘limited live audience,’ and it will take place at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Ca. Registration is open, and it is again free. Google says they will make the agenda and program available closer to the date of the show. 

A startup backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos called Synchron is working on a brain interface that doesn’t require surgery and the type of physical connection that our brains don’t tend to like. CNBC says that unlike Nuralink, the Synchron Switch is implanted through blood vessels and enables people with no or very limited mobility to operate technology such as cursors and smart home devices using their mind. The device has a stent type sensor that translates brain signals, and transmits that to an amplifier type device implanted in the chest that then connects to the outside world. So far, it’s been used on 3 patients in the US and Australia. 

General Motors has had Super Cruise, their Level 2 driving assist system since 2021. The General is taking it up a notch with Ultra Cruise. (What will happen when companies want to go beyond ultra…just asking?) At any rate, the upgraded system will first go into the pricy Cadillac Celestiq. Super Cruise works on about 400,000 miles of US and Canadian highways. The Ultra Cruise system will use LiDAR, radar, GPS, and cameras and will be able to drive hands free on some 3.4 million miles of roadways… “nearly every paved road, city street, suburban street, subdivision, and rural road in addition to the highways that today on the super cruise operates on.” It is notable that Ultra Cruise is still Level 2…not a Level 3 system. So far, only Mercedes has gotten a Level 3 system approved. If you want to be first on your block to have one, order a Cadillac Celestiq…and have a cool $300,000 on hand!

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Apple-Yellow iPhone Reveal; Free Microsoft Outlook for Macs; Tesla Chops Model S & X Prices; Meta- More Layoffs This Week

Apple has released a new color for iPhones. The new yellow color will only be available on the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, though…not on either of the Pro models. Apple has been dropping a new color on us in the Spring for several years. Theverge.com reports that you can preorder the yellow iPhone starting this Friday the 10th, and they will be available on March 14th. They also just unveiled new spring-themed Watch band colors and silicone iPhone cases…a nice way to hypo sales half a year before the new iPhone models and Watch models come out. 

Microsoft is making available a new heavy-duty alternative to the Apple Mail app on Macs…their own Outlook is now free to use on the Mac, without buying the full Office Suite or subscribing to Microsoft 365. According to engadget.com, the move will not only be a good compliment to Outlook for iOS…enabling you to start a draft on an iOS device and polish up and send the email on a Mac, but you can pour your other email accounts into it for a unified mailbox. The Apple Mail app does that already, of course, except without Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft should pick up some new users just based on this alone. It’s a hassle having to check multiple email accounts. I can check all of mine through Apple Mail right now…EXCEPT for company Outlook. 

Tesla had already cut prices on the Model 3 and Model Y…by as much as $15,000. Now, TechCrunch.com notes that the EV maker has chopped prices on the more pricy Model S and Model X. The Model S Plaid has been chopped from $119,990 to $109,990 for example…a $10 grand savings. The Model S all-wheel drive has been cut from $94,990 down to $89,990. The Model X all-wheel drive drops a bit over 9% from $109,990 to $99,990. It should boost sales a bit for Tesla, but even with the cuts, neither of the high line models will qualify for the $7,500 federal tax incentive. You can get that federal money on both the Model 3 and Model Y IF you act before the end of this month!

No details yet, but Meta plans another mass layoff by the end of this week. Bloomberg reports that this follows on the heels of a 13% staff reduction last November. The social media company continues to tighten things down in response to lower ad sales as the pandemic continues to wind down. They are apparently leaving the cuts up to middle managers and department heads. This round of layoffs isn’t expect to be as many as the 11,000 who got the chop in November, but is widely thought to number several thousand. 

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

AI Voice Scams; Paid Social Media Accounts-Not for Everyone; Qualcomm-Replacing eSIMS with iSIMS in Phones; Ford-Big Increases in EV Production

We’ve all heard about those scams where someone calls a Grandma, and says they need bail money or such, and con the Grandma into sending a bundle…usually by gift card or a non-reversible transfer. Now, there’s a spooky new twist, thanks to artificial intelligence. Digital Trends reports that some scammers are using AI to capture and clone voices, making it even more likely that the scam will work, and fleece the target. Apparently, the AI is good enough that just a sample of a few sentences is enough for the computer to duplicate the voice. Note to my voice colleagues…AI is also being used to copy your voice to record commercials without you being paid…which could run afoul of laws in several states. As always, beware! The Washington Post notes that one pair of elderly Grandparents got scammed out of $15,000. The alleged Grandson needed it for legal bills. They found out later that day about the ripoff when the actual Grandson called to chat. It is thought his voice was cloned off a YouTube Video. Careful out there!

There has been a fair amount of uproar about Twitter charging $8 a month for the blue checkmark, and rumblings that Facebook is going to charge for a verification that few seem to want…or need. According to bigtechnology.com, there is a method behind the platforms’ madness. Apparently, most of us aren’t posting enough, and they are aiming the subscription model more at professional creators and businesses. It seems that social media companies are to an extent, giving up on ‘ordinary users’ for content. The culprit that started this all was the often-reviled TikTok, which started using the algorithm to fill feeds with compelling videos, instead of a follower model. Before Elon Musk took over Twitter, less than 10% of users generated 90% of its content. So relax about worries over paying to use Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter…but brace yourself for more stuff from professional creators and businesses. 

First, we had the relatively large SIM cards, that allowed our phones to work with the carrier systems. Then, the mini-SIMS came along,..same idea, but smaller tray that slides out of the side of the phone. Arstechnica.com notes that Apple then started going to the eSIM, which originally allowed a 2nd line, but later enabled phones to not have a SIM slot at all. Now, Qualcomm has gotten certified with an iSIM by the GSMA, the organization of world cell carriers. This card just lives on the system on a chip in phones, and takes up virtually no extra space…allowing more room for better cameras or bigger batteries. Expect it to take a couple years before the iSIMs become common on smartphones, but it will be a welcome change as these little micro computers in our pockets are expected to do more and more for us. 

Ford has announced that they will be tripling F-150 Lightning production and doubling Mustang Mach-E production this year. According to electrek.co, Ford has already become the 2nd largest US EV maker, behind only Tesla. Dearborn now plans to build some 150,000 F-150 Lightning models this year…after restarting the production March 13th…the line had been shut down due to a now-fixed problem. Ford is planning to build 210,000 Mustang Mach-Es too. This will put Ford’s EV output at around 360,000 for the year. Tesla sold 484,000 new vehicles last year, and is going for more in 2023. General Motors expects to build around a quarter million EVs this year.

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Apple Mixed Reality Headset Gets Continuity Feature; TikTok ‘Time Limit’ for Teens; DoorDash Gets Co-Branded Credit Card; Post Office Getting Ford EV Vans & Ford Patents Remote RePo System

Apple plans to bring its Continuity features to their upcoming mixed reality headset. According to macrumors.com, that would allow seamless switching between the headset and other devices, much like Apple has already for its iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Watches. I use the Handoff feature, for example, to move these reports to one computer so I can read them while I record video on another. Airplay lets you start listening to a song, for example, on your iPhone, then ‘cast it to a HomePod so you can pop out the ear buds and hear the music fill the room. With the headset, you might read an email there, then have it appear on your Mac screen to make typing a reply easier. Apple plans a virtual keyboard for the headset where you would type on the keyboard you visualize in thin air, but it may take some time and effort to get the knack of that. 

TikTok has instituted a time limit for teens…sort of. Mashable.com reports that there is an automatic 60 minute screen time limit for users under 18 years old. After an hours passcode has to be entered to keep using the app. How many kids do you think will come up with the passcode their parents have set, and just enter it and keep using the app? Yep, pretty much all of ‘em. TikTok has also added a prompt that alerts teens when they have used over 100 minutes…but it’s doubtful that will cut use any more than the passcode does. This seems like a ‘we’re trying’ move to keep authorities from trying to ban the app in the US and elsewhere. If bans on other things are an indication, a TikTok ban might make the app more popular with young people than ever!

DoorDash has partnered with Chase for its first every co-branded credit card. Techcrunch.com says it’s dubbed the DoorDash Rewards Mastercard, and will offer cash back on deliveries and other purchases made with the card. It’s 4% cash back on DoorDash and Caviar deliveries, 3% on dining, and 2% on groceries, 1% on other purchases. It comes with a free year of DashPass. 

In addition to the 60,000 custom designed Next Generation EV delivery vans the post office is buying, the USPS has ordered 9250 Electric Ford vans. According to engadget.com, the post office will get the first Fords in December. Meanwhile, Ford has patented a remote repossession system. Dearborn says they don’t have plans to use it right now, but it uses GPS,  and cameras and sensors to locate the car and see if it is not garaged. It can also disable the car so they can’t flee with it. Having had to pick up a car a kid voluntarily gave up years ago when he blew the transmission and didn’t want to pay anymore, I could have used that…the cameras would have shown the two huge German shepherds he had when we went to pick up the car!

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Jack Dorsey Twitter Alternative Live; Google Makes Chrome Less a Battery Hog; iPhone 16 Will Use Apple Modem; China Warns Musk

Bluesky, the Twitter alternative app being built by Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, is now live on the iOS app store. You will need an invite to use it, though. 9to5mac.com reports that if you signed up to be notified, look for an email with your invitation in it soon. Bluesky so far looks like a simplified version of Twitter. It uses a decentralized protocol like the one behind Mastodon…another widely touted Twitter alternative. Now that is is up on Apple’s App store, it seems likely that Bluesky will be live to everyone without an invite very soon.

If you use Google Chrome on a Mac, which I do pretty often, you probably have noticed that it is a major battery and resource hog. Well Google has noticed, too…or gotten enough complaints to do something, anyway. According to mashable.com, Google has now made a number of optimizations to the Chrome browser that should make it a lot less battery shredding on Macs. Google now says running a 13 inch M2 MacBook Pro, you ought to be able to get 17 hours of battery using Chrome for browsing, and 18 hours viewing on YouTube. Google has made energy saving optimizations over the last couple years, but this is the first one which is Mac specific. all Chrome users should see improvement on Macs by the end of this week. 

There’s been lots of buzz about it, and now it’s official…Apple will be using its own in-house 5G modems in iPhones for the iPhone 16 due out in September 2024. Bgr.com says the word has come from the CEO of Qualcomm, who says he’s not expecting Apple to continue using his company’s chips as the Cupertino firm is moving to its own modems by 2024. It’s expected that iPhones using Apple designed modems should see a bump in battery life when on a 5G network. 

While Elon Musk and Mexico have announced that the next Tesla Gigafactory will be built in Monterrey, Mexico, China has given Mr Musk a stern warning not to bite the hand that feeds him. According to CNBC, The Global Times…the English-language subsidiary of the CCP-controlled People’s Daily…warned Musk that he could be “breaking the pot of China” after the Tesla and Twitter CEO responded to tweets that asserted that the Covid pandemic originated in a Wuhan research laboratory. Tesla has an expansive factory campus in Shanghai, and China is the electric vehicle manufacturer’s second largest market. Elon had best reign in his remarks concerning this hot topic with the Chinese government…even if that Mexican Tesla plant was up and running, and angry enough China could just step in and nationalize his plant there, and start selling the cars under their own new brand name, and he would be helpless as he loses his #2 market in the world.

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.