Samsung Top Galaxy Leads Sales; Mac Sales Down More Than PCs; Tesla Will Build Giant Battery Factory in China; Walmart to Install Thousands of EV Charging Stations

Posted: April 10, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Smartphone sales took a pretty hard hit the last quarter of 2022, with none hit harder than Samsung, shipping 16% fewer phones than in 2021. A bright spot for Samsung, though…the Galaxy S23 phones are outselling the S22 lineup by a substantial margin. Androidpolice.com reports that the Galaxy S23 is outselling the previous model by 1.7 times in Latin America, and 1.5 times in Europe. India and the Mid-East sales are also about 1 and a half times that of the S22 models. Sales are roughly flat in South Korea, and figures aren’t in yet for the US. Interestingly, the top of the line Galaxy S23 Ultra is getting 60% of Galaxy sales. 

Global PC sales were down first quarter, dropping some 29% to 56.9 million computers. According to apple insider.com, citing IDC, Apple took a particularly hard hit, with Mac sales down 40% first quarter. Apple managed to get through the holidays without a drop off experienced by other PC makers, but took the bigger hit early this year. Market Leader Lenovo was off 30.3%. Apple still managed to be the #4 seller of computers 1st quarter…with HP in 2nd place, and Dell third.

Tesla is ready to break ground on a factory in Shanghai, China that will make 10,000 of its energy storage units dubbed Megapacks a year. The New York Times says Tesla expects to have the plant producing by the 2nd quarter of 2024. Although Tesla generates most of its money from its electric-car business, but Mr. Musk has committed to expanding its solar energy and battery business to roughly the same size as its car business. The EV maker already has a factory for its Megapacks in Lathrop, Calif., where it can manufacture 10,000 units annually.

Walmart has announced they will install thousands of fast charging stations for EVs at locations around the country. Rawstory.com reports that the big box king will quadruple the company’s network of stations, currently available at over 280 Walmart and Sam’s stores nationwide. Walmart says they have a Walmart or Sam’s within 10 miles of 90% of the population of the country. This boost in charging stations should go a long way in easing charging and range anxiety for buyers of electric cars.

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

ChatGPT Made Up Sex Harassment Scandal; Tesla Employees Shared Sensitive Videos Recorded by Customer Cars; Google Rolls Out Account Deletion; Apple iOS 17 Control Center Makeover

Posted: April 6, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

With all the hoopla over ChatGPT, and its prowess…like passing a general bar exam, writing college themes, and such…comes the dark side people have been concerned about. According to the Washington Post, law professor Jonathan Turley got a troubling email. As part of a research study, a fellow lawyer in California had asked the AI chatbot ChatGPT to generate a list of legal scholars who had sexually harassed someone. Turley’s name was on the list. The chatbot, created by OpenAI, said Turley had made sexually suggestive comments and attempted to touch a student while on a class trip to Alaska, citing a March 2018 article in The Washington Post as the source of the information. The problem: No such article existed. There had never been a class trip to Alaska. And Turley said he’d never been accused of harassing a student. In other words, the chatbot made the whole thing up! THIS is why a number of tech leaders have sent a letter to OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT to put the brakes on more updates to the chatbot until this sort of thing can be eliminated. There have been wrongful accusations of behavior in the past, but having a computer program make one is a whole new world…and a dystopian one at that.

Although Tesla has assured millions of customers that their systems in the cars are “designed from the ground up to protect your privacy,” some groups of Tesla employees privately shared via an internal messaging system sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras, according to interviews by Reuters with nine former employees. Some of the recordings caught Tesla customers in embarrassing situations. One ex-employee described a video of a man approaching a vehicle completely naked. Also shared: crashes and road-rage incidents. Note to Musk: This is one of the reasons you have a public relations department. Ignoring the issue or putting out a Tweet isn’t going to cut it. The FTC is investigating.

Google has made a move similar to what Apple has for their apps since last summer. Android apps have a new deletion policy. Techcrunch.com says any apps that have an account creation must also offer an easy way to delete that account as well. Google will start enforcing the policy early next year. The company said that it will ask developers to answer questions regarding their app’s data deletion in the Data Safety form by December 7. The search giant said that apps must provide “an option to initiate account and data deletion from within the app and online” and the feature should be easily discoverable. Plus, the policy also requires developers to delete the user data from their servers on account deletion. 

Apparently the Apple Watch operating system isn’t the only one getting a makeover. Now, 9to5mac.com reports that iOS 17 will get a redesigned control center. We should see both previewed at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in June. The iOS Control Center has been virtually unchanged since iPhone 10, so it’s probably about time!

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

Apple Continues Moving Assembly from China; Expedia’s AI Assisted Travel Planning; Best Buy Expands Recycling Program; Tesla Worker Takes Reduced Racism Payout

Posted: April 5, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Apple is continuing to try to cut reliance on China, and as part of that quest, Cupertino is expected to triple iPhone production in India this year…with some iPhone 15 models possibly being built there for export around the world by the end of the year. Appleinsider.com reports that Apple is shooting for 25% of all iPhone production to come from their facilities in India. Last year, Apple made more than 6.5 million phones in India. Right now, it looks like the Pro models will continue to be made in China…partly due to raw material availability. Stainless steel frames for the Pro models, aluminum ones for the regular iPhone 15 models built in India. Apple is also working on moving Apple Watch and iPad production to India. 

Everyone wants to get on the ChatGPT bandwagon. Now, Expedia is adding a ChatGPT planning tool. According to geekwire.com, Expedia claims that it will offer a new “travel planning experience.” One of the ways Expedia is trying to differentiate its ChatGPT implementation is by automatically saving hotels discussed during a chat session to a “trip” in the app to make it easier to book a stay. This capability will expand later to other forms of reservations, including flights and rental cars. Hold tight…this could either turn out great, or be a disaster. One tech reporter gave it a try, and the feature didn’t save his preferred hotel, but another one. That could really suck on booking flights!

Best Buy has been running an electronics recycling program in store for a while now. The big box store has announced they are adding a mail-in option. Engadget.com says now, Best Buy will sell you a box. They come in 2 sizes….it’s $23 for a small 9x5x3 inch box and up to 6 pounds, or $30 for a medium box…that’s 18/14/4 inches and up to 15 pounds of recycled devices. Best Buy says you can either drop off at a UPS store or schedule a pick up. the big box store claims to be the US’ “largest retail collector of e-waste.” You can also schedule a home pickup up…that runs $200…but is really of home theaters and other heavy appliances. Your best bet? Drop the e-waste off at one of the stores for free.

A former Tesla worker turned down a $15 million payout in a racial discrimination suit. That hasn’t worked out well. Now, after a trial, Owen Diaz has been awarded $3 million in punitive damages and $175,000 in compensatory damages. Arstechnica.com notes that in the first trial, the award was $137 million, which a judge cut to $15 million last April. Diaz went for a new trial, and came up short. Diaz, who is black, ran a freight elevator at Tesla’s Fremont factory. Sometimes, you just need to take the money and run.

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

Android Share for Windows Here; Google Guarantees Some Flight Prices; Ford’s EV Business on a Roll; Developers at Bay’s TI Claim to Prevent Climate-Related Flooding

Posted: April 4, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Apple has had Air Drop for some time now, which lets people in the Apple ecosystem transfer to nearby devices. For example, I can send a picture or document from my iPhone over to my MacBook Pro seamlessly. Some Android users have lusted for this feature, and now it’s here. Androidpolice.com reports that Google’s Nearby Share, introduced in 2020, has finally made its way to Windows PCs. Google announced the feature expansion in a blog post. It will now be easier for Android users to move images, videos, and other content between Android phones and Windows PCs with the new Nearby Share Beta for Windows app. You can get the app at the Android website, and it will work with PCs running the 64-bit version of Windows 10 and up, so long as they’re not powered by ARM processors. Additionally, devices should be within 16 feet (5 meters) of each other for the transfer to succeed.

Speaking of Google, they are bringing some help to the hassle and expense of trip planning via Google Flights. According to zdnet.com, an update to Flights will lock you in to the best price on selected airline flights. Plane ticket prices depend on several factors, like the day of the week, your destination, and upcoming holidays. Some people like buying plane tickets months in advance to take advantage of lower prices, while others want to wait until a better deal comes up. Google Flights now has price guarantees for flights in the U.S. If a flight has a guaranteed price badge next to its price, that means Google believes the price will stay the same until the flight is scheduled to take off. If the flight’s price does decrease before you’re scheduled to leave, Google will reimburse you the difference via Google Pay. This feature is only available for Book on Google itineraries that depart from the U.S.

Ford is yet to make money on EV sales so far…in fact, the company projects a $3 billion loss on electrics this year, but as sales grow, they will be moving into the black, and that day may not be terribly far off. Sales are growing, too…Theverge.com says Ford’s EV business grew 41% this quarter with 10,866 units out the doors. Ford says it is on track to sell about 150,000 EVs this year, counting Lightning trucks, E-transit delivery vans, and Mustang Mach-E models. 

Sea level increases worldwide will become more and more of a problem, driven by climate change. Now, San Francisco Public Press reports that builders claim them can protect communities with flood risk using cutting-edge civil engineering. It’s a bold claim when it comes to Treasure Island, a land fill built in the last century to host an exhibition that is flat and barely above sea level. there, developers have poured the foundation for a 22-story tower, and there are 5 other high-rise buildings on the drawing board. The challenge lies in making things safe out beyond the year 2100…not that far away when it comes to structures. By then, models show a chance of 4 feet, 11 inches of sea level rise. A surge added to tides could make water levels rise to more than a foot above the lowest ground floors planned for Treasure Island housing. Check out sfpublicpress.org for a lot deeper dive…and sorry about the pun.

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

Twitter April Foolishness; YouTube Will Stream Coachella Stages; Apple’s WatchOS 10- Not Minor Update; GM Dumps CarPlay & Android Auto for Custom Google Interface

Posted: April 3, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

YouTube announced that they will stream all 6 stages at Coachella this year. The festival kicks off April 14th at 4PM Pacific. According to engadget.com, in the past you had to get by with three streams. Replays will be available until the next day kicks off. YouTube Premium subscribers will have access to backstage ‘pre-parties’ and other perks. Headliners this year include Bad Bunny, Blackpink, and Frank Ocean. YouTube will offer special merchandise during the streams, too…but mainly are looking to get lots of new eyeball time and signups for Premium. 

The Twitter mess continues. As promised, on April 1st, they started taking away blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts. Elon Musk said any account that has said or Tweeted they won’t pay $8 will lose the check right away, instead of getting a couple weeks of grace period. Theverge.com reports that even the main account of the New York Times lost theirs. Here’s something to try. Search for ‘Eight Dollars’ in Twitter. A developer has built a plug in that works on different browsers (we’ve tried on both Safari and Chrome) to show which are paid Blue accounts—they show up with a dollar sign, and which are legacy actual verified ones. It’s a free download, and works for now. Who knows if Twitter will try to block it, but it helps for now. 

Up to now, Apple’s WatchOS has been pretty incremental in updates every year. That may change this time around. In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports the system will be previewed at WWDC in June, along with the other Apple operating systems. Of most interest to users…the Watch interface will get what Gurman calls ‘notable changes.’ Part of the reason for the major update? At least one of the Watch models will have a micro-LED display, instead of OLED, like on all Watches so far. 

In a move that won’t make customers happy, GM is going to cut Apple CarPlay and Android Auto out of using the main screen on their EVs starting with the 2024 Chevy Blazer. Gas cars will still have the access to those apps on their screens, according to appleinsider.com. GM is partnering with Google to build its own infotainment system based on Android Automotive. The General claims it will be more closely integrated with other car systems, like GM’s Super Cruise. Of course, this also gives GM better data collection on how you drive and charge your EV. GM claims they have more driver assistance features on the way, and they don’t want them dependent on someone having an iPhone or Android connecting over Bluetooth. Note that both iPhones and Androids will still connect to the main screen for phone calls, texts, and such…just not their maps or other features. GM’s system will give access to Google Maps and Google Assistant at no cost for 8 years…and will offer apps like Spotify, Audible, and other services. 

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

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