Apple Claims Huge FaceTime Security Bug Fixed; Echodyne Wants To Test Drone Detecting Radar at Super Bowl; Electrify America Chargers Back Online; Huawei Offered Bonuses for Industrial Espionage; ED Company Hims Soon to Hit Billion Valuation

There was a report that spread like wildfire yesterday that Apple’s FaceTime had a bug which allowed anyone to call your phone or Mac and listen in before you picked up. Theverge.com reports that Apple has temporarily disabled its Group FaceTime feature and they say the bug is squashed. It worked by a person adding themselves to a FaceTime call, and the program thought it was an additional caller joining in on an active Group FaceTime conversation. The group service was disabled at the server side, and Apple says they will fix it on the client side (i.e. your phone and Mac) with a patch later this week. Meanwhile, you may want to disable FaceTime in your iOS settings…or on a Mac by opening FaceTime, going to Preferences, and unchecking ‘Enable this account.’

There have been some scary moments with drones around airports lately. Other venues such as the Super Bowl and major crowd events have been designated ‘no drone zones.’ Now, Echodyne, a startup backed by Bill Gates, has asked for expedited FCC approval to test their drone radar. According to geekwire.com, the inexpensive little radar detectors are the size of a paperback book, but can track a drone at a distance 10 times the length of a football field. The have already tested it in Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. The tests would be run under the guidance and direction of the FBI. Here in the US, as other countries, drones are banned near airports. Air traffic had to be held lately twice near British airports, and also over the weekend a Russian tourist was arrested for flying one near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.

Late last week, VW backed Electrify America shut down all its car chargers nationwide. Now, cnet.com says they are back online. A cable supplier had reported a possible defect in the liquid-cooled charging cables. After extensive testing, they got the go-ahead, and the chargers are back online.

In an indictment dropped Monday, Chinese electronics giant Huawei was accused of offering bonuses to employees for stealing…in other words, industrial espionage, against US companies. Businessinsider.com reports that the document specifically noted robotic technologies used for testing smartphones by T-Mobile. The theft described in the indictment goes back to 2012.

Hims is barely over a year old, and will soon be worth a billion bucks, according to recode.net. Hims sells millennials hair loss products and erectile disfunction medication. Having had a roommate in college who was needing a hairpiece by 25, I get the former but ED meds for millennials? Wait, what? For use as party drugs? Hims sells through the internet, and claims to remove the stigma of men’s health issues by eliminating ‘middlemen’ like pharmacists and doctors. Hims just got another round of $100 million, as they jockey for position with Roman, another consumer men’s health brand…to say nothing of traditional legacy sellers of Viagra and Rogaine.

iPhone Sales Flat 2nd Half of year; Apple’s Car Project-Huge; Facebook Plan to Meld Messenger, WhatsApp, & Instagram; Dropbox Buying HelloSign; Amazon Prime-5X Movies As Netflix

Well-known and generally accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says don’t write off iPhones yet. 9to5ma.com says Kuo sees sales growth to be mostly flat in the back half of 2019, instead of tanking as some in the market have worried. Kuo correctly predicted the weakness in the holiday quarter, but now says the ‘worst is soon over.’ The analyst predicts that iPhone shipments after March will be higher than the market expects, maybe reaching 180 million units by the end of the year.

It’s been thought that Apple had around 1,000 engineers working at their Project Titan…variously talked about as working on software and hardware for self-driving cars or even about building the mythic Apple self-driving car. According to businessinsider.com, Apple laid off or reassigned 200 employees from the division this past week. Now, thanks to a legal case, we know that this is a tiny number, and that Project Titan is…well, more titanic…than generally thought. In the case of an employee arrested by the FBI, it turns out that 2,700 people had access to Project Titan databases, and that 5,000 were ‘disclosed’ on the project…meaning they had official Apple permission to know about it. Most of the workers, btw, were reassigned and not laid off…which sounds like they had just completed the part of the task they were needed for with the self-driving project.

Facebook is apparently planning to meld the back ends of Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram…allowing users of the 3 services to message each other. Theverge.com reports that Facebook is already at work tying the back ends of the services together…and adding end-to-end encryption to all. The rub is, for Facebook, you are required to give actual contact info when you join. WhatsApp, for example, has just required a phone number or email. It may be a boon for Facebook and advertisers, and make things easy to message across platform, but you can expect anonymous users of WhatsApp to bail for other platforms.

Dropbox is picking up HelloSign for $230 million, getting set to take on the likes of DocuSign and Adobe. According to geekwire.com, Dropbox says since the workforce is becoming more decentralized, the ability to collaborate and share documents over distance will make the service a plus for the primarily file storage and sharing company. HelloSign claims over 80,000 customers. It is expected that HelloSign will cut it’s partnerships with DocuSign and Adobe when the deal is closed.

If it’s quantity you prefer over quality…don’t ignore Amazon Prime Video. Bgr.com says Prime has a library of 17,461 movies. Netflix, on the other hand has a movie library of 3839, with Hulu featuring only 2336. If it’s new or well-reviewed movies though, Netflix buries the competition. Netflix has 592 Certified Fresh movies (according to Rotten Tomatoes), while Prime Video has just 232…9 more than Hulu. This could all change in a couple years, with so many studios getting ready to launch their own streaming services, but for now…if its quantity…hit Amazon. For quality, stick with Netflix.

Waymo to Build Self-Driving Cars in Michigan; Apple Will Ditch LCD Screens by 2020; Hulu Drops Lower Tier Price; Boeing Tests Autonomous Passenger Aircraft

Waymo has received approval for a factory in Michigan to build driverless cars. Engadget.com says the Alphabet-owned company will produce nothing but level 4 autonomous vehicles in the factory. The location hasn’t been announced any further than ’Southeastern Michigan.’ Waymo may start off by building autonomous packages for other manufacturers’ vehicles…as they have furnished to Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar. They haven’t given any timeline yet for when the first fully autonomous car will roll off the line.

Apple will drop LCD displays all together in 2020. Businessinsider.com reports that the displays, which are used on lower priced iPhones at this point, will all be replaced by OLED screens like the iPhone XS and XS Max. It’s not clear what this will mean for the pricing on the less expensive XR, which has had an LCD screen, but that phone would have probably gotten a price bump anyway next fall…it’s due to get a second rear cam. Apple has been a major customer of Japan Display for the LCD screens. Now, that company is considering selling itself to Chinese and Taiwanese investors. Japan Display has been partly owned and mostly funded by the Japanese government.

In the wake of Netflix raising prices, Hulu has dropped its base, ad-supported subscription plan to $5.99 a month. According to theverge.com, the drop form $7.99 will be effective February 26th. Hulu has done $5.99 before, but only as a temporary promotion. They say there will be no increase in ad volume. The $11.99 a month commercial free plan will stay as-is, and the $12.99 Hulu/Spotify combo will as well…that one is billed by Spotify. Hulu IS raising prices for its LIVE TV service…that will go groom $39.99 to $44.99. As for what happens when Disney takes majority ownership of Hulu…anyone’s guess, but Disney isn’t exactly famous for lowering prices!

Boeing has successfully test flown the prototype for their autonomous passenger aircraft. Geekwire.com says they could start carrying riders as soon as next year. It’s an electric powered, vertical take off and landing vehicle. The initial flight was just a take off, hover, and landing. Next, they will test winged, forward flight. Switching from VTOL to forward flight mode is considered the most tricky part for high speed VTOL aircraft. The initial craft is 30 feet long and 28 feet wide, and has 8 rotors for vertical lift and a tail rotor to help with forward flight. It is designed to fly fully automatically with a maximum range of 50 miles right now. Boeing says they are testing both two and four passenger models.

3 Samsung Galaxy S10’s; Google Fined $57 Million by France; Tesla To Start Model 3 Euro Deliveries; Facebook-Petition Feature; Google Maps-Beating Speedtraps

Leaked pictures over the weekend show 3 Samsung Galaxy S10 models. According to macrumors.com, all feature and edge-to-edge display, with a small cutout air the upper right for the camera. The midrange version will have a 6.1 inch display and 3 rear cams, the ‘cheapie’ will sport a 5.8 inch screen with 2 rear cams, and the hero model will have a 6.4 inch display, and 2 front cams in addition to the 3 rear ones. All are expected to have an in-display fingerprint scanner. All the new phones will be rolled out at the Unpacked Galaxy S10 event on February 20th at 11am Pacific at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

Google has been nicked for $57 million in fines by the French data privacy body, CNIL, for failing to comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Venturebeat.com reports that the CNIL fined Google for ‘lack of transparency, inadequate information, and lack of valid consent regarding the ads personalization.’ Google hasn’t confirmed, but it is widely thought that they will appeal the fine.

On the topic of the EU, Tesla has received clearance to start delivering Model 3 in Europe. Engadget.com says they will start with the long range battery version in February. The long range battery version is a pricey Model 3, and may cushion Tesla’s starting to sell the lower cost model of the car in the US, which Elon Musk has said is crucial to the company’s long term viability. Selling the costlier model in the EU should help the company make a profit in the next quarter, while selling the cheaper models.

Facebook is launching Community Actions, a new newsfeed feature. According to techcrunch.com, the feature will allow for petitions to unite neighbors to request change from their local and national elected officials and government agencies. Anyone think this feature will be a ripe hunting grounds for trolls and troll farms? The idea of the petition feature is to get people to click the ‘Support’ button and get it to go viral. With today’s sophisticated trolls, ‘viral’ may be a good term to use for this feature. Be careful, and stay tuned!

Google has added new features to its Google Maps app. Mashable.com says they are rolling out speed limit and speed trap features. The speed limit sign will show up as a little sign icon in the left lower corner. Speed cameras will show up as red icons, and there will even be an audible warning. Police agencies will love this! Ironically, the feature was first reported by AndroidPolice.com!

Netflix Bumping Up Prices; NBCUniversal to Stream; Tesla Portable EV Charger; FAA to Allow Drones at Night and Over Crowds

Brace for the howls of anger and anguish…Netflix is raising fees. According to marketwatch.com, even the entry level plan, which Netflix held at $8 a month last time around, will get a bump of a buck to $9. The most popular plan…that gives you high def streams on up to two internet connected devices simultaneously, will jump from $11 to $13 per month. The premium ultra high def plan will increase from $14 to $16 a month. Last time Netflix raised fees, they lost 600,000 subscribers. It’s worth noting that they now have 58 million subscribers in the US and another 79 million outside the US, so they probably figure they can afford to lose a half million or million disgruntled customers. Grrr. (Yeah, I’ll grouse and pay the difference.)

NBC Universal will launch a streaming service in 2020. Unlike a lot of streamers, variety.com reports that this one will be primarily ad supported…although they plan to offer it for a fee to non-subscribers. It will be free to NBCU pay-cable subscribers in the US, like Comcast. It will also be available to Sky subscribers in the EU…together that’s about 52 million subscribers. It’s expected to feature original content and of course their own programming, as well as that of outside partners. NBCU has said it’s pulling its offerings from Netflix in 2021…this is a big reason why. NBCU feels that by offering it as a free add on to their cable and sat customers, it will give them a fighting chance against the likes of Netflix, which has a giant head start on NBC as well as Amazon, Hulu, Fox Nation and the upcoming Apple and Disney services.

Tesla has rolled out their first non-hardwired wall connector with a NEMA 14-50 plug to charge your EV (presumably a Tesla.) In English, a NEMA 14-50 plug is one that will plug into a 240 volt outlet like for your stove or electric dryer. The big feature of this one is that it can be taken with you if you move. It can charge the cars 25% faster than the Tesla Gen 2 Mobile connector (which comes standard with Model S, Model X, and Model 3 cars.) Engadget.com says it runs $500, but since you don’t need an electrician to install it, it is a cheaper alternative to the hardwired home charger….and you can easily take it if you move.

OK, what could possibly go wrong? The FAA has proposed relaxing drone rules, and allowing those under 55 lbs to fly at night and over crowds of people. Up to now, night flights have only been allowed on a case-by-case basis. Arstechnica.com reports that the drone makers will have to certify that if the vehicles fall, it will be with a Federal Aviation Agency maximum amount of kinetic energy of either 11 or 25 foot-pounds, depending on the situation. Oh, I’m so relieved to hear that! A final rule could be in place in 12-18 months.

New iPod Touch Coming; Pandora Launches Voice Assistant; Googlers Protest Arbitration on Twitter; Court Rules Against Forced Biometric Unlocking

It appears that Apple may not be ready to retire the iPod Touch quite yet. The venerable music player hasn’t been updated since 2015, but apparently Apple is working on a revised version. The thought is, it’s a way to keep people in the Mac ecosystem and sell more services…which Apple wants to do with iPhone sales (and all smartphones for that matter) softening. 9to5mac.com says Apple may switch the 2019 iPhones to USB C, as they have already done with the iPad Pros.

What the world needs right now is another voice assistant. Well, maybe not, but we are getting one anyway! Pandora has just launched their own in-app voice assistant on Android and iOS using the ‘Hey Pandora’ command. 9to5google.com reports that the voice assistant will make it easier for users to control stations, and perform common actions within the app. It will supposedly be accurate enough to respond well to ‘play something for my workout,’ or ‘play something I like’. The voice assistant will be live today to a small subset of users, and rolling out more widely over the next couple months.

Google employs are holding a Twitter protest today about forced arbitration agreements…common in the tech industry and widely used across business and industry to stay out of court and hold costs down. The Tweetstorm will emphasize ‘how forced arbitration denies 60 million Americans access to their civil rights.’ A little insight into binding arbitration: Most companies use arbitration clauses to force employees into binding arbitration when a dispute arises. This saves them big money by avoiding court. The pitch is, they use private judges, and the judge acting as the arbitrator hears both sides and renders a non-appealable decision. A very lopsided majority of such decisions go to the employer. Why would that be? The judges are all retired judges picking up a little extra cash, but should be fair…right? Since the companies pay the fees to the judges…which are often much more than they could make an hour practicing law, and since they are human, they know where their bread is buttered, and usually find for the companies paying the freight. According to mashable.com, the Tweetstorm will be going until 6pm Eastern tonight @endforcedarb and with the hashtag #EndForcedArbitration.

A federal court has ruled that the government can’t get a warrant granting permission to turn up at a house allegedly connected to a criminal suspect, seize all digital devices, and force those found at the house to use biometrics to unlock the devices. Arstechnica.com says the court held that the government request ‘runs afoul of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments,’ and the protections therein against unreasonable searches and self-incrimination. The judge held that such a request was ‘over broad.’ The court cited a Supreme Court decision from 2018 known as Carpenter. It is likely that this decision will be kicked back up the court system by the government.

Cadillac shows Pic of 1st EV; Ford Hybrid Explorer SUV; Quarterly Smartphone Production to Drop 19%-Credit Suisse; New Twitter Beta

Cadillac has dropped a pic of its first EV platform. The GM division didn’t give a name or details, but the Caddy EV will be the first to use the so-called ‘BEV3’ platform that will eventually be used across the GM lines for EVs. Interestingly, Cadillac president Steve Carlisle (as quoted by engadget.com) said “The architectural design will allow the battery packs to fit into the vehicle like ice cubes in an ice cube tray, you can put in as much water as you want to make as many cubes as you need — the tray still takes up the same space in the freezer.” A modular battery pack enables different range vehicles to be built on the same line…and may allow for upgrades at dealerships. No word on when the Caddy EV will be out, but they did announce they will be rolling out new models at the rate of one every 6 months through 2021.

Ford is adding a hybrid Explorer to their SUV line, coming in 2020. According to techcrunch.com, it’s loaded with tech, and importantly to people that buy SUVs…won’t lose space in the back to haul stuff thanks to stashing the battery pack under the 2nd row seats. The hybrid will have 318 combined horsepower and a range of 500 miles. It will have a 10 speed hybrid modular transmission and liquid cooled lithium-ion battery.

In the aftermath of Apple cutting iPhone production, now Credit Suisse predicts overall smartphone production will drop 19% this quarter. 9to5mac.com reports that such a drop will make it the lowest level of production since 2013. The bank warned that they don’t see a bottom in sight. As with Apple, the softening China market is a big part of the culprit. On the plus side, refreshed iPhones should sell better in China and everywhere this Fall…especially with the rumors that Apple will add a third rear camera to the top line phone, and a 2nd cam to the iPhone XR replacement. Of course, there are already some phones out that have FIVE rear cameras.

Twitter is going to launch a new beta in the next few weeks, using a standalone app for a select group of users. Techcrunch.com says it will focus on a new design for the way conversations are Threaded. One big experiment in the beta will be color coded replies….one color for people you follow, another for others, and a third for your replies through the thread. Beta testers will also be able to mark replies that branch off so they can come back to those later and follow threads or sub-threads that have information of interest to them. Interestingly, the heart for liking and arrows for re-Tweeting don’t show up until you click on a Tweet…to give a cleaner flow as you scroll through the timeline.

Samsung Will Show Galaxy S10 & Announces Unpacked; Google Adds Activity Cards to Search; Apple Says Biggest Impact Will Be On Health; Tesla Roadster Will Hover

Samsung will reveal the Galaxy S10 at a Galaxy Unpacked event on February 20th…a week prior to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. According to 9to5google.com, Samsung Newsroom confirms the event will take place in San Francisco at 11am at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. They will reportedly show off a fully functional folding phone, as well as 3 versions of the Galaxy S10. A higher-end 4th model will drop later in the spring and have 5G connectivity.

Google is adding ‘activity cards’ to help your search on mobile. Cnet.com reports that it will pop up a related activity drop down menu to give you a leg up on previous searches- to either start where you left off or avoid repeating something you already found. You can mark a page to check later by touching the activity card link. The feature is rolling out today in the US.

In an interview (with CNBC), Apple’s Tim Cook says Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind will be its contribution to health care. Businessinsider.com says Cook expanded on this by saying “Because our business has always been about enriching people’s lives. And as we’ve gotten into healthcare more and more through the Watch and through other things that we’ve created with ResearchKit and CareKit and putting your medical records on the iPhone, this is a huge deal.” It’s worth noting that it’s also a huge deal because $3.5 trillion was spent on healthcare in 2017, according to Uncle Sam. That’s a pretty enormous market for Apple to tap!

Elon Musk is noted for saying and Tweeting some outrageous things. A fair number of those things have actually happened, too. Musk had said that the new Tesla Roadster would incorporate a ‘SpaceX package’ that will include cold air thrusters. Now, he’s added a claim that the car will actually be able to hover over the ground! Electrek.co reports that Tesla is trying to get the vehicle to market by 2020. If you want one, the $200,000 version requires a $50,000 deposit, and the $250,000 Founders Series takes a heart-stopping $250,000 deposit…the fun price in advance!

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!