HP & Lenovo Chromebook to Support Steam; Sony Unveils Playstation VR2’s Design; GM Asks US Approval for Self-Driving Car Sans Steering Wheel; Amazon Grocery Biz-Like Expensive Hobby?

Posted: February 22, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

HP, Lenovo, Acer, & Asus will apparently be the first makers to release gaming Chromebooks. Arstechnica.com reports that a code change suggests vendors are working on a Chrome OS that will support the vast Steam gaming system. Google had previously said (back in 2020) that it would bring Steam to Chromebooks. These won’t be the dirt cheap, entry level Chromebooks that many schools purchase. The base prices for the units expected to get Steam usability already start at $489 to $650. They will likely be in the $1300-$1400 range tricked out for gaming on Steam.

Sony has bowed the PlayStation VR2’s design. It sticks with the black and white color scheme of the PS5, and keeps the family resemblance with the original VR headset. According to theverge.com, one really welcome feature will be a lens adjustment dial. The new generation also has a new vent design, and a slight weight reduction. It supports haptic feedback, eye tracking, 4K HDR, at up to 120Hz frame rate. the VR2 has a 110 degree field of view, and connects to a PS5 with a single USB-C cable. So far, no pricing or release date, but since the design has been locked down and showed, expect those soon. 

The Cruise division of GM has formally asked the NHTSA for permission to put the driverless Cruise Origin into commercial service. Arstechnica.com says the filing notes that the car is “a zero-emission, shared, electric vehicle that has been purposefully designed from the ground up to operate without a human driver. This means it does not rely on certain human-centered features, like a steering wheel or a sun visor, to operate safely.” Yep…you read that right…NO steering wheel! The vehicle has coach seating, with passengers facing each other, and is intended for use as a driverless taxi…primarily on city streets. Only 3 weeks ago, Cruise started taking sign ups for people who want to ride in a driverless car in San Francisco. This as their manned vehicles continue to comb the City by the Bay with their mapping and data vehicles, which are all Chevy Bolts. As I was crossing the street in SF last week, both a Cruise Bolt and one of the Zoosk matte black Lexus SUVs crossed the street in front of me.  They’re everywhere!

You would think with their delivery business Prime Now, Fresh, Go, plus Whole Foods, that Amazon would be raking it in by now from their sizable grocery business. Well, CNBC reports that it just isn’t so at this point. Amazon’s combined grocery businesses, including Whole Foods, only come to 2.4% of the grocery market over the past year. For comparison, Walmart has 18%. Analysts, including Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management, quipped that “It’s almost like the grocery business is an expensive hobby.” It remains toe one business that isn’t primarily cloud based or logistics as Amazon’s other businesses are. That’s true of Amazon Web Services, e-commerce (the original business), and entertainment. That said, it appears that Amazon is in for the long haul…a strategy that looked stupid years ago with AWS…until AWS became their monster cash flow business.

Folding MacBook in Long Term Apple Plans?; Twitter Testing Way to Untag Yourself; Trump’s Twitter Clone Makes Shaky Debut; Anti-Vaxxers Have Killed Off Facebook Profile Frames

Posted: February 21, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Lots of new Apple computers are coming this year, as the company moves away from Intel silicon and to Apple’s own chips. Now, a new rumor about a possible device being considered in the next few years. According to macrumors.com, Apple is putting off a folding iPhone until 2025, BUT they are also playing with the idea of a foldable 20 inch MacBook that is all screen! This would allow use as a laptop with a full sized keyboard, or fully unfolded, the device could be used as a 20 inch monitor when paired up with an external keyboard. Whether this device is actually released is no more than a guess right now. The same issues with folding screens on phones would apply to a MacBook (or even iPad) sized device, so in the end, Apple may decide it just isn’t robust enough to release. Hint to Apple- since you backtracked on the MacBook Pro, and added ports back…which I love…how about bringing back replaceable batteries, so our expensive laptops don’t become a no-deposit, no-return item? We understand you want to sell lots of computers, but heavy users now aren’t even going to get 4-5 years of decent battery life. We ought to be able to keep a laptop as long as a lot of people keep cars before trading!

Twitter appears to be trialing a function that will allow user to untag themselves from threads. Theverge.com reports that some users are seeing a new ‘leave this conversation.’ This is in addition to the ‘mute this conversation’ option that already exists. As is common for Twitter, they have had no comment about the feature test. Your Twitter handle still appears in the thread, but is no longer a hyperlink. Also, you can still see the thread if you want to…but this feature, if rolled out widely, will prevent others from dragging you into conversations you don’t wish to be involved in.

Donald Trump’s ‘Truth’ social app hit the Apple App Store last night, but apparently the launch is a bit shaky. Cnet.com says a number of people have reported that the haven’t been able to create an account. In spite of that, it hit number 1 in the App Store’s Top Charts this morning. Some people trying to create accounts were put on a waiting list. Will the app do any better than Parler, Gettr, or Rumble have with conservatives? Time will tell. 

You have probably used at least one…I know I have…whether urging people to vote, or to get vaccinated, or for some other cause…those profile picture frames on Faeebook have been a fixture for some time now. No more. According to Mashable.com, Facebook is effectively killing off the feature, and anti-vaxxers are to blame. While profile frames will still exist, only frames from “certain government services or organizations and those providing authoritative information on COVID-19” will be available to users. The reason? The frames repeatedly violated Facebook’s existing vaccine misinformation policies. Any existing custom profile frames will be deleted on March 21st. Facebook did say that profile pictures with a previously created frame will still be allowed. Frames created by official partners will also still be available. 

Meta Employees Are Now ‘Metamates’; Senate Bill Would Make Social Nets Protect Kids More; Google Bows Privacy Sandbox on Android; Twitter ‘Bot Accounts Get Label Indicating They Are ‘Bots

Posted: February 16, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

They were formerly Facebookers, but with the move to the name and over-arching company Meta, Facebook employees aren now ‘Metamates.’ Marketwatch.com reports that this is by decree of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Could be worse…could have been Metamucilmates…) In addition, Zuck has detailed new company values, with ‘Be Open’ now changed to ‘Be Direct and Respect Your Colleagues.’ It’s a long way from the old days of ‘Move Fast and Break Things.’

A conservative Republican Senator and liberal Democratic one have introduced a bill called the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), that will give kids more control over their privacy and safety on social media. The Act, introduced by Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, will also set out stricter guidelines for the companies in question. According to the Washington Post, the Act will require social media companies to give kids under 16 tools to protect their data, turn off ‘addictive’ features, and opt out of algorithm based recommendations. The strongest settings, affording the most protection to the children, would have to be on by default. 

Google is following Apple in bringing a Privacy Sandbox to Android. 9to5google.com says it starts out with new privacy preserving APIs that limit which user data gets shared with third parties and don’t use cross-party identifiers…like Android’s AdID. To prevent covert user tracking, an SDK Runtime will isolate advertising SDKs (and their processes) included by apps. This is a double whammy to Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, which have relied on hoovering up user data to serve up targeted ads. Facebook took a hit after revealing a drop off in ad revenue due to Apple’s tightening things up. They have a little time to adjust, though…Google says it won’t have things fully implemented until 2023. 

Twitter bot accounts can now be labeled as such, effective today. Engadget.com reports the company has begun rolling out the feature world wide. Twitter says the notice will help users to get more detail about an account and its purpose, and then can decide whether or not to follow or engage with that account. 

Samsung Moves to Google Messages; TSMC US Chip Plant Delay; Meta Settles Decade Old Cookie Use Suit; Microsoft Unveils Amazon Appstore Preview

Posted: February 15, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Finally throwing in the towel on their own Samsung Messages, Samsung is making Google Messages the default messaging app on Samsung Galaxy phones in the US…starting with the new Galaxy S22 series. According to 9to5google.com, this will bring enhanced RCS messaging to users. Note that you could always download and install Google Messages, but many people tend to go with the default app on the phones they get. This will put Samsung in a much better position to compete with Apple’s default messaging app. This should also energize other Android handset makers to move the same direction, to get closer to parity with Apple’s widely used and liked Messages app. 

Construction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s 1st advanced chip plant in the US…being built in Arizona…is now 3 to 6 months behind schedule due primarily to a labor shortage and the on-and-off surge in COVID-19 variants. When finally built, the plant will be TSMC’s most advanced plant outside its home territory. After the plant is built, and equipment moved in, the expectation situate it will take another year to get production lines qualified and ramped up. The company had initially built in some time for delays, so they still say they should be able to begin production by the first quarter of 2024. 

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook (with props to the late artist formerly known as Prince, has settled a 10 year plus old lawsuit over its use of cookies…to the tune of $90 million. According to Variety, the complaint was that Facebook was tracking users’ internet use even after they had logged off the platform. The settlement still must be approved by the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The settlement will be distributed to plaintiffs who submit verified claims. Expect lawyers to hoover up a third of it plus expenses…so you will probably get a $5 coupon to use on Facebook Marketplace. (OK, I made that up…but no matter…no plaintiff will get much out of this…they never do.)

Last fall, Microsoft started testing Android Apps on PCs running Win 11. Now, techcrunch.com reports that the company is opening up access, with the Amazon Appstore Preview in the Microsoft Store, which will offer over 1,000 more apps and games. Redmond has also rolled out some Windows Taskbar improvements, a redesigned Media Player, and Notepad. For the Taskbar, which had been criticized by users, you will now be able to add your own shortcuts (again), and it will display the clock and date on the Taskbar of a secondary monitor, and live weather content in the left corner of the bar. 

IBM’s ‘Dinobabies’; Zoom Bug on Macs; Snap Creators Get Ad Revenue Sharing; Western Digital Loses Huge Flash Storage

Posted: February 14, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

In documents filed in support of a lawsuit filed against IBM, execs allegedly called older workers ‘dinobabies,’ who should be extinct. Business Insider reports that the suit also claims to show IBM plans ‘to oust older employees from its workforce.’ The legal battle actually dates back to 2018, when Big Blue fired tens of thousands of workers over 40 years old. The language from emails detailing plans to replace older workers with millennials also complained about the company’s ‘dated maternal workforce.’ An IBM spokesperson says the company has ‘never engaged in systemic age discrimination.’ 

If you have a Mac computer, and do Zoom meetings, you need to update your Zoom software right away. Theverge.com says there is a bug that leaves your mic on after you leave meetings in MacOS Monterey operating systems. Zoom had earlier gotten into hot water in 2020 when they claimed end to end encryption when that wasn’t the case. Make sure you are updated to version 5.9.3…you don’t want to say something snide about your boss or the meeting leader or co-workers after a meeting, and find that you just ended your career!

Good news, bad news from Snapchat. They will start dropping mid-roll ads into Stories of creators. The good news part? According to theverge.com, they will share revenue with the creators. The deal is only available to Snap Stars…those who are creators, have large followings that Snap has verified, or public figures. (Look for the gold star.) There were already ads in between friends’ Stories and in the Discover section, but this is the first time creators will get a cut of the ad revenue on Stories. 

Everything has seemingly been going up. Now, flash memory will take another, unexpected hike. Mashable.com reports that Western Digital has lost 6.5 BILLION gigs of flash storage due to contamination during production. The issue was discovered late last month at tow plants in Japan that producer NAND chips. The plants are run by WD’s partner Kioxia. What caused the contamination is unknown at this point. Western Digital has about 30% of the total flash storage market, so this is a big deal. This is expected to push the prices of SSDs up by around 10%.

Samsung Unpacked Highlights; Apple Tap To Pay; Car Radio Glitch Locks on Single Station; Twitter Rolls Out Playback Speed for Videos

Posted: February 9, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

As is not uncommon, most of what Samsung rolled out at the latest Unpacked today had already been leaked. Theverge.com reports that the star of the show was the flagship Galaxy S22 Ultra. It is basically a Note, without the name…something Samsung has been running away from since some had fire issues a few years ago. That said, the Note has had a fiercely loyal following, so here’s the Ultra with an S Pen silo. Besides that, it is pretty much an evolutionary update. The handset has a 6.8 inch screen, the same cams as before, in a somewhat more boxy shape like the old note. The Galaxy S22 will go for $1199, and can be preordered today in phantom black, phantom white, green, or new burgundy. It goes on sale February 25th. 

Apple has announced its Tap to Pay for iPhone. We reported about this last week, but there’s a new wrinkle that was revealed today. According to 9to5mac.com, Apple will be partnering with third-parties, and making the platform available to app developers and other payment platforms besides Apple Pay. The NFC driven feature will be live late this year, and will support contactless payments over an iOS app on iPhone XS or later. It will work with either another phone or credit card that has a chip. The surprise vendor already on board is Stripe. They already have a landing page up to let businesses express interest in Tap to Pay on iPhone for Stripe Terminal. Apple announced that Tap to Pay will appear in an upcoming iOS software beta, and will be available to payment partners and app developers via new SDKs.

A software glitch in Mazda cars that is every radio programmer’s dream (if it is your station locked in, anyway) has confounded drivers of Mazda cars from model years 2014-17. Suddenly, the cars will only pick up public radio station KUOW. Geekwire.com notes that in a few cases, the infotainment systems have quit all together. Dealers report they are hearing from plenty of owners. The problem is apparently related to the switch to 5G. In my own case, I had update the software in my 2018 Honda by a certain date or lose connectivity, as that maker dropped 3G support. The cars still can use 4G (LTE) and 5G. If the Mazda issue is similar, some of these people who didn’t download the software update may have to get a new part at dealers installed. Not cool. At least Mazda says the dealers can submit a ‘goodwill request’ to the warranty department, but of course….the part is backordered everywhere!

Twitter has dropped another test feature. This time, it’s a speed adjustment for videos, ranging from quarter speed to double speed. According to Mashable.com, such a feature has been available on both Netflix and YouTube. The rub is, the video length is still 140 seconds for us regular humans, and up to 10 minutes for important content providers. In light of that, it appears that Twitter is going after TikTok more than trying to compete with the likes of YouTube. Twitter is also trying out a downvote button…but you can’t use it to give a thumbs down to Tweets….only to replies to Tweets. 

Nvidia Arm Buy is Off; Peter Thiel Leaves Facebook Board; Under Pressure, IRS Drops Facial Recognition; Critical Year for EVs

Posted: February 8, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The huge $66 billion dollar deal for Nvidia to buy Arm has blown up. According to arstechnica.com, this was primarily due to regulators in the US, UK, and EU raising serious concerns about the effect of the deal on competition in the world wide semiconductor industry. The deal would have given California based Nvidia virtual control over the tech at the heart of the majority of mobile devices. Arm is based in the UK. Among others, Qualcomm and Microsoft had objected to the purchase. The sale’s failure is a big hit for SoftBank, which would have raked in a huge windfall had the deal gone through. SoftBank will now likely do an IPO sometime this year for Arm.

Peter Thiel isn’t seeking reelection to be a member of the Facebook (Meta) board, so will leave the company. Techcrunch.com reports that Thiel has become increasingly political, and has strongly supported Donald Trump and those running for office closely associated with him. This makes him a bit of a hot potato on the Meta board at this point…with the investigations both in the US and the EU into the company, and their platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. 

The backlash was quick, strong, and surprisingly bipartisan. After public outcry and a strong negative reaction for members of Congress, the IRS will drop their plan to make people use facial recognition via a third party company to verify their identity. Engadget.com notes that the shift away form the ID.me system will happen over weeks to try to minimize disruptions during tax filing season. The IRS is now working on a less intrusive, and less flakey system…as even the folks in Congress know that the face ID system has issues, and is prone to error…particularly in the case of minority faces. The susceptibility to cyber attacks, and lack of audits or accountability also raised the ire of Congress members from both sides of the aisle. 

This is shaping up to be a pivotal year for electric cars. The EVs are still only 9% of the market, but that’s up from 2.5% in 2019, so a big jump. The New York Times reports that the industry over all will drop a trillion dollars the next 5 years to transition EVs. Tesla is still leading at a million sold a year, but looking at orders over at Ford (which we’ve covered here), FoMoCo had thought they might sell 75,000 of the new F-150 Lightening pickups, but have stopped orders for now at 200,000. They will sell a like number of Mustang EVs this year, too. Mercedes delivered almost 100,000 EVs in 2021…up 90% from the previous year. VW delivered 17,000 ID.4 SUVs in the US, but say they could have sold 4 times that number if it hadn’t been for production bottlenecks like the chip shortage. The biggest impediment to EV sales (besides the chip shortage) is the lack of enough charging stations. Right now, there are only 50,000 public charging stations in the US. The infrastructure bill passed last fall has funds for an additional 500,000, but even that won’t be enough to keep up with EV sales at the rate people are ordering them. 

Amazon Doubles Big Cheese Max Base Pay; Meta Threatens to Shutter Facebook & Instagram in Europe, Next Apple Event & Entry MacBook Pro; Cost of Replacing Chinese Cell Equipment Explodes

Posted: February 7, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Amazon has just more than doubled maximum base pay for corporate and tech workers, citing competition in the labor market. Geekwire.com reports the new figure is $350,000, up from the previous $160,000. This will bring them in line with other major tech firms like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft. Up to now, Amazon had been trying to keep its base pay low by offering RSUs for its stock, but that is no longer holding people the often 3-4 years before the employee can cash out. 

Due to a new data transfer agreement being considered, which prevents transferring data from the EU to the US, Meta is threatening to shut down both its Facebook and Instagram platforms in Europe. According to CNET.com, the sticking point is the EU’s very strict privacy protection. The latest data transfer agreement was found invalid in 2020 by a top European court. Data transfer allows the company…and others…to transfer, store, and process data at their data centers in the US. Meta is not the only tech company dealing with this, but is the largest affected by far. The company hopes to light a fire under the US and EU negotiators to get a new agreement in place so they can continue operations. 

The next Mac event appears to be slated for March 8th. 9to5mac.com says the expected rollout will include an updated iPhone SE3 with 5G, a new iPad Air…and possibly a new Mac. Mark Gurman over at Bloomberg has written that we should look for a new entry-level MacBook Pro with a proprietary Apple system on a chip…probably called the M2, later this year. In order to continue charging more for the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros, Gurman says the new laptop won’t have the Touch Bar, and will have a lower quality display, processor, and less storage. It won’t get the MiniLED screen or ProMotion, in other words. He and others see Apple as finishing the switch to their own silicon across the entire line this year, ending a long run with Intel processors. 

The cost of removing and replacing Chinese made cell equipment from Huawei and ZTE has exploded. CNBC.com reports that the government had called for replacing the equipment…deemed insecure…and Congress allocated $1.9 billion for that in December 2020. Now, carriers have applied for a whopping $5.6 billion to cover the job! The whole issue came up when it was found that the Chinese equipment were national security risks. The FCC says is will work with carriers and Congress to make sure the carriers aren’t hit with the costs, since the government has mandated the switch out of gear.

Facebook Down on Earnings Report; Netflix Finally Adds Delete to ‘Continue Watching’; Alphabet Took in Over $75 Billion 4th Quarter; Cruise Opening RoboTaxis to Public

Posted: February 2, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Facebook whiffed on earnings, and the stock took a 20% haircut today. CNBC.com reports that in addition to disappointing earnings, the company gave weak guidance…saying that user growth had stagnated. The earnings per share were $3.67, while $3.84 was what was expected. Revenue was $33.67 billion…which did beat the $33.4 that was expected. Daily Active Users was 1.93 billion, and they had been looking for 1.95 billion. Facebook says first quarter revenue will be between $27 and $29 billion. They blamed inflation and supply chain issues on lower ad budgets from their clients. 

Netflix at long last had added a way to delete the shows in ‘Continue Watching’ that you just watched a bit of and hated, or got tired of. According to engadget.com, you can just go to the title you want to drop, and there will be a little ‘Remove from Continue Watching’ icon under the menu of user preferences. Not everyone is seeing this just yet. It’s several years later than would have been cool, but better now than never. 

While Facebook took a hit on earnings, Google parent Alphabet did nicely…reporting forth quarter revenue of $75.3 billion. 9to5google.com says that figure was up 32% from the same quarter of 2020 (which was $56.9 billion.) It was also up from the $65.1 billion take for 3rd quarter of last year. 

They have been relentlessly patrolling San Francisco for the last several years, and now the ubiquitous Cruise self-driving cars will become available for driverless ride hailing. TechCrunch.com reports that SoftBank has dumped another $1.35 billion into the startup. As of now, the rides will be free, and there is a wait list on the Cruise website. Cruise says riders will not have to sign a non-disclosure agreement before using the service. It will run from 11 PM to 5 AM initially. Also, for the time being, the driverless service is limited to certain areas and streets within the Haight-Ashbury, Richmond District, Chinatown and Pacific Heights neighborhoods.

Tesla Recalls 54,000 Over FSD Stopsign-Rolling; Sony Buys Bungie; Google Messages Rolls Out iMessage Reactions; Tablet Shipments Down

Posted: February 1, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

There was some noise last month when Tesla pushed out its latest iteration of it’s so-called Full Self-Driving software. There was an ‘assertive mode,’ which allowed cars to roll through stops. Cnet.com reports that the NHTSA was not amused, and now the feds have issued a recall notice for 53,822 Teslas…including Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y cars. According to the NHTSA, the beta software “allows the vehicle to travel through all-way-stop intersections at up to 5.6 mph before coming to a complete stop, if certain conditions are first met.” If you own a Tesla with the software, you won’t have to go in…it will be fixed with a free over-the-air update. 

Sony has opened their cash vault and dropped a sweet $3.6 billion to buy Bungie. According to gizmodo.com, this will get them a larger player base and steady stream of income from Destiny players. They could conceivably make that game exclusive on their platforms in the battle against Microsoft, but really can’t do so with banner game Halo, which Microsoft holds the rights to. Gizmodo speculates that gaming might not be the only reason for the buy…they wonder if Sony is contemplating producing a Destiny TV series or movie. 

Google Messages has started rolling out iMessage reactions in beta for Android users. 9to5google.com says the emoji translations aren’t spot on—for example,  the iMessage Heart becomes ‘Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes. The reactions…often called Tapbacks, will now show up as emojis instead of a text version, which frankly looks silly. So far, the rollout is limited, so you may not see them right away. 

Tablet shipments were off in the 4th quarter of 2021. That said, Apple continues to lead the market with a 38% market share. Appleinsider.com notes that Samsung is 2nd with 15.9%, followed by Lenovo at 4.6%, amazon at 3.6%, and Huawei with 2.5%. Every maker’s shipments dropped except Amazon, which was up 1.3%. Apple was off 8.6%, but Samsung took a 21.6% hit, with Lenovo down 25.4%, and Huawei off 13.9%. Some of the drop has been attributed to supply chain constraints. 

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