Some Whole Foods Getting ‘Just Walk Out’ Tech; LG’s ‘Real Folding Window’; Ford Steals Top Apple Car Exec; PayPal Snaps Up Japan’s Paidy

Posted: September 8, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Amazon has been running its ‘Just Walk Out’ tech in Amazon Go stores and some of their Fresh supermarkets for a while now. Engadget.com is reporting that they are now ready to roll it out in a couple Whole Foods locations. One will be in Sherman Oaks, CA, and the other store is in the Washington, DC area. Both should be up and running by next year. Just Walk Out uses computer vision, sensors and AI to let you walk into a store, sign in with an app, fill up your bags and leave without the need to join a checkout line. Besides their own stores, Amazon is planning to license the tech to third-party retailers. Although unions have objected that the tech will cost jobs, Amazon said using the tech will actually employ a comparable number of team members. Amazon says they will be in a position to interact more with customers to give them a better shopping experience. 

LG thinks they have a better solution than folding glass held together by a plastic film as in the Samsung folding screen phones. According to theverge.com, they call their product a ‘real folding window,’ and are saying it will ship in 2023. Actually, the LG product drops the glass part entirely. The claim is that their ‘new material’ is used to coat both sides of a sheet of plastic film similar to the plastic in your clear soda bottle. LG says their material then covers a flexible OLED panel, and that the whole thing will lat longer and have a less noticeable crease than existing folding devices. LG claims the coated PET can work with tablets, laptops, and even rollable-screen phones. In addition, it can be folded outward as well as inward. Samsung is apparently also working on a coated PET material. The real question…will it help bring the high cost of folding devices down?

Ford has hired Doug Field away from Apple, where he was a VP of Apple Special Projects…his team there has been working on Project Titan, AKA the Apple Car.  Techcrunch.com notes that prior to Apple, he was a senior VP of engineering at Tesla. At Ford, he will be chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer. Field’s experience at Tesla, especially with the Model 3, should be a big boost for Ford as they roll out a number of new EVs. It is a homecoming of sorts for Field…he started his career at Ford as a development engineer from 1987 to 1993. 

PayPal will complete the acquisition of Paidy shortly, according to Nikkei.com. They are dropping $2.7 billion for the Japanese ‘buy now, pay later’ firm. PayPal is working to beef up its business in Japan via cross-border e-commerce payments for overseas payment. PayPal already has 4.3 million accounts in Japan, but they hope with the acquisition to pick up more ‘pay later’ clients. Right now, Japan is 70% cash for payments. Paidy enables buy now, pay later without the need for a credit card. There is no interest charge or fee for a limited amount of time. 

Apple Event on the 14th; TikTok Passes YouTube in Viewing Time; Facebook Denies Report That WhatsApp NOT End-to-End Encrypted; Government Pressure Could Make Companies Support Smartphones Longer

Posted: September 7, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The invite dropped this morning, as expected. Apple has announced ‘California Streaming,’ their upcoming digital event. It will be September 14th at 10 AM Pacific, emanating from Apple Park in Cupertino. According to Macrumors.com, once again there will be no members of the media on hand in person in the Steve Jobs Theater. Apple is widely expected to show off the iPhone 13 series, the Apple Watch Series 7, and maybe AirPods 3. Expected new MacBook Pros with the M series chips and new iPads will probably be revealed in another event….likely in October. 

TikTok continues to show more strength. Theverge.com reports that a new study from analytics firm App Annie shows that TikTok users spend more time watching content every month that YouTube users. As of June, that’s 24 hours of content a month, compared to YouTube’s 22 hours and 40 minutes in the US. In the UK, TikTok’ers watch 26 hours a month, compared to 16 hours for YouTube users. Worth noting: these figures only include viewership on Android phones, so YouTube could be in better shape if you were to add in iOS users. YouTube continues to be ahead in overall time spent since they have more than 2 billion users, compared to 700 million for TikTok.

A report out from ProPublica claims that WhatsApp does not have end-to-end encryption. Apparently, this is based on the fact that there are over 1,000 contract workers in Austin, TX, Dublin, and Singapore that examine ‘millions of pieces of users’ content.’ Facebook claims that only messages which are reported by WhatsApp users are forwarded to Facebook’s contract moderation team. The report also alleges that WhatsApp regularly shares unencrypted records with the US Department of Justice and other law enforcement agencies. The best advice is still to consider ANYTHING you post on the internet as being public, and that nothing is un-hackable. 

The German government has now started looking at making smartphone manufacturers offer security updates and spare parts for 7 years. Right now, the EU requires this for 5 years, according to zdnet.com. iPhone’s Apple and Android makers are, of course, howling about this. The Germans also want the parts to be offered at ‘a reasonable price,’ and would make the producers publish a price list and make the parts available quickly. It should be noted that this is actually a completely reasonable demand. The US has made auto makers keep parts available for 10 years for decades now. As for the reasonable price part, with most car parts, there are enough aftermarket parts makers to keep those prices down. For the phone makers’ part….they feel that keeping batteries and screens available is enough, as those are the most failure prone items in the smartphones. 

Yet More on iPhone Sat Connection; Google’s ‘Human Presence Sensor’; VW EV Microbus Update; Hamill Tweets Name, Gets Massive Likes

Posted: September 6, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Last week, reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple would support low orbit satellite communications with iPhone 13, then, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman gave more details about the feature and its implementation.  9to5 mac.com notes that More info has leaked out now. “The emergency features will only work in areas without any cellular coverage and only in select markets. Apple envisions eventually deploying its own array of satellites to beam data to devices, but that plan is likely years away from taking off.”  Gurman also says Apple won’t give the ability for iPhone users to make calls when without cellular coverage.

Google is working with Antmicro on a “Human Presence Sensor” for upcoming Chromebooks, which could be used for face unlock or other long-awaited Chrome OS features. Google calls the project  “HPS,” which is short for “Human Presence Sensor.” According to 9to5google.com, it may be used to let the laptop wake when you approach…or  could allow your Chromebook to both stay awake and not dim the screen while you’re in front of it, similar to the “Screen attention” feature of Pixel phones. No word on when it may be actually implemented at this point. 

Five years after Volkswagen first unveiled its concept for an electric version of its iconic microbus, we’re finally getting our first glimpse of the vehicle on the road. But rather than some throwback to an era of hippies and flower power, the ID Buzz is outfitted with a high-tech suite of sensors and computing smarts for its new role as an autonomous test vehicle. Theverge.com report that the autonomous ID Buzz will serve as a platform for the automaker’s full-scale commercial ride-hailing and delivery operation that it plans on launching in Germany in 2025. For now, VW plans to deploy the ID Buzz on public roads for testing in Munich, as well as at a private track near the city’s airport. 

Star Wars legend Mark Hamill decided to test how strong the Force was with his Twitter stardom Sunday after a fan suggested he could get thousands of likes just by tweeting his own name. CNET.com says the actor, who’s best known for playing Luke Skywalker, exceeded expectations by getting more than half a million likes and over 30,000 retweets as of early Monday. Don’t try thi at home, kids….Hamill has 4.7 million followers on the social media platform, and a bunch of them are apparently happy to support his experiments. If you have only a few hundred or few thousand followers, you will probably just get razzed for trying the same thing.

Microsoft Surface Event Sept. 22; Apple Plans More Watch Health Features; Twitter Bows ‘Safety Mode’; Facebook Reduced Political Content in Feeds

Posted: September 1, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Microsoft has announced a Surface hardware event for September 22nd. Theverge.com reports that the media invite says “the company will talk about devices and Windows 11.” The expected devices will probably be a successor to the Surface Duo and a new Surface laptop. Images of a new Duo 2 leaked out earlier this summer. Expected changes are a triple cam system with telephoto, ultra wide, and standard lenses. The replacement for the Surface Book 3 will likely be dubbed the Surface Laptop Pro, not the Book 4. 

We reported earlier this year that Apple was still working on a blood sugar monitor in the Watch. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, they are also testing monitoring blood pressure trends, a thermometer for fertility and sleep tracking, and sleep apnea detection. Most of these features are not expected in this month’s new Watch, but may be in the 2022 model. Interestingly, the blood pressure monitor works differently from the cuffs we are all used to. Apple’s method measures the speed of the wave of a heartbeat via a user’s artery using sensors. The blood glucose monitor, which could be life saving for diabetics, has been in development for quite a while, and apparently is still giving Apple trouble as they work to perfect reliable tech for a Watch based feature. 

Twitter has started testing out a new ’Safety Mode,’ which will automatically block unwanted replies. Macrumors.com says the feature should cut down on spammy or abusive replies to posts. The feature will auto block accounts that uses insults, or send repetitive, uninvited replies or mentions. If turned on, Safety Mode stays active for about 7 days. Accounts that you follow will NOT be auto blocked. 

Facebook has rejiggered their algorithms once again, and has started reducing political content in your News Feed. Engadget.com reports that this comes on the heels of tests in the US, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia. The social net claims this is all in response to the FB community. Facebook does admit that some engagement signals are better for them than others in predicting if posts seem interesting or valuable to users. Hopefully, the changes will help reduce the level of misinformation on the platform. Facebook also thinks it may make their network a more welcoming place…as some people get turned off pretty quickly by political arguments. The change is the usual rolling one, so you may not have seen it yet.

No Windows 11 Android Support at First; Google May Launch Pixel 6 in Next 2 Weeks; Chinese Maker-Colbalt Free EV Batteries; iPhone 13 Satellite Com-Clarification…Maybe

Posted: August 31, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It looks like Windows 11 won’t be shipping with Android app support when it drops on October 5th. According to theverge.com, this would be a disappointing delay for one of the banner features of the upgraded OS. It appears now like the Android support won’t be pushed out until 2022. Windows 11 will be a free upgrade for eligible Windows 10 computers, but new PCs will get it first, then existing devices will be able to download in the following weeks (or months.) According to Microsoft, all eligible Windows 10 PCs will be offered the free upgrade by mid 2022.

Not exactly from a known, accurate leaker, but a Weibo leaker claims the Pixel 6 handsets will be unveiled on September 13th…stepping on Apple’s iPhone 13 event…which will most likely be September 14th, if history is an indication. Bgr.com reports that this shows Google isn’t afraid of the competition. For this writer, it appears to be a gamble…can Google steal enough thunder to make a big splash with the Pixel 6 phones, or will they be swamped by all the glitz and excitement of the Apple iPhone 13 and Apple Watch rollout? Most other competitors (think Samsung) try to show their new units weeks…or a month….from an Apple announcement in order to get buzz and hopefully favorable reviews before Apple’s phones hit, but if this wild rumor is true, it’s a gutsy attempt to grab attention for the latest Pixel phones. 

A Chinese firm called SVOLT says its ready to start making a cobalt free EV battery at scale. Engadget.com says they showed off an 82.6KWh battery pack in a vehicle at the Chengdu Motor Show. (The actual car is from Great Wall Motors…a logo must extend all the way across the back of the car!) It’s claimed that pack can make 373 miles of range off a single charge, and it can push the car forward 0-60 in under 5 seconds. the big deal about cobalt is that it is rare, so in short supply, and mining it is very environmentally unfriendly. Both Panasonic and Tesla have tried making batteries without heavy metals like cobalt. The Model 3 sold in China has a lithium ion phosphate battery in it that doesn’t use heavy metals in production. That unit is made by Contemporary Amperex Technology. No word on when SVOLT will have battery packs on the market.

Yesterday, we reported a rumor from noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that has the iPhone 13 carrying a special chip that might allow satellite communication. 9to5mac.com notes that a couple of experts have downplayed this, as have numerous Twitter trolls who have no clue. Bloomberg also confirmed the rumor, but clarified that it would be for emergency use only, and be a text only function. the experts (and trolls) note that the Qualcomm X60 chip doesn’t operate on satellite frequencies…which is true, but Kuo said that it was a modified version. The X65 chip, for example, DOES operate on satellite frequencies. It may be that the chip is in the phone, but that Apple won’t activate it right away, or has a longer term plan for satellite in mind. We may find out all…or not…considering it’s Apple, in the next couple weeks.

iPhone 13 Sat Phone-Kuo Rumor; GoPro New Flagship Leak; Clubhouse Add Spatial Audio Effects; Washington Researchers-Grant For Better Plastic Recycling

Posted: August 30, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

In the biggest iPhone rumor yet, reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the iPhone 13 will have low orbit satellite communication connectivity! Macrumors.com notes that this would let users make calls and send messages in areas without 4G or 5G coverage. It allegedly has a custom Qualcomm X60 baseband chip that has the sat com support. Other smartphones are expected to implement the tech in 2022. The provider is supposed to be Globalstar. Although satellite communication has always been pretty expensive up to now, I would expect government users, reporters, and others who travel to or live in places with sketchy coverage to be clamoring for iPhone 13 models if this rumor holds true. We will know in a couple weeks, as that is the time frame when Apple traditionally rolls out its latest smartphones.

In a second big leak today, the GoPro Hero 10 Black has had images seep out into the world. According to theverge.com, it really looks a lot the same as last year’s, only will rock a more powerful GP2 processor…which should give a major boost in performance. The cam will support 5.3K videos shot at 60fps, or 4K vids at 120fps! It can record 2.7K at a stunning 240fps giving more motion control (but costing resolution.) The image sensor goes up from 20 to 23 megapixels. 

To give users that ‘actual room’ feel, now Clubhouse is adding spatial audio effects. Techcrunch.com says that, for example, you could make it seem like a main speaker was on stage, and people at different spots in an auditorium were asking questions. Some of this is achieved by altering the way the high and low sounds are sent out, as well as by a time delay between stereo channels. If you’ve listened to certain albums in headphones…or if you ever had stereo quad, you get the idea. At a radio station in the 1970’s, we were quad. We had one jingle ID that bounced from front to back, and another that spun. Think about listening to that in quad headphones if you were a little high (not that anyone I know ever was…)

A sad but stunning fact…despite the separate bins and all the effort, only 9% of plastics in  the US are recycled. Geekwire.com reports that one issue holding recycling back is that the different plastic materials we pitch in the bin can’t be used together in a new container. The National Science Foundation has given a grant to U of Washington and Washington State scientists to try to tackle the problem. They are working a chemical process to break the plastics down into their building block monomers that can then go forward into next uses. They are also experimenting with turning some recycled plastic into hydrocarbons (which they generally come from anyway) and then producing jet fuel. With time and luck, let’s hope they are successful so we can clean things up in earnest.

T-Mobile Breach Update; Twitter-New Process Reporting COVID Misinformation; CES 2022-Live, but Vaxx Proof Needed; OnlyFans Launches New ‘PG-13’ App

Posted: August 18, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

We reported earlier this week that T-Mobile had a data breach that affected over 100 million users. Now, the carrier has confirmed that some 47.8 million users have had their data compromised. Engadget.com reports that 7.8 million are current T-Mobile postpaid accounts and the rest are prior or potential users that applied for credit. Unfortunately, the data is a gold mine of info….first and last names, date of birth, Social Security Number, and driver license number…though not all of that was hacked on all customers. ‘So far,’ T-Mobile hasn’t seen that the hackers got phones numbers, account numbers, passwords, or financial info. T-Mobile advises all postpaid users to change their PIN immediately. The hacker had claimed on the dark web to have 100 million accounts’ info, and was trying to sell info for about 30 million of them for around $270,000 in Bitcoin. 

Twitter has unveiled a new reporting feature that lets users flag Tweets containing possible COVID-19 misinformation. According to theverge.com, users will be able to select whether the misleading comment is political, health-related, or falls into another category. The feature should be available now in the US, Australia, and South Korea. Twitter has said they won’t be able to check every single report, but will use data from the feature to determine how to expand it. The feature is aimed at easing government pressure on Twitter (as well as Facebook) to clean up their algorithms to reduce the amplification of harmful information. 

After running with an all-digital version in 2021, the giant CES show will be back in Vegas with a live show in 2022…but will require proof of vaccination. Cnet.com says that CES will follow CDC protocols and require proof of vaccination…although they are still weighing proof of a positive antibody test as an alternative. CES is the biggest consumer electronics show around, with over 1,000 companies showing off their latest and greatest. CES said they will run a digital event that will run in parallel. Among others, Amazon, AMD, AT&T, Daimler AG, Dell, Google, Hyundai, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, LG, Panasonic, Qualcomm, Samsung and Sony — are on board for the event. CES will run January 5th through the 8th, with media days on January 3rd and 4th. 

In the movies, and TV, it’s nearly impossible for an actor to jump from XXX rated stuff to general audience productions. Now, we’ll see if that holds true for an app. According to Mashable.com, OnlyFans has launched a new app with no nudity and no paywall. For and entity that has pretty well only existed on ‘nekkid’ people and in flagrante delicto activity, it remains to be seen (so to speak) whether this will work for them. The app is called OFTV on both iOS and Android. It has launched with some 800 videos from over 100 creators, ranging from vlogs to cooking to meditation. For comparison, the regular not-safe-for-work OnlyFans has over a million creators and generates a whopping $2 billion in annual sales! Will they be able to get past their blue reputation and make this ‘safe’ platform fly. Time will tell. 

Walmart Learns from Amazon; Aurora to Clean Space Debris; Apple Patents Tunable Glasses Lenses; Mastercard-Mag Strips Going Bye-Bye

Posted: August 17, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Taking a page from Amazon’s playbook, Walmart is now reporting a 95% increase in ad sales. Geekwire.com reports that the giant retailer’s push into ads online has meant they have increased the number of active advertisers by 175%. Overall, Walmart has grown its e-commerce business in the 2nd quarter to $11 billion….a 90% increase year over year (when we were at the height of the pandemic in 2020.) Walmart is saying they want to become ‘completely indifferent’ as to where and how customers shop. 

There is an enormous amount of ‘space junk’ orbiting the planet after decades of satellite launches and such. Now, Aurora Propulsion Technology is going to be ending space junk removing tech on Rocket Lab’s Electron later this year. According to techcrunch.com, the AuroraSat-1 CubeSat will have six ‘resistojet’ thrusters which will help the unit to quickly de-tumble and adjust attitude control. The unit will also test out Aurora’s Plasma Brakes, which are an electrically charged microtether intended to de-orbit satellites. It will eventually take a fleet of these to clear substantial amounts of space junk floating around our planet.

Patentlyapple.com has picked up on a fascinating patent granted to Apple. It is for tunable lenses for glasses (or a mixed reality headset, more likely.) The lenses adjust to varying visual impairments like myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, astigmatism, higher-order aberrations, and more. Apple does the trick using a layer of liquid crystal that is controlled by electrodes controlled by circuitry. The lenses would even allow sharing of a headset between a couple people with different vision defects. In addition to use in corrective lenses, the tunable ones could move augmented reality content to different focal points from the user’s perspective. 

In a farewell that has been a long time coming, Mastercard will start phasing out magnetic strips on credit and debit cards in 2024. With all new cards utilizing the more secure chip tech, Mastercard says it will add fingerprint verification to the chips for identity verification. Cnet.com reports that the government will no longer require US banks to issue cards with mag strips by 2027, and by 2029 no cards will have them. The venerable mag strip has been around since the 1960’s…heck, Mastercard was first introduced to the public in ads featuring Ozzie and Harriet! it’s time to embrace more secure identification tech, the combo of fingerprint and the chip is a step in that direction. 

Samsung AI-Designed Chip; New Cable from US to Philippines; Apple Plans Multiple Rollout Events; T-Mobile Data Breach

Posted: August 16, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Samsung is using AI to create cutting edge chips. According to arstechnica.com, Google and Nvidia have been talking about doing so, but meanwhile, Samsung is actually in the process. They are using software from Synopsys to accelerate chip development. The software can not only plan the layout of the chips and arrangement of components, but by doing such, can improve performance of the chip by 15%. Samsung is using the AI software to design the next generation of Exynos chips.

While Elon Musk and others are flooding the skies with tiny satellites to beam Wi-Fi everywhere, Facebook and Amazon are asking the US government for approval to go the other way. Reuters.com reports that the companies are planning to run a new undersea cable from California to the Philippines. They want to begin commercial operation by late 2022. Previously, China Mobile had looked at this, but was turned down unanimously by the FCC in 2019. Right now, there are about 300 undersea cables which really are the backbone of the internet, carrying 99% of the world’s data traffic. 

We are probably less than a month away from Apple’s usual mid-September rollout of the new iPhones and Apple Watches. Macrumors.com says that isn’t the only event to expect this fall. they quote Boomberg’s Mark Gurman as saying there will also be an event (maybe in October) for the updated iPad mini with bigger display as well as updates to apple services. Finally, the highly anticipated MacBook Pros, which will rock Apple’s proprietary ‘M’ series chip and a mini-LED display should be showed off October-November. Some sources indicate they are already in production, and will be available in November.

In case you missed it, one the weekend, it was revealed that T-Mobile is investigating a data breach. According to Reuters, the personal data of over 100 million may have been compromised. The bad news: it includes social security numbers, names, phone numbers, physical addresses, and drivers licenses…basically, everything a crook would need to disrupt your life! The hacker that has the data is asking 6 bitcoin for a subset of 30 million SSNs and driver licenses, and apparently is trying to sell off the rest of the data privately. 

Samsung Drops Under-$1000 Folding Phone; Facebook Delete Russian Anti-Vaxx Network; T-Mobile’s Fiber Home Internet; Senators Introduce App Store Side-Loading Bill

Posted: August 11, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The headline from Samsung Unpacked has to be an under $1000 folding phone. The Z Flip 3 will be out August 27th, rocking a bigger cover display than last year. Samsung also rolled out the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Engadget.com reports that the selfie cam is under screen, so blends in with the display. Also, the S Pen will work with the new model…which is dropped a bit in price to $1800. Samsung claims the screen protector is 80% stronger on the newest fold. It can be preordered to day, and is on sale the 27th. As has been widely rumored, the new Galaxy Watch 4 runs Wear OS from Google. Samsung has added a 3 in 1 BioActive sensor that can measure your body fat percentage. the watch has 50% more RAM. The Watch 4 will be $249 and Watch 4 Classic will sell for $349 when they hit August 27th. Samsung also showed off Galaxy Buds 2. The new ear buds are smaller and lighter than the Galaxy Buds +, and are priced at $150.

Facebook has pulled the plug on a network of accounts from Russia that it linked to a marketing firm which was aiming to enlist influencers to push anti-vaccine content and disparage COVID-19 shots. According to Reuters, Facebook investigators called the campaign a ‘disinformation laundromat,’ creating misleading articles and petitions on forums such as Reddit, Medium, and Change.org…and using fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram to amplify the message. The accounts had been around since 2020. 

T-Mobile is selling fiber-based home internet now. Theverge.com notes it appears to something of a soft launch item, but T-Mobile has confirmed that it is testing fib er optic internet in some residential buildings, in addition to a fixed wireless product…which it launched to the public in April. The T-Mobile network rings on a local providers lines. Details are sketchy, but if the trial is successful, T-Mobile will no doubt expand it. The company advised investors that they hope to pick up 500,000 home internet customers by the end of the year. 

Three Senators have introduced a bill to allow third party app stores and side loading. 9to5mac.com reports that the trio, Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Should this pass, we can all expect more spyware, crapware, crashes, and more. Blumenthal actually understands tech and should know better. Their intentions are good…less off the top for Apple and Google, so developers can build apps cheaper and make more…but this will end up being like monkeys guarding the banana boat it it passes. 

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