Chevy Making a Bolt Electric SUV; iPhone 13-Always On Screen & Matte Back; Graphene Microchips = Thousand Times Faster; Microsoft Xbox Cloud Gaming on Web

With a splashy video made in conjunction with Disney…complete with Disney characters and special effects…Chevrolet has showed off its new Bolt EVs. Yes, plural. Theverge.com reports that the Bolt EV has gotten a refresh…AND been cut $5,000 in price to $31,995. The big excitement? There is a new model small SUV which Chevy has dubbed an EUV. The Bolt EUV has more rear legroom and good rear space for hauling your precious ‘stuff.’ The EUV will sell for $33,995. Fully tricked out, there isn a special Launch version, with GM’s amazing Super Cruise, it will chew up $43,495 of your hard earned cash…or credit. It also has unique wheels, special badging, and an illuminated charge port…be still my heart. Honestly, watch the video…the Super Cruise is just unbelievable. Here’s the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoHqUzys0bU&feature=emb_logo

More rumors popping up about the iPhone 13. A couple over the weekend point to an always-on display like the Apple Watch (or like Android has had for years.) According to 9to5mac.com, the display would only show clock and battery charge at all times. You will be able to customize notifications to pop up then go away. The matte back glass will apparently be ‘more grippy’ than on the present iPhone 12 series. For the very few people who don’t use a case, a nice feature. Except for tech writers doing tests, this seems rare. In the Bay Area, I have yet to see a single soul who carries an iPhone and doesn’t have it in some sort of case. Another feature rumored is the ultra-wide lens going from a 5 element to 6 elements. It will still be lower quality than the other two lenses, although Apple is apparently working to correct this. One cool new feature….portrait mode VIDEO! Apple has apparently been working on this for quite a while now. As previously reported, Touch ID will return, but be under screen…no external button, and Face ID will remain, giving you two biometric unlocking technologies. 

Ok, this is nerdy, but really exciting. Researchers in the UK are working on super tiny graphene microchips that will be able to make your laptop and phone thousands of times faster…THOUSANDS! Zdnet.com says the trick is folding the graphene, which unlocks electronic properties that effectively enable the material to work as a transistor. The researchers say it kind of resembles nano-origami. Chips have been getting smaller and faster already, but getting to 1000 times or more faster and smaller…would be astounding. Graphene is only one atom thick!

Microsoft has started testing Xbox cloud gaming on the web. Engadget.com reports that the streaming in browsers will feel a lot like the Android experience. A launcher helps you launch recent games or find new ones via your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription (required.) Of course you will still need a controller. Right now, the testing out is just on Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and it’s closed…although MS says they will add iOS and PC streaming over the web later in the Spring. The Game Pass? It’s $15 a month.

Salesforce Reveals Permanent Remote Work Plan; TikTok’s Forced Sale Now On Hold; Apple Glasses Will Be micro-OLED; Twitter Gained New Users After Trump Ban

After a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Salesforce is unveiling plans to let employees work remotely on a permanent basis. Zdnet.com reports that this will necessitate a revamp of its iconic office towers. Under the new plan, once its safe to return to offices, the majority of Salesforce’s employees will only go in to the office one to three days a week. Although employees surveyed indicated the desire to continue to work from home, some 80% did want to maintain at least some connection to the physical workspace of their employer. Besides the iconic Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, the tallest building West of the Mississippi, Salesforce has towers worldwide. The company intends to redesign its workplaces as ‘community hubs’ with collaboration and break out spaces. Additionally, the company plans to introduce new protocols like at-home wellness attestations, temperature screenings before entry (where applicable), face coverings, regular and frequent deep cleaning, and manual contact tracing. CEO Marc Benioff said at a Salesforce event in Singapore, ‘The past is gone.’

The forced sale of US TikTok operations to Oracle…mainly due to a temper tantrum by Ex-President Trump, has been put on hold, and looks to be ending entirely. According to TechCrunch.com, TikTok parent ByteDance had won several legal battles over the sale anyway. Discussions between TikTok and U.S. national security officials are continuing though… because there are valid concerns around TikTok’s data collection and the potential for manipulation and censorship of content on the app.

New information points to Apple Glasses going with micro OLED displays, not microLED. 9to5mac.com says the micro OLED tech is more advanced, in that the display tech is built directly on to chip wafers. This is considered ideal for small displays like in AR or VR glasses. The project with partner TSMC, and apparently it is being run with even tighter secrecy than most other Apple projects. TSMC is also working on microLED tech at the same campus…a display tech used in the Apple Watch. The reputed micro OLED displays will be less than an inch in size, and trial production has already started. 

Twitter continued to gain new users in January…even after banning Donald Trump.. The platform ended 2020 with 192 million daily users. Theverge.com quoted CEO Jack Dorsey as saying “We are a platform that is obviously much larger than any one topic or account.” The new information came out with Twitter’s release of their Q4 earnings data. Twitter did predict that their growth will likely slow as more people get back to offices. The platform said in the data release that they had benefited from “the significant pandemic-related surge” in usage last year.

Amazon Building Alexa ‘Command Center’-Possible Wall-Mounted; British MPs Lobby Apple to Build Car in UK; US Drops Suit vs California Net Neutrality Rule; Reddit Raises $250 Million in New Funding

Amazon continues its relentless effort to further weave its Alexa assistant into the fabric of homes around the world. Theverge.com reports Amazon is working on a thin Echo screen that could act as a ‘smart home command center,’ and it is reportedly designed to be wall mounted. The device would be a 10 or 13 inch touch screen, and be capable of controlling smart home devices, playing music and videos, and video chatting thanks to a built-in camera. The as yet unannounced Echo would sell for between $200 to $250, and be released either late this year or early in 2022. 

Some British Members of Parliament (MPs) are pressing the government there to make a bid to get Apple to build its expected electric vehicle there. A port city in NE England, Sunderland, is already home to a factory for the Nissan EV. although…as reported here…Hyundai has said they (and subsidiary Kia) are out of Apple talks (which seems unlikely), Kia has the only production plant that has been discussed…the one in West Point Georgia in the US. It remains to be seen if notoriously secretive Apple would even entertain discussing a deal with a government…which are even more porous than firms such as Hyundai. 

The Department of Justice has dropped a suit brought under the Trump Administration that was intended to block California’s net neutrality law. Arstechnica.com notes that even with the dismissal of the case, it’s not the end of the fight over this rule. There is still a suit in progress brought by groups representing major broadband lobbying groups…which represent the biggest ISPs and some smaller ones. California agreed back in 2018 to suspend enforcement of the law until litigation is over. Meanwhile, the FCC is likely to reinstate net neutrality rules. This will likely happen after a new Democratic commissioner is nominated by Biden and approved by the Senate. 

Reddit has raised an additional $250 million in funding. Techcrunch.com notes that this comes shortly after the increased visibility for the platform from Redditors joining together to bid up the stock in GameStop. Reddit ran a 5 second ad in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Reddit said in a statement that “now was the right opportunity to make strategic investments in Reddit including video, advertising, consumer products and expanding into international markets.”

Apple May Announce ‘Apple Car’ Partner before Summer; Twitter Explores Subscriptions; New Lens Tech Could Juice Smartphone Sales; Tesla Buys $1.5 Billion Bitcoin, May Accept it For Payment

Apple may announce a partner for its Apple Car EV in the first half of this year. Appleinsider.com reports that it’s a matter of ‘when, not if,’ citing a report from analyst Daniel Ives. Although Hyundai (and subsidiary Kia) have now said that all talks have ended, the analyst thinks that is a smokescreen. Apple HATES when a prospective partner blabs about a possible deal. According to Ives, the two front runners are in fact Hyundai and Volkswagen. He says its a better than 85% chance the announcement will come in the next 6 months. 

In a move to be less dependent on ad revenue, Twitter is exploring subscriptions and even tipping. According to engadget.com, there have been rumblings of a ‘Rogue One’ subscription, details of which haven’t been leaked, and also Twitter is thinking of charging extra for Tweetdeck or getting a premium fee for advanced profile customization. As for tipping, that might allow you to get access to special content from accounts you follow. Twitter did just buy newsletter creation service Revue, and has looked at a subscription button, although they haven’t pulled the trigger on that as yet. While subscriptions do provide steady revenue, there is a limit to the number of things people will pay for, so Twitter may have to carefully balance between subscriptions and ads. 

The cameras get better every year in smartphones, but they may be poised to take an even bigger jump. Wired.com says that up to now, it’s all been software, sensor size, and megapixel count. Now, a company called Metalenz may blow things up using a new tech called optical metasurfaces. A camera built around this new lens tech can produce an image of the same if not better quality as traditional lenses, collect more light for brighter photos, and can even enable new forms of sensing in phones, all while taking up less space. In other words, better pictures without any sort of ‘lens bump’ on the back of the phone. The iPhone 12 Pro, for example, uses 7 lens elements. More lenses makes for cleaner pictures. The Metalenz tech uses nanostruuctures in a single lens that are 1/1000th the thickness of a human hair! Metalenz plans to go into production by the end of this year. 

Tesla reported in an SEC filing that they bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin. That is somewhat interesting, but Elon Musk has been a big proponent of cryptocurrency for years. What’s more interesting is that Tesla may be getting ready to accept bitcoin in payment for their cars. Techcrunch.com reports that Tesla stated that they “expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for [its] products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which [it] may or may not liquidate upon receipt.”

Apple Dropping $3.6 Billion in Kia-Partnering With Hyundai; New Zoom Features Anticipate Office Return; Amazon E-Vans Will Be Rolling This Year; Rundgren Will Mount Geofenced Virtual Tour

Apple is apparently prepping to drop $3.6 billion into Kia Motors as part of a manufacturing partnership that will see Kia build Apple Cars at a plant in Georgia. Macrumors.com notes that Kia is a subsidiary of Hyundai, which had been strongly rumored to be in talks with Apple. Hyundai hadn’t wanted to be seen as being a sub for Apple like Foxconn, and this neatly avoids that. The rumor has Apple Cars hitting the road in 2024, and they plan to build 100,000 per year in the deal with Kia as they get started. The vehicles will be made on the Hyundai E-GMP battery electric vehicle platform right out of the gate. Since Apple has picked up a chassis engineering manager from Porsche, look for them to expand on that. 

Zoom is looking ahead to people getting back to the office, and to more hybrid working. Cnet.com reports that it is adding features to its Zoom Rooms to boost employee health and productivity…no matter if work is in the office or home office. Zoom Room customers can now pair their Zoom Room with their mobile device, to more easily join meetings directly from your phone. You can also download the Zoom Rooms Controller app to turn your phone into a remote control, giving you the ability to start or join a meeting and full audio, video and participant controls. In addition, IT admins can view how many are in a conference room in real time, to ensure social distancing. Zoom will also connect with the Neat Bar that will allow monitoring air quality, humidity, 

Amazon’s e-vans from Rivian will be hitting the streets in some dozen cities yet this year. According to theverge.com, they are already making some deliveries in Los Angeles. Amazon plans to have a fleet of 10,000 of the vans on the roads by 2022. Rivian is also planning an R1t pickup and the R1S SUV. Both those are said to have 400 miles of range, and will start at $70,000. 

If you have been missing live entertainment like a lot of folks, the always forward-looking Todd Rundgren has come up with an unique idea. He is planning a geo-fenced, virtual tour. Techcrunch.com says Todd and his band will play all the sets from Chicago, and the songs will span his career from the early hits to his entire album ‘Nearly Human.’ The virtual tour will start in Buffalo February 14th and finish up March 22nd in Seattle. They will play the shows starting at 8PM local time. Besides the geo-fenced local shows, they will do a virtual meet and greet with fans. Todd thinks we will be looking at a hybrid model of both virtual and live shows in the future. 

Uber Buys Booze Delivery Service; Ford Switching to Android; Google Must Pay $2.5 Million to Underpaid Female Employees; Next iOS Update-Open Phone With Face ID & Mask-IF You Have Apple Watch

Uber is going to acquire alcohol delivery service Drizly. According to techcrunch.com, the $1.1 billion deal includes both stock and cash, and should close in the first half of the year. Instead of taking an Uber to avoid a DUI, you can have the booze Ubered to you and get smashed in the comfort of your home! With Uber Eats, you can get munchies to go along with it. (Suppose they will start delivering pot too at some point?) 

Ford is partnering with Google for its in-car tech. Arstechnica.com reports that FoMoCo will switch to Android for its infotainment systems by 2023. The Ford Sync system will also use Google Maps and Android voice recognition, and will use Google Cloud for its connected services. Lest you freakout as an iOS user who’s a Ford fan, you will still be able to use Apple CarPlay.

Google has agreed to pay per $2.5 million to more than 5,500 employees and job applicants who were impacted by alleged systematic pay and hiring discrimination. Theverge.com says the US Department of Labor found that female software engineers were being underpaid. It also identified “hiring rate differences that disadvantaged female and Asian applicants” for Google engineering positions. The alleged disparities impacted employees at Google offices in Mountain View, Seattle, and Kirkland, Washington. Google will also set aside $1,250,000 for pay-equity adjustments, for a total of $3.8 million to resolve this issue. Just for reference, the $2.5 million, if spread evenly over the 5,500 employees comes to a miserly $454 each!

In the next update to iOS, V. 14.5, Apple is adding a cool feature. The system will let you open your iPhone with Face ID even if you are wearing a mask…IF you have an Apple Watch. According to macrumors.com, the phone will do a partial face scan, then open. Your Watch will give you a haptic buzz and a notification on screen. Things like App Store purchases and Apple Pay payments will not be able to be authenticated through the Face ID + Apple Watch pairing, so you’ll still need full Face ID authentication or a passcode for some actions. iOS 14.5 is in beta right now. 

Amazon-Government Data Demands Way Up; Hedge Fund Melvin Takes a 53% Pounding After Redditors Play Gamestop; Amazon Ring Now Partnered With 2,000+ Police Agencies; iMessage’s Stealth Security Feature

It says something that I am writing two stories about your data being Hoovered up in one blog post, but more and more, we live in a surveillance society. Techcrunch.com reports that Amazon has announced that government demands for user data spiked by 800% in 2020! Amazon says it handled 27,664 government demands for data the last 6 months of 2020, up from 3222 data data demands in the first 6 months of the year! Besides, Ring, mentioned below, the info included shopping searches and data from Amazon’s Echo and Fire devices. Amazon Web Services is reported separately, but Amazon says it processed 523 demands for data there, with 75% of requests made by US authorities. Amazon turned over user’s content in just 15 cases. 

How it ends remains to be seen, but the runup in Gamestop stock last week powered by Redditors using apps….mainly Robinhood…has definitely had an impact. Arstechnica.com reports that hedge fund Melvin took a 53% hit last week from it. Melvin apparently exited its bet against Gamestop on Wednesday, with their leverage ratio sitting at its lowest point since the firm was founded in 2014. The rally in GameStop shares has captivated Wall Street and forced many hedge funds to rethink risk management practices. On Monday and Tuesday last week, other long-short hedge funds cut their exposure to the market by covering short bets and selling out of stocks. “The market action has been a wake-up call and retail traders are likely to continue to be a force to be reckoned with, which will probably permanently affect the business models of institutional investors,” said Maneesh Deshpande, a strategist at Barclays. It may be brief, but for now, the little guys have beat the Street.

Despite criticism of the feature, Amazon’s Ring continued to expand partnerships with police agencies last year, and is now up to over 2,000 of them. Engadget.com says that Montana and Wyoming are the only two states at this point where Ring doesn’t have an alliance. Ring did recently add end-to-end encryption, and the police agencies allegedly have to get home owners’ permission to access the video. Reportedly, Ring only handed over 57% of data requested in 2020, compared to 68% in 2019. The Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that neighbors and passers-by might be caught on camera without granting consent. This amounted to a “massive and unchallenged” surveillance network, according to the EFF.

With the rollout of iOS 14, Apple added a security feature that hasn’t been touted…or even mentioned. It’s called BlastDoor. According to bgr.com, it was actually first noted by a Google from Project Zero. Everything coming in via iMessage goes through a secure location meant to contain threats that hackers might include in messages. Highly sophisticated information bombs can allow hackers to attack unsuspecting iPhone users, but BlastDoor will now stop all of that. The new security feature is amazing, and it’s something other operating systems and chat apps will undoubtedly copy. After all, hackers target all devices and programs, not just Apple’s. This will be an absolutely bulletproof protection…until it isn’t, like all security features, so use and enjoy it until its hacked, and Apple and others have to rush to come up with more protections!

Walmart Adding Robot Assisted Fulfillment Centers; Google Opens Pixel & Nest Hub in Taiwan; Microsoft Profit up 33%; Apple Logs Best Quarter Ever in India

Walmart has announced an increase in the number of robot-assisted fulfillment centers. According to theverge.com, the new centers will either be built within or adjacent to existing Walmart retail locations, and will employ wheeled robots they have dubbed Alphabots pick items from the shelves and prepare orders placed online. Walmart did a pilot with a warehouse in New Hampshire in 2019. If you are wondering about humans, they will still be the ones picking fresh meat and produce, in addition to larger items. Walmart is trialing new tech, though….including an automated curbside pickup feature, which will allow buyers or delivery drivers to drive up to a specific location, scan a code, grab their order, and go, all without leaving their vehicles.

Google has opened a new hardware engineering hub in Taiwan for Pixel, Chromecast, and Nest teams. 9to5google.com reports that Google’s workforce there has grown 10 times in the last 5 years, and is now operating out of 6 different locations. The new hub will be at New Taipei City. As more places go green, this hardware office joins a Taiwan data center that’s powered by a solar farm and Google Cloud region for third-party developers/services.

Microsoft got a 17% bump in revenue for the December quarter, with profits moving up 33%. Geekwire.com says a lot of the growth was powered by growing demand for their cloud service, as has been true of cloud services in general. Microsoft saw a 50% increase in revenue for its Azure cloud computing platform and related services. The largest division by revenue is what they now call More Personal Computing, which includes Windows and Xbox…Redmond saw a 14% gain there. LinkedIn was up 23%, while Surface revenue only increased by about 3%.

Apple had a 100% increase year over year in India, shipping 1.5 million iPhones there 4th quarter (as of the end of 2020.) According to techcrunch.com, they saw improved sales of older generation models like the iPhone 11 and XR. The 12 and new SE were also good sellers for Cupertino there. For the year, Apple moved 3.2 million iPhones in India, which was a 60% increase from the previous year. Apple just launched an online store in India in 2020, and saw a lot of the increase after that. 

Twitter Launches ‘Birdwatch’ to Fight MisInfo; Biden-Government Fleet to Go EV; Future Apple Watch May Measure Blood Sugar; Hyundai Trials Showroom Robot Assistant

Twitter has rolled out ‘Birdwatch,’ which it says is ‘a community-based approach to misinformation.’ According to TechCrunch.com, Twitter has launched a pilot version via the Birdwatch website. From a post by Twitter VP/Product Keith Coleman, the goal is to expand beyond the labels that the company already applies to controversial or potentially misleading tweets, which he suggested are limited to “circumstances where something breaks our rules or receives widespread public attention.” Users can sign up on the Birdwatch site to flag Tweets they find misleading, ad context via notes and rate notes from other contributors, based on helpful/not helpful. It appears that Twitter intends to incorporate the notes into the main Twitter experience after a trial run. 

President Biden ha pledged to replace the US government fleet of almost 650,000 vehicles with electric models as soon as possible. Reuters.com notes that, in a speech this week, he talked specifically about American built products and referred to cars in particular, and how the government would be changing metrics to ensure that cars assembled in the US were really made from more than half US parts. It could cost $20 billion or more to replace the whole fleet, and the president didn’t give a time frame. Right now, the US fleet burns 375 million gallons of gas and diesel, and the government spends some $4.4 billion on upkeep, so an electric fleet would be cheaper in the long run. Biden has also pledged to build out 350,000 EV charging stations.

A report is out that Apple plans to include blood sugar measurements as a banner feature on the next iteration of the Apple Watch. 9to5mac.com says this would be a huge plus for millions of people, and could really explode the use of the Watch. All rides right now on the accuracy of the watch’s readings. Millions of diabetics would love to give up finger sticks, or a device on their shoulder that a smartphone reads (which has a needle stuck in your arm all the time). It is expected that Apple won’t release the feature unless it is accurate enough. The current latest models read blood oxygen, as well as ECG measurements (dating back to series 4.) It is thought that the blood sugar measurement feature might be available on current Apple Watches, too…as they can already measure blood oxygen. This could be huge for Apple Watch and for diabetics….who need to stay on top of their sugars all the time. 

Hyundai has unveiled a cute little robot assistant dubbed DAL-e, to assist customers who are iffy about other human interaction due to the pandemic (or maybe otherwise!) Engadget.com reports, the little robot is being piloted in a Seoul showroom. The name is an acronym for ‘Drive you, Assist You, Link with you-experience.’ It has facial recognition, and can detect when someone has entered the showroom not wearing a mask, and advise them to put one on. It is allegedly programmed with ‘smooth dialogue,’ and has a touchscreen on the top of its head. The little robot has 4 wheels and can accompany a customer all around the showroom, or lead them to the service department. If it pans out, you could see DAL-e robots in other Hyundai and Kia showrooms around the world.

Googlers Form 10 Country Union Alliance; Google Opening up Facilities for COVID-19 Vaccinations; The Great Facebook Logout; Tesla Accuses Engineer of IP Theft; Apple-iPhone 12 May Interfere with Pacemakers

Employees of Alphabet have formed Alpha Global, a coalition of 13 unions in 10 countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden. According to mashable.com, the deal is in coordination with global union federation UNI Global Union, which boasts 20 million members. Alpha Global issued a statement saying its goal is to “see a world in which Alphabet respects human and labour rights across its global operations and supply chain.” “Alphabet has long lost its commitment of “Don’t be evil,” but we haven’t. Together, we will hold Alphabet accountable. Together, we will change Alphabet,” the statement reads. As of this writing, there has been no comment from Google/Alphabet. 

Some warm and fuzzy news from Google…or really, some Fauci Ouchie news…Google will open up office facilities for COVID-19 vaccination clinics. Cnet.com reports that Google will be partnering with One Medical, and the facilities will be opened ‘as needed.’ Right now, they are talking about campuses in the San Francisco Bay Area, LA, New York City, and Kirkland, WA. Just last week, Amazon sent a letter to President Biden offering help on vaccinating at their fulfillment centers and Whole Foods stores. Expect more tech firms and other companies to step forward to try to get a large number of people vaccinated and get the country back into business as a bit more usual. 

You say you got logged out of Facebook suddenly Friday evening? There was lots of company in that, apparently. What happened? Over the weekend, Facebook released a statement that gave a rather cryptic excuse that it was due to a ‘configuration change.’ In other words, they f*cked up a software change. 9to5mac.com says it affected almost entirely iOS users, mainly on iPhones, and the issue was corrected about 6AM Saturday morning, East Coast time. 

For once, someone is being accused of trying to steal software from Tesla that didn’t have anything to do with their self-driving tech. The electric car maker has sued an engineer named Alex Khatilov for allegedly stealing their custom Warp Drive software…which is used to automate online purchasing and other systems. Engadget.com reports that Tesla says he downloaded a massive number of script files, numbering in the thousands, to his Dropbox account within 3 days of being hired in December. So far, the car maker doesn’t think he had been working with others at the time. The engineer is another in a fairly long list of people who have tried to make off with Tesla’s technology over the years. 

A bit of scary news about the new iPhone 12 series. Apple has acknowledged that the handsets, which use ‘Magsafe’ magnetic charging, can affect medical devices like implanted pacemakers and defibrillators. According to macrumors.com, Apple put out this warning: 

‘Medical devices such as implanted pacemakers and defibrillators might contain sensors that respond to magnets and radios when in close contact. To avoid any potential interactions with these devices, keep your iPhone and MagSafe accessories a safe distance away from your device (more than 6 inches / 15 cm apart or more than 12 inches / 30 cm apart if wirelessly charging). But consult with your physician and your device manufacturer for specific guidelines.’  

The net is, if you have a pacemaker or defibrillator, don’t carry your iPhone 12 in your breast pocket of a jacket right over your heart! Hold it in your hand, put it in a pants pocket or purse! It may be crappy tech, but use your Bluetooth headsets…it beats having your pacemaker go into suspended mode and opening yourself up to a heart attack!