Apple Watch & iPad Event Recap

No big surprises today…it seems more had leaked out about the Watch and iPad updates than is usual for Apple. There will be two new lines of Watch…the Series 6 and a new, cheaper SE. Apple is also keeping the Series 3 as an entry level model. The banner feature of the 6 is the blood oxygen sensor. The Watch can check this in 15 seconds. The top line Watch has a new processor (of course) which Apple claims is 20% faster than the last model, Series 5. It is supposed to have better performance but still keeps 18 hours of battery life. Charging time has been improved from dead to full in 1.5 hours.

The always-on display is 2.5 times brighter, for better outdoor viewing. It also has an always-on altimeter, and in fact, if you take a blood oxygen reading at high altitude, it will notify you of that fact below the reading number. Apple has added a new blue to sliver, gray, and gold colors, and a first…you can get a Product(RED) version, too. Stainless steel comes in either graphite or yellow gold, but no silver. The high line comes in either natural or black titanium…ceramic is gone. There are a number of new strap and face options, including a Memoji watch face. Family Setup lets a person connect a Watch for a child or children or with elder adults that don’t have an iPhone.

Apple has also bowed the Watch SE, which is a cheaper watch with the features of last year’s Series 5. The Series 6 starts at $399, and i available for order today, shipping this Friday. Note that there is no longer a USB power adapter included. The SE starts at $279. The Series 3 stays in the lineup at $199, but won’t have a number of the features of the new models, and has a smaller display size. You can finance the Watch via Apple Card and spread out payments if you like. (Apple has become like Sears…with Easy Pay, LOL!)

Apple also showed off the new iPad Air today, which is very similar to the Pro. It has thinner bezels all around, for more screen space, and the Touch ID has moved to the ON button at the top of the unit. The Air has a 10.9 inch screen in the same size package as the older model. Naturally, there is a new chip, the A14 Bionic, which Apple says gives a 40% bump in performance. The new Air will also get a USB-C port, will support the Pencil (which not only attaches magnetically to the side but charges that way, too.) The Air supports the $179 (yikes) Smart Keyboard Folio. It starts at $599 and is available next month. Five colors are available: silver, space gray, rose gold, green, new sky blue.

Amazon Hiring 100K in Operations; Google Will Bow New Pixel & More; Oracle Gets USS TikTok; Nvidia Confirms Arm Purchase

Amazon had previously announced plans to hire some 30,000 corporate and tech employees. Now, comes word from geekwire.com that they are also looking to hire an additional 100,000 full and part time operations employees around the US and Canada, to keep up with exploding demand. They have also announced plans to open 100 new warehouses and fulfillment centers. Amazon just tacked on 175,000 new operations workers in March and April, so now will swell their ranks to over a million employees. The career day for corporate and tech employees, featuring some 20,000 free coaching sessions, is this Wednesday.

Google is planning to roll out a new Pixel phone, Chromecast, and smart speaker on September 30th. According to techcrunch.com, the event may feature a 5G Pixel 5 and 4a, although there has been some talk about Google ‘going in a new direction,’ which might not allow the new handsets to run 5G. Google had filed patents for a Nest that responds to hand gestures earlier, so that may be something which shows up at the event, as well as other Google Home hardware.

Microsoft is apparently out, and Oracle has won the TikTok sweepstakes. Arstechnica.com says that ByteDance rejected Microsoft’s bid yesterday. According to the Wall St. Journal, it won’t be an outright sale. Instead, Oracle will become ByteDance’s US “tech partner.” The details of the transaction aren’t yet public, but they will soon be submitted to US regulators for their approval. Oracle doesn’t have any apparent business operations that seem to sync up with TikTok, but the chairman, Larry Ellison, is one of a handful of tech billionaires who openly support Trump, so perhaps ByteDance and the Chinese government see this as a way of greasing the skids and keeping a toehold in TikTok’s US presence. The lack of an outright sale is most likely a way to save face for the Chinese government.

Nvidia has confirmed it is acquiring Arm Holdings for $40 billion. Arm chip designs are licensed by Apple for the iPhone and iPad, and will also power the next generation of Macs, as 9to5mac.com notes. At this point, it isn’t clear what the move of Arm from SoftBank to Nvidia will mean for Apple. Nvidia and Apple have had a rough relationship for a while now. Nvidia says Arm will “continue to operate its open-licensing model while maintaining the global customer neutrality that has been foundational to its success.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that the company has no intentions of doing anything that would cause clients like Apple to walk away. Apple has licensed Arm tech since 2006.

Amazon Career Day-Thousands of Jobs; Nintendo Ramping up Switch Production; Panasonic Increasing Battery Production at Tesla Gigafactory; Google Phone App to More Devices

Amazon will be holding its virtual career day on September 16th. Cnet.com reports that the online and cloud giant wants to add about 33,000 corporate and tech positions, as well as thousands of additional hourly gigs within its operations network. Amazon will provide around 20,000 career coaching sessions during the event, and will also have panel discussions, code workshops, and interviews with Amazon execs. Registration for the event should be open now.

Nintendo is ramping up Switch production again to keep up with increased demand continuing during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to engadget.com, they are shooting for 30 million of the units this year, up from 19-22 million early in the year, and after re-setting to 25 million later during the pandemic. Both the Switch and Switch Lite are in short enough supply to command premium prices on Amazon and elsewhere. Nintendo has a new Switch on the drawing board for next year. It may be a high-end model, as some game makers have been asked to program 4K upgrades to their titles.

Panasonic is firing cup another production line at the giant Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada. Techcrunch.com says the expansion will increase cell capacity by 10%. The line will mean adding 100 more jobs at the Sparks, NV factory. The line will produce the so-called ’2170’ lithium-ion cells it supplies to Tesla, an improved tech that boasts a 5% better energy density than previous batteries. It also reduces expensive cobalt content. They are saying continued improvement could bring 20% better energy density over the next 5 years.

Google has announced ‘verified calls’ as a feature for its phone app, which will give users more info about who is calling you. Theverge.com reports that that app, which has only been on Pixel and Android One phones, will be made available as a download for a limited set of additional phones running Android Pie and higher. The feature can be configured by the business to not only give the business name, but nature of the call…for example, your bank might flag it under the verified badge with ‘fraud alert.’ Google also has a verified SMS feature that came out last year.

As, predicted…the Apple event date.

New Watch and iPads.

Samsung Snags $6.6 Billion Verizon Order; Microsoft-Xbox Series S; Apple Watch 5 Scarce-New Models Soon; GM Pours $2 Billion into EV Maker Nikola

Samsung has nailed down an order for 5G equipment from Verizon valued at $6.6 billion. According to venturebeat.com, Verizon has noted that it does not use any Huawei equipment, a major concern to the US government. Verizon had already been a Samsung customer. This will help Samsung make inroads into the global total telecom equipment market. Right now, they have a 3% share. Huawei holds 28% for #1, followed by Nokia with 16%, Ericsson at 14%, ZTE with 10%, and Cisco at 7%.

Microsoft has now officially confirmed a smaller, lower-line Xbox….the Series S console. Theverge.com reports that the price will be the previously leaked $299. Both it and the Series S will launch November 10th. The higher end unit will be $499. The Series S (codenamed Lockhart) is designed to play next-gen games in a smaller, cheaper package with less GPU power and lower resolution output than the Series X.

People are noting that the Apple Watch Series 5 in most configurations are not available from the Apple website. Considering the registering of a number of new unit numbers with the EU for Watches and iPads, it looks like Apple is close to announcing their virtual roll out of the iPhones and Watches. 9to5mac.com notes that one tout..Jon Prosser…had Tweeted that they would announce the Watch this week, but he was contradicted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman…who theorizes that there will just be an announcement this week and invitation to the Apple event later this month. As we already are pretty sure that at least the higher line iPhones will be out late, it seems early in September for the actual event. The new Watch 6 models may have a blood oxygen level detection and better sleep monitoring. It appears they will have a brand new lower line watch to replace the 3 and 5 Series.

GM has announced a strategic partnership with EV maker Nikola. According to techcrunch.com, they will take an 11% stake in the company, and will build Nikola’s fuel cell pickup starting the end of 2022. Nikola plans to build both electric and fuel cell pickups, as well as big rigs, and vans (which Amazon has invested in and has ordered some 100,000 of). GM will supply fuel cells for the upcoming class 7/8 trucks, and will give Nikola their Ultium battery tech for the EVs. Access to GM’s manufacturing virtually assures that Nikola will be able to crank out EVs and fuel cell vehicles at volume quickly.

Facebook Limits Messenger Forwards & Will Ban New Political Ads Week Prior to Election; Amazon Day Delivery Option for Prime; Feds Can’t Ask Google for All phones Within 300 Meters; Court-NSA Bulk Phone Data Collection Unlawful

Facebook has now put a forwarding limit on Messenger. According to engadget.com, you will only be able to forward to 5 people or groups at a time. Facebook says this will slow the speed of viral misinformation and harmful content. (It will also slow the spread of spammy ‘chain letter’ crap and stupid videos some people insist on sending all the time.) Facebook owned WhatsApp introduced a similar rule in April, and saw a 70% decrease in forwarded messages.

In something that sounds better than it is, Facebook will now block NEW political ads a week before US elections, in an effort to protect voter integrity. They touted their support of election integrity in a post from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The catch is, candidates and PACs will still be able to buy ads in the last week if their campaign started before October 27th. Facebook’s Zuckerberg claims that’s ok, as “Those ads will already be published transparently in our Ads Library so anyone, including fact-checkers and journalists, can scrutinize them.” Twitter has been blocking political ads since last November. Facebook has added a little box that appears under any post that mentions voting directing users to their Voter Information Center, which has “accurate, verified information and videos about how to vote.”

Amazon has introduced a new delivery option for Prime members….Amazon Day. The feature allows you to choose any day but Sunday to have all your current Amazon orders delivered to you at one time. Businessinsider.com notes that they give you the option to change your day preference at any time, too…as peoples’ schedules can change. You will still be able to choose same day, one day, two day, or no rush as before…this is an additional option. Amazon also says they will attempt to box up items in a single box or less boxes, cutting waste when people use this option.

The third time was not the charm, for the government. Courts in the Chicago area have now ruled 3 times that the government can’t get a warrant to make Google produce a list of smartphones near two specific commercial establishments during one of 3 45 minute periods. Arstechnica.com says the ruling was made last week, but was just made public. Google has complained of a huge increase in law enforcement use of this type of ‘geofence’ searches. In fact, it’s been a 1500% increase between 2017 and 2018, then another 600% from 2018 to 2019. That amounts to a 100-fold increase in two years. Google says last year it got 180 of the requests a WEEK! If this ruling is affirmed on appeal, it means law enforcement will have to be more particular and specific when they go to Google and other tech and broadband companies for location and other customer data.

The gears of the law grind slowly. Recall when Ed Snowden leaked about the NSA mass surveillance going on back in 2013? Now, Cnet.com reports that a federal appeals court has ruled that collection of bulk citizens’ phone records was illegal, and possibly Unconstitutional. The spy agency had tapped into the backbone of the internet in the US and cooperating countries, allegedly in the name of foreign surveillance. Congress ended the bulk collection program back in 2015 as part of the USA Freedom Act. The court’s ruling, written by Judge Marsha Berzon, held that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, didn’t permit bulk collection of phone users’ call records, as some had claimed. “The metadata collection exceeded the scope of Congress’s authorization,” she wrote.

Microsoft Launches ‘Deepfake’ Detector Tool; T-Mobile Promises Faster 5g at Thousands of Locations; Mandalorian Season 2 Date; Battery Free Gameboy Looks to Future

Just in time to assist in detecting fakes before the US election, Microsoft has launched a deep fake detector tool. Techcrunch.com reports that its called Video Authenticator. The tool gives ‘a percentage chance, or confidence score’ that the media has been artificially manipulated. This manipulation score works in real time on each frame as the video plays. Microsoft has partnered with the San Francisco based AI foundation to make the tool available to organizations involved in the democratic process this year — including news outlets and political campaigns.

T-Mobile beat its competitors out of the blocks with 5G, covering more than half the country with low band 600MHz signals early. The problem is, most of that coverage is barely faster than plain ol’ 4G (or LTE, as some call it.) Now, according to venture beat.com, T-Mobile has activated much faster 2.5GHz mid band 5G towers in some 90 cities and towns, and claims they will add thousands more by the end o 2021. Part of the delay was the merger with Sprint…they couldn’t repurpose the 2.5 Gig spectrum until the deal was done.

A brief, but highly awaited announcement from Disney + today….the start date for streaming season two of The Mandalorian! Engadget.com says you can begin enjoying Mando and Baby Yoda’s continuing saga on the most popular show from Disney + October 30th! Disney didn’t tell us if they are going to follow last year’s format of releasing an episode per week, or if they will make them all available at once, so you can binge clear through Halloween. The Mandalorian snagged 15 Emmy nominations for its 1st season. We’ll know what it may have won when the Primetime Emmy Awards airs on September 20th.

It’s not something coming to stores or websites, but a cool proof of concept looking to less battery reliance in the future. Cnet.com reports that a fellow from the Netherlands named Jasper de Winkel has converted Nintendo Gameboys to run battery free. The Dutch computer scientist has powered the rigs with a combination of solar panels and kinetic energy recycled from punching the buttons during gameplay. He and other computer scientists have been working on the concept for over a year. It looks pretty much like a classic Gameboy, but weighs half as much sans battery pack. It isn’t just a Gameboy without battery, though. The scientists are running modern processing power and what you see is really an emulator. This early iteration only runs about 10 seconds on solar, then you have to mash a button, but expect more of this sort of thing in the future.

Samsung Shows Galaxy Z Fold 2; Apple-Split iPhone Release Dates; Apple- Two Watch Models; Walmart + Launches in 2 Weeks

Samsung rolled out its updated Galaxy Z Fold2 model today. Androidpolice.com reports that main features are a more durable design, a folding glass & polymer display, faster chipset, and bigger screens…both inside and out. It still commands a heart-stopping price…$1999! Preorders start at midnight, and it will be available on September 18th. The interior screen features a much smaller pinhole selfie cam, and it increases to 7.6 inches. The secondary outside screen grows, too…to a much more useable 6.2 inches. The phone has 256 gigs of storage, and a hefty 4500 mAh battery. Outside cams are 12Mp and there is a wide angle and a telephoto shooter. The selfie cam is 10 Mp. If you trade in last year’s Fold Z, they will credit up to $800, and up to $650 for other phones. Colors? Just two…Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black.

Apple may ship the two expected lower cost iPhone models earlier than the two Pro models. According to macrumors.com, the top tier of phones may not be available until November. This happened before, with the iPhone X, so it’s not unheard of. Also, a couple of leaks show the glass back panel of the iPhone Pro, and the square bump does indeed have 5 holes….3 for the cameras, one for the flash, and another that is widely expected to be a LiDAR scanner like the iPad Pro has. The LiDAR scanner is to ease depth and improve AR experiences on the phones. It is still unclear if Apple will hold their event in September, or bump it to October, but we should know very soon.

In other Apple news, it appears that they will change things up with the Watch. Last year, Apple dropped the prior year’s flagship Watch and kept the Watch 3 as a cheaper model. Businessinsider.com notes that the 3 may not be able to run the latest software, so it looks like Apple will release a Series 6 top line watch, and a cheaper Watch that they hope will compete with the likes of Fitbit. The top tier Watch is rumored to have the ability to measure blood oxygen levels and have better water resistance. It may have a new sleep tracking feature, but that hasn’t been as widely rumored, so is more iffy.

Walmart is launching Walmart + on September 15th. The new service will offer same day delivery, gas discounts, AND cashierless checkout for an annual feel of $98 a year. According to techcrunch.com, 2700 Walmart stores will offer delivery. One can also sign up for $12.95 on a month to month basis. There is a 15 day free trial period. Walmart says there will be over 160,000 items available for same day delivery with no per-delivery fee on orders over $35.

Amazon Adds E-Vans; Netflix Teases Non-Subscribers With Freebies; Next iPad-More like Pro; Samsung Claims Mobile Memory Breakthrough

We have reported here, as have many others, on Amazon’s deal with EV startup Rivian. Amazon apparently still intends to buy 100,000 e-vans from the maker, starting next year. In the meantime, according to mashable.com, Amazon has signed up for 2,000 new Mercedes e-vans. The Mercedes-Benz rigs will include 1200 eSprinter vans and 600 eVito vans. The smaller eVito van just has a 93 mile range. No range was given on the Sprinter models. When Rivian rolls out its e-vans, they are claiming they will have a 400 mile range.

As hard to believe as it may be, there are still plenty of people who don’t have Netflix. Now, in a new push to woo some of those folks into subscribing, Netflix is offering some original movies and TV shows without a subscription. Cnet.com reports that the deal will be available on browsers on computers and Android, but that iOS browsers aren’t supported…at least at this time. The original movies are available in their entirety, but for series…including ‘Stranger Things,’ you only get the first episode for free. Naturally, at the end of each show, there is a pitch to get you to sign up for Netflix!

The next generation iPads will pick up both design cues and features from the iPad Pro lineup, according to some leaked design schematics. Appleinsider.com says we should see thinner bezels, sensors for Face ID, and support for the Magic Keyboard. The 7th generation iPad bowed last September, and got the bigger 10.2 inch display and support for the full-sized (and not cheap) Smart Keyboard. The leak shows a 10.8 inch display, slimmer bezels, and no home button for Touch ID. As another leak indicated that Touch ID might be migrated to the power button, its unclear if the next iteration will have that or Face ID, since this later leak shows the Face ID sensors. The new iPads may roll out with the iPhone 12 series in September or October, so could be available for the holiday selling season.

Samsung is no shrinking violet when it comes to touting their progress in electronics, but here’s one that is a real first. According to engadget.com, Samsung has started mass production of 16 gig LPDDR5 mobile RAM chips, and they are saying its the first time extreme ultraviolet lithography has been used to etch the silicon. Samsung says after clearing environmental hurdles, the new 6.4 Gbps bandwidth chip will be 16% faster than the previous 12 gig chips and the new models are about 30% thinner, too. This could mean thinner phones (or more room for bigger batteries and cameras!) Besides smartphones, Samsung is also aiming at the car tech market with the new generation of chips.

TikTok May Announce US Sale in Days; Amazon’s Halo Fitness Band; Apple Newsroom Makeover; FBI Helped Block Tesla Ransomware Attack

TikTok may be announcing sale of its US assets in the next few days. According to cnbc.com, the most likely buyers are still Microsoft and Oracle. Walmart has also apparently expressed interest, but since they don’t have their own cloud tech, they are probably a non-starter with the US government. Twitter had also expressed interest, but like Walmart, doesn’t really have the powerful cloud and back end tech to support TikTok free of its Chinese owner. It is believed that TikTok is valuing its US, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand operations at between $20 and $30 billion.

Amazon has jumped into the health market, with Halo, a fitness band and app…joining Fitbit, Apple, Google, and others. Theverge.com reports that…unlike the Apple Watch or even the entry level Fitbit, the Amazon Halo band has NO screen! The companion app has the usual set of fitness tracking features, along with a couple of innovative ones…that may be a bit unsettling. First is using your camera to create 3D scans for body fat…and on top of that, listening for the emotion in your voice! The Halo band is $99.99, and the service (which is required for advanced features) will set you back $3.99 a month. Amazon has launched an invite-only early access program today with an introductory price of $64.99 and free service for a few months. Halo is NOT part of Amazon Prime.

Apple has freshened its Newsroom, putting more weight on featured stories. Macrumors.com says the also did a feature profile on a teacher from Alabama. The profile is a nice touch, but also touts the use of Apple ed tools like Everyone Can Code and the Clips app to assist in remote learning. The teacher featured, Portice Warren, took part in Apple’s virtual coding academy earlier this summer, along with 500 other educators. Many teachers are finding that they are doing basically triple work right now…planning 100% virtual, planning mixed virtual and in person, and planning 100% in-class at the same time.

Ransomware has been a pretty lucrative scam, hitting businesses and cities, and locking down their systems until they pay up…or refuse and start from scratch (or hopefully, uncontaminated backups.) This week, the FBI arrested a Russian national who had traveled to the US after connecting with a Russian speaking non-citizen working at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada. Engadget.com reports that the employee ratted the guy out to Tesla that the Russian national wanted him to deliver malware to the company’s computers. The FBI was called, and they were able to nail the Russian in a sting. Egor Kriuchkov was busted in LA as he attempted to leave the US. Apparently, the FBI found that thee have been previous attacks in the US by associates of the Russian. One that hit CWT Group in July cost that firm $4.5 million.