Apple Threatens to Pull UK FaceTime and iMessage; Microsoft will Deliver Army Improved HoloLens; Tesla Revenue up, Margins Down; Samsung Confirms ‘Slimmer and Lighter Folding Phones

Apple says it will pull services including FaceTime and iMessage in the UK if plans to amend surveillance legislation that would require tech companies to make major security and privacy changes go ahead. Macrumors.com picked up a story from BBC that the UK government would force technology companies to disable security features like end-to-end encryption without telling the public, as well as store internet browsing records and do bulk collection of personal data in the UK. Apple, WhatsApp, and Signal also oppose a clause in the UK’s proposed Online Safety Bill that would allow its communications regulator to require companies to install technology to scan for child sex abuse material in encrypted messaging apps and other services. 

Microsoft is getting ready to send an improved version its military version of the HoloLens to the US military. According to engadget.com, the new headsets are “slimmer, lighter and more balanced” than the previous model. The army will get the first 20 prototype sets in late August. Some testers complained last year of nausea, headaches and eye strain, while others weren’t happy with the bulk, narrow field of view and a display glow that could give away a soldier’s presence at night. Key features also failed relatively frequently. If this new test is successful, the army will do another field study next year, and could award a contract by April 2025, with deployment coming a few months after that. It could be worth up to $21.9 billion for 121,000 units over a 10 year period.

Tesla notched a revenue win in the 2nd quarter, pulling in $25 billion in revenue. That’s the good news. The not so good news? For the 2nd time this year, the auto maker’s gross margins decreased…this time from 25% to 18.2%. Elon Musk said they might have to cut margins again to stay competitive. 

The Tesla CEO also reportedly said in regards to its self-driving tech, “We’re not trying to keep this to ourselves. We’re more than happy to license it to others.” The company is apparently thinking of doing so to pull in yet more revenue…much like they are doing by opening up the SuperCharger network to non-Tesla EVs.

More teases about Samsung’s Unpacked event coming up in less than a week. TM Roh has confirmed that both the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Fold 5 will be thinner and lighter than the current models. Both phones are expected to adopt a new hinge design that enable them to remove the ‘hinge gap’ that has been notable on earlier phones, and at the same time it will cut down on weight. In fact, the Z fold 5 is expected to be just slightly heavier than the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Unpacked will be July 26th in Seoul South Korea…the first Unpacked to be held in Samsung’s home country.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Netflix Axes $10 Basic plan; Microsoft and Activision Blizzard Extend Agreement to October; Samsung May Have Galaxy Watch 6 ‘Business’ Model; TikTok’s Rising Artists Program

Netflix has dropped its $10 basic plan in the US. Mashable.com reports that people who are presently on the plan can keep it, as long as they don’t change their plan or cancel their account. For new sign ups or returning customers, the only way now you can get Netflix for under $10 bucks is to take the $6.99 ad supported plan, or step up to the $14.99 ‘Standard’ subscription. The Standard plan does allow users to add one extra device for simultaneous viewing and to share the account with one person outside the account holder’s household.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have extended their merger agreement to October 18th. According to theverge.com, this will let negotiations continue with UK regulators. The deal has been approved here in the US and in 40 other countries. Microsoft had originally planned to close on the deal July 18th.  in an internal memo to Xbox employees, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says he’s “optimistic” about the acquisition still being finalized.

New Samsung models will be shown at the Unpacked event coming up on July 26th, and one of them is rumored to be a ‘Business’ model of the Galaxy Watch 6. Cnet.com says there aren’t a lot of details so far on what the business features may be…but the Watch 6 is expected to have sapphire crystal glass, a temperature sensor, and a thinner bezel. It will come in 40 mm and 44 mm sizes…with the Watch 6 Classic available in 43 mm and 47 mm sizes. 

TikTok is rolling out a new program that is designed to identify the next wave of rising artists in the music industry. TechCrunch.com reports the program is called elevate, and it is intended to help musicians create a lifelong career in the music industry, beyond being a one-hit wonder. The company did not go into detail about how it selected its batch of artists for the program, but noted that it looked at “signed and unsigned talent, to build a roster of artists that span across the globe and many genres of music.” The program will run exclusive performances from each artist in their hometowns at locations that inspired their music. TikTok has also cut a licensing deal with Warner Music Group.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Threads Usage Already Down, They Built the App in 5 Months; Stacked Battery Tech-Longer iPhone 15 Battery Life; Microsoft Announced Hefty Price for Copilot; Tesla to Let Owners Recharge With Solar

After signing up over 100 million users in only days, the high-flying Twitter competitor from Meta called Threads has already dropped down to a more realistic level. According to engadget.com, analytics firm SimilarWeb indicates that daily active users dropped from 49 million on July 7th to 23.6 million on July 14th. This usage is based only on Androids, no iPhones were included in the data. Other data firms have also detected such a steep drop though…and it is not unusual for new apps. Twitter has a bit over 100 million daily users at this point. We already reported that Meta really started pushing to get the app out in May, but new reporting says a small team actually built the app in about 5 months. The push to get it out was because the company felt ‘the window was closing.’ A number of ask-for features are supposed to be on the way, including a web version and being able to just follow your own selected posters…something that news junkies have been begging for. 

In a rumor mainly referring to Samsung phones, a prolific Android leaker matter of factly said that not only is Samsung on track to use so-called stacked batteries in its handsets, but that quote “Apple used it on entire iP15 lineup.” Appleinsider.com reports that stacked battery tech weaves the battery elements in a zig zag instead of in a big series of concentric hoops. They use less space, and so have higher capacity. In addition, stacked batteries generate more even heat, which extends life, and they charge faster. Stacked battery systems are already in wide use in electric vehicle batteries. 

Microsoft has put a price tag on using their AI powered so-called ‘future of Office Documents.’ Theverge.com says Microsoft 365 Copilot will cost $30 a month PER USER. This will be true for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium customers. That’s on top of the $36 a month to use the services already, nearly doubling the cost per user. About 600 companies have already been test driving Copilot through an early access program.

Tesla drivers with home solar and a Powerwall charger now have an in-app option to exclusively charge up their vehicle via excess solar energy. Techcrunch.com reports that the automaker started rolling out the setting in May. The Powerwall has always been able to take juice from solar panels and feed it to your EV, but now you can choose to use solar exclusively for the task.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Ford Cuts Prices on EV Lightning Pickup; Twitter Cash Flow Still Negative; Sony Inks Call of Duty Deal With Microsoft; Apple Realigns Vision Group

Ford has made a major price cut to its Lightening F-150 electric pickup. Techcrunch.com reports that cuts hit every trim level. Notably, the entry level Pro work truck is now $49,995 down almost $10 grand. The XLT trims also got a nice reduction, ranging from $9479 to $8479. The Rouge EV center is temporarily closed to make some plant upgrades. when it reopens, Ford will be able to crank out 150,000 Lightning EV trucks a year, triple what they are building now.

In a non-surprise to everyone, Elon Musk said over the weekend that Twitter’s cash flow remains negative due to the almost 50% drop in ad revenue combined with a heavy debt load. Reuters.com notes that Musk had said in March that Twitter would hit positive cash flow by June. Twitter has been criticized over lax content moderation, followed by an exodus of many advertisers who did not want their ads appearing next to inappropriate content. The new CEO Musk hired, Linda Yaccarino, who was CEO at NBC Universal definitely has her work cut out for her. 

Sony has made a deal to keep Call of Duty on the PlayStation after Microsoft finishes swallowing up Activision Blizzard. Theverge.com says Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says Sony and Microsoft have agreed to a “binding agreement” to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. It’s not immediately clear if this is a 10-year deal, like Microsoft has signed with Nintendo and other cloud providers. Sony had resisted signing a Call of Duty deal with Microsoft after the company first offered a 10-year contract in December 2022. The deal is still being held up by regulators in the UK, and Microsoft is appealing the hold on their deal. 

Ever since the Steve Jobs return era, Apple has shied away from product-centric divisions and has mainly used a ‘functional’ management structure. For example, there is no iPhone or Mac division. Now, Apple is modifying that playbook. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that the Vision Pro mixed reality headset will have its own division. The unit will continue to be run by Mike Rockwell, who has been overseeing it for several years. The division is now called the Vision Products Group, which tends to support the expectation that there will be at least another…hopefully cheaper…headset coming, as well as the fabled Apple Glasses. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Meta Blocking EU Threads Users Using VPN; Twitter Starts Paying Some Creators; Google Patent Automates Airplane Mode; New Emoji Proposed

Meta is apparently blocking European Union VPN access to the Instagram Threads app. The app isn’t available in the EU as yet due to privacy concerns. According to techcrunch.com, the Threads app extensively tracks users, per Meta’s privacy policy and the app’s iOS listing — which discloses the app may collect a range of personal data, including highly sensitive information such as health and financial data, precise location, browsing history, contacts and search history. This approach creates legal and regulatory challenges for Meta in the EU. Meta is working on trying to meet EU requirements.

Twitter has officially launched its ad-revenue sharing program for creators. Engadget.com reports that the platform has already started paying eligible Blue subscribers. One subscriber has claimed he is going to get $24,000. The rewards are based on ads in replies to eligible users’ content. In order to qualify, you have to be on Twitter Blue or be a Verified Organization, and have at least 5 million post impressions in each of the last 3 months.

Ever forget to turn on ‘airplane mode’ when you were flying? Perhaps even gotten a scolding from a flight attendant? I would have to answer yes and no to that. I left on an iPad with cellular a couple times, and amazingly never got talked to and the plane never crashed. Now, androidpolice.com says that Google has filed a patent on what they call Connected Flight Mode. Apparently, it allows the device to automatically switch based on specific factors, relieving you from having to remember. When the device notices elements suggestive of an in-flight status, such as location, altitude, pressure, speed, and background noise levels, the connected flight mode turns on. For instance, the device transforms from the usual mode to the Connected Flight Mode when it judges that it is inside an airplane and recognizes the particular noises, pressures, and motions that usually precede a takeoff. This mode prohibits some radio frequency communications like cellular networks, but it might still permit others, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, to function.

In probably the most important story I’ve done in a while, here are some of the new emoji coming for 2024. I am nearly paralyzed with excitement! It looks like there could be a head shaking horizontally one, a nodding head emoji, a lime…the whole thing, not just a squeeze…a phoenix, a broken chain, and gasp…a mushroom…’a ‘shroom, man.’ Macrumors.com reports that we may also see family silhouettes, and directional people emoji with multiple skin tones. The Unicode Consortium will be approving characters in September. Not all, but most emoji proposed at this point are approved. I know you are like me and can hardly wait. I hope no one tries to rotate and elongate that ’shroom, ‘cause that would be naughty.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ’Technified’ for now. 

Musk Starts AI Company; Mac Sales Still Strong; Microsoft OK to Buy Activision Blizzard; EV Prices Stagnate, Used EV Prices Drop

Elon Musk has launched a new AI company he is calling xAI, which will embark on the self-described mission to “understand the true nature of the universe.” A website is now live, according to engadget.com. Musk’s previous comments about an AI startup suggested he wanted “a third option” to challenge ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Google. He reportedly bought thousands of GPUs earlier this year for a Twitter-related AI project. It isn’t yet clear whether the two projects are related. The website lists veterans of DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Tesla and the University of Toronto as working on the project.

PC sales have dropped 13.4% so far, year over year, according to IDC. It’s the 6th consecutive quarter of contraction, according to IDC. Bgr.com notes that Apple is swimming against this current…Mac sales are up 10.3% more than the same quarter a year ago. Apple’s global PC market share has climbed from 6.8% to 8.6%. As for total market share, Lenovo is still tops at 14.2%. HP is second with 13.4%, and Dell has 10.3% of the market. Analysts are attributing Apple’s strength to the new Apple silicon that Cupertino has brought to their Macs the last couple years.

A court is allowing Microsoft to close on its deal to buy Activision Blizzard. Theverge.com reports that Microsoft still faces an ongoing antitrust case from the FTC, but the judge denied the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction. Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest such deal in tech history. In a statement following Judge Corley’s decision, Microsoft president Brad Smith said the company was “grateful to the Court in San Francisco for this quick and thorough decision and hope other jurisdictions will continue working towards a timely resolution.” In a statement, FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar said the FTC was still planning its next move. “We are disappointed in this outcome given the clear threat this merger poses to open competition in cloud gaming, subscription services, and consoles. In the coming days we’ll be announcing our next step to continue our fight to preserve competition and protect consumers.” 

In what may come as a relief to consumers, new EV sales have stagnated, and the prices of used ones have even softened. A lot of the crazy price increases and shortages have for the most part ended as the pandemic-related chip shortage has eased. According to arstechnica.com, used Tesla prices have dropped off an average of $7141, or 13% since December 2022 and by $24,955 (or 35%) year over year. CoPilot says the average price for all used EVs has fallen off 34% to $44,160. There are quite a few used Tesla Model 3s on the market for under $25,000. Even used BMW i3s are down…but there isn’t the supply available as with the Teslas.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Twitch Getting Discovery Feed; GM Dealers Get Blowback over No CarPlay on EVs; Sega America Unionizes; Samsung Bows Monster OLED TV

At long last, Twitch is getting a Discovery feed…this after years of griping from creators about the lack of growth opportunities for smaller streamers. According to techcrunch.com, all the new features that were announced at TwitchCon Paris revolved around supporting short form video content. It is expected that Twitch’s bread and butter will continue to be live-streaming, but even at that, most creators depend on promoting their content on YouTube Shorts and TikTok to drive viewers to their Twitch Channel. The company is also shifting its approach to ad breaks, which have been a point of contention between the platform and its users. Although streamers have been able to see countdown timers for ad breaks on their end, many have complained that ads interrupt their content without enough warning. Starting this month, streamers will be able to turn on a chat countdown timer to have more of a heads-up for ad breaks. The countdown timer allows streamers to “snooze or pull ahead,” and gives them the chance to “make the right calls” for their community.

As we reported here a while back, GM announced it was dropping Apple CarPlay in all future EVs in favor of an exclusive partnership with Google. Well, 9to5mac.com reports that GM dealers are not happy with the move. One reason is that dealers and salespeople are getting a lot of blowback from customers unhappy with the move. Other car makers have doubled down on supporting CarPlay. Ford, for example. Ford has determined that 70% of their customers are also Apple customers. Besides GM, Tesla and Rivian are the other two major holdouts in adopting CarPlay…in Tesla’s case, it probably flows from Elon Musk’s claiming that Apple was poaching Tesla engineers for their secretive Project Titan self-driving car project. 

Sega of America workers have voted to unionize! Engadget.com says the staff voted 91-26 in favor in the NLRB supervised election, and the union will now be officially recognized under the Communication Workers of America. There are some 200 workers in various departments around the country. It’s not the first games union in North America, but workers say it’s “the largest multi-department union of organized workers in the entire gaming industry.” 

When ya just have to have the biggest….TV on the block. Samsung has rolled out their biggest OLED TV, an 83 inch mega screen, matching the 2nd biggest TV LG makes. According to Cnet.com, the 83 incher will will sell for $5400, and be available later in July. The rival LG 83 inch TV is $4800…$500 less than the new Samsung. If you are really well fixed cash wise and have a huge room, of course, you can go for the LG 97 inch set…that beauty is $25,000! Yeah, I know…dream on! The new Samsung seems to match the LG 83 inch screen feature for feature, although Samsung says the new series isn’t as bright as their 77 inch set. The new Samsung will work for PC gamers, but only if they have a high-end video card. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Elon Spirals Out of Control; Prime Day and Other Discount Deals This Week; Apple Experimenting with 32 Inch iMac; ChatGPT Sees First User Decline

As Threads has gotten to 100 million sign ups since launching the middle of last week, Elon Musk’s freak out continues. Twitter only has about 250 million active users at this point, and Twitter’s website traffic is also “tanking”, according to the chief of the internet services company Cloudflare, amid signs users are migrating to alternative platforms such as Threads, BlueSky and Mastodon. Musk has threatened to sue Meta, and now…after challenging Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match, he Tweeted over the weekend ‘Zuck is a cuck.’ Zuckerberg posted back on Threads ‘Concerning,’ followed by a laughing emoji. According to the Guardian, Musk also allegedly Tweeted a challenge to Zuck to ‘a literal dick-measuring contest.’ In launching Threads, Zuckerberg said: “The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands. I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success. “That’s one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently.”

Prime Day starts tomorrow, and as always there are already deals. Not only that, there are deals other places, as retailers try to compete with the online giant’s big summer sale. Cnet.com notes that Target’s Circle Week started Sunday, Walmart Plus Week started today, as did Best Buy’s Black Friday in July sale. If you are up for bargains, get your plastic ready and to quote Fry in the cartoon series ‘Futurama,’ “Shut up and take my money!”

Apple is working with a 32 inch screen iMac…according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said these iMacs are still in early development, so he does not expect them to launch until late 2024 or at some point in 2025 at the earliest. One of these days we are going to run out of desk space…no wonder Apple has the Vision Pro on the way, where you can have several large virtual monitors floating in front of you! A 32 inch iMac would be the same size as Apple’s high end Pro Display XDR, which sells for a wallet-crushing $4,999. No word at this point on how much more the 32 incher will be than the now discontinued 27 inch iMac, but it will be a fraction of the price of that Pro Display. 

The virtual bloom may be off the virtual rose to a degree. ChatGPT saw its first user decline in June. Engadget.com reports that mobile and desktop traffic for the website dropped 9.7% globally. Waning interest in ChatGPT appears to be part of an industry trend. Similarweb’s numbers show fewer people visiting the desktop and mobile websites for Microsoft Bing, Google Bard and Character.AI in recent months. Some are speculating the drop off has to do with the end of the school year. Also, a number of companies have banned employees from using it, fearing that proprietary company data will be chewed up by the artificial intelligence and be available all over the net. The chatbot maker isn’t worried…they have said it costs ‘an eye-watering amount’ to operate, so seem to be ok with the breathing room.

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Threads Gaining Signups Quickly; New Galaxy Folder Reservations Are Open; iPhone 15 Pro Max-Expect to Pay More; U of Washington Researchers-Smaller & Cheaper LiDAR

Meta launched Threads a day early yesterday, and the new Twitter clone signed up two million in the first two hours, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Techcrunch.com reports that the app is up to over 30 million users in less than 24 hours…again according to data from Meta. Zuckerberg Tweeted for the first time in 10 years to announce the new Instagram affiliated app, in a tweak to Elon Musk’s nose. It is too early to tell anything, but a number of entertainers, influencers, tech wheels, and journalists are already on the new app. 

Samsung’s Unpacked will be on July 26th. We already knew it would be in their home capitol of Seoul, South Korea. According to 9to5google.com, you can now preorder either the new Galaxy Z Fold 5 or the Z Flip 5. Both the new folding phone models will be showed off at Unpacked, along with a new Galaxy Tab S9 and the Galaxy Watch 6. If you preorder either of the phones, you can get a $50 credit right now. 

It has been rumored every year, but now it looks like Apple really will boost the price of at least the iPhone 15 Pro Max this September. Macrumors.com says tech analyst Jeff Pu believes this will be due to the more expensive periscope telephoto lens that is supposed to be exclusive to that model. The present iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at $1099, so a good guess is that we will see a $100 price bump. 

This could be big for self-driving vehicle tech. University of Washington researchers have invented new tech that integrates LiDAR onto a computer chip and uses sound waves running over its surface to steer a laser beam, helping cars to see objects or people and animals that are far in the distance. It is must smaller and cheaper than present LiDAR, and has no moving parts….a likely game changer according to geekwire.com. The researchers have already gotten a seed grant to start to upscale the tech so it might be mass produced and find its way into self-driving vehicles. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Twitter Drops Log-In to See Tweets, Threads, Meta’s Twitter Competitor Launches Tomorrow; iPhone 15 Series Getting Bigger Batteries; TSA Expanding Facial Recognition-400 Airports

After adjusting the number of Tweets people could see several times over the weekend…depending on if they are Blue members or not…and after blocking people from reading Tweets unless they are logged in to Twitter…Elon Musk has backtracked. Engadget.com reports that people can now read Tweets without a login. Musk had said making the platform inaccessible to logged out users was a ‘temporary emergency measure.’ It appears the limits on number of Tweets you can read per day is still in place…but Twitter has increased the number several times.

Tomorrow is the day…the day Instagram’s new Threads app goes live for all. Meta’s Twitter competitor briefly went live on the web for a few hours earlier today. Theverge.com says the interface is pretty basic…like, comment, repost, and share — all prompting you to download the mobile app for the time being. It will be live first in the US, although EU users will be able to view threads…just won’t be able to post as yet. If you are interested, and think Zuckerberg is less odious than Elon, the apps should be available for iOS and Android on tomorrow, the 6th of July.

One thing that no one gripes about with phone sizes…bigger batteries. Now, a rumor has been picked up by 9to5mac.com saying all the iPhone 15 models will get a bigger battery. The base iPhone 15 will have an 18% bigger one, the 15 Plus about 13.6% larger, and the iPhone Pro will get a 14% bigger battery. The 15 Pro Max will only get a bit less than 11% more in the battery department. The Pro models should get noticeably longer time on a charge as they move to 3 nanometer tech for their processors. The smaller processors use less juice. 

From the ‘what could possibly go wrong’ department, the TSA is getting set to expand its controversial facial recognition to 430 airports over then next several years. The agency claims the pilot program was ‘extremely promising.’ Fastcompany.com reports that rights advocates claim the agency is improperly coercing travelers to participate. The TSA says they don’t save your biometric data. “TSA doing its own testing and not releasing the results publicly calls into question the quality of the testing and veracity of the results,” says Jeramie Scott, a senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s surveillance oversight program. “Given there are over 2 million airline passengers a day, a 97% effective rate means there would be over 60,000 people a day the tech doesn’t work on if fully implemented. Have fun, flyers!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.