Nintendo Switch 2-Official; FTC Sues John Deere; Bluesky Getting Own Photo-Sharing App; YouTube, Google; Meta, & Snap Pitch In-LA Fire Help

Posted: January 16, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The rumors are true…there is a Nintendo Switch 2 on the way. In a YouTube video, Nintendo officially teased the long-awaited Switch 2. Engadget.com reports that we will learn a lot more about the new portable console on April 2nd, during the Nintendo Direct presentation. Nintendo didn’t disclose a release date with the video. There IS backwards compatibility for existing Switch games. The Switch has been out since 2017, and has and some minor upgrades, but this is the first real successor to the popular handheld console. 

The FTC is suing John Deere over its repair monopoly. According to gizmodo.com, this comes as for years, Deere has made it hard for farmers to fix their equipment. Today the Federal Trade Commission announced it’s going to sue to try to stop them. The FTC and the Attorneys General of the states of Illinois and Minnesota are suing John Deere over unfair business practices related to repair. According to the complaint, Deere has unlawfully restricted farmers from fixing their own farm equipment. Under the scheme, farmers had to return tractors to John Deere-authorized dealerships to make official repairs. Sometimes those can take weeks or more, just when farmers need their equipment to harvest, for example. Letting independent shops do the work would free the backlog, so farmers and stockmen could have their Deere gear back in the fields when they need them most. Deere is saying that letting outsiders do the work interferes with their protection of the rights of proprietary software. The FTC wants Deere to make the tools to fix the software available to farmers and indy repair shops. 

If you are a refugee from Meta’s apps like Instagram, and are jonesing for a photo sharing app now, you are in luck. Techcrunch.com says an independent developer is building a photo-sharing app for Bluesky called Flashes. It is powered by the same tech that runs Bluesky, the AT Protocol. As Meta drops real moderation like X did, a lot of people are wanting to used decentralized apps like Bluesky and Mastodon. A lot of the younger users are joining Chinese App RedNote as a possible shutdown of TikTok looms. RedNote is more heavily controlled by the Chinese government, but some younger users feel that US apps have spied on us and stolen data since day one, so no big deal. Back to Flashes, though…at launch it will support photo posts of up to 4 images and videos of up to a minute, just like Bluesky. The posts will appear on Bluesky, too. 

Google and YouTube are kicking in $15 million to LA area relief organizations for fire relief. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are sending a $4 million contribution, and Snap CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel said that he and co-founder Bobby Murphy have already distributed $5 million in ‘immediate aid’ to LA relief organizations. According to variety.com, they said they plan to donate more.  Disney, Paramount, CAA, Comcast and NBCUniversal, Netflix, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery have also ponied up to help LA fire victims. 

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

Celebs & Techies Team Up-Open Social Media Ecosystem; China Considers Selling TikTok to Musk; Disney Bows Food Order Track on Lock Screens; Texas Sues Allstate-Collecting Driver Data to Jack Up Premiums

Posted: January 14, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

As more and more people have ditched X, formerly Twitter (and I mention Twitter primarily to irritate a particular former radio journalist who takes great umbrage with language and usage these days) as well as Facebook, for their new lack of moderation changes and head to Bluesky, some celebrities and techies are looking beyond Bluesky. Engadget.com reports that the group wants to try to build out something to “save social media from billionaire capture.” They want to create a new social media ecosystem that is focused on the public good instead of profit-driven incentives. Big names in the deal include actor Mark Ruffalo, actor/director Alex Winter, and writer/journalist Cory Doctorow. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia is involved, The plan involves building new social media apps on top of the pre-existing AT Protocol, which is a decentralized framework that Bluesky runs on. This would ostensibly give users significant control over their data, algorithms and the entire online experience. Bluesky is funded by venture capital, and this group wants to raise money in a way to keep it independent. They are shooting to raise $30 million in the next 3 years, 

China is considering a number of options for TikTok as the deadline approaches for ByteDance to divest of the app in the US or be blocked from the US. According to cnbc.com, one option is to try to sell the app to Elon Musk, who would then oversee both it in the US and X. TikTok has called the story involving Musk ‘pure fiction.’ As usual, X has not commented. Even if such a sale happened, it isn’t clear that even the incoming administration would approve Musk controlling both platforms. Although the Supreme Court hasn’t ruled against TikTok as of this report, the oral arguments seemed to be going in favor of the government and against TikTok, which the US government has claimed was a national security risk under present owner ByteDance. 

Starting now, you can track your food order at Disneyland and Disney World right from the lock screen of your iPhone. Macrumors.com says that Disney has rolled out support for the Live Activities feature on the phones. You can track status of mobile food orders on the lock screen or Dynamic Island, without having to open the My Disney Experience or Disneyland apps. Just tap the ‘I’m Here, Prepare My Order’ button, to have your food freshly prepared. You can view your order number, status, and pickup location right from the Lock Screen. If you are going to use the feature, you need iOS 16.1 or later, and an iPhone 14 Pro or any iPhone 15 or 16. Be sure to update the Disney app first.

Texas is suing Allstate and an Allstate subsidiary called Arity over data privacy. Gizomdo.com reports that the state says the insurer is violating Texas  privacy laws by surreptitiously collecting detailed location data on millions of drivers and using that information to justify raising insurance premiums. I had read that this was going on, and now Texas is the first state to file suit. The Texas Attorney General said “Our investigation revealed that Allstate and Arity paid mobile apps millions of dollars to install Allstate’s tracking software. The personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent in violation of the law. Texans deserve better and we will hold all these companies accountable.” Allstate developed the Arity Driving Engine software back in 2015, and allegedly had mobile app developers install the products to collect a variety of sensitive data from consumers’ phones…like geolocation data, accelerometer, details about stops and starts, and whether the phone owners were speeding or driving distracted. The apps that had the data stealing function included Gas Buddy and Fuel Rewards, among others. 

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

New Nvidia AI Audio Model Synthesizes Never-Heard Sounds; Threads Tests Users Choosing Own Default Feed; iPhone 17 Slim-Too Thin for SIM Tray; Raw Milk in CA Recalled-Bird Flu Virus

Posted: November 26, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In some respects, AI has stalled out right now, but there are still discoveries and advances being made. Arstechnica.com reports that Nvidia has a new AI audio model that can synthesize sounds that have never existed. A couple included a ‘screaming’ saxophone, and an ‘angry’ ‘cello. The AI can also mix voices and sounds together in a new mashup. The model, called Fugatto, isn’t available for public testing yet, but Nvidia has a sample-filled website that shows off some possibilities for you. They describe the audio AI as a ’Swiss Army knife for sound.’ 

Threads is feeling the heat from quickly growing upstart Bluesky. Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg posted that Threads is testing the option to let users choose their own default feed…like Bluesky. In fact, you can have multiple feeds on Bluesky…I have a default of people I follow and 3 others. According to theverge.com, Threads will let you choose from For You, Following, or any custom feed that you have set up. Right now, they are still testing it out, but Zuck said they will make the choice ‘more visible’ in the app soon. 

New details about the upcoming iPhone Slim…or Air, or whatever they end up calling it. Appleinsider.com says it will be so slim, it won’t be able to have a tray for SIM cards. This is not an issue in the US, where all iPhones use eSIM, the no-card alternative to a physical SIM card, but in a number of countries they still use physical SIM cards. One of those countries is China, which uses a name-registration system. eSims don’t allow the same verification level as China requires. It remains to be seen if this becomes a problem for Apple. The slim phone also will use Apple’s in-house 5G modem instead of a Qualcomm one, and it will have a smaller battery. 

Not tech, but science…or an ignoring of it. Bird flu virus has been found in a batch of raw, unpasteurized milk sold in California. Arstechnica.com reports that so far, no illness has been connected to the contaminated milk, which came from Raw Farm LLC in Fresno County. A lab in Santa Clara County detected the virus, and it was confirmed by the state lab. There is a reason Louis Pasteur came up with the pasteurization process…lots of people used to get sick and even die from raw milk. Science and medicine…hey, they can keep us alive!

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