Google Chrome Gets AI Features; Apple’s Fabled Car Now Due in 2028; Netflix is Dropping Cheapest Ad-Free Plan; Amazon Ring Will Now Require Warrant for Cops to Get Footage

Posted: January 24, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

New AI features are coming to Google Chrome on both Windows and Mac. TechCrunch.com reports that they include a way to organize tabs, customize your theme, and get help writing things on the web…things like forum posts, online reviews, and more. A lot of this has been available on Google’s SGE, or Search Generative Experience, their experimental AI search experience. The still experimental feature for writing should be accessible next month in that Chrome release…just right click on a text box or field on the web, then choose ‘help me write.’ You need to write the first few words, then the AI will begin to help out. 

Actually, I can’t believe I’m writing about this again…talk about vaporware! Yes, Project Titan, the fabled Apple car…which has been on-again, off-again since 2015. 9to5mac.com notes that there have been numerous execs that have left and been replaced, to say nothing of staff churn. Starting a brand new car company is insanely hard…and we’re talking an autonomous EV on top of that. It appears at this point that the possible 2028 vehicle will be a Level 2+ system….originally, Apple was shooting for Level 4. Bloomberg reports that it is possible that Apple could upgrade the system over time with software. Even for famously secretive Apple, it’s a big tell about how rough Project Titan is going that there has never been a prototype spotted in disguise running around on any roadways. Did Apple bite off more than they can chew with the autonomous EV project? We may know by 2028…unless they kick the can down the road again.

Current members of Netflix have been able to keep their ad-free basic subscription plan at $11.99 a month up to now, but that is going to start changing. Theverge.com says company execs told investors in an earnings report that it will be retiring the plan in some countries…starting with Canada and the UK second quarter. That will leave you paying $15.49 a month if you want Netflix’s cheapest ad-free plan. The cheapie ad-supported basic plan remains at $6.99, and the ad-free premium plan is still $22.99 a month. Netflix has also signed a 10 year deal with WWE’s Monday Night Raw.

There have been complaints over the years including from civil liberties groups and some politicians about police obtaining footage from users’ Ring Doorbell cams without their permission or knowledge. That is about to change. Bloomberg reports that starting next week, Amazon will disable its Request for Assistance tool, which  had allowed law enforcement to seek footage from users on a voluntary basis, Eric Kuhn, who runs Ring’s Neighbors app, said in a blog post on Wednesday. Police and fire departments will have to seek a warrant to request footage from users or show the company evidence of an ongoing emergency.

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

Update: Apple Trying to Avoid Watch Ban in US; Google Tab Over Epic Court Loss-$700 Million; Breakthrough Towards Making Artificial DNA; Tesla Driver Owes $23 Grand Restitution From Crash

Posted: December 19, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple software engineers are working overtime on a possible software solution to get around the pending International Trade Commission ban on the Apple Watch that will go into effect on Christmas. Appleinsider.com reports that Apple believes a last minute software update may be able to circumvent the patents they have been accused of violating from Masimo. Without the update or other change, the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 will be unavailable after Christmas in the US. For its part, Masimo claims that the patent violations can only be resolved with hardware alterations in a future Watch Model. Apple thinks a software update will satisfy US Customs. 

We reported earlier that Epic Games won a suit claiming Google has an illegal monopoly with its Play Store. According to theverge.com, all 50 state attorneys general settled a similar lawsuit in September, and now we know what Google’s tab is. Google will cough up $700 million and make several small concessions to the way they operate the Play store in the US. So for a brief moment in time, it will become the Google PAY store. The biggest change? Google will need to let developers steer consumers away from the Google Play Store for several years, if this settlement is approved.

A group of scientists have figured out how to create truly artificial DNA. Bgr.com notes that the study published in Nature Communications indicates that this may enable the tech to create new medicines for certain diseases by creating DNA with new nucleotides that can create custom proteins. The scientists were led by Dong Wang Ph.D. Wang helped lead the study alongside Steven A. Benner, Ph.D., and Dmitry Lyumkis, Ph.D.. Together, the three authors have shown that you can not only create artificial DNA but that the artificial nucleotides may also be able to help create custom proteins we could use to target specific diseases that are hard to combat.

A Tesla driver from LA owes over $23,000 in restitution for killing two people in a crash in 2019. The AP says he pleaded no contest to two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Despite facing more than seven years behind bars, a judge sentenced him to probation in June. Kevin Riad is a limo driver who was behind the wheel of a Tesla that ran a red light while on Autopilot and hit another car in an intersection. Coincidentally, the judgment against Riad came the same day that a recall was announced for most Tesla cars over Autopilot. 

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

Most Popular App Store Apps 2023; Jury Finds Google Has Monopoly in App Store Battle; Ford Cutting Production on F-150 Lightning EV Trucks; Microsoft Agrees to Union Position on Use of AI

Posted: December 12, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

As we near the end of the year, there are always a myriad of lists that come out. Here’s one that is interesting I think. Apple has revealed the most popular App Store apps and games of 2023. Macrumors.com has details on the top free and top paid apps. We’ll just cover the top free apps here. Topping the list is Chinese shopping app Temu. In 2nd place is CapCut Video Editor. #3 is Max, the streaming app for HBO. 4th place is Threads, the barely 6 month old Meta answer to what Twitter used to be before Elon Musk changed it to X and mucked it all up. TikTok is holding down 5th place, and as we reported, it has become the first non-game to top $10 billion in revenue. Instagram is #6…probably getting some growth from people who had to sign up for it like I did in order to sign up for Threads. Google is the 7th place app, and Alphabet—or Google-owned YouTube is close behind at 8th. In 9th place is WhatsApp Messenger…also owned by Meta. 10th place is Gmail. It’s worth noting that 3 of the top ten apps are owned by Meta, and 3 are owned by Google parent Alphabet…so 60% of the top ten apps are owned by two companies…and two apps…Temu and TikTok…come from China. 

It’s being called an Epic win…typical of reporters who love such plays on words…but a jury found in favor of Epic games vs Google over their claimed illegal monopoly battle about Google’s App Store. According to theverge.com, the jury found  that Google turned its Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly. This case was much different from the one Epic lost vs Apple. Here, the issue turned on secret revenue sharing deals between Google, smartphone makers, and big game developers, ones that Google execs internally believed were designed to keep rival app stores down. The damages and remedies are yet to be decided, and you can bet on Google appealing, but for now, Epic as the boss of the level has beaten mighty Google.

Earlier in the year, Ford announced it was dramatically increasing production of the then hot selling F-150 Lightening electric pickup. Now, the Blue Oval company is halving production as sales have slowed. Arstechnica.com says production will drop from 3200 trucks a week to 1600. Ford has said they weren’t making money on the truck, and goosed the base price considerably earlier…from $39,974 before tax credits up about $10 grand to $49,995. Guess what, Ford? You are out of the ‘sweet spot’ for regular joe buyers at that price point. Battery packs are expensive, but with so many less components…like big engines and transmissions, and the like…it seems like they could actually have been making some money at the lower figure…maybe just not what they wanted to make. 

Not an historically union friendly employer, but Microsoft has agreed to union contract language about the use of artificial intelligence. The deal gives workers a voice when challenging how the tech is employed. Engadget.com reports that this is the first time ever Microsoft has done collective bargaining. The Communications Workers of America contract language pretty well echoes Microsoft’s previously announced AI principles, including that AI systems will “treat all people fairly” and “empower everyone.” To that end, it will give employees covered under the contract an avenue of recourse should they feel that Microsoft isn’t holding up its end of the bargain. Principles are fine, but now, it is memorialized in a written contract, which should offer employees more security when it comes to future AI tech.

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

Samsung Folder-Massive Battery; Huawei Nova 4 Has 48 MP Cam; Apple Steals Top Tesla Designer; Google Dropping A Billion on NY Campus

Posted: December 17, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More is seeping out about Samsung’s folding phone, after the brief and slight showing of it last month. Bgr.com says the Infinity Flex screen phone will have a crazy high price of $1700 or $1800 dollars, will run a Snapdragon 855, and have dual 12 MP cams, with an 8 MP selfie cam. There will be TWO battery cells, for a total capacity of 5,000 mAh or 6,000 mAh. The folder will be out next year, and analysts think that it might drop in price by 2022 to $1300…which will be the price of an iPhone by then!

With most of the news about their CFO being arrested in Canada, Huawei has rolled out a new phone that should grab headlines back for their actual business. Theverge.com reports that the Nova 4 features a 48-megapixel main camera with 3 lenses, and a ‘hole punch’ cut out for the front cam…which is a whopping 25 megapixels…on a selfie cam! Samsung has a similar ‘hole punch’ setup on the galaxy A8. The Nova 4 has a 6.4 inch display, 8 gigs of RAM, 128 gigs of storage, and a 3750 mAh battery. It will run about $490 in the US.

We’ve all heard for over a year that the Apple car…Project Titan, was dead, and that Apple was focusing on self-driving software and hardware for other cars. Now, that may be questioned a bit. According to macrumors.com, Cupertino has poached Andrew Kim, who reimagined Microsoft’s design language, then moved to Tesla in design. With Kim now at Apple Park, as well is Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer…who returned to Apple earlier this year. Kim had worked on the designs for the Models, 3, S, X, Y, the new Roadster V2, and the Semi.

With Amazon busily working on its two HQ2s outside D.C. and in NY, and Apple announcing a huge new billion dollar campus in Austin, TX, you knew Google couldn’t be sitting on their hands. Now, techcrunch.com says Google has announced it will pump a billion into setting up a campus at Hudson Square in New York. Google already has 7,000 located in NY, and this will double that over 10 years…in a 1.7 million square foot campus the company is touting as ‘the primary location’ for Google’s ‘Global Business Organization.’ The facility will be operational by 2020.

Apple Could Make More iPhones Outside of China; Intel’s New Sunny Cove Chips & Archetecture; Amazon NYC Warehouse Workers Push for Union; Top 10 2018 Google Searches

Posted: December 12, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

With the continued threat of higher tariffs from the Trump Administration, Apple is looking at moving more iPhone production out of China. Techcrunch.com says Apple is looking at more production in India, and in Brazil, where Foxconn has had a factory since 2011. If there ends up being a 10% tariff, Apple (through Foxconn) will probably stay with China. If the tariff hits 25%, Apple will say goodbye to production in China (with the exception of phones built for sale within China proper.)

Starting new year, Intel will release Core and Xeon chips with a new architecture…the add a number of instructions that accelerate frequently used workloads like cryptography and compression. Intel claims a 75% improvement in compression performance. Arstechnica.com reports that Sunny Cove chips will be built using the 10nm process. It is a derivation of Skylake, but can execute more instructions in parallel with lower latency.

In news that will give Jeff Bezos heartburn, Amazon workers in New York City are pushing to unionize. They are working with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, and according to the verge.com want to address safety concerns, long unpaid security checks, what they term unreasonable hourly quotas, and insufficient breaks. A leak recently of an anti-union training video Amazon made has increased interest. Among other things, the video encourages managers to express opinions like ‘Unions are lying, cheating rats.’ Even the raise to $15 per hour doesn’t begin to cover things for workers living in NYC, which is also true of other costly areas like Connecticut and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Because we love lists, and think it gives us insight into what the collective of humanity is (or was) thinking about, here are the top 10 Google searches of 2018: #10 (imagine some echo on the numbers if you must) Kate Spade; at 9, Stephen Hawking; XXXTentacion was in the 8th slot; #7 Anthony Bourdain (note that all of these people had died); the #6 most searched was Meghan Markle; 5 actually wasn’t a person…it was ‘Black Panther’ the movie; Stan Lee was 4th; #3 was Mac Miller; in 2nd place was Avicii; and the top spot was the World Cup. Don’t you feel so much more informed?

Ultrasound Powered Qualcomm Fingerprint Sensor; Snapdragon 855; Google & Amazon Making AirPod Alternatives; Apple Adding Health Sensors to AirPods

Posted: December 5, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Adding an extra layer to fingerprint sensor security, Qualcomm is baking in ultrasound to beef up its in-display fingerprint sensor. Engadget.com reports that the ultrasound will allow creation of a 3D mold of your finger, which will be much harder to copy. It will pick up on the ridges and even pores. As a bonus, the sensor should be able to tell it’s you, even though you still have a little of today’s lunch on your finger (wash up, you slob!) They didn’t allow testing at the demo, so we’ll have to wait to see how fast the new tech is.

Speaking of fast, Qualcomm also showed off its Snapdragon 855 at its event in Hawaii. According to 9to5google.com, the chip will power the 2019 flagship phones, including from Samsung. It will support multi-gigabit 5G, which also rolls out next year in a number of markets. Qualcomm says the chip has 3x the AI performance of last year’s chip.

It’s not that there aren’t already cheaper alternatives to Apple’s AirPods on the market, but a couple are coming from some heavyweights…Google and Amazon appear to be preparing to launch competitor products.

9to5mac.com says Apple isn’t exactly waiting around for the increased competition…they are working on more water resistance, support for Hey Siri, and interchangeability…so you could put one in an ear without checking to see if it’s Left or Right, and the AirPod would orient itself and the audio automatically. Apple is also expected to integrate health sensors into the next gen AirPods, and integrate the data with Apple Watch as well as the health app on iPhones. Well known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says to look for Cupertino to sell 26-28 million sets this year, 50-55 million in 2019, and over 100 million in 2021.

Google Personalizes Search Even if Logged Out; Tesla Denies Leaked Model Y Schedule; Bose ‘Audio AR’ Sunglasses; Apple 10% Veteran & Military Discount

Posted: December 4, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

So…you’re searching incognito or logged out…think it keeps you anonymous, huh? Right. 9to5google.com is reporting that a study (disclosure: done by DuckDuckGo) shows that you can’t get around the so-called ‘filter bubble’ that Google applies to search just by logging out of your account or browsing incognito….in fact, not even by doing BOTH. The likely explanation is that by now, Google has so much data on you, that it can recognize you from a 3 key word search, and personalize the result to you! In the big picture of things, it may not really matter, but basically, you are never getting a 100% ‘neutral’ search result. Google said in a statement that search results can change ‘by the minute and sometimes even by the second,’ but had no comment about the personalization aspect.

Late yesterday, a story came out that Tesla would be building Model Y small SUVs at the Gigafactory in Nevada, and be producing 7,000 a month of them there by the end of 2020. Now, according to engadget.com, Tesla has denied this timeline, saying that the leaked information is outdated. The Model Y will probably be built there, and so will an additional Model 3 production line…that information is based on filings with the Chinese government included when Tesla filed to build a 2nd Gigafactory in Shanghai.

Bose is looking to make ‘AR audio’ sunglasses. No, not AR…audio only! Techcrunch.com says the shades would be intended to provide a more immersive audio experience…no head up display, or any display at all besides that which your eyeballs take in of the real world. The glasses will have a 9 axis head motion sensor and use the GPS of a tethered Android or iOS device, and will adjust the audio you hear based on those inputs. They do use small speaker grilles, not earbuds or bone conduction. Sound won’t be as immersive with the ambient noise around you, but it will be a lot safer crossing streets and such. The glasses/headset will be out in January at $199, with two styles available. Battery life is given at 3.5 hours on a charge with 12 hours standby.

Apple has just rolled out an online store that gives a 10% discount on ‘select products’ for active duty military and vets, along with members of their households. Macrumors.com reports that, for example, the iPhone XS is available at $899 ($100 bucks off), while the XR is priced at $674 (normally $749) at the regular Apple online store. Apple has had discount programs for years for educators, students, and government employees, but these discounts for active duty military and veterans exceeds those via the online educational store.

Storied Harley Readies e-Bike; Comcast Cord Cutter Stream Box; BigBox Building Online VR Games; Google to Rebrand Nest

Posted: November 8, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LiveWire 2018. Spain

Every early morning it’s not pouring rain, I can hear a number of roaring Harley-Davidson bikes thunder nearby on a freeway I’m close to. That thunder may be fading as H-D will be releasing details of their new electric bike in January. Engadget.com says range, acceleration, price, and other specs will be announced then. Right now, we know all H-D dealers will have Level 2 fast chargers, and will be selling Level 1 chargers for home. The bike is called the Live Wire, and it comes with 7 different riding modes you can program, and has an adjustable color touchscreen. Oh…and as pictured….it looks awesome!

Comcast can see the writing on the wall…or at least on screen. The big cable provider is working on a streaming set top box for cord cutters. Theverge.com reports that the box would be able to offer streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube, and include a voice control remote for navigation. If you think this sounds a lot like their X-1 system without the cable, you’re right. Will it be able to compete with Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku for cord cutters? That remains to be seen…a lot may hinge on what they price it at. The cord cutter box should be out next year.

Several refugees from Valve and Disney have now raised 5 million to supercharge BigBox. The company is building online VR games. According to geekwire.com, BigBox has been around since 2016, but the new round of funding will help them build out more online VR games and the ecosystems that support them. Their first title is positioned as something of a ‘Counter-Strike meets Mario Kart.’ It’s called ‘Population: One,’ and lets gamers climb, fly, and shoot like they were doing so in real life, but without some of the discomfort from earlier VR tech. The biggest challenge with BigBox and others…getting more headsets into homes. The devices have been selling well for commercial training purposes, but need to be penetrating homes closer to the level of traditional gaming systems to really take off.

Google has been looking to expand its line of smart home devices, and now may be considering a rebrand of Nest. 9to5google.com says after moving the Nest line back under more direct Google control, they are angling for a way to tie the Nest hardware products more closely with Google’s other hardware and software products.

Google Announces Native Android ‘Foldables’ Support; Coming-Facebook 10 Minute Grace Period to Unsend Messages; Mercedes’ AI Package Delivery Tech

Posted: November 7, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

With a maker in China already having released a folding smartphone, Samsung releasing more about their Galaxy F, and LG on the verge of unveiling one, Google today announced Android support for a ‘foldables’ category. 9to5google.com reports that the new category of phone that unfolds into a tablet will have native Android support, allowing for makers to give you a phone with a screen like we all have, but unfolding to reveal a larger, phablet screen on the inside that is double the size of the ‘outside’ screen. Google’s ‘screen continuity’ will allow you to start with an app on the outside screen, then unfold and seamlessly continue on the bigger inner screen without a hitch. Samsung has been working closely with Google on this Android category, and is expected to release the Actual Galaxy F model early next year. The internal screen is said to be 7.3 inches.

If you have sent a Facebook private message, and instantly regretted it, you will like this. For some time, Facebook has had an ‘unsend’ feature for their top brass. Now, according to engaeget.com, the social media giant may be getting set to release the feature to everyone. It’s not an hour to change your mind like What’sApp, but a 10 minute grace period ought to be enough for people who hit send, and have nearly instant remorse. Of course, even with this feature, if the recipient has already seen the message within the 10 minute period, the deletion won’t undo whatever damage has been done to your relationship with them!

The engineers and programmers at Mercedes have been experimenting with a number of different ways to help automate delivery vehicles, so the driver/delivery person can get packages to you more quickly and efficiently. Some have ended hilariously…like one with a Ferris wheel and baskets…that one ended when a gallon of milk basically exploded all over a van. Now, the German conglomerate is trialing its latest idea. Cams and sensors light up shelves, and show the driver which shelf and spot is best for a package…lighting up green. On arrival at a drop off, it lights up green again…and everything flashes red if the person grabs the wrong item. The built in sensors also allow for less hand scanning, which should shave additional time off deliveries. AI not only helps figure out the best spot in the truck for the packages, but plots out the delivery route based on what packages are loaded and their destination addresses. Mercedes thinks this system will help the likes of FedEx and UPS, but will be even more beneficial to smaller delivery company, like those indie operators contracted by Amazon.

Amazon May Have 2 HQ-2’s; Samsung Folder and OS Tomorrow? Google May Help Avoiding Food Poisoning; Bill Gates in the Toilet

Posted: November 6, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

After months and months of suspense, lots of wooing by cities to get Amazon to open their HQ2 second headquarters in their town, it now appears that Amazon may split the HQ2…so HQ2a and HQ2b?? According to bloomberg.com, the most likely candidates appear to be Crystal City, part of Arlington, VA, and Long Island City, in the New York borough of Queens. Amazon has had no comment. One of the reasons given for the split is that Amazon hasn’t been able to find sufficient tech talent in a single location. Amazon already has more employees in the two areas than anywhere in the country, except for their main HQ in Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Yesterday, we reported that Samsung is expected to roll out their folding smartphone tomorrow at their developer conference. Now, 9to5google.com says we will also get some information on how Samsung thinks the user experience will change with the foldable phablet with an outside screen for normal smartphone use. For example, how will it handle running an app on the outside screen, when you open it up? Will it deactivate the outside screen so random touches won’t cause actions you hadn’t planned on? One thing we probably won’t see…an actual working model of the phone. That isn’t expected until next year.

If you think lower letter ratings or Yelp reviews got restaurant owners riled up, wait until they get word of this! Google has built a model that identifies restaurants that could give you food poisoning. Engadget.com reports that they worked with researchers from Harvard, and have tested a machine learned model in Chicago and Las Vegas to identify search queries like ‘stomach cramps’ or ‘diarrhea’, then cross-referenced them with saved location history data on smartphones relating to recently visited restaurants. Health inspectors visited restaurants…not being told if due to traditional consumer complaints or the AI model. Unsafe restaurants detected by the model ran 52.3%, while those found with traditional methods were spotted 22.7% of the time. Good news for people who don’t want to eat bad food…and just wait for the outrage from restaurants over this!

Ok, so Gates isn’t really in the toilet…and he could ACTUALLY afford all solid gold ones, better than a certain president who seems to adore gold…and orange. The former CEO of Microsoft opened the ‘Reinvented Toilet Expo’ in China…touting the biggest sanitation advances in 200 years. According to geekwire.com, Mr Gates has been thinking about crappers for the past 10 years…and the poor sanitation in a number of poor countries he traveled too. The Gates Foundation is leading the way in commercialization and adaption of off-grid toilet tech and sanitation systems for 3rd world countries. Discretion being the better part of valor, I will leave it to you to google a pic of Bill Gates holding up a jar of poop at the podium at the Toilet Expo! The latest tech in off-grid toilets can break down waste to the point that clean water and solids left behind can be used as fertilizer or be disposed of safely without any further treatment.

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