Northern Lights Cool, But Not for Farm GPS; Apple’s Vision Pro Set to Go International after WWDC; Meta Quest Getting Travel Mode for Flying; US To Hit Chinese EVs with 100% Tariffs

Posted: May 13, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

As everyone saw social media filled with amazing pictures of the Northern lights, or aurora borealis, one group of people was having a heck of a time due to the solar flares that cause the visual phenomenon. You may have already heard that the flares disrupt GPS and communications systems, but this has particularly affected farmers. Many modern tractors from John Deere and other brands use GPS navigation to guide them. This has allowed farmers to plant more efficiently in super tight, straight lines the last few years. Now, however, they have had to pause that for the solar storm. The GPS systems from Deere have actually allowed precision planting down to the centimeter level. Deere has warned not to plant until things normalize, or it might make a mess of harvesting…since the Auto Path in the tractors won’t find rows where it expects to find them. It is not a good time, as this is peak planting season for corn. Some farmers are rolling the dice and planting without the GPS, but others are parking the high tech tractors until the sun quiets down. Fortunately, the solar storm surge maximums are only for a few days. 

Apple is expected to start selling the Vision Pro headsets worldwide after WWDC in June. According to bgr.com, analyst Mark Gurman says Apple has been “holding training sessions in recent days and has flown hundreds of employees from its international stores to its Cupertino headquarters to learn how to demonstrate the device for customers.” So far, employees have been brought in from Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China. Although as we have noted here, the Vision Pro is catching on with the medical community, it has yet to get much traction with the general public…mainly due to its high price. 

Meta has just put a travel mode into beta that will make the Meta Quest 2 and 3 headsets work better in moving vehicles…including airplanes. 9to5google.com says the new mode is optimized for airplanes, making sure the motion of the aircraft doesn’t affect your use of the headsets. Again it is in beta right now, but 9to5google.com says if you want to try it out, check the ‘Experimental features’ menu in the Settings app. Meta is also working with Lufthansa to enable using Quest headsets for fliers in the airline’s Allegris Business Class Suite to watch in flight entertainment. 

The US government is about to hit Chinese EVs with 100% tariffs this week. There have been growing calls for this from auto makers, unions, and a bipartisan group in Congress. Arstechnica.com notes that the demands are driven by the Chinese government’s heavy subsidies to their own EV makers and other green industries in order to grab market share in the US and Europe. Interestingly, the Chinese government has been restricting US EVs sold there…especially Tesla…down to places they can be driven…with the government considering them a threat to China’s own security. The European Union is expected to drop heavy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in the next few weeks. 

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

Meta Shares Fell on Big AI Spending; Biden Signs TikTok Bill-What Now; Threads Passes 150 Million Active Users; TSMC Moving to ‘Ultra’ Advanced Chips

Posted: April 25, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta shares dropped yesterday after the company forecasted higher expenses and lower than expected revenue. The expenses mainly due to its big investment in AI. Meta was still down 11% as of this recording…and lost some $200 billion in valuation yesterday, according to Reuters. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call that the focus on AI would “grow our investment envelope meaningfully before we make much revenue from some of these new products.” Meta expects AI features like a new AI chat assistant will driver engagement on its platforms…in other words, a chatbot will make Facebook and Instagram bigger time sucks than they already are for some people!

President Biden signed the foreign aid package that includes the TikTok ban, so things are getting interesting for ByteDance, the China based parent company. Theverge.com reports that they have 9 months to sell control of TikTok to a non-Chinese owner. The president can give them an additional 3 months if it looks like they are moving towards that…otherwise it will be banned from both the Google and Apple app stores. TikTok has repeated that it will challenge the law in the courts. Although some 170 million users in the US use the app, it should be pointed out that the Chinese government forces both Apple and Google to block apps from downloading there on a regular basis. 

Threads has passed the 150 million active monthly user mark. As recently as February, they were at 130 million, so growth is accelerating quickly. Mashable.com notes that X claims 550 million active users worldwide, although some research firms dispute X’s numbers. Threads announced yesterday that they are testing the option to archive posts “with a small number of people.” Individual posts can be archived manually, but you can also automatically archive all posts after a certain period of time.

Taiwan Semiconductor will start building what they are calling ultra-advanced 1.6 nanometer chips by 2026. Right now, the fastest, most advanced chips are using 3 nanometer tech. Nikkei Asia repots that the A16 tech was revealed at the North America Technology Symposium in Santa Clara Yesterday. TSMC says the 1.6 NM chips will have greatly improved logic density and performance. The new tech delivers poswer to chips from the bottom up instead of top down…avoiding complex internal wiring and improving energy efficiency. Intel has already announced backside power, and will start making 2 NM and 1.8 NM chips in 2025. The present iPhones use TSMC’s 3 NM tech. Many tech experts believe that AI will eventually need even more advanced chips…with sizes under 1 NM. 

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

Meta Opens Quest OS to 3rd Parties; Amazon Drops CA Drones; Chinese iPhone Sales Down; Tesla Cuts FSD Price

Posted: April 23, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta has announced that it is opening up Quest’s operating system to third party companies, giving them the opportunity to build headsets of their own. Engadget.com says that you might think of this as following the Android model with mobile phones and tablets, where many makers can build the hardware…as opposed to Apple’s closed system where only Apple makes the hardware and the software. The OS is getting rebranded as ‘Meta Horizon OS.’ There are already a couple of makers diving into using the OS…ASUS’s Republic of Gaming Brand is working on new ‘performance gaming’ headsets, while Lenovo is building headsets for  “productivity, learning and entertainment.” Hopefully, the Lenovo headsets will be better than the last time out…Lenovo also built the poorly-received Oculus Rift S. Meta says they are also working on a limited edition Xbox ‘inspired’ Quest Headset. 

Amazon is dropping drone deliveries to Lockeford, CA. The company had been running test deliveries there for a decade…making it one of the longest running test sites. According to cnbc.com, Amazon intends to open up drone deliveries to part of Phoenix later this year, and to more cities in the US by 2025. Amazon is working with the FAA to get permission to do drone delivery west of Phoenix. They continue with tests in College Station, TX. 

First quarter smartphone sales in China were barely up year over year…only 1.5%. Macrumors.com notes that Apple iPhone sales there dropped by 19.1%, with most of the missed sales going to Huawei, which had a huge 69.7% growth in sales year to year. A lot of that is due to their launch of the Mate 60 series. Some analysts think new color options and the addition of AI features may help Apple to pick up some of what it lost this Fall. 

In the wake of a rough first quarter, Tesla continues to slash things…first staff, then car prices, now the cost of the so-called Full Self Driving product. Mashable.com reports that they have slashed FSD from $12,000 to $8,000. The monthly subscription to FSD has also been cut…in half to $99 a month. The car maker has also dropped its ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ package, leaving only the ‘Basic Autopilot’ or the still pricy Full Self Driving package. 

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

Meta Platforms Melted down Tuesday; Former Twitter CEO & Others Sue for Severance; X Calling Feature Warning; ChatGPT Now Reads Answers Out Loud

Posted: March 5, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta’s platforms had a major meltdown Tuesday morning. Untold teeming masses were locked out of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. In fact, on Threads, nothing would load at all. Theverge.com reports that the crash started around 10am Eastern. Some people were locked out of their Meta Quest headsets, too. Facebook just logged users out of their accounts, with them unable to log back in. As with Threads, Instagram users just could’t refresh their feeds at all. Meta communications head Andy Stone had to resort to posting about the outage on Threads rival X, writing that the company is “aware people are having trouble accessing our services” and that Meta is “working on this now.” A similar Meta outage took place in 2021 when a configuration issue brought down access to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for several hours. All seems to be fixed now, so everyone hearing or reading this has presumably gotten their social media fix for today! 

A couple of items of X news. First off, a group of former Twitter execs, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, are suing Elon Musk for millions in unpaid severance benefits. According to engadget.com, the tab is around $128 million. The suit claims that the CEO alone is owed some $57.4 million. The legal action cites Musk biographer Walter Isaacson’s account of the events, which explains that Musk rushed to close the Twitter deal a day early so he could fire the executives “for cause” just before their final stock options were set to vest. According to Isaacson, Musk bragged that the legal maneuver saved him about $200 million. At this time, X has not responded to calls for it to comment about the lawsuit.

In the second piece of X news…which is more news you can use…Elon Musk turned on the platform’s new calling feature with no real notice or fanfare. TechCrunch.com says with audio and video calling on by default, the platform leaks your IP address to anyone you talk with…and it is difficult to figure out how to limit who can call you. The best thing to do for now is to go to settings, and slide the little calling switch to off until they get this worked out. If you see it in the upper right of your app, you can click on the phone icon and go to the calling feature directly and switch it off. X calling may become useful, but for now, protect yourself until they get this cleaned up. 

Apparently, it’s not enough to have Alexa, Siri, Google, and the rest talking to us. Now, OpenAI has added a Read Aloud feature for ChatGPT. Theverge.com notes that you have your choice of 5 voice options, too. The Read Aloud feature is available on the web version, and well as iOS and Android. It speaks 37 languages and will automatically detect the language of the text it is reading. By the way, it is available in both GPT-4 and GPT-3.5. You can also set up the chatbot to always respond verbally when replying to prompts. 

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

Meta Announces New Tools to Help Teens Fight Sextortion; YouTube Has Apple Vision Pro App in Works; Bluesky Opening to Public; Android 15 May Get Freeze Feature for All Unused Apps

Posted: February 6, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta is rolling out new updates to help teens on its platforms that will help teens battle sextortion. According to techcrunch.com, Meta is expanding availability of Take It Down, an online tool that it helps finance and is run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The company also updated its Sextortion hub with new guidance and is launching a global campaign to raise awareness about sextortion. Take It Down is intended to stop the spread of non-consensual intimate imagery. It allows teens to take back control of their personal intimate photos and prevents ex-partners and scammers from spreading them online. The system can be used by people under 18 who are worried their content has been or may be posted online. It can also be used by parents or trusted adults on behalf of a young person. Plus, it can be used by adults who are concerned about images taken of them when they were under 18.

We have previously reported that neither Netflix nor YouTube nor Spotify would have a native app for Apple’s new Vision Pro headset. Now, bgr.com reports that YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby has said that a native Vision Pro app is “on our roadmap,” but she didn’t share a release date. While we wait on a native app from YouTube, there’s already one developer that beat them to the punch. Christian Selig, the developer of the beloved Apollo for Reddit app that shut down recently, whipped up a third-party YouTube app called Juno for the headset. The app costs $4.99 and gives users the full native experience that Google hasn’t built yet.

Bluesky, the social media platform started by Jack Dorsey, former CEO of Twitter, has been available by invitation only for a while. Now, theverge.com says the app is ready to go public. Bluesky had grown to 2 million users and 3 million sign ups in closed beta, but has quite a ways to go to get even remotely close to Twitter successor X, or even Meta’s Threads app. 

Google has had a feature in place that archives unused apps to save memory. Now, androidpolice.com reports that Android 15 may extend the auto-archiving feature for unused apps to ones side loaded from other sources besides the Play Store. When you archive an app on Android, it does some spring cleaning. The heavy stuff gets tossed out, leaving behind a slimmed-down version on your device. Archived apps are also easy to spot—just look for a cloud icon hanging out on the app icon. If you ever feel the need to resurrect an archived app, just give it a tap. It’ll zip back to life, fully restored, as long as the app is still available.

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

Threads Downloads Triple in December; Galaxy S24 Getting Crash Detection; Microsoft Closed Loophole in AI Image Generator That Allowed Swift Deepfakes; Proposed California Bill Would Allow Parents to Block Algorithmic Feeds for Kids

Posted: January 30, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Threads, the Instagram answer to the old Twitter had huge growth when it dropped last summer, then stalled out. Now, it looks like it is taking off again. The app tripled its downloads in December, placing it in the top 10 most downloaded apps for the month on both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. According to techcrunch.com, intelligence firm Appfigures reported 12 million new Threads downloads in December, grabbing the #4 spot on Apple’s App store and #8 on the Google Play Store. Meanwhile, X…formerly Twitter, fell to #29 on Apple’s App Store and #46 on the Google Play Store. 

Being in a car crash is a harrowing experience…particularly when it is enough to set off the airbags. Some cars have emergency calling built in, but now Samsung’s S24 phones will join Apple’s iPhones and Google’s Pixel 4 phones in alerting your loved ones if you are involved in a crash. Androidpolice.com notes that all Android devices are equipped with accelerometers and gyroscopes which the OS can read, and the phone can infer when there’s a car crash by analyzing sensor data. Google has been pushing Android phone makers to use the crash detection, so this may open the floodgates for others to follow along. 

Microsoft closed the loophole in its AI image generator that could create explicit images of celebrities like Taylor Swift. After the widespread outrage from Swift’s fans last week after explicit deepfakes of her showed up on X, Redmond took the action. Theverge.com says that Microsoft’s Designer AI image generator could be hacked by altering prompts that got around simple name blocks. Microsoft put out a statement claiming they are committed to a safe and respectful experience for everyone. Time will tell if the hackers are able to get around the updated software. Just before the Swift explicit deepfakes appeared, recall that someone was making political robocalls in New Hampshire with a cloned voice of President Biden. The battle will continue. 

California is considering a couple of bills that would protect kids from social media addiction and preserve their private data. Engadget.com reports that SB976 would give parents the power to remove addictive algorithmic feeds from their children’s social channels. If passed, it would allow parents of children under 18 to choose between the default algorithmic feed — typically designed to create profitable addictions — and a less habit-forming chronological one. It would also let parents block all social media notifications and prevent their kids from accessing social platforms during nighttime and school hours. AB 1949 would attempt to strengthen data privacy for CA children under 18. The bill’s language gives the state’s consumers the right to know what personal information social companies collect and sell and allows them to prevent the sale of their children’s data to third parties. Any exceptions would require “informed consent,” which must be from a parent for children under 13.

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

Microsoft Better Battery Prototype; Amazon Launches Matter Casting at CES; Meta to Restrict Teen Instagram & Facebook Accounts-Blocking Self-Harm & Eating Disorder Content; Google Chromecast-Watch TikTok on Your TV

Posted: January 9, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Researchers at Microsoft and the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) say they’ve discovered a way to reduce the lithium content in batteries by as much as 70%, using a process that shows the potential for artificial intelligence to significantly accelerate all sorts of scientific research. Geekwire.com reports that The researchers used AI and high-performance computing to identify promising materials for batteries in a matter of days, successfully shortcutting a process that would normally take years or decades, according to an announcement Tuesday from Microsoft and the lab. Researchers acknowledge that the chemistry has yet to be fully proven, and might not work at a larger scale. They say it’s nonetheless a promising development in the quest for alternatives to traditional lithium-ion batteries, which are widely used but have drawbacks such as scarcity, cost, environmental impact and safety.

Amazon just showed off Matter Casting at CES. The system is an interoperable rival to Apple’s AirPlay. Initially, it will only support streaming content from Amazon’s Prime Video app to Echo Show devices, but the feature will support Fire TV in the coming months according to macrumors.com. Later in the year, it will work across a range of other video services, including Plex, Starz, Pluto TV, Sling TV, and ZDF. The Matter standard allows interoperability between platforms, and is backed by Amazon, Google, and Apple. Besides streaming, it is designed to make internet of things devices in your home from your fridge to your thermostat…all play nicely together…eventually. 

Meta has announced that it will automatically limit some types of content teens can see on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. Techcrunch.com says those accounts will be automatically restricted from seeing harmful content, such as posts about self-harm, graphic violence and eating disorders. That content was already kept from Reels and Explore, but now will not be shown in Feed and Stories…even if shared by someone a teen follows. Meta is also automatically placing all teen accounts in Instagram’s and Facebook’s most restrictive content control setting. The setting is automatically applied for new teens joining the platforms, but now it will be applied to teens who are already using the apps. The content recommendation controls, which are called “Sensitive Content Control” on Instagram and “Reduce” on Facebook, are designed to make it harder for users to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts in places like Search and Explore.

Not that more people need more ways to view TikTok, but now Google has announced at CES that they have added TikTok compatibility to Chromecast. Cnet.com reports that in addition, Google has rolled out Fast Pair support for quicker Bluetooth connections…this will work on LG TVs with built in Chromecast this year in addition to the Chromecast dongle. As for the TikTok content…that compatibility is available now…you can stream content including live videos from your phone or tablet over Chromecast to your TV. 

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. 

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