Tesla Getting Saudi Cash; Samsung Suspends in China; Apple ‘Inexpensive’ Notebook; Android 9 Pie Charging Issue for Pixel XL
Posted: August 13, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android Pie, Apple, China, Fast charging, Google, Macbook, Pixel XL, Quanta, Samsung, Saudi Arabia, Tesla Leave a commentA little more has slipped out about Tesla going private, and one particular item may appear to be a head scratcher….Tesla could be getting funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. According to engadget.com, they already have a 5% stake in Tesla, and would like more. Some are saying the Saudis look at it as a hedge against the oil business, but it could also be that they might someday look to Tesla’s battery and solar panel expertise to power the kingdom and even export electricity. Besides oil and sand, they do have an abundance of sunlight and open space!
On the heels of a pretty positive rollout for the Galaxy Note 9, Samsung is thinking of suspending operations at one of its plants in China due to sagging sales and increasing labor costs. Reuters.com reports that Samsung may shutter its plant in Tianjin. The smartphone market overall has been experiencing slow growth as it matures and becomes relatively saturated. Local Chinese competition has also whacked Samsung’s China penetration. 5 years ago, they had 20% of that market, now it’s less than 1%…with Huawei and Xiaomi undercutting them on prices.
Macrumors.com says Quanta will be building Apple’s upcoming ‘inexpensive notebooks’ in the 4th quarter of 2018. Of course, ‘inexpensive’ is relative when it’s Apple! The cheaper notebooks should drop in September or October, but it’s not clear if they will be branded MacBook, MacBook Air, or some entirely new name. While inexpensive notebook might mean a few hundred bucks for the likes of a Chromebook, Don’t look for Apple to put out one for much less than $999!
An issue has come up with the latest release of Android, version 9…dubbed ‘Pie.’ 9to5google.com reports that fast charging over USB-C seems to have been killed in the original Pixel XL phones. Reports vary…some have said the original charger that came in the box still works, but 3rd party ones don’t. Others have said replacements from the Google Store also don’t work. In a few reports, even the charger that came in the box won’t fast charge. So far, no comment from Google on the issue, including whether a fix is comi
Galaxy Note 9 ‘Unpacked’; NYC Whacks Uber and Lyft; Facebook May Drop From #2 Website; Apple Considers Subwoofer for iMacs
Posted: August 9, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Bluetooth S-Pen, Facebook, Galaxy Note 9, Google, iMac, Lyft, New York City, Ride-hailing, Samsung, Subwoofer, Uber, Web traffic, YouTube Leave a commentSamsung has unveiled the Galaxy Note 9 at their Unpacked event. 9to5google.com notes that it bows with up to 512 gigs of storage, a Bluetooth S-Pen, and has a base price of $999. It’s not a revolutionary update, but has some nice adds…the Bluetooth connected S-Pen, for one. The connection lets you use the pen as a remote shutter for the camera, and a remote for presentations. The Note 9 still rolls with dual cams and the dual aperture primary sensor like the S9 family. It does have a built in AI camera mode that adjusts settings to get the best possible shot. Besides the Bluetooth pen, another notable advance is the 4000 mAh battery, which is up 20% from the Note 8. It should give virtually everyone an all day battery, and has USB-C fast charging as well as wireless charging (with charging pad.) You’ll drop the $999 for the 128 gig model, and a wallet crushing $1249 for the 512 gig memory rig.
New York City’s Council voted to cap the number of for-hire delivery and transportation vehicles yesterday, in a kneecap to Uber and Lyft. According to theverge.com, the city will halt new for-hire licenses for 12 months while it studies the industry. The council made an exception to vehicles that are wheelchair accessible…those can still be licensed. Exceptions can also be had for particular neighborhoods that are low on ride-hail vehicles. The council also passed a bill that establishes a $15 living wage for drivers. Both bills head for Mayor de Blasio’s desk, and he’s likely to sign them. Uber already has 80,000 vehicles in NYC.
Facebook has taken some real hits lately, but may be about to get another body blow. Businessinsider.com reports that SimilarWeb has released a study showing that Facebook is about to be passed up as the number two website in America by YouTube. YouTube is projected to blow past Facebook in traffic in the next 3 months, making it #2 to parent Google. Facebook’s monthly visits have dropped from 8.5 billion two years ago to 4.7 billion this past July. YouTube is up to 4.5 billion in July, and on an upswing.
Apple may be getting ready to improve the tinny sound of the built in speakers in their iMac. They have patented a way of putting in a subwoofer that would double as a cooling device. Without getting into the weeds technically, Apple would use sub-audible air flow to reduce the amount of noise the computer makes in addition to providing cooling and sub-woofer thump for music. Geek.com points out it may be another great idea that never sees the light of day, but a very interesting combination that would go well into Apple’s impossibly skinny computers.
Galaxy S10 Unique Feature; Facebook Earnings Crash; Facebook Grabs Redkix; Apple May Drop Qualcomm Modems
Posted: July 26, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Facebook, Galaxy S10, Intel, Modems, Qualcomm, Redkix, Samsung, Ultrasonic fingerprint reader, Workplace 1 CommentThe Galaxy Note 9 bows in just a couple weeks, but meanwhile, we have more word on a possible killer feature for next year’s Galaxy S10. No, it’s not the foldable phone! Bgr.com says the fingerprint reader we’ve heard that would be under the screen on the Galaxy S10 will be something no one has had before. For the 10th anniversary of the iPhone competing smartphone, Samsung will use an under screen, ULTRASONIC fingerprint reader! The ultrasound fingerprint reader is supposed to have better performance than an optical sensor, and should give Samsung to tout against Apple’s Face ID. It sounds like both the two Galaxy S10’s will have this feature, as will next year’s high end Galaxy A and the 2019 Galaxy Note.
After disappointing 2nd quarter earnings were reported yesterday, Facebook stock went off a cliff. Businessinsider.com reports that the stock dropped enough to be on pace to lose $115 billion in market value…which would be the biggest collapse in market history. Facebook reported earnings after hours Wednesday, and dropped 24% in an hour. Investors didn’t like sales and subscriber numbers that were lower than expected, but really hated the warning of a growth slowdown. Investors also pounded other monster cap companies in tech…Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet all lost more than 1.5% overnight.
A positive note for Facebook…at least theoretically…lies in the acquisition of Redkix, and email startup that combines email, messaging, and calendar features into one app. According to recode.net, Facebook intends to roll the app into Workplace, their enterprise social network platform. Facebook and about 30,000 other companies have their employees using Workplace internally for messaging and groups. Facebook hasn’t shared how many of these are paying customers, nor has it broken out Workplace revenue on earnings reports, so it’s hard to tell if the subscription model is working for them.
After a brutal legal battle, it looks like Apple will be going with all Intel Modems, and dropping Qualcomm. Appleinsider says the Qualcomm CFO noted in a conference call that Apple will be using only Intel modems in the upcoming iPhones. Intel has only been supplying Apple modems since 2016. Besides the legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm, the Intel modem chip runs on both GSM and CDMA networks, so has that big advantage. Losing Apple…even if only for a year…would be a big hit to Qualcomm’s earnings.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Rumors; Netflix Misses Growth; Boeing Drone Traffic System; Skype Updates Desktop App; Apple Store Crushes Google Play
Posted: July 17, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Air traffic management, App Store, Apple, Blockchain, Boeing, Drones, FOD, Galaxy S10 Fingerprint on display, Google, HD, Netflix, Play Store, Samsung, Skype Leave a commentThe fabled in-screen fingerprint scanner may come to the Samsung Galaxy S10 in 2019. Businessinsider.com reports that the FOD, or fingerprint on display will let users get their finger scanned by putting int on the screen. The two larger, more high-end Galaxy S10 handsets will have an ultrasonic version of this…but the smaller Galaxy S10 will keep the fingerprint scanner on the side. The S9 phones have a reader on the back. Apple ditched fingerprint scanning last Fall for its Face ID. Samsung may ship 40 million Galaxy S10 phones in 2019 according to well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Netflix stubbed its toe in added subscribers for the first time in 5 quarters, and the stock took a plunge of over 13 percent. According to CNBC.com, they only added 5.15 million subscribers, down about a million from what was projected. Revenue also missed a bit…it was $3.91 billion instead of the predicted $3.94 billion. Analysts have worried that Netflix couldn’t sustain their growth, which has been over 100% year to date. They are also eyeing competition in streaming by Disney and AT&T. For next quarter, Netflix has just projected 5 million new subscribers, about what they did this quarter.
Some people need to be thinking ahead in order to plan for problems that most of us haven’t thought of yet. One of those is drone traffic. Right now, the only time there is an issue is with fires, when numerous media outlets and others try to fly drones over the scene to capture video, but the problem will only grow in the future. Boeing is starting to develop a drone traffic management system now to be ready. Geekwire.com says the system will use artificial intelligence and blockchain tech. A Texas AI company called SparkCognition is partnering with Boeing on the AI portion, as the aircraft company has formed a new business group called Boeing NeXt. Other companies are also looking into drone traffic management, including AT&T, Amazon, and Alphabet’s Wing.
Skype has rolled out a new desktop version, 8.0. TechCrunch.com reports that version 7 will be killed by September 1st. New features include HD video and screen sharing in calls, support for @mentions in chats, a chat media gallery, and file and media sharing up to 300 MB. Encrypted audio calls and texts are coming later, as is built in call recording.
Apple continues to find ways to coin money in addition to selling hardware. Appleinsider.com reports that an analytics firm called Sensor Tower just did a study, and Apple’s App Store doubles the revenue of Google’s Play with just half the number of downloads. From January to June of 2018, the App store raked in $22.6 billion while Google Play took in $11.8 billion. Both stores are showing big time growth….year over year, first half of this year compared to last, the two app stores grew combined by 27.8%!
Prime Day is Here; The UK Spaceport Will Be in Scotland; Samsung Health Measurements
Posted: July 16, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Orbex, Prime Day, Samsung, Scotland, Spaceport, Speckle, UK Leave a commentChristmas in July is here…or as Amazon calls it, Prime Day. The ‘day’ lasts 36 hours, not even counting the pre-sale deals or ‘last chance’ ones. Techcrunch.com notes that, as is often the case, a couple of the hotter deals are on Amazon’s own products. The Amazon Cloud Cam is $60, or half price. The Kindle Paper White has been dropped to $80, which is $40 off regular price. If you’re looking for something more pricey and outdoorsy, check the DJI Mavic Pro foldable drone at $999, which is $300 off the usual price. Prime Day officially starts at noon Pacific time July 16th.
The first spaceport built for the UK Space Agency will be on Scotland’s north coast, and Lockheed Martin is a major winner, with a $31 million grant to develop it and a new made-in-Britain system for deploying satellites into orbit. Geekwire.com says London-based Orbex will get $7 million towards design of the Prime rocket, which uses bio-propane and will deliver payloads of up to 330 lbs into low earth orbit. Orbex has also raised $40 million in public and private funds towards the rocket project.
Samsung has applied for a trademark ‘Samsung Speckle’ in Europe. Rumors are flying regarding what it is…and most point-to a device using lasers to measure heart rate or blood pressure. Businessinsider.com says the recent filing referring to the mark mentions a “laser speckle interferometric system” described in a previous patent application from 2016. Apple’s Watch uses LED lights to measure heart rates and to authenticate the wearer. A laser based system could be more accurate.
Ford-Bye Gas, Hello Batteries; Samsung Giant Indian Factory; Owning Apple i Devices = Wealth
Posted: July 9, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, EVs, Ford, Grey Poupon, India, iPhone, Samsung Leave a commentPreviously, Ford had announced that, outside of the Mustang, they were ditching cars for all SUVs and trucks. Now, engadget.com reports that Ford is going all-in on electrics. They plan to have a 300 mile range Mustang inspired small SUV (code name Mach 1) on the road by 2020. They plan to have 40 electrified vehicles…16 of then EVs…..by 2022.
Samsung has opened the world’s largest mobile phone factory in India. According to Bloomberg, it will make everything from $100 cheapies to the flagship S9. Locally, most sales in India are in the $250 or less range. Last year, India passed up the US to become the 2nd largest market for smartphones after China. Cisco did a study, and sees India going from 359 million smartphones in 2018 to 780 million in 2021.
In a study by the University of Chicago, in the US ’no individual brand is as predictive of being high-income as owning an Apple iPhone’. Businessinsider.com says the study was based on 2016 data. According to the researchers, owning an iPhone gave them a 69% chance to correctly infer that the phone owner was ‘high-income,’ which they defined as in the top 25% of income for the household type (like single adult….or couple with dependents.) For reference, back in 1992, the strongest indicator of high income households was Grey Poupon mustard!
Samsung Bug; Amazon Anti-HAck Drone; HTC Cuts; Big Bank Blockchain Success
Posted: July 3, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alphabet, Amazon, Anti-hacking, Bank transactions, Blockchain, Bug, Drones, Google, HTC, Messaging, Pictures, Samsung, SMS Leave a commentHere’s a creepy new development for some Samsung phone owners. Apparently, Samsung Messaging is randomly sending your camera roll photos to your contacts without permission. According to theverge.com, it is on the S9 and S9+ phones at the least…and appears to be when you use MMS messaging or send a message with a link. Samsung says they are aware of the issue and are looking into it. If you have the problem, Samsung says to call 1-800-SAMSUNG and let them know. The problem was first noticed on T-Mobile, but the carrier says it’s not their issue. Meanwhile, if you have a Samsung phone, better delete those racy selfies and private pictures until Samsung issues a fix!
Amazon just got a patent approved that they filed 2 years ago for “Hostile takeover avoidance of unmanned vehicles”. It’s aimed at making their future drones as hack-proof as possible. Amazon has been experimenting with having drones deliver people’s goods within an hour, so this is one step closer to that goal. The company’s other drone-related patents include self-destruction when a failure is detected and drones that can respond to gestures and voice commands. Mashable.com says Amazon is seeking to avoid hackers who might steal the drones and their payloads, crash them, or otherwise cause disruption to the operation of drones on their way to deliver your order.
The smartphone world is dominated by Samsung, Apple, and Huewei. Now, maker HTC is cutting a quarter of its workforce worldwide…mainly at its manufacturing plant in Taiwan. Reuters.com reports that HTC once sold 10% of smartphones worldwide, but that’s been in decline for some time. Sales were down 48% from year to year in March. The company is also consolodating its smartphone and virtual reality divisions. Last year, HTC shifted 2,000 handset engineers to Google in an 1.1 billion dollar deal. Alphabet’s Google has been trying to get a foothold in the handset market with it’s Pixel line of phones.
It was confirmed today that the first cross-border, commercial transactions have been conducted on the we.trade blockchain platform – an initiative established by a group of financial giants, including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Rabobank. These aren’t your average bank-funded, cross-border remittances transactions powered by the blockchain, though. This particular test was a sustained cross-country, multi-bank, interoperability remittance fest. Thenextweb.com reports that over a whole business week, 10 companies conducted trades on the we.trade platform, making use of four different banks, in 11 European countries. The successful tests are a major win for the IBM Blockchain Platform, which powers we.trade.
Galaxy S10 Biometrics; Printable 3D Organs; Facebook Renegade Shareholders; AT&T Buys AppNexus
Posted: June 26, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 3D Printed organs, AppNexus, AT&T, Facebook, Fingerprint sensor, Galaxy S10, Personalized ads, Prellis Biologics, Samsung, Shareholders Leave a commentThere have been rumors in the past that Samsung was going to completely ditch their iris scanner in favor of an improved version of their Apple-like Face ID. Now, it looks like the Galaxy S10 may actually do it. On top of that, 9to5google.com reports that Samsung may have figured out how to put the fingerprint reader under the screen, so they could drop the fingerprint sensor on the back of the S10. It looks like Samsung will be selling 5.8 and 6.2 inch sizes, unchanged from the S8 and S9 models. There may be a third model in the 5.8 inch form factor that will add a second camera, too.
A startup in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco called Prellis Biologics has apparently taken a big step toward developing viable 3D printed organs for people. According to techcrunch.com, the company has figured out a new tech that allows them to manufacture capillaries, a key component of making printable hearts, livers, kidneys, and lungs. Based on the new tech, Prellis has published findings that indicate that they could be able to deliver 3D printed organs implantable in people within 5 years. They are using holographic printing tech, which allows for the organs very quickly…before cellular material can deteriorate. Before humans, animal trials have to be run…and Prellis expects those to start in about 2-1/2 years!
Facebook shareholders with nearly $3 billion invested in the company are trying to topple Mark Zuckerberg as chairman and tear up the company’s governance structure. A report from Business Insider says there is an unprecedented level of unrest among Facebook’s backers following a series of scandals. At least a half dozen Facebook investors boasting nearly $3 billion in shares are making moves to remove Zuckerberg as chairman and break up his power base at the company. They want Zuckerberg to step down as chairman and an independent executive to be hired in his place. Shareholders also want Facebook’s dual-class share structure to be abolished because they believe it concentrates too much power into the hands of Zuckerberg and his top team. It’s a tough hill for the renegade shareholders to climb: Zuckerberg holds 75% of the class A voting stock.
Hot on the heels of their approval for snapping up Time Warner, AT&T is buying again…this time, a company called AppNexus, that delivers personalized ads based on Internet users’ Web browsing habits. The company will now be able to not only gather more information about people’s video watching habits, both online and on cable and satellite TV services, but can combine this data with AppNexus in order to deliver more personalized ads based on its customers’ TV watching and Web browsing histories. AT&T has 60 million smartphone subscribers, 16 million home internet customers, plus DirecTV already. They expect to close on the AppNexus purchase by 3rd quarter.
Samsung Galaxy X Folder; iPhones Beef Up Hack-proofing; Waymo Ridership; Microsoft Eyes Automated Check Out
Posted: June 14, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Automated Check out, Folding Screen, Galaxy 'X, Google, GrayKey, iPhone, Microsoft, Samsung, Walmart, Waymo Leave a commentThe mythic Samsung Galaxy X folding smartphone may yet be coming…the latest rumors say in 2019…pretty cool news for those excited about a phone with a large, folding screen. Ok…that’s the good news. The not-so-good news? According to Golden Bridge Investment, it will probably cost a bit under $1850…or almost double the cost of the present iPhone X. In addition to the two OLED screens with virtually no bezel between them that fold in, the handset will have a third panel for use when the phone is folded. Bgr.com reports that unfolded, the inner screens will combine for a phablet-sized 7.3 inch display! Samsung partners should get a preview at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
Apple has confirmed a leak that says it is closing the tech loophole that has been letting law enforcement hack iPhones via USB based hardware like the GrayKey box. The GrayKey box is designed to plug into the Lightening port of an iPhone, and it then uses a data connection to brute force a passcode in as little as a few hours. In an upcoming software update, the port will be disabled and require a password starting an hour after the phone is locked. The setting will be enabled by default. Macrumors.com says an exception is charging…which doesn’t require a data connection. Apple notes that they aren’t anti-law enforcement…in 2017 they responded to over 29,000 National Security Requests from the US government.
This Spring, Google’s Waymo kicked off an Early Rider program to let people in Arizona get their feet wet in experiencing self-driving cars. They have now let us in on a bit of a progress report. Waymo has gotten 20,000 applications to participate, and so far, riders have ranged in age from 9 to 69. Destinations pretty well mirror rides from Uber or Lyft…the most popular is getting to work…followed by restaurants, schools, and bars. According to 9to5google.com, the biggest request by riders: closer pickup and drop-off points. You’ll be glad to know that Waymo is working on how to gently wake napping riders upon arriving at their destination!
Amazon’s checkout-less stores…Amazon Go… have been covered here a number of times, but now there’s word of a heavyweight challenger in the push to eliminate the check out line at stores….Microsoft. Reuters.com says The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts. Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has had talks with Walmart about a potential collaboration. While it isn’t clear how soon Microsoft could get their system to the market, it’s worth noting that they are the #2 provider of cloud services behind Amazon. According to analyst Gene Munster of Loop Ventures, the US market for automated checkout is worth some $50 billion dollars.
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