Google Leak Reveals AI That Web Surfs for You; Nintendo’s Next Gen Switch-Backward Compatible for Gaming; EU Will Fine Apple For App Store DMA Violations; Amazon Kicks off Drone Deliveries in Phoenix

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

We reported about Google’s next iteration of its AI, called Jarvis, last week. Now, bgr.com is reporting that a leak has given us more information about it. Apparently the AI Chrome extension will be able to “take over” your Chrome browser, performing tasks on your behalf like booking a flight or purchasing a product. Apparently, Google accidentally posted an internal preview of the product on the Chrome extension store. Listed as a “helpful companion that surfs the web with you,” Google quickly took it down. Apparently, some Chrome users did download it, but it didn’t work…as the prototype lacked some specific access permissions it needed. Honestly, if you are on the web, and can’t book a flight or buy something without help, I’m not sure AI is the answer for you….even if it ends up being called Jarvis. 

We know Nintendo is planning a newer version of the Switch, but don’t have a date or name…but now, thanks to their mid year policy briefing, we know that it will be able to play current Switch games, and have carryover for your Nintendo Switch Online services and account. According to theverge.com, Nintendo said that there was a drop of 31% in Switch sales the last 90 days…with some 4.72 million sold. Still, Nintendo crowed that ‘More software has been played on Nintendo Switch than on any other Nintendo hardware.’ Backward compatibility is a big issue, because systems haven’t tended to be 100% on it…although Xbox Series X and the Sony PS5 are mainly backward compatible. The Switch 2 or whatever they name it will be out before March 2025, according to Nintendo. 

Apple did not make changes that allowed developers to steer users to cheaper prices outside of the ‌App Store‌. Macrumors.com says the EU is now planning to fine Apple. I know…hard to imagine Apple not directing users to other, cheaper alternatives besides them! Apple did make some changes in August, but it apparently wasn’t good enough for European regulators. The fine amount hasn’t been disclosed, but the EU fined Apple $2 billion for anticompetitive behavior against third party music services earlier this year so that kind of gives us an idea. They could be fined up to 10% of their global annual sales. 

After ending its drone delivery experiment in Southern California, Amazon has kicked off deliveries in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area. Techcrunch.com reports that people will be able to order relatively small stuff including household, beauty, office, health, and tech supplies. By relatively small, we’re talking 5 pounds or less…but that does include some 50,000 items Amazon sells. Most deliveries will be at your location in an hour or less. Note that these deliveries are only going to be available during daylight hours and ‘favorable’ weather conditions…no heavy winds or heavy rain. Amazon has been testing prescription deliveries for over a year in College Station, Texas, and now they will expand to products like are being offered in the Phoenix area. 

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

iPad Pro OLED May Get M4 Chip; FTC Calls Out Amazon for Using Signal to Hide Comms; Switch 2 May Play All Original Switch Games; TikTok Ban-Minimal Impact on Creator Economy

Posted: April 29, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In about a week, we expect to see new iPads, and here’s a late breaking rumor. The OLED screen iPad Pro may be powered my a next generation M4 chip, instead of an M3 as widely expected. Engadget.com picked up the word from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On Newsletter. Gurman wrote “I believe Apple will position the tablet as its first truly AI-powered device — and that it will tout each new product from then on as an AI device.” If this is the case, expect big announcements at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in June. New AI features have already been predicted for iOS 18 and the upcoming iPhone models…with some features expected to also work on the current crop of iPhones. 

It’s never a good thing when the government tells you to keep communications around for an investigation, and then they find out you are deliberately hiding them. That is what the Federal Trade Commission is accusing Amazon of doing. According to mashable.com, the FTC has accused former top Amazon execs…including former CEO Jeff Bezos…of using Signal, and its automatic message deletion feature to hide communications…and doing so after the FTC ordered it to keep messages around as it was investigated for antitrust violations. No word about what kind of a spanking the FTC will give Amazon, but it’s never good to willfully disobey and order from an agency that can cause your business some pain.

A new rumor would be great news for portable gamers. Nintendo has been pretty vague about whether or not the Switch 2 will run original Switch games. MobaPad, which makes controllers and carrying cases says it is “in the process of developing the next-generation console controller” for the Switch 2 and has “acquired a lot of first-hand information” about the console as a result. the biggest takeaway from MobaPad’s blog post is that “the cartridge slot of the Switch 2 will support backward compatibility with physical Switch game cartridges, ensuring compatibility with players’ existing game libraries, including digital versions.” Game cards designed specifically for the Switch 2, on the other hand, “may not be compatible with the first-generation console.” Backward compatibility is a big deal, as many gamers have significant investments in games, and it is always a great good-will thing when a company allows for backward compatibility. The Switch 2 is expected in early 2025.

As the TikTok ban looms over the next 9 months, some analysts are saying that it will likely have minimal effect on the creator economy. TechCrunch.com reports that the reasoning behind this thinking is that former President Trump already tried banning it in 2020, and since then established creators have diversified to other platforms. The groups that might be affected though are live streamers who monetize via the TikTok Shop…which has a richer feature set than YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. This is particularly true of political content…which was a good deal of the point of the legislation banning the platform unless the Chinese government and related organizations divest ownership in the next months.

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

Scammers Edit Google Maps; Logitech Looks to Buy Plantronics; Video Game Spending Breaks Record; Disney Spend-More on Parks than All Movie Divisions Together

Posted: November 26, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scammers have figured out a new way to separate you from your money, and this one is particularly sneaky. Businessinsider.com reports that Google Maps has let users submit changes and corrections to listings. The hackers change contact info for banks listed via Google Maps, and when customers call what they think is their financial institution, the scammers confirm banking details from the unsuspecting customer and then drain their account! The scam is apparently hottest in India right now, but Google has previously advised that if you need to talk to your bank, get the number off the bank’s website, not from the Maps app!

You may well have or have had a Plantronics Bluetooth earpiece. I’ve had several over the years. Now, cnet.com says Swiss computer accessories giant Logitech has been in discussions about acquiring Santa Cruz, Ca based Plantronics…which was founded by a couple of pilots. The latest as of this morning is that those talks have ended, but it’s been known that the earpiece maker had put itself up for sale. Logitech had apparently offered $2.2 billion before the talks were called off. Plantronics just bought video conferencing equipment maker Polycom for $2 billion in July, so they probably thought the offer was pretty light.

Movies cost a lot to make, but rake in big bucks. Ralph Breaks the Internet pulled down $55.6 million opening weekend. Black Panther is the third highest grossing movie of all time, making $700 million just in the US. Movies pale at the revenue from video games and gaming systems nowadays, though. According to geekwire.com, video game spending hit a new record of $1.5 billion in October, up 75%. The Nintendo Switch and re-release of the NES Classic and a number of hot games raked in the cash. With the holiday quarter still in progress, game and game system makers have to be smiling broadly. 2019 should be big, too…with the remake of Resident Evil 2, Crackdown 3, Dead or Alive 6, and Jump Force all on the way…not to mention Kingdom Hearts 3, which will drop in January.

Disney has dropped a pretty penny to buy Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, and they make good money on the products. The investments in movie companies pales on what the House of Mouse is pumping into its 6 theme parks around the world, though. Bgr.com reports that Disney is spending or about to spend $24 billion on the parks and new ships for Disney Cruise Line. By comparison, buying Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm only cost Disney $15.4 billion combined! They are finishing up on the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, and will also complete one at Walt Disney World. The media nets and movies still make more…counting ESPN and ABC, Disney pulled in $6.6 billion for the fiscal year…but that’s down 3%. The parks made $4.5 billion, and that’s up over 100% from 5 years ago!

Switch Online Launches in September; Owl Auto Security Cam; Google Issues Router Fix; Amazon Hand Tracker Patent

Posted: February 1, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nintendo’s Switch online service, which had been delayed from last year, is now scheduled to be activated in September. Theverge.com says it will cost $3.99 a month, or $19.99 a year. Besides online play, the subscription will give players access to classic games, and features like leaderboards and multiplayer. The hot Switch has already outsold its predecessor Wii U…more than 14 million have been bought since it was launched.

An ex-Apple manager who helped develop the iPod has a startup that is making what they call the 1st security cam for your car. According to 9to5mac.com, the Owl security cam is always connected over AT&T’s LTE system, and it’s powered by the OBD (on-board diagnostics) port every modern car has. Owners can access 24 hours of video footage with a companion app. It has LED lights on either side for theft deterrence, and a 2.4 inch display. Since its always on, it is able to send alerts if activity is detected. The cam is $299, with cellular service for $10 a month, but at launch, a special bundle price of $349 includes the cam and 1st year of cellular service. Preorders are open today at owlcam.com, with delivery expected by the end of the month.

We reported earlier about a bug from Google Play Services that was causing routers to crash when Google Home or Chromecast devices were awakened. 9to5google.com reports that Google has rolled out a fix to all users. It’s version 11.9.75, and should be downloadable from the Play Store if it hasn’t updated your devices already on its own.

In what may be a useful tech that can’t outrun its creepy factor, Amazon has patented wristbands that track where warehouse workers’ hands are. The idea is to make sure they are reaching the right shelf or cubby to grab an item to be boxed and shipped out. Geekwire.com notes that not every patent actually makes it into use, and this one that has the wristbands which emit ultrasonic sounds or radio pulses to help guide the employees’ hands to the right bins may never see actual use. They seem extremely intrusive and super creepy!

10 Most Searched for Consumer Tech Products

Posted: December 27, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Because we all love lists, and anyway….it lets me channel my inner Casey Kasem, what were the most searched for consumer tech products this past year? According to Google’s Year in Search report, here are the top 10 hottest items people were looking for:

10- The Samsung Galaxy Note 8…even with the firey demise of the popular Note 7, the Note 8 was widely anticipated by fans of the 7.

At #9, the Apple Watch 3…mainly propelled by the addition of cellular connectivity and improved health and fitness tracking.

The 8th biggest search item was Google’s own Pixel 2 smartphones. The model 1 had a shakey start, but the Pixel 2 looks like a big hit for Google.

At #7, the Super NES Classic…the $80  pint-sized version of the original Super NES that plays 21 built-in games.

The 6th most searched for consumer tech item was the iPhone 8 Plus…which has better internals than the 7 Plus and wireless charging in Apple’s biggest handset.

Holding down #5, and a bit of a surprise…the Razer phone. The maker of gaming computers and accessories touts the Razer’s incredibly smooth visual images in their first phone, priced at $700.

The fourth most searched item was Samsung’s hot selling Galaxy S8 smartphone, with its beautiful wrap around screen and wireless charging.

#3 was the Nintendo Switch, which has been a runaway smash hit for Nintendo. The Switch has sold over 10 million since March.

The #2 spot was taken by Apple’s widely anticipated all glass iPhone 10, or X as some people call it. The thousand dollar hero phone with no home button was eclipsed by Apple’s own iPhone 8…which was the #1 most searched consumer tech item of 2017.

Apple iMac Pro Out This Week; AmEx Drops Signatures; Switch Passes 10 million in As Many Months; Clapboss Wins the Irritating War

Posted: December 12, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As Jobs used to say, ‘One more thing’…yes, Apple kicked the HomePod down the road into next year, but today announced that the iMac Pro will go on sale Thursday. Businessinsider.com reports that the pricey and powerful (starting at $4999) iMac sports a 27 inch Retina display, and can be upgraded (pushing up the nosebleed price even further) to 128 gigs of RAM, 4TB of storage, and an 18 core Intel Xeon processor. The Pro is really made for pros…audio and video pros who need all that power. Unlike the MacBook Pro, which has irritated Pros with only USB C ports and not even a Mag Safe connector, the iMac Pro rocks 4 USB ports, 4 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, and a wired ethernet port. Did I mention it starts at almost 5 grand? My eyes are still watering!

American Express has announced that it will stop requiring signatures for purchases. Engadget.com notes that in the last few months, both MasterCard and Discover had announced the same, but only in the US and Canada starting in April. AmEx is dropping signatures globally. All say that tech advances have made signatures obsolete. In some regions people will still have to sign where required by law. This should move lines at check stands faster and increase the spread of cardless transaction systems like ApplePay.

Gaming is more than alive and well! Nintendo has announced that it has pumped out 10 million Switch consoles in 10 months! Variety.com says they are on track to pass up the Wii U soon, which took 5 years to sell 13.6 million! Three games account for over half of game sales: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2.

If you’ve ever been irritated by thos obnoxious TV ads with the guy clapping to turn lights and Christmas trees on and off…or worse, been to Grandma’s and she actually bought and uses one, get ready for the ultimate annoyance….the Clapboss! Techcrunch.com says it’s a net connected dongle that lets you clap to turn things off and on. The Kickstarter is $39, and the irritating little dongle…which has a smug, smiley face on it…will be $80 retail. It supports 6 different clap patterns so you can turn on and off 6 different devices….and annoy the hell out of anyone living with you nearly to the point of justifiable homicide.

iPhone X Production Now Stabilizing; Nintendo Switch Chasing All-Time Sales Record

Posted: October 30, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Supply constraints on the iPhone X and it’s complex TrueDepth camera system are opening up. Macrumors.com has picked up a report by KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In addition to iPhone X production ramping up, Kuo says he expects all iPhones next year to have Face ID like the iPhone X, with Apple dropping Touch ID.

After the flop of the Wii U, Nintendo needed a hit, and it’s got a big one. According to businessinsider.com, the Switch is poised to sell some 14 million systems this year. That compares to just over 13 million EVER for the Wii U, which was on the market for 5 years! Next year should look good for the Switch too, with new games from the Pokemon, Yoshi, and Kirby franchises on the way. Nintendo is promising better Switch availability for the holiday season too.

Nintendo Scores big with the Switch; Lyft Donation Program Going Live; SiriusXM Buys Automatic

Posted: April 27, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nintendo has a serious hit in the Switch. The new gaming system sold 2.74 million in less than a month, and geekwire.com says that’s more than the Wii U sold in its first full year. The flagship game, “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” slightly outsold the console, too!

Lyft had announced it would be offering a ‘Round Up and Donate’ feature, allowing users to top off their fare to the nearest buck and give to a worthy cause. Now, tech crunch.com reports that the program will go live May 1st. It will bow on Android first, followed quickly by an iOS version. The first organization Lyft is supporting is the USO, the folks that provide support and entertainment to military members and veterans. There will be a number of other charity partners, with the user getting to choose which one they donate to.

SiriusXM has snapped up smart car accessory maker Automatic for a cool $100 million plus. Automatic makes a Bluetooth gadget that lets you track and read driving data from your iPhone.The Automatic Link plugs into the OBD….on board diagnostic port of your car, and transmits data to your phone. They also have a cheaper device called the Automatic Lite.

Mac Pro Will Rise Again; Nintendo Switch Warping issue; Oath for Pete’s Sake

Posted: April 4, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple has…well kind of…admitted that the ‘trash can’ Mac Pro was a dumb design, and lifted the curtain slightly on the next generation of Pros. Daringfireball.com’s John Gruber was one of the handful of journalists that got to peek at it. The bad news is…it’s due next year. On the plus side, it will be more modular, and accommodate high end CPUs and GPUs, and won’t need to look like a dongle octopus! There will also be an Apple branded Pro display. For those that can’t wait, Apple will also release a Pro level iMac yet this year….so, can we call that one ‘semi-pro?’ In addition, the present ‘trash can’ Mac Pros get a speed bump as an upgrade, and the price is right…the $2999 entry level model gets a 6 core processor, and the $3999 model goes from 6 cores to 8.

In a literally ‘not cool’ item, the hot new Nintendo Switch is a little TOO hot when docked. Bgr.com says with heavy play in the dock, they are physically warping. Apparently, there is a thread on Reddit talking about the issue, complete with pictures of the bent Switch units. For some of the early complainers, the company says that they would either repair the unit or transfer all of its data to a new console and then ship it back. They have yet to publicly acknowledge the problem, though.

In what is becoming a rather long line of stupid rebranding names, Verizon’s Frankenstein mash up of Yahoo and AOL will be called Oath. Maybe the clown who came up with this name should be called an OAF! Techcrunch.com says the name was first acknowledged on Twitter yesterday. The company is modestly claiming that they are launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital. Yeah, with a moniker like Oath, good luck with that.

iPhone Curved After All-Just Not Screen; New iPad, iPhone 7 Color Update; Tesla Model S Sets Speed Record; Nintendo Originally Wanted Custom Android Running Switch

Posted: March 21, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There has been a lot of chatter about the iPhone 8 having a curved screen, then flat, then slightly curved at the edges like the 7. Now, according to appleinsider.com, we may know why. A source out of Korea says it will have the flat AMOLED screen with slight curve at the edges, but the back will be a curved, 3D glass ‘water drop design.’

Apple today rolled out (RED) iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models, with part of the money going to the Global Fund for AIDS research. 9to5mac.com reports that they also announced a new $329 9.7 inch iPad which is on sale Friday. It replaces the Air 2, and has the older guts and just 32 Gigs of memory. This entry level iPad is out ahead of the expected upgrades and additional model to the iPad Pro line shortly.

A Tesla Model S P100 D just set a quarter mile speed record. It was already race car fast zero to sixty, but HorsepowerFreaks tweaked one a bit and pulled a quarter mile in 10.638 seconds. This is not a Tesla record, by the way….bgr.com notes it’s a record for ALL 4 door sedans…by an electric car. Let that set in, motorheads!

In a deal that never happened, Nintendo looked at getting a custom Android build from Cyanogen to run the Nintendo Switch. 9to5google.com says while that didn’t happen, the actual Switch runs an OS that is mostly a custom kernel with some ‘little bits of Android mixed inside.’ Cyanogen basically told them to ‘stick it,’ and Nintendo went back and rolled their own OS for the Switch…which seems to have worked out pretty well for them so far!