Apple Finally Approves Epic Game Store; Tesla Insiders-Musk Ordered Optimized Self Driving for Self & Influencers; Meta Expands Policy Removing More Posts Attacking ‘Zionists;’ Chinese Self-Driving Cars-Mapping & Gathering US Data

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

The third time is apparently the charm…after a couple of rejections, Apple has finally approved the Epic Games Store app for iOS in the European Union. Arstechnica.com reports that this will move Apple into compliance with the letter of the law under the Digital Markets Act, although not necessarily the spirit. The latest squabble involved Apple claiming that the shape of the buttons in the app too closely resembled Apple’s own. After kicking up a fuss on social Media, Epic finally got approval…with the caveat that they have to change the buttons going forward. Epic can now finish building out its game store, which will be available soon to EU users. 

A lot of people have figured out that when it comes to Tesla and other Elon Musk controlled companies…it’s always all about Elon. Now, according to electrek.co, insiders are saying the Muskman had his Full Self-Driving team optimize routes that he himself takes as well as routes taken by Tesla FSD content creators, which would explain the discrepancies in the efficacy of the system. Business Insider put out a report today based on conversations with current and former Tesla workers who claim Tesla has been optimizing its self-driving neural nets specifically for routes taken by CEO Elon Musk and Tesla influencers producing FSD content. The report claims that data annotators, people who review clips from Tesla vehicles to help train its self-driving neural nets, were given the task to focus on two categories: “Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a select set of “VIP” drivers.” Several confirmed that they were told specifically to focus on routes around Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter locations, and also a mansion previously owned by Musk. Now there’s a good personal use of corporate resources!

Facebook and Instagram will start removing more posts that attack ‘Zionists’ when the term is used to represent Jewish people or Israelis in general. Bloomberg.com says that Meta is putting the term into what they call attacks on a person’s ‘protected characteristics.’ Up to now, that has just included their race, nationality, or religion. Posts will still  be allowed that refer to actual Zionists, but just not Jewish or Israeli people more broadly. 

There has been a good deal of reporting about the Chinese weather balloons flying near US bases inside American borders. There is also ongoing coverage about buyers who might or do have connections to China buying land near US military bases. Now, it turns out that 7 Chinese self-driving car makers have had vehicles cruising US roadways…mostly in California and on the west coast, quietly mapping and shooting pictures, with the data going back to servers in China. They have traveled 1.8 million miles! Slashdot.org reports that around 30 cars owned by Chinese companies and equipped with cameras and geospatial mapping technology were navigating the streets of greater Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose. They collected detailed videos, audio recordings, and location data on their surroundings to chart out California’s roads and develop their autonomous driving algorithms. The data could provide a foreign adversary with a treasure trove of intelligence that could be used for everything from mass surveillance to war planning, according to security experts who spoke with Fortune Magazine. At present there are no rules in place preventing such activity. Let’s hope our political leaders get in gear!

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

VW-Billions to Rivian to Use Software & Electronics; Google Tests Face Recognition Building Entry; Samsung Unpacked July 10th; AI Version of Al Michaels for Personalized Olympic Recaps

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

Volkswagen is putting up to $5 billion into young EV maker Rivian…with a billion of it immediately, and the other $4 billion over time. Arstechnica.com reports that the companies are forming a joint venture. Not only will VW use Rivian’s software and ‘zonal electronics platform’ in VW, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, and Ducati vehicles, but they plan to make Rivian’s drive engineering and display software available to other brands for a price. Ford and Amazon have previously invested in Rivian. 

Google is testing out facial recognition for building security, “to help prevent unauthorized individuals from gaining access to our campuses,” according to CNBC. The first test is at an Alphabet site in Kirkland, Washington. A rather chilling note…it won’t be optional. Interior security cameras have been collecting facial data and comparing it to images stored from employee badge images, which includes the extended workforce, to help determine if there are unauthorized people on the premises. Google does say the data is for immediate use and won’t be stored. Eventually, ID badges won’t be used going forward for the facial recognition. 

Samsung has announced that the next Galaxy Unpacked event will be July 10th. Androidpolice.com says we can expect to see the next generation of foldables and wearables from Samsung…although as usual, a lot has leaked already. One leak has both the Flip and Fold going up $150 each…a hefty price increase. Still, it is exciting to see the latest…Galaxy Z Fold 6, Z Flip 6, Watch & and Ultra…as well as the latest ear buds. The two folders are expected to feature less pronounced creases, which will be nice to have…even with a price bump. 

Tech and broadcasting, as well as TV and film, have been all over trying to use AI to clone voices and bodies…that’s one of the main things the SAG-AFTRA actors and voice folks were on strike last year. Now, NBC Has announced ‘Your Daily Olympic Recap’ on the Peacock App…voiced by an AI clone of Al Michaels. Theverge.com says to protect against AI hallucinations, “a team of NBCU editors will review all content, including audio and clips, for quality assurance and accuracy before recaps are made available to users.” Let’s hope so…and I hope that they are paying the almost 80 year old sports announcing legend appropriately for cloning his voice. NBC estimates that there could be as many as 7 million personalized variations during the games…I’m not seeing how a team of people will be able to review all those clips! Let’s hope Al doesn’t become a second ‘Weird Al!’

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

Apple Advanced AI Features Likely Opt-In; Samsung Foldables Leak; Twice is Twitching Subscription Pricing Up; Musk Diverting Tesla GPUs to His Other Companies

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

Just a few days until next Monday’s Apple WWDC keynote, and Bloomberg is reporting that the advanced AI features in iOS 18 will most likely be an opt-in service. As we have reported here, Apple has been working with OpenAI for over a year to incorporate its ChatGPT tech into iOS 18. The partnership will be fleshed out for us at the keynote. Meanwhile, Apple has also been hedging their bets, talking to Google about utilizing its Gemini in Apple operating systems. Apple has been working on their own large language model, but apparently felt they were behind the curve enough that they needed to partner with a competitor. It is expected that Apple’s own LLM will be limited to new Siri features, and that they will work on device. the more advanced AI will rely on cloud servers. 

Design info has been leaked about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 and they’re more ‘chonky’ as the saying goes. According to androidpolice.com, the handsets will adapt a boxy design much like the Galaxy S24 Ultra. When they are shown off in about a month, expect new AI features like live translator, circle to search and more. They also will have upgraded camera features and will run on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 silicon. One widely anticipated change…both phones will have a less visible crease! The Z Flip 6 may get an upgraded 50 MP rear cam, too. 

Apparently, ’Tis the Season…we just reported on Spotify jacking up prices, and now here comes Twitch, joining Spotify, Peacock, Max, and others in increasing prices. Engadget.com says starting July 11th, Twitch Tier 1 subscriptions will go up a buck from $4.99 to $5.99. In Twitch’s defense, this is the first increase of monthly subscriptions to US users. Twitch already goosed prices up on Canada, Australia, the UK, and Turkey. 

Again, Elon Musk is being accused of diverting Tesla resources to his other privately owned companies. CNBC reports that…according to emails from Nvidia staffers…he’s redirected some 12,0000 GPUs to his social media platform X. Musk told investors in April that Tesla had spent about a billion dollars on GPUs the first quarter of this year…nearly as much as the car maker dropped on R & D, despite being desperate for new models to add to what is now an old and very limited product lineup that is suffering rapidly declining sales in the US and China. Tesla has been working on its own in-house supercomputer for AI, named Dojo. Musk was accused of diverting Tesla resources previously to his other companies…back in 2022. Senator Elizabeth Warren noted in a letter to Tesla that this could violate what are called ‘anti-tunneling rules’ that are in place to prevent corporate insiders from extracting resources from their firms.

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

Wireless Carriers to Appeal Big FCC Fines; Tesla Investigated for Securities and Wire Fraud; Amazon Rolls Out Fleet of EV Big Rigs; US Revokes Intel & Qualcomm Licenses to Sell Huawei Chips

Posted: May 8, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

We just reported a few days ago on big fines totaling almost $200 million for the Wireless carriers…AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, and suggested that they wouldn’t just pay up. Now, in statements released, the big 3 wireless carriers have expressed their intent to appeal the FCC fines. Mashable.com reports that the fines were over the companies’ selling customer location data to aggregators, who then resold the info to third-party location-based service providers. In a statement, AT&T said “The FCC order lacks both legal and factual merit. It unfairly holds us responsible for another company’s violation of our contractual requirements to obtain consent, ignores the immediate steps we took to address that company’s failures, and perversely punishes us for supporting life-saving location services like emergency medical alerts and roadside assistance that the FCC itself previously encouraged.” Verizon issued a similar statement. Expect the carriers to not only appeal, but to continue to appeal to higher courts to draw things out for years…so they avoid paying the big fines, or perhaps get out of them entirely. 

Having to give up a lot of data to the NHTSA is one thing, but now it turns out that Tesla is being investigated by the Department of Justice for securities and wire fraud concerning its self-driving claims. Wire fraud is never good…the government is pretty accomplished at proving cases centered around that. According to theverge.com, an investigation over self-driving claims has been ongoing since late 2021. Federal prosecutors are now starting to zero in on specific charges though…securities and wire fraud. For years, Elon Musk has been promising fully autonomous Tesla vehicles are just around the corner — while also admitting that he often sets overly optimistic timelines. Meanwhile, the company’s advanced driver-assist features, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, do not make the vehicles autonomous and require drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road. The DOJ is also looking at Tesla’s over-optimistic range claims…although as any gas car owner can tell you, it’s a pretty rare moment when your gas car makes the claimed EPA mileage, too. 

Amazon is hitting the road with 50 heavy duty electric semi-trucks in Southern California. Geekwire.com says it is the largest such fleet to handle first and middle mile operations, as Amazon moves further towards decarbonizing operations. You have probably already seen Amazon electric delivery vans…I have seen a number of them the last few months, but the new big rig EVs will move goods move from where they are manufactured, through customs, across oceans, into ports, and then into Amazon’s fulfillment network….so-called first mile. Middle-mile trucks move Amazon orders between fulfillment centers, sort centers, air facilities, and delivery stations, where packages are finally loaded into last-mile vans to be delivered to customers. Amazon has deployed 35 electric heavy-duty vehicles for such transportation in Southern California and installed more than 45 direct current fast chargers across 11 sites to power the trucks.

The US government has pulled licenses that let Intel and Qualcomm buy and sell chips to Huawei of China. This is the latest in trade restrictions placed on the Chinese company, which has been under other restrictions since 2019. Engadget.com notes that The decision will impact chips Huawei uses for computers and mobile phones and is effective immediately. You may recall that a few years ago, both the US and UK blocked use of Huawei cell tower equipment when it was discovered that they had back doors that allowed them to scoop up information for the Chinese government. 

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

Polestar-1st 10 Minute Charge EV; ChatGPT Saves Chat History Even if You Said No; Elon Cans Tesla EV Charging Team; Twitch New Discovery Feed Apes TikTok

Posted: May 1, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In a big, big first, Swedish EV maker Polestar has revealed the first 10 minute charging EV. Thenextweb.com reports that Polestar is using a so-called ‘silicon-dominant’ battery built by Israeli startup StoreDot. The battery uses silicon anodes instead of graphite. They can store 10 times the amount of lithium ions that graphite can, and take up much less space. This makes batteries that last longer and charge faster. Polestar dropped one of the battery packs in a working prototype of a Polestar 5…which is the model due out next year. It charged from 10% to 80% in under 10 minutes. This is what you call a game changer! The CEO of StoreDot, Dr Doron Myersdorf, said “Drivers can now truly travel long distances with the same freedom and convenience as traditional petrol-powered vehicles.” The batteries can be dropped into existing EV bodies, and can be charged using regular DC chargers.

ChatGPT now saves your chat history, even if you opted out of sharing your data to train the model. According to mashable.com, up to now, your chat history was only saved if you allowed OpenAI to use your conversations to help train the model…which forced users to to decide between keeping their data private and unrestricted functionality of the app. OpenAI has also released a Temporary Chat option…kind of a stealth mode for ChatGPT, which won’t show up in your chat history. If you are cool with the app keeping more tabs on your chat, you can turn on a Memory feature, and it will remember specific characteristics it has picked up from your conversations…oh, that’s not creepy at all. 

In his continuing rampage after a down quarter, Elon Musk has continued laying off staff. Over 10% worldwide have already gotten the chop, and now yesterday, Musk fired virtually the entire EV charging team…the folks responsible for the Supercharger network. Reuters.com notes that this surprised and shocked other car makers who have deals with Tesla to give their customers access to the network. It also calls into question whether Tesla can keep federal subsidies it is getting to expand the reach of its North American Charging Standard system. As usual, Tesla has had no comment on the layoffs. GM and Ford have both announced that they will continue to equip EVs with connectors to use Tesla Superchargers. 

Twitch has introduced its Discoverability Feed, that lets you scroll through live streams like on TikTok. Androidpolice.com reports that users can easily find personalized content on Twitch by scrolling vertically through live streams and clips…and also avoid ads. Even though it has been owned by Amazon since 2014, Twitch has heavy competition from YouTube Live, Kick, Rumble, and other platforms. The Discoverability feature should help small creators to grow their audience more quickly. The future is live on both iOS and Android right now.

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

Meta Oversight Board Will Rule on AI-Generated Content; Tesla Pauses Cybertruck Production; Apple Considers Expanding to Indonesia; Ecovac Window Cleaning Robot

Posted: April 17, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta’s Oversight Board is handling a couple cases involving AI generated explicit images of public figures. Although engadget.com notes that Facebook and instagram prohibit nudity, the board is concerned about what is known as deepfake porn. That usually involves AI generated images of female celebrities, politicians, and other public figures. The board seems to be leaning towards pushing Meta to adopt new rules to address harassment by use of deepfakes on Meta’s platforms. The oversight board is looking for public comment in the next couple weeks, and after that will publish a decision in a few more weeks. It’s debatable whether platforms can keep up with AI generated deepfakes, which continue to get better, but good they are trying. A realistic fake video of President Biden earlier got Meta to agree to label AI generated content.

Tesla has stopped production and deliveries for the Cybertruck…all due to a serious safety issue. According to mashable.com, the pedal cover can come loose and slide up the pedal. It becomes wedged in an indent in the floor of the Cybertruck when the vehicle is floorboard. After that, the truck tries to continue to go flat out…you can counter it by jamming on the brake and holding that down, but it has caused some scary moments for new owners. A couple of Elon fan sites say the production pause is just for 7 days, but as with a lot of things Tesla…since Musk fired the PR department years ago…no official word.

As Apple continues to pull away from dependency on production in China…having set up shop in India, Vietnam, and South America, now Cupertino is eyeing Indonesia. Macrumors.com says that CEO Tom Cook recently met with the president of Indonesia. During the meeting, Cook apparently highlighted mutual interest in boosting local manufacturing. Cook visited Indonesia right after a trip to Vietnam where he met with the Prime Minister. 

Lots of folks have robot vacuums. I even have a relative that has two of the handy…but pricy little rascals. Now, after some 10 years of making them, Ecovac has a really well working robot window cleaner. Zdnet.com reports that you can put on a cleaning pad, fill the tank…they recommend just water, and turn the little gadget loose and get those hard to reach outdoor windows sparkling clean. The latest greatest is called the Winbot W2 Omni, and while it sounds pretty great from reviews, it runs a substantial $600. When you can buy a Dyson vacuum for that or less, and robot vacuums for not a lot more, you may have to think twice about it…but what a slick deal. It can run about 110 minutes…unless you have a mansion or something like the Crystal Cathedral, you should be able to polish off your windows inside and out on one charge.

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

Apple Vision Pro Launch-Feb 2nd; Tesla & Space X Execs Have Musk Worries; Waymo Self-Drivers Coming to Phoenix Freeways; VW Will Add ChatGPT to Cars

Posted: January 8, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

As previously rumored, Apple will launch its Vision Pro mixed reality headset soon…and now we have an actual date. The $3500 headset will start shipping February 2nd in the US. Theverge.com reports that pre-orders will start January 19th at 8 AM Eastern. Apple also revealed the pricing for the Zeiss prescription lenses that users can get with it. Readers will be available for an extra $99, while prescription lenses will cost $149. The base model of the Vision Pro offers 256GB of storage and is packaged with the following accessories: solo knit band and dual loop band, a light seal and 2 light cushions, a cover, polishing cloth (wow, that’s an exciting one), battery, and USB-C charging cable and power adaptor. 

Over the weekend, a report came out that SpaceX and Tesla execs are concerned about Elon Musk’s drug use, and its possible affects on his security clearance and on SpaceX contracts. According to pcmag.com, in a report originally appearing in the Wall Street Journal, the Journal claims that Musk  has used marijuana, mushrooms, ketamine, LSD, ecstasy, and cocaine. His marijuana use put his security clearance at risk in 2019 after he smoked it on camera during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. SpaceX has federal spaceflight contracts, and the Drug-Free Workplace Act requires federal and non-federal workplaces with contracts of $100,000 or more to implement a Drug-Free Workplace Program, which includes drug testing requirements (even if the drug in question is legal in the state). NASA tests for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opioids, and PCP, according to NASA documentation from March. The Journal details several incidents during which Musk appeared to be under the influence, though his use of drugs was not confirmed and no one in Tesla or SpaceX leadership officially called him out on it. 

The Waymo One ride-hailing service will soon be able to use freeways. 9to5google.com says that in Phoenix, Waymo will “begin testing its fully autonomous passenger cars without a human driver on freeways” for a “significantly” faster experience. For example, a trip from Sky Harbor Airport to the northern parts of Scottsdale takes 25 minutes, instead of 50, when utilizing the AZ-101 compared to just surface streets. Waymo says it is “laser focused on our freeway ride hailing testing.” This is “especially important” for bringing Waymo One to other cities. In Los Angeles, for example, they are vital for getting from one part of town to another in a reasonable amount of time. The vehicles without human divers on freeways will initially be ridden in only by employees for further testing before it becomes available to the public. 

Volkswagen has announced at the CES that they will be adding ChatGPT AI to every European model that has their IDA voice assistant. Techcrunch.com reports that the chatbot will be primarily used to read content out loud to drivers and passengers. It should start rolling out in the 2nd quarter in Europe…VW says the feature is being considered for US cars, but didn’t give a date when they might offer it. Mercedes-Benz already added the chatbot to its MBUX infotainment system last June. 

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

TomTom & Microsoft In-Vehicle  AI Voice Assistant; FTC Bans Rite Aid from Facial Surveillance System; Playstation 5 Sales over 50 Million; Tesla Blamed Drivers for Parts Failures

Posted: December 20, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

TomTom has partnered with Microsoft to develop an AI voice assistant for vehicles. Thenextweb.com reports that the automotive assistant enables voice interaction with location search, infotainment, and vehicle command systems. This means that drivers can “converse” with the vehicle, ask questions about navigation directions or route stops, and use voice control to regulate the temperature, for instance, or open the windows and change radio stations. The assistant works across multiple Microsoft products, including its Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Kubernetes Services, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure Cognitive Services. It’s already built into TomTom’s Digital Cockpit, the company’s own in-vehicle infotainment platform, but can also be integrated into other automotive infotainment systems.

The Federal Trade Commission has banned Rite Aid from using facial surveillance systems for 5 years. According to engadget.com, this comes as part of a settlement with the FTC, which had accused Rite Aid of “reckless use of facial surveillance systems.” The FTC said in its complaint that the drugstore chain deployed an artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition technology from 2012 to 2020 to identify customers who may have previously shoplifted or have engaged in problematic behavior. Apparently, the company had created a database with “tens of thousands” of customer images, along with their names, dates of birth and alleged crimes. Those photos were of poor quality, taken by its security cameras, employees’ phones and even from news stories. As a result, the system generated thousands of false-positive alerts.

Sony’s PlayStation 5 has passed a big milestone…as of today, the company has announced that it has sold over 50 million of the gaming consoles since it launched in late 2020. Theverge.com notes that as recently as last July, they had sold 40 million, so sales are really picking up. Supply chain issues had held back sales for a while, but Sony says this is the first holiday season where anyone who wants to buy a PS5 can get hold of one. Even with supply chain issues, the PS5 hit 50 million in only one week less that the PS4 did. Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch sales dipped 18% this year, and Xbox sales were off 15%. 

A Reuters review of Tesla documents has found that tens of thousands of owners have been the victims of premature failures of suspension or steering parts. Internally, Tesla engineers called part ‘flaws’ and ‘failures,’ yet the company has denied some of the suspension and steering problems in statements to U.S. regulators and the public– and, according to Tesla records, sought to shift some of the resulting repair costs to customers. The company has alleged that owners abused the cars. The automaker charged customers with out-of-warranty cars to replace parts that Tesla engineers internally called flawed or that they knew had high failure rates. Engineers ordered repeated redesigns for several parts and discussed seeking money back from suppliers because of the defects. Unsurprisingly, neither Tesla nor top executive Elon Musk responded to detailed questions for this article by Reuters. 

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

Whistleblower-Tesla Autopilot ‘Experiments on Public Roads;’ Cruise Fined for Withholding Crash Info; Lenovo Legion-King Sized Answer to Steam Deck; iOS 17.2 Improves iPhone 15 Pro Telephoto Cam

Posted: December 5, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A former Tesla employee turned whistleblower has called Tesla cars with Autopilot ‘experiments in public roads.’ Arstechnica.com reports that the individual, who leaked thousands of accident reports and other documents expressed his doubts about the safety of Tesla’s Autopilot system in an interview with the BBC published today. “I don’t think the hardware is ready and the software is ready,” ex-Tesla employee Lukasz Krupski said. “It affects all of us because we are essentially experiments in public roads. So even if you don’t have a Tesla, your children still walk in the footpath.” 

Krupski was also featured last month in a New York Times article titled, “Man vs. Musk: A Whistleblower Creates Headaches for Tesla.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk once thanked Krupski after the employee “put out a fire at a Tesla car delivery location in Norway, seriously burning his hands and preventing a disaster,” the report said. He was sued by the auto maker last year. Krupski reportedly intends to sue Tesla for compensation over his firing. 

GM owned self-driving company Cruise has been whacked with fines and may also get sanctioned after not disclosing details about a crash on October 2nd in San Francisco. In that accident, the Cruise vehicle dragged a pedestrian some 20 feet. TechCrunch.com says the California Public Utilities Commission is hauling Cruise in for an appearance on February 6th to defend itself in a hearing…against accusations that it failed to provide “complete information to the Commission” regarding the incident, and “for making misleading public comments regarding its interactions with the Commission.”  Cruise didn’t give the PUC requested video of the crash for some 15 days after it was requested. The fines could end up totaling $2.25 million. 

Valve has just released the latest iteration of its Steam Deck handheld gaming system, with a number of worthwhile updates. Now, Lenovo has released the rival Legion Go…which stretches the concept of ‘handheld’ even more than the Steam Deck. The $700 gaming machine from Lenovo has an 8.8 inch OLED screen, making it the biggest screen on any handheld gaming system around. The controllers attach to the sides like on the Nintendo Switch. Engadget.com notes that it is fairly speedy and works well, and the screen is very good…the real down side comes with it’s size…the thing weighs 1.88 lbs  and it’s 11-3/4 inches across…so more of a laptop than a handheld. It will run between an hour and a half and three hours depending on what gam you are playing. 

Apple has said in release notes that the upcoming iOS 17.2 software update improves focusing speed when trying to shoot small, faraway objects with the telephoto on iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. According to 9to5mac.com, the update also enables support for spatial video on those handsets…which is really meaningless for all of us until the Vision Pro headset comes out early next year…and frankly only applies to the few, deep-pocketed early adaptors who buy the pricy thing! At any rate, the software update should be public next week…I will be interested to try the faster focusing on small, distant objects.

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

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.

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