iPhone Fold Next Year-5 Cams; xAI (Musk) Sues Apple and OpenAI; YouTube Secretly Edited Videos With AI, Waymo Can Test Self-Drivers in NYC
Posted: August 25, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, Google, grok, technology, Waymo, YouTube Leave a commentEven though the new iPhones are due out in just weeks, including the anticipated iPhone Air…or whatever they actually end up calling the new ‘skinny’ iPhone, tidbits are already leaking out about next year’s Folding iPhone. 9to5mac.com reports that the Cupertino folder will feature 5 cameras, and will have Touch ID…and will use and Apple cellular modem. A number of these new details come from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and his Power On newsletter. As already reported, the iPhone folder will use the book style, not the flip phone style. Expect one cam on the front screen, one on the inside, and two on the back. The phone will use Touch ID, and will run on Apple’s in-house designed cellular modem…as Apple switches its entire line to the new modems. The camera setup will allow the phone to be used much like a regular iPhone when closed…with a selfie cam on one side and the two main cams on the back. When you open the phone up, the inside cam takes over as the selfie cam. Why no Face ID? In a word, space. Touch ID doesn’t require as much room, and since the folding phone will be notably thicker than a regular iPhone, every millimeter counts.
Elon Musk’s xAI is suing Apple and OpenAI, claiming that their deal to build ChatGPT into the iPhone is stifling competition in the AI industry. According to theverge.com, Musk-owened X Corp, the parent of xAI, accuses Apples App Store of “deprioritizing” rival chatbots and “super” apps, including Grok and X. Musk’s companies claim that iPhone users “have no reason” to download third-party AI apps because the company “force[s]” users to use ChatGPT as their default chatbot app when enabling Apple Intelligence. “Apple and OpenAI have locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing,” the companies allege. “This latest filing is consistent with Mr Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment,” OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood said in a statement. As for Apple, it had already put out a statement saying that the App Store is “designed to be fair and free of bias.”
YouTube has, in recent months, secretly used AI to tweak some creators’ videos without letting them know or asking permission. Bbc.com notes that one content creator noticed that his hair was different and that he seemed to be wearing makeup. In another case, wrinkles in a shirt were more sharply defined. Some ears appeared to be warped. YouTube has finally at least come clean on admitting the AI changes. Rene Ritchie, YouTube’s head of editorial and creator liaison, posted on “X: We’re running an experiment on select YouTube Shorts that uses traditional machine learning technology to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity in videos during processing (similar to what a modern smartphone does when you record a video). YouTube is always working on ways to provide the best video quality and experience possible, and will continue to take creator and viewer feedback into consideration as we iterate and improve on these features.” YouTube hasn’t answered media questions as to if it will now seek user permission before using AI to tweak their videos. I, for one, would really rather they didn’t use AI to give me Vulcan pointy ears like Mr Spock!
Waymo can now go forward and test its self-driving cars in New York City. The word came from the office of Mayor Eric Adams. Engadget.com said the company has a permit to operate the autonomous vehicles in parts of Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn. Right now, a small fleet of 8 vehicles will be able to operate until late September 2025. At that point, Waymo will be offered the opportunity to get an extension if all goes well. Right now, human operators will be on board…New York state law prohibits operation of vehicles without a driver behind the wheel. Waymo is lobbying to get this regulation changed.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Google Maps to Rename Gulf of Mexico for Trump; Apple’s Big Release of Year; Waymo Starts Testing Robotaxis on LA Freeways; Google Store Adding ‘Verified’ Badge to VPN Apps
Posted: January 28, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, News, Tech, technology, Waymo Leave a commentIn a stunning and embarrassing move, Google Maps will rename the Gulf of Mexico the ‘Gulf of America,’ in order to appease new president Donald Trump. 9to5google.com reports that the rest of the world besides the US will see both Gulf of Mexico and ‘Gulf of America.’ The name of Mount Denali in Alaska will also revert to Mount McKinley. Again, non-US users will see both names. Google says it has had a ‘longstanding practice to use official government sources.’ Expect to see these ridiculous changes soon. I can sense the laughter from the rest of the world right now.
Apple’s big release of the year may not be an iPhone Air or whatever they decide to call the skinny phone. Some Apple watchers think the big push will be the new home unit, being dubbed the ‘HomePad’ instead. According to bgr.com, the gadget will have a 7 inch screen and can be attached to a wall or a base with built in speakers. Such a device will be a major expansion into the home hub market for Apple. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman thinks it will be smaller and cheaper than an iPad and will run its own operating system. With an A18 chip in it, it will be significantly more powerful than the HomePods, which run on an Apple Watch chip.
Little by little, they keep expanding the territory. Now, Waymo’s robotaxis in Los Angeles are moving from city streets to the metro’s famous…or infamous…freeway system. Techcrunch.com says to expect to see the Alphabet-owned robot vehicles on I-10, 110, 405, and 90 for the time being. The cars will NOT have a safety driver behind the wheel! At first, they will only be transporting company employees, but plan to expand to the general public. Waymo has already been running on highways in the Bay Area on Peninsula and San Francisco freeways.
The Google Play store is adding ‘Verified’ badges of consumer facing VPN apps. 9to5google.com notes that the store already introduced a ‘Government’ badge last year, so this is something of an expansion of that. Google says the VPNs have an ‘independent security review’ in the Data safety section. A banner will also appear in search results. The new ‘Verified’ badge with shield and checkmark will show up next to the app rating and above the install button. Google has a list of requirements the VPN must meet to get verified.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Samsung-Big Increase in Galaxy Ring Production; Alphabet Pours $5 Billion More into Waymo; Meta Drops Biggest & Allegedly Best Open Source AI; Ocean Battery Rocks Make Oxygen
Posted: July 24, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, News, technology, Waymo Leave a commentSamsung’s Galaxy Ring appears to be a big hit, just as it has become available for general sale, following the preorder period. 9to5google..com reports that Samsung has increased production of the Ring by 150%, adding 600,000 more units this year. Samsung will crank out over a million Rings by the end of the year. That may not seem like a lot with it comes to consumer electronics, but for comparison, the number is equal to the number of Oura Rings sold in the last six years! the Ring starts at $399, and is available at several retailers in addition to Samsung’s website.
The push for self-driving vehicles rolls on. Alphabet is getting set to pump another $5 billion into its Waymo self-driving subsidiary the next several years. According to techcrunch.com, the multi year investment was announced but Ruth Porat, the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Alphabet expects with the added cash, that Waymo will continue as the world’s leading autonomous driving tech company. Waymo is presently delivering over 50,000 paid rides a week, with their fully driverless ride-hail service in San Francisco and Phoenix…and they have now added Los Angeles and Austin. Waymo just started with paid rides in LA the first of July, and will add paid trips in Austin later this year.
Meta has just released their open sourced AI model, Llama 3.1, the largest open source model ever. Meta claims that it outperforms OpenAI’s Chat GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet as measured by several benchmarks. Theverge.com notes that those large language models are private models…not open source. Meta has dropped millions into the project, and Mark Zuckerberg says that they see open source underpinning most AI moving forward, much like how Linux has become the open source operating system that powers most phones, servers, and gadgets today. Meta is working with Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Nvidia, and Databricks to help them deploy their own versions. They think their open source AI will surpass Chat GPT as the most widely used model by the end of the year.
As mining firms and nations around the world go big on deep sea mining, an interesting discovery has indicated that we should hit the brakes a bit. Thenextweb.com reports that the huge cache of potato-sized rocks on the ocean floor hold a treasure trove of manganese, nickel, and cobalt…all crucial ingredients of lithium-ion batteries. Now, scientists from the Scottish Association of Marine Science has discovered that the rocks contain a very high electric charge….like natural rock batteries. They naturally cause seawater to split into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called seawater electrolysis. It only takes 1.5 volts to split seawater…same juice as a AA battery. Considering that the rocks produce what is called ‘dark oxygen,’ that is oxygen produced without light, the scientists say we should back off a bit on the major mining of them.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Waymo Public Self-Driving Service Imminent; Facebook Patches Nasty Bug; Amazon Formalizes 2nd HQ (two of them); Apple XR Estimates Cut, but Sells Big on Singles’ Day
Posted: November 13, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alibaba, Amazon, Apple, Commercial self-driving taxi service, Crystal City, Data, Facebook, Hack, HQ2, Long Island City, Lyft, Nashville, Singles' Day, Uber, Waymo Leave a commentWaymo is apparently going to go live with their first commercial driverless car service in December. No name has been leaked yet, but cnet.com reports that the service will be a direct competitor for Uber and Lyft. Waymo will field its fleet of Chrysler Pacifica vans for the service, which will NOT be free. Expect to us an app to hail the car and pay for the ride. An article over the weekend speculated that, in a few years, we might see self-driving vehicles used for quick sex romps…but we will leave that to your imagination.
The engineers at Facebook have squashed a nasty bug in their code base that could have allowed hackers to collect highly personal info on Facebook users. According to zdnet.com, a security researcher found the bug and notified Facebook. He was browsing their online search results, and in the HTML saw iframe elements. By simple queries of yes and no, a lot could be determined about user interests and those of their friends. The researcher believes the iframe was used by Facebook itself. The bug was discovered in May, and the platform patched it shortly after being notified. The researchers, Ron Masas, points out that Facebook has become such a large and complicated platform, that there will always be bugs and hacks…even with their relatively generous bounty for people that spot problems and notify them.
It was reported here and elsewhere last week that Amazon was likely going to settle on two locations for it’s HQ2, and today they made it official. Theverge.com says Long Island City in Queens, NY, and Crystal City in Arlington, VA will share the HQ2 duties. Amazon already employs more people in these two locations than anywhere else outside of its Seattle HQ and the San Francisco Bay Area. An additional announcement was that Nashville will host a new East Coast operations hub, which will handle customer fulfillment and transportation. That facility will employ some 5,000.
The iPhone is doomed…long live the iPhone. A report from Ming-Chi Kuo cuts shipment estimates for the new iPhone XR from 100 million to 70 million, and that…coupled with the announcement last week that Apple won’t be releasing iPhone sales numbers moving forward, have whacked the stock. Nonetheless, 9to5mac.com says Apple had a huge day during Alibaba’s Singles’ Day on Sunday. Apple was the top selling mobile phone brand…one of 237 brands that pulled in over $14.36 million in sales on that one day (yes, it’s a funny number…but a nice, round 100 million yuan.) Apple even beat Chinese makers Xiaomi and Huawei. Huawei did come in 2nd, and Xiaomi was third in sales, though. Neither Alibaba nor Apple broke out what iPhone models sold the most during the giant online one-day event.
Driverless Waymo’s Hitting Cali Roads; Ford & VW May Share e-Platform; Apple Pulls watchOS Update; Solar Cell-Electricity & Hydrogen Simultaneously
Posted: October 31, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alphabet, Apple, artificial photosynthesis, Berkeley Lab, Driverless cars, EVs, Ford, Google, VW, WatchOS, Waymo Leave a commentThe application went in last spring, but yesterday, Google’s Waymo got permission from California to start testing driverless cars on public roads. 9too5google.com notes that Waymo was already operating in 25 US cities, but always with a safety driver on board. Waymo will start initial testing in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto…all near the Google and Alphabet campuses. The DMV permit allows for day/night testing on city streets, rural roads, and highways with posted speed limits of 65 mph…so pretty well anywhere in the above communities and their surroundings. Perhaps Waymo should strap in a realistic dummy to make other motorists feel more comfortable!
With the move to electric vehicles, a number of auto makers are partnering with others. Toyota has hooked up with Subaru and BMW, for example, and now Ford and Volkswagen may be teaming up. Cnet.com reports that Ford and VW may share a platform for EVs. VW had previously said it might open up its MEB platform to others. Ford and VW had announced a ‘memorandum of understanding’ about possible collaboration last summer. Ford had previously announced that it would be bringing 40 EV models to market, and that it was investing some 11 billion in electrics by 2022. As long as we don’t have a Musta-Beetle or the like, all will probably be well with the EV world!
After their big show yesterday on iPads and Macs, Apple dropped iOS 12.1 and watchOS 5.1. Now, according to zdnet.com, they have pulled the Watch update. It was apparently bricking the newest, greatest Watch Series 4 models. The Watches just stopped booting at the apple logo, and couldn’t be force quit or rebooted, even if unpaired from an iPhone. Many users attempted to take the devices into Apple Stores, but most were out of Series 4 models, and they are being shipped from overseas by 3 day air. Apple says it is a very small number that were affected.
Researchers at Berkeley Lab have developed a process that can turn sunlight and water into electricity AND hydrogen! Engadget.com says its an ‘artificial photosynthesis’ process, but a big step up from previous attempts…going from 6.8% to 20.2% efficient. The team is moving into experimenting with real-world applications of the tech, but both electricity and hydrogen (for fuel cells) from one source could be a giant step towards more clean energy.
Apple Picks Up Waymo Wheel; Facebook Limits Weapon Ad Views to Teens; Foxconn N.A. HQ to Milwaukee; Google Pumps Half Billion into Chinese e-commerce Firm
Posted: June 18, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ads, Apple, China, e-commerce, Facebook, Foxconn, Google, Guns, JD.com, Milwaukee, self-driving car, Teens, Waymo Leave a commentAlthough Apple has been seen as withdrawing from the self-driving car race, they have continued to busily work on software and hardware integration they could license to others for self-driving cars. Now, Apple’s secretive autopilot Project Titan has picked up a biggie from Alphabet’s Waymo…Jaime Waydo. Before Waymo, she worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. Waydo was responsible at Waymo for checking prototype safety and had a big hand on giving the ok for them to start real-world tests in Phoenix. At NASA, she worked on the Mars rovers. Appleinsider.com points out that Apple has continued to build up its test fleet, and may well need to beef up quality control.
Facebook has announced that they will begin preventing minors from seeing ads for gun accessories like magazines and holsters. According to theverge.com, ads were already banned for guns and modifications, but now such items as above, and also including gun mounted scopes, flashlights, slings, etc. will be restricted to those over 18. Facebook’s rationale is to age-limit accessories that might make guns seem cooler to teens. The change comes in the aftermath of school shootings in Santa Fe, Texas, Parkland, Florida, and others. Some have grumbled that it’s a baby step, but it’s a start. The new policy is effective June 21st.
It’s been promised for some time, and now main Apple supplier Foxconn has announced that their North American headquarters will be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm has bought a seven story building in the city’s downtown area, and reuters.com says will eventually be staffed with some 500 employees. Foxconn had also previously promised to pump $10 billion over 4 years into a 20 million square foot LCD panel plant in Wisconsin. That operation is slated to eventually employ up to 13,000 people. Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, employing over a million people worldwide.
Google will pour $550 million in cash into China’s second largest e-commerce operator, JD.com. According to CNBC, Google and JD will work together to develop retail infrastructure that can better personalize the shopping experience and reduce friction in many markets, including Southeast Asia. JD.com will also make a selection of items available for customers in the US and Europe via Google Shopping…a service that lets people search for products on e-commerce sites and compare prices between sellers. Google hopes to win back product searches from Amazon with the beefed up selection from JD.com. In another case of synergy between Google and JD, JD has been testing drone deliveries to reach rural customers in China.
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.
Fire TV Cube Gets Alexa; Lyft Redesigns App; Waymo Passes Big Milestone; Instagram Long Form Video
Posted: June 7, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alexa, Amazon, Carbon footprint, Echo, Fire TV Cube, Google, Instagram, Long form video, Lyft, Public transit, ride-sharing, Waymo Leave a commentAmazon has announced the Fire TV Cube. It’s a set top box with all the usual suspects: Netflix, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, HBO Go, Sling, And Amazon Prime Video. It also features Alexa…which Engadget.com notes was already available in the Stick and Fire TV box…but the Cube has full-featured Alexa. You can access thousands of third party ‘skills’ on the Cube just like an Echo. The Cube had eight built-in microphones, and can turn on your TV, sound system, cable box. Amazon demoed it by saying ‘Alexa…I’m home,’ and it turned on the entire home theatre system, and brought up the lights in the room. It supports cable boxes from Comcast as well as Dish and DirecTV. There is an IR extension cable for the cable box so the Cube can turn it on and off when the gadgets aren’t line of sight. It ships June 21st for $119. ***UPDATE*** Prime members can preorder and save $30 for a limited time!
Lyft is updating its app for the 1st time in 3 years, and putting more emphasis on shared rides and public transit. Theverge.com reports that it should roll out to everyone by the end of the month. A few changes include Lift Line being rebranded ‘Shared Rides’ and giving that feature a more prominent place in the app. Lyft says it wants shared rides to be 50% of its business by 2020, and has promised to lower its carbon footprint. The updated app will be customized based on a riders’ preferred services and locations. The algorithm considers account fare price, trip time, and more to present the most efficient ride for users, whether a solo rider or shared ride. There is a tweak that encourages riders to get picked up on side streets…which has been piloted in San Francisco (on Valencia Street), and Lyft got 20,000 riders to divert to side street pickup.
Now, more than ever, there’s Google’s Waymo and everyone else when it comes to self-driving cars. According to arstechnica.com, Waymo hit 7 million self-driven miles this week. For reference, they just announced that they had passed up 6 million less than a month ago! Waymo plans to launch commercial driverless taxi service in the Phoenix area before the end of the year.
Instagram is adding support for video of up to an hour in length, with the long form video hub designed to compete with YouTube and Snapchat Discover. According to 9to5google.com, all the videos will be in vertical orientation and 4K resolution. The company has been reportedly meeting with social media stars and content publishers in prep for launching the feature, which is planned for June 20th. No details have gotten out on monetization, but Instagram apparently intends to let creators and publishers earn money from the longer form videos.
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