March 2020 - Page 2 of 2 -

Online game usage surges as schools close

Fortnite, Call of Duty are winners of coronavirus debacle

It has been hard to find silver linings in light of this week’s decimation of life as we know it. Publishers of online games Fortnite and Call of Duty, Epic and Activision, are enjoying surging demand for the game titles. Telecom Italia has reported a surge in network traffic as people stay home from school and work and rely on internet connections for gaming, video consumption, and online classes. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Streaming video services, likewise, will be fully exercised as people stay home during the global sports and concert blackout. Virtual live concerts and sporting events will resemble pay-per-view boxing matches, and may create new entertainment formats that are less reliant on live audiences.

Visual One makes web cameras very smart

Web cameras have become very popular, but motion-based alerts can be some common that people begin to ignore them. Visual One is a company using machine learning and a low cost Wyse Camera to identify types of motion that may interest you — like someone taking a package off the front porch, or a dog jumping on the couch. Being able to select which of these events are worthy of an alert makes a web camera far more useful. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: Today’s smart home is a misnomer when we realize how smart products are getting ready to become, and the boost in utility they will provide. Such intelligence, of course, will continue to sound ethics alarms when your webcam is able to send alerts like “Suzy’s boyfriend came through the back gate at 10:48.”

Shadow cloud gaming service comes to U.S.

Another cloud based gaming service is revising its offer for the U.S. market. Blade, a French company offers a monthly fee of $11.99 for a more powerful gaming experience. The service provides a full Windows 10 instance, meaning that for the monthly fee, you essentially have full use of a powerful Nvidia-charged PC, that will run any Windows app you choose — remotely. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: An objection to cloud gaming is latency. With a more powerful processor in the cloud, latencies will be reduced to those in the network, not the data center. Shadow’s offering may make Chromebooks or tablets more feasible, providing all the tools one needs to perform specialized tasks, but from a light weight, low-powered device. 5G will further improve this latest twist on cloud computing.

Foreign made drones to be banned from U.S. Defense purchases

Trump’s administration is preparing an executive order to ban the purchase and use of non-U.S. made drones in military and government applications. The order cites the potential for compromises of national security that could result from sensitive data being transferred to foreign nations. The drone market is expected to be worth $15 billion by the end of the current decade. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: On the heels of the release of detailed accounts of the massive Equifax data breach, sensitivity toward cyber attacks is high. About 70% of the market is controlled by China-based DJI. The majority of the DoD’s fleet is made up of China-based manufacturers. Old films of East Berlin or Russia during the Cold War showed odd looking Trabant cars, made locally in East Germany. The perils of closed markets are very apparent.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

COVID enables tech to crush the college experience

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Virus-fighting technology likely to change college forever

Thousands of colleges and universities across the globe announced their closure — some for weeks, others for the duration of the semester. Most all closing institutions will rely on online learning to substitute for people gathering in classrooms, labs and lecture halls. USA Today

dis-rup-shun: Will academic institutions ever go back to a classroom setting after their abrupt shifts to online education? The late Steve Jobs suggested that college classrooms would someday be replaced by computers and live gatherings would be only for the purpose of holding study groups and help sessions. Perhaps to justify large tuitions and preserve tradition, many high ranked private colleges have employed online learning only minimally. This is now changing in response to COVID-19, and institutions large and small will find that it is easier and less costly to operate a virtual college. Suspended extracurricular activities, sports teams and aging facilities may not be resumed and the collegiate college experience may forever change, especially if quarantines drag on beyond a few weeks.

Stop touching your face! There’s an app for that

If you are following hygiene instructions and washing your hands frequently and trying not to touch your face, you are now aware of how frequently you do it. Slightly Robot, a startup, has created the Immunotouch wristband that buzzes every time your hand approaches your face. And yes, there is an app that enables you to track your retraining progress. The device was originally designed to assist those who have developed the bad habit of pulling their own hair out, but has been opportunistically re-purposed to assist in the battle against coronavirus. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: While an interesting solution for those really determined to keep their hands off of their face, it seems likely that smartwatch makers may quickly respond with an app that takes advantage of the existing accelerometer in the device. China has deployed a number of apps to track one’s proximity to people who have tested positively for COVID-19. Leveraging technologies to assist in controlling pandemics makes perfect sense, and tech companies that do so will endear themselves to the public.

Chip Wars: The (Intel) Empire Strikes Back

After years of attempts, AMD’s 3rd generation Rizen CPUs, the Zen 2, beat the performance of Intel’s Core i5 9500. A new Intel chipset, the Core i5 10400, will put Intel back on top, at least until AMD rolls out Rizen Gen 4. Forbes

dis-rup-shun: It is tough to stay on top, and after several decades of dominance, Intel is being attacked on many fronts. ARM processors won the mobile race, with Qualcomm a big winner. Nvidia bested Intel with its GPUs for superior graphics in in-car displays such as those in VW and Audi, and now AMD is edging Intel in its core market, the consumer PC. Competition is good for the consumer, and it is certainly giving Intel a thorough run.

Quibi launch mired by lawsuits and coronavirus

What is Quibi? It is a new video subscription service that displays only on smartphones, uses original content no longer than 10 minutes, and is backed by a number of high-level celebrities and business moguls, who are taking a BIG gamble that their exists an appetite for this unusual service. Another unique-ness is that you can rotate the phone and get a completely different camera view of the action — letting you, the viewer, determine the best angle for the action. The service is set to launch in a few weeks, but coronavirus fears prohibit public launch events, and a company called Eko has claimed that Quibi, and several of its executives who came from Snap, who discussed, under NDA, the possibility of using Eko’s technology, have stolen the screen flipping technology. Gizmodo

dis-rup-shun: Foretelling demand for Quibi is tough. On the one hand, it seems that we all have too many video sources to watch and too many monthly subscriptions to pay. On the other, it seems that if really compelling content is offered by Quibi, and everyone starts talking about it, the urge to spend just a few more dollars per month will be irresistible, just so we can join the conversation.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

The end of the cashier is near

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Amazon Just Walk Out technology about to transform retail

Amazon has been developing, through its cashier-less stores, technology that accurately charges a customer for what they have taken from a store using sensors and cameras. Shoppers enter the store and scan an app, then simply walk out with their purchases. Receipts are optional via email. Amazon is now selling this technology to other stores, and it is expected to appear not only in shops, but in movie theater and baseball concession stands. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Isn’t it ironic. The company that took shopping online and wrecked retailers is now in a position to transform retail shopping and eliminate check out altogether. Even shoplifting will be transformed, as thieves and the goods they remove will be well documented by sensors and cameras. This is not the first time Amazon has taken an internal technology and licensed it to the public. The company’s own remote data center technology became the foundation for Amazon Web Services and its Software as a Service tools that it sells to thousands of customers, generating over $25 billion in revenues in 2018.

Health records opened: big win for consumers and Big Tech

In a move that took a decade and a village of healthcare companies and legislators, the Department of Health and Human Services cracked Epic System’s stranglehold on personal health records. Epic Systems, a company protected by a slow-to-change industry that is careful to safeguard privacy, effectively controlled electronic health record access and resisted Big Tech’s efforts to interface with health records for use with smartphones and health apps. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: The health care system and its incumbents are right to insist on the highest level of data privacy and compliance with HIPPA, but enabling tech companies easier access to consumers’ health records will accelerate the creation of a transparent market with open pricing and clearer choices. To be able to shop for your next MRI or even compare costs of surgeries from place to place will rock the care industry, but will ultimately lead to more competition between care providers, a higher focus on service, and a more cost effective care system. Bring it on.

Ready to carry a password key?

Passwords suck. Many are not secure and remembering multiple passwords requires uncommon genius. A new security technology, called FIDO, is working on replacing passwords. FIDO requires a combination of a physical USB key and a biometric reader (fingerprint or facial recognition). FIDO apps on your smartphone, when tethered to a PC via Bluetooth, can serve as the physical key. FIDO is reported to be far more secure than any prior security method and, even better, is able to block spammer and phishing schemes. CNET

dis-rup-shun: It is a rare person that sits at a computer without their smartphone nearby, so FIDO could transform security without much hassle. Eliminating passwords that need to be complex and always different to be secure will be a great day. Most people still seem to carry keys, so adding one more for data access sounds like a reasonable possibility.

The Internet lives in a hotel in NYC

Wired goes inside one of the large Internet hotels where servers, switches, miles of cable, power plants and backup generators live under very tight security. Multiple hotels house interconnection of networks such as AT&T, Google and Verizon, enabling them to exchange data across their separate networks. The hotels house hundreds of servers, some which are owned by the networks, and some by their large clients.

dis-rup-shun: You will enjoy the photos that show how a click of a mouse can connect us to millions of data sources from around the world. The resources required to create the Internet are clean, yet massive. Huge amounts of power, cable, plastic sheathing and diesel fuel (for backup) are required to enable the high reliability network. The rapid growth of data will require ever more resources, pushing against the resource reductions delivered by the now sputtering Moore’s Law. The distributed nature of Internet hotels, however, provides effective protection from potential disasters.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Easily select the right TV streaming service

March 9, 2020March 8, 2020by sbsikesLeave a Comment

A guide to choosing the right live streaming service

A growing number of TV watchers are convinced that it is time to join cord cutters, and lose the pay TV subscription, but what, of the growing number of packages, is the right one? CNET has provided a great service to to wanna be cord cutters, and listed the top 100 most watched channels and shown if and how they are included into streaming bundles.

dis-rup-shun: This handy guide is one of the best comparisons of services, and reading down the list of what my household consumes, YouTube TV’s basic package will be a perfect replacement for AT&T DirecTV — plus I won’t get 5 channels of continuous hawking of the Shark Vacuum or Cindy Crawford’s Makeup Secrets — things for which I have been paying heartily to receive.

Next Ring doorbell records what happened before an alert

Ring has joined competitor Arlo in adding the ability to view footage seconds before motion was detected. This feature will be available on the upcoming Ring Doorbell 3 version. Engadget

dis-rup-shun: If you have used a doorbell camera, you know that all too often, you don’t get a good view, in the few seconds that something or someone happens upon your front porch, and the images are not adequate to identify people or animals. The pre-roll feature should make the device far more useful in understanding the action that leads up to a motion activation event.

Congress pushes FCC to implement ban on robocalls

After inaction on the part of the FCC, Congress has exerted enough pressure to mandate application of a technology called STIR/SHAKEN by June 30, 2021.The technology, in short, will make it difficult for third parties to spoof phony caller IDs, and a certificate must be generated by a trusted token provider in order for the party being called to receive caller ID.TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: It is refreshing to see that Congress can agree to force the FCC to take definitive action against robocalls. Expect this small victory to embolden congressional leaders to make some real progress on data privacy protection laws, as the state of California’s recent laws are forcing the hand of the Feds to take some action.

New, New Year’s Resolution — Refresh my devices

Wired suggests that to keep devices, particularly computers, running well, we should wipe them each year, restoring the factory defaults and returning the devices to the state they were in when we first purchased them. That is easier to do now that Windows and MacOS provide utilities for doing so, and cloud storage options make it easier to back up our personal data to the cloud.

dis-rup-shun: Add to your annual restart rituals, in addition to losing 15 pounds and cleaning out the closet, resetting your computer. With so many of today’s compute tasks being performed in the cloud, hardware really can provide satisfactory performance for many years. PC parts don’t wear out quickly, and while software applications continue to get bigger and take advantage of more memory, PCs are often replaced because they get slower and less stable from all the junk we load onto them. Cleaning out a PC is like cleaning out a closet, but scarier, due to fears that we will lose important things that we have stored away, or that customizations will take hours, if not days, to recreate. Nonetheless, a day spent cleaning up a PC is likely less costly than having to replace a two year old machine which is just not performing like it used to.

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Rocket rides sold for $55 million

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Space travel broker Axiom Space sells a seat for $55 million

The travel broker Axiom Space sold its first of three seats on a SpaceX rocket, and a 10 day stay on the international space station, for $55 million. CNET

dis-rup-shun: This is an interesting cluster of commercial, private and government interests. Which entities stand to gain from private citizens paying a commercial rocket company for time on a multi-national government funded space station, and what happens when space tourists get in the way of valuable scientific experiments and potentially endanger astronauts who have trained for decades to spend time in space?

Techlash — no more office space allowed in San Francisco

The city of San Francisco expects to pass Proposition E (pundits indicate that bill has 55% support). Proposition E limits construction of new office space based upon the amount of new housing stock created. Local residents are celebrating the proposal, while economists and venture capitalists are highly concerned. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Despite exceptionally high housing prices and shocking growth in homeless population, San Francisco’s tech boom continues to draw the best and brightest to the city. The city is looking more like a closed system — if you pour in thousands of prosperous jobs, you can’t force the low wage earners out of the city — they want and need to be there too, but are increasingly forced to live in the streets. With remote work tools getting better by the month, tech companies should find it easier than ever to tap into lower cost, distributed work forces outside of the Bay Area.

Apple App Store bans many COVID-19 apps

Apple joins other Big Tech companies on controlling the misinformation associated with coronavirus. Apps that help track the virus that are not submitted by health organizations are blocked. Gizmodo

dis-rup-shun: Amazon is working to take down price gougers who are selling masks and sanitizers at outlandish prices, and Facebook is working to eliminate misinformation posted on its network. Apple is doing its part to prevent misleading or overly opportunistic apps. It is encouraging to see that Big Tech is collectively focusing on protecting people and helping the global community steer its way through the current health and economic crisis.

Oppo watch is Apple Watch lookalike for Android

Chinese manufacturer Oppo has released a good looking Apple lookalike. The product runs the Android-based ColorOS, and will be released for sale first in China on March 24th. CNET

dis-rup-shun: The watch is not an exact knock-off of the Apple Watch, but very similar. Just as in phones, Apple set the look and feel for an armada of smartphones from many brands — none as successful as Samsung — sold to people who liked the technology but preferred not to join the Apple faithful. As the smart watch gains market share, expect Apple to dictate the design, feature set and pricing even while Android powered watches eventually overtake Apple’s share of the market.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Coronavirus spurs telehealth use

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Coronavirus may be catalyst for telehealth

Telehealth applications are proving effective to keep the worried well out of hospitals and clinics. Those who wish to confirm that they do not have the virus are turning to telehealth apps including Teledoc, Anthem’s LiveHealth Online, United Health Group, and Aetna’s CVS Minute Clinics. Remote physician visits, through an app, prevent overcrowding of the health care system, which can be better utilized to treat those with positive symptoms. Reimbursement for telehealth still has some obstacles to overcome, including paying doctors who treat people across state lines. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: There must be some silver linings from coronavirus, and a thorough test of telehealth systems, including reimbursement of healthcare professionals, should be one. Our healthcare systems must lean heavily on telemedicine to address the looming care crisis (that exists without coronavirus) and the burden is on health insurance companies to provide incentives for consumers as well as doctors to use telehealth before crowding doctors offices and clinics for basic care issues.

GM gets serious about beating Tesla

GM showed off a new modular chassis and battery platform designed to be the foundation for a large variety of models from GM, Cadillac, Chevy and Buick. The new battery technology uses less cobalt and more aluminum, and is expected to get ranges of 400 miles on faster charging time. In the mix are a new Cadillac EV as well as a Hummer electric pickup truck. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: Ever since Tesla’s market valuation ballooned to more than 3x that of GM, the big automakers have received the message. The message is that their side agenda of mixing a few electric cars into the fleet is a death wish, as the future is starting to look all electric. Now the question is if the service stations, lube franchises, and auto repair businesses are thinking long term. Certainly petrol burners will be on the road for a decade or two, but with the average family SUV being electric in a handful of years, the demand for combustion engine automobile services will fall like a rock. This will also put a big dent in auto dealership service revenues, as EVs simply require far less repairs and maintenance.

Apple Arcade becoming the Netflix of Games

Apple’s $5 per month game subscription targets the family gaming experience, providing a host of family-friendly game titles without any in-game purchases of weapons, tools or cheats. Designed for a different market from XBox services or Google’s Stadia console killer, the service, like Netflix, offers a variety of titles and genres under one simple subscription price model. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: Apple executives at some point sat down to determine how they could be like Netflix, and one result was Arcade. In addition to creating a new source of revenues, the service further cements children’s’ affections for the Apple brand — catching consumers for life at an early age. Let’s see what future service models Apple has up its sleeve, and how its successful credit card venture can be woven into these services.

The future of tires: AI and self-healing

Goodyear has introduced a very different concept of tires for the future — tires that use AI to determine, based on your driving style, what your tread should be like, and then using cartridges of rubber-like material that a driver injects into the tire frame, an individualized tread is “grown.” The futuristic concept requires a narrow tire on a slim frame that makes flat tires and changing tire pressure a thing of the past. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Generating rubber for tires, either of natural or synthetic rubber, is a resource intensive process. Disposing of tires may be even worse. As our culture takes a hard look at environmental impact, the tire industry has a lot of cleaning up to do. With electric vehicles still requiring at least four tires per car, the future of the tire industry isn’t bleak like the gasoline engine-based industries, and innovations improving efficiency and reducing energy and waste will be well embraced by EV manufacturers.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Consumers love Microsoft, Amazon distrust Facebook, Twitter

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Verge consumer survey shows what tech companies are loved and disdained

The Verge completed a follow up survey to its 2016 survey on public perceptions of tech firms. Facebook lacked trust in 2016 and has fallen precipitously, while Amazon, adored in 2016, remains a public favorite. Microsoft is the must trusted tech company (75% trust it), followed by Amazon (73% trust it).

56 percent said the government should break up tech companies if they control too much of the economy
72 percent said that Facebook has too much power
51 percent said Google and YouTube should be split into separate companies

dis-rup-shun: What is surprising about the survey is that Apple is in the bottom half of companies discussed. Has Apple’s premium product positioning and pricing made it an elitist brand that does not appeal to the masses as do Google, Netflix, and Amazon? Perhaps Apple has become the Nordstrom’s in a Target world, where technology is now a lifestyle necessity of all but the most impoverished, and highly accessible brands are seen as providing great utility to society. Facebook, however, remains a powerful but disliked brand — a precarious position for long-term success.

Walmart readies answer to Amazon Prime

Walmart will soon launch Walmart + which is a fee-based loyalty program aimed to combat Amazon Prime. Amazon now controls 40% of online retail, Walmart.com controls 5%. Walmart is exploring perks for which it has a unique advantage, such as 1,600 grocery stores in the U.S. that could provide free delivery. Aside from free grocery delivery, the retail giant may be hard pressed to find other advantages its chain can offer over Amazon. Vox

dis-rup-shun: Amazon has changed the rules of shopping, with Sunday deliveries so successful that FedEx trucks are rolling down neighborhood streets on Sunday. To beat Amazon at its game, Walmart must not only offer equivalent one to two-day delivery, but must provide a product that so delights customers, as Amazon Prime Video does, that consumers will, as with Amazon, feel as if they are receiving something for free. Grocery delivery is great, but more of a necessity than a pleasure. Free ice cream delivery, or make it dessert delivery, could be a game changer.

AT&T TV: meet the new face of cable TV

AT&T has exactly eight video service offerings, and the newest is simply AT&T TV. The new service looks like a skinny cable bundle (just the major channels), is delivered over the Internet, and costs only $50 per month. The catch, however, is that a two year contract is required, and year 2 costs $93 per month before a plethora of add-ons. CNET

dis-rup-shun: The masses are cutting the cord and there are many, many streaming TV package alternatives. Hulu and YouTube TV are the early leaders with bundles that look like cable, but cost a lot less, and provide whole-home (multiple device) solutions. AT&T TV is a clever offering, in that it will appeal to those that believe they should join the cord cutting revolution, yet just aren’t sure if non-traditional providers will give them what they want. Enter AT&T with a promise to deliver the new TV dream while also providing a familiar pricing package full of expensive add-ons and increasing prices over a contract period. Once again, the company will churn the same user base that it recently churned from U-Verse to DirecTV.

Another one (SpaceX rocket) bites the dust

Elon Musk’s SpaceX lost another Starship that apparently buckled under pressure as nitrogen filled its tanks. This follows a series of failures of different types and parts of rockets as the company remains hellbent on getting reusable space travel ready for prime time ahead of competitors. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Every rocket failure can be seen as a setback, but should be seen as great progress towards achieving safety in space. Every failure, let’s hope, is one less that will occur with precious cargo such as humans, aboard. The stakes for winning space are very high and commercial space travel is one area of technology that American entrepreneurs are leading the globe.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

U.S. Air Force ready to help the flying taxi industry

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U.S. Air Force offers to help test flying cars

The USAF has offered to assist the flying car and flying taxi makers test and certify their crafts in order to accelerate growth of the new category, for civilian and military use. The move is reported to be the result of the small drone business, vitally important to the U.S. military, having migrated to China, making it difficult for the U.S. military to find domestic drone partners. Wired

dis-rup-shun: The USAF’s dilemma is a new theme that will repeat many times: how to keep at least some core of new technologies from rapidly migrating to markets, such as China, that can produce faster, better and cheaper. With the majority of consumer electronics already being produced outside of the U.S., designating selected technologies to remain on-shore is an unlikely outcome. The Air Force’s move will likely create important military-emerging company partnerships earlier that may, if military funds follow, become long-term.

Sparta Science and the NFL use data to predict injuries

Sparta, a company founded by MD Phil Wagner, uses workout and movement data from NFL players, to create a player risk profile. By compiling thousands of data points from video scans of players, the technology determines points of stress in a player’s movements and predicts injuries that are likely to occur. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: The idea of science predicting when we will get injured, sick or die is creepy, but with millions of dollars being invested in pro athletes, especially NFL and NBA players, it only makes sense. Consider the possibility, however, that to purchase a life insurance policy or even health insurance, we will report to a clinic that will run a series of tests and, consequently, assign us to a risk category, to which our insurance premiums will be set.

Internet Archive stores 20,000 VHS recordings

Did you know there is an organization which preserves historical media for posterity? The Internet Archive is a non-profit online library of media of our yesteryear. It is well known for its Wayback Machine, which is a tool that can be used to locate millions of web pages that have long disappeared from the world wide web. The Internet Archive has now stored the contents of over 20,000 VHS recordings, preserving a great deal of 90s videos, commercials and TV shows. Check out the VHS Vault for a black hole of campy entertainment. The Verge

dis-rup-shun: The ability to study history firsthand is invaluable, and thanks to the Internet Archive, future historians can do just that. The downside, of course, is that governments that might wish to control resources such as the Internet Archive can, literally, re-write history. Let’s hope that these resources remain independent, redundant and well preserved.

Unions call for investigation of Amazon for anti-competitive trade practices

Big Tech, facing increasing pressure from Congress, can now add unions to its list of detractors. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Communications Workers of America, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the Service Employees International Union have petitioned the FTC to look into Amazon’s “immense and growing influence.” The unions call on the FTC to consider Amazon’s “exclusionary conduct to the detriment of workers, consumers, merchants, and competition itself.” Amazon’s reply: the company has created over 500,000 jobs and represents less than 4% of total retail. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: It’s a slippery slope that giant, fast growing corporations walk, and history shows that giants are eventually toppled by regulators. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 toppled Standard Oil, and President Roosevelt sued 45 additional companies. Not quite a hundred years later Judge Green ordered the restructuring of AT&T. Amazon is, no doubt, reshaping our economy, but can it do so without being seen as a menace? Just this weekend on television, commercials for Amazon’s Pill Pack pharmacy were aired. Amazon’s push into healthcare may provide much needed disruption, but may also draw the ire of a new set of industry regulators.