July 2020 - Page 2 of 2 -

The new world order of entertainment

Understanding the new world order of home video services

CNBC lays out the new taxonomy of home video distribution: the first tier is the pipe into the home — which has changed the least. It is still mostly Comcast and AT&T, but 5G players such as Verizon are shaking up this tier with mobile broadband (no wires to the home). Tier 2 is messy. New players such as Roku and Amazon with Fire TV control 70% of connected TVs in the US (about 400 million). Other streaming device players include Apple, Google, Samsung, Comcast, Xbox, Sony PlayStation. The third and top tier consists of companies such as Netflix and Disney + that aggregate their own content with other content to create a comprehensive streaming platform, designed to keep you in their “home” as long as possible. The big players have sought to be the new network, offering a mix of genres and formats. Others, like ESPN+, continue to be specialists in a particular category.

dis-rup-shun: In the midst of the market’s creative destruction, it is helpful to have a map of the new world. Thanks CNBC. If the market can support only two or three major providers, then will other streaming offerings continue to pop-up for special interest segments — replacing today’s myriad of special interest channels that garner very few hours of the total market’s viewership? It is possible that the new world will feel a lot like the old world, just with different players in the middle.

The UAE is going to Mars

The United Arab Emirates is ready to send Hope, its Mars orbiter into space this summer, as the result of six years of preparation. The launch is scheduled for July 14th, U.S. time. The project has been in cooperation with University of Colorado Boulder, UC Berkeley, and Arizona State University. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: The renewed space race — with multiple entities quickly sending new crafts to the Moon and Mars — is a curious mix of private enterprise and government agencies. Will China, the U.S., or Amazon be the first to establish meaningful activities on Mars, and what constitutes meaningful?

Sirius buys podcaster Scripps

SiriusXM has announced that it will follow a prior move of Spotify, and beef up its podcast offerings. The company will purchase E.W. Scripps for $325 million. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Just as stated in the first story above, the new landscape players are continuing to evolve, reinvent themselves, and blur the lines. The new consumer, thanks to the Internet and the proliferation of podcasts, has quite an appetite for specialized content. Podcasts are the new talk radio and to be a full content platform you have to offer all content. SiriusXM started with cars and is creeping onto computers and other devices. Spotify started on computers and smartphones and is creeping into cars.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Mmhmm and Teams transform video conferencing

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Mmhmm app turns video calls into interactive show

Former Evernote CEO Phil Libin has developed the future of video teleconferencing. The Mmhmm app works with any video conferencing system and transforms the experience by enabling the presenter to become large, small, semi-transparent, “stand” in front of the presentation content just like in a conference room, choose any background, and place presentations in a picture in picture window. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: Innovation — it never stops amazing. This is a simple idea yet so innovative and potentially transforming. If virtual presentations are as compelling and attention grabbing — perhaps even more so — than live presentations, then the future of work really is changed forever. Mmhmm’s functionality will be integrated with video conferencing apps, and the real losers will be airlines, hotels and Uber drivers, as the benefits of being live and in-person become smaller and smaller.

Microsoft Team’s Together mode, like Mmhmm, will transform virtual meetings

The timing of this Microsoft news flash is surely no coincidence, following the unveiling of Mmhmm. A new Teams feature, called Together Mode, puts all virtual conference attendees in the same background setting, so they look like they are in the same room. It is a way to neutralize the distraction of individual settings and create a virtual institution. CNET

dis-rup-shun: This is a pretty intriguing development. Suddenly the fun of exploring someone’s home office or bedroom over their shoulder is removed and we are back in a classroom or auditorium, focusing on the speaker, the content, or on the faces in the crowd. Universities and colleges, especially those that are really expensive — you need to be very, very swift to re-purpose your dorms, your lecture halls and labs. You won’t be needing many of them starting last semester.

Next generation Google Home Nest speaker

The original Google Home speaker was released in 2016 and has not had a major refresh. As part of a regulatory filing in Japan, watchers have identified the next generation product. It is tall, flat and fabric covered. What will be more interesting is to see if the product’s skills, or software functions and sound quality are drastically different from the generation one product or if this is mostly an update of the form factor. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: Google has some branding work to do, as just describing this new product as the Google Home Nest smart speaker is a mouthful. As the sound quality of the flagship product improves, Google takes on the traditional speaker makers such as JBL, Sonos, Sony and Bose. As Amazon rapidly adds thousands of “works with Alexa” partners, Google continues to figure out what it does better than Amazon, and so far, that is search. The company’s marketing, however, is yet to position it as the best “_______,” and so consumers continue to struggle with the decision of which ecosystem to invest in, and the product continues to be a distance second to Amazon’s Echo line, but well ahead of Apple’s HomePod.

Facebook’s civil rights audit reveals setbacks and missteps

Facebook performed its own internal audit of decisions around civil rights-related posts and censorship. Civil rights organizations that reviewed the report criticized the company for some missteps which were “significant setbacks” for civil rights. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Where is today’s equivalent of the Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, who made tough and unpopular decisions about the identity of that publication? Facebook can no longer be the world’s bulletin board — that position has led to unending acrimony. Facebook is the new Washington Post, New York Times, or Asahi Shimbun. It must change its position to a curated, biased source of information with stated editorial guidelines that not all will like, but that are clearly stated. Trying to define the narrow path between free speech and dangerous rhetoric is losing battle.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Streamed Hamilton exceeds hype

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Disney Plus’ Hamilton delivery exceeds hype

According to the staff at CNET, the Hamilton on-screen experience exceeded hype and delivered an exceptional at-home experience – even better than expected. Mobile downloads of the Disney + app jumped 72% over the Hamilton debut weekend.

dis-rup-shun: Disney remains the king of entertainment, following the debut of Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian with Hamilton. Impressively, the company has made its late-to-the-streaming-party service a “must have.” One can only imagine what will be the next must see small screen event?

The first 5G PC

Lenovo’s Flex is the first laptop with onboard 5G, making it capable of connecting in most any urban setting without finding the nearest Starbucks hotspot. No need for WiFi and no need for tethering to the smartphone, as the computer is, essentially, a built in smartphone. Tested in NYC, download speeds ranged from 170Mbps and 200Mbps compared to home broadband speeds around 115Mbps to 140Mbps, while AT&T iPhones show speeds of 49Mbps. CNET

dis-rup-shun: A 5G laptop is great for the mobile worker but just like the 4G iPad, having a mobile device with a dedicated connection requires a monthly wireless data fee, adding to the cost. It is more likely that we will own 5G smartphones that will offer super fast hot spots to our mobile devices — computers and tablets. For those with a fat budget, a 5G laptop will be a dream in airports, hotels, coffee shops and while accessing the internet from a client’s secure premise. This, of course, assumes we will again be traveling in the near future.

Uber swallows Postmates in scramble to keep business growing

Uber’s ride sharing business (unprofitable before Covid-19) is down 80%. The company’s attempt to purchase Grubhub was thwarted for antitrust concerns, but smaller food delivery company Postmates is expected to gain SEC approval. The food delivery business is up sharply during shelter-in-place, and Uber Eats needs to beef up its market share to compete with Grubhub and DoorDash, and to stem the losses from its ride sharing business. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: Winston Churchill said, “Don’t waste a good crisis.” Uber has an opportunity to right-size its ride sharing business, lowering overhead and waiting for post-Covid-19 ride sharing to rebound, potentially making this line of business profitable. In the meantime, Uber needs to run fast to scale up its food delivery business to make up losses in the core ride sharing business. The next year will be pivotal for Uber.

Magic Leap taps top Microsoft exec to lead it out of woods

Peggy Johnson, one of Nadella’s top stars at Microsoft, has agreed to become CEO of troubled augmented reality company, Magic Leap. The well-funded (Alphabet and others invested $3 billion) start-up launched an impressive but expensive product in 2018, and quickly found that appeal for the $2000 system was low. The company has laid out a significant portion of its team and its founding CEO has resigned. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Can lots of investment and one of the best corporate leaders in the country create an AR product that delights its target market (be it commercial or consumer buyers)? AR is cool, but so far it is a nice-to-have technology unless you are a fighter pilot. Stay tuned for an interesting challenge and hopefully a successful outcome.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Picture the pandemic through consumer data maps

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How consumer data paints a picture of the pandemic

Five data points from everyday consumer activities, collected by the companies that we trust each day to provide services, shows a profile of the impacts of Coronavirus on activities and the economy. A chart of requests for directions, for walking, driving and mass transit, on Apple Maps, indicates a lull and subsequent recovery in people going places. Restaurant bookings on OpenTable signals a partial recovery, then faltering, of dining out activities. Hotel occupancy data reveals that hotel bookings rates remain at or below 50%. Air travel shows very little recovery from all time lows, and American Airlines announced that it is overstaffed by 20,000 employees. Home purchase data shows that real estate transactions are approaching a pre-COVID-19 level. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Data maps of our daily habits provide fascinating views of the state of our economy. While these maps show what is down, the activities that are skyrocketing are home entertainment, including movies, games, music, and purchases of food and alcohol. The question then is one of shifting spending — and determining the net reduction in overall spending as a measurement of economic recession resulting from the loss of jobs.

Lemonade IPO shares soar as insurance disruptor goes public

Lemonade is an online insurance provider that was launched in 2016. It provides homeowners and renters insurance using a monthly subscription model, and using AI and chatbots to speed the application and claims process. Opening shares soared 138% to $50 on day one. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Clearly the market is recognizing the company not for its size against the giants Allstate, Geico, Farmers, State Farm and others, but in its ability to successfully deliver a new pricing and operations model, using AI and chat bots, rather than human agents and actuaries.

IKEA makes smart shades affordable

Who hasn’t marveled at the coolness of smart shades and smart blinds at a friend’s very expensive custom automated home. Those custom shades were likely from Somfy or Lutron. IKEA continues its march into the smart home for every man and woman. Its Fyrtur line of automated (Zigbee-powered) shades work with Apple Homekit, with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, and cost from $129 to $179 before the $35 Zigbee hub. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Home automation, despite a myriad of great products, has barely entered the mass market. According to research firm Interpret, smart speakers, the most diffuse smart home product, is in about 30% of U.S. households. IKEA is bridging the gap between expensive custom automation, and extremely affordable smart home accessories that are attractive, easy to install and high tech.

Guide to drone purchases

Is it time to get your own drone? Wired reviews a list of seven popular models for a range of budgets and applications. From photo enthusiasts to Star Wars fans, a number of options are available from $33 to $1,600.

dis-rup-shun: Just like the GoPro made adventure photography easy for everyone, drones make aerial photography accessible to all. Many real estate and vacation destination advertisements feature, as a standard, aerial photos, and expect construction and insurance professionals to employ the devices in their everyday work. Imagine the savings in insurance and hospitalization costs from reductions in people climbing towers, building and houses to perform inspections.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

YouTube TV jacks up price

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Cutting the cord is looking less attractive

Cutting the pay TV cord from cable or telco TV provides significant savings, until it doesn’t. YouTube TV, originally offered at $35 per month, is now $65 per month. When compared to cable bundles starting at $67 per month before set top box and HD fees, the motivation for cord cutting is diminished. Forbes

dis-rup-shun: It is inevitable that content providers seek to earn a profit, and it is inevitable that the costs of content increase as NFL owners expect to earn more, and customers expect to binge more. More streaming competition from the likes of NBC (Peacock) and AT&T (AT&T TV) will keep the pressure on the incumbents (DirecTV and Netflix) to keep prices competitive, but the rising costs of content will maintain pressure to charge more. In the end, cutting the cord may result in temporary savings that are not sustainable.

Google acquires smart glasses maker North

North, the smart glasses maker that has been quietly chugging along, creating smart glasses that look like ordinary glasses, has been acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum. Speculation puts the acquisition at $180 million, but that is less than the funds raised from investors. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: It is not like Google to wildly overpay for a strategic acquisition, so one would expect that the number is higher than capital raised, but this is a tricky space. No vendor has yet proven that there is real demand for smart glasses, and Apple, for years, has been rumored to be working on glasses. If any brand can make smart glasses mainstream, it is surely Apple, and Google needed to make additional acquisitions in order to maintain its position of “fast follower” behind Apple innovation.

Sound detection part of new IOS 14

As the media unpacks all the new stuff in the next Apple iPhone operating system, one interesting feature is the ability to identify sounds that your phone will warn you about: smoke alarms, car alarms, leaky faucets, coyotes, cookie jar rattle… CNET

dis-rup-shun: Audio detection is an entire industry, possibly the size of the video camera industry. Imagine if all of your devices (phones, tablets, computers, smart speakers, smart appliances) are listening for suspicious sounds. They could detect a fall of a senior, a burglar, or a malfunctioning AC unit, and they could also detect and transmit words or sounds that you want to keep private. The conflicts and debates will be ever present as listening technology goes mainstream.

How to capture fireworks with your phone

Capturing the glory of annual 4th of July fireworks will be, more than ever, attempted with phones rather than standalone cameras. Certain settings, like no zoom and no flash, will result in better photos. Steadying the camera on something is a first step. Wired

dis-rup-shun: The constant upgrade of camera phones means that most people aren’t very skilled at the new art of smartphone photography. The only way to learn is to try, and this holiday is a great opportunity to relearn the lost art of photography. Happy 4th of July!