Your phone apps are leaking data you did not authorize
Security researchers, after analyzing more than 1000 mobile apps, have found that many collect and transmit data to third parties even after you have denied them permission to do so during set up. One example is AccuWeather, an app that keeps transmitting your location even though you have denied it that permission. Third parties using the data are, of course, advertisers, and allegedly, the federal government for tracking immigrants. CNET
dis-rup-shun: The evidence is growing daily that new tech needs limits, clear standards, easy to understand data permission dashboards, and a body enforcing adherence to these policies. This is the role of government agencies such as the FTC and the FCC, but are these agencies too mired in Capitol Hill politics to assert needed leadership?
Sony PlayStation V faces market dilemma
The PSV, the next generation game console from Sony, will be the most advanced console hardware ever sold, with boosted memory, fast graphics and expensive solid state storage. The component costs of the device are estimated to be $450, well above the price of the prior generation PS4, which retailed for $399 before discounting. TheVerge
dis-rup-shun: The console market faces a crossroads, as cloud based gaming from Google, Nvidia and possibly Amazon (Apple’s Arcade focused on a different type of gamer) offer serious threats to console makers. It has been speculated that the end of the console is near. Sony, seeking to give gamers an experience better than they can get from cloud games, has created a premium device but now must price it higher than console buyers’ expectations, or take a loss on the device. What do you do when much of your loyal market is moving to the cloud? It’s time for Sony to say goodbye to the budget minded gamers — let them go to the cloud. Sony should rev up the PSV with the very fastest, hottest hardware and raise the price to take its position in the only place the device can survive — providing the “Lexus” experience for more affluent game players. It is time to lower sales projections and milk profits from the endangered console.
Half of homes will have cut cable by 2024
Roku, the streaming video enabler, outperformed expectations in the quarter just ended, buoying its stock 7%, and credibility, even further. The company predicts that half of U.S. homes will not have a traditional cable pay TV subscription in four years. Roku is an enabler of this transition, making old TVs internet-capable. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: The reinvention of TV is happening faster than we may have expected, and the results are better TV — TV on our time, with bundles of services (the new channels) that we ourselves choose, and programming far better than anything seen before. As it will be many years before all of our old TVs are replaced with internet-ready smart TVs, Roku has a bright future, and has time to figure out what it will be in its next generation. Meanwhile all homes need to upgrade their patchy internet service to support many video streams all day throughout the house.
Bezos wins one round in the Amazon vs. Trump battle
As you recall, Amazon cried foul at the Department of Defense’s award to Microsoft of the $10 billion JEDI contract to put the military on the cloud. Amazon claims that Trump manipulated the process to tweak Bezos, whose Washington Post has been highly critical of the president. Amazon filed suit in court and won an injunction. The injunction, however, comes with a requirement that Amazon be prepared to pay $42 million in case it was determined that the injunction was unnecessary. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: The chances that Amazon will get back into this contract are slim, however the fact that Amazon won an injunction is remarkable. If the courts find evidence that the president directly influenced the DOD’s process, then what other unsuccessful vendors of government contracts will claim that a brush off of their CEO by the Donald requires a review?