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Phone apps are cheating on you

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020by sbsikesLeave a Comment

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?

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Holiday Amusement: Cord Cutting

December 30, 2019December 30, 2019by sbsikesLeave a Comment

Roku best stock of the year

As the Cord Cutting decade draws to a close, it is fitting that the year’s best performing stock among companies worth over $5 billion is Roku, up 355%. The company will report an annual revenue growth rate of 49% despite the fact that the company is yet to earn a profit. The company enjoys the largest market share for streaming devices (39%) and has a growing advertising business, but is playing in an increasingly competitive business. CNBC

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dis-rup-shun: What a great company — Roku has continued to do what it was founded to do — provide a streaming alternative to TVs not designed to receive streaming content. The simplicity of its mission as well as its controls have made it a Wall Street winner. But what about the profit thing? When will lack of profits impact Netflix and Roku as they have Uber and friends? The new video industry is still in the midst of creative destruction (chaos) and the companies that are grabbing the most eyeballs are valued the highest — likely with the expectation that they will be acquired by a company that can generate profits. So enjoy the ride and keep streaming with Roku.

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The rapidly changing experience once called TV

September 19, 2019September 18, 2019by sbsikesLeave a Comment

Roku and Amazon Fire TV are getting to know you

Researchers at Princeton and University of Chicago analyzed the frequency and methods of Roku and Amazon Fire TV tracking data about user preferences. They found that 89 percent of Fire TV channels and 69 percent of Roku channels include trackers that collect viewing habits, device IDs, Wi-Fi network names and network IDs. Wired

dis-rup-shun: Viewing advertising to “pay” for “free” content is nothing new. Providing detailed information about viewing preferences customizes what we watch, which makes watching ads more relevant and, theoretically, more bearable. So what’s the objection to data collection? It is the lack of trust consumers have about what will happen to their data and how identifiable is their network. Developing universal standards for what data is collected and how it is safeguarded is a big task — likely too big for the fractured U.S. Federal government, though Europe’s GDPR standard is a good start.

Facebook wants to be a part of your TV

Facebook’s Portal TV is a clip on camera that attaches to your TV and enables you to converse with other Portal TV owners, as well as watch Facebook videos together. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: Portal TV is an evolution of Facebook’s line of video chatting portal products, and a way for the company to move social networks to a bigger screen. Portal TV may be a pathway for Facebook to play a larger role as communications backbone, but a number of companies have tried and failed to make the TV a video conferencing device. Two barriers to that evolution will be lack of a keyboard, though smart phones could cast their keyboard to the TV, and lack of privacy, as the TV transforms social networking chat to a semi-public event.

AT&T considers sale of DirecTV

AT&T reported that it would not be influenced by its new 1% shareholder, activist investor Elliot Fund, that is demanding divestiture of some of its lines of business. At the same time, the company is rumored to be contemplating a spin off of DirecTV. That line of business lost 778,000 subscribers last quarter. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: AT&T is stretched quite thin in the TV department, with DirecTV subscriber defections increasing, and fierce competition in the streaming business with new entrants each week. AT&T’s streaming TV service will compete with Netflix, Hulu, Apple, Disney, Vevo, HBO, Amazon Prime, Peacock (NBCU), CBS and others — meaning profits are far off for AT&T’s streaming video business.

Google WiFi 2 is Google Home + router

Google is expected to release, in October, the WiFi 2 which does what Amazon Echo does not, combine a smart speaker with a mesh Wi-Fi router. It is assumed that the device will support the faster, higher coverage Wi-Fi 6 protocol. The device will be branded a Nest device.

Ars Technica

dis-rup-shun: Google has found a niche that Amazon has not already taken in the combination device. Housing a mesh Wi-Fi broadcaster in the middle of your home where you will locate a speaker makes good sense, as it will improve coverage in your home in a form factor that is aesthetically acceptable, unlike most Wi-Fi hubs and repeaters. Expect to see more appliances also be Wi-Fi repeaters/hubs, as Wi-Fi is expected to cover every inch of home, garage and yard.

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Is Uber’s future a history lesson?

August 12, 2019August 12, 2019by sbsikesLeave a Comment

Uber implements hiring freeze

Uber, having gone public in May, has enough cash, $13.7 billion, to continue losing money for two years. The company has never been profitable and has warned that it may never be. The company recently trimmed one third of its marketing staff and has announced a hiring freeze for technical employees. Gizmodo

dis-rup-shun: Can a company that never earns a profit be a success? Uber has successfully changed the world of transportation, has successfully raised $8.1 billion in its public offering, rewarding its investors, and has experimented with new business concepts such as food delivery, helicopter taxis, scooter sharing and is betting on driverless cars. Like a hurricane, the company is a destructive force that reshapes the landscape forever, but may be a passing phenomena whose future is relegated to history lessons. Now the race is on to see if management can generate a profit, lest the company be only a grand experiment.

Roku a rising star in the turbulent streaming video market

Netflix is now facing a number of well-funded competitors in Disney, Comcast, Apple and AT&T who are competing for a slice of the household streaming subscription budget. Roku, a company aggregating access to many streaming and related video services, earns a fee from initial purchases as well as a small revenue share from services it offers to the 36% of connected homes that it serves. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: If streaming services such as Netflix are analogous to TV networks in the old TV world, only without advertising revenues, then Roku is analogous to cable TV, only without subscription fees. That is, the networks have to pay a carriage fee to Roku to gain access to connected homes. Unlike the streamers, Roku is not locked into a difficult battle to create unique (and costly) original content.

Smaller cities fighting against brain drain

Small towns are fighting the brain drain of tech jobs to large cities. Despite the conveniences and efficiencies of remote work afforded by the Internet, wage disparities between jobs in large cities and small has increased, leading states such as Vermont to devise a number of incentives, including relocation allowances and co-working office space, to attract workers to smaller towns. Wired

dis-rup-shun: In a decade of flat wages and growing inflation, the attraction of better salaries continues despite a shortage of housing, difficult commutes, and higher crime rates. Companies catering to urban conglomeration, such as WeWork, are enjoying high valuations, but expect the pendulum to swing away from denser living as Generation Z, larger than Millenials or Baby Boomers, reaches a tipping point of high living costs.

5G hype alert: no 5G in iPhone 11

5G, the next generation of wireless technology, will be a game changer for the Internet of Things movement. But the game won’t be changing for at least a year. Apple has announced that 5G, unlike Samsung, will not be a feature of its next generation of phones, as 5G networks simply aren’t ready. ZDNet

dis-rup-shun: In a time when people hold on to expensive smartphones for three or more years, the decision not to support 5G gets more interesting. Perhaps Apple is counting on the widespread deployment of 5G networks, expected in 12 to 18 months, to create high demand for the model after next, and spur sluggish sales, as chances of Android models with 5G winning iPhone owners are small.