23 – Best of CES Awards & Huawei denies Chinese Involvement – Tech Time Podcast


China landed Chang’e-4 mission on the far side of the Moon and Sprouted a Plant.

  • Jan 3 the Chang-e-4 rover landed on the far side of the moon.
    • Chang’e-4 spacecraft, lander and rover.
    • The lander has a radioisotope thermoelectric generator to power the lunar operations during three months.
    • The rover can carry 20kg and will perform real time video transmission.  It can also dig and perform simple analysis of soil.
  • Cotton seeds became the first biological matter to grow on the moon.
    • Photo of the seeds sprouting on Jan 7.
  • This experiment lays the foundation for a lunar base and long term space exploration.
  • Some question the validity of the experiment as a test experiment was done here on earth.  
    • Some say the photos are from that earth experiment and that the seeds most likely didn’t survive the lunar landing.

Apple Replaced 11 Million iPhone Batteries in Its $29 Program

  • Apple’s $29 battery replacement program may have seriously dinged sales of its 2018 iPhone models.
  • The company replaced 11 million iPhone batteries under the program, John Gruber of tech-focused blog DaringFireball reported Monday, citing Apple CEO Tim Cook at an all-hands meeting.
  • Typically, the company replaces 1 million to 2 million batteries each year, DaringFireball noted. Cook cited the program’s negative impact on Apple’s revenue in a Jan. 2 sales warning to investors but didn’t offer specific numbers.
  • That’s 9-10 million units lost in sales.

Apple drastically drops the price of iPhones in China

The best of CES according to Engadget.

  • Best accessibility = Samsung GEMS H – Lightweight (6lbs) exoskelleton.
    • Can also add resistance to help strengthen rehabilityation.
  • Best Startup = NREAL – the light.  Mixed reality = 1080P and doesn’t look weird.
  • Best  Digital Health and Fitness = Tripple W D3, Tracks bladder levels and can warn you when you may have an accident.
  • Best Wearable – Omron Heartguide – Blood pressure and hypertension with the push of a button.
  • Best Transportation – Daimler Freightliner.  Adaptive cruise, lane control, auto breaking (normal in consumer vehicles but first in a truck).  Make the road safer.
  • Best Home Theater =  Sannheiser Ambeo Soundbar.  5.1 surround sound in a soundbar.  Converts stereo sound to 3d.
  • Best Connected Home Product = Lenovo Smart Clock.  Google Home built in. Sunlight simulation and control smart home.  No camera.
  • Best mobile device = Morphie Juicepack, Battery case that doesn’t use lightning port.  Uses wireless charging leaving the jack available (headphones?).
  • Best TV = LG OLED TV R, 4k with 100w dolbie atmos soundbar.  Rolls up.
  • Best Gaming = Alienware Area 51.m.  Modular – can swap out everything. Futureproofing.
  • Most unexpected = IMpossible burger 2.0.  Meatless patty. Grown in a lab and tastes good.  Made with Soy Protien.
  • Best Sports = JaxJox Kettle bell. Adjustable weight???
  • Best Tablet = Dell XPS 13.  Slim Bezzels and Compact Design.  Dolbie Vision HDR Screen.
  • Best Robot Drone = Samsung Bot Drone.  Sleep blood pressure and heart rate calls 911.

Netflix To Raise Prices By 13% To 18%

  • Netflix is raising its U.S. prices by 13 percent to 18 percent, its biggest increase since the company launched its streaming service 12 years ago.
  • Its most popular plan will see the largest hike, to $13 per month from $11. That option offers high-definition streaming on up to two different internet-connected devices simultaneously.
  • Even at the higher price, that plan is still a few dollars cheaper than HBO, whose streaming service charges $15 per month.
  • The extra cash will help to pay for Netflix’s huge investment in original shows and films and finance the heavy debt it has assumed to ward off rivals such as Amazon, Disney and AT&T.
  • This marks the fourth time that Netflix has raised its U.S. prices; the last hike came in late 2017. But this is the first time that higher prices will hit all 58 million U.S. subscribers, the number Netflix reported at the end of September.

Huawei CEO Says Company Doesn’t Spy For China and Praises Trump in Rare Appearance

  • Huawei would never allow China’s government to access customer data, even if Beijing requested it, the CEO and founder of the company repeatedly emphasized Tuesday, amid continued political pressure on the Chinese technology giant.
  • In a rare sit down with international media, Ren Zhengfei addressed concerns raised by the U.S. government, which has warned that the company’s equipment could allow the Chinese government to have a backdoor into a nation’s telecommunications network.
  • Ren, speaking Mandarin and using a company-provided translator, told the group that Huawei has never handed data to Beijing. “When it comes to cybersecurity and privacy protection we are committed to be sided with our customers. We will never harm any nation or any individual,” Ren told the journalists assembled at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China. “
  • China’s ministry of foreign affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install mandatory back doors. Huawei and me personally have never received any request from any government to provide improper information,”
  • Ren actually praised the U.S. president. “For President Trump as a person, I still believe he is a great president,” he said. “In the sense that he was bold to slash taxes. And I think that’s conducive for the development of industries in the United States.”

Feds Can’t Force You To Unlock Your iPhone With Finger Or Face, Judge Rules

  • A California judge has ruled that American cops can’t force people to unlock a mobile phone with their face or finger.
  • The ruling goes further to protect people’s private lives from government searches than any before and is being hailed as a potentially landmark decision.
  • Previously, U.S. judges had ruled that police were allowed to force unlock devices like Apple’s iPhone with biometrics, such as fingerprints, faces or irises. That was despite the fact feds weren’t permitted to force a suspect to divulge a passcode.
  • But according to a ruling uncovered by Forbes, all logins are equal. The order came from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in the denial of a search warrant for an unspecified property in Oakland. The warrant was filed as part of an investigation into a Facebook extortion crime, in which a victim was asked to pay up or have an “embarassing” video of them publicly released. The cops had some suspects in mind and wanted to raid their property. In doing so, the feds also wanted to open up any phone on the premises via facial recognition, a fingerprint or an iris.

Eugine the Egg, Instagram’s most-liked photo

  • The picture of a plain brown egg has over 42 million likes and 6.3 million followers.
  • It passed Kylie Jenner for having the most liked photo (a baby holding her thumb – 18.5 m likes).  It was cute.
  • Brant was showing me the egg on Sunday.

OnePlus 7 Lead teases Noth-less, sliding camera design

  • A photo of two phones (supposedly OnePlus 7’s) was leaked on the internet this week.
  • Both photos show almost no bezels on the sides, bottom and top.
  • One phone has a small teardrop notch (like the oneplus 6T but smaller).
  • The other phone has no notch but a case that looks like part of the phone can slide up exposing a camera and other sensors.
  • Oppo – Owned by the same company of OnePlus has already put out a slider phone.
  • Slider phones are an interesting idea till cameras can be put behind the screen as Samsung is reportedly attempting.

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Best of CES – Tech Time Podcast Ep. 21

CES 2019 Highlights for Day 1

  • CES starts today (Jan 8) and appears to be all about AI.
    • Hisense (China’s leading electronics manufacturer) has a TV (TriChroma laser) that can detect what you are watching and adjust the settings to give you a better experience.
      • Sports = higher motion rate for smoother viewing.
      • Movies = 24 frames per second and make it more surround sound.
  • LG introduced a machine called “Home Brew”.  It looks like a Keurig for beer. You put in capsules with malt, yeast, hop oil and flavouring and two weeks later you have a gallon of cold beer.  
    • Do people really want to wait two weeks?  The craft beer people may not want to be so automated…
  • LG has the rolling TV.  OLED TV R, It’s 65” paper thin and rolls up to save space.
    • LG also says it will be one of the first with at 5G phone this year.
  • Harley-Davidson will be announcing it’s first electric motorcycle LiveWire.
  • P&G (Known for pampers and Tide).  
    • Heated razors,
    • Toothbrush with AI &
    • a wand that scans the skin and releases serum to cover up age spots.  
      • What is this magic serum???
    • Head & Shoulders device that uses ultraviolet light to uncover scalp issues and recommend products.
      • You’ve got dandruff!
  • John Deere has self driving tractors and an 18 tonne combine harvester with AI.
    • It can track the quality of grain coming into the machine so that its kernel-separating settings can be adjusted automatically.  The Farmer can monitor it from their phone.
  • Byton – Chinese electric car maker is releasing a steering wheel that has an LED screen.  When you turn the wheel, the screen stays level. Sounds dangerous.
  • Samsung, LG, Vizio & Sony will support Airplay II
  • Samsung
    • 98” 8K TV – need to remove a wall to get the TV in.
      • HDMI 2
    • Robots – Care.  Can take your vitals and call an ambulance.
  • Lenovo Smart Clock – Google Assistant built in (like a mini).
    • No smart home, no videos, but has weather, time, calendar, alarms.
  • Google
    • Google Assistant  gets new feature
      • Conversational translation (types words that someone says in 27 languages), boarding pass support and improved auto reply.. Adds punctuation to sentences (no more “period or coma”).
      • Being built into more things like – Sonos and most TVs.
      • Will be on a billion devices next year (Amazon has sold 100 million Alexa’s).
  • Apple – “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone”.  
    • Dig at google and facebook.

Huawei Has Suspected Ties To Front Companies In Iran and Syria, New Documents Reveal

  • The U.S. case against the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Canada last month, centers on the company’s suspected ties to two obscure companies.
  • One is a telecom equipment seller that operated in Tehran;
  • the other is that firm’s owner, a holding company registered in Mauritius.
  • U.S. authorities allege CFO Meng Wanzhou deceived international banks into clearing transactions with Iran by claiming the two companies were independent of Huawei, when in fact Huawei controlled them.
  • Huawei has maintained the two are independent: equipment seller Skycom Tech Co Ltd and shell company Canicula Holdings Ltd. But corporate filings and other documents found by Reuters in Iran and Syria show that Huawei, the world’s largest supplier of telecommunications network equipment, is more closely linked to both firms than previously known.
  • The documents reveal that a high-level Huawei executive appears to have been appointed Skycom’s Iran manager. They also show that at least three Chinese-named individuals had signing rights for both Huawei and Skycom bank accounts in Iran.
  • Reuters also discovered that a Middle Eastern lawyer said Huawei conducted operations in Syria through Canicula. Huawei, U.S. authorities assert, retained control of Skycom, using it to sell telecom equipment to Iran and move money out via the international banking system.
  • As a result of the deception, U.S. authorities say, banks unwittingly cleared hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions that potentially violated economic sanctions Washington had in place at the time against doing business with Iran.

Sony Appears To Be Blocking Kodi On Its Recent Android TVs

  • Several reports indict that at least some of Sony’s recent Android TVs are actively blocking Kodi, the open-source, cross-platform streaming and media player that allows you to access and play local, network, and remote content.
  • Android Police reports: The official Kodi project Twitter account pointed out Sony’s deficiency a couple of days ago, but reports on the Kodi forums of issues installing and running the app from the Play Store go even further back to last year.
  • A handful of affected enthusiasts believe they have discovered the cause of the problem: Sony seems to be blocking the package ID for the app from being installed/run.
  • Supporting this theory is the fact that recompiling the app from scratch with a different ID allows it to work.

NVIDIA Launches $349 GeForce RTX 2060, Will Support Other Adaptive Sync Monitors

  • NVIDIA launched a new, more reasonably-priced GeForce RTX card today, dubbed the GeForce RTX 2060.
  • The new midrange graphics card will list for $349 and pack all the same features as NVIDIA’s higher-end GeForce RTX 2080 and 2070 series cards.
  • The card is also somewhat shorter than other RTX 20-series cards at only 9.5″ (including the case bracket), and its GPU has a few functional blocks disabled.
  • Although it’s packing a TU106 like the 2070, six Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs) have been disabled, along with 20% of its Tensor and RT cores.
  • All told, the RTX 2060 has 1,920 active CUDA cores, with 240 Tensor cores, and 30 RT cores. Although the GeForce RTX 2060 seems like the next-gen cousin to the 1060, the RTX 2060 is significantly more powerful and more in line with the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti and GTX 1080 in terms of raw performance in the benchmarks.
  • It can also play ray-tracing enabled games like Battlefield V with decent frame rates at 1080p with high image quality and max ray-tracing enabled.
  • NVIDIA has also apparently decided to support open standards-based adaptive refresh rate monitor technology and will soon begin supporting even AMD FreeSync monitors in future driver update.

Samsung Smart TVs Will Support Apple AirPlay 2 and iTunes Videos in Spring 2019

  • If the late 2018 deal that brought Apple Music to Amazon Echo speakers wasn’t surprising enough, Samsung today announced a similar partnership with Apple for 2018 and 2019 Samsung Smart TVs: support for iTunes movies, iTunes TV shows, and AirPlay 2 will be coming in spring 2019.
  • From a report: The deal is all but unprecedented for Apple, which has historically restricted playback of iTunes videos solely to its own devices, including Apple TVs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs, with no support for competing media players such as Roku, or various smart TV platforms. (I still have hundreds of songs on iTunes with DRM!)
  • That said, PCs running iTunes have been able to play iTunes videos, and the company has allowed third-parties to license both AirPlay and AirPlay 2 for years.
  • According to Samsung, a firmware update to 2018 Smart TVs will add a new iTunes Movies and TV Shows app in more than 100 countries.
  • AirPlay 2 will become available on Samsung Smart TVs in 190 countries around the world. There are lots of unanswered questions about this iTunes deal. The Verge: Is Apple going to allow Samsung’s smart TV tracking to snoop on iTunes viewers?
  • Smart TVs are notorious for tracking what people watch, but Apple’s entire brand is privacy.
  • What usage data will Samsung see from the iTunes app? Samsung smart TVs run Tizen, Samsung’s wacky custom operating system.
  • Is Apple building a Tizen iTunes app?
  • Is there a Tizen team inside Apple? Or is Samsung building this app? Who will be in charge of updating it and fixing bugs?

AT&T’s Android phones now lie about having 5G

  • Like it or not, AT&T’s not-really-5G icon is reaching phones. The carrier has started rolling out the indicator to Android handsets, including Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Activeand LG’s V30. Install the update and you’ll see a “5G E” (5G Evolution) indicator where you used to see “LTE.” More eligible devices will see the new cellular icon in the spring, so don’t think you’ll escape it if you have a reasonably modern device.

As before, AT&T isn’t really upgrading anyone to a 5G service. This is still 4G LTE, just with a mix of technologies (4×4 MIMO antennas, 256 QAM and carrier aggregation) that potentially supply faster-than-usual speeds. It’s rehashing the strategy it used when it labeled HSPA+ as LTE — this is more about marketing the network than providing useful information. We wouldn’t rule out other carriers jumping on the pseudo-5G bandwagon as they ramp up their real 5G networks, but that won’t make it any less confusing.


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Most Anticipated Tech of 2019 – Episode 21

Google Chrome’s New UI is Ugly, And People Are Very Angry

  • Every major user interface (UI) redesign project is a hit and miss game, and Google’s new Chrome UI appears to be a colossal miss. D
  • esigned with mobile devices in mind, the new Chrome user interface style was officially rolled out in September this year, with the release of Chrome version 69.
  • Not all users liked the new UI, and this was clear from the beginning, with some users voicing their discontent online even back then.
  • However, those users who didn’t appreciate the new lighter-toned Chrome interface had the option to visit the chrome://flags page and modify a Chrome setting and continue using Chrome’s older UI.
  • But with Chrome version 71, released earlier this month, Google has removed the Chrome flag that allowed users to use the old UI. As you might imagine, this change did not go well, at all.
  • Chrome’s new UI might have been developed with a mobile-first approach in mind, but the UI is problematic on laptops and desktops, where its lighter tone and rounded tabs make it extremely hard to distinguish tabs from one another, especially when users open multiple tabs.
  • Since being able to distinguish and switch between tabs at a fast pace is an important detail in most of today’s internet-based jobs, many users have been having trouble adapting to the new UI both at work and at home, especially if they’re the kind of people who deal with tens of tabs at the same time.

Google Will Launch the Pixel 3 and 3 XL ‘Lite’ on Verizon in Spring 2019, Report Says

  • Speaking to a source familiar with the company’s plans, we’ve learned that Google intends to launch two new Pixel smartphones on Verizon in early spring 2019 — the Pixel 3 and 3 XL “Lite.”
  • An exact announcement date and pricing are not yet known. A Pixel 3 Lite prototype was leaked on a Russian tech blog last month, fueling rampant speculation about where the phone would be sold and how it would be positioned in Google’s larger smartphone lineup
  • Later, renders of the 3 Lite and a larger XL variant were released by OnLeaks. These “Lite” Pixels will be the first phones in the mid-range Google has released since the Nexus 5X, which launched at $379 in the US in 2015.

Cheers erupt as NASA’s New Horizons flies by the most distant object ever: 1.6 billion km past Pluto

  • “New Horizons” Spacecraft flew past and investigated Ultima Thule (icy celestial object). Also known as a dwarf planet.
    • Thule in medieval literature was the most distant northernmost place beyond the known world.
    • Ultima Thule is a single object about 32 km long.  It is potato shaped and dark colored with a touch of red (possibly from being zapped by cosmic rays for 4.5 billion years).
  • Ultima Thule is 6.5 billion KM from earth (1 billion miles past pluto).
    • New horions left earth in 2008.  Amazing it has flown so far in 11 years.
  • It flew past at 12:33 am ET Tuesday but it took 10 hours for the information to get back to us.
    • Happy new year!
    • It also marks the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s footsteps on the moon in July 1969.
  • Nasa says New Horizons has survived humanity’s most distant exploration of another world.
  • Celebrities were on hand to celebrate.
    • Brian May (queen Guitarist and astrophysicist) joined the team at Johns Hopkins for a midnight premiere of the song he wrote for the big event.

CES 2019 starts Next Week

  • CEC 2019 will be the 52nd show (started June 24 1967).
  • What people are expecting.
    • Faster, better bigger (and smaller) versions of last year’s products.
    • AI and “Machine Learning” integrated into more services.
    • Robots, Robots, Robots
    • Everything will be cloud connected.
    • Everything will be “smart”.
  • Q) How will 5G change the Tech Landscape?
    • We will see big promises for 5G.
  • Q) Will Intel be there to defend against Qualcomm, AMD and ARM?
  • Q) Is the health tech revolution at hand?
  • Q) What’s new with Google?
  • Q) What about Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and other Tech giants?
  • Q) Streaming TV is all the rage.  Will they be there to take on Netflix?
  • Q) Security and privacy: Are there plans or are they giving up?
  • Q) Will we see any VR challenges to Oculus?
  • Q) TV’s, what’s next (OLED, MicroLED, 4K).
    • Does anyone care about 8k TV.
  • Q) Voice assistants.  Google and Alexa? What about siri and bixbi?
  • Q) Trade wars and Tech?
  • Q) Will there be any surprise hits that will revolutionize our world?
    • How many small hits to equal one gigantic one?

Google Android TV is the most used streaming box in the world.

  • There are “10’s of millions of users” mostly in asia.
  • Google Assistant.
  • Amazon Recast: DVR for cable cutters. Around 200 bucks lets you record 2 channels at once.

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Smelly Glitter Bombs for Amazon? Ep. 20

Google to invest $1B in New Campus in New York City

  • The new campus will more than double its headcount in New York over the next 10 years.
    • Google currently has 7k employees in New York
    • 1.7 million square foot “Google Hudson Square) will be 2 building.
  • Apple announced they will build a new $1B campus in Austin Texas.
  • Amazon chose Long Island last month as the location for one of its new headquarters.

Samsung Kills Headphone Jack After Mocking Apple with A8s

  • Last week, Samsung introduced its latest smartphone, the Galaxy A8s. Not only is it the first phone of theirs with a laser-drilled hole in the display for the front-facing camera sensor, but it is also their first phone to ditch the headphone jack.
  • the hypocrisy behind it: [The A8s] is also Samsung’s first smartphone without a headphone jack, much to the amusement of iPhone users, as Samsung has mocked Apple for over two years over its decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 in 2016, a trend that has continued through to the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. While on stage unveiling the new Galaxy Note 7 in 2016, for example, Samsung executive Justin Denison made sure to point out that the device came with a headphone jack. “Want to know what else it comes with?” he asked. “An audio jack. I’m just saying,” he answered, smirking as the audience laughed. And earlier this year, Samsung mocked the iPhone X’s lack of a headphone jack in one of its “Ingenius” ads promoting the Galaxy S9. *
  • Samsung isn’t the first tech giant to mock Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack, only to follow suit. Google poked fun at the iPhone 7’s lack of headphone jack while unveiling its original Pixel smartphone in 2016, and then the Pixel 2 launched without one just a year later.

Lenovo built a slider phone with 12GB of RAM Z5 Pro GT

This is where the new Z5 Pro GT comes in:

  • loaded with up to 12GB of RAM — a new record for smartphones — along with up to 512GB of storage. It’s also the second smartphone confirmed to feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 chipset, though unlike OnePlus’ yet-to-be-named flagship device, Lenovo’s slider won’t be packing 5G radio.

  • You get a 6.39-inch 2,340 x 1,080 AMOLED display, a 16MP + 24MP dual rear cameras, 16MP + 8MP (infrared) front cameras, 3,350mAh battery, NFC, dual nano SIM slots and a 3.5mm headphone jack dongle for the USB-C port.
  • Sadly, this also includes the awkward placement of the earpiece between the front cameras, which forces you to slide the screen down for phone calls. Worse yet, the lack of some US-friendly LTE bands means this phone is out of the question for a good majority of our readers, unless Lenovo has plans to bring it to the States later on
  • $640 for the 12GB RAM + 512GB storage top model

What is Google’s Project Dragonfly and Why the Controversy?

  • Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai came under fire on Dec 11 from the US Congress for its controversial Project Dragonfly.
  • Project Dragonfly is a top secret plan to create a filtered search engine for China.
    • The Great Firewall of China – Wikipedia, BBC, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
    • Search terms like Tiananmen Square protest.
  • History – Google excited China in 2010 due to the “Totalitarianism” of Chinese policies (Google co-founder Sergey Brin who grew up in the USSR).
  • Rumors of Project Dragonfly have spurned employee protests and resignations.
  • When Congress asked about Project Dragonfly, Pichai repeatedly said there were “no plans” to launch a search engine in China.
  • When pressed Pichai acknowledged the project had “over a hundred” people working on it.  He also called it a “limited effort” within the company.
  • Pichai stated, “Getting access to information is an important human right…We are always compelled, across the world, to provide access to information”
  • Is filtered access a “right” or a “wrong”?

The Boring Company to Open Test Tunnel Today on Dec 18

  • Elon Musk tweeted himself walking down the full length of the test tunnel under SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles.
  • The test tunnel is 2 miles long and will be open to the public.
  • The concept features a large “Skate” that can hold a car and can travel upto 155 mph (250km/hr).
  • The Boring Company currently has a contract to build a loop at O’Hare international airport in Chicago.  

Booby-Trapped Amazon Package Covers Thieves in Glitter and Fart Spray

  • Mark Rober is a Mechanical Engineer who spent 9 years at NASA (7 working on the curiosity Rover.
  • He was tired of getting Amazon packages stolen off his porch.
  • He even had security camera footage of the thieves but the police didn’t have time to look into it.  
  • He built a “Bait Package” that looks like an Amazon packages.
    • Has 4 cameras with GPS (to find the thieves and retrieve the package).
      • LTE connection to record the incident.
      • Uses accelerometer to know when the box is picked up and starts recording.
    • Has a glitter spinner that sprays as soon as someone opens the box.
    • Fart Spray (one pump will clear a room).  This does 5 sprays every 30 seconds.
    • The delivery label was from Kevin McCallister (Home Alone).
  • Checkout the video on Techspot.com
    • About 5 minutes of many thieves getting hit with glitter and fart juice.

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Hauwei Hates Canada – Podcast 18

Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Chinese Huawei Inc. Detained in Vancouver at the request of U.S.

  • Meng Wanzhou was detained on Dec 1 in Vancouver in between flights by Canadian authorities on the request of the United States government.
    • Meng is charged with fraud dealing with International sanctions against Iran.  
    • Meng is accused of repeatedly lying to financial institutions about the relationship between Huawei and a company called Skycom that did business in Iran in violation of international sanctions.
    • She serves as deputy chairwoman of the company’s board and served on the board of Skycom in 2008 and 2009.
    • As a result of her alleged lies, prosecutors contend that the banks she dealt with were “induced into carrying out transactions that they otherwise would not have contemplated.” Those transactions put them on the wrong side of the international community.
  • A former Canadian Diplomat, Michael Kovrig, was detained in China earlier in the week.
    • Kovrig works for “International Crisis Group” an non profit.
    • China has not released the details of his detention but many are saying it is in retaliation to Meng’s detention.
  • Canada Goose (parkas) Shares have dropped by 20% since Meng’s arrest.
    • Canada Goose Parkas are prestige clothing in China.
    • A viral anti-Canadian campaign was started on Weibo (Chinese social media) and named Canada Goose as a company to boycott.
    • The Chinese Government followed suit and has published the boycott across China.  
      • Why not American?
    • The Chinese Government hopes to put enough pressure on Canada and Canadian companies to release Meng before she gets extradited to the United States.
  • What are the Concerns with Huawei’s 5G technology?
    • Huawei is working on advanced security technology with the “Public Security Bureau” in China.
    • They are working on advanced new surveillance and population-control techniques.
      • the use of facial recognition
      • digital monitoring
      • artificial intelligence in policing.
    • Chinese law requires companies in China to “support, cooperate with and collaborate in national intelligence work”.
    • Security experts have proven that this “surveillance technology” could be brought into other countries in their 5G telecommunications hardware and smartphones.
    • Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance – 3 of the 5 (US, Australia and New Zealand) have already banned Huawei from their 5G infrastructure.  Canada and Britain are still on the fence.
    • China also has a history of stealing intellectual property from Western countries (including Canada).  

Google Will Shut Down Google+ Four Months Early After Second Data Leak

7 Slashdot by msmash  / 1d // keep unread  // hide Google+ Bug Data Shut

  • Google+ has suffered another data leak
  • Google has decided to shut down the consumer version of the social network four months earlier than it originally planned.
  • Google+ will now close to consumers in April, rather than August. Additionally, API access to the network will shut down within the next 90 days.
  • According to Google, the new vulnerability impacted 52.5 million users, who could have had profile information like their name, email address, occupation, and age exposed to developers, even if their account was set to private.
  • Apps could also access profile data that had been shared with a specific user, but was not shared publicly.

Apple Watch Series 4 ECG, Irregular Heart Rate Features Are Now Available

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  • Today, with an update to watchOS, Apple is making its electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) reading feature available to Apple Watch Series 4 owners.
  • It’s also releasing an irregular rate notification feature that will be available on Apple Watches going back to Series 1. Both are a part of watchOS 5.1.2.
  • To take an EKG, you open up the EKG app on the Watch and lightly rest your index finger on the crown for 30 seconds. The Watch then acts like a single-lead EKG to read your heart rhythm and record it into the Health app on your phone.
  • From there, you can create a PDF report to send to your doctor. The irregular heart rate monitoring is passive. Apple says that it checks your rhythm every two hours or so (depending on whether you’re stationary or not), and if there are five consecutive readings that seem abnormal, it will alert you and suggest you reach out to a doctor.
  • If you have been previously diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, Apple’s setup process tells you not to use the feature.
  • Apple tells me these features are most definitely not diagnostic tools. In fact, before you can activate either of them, you will need to page through several screens of information that try to put their use into context and warn you to contact your doctor if needed.
  • They are also not the sort of features Apple expects users to really use on a regular basis. The EKG feature, in particular, should only really be used if you feel something abnormal going on, and then you should only share the resulting report with your doctor, not act on it directly.
  • Angela Chen from The Verge notes that these features have only received “clearance” from the FDA, which is not the same thing as FDA “approval”: The Apple Watch is in Class II. For Class II and Class I, the FDA doesn’t give “approval,” it just gives clearance. Class I and Class II products are lower-risk products — as [Jon Speer, co-founder of Greenlight Guru] puts it, a classic Class I example is something like a tongue depressor — and it’s much easier to get clearance than approval.

NYC Votes To Set Minimum Pay For Uber, Lyft Drivers

42 Slashdot by BeauHD  / 6d // keep unread  // hide Uber New York City Lyft

  • On Tuesday, New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission voted to set a minimum pay rate for Uber, Lyft, and other on-demand ride-hailing drivers.
  • The new rate will be set at $17.22 after expenses, or $26.51 per hour gross.
  • New York is believed to be the first city in the nation to implement such a pay floor.
  • Four months ago, the Big Apple also imposed a cap on the number of such vehicles in the city.
  • The Independent Drivers Guild, a local affiliate of the Machinists Union, advocated for the change.
  • Meanwhile, Uber has already put out a statement saying that increased driver earnings “will lead to higher than necessary fare increases” and that the new rules do not adequately take into account “incentives or bonuses forcing companies to raise rates even higher.” “Today we brought desperately needed relief to 80,000 working families. All workers deserve the protection of a fair, livable wage and we are proud to be setting the new bar for contractor workers’ rights in America,” Jim Conigliaro, Jr., founder of the Independent Drivers Guild, said in a statement.

Old news:

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Microsoft is Building its own Chrome Browser to Replace Edge

  • Microsoft is moving from EdgeHTML to Chromium.
  • There has been a growing frustration with Web compatibility issues as most developers write code for Chrome.
  • Chrome is the most popular browser.
  • Microsoft has pulled the Chrome installer from their store as it, “violated  store policies”.
    • They required browsers to use EdgeHTML.

‘YouTube Music is a Bad Product in Desperate Need of Improvement Before Anyone Will Care To Use It’

  • Andrew Martonik, writing for AndroidCentral: YouTube Music as a service has been around for about three years now, though it really only existed in earnest once the revamped version of the YouTube Music app and dedicated website, as we know it today, launched in May.
  • Whether you look at it as three years or just six months old, one thing is clear: YouTube Music isn’t finished yet, is filled with issues and is incredibly frustrating to use on a daily basis considering it costs the industry-standard $10 per month.
  • YouTube Music is so unfinished and lacking features that I question whether Google has any intentions of following through with its vision of replacing Google Play Music entirely.
  • Put simply, I can’t believe Google thinks anyone will pay $10 per month for it when all signs point to Google itself not caring about YouTube Music’s success.
  • YouTube Music effectively doesn’t work with Google Home. […] YouTube Music also still doesn’t work with Android Auto, which is just as inexcusable as not working with Google Home.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 Leaks Again!

Samsung Galaxy S10 Leaks again!





The new Galaxy S10 isn’t expected until next year, but come check out the latest leaks. Click on the video above to see what we think about the leaks.

Leak 1: “The Bell” published a report stating that three companies have won the contracts to manufacture the cameras for the 4G versions of the Galaxy S10 phones. The four companies include: Daeduck GDS, NewFlex, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEMCO).

Leak 2: There will be three 4G versions of the S10 Galaxy S10 Beyond 0: 5.8”, 3 cameras (1 selfie + 2 back). Galaxy S10 Beyond 1: 6.1”, 4 cameras (2 selfie + 2 back). Galaxy S10 Beyond 2: 6.4”, 5 cameras (2 selfie + 3 back).

NewFlex will be making the wide angle cameras.

The report also forecasts: 30 million S10 4G phones (20m Beyond 1 or 2). 2 million S10 5G phones (no info on the cameras on the 5G).

Let’s not forget about the 5G rumored chip:

Analysts at GF Securities are predicting the fully loaded 5G version of the S10 will pack:

12 GB of RAM 1 TB storage 6.7” screen 6 cameras (2 selfie + 4 back). One back camera is rumored to be a 3D Time of Flight Sensor.

Highly accurate distance mapping and 3D imaging. Short Infrared light pulse, camera measures the return time. This is similar to LIDAR used in self driving cars.

I’ll be honest, I’m the most excited about the 5G possibilities. The problem is affording a 5G plan that will have unlimited data.

Would you be interested in buying a 5G enabled Samsung phone? What do you think about the new leaks? Is it worth the upgrade?

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The new Qualcomm 855 chip is awesome


Qualcomm Announces the Snapdragon 855 and Its New Under-display Fingerprint Sensor  It’s the time of the year again.  It’s not quite Christmas.  It’s the time we all get to hear about the latest and greatest technology coming out for Android phones!  Qualcomm has released their specs for the new 855 chip and it looks incredible.  Not only will it be faster for everything; virtual reality, augmented reality, gaming but it will have better battery life!  That honestly is the one thing I’m always asking for.  How many of us have run out of battery in the middle of a concert, or a trek using google maps? The best thing about the new chip is that it supports 5G!  Apparently all of the big flagship Android phones will run the 855 this year.  So far, OnePlus has said their next phone will have it and that probably means that Huawei won’t be far behind. While the company didn’t release all of the details yet, it stressed that the 855 is “the world’s first commercial mobile platform supporting multi-gigabit 5G.”The 855 also features a new multi-core AI engine that promises up to 3x better AI performance compared to its previous mobile platform. What kinds of things would that speed up for you?  The personal assistant,   language translation applications and video games. I think the best feature has to be the specialized computer vision silicon for enhanced computational photography (think something akin to Google’s Night Light) and video capture. If you’ve ever tried taking a picture at night with a Pixel 3 you will be amazed at the quality.  The product name for this is “Snapdragon Elite Gaming,” but details remain sparse. Qualcomm also continues to bet on AR (or “extended reality” as the company brands it). What do you think about the new Qualcomm 855 chip?  Are you excited for 5G?  Or do you think it’s just a gimmick?