Tech Brew Ride Home - Mon. 02/15 – First Look At xCloud Via Browser

Episode Date: February 15, 2021

We’ve got our first look at how Microsoft plans to bring xCloud to every device, even iOS. Is Facebook building a smartwatch? Maybe because they’re so pissed at Apple? Is everyone trying to scupper the Nvidia/ARM deal? And why I failed to mention that Paramount+ is the new entrant in the streaming wars. Sponsors: ExpressVPN.com/techmeme MintMobile.com/ride Links: Here’s a first look at Microsoft’s xCloud for the web (The Verge) Facebook Plans Smartwatch With Focus on Messaging, Health (The Information) Facebook Meets Apple in Clash of the Tech Titans—‘We Need to Inflict Pain’ (WSJ) Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm Protest Nvidia’s Acquisition of Arm Ltd. (Bloomberg) Microsoft’s Big Win in Quantum Computing Was an ‘Error’ After All (Wired) ViacomCBS Goes ‘All-In’ on Streaming, But Without Many of Its Top Shows (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the TechMeme ride home for Monday, February 15th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today. We've got our first look at how Microsoft plans to bring X cloud to every device, even iOS devices. Is Facebook building a smartwatch? Maybe because they're so pissed at Apple? Is everyone trying to scupper the Nvidia Arm deal? And why I failed to mention that Paramount Plus is the new entrant in the streaming wars? Spoiler alert, it's actually one of the older. entrance. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. This is technically a holiday weekend here in the States. I didn't take today off, obviously, though my wife did. So maybe it's

fitting that Tom Warren has a first look at Microsoft's X cloud for the web today, because Lord knows if I weren't doing this, I would be probably gaming all day. If you are skeptical of Google staying in the cloud gaming game, you've got to have more confidence in. and Microsoft, right? I mean, 20 years of Xbox, plus Microsoft's cloud business is like three times the size of Googles. So, apparently, Microsoft has begun testing a web-based version of its X-Cloud game streaming service, which would allow anyone to play games via any web browser. This also means iOS devices, quote. Much like how X-Cloud currently works on Android tablets and phones, the web version includes a simple launcher with recommendations for games.

the ability to resume recently played titles and access to all the cloud games available through Xbox GamePass Ultimate. Once you launch a game, it will run full screen, and you'll need a controller to play Xbox games stream through the browser. It's not immediately clear what resolution Microsoft is streaming games at through this web version. The software maker is using Xbox 1S server blades for its existing XCloud infrastructure, so full 4K streaming won't be supported until the backend hardware is. is upgraded to Xbox Series X components this year. Microsoft is planning to bundle this web version of XCloud into the PC version of the Xbox app on Windows 10.2.

The web version appears to be currently limited to chromium browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, much like Google's Stadia service. Microsoft is planning some form of public preview of XCloud via the web in the spring, and this wider internal testing signals that the preview is getting very close, end quote. Yes, internal testing now. No official word on when a public preview might hit, but it feels like before the summer for sure, right? Moving on from the gaming streaming wars, a lot of the rest of this episode is going to be about the potential of a tech world war, the idea we've been poking at lately that maybe all the good, easy markets have been claimed over the last decade. and going forward, the tech oligarchs might only be able to continue growing by sniping away at each other. Zero-sum game and all of that.

Perhaps it's unfair to frame this story in that light, but go with me for a second. Over the weekend, Alex Heath over at the information was reporting on rumors that Facebook is building an Android-based smartwatch with health and fitness capabilities, which it plans to launch next year. Quote, the risk device is expected to work via a cellular connection. without needing a smartphone. Facebook additionally plans to allow the device to connect to the services or hardware of health and fitness companies such as Peloton, the maker of internet-connected exercise bikes. Given its spotty track record with user privacy, Facebook could face blowback from consumers with its wrist wearable, especially related to health aspects of the device. The watch would run on an open-source version of Google's Android software, similar to Facebook's

existing hardware products, though Facebook is also working to build its own operating system for future hardware. Assuming Facebook releases the first version by next year, it plans to follow up with a second-generation version of the watch as soon as 2023, one person briefed on the timeline said. With the planned smartwatch, Facebook hopes to emphasize features that utilize its social networking prowess, such as allowing users to track their workouts with friends or communicate with their trainer. The approach could be similar to that of companies such as Strava, an app that lets runners and cyclists track their workouts and compare performance with others. Its messaging capabilities are expected to focus on quick interactions with people that would otherwise be done with a smartphone. Exactly how people will interact with the device couldn't be learned, but existing smartwatches like the Apple Watch feature microphones to allow for voice commands, end quote.

So the angle that I'm pointing out here vis-a-tec world war is, the idea that, again, we all have to pay for the fact that no one wanted to buy that dumb Facebook phone. Google does its moonshots in an effort to diversify beyond just advertising in order to become at least a two-trick pony. And Facebook has its quest for the next computing platform beyond smartphones, because it doesn't own the platform. Thus, the purchase of things like Oculus, thus the purchase of things like Control Lab. which was working on brain computer interfaces. I had also forgotten that Facebook was actually kicking the tires on Fitbit

before Google beat them to that acquisition. And look, I get that a lot of people won't want to wear a Facebook tracker on their bodies. Lord knows I won't. But the Facebook portal is far and away the best video conferencing device on the market right now. And as we've been discussing, I've been messing around with a portal VR headset lately, so you never know. But playing off of that, even though I'm sort of skeptical of this one because it feels like a bit of a planted story, planted by someone, this is also from the weekend, and it's from the Wall Street Journal, quote, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has groused for years that Apple and its leader Tim Cook have too much sway over the social media giant's business. In 2018, his anger boiled over. Facebook was embroiled in controversy over his data collection practices. Mr. Cook piled on in a national television interview, saying his own company would never have found

itself in such a jam. Mr. Zuckerberg shot back that Mr. Cook's comments were, quote, extremely glib, and quote, not at all aligned with the truth, end quote. In private, Mr. Zuckerberg was even harsher, quote, we need to inflict pain, he told his team, for treating the company so poorly, according to people familiar with the exchange, end quote. The piece then goes on to sort of obliquely bring things around to that showdown, that is forthcoming about Apple's new ad tracking regime, and how Facebook was flirting with the whole epic games-led war to crack open the App Store. Again, the point here is Zuck wants his own platform.

He's tired of going through third-party orifices to use Steve Jobs' famous words, those orifices being iOS and Android, simply in order to reach his own users. A bit more color from the piece. Facebook executives were unhappy with the pace at which Apple approved its app updates. Mr. Zuckerberg grumbled that Mr. Cook might be personally intervening to slow things down, according to people familiar with the discussions. At various times, Mr. Zuckerberg proposed to his deputies, sometimes by email,

that Facebook should delay launching new products on Apple devices and instead give the rival Android operating system an exclusive window, according to people familiar with the matter. Facebook didn't do so. In 2017, during the annual gathering of technology and media executives in Sun Valley, Idaho, Mr. Zuckerberg had a face-to-face meeting to confront Mr. Cook about the mounting tensions. The meeting didn't go well. Mr. Zuckerberg upgraded Mr. Cook about the app review delays and other problems between the two companies. Mr. Cook appeared unwilling to give ground and Mr. Zuckerberg felt he was abrasive, according to people debriefed on the conversation, end quote.

So that is a lot of he said, he said, and sort of third-party sourcing about anecdotes that are from years ago. But again, I'm wondering if this is intentional. If someone is trying to get things like this aired out in public, color stories like this to color current events. Again, this just feels like an intentional leak by someone, maybe to lay the groundwork for something big that might be coming soon. This one, though, is just more straightforward strategic fighting. Sources are telling Bloomberg that Google, Microsoft, and Qualcomm, among others, are all ganging up to ask the U.S. government to scupper Nvidia's acquisition of Arm. At least one of those companies is advocating that the deal be straight up killed.

Quote, UK-based Arm is known as the Switzerland of the tech industry because it licenses chip designs and related software code to all. all comers rather than competing against semiconductor companies. The concern is that if NVIDIA owns Arm, it could limit rivals access to technology or raise the cost of access. NVIDIA has argued that the purchase price alone means it has no incentive to mess with that neutrality, but some rivals and armed customers are unconvinced. A groundswell of opposition from large tech companies may make it difficult to win approval, delay the process or force concessions that change the value of Arm to NVIDIA.

This is also a risk for SoftBank, the current owners of arm. The Japanese conglomerate has been trying to sell some assets to pay down debt and buy back stock. In the U.S., the deal is under review by the Federal Trade Commission, which has opened an in-depth investigation of the merger and has sent information demands to third parties, according to a person familiar with the matter. The FTC declined to comment. The changing leadership of the FTC could make winning approval tougher for NVIDIA. The commission is generally split two to two along party. lines at the moment with Democratic Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter holding the acting chair position. Power will shift to the Democrats when U.S. President Joe Biden picks two candidates to fill

an open seat and the seat held by Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who has been nominated to take over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, end quote. Sounds like there has been a serious setback in the race to make quantum computing a reality. A Microsoft researcher recently claimed to have found something called the Majorana particle, but now it seems he will have to retract his findings, giving you tons of background and quoting from Wired. Majorana fermions are named after Italian physicist Etore Majorana, who hypothesized in 1937 that particles should exist with the odd property of being their own antiparticles. Not long after he boarded a ship and was never seen again.

physicists wouldn't report a good glimpse of one of his eponymous particles until the next millennium. Microsoft got interested in Majoranas after company researchers in 2004 approached tech strategy chief Craig Mundi and said they had a way to solve one problem that was holding back quantum computers, cubits flakiness. The researchers had seized on theoretical physics papers suggesting a way to build cubits that would make them more dependable. These so-called topological cubits would be built around unusual particles of which major rana particles are one example that can pop into existence in clumps of electrons inside certain materials at very low temperatures. Quantum computers are built from devices called qubits that encode ones and zeros of data, but can also use a quantum state called a

superposition to perform matrix not possible for the bits in a conventional computer. The main challenge to commercializing that idea is that quantum states are delicate and easily quashed by thermal or electromagnetic noise, making. cubits error-prone. Google, IBM, and Intel have all shown off prototype quantum processors with around 50 cubits, and companies including Goldman Sachs and Merck are testing the technology. But thousands or millions of cubits are likely required for useful work. Much of a quantum computer's power would probably have to be dedicated to correcting its own glitches. Microsoft hoped that Majoranah particles could fix this and took a different approach,

claiming cubits based on majorana particles would be more scalable. allowing them to leap ahead. But after more than a decade of work, it does not have a single cubit. In March 2018, Dutch physicist and Microsoft employee Leo Cohenhoven published headline grabbing new evidence that he had observed the elusive Majorana Fermion. Microsoft hoped to harness majorana particles to build a quantum computer, and Cohenhoven's discovery buoyed Microsoft's chance to catch up to rivals like IBM and Google, the company's director of quantum computing business development, Julie Love, told the BBC that Microsoft would have a commercial quantum computer within five years. Three years later, Microsoft's 2018 physics Philip has fizzled. Late last month,

Cohenhoven and his 21 co-authors released a new paper including more data from their experiments. It concludes that they did not find the prize particle after all. An attached note from the authors said the original paper in the prestigious journal Nature would be retracted, citing technical errors. Two physicists in the field say extra data. Cohenhoven's group provided them after they questioned the 2018 results, shows the team had originally excluded data points that undermined its newsmaking claims. I don't know for sure what was in their heads, says Sergei Frolov, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, but they skipped some data that contradicts directly what was in the paper. From the Fuller data, there is no doubt there is no majorana, end quote. And finally today, this is why Chris Messina is our podcast Ombudsman. He reached out last week to ask me why I hadn't covered the fact that there is now a new entrant into the streaming wars. Paramount Plus. You might have seen Paramount Plus Super Bowl ads announcing the launch of this service. Well, Chris was right. I kind of dropped the ball. It fell through the cracks last week, though. In my defense, Paramount Plus isn't it. exactly a new entrant. It's just a rebranding of CBS All Access, a streaming service, which,

if we're being strictly literal, is actually one of the oldest, having launched all the way back in 2014. But the fact that you probably didn't know that says all you need to know about the problem parent company ViacomCBS has ahead of it launching this new service, or at least the rebrand, as they attempt to turn this into a modern streaming contender. Among other things, they are behind the eight ball because they sold off a lot of their top movies and TV shows to other streaming competitors. For example, you might have heard of the Kevin Costner Cattle Ranch drama Yellowstone, but guess what? Paramount owns it, but Peacock owns the streaming rights, because Paramount sold that to them, quoting Bloomberg. It's all part of what Backish, Viacom CBS's chief executive officer,

dubbed an arms dealer strategy, as cable networks MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelode hemorrhaged viewers, Backish offset following advertising sales by selling the company's crown jewels to the highest bidder. Over the past few years, ViacomC CBS has licensed out South Park and Chappelle's show to AT&T's HBO Max, sold movies including 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Lovebirds to Netflix and Netflix, and Apple. But now Backish is trying to change course, or at least signal to Wall Street that a company built on TV networks can survive in a streaming world. Viacom CBS is overhauled. its flagship streaming service currently known as CBS All Access and rechristening it Paramount Plus.

The company will unveil details about the service at an Investor Day, February 24th, prior to its release to the public on March 5th. The company has commissioned a slate of dozens of original series, including shows inspired by movies, Flashdance, Greece, and The Godfather, as well as new versions of past hits, The Real World, and Behind the Music. Viacom CBS has tried to buy back the streaming rights to Yellowstone. known from Comcast, rebuffed. The company has settled for a prequel to the show, ensuring fans will at least get a little bit of the frontier magic on Paramount Plus. Top executives at the company know that catching market leaders Netflix and Walt Disney is out

of the question. The service is the fifth or sixth to debut in the span of just a couple of years, but they hope to use populace entertainment, kids programming, news and sports to attract millions of new customers and overcome a decade-long malaise. One of the large, largest media companies in the world, ViacomCBS is now a minnow compared with its competitive set. The largest paid streaming services in the market today are all owned by companies worth at least $200 billion. Viacom CBS is worth about $35 billion. Netflix has 200 million subscribers. Disney Plus has 95 million. All access has a shade under 10 million. Quote, they are in a scripted entertainment arms race with companies that are just so much bigger,

said Michael Nathanson, an analyst with Moffat Nathanson LLC, they need to do something to attract more subscribers, end quote. Good luck with that, I guess, because as I said, I have a theory that there's maybe only room for at most for big streaming players, and we know that Netflix and Disney Plus have the top two slots locked down already. Maybe we should do a sort of running thing on this show where we track the, I don't know, call them power rankings of the major players to see who is the most likely to get those final two slots. And in the end, I suppose, we'd have to decide if there's even going to be more than two slots for people to win when all is said and done. Speaking of Chris Messina, he and I are going to run a clubhouse

experiment tonight, actually two of them. First up, if you show up, up on Clubhouse at 5 p.m. Pacific time, 8 p.m. Eastern time, 1 a.m., I guess, GMT. You can help us test out a room that we are calling the TechMeme Ride Home Podcast Experience. Think of it as a sort of after show, after party, after discussion of this very podcast. We just want to discuss some of the exact stories that you just listen to, and we want you to to do it with us. So if you have thoughts about, say, XCloud coming to the browser, if you'd like to argue that no one should ever buy a Facebook wearable, or if you have some streaming wars power rankings to contribute, come join us tonight. We want to give privileged access to anyone that listens

to this podcast, but we'll have no way of knowing if you are ride home listeners in good standing or just randos that came in off the street because they saw the room. So To get our attention, please all ride home listeners, join us, raise your hands, and when we call on you, identify yourselves as members of the mutant podcast army. Relatedly, we are also doing a second room at 8 p.m. Pacific, 11 p.m. Eastern, talking to Noah Smith, who you heard on the weekend bonus episode, and his podcast partner, the great economist Brad DeLong. We're going to go deeper into the idea of remote work and a Silicon Valley Diaspora. Join us for that as well, and the same encouragement to contribute and ask questions and come on stage stands.

I do want to acknowledge that, yes, not everyone has access to Clubhouse yet, and we're not doing this to be exclusionary. It's more we want to lay the groundwork for things that we might want to do once everyone has access, which we expect will be coming soon. So if you are able, help us get some learnings that will hopefully help us do some awesome things later in the spring and into the summer. Talk to you tomorrow.