Tech Brew Ride Home - Mon. 03/08 – Apple AR Contact Lenses As The Apple Rumor Singularity

Starting point is 00:00:00 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 Tech meme right home for Monday, March 8th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, Ming Chi Quo's Grand Unified Apple Rumor includes AR-enabled contact lenses. Is the U.S. about to retaliate in-kind for the solar winds hack? Mobile World Congress is going to go ahead and do it live,

Starting point is 00:00:51 and in person? Why is Google making Google pay worse? And do we need a new podcast wager about meaningful quantum computing by 2023? Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. All right, all right. This is a more reasonable rumor that I can get behind. According to our good buddy Ming Chi Quo, Apple plans to release a mixed reality headset as soon as next summer. Better even than that is that he figures it will price around the $1,000 range. Then Apple's master playbook goes as follows, according to Quo. Serious, mainstream targeting AR glasses by 2025. And then, geez, even I haven't thought this ambitiously, he claims Apple wants contact lens-type devices available by the 2030s, quoting Mac rumors. We predict that Apple's MR-AR product roadmap includes three phases, helmet type by 2022,

Starting point is 00:01:52 glasses type by 2025, and contact lens type by 2030, 2040, wrote quo. We foresee that the helmet product will provide AR and VR experiences, while glasses and contact lens types of products are more likely to focus on AR applications. Quo said several prototypes of Apple's mixed reality headset currently weigh in the 200 to 300 grams range, but he said that the final weight will be reduced to 100 to 200 grams if Apple can solve technical problems, which would be significantly lighter than many existing VR devices. Due to a complex design, Coe expects the headset to be priced around $1,000 in the United States in line with the price of a high-end iPhone. In line with a previous rumor, Quo said the headset will be equipped with

Starting point is 00:02:38 Sony's micro-O-led displays and several optical modules to provide a see-through-AR experience, adding that the headset can also offer a VR experience, end quote. Quo said the headset will be portable with independent computing power and storage, but not truly mobile like an iPhone. Quote, when the technology improves, we believe that the new helmet product can also enhance its mobility, he said. Quo believes Apple's headset has the potential to provide an, quote, immersive experience that is significantly better than existing VR products. Quo said the glasses will provide an, quote, optical see-through AR experience and will be positioned as more of a mobile product than the mixed reality headset.

Starting point is 00:03:18 While the helmet provides a great immersive experience, the glasses focus more on providing a mobile plus AR experience, he said. Quo is looking forward to the Apple glasses integrating with the long-rubored Apple car, which is likely several years away, end quote. So yeah, this is the equivalent of all of the wildest and most ambitious Apple rumors rolled into one singularity like rumor post. Maybe he could have added that Apple will give everyone a pony as well. But heck, if I live long enough to ride in an Apple car while scrolling through Twitter in my field of vision thanks to my Apple AR contact lenses, then, you know, hats off to you, Tim Apple. Keeping an eye on the whole solar winds hack fallout, sources are telling the New York Times that the U.S.

Starting point is 00:04:07 plans to retaliate on Russia for the attack, both with new sanctions and also with a cyber attack of their own on Russian networks as well, quoting the New York Times. The first major move is expected over the next three weeks, officials said, with a series of clandestine actions across Russian networks that are intended to be evident to President Vladimir Putin and his intelligence services and military, but not the wider world. The officials said the actions would be combined with some kind of economic sanctions, though there are a few truly effective sanctions left to impose, and an executive order for Mr. Biden to accelerate the hardening of federal government networks after the Russian hacking, which went undetected

Starting point is 00:04:47 for months until it was discovered by a private cybersecurity firm. The issue has taken on added urgency at the White House, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies in recent days, after the public exposure of a major breach in Microsoft email systems used by small businesses, local governments, and by some accounts key military contractors. End quote. Now, this is not entirely been confirmed yet, but that hack that they're talking about in that last paragraph, many people believe, was instigated by China. So will the U.S. government be willing to retaliate against China as well? Are we seriously doing this entering a world of full-on cyber war between nation states? Or I guess the point really is, maybe we're already in that world. I said recently that I've been hearing people fretting that if their startup can't attract a SPAC or go public in some way soon, they're afraid people will think that their startup is doomed and not likely to live very much longer. Conversely, I said on Clubhouse recently that this is often how bubbles pop. If enough garbage goes public via SPACs, someday investors will look around and realize that a lot of them were never going to be profitable companies to begin with because they were garbage. everyone that went public as a SPAC gets tarred by the same negative brush. That's what happened for sure

Starting point is 00:06:12 in the half decade or so after the dot-com bubble when a bunch of trash went public via high public IPOs. But I think the truth about the current tech stock bubble generally and especially SPACs is really something in between, i.e. a lot of companies that will probably end up being successful are just taking advantage of the SPAC momentum and the super low barriers to public money to raise a ton of of capital, and that will probably give them better odds of success, because why not? If people are willing to give you their money on super generous terms, why not take it? This is what I'm talking about. Quantum computing startup Ionic, which we've mentioned several times for various reasons, plans to go public via a $2 billion spack merger in a deal that will make it the first publicly traded

Starting point is 00:06:57 company focused on quantum computing tech. So I mean, forget about companies spacking before they generated dollar one in revenue. Forget about companies spacking before. they've even produced a product, this is a company spacking based on the promise of a technology that hasn't been proven yet. But at the same time, assuming quantum computing is going to be a big thing in the future, if you're Ionic, why not take this cheap money to help make sure that if it does become a thing, you're going to be the leader in the space, quoting the Wall Street Journal. Ionic is competing against several companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Alphabet, and D-Wave systems trying to commercialize quantum computing using various technological

Starting point is 00:07:36 approaches. No scalable commercial-grade quantum computer has been built yet. But by 2023, 20% of global organizations, including governments and companies, are expected to budget for quantum computing projects up from less than 1% in 2018, according to Gartner. So if this SPAC deal goes through, Ionic will have raised $734 million in funding since its founding in 2015, including $300 million through its planned merger with D-My Technology 3, that's the SPAC. And, another $350 million in private investment funding from Hyundai, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investment organization led by Bill Gates and focused on mitigating the effects of climate change, and others. The company also has raised $84 million in venture capital funding. The money raised from

Starting point is 00:08:22 the transaction will be used to help Ionic manufacture a quantum computing machine that works at room temperature and is about the size of an Xbox video game console. Ionic expects the device to be completed in 2023, end quote. So maybe we need a new podcast wager, forget real self-driving cars by 2020. How about real quantum computing by 2023? And speaking of that old wager we had, it had a corollary wager about when I might be able to get a burrito delivered to me by an autonomous sidewalk robot. Well, it turns out that that wager might be inching ever closer to reality because states are apparently increasingly granting small delivery robots generous access to city sidewalks. For example, in Pennsylvania, the robots are classified

Starting point is 00:09:13 as pedestrians and can drive up to 12 miles per hour, quoting Axios. The sidewalk is the new hot debated space that the aerial drones were maybe three to five years ago, says Greg Lynn, CEO of Piagio Fast Forward, which makes a suitcase-sized $3,250 robot called Gita that follows its owner around. There's also a lot of people trying to deploy robots on bike lanes. where the bots can go faster than on sidewalks, he said. States like Pennsylvania, Virginia, Idaho, Florida, and Wisconsin have passed what are considered to be liberal rules permitting robots to operate on sidewalks, prompting pushback from cities like Pittsburgh that fear mishaps.

Starting point is 00:09:51 In Pennsylvania, robot pedestrians can weigh up to 550 pounds and drive up to 12 miles per hour. Quote, opposition has largely come from pedestrian and accessibility advocates, as well as labor unions like the Teamsters, end quote, per the Pittsburgh City paper. The laws are a boon to Amazon's Scout delivery robot and FedEx's Roxy, which are being tested in urban and suburban settings. Starship technology, which is in the vanguard of autonomous delivery robots, has delivered its coolers on wheels on more than 15 college campuses and begun a grocery delivery program with Save Mart in Modesto, California. The machines are designed to roll on sidewalks, crosswalks, places where pedestrians can go. Ryan Toohy, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Starship, technologies tells Axios. They can carry about three bags of groceries or half a dozen pizzas with

Starting point is 00:10:41 drinks, end quote. Hmm, college campuses. Road trip back to Ann Arbor for podcast research purposes, anyone? I guess we're going to have to start covering the world coming back to normal as well, at least vis-a-vis COVID-19. And if we do get to do that, we're nothing but thankful for that, right? the GSM says it is officially going to go ahead with an in-person mobile world Congress Barcelona in June, quoting Bloomberg. The GSM Trade Body said everyone present will have to show a negative COVID-19 result to access the Fira Grand via venue and repeat the test every 72 hours. Rapid testing centers will be made available on site and organizers are considering using

Starting point is 00:11:29 hotels for more. Additional measures being put in place for one of Europe's most important business gatherings include a new contact tracing mobile app, real-time occupancy monitoring, improved air conditioning at the venue, and an increased number of on-site medical staff. We believe that we can have around 45,000 to 50,000 attendees as of today. Stephanie Lynch-Habib, the GSM's chief marketing officer, said in an interview on Monday, adding that visitor interest is expected to be strong. About 80% of our top 100 clients committed to a three-year participation when we canceled last year, she said. The show will be a test of whether the pandemic is under control enough to make vast in-person events viable and safe.

Starting point is 00:12:10 Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, which in 2019 attracted 109,000 attendees from 198 countries, was one of the first major European conference casualties when it was axed in February last year, end quote. I wrote and scrapped a segment about this last week, but did you know that a new version of Google Pay came out of beta last week? Well, there have been some subsequent rumblings that people don't actually like it. For example, Ars Technica basically says that the old Google Pay was perfectly fine, but this new one leaves peer-to-peer users, especially in the lurch. Basically, a less functional service, but with more fees, natch. Quoting Ars-Technica, the old Google Pay service that has been around for years is dying.

Starting point is 00:12:59 The app will be shut down in the U.S. on April 5th, and if you want to continue using new Google Pay, you'll have to go find and download. a totally new app. NFC tap and pay functionality won't really change once you set up the new app, but the new Google Pay won't use your Google account for peer-to-peer payments anymore. You'll be required to make a new account. You won't be able to send any money to your new contacts until they download the new app and make a new account also. On top of that, the Google Pay website will be stripped of all payment functionality in the U.S. on April 5th, and new Google Pay won't support doing anything from the web. You won't be able to transfer.

Starting point is 00:13:36 for money, view payment activity, or see your balance from a browser. In addition to less convenient access and forcing users to remake their accounts, new Google Pay is also enticing users to switch with new fees for transfers to debit cards. Old Google Pay did this for free, but new Google Pay now has a fee of 1.5% or 31 cents, whichever is higher, when you transfer out money with a debit card. We've spent some time with the new Google Pay app now that it's out of beta, and Google looks like it's repeating all the same mistakes it made with Google Allo, one of Google's biggest messaging app flops. Google Allo was the messaging app that was released in 2016 a few years after Google Hangouts. The service represented Google's attempt to clone WhatsApp after

Starting point is 00:14:18 losing an acquisition bidding war with Facebook two years earlier. Like new Google Pay, Allo debuted in India and was laser targeted at that country before being forced on the rest of us for some reason. Alo was thoroughly rejected by consumers and was dead in the after four months of availability. It was shut down after about two years. In Google Land, targeting an app at India means building an internet hostile design that ignores existing Google infrastructure, data, and contacts, and building something powered entirely by the carrier's SMS system. New Google Pay, like ALO, doesn't use your Google account, at least not for payments. Instead, you have to sign up for the new Google Pay using your carrier's phone number. None of your

Starting point is 00:15:01 existing Google Pay contacts will carry over, and they'll all have to sign up for new accounts with their carrier phone numbers, too. Making payments entirely SMS-driven theoretically makes signing up for the service easier in India, but in the rest of the world where people interested in a Google service generally have a Google account and multiple devices, it's more inconvenient compared to rival services. Just like with Google Allo, SMS-based authentication means there's no desktop support at all. The Google Pay website is being stripped of all its useful functionality because a browser does not have a carrier SIM card and therefore can't be authenticated by the SMS reliance system. Google Allo eventually copied WhatsApp and came up with a clunky QR code-driven browser

Starting point is 00:15:41 login process that forwarded your phone's access to the browser and didn't work if your phone was off or dead or missing. Google Pay could eventually cook up something like that, but it seems like a heap of work for what should be and used to be a quick money transaction. The other SMS-based limitation of Google Pay is that you can only be logged into one device a time just like Allo. This is less of an issue for a payment app, but the old version of Google pay worked on smart watches, too. If Google ever wants to revive its wearable segment, this seems like a bad limitation. Basically, everyone is being kicked off the old Google Pay service, and you'll all have to join and reconnect on this new thing. Like with YouTube Music,

Starting point is 00:16:19 this is a great chance for Google to lose users as they are forced to re-evaluate their app choices and set up something new. There's a possibility that users move to a different, more stable, more respectful platform. This move also kills the synergy between NFC tap and pay Google Pay and send money to people Google Pay. The two services, both in a single app, now use completely different login methods. Google Pay NFC on the new app still uses your Google account and will carry over your credit cards. For long-term Google users, the new Google Pay is yet another annoying transition. They'll have to explain to friends and family. This is an occurrence that's getting more frequent and more annoying in recent years, thanks to similar Google shutdowns of Google Play Music, Cloudprint, Inbox,

Starting point is 00:17:00 Works with Nest, the ongoing hangout situation, and many others. That's to say nothing of the crazy history of this payment service, which used to be Google Wallet, then Android Pay, then Google Pay, and now it's a totally different Google Pay. Just like we've been through a million times now, some people won't think this is a big deal because their use case is supported on the new product, while for other people, the new Google Pay will be a much bigger deal because their use cases will be ripped out from under them and no longer supported, end quote. Recycle and insert one of my many rants from the past about the various hands of Google, not knowing what the various other hands of Google are doing, and insert it here.

Starting point is 00:17:46 So over the weekend, I sold one of the NFTs that I made of this podcast. I minted a set of 10, and now one listener is the proud owner of one of those 10. Sold it for the equivalent of, I guess, $17, though it cost about $30 in gas fees to earn that 17. I'm sure the buyer paid an equivalent amount in fees as well. As we said on the bonus episode this past weekend, that's not ideal, though Chris Messina, I believe, put his tweet where he first proposed the hashtag up for sale and got a bid of, $1,000 last I heard. Obviously, $30 in fees on $1,000 isn't terrible if you get to that dollar figure. And of course, Jack Dorsey has put the first ever tweet up for sale. Highest bid on that at the time of this writing, $2.5 million. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Mon. 03/08 – Apple AR Contact Lenses As The Apple Rumor Singularity

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