Tech Brew Ride Home - Mon. 08/19 - The Silicon Chip To Define The AI Era?

Episode Date: August 19, 2019

Libra gets competition, Spotify and Roku get family friendly, Amazon is sitting out the launch of Disney+ (for now), Ikea is serious about becoming a smart-home player, and can the world’s largest semiconductor chip kickstart an AI revolution? Sponsors: Pixelunion.net BRD.com Links: Binance planning to launch ‘Venus,’ similar to Facebook’s upcoming cryptocurrency Libra (The Block) Spotify's Premium Family plans get an explicit content filter (Engadget) The Roku Channel is adding a kids and family section with free TV shows and movies (The Verge) Disney+ will stream on these devices at launch (The Verge) Ikea goes all in on smart home tech (The Verge) Hacker Releases First Public Jailbreak for Up-to-Date iPhones in Years (Motherboard) A new unicorn is born: Toor Insurance raises $100 million for a $1 billion valuation (TechCrunch) Root raises $350 million to drive auto insurance change (Axios) Cerebras (Pierre Lamond) 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 right home for Monday, August 19th, 2019. I'm Brian McCullough today. Libra gets some competition. Spotify and Roku get family friendly. Amazon is sitting out the launch of Disney Plus for now. IKEA is serious about becoming a smart home player. And can the world's largest semiconductor chip kickstart an AI revolution? Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency is apparently going to get some competition, because you're going to get some competition, because you're going to start an AI revolution. and here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency is apparently going to get some competition because Binance says it plans to launch a new coin called Venus, which it is calling an independent regional version of Libra, which will develop localized stable coins pegged to local fiat currencies.

So if that was sort of a word salad to you, remember that Libra, again, is Facebook's upcoming cryptocurrency. Binance is currently the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. And, for you astrologically minded, Libra's ruling planet is Venus, quoting the block. Facebook's planned cryptocurrency Libra also has a similar structure. It intends to serve the unbanked and facilitate low-fee money transfers globally. Libra is expected to go live sometime next year, but it has already faced scrutiny from central banks and politicians around the world. Facebook has itself recently said in a risk disclosure filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Libra may never launch due to, quote, significant regulatory scrutiny. Binance today said that it believes that Libra is growing at an exponential rate and will reshape the world's financial system, bringing changes more than the Internet.

Quote, instead of resisting change and losing the opportunity, it is better to embrace change. At the same time, Libra needs to be developed in an orderly manner under the regulatory framework, the exchange added. After the publication of this story, Binance CEO Zhang Peng Zhao tweeted that while Venus would help to push cryptocurrency adoption, it does not look to dominate Libra. Quote, always happy to coexist. In fact, this should help Libra, if you think about it. We'll leave it at that, end quote. Well, despite those nice words, it's clear that by the United States, it's clear that by Finance wants Venus to do what Libra does, but in countries where Libra might not be allowed,

countries like China and India. So coexistence is one thing, but clearly they're trying to either follow in the slipstream of Libra or fill in the cracks. Why, however, Venus would be allowed in places where Libra isn't is at this point unclear. Two related items for households and families on the streaming bandwagon. Spotify's premium family plan is getting parental controls and an explicit content filter and a family mix, personalized playlist for the entire family. Parents can now filter songs with swearing, violence, drugs, adult content, etc., quoting in gadget. Other new features include family mix, giving you access to personalized playlist for the whole family. It's updated regularly and allows granular control over who can contribute to each session.

so you don't get too much frozen or baby shark. There's also a family hub making it easier to add and remove users, adjust parental controls, and keep your account info up to date, end quote. The Spotify family plan still gets you six individual accounts for $15 a month, but all members must also still reside at the same address. In addition to this, the Roku channel has added a kids section with free TV shows and movies curated by an in-house editorial team. Not only that, if you subscribe to other pay channels through Roku,

channels like Noggin, Hopster, or even HBO, you'll see kid-appropriate content from those channels in this section as well, also actively curated by Roku. Quoting the Verge, The Kids and Family Area is available now in the U.S. on Roku streaming players, Roku TVs, on the web, and on Select Samsung Smart TVs. It includes a curated mix of shows that are grouped into different age ranges,

so that it's easy to find something appropriate when trying to entertain a child. Roku says that it provides, quote, a unique blend of quality shows, movies, live, linear, and short form video typically found across multiple free and paid kids' channels and brings them together to watch in a single place, end quote. Everything is chosen by an in-house editorial team, so one would hope nothing too weird or creepy will slip through. Everyone will be able to stream a family-friendly mix of TV shows and movies at no extra charge. In total, Roku says it's including six. 7,000 free ad-supported movies and TV episodes from partners including AllSpark,

a Hasbro company, DHS Media, Happy Kids TV, Lionsgate, Mattel, Moonbug, and Pocket. Dot Watch, among others, end quote. Further details about the forthcoming Disney Plus launch, in addition to the U.S., which is getting access to the service starting November 12th, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand will have access to the service in November, though those last two countries will have to wait a week after the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands get a taste. In addition, Disney announced it had reached agreements to have the service on almost every major platform you can think of.

Apple TV and iOS devices, Android TV and Android devices, Roku, PlayStation 4, Xbox 1, but, quoting the Verge, Amazon's Fire TV lineup is the glaring omission from this list, at least for now. There's always a chance it'll be added by the time. Disney Plus goes live. Amazon Fire tablets will also seemingly be left out without Disney Plus. It may be possible to side-load the app onto unsupported devices somehow, but that hasn't been confirmed and there are no guarantees. Disney says customers will be able to subscribe to the service directly on several platforms, including iOS. So yes, Apple will be getting a cut of those

subscriptions. Disney also plans to integrate its content with the Apple TV app so that movies, originals and shows will appear there, among other suggested things to watch, end quote. I told you recently about how IKEA has partnered with Sonos for the launch of smart speakers that double as lamps, and that was on top of IKEA's first smart blinds that will go on sale this October. It turns out that IKEA has slowly been making a push into smart home furniture in a big way, and an announcement late last week confirms that IKEA is serving notice that it is serious about this smart home stuff. So serious, it's creating a new business unit, IKEA Home Smart, with the goal of creating a whole ecosystem of smart devices that IKEA will have end-to-end

responsibility for. In other words, Alexa, shots fired, quoting the verge. With access to 78 million shoppers who visit IKEA stores each year, the announcement also serves as a wake-up call to smart home incumbents like Google and Amazon. Quote, we have decided to invite us to invite us. We have decided to invest significantly in Homesmart across IKEA to fast forward the development. This is the biggest new business we are establishing since the introduction of children's IKEA, said Peter Vanderpoll, manager, IKEA Range and Supply, aka the box that sits above IKEA of Sweden within the complicated IKEA Group organizational chart. The new business unit is helmed by the aptly named Bjorn Block and sits alongside IKEA of

Sweden's 10 other business units that include lighting. living room and workspace, textiles, kitchen and dining, and IKEA food, end quote. The first public jailbreak in years of an up-to-date iPhone has been posted to the internet after a bug that was apparently patched in iOS 12.3 was somehow reintroduced. Basically, over the weekend, researchers discovered that somehow iOS 12.4 included a bug that was in previous versions of iOS. That makes it relatively easy not only to jailbreak iPhones, but also hack users, quoting motherboard.

Poned to Own, a security researcher who develops iPhone jailbreaks published a jailbreak for iOS 12.4 on Monday. For years, jailbreaks have been held closely to the chess by security researchers because the ability to jailbreak an iPhone means the ability to hack it. As we've reported several times, exploits for the iPhone can sell for millions of dollars which means that no one has been willing to release jailbreak code publicly because Apple will quickly patch it. A security researcher who hacks iPhones for a living and who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the press said that organizations that have the expertise to target iPhones can now use a bug in Safari, for example, to quote, hack any up-to-date iPhone, end quote.

While it's still not trivial to hack an iPhone remotely, even with the ability of this bug, the barriers to entry are now much lower. end quote. No comment from Apple on this at the time of this writing. I find these sorts of stories fascinating because I'm not sure people are prepared for the revolution that we are on the cusp of seeing in the world of insurance. In fact, the more I read stories like this, the more I wonder if insurance as we know it is about to be fundamentally broken or disrupted is another word because, you know, data. In fact, if anyone knows someone smart in the insurance tech space that can speak on this, have them get in touch, and I really want to do a weekend bonus episode about this.

Root insurance is an auto insurance startup that leverages telemetrics data from its mobile app to gauge driving style and thereby set car insurance rates accordingly. Root has just raised an additional $350 million at a $3.5 billion valuation. Here's how Root works, according to TechCrunch. drivers download the app and take a test drive that typically lasts two or three weeks. Then Root provides a quote that rewards good driving behavior and allows customers to switch their insurance policy. Customers can purchase and manage their policy through the mobile phone Root app. Root says its approach allows good drivers to save more than 50% on their policies compared to traditional insurance carriers.

The company uses AI algorithms to adjust risk and sometimes provides discounts. For example, a vehicle with an advanced driver assistance system that it deems improved safety might receive further discounts, end quote. Now, Root might not be the one to deliver the insurance revolution I'm imagining. Here's Dan Premack, quote, The bull case is that Root can get a lower risk user pool than can traditional insurers. Because in most states, it uses a try before you buy mobile app that leverages telemetric. to gauge driving style. This lets it offer below market rates, in turn, lowering churn. The company also has moved its claims infrastructure in-house, which should give it better control

over user experience. The bare case is that Root has a higher loss ratio than do incumbents like Progressive or Geico per statutory filings, and its single product line doesn't help offset customer acquisition costs via bundling. Plus, even the most generous VC backers can't help route compete on balance sheet with a rival like Geico, which is part of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, end quote. However, notice that line about the lower risk pool. When we talk about surveillance capitalism so far, we've been talking about companies watching everything you do to better target ads to you. I think, though, that we're on the cusp of watching everything you do to affect things like insurance rates. Your Amazon Echo listening in to hear if you're

coughing, this is what we're talking about. Everyone wearing smart health devices, this is what we're talking about. Our health insurance company recently offered us a discount if I shared my city bike riding data so that they could tell if I rode a bike at least 50 times over a six-month period. So extrapolate further. Maybe an app that shares how often your phone screen is unlocked when driving. Maybe your car sharing everything you do when you're driving. This is what I'm talking about. Eventually, you're totally connected smart car, you're totally connected smart home, your totally connected smart body monitors everything you do every day and reports that data to your doctor, your health insurance company, your home insurance company, etc.

Don't you think we're really on the cusp of that? And I wonder if so how much this breaks the traditional model of insurance in this regard. Eventually, if you don't agree to be monitored, At what point will companies simply not insure you? So you have the choice of either submitting to the Panopticon and live a life that is completely monitored and prescribed by the watchers or you're drifting in the wind. One of the ways insurance has worked well for society for hundreds of years is that for all of the actuarial math, the math could only go so far. We were all free to live our lives recklessly and basically no one would ever know. Sure, if you smoked, you had to pay more, but beyond that, well, what happens when it's impossible not to know every little naughty thing we're up to? I mean, believe me, that will

create an amazing business, again, the risk pools, selling insurance only to those who are unlikely ever to need it. Insurance has always promised to be the best business ever devised if you could work that out. And it would be great for society overall if everyone behaved less recklessly, of course. But this is what I'm grappling with. What if monitoring everything you do on your phone to better target you ads is just the very primitive phase one of what we're in for. Are you ready for phase two where you either never step out of line or you're essentially a pariah? People talk about the Black Mirror-esque social reputational credit system being set up in China. But the way something similar would come to this country, and sooner than you might think,

would be if the next time you roll through a stop sign, even once your car rats on you, and you can no longer get car insurance. And finally today, a company called Cerebross Systems has unveiled the world's largest semiconductor chip at eight and a half inches wide. It's got 400,000 cores. Let me say that again. 400,000 cores. It's also got 1.2 trillion transistors and 18 gigabytes of S-RAM memory. This is one single chip, the size of an entire wafer, the sort of wafer that is usually sliced and diced to make up multiple individual chips.

SeraBras is calling this new monster chip the wafers. scale engine or WSE, although they want you to pronounce that wise for the purposes of future marketing. Wise is 57 times the size of the leading chip from Nvidia, which is currently the gold standard for AI, and in fact, that is what Wise is hoping to target AI applications. Quoting from Fortune, AI has become a ferocious consumer of chip technology, constantly demanding faster parts. That demand has led to a nearly $3 billion business almost overnight for the industry heavyweight $91 billion Nvidia. But even with machines filled with dozens of Nvidia's graphics chips or GPUs, it can take weeks to train a neural network, the process of tuning the code so that

it finds a solution to a given problem. Bundling together, multiple GPUs in a computer starts to show diminishing returns once more than eight of the chips are combined. The industry simply cannot build machines powerful enough with existing parts. Quote, the hard part is moving data, explains Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebrus Systems. Training a neural network requires thousands of operations to happen in parallel at each moment in time,

and chips must constantly share data as they crunch those parallel operations. But computers with multiple chips get bogged down trying to pass data back and forth between the chips over the slower wires that link them on a circuit board. something was needed that can move data at the speed of the chip itself. The solution was to, quote, take the biggest wafer you can find and cut the biggest chip out of it that you can, as Feldman describes it, end quote. I think it's worth clicking through to the article to see how Serebras pulled this off.

It's an engineering sort of breakthrough, as this is something that companies have been trying to do for decades. There still needs to be some real-world testing before we can declare this an unqualified. success. But there are two breakthroughs here. First, Cerebus created the technology for making chips this big. Second, if the promised breakthroughs for AI prove out, that could lead to a generational leap in AI technology. The company is actually producing an appliance to market its chips through, which it says will be 150 times as powerful as a server with a bunch of invidia chips in them at a fraction of the power consumption and way less physical space requirements. As one prominent investor is quoted as saying in the piece, they have created two Silicon Valley

unicorns in one company, end quote. And right before I locked the script for recording, I saw that legendary semiconductor investor Pierre Lamonde posted this on medium. Quote, every once in a while, a technology company comes along and defines a generation. Sarah Bras will define the the AI generation, end quote. The only thing I have to share with you today is that this weekend, the wife and I managed to binge watch season one of the show Fleabag. It was as amazing as everyone says, and apparently season two is downright transcendental. So as opposed to the book recommendations I've been doing lately, today I recommend to

go stream the TV show Fleabag. Phoebe Wallerbridge is indeed a genius. Talk to you tomorrow.