Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 02/13 - Modular Apple Watches and Quantum Internets?

Episode Date: February 13, 2020

The US charges Huawei with racketeering. Could the future of the Apple Watch be modular? Uber trials ordering an Uber via 800 number. Interesting raises in robotics and in space. And why quantum entanglement could lead to a truly secure internet. Sponsors: Doubleup.agency BuyRaycon.com/tech Links: The US is charging Huawei with racketeering (TechCrunch) Andy Rubin’s Start-Up, Essential Products, Shuts Down (NYTimes) Apple Watch of the future could have a modular back for upgrades & new sensors (Apple Insider) Broadcom launches Wi-Fi 6 extended combo processor, aims to hit 2 Gbps speeds (ZDNet) Uber's latest test books rides with a phone call, not the app (Engadget) Intuition Robotics raises $36 million to bring AI companions to everyone (VentureBeat) Astranis raises $90 million for its next-gen satellite broadband internet service (TechCrunch) Dieter Bohn's Processor newsletter (The Verge) Quantum entanglement over 30 miles of fiber has brought super secure internet closer (MIT Technology Review) Click here to give the Ad-Free Feed a Try 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 tech meme right home for Thursday, February 13th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today. The U.S. charges Huawei with racketeering. Could the future of the Apple Watch be modular? Uber trials ordering an Uber via 1-800 number, interesting raises in the robotics and space space,

and why quantum entanglement could lead to a truly secure internet someday. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Well, this just went even more thermonuclear. if that's possible. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Chinese device maker Huawei with literal racketeering, alleging that Huawei and its affiliates used confidential agreements with American companies to steal their IP, quoting TechCrunch. Huawei is being charged with conspiracy to violate the racketeer-influenced and corrupt organizations act, the RICO statute. The DOJ alleges that Huawei and a number of its affiliates use confidential agreements with

American companies to access those companies' intellectual property, only to then misappropriate that property and use it to fund Huawei's businesses. In addition to conspiracy, Huawei and the defendants are charged with lying to federal investigators and obstructing the investigation into the company's activity. According to the statement published by the Department of Justice, quote, as part of the scheme, Huawei allegedly launched a policy instituting a bonus program to reward employees who obtained confidential information from competitors. The policy made clear that employees who provided valuable information were to be financially rewarded, end quote. Among the defendants is Meng Wangzu, the CFO of Huawei, who has been under house arrest in Canada while facing charges of fraud, end quote. This literally just broke as I was about to head into the booth to record, so that is all that I know about this for now. Pretty big startup entering the Deadpool today. Essential products, the company that had raised, raised $330 million to build new smartphones is ceasing operations.

Essential was founded by Andy Rubin, the former Google executive generally considered the father of Android, and so many folks were intrigued by the opportunity to possibly make a hardware platform independent of Apple or Google that at one point Essential was privately valued at $1 billion. Essential released a high-end smartphone in 2017, nobody bought it, and recent rumors that Essential was working on a smart speaker have apparently come to not, quoting the New York Times. In a blog post on the company's website on Wednesday, Essential said that it had developed a new handset, but that there was, quote, no clear path to deliver it to customers, end quote.

Essential's decision to shut down illustrates the challenges facing consumer electronic startups. Unlike software companies, hardware firms need more capital to buy components and maintain inventory of their products. Some hardware startups have broken through with hit product, such as, as the smart home device maker Nest and Fitbit, which made a fitness tracker. But those companies were eventually sold to Alphabet, Google's parent company, partly because of the challenges of running a fledgling hardware business, end quote. The Times goes on to intimate that several larger companies were sniffing around, buying out essential at way under the billion dollar price tag.

They mentioned Amazon, Walmart, several telecom carriers. quoting again from the times, however, interest evaporated in part because of the risk associated with Mr. Rubin's workplace scandals. In 2017, the information, a technology news site reported that he had departed Google after an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, prompting him to take a leave of absence from essential to deal with, quote, personal matters, end quote. Could future versions of the Apple Watch be modular and thus upgradable? Apple Insider has gotten wind of a patent Apple filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today, titled Modular System for Watch, quote, Rather than allowing users to open up the Apple Watch, Apple suggests the use of a variety of modules that can be attached to the back of the device. This effectively helps eliminate any possibility of the Apple Watch itself losing any of its existing water resistance capabilities.

The module is able to mount onto the back of the Apple Watch, attached by a variety of different mechanisms. Rails and bolt systems are suggested as ways to do so, among others, though the filing also includes claims where the modules could be easily connected or removed from the main watch body without necessarily requiring tools to do so via the use of retaining and release mechanisms. By placing the module on the rear, it is also able to be held in place by tension from the watch pulled by the band against the user's wrist, helping further secure the add-on. There is also mention of a possible watertight seal which could help maintain the integrity of elements between the module and the watch, end quote.

Now, there are tons of reasons to be skeptical about this. First of all, Apple Insider loves to report on Apple patent filings. They do it all the time. And most of the time, these patents never see the light of day in terms of actual products available to consumers. And, of course, Apple is not exactly a company that is seemingly a fan of modular or. or even replaceable, even for friggin' full-sized computers. But I'm sure Apple has done the research and seen the sales data. And look, it's just intuitive.

People aren't going to be upgrading their watches very often. Certainly not every other year or so. But creating modular watches would allow for Apple to maybe regularly generate some revenue from the installed Apple Watch user base. So I could actually see them trying something like this. someday. Broadcom has unveiled a new Wi-Fi 6 extended combo processor, and it might actually be a bit of a big deal. Faster internet speeds mean little if you can't actually get the throughput to your devices. So by extending Wi-Fi 6 to the 6 gigahertz spectrum band, Broadcom says it can deliver two GbPS or more

with improved battery life on devices because there would be less of a power suck, and improved Bluetooth as well, quoting ZDNet. The processor, BCM-4389, is the first Wi-Fi 6E processor that will utilize the soon-to-be operational 6 gigahertz band with wider channel bandwidth. BCM-4389 is designed for flagship smartphones and future augmented and virtual reality devices. According to Broadcom, the upshot of the BCM-4389 is that it will cut latency, Avoid congestion with legacy devices and improve performance. Another perk is that the BCM-4389 will use multi-radio technology with Bluetooth to improve

audio performance and range. Broadcom says it is also using its new tri-band simultaneous architecture, which includes two main Wi-Fi radios and a M-I-M-I-M-O Bluetooth radio as well as an independent radio to optimize Wi-Fi and Bluetooth performance. The company said that the architecture will make it easier and faster to pair-border. Bluetooth devices, scan for interference-free networks while staying connected, bolster indoor accuracy and improve battery life. As for devices, Broadcom said there will be a full range of home routers, gateways, enterprise access points, and devices for BCM-4389. The new 6-Gahertz

spectrum band will be operational in the U.S. in 2020, end quote. Uber has launched a new pilot program for booking an Uber ride via a phone call, not via its own. app. Again, if you're in Arizona, you can book an Uber ride by calling 1-833, use Uber and talk to an actual human, quoting in gadget. An Uber operator will take your details, give you a price estimate, and order a car for you. As such, you won't need a smartphone to hitch an Uber ride. You'll at least need a cell phone, though, as Uber will text you details about the car and driver, and when you should expect the car to arrive. It'll also send you a smartphone. It'll also send you a cell phone, though, as Uber will also send you a receipt after you reach your destination. If you already have an Uber account,

you can choose from payment options that are already on file. Otherwise, you can sign up the first time you call. You'll only need to provide some basic information, including your name, zip code, and payment details. Uber will store that data in the same way as it would if you provided it through the app, end quote. Uber says this is all about accessibility, especially for older folks, who might not be as smartphone proficient, and apparently still, prefer to talk to actual humans on the telephone. As Carl Kintanilla at CNBC pointed out, calling a human being requesting a car, waiting to be picked up by the side of the road, what sort of sci-fi future are we living in? A couple of interesting rays Thursdays.

Intuition Robotics makes companion robots for elderly people, something that would obviously be a huge market in the coming years if someone can get it right. Intuition Robotics just raised a $36 million Series B co-led by Sparks Group and Our Crowd, bringing total raised lifetime to $58 million, quoting Venture Beat. Founded in 2015, Intuition Robotics is creating what it calls social companion robots and related technologies with an initial focus on reducing loneliness and isolation in elderly people. The company's first product was a $1,500 robot called LEQ that opened for pre-orders last January and has accumulated over 10,000 days in homes, across the U.S., though the company hasn't revealed specific sales figures. The majority of L.AQ's

users are between 80 and 90 years of age. L.AQ more closely resembles a desk lamp than a humanoid, and it sits on a small dock with a tablet screen and cameras. It can communicate using natural language conversation and can also employ other methods to convey a message or emotion, including shifting its position and using sound and light to express itself. It also promises to improve over time as it adapts to its owner. Unlike Alexa or Google Assistant, and LQ is designed to proactively engage with users rather than passively waiting for a prompt. It will detect if its owner is currently doing something, like having a conversation or watching TV and leave them be. But if it suspects the person is sitting idle, it may ask them a question

or suggest that they get up and go for a walk. It could also play music it knows the user likes or tell them a joke, end quote. The longer term goal is apparently to integrate AI and machine learning into the system to understand context and make decisions based on preset goals and parameters. The LQ is actually mainly a demonstration of that underlying technology that Intuition Robotics hopes to be building out with this new fundraise. And an interesting raise in the space space. Space Tech. Y Combinator-backed startup Astronis has raised a $90 million series B from Venrock and Andreessen Horowitz, among others, to launch its first commercial satellites through which it will wait for it,

deliver broadband internet service. Seriously asking, how many of these services could there be someday? You think there are too many video streaming options. Quoting TechCrunch, Astronis emerged from stealth in 2018 when it announced $13.5 million in funding, led by Andresen and revealed its plan to offer low-cost, reliable internet using geostationary satellites. A different strategy from the increasingly numerous entrance in the satellite internet race, who plan to deploy large constellations of satellites into low Earth orbit,

that don't stay at a fixed point relative to a specific location on Earth, but that instead hand off their connection via a kind of relay system through ground stations to offer continued service. The geostationary model that Astronis is embracing is somewhat more similar to the existing way of offering internet connectivity from space, which employs very large communications satellites parked in geostationary orbit, fairly far away from Earth. Astronis's novel approach uses small satellites that are 20 times smaller than the traditional variety and weigh in at around 770 pounds compared to over 14,000 pounds for legacy satellites. Astronis has made it possible to use smaller satellites thanks to its proprietary ultra-sideband software-defined radiotech, which can provide more bandwidth on much smaller and less complicated hardware.

using digital versus analog technologies. These not only save a ton of space, but can be built and launched with a turnaround time of just months rather than years for the large geostationary telecommunication spacecraft of your end quote. Nothing really to follow up on with the cancellation of Mobile World Congress. It's canceled. Bummer for all involved. But in his newsletter this morning, Dieter Bone made a good point that I'll share real quick. quote, one big consequence of this cancellation is that Mobile World Congress gives Chinese phone makers their best shot at getting real and sustained attention from Western media. It's going to be a real

hit to their business, but we don't know yet how big. Obviously, these phones will still be announced, but they'll have a much harder time getting attention. And there might be more impactful consequences down the line for the mobile industry. Who knows what deals might have been made, for example. Now the question is how, or even if mobile world Congress will recover. More and more tech companies have been doing their own events instead of waiting for conferences. Now, because of this, many companies are going to be forced to do their own events. They may find they like it better, end quote. Indeed, this is what people have been saying about conferences and expos of all stripes for a while now.

Do we really even need them anymore? the whole conference industrial complex is predicated on the fear of missing out. You go because you're afraid you'll regret it if you don't. But nothing could prove FOMO isn't really real, like not actually missing anything and realizing that. Finally today, might quantum entanglement soon be able to deliver us truly secure internet communications? Yeah, quantum entanglement. Schrodinger's cat and all that, measuring the state,

of one thing, revealing the state of the other, no matter how far away. Einstein called it spooky action at a distance. Well, an internet based on quantum entanglement could provide truly secure communications. You could have a pair of digital keys, and if two people have these keys, they can talk without fear of anyone listening in, because any eavesdropper would change the state of the keys so you'd know they were snooping. If you were somehow able to entangle nodes on a network, you could connect the entangled particles, bypassing even the devices the most of the most of the themselves, a message that could only be delivered to your intended recipient based on laws of quantum physics. Quoting MIT Technology Review, in a paper in nature today, Pan Jian Wei at the

University of Science and Technology of China in Haifa, and his colleagues describe an experiment in which they demonstrated entanglement through more than 30 miles of fiber coiled up in a lab with lower transmission errors than previous attempts. This is a big improvement, says Pan, who is sometimes called the father of quantum. The trick was to find efficient ways to entangle two particles. The team used an atom, which stayed put, and a photon which was sent down the fiber. They found that they were able to create an entangled pair of nodes much more reliably than was demonstrated in previous experiments, including the one setting the mile benchmark, which it beat by five orders of magnitude, end quote. The article goes on to poo-poo the actual achievement because it was 30 miles of coiled fiber,

not actually a fiber stretched out over 30 miles. The two nodes were not actually 30 miles apart. Still, it does prove the concept, and scientists say they think they can easily do this in cables actually running in a straight line. Nothing for you today. Twitter is Brian MCC. Follow me there. The show's subreddit is our slash ride home. Tip me stories there. If you want to give the ad-free feed a try, link for that is at the very bottom of today's show notes. Talk to you tomorrow.