Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 08/01 - Chips Get Faster, Scooters Get Rugged-er

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 TechMeme ride home for Thursday, August 1st, 2019. I'm Brian McCullough today. Intel's, faster new chips, birds, more durable new scooters, Samsung's new lack of a headphone jack, Cisco settles with the government, IBM faces an age discrimination lawsuit, cloud fliers planning an IPO,

Starting point is 00:00:53 and the new season of Fortnite. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Intel has unveiled its first 10th-generation laptop CPUs. get to know Ice Lake built on Intel's new 10 nanometer Sunnycove architecture. What might these new chips mean for you? Well, Intel, of course, claims that they're faster. But also, yeah, there's going to be some serious and naming confusion because there are 11 new chips coming our way with a range of configurations and equivalently complicated nomenclature, quoting and gadget. As usual, Intel is breaking up its laptop chip. chip family into the Y series, which are meant for incredibly slim and efficient machines, and the U-Series, which are geared towards more capable ultra-portables like Dell's XPS13.

Starting point is 00:01:49 Surprisingly enough, Y-series chips are getting a bit more capable this generation with the first-ever quad-core models. I won't expect them to be capable of 1080P gaming machines, even with G7 Iris Plus graphics, but they should at least be more powerful than any of Intel's previous notebook chips. Just like Intel said before, the 10th-gen processors reach up to 4.1 gigahertz boost speeds in the most powerful model, whereas the 8th gen I7-8565U got up to 4.6 gigahertz. Still, the new chips are faster in other ways. Intel claims its Sunnycove architecture can handle 18% more instructions per clock than before. That lets them do more work at equivalent clock speeds. and coupled with other upgrades like a significantly larger L1 and L2 cache,

Starting point is 00:02:41 the 10th-gen CPUs should be noticeably faster in day-to-day work, end quote. The reporting I saw on this today in various venues all seem to agree that rather than the incremental steps forward of the last few processor upgrades Intel has released, this seems like a much bigger leap forward in terms of specs, and the first notebooks to get these chips will be coming in the next couple of months. This podcast launched a year and a half ago right around the time that the e-scooter craze really took off in earnest. And if you've been listening long enough, then you'll know that one big thing the industry has had to do, or plans to do, or hopes to do if it wants to be long-term sustainable, is get more durable scooters.

Starting point is 00:03:28 If scooters last longer, the scooter companies get better unit economics and the potential for really decent margins. Well, the dream of the more durable scooter continues to arrive at Bird. Just three months ago, Bird unveiled the Bird 1. It's first-gen-ne-ne-ne-schueter, and now it is rolling out the Bird 2. And, quoting the Verge, you guessed it, it's more durable, powerful, and longer-lasting than the previous version. The top-line feature is a new battery, which Bird claims is industry-leading and automotive grade. Bird 2's battery will have over 50% more capacity than Bird 1's, and it will be optimized to operate in a variety of temperatures. Bird 2 will also include smart autonomous sensors that will signal Bird headquarters when the scooter breaks down.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Vandalism and depreciation costs have taken a toll as scooter companies struggle to get their newer, more rugged models on the streets. Self-reporting damage sensors will help Bird's mechanics get damaged or vandalized scooters off the streets and into repair shops more seamlessly. Bird 2 will also feature other upgrades like an anti-tipping kickstand and puncture-proof tires, which are designed to address some of the criticisms about the dockless scooter industry and its occasionally wonky sidewalk-blocking vehicles. Anti-encryption software will help deter theft and protect writers from potentially malicious hacks. File that under new problems I wasn't aware existed, end quote. The Bird 2s are expected to hit actual city streets this fall.

Starting point is 00:05:01 The true end of the headphone jack era might finally be upon us, as it looks like one of the last of the holdouts might be throwing in the proverbial connector or towel mixing metaphors. A leaked render of Samsung's 3.5 millimeter to USBC adapter is adding fuel to the rumors online that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 10, which should be announced next week, will not have a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, quoting Sam Mobile. Samsung isn't bundling a 3.5 millimeter to USBC adapter with the Galaxy Tab S6, but the company isn't expected to make it a separate purchase for Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy 10-plus buyers.

Starting point is 00:05:51 The devices will also be accompanied by USBC earphones, possibly with noise cancellation support, in addition to the AKG-tuned sound. And Samsung will probably give away free Galaxy Buds with Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 plus orders. It did so for the Galaxy S-10 series, which does have a headphone jack, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume the Korean Giant will have a similar offer for the upcoming Note flagships, end quote. It's been a little while, but we've got a potential unicorn IPO coming on the horizon. CrunchBase News is reporting that Cloudflare plans to pursue an IPO in the future. September and has filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC to get that ball rolling.

Starting point is 00:06:40 Since its founding in 2009, Cloudflare has raised $332 million, including a $150 million series E round in March that valued the company at $3.2 billion. Cloudflare reportedly has revenue well north of $100 million and 84% gross margins, which is pretty nuts. And the whispers are that the company is basically already break-even, so profitability is presumably right around the corner, maybe timed coincidentally, with an IPO. I'm not sure that I need to explain to this audience what Cloudflare does, but it is not exactly a consumer-facing company. So on the off-chance that you need an explainer, here is Crunchbase. Quote, Cloudflare is best known for its CDN or content delivery network. The company's services help speed internet content

Starting point is 00:07:28 to consumers around the world, helping the patchwork quilt that we call the web, function with minimal delays. Cloudflare's business is part of the furniture to a degree. It's also something critically important to how well online video works, for example, which makes its debut interesting and somewhat exciting. Here's part of the internet backbone going public, end quote. Cisco has agreed to pay $8.6 million to settle with the government over claims that it was selling video surveillance technology that had a known security flaw in it. The flaw discovered as early as 2008, but Cisco nonetheless continued to sell it to government agencies until 2013. Quote, Cisco will pay civil damages in connection with software that it sold to various government

Starting point is 00:08:20 agencies, including Homeland Security, the Secret Service, the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a government complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The software vulnerability was identified in 2008 by a whistleblower James Glenn, who was working as a Cisco subcontractor in Denmark when he discovered that he could hack into the video software and take over the surveillance system without being detected, according to his lawyers at Constantine Cannon. That September, Mr. Glenn told Cisco that he had discovered a flaw that hackers could use to gain unauthorized access to the video surveillance systems, manipulate information, and bypass security measures. Mr. Glenn's lawyers told the New York Times.

Starting point is 00:08:58 Mr. Glenn was laid off as part of what the company said was a cost-cutting measure, five months after he reported the vulnerability. A year later in June 2010, he realized that Cisco had not fixed the flaw and he could still hack into the surveillance system. Soon after, he contacted the FBI to discuss the issue, end quote. And I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, so I'm mentioning it now. In a court filing related to a lawsuit that has been ongoing, IBM's vice president of HR alleged that the company has fired 50,000 to 100,000 employees in recent years. Now, the lawsuit in question is the allegation that older employees were specifically targeted for layoffs at IBM. Why? Quoting Bloomberg, in his deposition, Wilde said a 108-year-old IBM faced talent recruitment problems and

Starting point is 00:10:01 determined one way to show millennials that IBM was not, quote, an old fuddy-duddy organization, end quote, was to make itself appear, quote, as a cool, trendy organization, end quote, like Google and Amazon, according to the document. To do that, IBM set out to sluff off large portions of its older workforce using rolling layoffs over the course of several years, according to court documents. This strategy deliberately targeted older workers like the plaintiff, Texas-based, Jonathan Langley, 61, who has accused IBM of firing him after more than 24 years because of his age, according to the document. IBM filed a motion to dismiss Langley's case. On Tuesday, his lawyers filed an opposition to that motion, end quote. Small follow-up here to a previous big story. According to SEC filings, McKenzie Bezos is now the second largest Amazon shareholder,

Starting point is 00:10:56 holding 19.7 million shares of the company are around a 4% stake in that company, which would be worth around $37 billion at the time of this writing. That would be, according to Bloomberg, quote, enough to place her 23rd on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world's 500 richest people. The value of her stake has fallen by $1 billion since April when the Bezos divorce settlement was first disclosed. Jeff Bezos, 55, the founder and chief executive officer of the world's largest online retailer and web services company retains a 12% stake worth $109 billion and remains the world.

Starting point is 00:11:35 world's wealthiest person, end quote. And another kind of follow-up, do you remember when the Falcon Heavy rocket launched in June? I believe I told you that the Planetary Society and Bill Nye, the science guy, who is the CEO of the Planetary Society, had payload on that rocket that was launched to test the concept of a solar sail. Well, that test has happened, and it seems to have been a success, quoting the verge, light sail two has been in a low orbit above. of Earth since its launch on top of a space X Falcon Heavy rocket on June 25th. Last week, the spacecraft successfully deployed its sail, a thin square piece of mylar about the size of a boxing ring. Since then, the Planetary Society has been twisting and

Starting point is 00:12:25 turning the sails position in orbit to optimize the spacecraft's ability to harness the power of light coming from the sun. And so far, this orbital dance has worked. The Planetary Society says that Light Sail 2 has raised part of its orbit about 1.7 kilometers, and that this change, quote, can only be attributed to solar sailing. We're thrilled to declare mission success for Lightsale 2, Bruce Betts, the Light Sail Program Manager and Chief Scientist for the Planetary Society said in a statement, end quote. Actually, this story ties into something else that we've talked about recently, the whole small satellite revolution. Quoting again, solar sailing in space isn't exactly new. A Japanese spacecraft called Icaros used a light sail

Starting point is 00:13:09 to propel through space on its way to Venus in 2010. However, the Planetary Society wanted to show that the same technique could be used for smaller satellites, specifically CubeSats, a type of standardized spacecraft that's usually not much bigger than a cereal box. CubSats have become a great tool for companies, researchers, and more who want to gather data from space using a relatively inexpensive spacecraft that's easy to build. Maneuvering small satellites like this through space is difficult. Most satellites rely on thrusters to be mobile, tiny engines that combust chemical propellants to push a vehicle through space.

Starting point is 00:13:44 That can be a costly addition to a spacecraft and the propellant needed for these thrusters adds weight, which is precious when launching things off of Earth. Most of the time, small satellites like CubeSats cannot accommodate thrusters and can't be maneuvered once they reach space. Now the Planetary Society has shown that this deployable solar sale could be added to CubeSats in the future, providing an option for those mini-probes to move through space without using traditional chemical propellants, end quote. And one more technical breakthrough story, real quick. Tired, self-driving cars. Wired? Self-driving bicycles. A team of researchers in China have been working on a bike that can propel itself.

Starting point is 00:14:31 Keep itself perfectly balanced and upright and even respond to voice commands to navigate. So imagine a bike that you didn't even have to steer. In fact, you wouldn't even need to ride on it. You could basically just let it follow you around like a puppy. Quoting the New York Times, it also has eyes. It can follow someone jogging several yards ahead, turning each time the person turns. And if it encounters an obstacle, it can swerve to the side, keeping its balance and continuing its pursuit. it is not the first ever autonomous bicycle.

Starting point is 00:15:02 Cornell University has a project underway, or probably the future of transportation, although it could find a niche in a future world swarming with packaged delivery vehicles, drones, and robots. Nonetheless, the Chinese researchers who built the bike believe it demonstrates the future of computer hardware. It navigates the world with help from what is called a neuromorphic chip modeled after the human brain, end quote. Finally today, the new season of Fortnite is here. Fortnite season 10, I think, or season X? I don't know. That whole iPhone 10 branding has really confused everything when you put an X in a name. But since I think this is the 10th season,

Starting point is 00:15:43 I'm assuming it's the Roman numeral. So if you're on your way home looking to fire this up, what can you expect from the new season of Fortnite? Quoting the Verge. One of the biggest changes is a new vehicle, a two-person mech suit called a brute, where one player handles movement and the other shooting. There's also all new rift zones caused by a massive explosion that kicked off the season, and it sounds like they'll regularly change things up and even bring back elements from past fortnight seasons. Locations once thought to be lost are beginning to appear, but they aren't the same as they

Starting point is 00:16:19 once were, developer Epic explains. The most notable change on the island itself, meanwhile, is the long-awaited return of Dusty Depot. The meteor that destroyed it in season four is now suspended in the air. You can even land on it and explore. The explosion at Lute Lake is in a similarly suspended state, which is likely to change over the course of the season. Other map changes seem smaller like the colorful new trees that have sprouted in the Kaiju skeleton, end quote. There have also been some tweaks to how challenges work. There's a new battle pass and, of course, new rewards that, among other things, will enable players to unlock new versions of classic characters.

Starting point is 00:17:00 That is all for today. Happy birthday, Mom. I know you're listening. Guess what I got you? A new podcast classified, which you'll hear in a second. Reminder that if you want to snag your own podcast classified read, you can do so by going to ridehome. Dot info forward slash classifieds.

Starting point is 00:17:21 That's classifieds plural. Talk to you tomorrow. Would you like to discover a happier, healthier, more focused life? Would you like to become a better version of yourself? Cactus. App increases your self-awareness through guided self-reflection and gives you a private place to journal your thoughts. Cactus.comptus.combe encourages you to think about the impact of your experiences, prompts exploration of your feelings, and proposes actions to enhance your experiences. And it's free. Check it out at cactos.com. And by the way, this is not an app. in the app store yet.

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Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 08/01 - Chips Get Faster, Scooters Get Rugged-er

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