Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 02/09 – The Samsung Galaxy S22 Event

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

All the headlines from the Samsung event, including the new S22 lineup and some massive new tablets. Can Meta’s stock crash so much that it would become immune to antitrust liability? And, look, the alleged Bonnie and Clyde for our times, the whole saga of that husband and wife arrested here in NYC yesterday, allegedly related to the big Bitfinex hack. Sponsors: IPVanish.com/techmeme and promocode: techmeme for 70% savings Smith.ai promocode techmeme for $100 off signup Links: SAMSUNG’S GALAXY S22 AND S22 PLUS PUT IMPROVED CAMERAS AND PERFORMANCE IN A SAMEY DESIGN (The Verge) SAMSUNG’S GALAXY S22 ULTRA IS A NOTE BY ANOTHER NAME (The Verge) Samsung’s new tablets go bigger than ever (The Verge) Facebook market cap falls below $600 billion — which could actually help it dodge new antitrust scrutiny (CNBC) Justice Department Says It Seized $3.6 Billion Worth of Bitcoin Stolen in 2016 Hack (WSJ) Woman Who Allegedly Laundered $1B in Bitcoin Was Cringe YouTube Rapper (Motherboard) 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 TechMame right home for Wednesday, February 9th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today. All the headlines from the Samsung event, including the new S-22 lineup and some massive

new tablets. Could Meta's stock crash so much that it would become immune to antitrust liability? And look, the alleged Bonnie and Clyde for our times, the whole saga of that husband and wife arrested here in NYC yesterday, allegedly related to the big Bitfinex hack. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. The big Samsung unpacked event happened this morning, and there Samsung unveiled the 6.1-inch Galaxy S-22 and 6.6-inch S-22 plus with updated cameras and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor coming February 25. The S-22 costs $800. The S-22 plus costs $1,000, quoting the verge.

By most accounts, last year's Galaxy S-21 lineup didn't measure up to Samsung. 's sales expectations. Flanked by more Android competition than ever before, the S-21 and S-21 Plus struggled to stand out on their own merits. It didn't help matters that Samsung gave the base model a cheap first impression by using plastic materials on the back instead of glass. So with the new Galaxy S-22 and S-22-plus announced today, the company is trying to write some of these wrongs and reestablish these as premium-dependable flagship-grade smartphones, even if they lack the note DNA of the S-22 Ultra. Unlike that device, more on that in a second,

these bear a closer resemblance to last year's phones with slight design refinements. The screen, 6.1 inches on the S-22, 6.6.6 inches on the plus, and both at 2340 by 1080 resolution, are flat on both models. The contour camera housing now matches the phone's overall color instead of contrasting with it, like on the purple S-21, and Samsung is the first phone maker to use Gorilla Glass Victus Plus, which is on the front and back of both the regular S-22 and S-22 Plus.

There's no more glastic to cheapen the feel. Both phones will come in black, white, green, and what Samsung calls pink gold. They go up for pre-order today and will be available February 25th. The Galaxy S-22 starts at 799.99 with the S-22 plus priced at $999.99.99. Both come with 128 gigabytes of storage and 8 gigabytes of RAM. A higher capacity 256 gigabyte model will also be offered, but it sticks with the same amount of RAM. Among all of the usual spec upgrades, Samsung is putting the biggest spotlight on camera performance. The main 50-Megixel camera has a 23% larger sensor

than what was inside the S-21. Both phones have 10-Mapixel telephoto with 3X optical zoom and 12-Mapixel ultra-wide cameras. Samsung claims to have made huge strides in nighttime photography and says those photos will now be more detailed. Part of this is also due to pixel binning. You're still getting 12 megapixel images out of the primary camera and Samsung's adaptive pixel technology. The company is also touting major improvements to portrait shots and says it can now distinguish individual strands of hair to keep a subject in focus and more accurately blur the background. Hair and glasses remain a challenge for phone cameras and fake bocia, so I'll believe this when I see it. The displays on the S-22 and S-22-plus have a max refresh rate of 120 hertz but can dial down to 10 hertz depending on the content on screen to conserve battery.

Samsung says they use a new vision booster algorithm to maintain clarity and color saturation even in bright conditions. The S-22 plus has the same peak brightness as the Ultra, 1,750 nits, but you can only reach that in direct sunlight. The S-22 has a lower peak of 1,300 nits. Both phones are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor in the United States, Qualcomm's 4-nometer chip, but as usual, will contain Samsung's own Exenos chips in some international markets. They'll run Android 12 and Samsung's 1 UI 4.1 out of the box. At first glance, the S-22 and S-2 Plus aren't a major change in direction or design from last year. It's not clear whether these improvements will boost consumer interest in meaningful ways,

but there's something to be said about Samsung's expertise, premium displays, and reliable user experience. Sure, you can buy a Pixel 6 for $599, but its OLED panel isn't on the same level as Samsung's, and Google's going through a rough patch of sorts with software right now. Meanwhile, Samsung just upped its software commitment to four years of major OS updates. That extended support time frame applies to these S-22s, but also last year's S-21 lineup and others like the Z-fold 3 and Z-Flip 3, end quote. But Samsung also announced the Galaxy S-22 Ultra, which has a 6.8 inch 120 hertz display with S-Pen support. So the Galaxy Note line is dead. Long live the Galaxy Note line now in the Ultra branding, because this is a

note by another name. It's shipping February 25th and quoting the Verge. The Samsung Galaxy S-22 Ultra has shaped up to be everything that leaks, hints, and speculation indicated it would be a Samsung Galaxy Note, minus the Note branding. It offers a 6.8-inch screen, a built-in S-pen stylus, a boatload of cameras, and a $1,190 price tag, and a boxy shape straight from the Galaxy Note series. In addition to the stylus silo, the S-22 Ultra gained some incremental camera upgrades for low-light and portrait photography, faster wired charging, adapter sold separately, of course, and all the latest components you'd expect to find on a 2022 flagship. And it's altogether a device that looks worthy of that flagship title, at least as far

as Samsung's non-folding phones are concerned. Aside from the stylus on a slight design shift, the S-22 Ultra is an evolutionary update to the S-21 Ultra. Naturally, it replaces last year's top-shelf Qualcomm chip with the newest version, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the U.S. Other parts of the world may have a 4-nanometer Xenos chip set. It's 6.8-inch OLED still features a 120-hertz variable refresh rate, but it can reach an even higher 1,750-knit peak brightness if you're in direct sunlight. But the stylus, Samsung has done more than just add a silo and call it a day. S-Pen latency has been improved from 9 milliseconds to 2.8 milliseconds. It felt very responsive in our thus far brief experience with the phone, if not life-changing.

Samsung says the algorithm that predicts the path a user will draw with the pen has also been improved, and that is its handwriting recognition rate is higher and includes a dozen more languages. The S-22 Ultra also supports S-pen air actions like flipping through your photo gallery or controlling the phone's camera remotely without touching the screen. Camera specs on the S-22 Ultra are similar to its predecessor. You're still getting a 108-m megapixel main camera, 3x and 10x telephoto cameras, a 12-m-pixel ultra-wide and a 40-magixel selfie camera. Instead, improvements are largely focused around low-light photo and video capabilities.

It's now possible to take night-mode portraits, and users can capture high-resolution night-mode shots. Previously, you could either take a high-res or a night-mode shot, not both at once. On the Ultra, the result is a 108-mixel image that incorporates the added light-gathering benefits of pixel-bending technology. On the S-22 and S-22-plus, you get a 50-magixel image. equipped with its stylus, the S-22 Ultra is rewriting, sorry, Samsung's definition of a flagship S-series device. It's not hard to find a pricey phone that checks all the boxes that Ultra checks, big screen, top shelf processor, advanced camera system. By condensing the Note and S-series, Samsung gives the Ultra a feature to stand apart from the other big screen high-performance phones

from the likes of Apple, Google, and One Plus. Do high-end phone shoppers actually want a stylus with their device? Samsung is betting that they do, at least until it's full. foldables really take off. Fans of non-folding stylus phones can pre-order the S-22 Ultra at Samsung.com starting today in Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, or a new burgundy color. The device goes on sale February 25th and 128 gigabyte, 256 gigabyte, 512 gigabyte, and one terabyte variants. The 128-gigabyte model has 8 gigabytes of RAM.

All others include 12 gigabytes, end quote. So, going big, as Samsung is, want to do, but they also went big on tablets, big in the, you know, physical sense of the word. Samsung also debuted the $1,100 Tab S8 Ultra with a 14.6 inch 120 hertz display, 16 gigabytes of ram, two front-facing cameras and Snapdragon Gen 1 chips, shipping later in February, quoting from the Verge one more time. Samsung thinks your tablet is too small. So the company is announcing the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, a slim tablet with a massive 14.6 inch screen. The $1,099-99-cent Tab S8 Ultra sits at the top of the

Tab S8 line, which includes the more pedestrian-sized Tab S8 and Tab S8 Plus, successors to the Tab S7 models from 2020. The Tab S8 Ultra takes the same approach that Samsung has used with its smartphones bearing the Ultra name. It's bigger and more feature-packed than the other models in the lineup. Its 14.6-inch screen is an OLED. panel with a 120-hertz refresh rate and a 2960 by 1848 resolution. It has up to 16 gigabytes of RAM, 512 gigabytes of storage, two front-facing cameras, and Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon Gen 1 chip, the same processor that's in the new S-22 line of phones. The star of the show is certainly the screen, which is big, bright, and color-rich, just like you'd expect from an OLED panel.

It's the kind of screen you just want to watch movies on forever. We haven't been able to test it side-by-side with the mini-l-D screen on Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but it's a safe bet. It's a close comparison. The Altra's new screen is 20% larger than the 12.4-inch screen on the Tab S-7-plus and Tab S-8 plus and bigger than the biggest screen you can get on an iPad. The two front-facing cameras, a standard wide and ultra-wide, both 12 megapixels, are housed in a notch that slightly dips into the screen's real estate, but it's the kind of thing that is easily forgotten once you start using the device. Samsung has added some Apple-esque auto-framing features to the camera, which try to keep you centered in the frame on video calls. It also has the ability to blur the background on calls,

and there's a three-way microphone with three different types of noise cancellation for clear audio. At 1.6 pounds, almost 13 inches across and over 8 inches tall, the Tab S8 Ultra is closer in size and weight to a Microsoft Surface Pro than what most people would consider a tablet. Despite its size, Samsung claims that the Ultra is 40% less prone to bending than the Tab S7, and its aluminum is 30% more scratch-resistant. It's impressive to be holding such a big screen in your hands, but it's hard to see how useful the Ultra will be as an actual tablet and not parked in a keyboard case on a desk.

Samsung is including an S-Pen stylus in the box with all of the Tab S-8 models, but a keyboard case will cost extra. Those that place pre-orders will get the keyboard case for free as a perk. Its usefulness as a laptop replacement is tempered by the fact that it's still running Android 12 and not a more desktop-focused operating system. Samsung does have its Dex feature, which provides a desktop-like environment with windowed apps, a taskbar, and other features when you've got the tablet dock to a keyboard. Samsung also says it has improved the multi-windle mode that lets you split the screen

among three different apps and adjust the size of each window, a trick pulled from the Galaxy Fold 3's software. But at the end of the day, you'll still be working in Android apps, which are rarely optimized for smaller tablets, much less something this large. The other two tablets in the lineup, the $699 Tab S8 and $899 Tab S8 Plus, are more direct replacements for their Tab S7 predecessors. The standard Tab S8 has an 11-inch 120-hertz LCD screen, while the Tab S8 Plus has a 12.4-inch 120-Hhertz OLED panel. Both have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. For Dolby Atmos speakers, 8 gigabytes of RAM, up to 256 gigabytes of storage, and a single 12-mepixel ultra-wide front camera.

All of the Tab S8 models have Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, but only the Tab S8 Plus will be available with optional 5G cellular connectivity. Samsung has been making Android tablets for a long time, despite the lackluster support from Google and a general dearth of third-party apps available for them. Hardware is rarely the problem with a Samsung tablet, and it's unlikely to be the issue this time around either. But while the Tab S8 Ultra and its siblings pack impressive spec sheets, the experience of using them is going to come down to the software, and Samsung doesn't have a great track record there. We'll have to see if the company has managed to fix the wrongs from

the tab S7 line and can justify the Tab S8 model's hefty price tags when we're able to review production versions of them. Samsung is putting the Tab S8, S8 Plus, and S8 Ultra up for pre-order starting today, February 9th, and is expecting to begin shipping them later this month, end quote. Quick note here. It's been flirting with being up for the first time, at least in trading this morning. But after last week's earnings disaster, Meta's stock has been down several days in a row, so far down, in fact, that its market cap briefly dipped under the $600 billion market cap limit, which is important because that falls below the threshold set by recent U.S. House bills regarding so-called covered platforms. In other words,

If meta's market cap were to remain below the $600 billion level, that might allow meta to avoid antitrust liability, quoting CNBC. The $600 billion market cap figure also happens to be the number House legislators picked as the threshold for a covered platform under a package of competition bills designed specifically to target big tech. If meta were to remain below that threshold, it could avoid the additional hurdles the bills would install for how it can conduct its businesses and make deals, while its larger peers like Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, and even Microsoft become subject to the rules. It could take quite some time for any of the bills to become law if that happens at all. The language could still be amended, and even as originally written,

the bills would continue to apply to the platforms for a period of time after they fall below the market cap threshold. One Senate bill that recently passed through the Judiciary Committee actually uses a lower market cap threshold than its House companion at $550 billion. Still, the milestone points to one of the challenges of crafting laws that target the tech industry. In addition to making sure the bills are not solving for outdated challenges by the time they pass, legislators must try to encompass a select group of companies, end quote. So is Zuck playing eight-dimensional chess here? Guy tapping his forehead meme can't be broken up.

If your stock crashes so much, they can't call you a monopoly anymore. Well, no doubt you've heard the headlines by now, or maybe at least seen some of the videos making the rounds, but the U.S. Department of Justice arrested two people in New York City yesterday and seized $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin allegedly stolen in a 2016 BitFinex hack. This is the largest financial seizure the feds have ever made, ever, going back to Prohibition, going back to the birth of the Republic, quoting the Wall Street Journal. Ilia Lichtenstein, 34 years old and his wife, Heather Morgan 31, were both arrested without incident Tuesday morning in Manhattan, the department said.

They have promoted themselves on social media as entrepreneurs with deep knowledge of tech and a love of travel. According to court documents, the suspects allegedly conspired to launder nearly 120,000 Bitcoin stolen from BitFinex's platform in 2016, after a hacker breached the exchanges' systems and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. The transactions included the use of computer programs to rapidly automate Bitcoin, movements and deposits to try to conceal their origin, with some of the funds eventually landing in financial accounts tied to the couple, federal prosecutors said. At the couple's appearance in Manhattan Court Tuesday, U.S. magistrate judge Deborah Freeman set bond at $5 million for Mr. Lichtenstein and $3 million for Ms. Morgan requiring that their parents' homes be posted as security. The judge

also ordered that they not have devices with internet access and prohibited them from conducting cryptocurrency transactions. Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan face charges related to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. They weren't charged with carrying out the hack of Bitfinex. The Justice Department's investigation is ongoing, officials said. Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange Bitfinex said it was hacked in 2016, causing the price of Bitcoin to sharply drop. At the time, the value of the stolen Bitcoin was valued at around $70 million, officials said. Redboard. A former senior Treasury Department official now at the blockchain analytics firm,

TRM Labs, said the arrest show the developing capabilities of investigators to trace cryptocurrency flows, including years after illicit transactions occurred. As the obfuscation techniques evolve, so do the tools authorities have to track them, said Mr. Redboard. The blockchain is forever, end quote. The couple arrested Tuesday, Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan allegedly used their laundered proceeds to purchase a variety of material goods and assets, including gold, non-fundgivable tokens and Walmart gift cards, officials said. Only a small portion of the stolen money had been spent by the time of their arrest, according to officials.

During a search of the couple's Manhattan home this month, federal agents found a bag of burner phones, $40,000 in cash and a device with an electronic file that had fake identities used to open Bitcoin accounts, assistant U.S. attorney Maggie Linos said. Another file found in the search, she said, had information on how to purchase passports on the dark web. The couple is also believed to have access to 330, million dollars in Bitcoin that the federal government hasn't located, Ms. Linnaw said.

Ms. Morgan and Mr. Lichtenstein, who also goes by the nickname Dutch, have promoted themselves as veteran tech and crypto entrepreneurs, according to their social media posts. Their enterprises include co-founding Demand Path, a venture capital fund, and pass, a cryptocurrency wallet, and sales fork, a marketing firm. On Medium, a publishing platform, Mr. Lichtenstein's profile described him as a, quote, tech entrepreneur, explorer, and occasional magician, end quote. His profile on LinkedIn, the professional networking platform says he is a, quote, coder, and investor interested in blockchain technology, automation, and big data, end quote.

Ms. Morgan's profile on Forbes.com, where her articles are posted under the site's Forbes Women banner, says she is an international economist and serial entrepreneur specializing in software development. Quote, when she's not reverse engineering black markets to think of better ways to combat fraud and cybercrime. She enjoys rapping and designing streetwear fashion. Her Forbes.com bioreads. Her LinkedIn page links to a personal website in which she refers to herself as rapper Razel Khan, with a, quote, fearless entrepreneurial spirit and hacker mindset, end quote. Yes, a lot of the attention in the last 24 hours has focused on Razel Khan, Ms. Morgan, as people found

extensive social media posts from her, including full-on rap videos. filmed in front of the New York Stock Exchange, among other places, which people repeatedly describe as cringe. Quoting Vice. As first pointed out by NBC reporter Kevin Collier in a tweet, Morgan has a YouTube channel filled with her influencer fare, such as a rap video with questionable lyrics, an unboxing video featuring 25 prosthetic eyeballs, and an anti-coronavirus juice recipe. Quote, this song is for the entrepreneurs and hackers, all the misfits, and smart slackers. Morgan sings in the video as her alter ego Razocan. The infamous crocodile of Wall Street strikes again, the Razocon website reads.

More fearless and more shameless than ever before, she's taking on everyone from big software companies to health care to finance bros, end quote. Raz shamelessly explores new frontiers of art, pushing the limit of what's possible. Whether that leads to something wonderful or terrible is unclear. The only thing that's certain is it won't be boring or mediocre, the site reads. In a TikTok video, part of her fascinating. account. Morgan explains how she built a multi-million dollar business at age 22, quote, with zero outside funding, end quote, without mentioning that she and her husband allegedly laundered

$1 billion worth of stolen bitcoins. Automate, eliminate, delegate, okay, repeat after me, she said in the video. Morgan also used to write for Forbes as a contributor, where she wrote articles about tips to protect your business from cybercriminals, negotiation tactics, and how to become a successful YouTuber. She also has a Twitter account with almost 20,000 followers. Quote, Heather R. Morgan is an international economist, serial entrepreneur, and investor in B2B software companies. She is an expert in persuasion, social engineering, and game theory. Her bio on the site read. Her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, was also involved in the crypto world, according to his LinkedIn account, which lists him as a, quote, early stage angel,

investing in founders and decentralized projects at a firm called Demand Path. Morgan's LinkedIn page lists as being a partner at demand path, end quote. Anywho, turning as ever to the great dare El Besanjo, who said on Twitter, the public nature of the blockchain makes some crimes harder to get away with. You steal $70 million in Bitcoin, watch it grow to $3.6 billion as the price goes rocket ship. But since all data on the blockchain is public, as soon as you try to spend it, you get pinched by the feds, end quote. Yes, this raises a number of questions, among them.

What does it feel like to allegedly land a great score of $70 million, which you have to admit is a great score by almost any measure? But then you watch it balloon into the billions. Also, if you are allegedly trying to launder billions of stolen crypto, you sure you want to be posting the TikTok every hour of the day? Seems like a lower profile might be called for at that point. Also, of all the places to hide out while you allegedly try to launder your crime, why pick New York City? Aren't there places? without extradition laws. And also, if the past years have taught us anything, it's that the feds have come to love the blockchain. They can trace all of these alleged crimes inch by inch. So what does that mean for the original promise of the blockchain, which was, at least in part, the promise of protecting wealth from authoritarian regimes? Like, if the FBI and the DOJ can do it here, imagine what security services and other, let's say, more stringent countries could do. So is Bitcoin,

especially government-proof money or not. Big day. That's all for now. Talk to you tomorrow.