Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 05/11 – Google I/O 2022

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 right home for Wednesday, May 11th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today. All the headlines from Google's I.O. Keynote this afternoon. The stable coin fiasco has gotten rapidly worse. More carnage in tech stocks is Apple shifting to USBC for the iPhone at long last. And pour one out for the iPod, the product and brand that very much kicked off our modern era of gadgetry. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Google held I.O. It's annual developer conference today with a limited number of folks actually in person in the audience. A quick rundown of some of the bigger announces with sort of a bias towards things consumers might actually see and be interested in. Google Maps is

Starting point is 00:01:20 gaining a new immersive view, a combination of street view and aerial shots for select cities and will let third-party apps use live views AR, quoting 9 to 5 Google. Google Maps immersive view combines picturesque views of a city and its landmarks, suggestions of places to learn about or visit and views of the insides of some buildings. You can even see alternate views of certain areas, such as at night, in bad weather, or in busy conditions. This immersive view will be overlaid with the useful, helpful features of maps like busyness levels and traffic indicators, and it's all arriving in Google Maps for phones and devices of all sorts. The only limitation for now is what cities can be browsed, with things kicking off later this year with Los Angeles,

Starting point is 00:01:59 London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, end quote. Google Translate is adding support for 24 additional languages, including regional dialects from India, South America, and Africa, used by around 300 million people. What about the main Google product, which is search? Google unveiled a multi-search Near Me option that lets users add pictures of products and then find local retailers and restaurants that may provide them, which, if you think about it, lays the groundwork pretty well for any future AR glasses, quoting TechCrunch. With the new Near Me multi-search query, you'll be able to find local options related to your current visual and text-based search combination. For example, if you were working on a DIY project

Starting point is 00:02:39 and came across a part that you needed to replace, you could snap a photo of the part with your phone's camera to identify it and then find a local hardware store that has a replacement in stock. The more interesting addition to multi-search is the capability to search within a scene. In the future, Google says users will be able to pan their camera around to learn about multiple objects within that wider scene. Google suggests the feature could be used to scan the shelves at a bookstore, then see helpful several insights overlaid in front of you. The company, of course, is reportedly working on a secret project codename Project Iris to build a new AR headset with a projected 2024 release date. It's easy to imagine not only how this scene scanning capability could run on

Starting point is 00:03:16 such a device, but how any sort of image plus text or voice search feature could be used on an AR headset. Imagine again looking at the pair of sneakers you liked, for instance, and then asking a device to navigate to the nearest store so you could make the purchase, end quote. Next, if you've gotten tired of using Google Assistant's wake words, you're in luck. Google announced look and talk, which lets Nest Hub Max owners talk to Assistant just by looking at the device without saying, hey Google or anything. Google also unveiled AI Test Kitchen, a chatbot Android app that lets users talk to Google's new AI language model Lambda 2 rolling out in the U.S. in the coming months. Google announced privacy controls, including an interface customizing ads, user C, the ability to request removal

Starting point is 00:04:01 of personal info and search results, and more, including the fact that Google is now turning two-factor authentication on by default going forward. Google wallet is for storing payment cards, state IDs, event and transit tickets, vaccination records, and more on Android, wear OS, and everything else in 40-plus countries. But the big hardware news was, of course, the Pixel 6A, which for $449 comes with a flagship. ship-grade tensor chip, a 6.1-inch OLED screen in-display fingerprint sensor, wide angle, and ultra-wide rear cameras, and more all for, again, that low, low price, and I mean it, of $449, quoting 9 to 5 Google. The large 6.1-inch device comes with a number of hardware changes to help

Starting point is 00:04:43 lower the entry pricing, but it still retains the design aesthetic of its flagship siblings, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Glass and metal are eschewed in favor of a recycled aluminum frame and polycarbonate backplate, but the matte black side rails make the step down from the Pixel 6 series. You'll find a 2,340 by 1080 pixel FHD plus OLED display capped at 60 hertz at the front, and it's worth noting that the Pixel 6A is the first affordable phone from Google to include an in-display fingerprint scanner for biometric security. The screen is also coded with Corning Glass 3, which is the same covering as found on the Pixel 5A from last year. Even though the Pixel 6A is launching as a mid-range alternative to the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro Proxer, the device utilizes Google's flagship tensor processor.

Starting point is 00:05:31 Like the flagship models, the Pixel 6A also includes the Titan M2 security co-processor, which makes the device one of the most secure Android phones available. Tensor is paired with 6 gigabytes of LPDDR5 RAM and 128 gigabytes of UFS3.1 storage, alongside a 4,306 mill-amp hour battery that has support for fast charging. Google claims up to 72 hours on a single charge when using the extreme battery saver mode. Sadly, there is no room for a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack for the first time on a pixel A series model. The rear camera setup takes a notable step down over the main 50 megapixel GN1 sensor utilized in the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. You'll find a 12.2 megapixel wide angle and 12

Starting point is 00:06:13 megapixel ultra-wide shooter, which we believe to be the Sony IMX 363 and IMX 386, respectively. At the front, the centrally placed punchhole notch hosts an 8 megapixel Sony IMX-355 selfie camera. A plethora of modes that rely on the tensor processor, including magic eraser, real tone, and face unbler are included on the Pixel 6A for the first time here, too. 4K video recording at 30 and 60 frames per second is still possible here. With 1080p video recording at 30 and 60 frames per second, also possible. Slow-mo video capture at 1080p is available at 240 frames per second. The selfie camera is capped at 1080p. with a maximum frame rate of 30 frames per second, end quote.

Starting point is 00:06:54 They also teased the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, which we should see later this year, and they teased an upgraded tensor processor, and from the photos, we saw a metallic camera bar design that was quite sexy looking to me. As expected, Google announced the PixelBuds Pro with active noise canceling, pass-through, and spatial audio coming later in an over-the-air update, available for a pre-order on July 21st for $199. But bigger news than that, Google previewed the pixel watch with a bulbous cover glass design that curves all the way to the metal sides. Integration with Fitbit, a clickable crown. All of this coming this fall, though no word on pricing,

Starting point is 00:07:36 quoting 9 to 5 Google. There's a bottle cap shaped crown, which is clickable at the 3 o'clock position that juts straight out. Well, you'll get a button just above it. Below, that is the first of two small holes with the other on the left edge, next to it. long speaker cutout. Elsewhere on the perimeter are two watchband slots with buttons at the right that allow for fast swapping. A proprietary strap system is used while Google is using Fitbit's infinity band design that consists of two loops and a pill-shaped peg. Both the metal perimeter and the bottom dome, which is the third piece, are quite thick. Sensors are arranged horizontally at the center for some symmetry. There's an improved wearOS UI with improved navigation and

Starting point is 00:08:13 notifications. Touted apps include Google Assistant, Maps, Wallet, Home, and Fitbit, end quote. And one last tease, Google said it will launch a pixel tablet coming in 2023 after quietly discontinuing the pixel slate last year, you might remember. Quoting TechCrunch. Normally we wouldn't tease a new product before it's ready, said Google's hardware chief Rick Austerlo, but there's so much amazing energy around tablets and the developer community that we wanted to bring you all into the loop. And quote, it's actually an Android device. In a world of ChromeOS dominance, the company is attempting to reinvigorate the Android tablet market. Presumably part of the thinking here, was to find another home for Google's custom tensor processors, which debuted in last year's pixel 6. At the very least, utilizing the same chip means the phones and tablets should play together nicely as the company slowly builds out a hardware ecosystem that also includes pixel buds and the forthcoming pixel watch. Beyond that, details are unsurprisingly scarce for a device that's not due out for another year, end quote. And that is, I believe most of it, as much as I could catch. This is always one of the craziest days of the year, Google I.O.

Starting point is 00:09:16 there was other news today, of course. Unfortunately, it was mostly from the Everything is Down file, which we've just opened in the last few months, which I think we should probably officially call the Everything Everywhere All at Once file. Luna, and its related UST stable coin continue to crash. The Luna coin dropped to as low as $4.51, an 85% slide in a mere 24 hours, while the U.S. U.S.T. stable coin dropped to as low as 27 cents, which is pretty, pretty awful, considering it's supposed to, of course, be pegged to $1. And as Luna crashes, Terra Analytics says, around 152 million Luna tokens are around 30% of the circulating supply, is currently being staked, meaning those people staking those Luna coins can't exit their position, probably for weeks, quoting the block.

Starting point is 00:10:18 When coins are staked, they are locked up indefinitely, and the holder receipts, tokens as rewards. When the holder chooses to unstake them, they are able to get their tokens back after a period of time and then no longer receive rewards. Staking periods can range between different cryptocurrencies, but for Luna, it's 21 days that you have to wait to get your tokens back. Normally, this isn't a big problem. While crypto prices are volatile, stakers typically accept this and are used to day-to-day fluctuations. If the market starts declining, worried holders can unstake their tokens and cash out within a few weeks. Yet the collapse of Luna and UST has happened incredibly quickly and with painful results. As UST has lost its peg to the dollar,

Starting point is 00:10:57 a lot of investors have tried to cash out in case the stable coin's price drops even further. While some have sold on the open market, others have swapped one UST for $1 of Luna, the key mechanism designed to keep the stable coin well stable. Yet this process mints a lot of Luna. In the last two days, more than $145 million has been minted to enable stable coin holders to cash out. This has worsened the price drop of Luna, as more tokens have flooded the market. alongside normal traders selling the token based on the current negative sentiment. Today alone, the price of Luna has dropped from $31 to $2, down 93%. The token has lost 97% of its value in the past week. This price crash has happened faster than Luna Stakers have been able to blink, let alone

Starting point is 00:11:38 unstake their coins and cash out, end quote. Meanwhile, all of this has caused U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to say that passing legislation in 2022 to create a stable coin regulatory framework quote, would be highly appropriate, end quote, after UST's recent troubles. Also, I have to make note of the fact that BoredApe Yacht Club has seen average sales prices drop 29% over the past week, along with other blue chip NFT collections, which means the crypto market and the NFT market on average has been hit harder than Bitcoin amid the overall crypto route. But again, everything everywhere all at once.

Starting point is 00:12:22 and, well, crypto has been hit harder than the tech stocks, at least if you measure by the narrow window of this month, the month of May, but that's sort of thin consolation, because since November, boy, it's bloody. For example, let me give you just the latest. Coinbase reported Q1 earnings with $1.2 billion in net revenue, which was down from $1.6 billion in revenue year over year, and down from the $1.5 billion estimated it had $300. $109 billion in trading volume down from $335 billion year-over-year, the stock dropped more than 12%. Unity Software's stock fell 22%, actually more than that amid the company's lower-than-expected sales forecast for Q2 and lower revenue guidance for the next full year. Unity, of course, is a major, maybe the biggest metaverse play, but here's another metaverse play, Roblox missed with Q1 bookings of $631.2 million down 3% year-over-year versus $645 million estimated. $54.1 million average daily active users were on the Roblox platform, which was up 28% year

Starting point is 00:13:31 over year, but that compared to a $55 million dollar estimate, and only $11.67% average bookings came in per daily active user, which was down 25%. So who cares if your user numbers are up if you're making less money on them? Roblox opened today down only fractionally, but it was at $23. a share. That's down from an all-time high of $134 a share back in November. I'm hitting all these tech stocks that we usually don't cover earnings from to narrow in on where the real carnage is. And yeah, the carnage is from November. Apple is down a bit from its highs. Ditto Google, actually alphabet. Amazon is down 37% in just three months, but it's in this group of tech stocks that largely went

Starting point is 00:14:17 public over the last three to five years that the worst of it has really happened. And it's happened since November. Coinbase, Robin Hood, Rivian, UiPath, Marquetta, and Toast are all down more than 65% from their IPO prices. Not just their highs, their IPO prices. Over half of 53 tech companies that went public in the year 2021 are down more than 50%. Here's one more specific company as an example. Over the last five years, Shopify became a major player in the tech scene and its market cap reacted accordingly, reaching $171 billion at its height. Yesterday, Shopify had a market cap of a mere $42 billion. If you only go back to the beginning of this quarter, Shopify still had a market cap of $84 billion.

Starting point is 00:15:04 That's how quickly these tech favorites have fallen. Shopify is down nearly 80% from its high six short months ago. Meanwhile, it's always funny to me how Apple somehow manages to make headlines around Google I.O. Anytime Google announces something, isn't it funny how that happens? I think I say that every year. Our buddy Ming Chi Quo says Apple is going to switch to USBC for its chargers for the iPhone 15 in the second half of next year. Quoting Mac rumors. In a tweet today, Quo said that the latest supply chain surveys indicate that Apple will ditch lightning in favor of USBC in 2020. Quo noted that USBC would improve transfer speeds on the iPhone and improved charging speeds. Quo had previously said that Apple would be sticking with lightning on the iPhone for the, quote,

Starting point is 00:15:56 foreseeable future, saying that switching to USBC would be harmful to Apple's MiFi business and has lesser waterproof specification. Now Apple has reportedly changed its tone. Most of Apple's iPad lineup already features USBC for faster transfer speeds from accessories such as cameras. Initial speculation was that Apple would keep the lightning port on the iPhone until it's ready to go entirely portless, relying simply on MagSafe to charge and transfer files. MagSafe was first introduced on the iPhone with the iPhone 12 in 2020, so it's still a relatively new technology to the iPhone. The pressure being placed by the EU and its threats to legislate USBC mandates for devices may have forced Apple to reconsider its timeline for moving entirely

Starting point is 00:16:39 portless, requiring it to comply with possible upcoming regulations and move the iPhone to USBC sooner than it had hoped, end quote. And yes, Apple yesterday announced it was discontinuing the iPod touch, leaving the device on sale while supplies last, but thereby officially ending the iPod product line after it debuted the original iPod back in October 2001, quoting TechCrunch. The first iPod debuted on stage in the hands of Steve Jobs on October 23, 2001. With iPod, Apple has invented a whole new category of digital music player that lets you put your entire music collection in your pocket and listen to it wherever you go, he noted at the time. With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again, end quote. In the age of ubiquitous smartphones and Spotify, it's hard to impress upon people how revolutionary the promise of 1,000 songs in your pocket ultimately was, end quote.

Starting point is 00:17:40 Yeah, that's the point that I came here to make. The modern era for the technology industry began with Netscape in the early 90s, as I argue in my book, But the modern era of gadgetry where your gadgets are pocketable began with the iPod, although, of course, the iPod was not the first MP3 player. In the 80s and 90s, though, most computers were things that sat on a desk or a table or your lap, and gadgets were things that could be pocketable, but they weren't quite computers. Think the Sony Walkman or maybe the Nintendo Game Boy was closer to a computer, but the idea that gadgets could be fully functional computers that did fit in your pocket or the palm of your hand,

Starting point is 00:18:23 the iPod was the thing that really and truly ushered in that era. Reminder that our Twitter space is happening in mere hours from now, if you're listening to this soon after I released it, check Twitter at 5.45 p.m. Eastern, 245 p.m. Pacific. We're going to be talking to Eric Newcomer about the whole everything everywhere all at one. carnage in tech, and after that we'll talk about Google I.O., I'm sure. But one more thing. Any eagle-eared listeners out there, could you go back and look at the show notes or the episodes for the last, I don't know, four months or so, and see what the date was when I first did a segment on the show about tech stocks being down. It's not going to help anyone or anything,

Starting point is 00:19:18 but I'm just curious to know the date we first started talking about all this so I can maybe, fantasize about how much money I could have saved myself if I had dumped all of my stock positions in some of these tech stocks on that date. Like I say, it won't help anybody, but it might give me the courage to take this show's pattern recognition powers more seriously in the future. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 05/11 – Google I/O 2022

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