Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 07/17 - Neuralink and Boston Dynamics Are Ready For Their Closeup

Episode Date: July 17, 2019

Google says Project Dragonfly is dead, Apple might be producing its own original podcasts, the Switch regular gets a refresh, and two long-time interesting companies: Neuralink and Boston Dynamics are ready for the spotlight. Sponsors: Castro SVB.com/next Links: Antitrust: Commission opens investigation into possible anti-competitive conduct of Amazon (The European Commission) A Google VP Told The US Senate The Company Has “Terminated” The Chinese Search App Dragonfly (BuzzFeed News) Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals (Bloomberg) New Nintendo Switch model will have much better battery life (Polygon) Microsoft wins multibillion-dollar cloud deal from AT&T (CNBC) Elon Musk’s Neuralink Takes Baby Steps to Wiring Brains to the Internet (NYTimes) BOSTON DYNAMICS’ ROBOTS ARE PREPARING TO LEAVE THE LAB — IS THE WORLD READY? (The Verge) Education publisher Pearson to phase out print textbooks (BBC News) Get a podcast classified of your own. CLASSIFIED: Should users be allowed to gain value from the location data their friends share with them? Even if it's non-monetary value? If not, why not? We have created an experiment to probe into these questions. Our experiment is an app that allows users to collect and analyze hundreds of location data points that are currently being shared with them by their friends, but are not collected. When this data is collected and analyzed properly, users can gain insights on their friends' behavior, much like companies gain insight on everyone else's behavior by collecting or buying this data in bulk. We are looking for one journalist to cover this exclusively, and we figured the Techmeme ride home would be our best bet. We intend to shed some more light on privacy inconsistencies. If you are interested in this, please email us at [e-mail], that is press @ whosintown dot app 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 Wednesday, July 17th, 2019. I'm Brian McCullough today. Google says Project Dragonfly is officially dead.

Apple might be producing its own original podcast. The Switch Regular gets a refresh. And two long-time interesting companies, Neurrelink and Boston Dynamics are ready for the spotlight. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. We spoke about this yesterday, but it's worth mentioning that it actually happened. the European Commission has announced a formal antitrust investigation into possible anti-competitive conduct by Amazon in its dual role as a marketplace and vendor itself on that self-same marketplace. Quoting from the official announcement, when providing a marketplace for independent sellers, Amazon continuously collects data about the activity on its platform. Based on the Commission's preliminary fact-finding, Amazon appears to use competitively sensitive information,

about marketplace sellers, their products, and transactions on the marketplace. As part of its in-depth investigation, the Commission will look into the standard agreements between Amazon and marketplace sellers, which allow Amazon's retail business to analyze and use third-party seller data. In particular, the Commission will focus on whether and how the use of accumulated marketplace seller data by Amazon as a retailer affects competition. And the role of data in the selection of the winners of the the buybox and the impact of Amazon's potential use of competitively sensitive marketplace seller information on that selection.

The buybox is displayed prominently on Amazon and allows customers to add items from a specific retailer directly into their shopping carts. Winning the buybox seems key for marketplace sellers as a vast majority of transactions are done through it, end quote. And look, I'll be straight up with y'all. I made an editorial decision today. there was more on the Libra testimony before Congress front, David Marcus, again, this time speaking before the House. But I just, and I did wrestle with this, I just am not sure anything really newsworthy took place.

And also, yesterday there was also congressional testimony with a bunch of tech executives around monopoly and anti-competitive questions. But again, no real news came out of it. it was all kind of meh. So I've basically passed on doing a segment wrapping all that up today. But I will take note of this. At the Senate judiciary hearing yesterday, Google's vice president of public policy, Karan Batya, told senators that the company has, quote, terminated Project Dragonfly. It's Chinese search engine product. He was responding to questions from Senator Josh Howley about Google's business with China generally, quoting from BuzzFeed News. Batya's statement is the first public mention that Project Dragonfly has been terminated,

although Google said in response to questions from BuzzFeed News that Quran's comments did not reflect a new development. A company spokesperson pointed to its statement in a March 2019 story published in The Verge. As we've said for many years, we have no plans to launch search in China, and there is no work being undertaken on such a project. Team members have been moved to new projects, end quote. when asked whether terminated meant Google would not launch a censored search app in China in the future the spokesperson said,

quote, we have no plans to launch search in China and there is no work being undertaken on such a project, end quote. Most Google employees only learned of the secretive program when the Intercept published a report about the codenamed project in August. Leaked information about the project

prompted a backlash from the company's rank and file, end quote. A Mark Gurman Apple scoop, this time alongside Lucas Shaw, sources are telling the Bloomberg pair that Apple plans to fund original exclusive podcasts and has reached out to media companies to get the ball rolling. So while Apple basically invented the podcast media category, for basically this whole time, it has allowed the podcasting ecosystem to flower via benign neglect. What sometimes people have said is too much neglect.

But at the same time, since the majority of podcasting. podcast listening still takes place under Apple's auspices, them getting active in the space themselves is a huge deal. Why are they doing this now? Quote, Spotify, already Apple's largest rival and paid music streaming, has spent about $400 million acquiring podcast companies. It's also funded original shows from comedian Amy Schumer, journalist Jamel Hill, and hip-hop artist Joe Budden. Earlier this year, it announced a deal to host podcast from a company, founded by former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. These moves have established Spotify as the clear number two player in podcasting, according to industry executives. The company has seized

between 10 and 20 percent of listeners and accounts for half of the audience on some shows. Other companies, including IHeart Media, Stitcher, Pandora, and Luminary have also devoted more resources to the medium, end quote. Plus, you know, you could see some entertainment synergies between podcasts and whatever video programs Apple will be producing with Apple TV Plus. As I only kind of sort of joked on Twitter last night, hey Apple, I know of a podcasting startup that would love to launch a whole slate of daily podcasts posting in the afternoon every day to coincide with people's ride home. So if that sounds good to you, get in touch.

It was just, what, a week ago that we got word of that Nintendo Switch light, that new version of the Nintendo Switch that does away with the actual switching. But don't worry, the Switch regular is still around, and in fact, it's now even better. Nintendo has announced an updated Switch console, which it says will now last up to nine hours on a single charge, quoting Polygon. Otherwise, the Switch appears to be unchanged in terms of system, specs, and features. This is the same launch version of the Nintendo Switch, just longer lasting. The system looks identical and is identically priced as the launch model. Nintendo signaled a change to the original Switch model last week when it filed a notice with the Federal Communications Commission

that it was changing the system on a chip processor, storage, and CPU board on the console, end quote. And quick continuation of the Microsoft's got its groove back tip. Microsoft says that AT&T will officially use its Azure and Office 365 suite for its 250,000 person staff in a non-exclusive deal. Sources are telling CNBC that the multi-year deal between Microsoft and AT&T could be worth more than $2 billion. Quoting CNBC, for Microsoft, which is chasing Amazon Web Services in the cloud infrastructure market, AT&T represents a hefty buyer and a highly recognizable brand with significant data storage and computing needs for its more than quarter million staffers. Beyond AT&T's own internal use of Microsoft technology, the companies are working together on developing tools for artificial

intelligence and high-speed 5G wireless and plan to announce additional services later this year. With things like 5G coming together, we absolutely think the combination of AT&T and Microsoft can really go fulfill the demand, which is going to be very very broad. broad-based across what is commercially led innovation. Microsoft CEO Satcha Nadella told CNBC in an interview, end quote. Now some news about a company that I bet we've never spoken about on this show, but a lot of people have been super interested in for a long time. It's called Neurrelink. Neurlink wants to do literal, direct brain computer interfaces. In other words, forget a mouse, forget a keyboard, forget gestures, tapping, the whole nine yards. Imagine being able to

manipulate a computer just by thinking. It's a wild idea straight out of science fiction, but Neurrelink thinks it can do it and thinks it's getting close. And they've gotten $158 million in funding to try to do so, including $100 million in funding from Elon Musk personally. Last night, according to the New York Times, Neurrelink described, quote, a sewing machine-like robot that can implant ultra-thin threads deep into the brain. The company is hoping to begin working with human subjects as soon as the second quarter of next year. The company claims the system will eventually be capable of reading and writing vast amounts of information, end quote. This Times article says the procedure for being implanted by Neurrelink would be as safe and painless as LASIC eye surgery, which, of course, it had better be.

This article in the Times represents Neurrelink's sort of quasi-official coming out of stealth mode. I guess to begin to pave the way for a public introduction of a real product. There would be, of course, a million potential uses for this technology, but the immediate ones the company is stressing are doing cool things like helping amputees control prosthetic limbs by thinking, or even helping people see or hear or speak. The company says surgeons would have to drill holes through the skull to implant the threads, but in the future they hope to use a laser beam to pierce the skull with a series of tiny holes.

One of the big bottlenecks is that a mechanical drill couples vibration through the skull, which is unpleasant, whereas a laser drill you wouldn't feel. Max Hodok, Neurolink's president and co-founder said, end quote. Which again, to jump in and editorialize real quick, I hope so. Quoting one last time. One of Neurrelink's distinguishing techniques is that it places. flexible threads of electrodes in proximity to neurons, the tiny cells that are the basic building blocks of the brain. The ability to capture information from a large number of cells and send it wirelessly to a computer for later analysis is believed to be an important step to improving

basic understanding of the brain. The threads are placed using thin needles and a so-called computer vision system helps avoid blood vessels on the surface of the brain. The technique being used by NeurLink involves inserting a bundle of threads that are each about a quarter of the diameter of a human hair, end quote. Which, okay. Cool, cool. But you know what? You can go first, Elon.

And here's another startup that lots of people have been keeping tabs on. That looks close to making its sort of public debut, or at least its first commercial-facing product. Boston Dynamics, that robotics company that most people know for, videos that have come out showing their robots doing all sorts of crazy things that get turned into joke memes about Terminator robots coming to kill us all. Apparently Boston Dynamics plans to launch its first commercial bot called Spot later this year. And yes, all of the accumulated scary memeification of those previous videos has made things difficult for Boston Dynamics.

Today I learned that Boston Dynamics has actually been around since 1992, and most of its business up until this point has been government and army contracts. Spot is a change in that strategy. It's a quadrupedal robot, thus the name Spot, like a dog. And Spot is supposed to go out into the real world. But are we ready to have robots walking among us, even if they have a cute name? quote, Raybert's big promise is that the spot will become the, quote, Android of Robotics, a customizable platform that other companies can build on to meet specific needs. We specifically designed it as a platform so it can be customized for lots of different users, says Rybert. In very short order, we'll have a number of different attachments that can be used to customize the robots,

end quote, though the actual launch date and price have still yet to be confirmed. So far, these payloads include robotic arms capable of grabbing and manipulating objects, sensor arrays including thermal and 360-degree cameras, as well as radio units, so Spot can become a mobile relay for communications. This flexibility means Boston Dynamics plans to sell and lease Spot for a wide array of tasks, everything from surveying construction sites and industrial buildings to package delivery and security applications. Is there anyone Boston Dynamics wouldn't sell spot to?

To law enforcement or the military, for example? Raybert doesn't rule it out, quote, we're enthusiastic about responsible use of the robot, he says. I think you're asking a tough question because there's so many edges on it, end quote. An interesting angle here is that because Boston Dynamics lived off of government contracts and scientific contracts and stuff for so long, it basically has never had to really think about developing anything broadly marketable. even when Google slash Alphabet owned it, its marching orders were basically to just keep inventing interesting stuff. But Japan's SoftBank Group now owns the company and quoting the article again, SoftBank is an, quote, unabashedly commercial company and will want to, quote, get a return on their

investment, Neves says. Notably, the Japanese firm's other bets and robotics, which include Aldebaran, makers of the Pepper Robot and Fetch Robotics, which does warehouse automation, have been selling robots in commercial settings for years, end quote. Finally, today we spoke last week about how it never occurred to me that grocery stores could ever go away, could ever get disrupted by tech. And look, they probably never will. But also on my list of things that I thought tech was supposed to kill a long time ago and so assumed maybe it never would was textbooks.

And yet it looks like I have to change my assessment on this front too because Pearson, the world's largest education publisher, says all future releases of its 1500 active U.S. titles will now be digital first and updated on an ongoing basis. And now that I've read the piece, I mean, of course, this makes a ton of sense. Quoting the BBC, we are now over the digital tipping point, Pearson boss John Fallon told the BBC. Over half our annual revenues come from digital sales, so we've decided, a little bit like in other industries like newspapers or music or in broadcast that it is time to flick the switch in how we primarily make and create our products, end quote. Digital textbooks can be updated responsibly and also incorporate videos and assessments that provide students with feedback. However, many of Pearson's digital products are sold on a subscription basis, raising fears that authors will

lose out in the way musicians have to music streaming services. Mr. Fallon denies this, saying the firm's plans would provide authors with, quote, a more sustainable income over time, end quote. He added, quote, for the Netflix and Spotify generation, they expect to rent, not own, end quote. That is all for today. And actually, that is all from me for about a week for the first time in a year and a half for the first time since this show started. I'm taking a real proper vacation with the family. So look out Seattle because Clan McCullough is going to be in you soon. But don't worry, the show will not be going dark. The show will not be going anywhere, in fact. The great Glenn Fleischman will be hosting the show for the next four weekday episodes.

And I've got two regular weekend bonus episodes coming at you Saturday and Sunday this weekend. I never left. So be nice to Glenn. Keep listening for your daily tech news fix right here. Enjoy your week, and I will talk to you again a week from today on July 24th. But first, a podcast classified, as always, if you want a classified to call your own, hit up right home.com.infoad slash classifieds. Another podcast classified ad from a fellow listener. It reads as follows. Should users be allowed to gain value from the location data their friends share with them? Even if it's non-monetary value.

And if not, why not? We have created an experiment to probe into these questions. Our experiment is an app that allows users to collect and analyze hundreds of location data points that are currently being shared with them by their friends, but are not collected. When this data is collected and analyzed properly, users can gain insights to their friend's behavior. Much like companies gain insight into everyone else's behavior by collecting. or buying this data in bulk. We are looking for one journalist to cover this exclusively,

and we figured the TechMeme ride home would be our best bet. Our intent is to shed some more light on privacy and consistencies. If you are interested in this, please email us at press at who's in town. dot app. That is, press at who's in town. Dot app. Link in the show notes.