McRib is Back, Mariah Wants to Share Her Cookies, and I Guess Tech News

I’m Planning on Using This Coupon, and No I Didn’t Get My Free McRib

I don’t know if there has been a more exciting week, since the week of August 21st, 1977! In one week, McDonald’s has reissued the McRib, and Mariah Carey has released a chocolate chip cookie line. It’s too much! Someone save me from myself.

Yeeaahhhh, My Wife Asked If I Wanted to Try Mariah’s Cookies

Lots of suits this week in the tech world. Here’s another week of tech talk with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew. This week, New York and a bunch of states want to sue Facebook, Amazon announces a new device to enforce employee compliance, and El Goog is sued for spying on employees then firing them. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

AMAZON ANNOUNCES CORONA CORPORATE COMPLIANCE TATTLER

This week, Amazon announced Panorama, an electronic appliance that plugs into a company’s existing closed circuit TV system that enforces employee compliance. The system uses off-the-shelf AI technology to determine if employees are wearing face masks. Amazon is advertising that the system could be used to perform automated inspection tasks such as searching for product defects in manufacturing. Fender Guitar says it uses Panorama to track the amount of time it takes an employee to assemble a guitar. Potentially, there can be negative impacts to employee morale when monitoring tools are abused. My suggestion? Hire the right people. Meanwhile, Amazon IS paying its employees $500MM in bonuses.

EL GOOG ILLEGALLY FIRES WORKERS AFTER SPYING ON THEM

The National Labor Relations Board has filed two complaints against Google after learning they fired the employees after spying on their behaviors. The two employees, Laurence Berland and Kathryn Spiers, were fired after engaging in employee organizing and activism. Google, the former ‘Do No Evil’ corporation, have had employee relations issues these past two years. Employees have staged walkouts for Google’s work with DoD and allegations of sexual harassment. My wife has contracted for Google, and one of my colleagues told me she’d never work at the Googleplex again. Go figure.

PREVIEW: GROUP OF US STATES PLAN TO SUE FACEBOOK

Talk about telegraphing your intentions. A group of states, led by New York, are planning to sue Facebook on the grounds of antitrust violations. No one knows what is going to be listed in the suit, but it will be the second suit governments have brought against a large tech company for antitrust violations with Google being the first this year. The US Federal Trade Commission has had its sites on Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google since 2019 and Congress has interviewed the tech CEOs several times this year. Somewhere in a grove of trees in Washington state, Bill Gates is looking up from his book and thinking, “ha!”

Apple Pays Up Big for Another Batterygate Settlement, Google Gets in the Banking Biz, Cats Can Now Talk

I Still Don’t Know Why the Cat is Eating a Salad

It’s Thursday! Chris Krebs is gone after securing an effective election. So, it’s been another wild week. Here’s another week of tech talk with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew. This week, Apple pays up again for batterygate, a new app translates meows into English, and Google wants to be in your wallet. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

THE FRUIT COMPANY ENTERS $113 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR BATTERYGATE

Yesterday, Apple agreed to a settlement with 34 states to the tune of $113 million for throttling performance on older iPhones that received iOS updates. The settlements comes as Apple agreed that it was purposefully making phones slower in a bid to preserve battery life as iPhones aged over time. Apple argued that the battery performance degraded and one way to preserve a user’s battery life was to slow the phone down. Well, the courts and lawyers disagreed, but Apple did come to terms with this payout. This settlement comes after a previous Batterygate settlement Apple made to the tune of $500 million. Personally, I hold off on upgrading iOS for as long as I can. I was forced into updating it for my Apple Watch and my phone has been acting wonky every since.

NEW APP TRANSLATES MEOWS, CATS YAWN AND TURN AWAY

Sometimes, I really think I’m working on things that are too complicated. Instead of trying to solve real problems, I should spend my time working on nonsensical stuff. Like what? Well, how about an app that translates a cat’s meow into English. Yup! A former Amazon Alexa engineer, a former Amazon Alexa engineer, is responsible for the app idea. According to Javier Sanchez, the group technical product manager at Akvelon, the software developer, the end goal is to make a smart collar that can be used to translate speech. Seems like a gimmick to me, but users on the website are pleased with the app, claiming that their cat now tells them, “I’m in love,” 90% of the time. The app uses advanced AI techniques to decipher cat meows. Cat experts say that cats don’t have a language like their human masters, but their masters don’t care.

EL GOOG GETS INTO FINANCIAL SERVICES WITH NEW PAY APP

This week, Google relaunched its Google Pay app in a bid to compete with Apple, Venmo, and other financial services technology companies. The app has moved beyond a simple tap-to-pay function and will now provide users with the ability to link bank accounts and credit cards with the app. Google is saying AI technology can provide advanced insights into spending habits and will replace the same functions users have at their banks. Google says their app will use your spending data to select the best accounts to use for making purchases. For instance, it may select a credit card for purchase if it provides the best cash back bonuses. Google is touting strict privacy rules for the app, but I’d imagine they are mining your spending data which will result in better ads.

Ticketmaster Wants to Know If You’re Sick, Apple Tells Intel: ‘It’s not You, It’s Me’, SEGA Sells Arcade Operating Business

Apple Debuts M1, Tells Intel It’s not You, It’s Me

It’s Thursday! It’s been a wild and rough work week and I need a drink. Here’s another week of tech talk with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew. This week, Ticketmaster wants to use apps to figure out if you’ve gotten your COVID shot, SEGA sells a big chunk of arcade operating business signaling the end of an era, after years of building processors for its phones Apple announces its first processor for Mac, and Wal-Mart announces pilot robo-delivery service in Scottsdale using autonomous driving vehicles. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

TICKETMASTER PLANS TO USE HEALTH PASSES SO SHOW CAN GO ON

Excited to get performers back onstage after Pfizer’s COVID-19 announcement, Ticketmaster, the company that charges 100% fee for tickets, announced plans to use third party health information applications to provide information on whether or not a ticket purchaser has been vaccinated against COVID-19. Fans wanting to see a live show will have to verify that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 after purchasing their ticket. (I read that a few times, with Ticketmaster, it’s always after the ticket has been purchased) The purchaser will have to provide some information to Ticketmaster that will allow them to retrieve data from CLEAR Health Pass, IBM Digital Health Pass, or information provided by LabCorp or CVS Minute Clinic. Ticketmaster will be using digital ticketing (there goes souvenirs) and its SmartEvent technology to lower the chance of spreading the virus. Ticketmaster plans to roll out these plans in 2021 provided we’re in a better place with the pandemic.

IN SIGNAL OF DEPARTURE, APPLE ANNOUNCES NEW CHIP FOR MACS

This week, Apple announced a new microprocessor named the M1 for Macs. The new microprocessor is a system on a chip (SoC) which includes an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine microprocessor to be used for artificial intelligence processing. Combining all of these discrete components results in more performance while consuming less power according to Apple. Apple is using a new 5-nanometer manufacturing process which results in 16 billion transistors on the chip. Apple’s new chip is a signal for parting with Intel as it reduces their dependency on the processor supplier. Oh, and they brought back the PC guy.

HIT BY COVID-19 HARD, SEGA SELLS OFF ARCADE OPERATING BUSINESS

In August, we reported how SEGA had closed the Akihabara, an iconic arcade which had served as a nerd mecca in Tokyo. SEGA had closed the Akihabara because COVID-19 forced players to stay home. SEGA has announced that it will be selling an 85.1% stake in its arcade operating business to Genda, a Tokyo company specializing in arcade rentals. Genda will take control of the arcades and operate them, but they will still have the SEGA name and branding. SEGA had over 200 arcades operating in Japan before the sale.

WAL-MART CRUISES IN SCOTSSDALE WITH ROBO DELIVERY SERVICE

Wal-Mart is partnering with General Motors owned Cruise in offering robo-delivery services in Scottsdale, Arizona. Wal-Mart will be offering the services as a pilot and hasn’t specified how many cars will be in the robo-delivery fleet. Wal-Mart has partnered with Ford, Nuro, Udelv, and Waymo autonomous driving companies in a bid to get ahead of the anticipated $100 billion food-at-home delivery market by 2025.

MIT Builds COVID Detection AI, Apps Spend Big and Win Big in Cali, and Chinese Regulators Squash an Ant

It’s a couple of days after Election Day, and the US electorate is still hanging in the balance. A plethora of memes have been floating around the Internet as the country awaits the outcome. Including one comparing the American public waiting for a definitive result to someone waiting for the results of an STD test.

Regardless of what happens, it’s Thursday. You’d have already gotten your fill of election coverage, so I’ve avoided covering the technological news relating to the election. Here’s another week of tech talk with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew.

This week, MIT builds COVID cough listening AI, apps win big in California’s local election, and Chinese banking regulators squash an Ant. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

ALGORITHM SPOTS COVID COUGH AS NUMBERS RISE

An algorithm published by MIT uses AI to listen to a person coughing and determine if they are infected by COVID-19. One of the researchers who devised the innovation, Brian Subirana said that the way people produce sound through their mouth changes when you have Covid, even if they’re asymptomatic. The MIT team used over 70,000 audio sounds with 2,500 of those sounds coming from people who were infected by the virus. This type of technology could be used for pre-screening people at work or at school.

APPS BEAT LABOR UNIONS IN CALIFORNIA ON PROP 22

Also on California’s ballot was Proposition 22. Prop 22 is a law that permanently classifies gig economy workers, like Uber and Lyft drivers, as independent contractors and NOT employees. This means tech companies aren’t required to pay regulated income taxes and fees like workers compensation. The law does require tech companies to provide some benefits like minimum hourly earnings, however. Up until this week’s election, the outcome for Prop 22 was uncertain, but Uber and Lyft spent a combined $200 million in advertising and updated their apps to prompt their customers to support the law. Labor unions were only able to raise a tenth of Uber and Lyft’s spend and it shows. Prop 22 is now law.

CHINA STOPS ALIBABA’S ANT GROUP FROM MARCHING UP HILL

Yesterday, Chinese financial regulators stopped the double listing of the Alibaba Group’s financial technology Services company, Ant Group, from IPO-ing on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The IPO would have been valued at a WHOPPING $37.1 billion, with a ‘B’, making it the world’s largest ever IPO. The company specialized in delivering payments and was heavily used in Chinese markets. Regulators pulled the company in, because traditional banks were leveraging Ant Group’s apps to underwrite traditional loans. They also wanted to have a chat with CEO Jack Ma for calling out Chinese banking regulators as being behind in the times and trying to squeeze Ant Group in as a tech company and not a bank. We’ll see.

EL Goog Gives Up on GP Music, Zuckerberg and Friends Testify AGAIN, CoinBase Offers Plastic

No Real Reason I’m Using This as the Cover Image Other Than I Really Want to Get One of These

It’s another Thursday, which means there are four complete days until the 2020 Presidential Election. A lot of talk is made about this being the most important election of our generation, but this time there appears to a lot of anxiety in both camps. Foreign elements have been working around the clock to tamper with the electorate and sow social discord by spreading fake news and fake information. If a few powerful nations are that concerned with the outcome of our presidential election and are investing all of this time and effort to affect the outcome; shouldn’t that make us appreciate our position more and possibly band together even while voting for different people.

I’m a pollyanna.

Anyway, here’s another week of tech talk with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew. This week, the big social media CEOs testify before Congress again, CoinBase gets in the crypto payments game, and Google Play Music gives up the ghost. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

SOCIAL MEDIA HONCHOS TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS, AGAIN

You’d think Zuckerberg and the CEOs of Twitter and Google love going before Congress and ducking questions. Yesterday, the CEOs appeared before Congress to discuss a portion of the telecommunications law, Section 230. Section 230 allows social media companies to operate unimpinged when their users post anything on their platforms. Democrats and Republicans are both upset with the networks. Democrats are upset because they feel social networks allow users to post outright lies. Republicans are upset with them because they think the networks censor conservative speech. Facebook, Google, and Twitter should tread carefully however, as the proverb goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

CRYPTOBANK COINBASE OFFERS US ACCOUNT HOLDERS VISA DEBIT OPTION

We’re approaching a time where the line between virtual money and real money is blurring. After being available in Europe, CoinBase is giving US customers the ability to pay for products using cryptocurrency. The CoinBase VISA debit card can be linked with one or more cryptocurrencies in an account. Like PayPal’s upcoming service, CoinBase will conduct the transaction using dollars with the merchant, and clear the converted amount of crypto. I’m still buying BitCoin.

EL GOOG END GOOGLE PLAY MUSIC AFTER 10 YEARS

The music industry is still one of the hard to crack industries. EVERYONE loves music, yet no one likes to buy it. It’s hard to license, artists don’t make much money, and the labels make it rain. This week, Google is decommissioning Google Play Music and is asking users to turn their sights to YouTube Music, during the same week GitHub removes the YouTube ripping app, youtube-dl, from its servers. When it comes to music, it seems the only non-label companies making money are Apple and Amazon which are still selling individual albums and singles via MP3s. Subscription services like Spotify have yet to turn a profit, and other service, GP Music bytes the dust.