The Internet Routes Around - DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 06/01/2017

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I'm not worried about net neutrality or ISPs or big data. Why?  read on!

CLOSER LOOK - The Internet Will Route Around

One of the big worries for years has been net neutrality. Supporters of laws or regulations on the principle fear that without it ISPs will hold too much leverage and be able to degrade the openness of the wInternet.

Other comparatively minor concerns are things like geo-restrictions. Why, if something is on the Internet, which is global, do companies try to guess where I live and restrict what I can access? Again some support laws, like in Europe, to remedy this.

For years I’ve subscribed to the principle that the Internet routes around its obstacles. We have worries about ISPs but no technological solutions, because the ISPs haven’t put the pressure on yet. On the other hand, a raging war is happening with VPNs to get you around the geoblocking. 

And I think this will continue. Another example is Plex Live. Now, if you want, you can take a legitimate cable TV subscription, plug into an HDHomeRun device with cablecard, and then be able to watch live and recorded TV programming without georestriction or device restriction. You don’t even have to participate in the VPN war.

And if net neutrality starts to become violated in the way people fear, it will be the biggest boost for mesh networking and distributed storage you have ever seen. Suddenly the need to remove the ISP’s leverage will be strong enough to get people to spend serious time and energy in large numbers. 

That’s why I don’t get too upset at some of these policies. Because getting upset at the policy isn’t the reaction that solves it in most cases. Getting upset enough to build something to make the policy unnecessary is.

NEWS RECAP

Android Creator Andy Rubin announced the Essential Phone with a pair of magnetic pins on the back to take advantage of modules like a 360-degree camera and phone dock. The edge to edge screen wraps around the camera leaving almost no bezel. It comes with a Qualcomm 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. It has 1 USB-C port and no headphone jack and runs Android. The second lens to its 13-megapixel camera is a monochrome sensor for help in low light. All of that is wrapped up in a titanium and ceramic case. The Essential Phone will sell in the US for $699. https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/30/15711170/essential-phone-announcement-price-android-andy-rubin 

Andy Rubin announced the Essential Home as well. It’s a digital assistant and speaker that can be activated with a question, a tap or a glance. It has a round-autodisplay on the top to show information. Processing happens almost entirely on the device and data is stored locally, not in the cloud.  Wired says the AmbientOS it runs will be compatible with SmartThings, HomeKit, Nest, "and the rest," including Amazon Voice Service, Siri and Google Assistant and will ship later this summer. https://www.wired.com/2017/05/essential-andy-rubin/#slide-6 

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Alex Webb report their sources say Apple has started manufacturing a Siri-controlled smart speaker with virtual surround sound and may announce it at WWDC next week. It would not be expected to ship until later in the year. Inventec, which makes the AirPod headphones for Apple is reportedly making the speaker as well. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-31/apple-said-to-ready-siri-speaker-in-bid-to-rival-google-amazon 

The New York Times reports Uber has fired Anthony Levandowski, according to an email sent to employees Tuesday. Uber was ordered by the court to turn over any documents it had control of reagrding Waymo's allegedly stolen self-driving car tech-- which meant Levandowski either needed to drop his 5th Amendment protection or leave Uber.----Also the findings of Eric Holder’s internal investigation of  Sexual Harassment will be presented to Uber's board Wednesday and to its staff June 6. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/technology/uber-anthony-levandowski.html?_r=0 

-- http://fortune.com/2017/05/30/uber-sexual-harassment-report-investigation/ 

Kleiner Perkins venture partner Mary Meeker issued her annual Internet Trends report. The report is seen as a state of the union for tech. Among the findings, 20 Percent of mobile queries were made by voice in 2016. 25% of US residents own a wearable up 12% from 2016, positioned at healthcare market. The number of internet users in India grew more than 28 percent in 2016 and penetration is only 27 percent. China far and away the number one market for on-demand transportation, followed by North America, EMEA and India. https://www.recode.net/2017/5/31/15693686/mary-meeker-kleiner-perkins-kpcb-slides-internet-trends-code-201

Plex has added the ability to stream Live TV and expanded the number of tuners it works with beyond HD HomeRun to now include Hauppauge, Avermedia and others. Live TV is provided by the user, either from an over-the-air source or a cablecard device like HDHomeRun’s. Live TV and the existing DVR function are available to PlexPass subscribers at $5 a month., $40 a year or $120 lifetime. The feature is launching on Android TV and iOS with Android mobile and Apple TV to follow.   https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/01/plex-becomes-a-low-cost-diy-streaming-tv-service/ 

In a move of impecable showmanship, after sweeping Go champion Ke Jie 3-0, the DeepMind team announced that AlphaGo was retiring from event matches. DeepMind's researchers will be moved to other AI projects. Data from 50 matches of AlphaGo playing itself will be released for the Go community for study, and DeepMind will soon publish a paper on how the AI was architected.   https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/27/15704088/alphago-ke-jie-game-3-result-retires-future 

Starting May 31, T-Mobile USA will let customers assign one phone number to up to five phones or other portable devices. Customers can also assign up to five phone numbers to a single device and purchase temporary numbers for use in things like Craigslist postings. http://fortune.com/2017/05/25/t-mobile-phone-number-digits/  

A Stanford study found that fitness bands generally track heart rate well, but were inconsistent with calories expended. Six of the seven devices measured heart rate within a median error rate of 5%. The most accurate band surveyed was still off on energy expenditure by an average of 27%, with the least accurate off by 93%. Overall the study found the Apple Watch had the lowest error rate on both metrics, with the Galaxy Gear S2 the highest.  The study looked at the Apple Watch, Basis Peak, Fitbit Surge, Microsoft Band, Mio Alpha 2, PulseOn and the Samsung Gear S2. http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/05/fitness-trackers-accurately-measure-heart-rate-but-not-calories-burned.html 

Motorola announced the 5.5-inch Moto Z2 Play. The Z2 Play will sell for $499 this summer. It has more RAM but a slightly smaller battery capacity dropping from 50 hours to 30 hours.  There are also 4 new Mods for the Z line of phones including a JBL SoundBoost 2 and Moto TurboPower Pack for $80 and Moto Style Shells and Moto GamePad for $40. All the mods are also coming in the summer. https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/1/15720552/motorola-moto-z2-play-announcement-price-gamepad-mods 

COMPUTEX

ARM unveiled updated mobile chip IP. The Cortex-A75 CPU core offers a claimed 50% performance boost over the outgoing A73, which ARM claims gives enough performance to run machine learning alogorithms directly on mobile devices. The in-order executing A55 CPU core is 2.5 more power efficient than the existing A53. Up to 8 of these CPU cores can be combined with ARM's previously announced DynamIQ technology to form highly customized clusters.  Finally, ARM announced the Mali-G72 graphics core, which aims to be 17% more efficient at machine learning applications. https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/29/arm-ai-cortex-cpu-cores/ 

At Computex, Asus announced the Zenbook Flip S, a converstable 13.3 laptop that's only 10.9 mm thick and weighs 2.42 punds. The laptop also has a 4K screen, 11.5 hours of battery life, and a single USB-C port with a starting price of $1,099. The company also announced three 15.6-inch laptops. The Zenbook Pro features a 4K screen, 14 hours of battery life, a core i7 CPU, and a Nvidia GTX 1050Ti GPU with a starting price of $1299. The Vivobook Pro keeps the 4k display and i7 CPU, adds a number pad to the keyboard, but has a lower end Nvidia GTX 1050. No word on battery life claims, with a starting price of $799.  The Vivobook S is Asus' entry level 15.6 inch laptop, but features an 17.9mm thick aluminium body, Core i7 CPU, and a last gen Nvidia GTX 940MX GPU, starting at $499. Finally, the company announced the Zenbook 3 Deluxe, a 12.9mm thick 14-inch laptop. The ZB3D starts at $1199, and comes with 2 thunderbolt 3 ports, a core i7 CPU, and a 1080p display. https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/29/15708572/asus-laptops-computex-taipei-2017-zenbook-vivobook 

Intel launched the Core X line of processors at Computex, ranging from Core i5 processors with 4 cores and 4 threads, to a new Core i9 with 18 cores and 36 threads. Most use an updated version of the Skylake architecture called Skylake X, while the 4-core models use the Kaby Lake X architecture. The chips will run on Intel's X299 chipset, and support Turbo Boost Max 3.0, which Intel claims offers 10% faster multithread and 15% single threaded performance. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/30/15710476/intel-core-x-processors-i9-chips-i5-i9-skylake-kaby-lake-computex 

Intel launched the Compute Card it announced at CES with Dell, LG and Lenovo among the partners. The Compute Card includes a System-on-a-Chip, memory, storage and networking , in a credit-card sized device. Partner products include desktop replacement docks and an all-in-one machine from LG. The idea is that devices can easily upgrade internals by swapping out the Compute card. https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/30/intel-compute-card-dell-lg/ 

Asus announced that the ZenPhone AR will launch in Taiwan in mid-June, with a US launch planned by early July as a Verizon exclusive. The phone is the second Project Tango device. Asus CEO Jerry Shen said he expects the number of Tango supported apps to reach more than 1000 over the next year as more apps are upgraded to Android Nougat. https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/29/asus-zenfone-ar-google-tango-us-verizon-launch/ 

Nvidia has announced a series of thin and light gaming notebooks called Max-Q. The laptops are 18mm thick, weigh 2.3 kg and include an Nvida desktop-class graphics card from the 1060 to the 1080. Nvidia’s WhisperMode dynamically changes frame rate to save GPU resources and cut down on fan noise. Max-Q gaming laptops will be available starting June 27 from partners including Acer, Alienware, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Maingear, Sager, and more. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/05/nvidia-max-q-laptops-price-details/ 

Dell announced two all-in-one PCs, the Inspiron 24 5000 and 27 7000 that have thin bezels along the top and sides and use AMD’s A series or  Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 chips along with Radeon RX 560 and RX 580 graphics chips. The 24-inch will have a touchscreen oiption and the 27 will be available in 4K. The 24-inch starts at $699 and the 27-inch at $999 shipping now. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/30/15698134/dell-inspiron-27-24-all-in-one-pcs-announced 

Asus, HP, and Lenovo will make Windows 10 PCs using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor and X16 LTE modem, which together make up the Snapdragon Mobile PC platform. These ARM-powered Windows PCs are expected to have 50 percent longer battery life and will run all Windows apps using x86 emulation. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/05/qualcomm-microsoft-announce-snapdragon-835-pcs-with-gigabit-lte/ 

Microsoft announced a few more details about the mixed reality headsets that Dell, Asus and Lenovo will be building. Dell’s white headset will have a weight balanced headband, replaceable cushions, cable routing, and a flip-up visor shipping by the holidays. Asus has a polygonal 3D cover panel and 6-degrees of freedom motion tracking. Lenovo will have built-in sensors for inside-out tracking coming later this year. https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/31/15717478/dell-asus-windows-mixed-reality-headsets-features 

Asus unveiled the first laptop powered by the AMD Ryzen CPU, the ROG Strix GL702ZC. It comes with up to an 8-core Ryzen 7 1700 CPU and a Radeon RX 580 GPU. The 17.3-inch laptop also features an IPS 4K screen, supports up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD along with a traditional SSD or hard drive. It weighs just less than 7 pounds and is 1.3 inches thick.  No pricing was announced, and the laptop will be available later this summer. http://www.pcworld.com/article/3199028/computers/asus-debuts-the-first-ever-ryzen-laptop-with-a-mobile-radeon-surprise-too.html 

At Computex, Acer and Asus both released curved 35-inch HDR displays that support Nvidia's G-Sync standard. The Acer Predator X35 and ASUS ROG Swift PG35VQ both feature a custom AU Optronics panel that displays a 3440 x 1440 resolution in a 21:9 aspect ratio with a 200Hz refresh rate. The monitors are capable of a peak brightness of 1000 nits and use DisplayPort 1.4. The Asus model will also have an LED logo on the back that can be synced with other Aura Sync-enabled devices, because reasons. The monitors are expected to be released in Q4 2017. http://www.anandtech.com/show/11491/acer-asus-unveil-35inch-gsync-hdr-monitors-ultrawide-curved-200hz