THE POST-APP ERA- DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 02/23/2017

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We'll keep going with the column up top this week since nobody said they didn't like it and a couple of you said you did. This week my thoughts on how the post-app world might play out, extending some thoughts from Tuesday's discussion. Let me know what you think? 

CLOSER LOOK - WHAT'S AFTER APPS?

This week, a Gartner survey showed that Messaging apps, shopping apps and Virtual Personal Assistants were on the rise, while video, maps, and social networking apps are all declining slightly.

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3614818 

This led Gartner to discuss whether we're entering a "post-app" era. I think we definitely are entering a post-app era. We had the dot-coms, then Web 2.0 and then apps and it seems about time that the continuous gradual shift in trends moves something else to the top.

Gartner posits a move to messaging apps as platforms that shuffle apps into the background. Apps don't die they just get de-prioritized the way websites have been for several years. We all still use websites but apps have been the preferred method of accessing the most popular things. That's changing.

People generally settle on a few apps and stick with them. (One of them, by the way, is a browser.) And in Gartner's potential post-app era, people will choose a messenger and spend most of their time in that, while occasionally using apps for specific things, the way we still use websites for specific things.

The idea is that, eventually Virtual Personal Assistants will move in and take over from messaging apps and we won't even think about apps and websites much anymore. We'll just ask an assistant for what we want and it will find the right app, site, or service to get it to you. Often that service will be integrated right into the VPAs API.

What Gartner posits here is very plausible and if you have critiques of it I urge you to read Gartner's full description not my personalized summary of it. But you get the drift. I agree in large part with what Gartner says, but I think it may happen concurrently.

Facebook Messenger is rapidly trying to add Virtual Personal Assistant features through bots. WeChat in China while working with multiple platforms is beginning to act in many ways like a virtual personal assistant.

Siri, Viv, Cortana, Alexa, Google Assistant, Duer and others all are becoming massive multipurpose bots with better natural language processing. They're essentially like messenger bots without the messenger.

Here's what I see. Messengers will begin using voice recognition as an option more often to do the many things you can do on the message platforms in text. And virtual personal assistants would be wise to develop their text interfaces, if for no other reason than accessibility. 

Eventually there will be a convergence of messaging apps and virtual personal assistants into one product category. And these assistants will get better at understanding what you're saying and delivering what you need.

For instance, if you say or type that you want to order kalua pork from L&L, the assistant can look to see what food delivery services you're signed up for, what it costs there, compared to others, and then come back and say either that it ordered it from your regular service OR that it's significantly cheaper at a competitor and offer to sign you up and order from the new place. 

The assistant could create an account, choose a strong password or sign you up through Facebook Connect or some similar service all without you having to do anything. 

Some of this could be done through partnerships but the better versions will use AI so it doesn't limit you to things its maker has business relationships with. Business relationships should be for informing you or giving you discounts not for fundamental usefulness.

What you want is to just talk and get answers. Virtual Personal Assistants when properly authenticated could handle passwords, account management, payments and much more. The security needs will be immense but with the ability to listen to your voice and collect other biometric data, authentication schemes could get more sophisticated.

In fact a combination of machine learning to determine if it's really you combined with a blockchain system for solidifying your transactions and actions could potentially improve security.

If that tall mountain of a security problem can be surmounted, you get a true assistant that can protect your data better than you can, manage your security better than you can, and free you from having to remember what apps do what.

Companies will strive to plug into these systems because its easier than developing apps and interfaces in many cases. Granted there are exceptions. A mapping company still needs a good map interface. But it may not need an actual app anymore, just a way to deliver maps to virtual personal assistants.

And in the end you as a user can do more, with less effort. You talk, or type, and get results, closely mimicking our natural relationships. Whether this makes you lazier or more productive is on you.

NEWS RECAP

Verizon announced Tuesday it has agreed to pay $350 million less to acquire Yahoo’s core business, making the final total approximately $4.48 billion. Verizon and the parts of Yahoo that remain after the sale, to be called Altaba, will share any costs of litigation ove data breaches 50-50. Yahoo has revealed several large data breaches since the deal with Verizon was first announced in July. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-m-a-verizon-idUSKBN1601EK 

In a  paper published Thursday, researchers from CWI Amsterdam and Google Research describe a “collision” exploit used successfully against the SHA-1 cryptographic hash function. In regular terms, with about $110,000 and some Amazon cloud computing, anyone can break the cryptography on something secured with SHA-1. The source code for the attack will be published in 90 days. A tool to detect if files are part of a collision attack is available at shattered.io. https://security.googleblog.com/2017/02/announcing-first-sha1-collision.html 

AMD announced three new Ryzen processors are up for sale. All three use the Zen core, have eight cores and 16MB level 3 cache and are unlocked for overclocking. The R71800X has 3.6GHz base speed, 4.0GHz boost and a 95W TDP for $499. The R7 1700X is 3.4GHz with a boost to 3.8 for $399 and the R7 1700 is 2.0GHz boost to 3.7 for $329. The new chips can be preordered today for shipping March 2.

Comparing the R7 1800X to Intel’s i7-6900K ($1050) AMD says the 1800X scores 9 percent higher in the Cinebenc R15 multithreadsed test and about the same in the single threaded test. Broadwell still has more instructions per clock but the Ryzen makes up the difference in megahertz for now. And Ryzen has 52% more IPC than the previous Excavator. AMD also showed Ryzen beating Intel in Handbrake video encoding and frame rates in Super Elite 4 at 4K." https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/02/amd-ryzen-arrives-march-2-8-cores-16-threads-from-just-329/ 

Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler wrote a blog post Sunday saying she felt harassed at Uber and eventually left the company because of it. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick responded that he was unaware of Fowler’s situation and has asked the HR head at Uber to investigate, Uber board member Arianna Huffington has offered to assist with the investigation. https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/20/uber-reportedly-ignored-repeated-sexual-harassment-by-manager/ 

Qualcomm announced more details about its Snapdragon X20 modem that can handle 1.2 Gbps wireless download speeds and 150Mbps upload. The modem bonds multiple carrier frequency ranges to manage the download speed. The X20 also supports the 3.5GHz airspace used by CB Radio which allows for private LTE networks. Samples are available to device makers now with the first products with the X20 expected in 2018. Qualcomm also announced its Snapdragon 210 chips, with integrated LTE support, will work with Google’s Android Things IoT OS. https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/21/qualcomm-chip-promises-faster-than-fiber-phone-data/ 

-- https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/21/snapdragon-android-things/ 

Snapchat has begun making its Spectacles product available to buy online in the US. Previously the video and photo capturing glasses could only be purchased at vending machines or a store in New York. You can buy Spectacles at spectacles.com in black coral or teal for $130. https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/20/snapchat-spectacles-now-available-online/ 

Apple will open its new campus in Cupertino, California, to be called Apple Park, starting  in April. About 12,000 employees will move in over the course of six months. A 1,000-seat auditorium in the new location will be named Steve Jobs Theater. http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/22/14696808/apple-park-campus-steve-jobs-theater-april-2017 

Financial website Calcalist reports that Apple acquired Israeli startup Realface, which specializes in facial recognition for user authentication. Realface was started in 2014, and made the app Pickeez, which automatically picked a users best photos across social media platforms. http://www.timesofisrael.com/apple-buys-israels-facial-recognition-firm-realface-report/ 

Fortune reports a source told it Friday that Apple will start having iPhone SEs assembled at a plant in Bengaluru, likely the Wistron plant. Sources told the Economic Times that Apple plans for 300-400,000 SE handsets to be assembled in India. Reuters sources had reported a lower number. http://fortune.com/2017/02/17/apple-india-production-iphone-se/ 

Alphabet X’s Astro Teller posted Thursday that his team has developed algorithm’s to improve Project Loon, which aims to deliver Internet service from floating balloons. Teller’s team used machine learning to let balloons cluster over a region where access is needed or as Teller wrote, “dance on the winds in small loops to remain where needed.” This will speed up deployment and reduce the total number of balloons needed. http://www.pcmag.com/news/351817/project-loon-achieves-internet-beaming-breakthrough 

AI scientists at Alphabet’s Jigsaw showed off a tool  Thursday called Perspective that helps websites moderate online discussions. Perspective assigns comments a level of toxicity. Publishers can choose at what level comments are held for review. Jigsaw hopes to add the ability to evaluate topic relevance and substantiveness as well. The New York Times, Wikipedia, the Economist and the Guardian have all been working with the tool, and now any publisher can request access to the API. http://fortune.com/2017/02/23/alphabet-jigsaw-perspective-comment-moderator/ 

AT&T announced Thursday it will no longer require a TV service subscription in order to get its unlimited wireless data plan. A single line costs $100 up to $180 for 4 lines. Customers can use up to 22GB before becoming subject to occasional slower data speeds. AT&T does not provide tethering with its unlimited plan. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/02/16/atts-new-new-unlimited-data-plan-eliminates-an-annoying-requirement/ 

At Ignite Australia, Microsoft announced a second major update to Windows 10 will come later in 2017. It looks like it could come to Insiders in April or May and be released to the public around November. The Creators Update has not been scheduled but is expected in April. More details are likely at the Microsoft Build developer conference in May. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/02/windows-10-redstone-3-details/ 

Scientists have published a paper in the journal BioMed Central Zoology on a system called LemurFaceID which can distinguish individual lemurs with 97% accuracy. Researchers trained the system with 462 photographs of 80 lemurs in Madagascar and 190 images of other lemur species. This would allow tracking of the endangered species without needing to trap and tag the animals. http://www.wired.co.uk/article/facial-recognition-lemurs 

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