THE REAL SCOOP ON HYPERLOOP - DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 01/26/2017

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This week we talked about the two main Hyperloop efforts on the show and what we thought the prospects were for eventually having all of us, or at least our Amazon deliveries, ride in a vacuum tube at high speeds. So this week in the update I'll give some more background detail on Hyperloop Transport Technologies and Hyperloop One. After you read this you should have a better grasp on the difference between the two and be able to create your own estimate on how successful they'll be.

But first, the news of the week.

NEWS

Samsung announced its findings regarding what caused the two recalls of the Note 7. The first issue which caused the first recall, involved a design flaw in batteries from one supplier. Those batteries bent an incorrectly located negative electrode causing a higher probability of it touching the positive electrode and causing a short. Samsung stopped using batteries and ordered another supplier to increase batteries for the Note 7.  However in a rush to supply replacement batteries the second battery suffered from welding burrs on the positive electrode that penetrated the insulation, touching the negative electrode and causing a short. In addition some of these batteries did not have sufficient insulation. Third party firms UL, Exponent and TUV Rheinland validated the findings. Samsung said it has added several steps to its testing processes for batteries  and is forming a battery advisory board.   http://www.recode.net/2017/1/22/14330404/samsung-note-7-problems-battery-investigation-explanation 

In addition Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said the next Samsung Galaxy S smartphone will not be introduced at Mobile World Congress. Koh did not say when the next Galaxy S would be announced. Samsung has said it plans to continue both the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note family of smartphones. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-elec-smartphones-galaxy-s-idUSKBN15708J 

Samsung saw Q4 operating profit rise 50 percent, it's highest operating profit in three years, led by chip sales. However they still buy chips form other companies too, and the Verge corroborated a report by Forbes that sources say Samsung received the bulk of Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 835 processors. As a result, no phones launching prior to the Samsung Galaxy S8 will use the processor, including the already released HTC U Ultra and the forthcoming LG G6.  Samsung has not announced a release date for the Galaxy S8, although rumors from Forbes and ETNews indicate a mid-April release. http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/24/14367594/samsung-galaxy-s8-snapdragon-835-2017 -- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-elec-results-idUSKBN1572XL 

But enough about Samsung

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan voted 4-4 on whether to hear an appeal of its decision forbidding the US government from forcing Microsoft to turn over customer emails stored on servers outside the US. The July 14th decision by a three-judge panel stands. That decision said a domestic search warrant could not cover the foreign-stored emails under the 1986 federal Stored Communications Act. Dissenting judges hoped that a higher court, meaning the supreme court or Congress could overturn the decision. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-usa-warrant-idUSKBN1581YQ 

US President Donald Trump named FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai as chairman, replacing Tom Wheeler who stepped down Friday. Pai and fellow commissioner Michael O’Reilly sent a letter in December that the two planned to revisit the open internet guidelines as soon as possible.  Pai was an Honors Program trial attorney on the Telecommunications Task force in the US DoJ’s Antitrust Division from 1998 to 2001. He was Associate General Counsel for Verizon until 2003 when he returned to government working for a US Senate subcommitte on oversight and the courts, and for the Department of Justice and FCC. In April 2011 he went to work for law firm Jenner & Block but was nominated to the FCC by President Obama that same year and was sworn in on May 14, 2012. https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/23/ajit-pai-confirmed-as-new-head-of-the-fcc/ 

Three days after Hugo Barra announced he was leaving Xiaomi, Facebook announced its hiring Barra to become Vice President of Virtual Reality, leading all of Facebook’s VR efforts including Oculus. Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe stepped down as CEO of Oculus to lead Facebook’s PC-based VR efforts. Elsewhere on the VR merry-go-round, HTC VP of Design Claude Zellweger tweeted that he's left HTC to join Google's Daydream VR project. https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/hugo-barra-joins-facebook-to-lead-its-vr-efforts-including-oculus/ -- https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/26/htcs-head-of-design-is-joining-google-daydream/ 

Amit Singhal, employee 176 at Google and former Senior VP of search, retired February 3, 2016. Almost a year later Singhal is joining Uber as SVP of Engineering. He will head up the maps and marketplace departments and advise CEO Travis Kalanick and VP of Engineering Anthony Levandowski on self-driving technology. During his time off Singhal set up the Singhal Foundation which aims to bring high quality education to children, starting in Jodhpur, India. https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/20/uber-hires-former-google-search-chief-amit-singhal-as-svp-of-engineering/ 

VentureBeat reports on sources saying Huawei is preparing to launch the Huawei Watch 2 in February. The Android Wear device will feature a sportier design than the original, and have optional support for celluar data, with the ability to make and receive phone calls directly on the watch. The source reported the Huawei Watch 2 may debut at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but cautioned this was not finalized. http://venturebeat.com/2017/01/24/huawei-watch-2-will-add-optional-cellular-connectivity-may-debut-in-february/ 

LG will announce its next flagship Android phone, the G6 on February 26th during Mobile World Congress. LG Display has indicated the G6 will feature a 5.7-inch display with a 18:9 or 2:1 aspect ratio. The Verge published an image of the top half of the phone which has a screen-to-bezel ratio of 90 percent. http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/23/14363314/lg-g6-photo-leak-android-smartphone-flagship-mwc 

In a blog post Facebook has said it will discontinue the personalized Trending Topics box and replace it with a list of regional subjects. People within the same geographic region will see the same subject list. FB will also display the headline and publisher below the topic. More importantly the way a story is considered trending is being changed to take into account how many publishers are writing about the same topic. http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/25/14386616/facebook-trending-topics-personalization-publisher-names 

In the Window's Insider Preview Build, Microsoft officially opened it's ebook store which uses the Edge browser to store books like web pages in the browser's Reading List. It supports PDF and ePub and integrates Cortana. The build also includes a tool to "automatically clean up space", which will delete temporary files, and files that have been in the Recycle Bin for more than 30 days. The MyPeople feature which lets you pin contacts to the taskbar has been delayed until "the next major update" of Windows 10, Redstone 3, due this autumn. http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-debuts-coming-ebook-support-as-part-of-latest-windows-10-test-build/ 

Google released updated versions of Google Voice for Android, with iOS to follow in a couple days with the Web updating along with whatever app you use. Along with a material design refresh there are now tabs for text messages, calls, and voicemail. Photo MMS is supported on most carriers. Group texting is available in the Voice app rather than needing to use the Hangouts app. And voicemail transcriptions are now available for spanish. Google says customers should expect regular updates and new features. http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/23/14356262/google-voice-update-redesign-new-features-android-ios 

Wednesday Elon Musk tweeted "Exciting progress on the tunnel front. Plan to start digging in a month or so.” When asked where digging would start Musk replied, “Starting across from my desk at SpaceX. Crenshaw and the 105 Freeway, which is 5 mins from LAX." https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-tweets-start-digging-la-tunnel-in-a-month/#ftag=CAD590a51e 

At some point in the last few weeks, Amazon added the word “computer” to the list of wake words users of the Amazon Voice Services can choose from. The other options include Echo, Amazon and Alexa. http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/01/23/alexa-adds-computer-wake-word-much-joy-star-trek-fans-everywhere/ 

The Wall Street Journal reports Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has made a preliminary approach to Charter about a possible acquisition. It is unclear of Charter executives are interested. Charter just merged with Time Warner Cable and changed the name of its combined cable service to Spectrum. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/verizon-approached-charter-about-megamerger-wsj-says/ 

Facebook now supports security keys, like Yubikey, for two-factor authentication. These are physical keys that usually plug into USB ports to generate codes, and are therefore difficult to intercept. https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/26/facebook-security-keys/ 

Mark Zuckerberg has shot down rumors of a presidential bid. He told BuzzFeed News “No, I’m focused on building our community at Facebook and working on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Rumors of of a possible Zuckerberg presidential run has surrounded his plan to visit around 30 US states asking “folks” about their lives.- http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/will-mark-zuckerberg-run-for-president-234127 

CLOSER LOOK - KEEPING THE HYPERLOOPS STRAIGHT

The Hyperloop is a transportation vehicle dreamed up and open sourced by Tesla and SpaceEx CEO Elon Musk. The Hyperloop uses a linear electric motor to accelerate and decelerate an electromagnetically levitated pod through a low-pressure tube at speeds of up to 1,000 km/h (620 mph). Some estimates say even faster.

There are two main companies pursuing Hyperloop technology. One Called Hyperloop Transport Technologies or HTT is based in Santa Barbara, California, and conducts tests in Quay Valkley outside of Los Angeles.  The other, Hyperloop One is based in Los Angeles, but conducts tests north of Las Vegas. I keep them straight by saying HTT is testing outside LA and Hyperloop One is testing Vegas.

But there's more to know if you want to evaluate the two different efforts and get an idea of how they might work. So let's run through each for you in a little more detail.

Hyperloop Transport Technologies (TEST: Quay Valley, California HQ: Santa Barbara)

HTT's CEO is Dirk Ahlborn. 

The company was founded on JumpStartFundand uses crowd collaboration (Crowdsourcing with team collaboration) to develop its technology.Some of those collaborators are companies including Ansys for computer simulation, GloCal Network Corporation and UCLA Architecture & Urban Design for social interface, Vacuum maker Leybold, global engineering design firm Aecom, infrastructure powerhouse Atkins, and composites supplier Carbures. 

HTT has licensed passive magnetic levitation technology from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

As part of the crowdsourcing, HTT has volunteer engineers from other companies donating time top develop its technology. Some work in exchange for stock options. There are 30 salaried employees at HTT and 800 other collaborators from places like SpaceX, NASA, and Boeing.

HTT intends to build its test track in Qua Valley, California however it just agreed to build a research center in Toulouse, France, on an old military airbase. So there may be an option for a test track there as well.

In 2016, HTT announced an agreement with the Slovakian government to do a feasibility study. On Jan. 19, 2017 HTT announced feasibility study with Brno, Czech Republic to connect Bratislava, Slovakia and Brno.  

It has raised $31.8 million in cash, total $108 million worth of cash, free work and land rights. 

It has not yet tested its tech but has promised a prototype system in California or Slovakia by end of year. 

Hyperloop One (TEST: Las Vegas, Nevada HQ: Los Angeles)

Hyperloop One's CEO is Rob Lloyd (former Cisco president of sales and development). It's CFO is Brent Callinicos formerly of Uber.

Hyperloop One has taken the traditional venture capital route,  raising $160 million. 

The company demonstrated some of its tech in May 2016, sending a sled a few meters on a test track. It is building full system test track for “first flight” by March and promises to send a test car 500 meters at more than 100 mph.

Hyerloop One is studying and developing routes in Finland, India, the United Arab Emirates, the Port of LA, Moscow, UK and Switzerland. The most likely first route will be established between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, since those countries have commissioned a Feasibility study.

Hyperloop One is also conducting a content to develop new routes.  35 semifinalists have been chosen and the next round will be announced in May.

The company's goal is to deliver a fully operational system by 2020

There has been some controversy around Hyperloop One as former CTO Broigan BamBrogan left the company in July 2016 and sued. Hyperloop One Settled lawsuit out of court November 18 2016.

Recently Hyperloop One met with Nvidia, Intel and McLaren about integrating autonomous cars into Hyperloop routes.

SO

Neither company has definitive proven technology or has started building routes. Both companies say governments will have to join them to gather the funding and rights of way that will be needed. We're still a long way off from being able to ride in a Hyperloop. But by the end of this year we may be able to tell if one or both of these companies can deliver.