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Can Everything Go Wireless? - DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 12/22/2016

Added 2016-12-22 23:20:36 +0000 UTC

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This week I've got TWO closer looks for you. First a breakdown of the upcoming wireless protocols that will make your wireless world faster. And then a timeline of the moves California made to regulate autonomous cars that led to Uber storming off in a huff to Arizona and taking its cars with you.

But first! A recap of some of the week's top news.

NEWS

Mark Zuckerberg has completed his project to build his own personal AI Assistant he calls Jarvis, using Python, PHP and objective C along with natural language processing and speech and face recognition. His assistant needed to be able to connect with devices from Sonos, Spotify, a Samsung TV, a Crestron smart home and lighting system, a Nest cam and more. Zuckerberg can communicate with Jarvis by voice or Facebook Messenger. Zuckerberg says he spent about 100 hours on the system and might release it publicly if he can achieve more home automation not tied to his specific setup. https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/19/zuckerbergs-jarvis-home-ai-is-like-an-alexa-that-learns-your-musical-tastes/

Bloomberg's sources report that the Mac gets less attention than it once did. Bloomberg’s sources also say a new battery for the MacBook Pro failed a key test meaning an older design needed to be used, pulling people away from other Mac projects and keeping battery life from making a big advance. The sources also indicate that in 2017 Apple will add USB-C ports and a AMD graphics to the iMac, and deliver minor bumps in processing power for the 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Pro. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-20/how-apple-alienated-mac-loyalists

In response, CEO Tim Cook posted to an Apple employee message board, “we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that.” He went on to write that desktop computers are, “really important, and in some cases critical, to people.” In the same post Cook also talked about how Apple doesn’t do things, “because there’s a return on investment. We don’t do it because we know exactly how we’re going to use it. We do it because it’s clear it’s interesting and it might lead somewhere.” https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/19/apples-tim-cook-assures-employees-that-it-is-committed-to-the-mac-and-that-great-desktops-are-coming/

The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced it has ported the PIXEL desktop environment to run on x86 machines, meaning it runs on Macs and PCs. The foundation thinks it will help students who work on Raspberry Pi at school but need to continue their work at home on PCs and Macs. The system image will include all software found on the ARM version, with the exception of Minecraft and Wolfram Mathematica, which is only licensed to run on Raspberry Pi machines. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38403423

Tuesday Apple filed an antitrust lawsuit in California against Acacia Research and Conversant Intellectual Property Management accusing them of colluding with Nokia to extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively from Apple. Apple and Nokia settled reached a cross-licensing agreement in 2011 and patents not covered by that agreement were assumed by Apple to covered by industry interoperability standards requiring fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms, or "FRAND”. So, Wednesday, Nokia filed suits in Germany and the US against Apple for violating 32 technology patents relating to displays, user interfaces, software, antennas, chipsets and video coding. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nokia-corp-apple-patent-idUSKBN14A228 https://www.thestreet.com/story/13934107/1/apple-steps-up-its-war-on-patent-troll-alleges-conspiracy-with-nokia.html

While sitting in traffic Saturday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted “Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging…” An hour later he added: “I am actually going to do this” and added the word tunnels to his Twitter bio. Ars Technica notes that Musk said he had the idea about Hyperloop while sitting in traffic outside LA as well. http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/12/elon-musk-hates-sitting-in-traffic-so-now-hes-going-to-build-tunnels/

US House Judiciary Committee’s Encryption Working Group released its year-end report in which it determines that encryption back doors pose a threat to security. The report argues a system to allow police into encryption could be exploited by criminals. The report also states “Congress cannot stop bad actors—at home or overseas— from adopting encryption. Therefore, the Committees should explore other strategies to address the needs of the law enforcement community.” The working group spent six months meeting with experts from law enforcement and the technology industry. http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/20/14032864/congress-encryption-working-group-report-backdoor

The US Supreme Court has decided to hear a case between TC Heartland and Kraft about a law that requires patent owners to sue companies in the district where they reside or where infringement occurred. Patent lawsuits are frequently filed in the Eastern District of Texas because its judges are perceived as more favorable to patent holders. In 1990 an appeals court reinterpreted the law to mean a Web presence in an area was sufficient to determine location, meaning every case could file in Texas. The Supreme Court is expected to overrule that decision which could shift a lot of cases to Delaware where many companies are incorprated. http://fortune.com/2016/12/16/supreme-court-patent-venue/

Canada’s CRTC has categorized broadband as a “basic telecommunications service.” All citizens should have access to unlimited data at speeds of at least 50 Mbps down and 10 up as well as access to the latest mobile wireless technology. The government has committed $750 million to expand connectivity in areas that do not meet the new minimum standards. Wireless service providers must also address needs of people with hearing or speech difficulties within six months. http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/22/14052368/canada-broadband-internet-essential-service

The French postal service has approval to begin a test program to deliver parcels once a week by UAV on a set 9-mile route. The route stretches between Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Beaume and Pourrières in the Provence region of France in the southeast. The quadcopters can fly up to 12 miles carrying about 2 pounds at up to 19 miles per hour. The hope is to eventually use the service to deliver to hard to reach rural or mountainous regions. http://www.recode.net/2016/12/19/14009398/france-mail-drones-delivery-dpdgroup-postal-service

Korea’s Chosun Ibo reported Monday that Samsung is talking with LG Chem about making smartphone batteries. Samsung supposedly wants to diversify its sources and LG could start supplying batteries in the second half of 2017. Samsung currently sources batteries from its own Samsung SDI and China’s Amperex Technology. The Korea Herald reports Samsung has finished its investigation into what caused Note 7 phones to catch fire. It has apparently reported the findings to outside labs like Korea Testing Laboratory and UL. http://fortune.com/2016/12/19/samsung-galaxy-note-7-batteries/

Security firm White Ops reported Tuesday that a botnet called “Methbot” has been used to gain $3-$5 million in ad revenue per day. The exploit spoofs premium publisher domains and runs real ads on fake pages so it can collect the revenue. Methbot operates from 800-1200 dedicated servers in data servers around the world. Leased IP addresses to mask fake ad calls so they appear to come from residential ISPs to generate 200-300 million video ad impressions per day since October. The bot faked clicks, mouse movements and social network logins to appear as engaged consumers. The Trustworthy Accountability Group is sharing a blacklist of IP addresses with major ad companies. http://marketingland.com/white-ops-reports-biggest-ad-fraud-botnet-found-yet-methbot-targeting-high-cpm-video-inventory-201371

Google product manager Jeff Chang told the Verge Google will launch two new flagship Android Wear watches in Q1 2017 along with Android Wear 2.0. The watches will be branded by the manufacturer not Google, similar to the Nexus devices. Android Wear 2.0 brings standalone apps, Android Pay, Google’s voice assistant and more. The next developer preview of Android Wear 2.0 is expected in January. Announcements on other Android Wear watches are expected at CES and the Baselworld watch and jewelry trade show March 23-30 in Switzerland. http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/22/14057656/google-smartwatch-android-wear-2-0-launch

Mercedes-Benz has launched a pilot of its car-sharing platform called Croove in Munich. Anyone can put the car up for rent as long as it’s in good condition and less than 15 years old. Renters can filter based on model and other options as well as the time they’ll need to rent the car. The service is similar to Turo in the Uk and easyCar Club elsewhere in Europe. https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/16/mercedes-benz-debuts-croove-its-own-car-sharing-network/

Nintendo announced 40 million people have downloaded Super Mario Run in its first four days available. Nintendo did not release how many people paid to unlock the game past the first three levels. Apple SVP of Marketing, Phil Schiller said the broke a record for App Store downloads during its initial few days of availability. Nintendo updated the app to allow players to use the Toad Rally racing feature against friends without needing in-game tickets. https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/21/super-mario-run-breaks-records-with-40-million-downloads-in-its-first-4-days/

Evernote announced a change to its privacy policy yesterday that would allow limited employees to have limited access to user’s private unencrypted notes in order to monitor machine learning features of Evernote. After receiving negative response from customers, Evernote has decided not to implement the changes and will instead revise its privacy policy to reinforce privacy protections and and stated, “no employees will be reading note content as part of this process unless users opt in.” https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/15/evernote-drops-policy-change/

CLOSER LOOK - WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

According to ABI research the global wireless connectivity market, excluding cellular connectivity, should reach more than 10 billion annual Integrated Circuit shipments by 2021. In other words, more things are going to have wireless in them than ever before.

In fact, combined multiprotocol Systems on a Chip will reduce complexity and cost. Even if a protocol isn't widespread yet it support can be included more easily for when it does get adoption. That means your devices will be more future-proof. It also means companies can get them to market faster.

https://www.abiresearch.com/press/abi-research-forecasts-wi-fi-bluetooth-802154-nfc-/

Here's a breakdown of the different tech and where it's headed.

BLUETOOTH

- Bluetooth will be in 60% of total devices by 2021.

- Bluetooth Smart (4.0) will be in 16% of devices by this time

- Bluetooth Smart emphasizes power efficiency

- The Bluetooth 5 spec was just adopted on 12/8. It emphasizes range and speed. https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/07/bluetooth-5-arrives/

WIFI

By 2021 Wi-Fi will be found in 47% of all devices and 55% of those will be smartphones.

The upcoming protocols include:

- 802.11ad (WiGig) for high-speed wireless data transfer (networking, mobile device, computing, and peripheral )

- sub-1GHz Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) (This is for low power IoT devices and wireless sensor networks )

- 802.15.4-based technologies, such as ZigBee and Thread will see growth in energy management and smart city applications, such as building automation, smart metering, smart lighting, and industrial applications. It will make up less than 9% of the market by 2021

NFC - This will still dominate payments from smartphones and wearables.

EVEN CLOSER LOOK - Uber Timeline

Friday Uber decided to move its test of self-driving Volvos to Arizona rather than get a permit from the State of California. Uber takes issue with the amount of reporting required under the current testing systems as well as increased restrictions under proposed regulations for public service.

California has led the way in regulations but also has more rules than some other states. Here's a rough timeline for how it all unfolded.

September 25, 2012 - Senate Bill 1298 passed defining: “Autonomous technology” means technology that has the capability to drive a vehicle without the active physical control or monitoring by a human operator”

The bill excludes driver assist systems if they are not capable of “driving the vehicle without the active control or monitoring of a human operator.”

September 16 2014 -California Autonomous vehicle testing regulations went into effect

- Requires paperwork and a $150 annual fee.

- 20 companies have received permits

December 16, 2015 - California issued Draft Deployment regulations(post-testing)

- testing by third party

- customer training

- data recorder

- human on boardliability

- $33,000 to $50,000 processing fee

- bans cars without a human driver as well as commercial use, thus preventing Uber driver replacement

September 19, 2016 - The US Department of Transportation issued voluntary guidelines on autonomous cars

- 15 point safety assessment - including ethical situations