Clark Reid Tech Report

Lenovo is working on its own portable gaming system called the Legion Pro. It is aimed at the Steam Deck market. Now, some pics have leaked, and it apparently will have a feature lacked by the Steam Deck…detachable controllers like the Nintendo Switch. There has been a previous device with removables…that was the crowd-funded OneXplayer…but it hasn’t gotten a foothold in the mass market. According to arstechnica.com, the Legion Pro has a wide kickstand, so you can set up the screen when you take off the controllers for game play that way. The Legion Pro has two USB-C ports, at least in the prototype in the pictures that leaked. The screen is an 8 inch diagonal one…that is an inch larger than the Steam Deck from Valve, and the ROG systems. No word on release date, price, or battery life as yet. 

Microsoft plans to shutter the Xbox 360 store in July of next year. Theverge.com notes that while you won’t be able to buy new content after that, Xbox 360 digital games you already have will continue to be playable. Microsoft is also removing the Movies and TV app from Xbox 360…so TV and movie content won’t be viewable on the Xbox 360 after July 29th, 2024. Xbox network services will be unaffected, so owners will still be able to play online multiplayer or transfer games to a different Xbox 360 or even an Xbox One or Series S/X. 

There is a rumor out that Apple won’t be offering official leather cases for the iPhone 15 lineup. No one knows why for sure, but speculation is that Cupertino plans to introduce a new premium case material to take the place of leather. 9to5mac.com says they have heard the rumor from multiple sources. It may be a move to show good faith in reducing their carbon footprint. If you love leather though, nomadgoods.com offers gorgeous Horween leather cases as well as Apple Watch straps, and key fobs that hold your Air Tags. I have used their products…and this is a freebie…they aren’t paying me a dime to say so. If you don’t love leather, or want the sustainability patina, then go with another high end material…or hey…a cheap, crummy plastic case…it’s up to you!

Those few subscribers to Netflix that still get DVDs through the mail are going to get a bonus of sorts as the streamer closes down its mail service. Theverge.com reports that they will send up to 10 extra discs to subscribers in the last batch. Subscribers just have to click the link included in one email by August 29th to opt in. Mail service ends September 29th. Netflix says it will choose the discs based on movies listed in the users’ film queues. Amazingly, Netflix actually wants the old DVDs back…and all other discs by October 27th. You’d think they would be happy to get them out of inventory so they didn’t have to store them…or waste them. Maybe it’s a tax thing.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

In what can only be characterized as a good thing, YouTube announced that it’s cracking down on medical misinformation by removing videos that go against its policies, including those recommending “harmful or ineffective” cancer treatments and “cures.” The video platform is making its medical misinformation policy more robust, having already added new rules to ensure abortion safety last month. According to zdnet.com, YouTube will follow a framework targeting videos that showcase prevention, treatment, and denial of different health ailments based on unproven, harmful, and ineffective methods. It’s also taking down videos that directly contradict health authorities on topics prone to misinformation, like cancer, Covid-19, and vaccines. As we note at the end of the next story, please don’t follow medical advice from Doctor YouTube or Doctor Google! 

Google has been unveiling changes and features for their generative AI over the past few months, in an effort to catch up with OpenAI’s tech. Now, the New York Times reports that one of the capabilities Google wants to give Bard  is the ability to give advice about issues users face in their lives. Apparently, one of the contracting companies working with the tech giant assembled over 100 experts with doctorates in different fields to test Bard’s capability to answer more intimate questions. This will be anywhere from interesting to catastrophic in my opinion. Getting relationship advice from an AI chatbot seems pretty foolish right off the bat…but after the system rolls in advice from itself and other chatbots, I can’t imagine the terrible advice you may be getting. Google is also working on getting Bard up to speed on tutoring…but even Google warns in the help pages against using the chatbot’s advice and relying on its responses “as medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.” 

The iPhone 15 is now being produced in India, and that marks the first time that plants there have made the latest iPhone model as the same time of China. Appleinsider.com notes that older models of iPhone have been made by Foxconn for several years intuit country…both to reduce reliance on China as a single source, and to dodge Indian import fees. Now, 7% of iPhone production is coming from India. Last year, the plants there didn’t build current models until some 6 to 9 months after phones started flowing out of China. Now, they lag by just weeks. It is thought that Apple is seeking parity with China, and would like to increase latest-model iPhone production in India substantially from the 7% figure currently.  

In an unsurprising, childish action, X…the app formerly known as Twitter, apparently has delayed loading of Links to sites of competitors and others disliked by Elon Musk. Theverge.com reports that the New York Times was taking extra long to load starting on August 4th. Other sites that had a delay in loading sites from links included Meta, Bluesky, and Substack. The Washington Post tested some links, and found that while these were slow, Fox News, YouTube, Mastodon, and even the Post loaded fine. Yoel Roth, X’s former head of trust and safety, noted on Bluesky  that “This is one of those things that seems too crazy to be true, even for Twitter, until you see it inexplicably take 5 seconds for Chrome to receive 650 bytes of data.” When queried, X sent an auto reply message saying ‘We’ll get back to you soon.’

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

A great feature which I use constantly is Apple’s Continuity…it allows you to start a task on for example your phone, then pick right up on your Mac laptop or iPad. Now, according to znet.com, Google is working on a similar feature that will include call switching from one device to another, internet sharing that will let you set up a personal hot spot and have all devices connect, and likely but not announced…easy file transfer…which is not only an Apple thing but also like the Nearby Share feature for Windows. An all-device clipboard feature is apparently also part of the Google feature set for Android. Google may go Apple one better, too. They may allow transfer from one phone to another…Apple won’t let you transfer a call to another iPhone. No timeline is out, but it looks like it will be soon, as some screenshots are already floating around. 

Most car makers have brought out driver assist features that are quite good…not ‘full-self driving,’ as Tesla calls their system…which is a huge exaggeration…but quite good, especially for highway driving. Now, Ford has announced that it is opening up availability of its BlueCruise hands-free driving tech…for a price. Engadget.com reports that previously a customer had to order the option at purchase. Now, the service will be included as standard in supported vehicles. The catch? Oh, of course there is one. BlueCruise at purchase is $2100 for the first 3 years, and annual subscriptions are $800 a year or else $75 a month! Ford does offer a 90 day free trial. They expect to install BlueCruise on 500,000 vehicles in the 2024 model year. 

A number of the world’s largest media organizations have assembled to call for greater transparency in regard to the training of generative AI models. In an open letter to policymakers published yesterday, they ask to be involved in creating standards for the use of artificial intelligence, especially as it relates to intellectual property rights. Thenextweb.com notes that among the organizations behind the letter is the European Publishers’ Council (EPC), European Pressphoto Agency, Gannett | USA TODAY Network, Getty Images, National Press Photographers Association, National Writers Union, News Media Alliance, The Associated Press, and the Authors Guild.

Amazon’s Senior VP of devices and services…that’s the Alexa gadgets…Dave Limp…is retiring in the next few months after 13 years at the company. Theverge.com reports that a successor will be announced in the next few weeks. Although Amazon has sold lots of Echo devices, those sales have tapered off, and Amazon announced last fall that that division would have some layoffs. Limp just said he is leaving because “it’s time.” He added “I have been doing a version of this job (building and shipping consumer electronics) on and off for 30+ years. I love it, but I also want look into the future through a different lens. I am not sure what that future is right now, with the notable exception that it won’t be in the consumer electronics space.” Amazon hosts its fall devices and services event September 20th, and he will be there.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

From all leaks and rumors, the next Apple Watch out in September will be another minor upgrade…but it looks like in 2024, we may get significant improvements. Appleinsider.com reports that the Apple Watch X…and most are calling it that since Apple used that designation for the 10th anniversary iPhone…will have magnetic attaching bands instead of the slots…which will free up significant room for a bigger battery or other upgrades. It is also rumored to have a thinner design…made possible by the additional space gained by losing the slots. Apple watchers will have to keep an eye peeled for new patents. I expect them to call the new system Mag-something, to go with their MagSafe charging system, marketing-wise.

Fight fans, and tech magnate haters worldwide are crushed, but it looks now like the much-hyped Mark Zuckerberg-Elon Musk cage match is off. In a series of posts on Threads, Meta CEO Zuckerberg said he was done talking about the fight because Musk never got “serious” about it. Lately, Musk has claimed he needed surgery before he could fight. Despite all the b.s. and taunting online, Musk has never agreed to a date or location. Zuckerberg did leave the door open a crack, according to arstechnica.com. He said he might still be game if Musk properly trains. Zuck has been doing serious MMA training for 2 years. 

Threads usage has apparently fallen off by some 79% in one month. It is now down to just over 10 million…from a high of almost 50 million in early July. Zdnet.com says the numbers were crunched by analytics firm Similarweb. This sounds pretty terrible, but considering that we reported last week that Twitter had lost quite a few users from May to August, it doesn’t seem all that bad. It remains to be seen if the usage will pick back up when the Meta owned platform gets a desktop or browser based version, and search that actually works…which we have been promised are coming in weeks.

Social media influencers are quite a phonom…but with apparently following their lead isn’t always so beneficial. Thenextweb.com reports that a new study by Portsmouth University of some 2,000 people in the UK found that around 22% had bought goods recommended by influencers that turned out to be counterfeits. According to the study, people between 16 and 13 years old are three times as likely to purchase endorsed counterfeits as those aged 34 to 60. Males, meanwhile, accounted for 70% of all the buyers. In retail, it has always been caveat emptor…let the buyer beware…and more so on the internet…but apparently even more than that when it comes to influencer-endorsed stuff.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Although they have yet to announce it publicly, TikTok now lets you add AI-generated content labels to your videos…AND warns that you MUST disclose AI-generated content…or risk having the content taken down. Zdnet.com reports that users can toggle the AI-generated label option when  uploading a video that includes AI content. It appears that for now, the feature is only available to a limited number of users while TikTok tests it out. Instagram is also working on a label for AI-generated content. 

Meta’s answer to Twitter, Threads, is getting new features this week. That’s the word from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. According to theverge.com, new features include the ability to share a Threads post to your Instagram DMs, a way to add custom alt text to photos and videos that you include in posts, and a new “mention button” that lets you “easily mention someone’s account in your Thread.” These are nice to have, but we’re still waiting on the ones that really count…a web browser based version and search that searches content and doesn’t just surface user accounts. As we reported earlier, Zuck has promised those in the next few weeks. 

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X…the app formerly known as Twitter, has revealed that video chat is coming to the platform. Engadget.com notes she was quoted as saying “Soon you’ll be able to make video chat calls without having to give your phone number to anyone on the platform.” It isn’t clear how X video calls would fill a burning need for consumers: The crowded video-chat landscape already includes Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Apple FaceTime and more. But as Musk and Yaccarino try to reshape the company, they increasingly view the platform formerly known as Twitter as expanding far beyond tweets into a real-time town square for various media, communications and payments. Yaccarino also said that the platform is close to being in the black…even with users down from over 30 million in May to around 9 million last month. They are also auctioning off ‘Twitter memorabilia.’ That sounds like selling off the furniture and fixtures to pay the bills, but yeah…it’s nearly profitable!

It hasn’t been that long since Netflix brought their password sharing ban to the US…and it initially hurt, then seemed to help the platform. Now, DisneyPlus is joining the party. In addition to looming price hikes for Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN, Disney has announced that it will be instituting a password ban like Netflix, maybe as early as the first of next year. Bgr.com reports that CEO Bob Iger has said that password sharing is ‘significant’ and that they already have the ability to track it. Iger seems intent on squeezing every nickel out of Disney customers, like he was squeezing a nickel until the buffalo poops. Get used to paying more for Disney streaming services, visiting the parks, and all the rest. Hey, ‘magic’ doesn’t come cheap!

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Techinified’ for now.

Apple has gotten a reprieve with regards to changing App Store rules…at least for now. The Supreme Court will let them keep the status quo while the appeal of their case with Epic Games is considered by the high court. Macrumors.com reports that Apple’s anti-steering rules prevent developers from directing customers to make purchases for digital goods outside of the ‌App Store‌. In the Epic vs. Apple case that started in 2020, the judge decided that Apple should change its ‌App Store‌ rules to allow developers to direct customers to purchasing mechanisms outside of the ‌App Store‌, which paves the way for alternate payment methods. Nope…Apple isn’t interested in losing any of that 30% cut they skim off the top from every single paid app in the store. Apple has 90 days to file with the Supremes, and won’t need to change its rules until the Supreme Court decides on whether to hear the case. 

Apparently YouTube really, really wants to kind about everything you’re watching. So much, that if you turn off your watch history, the Home tab won’t show any videos at all…not from your subscription, not from trending…nothing. According to bgr.com, you will get an alert that says “Your watch history is off. You can change your setting at any time to get the latest videos tailored to you.” Google says that it is rolling out this change over the next few months, so you may still have a home feed for a little while before it is taken away from you (if you have your watch history turned off, of course).

Slack is preparing to unveil its biggest ever redesign. The Salesforce platform hopes that the changes will make things easier to find and manage on the sprawling app. Theverge.com says that many of the changes are designed for the heaviest slack users. Chief Product Officer Noah Weiss says “for end users, you end up having to switch to all these different workspaces just to see channel activity, the mentions you have, the threads you’re part of, and so on.” The redesign was all about making Slack a little easier to maneuver. When the app first opens, you well get a Home section that looks much like the present interface. Frankly, those that have seen the interface say it looks a lot like Microsoft’s Teams. What we need…another Teams! 

After dumping hundreds of millions into it during the pandemic, Verizon has decided to shutter BlueJeans. We had used the Zoom wannabe, and it worked fine. In fact, it played more nicely with Safari and Firefox for me than Zoom…which seems to prefer Chrome…at least on my Mac. Techcruch.com reports that Verizon is killing the app quote “due to the changing market landscape.” Of course the use is way down since a lot of people are back in the office, at least a couple days a week. Zoom and Google Hangouts use is down too…but BlueJeans never really got the traction. Basic and free trial tiers will be turned off August 31st. BlueJeans will continue to operate for other users until December. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

We had just reported on…and ranted about…Zoom’s new policy allowing them to train AI on your customer data…and smiling mug in video calls. Well now, engadget.com reports that there has been a big enough blowback, that Zoom has decided to reverse the policy…at least for now. It will ask for customer consent to use your video or audio chats to train its AI, however. This will require them to present you with two consent boxes before joining a meeting…the one we have all been checking to join the meeting, and another granting or denying permission to train their AI on your data. It’s not a giant victory, but as we noted in the earlier report, this is your face and voice we are talking about here!

We just had written about a rumor that Apple will be holding the iPhone 15 rollout on Wednesday, September 13th. Now, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reveals that he’s been told the iPhone will go on sale on September 22nd, and that the event will be either Tuesday September 12th or Wednesday September 13th. This the usual time of year for Apple’s phone event, although they did one as early as the 7th one year, and delayed until October once due to COVID. So if you are an Apple fanboy or fangirl, block out both September 12th and 13th for now…we’ll post the official date as soon as Apple puts out one of their trademark cryptic invites.

Yeah, we just had a Prime Day, and Amazon did do a fall one during the pandemic. Well now, the online giant is planning an additional one in October. Androidpolice.com says it is getting a slight re-branding…it will be called Amazon Prime Big Deal Days. Amazon hasn’t given us an exact date yet, but you can bet when they do, they will hype the hell out of it for weeks…so you won’t be able to miss the date!

Google just introduced a feature that lets you check your grammar right in the search bar. A lot of folks need this. In case you hadn’t noticed that, YOU are probably one of them! Mashable.com reports that you just enter a sentence or phrase into Google Search, followed with the word: “grammar check” or “check grammar” or “grammar checker”. Sometimes these phrases aren’t even needed, but using them will ensure that the tool will pop up. If the phrase entered is correct, Google will present a green check mark. Easy…so use it!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now

Zoom has updated its terms of service, and buried in the new document there is a clause that establishes Zoom’s right to utilize some aspects of customer data for training and tuning its AI, or machine learning models. Not that this is an uncommon occurrence for companies lately, but it indicates that Zoom is jumping into using artificial intelligence with both feet. Cnbc.com reports that ‘the update comes amid growing public debate on the extent to which AI services should be trained on individuals’ data, no matter how aggregated or anonymized it’s said to be. Chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing, along with image-generation tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, are trained on swaths of internet text or images.’ A somewhat disconcerting wrinkle with Zoom is, in my opinion, that they will have hours of video of your face if you don’t block your camera. With all the talk of AI being able to use prior video and audio by actors, voice artists, TV  and radio personalities, this is a pretty disconcerting move by Zoom. 

The TikTok ‘For You’ page is about to get a little less ‘you.’ According to Mashable.com, users in Europe will be able to opt-out from the personalized algorithm based feed. TikTok is doing this to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act. The DSA requires “very large social media platforms” including TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to give users the option not to receive personalized recommendations. It also mandates that platforms are more transparent about content moderation, so TikTok will inform users about more content moderation decisions than it did previously. The DSA also imposes a ban on advertising targeted at children, so users under 18 will no longer see personalized ads on TikTok.

In the next few weeks, Meta owned Threads will be getting a web version and a search function…two of the most requested features. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement. Engadget.com points out that you can search right now, but the only result os other accounts…you can’t search for posts. The app has already updated with a chronological feed and built-in translations. The app initially rocketed to 100 million users, but then dropped off dramatically. Meta expects a lot of those original accounts to return to the app once the desktop version and search are live. 

X, the app formerly known as Twitter, apparently hasn’t been able to make promised ad revenue-sharing payouts on time. Theverge.com reports that the Musk-owned platform is blaming the volume of people signing up. Considering that they still haven’t paid severance claimed due by laid off employees, the late paying shouldn’t be a surprise. On top of this, Musk posted that he would pay the legal bills of any subscriber who posted something and got fired due to that post on X. A few talking head attorneys on TV have said that may qualify as a binding contract…and a pretty wide open one. That said, with his history of paying people, I wouldn’t hold my breath on anyone getting their legal fees paid!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now!

A lot of rumors have been out for months about the iPhone 15 series about to be revealed, but not as much on the Watch has been floating around. Now, 9to5mac.com reports that there may be a couple new colors. For Watch Series 9, there may be a new ‘pink’ option…we should dub that the Barbie Watch perhaps! The Apple Watch Ultra 2 will allegedly be available in a new black titanium color. These rumors came from ShrimpApplePro on Twitter (now X). Shrimp has leaked accurate info before. We do know the Watch will finally get a new, better processor. That comes from Bloomberg. The Watch hasn’t had processor upgrade since version 6, so by version 9, it is more than due for one.

Russian hackers apparently posed as tech support for Microsoft Teams and were able to compromise dozens of global organizations…including government agencies! According to TechCrunch,com, Microsoft security researchers said on Wednesday that the “highly targeted” social engineering campaign was carried out by a Russian state-sponsored hacking group tracked by Microsoft as “Midnight Blizzard,” but more commonly known as APT29 or Cozy Bear. The group, which was linked to the infamous SolarWinds attack in 2020, is part of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, according to U.S. and U.K. law enforcement agencies. The attacks started in late May. They sent message requests trying to get users to grant approval for multi-factor authentication, to gain access to user accounts. Microsoft says it has mitigated the damage, but is still investigating. 

YouTube is test driving a tool that will automatically generate video summaries using AI. Mashable.com notes that the summaries “do not replace video descriptions (which are written by creators!)”. What the short descriptions are intended for is to make it easier for you to read a quick summary about a video and decide if it’s something you want to commit to watching. YouTube also just announced testing of feature that lets mobile users create Shorts featuring comments posted on videos…can you say imitating TikTok? 

Crawling their way into this century, the IRS, which has notoriously old and creaky computer systems…probably some still running Cobol or Fortran…says it will allow taxpayers to go 100% paperless for the upcoming 2024 filing season. Not only that, but Arstechnica.com reports that by 2025, the feds will still accept paper documents but will immediately digitize them, which they say will “cut processing times in half” and “expedite refunds by several weeks.” The IRS still receives some 76 million paper returns and 125 million pieces of correspondence, notice responses, and non-tax forms a year, so digitizing will accelerate things for taxpayers considerably. The digitizing should also help the feds to audit wealthy tax evaders….it will be something if they can get those folks to pay their fair share.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

The app formerly known as Twitter, now X, has started letting paid users hide their verification checkmarks. Techcrunch.com reports that even if you hide it, the platform warns on a help page that it might be visible some places and quote ‘some features could still reveal you have an active subscription.’ X goes on to say some features may not be available while your checkmark is hidden. So basically, pay Elon $8 a month, then hide that fact to go stealth…or because you’re embarrassed. 

Amazon is now letting non-Prime members order grocery deliveries from its Fresh stores. As of today, customers in Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, and 9 other US cities can order online from Amazon Fresh stores and warehouses. According to Bloomberg, Amazon plans to roll out the ability to order for non-Prime users by the end of the year. Up to now, you have had to pony up the $139 a year for a Prime membership to order. Non-Prime users won’t have some of the same benefits as Prime subscribers, however. They’ll still have to pay anywhere from $7.95 to $13.95 for grocery delivery fees, which is about $4 more than the typical fee for Prime members. 

Meta has knuckled under from pressure by the European Union and will seek user consent for targeted ads. Thenextweb.com says that the platform will soon offer EU users the chance to opt in for the ads. Since April, EU users have been able to opt out, but that took filling out a lengthy form on its help pages. Opt in would give users protection by default. Note that this won’t affect generalized ads based on broader demographic data, but will prevent ones based on for example, the videos you watch or posts you share. 

Microsoft has improved Xbox and Discord integration. Xbox users will soon be able to stream their gameplay from a console to Discord users, allowing friends to watch them play games, or even offer advice for boss battles or solving problems. Theverge.com reports that the new feature is starting to roll out to Xbox Insiders and should be available to all users in the next few months. it’s all built into the Parties & Chats section of the dashboard. A new “stream your game” option will appear once you’re connected to a Discord server, with settings to customize the stream. Unfortunately, this is only a one-way stream, so you still won’t be able to view streams from friends who are broadcasting on Discord. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.