Tech NEws Roundup for September 28, 2020

Here are a few of the tech stories that caught my eye over the weekend.

Roku Announces a Slew of New Hardware and Software 

On Monday Morning Roku announced a bunch of new stuff, getting ready for the 2020 holiday season.  The company updated it’s Roku Ultra set top box that features Dolby Vision Support and improved Wifi Performance.

Next up is the Roku Streambar.  This one is interesting because it is a $190 soundbar with Roku’s streaming platform built in.  This will allow someone with an older TV an inexpensive option to get both improved sound as well as a streaming media platform.  I have a Roku TV and its interface is not my favorite, but nevertheless this is a good option.

Lastly, Roku announced that it is bringing support for Apple’s AirPlay 2 and HomeKit services to “many” of its streaming devices and Roku TV’s later this year.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/28/roku-introduces-a-new-ultra-player-a-2-in-1-streambar-and-a-new-os-with-support-for-airplay-2/

Dell Updates XPS 13 Laptops

Dell has announced updates for the XPS 13 laptop line to include Intel’s new 11th generation “Tiger Lake” processor.  For the standard XPS 13, this is a fairly minor upgrade with no physical changes, but for the XPS 13 2 in 1, the design is finally being update to match the updated XPS aesthetics introduced earlier this year.  The XPS 13 is Dell’s most premium laptop, so these will be expensive.  The cheapest configuration will likely start around $1300, with prices going up quickly from there.  These are universally regarded among the best Windows laptops out there, but you have to be willing to pay the premium 

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/28/21456034/dell-xps-13-2in1-2020-features-price-release-dateinternet

Google Says Using Third Party App Stores Will Be Easier on Android 12

In a move that I’m sure has nothing at all to do with the Epic Games Lawsuit against Google, the company now says that as of Android 12, installing and using third party app stores will be easier.  The company says it will make this easier “without compromising the security” of Android.  Details are light, and Android 12 isn’t due to be released for almost a year, so it will likely be quite some time until we see exactly what Google means here.  I’m sure this is all just a coincidence.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/28/21472139/google-android-12-app-store-installation-payment-fees

US Judge Issues Temporary Injunction on Tik Tok Ban

Just a few hours before the Trump Administration’s ban on Tik Tok downloads in the US was due to take effect, a US Federal Judge issues a temporary injunction blocking the ban.  The order is under seal so we do not know the exact reasoning behind the ruling.  But the judge did say during the hearing that it was “likely” that the Trump Administration was overstepping its legal authority.

As you can imagine, Tik Tok is happy, and the Trump Administration is not.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/trump-likely-overstepped-authority-with-tiktok-ban-judge-rules/

Tech News Roundup for September 14, 2020

Here are a few of the stories that caught my eye over the weekend…. When I wasn’t watching football.

Oracle Emerges as Tik Tok Partner As Trump Backs Political Supporter 

On Sunday, Microsoft announced that it had lost out on its bid to buy Tik Tok’s US operations.  The deal reportedly fell apart after it became clear that Tik Tok’s algorithm, the lynchpin of the deal, would not be included.

Shortly thereafter, news broke that Oracle would be selected as the “preferred tech partner” for Tik Tok in the United States.  It does not appear that Oracle will own any part of Tik Tok, but rather than Tik Tok’s US data will be stored on servers operated by Oracle.

There is a lot here.  In August, US President Donald Trump deemed Tik Tok such a security threat that it either had to be operated by a US company or he would not allow it to continue operating in the United States.  This was because ByteDance, the operator of Tik Tok, is owned by a Chinese company.  I could go further back in time and mention that the service that eventually became Tik Tok was actually developed in the US by a US company before it was purchased by ByteDance in a deal that was approved by the United States government, but we’ll leave that there.

After Trump signed an Executive Order that said ByteDance had to sell Tik Tok by September 15, and then another one that extended the deadline into November, Microsoft publicly stated it was in negotiations to purchase and operate Tik Tok.  Several days later, it was widely reported that Oracle had emerged as another company interested in purchasing Tik Tok.  Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is a Trump supporter, and has donated large amounts of money to the President’s political campaigns.  It was reported that Ellison called Trump directly to state his interest in buying TikTok.  Since then, Trump has said to have preferred Oracle to Microsoft.

While there are no concrete details on exactly what “preferred tech partner” means, it appears that Oracle will not own Tik Tok, nor any of it’s data.  It appears that Oracle will host the data for US based accounts on servers run by Oracle in the United States.  Financial terms are not yet available, but it is likely to be significant.

So, 2 months ago Tik Tok was such a a national security risk to the United States it either needed to be shut down, or banned from operation.  Now, it will allowed to continue operating, will still be owned by ByteDance, ByteDance will still control the algorithm, still have access to the data… but the company run by a big supporter of Donald Trump will get paid to store the data.

I’m sure this has nothing to do with Tik Tok users claiming all the tickets to President Trump’s rally in Tulsa causing the Arena to be half empty.  Nothing at all.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/oracle-one-of-donald-trumps-favorite-companies-wins-tiktok-deal/ 

Apple’s New App Store Rules for Streaming Services Don’t Actually Allow Streaming Services

On Friday Apple updates its App Store guidelines in an attempt to placate companies like Microsoft and Google who have been prevented from offering their game streaming products in the iOS app store.  Apple’s rules now do technically allow streaming services like Game Pass Streaming and Stadia, but it specifies that each game in the service must be individually submitted to the app store for approval.

That is obviously not something gaming companies will accept, and does nothing to solve this impasse.  If Apple wants to review every game in a streaming service shouldn’t it also review every song on Spotify, or every movie on Netflix?

Bring on the anti-trust trials.

https://mashable.com/article/apple-app-store-game-streaming-services/

nVidia to Buy ARM Holdings

Late Sunday it was reported that nVidia will buy ARM Holdings from Softbank for $40 Billion US.  nVidia is mostly known for its graphics cards, and this represents an interesting move for them.  nVidia has a division that focuses on the datacenter, as some higher end and professional grade graphics processors are very adept compute platforms themselves, and as a result nVidia has been making inroads into data centers and super computing platforms using GPU Compute platforms.

ARM Holdings is the company responsible for designing the basic architecture of the ARM processors found in virtually every computing device that is not a desktop computer or laptop.  ARM does not build any processors itself, but instead licenses the technology to other companies.  Those companies, like Apple or Qualcomm may modify the designs for their own use, but basically every device runs some variant of a processor designed by ARM Holdings.

In recent years, ARM processors have made inroads into data center spaces, as ARM processors are much more power efficient than x86 processors from Intel and AMD.  More power efficient means they run cooler, which requires less cooling in data centers, which means less power usage.

It is likely that nVidia’s angle here is to take ARM processors and design systems with ARM processors and nVidia GPU’s and sell those systems to data center providers.

Those worried about ARM processors in phones shouldn’t worry.  The way ARM Holdings works basically prevents nVidia from taking those designs and keeping it to themselves.  This should have no effect on ARM processors in our devices, and actually has the potential to help, with nVidia’s graphics expertise.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/09/nvidia-reportedly-to-acquire-arm-holdings-from-softbank-for-40-billion/

US Customs Seizes OnePlus Buds Headphones Claiming they are Counterfeit AirPods

The US Customs and Border Patrol has proudly shown off it seizing a shipment of what it calls counterfeit AirPods, claiming they violate Apple Trademarks.  The shipment in question was a container of OnePlus Buds, a set of earbuds from OnePlus, a company that has been making Android devices and accessories for several years.  While the basic design is similar to AirPods, there are dozens of other products available for sale that more closely resemble AirPods than these, with some that look like they use the actual mould of AirPods.

It should be made clear that Apple is not initiating this, and it has not taken any legal action against OnePlus for the design of the OnePlus Buds.  This appears to be Customs and Border Patrol taking “initiative”

This shouldn’t matter, but with the current US administration, it is worth noting that OnePlus is a Chinese company, though it does have offices around the world.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/13/21435637/us-cbp-counterfeit-airpods-oneplus-buds-mixup

Google Announces “Made By Google” Event for September 30

Google’s next hardware event is coming on September 30.  At the online only event Google is expected to unveil the Pixel 4a 5G, the Pixel 5, an updated Google Home Smart Speaker, a new Android TV dongle to replace the Chromecast Ultra, and possibly a Pixel 5s phone.

I’m personally interested in the smart speaker and the Android TV dongle.  We wait for September 30.

https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/09/14/made-by-google-september-30-pixel-5/