Apple and Google Collaborate on Contact Tracing App →

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I’m happy that both these amazing companies, that dominate the smartphone world, are finally collaborating for the great good of humanity but much bigger questions loom. Without a doubt, I’m happy that Apple is taking a lead in this project with their concerns for privacy as I hope that they will champion in protecting us more so than what we have seen from other corporations. You can find both Apple and Google’s Press Releases here with their images below on how the app will work. Privacy is the biggest issue here and really does seem like a big brother way of tracing but is there a better solution? If you want to read further into the technical documentation, click here!

Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing. Given the urgent need, the plan is to implement this solution in two steps while maintaining strong protections around user privacy

Techcrunch put it best in summary:

There is zero use of location data, which includes users who report positive. This tool is not about where affected people are but instead whether they have been around other people.

If you haven’t been able to stop by Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Papers, that’s something to definitely check out!

Debunking More Anti-EV Fake News →

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In a recent conversation with Tagesspiegel Background, the battery researcher stated that the production of electric car batteries is not as extreme as what EV critics would suggest. To produce the lithium needed for a 64 kWh battery pack, for example, Fichtner stated that about 3840 liters of water are evaporated according to usual calculation methods. This is roughly comparable to the production of 250 grams of beef, 30 cups of coffee, or half a pair of jeans, according to the researcher.

It’s about time that more scientists and researchers start putting out more publications and papers to quell the anti-ev adopters / pro-oil guzzlers. Also of note, Elon has already suggested that Tesla is on track to use 0% Cobalt in their battery packs with researchers predicting 2025 as the target date. So, besides being on solar and using 100% renewable energy, what say you?

BMW Backtracks on Charging for Apple CarPlay →

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According to the British specialized AutoCar website, BMW has reversed its decision to charge for the use of CarPlay. Until now, customers could try the service free for 12 months when buying a new BMW car. After that, they would pay $80 a year in the US or £85 in the UK. A BMW spokesman said that the fee will no longer be charged for all cars that run the latest version of the ConnectedDrive infotainment system.

It was completely foolish in my mind for BMW to even charge for Apple CarPlay when other vehicle manufacturers that are much lower in cost don’t even think about charging their customers. As I have stated in the past, this is one of the reasons why my family will no longer own a BMW; aside from the multitude of mechanical failures.

It’s important to note that Apple claims not to charge manufacturers any fees for using CarPlay, as the system only depends on a paired iPhone to work. The decision to charge customers for this feature is taken by the car companies itself, and BMW was the first to do so.

Shameful…

Lasers Can Talk →

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Be careful out there.

“Smart speakers like the Echo and Google Home, however, have none of that voice authentication. And given the physical nature of the vulnerability, no software update may be able to fix it. But the researchers do suggest some less-than-ideal patches, such as requiring a spoken PIN number before voice assistants carry out the most sensitive commands. They also suggest future tweaks to the devices designs to protect them from their attack, such as building light shielding around the microphone, or listening for voice commands from two different microphones on opposite sides of the device, which might be tough to hit simultaneously with a laser.

Until those fixes or design changes arrive, Michigan’s Genkin suggests a simple if counterintuitive rule of thumb for anyone concerned by the attack’s implications: “Don’t put a voice-activated device in line of sight of your adversary,” he says. If they can so much as see your Echo or Google Home through a window, they can talk to it too.”
— https://www.wired.com/story/lasers-hack-amazon-echo-google-home/

Mac Powers Higher Employee Satisfaction and Productivity →

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As I’ve been trying to tell people, my job in helping you manage your systems or in other words, get paid for IT troubleshooting goes down when you convert. Also, 16% higher sales should bode well for those in the industry. Time to migrate!

This year, Previn announced first-of-its-kind research that shows how Mac enables IBM employees to be more productive, along with improving employee satisfaction and retention.

  • Improved employee performance – There are 22% more macOS users who exceeded expectations in performance reviews, compared to Windows users. Also, high value sales deals tend to be 16% larger for macOS users, compared to Windows users.

  • Greater employee satisfaction and retention – IBM’s research shows that employees using Mac have a higher net promoter score than Windows users, 47.5 compared to 15 respectively, and are also 17% less likely to leave IBM compared to those who use Windows. Mac users are happier with the third-party software availability within IBM. Only 5% of macOS users ask for additional software, compared to 11% of Windows users.

Previn also announced research on how macOS users and devices require less support, as seven engineers support 200,000 macOS devices versus 20 engineers required to support 200,000 Windows devices. That is a 186% increase in support engineering needed for Windows devices.

Rivet and Other Cool Children Apps

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I'm always looking for new, child friendly apps for the iPad / iPhone or even maybe Amazon's newly updated Amazon Kindle Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet specifically when it comes to reading or math. Granted, I'm pretty sure that my children do not spend more than 20 minutes on any device per week when I'm home as I have a strict no screen time during the week and only VERY limited time on the weekend. Anyways, that's a whole different batttle these days as the Wall Street Journal points out.

Out today is Google's new Rivet app from their incubator team Area 120 called Rivet on Apple App Store or Google Play. It's a speech processing app that has over 200 books availble for children to read and learn. I played with it yesterday with my son for just over 3 minutes and it was awesome. I've also done the Apple Coding App for children called Swift Playground on the iPad but of course, Google has their own app as well, by the same group called Grasshopper. I encourage you to check them all out. Pretty intuitive and interactive stuff!

Time to Switch to Powerbeats Pro →

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They are the most sincerely and comprehensively new Beats product since the Apple takeover, and they are a triumph. The Doctor’s headphone elves have been quietly busy, and the first true wireless Beats earphones happen to also be the best Beats headphones of any size or kind. At $250, they don’t come cheap. However, the Powerbeats Pro deliver numerous advantages over Apple’s cheaper and simpler AirPods, and those upgrades totally validate the Beats price premium.

I love my AirPods, which by the way has been updated with a newer faster chip and wireless charging, but I love the idea that these won’t fall off when I sprint on the treadmill. There goes $250 I wasn’t budgeting for :)

The Kona is the Answer to Going 100% Electric →

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Let me see how I can wrap up the Hyundai Kona EV in one sentence: Why would anyone buy a gasoline daily driver when you can get a fun and roomy electric vehicle with 258 miles of range at a fairly affordable price?

The Hyundai Kona EV is fun to drive, has 201 hp (150 kW) of power, and has a copious 291 lbf⋅ft of torque. This EV should replace just about any daily gasoline commuter. Hyundai does a great job packaging the Kona EV very well. It includes standard wireless phone charging and great driving features. Starting at $36,450 before incentives, there are the base SEL, Limited, and Ultimate trim — all have a 64 kWh pack. This EV can come down to about $30,000 after the $7,500 US federal tax credit for EVs, depending on your taxable income.

I’ll admit, the only hold back I have with any vehicle outside of Tesla is the charging infrastructure. But if you’re going to charge at home every night, this is it!

Free Energy →

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One of the most fascinating articles I’ve read in a while pertaining to Karl Friston and his idea of “Free Energy.” Also pretty awesome that there is a Twitter parody account called @FarlKriston which essentially lives to mock the opacity if the theory. Heck, I’ve been so intrigued I really want to read his papers! Can anyone lead me in the right direction?

Free energy is the difference between the states you expect to be in and the states your sensors tell you that you are in. Or, to put it another way, when you are minimizing free energy, you are minimizing surprise.

According to Friston, any biological system that resists a tendency to disorder and dissolution will adhere to the free energy principle—whether it’s a protozoan or a pro basketball team.

Late 2018 MacBook Pro Vega Benchmarks

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The benchmarks that we have all been waiting for (at least me) have finally been popping up and Macrumors.

The machine, which includes a 2.6GHz Core i7 Intel processor, a Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics card, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD, earned an OpenCL score of 72799. Additional benchmarks found on Geekbench with a similar machine using an upgraded Core i9 processor demonstrated OpenCL scores of 75817, 76017, and 80002.

In a separate benchmark uploaded to Geekbench, the new high-end MacBook Pro with Core i9 processor also earned a Metal score of 73953.

Comparatively, machines with similar specs and Radeon Pro 560X graphics cards on Geekbench earned maximum OpenCL scores of right around 65000 and Metal scores of approximately 57000, suggesting much higher graphics performance with the new Radeon Pro Vega 20 card.

So in Metal, we are seeing a 25% in performance in Metal and around 20% boost in OpenCL. These numbers are far from the 60% that was touted on Apple's website, but then again, maybe we haven't seen a true software tweak / update that utilizes the full potential of these new dedicated graphics cards or maybe throttling is once again part of the issue. Looking to pull the trigger in January so stay tuned!

MacBook Pro 15” Now with Vega dGPU

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Vega GPU options are now available today via selecting the most expensive 15-inch MacBook Pro configuration which starts at $2,799 with a Radeon Pro 560X! If you want to upgrade to the Vega 16, it’ll cost you another $250, while the Vega 20 is $350 more expensive than the base model.

If you opt out of either option, there is the new Blackmagic Pro eGPU for $1,199 which comes with the Vega 56 which can be found on the iMac Pro. I’m interested to see what the benchmarks of all these are although I wish there was an Nvidia compatible eGPU.

Also, I don’t remember the MacBook Pros coming with the 8th generation Intel processors but now they do. Cheers!

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