The World
US House Committee subpoena Alphabet, Reddit, Twitter and Meta to explain their potential contribution to Capitol Hill riot of 2021
…House Committee considers bills and issues and oversee agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions. They have subpoenaed these platformers because they have in their view provided insufficient information. The questions these platforms have been asked are roughly (i) how did the spread of misinformation occur in their platforms and (ii) what had they done to prevent such an outcome. Note that, it is a bit of a tricky situation. If they are made to account for what goes on on their platforms, then it will give them a reason to monitor what people are saying on their platforms.
AI
Covid vaccine maker BioNTech teams up with North African AI startup InstaDeep to identify Covid variants ahead of WHO designation
…They had identified the Omicron variant two months before the WHO designation it i
Apps
Uber’s grocery delivery arm, Cornershop agrees to stop scraping data and images of items off rival Instacart and using them on its platform
…Instacart, which boasts owning the largest and most comprehensive grocery catalogue in the world, had sued Cornershop in Eastern District of Texas for copyright infringement, breach of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
Auto
[Old News not covered before] Huawei enters into JV with Volkswagen
…Announced in October 2021, the JV will develop autonomous vehicle technology, with Huawei supplying solutions, including software and chip.
Huawei has two main auto businesses:
- Supply of whole designs or individual parts of cars
- Smart Selection Mode – Sale of cars through Huawei’s sales channels
It is reported that Huawei has launched the HI brand, which is also known as Huawei Inside Solution. This includes input from other Chinese companies
BigTech
Game developer Krafton sues Google, YouTube and Apple for making available alleged copyright infringer Garena’s game Free Fire in the Central District of California
Alleged copycat game maker Garena also sued. Garena’s App Free Fire is alleged to be copyright infringing, by copying copyright protected aspects:
- unique game opening “air drop” feature, the game structure and play, the combination and selection of weapons, armour, and unique objects, locations, and the overall choice of colour schemes, materials, and textures.
- Pre-game lobby idea which enables players to have a play with the weapons before starting the game
- Look and feel
This was despite Garena having settled a dispute out of court before. Krafton had also asked Apple and Google to stop making these infringing games available on the App stores but have refused.
What appears to be a good summary of US case law on contributory copyright infringement where infringing material is found on a platform, can be found here.
Crypto Assets
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sets up a fund to protect bitcoin developers
Jack Dorsey, a strong advocate of bitcoin and the democratisation of access to financial systems, has offered up support to bitcoin developers who are under legal attacks, most prominently by Craig White who is a serial litigator and claims to own the copyright to the original bitcoin whitepaper. Last year he mounted a legal claim in the UK requiring a bitcoin venture to take down the whitepaper.
White is also known for attacking bitcoin developers for failing to support him recover his access to his crypto assets. He claimed that his private keys were stolen and deleted causing major losses.
Why did UK Fintech Checkout.com manage to hit $4billion valuation?
You might think here’s another fintech company, another hype. The interesting aspect of this start up is its focus on working in the web3 (decentralised, blockchain based) space. It only deals with enterprise customers, and aims to facilitate global payments, including digital currencies. Got a bit of crypto? Maybe buying an item online using digital currencies will become as easy as paying with your credit card soon.
Data
US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to get stricter on data breaches by telecom companies
…There are already laws that compel businesses to protect customer’s personal information. However, the FCC wants to tighten the obligation to protect consumers and increase security:
- Telecom customers to be notified promptly when there has been a data breach (plan to scrap the 7 day wait period)
- Obligation to notify FCC, FBI, US Secret Service, including inadvertent breaches
Old-fashioned world of London Insurance Market will go digital with the help of DXC Technology says Lloyds
..Lloyds are biting the bullet to go single platform and digital from being paper-based. This will present a cultural shift and huge cost saving opportunities, it has been said. It will involve a core data record which will involve a common data standard across the market, which will lead to inter-operability and faster processing. DXC Technology is a US based information tech company. As if we didn’t know already – everyone’s going to go AI…
EV
World’s second largest EV battery maker LG Energy Solutions to float in South Korea
…Huge spends (CapEx in market terms) are required to expand and develop further in one of the hottest sectors of today (being EV). South Korea’s LG Energy Solutions aim to challenge the top battery maker, China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). LG Energy Solutions supply batteries to Tesla, Ford and VW (although not necessary exclusively – for example CATL supplies Tesla) and has a JV with Stellantis.
Of course, the Chinese market is huge and CATL has a home advantage there.
LG’s batteries are Nickel based and expensive, and there had been some safety issues. CATL’s LFP (Lithium iron phosphate) batteries are cheaper and safer. However, they have less energy and power density than Nickel based batteries. The batteries area is heavily patented as you will not be surprised to learn…
Netradyne, an AI analytics vehicle camera company sued for violating Illinois biometric privacy law
The camera situated on the internal windshield can record drivers movements to ensure that they are alert and focused on the road. Images are uploaded to Netradyne’s servers and truck drivers’ employers can log in to check. The suit said that such conduct violates Illinois biometric privacy law because no consent of the drivers was obtained. Drivers were told that the camera will be installed to reduce costs owing to traffic accidents, nothing was mentioned about collection of biometric data.
The idea of being monitored behind the wheels first seemed to me to be a terrible violation of privacy (with or without consent), but on the other hand if the system could reliably detect whether drivers were properly focused and that would cause a reduction in serious accidents then it may well be a good idea – provided sufficient consent has been obtained.
Amazon drivers famously have to consent to AI surveillance or get the sack – at least in the US. It also uses Netradyne. But I think the important difference here is that consent will have been obtained
Gaming
Following on from last week, more on cheat codes but cheating is not unlawful the defendant says in Bungie v AimJunkies
…The cheating defendant AimJunkies says software cheat code is not an unauthorised copy of Claimant Bungie’s copyrighted works. Breach of contract claims ought to be arbitrated in accordance with Bungie’s own terms the defendant say.
Grand-Theft auto publisher Take-Two agrees to buy Zynga for $12.7bn – but what’s the rationale for the deal?
but what’s the rationale for the deal?
The most straightforward reason is to enable Take-Two to compete with other eminent game publishers, such as Activation Blizzard, Epic etc. But Zynga is unusual in that it has great reach in mobile games. This goes to show how very out of touch I am but I was staggered to learn that the key driver of conversations in social platforms concerns gaming, Twitter reporting 14% increase in tweets centred on gaming in Q4 2021 year on year. That also chimes with Facebook’s report, with 900million in gaming groups, watching people playing games, and actually playing games, and Reddit reported that gaming was the second highest viewed topic. The feel is that gaming will not be just for “gamers” in the future. Simply, the intense widespread interest equates to:
- Advertising revenues (so called Ad dollars)
- More data – spelling this out, this means data on what people buy in the games, which translates to valuable data on what will people pay for, who is connected to who meaning who else can you target any particular services to.
Remember a while ago, Amazon bought one of the most popular gaming platforms Twitch, and you may see that these days YouTube is pushing YouTube gaming apps in a big way. Also recall Apple has Arcade, and Google has Stadia. In other words, gaming is a space crowded with well resourced businesses.
Meta’s VR Oculus was the most downloaded App on Christmas day in the US
Oculus was bought by Facebook back in 2014. Whether it is just for Christmas, or whether it has long time appeal is something worth monitoring. It has been said that VR glasses can cause nausea, still somewhat clunky and not light enough because the battery is too heavy etc. However, it is incredible that this app has beaten all other apps despite the need to use in conjunction with the VR glasses itself, costing $300-400.
Metaverse
Metaverse is off-limits says Apple as it assiduously develops MR hardware in the background
There appears to have been a leak of Apple’s MR (Mixed Reality – in this case VR and) headsets. It looks like ski goggles if the leaked info is to be believed. Whilst other tech companies strive to keep us connected for long periods (why? – more data, of course!) Apple has said it isn’t intended for long period of usage. It has also said no to Metaverse – one analyst speculated that Apple wants nothing to do with having to control the masses – it gets messy and it’s not interested. That’s why Apple hasn’t dabbled in social media even though it could do it well, if it wanted to. When you look at all those platformers subpoenaed by the House Committee (see above), one can’t really blame Apple…I should think though it is positioning itself to implement the work into future Apple cars.
The question is whether these smart glasses would ever replace smart phones.
Semiconductors
In the markets, semiconductor ETFs (ie: semiconductor company market index) continue to perform well – here’s why
This was picked up by CNBC. The reasons are chips are undergoing a “transformational development”, with increase in demands on high performance chips with the advent of 5G for PCs, EVs and IoT, owing to implementation of Cloud Computing and AI – matched with an expanding addressable market. Chips will become more and more specialised, and more complex involving “heterogeneous computing” – which is where different types of processors are used in one system – EVs are especially known for this).
Established tech businesses are now taking on the chip designs as they sculpt the functionalities they need on the chips to suit their products
Bonus News
Musk’s Boring company’s Hyperloop underneath Vegas unveiled in CES conference
In a bid to avoid traffic, Musk’s company has been “boring” a “hyperloop” (ie a tunnel) to transport cars from one place to another without a traffic jam. Backers have said it will go from Los Angeles to New York in 45 minutes. Unfortunately on this occasion it caused a traffic jam of 90 Teslas…The clip gives you a glimpse of this hyperloop from the inside.
Check out BMW’s colour changing car at CES
Just so cool…It uses e-ink, which is the same technology Kindle uses. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=499TkWOl4PM