The Transport Guy: Waymo just put Uber and Lyft on notice that it’s charging full speed ahead into their core, ride-hailing business (GOOG)

Steve Kovach January 30, 2018 at 12:26PM

• Waymo announced it will buy thousands of self-driving Chrysler minivans in 2018 as it prepares to launch an autonomous car service in multiple U.S. cities.
• Waymo is battling Uber, which announced last year it also plans to buy thousands of self-driving cars from Volvo.
• Waymo has a complicated relationship with its rivals through investments and partnerships.

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Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Google's parent, is shifting its ride-hailing business plans into high gear.

The company announced on Tuesday that it's buying "thousands" of autonomous minivans from Chrysler this year as it prepares to launch its own version of a driverless, ride-hailing service in multiple U.S. cities. 

The move marks a significant expansion of Waymo's ride-hailing efforts, and highlights a growing arms race between Waymo and Uber to dominate the transportation services of the future. 

Waymo has been testing its self-driving technology in Phoenix since last year with a limited group of users, who have been able to hitch rides around town for free in the autonomous cars. Waymo said on Tuesday that it plans to open the Phoenix ride-hailing service to the public sometime this year. And the company said it would expand the ride-hailing service to several other U.S. cities using the thousands of Chrysler minivans it is purchasing.

The news is similar to Uber's announcement last year that it will buy up to 24,000 self-driving Volvo cars as it seeks to expand its autonomous service outside closed trials in Arizona and Pittsburgh. 

What happens next

Google has invested more than a billion dollars into developing Waymo's self-driving technology, which it has said could be used for a variety of purposes, including trucking, logistics, licensing, ride-sharing and personal cars.

But until now its self-driving ride-hailing efforts have been limited to the test in Phoenix, and it's not been clear whether the test was a beachhead for a bigger push to build a commercial ride-hailing service, or simply a way for the company to gauge the public's appetite for self-driving vehicles. 

Waymo's announcement on Tuesday was light on details about the forthcoming ride-hailing service. And a company spokesperson declined to say which cities it planned to launch the service in, or when. The company was also mum on the price it would charge passengers to use the self-driving ride hailing service. 

Self-driving technology still suffers from many technical and regulatory limitations. The sensors that the cars rely on to "see" their whereabouts do not perform well in rain or snow. And federal and state governments are still grappling with how to create rules around where and how the cars can be used, as well as thorny liability issues.

A web of alliances in a booming market

It's possible that Waymo still envisions its promised ride-hailing service as more of a proof of concept for autonomous vehicles than a full-fledged business opportunity to capitalize on.

But by ratcheting up its ride-hailing operations, Waymo has an opening into a booming market that will put it on a crash course with Uber and Lyft, the two largest self-driving car services in the U.S. And it comes at a time when both Uber and Lyft are considered top candidates for highly-anticipated IPOs. 

To complicate matters, Waymo's parent company Alphabet also has financial ties to both Uber and Lyft. 

CapitalG, the investment arm of Alphabet, led a $1 billion investment in Lyft in October.

Lyft has also announced a partnership with Waymo on self-driving technology and opened its own self-driving center to work on the technology.

Waymo has an even more complicated relationship with Uber. Waymo's sister company Google Ventures (known as GV) invested about $258 million in Uber in 2013. But now Waymo is suing Uber, alleging one of its former executives stole key self-driving technology when he left Google.

SEE ALSO: The HomePod seems great, but Apple missed a much bigger opportunity

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Waymo just put Uber and Lyft on notice that it’s charging full speed ahead into their core, ride-hailing business (GOOG) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Amazon has created a new computing platform that will future-proof your home

Steve Kovach January 28, 2018 at 05:30AM

• Amazon is in a better position than any other company to dominate ambient computing, the concept that everything in your life is computerized and intelligent.
• Amazon's Alexa platform continues to get better while remaining open to third parties, unlike Apple's Siri.
• Buying into Alexa now will future-proof your home.

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Almost four years ago, New York Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote out a strategy to keep all your technology future-proof in a rapidly evolving environment.

His advice still holds up.

Use Apple hardware for your smartphone and PC. Use Google services for things like email, calendar, and maps. Buy all your digital music, movies, and TV shows from Amazon.

Of course, there are caveats to all of these suggestions, but you'll future-proof yourself nicely by following them. Amazon's media can (usually) play on all your devices, no matter what company makes them. Google is not only the best at digital services, it's also platform agnostic. You don't have to be an Android user to get the most out of Google. And Apple still makes the best phones, tablets, and PCs you can buy.

But I think it's time to add one more category to the list: ambient computing, or the concept that there can be a layer of intelligence powering everything in your home from your lights to your thermostat. Many see this as a new phase of computing where our technology works for us automatically. We're in the early days of ambient computing, but there's already a clear front-runner powering its future: Amazon Alexa. 

Right now, Alexa is great at answering basic questions or playing music from streaming services like Spotify. It's also laying the foundation for an Alexa-powered smart home as more and more accessories make themselves compatible with Amazon's platform. Even better, Alexa lets you control all your smart home accessories with your voice, which is a a lot more convenient than poking around your iPhone to turn your lights on.

I gave it a try a few weeks ago, starting small by connecting most of my lighting. I bought a bunch of Wemo smart plugs for all the lamps in my apartment. (My apartment doesn't have a lot of built-in lighting, so I have lamps all over the place instead.) After setting each plug up, I fired up the Alexa app and added the Wemo skill. A few seconds later, I was able to control all my lights with my voice.

Now I'm obsessed with the idea of Amazonifying the rest of my home. I have an Apple TV, but I plan to make the change to the new Amazon Fire TV 4K instead since I can control it with Alexa. ("Alexa, play 'The Good Place' on Netflix.") Instead of a Nest camera, I'm going to buy Amazon's new security camera, which will let me beam the feed to my phone, Fire TV, or Echo Show. ("Alexa, show me what's happening in the living room.")

You get the idea.

No other platform is better poised to dominant ambient computing. It's not going to happen tomorrow, or even next year, but Amazon has done an incredible job of laying the foundation for something much more profound beyond just playing your favorite Pandora station with an Alexa command. 

So what is that foundation? Here are the four key advantages that will propel Amazon to dominate ambient computing.

Alexa is everywhere

During CES this year, I was shocked at how many companies decided to integrate Alexa into their products. Toyota and Ford cars. Kholer bathtubs. Whirlpool ovens and dishwashers. And a bunch of third-party speakers. 

Ambient computing needs a voice assistant to be ubiquitous in order to be successful. If you call for "Alexa" and it's not there to do what you want, it has failed. Amazon's head start getting Alexa into everything, everywhere will help it maintain its lead.

Alexa is open

Part of the reason why Alexa is showing up everywhere is because Amazon turned it into an open platform that anyone can build into. But it's not just physical appliances. Services and apps can build into Alexa, making it easy to add a layer of voice controls to their stuff. 

It's the opposite approach rivals like Apple take, which is why devices like the HomePod feel like a wasted opportunity to take on Amazon's dominance. Siri is limited to Apple's own services and a few other third-party categories like messaging and to-do list apps. It's unlikely Apple will want to go against its DNA and completely open up Siri.

Amazon dominates the smart speaker market

Amazon already owns two-thirds of the smart speaker market, with Google playing catch up. It's likely going to be a two-horse race between the two companies, with Amazon consistently in the lead. The large install base of Echo and Alexa-powered smart speakers provides greater incentive for people to build into Alexa first as opposed to rivals.

Alexa keeps getting better

When the Echo first launched back in 2014, it couldn't do much more than play streaming music from Amazon and help you buy stuff from the company's online store.

You know what's coming next.

Over the years, the Echo has become immensely more powerful and capable. It can stream music from a variety of music services. You can use it to call an Uber or order a pizza from Domino's. It can even make phone calls. Amazon has done a spectacular job at improving the Echo over time. These are speakers you're likely to keep in your home for several years before replacing or upgrading them.

Buying one now guarantees you'll be ready to go for whatever Alexa learns to do next. And, more importantly, it'll make sure your technology remains future-proof.

SEE ALSO: The HomePod sounds great, but Apple missed a much bigger opportunity

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Amazon has created a new computing platform that will future-proof your home from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Conservative, white male Google employees are filing HR complaints over conversations people are have about diversity (GOOG)

Steve Kovach January 26, 2018 at 07:34AM

• Conservatives at Google are complaining to HR when colleagues talk about diversity issues, according to a new Wired report.
• Employees told Wired HR is being "weaponized."
• The story comes a few weeks after former Google engineer James Damore said he's suing the company for discrimination against white and male conservatives.

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Conservative employees at Google are filing complaints to the company's HR department in attempts to shut down conversations about diversity, according to a new Wired story.

The Wired story says conservatives at Google are engaging in conversations about diversity and then complaining to HR that the comments from their colleagues are offensive to white men and/or conservatives. In effect, these employees are using Google's own HR policies against it to prove a point.

From the Wired story:

Meanwhile, inside Google, the diversity advocates say some employees have “weaponized human resources,” by goading them into inflammatory statements, which are then captured and reported to HR for violating Google’s mores around civility or for offending white men.

The Wired story also charts how far-right groups online are exposing the identities of LGBTQ Google employees, a practice that started around the same time former engineer James Damore wrote his infamous memo on diversity at the company that led to his firing last year. Damore is suing Google for discrimination.

You can read the full Wired story here.

SEE ALSO: The HomePod seems great, but Apple missed a much bigger opportunity

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Conservative, white male Google employees are filing HR complaints over conversations people are have about diversity (GOOG) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: CNN's $25 million bet on a YouTube star has failed

Steve Kovach January 25, 2018 at 07:28AM

• YouTube star Casey Neistat is leaving CNN, a little over a year after the company bought his app Beme for around $25 million.
• Neistat was supposed to develop a new millennial-focused outlet for CNN through the Beme app.
• CNN says it will try to find new jobs for Beme employees within the company, but that some will be laid off.

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CNN is losing YouTube star Casey Neistat and shutting down his app Beme that the company acquired for a reported $25 million in 2016, BuzzFeed News first reported.

Neistat was brought to CNN to turn Beme into a new outlet for digital storytelling. CNN had hoped to leverage Neistat's popularity on YouTube to reach a new generation of viewers. But Neistat told BuzzFeed Thursday he didn't think CNN was a good fit.

Neistat appeared on the cover of The Hollywood reporter last year. In the cover story, CNN president Jeff Zucker said he was interested in Neistat after learning about him from his teenage son.

BuzzFeed reports CNN plans to find new jobs within the company for the 22 employees who worked with Neistat on Beme, but that some will be laid off.

SEE ALSO: The HomePod seems great, but Apple missed a much bigger opportunity

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CNN's $25 million bet on a YouTube star has failed from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: The HomePod seems great, but Apple missed a much bigger opportunity (AAPL)

Steve Kovach January 23, 2018 at 09:26AM

• Apple's HomePod speaker goes on sale February 9.
• It'll be a great device, but it's much more limited than competing products from Amazon and Google.
• Apple missed an opportunity to be a major player in voice computing hardware, a growing and popular category now dominated by Amazon.

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After about a two-month delay, Apple's HomePod smart speaker will go on sale February 9.

It seems like a great device, especially when it comes to sound quality. I heard one during a demo last year and it sounded a lot better than competing devices like the Amazon Echo and Sonos Play 3.

But the $350 HomePod will only be a great device for a much smaller addressable market than the competition. Apple has missed its opportunity to break into voice computing hardware, a popular and growing gadget category now dominated by Amazon and Google.

Like I said after CES earlier this month, Amazon and Google now have the lead in voice, and that lead is only going to widen over time as Apple continues to maintain a closed ecosystem.

To recap:

• HomePod is primarily a music accessory, and its voice controls only work with Apple Music: Like the rest of Apple's products, the HomePod is locked into the company's own services, meaning you can't use the speaker to its full potential unless you're an Apple Music subscriber. Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, Google Play, and the rest will technically work with HomePod, but you'll have to beam the music to the speaker from your iPhone using AirPlay, which isn't as good or as natural as using voice controls. There are 30 million Apple Music subscribers, and I doubt many or even most of them will want to drop $350 on a HomePod when there are cheaper and more capable alternatives.
• Echo and Google Home are more affordable: You can buy an Echo Dot or Google Home Mini for as little as $30. At that price, it's easy to put a speaker in every room for voice controls. Most people will only be able to afford one HomePod for now, and its form factor doesn't make sense outside the living room. I doubt many people are going to put a HomePod in the kitchen or bedroom, for example. And, given Apple's focus on high-end sound quality,  I'd be shocked if Apple ever released some sort of cheaper "HomePod Mini" any time soon.
• Alexa and Google Assistant are more open: Voice control needs to work with everything and be everywhere in order to be successful. All the popular stuff you use — streaming music services, smart home gadgets, and everything in between — should be able to tie into the voice assistant. That's possible with Alexa and Google Assistant, but Siri is locked down to just a few categories like Apple Music, messaging, and to-do lists.
• Amazon owns the voice-controlled smart home: Even though Apple has its own solution for smart home gadgets controlled from the iPhone, Amazon and Google have a massive lead in voice control beyond the smartphone. According Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Amazon had 20 million smart speakers in the US as of November 2017. Google had 7 million. Those numbers are likely a lot higher after the 2017 holiday season, which Apple missed when it delayed the HomePod. Alexa and Google Assistant's popularity and huge lead will only drive more device makers to choose those platforms over HomePod.
• Siri is used differently. Apple said on Tuesday that Siri is "actively used" on 500 million devices. But all of those devices have screens, meaning voice isn't their primary input. After a big head start with Siri, Apple let its lead slip. Now Amazon and Google have created new, rapidly growing ecosystems around voice-first controls powered by their respective assistants. Siri will be great for controlling Apple Music on the HomePod, but not much else.

The HomePod can and will get better and more capable over time, just like the Echo has. And I'm confident it'll be a great accessory for Apple Music subscribers who only want music without any extras.

But Apple missed a huge opportunity to lead in voice computing, and the HomePod only feels like a partial answer. This is the one area that I don't think Apple has the capability to swoop in and reinvent the category like it did with MP3 players, smartphones, and tablets.

SEE ALSO: Facebook is trying to prove it's not a media company by dropping the guillotine on a bunch of media companies

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The HomePod seems great, but Apple missed a much bigger opportunity (AAPL) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Rupert Murdoch: Facebook has become 'inherently unreliable' and should pay publishers for posting on the site

Steve Kovach January 22, 2018 at 10:56AM

Rupert Murdoch, News Corp's executive chairman, said in a statement Monday that Facebook should start paying publishers for content displayed on the site.

"The time has come to consider a different route," Murdoch's statement says. "If Facebook wants to recognize ‘trusted’ publishers then it should pay those publishers a carriage fee similar to the model adopted by cable companies."

The statement comes over a week after Facebook announced a major change to the News Feed algorithm that will no longer favor as many posts from brands and publishers. Instead, Facebook will promote posts that are likely to encourage comments and discussion.

Facebook said Friday night it would also favor news stories from "trusted" sources picked through surveys of Facebook users. However, it did not say which publishers were considered "trusted" sources and did not elaborate on its survey methods.

Murdoch's statement criticizes Facebook and Google for creating algorithms that are "inherently unreliable" for distributing news.

Here's Murdoch's full statement:

Facebook and Google have popularized scurrilous news sources through algorithms that are profitable for these platforms but inherently unreliable. Recognition of a problem is one step on the pathway to cure, but the remedial measures that both companies have so far proposed are inadequate, commercially, socially and journalistically.

There has been much discussion about subscription models but I have yet to see a proposal that truly recognizes the investment in and the social value of professional journalism. We will closely follow the latest shift in Facebook’s strategy, and I have no doubt that Mark Zuckerberg is a sincere person, but there is still a serious lack of transparency that should concern publishers and those wary of political bias at these powerful platforms.

The time has come to consider a different route. If Facebook wants to recognize ‘trusted’ publishers then it should pay those publishers a carriage fee similar to the model adopted by cable companies. The publishers are obviously enhancing the value and integrity of Facebook through their news and content but are not being adequately rewarded for those services. Carriage payments would have a minor impact on Facebook’s profits but a major impact on the prospects for publishers and journalists.

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Rupert Murdoch: Facebook has become 'inherently unreliable' and should pay publishers for posting on the site from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Tech doesn’t need to be less addictive — it just needs to be better (AAPL, GOOG, FB)

Steve Kovach January 20, 2018 at 06:30AM

• The tech industry has been under increased scrutiny lately over the potential negative effects of its products.
• Many critics are charging that smartphones, social networks, and other tech products and services are encouraging "addiction" — but that's likely overstating the case. Few people's interactions with their devices or services actually meet the definition of addiction.
  
• The real problem with tech products is not that they encourage addiction, but that they're annoying and disruptive — and that's something tech companies need to fix.
  

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The tech industry is experiencing a whole new wave of backlash and scrutiny.

This time, it's not about fake news or Nazis spreading venom on Twitter. Instead, the focus is on the harmful effects tech products have on users — and the charge that use of the gadgets and services is leading to addiction, perhaps intentionally. 

Earlier this month, for example, a group of Apple shareholders expressed concern that kids were become addicted to their iPhones and urged the company to do something about it. Last fall, former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya charged that social networks were "destroying how society works." Meanwhile, Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google, has been repeatedly beating the drum about tech addiction, telling The Guardian last year that "our minds can be hijacked" by our gadgets and apps.

And that's not to mention the growing numbers of tech executives and other industry figures who have started to raise alarms about the supposedly addictive nature of the industry's products.

These critiques generally boil down to the assertion that tech companies are purposefully and nefariously building products in ways that are designed to mess with users' minds. The more minutes Facebook or Twitter can keep your eyeballs glued to their services, the more attractive and valuable they are to the advertisers who are paying them for your attention.

So tech companies do whatever they can to keep you coming back, goes the charge, intentionally creating features such as "likes" and "replies" that are designed to tap into the dopamine effect — the chemically induced good feeling you get in response to positive stimuli.

But I think the critics are being a little too free and easy with the charge that tech products are causing addiction.

Yes, there are likely many people out there who have become so obsessed with their devices or apps or online services that their attachment to them is having negative effects on their lives. Those people should absolutely get help and find ways to wean themselves off of tech.

But the vast majority of tech users aren't in that boat.

"Addiction is a specific, compulsive behavior," said Nir Eyal, the author of "Hooked: How to Build Habit-forming Products."

Eyal, who advises tech companies on how to create ethical products that don't harm users, added: "For example, I'm not addicted to Facebook unless I can't stop even if I want to. Very few people are actually addicted to tech."

Instead of addiction, the problem most tech users face is their devices and services are annoying and disruptive. It's easy to feel stressed out or overloaded because of them.

In other words, the tech industry doesn't need to worry about making its products less addictive. It needs to focus on making them better.

Earlier this week, the New York Times' Farhad Manjoo offered some ideas for how Apple could "build a less addictive iPhone." Among his solutions were giving users a greater ability to tailor notifications and providing them with more data on how much they're using their devices.

Whether or not such changes will do much for the relative few who actually are addicted to their smartphones, the proposals would represent a great start for making devices work better for all of us.

For example, unless there's a real emergency going on, there's no reason after you've left the office that your phone should buzz incessantly with work-related alerts. Yet I find that happening all the time, thanks to Slack, the chat app we use at work. In its latest update, Slack reduced the amount of control users have over the types of notifications they receive.

Given just how distracting such notifications can be, the app's developers should have done a better job of thinking through the changes, because ultimately they're bad for the company itself. Slack doesn't benefit by turning users into harried workaholics. Instead, it benefits by helping them be better workers.

Tech gadgets and services are supposed to play useful roles in our lives — helping us work, entertaining us, assisting us in solving everyday problems. But too often these products go overboard demanding our attention — without giving us much ability to turn them off. The makers of tech products need to be putting more thought into their design to head off such problems.

The good news is some tech companies are already doing just that.

Last year, Apple introduced a new feature for the iPhone that blocks alerts while you're driving, even making the screen go completely dark until you get out of your car.

And just last week, Facebook announced that it's revamping the way its news feed works, giving more prominence to posts from people close to you and playing down posts from companies and publishers that are all too often little more than clickbait. Company officials acknowledged the change could reduce the amount of time users spend on its service — thus making it less attractive to advertisers — but argued the service will be better for users.

"No company wants users to regret using the product," Eyal said. "The market is taking care of the problem as we speak."

That's not to say the work is over. Far from it. In particular, more attention needs to be paid to products used by kids, as the Apple shareholders highlighted last week. Tech companies need to offer parents greater control over how their children use such products so they can teach good tech habits early.

Additionally, tech sites, gadgets, and services are constantly changing. As they do, we'll likely run into new problems.

But the focus on addiction is overblown and misguided. What we really need from the industry is for it to think through the potential downsides of its products and make them work better for all of us.

SEE ALSO: Sorry, Siri, Alexa's got you beat — Here's why Apple's going to lose the voice computing war to Amazon

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Tech doesn’t need to be less addictive — it just needs to be better (AAPL, GOOG, FB) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Google CEO: We didn't fire the diversity memo writer for political reasons

Steve Kovach January 19, 2018 at 02:45PM

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company did not fire James Damore, the author of the controversial memo on diversity, for political reasons.
• Damore sued Google for discrimination last week. The lawsuit claims Google discriminates against white, male, conservative employees.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Friday that the company didn't fire engineer James Damore for political reasons.

"I regret that people misunderstand that we may have made this [decision] for a political position one way or another," Pichai said in an interview with Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC's Ari Melber for a special that will air on MSNBC Friday night.

Damore wrote the infamous Google memo on diversity where he implied that women did not have the genetic predisposition for engineering jobs. He was fired after the memo leaked and went viral and has since claimed his termination was because he was a conservative in a company that adheres to liberal values.

Following Damore's firing last August, Pichai said in a memo to employees that Damore was fired because his memo violated Google's code of conduct.

Damore sued Google last week, saying the company discriminates against white, male, conservative employees.

SEE ALSO: James Damore sues Google for discrimination

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Google CEO: We didn't fire the diversity memo writer for political reasons from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: The Senate is one vote away from a symbolic victory on net neutrality

Steve Kovach January 16, 2018 at 07:08AM

• Democrats are pushing a vote to restore net neutrality protections the FCC ended in December.
• Democrats say they now have 50 votes in favor of their bill. One more "yes" vote will guarantee the bill passes.
• The House will also have to pass the bill, and President Trump will have to sign it. So there's still little chance this move will be successful in restoring net neutrality.

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Democrats need just one more vote in the Senate to guarantee passage of a bill to restore the net neutrality rules killed by the FCC in December.

In a statement, Senate Democrats said the bill has support of all 49 Democratic senators. Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, also supports the bill, setting the stage for a 50-50 tie vote that would have to be broken by Vice President Mike Pence. One more "yes" vote will guarantee the bill passes the Senate. It only needs a simple majority to pass.

But even if the Senate passes a bill to restore net neutrality, the House will have to pass it as well. And after that, President Trump will have to sign it. There's a slim chance that's going to happen. The net neutrality repeal was spearheaded by FCC chairman Ajit Pai, a Trump appointee.

Democrats are using a law called the Congressional Review Act that lets Congress vote on regulations implemented by government agencies like the FCC. Republicans have previously used the Congressional Review Act to repeal Obama-era regulations.

SEE ALSO: Net neutrality repeal will make Big Tech more powerful

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The Senate is one vote away from a symbolic victory on net neutrality from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Sorry, Siri, Alexa's got you beat — Here's why Apple's going to lose the voice computing war to Amazon (AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL)

Steve Kovach January 14, 2018 at 06:15AM

• This year's CES was full of products powered by Amazon's Alexa voice assistant.
• Apple, which usually influences the rest of the tech industry, has fallen far behind in the voice-based computing, and there's no sign it can catch up with Amazon or Google.
• Apple's HomePod speaker won't stand a chance against Amazon's rival Echo line or the other Alexa-powered devices when it belatedly launches later this year.

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One of the favorite go-to talking points among Apple fans every year is how the company always seems to "win" the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas without ever showing up. 

For years, the event seemed to be merely a venue for the rest of the industry to show how it was catching up to what Apple had just done or trying to keep pace with what it was expected to soon do. The most famous example was in 2007, when Apple announced the original iPhone in the middle of that year's show, sucking out all the excitement out of Vegas. But Apple showed over and over again that it could set the agenda for the biggest consumer electronics conference in the world from afar.

Those days may be over. At this year's CES, Amazon displaced Apple as the most influential company at the show with the smallest presence there.

More importantly, this past week's event made clear that Amazon is dominating one of the most important trends in tech — voice-based computing. Not only has Apple fallen behind in that area, it's too late for the iPhone maker to catch up.

Alexa everywhere

At this year's CES, companies announced a slew of devices powered by Alexa, Amazon's voice assistant. There were Alexa-powered smart glasses, Alexa controls in Toyota cars, smart home gadgets that respond to Alexa commands, new Windows PCs with Alexa preinstalled, and so much more. It was nearly impossible to walk through the show floor for more than a few minutes without stumbling onto yet another Alexa-powered gizmo.

All those gadgets and announcements demonstrated how big a role voice is going to play in how we interact with technology — and just how dominant Alexa's position is. By contrast, Siri, Apple's Alexa rival, wasn't even in the conversation.

Alexa's dominance has taken years to build. Amazon's Echo smart speakers, which pioneered a new tech product and introduced Alexa to the world, gave the smart assistant a foothold inside consumers' living rooms. More recently, Amazon introduced cheaper Echo models, most notably the $50 Dot, that helped bring Alexa to the masses and allowed many to put it in multiple rooms. 

The combination of a pioneering product and inexpensive prices has allowed Amazon to sell millions of smart speakers and capture two-thirds of the market, even amid growing competition from Google.

Amazon's massive market share has attracted increasing numbers of developers. Thanks to the growing number of skills, or apps, they've produced for Alexa, Amazon's assistant is constantly getting better and learning to do more things. That in turn has made Alexa attractive to device manufacturers looking to add a voice assistant to their devices, something Amazon is more than happy to help them do.

Apple's HomePod will have none of the Echo's advantages

When Apple's HomePod, powered by its Siri voice assistant, hits the market later this year, it will have none of those advantages. Apple has only opened up Siri to developers in a very limited way and it's not available for use on non-Apple devices at all. And not only will HomePod hit store shelves years after the first Echo, it will sell for a steep $349. At that price, you could buy eight Echo Dots!

Yes, it's true that Apple puts a premium price on everything. And yes, the HomePod's high price is linked to the really great sound it offers. If you only want to listen to Apple Music or control the limited number of smart-home products that work with Apple's HomeKit technology, then the HomePod will be fine. 

But because of its price, you're not going to put a HomePod in every room of your house like you could with Echo Dot. Even then, I think it will have limited appeal, because you just won't be able to do as much with it as you can with an Echo smart speaker. For example, you won't get a HomePod to play songs from Spotify or Pandora just by issuing a voice command, because Apple hasn't opened Siri up to those services. 

Indeed, you shouldn't expect a slew of apps for the HomePod. I don't see how Apple's going to attract developers if it doesn't give them more leeway to tap into Siri, and if the company doesn't broaden the range of devices that can use its intelligent assistant.

Apple's strategy of keeping its technology relatively closed — its software generally only runs on its own devices and the company exercises a good deal of control over how developers' apps can work on its gadgets — worked fine for the iPhone and the Mac. But in order to be successful, voice-based computing systems need to be ubiquitous and in order to do that, they need to be open. 

Alexa is poised to dominate voice-based computing in large part because of Amazon's willingness to partner with a wide variety of gadget and software companies. That's never been more apparent than in the numerous Alexa-powered gadgets on display at CES. 

Apple missed a big opportunity

That Apple has fallen so far behind Amazon in voice-based computing is ironic, because the iPhone maker itself helped pioneer and popularize the technology with Siri. Apple has been shipping Siri on devices since the iPhone 4S, which launched in 2011. The technology is now on hundreds of millions devices, and comes preinstalled on every iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac the company sells.

Thanks to that, Apple had all the pieces in place to turn Siri into the dominant voice-based computing technology. But the company was slow to develop Siri and failed to realize the voice assistant's true potential. While Siri runs on lots of Apple devices, those gadgets weren't designed around voice-based interactions. Siri is just an alternate way of interacting with them, not their primary interface.

By contrast, by focusing on voice interactions and making voice central to its devices, Amazon has turned Alexa into a really powerful and compelling technology.

Apple won't just be late, it's missed the boat entirely

Apple fans like to point out that the company has a history of entering nascent markets late but succeeding anyway by developing products that far exceed their rivals and set consumer expectations. The iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, and the Apple Watch are among the most notable examples.

But it's too late in the game for Apple to reprise this history with the HomePod. Amazon's too far ahead and the HomePod and Siri are going to be too limited for Apple to knock Jeff Bezos' company off its perch.

I'm not the only one who sees this. When I asked one executive in the smart home space at CES if he thought Apple had a chance to bounce back and compete with Amazon and Google in voice computing, he chuckled dismissively.

To be sure, just because Apple's whiffed on voice computing doesn't mean it's doomed. It's not in danger of losing its lead in consumer tech. Actually, its iPhone business is still humming along nicely, and the company will likely report its best quarter ever later this month.

But thanks to Amazon's focus on Alexa and its own missteps with Siri, Apple's going to miss out on one of tech's biggest new trends. As CES showed, when it comes to voice-based computing, it's Amazon, not Apple, that's setting the standard.

SEE ALSO: Why you should buy the iPhone X over the iPhone 8

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Sorry, Siri, Alexa's got you beat — Here's why Apple's going to lose the voice computing war to Amazon (AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Facebook is trying to prove it's not a media company by dropping the guillotine on a bunch of media companies (FB)

Steve Kovach January 13, 2018 at 05:30AM

• Facebook announced a change to its News Feed algorithm that will keep posts from news publishers and brands out of your feed.
• The move will likely cut off traffic to many news sites that rely on Facebook users to stay alive.
• Facebook has repeatedly refused to admit it's a media company. Now that stance is going to take many publishers down.

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Despite all the reports of fake news, fake Russian ads, and the overall abuse of its platform, Facebook has repeatedly refused to admit it's a media company.

Yes, it distributes content. Yes, it runs ads against that content. And yes, it even produces its own shows and other media. But Facebook continues to insist that despite the fact it has many of the characteristics of a media company, it doesn't need to act like one.

Now Facebook is doubling down on that theory with a drastic change to the News Feed algorithm. In the coming months, Facebook's algorithm will no longer prioritize content from news publishers and brands. Instead, you're more likely to see posts from people you're connected to that will drive engagement through comments and discussion, not shares and likes.

The result? More stuff in your feed from mom, dad, and your close friends, and fewer whacky videos, news articles, and memes. It's not just Facebook's attempt to end its fake news problem. It's Facebook's attempt to erase practically all news from the feed to give users a sense of community, not outrage and clickbait.

That new position is going to be a nightmare for a lot of digital media companies that have grown to rely on Facebook's News Feed to drive readers to their sites. There's a growing list of media companies that have been forced to drastically change strategy as a result of their reliance on the company's repeatedly changing algorithm, and this will likely be the final straw for many of them.

Mic, Mashable, Bored Panda, and so many other publishers have built most of their business around the content favored by Facebook's ever-changing algorithm. First it was news articles with click-bait headlines. Then it was meaningful content that provided relevant information. Then it was video.

But Facebook's sweeping change on Thursday means none of that content will be able to break through. There's no longer a preferred format. If you're a publisher or brand on Facebook, you're hosed. What was already going to be a very challenging 2018 for many online publishers will end with a graveyard full of outlets killed by Facebook's decision. 

In short, Facebook's refusal to own up to its role as a media company is now going to end a bunch of actual media companies struggling to compete with Facebook's own power and influence over news. If you thought a bunch of layoffs at companies like Mic were bad when they decided to pivot to Facebook video, just wait until Facebook stops promoting those videos all together. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more unemployed journalists this year.

Some are already getting ready for the reckoning. BuzzFeed News, which built its distribution largely through Facebook, already reacted to the algorithm change Thursday with a Facebook ad prompting users to download the BuzzFeed app before news disappears from the feed.

Plz meaningfully engage with our new Facebook ad campaign to download our news app https://t.co/nF4uhuxRlq http://pic.twitter.com/riadLYoaNx

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) January 12, 2018

Other publishers like Bloomberg have decided to get ahead of the algorithm change and create community-driven Facebook groups around certain topics where they can promote their stories and drive traffic back to their sites, according to Digiday.

But those efforts might end up being futile in the end. The News Feed is a firehose of traffic, and publishers are about to see that completely cut off. Many of those publishers don't have the chops to create a loyal audience without an influx of readers or viewers from Facebook.

It's going to be ugly.

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg's personal challenge for 2018 is to fix all the bad things happening on Facebook

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Facebook is trying to prove it's not a media company by dropping the guillotine on a bunch of media companies (FB) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Never mind the gadgets, here's what to look for at CES (INTC)

Steve Kovach January 07, 2018 at 06:30AM

• CES is usually full of boring announcements about products that fail to catch on with the public after the show ends.
• But the giant tech industry confab will highlight several key trends, including ones involving connected cars and voice-controlled devices, that will influence consumer technology in the coming year and beyond.
• Additionally, all eyes will be on Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, who will be giving the show's opening keynote days after his company disclosed a massive security flaw that affects nearly all the devices that use its processors.

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CES, the annual gathering in Las Vegas of 100,000-plus techies, analysts, journalists, and celebrity spokespeople is often remembered more for what happens off the show floor than among the endless booths of whacky gadgets.

It's a rare thing for a product unveiled or an announcement made at the confab to become a big deal in the wider world. Did you buy a 3D television? A Faraday Future car? A Palm Pre smartphone? CES is replete with products and announcements that got lots of hype at the show but failed or disappeared from the public consciousness soon after.

Every year, though, a handful of things from CES continue to resonate after it. These typically aren't gadgets or gizmos you'll go out and buy, but underlying trends that will shape how the consumer technology industry develops in coming years. This year's event will be no different in highlighting those trends. 

But that's not the only thing that's likely to stand out at CES. This year, for the first time in a long time, the event's opening keynote will be worth paying attention to.

Here are some of the ideas and trends I expect to take center stage at CES:

5G is coming to the fore — and it will offer more than just faster download speeds

There's a new wireless broadband standard in the works dubbed 5G that will not only be a big overarching theme at CES, it will be the particular focus of announcements from companies such as Qualcomm, Intel, and Ericsson.

Most people likely equate the debut of a new wireless standard with just being able to download things faster on their phones. 5G will definitely deliver faster phone data connections. But it could also mean a lot more.

Because of the speed it will offer, 5G has the potential to replace wired broadband connections in your home, which could finally give you another option for internet access in addition to the old cable and landline telephone companies. This year, Verizon and AT&T are expected to launch their first 5G networks in some parts of the US.

The data standard will also be used to connect many new smart devices to the internet, including self-driving cars and home appliances. In the process, it could boost lots of different industries, as Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf explained when I interviewed him last year.

"If we have a much more secure network and a much more robust network, then you can put mission-critical services on there — remote delivery of healthcare, control of physical plant items in some kind of industrial Internet of Things that actively make decisions. You can have autonomous cars," Mollenkopf told me then.

5G might sound somewhat nebulous today, but it'll likely be the way almost every gadget we use gets online in just a few years.

Augmented reality is overhyped, but today's devices are laying the foundation for the future

In its quest to find the next big thing after smartphones, the tech industry is focusing ever more closely on augmented reality, the technology that overlays virtual images on top of actual ones via a smartphone screen or smart eyewear. CES is going to be packed with various AR concept devices and gizmos, mostly from smaller players trying to get out ahead of expected moves by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants.

While I think the AR bubble will burst this year once reality catches up to the hype, efforts like those that will be on display at CES will lay the groundwork for future devices we'll actually want.

Voice-controlled computing and digital assistants are becoming ubiquitous

Thanks to Amazon's Alexa-fueled record holiday season and Google's own impressive success with its Google Assistant-powered smart speakers, voice-controlled digital assistants haven't just reached the mainstream. They're becoming ubiquitous. 

Expect to see lots of other players scrambling to catch up with Amazon and Google. At CES, I'm expecting to see smart speakers from just about anyone with access to a soldering iron and the money to buy a plane ticket to Las Vegas.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The fervor around smart speakers and the digital assistants that power them is bringing us closer to the concept of ambient computing, where most of our electronics have some sort of smarts built into them and can be controlled by voice. A lot of the voice-based gadgets on display at CES won't sell. But voice-based computing in general is here to stay.

The transportation industry is now part of the tech industry

Every car company is now a tech company.

Ford, Mercedes, Toyota, and just about every other major car manufacturer not only participate in CES, their displays have been taking up more and more of the showroom floor each year. If there's one CES trend that has flourished in recent years, it's the marriage of tech and transportation.

Many of the major car companies plan to announce new tech initiatives at CES this year. Those announcements will likely be more important and potentially transformative than those of Samsung, LG, Sony, and other traditional tech companies. 

Car companies use CES to showcase their latest technologies, including self-driving cars, navigation systems undergirded by software from Apple and Google, and Alexa-powered infotainment systems that can interact with smart-home devices. Consumers will be able to use many of the features soon, unlike many of the other things that are announced at CES.

The opening keynote will be worth watching for the first time in years

Every year CES begins with a keynote presentation from a tech industry leader. For years, the honor went to Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and then to his successor, Steve Ballmer. But since Microsoft pulled out of CES after the 2012 show, the opening keynote has featured a rotating cast of executives from other tech giants.

It's been a snoozefest.

This year should be different. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich will be giving the opening presentation. His appearance comes at the best possible time — for all the wrong reasons.

On Wednesday, Intel disclosed that it found a security venerability that affects nearly every processor it's made over the last two decades. The flaw could allow a hacker to access just about anything on any device you own. (Software updates that address the vulnerability are rolling out now, so make sure your devices are up to date.)

That news would be bad enough. But it turns out that Krzanich gained about $24 million by selling Intel stock and exercising options after Intel learned about the flaw — but before it disclosed the vulnerability to the public. Intel's stock dropped a few percentage points once the company made the bugs public, so Krzanich's cash-out seemed conveniently timed. (Intel says the stock sale was unrelated to knowledge of the vulnerability, but that didn't stop many from questioning his move.)

Those issues are going to loom over every syllable Krzanich utters from stage, and the entire industry will be watching to see how he handles it. Assuming he doesn't back out, of course.

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg's personal challenge for 2018 is to fix all the bad things happening on Facebook

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Never mind the gadgets, here's what to look for at CES (INTC) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook screwed up last year, and now I'm making it my personal challenge to fix it (FB)

Steve Kovach January 04, 2018 at 08:35AM

• Mark Zuckerberg's annual personal challenge for 2018 is to fix systemic issues with Facebook like abuse and hacking.
• In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg acknowledged the company's blunders over the last year or so, writing that "we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools."
• Zuckerberg's statement was light on details about how he plans to fix Facebook's problems.

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Mark Zuckerberg's personal challenge for 2018 is to fix issues like abuse, hacking from other countries, and other nefarious practices on Facebook.

In a post on his Facebook page Thursday, Zuckerberg wrote that "we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools."

Other important highlights from the post:

• "The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do — whether it's protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent."
• "My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues. We won't prevent all mistakes or abuse..." 
• "With the rise of a small number of big tech companies — and governments using technology to watch their citizens — many people now believe technology only centralizes power rather than decentralizes it."

Why this is important: Facebook had a rough 2017 between issues surrounding fake news, Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election through social media, and a general mistrust of its power and influence. Instead of taking on a personal challenge like learning Mandarin or only eating meat he's killed himself, Zuckerberg seems to want to make 2018 about fixing the fundamental flaws in the company he created over a decade ago.

You can read Zuckerberg's full post below:

SEE ALSO: http://ift.tt/2AVYnuz

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Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook screwed up last year, and now I'm making it my personal challenge to fix it (FB) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach

The Transport Guy: YouTube is streaming multiple copies of Logan Paul's video of a suicide victim — showcasing again its troubles monitoring its site (GOOG)

Steve Kovach January 03, 2018 at 11:28AM

• YouTuber users have posted multiple copies of a controversial video streaming star Logan Paul deleted on Monday.
• Two copies of the video, which includes images of the body of a suicide victim Paul encountered in Japan, were featured in the trending section of YouTube before they were removed a short time later.
• The incident highlights YouTube's struggle to monitor its service.

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A controversial video from a YouTube star that showed the body of a suicide victim has found new life on the streaming video site — highlighting yet again the Google-owned company's struggle to police its service.

YouTuber Logan Paul apologized for and deleted the video, which depicts him coming across a body in a so-called suicide forest in Japan, on Monday. But by Wednesday, multiple copies of the video, which was originally posted late last month, were available on YouTube and had already garnered millions of views. Indeed, on Wednesday morning one copy was ranked second in YouTube's trending videos section, and another ranked 20th.

Those videos later disappeared from the trending section. But before they did, YouTuber Pia Muehlenbeck posted screenshots showing their ranking in the site's top-trending charts:

The Logan Paul re-uploads are now #2 and #20 on trending.... what... http://pic.twitter.com/zKgYNlAY8W

— Pia Muehlenbeck (@piamuehlenbeck) January 3, 2018

YouTube is removing some of the complete and partial copies of Paul's video when it determines they violate its guidelines, a company representative said in a statement. But the company isn't planning to remove all such videos.

"Videos containing parts of the original content without the graphic footage may remain up if they do not violate our guidelines," the representative said. "We are not removing these videos because many of them offer commentary and discussion on the original video."

Some of the copies of Logan's video include information about suicide prevention, a move that may have been designed to skirt YouTube's rules for posting graphic content.

On Tuesday, YouTube said Paul's video violated its policies and the company issued a "strike" against his page. But the fact that the video was uploaded again by other users and reached featured spots in a prominent section of the site echoes other problems the company has had maintaining control over what gets posted to and is promoted on its service.

In the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting in Las Vegas in October, for example, YouTube highlighted fake news clips about the incident in its search results. In response, the company rushed out a change to its search algorithm that was designed to prevent it from promoting fake news stories by pushing up results from established media outlets and users.

But the Paul video illustrates another weakness in YouTube's systems. Users can copy a controversial video, upload it, and game the site's search engine to reach the top of its list of trending videos, even if the video is in violation of YouTube's standards.

SEE ALSO: Logan Paul apologizes for filming a suicide victim

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YouTube is streaming multiple copies of Logan Paul's video of a suicide victim — showcasing again its troubles monitoring its site (GOOG) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach