1. Uber and Lyft Face Increasing Investor Skepticism

After weeks of controversy and poor earnings, it’s no surprise that Uber and Lyft are now facing scepticism from investors. Uber shares recently closed at $29.15, whereas Lyft shares recently closed at $39.57, slightly below from their previous lows of $30.29 and $40.84 respectively. The new all-time lows represent the pessimistic sentiments of many investors, despite assurances from both firms that they will be able to bounce back from their various problems.

However, both Uber and Lyft are not the only ones affected by the growing scepticism. Investors are also questioning the viability of billion dollar market caps of large companies that recently went public. Unlike traditional tech companies, which primarily produce software, newer tech IPOs, like Lyft and Uber, offer different types of services, many of which face growing scepticism among many investors.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/01/uber-closes-at-record-low-worth-less-than-50-billion.html

2. Sony Reduces the Price of Playstation by Half; Starts Streaming Game Services

Sony is upping the ante. Starting next Tuesday, the cost of a PlayStation subscription will be cut in half to $9.99 per month. According to Sony, the new price policy was driven by the need to provide a service that is “comparable to other entertainment streaming services on the market.”

Sony’s decision to cut its streaming prices in half reflects a general trend among entertainment and gaming companies to cater to the streaming market. From music and movies to TV shows and video games, streaming services are the driving medium of sales on phones, tablets, laptops and consoles.

Moreover, the popularization and development of streaming services has led many consumer demographics to drop older cable and gaming services in favor of streaming solutions, leading to the growth of well-known streaming brands, such as Disney, Amazon and most notably Netflix.

Sony’s decision to cut the cost of its Playstation streaming service reflects the growth of other similar services in the games and entertainment industries.

https://www.cnet.com/news/sony-halves-price-of-playstation-now-streaming-games-service-to-go-up-against-microsoft-google/

3. AMD Announces New Ryzen Pro 3000 Series CPUs For 4th Quarter

AMD recently announced that their 3rd generation Pro processors will be available for purchase this 4th quarter. The new Pro CPUs were designed for both small business and commercial desktop computers, and they will feature up to 12 cores.

The new Ryzen Pro CPUs were supposedly based on the Zen 2 “Matisse” microarchitecture, introduced earlier this summer. They will also support all of AMD’s Pro-series features, such as the TrustZone security Processor, DASH manageability, Secure Boot, Content Protection and more.

Additionally, AMD also has a little something for streamlined PCs that prioritize integrated graphics over CPU cores. Their new Ryzen 3000 Pro APUs will feature the quad-core Ryzen 5 Pro and Ryzen 3 Pro as well as the dual-core Athlon Pro 3000-series CPUs, all of which include the integrated Radeon Vega graphics

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14922/amd-ryzen-pro-3000-series-cpus-in-q4

4. Amazon’s New Echo Devices Add Virtual Assistants in Glasses, Jewelry and Even in Your Ear

Amazon takes another step towards Sci-Fi with its Echo devices. The new products will allow Amazon to install Alexa into common accessories, such as glasses and rings, and even inside people’s ears.

One of the Echo devices, Echo Studio, is a music-focused speaker that is capable of playing high definition audio. Another device – the Echo Flex – puts Alexa inside a plug that can be attached into locations where large speakers don’t fit.

If you want to put Alexa in your ring, there’s the Echo Loop ring accessory, which is designed to do just that. And for those of you who need to wear glasses, there are now Amazon glasses which are voice controlled and operated.

According to Amazon representatives, the new devices were designed to “make your home smarter and safer, keep family and friends connected, and bring your favourite entertainment to you, wherever you are.”

Amazon adds wearables to voice-controlled Alexa collection

5. Meet Microsoft’s New Phone, the Surface Duo

Microsoft is creating a new smartphone. Introducing the Surface Duo, an Android device with two screens. Each screen measures 5.6 inches, both of which can be expanded into an 8.3 inch device when fully expanded. So far, that’s the only information Microsoft has released to the public, though there are expectations that the Surface Duo will be available during the holiday season next year.

Aside from its new phone, Microsoft also recently released several new products, including Windows 10 X for dual screen devices, the Surface Laptop 3, the Surface Pro X and Surface Pro 7, Surface Pro Earbuds as well as the SQ1 custom Arm chip.

https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-phone-really-happening-introducing-surface-duo-android/

6. IBM Develops AI That Can Create Realistic Voices Based On 5 Minutes of Vocal Audio

Creating realistic text to speech models requires powerful hardware. However, researchers at IBM were not deterred by this challenge. They recently developed a lightweight and efficient method for speech synthesis and suffice to say, the results are impressive.

According to the researchers, their AI can synthesize high quality speech in real time based on a speaker’s voice. Moreover, the AI can also adapt to different speaking styles and voice patterns by analyzing small amounts of audio data.
According to IBM researchers Zvi Kons, Slava Shechtman, and Alex Sorin, this new technology was developed using a ‘neural speech synthesis based on a modular architecture,’ and is quite different from older text to speech systems, most of which relied on large, complex neural network models in order to work.

https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/30/ibms-ai-generates-high-quality-voices-from-as-little-as-five-minutes-of-speech/

7. Intel Slashes Prices of High End Gaming Chips

Intel is reducing the price of its i9 processors as it attempts to refresh an old design. The new prices will take effect this November, which happens to be the same time when Intel’s new gaming chips will be released into the market.

The i9 chips are built on an old core called Skylake, an aging design that had seen numerous mediocre performance upgrades year after year. Intel would like to transition to the newer Ice Lake-based designs however, their newer chips are still limited to certain premium laptops, which explains why they are sticking to the older models.

Additionally, there’s also the issue of competition to consider. Intel is facing intense pressure from Apple, Samsung and Qualcomm, all of which are challenging the company’s dominance in the chip market. By slashing the cost of their chips, Intel hopes to address these challenges while keeping their existing chips fresh for most consumers.

https://www.cnet.com/news/intel-dramatically-cuts-prices-of-top-end-i9-gaming-chips/

1. Tesla to Develop A Battery That Can Last for A Million of Miles

Earlier this year, Elon Musk announced that Tesla was developing a power source that would allow electric cars to travel for up to a million miles. The claim seemed boastful at the time but now it seems that the Tesla founder was quite serious about his statements.

Battery researchers from the Dalhousie University published a paper that described ‘A Wide Range of Testing Results on an Excellent Lithium-Ion Cell Chemistry to be used as Benchmarks for New Battery Technologies’

Among the key features of the paper was a lithium ion battery that could potentially allow electric vehicles to travel for up to a million miles, while losing less than 10% of its capacity throughout its whole lifetime. The Dalhousie University team also proved that their new battery could perform better compared to all other lithium ion batteries previously reported.

Tesla’s interest in the Dalhousie lithium ion battery is motivated by two Tesla vehicles currently in development, the robotaxi and the long haul electric truck, both of which are intended to travel long distances. Such vehicles are a perfect match for the Dalhousie team’s prototype battery.

https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-may-soon-have-a-battery-that-can-last-a-million-miles/

2. Facebook Developing Technology That Would Allow Humans to Control Computers With Their Brains

Facebook users may soon be able to control their accounts using only their thoughts. Social media giant Facebook announced on Monday their acquisition of CTRL-labs, a New York based start-up that is researching methods that would allow users to control computers using only their brains.

According to reports received by CNBC, the deal cost Facebook between $500 million to $1 billion, though a Facebook spokesperson said that the deal’s cost was below a billion dollars. CTRL-labs will also be integrated with Facebook Reality Labs, a Facebook division that’s working on ‘augmented-reality smart glasses.’

Facebook Vice President of AR/VR Andrew “Boz” Bosworth said that CTRL-labs’ technology will take the form of a wristband that allows people to control their gadgets. The wristband will take the electrical signals that travel through the wrists to give directions to electronic devices; effectively transforming bio-electrical signals into digital commands.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/facebook-announces-acquisition-of-brain-computing-start-up-ctrl-labs.html

3. Cisco Partners With SingularityNet to Develop Decentralized Artificial Intelligence

Cisco has partnered with decentralized artificial intelligence firm, SingularityNET to work on applied artificial general intelligence or AGI. Unlike other areas of AI research, AGI focuses on developing AI that can mimic human mental faculties, including problem solving, planning, communication, natural language and reasoning in uncertain situations.

SingularityNet founder Dr. Ben Goertzel also reported that the initial applications of AGI will most likely be used for ‘verticalized markets’ such as advertising, medical research, computer research as well as financial analytics.

And these aren’t just speculations either. Back in May, Singaporean and Malaysian divisions of Domino’s Pizza worked alongside SingularityNET to use blockchain AI technology to supplement their supply chain processes. Furthermore, Chinese insurance company Ping AN had also collaborated with the company to research optical character recognition, computer vision as well as model training.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/cisco-partners-with-singularitynet-on-decentralized-artificial-intelligence

4. IBM Willing to Work with Facebook on Digital Currency

IBM executives recently said that they are willing to collaborate with other companies to carry out blockchain research, particularly the ‘tokenization’ of assets. Through such collaborative work, IBM hopes to create blockchain solutions which are appropriate for its own needs.

In particular, IBM claims that it is willing to work with Facebook in developing a digital currency. In a recent CNBC interview, IBM general manager of blockchain services Jason Kelley claimed that ‘blockchain is a team sport’ and that they ‘were ready to work with all of them (Facebook) to bring it together.”

Kelley also added that Facebook’s work on cryptocurrencies and asset tokenization gives the field a certain level of legitimacy. For IBM, however, the goal is to take the technology behind cryptocurrencies and use it to organize data, manage supply chains and create more transparency.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/libra-ibm-says-its-open-to-working-with-facebook-on-digital-currency.html

5. Uber CEO Claims that their Business Model is ‘Absolutely Sustainable’ Despite Losing $5 Billion in Three Months

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi claimed that his company’s business model is ‘absolutely sustainable, despite losing billions in revenue for the past three months. In an interview with CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, Khosrowshahi said that ‘The model is absolutely sustainable,’ while also pointing out that the business is still growing by over 30% globally.

Additionally, Khosrowshahi also expressed Uber’s intention to offer higher compensation and certain health benefits to Uber drivers. “We do believe that they should get health care. We do believe that they should have minimum earnings,” Khosrowshahi said.

Despite such assurances, however, Uber continues to struggle with mounting losses. The company had lost $5.2 billion in the first three months at the end of June, its largest quarterly loss ever. Consequently, Uber’s stock fell roughly 30% since it first went public back in May, despite raising $8.1 billion in one of the largest public offerings ever made.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/25/tech/uber-dara-khosrowshahi-amanpour/index.html

6. Apple Releases iOS 13.1

Although the iOS 13’s was released only a little while ago, Apple has already rolled out the next major update for its latest mobile operating system. Apple recently fast tracked the iOS 13.1’s rollout due to complaints from users about crashes and frozen screens.

The new update was specifically released to fix these problems, including issues with Mail, Siri, malfunctioning app icons as well as sign-in failures. The update was also created to address location permissions, which happens whenever users don’t want to share their location details for an app.

Finally, the iOS 13.1 was also developed to address all sorts of privacy issues found in the iOS 13, but it also adds several new features as well, such as the ‘Share ETA’ feature, which allows users to share their approximate time of arrival, and the Apple Music lyrics view feature, which allows users to see the lyrics to the music they’re listening to. So all in all, the iOS 13.1 fixed a lot of earlier problems while adding a few interesting features at the same time.

https://www.techradar.com/news/apple-rolls-out-ios-131-to-squash-urgent-bugs-and-add-new-features

1. Uber Announces New Layoffs Amidst Financial Difficulties

Uber recently announced another round of layoffs this Tuesday. The multinational transportation network company plans to let go of 435 people from its product and engineering team, or 8% of the total workforce.

The layoff was the result of Uber’s poor second quarter performance, which included around $5.2 billion in net losses.

“While certainly painful in the moment, especially for those directly affected, we believe that this will result in a much stronger technical organization,” an Uber spokesperson said.

The planned layoffs will not only affect Uber personnel in the United States, however. Regional offices in Europe, Africa, the Middle and the Asia-Pacific region, will also be affected.

According to Uber, 85% of the personnel to be laid off are in the United States, while 10% are in the Asia Pacific region. The remaining 5% will come from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/10/20859413/uber-job-layoffs-announcement-engineering-product-profit

2. Nvidia fights AMD’s GPUs with the GTX 1160 Super

According to rumors, Nvidia is planning to launch a new and improved variant of the GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card. Although the company has yet to release any concrete information about their new product, it is expected to have a transfer rate of around 14Gbps as well as better memory. It is also expected to cost around $300.

Nvidia’s new graphics card is also rumored to be part of their new strategy against AMD. When released, the new GTX 1660 is expected to compete with AMD’s Radeon RX590 and other similar graphics cards. More importantly, it will also draw in the ray-tracing fans, which AMD does not seem interested in, and allow Nvidia to take back certain portions of the budget gamer market.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/rumors-suggest-nvidia-release-geforce-gtx-1660-super-gpu/

3. German Government to Invest in IBM’s Quantum Computing Research

IBM is about to receive $717 million dollars worth of investment from the German Government. IBM announced that it will install a new “Q System One” quantum computer (the first of its kind in Europe) at one of their German facilities, and will partner with the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft research institute to ‘support the transition of quantum technologies from basic research into market ready applications.’

Quantum Computing has the potential to be used for molecular modeling, physics, machine learning, chemical simulations and data recovery. According to reports, the goal of the new partnership is to develop a ‘research community’ for quantum computing in Germany, and to act as a catalyst for “Europe’s innovation landscape and research capabilities.”

4. Facebook and Google’s Growing Anti-Trust Problems

Last Friday, the Attorney General of New York announced that she and seven other states as well as the District of Columbia will join together to launch new antitrust investigations into Facebook.

The announcement was soon followed by 50 attorney generals from 48 states, including Puerto Rico and DC, announcing that they will soon join Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in investigating Google.

Presently, two of the biggest tech platforms in the world are now facing 2 Congressional, 6 state and local, and 8 federal anti-trust investigations. While the reasons behind the investigations may vary(political bias and privacy issues among them), anti-competitive behavior seems to be the unifying theme for most of parties.

Facebook and Google have been accused of bias and anti-trust violations before, from accusations of Russian collusion to political censorship, and they have managed to survive such accusations relatively unscathed. However, these recent developments may prove devastating for the two tech giants.

https://www.theverge.com/interface/2019/9/10/20858028/google-antitrust-investigation-state-attorneys-general-facebook

5. Apple’s iPhone 11 is Here

Apple recently unveilied the iPhone 11 Pro, the 11 Pro Max and the iPhone 11 itself. The new iPhones boast several impressive improvements over their predecessors (the iPhone XS, the XS Max and the XR respectively), including better battery lives, improved camera systems as well as optimized hardware. The 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max also feature better cameras, including three cameras on the back as well as better battery life compared to older models.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also reported that the new Pro Models are the “most powerful and most advanced iPhones we have ever built, with a stunning design.”

The downside? They are more expensive than their predecessors. The 11 Pro starts at $999, while the 11 Pro Max starts at $1,099. Only the iPhone 11 is cheaper at $699 compared to its predecessor (the iPhone XR costs $749).

The new phones will be available for pre-orders this Friday and available for sale on September 20.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/10/tech/iphone-11-apple-event/index.html

6. Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband Network to Be Used for Testing Driverless Cars

Verizon is working with Mcity at the University of Michigan to explore and enhance transportation safety and automated vehicles. The partners are developing 5G solutions for automated and connected vehicles.

The new technology will also be used on traffic lights, cameras and intersections in order to enhance traffic safety and prevent various kinds of accidents.

Verizon also chose 5G for this project because it offers great bandwidth, super-fast speeds as well as low latency, all of which are ideal for automated vehicles and traffic technology.

The resulting applications will be tested on the Mcity Test Facilities 32 acre site. Outdoor laboratory equipment will also be used to simulate different problems and contingencies that vehicles often encounter in urban and sub-urban environments.

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-5g-ultra-wideband-university-michigan

7. Netflix No Longer the Leading Bandwidth Consuming Application

Netflix used to be the biggest application in terms of bandwidth consumption however, it was recently dethroned by web based media streaming apps. The report comes from the 2019 Global Internet Phenomena Report from Sandvine, a company which specializes in bandwidth-management systems.

According to the report, HTTP media streaming services represented around 12.8% of all downstream internet traffic in the world during the first half of 2019, while Netflix only accounted for 12.6%.

Despite these numbers, however, Netflix’s declining share of bandwidth consumption does not mean that people are consuming fewer Netflix videos. It simply means that the relative share of traffic delivered over internet networks has changed. Moreover, there’s also the fact that Netflix’s video streaming services are becoming more and more efficient, which means that it is consuming less bandwidth per stream compared to other services.

Netflix Bandwidth Consumption Eclipsed by Web Media Streaming Applications

Below is a review of tech stock news for the week ending August 30th:

1. The Trade Desk (TTD) President and CEO Sells $74.4 Million Worth of Shares

The Trade Desk (TTD) President and CEO Jeffrey Terry Green recently sold 288,000 TTD shares at $258.27 per share for a total of $74.4 million. The sale was done on August 23.

For context, The Trade Desk has a total market cap of around $11.28 billion, with each share traded at around $250.86. TTD specializes in providing self-service, online advertising solutions for businesses that want to manage their own advertising campaigns using their own in-house staff.

It’s also worth mentioning that the 288,000 shares sold last week was the third batch in the month of August. Earlier this month, Green sold 10,000 shares of TTD for an average price of $267.93 back in August 1st and another 294,000 shares of TTD stocks for $259.44 back in August 13.

Aside from Green, TTD’s CFO Paul Ross, Chief Technology Officer David Randall Pickles, Chief Legal Officer Vivian Yang and various other company directors and officers also sold substantial amounts of TTD shares all throughout August and late July.

2. Modest Expectations for Apple’s Upcoming iPhone 11

Over the past few months, various news sources ranging from Bloomberg analysts to Twitter leakers have offered several hints on Apple’s new iPhone 11. According to these sources, the latest iteration of iPhone will be similar to its predecessor.

Speculation about the iPhone 11 hints that it mainly offers incremental upgrades, such as a more advanced camera, faster chips and the latest operating systems. Analysts also believe that the new product will most likely cost around $1,000.

However, the new phone will be facing tough competition once it’s released into the market. Samsung, Google and other major phone manufacturers have delivered high quality products which feature the latest in mobile phone technology, and most of them are cheaper than iPhones.

Additionally, many analysts also believe that demand for the iPhone 11 will be affected by geopolitical concerns. Given the ongoing US-China trade war and other similar trade issues in other parts of the world, there are expectations that the iPhone will face rocky challenges in Asian markets.

Read More. 

3. Baidu Partners With Chongqing Municipal Government to Explore AI Services

Chinese internet company Baidu recently partnered with the municipal government of Chongqing in China to test several AI technologies, most notably self-driving cars, smart government services, smart city services as well as blockchain solutions.

By partnering with the Chongqing’s municipal government, Baidu aims to develop China’s automated vehicle and smart mobility industry. The deal is also part of the company’s strategy to accelerate China’s automotive industry, and at the same time, enhance Chongqing’s urban traffic management services.

One of the key features of Baidu’s plans is the use of the Apollo autonomous driving platform. The company plans to deploy this platform at Chongqing and Yongchuan to test the use of robo-taxis and other automated vehicle services.

Furthermore, Baidu is also planning to use AI technology to facilitate valet parking, smart court systems and centralized meteorology services. There are also plans to use blockchain technology to facilitate healthcare services and explore other potential applications.

AI and machine learning technologies developed in recent years in response to data analysis and online research. However, these technologies have yet to be fully applied to the consumer convenience market. By working with Chongqing’s municipal government, Baidu hopes to be a pioneer in the latest iteration of AI technology.

4. Tesla to Raise Prices in China

Tesla is planning to raise prices in China. The price hike was originally planned for September, but was pushed back to the tail end of August due to the escalating Chinese-American trade war as well as the declining value of the yuan.

Tesla had planned the price hike back in December as a contingency against Chinese threats to re-impose tariffs on US-brand cars and auto parts. The PRC had discontinued the tariffs back in April but with the trade war escalating, Tesla and other US auto makers may have no choice but to adapt accordingly.

However, Tesla’s problems are not quite the same as those of other US car makers. China remains the largest market for electric cars, and the company is under tremendous pressure to adapt to the escalating tariff situation. To make matters worse, Tesla has no local production facilities in the PRC, which means that its products are directly impacted by any and all tariff increases.

Finally, there is the problem with Chinese yuan, which tumbled to an eleven year low against the dollar earlier this week. A weaker yuan could hamper domestic consumption in China, which in turn could harm Tesla’s sales in the country.

On the other hand, it’s also worth mentioning that Tesla is building a plant in China, a move that is intended to reduce the effects of the tariff war. However, it will be quite some time before it will have an impact on Tesla’s latest problems.

5. Okta Earnings

Okta’s earnings and revenue report beat second quarter estimates however, the October quarter bottom line guidance also missed Wall Street expectations. The reports caused Okta shares to tumble after extended trading, losing 5 cents per share, though it was significantly smaller than the 11 cent loss projected by analysts.

According to reports, Okta’s revenue increased by 49% to reach $140. 5 million during the second quarter. However, the projected estimate for the current quarter puts Okta at a loss of 12 to 13 cents on revenue of around $143.5 million.