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After Boston Dynamics dropped a video before the new year of their robots dancing, Boston Dynamics is moving to expand their Spot product lineup in response to customer feedback. Via IEEE Spectrum, Engadget and the livestream from Boston Dynamics's Youtube page: https://www.engadget.com/boston-dynamics-spot-enterprise-self-charging-spot-arm-153956229.html https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-arm The announcements are as follows: A new Spot Enterprise package, which includes the robot and a docking station where Spot can autonomously dock at for recharging. Boston Dynamics has said that Spot can recharge back to full capacity at the charging station within 2 hours. Spot Enterprise also has upgraded WiFi capabilities, a Ethernet port for quick offloading of data at the charging station, and has increased the flexibility of the robot's payload ports; A new browser-based control system called Scout, where an operator can remotely operate Spot either manually via a mouse and keyboard or a joystick, or telling Spot to run pre-scripted autonomous actions with a web-based user interface in addition to the tablet-based control interface. Scout is high latency tolerant, as you don’t have to drive the robot directly. The system is pre-installed on a provided 1U server that only requires power and network access to install and operate. They've also included the ability for Spot to detect when it has lost communications signal, and for it to automatically retrace its steps until it reestablishes communications; Spot Arm, which is an arm attachment to the basic Spot robot, allowing the robot to grasp, lift, carry, place and drag a range of objects manually or semi-autonomously. The video demonstration shows Spot conducting a number of tasks, such as cleaning up a room, gardening, jumping over a skipping rope with three Spots, use non-ADA compliant door knobs, dragging cinder blocks, opening or closing valves, turn handles and knobs and pull levers, which will allow it to open doors; And a new imaging payload, which combines a camera with 30x optical zoom and an IR camera, and a microphone In all, this should make Spot even more popular in a variety of industries where people don't need to constantly be to monitor the worksite, as long as there is an internet connection.

This via Ars Technica, whom is quoting various news outlets in Korea: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/01/lg-says-it-might-quit-the-smartphone-market/ To summarize, LG is considering a major shake up to their smartphone division, and leaving the smartphone business is on the table due to mounting losses and a shrinking market share, with a possible decision being made by January 26. Per a now deleted article that Ars is quoting, LG's senior management has directed their smartphone division to halt all research and development on new phones, except for the flexible display rollable phone that they've previewed. Honestly, I never though LG's phones to be that competitive. Samsung has basically grabbed the bulk of the Android smartphone market, and LG's quality control was questionable at best, with the previous known issues that had lead to lawsuits against LG. Coupled to poor design decisions and a basically non-existent software update policy, their phones never seemed to make sense or good value at the higher end of the market.

I'm finding that the NUC's are getting very popular as corporate and office computers, precisely because of their compactness. It seems Intel has a hit on their hands, and the fact that Intel keeps refreshing the lineup and adding to it says they are seeing good sales numbers as well.

GM at the 2021 Virtual CES show announced a new business unit, Brightdrop, which is a ecosystem of electric and connected products targeting commercial clients in the logistics and delivery industries: From TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/12/gm-targets-delivery-companies-with-new-ev-business-unit-brightdrop/ Driving.ca: https://driving.ca/general-motors/auto-news/news/gms-new-brightdrop-sees-it-enter-the-electric-connected-commercial-delivery-biz GM has so far announced two products under Brightdrop; the first is an light commercial electric van called the EV600 with an estimate range of 250 miles. GM states it can carry 600 cubic feet of cargo, and uses GM's Ultium batteries and charges from a 120-kW DC fast charger. Inside, there is a 13.4-inch diagonal, full-color infotainment screen, front sliding pocket doors, wide cabin walkways and a large auto-open cargo bulkhead door. The EV600 also has a suite of driver assistance features common to most consumer vehicles these days, including front and rear park assist, automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assistance, forward collision alert, following distance indicator, front pedestrian braking and automatic high beams and HD backup camera. Additional features, such as rear cross-traffic braking, blind-zone steering assist, reverse automatic braking, HD surround vision, rear pedestrian alert and enhanced automatic emergency braking are also options as well for customers. The second product also announced is the EP1, which is a pod-like electric pallet. It is basically a electric cart that can go 5km/h and carry 23 cubic feet of cargo. Inside the pod are adjustable shelves and lockable cabinet doors to allow for remote access to whatever goods are being transported. For now, it is driver controlled, but one can easily see a future where it is autonomous as well, being able to make deliveries or pick ups at locations without assistance from the driver. GM is also working other products and is tinkering with a few concepts, including a medium-distance vehicle that transports multiple EP1's with the ability to rapidly load and unload them. The other key component of Brightdrop is a new cloud-based software solution; both the EV600 and EP1 are connected devices. The EP1 knows which packages are in it, the EV600 monitors all the connected pallets in its cargo area, and it all can be remotely monitored and managed in real time, by headquarters. Drivers and dispatch staff can use the built-in connectivity to analyze data, improve overall operations, and manage the fleet remotely, for example if a driver locks himself out of the van, head office can unlock the van for him. It can also track the location and status of the van in real time, allowing dispatch staff to know where the vehicle is, the battery level and if the driver is on route and on schedule. Per GM, FedEx is already testing many of the software features with Brightdrop and reports a 25% efficiency gain thanks to the driver’s reduced workload and the superior monitoring/routing of packages. FedEx is also going to be the first customer for the EV600, with 500 vans on order, with first deliveries later this year. GM also says the EP1 will be available sometime in the first quarter of 2021. GM is clearly going all in on electrification and cloud computing of the logistics and supply chain, starting with the last mile delivery. Their timing seems to be excellent due to the explosion in the growth of e-commerce, in part driven by COVID, and they appear to be well placed to capture a large portion of what should be a multi-billion dollar market share.

Update: Google has yanked the Parler App from their App Store. Per Axios: https://www.axios.com/capitol-mob-parler-google-ban-826d808d-3e06-4468-a7c6-6157557818b3.html

Reading this much more closely, it is technically only a criminal penalty of about $240 million, and the establishment of a $500 million crash-victim beneficiaries fund to compensate crash victims families. The rest is money Boeing would have spent anyways compensating airlines due to their aircraft being out of service, or having their deliveries suspended.

Via Bloomberg and Yahoo News: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-parler/apple-threatens-to-remove-parler-social-networking-service-from-app-store-idUSKBN29D34N https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/apple-threatens-parler-ban-000548898.html In short, Apple is threatening to remove Parler from their App Store unless Parler changes their content moderation policies, specially if Parler doesn’t rein in the violent threats on its app. Apple's CEO has apparently e-mailed Parler's CEO, indicating that Apple isn't happy with how Parler is moderating their platform. In addition, Google is also under pressure to remove Parler from the Google Play Store as well for much the same reasons. Both Apple and Google have removed controversial apps in the past, such as Gab and Alex Jones’ InfoWars app. I can't say I'm too terribly surprised. With the recent events of this week, there's a lot of reflection and reconsideration of how certain platforms are being used for extremist and sometimes illegal activity, and I suspect that it's very likely that Apple and eventually Google will boot Parler out of their respective App Stores. UPDATE: Google has announced that they've removed the Parler App from the App Store. Google made the following statement (via ZDNet): https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-removes-parler-app-from-play-store/

Sony's software from my experience is generally very good; their version of Android is more stock than most, and includes some Sony specific tweaks and software. And their software updates is pretty good, with fairly quick updates.

Sony doesn't have the greatest support network in North America. It's actually fairly hard to get parts and service in North America for a Sony phone as few repair shops will touch them because they are fairly rare phones. Samsung on the other hand, is fairly easy to get service and repairs; I can even order the parts directly from them myself. And there are plenty of third party shops that can work on them as well.

As someone who has gone from a Sony Xperia XZ Premium to a Samsung Galaxy S20+, I can't say I'd missed the 4K display that much. I appreciate the faster refresh rate of my Samsung phone as it made the phone feel much more responsive. The big knock against Sony is their lackluster build quality, which is the reason why I had to switch; I had both a defective screen AND a bad USB port within a span of a year after the warranty was over, and I tend to baby my phones. Coupled with very poor technical support and a general lack of availability of parts and service just made it easier for me to toss it and get another phone.

Don't forget KFC's dating simulator game...

This is a pretty big and emergency directive coming from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), directing all federal civilian agencies to review their networks for indicators of compromise and disconnect or power down SolarWinds Orion products immediately due to a known exploit that is apparently being exploited by hackers. This after the US Treasury and the US NTIA were apparently breached by hackers. A foreign government is suspected and the National Security Council met Saturday to discuss the fallout. The directive from CISA: https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/12/13/cisa-issues-emergency-directive-mitigate-compromise-solarwinds-orion-network Quotes The Reuters news piece talking about the original hack: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-amazon-com-exclsuive/exclusive-u-s-treasury-breached-by-hackers-backed-by-foreign-government-sources-idUSKBN28N0PG The IT services company, SolarWinds confirmed that they were the subject of a highly sophisticated hack: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-solarwinds-cyber/it-company-solarwinds-says-it-may-have-been-hit-in-highly-sophisticated-hack-idUSKBN28N0Y7 SolarWinds has a number of high profile contracts providing IT services, with their website indicating they provide IT services to 425 of the Fortune 500 companies, and various US government departments, such as NOAA, the Pentagon, State Department, the US Postal Service, Office of the President of the United States, and all five branches of the US Military. For those not familiar with it, SolarWinds is a network management system (NMS), and is one of the more ubiquitous network management systems out there. These systems are usually used to monitor, control, and configure network devices and critical servers, and often have critical access to most (often all) systems on the network. A NMS not only has the ability to monitor all systems on the network, but also maintain the availability of the more critical systems on the network, and as such, they have the ability to monitor and control services becoming unresponsive and restarting them, all before a network admin even becomes aware of an issue. Fireeye, a IT cybersecurity company (and also one of the companies affected by the hack) had this article up on their site on the SolarWinds hack: https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/12/evasive-attacker-leverages-solarwinds-supply-chain-compromises-with-sunburst-backdoor.html Basically, what Fireeye is saying is that the malware slips in via a trojan that uses a modified version of the component of the Orion software framework that contains a backdoor that communicates via HTTP to third party servers. The malware then hides on the network, dormant for roughly two weeks then it retrieves and executes commands, called “Jobs”, that include the ability to transfer files, execute files, profile the system, reboot the machine, and disable system services. It masquerades this activity as the Orion Improvement Program (OIP) protocol and stores reconnaissance results within legitimate plugin configuration files allowing it to blend in with legitimate SolarWinds activity. The backdoor uses multiple obfuscated blocklists to identify forensic and anti-virus tools running as processes, services, and drivers. In all, this is a very big hack, affecting many companies and government agencies.

Hyundai is a massive South Korean chaebol or conglomerate, with business activities in a variety of business sectors beyond cars. It's the second biggest chaebol after Samsung by valuation I believe. So yeah, not totally out of whack of what the company's interests and capabilities are, since they have a hand in almost everything.

Brokerage fees are normal, and are a part of importing the goods commercially. You are paying someone to complete customs paperwork for clearance, and to use a customs broker's bond to pay for the clearance until the broker gets reimbursed. So unless you clear the importation yourself (which can take 1-2 hours to do with physical forms), you are paying for the service of importation. And there can be a lot to the customs paperwork for a lay person, and most customs brokers have specialized education and training to do. Let me know if you can figure out a CBSA B3 form, plus if your time and money is worth it to go to a CBSA inland office (not a normal CBSA office!), wait in line for an hour or two, come back home, and send back the completed paperwork to the courier. For many people and companies, this isn't worth it, unless you are a fairly large company and actually has the ability to self-clear goods yourself (and even then, that's a privilege CBSA grants to only certain companies that meet their requirements). FYI, courier are under very heavy scrutiny by CBSA to ensure compliance. What likely happened with you is that you got your goods under Release Prior to Payment (which means FedEx had to use their customs bond to account for the goods), and they would bill you later for the clearance. This is changing; CBSA is saying in the future, companies like FedEx cannot rely on their customs bond, and instead, it is the importer of record that must have a customs bond in place in order for someone to enjoy Release Prior to Payment. This means that for imports, when the goods cross the border, they need to have their duties and taxes already paid for, or else significant penalties will be applied to the shipping company and the importer (with the knock on effect that CBSA will now have both you and the shipping company in the system as causing problems in the past, and thus they will much more heavily scrutinize you in the future). This will have a knock on effect for couriers; they will very likely won't allow goods to cross the border unless either someone has already cleared the goods, OR they pay the duties and taxes, and you reimburse the courier for that. In short, you won't get your goods in your hands in the future unless you have paid the duties and taxes up front.

That looks about normal; brokerage fees for both the major couriers, or through a customs brokerage firm is about $25-35 bucks, depending on the firm, plus taking on duties and taxes. You won't be able to avoid the brokerage fee, unless you are willing and have the know how to fill out the customs forms yourself and go to a customs office to have the paperwork stamped by a customs officer, and pay for the duties and taxes. The question is, is $25-35 bucks really worth your time and effort to print and fill out the forms, go to a customs office, wait in line for an hour, get your paperwork approved, make the payment, and send the completed paperwork back to the courier so they are authorized to release the shipment.

Oh, we did that. Small tests orders for the first batch often came in fine, exactly like the samples, with third party lab testing verification, but when we asked them to repeat the production run with no changes, there are changes.

The problem from my experience dealing with Chinese companies is that often, they'll say and promise one thing, and will do their damn best to hide the true situation, or deliver something that falls far short of what was promised. And when you confront the company about the issue; they'll often just ignore you. And if you cut them off, they'll just shut down the company, and restart it again almost the same day, and you're back at square one trying to figure out if the new company you've started working with is going to pull the same stunt with you again. There are some Chinese companies that do actually care about their reputations and try to produce quality goods, but those companies are few and hard to find.

Those of us on Floatplane will probably be piling onto Dell even more later on... But yeah, that phone sales experience with Dell was brutal. Completely unethical and not helpful at all. Overcharged, poorly specced (even Alienware would have been a better deal), and an overall piss poor experience. I wonder if the video has gotten to someone at Dell internally at a senior level, and they've reached out to Linus already to try to figure out what happened. This isn't good publicity for them to be seen basically scamming unwitting people, as this could lead to government agencies taking a closer look at Dell's business practices, leading to potential fines.

The way I see it is that depending on what Nvidia determines is the truth, if they do decide to punish MSI, I can see them go with one of three options, depending on how angry Nvidia is: 1. Temporary suspension of MSI from AIB program: Basically, MSI gets dropped from Nvidia's AIB program, with remaining contracts with MSI fullfilled. Nvidia will reinstate MSI at a later date once Nvidia is satisfied that MSI has cleaned up their act. 2. Permanent suspension of MSI from AIB program, but allow existing contracts to be fulfilled. MSI can still make Nvidia cards, just with existing inventory and orders until they run out, and from there on, MSI is on it's own. 3. Permanent suspension of MSI from AIB program, with immediate termination. That means Nvidia immediately cuts off MSI from all Nvidia chips directly from them, demands MSI stop selling Nvidia cards, and return inventory.

Well, apparently Nvidia is now involved per JayzTwoCents and now Linus, and depending on what Nvidia finds out, they might go nuclear on MSI and drop them from their AIB program.

$400-500 isn't a lot; you're definitely looking at a used camera. B&H, and KEH are good sources of used gear in the US, so look at both.

The deal between Nikola and GM was supposed to have closed today, but it appears talks have been extended. In addition to fraud allegations being faced by Trevor Milton, he's also been accused of sexual assault by at least two women: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/nikolas-deal-with-gm-was-supposd-to-close-today-it-didnt/ Per available public filings, the deal between Nikola and GM now has a deadline of December 3rd to be finalized before either party can walk away. In addition, Nikola's business strategy overview was recently changed, and all mentions of the Badger truck have been dropped from the documents. Signs of GM having second thoughts after the explosive allegations of fraud were leveled at Nikola?

The Financial Times is reporting that Nikola's former chairman and founder, Trevor Milton bought truck designs from a third party for the Nikola One, which he then turned around and patented, trying to pass it off as his own work. This while claiming in a lawsuit against Tesla in 2018 that the design for the Nikola One as being a design he invented in his basement by himself:

The way I see is that you originally bought the vehicle with one set of specs. That was what was advertised to you at the time, and what you paid for. The manufacturer then turns around and offers a $2000 upgrade which improves the performance by a small amount. It's performance in addition to what you originally bought, and in most cases, there is no expectation that a vendor would supply a free upgrade months or years down the line for most products, unless one was promised to you at the time of purchase.

Canon has announced the EOS C70 cinema camera, the first Canon RF mount cinema camera for video work: From DPReview https://www.dpreview.com/news/4191695857/canon-announces-the-eos-c70-a-cinema-eos-camera-in-a-mirrorless-body Seems like a fairly compelling cinema camera; it's a very small body that can capture 4K at 60p with 16+ of dynamic range or 4K at 120p on a dual gain Super 35 sensor, has an internal motorized 10 stop ND filter, has Canon's excellent Dual Pixel AF, with all sorts of video-centric features for about $5499. It is also actively cooled, with the air intake system is separated from the electrical systems. Also announced is a EF to RF mount adapter with a native speed booster. In all, it's a package that seems like an excellent run and gun video camera, with the ability to take advantage of all of the new Canon RF mount lenses.