Strategy in TECH...
American companies are increasingly moving tech jobs to Canada, where easier immigration policies make it much easier to hire foreign tech workers than it is here in the U.S. where the Administration has taken steps to make it more difficult. That mean these companies are expanding their operations in Canada…especially in their tech divisions…turning certain Canadian cities into the next great tech hubs in North America.
Apple, Inc. announced today that it has upgraded its popular AirPods wireless headphones, with a new Generation 2 model featuring technology that offers more talk time, quicker connects, a hands-free ‘Hey Siri’ capability, and a new wireless charging case.
There are a lot of people excited about facial recognition, but so far the most aggressive experimenters (aside from law enforcement) have been marketers. This is especially true of retailers who see a lot of opportunity to exploit the technology to enhance in-store experiences, conduct research, or to stop shoplifters. Yet new polls show that consumers are truly creeped out by facial recognition, and privacy groups, consumer advocates, and even some regulators are coming out against it the technology.
Eyebrows raised everywhere when privacy-concerned industry watchers discovered that Google had put a microphone in their Nest Secure home alarm system, but failed to disclose that fact. Google says is was simply an “error.” But was it?
The latest data from market research firm Strategy Analytics shows that Amazon is still the king of the smart speaker market – selling more smart speakers than anyone else. But the data also showed something else rather surprising – Google has substantially closed the gap between it and Amazon, coming within about 5.5% of Amazon’s market share numbers in the all-important fourth quarter selling season.
Josh.ai announced this morning that it has partnered with Savant to bring their more intuitive voice command system to one of the leading control systems in custom integration. While there are many advantages to this partnership, a big one is bringing the seamless integration of voice commands to Savant’s renowned user-centric ‘scene’ feature.
New research from Nielsen reinforces an important point for those of us in the residential home entertainment systems – no matter what the platform, Americans have an ‘unwavering love for music.’ File this report in the “Good News” department.
TCL, a leading global TV brand out of China, launched several new A/V products at CES 2019, including new higher end 8K QLED¹ TVs with AI, a whole new range of headphone products, and new home theater soundbars. These products not only expand their assortment, they expand their market position with higher end solutions and advanced technologies.
We have followed Foxconn for years now, first picking up on them in 2012 when news had emerged that a significant Apple supplier was having problems with employees committing suicide – eventually forcing the company to install ‘suicide nets’ on their taller factories and offices to help thwart further suicide attempts. Foxconn has continued on to become one of Apple, Inc.’s largest iPhone supplier of parts and assembly.
CES 2019 is over the hump, closing tomorrow. But the top tech stories are pretty big and pretty clearly defined – and will be quite exciting, when they appear…someday. The top tech stories include – LG’s rollable, bendable OLED displays, Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G – the next generation wireless tech, 8K TVs, autonomous vehicles – both car and motorcycle, and Apple & Siri strike back.
