MSFT Windows News

Microsoft is working on adapting Windows to work on

foldable devices. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans

tell The Verge that the software maker is making foldable

devices and dual-screen hardware a big investment area

for both Windows and Surface. This investment includes

adapting Windows itself and its many built-in apps to work

across foldable displays and devices with dual screens.

While Microsoft has been experimenting with its own

hardware with dual-screens, codenamed Andromeda,

the company has also been working with Intel and other

OEMs to be ready for the next few years of experimentation.

PC makers famously developed a range of 2-in-1 devices for

Windows 8 more than five years ago, and we’re expecting to

see a similar effort for dual-screen and foldable devices for

Windows in the coming years.

Most of this work is related to Microsoft’s Composable Shell

(C-Shell) and Windows Core OS, a more modular version of

the existing Windows Shell that powers many parts of Windows

10 today. The first Windows 10 build (rs_shell_devices_

foldables) designed for foldable devices was spotted earlier this

week, revealing that Microsoft has a dedicated team working on

adapting its Windows shell for this new hardware. This should

come as no surprise to many Windows watchers, as Microsoft

has been gradually integrating more of its dual-screen work into

early Windows 10 builds in recent months.

We’ve only seen Microsoft’s secretive Windows Core OS work

appear on devices like the Surface Hub 2 so far, but hardware

like HoloLens 2 should also start to reveal more of how this new

modular Windows push will play out. Dual-screen and foldable

devices won’t be limited to Intel, either. Expect to see a range

of devices from PC makers that include ARM-powered chips.

Here Comes Apple!

After failing to meet its own shipping timeline in 2018,

Apple is now thought to have two manufacturers ramping

up production of its AirPower wireless charging pad,

according to a Hong Kong-based website that specializes

in device charging news.

As first reported by MacRumors, the website ChargerLAB

tweeted out this morning that it had "just learned from credible

source in supply chain" that Chinese manufacturer Luxshare

Precision has begun manufacturing the AirPower multi-device

wireless charger. ChargerLAB followed its initial tweet with

another claiming a second Apple supplier, Pegatron, will begin

manufacturing AirPower chargers on Jan. 21.

ChargerLab cited a Pegatron employee who said AirPower

will have three layers of copper wireless charging coils, in an

"8-7-7" configuration from bottom to top, which will enable it to

charge an an iPhone 8 or iPhone X, an Apple Watch Series 3

or 4 and AirPods via the charging case.

NY Times Audio

The New York Times is expanding further into audio with

five new offerings for Amazon.com Inc.’s speakers,

including a shorter version of its hit podcast, “The Daily.”

Starting Friday, “The Daily” will produce a news briefing

on weekdays for the Amazon Echo, a voice-enabled

speaker with a built-in assistant named Alexa. The free

news briefing will be sponsored by the carmaker Audi

and be read by host Michael Barbaro.

The 167-year-old paper is trying to rely less on print while

seeking new forms of digital distribution. The new programs

also let the company capitalize on booming sales of smart

speakers -- devices that include Google Home and Apple

HomePod. Last week, Amazon said it has sold more than

100 million products with Alexa built in.

“The Daily” podcast takes a deep dive into a specific news

topic and typically runs about 20 minutes. The new briefing,

in contrast, will only be about three minutes. Owners of

Amazon speakers can start it by saying “Alexa, enable the

New York Times briefing.”

AI Driving

A mobility operating system cannot be privately built, it

must be open and governed by cities, according to the

Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADoT).

Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 in Las

Vegas, LADoT general manager Seleta Reynolds described

how the authority had published specifications to manage

scooters following what she described as an “explosion of

private companies”.

She explained that the first bucket of application programming

interfaces (API) provides consistent ways for companies to

alk to cities and share information with them. The second

bucket of that code puts the LADoT into the product workflow

of those communities.

“We are not tapping them on the shoulders and asking them

for more data sets; instead we are delivering services that

we already deliver today. Eventually, it would be great if we

had a creative set of pricing tools, but we can start at the kerb,”

Reynolds added.

At the same CES session, ‘Creating Seamlessly Integrated,

Connected Mobility Operating Systems’, Scott Corwin, future

of mobility practice leader at Deloitte, warned that a completely

open system where people contribute on their own would attract

small players over big ones - which leaves the question of how

to get to scale.

Happy Birthday

For the first time in many years I am actually home for my wife's birthday and I am not in Las Vegas for CES!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, beautiful "child bride".

CES Keynote

CES 2019 officially began on Tuesday, with Consumer

Technology Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro

and CES Executive Vice President Karen Chupka highlighting

the rise of smart cities, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, and

health tech at this year's show in their opening keynote address.

"Every company is or is becoming a tech company," Shapiro

said. This year's 4,500 exhibitors includes representatives

from every major and emerging industry across 155 countries,

regions, and territories, including companies like John Deere,

Proctor and Gamble, and Raytheon that are integrating

technology into their products and services.

"The only certainty about the future is disruption," Shapiro

said. The pace of technological change is accelerating faster

than anything we've ever experienced, and tech powers

everything we do, he added. This requires us to begin to

think horizontally to how tech can power an entire ecosystem,

from homes to cities to countries, and governments to create

innovation-friendly work and regulatory environments,

Shapiro said.

CES 2019 News

There’s a lot to digest coming out of the first full Media

Day here in Las Vegas for CES 2019, but the one thing

that keeps replaying in my mind is a simple statistic that

was delivered during the TCL keynote on Monday afternoon.

During its press conference, the company highlighted a

shocking piece of information related to TV sales in the U.S.

Specifically, according to TCL’s data, 99 percent of all TVs

that were shipped last year were in the sub-$2,000 price

range. So, on the flip side of that, that means a mere 1

percent of the total shipment volume of TVs in 2018 cost

more than $2,000.

That’s an incredibly important statistic to the consumer

electronics retailer for a number of reasons—namely in that it

confirms our long held belief that consumers hunt for deals on

TVs. But that statistic should also catch the eyes and ears of

TV manufacturers around the globe, who, according to that

data, seem to be out of touch with the mass market. And

nowhere is that more evident than with the number of 8K TV

announcements that were made here.

Coming into CES 2019, we expected to see and hear a great

deal about 8K TVs. And Monday’s Media Day extravaganza

proved us absolutely correct with big names like LG, Samsung,

TCL, and Sony all rolled out their 8K solutions to the public. But

we all know how this is going to go because we’ve all seen and

been through this exact same situation with 4K TVs. Only now it

feels like the industry is getting even further ahead of itself.

Don’t get me wrong, 8K TVs are absolutely gorgeous and will

help push screen sizes in the home beyond what we’d think to

be reasonable—we’re getting close to hitting that triple-digit

mark with these sets, with Samsung checking in with a 98-inch

TV introduction later this year. The video performance of these

TVs is unconscionable. The images pop off of the screen and

make you feel like you could just dive into whatever it is you’re

Watching.

But all we’ve been able to watch from a native 8K-content

perspective so far has been demo reels designed for those TVs.

And that very fact speaks to the larger issue with these

introductions, in that 8K content is so far behind the curve right

now. Each brand used their own technical jargon to describe

how their forthcoming product will expertly upscale any and all

content to make what you’re watching look like 8K. But let’s be

real, it’s not 8K and never will be 8K quality.