Here are a few of the tech stories that have caught my attention over the last couple days.
CES Moves Online Only in 2021
CES, the largest consumer electronics trade show in the world, will be online only for the 2021 show, scheduled for the first week of January. This comes a few months after it was announced that the show would be a “hybrid” of online and in person events. CES was one of the only trade shows or conferences that still hoped to have an in person component, though admittedly it was the one furthest away when the COVID-19 pandemic started. This is an admission that things will not be back to normal by January, and with the sheer amount of planning and money that is spent by companies and individuals on this trade show, making the decision to go online only as soon as possible gives certainty.
Intel Announces Massive Reorganization Amid Continued Issues
Intel has announced a complete restructure of it’s technology divisions, including the departure of the company’s Chief Engineering Officer. Intel’s systems architecture group is being split into five different teams, with the focus on getting the road map back on track. Intel has struggled significantly in meeting its road maps since 2014, so this move is not a surprise.
Intel has also said it will contemplate using 3rd party fabrication facilities to build its products if they are capable of it before Intel’s in house facilities are. Intel is the only major manufacture of microprocessors that actually owns the facilities to fabricate the products themselves. Other companies, like AMD, nVidia, and even Apple, design their products but then have 3rd party fabs from companies like TSMC or Global Foundries actually manufacture the products. Intel using 3rd parties would be a massive shift for the company, and a huge admission that they can no longer keep up as the market leader in both design and fabrication.
Twitter Contractors Allege Weak Security Practices
In the aftermath of the attack on Twitter on uly 15, it is being reported that as many as 1,500 people had access to the tools that allow viewing and modification of user accounts, and that included many contract employees from 3rd party companies.
This is a very, very bad look for Twitter, especially since the company has been without a Chief Information Security Officer for several months now.
Google One App Offers Free Backups, Still Nowhere Near As Good As Apple
Google lags extremely far behind Apple in terms of data management and backups of mobile devices like phones and tablets. While Apple offers comprehensive backups and restores through iCloud, Google’s solutions have been half hearted at best. Now, Google is making device backups through the Google One app free to use, which can back up unspecified “device data” and Multimedia Messages (MMS). Through Google Drive, some application data and SMS can already be backed, up.
Any improvement is welcome, but frankly Google’s solution for device backup and restore is a complete mess. The company would do well to just start from scratch and make a system that is anywhere as close to what Apple has created for backup and recovery.