This has actually been a very full week of news, to the point that I can’t even fit in that Amazon is buying MGM and how that’ll matter in the the long term but not right away. Oops, I guess I just did.
Here are a few of the other stories I’ve found even more interesting than that in the last couple days.
The Sonos Ecosystem
I recently picked up a Sonos Roam speaker, my first Sonos product. I’ll have more thoughts on the Roam itself at a later time, but I felt it was worth talking about the Sonos Ecosystem specifically.
https://www.thewunderbar.net/blog/2021/5/26/zueabtsnuvf9b4k5rjbs97o6imcbgk
CRTC Gives In to Large ISP’s on Wholesale Rates
The CRTC has somewhat unexpectedly announced that it will not go ahead with the reduced lower wholesale rates for ISP’s that it announced in 2019. Instead, the interim rates that were set will become the permanent rates. The CRTC says it is because ISP’s transitioning to a newer “disaggregated” model means the lower prices were not necessary. That will likely be disputed.
Wholesale rates are the rates that smaller Internet Providers like Teksavvy pay to the larger providers like Shaw and Telus to essentially lease space on their infrastructure. Smaller providers do not have the capability to build out large, nationwide networks, so they are able to lease capacity from the providers that do have those networks, for a price. The CRTC regulates those prices, and in 2019 announced it would be slashing wholesale rates in an attempt to help competition in the wireline internet space. The large ISP’s all appealed the decision, and it has been making its way through the courts and regulatory bodies ever since. Today, the CRTC backed down.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/05/27/crtc-backtracks-on-lowered-wholesale-rates-sets-interim-rates/
USB-C Updates Significantly Increase Power Delivery
When the USB-C conector was introduced to the world in 2015, it brought with it USB Power Delivery. USB-PD was capable of providing up to 100W of power, which is enough to power phones, mainstream laptops, some monitors, and more. Now, the USB Implementers Forum has released the specification for USB-C 2.1, and in it is an update to USB Power Delivery, called Extended Power Range, or EPR. EPR will enable USB C to carry up to 240W of power, a significant increase from the current 100W maximum.
This could lead to many more devices adopting USB-C charging. There are categories of devices that need just more than 100W of power, and now there will be much more headroom. More powerful laptops that still relied on older barrel style chargers could transition to USB C, and other devices that need more than 100W of power could also make the jump.
USB 2.1 will require new chargers and cables, as existing cables will not support the higher wattage, but new devices will come with the necessary cables, and the USB-IF is setting clear standards to ensure cables that support EPR are well marked, and built to a standard so they should all be the same.
I’ve transitioned most of the devices I use every day to USB-C, except for my iPad Air, and I’m personally very excited by this. It may not seem like a huge deal, but long term, this could mean fewer chargers for more devices, and more interoperability. And that is a good thing for everyone.
Tesla No Longer Equipping Vehicles with Radar Sensors
Tesla has stopped building radar sensors into the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, saying that going forward their autopilot and self driving features will rely solely on camera based systems. In the short term, this means that new Tesla deliveries may not actually have all of the autopilot features Tesla currently advertises, with Tesla promising an update in the coming weeks to restore functionality. Model S and Model X vehicles will continue to ship with radar sensors for now.
This is an interesting change from Tesla, and shows both their lack of confidence in radar based systems, and their increased confidence in their ability to create driver assist features using just cameras. Most other vehicles use a combination of radar, lidar, and cameras, and it remains to be seen if this will indeed be a better solution. Tesla is likely using it to save on vehicle costs, and while it is likely the company wouldn’t have made the change if it wasn’t confident in the camera system, it remains to be seen how well this will work in the real world.
https://www.engadget.com/tesla-vision-autopilot-230045425.html
Instagram is Backtracking on Hiding Like Counts, Will Give Users Choice
Instagram has been hiding like counts on posts for several months now, with tests of hiding likes going back nearly two years. The company said it was an attempt to create a more positive environment on the platform. The idea was to try to de-emphasize the like counts, which the company said was becoming an unhealthy competition, especially among younger people. But the change had unintended consequences, especially among small businesses that rely on metrics and visibility to help grow business and revenues. Basically, hiding like counts didn’t have nearly the positive impact Instagram thought it would, and it had more of a negative impact in other areas than anticipated.
So now Instagram is rolling out yet another change, where users will get to decide whether or not they see like counts on posts. This can be turned on or off in a user’s settings, and when on, users can see like counts on posts just like they could in the past.
This is as close to an admission of a mistake as we’re likely to see from Instagram. The company made a huge deal about hiding like counts, and backtracking like this is an admission that it didn’t go as well as they wanted.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22456206/instagram-hiding-likes-experiment-results-platformer
ARM Announces New Reference Cores Based on V9
We’re ending off with something even more nerdy than USB Power Delivery. A few weeks ago ARM announced the V9 instruction set, the first major update to ARM processors in a decade. ARM based processors run on basically everything except windows PC’s, so when ARM updates things, it is a big deal. Now, ARM has announced its first reference processors based on the new instruction set. It includes the X-2 high performance processor, the A710 performance processor, and the A510 efficiency processor. ARM says that with no other customizations, the X-2, A710, and A510 are 30% faster than the X-1, A72 and A52 processors they will replace, while being more power efficient. This could lead to huge gains in both performance and efficiency (read: battery life) in the next generation of ARM processors that use the reference designs. The most notable company that utilizes the reference cores is Qualcomm, with it’s Snapdragon processors that power most Android phones, especially in North America and Europe. Qualcomm’s 2022 lineup of Snapdragon processors will likely include the new ARM cores, and we could see big improvements in 2022 phones because of it.
It is worth noting that while Apple’s A series and M series processors are based on ARM processors, Apple only licenses the ARM instruction set, and builds its own processors from scratch without using these reference designs.