It was apparent, soon after Steve Jobs' return to Apple, that he'd not only studied Louis Gerstner's turnaround at IBM, but also had decided to go one better. He set what is now the gold standard in turnarounds. Jobs did that by cutting Apple to the bone, massively simplifying its product lines, and convincing Bill Gates to invest in Apple (which had to be incredibly painful for him). Dell, on the other hand, appeared to be at the top of its game, tied at the hip to Microsoft and doing very well. All was not well under the covers, however. Michael Dell wanted to retire, and Microsoft was well into making what likely was its biggest mistake: pivoting from a focus on users to a focus on companies. Microsoft also was reeling from an antitrust action. On top of that, and likely because of it, Bill Gates wanted out. HP was sick, in need of fresh blood, and basically treading water. It wasn't clear if it knew who its customers were. It was in far too many businesses, with little resources to fully fund any of the efforts. It looked a lot like IBM did before it collapsed in the 1980s, and if one word could have summed up the firm, it might have been "geriatric." Lenovo largely was unknown in North America. It was a powerful company in China, but China had yet to become a true world power in technology -- and like most Chinese companies, Lenovo was having trouble breaking out of the region. It desperately needed an edge, but it wasn't clear where it could get one, and few outside of China took the company seriously. 2010: The Decade It All Changed Again This decade found Apple as the most valuable company in the world and Steve Jobs the CEO of the decade. He had done something amazing at least twice -- first in seeing the opportunity of the iPod and pivoting the entire company to it, and next in cannibalizing the iPod for the iPhone. He nearly singlehandedly created the impression the PC was dead, which is kind of interesting since Apple really launched the modern PC. Dell had been through a number of changes and was in the midst of a major transformation. There were doubts that Dell would survive. Its attempts to follow Apple in both MP3 players and smartphones had failed spectacularly, leading some to doubt the firm had long to live. There wasn't a death watch, as there had been with Apple, but Dell was in trouble -- largely because Microsoft had lost its way, and its pivot from users to enterprises had gone very badly for the PC business. HP, which was headquartered near Apple and followed IBM closely, had observed both successful turnarounds -- but it ignored everything it learned. It seemed there was no mistake it didn't want to repeat. Then it brought in an industry expert, Mark Hurd, and he was making solid progress. HP seemed to be out of the weeds, and it even bought Palm and had a solid plan on how to pivot the company to compete better with Apple. Everything was looking pretty good. After acquiring IBM's PC business, Lenovo had become a force to be reckoned with. It reversed a bad decision to divest phones and was back in that business, but still mostly in China. It was the only company heavily in the PC business, other than Apple, that could showcase success in phones as well. Lenovo was making it clear that a Chinese company could execute out of China. Its headwinds increased animosity between the U.S. and Chinese governments, which created a drag on business but not execution. 2016 Status Report Apple is weakening, but it's far from being in trouble. It doesn't seem able to lead anymore, however. Rather than following Steve Jobs' model of focused, simple products, it now offers products that are starting to look like the industry standard. They are relatively difficult to use (compared to earlier Apple offerings), and there's an increasing number of products to choose from. Tablets are in decline, smartwatches have yet to take off, and the company's risky pivot to cars has yet to materialize. The move away from phone subsidies appears to be killing its unusually high market share for a premium product (it's typically closer to 10 percent than the near 50 percent it once enjoyed) and forcing it to bring out cheaper phones. Instead of leading, it appears to be following -- at least with tablets. Dell did the impossible and went private, realizing that a big part of the problem with every company in this segment is the forced focus on quarterly results and expensive efforts to prop up valuations. For once, Apple seems to be following it into business with a tablet line (iPad Pro). However, Dell still lacks any smartphone presence, and that is likely its biggest client exposure. Microsoft has a subject matter expert running the firm, and it appears to be recovering as a result, though its move into hardware with the Surface line has introduced a new exposure for Dell. Dell currently is in the process of buying EMC -- and if successful, that could make it the most powerful company in enterprise technology, with a blend of software, services and hardware that could be unmatched. That potential has yet to be realized, though, because the merger isn't complete. Having seen the Apple turnaround, the IBM turnaround, Lenovo's growth after buying the PC business, Sun's failure to pivot to software, and Mark Hurd's success, HP came up with a new plan. After being proven right in deciding that keeping PCs was a good idea, it first decided to pivot to software with a new CEO who didn't even last a year. Then it brought in a CEO who had even less industry experience than Carly Fiorina had, and she decided to ignore everything -- most recently spinning off the PC and printer business. What remains are two companies -- both now far better focused, but also with reduced economies of scale. HP Inc. has the stronger management team, but it is saddled with both massive debt and printers. HP Enterprise is relatively debt-free, but it lacks experienced leadership. HP's last 16 years -- with the partial exception of Mark Hurd's time there (he did showcase why office affairs are dangerous) -- provide a strong example of what not to do. Lenovo is now a world power, on paper. Having recently acquired both Motorola and IBM's server business, it now is the only company with credible presence not only in every major market, but also in every major computing arena. It has a significant world presence in smartphones, tablets, PCs and servers. It is light on software, preferring partnering to owning, and it is light on services. However, in terms of computing hardware breadth, it is unmatched. Lenovo currently is experiencing financial pain as a result of two huge simultaneous mergers, but it actually appears to be pulling the move off, and it has been making major staffing realignments to finish the process.
Monday, April 25, 2016
boys like it
It was apparent, soon after Steve Jobs' return to Apple, that he'd not only studied Louis Gerstner's turnaround at IBM, but also had decided to go one better. He set what is now the gold standard in turnarounds. Jobs did that by cutting Apple to the bone, massively simplifying its product lines, and convincing Bill Gates to invest in Apple (which had to be incredibly painful for him). Dell, on the other hand, appeared to be at the top of its game, tied at the hip to Microsoft and doing very well. All was not well under the covers, however. Michael Dell wanted to retire, and Microsoft was well into making what likely was its biggest mistake: pivoting from a focus on users to a focus on companies. Microsoft also was reeling from an antitrust action. On top of that, and likely because of it, Bill Gates wanted out. HP was sick, in need of fresh blood, and basically treading water. It wasn't clear if it knew who its customers were. It was in far too many businesses, with little resources to fully fund any of the efforts. It looked a lot like IBM did before it collapsed in the 1980s, and if one word could have summed up the firm, it might have been "geriatric." Lenovo largely was unknown in North America. It was a powerful company in China, but China had yet to become a true world power in technology -- and like most Chinese companies, Lenovo was having trouble breaking out of the region. It desperately needed an edge, but it wasn't clear where it could get one, and few outside of China took the company seriously. 2010: The Decade It All Changed Again This decade found Apple as the most valuable company in the world and Steve Jobs the CEO of the decade. He had done something amazing at least twice -- first in seeing the opportunity of the iPod and pivoting the entire company to it, and next in cannibalizing the iPod for the iPhone. He nearly singlehandedly created the impression the PC was dead, which is kind of interesting since Apple really launched the modern PC. Dell had been through a number of changes and was in the midst of a major transformation. There were doubts that Dell would survive. Its attempts to follow Apple in both MP3 players and smartphones had failed spectacularly, leading some to doubt the firm had long to live. There wasn't a death watch, as there had been with Apple, but Dell was in trouble -- largely because Microsoft had lost its way, and its pivot from users to enterprises had gone very badly for the PC business. HP, which was headquartered near Apple and followed IBM closely, had observed both successful turnarounds -- but it ignored everything it learned. It seemed there was no mistake it didn't want to repeat. Then it brought in an industry expert, Mark Hurd, and he was making solid progress. HP seemed to be out of the weeds, and it even bought Palm and had a solid plan on how to pivot the company to compete better with Apple. Everything was looking pretty good. After acquiring IBM's PC business, Lenovo had become a force to be reckoned with. It reversed a bad decision to divest phones and was back in that business, but still mostly in China. It was the only company heavily in the PC business, other than Apple, that could showcase success in phones as well. Lenovo was making it clear that a Chinese company could execute out of China. Its headwinds increased animosity between the U.S. and Chinese governments, which created a drag on business but not execution. 2016 Status Report Apple is weakening, but it's far from being in trouble. It doesn't seem able to lead anymore, however. Rather than following Steve Jobs' model of focused, simple products, it now offers products that are starting to look like the industry standard. They are relatively difficult to use (compared to earlier Apple offerings), and there's an increasing number of products to choose from. Tablets are in decline, smartwatches have yet to take off, and the company's risky pivot to cars has yet to materialize. The move away from phone subsidies appears to be killing its unusually high market share for a premium product (it's typically closer to 10 percent than the near 50 percent it once enjoyed) and forcing it to bring out cheaper phones. Instead of leading, it appears to be following -- at least with tablets. Dell did the impossible and went private, realizing that a big part of the problem with every company in this segment is the forced focus on quarterly results and expensive efforts to prop up valuations. For once, Apple seems to be following it into business with a tablet line (iPad Pro). However, Dell still lacks any smartphone presence, and that is likely its biggest client exposure. Microsoft has a subject matter expert running the firm, and it appears to be recovering as a result, though its move into hardware with the Surface line has introduced a new exposure for Dell. Dell currently is in the process of buying EMC -- and if successful, that could make it the most powerful company in enterprise technology, with a blend of software, services and hardware that could be unmatched. That potential has yet to be realized, though, because the merger isn't complete. Having seen the Apple turnaround, the IBM turnaround, Lenovo's growth after buying the PC business, Sun's failure to pivot to software, and Mark Hurd's success, HP came up with a new plan. After being proven right in deciding that keeping PCs was a good idea, it first decided to pivot to software with a new CEO who didn't even last a year. Then it brought in a CEO who had even less industry experience than Carly Fiorina had, and she decided to ignore everything -- most recently spinning off the PC and printer business. What remains are two companies -- both now far better focused, but also with reduced economies of scale. HP Inc. has the stronger management team, but it is saddled with both massive debt and printers. HP Enterprise is relatively debt-free, but it lacks experienced leadership. HP's last 16 years -- with the partial exception of Mark Hurd's time there (he did showcase why office affairs are dangerous) -- provide a strong example of what not to do. Lenovo is now a world power, on paper. Having recently acquired both Motorola and IBM's server business, it now is the only company with credible presence not only in every major market, but also in every major computing arena. It has a significant world presence in smartphones, tablets, PCs and servers. It is light on software, preferring partnering to owning, and it is light on services. However, in terms of computing hardware breadth, it is unmatched. Lenovo currently is experiencing financial pain as a result of two huge simultaneous mergers, but it actually appears to be pulling the move off, and it has been making major staffing realignments to finish the process.
Monday, April 18, 2016
A Dramatic 16 Years for 4 Tech Titans
Following Apple's announcement last week, I noticed a number of reports on how disappointed customers were that there was nothing they wanted to wait in line for hours to buy. I personally thought they should have been excited about that, because I hate to stand in lines. I've never really figured out an Apple fanatic's penchant for pain.
Still, it is very clear that today's Apple is a very different company than it was just six years ago. That got me thinking. Dell, HP and Lenovo also are very different. They all have nearly completely different personalities -- and only Dell is run by the same guy (and almost wasn't).
I'll point out the big changes -- some that I think are kind of insane -- and close with my product of the week: a little gadget that can make your car smart (well, smarter anyway).
2000: The Decade It All Changed
It was apparent, soon after Steve Jobs' return to Apple, that he'd not only studied Louis Gerstner's turnaround at IBM, but also had decided to go one better. He set what is now the gold standard in turnarounds. Jobs did that by cutting Apple to the bone, massively simplifying its product lines, and convincing Bill Gates to invest in Apple (which had to be incredibly painful for him).
Dell, on the other hand, appeared to be at the top of its game, tied at the hip to Microsoft and doing very well. All was not well under the covers, however. Michael Dell wanted to retire, and Microsoft was well into making what likely was its biggest mistake: pivoting from a focus on users to a focus on companies. Microsoft also was reeling from an antitrust action. On top of that, and likely because of it, Bill Gates wanted out.
HP was sick, in need of fresh blood, and basically treading water. It wasn't clear if it knew who its customers were. It was in far too many businesses, with little resources to fully fund any of the efforts. It looked a lot like IBM did before it collapsed in the 1980s, and if one word could have summed up the firm, it might have been "geriatric."
Lenovo largely was unknown in North America. It was a powerful company in China, but China had yet to become a true world power in technology -- and like most Chinese companies, Lenovo was having trouble breaking out of the region. It desperately needed an edge, but it wasn't clear where it could get one, and few outside of China took the company seriously.
2010: The Decade It All Changed Again
This decade found Apple as the most valuable company in the world and Steve Jobs the CEO of the decade. He had done something amazing at least twice -- first in seeing the opportunity of the iPod and pivoting the entire company to it, and next in cannibalizing the iPod for the iPhone.
He nearly singlehandedly created the impression the PC was dead, which is kind of interesting since Apple really launched the modern PC.
Dell had been through a number of changes and was in the midst of a major transformation. There were doubts that Dell would survive. Its attempts to follow Apple in both MP3 players and smartphones had failed spectacularly, leading some to doubt the firm had long to live.
There wasn't a death watch, as there had been with Apple, but Dell was in trouble -- largely because Microsoft had lost its way, and its pivot from users to enterprises had gone very badly for the PC business.
HP, which was headquartered near Apple and followed IBM closely, had observed both successful turnarounds -- but it ignored everything it learned. It seemed there was no mistake it didn't want to repeat.
Then it brought in an industry expert, Mark Hurd, and he was making solid progress. HP seemed to be out of the weeds, and it even bought Palm and had a solid plan on how to pivot the company to compete better with Apple. Everything was looking pretty good.
After acquiring IBM's PC business, Lenovo had become a force to be reckoned with. It reversed a bad decision to divest phones and was back in that business, but still mostly in China. It was the only company heavily in the PC business, other than Apple, that could showcase success in phones as well.
Lenovo was making it clear that a Chinese company could execute out of China. Its headwinds increased animosity between the U.S. and Chinese governments, which created a drag on business but not execution.
2016 Status Report
Apple is weakening, but it's far from being in trouble. It doesn't seem able to lead anymore, however. Rather than following Steve Jobs' model of focused, simple products, it now offers products that are starting to look like the industry standard. They are relatively difficult to use (compared to earlier Apple offerings), and there's an increasing number of products to choose from.
Tablets are in decline, smartwatches have yet to take off, and the company's risky pivot to cars has yet to materialize. The move away from phone subsidies appears to be killing its unusually high market share for a premium product (it's typically closer to 10 percent than the near 50 percent it once enjoyed) and forcing it to bring out cheaper phones. Instead of leading, it appears to be following -- at least with tablets.
Dell did the impossible and went private, realizing that a big part of the problem with every company in this segment is the forced focus on quarterly results and expensive efforts to prop up valuations.
For once, Apple seems to be following it into business with a tablet line (iPad Pro). However, Dell still lacks any smartphone presence, and that is likely its biggest client exposure.
Microsoft has a subject matter expert running the firm, and it appears to be recovering as a result, though its move into hardware with the Surface line has introduced a new exposure for Dell.
Dell currently is in the process of buying EMC -- and if successful, that could make it the most powerful company in enterprise technology, with a blend of software, services and hardware that could be unmatched. That potential has yet to be realized, though, because the merger isn't complete.
Having seen the Apple turnaround, the IBM turnaround, Lenovo's growth after buying the PC business, Sun's failure to pivot to software, and Mark Hurd's success, HP came up with a new plan.
After being proven right in deciding that keeping PCs was a good idea, it first decided to pivot to software with a new CEO who didn't even last a year. Then it brought in a CEO who had even less industry experience than Carly Fiorina had, and she decided to ignore everything -- most recently spinning off the PC and printer business.
What remains are two companies -- both now far better focused, but also with reduced economies of scale. HP Inc. has the stronger management team, but it is saddled with both massive debt and printers. HP Enterprise is relatively debt-free, but it lacks experienced leadership.
HP's last 16 years -- with the partial exception of Mark Hurd's time there (he did showcase why office affairs are dangerous) -- provide a strong example of what not to do.
Lenovo is now a world power, on paper. Having recently acquired both Motorola and IBM's server business, it now is the only company with credible presence not only in every major market, but also in every major computing arena.
It has a significant world presence in smartphones, tablets, PCs and servers. It is light on software, preferring partnering to owning, and it is light on services. However, in terms of computing hardware breadth, it is unmatched.
Lenovo currently is experiencing financial pain as a result of two huge simultaneous mergers, but it actually appears to be pulling the move off, and it has been making major staffing realignments to finish the process.
Looking Forward
Apple appears to be pivoting from consumer to enterprise, and it likely should take a look at how that screwed up Microsoft to see what not to do. Its choice to partner with IBM and Cisco rather than do it all is a good indicator that it actually may avoid repeating some of Microsoft's mistakes.
However, tight partnerships aren't Apple's strength, and the firms will need to become closely coupled -- at least with regard to their joint business efforts -- in order to work. Still, the market hasn't adjusted to looking at Apple the way it is rather than the way it was. When it does that, the result could be economically painful. Still, I expect that will leave Apple in a better place with more reasonable expectations.
Dell has to complete the EMC merger and address, either through product or partnering, its lack of presence with handheld devices. It could pivot the market, like Apple did, but it can't continue to act as if smartphones don't exist.
However, once it completes the EMC merger and both firms are private, it will have a flexibility that no other firm in its segment has, as well as resources that match or exceed all other players. If it plays its cards right, Dell has the best chance to emerge at the end of 2020 as the most powerful U.S. tech company. Whether it is the most powerful in the world likely will depend on what happens between the U.S. and China.
HP... well, HP as we knew it effectively is gone. It has been replaced by two smaller, more focused companies. The PC firm is back where Dell was in 2000 but with printers. The enterprise firm is a weak clone of IBM.
Focusing on the PC side, HP needs some kind of an iPod breakout product. 3D printing could be it, and it could flip printing from a liability to an asset again. I actually see some good things out of the printer unit in product and marketing execution, and it has a strong leadership team. However, I'm seeing more folks angling to get out of both companies than I'm seeing at any other firms in technology, and that makes HP's future less certain.
Lenovo has to lock down the Motorola and IBM server mergers, and it appears to be nearing the end of that process. Once done, it has to be able to show some kind of end-to-end synergy for the market to truly get excited about the result.
It remains the only firm trying to replicate Steve Jobs with Ashton Kutcher, a strategy that still has unmet potential. It also has one of the strongest product marketing people (David Roman) I've ever met.
Lenovo is now the strongest technology company in China, and it has a shot at becoming the strongest technology company in the world in 2020. That depends on what happens between the U.S. and China. Lenovo is more of a multinational, though, and that may give it a unique edge.
Wrapping Up
Now there are a number of other major and fringe players that could disrupt the hell out of all of this. Amazon in particular, with its heavy focus on cloud services -- even though it bounced with smartphones -- could be the tech company to watch.
Samsung, LG, Huawei, Alibaba, and others from overseas also could disrupt this entire process by the decade's end. That's not even considering the impacts of war or massive natural or manmade disasters that could change dramatically what people buy.
Finally, robotics, 3D printing and artificial intelligence could change the tech landscape massively by decade's end. As a result, the only thing we can be sure of is that 2020 will be very different from 2016.
Unless it's a Tesla, my advice on the cusp of the era of self-driving cars is to not buy a new car right now. The reason is that I'm told that once self-driving cars hit critical mass, insurance companies will change fees dramatically, and cars that aren't self-driving will become too expensive to own.
That said, a lot of the smart connected stuff is just arriving on new cars, and some of it is pretty cool.
Automatic is the best tool to bring some of this smart technology into an older car that I've yet seen.
Automatic Connected Car Adapter
Its big value is that if you get into an accident, it automatically will use your phone to call for help. Also, it will give you Fitbit-like reports on your driving, helping you to drive more safely and economically. It will connect to an increasing number of third-party apps to provide other functions connected to your smartphone.
What makes Automatic nice is that it costs just US$99, and there is no subscription. It will give you a feeling for what is coming without buying a new car (it worked fine with my 2008 Audi A3), and it is very easy to install.
Be aware that it pulls power, so you don't want to leave it attached if you are away from your car for a long time.
Because Automatic makes a dumb car a tad smarter -- oh, and it works with Amazon Echo -- it is my product of the week. 
That Time When Instead of Saying 'April Fool!' Google Had to Say 'Sorry!
Unintentional consequences led Google to pull its April Fools' prank, Gmail Mic Drop, a few hours after launching it on Friday.
The joke let users claim the last word in an email thread by clicking on the "Send + Mic Drop" option. A GIF of a minion from the animated movieDespicable Me -- would accompany the reply, and the sender would not receive any further responses to the thread.
The "send and mic drop" button, which was located next to the "send" button, replaced the "send and archive" button.
"Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We're truly sorry," said Victor-bogdan Anchidin, a Google software engineer.
User Reactions
"Accidentally hit this new 'mic drop' button halfway through composing a professional email. Dying to remove this thing," Sam Culkins wrote on the Gmail Help forum.
"I don't want and don't need 'Send and Drop Mic,'" wrote chuckfulton7134. "How do I delete that rather obnoxious orange button? I especially don't want to click it by accident and end a conversation unintentionally."
One writer claimed to have lost his job because he inadvertently sent articles to his editor using the Mic Drop button. Another user claimed he lost a job opportunity after accidentally activating the feature in an email containing his resume.
Why the Prank Failed
Google has been successful with previous April Fools' pranks, including the Google Racing Nascar prank back in 2013. Jointly created with NASCAR, MentalPlex and Luna/X, it listed fictitious job opportunities for a research center on the moon.
So why did the Gmail Mic Drop prank fail?
"You never mess with what someone uses to get work done," noted Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
Send and Mic Drop "was ill-considered," he told TechNewsWorld. It was the kind of prank that "might be fun in a department, but one that would always be a disaster if done on a national scale."
Poor timing may have played a part.
"The genealogy of this prank clearly maps to what's happening with the Hillary emails," observed Mike Jude, a research manager at Frost & Sullivan. "People are very polarized on this subject."
The Need to Play Pranks
April Fools' Day is like a pressure valve for society that recalibrates things back into place, according to sociologist Jonathan Wynn. Pranks provide a chance to break not just norms, but the norms of order.
A good prank can serve as a reminder that we're all human, suggested psychologist Kelly Motner.
"A sense of humor is a good thing," remarked Jim Tirias, principal analyst atTirias Research.
"I put a WAV file on a colleague's computer once that would crank up the volume and start yelling, 'I'm watching porno,'" he confessed to TechNewsWorld.
April Fools' Day Pranks of Yore
Orbitz launched a time travel website on April Fools Day 2013, offering excursions to the past and the future.
"We're driving up a huge sale on hotels to infinity and beyond!" the website exclaimed. "Save big on hotels across time, now until April 2, 2013."
Google "has been responsible for some of the better tech-related pranks of the past few years, including Google Gulp in 2005, Gmail Paper in 2007, andGoogle Translate for Animals in 2010," recalled Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
He also has "a soft spot for some of the goofy products" Think Geek launches on April Fools' Day. "The fact that the company occasionally turns joke products into real offerings is the best prank of all."
April Fools' jokes "are only amusing when they poke fun at frivolous things," King told TechNewsWorld. "That's a point Google likely now understands fully."
WhatsApp Encryption Ups Privacy Ante
WhatsApp on Tuesday told its 1 billion users that their communications would be better protected from prying eyes with end-to-end encryption.
The company always has made data and communication security a priority, according to Jan Koum and Brian Acton, the founders of WhatsApp, which Facebook bought for US$19 billion in 2014.
"From now on when you and your contacts use the latest version of the app, every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send, is end to end encrypted by default, including group chats," they wrote in a blog post.
ignal Protocol
WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is accomplished through the use of the Signal Protocol, developed byOpen Whisper Systems.
The company has been working with WhatsApp for a year to integrate the technology with all the platforms WhatsApp works on, including chats, group chats, attachments, voice notes and voice calls across Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Nokia S40, Nokia S60, BlackBerry and BB10.
During the transition period while users upgrade to the new version of WhatsApp, there will be some unencrypted text, also known as plaintext, on the system, said Moxie Marlinspike, a member of Open Whisper's management team.
"To make this transition as clear as possible," he said, "WhatsApp clients notify users when their chats become end to end encrypted."
User Alerts
Starting Tuesday, WhatsApp users began seeing notices on their conversation screens, as well as under a chat's preference screen, when an individual or group chat is end to end encrypted.
"Once a client recognizes a contact as being fully e2e capable, it will not permit transmitting plaintext to that contact, even if that contact were to downgrade to a version of the software that is not fully e2e capable. This prevents the server or a network attacker from being able to perform a downgrade attack," Marlinspike said.
The Signal Protocol has more than a billion monthly active users worldwide, he added.
"Over the next year," Marlinspike added, "we will continue to work with additional messengers to amplify the impact and scope of private communication."
Appropriate Response
More companies should emulate WhatsApp's attitude toward encryption, maintained Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst at IT-Harvest.
"It's the appropriate response of vendors of communication tools that need privacy," he told TechNewsWorld.
"It pushes the care and feeding of the encryption keys to the users. That offloads discovery and all the hassles with requests from law enforcement to decrypt captured data," Stiennon said.
"It's the only economically viable solution for anyone who does this," he added.
Conflicting Interests
Although WhatsApp recognized that end-to-end encryption can be a barrier to effective law enforcement, Koum and Acton defended the company's use of the technology, asserting that efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing users' information to abuse from cybercriminals and rogue countries.
"While WhatsApp is among the few communication platforms to build full end-to-end encryption that is on by default for everything you do, we expect that it will ultimately represent the future of personal communication," the pair added.
If that happens, however, confrontations between tech companies and law enforcement agencies likely will escalate.
"We're definitely going to see more incidents," said Matthew Green, a professor specializing in cryptography at Johns Hopkins University.
"Law enforcement is hugely dependent on wiretaps," he told TechNewsWorld. "Since we've only begun to see data encrypted, we're only at the beginning of this controversy."
Imperfect Protection
While end-to-end encryption is a strong measure to protect privacy, the messages of WhatsApp users still can be exposed in other ways, warned Cris Thomas, a strategist with Tenable Network Security.
"If you're using an unencrypted iCloud backup or someone has access to your Android device, your messages are still readable," he told TechNewsWorld.
End-to-end encryption is akin to transporting valuables in an armored car, Thomas said. "The messages while in transit are secure, but the endpoints are still vulnerable."
In addition, although WhatsApp can't decrypt the data on users' phones, it still has the metadata about their activity -- their phone numbers, who they messaged and when they message them.
"All of that is still subject to subpoena," Thomas said. "It's just the content that is now protected."
Gadget Ogling: Food Frenzies and Rollerblade Off-Roading
Hello friends, and welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that plays a chess game with the latest gadget announcements, knocking off the pawns to get to the kings and queens.
In our entirely unplanned mostly food-focused edition this week are a smart pressure rice cooker, a cold-pressed juicer, a connected refillable wine bottle -- and rollerblades for rough surfaces.
As always, the ratings indicate only how much I'd like to try each item with my very own hands (or feet). These are very much not reviews.
Rice Is Nice
Of all the kitchen gadgets I own, the rice cooker is possibly my second-most favorite after the tea kettle. Sure, I could make rice in a pot, but the dedicated rice cooker makes it much easier to attend to other details instead of watching the pot.
Xiaomi's pressurized version might prove even better. It recognizes the type of rice from a barcode scan and cooks it perfectly, keeping more nutrients locked in, since it won't let steam escape. It has a nonstick, cast iron pot that should help ensure even cooking.
At around US$150, that seems like a good deal. I just wonder if I might be able to use it to pull off some of the recipes from Roger Ebert's rice cooker cookbookeffectively too.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Having a (Rice) Balls
Off-Road Rollerblading
If there's something society as a collective consciousness ever yearned for, it's the ability to take rollerblades from smooth city streets to hiking trails. It's a fact.
An inventor has conjured up a pair with rubber treads rather than wheels, and the motor can scoot you as far as 12 miles over grass, gravel or dirt.
Polish inventor Jack Skopinski recently debuted his latest electric people-mover: a set of battery-powered off-road rollerblades that handle dirt trails as well as they do city streets. Each boot is outfitted with a 350 W DC motor that propels the rider for up to 12 miles as fast as 9 miles per hour.
The blades probably have more usefulness than one of those self-balancing scooter boards some people are calling "hoverboards," though I'm far more likely to lose my balance on them.
They're not exactly more portable either, as they weigh in at around 12 pounds. So they're a potentially useful method of beating traffic in the commute, but I hope you have a locker at work, for these won't be fun to carry around in a backpack.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Tread Tracks
Squeezing Your Wallet
If you're into juicing, that's fantastic. Good for you. Seriously, having a ton of raw, organic vegetables going into your body can only prove beneficial. However, I hope all of that nutrition won't somehow affect your thought processes and lead you to buy a Juicero.
This is a $700 cold-pressed juicer that -- while ensuring you won't have to clean a juicer after each use -- seems vastly expensive and overblown for what it offers. It runs on a subscription model, meaning that for between $4 and $7 each time, you'll place a pouch inside the Juicero, dispense your drink, and tell you what's inside.
I just don't understand why Juicero doesn't simply sell the pouches or bottle its juices. I understand freshness of ingredients is of prime importance to Juicero, as it delivers only in California at present. That's admirable. I just can't see the need to have this expensive juicer taking up space on a kitchen counter.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Blended Beets
All the Whine
While we're on the subject of smart food-and-drink products that probably don't need to exist, here's Kuvee's smart wine bottle system. It's designed to help you find new wines to enjoy.
An LED touchscreen provides information on the refill canisters you slide inside, offering details on the flavor profile, winery, proportion of grapes, and food-pairing suggestions. Kuvée grabs all of this knowledge over a WiFi connection, so if your Internet service or Kuvée's servers are down, you'll be in the dark as to what you're drinking.
There are plans for a recommendation system as well, but since the canisters are proprietary, you're limited to Kuvée's own selection of wines.
Again, the cost seems a little high for the value. The bottle costs $200 and refills are between $15 and $50. There is some potential, but I don't yet see how this is better than going to the wine store and getting expert advice from a human and, ideally, getting to try before you buy.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Hints of Oak
A Convoy of Autonomous Trucks Just Platooned Across Europe
A dozen trucks utilizing an autonomous driving system arrived Wednesday in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after traveling across Europe in the European Truck Platooning Challenge.
The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, along with the Directorate General Rijkswaterstaat, the Netherlands Vehicle Authority and the Conference of European Directors of Roads were behind the initiative, which equipped a number of trucks with state-of-the-art driving support systems to create more efficient commercial vehicles.
The European Truck Platooning Challenge featured six truck brands that set out from three locations.
Scania's trucks left from south of Stockholm and headed through Sweden, Denmark and Germany before making it to Rotterdam. Volvo began its trip in Gothenburg and headed through the same countries, and Iveco departed from Brussels. Daimler, MAN and VAF also took part.
Each platoon drove on European motorways in normal traffic conditions.
This project's was designed to create a system that allows commercial trucks to follow one another closely, which would reduce drag, improve safety and potentially create economic growth in the traffic and transport sector.
Each of the test vehicles was connected by WiFi, which allowed for the close platooning that wouldn't be possible with human drivers.
Train on the Road
Platooning in essence is a throwback to the era of rail transport -- but with the freedom to go beyond where tracks are laid.
"This system makes trucks go behind each other so the drag is reduced, where the platoon of trucks becomes more efficient," said Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx.
"It is like a railway train, but nothing is physically coupled together, and this saves on fuel and in turn can reduce pollution," he told TechNewsWorld.
Platooning is more viable on the open highways in Europe than in its congested cities, Harrop noted.
"This type of system can't be as readily used in the cities where a bunch of lunatics might jump out at you. But it solves a problem of congestion outside the cities. You can't build more roads as there isn't room, so this allows you to use those existing roads more efficiently," he said.
Reducing Costs
Another benefit of the system is that it could reduce the two biggest expenses for trucking companies -- drivers and fuel.
"This is really the next proving ground for ground transport and reducing the costs associated with it," said Maryanna Saenko, head of the autonomous systems group at Lux Research.
"The largest cost for trucking companies is the drivers and all that goes with it," she told TechNewsWorld, including insurance costs.
However, autonomous systems won't mean the end of drivers.
"Fully automated trucks are a ways out, but even down the road the aim won't be to replace the driver but to supplement the driver's abilities," Saenko added.
"No one plans on fuel being cheap forever, and fuel costs are still a huge part of the operational costs for trucking companies," she noted.
Automated, Not Autonomous
The technology is still very much an assistance feature, according to Jeremy Carlson, senior analyst for autonomous driving at IHS Automotive.
"This type of automated vehicle takes 98 percent of the miles, but you still need to have a human driver ready to handle some of the scenarios that come with large trucks, including navigating narrow city roads," he told TechNewsWorld.
"We see this automated technology as something that is supported with a driver," Carlson said.
Commercial fleets might adopt the technology faster than passenger vehicles, he added. It would be easier to sell to trucking companies and more economical to install in a fleet.
"However, in a longer timeline it is something that passenger vehicles could use, where cars could join a platoon on the highway," Carlson suggested.
More Truck Traffic
One downside to the technology is that it could put more vehicles on the road in the short term. The truck as a means to move goods overtook the train in the United States following World War II for a number of reasons, including a strong push by the growing automotive industry. Autonomous platooning technology could further allow trucks to remain the de facto commercial transport.
"It could increase the market for trucks in Europe," said IDTechEx's Harrop.
"Some countries like China are building high-speed rail as a means to move goods because they don't have the highway infrastructure, but in America trains barely crawl along in most places," he added.
"Ironically, you could have a railway-like transport system on the road and it could go much faster," Harrop said, "but that could mean the need for more trucks."
Reddit's Blocking Tool Balances Free Speech With Right to Ignore
Reddit this week announced that it has extended the reach of its blocking tool, which was introduced in 2011 to let users fight harassment.
The tool previously focused on blocking private messages; now it can block comments to users' posts.
Clicking the Block User button while viewing a reply will hide the blocked user's profile, comments, posts and messages without that user's knowledge.
The user doing the blocking won't be alerted to further messages from the user being blocked. Users can view or remove blocks on their preferences page.
Sometimes Reddit's openness "can lead to ... spam, trolling and worse, harassment," Reddit's KeyserSosa wrote in a blog post.
If blocking isn't enough, users can report harassment to Reddit's community team.
The Problem of Cyberharassment
Reddit isn't alone in being plagued by trolls and harassers.
"You have cyberbullies on all social media forums," remarked Laura DiDio, a research director at Strategy Analytics.
However, the trolls and cyberbullies appear more likely to take action on Reddit than on other social media sites.
Last year, Redditors launched a successful Change.org petition to force interim CEO Ellen Pao to step down after she cracked down on five subreddits. Two were fat-shaming, one was racist, one homophobic and one targeted gamers.
The petition drew more than 200,000 supporters, and she also received death threats.
Social media sites "can always be abused, and you can always report people and they can always be banned and then they can come back in another guise," DiDio told TechNewsWorld. "These abusers and trolls can morph faster than the Zika virus."
Free Speech Isn't the Issue
Previous attempts to rein in trolling and harassment have been depicted as restricting free speech, but that doesn't apply to extending users' ability to block harassers, contended Mike Jude, program manager atStratecast/Frost & Sullivan.
Instead of having Reddit administrators enforce policy, users are given the power to protect themselves, creating a personal safe space, he told TechNewsWorld.
"Everyone can speak, but people don't have to listen," Jude said. "This lets people opt out and stop listening. That is free speech."
Concerns Among Some Redditors
Admins will see everything, and moderators will still see content from blocked users when it's on a subreddit they moderate.
"Since there's already a way to ban users from subreddits if the whole mod team agrees, we didn't want to create a situation where all of the mods independently block the user, creating a trolly unmoderated troublemaker running around causing unseen havoc," KeyserSosa wrote.
Blocking itself could be turned into a weapon of harassment if users and their friends ganged up to block a particular person, Redditor curien pointed out.
"Why wouldn't normal voting behavior be able to handle this effectively?" asked another Redditor, CuilRunnings.
If others in a subreddit also are blocking a user, "we could end up in a state where there are entire troll threads that dominate but most logged-in users won't see," KeyserSosa replied.
"That sounds crazy," responded justsoyouunderstand. "An entire threat system run by the trolls; the outcasts blocked by and completely invisible to everyone else."
"I'm not sure if it's crazy or awesome," KeyserSosa responded.
It's All a Process
This won't be the last version of the blocking feature, KeyserSosa wrote.
That makes sense, Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan's Jude said.
"The point of any social media site is to attract a substantial number of subscribers so that, ultimately, it can offer services for profit or attract advertisers that want to post ads," he said. "Reddit is simply trying to evolve in a way that allows them to be successful in the future."
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