 Coming up on DTNS, what do you lose if you replace a pro video camera with an iPhone? Stephen Schleicher is here to tell us, plus Rhodes that can charge your car and Europe wants to make it illegal not to have a USB-C port. Daily Tech News Show starts now! This is the Daily Tech News for Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 in Los Angeles. I'm Tom Merritt. And from Studio Redwood, I'm Sarah Lane. I'm from Los Angeles, Texas. I'm Justin Robert Young. And the show's producer, Roger Chang. And joining us, owner and operator of majorspoilers.com and instructor at Fort Hay State University, Stephen Schleicher. Welcome back. Oh, Tom, thank you so much. I'm glad to be here. It's good to have you. We were just talking about jobs in restaurants and the looming everything shortage. Get ready for the holidays, folks. If you want that wider conversation, get our expanded show, Good Day Internet. Become a member at patreon.com slash DTNS. That is where you can join our top patrons like John Atwood, Pat Sheeran, and Degrassia A. Daniels. Let's start with a few tech things you should know. Facebook CTO Mike Schrofer announced that he will step down at some point next year after eight years in the position. He'll become the company's first senior fellow helping out with recruiting and also AI. Andrew Bosworth, who currently heads up consumer hardware, will take over as CTO. Apple's app tracking transparency means an app must get your permission to use an identifier to track your behavior if it wants to share data with third parties for ad purposes. And the Washington Post found, along with privacy software maker lockdown, that three popular iOS games have been sending other data like your IP address, phone storage level, your volume level to an outside ad company. Now one use of that kind of data would be to create what's called a fingerprint, the combination of different data points that are close enough to unique to be able to be used as a substitute for a tracking ID. However, Apple says that is also against its rules, but it has not yet taken action against the developers. The developers deny they are collecting the information for advertising purposes, but they have not explained to the post what they are collecting it for. Apple said it was investigating with developers how they are using that data. Twitter said that it will roll out a series of updates over the next few months to resolve the issue of tweets that disappear from view as a user is reading them on mobile app. This can occur when a timeline refreshes most often when many users are also replying to that tweet. The analysts at ALEX Partners estimate that global automakers will build 7.7 million fewer vehicles by the end of this year due to the ongoing chip shortage. It's estimated automakers will take a $210 billion hit to revenue as a result of that shortage, and it's nearly double the forecast that was made in May. And as I mentioned, we were talking on GDI. Everything is in shortage because of lack of workers and a shipping logistics nightmare out there, so something to be prepared for. A little bit more Twitter news. The company will open up in-app tipping to all users and is also adding the ability to receive tips as Bitcoin. The tipping feature, which was previously limited to select users, also accepts Venmo, Cash App, Bandcamp, GoFundMe, and even Brazil's PickPay. Tipping is available to all iOS users now and coming to Android in the next few weeks. And now a man who knows that Venmo isn't real, Justin Robert Young. Thank you, Thomas. The European Commission formally submitted a proposal to make the USBC port the universal charging standard for smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers, and handheld video game consoles. Well, that's all. The proposal would also require companies to sell chargers separate from devices in those cases and would require fast charging to be harmonized so that charging speed would be the same when using any compatible charger. Earbuds, smartwatches, and fitness trackers would not have to comply with these new rules due to their size. If the proposal is made, law companies would have two years to adapt to the new rules. The European Parliament will now debate the proposal and consider amendments. If you think you heard this song before, the European Union has mandated chargers in the past, but not the ports. So this would be them locking down the port loophole. Right now, Apple can sell you a USBC charger that's USBC on one end, but it's lightning still on the other for its iPhones, right? Even though they have USBC available on some of their iPads. This, if it were to become law, within two years of it becoming law would require Apple to put USBC in its iPhones if it wants to sell them in the European Union. Good. Oh, I'm sorry. I hate trying to figure out which of these cables am I using to charge? Did I bring the right one? I don't have to worry about this anymore. Now, granted, that's for the European Union, but it'll trickle down to the United States. This is the dumbest thing. It is intensely, boy does Europe love a lot. They love the laws. They can all be solved with yet another law. The fact that we're locking, especially in a two year window into any standard seems to be the most foolhardy situation ever. Yes, Steven, I can understand that you're frustrated like many people that when you go out on the road, you don't have the exact cord that you need for the exact device that you need to charge. That is frustrating. But the answer is not mandating that every single device be locked into one standard. That that is just not going to age well. Listen, I am sympathetic and I agree that Apple should use USBC. I've thought that for a long time. The problem with making it a law is that now no one can use anything that isn't USBC in Europe until they make a new law. And then they have to go through the rather slow process of making a law if they want to change the standard. And I'm not sure that's the best idea. USBC is early enough that this will probably last for a while. But I'm more concerned about the harmonizing of the fast charging. That solves one problem where certain USBC cables are not capable of the fast charging, which is confusing because they all look the same. So it's an attempt to fix that. But what about when we get faster charging? Do you break the law by offering a faster charging USBC cable before your competitors? It starts to get complicated there. And I think the effect it will have, because these kinds of laws always have unanticipated effects, would be to see Apple, particularly and probably other manufacturers, get rid of the port and just go straight to wireless where they're free to use whatever they want to use. That's what I wonder if this just doesn't hurry up the wireless charging on all devices. Or you start selling Euro-specific phones. That's what ultimately... And they cost more because you have a different market. I don't think that benefits European consumers. Again, it's good-hearted and it does satiate that base desire we have in our brain that it ought to be illegal to do it this way. But I don't think it really achieves what it wants to do, which is reducing confusion amongst the consumer base. This is just a market that moves way too fast. And if we're... Even Tom, I think that by every bit that we know now, yes, USBC will be here for a while, until crazy super-charged thing comes around in the neck. USB-D. Yeah. The two-year thing was kind of what got me is, yes, USBC cables will be here two years from now. But a lot of other things will be too. And this kind of company's got to get their act together for the next couple of years. It takes a couple of years to do lots of things. And you take Apple's iPhones as a great example. A lot of people mumble and grumble that year after year, a new iPhone gets released and doesn't have a USBC port. But it's not just Apple saying, okay, put them on the next iPhone so that we can sell them in Europe. It's full-hearty to think that it would be that simple. Also, I've seen a lot of stories about this, and I haven't seen any story. And I'm guilty of this too. I haven't gone and researched it either. So I'm calling the kettle black here. But none of them have explained the actual impact of having these chargers. We all know it's wasteful. But is it so wasteful that this is the priority? This is the thing that will have the biggest impact? Or is it wasteful in a way that's going to go away because we're all moving to wireless charging anyway? And this law, by the time it even gets implemented, will be useless because the problem won't be that big of a deal. I'm not saying it is or it isn't. But I want to hear that question answered, and I haven't seen that. Everybody just assumes this is a horrible problem. But maybe the cure is not right for the level of this disease. I think Europe should make a law about making dumb laws. There ought to be a law. And what would that law be to not do it? No dumb laws. Knock it off, translated into different languages. Well, this year, Amazon passed Walmart as the largest seller of clothing in the U.S. People buy lots of clothing on Amazon. And now the Wall Street Journal sources have given it more information on Amazon's plans to open physical clothing stores. You walk in, it's an Amazon store, there's clothing inside. The new info echoes previous sources that said Amazon would feature its more than 100 house brands alongside a mix of popular partner brands. But there's also information that Amazon would also try to use its technological advantage to provide a better in-store experience. One idea is to have customers scan QR codes on items that they want to try on. They don't have to pull them off the rack. A store worker gets that information, then would gather those items for people into a fitting room. You don't have to carry them around while you're still shopping. That's something that Nike actually does in its stores already if you haven't been to a Nike store recently. But certain Nike stores anyway. Fitting rooms might also have a touch screen where you could request additional items in other sizes, maybe different colors. You could also see suggestions for a similar item. Maybe you didn't see it on the floor yourself. The first stores are expected to open near San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio. So what would everybody on this panel today like to see in a clothing store, perhaps an Amazon clothing store, or a clothing store of the future that you don't get today? Number one for me, have a more variety of selection. I mean, that's probably why Amazon is one of the biggest retailers of clothing is because if I walk into a Walmart, I've got a limited selection. And for a father of a 14-year-old who decides at the last minute he needs some specialty clothing for the next day in class, that's almost impossible to get that at the last minute. I haven't been to a physical clothing or retail shop, something that I would go to to try on something in a dressing room in probably going on two years. I can't remember the last time I did that. And part of it is pandemic related, and part of it is because I've gotten used to online shopping. Amazon is one of many places that I shop online from. However, when it comes to shoes, and especially running shoes, because I gotta go through running shoes, you gotta get new running shoes if you use them a lot a couple times a year. And even if I know the brand and the size that I like, I'm always nervous to not try on that pair somewhere before I buy them, because shoes are different and feet are very sensitive. That would be something that I could see working really well. Yeah, I go to REI to get my running shoes usually, and it's always a pain to find the person. There's usually one person helping 16 different people with the shoes. My ideal clothing store, and this goes for the shoes too, is I walk in and I never have to talk to a person unless I want to. I could walk into a cubicle that would know my size. Maybe I had picked out some things I want to look at, and it just automatically brings me those physical items, and then I could quickly go like, hey, can you show me this in purple? And it comes out really fast. I can try them on. I can decide what I want to buy. I scan it and buy, and I get out of there fast. I am not the typical clothing shopper, though. Most clothing shoppers want to browse around. They want to have somebody who answers their questions, which is why Amazon's doing things the way they're doing. By the way, for folks who are wondering why obviously San Francisco is such a tech hub, but Columbus, Ohio is likely on this list, is that it's the home of, I believe, five of the 50 biggest retail headquarters, Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, a few others. So I wonder if part of Amazon's foray into this is having some kind of partnership with at least some of these companies. They definitely want to get more of those kinds of brands on the platform, and having a physical store would be a way to do that, so that makes perfect sense. See, I thought it was just because Rob Dunwood lived there and he's such a fashionable guy, but now I know. Dunwood. The U.S. State of Michigan is the latest region to attempt to develop a road that can wirelessly charge electric vehicles while it's driving over it. The concept has been in development for more than a decade. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology demonstrated a system back in 2009. Qualcomm demonstrated technology on a 100-meter test track in France back in 2017. Sweden installed a two-kilometer stretch of road outside Stockholm in April 2018, but this would be the first installation to be tried in car-crazy United States of America. There are multiple technologies in development for delivering wireless power. One, published by scientists at Cornell in April, uses two insulated metal plates in the road that create an oscillating electric field that attracts, then repels, charges in the metal plates that are attached to the underside of the car as it drives over it. That drives a high-frequency current that is rectified through a circuit and then it can charge the battery. The Cornell project operates at 13.56 MHz, which is about 200 times faster than a lot of the other magnetic field systems out there. So they're making progress at making this more practical. The team still, however, needs to perfect the materials that it uses to make it efficient enough for mass development. Anyway, back to Michigan, a one-mile stretch of road somewhere outside Detroit. Both Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties are all under consideration. We'll be picked for Michigan's inductive vehicle charging pilot, and an RFP on the project is expected from the Michigan Department of Transportation on September 28th. Will they require USB ports to be standard on these vehicles? It's wireless, baby. Here's the thing. I think that this is a really great idea. I know for those of you who live in big cities, having charging stations are just around the corner. Here in Hayes, Kansas, we do have charging stations. People do drive electric vehicles here in our town of 30,000, but between Hayes, Kansas, and Denver, I'm not sure how many charging stations there are, and if you're going north on like a U.S. highway system, good luck. So if this is something that we could put in those roads between major cities and as you're going out into the wilds of America, I think this will actually help encourage more people to get electric vehicles without the fear that they're going to be dead on the side of the road at some point. Is putting in one of these roads going to be cheaper, faster, or easier than just putting in charging stations? Let's put aside what I think is a legitimate question of Michigan's infrastructure, which has certainly gotten its fair share of press for not exactly serving its citizens at least in certain cities. I don't know whether or not this is particularly money well spent at this stage in our electric vehicle revolution. It's great that the technology is being tested. I think there might eventually be a point where this is going to be worthwhile for infrastructure, but in the meantime, I do think dropping and subsidizing a lot more chargers around those areas that you're talking about, Steven, will probably get us closer to an effective solution. Yeah, it gets scary though because, I mean, how do you place these things? Where do you place these things? And again, when you get out into rural America, you might be several hundred miles between small towns. So I could see that where this is going to be a practical solution. I agree with you, Justin, that maybe we could spend our money in other places, but this is a good practical. If it's too remote for a charger, it's definitely going to be too remote to redo the entire road to wirelessly charge. That's my point. Yeah, and I think what you guys are both hitting on is this. We have to solve the problem of the rollout after we solve the technology, right? So this is not going to be coming anytime soon. We haven't even got the technology where you can say, like, oh yeah, you could definitely roll this out. We've got test tracks. We've got to the test track point and that's great. I'm all for Michigan trying a test track. Why not? Let's help spur the development. But once we solve the technological problem, then you're going to have to solve the social problem of where do you put it? How do you pay for it? Hey, if you like tech news, you're in the right place and there's more out there. You got to check out the Tech John. J-A-W-N features Rob Dunwood, Terence Gaines and Stephanie Humphrey taking a second look at the Weeks Tech headlines from an African-American perspective. They're just talking about it from their own perspective on the show and it's a great conversation. If you want to learn all kinds of things about technology and otherwise, go follow it. Go subscribe. That's T-E-C-H-J-A-W-N dot com. Last week we were discussing the cinema features the high level, the pro res the cinematic mode on Apple's iPhone 13 pro series. It just so happens that Steven teaches a course on videography and one of his students did a real world test. I mean, we knew he taught a course on videography. That wasn't at the coincidence, but the coincidence was that one of his students did a real world test between an Apple iPhone 10 and a video DSLR. Now, granted, that's a whole lot different than what we're talking about on the 13 pro, Steven, but what did you discover in that experiment? The reason why we conducted this experiment is because we're taking our video production classes online. Basically every other class in the department is served virtually now, but it's a little bit harder to teach video production when you want your kids to have digital SLRs and lighting kits and good microphones and these kinds of things. So the question from the students and the administration is can they just shoot this stuff on a phone? And so to kind of test this out, I had a student go out and shoot a kind of like a video postcard of the fall and shoot it on a digital SLR and then try to do those exact same shots on an iPhone. In her case, she had a 10 and she came back, edited them together. The shots were almost identical to one another. And the bottom line is yeah, for what the students need to do the iPhone is a perfectly good replacement for the digital SLR except for a few areas, which I'm sure we'll get into, but for production work it's fine. That's what it gets down to, right? Is it fine or does it excel? And this is fine. This is just good enough technology for that. And so when it comes to what we see in the iPhone 13, the technology has advanced enough that I think a lot more of these features will make it more attractive for people who want to do something video related without having to dump $3,500 or more on a really good digital SLR. Yeah, we've talked a lot about the fact that you still are making compromises, right? I don't think anybody has any illusions about that. But looking at what you learned with that iPhone 10 experiment with your student and what you're seeing in the 13 Pro, what do you think the gaps are? So obviously on the technology side, one of the things in a just default use it out of the box iPhone is the fact that shutter speed is still automatic. There's not really a way for you to automatically set shutter speed. So if you're outside on a bright sunny day, if you're shooting something that has a lot of fast movement doing lots of fast whip pans and stuff, the video is going to look very jittery and stuttery and you're going to be able to make out all the little drops of the water sprinkler or whatever it is. If you are able to control that or set, you know, a shutter speed angle of like 180 degrees that mimics how film is done, then I think you get more into something that is fairly practical. And then the other thing of course is the wide angle lens on the iPhone is extremely wide. The telephoto lens is maybe the equivalent of a 70 millimeter. So you're not really getting in super close on this stuff unless you start to go and buy additional products like a screw on telephoto lens or if you're using an application like Filmic Pro, which does allow you to change the shutter speed and set the shutter speed on the iPhone. What about ProRes? Apple made a big deal out of the ability to save in ProRes. I know Roger was sort of skeptical how many people would find that particularly useful. What do you think? So the nice thing about ProRes is right now with the 12 they introduced the High Dynamic Range video, which allows you to shoot 10 bit of video. ProRes actually is very attractive to editors because it allows you to do a lot more color correction and have a lot more control over that color correction than say H.264 or whatever generic codec that is being used. So from the filmmaker side or somebody who wants to go in and manipulate those images later, this actually is a good thing. As far as size goes, I know you mentioned this on the show, that it's only going to be available on phones that have a lot of hard drive space because you can do about an hour of ProRes and that will use up almost about 100 gigs of storage space. Now the one thing Apple didn't address was what version of ProRes were they going to use? Is it 422 HQ, LT, Standard Version, Proxy Version that they haven't announced yet. So I'll be interested to see what happens when that finally rolls out. All right. We know that no Oscar award-winning filmmaker is going to ditch all their cameras and replace them with iPhones. We also know that probably your average person out there doesn't need all of these tools to make a good home video. So between those two extremes, who's this for? Who gets the best use out of it? So I think one of the biggest ones and this is what I talked to you about after listening to the episode is I think real estate people are going to have the biggest use out of this because they're able to go and get some very high dynamic range shots of the houses that they're showing. If you're going to go do real estate videos, they're not going to allow you to bring in lights. They're not going to allow you to bring in tripods. You have to be very small and very mobile and yet still produce something that's of high quality. And if that can include things like the new cinematic depth of field that the iPhone 13 offers, then this is going to be something that's super attractive to them. And then, probably the porn industry as well. Of course, as with all technology. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. I think that does kind of help kind of set the boundary lines of what this is good for. Yeah, so a couple of things that people might notice is that that depth of field stuff, Tom is it's all software driven very much like what you see in your zoom meetings or your Skype calls. So if you look and watch closely and some of the videos that are out there, especially when they're doing the rack focus, you'll actually see kind of a weird halo around people as that software is trying to do that to do that rack focus. And so that will be a real easy telltale sign that the cinematic features are not quite there yet. Yeah, they're nifty, maybe. Yeah. I think it might if it encourages people to tell stories, then that's even better. Sure, absolutely. All this talk about going around and hauling cameras making me hungry, Sarah. Tom, you're in luck because impossible foods you might know that company is one of the alternative meat makers is rolling out another plant based product designed to taste like meat. Impossible pork is first coming to chef David Chang's Momofuku Sambar in Manhattan, which will serve spicy rice cakes made with the impossible pork ragu. It's it's not, you know, a big slab of pork. It's shredded pork. Ground pork, I think. Ground pork, yeah. So on October 4th more than 100 restaurants in Hong Kong will also offer dishes using this impossible pork. Then it's coming to some Singapore restaurants after that. The company says that the product uses up to 85% less water as much as 82% less land than what typical pork production requires and cuts greenhouse gas emissions by up to 77%. So, yeah, impossible foods are great. I mean, they have long been kind of thought of amongst, you know, many in the vegan or traditional meat, you know, areas as kind of the best in class certainly the impossible burger was its own little phenomenon before they went retail a few years ago. It's interesting, mostly because when I first had an impossible burger, one of my thoughts was this technology might be better utilized as pulled pork. It had an almost kind of strandy sort of taste. In a sense, change the formula on the impossible burger because they got the deal with Burger King and needed to taste a little bit more like that and so it has a different kind of taste to it. But I'm not surprised impossible is great and this is how they like to do their rollouts. They put their stuff in high-end restaurants, make you go get it and then eventually it'll hit whole foods. It'll probably be a tighter turnaround than their beef was, but it doesn't surprise me that they're doing this. The big test will be Hong Kong. I feel like if you can win over Hong Kong with some impossible pork you'll win the world. My personal test will be making dandan noodles. Eileen makes dandan noodles that are to die for with actual ground pork and if we can make it up to that standard. I feel like this was destiny that we would have this story today because I was doing Duolingo trying to learn some Korean this morning and it taught me how to say why is pork delicious and impossible foods might have the answer to that. Let's check out the mail bag. Kome wrote in regarding our Marvel podcast Unlimited Story from yesterday's show the idea that there are podcasts that are episodic and fictional and Marvel's making them. Kome says HBO aired the Chernobyl miniseries back in 2019. They also released an accompanying podcast. At first I thought why is there an audio podcast? But it turned out to be amazingly good. Told us about the Chernobyl accident, the characters in the series, behind the scenes stuff mostly they talked about how crazy things they depicted in the drama actually happened and sometimes they even had to cut some scenes because it was just too much. Either way says Kome I highly recommend watching HBO's Chernobyl then listening to the podcast. The first behind the scenes podcast ever was the Lost podcast. I remember that. It was so good and that was funny because they started by doing like actor interviews and stuff and then just tacking on a conversation between the producers of the show and then quickly learned that the producers talking was the best part. Telling you what went on behind the scenes and all of that. Those behind the scenes podcasts are great and Marvel has a bunch of those. They've had a bunch of those for a long time so totally agree with you Kome. Well if you've got questions, comments, feedback, ideas, we'd like them all. Feedback, a daily tech news show is where to send that email. We also have a new boss to thank and that boss's name is Julius. Julius just started backing us on Patreon. Thank you Julius. We told you yesterday that if you jumped in to become a patron you'd get all the love today and Julius, good job you were smart. Julius, Julius gets the gold medal and the silver and the bronze. Thanks to Justin Robert Young for being with us today. Justin, what's new in your world? Well Sarah, I'm glad you asked. The Politics, Politics, Politics podcast is live for you Friday morning. We take a look at what's happening on the border and the curious question of how did over 10,000 Haitian immigrants, which if you are not up on your geography is an island nation in the Caribbean, end up in Del Rio, Texas. We dip our toes into the first negative ads of the midterm season, something that we very much love and have a great conversation with Mike Cohen, the author of modern campaigns about why the Republican candidate in the Virginia governor's race may well have a shot despite the fact that the polls don't seem to be in his favor. Politics, Politics, Politics available for you Friday morning. I also want to thank Stephen Schleicher for being with us today. Stephen, where can people keep up with your work? Well, you can check out the website that I run, majorspoilers.com, where we talk about comic books and pop culture. And this week on the major spoilers podcast, listener wrote in asking about our opinions about the words high art and low art. And we share some of that, including some of the derogatory aspects of that phrase. You can go check all of that out at majorspoilers.com. Excellent. Well, we're live on this show Monday through Friday at 4 30 p.m. Eastern. That's 20 30 UTC. And of course you can find out more at www.newshow.com slash live. Tell your friends. I'm out tomorrow, but Tom is back tomorrow with Ashley Esqueda and Len Peralta. I'll see you then. This show is part of the frog pants network. Get more at frogpants.com Finally the club hopes you have enjoyed this program.