 Daily Tech News show is made possible by its listeners thanks to all of you including Rodrigo Smith Zapata, John and Becky Johnston and Chris Benito Coming up on DTNS how B-real wants to make money, Instacart wants to eat Amazon's lunch after it lets you buy the ingredients easily with their new technology And some algorithms may soon host this show So, DID keeps advancing the way it is This is the Daily Tech News for Monday, September 19th, 2022 in Los Angeles Am I Tom Merritt? Uh, from Stereo Redwood I think I'm Sarah Lane I might be in Los Angeles, I'm Lamar Wilson I'm pretty sure I'm Roger Chang, the show's pretty sure That's what a DID avatar would say Tight broadcast already everyone Good work We're going to get to that, the possibility that algorithms can just do all the video and we'll be able to relax and drink my ties But first, let's talk about some tech things you should know Texas HB20 is a law that bars platforms with more than 50 million users from acting to block, ban, remove, de-platform, demonetize, de-boost, restrict Or deny equal access or visibility to or otherwise discriminate against expression based on viewpoint This law and a similar law in Florida have been making their way through the courts with the Supreme Court likely being the ultimate destination here The latest hop for Texas' version of the law was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Which just ruled that Texas HB20 does not violate the First Amendment rights of social media platforms The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled and made that the Florida version of the law did violate First Amendment rights The U.S. Supreme Court could now be asked to weigh in to resolve the conflict between the two decisions Alright, we'll keep an eye on that one According to John Petty Research in a forum post from a product manager, the graphics card manufacturer EVGA will no longer make GPUs for NVIDIA Exiting the GPU market entirely So they're not going to make GPUs for NVIDIA or anybody else It will continue to sell the current generation cards until it runs out of stock So if you see them on shelves, that's why According to CEO Andrew Hahn, it made the move out of principle Siding a lack of communication from NVIDIA about new products John Petty Research reports that the move comes as gross margins for GPU board partners continue to shrink down from over 20% in 2000 to less than 10% in 2020 We talked a little bit about this right as it broke on Friday's Good Day Internet If you're a patron, you might want to check that out The Wall Street Journal reports that shipments of industrial robots to China increased 45% on the year in 2021 to over 243,000 Accounting for 49.9% of all shipments globally Data from the International Federation of Robotics shows China installed nearly twice as many new robots at factories compared to the Americas and Europe While global industrial robot installations grew 27% on the year in 2021, installations in China's automotive sector increased almost 90% on the year while electronic makers increased robot installs by 30% A user on GTA forums posted 90 videos that they claim came from a test build of Grand Theft Auto 6 Footage lines up with previous leaks indicating the game will take place in Vice City and have multiple playable characters A user claims they were also behind the recent cyber attack on Uber Bloomberg's Jason Schreyer's sources at game developer Rockstar confirm the footage is legitimate though it cautioned its early and unfinished Rockstar said it recently suffered a network intrusion where somebody downloaded early development footage of the game Tile has been providing a way for you to track lost items long before Apple and Samsung came along with their air tags and their smart tag competitors Tile works differently though relying primarily on Bluetooth and other Tile users Practically speaking all our systems where you attach a small tracker to a thing, maybe it's a keychain, maybe it's your suitcase handle Something that you don't want to go missing with the idea of being able to track it over the internet But not everything works well with that system, for example, earbud cases, almost the same size as trackers Tile has launched something called QR code labels that don't have that same technology You decide what people will see, what they'll see, what they scan the sticker But the idea is to give them a way to tell you that they found your item, such as your email address Hey Sarah, you left this book at the airport type thing Tile has included QR codes on its trackers in the past, but these new labels are just the QR code That's all they are You can buy them now from Tile for $14.99, you get 15 total labels Yeah, I mean the idea would be contact info, like contact me here, but I guess if you had a disposable email address just for that purpose I'd be a little weird putting my contact info available to anybody who could see the QR code on my textbook But yeah, maybe it was And then you got to pay for them too, which is weird Well yeah, I mean you pay for that for the service How much do you want that book, Lamar, that you left behind? In $19.99? Not that much Yeah, your mileage may vary You could do it for other things besides $19.99-era textbooks But I'm not sure what else I would use it on either Alright, let's talk a little more about groceries Let's do it So when you think about technology for retail stores, grocery stores being included in that You might start with Amazon's Just Walk Out technology We've talked about it on the show quite a bit in the past That technology is slowly rolling out to more Whole Foods locations at the moment But it's definitely not the only game in town In fact Instacart announced a new connected store platform that combines new and existing technologies To help retailers create a personalized experience and better bridge online and in-store shopping That sounds like a lot of marketing to speak So Tom, what's going on here? Yeah, so one of the elements would be called scan and pay Not sure how this is going to work in practice But the idea is to do what you do at the Apple Store with the Apple Store app You would scan an item and then pay for it with your phone How they tell whether you paid for it or not is the part that I'm unclear on But if they can make that work, that seems pretty convenient And easy for grocery stores to put in place However, if they want something a little more sophisticated and with more obvious secure elements Instacart also updated its Capercart smart system Instacart acquired Caper AI last year And the new generation of the Capercarts, the second gen, way less They're easier to push around They're larger though, 65% more capacity And they work the way the Amazon carts at the Amazon Fresh Store work That isn't Just Walk Out That's the one that has scales and sensors and computer vision So as you put things in the cart, your item is scanned And tauted up for you to be able to pay for it With the Instacart Capercart, you can also link your shopping list to the cart using a QR code And it'll automatically check things off your shopping list as you put them in the cart Once you're done, you pay right from the cart Other in-store tech includes something called Carat Tax Users can select an item on a phone And the corresponding tag on the shelf will flash LEDs to let you know where it is So if you happen to be... I like this Yeah, I know, I like this too If you happen to be like, well, I love Cheez-Its But there's like 16,000 types of Cheez-Its these days And I would really like just the kind that I am looking for This would help you do that You just want the white cheddar runs, which I never would But it's okay if you do Carat Tax can also show product information like whether something is gluten-free Maybe it's kosher, that kind of stuff And then there's department orders, which lets you order from delis or bakeries on your phone And then pick up your items when they're ready I mean, they're within the store themselves But it's the particular sections So no more standing in line, waiting for number 57 to be called... But I'm 56 You didn't call... none of that Exactly, I love that The first of these is going to be a Bristol Farms in Irvine, California Right down there in Orange County They will use caper carts, scan and pay So maybe I can run down there and see how it works Shopping lists, syncing, and the Carat Tags So that you can find your Cheez-Its Instacart is also working with Wake Fern food If you have any grocery stores in that chain And they're going to implement the caper carts And Schnooks, the friendliest stores in town Are going to use the Carat Tags in their stores There's a few other stores in the works as well So what do you think Lamar... Because you and I have experienced both the Amazon fresh version of this And the Whole Foods just walk out version of this What do you think of Instacart's entry into this race? I like their entry I like the fact that they are bigger In the sense that they've got more relationships with other grocery stores So there's a chance for more people to be able to use this And listen, I believe there is the one with the phone You can scan items with your phone I really like that idea So here's my scenario Scan items with my phone, go through the store Click checkout on the app Like the Whole Foods where we visited And then a QR code pops up You remember that and then we scan it on the thing at the end And then you leave And so now stores may have to accept that A certain percentage is going to be stolen A certain percentage is going to be not scanned properly But they already factored it into prices today So I just think if they... You take a loss but you get a more efficient system Think about how grocery stores are today You've got frozen items, you've got heated items And you're sitting there for 20 minutes in line Because there's 17 lines that are just packed Because it's after work So they will make the money up If more people can flow through more But you've got to take that risk of Yeah, there will be some unscrupulous people Or just some mistakes made But we've got to fix grocery stores And I think Instacart's idea Is what the phone is really smart That's my campaign thing I want to run for office Fix grocery stores It was very inspirational Very passionate My first reaction was like Didn't Instacart used to work with Whole Foods Which it did That was pre-Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods And it was phased out I see them around I may not be totally at the target market Because I'm in a little bit more of a rural area But the idea of the carrot tags It really appeals to me You know, I don't currently I don't know, care for somebody Who has extremely strict dietary restrictions And it's not me either But something like this Would be the difference between We made the Cheez-It joke There's so many different kinds of Cheez-Its But if somebody actually needs Something where an ingredient Either is there or is not there I think that makes a lot of sense And just the idea that this would be Rolled out to something That isn't necessarily owned by Amazon And I have no problem with Amazon Honestly, I'm not an Amazon hater I use them every day But this just opens up more opportunities And Bristol Firms is a nice store Instacart is showing that they are competitive And they're not just going to roll over Because Amazon's coming into their space They have better relationships With more grocery stores than Amazon does Amazon wants to sell their Just Walkout stuff But to do Just Walkout You have to put in a lot of equipment You have to hang sensors everywhere You have to deal with customers There are sensors and cameras hanging everywhere Instacart is showing like Hey, you can just do scan and pay At the very minimum Or you can do our carts You still don't have to install a bunch of equipment If you do our carts We will provide stuff You know us You work with us We want you to succeed We're not competing with you Through Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh I think Instacart is doing an excellent job here And that think was like Is this a solution looking for a problem? No If you haven't stood in a long grocery line Well gosh, bless ya, batfink But at least in my local grocery store I'm like Lamar Like at certain times of day It can just be a nightmare And being able to just check out fast And get out of there is a huge advantage And it's going to make people Want to go to your grocery store more If you're the one that gets it first So I think it's smart of Instacart To push this out here And I think they've got a chance Of getting more uptake than Amazon does Well, and that whole Before we move on The whole idea of well But there's self-checkouts At most grocery stores now, right? Yeah, it depends on what you're buying And almost every time I do it Something goes wrong And somebody who works at the store Has to come and help me You know, it always seemed like A stop-gap measure for Although that could happen with these too, right? It could But if this was any way more Seamless, I'd be into it It's going to be faster Even with problems than the self-checkout And the self-checkout is faster than the human Check-out lines Alright, let's talk about social media The stately, quadril continues Meta is implementing features Seen on TikTok Announcing a new Facebook Reels API Which will let third-party apps Use a share-to-reels feature To post reels and post to pages They are admins of course TikTok is not immune to this dance Having recently announced The very B-reels-sounding TikTok Now, we talked about that last week But if B-reel really wants to play this game, Lamar It's going to need to step up its own game Absolutely And B-reel is playing the game By trying to copy Well, having an app that generates revenue Get it? No? Okay So the financial time sources say That B-reel began by exploring Monetizing its system So the plans don't call for advertising Yet Instead, it's looking at in-app purchases What I thought was pretty interesting Now, advertising isn't completely off the table Long-term But it won't be considered anytime soon And the main photo-sharing aspect of B-reel Would remain free So, Tom, what does it look like then? Yeah, so if B-reel seems to be imitating anyone With its monetization plan It's probably Discord Discord, you pay a monthly fee For bonus features You get Nitro, you get stickers It doesn't look like B-reel Is going to do this anytime soon though So we won't be finding out right away Reportedly, they're not looking to implement Any plans until the second half of next year They still have a lot of bugs to squash Given the meteoric rise in usage The financial time says There are more than 15 million Daily active users right now Up from 10,000 a year ago I think the basic question here with B-reel Has always been Okay, lots of people seem to like to use it Not everybody, but 15 million people do How are they going to not ruin it? Because the attraction for people who do like it Is it's once a day I see my friends I don't have to share this publicly If I don't want to That's great And in-app purchases where you buy Features and stickers could be the way That they keep that sensibility And yet still maybe encourage people To spend a little money with them I mean I guess my question And I've got nothing wrong with stickers I have no personal vendetta against stickers But when you say features And stickers It's like, okay, well stickers aside What would the features be? Yeah, but that's the question What other features would I be willing To plunk down on B-reel for? Would it be more retakes? Extra time? I mean I don't think they want to do filters Because they want to do B-reel But maybe there's some like sharpening Or image improvement, lighting Something like that I don't know I always love these platforms And I'm not a B-reel user I signed up today for the first time I know I'm very late to the game Thank you for funding me too You're welcome You, Lamar, Eileen A couple other people were done But this idea of something Being so sort of simple So kind of antithesis of That social media, Instagram model Kind of stuff And people going, yeah, we like this This is fun This is a fun kind of game Because there's a time element to it And for the company to be like Okay, how do we not ruin this But also make it more complex Which is what people kind of They loved the non-complexity about it Not necessarily make it more complex But give you something that is worth paying for Yeah And also I was thinking just from a person Who deals with products like you all do What if for monetization Think for both of us Maybe to encourage people to want to use it Whatever picture I take of They're probably scanning them anyway And there's a TV in the back Or a product I'm showing And what if monetization sharing Could be like, oh, do you like that? Here's a link below where I click it I mean, that's already happening YouTube I believe has been trying to do that For quite a while But like something like that where Almost like an associate link of some Yeah, where I make something if I want to You know, and like everybody is driven by that But then they could make some money too That would be advertising though And they're saying they don't want to do advertising Is it advertising? If the person is just being natural Which I think a lot of people would look at As advertising, yeah But I don't know Maybe they'll be able to get away with it I'm just saying if they did it I think a lot of people would point and accuse them That's fair Maybe all they need is stickers I mean, stickers are the things that all the journalists Came up with B Real hasn't said anything So you shouldn't condemn them like Oh, the only idea they have is stickers The only idea we have as journalists Is stickers, unfortunately People, they do tend to be like You know, fun things like stickers Yeah Sure, you might like stickers or not You know, many people would be like Dis- Sarah, I am very... Doesn't mean anything to me You said you weren't anti-sticker I am, I'm on the record I don't like stickers You don't like stickers No stickers on B Real No stickers from Tile Like stickers out today Discord Don't even send Lamar a sticker He'll never see it Oh, they already know I called them and said Don't send me stickers Yeah I called them on the phone Hi, Mr. Discord This is Lamar Wow, you gotta give me Discord's number I'm a rotary phone I did Yeah Well, folks You don't have to use a rotary phone To get in touch with us We do We also have electronic mail But if you don't know our address Well, here it is Email us Feedback at DailyTechNewsShow.com Last year, the genealogy service MyHeritage got some press When they offered deep nostalgia That uses some technology from DID To animate the faces of loved ones Instill photos In March, the service expanded To let users add voices To the animated pictures This was powered by DID Really startup that developed AI video reenactment technology DID has worked on a lot of Non-macabbe applications If that puts you off Such as with Warner Brothers On a personalized movie trailer We talked about that Integrating the tech into the Short-form video app, Josh Which is very popular in India But what else has it got going on, Sarah? Well, Tom, I'm glad you asked It's launching its own consumer-facing platform Called the Creative Reality Studio You can either select a pre-created presenter Or perhaps more impressive Upload your own still image Paid users can access premium presenters Who are more expressive Better facial expressions, hand movements Than the default ones Just kind of the better options However, once you get the animation going You can then type in text To be synthesized into speech Basically, you're making the avatar Talk as if you would And it's not so much an avatar As kind of looking like a real person Maybe yourself, maybe somebody else You can also upload a pre-recorded audio clip That would be used as is And the animation of the still image Will still look like a video of the person In the image, speaking the words That you provided Yeah, the idea of being able to have it Do a foreign language in your voice Very appealing DID is also trying to stay ahead Of any controversy with this tech I've left Azure's text moderation API To filter offensive language Filters out famous people's images The filter is pretty conservative It blocked me I couldn't make one of myself Your famous, Tom, except that I'm like, you're a definition of famous It's pretty far out there The terms of service also prohibit Political videos If they catch you trying to do a political video A violation would result in account Suspension and removal of that video To try to dissuade people from using it So if you're thinking, okay What are the use cases here? Customer service portals Corporate training Marketing videos DID also launched a PowerPoint plugin That can have a preset digital presenter Read slides If you happen to be using PowerPoint All that often, you might think That would make sense But DID would also like to develop Real-time video call translation You could tell a version of you What to say without actually having To be on camera And it could find a role in the metaverse Whatever the metaverse ends up being I don't Hate the idea of having a bad day And saying, DTNS This is the This is the version of me you get Yeah, I think On the mundane end Is the HR department That doesn't have time to shoot Videos for all its training materials Looks at this as a godsend Okay, we can just put the manuals in And have people speak them in normal language And on the other end is the metaverse Where a virtual Sarah Lane Can talk and do things Without Sarah having to do a live stream Of her actual self Lamar, where do you fall in that spectrum? What do you like? We're talking pre-show and Roger had this Crazy idea about replacing My YouTube videos Like, I don't feel like being on I can input the text and have some And as silly as it sounded I'm actually really intrigued By the idea of Because you mentioned like 80% of YouTube Could probably use something like this Like the videos And I'm very intrigued now I wouldn't want to lose Revenue myself doing it But like Sarah said if I had a bad day Or a bad week But I gotta get some context out about the new iPhone There, without being there I'm very intrigued, Dennis The part I would like If they can get the voice synthesis to mimic you I don't think that's what it does yet But it could get there very easily Then being able to take a video I do and say Alright, have it Translate that video into 128 languages Go And then suddenly my video is available To 128 times the number of people Not exactly, but you know what I mean It's a lot of people in their language And it's still me I assumed with this That you gave them a sample of your voice And then over time they would Learn to synthesize that Right now it's you choose a pre-made voice Or you can upload yourself recording And it'll match The video to your Voice That's the mistake I thought That technology you're talking about Can happen Yeah, but they say they could So that might come down the line Yeah If anybody out there is saying Wait, this is the perfect use case You guys just aren't talking about it yet Do email us Alright, I guess we're going right into the mail bag I guess we are So Mike wrote in This was in response to our conversation We had with Tim Stevens on Friday's show About Mustangs Mike says I've owned a couple Mustang GTs Including on the Foxbody models That the new gauges can emulate And I really like the new model, however I think you oversold The outlaw drifting inspired Handbrake Looks more like a traditional center console Mounted parking brake handle Found on a lot of performance cars Then the vertically mounted handbrake Found in modern drift cars I also don't think this item encourages people Any more than accelerator pedals Or on virtually any car produced today Does If the speed limit in almost every location Is 75 miles per hour Or less, why not question Every car that can exceed That speed No, it's a fair question, Mike And I think maybe we confused Folks a little, so I appreciate the chance To clarify Tim and I weren't saying that the existence Of the feature was the problem What we were marveling at I would say is that Ford was promoting it So an analogy would be If Ford introduced the accelerator For the first time and said With this accelerator Everybody can go 150 miles an hour And you're in a country where that's never Legal, it would be surprising That they would be promoting the breaking the law Aspect of it So yes, it wasn't the fact of the Handbrake necessarily The fact that Ford was like Here's what you can do with this handbrake Totally illegal stuff That surprised Tim and I I mean, I don't know I feel like sometimes it's like Well, you wouldn't, right? But like you could If you're the company introducing Something You are now liable Ford told me I could do it So I just wanted to add one thing To what Mike was asking About the parking brake So the parking brake is fully digital There's no mechanical linkage It's run by a computer And that drifting mode is enabled When you enable the car in track mode So it's not like when you have it In a regular street mode That you can drive That you can tear around a corner And hit the handbrake And do a drift around a corner Because you feel like it When you go into a track mode Now what's great What's really fascinating is because it is digital You can enable different sensitivities And different performance levels Depending on how they program it For different use case scenarios So it is I know it just looks like a Standard parking brake But it's actually really cool Because it's stuff that you normally wouldn't be able to do In a car without spending a lot more money To customizing it You can put it in track mode When you're not on a track Yes That's the part To get to the point of Mike's email That's the part that surprised us Not that they had made Something that you could do that with But that they had used it as an example I guess what Ford would say was We were pointing out that it had to be in track mode And you shouldn't use track mode If you're not on a private track And I will add really shortly That it's something that car manufacturers Have been doing with the performance cars For at least the past decade Where they have, for example On the previous Gen Mustang They had a drag start mode That would allow you to do a drag start At high RPMs For doing bracket racing Or something Whether or not it's a good idea That's still a question of the debate But car companies have been Allowing little bits like this Track mode operation On their performance cars for a number of years Yeah, I feel like we're making a mountain Out of a bull hill here, don't you? Definitely Drifting for all Drift to your heart's content Legally on a private track But also have caution Thanks to Lamar Wilson A very cautious person You know, really a model For the rest of us Lamar, what have you been up to lately? I guess I am Yeah, I make fun short form Vertical videos on nearly every platform So you can find me at lamar.tv Your platform of choice Sometime this week I am Unboxing and showing how I have set up A $1500 router And so that's pretty fascinating So stay tuned for that I did not have to pay for it Excellent $1500, maybe it's better I do, but The video is the But I really do like it It's awesome You know, we also like brand new bosses And we have one And you know what, we're on a roll All last week we had new bosses On every single show And we do this week We're on a roll again with Alexander joining us Alexander is our brand new boss Thank you so much, Alexander Thank you, Alexander Keeping the streak going, appreciate it Indeed, speaking of Patreon Stick around for our extended show Good Day Internet, which we roll right into After DTNS wraps up But just a reminder, if you want to Catch the show live, you can Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. Eastern 2800 T.C. You can find out more at DailyTechnoShow.com We're back to it all again tomorrow And we're talking brain-computer interfaces With Dr. Kiki Sanford See you soon This show is part of the Frogpants Network Get more at Frogpants.com