Important Note

Tech Narratives was a subscription website, which offered expert commentary on the day's top tech news from Jan Dawson, along with various other features, for $10/month. As of Monday October 16, 2017, it will no longer be updated. An archive of past content will remain available for the time being. I've written more about this change in the post immediately below, and also here.

Each post below is tagged with
  • Company/Division names
  • Topics
  • and
  • Narratives
  • as appropriate.
    Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake review: Is the desktop CPU dead? – Ars Technica UK (Jan 3, 2017)

    This is a fairly damning review of the latest set of Kaby Lake chips from Intel, some of which were announced late last year. The thrust is that in desktops in particular but also in the rest of the lineup Intel is making only incremental improvements over its Skylake processors. This is particularly interesting in the context of Apple’s recent MacBook Pro upgrades, which used the Skylake chips because they couldn’t do what they wanted to with Intel’s newest. Without meaningful competition in PC chips, this isn’t as dangerous as it might be, but it doesn’t bode well that Intel isn’t pushing the envelope in what’s still its core market.

    via Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake review: Is the desktop CPU dead? | Ars Technica UK


    Intel is buying into maps because it can’t afford to miss out on self-driving cars – Recode (Jan 3, 2017)

    HERE has walked an interesting path since its acquisition by a consortium of carmakers. It’s already had an investment from several big Chinese tech names, and now here comes Intel. Intel is likely responding here to Nvidia’s early lead in car chips, though I’m not sure how much this play makes sense there: mapping is, of course, generally integrated into devices well above the chip level. But kudos to the carmakers for getting a range of other investors to buy in and recoup some of their investment.

    via Intel is buying into maps because it can’t afford to miss out on self-driving cars – Recode


    At CES 2017, Amazon revs Alexa everywhere strategy | ZDNet (Jan 3, 2017)

    Amazon has done enormously well with the Echo over the past couple of years, but its biggest challenge remains letting it leave the house. It looks like CES is going to be a showcase of many third party integrations, some of which will make sense and many of which won’t. This is a big success for Amazon, but the big question is still whether it can get Alexa into the most personal and portable of devices: the smartphone. Until that happens, Alexa will be competing with assistants like Siri and Google Assistant which are truly ubiquitous.

    via At CES 2017, Amazon revs Alexa everywhere strategy | ZDNet


    Lenovo VR Headset Based on Windows Holographic For Close to $300 | Variety (Jan 3, 2017)

    This will arguably be the year of piling on in VR, with many companies jumping on a bandwagon led by Sony, HTC, and Oculus. Lenovo, of course, has two possible routes to VR – mobile and PC-based. This article is about a PC solution, but at a price closer to some mobile VR technology than most of the PC stuff out there today. Microsoft does seem to be getting some big names on board, though of course we’re months from seeing how these products actually perform in the wild. See also this piece from The Verge with some more details.

    via Lenovo VR Headset Based on Windows Holographic For Close to $300 | Variety


    On Creativity and Imagination –Magic Leap (Jan 3, 2017)

    This blog post from the founder and CEO of Magic Leap is a clear attempt to reclaim and reshape the narrative surrounding the company since reports began to surface a few weeks back. There has been lots of skepticism – and some “next Theranos” hyperbole – about the company, and it clearly feels the need to fight back. ML definitely invited criticism with its misleading concept videos and and the hype it has deliberately created about a product few have yet seen. Those who have seen it think it’s amazing, so I’m inclined to cut them something of a break, but it’s a useful reminder that hyping yourself too much can easily backfire.

    via Magic Leap


    Here’s all of the Apple HomeKit stuff you’ll see at CES – CNET (Jan 3, 2017)

    Most of the smart home coverage I’ve seen has given HomeKit short shrift, and rightly so – it took well over a year from the initial announcement for products to start shipping in any kind of numbers, and meanwhile Amazon’s Echo has grabbed lots of attention in the same space. However, HomeKit devices are now starting to emerge in larger numbers, and HomeKit as a platform is much smarter than Echo, which is essentially a dumb front end which merely passes through requests to the real brain, which lives elsewhere. HomeKit has some way to go, but it is finally starting to gain traction. However, see also this contrary take from the Verge.

    via Here’s all of the Apple HomeKit stuff you’ll see at CES – CNET


    Qualcomm Cutting-Edge Automotive Solutions Power Next Generation Infotainment for Volkswagen Vehicles – Qualcomm (Jan 3, 2017)

    Qualcomm is one of three big chipmakers to have announced new automotive deals at CES this week, along with Intel and Nvidia. Given how similar many in-car infotainment systems are to the smartphones and tablets Qualcomm already powers, it’s always been a natural player in this space, and is starting to make some headway here. As Android starts to make more of an appearance in these systems, Qualcomm will be a natural partner too – I saw a Panasonic concept system that married Android and a Qualcomm chip on display at CES.

    via Qualcomm Cutting-Edge Automotive Solutions Power Next Generation Infotainment for Volkswagen Vehicles


    Hyundai Collaborates With Google Assistant In Further Connecting Homes To Cars – Hyundai (Jan 3, 2017)

    This integration allows a Google Assistant user to remotely control their Hyundai through its Blue Link connected car system. We’re going to see more and more integrations between various voice assistants and cars, though of course Siri won’t be part of that yet because its third party integrations are limited to a handful of specific categories. Google is slowing ramping up its API efforts around the Assistant, which should add value in interesting ways.

    via Hyundai Collaborates With Google Assistant In Further Connecting Homes To Cars – Hyundai


    The Ad Tech Renaissance – Brian O’Kelley (Jan 3, 2017)

    This piece does a great job of breaking down the headline figures on the size of the online ad market into its constituent part, and argues that even though Google and Facebook dominate both ad dollars and growth in them, there’s more going on beneath the surface, and opportunities for other companies do exist in ad tech, even if not ad display. Separately, Brian argues that finding better ways to serve up ads on content sites is vital for their survival. I don’t know that I agree with all of this, but there’s some very good analysis here.

    via The ad tech renaissance


    Why Super Mario’s Run Was Short – WSJ (Jan 2, 2017)

    The headline is overstating things – it’s not like Super Mario Run is done. But there are some good numbers in here – notably that 3% of the estimated 90 million downloads have converted to being paying users. At $10, that’s actually pretty high, and Nintendo will do just fine if it can keep converting new users at that rate. However, the poor reviews – many driven by the IAP model – may prevent Nintendo from continuously filling its funnel. Definitely some lessons here for future Nintendo mobile games.

    via Why Super Mario’s Run Was Short – WSJ


    Amazon India is letting users sell their old products – Mashable (Jan 2, 2017)

    This is an interesting new angle from Amazon as it tries to compete with homegrown competitor Flipkart in India. It’s a good example of Amazon’s flexibility in responding to local conditions in markets outside the US – unlike some other big tech companies, it’s not rigid about a particular business model, and instead experiments as necessary to find the right products and strategies to make each market work. It’s still an uphill battle, however, in many of these markets, notably China, while it does seem to be making progress in India.

    via Amazon India is letting users sell their old products – Mashable


    Plenty of users sticking with Yahoo despite data breaches – San Francisco Chronicle (Jan 2, 2017)

    As per a previous piece I linked to, despite all the attention the various Yahoo breaches have received in the press, they’ll likely have little impact on usage, which makes it likely Verizon will go ahead with the acquisition, though it may use the breaches as leverage to lower the price. The key point is that users have short memories, and the very people still using Yahoo (largely out of apathy in a world with better alternatives) are least likely to jump ship, which obviously helps.

    via Plenty of users sticking with Yahoo despite data breaches – San Francisco Chronicle


    FCA and Google Collaborate on a Uconnect System Concept Powered by Android – Fiat Chrysler (Jan 2, 2017)

    This is an interesting side benefit of Google’s partnership with Fiat Chrysler around autonomous vehicles – FCA is now using Android N to power a new version of its Uconnect connected car technology in cars. FCA is on the official list of Apple CarPlay partners too, so even though there’s deep integration with certain Android apps here, this doesn’t mean iPhones will be second-class citizens in the car. But it does mean Google is now in cars in two distinct ways while Apple still seems to be honing its strategy behind closed doors.

    via FCA and Google Collaborate on a Uconnect System Concept Powered by Android – Fiat Chrysler


    A Magic Moment — Liss is More (Jan 1, 2017)

    This isn’t news per se – it’s not even a normal review. But it is a personal experience someone had with an Apple product – specifically, AirPods. This is still the strongest kind of counter-evidence to the Apple is Doomed narrative – that Apple still knows how to make magical products. It’s just one user’s experience, but reviews of the AirPods have been almost universally positive, and my own experience with them reinforces this too. They’re not perfect, but they’re very good.

    via A Magic Moment — Liss is More


    Apple’s 2016 in review – Chuq von Rospach (Jan 1, 2017)

    This piece explicitly disclaims the Apple is Doomed narrative, but it’s in line with quite a number of critical pieces over the past year from those who have generally been supporters of Apple. And it still draws broad conclusions about the state of Apple from a series of individual events that did and didn’t happen in 2016. I suspect Apple in 2016 was viewed more negatively than it might have been because there wasn’t a single big-bang new launch – it felt like mostly an incremental year. The one big exception was the AirPods, but they launched so late, and were themselves one of the examples of the problems Apple has faced, that it made little difference.

    via Apple’s 2016 in review


    Facebook Developing Copyright ID System to Stem Music Rights Infringement | Billboard (Dec 31, 2016)

    It’s been clear for some time that Facebook is setting itself up as a competitor to YouTube, and of course a big investment in video requires an investment in copyright policing too. Unlike YouTube, of course, much of the content shared on Facebook is private, which means it’s almost impossible to properly gauge the scale of infringing material. Instagram already does some of this for recorded music, but this article implies a lot of the infringing videos on Facebook are covers rather than the originals, which is quite a bit harder to detect.

    via Facebook Developing Copyright ID System to Stem Music Rights Infringement | Billboard


    Snapchat Is Beginning to Use Machine Learning to Improve Ad Targeting | Adweek (Dec 30, 2016)

    One of the big goals for Snap in the coming months is driving faster revenue growth, which means making the tough transition from a niche spending category to a mainstream one for advertisers. That, in turn, means better tools for selling and measuring the performance of ads. It seems some basic machine learning is at play here, which is an interesting advance from Snap too.

    via Snapchat Is Beginning to Use Machine Learning to Improve Ad Targeting | Adweek


    2016: The Year We Stopped Listening To Big Tech’s Favorite Excuse – BuzzFeed News (Dec 30, 2016)

    This is a fantastic post about how tech companies hide behind that identity, and shouldn’t. Facebook is the obvious example that springs to mind, and does seem to be coming around on this point, but it applies to others too. Many tech companies abdicate responsibility, because responsibility means an imperative to act and self-examine, and most importantly to question the assumption tech is always a force for good. We need more of that questioning in 2017.

    via 2016: The Year We Stopped Listening To Big Tech’s Favorite Excuse – BuzzFeed News


    This Is How Google Wants To Make The Internet Speak Everyone’s Language – BuzzFeed News (Dec 30, 2016)

    This is a great example of putting AI to work doing something useful. Too much of the conversation in the tech industry around AI is still about specs and methodologies rather than real, tangible benefits, but this is a wonderful exception. Companies need to show rather than tell around their AI capabilities if they want the message to stick.

    via This Is How Google Wants To Make The Internet Speak Everyone’s Language – BuzzFeed News


    Join Our Board: Companies Hotly Pursue New Wave of Women in Tech – The New York Times (Dec 30, 2016)

    Board positions are one of the most visible aspects of a company’s commitment to diversity (or lack thereof), and this means competition for women to sit on boards is at an all-time high. That’s a good thing, but it’s still far less common at lower levels in companies to have this kind of commitment to hiring women or other underrepresented groups in tech.

    via Join Our Board: Companies Hotly Pursue New Wave of Women in Tech – The New York Times