Daily Archives: April 15, 2021

Bill would stop tech giants splashing the cash.Photo: Cult of Mac

Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill Monday that would ban mergers and acquisitions by companies with market caps in excess of $100 billion. If passed, the bill could have a massive impact on technology companies, including Apple.

Apple, for the record, currently has a market cap of $2.2 trillion. Other tech giants worth upward of $100 billion include Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb and Netflix.

The idea behind Hawleys Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act is that stopping large companies from carrying out acquisitions would even the playing field. For example, such a law would have stopped Facebook from buying rivals. (Last December, federal regulators and state prosecutors sued Facebook for allegedly stifling competition by acquiring rivals such as Instagram and WhatsApp.)

Apple pursues a very different strategy when it comes to buying companies. It doesnt buy giants (with the occasional exception of something like Beats). Most of the companies it buys are much smaller. Apple typically shuts them down and bakes their technology into its own products.

However, it buys plenty of these smaller companies as a cursory search for Apple acquires on Cult of Mac proves. A report published in February shows that Apple buys a company every three to four weeks. Over the past five years, it snapped up more artificial intelligence companies than any other tech giant. If this new bill passes, Apple would be unable to do this.

Theres still a long way to go before the bill introduced by Hawley a Republican lawmaker highly critical of Big Tech could be signed into law. However, its definitely the kind of proposal that should get tech giants sweating.

Source: Reuters

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Proposed bill would stop Apple and other tech giants from acquiring companies - Cult of Mac

Source: Daniel Rubino/Windows Central

Microsoft is one of the top tech giants when it comes to corporate reputation, according to RepTrak. In the 2021 Global RepTrak 100 rankings, Microsoft ranks ninth overall, beating rival tech companies such as Sony (10th), Google (15th), and Apple (46th). Over 2,000 companies were analyzed for the 2021 Global RepTrak 100. Microsoft earned a score of 77.1, which is only a few points below the top-ranked Lego, which earned a score of 80.4

To be considered by RepTrak, a company must have a global revenue above $2 billion, hit high enough familiarity thresholds globally and in a certain number of countries, and must reach a qualifying reputation score above 67.3.

Microsoft has appeared on RepTrak's lists several times. In fact, it's been on eight of the last 11 top 100 rankings.

The reputation analysis for Microsoft states,

Over the past eleven years, Microsoft has placed within the Top 10 most reputable companies an impressive eight times. Microsoft excels when it comes to how people view its Financial Performance (in which it receives an "Excellent" Score) and Leadership. Microsoft is the only Software & Services company within the Top 10.

Microsoft ranks above almost all of its peers and fairs well compared to other tech giants. Depending on which companies you consider direct competition to Microsoft, it could be argued that Microsoft is the highest-ranked company among its peers.

The top spot on the list goes to Lego, followed by Rolex, Ferrari, The Bosch Group, Harley-Davidson, Canon, Adidas, and Disney. Sony rounds out the top 10 just one spot below Microsoft.

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Microsoft has a better reputation than Apple, Google, and other tech giants - Windows Central

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

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Huawei Technologies Co. will invest $1 billion on researching self-driving and electric-car technologies, accelerating plans to compete with Tesla Inc. and Xiaomi Corp. in the worlds biggest vehicle arena.

Huaweis autonomous-driving technology has already surpassed Teslas in some spheres, for instance by allowing cars to cruise for more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) without human intervention, Rotating Chairman Eric Xu told analysts in Shenzhen Monday.

The Chinese telecom giant will partner with three automakers initially to make self-driving cars that carry the Huawei name as a sub-brand, said Xu, one of three executives who take turns to fill the post. It will keep its circle of partners small and get its logo onto cars -- not unlike how Intel Corp. calls attention to its microprocessors on PCs -- that adopt its autonomous driving technology, he added. The mobile giant has so far agreed to team up with BAIC Group, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.

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The smart car business unit receives one of the heaviest investments from Huawei. We will invest more than $1 billion in car component development this year, Xu said. China adds 30 million cars each year and the number is growing. Even if we dont tap the market outside of China, if we can earn an average 10,000 yuan from each car sold in China, thats already a very big business for Huawei.

Huawei is emerging from its toughest year on record, when Trump-administration sanctions smothered its once leading smartphone business and stymied advances into chipmaking and fifth-generation networking. The Biden White House has shown few signs of letting up, prompting billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei to direct Huawei toward new growth areas such as smart agriculture, health care and electric cars. It hopes for a seat at the table with tech giants vying to define the rapidly evolving fields of connected vehicles, homes and workplaces.

Huawei aims to join tech giants from Apple Inc. to Xiaomi in targeting the vehicle industry, betting future cars will grow increasingly green, autonomous and connected. EV sales in China may climb more than 50% this year alone as consumers embrace cleaner automobiles and costs tumble, research firm Canalys estimates. Huaweis info and entertainment features can already be found in Mercedes-Benz sedans and the firm has teamed up with domestic players such as BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology Co. to develop smart car systems. The first model under its partnership with the Chinese EV maker, the Arcfox S HBT, will be unveiled at Auto Shanghai in April.

I dont know if they were bragging, but my team said they can have cars driving on their own without human intervention for 1,000 kilometers. Thats way better than Tesla, Xu said Monday.

But Huaweis piling into an already crowded arena, where an array of automakers from Tesla to local upstarts Nio Inc. and Xpeng Inc. are battling for a slice of the worlds biggest EV market. Xiaomi -- better known for its affordable gadgets and home appliances from rice cookers to robo-vacuums -- unveiled plans last month to invest about $10 billion over the next decade on manufacturing electric cars. Search giant Baidu Inc. and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. are also said to be teaming up to build vehicles.

With assistance by Edwin Chan, Yuan Gao, and Ying Tian

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Huawei to Invest $1 Billion on Car Tech It Says Surpasses Tesla - Bloomberg

Last week, Justice Clarence Thomas announced that the Supreme Court soon will have to put an end to big tech tyranny. He cited the glaring problem of social media platforms like Facebook and Google wielding unlimited power to censor users whose views they dont like. These tech giants, he argued, ought to be regulated like common carriers, which are legally required to serve all customers. AT&T cant refuse to open a phone account for you or limit your conversations. Amtrak cannot pick and choose who rides its trains.

Thomass opinion offers hope at a time when Democrats controlling Congress are demanding tech giants do more censoring, not less. On March 25, Democrats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered tech CEOs clamp down on disinformation and silence views that undermine social justice movements. Spoken like true totalitarians.

Thomas groundbreaking announcement was made in the context of a case involving Donald Trump. As president, he blocked critics from commenting on his tweets or retweeting them. Critics sued, claiming the presidents Twitter account is a public forum. The high court ruled the case is now moot because Trump is out of office. Thomas concurred, and agreed with a lower court ruling that Trump violated his critics First Amendment right to be heard.

But Thomas said the more glaring concern is not what Trump did to a few critics. Its the power of tech giants to censor or ban users entirely, even a president. Thomas expressed astonishment that Facebook and Google are permitted to remove an account at any time for any or no reason. He wrote one person controls Facebook and just two control Google. They decide what viewpoints billions of people can express or hear.

That power, said Thomas, must be reined in when a future controversy reaches the high court.

Big techs defenders argue that because theyre private companies, theyre free to censor. The First Amendment was written to prohibit only government from silencing viewpoints. But Thomas says its past time for the court to get tech savvy. These companies are more like common carriers or public utilities than private companies. They must be open to all the public.

Thomas also likened them to public accommodations like hotels and baseball stadiums, which are legally required to serve everyone and not discriminate.

Some hailed Thomass opinion as an invitation to Congress to declare Twitter, Facebook and similar companies common carriers. But the truth is that Democrats have no interest in the free exchange of ideas. Theyd rather deputize Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to censor competitors.

And dont count on President Biden. A staggering 14 of his picks to serve during the transition or in his new government are Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Google and Amazon recruits, according to a Daily Caller tally.

Biden probably owes his presidency, in part, to big tech. When the New York Post published a story documenting a Chinese companys dealings with the Biden family, including candidate Joe Biden, Silicon Valley tagged it as disinformation. Facebook buried it, and Twitter locked the Posts account entirely. In the weeks before the election, voters were denied information that could have influenced their choice.

Now, with Democrats in power, theres no chance lawmakers will classify tech companies as common carriers. But Thomas says the court can apply that reasoning any way, without waiting for Congress.

Until then, the public will hear only what the Silicon Valley wants. Last week, Lara Trump posted an interview with the former president on Facebook. Immediately, Facebook took it down, explaining, further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed.

Only the high court will restore uncensored political discourse, an American ideal. Thomass opinion illuminates the way.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.

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McCaughey: Its time to end big techs tyranny - Boston Herald

IN one of the senate hearings in Washington, DC, in April 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked by Senator Dick Durbin where he stayed the night before. Would Zuckerberg be comfortable to share it with him? Zuckerberg understandably said no after a long pause.

Durbin asked Zuckerberg whether he would like to share the names of people he messaged that week. He answered that he would choose not to do that publicly at the hearing.

Durbin said: I think that might be what this is all about your right to privacy, the limits of your right to privacy, and how much youd give away in modern America.

The awkward moment for Zuckerberg proves a point. Privacy matters. No company has the right to unveil anyones privacy in whatever form or manner.

Tech giants like Facebook has been accused of compromising individual data, just like in the case of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal that shocked the world. They have been accused of being bullies, acting imperiously and, worst, arrogantly.

The case of Facebook banning Australian users from sharing or viewing news content on its platform is cited as proof that a tech giants dominance in the media landscape has its perils.

Not too long ago Datuk Ho Kay Tat, chief executive officer of The Edge, spoke about digital duopoly that is destroying the news business. Companies in Malaysia and elsewhere are shifting their ad spending to social media and digital platforms, mainly Facebook and Google. The duopoly now controls 80% of the digital ad revenue.

In 2019, according to Ho, Facebook made US$55.8bil (RM223.2bil) in revenue, 80% of which was from digital advertising. Google, on the other hand, recorded a US$11.8bil (RM47.2bil) in ad revenue, which was 85% of its total earnings. One must also take note that while Amazon is a distant third, it is catching up fast and further hurting the media industry.

Malaysia media companies simply cant compete with them. And things are getting worse.

Media companies have a lot of complaints about the Big Four Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. They have every reason to be unhappy. Many believe that these companies are the new imperialists of the Internet era. They are the new colonisers of todays world. Their imperial ambitions know no bounds, some argue.

Rana Foroohars book, Dont Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles And All of Us, as the title suggests, portrays the sins of these new corporate empires. Foroohar is an associate editor of Financial Times and also CNNs global economic analyst. The book is about great tech monopolies.

She is not alone. There have been a few equally scathing criticism of giant tech companies among others: Shoshana Zuboffs The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and Franklin Foers World Without Mind.

There is a raging debate out there on how harmful the powers are in the hands of these tech titans. There are arguments about how online platforms have used their power in a destructive and harmful way in order to expand.

The colonial masters of yesteryear invaded and plundered and, in doing so, destroyed the fabric of indigenous societies. The new twisted logic of contemporary capitalism dictates that if you cant compete, buy them.

Facebook famously bought over Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus, among others. Google has bought at least 100 companies so far. Google is the largest search engine and mobile search in the world today. Amazon is into almost everything that matters even in showbiz.

There is nothing that is not appealing for these tech companies. Looking at the volume of transactions, the value of these companies and how much it enriched the founders and investors, you can figure out how little is left for others.

Colonialism tech giant style involves the controlling of minds too. These Big Four have rewritten the way we communicate, interact and do business. Nothing is left for granted.

According to observers, the Silicon Valley sharks are in danger of unwittingly draining the very economy that they swim in.

As Foroohar observed, Facebook and Google have so effectively destroyed the business model of mainstream newspapers that they are on the verge of running out of content to monetise. She also pointed out the fact that the world has never seen monopolies this formidable before.

She suggests tech giants be broken up just like the rail and telecom monopolies in the United States. Others are suggesting tougher regulations. Many believe that anti-competitive tendencies are not good in the long run. They raised the issue about these companies contravening the existing anti-trust law in most advanced countries.

Meanwhile, good old media companies will continue to live in the shadow of these new colonial masters.

Johan Jaaffar was a journalist, editor and for some years chairman of a media company, and is passionate about all things literature and the arts. And a diehard rugby fan. The views expressed here are entirely his own.

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Imperial ambitions of tech giants - The Star Online

Some of that software eventually wound up being acquired by Nuance, and serving asbuilding blocks of what Nuance sold to Apple to help it launch its Siri voice-driven personal assistant. Nuance not only bought some of the technology that the Bakers created at their company, Newton-based Dragon Systems, but it acquired other local companies that included SpeechWorks, eScription, VoiceSignal Technologies, and Vlingo. (Nuance, formerly known as ScanSoft, even got its name after acquiring a Silicon Valley company in 2005.)

Nuance, which today has about 825 employees in Massachusetts, was an acquisition machine. The company has more intellectual property around speech than anybody on earth, says Stu Patterson, who was chief executive of SpeechWorks. And its alumni were often hired by companies such as Google and Amazon to help build up their speech capabilities. For instance, Jeff Adams,founding manager of Amazons Alexa team, spent eight years at Nuance improving the Dragon NaturallySpeaking dictation product.

It was also a lawsuit machine, defending that trove of patents in the courts. An ongoing lawsuit with a company based in Cyprus, Omilia Natural Language Solutions, asserts that Nuance has filed at least 17 lawsuits over the last decade, some of them after the company in question refused Nuances acquisition offer. Nuance alleges patent infringement, and Omilia calls Nuances behavior anticompetitive.

Ron Croen was chief executive of the Silicon Valley company, Nuance, that gave the Massachusetts Nuance its name in 2005. Croen formed that company in 1994 with three researchers from SRI International, a nonprofit research and development group. For decades, Croen says, companies like Microsoft and IBM have poured millions of dollars into trying to get software to better recognize human speech. But turning those lab breakthroughs into marketplace products has never been obvious to the Microsofts or the IBMs, says Croen. They just havent been good at it.

One of Nuances first customers under Croens leadership was the brokerage Charles Schwab, which enabled its customers to call up a phone number, say a ticker symbol or mutual fund name, and get an instant quote. After Croens company was acquired, the chief executive of that new Nuance, Paul Ricci, continued to focus on applying the companys technology to actual business problems like freeing brokers from looking up stock quotes or enabling doctors to dictate their notes from a patient visit as opposed to honing technology for technologys sake.

Microsoft has already been a very front-running technology developer their labs and their people are world class, Croen says. They publish papers, and they announce the results of their speech recognition accuracy. It turns out, thats not necessarily a business. But helping medical facilities and call centers save money by operating more efficiently is, Croen observes. Getting access to that big customer base is a key goal of the Microsoft acquisition.

With that acquisition, its likely that most of Nuances talent will stay put here in Massachusetts, but will work under the umbrella of one of the Left Coast tech giants. Apple has a speech-focused research group in Cambridge, and Amazon has developed much of its Alexa technology here as well.

Those companies have huge resources, says Michael Phillips, that they can apply to continuing to improve speech recognition and understanding, and offer it essentially for free through their smartphones and intelligent speakers, like the Alexa. Those resources are not just smart people, but its access to huge amounts of data and huge amounts of computational power, he says. Weve entered the stage now where people like Google and Amazon are just going to win on the core technology. Phillips is chief executive of Sense, a Cambridge home energy analysis startup, and he was acquired into Nuance twice once while working for SpeechWorks, and once while working for Vlingo.

Does the end of this particular chapter of Boston tech history mean that there are no more opportunities for startups to create important new products that use spoken language in a more sophisticated way? Absolutely not, says venture capitalist Bob Davoli. Theres a lot of room for innovation, he says, especially connecting what you say to artificial intelligence and process automation that can understand, for instance, what words to put into various fields in a form or database. Technology may eventually lead to the end of call center agents, Davoli suggests. Among his investments are Interactions Corp., a Franklin company that sells its technology to customers such as Citi, Shutterfly, and Constant Contact. Other Massachusetts startups, including CallMiner and ChipBrain, try to understand a persons emotional state, and try to provide insights on how to respond to complaints or sell them a product.

But Steve Chambers, a former Nuance marketing leader, says he does wonder whether VCs will invest in any startups artificial intelligence or voice technology, other than that which will tactically appeal to the big five tech companies as a potential acquisition target. Chambers also says he has concern for the job security of friends working at Nuance, following the Microsoft acquisition.

When it comes to higher-level understanding and reasoning, its still early days, says Vlad Sejnoha, a partner at Boston-based Glasswing Ventures, an investment firm, and a former chief technology officer at Nuance. Patterson talks about the industrys next big step being conversational AI, or artificial intelligence. His current startup, LifePod Solutions, sells smart speakers that can initiate conversations rather than waiting to be asked something. One application: reminding seniors about a medical appointment or a pill theyre supposed to take before bedtime.

But weve now arrived at a moment where you can talk to your car, your phone, your laptop, and the Alexa speaker on your kitchen counter. Thinking back to 1971, Janet Baker, now a mentor and research affiliate at MITs Media Lab, says, We met our long-term goal, not just to make it work, but make it something that a huge number of people use as a part of daily life.

Huge deals like Microsofts acquisition of Nuance are announced with a press release at a predetermined day and time. But sometimes, theyre a few decades in the making.

Scott Kirsner can be reached at kirsner@pobox.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottKirsner.

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After the Nuance deal, whats next for voice recognition tech? - BetaBoston

CARY Epic Games has raised another $1 billion in investment capital its third funding to top the billion dollar mark. The privately held company says it is now valued at $28.7 billion.

Among the investors: Global tech giant Sony, which provided $200 million and is the second such investment the company has made in Epic, which is publisher of the pop culture hit title Fortnite.

The added capital was raised despite the fact Epic is locked in a growing global legal battle with tech giants Apple and Google over antitrust issues. Epic has raised more than $4 billion in capital, much of it coming in the last three years.

Epic raised $1.25 billion in October 2018 and $1.78 billion in August of 2020. In 2012, Tencent invested more than $300 million.

Through a series of recent acquisitions, Epic is expanding its technical and social capabilities as it seeks to build worlds of entertainment and tolls that deliver more life-like special effects. Epic refers to the evolving video game and computer-generated imagery [CGI] as the Metaverse.

We are grateful to our new and existing investors who support our vision for Epic and the Metaverse. Their investment will help accelerate our work around building connected social experiences in Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys, while empowering game developers and creators with Unreal Engine, Epic Online Services and the Epic Games Store, said Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic in a statement.

AddedKenichiro Yoshida, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Group:

Epic continues to deliver revolutionary experiences through their array of cutting edge technologies that support creators in gaming and across the digital entertainment industry. We are excited to strengthen our collaboration to bring new entertainment experiences to people around the world. I strongly believe that this aligns with our purpose to fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology.

Epic is North carolinas most valuable so-called unicorn, an emerging company valued at $1 billion or more. And its among the richest emerging firms in the US, according to data tracked by private equity news site PitchBook.

Epic losing hundreds of millions of dollars with free games; CEO defends his strategy

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Epic Games raises another $1 billion; Sony invests $200M more - WRAL Tech Wire