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August 4, 2020
Step aside, Stadia. Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it would launch the world's most extensive cloud gaming service next month, delivering more than 100 console-quality games to Android users in 22 countries.
The announcement in some ways leapfrogs Microsoft's Project xCloud past Google's Stadia cloud gaming service, which debuted last year. While Stadia offers an optional subscription that includes about a dozen games, it mostly relies on a traditional sales model, with users paying full retail price (around $60) for top-end games that they can then play through a Chrome browser.
Microsoft, however, is wrapping cloud gaming within its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service, which offers a huge variety of games for about $15 a month across Windows, Xbox consoles and mobile Android devices. The company revealed about a third of the more than 100 games that will become playable on mobile Android devices next month, including hits such as Destiny 2, Forza Horizon 4 and Minecraft Dungeons.
Rather than download game software to a device and render graphics on local hardware, cloud gaming streams live interactive gameplay from data centers. The technology relies on both powerful cloud computing and robust high-speed connections to users. Microsoft's cloud gaming will require at least a 10-megabit wireless connection.
Helping players take their games on the go, Microsoft also announced partnerships with accessory makers including Razer and SteelSeries for mobile adapters that allow users to attach an Android device to a traditional game controller or add game controls to the outside of their phone.
As Microsoft readies to battle Sony with new game consoles this fall, Microsoft has been building a vision of gaming everywhere, powered by the company's Azure cloud platform, while Sony has been pushing a relatively traditional model of couch-based play. Microsoft said that almost any Android user in the United States, Canada, South Korea and much of Western Europe would have access to the new cloud gaming options. While Google competes in cloud gaming, Google has been relatively open in allowing others to offer gaming services via the Android operating system.
Apple, by contrast, has been far more restrictive. While Microsoft has tried xCloud on Apple systems, Apple has not allowed cloud gaming to reach the public on its devices yet. Microsoft also has not announced extensive plans for cloud gaming on desktops — a feature Stadia offers.
In addition to Microsoft and Google, Amazon and Nvidia are also working on or delivering cloud gaming services.
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Seth Schiesel
Seth Schiesel ( @SethSchiesel) is a contributing editor for Protocol focused on the business of video games and adjacent industries. He is a former editorial writer for The Boston Globe, entrepreneur and business reporter, technology writer and video game critic for The New York Times.
Microsoft wants to replace artists with AI
Better Zoom calls, simpler email attachments, smart iPhone cases and other patents from Big Tech.
Turning your stories into images.
Image: USPTO/Microsoft
January 24, 2021
Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
January 24, 2021
Hello and welcome to 2021! The Big Tech patent roundup is back, after a short vacation and … all the things … that happened between the start of the year and now. It seems the tradition of tech companies filing weird and wonderful patents has carried into the new year; there are some real gems from the last few weeks. Microsoft is trying to outsource all creative endeavors to AI; Apple wants to make seat belts less annoying; and Amazon wants to cut down on some of the recyclable waste that its own success has inevitably created.
And remember: The big tech companies file all kinds of crazy patents for things, and though most never amount to anything, some end up defining the future.
<h3>Alphabet</h3><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10887548&IDKey=EEF3B7984CE3%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D81%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dgoogle.ASNM.%2526p%3D2%2526OS%3DAN%2Fgoogle%2526RS%3DAN%2Fgoogle" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Making Zoom meetings a little nicer</u></a></p><p>Even after nearly a year at home, some people have still not figured out the best way to set up their digital meetings. They're either too close to the camera or so far away they might as well not be there. Part of the problem lies in the cameras they have available, as many webcams are too wide-angled: No one needs to see what's 8 feet to either side of you on a Zoom call. But this recent Google patent might help; it involves the meeting platform being able to gauge how far you are from the camera (by measuring the proportions of your face) and zooming in on you when you're speaking, hopefully making everyone look a little more uniform. The patent also included this wonderful diagram to explain it, which appears to have been made in Microsoft Paint: </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="1">
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</div></p><p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/2ZK0yTSkP4yE0nf5UBKwHsNu3eoS1BfhMPzivzm43jOAQ7jtOLKAMRV0MJzA9MZzH-cyVGVUsQGTlxpJwHV3kDhw3oKJB2OElrO38NikIae6v-IBnyo1sWXGs7pB8S_Qzc84eMzK"></p><h3>Amazon</h3><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10891879&IDKey=9A6594CF1637%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r%3D45%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526co1%3DAND%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Damazon.ASNM.%2526OS%3DAN%2Famazon%2526RS%3DAN%2Famazon" target="_blank"><u>Reusing Amazon boxes</u></a><br></p><p>Everyone is shopping online far more than ever before, meaning ever-more cardboard boxes are littering our homes and recycling facilities. Amazon's new patent aims to help rectify this by creating a system that allows customers to easily reuse boxes that products come in. It's trying to remove all the steps usually found in shipping — such as weighing your package, getting a price to ship and bringing the package to a shipping facility — and replacing them with software. You'd scan the box you have and what you're trying to send, and Amazon's app would recognize what it is and estimate how much it'll cost to ship. You then pack it up and a courier comes to retrieve it. Now your friends and loved ones will never be without their Bad Monkeys.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUxNjQ3MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MDI2ODY5M30.EkwGsay63N-lFWpfMh7KInjiCf9ev5vsL_htdvnjk1g/img.png?width=980" id="ddd43" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="174cb26e99641a035a7e3e603522692a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p><br></p><p><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=49&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=amazon.ASNM.&OS=AN/amazon&RS=AN/amazon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Choosing music based on BPM</u></a></p><p>If you're making a playlist to work out — or perhaps you're a spin class instructor looking for songs with specific tempos — this idea might be for you. Amazon's patent suggests creating a way to search music to download based on songs' beats per minute. If you want a mix of slow songs to cool down with and uptempo ones to rock out, this could be useful (and is similar to something Pandora offers today). Or if you want a playlist that includes the fastest music ever to help you write faster, this could help. Or maybe that's just me. </p><h3>Apple</h3><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10887260&IDKey=F5990016F873%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D86%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3D%252522Apple%252BInc%252522.ASNM.%2526p%3D2%2526OS%3DAN%2F%252522Apple%252BInc%252522%2526RS%3DAN%2F%252522Apple%252BInc%252522" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Auto-returning attachments</u></a></p><p>Have you ever been sent a PDF that you're supposed to download, print, sign, rescan and email back, and then you lost the file in your downloads, opened up an old version and had to hunt down for the right one before you sent it back? Maybe you're not as scatterbrained as me, but Apple's new idea for a system that allows you to just interact with an attachment that needs to be sent back to your correspondent without leaving the email program sounds like a dream. A better dream, though, would probably be to get rid of random attachments altogether. </p><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10889261&IDKey=0F2DEC21FBE3%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D73%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3D%252522Apple%252BInc%252522.ASNM.%2526p%3D2%2526OS%3DAN%2F%252522Apple%252BInc%252522%2526RS%3DAN%2F%252522Apple%252BInc%252522" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Seat belts that move based on where you sit</u></a></p><p>If you've ever been the third person on a road trip and wanted to sit in the middle seat in the back, you've probably gotten stuck with a seatbelt that's a bit too small; the middle seat isn't <em>quite</em> as large as the other two. This new design from Apple would essentially recognize where you sit in the backseat and move the entire seat belt machinery along so that you would be comfortably strapped in wherever you're sitting. It would also automatically reveal the buckle, so you wouldn't have to spend time hunting for where it's gone. This all sounds like it would make losing out when someone calls "shotgun" a little more bearable.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1ljUJhG2G4iQ-v0kSWKki6Z4wg7E_fFCQ03urRM92hO9IbjnRZwUeiqar4l3VLf0tpDYKwpmyU--A-gFUDmYyTRJUPZOcLln-syyOm6vka2a71oqTvcQDgtwi-3O6WJ7e1Qklyqn"></p><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10892625&IDKey=A689AD279428&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r%3D49%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526co1%3DAND%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3D%252522Apple%252BInc%252522.ASNM.%2526OS%3DAN%2F%252522Apple%252BInc%252522%2526RS%3DAN%2F%252522Apple%252BInc%252522" target="_blank"><u>Cases for your AirPods, stylus and iPhone </u></a></p><p>Apple hasn't been without Jony Ive for very long, but it seems it's going ham on truly zany design concepts in his absence. In this patent, Apple explores various ways to combine a holder for AirPods and a stylus into a folio-style case for an iPhone that could also charge your peripherals and potentially display messages on the exterior. If Apple could pull this off in a way that didn't lead to a giant lumpy mess in my pocket, I'd potentially be interested, but the drawings in the patent are … less than promising: </p><p><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/0fbpPZ0ZDVCff0oNBktt-yaJYXoqyEz1rqXRPPbaaS1pHp5KSeO5LZm3vG8FsmdBu9Ms5s6QihhQVTWadTfWvGNn5h01dv2y1yiFfcVuRgHNvWteHNcRYb_rBPmAz03PctjwU4_A"></p><h3>Facebook</h3><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10885693&IDKey=D4DB683187A2%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r%3D48%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526co1%3DAND%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dfacebook.ASNM.%2526OS%3DAN%2Ffacebook%2526RS%3DAN%2Ffacebook" target="_blank"><u>Animating digital avatars with VR headsets</u></a></p><p>Facebook is still pushing hard to make interacting in VR the future of … interacting … and this patent might help things feel a bit more natural. It suggests using cameras mounted on a VR headset pointed back at you to map real human facial expressions onto your digital avatar. Most VR programs with avatars either have faces that don't move when you're speaking or they just flap their mouths wildly; a system like this could make talking to someone dressed as a wizard or an elf or whatever else they've chosen to represent themselves online feel at least a little more normal. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="4">
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</div></p><h3>Microsoft</h3><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10896455&IDKey=507447D630AA%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D14%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dmicrosoft.ASNM.%2526p%3D1%2526OS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft%2526RS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft" target="_blank"><u>Cortana for your car</u></a></p><p>Microsoft is apparently looking into application-specific virtual assistants, such as one designed for use in a car. It's a Car-tana, if you will. The assistant would be designed to provide specific insights about driving and how you could be saving money. That would include things like preemptively letting you know when a part might need servicing, how many miles it's been since you last fueled up or that your electric car's charge is low and chargers are nearby. It could announce these things over the car's stereo system, allowing you to keep your eyes on the road.</p><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10891928&IDKey=28C797030461%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D50%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dmicrosoft.ASNM.%2526p%3D1%2526OS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft%2526RS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft" target="_blank"><u>Computer-generated songs</u></a></p><p>Who needs musicians? Microsoft's new patent seems to want to make them obsolete. It suggests a system that can take an input, like a picture or some text, and turn it into a song. It can identify elements in the input, like the sentiment of the words or aspects of the image (like if people are outside or in a crowd) and build a melody and lyrics off of that. Sadly, as this is just a written document, there are no examples of this concept's potential output, if Microsoft has even built something like this. But if it does prove to be possible, I've got <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOck0kPtlfk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>the perfect robot</u></a> to perform this system's songs. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="5">
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</div></p><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10891969&IDKey=2B298D9FF592%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D48%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dmicrosoft.ASNM.%2526p%3D1%2526OS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft%2526RS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Turning speech into images</u></a></p><p>Microsoft is really on the art-generating bandwagon this week. This patent outlines a similar idea to the last one, envisioning a system that can take what someone is saying and turn it into images. The system could even string together generated images into a sort-of picture book: You could narrate a day you've had to the AI, and it generates something like a series of Instagram Stories based on what you say to it. Though it'd probably just be easier to actually take photos of what happened, honestly. <img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/YiHWGhgP3yGoWZ_QImFlegpqjzeVfS3SxBB2LcXH0Ap5oMwIMtDJdzzw4iPRsFgYlGPT2v4Jl5o3ueTFWJcQlw4nMwehlG7Y2jytW7QDFNq1fzPJUScU69UflhoMV-GJbdWNSezS"></p>
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Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
Power
Everything you need to know about the Roblox direct listing
The company is expected to go public via direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange in February.
Roblox CEO David Baszucki is taking the company public.
Photo: Ian Tuttle/Getty Images
January 22, 2021
Hirsh Chitkara (@ChitkaraHirsh) is a researcher at Protocol, based out of New York City. Before joining Protocol, he worked for Business Insider Intelligence, where he wrote about Big Tech, telecoms, workplace privacy, smart cities, and geopolitics. He also worked on the Strategy & Analytics team at the Cleveland Indians.
January 21, 2021
Roblox is a video game platform, though it describes itself alternatively as a "metaverse," "human co-experience platform" and "new category of human interaction." It's expected to go public via direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange in February.
In simpler terms, Roblox enables developers to build games within the Roblox virtual world, which looks like a crossover between Minecraft and Lego. Developers publish and distribute their games through Roblox to an audience of some 31.1 million daily active users.
<p>Here's everything you need to know about the company and its direct listing.</p>
What Does Roblox Do?
<p>Many of the core Roblox experiences are free, but the virtual currency, Robux, can be used to customize player avatars, unlock premium games and purchase in-game perks. Roblox makes money by charging users for Robux and through its <a href="https://www.roblox.com/premium/membership" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">subscription service</a>, Roblox Premium, which offers discounts and access to exclusive content. Developers keep <a href="https://developer.roblox.com/en-us/articles/developer-economics#:~:text=When%20you%20start%20developing%20on,via%20our%20virtual%20currency%20Robux" target="_blank">a portion</a> of the Robux generated through their games, and can cash out through the <a href="https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/203314100-Developer-Exchange-DevEx-FAQs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Developer Exchange Program</a>. </p><p>An active Roblox developer community means content is always changing. On my homepage, for instance, Roblox gives me the option to play a <a href="https://www.roblox.com/games/4996049426/UPDATE-All-Star-Tower-Defense?refPageId=7098b58b-fcbf-42bd-86a0-fcd00216ed05" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tower defense game</a>, <a href="https://www.roblox.com/games/166986752/Plane-Crazy?refPageId=7098b58b-fcbf-42bd-86a0-fcd00216ed05" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flight simulator</a>, <a href="https://www.roblox.com/games/364802243/Freeze-Tag-NEW-MAP?refPageId=7098b58b-fcbf-42bd-86a0-fcd00216ed05" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">freeze tag simulator</a>, a <a href="https://www.roblox.com/games/920587237/Adopt-Me?refPageId=7098b58b-fcbf-42bd-86a0-fcd00216ed05" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pet game</a> reminiscent of Nintendogs and a <a href="https://www.roblox.com/games/5596703547/Weight-Lifting-Simulator-5?refPageId=7098b58b-fcbf-42bd-86a0-fcd00216ed05" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">weight-lifting simulator</a>. Developers have created more than 18 million games/experiences for the Roblox platform, though users <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/09/robloxs-10-biggest-games-of-all-time-each-with-more-than-a-billion-plays/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tend to gravitate</a> to a much smaller subset of the available content. Flexibility in gameplay is critical to Roblox's long-term value proposition, since it hopes to avoid the boom-and-bust cycle of a typical standalone game. </p><p>If you feel old reading any of the above, it's probably because over half of Roblox users were born after 2006. But what the community lacks in life experience, it makes up for with enthusiasm: Roblox <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1315098/000119312520298230/d87104ds1.htm#INDEX" target="_blank">users spent a total</a> of 22.2 billion hours on the platform for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2020, which comes out to 2.6 hours per day for each active user. With children locked out of other social activities during the pandemic, Roblox experienced a massive uptick in usage; total time spent on the platform <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/16/technology/roblox-tweens-videogame-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">doubled between February and July 2020</a>.</p>Roblox's Financials
<p>Roblox isn't yet profitable, but it has managed to grow revenue at an impressive clip. According to the company's S-1, Roblox generated $588.7 million in revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2020, representing a 68% jump from the same period in 2019. Costs grew even faster than revenue, however, so Roblox posted a $205.9 million consolidated net loss in the 2020 period, down from the $46.3 million consolidated net loss in the first nine months of 2019.</p><p>Roblox's highest expense is developer exchange fees, which accounted for roughly 26% of total expenses in the first nine months of 2020. Other significant costs include server fees, consumer safety (Roblox contracts out some 1,700 agents to monitor its platform to uphold community standards), research and development investment and the 30% fee owed to Apple and Google for mobile OS purchases. </p>What Could Go Wrong?
<p>Three themes stand out from Roblox's S-1: loss of user interest, access to distribution channels and user safety.</p> <p><strong>Children's attention is notoriously fickle, </strong>and Roblox is asking investors to bet billions on its ability to remain relevant for years to come. For every Lego or Nintendo that has defined multiple generations of childhoods, there's a Club Penguin, Neopets or Webkinz that quickly went from all the rage to irrelevant.</p><ul><li>"The multitude of other entertainment options, online gaming, and other interactive experiences is high, making it difficult to retain users who are dissatisfied with our platform and seek other entertainment options," Roblox writes. "Moreover, the majority of our users are under the age of 13. This demographic may be less brand loyal and more likely to follow trends, including viral trends, than other demographics."</li><li>Another concern is that Roblox won't be able to sustain its boost in user activity after the pandemic subsides. The company writes: "The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social distancing, shelter-in-place and similar restrictions led to increased developer and creator and user engagement on our platform relative to our quarterly forecast and historic trends. These increases in user activity are almost certainly not indicative of our financial and operating results in future periods."</li></ul> <p><strong>Roblox's access to distribution channels is contingent </strong>upon external partnerships.</p><ul><li>In December 2020, Roblox <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3112379/us-gaming-platform-roblox-licensed-release-china-company-plans-go" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gained approval</a> to operate in China through a joint venture with Tencent. This could be an enormous revenue opportunity, but it comes with uncertainty given the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/23/21531154/judge-denies-trump-administration-ban-wechat-tencent-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tense relations</a> between the U.S. and China.</li><li>Apple and Google also have significant leverage over Roblox. "For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, 34% of our revenue was attributable to Robux sales through the Apple App Store and 18% of our revenue was attributable to Robux sales through the Google Play Store, and during the same period 68% of our engagement hours on the platform were from users who signed up through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store," the company writes. Roblox raises the possibility that Apple or Google could damage their profitability by changing fee structures or data policies. </li></ul> <p><strong>Roblox needs to uphold high safety standards</strong> since so many children are on the platform; failing to do so would damage their reputation. </p><ul><li>The company writes: "We have faced allegations that our platform has been used by criminal offenders to identify and communicate with children and to possibly entice them to interact off-platform, outside of the restrictions of our chat, content blockers, and other on-platform safety measures. While we devote considerable resources to prevent this from occurring, we are unable to prevent all such interactions from taking place." </li><li>Roblox also brings up the possibility that developers make content that the community considers "illicit, explicit, profane, or otherwise objectionable." The company bans such content, but with millions of experiences available, some could slip through the cracks. </li></ul>Who Gets Rich?
<p>Investors in Roblox saw the company's valuation grow seven times over the past year. In February 2020, Roblox raised $150 million in a series G round that valued it at $4 billion. Then in January 2021, Roblox closed a $520 million series H round that generated an astounding $29.5 billion valuation.</p><p>This valuation may seem absurd to some. Is a children's video game (OK, "platform") worth <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/ford-has-a-hidden-asset-just-like-gm-its-stock-could-rise-soon-too-51611159634" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nearly as much as Ford</a>? Whether Roblox can justify its valuation in the long run, here's who stands to gain from a stellar IPO, based on shareholder disclosures from the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1315098/000119312520298230/d87104ds1.htm#rom87104_3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">S-1 filing</a> on Nov. 19, 2020:</p><ul><li>Altos Ventures <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/19/roblox-s-1-ipo-filing-released.html#:~:text=Altos%20Ventures%20is%20Roblox's%20largest,and%20Tiger%20Global%20owns%207.3%25." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">owned</a> 21% of shares.</li><li>Meritech Capital owned 10% of shares. </li><li>Roblox founder, president and CEO David Baszucki owned 12% of outstanding shares.</li><li>Index Ventures owned 9.9% of shares. </li></ul>What People Are Saying
<p><strong>"The S-1 makes plain exactly how big Roblox's ambitions are: It's trying to build an entire new world, with a new economy, a new currency, a new everything, and not just for kids. The company wants to be thought of like a tech giant, not a game developer."</strong> —Protocol's David Pierce <a href="https://www.protocol.com/newsletters/sourcecode/the-metaverse-goes-public-roblox-s1-ipo?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">wrote in Source Code</a> after Roblox filed its S-1.</p><p><strong>"Roblox could be to Facebook what Shopify is to Amazon, the non-social media social media firm. Just as hospitals, doctors offices, headquarters, shopping malls, and campuses are being bypassed and shifting hundreds of billions in stakeholder value, Roblox could disrupt the kid attention economy. Roblox is set to go public this month, and will create meaningful shareholder value. Prediction: stock trades up 70% or more on first trade. More important, Roblox could be the first social media firm whose shareholder value isn't designed to extract value from the least powerful stakeholder, kids."</strong> —NYU Professor Scott Galloway in his <a href="https://www.profgalloway.com/roblox-and-the-dispersal-of-creativity" target="_blank">No Mercy / No Malice newsletter</a>.</p>
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Hirsh Chitkara (@ChitkaraHirsh) is a researcher at Protocol, based out of New York City. Before joining Protocol, he worked for Business Insider Intelligence, where he wrote about Big Tech, telecoms, workplace privacy, smart cities, and geopolitics. He also worked on the Strategy & Analytics team at the Cleveland Indians.
The current state-of-the-art quantum computers are a tangle of wires. And that can't be the case in the future.
Photo: IBM Research
January 15, 2021
Dan Garisto is a freelance science journalist who specializes in the physical sciences, with an emphasis on particle physics. He has an undergraduate degree in physics and is based in New York.
January 15, 2021
The iconic image of quantum computing is the "Google chandelier," with its hundreds of intricately arranged copper wires descending like the tendrils of a metallic jellyfish. It's a grand and impressive device, but in that tangle of wires lurks a big problem.
"If you're thinking about the long-term prospects of quantum computing, that image should be just terrifying," Jim Clarke, the director of quantum hardware at Intel, told Protocol.
<p>The problem is scale. When your quantum computer is <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/quantum-computing/noisy-intermediate-scale-nisq" target="_self">based on just a few dozen qubits</a>, it's fine to designate one or more wires to each qubit in order to send and receive signals. But quantum computers are growing, and they will need to reach <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/quantum-computing/next-steps-advances-in-quantum-computing" target="_self">thousands, if not millions, of qubits to truly be useful</a> for <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/quantum-computing/machine-learning-ai-quantum-computing-move-beyond-hype" target="_blank">companies and organizations</a> — at which point, using wires is going to become a literal knotty problem. </p><p>"It's no longer sufficient to just be able to make a qubit device and talk about the properties of a qubit," said David Reilly, a quantum researcher at Microsoft. "It's all about scale. And it's all about the infrastructure that you need to get there."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="1">
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</div></p><p>Multiple companies investing in quantum computers are now looking toward this future, and trying to develop better methods of controlling their qubits. These quantum control chips are similar to the silicon wafers produced using CMOS technology, with a few alterations to make them work at ultracold temperatures and with qubits. </p><p>In December, <a href="https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-debuts-2nd-gen-horse-ridge-cryogenic-quantum-control-chip/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Intel announced</a> its Horse Ridge 2 control chip, which builds off its predecessor to perform more specific applications, such as manipulating and reading qubits. Research <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.01299" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">soon to be published</a> in Nature Electronics looks at Microsoft's quantum control chip, which operates at the coldest temperatures yet: a tenth of a degree above absolute zero. But Microsoft and Intel aren't alone; other companies have also been developing quantum control chips. In 2019, Google debuted <a href="https://ai.googleblog.com/2019/02/on-path-to-cryogenic-control-of-quantum.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">its own</a>.</p><p>The goal is to help build the <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/quantum-computing/next-steps-advances-in-quantum-computing" target="_self">infrastructure required for a future quantum computer</a> that has actual applications for corporations and research institutes, not just one that can <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/quantum-computing/supremacy-google-debatable-milestone" target="_self">out-speed classical supercomputers in proof-of-principle tests</a>. </p><h3>Going wireless
</h3><p>Quantum computers rely on unsettling properties of the quantum world, such as superposition: the combination of states exemplified famously by Schrödinger's feline, which can be neither dead nor alive, but exists in some superposition of both states. Quantum effects like superposition are fragile, and tend to collapse out in our noisy, warm, macroscopic world. To preserve the qubits' delicate quantum states, they are kept extremely cold, usually below 1 Kelvin (about -457 degrees Fahrenheit)</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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</div></p><p>To achieve those temperatures, qubits are kept in dilution fridges, which use liquid helium to keep their contents ultracold. Those devices have limited internal space and limited cooling power, both of which are hampered by a nest of wires. To explain the impetus for better quantum control, Clarke uses an analogy. </p><p>"Imagine that you are in charge of 100 dogs, and you have to take them for a walk," Clarke says. "Do you take them on 100 separate leashes? Or do you have one leash that fans out and do it more efficiently?" </p><p>In classical computers, control chips are small silicon wafers with some input and output pins that connect to billions of transistors. This CMOS technology is well-known, so it's tempting to slap a classical control chip onto a quantum computer, but it's not feasible. There are two main problems: First, quantum control chips have to operate at extremely low temperatures, so circuits must be designed to dissipate far less heat. Second, quantum control chips require alterations to interface with qubits, which are far more finicky than their classical counterparts. </p><p>Solving both problems entails reworking control chips: though hopefully not so much that they can't still be fabricated at scale, with traditional silicon manufacturing techniques.</p><p>Intel claims its Horse Ridge series (named for Horse Ridge, one of the coldest places in Oregon) operates at 4 K — above the temperature of the qubits it can control — and seeks to build on the company's preexisting expertise with semiconductor technology. While Horse Ridge 1 was designed for a wide variety of qubits, the recently unveiled Horse Ridge 2 focuses on expanded applications for spin qubits, Intel's preferred choice in <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/quantum-computing/nobody-agrees-on-how-to-build-quantum-computer" target="_self">the qubit wars</a>. The goal, according to Clarke, is to "customize these low-temperature control chips for different applications." </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><p>Google's control chip is similar, operating at 3 K, but is designed for yet another type of qubit, called a transmon. The chip has been tested on a few qubits, but not the 53-qubit Sycamore device that <a href="https://www.protocol.com/manuals/quantum-computing/supremacy-google-debatable-milestone" target="_self">made headlines</a> in 2019. <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8865458" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Research from Google</a> has focused on reducing heat dissipation from the quantum control chip. Where a classical control chip outputs about one watt of heat, Google's dissipates less than two thousandths of a watt. "Getting power down is going to be very important for any of these approaches," Joseph Bardin, an engineering professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a researcher at Google, wrote in an email to Protocol. </p><p>Microsoft's quantum control chip relies on similar semiconductor technology, but it is designed to work with topological qubits, though it can be adapted for other qubit architectures. (Worth noting: Topological qubits are theoretical, and have not actually been demonstrated.) </p><p>Where it really departs from Intel's and Google's designs is temperature. Microsoft's quantum control chip can dissipate less than a millionth of a watt, allowing it to stay at a chilly 0.1 K, about the same temperature as the qubits themselves.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="4">
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</div></p><h3>Is it hot in here?</h3><p>The companies insist on the advantages of their own approaches.</p><p>"What is really unique is that our signals are generated at low temperature," Intel's Clarke said. By putting its classical CPU — which sends signals to the control chip — with the control chip at these temperatures, Intel hopes to avoid the noisiness inherent to signals generated by CPUs at high temperatures. Microsoft's Reilly disputes this claim of uniqueness, and notes that Microsoft has generated its signals at temperatures as low as 1 K. </p><p>For Reilly, running the control chip at 3 or 4 K — as Google and Intel do — is much too hot: Though the difference between 0.1 K and 4 K may sound small, it's also the difference between the quantum world and the classical world. By operating the quantum control chip at the same temperature as the qubits, Reilly hopes to avoid the bottleneck between shuffling information from quantum to classical or vice versa. </p><p>"If their control system is at 4 Kelvin, then you still have this I/O bottleneck," Reilly said. "You still have a bird's nest of cables that run from four Kelvin to the millikelvin stage where the qubits are." One possible solution to that would be to bring the qubits up to 4 K — and there is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2170-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">some progress</a> in that direction.</p><p>All three companies will be presenting updates at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, which will be <a href="http://isscc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">held virtually</a> Feb. 13 through Feb. 22.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="5">
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</div></p><p>For now, though, no one has remotely enough qubits to necessitate these quantum control chips, let alone determine which of those compromises is preferable. Testing is still done on a few qubits, or devices that model qubit behaviors — not even the full ensemble of dozens of qubits that make up the current cutting-edge of quantum computers.</p><p>At any rate, quantum computing is still in its heady early days, where firsts are being made, and — despite some corporate jousting about progress — demonstrating the possibility of the technology often takes precedence over long-term plans to make it practical. And at this stage, we don't even know what all those roadblocks might be.</p><p>"Wouldn't it be ironic if it turned out that making the qubits turned out to be a little bit of a challenge?" Reilly asked. "And the real roadblocks were in the systems integration and the construction of cryogenic control at scale?"</p>
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Dan Garisto is a freelance science journalist who specializes in the physical sciences, with an emphasis on particle physics. He has an undergraduate degree in physics and is based in New York.
Protocol | Enterprise
How Salesforce, despite big setbacks, had a banner 2020
Amid the chaos of major layoffs and top executive departures, Salesforce announced a key acquisition and managed to report blockbuster earnings.
Marc Benioff is the CEO of Salesforce.
Photo: Kimberly White/Getty Images
January 11, 2021
Joe Williams is a senior reporter at Protocol covering enterprise software, including industry giants like Salesforce, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. He previously covered emerging technology for Business Insider. Joe can be reached at JWilliams@Protocol.com. To share information confidentially, he can also be contacted on a non-work device via Signal (+1-309-265-6120) or JPW53189@protonmail.com.
December 21, 2020
On Aug. 27, Salesforce announced it would lay off around 1,000 employees.
The news came as a shock to many. At the beginning of the pandemic, CEO Marc Benioff committed to making no "significant" layoffs for 90 days. (The 1,000 job losses occurred 155 days after that pledge was made.) But any blowback to the announcement appears to have been brushed aside by some of the company's top leaders.
<p>"If it is any indicator … I have gotten, easy, 10x more emails and texts than all the employee posts combined, from non executive employees, telling us how smart of a move this was, and well orchestrated," Chief People Officer Brent Hyder wrote in an email obtained by Protocol to other executives, including Chief Communications Officer Brad Burns.</p><p>Ending the correspondence, he added: "The haters will be haters."</p><p>Salesforce called it a "difficult communications day for the company" and said Hyder was "trying to be a good leader and lift the spirits of some people who had to do a really hard job." </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="1">
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</div></p><p>Still, Hyder's mantra could be the theme for Salesforce's 2020, a year that may mark an important turning point for the 21-year-old company. The $200 billion enterprise software giant announced its most significant acquisition to date, saw key turnover in its executive ranks that is helping to usher in the next-generation of leaders, reported blockbuster earnings amid a global pandemic and is now poised to compete more aggressively against key rivals.</p><p>"It was a year of change, significant change," RBC Capital Markets analyst Alex Zukin said. "They exit this year with an opportunity for rebirth."</p><h3>Gains and losses</h3><p>Back in August, when announcing the layoffs, the company also said <a href="https://s23.q4cdn.com/574569502/files/doc_financials/2021/q2/CRM-Q2-FY21-Earnings-Press-Release-w-financials.pdf" target="_blank">revenue increased 29% year-over-year to $5.15 billion</a> — one of the best quarters in its history. Then in the days following, Benioff said the company <a href="https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/a-few-weeks-after-layoffs-salesforce-will-add-12-00-jobs-over-next-year" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">would hire as many as 12,000 workers</a> in the coming year. But additional reductions are also possible, with Salesforce now aiming to "rebalance" up to 10% of its workforce every year, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-26/salesforce-cuts-1-000-jobs-after-banner-quarter-stock-surge" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to Benioff</a>. </p><p>The company declined to make Benioff available for an interview and Hyder did not respond to request for comment. </p><p>"We're reallocating resources to position the company for continued growth," Salesforce said in a statement. "This includes plans to hire up to 12,000 by the end of 2021, redirecting some employees to fuel our strategic areas, and rebalancing some positions that no longer map to our business priorities. We worked to support those affected to find the next step in their careers, whether within our company or a new opportunity."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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</div></p><p>Jump to December, and Salesforce dominated the news cycle with its <a href="https://www.protocol.com/salesforce-buys-slack" target="_self">$27.7 billion purchase of Slack</a>, the company's biggest deal to date. It puts the company on track to expand beyond its core customer relationship management software offering, a strategy that <a href="https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/salesforce-slack-execs-outline-vision" target="_self">executives laid out for Wall Street analysts</a> during the annual investor day in December. </p><p>Despite signaling a new direction for the firm, the deal made some investors nervous about future organic growth: Salesforce's stock dropped nearly 11% in the days following the news of the acquisition and has shown little recovery since then. And as Salesforce embarks on the next chapter of its corporate history, its rivals are also charging harder.</p><p>Microsoft <a href="https://www.protocol.com/tom-siebel--c3ai-blockbuster-ipo" target="_self">recently partnered with startup C3.ai</a> and Adobe to begin selling artificial intelligence-backed customer relationship management software. While Salesforce remains the dominant leader in the CRM industry, Microsoft is seeing explosive growth in its Dynamics 365 business. C3.ai CEO Tom Siebel, who invented the initial CRM product in 1995 at Siebel Systems, said Salesforce has lagged in bolstering its own AI-based offering, called Einstein. For its part, Salesforce says Einstein is running <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2020/11/24/einstein-now-delivers-80bn-predictions/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">over 80 billion predictions each day</a>. UBS analysts have also warned that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-cloud-software-spending-could-change-2021-ubs-analysts-2020-11#salesforce-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">smaller competitors such as Twilio</a> could take market share from the software giant. </p><p>Still, other industry experts say Salesforce at least has no need to sweat Microsoft in the short term.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><p>"There's overlap, they will bump into each other, but at the end of the day I don't see them as direct competitors," Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk told Protocol. "Microsoft does a lot of things fairly well, but it's not that they do everything great. And I think Salesforce does CRM great."</p><h3>Executive overhauls</h3><p>Underneath its flashy Slack deal, there were signs that Salesforce was taking steps to reposition its leadership. </p><p>There were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-most-significant-hirings-departures-2020-keith-block-2020-7#departure-richard-socher-former-chief-scientist-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">several executive turnovers</a> at the company this year. The most significant was the departure of co-CEO Keith Block in February, which created a major power vacuum within the company that is now being filled by the rising influence of chief operating officer <a href="https://www.protocol.com/salesforce-coo-bret-taylor-interview" target="_self">Bret Taylor</a> and chief revenue officer Gavin Patterson, according to industry analysts. Their growing authority was evident in the leadership role both played in the Slack acquisition. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-04/slack-s-butterfield-expects-to-become-a-salesforce-president" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">also poised to play a key leadership role</a> as the company strives to integrate the platform into its own CRM system. </p><p>In December, the company <a href="https://www.protocol.com/salesforces-apac-ceo-ulrik-nehammer" target="_self">overhauled its Asia-Pacific leadership team</a>, with APAC CEO Ulrik Nehammer, chief customer officer Stan Sugarman, chief operating officer Dan Bognar and EVP Lee Hawksley all departing. That's a major shakeup in a key growth market for the company. </p><p>And there were other important departures: Chief data officer Hernan Asorey left for Microsoft, product head John Ball departed for ServiceNow, chief scientist Richard Socher <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/08/former-salesforce-chief-scientist-announces-new-search-engine-to-take-on-google/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">left to form a new startup</a> and Lisa Edwards, the former EVP of strategic business operations, left in October for software company Diligent Corporation. The latter was the latest in a string of defections from high-profile female leaders, including former HR chief Ana Recio and global marketing head Julie Liegl. It did elevate other women to leadership roles, including a promotion for Amy Weaver to chief financial officer. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="4">
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</div></p><p>There also appears to be some bubbling tensions with current and former employees. Salesforce's former head of government relations, Niki Christoff, <a href="https://twitter.com/nikichristoff/status/1334912895440785415" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recently took to Twitter</a> to lambast Benioff for not allowing her to join the board of directors of another company — a policy she argued was discriminatory against women. Christoff declined to elaborate on her tweets.</p><p>Despite its <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-is-named-to-great-place-to-works-worlds-best-workplaces-list-for-third-year-in-a-row/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reputation as an outstanding workplace</a>, current and former employees also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-push-to-improve-equality-yielded-slow-results-tony-prophet-2020-11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">criticized the slow pace of change when it came to diversity and inclusion efforts</a>. In November 2019, for example, one worker took to an internal chat group to highlight how "incredibly emotionally and mentally exhausting" it had been to "fight for equality and equity related answers and change at Salesforce," according to a screenshot of the message board viewed by Protocol.</p><p>For its part, Salesforce announced several major equality-related initiatives in 2020, including plans to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-double-black-leaders-employees-racial-justice-2020-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">double the number of Black leaders by 2023</a>. A diversity scorecard released in December, however, <a href="https://equalitydata.herokuapp.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">still showed little progress</a> in improving the number of minority employees.</p><p>It's unlikely any of those developments will put a dent in Salesforce's growth — the company raised its earnings outlook for the fiscal year in December — or change the general public perception of the company. But they do bring about uncomfortable questions for the company, particularly given Benioff's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-salesforce-ceo-pushing-other-ceos-to-do-the-right-thing-2018-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">willingness to speak out on hot-button political issues</a> like U.S. immigration policy an LGTBQ+ rights.</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="5">
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</div></p><p>But by taking control of one of the most popular applications in use today, Slack, Benioff is all but assuring that Salesforce will — whether you like it or not — remain in many of our lives for years to come.</p><p>Or, to put another way, the haters will still be haters.<br></p>
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Joe Williams is a senior reporter at Protocol covering enterprise software, including industry giants like Salesforce, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. He previously covered emerging technology for Business Insider. Joe can be reached at JWilliams@Protocol.com. To share information confidentially, he can also be contacted on a non-work device via Signal (+1-309-265-6120) or JPW53189@protonmail.com.
Power
Microsoft wants to use AR to see through fog and smoke
Apple autonomous cars, AI coffee orders, emailing help and other patents from Big Tech.
See what isn't there.
Image: Microsoft/USPTO
December 13, 2020
Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
December 13, 2020
It's beyond dark out at 5:30 p.m. these days, so perhaps, as you're stuck at home with nowhere to go, you're tempted to log off your bad screen and onto your good screen a little earlier than you should. Perhaps that's what happened over at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as this was a bit of a fallow week for patents from Big Tech.
That being said, there were still a few neat ones out there: Microsoft is looking into using AR to actually augment what you see; Apple is hard at work on autonomous vehicles; and Facebook, for some reason, is very concerned about the longevity of magnetic tapes.
<p>And remember: The big tech companies file all kinds of crazy patents for things, and though most never amount to anything, some end up defining the future. </p><h3>Alphabet</h3><p><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=23&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=google.ASNM.&OS=AN/google&RS=AN/google" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u><strong>Determining what's newsworthy</strong></u></a></p><p>There have been absolutely no problems with using algorithms to program the content that people see on their social feeds, so I can't see any issue with this patent idea. Essentially, the patent outlines crawling the web for new videos posted to sites and blogs online, and using a corpus of knowledge about the topic at hand, determining whether someone interested in that topic would find this new video interesting, and then alert them to it. It's not entirely clear how this system would moderate what it's finding and showing to people, but I can't imagine how that would be an issue. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="1">
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</div></p><p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/zu-KbFV9PD2FsHJg5gyhUxCoY63Fd7QWFXujNkPhmfNQKkU_ugeCbTLO2RVwumWGn2EHTWyVZp11zCMUndhaEeOf6nwips_QCC7KM9fM0m5tpTUkdbGGhjoGbtr4qUgVtwFhZx8_"></p><p><br><br></p><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10857963&IDKey=533B0027C8E8%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r%3D2%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526co1%3DAND%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dwaymo.ASNM.%2526OS%3DAN%2Fwaymo%2526RS%3DAN%2Fwaymo" target="_blank"><u><strong>Encasing passengers in airbags</strong></u></a></p><p>This reminds me of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKqdgvsbfFQ" target="_blank"><u>inflatable bubble thing</u></a> James Bond used to save his life in "The World Is Not Enough." Waymo's patent outlines several different ways of automatically encasing passengers in something safe in the event of a crash, ranging from a netting and curtain design that would just hold the passengers in place to a full-on squishy safety bubble. If a self-driving car with me in it has to crash (I hear a lot of talk about Trolley Problems or some such), I hope I'm in the squishy kind. </p><p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/iSpVxtimzP4sorP9WAnx4dASv8vCL3XPrIfqG21DV4uRhrEumGeyX6J47m3m9uvPFvaHc4MWJs5Yen8-OWe99XL9GgohCeS9S5xtrDjwKHycRi4zYBM5jCbhwJUvMaKSbmmtgZsW"></p><h3>Amazon</h3><p><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=16&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=amazon.ASNM.&OS=AN/amazon&RS=AN/amazon" target="_blank"><u><strong>Making sure you're emailing the right person</strong></u></a></p><p>Have you ever had one of those mortifying moments when you meant to email John Smith at Microsoft and you accidentally emailed John Smith at Apple? It's awkward, to say the least. But Amazon is apparently looking into helping you pick the right email addresses. Using a combination of understanding what the email writer is saying and who they've picked as the recipient would help Amazon's system determine whether they meant to choose who they have. As the patent itself says, "'Stephen is a terrible manager' is probably acceptable to send a friend in a personal interaction, but sending 'Stephen is a terrible manager' to Stephen is probably not okay."</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="2">
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</div></p><h3>Apple</h3><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10860034&IDKey=1F7FB7AB7355%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D63%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3D%252522apple%252Binc%252522.ASNM.%2526p%3D2%2526OS%3DAN%2F%252522apple%252Binc%252522%2526RS%3DAN%2F%252522apple%252Binc%252522" target="_blank"><u><strong>Autonomously finding barriers</strong></u></a></p><p>Apple reportedly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-08/apple-shifts-leadership-of-self-driving-car-division-to-ai-chief" target="_blank"><u>reorganized</u></a> its vehicle project to report to the company's AI chief, John Giannandrea, and this sounds like the sort of work his team would be useful for. The patent covers the sorts of detections that autonomous vehicles will be doing as they venture out into the world, mapping static objects like barriers, fences, walls and the like, and determining that unlike people, vehicles or animals, they likely won't be moving into their path — and if they do, there's probably a bigger issue at play. </p><p><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=55&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&s1=%22apple+inc%22.ASNM.&p=2&OS=AN/%22apple+inc%22&RS=AN/%22apple+inc%22" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u><strong>Making dragging and dropping on iPad a little easier</strong></u></a></p><p>Apple is slowly acknowledging the fact that, on the iPad, doing complicated stuff with a mouse and keyboard is often easier than with your fingers. But dragging and dropping content from one app to another still leaves a bit to be desired. This patent outlines a future iPad operating system where users could use multiple fingers to drag multiple images (or other files) from one program to another. It also seems to suggest a future where you can have more than two or three programs onscreen at once — rather like windows on a computer. But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-whats-a-computer-ad-sparks-anger-2018-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>what really is a computer</u></a>?</p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="3">
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</div></p><h3>Facebook</h3><p><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=26&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=facebook.ASNM.&OS=AN/facebook&RS=AN/facebook" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u><strong>Making magnetic tapes last longer</strong></u></a></p><p>This probably isn't the first area of innovation that you'd expect a young tech giant to be researching. Facebook's new patent revolves around magnetic-tape data storage systems for archival purposes. Physics and entropy being what they are, these tapes tend to degrade over time, especially with continual use. This patent outlines ways to check on the health of the tapes, how often they're read and written, and to flag to administrators if they're failing. It also includes, according to the patent, a "predictive analysis method used to predict a future health status of the archival tape." Or you could, you know, just stop using tape. </p><h3>Microsoft</h3><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10860587&IDKey=563855505624%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D51%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dmicrosoft.ASNM.%2526p%3D2%2526OS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft%2526RS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u><strong>Using AI to get your pumpkin spice latte</strong></u></a></p><p>Microsoft has a new patent about designing a conversational AI assistant that would actually be somewhat enjoyable to talk to; think the assistant in "Her," but more about selling you more stuff than achieving singularity. In one of the examples given, the user wants to know how long pumpkin spice latte season will last at their favorite cafe, BigCoffeeChain. The AI tells them it lasts well into the new year (those must be some resilient pumpkins they over there!), and uses context later in their interaction with the user to provide them with a coupon for a PSL, and later, a few questions about one of the chain's locations. It's a smart way to get more data out of customers in a rather unassuming fashion. At least there's cheap PSLs involved. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="4">
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</div></p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Oha5E4L8ci7IL503tnbUida4aJJjFeWu8q0ifmOSSTaV0MirTxs7VhrP80k9X0bps7fT9vQiGJZsQlCXY4a9b5T9-oX8p0m2kWXCeksitvs60BdISR2xKATW5M_z_gIHiBqEFfuL"></p><p><br></p><p><a href="https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=10860100&IDKey=43C0020DED14%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D71%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3Dmicrosoft.ASNM.%2526p%3D2%2526OS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft%2526RS%3DAN%2Fmicrosoft" target="_blank"><u><strong>AR glasses that can see through fog</strong></u></a></p><p>A lot of work in augmented reality seems to focus more on adding things on top of reality rather than actually … augmenting it. But this patent has some interesting ideas on how to augment the real world: It outlines using AR glasses to, among other things, see through things that impede the vision of our mere mortal eyes. Small particulates, like those in smoke, dust or fog, could be filtered out by a digital vision system, and the clearer picture could be overlaid onto the wearer's glasses. This could be useful for your average jogger or commuter, but could be life-saving for emergency services personnel. </p><p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/URzhfe1Kk4iS1HX-WcXwsCEBTAtYpGw0Qp6__24aEypBzSJhRqPfJ3YfLAsHFM6tWyzeyQAysQHU_vAcAocNXcyxPNVXpzNGYemE9c5UG_Cdrw1YAA_-US6886DMwU5rcwOYgIot"></p><p><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=28&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=microsoft.ASNM.&OS=AN/microsoft&RS=AN/microsoft" target="_blank"><u><strong>Auto-detecting out of office</strong></u></a><br></p><p>Sometimes, when it's late on a Friday and a much-needed vacation is staring you in the face, the last thing you remember to do before leaving the office is turn on your out-of-office message. Who wants another moment in Outlook when the beach is calling? Microsoft seems to be working on a solution to this with its patent. It describes a system built into your email that could detect whether you're likely working that day or not. It would see if your usage matches how much you check your email on the weekend, and if it's about the same, it could flag to colleagues who email you that you're not likely to respond. It could also do the same thing if you forgot to turn off our OOO when you're back at work, tan and rested and still thinking about the daiquiris from last week. </p><p><div class="ad-tag"><div class="ad-place-holder" data-pos="5">
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Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
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