Bitcoin Blues; Smart Toilets; Facebook Smart Glasses; Apple vs. Epic
Composed while contemplating the past
Twin Towers Memorial Ceremony in Point Lookout, NY. (Credit: Lance Ulanoff)
Bitcoin blues
Is El Salvador designating Bitcoin as its official currency a good thing? Initially, I thought so. Sure, it’s a small country with very little global, economic pull. On the other hand, it snapped up, I think, 400 bitcoins prior to the switch. That’s roughly 18 billion in U.S. dollars.
As this happened, I made a tiny bet on Bitcoin, converting some Ethereum into it, and almost instantly regretted the move as Bitcoin value fell by like 20%.
A country making Bitcoin its fiat is good, but it does nothing to solve the inherent day-to-day volatility of cryptocurrency. Perhaps the problem is that still too few businesses and industries use it. That’s the kind of thing that could help drive out speculation and stabilize the currency.
For whatever reason, that’s still not happening. Maybe one day it will and then an early bet on Bitcoin now will realize significant returns in the future. For me, though, it won’t mean much either way. My BTC portfolio is worth maybe $20.
Flush with opportunities
There are few bigger business opportunities in the tech world than health. It’s why companies like Samsung, Google, and, especially, Apple, keep adding health and fitness features to existing hardware and even developing home-grown services dedicated to our wellbeing.
And nothing is off-limits. We already have watches tracking everything from heart rate to our blood oxygenation, devices that can assess skin damage, and beds that know our sleeping habits. Now researchers are looking at what might be the final health monitoring frontier: The bathroom.
That’s right, researchers are working on ways to analyze your stools and urine in real-time.
Now, if you’re still with me, there is some value to all this. Doctors already look at this stuff to assess your health but only rarely. Imagine a toilet that can tell when you need to start eating more fiber. I know, it all sounds gross and may be a huge invasion of privacy (they might need to use cameras!) but I suspect some form of this will make its way to luxury toilets in the not-too-distant future.
Facebook on eyes
Smart glasses are making a big comeback with a remarkably stylish pair from Facebook and its partner in eyewear Ray-Ban. Ray-Ban Stories look a lot like my favorite sunglasses, but with a pair of cameras, microphones (and speakers to listen to music).
There’s a button to enable recording and light (some say it’s too small) to let people know you’re doing so. Obviously, you can post the videos right to Facebook (video quality tops out at a not-so-exciting roughly 1200x1200). Personally, I’d probably use them to make TikToks.
At $299, they’re expensive (for sunglasses) but reasonable for smart eyewear. It’s worth noting that there’s no built-in screen for delivering information or powering AR. That might be a mistake considering what most people think Apple is cooking up.
Even with the slightly thicker stems accommodating the technology and batteries, Ray-Ban Stories still look good. Plus, how much fun will it be to record your point of view without using your phone or your hands? Just ask Mark Zuckerberg.
Amazon TV
Amazon went ahead and created its own 4K TV sets. Priced in the range of TCL and Hisense models (slightly above, actually), they naturally build in FireTV and Alexa capabilities. They also add native TikTok playback.
It’s not a surprising move. Amazon has been slowly building copies of many major and minor tech product categories (as well as countless other “Amazon Basics” categories). I think the big question here is just how much Amazon can people stand in their home? The smaller question is how quickly does Amazon introduce a soundbar and subwoofer?
An Epic conclusion
Late last week, Apple lost its battle against Epic…or did it? A U.S. federal judge ruled that Apple had to allow third-party developers to connect to external payment systems, perhaps short-circuiting Apple’s 15%-to-30% commission revenue stream.
The problem for Epic is that the outside payment systems will still reside outside the Apple ecosystem. They can add buttons and links to them, but nothing will be as seamless as what Apple offers to those who follow their rules.
My thinking is that some developers will jump on this chance to cut out the Apple middleman and, even if it’s less convenient, offer their customers new, and maybe cheaper (no commission fee!) prices. The question is, which will consumers prize more: ease of use or a couple of extra bucks in their pockets? Most believe they will opt for the former.
Perhaps this is why, on the whole, Apple is declaring victory noting in an official statement that it’s a “huge win” for Apple and “The Court found that Apple is not a monopolist under ‘either federal or state antitrust laws.’ ”
Epic, which is already appealing, appears to agree in that it has no plans to return to the App Store, not at least until it can offer a true in-app payment system. That, for now, seems very unlikely to happen.
Apple’s Big Event
As you may already know, I recently wrote that Apple’s Fall Product Event (which happens tomorrow) might not be about the iPhone 13 at all. Read my thoughts here.
If I’m wrong and we do get a bunch of new iPhones, I still don’t expect major changes. In Apple’s tick-tock production cycle, we’re on the tock side of things. That means minor refinements to the blockbuster iPhone 12 lineup.
If I’m right, though, the iPhone 13 reveal won’t happen until next month. (Spoiler Alert: I was wrong)
Missed on Medium:
Programming Note: Eye-Oh is taking a short break. I’ll be back in your inbox soon!
Stay well