AI

Buying AI

As I wrote last Monday, AI has made 10 years of steady gains...and each member of FAMGA (Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon) is now an AI company. 

How they got there: In some cases, FAMGA built AI features with an in-house team. But in other instances, the companies opened their checkbooks to buy a new capability, such as natural language processing or computer vision...or "acqui-hired" a team of experts in these fields. 

• Acqui-hire: To buy a company primarily for its talent. Add this to your stack of flashcards and expect to see it again soon. 

Apple led the pack in AI acquisitions from 2010 through 2019 (illustrated above). Two acquisitions that bookended Apple's decade: 

• In April 2010, the company purchased Siri, a startup behind the eponymous and now ubiquitous voice assistant. 
• In June of this year, Apple acqui-hired self-driving startup Drive.ai, confirming its ultra-secretive autonomous vehicle project is still chugging along. 

ADOPTION

When Tech Goes Mainstream

Look at this chart from Our World in Data closely. Love this chart with all your heart. As you can see, the time that it takes for a new technology to penetrate most U.S. households is dropping. 

To go from around 10% to 90% adoption in U.S. households, it took... 

• The car: 74 years
• The phone: 66 years
• The stove: 54 years 
• Color TV: 19 years 

Now let's bring it to this decade. As the Daily Brew discussed in its Decade in Review, over the last 10 years the smartphone has closed in on 85% adoption for suburban and urban users:

^{Ian McKinnon} 

Bottom line 

For all you hear about "peak smartphone," mobile device usage surged over the past decade, which supported a growing app economy. With access to free, easy-to-download software, users encountered many new technologies through their phones.

Take AR: Pokémon Go and Snapchat have introduced hundreds of millions of people to AR...while only a tiny fraction of those people have used a dedicated AR device. 

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TELECOM

We All Live in a Yellow Submarine Cable

Despite new modes of data transmission, submarine cables have remarkable staying power. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1858, and now, submarine cables carry over 99% of data traffic that crosses oceans. 

These undersea fiber optic cables are the backbone of the global internet. And to boost connectivity and cut bandwidth costs, tech companies unspooled and laid their own last decade.

• As I wrote in April, Big Tech thinks it can control its data transmission destiny by doing the wiring itself instead of relying on the telcos that historically laid cables.

If you want the deets, this cable map from TeleGeography provides a comprehensive view of each cable's owner and endpoints.

^{TeleGeography}

Plot twist: As with any technology, these cables have vulnerabilities. Subsea cables can be cut or tapped to eavesdrop on communications. 

But the bottom line? They're not going anywhere and won't be replaced by satellites anytime soon.

BITS & BYTES 

Alright, I think that’s enough reminiscing for this decade. Let’s check out what happened in the emerging tech world over the past few weeks. 

Stat: Tencent made 108 investments this year, a 33% drop from its 162 deals in 2018.

Quote: "Drones are the fastest growing segment of transportation in our nation and it is vitally important that they are safely integrated into the national airspace"—U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Last week, the FAA issued a proposed rule for the remote identification of drones. 

Read: This month, NYT Opinion has been publishing “One Nation, Tracked.” The series helps readers understand the mass brokerage of their smartphone location data between third parties...and how easy it is to de-anonymize that information.

TIKTOK AROUND THE CLOCK

TikTok can't stay out of the news. Parent company ByteDance is considering setting up a global TikTok HQ outside of China, the WSJ reported last week. No U.S. cities are on the shortlist. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has banned personnel from using TikTok on government-issued phones, deeming the app a "cybersecurity threat." Judging from my experience using the app, it's pretty popular with service members. 

IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S...

...flying taxis.

• Uber Elevate announced a partnership with Joby Aviation, an electric air taxi company. That makes seven aerospace manufacturing partners for Uber.
• Transportation startup Skyryse showcased an aftermarket kit for FAA-certified helicopters that supports fully autonomous flight. Here's a demo.

HIT THE ROAD, JACK

Two highway-ish items: 

• GM and U.S. transportation safety officials are discussing the automaker's request to deploy self-driving cars without steering wheels, Reuters reported. 
• California will allow the testing and commercial deployment of light-duty autonomous delivery vehicles weighing up to 10,001 pounds next month. 

Heads up: In two days, California's far-reaching privacy bill (CCPA) will go into effect. That explains why you've been receiving so many "We've updated our privacy policy" emails.

See you Friday—Ryan.