Cloud Gaming Will Dominate
Happy Thursday and welcome back, free weekly readers. You rock.
Today's issue focuses on the big story of the pathway to cloud gaming. It's coming, and a significant step was taken today by Xbox. We also have good news for Google Translate and bad news for users of the software MOVEit for file transfers.
Enjoy?
Tom
Big Story
A Step Towards Cloud Gaming Becoming Dominant
"Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Amazon’s Fire TV Sticks in July - The Verge"
I think cloud gaming will eventually become the most frequent way the majority of people game, similar to how streaming video is becoming the way the majority of people watch TV. This does not mean console or PC gaming will disappear. They will have their vocal proponents arguing the superiority of their method, just like people argue for Blu-ray as a superior way to watch movies. They'll be a vocal and significant minority.
A step along this road to cloud gaming is the launch of the Xbox TV app on Amazon Fire TV sticks. You'll be able to access Xbox Cloud Gaming through the app as well as stream games from your Xbox to the stick in case you want to play in a different room from your console. In addition to a Fire TV Stick 4K Max or Fire TV Stick 4K, you'll need a Bluetooth wireless controller and, of course, a subscription to the appropriate Xbox service. The Xbox TV app is now on Samsung TVs, Quest VR headsets, and Fire OS.
We are maybe 10% down the road to ubiquitous cloud gaming. We need more platforms, more services, and people in more areas to feel confident they have sufficient internet service. But it's happening, and this is an important step on the way. The next steps are more smart TV support, and the big one will be Android. Don't expect Apple to get it because of their combative stance on revenue sharing with apps.
More Stories
"Google Translate is getting support for more than 110 new languages - The Verge"
"Gemini 1.5 Pro now offers a 2 million token context window for devs"
Google announced that 110 languages spoken by more than one million people have been added to Google Translate, including Cantonese and more than 25 languages spoken on the continent of Africa. Google used the PaLM 2 AI language model to help Google Translate learn the new languages. This brings the number of languages supported by Google Translate to 243.
Google also announced that Gemini 1.5 Pro now has the 2 million token context window it promised at Google I/O earlier this year. That means it can understand more of what you enter for longer. In terms of numbers, that translates to 2 hours of video, 22 hours of audio, more than 60,000 lines of code, and more than 1.4 million words. In practice, that means you could upload a whole book or most movies and then ask the model questions about it. 1.5 Pro is being used by a select number of corporate clients. Meanwhile, Gemini 1.5 Flash (different from the aforementioned 1.5 Pro) is entering general availability. It has a 1 million token window. A couple of other notes here: the open model Gemma 2 is available globally, and Magen 3 has launched in preview for Vertex AI customers. It's faster and better at text rendering.
"Steam is getting an official controller, but Valve isn’t making it - The Verge"
The Wireless Horipad for Steam is coming to Japan and is officially licensed by Valve. It matches Steam Deck's menu buttons with similar touch sensors. It supports Bluetooth and USB-C but does not have rumble, back buttons, or a trackpad. It is not equivalent to the old Valve-made Steam Controller. The Verge notes that it's similar to the Horipad Pro for Xbox. It's available October 31st in Japan for 7,890 yen, which is approximately $50. It might be that Valve is about to license a bunch of these in different markets, or this might just be a test. Right now it's not clear. But gamepad use in Steam is on the rise in general, and PC gaming is on the rise in Japan, so this makes sense.
"I tried out RCS messages between iPhone and Android: Here's how it works"
Now that carriers have been supporting RCS, Android Authority's Ryan Haines put it to the test, installing the iOS 18 beta and sending texts back and forth with his dad's Android phone. Overall, he reported a good experience. Video was uncompressed, and reactions to basic texts showed up on Android like they do on iPhone. Playback tools didn't show up with video sent between an iPhone and Android though, and read receipts were just on in iOS with no way to control them independently of turning RCS on or off. Stickers worked between the two platforms, but reactions to the stickers reverted back to the old "Thumbs up to a GIF" text message instead of appearing on the sticker.
"Critical MOVEit vulnerability puts huge swaths of the Internet at severe risk | Ars Technica"
A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the file management tool MOVEit from Progress Software. The enterprise software supports file management in SFTP, SCP, and HTTP while complying with PCI and HIPAA regulations. It's installed on a few thousand networks worldwide. Progress Software disclosed the vulnerability in MOVEit Tuesday. It lets attackers bypass authentication to access sensitive data. Bad actors are trying to exploit it, so if they haven't by the time you read this, they soon will. One attack lets the attacker use a null string as its encryption key to pass authentication. The attacker would just need access to the server MOVEit uses to access public keys to create such a key. A more complicated version can force the hash protecting user passwords to be exposed, but the hash must then be cracked.
Progress Software said the vulnerability arose in a third-party component it uses in the software, so this is a supply-chain attack and could affect other products using that component. A patch was issued June 11th, and Progress advises MOVEit users to block RDP access to MOVEit servers and restrict outbound access to trusted endpoints.
For Context
"Webtoon Entertainment prices US IPO at top of range to raise about $315 mln | Reuters"
Webtoon is a huge product worldwide in multiple languages with more than 170 million monthly active users. It's majority-owned by South Korea's Naver but based in Los Angeles. It operates Webtoon, Wattled, and Line Manga.
"New Chrome mobile shortcuts let you call a restaurant from your address bar - The Verge"
"Google Sheets doubles calculation speed in Chrome, Edge"
Android now, iOS in the autumn. Basically, type in a restaurant name, and "call" will be one of the Quick Action dropdown options. Oh, and Google Sheets (spreadsheet) got faster at calculations.
"An AI version of Al Michaels will deliver Olympic recaps on Peacock - The Verge"
We talked about this a bit on GDI (http://patreon.com/dtns) Wednesday with Scott. It sounds very natural, and I think it will be scripted, so it's just using his voice.
"OpenAI’s China Block to Reshape AI Scene as Big Players Like Alibaba Pounce - Bloomberg"
I was surprised to learn you could get OpenAI in China up until now.
"Uber will pay you $1,000 to ditch your car for five weeks - The Verge"
In Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, Miami, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver. From July 22 to August 25, you get $1,000 to use on public transit, rental bikes and scooters, ride shares, car rentals, and of course, Uber. They tried this in Australia in 2023 and found the majority of people were able to replace their car trips.
Interesting Reads
"Farming Goes High-Tech With Driverless Tractors, Drones, Robots (DE, AGCO, CNH) - Bloomberg"
"Why Netflix wants to be a power player in video games - The Washington Post"
"eBay Removes Listing for StingRay Cellphone Spying Tech"
"Thai Energy Billionaire Steps Up Data Center Push to Tap AI Boom - Bloomberg"
"BlackBerry beats estimate for Q1 revenue on strong demand for cybersecurity services | Reuters"