6G Hype Begins Despite Fact 5G Hasn’t Finished Disappointing Us Yet

Overhype

from the hype-and-bluster dept

Fifth-generation wireless (5G) was supposed to change the world. According to carriers, not only was it supposed to bring about the “fourth industrial revolution,” it was supposed to revolutionize everything from smart cities to cancer treatment. Simultaneously, conspiracy theorists and internet imbeciles declared that 5G was responsible for everything from COVID-19 to your migraines.

Unfortunately for both sets of folks, data continues to indicate that 5G is nowhere near that interesting.

A number of recent studies have already shown that U.S. 5G is notably slower than most overseas deployments (thanks in part to government’s failure to make more mid-band spectrum available for public use). Several other studies have shown that initial deployments in many cases are actually slower than existing 4G networks. That’s before you get to the fact that U.S. consumers already pay more for wireless than a long list of developed nations thanks to sector consolidation.

While 5G is important, and will improve over time, it’s pretty clear that the technology is more of a modest evolution than a revolution, and 5G hype overkill (largely driven by a desperate desire to rekindle lagging smartphone sales) is a far cry from reality.

That’s not stopping us from already hyping 6G, though. Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark says that 6G will hit the market sometime around 2030. And, as we saw with 5G, 6G is already being heralded as near-magical and transformative by the folks looking to sell phones and network hardware:

“Right now, we’re all building 5G networks, as we know, but by the time quantum computing is maturing for commercial applications, we’re going to be talking about 6G,” Lundmark said. “By then, [2030], definitely the smartphone as we know it today will not anymore be the most common interface.”

According to Lundmark, the “physical world and the digital world will grow together.” The eventual result could involve a user going into a VR world, flipping a switch or turning a dial, and changing something in the real, physical world.

An industrial metaverse “could include models similar to comprehensive, detailed digital twins of objects that exist in reality,” according to trade magazine Industry Week.

So again, like 5G, a faster, more resilient wireless network isn’t good enough because it’s just not sexy enough. As a result, executives in the telecom space like to reach into a hat full of random buzzwords in a bid to make wireless network evolution sound almost like a miracle. In this case, that includes random references to quantum computing, an industrial metaverse, or a complete re-imagining of reality itself.

To be clear, AR, VR, and other technologies will evolve regardless of 5G and 6G, not because of it. Most of these technologies already work over gigabit WiFi. And while faster, more resilient wireless connections will certainly be of benefit, they’re not driving the innovation in and of itself. And the claim that the smartphone will be effectively dead by 2030 is just…silly.

Yeah, somebody will develop an amazing VR and AR experience (maybe it’s Apple, maybe it’s somebody nobody has heard of). Maybe they’ll even fix the simulation sickness problem and see widespread adoption. But 5G and 6G will supplement those efforts, not forge them, and the idea that a traditional smartphone will just cease to exist six or so years from now is just kind of silly.

You would think that after 5G landed with a big thud in the United States, wireless carriers and telecom executives would be wary of associating the standards’ branding with empty hype and bluster. But given we’re not keen on learning much from experience or history, the cycle of unrealistic hype and unfulfilled promises appears set to repeat itself all over again.

Filed Under: 5g, 6g, AR, hype, metaverse, smartphone, telecom, vr
Companies: nokia

Attention Thieves: Check The Auto-Upload On Those Phones You're Stealing

Stupidity

from the pic-or-it-didn't...oh,-it-happened dept

Well, it’s time to catch up on the latest iteration of dumb criminals being dumb with technology. Past stories, including frat brothers portraying their crimes on social media, criminals attempting to pass off ice blocks as iPads, and robbers bragging about their exploits on YouTube all enjoy the commonality of the criminals being tripped up by their own hubris rather than the trappings of misunderstood technology. Not so in this latest example.

In this case, we have a couple who have built their relationship around love, the fraternity of unfortunate looks, and the ability to be nabbed for stealing a smart phone by its auto-uploading feature. Victoria Brodsky of Brooklyn was at a street fair when her phone and wallet were lost to pickpockets. Having once planned to cancel her credit cards and phone service, she felt the spurs of Cowboy Justice at her sides when the alleged thieves began using her phone to engage in a little amateur self-porn, not realizing that the photos were automatically uploaded to Brodsky’s Dropbox account.

“It’s one thing to steal, but they’re celebrating,” said Brodsky of the 26 pictures and one pornographic video that showed up in her account between August and September.

The photos started innocently enough with pictures of the woman and the man, but then a batch of racy selfies appeared on Sept. 1. The man and woman make kissy faces in some, and then disrobe. They lie naked on a mattress, staring into Brodsky’s phone.The final post of the day was an X-rated video of the couple half-heartedly engaged in a hardcore sex act.

So, hey, you know that whole “pics or it didn’t happen” thing? Yeah, don’t go looking into the articles for these pictures. Just…don’t. They aren’t appetizing. But they do teach all of you would-be phone-thieves out there a valuable lesson. Before you go snapping off horrible photos of you snapping off on one another with that cell phone you just stole, you might want to poke around the account settings so that your, ahem, exploits aren’t uploaded to your victim’s account.

Filed Under: brooklyn, crime, smartphone, theft, victoria brodsky

Lodsys Continues Demanding Cut Of Smartphone Apps; Developers Hit Back In Court

Patents

from the innovation? dept

The story of Lodsys is, by now, quite an infamous one in smartphone app development circles. The “company” (and I use that term loosely) owns a few patents, which it basically claims covers any iPhone app that involves in-app payments:

• 5,999,908: Customer-based product design module
• 7,133,834: Product value information interchange server
• 7,222,078: Methods and systems for gathering information from units of a commodity across a network
• 7,620,565: Customer-based product design module

This is despite the fact that Apple offers in-app payments as a feature of its platform, and Apple, in fact, holds a license to the patent in question. Of course, Lodsys and its supporters argue that Apple’s “license” only applies to Apple and that it’s proof that the patent is valid. That’s not accurate however. The patents Lodsys holds were spun out of Intellectual Ventures, so it’s most likely that Apple’s “license” to them comes from the fact that it’s one of the many large tech companies who have paid off IV to be protected from such patents. Apple has said that it will defend iPhone developers in court if they take on Lodsys, but it’s still an expensive proposition, and even some of the most principled app developers are realizing that it’s cheaper to settle than to fight.

This is, of course, exactly what Lodsys (and many other patent trolls) rely on. The patent system today is such that if you get sued, you’re almost guaranteed to have to spend at least $1 million defending yourself in court. This is not fair. This is not reasonable. But it’s a key element in our broken system, and the trolls exploit it as much as they possibly can.

Thankfully, some companies are trying to fight back. Despite Apple’s promises to fight on behalf of its developers, Lodsys continues to both threaten and sue, including going after some big companies, like Dell, Rosetta Stone and Overstock. Of course, one reason why Lodsys wants to keep going is that at least one of its patents expires in a few months — and it probably wants to squeeze as much out of it as possible. As the article linked here by Jeff Roberts highlights, a Seattle app developer, A Thinking Ape, has decided to jump ahead of the line by filing for a declaratory judgment against Lodsys. Lodsys’s initial threat letter and A Thinking Ape’s filing are embedded below. The filing includes details of many other declaratory judgment filings against Lodsys and argues that the patents are both invalid and that A Thinking Ape doesn’t infringe them anyway. It certainly would be nice to see Lodsys smacked around in court a bit, but Lodsys and its secretive “owners” are still likely making out like bandits by effectively taxing tons of app makers.

Filed Under: app, patent troll, smartphone
Companies: a thinking ape, apple, dell, lodsys, overstock, rosetta stone

Will California's Governor Outlaw Police From Searching Mobile Phones Without A Warrant?

Privacy

from the what-4th-amendment? dept

For years, we’ve discussed the legality of police searching the contents of your smartphone at a traffic stop. The issue is a bit complex legally. The law generally says that police can search through anything on your body, but that was generally meant for things like your wallet or other physical storage. When it comes to something like a smartphone, that contains all sorts of details about your life (and the ability to access a hell of a lot more) the questions become a lot trickier. It certainly feels like it should be against the 4th Amendment to allow such searches without a warrant — but the courts have been mixed. Tragically, earlier this year, California’s Supreme Court ruled that such searches were perfectly legal without a warrant. In response, the California legislature passed a bill, SB 914, which would require police to get a warrant.

But there’s a problem: Governor Jerry Brown hasn’t signed it yet.

Despite petitions and a variety of editorials urging him to sign it, he’s still sitting on it (he has until October 9th). Wired is reporting a rumor that Brown has agreed to veto the legislation in an effort to please the “law enforcement lobby.”

As the Wired article notes, the law itself is already pretty weak, allowing law enforcement to ignore the warrant requirement under vaguely defined emergency circumstances. It also doesn’t require any official reporting of such uses where the warrant requirement is ignored, meaning that such an exception might be abused. But it certainly takes things a big step in the right direction concerning an individual’s right to privacy. Hopefully Governor Brown recognizes this and signs the bill.

Filed Under: 4th amendment, california, jerry brown, privacy, smartphone, warrants

Guy Uses GPS Data On Mobile Phone To Get Out Of A Speeding Ticket

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the now-that's-how-it's-done dept

We’ve heard a few stories here and there of people trying to use GPS data to get out of speeding tickets, and apparently in some cases it’s working. A guy who was running some tracking software on his Android smartphone realized well after he received a speeding ticket that the phone had actually been tracking his speed and showed he was not, in fact, violating the speed limit. When it came time to protest the ticket, the judge was a bit skeptical, but the guy had a lot of info backing him up:

I then presented my time stamped GPS data with details about my average moving speed and maximum speed during my short drive home. Both numbers were well within the posted speed limits.

I also made it clear to the judge that I had no other prior driving records or violations. After a lengthy pause, the judge asked how I obtained the GPS tracking information. I provided a detailed explanation about my new awesome smart phone, the application in use, and how I exported the data. After questioning whether the data was reliable, I mentioned the in progress Sonoma County Superior Court trial regarding the same matter about the credibility of both technologies.

The judge found him not guilty but was careful not to include his GPS phone information in the judgement.

Perhaps it’s time to start tracking my driving habits on my phone…

Filed Under: gps, smartphone, speeding ticket