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Welcome to 3:59.
I'm Iyaz Akhtar.
I'm Ben Fox-Rubin.
All right, today we've got lots of news.
You ready?
Yes.
Let's do it.
Thanks for joining me, by the way, Ben.
[LAUGH] Huawei's been in the news for a while.
Let's break it down.
The company's the world.
Second biggest smartphone maker and was added to the US Commerce Department's entity list, that bans Huawei from buying tech and components without US government approval, the Commerce Department granted a temporary general license that lasts until August 19th.
Now, Google said it will work with Huawei until that time after that Huawei is pretty much on its own, the BBC then reported on a memo that said that UK-based arm must suspend its business with Huawei.
Now, On Design's mobile chips that are in tons of Android phones like [UNKNOWN] Then, what do you think this is gonna have?
What kind of impact is this gonna have on the smart phone market at large?
So, as best as I can understand, Huawei, they don't sell mobile phones in the United States.
Correct.
Is that right?.
That's correct.
So, the impact isn't really gonna be as significant here, but I'll be really interested to see it.
If something goes on in Europe If they really get hampered in their own market in China because if they are losing these major partners like arm as as the BBC is reporting like Google how are they actually gonna support themselves as a business.
Yeah.
So we need to either design its own chips or find a chip maker outside of arm and that's kind of.
Pretty difficult to do.
Then you've got open source Android maybe as an option.
Waway saying they're looking at a plan B for Android.
Do you think they could get that off the ground any time soon?
No it's really difficult.
Samsung has been developing their own operating system, their own mobile operating system for a long time, and they've had a really difficult time doing something like that so.
As much as I would like to see more competition with iOS versus Android I think that coming up with something from Huawei just all of a sudden would be very difficult.
I also wanna mention that this has been a very slow boil Against Huawei for a long time.
If people remember their CFO was gonna get extradited to the United States so they've just had compiling problems compounding problems excuse me.
Both.
Next up Bloomberg is reporting that Amazon is working on a wearable device They can recognize human emotions.
It would have microphones and would figure out how you are based on your voice.
Bloomberg says that eventually the technology can be able to advise the where, how to interact more effectively with others.
Ben, do you think anyone's interested in a device like that right now?
Absolutely, absolutely.
What could possibly go wrong?
That's absolutely Look, there's so much conversation that's going on about these major tech companies having too much information, too much user data, how are they using it, how long are they storing it for.
Does it really make sense to have a product that comes out that could actually register and understand human emotions?
And the, what did the Bloomberg story say?
That it's going to recommend or suggest things so you can better communicate with other people- [LAUGH]
More effectively.
I mean, maybe it's a party device, maybe it's this idea of like, Hey, we're going to talk about something at a cocktail party.
And the thing is, don't talk about religion or politics,
Right?
Yeah.
Don't don't comment on his person looking tired.
Do I really need a device that does that?
That's highly suspicious, in my view.
I don't know.
I thought it was crazy that it would take pictures and give you ideas for outfits, but that's Amazon.
And lastly, there's a new entry into portable gaming.
Say hello to Playdate.
Date, it's made by Panic, a company better known for iOS and Mac software.
Here's the pitch.
It's a little yellow Gameboy-esque device, with a black and white screen, a D-pad, two buttons, and a handcrank.
For gaming.
For gaming, I'm not making that up.
The games are a secret for now, but there are 12, in what Panic calls season one.
You'd get one new game each week.
It'll cost around $150 and Panic said Playdate is shipping in early 2020, Man, I've got one question for you.
Why?
What are you talking about?
This is a totally awesome idea.
Panic, when they were talking about this, were saying like, look we're self-funded.
We wanted to test out and try new and fun things.
And here it is.
And it really, to me looks like a labor of love.
And I really appreciate it and like the fact that they are coming out with it.
I think it's fun and retro that it's black and white.
My central problem here is the $150 price tag in that it's really not in the impulse buy category.
I'm not trying to knock them.
For not coming up with a $50 device, I feel like that's probably dirt cheap.
But at the same time I know I'm probably not in the market to buy it at that price.
Yeah, I don't quite get it at all.
150 bucks is way too much, 50 bucks one day.
I'd bet for my play date.
If you wanna read more about these stories check them out at CNET.com He's Ben Fox Rubin.
He's Iyaz Akhtar.
Thanks for listening.
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