The Weekly Authority: The speed of things, next Snapdragon next week, and more

Welcome back to The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority series that rounds up the week’s most important Android and tech news and what it means, plus a deeper dive into what’s going on and what’s important each week. Tristan Rayner at the wheel, and I’ll talk about speed later. But first…

deals

The Deals section jumps to the top of this week because we all know what season we are in!

I’ve put together a shortlist of the best deals that I think you shouldn’t miss. Almost every deal with a useful gadget also takes place in this Black Friday / Cyber ​​Monday Deal Hub.

Oh, and in case you were curious, The Wirecutter noted that we are seeing bigger than usual discounts on high-end TVs this Black Friday, including the leading line of LG OLED TVs. Good chance of upgrading if you are considering a PS5 or Xbox Series X / S!

Popular news

A quieter week for tech news as many of us took the well-deserved time to relax, eat, and grab some bargains. Let’s start with the strangest event:

• Microsoft could bring Android apps to Windows 10 in 2021 (Android Authority) with leaked information pointing to a new system called “Project Latte” that may allow developers to port their Android apps directly to the Microsoft Store with little to no code updates. Most Android apps still require a connection to Google Play Services for this to really work. Therefore the software backbone has to be tight. This would vastly improve app support on Windows and, for the most part, reduce the need to emulate games.
• A severe Amazon AWS server failure hit the US and that meant people couldn’t use their Roombas or doorbells (Gizmodo AU). In Cory Doctorow’s book Radicalized, a short novel was written on the very same subject called Unauthorized Bread (Ars Technica with the book excerpt). Worth a read for a giggle / deep despair!
• Redmi Note 9 Pro and Redmi Note 9 were announced on Thanksgiving as Xiaomi’s budget 5G options got a bit bigger and there was a new round window camera housing on the back. Those are pretty solid budget options, but Xiaomi told us that there is currently nothing to share in terms of global availability. (Android Authority)
• Why does the PS5 outperform “the world’s most powerful console”? Early game comparisons show the PS5 outperforms the Xbox Series X – this could be due to early tweak access and control for third-party developers (The edge).
• And finally, one man created a script to combat Google Photos’s unlimited storage: “I created a python script that allows you to export all of the photos into a large chronological folder.” Need to make changes. Mind you, all photos and videos already uploaded are grandfather so only if you burn the bridge. Discussion and more about r / android.

Leaks have also occurred in new Surface hardware:

• Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop 4 show up in leaked images after passing the certification process known as Korean. Looks like no major design changes, but expects 11th generation Intel CPUs and AMD options. Part of me feels that these have stagnated a little, another part of me thinks they are still really solid options perfecting small details (The edge).

reviews

A slower week for reviews here at Android AuthorityCheck out some non-smartphone reviews as the season slows down.

• Xbox Series S Review: Good things come in small packages, but without an optical drive and without 120 FPS – by Ryan-Thomas Shaw.
• ViewSonic TD1655 Review: These portable touchscreens / displays look better than ever for productivity on the go – Posted by Eric Zeman.
• Atomi Smart Coffee Maker Review: Hard Pass – by Jimmy Westenberg.
• Raspberry Pi 400 Review: The perfect starter computer for young tech learners for everything from languages ​​to hardware gizmos like circuits, stepper motors, etc. – by Gary Sims.

Features and opinion

Judging from the Slack news, the team went out of their way to keep an eye on the offers for our readers, but there was at least one good read:

• Is Xiaomi the New Huawei – Where Huawei’s downtrend leaves a void, Xiaomi seems to attract sales and customers – By Hadlee Simons.

Instant Authority: Why Everything Is Faster

Bill Gates is still one of the richest people in the world, but Elon Musk shot past him this week (pun intended) to become the second richest person in the world.

How did this happen? Well 2020 is all about unprecedented speed in our world. And Gates himself didn’t exactly crystallize those scenarios, but he did give us a memorable quote in 1996 about how things are changing at double the speed:

“We always overestimate the changes that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the changes that will occur in the next ten years. Do not be lulled into inaction. “- From Gates’ book” The Road Ahead “.

With that in mind, let’s see how technological disruptions feed on themselves in these unprecedented times.

Wealth:

Elon Musk’s rise to become the second richest person in the world is absolutely remarkable: Musk has contributed $ 100 billion to his net worth over the past 11 months! That’s an occasional $ 250 million a day. Since I wrote that Musk reached $ 128 billion in net worth as of Tuesday this week, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index has said it added another $ 14 billion to total $ 142 billion. Musk is now starting to grow closer to Jeff Bezos’ monumental net worth of $ 187 billion (his ex-wife is roughly $ 60 billion, by the way) as the richest person in the world.

Billionaires just aren’t made that fast that often, and the $ 100 billion mark was first hit by Bill Gates before the dot-com crash.

It will be a bit wild here in 2020.

• After the Great Recession of 2008, it took the richest people on the Forbes 400 list three years to make up for their losses.
• In the 2020 COVID-19 recession, most billionaires got rich only after the first few weeks of the COVID-related stock market panic subsided.
• Since March, American billionaires have added $ 1 trillion to their net worth (New York Times).
• This also applies to the 2020 stock market crash, which resulted in the fastest decline in the global stock market in history.

It may come as no surprise to understand that technology disrupts existing models and successes can be faster than ever.

It may not be quite so well understood that once the established model is broken, success will keep coming. Let’s look at streaming.

Streaming:

Disney Plus flew past 60 million subscribers in August and hit Disney’s five-year streaming goal within eight months of launch.

• Netflix reached 60 million subscribers in 2015, eight years after switching to a streaming service in 2007.
• Netflix itself switched from renting DVDs after witnessing the rapid rise of YouTube.
• All three are huge hits, but Disney Plus has hit hyperspeed and set itself apart from its rivals.
• Still, it’s down to the execution: Apple TV Plus hasn’t had the same level of success with its products despite Apple’s generous free promotions. Let’s not mention the Quibi disaster.

Some good news: the names we see building the platforms that are ingrained and too big to be challenged can be disrupted if this is the best execution yet.

• TikTok has shown that creating a great app with the industry’s leading user-generated content recommendation engine can lead to massive popularity despite the huge shadows of Instagram and Snapchat.
• Mind you, sometimes it’s just the right idea. Between us, a low-key, popular game released in 2018 burst the boundaries to the success of 60 million users who play the game every day. It’s by no means the perfect game, but it has put together the right mix of features and fun for Twitch streaming to make it run really well.

Medical miracles:

With three viable vaccines for COVID-19 coming out in late 2020, the race for the finish line has been faster than most thought. The New York Times already showed in April in a well-procured but slightly pessimistic guide that a realistic timeline would take years. Instead, we have three high-potency vaccine candidates by the end of 2020.

• It’s a sign that these changes can happen faster than ever when humanity has the resources to overcome challenges.

Hardware:

And here is one final little demonstration of 2020 speed in the physical world where progression is usually slower. It’s a pre-release teaser of Speed ​​Test G for PC / Mac as opposed to Android and iPhone by our own Gary Sims. Gary did some preliminary testing of Macs, including the all-new M1 MacBook Air.

With this dates ahead of Gary’s official release, I’ll just take a look.

• The benchmark shows that the current MacBook Air is at least M1 10% faster than a fully specified 16-inch MacBook Pro purchased last year that runs an Intel i9 (i9-9980HK).
• Or, to put it another way: around $ 1,000 purchase expense versus $ 3,000.

Not that this is the whole story of the M1 Mac versus the Intel MacBook Pro. However, the leap in performance and energy efficiency is one of the largest in years. It may be slower than what we’re seeing in the digital first wold, but big leaps are still possible in hardware too. Perhaps Wirth’s law does not play out in the world of weapons?

What is that supposed to mean?

The disruption of tech in our lives still has a long way to go. Everything is faster because mobility and hardware are good enough to achieve much of what we want and need.

• The more than three billion smartphone users in the world mostly use two large technology platforms, information is unlimited and jet fuel for ideas with growth is more available than ever.
• If it works, it won’t take long to go from zero to billions.

Technical calendar

• Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit 2020: Expect the Next Snapdragon Flagship to be Announced This Week! If we hear a word that the expected 8xx chip doesn’t follow the previous naming regime, we’ll be sure to find out next week.

Tech Tweets of the Week

Give away

We’re giving away three prize packages this month! Enter the November competition for your (last!) Chance to win. I don’t even have an AA hoodie. And I work here!

That’s it guys! We’ll have more top Android stories for you next week. Stay up to date on all things Android Authority In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter using the link below.