Tag: tech

• Real estate startup Knock raises $400 million

  I have been writing about the real estate startup Opendoor for many years here on the blog. Another promising startup in this space is Knock, and today it was announced that they just raised a $400 million Series B round (led by Foundry Group).

  They share some similarities with Opendoor, but they are also different in that their focus is on home trade-ins. They tell you what your current home is worth, help you find a new home, and then coordinate “a seamless swap.” For more on how they work, go here.

  One of the ways in which they are similar to Opendoor is that they front the cash for new home purchases. In the case of Opendoor, they buy your home with the plan of selling it in the future. And with Knock, they buy your home with the understanding that your old home will get sold.

  It is certainly a more capital intensive model compared to the way that home sales are handled today. But many investors are clearly betting that it is exactly what is needed to change the status quo. 

  (Credit to Jeremiah Shamess for sharing the above news with me today.)

  2019.01.15

• Mobility at CES

  CES is underway right now in Las Vegas. About 200,000 people are in attendance. 

  Since tech and mobility are today closely intertwined, the show has become an important platform for the automative industry.

  Here is a video showcasing BMW’s new iNext concept (expected by 2021):

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9-f3cALABk&w=560&h=315]

  It is based on level 3 autonomy, which means the car will do mostly everything, but you need to be ready to take over at any time.

  The video is interesting because it begins to show you what becomes possible when you no longer need to pay attention to the road. It is a bit like flying (but hopefully more enjoyable). 

  And here is a video of Bell’s new urban air taxi, which is called Nexus (expected by the mid-2020s):

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4d8N-A1G8&w=560&h=315]

  This is the company’s first concept. But they’ve been working with Uber since 2017 to develop a network of flying taxis for cities.

  Finally, flying cars.

  2019.01.10

• iPhone as a Service

  At the beginning of this year – January 2nd to be exact – Apple revised its earnings guidance, downward. It was the first time in 15 years that the company had to do this. 

  Tim Cook’s letter to shareholders, which can be found here, focuses a lot on China and its “economic deceleration.” But M.G. Siegler of 500ish Words believes that a greater pivot could be underway. His piece can be found here. It’s a good read.

  Firstly, Apple’s current growth period is probably over. And secondly, the company is likely going to need to diversify away from high margin hardware/software sales and continue to grow its Services business (something that Microsoft has, ironically, already done).

  Here is an excerpt from M.G. Siegler’s essay (Apple’s Precarious and Pivotal 2019):

  The iPhone has simply been too good of a business. And it’s hard to see what tops it. Certainly in the near term. If Services is to carry Apple in the future, it will likely be only after years of relatively stagnant iPhone revenue growth mixed with a rising overall market. In other words, time and the broader world will have to catch up. And then Apple can have their “Microsoft Moment” — a services-based resurrection of growth.

  As Tim points out in his letter, most of Apple’s Services revenue is tied to its installed base, as opposed to current period sales (also: less exposure to China). Last quarter that number was $10.8 billion – a new record.

  So what we may see in the near future is the end of outright phone purchases and instead some sort of iPhone as a Service (or iPaaS). Pay Apple every month in perpetuity; always have the latest iPhone.

  Of course, Apple has many other irons in the fire. Apple Watch has turned out to be a big business and the company is said to have 2,700 “core employees” working on its autonomous driving project. 

  Maybe some of these businesses will also end up as Services.

  2019.01.07

• And we’re back

  Welcome to 2019.

  I am currently in transit and catching up on some internet reading and email on my way back to Toronto.

  At this time of year it is, of course, common to reminisce (or lament) about what happened over the last year, as well prognosticate what may come.

  Over the last few years, I have done a bit of that on the blog. But I clearly didn’t do that this year while in Brazil (and away from any semblance of a workspace).

  So here’s what others have been writing and thinking about over the holidays:

  – 2018’s tech trends and tribulations in 14 charts. Recode. Link

  – 2018 was the year of the YIMBY. CityLab. Link

  – A cool girl’s guide to Toronto. Vogue. Link

  – Amazon’s annual Christmas press release. Link

  – Best travel posts of 2018. Design Milk. Link

  – Here’s (Almost) Everything Wall Street Expects in 2019. Bloomberg. Link

  – Here’s what to expect in cybersecurity in 2019. TechCrunch. Link

  – Naive to hope Toronto can change in 2019? That means we have work to do. Shawn Micallef. Link 

  – The 10 largest US venture rounds of 2019. TechCrunch. Link

  – What is going to happen in 2019. Fred Wilson. Link

  – Will a recession hit in 2019? Alan Murray. Link

  – Year in search 2018. Google. Link

  2019.01.02

• Neural machine translation

  I have been using Google Translate a lot on this trip. Few people here in Rio de Janeiro speak English.

  It is an incredible app that also works without cell service. You just download whatever language(s) you need to your phone.

  There’s a conversation feature that allows you to go back and forth with someone in real time (almost). 

  There’s a camera feature that is invaluable for translating restaurant menus.

  And there are a number of smaller features that I have also found really useful. 

  For example, if you rotate your phone into landscape mode, it will show you your translation in big text like a flash card.

  It looks like this (trust me it is useful):

  

  I also just learned that, since November 2016, the Translate app has been using a neural machine translation system developed by Google.

  It is capable of understanding and translating complete sentences, and that has reduced translation errors by about 60% compared to the previous system.

  Rather than translate word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase, Google’s NMT network encodes the “semantics of sentences.”

  To learn more about GNMT, click here.

  2018.12.30

• Maple Valley? No.

  At this time of year, I am always amazed by the number of mass emails that I receive from unknown people and companies. They have my email address, clearly, and yet I only receive one email a year from them – a happy holidays email. I am not opposed to holiday cheer. I love Christmas. But if you’re looking to build any sort of meaningful rapport with an audience, my sense is that you ought to send more than one email a year.

  In other news, the Economist published an article this past week talking about how Toronto is attracting disaffected (Indian) tech workers from the US and, more particularly, Silicon Valley. It is largely a story of immigration and diversity. But at the end of it, the Economist also reports that some people are now calling Toronto, Maple Valley. Toronto immediately reacted to this moniker – negatively.

  Nobody refers to Toronto as Maple Valley. And these sorts of names are stupid. In the 1990s, the Flatiron District in Manhattan started being called Silicon Alley (at least by some). That name was also stupid. New York is New York. And Toronto is Toronto. If you’re going to assign a nickname, it should not be derivative. And in the case of Toronto, you probably also want to avoid kitschy Canadian stereotypes.

  2018.12.22

• Uber to go public in 2019

  Last week it was announced that Uber had confidentially filed for an IPO (right after Lyft did the same). It could go public as early as Q1 of next year. And supposedly, a valuation of $120 billion is being tossed around. The company last raised money in August of this year (from Toyota) at a $76 billion valuation.

  

  Here are a few other interesting figures from a WSJ article published in the fall:

  – Uber has indicated that it doesn’t expect to be profitable for at least another 3 years. This year it is expected to hit between $10 and $11 billion in revenue, compared to $7.78 billion last year.

  – First Round Capital invested about $1.6 million in Uber’s first two fundraising rounds (2010 and 2011). If the company does in fact reach a valuation of $120 billion in the public markets, that early investment will be worth $5 billion. (First Round sold some of their shares to SoftBank in January and I’m not sure if the above figure accounts for that.)

  – Over 50 companies have invested in Uber since its founding, not including a slew of individual investments from people like Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

  On a related note, Fred Wilson, who is far more knowledgeable on this topic than I, recently published a post talking about the relationship between the private and public markets and what could happen to (tech) valuations in 2019. 

  It’s a good follow-on read to the above.

  Figure: WSJ

  2018.12.13

• Drone delivery in remote communities

  Toronto-based Drone Delivery Canada has just signed a $2.5 million agreement with the Moose Cree First Nation. This will bring the company’s drone delivery platform to the Moosonee and Moose Factory communities in northern Ontario (about 19 km south of James Bay).

  Here is an excerpt from a recent Techvibes article:

  “This agreement is representative of the large ‘Remote Communities’ market that we see penetrating over the next three to five years,” said Tony Di Benedetto, CEO of DDC. “The Remote Communities market is only one segment of the overall total addressable market in Canada. In addition to Canada, DDC is working with other customers around the globe to licence our FLYTE software and drone delivery technology.”

  DDC’s Sparrow drone is able to handle 5 kg (~11 pound) payloads and will be used to transport letters, parcels, medical supplies, and other general necessities. 

  This is a big deal for Moose Factory because the island can only be accessed by boat in the summer, ice road in the winter, and by helicopter during the rest of the year. And this is not a unique situation for remote communities.

  Suboptimal infrastructure and connectivity is a common problem and generally results in a higher cost of living, among other things. So this strikes me as something that should have meaningful impact on the quality of life in these communities.

  2018.12.11

• My Focals by North fitting

  Over the weekend I went by the new North store on Ossington for the fitting of my new Focals by North glasses. According to Retail Insider, this is the first retail space in Canada that is entirely dedicated to wearable tech (shout-out to Hullmark and CBRE). Full disclosure: I am not being paid by North, but I was asked if I would accept a pair of Focals and provide my thoughts. So I will be doing that over the coming months on the blog.

  Previously known as Thalmic Labs, North is a Waterloo-based company that first attracted attention with the launch of a gesture-control armband known as Myo. What that product did was make digital interactions completely hands-free. It had strong use cases across medicine, music, and business. However, this past October the company announced that it would be moving on from Myo. Enter Focals by North. 

  Focals are custom-built eyewear with an integrated display that only the wearer can see. It is similar to, for example, BMW’s heads up display, and the idea is that it is a way for you to quickly get the information you want, without pulling out your phone and disengaging from the world. The ambition is human-centric technology that integrates seamlessly.

  Here is an example of what that display looks like (it is much better and cooler in person):

  

  To control the display you use both your voice (the glasses have a microphone) and a 4-directional joystick called a Loop, which sits on your index finger like a ring and that you thumb. You can receive and send texts (voice to text), you can get turn-by-turn directions, you can view your appointments and the weather, and you can ask Alexa things.

  The first step in the ordering process is a fitting. And that’s what I did over the weekend. The glasses are all custom made and so they start by doing a full 3D scan of your head in a room that feels like the future. Once that’s done, you pick what frame you want, the color, and your sun clips (an essential accessory for day drinking in Trinity Bellwoods). Total cost: CAD 1,299.

  While exceptionally cool, it is premature for me to really comment on the tech at this point. I’m expecting my Focals in 8-10 weeks. But is it interesting to opine on the current state of eyewear tech.

  Most people believe that the problem with Google Glass was the fact that you had to be a Silicon Valley nerd in order to want to wear them out in public. They looked and continue to look ridiculous, which is why Snap went fashion first with their Spectacles. I have always found this product really intriguing. I want to use it. But I’ve stopped using Snapchat entirely and I don’t really have a strong use case for them.

  Snap’s Spectacles are about capture and content creation, whereas Focals are about discreetly feeding you information that you would otherwise have to pull out your phone (or watch) to view. There’s no camera on Focals. That’s not what they are about. But they are obviously fashion first.

  The question for me is whether the experience will truly be seamless and integrated, or if I’ll still be disengaged – gazing off into my glasses (space) while I ask Alexa to UberEats me a chicken shawarma wrap. I’ll let you know in about 8-10 weeks. If you’re looking for more on Focals by North, check out their website and this CNBC piece. Go Canadian tech.

  2018.12.09

• International Blockchain Real Estate Association

  I was at a Proptech dinner earlier this week (graciously hosted by Venturon) and I was introduced to the International Blockchain Real Estate Association (also known as IBREA). I feel like I should have known about this group. They have over 5,000 members and host an annual summit focused on blockchain + real estate.

  They have several videos from this year’s summit up on their website – everything from blockchain for titles to the tokenization of real estate assets. There are also a number of industry working groups that have been set up, which bring companies together around specific problems and ambitions (such as, creating a universal property identifier).

  To get you started, here is Blockchain Real Estate 101. If you can’t see the video below, click here.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WcLOcWyfHk&w=560&h=315]

  2018.12.06