M&A

Fit Check

The EU is just about ready to give its antitrust blessing to the Google-Fitbit deal, Reuters reported Tuesday. The fitness tracking company offers Google the wrist-worn key to turbocharging its wearables game...as well as a trove of sensitive data. That second part has sounded alarm bells in Brussels. 

In case you forgot this deal was a thing, we’ll power-walk through the ups and downs.  

Fire up the time-travel machine

Back in November 2019, Alphabet said it had agreed to acquire Fitbit. The $2.1 billion takeover would be the cherry on top of Google’s consumer tech M&A sundae: 

• Phone: Google bought part of HTC's smartphone group for $1.1 billion in 2018. This team led the creation of the Pixel product line. 
• Home: In 2014, Google paid $3.2 billion to buy smart thermostat startup Nest, which retained its brand. Nest has since expanded into smart speakers and other home devices. 
• ET: This is included to complete the joke (see bolded text). 

Back to today

To get Brussels’s lumière verte, Google has agreed to a few concessions: 

1) The search engine giant must ask for user consent to access health data from devices. 

2) Google can’t shut out wearable rivals from Android or its cloud services. 

3) The company must appoint a Brussels attaché to assure the Europeans that it is complying. 

4) Saving the best for last...Google can’t use Fitbit data to target ads for a decade. It’s not clear why there’s a ten-year expiration date: Will this kind of advertising be okay by 2030? 

A balancing act

If you’re a card-carrying Big Tech member, chances are you’re facing challenges from European enforcers. Brussels is still scrutinizing Google’s search practices. And home is no reprieve—the company faces antitrust probes into its dominance in internet search and online advertising. The Justice Department is reportedly nearly ready to bring its case against Google.

• China is also preparing an antitrust investigation into Google, Reuters reported this morning. 

Bottom line: If closing the Fitbit deal is Google’s exercise win for the day, its collection of antitrust inquiries are a whole lot of calories that could offset the gains.

QUANTUM

If You’ve Got It, Quant It

Quantum Leap may have wrapped in 1993, but Quantum Leaf—Baidu’s new foray into cloud-based quantum computing—is just getting started. 

I talked with Siraj Khaliq, a data scientist-turned-venture capitalist with Atomico, about the implications. 

That’s quantastic 

Let’s rewind: Quantum computers can solve problems in linear time that would take classic computers exponential time, says Khaliq. That’s a game changer for machine learning, finance, chemistry, and more. 

• Example: If we want batteries that last a month instead of a day, says Khaliq, quantum computing can supersede classic computing power to “simulate battery tech at scale” and yield new insights. 

Baidu announced its platform last week, joining the likes of Microsoft, IBM, and Rigetti Computing. In May, Baidu open sourced Paddle Quantum, its toolkit for quantum ML.

• With the U.S.-China trade war heating up, it’s no surprise China wants its own horse in this race. Its $10 billion quantum research lab—the world’s largest—is set to open this year. 

Bottom line: “The key takeaway is: Quantum is coming of age,” says Khaliq. Recent advances in cloud computing and quantum software are enabling the tech. Still, it’ll take ~quant a lot~ of $ to arrive at commercially useful quantum computers.

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AI

Amazon’s Hands-Down Bet

Your neighborhood psychic isn’t the only one reading palms: Amazon’s getting into the biz, too. 

Yesterday it introduced Amazon One, a new palm recognition technology that can be used for payments and identity verification. 

Talk to the scan(d) 

How it works: When you hover your hand over the device, Amazon One uses computer vision to analyze the ridges, lines, vein patterns, and more in real time. Then it sends an encrypted image to the cloud and creates a unique palm signature.

Amazon’s Go stores in Seattle have received the tech first, allowing customers to pay with their palms after the initial scan. After the palm pilot, Amazon plans to expand use to its other physical stores. 

• Other potential use cases: paying at retailers on a large scale, granting ticket holders entry to events, and replacing office badge-scanning.

Big picture: This type of biometrics isn’t new: Fujitsu laptops, for example, have offered palm scanning since 2011. But Covid-driven enthusiasm for contactless payments + Amazon's influence means the tech could eventually gain a retail foothold. 

BITS & BYTES

Stat: NASA says it generated an economic output of $64 billion in the 2019 fiscal year. The agency received $21.5 billion, or 0.5% of the overall federal budget.  

Quote: “You did something, you lied about it by omission, by not being forthcoming. That's the security issue. …There are a lot of people in the public who consider you guys heroes for what you guys did, but it's still not honest."—U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to Epic Games on Monday. 

Listen: Business Casual interviewed former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. And if you’re in the market for more newsletters for your ears, Schmidt started his own podcast.

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Google is getting stricter with enforcing its 30% take rate of in-app purchases...but will it also make using third-party app stores easier with Android 12?
• Columbia University’s engineering department and Amazon are forming the New York AI Research Center. 
• Walmart ordered 130 Tesla Semis. 
• Consumers are buying Google’s new Chromecast, which is supposed to be announced today. Select Home Depots and Walmarts are apparently already selling the device.
• Amsterdam and Helsinki are the first cities to launch AI registers, or open records explaining how algorithms are used in public service.

TRIVIA

Today, we’re running the last installment of trivia based on Emerging Tech Brew’s guide to AI. Test your knowledge on the key players in the space, from governments to researchers. 

Take the quiz here.

TECH THINGAMABOBS

For Ryan’s favorite photography: Check out the best shots from the 2020 drone photography awards. Maybe his drone will get there one day. Maybe. 

For staying in the loop: Facebook’s AI Lab wants humans to chat with its algorithms to evaluate how far they’ve come. Anyone can create an account, choose one of four tasks, and try to fool the AI systems.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• How machine learning is modernizing HR 
• EV- and AV-industry updates
• Microsoft will exclusively license GPT-3

** A Note From eToro

*  eToro USA LLC. Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal. Offer subject to T&Cs.