Diversity
Female Founders face Disadvantages raising Capital in Male-Dominated Industries
Underrepresentation in enterprise software affects women as employees but also as founders, says Dana Kanze, an assistant professor of organizational behaviour at London Business School
By guest author Isabelle Bousquette from the Wall Street Journal
Women are vastly underrepresented in the enterprise software industry.
Less than 2 % of all U.S. enterprise technology start-ups have at least one female founder, according to a report from venture-capital firm Work-Bench. U.S. Labour Department data also found that in 2019, women made up only 18.1 % of software developers in the country.
Dana Kanze, an assistant professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, has pursued research that explains some of the reasons why female founders might struggle in early stages of trying to secure funding, and therefore might be less likely to get their start-ups off the ground.
Dr. Kanze spoke with The Wall Street Journal about her research. Dr. Kanze’s work has been published in the Harvard Business Review and the Academy of Management Journal, among others.
WSJ: What factors have you uncovered in your research that might contribute to the issues experienced by female founders at the helm of enterprise software start-ups?
Dr. Kanze: Enterprise software is a male-dominated field, one where women are underrepresented in terms of overall employment. My co-authors and I recently found that women’s sector-underrepresentation not only affects them as employees but also as founders.
This past year, we published research in Science Advances demonstrating that female founding CEOs are at a particular disadvantage when fundraising for ventures that cater to these male-dominated (as opposed to female-dominated) industries. Across our field and experimental studies, we discovered that female founding CEOs raise less funding at lower valuations for decreased equity in male- as opposed to female-dominated industries, while male founding CEOs achieve favorable funding-related outcomes regardless of the gender dominance of the industries they serve.
We learned this is due to a misperception among investors that female (but not male) founding CEOs are a “lack of fit” with their ventures when serving these “gender-incongruent” industries.
WSJ: What are some of the downstream effects of female entrepreneurs failing to get their businesses off the ground?
Dr. Kanze: If female founders are hindered in their ability to raise funding and eventually achieve a successful exit for their businesses and themselves, they won’t be able to amass comparable amounts of personal wealth and industry-relevant operating clout vis-à-vis their male counterparts. Impeded in these ways, women are that much less likely to become serial entrepreneurs and angel investors, as well as entrepreneurs in residence and decision makers at venture funds.
So, the deleterious downstream consequence is that we will see lower amounts of female-founded ventures and female investors operating in these industries.
WSJ: What can be done about it from the investor side?
Dr. Kanze: One silver lining in our research was that we found accredited investors displayed lower amounts of bias against female founders on the basis of misperceived lack of fit than nonaccredited investors did. This suggests a need to allocate resources in support of fostering greater financial literacy and awareness of decision-making biases among investors. Fortunately, venture funds and angel groups have become increasingly proactive about arranging research-driven training seminars to educate their investors over the past few years.
Although they are taking these initial important steps, real change will only happen when funds commit to reforming their best practices. This includes implementing a consistent process for data intake so they are not filling in the blanks with gendered assumptions about the candidate’s industry expertise or otherwise.
But investors tend to eschew formality of process, instead relying on idiosyncratic interactions with each founder based on unique insights they have gleaned. One path forward is for them to embrace a “freedom within a framework” approach that enables both of these objectives to be achieved.
Divesture
BASF reaches agreement to divest its site in Quincy, Florida to Clariant
BASF has reached an agreement to divest its manufacturing site in Quincy, Florida and the associated attapulgite business for a purchase price of USD 60 million to Clariant. The Quincy mining facility employs around 75 employees and manufactures clay-based mineral products used in a variety of industrial applications. BASF’s attapulgite business generated sales of approximately USD 36 millionin 2020. The transaction is expected to close in the summer of 2022, subject to the approval of the relevant competition authorities.
BASF acquired the site as part of the Engelhard acquisition in 2006. It is operated by the Dispersions & Resins division of BASF. Based on an in-depth review, it was determined that the future of the site and the attapulgite business would be best secured by a divestiture to a company with experience and expertise in mining.
“BASF divests the site in Quincy and at the same time enters into a long-term supply agreement for attapulgite with Clariant, that will allow us to continue to support and grow with our customers in the paints, coatings, and construction markets which are core to the success of our business,” said Denise Hartmann, Senior Vice President of BASF’s Dispersions & Resins business in North America.
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. More than 110,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of EUR 59 billion in 2020. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at http://www.basf.com
Here follows the official press release by Clariant:
- Acquisition of BASF’s U.S. Attapulgite business assets for USD 60 million in cash
- Strengthens Clariant’s technology leading position in the purification of edible oils and renewable fuels
- BASF’s Attapulgite business assets to extend North American footprint
- In line with Clariant’s bolt-on acquisition strategy and sustainability focus
Clariant, a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemical company, today announces that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire BASF’s U.S. Attapulgite business assets for USD 60 million in cash, including the signing of a long-term supply agreement for attapulgite-based products to BASF. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in summer 2022.
BASF’s Attapulgite business is one of the largest attapulgite miners and producers in North America, with mining operations in Georgia and Florida and processing operations in Quincy, Florida. The business produces attapulgite-based products for a wide range of applications and end-markets. BASF’s business is well recognized in the industry for its unique combination of mineral quality, mine reserve size and strategic location.
Clariant is a technology leader in the purification of edible oils and renewable fuels. The transaction will substantially increase the Business Unit’s production capacity in North America, thereby enhancing the ability to participate in the attractive North American market. Clariant offers unique technology for the purification of biodiesel, which reduces greenhouse gases in road transportation, and for the purification of pyrolysis oil, which enables the chemical recycling of plastics.
The renewable fuels market in North America, based on waste streams like used cooking oils, tall oil, tallow, animal fats and distillers corn oil, is an attractive growth market. Adsorbent clays are a crucial enabler for growth as they play a key role in removing contaminants during the pre-treatment, thereby protecting the catalyst and enabling a stable and economically viable process.
“This acquisition fits very well with our growth strategy to grow through sustainability-focused innovations and bolt-on acquisitions. This acquisition will further nicely extend the footprint of our Functional Minerals business in North America and will further improve Clariant’s position in renewable fuels purification,” said Conrad Keijzer, Chief Executive Officer of Clariant. “Clariant is already seen as a sustainability and technology leader today and this acquisition will further improve Clariant’s position in renewable fuel purification.”
Structured as an asset deal with a cash purchase price of USD 60 million, the transaction includes the transfer of land & mining rights, the processing facility, and inventories, which will be integrated into Clariant’s Functional Minerals Business Unit. Clariant is pleased to welcome 75 highly qualified, dedicated employees. BASF’s Attapulgite business generated sales of approximately USD 36 million in 2020.The transaction will accrete to the Natural Resource’s EBITDA margin profile and will support Clariant on its path towards its recently announced 2025 targets. Customary closing actions, including merger notification and clearance filings as well as real estate title work are anticipated to result in a closing of the transaction in summer 2022.
Selfridges confirms sale to Central Group and Signa Holding
The Weston family has sold the luxury retail group Selfridges to retailer Signa Holding and property company Central Group. A statement from Central Group said the acquisition would “create one of the world’s leading omni-channel luxury department store groups” …
By guest author Georgia Wright from the Retail Gazette
- Selfridges has been sold to Central Group and Signa Holding
- The transaction will see Selfridges Group become part of the combined Central and Signa portfolio of luxury department stores.
The Weston family has sold the luxury retail group Selfridges to retailer Signa Holding and property company Central Group.
A statement released on Friday by Central Group said the acquisition would “create one of the world’s leading omni-channel luxury department store groups”.
The financial details of the transaction were not publicly disclosed but the BBC reported that the sale was made for GBP 4 billion.
It is said that the decision to sell Selfridges is said to have been prompted by the death this year of Galen Weston, who led the acquisition of Selfridges from the Sears Group in 2003.
The Selfridges portfolio comprises of 18 department stores, including Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham, de Bijenkorf in Netherlands, Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, their associated e-commerce platforms and the properties in London, Manchester and five locations in Ireland.
The transaction will see Selfridges Group become part of the combined Central and Signa portfolio of luxury department stores. This will incldue Rinascente in Italy, Illum in Denmark, Globus in Switzerland and The KaDeWe Group in Germany and Austria.
Selfridges was founded in 1908 by Harry Gordon Selfridge. W Galen Weston bought the flagship Oxford Street Selfridge store in 2003 and formed the Selfridges Group in 2010.
Clariant completes sale of its Pigments business
- Divestment is a final milestone in Clariant’s portfolio transformation
- Clariant retains a 20 % stake in newly formed Group
- Net cash inflow of approximately CHF 615 million from divestment at closing will be invested into growth within the core Business Areas, the ongoing transformation and further debt reduction.
Clariant, a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemical company, today completed the sale of its Pigments business to a consortium of Heubach Group (“Heubach”) and SK Capital Partners (“SK Capital”). As announced upon signing of the transaction, the base enterprise value of the sale amounts to CHF 805 million subject to closing accounts adjustments and before a potential earn-out payment of CHF 50 million which is subject to the business’ 2021 financial performance.
Clariant rolled over approximately CHF 115 million to retain a 20 % stake in the new holding company, alongside Heubach and SK Capital. This combined business is a global pigments player with approximately 3 000 employees generating approximately EUR 1 billion in annual sales with strong service and production capabilities across the globe. This roll-over allows Clariant to further benefit from the improving profitability of the Pigments business, participate in future growth opportunities and realize synergies via the combination with Heubach’s Pigments business.
Clariant’s net cash inflow after roll-over and initial debt adjustments, but before closing account adjustments, tax, transaction cost and a potential earn-out payment amounts to approximately CHF 615 million. Clariant intends to use the proceeds of the divestment to invest into growth projects within the core Business Areas, execute the strategy along sustainability and innovation, fund the performance improvement programs as well as strengthen Clariant’s balance sheet to reach and defend a solid investment rating.
“The Pigments divestment concludes Clariant’s transformation into a high-value specialty chemical company, allows us to invest in profitable growth in our most attractive segments and to address the increasing demand for more sustainable products,” said Conrad Keijzer, Chief Executive Officer of Clariant. “We are convinced that the Heubach and SK Capital consortium is the best owner of the Pigment activities and I wish our former colleagues all the best in their new environment. Clariant looks forward to participating in the group’s further development as a shareholder.”
Events
New April dates for Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles and Yarn Expo
The Spring Editions of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles and Yarn Expo will now take place from 14 – 16 April 2022 instead of their original March date. They will continue to be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) alongside CHIC and PH Value.
“With the evolving situation of the pandemic globally, we have decided to hold our three spring fairs in mid-April,” Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd explained. “At this stage, we are still processing how the Omicron variant affects the hosting of large-scale events, so this new date provides us and our stakeholders with extra time to plan accordingly so we can ensure the fairs take place in a safe environment.”
“We are hoping to continue the momentum that was generated at last year’s Autumn Editions where our many returning international exhibitors were well received, as well as to capture the opportunities in the domestic market with strong growth in production, revenue and profit recorded in the first three quarters of 2021.”
Exhibitors or visitors with any queries about these fairs should email textile@hongkong.messefrankfurt.com, or visit the fairs’ respective websites:
- Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics: https://intertextileapparel.hk.messefrankfurt.com/
- Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles: https://intertextilehome.hk.messefrankfurt.com/
- Yarn Expo: www.yarnexpochina.com
Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre. The co-organisers of Yarn Expo are Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT. Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Home Textile Association (CHTA).
Messe Frankfurt’s China textile fairs form a part of the company’s Texpertise Network, which consists of some 50 fairs around the world. More information can be found here: http://www.texpertise-network.com
The Messe Frankfurt Group is the world’s largest trade fair, congress and event organiser with its own exhibition grounds. The Group employs approximately 2300* people at its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and in 30 subsidiaries around the world. In 2021, the company had to contend with the challenges posed by the pandemic for the second consecutive year. Annual sales will be approximately EUR 140* million after having been as high as EUR 736 million in 2019 before the pandemic. Even in difficult times caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we are globally networked with our industry sectors. We have close ties with our industry sectors and serve our customers’ business interests efficiently within the framework of our Fairs & Events, Locations and Services business fields. One of the Group’s key USPs is its closely knit global sales network, which extends throughout the world. Our comprehensive range of services – both onsite and online – ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organising and running their events. We are expanding our digital expertise with new business models. The wide range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services. Headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, the company is owned by the City of Frankfurt (60 %) and the State of Hesse (40 %). For more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com
Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2022
Our tech columnists look ahead to electric cars that don’t break the bank, earbuds that gauge your health, a fix for social media’s harms, package deliveries from above and more
By guest authors Joanna Stern, Nicole Nguyen and Christopher Mims from the Wall Street Journal
A Facebook name change? A colossal global chip shortage? Digital art selling for millions? No crystal ball could have shown us what 2021 in tech would look like.
That’s part of the fun and excitement of this yearly exercise, where our team puts together predictions for what’s to come. Even with our best analysis of current trends, industry experts and Ouija boards, there’s no way to see it all coming.
What we can say confidently is that 2022 will be full of excitement for new technologies (see: mixed reality and home robots), continuing discussion of tech’s impact on our world (see: social media and sustainability) and plenty of curveballs because lately it feels like all curveballs.
Here’s our list:
A weekly digest of tech reviews, headlines, columns and your questions answered by WSJ’s Personal Tech gurus.
The days when people hunting for an electric vehicle had only a handful of choices are over. By the end of 2022, U.S. car buyers could have more than 100 different models to choose from. And many forthcoming models will be more affordable than what was available just a year or two ago.
EVs still make up less than 3% of passenger vehicles on U.S. roads, and research suggests price will be key to their wider adoption. (Another key is infrastructure. America has only a fraction of the public fast chargers experts say it will need.)
Globally, the average sticker price of EVs has declined 30% from 2015 to 2020, even as average range has increased 45%, says Scott Shepard, a principal research analyst at Guidehouse, a corporate consulting firm. He expects that trend to continue in 2022, with at least four more models of EV priced below USD 40,000 arriving in the U.S. market.
The Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck (with a starting MSRP of USD 39,974) may prove instructive. Ford had to close preorders for F-150 Lightnings after receiving nearly 200,000 of them; 75% are buyers who had never purchased a Ford before, according to the company’s latest earnings report.
Meanwhile, Nissan slashed the starting price of its venerable Leaf EV to USD 28,375 from USD 32,620, making it less expensive (after a USD 7,500 federal tax credit) than a comparable conventional 2022 Honda Civic hatchback. Many other models with starting prices under USD 40,000 from Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mini and Volkswagen are either here already or will be soon.
Sustainable sustainability
Microsoft made a mouse with recovered ocean plastic. Apple’s latest iPhone and iPad models contain recycled materials. Amazon’s new Echo display, also made with recycled plastics, saves energy while idle. Every major tech keynote in 2021 featured a pro-climate component, and there will be much more to come in 2022.
The sector has arguably a larger carbon footprint than the aviation industry, and tech companies are working to reverse course with sustainability efforts that now include the design of our phones, tablets and computers.
Sustainability also means holding on to the same devices longer. “The real problem is that the industry develops products with very short life time, that are hard to repair and that go to landfills,” said Magali Delmas, professor of management at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Device makers are attempting to address that, too. Apple is launching a self-service repair program in early 2022 to allow customers and independent technicians to repair devices using genuine Apple parts, a move Right to Repair advocates long lobbied for. And Dell recently showed off Luna, a concept laptop with fewer screws and no fan for maximum repairability.
Kidproofing social media
I
n 2021, the world got the idea that social-media apps—especially Instagram and TikTok—haven’t been doing enough to protect younger users from seeing harmful content and getting sucked in by addictive features. In 2022, we’ll see more efforts to protect children, by lawmakers and by the social-media companies themselves.
For the early part of the new year, Instagram has promised to roll out alternatives to its main algorithmically driven feed, where users currently have little control over what they see. Instagram head Adam Mosseri also told a Senate subcommittee in December that the company would release more parental controls for teens in 2022, starting in March with a feature that allows parents to set time limits.
TikTok said it has begun to make changes to its algorithm so people don’t end up with feeds dominated by videos about eating disorders, depression and other possibly harmful topics. A company spokeswoman said it would continue to limit features by age and provide tools for parents.
Unconvinced that the companies will make the changes needed on their own, however, lawmakers are working on new bipartisan legislation. Sens. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) and Bill Cassidy (R., La.) have reintroduced the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, or Coppa 2.0, which would extend current privacy protections to users 13 to 15 years old, ban personalized advertising to kids entirely, and more. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) are working on legislation to require more transparency into social-media algorithms.
Chips ahoy
In 2021, the world got the idea that social-media apps—especially Instagram and TikTok—haven’t been doing enough to protect younger users from seeing harmful content and getting sucked in by addictive features. In 2022, we’ll see more efforts to protect children, by lawmakers and by the social-media companies themselves.
For the early part of the new year, Instagram has promised to roll out alternatives to its main algorithmically driven feed, where users currently have little control over what they see. Instagram head Adam Mosseri also told a Senate subcommittee in December that the company would release more parental controls for teens in 2022, starting in March with a feature that allows parents to set time limits.
TikTok said it has begun to make changes to its algorithm so people don’t end up with feeds dominated by videos about eating disorders, depression and other possibly harmful topics. A company spokeswoman said it would continue to limit features by age and provide tools for parents.
Unconvinced that the companies will make the changes needed on their own, however, lawmakers are working on new bipartisan legislation. Sens. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) and Bill Cassidy (R., La.) have reintroduced the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, or Coppa 2.0, which would extend current privacy protections to users 13 to 15 years old, ban personalized advertising to kids entirely, and more. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) are working on legislation to require more transparency into social-media algorithms.
Beginning in early 2020, global lockdowns led to a surge in demand for the things microchips go into—smartphones for staying connected, laptops and PCs for working and studying from home, automobiles in lieu of public transit.
That led to record demand for chips in 2020 and throughout the first half of 2021. There are signs that demand has begun to soften. Third-quarter sales of smartphones in China, the world’s biggest market for them, declined 9% compared with a year before. (Apple, however, said it continues to see strong demand for iPhones and predicts a record profit for 2021.)
No one is sure when the supply of chips will be able to satisfy demand fully, and some analysts say it might not happen until 2023, when a great deal more chip-manufacturing capacity will come online, from Arizona to Beijing. But between the world finally having enough gadgets for now and chip makers running their fabs all-out for the past 18 months, the end may be in sight.
Back in the year 2000, chip-plant operators projected demand would stay strong and growth would continue at a torrid pace, said Stephen Howe, SDI Fabsurplus, a dealer of used chip-manufacturing equipment. “Lo and behold, in June 2000, the whole market just dropped off a cliff, and I’m pretty sure that same thing is going to happen again,” he added.
Home is where the bot is
Not coming in 2022: The all-helpful home robot who will take care of the kids, do the dishes and unclog the toilet. Coming in 2022: Home robots that can do more than your stationary smart speaker or roving vac—and might even keep us company.
Astro, Amazon’s Alexa-integrated household robot, uses sensors to roam around your home. It can do all the typical Alexa things (play music, answer questions, etc.) but it also uses its cameras to monitor your home when you aren’t there. If the robot is in the home of an aging relative, you can use a feature called “Alexa Together” to check in remotely.
David Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon, said Astro represents a shift to “ambient intelligence,” where our computers fade to the background and let us “interact in the real world and not have your head in a phone.”
Amazon began shipping the USD 1,000 Astro to a small group of invite-only testers in December. Mr. Limp said the number of people requesting invites is many times above his expectations, and the company is working on increasing inventory for 2022.
Similar devices such as ElliQ are already being tested with people 65 or older and living alone. Next year, the company plans to expand availability and add concierge services, which will allow users to order groceries and more.
Mixed reality = our reality
Look, we get it, some of us have been saying virtual reality is going to change your life for half a decade now. But we promise you 2022 will bring significant technological progress to VR and better augmented-reality experiences, too. (Remember: VR transports you to a virtual world; AR overlays digital elements in your real world. Combined, they’re “mixed reality”—but we refuse to shorten that to MR.)
Meta (formerly Facebook) plans to release a headset more advanced and expensive than its current Quest 2. New sensors and improved optics in the device (code name Project Cambria) will make avatar-you more like real-you. You smile, your avatar smiles! Plus, the same device will be able to show your real physical space but with digital features dropped in—say, look at a giant virtual screen over your real desk. It’s all a part of the company’s goal to build the metaverse—a virtual world where we work, shop, hang out and more.
It won’t be a one-horse metaverse race. There are reports of a late 2022 release of an Apple mixed-reality headset. According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from TF International Securities, the headset will be powered by Apple’s own chips (like the ones found in its MacBooks) and have both VR and AR features. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Future screens are so bright
If you’ve noticed that the display on your phone or smartwatch is brighter and higher in contrast than the one on your laptop, TV or car dashboard, you’ve experienced one of the biggest evolutionary leaps in display technology in recent years.
Since the iPhone X, Apple’s top iPhones have used OLED, “organic light-emitting diode,” a technology that distinguishes itself from LCD (liquid crystal display) because the pixels illuminate themselves rather than requiring a separate light source. The benefit is thinner, even foldable, displays, and better contrast and power efficiency.
Samsung’s phones had OLED even earlier—the Korean electronics giant was among the technology’s pioneers. You might’ve seen a few OLED TVs, but they have been quite expensive. The technology is now becoming cheaper to manufacture. Laptops with OLED displays began to pop up in 2021, and more models will arrive in 2022. The same goes for tablets and TVs.
MicroLED is another advanced display technology, one that could someday scale up to be an affordable successor to OLED. Samsung has already built video walls using these tiny self-illuminating pixels, but the cost is astronomical. At the CES tech show in January, Vuzix plans to show off smart glasses with miniature MicroLED stereo displays for augmented reality in the workplace.
Password-free logins
Passwords are a mess. They can be guessed or stolen. So, to prevent hacks, we arm ourselves with password managers that generate unique, gibberish logins for each service. Many of us don’t even know our own passwords at this point! Thank goodness more services are moving away from them.
You can log in to WSJ.com, for example, by getting emailed a special link. Same with Slack and PayPal. Payment system Shopify and the reservation app Resy send codes to your phone number. Microsoft recently let users skip the password and instead opt for a code from the Microsoft Authenticator app, a security key or a verification code sent via phone or email.
One study, from identity-protection tech firm Transmit Security, found that consumers would be 44% more likely to sign up for a service if they could use biometrics and 35% more likely if a no-password option were available. “2022 will not mark the end of passwords, but we will see some watershed movements in that direction,” said Andrew Shikiar, executive director of the FIDO Alliance, which promotes the use of security key, facial recognition, fingerprint or voice-based passwords.
The speed we need
So long, 3G. Thanks for providing connectivity to older Kindles and Grandma’s flip phone. Next year, U.S. carriers are sunsetting their aging third-generation cellular networks to make more room for the superfast fifth generation, 5G. Yes, this means those 3G devices will soon be defunct. (End dates are February for AT&T, July for T-Mobile and December for Verizon. )
The telecoms have plans to expand their networks in the coming year. T-Mobile said it would reach 50 million more Americans by year-end. And 5G isn’t just for phones. Carriers are using the network to provide home internet service where traditional landline providers have not. In September, T-Mobile expanded to cities in Florida and North Carolina, while Verizon added Fremont, Calif., and Niagara Falls, N.Y., to its 5G home coverage.
There’s a good chance our internet connections will get faster at home and on the move, though there are speed bumps. President Biden’s infrastructure bill, which includes USD 65 billion in funding for expanded broadband access in rural communities, passed in November, but the program includes a long application process for states. Plus, AT&T and Verizon recently hit a 5G rollout roadblock because of concerns from the Federal Aviation Administration about potential interference with cockpit-safety systems.
Crypto…but less cryptic
So you’ve been getting by, nodding along when people talk about cryptocurrency and NFTs, thinking all chatter about the decentralized web and blockchains will pass by like a cheetah on an e-bike. It won’t. Sorry. In fact, in 2022, you might even get in yourself as tools to buy, sell and send digital money and tokens appear in the apps, services and games you already use.
PayPal’s Venmo app and the Cash App from Block (formerly Square) now make it easy to buy cryptocurrency and send it to others. The Cash App recently added a simple way to give any U.S. user bitcoin using a debit card. More places you shop will also start to accept your favorite cryptocurrencies. Tesla now takes dogecoin for specific merchandise.
Will you join decentralised social-media sites like DeSo, which are powered by blockchain technology? Eh, probably not, but our current social-media apps may start to embrace this world. Instagram’s Mr. Mosseri said the platform is “actively exploring NFTs and how we can make them more accessible to a wider audience.”
Deliveries ex machina
Depending on where you live, there’s a chance a drone will drop you a delivery for the first time this year.
Flytrex, an Israeli startup operating three delivery stations in North Carolina, just received FAA approval to make deliveries in a roughly one-mile radius. The company said this will allow it to carry goods from a variety of retailers, including Walmart, to more than 10,000 households. Wing Aviation, owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc., is currently testing and expects to launch the first commercial drone-delivery service in a dense urban area—Dallas-Ft. Worth—in 2022, the company said in October.
Meanwhile, in the coming year, Cardinal Health will be using very different sorts of drones, small fixed-wing electric airplanes made by Zipline, to resupply pharmacies within 10 miles of one of its distribution centers in Kannapolis, N.C. Zipline said it is also doing home deliveries for Walmart in its hometown of Bentonville, Ark.
All of these drones will continue, per FAA regulations, to be piloted by humans.
With the FAA granting more permits and drones from Amazon, United Parcel Service and more than a dozen other companies all in some stage of readiness as well, it’s likely that others will follow suit in 2022.
CES 2022: Five Tech Trends to Watch in an Unusual Year
Omicron might prevent some big exhibitors from attending, but over 2000 companies are expected in Las Vegas to unveil innovations.
By guest authors Shara Tibken and Dalvin Brown from the Wall Street Journal.
Nothing about this year’s CES will be normal. That includes some of the biggest trends expected at the show.
The massive annual tech conference, which took place entirely online last year, kicks off Monday with in-person press events in Las Vegas. Despite the surge of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 over the holidays, the event’s organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, said it would proceed but end a day early as a safety measure. The organization expects up to 75,000 attendees and over 2,200 exhibitors, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Group Corp.
A lengthy list of tech players have decided not to visit Las Vegas, however. Strict Covid-19 quarantine requirements in China have complicated travel for many Chinese companies—including popular exhibitor and drone maker DJI—and Israel in December barred its citizens from traveling to the U.S.
General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra will give her keynote virtually. T-Mobile US Inc.’s CEO, Mike Sievert, won’t deliver his scheduled keynote at all. Event mainstays such as Intel Corp. , Lenovo Group Ltd. , LG Electronics Inc. and Panasonic Corp. have withdrawn or greatly reduced in-person staffing, and the biggest tech firms, including Alphabet Inc. ’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook), Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. , which typically played smaller roles, have decided to stay home. (Our own team cancelled plans to be there in person.)
Air PurifierWhile in-person demos and unveilings will be sparse, expect plenty of news and not just from the traditional TV, audio and home-appliance categories. The auto sector has become such a big part of the show, it is taking over the Las Vegas Convention Center’s new West Hall expansion. And many other tech-adjacent companies view CES, even a thinly attended one, as a chance to get some attention.
“There’s always a bunch of stuff there I would have never thought of as consumer electronics,” said Tim Bajarin, a tech analyst with Creative Strategies. “But it’s a much more diverse show than it has ever been,” he added. He said he has been to CES 45 times—missing a few in the late ’70s and early ’80s. He had planned to attend again this year before Omicron interfered.
Here is what is expected to be on tap for this year, from family tech to food, with a sprinkling of metaverse, cryptocurrency and NFTs.
Getting comfy at home
We have spent two years mostly hanging out at home, and tech companies took notice. They are introducing products designed to help users relax and decompress when they aren’t typing at a computer or Zooming into a meeting. They have designed smart beds that can nudge you when it is time to wake up, bathtubs that maintain consistent water temperature and air purifiers that also add fragrances to a room.
Developers are focusing on sensor-assisted products like lamps, toilets and bathtubs that respond based on time of day, air quality or who is in the room, the latest evolution of the Internet of Things.
“It’s a move from a connected home to a smart home that uses environmental cues to signal the sound, the lights, the overall feel of the home,” said Mitch Klein, executive director of the Z-Wave Alliance, a smart-home standards organisation.
Bemis Manufacturing Co. will show off a new line of smart air purifiers designed to adjust automatically to indoor air quality and emit essential-oil aromas. At night, the gadgets sense that the lights are lowered, and reduce noise so you can sleep.
Sleep Number Corp. and Sleepme Inc. are among the companies unveiling next-generation bed tech with more-advanced sensing and response capabilities for adults. Cradlewise touts similar tech for babies, using artificial intelligence that can tell when children are waking, learn what music will soothe them and gently bounce them back to sleep.
Taking care of kids and parents
CES 2022 will have plenty of tech for the so-called “sandwich generation,” adults who care for both their kids and their parents: an AI-equipped baby monitor that can detect a covered face or a rollover, room sensors to track the movement of seniors, and health and activity wearables designed to meet the needs of every age group.
Florida-based CarePredict Inc. will show off an update to its wrist-worn Tempo that makes it easier for caregivers to communicate with their older loved ones (or make sure they are properly cared for). The new CareVoice feature lets people send audio messages to the watch wearer, whether it is greetings from a grandchild or a reminder to take medicine.
“It really is a human touch, even when you’re not there,” CarePredict CEO Satish Movva said. “Your voice on their wrist.”
The device already detects falls, and can send an alert when its wearer skips meals, sleeps less or has other activity out of the norm.
Saving the planet
Many major technology companies have talked up efforts to make their products more environmentally friendly. That includes using more recycled materials, making their devices easier to repair and reducing the packaging surrounding the products.
Some of the products being shown at CES include a hydrogen fuel-cell-powered flying car concept from French company Maca, and a tabletop washer from another French firm, Auum, designed to cut down on single-use plastic by cleaning and drying a glass in 10 seconds.
Jong-Hee Han—vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and head of the company’s newly combined TV, home appliances and mobile division—will spend his keynote Tuesday outlining Samsung’s plans to make customizable and environmentally friendly tech.
From the Netherlands, RanMarine Technology will show off WasteShark, a floating autonomous drone that cleans pollution from waterways and collects data on water quality, while Orbisk will feature a device that uses image recognition to help hotels, restaurants and others reduce food waste.
Cooking and eating
The buzziest thing at CES 2020, the last in-person show before the pandemic, wasn’t a gadget, software or a service, but Impossible Foods Inc.’s Impossible Pork, a plant-based meat designed to cook and smell like ground pork.
This year at the show, a half-day food-tech conference will showcase advances in areas such as agriculture, ingredient innovation, meal kits and deliveries, vertical farming and, of course, more plant-based meat. Impossible Foods will be there, as will MycoTechnology, which will debut a meat alternative made from fungi.
The conference will also cover “how robotics will change the face of food,” said Michael Wolf, founder of The Spoon, an online food-tech industry publication that is hosting the event. For instance, farm-equipment giant Deere & Co. will discuss how automation can address labour shortages and unpredictable weather.
Looking ahead
The metaverse is a hot topic right now. In October, Facebook Inc. changed its name to Meta Platforms Inc., in preparation for the internet’s next chapter: People strap on high-tech glasses so their avatars can interact, wherever they are in the world. At CES 2022, tech companies of all sizes are showing tools to build and navigate this virtual future.
Hyundai Motor Group will allow visitors to create avatars and test drive new concept cars in cyberspace. The startup Bhaptics will demo gaming gloves designed to replace hand-held VR controllers. Samsung is marketing its metaverse ambitions with a VR home-decorating platform.
And the conference is hosting a new program to discuss nonfungible tokens (aka NFTs), virtual certificates that show you own a digital object.
“Are we a little ahead of our skis on the topics of metaverse and NFTs? Yes,” said Maribel Lopez, principal analyst at tech-industry analysis firm Lopez Research. “But that’s kind of what CES is about.”
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CES Returns to Las Vegas; How ‘Yellowstone’ Took Over Cable; Beijing Takes Aim at Walmart
By guest author Nat Ives from Wall Street Journal
Welcome back. CES returns as a massive in-person tech conference again this week after meeting online last year, starting with press events in Las Vegas today.
Attendees will encounter:
- a new round of smart-home devices, including beds that can nudge you to get up
- food innovations such as a meat alternative made from fungi
- tech to help people care for kids and the elderly
- products positioned as sustainable and environmentally friendly
- and, unavoidably, visions of the metaverse.
Hyundai will let CES visitors create avatars and test drive new concept cars in cyberspace, Shara Tibken and Dalvin Brown report. The startup Bhaptics will demo gaming gloves designed to replace hand-held VR controllers. Samsung is marketing its metaverse ambitions with a VR home-decorating platform.
The conference is also hosting a new program to discuss nonfungible tokens.
“Are we a little ahead of our skis on the topics of metaverse and NFTs? Yes,” said Maribel Lopez, principal analyst at tech-industry analysis firm Lopez Research. “But that’s kind of what CES is about.”
Deere Rolls Out Fully Autonomous Tractor at CES
Company plans to sell the neural network on wheels in 2022.
By guest author John McCormick from the Wall Street Journal
Deere & Co. said Tuesday that it has developed a fully autonomous tractor designed for large-scale farming and that it plans to sell the machine later this year.
The vehicle has the familiar green hue of a John Deere tractor. It sports a steering wheel in the cab, massive tires around classic yellow wheels, and a convolutional neural network, which comes standard in the autonomous tractor. It also features redundant braking and steering systems for an added layer of safety.
The autonomous tractor is a version of Deere’s existing 8R series machine, the largest of which has 410 horsepower. Current 8R users can upgrade their tractors with the autonomous driving system.
Agriculture is proving to be fertile ground for the application of artificial intelligence, attracting the attention of startups and Big Tech alike. At the CES 2022 event in Las Vegas Tuesday, January 3, 2022, equipment manufacturer Deere & Co. unveiled its own take on the tech, a fully autonomous tractor designed for large-scale farming.
The Deere tractor, unveiled at the CES 2022 tech conference in Las Vegas, isn’t the world’s first autonomous tractor. Smaller autonomous tractors are being used in specialty-crop farms.
The application of the technology to larger vehicles is just getting started and promises to be highly consequential, according to Aron Cory, research manager for world-wide agriculture at International Data Corp.
“The move from conventional tractors to autonomous tractors is going to be comparable from the move from horses to the combustion engine,” he said.
Deere said its new 8R series tractor is designed for large-scale farming applications. The Moline, Ill., company, founded in 1837, is the largest U.S. farm equipment manufacturer by sales.
Deere has yet to set the tractor’s price.
The autonomous driving system is equipped with six pairs of cameras, three in the front and three in the rear that provide a 360-degree view of the tractor’s surroundings. The images are fed to the onboard computer, where a convolutional neural network—an advanced form of artificial intelligence that analyzes images—classifies pixels in milliseconds, identifies objects in the tractor’s path, and determines whether the tractor should remain on course, steer around an obstacle, or stop.
Farm-equipment manufacturers, including several start-ups such as Monarch Tractor and Carbon Autonomous Robotics Systems Inc., have been working for years on driverless tractors and other autonomous machines for tasks such as planting, harvesting and weeding.
Monarch Tractor makes self-driving electric tractors with 40-70 horsepower engines. The tractors are being used at vineyards, orchards and other farms.