Cloud border control

Anything to declare? Some foreign data maybe? The Hustle Wed, Feb 28 Brought to you by Blinkist… CliffsNotes for the modern commuter. Microsoft's Supreme Court case could determine if the feds can access your data  Microsoft took the stand yesterday in a Supreme Court case that will determine whether US law enforcement has the right to seize data stored in servers located outside the country. 5 years ago, investigators asked the company to turn over emails stored on their servers as part of a drug trafficking case. Microsoft agreed to give up data stored on American servers but refused to relinquish the emails that were stored at a Microsoft data center in Ireland. Now, the Justice Department's taking Microsoft to the bench. It's a landmark case in the way the internet is policed, and the verdict will answer the question: Does the cloud have borders? Let's take that data… and move it over here Microsoft maintains that US law enforcement should go through Irish authorities to gain access to the emails, but the Justice Department says a US warrant is plenty, not because it entitles them to overseas data, but because Microsoft could easily access it from inside US borders. AKA, copying the emails to a US server and then turning them over to the US government is totally kosher. Opponents say that's "erroneous" on all accounts, and that Microsoft acting "as a government agent" by copying the data still counts as "search and seizure" according to the Fourth Amendment. "Snitches get stitches" -- Microsoft Microsoft says it is just trying to protect people's privacy, arguing that the 1986 law on which the US is basing their case was written long before "the cloud" came to be, and that data has a "physical location" just like a paper document. Not to mention, a ruling against Microsoft could set a precedent for other countries to request info from data centers housed in the US.  Reports say the Supreme Court seemed skeptical of Microsoft's arguments yesterday, but time will tell if Microsoft has to cough up the goods or, in the words of Guy Fieri, if their data is "out of bounds." Data, Desktops, and Drives   Smartphone sales posted their first-ever decline in Q4 of last year According to tech research firm Gartner, smartphone sales dropped 5.6% (to 408m units) in Q4 of 2017 from the year prior -- the first-ever slide for the popular human plaything. Samsung kept their place as king of the cell, even as their sales fell 3.6%, with Apple right behind reporting a 5% drop (in large part due to the consumer revolt against the pricey new iPhone X). Why is this happening? Gartner analysts attribute the sales drop to 2 main factors: One of them is the growing reluctance of "feature phone" users (think the Motorola Razr) to upgrade to smartphones due to a lack of cheap, quality smartphones. Meanwhile, existing smartphone owners are keeping their current models longer -- despite Apple admitting their software updates gradually make your phone slower. Dumbphones on the rise In Africa, "feature phones," AKA dumbphones, have made a substantial comeback -- In 2017, their market share rose to 61%, up from 55.4% the year earlier, while smartphone market share fell to 39%, according to the IDC. They've also slowly made their way back to the West, with "nostalgiaphiles" showing a new excitement for smaller, simpler technology like the days of paying 10 cents per text -- where our Snake fans at?? Last year, Nokia even revamped their iconic 3310 model at Mobile World Congress, more than a decade after its demise. Remember the LG Chocolate?   Rage against the humans Devices that use data to make their own decisions are increasingly beep-beep-booping their way into the mainstream. Need further proof? Yesterday, autonomous technology made a rumble in the automotive world -- and, surprisingly, the blue jean business. California gave the green light to driverless cars Until now, the state that gave rise to autonomous vehicles has required the devices to be manned at all times by a human in the driver's seat. But on Monday, the state's DMV announced that requirement will be eliminated, effective April 2. Under the new rule, vehicles must still be remotely operable when necessary -- but it's a massive step toward the full realization of self-driving cars. Meanwhile in Miami, Florida... Ford has rolled out a "three-pronged approach" to get rolling on its own autonomous vehicle research. The carmaker is testing out a fleet of self-driving Ford Focuses both for ride-hailing and delivery purposes, and is building a network of "fleet management centers" to test out self-driving car maintenance procedures. And now for something completely different Denim companies typically have to go through 15 to 20 different manual steps (many involving nasty chemicals) to make a pair of jeans look and feel "worn-in." Now, Levi's is implementing autonomous laser robots that can fashion a pair of those worn-in, ripped jeans in 90 seconds -- a fraction of the time it takes human workers. Hot pants   Amazon acquires smart doorbell maker, Ring, for $1B According to Reuters, Amazon is buying smart doorbell maker Ring for more than the big 'B'. The ecommerce behemoth is expected to let Ring operate as an independent business (much like they did with Zappos and Twitch), while reaping the benefits of the company's home-security hardware. It's redddd hot Last month, we reported on the doorbell wars heating up in the startup-verse. Now, the big dawgs are taking over. A few weeks ago, the Alphabet-owned home security company, Nest Hello, announced a March ship date for their new "smart" doorbell. Since then, Amazon has been snatching up the competition: Over the past year, they acquired Blink and a laundry list of other smart security gadgets. Reeling in a whopper The financial details of the acquisition have been vague, but if the sale price is above $1.2B (the price they paid for Zappos), then Ring will be Amazon's second-largest acquisition ever, trailing only Whole Foods. This is also a huge opportunity to develop Amazon's plan to enable delivery people to leave packages inside of homes and buildings. And of course, this move just poured gasoline on the fiery fight among companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple to turn "dumb" homes into "smart" homes. Ding dong deal   startup dictionary Bootstrap (verb) 1. 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