5G Moving on and causing trouble.

This is a good part of the ecosystem.... and it looks like things are moving ahead faster than we thought.



sanfrancisco.cbslocal



WALNUT CREEK (KPIX 5) – Up to 50,000 cell phone towers coming to cities across California.
But will you get a say on where they pop up?

California cities are now fighting back at a proposed law that is moving quickly through the legislature.
They say it would allow phone companies to put up new antennas in your neighborhood, like it or not.

State Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) says, “5G wireless has the potential to be a game changer.”
But to pave the way for that game change, telecom companies need to put up between 30,000 and 50,000 of cell antennas — including in your town — over the next five years with only limited local say.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said, “Neighborhoods would be seeing something the size of refrigerators going up on street poles and could say nothing to stop it.”

Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan said, “Could be on a library, could be on a school.”

“On traffic signals, light polls,” Liccardo said. “This would give the companies the right to install on any public infrastructure and we would have zero ability to say ‘no.'”

On the other hand, the new network could also mean much faster Internet service to keep California on the innovation forefront.

The use of smart devices and mobile Internet has increased 2,300 percent statewide since 2010.

Yes it does.

Little surprise every day, make life better.

Microvision installed in another smartphone.

So, Microvision can be found in this phone.... 

Marketing Page for Phone

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ:MVIS), a leader in innovative ultra-miniature projection display and sensing technology, today announced that its PicoP® scanning engine for projected display is part of a new VOGA V flagship smartphone just announced at Mobile World Congress Shanghai by Ragentek.

.@MicroVision PicoP scanning tech part of Ragentek VOGA V smartphone announced today at #MWCS17 in Shanghai

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Ragentek, a Chinese-based smartphone manufacturer and solution company with top selling phones in China, India, Brazil and other countries, placed a $6.7 million order with MicroVision in March 2017 for a customized display engine, PSE-0403-103, to be embedded in its VOGA V smartphone. Ragentek plans to begin pre-orders for the phone immediately with delivery starting in July. To support Ragentek’s schedule, MicroVision began shipping engines at the end of June and will begin volume shipments in July.

“Ragentek has done an amazing job designing the VOGA V smartphone. It is a sleek, high performance product that addresses the consumer’s desire for slim, compact smartphones while at the same time maximizing functionality for watching video with a large, projected image,” said Alexander Tokman, President and Chief Executive Officer of MicroVision. “As soon as we began talks with the Ragentek team it was clear that they had a vision for the type of product they wanted to bring to market and a plan for getting there. We are extremely pleased they chose to partner with us and embed our PicoP scanning engine in the VOGA V.”

“When we came to MicroVision with our ideas for this product, their ability to work their engine design around our product design was a key factor in getting this product to market quickly. The mobile-first features of PicoP scanning technology such as always-in-focus images, lower power consumption and small module size were essential for us to maintain our phone design and performance standards while still extending the functionality to include high definition projected large screen images,” said Jiaming Le, Chief Executive Officer of Ragentek. “Our target customers want to have it all in a smartphone and today that means a device that is optimized for video viewing. With this engine from MicroVision, we are excited to offer a cutting-edge solution that will give our customers an experience beyond what they might expect from simply increasing the built-in screen a few centimeters.”

For its smartphone design, Ragentek required an electronics board layout that varied from the standard form of MicroVision’s PSE-0403-101 display engine. MicroVision was able to quickly design an engine that met the requirements and could be manufactured by MicroVision’s supply chain partner. This engine, PSE-0403-103, uses the same MEMS and ASICS1components as the standard MicroVision PSE-0403-101 engine and has the same performance characteristics, including an always-in-focus, high definition image from a small, low power engine. The flexibility to meet Ragentek’s specific design requirements together with the performance that is optimized for a mobile product were key factors for MicroVision winning this business.

At least where I am the Youku video doesn't work so well. If someone could give me a heads up if they find this on Youtube, or actually has a file for the video that would be appreciated.

Volvo Self-driving Trucks

Deliveries of Projector Engine begin.

Deliveries started on time.... this is good. Will we see the product it will be in soon?

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ: MVIS), a leader in innovative ultra-miniature projection display and sensing technology, today announced that it reached its production readiness milestone on-schedule and has begun shipments of its small form factor display engine to its customer, an Asian electronics device manufacturer.

The engines in this initial shipment to the Asian OEM are part of a $6.7 million order for a customized display engine, PSE-0403-103, to be embedded in a smartphone. MicroVision plans to begin volume shipments in July, and expects a large majority of the units in this order to be shipped by the end of 2017.

For its smartphone design, the customer required an electronics board layout that varied from the standard form of MicroVision’s PSE-0403-101 display engine. MicroVision was able to quickly design an engine that met the customer’s requirements and could be manufactured by MicroVision’s supply chain partner. This module, PSE-0403-103, uses the same MEMS and ASICS1 components as the standard MicroVision PSE-0403-101 engine and has the same performance characteristics including an always-in-focus, high definition image from a small, low power engine. The flexibility to meet customers’ specific design requirements for an engine product is a benefit of working with MicroVision and the company’s PicoP® scanning technology platform.

Added to Russell 3000

June 26, 2017 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time


REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ: MVIS), a leader in innovative ultra-miniature projection display and sensing technology, today announced it has been added as a member of the broad-market Russell 3000® Index, effective after the US market opens on June 26, as part of the 2017 Russell indexes reconstitution.

Annual reconstitution of the Russell indexes captures the 4,000 largest US stocks as of May 12th, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000® Index, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000® Index or small-cap Russell 2000® Index as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. FTSE Russell determines membership for its Russell indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

“We are extremely pleased that MicroVision has been added to the Russell 3000 Index,” said Alexander Tokman, President and CEO of MicroVision. “This inclusion is a nice acknowledgement of the progress we have made in the past several years with our growth strategy, and we look forward to continuing on this path.”

Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for active investment strategies. Approximately $8.4 trillion in assets are benchmarked against Russell’s US indexes. Russell indexes are part of FTSE Russell, a leading global index provider.

Thanks for The Tour

The local 1st Robotics team and I thank you for the tour!!

Somehow, this kind of rocket launch seems appropriate.....

Strict Non-disclosures, Apple's War on Leakers

This is posted because it is an example of the seriousness with which companies take secrecy and non-disclosure agreements. (This post has nothing to do with any possibility that Microvision may or may not be involved with any of Apple's plans.)

During the recent stockholders' meeting, the statement was made that the NDA's for the company's recent development contract are the strictest they have been under yet.

That's a significant reason for me changing the way I am posting information on this blog. Much of the content here was about where Microvision's technology may show up. If the "right answer" were to be stumbled upon -- would another company interpret it as a leak? If so, would that damage the company? (I am an investor, and don't want to do that.)

So, I eagerly anticipate hearing about the next orders for the engines that are entering mass production. I'm keeping the dot-connecting to myself and a few close friends. I have never been more excited about the potential for this company.

I only just noticed that Walt sent this to me yesterday. I saw it first on the Drudge Report. Thanks Walt, and thanks Jason as well. (was off the grid yesterday -- thanks SSBN Louisiana Crew!!)





The Outline -- I strongly encourage people to read this.

A recording of an internal briefing at Apple earlier this month obtained by The Outline sheds new light on how far the most valuable company in the world will go to prevent leaks about new products.

The briefing, titled “Stopping Leakers - Keeping Confidential at Apple,” was led by Director of Global Security David Rice, Director of Worldwide Investigations Lee Freedman, and Jenny Hubbert, who works on the Global Security communications and training team..... 

--- more at the source.

Hokanen in Mems Journal

There's much more at the source. 

Re-posted by Microvision today.

Mems Journal

MEMS Journal: Why did you choose to form a partnership to co-develop your LBS technology with ST Microelectronics and what does the partnership involve?
Jari Honkanen: We formed a close working relationship with STMicroelectronics over the past several years and recognized common interests and complementary skills in the LBS technology arena.  The co-marketing agreement is a framework for us to work collaboratively on sales and marketing of our respective LBS solutions.  We are also exploring the possibility of future technology development including a joint-LBS roadmap.  Bringing our complementary skills together to grow the market for LBS and applications that both companies are focusing on makes good sense, and both companies benefit from the relationship.  We benefit from ST’s expertise in semiconductor technology and its global customer reach, while ST benefits from our proprietary system, LBS engine and applications knowledge, and intellectual property.



MEMS Journal: Let’s switch topics a bit.  There are many companies pursuing LIDAR.  What is your take on this ADAS sensor technology and what are the main trends?

Jari Honkanen: LIDAR is one of the key enabling sensor technologies for ADAS, and eventually for self-driving vehicles, that enable cars to “see.”  In the current prototype systems, a single LIDAR sensor is typically used for long range environmental mapping and modeling.  However, there is an industry debate going on whether camera sensors, radar, or LIDAR is the best technology for this purpose. 

Camera sensors can be used to capture video of the environment and then the ADAS system can utilize computer vision algorithms to make sense of and analyze the environment.  What’s great about camera sensors is that one can distinguish and classify complex objects such as traffic signs or lane markings, as well as pedestrians or animals.  The challenge is that the camera can only see what it can see -- in other words, camera sensors have challenges in low light and bright sun light.  Also the vision algorithms require significant computing power.

When equipped with a radar sensor, the car transmits radio waves and interprets the back reflection.  Radar works great for the detection of large objects and can easily calculate speed and distance.  It also works on all weather and lighting conditions.  However, the challenge with radar is that it cannot distinguish color or differentiate between objects of the same size. 

Finally, LIDAR transmits light pulses and interprets the back reflection from objects.  The major benefit of LIDAR is that it can classify and detect specific objects and calculate distance.  It can also detect things like lane edges and it works during both dark and light conditions.  However, the challenge of LIDAR is that in inclement weather conditions the light can reflect from rain, snow or fog, reducing the sensor’s effectiveness.

These different sensor technologies have their strengths and weaknesses.  Hence, for the foreseeable future, cars will have to rely on a combination of these sensors.  This may also be desired for redundancy and safety.  The car industry can look to the aviation industry when it comes to redundancy and backup systems for safety.

But besides a single long range LIDAR for environment mapping and modeling, we believe that ADAS will have many applications for cost effective mid-range LIDAR systems.  We envision future cars to contain multiple mid-range LIDAR sensors performing a variety of ADAS applications, such as blind spot detection, parking assist, lane assist and departure warnings.
MEMS Journal: How does your LIDAR technology work?  And how does it measure up to other competing alternatives in terms of performance and cost?    

Jari Honkanen: For LIDAR applications we use our scanning MEMS mirror, but instead of visible light laser diodes, we utilize one or several invisible near infrared (IR) laser diodes.  The IR beam is reflected onto the biaxial MEMS scanning mirror that scans the beam in a raster pattern.  Our LIDAR system also contains an IR photodetector that will detect reflections from the scanner IR laser beam.  Since speed of light is constant and we know the time when we emit the specific laser pulse and when we receive the reflection back, we can calculate the distance to the object that the light reflected back from.

When they tell you the "market knows all.."

It does not.

Be in a place where you can benefit from the market's lack of knowledge.

CNBC

What do YOU think the price of Microvision Might get to? (UPDATED Again)

** Updated because of requests/suggestions **

ADDED Expenditures
ADDED TAXES

So if you're holding this stock and wondering where it might go....

Once during the ASM I did this exercise with another shareholder, and asked if I was being reasonable. My own numbers don't really matter. Use your numbers.
There are several variables that factor into it:

• How much do you think Microvision will earn each time PicoP is installed?
• What % of smartphones sold world wide do you think will have it installed (eventually?)
• What do you think the price to earnings ratio of Microvision's stock will be when that happens?

There are other variables that are there that you may wish to tweak:

• The number of Microvision Shares outstanding (set to current number -- if you're worried about more dilution, adjust that number.)
• The total smartphone market last year, 1.4 Billion were sold. If you think it's going to grow or shrink, adjust the number.
• ADDED -- Annual expenditures. Set at 20 Million which is somewhat higher than current expenditures. Additional produced volume will not significantly increase expenditures. (With even minimal optimism, this number gets lost fairly quickly.)
• ADDED TAXES -- Tax rates vary for companies, sometimes wildly. Sometimes they get tax benefits, they pay more some years than others. For purposes of this I put the default tax rate as the AVERAGE of the last several years found here: Microsoft Tax Rate. For the sake of simplicity, I left it at 22%. 

This exercise does NOT consider heads up displays, smart speakers, near eye displays, 3d scanning, self driving cars and robotics. There's more where this came from.

Compare PE ratios with current PE ratios of some tech companies....salesforce, yelp, grubhub, mobile eye, TakeTwo... 

Change any number in a box and click "calculate" and come up with your own.

******************************************************************

What's your price target?
How much do you think Microvision will profit for each PicoP sold?
What % of smartphones sold do you think will use it?
What do you think the PE of the stock will be when this happens?
Static Variables(you can still change)
Microvision Shares Outstanding
Total Smartphone market: 2016
Total Microvision expenditures annual
Effective Tax Rate (%)
* * * * * * * * *
Number of PicoP Installations you expect
Total Earnings Before Taxes you expect
Microvision Earnings After Taxes
Microvision Net Earnings Per Share
Microvision Price Per Share that you expect

At Least Temporary, Possibly Permanent Change

This blog was established as a repository for my own notes about Microvision; a place to store my notes about this company.

Over time, it has become far more public than I ever intended.

I believe that the company, in spite of recent stock price behavior is "out of the woods." 

The first of three standardized products are in mass production, and, as we heard at the stockholders' meeting, there is no shortage of opportunities for MicroVision. 

With standardized products in mass production, and nothing in the way of producing very large quantities of those products, there is little in the way of widespread adoption of the technology. It has significant advantages to competing technology in power-consumption / size / brightness / focus / interactivity. The case for large displays in small packages is so compelling (especially when the display is interactive) that I see little to hold us back at this point.

The changes will be as follows:

1) There will be fewer updates. (I have other things I need to and want to work on.)

2) There will be few if any specific potential customer names mentioned. We all know where to look. 

3) This may change.... 

Fast Follower Profile #1

Among the things demonstrated at the ASM was a mounted interactive projector. It's no secret that it would be for a device like this.

The touch-interactive engine goes into mass production this year and samples are available.

The Chairman of the board, Turner reported during the question and answer period that "everyone wants to work with us."  This is the point where a mass produced generic engine that is easily connected to devices starts making hay.

They can't count orders they don't have yet. "Fast Followers" are part of the consumer electronics landscape, however. 

So, you have to ask yourself some questions:

• Which of these companies wants video functionality in their smart speaker?
• Which of these companies wants to sell quick little smart-speaker ads?
• Which competitors to these companies would put video in their smart speaker to add value ahead of these companies if they could?
• In a situation where there's one quarter lead time to any quantity of engines will there be more orders?

CNN MONEY, SMART SPEAKERS

Amazon Echo  First Appeared November 6, 2014.

Google Home appeared in  2016

Apple HomePod, two and a half years behind, announces their product in June 2017.

Harman Kardon Invoke with Cortana, Scheduled for late 2017 launch.

Fast Followers

These categories and timeline is important.

Things that were talked about in the last ten years -- they come together this year.

... and a lot has been added.

"fast followers."

ASM

Disruptive Technology Is a Thing of Beauty

...it changes the world.

From Korean News

Yes, I will be at the ASM

Projector Rumor Microsoft Surface Phone

It's a rumor, not sure of the source, but there it is.

I don't know how reliable this news is, but given past language from Microsoft about Continuum, I give it a "6"

I have no doubt that OnMSFT is being run responsibly.

onmsft.com

Some Chinese leaks appear to provide some details of Microsoft’s Windows phone successor which could possibly be called the Surface Mobile. The details were first found by Twitter user, h0x0d, who has often been a reliable Microsoft news tipster in the past.
In addition to the new name (previous leaks had suggested the ‘Surface Phone‘ brand), translations of the leaks reveal that the Surface Mobile will support the Surface Pen (like in the mock-up image above), will be powered by a Snapdragon processor, and will have a kickstand (like the Surface Pro and Surface PCs) that opens as far as 185 degrees.

Of particular note is a brand new feature for a Microsoft device called “Onto Table” which appears to be a built-in projector that can display a full desktop via Continuum. The Surface Mobile’s battery is stated as being able to last for up to an hour in this mode. (This could potentially be a wireless projection to another monitor but many are interpreting it as having literal projection capability).

Two new codenames are also dropped: ‘Surface Peking’ and ‘Surface Slavonia’. It’s unclear what these could be but they are mentioned alongside the word “terminal” which suggests they could be some sort of hardware similar to the Microsoft Display Dock used for Continuum functionality. ‘Surface Peking’ can be interpreted as ‘Surface Beijing’ as the names are interchangeable.

The codename ‘Project Andromeda’ is also mentioned however it’s rather ambiguous and could refer to the range of Surface Mobile devices or even the new operating system which is expected to be an evolution of Windows 10 Mobile.

All of this is pure rumor until we hear an official announcement from Microsoft but it definitely is exciting and does make one wonder if this is the exciting new mobile device Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had spoken about.

Digit

Onmsft Main Page

The path to the singularity.

All this computing power is going to need.... 3D scanning, large displays in small packages, (The internet of things -- where tiny devices collect a lot of information,) and near-eye displays.

The display might not be as glamorous as the logic chip, but it's an essential component.

You more reliably make money during the gold rush if you're selling picks, shovels, food and clothing to the miners...

And with STM as a partner on the way, and cooperation with Intel, MVIS is in the right place at the right time.

New Motorola phone, new moto mods

With the small form-factor engine entering mass production, I think it's only a matter of time before PicoP ends up here.



Techlicious

Moto GamePad — Clip on this mod to the back of your Moto Z2 Play to morph it into a handheld gaming console with dual control sticks, D-pad and four action buttons. It comes with a built-in 1,035-mAh battery pack. The Moto GamePad will be available this summer for $79.99.

Pegatron showcases Electronic Car Cockpit

I'll be watching for more news about this. This is interesting....

taipeitimes

Pegatron showcases its new electronic car cockpit

‘REVOLUTION’:The firm spent several years on research and development before creating the cockpit, which integrates navigation systems with heads-up displays

Pegatron Corp (和碩), which assembles electronics from Apple Inc’s iPhones to Sony Corp’s game consoles, yesterday showcased its latest electronic car cockpit that integrates infotainment, instrument clusters and information displays as part of its efforts to expand into the automotive electronics sector.

Automotive is one of the company’s core businesses, in addition to notebooks and Internet of Things applications, Pegatron said, adding that it focuses on enhancing its technological capabilities in the three areas.

“It is becoming a trend for vehicles to be equipped with all-digital cockpits. Almost all functions will be done through displays,” Pegatron chief technology officer Steven Huang (黃中于) told a media briefing yesterday. “This is a revolution for the automotive industry.”

...imagine an IPO...

SNAP is the ticker symbol for SnapChat

They call themselves a "camera company." 

Snap Inc. is a camera company.

We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate.

Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

Most of us probably have encountered them as a company that allows children to take pictures of their parents and make them look stupid -- like this:

They lose a lot of money and seem to have no prospects for making much. 

Their new great invention was a brief flash, and hasn't been heard from since. (Snap Spectacles)

SNAP was trading higher just after its IPO. 

SNAP has retained a market cap of 25 Billion dollars. It seems to have stabilized around this level. 

25 Billion for a company that has a wearable camera that takes 10 second videos, and some filters for pictures you have taken.

**************************

Now, consider a different company.

It not only has technology for these applications, but is beginning mass production on it's tiny projector that makes a portable large display.

• Portable large displays
• Portable large touch screens
• 3D laser scanning Technology (really useful in Robots, self driving cars, and scanning environments for augmented reality applications.)
• Near eye displays for Augmented reality applications
• Projection for heads up displays.

SNAP is over valued here, but is this company worth more than SNAP?

My vote is yes.

Microvision's share price is currently holding at around $2. With a market capitalization equal to that of SNAP, the price will be right around $350.

If you're in, you're in early.

If you're not in yet, you have a fantastic opportunity.