Typewise taps $1M to build an offline next word prediction engine

Swiss keyboard startup Typewise has bagged a $1 million seed round to build out a typo-busting, ‘privacy-safe’ next word prediction engine designed to run entirely offline. No cloud connectivity, no data mining risk is the basic idea.

They also intend the tech to work on text inputs made on any device, be it a smartphone or desktop, a wearable, VR — or something weirder that Elon Musk might want to plug into your brain in future.

For now they’ve got a smartphone keyboard app that’s had around 250,000 downloads — with some 65,000 active users at this point.

The seed funding breaks down into $700K from more than a dozen local business angels; and $340K via the Swiss government through a mechanism (called “Innosuisse projects“), akin to a research grant, which is paying for the startup to employ machine learning experts at Zurich’s ETH research university to build out the core AI.

The team soft launched a smartphone keyboard app late last year, which includes some additional tweaks (such as an optional honeycomb layout they tout as more efficient; and the ability to edit next word predictions so the keyboard quickly groks your slang) to get users to start feeding in data to build out their AI.

Their main focus is on developing an offline next word prediction engine which could be licensed for use anywhere users are texting, not just on a mobile device.

“The goal is to develop a world-leading text prediction engine that runs completely on-device,” says co-founder David Eberle. “The smartphone keyboard really is a first use case. It’s great to test and develop our algorithms in a real-life setting with tens of thousands of users. The larger play is to bring word/sentence completion to any application that involves text entry, on mobiles or desktop (or in future also wearables/VR/Brain-Computer Interfaces).

“Currently it’s pretty much only Google working on this (see Gmail’s auto completion feature). Applications such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Telegram, or even SAP, Oracle, Salesforce would want such productivity increase – and at that level privacy/data security matters a lot. Ultimately we envision that every “human-machine interface” is, at least on the text-input level, powered by Typewise.”

You’d be forgiven for thinking all this sounds a bit retro, given the earlier boom in smartphone AI keyboards — such as SwiftKey (now owned by Microsoft).

The founders have also pushed specific elements of their current keyboard app — such as the distinctive honeycomb layout — before, going down a crowdfunding route back in 2015, when they were calling the concept Wrio. But they reckon it’s now time to go all in — hence relaunching the business as Typewise and shooting to build a licensing business for offline next word prediction.

“We’ll use the funds to develop advanced text predictions… first launching it in the keyboard app and then bringing it to the desktop to start building partnerships with relevant software vendors,” says Eberle, noting they’re working on various enhancements to the keyboard app and also plan to spend on marketing to try to hit 1M active users next year.

“We have more ‘innovative stuff’ [incoming] on the UX side as well, e.g. interacting with auto correction (so the user can easily intervene when it does something wrong — in many countries users just turn it off on all keyboards because it gets annoying), gamifying the general typing experience (big opportunity for kids/teenagers, also making them more aware of what and how they type), etc.”

The competitive landscape around smartphone keyboard tech, largely dominated by tech giants, has left room for indie plays, is the thinking. Nor is Typewise the only startup thinking that way (Fleksy has similar ambitions, for one). However gaining traction vs such giants — and over long established typing methods — is the tricky bit.

Android maker Google has ploughed resource into its Gboard AI keyboard — larding it with features. While, on iOS, Apple’s interface for switching to a third party keyboard is infamously frustrating and finicky; the opposite of a seamless experience. Plus the native keyboard offers next word prediction baked in — and Apple has plenty of privacy credit. So why would a user bother switching is the problem there.

Competing for smartphone users’ fingers as an indie certainly isn’t easy. Alternative keyboard layouts and input mechanism are always a very tough sell as they disrupt people’s muscle memory and hit mobile users hard in their comfort and productivity zone. Unless the user is patient and/or stubborn enough to stick with a frustratingly different experience they’ll soon ditch for the keyboard devil they know.  (‘Qwerty’ is an ancient typewriter layout turned typing habit we English speakers just can’t kick.)

Given all that, Typewise’s retooled focus on offline next word prediction to do white label b2b licensing makes more sense — assuming they can pull off the core tech.

And, again, they’re competing at a data disadvantage on that front vs more established tech giant keyboard players, even as they argue that’s also a market opportunity.

“Google and Microsoft (thanks to the acquisition of SwiftKey) have a solid technology in place and have started to offer text predictions outside of the keyboard; many of their competitors, however, will want to embed a proprietary (difficult to build) or independent technology, especially if their value proposition is focused on privacy/confidentiality,” Eberle argues.

“Would Telegram want to use Google’s text predictions? Would SAP want that their clients’ data goes through Microsoft’s prediction algorithms? That’s where we see our right to win: world-class text predictions that run on-device (privacy) and are made in Switzerland (independent environment, no security back doors, etc).”

Early impressions of Typewise’s next word prediction smarts (gleaned by via checking out its iOS app) are pretty low key (ha!). But it’s v1 of the AI — and Eberle talks bullishly of having “world class” developers working on it.

“The collaboration with ETH just started a few weeks ago and thus there are no significant improvements yet visible in the live app,” he tells TechCrunch. “As the collaboration runs until the end of 2021 (with the opportunity of extension) the vast majority of innovation is still to come.”

He also tells us Typewise is working with ETH’s Prof. Thomas Hofmann (chair of the Data Analytic Lab, formerly at Google), as well as having has two PhDs in NLP/ML and one MSc in ML contributing to the effort.

“We get exclusive rights to the [ETH] technology; they don’t hold equity but they get paid by the Swiss government on our behalf,” Eberle also notes. 

Typewise says its smartphone app supports more than 35 languages. But its next word prediction AI can only handle English, German, French, Italian and Spanish at this point. The startup says more are being added.

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Typewise taps $1M to build an offline next word prediction engine

Swiss keyboard startup Typewise has bagged a $1 million seed round to build out a typo-busting, ‘privacy-safe’ next word prediction engine designed to run entirely offline. No cloud connectivity, no data mining risk is the basic idea.

They also intend the tech to work on text inputs made on any device, be it a smartphone or desktop, a wearable, VR — or something weirder that Elon Musk might want to plug into your brain in future.

For now they’ve got a smartphone keyboard app that’s had around 250,000 downloads — with some 65,000 active users at this point.

The seed funding breaks down into $700K from more than a dozen local business angels; and $340K via the Swiss government through a mechanism (called “Innosuisse projects“), akin to a research grant, which is paying for the startup to employ machine learning experts at Zurich’s ETH research university to build out the core AI.

The team soft launched a smartphone keyboard app late last year, which includes some additional tweaks (such as an optional honeycomb layout they tout as more efficient; and the ability to edit next word predictions so the keyboard quickly groks your slang) to get users to start feeding in data to build out their AI.

Their main focus is on developing an offline next word prediction engine which could be licensed for use anywhere users are texting, not just on a mobile device.

“The goal is to develop a world-leading text prediction engine that runs completely on-device,” says co-founder David Eberle. “The smartphone keyboard really is a first use case. It’s great to test and develop our algorithms in a real-life setting with tens of thousands of users. The larger play is to bring word/sentence completion to any application that involves text entry, on mobiles or desktop (or in future also wearables/VR/Brain-Computer Interfaces).

“Currently it’s pretty much only Google working on this (see Gmail’s auto completion feature). Applications such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Telegram, or even SAP, Oracle, Salesforce would want such productivity increase – and at that level privacy/data security matters a lot. Ultimately we envision that every “human-machine interface” is, at least on the text-input level, powered by Typewise.”

You’d be forgiven for thinking all this sounds a bit retro, given the earlier boom in smartphone AI keyboards — such as SwiftKey (now owned by Microsoft).

The founders have also pushed specific elements of their current keyboard app — such as the distinctive honeycomb layout — before, going down a crowdfunding route back in 2015, when they were calling the concept Wrio. But they reckon it’s now time to go all in — hence relaunching the business as Typewise and shooting to build a licensing business for offline next word prediction.

“We’ll use the funds to develop advanced text predictions… first launching it in the keyboard app and then bringing it to the desktop to start building partnerships with relevant software vendors,” says Eberle, noting they’re working on various enhancements to the keyboard app and also plan to spend on marketing to try to hit 1M active users next year.

“We have more ‘innovative stuff’ [incoming] on the UX side as well, e.g. interacting with auto correction (so the user can easily intervene when it does something wrong — in many countries users just turn it off on all keyboards because it gets annoying), gamifying the general typing experience (big opportunity for kids/teenagers, also making them more aware of what and how they type), etc.”

The competitive landscape around smartphone keyboard tech, largely dominated by tech giants, has left room for indie plays, is the thinking. Nor is Typewise the only startup thinking that way (Fleksy has similar ambitions, for one). However gaining traction vs such giants — and over long established typing methods — is the tricky bit.

Android maker Google has ploughed resource into its Gboard AI keyboard — larding it with features. While, on iOS, Apple’s interface for switching to a third party keyboard is infamously frustrating and finicky; the opposite of a seamless experience. Plus the native keyboard offers next word prediction baked in — and Apple has plenty of privacy credit. So why would a user bother switching is the problem there.

Competing for smartphone users’ fingers as an indie certainly isn’t easy. Alternative keyboard layouts and input mechanism are always a very tough sell as they disrupt people’s muscle memory and hit mobile users hard in their comfort and productivity zone. Unless the user is patient and/or stubborn enough to stick with a frustratingly different experience they’ll soon ditch for the keyboard devil they know.  (‘Qwerty’ is an ancient typewriter layout turned typing habit we English speakers just can’t kick.)

Given all that, Typewise’s retooled focus on offline next word prediction to do white label b2b licensing makes more sense — assuming they can pull off the core tech.

And, again, they’re competing at a data disadvantage on that front vs more established tech giant keyboard players, even as they argue that’s also a market opportunity.

“Google and Microsoft (thanks to the acquisition of SwiftKey) have a solid technology in place and have started to offer text predictions outside of the keyboard; many of their competitors, however, will want to embed a proprietary (difficult to build) or independent technology, especially if their value proposition is focused on privacy/confidentiality,” Eberle argues.

“Would Telegram want to use Google’s text predictions? Would SAP want that their clients’ data goes through Microsoft’s prediction algorithms? That’s where we see our right to win: world-class text predictions that run on-device (privacy) and are made in Switzerland (independent environment, no security back doors, etc).”

Early impressions of Typewise’s next word prediction smarts (gleaned by via checking out its iOS app) are pretty low key (ha!). But it’s v1 of the AI — and Eberle talks bullishly of having “world class” developers working on it.

“The collaboration with ETH just started a few weeks ago and thus there are no significant improvements yet visible in the live app,” he tells TechCrunch. “As the collaboration runs until the end of 2021 (with the opportunity of extension) the vast majority of innovation is still to come.”

He also tells us Typewise is working with ETH’s Prof. Thomas Hofmann (chair of the Data Analytic Lab, formerly at Google), as well as having has two PhDs in NLP/ML and one MSc in ML contributing to the effort.

“We get exclusive rights to the [ETH] technology; they don’t hold equity but they get paid by the Swiss government on our behalf,” Eberle also notes. 

Typewise says its smartphone app supports more than 35 languages. But its next word prediction AI can only handle English, German, French, Italian and Spanish at this point. The startup says more are being added.

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Apple digs in heels over its App Store commission structure with release of new study

Apple today is again taking to the press to fight back against claims of anti-competitive practices on its App Store. Last month, the company detailed the results of a commissioned study that showed how Apple wasn’t receiving a cut of revenue on the majority of App Store transactions — $519 billion in commerce. This time, Apple is touting the results of a new study that is meant to demonstrate how Apple’s App Store commission rate is similar to those of other app stores and digital content marketplaces.

The new study also comes from the Analysis Group, the same analyst group Apple used for its most recent study. The fact that Apple has tasked the firm with rolling out a series of reports to argue its case via market data indicates how seriously Apple is taking the antitrust claims.

Today, Apple is facing antitrust investigations in both the U.S and the E.U. Regulators are not only looking at Apple, but also at other top tech companies — including Google, Amazon and Facebook — to determine whether they’ve used their size and power to limit competition. Apple CEO Tim Cook, in fact, is set to testify before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee on Monday, July 27, making the study’s release even more timely, not to mention an obvious attempt at shifting the narrative in Apple’s favor.

The case against the App Store is a complicated one.

The argument for anti-competitive behavior stems from a number of factors: that Apple requires developers to process payments through its payments system, giving it a cut of transactions, as opposed to permitting the use of third-party payment processors; that Apple competes with third-party developers on the same platform while profiting from its rivals’ businesses; that Apple doesn’t allow developers any other means of distribution on its iOS platform besides listing on the App Store, which limits all sorts of apps from publishing; that Apple gives its own first-party apps deeper and more granular access to its operating system’s controls and features; and finally, that the cost of doing business on the App Store — typically, a 70/30 split between Apple and developers — is simply too high for the services provided, and it’s not universally enforced.

This latter point is the one Apple wants to dive into today.

The new study details the commission rate of Apple’s App Store and compares that with other two-sided marketplaces. On the iOS App Store, Apple’s commission rate is 30% for paid apps, in-app purchases of digital content and services, and the first year for in-app subscriptions. It falls to 15% after the first year for subscriptions.

This study points out that most app stores and video game marketplaces have the same commission structure as Apple’s (30%). This includes the Google Play Store, Amazon Appstore, Samsung Galaxy Store, Microsoft Store, plus game marketplaces across Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and Steam platforms (Steam is 30% for sales below $10 million). Some stores drop the 30% commission rate in specific cases — for example, Steam drops it for higher sales; Amazon charges 20% commissions on video streaming subscriptions; Xbox charges 15% for nongame subscriptions, and so on.

Image Credits: Analysis Group

Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite and one of the larger companies arguing against the current App Store model, charges 12%, however. That company has also notably stated its belief that a lower commission can help to fuel developer innovation and increases competition.

Image Credits: Analysis Group

The new study additionally details the commission rates for a wide range of non-app store/game store platforms, including digital content platforms, e-commerce marketplaces and even brick-and-mortar retailers.

Among digital content platforms, the study looks at businesses like Roku, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video Direct, Spotify’s Anchor, Nook, Audible, Patreon and others — many of which are 30% or higher. It points out that e-commerce marketplaces will sometimes exceed the 30% commission rate. This part of the study tracked commissions at 17 large digital marketplaces, including Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, Poshmark, Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Stubhub, Ticketmaster, TaskRabbit and others.

The study even notes that developers can make more money through digital distribution than through brick-and-mortar, which is an odd point of comparison, really.

The report is handy in terms of having all this commission data centralized for easy reference in one place, as often companies hide their commission structure deep in their Help documentation, if they openly publish it at all. But it’s also, broadly speaking, common knowledge — and entirely missing the point. The antitrust issues surrounding Apple’s App Store are not about whether Apple is charging more than other digital marketplaces. It’s about whether that commission structure is hindering competition, given Apple’s size, wealth and power.

Apple could have gotten ahead of this whole problem by simply lowering its commission rate and expanding its existing carve-out for what it calls “reader apps” — those that allow users to access previously purchased content or subscriptions. Today, reader apps include magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, video, access to professional databases, VoIP, cloud storage and other approved services like classroom management apps. This is, for example, how streaming services like Netflix are allowed to distribute an app that doesn’t offer sign-up, only a login.

But instead, Apple is doubling down. That the company is battling over its 30% commission, arguing openly that the commission is both commonplace and fair, is an indication of the growing importance of Apple’s Services businesses to its bottom line.

That business is led by its Digital Content and Services segment, which includes the App Store. In Q2 2020, Apple’s Services revenue hit an all-time high of $13.35 billion, up from $11.45 billion in the same quarter last year. With every quarter, Services grows more critical to Apple’s overall growth as a company, particularly as the smartphone market itself becomes more saturated and newer economic pressures, like the pandemic, dampen iPhone sales.

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Apple starts giving ‘hacker-friendly’ iPhones to top bug hunters

For the past decade Apple has tried to make the iPhone one of the most secure devices on the market. By locking down its software, Apple keeps its two billion iPhone owners safe. But security researchers say that makes it impossible to look under the hood to figure out what happened when things go wrong.

Once the company that claimed its computers don’t get viruses, Apple has in recent years begun to embrace security researchers and hackers in a way it hadn’t before.

Last year at the Black Hat security conference, Apple’s head of security Ivan Krstic told a crowd of security researchers that it would give its most-trusted researchers a “special” iPhone with unprecedented access to the the device’s underbelly, making it easier to find and report security vulnerabilities that Apple can fix in what it called the iOS Security Research Device program.

Starting today, the company will start loaning these special research iPhones to skilled and vetted researchers that meet the program’s eligibility.

These research iPhones will come with specific, custom-built iOS software with features that ordinary iPhones don’t have, like SSH access and a root shell to run custom commands with the highest access to the software, and debugging tools that make it easier for security researchers to run their code and better understand what’s going on under the surface.

Apple told TechCrunch it wants the program to be more of a collaboration rather than shipping out a device and calling it a day. Hackers in the research device program will also have access to extensive documentation and a dedicated forum with Apple engineers to answer questions and get feedback.

These research devices are not new per se, but have never before been made directly available to researchers. Some researchers are known to have sought out these internal, so-called “dev-fused” devices that have found their way onto underground marketplaces to test their exploits. Those out of luck had to rely on “jailbreaking” an ordinary iPhone first to get access to the device’s internals. But these jailbreaks are rarely available for the most recent iPhones, making it more difficult for hackers to know if the vulnerabilities they find can be exploited or have been fixed.

By giving its best hackers effectively an up-to-date and pre-jailbroken iPhone with some of its normal security restrictions removed, Apple wants to make it easier for trusted security researchers and hackers to find vulnerabilities deep inside the software that haven’t been found before.

But as much as these research phones are more open to hackers, Apple said that the devices don’t pose a risk to the security of any other iPhone if they are lost or stolen.

The new program is a huge leap for the company that only a year ago opened its once-private bug bounty program to everyone, a move seen as long overdue and far later than most other tech companies. For a time, some well-known hackers would publish their bug findings online without first alerting Apple — which hackers call a “zero-day” as they give no time for companies to patch — out of frustration with Apple’s once-restrictive bug bounty terms.

Now under its bounty program, Apple asks hackers to privately submit bugs and security issues for its engineers to fix, to help make its iPhones stronger to protect against nation-state attacks and jailbreaks. In return, hackers get paid on a sliding scale based on the severity of their vulnerability.

Apple said the research device program will run parallel to its bug bounty program. Hackers in the program can still file security bug reports with Apple and receive payouts of up to $1 million — and up to a 50% bonus on top of that for the most serious vulnerabilities found in the company’s pre-release software.

The new program shows Apple is less cautious and more embracing of the hacker community than it once was — even if it’s better late than never.

Apple has a plan to make online ads more private

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Apple starts giving ‘hacker-friendly’ iPhones to top bug hunters

For the past decade Apple has tried to make the iPhone one of the most secure devices on the market. By locking down its software, Apple keeps its two billion iPhone owners safe. But security researchers say that makes it impossible to look under the hood to figure out what happened when things go wrong.

Once the company that claimed its computers don’t get viruses, Apple has in recent years begun to embrace security researchers and hackers in a way it hadn’t before.

Last year at the Black Hat security conference, Apple’s head of security Ivan Krstic told a crowd of security researchers that it would give its most-trusted researchers a “special” iPhone with unprecedented access to the the device’s underbelly, making it easier to find and report security vulnerabilities that Apple can fix in what it called the iOS Security Research Device program.

Starting today, the company will start loaning these special research iPhones to skilled and vetted researchers that meet the program’s eligibility.

These research iPhones will come with specific, custom-built iOS software with features that ordinary iPhones don’t have, like SSH access and a root shell to run custom commands with the highest access to the software, and debugging tools that make it easier for security researchers to run their code and better understand what’s going on under the surface.

Apple told TechCrunch it wants the program to be more of a collaboration rather than shipping out a device and calling it a day. Hackers in the research device program will also have access to extensive documentation and a dedicated forum with Apple engineers to answer questions and get feedback.

These research devices are not new per se, but have never before been made directly available to researchers. Some researchers are known to have sought out these internal, so-called “dev-fused” devices that have found their way onto underground marketplaces to test their exploits. Those out of luck had to rely on “jailbreaking” an ordinary iPhone first to get access to the device’s internals. But these jailbreaks are rarely available for the most recent iPhones, making it more difficult for hackers to know if the vulnerabilities they find can be exploited or have been fixed.

By giving its best hackers effectively an up-to-date and pre-jailbroken iPhone with some of its normal security restrictions removed, Apple wants to make it easier for trusted security researchers and hackers to find vulnerabilities deep inside the software that haven’t been found before.

But as much as these research phones are more open to hackers, Apple said that the devices don’t pose a risk to the security of any other iPhone if they are lost or stolen.

The new program is a huge leap for the company that only a year ago opened its once-private bug bounty program to everyone, a move seen as long overdue and far later than most other tech companies. For a time, some well-known hackers would publish their bug findings online without first alerting Apple — which hackers call a “zero-day” as they give no time for companies to patch — out of frustration with Apple’s once-restrictive bug bounty terms.

Now under its bounty program, Apple asks hackers to privately submit bugs and security issues for its engineers to fix, to help make its iPhones stronger to protect against nation-state attacks and jailbreaks. In return, hackers get paid on a sliding scale based on the severity of their vulnerability.

Apple said the research device program will run parallel to its bug bounty program. Hackers in the program can still file security bug reports with Apple and receive payouts of up to $1 million — and up to a 50% bonus on top of that for the most serious vulnerabilities found in the company’s pre-release software.

The new program shows Apple is less cautious and more embracing of the hacker community than it once was — even if it’s better late than never.

Apple has a plan to make online ads more private

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Adding an external GPU to your Mac is probably a better upgrade option than getting a new one

Apple recently announced that they would be transition their Mac line from Intel processors to their own, ARM-based Apple Silicon. That process is meant to begin with hardware to be announced later this year, and last two years according to Apple’s stated expectations, and while new Intel-powered Macs will be released and sold leading up to that time, it does mean that the writing is on the wall for Intel-based Apple hardware. Existing Macs with Intel chips will still be useful long after the transition is complete, however, and software porting means they might even support more of your existing favorite applications for the foreseeable future, which is why adding an external GPU (eGPU) likely makes more sense now than ever.

Apple added support for eGPUs a few years ago, made possible by the addition of Thunderbolt 3 ports on Macs. These have very high throughput, making it possible for a GPU in an internal enclosure to offer almost a much graphics processing capability as one connected internally. But while Apple has directly sold a few eGPUs, and natively supports AMD graphics cards without any special driver gymnastics required, it’s still mostly a niche category. But for anybody looking to extend the life of their existing Mac for a few more years to wait and see how the Apple Silicon transition shakes out, updates from Apple and key software partners make an eGPU a great choice.

Here are a couple of Thunderbolt 3 eGPU enclosure options out there for those considering this upgrade path, and the relative merits of each. Keep in mind that for each of these, the pricing is for the enclosure alone – you’ll have to add your own eGPU to make it work, but the good news is that you can continually upgrade and replace these graphics cards to give your Mac even more of a boost as graphics tech improves.

Razer Core X Chroma ($399)

The Razer Core X Chroma is Razer’s top of the line GPU enclosure, and it supports full-sized PCIe graphics cards up to three slots wide, up to a maximum of 500 watts. The integrated power supply provides 700w of power, which enables 100w output for charging any connected laptop, and on the back of the eGPU you’ll find four extra high-speed USB ports, as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port for networking. The Chroma version also comes with tunable LED lighting for additional user customization options. Razer provided me with a Core X Chrome, an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti for the purposes of testing across both Mac and PC systems.

This isn’t the smallest enclosure out there, but that’s in part because it supports 3-slot cards, which is over and above a lot of the competition. It’s also relatively short and long, making it a great option to tuck away under a desk, or potentially even held in an under-desk mount (with enough clearance for the fan exhaust to work properly). It’s quiet in operation, and only really makes any audible noise when the GPU held within is actually working for compatible software.

Most of my testing focused on using the Razer Core X Chroma with a Mac, and for that use you’ll need to stick with AMD’s GPUs, since Apple doesn’t natively support Nvidia graphics cards in macOS. The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is a beast, however, and delivers plenty of horsepower for improving activities like photo and video editing, as well as giving you additional display output options and just generally providing additional resources for the system to take advantage of.

Thanks to Adobe’s work on adding eGPU support to its Lightroom, Photoshop and Premiere products, you can get a lot of improvement in overall rendering and output in all those applications, particularly if you’re on a Mac that only has an integrated GPU. Likewise with Apple’s own applications, including Final Cut Pro X.

In my experience, using the eGPU greatly improved the export function of both Adobe and Apple’s pro video editing software, cutting export times by at least half. And working in Lightroom was in general much faster and more responsive, with significantly reduced rendering times for thumbnails and previews, which ordinarily take quite a while on my 2018 Mac mini.

Apple also uses eGPUs to accelerate the performance of any apps that use Metal, OpenGL and OpenCL, which is why you may notice a subtle general improvement in system performance when you plug one in. It’s hard to quantify this effect, but overall system performance felt less sluggish and more responsive, especially when running a large number of apps simultaneously.

The Razer Core X Chrome’s extra expansion slots, quiet operation and max power delivery all make it the top choice if you’re looking for an enclosure to handle everything you need, and it can provide big bumps both to Macs and Windows PCs alike – and both interchangeably, if you happen to use both platforms.

Akitio Node Titan ($329)

If you’re looking to spend a little less money, and get an enclosure that’s a bit more barebones but that still offers excellent performance, check out the Akitio Node Titan. Enclosure maker Akitio was acquired by OWC, a popular Mac peripheral maker and seller that has provided third-party RAM, docks, drives and more for decades. The Node Titan is their high-end eGPU enclosure.

The case for the Node Titan is a bit smaller than that of the Razer Core X, and is finished in a space gray-like color that will match Apple’s Mac notebooks more closely. The trade-off for the smaller size is that it only supports 2-slot graphics cards, but it also features an integrated pop-out handle that makes it much more convenient, combined with its lighter, more compact design, for taking with you place to place.

Akitio’s Node Titan packs in a 650w power supply, which is good for high-consumption graphics cards, but it also means that another compromise for this case vs. the Core X Chrome is that the Titan supplies only 85w output to any connected laptops. That’s under the 96W required for full-speed charging on the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro, though it’s still enough to keep your notebook powered up and provide full-speed charging to the rest of Apple’s Mac notebook lineup.

The Node Titan also provides only one port on the enclosure itself – a Thunderbolt output for connecting to your computer. Graphics cards you use with it will offer their own display connections, however, for attaching external displays.

In terms of performance, the Akitio Node Titan offers the same potential gains with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT for your Mac (and both AMD and Nvidia cards for PCs) when connected, since the GPU specs are what matter most when working with an enclosure. It operates a little more noisily, especially in terms of making a quiet, but still detectable constant hum even when the GPU is not being taxed.

The Node Titan is still an excellent choice, however, and potentially a better one for those looking for more portability and a bit more affordability at the expense of max notebook power output and a host of handy port expansions.

Bottom line

Back when more Macs had the option for user-expandable RAM, that was a great way to squeeze a little more life out of external machines and make a slowing machine feel much faster. Now, only a few Macs in Apple’s lineup make it easy or even possible to upgrade your memory. Adding an eGPU can have a similar effect, especially if you spend a lot of time in creative editing apps, including Adobe’s suite, Apple’s Pro apps, or various other third-party apps including DaVinci Resolve.

The total price of an eGPU setup, including card, can approach or even match the price of a new Mac, but even less expensive cards offer significant benefit, and you can always swap that out later depending on your needs. It is important to note that the future of eGPU support on Apple Silicon Macs isn’t certain, even though Apple has said they’ll support Thunderbolt. Still, an eGPU can stave off the need for an upgrade for years, making it easier to wait and watch to see what the process transition really means for Mac users.

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VPN providers rethink Hong Kong servers after China’s security law

In recent decades, Hong Kong has been considered a haven for data centers given its strategic location in Asia, a legal system trusted by international businesses and reliable internet connectivity. Many virtual private network (VPN) operators keep servers in the city, serving mainland users who want to conceal their internet activity or access websites blocked by the Chinese authority.

But some VPN providers are reevaluating the risks of keeping their servers in Hong Kong upon the enactment of the national security law, which critics warn could compromise user privacy and have a chilling effect on free speech. Under the new legal framework, internet service providers will be required to turn over user data to the authorities.

VPN services are gaining ground globally as they claim to provide better privacy from users’ internet providers and sites visited, although they could be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured.

In response to the new security rules, TunnelBear, a Toronto-based VPN service acquired by McAfee in 2018, announced it will remove all of its Hong Kong servers “to ensure the safety” of its users.

The company stressed that it does not store any personally identifiable information on its servers, so the decision to remove Hong Kong from its server list is to “protect our configuration keys” and “monitor the reach of the new security law on technical ecosystems in Hong Kong.”

The tech industry comes to grips with Hong Kong’s national security law

Other popular VPN services we contacted said they will keep their servers in Hong Kong for now. ProtonVPN, operated by the same Swiss company that owns ProtonMail, said although it’s not removing its Hong Kong-based servers, it has changed the designation of the region to a high-risk jurisdiction, giving it the extra layer of privacy protection as countries like Russia, Turkey and Vietnam.

“Our use of full disk encryption and a strict no-logs policy greatly limits the potential risk to activists and dissidents if the Chinese government were to move against our servers in Hong Kong,” Proton’s spokesperson Edward Shone told TechCrunch, adding that users who connect to Hong Kong are advised to activate a special feature that makes it “far more difficult” to locate their true IP address.

Panama-headquartered NordVPN will also keep its servers in Hong Kong. “All of our servers are either diskless or encrypted, so even a physical takeover wouldn’t compromise our users’ privacy,” said NordVPN spokesperson Laura Tyrell. The company observed a huge spike in inquiries for its service in Hong Kong — by a factor of 120 times — shortly after China announced the upcoming law in May. It has since added more servers in the surrounding regions, including Hong Kong, to “keep up with the velocities.”

A spokesperson for ExpressVPN, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, told TechCrunch it currently doesn’t have plans to remove Hong Kong as a server location option for users because its “VPN servers are already specifically architected not to contain personal or sensitive data on customers.”

Its proprietary technology ensures servers run only on volatile memory (RAM), not on hard drives. “As a result, no data, including certificates or credentials, can persist after a system is powered down, whether because it is rebooted or physically removed from a data center,” added the spokesperson.

But all the VPN companies we contacted said they are closely monitoring the impact and enforcement bodies of Hong Kong’s new security law and will react accordingly to safeguard user interests.

Apple removal?

The VPN providers we spoke to are still accessible in Hong Kong, but it’s not inconceivable to see app stores start removing VPNs from the city under the new legal framework, as Apple did during a crackdown back in 2017 to comply with Chinese regulations that illegalized VPNs without official approval.

As Shames Abdelwahab, the spokesperson for TunnelBear, observed: “We can speak to the fact that distribution is often hit first as the first stage of cyber censorship.”

“We are, of course, concerned about users’ ability to access privacy and security services like VPNs, and we have experienced our app being removed from app stores in countries like China,” said the ExpressVPN spokesperson.

Apple, whose business heavily depends on China, has drawn a barrage of criticism in recent years for accommodating Beijing’s censorship demands. Besides banning VPNs, it has also restricted Chinese and foreign podcasts. Chinese users can still retrieve these apps by switching to a different regional app store, but the registration process is cumbersome, as it usually requires a foreign address, phone number and credit card.

Apple cannot be immediately reached for comment on the story.

Proton’s Shone echoed the concern over an Apple ban: “Our worry is that the Hong Kong authorities will begin demanding the removal of news apps, communications apps and VPNs and Apple will obey to maintain market access to mainland China. Tim Cook and others are due to give evidence on Capitol Hill later this month as part of an antitrust investigation into big tech.”

“We sincerely hope that this issue of censorship will form part of the questioning,” he said.

The article was updated on July 16, 2020 to clarify that ExpressVPN is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

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