Welcome to Lowpass! This week: The Trade Desk’s secret smart TV OS project, and Niantic’s latest attempt to map the world in 3D.

Scoop: The Trade Desk is building its own smart TV OS

Digital advertising giant The Trade Desk is getting ready to more directly compete with Roku, Google and Amazon: The company has been secretly building its own smart TV operating system, and aims to license it to device makers that don’t want to run Google TV, Amazon’s Fire TV OS or Roku’s OS, I have been able to confirm with five sources with knowledge of the company’s plans.

Representatives for The Trade Desk did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Work on the project began during the pandemic, and has progressed largely in secret. People working on the project include former senior Roku employees, and at least some team members have been hiding the fact that they are employed by The Trade Desk on LinkedIn. Altogether, The Trade Desk is said to have dozens of people working on the project.