Daily Tech Headlines – January 19, 2018
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| Daily Tech Headlines – January 19, 2018 | |
| Number | 420 |
| Broadcast Date | JANUARY 19, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 4:04 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Softbank invests in Uber, Google fixes cast WiFi issues, Cape Town maps water savers to combat drought.
Headlines
- Amazon is raising the monthly US price for Amazon Prime from $10.99 to $12.99. That ends up being $156 a year up from $132. Customers can still choose to pay for a year at a time at $99.
- Researchers at Lookout and the EFF spotted a server taking in hundreds of gigabytes of data from infected Android phones and Windows machines. The operation is being called Dark Caracal and affects thousands of users in more than 21 countries. The server has been traced to a building belonging to Lebanese intelligence. Users are fooled into installing malware or typing in passwords by phishing messages sent over Facebook and WhatsApp. The malware looks convincingly like WhatsApp or Signal. It can take photos from the phone's camera, lift text messages, pull location data, and record audio.
- The US SEC wants answers to 31 detailed questions before approving mutual funds and exchange-traded funds based on Bitcoin. The questions address multiple investor protection issues. Most of the proposed funds would not hold bitcoin directly but be based on existing bitcoin futures trading.
- A patent filed by LG with the World Intellectual Property Organization describes a “mobile phone with a flexible display which can be folded in half.” Two designs show alternate ways of displaying information on the "cover" when the phone is folded.
- Twitch released new "Video Producer" tools Thursday that let creators schedule pre-recorded content to premiere with a countdown timer and live chat while it plays. Creators can also schedule reruns, which unlike on-demand versions will have its own live chat rather than replaying it from a previous broadcast. Twitch also announced a multiyear partnership with Disney Digital Networks for exclusive content from Jacksepticeye, LuzuGames, Markiplier, and Strawburry17—who have more than 44 million YouTube subscribers combined.
- Google has reached a patent licensing agreement with Tencent covering a broad range of products. Tencent makes the WeChat messaging and payments app in China.
- Uber's $8.8B deal with SoftBank has closed. meaning, Softbank is now Uber's biggest shareholder. Rajeev Misra who's a board director for SoftBank and now an Uber board member—told the Financial Times that Uber would have a faster path to profitibility if it returned to its core markets in the US, Europe, Latin America and Australia.
- Google has released a patch for Google Play Services that should resolve problems on WiFi networks when Android and Cast-enabled devices like Chromecast co-exist. The APK is available for download though it will be rolled out to all devices automatically.
- For the first time in 23 quarters IBM reported a rise in revenue year over year. Revenue rose 3.6% led by a 30% jump from its cloud business. A higher tax rate is expected to affect profits. IBM forecast a 2018 operating tax rate of 16 percent, plus or minus 2 percentage points, compared with a rate of 12 percent in 2017.
- As Cape Town South Africa suffers the third year of the worst drought on record, the city has launched an online water map revealing water usage for individual properties. Locations staying under the 50 liters per day limit have a green dot. Properties over the limit are not marked by a dot. The intention is not to shame overuse but encourage people to gain the green dot.
Links
| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – January 18, 2018" |
Daily Tech Headlines – January 19, 2018 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – January 22, 2018" |