AirBnB Cautious
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| AirBnB Cautious | |
| Number | 3710 |
| Broadcast Date | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 |
| Episode Length | 31:08 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang |
| Guests | Nate Lanxon |
Tech companies are feeling the impact of the coronavirus with Foxconn declaring a “big” production impact, while Airbnb has activated its extenuating circumstances policy to help deal with the issue.
Guest
Quick Hits
- Apple announced it'll be providing special coverage of the 2020 presidential election in the United States starting today, with news and analysis from sources including ABC News, CBS News, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Fox News, NBC News, ProPublica, Reuters, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, USA Today, and others.
- West Virginia Governor Jim Justice plans to sign a bill this week that would require all counties in the state to provide an online ballot marking device for all voters with physical disabilities. West Virginia currently uses the smartphone app Voatz for military and overseas voters, and Secretary of State Mac Warner said he is waiting on a security audit of the app before approving it for further use.
- Both Roku and Fox reached an agreement that lets Roku continue to offer seven Fox Sports channels on its platform in time for the Super Bowl. Last week, Roku had announced its agreement with Fox had expired, and was forced to remove the apps.
- MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory issued a paper describing a cheap antenna and transmitter called Rfocus meant to be used to turn walls or any surface into signal boosters for WiFi. The Rfocus smart surface runs a few cents per antenna and reflect the signal or pass it though. It's meant to help boost signals in homes and warehouses helping low power IoT devices achieve more range.
Top Stories
- TCL announced it will no longer have the rights to design and manufacture Blackberry-branded phones after August 31, 2020. Existing phones will still be supported, and the Blackberry brand is also currently licensed to the OEM BB Merah Putih in Indonesia, and Optiemus Infracom in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. TCL has had rights to the brand in all other regions since December 2016. At CES this year, TCL announced a line of phones under its own branding. Phones are a very small part of BlackBerry's current business which includes Cylance AI-based security, the ATHoc emergency communications system, QNX and BlackBerry Enterprise Server among others.
- Google Photos is testing a “monthly photo prints” subscription program, which will send you 10 automatically-selected prints for $7.99 a month. The 4x6 prints are printed on matte, white cardstock with a 1/8-inch border. Google algorithms will pick which photos to print from everything you've taken in the last 30 days. But you can choose from one of three themes: Mostly People and Pets, Mostly Landscapes, and A Little Bit of Everything. You can also edit selections before they get printed each month. The service is currently invite only.
- Digitial artist Simon Weckert created a virtual traffic jam on Google Maps using a wagon filled with 99 smartphones. Google confirmed to 9to5Google that this dense collection of phones showed Google Maps a high concentration of users moving slowly in a small area, caused the road the artist was on to be marked in red, then routed other drivers around it to avoid the "congestion." According to a Google spokesperson: "We’ve launched the ability to distinguish between cars and motorcycles in several countries including India, Indonesia and Egypt, though we haven’t quite cracked traveling by wagon. We appreciate seeing creative uses of Google Maps like this as it helps us make maps work better over time."
- Apple updated its support page to now offer onsite repair for devices through an Apple Authorized Service Provider called Go Tech Services, offering repairs "at your home or office." MacRumors reports that the service is available in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston, and Dallas. Booking an appointment starts on the Apple website but is rerouted through Go Tech Services' website. It is unclear what repairs are available, with MacRumors able to schedule an iPhone screen replacement, but not a battery swap or other device repair like iMacs. An onsite visit fee may be charged when booking an appointment.
- The rocket launch startup Skyrora reported its first successful stationary ground firings of its 3D-printed rocket engines that used Ecosene, which is kerosene derived from waste plastic. Skyrora says it can create 600 kg (1,300 lbs) of Ecosene from 1,000 kg of plastic resulting in 45% fewer emissions than kerosene, with the benefit of not having to be cryogenically frozen making it easier to store for long periods of time. The rocket will eventually power the final stage of the 72-foot Skyrora XL launch vehicle, designed to deliver multiple payloads to separate orbits ranging up to 500 km.
Discussion
- A Reuters source says Foxconn could see a "big" production impact if its Chinese factory stays shut down for a second week due to the coronavirus. Foxconn halted almost all production until at least Feb. 10 on advice from he government. Foxconn has been using factories in Vietnam, India and Mexico to fill the gap. But a halt beyond Feb. 10 might disrupt shipments to customers like Apple. However, Reuters also reports that Huawei took advantage of a special exemption for critical industries to resume production of goods Monday in the southern City of Guandong. Yangtze Memory Technologies in Wuhan where the Coronavirus outbreak originated has not ceased production at all. TSMC competitor SMIC did not shut down at all either. TSMC says it plans to resume production February 10. As a result of all the uncertainty, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has revised his iPhone shipping estimate for Q1 down by 10% to 36-40 million units.
- Meanwhile, Airbnb advised hosts around the city of Wuhan, China that as a result of the coronavirus outbreak in the area, it has activated its extenuating circumstances policy to let hosts and guests cancel reservations without charge, warning them to pay close attention to the epidemic, but ultimately letting hosts decide whether to accept guests or not in affected regions. Listings in the quarantined city of Wuhan were still listed on the app, with Nate able to book a room with no mention of current health warnings or travel advisories. Meanwhile, Hilton hotels in the city announced shutdowns through February 15th to aid prevention efforts.
Thing of the Day
- The Amateur Traveler wanted to pass along a good universal power supply option for your next trip.
Mailbag
- I just saw my first Bitmoji TV episode this morning. It wasn't a drastic difference from Bitmoji Stories, which I've been following for a while on Snapchat. I did like it though, and it continues to be a good balance of novelty and levity. I think it'll continue to gain steam as the masses tap through short, silly plots starring our favorite social media stars: ourselves. Keep up the great work, gang!
- Sent by Jonathan
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "One Charger to charge them all" |
AirBnB Cautious |
Followed by: "The Iowa App Flap" |