Amazon Developing Wireless Earbuds with Alexa
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| Amazon Developing Wireless Earbuds with Alexa | |
| Number | 804 |
| Broadcast Date | APRIL 5, 2019 |
| Episode Length | 5:15 |
| Hosts | Rich Stroffolino |
Amazon is working on an AirPod competitor, the EU is investigating Valve and other publishers for geo-blocking games, and Google shuts down its external AI ethics board.
Headlines
- Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Amazon is preparing to launch a pair of wireless earbuds with Alexa integration in the second half of 2019, according to sources. The device will reportedly look similar to Apple's AirPods, include gesture controls for answering calls and changing tracks, and include a USB charging case, with current test units coming in black and grey.
- The European Commission sent “Statements of Objections” to Valve, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax, issuing a preliminary view that bi-lateral agreements that prevent users from buying and using PC games outside of their country of residence goes against EU antitrust rules. This would infringe on the EU's Article 101, as it denies European consumers the benefits of the EU's Digital Single Market, as this geo-blocking prevents crossborder sales in some EU member countries. If sufficient evidence of infringement is found, the European Commission can ban the behavior, and issue fines up to 10% of the publisher's annual worldwide turnover.
- Snapchat announced Snap Game, a platform for users to play real-time multiplayer games, supported by six-second unstoppable ads. Snap also launched an AR platform called Scan with partnerships from Photomath and Giphy. And App Stories will let developers insert Snapchat stories into their own apps, with Tinder and Houseparty two of the first to do so. Snapchat also unveiled a new slate of 10 original series.
- WhatsApp for business customers launched on iOS after previously being Android-only. According to Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business has been adopted by millions of businesses worldwide since its debut.
- Microsoft is making changes in how it will roll out its May update to Windows 10 codenamed 19H1, in order to avoid the problems it had with its October update. First a release preview will come out next week with a month for testing. Also, the choice between monthly updates and twice yearly feature updates will be made clearer, and users will be able to choose monthly updates that do not include feature updates, at least until that version of Windows reaches end of life (which is 18 months). Users will now also be able to delay monthly updates for up to 5 weeks. Microsoft will also adjust Active Hours, the time when it won't push updates, based on your usage. A new dashboard will make it easier to see what else you need to update, like drivers, in order to get everything working. And Microsoft will use Machine Learning to help identify important bug reports, including reports on Twitter and Reddit.
- In preliminary Q1 earnings, Samsung reported operating income of 6.2 trillion won (roughly $5.5 billion), a decrease of 60% on the year, the biggest decline since Q3 2014 and below analyst estimates of 6.93 trillion won. Samsung issued a warning last month that income would come short, due to decreases in DRAM and NAND memory prices as a result of slowing sales to Amazon Web Services and Apple. Full net income and division performance will be available in Samsung's full earnings report later in April.
- Tesla delivered 63,000 cars last quarter, down 31% from the previous quarter. ReCode's Rani Molla points out that while Tesla sells a lot fewer cars than Toyota or Ford, Tesla's Model 3 was the best selling luxury car last year according to Car and Driver. The Model 3 sold 138,000 cars. Number 2 was the Lexus RX at 112,000. But Tesla likes to talk about the Model 3 as a mass market car, and Elon Musk has predicted demand for 500,000 Model 3s in 2019.
- 9to5Google reports Google has sent music artists an email letting them know it will shut down the Google Play Artist Hub on April 30. Artists will need to publish songs with a YouTube partner like CDBaby or TuneCore in order to stay in the streaming service as Google transitions Google Play Music to YouTube Music.
- Google announced the dissolution of its AI ethics board , the Advanced Technology External Advisory Council, which was just announced on March 26th. The move comes after thousands of Google employees signed a petition to remove board member Kay Coles James, and the resignation of board member Alessandro Acquisti. In an update to the blog post announcing the Council, Google stated it "will find different ways of getting outside opinions on these topics."
- AI researcher Ian Goodfellow updated his LinkedIn profile showing that he joined Apple as the director of machine learning in the Special Projects Group. Goodfellow previous worked at Google and OpenAI, where he invented the generative adversarial network (or GAN) type of AI system. He joins the former head of Google's AI division, John Giannandrea who went to Apple last April.
- Tiny phone fans, rejoice. Verizon announced you can now purchase the 3.3-inch Palm Phone as a primary device, available on sale for $199. Previously the device was only available as a companion to a primary device, requiring a separate data plan. However, existing Palm companion devices cannot be used as a primary device, only new phones going forward. Palm also issued an update to the device to improve battery life and camera performance.
Links
| Preceded by: "Apple Cuts HomePod Price" |
Amazon Developing Wireless Earbuds with Alexa |
Followed by: "Week in Review for the Week of 4/1/19" |