Daily Tech Headlines – December 9, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines – December 9, 2016 | |
| Number | 132 |
| Broadcast Date | DECEMBER 9, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 5:39 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Samsung disables more Note 7s, Magic Leap’s leap gets longer, Super Mario Run needs a net connection.
Headlines
- Samsung will push an update to remaining US Galaxy Note 7s on December 19th to prevent charging and eliminate the ability to work as mobile devices. Samsung estimates 133,000 Note 7s are unaccounted for in the US. Note 7 owners can still return their phones or exchange them for other Samsung devices. Verizon announced it will not push the update to its customers. IN Europe an update on December 15th will reduce Note 7’s charge ability to 30%. In Canada Note 7s will have all wireless network functions disabled.
- The Information reports Magic Leap’s augmented reality technology is years away from completion. The Information also alleges that much of the product demo released last year was misleading. One of the videos was supposedly created by the Weta Workshop visual effects studio. Magic Leap promises to build its AR into everyday glasses but is having trouble making its fiber scanning display work. Magic Leap has raised $1.4 billion in funding at a $4.5 billion valuation. Alibaba, Google and Andreesen Horowitz are among the investors.
- Nintendo’s Super Mario Run for iOS comes out December 15th and you will need an active Internet connection to play it. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto told Mashable the requirement is meant to prevent piracy.
- Michigan governor Rick Snyder signed four bills into law Friday creating the first comprehensive regulations for autonomous driving in any US state. Vehicle manufacturers will be allowed to operate on-demand networks of self-driving cars. Operators of such networks must take full liability for accidents in which the vehicles was autonomous and at fault. There is some debate over whether Google would qualify as a vehicle manufacturer. Google says the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recognizes it as a manufacturer of record but a Michigan Department of Transportation spokesperson said it sees Google as a manufacturer of automated vehicle technology and could become a motor vehicle manufacturer if it met Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
- Felix Kjellberg aka PewDiePie, the most subscribed creator on YouTube said he would delete his channel Friday in protest over YouTube’s handling of recommended videos and problems with subscribers not getting videos. He followed through and deleted a channel he created in October under the name Jack septiceye2 but not his main PewDiePie channel. In a video revealing this he said it was a joke, played the Sly and the Family Stone song “Why Can’t We Be Friends” and then ended with a graphic promising to delete the PewDiePie channel at 100 million subscribers.
- Nikkei Asian Review reports TSMC announced a new $15.7 billion facility to build chips on 5nm and 3nm processes. Taiwan's minister of science and technology, Yang Hung-duen, told local media the factory may be located in Kaohsiung and could start production as early as 2022. In January, TSMC said it has a plan to push out 7nm chips by 2017 and 5nm by 2020.
- BitCoin hit $774 on the New York-based iBit exchange, its highest point since February 2014. It has climbed almost 80% so far in 2016. One factor is the shortage of cash in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi unexpectedly retired all 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8 in an effort to combat corruption and forgery.
- Apple announced its CarPlay system is now supported in more than 200 vehicles. The list now includes 2017 models from Audi, Honda, Kia, Maserati, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Volkswagen and the 2018 Audi Q5 luxury crossover SUV. Some older models on the list will get support added in a firmware update.
- South Korea’s Electronic Times reports sources tell it Samsung will supply semiconductors to Tesla. The chips would be used in Tesla’s autonomous features.
- NBC News announced that it will shut down the Breaking News alert app at the end of the year. Staff will remain on payroll through January 20th. Senior vice president of digital for NBC Nick Ascheim said the app was not able to generate enough revenue to sustain itself.
- Facebook is now letting users create frames, graphic overlays for photos and videos, representing places and events among other things. The feature seems similar to Snapchat’s geofilters. You can find the instructions to create a Facebook frame at facebook.com/fbcameraeffects/
- Casey Newton at the Verge reports that Thursday morning, the social network Yik Yak laid off 60% of employees. The company is down to 20 people. Growth of the social network stalled as the company pivoted away from anonymity. Yik Yak announced it will continue development of the app, with CEO Tyler Droll saying the layoffs were part of "strategic change" for the company.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – December 8, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines – December 9, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – December 12, 2016" |