Daily Tech Headlines – September 15, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines – September 15, 2016 | |
| Number | 71 |
| Broadcast Date | SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 5:51 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
iPhone 7 Plus sells out before launch day, Pandora launches new paid streaming radio service, NYC shuts down public Web browsing terminals.
Headlines
- Apple won't release first week sales numbers of iPhone 7s but did issue a statement Wednesday night that all iPhone 7 Plus models in all colors are sold out and will not be available in stores on launch day. The smaller iPhone 7 in jet black is also sold out and other colors will be in short supply.
- Pandora announced an anticipated new music service Thursday called Pandora Plus. For $4.99 a month listeners get the option to skip and replay more songs and support for offline listening. The option replaces the Pandora One paid service. Free users will get the option to watch a video ad in exchange for more skips and replays. Pandora also announced an on-demand music service will arrive later this year.
- The CityBridge consortium terminated web browsing on its roughly 400 LinkNYC terminals. The terminals were set up in January in place of phonebooths, and provided free wi-fi, allowing people to place calls, charge gadgets, and use a browser on embedded tablets. The web browsing has led to complaints of people publicly viewing inappropriate, despite CityBridge installing OpenDNS web filtering. The company said it will review content filtering and better time limits on web browsing before restoring browsing.
- Apple has hired Time Warner cable executive Peter Stern as vice president of cloud services, reporting to Eddy Cue. Stern was involved in negotiations between Apple and Time Warner regarding a potential television service.
- The Justice Department has amended Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to allow the FBI to access multiple remote computers under a single warrant. The rules will allow investigation of botnets but do not include safeguards against damage to the networks being investigated. The rules go into effect December 1st unless Congress takes action to block them.
- Automobile sensor maker Mobileye's CTO and co-founder Amnon Shashua told Reuters his company ended its relationship with Tesla because, "it was pushing the envelope in terms of safety." Specifically using the mobileye sensor in the Autopilot system and sending a mixed message about its use. A Tesla spokeswoman told Reuters the company had never described Autopilot as an autonomous technology or self-driving car.
- CNET says it has confirmed that most major OEMs have no plans to release new Android Wear devices by the end of the year, including LG, Huawei and Motorola. LG released the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE (rolls of the tongue) in March, but Huawei and Motorola will now go more than a year between new watch product releases. Asus remains the only major OEM to announce a release for the platform in the 2nd half of 2016, with the Zenwatch 3 scheduled for an October release.
- Sony announced its first Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the poetically named UBP-X1000ES. The box supports full 4K and HDR playback, and can scale 1080p content to 4K. The device is expected to ship in Spring 2017, no price was announced. The company also announced the VPL-VW675ES, a new $15,000 true 4K projector which supports Hybrid Log-Gamma, the forthcoming 4k broadcast standard, a first for a projector. The release is slated for November.
- Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc's chief executive Andrew House said in an interview with Reuters Thursday that is in talks with production companies for TV and movies to be made for PlayStation VR.
- Thursday, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Apple and Google undermine competition in the smartphone app market. Restricting payment methods and preventing virtual currencies from being used between apps may violate Japan's anti-monopoly laws. The report says the situation should be monitored and firm legal measures considered if if the competition regulator judges certain actions to be illegal.
- South Africa owned online payment company PayU has agreed to acquire Indian payment company Citrus Pay for $130 million in cash. The acquisition will give PayU a combined 30 million users in India. The company currently provides digital wallet services in 16 markets. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of Q3.
- Despite a recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, mobile analytics company Apteligent finds that the usage rate of the phone has not changed since the day of the recall. Usage had been growing up until that point.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – September 14, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines – September 15, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – September 16, 2016" |