Daily Tech Headlines – June 18, 2018
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| Daily Tech Headlines – June 18, 2018 | |
| Number | 526 |
| Broadcast Date | JUNE 18, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 3:46 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Microsoft buys the snapchat of education, new ARM-based supercomputer from HPE and Apple heads to the Supreme court.
Headlines
- Microsoft has acquired Flipgrid which makers a social education app that uses video to make collaborative lesson plans. Microsoft VP Eran Megiddo, said Flipgrid will continue to work across the Microsoft, Google and partner ecosystems.
- The US Supreme Court says it will hear Apple's appeal against a ruling that it breaks antitrust laws with its app store. A class action lawsuit says Apple monopolizes the sale of apps leading to inflated prices. Apple says the plaintiffs do not have legal standing to bring the case. A 1977 Supreme Court case limits damages for anti-competitive cases to those directly overcharged rather than indirect victims. Developers set prices for apps in the app store. One court threw out the case but on appeal a higher court said Apple sells the apps directly to consumers on behalf of the developers.
- Google will invest $550 million in China's second largest ecommerce company, JD.com. Tencent and Walmart are also investors in JD. Google says it wants to "accelerate how retail ecosystems deliver consumer experiences" on a global scale as well as across the rapidly growing Southeast Asian online sector."
- Huawei handset president Kevin Ho says the company has shipped six million P20 phons since it was announced in March. Ho says hat's an 81 percent rise over the P10. That breaks down into a 63% rise in China and a 150 percent rise elsewhere.
- GeekWire noticed that Amazon has discontinued the Mayday button on its Fire Tablets. Mayday was a service first introduced with the Fire phone that lets users reach a human for face-to-face support with one tap. Fire Tablet owners will continue to have access to support via phone, chat, and e-mail and screensharing with support staff will remain functional.
- Apple announced that iOS 12 will automatically share your location with first responders during 911 calls in the US if the call center supports it. Apple says it should exceed the FCC's 2021 requirement of pinpointing your location within 165 feet a minimum 80 percent of the time. Location info will only be shared with the 911 center.
- Huawei sent an open letter to Australia's government disputing accusations of security risks. Australia may ban Huawei from being involved in 5G infrastructure rollout in the country. Huawei said the concerns were not based on facts and that it has 5G investments in Britain, Canada and New Zealand where the governments have evaluated the company's technology for security.
- HPE's ARM-based supercomputer Astra is being adopted by the Sandia National Laboratory as an experimental platform for nuclear research. Astra uses Cavium ThunderX2 ARM processors that all have access to pooled memory making it more power efficient with 33% faster memory speeds than x86 CPUs. It's not the fastest Supercomputer in existence but is great to applications sensitive to bandwidth and slow down because of cache on other systems.
- Blockchain entrepreneur Justin Sun has acquired BitTorrent parent company Rainberry Inc. Sun has developed the TRX cryptocurrency. Sun's Tron Foundation wants to build what it calls a “decentralized internet."
Links
| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – June 15, 2018" |
Daily Tech Headlines – June 18, 2018 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – June 19, 2018" |