Daily Tech Headlines – June 23, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines – June 23, 2016 | |
| Number | 11 |
| Broadcast Date | JUNE 23, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 8:42 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Google fiber buys its way into apartments, Opera says it’s better on battery than Edge, and a new way to treat superbugs.
Headlines
- Alphabet subsidiary Google Fiber announced Wednesday that it will acquire Webpass, a San Francisco based fiber internet provider. Webpass operates in Miami and Boston, new markets for Google Fiber, as well as in Chicago, San Diego, and San Franscisco, where Google Fiber is already slated to roll out. Webpass focuses on providing fiber to large apartment complexes and businesses. The deal must pass regulatory scrutiny to close.
- After six years in court, Sony agreed to a settlement in a class action lawsuit spurred by removing the ability to install other OS's on the PS3. PS3 software update 3.21, released March 28, 2010, removed the ability to install an OS, usually Linux, alongside its existing firmware. If you bought the Fat PS3 model in the US between Nov. 1, 2006 and April 1, 2010, the settlement will pay $55 if you can show you had Linux installed, and $9 if you swear you bought it for the "other OS" functionality. $2.25 million is set aside for attorney fees. The judge in the case has yet to approve the settlement. It is scheduled for a hearing in Oakland on July 19th.
- Research published in Organic Letters describes a compound found in an Antarctic sea sponge capable of killing 98.4% of the drug-resistant superbug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - better known as MRSA. The US CDC reports 11,000 people die from MRSA complications each year. Researchers have patented the compound but are still studying how it works. Next steps involve synthesizing in a lab for mass production and seeing if it can be used to develop drugs targeting other pathogens.
- Singapore’s InMobi has agreed to pay $950,000 in civil penalties to the US FTC for tracking hundreds of millions of consumers over WiFi without consent. InMobi used BSSIDs of wireless access points to geotarget phone users even if they had not opted in to geotargeting. Thousands of iOS and Android apps used InMobi to deliver ads. InMobi has agreed to delete all information collected from children and all information collected without consent.
- A few days ago BitTorrent announced the spinoff of BitTorrent sync and enterprise services into a new company called Resilio. Today BitTorrent launched BitTorrent Now offering on-demand streaming of videos and music from independent artists. The service will also support VR. The app is available on Android today and coming shortly yo iOS and Apple TV.
- An amendment to a US criminal justice appropriations bill to allow the FBI to access a person’s Internet browsing history, email account data and other electronic communications without a court order in terrorism and spy cases did not get the 60 votes needed in the US senate to pass ending 58 to 38. Reuters notes Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell switched his vote to 'no,' giving himself the opportunity to bring the measure up for consideration again as soon as later this week.
- C-Span had to turn off to turn off cameras when the official US House of Representatives session was recessed while some representatives staged a sit in. So it began rebroadcasting Periscope and Facebook Live streams from participating representatives, some of which were in portrait mode.
- Twilio, the cloud voice, video and text and message communication company for businesses, launched its stock IPO Thursday morning at $15 a share. It opened at $23.99 and climbed from there.
- The Information reports Huawei is employing ex Nokia engineers to develop its own Mobile operating system. Huawei uses Android now, but wants an alternative in case its relationship with Google changes. Huawei is also making changes to its Android skin, EMUI, under the direction of former Apple designer Abigail Brody. The new skin is expected to be revealed in September.
- Wednesday researchers noted that Apple did not encrypt the kernel in iOS10 preview edition. Apple has now confirmed to TechCrunch, “The kernel cache doesn’t contain any user info, and by unencrypting it we’re able to optimize the operating system’s performance without compromising security.” Opening the kernel allows researchers to find flaws faster and could weaken the market for security flaws.
- Xiaomi introduced the Mi QiCycle, a 14.5-kilogram folding electric bicycle for 2,999 yuan. Its motor can assist pedaling for 45 km on a single charge. An app can log distance, speed, location, estimate burned calories and more.
- Earlier this week Microsoft released test results that showed its own Edge browser got the most battery life out of devices. Opera complained Microsoft did not release details of their methodology. So Opera did their own tests and found the Opera developer version ran for 3 hours and 55 minutes with battery saver enabled, 22% longer than Edge and better than Chrome too.
- The Brooklyn Public Library received a $400,000 grant award to install inmate video calling services in twelve libraries. Originally started as a pilot program in 2014, the expanded program will focus on allowing children aged 0-10 "video visits" with incarcerated family in a child friendly environment. This would give families a free alternative to phone calls, which can become onerously expensive due to service contracts between phone providers and the states. Locations for the included branches will be based on incarceration rates and geographic data.
- Instagram will begin offering translations for captions and comments next month. A translation button will appear on feed stories and profile bios. Instagram has not announced what languages the function will work with.
- Microsoft plans to launch its Azure Information Protection Service sometime next month. Microsoft bought Secure Islands in November 2015 and will integrate its data classification and labeling technology into Azure Rights Management Service. The new service will classify, label and protect data at the time of creation or modification via policies.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – June 22, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines – June 23, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – June 24, 2016" |