Daily Tech Headlines – October 13, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines – October 13, 2016 | |
| Number | 92 |
| Broadcast Date | OCTOBER 13, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 7:35 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Samsung offers more refunds, a hack to bring Google Assistant to any phone, and Snapchat eyes an IPO.
Headlines
- Samsung is offering US Note 7 customers an added credit when they return their defective phones. The company already offers a $25 bill credit on all returned devices, but if a consumer exchanges the Note 7 for a Samsung device, they will get a $100 credit. Both credits are in addition to refunding the purchase price. South Korean customers are also being offered a similar financial incentive.
- Google released Sprayscape, a program for its Android Experiments platform that lets the user virtually spray paint the world around them in 360-degrees. But not like you think. You start with a black canvas and the "paint" is not a solid color but instead, whatever the camera is looking at. So you're painting with the actual visible world as your paint. The results can be viewed in Google Cardboard or in a normal browser.
- Verizon told Ars Technica that all operating system and security updates for its version of the Google Pixel phone will come at the same time as Google releases them. Google confirmed the practice, telling Ars "OS updates and monthly security patches will be updated on all Pixel devices (Verizon and non-Verizon versions) simultaneously." Also the Verizon version of the Pixel will be sold carrier unlocked though it will have Go90, My Verizon and Verizon Messages apps preinstalled. All three can be removed.
- The European Union has extended the deadline for Google to respond to antitrust charges regarding search results for online shopping competitors. The response, which had already been extended to be due Thursday will now be due November 7. Google also has deadlines on October 26 to respond to charges of blocking competitors in online search advertising and a deadline of October 31 to respond to allegations of abuse of its dominant position with the Android operating system.
- The New York Times reports Snap, the new name of the company that runs Snapchat, has hired investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in regards to a potential initial public offering of company stock. Snap would be able to file its public offering document to the Securities and Exchange Commission confidentially, as the company currently generates less than $1 billion in annual revenue. It's estimated that the company could IPO as early as Q1 2017. After its latest round of funding, Snap has a private market value of $18 billion, which would make their IPO the largest for a social network company since Twitter in 2013.
- In its latest letter to shareholders, Alibaba noted that its cloud computing revenue grew 156% last quarter to $187 million although it still lost $24 million. Executive chairman Jack Ma said Alibaba hosts more than one third of China's websites. Ma wrote, “Supported by the twin pillars of cloud computing and Big Data, our goal is to empower merchants with the ability to transform and upgrade their businesses for the future.”
- Lifehacker's Eric Ravenscroft has an article showing how anyone can add Google Assistant to an Android phone running Nougat without having to own a Pixel phone. It's an advanced-user-only tweak since making mistakes can brick your phone, but it only involves adding two lines of code. If you have root access, you edit two lines in the build.prop file to say that the model of the phone is Pixel XL and that it is an eligible device. If you don't have root you can flash a .zip file that applies the tweak for you.
- Russian nanoscientist Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli, founder of the Aerospace International Research Center and a UNESCO award winner announced plans Wednesday to create a nation in space called Asgardia. The goal is to open up access to space, foster peace and protect Earth from asteroids and other debris. The plan is to start the nation on a satellite to be launched in 2017. Asgardia.space is the website where you can crowdfund the project and register for Asgardian citizenship.
- Twitter continues to add live streams to its offerings, and will now partner with Australia's Victoria Racing Club (VRC) to broadcast the 2016 Emirates Melbourne Cup on November 1. Peter Wells, host of Daily Tech News Show's Day 6 show says "This race is so big the entire state of Victoria takes a public holiday for it."
- Uber announced it has offered more than a million trips in Nigeria over the two years since it launched there. The millionth trip happened in Lagos in July. Uber operates in many countries on the continent, including South Africa, Kenya and launched Accra, Ghana in June. It plans to move next into a french-speaking West African country but did not say which one.
- Alphabet's DeepMind AI research firm announced it has a developed a computer that “without prior programming, can organize information into connected facts and use those facts to solve problems.” For instance it could figure out relationships between people without being explicitly programmed to. Previously AI like DeepMind's Go champion AlphaGo computer had to be trained in AlphaGo's case by being fed 30 million moves from historical games.
- Australia's Sonder keyboard told 9to5 Mac that it held discussion with Apple related to its dynamic keyboard technology. Sonder’s keyboard uses E Ink technology to offer dynamic, customizable e-ink keys. Sonder added that it is “currently closing B2B procurement contracts with three 3rd party laptop companies" to integrate technology into those companies' products.
- Ebay announced plans to divest the majority of its stake in MercadoLibre, a Latin American ecommerce site. MercadoLibre operates a similar service to Ebay, allowing sellers to setup shops to auction off goods, with integrated payment and shipping divisions. The company generated $651.8 million in net revenue for 2015. Ebay initially acquired a 19.5% stake in the company in October 2001. It is unknown if Ebay has a buyer for the stake.
- A team of scientists at Tsinghua University have discovered a way to induce silkworms to produce thread that's 50-% stronger than silk and when heated to 1050 degrees celsius can conduct electricity. The worms were fed graphene or single-walled carbon nanotubes sprayed over a bed of mulberry leaves. The spray consists of 0.2% graphene or carbon nanotubes by weight, so it's believed it could be easily scaled up. Delicious. Team leader Dr. Yingying Zhang thinks the resulting silk could be used for durable protective fabrics, biodegradable medical implants, and ecofriendly wearable electronics among other things.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – October 12, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines – October 13, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – October 14, 2016" |