Daily Tech Headlines – October 24, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines – October 24, 2016 | |
| Number | 99 |
| Broadcast Date | OCTOBER 24, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 6:54 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Xiongmai recalls IoT devices that cause denial of service attacks, Samsung confirms Note brand will stay alive. AT&T to acquire Time Warner TV and Movies.
Headlines
- China electronics firm to recall some U.S. products after hacking attack
- Chinese firm admits its hacked DVRs, cameras were behind Friday's massive DDOS attack
- Sunday, Chinese manufacturer Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology disclosed that security vulnerabilities in their products were exploited in the DDoS against Dyn on Friday. The company, which makes parts for things like DVRs and internet connected cameras, says it patched weak security in September 2015 to require users to change the password for devices, but older and unpatched devices are still vulnerable. The company specifically named the Mirai botnet as being responsible, calling it "a huge disaster for the Internet of Things." Xiongmai will recall some of its earlier products and issue patches for older products by April. The main issue was users not changing default passwords.
- Monday Samsung announced customers in South Korea can trade in a Note 7 phone for a Galaxy S7. If they pay half the price of the S7 they can then exchange it for an S8 or Note 8 in 2017. This confirms Samsung's plans to keep the Note brand alive.
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wells Fargo & Co announced Monday that the first cross-border transaction between banks using multiple blockchain applications has taken place. Australian cotton trader Brighann Cotton Marketing bought a shipment of cotton from Brighann Cotton in Texas bound for Qingdao, China. The blockchain trade, for 88 bales, totaled $35,000.
- Saturday, AT&T agreed to acquire Time Warner for $85.4 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2017. AT&T gets Time Warner's extensive content offerings, including HBO, CNN, TNT, and Warner Bros film, though the merger will likely not close until after the launch of AT&T's over-the-top video service, DirecTV Now. Roughly 40% of revenue for the merged companies would come from entertainment. AT&T has seen its subscription TV and phone service stagnate recently, losing 268,000 wireless and 3000 cable subscribers in the quarter.
- Singapore will begin trying out two 12-meter long full-sized driverless buses in the Jurong West region, home of Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The buses will take up to 80 people between NTU and the neighboring CleanTech business Park, a distance of about a mile. A 5 mile round trip to a nearby train station is under consideration. The electric buses will charge at depots and bus stops. NTU and CleanTech Park have hosted a smaller driverless shuttle for about three years.
- Microsoft is the latest tech company to announce price rises in response to the changing value of the Pound sterling. Enterprise software will rise by 13% and cloud service by 22% starting January 1st. Microsoft said it will not change prices on consumer services or current orders under price protection.
- India's ride-hailing service Ola announced Monday it will partner with BMW. Ola drivers will get cheaper credit, after-sales support, and guaranteed buyback on BMW cars. BMW-certified instructors will also train drivers about auto safety systems and technology.
- Starting Wednesday October 26th through November 1st, Pokémon Go will run its first in-game event. Halloween related monsters like Haunter and Zubat will show up more often and players will earn candy at a faster rate with double rewards for transferring pokémon.
- A study published in the journal PeerJ Computer Science described an AI program that predicted the outcome of human rights trials with 70 percent accuracy. The program was trained on data from almost 600 cases from the European Court of Human Rights. The scientists who developed the program say it could be used to identify common patterns in cases, but not to replace human judges. In looking at patterns the researchers found that judgements were more dependent on the facts of the case than legal arguments. It could be used to prioritize case hearings based on likelihood of a violation.
- According to mobile analytics firm App Annie, China surpassed the US in App Store spending for the first time. In Q3, Chinese consumers spent $1.7 billion in Apple's mobile app ecosystem, compared to $1.45 billion in the US. In the report, games accounted for the majority of app revenue in China.
- Bloomberg reports that online brokerage firm TDAmeritrade is in advanced talks to acquire competitor Scottrade for $2.7 billion in cash and stock. Additionally, TDAmeritrade's largest stakeholder, Toronto-Dominion Bank, would acquire Scottrade's banking division for $1.3 billion in cash. As part of the deal, Scottrade co-founder and CEO Rodger Riney would join the board of TDAmeritrade. TDAmeritrade faces declining engagement from traders, with client trades per day down 21% in August year over year, as investors choose more automated or passive financial vehicles.
- During a Reddit AMA, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk provided details to his proposed Martian expeditions. An unmanned Red Dragon capsule would launch in around 2020 to experiment in the Martian atmosphere how to best derive Methane and water for further rocket propellant. The company would then launch an unmanned rocket with the equipment for a propellant plant, to be followed the first crewed mission who would complete it. Following manned flights would double every 26 months as the planets reach their closest orbits. Oh and the colonists will build geodesic carbon fiber domes that will use "mining droids" for industrial applications.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – October 21, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines – October 24, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – October 25, 2016" |