You have the right/To repair/Electronnnnnnnnnics
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| You have the right/To repair/Electronnnnnnnnnics | |
| Number | 3236 |
| Broadcast Date | MARCH 9, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 28:08 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane |
| Guests | Brian Brushwood, Len Peralta |
California has become the 18th state to propose “Right to Repair” legislation. What are the implications and does the consumer really benefit? Plus, Waymo has started a pilot program to test autonomous semi-truck technology in Atlanta, and Twitter is working on way for users to verify themselves.
Guest
Quick Hits
- Qualcomm announced it removed Dr. Paul Jacobs as executive chair of the company, though he will remain on the board. Jacobs' father cofounded Qualcomm in 1985. The board named Jeffrey W. Henderson to serve as an independent and non-executive chair. Broadcom bid for Qualcomm last November but the offer is stalled after being rejected by Qualcomm’s board at least twice, and is now a national security review in the U.S.
- March 10 looks like Mario if you spell it M-A-R-1-ZERO. So, Google is celebrating by letting users of the Google Maps app change their location marker into MarioKart. Just look for the question-block shaped button in the bottom right. The feature is rolling out today and will be available for a week.
- Google Assistant will allow companies to create custom commands when the Assistant is built into their products. So a smart appliance that supports Google’s voice assistant could “start a hypercycle,” even if that’s not a universal command used by similar appliances. Universal commands on Google Assistant already exist, but are limited to what Google's already set up, such as “on,” “off,” and “dim.” Google also updated Assistant Actions to send you notifications on your phone, and has improved media playback abilities.
Top Stories
- Waymo announced a pilot program in Atlanta to continue tests on its autonomous technology with semi trucks, which have added challenges beyond averaged sized cars. Next week, Alphabet-owned Waymo's self-driving trucks will start taking cargo to Google's data centers, though drivers will be in the trucks as a safety measure. Earlier this week, Uber announced its driverless trucks were making freight deliveries in Arizona and Starsky Robotics announced an initial test this week of its remotely driven trucks. Embark has been operating its autonomous trucks since last autumn.
- A report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found phone OS loyalty has remained steady since 2016. Android has a 91% loyalty rate, compared to 86% for iOS, with Android benefitting from a wider selection of devices. Because there are so many more Android users, iOS still gets a larger number of users switching to it than the other way around.
- Reviews are out for Intel's Optane SSD 800P drives that use 3D XPoint (3d CROSS POINT) memory that works faster on some operations. It costs $129 for 58GB or $199 for 118GB. When compared to a budget drive it might do well, but when compared to an equivalently priced hard drive, PC World notes you can find better performance at higher capacity. It's main advantage until the price comes down, is its capacity. PC World suggests it might make sense in a corporate RAID setup.
- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced via a Periscope stream that the company's working to allow users to verify themselves, so that Twitter can take itself out of the selection process. Dorsey said it would free the company from judgement or imply any bias. Twitter verification was originally given out to public figures and celebrities. In 2016, Twitter allowed anyone to request verification, but who received a blue checkmark vs who didn't was a mystery to many users.
- Facebook has added Warner Music Group as a licensing partner, the last major label to sign with the social network. The deals allow labels to collect royalties on tracks that are used in videos and messages; as well as Facebook posts themselves. Facebook also has exclusive streaming rights for 25 weekday major league baseball games this season, starting April 4th with the Phillies and Mets.
Discussion
- California becomes the 18th state to introduce right to repair bill
- Eggman Introduces Legislation to Create a “Right to Repair” for Electronics
Mailbag
- As another counterpoint to your experience, I'm currently on vacation (in Chile) and I have a very specific use case for word lens. Being a diagnosed celiac, I need to be careful of what I eat, but I still enjoy going out to restaurants. So I use this feature to get a general idea of what is being offered on the menu before asking the wait-staff in their broken English (which is MUCH better than my Spanish). That seems to go over far better than "I have no idea, what would you recommend?"
- Sent by John
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "Real Facts About Fake News" |
You have the right/To repair/Electronnnnnnnnnics |
Followed by: "I Got 99 Qualms but Intel Ain’t One" |