Daily Tech Headlines – September 2, 2016

Daily Tech Headlines – September 2, 2016
Number	62
Broadcast Date	SEPTEMBER 2, 2016
Episode Length	9:31
Hosts	Rich Stroffolino

SpaceX blows up, Samsung recalls the Note 7, and Apple abandons abandoned apps.

Headlines

• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just exploded at Cape Canaveral, destroying Facebook’s Internet.org satellite

A Space X Falcon 9 rocket exploded on a launch pad in Cape Canaveral during testing. The rocket was scheduled for a launch on Saturday, Sept. 3. SpaceX confirmed there were no personnel injuries as a result of the blast. SpaceX cleared the pad when it detected an "anomaly originating in the upper stage oxygen tank." The rocket was carrying the Amos-6 communication satellite, which was being leased in part by Facebook and France-based satellite provider Eutelsat to provide internet access to large portions of sub-Saharan Africa as part of the Internet.org initiative. An investigation is ongoing.

• Samsung recalls Galaxy Note 7 worldwide due to exploding battery fears

Early this morning, Samsung announced it has halted sales and issued a worldwide recall of its recently announced Galaxy Note 7. The phone is being recalled because of battery issues, with some users reporting the battery exploded when charging. Samsung confirmed 35 devices have been found so far to have the issue. An unnamed Samsung official speaking to Korean news agency Yonhap advised that effected units account for less than 0.1% of units sold.

• Facebook Pushes Advertisers to Speed Up Their Mobile Sites

The Wall Street Journal reports Facebook is pushing advertisers to speed up their mobile websites. The company offered a slew of suggestions including compressing files, minimizing landing page redirects, and removing render-blocking javascript. Facebook would also start prefetching ad websites, limit where ads appear if they direct users to a slow-loading site and encouraged use of Facebook “mobile-optimized” publishing tools like Canvas and Pages.

• Apple to begin removing abandoned and problematic apps from App Store next week

Apple announced on Thursday that it will begin removed abandoned apps from the company's App Store. The new policy will become effective September 7th. Apple will begin a process to evaluate older apps for issues. Developers will receive notification before any apps are removed from the store, Apple providing 30 days to fix any issues. Apple made an exceptions for apps found to crash on launch, which will be removed immediately. Apps already installed on devices would not be effected even if removed from the App Store.

• Hacker known as Guccifer sentenced to 52 months in prison

US District Judge James C. Cacheris sentenced Romanian hacker Marcel Lazar, aka Guccifer, to 52-months in prison. Lazar pleaded guilty in May to one count of aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to a protected computer. He previously was convicted in a Romanian court in a 2012 hacking case, and has a pending 7 year sentence in the country. Lazar admitted to compromising systems on roughly 100 Americans over a 14-month span, including confidants of former President George W. Bush, Colin Powell, and Hillary Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal, so at least he was non-partisan.

• Why is YouTube being accused of censoring vloggers?

YouTube created a stir of controversy when it sent out emails advising content creators that their video's had been demonetized due to not be "advertiser-friendly". In a statement, YouTube advised that these emails were not the result of a change in policy or enforcement, but a change in how users were notified. The email's also provided a mechanism to appeal the ruling. Previously such flags would be displayed in a channel's analytics page. User's have decried this as de facto censorship from the company, and videos ranging from LGBT History to skincare tutorials received notifications.

• Exclusive: HP Enterprise in talks to sell software unit to Thoma Bravo - sources

Reuters reports that, according to sources, HP Enterprise is in talks to sell its software division to Thoma Bravo LLC. HP hopes to sell the unit for $8-10 billion. Reuter's sources advised that several investment banks and private equity firms have made offers on the unit, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the Carlyle Group LP, and TPG Capital LP. HPE's software unit generated $3.6 billion in net revenue in 2015, down 10% from 2014.

• Bring Your Messenger Conversations to Life with Instant Video

Facebook rolled out a new live video mode to Messenger called Instant Video. When FB Messenger is launched in Android or iOS and a conversation started, the app will offer the option in add live video to chat. Users simply tap the video icon in the upper right hand corner. The video can be turned into a full video call when the person on the receiving end hits the green video icon that shows up.

• How Tech Giants Are Devising Real Ethics for Artificial Intelligence

The New York Times reports that Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft have formed an unnammed industry group to devised ethics for emerging AI systems, according to sources familiar with the matter. The group is trying to create a framework for self-policing within the industry, rather than wait for governmental regulation. The group is in talks to officially announce the organization sometime in September, this may be delayed as Alphabet subsidiary Google DeepMind is looking to be treated as an independent member. Reportedly the group's discussions have centered around the effect of A.I. on jobs, transportation and warfare.

• Baidu and Nvidia to Build Artificial Intelligence Platform for Self-Driving Cars

GPU designer Nvidia and Chinese search engine Baidu announced a partnership to build an artificial intelligence platform for autonomous cars. Baidu recently received approval to test autonomous cars on California public roads. Baidu plans to use the platform to power a fleet of self-driving taxis in China. The platform will be open to encourage adoption by car manufacturers. It is unclear if the platform will use Nvidia's existing AI platform Drive PX as a basis for the new partnership. In June, a senior vice president for Baidu announced at a Wall Street Journal conference that the company plans to mass produce self driving cars within 5 years.

• Ad-blocking browser Brave launches payments, so you can support sites with cash, not ad clicks

In an update to the ad-blocking browser Brave, the company rolled out Brave Payments, allowing users to give online publishers BitCoin micropayments anonymously. The system is opt-in, and users can chose which websites will receive payments in preferences.

• Super Mario Maker is coming to Nintendo 3DS on December 2

Nintendo announced that Mario Maker will be coming to their mobile platform, the 3DS, on December 2nd. Mario Maker allows users to create and share custom side-scrolling Mario levels. The company advised that the 3DS version will be able to play most, but not all, levels designed on the Wii U version of the game. Levels created on the 3DS version cannot be uploaded for online sharing, only via local wireless network connections. Nintendo claims this is because the game is designed for "small community sharing."

• Intel Quietly Launches Apollo Lake SoC: Goldmont CPU, 6 SKUs, 6 & 10 Watts

Intel unveiled the latest generation of its Atom-derived System-on-a-chip, called Apollo Lake, designed to be used in low power laptops. Apollo Lake will use new Goldmont cores made on Intel's 14nm process with an integrated GPU based off of the company's Gen9 design. The SoCs will be marketed under the Intel and Celeron line, available to OEMs by the end of Q3 2016. Apollo Lake will be the only new Atom-derived SoCs from Intel this cycle, as the company previously announced the cancellation of its smartphone focused Broxton and tablet focused Willow Trail platforms.

• Amazon Alexa's new home: Your PC?

CNET reports that Lenovo is in talks with Amazon to bring their Alexa voice assistant to the company's PCs, according to an anonymous Lenovo Executive. Talks are in early stages, and it is unclear if Alexa would replace Microsoft's own voice assistant, Cortana.

• China Opens Antitrust Investigation of Didi-Uber Deal

China’s Ministry of Commerce opened an anti-trust investigation Friday morning into Didi-Chuxing's (Didi Chushing) acquisition of Uber's China business. The ministry has already held two meetings with Didi, and is looking into why the company didn't apply for an anti-trust review before finalizing the deal. At the time of the acquisition, Didi stated that UberChina's revenue didn't meet the threshold to require a review by the Ministry of Commerce.

• Qualcomm announces an ambitious, risky all-in-one VR headset

At the IFA conference in Berlin, Qualcomm unveiled a new Snapdragon VR820 based standalone VR headset. It features eye tracking with 2 cameras, Dual front-facing cameras for inside-out positional tracking and 4 microphones. The headset is a reference design for OEMs.

Links

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Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – September 1, 2016"

Daily Tech Headlines – September 2, 2016

Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – September 5, 2016"