Daily Tech Headlines – October 11, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines – October 11, 2016 | |
| Number | 90 |
| Broadcast Date | OCTOBER 11, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 7:37 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Samsung halts Note 7 production, Facebook brings software to Workplace, Yahoo ends email forwarding.
Headlines
- Samsung announced it will halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7. The move comes after at least five reports of overheating and fires caused by new supposedly-fixed Note 7 replacement devices. Both the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued warnings not to use the new Note 7s due to safety concerns. Owners are urged to turn the phones off and return them to the place of purchase. In a related announcement, Oculus updated its Gear VR app to prevent it from being used on Note 7 models.
- Facebook brought its Facebook at Work service out of private beta Monday, officially naming it Workplace. As previously mentioned, the service offers familiar Facebook features like the News Feed, Groups, Chat, and Live Video. Pricing for the service will be based on monthly active users, not strictly per person. Pricing starts at $3 per active user per month for the first 1,000 users; $2 for the next 1,001-10,000; and $1 for any MAUs above that, with free use for non-profits and educational institutions.
- The AP reports that Yahoo disabled its email forwarding feature at the beginning of October. Yahoo pointed the AP to its Help Page which states the service has been disabled while "under development." Email forwarding is a basic service that has been available from most email providers since the 1990s. Pulling it does have the effect of making it less smooth to switch to a new email provider.
- Android OS designer Cyanogen announced that CEO Kirt McMaster is stepping down to become executive chairman of the company, with COO Lior Tal becoming CEO. The company also announced they are moving away from full stack development of a commercial Cyanogen OS release, and focusing on their new project, Modular OS, which comprise of "dynamic modules and MODs" that OEMs can integrate into their own Android ROMs. It is unclear how this might affect the CyanogenMod open source project which is a separate organization.
- Netgear has a new wireless security camera called Arlo Pro. It's a motion-activated indoor/outdoor camera. The pro now comes with rechargeable batteries and can run for 6 months between charges. It also includes a microphone and speaker. The camera will also be able to identify objects so it can ignore things like cars and pets but send an alert to the app when it sees a person. The Arlo Pro is available today for $250 with an included hub or $190 without.
- The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is developing something called Project Como to create convenience stores where Amazon Fresh customers could buy perishables and pick up orders. While full stores are apparently a year or more away, a drive-up location may open in Seattle within weeks.
- Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told a conference in Menlo Park Monday that the company still sees "a real value" to Yahoo. He added, "we’re still understanding what was going on, to define whether it’s a material impact to the business or not. But the industrial logic of doing this merger still makes a lot of sense.” Many took the comments to mean that Verizon is not walking away from the $4.8 billion deal but might be looking for a change in the price.
- Non-profit military security research company MITRE announced the Unique Identification of IoT Devices Challenge. Competitors must be able to identify devices without changes in IoT protocols or manufacturing processes. Winners can receive up to $50,000. The challenge will start in early November and run for six weeks. Participants can sign up at https://register.mitre.org/challenge_iot/
- Dating app Hinge announced a new app Tuesday emphasizing relationships rather than dating. Profiles will include a timeline of photos and facts to convey more depth. Users will need to like one and only one post or comment in order to request a conversation. The service will cost $7 a month and still use Facebook to match people with friends of friends.
- Samsung unveiled the Exynos 7 Dual7270 chip which is the first 14 nanometer wearable processor with a built-in LTE modem. This will make it possible for more watches and wearables to have their own data connections. The chip uses system-in-package and package-in-package or SiP-ePop, to squeeze in DRAM, NAND flash and power management. It's supposed to be 20 percent more power efficient than the previous 28-nanometer made chips.
- Apple and Samsung make oral arguments before the US Supreme Court Tuesday, regarding a 2012 ruling of patent infringement by Samsung. Samsung is specifically challenging $399 million worth of the $930 judgement for damages, which represented the total profits on 11 smartphone models with infringing design. The 8 judge court will determine if infringement on a design patent entitles the damaged party to total-profits for the device, or only those profits specifically attributable to the design in question. The court last considered the question in the 1885 case Dobson v. Hartford Carpet Co., involving carpet design.
- The World Economic Forum is opening the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a tech policy center in San Francisco and somehow not a Rage Against the Machine album. The center will be staffed by 50-60 people, looking at policy and regulatory implications of issues like artificial intelligence, automated vehicles and blockchain technologies. Staff will include representatives from industry, academia and government.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – October 10, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines – October 11, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – October 12, 2016" |