Daily Tech Headlines Part 1 – October 4, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines Part 1 – October 4, 2016 | |
| Number | 84 |
| Broadcast Date | OCTOBER 4, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 5:27 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
WhatsApp gets more Snapchat Like, Signal gets subpoenaed and Microsoft disbands the Band.
Headlines
- WhatsApp joined the club of apps adding Snapchat-like features with the ability to draw on pictures, add emojis and the ability to use the flash on a front-facing camera. The new photo editing features rolled out to Android Monday and are expected to come to iOS soon.
- ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft removed all references to its Band fitness wearable from its online store. This includes not just retail mentions, but also the Band SDK for developers. In a statement, Microsoft said they had sold through their current Band 2 inventory, and has no plans to release a new device this year. ZDNet previously reported that Microsoft dis"banded" (get it) the software team trying to bring Windows 10 to the Band 2.
- Xiaomi released it's android-powered Mi Box in the US for $69. It supports Google Cast and plays back 4K content at 60fps as well as HDR. It's available at Mi.com and Wal-Mart stores.
- Amazon changed its Community Guidelines, officially forbidding reviews from customers who were given a free or discounted product. Paid reviews have always been forbidden on the site, but businesses have been allowed to give products to consumers in exchange for a review, as long as the discount was acknowledged in the review. A recent ReviewMeta study of 7 million Amazon reviews found incentivized reviews added .38 "stars" to a review, raising the average from the 54th to the 94th percentile, and were 12 times less likely to give a 1-star review. The exception to the new rules are Amazon Vine reviewers, who the company selects based on prior reviews rated useful by other users and is administered by Amazon rather than manufacturers.
- Apple Pay launched in Russia today, for Sberbank and Mastercard users. The launch marks the 10th country where Apple offers the payment service. Apple Pay launched in 2014.
- Reuters reports that documents unsealed last week show Open Whisper Systems received a subpoena earlier this year, requesting email addresses, history logs, browser cookie data and other information associated with two phone numbers of Signal messaging app users. The request was part of a grand jury probe in Virginia. The documents show Signal was only able to supply the duration of a user's membership. Open Whisper Systems security expert Moxie Marlinspike said it is the first subpoena the company has received.
- Facebook finished rolling out an end-to-end encryption option for its Messenger service Tuesday. The option, called "secret conversations" is activated by clicking on a user's name in any chat. Messages sent in Secret Conversations can be set to self-destruct after anywhere between 5 seconds to 24 hours. GIFs and videos can't be sent but still images and stickers can. Conversations are only available on a single device.
- Salesforce agreed to acquire marketing data and analytics startup Krux for $700 million. Krux previously had a partnership with Salesforce to mine customer data for better targeting. Salesforce will use the acquisition to bolster its AI efforts according to product head Alex Dayon. Krux's "marketing cloud" uses AI to identify audience segments for highly targeted marketing. The deal will reportedly consist of an even split between cash and stocks.
- Ultimate Ears has developed a feature called PartyUp for its app that can connect more than 50 Bluetooth speakers together to all play the same audio at once. Engineers at the company say they were able to use PartyUp to get 140 speakers to sync up. PartyUp is available for UE's iOS and Android apps for users of the Boom, Boom2 and Megaboom Bluetooth speakers. The free update also makes pairing go faster.
- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday that the group plans to publish one million documents related to the US election and starting in the next few weeks. Assange said the leaks will affect, "three powerful organizations in three different states as well as the US election process." The material allegedly focuses on war, oil, surveillance and Google. Assange has lived in in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for four years, combatting a possible extradition to Sweden.
Links
| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – October 3, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines Part 1 – October 4, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines Part 2 – October 4, 2016" |