Daily Tech Headlines – May 11, 2018
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| Daily Tech Headlines – May 11, 2018 | |
| Number | 500 |
| Broadcast Date | MAY 11, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 4:08 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Google will warn when a bot is calling, Didi Chuxing pauses ride-hitching, Snap comes with another redesign.
Headlines
- Snapchat says a redesign is rolling out to iOS users. Snaps and chats are chronological again and Stories from friends returns to the right side of the app, though they will still be separated. A new subscriptions feed collects Stories from creators and publishers. No word yet on when the update will come to Android. A YouGov survey showed user sentiment toward Snapchat declined 73% in the US among 18-34-year-olds following the previous redesign.
- Google Duplex impressed many people both positively and negatively with its ability to mimic human speech patterns in phone calls with a restaurant and hair salon. Thursday Google clarified that the company is "designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we'll make sure the system is appropriately identified."
- China's Did Chuxing announced Friday it will halt the "ride-hitching" feature of its service for one week following the death of a passenger. Hitch is a car pool service that matches a driver and passengers going the same direction. A male suspect used the Didi account of his father who had passed the verification process and then killed a flight attendant heading from the airport into the city of Zhengzhou.
- South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service is investigating Upbit, the world's fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange. Investigators seized Upbit computers and account sheets to review holdings. Korea has been cracking down on cryptocurrency operators. Four executives from two other cryptocurrency exchanges were arrested last month for charges of embezzlement and fraud.
- Xiaomi announced it is expanding its offerings in the US from accessories and headphone to include the Mi Bedside Lamp, Mi LED Smart Bulb and Mi Smart Plug. Xiaomi has been expanding its markets further into Europe as well.
- Chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios Shawn Layden said on the PlayStation Blogcast that Sony will not have a traditional press conference at E3 this year but instead focus on deep dives into the games Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, and The Last of Us Part II. There will be some announcement on third-party and indie titles as well but no hardware news. Sony's E3 event will take place June 11 at 6 PM Pacific.
- Carnegie Mellon announced what it believes to be the first US undergraduate degree in artificial intelligence, starting this autumn. Students admitted to the Computer Science program can apply to enter the AI degree program during their second year. Many universities offer specialization in AI as part of another degree but Carnegie Mellon will offer a Bachelor of Science in AI.
- Nvidia reported record quarterly revenue up 66% on the year. Datacenter revenue was up 71% though it fell a couple million short of expectations at $703 million. Nvidia says it earned $289 million from the sales of chips in large part due to cryptocurrency miners, but the company expects that revenue to decline by 66% in Q2.
- Australia's government announced that purchases costing more than AU$10,000 can no longer be made with cash after next summer. The government says this is meant to encourage the transition to a digital society and to help stop tax evasion. After July 1st, 2019, payments above $10,000 will need to be made by check or card. $300 million will be allocated to the Black Economy Standing Taskforce to enforce the new rule.
- Facebook announced earlier this week that David Marcus would lead a new blockhain division to “explore how to best leverage blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.”. Now Cheddar's Alex Heath has sources who say Facebook is considering launching a cryptocurrency to facilitate payments on the platform.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – May 10, 2018" |
Daily Tech Headlines – May 11, 2018 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – May 14, 2018" |