Tech News Weekly (Video LO)

The Senate voted to roll back Obama-era FCC rules that prevent internet service providers, like Verizon and Comcast, from selling our private, demographic data without asking permission first. Critics of the broadband privacy rules that Congress passed in the waning months of the Obama administration say that the rules target broadband providers unfairly, but privacy experts call this a crushing loss to privacy.Wikileaks wants to give you a friendly reminder to update your Mac and your iPhone. And their way of telling us this is by dropping a new trove of Vault 7 documents. These are called "Dark Matter", which contain decades-old documentation for CIA projects that can infect Macs at the firmware level, if you haven't gotten your available updates.In 2016, 50% of all the active Android phones in the world didn't receive a security patch -- with many not getting any OS updates in over a year. Google disclosed this shameful stat in an annual Android Security Year in Review released Thursday.In that post, Google's security team said it is working on news ways to make it easier for its hardware partners and telecommunications companies to issue Android OS updates and patches to the public. Google issued Android software updates to 735 million devices from more than 200 manufacturers in 2016.Brian X. Chen from the New York Times joins us to tell us to wipe all of our devices, forget all our passwords, and other tips for protecting our privacy and rights when we travel. And we explore new research that says it's possible to create solar powered robot skin that's softer than human skin. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Nathan Olivarez-Giles Guest: Brian X. Chen Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Airbnb says it has a plan to succeed where so many other big names in tech have failed: China. On Wednesday, Airbnb announced that it is doubling investment in China and will triple its workforce there. Airbnb also says its goal is to double the number of listings it has in the country.Due to an ongoing controversy over YouTube accidentally showing ads on extremist content, AT&T, Verizon, and Enterprise rent-a-car have pulled all their advertising dollars from Google and YouTube, even after Google apologized and said they were fixing their system.President Donald Trump recently touted a NASA budget authorization as being "about jobs." Elon Musk says not so fast, recognizing that authorization bills don't give NASA new funding or create new jobs. Musk said: "This bill changes almost nothing about what NASA is doing. Existing programs stay in place and there is no added funding for Mars." Musk sits on a tech advisory council to the President and his company SpaceX has received more than $3 billion in funding from NASA in the past.We'll also talk about how Instagram will soon let you book reservations from their app, and how you can deal with left Joycon desync issues. Plus Liza Mundy from The Atlantic explains why Silicon Valley is so awful to women and what we can do about it. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Nathan Olivarez-Giles Guest: Liza Mundy Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Apple announced a cheaper 9.7 iPad with an A9 chip, starting at $329 for 32GB. They also revealed a special edition Project Red iPhone 7 which costs $100 more than the regular iPhone 7 and will support HIV/AIDS programs. And say goodbye to the 16 gigabyte iPhone. Apple will release two new iPhone SEs, with double the storage at 32GB and 128GB, but no other changes.The US and the UK introduced bans on the use of electronic devices larger than a smartphone in plane cabins from a total of 10 Muslim-majority nations on Tuesday. Under the ban, laptops, e-readers, handheld gaming devices and cameras all have to be stowed away in checked luggage, and can't be taken into the cabin or used during flights. The ban only applies to passengers -- not the flight crew -- and is the same for both those who are and aren't citizens of the US and UK. The ban covers flights to the US from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The UK ban applied to flights from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.Chip designer ARM just announced DynamIQ (that's dynam I-Q), a new chip technology designed for self-driving cars. ARM hopes DynamIQ will help power the AI in all of our internet-of-things devices which are supposed to experience a 50-fold boost over the next three to five years.We'll also talk about Android O, Netflix and Net Neutrality with Jake Kastranakes of The Verge, and ordering booze from Amazon Prime using the Amazon Echo Speaker. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Nathan Olivarez-Giles Guest: Jake Kastrenakes Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Drake's new album "More Life" sets streaming records on Apple Music and Spotify. On Apple Music, "More Life" was streamed 89.9 million times in the first 24 hours of its release. On Spotify, it was streamed 61.3 million times in the first 24 hours. The album dropped on both apps on Saturday the 18th, setting new release day record for both services. Uber-President Jeff Jones announced his departure from the company, the latest top exec to flee the scandal-ridden company. Jones was previously a CMO at Target and told Kara Swisher at Recode that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided his career are inconsistent with what he saw and experienced at Uber. Instagram now lets you save your own live videos to your camera roll. On Monday the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing app rolled out the new feature via an app update. Periscope, Facebook and YouTube have let users do this for a long time now. Unlike on those other services, there's still no way to let your followers see your live video once a stream has ended. Unless of course you upload your video to your profile page, the old-fashioned way. We also talk about how often Google has to apologize for its algorithms, whether or not we need Samsung's new digital assistant, and Matt Haughey, founder of Metafilter tells us about his experience with Defy Ventures, and organization that goes into prisons to teach entrepreneurship. Host: Megan Morrone Guests: Nathan Olivarez-Giles and Matt Haughey Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

A Minnesota judge is asking Google to fork over the names of all users who searched the name of a local fraud victim last December in a passport fraud case. The court also wants email addresses, MAC addresses, SSNs, IPs, and more. If Google complies, legal experts say it could set an anti-privacy precedent.Living in the San Francisco Bay Area is so expensive that one startup, Zapier, is offering employees $10,000 in reimbursements to move elsewhere. In order to get the reimbursement, the employees have to commit to working for Zapier for at least one year.Big brands are pulling their ads from Google's DoubleClick Ad Exchange Service after it was shown that ads were being placed next to YouTube videos promoting hate and racism. Google says it is working on changes to its review process to ensure ads appear where they should.Plus, Netflix's new rating system, Chance the Rapper spills the beans on his exclusivity deal with Apple, how an animated GIF on Twitter caused an epileptic seizure and led to an arrest, and Mike Murphy from Quartz talks about Nintendo's increase in production of the Nintendo Switch. Hosts: Jason Howell and Nathan Olivarez-Giles Guest: Mike Murphy Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Google Home began playing an ad for Beauty and the Beast during its daily briefing feature. In a statement Google said this isn't an ad, but a ""partner"" that they invited to ""be our guest and share their tales."" Google has since removed the ad from Google Home.Swatch is developing its own wearable OS to compete with watchOS and Android Wear, with its first device in the Tissot brand running it sometime around the end of next year. Swatch CEO Nick Hayeck expects the OS to be more battery efficient, protect user data better, and connect to other wearables and connected objects.A new academic paper from the University of Cambridge and the Economist says Google made ""inexcusable"" errors when dealing with sensitive medical information in the partnership between the company's DeepMind and the UK's National Health Service. The researchers mainly take issue with Google's transparency.Plus, Spotify might be making a deal for exclusive music on its paid tier, Amazon's voice assistant is coming to iOS, and Bryan Clark from The Next Web shares his thoughts on his time at this year's South By Southwest. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Bryan Clark Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Facebook is including a new feature to its mobile app called Town Hall that allows users to locate government representatives on a local, state and federal level. Users can follow those representatives on Facebook or contact them via Message or Email from within the app.The US Department of Justice has charged two Russian spies and two criminal hackers, hired by Russians, in the hack of 500 million Yahoo accounts back in 2014. Officials say the charges include hacking, wire fraud, trade secret theft and economic espionage.A group of 58 tech companies, including Lyft, Airbnb and Pinterest, teamed up to sign an amicus brief opposing President Trump's revised ban on immigrants from a selection of Muslim majority countries Wednesday. Later, a Hawaii federal judge blocked the revised ban. Big names that signed a similar brief opposing the President's first ban didn't sign this time, including Apple, Google and Microsoft.Plus Google has a new service for parents who want to get their kids using google products, Tesla is raising more funds to get ready for the Model 3, GoPro is laying off even more employees to stay profitable, and TWiT's newest host Nate Olivarez-Giles joins us to discuss it all. Hosts: Megan Morrone, Jason Howell, and Nathan Olivarez-Giles Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Search Engine Land says Google is hiring 10,000 real humans to work on the search algorithm and teach it to recognize offensive or factually wrong websites. The contract workers are called "quality raters" and will flag content NOT to remove it from search results, but to teach the algorithm how to deal with it.Tag Heuer announced its next Android Wear smartwatch, the Connected Modular 45. Tag says it made extra effort to build the watch the way it builds its other luxury mechanical watches, and with the modular design, the consumer can even swap the Connected module out FOR a mechanical module to increase the longevity of the timepiece.Volvo is building an electric car and taking on Tesla with an affordable starting price of between $35,000 to $40,000, and a range of 250 miles. We don't know the look of the new car or whether it will be a variant of an existing Volvo model, but we should be able to drive one by 2019.Plus, Visa has shades that pay, snowplows are part of the gig economy, an iPhone case that's an Android phone, and Brad Sams from Petri.com details Microsoft's slack competitor called Teams for Office 365 users. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Brad Sams Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Facebook has updated its developer rules for both Facebook and Instagram to prohibit its user data from being used as ammo for surveillance tools that have been used in the past to track political upheaval by authorities. Facebook says its policies already prohibited this, but it's making the policy even more explicit for developers.Intel just bought Israeli computer vision tech company MobileEye for $15.3 billion dollars. This will make Intel a real player in the race to get autonomous cars on the road and cement its place in an industry that Intel's CEO says will be worth about $70 billion by 2030.Pandora Premium is a new streaming service that takes all of the familiar aspects of Pandora's traditional service and adds the ability to pick and choose albums and songs at will from their library, with a broad focus on tailored content based on listening history. Pandora Premium will begin to roll out starting Wednesday and starts at $10 per month.Plus, 15% of all live Twitter accounts are bots and why that matters a new app that lets you send sparkles to people while you're watching YouTube videos together and Levi introduces a new smart jacket that's designed to make you look at your screens less often. Plus, founder of DuckDuckGo Gabriel Weinberg is here to talk about how to keep your keywords to yourself. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Gabriel Weinberg Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Driverless Car Project Waymo has filed a federal injunction to stop Uber's self-driving research. The documents filed are part of a case we reported last month that involves Google's claim that Uber stole Waymo's designs for LIDAR, a key technology of the driverless car.Google is looking to make things a bit less annoying for humans by making CAPTCHAs invisible. Google isn't sharing the secret sauce, but the company says its system no longer needs your help recognizing when you are a human, and when you might be a robot posing as a human. THEY ALREADY KNOW.Facebook is testing a new feature that will remind you to finish videos that you started watching. Facebook is testing the continue-watching feature only on the web version of Facebook right now.We also discuss drones that shouldn't hurt when they fall on your head and how one man bred a snake with emoji on its skin. Plus, Sam Abuelsamid from the Wheel Bearings Podcast tells us everything we need to know about the uncertain future of vehicle-to-vehicle communication in driverless cars. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Sam Abuelsamid Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Uber says they'll stop using the controversial Greyball tool that was used to show an alternate version of the app to regulators in the US and abroad, though they won't be getting rid of it entirely. Uber still plans to use it to deter users who are violating their terms of service.Facebook announced a new Snapchat-inspired feature called Messenger Day that lets Messenger users share photos and videos with their friends or on a public scale that last for 24 hours before disappearing. Those Days will appear at the top of the chat thread screen inside Messenger.Google will upgrade its enterprise messaging tool in two parts -- Hangouts Chat for communicating via text, and Hangouts Meet, which will allow for audio and video conferencing. Google says you'll be able to transition seamlessly between the two.Plus, Google has a new virtual whiteboard for business, Lyft is aggressively expanding in the US, and Nsikan Akpan from PBS News Hour shares how a company called bioMASON is using bacteria to make cement while also helping to reduce carbon emissions. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Nsikan Akpan Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Apple and Google say that most of the vulnerabilities profiled in the cache of Wikileaks documents have been fixed and they will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities in the future, so continue to get your updates when you can.Google announced its new Video Intelligence API that enables its Artificial Intelligence to pick apart a video down to the identification of individual elements, allowing for search capabilities similar to Google Photos but with video content stored in Google's cloud.ReCode reports that Didi Chuxching, China's ride-hailing Uber competitor is opening a self-driving lab in Mountain View, California. The company has talked about using its treasure trove of data for autonomous research, but Didi says it has no plans to roll out a ride hailing service in the US.Plus, Pinterest acquired social Q&A service Jelly, the Statue of Liberty goes dark... but why? And we talk to Julie Cohen, director of the new documentary American Veteran, about the impressive technology available to quadriplegics. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Julie Cohen Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Google's Waymo is suing Uber's Otto for stealing 14,000 of its confidential secrets. Google says it has forensic evidence proving that Anthony Levandowski downloaded the cache of files mere weeks before his resignation that preceded his co-founding of Otto.Web performance and security company Cloudflare has fixed a bug from September 2016 that leaked private user information, including encryption keys, private messages, and credentials. The security flaw, affectionately known as Codebleed, was caused by a coding error that was discovered by Google researcher Tavis Ormandy on February 17.The FCC has plans to wipe out customer protections implemented last year by then-chairman Tom Wheeler that required ISPs to get customer consent before sharing their private information and browser history with third party advertisers.We attempt to untangle the web of messaging on Android, and give you a preview of what to expect at Mobile World Congress this weekend. Plus, Sam Machkovech is here to talk about his hands-on with the Nintendo Switch, and we do not mourn the loss of Google Spaces. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Sam Machkovech Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Apple, Google, and IBM have all criticized President Trump's policy on transgender student rights. Apple told ReCode, "We support efforts toward greater acceptance, not less, and we strongly believe that transgender students should be treated as equals." Trump overruled previous Federal guidelines that allowed transgender students to use the restroom corresponding to their gender identity.SHA-1, a cryptographic hash function first introduced ten years ago, saw its first collision meaning two different documents produced the same cryptographic hash signature. Google has been pushing for SHA-1 to be deprecated citing its insecurities in light of more modern encryption algorithms.Last year, police in Bentonville, Arkansas acquired a warrant to access the information contained within an Amazon Echo in a 2015 murder case. Today Amazon is balking at the warrant, claiming that it violates the first amendment.Qualcomm is updating its VR headset reference design, leaked photos of the new Huawei sport watch to be announced at Mobile World Congress, and AI that will help clean up toxic comments sections. Plus, we talk to Leah Fessler from Quartz about her tests of how AI helpers respond to abuse. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Leah Fessler Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Verizon announced its plans to offer a limited pilot of its next generation 5G wireless service to 11 US markets sometime by mid-year. The test will be deployed as a home internet solution as opposed to a mobile solution, at least initially.Apple says the Apple Park will house 12,000 employees who will move in as construction of the building and the surrounding area continues into the summer.Waze Rider, Waze's ride sharing service, is expected to expand from its limited pilot to several cities throughout the US. Waze Rider offers competitive rates when compared to traditional ride sharing services like Uber.We talk about the SpaceX do over, Tesla's profits, and exoplanets, plus we continue to explore ways you can avoid handing over your facebook password at the border in the not-too-distant dystopian future. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.