Tech News Weekly (Video LO)

Verizon will pay approximately $4.48 billion in cash for Yahoo's internet assets. That's $350 million dollars off for a company that's suffered two major privacy breaches, the first impacting at least 500 million accounts in 2014 and a second in 2013 that accessed over a billion accounts.UPS began testing its own drone in Tampa Bay Florida. The launchpad was the roof of one of the company's brown delivery trucks, with the driver effectively mounting and activating the drone's autonomous navigation with a tablet. That freed up the driver to deliver a package while another package flew itself through the air.Today the Center for Democracy & Technology published a public letter expressing their position against the proposed Social Media Password Requirement by the Department of Homeland Security. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, also sent a letter to the secretary of DHS, asking about the problem and demanding accountability.We'll tell you how to buy Snap Spectacles online, why you should NOT believe the story of Mark Zuckerberg making a newspaper man eat his sports page, and why AOL is not and was not ever cool. Plus, professional photographer Trey Ratcliff explains why Apple might be dead to him. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Trey Ratcliff Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a comprehensive 5,800-word letter detailing how Facebook can help facilitate a global community that is informed, supportive, engaged and inclusive in an ever-changing and polarized world. He also writes about battling a trend of misinformation on the network and beyond.Sources to Reuters say that SoftBank, Sprint's parent company, might pursue a sale of Sprint to T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom. Softbank's dissappointment with Sprint's lack of growth in the US is given as the impetus for the sale. Negotiations would likely begin in April.German regulators say the My Friend Cayla doll is an espionage device and as such, sales have been banned in the country. The doll takes voice questions from children and transmits that data via WiFi to a server that sends the answer back, raising privacy concerns. It's also been shown to be easily hack-able.We discuss how connected cars are increasingly hack-able, how YouTube is getting rid of the 30 second unskippable ad, and guest co-host David Spark tells us all about his time at the RSA Security Conference all week. Host: Jason Howell Guest: David Spark Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

The Seoul Central District Court in South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Jay Y Lee, acting head of Samsung, alleging bribery, perjury, and embezzlement. The court is seeking his arrest as a way to prevent the destruction of evidence or fleeing the country.Twitter has begun rolling out a temporary throttle for accounts seen as abusive. If Twitter detects that the content of your Tweet has violated their rules, they will send you a notification that says your account features have been temporarily limited.Google Home users can now purchase everyday items from companies like Costco, Whole Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond, and more thanks to new support for Google Express. Users must enter payment info into the Home app to get started.We talk about Snap's lowered IPO valuations, advancements in Google's plan to spread internet through the world with balloons, and the results of Monopoly's online poll to oust one of their beloved game pieces.Rhett Allain from Wired also explains the physics behind wireless charging. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Rhett Allain Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

The Wall Street Journal says that phone calls might be coming to the Amazon Echo and Google Home as early as this year, provided they are able to overcome regulatory hurdles and privacy concerns.Sources tell Bloomberg and Recode that Verizon is near completion of a renegotiated deal that could cut anywhere from $250 million to $350 million dollars off of Yahoo's $4.8 billion price. Once the deal is finalized, Verizon and Altaba Inc (the renamed Yahoo) will share liabilities for future breaches.A new headset by eSight is helping the legally blind to see. It is equipped with a high speed, high-def camera, two sensors, two OLED screens, and a controller that helps people with severely low vision adjust what they're seeing. The device has FDA Type 1 clearance and costs $10,000.We also talk about HTC's bumpy road, Amazon's Prime subscriber numbers, and we chat with Sami Main from Adweek about PewDiePie's controversial string of YouTube videos, and the risks brands take when they saddle up with influential personalities. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Sami Main Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Apple has released the trailer for Planet of the Apps, its foray into original exclusive content for Apple Music and Apple TV. It's basically Shark Tank but for app developers, and will premiere sometime this Spring.Open Whisper Systems, the non-profit behind Signal, announced a beta version that adds encrypted video calls and a promise of better call quality. You can activate the new features in the "advanced" settings menu.Facebook announced its soon-to-release standalone app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TVs. The app will bring videos from friends and liked pages onto the TV, as well as recommended videos based on your viewing history.We also discuss Microsoft's call for a digital Geneva Convention, EHang's upcoming drone taxi service in Dubai, and we talk with Ian Sherr from CNET about love... in the digital age. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Ian Sherr Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Google launched Lists for Maps that allows users to make organized lists of places and share them with friends. Facebook is reportedly negotiating with record labels to secure the rights to copyrighted music so its users can legitimately use that music in their own uploaded videos. According to Bloomberg, Google's compensation system for engineers developing its self-driving cars multiplied salaries and bonuses based on meeting milestones that ultimately led to its best staffers being so highly compensated, they could comfortably leave for other opportunities.After a history of resistance to music streaming services, all of Prince's Warner Brother's music library is now widely available on Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora.Rumors about the new iPhone are pointing to the inclusion of Qi wireless charging technology. Apple has also reportedly struck a deal with Samsung to bring its curved OLED displays to the new phone when it launches.Jason Howell goes hands-on with the new LG Watch Sport, one of two new smartwatches released with the latest version of Android Wear 2.0. 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.

Facebook has agreed to an audit by the Media Rating Council to verify the accuracy of its ad data after a number of measurement errors were revealed by the company last year. Facebook also detailed other improvements to ensure that advertisers feel confident that their ads are being seen by users.WhatsApp is now supporting two-step verification to further improve the security of its service. The optional setting requires users to pick a PIN that will be required along with the account password anytime the user sets up a new device with the service.Ford made a $1 billion investment in Argo AI, a relatively unknown AI company, that will help develop self-driving technology for Ford's vehicles. Argo AI will operate as a subsidiary to Ford, but will be run independently. That technology will also be licensed out to other automobile makers.We discuss the future of augmented reality piano lessons and how Amazon's Tap is getting less tappy.Plus, we speak to Stephen Shankland from CNET about WebVR technology as well as Sam Machkovech from Ars Technica about his thoughts on the new films John Wick 2 AND Lego Batman. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guests: Stephen Shankland and 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.

Early this morning Twitter announced fourth quarter and fiscal year 2016 results. User growth slowed, revenue slowed, and shares of the stock plummeted. This is normally the biggest quarter for advertising yet Twitter's ad revenue still sunk.A new Cortana feature is coming to Windows 10 that will remind you that you've made a promise to someone in an email, when the time is right. The feature will initially support Outlook and Office 365 accounts, with support for more email services at a later date.Microsoft has convinced a Federal Judge to allow the company to sue the Department of Justice to protect the privacy of its customers. Microsoft wants to take the DOJ to court to claim that gag orders are overbroad and in violation of the First Amendment.Google is requiring developers to add or update their app's privacy policy in an effort to clean un-managed apps from the Google Play Store.Taser International acquired a startup called Dextro that analyzes video to make it discoverable, searchable, and curatable. The artificial intelligence will be used to analyze and sort through Police body cam footage. Kurt Wagner from Recode shares his thoughts on Snap's IPO from last week, and how the company is beholden to Amazon and Google. Josh Constine from TechCrunch details Facebook's updated Safety Check feature that allows locals to offer direct support to those in crisis. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guests: Kurt Wagner and Josh Constine Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Pinterest launched a new beta feature of its app called Lens, that allows users to search by image across all of Pinterest. Users can also Shop the Look which uses image search to link to a product's store page if a user sees something that they want to buy.Android Wear 2.0 is here, with Android Pay capabilities, standalone apps, and improvements to fitness tracking. LG is launching the updated OS on two new smartwatches in a partnership with Google. The LG Watch Style and LG Watch Sport go on sale this Friday.Best Buy is trimming down its Oculus Rift demo stations from 500 stores to around 200, saying demand for demos of the Virtual Reality technology has slowed significantly since the holidays. Some workers say those pop-ups would go days without interest in a single demonstration. Alyssa Bereznak from The Ringer tells us everything we need to know about the singing Uber side-hustle. Rene Ritchie from iMore joins us to weigh in on Apple's new TV hire and how one day you won't have to watch Amazon Prime on your iPad like an animal. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guests: Rene Ritchie and Alyssa Bereznak Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Twitter just got serious about abuse and harassment. In a blog post the company says soon they'll filter out abusive tweets before you see them.YouTube is rolling out mobile live video streaming functionality to creators with more than 10,000 subscribers, as well as support for Super Chat, a feature that allows fans to connect with and give back by paying creators for preferred placement in the chat window for up to five hours.Motherboard says that the hacker responsible for taking down 20 percent of The Dark Web is a first timer. The vigilante took down the private web hosting service Freedom Hosting II and knocked at least ten thousand sites offline. They're allegedly filled with child pornography. 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.

A US magistrate ruled that Google is required to hand over email data to the FBI that is stored on its servers abroad. A related appeals court ruling last month said that Microsoft was NOT required to share user data stored in Ireland, but the judge in this case broke from that precedent which has privacy advocates concerned. In response to the Note 7 firey kerfuffle, The South Korean government says they will tighten battery regulations. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy will institute new certification measures to require safety of lithium-ion batteries based on new technology in the production process. The FTC says that Vizio will pay $2.2 million dollar in a settlement agreement surrounding its collection of consumer viewing data involving 11 million of their TVs. That data was collected without consumer knowledge and Vizio is now required to obtain explicit consent for what data it collects and how it plans to share that data. We'll also talk about the world's first data dress, and how they got those drones to follow orders at the Super Bowl. -- Michael J. Coren from Quartz talks about immigration, the future of Silicon Valley, the HB-1 Visa policy, and the International Entrepreneurs Rule. -- Bryan Clark, US Editor at The Next Web talks about NASA Engineer Mark Moore, Uber Elevate, VTOL, and the future of flying taxis. Do not call them flying cars. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guests: Bryan Clark and Michael Coren Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

The Washington Post reports that federal regulators are telling nine companies that they can no longer participate in Lifeline, the program that provides low-cost Internet access to low-income Americans.Google's primary launcher for Android for the past few years has been the Google Now Launcher. But then the Pixel phones came along with their own launcher to confuse things. And now, Google is telling Google Mobile Services partners that it's discontinuing the Google Now Launcher in the near future.Re/Code says big data is creating more options for women in executive leadership roles. According to news coming out of the Global Women in Data conference, personal and financial performance metrics are helping women overcome bias. Data has the power to amplify the social impact of female leaders and help women keep their positions at the top.A whole lot of people on the social web pledged to delete Uber as backlash to a number of decisions the ride-hailing company has made related to the Immigration ban and President Donald Trump himself. But how much of an impact did it actually have? We'll look into this and talk about how Facebook wants to market to the broken-hearted.Sam Machkovech from Ars Technica is here to talk about the biggest gaming news of the week. 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.

Google's Waymo self-driving cars are getting even smarter according to a new report showing that the rate of human driver takeovers in self driving mode has dropped 75 percent in the past year, even with a 50% increase in driven miles.GoPro is selling its Karma drones again after a safety recall issued days after the drones went on sale in October. GoPro says that the revised drones won't unexpectedly fall from the sky like before, thanks to corrections in the latch mechanism that holds the battery in place.In celebration of the first day of Black History Month, black employees at Twitter have launched Blackbirds, a direct messaging bot that shares knowledge and information about black history as well as opportunities for community engagement.Snapchat is reportedly expanding on its "World Lenses" filters that overlay animations and objects on top of real world elements in interactive ways, which could be good for advertisers as the company nears its IPO announcement.The Wall Street Journal says Facebook is developing an app for Apple TV to bring original, longer form video from publishers to TV sets.Kurt Wagner from Recode discusses Facebook's big earnings report, the growing success of Instagram, and the results of the Oculus Zenimax case. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Kurt Wagner Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Apple posted record sales of its iPhone for the 4th quarter of 2016 with 78.3 million sold, continuing its trend of increasing revenue year after year. CEO Tim Cook also said that its Apple Watch was breaking records, though no numbers were shared.While everyone was deleting Uber, the ride-hailing service inked a deal with Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. Over the next few years the German car maker will operate their own self-driving cars on Uber's ridesharing network.Nintendo reported quarterly earnings of $569 million in profit, a major improvement over last quarter's $57.1 million loss. Nintendo credits Pokemon Sun and Moon for the 3DS for much of that movement with 14.69 million in sales.Yesterday we told you that ransomware had locked a hotel full of guests out of their rooms. According to The Verge the computers were attacked, but hotel patrons were neither locked in nor out of their rooms. Hotel staff had some trouble programming new keys, but that was it.The Nextbit Robin phone offered virtually unlimited storage thanks to smart cloud storage mechanics of low priority files. Now gaming company Razer announced that it bought Nextbit, and all 30 team members will now continue their work on Nextbit products as Razer employees.Adrienne Matei, editor of NUVO magazine, talks about chatbots to bring your dead friends and family back to life in a kind of augmented eternity. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Adrienne Matei Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Representatives from Google, Apple, Microsoft, HP, Tesla and others spoke up this weekend in opposition of Trump's Travel Ban.Sergey Brin from Google was also seen protesting at the San Francisco airport, while Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also pledges legal action against Trump's travel ban. Uber tweeted about how it would still service the JFK airport during an immigration protest, sparking many users to push back on social media. Users posted photos showing how they were deleting Uber from their phones while using the hashtag #DeleteUber. The Washington Post says that Ransomware killed 70% of Washington DC closed circuit TV storage devices ahead of the inauguration. Cameras could not record between Jan. 12 and Jan. 15. The problem has been solved now and officials say the city did not pay the ransom, but instead removed software from each infected device and restarted the system. Dropbox is focusing on the enterprise by bringing Paper, its collaborative document service, out of beta to a global audience. The revised app includes Smart Sync for enterprise users which gives direct access to cloud-stored files within the desktop environment automatically, on demand. Fitbit says they'll cut 110 jobs after disappointing holiday sales. The company also warns of profit and revenue losses this quarter. FitBit a new smartwatch coming out at the end of this year, but it might not be enough to save the company. 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.