Tech News Weekly (Video HI)

Microsoft will lay off 10 percent of its sales force in an effort to reorganize the way it sells its cloud platform, Azure. The jobs will likely be mostly outside of the US and some affected workers will be given other jobs within the company in what Frank Shaw, corporate VP of communications and jargon, says are intended to evolve the skill sets Microsoft needs.In other layoff news, SoundCloud is laying off 40 percent of its staff, according to a blog post by the company's founder, Alex Lyung. The decade old music and podcast streaming service will close offices in San Francisco and London, but Lyung says SoundCloud will still be available 190 countries globally.Tesla's stock has fallen almost 17 percent this week, despite the news that that the cheaper Model 3 is three weeks ahead of schedule. The Wall Street Journal notes that delivery of Model S cars and Model X sport-utility vehicles were lower than analysts expected due to a battery supply issue, causing many prominent analysts to give the company a "sell" rating.Jason Snell from MacWorld and Six Colors joins us to talk about all of these stories, plus iPhone rumors for this year and next, how iOS 11 will improve podcasts, and a service that will give you free energy bars in the back of your Lyft or Uber, in exchange for your personal information. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Baidu announced its autonomous driving alliance with partners including Ford, Daimler, Intel, Nvidia, TomTom, 12 Chinese automakers, universities, suppliers, startups, and local governments. Like Waymo, Silicon Valley and Beijing-based Baidu wants to develop the technology and AI to power self-driving cars, not create the cars themselves.Snapchat is updating its app today with a few cool features, including Backdrops that separates you from the background and places imagery behind you. Voice Filters are being broken out from Stories to alter voices in all posted video. And Paperclip lets users attach a link to a website onto videos or images shared to friends.Nokia and Xiaomi have signed a business collaboration agreement and a patent agreement which will give Xiaomi Nokia patents and give Nokia Xiaomi's network infrastructure equipment.Plus, Ticketmaster will be tracking ticket holders with inaudible tones, Facebook is developing a group video chat app, the flying car industry got a boost, and Katie Roof from Techcrunch joins to talk about the recent spate of sexual harassment stories that are quickly changing silicon valley's VC industry. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Katie Roof Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

iPhone rumors, Microsoft layoffs, Kangaroo detection in driverless cars, and the author of the popular blog McMansion Hell tells us how she defended her right to mock turrets. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg has sources who say that the upcoming and as yet unannounced iPhone 8 might see the end of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. In its place would be a front facing 3-D sensor for advanced facial recognition that is less likely to be tricked as similar 2-D offerings by other manufacturers. Sources at TechCrunch say Microsoft is laying off 'thousands' in a global sales and marketing reorg as the company downsizes its boxed software program. Several execs sent memos to staff today that mentioned the reorg, but not the layoffs. Windows 10 users who are looking forward to the Timeline feature will have to wait, according to Microsoft exec Joe Belfiore. Timeline, which allows users to pick up where they left off inside an app regardless of device or platform, is being pushed back beyond the Fall Creators Update. We also talk about the timeline for the new Tesla Model 3, an update on that car-eating elevated bus we told you about last year and which driverless car companies have kangaroo detection and which do not. Plus, the author of the blog McMansion Hell is here to tell us how she fought Internet Giant Zillow and won. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Kate Wagner Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies could face fines of up to 57 million dollars in Germany if they fail to remove illegal, racist, or slanderous comments within 24 hours of receiving report of the offense.The Washington Post says Twitter is prototyping a new feature that would allow its users to actively flag tweets containing misleading information and fake news in an attempt to control the network effect that comes from bot tweeting, among other related problems. Twitter says they currently have no plans to launch this product.ReCode reports that Facebook is changing its algorithm to reduce the reach of anyone who posts fifty times a day or more, regardless of the content of the links. Facebook VP Adam Mosseri says they've identified a small group of people, not bots, who post spammy links, which he says are likely to contain low quality content such as clickbait, sensationalism, and misinformation.Plus, Project Fi might get supported by a non-Google phone, the Surface Mini that never was is shown off in leaked photos,and Sam Machkovech from Ars Technica talks about Blizzard's remaster of Starcraft and the fate of CastAR. 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.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. If you, like me, think it feels like we just celebrated the 10th anniversary you'd be right. On January 7th of this year, we celebrated the birth of the iPhone because that's when Steve Jobs stood on stage and announced it. But today is the day you could wait in line at a store to buy one. So, we're celebrating again.Today Instagram announced a new system to filter out hateful comments called DeepText. It goes beyond filtering keywords and is designed to understand the context of the comment and decide whether it's toxic or benign.Alphabet is rolling out Google Photos 3.0, now with more facial recognition. The new features, announced at Google I/O back in May, include machine learning that nudges you to share pictures if you forget. Google also says they'll recognize meaningful moments and suggest who you might want to share them with. You can now share with friends and family, even if they don't use Google photos.Lisa Schmeiser from The SuperSite for Windows and the newsletter So What, Who Cares is here to talk about all of these stories and the female team who manages the Amazon Echo, how technology is changing the trucking industry, and exploding fidget spinners. Host: Megan Morrone Guest: Lisa Schmeiser Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

ProPublica posted a story that illustrates the challenges for Facebook's censors. Internal documents show a number of guidelines Facebook censors must follow to determine the difference between political expression and hate speech, showing in some cases that Facebook is more likely to side with elites and governments over activists and minorities because it's good for international business.Google News got a much-needed design refresh with a cards-based layout, and a focus on fact checking with a fact-check widget on the right side of the homepage that lists sources like PolitiFact and Snopes to help debunk some of the more recent items of misinformation making the rounds.Qualcomm is showing off its new fingerprint sensors that work through ultrasonic technology capable of detecting fingerprints, bloodflow, and heart rate through the display panel and even through metal.Plus, Target Restock is treading on Amazon's turf, Apple wants its Music subscribers to Chill, IBM's Chef Watson is cooking up something good, and Iain Thomson from The Register joins KTLA's Rich DeMuro and me to take a closer look at the Petya ransomware attack. Hosts: Jason Howell and Rich DeMuro Guest: Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

After a lengthy seven year probe, the European Commission has fined Google 2.42 billion euros, around $2.7 billion dollars, for promoting its own Google Shopping ads in what it deemed to be an abuse of its own dominance for search. Google faces a 90 day deadline for ending the anti-competitive practices before facing additional penalties.New ransomware is shutting down businesses globally and it might be worse than WannaCry. The Verge says the attack, which some are calling Petya, has affected airlines, banks, and utilities including operations at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant where they've been forced to switch to manual monitoring.Facebook says the social network has officially hit two billion users, or in other words, one quarter of the world's population uses Facebook every month. The company is 13 years old and hit its first billion users only five years ago, and has more users than any other social media service.Plus, China is utilizing face recognition and AI to help keep its citizens under constant surveillance, how neural networks and a little engineering known how helped one man end his Lego sorting nightmares, and Matt McFarland joins Engadget's Kerry Davis and Jason Howell to talk about how Drive.AI is taking a different approach to autonomous vehicle fleet tech. Host: Jason Howell Guests: Kerry Davis and Matt McFarland Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Avis Budget Group will help Waymo manage its self-driving car fleet of Chrysler minivans in Phoenix, where it started offering rides back in April. Avis Budget owns the two traditional rental car companies, plus on demand rental car company ZipCar.Nintendo unveiled the SNES Classic, an $80 mini console of the Super Nintendo with 20 classic games from the era along with an as-yet-unreleased game, Star Fox 2. The package will include two controllers and be available on September 29.Pandora CEO Tim Westergren is stepping down. ReCode reports that sources familiar with the matter say Westegren, who founded the company 17 years ago, will stay on until Pandora names a successor.Plus, HMD is bringing the Nokia 6 to the US, Google said its goodbyes to Google Talk, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman joins to share his thoughts on the Echo Show, Amazon's upgrade to the Echo that includes a touchscreen for video calls. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Mark Gurman Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Google has decided to cease ads in Gmail, as well as stop the scanning of email contents for that purpose. G Suite business users were never exposed to such ads, but were still confused and concerned about the privacy implications as it affected their business, and the change makes it unambiguous.ZDNet says Microsoft's claim of "No Known Ransomware" on Windows 10 S doesn't hold up to testing. It took security researcher Matthew Hickey from Hacker House just over three hours to exploit the way Microsoft Word automates tasks in order to create a malicious, macro-based Word document.Media regulators in China have issued even tougher restrictions on audio and video streaming services. Weibo, AcFun, and iFeng.com were specifically called out as allowing programs that "comment on current affairs and spread negative comments."We also discuss Google's decision to scrub personal medical information from search results, and rumors about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Plus, Lauren Silverman from KERA in North Texas explains digital notaries and free baby boxes. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Lauren Silverman Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Time Magazine is reporting that hackers accessed and manipulated voter data at least once during the 2016 presidential campaign, including social security numbers. According to official sources, some voter hacking was identified and rectified, and there is no evidence that any of the data was accessed by Trump's campaign.Imagination Technologies saw its shares drop 70 percent when Apple announced last April that it would be producing its own graphics chips instead of relying on Imagination's as it had since the iPod. As a result, Imagination has officially put itself up to be sold, which sent its stock prices up 21 percent.Apple and Spotify might have an unlikely competitor in the music streaming business soon. ReCode reports that Tesla is in talks with music labels to create its own service. Sources say Tesla might license a proprietary music service that comes bundled with its cars, which already come with Wi-Fi.Plus, Google's new VR180 format for cinematic VR, Facebook's new community focused mission, and Sam Machkovech from Ars Technica shows off Steam's prototype VR control that tracks all fingers, as well as shares a first look at game play from the upcoming title Beyond Good and Evil 2. 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.

Travis Kalanick is stepping down from Uber permanently. Last week Kalanick announced a leave of absence, but now he says he's giving up his position as the head of the ride-hailing company after pressure from investors. It's not all bad news for Kalanick either, who will keep control of a majority of the voting power at Uber and he'll have a say in hand-picking his successor.A software chief at Tesla is also out today, after only six months with the company. Autopilot VP Chris Lattner, former developer of the Swift programming language at Apple, is leaving Tesla and he took to Twitter to say that it "Wasn't a good fit." It looks like Lattner will be fine. The replies to his tweet are chock full of job offers from places ranging from TWiT Sponsor Cloudflare, to Cards Against Humanity.You can pay your favorite YouTuber or your favorite Twitch Live Streamer, but if you're the number one fan of a Periscoper, you were out of luck. Until now. Periscope owner Twitter announced Super Hearts, a way to send micropayments to your favorite Periscoper, in order to support the creator AND to get their attention.We also talk to Rafe Needleman about why we need tech etiquette with our home assistance. And summer camp for cybersecurity from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Host: Megan Morrone Guests: Rafe Needleman, Nikhil Sonnad, and Thu-Huong Ha Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Amazon launched a new service for Prime Members called Prime Wardrobe. Users pick three or more items of clothing, and they are added to a box to be delivered to the user's home with seven days to try them on and free returns for anything they don't want to keep. The kept items are then charged to the Amazon account, with discounts tied to the amount of items kept from a shipment.If you're still using Uber, you can now tip your driver without carrying cash. The company's longstanding policy of not allowing a tipping option has been confusing for riders, many of whom assumed that a tip was included, it was not. The update to the app is part of Uber's 180 days of change campaign.OnePlus announced its latest flagship Android device, the OnePlus 5, with Qualcomm's top of the line Snapdragon 835, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and is running Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. OnePlus went with a dual rear facing camera setup for on-the-fly bokeh style photos and 2x optical zoom. OnePlus 5 starts at $479.We also compare Instagram users to Snapchat users and show you how to get a job not AT Google, but with Google. Plus, Sean Hollister from CNET explains how some developers are already using Apple's Augmented Reality kit. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Sean Hollister Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Satya Nadella, plus the leaders of Oracle, IBM, Akami, and others met with President Donald Trump to discuss improvements and to offer ideas on how to overhaul the government's tech infrastructure.Time Warner is working with Snap to bring 10 original shows per year exclusively for Snapchat users in a $100 million dollar two year deal. Turner cable channels, Warner Brothers studio,and possibly even HBO will develop shows that run from 3-5 minutes and can only be viewed inside the app with vertical video, of course.Google is launching a four step plan to fight the spread of terrorism in its products, including YouTube. The company aims to take a tougher stance on extremist videos and inflammatory religious content.Plus, VR that's 20/20, furnishing your house with AR Ikea, and Iain Thomson from The Register details how 198 million American's voter information was sitting in the cloud, unprotected for all the world to see. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell Guest: Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-today.Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Amazon is buying Whole Foods for 13.4 billion dollars. The deal caused a quick sell-off of grocery store and shopping center stocks on wall street. According to Amazon, Whole Foods will continue to operate stores under the Whole Foods Market brand and CEO John Mackay will remain at the helm.Lyft says that someday, when it does shift over to self-driving cars instead of running a service with humans behind the wheel, those cars will be electric. And the electricity for those cars will come 100% from renewable power sources. The goal: to provide 1 billion rides per year using electric, self-driving cars by 2025. Lyft has partnered with NuTonomy, a self-driving startup, to deploy some autonomous electric cars in Boston by the end of the year.Apple is getting more serious about original content. The company has hired two long-time Sony Pictures Television executives to lead its video programming division. The execs have been responsible for critical hits like "Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul," and "The Crown."We also talk about the verdict in the Philando Castille trial and how a disproportionate number of black people die at the hands of law enforcement across the United States. So far, technology doesn't seem to be providing a solution to this ongoing problem. Plus, a wrap-of of E3 and a smart suitcase that charges your phone and makes you look like a very stylish spy. Hosts: Megan Morrone 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.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and another few dozen tech companies have sent a letter to Congress urging internet surveillance reform. The companies suggest specific reforms to the way the government collects information from non-US persons who are not suspected of wrongdoing.If you've been ordering food from the delivery app Sprig, well, you won't anymore. Sprig is shutting down. Over a 4 year period the San Francisco startup had raised $56 million dollars and delivered millions of meals. But that wasn't enough to find its way to profitability.Bitcoin is getting bigger, especially in South Korea and the rest of Asia. But as the price of bitcoin rises, some of the exchanges can't handle the traffic. TechCrunch reports that Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange that's received over $117 million in funding from investors, can't handle the traffic.We also discuss Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard graduation speech, Apple's new AI chip, and a mechanical watch that costs $26,000 and won't even let you send emoji to people. Plus, Sam is here with the weekly gaming segment to talk about Rime, Destiny 2, and more. Hosts: Megan Morrone and Nathan Olivarez-Giles 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.