Tech companies including Facebook, Google and Lenovo are designing smart glasses consumers will buy, but experts say this isn’t the year of mass adoption.
Source: Is 2021 finally the year for smart glasses? Here’s why some experts still say no
“We don’t respond to threats,” says the Prime Minister With great power comes great responsibility, and also great scrutiny — just ask Google. The world’s leading search engine may have to pay publishers in Australia if new legislation is passed by the government.
Source: Google will disable Search in Australia if government insists that it pays publishers
Signal’s latest update brings with it several new features inspired by WhatsApp. What you need to know Signal’s beta app is getting an update with many new features that can be found on WhatsApp. The new features include chat backgrounds, custom status updates, animated stickers, and more.
Source: Signal gets some of WhatsApp’s best features to make switching easier
TikTok is taking its fight against the Trump administration to the courts, saying it will file a legal challenge Monday against the government’s order to ban the video app effective mid-September. TikTok alleges that President Trump’s executive order is “not rooted in bona fide national security concerns,” according to excerpts of the complaint the company detailed in a blog post. It also alleges the U.S. government did not conduct a fair process in deciding that the app needed to be banned in the country and that its Chinese owner ByteDance must divest its assets in the United States.
Source: The Washington Post
Moore’s Law, the observation that the number of transistors on a computer chip doubles every 24 months, has taken a beating as progress miniaturizing circuitry falters. But chip giant Intel has plotted a course to keep the idea alive with a plan to pack 50 times as many transistors onto processors than is possible today.
Source: CNET
WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT arrested three alleged young hackers in the US and the UK last month, the story of the worst-known hack of Twitter’s systems seemed to have drawn to a tidy close. But in fact, the technique that allowed hackers to take control of the accounts of Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and dozens of others is still in use against a broad array of victims, in a series of attacks that began well before Twitter’s blowup, and in recent weeks has escalated into a full-blown crime wave.
Source: Wired
TikTok is right in the jaws of a thorny situation with the U.S. Government regarding its ownership, but it’s sending a clear message today that it is not sitting on its heels with big deals. Yesterday, it announced a deal with UnitedMasters to allow artists on TikTok to distribute their songs directly to streaming services and other partners directly.
Source: Tech Crunch
Does time spent using digital technology and social media have an adverse effect on mental health, especially that of adolescents? Here, two scientists discuss the question, and how digital devices might be used to improve well-being.
Source: Nature
Fifteen years ago this week, Google Maps launched on the web. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that Google Maps transformed both the way we think about maps and the way we move around in the world. Over time, the application has evolved from a fairly static online representation of an atlas to a GPS-powered navigation tool to a platform for reviews—and, of course, for ads.
Source: Wired
According to Apple, wearables accounted for as much as $10 billion of their most recent quarterly sales, up from $7.3 billion the previous year, with AirPods and AirPods Pro leading the charge. Apple doesn’t break out separate numbers for each of its wearable product lines, but Tim Cooke confirmed that the company is having trouble meeting demand for the Pro, due to the appeal of its smart, noise-canceling features. For comparison, wearables have now passed the entire Mac product line as a contributor to Apple’s topline numbers. Some analysts are predicting it will soon be a $100 billion-business—roughly the size of General Motors.
Source: Fast Company
The site has a lineup of more than 30 podcasts, including “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and “The Rewatchables.” It publishes original articles daily and houses a video network, a film production division and a book imprint. Last year, Mr. Simmons told The Wall Street Journal that the site was profitable. In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Simmons said he believed that “Spotify can take us to another level.”
In addition to announcing the agreement to buy The Ringer, Spotify reported a 29 percent rise in paid subscribers for its audiostreaming services in the fourth quarter of 2019, to 124 million, giving it a significant lead over its main rival, Apple. The company, which has its headquarters in Stockholm, has been moving away from its identity as a music-streaming service. Last year it acquired three podcast companies, including Gimlet Media, the maker of the podcasts “Crimetown” and “Reply All.”
Source: The New York Times
At Davos and beyond, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Co. are talking a big game about regulation, but in ways that protect their bottom line.
Source: Wired
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A new subscription service called Scroll is offering ad-free access to hundreds of websites — not by blocking the ads, but by working with an expanding group of publishers to take the ads down in exchange for a slice of the subscription fee. Scroll launches today with support for a number of major websites and networks, including The Atlantic, BuzzFeed News, G/O Media (which includes websites like Gizmodo and Kotaku), and Vox Media, which — important disclosure here — includes The Verge
Source: The Verge
Online privacy is not dead, but you have to be angry enough to demand it.
Source: The Washington Post
The city is home to a land rush of “collab houses,” where the content creators are getting younger and younger.
Source: The New York Times
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Last week, Google began rolling out a new look for its search results on desktop, which blurs the line between organic search results and the ads that sit above them. In what appears to be something of a purposeful dark pattern, the only thing differentiating ads and search results is a small black-and-white “Ad” icon next to the former. It’s been formatted to resemble the new favicons that now appear next to the search results you care about. Early data collected by Digiday suggests that the changes may already be causing people to click on more ads.
Source: The Verge
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As antitrust investigations into Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook ramp up, execs from Sonos, PopSockets, and Tile testified before Congress.
Source: Vox
Presented in a portrait ratio that takes up the entirety of the viewer’s smartphone, Content has been billed as “Australia’s first ever vertical video series”. It belongs to a small genre of narrative productions told entirely through screens, such as the feature film thrillers Searching and Unfriended, which unfold via laptop and smartphones.
Source: The Guardian
The demo house Amazon built inside one of the towers at its Seattle headquarters to show off its Echo smart speakers has a new room, and an important one: a garage. Inside the garage is a concept electric car—or, more specifically, the immobile insides of such a vehicle—that Amazon uses to show automakers the full spectrum of things its Alexa Auto software platform can do. That includes in-car versions of typical Alexa tasks such as audio streaming, messaging, voice calls, and reminders. And because it’s a car, Alexa can also do things like roll the windows up and down and control the cabin temperature, all at the verbal request of the driver. Amazon has been working hard on Alexa Auto for the past two years. Now it hopes to convince automakers to embed the platform into their new cars.
Source: Fast Company
If there was any doubt before, Q3 2019 has made clear that Snap is betting heavily on Augmented Reality (AR). Earlier this month, Snap announced a $1B fundraise to invest in AR startups. A week later, the Snapchat parent company unveiled the third-generation of Spectacles, its AR sunglasses, which are now available for pre-order. Snap is continuing its emphasis on the AR ecosystem in an announcement today: a major update to Lens Studio, the company’s desktop app for producing augmented reality “Lenses” on the Snapchat messaging platform. The update includes 14 new Landmarker locations, six new templates, and an updated UX that highlights new offerings and provides step-by-step tutorialization for beginners.
Source: Forbes
