Tech News Weekly (Video)

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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