Tech News Weekly (Video)

We start with the story that is captivating Nintendo fans: The Switch. That's the name of the much-anticipated 6.2 inch multi-touch screen portable gaming system from Nintendo. The Verge says with true portability, combined with the ability to stream high-res to your television, the Switch already gets right what that Wii U got wrong. It'll cost $300 and be available on March 3.

Consumer Reports says they will now give Apple's new MacBooks their coveted Recommended rating. Back in December the magazine said they could not recommend the laptops due to inconsistent battery life. Apple fixed the bug on January 9th.

Facebook-owned Messaging tool WhatsApp is under the privacy microscope again, this time for what The Guardian is calling a backdoor that allows snooping, even on encrypted messages. Sources call the flaw a threat to privacy and a potential tool for government agency spying. However, security experts say the Guardian report is hyperbolic and this backdoor is really a design decision by Facebook.

Microsoft just acquired a Toronto-based AI startup called Maluuba. In a blog post on their site, the creators of Maluuba say their focus is artificial general intelligence, or creating literate machines that could think. Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence head executive Harry Shum says Microsoft will share their plans for Maluuba in the coming months, but it will most likely include some kind of AI for the enterprise.

• Harrison Weber from VentureBeat on the rise and fall of ATAP's Project Ara module phone.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Georgia Dow

Guest: Harrison Weber

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Jeff Bezos says Amazon will hire one hundred thousand full-time workers, with jobs at all skill levels from engineering to factory building. A spokesperson for the company says the openings will be for employment across the US, and not just in Seattle or Silicon Valley. Amazon plans to fill the positions over the next 18 months, giving us a hint at the speed at which they plan to open physical stores, more warehouses, and build out their cloud computing business.

According to the Wall Street Journal's sources, Apple representatives have been looking to buy original content from Hollywood creators. The content might then be available to people who pay the $10/month Apple music subscription fee.

If you pre-ordered the throw-and-go Lily Robotics personal drone, I've got some bad news for you. It's been delayed. Forever. After $34 million dollars in pre-orders, Lily is shutting down, saying they don't have the funds to produce it.

The European Parliament released a draft report proposing a kill switch for robots to limit the amount of damage they do when they turn on us. The proposal on robot governance includes general principals about what to do when or if robots become self-aware, including liability issues and a classification system for the registration of advanced robots.

Pandora is laying off 7 percent of employees, according to a letter to shareholders by CEO Tim Westegren. He also said they'd exceeded growth, due in large part to lucrative advertising deals. Pandora still plans to release its $10/month streaming service later this quarter.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Scott Johnson

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Alphabet continues to pare down its many moonshot efforts by shuttering Project Titan, its solar powered drone program. And according to Bloomberg, Alphabet is also in the process of trying to sell its Skybox Imaging Satellite business, which it renamed Terra Bella last year.

Verizon has confirmed that it will kick grandfathered unlimited users off its networks, if they are data hogs. If you use 200 gigabytes a month, you'll be required to switch to a capped plan or Verizon will show you the door.

Samsung says that more than 96 percent of its Galaxy Note 7 devices have been returned thanks to its recall after a number of exploding battery incidents. Thanks to the high number of returns, the Federal Aviation Administration has lifted its requirement that airlines issue pre-boarding messages warning against bringing the device onto flights.

Instagram is adding full-screen ads to your stories, but you can skip them. Copying Snapchat's stories has been a successful move for Instagram. Since launching Stories five months ago, Instagram has gone from 100 million daily users to 150 million daily users.

Pre-orders for Nintendo's new console, The Switch, will begin on Friday morning at 9AM eastern, snagging gamers a place in line to get the system when it officially launches sometime in March.

• Matt McFarland from CNN discusses how taxi and truck drivers in upstate New York are pushing for severe restrictions to keep self driving cars out for up to 50 years.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell

Guest: Matt McFarland

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Apple says they've fixed a bug that caused wild fluctuations in battery performance during the Consumer Reports testing of the new Macbook Pro. Consumer Reports is reportedly considering retesting the device.

John MacFarlane, CEO and co-founder of Sonos, has resigned from his role with the company after 15 years at the top. Patrick Spense, currently the Sonos President, will take over in the lead role. Macfarlane says he didn't want Spense to always feel like a founder was looking over his shoulder.

Greenpeace released its renewable energy report and says that Google, Apple, and Facebook get good marks in renewable energy efforts, but Amazon lags behind. HBO, Netflix, and Hulu all received Fs for the amount of energy they use from all your binge watching.

LG has had a bad year. Its flagship LG G5 didn't move the needle throughout 2016, and part of the reason could have been its bold but ultimately unsuccessful trial of modular functionality with LG Friends. 2017 will be different. LG announced the G6 which will have a larger 5.7" QHD display with an unprecedented 18:9 aspect ratio. LG says consumers want larger displays, so this is one way that LG is attempting to right the wrongs of its last flagship device.

Tesla Motors has poached another Apple employee. Chris Lattner, creator of the Swift programming language, is joining the electric car company as VP of autopilot software.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell

Guest: Molly McHugh

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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will resign from Yahoo's board of Directors along with cofounder David Filo and four other board members when and if the sale to Verizon goes through. Also, as Verizon will be purchasing Yahoo's core business, the remaining investment company that won't be going to Verizon will be renamed "Altaba."

Leading up to the opening of the North American Auto Show in Detroit, John Krafcik from Google's Waymo showed off an entirely new sensor suite for its self-driving minivans that are set to hit the streets for test drives this month.

This week Volkswagen showed off the VW ID Buzz concept to bring its microbus into the 21st century with a fully electric version that includes full self-driving capabilities. The bus can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, with a range of 270 miles.

Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan says thieves stole two prototypes of the project Valerie three-screen laptop from CES. Razer will offer 25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thieves.

Sources say that Facebook will soon begin testing mid-roll video ads. Facebook will sell the ads and then share the revenue with publishers, giving them 55 percent of the take.

• Stephen Hacket from 512pixels discusses the ten year anniversary of the announcement of the original iPhone.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell

Guest: Stephen Hackett

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Network World says the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on D-Link, a company that makes routers, smart plugs, security cameras, and baby monitors, claiming unfair practices. The suit claims that D-Link engaged in unfair or deceptive acts, and that they failed to take reasonable steps to secure their products, making them vulnerable to hackers.

Samsung's 2016 calendar year seemed to be defined by many as the year of exploding Note 7s. It turns out, even in light of all that negative attention, Samsung is projecting record profits in its Q4 2016 earnings thanks to its strong positions in the OLED and chip industries.

Sources tell TechCrunch that Chinese drone-maker DJI now owns a majority stake in high-end Swedish camera company Hasselblad, which means your future quadcopter could come with a pretty fancy camera.

This has been the CES that Amazon built, sort of. Alexa is EVERYWHERE, including coming soon to Ford vehicles by way of its SYNC 3 technology. Ford drivers will soon be able to use Alexa to control their media, check the weather, and control smart home devices while driving.

According to a regulatory filing, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other Apple execs are taking pay cuts due to the company's lousy year. This is the first time the company has missed sales goals since he took over the company as well as the first miss in the past fifteen years.

• Lindsey Turrentine and Father Robert Ballecer discuss home automation and voice controlled devices at CES
• Sam Machkovech talks Nintendo Switch, Nvidia, and other announcements from CES.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell

Guest: Sam Machkovech

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Apple's growth in iPhone sales may be slowing, but its app store revenue is doing gangbusters. The company says they paid developers $20 billion dollars throughout the year and even broke records on New Year's Day.

Quartz reports that the US department of Labor is suing Google over disclosure of compensation data and documents. Google could be barred from all federal contracts for not divulging confidential employment information from thousands of employees.

Google announced that it is opening up its Assistant AI to Android TV and beyond.

Nvidia unveiled its new Shield TV streaming box with 4K streaming capability. Additionally, Google Assistant is in the box, facilitated by a remote with a built in microphone. Nvidia also showed off the Nvidia Spot, a hybrid microphone speaker that can extend access to Assistant throughout the home.

Corning showed off a concept car made partially of Gorilla glass. Corning glass is thinner, lighter, and more scratch resistant than the glass that car-makers usually use. The Corning glass dashboard and center console contains fiber optic controls, but it's also flexible which means it's easier to produce.

The resolution wars continue as Dell showed off its new Ultrasharp 32 Ultra HD 8K Monitor at CES, a 31.5" monitor at 7680x4320 resolution with 280 pixels per inch. Expect the monitor to hit store shelves later this year for $4,999.

• Kurt Wagner from Recode discussed how Facebook's employee culture embraces secrecy of internal projects, effectively keeping leaks from hitting the media.
• Fr. Robert Ballecer shows off a few of his favorite gadgets from the Pepcom show floor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell

Guest: Kurt Wagner

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As the Republican-led Congress begins a new session this week, Politico reports that the GOP has adopted new rules banning and imposing hefty fines for livestreaming or otherwise broadcasting protests on the House floor.

Apple removed the New York Times app from its app store late last month at the request of the Chinese government, which cited that the chinese and english language versions of the app violated local regulations. Those regulations were not explicitly defined in the request.

The Wall Street Journal says consumers spent $967.6 million in mobile games for iOS and Android over the holidays. This figure is up more than 50 percent since last year. Nearly 90% of all gross app revenue came from games.

Tesla announced that it missed its target for 2016 vehicle deliveries by about 4,000 vehicles, seeing a slowdown in production during the last quarter thanks to changes to the Autopilot software. But today, Tesla also started producing batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada, which is under construction and currently only around 30 percent complete.

Medium, The publishing platform started by the founder of Twitter and Blogger, announced layoffs today. In a post on his struggling platform, Ev Williams said they will let go a third of their employees, close their offices in New York and DC, part ways with transitional executives, and refocus on a "less proven" way to pay writers.

Hosts: Megan Morrone and Jason Howell

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The consumer electronics show is gearing up to begin on Thursday, but product announcements are already rolling in. Including a number of smart assistants for the home, similar to Amazon's Echo. Lenovo and Mattel, yes the toy maker, proved that the category is about to take off showing off their own smart assistants at this year's show.

Mark Zuckerberg's yearly challenge to himself for 2017 is something more than simply creating a home AI system. Like a politician, Mark plans to visit all 50 states throughout the year to talk with people about how they live their lives, and how those lives have been affected by technology.

Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance in Japan is about to put IBM's Watson Explorer AI to work as an insurance claim worker, replacing 34 human employees in the process. The move is expected to increase productivity by 30%, saving the company around $1.1 million per year.

A new report by TrendForce says that mobile payments are about to encounter significant growth in 2017. $585 billion was spent using mobile payment services last year, and the report shows that the market should see a jump of around 25% throughout 2017.

Hosts: Jason Howell and Ron Richards

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Research by Security Research Labs shows how easy it is to abuse flight reservation systems, with three systems making up 90 percent of all reservations worldwide and utilizing 70's and 80's era technology to do it. As a result, weakened authentication makes it easy for anyone to capture personal and booking information using relatively simple methods.

Tesla is rolling out the first big update to its Enhanced Autopilot system, but only to the first 1000 cars in its fleet for starters. The enhancements include Traffic Aware Cruise Control, Forward Collision Warnings, and Low Speed Autosteer. Elon Musk says Autopilot 2.0 will reach feature parity to 1.0 in the first half of 2017.

Bitcoin apparently had a new years resolution: To reach higher than $1000, and it did that thanks to a good year that saw it climb 125 percent in 2016. It reached $1,022 on the Bitstamp exchange, which is the highest it's been since the Mt. Gox hack in late 2013 saw its value plunge from its all time high of $1163 to less than $400.

At the top of many people's New Years resolutions list is likely to strike a better work/life balance. In France, employment law is helping all of its workers do just that by affording workers the right to disconnect from technology during off-hours. Employers with 50 or more workers are now required to work with employees to negotiate ways that they can switch off when not at work.

• Russell Holly from VRheads discusses how virtual reality can be used to help gamers get in shape.

Hosts: Jason Howell and Ron Richards

Guest: Russell Holly

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