Thursday 14 December 2017

The Morning After: Pepsi wants some Tesla trucks

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Thursday, December 14, 2017.

Hey, good morning!

This Thursday morning, we get driven down an actual highway while wearing a VR headset, do cartwheels in a next-generation VR device and hear about T-Mobile launching a TV service. That last one has nothing to do with VR. Yet.

Its "world-scale" tracking is surprisingly solid.

Cartwheels in VR are possible now, with HTC’s Vive Focus

After fully unveiling the Vive Focus, HTC finally allowed lucky folks like Richard Lai to properly test out the six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) standalone VR headset. For the first time, you can actually walk around in VR without being tethered to a PC or confined to a fixed space. It’s a truly mobile virtual reality solution -- more so than smartphone-based VR headsets, which only let you look around on the spot (3DoF). We had a play.

The ‘mind off’ Symbioz car sells us the future of commuting.

Renault’s concept EV drove me at 80MPH while I wore a VR headset

With fully autonomous vehicles just around the corner, Renault is trying to imagine how we can spend our free time once we surrender the wheel to robots. That involved Steve Dent being plugged into a VR headset while still at the wheel of Renault’s prototype EV. While it was still zooming down a French highway.

Who owns the work of an artificial intelligence?

Modern copyright law can’t keep pace with thinking machines

This past April, engineer Alex Reben developed and posted to YouTube, “Deeply Artificial Trees”, an art piece powered by machine learning, which leveraged old Joy of Painting videos. It generated gibberish audio in the speaking style and tone of Bob Ross, the show’s host. Bob Ross’ estate was not amused, subsequently issuing a DMCA takedown request and having the video knocked offline until very recently. Much like Naruto, the famous selfie-snapping black crested macaque, the Trees debacle raises a number of questions of how the Copyright Act of 1976 and DMCA’s Fair Use doctrine should be applied to a rapidly evolving technological culture, especially as AI and machine learning techniques approach ubiquity.

One more reason to cut the cord.

T-Mobile is bringing its ‘Un-carrier’ ways to TV

AT&T and Verizon have multiplatform video efforts and soon T-Mobile will join them. CEO John Legere announced that his company has acquired video streamer Layer3 TV and plans to launch a TV service in 2018 that offers “real choice.” The magenta folks have been able to shake up mobile packaging several times over the years, so it will be interesting to see how they compete with cable, Netflix and all the other streaming options like Sling TV, Vue and Hulu -- but we don’t really have any details yet.

Cut through the spin.

Net neutrality is a double-edged sword for small ISPs

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai claims that repealing Title II net neutrality rules will benefit small ISPs, so we talked to someone who runs one. Stephouse Networks serves about 1,000 people in the Pacific Northwest, and its president Tyler Booth says he has a “love-hate relationship” with the regulations.

But wait, there's more...

1. Trump signs defense spending bill that includes a Kaspersky ban

2. Apple invests $390 million into Face ID and AirPod tech

3. Pepsi wants a 100 Tesla Semi trucks

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Wednesday 13 December 2017

ECT News Network Weekly Newsletter

ECT News Network Weekly Newsletter: Wednesday -- December 13, 2017

ECT News Network -- Where Business Meets Technology
http://www.ectnews.com
E-Commerce Times | TechNewsWorld
CRM Buyer | LinuxInsider

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This Week's Top News Headlines From the E-Commerce Times

Internet Pioneers Urge Cancellation of Net Neutrality Repeal Vote
(Posted 13-Dec-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85003.html

New B2B Payments Platform Reaches Across Borders
(Posted 12-Dec-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85000.html

Feds: Cloud Cybersecurity Benefits Now Outweigh Risks
(Posted 11-Dec-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84998.html

Bitcoin Surges Past $16K: Will the Bubble Burst?
(Posted 07-Dec-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84993.html

GoGo's In-Flight WiFi Goes in Fits and Starts
(Posted 07-Dec-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84991.html

This Week's Top News Headlines From TechNewsWorld

Oops... Some HP Laptops Shipped With Hidden Keylogger
(Posted 12-Dec-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/85002.html

The Tech Wars of 2018
(Posted 11-Dec-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84995.html

Qualcomm Unveils Powerful New Snapdragon SoC
(Posted 08-Dec-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84996.html

Google and Amazon Square Off, Ignoring Customers in the Middle
(Posted 07-Dec-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84992.html

This Week's Top News Headlines From CRM Buyer

The Strange Bedfellows That Make Sales AI Work
(Posted 11-Dec-17)
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/84999.html

Cool Effect
(Posted 08-Dec-17)
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/84994.html

This Week's Top News Headlines From LinuxInsider

If You're Ready for Arch, ArchMerge Eases the Way
(Posted 12-Dec-17)
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/84986.html

Microsoft Goes All In With Kubernetes
(Posted 09-Dec-17)
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/84997.html

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The Morning After: Mortgaging your house to buy Bitcoin

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Wednesday, December 13, 2017.

Hey, good morning!

It's the middle of the week and some of us are mortgaging our homes to get into Bitcoin. Meanwhile, SpaceX's recycled spacecrafts get together, Apple's new iMac is coming and we open nominations for the Best of CES 2018. Yep, the Consumer Electronics Show is just around the corner, and we're looking for the best tech to be found in Vegas.

It’s just about that time of year.

Engadget is once again presenting the official Best of CES awards

CES is just around the corner, and we’re getting ready to try out all the latest gadgets. We’re also pumped to be hosting the official Best of CES awards for the fifth year in a row. Just as in years past, our team of intrepid editors will search out the cream of the crop, nominate a group of finalists and later select the winners. Oh, and you, too, will have your voice heard through the People's Choice award. Want to know more? Head over to our awards hub. Oh and if you’re part of a company who wants to submit a product for consideration, you’ll find instructions for that, too.

There’s a reason it’s called the Bitcoin bubble, folks.

People are mortgaging their houses to buy Bitcoin

Bitcoin is sitting at $16,674 at the time of writing, after rocketing from $1,000 to more than $19,000 in the course of this year. Those types of eye-catching numbers (and the resulting media hype) are bound to draw the interest of casual folk. But, unless you’ve got money to burn, most analysts will tell you the same thing: steer clear of the hyper-volatile currency.

Still, it seems some people aren’t paying heed. A bunch of wannabe investors are even going so far as to take mortgages out to buy bitcoin.

One is a serious VR contender.

Samsung vs. Acer Mixed Reality headsets: Which handles VR best?

The big VR story this year isn’t another headset from Oculus or HTC -- it’s Microsoft’s entry into the space with Windows 10 Mixed Reality devices. They promise to be cheaper and easier to use than the Rift or Vive, thanks to a bit of help from HoloLens’ 3D tracking technology. Acer’s was among the first we saw in action, and it was a promising example of what an inexpensive VR headset could look like. Samsung, meanwhile, was late to the party with HMD Odyssey, but it also gave us a glimpse at high-end Mixed Reality headsets. Now that we’ve spent some time with both (along with HP’s headset earlier this week), it’s time to decide which handles Mixed Reality best.

Its first pro desktop in years is almost here.

Apple iMac Pro goes on sale December 14th

If you like your Apple hardware incredibly powered, you’ve been waiting on this. Apple’s new iMac Pro will launch mid-December, with prices starting from $4,999. That ‘starter’ model ships with an 8-core Xeon processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of solid-state storage and a Radeon Vega Pro graphics chipset with 8GB of RAM. And it all scales up from there.

Almost ready for tourists

Blue Origin tests Crew Capsule 2.0

The latest rocket launch from Blue Origin featured a second generation of its capsule equipped with “the biggest windows in space.” The Jeff Bezos-backed company has said it could start space tourism trips as soon as next year, and giving passengers a good view for their money will be critical. This flight only had equipment and a test dummy onboard, but all went well -- check out the video here.

The number-one-selling EV in the world gets a much-needed makeover.

The 2018 Nissan Leaf gets a semi-autonomous upgrade

The Nissan Leaf is the top-selling electric vehicle in the world. Sure, Tesla and Chevy get all the hype with the Bolt and Model 3, but with more than 290,000 cars sold, Nissan’s little electric car is the one people are buying. But after seven years without a design refresh, Nissan has finally gone back to upgrade the original for 2018. We took it for a spin.

Nearly 40 senators signed a letter asking Ajit Pai to abandon the proposal.

Senators make last-ditch effort to halt the FCC’s net neutrality vote

The FCC votes this Thursday on its proposal to remove net neutrality protections, and while it's all but certain that the commission will vote in favor of the proposal, some still haven't given up trying to convince the commissioners to change their minds -- including 39 senators. They apparently signed a letter addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai requesting that he reconsider: “We write to urge you to abandon your reckless plan to radically alter the free and open internet as we know it,” the Democrats wrote. “Your proposed action will amount to the largest abdication of the Federal Communications Commission’s statutory responsibilities in history.”

But wait, there's more...

1. Google finally integrates Duo on Android call screen

2. Steve Bannon and Breitbart spent months trying to sabotage Twitter

3. Amazon Prime Video will stream in HDR10+ on Samsung TVs

4. Watch SpaceX launch a reused capsule on a recycled rocket

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Tuesday 12 December 2017

E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Tuesday -- December 12, 2017

The E-Commerce Times -- E-Business Means Business
http://www.ecommercetimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network

Headline Scan
New B2B Payments Platform Reaches Across Borders
Feds: Cloud Cybersecurity Benefits Now Outweigh Risks
The Strange Bedfellows That Make Sales AI Work

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Today's Story Highlights

New B2B Payments Platform Reaches Across Borders

Nanopay has unveiled a new platform that will let companies process
business-to-business payments between bank accounts across borders. The
platform is currently in private beta. It will become generally
available in February, initially enabling cross-border payments between
Canada and the United States. Cross-border payments with India and China
will be added in Q2.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85000.html

Feds: Cloud Cybersecurity Benefits Now Outweigh Risks

Many federal government IT managers used to be wary of the shortcomings
of migrating to cloud technology because of potential data security
problems affecting email, business systems, personal data records and,
especially, national security operations. However, after the federal
"cloud first" initiative's six-year effort, there are signs that federal
IT managers have changed their assessment.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84998.html

The Strange Bedfellows That Make Sales AI Work

At some point, the discussion about artificial intelligence and sales is
going to mature. Too many people still think AI for sales will resemble
C-3PO, a bumbling assistant that gets in the way more often than not, or
the Hal 9000, subverting the sales process in ways that endanger the
very existence of the sales person. As the discussions mature, the
reality is becoming clearer.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84999.html

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