Tuesday 26 November 2019

Giphy restored the 'Baby Yoda' GIFs

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It's Tuesday, November 26, 2019.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

All week, we’ll be tracking some of the best Black Friday deals on electronics, so keep an eye on our deals hub for more information. In the news, the police are taking robot dogs out on calls, and Elon Musk is setting up round two of the Cybertruck vs. F-150 fight. Also: Baby Yoda is safe.

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The next beta test starts in December.

New Tile Smart Alerts could mean never losing anything again

Tile’s item-finding Bluetooth tags are about to start testing an important upgrade. With the new SmartAlerts beta, they’ll signal a warning when you’ve left important items behind anywhere, not just at specific locations like your home. If you rush out of the coffee shop without your bag, you'll ideally get an alert before you've reached your car. You'll need a Premium subscription ($30 per year or $3 per month), but it might be a small price to pay if you can't bear the thought of leaving a valuable item alone for more than a few minutes.

Boston Dynamics robots are hitting the streets.

Massachusetts police have been quietly testing a robot dog

Radio station WBUR and the ACLU have learned that the Massachusetts State Police bomb squad leased Boston Dynamics' Spot robot. While the document didn't elaborate on the bot's role, a spokesperson said it was used as a "mobile remote observation device" to keep watch over suspicious devices and dangerous location

Fight!

Elon Musk tells Ford VP 'bring it on' in F-150 vs. Cybertruck battle

Tesla revealed its electric Cybertruck with a video showing it pulling a helpless F-150. Some have claimed the tug-of-war wasn’t fairly executed and pointed out that the Ford appears to be a RWD model with nothing in the bed to help its tires grip.

Ford X vice president Sunny Madra tweeted to Elon Musk asking to do an “apples to apples” test, and Musk replied “bring it on.” If the rematch happens, we’ll see if Ford brings an ICE truck or the electric prototype we’ve already seen in action towing over one million pounds.

Get a lifetime of 1.2 million HD vector images for $39

Stand down, internet.

Adorable 'Baby Yoda' GIFs return after Giphy mix-up

Giphy has restored GIFs of The Mandalorian stand-out character The Child (nicknamed Baby Yoda because... well, look at him) after "confusion" over whether or not the animations were allowed. Despite a report that the GIFs were pulled due to copyright violations, Giphy insists Disney wasn’t responsible, and it pulled the snippets while it “reviewed the situation.”

Also new this week: 'Servant,' 'Broken' and 'Harley Quinn.'

What's on TV this week: 'The Irishman'

This week, Netflix's biggest movie yet comes to various small screens, as it streams Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and many more. Also on Netflix, a new investigative documentary series, Broken, "exposes the unknown fraud, corruption and negligence behind some of the world's most popular merchandise." First up: vapes, dressers, recycling and makeup.

But wait, there's more...

1. Huawei's answer to the iPad Pro is the 10.8-inch MatePad Pro

2. Amazon warehouse injury numbers highlight pressure on workers

3. Netflix steps in to save New York's historic 'Paris Theatre'

4. Walmart's best Black Friday deals: Roku, Oculus, Instant Pot and more

5. Google fires employee activist amid protests

6. The Engadget staff on 'The Man in the High Castle' finale

7. Microsoft updates developers on designing apps for dual-screens

8. Ryan Reynolds now owns a stake in budget carrier Mint Mobile

9. Target Black Friday deals: AirPods, Beats Studio 3 Wireless and more

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe.

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Monday 25 November 2019

E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Monday -- November 25, 2019

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

Headline Scan
Health Tech Trends: Connected Devices, Telehealth, Independent Living Solutions
How Safe Are Home Security Systems?
Why a Single Source of Truth Often Isn't
You Might Owe Cryptocurrency-Related Taxes
Keeping the 'Service' in SaaS

Message From Our Sponsor
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Today's Story Highlights

Health Tech Trends: Connected Devices, Telehealth, Independent Living Solutions

The U.S. healthcare industry is in the midst of transformation,
including an overhaul of its information infrastructure from physical to
digital, and the rise of informed and increasingly empowered consumers.
Managing consumers' healthcare experience is no longer a selling point,
but a must-deliver component of technology vendors' solutions. Adoption
of connected health devices is on the rise.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/86369.html

How Safe Are Home Security Systems?

I have loved the story of Ring doorbells ever since seeing the CEO Jamie
Siminoff on TV's Shark Tank several years ago. I also loved the
SimpliSafe story with CEO Chad Laurans. Companies like these, including
competitors Blink and Nest -- all started by creative entrepreneurs --
are changing the security industry. However, there are several problems
users need to be aware of.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/86375.html

Why a Single Source of Truth Often Isn't

This week, Salesforce used its annual Dreamforce mega-show to make a
host of announcements, ranging from contact center partnership with
Amazon to a smart speaker tool for sales. For the most part, the keynote
featured practical applications of Salesforce technology. Some
Dreamforces focus on the highly aspirational; others focus on the ways
to attain those aspirations. This year is the latter.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/86376.html

You Might Owe Cryptocurrency-Related Taxes

Got your attention? We thought so. In a recently published Notice, the
IRS seems to be offering some cautionary advice about the legal risks
associated with using cryptocurrencies to avoid capital gains taxes.
Likely displeased by the use of cryptocurrencies to avoid reporting
capital gains, the IRS may be signaling its intent to crack down on
cryptocurrency trading activity.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/86371.html

Keeping the 'Service' in SaaS

In today's highly competitive B2B software industry, it's not enough to
staff a call center and sit back and wait for customers to reach out
when they need you -- it's imperative that you take the initiative. When
customers have so many solution vendors to choose from, service becomes
a strategic differentiator to set your company apart from the crowd.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/86372.html

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Editor's Pick: Thanks, Analysts, for Doing a High Risk, Low Reward Job

Thanks, Analysts, for Doing a High Risk, Low Reward Job

Rob Enderle Nov 25, 2019 4:00 AM PT
	I'd like to dedicate this column to the analysts out there who are fighting the good fight -- who are risking their careers, reputations, and sometimes even their lives to do the right thing, often without credit, and knowing that doing the right thing can exact incredible personal costs. Being an analyst, I'm often reminded that other jobs depend on my doing my job right. [More...]

More Picks:

4 Big 2020 Sales Enablement Predictions
Now is the time when growth-minded organizations and their sales leaders begin to evaluate this year while looking ahead to the next. It's a time to identify opportunities for improvement, anticipate industry changes, and solidify a sales strategy that will align with the evolving expectations of business-to-business buyers, emerging technologies, and the company's business goals. [More...]

Cleverly Reimagined Slax Distro Pushes Portable Linux's Limits
Slax Linux is a handy portable operating system that can be a useful alternative to bulky, more complicated Linux options that install to a hard drive. However, it is far from a complete out-of-the-box solution. That is not a bad thing, though. Slax works. Copying just one folder from the downloaded ISO directly to a USB drive gives you a fully functional Linux OS. [More...]

How Safe Are Home Security Systems?
I have loved the story of Ring doorbells ever since seeing the CEO Jamie Siminoff on TV's Shark Tank several years ago. I also loved the SimpliSafe story with CEO Chad Laurans. Companies like these, including competitors Blink and Nest -- all started by creative entrepreneurs -- are changing the security industry. However, there are several problems users need to be aware of. [More...]

Follow Us

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Over 200,000 Tesla Cybertruck deposits

Engadget Email Newsletter

Now available on your smart speaker and wherever you get your podcasts

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It's Monday, November 25, 2019.

Hey, good morning!

Hold on to that pay check. Black Friday cometh, and it seems a lot of retailers don’t really care for the fine details of starting their sales specifically on Friday. As we pick through the few deals worth your hard-earned dollars, there are some early winners. This year’s theme appears to be cheaper wireless headphones and heavy smartphone discounts. On the subject of the former, we review Jabra’s very latest true wireless buds, the Elite 75t, and Tesla finds an audience for its Cybertruck.

A much-improved follow-up to last year’s Elite 65t true wireless earbuds.

Jabra Elite 75t review: The leap from good to great

Jabra’s latest true wireless earbuds are significantly smaller and last 2.5 hours longer than 2018’s Elite 65t. They also sound better, but they don’t have active noise cancellation or a wireless charging case (yet). However, they’re still cheaper than most of the competition and very compelling for the price. And there's never been a better time to make the leap to wireless audio.

But will people commit to buying the electric pickup?

Tesla already has over 200,000 deposits for its Cybertruck

Despite how it looks, Tesla's Cybertruck appears to have a healthy number of potential buyers waiting in the wings. Elon Musk has revealed that more than 200,000 people have placed deposits for the electric pickup already. The cheapest, $39,900, single-motor truck is actually the least popular model so far. Just 17 percent of customers have put money down for the entry model, while 42 percent have picked the dual-motor version and 41 percent want the speedy tri-motor variant. It's also important to stress that these are deposits, not absolute commitments to buy the Cybertruck. Years ago, Tesla wound up refunding a significant percentage of Model 3 deposits from customers that either didn't want to wait or lost interest.

It even led to a trending Twitter hashtag.

TV reporter's sick-call email sparks horrific reply-all chaos

The reply-all email is the bane of corporate existence. For Kansas City's Nick Vasos, however, his reply-all mistake led to a whole mess. When the Fox 4 TV reporter inadvertently sent a sick-call email to all of Nexstar Media Group, he not only triggered an epic reply-all email chain, he sparked a social media sensation.

Vasos explained that he'd texted his manager to indicate that he was sick but turned to email to be safe when he didn't get a reply. His mistake was to assume that the email auto-complete feature would use his manager's -- and not a company-wide -- address.

Save big on your water bill with this smart monitor

How this affects Huawei's PCs isn't clear.

Microsoft gets US license to resume selling software to Huawei

The US Commerce Department has granted Microsoft a license to "export mass-market software" to Huawei, according to a Microsoft statement to Bloomberg. The American company declined to say just what "mass-market" meant, but Windows and Office theoretically count -- Huawei might not have trouble offering PCs like the MateBook X Pro in the US. Huawei’s footprint in PCs isn’t that huge, however. The Chinese company is likely to be chasing a return to Android phones with more urgency.