Tech News Today for October 13, 2016
Tech News for Thursday October 13, 2016
In today's Samsung Recall update, the Consumer Product Safety Comission has officially recalled the Galaxy Note 7. The official recall says there have been 96 reports of batteries overheating in the U.S., including 23 new reports since the September 15 recall announcement. Samsung has received 13 reports of burns and 47 reports of property damage. If you return your Note 7 for another Galaxy phone you'll get $100 off. If you decide on another brand, you'll get $25 off. Read more at cpsc.gov.
Yahoo’s unprecedented security breach disclosure from three weeks ago has cast a shadow over Verizon’s potential purchase of the company, and we’ve been wondering if it would affect the sale price or even put a halt to the deal altogether. Verizon’s General Counsel Craig Silliman spoke to reporters and said there’s a reasonable basis for impact on the deal to be material, meaning the disclosures could directly affect Yahoo’s value which could make the deal less likely to continue under the current agreement. Silliman says that Yahoo needs to demonstrate the full impact to prove that it won’t impact Yahoo’s business significantly. Yahoo followed up with a statement expressing its confidence in Yahoo’s value and dedication to making the integration happen as planned. Read more at washingtonpost.com.
Dating app Tinder tweaked its algorithm to do the job that you can't do and that your best friend won't do. Tinder's Smart Photos will tell you which of your selfie profile pics are the best. The company announced that when you turn on Smart Photos, the app will display various profile photos to determine which photo people swipe right on the most, or what Tinder calls "The Most Swipeworthy You." So basically they're A/B testing your profile as if you are a new website they're designing. Read more at engadget.com.
Google’s AI is continuing to improve its Google Photos product with some new features, including the automatic creation of animated GIFs pulled from videos in a user’s library, with machine learning that recognizes when an activity is taking place inside videos. Another feature jumps back in time to look at relationships a user might have with others, pulling out a collection of photos that link those two people together. The AI will also pull out your best photos from the month, focused on a person or theme. And finally, the AI can recognize photos that aren’t rotated correctly and fix those automatically. Read more at techcrunch.com.
Another day, another study on fitness trackers. This one comes from researchers at Cleveland Clinic who say the accuracy of wrist-worn, optically based heart rate monitors is uncertain at best. Of the four devices tested: the Apple Watch, the Fitbit Charge HR, the Mio Fuse and the Basis Peak, the Apple Watch was the most accurate. However, none were as accurate as a monitor you strap to your chest. Read more at theverge.com.
Tech News Today with Megan Morrone and Jason Howell streams live weekdays at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. Subscribe to the show and download it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.
