Tech News Today 1768

In reference to the latest ransomware attack, Microsoft President and chief legal officer Brad Smith calls out the potential harm caused when governments, ours included, actively work to develop zero-day vulnerabilities and then hoard them.

Netflix is taking aim at Android users who unlock and root their devices by disabling the app’s visibility in the Play Store. Those with the app already installed on their device can still use it, for now, but the plan is to keep it from running on those devices altogether.

Facebook’s new initiative, ParlAI, will open-source the dialogue used to train machines to have conversations, with a focus on computer vision and other fields of artificial intelligence involved in learning how to understand a task. The eventual goal is to give you your own digital friend.

Plus, patent licensing for the MP3 is dead, the iPhone is expected to get Google Assistant, and Zelda may be coming to mobile. Also, Sam Abuelsamid joins to discuss Waymo and Lyft's deal that rubs salt in Uber's wound, or maybe it rubs Smalt in the wound... that is... a smart salt shaker... that actually exists.

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Links

• The need for urgent collective action to keep people safe online: Lessons from last week’s cyberattack Read more at https://blog
• Netflix confirms it is blocking rooted/unlocked devices, app itself is still working (for now)
• Facebook’s ParlAI is where researchers will push the boundaries of conversational AI
• Patent licensing on MP3 format expires, Apple-preferred AAC now a 'de facto standard'
• Google will announce Assistant for iOS soon, in the US only at launch
• Lyft and Waymo Reach Deal to Collaborate on Self-Driving Cars
• Google Wants Android and Its Assistant to Power Your Car Too
• The Best Ransomware Protection of 2017
• Smalt