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Tech News Today for December 13, 2016

Tech News for Tuesday December 13, 2016

The New York Times says that Russian Hackers gained access to the emails of DNC campaign chairman John Podesta as a result of a typo. The Times says Podesta was suspicious of a phishing scam he received, but one aid responded with the message "this is a legitimate email. John needs to change his password immediately." In many interviews afterwards the aid says he meant to write, "this is an ILLigitimate email." Podesta clicked on the link in the phishing email and the rest is history, even up to, and possibly including, influencing this year's election. Politics aside, the phishing attack might not have changed the outcome of the election, but it surely influenced it, which means Russia has a powerful cyberweapon in its hands. Read more at nytimes.com.

Oculus announced structural changes, further defining its PC VR and mobile VR divisions. Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe is stepping down to lead the new PC group, while head of software Jon Thomason will lead the new mobile division. Both will work alongside Mike Schroepfer, CTO of Facebook, to ultimately select a new CEO for the company. Read more at uploadvr.com.

At last, Apple's AirPods are finally on sale for $159. You still won't get them by Christmas because they're already backordered to at least 4 weeks. But an official press release says they'll arrive in stores next week. Read more at macrumors.com.

Google is formalizing its efforts with the Internet of Things by rebranding its seemingly stalled Brillo IoT platform as "Android Things." Developers can get going with the SDK preview along with supported developer kits that include the Raspberry Pi 3, the Intel Edison and the NXP Pico. Weave, Google’s IoT platform, is expected to release in a later developer preview. Read more at techcrunch.com.

Speaking of Internet of Things, Mary Jo Foley says Microsoft is bringing Cortana to all the devices in your home with the 2017 Creators Update. Talk to your smart fridge, your internet connect lights, your wired toothbrush, basically you'll soon be yelling commands at everything. Read more at zdnet.com.

Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Mike Murphy of qz.com. Tech News Today streams live at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. Subscribe to the show and download it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.

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