Tech News Today for December 6, 2016

Tech News for Tuesday December 6, 2016

YouTube hit a significant milestone by paying more than $1 billion in advertising dollars to the music industry. YouTube’s approach hinges on the advertising model, compared to other music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music that operates on a subscription-based revenue model. As such, YouTube is arguing that subscription and advertising models can co-exist, much like what is seen with television content. Read more at businessinsider.com.

As it turns out 2016 hasn't been a total disaster for Samsung. The Supreme Court has negated the nearly $400 million in damages that another court had ordered Samsung to pay to Apple in their exhaustively long patent infringement case. This is the first time the Supreme Court has weighed in on a design patent in more than 100 years. With the decision, the Supreme Court effectively said that a component of a design should be treated differently from the infringement of an entire design. So, even though Samsung might have infringed on part of Apple's design, they shouldn't have to cough up profits from the total sale of the smart phone. The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court to decide what Samsung should pay in damages. Read more at theverge.com.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters that the Apple Watch did incredibly well during the first week of holiday shopping, setting a sales record in the process. IDC has estimated around 1.1 million units sold during Q3 2016 which would be down around 71 percent year over year. But Cook says the Apple Watch is on track for its best qurter ever. Read more at Reuters.com.

Instagram is fighting hate with love. Or at least the ability to love other people's comments on your photos, which you couldn't do before. If hearting all the positive comments doesn't get rid of the negativity on Instagram, you can now block followers without them knowing you blocked them, if you have a private account. You can also turn off comments on particular posts. All of these are part of a collection of tools Instagram has given users including the ability to filter comments by keyword and to anonymously report friends if you think they might harm themselves. Read more at techcrunch.com.

Google announced that it is near its goal of reaching 100% renewable energy for the business, expecting to reach that goal in 2017 for all of its global operations. Google plans to buy enough wind and solar electricity every year to account for every bit of electricity its operations consume around the world. In other words, this isn't about getting off the grid, it’s about investing in renewable energy to a point that offsets their fossil fuel reliance. Read more at blog.google.

Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Christina Warren of Gizmodo to talk about Snapchat Spectacles. Tech News Today streams live weekdays at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. You can subscribe to the show and download it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.