Tech News Today for February 8, 2017

Tech News for Wednesday February 8, 2017

Pinterest is launching a new feature called Lens, a way to use machine vision to recognize real world objects and surface images within the service that match that particular image search. One could search a clock and then see how that clock looks on the wall inside pictures on the platform, for example. Pinterest also introduced Shop the Look, which utilizes both machine learning and human curation to match items visually and then offer links to places selling those items. Read more at recode.net.

It's official: Android Wear 2.0 is here! The newest version of the Android wearable OS includes the ability to make payments and it's simpler to navigate. Finally there will be that elusive ability to use apps without your phone. There's also an "Aerobics" choice on Google Fit. Read more at theverge.com.

One of the biggest hurdles for Virtual Reality is proving to consumers that they have to have it, so you put the technology where consumers are and let them try it for themselves. Best Buy has housed around 500 Oculus Rift demo stations in its US stores, but even that hasn’t been enough as Facebook is closing around 200 of those stations due to poor store performance. In many cases, those pop-ups would go days without interest in a single demonstration. Read more at businessinsider.com.

So far a lot of Smart Home products seem very dumb. The new Brilliant Control, however, might be very smart. It's a touchcreen wall switch that lets you control lights and music, and it has Amazon Alexa capabilities built-in. It also works with all the big names in home automation including Nest, Sonos, Philips Hue, Ring, SmartThings, Wink bulbs, Honeywell and some security systems. Read more at techcrunch.com.

Another day, another Samsung battery fire story. But this one is a little bit different. Samsung SDI, Samsung’s sister company that supplied one of two batteries that were the cause of Note 7 battery faults last year, reported that a minor fire broke out in its waste facility that handles its faulty batteries. Thankfully, there were no casualties and impact to the facility is minimal. Read more at reuters.com.

Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Alyssa Bereznek from The Ringer. Tech News Today streams live weekdays at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. You can subscribe to the show and get it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.