Tech News Today for January 11, 2017

Tech News for Wednesday January 11, 2017

Alphabet continues to pare down its many efforts by shuttering Project Titan, its solar powered drone program. And according to Bloomberg, Alphabet is also in the process of trying to sell its Skybox Imaging Satellite business which it renamed Terra Bella last year. Read more at businessinsider.com.

Verizon has confirmed that it will kick grandfathered unlimited users off its networks, if they're data hogs. If you use 200 gigabytes a month, you'll be required to switch to a capped plan or Verizon will show you the door. The company also raised phone activation and upgrade fees to $30. Yesterday AT&T told users on the all-you-can-download plan that AT&T would raise their rates by $5 a month. Read more at engadget.com.

Samsung says that more than 96 percent of its Galaxy Note 7 devices have been returned thanks to its recall after a number of exploding battery incidents. Thanks to the high number of returns, the Federal Aviation Administration has lifted its requirement that airlines issue pre-boarding messages warning against bringing the device onto flights. Read more at venturebeat.com.

Instagram is adding full screen ads to your stories, but you can skip them. Copying Snapchat's stories has been a successful move for Instagram. Since launching Stories five months ago, Instagram has gone from 100 million daily users to a 150 million daily users. Maybe that's why Instagram's description of the way ads will work in their stories seems suspiciously similar to the way ads work in Snapchat stories. Read more at techcrunch.com.

If you are getting all pumped for Nintendo’s big announcement event tomorrow evening for its upcoming Switch platform, then you might want to know that the company is aready starting to reveal information on its release. According the Nintendo’s New York Twitter account, pre-orders for the system will begin on Friday morning at 9AM eastern. That will snag gamers a place in line to get the system when it officially launches sometime in March. Read more at venturebeat.com.

Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Matt McFarland from CNN the safety, liability, and ethics of self-driving cars. 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.