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Tech News Today for May 4, 2017

Tech News for Thursday May 4, 2017

Last month Apple announced that it would make its own graphics chips and wean itself from its longstanding reliance on graphics chips provided by Imagination Technologies. In light of that change, Imagination announced plans to sell off two of its businesses: one that works on embedded processors and the other that licenses mobile and IoT patents. Also, after being unable to “make progress” on a new licensing arrangement with Apple, Imagination is setting up a dispute process with Apple based on terms in their licensing agreement. Read more at theverge.com.

Iain Thomson at the Register says that over the past few months, hackers have used vulnerabilities in the Signaling System Number Seven Protocol or SS7 to empty the bank accounts of some Germans. And before you say, "they should have turned on 2-factor" — they did. SS7 is part of how cell phones communicate with each other and the hole allows very sophisticated cybercriminals to grab the 2 factor codes in transit. Part of the scam involves setting up a telecommunications company. It's sophisticated, but it can be done, specifically to steal cash during wire transfers. And as Iain wonders in his article, maybe this real-world exploit will finally force the telcos to get their backsides in gear. Read more at theregister.co.uk.

SpaceX has a plan to send internet-beaming satellites into orbit starting in 2019 ahead of lighting up its network in 2024. SpaceX is looking to get a prototype satellite into space sometime this year, with a follow-up taking to the skies early next year. In total, the plan would put 4,425 satellites into low-earth orbit by way of Falcon 9 rockets. The idea would be to provide high-speed low latency internet to earth without the need to dig trenches and roll out cabling to those looking to connect. Read more at cnbc.com.

In a press release today, Apple says they plan to spend a little bit of their giant pile of cash to support advanced manufacturing jobs in the United States. Tim Cook told CNBC the company is creating an Advanced Manufacturing Fund with an initital investment of 1 billion dollars. Currently the company employs two million workers in the United States, which they say is 1,500 percent growth just since the launch of the iMac in 1998. But Cook didn't give a number of jobs, just an amount of money and that advancing manufacturing could give jobs to people or to robots. Of course, you could argue that this kind of investment does create the specific kinds of jobs that are growing, in spite of the robots. Read more at apple.com.

Snapchat is getting into the original content game, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Snap TV will eventually appear in the Snapchat Stories section. The company is working alongside TV producers for networks like NBCUniversal, ESPN, ABC and Turner to create 3-5 minute original episodes that might even last longer than its 2-day disappearing act. Read more at wsj.com.

Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Patrick Tucker from Defense One to talk about why FBI Director James Comey says he notified congress about the new emails in the Clinton investigation. 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

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