Tech News Today for October 27, 2016

Tech News for Thursday October 27, 2016

Apple held their “Hello Again” event this morning and as expected, unveiled the latest entries into its laptop hardware catalog. The new 2016 MacBook Pro is the first meaningful design upgrade to the line in years, as evidenced by swapping the function key row with a multitouch enabled OLED panel called the Touch Bar that changes contextually based on what app is currently in use on the screen. Touch ID is also integrated into the strip for Apple Pay and security integrations. Apple trimmed down the size of the new laptops making them thinner and lighter than any MacBook Pro before them. Apple included four Thunderbolt 3 ports, two on each side, for power and expandability. Prices begin at $1,299 for a 13” version without the Touch Bar, up to $2,399 to start for the 15” version that includes the Touch Bar. Read more at theverge.com.

Apple also worked with LG to create a new 5K monitor designed specifically for the new MacBook Pro. The 27” 5K UltraFine Display has built-in speakers, a microphone, a camera, and three additional downstream Thunderbolt ports for further expandability and accessories. To show off the power of the higher end MacBook Pro, and the expandability of the 4 Thunderbolt ports included with the laptop, Apple showcased two of the LG 4K monitors connected to and being driven by the 2016 MacBook Pro simultaneouslty along with a few other accessories connected for good measure. Read more at macrumors.com.

Apple also gave a nod to the Apple TV, but not by updating the hardware in any way. Instead, Apple announced a new app for the platform, as well as iOS devices called, simply, TV. The goal is to unify and recommend the best digital content provided by 1600 video content providers inside one app. It works with Siri for voice commands and integrates single sign-on so accessing content from varied services doesn’t require constant log-in processes. One thing that is missing, however, is any sort of Netflix or Amazon content support. TV will be available for download by the end of the year in the US. Read more at theverge.com.

Amazon held its third quarter earnings and after three straight record breaking quarters, Amazon posted $252 million for the quarter, breaking its profit streak. The company came in well below the 78 cents per share that analysts were estimating with 52 cents a share, and that saw stock trading down around 6 percent in after hours trading. Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing infrastructure continued to perform with $3.23 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 54.9 percent year over year. Read more at cnbc.com.

AWS reports $3.2 billion in revenue in Q3 2016, up 55% over last year. Read more at venturebeat.com.

Alphabet reports a strong third quarter despite free-falling advertising values. Read more at techcrunch.com.

Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Kurt Wagner from Re/Code. Tech News Today streams live weekdays at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. Subscribe to the show and get it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.