Tech News Today for September 8, 2016
Tech News for September 8, 2016
For months, the FCC has been seeking to unchain the set top box market, pull that power away from the cable companies, and place it into the hands of consumers by allowing them to choose which device to use to watch their paid content. Tom Wheeler, FCC chairman, wrote an op-ed in the LA Times today where he unveiled its revised plan for doing so, and it revolves around requiring pay-TV providers to develop and provide free apps that give subscribers access to all programming content that’s included in their subscription. Part of the plan would also require integrated search to allow a subscriber to quickly find the content they need and where it can be streamed from. Read more at theverge.com
PC World reports that Eben Upton, the man behind the Raspberry Pi never had commercial success in mind. But today he announced that they had sold their 10 millionth Raspberry Pi. In honor of that, the company is offering a new starter kit which includes a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, an 8GB NOOBS SD card, an official case, an official 2.5A multi-region power supply, an official 1 millimeter HDMI cable, an optical mouse and a keyboard with high-quality scissor-switch action and a copy of the book, Adventures in Raspberry Pi Foundation Edition. It's available in the UK for 99 pounds which is about 140 US dollars. It will be available to the rest of the world in the coming weeks. Everytime you buy a Raspberry Pi you fund their ongoing engineering work, and the companies educational outreach programs. Read more at pcworld.com
Alphabet has big ambitions, and we hear about them all the time. So it's no surprise that its Project Wing is about to tackle an issue we’ve all struggled with: How to get a burrito delivered to your doorstep by a drone. Apparently, Chipotle is down to provide said burrito, with Alphabet providing the wings. And they even have Virginia Tech’s students as test subjects who will intercept that food, and promptly eat it. Cause college students are hungry, for food and new technology. Read more at bloomberg.com
Amazon Echo might be getting mouthier. A report in the Information says Amazon is prepping the product for push notifications so the device might speak without first being spoken to. Soon Alexa might be able to tell you when your Uber is here, when someone is at your door, if traffic on your commute is worse than normal, or if you've left your lights on. Alexa developers have been asking for push notifications for a while, but are consumers ready for a verbal nag in their living room? Read more at theinformation.com
Google Chrome is about to make a big change to how it treats HTTP connections. Starting in January 2017, Chrome browsers will mark HTTP sites that also transmit passwords or credit card details as non-secure sites. Beyond that, Google plans to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure at some point in the future. That indicator will show in the address bar of the Chrome browser to alert users that their personal information could possibly be intercepted. Read more at security.googleblog.com
Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Alex Kantrowitz from Buzzfeed to discuss the AirPods that Apple announced yesterday. Tech News Today streams live at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. Subscribe to the show and get it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.