Tech News Today for August 21, 2017

Tech News for Monday August 21, 2017

Google's next operating system will be called Android Oreo 8.0. It was timed with today's total eclipse, which we did not see because it was cloudy. It wasn't as cloudy in New York where Google unveiled the Oreo statue, the first statue anywhere outside of Google's Mountain View campus. Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel, and Pixel XL builds have entered carrier testing, but with less than 15 percent of Android users on the current build, it might be a while until you get the update. Find out more at android.com/eclipse.

Our favorite thing from 2016, the secure enclave on iOS, is reportedly less secure after a hacker by the name of Xerub obtained the full decryption key. The Secure Enclave Processor that was first introduced with the iPhone 5S is a tiny co-processor that runs on its own, separated from the OS to handle Touch ID transactions on iOS devices. The firmware code is posted for anyone to get on GitHub, and could lead to Touch ID hacks, and other attacks that benefit from that decryption. Read more at techrepublic.com

Even with the big Android news today, we still have time to slip one Apple rumor into the news mix today. The company’s new flagship smartphone is expected to feature a 3D face scanner instead. The Korea Herald says that the iPhone 8’s 3D face scanner will be able to scan your face “in a millionth of a second.” We've also heard that you can lay your phone down flat on a table or desk and it will also be able to scan your face. This should make the lack of a TouchID a little easier to take. Read more at 9to5mac.com.

HTC dropped the price of the HTC Vive VR headset from $799 to $599, a move that puts it closer in price to the Oculus Rift after its price drop to $499 last month. Of course, HTC says this isn’t a reaction to that price drop, but rather it was the plan all along to lower the cost to help it reach a broader market. The kit comes with the headset, two motion controllers, two wall mounted sensors for tracking movement, and a free trial to Viveport Subscription service for 5 titles per month. Read more at polygon.com.

Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Ant Pruitt of TechRepublic to talk about what you need to know to create stunning cinematic drone videos. Tech News Today streams live weekdays at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/tnt.