RAEC//Digest

#internationalnews
The world's biggest maker of mobile phone chips has been fined €997m ($1.2bn; £870m) by European authorities for paying Apple to use its chips. The EU's Competition Commission said Qualcomm had "prevented rivals from competing in the market". Qualcomm said it would appeal against the fine. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42806404

#internationalnews
The central-bank governor of Nigeria, where bitcoin trading grew the most in Africa last year, said investing in the cryptocurrency is a “gamble” and hinted it may have to be regulated. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-25/central-bank-in-africa-s-top-bitcoin-market-warns-of-gamble

#internationalnews
A survey used by Facebook to determine how much prominence to give to different news publishers consists of just two brief questions. The first asks whether a user recognises the websites displayed. The second asks whether the user trusts them on a five-point scale ranging from "not at all" to "entirely". Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42805712

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Apple Inc. said its HomePod smart speaker will be available for sale online Friday and hit stores on Feb. 9, after being delayed from December. The $349, Siri-controlled device was originally announced last June and marks the iPhone maker’s first foray into smart-home hardware. The speaker is designed to be a bulwark in Apple users’ homes, serving as a gadget to stream Apple Music, get weather information and control such accessories as lights, door locks and curtains. It can also serve as a speakerphone for iPhone calls, Apple said Tuesday. Later this year, a software update will let users play music throughout the house with multi-room audio. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-23/apple-says-homepod-will-go-on-sale-friday-after-brief-delay

#internationalnews
A Facebook engineer has invented a new unit of time called a flick. The flick has been designed to help developers keep video effects in sync, according to a description on the code-sharing site GitHub. A flick, derived from "frame-tick", is 1/705,600,000 of a second - the next unit of time after a nanosecond. A researcher at Oxford University said the flick wouldn't have much general impact but may help create better virtual reality experiences. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42787529

#internationalnews
Booming interest in crypto-currencies has been blamed for pushing up the prices of graphics cards. The cards are popular because they speed up the process of minting or "mining" crypto-coins. Keen miners are buying graphics cards in large quantities and running them in parallel to boost their coin-producing efforts. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42774882

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
In a move that could revolutionise the way we buy groceries, Amazon opens its first supermarket without checkouts - human or self-service - to shoppers on Monday. Amazon Go, in Seattle, has been tested by staff for the past year. It uses hundreds of ceiling-mounted cameras and electronic sensors to identify each customer and track what items they select. Purchases are billed to customers' credit cards when they leave the store. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42769096

#internationalnews
Facebook Inc. acknowledged today that social media can have a negative impact on democracies, and that the company has more work to do in order to ensure that the good outweighs the bad. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-22/facebook-says-social-media-not-always-healthy-for-democracy

#internationalnews
Only one in four Britons trusts social media and users would like to see tighter regulation, according to the annual Edelman Trust Barometer. Its survey found two-thirds of Britons believe platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are not doing enough to prevent illegal and unethical behaviour, including cyber-bullying and extremism. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42771740

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Reality television has come to Silicon Valley. Apple Inc. announced this week that it was accelerating “investing and job creation.” The numbers were HUGE. The company promised a $350 billion contribution to the U.S. economy over the next five years. Not only that. Apple pledged 20,000 new jobs in its homeland over that same period. Oh, and it’s going to create a new campus somewhere in the country. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-19/apple-and-amazon-have-their-reality-tv-moment

#internationalnews
Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick will become a billionaire, after investors agreed to take a large stake in the ride-hailing firm. A consortium led by Japan's Softbank is buying a chunk of the company from existing shareholders as well as new Uber shares in a $9.3bn (£6.7bn) deal. Mr Kalanick, who stepped down as chief executive in June, is selling $1.4bn worth of stocks, it is widely reported. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42740680

#internationalnews
Google has released a fix for a bug in Chromecast and Android devices which could temporarily knock out home wi-fi networks. The problem emerges when Chromecast and Google Home devices wake from their low power "sleep" state. When waking, the devices can transmit more than 100,000 packets of data, quickly overwhelming home routers. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42745214

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Apple Inc. stock analysts headed in opposite directions, with the tech giant picking up a rare downgrade on the same day it got a new target price that exceeded all others on Wall Street. While Longbow Research analyst Shawn Harrison cut the stock to neutral on Wednesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Wamsi Mohan raised his target price to $220 from $180. That’s the highest target price among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The shares slipped 0.1 percent in early trading to $176.05. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-17/apple-gets-a-downgrade-and-a-new-street-high-target-on-same-day

#internationalnews
Alphabet Inc.’s Google is introducing a new product that lets data-center customers tap the search engine’s artificial-intelligence arsenal, part of the company’s effort to stand out in the competitive cloud-computing market. The product, called Cloud AutoML, is aimed at companies with limited experience in the AI field. It uses a company’s data to automatically generate machine-learning models -- computing systems that can crunch and parse huge swaths of information. Google is starting with vision, allowing companies to classify images more effectively, but plans to release the tool for analyzing text, speech and video. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-17/google-pitches-ai-image-detection-tool-to-lure-cloud-customers

#internationalnews
Bitcoin has traded below $10,000 for the first time since early December. The value of one bitcoin fell to $9,958 (£7,222) before making a slight recovery, according to the price index run by the news site Coindesk. That represents a drop of nearly 50% since it peaked close to $19,800 five weeks ago. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42717639
Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Uber Technologies Inc. will begin limiting the time U.K. drivers can spend on the road to 10 hours a day, responding to regulatory health concerns about tiredness and exhaustion. Uber said that starting next week it will require drivers to take a six-hour break if they’ve worked for 10 consecutive hours. To enforce compliance, workers will be prevented from logging into the app during rest periods. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-16/uber-limits-u-k-driver-hours-in-response-to-safety-concerns

#internationalnews
Japanese giant Softbank is planning to list its mobile phone business in Tokyo and overseas, according to the Nikkei newspaper. The listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and possibly in London aims to raise 2 trillion yen ($18bn; £13.1bn). Softbank confirmed in a statement that the share sale was an option, but said no decision has yet been made. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42685276

#internationalnews
Hackers have stolen $400,000 (£290,000) of the virtual currency Stellar Lumen in an online attack on Saturday. The group hijacked the server that hosts BlackWallet, a web-based wallet application that stores lumens and stole 669,920 from users' accounts. Stellar Lumen is thought to be the eighth most popular virtual currency in the world. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42689642

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Health data has provided crucial evidence at a trial in Germany, in which a refugee is accused of rape and murder. Apple's Health App accurately records steps and has been pre-installed on the iPhone 6S and newer models. Data suggesting the suspect was climbing stairs could correlate to him dragging his victim down a riverbank and climbing back up, police said. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42663297

#internationalnews
Companies pushing new virtual reality headsets talked a good game at CES 2018 in Las Vegas this week. Facebook’s Oculus touted new features in its upcoming $200 Oculus Go, a device designed to do for VR what the iPhone did for the smartphone, Google and Lenovo showed off a jointly designed headset that will sell for the half the price of an iPhone, and HTC announced an updated Vive headset with beefier graphics. Hugo Barra, who runs virtual reality products for Facebook, says “VR is just in its infancy. We’re just seeing the market beginning to take off.” Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-12/vr-lives-another-day-as-amazon-apple-explore-ar

#internationalnews
Facebook is to change how its news feed works, making posts from businesses, brands and media less prominent. Instead, content that sparks conversations among family and friends who use the site will be emphasised, explained chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on his page. Organisations on Facebook may see the popularity of their posts decrease as a result, the firm acknowledged. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42657621

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
OurCrowd Ltd., a Jerusalem-based crowdfunding investment platform comparable to AngelList, is raising a $100 million fund to finance early-stage companies focusing on artificial intelligence, deep-learning and robotics. Unlilke AngelList, a popular destination for budding startups seeking capital, OurCrowd acts more like a traditional fund by vetting deals and investing in companies alongside its users. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-11/crowdfunding-platform-raising-100m-fund-for-ai-deep-learning

#internationalnews
The giant consumer electronics show CES has suffered a power cut, plunging part of the event into darkness. The Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)'s central hall went dark at around 11:20 local time (19:20 GMT). Two hours passed before the organisers said that the electricity supply had been restored. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42639780

#internationalnews
South Korea is considering a law to ban cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin being traded on local exchanges. Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said virtual currencies were "great concerns" and that the ministry was preparing a bill to ban trading. However, South Korea's presidential office said later that a ban had not yet been finalised and was one measure being considered. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42645081

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Police have apologised after giving infected memory sticks as prizes in a government-run cyber-security quiz. Taiwan's national police agency said 54 of the flash drives it gave out at an event highlighting a government's cybercrime crackdown contained malware. The virus, which can steal personal data and has been linked to fraud, was added inadvertently, it said. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42634571

#internationalnews
Shares in photo firm Eastman Kodak soared nearly 120% after it revealed plans to mint its own crypto-currency, the KodakCoin. The US firm said it was teaming up with London-based Wenn Media Group to carry out the initial coin offering (ICO). It is part of a blockchain-based initiative to help photographers control their image rights. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42630136

#internationalnews
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein is doubling down on his claim that he runs a technology company. This time, he’s giving clients access to an online startup making commercial real estate investments. The Wall Street bank committed $250 million in money collected from private-wealth clients to Cadre, which operates via an internet platform, according to a statement Wednesday by the tech firm. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-10/goldman-commits-250-million-in-client-money-to-real-estate-firm

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
It’s the kind of market anomaly that savvy traders usually devour in fractions of a second: bitcoin prices in South Korea are 43 percent higher than those in the U.S. Arbitrage 101 says buy in America, sell in Korea, and pocket the difference for a risk-free profit, minus transaction costs. Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-09/bitcoin-s-43-arbitrage-trade-is-a-lot-tougher-than-it-looks

#internationalnews
Samsung has announced a giant 146in (396cm) TV called The Wall at the CES tech show in Las Vegas. The TV features a micro-LED display, which is pitched as a superior alternative to OLED because it offers both deep blacks and bright highlights. However, one analyst said they would likely be very expensive to manufacture. Samsung also says its modular technology will allow for TVs of customised sizes to be ordered. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42615611

#internationalnews
Intel's chief executive has said software fixes to address the recently discovered Meltdown and Spectre bugs in microchips would be released in the next few days. Brian Krzanich was speaking at the beginning of his keynote speech at the CES trade show event in Las Vegas. He said 90% of processors and products from the past five years would be patched "within a week". Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42616474

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Twitter will now display messages to inform users if blocked tweets were withheld to comply with local laws or court orders, which it calls Country Withheld Content (CWC). The public already has information about CWC through notices sent directly to affected accounts, Lumen, a database of legal requests for the removal of online content, and Twitter’s own biannual transparency reports. The new interstitials, however, will give Twitter users information as soon as they try to access blocked tweets or accounts. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/twitter-will-tell-users-if-content-was-blocked-to-comply-with-local-laws-or-legal-demands/

#internationalnews
Apple today announced it’s amending the App Store guideline that banned apps created using templates and other app generation services. When the company revised its policies earlier this year, the move was meant to reduce the number of low-quality apps and spam. But the decision ended up impacting a much wider market — including small businesses, restaurants, nonprofits, organizations, clubs and others who don’t have the in-house expertise or funds to build custom apps from scratch. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/apple-revises-its-controversial-guidelines-on-template-based-apps/

#internationalnews
Facebook no longer displays red warning icons next to fake news stories shared on the platform, as it says the approach has not worked as hoped. In December 2016, the site started showing a "disputed" warning next to articles that third-party fact checking websites said were fake news. However, it said research suggested the "red flag" approach actually "entrenched deeply held beliefs". Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42438750

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
The $40 million Ripcord Series B we reported back in August has just been bumped up to $65 million, courtesy of additional funding led by Google Ventures. The added funding comes as the record keeping company continues to grow at a healthy clip. The Bay Area based service added 100 jobs this year, and is on track to add another 150 in 2018. The service came out of stealth in March of this year, when it announced that it had raised a $9.5 million Series A. At the time, it cited billion-dollar enterprise management giant Iron Mountain as its primary competitor. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/google-ventures-invests-in-ripcords-paper-digitizing-robotics-service/

#internationalnews
Apple is said to be working on a way to allow developers to build apps that work with touchscreen input on iPhone and iPad, and with mouse and trackpad on Mac devices, to be implemented next year, according to Bloomberg. The system would unify development environments for both of Apple’s main computing platforms, iOS and macOS, allowing them to target all devices with a single app instead of having to develop separately for each. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/apple-will-reportedly-unify-ios-and-mac-apps-in-2018/

#internationalnews
One of the US's leading crypto-currency exchanges is carrying out an insider trading investigation. Coinbase fears its own workers may have exploited its move into Bitcoin Cash - a spin-off of the original Bitcoin. The San Francisco-based firm announced the move after Bitcoin Cash's price jumped. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42425857

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
A crypto-currency exchange in South Korea is shutting down after it was hacked for the second time in less than eight months. Youbit, which lets people buy and sell bitcoins and other virtual currencies, has filed for bankruptcy after losing 17% of its assets in the cyber-attack. It did not disclose how much the assets were worth at the time of the attack. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42409815

#internationalnews
The U.S. Government has officially blamed North Korea for WannaCry, the massive ransomware attacked that spread across the world disrupting more than 200,000 businesses from 35 countries this past May. Writing in the New York Times [link subject to a paywall], Homeland Security Advisor Thomas P. Bossert said for the first time that the North Korean regime is directly to blame for the chaos, which is said to have crippled parts of the UK’s National Health Service among other targets. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/18/us-government-north-korea-wannacry/

#internationalnews
Facebook and WhatsApp have been issued with formal notices by France’s data protection watchdog warning that data transfers being carried out for ‘business intelligence’ purposes currently lack a legal basis — and consequently that Facebook Inc, WhatsApp’s owner, has violated the French Data Protection Act. WhatsApp has been given a month to remedy the situation or could face additional investigation by the CNIL — and the potential for a sanction to be issued against it in future. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/19/france-puts-facebook-on-notice-over-whatsapp-data-transfers/

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Amazon’s Echo lineup got a refresh earlier this year that included a brand new version of its basic Echo, well as an Echo Plus with integrated smart home hub, and the stalwart Echo Dot – unchanged, but still a compelling device at its price point. The new lineup of devices also made its way to more markets this year, including an expansion to Canada just this month, which is why I now have a host of Echo hardware kitting out my apartment. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/18/amazons-latest-echos-show-the-smart-home-space-hitting-its-stride/

#internationalnews
Twitter today says it will begin to enforce new rules related to how it handles hateful conduct and abusive behavior taking place on its platform. The changes are a part of the company’s broader agenda to craft new policies focused on reducing the amount of abuse, hate speech, violence and harassment. Specifically, Twitter explains that in addition to threatening violence or physical harm, it will also look for accounts affiliated with groups that promote violence against citizens to further their causes. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/18/twitter-today-starts-enforcing-new-rules-around-violence-and-hate/

#internationalnews
Facebook has defended itself against claims that using the site can damage wellbeing and mental health. In a blogpost, it said while there was evidence it could negatively affect mood, the way it affected people was determined by how they used it. Facebook's downsides could be combated by making more use of the site and interacting positively, it said. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42395998

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Thousands of Vodafone customers will be able to end their contracts early after the UK's communications regulator raised concerns over new charges. In April, Vodafone introduced new international roaming charges for 60 countries outside the European Union, and told customers via text message. Ofcom said it had "intervened" because it had "concerns about the clarity of that text message". Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42367751

#internationalnews
Amazon has started selling Google's Chromecast devices two years after it originally removed them from its store. Amazon said it removed them to end customer confusion about which services were available on which device. Analysts said it was because they let people watch services that competed with Amazon's Prime Video. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42365354

#internationalnews
SpaceX is taking another shot at a historic launch today, should everything go as planned. It’s targeting a launch window of 10:36 AM EST (7:36 AM PST) this morning for its CRS-13 mission, which is its 13th resupply mission for the International Space Station. The mission will deliver a payload of around 4,800 lbs of supplies and experimentation materials for ISS research. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/15/watch-spacex-launch-its-first-re-flown-capsule-and-rocket-combo-live-here/

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
China is using fake LinkedIn profiles to gather information on German officials and politicians, the German intelligence agency (BfV) has said. The agency alleges that Chinese intelligence used the networking site to target at least 10,000 Germans, possibly to recruit them as informants. It released a number of fake profiles allegedly used for this purpose. BfV head Hans-Georg Maassen said the accounts show China's efforts to subvert top-level German politics. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42304297

#internationalnews
Bitcoin futures trading on CBOE, the world’s largest futures exchange, just launched at 5pm CT. Within a minute of the launch bitcoin spiked about 10% from ~$14,700 all the way up to $16,200 before settling a few minutes later to around $15,500, up about 5%. Now an hour after launching the actual price of bitcoin is still up, trading around $15,350. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/10/bitcoin-futures-are-now-tradable-on-the-cboe/

#internationalnews
At the Microsoft Ignite Conference in September, Microsoft let it be known it was going to be a player in the future of quantum computing, and today the company took another step toward that goal when it released a preview of its quantum computing development kit. The kit includes all of the pieces a developer needs to get started including a Q# language and compiler, a Q# library, a local quantum computing simulator, a quantum trace simulator and a Visual Studio extension. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/11/microsoft-releases-quantum-computing-development-kit-preview/

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Apple has fixed a security flaw in its HomeKit system that could have let unauthorised people control smart home gadgets such as door locks and lights. The bug appeared in the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system iOS 11.2, and could have let criminals unlock internet-connected doors. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42283401

#internationalnews
Amazon is continuing to push its media services worldwide after it expanded its Alexa smart speakers and its standalone Music Unlimited service to an additional 28 countries today. The company took its Prime Video service global a year ago and last month it rolled a Fire TV Stick for over 100 countries, but now the music component of its entertainment services — which became a standalone service last year — is getting a wider rollout to this new range of countries across South America and Europe. Initial markets for Echo and Music Unlimited include the U.S. and the UK, with India and Japan among others recently added. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/08/amazon-makes-global-music-push/

#internationalnews
Two of the world's most popular online music streaming services are buying shares in one another. Spotify and China's Tencent Music Entertainment will buy minority stakes in each other, the companies have said. Neither the value of the deal nor the new shareholding sizes were disclosed, but reports have suggested they will both be taking a 10% stake. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42285181

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
Bitcoin's booming value has driven a huge rise in crypto-currency themed malware, say security firms. In one month, anti-malware software company Malwarebytes said it stopped almost 250 million attempts to place coin-mining malware on to PCs. Symantec said it had seen a "tenfold" increase in the amount of malicious code connected with crypto-cash. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41469232

#internationalnews
Visualead developed a new kind of ‘dot-less’ QR code that Alibaba had used for its business in China. The company was founded in 2013 and it landed investment from Alibaba in 2015. Now, however, Alibaba is buying the startup’s computer vision technology and an undisclosed number of Visualead’s core engineering team to create a DAMO — which stands for “discovery, adventure, momentum and outlook” — office in Tel Aviv, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/01/alibaba-visualead-tel-aviv-rd-center/

#internationalnews
If you’ve ever quickly swiped through Tinder, you know that sometimes your fingers can get away from you – and, all of a sudden, you’ve Super Liked someone without meaning to. Oops! Tinder today is addressing that problem with a new feature now testing in select markets that will make Super Liking a more intentional experience. Called “Super Likable,” the feature will pop up at random times in the app to offer you a free Super Like which can be used on one of four people presented on the Super Likable card. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/01/tinder-tests-a-new-feature-that-uses-a-i-to-suggest-who-to-super-like/

Have a great evening!

#internationalnews
If you’ve stopped paying attention to LG in the last couple of years, you’ll learn everything you need to know from the first paragraph of its latest press release that highlights a “sweeping realignment to better address the challenges ahead.” The company’s in a tough spot. It makes good and innovative phones, but just seem to make a dent in a crowded mobile industry. Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/30/lg-shakes-up-its-struggling-mobile-division-with-new-top-executives/

#internationalnews
Elon Musk's infrastructure firm, the Boring Company, will compete to build a new transport link in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is exploring options for a high-speed link between O'Hare Airport and the city centre, and is considering an underground link. Mr Musk tweeted that the Boring Company would submit a proposal for a "high-speed loop" in Chicago. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42181133

#internationalnews
Facebook has temporarily turned off a system that let advertisers choose which ethnic and minority groups saw their ads. It said it would investigate how the feature was being used by advertisers. News organisation ProPublica discovered that the system could be abused by posting discriminatory ads on the social network. Facebook said it would look for a way to change the system so it could not be used "inappropriately". Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42180493

Have a great evening!