TechCrunch Industry News

Latest Episodes:

Google’s Titan security keys come to Japan, Canada, France and the UK Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

Google today announced that its Titan Security Key kits are now available in Canada, France, Japan and the UK. Until now, these keys, which come in a kit with a Bluetooth key and a standard USB-A dongle, were only available in the U.S. The keys provide an extra layer of security on top of your regular login credentials. They provide a second authentication factor to keep your account safe and replace more low-tech two-factor authentication systems like authentication apps or SMS messages.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AWS’ new text-to-speech engine sounds like a newscaster Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

Thanks to modern machine learning techniques, text-to-speech engines have made massive strides over the last few years. It used to be incredibly easy to know that it was a computer that was reading a text and not a human being. But that’s changing quickly. Amazon’s AWS cloud computing arm today launched a number of new neural text-to-speech models, as well as a new newscaster style that is meant to mimic the way… you guessed it… newscasters sound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SpaceX launches ISS mission using twice-flown Dragon for the first time Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

SpaceX has launched CRS-18, the 18th commercial resupply mission its flown for NASA to deliver experiment, research and supply materials to the International Space Station. This mission’s cargo included IDA-3, the second automated docking ring set to be installed on the ISS, which will enable autonomous docking capabilities for future commercial spacecraft visiting the station with both crew and cargo on board.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marcus Hutchins, malware researcher and ‘WannaCry hero’, sentenced to supervised release Jul 30, 2019

Show notes

MILWAUKEE, WI. — Marcus Hutchins, the malware researcher who became known as an “accidental hero” for stopping the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017, has been sentenced to supervised release for one year on charges of making and selling the Kronos banking malware. Presiding Judge J. P. Stadmueller described Hutchins, 25, as a “talented” but “youthful offender” in remarks in court Friday.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla starts rolling out Chess to ‘Tesla Arcade’ in-car gaming app Jul 30, 2019

Show notes

Tesla is making a new game available to its vehicle owners, with a roll-out starting today. The company started pushing out a new ‘Arcade’ app for its in-car infotainment system back in June at the annual E3 gaming conference, and now it’s adding the most thrilling game around to the mix: Chess. This isn’t the first time games have been on Tesla’s infotainment screens; its had them available as ‘Easter eggs,’ or hidden software features.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump threatens Apple with tariffs, Google with investigation on Twitter Jul 29, 2019

Show notes

The president of the United States called out two of the nation’s largest tech firms in a pair of tweets this morning. Google was the first target. The statement follows weeks of suggested investigations of the tech giant over a supposed relationship with China. There may or may not be National Security concerns with regard to Google and their relationship with China. If there is a problem, we will find out about it. I sincerely hope there is not!!! — Donald J.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Old-school Doom and its sequels come to Switch, Xbox One, and PS4 Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

Thinking about what to do this weekend? Think no more. Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3 have all just appeared on the Switch, Xbox One, and PS4, giving you no excuse not to play these classics. All the time. Over and over. Rip and tear! The announcement was made at QuakeCon 2019, the annual gathering of slayers and gibbers where id Software usually shows off its latest wares. Or in this case, its earliest. At $5 each, the original Doom and Doom II should provide dozens of hours of old-school fun.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google says it doubled Pixel sales year-over-year Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

It looks like the mid-range Pixel 3a is the hit Google surely hoped it would be. Alphabet reported some pretty good earnings today, but the company’s report tends to be pretty generic, given that it doesn’t provide details for its different business units inside of Google and its other segments. That’s not to say there isn’t good news there for Google. On today’s call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared some new stats for the company’s phone line.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stackery lets AWS Lambda developers debug their serverless programs locally on a laptop Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

Serverless developers have always faced a steep challenge when it comes to writing code on their laptops, and debugging said code on cloud services. It’s sort of a chicken and egg thing. You can’t deploy until you’re ready, but you can’t know if you’re ready without testing. That requires access to your cloud services on your laptop, something that up until now has been difficult to replicate.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Samsung readies Galaxy Fold for September launch Jul 25, 2019

Show notes

When it was unveiled on stage, the Galaxy Fold was heralded as the next big thing. Samsung seeded units to reviews and prepared for launch. And then a funny thing happened on the way to a smartphone paradigm shift: it started breaking. Multiple review units were sent back to Samsung with busted screens. It was a small sample size, to be sure. First Samsung blamed reviewers themselves. Ultimately, however, there was enough concern to cause the company to pump the breaks entirely.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected