Business, Financial & Legal - Page 86

Google has upgraded their AI service Google Assistant but this time not silently, new languages and device actions have been added and will allow for further customization across SDK devices.

Google has expanded their Google Assistant SDK toolkit, it now supports additional languages and locations which grants users the ability to change their settings to the following languages English (Australia, Canada, UK, US), French (Canada, France), German, and Japanese.

Google has said that "one of the most prominent questions we received was "how can I ask the Assistant to control my device?" and to answer this question Google has updated the SDK with a new utility called 'Device Action' which has the functionality to be able to build user created actions and implement them straight into a Assistant-enabled device.

Eric Schmidt, now the former executive chairman at Alphabet's board of directors has stepped down from his leading position to transition into a new role of advising issues regarding "science and technology."

Larry Page, the CEO of Alphabet has come forward and spoken on the job transition "Since 2001, Eric has provided us with business and engineering expertise and a clear vision about the future of technology, continuing his 17 years of service to the company, he'll now be helping us as a technical advisor on science and technology issues. I'm incredibly excited about the progress our companies are making, and about the strong leaders who are driving that innovation."

Schmidt has said that he has been spending quite some time on science and technology issues and believes this area is the next area he would like to expand his work in "In recent years, I've been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, and philanthropy, and I plan to expand that work."

Recently there has been a lot of fire between the two titan companies Amazon and Google, product disagreements have surfaced and many discussions have taken place but now we might see a strike at Google's YouTube as Amazon has filed trademark requests for the following titles, Amazon Tube and Open Tube.

Amazon has recently re-listed Googles chromecast as a result of Google pulling YouTube from Amazon FireTV and all Echo Shows, still in constant discussion to reach a verdict Amazon might not want/need YouTube as a service on their platforms, as the company might just go and make their own.

On the same day as Google announcing that YouTube will be discontinued from Amazon services on January 1 we learn that Amazon has filed for two new trademarks 'Amazon Tube' and 'Open Tube', both have descriptions extremely similar to that of YouTubes.

A new Apple store is opening up in Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia, the location of the store is in a public place and in the heart of the city. According to The Federation Square website the store is scheduled for an opening in 2020 and will be the most significant store in the Southern Hemisphere.

The new store will be 500 square meters of new public space and will connect Federation Square with the Yarra River and Birrarung Marr. Based on the above renderings Apple will be replacing the old Yarra building with the new one, which will have glass windows surrounding it allowing for a sight for customers over the Yarra River.

Angela Ahrendts, the retail chief at Apple has told The Australian that the store will be a "bespoke design concept" and have "extensive landscaping."

Waymo is the mists of striking a insurance bargain with Trov, a insurance start-up concentrating on protecting riders using the upcoming self driving hailing service. Trov will be protecting riders by covering health expenses that result from rides and or any possesions lost throughout the transition of the trip.

Trovs insurance will invisible to riders using the service as the deal Waymo has struck with the insurance company is a bundled package within the overall cost of the service making Trov operate behind the scenes out of sight.

This is a massive step towards the normalization of self-driving cars being used throughout society, many people will feel a lot more safer knowing that they are covered completely if there happens to be a collision, thus resulting in a overall increase of use for the service.

French newspaper Le Pariksien has reported that a complaint has been made with the Paris Commerce Court against e-commerce super-giant Amazon for abusing their dominate position in the market.

This complaint will cause a two year investigation into Amazon from the DGCCRF which is a consumer fraud investigation company. The Economy Ministry is seeking a retribution stack of $10 million euros ($11.8 million USD), and they have also confirmed this complaint to be true and not taken as a warning.

A DGCCRF official named Loic Tanguy told Le Parisien that "The platform imposes unbalanced relations to its vendors."

For those who still use BlackBerry's Messenger app there has been an update that most will enjoy, Uber has become a in-built service within the app making for fast Uber calls and easier access.

It may seem strange as to why Uber and BlackBerry want to collaborate on what seems like a not so popular app let alone phone brand but for those wondering it is because currently there are 60 million users using the app in Indonesia alone, making it the most used app in the country.

Also, this update compliments the current surge in self driving vehicle services that India is going through right now, according to a report from Google and Temasek, 40 percent of the industry in South East Asia will become a ride-hailing business.

Obsidian has taken to their developers forums to address the question of whether micro-transactions will or will not be featured in the new Fallout Developers game, the simple answer which Obsidian them self gave is "no."

Obsidian has posted a short and sharp answer concerning the use of micro-transactions throughout their new game, they said that "No micro-transactions, of any kind, in our game" and continued by saying that their new found partnership with Take-Two Interactives Private Division has not influenced their creativity and vision of the game at all but instead benefited it greatly.

"We also wanted to say a word about our partnership with Private Division, our publisher on this title. Far from "pushing" us to put anything -- microtransactions or otherwise -- into our game, Private Division has been incredibly supportive of our vision, our creative freedom, and the process by which we work to make RPGs. They have been fantastic partners, and we are extremely excited to work with them through release, to put what we know is going to be an amazing game into as many hands as possible."

Google started a trade-in programing leading up to the launch of the Pixel 2 with a goal in mind of lowering the initial cost of their flagship phone. This new program is a great idea but complaints across the Pixel sub-reddit surfaced as people were not happy with the packaging Google was sending out for customers to send their phone back to receive the discount.

Until Google addressed this issue, plastic bubble wrap sleeves were sent out to customers that desired to trade-in their phone to acquire the discount but now Google has upgraded their packaging to new cardboard boxes lined with padded foam.

Feedback from the Pixel sub-reddit has generally be very good for this new change, with many people worried their phone would become damaged throughout the shipping process now can rest assured that they will receive their discount.

Titan companies such as Gooogle and Amazon don't always agree about their products and where they shall be sold but compromise is never out of the question as it usually benefits both parties. An example of this is Google pulling the YouTube application from all Amazon Fire TVs for punishment of not selling Chromecast on Amazon.

Google pulling YouTube from Amazon Fire TV seems like a ransom kind of move but when titan companies are playing on the levels they are playing on big moves have to be made. YouTubes ransom seemed to work effectively as Amazon has decided to re-list Chromecast on the Amazon market.

Here is what a Google spokesperson had to say:

A man named Noah Dinkin has taken to Twitter after coming across a piece of code installed on his laptop once connected to the Buenos Aires Starbucks. Dinkin tweeted Starbucks but before doing that noticed that there is a 10 second delay before your laptop is connected, this window of time would be the installation and starting process of mining.

In Dinkins tweet he addressed that this kind of free Wi-Fi service is a "little off-brand" and also that the store in Buenos Aires was not the only store doing this and in-fact that there was three separate stores which Dinkins went to that all did the same thing.

This may seem suspicious but Starbucks claims that this is not their fault and blame should be turned to their internet providing companies, this is what they told Motherboard "Last week, we were alerted to the issue and we reached out to our internet service provider - the wi-fi is not run by Starbucks, it's not something we own or control,"

Julio Casal is the co-founder of a identity intelligence provider called 4iQ, this company recently said in a blog post on December 8th that they have come across a database of 1.4 billion accounts details.

Casal has said that his company has identified the "largest aggregate database found in the dark web to date." This data base is two times bigger than the previously largest credential exposure which came in at 797 million usernames and passwords. Casal has called this file "an aggregated, interactive database that allows for fast (one second response) searches and new breach imports."

According to 4iQ's blog post, a simple search of 'admin', 'administrator' and 'root' returned a total of 226,631 cleartext passwords in just a matter of seconds. Verified by 4iQ through testing of the data base and the billions of passwords found was the unfortunate conclusion that these passwords are in fact true records.

Last month Lyft announced that their company was taking their service international, marking their very first expansion to another country other than the United States. Lyft is expanding their service to Canada, more specifically the capital city of the country Toronto.

Lyft will be brining their full service to Canada which includes Lyft Plus, Lyft Premiere, Lyft Lux and Lyft Lux SUV. Users of this service will be able to hail rides to and from Toronto's Pearson Airport which in turn will directly compete with the already taxi service there as well as Uber. Lyft might just be able to squeeze into the market though, as the company has racked up a whopping 100 million rides within three months, compared to taking four years to get to that figure the first time.

It will be no surprise if Lyft decide to lower ride fares and surcharge fees for the first couple of months that they are getting set up in Toronto, this would encourage the immediate use of the Lyft service rather than users turning to their typical Uber or legacy taxi.

Nintendo has said in a press release that the Nintendo Switch since the release of the console on the third of March this year has finally surpassed 10 million units. That number is quite an achievement as the time frame from those sales is not a large one, in comparison Sony's PlayStation 4 which needed around 10 months to reach that milestone back in 2014.

Not to long ago Nintendo said that it expected Switch sales to surpass the sales of the Wii U and now the company has said that this December they are planning to release more consoles to consumers for them to enjoy over the Christmas holidays. What contributes to the sales of the Nintendo Switch is their win at the Games Awards with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild and also the success of Super Mario Odyssey.

With this success it can be assumed that the Switch sales are not going to be slowing down over the festive season, what will be interesting though is if the sale percentage will stay strong heading into next year.

The transportation market has been overrun by Uber in Australia as cabs are beginning to slowly phase out of peoples first choice for a ride home. This of course is due to the convenience of Uber, but now Uber might have a challenge on their hands, Taxify is attempting to crack into the market by launching in Sydney, Australia with 4,000 drivers signed up already.

Markus Villig, the founder and CEO of Taxify has said in a statement"Sydney is a huge and vibrant city, and we are eixcited to launch in the Australian market. We are confident that locals are looking for an alternative ride hailing option, and Taxify is committed to providing both riders and drivers with what they want"

He continued by saying "We have based our business model on fairness and transparency, and it is because of this that we have had so many drivers sign up to Taxify in such a short space of time."

Boss Key Productions co-founder Arjan Brussee has left his studio to join Epic Games to collaborate on a new "Secret Project." This was confirmed in a tweet by the other co-founder at Boss Key, Cliff Bleszinski, who said that Brussee is "not only a brilliant person but also a dear friend and I wish him well in his future endeavors. Onward and upward--still makin' games here!"

Earlier in his career Brussee actually worked for Epic Games then left the company to make Guerrilla Games and establish titles such as the Killzone series and the game of the year nominee Horizon: Zero Dawn.

It is unclear whether the departure of Brussee has anything to do with the current player-base of LawBreakers, since the release back in July the game might not of been as big as the studio would of liked which then in turn would of influenced Brussee to move onto something with larger potential - the "secret project" Epic Games is working on.

Uber is currently under fire with investigations and lawsuits, the transportation company can now check one of their problems off their long list with a settlement being made with the Indian rape victim that was taking Uber to court on claims of improperly obtaining her medical records.

A court filing revealed the progress of the case and also the reason that Uber obtained the womans records was due to the company doubting accusations. Uber believed that the women was conspiring with Indian rival Ola to attack their business, in return Uber violated the womens privacy in order to discredit her case and claims.

Unfortunately with the data breach as well as these lawsuits Uber's reputation as a company is plummeting, new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is on a mission to mend this and re-route the company back onto a stable path.

Following the recent events surrounding transportation company Uber more information regarding the investigation has surfaced. According to Reuters, a 20-year old Florida man is responsible for the data breach over a year ago, in conclusion was paid $100,000 by Uber for destroying the information of the breach.

Uber is under fire here, recent reports saying that Uber is to be sued $2,000 per violation, now more information of a cover-up that lasted a year long could go all the way to the top. Uber's silent payment to the 20-year old Florida man was conducted through 'Bug Bounties' which is when compensation is offered for freelance hackers to test vulnerabilities, offerings of $200,000 are not strange.

The Florida hacker did not work alone though, claiming that he paid another individual to help him create false credentials through Github, attempting to prove that Ubers data was stored elsewhere.

Uber's data breach has got the attention of Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson, who has begun the process of filing a multi-million dollar consumer protection lawsuit against the transportation company.

Uber's data breach potentially affected 57 million passengers and drivers worldwide. 10,888 Uber drivers in Washington have had their license numbers compromised by the data breach and according Ferguson's press release, Uber was required to notify the passengers and drivers of breach as well as the attorney general's office within 45 days of the attack.

The lawsuit could see penalties of $2,000 per violation for failing to notify those affected and the attorney general's office. Uber failed to notify the attorney general's office until the 21st of November which was more than year after the initial breach happened, which was a result of Uber paying hush money to the hackers to destroy the data.

David Karp the CEO and founder of Tumblr since it's release back in 2007 will be stepping down from his company by the end of the year. Karp lead the company to a billion dollar status with Yahoo purchasing the company for $1.1 billion back in 2013.

This year Verizon acquired Yahoo, combining both Tumblr and Yahoo's AOL service to create the digital media organization called Oath. Oath said in a statement to The Verge: "David founded Tumblr 10 years ago as a space for the world's creators, and we thank him for his commitment and passion driving the growth of the platform to almost 380 million blogs and over 155 billion posts."

This move is not known to be permanent or temporary but Karp has addressed his friends and colleagues in a letter before he abdicates. Within this letter it is expressed that this decision didn't come lightly and took "months of reflection on [his] personal ambitions."