2020 Daily Tech News Show


1			TITLE: Can You Hearing Me Now?	Guest:

2			Stories subject to change up until showtime
3			Coming up on DTNS AMC Theaters and Universal reduce the theatrical window from 90 days to 17 days, Kodak shifts into pharmaceuticals and it makes sense and our thoughts on the big 4 tech executives testifying to the US Congress.	Twitch Chat
4			play the opening music here....
5			Today's date
6			This is the Daily Tech News for... Wednesday July 29th, 2020. In LA, I'm Tom Merritt
7
8			From Studio Redwood, I'm Sarah Lane
9			Scott Johnson
10			And I'm the show's Producer Roger Chang
11
12
13			Get the wider conversation on our expanded show, Good Day Internet by becoming a member at patreon.com/dtns.
14	:31	TM	Let's start with a few tech things you should know...
15			play the news segue music here....
16			Quick Hits
17		sl	AMD expects 2020 revenue to grow by 32% on a surge in chip demand as more people work from home. Q2 sales rose 26% on strong demand for Ryzen and Epyc chips. AMD reported earnings per share of 13 cents. Revenue from computing and graphics, which includes sales of graphics chips to data centers, rose 45%.	https://www.pcworld.com/article/3568888/amds-notebook-pc-sales-soar-as-ryzen-4000-takes-off.html#tk.rss_news
18		scott	US federal Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall ordered the state of New York to pay unemployment benefits to four Uber and Lyft drivers who filed for payments in March or April. The New York Department of Labor considers ride-hailing drivers employees but Uber and Lyft have not provided wage data to calculate benefits. The Judge ruled the state still has an obligation to pay benefits promptly using data supplied by the workers if necessary. Judge Hall further ordered the Department of Labor to clear the backlog in 45 days and process new applications within 14 days.	https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/07/judge-orders-new-york-to-pay-unemployment-to-uber-and-lyft-drivers/
19		tm	Form’s Smart Swim Goggles has updated its firmware to add support for open water data like stroke rate, elapsed time and other outdoor swimming info. Users with an Apple Watch Series 3 or later or a recent Garmin Watch can integrate GPS-based metrics and heart rate data as well. The update is available now for the Form Smart Swim Goggles, which sell for $199.	https://www.engadget.com/form-swim-goggles-open-water-tracking-110055336.html
20		sl	Spotify reported its active users grew 29% in Q2 to 299 million. Paying users for the Premium plan grew 27% year over year to 138 million. Spotify forecasts those numbers should hit 312 to 317 million in Q3 with 140 million paying users. Spotify losses increased from €76 million to a loss of €356 million despite the increased users. A large portion of the loss was attributed to payroll taxes spurred by increased stock price. Podcast advertising rose and Spotify reported 21% of its users listen to podcasts on the platform.	https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/spotify-q2-users-299-million-coronavirus-1234719410/
21		scott	Google announced it's making some features of Google One available for free, such as the phone backup feature for Android and iOS, and a free storage manager tool. Google's also rolling out a new iOS app that lets users store photos, videos, contacts, and calendar events with Google.	https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-one-googles-paid-consumer-storage-product-makes-some-features-free/
22		tm	Turkey's parliament passed a bill Wednesday requiring social media companies with more than 1 million daily active users, such as Facebook and Twitter, have to ensure they have local representatives in Turkey, Turkish users' data stored on servers in Turkey, and to comply with court orders over the removal of certain content. If companies don't comply, the new regulations state they'll have advertisements blocked and have bandwidth decreased by up to 90 percent.	https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/turkey-passes-controversial-bill-tightening-grip-social-media-200729061612677.html
23			Let's talk a little more about...
24
25	:34	scott	TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer published an 800-word defense of the company which has been accused of having ties to the Chinese government, has been shut down in India and is under investigation in the US and other countries. Mayer says shutting down TikTok would leave Americans with fewer choices. Mayer wrote "let’s focus our energies on fair and open competition in service of our consumers, rather than maligning attacks by our competitor—namely Facebook—disguised as patriotism and designed to put an end to our very presence in the US.” Mayer also announced TikTok has launched " a Transparency and Accountability Center for moderation and data practices," that will let experts view how TikTok's algorithm works and how moderation is conducted in real time.	https://www.axios.com/tiktoks-new-ceo-says-company-will-reveal-how-its-algorithms-work-aff01b6c-8f33-454f-9b4a-7d52292ce501.html
26	:38	sl	Reuters sources say that investors who are interested in buying TikTok away from its Chinese parent company Bytedance value Tik Tok at $50 billion. The sources say Bytedance has received acquisition proposals from its own investors including Sequoia and General Atlantic. Bytedance has supposedly valued TikTok at more than $50 billion. Bytedance as a whole was valued at $140 billion earlier this year.	https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bytedance-tiktok-exclusive/exclusive-bytedance-investors-value-tiktok-at-50-billion-in-takeover-bid-sources-idUSKCN24U1M9
27			---	https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-china-tiktok/mnuchin-says-chinas-tiktok-under-federal-cfius-review-idINKCN24U267
28	:40	tm	Universal Pictures and AMC Theaters have agreed to reduce the 90-day exclusive theatrical window for some movies. The multi-year agreement lets Universal rent digital copies of its movies to customers for around $20, 17 days after they first appear in theaters. AMC will get a share of the digital revenue and can rent out the movies on its own online service. It's expected that major blockbusters like Jurassic Park will still have the 90-day theatrical run while mid-tier movies might move to online rental sooner. Not all theaters may play along though. Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger told Deadline “We do not see any business sense in this model.”	https://variety.com/2020/film/news/universal-amc-theatres-historic-deal-windows-1234718737/
29			--	https://deadline.com/2020/07/cineworld-universal-amc-theatrical-windows-pvod-deal-1202998245/
30	:44	scott	Bloomberg and Reuters sources report Google and Samsung are discussing a revenue sharing deal that would see Samsung prioritize the Play Store and Google Assistant over Samsung's App Store and Bixby. Samsung has resisted this in the past but may be more receptive as its smartphone sales decline and it seeks other ways to monetize its marketshare.	https://www.engadget.com/google-samsung-deal-assistant-play-store-120548633.html
31	:46	sl	Kodak has obtained a $765 million loan to expand its production of ingredients needed to make generic drugs used to fight COVID-19. A new division called Kodak Pharmaceuticals will take three to four years to reach large-scale production. Kodak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 and shifted its focus from photography to printing and professional services. Kodak began making drug ingredients in 2016.	https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53563601
32			play the news segue music here....
33		topic reader	To get all the tech headlines each day in about 5 minutes subscribe to dailytechheadlines.com	http://dailytechheadlines.com/
34			play the news segue music here....
35			PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE
36			Main
37
38	:49		The US House Antitrust Subcommittee called Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to assemble and discuss their market power. In opening statements Google's Pichai argues it exists in a highly competitive market that benefits the average American. Amazon's Bezos emphasizes job creation and supporting small business. Apple's Cook claims Apple does not have dominant market share and has benefited more developers by opening its App Store. And Facebook's Zuckerberg says it has more to do fighting disinformation and argues Facebook has made products it has acquired better and safer.	https://www.protocol.com/tech-ceos-opening-statements
39			HEARING LIVE NOW, WHAT DO WE THINK SO FAR?
40			Technical glitches: Bezos no full screen, Zuck choppy, Bezos on screen while snacking	https://www.cnet.com/news/tech-titans-face-video-glitches-in-congressional-testimony/#ftag=CAD590a51e
41			‘Instagram can hurt us’: Mark Zuckerberg emails outline plan to neutralize competitors	https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/29/21345723/facebook-instagram-documents-emails-mark-zuckerberg-kevin-systrom-hearing
42			Shumin Zhai, a lead scientist in Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) team researched in Beijing and co-authored a paper new computer-human interaction technology, focuses on a smart target-selection assistant that can speed up on-screen mobile target selection by more than 50 per cent and improve accuracy by nearly 80 per cent. The paper is a general research question that uses existing statistical models about how people interact with moving items on a touch screen. It did not use AI or deep learning models. It could bemused to improve interaction with apps. It could also be used for military applications. “That venture for artificial intelligence in China … indirectly benefits the Chinese military and creates a challenge for us in maintaining a competitive advantage,” Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,	https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3017141/google-denies-link-chinas-military-over-touch-screen-tools-may
43			NY Times briefing on responses	https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/technology/tech-ceos-congress-what-to-know.html
44			Facebook - grilled about buying competitors to stop them from competing. Also about suppressing conservative voices. Google - favoring its own products in search. Suppressing conservative voices Apple - the App Store Amazon - Driving out competitors, driving small business off its platform, boosting its own products, counterfeit products	https://www.protocol.com/tech-hearing-whos-looking-good
45
46	MWF	sl	Join in the conversation in our Discord which you can join by linking to a Patreon account at patreon.com/dtns
47
48
49		tm	Let's check out the mailbag
50	:57		Mailbag (feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com)
51			I just wanted to thank you guys for the updates on the covid vaccines. Knowing I can trust your research saves me time looking into the latest status. Norm from Visalia
52
53
54
55
56		sl	Shoutout to patrons at our Master and Grand Master levels including ...
57			Jeff Wilkes Sonia Vining Rueshann Brantley
58
59
60
61	:58	sl	Thanks to... Scott Johnson	support.currentgeek.com
62			Patron Thank You	http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/support
63
64			-	https://www.patreon.com/dtns
65			And you can always support our show at any level at dailytechnewsshow.com/patreon	http://dailytechnewsshow.com/patreon
66
67			Hey. Not all of you want masks but if you do we have them in the DTNS store now. who wouldn't want to walk around with a DTNS logo on their face anyway. Go check it out at dailytechnewsshow.com/store	https://dtns.bigcartel.com/product/dtns-face-mask
68			And please peruse our fine selection of DTNS stuff!	http://dailytechnewsshow.com/store/
69
70			play the end theme music here....
71		sl	Our email address is feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com! We're live M-F at 4:30 PM eastern/20:30 UTC find out more at dailytechnewsshow.com/live.
72		tm	Plug tomorrow's guest: Justin Robert Young	Good Night Rob
73			END OF SHOW
74
75
76			STOP DISCORD Stream
77
78			POST GDI	Taco Wednesday