Comcast is planning to release a product sometime next year for broadband-only customers to pick and choose certain streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Video, CNBC reports.
Why it matters: The preliminary plans show Comcast is placing a stake in the cable-free audience against Roku and Apple TV. The streaming box is expected to run like a cable box, but would allow customers to rent programming and easily upgrade to another Comcast video package. The price of the unit has not been disclosed.
At the Samsung Developer Conference on Wednesday, Samsung showed developers one vision of the future of the smartphone: a device with a narrow “cover display” that unfolds into a tablet-like screen thanks to a flexible display.
Salesforce founder Marc Benioff scored a major victory in Tuesday's election as voters approved a bill he had strongly backed to help end homelessness in San Francisco.
Why it matters: The initiative, known as Proposition C, will require big businesses (including Salesforce) to pay for new services to help fight homelessness.
Access to as much data as possible — anonymized, and collected from all connected vehicles on the road today — would help AV companies develop self-driving technology more quickly and safely.
Why it matters: If AV fleets from different operators are unable to exchange critical safety information — from construction zones, unclear lane markings and potholes to harsh weather and accidents — in real-time, the roads of the future will have just as much traffic and frustration as today's.
As recent reports about the technical and social challenges of self-driving cars make clear, we are still in the teenage years of autonomy. Even Waymo — with more than 10 million miles of autonomous driving data and undoubtedly the biggest head start — has acknowledged that level-5 autonomy is decades away.
Yes, but: Excessive focus on the distant self-driving future obscures how the same types of technology that will make it possible, such as computer vision and machine learning, are already improving road safety today.
The Department of Homeland Security said that it hadn't seen security breaches affecting votes around the country as midterm contests came to a close.
Why it matters: After Russia's election interference efforts in 2016, policymakers and the major tech platforms have paid close attention to election protection — both on social media and at the ballot box.
Dan and Axios' Erica Pandey break down Amazon's reported decision to put half of its HQ2 in Northern Virginia, and the other half in Queens.
"Cities came forward with these elaborate applications that let Amazon in on all of their hopes and dreams, what they planned to build, what highways they planned to build, and now Amazon is... walking away with this incredibly granular economic development database of every major metro area in North America."
Apple CEO Tim Cook said last year that he hopes to double the company's "software services" revenue, or money made from apps like the App Store, iTunes, and Apple Pay by 2020. Those services seem to be focused lately around user engagement through various media, including music, news, original video, etc.
Why it matters: Apple's iPhone revenue rose by 29% in the most recent quarter, compared to a year previously — even as the total number of iPhones sold was flat. So the company is doing more to suck dollars out of the way users engage with its devices, per Axios' Ina Fried.
Broadcom has completed its $18.9 billion takeover of enterprise software company CA Technologies.
Why it matters: Because it appears Sen. Rand Paul's last-minute appeal for a CFIUS review fell on deaf ears at Treasury. Also, there's still an ongoing federal investigation into possible stock price manipulation related to that forged memo.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Amazon has decided to split the planned HQ2 across two cities, with the New York Times later adding that the locations are likely to be the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Va., and the Long Island City district in Queens, N.Y. Supposedly, a decision could come in the next week.
Our thought bubble: So much for bringing high tech to Middle America, assuming the Times report is correct. The decision to split HQ2 in two raises questions about whether either of the locations will really emerge as a true second headquarters. Putting at least part of HQ2 near D.C. could help the company as it seeks to deflect antitrust action, which President Trump told Axios is under consideration.
The internet is an invisible mesh that enables instantaneous global communications, but delivering all those bits quickly to more people in more places requires increasingly exotic approaches. That latest viral video might start out in an underwater data center before traveling to a satellite, undersea cable or balloon — then hopping wirelessly to reach your phone.
Why it matters: Today'sbandwidth needs require either a long physical connection or a lot of creativity. Bringing the internet to still-unconnected locations typically requires a lot of the latter, forcing tech companies to think in new ways about where to place wires, cables and servers.
Facebook late Monday said it had blocked accounts from its namesake platform and Instagram, some of them focused on politics, after law enforcement told the company they might be linked to "foreign entities."
Why it matters: The announcement came less than 12 hours before polls open for the U.S. midterm elections.
Amazon has plans to split its second headquarters between two cities with 25,000 employees in each, the Wall Street Journal’s Laura Stevens reports, citing "a person familiar with the matter." Amazon declined to comment.
Why it matters: By dividing up the anticipated second headquarters, Amazon could dampen the anticipated impact of opening a massive new headquarters in just one city. The Washington Post reported Saturday that Amazon has plans to put its second headquarters in Crystal City, located in northern Virginia. And the New York Times reported tonight that the company is nearing a deal to put the other half of HQ2 in Long Island City in Queens, New York.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the New York Times report on Amazon choosing Queens as a second location for HQ2.
A tractor-trailer and an Amtrak train en route to Washington, D.C. from Chicago collided in Gaithersburg, Maryland Monday evening, leading to a diesel fuel spill and rail traffic delays, reports the Washington Post. Authorities said there were no reported injuries.
The backdrop: While details about this collision are scant, there has been a troubling string of Amtrak crashes in recent years, some of which were deadly.
/2018/11/06/1541539644640.gif?w=3840)
