Intel’s all-cash $15.3 billion deal to buy Mobileye last year (see 1703130015) was "one of our most strategic acquisitions we've made in quite a while now," CEO Brian Krzanich told Intel’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday. The purchase “is really focused on autonomous driving and really driving a scalable platform that is cost effective and includes a very different approach for how you take a safety-first, safety-centered approach to autonomous driving,” said Krzanich. “We now have these cars driving on the streets and you'll continue to see more and more of the cars driving and partners signing up for Mobileye technology to carry us forward in the autonomous driving marketplace.”
The ICANN board approved a temporary specification for generic top-level domain registration data Thursday. ICANN board Chairman Cherine Chalaby said the approval allows ICANN and contracted parties to comply with existing “contractual requirements and community-developed policies as they relate to WHOIS.” It’s an “important step” for bringing ICANN and contracted parties into compliance with the EU’s general data protection regulation, set to take effect May 25, he said. NTIA Administrator David Redl said Thursday (see 1805170031) a short-term moratorium on GDPR enforcement for WHOIS may be necessary. “If not, then come May 25, we anticipate registries and registrars will stop providing access to WHOIS directories and services,” he said, warning against negative impacts on law enforcement for cybercrimes and intellectual property rights.
Google is working with other smartphone makers to bring wireless compatibility for Android Auto to Android 8.0 operating system smartphones, said Kenwood in a Thursday update to a recent announcement, saying its Android Auto multimedia receivers will be compatible. “Google has informed us that, in addition to 9.0 devices, the company is working with several smartphone manufacturers to bring wireless compatibility to devices with Android 8.0 OS,” Kenwood said. Android Auto lets drivers access certain apps and features such as messaging and Google Assistant from a car radio’s touch screen.
After informing Prime customers their annual fee is swelling about 20 percent to $119 (see 1804270056), Amazon plucked a perk from its Whole Foods Market and added it to the Prime benefits package Wednesday. Prime members will get an additional 10 percent off sale items by scanning their Whole Foods app at checkout. Select stores will also carry Amazon devices such as Echo and Fire TV. Target, meanwhile, expanded Restock next-day delivery to bring it to 75 percent of the U.S. population, saying it slashed delivery fees from $4.99 to $2.99 while eliminating them altogether for REDcard customers. “Membership fee? Nope,” the retailer said. Target turned to Google as its engine for ordering by voice.
The White House this week eliminated its top cyber policy adviser position in a move a National Security Council spokesman said will "improve efficiency, reduce bureaucracy" and promote accountability. “The National Security Council’s cyber office already has two very capable Senior Directors. Moving forward, these Senior Directors will coordinate cyber matters and policy,” he emailed. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted: “This does not seem like a good idea.” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called the decision “mind-boggling”: “Our adversaries are investing heavily in 21st century cyber warfare capabilities, and if we only view national security through a conventional 20th century lens, we’re going to find ourselves unable to respond to increasingly asymmetric cyber threats down the road.”
Consumers are ready to embrace connected devices and use IoT technology to make daily lives easier, CSG reported Tuesday, based on a survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 64. Forty-five percent own at least one wearable device, seen as the most important IoT item. Twenty-three percent use smart home devices, and 36 percent are interested in testing connected home applications. While many IoT devices offer technology advancements or entertainment features, consumers want the IoT to have practical application, with 60 percent seeing the biggest value of the IoT in making life easier.
Facebook content moderation technology for hate speech is lagging compared with systems for flagging adult and violent content, the company said Tuesday. Facebook took down 21 million pieces of adult content in Q1, took down or applied warnings to about 3.5 million pieces of violent content and removed 2.5 million pieces of hate speech. Only about 38 percent of hate speech was flagged by Facebook technology, the platform said. Its technology identified about 96 percent of adult content before it was reported and 86 percent of violent content.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at modernizing government IT systems. The order focuses on defining roles and authorities of agency chief information officers. The federal government spends about $90 billion annually on IT. Trump "is drawing on the best practices from the private sector and empowering CIOs to lead the technology transformation at their agencies,” White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner told reporters. “This executive order is a critical foundation to delivering a more efficient, effective and accountable government.”
The FTC should investigate Google’s potentially “deceptive” collection of Android users’ sensitive location data, Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Monday. The lawmakers cited an investigation by Quartz, alleging Google gathers Android user location data when location services are disabled. Google’s privacy settings allow “an intimate understanding of personal lives as they watch their users seek the support of reproductive health services, engage in civic activities, or attend places of religious worship,” the lawmakers wrote to CEO Sundar Pichai. Google and the FTC didn’t comment.
Nvidia sees autonomous driving as a $60 billion “addressable market opportunity” by 2035, said Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress on a Thursday earnings call. “We believe that every vehicle will be autonomous one day. By 2035, this will encompass 100 million autonomous passenger vehicles and 10 million robo taxis.” Nvidia’s Drive Constellation virtual reality platform will help autonomous-driving developers “test and validate their systems in a virtual world across a wide range of scenarios before deploying on the road,” she said. “Each year, 10 trillion miles are driven around the world. Even if test cars can eventually cover millions of miles, that's an insignificant fraction of all the scenarios that require testing to create a safe and reliable autonomous vehicle.” More than 370 companies and research institutions are using the platform, she said. CEO Jensen Huang sees driver-less taxis going to market starting next year and self-driving cars “probably somewhere between 2020 and 2021,” he said in Q&A. The size of the market opportunity “is fairly well-modeled,” he said. “I believe that every single everything that moves someday will be autonomous or have autonomous capabilities.” The estimate of 100 million autonomous vehicles on the road by 2035 includes passenger cars and “the countless taxis, all the trucks, all the agriculture equipment, all the pizza delivery vehicles, you name it,” he said. ”Everything is going to be autonomous, and the market opportunity is going to be quite large, and that's the reason why we're so determined to go create that market.”