Tech News Today for January 24, 2017
Tech News for Tuesday January 24, 2017
Google introduced a few new convertible Chromebooks from Asus and Acer that are designed with the classroom in mind. The Asus Chromebook C213 and the Acer Chromebook Spin 11 have pressure sensitive stylus capabilities, USB-C for charging, and full Android app support. Also included is a “world-facing camera,” meaning a secondary camera sits in the keyboard deck to allow for students to snap pictures when the convertible is in tablet mode. Read more at venturebeat.com.
Google is doing just fine in the classroom, and Microsoft wants a piece of that too. Microsoft announced the Intune for Education, a new device and cloud based app management service targeting the classroom to facilitate device setup, configuration and management for teachers and businesses. Microsoft is also showcasing a lineup of low-cost Windows 10 PCs for schools, including the HP Stream 11 Pro G3 for Education ($189) and HP ProBook x360 11 Education Edition ($289). Read more at engadget.com.
Apple began to seed the first beta for iOS 10.3, its next big platform update. Developers signed up for the beta program can look forward to new features like Find My AirPods, which tracks the last location that the wireless headphones were connected to the phone so users can go find them if they lose track of them. Users can also trigger a sound to be placed through the AirPods to make finding them easier. Also, a big feature request has been answered allowing developers to reply to reviews publicly in the App Store and the Mac App Store. Read more at engadget.com.
Samsung unleashed its fourth quarter earnings and the Note 7 wasn’t enough to bring the company down as it posted record profits of around 7.93 billion dollars, in line with its earlier guidance. Samsung says the company took a 5 billion dollar hit thanks to the Note 7 recall, but it achieved all-time high earnings for its chip business, up 77 percent. Read more at reuters.com.
Samsung apparently has dibs on most of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 mobile processor which is keeping competitors from using the next big chip in their devices. Sources tell Forbes that the 835 won’t be widely available until Samsung releases its next flagship, the Galaxy S8 early Q2. That means that LG’s next flagship, the LG G6 will still be running last year’s Snapdragon 821. It also explains why HTC’s U Ultra launched with the 821 instead of the next generation of mobile processors. Read more at forbes.com.
Jason Howell and guest host Ron Richards will be joined today by Emojipedia Founder Jeremy Burge to talk about a few new additions. Tech News Today streams live weekdays at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. You can subscribe to the show and get it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.
