Tech News Today for January 30, 2017
Tech News for Monday January 30, 2017
Last week we talked about how Sheryl Sanberg and Mark Zuckerberg were the only tech executives to speak out about Donald Trump's new policies. What a difference a weekend makes. After Trump's travel ban went into effect on Friday evening, representatives from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla spoke up in opposition of the Executive Order. Sergey Brin from Google was also seen protesting at the San Francisco airport. Read more at techcrunch.com.
Swept up in all of the noise this weekend was Uber. An immigration protest at JFK International Airport was taking place and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance issued a call to stop pickups from the airport. While Uber was a part of that call, Uber tweeted that it would turn off surge pricing to and from the airport. Many saw this as Uber taking advantage of the situation to promote its business. Users took to social media in droves to post photos of them deleting Uber from their phones with the hashtag #DeleteUber. Read more at techcrunch.com.
The Washington Post says that Ransomware killed 70% of Washington DC closed circuit TV ahead of the inauguration. Cameras could not record between Jan. 12 and Jan. 15. The problem has been solved now, but the city did not pay the ransom. Instead, the city removed software from each infected device and restarted the system. The malware was localized, officials said, and it did not spread further into the DC computer system. The city has not said who they believe is behind the attack. Read more at washingtonpost.com.
Dropbox made a number of announcements showing off its dediation to the enterprise. First, Dropbox pulled it’s Paper app out of beta, bringing its collaborative document service to a global audience after being announced way back in October 2015. Dropbox plans to focus heavily on Paper as its primary effort with Dropbox’s other services plugging into Paper to make it a cohesive suite. Part of the revised app is Smart Sync which gives users direct access to their cloud-stored files within the desktop environment automatically. Read more at theverge.com.
Fitbit says they'll cut 110 jobs after disappointing holiday sales. The company also warns of profit and revenue losses this quarter. FitBit has a new smartwatch coming out at the end of this year, but it might not be enough to save the company. Read more at theinformation.com.
Tech News Today with Megan Morrone and Jason Howell 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.
