Tech News 2Night 134 (Transcript)

[Top TN2 Animation ] Tonight! Apple ramps up production for larger iPhone screens, Amazon Wallet launches, and making sense of Microsoft's and Apple's earnings Tech News 2Night is Next! [TWiT Open] [Main TN2 Open] This is Tech News 2Night Episode #134, for TUESDAY JULY 22, 2014 This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by Personal Capital. With Personal Capital, you’ll finally have all your financial life in one place and get a clear view of everything you own. BEST OF ALL IT’S FREE. To sign up go to personalcapital.com/tn2. I'm Sarah Lane, I'm back from vacation, and I'm ready to talk news. Onto to the Tech Feed! Amazon first mobile wallet application, Amazon Wallet, designed for use at the point-of-sale, is now showing up in the Amazon Appstore and on Google Play. But it doesn’t yet support mobile payments or the ability to store credit cards or debit cards. The wallet only stores and organize your gift cards and other loyalty cards. Amazon Wallet allows either scanning or typing in your gift card, loyalty card and membership card’s information to “reduce the clutter in your leather wallet or purse.” The cards are then available in a digital format as a barcode, QR code, text or image. Amazon's companion website is at www.amazon.com/wallet where users can add other gift cards to accounts, and manage payment methods – including credit cards, debit cards, and checking accounts – which can be used while shopping on Amazon.com, though again, not at point-of-sale yet. / The Wall Street Jounal is reporting that Antitrust regulators in the European Union are set to step up investigations into Google, including revising some terms of a settlement announced in February, that dealt with concerns that the company abuses its dominance of online searches in Europe. Sources speaking to the Journal say this is just one of a number of challenges Google is facing in Europe - other issues over corporate taxes and copyright issues to data privacy, following revelations that the US National Security Agency had spied on European citizens, are on the table as well. A person speaking on account of anonymity told the Journal the commission recently sent out new requests for information from handset makers and other interested parties on their dealings with Android, a year after sending out a first batch of questionnaires, and that althought The Android inquiry isn't yet a formal investigation, it may become one. / Lots of news from Apple today, including their quarterly earnings report we'll be discussing a little later in the show. First, iPhone 6 rumors. The wall street journal is citing sources that claim Apple is asking suppliers to manufacture between 70 million and 80 million units combined of two large-screen iPhones with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays by Dec. 30th. This numer trumps the initial order last year of between 50 million and 60 million versions of the iPhone 5S and 5C—both of which have 4-inch displays. Both of the coming models may also feature metal cases, like iPhone 5S, and come in multiple colors, said the sources. Apple's been granted a new US patent too, filed back in 2011, for a "Wrist-worn electronic device and methods therefor". It's described as a device which is even called "iTime" in an illustration that seems in-line with rumors around a so-called "iWatch". The invention is essentially a wrist-worn device that can connect with other portables like iPhones and iPads, computers, or a watch's straps, which integrate sensors and other circuitry to augment device performance. / A followup from yesterday's story over the concerns that Apple has possibly worked with government agencies to provide backdoors into its products or services - Apple tells Rene Ritchie over at iMore that indeed it has never worked with any government agency to create such a backdoor, and that "We have designed iOS so that its diagnostic functions do not compromise user privacy and security, but still provides needed information to enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple for troubleshooting technical issues. A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data. The user must agree to share this information, and data is never transferred without their consent." / Coming up, forget your smartphone PIN and fingerprint TouchID, it's a digital tatoo that will unlock your phone. And after the break, we'll chat with Mashable's Jason Abbruzzese a bit about the future of Microsoft and Yahoo, plus those Apple earnings. [AD] "but first, let's talk about a FREE and SECURE tool, Personal Capital, that solves 2 barriers to growing your wealth. #1, it's hard to keep track of stocks, 401k, bank accounts, all on different sites with different usernames and passwords. #2 is if you pay someone to manage it you’re probably paying too much. Personal Capital brings all your accounts and assets on ONE SINGLE SCREEN on your computer, phone or tablet with real-time and intuitive graphs. Recently, Personal Capital announced its award-winning app with Android Wear, available for download in Google Play. It's a watch app that integrates with Personal Capital on other Android devices and gives users relevant and timely updates on their finances on the go. It shows how much you’re overpaying in fees AND how to reduce those fees. You also get tailored advice on optimizing your investment. So why wait? Signing up takes just a minute and it’ll pay BIG dividends. Personal Capital gives you total clarity and transparency to make better investment decisions RIGHT AWAY. [[OFFER]] To set up your free account go to personalcapital.com/tn2. Personal Capital is FREE and the smart way to grow your money. And we thank Personal Capital for their support of Tech News 2Night!" [Segment #2] "Jason Abbruzzese Business Reporter Mashable - Apple's Q3 earnings today, made money, but investors predicted more. What did we learn from today’s report? - Which of their product lines did best and which fell short? - iTunes billings grew 25 percent year over year. Is this mostly Apps? - Microsoft also had its Q4 earnings. CEO Satya Nadella has outlined the direction the company including announcement of layoffs. How is the company looking financially? - Their cloud business is bright spot, right? - What are the weak areas and what are they doing about it? You recently wrote an article on Yahoo ""Marissa Mayer's 2-Year Report Card at Yahoo: C- "" Yesterday Yahoo announced it was buying Flurry, a mobile analytics firm. They've made several acquisitions over the last year. Will this one make a big difference or is it just part of the puzzle for the company? - What else do you think Yahoo should do? //Thanks-- Jason Abbruzzese Business Reporter Mashable" [Kicker!] Motorola has teamed up with VivaLnk to allow its users to attach NFC-powered “digital tattoos” to themselves, in case they forget their pass codes and PIN passwords for unlocking their devices. The tattoo works like Moto’s Skip accessory that attaches to clothes. The tattoo, around the size of a nickel, is instead placed on your body, which you hold your Moto X up to it to unlock the phone. According to VivaLnk, the tattoo should last roughly 5 days before you will need to replace it, and you can purchase a 10 pack for $9.99. Just please, choose your patch of skin wisely. [good bye] That's it for this edition of Tech News 2Night. Subscribe to this show at Twit.tv/tn2, and write us at tn2@twit.tv Don't miss our morning news program, Tech News Today, tomorrow and every weekday at 10am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I'm Sarah Lane, thanks for watching.