 Coming up on DTNS the cutest little quadcopper you ever did see Sam Stung still trying to know when to fold them and HBO takes it to the max This is the Daily Tech news for Wednesday, October 30th 2019 in Los Angeles. I'm Tom Merritt. Also in Los Angeles Dangerously close to Tom Merritt. I'm Patrick Beijer. I could throw a coaster at you if I could throw a coaster Also in Los Angeles County Hey Patrick's here visiting. It's great. Thanks for coming. Oh, I'm so glad you're having me and also that the fires are somewhat contained Yes, thank you. Thankfully they are getting contained and things are getting better for our dear co-host Sarah Lane and friend She is able to go back to her house. That's the the major update here. She does not have power Her mom yet can't go back to her own her house. So they're they're still dealing with that That's why Sarah is not on the show today, but we did check in with her and things are going much better for her So it looks like hopefully fingers crossed. We'll have Sarah back tomorrow now on good day internet today We were talking about all kinds of stuff. What were Uber? Oh, yes Yes, your adventures with Uber at LAX if you want that expanded show you got to become a member at patreon.com Dtns. Let's start with a few tech things. You should know Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that Twitter will stop all political advertising on Twitter globally He had a whole long thread going into the wares and whys But one of the things he wrote was we believe political messages reach should be earned not bought Coming to see it the way the French people do I like it Deep Minds Starcraft 2 playing AI system called Alpha Star now ranks above 99.8% of active players in the game Deep Mind published an article in Nature Wednesday describing its use of a Kind of reinforcement learning where it played itself against itself becoming better at Starcraft through trial and error Deep Mind programmed one version of Alpha Star not to win But to expose flaws in the other version Deep Mind believes its findings can be applied to other things like digital Assistance self-driving cars and more it strikes me that an intelligence that points out flaws in the other version might also be called the internet Does it qualify as an intelligence though, that's the good point good point Catalyst estimates Huawei took 42% of the Chinese smartphone market in Q3 as local CUNs Consumers rallied behind the brand as a result of trade restrictions with the US Apple market share took some of that brunt falling from 7% of the Chinese market to 5% That's the weakest sales for Apple in a quarter in China in five years But the rest of Huawei's increase came at the expense of other Chinese brands like Oppo Vivo and Xiaomi So a good deal for Huawei. Yeah, maybe after all domestically at least Nikkei reports its sources say Apple will release 5g phones next year running on Qualcomm's x55 5g modem And a new Apple chip supposedly called the a14 bionic again bionic It's three years old the cheap chip is expected to be Apple's first five nanometer chip Huawei is thought to be working on a five nanometer nanometer chip for next year as well All right, let's talk about Sony Yeah, I I wonder sometimes Patrick if Sony was an American company whether it would get a little more attention Because this is the kind of thing that if it was a Google announcement I feel like it would be all over the top of all the places But image sensor company Sony reported operating profit arose 16% in Q2 as strong image sensor sales offset falling earnings from its gaming division Sony operating income was 279 million yen That's 19% higher than expected an image sensor profits rose 59 percent Sony announced plans to build a new image sensor plant in Nagasaki, Japan Now I call it an image sensor company kind of tongue-in-cheek because that's where it's often making most of its money And yet nobody thinks of Sony as making image sensors as its main business But it has lots of others that are higher profile Sony announced plans or Sony announced the gaming profits fell 28% Though PlayStation 4 console sales now in their six year have a total of a hundred two point eight million over the lifetime And that makes it Sony's second best-selling console behind the ps2 So it's not too shocking that gaming sales might dip now towards the end of that console life And we know the ps5 is coming Sony Pictures entertainment profit rose 73% on the strength of the spider-man far from home movie and once upon a time in Hollywood Sony music saw streaming revenues rise 21.4 percent and physical sales rose to bringing overall Sony music revenue up 10.5 percent Sony raised its full-year profit estimates by 4 percent So except for the gaming dip overall great news across the board. Well, even on the gaming side They didn't have any big releases specific to the PlayStation console In the past few months. So and they have some coming over the next few months So that's not I think too big of a concern The fact that the PlayStation 4 has sold that many units makes it the as you mentioned the second best-selling console In the history of consoles I wonder if some others like the Wii U might arguably be you know on the same level, but it is definitely a very successful product and They're doing if you count that as a not-too-bad thing They're doing well all around it seems yeah for Sony is not something we have gotten used to hearing That is true Sony has had some rough times and they've had to slim down Of course, we mentioned yesterday that PlayStation view is one of its most recent victims But but they they have been divesting themselves of some less profitable areas and trying to focus on On the successful areas and gaming is a successful area for it even even with this end-of-life blift I think that's sort of expected This is a this is now a company that is on a strong footing Which which didn't always look like it was sure it was going to be yeah I think also the reason we don't hear about it as much as some other tech giants is that they're not really a giant You know they're compared to Googles and apples and Amazons Relatively small nowadays JSC 315 says Sony's just a boring company to talk about I guess other than PlayStation and Spider-Man and all the Sony music and It's the devices Yeah, image sensors are very sexy. That's true. That's good. They also don't sell consumer devices You know like PC they don't have an iPhone that right the PlayStation is their iPhone, right? That's their hero device. So yeah All right. Well, DJI announced its smallest quadcopter yet the foldable Mavic mini weighs 249 grams small enough to not require a registration with the US FAA the Mavic mini can fly 4 kilometers away for up to 30 minutes while capturing 2.7 video 2.7 K video at 30 frames per second pre-orders for two bundles are now available a Mavic mini with remote control one battery and extra propellers costs $399 a package that has a 360 degrees propeller cage Two-way charging hub three batteries three extra propellers and a carrying case costs 499 bucks both bundles ship November 11 It's just a cute little thing and it does 2.7 K video That's a big upgrade for the Mavic So not only small and easy to get into which I think that's a big barrier to entry that they will probably play up Like you don't have to worry about registration and stuff anybody can buy this It's for the hobbyist just fly it around in your backyard It's a good way to get into flying quadcopters if you're just wanting to start and I think I mean We'll have to wait and see exactly what the people think about it But it doesn't look like a toy which no it does not you're right important We've heard I mean we've seen I've even looked at you know Little drones as the the entry level Products and they look like they will break the first time you use yeah No, I got one from from my brother-in-law That it was nice. It was a nice little mini thing and it was fun to play with yeah, but it's very fragile This this does not look fragile. This is a full on DJI drone. It's just small. Yeah at the Samsung developer conference Samsung teased a clamshell Foldable phone a video from Samsung showed the foldable working in a laptop Shape with the video playing in the upright portion and then playback controls on the flat portion You like sit it on the desk in front of you and play some video You could also do it they showed it doing a live stream in that same position just kind of sitting there as its own prop up So does this I mean they also showed the galaxy fold in that same video sort of saying look We've got the laptop foldable and the phone foldable How does this affect your opinion of foldables Patrick? I'm excited. Well, maybe excited is a strong word I'm curious about all of these and it kind of reinforces the idea that We're really just at the beginning the technical beginning of foldables and this is exactly what we should be doing with this technology and by we I mean I don't know a society Exploring different uses of that technology and it's very easy to look at this and snicker and and kind of Laugh at oh the well the fold didn't work and they're trying this again now Are they still doing it like no they're trying stuff some of it will be Will work out will be useful some of it won't but it's Exactly the kind of thing that we should be doing see how it can improve usability in the products we use So I'm yeah, I might even say excited for our foldable future Yeah, I like the Microsoft duo approach even though. It's not a unitary foldable screen over the hinge But I think Samsung has shown the dangers and difficulties of trying to do the foldable screen over a hinge So I like that we're seeing these Experimented with it is my sense now especially seeing this clamshell one that there are Situations where a foldable screen will come in handy. I feel like this will be like 360 degree hinges on Tablets and laptops the the convertibles It'll be a category that some people will love and other people's won't care about I Tend to disagree because if it works what it does if it works really well and the best version of that thing What it does is that it gives you more screen real estate in a smaller package and The clamshells aren't exactly that and I would argue the duo as you said is the thing that comes closest to that but having more screen real estate in a smaller package is absolutely key in Usage and that is what consumers want the most out of their devices. So There is something more Profound or key or basic to the architecture of a consumer device in that idea of getting more screen real estate So they have if they can Patrick thinks most things might become foldable I think some things might become foldable and all of you think we're crazy and nothing's gonna be Foldable so I didn't say most things more things than I did. That's sure. Yeah All right, Facebook monthly users rose 1.65% last quarter to reach 2.45 billion that's monthly users daily active users grew 2% to 1.62 billion Facebook reported revenue of 17.35 billion dollars and 2.28 earnings per share 2.28 dollars, of course separately Facebook agreed to pay the UK 500,000 pounds in fines but admit no fault as a result of an investigation by the UK's information commissioners commissioners office into data given to Cambridge Analytica without permission by Dr. Alexander Cogan the ICO led the European investigation into accusations that Facebook unfairly processed user data and Granted app developers accessed without clear consent Facebook's associate general counsel Harry Kinmuth Kinmonth Said the ICO has not discovered evidence that the data of Facebook users in the EU was transferred to Cambridge Analytica and quote Yeah, so I it's funny the reports that I'm seeing and I'm just double-checking Facebook beats quarterly revenue estimates Facebook beats revenue profit estimates shares rise seem to be fairly Positive, I think that's because everybody keeps expecting Facebook to decline 1.65% rise in monthly users is almost flat. I think in another era Where people weren't so negative about Facebook. This would be a horrible Report, but the expectations were that it would be worse and that's always where it matters That that said moving on to the to the Facebook fine This is a great way for everybody that gets to say they win, right? Facebook gets to say no fault. They didn't find anything problem any problem with what Alexander Cogan did It wasn't our fault with what he did But the ICO gets to say we punished them for having generally bad data practices Yeah, it seems like it's in a pretty neutral. Well, not neutral, but everyone can get their we win Story somehow in order the thing that struck me the most out of all of this though Is the fact that the ICO according to Facebook's general counsel at least Has not discovered evidence that EU Facebook users had gotten their data Used by Cambridge Analytica, which I think is important because There's a general sense in Europe that Cambridge Analytica influenced many things and certainly, you know, Facebook was involved in different Elections and election tempering attempts or at least that's the common Narrative that's being established in in Europe for many people But the fact that Cambridge Analytica the most emblematic one Did indeed not have data from EU users of Facebook kind of puts a little bit of a Dampener damper dampening on that idea and people who claim Oh, well, you know, obviously Cambridge Analytica has influenced this or that in Europe Now can't really claim that anymore So that's that was the most interesting one because it's so emblematic Real quickly before we move on Apple just released their fourth quarter results and services revenue has reached an all-time high of $12.5 billion so on track in the pivot to becoming a services company earnings per share set a Q4 record It's Q4 for Apple at $3.03 Financial results generally across the board pretty good quarterly revenue of $64 billion an increase of 2% from a year ago And their forecast for the next quarter beat Expectations they expect revenue between 85.5 billion and 89.5 billion again. That's a forecast We'll hopefully get some interesting things from Tim Cook Later from when we're recording this and be able to talk about anything that he says of interest tomorrow But there's a quick look at it for you Yeah, I suspect that iPhone 11 was a better targeted than previous years where they focused on the very high-end Now it's just the regular high-end and it sells well folks If you want to get all the tech headlines each day in about five minutes be sure to subscribe to daily tech headlines comm HBO Max will launch in May AT&T announced yesterday for $14.99 a month if you're like wait a minute. That's the same price as HBO. That's right With with you know exceptions for for certain deals and bundles Whether you're paying on cable or buying it directly through HBO now You're generally getting the retail price of $14.99 a month for HBO Customers who pay HBO for an HBO now subscription directly not through Apple not through Google Not through anything else, but who pay HBO directly Or who get HBO from an AT&T service will be able to log into HBO Max at no additional charge Now they keep saying you'll get HBO Max free, but you had to already be paying for HBO So it's basically saying we'll make it easier for you to get HBO Max because they're the same price This is very confusing. There's HBO, which is just HBO for $15 a month Then there's HBO Max, which is HBO plus a bunch of other stuff for $15 a month HBO Max if you want to know what some of that other stuff is We'll have human curated lists as well as content grouped by source among those sources are studio Ghibli TNT The DC movies all of them cartoon network, etc It will also let users follow actors who will post recommendations of what they watch along with video stories kind of Instagram like The mobile version of HBO Max will feature show related podcasts as well and later next year HBO Max will let users select more than one profile as watching a show So that the show shows up in the watched list for everybody who's watching an ad-supported version and live news and sports Programming will launch in 2021 AT&T also announced new unlimited plans for its mobile wireless service and the top tier includes a subscription to HBO Which in May will become a subscription to HBO Max that plan is $50 a line for up to four lines AT&T says it plans to spend up to four billion dollars on content for HBO Max by 2025 Netflix is expected to end up spending 15 billion on content in 2019 alone But it's not exactly a fair comparison because HBO Max is spending four billion on content for HBO Max HBO gets to draw on all that other content We mentioned just now from Warner Media Networks including HBO itself HBO Max will feature a series from Game of Thrones set three hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones called House of the Dragon Telling the story of the Targaryens from George R. R. Martin's book Fire and Blood It skipped a pilot and went straight to a ten episode order Game of Thrones Battle of the Bastards director Miguel Sipachnik will co-show run with Ryan Condol who's writing the scripts and the long night which Jane Goodman was working on is Not going to happen that has been canceled. So you're not going to get that that show at all instead You're gonna get House of the Dragon There's a 88 originals in 2021 coming from HBO Max 38 of those are HBO, but 50 originals just for HBO Max You've got a whole list of all all of this stuff They're getting South Park spending a bunch of money on that they're gonna have a Mindy Kaling original They're gonna have a Hannah Barbarian original new stuff from the Looney Tunes studios all kinds of stuff I know that you get HBO Nordic Patrick So so these offerings may or may not be quite the same where where you sit But what do you think of this overall attempt by Warner Media to get into the streaming game? Well, it seems it should be called Warner Max or something because HBO HBO I guess that's the answer to the confusing nature of those two services They just figured we need a wider streaming service and HBO has the brand recognition So we'll just call it HBO because everyone knows that But yeah, it seems like it's pretty obvious that you should get the HBO Max and not HBO now I I have often thought well, there's HBO and HBO Max. It's just like HBO plus more But now that they're the same price it feels like they're just replacing HBO Yeah, and they can't quite do it because they have these contracts for HBO on cable companies, but yeah, yeah, yeah, it seems so HBO Nordic is fine. It's a little bit cheaper. It's 10 euros a month The app though is kind of crappy. You can't favorite series. You have to favorite individual episodes You don't have multi-profile So I'll be looking forward to hopefully having I guess HBO Nordic using the app that HBO Max is developing but it's It affects me less because HBO Nordic is HBO now for the Nordic countries I I look at this and I and the one thing I wonder is are people going to pay $15? Even if this has HBO in it like it's smart to say like if you paid it $15 for HBO Wouldn't you pay $15 for HBO plus a bunch of other things and the answer is well There are a bunch of people who didn't pay $15 for HBO are these other things Enough to pull them in and yeah college girls from Mindy Kaling is cool And that will pull some people in but I'm not seeing anything in here That is the thing that will pull people in and the price Apple TV plus $5 Disney plus $7 Is not the thing that is going to pull people in well It all hand hedges on whether or not HBO can retain its premium Image which that including many many different A lot of content in this kind of puts a question mark on I mean I guess they're expecting the HBO stuff like the Game of Thrones to be like well Now you'll sign up not just for HBO but for HBO Max, but we know how many people do that already Yeah, that's a big question. It's I guess it really reinforces that idea that the Stream Wars have begun or are beginning now. We're there. It's there are many many services and all of them seem pretty cool But yeah, well, let's take a quick moment to check in on our thing of the day And today it is Patrick telling us the latest from shadow that game streaming service that you've talked about here before Yeah, I've talked about it a few times as kind of a proof of concept that Streaming can work game streaming can work and shadow is not just game streaming It's essentially an entire PC on Windows 10 that is running in there on their servers and you stream the video from that and They have announced a couple of new things. They are Feeling the heat from other gaming streaming services. And so they're slashing their prices they have three tiers now the cheapest of which is the the current one which was much more expensive but has a very decent gaming PC for 13 euros a month, which is competitive with other gaming only Services you have it's gonna launch in in February. They have a partnership with OVH, which is a French slash European content delivery network slash Infrastructure company they have a bunch of things including VR coming to the Oculus Quest via streaming, which it's gonna be interesting because the Latency is even more important on VR than it is on regular gaming But it seems to be working reasonably well and I have as you mentioned talked about shadow over the past few years On a regular basis basis, but now I tried it when I was in Paris last time a few days ago and it works Incredibly well if you have the connection that is required and you are close enough You know you are in the big city, but mostly you need fiber if you have fiber it is very difficult to distinguish from a local running device and I know there are still people who are Suspicious about it. I think those people are the people who haven't tried it because now the UI works well The everything works well to the point that I can recommend it. They actually have service in the US as well If you would be interested into having a PC you don't need to upgrade yourself every few years and that can run games Give it a try. I think you might be surprised at how well it works because you can just install a game on it, right? Yeah, so that's yeah, that's not a service of for the games It's a service for the box you have a PC that so the advantage is you can install anything you want not just games That's maybe you want to run, you know a video editing software or anything The disadvantages you have to actually maintain the PC as a full-on PC But you can then stream your things everywhere. They have apps on the phones and TV boxes and everything So it's an interesting alternative and now at that new price, which is coming in a few months It's a viable alternative, which it wasn't before the price was at least twice as much Thanks everybody who participates in our subreddit You can submit stories and vote on them at dailytechnewshow.reddit.com and facebook.com Slash group slash daily tech news show check it at the bail bag Nick wanted to share thoughts on yesterday's story on EA coming back to Steam writing as for EA rejoining the steam community. I'm really frustrated with origin There seems to be just enough bugs to make it undesirable to buy and play games there I know I'm not alone as I know of note of others that are experiencing issues with origin So EA returning to steam is welcome. There's one request though when EA left steam They'll let you take your steam keys and CD keys for EA games and enter them into origin to give you an origin copy of EA games You owned elsewhere. I know it would be very grateful I would be very grateful if EA allowed a transfer of games and DLC bought on origin prior to this announcement from origin to steam Patrick I'm Guessing this is not going to happen Because they would need to pay steam for that whereas they didn't have to pay themselves for the reverse when it happened a few years ago however The an important part of that announcement is that EA is working with steam to enable their subscription Service to work on steam as well for the games that are in that are available on steam meaning if you subscribe to the EA Service then you don't really need to buy the games anymore And so they are available for you on steam as well, which I think is a big part of their strategy They're also going Working on streaming game streaming with their service So when I was saying yesterday that EA won't want to get into streaming I was wrong because EA is getting into streaming very much so they flown under the radar But they are working apparently with Stadia in a kind of a white box service from Google To have their own streaming service as well So I think going back to steam is part of an idea that you have so many of those subscriptions Streaming services that are coming that in order to be competitive EA has to be everywhere possible And that's what they're trying to do now Well, shout out to patrons at our master and grandmaster levels that keep this show a roll and including Juan D Hernandez Kevin S. Morgan and Paul Reese and thank you Patrick Beja For flying all the way from Finland just to be here I know you get the bonus of getting to go to BlizzCon later, but I know the real reason you came that is absolutely correct And since I'm here as you said I will go to BlizzCon and report on that on Pixels my gaming show which I record every couple of weeks So if you want and we'll do a special on what's been happening at BlizzCon the games and everything else Surrounding the company at the moment So if you're curious just go check out pixels on your podcast app Look for it and the surprise and you'll have all the news you need folks You have two more days to make sure that your Patreon is at the two dollar level or above and then you'll get on November 1st a PDF copy of the official DTNS Good Day internet cookbook. 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