Top tech stories of the day – Wednesday 2 October, 2013 Bill Gates should step down, say three top Microsoft shareholders - In Steve Ballmer’s tearful farewell to Microsoft, he assured employees that they would build amazing things without him at the helm. “We will deliver the next big thing… we will change the world again.” Some shareholders, however, believe that the company can’t make necessary changes simply by replacing a CEO. Today, Reuters is reporting that three of the top 20 Microsoft investors are also calling for Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to step down. Bill Gates should step down, say three top Microsoft shareholders Tesla Model S caught on fire outside Seattle (video) - Immediate thoughts that the fire was initiated by a problem with the battery appear to have caused the stock price to drop. Those thoughts have been tempered somewhat by the fact that neither the battery nor any major electrical systems are in the front of the car. Tesla Model S caught on fire outside Seattle (video) Apple acknowledges iMessage delivery issues on iOS 7, is working on a fix - A number of iOS users have reported problems sending and receiving using iMessage (not that it’s the first time), and tonight Apple has responded. The Wall Street Journal has a statement from the company claiming the issue affects “a fraction of a percent” of its iMessage users, and says it will be fixed in a future software update. TechCrunch points out a support document that may provide temporary relief to those experiencing the issue, otherwise users may need to fall back to one of the many, many, many other messaging services out there (but not BBM, yet, and Google Hangouts had its own issue recently) to make sure those messages are getting through. Apple acknowledges iMessage delivery issues on iOS 7, is working on a fix Silk road has been seized - Light just reached one of the darker corners of the web: the FBI has seized Silk Road, a site infamous for hosting anonymized, Bitcoin-based drug and gun sales. The move follows a sting operation that also led to the arrest of site founder Ross Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) for alleged hacking, money laundering and narcotics trafficking. Facebook’s check-in based free Wi-Fi rolling out nationally with Cisco’s help – Last year, Facebook began trialing a novel approach to Wi-Fi: it gave consumers free access to high-speed internet in exchange for checking in at a business. Starting today, it’s expanding that initiative even further with the help of Cisco. The two companies are collaborating on what’s being called CMX for Facebook Wi-Fi. That branding is a bit of a mouthful, but for end users it’s largely the same experience. When you visit a participating retailer, hotel, or other business, hopping onto Wi-Fi is as easy as joining the local network and checking in with your Facebook account. For users, it offers a near-instantaneous login process that gets them browsing faster Facebook’s check-in based free Wi-Fi rolling out nationally with Cisco’s help Why we don’t want our Roombas to look human - We may have plenty of ideas about what a robot should look like — make something too machine-like, and we may not be able to connect with it; make a humanoid robot, and we might become too attached or view the result as creepy. According to new research, however, these preferences are far from uniform: they depend on both our age and what the robot would be doing. Georgia Tech graduate student Akanksha Prakash and professor Wendy Rogers showed groups of college-age students and senior citizens pictures of several robots. Some were real, like Nexi. Others were artistic renderings of cyborgs. Some were simply pictures of people. Which one, Prakash and Rogers asked, was the participant’s ideal robot? Why we don’t want our Roombas to look human Drone reportedly plummets dozens of stories and crash lands on busy Manhattan streets - A businessman walking through the East Side of Manhattan Monday was startled when a three pound helicopter drone crash landed a few feet from him. The man recovered a memory card from the downed craft. The man, concerned that he could have been injured by the falling drone, contacted local police, who told him that no law had been broken and did not pursue the pilot Drone reportedly plummets dozens of stories and crash lands on busy Manhattan streets Samsung reportedly not alone in cheating Android benchmarks - Samsung has come under fire this week for allegedly inflating the benchmark scores for the Galaxy Note 3 among other Android devices, but — shocker — the company is not alone in enhancing scores. AnandTech just published a report that shows ASUS, HTC and other companies using the same “benchmark detect” function to artificially bump up the numbers. According to the site, virtually all OEMs run a CPU optimization on at least one of their devices, save for Apple, Google’s Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 and Motorola’s latest crop of phones. Samsung reportedly not alone in cheating Android benchmarks Hulu Plus now supports the Chromecast - The official Google blog has announced Hulu Plus support for the Chromecast. Subscribers to Hulu’s $7.99-a-month streaming service will now see the Chromecast button pop up in the Hulu Plus app on iOS and Android. The Chromecast is just the latest piece of hardware supported by the joint NBC, Disney, and Fox venture, which already works on the Apple TV, game consoles, and other set-top boxes. At only $35, though, Google’s dongle has the distinction of being the cheapest way to get Hulu on your TV. The Chromecast launched in July to much fanfare due to its ease of use and tiny price tag. In its blog post, Google brags that it is currently the top seller in Amazon’s electronics department. App support for the Chromecast has so far been limited, with only Google’s media apps and Netflix available. Hulu Plus now supports the Chromecast The top tech stories of the day, every weekday. Thanks for reading, Tom Peters. Follow @Tom_Peters__ The post Top tech stories of the day – Wednesday 2 October, 2013 appeared first on Daily Tech Whip. bit.ly/1c6o4t0 bit.ly/1asA18q
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 23:39:18 +0000
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