What’s new
Google responds to Pixel 2 XL screen burn-in and color concerns with upcoming software updates and a two year warranty
Google announced that it’s expanding the base warranty to two years (from one) for all Pixel 2s. The company said that despite the reports, its investigation found the Pixel’s burn-in rate to be in line with other premium smartphones and that any issue “should not affect the normal, day-to-day user experience” of the Pixel 2 XL. “Regardless, we use software to safeguard the user experience and maximize the life of the OLED display, and we’ll make ongoing software updates to optimize further,” the company said in a statement.
You can read more here.
WhatsApp will face EU taskforce over sharing user data with Facebook
WhatsApp is continuing to face scrutiny from the European Union’s data protection regulators, who say the Facebook-owned company has failed to address the concerns raised around its privacy policy “despite a significant period of time having passed”. The taskforce has been set up a year after it first issued a warning to the chat app over its sharing of user data with the wider group of Facebook companies, forcing it to pause data transfer.
More info are available here.
New products
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
The Galaxy A7 (2018) will have a 6 inch full HD+ display, 6GB of RAM and Exynos 7885 octacore processor. It will come with Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS.
More info here.
Oppo F5
The phone has MediaTek MY6763T processor, 32GB of storage and a 3200mAh battery. It comes with a 6-inch Full HD+ display, a 16MP primary camera and a 20MP front camera.
More info here.
You might want to know about this
Microsoft’s commercial cloud business has 20 billion in annualized revenue
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts that the company is “outpacing the goal we set just two years ago.” In Oct. 2015, Nadella predicted that Microsoft would hit $20 billion in annual cloud sales by 2018. Going forward, Microsoft will no longer disclose the annualized revenue figure for its commercial cloud business. Instead, it will just reveal its recorded revenue.
You can read more here.
McAfee will no longer allow governments to review its source code
Cybersecurity software company McAfee stopped allowing foreign governments to review the source code of its products. Security experts have warned for some time against this type of sharing, which they claimed could open products up to security vulnerabilities.
More info can be found here.
Fun stuff
Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to a robot named Sophia
Saudi Arabia just made a non-human woman a citizen, making it the first country to grant a robot the right to citizenship. Sophia, a creation of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, has been in development for a few years, and has made several public appearances. “I am very honored and proud for this unique distinction,” Sophia said. “This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship.”
You can read more here.
