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Tech

TOUCHDOWN BEZOS: Amazon CEO is reportedly interested in buying the Seattle Seahawks

Amazon’s Billionaire CEO, Jeff Bezos, is reportedly looking into buying the Seattle Seahawks, according to The Washington Post. Bezos is the founder of Amazon and also the world riches man, which means that at $105 Billion net-worth, Bezos could buy the team cash.

The NFL requires owners to put a 30% deposit/downpayment toward the purchase of a team. The Seahawks are located less than 2 miles from the Amazon HQ, which would make Bezo’s commute to work very short. The previous owner of the Seahawks, tech billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, passed away last year.

Panelist of ABC’s Shark Tank, NBA owner, and billionaire, Mark Cuban says that Bezos would make a great NFL owner.

“The NFL could probably use him,” Cuban said. “He’s smart. He’s successful. He’s got a lot of money. Those would be the requirements.

15 November, 2019 0 comment

Business Tech Television

Hulu is raising their Live TV plan’s prices for the second time in a year

written by Ruben Jay

Hulu is increasing the price for their Hulu + Live TV package to $54 a month. This increase is the second increase for the virtual TV provider in a year and is a 22% increase.

The new pricing will be implemented on December 18 and reflect the next billing cycle for all Hulu + Live TV customers. In January, Hulu raise their prices to $45 from $40, and now again in December.

Hulu added 400,000 new subscribers, bringing them to 2.7 Million and slightly beating out Dish’s Sling TV. Hulu is controlled by Disney.

15 November, 2019 0 comment

Business Tech

Instagram to test hiding likes in the US. Should influencers be worried?

written by Ruben Jay

Instagram announced today that they plan on testing the results of what happens when the platform hides the amount of likes a podcast gets from the public. According to the TechCrunch, the creator of the post would still be able to have access to the stat of how many like a post gets but the likes would not be public.

“We will make decisions that hurt the business if they help people’s well-being and health” says Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri. There have been a few studies that show people get more depressed when they are able to see influences getting more like than theirs.

“The idea is to try to depressurize Instagram, make it less of a competition, and give people more space to focus on connect ing with the people they love and things that inspire them.” The intention is to “reduce anxiety” and “reduce social comparison”.

Should influencers be worried? The answer is MAYBE!

Why maybe? Well, the answer should be “yes”, but I think there is a way for influencers to still be able to get brand deals regardless of the likes being public or not.

If creators are still able to access their stats, brands would be able to decide if they want to sponsor them or not. The influencers that should be concerned are the ones who are inflating their numbers or going after brands that don’t understand social media as well as they should.

If Instagram does hide likes, there might be a significant fall of the influencer era.

8 November, 2019 0 comment

Business Tech

Apple Expected To Grow Services Business with Apple TV Plus

written by Ruben Jay

Apple has been in a long transition period for the last few years. As iPhone sales slow, Apple has been dependent on their services business. Services like iCloud, Apple Music, the App Store, Apple Care, and now Apple TV +.

Morgan Stanley is predicting that Apple will grow its services business over 20% by 2025, making Apple’s overall business over $9 Billion a year. The bullish prediction has helped Apple’s stock rise a bit.

The cost of the service is just $5 a month, but if you buy a new Apple device, it will be free for a year! Apple is taking a huge gamble giving the new service away for a year. However, if they can get those viewers hooked on the service, $5 a month is a small price to pay for great content.

“With an attractive price point at $4.99/month, and wide initial distribution to the Apple installed base via the bundled free year offer, we estimate Apple TV+ can become a $9 billion revenue business with 136 million paid subscribers by FY25, assuming just one in every 10 Apple user pays for the service by FY25,” Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley wrote.

Apple’s stock rose to $238 per share on the news of a forecast of 136 million subscribers worldwide by 2025 as a base case (Huberty’s projections range from 68 million to 175 million paid users).

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

24 October, 2019 0 comment

Business Tech

QUICK BITE: T-Mobile Partners With Quibi For Launch

written by Ruben Jay

The former California Governor Candidate, Meg Whitman, is launching a new streaming service called Quibi (Short for Quick Bites). Quibi has inked a new deal with T-Mobile as the exclusive wireless partner of QuiBi for its launch.

The T-Mobile deal will help QuiBi reach 80 million possible customers on the telecom companies network.

“Quibi will deliver premium video content for millennials on a technology platform that is built exclusively for mobile, so a telecommunications partner like T-Mobile, with their broad coverage today and impressive 5G roadmap, is the perfect fit,” Quibi CEO Meg Whitman said in a statement.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere added, “Of course Quibi and T-Mobile are working together — we’re two mobile-centric disruptors committed to challenging the status quo and giving customers incredible experiences. Quibi is completely re-imagining video content for a mobile-first world, and that’s what makes this such a strong partnership.”

21 October, 2019 0 comment

Business Tech Television

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST! Netflix Loses ‘The West Wing’ To HBO Max

written by Ruben Jay

Classic political drama, The West Wing, is leaving Netflix for HBO Max. As the streaming war continues to brew, Netflix seems to be the biggest loser so far.

In the last few months, Netflix has lost Friends, The Office, and the Disney library. The West Wing is now the latest classic show that Netflix is losing.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. The West Wing was on NBC for 7 seasons.

15 October, 2019 0 comment

Business Featured Tech

The New Era Of Microsoft Office

written by Mario Toscano

Now that Office 2010 support now reaching its final year of the 10-year lifecycle, customers are being urged to migrate to its newer Office 365 ProPlus bundle.

Microsoft announced this week that extended support for Office 2010 will end on October 13, 2020. And as with Windows 7, which also reaches end of life in January 2020, that means no more tech support, bug fixes or security patches.

Customers do have the option of upgrading to the on-premise Office 2019 for a one-time cost, but Microsoft really wants customers to move to Office 365 ProPlus per-user subscription.

The main difference between the two is that Office 365 ProPlus is updated regularly with new features, while Office 2019 has the same features it had since October 2018.

Office 365 ProPlus, which comes with most enterprise plans, includes the “full versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access, and Skype for Business installed on your client computers”. It also allows people to install Office on up to five devices, be they PCs, Macs, or mobile.

“With built-in, cloud-powered security to protect your data, Office 365 ProPlus also provides the peace of mind that comes with knowing your business will not only be productive, but safe.”

Some of the main features Microsoft has added to Office 365 since releasing Office 2010 include Excel’s XLOOKUP, the successor to the VLOOKUP formula; Excel real-time collaboration across PCs, laptops and mobile; Word’s Resume assistant; dictation in Word and the ability to upload audio for auto transcription.

In addition, there’s also an AI-powered feature in PowerPoint that offers suggested slide designs and PowerPoint inking, voice and 3D capabilities. You’ll have from now until to October 13, 2020 take care of business so-to-speak.

15 October, 2019 0 comment

Tech Uncategorized

Rich Kids and Their Tech Toys. What?

written by Mario Toscano

You’ll be surprised to hear that for some kids these days it must be tiring managing all the things they have and buying all the things they still want (sarcasm of course). It’s painful trying to decide what to do next, or what to buy next, right? At least this seems to be a challenge for a certain sector in the more affluent communities.

And then there are kids everywhere else. They are encouraged to stay in school, study hard, get good grades, and after all that, get them to interact at home and try get them to feel good about who they are. Could it be, though, that these rich kids’ minds are the ones being most warped by all the technology they allow into their lives?

A recent talk at the Parent Zone Digital Families Conference in the UK conducted by Professor Tanya Byron, a psychologist who was, until recently, Chancellor of the University, offered some findings from a study showing that kids of wealthier families are the ones who end up disappearing into the virtual world more than most others that are less fortunate.

The result is that their risk-taking is performed online, rather than in the real world. Up-close and personal, social interaction is a lost art nowadays. That’s not the worst part. In addition, more of these rich kids seem to be in search of clinical assistance as well. It seems they’ve discovered that having all the gadgets in the world, doesn’t necessarily make you happier or more productive. Absolutely ground-breaking right?

Professor Byron said that many of these children end up living inside those gadgets rather than going out into the real world and socializing with what the “old-timers” call, their mouths and using actual audible words. Sorry, that was my take at the end. I couldn’t help myself.

According to findings, parents are so keen on being their kids’ friends that they find it hard to encourage them to step back from their technology; many parents frustrated that they can’t get their kids off their phones to even listen to them anymore.

Of course, there are much more important and even mental implications arising from the notion that the rich have the most tech toys. What happens when mad-scientists make the chips available to be inserted into one’s head — chips that do the thinking for you and help you appear a lot smarter than you are?

It’ll probably be the rich who will likely get them first, and then we can only use our imagination as to what nightmares that will bring as a result. If you think kids are out of control now, just wait awhile; it’ll be the magic that dreams are made from (sarcasm of course).

10 October, 2019 0 comment

Tech

Apple Planning New, Cheap iPhone and AR Headset

written by Ruben Jay

Apple is looking to have a busy 2020! According to Business Insider, Apple plans to launch a cheap alternative to the new iPhone 11 line. The iPhone SE 2 is rumored to launch in the first quarter of 2020.

The report says that the new iPhone SE will get an upgraded look and resemble the iPhone 8. The SE 2 will also have the same processing chip as the iPhone 11 with 3 GB of RAM.

The original iPhone SE was launched in 2016 and became the most popular selling iPhone. Starting at $400, the price point was well under the $700+ iPhones.

Apple is also looking to launch an AR headsets for the iPhone. This could come in the form of an Apple Eyeglass type product or a traditional headset.

9 October, 2019 0 comment

Tech

Google Going For The Win

written by Mario Toscano

Google Going For The Win

A lot has been said so far about Google’s Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, without being officially released yet until Oct. One of many announcements should to be expected will be a new mesh Wi-Fi system, Pixelbook, and maybe even a set of Pixel Earbuds we hope.

No matter what a mega-giant like Google tried to do in order to avoid leaks, photos, videos, specification sheets, and renders have been set free from the highly classified area of Google’s own “area-51. No need to feel bad, Google, the Pixel 4 looks to be an amazing phone, and if all the leaks and rumors are in fact true, buckle your seatbelts iPhone geeks. As far as we know, the phone will be announced officially on Oct. 15.

Google’s Pixel will probably offer more than just their typical two-tone look that’s on the back of the phone, but leaked info may have some treats in store for us, including a single color across the entire device.

NEW FEATURES

Project Soli will allow hand gesture to control the Pixel 4

Facial recognition software and features will make their grand debut

You guessed it, a better camera and features to go along

An even Smarter Google Assistant (what?)

Here’s something cool; expect Motion Sense, which allows us to be able to wave your hand over the phone while on any flat surface of your choice and mute incoming calls, switch tracks, and other cool stuff.

Face recognition features that will allow you to unlock your phone and make purchases with Google Pay. No fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 4, but with facial recognition, who needs an outdated fingerprint scanner. Anyway…

For the photographers, the new Pixel will boast having two cameras with new exposure controls, and something for astronomy lovers; the ability to take pictures of the stars using, Night Sight.

Google Pixel 4

Display: 5.7-inch Full HD+ Smooth Display (up to 90Hz OLED) — Ambient EQ

Battery: 2,800mAh

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, Pixel Neural Core

Memory: 6GB RAM

Storage: 64GB, 128GB

Cameras: 12MP Dual-Pixel and 16MP Telephoto

Audio: Stereo speakers

Security: Titan M Security Module

Features: Face unlock, Motion Sense

OS: Android OS with three years of security and OS updates

Google Pixel 4 XL

Display: 6.3-inch Quad HD+ Smooth Display (up to 90Hz OLED) — Ambient EQ
Battery: 3,700mAh
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, Pixel Neural Core
Memory: 6GB RAM
Storage: 64GB, 128GB
Cameras: 12MP Dual-Pixel and 16MP Telephoto
Audio: Stereo speakers
Security: Titan M Security Module
Features: Face unlock, Motion Sense

Oh yeah, a 90Hz display that will make gaming and just working on the phone fell like a breeze.

And lastly, Price to be expected

If you’re wondering about the price for the newest Pixel, just get ready to expect a price closely related to other “superphones,” or near the $799 – $899 for last year’s models.

For those willing to watch, Google will livestream the event on YouTube, starting at 7 am PT/10 am ET.

8 October, 2019 0 comment