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Google opens Daydream VR platform to developers
From its debut at Google I/O, Daydream seemed like a much more ambitious smartphone-based VR software platform than the earlier Cardboard system. The countdown clock for the former's public release began after a Bloomberg article back in August hinted at its imminent launch. While we're still waiting for the first Daydream phones to come out in fall, Google's VR SDK version 1.0 supporting it has officially left beta and is available to download on their developer site.
Twitter will livestream the US Presidential debates
Twitter made it a point to livestream the Democratic and Republican national conventions, and it's keeping up that trend of political involvement now that it's debate season. The social network is partnering with Bloomberg to livestream both the US Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, which start on September 26th. Each stream will be available worldwide through the web (at debates.twitter.com, which isn't live yet) and Twitter's official apps, with Bloomberg providing commentary and analysis. We can't promise that the debates will be deep, insightful discussions that help you make an informed decision on election day, but you at least won't have to put down your phone to watch the political circus in action.
Bloomberg: iPhone 7 gets new home button, drops headphone port
Another report has suggested that Apple is taking a different tack with this year's iPhone. Bloomberg reporter and renowned Apple scooper Mark Gurman has published a story claiming that the new handset will have a design "similar to the 6 and 6s." We've heard this before -- it suggests that Apple is holding back on a big aesthetic change until next year, when the iPhone celebrates its 10th birthday. Gurman is also reporting that the next iPhone will ditch the headphone jack -- again, something that's been rumored for some time -- switching instead to "connectivity via Bluetooth and the charging port." (Get ready for lots of Lightning headphones.)
Toyota is investing in Uber
Toyota is expanding its ride-sharing initiatives by investing in Uber, according to Bloomberg. The publication says that the pair have "entered into a memorandum of understanding to explore collaboration in ride-sharing." Sure. In 2014, Toyota started testing its own ride-sharing service in France, but I'm willing to bet that this new deal won't mean your next Uber will be one of those cute i-Road electric cars. By partnering with Uber, the Japanese car manufacturer is able to skip the hassles of setting up its own infrastructure -- unlike, say General Motors and its ZipCar-like Maven service -- and still be a part of the scene.
Apple might finally be revamping the App Store
Finding anything on the App Store is kind of a nightmare, but Apple apparently has a way to fix that. And the Cupertino company is considering taking a page from Google to do it: paid search results, according to a report from Bloomberg. Meaning, say, Adobe could buy keywords that'd ensure Lightroom would appear when you're looking for say "photo editing." If that means actually finding the app you're after on the first try instead of it being buried under a sea of clones and junkware promising more followers on the likes of Instagram or Twitter -- if it shows up at all -- then, awesome.
Google paid Apple $1 billion to be the default search on iOS
$1 billion. That's how much Google paid Apple in 2014 to be the default search app on the iPhone, according to court transcripts obtained by Bloomberg. As you might imagine, neither company is too happy about their business deal being made public, and as the publication notes, the court transcript "vanished without a trace" late yesterday. But whether that was because the court in the ongoing litigation between Google and Oracle eventually bowed to the whims of Cupertino and Mountain View's requests for redaction isn't clear.
Microsoft will deliver low-cost broadband to 500,000 rural Indian villages
A major partnership with Google putting free Wi-Fi in 400 train stations wasn't the only major network news coming from India today. The Indian government also announced on Monday that it will pair with Microsoft to bring low-cost broadband connectivity to half a million villages throughout the subcontinent. That should help at least some of the estimated 4 million people that go without internet connectivity every year
Samsung promotion will pay your installment plan until 2016
Samsung is the latest phone manufacturer to offer up a rebate to customers willing to switch from a rival platform. The company announced a new promotion on Monday that would put up to $120 back in customers' pockets should they purchase a Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ or Galaxy Note5 on an installment/lease plan. Basically, if you are a T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, or US Cellular (anybody but AT&T) subscriber and purchase one of these phones by October 9th, Samsung will pay your phone installments through the end of the year. That means once January rolls around, you're back on the hook for the remainder of your installment plan (not to mention whatever service contract you've signed on for). Samsung will further sweeten the deal for iPhone trade-ins by offering an extra $100 Google Play gift card on top of the installment payments. [Image Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Hewlett Packard will cut another 30,000 jobs during split
As it continues the process of splitting itself into two distinct companies, Hewlett-Packard has announced that it'll fire between 25,000 and 30,000 more employees. That figure is believed to be on top of the 55,000 roles that were earmarked for the door when the plan was announced last October. If you're not caught up on the news, here's the tl:dr version: the ailing hardware maker is becoming two smaller firms in the hope that it can survive in a world that no longer loves the PC. Hewlett Packard Enterprise will produce software, services and servers for the business crowd, much like IBM, while HP will take over the personal computing and printer divisions.
Google's solar plane crashed earlier this month in New Mexico
According to Bloomberg Business, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an incident wherein Google's solar-powered Solara 50 plane reportedly crashed shortly after takeoff. The event occurred on May 1st at a private airfield outside of Albuquerque and no injuries were reported. Recent Google acquisition Titan Aerospace built the 50-meter-wide (164 ft) drone as part of an ambitious Google plan to deliver global internet connectivity via stratospheric drones.
Bloomberg: Google improving controls for Android app permissions soon
It's always a little concerning when a battery management app needs access to your location and contacts. According to Bloomberg, Google's poised to ease that anxiety by improving control over what apps can access in Android. According to its sources, an update to the operating system -- possibly coming ant Google's I/O event this month -- would allow users to switch off access to things individually, similar to how app management in Facebook works. Features like those described were discovered in Android, hidden, as far back as 2013. If you're using one of Android's most famous forks, you've had them since 2011. Google eventually removed the hidden controls, perhaps to prevent incomplete tools from interfering with apps not primed for the change, but now it seems they're ready for prime time. How will your torch cope without knowing all your friends' names, and where you are? We'll just have to wait and see.
Apple may be under FTC investigation for Beats deals
The hushed whispers surrounding the Federal Trade Commission's supposed investigation into Apple's Beats Music service relaunch have gotten a little louder. From the sounds of it, Cupertino's approached record labels and over a dozen of artists, throwing its weight around as the largest seller of music to snag "limited exclusive" rights and partnerships to pad out a new version of the formerly-owned-by Dr. Dre music service. Bloomberg's sources say that the FTC's still pretty early in the process, but the inquiry revolves around how Apple's dominance in the music sales space, coupled with exclusive deals, could put the likes of Spotify at a disadvantage. It's something other streaming outfits like Tidal don't exactly have to worry about because they don't have iTunes attached to them.
Apple expects you to use its Watch in 10-second bursts
Apple doesn't want you to spend a lot of time with Watch apps. Specifically, if you're looking at your Cupertino-device adorned wrist for more than 10 seconds, that isn't ideal according to Bloomberg's sources. In addition to quick bursts of info, Watch apps also use location services, among other features, to keep the amount of distractions to a minimum so your wrist won't constantly buzz. For instance, saving specific personal email alerts until you're home from work. From the sounds of it, that should serve a few different purposes: conserving battery life and keeping annoyance levels down. The former of course is a common complaint lobbed at most smartwatches thus far.
Citibank's Deborah Hopkins talks to Bloomberg about Apple Pay partnership
Citibank's chief innovation officer Deborah Hopkins recently sat down with Bloomberg TV's Emily Chang to discuss Citi's investment in mobile payment options like Square and Apple Pay. The Apple Pay portion of the interview begins at 1:54 seconds in the video below, but even the previous sections touch on what makes Apple Pay so important. The company's goal in supporting these services is to make mobile payments a ubiquitous part of everyday life. Apple Pay excels in this normalization of mobile payments by giving users the security of a unique identifier number for transactions rather than giving someone their bank account or debit card number. For a company like Citi that has made broad investments in various aspects of the mobile payment landscape, the confidence built in consumers who use Apple Pay could also translate into confidence in similar, but different, services such as Square. You can watch the interview below.
JPMorgan: cyberattack stole contact info for 76 million households
Is it just that time of year, or are data breaches just becoming more and more common? No matter: following the report that JPMorgan Chase and a handful of other banks had been hit by hackers comes confirmation from the main financial institution itself. The banking juggernaut says that as many as 76 million households and 7 million small businesses had names, phone numbers, street addresses and email addresses stolen in a cyberattack, according to a regulatory filing spotted by Bloomberg. The nation's largest bank noted that despite these intrusions, however, sensitive information like Social Security and account numbers, login credentials and dates-of-birth were not pilfered. If you have accounts at Chase, now might be time to reset your passwords and contact your local branch, regardless. [Image credit: Getty Images]
Bloomberg: Mojang's Notch 'unlikely' to stay on after MS buyout
If Microsoft's reported attempt to buy Mojang is successful, a Bloomberg source says founder and owner Markus "Notch" Persson is "unlikely" to stay on at the Swedish studio afterwards. According to the source, which Bloomberg notes as a person "familiar with Microsoft," the two companies are finalizing details after agreeing a framework and approximate price, which The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg believe to be in excess of $2 billion. Bloomberg's insider adds Persson will remain to help during a transition period, but will probably leave the company afterwards. Yesterday The Wall Street Journal claimed Microsoft is in talks to buy Minecraft studio Mojang, and "three people with knowledge of the talks" back that up for Bloomberg. Both Microsoft and Mojang declined to comment to Bloomberg, while a Microsoft spokesperson told Joystiq, "We don't comment on rumors or speculation." According to the reports, the deal could be finalized this week.
Bloomberg: Microsoft may lay off thousands, Xbox marketing teams affected
A new Bloomberg report claims Microsoft is on the verge of its biggest round of layoffs since 2009, when more than 5,000 employees lost their jobs. The job cuts could go on to top that figure, according to Bloomberg's sources, making it the biggest round of layoffs in the company's history. The sources told Bloomberg the layoffs will "probably" be in Nokia and overlapping Microsoft divisions, but also in marketing and engineering divisions. The sources said that included marketing departments for divisions such as the global Xbox team, potentially including the UK-based European group. "People with knowledge of the company's plans" said Microsoft is looking to trim its 127,000-strong employee base following the April acquisition of Nokia, which brought in 30,000 staff to the company. Two of the people said details of the restructuring are still being formulated, while Bloomberg notes the job cuts could occur "as soon as this week." Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny any of Bloomberg's information, and the publication noted a Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on it.
Bloomberg built a virtual trading terminal using Oculus Rift
No matter how many screens they add to their setup, traders are limited to a finite amount of display real estate. To solve that problem, Bloomberg LP's turned to the virtual-reality headset Oculus Rift. Don't expect to see a room full of Oculus-equipped traders anytime soon, though; it's just a prototype, albeit one that Bloomberg's showing off at its Next Big Thing Summit this week.
The evolution of mortality in America, presented as beautiful graphs
While everyone (and everything) dies in time, just how and when they die has changed a lot in the past few decades; it's not necessarily clear how you're likely to kick the bucket. Thankfully, Bloomberg has used visual data to make sense of death trends in the US. Some trends aren't surprising -- medicine, science and societal factors have helped Americans both live longer and avoid unnatural ends, like murders. As of 2010, roughly a third of all deaths were of people 85 and older. That's a big jump from 1968, when just 13 percent of people would live to become octogenarians.
Samsung promises a 'back to basics' rethink for the Galaxy S 5
Samsung has admitted that the public didn't see much difference between the Galaxy S III and S4 smartphones and said the S5 would likely pack a substantially different design. Exec Lee Young Hee told Bloomberg that the new flagship will go "back to basics," adding that "mostly, it's about the display and the feel of the cover." It'll also arrive with a brand-new version of the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which itself will have "more advanced functions" and an improvement to what she called "the bulky design." Other revelations include a possible eye-scanner in the handset for greater security, though that's still being studied. Farther down the road, Samsung said that it's looking at significant changes for the Galaxy Note 3's successor in order to target it at professionals who are "willing to pay more for handsets." As such, it may pack a three-sided display, like the so-called Youm prototype we saw last year at CES 2013, allowing users to read messages from oblique angles. Finally, Lee revealed that the Galaxy S 5 would arrive in March or April after Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Considering we saw the Galaxy S III and S4 around the same period in previous years, however, that's not a big shocker.