Hello world, it's Friday, September 21st and like every other week, we're back again with our weekly roundup of tech news. This week's news is quite exciting, the list includes -
Ford India, lay out their future city action plan
Google acquires HTC's Pixel team for $1 billion
Facebook tests new WhatsApp button in main app
Nest announces a $499 alarm system
Flipkart and Amazon kick off their huge sales week
Instagram's filter brings its live video
That's a lot of cover so let's get started.
Ford articulates its vision for the future at Future Cities Symposium
Ford and all the other major automakers have realized that it's in their best interest to move to EV floats. In the same light, Ford is holding a symposium tomorrow in New Delhi, India. We were invited to be the same. This event features technology and thought leaders from across the industry. The company used the event as a platform to showcase their vision for the future of mobility and transportation. The company will work closely with the governments of several Latest Mailing Database cities to promote electric vehicles, sustainable transportation systems and cleaner energy solutions across the country. AI and autonomous drive solutions will play a key role in helping Ford succeed on this mission. By 2025, Ford expects electric cars and batteries to reach an inflection point in these vehicles, where the price of their electricity makes it a more viable and sensible option to buy an electric car instead of a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle. At the same time, public transport systems and car-sharing systems will become so mainstream that for most people, there will be no point in actually buying a private car. Governments and regulators will be very concerned about how these plans fall into place, especially in a country like ours where we've seen multiple infrastructure projects with huge delays due to factors like corruption and sanctions, but it's still very Good to see international players like Ford see India as one of the more important markets in the next 50 years or so.
Google buys HTC's Pixel for $1 billion
Since Google started the Nexus program, they've partnered with OEMs to build phones, and at the same time, they've built software experiences. Even after the Nexus program and the Pixel launched, they delegated the task of building the actual phone to HTC. From the growing threat of Apple's device dominance, it's only apparent that Google has fully dived into hardware to beat Apple in the hardware race.
This week, they got one step closer to that mission. Google buys HTC's Pixel team for up to $100 million. The agreement was finalized at a town hall meeting held by HTC on May 20. The team's work on the Pixel will join Google and Google will also be getting exclusive rights to some of HTC's patents. While HTC has seen poor smartphone sales, selling pixel segmentation doesn't mean they'll be out of the smartphone business. The company will still be working on its own line of smartphones, and with their Vive VR initiative. What will be interesting to see is how this has been done in the past by Motorola's acquisition of Motorola for the same reasons, but must be pretty soon to sell its closure to Lenovo as a playoff for Google's acquisition. The new Pixel 2 will launch in the first week of October and we'll let you know the details.
Facebook tests out a WhatsApp button in the main app
Facebook currently dominates the App Store and Play Store in all markets, which makes it the number one app list across the board. Its portfolio of apps, which includes Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are also somewhere close to that number all the time. To push its own apps to be more interactive, Facebook is testing something new.
The social networking giant has started testing the WhatsApp button on its main Facebook app that will appear in the hamburger section as a shortcut, leaving Facebook open for WhatsApp. This is currently only available for small control groups. While the test is reportedly being considered by Denmark Facebook has already tested their new feature in Denmark, which is not surprising. This isn't the first time the company has tested an integration with the main Facebook app WhatsApp, after the company tested the WhatsApp button in the main app.
Nest announces a $499 alarm system
Nest acing fixed the game. They have brought successful products in their portfolio. This week they added one more to their roster. The company announced some products this week aimed at making your home safer. The latest addition to the Nest family is the Nest Security, a comprehensive security system. It contains three hardware products that can also be integrated with the company's camera, Nest IQ. The Nest Guard will act as a battery backup and motion sensor at the center of the alarm system, as well as a Nest Guard sensor that detects if doors and windows are opened or not coming to check. There is a cellular backup system with an alarm, which is what you need to choose to make it about $5 per month.
There's also the Nest Tag, which is an NFC tag that can be used to turn the alarm on and off as needed. As is the case with other similar services, you can add multiple nest detections to your setup to ensure various parts of your residence. Nest Detection comes with a 2-year battery life, light sensor, magnetometer, and door open detection. All of this will be powered by an amazing suite of software that connects to the Nest via a mobile app. The Nest Security Starter Kit retails for $499 and will come with 2 Nest detections, 2 tags. Individual assays will be available at $59 and $25 tags.
Flipkart and Amazon shed their huge online sales in India
In light of the festive season knocking on the doors of both Flipkart and Amazon, the two major e-commerce players in India have kicked off their online sales featuring exciting deals and discounts. You can score an iPhone 6S for ₹30,000 on a great exchange offer or other similar offers on EMIS. Amazon is also bringing a Buy Now Pay one year later program to let customers in 2018, which is quite a paint payout product. The sale will continue until September 24 so they run out of stock before hurrying up.