Thursday, February 9, 2017

Signal sets up for sight and sound. It's The Daily Crunch

THE DAILY CRUNCH
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8 2017 By Darrell Etherington

Signal wants to cover the spectrum of communication with encrypted options, Sen. Warren redeems Facebook Live and the waning hours of the wearable market are plagued by acrimonious legal action. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for February 8, 2017.

1. Signal is testing voice and video calling

Encrypted chat app Signal is doing well in a world where there's understandable concern about the privacy and security of individual communications, and now the messaging app is testing voice and video, too.

The beta is appearing for some Android testers, but will likely roll out to iOS, too, making the app a one stop shop for encrypted comms across a variety of media.

2. Senator Elizabeth Warren took to Facebook to get her message across

Facebook Live proved an opportune venue for Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was taking part in the Democratic Senate protest of Trump's cabinet nominations when Republican house majority leader Mitch McConnell tried to keep her protest quiet. Finally, a decent use case for Facebook Live.

3. Jawbone and Fitbit continue to fight over nothing

Jawbone and Fitbit are still trading barbs, with Jawbone's latest being an accusation that Fitbit is under a criminal investigation regarding theft of trade secrets. Here's the really sad part about this bitter feud: both of these companies are likely going to end up dead because they bet on the wearables market, which never really existed in the first place, so all their furor is ultimately for nought.

4. Facebook makes Safety Check a bit more genuinely useful

Facebook has a new feature called Community Help that it's adding to Safety Check, that feature that allows people to mark themselves safe in case of incidents. Safety Check itself has come under fire for triggering based on very small or even false incidents, but the new Community Help feature aims to make it a bit more practically useful by letting people offer up shelter and supplies in the case of real disasters. Sounds reasonable, but good intentions and all that.

5. Horrifying face editing software will haunt your nightmares

This app will add fake smiles to real pictures and do other creepy stuff. It's awful, you definitely have to go have a look and try it out.

6. LeEco's still going to buy Vizio, spying aside

LeEco says it'll still go through with its $2 billion acquisition of consumer TV brand Vizio, despite a new Vizio FTC charge incurred because the TV maker was creepily tracking owners of its products. Hey LeEco if you want some pointers, our parent company Verizon knows a thing or two about persisting with acquisitions even after major brand tarnishment – Y!, they're practically experts.

7. Amazon's Dash put to actual good use

Sometimes, you just don't know what to do with your rage, your disbelief or your frustration. This hacked Dash button channels that energy into an ACLU donation.

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