Thurrott Daily: January 19
- Paul Thurrott
- Jan 19, 2017
-
15
Tech tidbits from around the web.
1/19/2017 3:46:41 PM
Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
LinkedIn launches a Facebook-like redesign
Microsoft’s LinkedIn announced a redesign for its desktop application today. Looks like Facebook to me, which is fine.
Our goal is to ensure you can seamlessly access the most relevant professional conversations, content and opportunities whether you’re on our mobile app or on our desktop experience.
Most importantly, this desktop redesign brings conversations and content to the heart of the platform, so you can more easily share ideas, join a discussion, and discover news and topics you care about.
Microsoft explains this week’s Surface firmware updates a bit better
Every time Microsoft posts a firmware update for a Surface device, someone over at the firm’s business-oriented Blog for IT Pros provides a deeper explanation of what was fixed or changed. But these explanations often trail the actual release by weeks. Not this time: Yesterday, we got firmware updates, and today we received more information.
These updates include new drivers and firmware for NVIDIA GeForce GPU, Intel(R) Smart Sound Technology (Intel(R) SST) Audio Controller, Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I219-LM and Surface UEFI on Surface Studio and Intel(R) Precise Touch Device and Surface UEFI on Surface Pro 4. On Surface Studio, these driver updates provide improvements to speech recognition accuracy, quality of Skype call audio, notification alerts, Ethernet connection stability, compatibility with the latest games, and reduced time to wake from sleep. On Surface Pro 4, these driver updates provide improvements to system stability, keyboard stability, storage performance, battery life during sleep, and disables touch when cover is closed, in addition to adding support for an upcoming product release.
Nokia’s comeback phone “sells out” in one minute
It’s not clear what “sold out” actually means in this case, but here’s the claim: That the Nokia 6 sold out in just one minute when it went on sale online in China. (This was translated from Chinese.)
10:06 today, Nokia 6 officially opened in the Jingdong Mall snapped up. However, Nokia has a good do not learn, but why to learn millet that in just one minute on the sold out, showing sold out.
In just over a week of appointment time, Nokia 6’s final appointment number reached 130 million people, which may explain why Nokia 6 will be sold out instantly.
Suddenly, Netflix is kicking ass
I’m not sure if anyone has been paying attention to Netflix’s subscriber gains over the years, but they’ve fallen short in the past few quarters. And then this happened.
Netflix added a record 7.05 million streaming members in the three months that ended Dec. 31, up from the 5.59 million net additions in the same period of 2015. That growth, in domestic and international markets, beat its forecast of 5.2 million new members for the quarter. Netflix now has a total of 93.8 million members.
Fueling the increase in subscribers was a rapid rise in Netflix memberships abroad. The company said it is learning “how best to match content with audiences tastes around the world.” It added 5.1 million international members in the quarter, and now has 44.4 million members outside the United States, more than than 47 percent of its total membership.
Netflix cited its original series “Marvel’s Luke Cage” and “The Crown” as worldwide hits. It said it planned to invest more than $6 billion in content this year, up from $5 billion in 2016.
Google Pixel is making Android device partners uneasy
Hey, I wrote about this problem—which I called the Surface Curse—a while back. But according to the Register, it’s come true. Nice of them to pretend up front that no one warned about this. 🙂
Google’s decision to keep premium Android features for itself attracted surprisingly little comment last year – but the dangers are heaving into view. By declaring war on its most important customers, Google risks losing a degree of control over Android, further fragmenting the platform.
Android’s fragmentation problem stems from Google’s inability to bring new features to the installed base. New platform features arrive via new phones – hardly anyone upgrades Android from one major version to the next using OTA updates. This poses a mortal threat to Google, which is an advertising services business with a phone platform attached. The only reason Google spends billions of dollars a year subsidizing Android is to keep those advertising services up to date.