Smart TVs are data collection machines, study shows

Research from Princeton University shows that connected smart TVs are loaded with a lot of tracking programs. If you use devices such as Roku or Amazon Fire, there are many companies that can build a relatively comprehensive picture of what you are watching. Arvind Narayanan, an associate professor of computer science at Princeton, and his colleagues developed a robot program that automatically installed thousands of channels on Roku and Amazon Fire. It then simulates human behavior to browse and watch videos, and it tracks data collection behind the scenes when ads are played.

Information like device type and city are not unique to a user, but device serial numbers, Wi-Fi and advertising IDs can be tracked to individuals. Some channels even send unencrypted email addresses and video titles to trackers.

The study found trackers on 69% of Roku channels and 89% of Amazon Fire channels, many of which belong to well-known companies such as Google, but many are lesser-known. Google's advertising service DoubleClick was found on 89% of Roku channels. The search giant said in a statement that it has established industry guidelines to protect user privacy. (solidot)

"You can make money by walking"? Qubu app is suspected of pyramid selling and illegal fundraising.

The Qubu APP, which claims to "make money by walking", was investigated by the Changsha Industrial and Commercial Bureau for suspected illegal activities such as pyramid schemes, illegal fund-raising, and financial fraud. Industry insiders said that the Qubu model is "sports mining", which pulls people in and requires a lot of new people to support it. It is a pyramid structure, and the more people you have at the bottom, the more benefits you will get.

It is understood that among the many mobile apps that claim to "earn money by walking", the "Qubu" app has emerged as a dark horse. Earlier this year, it even topped the list of downloads in the lifestyle category of a certain mobile app platform. Simply put, users can use their steps to buy goods or even withdraw cash on "Qubu", and the requirements are not high. As long as you walk 4,000 steps a day, you can earn at least 200 yuan a month, and there is no upper limit. (Voice of China)

Suspected internal documents from China Mobile confirm: 4G price increase, cancellation of unlimited data packages

In response to the recent uproar over the cancellation of free broadband, the latest leaked internal documents of China Mobile show that (officially implemented in October), the free broadband service for mobile phone packages below 58 yuan will be cancelled, and a 100 yuan installation and debugging fee will be charged to new broadband users. The document highlights the following details:

1. Fully sell mobile product tariffs with unlimited speed and volume;

2. Standardize high-volume traffic products with no speed limit: The package threshold is not less than 58 yuan, and the traffic included in the 58 yuan package does not exceed 20GB; for packages with 20GB of built-in traffic, the unit price of traffic outside the package is not less than 5 yuan/GB, and for packages with more than 20GB of built-in traffic, the unit price of traffic outside the package is not less than 3 yuan/GB;

3. Traffic speed-up packages for customers who have reached the speed limit;

4. For non-high-volume products priced below RMB 58, the unit price of the data traffic in the package shall not be lower than the unit price of the data traffic in the package of 20GB high-volume products;

5. The unit price of traffic for daily rental products is not less than 1 yuan/GB/day;

6. Under the regulatory requirement of ensuring the floor price, the threshold for online and offline packages shall not be less than 18 yuan. (Tencent News)

Huawei may obtain Google service license in the near future

According to Leifeng.com, the New York Times reported that Trump plans to issue licenses in the near future to allow Huawei to cooperate with some US suppliers.

This has also led many media to speculate that Google may also restore GMS to Huawei in the near future. (Leifeng.com: Google Mobile Services, including Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps and other Google core applications, require official Google certification and charge to use) Service certification, that is, restore pre-installed Google applications on Huawei's overseas version of the phone; this is of great significance to the sales of Huawei phones in overseas markets. (Leifeng.com)

Japan's ruling party invites BAT to hearing to question it about information collection

Japan's ruling party will invite executives from Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent to attend a hearing to examine their collection and use of personal information. Japan is currently considering introducing policies to protect consumers and local businesses. Although BAT has fewer users in Japan than its American rivals such as Google and Amazon, the continued growth of these three companies has raised concerns in Japan about their influence on the market and the risks of user data being concentrated in the hands of a few companies. (Phoenix Network Technology)

Huawei's self-developed 1300 trillion high-performance computing platform landed in Shenyang

According to local media reports in Shenyang, the 1300 trillion high-performance computing platform independently developed by Huawei has landed in Shenyang and has been put into use in the Aviation Industry Aerodynamics Institute (hereinafter referred to as the "Aerodynamics Institute"). It uses Huawei's self-developed Kunpeng 920 processor and will be used for various designs, research and development, and verification in the field of computational fluid dynamics research at the Aerodynamics Institute, which is expected to greatly enhance the independent innovation capabilities of my country's existing aviation systems. (Drive China)

Ant Financial and others invested $100 million in eSign

Recently, eSignbao received a US$100 million Series C financing led by Ant Financial, which was also interpreted as a defensive move made by Alibaba against Tencent's investment in FaDaDa in March this year.

Industrial and commercial information shows that Hangzhou Tiangu Information Technology Co., Ltd., the operating entity of eSignbao, has undergone industrial and commercial changes. Shanghai Yunxin Venture Capital Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Gobi Qiling Venture Capital Partnership have become new investors in the company. They are respectively the investment entities of Ant Financial and Gobi Venture Capital. At the same time, many directors of the company have withdrawn. (Leifeng.com)

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology: Domestic mobile phone market overall shipments fell 7.1% year-on-year in September

On October 12, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology released a research report on the development of the domestic mobile phone market and the domestic smartphone market in September 2019.

The report shows that in September 2019, the total shipments of the domestic mobile phone market were 36.236 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 7.1% and a month-on-month increase of 17.4%. Among them, the domestic smartphone shipments were 34.683 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 5.7%, accounting for 95.7% of the mobile phone shipments in the same period, of which Android phones accounted for 85.1% of smartphones.

It is worth noting that in September 2019, 90 new models were launched in China, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1%, including 22 2G mobile phones, 59 4G mobile phones, and 9 5G mobile phones. 5G mobile phones accounted for 10% of the new models launched in the same period. (Sina Technology)

Samsung accelerates construction of Xi'an NAND flash memory factory with total investment of US$7 billion

South Korean media reported that Samsung plans to increase its memory chip spending to $6.5 billion next year, with the additional funds mainly used to build the second phase of the flash memory factory in Xi'an, China. In Xi'an, Samsung invested $7 billion in 2014 to build the first phase of the flash memory factory, which mainly produced the first generation of V-NAND flash memory chips. In 2017, Samsung signed a new agreement with the Xi'an government to invest another $7 billion to build a second flash memory factory by 2020.

However, in 2017, the flash memory market was still a bull market, and prices had been rising for more than a year. After flash memory prices fell in 2018 and 2019, Samsung slowed down the pace of building its Xi'an factory. Now the construction of the new factory is accelerated because the flash memory market is about to reach a turning point. 2020 is generally optimistic. Samsung's large-scale construction of new factories will help it seize a higher market share. (Fast Technology)

2017 New Energy Subsidy Announcement, Yutong Bus Received 4.59 Billion Yuan

According to the "Notice on the Liquidation and Audit of Subsidy Funds for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles in 2017" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, a total of 207,409 new energy vehicles passed the audit, and the new energy subsidies totaled 22.027 billion yuan. It is reported that the total number of new energy enterprises applying for promotion is 236,881, and the funds on the list of enterprises' applications are 24.414 billion yuan. The final number of promotions approved by the expert group is 207,409. After deducting 29,472 models that do not meet the subsidy requirements, the subsidy funds to be liquidated are 22.027 billion yuan.

According to the publicized list of recipients, Yutong Bus received the largest amount of subsidies, 4.59 billion yuan. In addition, BYD and Zhongtong Bus also received large amounts of new energy subsidies, 3.46 billion yuan and 1.12 billion yuan respectively. (Beijing News)

China's Auto Billionaires Ranking: Xu Jiayin tops the list with 210 billion

In response to the previously released "2019 Hurun Rich List", the Hurun Research Institute has made a new subdivision. This time, it counts the list of the richest people in the Chinese automotive field, among which Xu Jiayin ranks first with 210 billion yuan.

The report shows that among the auto-related companies, 66 families, including Evergrande, Geely, Baoneng, CATL, Wanxiang, Sany, Great Wall, BYD, and Guanghui, have entered the Hurun 2 billion yuan rich list, covering related industries such as vehicle manufacturing, parts, dealers, and service providers. (Tencent)

Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple will release iPhone SE2 in the first quarter of next year

On October 14, Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a report that he predicts that Apple will release the iPhone SE2 in the first quarter of 2020.

The report said that the design of iPhone SE2 is similar to most of the hardware specifications of iPhone 8, including A13 chip, 3GB LPDDR4X, 64 and 128GB storage, space gray, white and red color, 3D Touch removed, and the price starts at US$399. Guo Mingchi said that the estimated shipment volume of iPhone SE2 in 2020 could reach more than 30 million units. (Sina Technology)

Apple cuts about 10% of iPhone 11 Pro Max orders due to high price

According to Titanium Media on October 13, the latest inside information given by the industry chain shows that Apple has adjusted the orders for the iPhone 11 Pro Max model. Overall, it has been reduced by about 10% from the previous basis. The main reason is that the price is too expensive and users have insufficient motivation to replace it. The previous additional orders for the iPhone 11 series did not include the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

It is understood that Nikkei News previously reported that due to higher-than-expected global demand, Apple has informed suppliers to increase production of the new iPhone 11 series by up to 10%, or 8 million units. The report pointed out that demand for iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro is the strongest. In order to balance production and demand, Apple is actually trying to slightly reduce orders for iPhone 11 Pro Max. (IT Home)

Apple's "signal gate" appears again: users frequently encounter pop-up windows and unstable signal jumps

Recently, many consumers reported to the media that the iPhone 11 Pro series phones often have unstable signals when using China Unicom cards, and the signal jumps after each call, and the operator's welcome page pops up.

In this regard, the media contacted Apple engineers, who responded that this problem may occur when using Unicom cards with iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max. They have received feedback from dozens of users, but it is not yet known whether the problem has been reported to the US headquarters. (Wise Finance)

California doctors are starting to use Apple Watch to simplify medical record entry

On October 13, doctors in California can now monitor patients' conditions in real time through the Apple Watch they wear. After understanding the patient's condition, doctors can also directly add various health data in the Apple Watch to the patient's medical records.

The service, provided by Altais, is designed to significantly reduce the time it takes doctors to record patient conditions. The system was developed in conjunction with Notable Health and Blue Shield of California as part of a machine learning project.

The service does not require doctors to enter detailed information into the electronic health record (EHR) during ward rounds. Instead, the operation can be completed by simply importing Apple Watch data into the medical record. (IT Home)

Tesla Shanghai factory phase II construction is accelerating, Model 3 production to begin this month

According to foreign media reports, Tesla's Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai will start producing Model 3 this month. In addition, the construction of the second phase of the complex has begun to accelerate, and other projects on the site, such as super charging stations, are gradually taking shape.

It is reported that Gigafactory 3 will start producing Model 3 this month. Leaked images from inside the factory and complete vehicles on the test track indicate that trial production of Model 3 appears to have begun. Leaked images of the general assembly building also show that the vehicle has been painted, indicating that the paint shop of the facility is already in operation. (Sina Technology)

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft may carry out its first manned test flight early next year

On October 13, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that if the test results of SpaceX's manned Dragon spacecraft are positive, the company's spacecraft will send American astronauts to the International Space Station as early as next year. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he hopes to deliver the Dragon spacecraft to NASA by the end of this year. (Cailian News)

Google announces new product launch event to be held on October 15th, Pixel 4 will be officially unveiled

In the early morning of the 13th, Google announced that the "Made by Google'2019" event will be officially held at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on October 15th. It is expected that the Pixel 4 series, which has been exposed recently, will be officially unveiled.

Best Buy Canada has released detailed specifications for the Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. According to the specifications, the Google Pixel uses a 5.7-inch FHD+ resolution OLED screen and a built-in 2800mAh battery. The Google Pixel 4 XL uses a 6.3-inch QHD+ resolution OLED screen and a built-in 3700mAh battery.

In addition, both phones are equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 8MP front camera, 12MP+16MP rear dual camera combination, 6GB RAM and 64GB body storage; in addition, they also support face unlocking, motion sensing gestures and other functions. (IT Home)

Apple asks Apple TV+ creators not to smear China

According to BuzzFeed News, in addition to removing the "Hong Kong thugs app", Apple has also extended its efforts to the Apple TV+ field. According to the report, Apple has instructed Apple TV+ creators to avoid negative descriptions of China.

BuzzFeed News pointed out that Apple did not just start doing this now. As early as last year, the company began to warn many program creators. Although Apple's specific wording was unclear at the time, its ultimate goal was to "avoid smearing China." BuzzFeed News reported that these instructions to "avoid smearing China" were issued by Eddy Cue and Morgan Wandell, Apple's head of international content development. (IT Home)

Nvidia launches game remake plan, old games can also support ray tracing

According to WCCFTECH, NVIDIA has launched a new game remastering program that can add ray tracing effects to classic computer games from the past few decades. According to reports, NVIDIA is looking for experienced producers to join the studio team to lead the "RTX Remaster" project. According to the recruitment information, NVIDIA "carefully selected the best games of the past few decades and plans to introduce ray tracing technology to bring the most advanced visual effects while retaining classic gameplay."

It is reported that "NVIDIA Lightspeed Studios" was founded in 2015 and is dedicated to remaking classic PC games and remaking them for Android devices. Since last year, NVIDIA has launched a large number of graphics cards that support ray tracing, but until now, there are not many games that support ray tracing. NVIDIA's official remake plan this time may drive players' enthusiasm for replacing RTX graphics cards. (WCCFTECH)

▎ 7 TV companies were summoned: rectification of startup ads within a limited time; Jia Yueting intends to file for personal bankruptcy; ZTO Express raised prices on Double Eleven

▎The past three years of Alibaba building the fulcrum of “Made in China 1%”

▎Has Alibaba Database Really Surpassed Oracle?