TWTW: February 4th – February 10th, 2018

byRaj Deut
3 minute read
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The week that was (TWTW) takes a look back at the week’s most prominent tech stories from around the world.

Video versions of TWTW appear on our website as well as our YouTube channel and Facebook page.

For those that prefer an audio only version, you can listen to TWTW via the Anchor.fm app or online at http://anchor.fm/reckonerAU

Lastly you can find a full transcript of this week’s episode below.

In the week that was February 4th to February 10th, 2018.:

Intro

Hey everyone, Raj Deut here for Reckoner, back again for the new year, ready to go and take a look at the tech news in the week that was:
February 4th to February 10th, 2018.

 

Stories

The South Australian government announced a new partnership with Tesla this week, further strengthening the relationship between the two.

The new deal will see the state build the world’s largest “virtual power plant” by install solar panels and Tesla’s Powerwall 2 battery into 25,000 government owned homes.

A further 50,000 private residences will be given grants to install the hardware in return for subsidies on power drawn from the grid.

Switching to Elon’s other baby, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket had it’s highly anticipated maiden flight.

The US$90m rocket was launched as more of a proof-of-concept performing a series of special manoeuvres done only to prove SpaceX viable for further US Military contracts.

The launch was considered a success with two of the rocket’s smaller boosters landing in a now all too familiar way. It’s third, and largest core booster sadly didn’t make it and flew into the ocean at a lazy 300mph, virtually disintegrating on impact.

To cap off Elon time, US companies are amidst financial earnings reports and Tesla’s has been a topic of host discussion, having had their worst financial quarter since incorporation. The company lost US$675m last quarter. Despite the heavy loss the company believes they’ll be profitable for the first time ever in 2018, assuming their Model 3 production issues can be fixed.

Other reports of note saw Twitter have their first profitable quarter ever, making US$97m. The profits come off the back of large staff cuts across the board.

Snapchat also had a semi-positive note on their earnings. Sales for the company have grown to US$285m last quarter, up 72% on last year’s. They’ve also seen an increase in daily usage numbers and their losses were less than originally expected at US$350m.

Australian cinema chain Hoyts announced this week that they would be partnering with recently expanded esports league Gfinity. The partnership will see some of Hoyts’ largest cinemas in Sydney, Melbourne & other capitals converted into esports stadiums and broadcast centres to allow fans to view games live and online.

The first of these will be in the coming months at Hoyts’ Sydney based Moore Park location where the competition will hold the first of Gfinity’s Elite Series.

And finally Apple had an up and down week.

Their iOS 9 boot loader was leaked a few days ago, published to a public github account by an unknown source. Described as possibly their worst security breach in history, despite being for a system years old is largely still in use by today’s phones and could easily be used for malicious purposes.

On the flip side for Apple, the HomePod was officially released on Friday. Reviews are largely positive with the smart speaker being praised for its sound quality but at the same time chastised for it’s Apple-centric limitations. We have one to review so expect a full report soon!

 

Outro

That’s it for another week, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did then please hit that Like, Love, Applause or Subscribe button and Review it on your platform of choice and help spread the word.

The Week That Was will be coming out on it’s own podcast feed this year so be on the look out for that. More info coming soon!

Thanks for tuning in, have a great week and bye for now.

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