Data Sheet—Samsung's CEO Eyes Jail Time; Dara Khosrowshahi's Agenda at Uber

NEWSWORTHY

One way to do it. Messaging service Kik, valued privately at over $1 billion, isn't going public on the stock market. The startup will instead go the digital currency route and try to raise $125 million in an initial coin offering. If successful, Kik would be the first "non-blockchain social media application" to do an ICO, Reuters says. But for the second day in a row, we have a warning about scam ICOs. The Securities and Exchange Commission cautioned that some crooks are using digital currencies to pull off the old pump-and-dump scheme.

Anything you can do. Google moved to match Apple in the realm of augmented reality applications. The search giant released software tools to help Android developers create AR apps, which impose virtual images on top of real world items. Apple has its own similar tool set called ARKit for iOS developers and this week highlighted some of the early efforts.

All eyes on Cupertino. I don't think Apple has ever released the number of people who watched one of its keynote addresses live, but I bet some could rival the Super Bowl (trivia fact: 114 million last year). With the next big keynote only days away, the leaks are pouring out. Bloomberg reports that the new flagship iPhone won't have a home button and will include new gesture controls. And while a new Apple TV box that can offer 4K resolution movies is expected, Apple is still battling Hollywood over the price of 4K movies, the Wall Street Journalsays.

The Matrix here we come. Another pair of tech giants is going to work more closely together, according to the New York Times. Amazon and Microsoft are planning to allow their respective voice-controlled digital assistants, Alexa and Cortana, to connect to each other. Insert your favorite AI-gone-amuck movie reference here.

Gnip, gnop. With Advanced Micro Devices hot on its tail, Intelannounced new CPU chips aimed at workstations, such as possibly Apple's upcoming Mac Pro. Chips in the new Xeon-W line will include as many as 18 cores and run at up to 4.5 GHz.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Ate at that new restaurant because it had great reviews on Yelp? They may have been faked. It's an age old problem that Yelp and other sites try to screen out.

But a new study from researchers at the University of Chicago finds that machine-learning software programs can write fake reviews that are "effectively indistinguishable" from reviews written by actual people. UChicago computer science professor Ben Zhao, one of the co-authors, tells Business Insider thinks such programs could undermine faith in all kinds of written content, including the news:

In general, the threat is bigger. I think the threat towards society at large and really disillusioned users and to shake our belief in what is real and what is not, I think that's going to be even more fundamental.

BEFORE YOU GO

After 13 years in orbit around the second-largest planet in the solar system, you'd be running out of gas, too. Now the end is near for NASA's amazing Cassini probe. The last pictures from Cassini will come on September 14 and within about a day the probe will sink into Saturn's atmosphere and burn up. So long and thanks for all the fish, Cassini.

This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman. Find past issues, and sign up for other Fortunenewsletters.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Read More :