Google Launches WhatsApp Competitor
Step aside chat apps, Google is entering your space. Google recently launched Allo, a mobile chat app similar to app WhatsApp and iMessage. Allo offers features such as stickers, emojis, one-on-one chats and group chats. The main thing that will put Allo to competition with WhatsApp is encryption. Allo does not encrypt messages by default while WhatsApp does. In order to encrypt messages in Allo, one must turn on incognito mode and set how long before messages are deleted.
Along with Allo, Google Assistant was introduced. Google Assistant is a chatbot or also known as personal assistant. Assistant will act directly with Allo to make your messaging easier and give you recommendations on where to go to dinner, find photos, provide the weather forecast, or be commanded to do things on your phone. Very similar to Siri. (Source: MSN)
Curing All Disease for $3 Billion
Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan are aiming their goals high. Their latest initiative is to cure all disease over the next decade by pledging $3 billion. They want the money to go towards a plan to “cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime”. To get this started, a $600 million investment has been made in Biohub – a partnership between Stanford, UCSF and Berkeley to find new ways to fight disease. Zuckerberg wants to use science & technology to minimize the 4 diseases causing the majority of deaths: cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurological diseases. This could be huge for medical technology everywhere. Best of luck Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. (Source: Independent)
Another Day Another Data Breach
Up next in announcing a data breach is Yahoo. The company is expected to confirm that hundreds of millions were attacked in a hack. This all started in August when a claimed hacker going by “Peace” was rumored to be selling the data of 200 million Yahoo users. The timing couldn’t be worse considering Verizon is ready to buy Yahoo’s core business for $4.8 billion. The problem is that Yahoo’s core business is the core of the hack. Drama. (Source: Re/code)
