It’s another Thursday which means another week of tech talk with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew. Apple becomes the most valuable company in the world, IE prepares for retirement, and Siri could let you know if you’re incapable of driving. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.
US FRUIT COMPANY PASSES $2 TRILLION MARKET CAP (THAT’S A LOT OF APPLES)
Yesterday, Apple’s stock price crossed the $467.77 price per share. It was then that Apple’s market capitalization pushed it to $2,000,000,000,000. Apple’s share price gained 50-percent from the start of the year, a year during a pandemic when people are sheltering in place and consuming lots of content on Apple devices and services. Apple is now the world’s most valuable company surpassing the oil conglomerate Saudi Aramco. Apple’s value is coming just as it’s being sued by Epic Games for kicking Fortnite out of the App Store, and battling software developers over price gouging tactics for taking 30% of software sales on their platforms. Apple stock is the best performing stock I ever owned.
IE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT, IT WON’T BE MISSED
When I was a younger lad, I was a Netscape aficionado. Netscape was all that until the day, Microsoft shipped Internet Explorer 5 with Windows 98. Microsoft frequently gets things right by version 5. Yesterday, Microsoft announced it will be ending Office 365 app support for IE at the end of 2021. “Who uses IE,” you ask. Plenty of government agencies and large companies running Windows 7 and up. Microsoft will be dropping Microsoft Teams support this November 30th. Chrome and Firefox would eventually dethrone Internet Explorer providing faster web experiences and a cleaner interface. But let us not forget, the modern web would not exist without Internet Explorer, ActiveX, and the simple handler, XHR, XMLHttpRequest.
SMARTPHONES COULD ALERT DRUNKARDS
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found a way to use smartphones sensors to detect when a person consumed more alcohol than the legal driving limit. The phones reported DWI levels of consumption with 90% accuracy after testers walked just 10 steps. Scientists hope their discoveries can be used to detect drunkenness and keep users from behind the wheel when intoxicated. The experiment consisted of strapping the phone to a drinkers back and having them walk 10 steps. Many people have lost their lives to drunk driving, studies like these could be use to influence people who are on the bubble to pass their keys to someone else.