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Intel hits the gas on self-driving tech with $15B purchase of MobilEye

Intel’s little eye spies something spendy with acquisition of MobilEye

While we don’t have self-driving cars on the road just yet, Intel’s purchase of autonomous driving tech firm MobileEye for $15 billion is a clear indication that this is likely going to be a tech sector that sees huge growth in the near future. According to PC World, the MobileEye acquisition give Intel access to a large pool of not just technical equipment, but also years of machine learning, data analysis and mapping technologies.

MobilEye will help move Intel to the head of the autonomous driving tech class, giving it more smarts for their chips to work with. Intel, of course, is the market leader when it comes to chips inside consumer computers, but it has lagged on getting their CPUs into vehicles. This deal with Mobile Eye will likely go a long way to solving that issue.

Mobile Eye is already targeting a major self-driving software and hardware release in 2020, when many automakers have said they hope to debut cars with completely autonomous abilities. Looks like Intel hopes to be along for the ride.

Sweet Android candy sometimes has a bitter surprise inside

Security firm Check Point says they’ve identified dozens of Android devices that went to customers pre-loaded with malware.

Check Point said they don’t think the malware was installed by the phones’ makers, rather, it was added on further down the supply chain by distributers or other third parties before the phones ended up in the hands of new customers. Those “add-ons” are commonly referred to as bloatware, and some of the apps apparently included the Loki malware, considered one of the toughest to remove.

Check Point has a full list of which phones were affected, and some are popular models, so hit this link for more details and make sure your phone gets a good scrub if it’s on the list.

Your video downtime needs some Uptime

What’s more fun that watching silly kitties or amazing people on YouTube? Watching them with friends, of course. But if your pals aren’t nearby, you can still laugh together over those cat antics with a new YouTube app called “Uptime.”

Uptime is another extension of YouTube’s play to reach for video viewers who also like to chat away during their screen time, a feature that has proven popular on other platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Uptimers can comment on videos and when others watch the video, even at a later time, those comments or emojis will appear on the screens of other Uptime users as they watch.

However, only “sparkles” will appear in real time when two Uptime users are watching at the same time. Sound complicated? It’s not, really, but hit this link for a more in-depth explanation of how Uptime works.

We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Close to the Metal (computers and such) on Tuesday, Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans)  on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.

Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I focus on producing Digital Trends' 'DT Daily' video news program along with photographing items we get in for review. I…
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