The Morning After: Wednesday March 1 2017
The new fastest gaming GPU, and more iPhone rumors
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
Welcome to Wednesday. This morning we're digging into Amazon's big server outage, some new iPhone rumors and, surprise, surprise, Uber's in trouble again.
An Amazon server outage took vast areas of the internet offline
If your favorite internet service became tough to reach yesterday afternoon, it was probably related to an issue with Amazon Web Services' S3 cloud storage. A problem in its East region datacenter affected our site, as well as others like Giphy, Slack and even the Securities & Exchange Commission. Everything is back up and running now, but not quite soon enough to keep cloud skeptics from noticing how many of these eggs are in the same basket.
Microsoft tries out a Netflix-for-games approach with Xbox Game Pass
The Xbox One is trailing in sales, major exclusive game releases, and, until Project Scorpio hits the streets, horsepower. So what can Microsoft do to take the fight to Sony? It's going to try the Xbox Game Pass, a $10 per month subscription (outside of the Xbox Live fee) that opens up access to a rotating catalog of older Xbox One and Xbox 360 games. Unlike Sony's PlayStation Now, it doesn't stream the games, so players can download and install them as normal and even purchase the game at a discount if they choose to. Titles like Halo 5: Guardians and NBA 2K16 will be among the 100-game lineup when it launches this spring.
According to Roberto Baldwin, Toyota's Prius Prime has fixed a major plug-in hybrid problem: the looks. Between its gas engine and the 8.8-kWh battery, it can take drivers 640 miles, or up to 25 miles in pure electric mode. The biggest downside he found, however, was inside, where the infotainment system disappointed despite a large 11.6-inch touchscreen interface, lacking Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
WSJ: 10th Anniversary iPhone will have a curved OLED screen
Apple isn't at Mobile World Congress, but the rumor mill is still cranking out iPhone news. The Wall Street Journal has apparently confirmed that the so-called 10th Anniversary iPhone will, in fact, feature a curved OLED display, and even went a step further by claiming it might ditch the Lightning connector for USB-C.
NVIDIA unveils the new world's fastest gaming GPU
At GDC 2017, NVIDIA announced it's pushing VR and 4K gaming ahead with the GTX 1080 Ti, which it claims offers 35 percent more performance than the standard GTX 1080, with 11GB of RAM and gobs of bandwidth. It's even faster than the company's $1,200 Titan X setup, and it will go on sale March 10th starting at $700. If you'd like something cheaper, last year's GTX 1080 is getting a price drop to $500.
Uber CEO caught on video arguing with a driver, apologizes
The #DeleteUber movement got another boost yesterday when Bloomberg posted a video of CEO Travis Kalanick arguing with a driver. The Uber Black driver was upset with dropping mileage rates that he said drove him into bankruptcy, while the CEO (who was getting a ride along with a couple of friends) told him "Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit." Now that the in-car video has been released, Kalanick responded with an apology, saying "this is the first time I've been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it."
YouTube launches a live TV service
This spring, Google will launch YouTube TV, a premium TV streaming service both broadcast and cable channels for $35 per month. CBS, Fox, NBC and CBS are aboard, as well as cable networks like USA, FX and ESPN. Included in that price is unlimited cloud DVR storage, which, along with the ability to view it on most of the screens YouTube is already on, could make for a compelling alternative to the cord-cutting favorites like Sling TV, DirecTV Now and PlayStation Vue.
But wait, there's more...
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