10 things in tech you need to know today, August 28

Palmer Luckey is not a fan of Magic
Leap.
Niall
Carson/PA

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this
Tuesday.

1.
Toyota is investing $500 million in Uber at a $72 billion
valuation as part of a self-driving-car
partnership. Uber’s tech will be integrated
into custom-built Toyota vehicles that will be used for a network
of self-driving cars, with the first pilots scheduled for
2021. 

2.
Some Apple insiders are referring to 2018 as an iPhone “S”
year, in reference to Apple’s old system of introducing a
new phone design one year and then speed upgrades — the S year —
the next. According to Bloomberg, Apple could launch
three new iPhones this year, all sporting a screen that covers
the entire front of the device.

3.
Marketers are poring over legal documents to make sure they don’t
screw up using data on Facebook. Facebook is
shutting down its Partner Categories ad program and
replacing it with Custom Audiences, which will still allow third
parties to work with brands in building audiences — but puts the
data protection onus on marketers.

4.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk began to have second thoughts about taking
his company private when advisors began lining up big-name
investors, like rival car firms. According to the
Wall Street Journal, Musk also regretted losing the small-fry
shareholders who had been his biggest champions.

5.
Facebook banned Myanmar’s top army official for ‘serious human
rights abuses’ as it tries to atone for its role in spreading
misinformation in the country. Senior General
Min Aung Hlaing is among the 20 Burmese individuals and
organisations now barred from Facebook.

6.
Officials identified gamers Elijah Clayton and Taylor
Robertson as the two victims who died in the Madden shooting in
Jacksonville. The gaming community rallied on social
media to pay tribute to the victims.

7.
Tinder’s cofounder Sean Rad has said he had ‘no choice’ but to
sell his stock in the dating app maker a month before he left the
company. According to The Verge, Rad was fired from
Tinder’s parent firm and would have lost the chance to exercise
his options within 30 days.

8.
Microsoft introduced an ambitious subscription plan that makes
the Xbox the best deal in gaming. The “Xbox All
Access” plan starts at $22 a month for US players, giving
subscribers an Xbox One console, two years of Xbox Live Gold
service, and two years of Xbox Game Pass.

9.
Y Combinator’s ambitious basic income experiment has been
delayed. In 2016, Y Combinator — the largest
startup accelerator in Silicon Valley — said it would
provide participants with money for five years after an initial
pilot, but the pilot is taking a lot longer than anticipated.

10.
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey reviewed the buzzy new alternate
reality device, Magic Leap One, and was absolutely
brutal.  Luckey called the device, “a
tragedy in the classical sense…less of a functional developer
kit and more of a flashy hype vehicle that almost nobody can
actually use in a meaningful way.”

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