iPhone 8

If you’re planning on buying Apple’s iPhone 8 when it launches in September, you might want to start making plans to camp out early. According to Digitimes, Apple will only be able to ship a maximum of 3-4 million units of their anniversary iPhone.

The problem is the display panels. According to The Korean Herald, Samsung will provide 80% of the display panels for the iPhone 8. Apple originally ordered 60 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for their newest iPhone release. Samsung Display is reportedly struggling to manufacture the panels in the bulk. Samsung is working on amplifying their production to meet Apple’s needs, but be prepared to be patient!

Read morehere.

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MIT Solar Powered Drone Stays Airborne for 5 Days

A team of MIT engineers recently launched a 24-foot wide drone which is able to stay airborne for five days on one tank of gas. The drone, also known as Jungle Hawk Owl, was created in response to the U.S. Air Force’s challenge to design a solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of staying in the air for extended durations of time. The U.S. Air Force’s goal was to design a vehicle that could deliver messages and help communicate with areas affected by natural disasters or states of emergency.

After an initial failure, MIT Beaver Works Lab co-leader Professor Warren Harburg explained how solar technology would be more appealing, but would result in a larger drone with a larger surface area and a heavy battery. Solar panels also face the obstacle of shortened daytime hours in the winter.

The final design consisted of carbon fiber and Kevlar and weighed only 55 pounds. MIT’s team is optimistic their drone will help companies like Google and Facebook provide internet to rural areas on top of providing help after natural disasters.

Learn more here.

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Companies Combatting Terrorism

The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) may sound like an agency in a Marvel superhero movie, but it’s the real thing. Much like the Allied Powers of the Second World War, technology juggernauts Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube and Twitter have joined forces in the fight against terrorism.

The camaraderie between these tech giants is aimed at reducing internet accessibility to terrorists. The group will cooperate to share content classification and tactics for users to report suspicious activity. Networks will also share their best practices for counter speech initiatives and technical policy.

These core companies announced their new-shared industry hashed database last December. Sharing hashes with each other allowed each group to identify terror accounts without each company having to use their resources to find terrorists on their own. They will also adopt the responsibility of teaching smaller companies to follow in their footsteps of proactivity to fight terrorism.

Read more here.

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Bezos will keep investing in India

Riding a wave of momentum following the purchase of Whole Foods, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remains focused on the bigger picture in technology. After meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bezos announced his commitment to continue investing in India. Bezos tweeted, “Terrific meeting with @narendramodi. Always impressed, energized by optimism and invention in India. Excited to keep investing and growing.”

India’s current online population is about 450-465 million people and growing according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India. As of now, China and the United States hold the throne in regard to e-commerce spending. However, online sales in India are predicted to increase by $48 billion by the year 2020. Looks like Bezos has a few more tricks up his sleeve to maximize Amazon’s profits.

Learn more here.

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Silicon Valley Pride

Tech companies throughout Silicon Valley showed their true colors with their support of Pride month and supported the LGBTQ community with a series of creative updates to products across the board.

Apple set the tone with their vibrant Pride edition Apple Watch. The band of the watch sports the flag of the LGBTQ community.

Snapchat also launched a rainbow emoji brush, new sticker set and LGBTQ pride themed geofilters at the beginning of June. They also provided Pride-themed Snapchat stories so users could see the celebration of pride month from the LGBTQ community across the globe.

Plenty of other companies stepped up to the plate for the Pride cause. Most importantly, a portion of the proceeds of Pride-themed product updates go to groups like GLSEN and the Trevor Project who advocate for civil rights for the LGBTQ community.

Read more here.