Apple’s HomePod adds multi-room functionality and sets a date for its launch in Canada, a startup company from the Cayman Islands is on track to raise more than $4 billion through its initial coin offering, and Papua New Guinea bans Facebook for a month.
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Not only did Apple’s smart speaker finally get multi-room and stereo mode capabilities, but it also got a release date in Canada. The latest announcements come four months after the HomePod’s release. Now, iPhones and iPads can be used to pair up HomePod speakers around your house using Apple’s AirPlay 2. The speaker will be available June 18 for $449 in Canada, allowing Canadians to access localized services and searches with Siri.
People are putting a lot of faith into a Cayman Islands startup company despite not knowing how it plans to use the more than $4 billion raised through a yearlong sale of digital tokens. Block.one is on track to raise more than double of the next largest ICO by Telegram Group Inc., which raised $1.7 billion earlier this year. ICO “coins” are basically digital coupons, tokens issued on a distributed ledger, or blockchain. They can be easily traded and don’t confer to ownership rights. Block.one has made an initial $3 million commitment to the Department of Computer Science in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering to help students build blockchain skills, according to its website.
Papa New Guinea will ban Facebook for one month while it identifies fake profiles and decides what impact the website has on the country. Communication minister Sam Basil says the country will use the month to identify users that hide behind fake accounts and post misleading information. He also wants to stomp out users who post pornography. Only 10 per cent of people in Papa New Guinea have internet access, but that obviously hasn’t stopped the government from taking its regulations around online services seriously.
If you’re looking for more of our content, check out the rest of the ITWC Podcast Network, home to our other podcasts Tech in Sports and Cybersecurity Today. Thanks for listening, I’m Alex Coop.
