Elon Musk announces Oct. 28 release date for SolarCity solar roof

We’ll most likely be seeing for the first time Tesla and SolarCity’s new solar roof product on October 28, if Elon Musk’s tweet is anything to go by. The Tesla founder and CEO just announced on social media that this solar roof will be working with version 2.0 of Tesla’s PowerWall solar storage and battery for the home as well as with the Tesla car charger. This integration is seen as moving beyond showing off how these companies can seamlessly work together to showing Musk’s “Master Plan: Part Deux,” where he aims to create a fully self-sustaining solar-powered energy ecosystem that is linked to his zero emission goals between home and transportation.

Tesla is in the process of acquiring SolarCity but it has been facing opposition from shareholders that could cause a delay in the deal. The demo, which could show the value of the system and the partnership, might further Musk’s plans and help soften any opposition to his plans to join Tesla and SolarCity together.

Aiming for Oct 28 unveil in SF Bay Area of new Tesla/SolarCity solar roof with integrated Powerwall 2.0 battery and Tesla charger.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2016

Source: TechCrunch

When do we get hooked on Netflix?

Netflix just released the latest set of "hooked" episodes of some of the most popular series streaming on the service. You know, that one particular episode that completely SUCKS YOU IN and makes you want to continue watching. It's that one episode that has kept 70% of viewers watching and completing the season. However, in doing reseach of our viewing habits, Netflix also discovered that this isn't just an observation of us here in Canada but it's pretty universal.  Canadian viewers were pretty much in-line with global hooked episodes for a number of series. 

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Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan to pledge $3 billion to help fight disease

Aside from being the CEO of the biggest social media site, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are working on a bigger cause: helping cure all diseases. Through the couple’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, they plan to invest over US$3 billion over the next decade with an aim of curing all diseases by the end of the century. The three goals the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has include bringing scientists and engineers together, develop new tools and tech, as well as boost the movement to fund science needed to treat diseases. They plan to work with the top scientists from around the world to work on this

Chan, a pediatrician by profession, talked about this plan at an event hosted at the University of California, San Francisco, Mission Bay campus, which houses the school’s state-of-the-art hospital. Present at the event were well-known scientists, investors, and politicians like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (who is a partner of the Initiative), former US Secretary Janel Napolitano, and investor Ron Conway. The first investment by the initiative will be $600 million to fund the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, an independent research center at Mission Bay where engineers, biologists, computer scientists, and the like can collaborate.

Source: CNET

Google Allo will keep your messages on its servers until you delete them

Google is backtracking a bit from what they’ve announced at Google I/O and sharing how they plan to store messages on its new Allo app. If you’re not using Incognito Mode in the app, the messages you send there will be stored “transiently.” What this means is your chat history will remain on your device and Google’s servers until you physically delete them. According to Google, they made the change to improve the smart reply feature of the app. Of course, the messages will remain encrypted. But if you don’t want to have to delete the messages yourself (the one you’re messaging has to delete them, too, to completely remove the data), you can choose to use Incognito Mode within the app.

Source: Engadget + The Verge | Download: Google Play Store + Apple App Store