TGIF! We hope you’re going to have a safe and fun weekend, wherever you may be. We have three stories to close out your week with a short News Update podcast:
- Cloud storage company Dropbox files for a $500 million IPO
- Apple and other companies testing self-driving car platforms may get to test their technology on California roads without having a “safety driver” behind the wheel
- Director Steven Soderbergh’s new psycho-thriller “Unsane” premiered at the Berlin film festival this week. The movie was shot on an iPhone and opens in theaters on March 23
The text version of the podcast can be read below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Apple News readers need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
Text Version
This is Steve Sande for Apple World Today, and you’re listening to the AWT News Update podcast for Friday, February 23, 2018.
The original cloud storage company Dropbox filed for its Initial Public Offering today, seeking $500 million as it goes public. The company has a pretty good track record, with 500 million users at this point. Dropbox had $1.11 billion in revenue last year, which was up 31 percent over 2016. However, the company had a net loss last year of $111.7 million, which was a rarity for the usually profitable firm. Dropbox plans to use the IPO funding to build more third-party partnerships and integration, and try to create more paying customers from that base of 500 million users.
Apple’s plans for a self-driving car platform could get a boost in testing in a few months. A new regulation in the state of California would allow Apple and other companies working on self-driving car technology to test their platforms with remote backup rather than having a human behind the wheel. The regulation is expected to receive approval on February 26, and would then take effect at the beginning of April after a month-long public notice period. During the month of March, companies would be able to submit applications to test cars on the road while having a remote operator overseeing the testing. It may be possible to have one remote operator watching over multiple vehicles, and some ridesharing companies are saying they’d want remote operators for regular service as well, in order to answer customer questions. Apple has at least 27 self-driving Lexus testbeds on the road in California, which is well behind companies like Alphabet’s Waymo with hundreds of vehicles in testing in several states.
Director Steven Soderboergh’s new psychological thriller “Unsane” premiered at the Berlin film festival this week. Now you might be asking why I’m telling you about a film coming out, but there’s a reason — the movie was shot on iPhone. Soderbergh has said that he enjoyed shooting the film on an iPhone so much that he’s going to find it hard to ever go back to conventional film cameras. In an interview, Soderbergh told Reuters that the only issue he had with making the movie on an iPhone was its sensitivity to vibrations. He loved being able to go straight from a rehearsal to shooting, which allowed him to try more ideas. Soderbergh also noted that one of the big advantages of shooting a Hollywood production on an iPhone includes not having to make a hole in a wall or securing a camera to the ceiling. You’ll be able to see the movie in theaters starting March 23.
That’s all the news for today – join me tomorrow afternoon for another edition of the AWT News Update.
