TECH FOR GOOD
Brash Tesla founder Elon Musk shook both the tech and auto worlds by releasing all of the electric car maker's patents, as part of an effort to fight climate change. Musk said the company would not initiate patent lawsuits "against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology."
Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP
iPhone GOES PRO, CUTS 'BASIC' PRICE
Apple packed 3 lenses on the back of the iPhone 11 Pro but the killer feature is its new "deep fusion" computational photography software, which rivals Google's Pixel phones. The iPhone 11, with 2 cameras, and a price cut from last year's iPhone XR is aimed at more budget-conscious buyers.
Tony Avelar, AP
'UNSEND' FINALLY COMES TO MESSENGER
Facebook rolled out in February a feature that lets 1.3 billion users of its Messenger app remove messages on the platform. Messages can be removed for individual chats and group conversations within a 10-minute window from the time the message was sent.
Martin Bureau, AFP
NEW LINE, SAME NUMBER
Mobile phone users will no longer need to change numbers when they switch service providers, thanks to the Mobile Number Portability Act, signed on Feb. 8. Under the law, telcos should allow subscribers to keep their numbers "completely free of charge."
Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News
FILIPINO-BUILT TRAIN GOES INTO SERVICE
The Hybrid Electric Train (HET) built by the Department of Science and Technology is tested on the tracks of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) in Calamba, Laguna, Jan. 30, 2019.
Air-conditioned, big enough for 880 passengers, and running on similar technology that powers Toyota's Prius hybrid cars, the hybrid-electric train built by the Department of Science and Technology was deployed last May 6 on the Philippine National Railway.
Art Fuentes, ABS-CBN News
DAWN OF 5G
PLDT Inc Chairman Manuel Pangilinan caused a stir on Twitter when he shared a photo of a 5G test, with a Huawei handset in the picture, while the post was marked as sent from an iPhone. He later clarified that he was using two phones.
Ayala-led Globe Telecom started offering its 5G "Air Fiber in July. The service, however, was available only in select areas and was marketed as a home broadband solution, instead of a mobile phone connection.
Aly Song, Reuters
TELCO ROLLS OUT
Months after it cleared legislative and regulatory hurdles, DITO Telecommunity sealed deals meant to hasten the roll out of its network, touted as a proper challenge to PLDT Inc and Globe Telecom.
DITO, a consortium composed of China Telecom and Dennis Uy’s Chelsea Logistics and Udenna Corp, said it will invest more than $6 billion to capture at least 30 percent of the market share in its first 3 years of operations.
NO GOOGLE, NO PROBLEM
China's Huawei launched its Mate 30 Pro in September, the first without Google Mobile Services out of the box, defying a US blacklist that was borne out of the trade war between Beijing and Washington.
The Shenzhen-based tech giant is also preparing its own operating system, Harmony.
Christof Stache, AFP