Friday Five: November 6

Apple has acquired imaging sensor startup InVisage Technologies (TechCrunch)

Apple has acquired a startup that hopes to revolutionize the mobile camera industry. InVisage Technologies has a goal to “create smaller imaging technology that is better at taking high quality pictures in a variety of non-optimal lighting conditions” With its new Quantum film technology, Apple seeks to secure the position as the phone with the best camera.

The Future is Quantum (IBM)

The IBM Q Experience enables you to use high tech computing technologies “which are able to implement theoretical predictions”. IBM announced it is making its new 20 qubit quantum machine available to clients by the end of the year. This comes just 18 months after the release of its 5 qubit machine. Dario Gil, VP of AI and IBM Q, stated “The last year has fueled our optimism that quantum computing will open up new doors in the fields of chemistry, opimization, and machine learning, in the coming years."

Bitcoin slides by over $1000 in less than 48 hours (Reuters)

With Bitcoin hitting record highs seemingly every week, it was only a matter of time until it took a hit. Down 7% this week, “it had touched $7,888 after a software upgrade planned for next week that could have split the cryptocurrency in two was suspended.”

Roku is probably getting into intelligent home audio (Bloomberg)

As projections put smart speakers in 55% of homes by 2022, Roku purchases Dynastrom, an audio company. Dynastrom is an audio company with software that can integrate loudspeakers to stream music throughout your house using standard Wifi. By using this software, it is believed that Roku will be entering intelligent multi-room home audio.

Facebook relaunches Events app as Facebook Local, adds bars and food (TechCrunch)

The standalone app that Facebook released over a year ago just got relaunched as “Facebook Local”. Using the existing 70 million business pages on Facebook, “Local” will provide information on restaurants, bars, venues, and events going on around you. Facebook Local will be found in the existing app buried in the More tab as “Local”. “If Facebook actually promotes the Facebook Local app, it could be a legitimate alternative to Yelp or Foursquare.”