Google has opened its Maps app to developers hoping to create the next Pokémon Go. iHeartRadio owner iHeartMedia has filed for bankruptcy. And a CNBC report indicates that Tesla has been producing a high volume of flawed parts for its Model 3 sedan.
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Trending on Reddit: Google has opened its Google Maps platform to developers hoping to create the next Pokémon Go. We aren’t name-dropping the most inescapable mobile hit of 2016 for clicks, either: Pokémon Go was developed by Niantic which, as a former Google subsidiary, was granted special access to the platform. That’s why you didn’t see a wave of knockoffs following in Pokémon Go’s footsteps. Now that Google has given developers access to both real-time Maps data and a software development kit for ubiquitous game engine Unity, location-based mobile games have been announced for The Walking Dead, Jurassic World, and Ghostbusters.
Next, trending on Facebook: iHeartMedia, owner of the 849-station iHeartRadio empire, has filed for bankruptcy. According to Reuters, the San Antonio, Tex.-based company has agreed to a deal that will give its creditors a 94 per cent stake in the company in exchange for the elimination of approximately $5.6 billion (all figures USD) in debt. Even though IHeartMedia earned $3.58 billion in revenue last year, it also spent $1.4 billion on debt interest payments and was projected to reach more than $8 billion USD in total debt by the end of 2019. With this new deal, iHeartMedia hopes to maintain business as usual.
Finally, trending on LinkedIn: An investigation by CNBC reporter Lora Kolodny alleges that as many as 40 per cent of the parts being produced for Tesla’s upcoming Model 3 are flawed enough that they need to be remanufactured in-house at high cost. That, according to CNBC, is why so many of the 400,000 people who preordered a Model 3 keep having to wait for their vehicle to be delivered. When contacted by CNBC, Tesla denied that its remanufacturing teams are reworking cars, though it called temporary downtime for equipment maintenance a “common” occurence whenever companies ramp up production on such an enormous scale.
That’s what’s trending today. Hashtag Trending is produced by IT World Canada. Today’s episode is sponsored by Cogeco Peer 1, the company that enables businesses to unlock their IT potential. Learn more at CP1.com.