Beginning next year, Chrome will only autoplay media without sound, or after users have clearly expressed interest in said media. “Not all users have the same preferences for autoplay media, so Google has looked at letting users mute and unmute entire websites,” Venture Beat notes. “This is now part of the browser’s roadmap.”

LiveXLive just bought online radio service Slacker Radio for $50 millon, The Verge reports. Unfortunately, however,  “Slacker … has radio stations curated by DJs (something Dash Radio does better), customizable radio stations based on your taste (something Pandora does better), and at one point sold portable music players (something Apple did better).”

Some app developers are facing a fierce backlash for trying to complete with urban convenience stores. In response to the so-called “Bodega” app, “City dwellers rose up in defense of small neighborhood stores both on social media and in the real world,” CNBC reports. In its defense, Bodega co-developer -- and former Google employee -- Paul McDonald says the app was designed to simply supplement those service traditionally provided by brick-and-mortar shops.

Samsung plans to pump $300 million into a new Automotive Innovation Fund, which, as TechCrunch reports, will “back startups and other interesting bets in the automotive market.” Already, the South Korean tech giant has committed nearly $90 million to TTTech, which develops platforms and safety software for connected cars.

With its forthcoming iPhone X, has Apple designed the perfect smartphone? The Verge doesn’t think so, and it takes particular issue with the little black “notch” near the bottom of the phone’s display. “Apple hasn’t kept the iPhone X top bezel intact,” which The Verge finds rather “odd-looking.” Worse yet, “Many games will simply have a section missing thanks to the new display, and some apps that go fullscreen (into the status bar area) will also have a black section.”

Google plans to unveil its latest Pixel smartphone on Oct. 4. While the debut date has been something of a mystery, Android Police is now reporting the appearance of a billboard in Boston featuring "Oct. 4," along with the copy: “Ask more of you phone.” Google has also posted a video and site confirming the date.

Hoping to one-up Apple, Samsung said this week that it plans to launch a foldable smartphone by next year. “Koh Dong-jin, president of mobile business at Samsung Electronics, said the company is setting its eyes on 2018 to release a smartphone with a bendable display,” The Associated Press reports. “But he said there are several hurdles it has to overcome, leaving room to push back the release if those problems are not solved.”

Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith paints an ugly picture of the current climate in Silicon Valley, and suggests that the tech industry has never been so unpopular among the general public. “The blinding rise of Donald Trump over the past year has masked another major trend in American politics: the palpable, and perhaps permanent, turn against the tech industry,” he reasons. “The new corporate leviathans that used to be seen as bright new avatars of American innovation are increasingly portrayed as sinister new centers of unaccountable power.”

Apart from Disney, the big Hollywood studios have agreed to sell 4K movies for the same price as 1080p copies on Apple’s iTunes. Explaining the divide, Apple Insider notes: “Disney offers 4K video on other digital platforms such as Vudu, suggesting that the problem isn't with a lack of material, or a push for people to buy Blu-ray discs.”

Facebook just added its group video chat app Bonfire to the Danish iOS App Store. To The Next Web, this move suggests that “the social media giant is slowly rolling it out to customers.” If this is the first you’re hearing of Bonfire, “It borrows several features from current teen-fave (and Meerkat successor) Houseparty, allowing you to hold video chats with several participants simultaneously,” TNW explains.