Daily Tech Snippet: Thursday, August 25

• Most Americans streamed the Olympics from PCs, not mobile devices. Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, accounted for almost 20 percent of the evening's Olympics stream. An additional 17 percent went to set-top boxes, such as Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. Of these, Roku boxes were the overwhelming favorite among Olympics viewers, eating up a 10 percent share. In the end, however, PCs took the prize, accounting for more than 60 percent of consumption.  Why is this so interesting? Well, much of the narrative surrounding entertainment and technology these days has to do with mobile devices becoming a more dominant platform. Sandvine's data show that iPhones, Android devices and iPads account for almost one-third of general Internet consumption, much higher than what we see from the chart above. Analysts say this discrepancy highlights the particular way in which Americans could access their Olympics coverage online. To watch the Internet live stream, viewers needed to log in through their cable subscription. The downside to this meant being chained to a cable provider, but the upside was that once you authenticated you could watch from any device — mobile or otherwise. Although much of our media consumption is increasingly shifting toward mobile devices, live-stream events such as the Olympics may be one area where PCs could remain dominant for some time.

• HP Inc. Forecasts Earnings That Fall Short of Estimates: HP Inc., which sells personal computers and printers, forecast fiscal fourth-quarter profit that may fall short of analysts’ estimates, hurt by slumping demand for its products. The shares fell as much as 5.8 percent in extended trading after the announcement. Sales fell 3.8 percent to $11.9 billion, compared with estimates of $11.5 billion. Sales of personal systems, which includes the computer lines, of $7.5 billion was unchanged from a year earlier. That compares with a decline of 10 percent in the second quarter. Commercial sales fell 3 percent while the consumer business climbed 8 percent in the personal systems unit. Printing revenue declined 14 percent to $4.4 billion, compared with a decline of 16 percent in the previous quarter. Consumer printing sales fared worse than the commercial business.

• Ford leads $24M investment in India-based vehicle rental company Zoomcar: Hot on the heels of a deal with a self-driving sensor technology startup, the automotive giant has backed Zoomcar, a Zipcar-like company that operates in India. Subsidiary Ford Smart Mobility led a $24 million Series B round, with participation from returning investors Sequoia Capital, Nokia Growth Partners (NGP) and Empire Angels. The company’s valuation was not disclosed. Four-year-old Zoomcar closed an $11 million Series B round last summer following an $8 million raise in late 2014. This new round — which had been reported in Indian press as early as July — takes it to over $46 million in VC money to date. Zoomcar is a car rental service based on successful Western models like Zipcar, which wasbought by Avis for $500 million three years ago. The startup is based in Bangalore and it currently claims to offer 2,000 cars around seven of India’s tier-one cities, with 75 percent occupancy and 1.5 million app downloads. Ford was Zoomcar’s first OEM partner, and the startup said Ford provides “most” of the vehicles on its platform.