Innholdsfortegnelse for #517 i Techlife News

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc., said Wednesday it’s been told by Apple that the game will be “blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem” until the companies’ legal case is resolved and all appeals are exhausted, which could take as long as five years. Sweeney posted on Twitter that Epic has asked Apple to reinstate Fortnite and promised “that it will adhere to Apple’s guidelines whenever and wherever we release products on Apple’s platforms.” “Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they’d ‘welcome Epic’s return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else.’ Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users,” Sweeney tweeted. Apple declined…

Target will hire fewer seasonal workers this year as it navigates a tight labor market, instead offering more hours and flexibility to the employees it does have. About 100,000 seasonal workers will be hired nationwide, the company said Thursday, about 30,000 less than last year. Many of those workers will be offered jobs beyond the holiday season. Employers have struggled all year to find staff. They’ve increased hourly pay, announced signing bonuses and cast aside previous minimum standards like a high school diploma. They’re are also making applications more convenient. UPS this month said it will hire more than 100,000 people for the holiday rush and for many, a job offer from UPS will come within 30 minutes of applying. In its own bid to attract more workers last month,…

The design meetings have been going on for years. Technology has evolved throughout the process. Painstaking decisions were made time and time again, right down to what an inch or two difference in leg room between rows would mean or where cupholders should be affixed to the seats. Finally, Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers are ready to build their new home. The Clippers’ long-awaited, $1.8 billion, privately funded arena officially got a name — Intuit Dome, it’ll be called when it opens in 2024, the team making that announcement hours before the formal groundbreaking ceremony. The practice facility, team offices for both business and basketball operations, retail space and more will all be on the site. Ballmer, the team’s owner, simply believes it’ll be like no other building…

Most TV dramas try to tell stories over a few years with maybe half a dozen central characters. The new series “Foundation” is a bit more ambitious — try 400 years and 25 million worlds. To say it’s sweeping doesn’t do it justice. World-building is one thing. “Foundation,” a four-year project debuting on Apple TV+ on Friday, is galaxy-building. “I love being transported in story. I love epics. I love generational sagas. And so I just wanted to go for it,” said David S. Goyer, the series’ co-creator, executive producer and showrunner. “Foundation” is built on author Isaac Asimov’s short stories that he started writing just after World War II as a 21-year-old and have gone on to become a cornerstone of the sci-fi genre. The series is ambitious enough…

Space, we have an equity problem. When three billionaires rocketed into space this summer, they did more than escape Earth’s surly bonds, they helped spread “a malady of mistrust” plaguing an all-too hungry world, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told other world leaders this week. In his opening speech to the General Assembly, a grim Guterres highlighted the gap between the rich and poor with “billionaires joyriding to space while millions go hungry on Earth.” In July, billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos flew into space on private rockets that their companies built, gathering worldwide attention in their short trips that didn’t make it into orbit. Both bank on space tourism business from their fellow space fans with big wallets. After returning to Earth, Branson, 71, sprayed G.H. Mumm champagne…

Facebook’s semi-independent oversight board says it will review the company’s “XCheck,” or cross check, system following an investigation by The Wall Street Journal into the use of this internal system that has exempted high-profile users from some or all of its rules. The board said that it expects to have a briefing with Facebook on the matter and “will be reporting what we hear from this” as part of a report it will publish in October. It may also make other recommendations, although Facebook is not bound to follow these. The Journal’s report found that many VIP users abuse the system, “posting material including harassment and incitement to violence that would typically lead to sanctions.” For certain elite users, Facebook’s rules don’t seem to apply. Facebook Inc. had told The…

Big Tech companies that operate around the globe have long promised to obey local laws and to protect civil rights while doing business. But when Apple and Google capitulated to Russian demands and removed a political-opposition app from their local app stores, it raised worries that two of the world’s most successful companies are more comfortable bowing to undemocratic edicts — and maintaining a steady flow of profits — than upholding the rights of their users. The app in question, called Smart Voting, was a tool for organizing opposition to Russia President Vladimir Putin ahead of elections held over the weekend. The ban levied last week by a pair of the world’s richest and most powerful companies galled supporters of free elections and free expression. “This is bad news for…

An imposing bronze statue was unveiled in Hungary’s capital which its creators say is the first in the world to pay homage to the anonymous creator of the Bitcoin digital currency. Erected in a business park near the Danube River in Budapest, the bust sits atop a stone plinth engraved with the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym of the mysterious developer of Bitcoin whose true identity is unknown. “We think of Satoshi as the founding father of the whole cryptocurrency industry,” said Andras Gyorfi, a Bitcoin journalist and the initiator of the project. “He created Bitcoin, he created the blockchain technology, he’s the god of our market.” The featureless face of the bust, wrapped in a bronze hoodie emblazoned with the Bitcoin logo, is heavily polished to make it…

The British government agreed to support an American-owned firm that produces much of the U.K.’s carbon dioxide, a deal designed to avert shortages of meat, poultry and packaged foods amid a crisis triggered by soaring energy costs. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the government would provide“limited financial support”for three weeks to CF Fertilisers, which halted operations at its U.K. plants last week due to high natural gas prices. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the“exceptional short-term arrangement”with the U.S.-owned firm would allow the company to immediately restart operations and produce CO2 at its plant in northeast England. CF Fertilisers produces around 60% of UK’s CO2, used primarily by the food sector. The gas has myriad uses in food production, used to stun animals before slaughter, preserve fruits…

Chicago-based aerospace giant Boeing has announced plans to build a new type of drone military aircraft in Australia. Boeing said it has selected Toowoomba city in Queensland state as the final assembly point for its unmanned Loyal Wingman planes. The first test flights were completed earlier this year. The announcement comes less than a week after the U.S., Britain and Australia announced a new security alliance that will supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. The deal was condemned by China and has heightened tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. Scott Carpendale, managing director of Boeing Defence Australia, said development of the new aircraft is going to plan. He said it uses artificial intelligence to operate in tandem with manned aircraft and was conceived, designed and developed in Australia. It’s the first military…

The European Union unveiled plans Thursday to require smartphone makers to adopt a single charging method for mobile devices. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, proposed legislation that would mandate USB-C cables for charging, technology that many device makers have already adopted. The main holdout is Apple, which said it was concerned the new rules would limit innovation, and that would end up hurting consumers. iPhones come with the company’s own Lightning charging port, though the newest models come with cables that can be plugged into a USB-C socket. The push by the EU will certainly be cheered by the millions of people who have rummaged through a drawer full of cables for the right charger. But the EU also wants to cut down on the 11,000 metric tons…

General Motors said that production has resumed for battery modules used in recalled Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles, and customers could start getting replacement parts by mid-October. GM said supplier LG has restarted production at plants in Holland and Hazel Park, Michigan, and is adding capacity to make more battery cells. The recall follows reports of 13 battery fires, GM said, which can occur when two separate defects are present in the battery modules. More than 140,000 Bolts are covered by the recall, which is expect to cost $1.8 billion. GM said it continues to negotiate with LG over who will pay. Shares of General Motors Co. fell more than 5% in afternoon trading. GM said it expects over the next 60 days to develop diagnostic battery software that will let…

After practicing in a former limestone mine and an abandoned hospital outside of Pittsburgh, a fleet of robots from Carnegie Mellon University is headed to Kentucky for the final test of the ability to autonomously navigate an uncertain, underground course. The challenge: Collect as many objects as possible in one hour while navigating a cave in Louisville, Ky. The goal: Create autonomous robots to help with search and rescue missions for military and first responders. The kicker: There’s only one operator and a fleet that could include a dozen robots, so the machines must be able to move and make decisions on their own. It’s hard enough to make autonomous robots useful above ground. This CMU team is trying to do it in the depths below. “At the heart of…

Google is planning to buy New York City’s St. John’s Terminal for $2.1 billion, making it the anchor of its Hudson Square campus. The announcement arrives with the city buffeted by the pandemic and most offices still largely unpopulated. While CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post late last month that Google is delaying its global return to offices until Jan. 10, the commitment by the company to further invest in New York City real estate was trumpeted both by Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, who called it “one of the shots in the arm we need as part of our comeback.” “Google is leading the way here in our economic comeback but also further asserting what we know more and more: New…

The Federal Reserve is expected this week to send its clearest signal yet that it will start reining in its ultra-low-interest rate policies later this year, a first step toward unwinding the extraordinary support it’s given the economy since the pandemic struck 18 months ago. Many economists think the Fed will formally announce a pullback in November, in response to a steady recovery from the pandemic recession and an acceleration in inflation that has raised widespread concerns. This week’s Fed policy meeting could lay the groundwork for that announcement. Fed officials are set to keep their short-term benchmark interest rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, near zero. They are also likely maintain their $120 billion in monthly bond purchases, which are intended to hold down long-term loan rates.…

Netflix has acquired the works of Roald Dahl, the late British author of celebrated children’s books such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The video streaming giant said this week that it acquired the Roald Dahl Story Co., which manages the rights to the author’s characters and stories. No financial terms were disclosed. The deal builds on a partnership struck in 2018 to create a slate of animated TV series, under which “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is getting a reboot by Academy Award winning filmmaker Taika Waititi and Netflix is working with Sony on an adaptation of “Matilda the Musical.” The new deal paves the way for Netflix to bring all of the author’s back catalogue to screens. “These projects opened our eyes to a much more ambitious venture…

A Pakistan resident has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a conspiracy to “unlock” phones from AT&T’s network, a scheme the company says cost it more than $200 million. Muhammad Fahd, 35, of Karachi, recruited an employee of an AT&T call center in Bothell, Washington, via Facebook in 2012, and began bribing that employee and his coworkers to use their credentials to unlock phones. That allowed the phones to be removed from AT&T’s network, even if customers had not finished paying for the expensive devices or their service contracts had not expired. The customers could then buy cheaper service for their phones. Fahd later had workers install malware on the company’s network, allowing him to unlock the phones from Pakistan. He persisted even after the company detected the…

California became the first state to bar mega-retailers from firing warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that grew from Amazon’s drive to speed goods to consumers more quickly. The measure also bars Amazon, the online retail giant, and similar companies from disciplining workers for following health and safety laws and allows employees to sue to suspend unsafe quotas or reverse retaliation. The bill applies to all warehouse distribution centers, though proponents were driven by Amazon’s dominance. “We cannot allow corporations to put profit over people,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a news release announcing he had signed the law. The law, AB 701, was authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a lawyer and former labor…

China’s central bank will soon have access to the private credit information of hundreds of millions of users of Ant Group’s online credit service, in a move signaling more regulatory oversight of the financial technology sector. Huabei, Ant Group’s credit service, said in a statement that consumer credit data it has collected will be included in the People’s Bank of China’s financial credit information database. “The inclusion of Huabei’s credit information into the credit reporting system will help users’ credit information be more comprehensive,” Huabei said. Consumers who do not authorize the sharing of credit data with the central bank will not be able to use Huabei’s service. The company did not give a timeline for when it would provide all of its customer credit data to the central bank.…

Despite numerous reports that Apple would overhaul the design of this year’s Apple Watch, the announcement of a Series 7 smartwatch was a more muted affair. Still, the wearable packs its punch with a number of new features, including a re-engineered display that helps to maximize the screen area, an improved battery life, and tonnes of under-the-hood tweaks. INTRODUCING THE APPLE WATCH SERIES 7 The Apple Watch has single-handedly revolutionized the smartwatch industry, helping users stay in control of their lifestyles and activity levels and saving dozens of lives in the process. It’s little wonder why Apple Watch is now one of Apple’s most popular and highly-anticipated product categories, so it was no surprise to learn that rumors of a Series 7 featuring an all-new design were rife. Apple had…

A U.S. government committee that reviews foreign investment in telecom is probing videoconferencing company Zoom’s $14.7 billion deal for cloud call center company Five9. In an August filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the Justice Department, which chairs the committee, said it would review the deal “to determine whether this application poses a risk to the national security or law enforcement interests of the United States.” The Justice Department “believes that such risk may be raised by the foreign participation (including the foreign relationships and ownership) associated with the application.” The Wall Street Journal first reported the probe. The Justice Department did not say in its filing what the foreign ties of concern were and spokesperson Wyn Hornbuckle declined to answer questions. Five9 spokesperson Allison Wilson declined to comment. Zoom…

The pandemic isn’t crushing the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s fueling it. People normally tied to a desk or working double shifts used lockdown to launch side hustles, often out of necessity. And some have turned those side gigs into full-fledged businesses. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 427,842 new business applications were filed in August 2021 alone. That figure was 288, 026 in August 2019. While a side gig can be spontaneous, growing a legit business requires research, planning and organization. Otherwise, your fledgling enterprise could crash and burn in a couple of years. These basic but essential steps can help you take things to the next level and give your new venture a shot at staying power. CHOOSE A BUSINESS STRUCTURE There are six common types of business entities: sole…

Few retirement decisions are as critical, or as easy to get wrong, as when and how to take your Social Security benefits. The rules can be so convoluted that many people rely on what they’re told by Social Security employees, but that could prove to be an expensive mistake. Certified financial planner Kate Gregory of Huntington Beach, California, uses sophisticated Social Security claiming software to recommend strategies that maximize clients’ lifetime benefits. Gregory advised one of her clients, a widow, to apply for her own small retirement benefit first so that her survivor benefit could grow, then switch to the larger benefit later. When the woman contacted Social Security, however, she was told she could get the survivor benefit only. “That left her really flustered,” Gregory says. The widow eventually…

Tammy Faye Bakker wore a lot of makeup. It was armor — a way for a person who didn’t consider herself beautiful to simply exist in the world. So it’s a particuarly a cruel irony that the mascara was also the thing that made her a target and a joke long before she and her ex-husband were brought down by brazen theft and misuse of ministry funds. Women have never been afforded the luxury of simply existing in the world, especially when they dare to live in public as Tammy did. Who cares what she says, it’s what she looks like that counts, right? And Tammy was a particularly easy target, for her childish voice, the “bad” makeup and garish clothes, and maybe most of all for the fact that…

Chinese regulators have set up a platform that allows the public to report on gaming companies they believe are violating restrictions on online game times for children. China’s National Press and Publication Administration set up the platform. It enables holders of Chinese ID cards to report violations and furnish proof, effectively giving the public the power to police gaming firms such as Tencent and NetEase. This follows China’s decision to impose the time limits of just three hours a week for minors to combat internet games addiction in children. Gaming companies are expected to enforce the limit of 1 hour of online games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. An earlier limit allowed 90 minutes on most days. Other online platforms exist in China for…