AppleMagazine

oracle and tiktok struck a deal. what it is, none will say

The short-video app TikTok has chosen Oracle as its corporate savior to avoid a U.S. ban ordered by President Donald Trump. The U.S. government will review the prospective deal. That much is known. Everything else is confusion, at least to outsiders. For instance: — What does it mean that, as Oracle declared, it will become a “trusted technology provider” for TikTok? Is this a joint venture, a vendor agreement or something else? Oracle is pointedly not referring to its deal as a sale or acquisition. — Will Trump approve such an arrangement after having threatened a ban if TikTok remains owned by its China-based parent ByteDance? Would it answer the national-security concerns around potential data siphoning, censorship and propaganda from Beijing that Trump raised? — Will the Chinese government go along with it? —…

google exec on hot seat in congress over advertising power

A Senate panel put a top Google executive on the defensive over the company’s powerful position in online advertising as some lawmakers look hopefully toward an expected antitrust case against the tech giant by the Trump administration. Donald Harrison, Google’s president for global partnerships and corporate development, insisted at a hearing by the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee that Google’s ad business faces ample competition, has benefited consumers, and has kept prices low for advertisers and publishers such as local newspapers. The Justice Department has pursued a sweeping antitrust investigation of big tech companies, looking at whether the online platforms of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple have hurt competition, stifled innovation or otherwise harmed consumers. The department is reportedly readying a major case accusing Google of abusing its dominance in online search and…

amazon to hire 100,000 to keep up with online shopping surge

Amazon will hire another 100,000 people to keep up with a surge of online orders. The company said that the new hires will help pack, ship or sort orders, working in part-time and full-time roles. Amazon said the jobs are not related to its typical holiday hiring. The Seattle company reported record profit and revenue between April and June as more people turned to it during the pandemic to buy groceries and supplies. The company already had to hire 175,000 people earlier this year to keep up with the rush of orders, and last week said it had 33,000 corporate and tech jobs it needed to fill. This time around, Amazon said it needs the people at the 100 new warehouses, package sorting centers and other facilities it’s opening this month. Alicia Boler Davis, who…

report finds global economic outlook not as bad as expected

The global economy is not doing as bad as previously expected, especially in the United States and China, but has still suffered an unprecedented drop due to the coronavirus pandemic, an international watchdog said this week. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report that the world’s gross domestic product is projected to decline by 4.5% this year - less than the 6% plunge it had predicted in June. The global economy is expected to rebound and grow by 5% next year, the organization said. Yet the OECD notes that its outlook is “subject to considerable uncertainty” as the pandemic continues, and assumes that “sporadic local outbreaks will continue” and a vaccine will not be available until late in 2021. The OECD upgraded its forecast for the U.S. economy, anticipating a…

time flies: series 6 and se take apple watch to new heights

Apple’s annual Fall Event felt a little different this year. For starters, it was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with no cheers or applause to be heard. But the biggie? No new iPhones. The company already confirmed that the iPhone 12 will launch in October, but in the meantime, Tim Cook and Co used the keynote to show off the all-new Apple Watch Series 6, a low-cost Apple Watch SE, and a bunch of family-focused Watch improvements. BREAKTHROUGH CAPABILITIES ON THE APPLE WATCH SERIES 6 The star of the show at this year’s September Special Event was, without doubt, the Apple Watch Series 6. Putting health at the forefront of this release, Apple confirmed the rumored blood oxygen levels monitoring feature, helping users better understand their overall health and fitness…

drone maker hurt by us-china rift, opening door to us rivals

Skateboarders, surfers and mountain bikers used to be the target customers for California startup Skydio, a maker of high-end drones that can home in on people and capture their movements on video all by themselves. Now police officers, firefighters and soldiers are interested in the self-flying machines. That’s partly because U.S. national security concerns about the world’s dominant consumer drone-maker, China-based DJI, have upended the market for small drones and opened the door to lesser-known companies pitching applications for government agencies and big businesses. Companies like Skydio are also tapping into a technological revolution that could do away with the need for human pilots to put drones through each one of their paces. Instead, advanced artificial intelligence is starting to power drones that can follow humans and other targets on their own.…