How screwed is Huawei?

After years of public mistrust, the US government has finally, officially laid out its cases against tech giant Huawei. The Chinese company stands accused of a laundry list crimes ranging from wire fraud to trade-secret theft to violating Iranian sanctions to obstruction of justice — all told, we're looking at 23 charges across two states. (Naturally, the company denies allegations of wrongdoing.) And now that the US government has made its claims against Huawei we're left with one weighty question: Just how screwed is this company, exactly?
Read more: https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/30/huawei-us-government-fraud-theft/?source=Snapzu

Bell Asked Canadian Government to Ban Certain VPNs

Newly revealed documents show that media giant Bell previously urged the Canadian Government to ban 'copyright infringing' VPNs. The request was made in a 2017 submission regarding the NAFTA trade deal negotiations. This call didn't lead anywhere but with site-blocking still on the agenda, VPNs remain a topic of interest.
Read more: https://torrentfreak.com/bell-asked-canadian-government-to-ban-certain-vpns-190129/?source=Snapzu

A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won’t Be ‘Assembled in U.S.A.’

Despite a trade war between the United States and China and past admonishments from President Trump “to start building their damn computers and things in this country,” Apple is unlikely to bring its manufacturing closer to home. A tiny screw illustrates why. In 2012, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, went on prime-time television to announce that Apple would make a Mac computer in the United States. It would be the first Apple product in years to be manufactured by American workers, and the top-of-the-line Mac Pro would come with an unusual inscription: “Assembled in USA.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/technology/iphones-apple-china-made.html?source=Snapzu

A second Apple self-driving car engineer is accused of stealing trade secrets

The FBI has accused a second Apple employee of attempting to steal trade secrets from the company regarding its secretive self-driving car program, according to a recently unsealed affidavit. NBC's Bay Area affiliate first reported the news. This is the second employee in six months to be accused by the FBI of stealing trade secrets from Apple's self-driving car unit. In July, federal agents accusedformer Apple engineer Xiaolang Zhang of allegedly stealing proprietary information about the project and trying to bring it to XMotors, based in China.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/30/apple-autonomous-vehicle-engineer-accused-of-stealing-trade-secrets.html?source=Snapzu

Maybe Only Tim Cook Can Fix Facebook’s Privacy Problem

It’s nowhere in his job description, but Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has recently taken a moonlight gig as Facebook’s privacy watchdog. On Wednesday, Mr. Cook and his lieutenants took aim at Facebook for violating Apple’s rules with a research app that allowed Facebook to snoop on users’ online activity.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/technology/facebook-privacy-apple-tim-cook.html?partner=IFTTT?source=Snapzu

YouTube Strikes Now Being Used as Scammers' Extortion Tool

In a terrible abuse of YouTube's copyright system, a YouTuber is reporting that scammers are using the platform's "three strike" system for extortion. After filing two false claims against ObbyRaidz, the scammers contacted him demanding cash to avoid a third - and the termination of his channel.
Read more: https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-strikes-now-being-used-as-scammers-extortion-tool/?source=Snapzu

How important is the name of your Product?

We realized the most important thing when naming our product was to convey the value our communication app brings to users.
Read more: https://clariti.app/blog/whats-in-a-product-name-everything/?source=Snapzu

How To Bring Clarity To Your Daily Work Communications

“It’s a lack of clarity that creates chaos and frustration. Those emotions are poison to any living goal.” ― Steve Maraboli
Read more: https://clariti.app/blog/how-to-bring-clarity-to-your-daily-work-communications/?source=Snapzu

These YouTubers are owed $1.7 million, and they’re probably never going to get it

A group of approximately 50 YouTube creators allegedly owed more than $1.7 million following the collapse of network Defy Media are unlikely to see that money. Ally Bank, one of Defy Media’s financial backers, tweeted a statement on January 25th following a video from popular YouTube creator Matthew “MatPat” Patrick asking Ally to give him and other YouTube creators the money they’re owed by Defy.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/29/18202131/matpat-defy-media-youtube-ally-bank-ryland-adams-multi-channel-network?source=Snapzu

It's clearer than ever Apple's iPhone problem isn't going away

Apple's iPhone business is in decline -- and there appears to be no end in sight. Apple (AAPL) said Tuesday that iPhone revenue for the all-important holiday quarter fell 15% from the same period a year ago, a steep drop for a product line whose sales growth defied gravity for years. The shrinking iPhone sales led to Apple's first holiday quarter revenue decline since 2000.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/29/tech/apple-iphone-sales/index.html?source=Snapzu

Apple CEO Tim Cook 'I Do Think Price is a Factor' in Declining iPhone Upgrades

During today's earnings call for the first fiscal quarter of 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked whether he thought that the pricing of the iPhone XR, XS, and iPhone XS Max was too high. In response, Cook said that while he didn't feel that was as much of a factor in the United States, it was an issue in emerging markets.
Read more: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/01/29/tim-cook-price-a-factor-declining-sales/?source=Snapzu

Apple says iPhones were down 15% last quarter, but everything else was up 19%

Apple today shared its fiscal first-quarter revenue with shareholders. As investors feared and as previously warned, Apple posted revenue of $84.3 billion for the quarter ending in December, missing revenue expectations in the quarter by around $4 billion. CEO Tim Cook primarily credited macroeconomic conditions in China and their impact on iPhone sales in that region for the failure to meet expectations.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/apple-says-iphones-were-down-15-last-quarter-but-everything-else-was-up-19/?source=Snapzu

‘Welcome to my high-fashion, trash shopping mall’

Anna Bergstrom had a dilemma. She loved the glitzy world of high fashion, but had also come to feel that it was unsustainable and bad for the planet. She's now found peace of mind by running a stylish shopping mall in Sweden, where everything is second-hand. "Do you notice the smell?" Anna Bergstrom says, as she surveys her mall from the mezzanine level. "It smells nice here, doesn't it?" It's very important to Anna that this place is enticing, because she feels it is making a statement. Everything for sale here, in 14 specialist shops covering everything from clothes to DIY tools, is recycled.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47001188?source=Snapzu

'No one likes being a tourist': the rise of the anti-tour

With the tourism explosion affecting even smaller cities such as Porto, visitors and locals alike are looking for more ‘authentic’ days out. But is that possible?
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jan/28/no-one-likes-being-a-tourist-the-rise-of-the-anti-tour?source=Snapzu

U.S. on track to add $12 trillion to national debt by 2029 unless Washington changes course

Washington has been drowning in red ink for years and it’s only going to get a lot worse over the next decade, a fresh government estimate shows. The U.S. is likely to add $12 trillion in public debt from 2020 to 2029 through a combination of higher government spending and slower economic growth, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That’s on top of the $16.6 trillion the government is expected to owe to the public at the end of 2019.
Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-on-track-to-add-12-trillion-to-national-debt-by-2029-unless-washington-changes-course-2019-01-28?source=Snapzu

Headlines about China’s weak growth are somewhat misleading

America’s president knows a catchy number when he sees one. Like much of the world’s media, Donald Trump tweeted this week that China’s growth in 2018 was its slowest in nearly three decades. This, he said, ought to compel it to make a “Real Deal” on trade with America. China’s growth of 6.6% last year was indeed the weakest since 1990, and the country does want to end the trade war. But a closer look at the data shows why its leaders are less panicked than Mr Trump might think.
Read more: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2019/01/24/headlines-about-chinas-weak-growth-are-somewhat-misleading?source=Snapzu

From Papa John's to Uber: When CEO scandals go viral

From Papa John's to Uber, company CEOs are now under more scrutiny than ever before, particularly driven by technology. People now have the power and transparency to keep corporate leaders accountable in the social media era. So what should you do if your CEO screws up? Jon Fortt sits down with a panel of experts to discuss the best way to handle these crises.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/28/from-papa-johns-to-uber-when-ceo-scandals-go-viral.html?source=Snapzu

The Cost of Inequality

Read more: https://snapzu.com/kxh/the-cost-of-inequality?source=Snapzu

Facebook's plan to merge its messaging services ignites further antitrust concerns

Facebook's reported plans to integrate its three messaging platforms could very well lead to additional regulatory scrutiny for a company that's already under a legal microscope. The New York Times reported on Friday that Facebook plans to combine the technical infrastructure behind WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, though the apps will continue to function as separate services. The paper cited four people familiar with the company's plans.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/27/facebooks-plan-to-merge-messaging-services-ignites-antitrust-concerns.html?source=Snapzu

$1.5 trillion tax cut had no major impact on business spending

The Trump administration's $1.5 trillion tax cut package appeared to have no major impact on businesses' capital investment or hiring plans, according to a survey released a year after the biggest overhaul of the tax code in more than 30 years. The National Association of Business Economics' quarterly business conditions poll, published on Monday, found that while some companies reported accelerating investments because of lower corporate taxes...
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/1-5-trillion-tax-cut-had-no-major-impact-business-n963411?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma?source=Snapzu

$1.5 trillion tax cut had no major impact on business spending

The Trump administration's $1.5 trillion tax cut package appeared to have no major impact on businesses' capital investment or hiring plans, according to a survey released a year after the biggest overhaul of the tax code in more than 30 years. The National Association of Business Economics' quarterly business conditions poll, published on Monday, found that while some companies reported accelerating investments because of lower corporate taxes...
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/1-5-trillion-tax-cut-had-no-major-impact-business-n963411?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma?source=Snapzu

The Rich People at Davos Are Terrified of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and They Should Be

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't going away, and neither is surging rage at plutocrats hanging in the Swiss alps who think charity makes up for a rigged game.​​
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/nexvj7/the-rich-people-at-davos-are-terrified-of-aoc-and-they-should-be?source=Snapzu

US charges Chinese tech giant Huawei with fraud and stealing trade secrets

US federal prosecutors went after Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for financial fraud in a sweeping 13-count indictment unsealed Monday, and announced 10 additional charges against Huawei and its US subsidiary for allegedly stealing trade secrets. Both indictments could escalate tensions between Washington and Beijing — right as the two try to sort out their trade war.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/world/2019/1/28/18201190/huawei-meng-indictment-china-trump-iran?source=Snapzu

China’s smartphone shipments dropped 14 percent in 2018

Smartphone numbers are down all over — but things look especially stark in China these days. Tim Cook cited softened demand in the world’s largest smartphone market as a key factor in its lowered guidance, and Apple is far from alone in feeling the pinch. Today, Canalys reported another large drop in the country for 2018. The firm says that shipments dropped 14 percent in China for the year.
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/28/chinas-smartphone-shipments-dropped-14-percent-in-2018/?source=Snapzu

What it’s like to pursue a dream for 30 years — and fail

For every successful, hot-selling invention, there are a million others that don’t make it. But what does ‘failure’ really mean?
Read more: https://thehustle.co/bionic-boot/?source=Snapzu

Ford has manufactured a sweaty robot butt to mimic a sweaty human butt

Yes, in a bid to ensure your car seat really will stand the test of time, Ford has developed a Robutt that is designed to mimic a post-exercise sweaty butt. Which sounds laughable, but actually makes a lot of sense. The Robutt is a robotic butt that Ford uses to test the effectiveness of their car seats over time. A butt-shaped cushion is attached to an industrial robot arm, which is then repeatedly pressed onto the tester seat to re-create 10 years of wear and tear.
Read more: https://www.techly.com.au/2019/01/27/ford-manufactured-sweaty-robot-butt-mimic-sweaty-human-butt/?source=Snapzu

From secrecy to dignity: trust and policy implications of shifting attitudes to privacy

The public typically trusts governments to protect personal data more than they trust the private sector. Social media companies are among the least trusted.News & events
Read more: https://nsc.crawford.anu.edu.au/department-news/13675/secrecy-dignity-trust-and-policy-implications-shifting-attitudes-privacy?source=Snapzu

Family behind OxyContin maker engineered opioid crisis, Massachusetts AG says

In a lawsuit, the state targets eight members of the Sackler family.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/purdue-pharma-lawsuit-massachusetts-attorney-general-blames-sackler-family-for-creating-opioid-crisis-oxycontin/?source=Snapzu

NVIDIA Claims 4 Million PC VR Headsets Sold

NVIDIA co-founder & CEO Jensen Huang took the stage today at the company’s CES 2019 press conference, issuing a strong claim that four million PC VR headsets have been sold to date. The two largest PC VR headset manufacturers, Oculus and HTC, have been cagey on providing sales numbers, although GPU manufacturer Nvidia might have a pretty good line on how many headsets have been sold since consumer PC VR came to market in early 2016.
Read more: https://www.roadtovr.com/nvidia-claims-4-million-pc-vr-headsets-sold/?source=Snapzu

The Ford F-150, America’s most American pickup truck, is going electric

Major US automakers have been saying for years that the future is electric. Yet, at the moment, their electric car offerings are meager. But the electric future got a huge boost this month. Ford Motor Company, the second-largest US automaker, announced it plans to create a battery-powered version of its most popular offering, the F-Series, an iconic line of pickup trucks.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/1/24/18195880/ford-f150-ev-electric-pickup-truck?source=Snapzu

A Speed Limit On German Highways: 'Like Talking Gun Control In The U.S.'

How fast are Germany's highways, famously without speed limits? Tom Hanks described driving a Volkswagen camper van on an autobahn: "No matter how fast you're driving in Germany, someone is driving faster than you," Hanks said on Late Show with David Letterman in 2012. "When another car passes you when you're driving as fast as physics allow ... a blur goes past you. Sometimes it's a red blur, sometimes it's white."
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/25/688232647/a-speed-limit-on-german-highways-like-talking-gun-control-in-the-u-s?source=Snapzu

New Jersey Looks to Ban Slaughter of Pregnant Animals

A couple of weeks ago, a brave cow jumped for her life from the second level of a transport truck headed for the slaughterhouse. The story made headlines, and the cow, now named Brianna, was rescued by Skylands Animal Sanctuary & Rescue in New Jersey. What nobody knew at the time was that Brianna was pregnant. A few days later she gave birth to her calf, Winter, at Skylands.
Read more: https://mercyforanimals.org/new-jersey-looks-to-ban-slaughter-of-pregnant?source=Snapzu

Apple Says It Will Pay ‘Shot on iPhone’ Photo Contest Winners After Backlash

Three days after announcing its “Shot on iPhone Challenge,” Apple has updated its official rules page for the photography contest following a burst of outrage from artists on social media.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/apple-says-it-will-pay-shot-on-iphone-photo-contest-w-1832047472?source=Snapzu

Apple's Aussie profits grew but its tax bill went down

Technology giant Apple's sales in Australia grew by more than $1 billion last year lifting its profits, as our commitment to its iPhone remains unshakable, but the amount of tax the multinational paid fell. Apple’s accounts lodged with the corporate regulator on Friday show it had total sales of $9.08 billion in the year to September 29, 2018 - up 13 per cent from $8.04 billion in 2017.
Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/apple-s-aussie-profits-grew-but-its-tax-bill-went-down-20190125-p50tnx.html?source=Snapzu

Apple Lays Off 200 Employees Working On Secretive Self-Driving Car Project

Over 200 employees working on Apple’s self-driving cars project, code-named Project Titan, have been laid off. The move is being positioned internally as an “anticipated restructuring”, according to the earliest reports , though it’s not immediately clear that the job losses were actually expected by the people who were laid off.
Read more: http://www.poptopnews.com/p/567745/apple-lays-off-200-employees-working-on-secretive-self-driving-car-project?source=Snapzu

Elon Musk Rips the Idea of Flying Cars at TED 2017 Conference

The first-ever flying car conference got underway earlier this week in Dallas, a two-day affair put on by Uber called the “Uber Elevate Summit,” which was chock-full of panels and a big prediction: By 2020 Uber will be testing out its commuter aircraft. On Friday, Elon Musk seized another opportunity to shoot down the idea before it lifts off. “I’m in favor of flying things,” Musk told interviewer Chris Anderson during his lengthy interview at the TED 2017 conference in Vancouver, before repeating a biting joke he first made in a February Bloomberg article.
Read more: https://www.inverse.com/article/30968-elon-musk-insults-flying-cars?source=Snapzu

Right to Repair is already hurtling into action in 2019

2018 saw 19 states introduce fair repair legislation and Europe debut ecodesign regulations abroad. Now just three weeks into the new year, Right to Repair laws are being proposed across the country. Here's what you can expect from Right to Repair in 2019.
Read more: https://ifixit.org/blog/13003/right-to-repair-2019/?source=Snapzu

No, Content Marketing Is Not a 'Soft Skill'

Content writers, if we're doing it right, make businesses lots of money, because words are what drive sales on the web.
Read more: https://www.copyblogger.com/conversion-content-marketer/?source=Snapzu

It's Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real

Network investment is down, layoffs abound, and networks are falling apart. This isn’t the glorious future Ajit Pai promised. By Karl Bode.
Read more: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gyab5m/its-now-clear-none-of-the-supposed-benefits-of-killing-net-neutrality-are-real?source=Snapzu

Apple reverses course, will now pay the winners of its ‘Shot on iPhone Challenge’

Earlier this week, Apple announced a “Shot on iPhone” competition. This contest allows photographers to submit pictures taken with their iPhone, with a panel of judges selecting the top 10 best photos. Those photos will then be placed on billboards and other Apple “marketing channels.” Today, Apple has made a notable change to the contest after criticism…
Read more: https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/24/apple-to-pay-shot-on-iphone-challenge-winners/?source=Snapzu

How To Be Successful

I’ve observed thousands of founders and thought a lot about what it takes to make a huge amount of money or to create something important. Usually, people start off wanting the former and end up wanting the latter.
Read more: http://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful?source=Snapzu

Huawei promises it isn't deleting photos downloaded from Twitter

Huawei has released a statement after multiple users have been shown a notification telling them that Twitter has been deleting their photos. The original story came from the Taiwanese version of Apple Daily showing the notification in Chinese, but was widely replicated and in English over on Reddit. The prompt, which appears to only be seen on recently-updated Chinese Honor and Huawei smartphones, reads 'Twitter has deleted a photo from your gallery'.
Read more: https://www.techradar.com/au/news/huawei-promises-it-isnt-deleting-photos-downloaded-from-twitter?source=Snapzu

Period-Tracking Apps Are Monetizing Women’s Extremely Personal Data

More than 100 million women monitor their cycles on their phones. Here come the ads.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/how-period-tracking-apps-are-monetizing-women-s-extremely-personal-data?source=Snapzu

Court Rules ‘Ag-Gag’ Law Criminalizing Undercover Reporting Violates the First Amendment

In a win for freedom of the press, a federal court this month struck down an Iowa law making it a crime to lie about your intentions when accessing an agricultural production facility. The “ag-gag” law, which was aimed at undercover journalists and activists, essentially prevented undercover investigations of the agricultural industry. In a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Iowa, the court rightly found that the law violates the First Amendment.
Read more: https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/court-rules-ag-gag-law-criminalizing-undercover-reporting-violates-first-amendment?source=Snapzu

A top global accounting firm is telling brands to prepare for a recession

For at least a year, a growing chorus of financial analysts and CFOs has predicted that a recession is going to hit the US sooner than later—perhaps even by the end of 2019. Now Deloitte, a global accounting and auditing firm, has chimed in to say that the worrying signals are growing. To determine how retailers can survive the likely turmoil, the firm studied the dot-com bust that started in 1999 and the great recession that came along in 2007, as well as how individual retailers emerged from them. Its new report concludes that brands need to prepare for a period of rapid change, and they must be ready to invest...
Read more: https://qz.com/1527291/a-global-accounting-firm-is-telling-brands-to-prepare-for-a-recession/?source=Snapzu

Ford says a compact pickup truck is coming, smaller than Ranger

Ford confirmed a compact pickup, smaller than the Ranger, is currently in the works. Automotive News reports from an auto industry conference in Detroit today that Jim Farley, Ford president of global markets, broke the news. Farley said Ford is "investing in more affordable versions of our truck business," and "you can expect new nameplates below where we compete today."
Read more: https://www.autoblog.com/2019/01/22/ford-compact-pickup-truck-below-ranger/?source=Snapzu

Amazon Knows What You Buy. And It’s Building a Big Ad Business From It.

When a chain of physical therapy centers wanted new patients, it aimed online ads at people near its offices who had bought knee braces recently on Amazon. When a financial services provider wanted to promote its retirement advisory business, it directed ads to people in their 40s and 50s who had recently ordered a personal finance book from Amazon. And when a major credit card company wanted new customers, it targeted people who used cards from other banks on the retail site.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/20/technology/amazon-ads-advertising.html?source=Snapzu

Feeling poorer? That's because "real" wages fell last year

The pay people take home after accounting for inflation fell 1.3 percent last year, a new analysis shows. The findings come a year after President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, with his administration promising it would deliver "immediate" wage growth to workers. Yet many workers' wages aren't keeping pace with the cost of living, compensation-data company PayScale found. That's concerning because it indicates more Americans are falling behind -- despite seeing the lowest U.S. unemployment rate in nearly 50 years -- and could struggle to maintain their standard of living when the next recession inevitably rolls around.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feeling-poorer-thats-because-real-wages-fell-last-year/?source=Snapzu

Wow, fancy that. Web ad giant Google to block ad-blockers in Chrome. For safety, apparently

How many ad blocks could an ad slinger block if an ad slinger could block blocks? By Thomas Claburn.
Read more: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/22/google_chrome_browser_ad_content_block_change/?source=Snapzu

Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

Eyewear is a near-monopolistic, $100-billion industry dominated by a single company. That's why 1,000% markups for frames and lenses are commonplace.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-why-are-eyeglasses-so-expensive-20190122-story.html?source=Snapzu