Leaker Claims AirPods Pro 2 Could Come in Multiple Sizes

Apple may have just released the AirPods Max, but it seems Apple is already working on the next addition to its headphone line with a new version of the AirPods Pro that for the first time might come in multiple sizes.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/leaker-claims-airpods-pro-2-could-come-in-multiple-size-1845967748?source=Snapzu

Automation isn't wiping out jobs. It's that our engine of growth is winding down

In army of robots now scrub floors, grow microgreens and flip burgers. Due to advances in artificial intelligence, computers will supposedly take over much more of the service sector in the coming decade, including jobs in law, finance and medicine that require years of education and training.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/23/robots-economy-growth-wages-jobs?source=Snapzu

2-Acre Vertical Farm Run By AI And Robots Out-Produces 720-Acre Flat Farm

Plenty's vertical farm in San Fransisco uses 99% less land, 95% less water, recycled plastic packaging, and is powered by renewable energy.
Read more: https://www.intelligentliving.co/vertical-farm-out-produces-flat-farm/?source=Snapzu

Elsevier Wants To Stop Indian Medics, Students And Academics Accessing Knowledge The Only Way Most Of Them Can Afford: Via Sci-Hub And Libgen

Last month Techdirt wrote about some ridiculous scaremongering from Elsevier against Sci-Hub, which the publisher claimed was a "security risk". Sci-Hub, with its 85 million academic papers, is an example of what are sometimes termed...
Read more: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201224/02344745944/elsevier-wants-to-stop-indian-medics-students-academics-accessing-knowledge-only-way-most-them-can-afford-via-sci-hub-libgen.shtml?source=Snapzu

It's time for big tech companies to stand up to China

On Dec. 18, prosecutors from the U.S. Justice Department charged a China-based Zoom executive with conspiring to terminate Zoom meetings this year that commemorated the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre at the Chinese government’s behest. The 47-page complaint contains detailed exchanges between the executive and employees at Zoom’s California headquarters this year.
Read more: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/how-zoom-violated-its-own-terms-service-access-china-s-n1252092?source=Snapzu

The four-day work week's time may be here

It's a good idea as devastated economies reopen, but it's no magic bullet.
Read more: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/06/17/commentary/world-commentary/four-day-work-weeks-time-may/?source=Snapzu

In pandemic America's tent cities, a grim future grows darker

Nadeen Bender stood outside her home, a tattered two-man tent, surrounded by the re-purposed Amazon Prime boxes she uses to store her life's belongings. One by one, she checked the cartons to make sure nothing had been stolen in the night.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-homelessness-i-idUSKBN28X19Y?source=Snapzu

How Amazon Wins: By Steamrolling Rivals and Partners

CEO Jeff Bezos still runs the e-commerce giant with the drive of a startup trying to survive. That strand of its corporate DNA is becoming a liability, as its tactics to dominate nearly every market—furniture, diapers, tripods, shoes—make it a target for antitrust enforcers and politicians.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-competition-shopify-wayfair-allbirds-antitrust-11608235127?source=Snapzu

Elon Musk: I tried to sell Tesla to Apple

Musk says Tim Cook ‘refused to take the meeting’ when a struggling Tesla could have been bought for a song
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/23/elon-musk-i-tried-to-sell-tesla-to-apple?source=Snapzu

German firm says indoor vertical farm in Singapore will produce 1.5 tons of 'leafy greens' every day

Henner Schwarz, CEO of German firm &ever, said that his company's new indoor vertical farm in Singapore will produce 1.5 tons of "leafy green" produce per day.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/21/ever-ceo-says-indoor-vertical-farm-will-produce-1point5-tons-of-produce.html?source=Snapzu

The COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Would Make Illegal Streaming a Felony

Providing relief via direct assistance and loans to struggling individuals and businesses hit hard by COVID-19 has been a priority for federal lawmakers this past month. But a gigantic spending bill has also become the opportunity to smuggle in some other line items, including those of special interest to the entertainment community.
Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/the-covid-19-stimulus-bill-would-make-illegal-streaming-a-felony?source=Snapzu

Trump signs bill that could kick Chinese firms off U.S. stock exchanges

President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation that would kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges unless they adhere to American auditing standards, the White House said, giving the Republican one more tool to threaten Beijing with before leaving office next month.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-stocks-idUSKBN28S2ZJ?source=Snapzu

YouTube Class Action: Same IP Address Used to Upload 'Pirate' Movies & File DMCA Notices

The same IP address used to upload 'pirate' movies to YouTube also sent DMCA notices targeting the same batch of content.
Read more: https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-class-action-same-ip-address-used-to-upload-pirate-movies-file-dmca-notices-201221/?source=Snapzu

An Oral History of the World’s Biggest Coupon

Bed Bath & Beyond’s plus-size mailer, known as Big Blue, has made it to TV, eBay, even a mobster’s kitchen drawer. “The poor mailmen,” the company’s former marketing V.P. said, “what we did to them.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/business/bed-bath-and-beyond-coupon.html?source=Snapzu

Sweeping new copyright measures poised to pass in spending bill

The contentious measures could be approved Monday.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/21/22193976/covid-relief-spending-congress-copyright-case-act-felony-streaming?source=Snapzu

A Massive Fraud Operation Stole Millions From Online Bank Accounts

The crooks used emulators to mimic the phones of more than 16,000 customers whose mobile bank accounts had been compromised.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/massive-fraud-operation-stole-millions-online-bank-accounts/?source=Snapzu

Cyber technology shares soar as security attacks pile up

Shares in cyber security companies climbed rapidly on Friday as investors bet that a spate of cyber attack disclosures from entities such as Microsoft Corp would boost demand for security technology. Shares in FireEye Inc, Palo Alto Networks and Crowdstrike Holdings all raced ahead after Microsoft said on Thursday that it found malicious software in its systems related to a massive hacking campaign disclosed by U.S. officials this week, adding the software giant to a growing list of attacked government agencies.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-cyber/cyber-technology-shares-soar-as-security-attacks-pile-up-idUSKBN28S2TU?source=Snapzu

Apple closes all Calif. stores as COVID cases rise

As California becomes a new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple has temporarily shuttered all 53 of its stores in the state less than a week before Christmas. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is traditionally one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.
Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/california-news/article/Apple-closes-all-Calif-stores-as-COVID-cases-rise-15816834.php?source=Snapzu

We Need Five Days’ Pay for Four Days’ Work

Working time reduction has always been used as a way of distributing available work and reducing unemployment. In our era of crisis, we need to fight for a four-day week.
Read more: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/12/four-day-working-week-health-productivity?source=Snapzu

Facebook tells business users that iOS 14 privacy features will impact marketing

Facebook is alerting business users on its platform that new privacy features in iOS 14 could "significantly impact" their marketing and advertising efforts. The social media giant has criticized the upcoming privacy changes, which will make a specific tracking tag explicitly opt in, in a blog post and full-page newspaper ads.
Read more: https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/12/18/facebook-tells-business-users-that-ios-14-privacy-features-will-impact-marketing?source=Snapzu

Largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase files for IPO as bitcoin soars past $23,000

As bitcoin soars to new highs, the largest cryptocurrency exchange announced its intention to go public.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/17/largest-us-cryptocurrency-exchange-coinbase-files-for-ipo-as-bitcoin-soars-past-23000.html?source=Snapzu

Samsung just updated one of its phone apps to serve you even more ads

Ads are the worst, yet we see them everywhere. They fund the content we consume, for free, on a daily basis. It's one thing to receive ads on a website
Read more: https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/12/18/samsung-just-updated-one-of-its-phone-apps-to-serve-you-even-more-ads/?source=Snapzu

Uber to offer 10 million free or discounted rides to people seeking COVID-19 vaccination

Uber will offer 10 million free or discounted rides to people looking to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The rides include transportation to and from their destination, as well as rides for their second and final dose. A date for when the offer will begin rolling out is still not set, according to Uber.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/12/17/uber-offer-free-discounted-rides-people-seeking-vaccination/3941201001/?source=Snapzu

AI to Detect & Prevent Financial Fraud

The banking industry is undergoing a transition from traditional paper-based system to digital payments. The problem with this new system is that it's not foolproof and can be hacked easily. Banks are constantly looking for ways to prevent fraud and detect fraudulent activity on their systems. This is where artificial intelligence comes into play.
Read more: https://www.whatnextglobal.com/post/ai-to-detect-prevent-financial-fraud?source=Snapzu

Google delays a return to the office until September

Google employees won't be returning to the office until September. And when they do, they might not be going five days a week. In an email to employees, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will test the idea of a flexible workweek where employees would work at least three days a week in the office for collaboration and at home for the rest of the time. The news was first reported by The New York Times.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/14/success/google-return-to-office/index.html?source=Snapzu

Facebook slams Apple's new privacy measures in full-page newspaper ads

Facebook has launched a scathing attack on Apple in a series of full-page newspaper ads over plans to make it harder to track users and increase privacy in iOS 14.
Read more: https://www.imore.com/facebook-attacks-apples-new-privacy-measures-full-page-newspaper-ads?source=Snapzu

Walmart will use fully driverless trucks to make deliveries in 2021

Walmart is casting about for a good fit for its self-driving aspirations.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/15/22176179/walmart-fully-driverless-box-truck-delivery-gatik?source=Snapzu

Walmart will use fully driverless trucks to make deliveries in 2021

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Read more: https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2020/12/15/22176179/walmart-fully-driverless-box-truck-delivery-gatik?source=Snapzu

California fines Uber $59 million for not sharing sexual assault case data

Uber has been fined $59 million by California regulators over its refusal to hand over more detailed data from a 2019 report on sexual assault.
Read more: https://www.engadget.com/california-fines-uber-for-lack-of-cooperation-on-sexual-assault-claims-104004654.html?source=Snapzu

Super cubes: inside the (surprisingly) big business of packaged ice

The long read: Britain’s leading ice company makes five billion cubes a year, filling everything from cocktail glasses to ice baths. Now it faces its toughest challenge – for what is ice without a party season?
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/dec/10/super-cubes-inside-the-surprisingly-big-business-of-packaged-ice?source=Snapzu

US companies riddled with members of Chinese Communist Party: Devine

As we try to come to terms with the extent of Chinese influence over the Biden family, a leaked database of registered members of the Chinese Communist Party has exposed a mass infiltration
Read more: https://nypost.com/2020/12/13/us-companies-riddled-with-members-of-chinese-communist-party/?source=Snapzu

Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic

Early in the pandemic, Joo Park noticed a worrisome shift at the market he manages near downtown Washington: At least once a day, he’d spot someone slipping a package of meat, a bag of rice or other food into a shirt or under a jacket. Diapers, shampoo and laundry detergent began disappearing in bigger numbers, too.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/10/pandemic-shoplifting-hunger/?source=Snapzu

We asked small business owners how they've weathered the pandemic

In April, a month after the pandemic hit the United States, Cliff Hodges was one of millions of small business owners teetering on the brink. Hodges, who ran a small outdoor wilderness club in Santa Cruz, California, a beach town 75 miles south of San Francisco, applied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to keep his business afloat — but he was denied, by three different banks, because they ran out of funds.
Read more: https://www.salon.com/2020/12/10/small-businesses-struggling-pandemic-ppp-loans-cares-act-holidays/?source=Snapzu

North American Concert Industry Lost $30 Billion in 2020

The global live events industry lost more than $30 billion in 2020 due to the global pandemic, including $9.7 billion at the box office, according to the year-end report by live-entertainment industry trade publication Pollstar. At the top of the year, the industry was projected to hit a record-setting $12.2 billion at the box office in 2020, but instead incurred $9.7 billion in Boxoffice losses after the industry effectively shut down completely in March.
Read more: https://variety.com/2020/music/news/concert-industry-lost-30-billion-2020-1234851679/?source=Snapzu

Cord-Cutters Cause Comcast to Launch Nationwide Data Cap

Comcast will begin imposing data caps on customers in all of the states it operates in come 2021, after announcing that a dozen states in the Northeast that were previously excluded from the limitations would now be included.
Read more: https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/12/10/comcast-comes-for-the-cord-cutters/?source=Snapzu

The Next Pandemic Could Come From an American Factory Farm

"If you have several thousand hogs packed in together and they're all genetically largely the same, that selects for the most virulent pathogens."
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bjjb/the-next-pandemic-could-come-from-an-american-factory-farm?source=Snapzu

Bernard Madoff victims receiving more money, 12 years after his arrest

Overseers of two programs to compensate victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme have announced $679 million of new payouts, ahead of Friday's 12th anniversary of the now-imprisoned swindler's arrest.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-madoff-idUSKBN28K3EA?source=Snapzu

Space tourism: Virgin space plane set for first crewed flight

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic embarks on the first crewed flight of its rocket-powered tourist plane.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55279067?source=Snapzu

Facebook Gets Rich Off Of Ads That Rip Off Its Users

Facebook is on track for record ad revenue this year. That’s partly due to its lax approach to stopping scammers, hackers, and disinformation peddlers who buy ads that rip off and manipulate people, say former and current workers.
Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ad-scams-revenue-china-tiktok-vietnam?source=Snapzu

Landlords have filed more than 150,000 eviction notices already. By January it will get much worse.

"This is a very dangerous moment in terms of the welfare of the American people."
Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/12/landlords-have-filed-more-than-150000-eviction-notices-already-by-january-it-will-get-much-worse/?source=Snapzu

Eye-popping wage report charts 40 years of worsening income inequality as the top 1% thrive

Wage inequality is getting worse, according to new data from the Social Security Administration, which shows a steady trickle-up effect in worker income during every period for the last four decades. That’s happening as wages for the bottom 90% of earners are being “continuously redistributed upward” to the top 10% and often even further to the top 1% and 0.1%, reports the Economic Policy Institute, which analyzed the data. Since the year 1979, while wages for the bottom 90% saw a modest growth of 26%, wages for the top 10% grew between 51.8% to 75.1%.
Read more: https://www.fastcompany.com/90584449/eye-popping-wage-report-charts-40-years-of-worsening-income-inequality-as-the-top-1-thrive?source=Snapzu

Facebook lawsuits: the biggest tech battle yet, and one that is long overdue

Facebook is facing perhaps its greatest existential threat yet as the company prepares to battle two antitrust lawsuits brought by the US government and more than 40 states. But while analysts are calling the crackdown an important step, whether the social media giant can be reined in remains to be seen.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/10/facebook-lawsuits-the-biggest-tech-battle-yet-and-one-that-is-long-overdue?source=Snapzu

Endangered Firefox: The state of Mozilla

Firefox web browser share keeps going down, while The Mozilla Foundation continues to make staff cuts and gives up its Mountain View California offices.
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/endangered-firefox-the-state-of-mozilla/?source=Snapzu

FTC and states sue Facebook, could force Facebook to divest Instagram and WhatsApp

Facebook first disclosed the Federal Trade Commission was investigating its business in July 2019.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/ftc-and-several-states-launch-antitrust-lawsuits-against-facebook.html?source=Snapzu

How Elon Musk is planning to save billions in tax

Elon Musk made a statement this year when he moved up the ranks to become the world’s second richest person behind Jeff Bezos after a surge in his electric car company’s shares. If rumours are true though, there could be another move on the way for the SpaceX and Tesla founder: a relocation to a different state with lower taxes.
Read more: https://www.theceomagazine.com/business/news/elon-musk-tax/?source=Snapzu

The coming war on the hidden algorithms that trap people in poverty

A growing group of lawyers are uncovering, navigating, and fighting the automated systems that deny the poor from housing, jobs, and basic services.
Read more: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/04/1013068/algorithms-create-a-poverty-trap-lawyers-fight-back/?utm_source=pocket-newtab?source=Snapzu

Microsoft files patent to create chatbots from your dead loved ones

How does talking to a digital approximation of your dearly departed in the not-too-distant future sound?
Read more: https://www.inputmag.com/culture/microsoft-files-patent-to-create-chatbots-from-your-dead-loved-ones?source=Snapzu

Uber ditches effort to develop own self-driving car

Uber has ditched efforts to develop its own self-driving car with the multibillion-dollar sale of its driverless car division to a Silicon Valley startup. The ride-hailing company is selling the business, known as Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), for a reported $4bn (£3bn) to Aurora, a start-up that makes sensors and software for autonomous vehicles and is backed by Amazon and Sequoia Capital.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/08/uber-self-driving-car-aurora?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other?source=Snapzu

Apps face App Store expulsion by not complying with new ad-tracking rules

Apps that fail to "play by the rules" of Apple's anti-ad tracking policy will be removed from the App Store, executive Craig Federighi has warned to developers who attempt to circumvent iOS 14's inbound privacy feature.
Read more: https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/12/08/apps-face-app-store-expulsion-by-not-complying-with-new-ad-tracking-rules?source=Snapzu

We need more broadband internet than ever with Covid keeping us at home

With work on the kitchen table, online classes in the kid's bedroom, and streaming TV, we need more, better and affordable broadband than ever before.
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/we-need-more-broadband-internet-than-ever-with-covid-keeping-us-at-home/?source=Snapzu