ReportWire

Tag: mobile technology

  • Apple Fast Facts | CNN

    Apple Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at Apple, Inc, creator of the Mac computer and the iPhone.

    The corporate headquarters are in Cupertino, California.

    As of September 2023, the company reported that it employs approximately 161,000 people full-time.

    April 1, 1976 – Apple Computers, Inc. is founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Their first product is the Apple I personal computer.

    June 1977 – The Apple II is released.

    December 1980 – Apple conducts an initial public offering of 4.6 million shares at $22 per share.

    January 1983 – Apple introduces the Lisa, a new brand of personal computer.

    January 22, 1984 – The Macintosh computer is introduced with a futuristic commercial that airs during the Super Bowl.

    1985 – Apple discontinues the Lisa after a disappointing run, and Jobs leaves the company.

    December 1996 – Apple buys Jobs’ company, NeXT Software.

    1997 – In the wake of corporate shakeups and a sales slump, Apple welcomes Jobs back as interim CEO.

    August 15, 1998 – The iMac, a streamlined personal computer, debuts.

    January 2000 – Jobs becomes permanent CEO.

    January 9, 2001 – iTunes is introduced.

    October 23, 2001 – The iPod MP3 player makes its debut.

    January 2003 – Apple releases the Safari web browser.

    April 28, 2003 – Apple introduces the iTunes Music Store.

    January 2006 – Apple rolls out its first Intel-based computers, the iMac and the MacBook Pro.

    January 9, 2007 – The iPhone is unveiled.

    March 2007 – Apple TV hits stores.

    January 27, 2010 – The iPad is announced.

    June 6, 2011 – Apple announces iCloud, an online media storage system.

    August 24, 2011 – Jobs resigns as CEO. Tim Cook takes his place.

    October 5, 2011 – Jobs dies after battling cancer.

    February 6, 2013 – Apple announces that iTunes has reached a milestone of 25 billion songs sold.

    May 28, 2014 – Apple announces deal to buy Beats for $3 billion.

    June 9, 2014 – Apple conducts a stock split, bringing the price down from $647.50 to $92.44.

    September 9, 2014 – Apple unveils the Apple Watch, a wearable device.

    December 16, 2014 – Apple wins an antitrust lawsuit brought by eight million iPod owners who alleged that Apple abused its monopoly power in the music industry to force out competition.

    June 8, 2015 – Apple unveils Apple Music, a streaming music service, live radio station and social network.

    February 3, 2016 – A jury orders Apple to pay $626 million in damages after finding that iMessage, FaceTime and other Apple software infringed on another company’s patents. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2010 by the company VirnetX, accuses Apple of violating four patents, which mostly involve methods for real-time communications over the Internet.

    February 16, 2016 – Apple refuses to comply with a California judge’s order to assist the FBI in hacking the iPhone of the San Bernardino gunman. A public letter signed by Cook states why the company is refusing to abide by the government’s demands.

    March 28, 2016 – The Department of Justice says the FBI has “successfully retrieved the data stored on the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone,” and is dropping the case against Apple, since it no longer needs the company’s help.

    August 30, 2016 – The European Union rules that Apple must pay Ireland $14.5 billion in back taxes. According to the EU, Ireland had been giving the tech company a break on taxes for more than two decades. Ireland’s finance minister issues a statement criticizing the EU’s ruling and declares that the country does not play favorites with a lower tax rate for certain companies. In a letter, Cook says he anticipates the EU’s tax ruling will be reversed on appeal.

    September 12, 2017 – Apple unveils the iPhone X, alongside the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus – all of which support wireless charging. The iPhone X will also feature facial detection technology, no home button, a 3D camera and an edge-to-edge screen.

    December 21, 2017 – Apple issues a statement saying that it has used software updates to limit the performance of older iPhones that may have battery issues that would cause them to turn off suddenly.

    December 28, 2017 – Apple apologizes to customers for how it rolled out an update that can slow down older iPhones. It is offering cheaper battery replacements to make up for it.

    June 15, 2018 – Oprah Winfrey signs a multiyear deal with Apple to create new original programming.

    August 2, 2018 – Apple becomes the first American public company to surpass $1 trillion in value.

    October 10, 2019 – In a memo to employees, Cook defends Apple’s decision to pull a map app that Hong Kong protesters used to track police, saying that it had been used in ways that “endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.”

    November 1, 2019 – Apple TV+, a subscription streaming service containing original programming, launches.

    November 4, 2019 – Apple announces a $2.5 billion financial package to help address the housing crisis in California, which has worsened in part because of the rapid growth of tech companies.

    July 29, 2020 – Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, CEO of Google’s parent company Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg all testify before a House subcommittee on anti-trust to address concerns that their businesses may be harming competition.

    August 20, 2020 – Apple reaches the $2 trillion market value mark.

    November 18, 2020 – Apple agrees to pay $113 million to settle an investigation by states including California and Arizona over how Apple wasn’t transparent about its iPhone battery problems that led to unexpected device shutdowns.

    December 14, 2020 – Launches Apple Fitness+, a service built around Apple Watch.

    November 23, 2021 – Apple files a lawsuit against NSO Group and its parent company, accusing the Israeli firm of violating a federal anti-hacking law by selling potent software that clients have used to spy on Apple customers. The lawsuit alleges that NSO’s spyware, known as Pegasus, and other malware have caused Apple monetary and property damages, and violated the human rights of Apple users along the way.

    January 3, 2022 – Apple becomes the world’s first company valued at $3 trillion.

    May 10, 2022 – Apple announces that it is ceasing production of the iPod.

    June 18, 2022 – Workers in Maryland vote to form the first-ever labor union at one of Apple’s US stores.

    June 30, 2023 – Apple’s stock ends trading valued at $3 trillion, the only company ever to reach that milestone.

    December 18, 2023 – Apple announces plans to stop selling its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in US due to a patent dispute. In January 2024, a federal appeals court denies the company’s motion to temporarily pause the ban while it appealed the US International Trade Commission ruling.

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  • Bank apps share too much data: Consumer Reports

    Bank apps share too much data: Consumer Reports

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    Banks need to work on the transparency of their apps, especially when it comes to data sharing and user control of targeted advertising. 

    This is one of the findings to emerge from Consumer Reports’ recent evaluation of 10 banking apps for fair and safe consumer practices. The nonprofit covered traditional banks (Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo), online banks (Ally Financial and Varo) and neobanks (Albert, Chime, Current). This report follows the organization’s deep dives into peer-to-peer payments and buy now/pay later, all part of its initiative, which was announced in 2021, to test and rate digital finance products and services with the same scrutiny that it applies to other products.

    The report has made an impact: The methodology notes that all but Wells Fargo agreed to discuss Consumer Reports’ findings and that Albert, Ally, Chase, Chime and Current made or are making adjustments in response. 

    The financial institutions covered “have been quite receptive to our feedback,” said Delicia Hand, financial fairness director at Consumer Reports.

    Consumer Reports’ analysts found that banks share customer data beyond what they consider necessary to use the app’s core services, and don’t always let consumers use the app to control how they are targeted, such as by turning off advertising. 

    “Most consumers would not be surprised that their data is used to improve the product within the company or to market new products to them,” said Hand. “Beyond this, especially for marketing with third parties or advertising purposes outside of that specific banking service ecosystem, is what we flagged as concerning and not necessary to use the service.”  

    In its review of the 10 banking apps, CR found that almost all use data beyond “what is necessary” to provide the service, including sharing data with marketing partners. 

    A survey that CR conducted in December of about 2,000 U.S. adults found that 57% of Americans with bank accounts are somewhat or very concerned that banks may share their data with other companies without letting them know. Further, 76% of those surveyed feel it is very important that banks get their permission to share their banking data with another company, while 69% feel the same about limiting the purposes for which banks can share their data with another company. Yet only half of the apps CR evaluated provided an in-app control to turn off targeted advertising.

    The ideal, said Hand, “is you download the bank app and as part of the onboarding process there is a privacy module that lets you know how we share your information and what you can do about it, that is simple and clear.”

    However, Jim Perry, senior strategist at Market Insights, wonders if consumers think about these issues in the same way.

    “Despite the industry conversations around the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule to implement section 1033 of Dodd-Frank, most consumers love the benefits that data sharing allows,” he said. “Consumers simply want to stop the tsunami of unsolicited advertising.”

    CR also took issue with the lack of a clear commitment to real-time fraud monitoring and notifying users of suspicious activities. It found six of the apps studied explicitly commit to monitoring transactions for fraud in real time, while two make no such commitment and another two commit to real-time alerts only. 

    “Our engagement with companies revealed that while robust real-time fraud-monitoring practices may in fact be in place, that is not sufficiently reflected in most company documentation,” says the report. It noted that Chime and Current shared more information publicly through trust and safety blogs after speaking with CR. 

    “We think explicit public commitment holds companies more accountable,” said Hand.

    Three of the apps studied do not publish consumer education about fraud and scams in their apps, even though all do so on their websites — although the report notes that Ally will launch such content by the end of the month.

    “The persistent stream of stories about fraud will eventually make the issue of real-time fraud monitoring to be a must-have functionality in order to be perceived as truly looking out for consumer safety and security,” said Perry.

    The report also evaluated accessibility features within the apps, including built-in functionality to accommodate vision and hearing impairments and availability to people who speak Spanish. 

    “Much more can be done in this area,” the report concluded.

    In terms of accessibility, CR found that most banking service providers it studied met baseline accessibility standards on their websites, but few of them carried over such functionality to the app, beyond ensuring compatibility with operating system features such as screen readers. CR also observed a divergence between traditional banks, which all made their apps available in Spanish, and the digital banking providers, which did not offer the same. 

    “This is particularly notable since many of the neobanks or digital-only banking services claim to focus on the needs of underserved communities,” said Hand.

    After looking at the findings, Sharon Garcia, director of communications for the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, or NALCAB, said, “It makes good business sense for banks to prioritize inclusivity and accessibility for Latinos and Spanish-speaking immigrants, as they constitute one of the largest and most powerful consumer groups in the country. In addition, Latino consumers are loyal to brands and companies that target them authentically, respecting their culture and language.”

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    Miriam Cross

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  • Big Tech companies’ latest forays into financial services

    Big Tech companies’ latest forays into financial services

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    How much should traditional financial institutions fear the creep of Big Tech firms into banking, payments and prospective superapps?

    Mega technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Meta and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, occupy the tricky space of being both a vendor and perceived threat to traditional financial institutions. X, formerly known as Twitter, is making its own noises about entering financial services.

    On one hand, these companies’ credit cards, buy now/pay later products and deposit accounts depend on traditional financial institutions or fintechs to get off the ground. Banks are also increasingly migrating to cloud services offered by Amazon and Google. On the other hand, they periodically play with the idea of rolling out financial products to their massive customer bases that would compete with bank partners. 

    Some of these firms could be examined and supervised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as early as 2024; the agency’s director, Rohit Chopra, has expressed concern with restrictions Apple and Google have placed on their mobile wallets.

    None of the companies mentioned have taken steps to obtain a banking license, so for now they need the support of financial institutions to offer bank products. Moreover, these entities have no desire to become banks themselves, said Peter Wannemacher, principal analyst in digital banking at research and consulting firm Forrester, in a recent interview.

    “Our research has more consistently pointed to tech titans being overstated or misunderstood as a threat to traditional financial services providers rather than as an unseen or underappreciated threat,” he said. “Bank executives have tended to be more worried, at least in the short term, than was appropriate.”

    Still, potential threats lurk in the long term view, especially in two key areas.

    One is the tendency of Big Tech firms to build products that offer a “superior value proposition for people with financial needs,” said Wannemacher. He points to Apple Card and its easy transaction views as one example, an area where many big banks fall short in their mobile apps, according to Forrester research.

    “Banks still basically chase other people’s ideas,” said Wannemacher. “They’ve fallen short at thinking of new ideas, products, and ways of interacting with people.”

    Another growing area of concern is these firms’ ability to lock customers into their ecosystems and nurture brand loyalty — which could provide a built-in customer acquisition funnel when they introduce financial products.

    “If the battle is for attention and affection, traditional financial institutions are in trouble,” said Wannemacher.

    Here is a closer look at the latest investments Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google and X have made or are teasing in their financial services arms.

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    Miriam Cross

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  • WhatsApp adds rival in-app payment options in India commerce push | CNN Business

    WhatsApp adds rival in-app payment options in India commerce push | CNN Business

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    New Delhi/New York
    Reuters
     — 

    WhatsApp said on Wednesday that it will offer credit card payments and services from rival digital payment providers within its app in India, the latest bet by the Meta-owned service to boost commerce offerings in its biggest market.

    WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India, though regulators there have capped its in-app WhatsApp Pay service to only 100 million people.

    People shopping on WhatsApp could also pay using popular services like Alphabet Inc’s Google Pay, Paytm and Walmart’s PhonePe but only after being redirected outside WhatsApp.

    Payments via those rival services -— and any others that run on India’s instant money transfer system UPI — will now be possible directly within WhatsApp, Meta said in a blog post. New in-app options for credit and debit cards will also be offered.

    The additions bolster Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for business messaging to become the “next major pillar” of the company’s sales growth, an agenda that has assumed greater urgency as Meta’s core ads business and metaverse project have come under pressure.

    While WhatsApp Pay users will remain capped in India, there is no such limit on the number of users permitted to transact with businesses on WhatsApp using the other methods, a Meta spokesperson said.

    With some 300 million people spending about $180 billion via India’s UPI each month, the new transaction options could serve as a powerful lure to attract businesses to pay Meta for access to WhatsApp users.

    To date, WhatsApp has limited its end-to-end shopping experiences in India to pilot programs like that with online grocery service JioMart, run by India’s richest person, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and the metro systems in the cities of Chennai and Bengaluru.

    Moving forward, the new payment tools will be available to any company in India that uses WhatsApp’s business platform, which mainly serves large companies, according to the blog post.

    Meta is also expanding its Meta Verified subscription program to businesses globally, giving companies a mechanism to validate authenticity and elevate their content in users’ feeds, a separate blog post said.

    Monthly subscriptions will be available on Instagram and Facebook in a handful of countries to start and will expand to WhatsApp at a later date, costing $21.99 per Facebook page or Instagram account or $34.99 for both, according to the post.

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  • 4 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs a CRM | Entrepreneur

    4 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs a CRM | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The life of a small business owner can be far from easy at times. There are prospects to follow up with, sales to track and commitments to deliver to clients daily. Feeling overwhelmed and fearing the business will fail if you can’t keep up is easy.

    When I became an entrepreneur, prioritizing my tasks and projects was one of my biggest challenges.

    Since I was coding and selling, I had a lot going on at once and was constantly switching between multiple roles. I would forget to call a prospect or customer back, where a previous conversation had left off, and what I had to do as part of a follow-up interaction.

    Initially, I tried to streamline my work process. Yet, after much research, I could not find a solution I needed in the Mac ecosystem.

    So, I decided to build one for myself to meet my needs. As they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

    Years later, that initial product designed to keep me organized in my earliest days as an entrepreneur evolved into Daylite, an all-in-one tool for solopreneurs and small business owners.

    I understood that I was not the only entrepreneur to experience the same struggles trying to prioritize my tasks and projects. And we don’t even have enough people on our teams to do it all for a long time, so we are juggling and switching between tasks. We are forced to focus on multiple things simultaneously, leading to errors and client frustrations.

    Related: What Is A CRM? A Beginners Guide

    The path to success in a small business can have many obstacles. Investing in the right tools can be a true game-changer. A CRM can boost sales by 29%, elevate productivity by 34% and increase forecast accuracy by 42%. It can also help us navigate challenges, regain control of our businesses and work more efficiently to close more deals and get more done.

    Today, you have a choice and can take advantage of many options. I can’t say which CRM is right for you, but I can tell you that having one is absolutely crucial to the success of a one-man (or woman) show or any small business.

    With the evolution of my career and after speaking with so many small business owner customers, I’ve learned four important things about having a powerful CRM in your business.

    1. Saves time

    Something as trivial as searching for a client’s contact information, a seemingly trivial task, can accumulate to be a significant drain on your time. Imagine a scenario where you must make a follow-up call but find the contact details missing. You have sent your team a request, and time is lost waiting for the details to be sent.

    In the long run, the ripple effect of such delays compounds into significant time loss. A CRM solves it by being a centralized repository — wherein all essential contact information is present and ready to access when needed.

    Related: How CRMs Can Spark (or Continue) Fast Growth

    2. Helps build better relationships

    An often overlooked aspect of business interactions is the personal touch. Having a repository of insights into our clients’ lives, ranging from family details to memorable dates, can help us build better relationships with them.

    We store information about the achievements of our client’s children and their key life events to reference in future conversations. But even storing something as simple as the client’s birthdate and being able to send them a present, a card or perhaps simply an email with congratulations can go a long way.

    We all care about our clients and want to be attentive, but storing all of this information in our minds is impossible. A CRM acts as our second brain, in this case, storing it all for us.

    Related: How to Create Authentic Relationships and Build Customer Trust

    3. Saves money in case of a dispute

    It’s normal sometimes to forget discussions or even agreements. It’s also normal to remember things differently. And yet, a memory lapse can have dire consequences.

    Imagine you implement something that a client approves via email. And a few months later, he challenges your execution simply because he forgot about this old request. Finding an old email in an overflowing inbox can turn into a nightmare. Being able to pull out any email from a client’s file in the CRM becomes a game changer.

    4. Helps focus on the right opportunities

    Effectively selling to a variety of potential customers requires careful planning. Deciding where to focus our efforts is crucial – some clients are ready to buy, while others need more time.

    Having all this information in one place and being able to categorize prospects helps sales professionals know which opportunities to pursue and which to hold off on. This approach ensures that we can match our efforts with each customer’s progress, increasing the chances of a successful outcome.

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    Alykhan Jetha

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  • Exclusive: Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump’s team is behind voting system breach | CNN Politics

    Exclusive: Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump’s team is behind voting system breach | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia are in possession of text messages and emails directly connecting members of Donald Trump’s legal team to the early January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County, sources tell CNN.

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek charges against more than a dozen individuals when her team presents its case before a grand jury next week. Several individuals involved in the voting systems breach in Coffee County are among those who may face charges in the sprawling criminal probe.

    Investigators in the Georgia criminal probe have long suspected the breach was not an organic effort sprung from sympathetic Trump supporters in rural and heavily Republican Coffee County – a county Trump won by nearly 70% of the vote. They have gathered evidence indicating it was a top-down push by Trump’s team to access sensitive voting software, according to people familiar with the situation.

    Trump allies attempted to access voting systems after the 2020 election as part of the broader push to produce evidence that could back up the former president’s baseless claims of widespread fraud.

    While Trump’s January 2021 call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and effort to put forward fake slates of electors have long been considered key pillars of Willis’ criminal probe, the voting system breach in Coffee County quietly emerged as an area of focus for investigators roughly one year ago. Since then, new evidence has slowly been uncovered about the role of Trump’s attorneys, the operatives they hired and how the breach, as well as others like it in other key states, factored into broader plans for overturning the election.

    Together, the text messages and other court documents show how Trump lawyers and a group of hired operatives sought to access Coffee County’s voting systems in the days before January 6, 2021, as the former president’s allies continued a desperate hunt for any evidence of widespread fraud they could use to delay certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

     Last year, a former Trump official testified under oath to the House January 6 select committee that plans to access voting systems in Georgia were discussed in meetings at the White House, including during an Oval Office meeting on December 18, 2020,  that included Trump. 

    Six days before pro-Trump operatives gained unauthorized access to voting systems, the local elections official who allegedly helped facilitate the breach sent a “written invitation” to attorneys working for Trump, according to text messages obtained by CNN.

    Investigators have scrutinized the actions of various individuals who were involved, including Misty Hampton, a former Coffee County elections official who authored the letter of invitation referenced in text messages and other documents that have been turned over to prosecutors, multiple sources told CNN.

    They have also examined the involvement of Trump’s then attorney Rudy Giuliani – who was informed last year he was a target in the Fulton County investigation – and fellow Trump lawyer Sidney Powell as part of their probe, according to people familiar with the matter.

    A spokesperson for Willis’ office declined to comment.

    The letter of invitation was shared with attorneys and an investigator working with Giuliani at the time, the text messages obtained by CNN show.

    On January 1, 2021 – days ahead of the January 7 voting systems breach – Katherine Friess – an attorney working with Giuliani, Sidney Powell and other Trump allies shared a “written invitation” to examine voting systems in Coffee County with a group of Trump allies.

    That group included members of Sullivan Strickler, a firm hired by Trump’s attorneys to examine voting systems in the small, heavily Republican Georgia county, according to text messages obtained by CNN.

    That same day, Friess sent a “Letter of invitation to Coffee County, Georgia” to former NYPD Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who was working with Giuliani to find evidence that would back up their baseless claims of potential widespread voter fraud, according to court documents filed as part of an ongoing civil case.

    Friess then notified operatives who carried out the Coffee County breach and others working directly with Giuliani that Trump’s team had secured written permission, the texts show.

    CNN has not reviewed the substance of the invitation letter itself, only communications that confirm it was provided to Friess, Kerik and Sullivan Strickler employees.

    Friess could not be reached for comment.

    The messages and documents appear to link Giuliani to the Coffee County breach, while shedding light on another channel of communication between pro-Trump attorneys and the battleground state operatives who worked together to provide unauthorized individuals access to sensitive voting equipment.

    “Rudy Giuliani had nothing to do with this,” said Robert Costello, Giuliani’s attorney. “You can’t attach Rudy Giuliani to Sidney Powell’s crackpot idea.”

    “Just landed back in DC with the Mayor huge things starting to come together!” an employee from the firm Sullivan Strickler, which was hired by Sidney Powell to examine voting systems in Coffee County, wrote in a group chat with other colleagues on January 1.

    Former New York Mayor Giuliani was consistently referred to as “the Mayor,” in other texts sent by the same individual and others at the time.

    “Most immediately, we were just granted access – by written invitation! – to Coffee County’s systems. Yay!” the text reads.

    Shortly after Election Day, Hampton – still serving as the top election official for Coffee County – warned during a state election board meeting that Dominion voting machines could “very easily” be manipulated to flip votes from one candidate to another. It’s a claim that has been repeatedly debunked.

    But the Trump campaign officials took notice and reached out to Hampton that same day. “I would like to obtain as much information as possible,” a Trump campaign staffer emailed Hampton at the time, according to documents released as part of a public records request and first reported by the Washington Post.

    In early December, Hampton then delayed certification of Joe Biden’s win in Georgia by refusing to validate the recount results by a key deadline. Coffee County was the only county in Georgia that failed to certify its election results due to issues raised by Hampton at the time.

    Hampton also posted a video online claiming to expose problems with the county’s Dominion voting system. That video was used by Trump’s lawyers, including Giuliani, as part of their push to convince legislators from multiple states that there was evidence the 2020 election results were tainted by voting system issues.

    Text messages and other documents obtained by CNN show Trump allies were seeking access to Coffee County’s voting system by mid-December amid increasing demands for proof of widespread election fraud.

    Coffee County was specifically cited in draft executive orders for seizing voting machines that were presented to Trump on December 18, 2020, during a chaotic Oval Office meeting, CNN has reported. During that same meeting, Giuliani alluded to a plan to gain “voluntary access” to machines in Georgia, according to testimony from him and others before the House January 6 committee.

    Days later, Hampton shared the written invitation to access the county’s election office with a Trump lawyer, text messages obtained by CNN show. She and another location elections official, Cathy Latham, allegedly helped Trump operatives gain access to the county’s voting systems, according to documents, testimony and surveillance video produced as part of a long-running civil lawsuit focused on election security in Georgia.

    Latham, who also served as a fake elector from Georgia after the 2020 election, has come under scrutiny for her role in the Coffee County breach after surveillance video showed she allowed unauthorized outsiders to spend hours examining voting systems there.

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  • China wants to limit minors to no more than two hours a day on their phones | CNN Business

    China wants to limit minors to no more than two hours a day on their phones | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    China is proposing new measures to curb the amount of time that kids and teens can spend on their phones, as the country takes aim at internet addiction and tries to cultivate “good morality” and “socialist values” among minors.

    A proposal released by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s top internet regulator, on Wednesday would require all mobile devices, apps and app stores to have a built in “minor mode” that would restrict daily screen time to a maximum of two hours a day, depending on the age group.

    The restrictions, if approved, would mark an expansion of existing measures rolled out in recent years as Beijing aims to limit screen time among kids and reduce their exposure to “undesirable information.”

    Under the draft rules, which are open for public discussion until September 2, children and teens using devices on minor mode would automatically see online applications close when respective time limits are up. They would also be offered “age-based content.”

    No one under 18 would be able to access their screens between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. while using the mode.

    Children under eight would be able to use their phones for only 40 minutes a day, while those between eight and 16 would get an hour of screen time. Teenagers over 16 and under 18 would be allowed two hours.

    All age groups would receive a reminder to rest after using their device for more than 30 minutes.

    Mobile internet service providers should also actively create content that “disseminates core socialist values” and “forges a sense of community of the Chinese nation,” the draft says.

    Parents would be able to override time restrictions, and certain educational and emergency services would not be subject to the time limits.

    “Internet addition” has emerged as a major social concern in recent years, giving rise to an often scientifically dubious and at times dangerous industry of boot-camp style treatment centers.

    Parents interviewed by CNN voiced tentative support for the proposal.

    “I think it’s good. On the one hand, it can protect their vision as many young kids cannot stop themselves while watching something they like,” said a mother of two in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, who did not wish to provide her name.

    “On the other hand, it’s easier for us parents to control our kids screen time,” she said. “Most importantly the content under the minor mode is more positive and healthy.”

    Myopia has become a national health concern in China, with some experts linking the prevalence of nearsightedness among young people to lack of exposure to sunlight or excess screen time.

    China has one of the world’s largest internet user bases, with roughly 1.07 billion people in the country of 1.4 billion having access to the web, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. About one in five users were 19 years or under, as of December.

    The effectiveness of the new proposed measures may depend on buy-in from parents, according to a father of two in southeastern China’s Zhuhai city, who said children sometimes use their parents’ accounts to play online.

    The regulation could be useful to “help parents to supervise the children” and limit screen time.

    “Even us adults need it!” he joked.

    The new measures could present challenges for tech companies, which are typically held responsible for enforcing regulations.

    The proposal comes as a severe, years-long regulatory crackdown on China’s tech giants appears to be coming to an end.

    The Hong Kong-listed shares in some of the country’s top internet firms closed sharply lower on Wednesday, after the new rules were publicized.

    Tencent

    (TCEHY)    , which operates popular messaging platform Wechat, finished about 3% lower. Video-streaming app Bilibili

    (BILI)     lost 7%, while rival Kuaishou closed down 3.5%. Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, ended 4.8% lower.

    On Thursday, the firms were trading flat to higher, with the exception of Weibo, which was trading about 1% lower.

    CNN has approached mobile phone makers Xiaomi, Apple and Huawei for comment.

    Two years ago, Chinese regulators barred online gamers under the age of 18 from playing on weekdays and limited their play to just three hours on weekends, tightening earlier limits.

    Around that time, several tech companies introduced measures allowing for more parental controls, in lockstep with Beijing’s push for more oversight.

    Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, introduced a “teenage mode” in 2021 which limited the amount of time children under the age of 14 could spend on the short-form video app to 40 minutes a day.

    Kuaishou, another popular video app, has a similar option.

    Past efforts have relied on internet users to register with their real names. Last year, regulators mandated that all online sites verify users’ real identities before allowing them to submit comments or like posts.

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  • iOS 17 release: See what’s new in iPhone features | CNN Business

    iOS 17 release: See what’s new in iPhone features | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    iPhone users: Today’s the day to update to Apple’s latest operating system, iOS17, and unlock a slew of new features that promise to make the iPhone experience more personal and intuitive.

    Apple first teased iOS17 at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in early June, but you may have missed out on some of the details as the tech giant also unveiled its much-anticipated mixed-reality Vision Pro headset that same day.

    iPhone users can update to iOS17 starting Monday by clicking on the Software Update section in the phone’s Settings app. Of course, many users have gotten in the habit of backing up important photos or files before downloading the latest software update – or waiting until the second version rolls out (likely in the coming weeks) if they’re afraid of any bugs that could come with the first version of a next-generation mobile operating system.

    Here are some of the buzziest and most-anticipated new features that iPhone users can expect from iOS17.

    Live Voicemail and FaceTime video messages are here

    One of the buzziest new features, dubbed Live Voicemail, will transcribe a caller’s message in real time, giving iPhone users the decision whether to ignore the call or take it on while the other person is still on the line and leaving their message.

    Unknown numbers will go directly to Live Voicemail when you have the “Silence Unknown Callers” setting turned on.

    Moreover, FaceTime will also now give users the ability to leave video messages if someone doesn’t pick up a video call.

    With iOS17, Facetime calls will also get more expressive – with reactions such as hearts, balloons, fireworks and more effects that can be activated through simple gestures.

    Another update that may require some getting used to is saying just “Siri” to activate Apple’s voice assistant, instead of “Hey Siri.”

    Dropping “Hey” from Siri’s launch-phrase is meant to create a more natural way to activate the assistant. Moreover, Siri will also be able to better process back-to-back requests once activated.

    For example, instead of asking: “Hey, Siri, how tall is Shaquille O’Neal?” and “Hey, Siri, how old is Shaquille O’Neal?” You should be able to just say: “Siri, how tall is Shaquille O’Neal?” Followed by: “How old is he?”

    The new NameDrop feature in iOS17 makes it easier than ever to exchange contact information with a new friend. iPhone users can simply bring their iPhones close to each other, as they would when AirDropping something, to share names and Contact Posters.

    The Contact Poster update is another new feature iPhone users have been getting hyped about. This allows iPhone users to design a custom image that will show up when making calls. The update that allows users to choose their own caller ID photo and will give iPhone users a more consistent look no matter who they’re calling, Apple has said.

    iPhone users will also be able to personalize their contact card “poster” with a photo or memoji of choice.

    Autocorrect is also getting a comprehensive update, Apple said, with a transformer language model — or “a state-of-the-art on-device machine learning language model for word prediction,” according to the company.

    This refreshed design better supports typing and offers sentence-level autocorrections that can fix more types of grammatical mistakes. iPhone users will also now receive predictive text recommendations in-line as they type, making adding entire words or completing sentences as easy as tapping the space bar.

    The new iOS keyboard will also learn your habits over time, such as fixing words that you frequently misspell and leaving words alone that you intentionally thumbed in. As Craig Federighi, Apple’s head of software, put it in June: “In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too.”

    New StandBy mode, Journal app and much more

    iOS17 also introduces StandBy, a new full-screen experience with glanceable information designed to be viewed from a distance when the iPhone is on its side and charging. For example, when charging your iPhone at your nightstand or desk, you can personalize the display to feature a clock, favorite photos, or your most-used widgets.

    Apple’s new Journal app, which aims to help users reflect and practice gratitude through the daily practice of journaling, will also be available in a software update later this year.

    And there’s a whole lot more: Check out Apple’s handy 17-page guide on all of the newest features coming to iOS17.

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  • Threads user count falls to new lows, highlighting retention challenges | CNN Business

    Threads user count falls to new lows, highlighting retention challenges | CNN Business

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    Washington, DC
    CNN
     — 

    Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival, is struggling to retain users roughly a month after its highly publicized launch, according to fresh industry estimates showing that app engagement has fallen to new lows.

    The data from market research firms Similarweb and Sensor Tower highlight the challenges facing Meta as it seeks to exploit the opening created by the chaos surrounding Twitter’s management.

    Threads’ daily active user count is down 82% from launch as of July 31, according to Sensor Tower, with just eight million users accessing the app each day. That is the lowest it has been since the day after the app’s release when daily active users peaked at roughly 44 million, Sensor Tower said.

    People are also opening the app less frequently and spending less time there, Sensor Tower added.

    On its launch day, Threads users opened the app an average of 14 times and spent an average of 19 minutes scrolling through it, the company reported. By the end of the month, however, those figures had fallen sharply.

    As of August 1, Threads’ daily average time spent fell to just 2.9 minutes a day, and people spent only 2.6 sessions per day using the app, said Abe Yousef, a senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower.

    Findings from Similarweb showed the same pattern of decline. Threads’ user count peaked at roughly 49 million on July 7, the day after launch, and fell steadily to just over 11 million by July 29, said David Carr, a senior insights manager at Similarweb.

    The steepest drop-off occurred in the two weeks immediately following Threads’ launch. But the new data show how the decline has continued and is ongoing.

    According to Sensor Tower, Threads’ daily active user count is still falling at a rate of roughly 1% per day.

    Speaking on the company’s earnings call last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was “quite optimistic” about the app.

    “We saw unprecedented growth out of the gate and more importantly we’re seeing more people coming back daily than I’d expected,” he said. “And now, we’re focused on retention and improving the basics. And then after that, we’ll focus on growing the community to the scale we think is possible.”

    Threads launched with only a handful of features and later promised to add in highly requested tools like a reverse-chronological content feed, a desktop version of the app and direct messages.

    On July 10, Zuckerberg announced that more than 100 million people had signed up for Threads, making it one of the fastest-growing apps in history. The company has reportedly looked into adding “retention-driving hooks” that can keep users engaged.

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  • South Korea’s Hynix is looking into how its chips got into Huawei’s controversial smartphone | CNN Business

    South Korea’s Hynix is looking into how its chips got into Huawei’s controversial smartphone | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong/Seoul
    CNN
     — 

    SK Hynix, a South Korean chipmaker, is investigating how two of its memory chips mysteriously ended up inside the Mate 60 Pro, a controversial smartphone launched by Huawei last week.

    Shares in Hynix fell more than 4% on Friday after it emerged that two of its products, a 12 gigabyte (GB) LPDDR5 chip and 512 GB NAND flash memory chip, were found inside the Huawei handset by TechInsights, a research organization based in Canada specializing in semiconductors, which took the phone apart for analysis.

    “The significance of the development is that there are restrictions on what SK Hynix can ship to China,” G Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights, told CNN. “Where do these chips come from? The big question is whether any laws were violated.”

    A Hynix spokesperson told CNN Friday that it was aware of its chips being used in the Huawei phone and had started investigating the issue.

    The company “no longer does business with Huawei since the introduction of the US restrictions against the company,” it said in a statement.

    “SK Hynix is strictly abiding by the US government’s export restrictions,” the company said.

    Industry insiders said it was possible that Huawei had purchased the memory chips from the secondary market and not directly from the manufacturer. It’s also possible Huawei may have had a stockpile of components accumulated before the US export curbs kicked in fully.

    TechInsights had previously revealed that the “brains” of the phone were powered by a 5G Kirin 9000s chip made by China’s top chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, better known as SMIC.

    It is still examining the Mate 60 Pro and does not rule out the possibility of finding more components made by companies subject to US trade sanctions. So far, it has found that most of the phone’s components were provided by Chinese suppliers.

    Analysts have said the smartphone is a major breakthrough for China as it clashes with the United States over access to advanced technology.

    The development prompted two US congressmen, Mike Gallagher and Michael McCaul, to call on the White House – which is seeking more information about the phone – to further restrict technology export sales to Chinese companies.

    Huawei and SMIC have not replied to requests for comment.

    In 2019, the US government banned American companies from selling software and equipment to Huawei. It also restricted international chipmakers using US-made technology from working with the company.

    That is why, four years later, last week’s launch of the Mate 60 Pro shocked industry experts who didn’t understand how Huawei, which is headquartered in Shenzhen, would have the ability to manufacture such an advanced smartphone following sweeping efforts by the United States to restrict China’s access to foreign chip technology.

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  • The iPhone’s new Action Button is more than a one-trick pony | CNN Business

    The iPhone’s new Action Button is more than a one-trick pony | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    The new iPhone 15 Pro lineup offers the typical slate of new features designed to persuade customers to upgrade: They’re slimmer and thinner than last year’s crop. The new cameras are professional-grade and the switch to USB-C charging will make your life easier.

    But one new feature easily stands out: The Action Button.

    Apple has repurposed its physical mute button on the side of its high-end models into a more customizable tool, allowing users to carry out a handful of commands, from recording a voice memo and taking a picture to turning on the flashlight. The button can also be programmed to launch any app or shortcut, essentially turning it into a remote control or launching pad to gain quick access to something you want on demand.

    In the days since Apple’s iPhone 15 event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters, I’ve used it to load a variety of apps in a single press, including CNN, Amazon and Instagram. It’s certain the Action Button will become a viable resource for anyone who revisits an app time and time again throughout the day.

    But it also has the potential to become an even more powerful tool; you could program it to play your favorite playlist, turn on the smart lights in your living room or use it to open the garage door. You could even turn it into a dedicated button to call mom. It builds on iOS’s existing offering of ready-made or custom shortcuts, and Apple is encouraging developers to build other unique shortcuts that other users could activate on the Action Button.

    The change is subtle but it’s one of the few noticeable tweaks to the iPhone’s design this year. The Action Button is about the same size as the existing button, and users still hold it down to switch between muting and turning on the ringer. Commands are accompanied with visual feedback from the Dynamic Island bar — home to alerts and notifications at the top of the screen.

    The Action Button update, along with changes in the phone’s charging and camera systems, comes as Apple looks to give consumers more reasons to upgrade their iPhones. Last month, Apple’s sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as people update their devices less often.

    Another selling point to splurge for the iPhone 15 Pro ($1,099) or iPhone 15 Pro Max ($1,199): The phones come with a titanium casing — the same alloy used to build the Mars Rover — making them what Apple calls the thinnest and lightest Pro models to date. Apple’s entry level iPhones, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, cost $799 and $899, respectively. The entire lineup starts shipping on Friday.

    To program the Action Button, iPhone 15 Pro users can visit the button’s section in Settings, scroll through and select from a series of functionalities — such as flashlight or camera. By picking the shortcuts option, however, users can sift through their list of apps or previously established commands.

    Once set, there’s a slight learning curve following years of falling into the habit of using the physical button to turn the volume on and off. For this reason, it could take quite a while for some of iPhone’s loyalists to change how they use the device.

    The Action Button isn’t entirely new; the company unveiled it last year on the Apple Watch Ultra. Apple told CNN it was inspired to bring it to the iPhone after hearing anecdotes from users who said they consistently leave their phone on silent, rendering that button essentially useless. Considering iPhone usage has changed a lot since the iPhone debuted 16 years ago, revisiting a hallmark feature like the mute button was only a matter of time, according to the company.

    Ramon Llamas, a director at market research firm IDC, believes last week’s announcement is only the first step toward making the Action Button more dynamic. “I’d like to think that the Action Button could be expanded a bit more, like one click will take you to one feature; two clicks takes you to another, and three clicks gets you something else,” Llamas said. “But I think that would be it. Any more than that and you risk launching the wrong app, like Wordle, at the wrong time (when you need your camera the most),” he said.

    It’s also a strategic way for Apple to make the most of already tight real estate on the device, according to Llamas. Annette Zimmerman, a VP analyst with market research firm Gartner, agrees, noting that “having one button to do exactly one thing isn’t really progressive in a time where everything has multi-functionality and can be programmed.”

    Although it’s unclear if the Action Button will come to more devices in the future, Apple continues its sweep to create a uniform ecosystem for its consumers. Similarly, Apple is adding a Double Tap feature that allows people to use a finger feature to control the Apple Watch, just months after it showed off a similar gesture on its upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

    For now, iPhone 15 Pro users will enjoy playing with the new Action Button. While the feature is not worth the upgrade to iPhone 15 alone, the switch to universal charging, a faster processor and advanced camera capabilities make it a solid package, especially if you haven’t upgraded in the last few years.

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  • Apple’s sales fall for the third consecutive quarter | CNN Business

    Apple’s sales fall for the third consecutive quarter | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Apple said Thursday that its revenue slipped 1% to $81.8 billion for its quarter ending July 1, marking the third consecutive year-over-year drop in quarterly revenue for the world’s most valuable company.

    There were some bright spots, however. The company said its services revenue reached a new all-time high of $21.2 billion. The services business — which includes Apple Music and Apple TV+ — is an increasingly important revenue driver for Apple.

    Moreover, Apple’s results narrowly beat Wall Street’s estimates for revenue and profit.

    iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline. Mac revenue was $6.8 billion for the quarter, a 7% drop, and iPad revenue was down nearly 20%. (The new iPad Air launched in the same quarter last year.)

    Shares of Apple ticked down by more than 1% in after-hours trading Thursday. But the stock has climbed some 50% from the start of the year.

    In a statement accompanying the earnings results, CEO Tim Cook touted the rosy services figure and strong performance in emerging markets.

    “We are happy to report that we had an all-time revenue record in Services during the June quarter, driven by over 1 billion paid subscriptions, and we saw continued strength in emerging markets thanks to robust sales of iPhone,” Cook said.

    On a call with analysts Thursday, Cook added, “We continue to face an uneven macroeconomic environment, including nearly four percentage points of foreign exchange headwinds.”

    “Looking ahead, we’ll continue to manage for the long term, always pushing the limits of what’s possible and always putting the customer at the center of everything we do,” Cook said.

    Apple’s June quarter is typically the slowest of the year for the tech giant, which usually unveils new iPhone models in September. Customers often hold out on upgrading until the new models are released. The quarter also ends before back-to-school shopping and the lucrative December holidays.

    The latest earnings report also comes as PC and smartphone sales slump, after an initial surge seen in the early days of the pandemic. Global PC shipments fell 16.6% last quarter, according to preliminary data from Gartner released last month. Worldwide smartphone shipments, meanwhile, dropped 7.8% last quarter compared to the same period the previous year, according to separate preliminary data from market research firm IDC last week.

    “Like other major tech companies, even Apple is suffering from the negative impact of a worsening macro backdrop and ongoing supply chain woes, though it has done a better job of navigating through the challenging environment,” Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com, said in a note Thursday evening. “Investors appear to be reacting to the slight miss in iPhone sales, but I wouldn’t read too much into it as many consumers are holding out until the next iPhone release.”

    Looking forward, Apple’s CFO Luca Maestri said on the call that the company expects its quarter ending in September year-over-year revenue performance “to be similar to the June quarter,” assuming macroeconomic outlook doesn’t worsen.

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  • Apple could be about to make the biggest change to the iPhone in 11 years | CNN Business

    Apple could be about to make the biggest change to the iPhone in 11 years | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 15 in just a few days, and it’s widely expected to come with a significant change.

    The iPhone 15 is heavily rumored to ditch Apple’s proprietary Lightning charger in favor of USB-C charging, marking a milestone for the company by adopting universal charging. The change could ultimately streamline the charging process across various devices — and brands.

    The switch would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare down the number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device, and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.

    “This is arguably the biggest disruption to iPhone design for several years, but in reality, it is hardly a dramatic move,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight.

    That’s because Apple

    (AAPL)     has previously switched its iPads and MacBooks to USB-C charging. Still, the company has been resistant to making the change on the iPhone.

    Last year, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, publicly stressed the value and ubiquity of the Lightning charger, which is designed for faster device charging, but noted “obviously we will have to comply” with the EU mandate.

    “We have no choice, like we do around the world, to comply with local laws, but we think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government [have] that perspective,” Joswiak said at the time.

    The EU’s decision is part of a greater effort to tackle e-waste overall, but could it generate more in the short term as people phase out their Lightning cables. (Apple will also likely need to develop a Lightning cable recycling program.)

    Although Apple has voiced environmental concerns over what happens to old Lightning chargers, it has financial reasons for pushing back on the change, too.

    Apple introduced the Lightning charger alongside the iPhone 5 in 2012, replacing its existing older 30-pin dock connector with one that enabled faster charging and had a reversible design. It also ignited a related accessories business, requiring users to buy a $30 Lightning adapter to connect the device to older docks, alarm clocks and speaker systems.

    “For Apple, it was all about being in control of its own ecosystem,” said David McQueen, a director at ABI Research. “Apple makes good money from selling Lightning cables and its many related accessories.”

    It also takes a financial cut from the third-party accessories and cables that go through its Made For iPhone program. “Moving to USB Type C would take away this level of control as USB-C is a much more open ecosystem,” McQueen said.

    In addition, Apple could create its own branded USB-C cable to perform “better with an iPhone,” such as allowing for greater wattage to support faster charging while minimizing risk and damage to batteries, he added.

    It’s currently unclear if the shift to USB-C will happen for all new iPhone 15 models or only for Pro devices. The move to USB-C won’t likely be a sole incentive for people to upgrade, but it could sway some consumers who have been resistant to the iPhone over its charging limitations, according to Thomas Husson, a vice president at Forrester Research.

    The iPhone 15 devices are expected to ship with a new cable in the box, but considering many mobile devices already use USB-C, including Apple’s own iPads and MacBooks, access to charging wires shouldn’t be too hard or costly.

    “Given how widely USB-C has been used in other devices, it’s hard to imagine that customers will be totally caught out by this switch, and in the long term, it’s likely to benefit them, with a universal charging system having some very obvious upsides,” Wood said.

    Apple could also bypass wired charging altogether to make way for wireless charging but not anytime soon because “wireless charging is currently so much slower than wired,” according to McQueen. “We’ll have to wait and see on that.”

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  • iPhone users will soon have to adjust to this small but significant change | CNN Business

    iPhone users will soon have to adjust to this small but significant change | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Get your thumb ready for next month. Apple

    (AAPL)     is making a subtle change to the iPhone’s software that will likely mess with your muscle memory: The big red “end call” button is moving.

    The iPhone’s phone app will get a series of updates coming to iOS 17, including an updated design that repositions the hang up button to the bottom right of the screen, next to other functions. The button currently sits separately at the bottom middle of the phone app, underneath the buttons to mute, access the keypad or add a call.

    The new call screen, which is already available for download in a beta version for developers, sparked some strong reactions among iOS users on social media: “iOS 17 has the FaceTime button where the end call button used to be,” tweeted one user. “Muscle memory be damned.”

    The change is likely to streamline the look of the phone app and put all functions in one place. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

    At its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in May, the company showed off a slew of new tools coming to iOS 17 that make calling and messaging others more personalized and customized. iPhone users, for example, will be able to design contact “posters,” a custom image to appear when they call someone or receive their call.

    Meanwhile, a new feature called Live Voicemail will transcribe a caller’s message in real time, so users can decide whether to ignore or take the call, and a tool called NameDrop will let users share their contact information by holding two iPhones close together. In addition, FaceTime will support the ability to leave video messages when someone isn’t available to chat.

    Other changes coming to iOS 17 include a more accurate autocorrect, improved dictation in iMessage, and a more responsive Siri. Apple typically launches its latest mobile operating system in September, following its annual iPhone event.

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  • What to expect from Apple’s iPhone 15 reveal | CNN Business

    What to expect from Apple’s iPhone 15 reveal | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Apple is expected to debut its iPhone 15 lineup Tuesday at the company’s annual September keynote event, and it could introduce the biggest change to the phone’s design in 11 years.

    The press event, which Apple teased with a “wonderlust” tagline, will take place at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, and will be livestreamed on its website, starting at 10 a.m. local time.

    Although the annual iPhone event has become formulaic over the years, announcing incremental changes to battery life, camera system and displays, this year Apple is expected to introduce USB-C charging to its smartphones for the first time. The change could ultimately streamline the charging process across various devices and brands.

    But the company will have to show off more than just a new charging system to get users to upgrade. Last month, Apple’s sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline.

    Here’s more of what to expect:

    Apple has previously switched its iPads and MacBooks to USB-C charging, but now may be the time for the company to finally make the change on iPhones. The move would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare down the number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.

    “This is arguably the biggest disruption to iPhone design for several years, but in reality, it is hardly a dramatic move,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight.

    Last year, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, publicly stressed the value and ubiquity of the Lightning charger, which is designed for faster device charging, but noted “obviously we will have to comply” with the EU mandate. The Lightning charger was introduced in 2012.

    The change to USB-C would also likely usher in a wave of charging accessories, potentially in various colors. It’s possible iPhone users will also pay up for a USB-C wall adapter because it will be a different size connector.

    The entire iPhone 15 lineup is rumored to get the “Dynamic Island” feature — an interactive home for alerts, notifications and various controls — that replaces the notch on top of the screen. The tool launched on the higher-end iPhone 14 Pro models last year.

    Although there are few other rumors circulating about its entry-level iPhone models, the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models are expected to get a handful of new features, according to a Bloomberg report. This may include a rear-facing periscope lens, which allows for more optical zoom, and a titanium casing to make the device up to 15% lighter and thinner. The Pro models are also expected to get Apple’s latest A17 chip – the first with 3 nanometer technology, which could deliver faster processing and a longer-lasting battery.

    The lineup is also expected to come in various new colors, as hinted at in the Apple logo featured in the event’s invitation, including navy and updated shades of gray, white and silver.

    In June, Apple introduced the Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset that the company says will usher in a new era of “spatial computing.” Yoram Wurmser, an analyst at Insider Intelligence, believes the company will tease “some new features and deeper collaborations” to drum up excitement ahead of its 2024 launch. (It’s also possible Apple could announce a launch date). The headset blends both virtual reality and augmented reality, a technology that overlays virtual images on live video of the real world. The headset is Apple’s biggest, and riskiest, product launch in years.

    New AirPods, Apple Watches and software release dates

    The company typically unveils its latest Apple Watches alongside the iPhone each year, so it’s likely we’ll see the debut of the Apple Watch Series 9 and possibly its next-generation Ultra 2 smartwatch, its more rugged wearable for serious sports enthusiasts. According to Bloomberg, Apple is working on a full revamp of its smartwatch for next year’s Apple Watch Series 10, so this year’s updates will be relatively minor.

    In addition, Apple is expected to show off its next-generation AirPods with a new charging case that will work with USB-C cables. It’s also likely to announce launch dates for its next-generation operating systems for the iPhone, iPads, Mac computers and Apple Watch.

    In May, for example, Apple showed off a slew of new tools coming to iOS 17, such as a more accurate autocorrect, a new feature called Live Voicemail that will transcribe a caller’s message in real time, and a NameDrop tool that lets users share their contact information by holding two iPhones close together. The iPhone’s phone app will also reposition the hang up button to the bottom right of the screen, next to other functions.

    With the new iPhone expected to take center stage, many analysts don’t anticipate Apple will release new iPads or Mac computers until October. And despite rivals Samsung and Google doubling down on foldable devices, Apple is still not expected to unveil a similar version this fall.

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  • US says it has no evidence that Huawei can make advanced smartphones ‘at scale’ | CNN Business

    US says it has no evidence that Huawei can make advanced smartphones ‘at scale’ | CNN Business

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.


    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says the US government has no evidence that Huawei can produce smartphones with advanced chips “at scale,” as it continues to investigate how the sanctioned Chinese manufacturer made an apparent breakthrough with its latest flagship device.

    On Tuesday, Raimondo told US lawmakers that she was “upset” by news of the launch of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro during her visit to China last month.

    “The only good news, if there is any, is we don’t have any evidence that they can manufacture 7-nanometer [chips] at scale,” she told a US House of Representatives hearing.

    “Although I can’t talk about any investigations specifically, I promise you this: every time we find credible evidence that any company has gone around our export controls, we do investigate.”

    Analysts who have examined the smartphone said it represented a “milestone” achievement for China, suggesting Huawei may have found a way to overcome American export controls.

    US officials have long argued that the company poses a risk to US national security, using it as grounds to restrict trade with the company. Huawei has vehemently denied the claims.

    TechInsights, a research organization that specializes in semiconductors and took the phone apart for analysis, says it includes a 5G Kirin 9000s processor developed by China’s leading chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).

    That surprised many because SMIC, a partially state-owned Chinese company, has also been subject to US export restrictions for years. It has not responded to previous requests for comment from CNN.

    TechInsights also found two chips belonging to SK Hynix, a South Korean chipmaker, inside the handset.

    A SK Hynix spokesperson told CNN earlier this month that it was aware of the issue and investigating how that was possible, since the South Korean firm “no longer does business with Huawei” because of US export controls.

    Huawei declined to comment on the capabilities and components of its phone.

    Raimondo said Tuesday that US officials were “trying to use every single tool at our disposal … to deny the Chinese an ability to get intellectual property to advance their technology in ways that can hurt us.”

    In 2019, Huawei was added to the US “entity list,” which restricts exports to select organizations without a US government license. The following year, the US government expanded on those curbs by seeking to cut Huawei off from chip suppliers that use US technology.

    That left the company, once the world’s second largest smartphone seller, in bad shape.

    As of the second quarter of 2023, Huawei was no longer in the top five of mobile phone vendors in China, let alone globally, according to Counterpoint Research.

    But its new phone is a big help for the company — and may pose a challenge to Apple’s (AAPL) market share in China, according to Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint.

    Huawei is scheduled to hold a product launch event next Monday, where new phones are expected to be the main focus, according to Toby Zhu, a Canalys mobility analyst.

    Other devices, like tablets or earphones, may also be shown off. Huawei has not publicly released details of the event.

    In the coming months, the firm plans to release another 5G phone, possibly under Nova, its mid-range lineup, Chinese news outlet IT Times reported Tuesday, citing unidentified industry sources. Huawei declined to comment.

    Zhu said the phone was widely expected to come with 5G capability, powered either by the “Kirin 9000s chip or another chip.”

    If it does, the new model could become even more popular than the Mate 60 Pro, which starts at 6,999 yuan (about $959), because of its relative affordability, he added.

    While Raimondo was unhappy with the timing of Huawei’s launch, analysts say it was unlikely to have been arranged to coincide with her presence in China.

    It was likely “a marketing campaign aimed at winning over customer interest before the iPhone 15 hits the market,” analysts at Eurasia Group wrote in a report.

    The move helped the Shenzhen-based company capture the second spot in China’s smartphone market in the first week of September, ahead of Apple’s big event, said Lam of Counterpoint.

    — Rashard Rose and Mengchen Zhang contributed to this report.

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  • Justice Kagan order: Apple doesn’t have to change app store terms while battling Epic in court | CNN Business

    Justice Kagan order: Apple doesn’t have to change app store terms while battling Epic in court | CNN Business

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    A judicial order forcing Apple to change some of its app store terms will not need to take immediate effect while litigation over the decision plays out, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said on Wednesday, handing a temporary defeat to opponents of the company.

    The order is a setback for “Fortnite”-maker Epic Games as Apple appeals a lower-court ruling that found the iPhone-maker had violated California competition law.

    Epic Games declined to comment on Kagan’s decision, which occurred in the Supreme Court’s so-called “shadow docket” and was not referred to the full court.

    Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Apple had previously been ordered not to interfere with efforts by iOS app developers to inform their users within their apps about alternatives to Apple’s in-app payment system, which allows Apple to take a commission.

    In April, a federal appeals court upheld the order that, if allowed to take effect, would prevent Apple from intervening when developers include “buttons, external links or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms” apart from Apple’s own channels.

    The appeals court temporarily paused enforcement of the injunction while Apple appeals the ruling to the Supreme Court. But last month, Epic Games filed an emergency request to the court calling for the order to be put into effect immediately, saying the public would otherwise be harmed by Apple’s practices.

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  • Google’s antitrust showdown: What’s at stake for the internet search titan | CNN Business

    Google’s antitrust showdown: What’s at stake for the internet search titan | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Google will face off in court Tuesday against government officials who have accused the company of antitrust violations in its massive search business, kicking off a long-anticipated legal showdown that could reshape one of the internet’s most dominant platforms.

    The trial beginning this week in Washington before a federal judge marks the culmination of two ongoing lawsuits against Google that started during the Trump administration. Legal experts describe the actions as the country’s biggest monopolization case since the US government took on Microsoft in the 1990s.

    In separate complaints, the Justice Department and dozens of states accused Google in 2020 of abusing its dominance in online search by allegedly harming competition through deals with wireless carriers and smartphone makers that made Google Search the default or exclusive option on products used by millions of consumers. The complaints eventually consolidated into a single case.

    Google has maintained that it competes on the merits and that consumers prefer its tools because they are the best, not because it has moved to illegally restrict competition. Google’s search business provides more than half of the $283 billion in revenue and $76 billion in net income Google’s parent company, Alphabet, recorded in 2022. Search has fueled the company’s growth to a more than $1.7 trillion market capitalization.

    Now, the company is set to defend itself in a multiweek trial that could upend the way Google distributes its search engine to users. The case is expected to feature testimony from high-profile witnesses including former employees of Google and Samsung, along with executives from Apple, including senior vice president Eddy Cue. It is the first case to go to trial in a series of court challenges targeting Google’s far-reaching economic power, testing the willingness of courts to clamp down on large tech platforms.

    “This is a backwards-looking case at a time of unprecedented innovation,” said Google President of Global Affairs Kent Walker, “including breakthroughs in AI, new apps and new services, all of which are creating more competition and more options for people than ever before. People don’t use Google because they have to — they use it because they want to. It’s easy to switch your default search engine — we’re long past the era of dial-up internet and CD-ROMs.”

    The trial may also be a bellwether for the more assertive antitrust agenda of the Biden administration.

    In its initial complaint, the US government alleged in part that Google pays billions of dollars a year to device manufacturers including Apple, LG, Motorola and Samsung — and browser developers like Mozilla and Opera — to be their default search engine and in many cases to prohibit them from dealing with Google’s competitors.

    As a result, the complaint alleges, “Google effectively owns or controls search distribution channels accounting for roughly 80 percent of the general search queries in the United States.”

    The lawsuit also alleges that Google’s Android operating system deals with device makers are anticompetitive, because they require smartphone companies to pre-install other Google-owned apps, such as Gmail, Chrome or Maps.

    At the time the lawsuit was first filed, US antitrust officials did not rule out the possibility of a Google breakup, warning that Google’s behavior could threaten future innovation or the rise of a Google successor.

    Separately, a group of states, led by Colorado, made additional allegations against Google, claiming that the way Google structures its search results page harms competition by prioritizing the company’s own apps and services over web pages, links, reviews and content from other third-party sites.

    But the judge overseeing the case, Judge Amit Mehta in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, tossed out those claims in a ruling last month, narrowing the scope of allegations Google must defend and saying the states had not done enough to show a trial was necessary to determine whether Google’s search results rankings were anticompetitive.

    Despite that ruling, the trial represents the US government’s furthest progress in challenging Google to date. Mehta has said Google’s pole position among search engines on browsers and smartphones “is a hotly disputed issue” and that the trial will determine “whether, as a matter of actual market reality, Google’s position as the default search engine across multiple browsers is a form of exclusionary Conduct.”

    In January, meanwhile, the Biden administration launched another antitrust suit against Google in opposition to the company’s advertising technology business, accusing it of maintaining an illegal monopoly. That case remains in its early stages at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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  • Apple Watch’s new gesture control feature will have everyone tapping the air | CNN Business

    Apple Watch’s new gesture control feature will have everyone tapping the air | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    You’re about to see people in public tapping two fingers together in the air.

    Over the past few days, I’ve been taking phone calls, playing music and scrolling through widgets on the new Apple Watch Series 9 without ever touching the device. I’ve used it to silence my watch’s alarm in the morning, stop timers and open a notification while carrying too many bags.

    It may sound like a gimmick — and it most certainly feels strange to do it in public — but considering the small size of the Apple Watch screen, the tool offers an effective hands-free way to interact with the device.

    Apple’s latest lineup of smartwatches, the Watch Series 9 and high-end Ultra 2, feature a new gesture tool called Double Tap, allowing users to tap their index finger and thumb together twice, to control the device. It can also scroll through widgets, much like turning the digital crown.

    The feature isn’t entirely new; the previous generation of Apple Watch Ultra was capable of similar pinch-and-clench gestures via its Assistive Touch accessibility tool. But Apple’s decision to bring a feature like this to the forefront hints at an increasingly touch-free future. It also comes three months after the company unveiled the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which will launch next year, with a similar finger tap control.

    Double Tap works in combination with the latest Apple Watch accelerometer, gyroscope and optical heart rate sensor, which looks for disruptions in the blood flow when the fingers are pressed together. That data is processed by a new machine learning algorithm and runs on a faster neural engine, specialized hardware that handles AI and machine learning tasks.

    While the concept is similar, gesture controls are different on the Vision Pro, which will track users’ eyes and hand movements. Apple told CNN it added gesture control to the headset because it needed a different, seamless interface for users to interact with, whereas Double Tap is more about simplifying the Apple Watch experience.

    When the Apple Watch’s display is turned on, the device automatically knows to respond when it senses the fingers are touched together. It essentially works as a “yes” or “accept” button; that means if a call comes through, you can Double Tap to accept it (covering the watch with your full hand, however, will silence it quickly). If a song is playing, you can pause it by double tapping, and then again to start it.

    Although you can subtly flick on the display and do the gesture close to your body, trying to conceal the movement when around other people, I found it works much better when it’s raised a bit higher. This, however, makes the action more obvious — and it’s something that will take a little getting used to seeing in person.

    “This is also about social acceptance. At the moment, I find the idea of people making this gesture more often than not in public a bit funny. But time will tell if users find it acceptable,” said Annette Zimmerman, an analyst at Gartner Research. “I think Apple is very use-case driven and focuses on user feedback on things they could improve.”

    Similarly, it took a while for people to get used to the design of Apple’s AirPods when they were announced in 2016; many criticized how they looked dangling out of users’ ears. Now they’ve become part of modern culture.

    Other learning curves exist with the Double Tap feature. Because I am right handed and wear an Apple Watch on my left hand, tapping my left fingers together to trigger the control takes an extra second or two of mental coordination.

    The future of hands-free devices

    The new Apple Watch Series 9 can be controlled by tapping two fingers together.

    Apple isn’t the only tech company developing gesture controls like this. Samsung TVs, some smartphones and Microsoft’s mixed reality headset all incorporate some hand gesture functionality. But this is Apple’s biggest push to date, and adding it to a flagship device like the Apple Watch will soon put all eyes on the concept of hand gestures.

    “It’s a great move by Apple as it differentiates the company from other brands when it comes to innovation and ease of usability. It also shows Apple’s commitment in the fields of artificial intelligence,” said Sachin Mehta, senior analyst at tech intelligence firm ABI Research. “The new double tap gesture is not a surprise as Apple keeps on developing a unified and intuitive user experience across its product line up. It will cement the Apple Watch as the smartwatch to have.”

    It works differently on the Vision Pro, which will track a user’s eyes and hand movements to make punching and swiping controls. The headset needed a different user interface for users to interact with it, and gestures give that control even when a face is covered by the hardware.

    Further showing how Apple is thinking about gesture control long term, it recently filed for patents focused on gesture controls, including for the Apple TV. That said, Mehta believes there’s no question “we expect more gesture features in Apple’s product lineup in the future.”

    In addition to Double Tap, the Apple Watch Series 9 features Apple’s powerful new in-house silicon chip and ultrawideband connectivity. It will let users log health data with their voice, use “name drop” to share contact information by touching another Apple Watch and raise their wrist to automatically brighten the display. The Series 9 will come in colors such as pink, navy, red, gold, silver and graphite.

    Apple also showed off the second iteration of its rugged Ultra smartwatch line, featuring the updated S9 custom chip and a new ultrawideband chip which uses radio waves to communicate. It also features more information on the display for more intensive tracking.

    The Apple Watch Series 9 will start at $399 and the Ultra is priced at $799. Although they start shipping on Friday, September 22, the Double Tap feature will launch via a software update next month.

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  • Why cell phone service is down in Maui — and when it could be restored | CNN Business

    Why cell phone service is down in Maui — and when it could be restored | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Thousands of people in Maui are without cell service as the wildfires continue to rage out of control on the island, preventing people from calling emergency services or updating loved ones about their status. It could take days or even weeks to get the networks back up and running.

    “911 is down. Cell service is down. Phone service is down,” Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told CNN on Wednesday morning.

    Although strong winds can sometimes threaten cell towers, most are strong enough to handle the worst that even a Category 5 hurricane can bring. Fire, however, complicates the issue.

    “When the fires get too close to cell sites, they will obviously burn equipment, antennas, and feedlines,” said Glenn O’Donnell, VP of research at market research firm Forrester. “In extreme cases, they will also weaken the towers, leading some to collapse. The smoke and flames can also attenuate signals because of the particulate density in the air.”

    If a tower collapses, cell networks could take months to restore. But if carriers are able and prepared to do restorations with mobile backup units, it could bring limited service back within hours, O’Donnell said. Wireless carriers often bring in COWs (Cells On Wheels), COLTs (Cells On Light Trucks), and GOaTs (Generators on Trailers) in emergencies to provide backup service when cell towers go down.

    Power outages are also a threat to cell phone towers. The Maui disaster has already wiped out power to at least 14,000 homes and businesses in the area, according to PowerOutage.us. Many towers have backup power generators, but they have limited capacity to keep towers running.

    Cell towers have back-up technology built in, but this is typically done through optical fiber cables or microwave (wireless) links, according to Dimitris Mavrakis, senior researcher at ABI Research. However, if something extraordinary happens, such as interaction with rampant fires, these links may experience “catastrophic failures and leave cells without a connection to the rest of the world.”

    And, in an emergency, a spike in call volume can overload the system – even if people are able to get reception.

    “Even cells that have a good service may experience outages due to the sheer volume of communication happening at once,” Mavrakis said. “Everyone in these areas may be trying to contact relatives or the authorities at once, saturating the network and causing an outage. This is easier to correct though and network operators may put in place additional measures to render them operational quickly.”

    A T-Mobile spokesperson said the company is monitoring the situation and assessing the fire’s impact on its equipment in the area.

    “When conditions are safe, our Emergency Management Team will deploy portable, agile satellite and microwave solutions that will restore service in impacted areas,” the spokesperson said. “We also have portable generators ready to deploy to sites affected by commercial power loss, and our Emergency Response Team is working with FEMA and the state of Hawaii to support firefighters and other first responders, organizations and communities.”

    An AT&T spokesperson told CNN it is also assessing the’ impact to its wireless network and “will continue to coordinate closely with local utility companies on restoration progress.” The company is waiving talk, text and data overage charges during this time.

    Verizon did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

    Satellite networks, however, continue to operate regardless of what’s happening on the ground. This means satellite phones, which often feature large antennas, can help provide voice, SMS, and data services anywhere on Earth, even without cell service.

    Satellite phones have been popularized over the years by hikers, emergency responders and intrepid travelers, but they are are expensive and are not mainstream products. However, some newer smartphone models – including the latest model iPhone 14 and some phones built by Motorola and Huawei – offer built-in satellite connectivity, which allows the sending of SOS messages via satellites.

    For example, Apple’s free Emergency SOS via satellite service, which launched last year, allows iPhone users to contact dedicated dispatchers in emergency situations via satellites. When a user attempts to call 911 and is unable to get on a cell network, they will be automatically redirected to the service’s dispatchers where they can answer a questionnaire with short multiple choice questions to share information quickly. The dispatchers also receive their coordinates, medical ID and emergency contact information.

    Apple told CNN the feature is reserved for connections to emergency services and does not allow users to contact friends and family. For anyone who has access to a Wi-Fi connection while wearing an Apple Watch, the Walkie-Talkie feature could also be used to send messages or make calls. However, Wi-Fi networks can also fail when optical fiber networks are disrupted.

    Although it’s unclear how long cell phone service could be down in affected regions, companies have been able to bring connectivity to disaster regions in the past. In 2017, Google worked with AT&T and T-Mobile to deploy its Project Loon balloons to deliver Internet to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

    Hawaii’s Red Cross recently tweeted that people can call 1-800-RED-CROSS to see if their loved ones are at a local shelter.

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