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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  • Apple expected to unveil new iPhone at “Wonderlust.” special event | CNN Business

    Apple expected to unveil new iPhone at “Wonderlust.” special event | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    The next iPhone could be just weeks away.

    Apple announced its fall special event on Tuesday, sending out press invites for the morning of September 12th. Invitees will get to attend in-person at the Steve Jobs Theater inside Apple Park, the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, while the general public can watch online at 10 am PST.

    Apple’s event invitations are always closely studied for hidden meanings, with this year’s featuring a disintegrating, multi-hued Apple logo and the tag line: “Wonderlust.”

    The company is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, with rumors that the next generation of the iPhone will bring significant upgrades including new colors, better battery performance, a switch from the Apple’s proprietary lightning connector to the USB-C, faster charging and highly improved camera capabilities, according to 9to5Mac, a tech blog that closely follows Apple rumors.

    New iterations of the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra are also expected.

    The “Wonderlust.” event comes about three months after Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference unveiled updates to multiple hardware and software products, as well as its highly ambitious mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro.

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  • TikTok Shop is now open for business | CNN Business

    TikTok Shop is now open for business | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    TikTok is officially kicking off its US e-commerce efforts with the launch of TikTok Shop.

    The short-form video platform launched an in-app shopping experience in the United States on Tuesday, according to a company blog post, after months of testing. TikTok Shop allows users to find and directly purchase products used in live videos, tagged in content shown on their algorithm-driven For You page, pinned on brand profiles or marketed in a new “Shop” tab.

    For creators, the feature could bring new streams of income by connecting them with brands for commission-based marketing partnerships. TikTok is also offering “Fulfilled by TikTok,” a program that handles all of the logistics for sellers, including storing, packing and shipping.

    “With community-driven trends like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt inspiring people to discover and share the products they love, TikTok is creating a new shopping culture,” the company wrote. “With TikTok Shop, we’re giving people a place to experience the joy of discovering and purchasing new products without leaving the app.”

    TikTok is looking to quadruple its merchandise sales by the end of the year to hit $20 billion, according to Bloomberg.

    The app’s push into live e-commerce comes as other platforms have struggled with online shopping initiatives.

    Meta-owned Instagram killed livestream product tagging and shopping in March and got rid of the shopping tab on the app’s navigation bar. Facebook also axed live shopping in October. Meanwhile,YouTube partnered with Shopify in 2022 to help creators sell products.

    Amazon has been offering Amazon Live since 2019, a streaming hub that sells items through live videos. Amazon Storefront, launched in 2018, also allows creators to build pages that bring together content and product recommendations to sell to followers, for a commission.

    TikTok Shop is already available throughout parts of Asia and the United Kingdom. Southeast Asia, a region with a collective population of 630 million – half of them under 30 – is one of TikTok’s biggest markets in terms of user numbers, generating more than 325 million visitors to the app every month, according to Reuters.

    But the platform has yet to translate its large user base into a major e-commerce revenue source in the region as it faces fierce competition from bigger rivals of Sea’s Shopee, Alibaba’s Lazada and GoTo’s Tokopedia.

    E-commerce transactions across the region reached nearly $100 billion last year, with Indonesia alone accounting for $52 billion, according to data from consultancy Momentum Works.

    TikTok facilitated $4.4 billion of transactions across Southeast Asia last year, up from $600 million in 2021, but it still trailed far behind Shopee’s $48 billion of regional merchandise sales in 2022, Momentum Works told Reuters in June.

    Cracking the United States has proven even harder. TikTok Shop, as launched Tuesday, has been in testing since November.

    The platform has previously backed down from efforts to push e-commerce. TikTok piloted a shopping experience in partnership with Shopify in 2021 that did not stick, and reports circulated in 2022 that TikTok was giving up altogether on live shopping in the United States and Europe after struggling to connect with consumers.

    The move to once again revitalize e-retail efforts in the United States comes as the app faces increasing scrutiny from lawmakers. Some critics and a growing number of US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle view TikTok as a national security threat, since it is owned by China-based company ByteDance. Some US officials have expressed fears that the Chinese government could spy on US data via TikTok, though there is so far no evidence that the Chinese government has ever accessed personal information of US-based TikTok users.

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  • Parents urged to delete their kids’ social media accounts ahead of possible Israeli hostage videos | CNN Business

    Parents urged to delete their kids’ social media accounts ahead of possible Israeli hostage videos | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Schools in Israel, the UK and the US are advising parents to delete their children’s social media apps over concerns that Hamas militants will broadcast or disseminate disturbing videos of hostages who have been seized in recent days.

    A Tel Aviv school’s parent’s association said it expects videos of hostages “begging for their lives” to surface on social media. In a message to parents, shared with CNN by a mother of children at a high school in Tel Aviv, the association asked parents to remove apps such as TikTok from their children’s phones.

    “We cannot allow our kids to watch this stuff. It is also difficult, furthermore – impossible – to contain all this content on social media,” according to the parent’s association. “Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.”

    Hamas has warned that it will post murders of hostages on social media if Israel targets people in Gaza without warning.

    There are additional concerns that terrorists will exploit social media algorithms to specifically target such videos to followers of Jewish or Israeli influencers in an effort to wage psychological warfare on Israelis and Jews and their supporters globally.

    During the onslaught on Saturday, armed Hamas militants poured over the heavily-fortified border into Israel and took as many as 150 hostages, including Israeli army officers, back to Gaza. The surprise attacks killed at least 1,200 people, according to the Israel Defense Forces, and injured thousands more.

    Since Israel began airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave Saturday, at least 1,055 people have been killed in Gaza, including hundreds of children, women, and entire families, according to the Palestinian health ministry. It said a further 5,184 have been injured, as of Wednesday.

    As the war wages on, some Jewish schools in the US are also asking parents not to share related videos or photos that may surface, and to prevent children – and themselves – from watching them. The schools are also advising community members to delete their social media apps during this time.

    “Together with other Jewish day schools, we are warning parents to disable social media apps such as Instagram, X, and Tiktok from their children’s phones,” the head of a school in New Jersey wrote in an email. “Graphic and often misleading information is flowing freely, augmenting the fears of our students. … Parents should discuss the dangers of these platforms and ask their children on a daily basis about what they are seeing, even if they have deleted the most unfiltered apps from their phones.”

    Another school in the UK said it asked students to delete their social media apps during a safety assembly.

    TikTok, Instagram and X – formerly known as Twitter – did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how they are combating the increase of videos being posted online and for comment on schools asking parents to delete these apps.

    But X said on its platform is has experienced an increase in daily active users in the conflict area and its escalation teams have “actioned tens of thousands of posts for sharing graphic media, violent speech, and hateful conduct.” It did not respond to a request to comment further or define “actioned.”

    “We’re also continuing to proactively monitor for antisemitic speech as part of all our efforts,” X’s safety team said. “Plus we’ve taken action to remove several hundred accounts attempting to manipulate trending topics.”

    The company added it remains “laser focused” on enforcing the site’s rules and reminded users they can limit sensitive media they may encounter by visiting the “Content you see” option in Settings.

    Still, misinformation continues to run rampant on social media platforms, including X.

    A post viewed more than 500,000 times – featuring the hashtag #PalestineUnderAttack – claimed to show an airplane being shot down. But the clip was from the video game Arma 3, as was later noted in a “community note” appended to the post.

    Another video that is purported to show Israeli generals after being captured by Hamas fighters was viewed more than 1.7 million times by Monday. The video, however, instead shows the detention of separatists in Azerbaijan.

    On Tuesday, the European Union warned Elon Musk of “penalties” for disinformation circulating on X amid Israel-Hamas war.

    The EU also informed Meta CEO Zuckerberg on Wednesday of a disinformation surge on its platforms – which include Facebook – and demanded the company respond in 24 hours with how it plans to combat the issue.

    In an Instagram story on Tuesday, Zuckerberg called the attack “pure evil” and said his focus “remains on the safety of our employees and their families in Israel and the region.”

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  • Wall Street Journal: China bans use of iPhones for government officials | CNN Business

    Wall Street Journal: China bans use of iPhones for government officials | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong/New York
    CNN
     — 

    China has banned the use of iPhones for central government officials, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

    The WSJ reports that managers have been notifying staff of the ban via chat groups or meetings.

    CNN has reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Apple (AAPL), but has not received a response.

    A source who regularly deals with Chinese central government agencies told CNN that Chinese officials had already been following an unwritten rule of shunning iPhones for months despite the absence of a formal policy. The source asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject.

    Last June, CNN reported that some Chinese government ministries had banned Teslas from entering their premises over security fears.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook made a high profile visit to the country in March. China is a significant market and manufacturing center for the company, accounting for around 19% of its overall revenue.

    The iPhone ban for government officials may be retaliation for similar moves made by the US against Chinese tech, and could have a chilling effect on Apple and other large foreign brands with an established China presence.

    China’s Huawei and ZTE have long been subject to US restrictions. And in November 2022, the Biden administration banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from both companies because they pose “an unacceptable risk” to US national security.

    TikTok has also been banned from devices issued by multiple US institutions, including the House of Representatives, the City of New York, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Georgia, over concerns that the Chinese government could have access to users’ data through its Chinese parent company, Bytedance.

    — CNN’s Beijing bureau contributed to this article.

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  • Apple to issue iPhone 12 update in France after sales halted over radiation levels | CNN Business

    Apple to issue iPhone 12 update in France after sales halted over radiation levels | CNN Business

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    Paris
    CNN
     — 

    Apple plans to update iPhone12 software for users in France after the country’s regulators ordered a pause on sales of the 2020 model over radiation concerns.

    “We will issue a software update for users in France to accommodate the protocol used by French regulators. We look forward to iPhone 12 continuing to be available in France,” an Apple (AAPL) spokesperson told CNN Friday.

    France’s National Frequency Agency, the ANFR, ordered Tuesday an immediate withdrawal of the iPhone 12 from the French market, saying it exceeded European radiation exposure limits. The ANFR also ruled that for iPhone 12s already in use, Apple must adopt “all necessary corrective measures to bring the telephones into conformity as soon as possible” or it would have to recall the devices.

    Apple told CNN Friday that the suspension of sales was related “to a specific testing protocol used by French regulators and not a safety concern.”

    “Since it was introduced in 2020, iPhone 12 has been certified and recognized as meeting or exceeding all applicable SAR regulations and standards around the world,” Apple said.

    SAR is a measure of the rate of energy absorption by the body from the source being measured, according to the French regulator. But experts and regulators generally say not to worry.

    “After discussions and as requested by the ANFR, Apple has assured me that it will be rolling out an update for the iPhone 12 in the next few days,” France’s minister for the digital economy Jean-Noel Barrot posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Friday.

    The French regulator is preparing to rapidly test this update, “which will eventually bring the model in line with the European standards applied in France” and subsequently allow Apple to resume sales, he added.

    The sales suspension came on the same day Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Pro, its newest iterations of the iconic product, at its annual keynote event in California.

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  • Apple continues its sweep to roll out USB-C to more devices | CNN Business

    Apple continues its sweep to roll out USB-C to more devices | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Apple

    (AAPL)     quietly announced its next-generation Pencil that works with iPads and now includes USB-C charging.

    The change comes nearly a month after Apple retired its Lightning charger, a milestone moment toward universal charging amid pressure from EU regulators.

    Like previous models, the third-generation Apple Pencil is intended for taking notes, sketching and marking up documents. It also supports the hover feature, which allows users to preview and switch between different tools and app controls, when used with a 12.9-inch iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation) and 11-inch iPad Pro (4th generation). The price is $79, down $20 from the second-generation Apple Pencil and $50 less than the original.

    The biggest change to the latest model comes to the charging system, which is noteworthy not only because the company has been resistant to making the switch for years but because it’s about to make charging that much easier for its customers.

    At its iPhone 15 event in September, the company announced all of its next-generation smartphones and new AirPods Pro will launch with USB-C charging. Apple previously switched its iPads and MacBooks to USB-C charging, but the push to finally add it to iPhones came 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. In doing so, however, Apple will give up control of its wired charging ecosystem, and identifying good chargers from bad ones won’t be obvious to many consumers.

    Although Apple does not break out its Pencil sales numbers, David McQueen, a director at ABI Research, estimates about 42 million have been sold since it launched in 2015, considering 420 million iPads have been sold since then (assuming 10% or fewer of these consumers have bought an Apple Pencil).

    “I’d have to think it’d be this low because of its relatively high price, high-end use case, and the availability of much cheaper alternatives that are capable of working with iPad,” he said.

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  • Snapchat adds new safety features for teen users | CNN Business

    Snapchat adds new safety features for teen users | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Snapchat says it’s working to make its app even safer for teen users.

    Parent company Snap said Thursday that it is rolling out a suite of new features and policies aimed at better protecting 13- to 17-year-old users, including restrictions on friend suggestions and a new system for removing age-inappropriate content. The company also launched a series of YouTube videos for parents about the features and an updated website laying out its teen safety and parental control policies.

    The new features come amid increasing pressure on social media platforms by lawmakers, educators and parents to protect young users from inappropriate content, unwanted adult attention, illicit drug sales and other issues. A Snap executive testified alongside leaders from TikTok and YouTube in a fall 2021 Senate committee hearing about youth safety on social media, promising new tools to help parents keep their teens safe. And since then, Snapchat — like other platforms — has rolled out a variety of new teen safety and parental supervision tools.

    Thursday’s announcement follows the launch last year of Snapchat’s Family Center, which offers parents more insight into who their teenagers are communicating with on the messaging app. The app’s other existing teen safety measures include prohibiting young users from having public profiles and having teens’ Snap Map location-sharing tool turned off by default.

    As part of Thursday’s feature rollout, Snapchat will now require 13-to-17-year-old users to have a greater number of mutual friends in common with another account before that account will show up in Search results or as a friend suggestion, in an effort to avoid teens adding users on the app who they don’t know in real life. The app will also send a pop-up warming to teens if they are about to add an account that doesn’t share any mutual Snapchat friends or phone book contacts.

    “When a teen becomes friends with someone on Snapchat, we want to be confident it is someone they know in real life — such as a friend, family member, or other trusted person,” the company said in a blog post.

    Snapchat will also impose a new strike system for accounts promoting content inappropriate for teens in its Stories and Spotlight sections, where users can share content publicly on the app. If inappropriate content is reported or detected by the company, it will immediately remove the content and issue a strike against the poster’s account. If a user accrues “too many strikes over a defined period of time, their account will be disabled,” the platform says, although it does not lay out how many strikes would lead to a suspension.

    Teen users will also start to see in-app content aimed at educating them on online risks such as catfishing and financial sextortion — when someone persuades a victim to share nude photos and then blackmails them for money — and letting them know what to do if they see it, including providing hotlines to contact for help. The PSA-style content will be featured on Snapchat’s Stories platform and in response to certain search terms or keywords.

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  • France orders Apple to pull iPhone 12 off shelves for high radiation levels | CNN Business

    France orders Apple to pull iPhone 12 off shelves for high radiation levels | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Apple is fighting France’s claims that the iPhone 12 surpasses European radiation exposure limits after French regulators on Tuesday ordered a pause on sales and a fix to phones already sold to customers.

    France’s National Frequency Agency said it “has demanded that Apple withdraw the iPhone 12 from the French market, effective 12 September 2023, as measures show the specific absorption rate exceeds the set limits.” The agency said the iPhone 12 is not compliant with European Union regulations.

    “Apple must immediately adopt all necessary measures to prevent the iPhone 12 in the supply chain from being made available on the market,” ANFR added.

    Disputing the agency’s claims, Apple said it had already given the agency multiple lab results conducted by the company and independent third parties that showed the device’s compliance with relevant SAR regulations and global standards.

    The company said it was contesting the AFNR’s review results and would continue to work with the agency to demonstrate the phone’s compliance.

    SAR is a measure of the rate of energy absorption by the body from the source being measured, according to the ANFR. But experts and regulators generally say not to worry.

    “To date, and after much research performed, no adverse health effect has been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies,” according to the World Health Organization. “Provided that the overall exposure remains below international guidelines, no consequences for public health are anticipated.”

    ANFR ruled that for iPhone 12s already in use, Apple “must adopt all necessary corrective measures to bring the telephones into conformity as soon as possible, otherwise, Apple will have to recall the equipment.”

    The measure was effective from Tuesday, with the regulator adding it would ensure the product is no longer offered for sale in all distribution channels in France from that day.

    France’s Minister for the Digital Economy Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed in a tweet that iPhone 12 sales are “halted in France until Apple offers an update for all affected devices.”

    “The @anfr found that the iPhone 12 was emitting a level of waves slightly higher than the authorized threshold,” Barrot wrote in another tweet, translated from French. “This level is more than 10 times lower than the level at which there could be a health risk.”

    The announcement came as Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, Apple’s newest iteration of its iconic product, at its annual keynote event in California on Tuesday.

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  • iPhone sales in China shrink as US political tensions grow | CNN Business

    iPhone sales in China shrink as US political tensions grow | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Demand for Apple’s new iPhone 15 lineup is weaker in China than for last year’s models, according to analysts.

    Sales for the iPhone 15 are down 4.5% in China compared to iPhone 14 sales in the first two weeks after its launch, according to Counterpoint Research. Separately, Bloomberg reported on Monday financial firm Jefferies said iPhone 15 sales dropped by a double-digit percentage following strong customer demand for Huawei’s new Mate 60 smartphone line.

    Apple

    (AAPL)     shares fell 0.08% following the reports.

    The reports come amid a floundering Chinese economy, a struggling housing market, and more competition among higher-end vendors in China, particularly from Chinese device manufacturer Huawei.

    “We’re seeing a lot of nationalism right now as Chinese consumers who think they’ve been wronged by the US government and sanctions are gravitating toward the Mate 60 and that is edging into Apple volumes,” Jeff Fieldhack, research director at Counterpoint, told CNN.

    At the same time, China remains very important to Apple as it is the largest market behind the US. Fieldhack said he doesn’t believe Huawei will surpass Apple right now in terms of smartphone sales but expects continued interest in the Mate 60 will continue to “eek” into Apple’s numbers.

    “Apple made a lot of gains during its launch period last year, where it became number one in China,” he said. “Things looked strong but now, with the political tension and competition, that is a reason for concern.”

    However, the Phone 15 lineup is up about 10% year-over-year in the US, according to Counterpoint. That’s strong growth for Apple considering sales fell for the third consecutive quarter in August, ahead of the iPhone 15 launch.

    The latest iPhone 15 devices come with a slimmer design, a more-advanced main camera system and a customizable Action button, which gives the silence button additional controls, from starting a voice memo to writing a note. Perhaps the biggest change coming to the models is that they will now use a USB-C charging cord, ending an 11-year run with Apple’s proprietary Lightning charging cable.

    This isn’t the first time the Mate 60 has made headlines since its late August launch. In September, the US government sought more information about the Mate 60 Pro’s 5G Kirin 9000s processor reportedly developed specifically for the manufacturer. Its debut shocked industry experts who questioned how the company could make such a chip following sweeping efforts by the United States to restrict China’s access to foreign chip technology because of perceived national security concerns.

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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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