Business, Financial & Legal - Page 69

CES 2021 was never going to be an in-person event (even though CTA said it would still happen) with COVID-19 wrecking havoc across the US and the world, with organizers Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announcing CES 2021 will be an all-digital event.

The CTA is obviously concerned over COVID-19 globally, and having people from every corner and country in the world descending on Las Vegas, USA. The all-digital CES 2021 will be very different from previous shows where everything will be online versus on the show floor and hotel suites in Vegas.

"The CTA said in their press release: "Technology has helped us all work, learn and connect during the coronavirus pandemic, and it has presented real solutions to help solve complex global challenges. We recognize that, particularly in these uncertain times, it is the partnerships of some of the most creative minds that bring the best solutions to life".

Intel has been in trouble for a few years now, but barely 72 hours after the company announced it was delaying its 7nm processors until the end of 2021 at the earliest and more like 2022 or even 2023 -- Intel has announced chief engineering officer Dr. Venkata (Murthy) Renduchintala is leaving.

Murthy will be leaving Intel on August 3, and has until now been in charge of most of Intel's hardware business. After year of issues with 10nm processors, the recent next-gen 7nm chips being pushed back even further, the perfect storm for Intel is happening right now.

AMD has been stomping all over Intel in more ways than one over the last few years, so this announcement is starting to show us something much bigger is happening at Intel. We might see a 3-5 year period where AMD comes in and just gobbles up a bunch of market share, while Intel bleeds out for a while until it can get back on its feet after so many fires burning within Team Blue's walls.

The Justice Department has just slammed two suspected Chinese hackers with major charges, alleging they stole American trade secrets, IP, and aimed at US companies involved in COVID-19 research.

The above video was posted by the official Justice Department YouTube channel, which covers the entire thing. This is a big deal, with the Justice Department detailing the video with a description that reads: "Two Chinese Hackers Working with the Ministry of State Security Charged with Global Computer Intrusion Campaign Targeting Intellectual Property and Confidential Business Information, Including COVID-19 Research"

Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi allegedly conducted a hacking campaigned saw them stealing weapon designs and testing data from US defense contractors, source code from software companies, and even drugs that are currently in development by some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.

Twitter is cracking down on Qanon again, with the social networking giant to no longer recommend accounts with Qanon related content. Twitter isn't the only one doing this "all for a LARP", as Facebook removed as bunch of Qanon pages not too long ago.

This will include email, push, and follow recommendations as well as limiting Qanon content circulating through places in Twitter like trends and search. NBC News reporter that this move by Twitter could affect around 150,000 accounts according to a Twitter spokesperson, who "asked to remain unnamed due to concerns about the targeted harassment of social media employees".

According to the Twitter spokesperson, the company has taken down over 7000 accounts related to Qanon as they are breaking its rules on targeted harassment as part of its updated policies.

It's common for the average job to give an employee an opportunity to sometimes take home a hefty bonus, but imagine if you could take home $13 billion in bonuses in just a single day.

Well, that is similar to what Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos just achieved, as the multi-billionaire just saw the largest single-day increase to his net-worth since the Billionaire Index was created eight years ago. Bloomberg has reported that Bezos saw an increase of $13 billion in one day, as the stock for Amazon increased by 7.9%.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, the Amazon CEO has seen how net-worth increase by $74 billion since the start of the year. This increase is no doubt partly due to millions of people buying supplies for the coronavirus off of Amazon. Bezos is leading the pack as the world's richest individual with $189 billion, followed not-so-closely behind is former Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates, with $118 billion.

TSMC is in the headlines lately for all the right reasons, and today is another one of those. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world's largest semiconductor when it comes to market capitalization.

TSMC has now flung right past both Samsung and NVIDIA, according to the latest data from South Korean industry tracker CEO Score and Yonhap News Agency, reports Taiwan News. TSMC's market value hit $306 billion on Friday, passing Samsung with $261 billion and NVIDIA with $257 billion.

TrendForce data points out that TSMC has 51.9% of the global foundry market share, a dominant force against its second-largest competitor in Samsung with just 18.8% market share.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that the current coronavirus relief bill going around Washington at its mammoth $1.3 trillion, won't even be enough to handle the carnage the COVID-19 pandemic has caused so far.

Congress has only a few more days left to extend the $600 per week upgraded unemployment benefits that have been instrumental in making millions of American families ends meet. Right now Democrats and Republicans are working out how to get this coronavirus relief bill out to the American people.

Speaker Pelosi tols reporters in Washington on Thursday: "They know there's going to be a bill. ... First it was going to be no bill. And then it was going to be some little bill. Now it's $1.3 [trillion]. That's not enough".

We are unfortunately living in a rough time where millions of Americans are waiting on news about a second stimulus package for COVID-19 pandemic relief, with more news expected next week when the US Senate returns from recess.

A new stimulus bill with coronavirus economic relief is being worked on, with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying he's been working with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for a month on the new stimulus bill, reports The Hill.

McConnell said when he appeared in Kentucky on Monday: "I'm predicting we will have one more rescue package, which we'll begin to debate and discuss next week".

Amazon has just extended its corporate work-from-home policy, which has now been extended through to January 8, 2021.

Amazon explained in a statement: "We continue to prioritize the health of our employees and follow local government guidance. Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until January 8th".

The company added: "We have invested significant funds and resources to keep those who choose to come to the office safe through physical distancing, deep cleaning, temperature checks, and by providing face coverings and hand sanitizer".

Florida reported a large 12,600 new coronavirus cases today, with KFC announcing shortly after that it would be closing its dining rooms down in the state because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Reuters reports that KFC would be closing its dining rooms in corporate-owned stories throughout Florida "because of the escalation in coronavirus cases in the state, according to a letter seen by Reuters". The letter that Reuters says that it has seen was from KFC U.S. Chief Operating Officer Monica Rothgery to franchisees.

Rothgery said in the letter that its restaurants in Florida would be drive-thru only for now, suggesting that owner-operators do the same thing in "hot spots" where COVID-19 outbreaks are happening. Rothgery suggested that states like Arizona, California, Florida and Texas do the same to their KFC restaurants -- close dining rooms.

Apple is coughing up a hefty $500 million to settle a class action lawsuit over Batterygate, which if you didn't know about already, saw the company throttling performance on previous-gen iPhones to improve battery health.

Where it all started: Back in late 2017, the company began intentionally slowing down their iPhones and explained it was about not degrading the battery inside of consumers' iPhones. Apple then offered cheap $29 battery replacements, and then added in a feature to let users check their battery health in real-time with iOS 11.3.

Back then the apology was pathetic, but then earlier this year Apple agreed to settle the class action lawsuit for $500 million. Affected customers would get $25 per iPhone, and now there's a website that lets all affected iPhone users submit a claim to get their $25 payment from Apple.

Amazon dominates online shopping but retail shopping, not so much -- and with the COVID-19 pandemic and its 24/7 fear being reigned down on us, I don't see a return to norm anytime soon.

And by norm, I mean walking around the shops pushing a shopping cart around in the United States -- but hey, Amazon thought it would be the perfect time to unveil the Dash Cart.

What the hell is the Dash Cart? It's Amazon's new shopping cart that has a bunch of cameras, sensors, and a built-in scale that works out what is in your cart, totals it, and then charges the cart you've got attached to your Amazon account.

A new report has come out that the Trump administration has notified both Congress and the United Nations about withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO).

CNN has reported that sources close to them have said that the Trump administration is currently moving towards formally withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization. This decision has come right as coronavirus cases are spiking across the United States, but Trump, and surrounding administration officials have still continued to criticize the efforts put in by the WHO in regards to the coronavirus outbreak.

The withdrawal is planned to go into effect on July 6th, and the decision has predictably drawn division among medical associations, advocacy organizations, and lawmakers. A state department official also confirmed to CNN that "the United States' notice of withdrawal, effective July 6, 2021, has been submitted to the UN Secretary-General, who is the depository for the WHO." A spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he has received the notice and "is in the process of verifying with the World Health Organization whether all the conditions for such withdrawal are met."

Some unfortunate news for the PC industry today, with MSI president and CEO Sheng-Chang "Charles" Chiang falling from a building to his death.

We don't know what happened exactly, other than he fell to his death. An MSI spokesperson reached out to Tom's Hardware, explaining: "Earlier today, MSI GM and CEO Charles Chiang passed away. Having been a part of the company for more than 20 years, he made outstanding contributions and was admired by his colleagues. Mr. Chiang was a respected leader in the MSI family, and helped pave the way for the brand's success. We are all deeply saddened by the news, and are mourning the loss of Mr. Chiang. He will be deeply missed by the entire team".

I never personally met Charles, but I have dealt with MSI professionally (and personally) for 10 years with TweakTown. They are one of our strongest partners in the industry, and our hearts go out Chiang's family, and to the entire team at MSI.

You might not have heard about Basemark, but you've surely experienced some of its founders effects on the gaming and tech industry. Tero Sarkkinen, founder and chairman of Basemark, used to run the Futuremark sales and marketing -- Futuremark, you know the gigantic benchmark company.

Well, Sarkkinen has been hard at work with his new journey in Basemark, with the startup raising $7.9 million in funding to continue its advancements in graphics software for autonomous vehicles. ETF Partners was the sole partner in the funding round, with $7.9 million raised.

The legend himself, Tero Sarkkinen -- Basemark founder and chairman, explains: "We are thrilled to have ETF Partners on board. Over the years we have worked hard on building a category-defining product and establishing strong international relationships across the automotive industry. This new capital injection will enable us to hit the gas and take us to the next level".

It's official: Kanye West has said that he is "running for president of the United States" in the upcoming 2020 election. Not just that, but he has the "full support" of Tesla Motors and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

The announcement of his run for president comes less than 72 hours after he tweeted a picture with Musk, tweeting "When you go to your boys house and you're both wearing orange". Orange Man Bad? It's not funny anymore, try different jokes, I guess.

Yeezy doesn't just have support from Musk, but also billionaire Mark Cuban who seemed to think Yeezy was a good choice. Cuban said: "If you think Biden is a joke compared to Trump you aren't paying attention. It's time to step away from all the memes and look at reality. The Pandemic Response could not be botched any worse and he refuses to take any responsibility or try to improve it. That's disqualifying".

President Trump has been "temporarily suspended" from Twitch, with the Amazon-owned streaming giant saying that his broadcast of his Tulsa rally recently -- on top of a recent re-airing of one of his 2016 campaign stops.

Twitch claims that these two broadcasts violated their hateful conduct and harassment policies, with Twitch bringing down the ban hammer for President Trump's "negative comments about Mexican migrants".

What got President Trump temporarily suspended from Twitch? This: "Hey, it's 1:00 o'clock in the morning and a very tough, I've used the word on occasion, hombre, a very tough hombre is breaking into the window of a young woman whose husband is away as a traveling salesman or whatever he may do".

One significant update to the 2020 iPad Pro was the inclusion of Apple's A12Z chipset for LiDAR. The LiDAR data the iPad Pro is gathering has been reported in the past by analyst Jon Prosser to not be all about the iPad itself. The data being collected is rumored to be used in the Apple Glass product for enhanced AR.

According to a recent leak, Apple intends to make a big push in the AR segment with its Apple Glass. The AR glasses are said to make use of data from its own integrated LiDAR sensor. It remains unclear if the iPad Pro is sending any AR data back to Apple to be used in the Apple Glass product in the future.

Apple is rumored to launch the Apple Glass AR device in 2021, meaning we are a ways out from real information on Glass. Apple has promoted the LiDAR scanner inside the iPad Pro for AR applications in the past. That capability allows users to overlay virtual objects with physical objects in their environment.

Well, things just got serious with the Coca-Cola Company pulling the plug -- at least temporarily -- on all digital advertising across all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days.

The global soda giant announced the news late Friday night, saying it would pause digital advertising on social platforms for 30 days beginning July 1, 2020. What's the reason? A boycott of Facebook and Instagram that has been organized by the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and other organizations that have morphed into the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign.

The Coca-Cola Company only talked about removing advertising on Facebook and Instagram, but we should see the boycotts affecting Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

Apple wants to continue the design trend of thinner laptops in the coming years. The challenge is as hardware gains performance, it also starts to make more heat requiring more robust cooling systems. The desire for comfortable typing also requires better keyboards. The result is the need for thicker machines.

Apple has a new method that it is reportedly working on that will make future MacBooks thinner. It's not a new cooling system; it's said to be a new retractable keyboard. The retractable keyboard is an attempt by Apple to balance the customer's need for something they can type on with the need for thinness.

The keyboard will reportedly retract into the MacBook Pro enclosure. The tip of the retractable keyboard comes from a patent for "Retractable Keyboards" that was filed by Apple. Apple isn't first in looking to build retractable keyboards. IBM had a retractable keyboard in the past that would expand out of the sides of the laptop when the lid was opened.