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Facebook Thinks It's Defending Small Firms Against Apple. Not All Its Employees Agree.

Charlotte Henry ·

Facebook recently ran a high-profile ad campaign against Apple. The social media giant said changes to iOS privacy rules would hurt small businesses. According to Buzzfeed News, its employees don’t necessarily agree.

While the $750 billion company’s public relations effort has presented a united front with small businesses, some Facebook employees complained about what they called a self-serving campaign that bordered on hypocrisy, according to internal comments and audio of a presentation to workers that were obtained by BuzzFeed News. A change in Apple’s iOS 14 mobile operating system — which requires iPhone owners to opt in to allow companies to track them across other apps and websites — hurts Facebook, some employees argued on the company’s private message boards, and their employer was just using small businesses as a shield. “It feels like we are trying to justify doing a bad thing by hiding behind people with a sympathetic message,” one engineer wrote in response to an internal post about the campaign from Dan Levy, Facebook’s vice president for ads.

TMO Deals

MOGICS Coconut Portable Waterproof Light: $36.95

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the MOGICS Coconut, a waterproof portable light that floats. It features four brightness modes, an internal, rechargeable battery, and self-inflates. This device is $36.95 through our deal. There are also options for two Coconuts, as well as multicolor options.

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Should Apple Open its NFC Chip to Third Parties?

Andrew Orr ·

Karen Webster writes about Apple’s position in the payments industry and how Apple’s restriction of its NFC chip has hurt consumers.

Granted, it’s always hard to prove a negative, but not having access to the NFC chip has likely prevented innovators from investing time and money in developing the innovations that could have made the in-store POS experience better for iPhone users. And since iPhone users skew more to the affluent, it also denied those innovators the opportunity to monetize their spend.

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VW Boss Welcomes ‘New Competitors’ Following Apple Car Reports

Charlotte Henry ·

VW CEO Herbert Diess has welcomed “new competitors” following the latest Apple Car reports.  He made the comments in a LinkedIn post spotted by iMore.

Herbert Diess responded to talk of an Apple Car in a LinkedIn post, where he was asked about Apple’s project Titan, citing an article regarding reports Apple will release an autonomous car in 2024 with breakthrough battery technology. Diess responded: “We are looking forward to new competitors who will certainly accelerate the transformation of our industry and bring in new skills. The incredible evaluation and thus the virtually unlimited access to resources inspire us a great deal of respect. A real challenge – dimensions greater than those within our industry (e.B. Toyota Motor Corporation ) As I have already said, the most valuable company in the world will once again be a mobility company – it Tesla can, Apple or may be Volkswagen AG called.” (Translated)

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Google Faces Major Antitrust Lawsuit From Texas

Charlotte Henry ·

Google is facing a major antitrust lawsuit from Texas and other states, Politico reported. If successful, the search giant could be hit with trillions of dollars worth of fines.

The lawsuit, which also includes eight other states, accuses Google of rigging online ad auctions to increase its own profits at the expense of website publishers, who have struggled to make the same kind of money from web ads as from television, print and radio. The states have asked the court to force the company to sell off pieces of its business to take away its power to control such auctions. But there are other allegations that could cut Google even more deeply. Texas also alleges that Google violated state laws that forbid unfair or deceptive business practices — laws that mandate steep fines for each violation. The attorneys general plan to argue that every online bid allegedly manipulated by Google violates state laws, which would lead to a massive pileup of fines.

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SolarWinds Hack Affected Tech Companies Like Intel, Cisco, VMware

Andrew Orr ·

The SolarWinds cyber attack didn’t just affect government agencies; big tech companies were affected too. Intel, Nvidia, Cisco, Belkin, and VMware were also infected. The Wall Street Journal reports. If the link below is paywalled, try this article from The Verge.

Intel downloaded and ran the malicious software, the Journal’s analysis found. The company is investigating the incident and has found no evidence the hackers used the backdoor to access the company’s network, a spokesman said.

TMO Deals

DIY Building Block STEM Drone: $49.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on a DIY drone, which is pretty cool. It’s the DIY Building Block STEM Drone, and with it you can create your own design based on the step-by-step instructions. It’s aimed in part at kids, can do stunt flips and more, and it’s $49.99 through our deal.

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COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Makes Illegal Streaming For Profit a Felony

Charlotte Henry ·

The COVID-19 Stimulus Bill, passed Monday, makes illegal streaming for profit a felony. The Hollywood Reporter explained.

It’s been less than two weeks since Sen. Thom Tillis released his proposal to increase the penalties for those who would dare stream unlicensed works. In doing so, the North Carolina Republican flirted with danger. About a decade ago, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) made a similar proposal before it ended up dying as people worried about sending Justin Bieber to jail. (No, seriously.) But Tillis’ attempt has been winning better reviews for more narrowly tailoring the provisions toward commercial operators rather than users. That said, it’s had very little time to circulate before evidently becoming part of the spending package. If passed, illegal streaming of works including movies and music tracks could carry a penalty of up to 10 years in jail. That’s not the only change to copyright law, either. The spending bill also appears to adopt a long-discussed plan to create a small-claims adjudication system within the U.S. Copyright Office.