Tuesday, 3 December 2019

Fired Google Organizers Accuse Tech Giant of Acting Unlawfully

A rash and highly publicized personnel decision has put Google in the crosshairs of its own workers—and soon, the National Labor Relations Board, which may well find the company broke the law.

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Apple Calls New Russian Smartphone Sales Legislation 'Equivalent to Jailbreaking'

Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed new legislation requiring all smartphones, computers, and smart TVs sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software, reports Reuters.


Proponents of the law claim it will help Russian developers better compete with foreign tech firms. The legislation has also been pitched as a way of sparing consumers from having to download software after purchasing a new device.

Electronic retailers have already criticized the law, which is due to come into force on July 1 next year, and say the legislation was adopted without consulting them. The law has also sparked fears that Russia could use the pre-installed apps as a way to spy on its citizens.

It's still unclear how tech companies will react to the news, although Apple has previously threatened to pull out of the Russian market if a complete ban on selling its products without pre-installed apps was introduced, Russian media reported earlier this year.

Responding to today's news of the law, an unnamed Apple source reportedly told the Kommersant business daily: "A mandate to add third-party applications to Apple's ecosystem would be equivalent to jailbreaking. It would pose a security threat, and the company cannot tolerate that kind of risk."

According to The Moscow Times, the government will draw up a list of software which tech companies will need to pre-install, and a list of the devices covered by the law, expected to include computers, tablets and smart TVs alongside mobile phones.

The Russian government has cracked down on internet freedoms in recent years, including requiring messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store user data on servers in the country.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Russia

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Trump Regime Threatens 100 Percent Tariffs on French Goods to Retaliate Against Tax on Big Tech

The Trump regime is threatening to slap tariffs on over $2.4 billion worth of French goods imported into the United States as retaliation for a new digital services tax recently instituted in France. The French tax of 3 percent is applied on the revenues of about 30 Big Tech companies, most of which are based in the…

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Walmart's Exclusive Nintendo Switch With Red Joy-Con Bundle Is Too Sweet to Skip

Nintendo Switch Bundle with Mario Red Joy-Con, $20 Nintendo eShop Credit, & Carrying Case | $300 | Walmart

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Apple Music Award Design Features Apple's Custom Silicon Wafer

The inaugural Apple Music awards take place tomorrow at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, and in typical Apple fashion, the company has designed a series of unique vinyl-inspired awards to be presented to the winners.


Each award features a polished sheet of glass and a machined and anodized aluminum body, between which is suspended Apple's custom 12-inch silicon wafer – the same chips that power the company's iPhones and iPads, and included in the commemorative design as a "symbolic gesture," says Apple.
The wafers start as a perfect 12-inch disc of silicon with nanometer level flatness. Copper layers are deposited and patterned by ultraviolet lithography to create connections between billions of transistors. The result of this multi-month process, before it is sliced into hundreds of individual chips, is stunning and distinctive. In a symbolic gesture, the same chips which power the devices that put the world’s music at your fingertips sit at the very heart of the ‌Apple Music‌ Awards.
The ‌Apple Music‌ Awards will kick off with a bespoke performance from Billie Eilish, whose full-length debut album WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? was the most played album on ‌Apple Music‌ this year.

Eilish will be awarded ‌Apple Music‌'s Album of the Year as the most streamed album of 2019, with more than a billion streams on ‌Apple Music‌. Billie will also receive the award for Songwriter of the Year, which will go to both her and her brother FINNEAS.

Also during the event, the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award will be presented to Lizzo, while the Song of the Year award will go to Lil Nas X, for the track "Old Town Road."

This ‌Apple Music‌ Awards will be streamed live around the world on Wednesday, December 4 at 6:30 p.m. PST. More information on the ‌Apple Music‌ Awards is available in the Apple Newsroom.


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