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Wednesday, 11 March 2020

$2 Billion Wasn't Enough to Keep Magic Leap Afloat, So Now It Wants to Find a Buyer

After years of drumming up ridiculous hype, producing a mediocre product, and raising an absurd amount of money (a little over $2 billion, to be a little more precise), augmented-reality start-up Magic Leap is reportedly looking to sell itself. According to Bloomberg, a sale could net the company more than $10 billion—…

This Excellent Art Show Is a 'Head' Above the Rest

Get it? Because it’s all heads.

Police Used Facial Recognition to Arrest Over 1,100 People in India Last Month

Shortly after one of the worst riots New Delhi has seen in decades, law enforcement agencies in India used facial recognition technology to identify more than 1,100 people who allegedly took part in those riots at the end of February. India’s home minister, Amit Shah, told parliament that law enforcement provided its…

Apple Limits AirPods and Apple Watch Try-Ons in Retail Stores to Prevent Coronavirus Spread

Apple is scaling back Apple Watch and AirPods try-on options at some of its retail stores as part of an effort to cut down on the spread of coronavirus, reports Business Insider.

Customers can still ask to try on ‌Apple Watch‌ and ‌AirPods‌ models, but employees have been told not to offer try-ons proactively or to encourage them. Limited try-ons are part of Apple's broader efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 1,000 people in the United States.

As was reported earlier this week, Apple has ordered extra cleanings of display products throughout the day, introduced hand sanitizing stations, and has reduced the number of chairs at the Genius Bar and cubes in the Forum area to add additional space between customers.

In areas with more severe coronavirus outbreaks, such as the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, Today at Apple sessions have been shut down entirely. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that Apple is indeed limiting crowding in stores, but declined to specifically comment on try-ons.

Apple Stores in the United all remain open at the current time, but in other areas hit hard by the coronavirus, Apple has closed retail locations. Stores in China were closed for much of February, and right now, all stores in Italy are closed.

Related Roundup: Apple Stores

Tags: Apple retail, COVID-19 Coronavirus

This article, "Apple Limits AirPods and Apple Watch Try-Ons in Retail Stores to Prevent Coronavirus Spread" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Trump Administration Asks Tech Companies for Help Combating Coronavirus

The White House on Wednesday asked tech companies to help fight coronavirus disinformation while also helping the government with its response to the growing outbreak, reports Politico.

The Trump Administration asked Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and IBM for help in a meeting that saw representatives from each of the companies speaking with White House officials and representatives from government agencies that include Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Labor Department, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, and others.

Coordination efforts and information sharing were key topics during the meeting, with the White House urging tech companies to work together to remove harmful content. Companies have also been asked to use their "technical expertise" to help those "grappling with the fallout from the coronavirus," and to provide the government with any data that can help manage the spread of the virus.

The White House is working to release a database of research related to the coronavirus and wants tech companies to help medical researchers analyze it for insights with AI techniques.

"Cutting edge technology companies and major online platforms will play a critical role in this all-hands-on-deck effort," U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios, who convened he conference call, said in a statement afterward. "Today's meeting outlined an initial path forward and we intend to continue this important conversation."

In the United States, the coronavirus outbreak has led to the closure of schools, concerts, sporting events, and more, and today, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.

Tech companies have already been working to combat false information about the coronavirus. Facebook and Twitter have disallowed coronavirus related ads, and Amazon has banned marked up health products like hand sanitizer and masks along with preventing companies from selling items related to the coronavirus.

Apple is rejecting coronavirus apps that aren't provided by health organizations and government institutions, and has launched a coronavirus hub with reliable news information in the Apple News app.

Apple and other tech companies are also having most of their employees work from home for the foreseeable future to cut down on the spread of the virus, and Apple is providing unlimited sick leave to hourly employees become sick with COVID-19.

Note: Due to the political or social 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: COVID-19 Coronavirus

This article, "Trump Administration Asks Tech Companies for Help Combating Coronavirus" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

from MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - All Stories https://ift.tt/2W4xulx