Verizon and AT&T in the US have reportedly agreed to delay a planned rollout of a new 5G frequency band, according to the Wall Street Journal. The delay comes after the Federal Aviation Administration expressed concerns about “potential interference with key cockpit safety systems.” The expansion was scheduled to take place on December 5.
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Dozens of tech giants have banded together in a bid to boost workplace diversity across Silicon Valley. Partners in the initiative include Apple, Google, Snap, and Twitter.
Companies signed up to the Catalyze Tech coalition each agree to take specific actions within their recruitment and supplier appointment processes.
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Yesterday’s Facebook outage – which took down Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp as well as the main service – resulted from a mistake by the company’s own network engineers.
The mistake led to all of Facebook’s services being inaccessible, with one analogy likening it to a failure in the “air traffic control” services for network traffic …
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is calling on carriers to implement better security protections against SIM-swap and port-out attacks.
These attacks are a common way for criminals to carry out identity theft, and take over anything from an Apple ID to a bank account …
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Despite widespread support for a federal privacy law across US citizens, businesses, civil rights groups, and even politicians, efforts to create one appear to have stalled.
Congress now appears to be placing its hopes in FTC regulation instead …
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All four of the main UK mobile carriers have now announced plans to reintroduce roaming charges for customers traveling within Europe, following Brexit …
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As Apple’s plan for staff to return to the office are again delayed, a new survey shows that two-thirds of US employees seek continued work-from-home arrangements; most of them would be willing to take a pay cut in return; and many would quit their jobs if ordered to return to the office full-time.
Apple announced a hybrid working model, with employees able to work from home on two fixed days a week, subject to line-management approval. Some, however, say they want greater flexibility, and would leave the company if they don’t get it …
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One of the many worrying developments in the tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan is that US face recognition and fingerprint devices and databases have been seized by the Taliban. They were apparently left behind during the hurried withdrawal of US forces, leaving coalition collaborators at risk from reprisals.
However, a human rights organization says there are measures Afghans can take to try to protect themselves, and that Face ID can play a role in this.
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If you are one of those who dislike the switch in business model of apps from outright purchase to monthly or annual subscriptions, you’re going to hate the latest development…
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The Twitter photo-cropping feature, which uses machine learning to decide which part of a photo to show in user feeds, was accused of being racist and sexist last year, when it was found more likely to crop out Black people and women.
The company announced a bug bounty for anyone able to prove biases in its algorithms, and has now named the winners, who variously proved a number of biases …
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All the main UK mobile carriers promised they had no plans to reintroduce European roaming charges after Brexit. EE was the first to do a U-turn, and now Vodafone has followed suit…
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Amazon has now launched IMDb TV iPhone and iPad apps, letting US Apple users easily stream a mix of popular TV shows and Amazon originals at no cost. An Android app is also available.
The app will also provide early access to Universal movies under a recently signed deal …
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An iPhone camera embedded into the display is likely Apple’s long-term plan as it works toward its ambition of an iPhone being effectively “a single slab of glass.” That possibility got a step closer today as two early players both claim to have improved on the fledgling technology.
We saw some first attempts more than a year ago, but the results weren’t very impressive …
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Apple’s plans to require most workers to return to the office for three days a week may not reflect the new reality, suggest academics.
They say that the trend of people wanting to continue with full-time remote working arrangements may now be irreversible …
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The EU digital vaccine passport goes live today, allowing travelers from all 27 European Union countries to use their smartphone to prove that they have been vaccinated, have tested negative, or have recovered from COVID-19. It’s available for both iPhone and Android smartphones …
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A number of high-profile British actors, artists, and authors are calling for a UK gadget tax of anywhere from 1% to 3% to “fairly reward creators and performers in making a living from their content.” They have dubbed the proposal “the Smart Fund.”
The tax would be applied to any device that can be used to download and store “creative content,” so would apply to iPhones, iPads, and Macs …
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A significant number of Western Digital My Book Live NAS owners are reporting that their drives have been totally erased. This has been done remotely by unknown attackers …
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Act surprised: Some Brits will face EU roaming charges for the first time since 2017, as EE is the first carrier to break its promise that nothing would change after Brexit…
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London Underground mobile coverage is being extended to all stations and tunnels by the end of 2024. However, at present only 4G (LTE) coverage is guaranteed, and it will be up to individual carriers to decide whether or not to offer 5G support too.
Transport for London says five of the busiest tube stations will get full coverage by the end of next year …
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Smartphone and smartwatch data provided crucial evidence that led yesterday to a man confessing to murdering his wife. The data showed that his story about what happened could not have been true…
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Average mobile data usage now exceeds 10GB per month, says a new report. The increase in data usage is partly driven by growth in 5G devices, with 5G users set to double this year.
But two further factors explain the surprisingly high figure, says mobile network company Ericsson…
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Market intelligence company Canalys is forecasting that global smartphone shipments will grow 12% this year, despite challenges posed by the chip shortage. However, it says that phone makers will need to choose their priority countries and regions…
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The US Senate has approved $52B in funding to boost US chip production, as part of an effort to address the global chip shortage, and to reduce dependence on China. Apple was one of the companies lobbying for the move.
In total, the US Innovation and Competition Act provides almost $250B in funding for US manufacturing, with $52B of it specifically allocated to chip fabrication. However, it is as yet unclear whether it will also pass in the House …
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Global chip shortages could last significantly longer than expected, continuing until at least the middle of next year, and possibly into 2023. The warning was given by contract manufacturing giant Flex …
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