Articles by Joe Wituschek

Twitter follows Facebook and Instagram with a permanent suspension of the President.

What you need to know

Twitter has permanently suspended Donald Trump from its platform.
The company says the decision comes after a close review of content on his account.

A day after placing at least a 12-hour lock on President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, the company has announced that, after a close review of recent tweets from the President and the context around them, they are permanently suspending the account from the social media platform.

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January…

Apple Music on Android has received a huge update.

What you need to know

Apple Music has been updated for Android.
It brings the app experience in line with Apple devices running iOS 14.
New features include updated search, a new Now Playing experience, and social sharing.

Reported by 9to5Google, version 3.4 of Apple Music on Android has been released, bringing a number of enhancements to the app that rolled out to Apple devices with the release of iOS 14.

Per the update section on the Google Play Store:

This update includes Listen Now – an all-new home for Apple Music, an all-new search experience, an enhanced playback experience featuring Autoplay, Crossfade, sharing to Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat Stories, and improved app performance.

In addition to a redesign, the menu has been updated as well. The “For You” tab has been updated to “Listen Now,” and search has been added to the menu.

With the update comes a redesign of the app, as originally outlined by Andro…

House Democrats want major changes that could impact the big four tech companies.

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A Democratic congressional staff report is making the rounds.
The 450-page report details the House Antitrust Committee’s findings on its investigation.
The report recommends sweeping changes that could impact Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

Update, October 6, 2020 (8:25 pm ET): Apple has responded, saying that it “vehemently disagrees” with the report and that developers are the “primary beneficiaries” of the App Store.

Reported by CNBC, a Democratic congressional staff report, after its 16-month antitrust investigation which included the testimonies of some of the biggest CEOs in the technology industry, is recommending major changes to antitrust laws that could have major impacts to companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

According to the report, the staff found that each of the four businesses currently has “monopoly power” that needs to be brought under…

Add Pennsylvania to the list of U.S. states using Apple and Google’s contact tracing tech.

What you need to know

Pennsylvania has launched its own contact tracing app.
COVID Alert PA is built on Apple and Google’s Exposure Notification technology.
The app does not track your location or collect your personal information.

In a press release on its government website, Pennsylvania has officially rolled out COVID Alert PA, its COVID-19 contact tracing app built on the Exposure Notification technology developed by Apple and Google

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf says that the pandemic has proven that the state is most successful when everyone is working together to fight against the coronavirus and believes that the COVID Alert PA app will help everyone do their part.

“The last seven months have shown that we are most successful when we unite against COVID-19 and work together for the common good, and I am proud to be here with Dr. Levine to announce an important new technology …

TikTok’s roller coaster in the United States continues.

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TikTok’s talks with the United States government have increased recently.
The Chinese government’s actions to prevent the sale to a U.S. company served as a catalyst.
ByteDance is looking for a way to avoid having to sell all of its U.S. operations.

Reported by The Wall Street Journal, ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is in talks with the United States to potentially avoid having to sell its operations in the country.

TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance Ltd., is discussing with the U.S. government possible arrangements that would allow the popular video-sharing app to avoid a full sale of its U.S. operations, according to people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, talks with the United States accelerated after the Chinese government made a sale to a United States company more difficult.

Discussions around such an option have risen in prominence since the Chinese governme…

TikTok is mentally preparing itself to shut down in the United States.

What you need to know

ByteDance is asking TikTok engineers to prepare for a ban in the United States.
The company is also preparing compensation for United States employees.
Such a plan will only be necessary if a sale of U.S. operations falls through.

ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, is making contingency plans in case it needs to shut down operations in the United States.

Reported by Reuters, the company has told engineers of the app to prepare for a shutdown of U.S. operations, even as the app is rumored to be close to a sale to companies like Microsoft, Walmart, and Oracle. Bytedance may be choosing to sell the U.S. operations of its app to one of the companies as early as Friday.

ByteDance has been ordered by President Donald Trump to divest TikTok in the United States, amid security concerns over the personal data it handles. Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp are among U.S. companies vying to acq…

Congress may be coming for big tech soon.

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Representative David Cicilline gave an interview on Wednesday.
The congressman, who led last month’s antitrust hearing with tech CEOs, says Congress must take action.
According to Cicilline, the antitrust investigation has proven all four companies abused their power.

Representative David Cicilline, who led the antitrust hearing that heard from the CEOs of Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, is preparing to deliver his recommendations about reigning in the technology company as soon as next month.

Reported by Bloomberg, Cicilline said in an interview on Wednesday that Congress’s yearlong investigation has, for him, confirmed that all four companies are abusing their market power and that Congress must act against them.

“All of these companies engage in behavior which is deeply disturbing and requires Congress to take action,” said Cicilline, the chairman of the House antitrust panel conducting the inquiry. “Th…

The administration is rethinking a full ban of the app.

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The Trump administration is walking back a full ban of WeChat.
Officials are instead looking at a partial ban for U.S. users only.
Apple would still be able to offer the app in the Chinese App Store.

The Trump administration may be walking back its ban on WeChat.

Reported by Bloomberg, senior administration officials have been reaching out to a number of U.S. companies, including Apple, to reassure them that they will still be able to do business with WeChat in China.

In recent days, senior administration officials have been reaching out to some companies, realizing that the impact of an all-out ban on the popular app, owned by China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., could be devastating for U.S. technology, retail, gaming, telecommunications and other industries, people familiar with the discussions said.

Trump had previously announced that U.S. companies would be blocked from doing business with Tencen…

See how Apple and Google came together to build their COVID-19 tracing solution.

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A new report from CNBC details how Apple and Google worked together on contact tracing.
The report shows how both companies started their own projects initially.
It then goes on to show how the rivals came together.

A new report from CNBC has given a behind the scenes look at how a few employees took the idea and, within weeks, had brought together typically rival companies to work together on perhaps one of the most important joint endeavors they will ever participate in.

According to the report, the idea for a contact tracing solution from Apple came to the attention of Myoung Cha, an Apple executive who is in charge of the business side of the company’s health team. She went to work with a small group of location services and privacy experts.

“Cha and a small team at Apple were already exploring methods of using smartphones for contact tracing. The early team included R…