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CCTV cameras on London’s Westminster Bridge. | Photo credit should read TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images

Live facial recognition cameras will be deployed across London, with the city’s Metropolitan Police announcing today that the technology has moved past the trial stage and is ready to be permanently integrated into everyday policing.

The cameras will be placed in locations popular with shoppers and tourists, like Stratford’s Westfield shopping center and the West End, reports BBC News. Each camera will scan for faces contained in “bespoke” watch lists, which the Met says will predominantly contain individuals “wanted for serious and violent offences.”

When the camera flags an individual, police officers will approach and ask them to verify their identity. If they’re on the watch...

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Image: The Verge/Alex Castro

DirecTV fears that one of its satellites in orbit might blow up soon, and it’s gearing up to move it to safety. Due to a problem with the satellite’s batteries, the satellite might burst apart at the end of February. If it did explode while in its current orbit, there's a chance it could damage active satellites nearby, which is why the company would like to get it out of the way.

The satellite on the verge of bursting is Spaceway-1, a vehicle built by Boeing launched in 2005, as first reported by Space News. Spaceway-1 has been orbiting along a path known as geostationary orbit, 22,000 miles above Earth. There, satellites match the orbit of the planet and appear to hover over the same patch of sky at all times. For most of its life, the...

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By Beth Schultz
From the keynote stage, hear where the industry is heading from executives at Amazon Connect, Cisco, Microsoft, Slack, and Zoom.

Cord cutting continued to set records in 2019 despite years of cable and broadcast executives trying to claim the trend wasn't actually happening. Now that they're finally acknowledging the threat is real, many of these same executives are doubling down on the kind of behavior that brought them to this point in the first place.

For example, Comcast's Q4 earnings report released this week shows the company saw a 3.2% drop in traditional cable TV subscribers in 2019, double the 1.6% loss rate the company saw 2018. How does the company plan to tackle the customer exodus driven by ramped up streaming competition from the likes of Disney, Apple, and others in 2020? Why even more price hikes, of course:

Keep in mind, US consumers already pay some of the highest rates for fixed and mobile broadband in the developed world. These latest price hikes are occurring the same time Comcast's cable division CAPEX dropped 10.5% in 2019. You know, the exact opposite of what the Ajit Pai FCC promised when it obliterated FCC authority over telecom providers at lobbyist behest.

This isn't the first time Comcast has made it clear that its strategy to tackle the rise in streaming competition and fleeing users is to just double down on price hikes. Company executives have noted several times that any money they lose on television, they simply make up for on the broadband side:

"Watson added that while Comcast tries to keep customers through a variety of programming and broadband packages, but added that when a customer leaves as a result of price, the impact is actually favorable to the company. “We segment the marketplace,” Watson said, adding that when a low-end customer drops video service over price, but keeps their broadband service – at a higher monthly charge – the company makes out better.

Oddly the reason this is possible is something most analysts and trade magazines don't much like to talk about for whatever reason: Comcast's growing monopoly over broadband and its stranglehold over state and federal regulators and lawmakers.

As US telcos give up on residential broadband, they're giving giants like Comcast and Spectrum an even greater monopoly over faster broadband across massive swaths of the country. So when users in those markets cut the TV cord and move to streaming, Comcast's free to sock them with rate hikes, nonsensical fees, and bogus usage caps and overage surcharges. Because there's no competition and currently no federal regulators looking out for consumers, there's no penalty for this behavior. The telecom lobby has even tried to ban states from stepping in to fill this vacuum and protect users from monopoly harm.

While 5G is often bandied about as a free market panacea for what ails the US telecom sector (ie "we don't need to fix this problem because amazing wireless will soon arrive to save the day"), many of these same problems plague wireless as well (regulatory capture, competition eroding consolidation, regional fiber/backhaul monopolies, etc.). In short, without healthy competition or functioning regulatory oversight you shouldn't put too much stock in giants like Comcast being forced to give much of a damn anytime soon.

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Google has introduced a new service that aims to centralize, manage, and secure sensitive information like API keys, passwords, certificates, and other important data. Google Cloud Secret Manager is designed to help tackle secret sprawl, a significant barrier to application security that is caused by poor management of sensitive authentication data across an application stack.

• Front is taking a team based approach to email and combines a company's social media, email, texts and other messages into a shared inbox that an entire team has access to.
• It just raised $59 million in Series C funding in a slightly unusual round that included leading software executives from Zoom, Atlassian, Okta and Qualtrics.
• Here's the pitch deck Front used to convince execs like Zoom CEO Eric Yuan to participate. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Email is used in just about every workplace, in just about every industry. Email startup Front wants to change how people use their work email, and in the process take on heavyweights like Microsoft Outlook and Gmail. 

Front CEO Mathilde Collin thinks the goal is broader than just changing email — it's about changing how people work. And she and her team just got a huge vote of confidence from several prominent software executives in the tech industry, who also focus on the future of work. 

Earlier this week Front announced that it raised $59 million in Series C funding, in the round a little bit different than most. It included funding from industry leaders similarly focused on the future of work, including Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, whose videoconferencing startup skyrocketed after seeing one of the most successful public debuts last year. 

In addition to Yuan, executives from Okta, Atlassian, and Qualtrics participated. That includes Atlassian co-CEO and cofounder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian President Jay Simons, Okta COO and cofounder Frederic Kerrest, Qualtrics cofounder and CEO Ryan Smith, and Qualtrics co-founder and CTO Jared Smith.

"If you're doing a software company or thinking about the future of work, I don't think you can pick a bigger market than email," Collin told Business Insider.

Collin said before this round, she didn't know it was possible to fundraise this way, but she'd been in touch with several of those executives for years and all had shown interest in Front. What appealed to them was the sheer size of the market Front is going after, she says.

Front takes a team-based approach to email. It combines a company's social media, email, texts and other messages into a shared inbox that an entire team has access to. The goal is to make it easier to work together and communicate with customers.

Although the company declined to share a specific number, it said its valuation has grown four-fold from its last round 2 years ago. It now claims 5,500 customers, including companies like MailChimp, Y Combinator, Shopify, Cisco Meraki, eTix, and Stripe. 

Here is the pitch deck Front used to sign companies on for its Series C round:

Market-leading software developer in the business intelligence and communication space, Tollring, recently announced the entry of a new executive into its C-Suite. The company, known form market-leading call recording, analytics, and anti-fraud solutions, has hired Graham Evans (pictured above) to lead the new business strategy in Asia Pacific.

Based in Australia (Melbourne), Graham will be bringing a world of experience and insight into the role, gathered from more than 20 years of expertise in marketing, sales, and product solutions in the telecommunications industry. Previous, Evans has worked with Vonage, M2 Telecommunications, Vocus, Hutchison Telecom, and AAPT.

Strengthening the Market Strategy

Tollring’s decision to appoint Graham comes as part of the company’s ambitious plans for growth and development around the world. The brand has laid the foundations for the year ahead with an extensive reinvestment in processes and people, intended to drive excellence for channel partners and internal team members. The entry of Graham Evans into Tollring is part of a 20% increase to the Tollring headcount over the last 12 months.

CEO of Tollring, Tony Martino, noted that the company is delighted to have someone of Graham’s experience and background in its leadership team. Evans’ background will help Tollring to deliver on an exciting product roadmap while supporting the company’s aggressive plans for expansion. Graham has extensive knowledge of how businesses operate across APAC and offers expertise in sales, finance, product, marketing, and more.

Graham has just recently helped the Vonage brand to launch in the Australian region with a new UC solution aimed at the SMB market.

An Exciting Step Forward

Commenting on his new role, Graham noted that he is thrilled to be joining the Tollring brand at a time when organisations are making a more aggressive move towards the cloud. Businesses of all sizes are seeing traditional business models being disrupted and challenged with innovative digital-first services. Additionally, customer experience is becoming a significant differentiator for a lot of companies. Tollring has precisely what the customers and the channel are looking for, according to Evans. The iCall Suite solution, in particular, delivers fantastic customer insights, along with industry-leading protection from telecoms fraud.

Before working with Vonage, Graham spent more than 5 years at Vocus, as a General Manager of the Commander Business unit, focusing on Marketing, sales, and product teams. His extensive background knowledge in the communications market and his experience in helping companies to grow will deliver excellent opportunities for Tollring going forward.

 

• The White House broke its silence Thursday on reports that Saudia Arabia was likely behind the hacking of Jeff Bezos' phone.
• The White House called Saudi Arabia an "important ally" and said it doesn't have any additional information on the hacking allegations but it's taking the situation "seriously."
• The spokesperson did not say whether the US plans to investigate the hacking, which the United Nations called for on Wednesday.

• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The White House weighed in Thursday on reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was likely behind the hacking of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone.

"Saudi Arabia is obviously an important ally," Hogan Gidley, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary, told reporters.

"I'm aware of the reports … I don't have any more information than that. Obviously we take this situation seriously," he said.

On Tuesday, The Guardian reported that an international investigation had concluded that Bezos' phone was most likely hacked via a video link sent in a May 2018 WhatsApp message from an account belonging to the Saudi Crown Prince. Cybersecurity experts hired by Bezos to investigate how details of his affair were leaked to the media also reported similar findings.

On Wednesday, the United Nations called for an "immediate investigation by US and other relevant authorities" after it published a report concluding with "medium to high confidence" that bin Salman's WhatsApp account initiated the hack.

Gidley did not say whether the US plans to take up such an investigation.

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• Bret Taylor has risen rapidly through the ranks at Salesforce after it acquired his word processor startup Quip for $750 million. He is now the cloud software company's chief operating officer. 
• Taylor attributes his success to two factors: dedicating himself to the job and being realistic about what it's like to be acquired, he tells Insider's Nicholas Carlson in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week. 
• "When we were deciding to sell the company we were like, this is a culture that I could be a part of, and most importantly that all the employees of this Quip really felt like they could be a part of," Taylor told Carlson. 
• Taylor also highlighted Salesforce's platform and culture of innovation as a reason many entrepreneurs who join the company choose to stay. 
• Click here to read more BI Prime stories.

Bret Taylor has left his mark on every tech company he's worked at, including the company he's currently at — Salesforce. He helped lead Facebook through its 2012 IPO and is credited with creating the like button. Earlier, at Google, he was on team that created Google Maps. 

At Salesforce, Taylor has risen rapidly through the ranks after joining the cloud software company in 2016 when it acquired his online word processor startup Quip for $750 million. As soon as he joined, he reported to CEO Marc Benioff, a rare thing for a startup founder whose company was just acquired. 

A year later, in 2017, he made the leap to the C-Suite, becoming president and chief product officer. Just a few months ago he became the company's chief operating officer, taking on a greater leadership role with more influence over the future of Salesforce.  Taylor's rapid rise at Salesforce is not over, either: Experts expect Taylor to take more of a leadership role going forward, alongside co-CEO Keith Block. 

In an interview with Insider Inc. Global Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Carlson at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, Taylor attributed his success to a combination of dedicating himself to the job and being realistic about what it's like to have your company acquired. 

"My philosophy is I just lean into the job that I'm doing ...When we sold to Salesforce, it was with good intentions, we're doing it because we want to be a part of this company and help grow it ... it wasn't transactional, it was based on a premise of trying to make something." Taylor said. 

He said his co-founder from Quip, Kevin Gibbs, is also still at Salesforce and both their roles have expanded in the time since. Many other Quip employees are also still at Salesforce, 4 years after the acquisition, he added. 

Benioff also particularly wanted to work with Taylor, previously telling Business Insider that he is "one of the absolute rising stars of our industry."

During the process of discussing an acquisition by Salesforce, Taylor said he focused a lot on seeing if both companies had a similar culture. He added that they saw an alignment with Quip's goals and Salesforce's goals and realized they could grow Quip a lot faster by being part of Salesforce. 

"When we were deciding to sell the company we were like, this is a culture that I could be a part of, and most importantly that all the employees of Quip really felt like they could be a part of. I think people undervalue that. They sort of look at a price tag, they'll look at other attributes of the transaction," Taylor said. 

Taylor also said his experience with acquisitions — both having a company get acquired and being at the company doing the acquiring — gave him a realistic perspective about what it would be like. Being acquired by Salesforce meant big changes for Quip and discussing those changes ahead of time made a big difference, he said.   

"I think the most successful acquisitions, you really deliberate about what it's going to look like two years from now," he said.

He also highlighted the benefit that Salesforce's platform gives startups and entrepreneurs who join the company. Salesforce's reach opens up many growth opportunities while still preserving a culture of innovation that attracts entrepreneurs. 

"With Salesforce, and I think most thriving technology companies that are really growing, really tried to create an environment and a culture where the best innovators, the best entrepreneurs can have that independence but have a bigger impact because we have a big platform." Taylor said. "And I think that's why so many of the entrepreneurs who have joined Salesforce are still here."

Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at pzaveri@businessinsider.com or Signal at 925-364-4258. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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NOW WATCH: People are still debating the pink or grey sneaker, 2 years after it went viral. Here's the real color explained.

We've noted for some time now how Verizon desperately wants to pivot from dull old broadband provider to sexy, Millennial-focused, video advertising juggernaut. To accomplish this task, Verizon acquired both Yahoo and AOL, smushed them together, then hoped this would be enough to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook. The effort distracted the company from upgrading or repairing much of its fixed-line broadband footprint, since investing in networks isn't profitable enough, quickly enough, for many on Wall Street.

But Verizon's pivot hasn't been going so well. The company's Go90 video platform, which was supposed to be the cornerstone of the company's effort, recently fell flat on its face after Verizon spent $1.2 billion on the effort. And the company's Oath ad network, the combination of AOL and Yahoo, hasn't been doing much better.

Undaunted, Verizon's back again with a new effort nobody asked for. The company this week launched a new privacy-centric browser it's calling OneSearch. According to a Verizon press release, this is all just part of Verizon's "commitment to transparency and privacy," and a reflection of the way the company has led the industry on privacy "for decades":

"In support of our commitment to trust and transparency, we are excited to launch OneSearch, an innovative new online search experience built for privacy-minded searchers...This is in line with our strong commitment to lead the industry over the last couple decades,” added Albers. “We are excited to evolve further, along with our partners and users, delivering a brand-new, privacy-minded experience for the search ecosystem."

There's clearly some awareness on Verizon's part its brand is a bit toxic on this subject, as you can't find any mention that this is even a Verizon effort outside of the privacy policy. Superficially, the engine (which largely just pulls from Bing results) works as intended, limiting ad trackers and encrypting users' URL and search queries on demand. The problem is that many of Verizon's other promises (like its promise not to use the engine to build detailed profiles on you) requires some significant trust in Verizon, a company that has, well, the exact opposite of that:

"In 2016, Verizon struck a $1.35 settlement with the FCC for modifying wireless user data packets to covertly track users around the internet without telling them. It took two years for security researchers to even identify what Verizon was doing, and several more before Verizon finally let users opt out of being tracked in such a fashion.

Verizon has also found itself at the center of a privacy scandal involving consumer location data, which has been hoovered up and sold to a laundry list of often dubious third parties for the better part of the last decade. While Verizon has promised that it stopped collecting such data, that claim has yet to be independently verified by state or federal regulators."

That's before you even get to Verizon's ultra-cozy, no questions asked relationship with the NSA, which eroded consumer trust even further.

Verizon has also lobbied tirelessly to prevent anybody from holding it accountable for these violations. In 2017, Verizon lobbied aggressively to convince Congress to kill some modest broadband privacy rules at the FCC (requiring more transparency over what data is collected and sold) before they could even take effect. Later that same year they successfully lobbied the Trump FCC to effectively neuter its oversight of broadband providers entirely, creating a consumer protection vacuum. Verizon then lobbied to ban states from filling that vacuum and protecting consumers.

Verizon, of course, is trying to get out ahead of renewed calls for federal and state privacy laws, which wouldn't be occurring in the first place if Verizon hadn't been such a reckless jackass on the privacy front. Like countless other companies worried about these laws, Verizon is trying to fix its image as a bad actor on the privacy space ("look mom, privacy laws aren't needed because we're a model citizen!"), in the process hoping most of you have the memory of a goldfish.

Granted Verizon's new project has another major obstacle: Verizon itself. Nearly every time Verizon tries to wander outside of its core competency (lobbying the government to crush competition and running networks) it fails (see: Go90, its app store, its ISIS payment platform, Sugarstring tech news site, etc.) because as a government-pampered mono/duopolist, competition, adaptation, and innovation are largely alien constructs.

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Target's CISO is a member of a Twin Cities-based group of CISOs formed to outline threats companies see.

Google’s strategy for bringing new customers to its cloud is to focus on the enterprise and specific verticals like healthcare, energy, financial service and retail, among others. Its healthcare efforts recently experienced a bit of a setback, with Epic now telling its customers that it is not moving forward with its plans to support Google Cloud, but in return, Google now got to announce two new customers in the travel business: Lufthansa Group, the world’s largest airline group by revenue, and Sabre, a company that provides backend services to airlines, hotels and travel aggregators.

For Sabre, Google Cloud is now the preferred cloud provider. Like a lot of companies in the travel (and especially the airline) industry, Sabre runs plenty of legacy systems and is currently in the process of modernizing its infrastructure. To do so, it has now entered a 10-year strategic partnership with Google “to improve operational agility while developing new services and creating a new marketplace for its airline,  hospitality and travel agency customers.” The promise, here, too, is that these new technologies will allow the company to offer new travel tools for its customers.

When you hear about airline systems going down, it’s often Sabre’s fault, so just being able to avoid that would already bring a lot of value to its customers.

“At Google we build tools to help others, so a big part of our mission is helping other companies realize theirs. We’re so glad that Sabre has chosen to work with us to further their mission of building the future of travel,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai . “Travelers seek convenience, choice and value. Our capabilities in AI and cloud computing will help Sabre deliver more of what consumers want.”

The same holds true for Google’s deal with Lufthansa Group, which includes German flag carrier Lufthansa itself, but also subsidiaries like Austrian, Swiss, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines, as well as a number of technical and logistics companies that provide services to various airlines.

“By combining Google Cloud’s technology with Lufthansa Group’s operational expertise, we are driving the digitization of our operation even further,” said Dr. Detlef Kayser, member of the executive board of the Lufthansa Group. “This will enable us to identify possible flight irregularities even earlier and implement countermeasures at an early stage.”

Lufthansa Group has selected Google as a strategic partner to “optimized its operations performance.” A team from Google will work directly with Lufthansa to bring this project to life. The idea here is to use Google Cloud to build tools that help the company run its operations as smoothly as possible and to provide recommendations when things go awry due to bad weather, airspace congestion or a strike (which seems to happen rather regularly at Lufthansa these days).

Delta recently launched a similar platform to help its employees.

Leaders from Microsoft and Google called for AI regulation, though both disagree on the EU's proposed moratorium on facial recognition. IBM launched a policy group to help shape regulation.

Avaya, one of the market leaders in customer experience and communication solutions, recently announced a new update to its leadership team. Starting the new year on a positive note, the Avaya company is ready to launch into continued growth and new opportunities with Steve Joyner as its new Managing Director for the UK and Ireland (pictured above). Steve Joyner will be reporting to Avaya’s Vice President of Europe, Ronald Rubens, and will champion the customer-first culture of the brand.

Responsible for helping to support and enhance Avaya’s journey into the cloud-centric communications environment, Joyner will play a crucial role in the ongoing evolution of the brand. His team will support the development of positive digital transformation journeys for brands. Additionally, Joyner will be assisting in maintaining and improving the excellent reputation that Avaya has in the UK and Ireland region.

Celebrating Joyner’s New Position at Avaya

Steve Joyner has been a long-term fixture at Avaya. He began working at the company after the acquisition of Nortel back in 2009. Over the years, Joyner has held multiple positions in sales, engineering, and channel roles across both the UK and the Middle East. His extensive 30-year career has made Joyner an excellent addition to any leadership team.

Before starting as the UK and Ireland Managing Director, Joyner was working as the European channel lead for the company. In that role, he was responsible for leading a team of channel managers to drive growth through a diversified network of resellers and business partners. Joyner played an essential role in improving the various channel programs available around the globe and expanding the channel business.

An Exciting Step Forward for Avaya

Commenting on his new role, Steve said that he was thrilled to be moving to a new position in Avaya during such an important part in the company’s evolution. The brand has continued to lead the market in employee and customer experience over recent years. In 2020, Avaya is planning to accomplish even more, particularly following the new collaboration with RingCentral. Steve is looking forward to working with the team to support the growth of Avaya’s UK and Ireland channel.

According to Ronald Rubens, Steve’s appointment to the position of managing director comes at a thrilling time in the Avaya roadmap. With the transition to the cloud well underway and the introduction of Avaya Cloud Office, the company is in the midst of a significant transformation. Rubens believes that Steve’s impressive background and industry experience will make him “instrumental” to bringing the global cloud-first strategy into the UK and Ireland.

 

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The latest beta version of WhatsApp’s Android app has introduced a long-anticipated dark mode, WABetaInfo is reporting. “Dark Theme” is available to all beta users with version 2.20.13, and can be enabled in the “Chats” section of the app’s settings menu. You have the option of turning WhatsApp’s dark mode permanently on, permanently off, or else having it dictated by Android’s system-wide dark mode or battery saver settings.

Proponents claim that dark modes make app interfaces easier on the eyes in dark environments, and they can also improve the battery life of devices with OLED displays. Purists are likely to object to the fact that WhatsApp’s dark mode is more gray than absolute black, but it’s still a lot darker than the app’s...

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• Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders has a $150 billion, four-point plan that would fundamentally transform how the internet works in the United States.
• The plan would effectively turn the internet into a publicly-provided utility, similar to how water and power are distributed.
• The broadest goal of the proposal is to provide every American with access to affordable high-speed internet. "High-speed internet service must be treated as the new electricity," the proposal says, "a public utility that everyone deserves as a basic human right."
• Here's how Bernie thinks it can be done.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled a sweeping $150 billion proposal that would fundamentally reshape how the internet works in the United States.

The plan, dubbed "High-Speed Internet for All," would effectively turn the internet into a public utility along the lines of water and power. "High-speed internet service must be treated as the new electricity," the proposal says, "a public utility that everyone deserves as a basic human right."

To that end, the $150 billion would go to creating "publicly owned and democratically controlled, co-operative, or open access broadband networks." 

Here's how it works:

SEE ALSO: Photos capture how Bernie Sanders went from being a working-class kid in Brooklyn to a top 2020 Democratic presidential candidate

1. Requiring internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast to offer "a Basic Internet Plan that provides quality broadband speeds at an affordable price."

The core of Sanders' high-speed internet plan is to provide internet for everyone in an affordable way.

Its primary method for doing that: FCC regulation.

"The FCC will review prices and regulate rates where necessary, ensuring areas without competition aren't able to run up prices," the plan says. "We will also require providers to offer a basic plan for a regulated rate to all customers, ensuring everyone will be able to affordably connect to the internet."

The "providers" in question are massive media conglomerates like Verizon, Comcast, and Charter. "Bernie will regulate these providers like a utility," it says.

The proposal includes further subsidies for people who qualify for government assistance programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF, and it proposes free broadband in all public housing.

2. Redefining "minimum broadband speeds" so that 100mbps down/10mbps up is the floor.

Calling for "high-speed broadband" doesn't mean much if your definition of "fast" internet is stuck in the past. The current FCC minimum to be considered broadband is 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up. 

It works, and it gets the job done well enough, but it's a slouch compared to many other parts of the world. Under this proposal, the FCC would increase its minimum to 100 Mbps down/10 Mbps up. 

It's a little detail that makes a big difference in the broader plan, as it guarantees a base level of internet speed.

3. Breaking up companies that offer internet service and provide content — like Comcast and Verizon.

Over the past several decades, the telecommunications industry has consolidated into a few major players who provide internet access, and those companies have, in turn, merged with major media companies. The resulting giants will sell you the internet and cable service you use and provide the content that runs on those services. 

Under the Sanders proposal, these conglomerates would be broken apart.

Rather than the FCC, the proposal says Sanders would use "existing antitrust authority" to dismantle "internet service provider and cable monopolies." Moreover, he would "bar service providers from also providing content." 

Comcast, which owns NBC, would likely have to unwind that purchase. AT&T, which owns WarnerMedia (HBO, Turner, Warner Bros.), would likely have to unwind that purchase.

4. Providing $150 billion to create "publicly owned and democratically controlled, co-operative, or open access broadband networks."

While enforcing regulations on major internet service providers, the proposal includes a major expenditure: $150 billion to create "the necessary resilient, modern infrastructure" for high-speed broadband that's widely available and affordable.

The money is part of the broader Green New Deal initiative, and is intended for "municipalities and/or states to build publicly owned and democratically controlled, co-operative, or open access broadband networks."

One major condition is included: Grants from the funding must go "toward creating good-paying union jobs," and come with rigorous standards.

5. Ending data caps and speed throttling.

Another notable detail in the proposal: Putting an end to data caps and speed throttling.

As people stream more content and download larger, higher-definition movies, TV shows, and games, they use more data. Just as that amount has increased, some internet service providers have begun placing caps on users — 200 GB per month, for example. If you go over your cap, there's a chance you'll get slapped with a charge.

In some cases, your provider may even "throttle" your service speed in an attempt to dissuade use. The proposal from the Sanders campaign explicitly calls for the elimination of both practices.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has called for new regulations in the world of AI, highlighting the dangers posed by technology like facial recognition and deepfakes, while stressing that any legislation must balance “potential harms ... with social opportunities.”

“[T]here is no question in my mind that artificial intelligence needs to be regulated. It is too important not to,” writes Pichai in an editorial for The Financial Times. “The only question is how to approach it.”

Although Pichai says new regulation is needed, he advocates a cautious approach that might not see many significant controls placed on AI. He notes that for some products like self-driving cars, “appropriate new rules” should be introduced. But in other areas,...

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Image: Garmin

Garmin’s Tactix Delta is the latest in its lineup of rugged smartwatches built to military standards. New for the Tactix’s fourth generation is a big 1.4-inch display similar to what we saw on the Fenix 6 last year, as well as a power manager feature, which gives you battery life predictions based on which settings you turn on and off.

New for this version of the Tactix is stealth mode, which completely disables storing and sharing of your information, and a kill switch that can be set to erase all device memory. These aren’t entirely new features — they individually appeared in the Instinct Tactical Edition and Marq Commander watches respectively — but considering the security risks GPS tracking in particular can sometimes have, it...

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• Netflix had the largest share of happy employees in the US in 2019, a survey by the anonymous-professional-networking app, Blind, found.
• Nearly 86% percent of respondents who worked at Netflix said they were happy at work, the largest share of any company included in the survey.
• Bloomberg had the next highest share of happy workers.
• Netflix routinely ranks among the most attractive companies for tech workers, but it's also known for a high-performance culture and blunt firings.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Netflix had the largest share of happy employees in the US in 2019, a survey by the anonymous-professional-networking app, Blind, found.

Blind, which requires a work-email address to verify employment at a company, surveyed more than 10,000 of its 3 million users in the US during the month of December, to see how happy they were in their workplaces, and whether they felt they had grown in their careers in the last year.

Nearly 86% percent of respondents who worked at Netflix said they were happy at work, the largest share of any company included in the survey. Bloomberg had the next highest share of happy workers.

Blind also asked its users how much growth they think they had at their workplace in the last year, and weighted the  results based on whether people said they had "significant growth," "moderate growth," or "no growth."

Netflix was the 15th top company measured for employee growth. Bloomberg was No. 1.

Netflix routinely ranks among the most attractive companies for tech workers. But it's also known for a high-performance culture that demands the best from all of its workers, and routinely fires underperformers. 

Business Insider asked Netflix insiders how to get a job interview at the streaming company. See our coverage on BI Prime:

• How to get a job interview at Netflix with the help of employee referrals — and what to avoid doing, according to company insiders: Recommendations from Netflix employees can get prospective candidates noticed by Netflix recruiters. Former employees shared their top tips on getting referrals, and using them to land a job.
• Netflix's 5 toughest job-interview questions, according to company insiders: These are some of the job interview questions prospective candidates should be prepared to answer at any stage of the hiring process.
• The best Netflix teams and roles for entry-level job seekers, according to former employees and current listings: While Netflix doesn't have many entry-level jobs, it does have some opportunities for talented people who are starting their careers.
• The top 10 slides from Netflix's groundbreaking first culture deck that experts say had the most impact: Netflix's culture deck is a must read for prospective candidates. Recruiters explain what sets Netflix's culture apart from other tech companies.

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NOW WATCH: Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns explains why country music is universal

• Samsung's Galaxy S20 series of smartphones is just around the corner, and we've seen plenty of rumors about the design, specs, and cameras. 
• From the looks of it, Samsung fans can expect a fairly typical design and spec refresh. 
• But Samsung is rumored to include a massive 108-megapixel camera with the Galaxy S20, and the Snapdragon 865 chip it's said to use will all but guarantee that it'll have 5G connectivity. 
• Samsung will officially announce the new phone at its "Unpacked" event on February 11.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 rumor mill is at maximum capacity, churning out pretty much every detail we need to get a good idea of what to expect in early 2020. 

Indeed, Samsung is expected to unveil its new Galaxy S phones on February 11, and we've seen some leaks, rumors, and renders from some of the most reliable gadget leakers in the industry. One of the latest rumors settles on the "S20" model name for the upcoming Galaxy phones.

This is what we think we know about the Galaxy S20 so far, and it's looking like a standard design and spec update. There are a couple things that stand out with the camera and what kinds of networks the Galaxy S20 phones will connect. 

We're still waiting for a good rumor from a reliable source for the price tags to expect. For now, we only have the Galaxy S10 price tags to work from, and the price tags in general of high-end Android phones, so we're expecting the Galaxy S20 phones to be priced between $750 and $1,100. 

Here's everything we've heard about the phones so far.

SEE ALSO: Smartphones of the future could work in a completely different way thanks to 5G, and it means you'll rarely have to upgrade

There's said to be a wide variety of Galaxy S20 models.

XDA-Developers' Max Weinbach believes there will be three members of the Galaxy S20 family, with each member getting variants that come with 5G connectivity.

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Samsung Galaxy S20
Samsung Galaxy S20 5G
Samsung Galaxy S20+
Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G

Interestingly, there is no mention of a Galaxy "S20e" model that could come with a lower price tag, slightly fewer features, and a slightly different design than the full-fat S20 models. The Galaxy S10e was one of the most highly acclaimed smartphones of 2019, so it'll be a shame if Samsung doesn't offer something similar in the S20 lineup. 

Still, other gadgets leakers have claimed there will be a Galaxy S20e model.

 

Here's what the Galaxy S20's back is rumored to look like.

Renders of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S20 from gadgets-leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer and 91 Mobiles likely reveal what the device will look like. 

So far, most rumors surrounding the Galaxy S20 point to the rectangular camera module on the top right. 

And this is the front, according to the rumors.

The same renders from Steve Hemmerstoffer and 91 Mobiles suggest incredibly thin bezels on the top and bottom, which is corroborated by the prolific gadgets leaker known as @IceUniverse on Twitter. We're also seeing the selfie camera punch-hole cutouts move to the center compared to the cutouts on the right of the screen on the Galaxy S10 series. 

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Hi，Galaxy S11 pic.twitter.com/brqPoONDzjTweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1201321768364826625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
and pic.twitter.com/qgX2x9WYFb

 

Supposedly leaked photos of the Galaxy S20 corroborate the renders above, and it's also where the Galaxy "S20" model name is coming from.

Photos that apparently show Samsung's unreleased and unannounced Galaxy S20 Plus smartphone were posted by Max Weinbach on XDA-Developers. 

In both the renders above and the photo leaks, we're seeing similar rectangular camera module designs. It's hard to see in the photo, but there's also a punch-hole at the top center of the screen for the selfie camera on both the renders and the photo.

The screens are going to be big.

The Galaxy S20e is said to come with either a 6.2 or 6.4-inch screen, according to Evan Blass, a prolific source of mobile leaks. 

The regular Galaxy S20 may come with a 6.7-inch screen. 

And the larger Galaxy S20 Plus will come with a whopping 6.9-inch screen. 

The Galaxy S20 is said to include an ultra-wide-angle camera, a regular camera, and a zoomed camera.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1206414617259339776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is the real Galaxy S11+ camera. On the left is the ultra-wide-angle, main camera, and periscope zoom lens. I don't know the exact distribution on the right. It is expected to include flash and ToF. pic.twitter.com/98exPMSqgf

 

One of the cameras is said to come with 108 megapixels, which is an enormous number compared to the typical 12-megapixel cameras you see on most smartphones.

Both @IceUniverse and Bloomberg corroborate that the Galaxy S20 will have a 108-megapixel camera for regular camera lens. 

Unlike Apple and Google that use a lot of software to make photos look good, Samsung is going the hardware route to achieve better performance with its next smartphone camera. One of the main benefits Samsung touted about its 108-megapixel camera in the past is better photos in low light — an area where the company trails behind compared to Apple and Google's latest offerings.

The Galaxy S20 phones will most likely run on the Snapdragon 865 mobile chip from Qualcomm.

You don't need rumors to tell you that Samsung's Galaxy S20 phones will likely run on the latest mobile chip from Qualcomm. It's simply expected at this point, partly because that's what Samsung has been doing for the last several years, and there also aren't too many other options when it comes to high-end mobile chips. 

Running on the Snapdragon 865 will likely mean top-tier performance for running Android, apps, and games.

 

If the Galaxy S20 is going to run on the Snapdragon 865 chip, it'll also support 5G connectivity across all the S20 models.

All of 2020's high-end Android phones will likely come with 5G support, at least those running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865, which are coupled with a modem that supports 5G connectivity by default. And we're expecting the Galaxy S20 to run on the Snapdragon 865.

With that said, Samsung's Galaxy S phones can run on different chips made by Samsung itself in different parts of the world. If some Galaxy S20 phones run on chips other than the Snapdragon 865, there's no guarantee that they'll come with 5G connectivity. 

Whether Galaxy S20 users will find a 5G network to connect to is another question. So far, T-Mobile is the only US carrier so far that has deployed a wide-ranging 5G network. Other US carriers have deployed 5G networks in certain pockets of certain cities.  

 

Samsung is putting big batteries in its Galaxy S20 phones.

The larger of the expected Galaxy S20 lineup — the Galaxy S20 Plus — will come with a massive 5,000 mAh battery, according to SamMobile. 

The regular Galaxy S20 is said to come with a 4,500 mAh battery. 

The Galaxy S20e will apparently have a battery between 3,800 and 3,900mAh. 

The "Ultra" model of the Galaxy S20 could have some over-the-top specs.

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The S20 Ultra 5G is going to keep the SD Card slot. Support for up to 1TB.

It will also be available in 128GB/256GB/512GB and have a 12GB and 16GB RAM option.

108MP main, 48MP 10x optical, 12MP ultra wide.

5000 mAh battery with 45W option fast charge. 0 to 100% in 74 min.

 

One of the last holdouts for the headphone jack, Samsung might ditch it for the Galaxy S20 series.

After the Galaxy Note 10, the Galaxy S20 will be the final top-tier Samsung phone to ditch the headphone jack, according to the Korean news outlet ETNews, which has been reliable for leaks like this. 

Like other Android smartphone makers that followed Apple into killing the headphone jack, Samsung will likely expect Galaxy S20 users to use wireless headphones. And if those users want to continue using their wired headphones, they may have to carry around a dongle adapter.

 

 

Samsung is unveiling its new Galaxy S flagship of 2020 on February 11.

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Say hello to a whole new Galaxy. Unpacked on February 11, 2020 #SamsungEvent pic.twitter.com/ln1pqt2vu7

 

Incidentally, we might also see the announcement of a new Samsung foldable smartphone alongside the Galaxy S20 phones, according to @IceUniverse.

It’s about privacy, not marketshare

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• Apple sold nearly 60 million of its Airpods wireless earphones in 2019, according to a new report.
• Analyst house Strategy Analytics found Apple dominates the wireless earphones space, boasting more than 50% market share in terms of both sales and revenue. Samsung and Xiaomi lag behind, despite offering cheaper products.
• Some analysts estimate that Apple could ship up to 90 million AirPods in 2020. The product is expected to take on increasing importance for Apple as iPhone sales decline.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple AirPods are dominating the wireless earphones market.

According to a report by Strategy Analytics, Apple sold nearly 60 million AirPods in 2019, putting it far ahead of any competitor.

Strategy Analytics found that Apple holds more than half of all market share for wireless earphone sales.

Its two closest rivals, Samsung and Xiaomi, each hold less than 10% market share. As the analyst house notes, this isn't wildly surprising since Apple kickstarted the category when the AirPods first launched in 2016.

Thanks to the AirPods' premium pricing, Apple not only dominated market share but also command of revenue for all wireless headphone sales. The firm has devoured 71% of all wireless earphone revenue — hardly a surprise given AirPods start at $160, and the higher end AirPods Pro start at $250. The latest-generation Samsung Galaxy Buds start at $130.

The report will be heartening for Apple as it looks to lessen its reliance on iPhone sales.

Although Apple CEO Tim Cook has remained bullish about the smartphone industry's long-term prospects – he steadfastly denied the industry had peaked in an interview with Nikkei Asian Review last month – it's clear that the iPhone isn't the force of nature it once was.

In Apple's earnings report for its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter, which ended on September 28, the firm said iPhone sales generated $33.36 billion in revenue, a decline of roughly 9% from the $36.76 billion revenue generated from iPhone sales during its fiscal fourth quarter for 2018.

In contrast, prominent Apple analyst Daniel Ives has predicted AirPods sales will continue to surge, potentially growing by over 50% to hit the 90 million mark.

SEE ALSO: Apple's new AirPods Pro are barely a month old, but they're already so popular that the company is reportedly doubling production

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch Elon Musk unveil his latest plan for conquering Mars

One of the best things about Google Chrome is its robust catalog of extensions. Microsoft’s new version of the Edge browser, which just launched for Windows 10, macOS, and mobile, is built on the same Chromium code base and can also tap into the Chrome web store. This means that it supports the same tremendously large selection of extensions, in addition to Microsoft’s own relatively limited selection of native extensions that are available through its store.

In this article, I’m going to walk you through how to find and install extensions in Edge and ultimately get you set up with Chrome extensions. Gaining access to Chrome’s extensions means taking a few extra steps. But overall, this is an easy and fast operation that will help make...

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• Google-parent Alphabet soared to a $1 trillion valuation Thursday, pushing the total value of the five biggest tech companies to a record $5 trillion.
• Apple and Microsoft both boast market caps above the four-comma threshold, while Amazon sank to a $930 billion valuation after first breaching the level in September 2018.
• The record-high valuation for Big Tech comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny around data privacy and calls from governments around the world to break up the massive companies.
• Here are the five highest-valued tech stocks, ranked in ascending order.
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

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Google-parent Alphabet on Thursday became the fourth US company to reach a $1 trillion market valuation, pushing the total value of the five biggest tech companies to a record $5 trillion.

Apple and Microsoft sit well above the $1 trillion level, surging through the new year after massive gains in 2019. The S&P 500's information tech sector, which includes the two aforementioned companies, is up more than 5% year-to-date, outperforming all other groups in the benchmark index.

Amazon previously held a market value above the four-comma threshold but has since sank to roughly $930 billion. Facebook sits at the lowest valuation among the group of five with a market cap of about $630 billion. Including Facebook in the group drives Big Tech's collective value above $5.2 trillion.

CNBC first reported on the milestone valuation for Big Tech.

The record-high valuation for Big Tech arrives amid heightened scrutiny from regulators and US legislators. Calls to break up the most valuable tech firms have taken center stage at congressional hearings, Democratic primary debates, and in governments abroad as many view the companies as reaching monopolistic levels of influence.

The European Union's antitrust regulators recently homed in on Big Tech following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the group is now grilling Google over its data collection policies. State attorneys general in the US are also investigating the search engine giant, yet the months of regulatory pressure haven't held shares down. Alphabet jumped more than 30% in 2019 and is already up nearly 9% in the new year.

Here are the five highest-valued tech companies, ranked in ascending order by market cap. Data is as of market close on January 16.

5. Facebook

Market cap: $632 billion

Year-to-date performance: up 8.5%

4. Amazon

Market cap: $931 billion

Year-to-date performance: up 1.7%

3. Alphabet

Market cap: $1 trillion

Year-to-date performance: up 8.6%

2. Microsoft

Market cap: $1.27 trillion

Year-to-date performance: up 5.4%

1. Apple

Market cap: $1.38 trillion

Year-to-date performance: up 8.1%

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

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The long-running contest between Microsoft and its Teams service and Slack’s eponymous application continued this morning, with Redmond announcing what it describes as its first “global” advertising push for its enterprise communication service.

Slack, a recent technology IPO, exploded in the back half of last decade, accreting huge revenues while burrowing into the tech stacks of the startup world. The former startup’s success continued as it increasingly targeted larger companies; it’s easier to stack revenue in enterprise-scale chunks than it is by onboarding upstarts.

Enterprise productivity software, of course, is a large percentage of Microsoft’s bread and butter. And as Slack rose — and Microsoft decided against buying the then-nascent rival — the larger company invested in its competing Teams service. Notably, today’s ad push is not the first advertising salvo between the two companies. Slack owns that record, having welcomed Microsoft to its niche in a print ad that isn’t aging particularly well.

Slack and Teams are competing through public usage announcements. Most recently, Teams announced that it has 20 million daily active users (DAUs); Slack’s most recent number is 12 million. Slack, however, has touted how active its DAUs are, implying that it isn’t entirely sure that Microsoft’s figures line up to its own. Still, the rising gap between their numbers is notable.

Microsoft’s new ad campaign is yet another chapter in the ongoing Slack vs. Teams. The ad push itself is only so important. What matters more is that Microsoft is choosing to expend some of its limited public attention bandwidth on Teams over other options.

Stock

While Teams is merely part of the greater Office 365 world that Microsoft has been building for some time, Slack’s product is its business. And since its direct listing, some air has come out of its shares.

Slack’s share price has fallen from the mid-$30s after it debuted to the low-$20s today. I’ve explored that repricing and found that, far from the public markets repudiating Slack’s equity, the company was merely mispriced in its early trading life. The company’s revenue multiple has come down since its first days as a public entity, but remains rich; investors are still pricing Slack like an outstanding company.

Ahead, Slack and Microsoft will continue to trade competing DAU figures. The question becomes how far Slack’s brand can carry it against Microsoft’s enterprise heft.

• Apple's decision not to unlock or create a backdoor into the iPhones used by a gunman in a Florida shooting last month puts the tech giant at odds with the United States government yet again.
• Security experts agree, however, that circumventing the iPhone's security poses a significant risk to iPhone users since it would provide a means to obtain private data that even Apple can't presently access.
• There's a risk that such a tool could fall into the wrong hands, some experts warn.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Attorney General William Barr recently called on Apple to help  unlock the iPhones used by a gunman in Pensacola, Florida last month — a situation that once again requires the tech giant to balance protecting consumer privacy with its legal obligation to assist in investigating a shooting that's resulted in the loss of American lives.

But security experts agree that providing access to the shooter's iPhone could jeopardize the security of the millions of iPhones in use around the world.

"In essence, you're trying to make a weapon that can only be used on a single target," Jacob Doiron, an information systems lecturer at San Diego State University, said to Business Insider. "But that's not the nature of weapons, or exploits. They are applicable to any device that has that profile or configuration."

On Monday,  Barr said that Apple had not provided any "substantive assistance" in getting access to two iPhones belonging to the shooter, Mohammad Alshamrani, who killed three people at a naval airbase last month. But Apple has since refuted that characterization, saying that it had provided iCloud backups, information, and other data from Alshamrani's account in cooperating with the investigation. Now, Apple is reportedly gearing up for a legal battle with the Department of Justice to defend its position, according to The New York Times.

"We have always maintained there is no such thing as a backdoor just for the good guys," Apple said in a comment to Business Insider. "Backdoors can also be exploited by those who threaten our national security and the data security of our customers."

Apple took a similar position in 2016 when it was caught in a stand-off with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over whether it should unlock an iPhone linked to a shooting in San Bernardino, California. Apple refused to unlock the iPhone, and the FBI ultimately ended up working with a private companyto gain access to the device.

The crux of the issue when it comes to unlocking  an iPhone or bypassing its encryption , according to privacy experts, is that once Apple creates a backdoor, there's a risk that it can be used in unpredictable and in some cases harmful ways.

"I would say the chances of it falling into the wrong hands are 100%,"said Mark Nunnikhoven, vice president of cloud research for cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.

There's also the question of why Apple couldn't just create the tool for the purposes of the investigation and then push an update to iPhones that would render it obsolete. For that to work, the backdoor would have to be tied to the software only, not the iPhone's hardware, says Doiron. "Sometimes these vulnerabilities take place on the hardware, level," he said. "That's not something that could be fixed via software."

"We're on your side"

The broader issue, however, may be that creating such a tool would put private, encrypted data from iPhone users in the hands of Apple and its employees — a privilege the company doesn't want to begin with.  Such a move that would be in stark opposition to Apple's stance on consumer privacy.

"You are not our product," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with ABC News last year. "Our products are iPhones and iPads. We treasure your data. We want to help you keep it private and keep it secure. We're on your side."

Theoretically, if Apple were to create some type of tool or key that would provide backdoor access to encrypted iPhone data, employees from Apple would have access to that information as well since they would likely be assisting in the investigation. What's to prevent an Apple worker from going rogue and possibly leaking iPhone user data, or using the tool for nefarious purposes? 

Nunnikhoven pointed to EternalBlue as an example of how a tool built for specific purposes could fall into the wrong hands. EternalBlue was a National Security Agency hacking tool that leaked to the public in 2017 that was linked to the WannaCry ransomware attack that infected computers all over the world during that same year. 

Creating the tool in general would also require a significant effort on Apple's part. It's not simply about cracking the passcode of the device, but would likely require that a dedicated team at Apple create a piece of software capable of accessing the data stored on the device, says Nunnikhoven. The government, in other words, is asking Apple to enable something that isn't even possible on iPhones today.

Unlocking these iPhones for the Pensacola investigation would also likely set a precedent for law enforcement agencies to request similar treatment for future cases as well, says Matt Wilson, chief information security advisor at BTB Security.

"It's just more evidence to prove this isn't just [cybersecurity experts] saying, 'I don't want to think about it,'" said Wilson. "It's [experts] saying we've thought about it very long and very hard, and we don't see a viable way that addresses all of these issues."

SEE ALSO: If you're still using Windows 7 you should upgrade right now — here's what you need to know

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why it's so hard for planes to land on water

Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images

Google added tiny favicon icons to its search results this week for some reason, creating more clutter in what used to be a clean interface, and seemingly without actually improving the results or the user experience. The company says it’s part of a plan to make clearer where information is coming from, but how?

To give you an idea of how minimal the change is, here’s what it looked like when Google made the same tweak last year to the browsing experience on phones:

In my Chrome desktop browser, it feels like an aggravating, unnecessary change that doesn’t actually help the user determine how good, bad, or reputable an actual search result might be. Yes, ads are still clearly marked with the word “ad,” which is a good...

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Trump just tweeted a tweet that might escalate a sticky situation into an outright showdown between Apple and the US Department of Justice — by effectively claiming that Apple is refusing to do its patriotic duty to unlock two iPhones connected to last month’s shooting at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida.

Here’s the tweet:

Yesterday, Attorney General William Barr accused Apple of much the same thing, saying...

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Starting Jan. 30, Archana Deskus will begin leading Intel's global IT operations, with a heavy focus on data analytics, as the chipmaker plans for an AI-rich future.