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20 Aug 17:09

You should opt out of the Apple Card’s arbitration clause — here’s how

by Barbara Krasnoff
Apple Card payment screen in Apple Wallet

So you’ve heard about Apple’s new credit card, and you want to give it a try. Before you sign on the dotted line, there is at least one aspect of Apple’s agreement (besides any fees and percentage rates) that you’ll want to pay attention to: the arbitration clause.

Arbitration clauses have become extremely popular in agreements between companies and consumers — and for good reason. When you agree to arbitration, you are basically putting most of the advantages in the company’s court. For example, most arbitration clauses deny you the opportunity to become part of a class action suit or to individually sue the company. Instead, an arbitrator (often chosen by the company) reviews the case and then makes a ruling that cannot be appealed.

In...

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19 Aug 22:35

Instagram Launches Bug Bounty for Apps that Steal User Data

by Joseph Cox

On Monday, Instagram announced a new bug bounty program for finding third party apps that improperly access or store user data.

Facebook launched its own "Data Abuse Bounty" last year, with the goal of whittling out data abuse from app developers.

“Putting people first is one of Instagram’s most important values, and keeping our service secure is an essential part of the work we do to serve our community. Expanding and building on the Facebook bug bounty program is a key development in our ongoing security efforts, and we are grateful to the wider security community for all they do to help keep our platforms safe," Instagram’s Head of Engineering Nam Nguyen said in an emailed statement.

In its announcement blog post, Instagram wrote, "Our goal is to help protect the information people share on Instagram and encourage security researchers to report potential abuse to us so we can quickly take action. Just like our bug bounty program, we will reward reports based on impact and quality."

Do you work at Instagram? Did you used to? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on jfcox@jabber.ccc.de, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

Instagram's blog post did not say how much it will pay for these sorts of bounties, but a company spokesperson pointed to several statistics from Facebook's bounty programs in general, including that the average amount trended around $1,500.

In its blog post, Instagram also announced an invite-only bug bounty for the company's upcoming Checkout feature, which lets users purchase items without leaving the Instagram app.

"As part of their participation, the researchers will receive early access to the feature and receive bounty awards for eligible reports. The researchers who are helping us test this feature have previously submitted high-quality research to our bug bounty program," the post reads.

The news of the data abuse bounty comes after, but not in response to, Business Insider found a startup called Hyp3r had tracked Instagram users' locations.

Subscribe to our new cybersecurity podcast, CYBER.

19 Aug 20:32

The First iPhone Was a Landline

by Yuri Litvinenko

A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.

Phone lines, while not initially designed to transfer binary data, turned out to be a good enough way to do so—at least until the 2000s, that is.

From sending faxes to browsing the internet, people relied on effectively the same copper wires they used with Ma Bell-leased telephones.

While most of the personal tech evolved towards greater connectivity, landline phones mostly got better only at the ergonomics of calling and dialing.

But a few dared to be smarter—decades before smartphones found their way into our pocket.

Let’s talk about the evolution of the landline smartphone.

“Man-to-man, man-to-machine, machine-to-machine. In a short time, we’ve come a long way.”

– A line from “Challenges of Change,” a 1961 promotional movie from AT&T. Filmed on a height of Space Age anticipation, it shows “Data-Phones”—essentially, modems which could transmit data from punched cards, tapes, or even handwritten notes.

The earliest visions of smartphones didn’t anticipate that we wouldn’t communicate with our our voices

The AT&T video, filled with otherworldly visual effects, is delightful to anyone with an interest in history. At the same time, it shows why landline phones did not become the interactive mediums that smartphones later did.

While the narrator talked about changes in communication, scenarios from the movie showed data exchanges at best, as all meaningful interactions were done by voice and between humans. For example, before loading a punched card, a Data-Phone operator had to chat with the person on the other end of the line. Even in the age of rocket deliveries, shopping over a credit card-enabled videophone would be done by talking to a manager, as if one would in a retail store.

Admittedly, Bell engineers envisioned the future where people would only need to use the keypad to communicate with the source over a phone. A year later, Touch-Tone phones were presented to the U.S. public. While the speed of dialing was what AT&T promoted to customers, the DTMF (Dual-tone multi-frequency, informally known as “touch-tone”) signals generated by buttons allowed for menu navigation still used today.

How the United Kingdom failed to start an online revolution

By 1970, additional buttons on each side of a zero competed the 12-button keypad. Twelve buttons were what the UK Post Office had to rely on while developing Prestel, a nationwide service which let people use interactive services on a home video terminal.

Looking back, if there is one thing the UK engineers in the 1970s were fascinated with, it’s putting text on TV screens. In the United States, there wasn’t any notable progress in this field between a TV Typewriter electronic kit and the advent of home computers. The British, on the other hand, went straight towards transferring news, financial data, and TV guides—long before the booming popularity of the Internet, developing two coexisting ways to broadcast text.

One of these technologies, teletext, still lingers to this day across Europe. The text data, complete with color and pseudographics, is being broadcast alongside a TV signal—literally stuffed in between video frames. By design of the aerial transmission, teletext provides no interactivity, leaving the user to flip between different “pages” and occasionally revealing hidden text (the latter was mostly used to hide quiz answers).

Using a phone line instead allowed for higher transfer rate, more personalization (and billing for premium pages) and the ability to run remote software. Over several years since the mass introduction in 1979, Prestel accumulated several online banking, shopping, and booking offerings—even before the home computer boom which pushed operators to add software downloads and games.

Prestel used phone lines and required a phone-like keypad for navigation—surely, it was a fitting technology to build phones of the future around. That didn’t happen on a scale required to ensure Prestel’s success. Instead, the Post Office bet on marrying the network with TV—by offering not even set-top boxes, but Prestel-enabled TVs, priced at £650 at the very least. By contrast, France Télécom leased terminals for their similar Télétel network for free, making Minitel popular enough that it survived until 2012.

1566238381946-bte198410_0081
Executel. Image: Internet Archive

There was just a single Prestel phone—but boy, what a device it was. A wide unit with a small CRT screen and a QWERTY keyboard, STC Executel was an “intelligent display telephone” which combined voice and text communications with almost every productivity feature of its era.

The 1984 ad touted contacts book, calendar, ability to take notes and a “£500,000 in a national advertising campaign directed at top executives.” Being essentially an Intel 8085-based computer, it stored its software on a dictaphone cassette and could connect to a “secretarial unit” which allowed updating the data from another desk.

Just 10,000 Executel devices were sold, according to the designer David Leers. Only five thousand of them were sold, with the rest repurposed.

What might have saved Executel from being completely forgotten is its sleek, modern look.

Several Executels found their way in industrial design museums, although the plastics used for the keyboard turned out to be prone to yellowing. Just last week, one appeared on the YouTube channel Techmoan.

The most advanced landline phone of 1998 was literally called “iPhone”

A British oddity, Executel was simply unknown stateside. Still, the idea of a “computer phone” was a part of the social consciousness, and the manufacturers have toyed with it—if only by exploring. One of the most well-known prototypes was made by Apple by 1984. The “MacPhone” concept had a touchscreen for sending notes and signing checks, but, like other projects by Hartmut Esslinger, was only meant for finding new design elements.

But in the 1990s, the rising popularity of the Internet, a desire for a “post-PC” device and plain old technical progress paved the way for household devices which were meant to connect to the phone line. These so-called “Internet appliances” were promising easy Web and email access in a device which supposed to be as easy-to-use as TVs, music centers … or phones.

But while most IAs were simply low-end computers with a handset on top of it (I’m looking at you, Intel Dot.Station), there was just one which could actually replace a landline phone. And yes, it was actually called the iPhone.

Released in 1997, the original iPhone was made by InfoGear, a startup made from one of the National Semiconductor labs. Despite its big, full-VGA touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard, it looked like a contemporary phone. But on top of making calls, it could work with email and “full” versions of web sites—a feat achieved by off-loading some of the computational power to InfoGear servers.

It isn’t even the name or the web capabilities which made one think of the Apple iPhone, but the way all features were integrated. Just like on modern mobile phones, it was possible to dial a number from a web page by tapping it. The InfoGear’s phone did not only have a voicemail, but could transcribe the incoming messages to text.

While the phone made the international headlines, it was eventually forgotten alongside with the rest of the IA market—especially when InfoGear was bought by Cisco. The story took another turn when Apple released its iPhone—Cisco sued them for trademark infringement. Eventually, the two companies came to an out-of-court settlement.

(It wasn’t the last time Apple and Cisco discussed trademark issues. The iOS name, in fact, belongs to Cisco and is licensed to Apple—and might be the reason the latter doesn’t want people to use the phrase “iOS devices.”)

1566238962343-GettyImages-530272326
Alan Sugar hosts The Apprentice in the United Kingdom. Image: Getty Images

A British lord asked all users of his “superphone” to harass a journalist

To people focused solely on computing history, Alan Sugar is a businessman whose Amstrad micros and ZX Spectrum models contributed heavily to the UK home computer industry.

But to everyone else, he is a bigoted, homophobic billionaire in power who keeps his domestic relevance by hosting a TV show originally presented in the U.S. by Donald Trump.

And by the year 2000, his company had lost all that goodwill by releasing products that few people wanted. The PenPad PDA was slow, bulky and had a deteriorating rubber shell; the PcW16 desktop computer had a black-and-white screen and a processor from 1976 despite being released in 1995; the GX4000 game console was just a reason to sell cassette computer games on cartridges for a higher price. Eventually, Amstrad spun off its computing division and focused all its resources on Betacom, a communication company it had acquired. The result was Amstrad E-m@iler, the last attempt to push an Internet-connected landline phone to the mass market.

1566239008585-image1
The Amstrad E-m@iler. Image: philgyford/Flickr.

As a piece of hardware, it wasn’t much different from the InfoGear iPhone. What set it apart was the business model: instead of offering a monthly fee, Amstrad made the E-m@iler operate exclusively through a premium-rate phone number—and put another fee on top. “Sure, if I was organized and could send a day’s worth of emails and SMS messages in one sitting then the prospect of paying 12p for a single session online (plus the cost of the phone call) would be a small price to pay. But I’m not. And I can’t,” noted Tim Richardson of The Register in their 20002 review of a revised E-m@ailer Plus.

Later models of E-m@iler, like the 2004 E3 Superphone, added new features and new ways to get as much profit per user as possible. The ability to play ZX Spectrum games was added, although it was only possible to rent them—again, with paying per call and per service at the same time. The new color screen was used to display ads, with the phone periodically dialing home to download new banners (thankfully, on a toll-free number).

In 2011, the year Amstrad E-m@iler services were shut down, Sugar admitted that “it was slightly too late,” but noted that the subsidized lineup eventually recouped all the costs with services.

He definitely was not as accepting in 2001, though, when he noticed E-m@iler in the list of “techno-flops” in The Independent. The mild criticism (“not proving the success that Sir Alan Sugar had hoped” was all that was ever written about the phone) pushed Sugar to send a message to all 95,000 service subscribers, asking them to send an email to Charles Arthur, the newspaper’s tech editor.

“It occurred to me that I should send an email to Mr. Charles Arthur telling him what a load of twaddle he is talking. If you feel the same as me and really love your e-mailer, why don’t you let him know your feelings by sending him an email,” he wrote in a letter with Mr. Arthur’s address attached.

While the journalist had to cope with more than 1,300 letters—none of which were written by Sugar himself—some of them, eventually published online, exposed hardware faults, annoying bugs, and a helpline being directed to a premium-rate number.

“With this device we can charge advertisers, say, 10p for each customer to receive an ad they will see all day, and charge the advertisers £10 whenever a customer calls them by pressing the ‘services button.’ Or it may be that we give them the ad—free but they pay £25 whenever somebody calls—it’s a no-brainer.”

– Alan Sugar, positioning the E-m@iler as an “electronic billboard” to the readers of Marketing Week. Even considering that Internet phones were not as widespread as PCs, the ballpark cost per click sounds insane. However, as we’ve seen in the past, no one really knew by then how much web advertising should cost.

When asked to reflect on the 1997 iPhone, Robert Ackerman, a venture capitalist who pushed for the independence of InfoGear, said: “We were early into the marketplace. Ten years later, a very different story.” By contrast, Alan Sugar said he was ten years too late—and God knows which decade would be right for the Executel.

The world seemed to be fine with landline phones staying in their lane. But I can’t help but wonder how they would have evolved if the phone industry wasn’t controlled by the Bell System, the Post Office, or other nationwide monopolies. The original telecommunication industry, in my opinion, would have envisioned the connected world differently, based on the phone network paradigms rather than mainframe-terminal ones. Instead, manufacturers had to find faults in a PC-dominated world to make the case for their devices.

Smart landline phones still exist. Some VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and SIP (session initiation protocol) systems for business—arguably the only purchasers of landlines in 2019—are not only using the Web as an infrastructure, but can open web sites and use Android apps. But I think, when it comes to elegance, they pale in comparison to a device I noticed in Moscow Apple Museum.

After licensing the Newton technology from Apple, Siemens made the NotePhone, their own spin on the original MessagePad PDA. When used by itself, it’s functionally indistinguishable from the Apple device. What makes it special is the base with a handset which added phone and fax capabilities. Even back then, mobile computer expansions were nothing new, but this one seems like an integral part of the device while managing to be self-sufficient.

Maybe, instead of being either “smart” or “dumb,” landlines should have been more elegant in their connection to the world of computers.

Yuri Litvinenko is a trade journalist from Russia. When not covering the dairy industry, he spends time being fascinated by legacy technology, both “retro” and gadgets approaching retro status.

19 Aug 17:23

Google Duo’s new low-light mode will make nighttime chats easier

by Cameron Faulkner

Google is introducing a low-light mode to Duo, its video chatting app, that can detect poor lighting conditions and automatically adjust the picture to illuminate the face in the frame.

In a press release, Google says that this new mode will be a boon to those who want to save on electricity, especially if you, or someone who you know, live in a place affected by frequent power outages. It could be ideal to use when you want to check in with a friend or family member who lives several time zones away and who may therefore be calling from a darkened room or a nighttime street.

Google

Interestingly, low-light mode on Duo is simulated in the app based on the lighting conditions; Google doesn’t mention any reliance on...

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19 Aug 02:23

2 privacy crises in one week prove Facebook still hasn't solved its privacy woes, even after a $5 billion fine (FB)

by Rob Price

Mark Zuckerberg

  • Facebook just got hit with two privacy scandals in the last two weeks.
  • First, a trusted partner was caught harvesting the data of millions of Instagram users.
  • Then, the company acknowledged that it was sending audio from users' Messenger chats to human transcribers.
  • The double whammy shows Facebook still has a massive blind spot on privacy, even after two years of crises.

Facebook's privacy woes aren't over yet.

In July, the beleaguered California tech giant reached a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over alleged privacy violations. While critics groused that the penalty didn't do enough to change Facebook's fundamental business model, the company and the FTC touted the record-breaking fine and the mandated structural reforms that went with it as a major milestone — a chance for the company to turn over a new leaf.

But barely a month later, it's clear that Facebook's self-proclaimed "pivot to privacy" is not going to be a smooth transition. In just the last two weeks, the $524 billion company has become mired in two new privacy crises.

First, Business Insider discovered that Hyp3r, a buzzy marketing startup, had taken advantage of Facebook's lax oversight and a security issue in Instagram to harvest the personal data of millions of Instagram users. Hyp3r was able to track their locations and save their Stories. Facebook not only failed to notice the illicit behavior, it named the startup one of its official marketing partners — an exclusive category that's supposed to be reserved to marketing and advertising firms that it's vetted.

Read this: Your Instagram Stories may not actually be disappearing after 24 hours — at least one company has been quietly saving them

On the heels of that scandal, Bloomberg revealed that Facebook was paying contractors to transcribe audio clips from users' messages. Facebook did so without explicitly asking for users' consent or informing them that it would be using humans to listen to and transcribe their conversations.

The latest privacy problems have a common theme

The two issues are distinct and affect different parts of the company. One involves data security and oversight of partners by Instagram, while the other has to do with failures in implementing and explaining consumer-facing products at Messenger.

But there's a theme running through them: They illustrate how despite everything — two years of scandals, the Cambridge Analytica fiasco, the $5 billion fine — Facebook still has an extraordinary blind-spot when it comes to issues involving privacy and the safeguarding of user data.

Time and time again, the company builds products and systems that give short shrift to security and privacy. Inevitably, this myopia comes to light and blows up in Facebook's face. And just as inevitably, the result is user outrage at discovering how the company was handling their data.

Until Facebook addresses this blind spot, you shouldn't expect its privacy problems to go away.

Do you work at Facebook? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-work phone, email at rprice@businessinsider.com, Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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17 Aug 03:13

A look back at General Electric's 129-year journey from American manufacturing icon to fallen giant

by Ivan De Luce
General Electric logo and buildings are pictured, in Belfort, eastern France

SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images

  • General Electric has been an icon of American innovation and manufacturing for most of its history.
  • The company reached its peak in 2000 and has had a rocky journey ever since.
  • Now GE says it will split its three remaining divisions into three publicly traded companies.
1889-1892: Edison General Electric
thomas edison
Thomas Edison.

Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress

In 1879, inventor Thomas Edison patented the incandescent light bulb after his laboratory tested 3,000 designs over two years

By 1889, Thomas Edison had formed Edison General Electric from a handful of electricity companies he'd been operating.

Three years later, Edison merged his company with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, and The General Electric Company was formed.

1896: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
General Electric Sign

Wikipedia

Just four years after its formation, General Electric became one of the original 12 companies to be a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

GE was included, on and off, for most of its existence until June 2018, when it was replaced by Walgreens Boots Alliance as one of the current 30 companies included.

The roaring '20s: New technologies
ge vacuum tubes
GE vacuum tubes, designed to regulate electric currents, 1918.

Wikimedia Commons

GE began making electric home appliances in 1922, such as the first electric stoves, washing machines, and refrigerators. And in 1927, GE developed the first television. 

1940s and 1950s: Mid-century modern
The engine of a United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 - United Airlines New Aircraft Interior
Inside United Airlines' newest aircraft and interior.

Thomas Pallini/Insider

GE built the first American jet engine in 1941, and in 1957, opened the first nuclear power plant near Pittsburgh, which stayed open until 1982.

1981-2001: The Welch years
jack welch
Former GE CEO Jack Welch.

REUTERS

GE's best-known CEO, Jack Welch, took over in 1981 and kicked off a frenzy of sales and acquisitions that reshaped the American corporate landscape.

One of his biggest acquisitions in 1986 – RCA, which owned NBC – advanced Welch's goal of taking GE beyond manufacturing to become a "boundary-less" business.

By the time Welch stepped down in 2001, GE had grown to a nearly $130 billion behemoth.

2001-2017: Troubled times
jeff immelt
Former GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt.

Michael Dwyer/AP

GE's next CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, was hand-picked by Welch and took over as the company's market capitalization was declining from its peak of more than $450 billion.

A lot happened during Immelt's 16 years running GE.

The 2008 financial crisis dealt a huge blow to the company: Its stock fell 42% in 2008, forcing GE to rethink its operations. Warren Buffett even stepped in and invested $3 billion to keep the company afloat.

GE quickly sold off some of its biggest past money-makers, like NBCUniversal, GE Plastics, and GE Water, and the selloff continued with financial services in 2014, home appliances in 2016, and oil and gas in 2017.

In spite of the company's performance, Immelt maintained a pair of private corporate jets without telling GE's board of directors. The day Immelt announced his retirement, June 12, 2017, GE stock went up 4%.

Although Welch publicly supported Immelt, he later admitted to other GE executives that the choice was one of his biggest mistakes, according to Fox Business.

2017-2018: John Flannery's stint as CEO
GE CEO John Flannery
Former GE CEO John Flannery.

AP/Richard Drew

John Flannery, the head of GE's health care business, took over after Immelt after having been with the company for 30 years.

He served as CEO for 14 months before being removed in October 2018 by a unanimous vote from the board of directors, receiving an exit package worth $10 million.

The company lost over $100 billion in market value during his tenure.

2018-2021: A leaner manufacturer
Larry Culp GE CEO
Larry Culp, CEO of General Electric.

Boston Globe/Getty Images

Since Larry Culp took over in 2018, GE has been steadily reducing its debts and selling off parts of its business.

The years were not without controversy however, as a whistleblower accused the company of accounting fraud in 2019. Those claims did not appear to have merit.

In November 2021, the company said it would spin off its last remaining three business divisions – aviation, healthcare and power – into separate publicly traded companies.

"This is the best way to fully realize the potential of these businesses," Culp told the Wall Street Journal.

Even so, the GE's share price is little changed compared to what it was when he took over three years ago. By comparison, the S&P 500 has climbed by about 60%.

 

Ivan De Luce contributed to an earlier version of this story.

Read the original article on Business Insider
16 Aug 15:11

6 Steps for Successful Collaboration

By Paul McMillan
When implementing collaboration technology, be sure to place a premium on user experience.
16 Aug 15:07

How Zoom became one of this year's biggest tech IPOs

by Robert Freedman

CFO Kelly Steckelberg discusses how she organized operations to support sales and product development, leading to a successful public debut.

16 Aug 05:40

June will immediately change its app interface to prevent smart ovens from turning on accidentally

by Ashley Carman
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Smart home appliance maker June is planning an immediate update to its iOS and Android apps to prevent users from accidentally turning on the company’s smart ovens. The updates don’t remove the ability to remotely preheat the oven, but they do put more button taps between opening the app and starting a preheat, which could help avoid accidents.

The Verge reported yesterday that a few June Oven owners experienced their ovens turning on overnight and preheating to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and higher without their knowledge. The company said the preheats were the result of user error — effectively people accidentally triggering their ovens without realizing it. The company planned two updates to address the issue, and it now says it’s moving...

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16 Aug 05:39

Slack Announces New APIs for Creating Templated Workspaces

by KevinSundstrom

Slack has recently announced several upgrades to it’s messaging platform, these upgrades aim to improve communication inside larger organizations. These new enhancements include a new API for creating templated workspaces and a new announcement channel for communicating key information on high-level issues.

16 Aug 05:38

Report: Slack, Zoom growing among Office 365 customers

15 Aug 15:50

WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

by Elizabeth Lopatto
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

I dedicate this to the energy of We

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15 Aug 05:06

Virtual desktops finally come to Chrome OS

by Dieter Bohn
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

The latest version of Chrome OS is rolling out to Chromebooks now and it comes with a lot more new features than usual. The biggest one, as noted by Android Police, is the addition of virtual desktops. You’ll be able to switch between up to four different desktops with their own window layouts.

When you swipe up to view all windows in the overview mode, you should see a new button in the upper right corner labeled “New Desk,” which will create a new space where you can drag windows. It’s not all that different from how Apple does it in Mission Control on the Mac. You should then be able to use a four-finger swipe to switch between them.

Google has also launched a new web app that shows the latest features available on Chrome OS. Since...

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15 Aug 04:58

The CEO of Cisco says Trump's trade war caused 'a significant impact on our business in China' (CSCO)

by Benjamin Pimentel

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins

  • Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said the US-China trade war has caused "a significant impact on our business in China."
  • He said China was not a major part of Cisco's business but a dramatic change "can still have some impact."
  • Cisco shares fell after the company reported a weak outlook.
  • Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Shares of Cisco fell sharply on Wednesday after the tech giant posted a weaker-than-expected forecast as CEO Chuck Robbins pointed to growing market uncertainty and the impact of the US-China trade war.

"We definitely saw a significant impact on our business in China as it relates to what's going on with the trade war," he told analysts during Cisco's earnings call.

Cisco shares dropped about 8% to $46.60 in late trades as Wall Street reacted to the company's disappointing outlook.

Cisco reported a fiscal fourth quarter profit of $2.2 billion, or 51 cents a share, compared with a profit of $3.8 billion, or 81 cents a share, for the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 5% to $13.4 billion. Adjusted income was 83 cents a share.

Analysts were expecting Cisco to report earnings of 82 cents a share on revenue of $13.39 billion. So profit was a slight beat and revenue was in line.

But the rub came when Cisco said it expected earnings of 80 to 82 cents a share for the current quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of 83 cents a share.

One reason for the lower-the expected forecast is escalating trade tensions between the US and China after the Trump administration said it would impose more tariffs on Chinese products. 

Robbins said Cisco's business in China is "a small part of our business ... but when it falls very dramatically, it can still have some impact," he said.

Cisco is a leading maker of networking equipment. Robbins said the company continued to see challenges in the service-provider market, which is the one area where it has traditionally struggled.

But he also pointed to signs of weak demand in the enterprise-tech market, the area where Cisco dominates, which other tech companies, such as NetApp, also cited recently.

"We did see in July an early indication of macro shifts that we didn't see in the prior quarter," Robbins said. "We're monitoring this and watching it."

Got a tip about Cisco or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at bpimentel@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @benpimentel. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Join the conversation about this story »

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15 Aug 04:58

The CEO of NetApp says the trade war won't end this year and the tech company is preparing for 'a variety of difficult outcomes' (NTAP)

by Benjamin Pimentel

NetApp CEO Geroge Kurian

  • NetApp CEO George Kurian said the company was preparing for "a variety of difficult outcomes" amid growing market uncertainty, caused in part by the US-China trade tensions.
  • He said the company was seeing more caution in enterprise IT spending, and he does not expect the trade dispute to be resolved within the year.
  • But NetApp posted better-than-expected results that pushed its stock higher.
  • Click here for more BI Prime stories.

NetApp CEO George Kurian had reason to be upbeat on Wednesday when his company reported quarterly results that cheered Wall Street, sparking a late rally in the tech company's shares. 

But while the report beat expectations, and Kurian could point to signs that the data-storage company was adapting to a changing enterprise market, he also warned of a hazy road ahead.

Major enterprises had grown more cautious on IT spending amid growing economic uncertainty, which has been aggravated by the US-China trade war.

"We have taken a variety of difficult scenarios into account," Kurian told Business Insider in an interview. "I don't want to predict the worst-case outcomes, but we have taken a variety of difficult outcomes into account."

A key concern is still the raging trade dispute between the US and China, which escalated recently when the Trump administration said it would impose a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods.

"Customers, especially large global enterprises, continue to be a bit cautious about making large capital investments, given the uncertainty about the trade and global economic outlook," he said. "The sooner there's clarity on what would be the potential resolution of the trade regime, as well as clarity in terms of the economic outlook, people can make spending decisions and move forward."

For the current quarter, NetApp said it expected adjusted income of 91 cents to 99 cents a share on revenue in the range of $1.33 billion to $1.48 billion. That's stronger than the average analyst expectation, which called for earnings per share of 90 cents on revenue of $1.35 billion.

But NetApp didn't have a very high bar to clear, given the lackluster expectations surrounding its business in the current climate. 

NetApp makes data storage and management equipment used for private data centers and the cloud. Its business is especially vulnerable to the bumps and jolts of enterprise-tech spending, which has been hurt by worries that the trade war could cause an economic downturn.

Despite the tweet diplomacy between Trump and Beijing over everything from tariffs to currency rates, Kurian doesn't expect the situation to be resolved in the coming months. "We don't expect normalization of the trade regime this calendar year and that is factored into our calculations," he said.

Kurian, whose identical twin brother, Thomas, is the CEO of Google Cloud, has been in the top job at NetApp since 2015.

NetApp's results were better than expected, and the company's stock rallied 4% to $46.50 in after-hours trading.  The shares are still down more than 30% this year.

NetApp reported fiscal first-quarter income of $103 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with a profit of $283 million, or $1.05 a share for the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell to $1.24 billion from $1.47 billion. Adjusted income was 65 cents a share. Analysts expected NetApp to report earnings of 61 cents a share on revenue of $1.24 billion.

Got a tip about NetApp or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at bpimentel@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @benpimentel. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

SEE ALSO: Google Cloud has changed how it pays its salespeople, ripping a page out of the Oracle playbook

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NOW WATCH: What El Chapo is really like, according to the wife of one his closest henchman

14 Aug 21:27

Common Mistakes Leaders Make When Deploying UC (and How to Avoid Them)

by kevin@theucbuyer.com (The UC Buyer)

According to Enterprise Management 360, more than half of existing companies plan to move to Unified Communications as a Service in the near future. Moving their communications to a hosted or cloud-based platform gives businesses several advantages, from financial to technological. This decision is being made by companies of all sizes across all verticals.

14 Aug 14:34

The FAA just banned a model of MacBook Pro from all flights — here's how to check if your laptop is included

by David Slotnick

Apple MacBook Pro Battery Recall 15 inch

  • The FAA banned certain MacBook Pro laptops from coming aboard flights after Apple issued a recall of the model.
  • The batteries in the affected laptops can overheat, causing them to swell and possibly ignite.
  • MacBook Pro owners can enter their serial number on Apple's recall page to see if their laptops are included in the FAA ban.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned certain MacBook Pro laptops from commercial flights after Apple issued a voluntary recall of the model due to a fire risk associated with the lithium-ion batteries in the laptops.

In a statement, the FAA said that it was "aware of the recalled batteries that are used in some Apple MacBook Pro laptops," and reminded airlines to follow safety guidelines — issued in 2016 — surrounding consumer electronics with recalled batteries.

According to those guidelines, electronics with recalled batteries should not be allowed on flights as cargo or in carry-on luggage. The guidelines would apply to the affected MacBooks.

To see if their laptops are affected, MacBook Pro owners can visit Apple's recall program page and enter their serial number. The serial number can be found by clicking the small Apple logo in the upper-left corner of the menu bar, and clicking "About This Mac."

Read more: A summer meltdown at New York's LaGuardia Airport has travelers walking on the highway to get to their flights

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency advised that the MacBook models should be switched off and not used during flights. It was not clear whether the agency would follow its US counterpart, although the agencies often align surrounding safety notices.

Several airlines with cargo operations managed by Total Cargo Express (TCE) — TUI Group Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines, Air Italy, and Air Transat — banned the affected models from being flown as cargo, according to Bloomberg News. The airlines also planned to prohibit the affected models from being brought on board by passengers.

Apple announced the recall in June. It applies to 15-inch MacBook Pro units which were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017. The battery in the affected laptops can overheat, potentially swelling or igniting.

Users with an affected MacBook Pro can get the battery replaced for free.

SEE ALSO: A man posted video of his 'private jet' experience when he was the only passenger on his Delta flight

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NOW WATCH: All the ways Amazon is taking over your house

13 Aug 21:45

Bernie Sanders jabbed the Washington Post, claiming it doesn't support him because of his battles with Jeff Bezos

by Isobel Asher Hamilton

Bernie Sanders

  • Bernie Sanders said on Monday that the Washington Post is "not one of my great supporters" due to the fact it is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
  • Sanders has frequently attacked Bezos and Amazon for the treatment of the company's workers, and pressured it to introduce a minimum wage of $15 an hour — which it did in November last year.
  • The Washington Post's executive editor Marty Baron called Sanders' comments a "conspiracy theory," and said Jeff Bezos allows the Post full journalistic independence.
  • A CNN journalist compared Sanders' comments to Donald Trump's anti-media rhetoric.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders took a shot at the Washington Post during a town hall rally in New Hampshire on Monday.

At a rally in North Conway, Sanders said it was his aim to take on the "corporate media," singling out the Washington Post, which was bought by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in 2013.

"If you look at the Washington Post, which is owned by the wealthiest guy in this country, a guy named Jeff Bezos, we fought with the workers at Amazon to get them 15 bucks an hour," Sanders said.

"We have pointed out over and over again that Amazon made 10 billion dollars in profit last year, you know how much they paid in taxes? You got it zero! Any wonder why the Washington Post is not one of my great supporters."

In a throw-away line, Sanders added that The New York Times was "not much better," although he didn't elaborate or link it to the Times' corporate ownership.

Read more: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want to break up Amazon, but their campaigns spend more money there than anyone else

CNN reports that Sanders voiced the same criticism of the Post earlier that day in Wolfeboro. "I talk about (Amazon's taxes) all of the time... And then I wonder why the Washington Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon, doesn't write particularly good articles about me. I don't know why."

You can watch Sanders rally in North Conway below. His comments about the Post come about 28 minutes into the broadcast:

The Washington Post's executive editor Marty Baron defended his paper's independence in a statement to CNN, which he later told Business Insider that he would not be commenting further on. He said:

"Sen. Sanders is a member of a large club of politicians — of every ideology — who complain about their coverage. Contrary to the conspiracy theory the senator seems to favor, Jeff Bezos allows our newsroom to operate with full independence, as our reporters and editors can attest."

CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny drew a comparison between Sanders' comments and Trump's anti-media attacks. Specifically, Trump has frequently referred to the Post as "the Amazon Washington Post."

Jeff Bezos Donald Trump Satya Nadella

Trump has not explicitly said why the Post's ownership might bias the paper against him, but he has publicly antagonized Jeff Bezos in the past, revelling in news of the billionaires' divorce and dubbing him "Jeff Bozo." Bezos for his part has criticised Trump's demonization of the media, in particular, his tendency to call the media the "enemy of the people."

SEE ALSO: Jeff Bezos risks angering Trump by acknowledging the US Postal Service gave him a huge helping hand in building Amazon

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NOW WATCH: How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories

13 Aug 20:49

Facebook also hired human contractors to listen to audio from its Messenger app

by Natt Garun

Facebook has been hiring third-party contractors to review and transcribe audio clips of its users, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Facebook claims it stopped using human workers to review audio clips “more than a week ago,” noting that the contractors were previously hired to check whether anonymized conversations were being correctly transcribed on the Messenger app.

Since 2015, Messenger has offered a feature to transcribe voice clips to text, although it is turned off by default. Facebook claims only those who opted in to the feature had their audio clips reviewed by third-party contractors. However, according to its support page, if even one person in your chat has consented to Facebook transcribing the conversation, any...

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12 Aug 20:54

Verizon is selling Tumblr to WordPress’ owner

by Julia Alexander
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Verizon has agreed to sell Tumblr to WordPress owner Automattic Inc. for an undisclosed amount, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Verizon, which first acquired Tumblr in 2017 after it purchased Yahoo, started to explore a sale earlier this year. Automattic reportedly bought Tumblr for less than $3 million, according to Axios, a stunning drop in value from the $1.1 billion Yahoo paid for it in 2013.

“Tumblr is a marquee brand that has started movements, allowed for true identities to blossom and become home to many creative communities and fandoms,” Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan said in a statement. “We are proud of what the team has accomplished and are happy to have found the perfect partner in Automattic, whose expertise and track...

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12 Aug 19:05

Zoom's rise carving market share from Microsoft, Cisco

by Samantha Ann Schwartz

The newcomer is "actually displacing some of these other giant vendors," Gartner's Tom Eagle told CIO Dive.

12 Aug 19:05

Everything to know about HarmonyOS, Huawei's answer to Android as the trade war between the US and China rages on

by Lisa Eadicicco

Huawei

  • Huawei unveiled its HarmonyOS software on Friday, the homegrown operating system it's been developing as the company has been blacklisted from working with US firms like Google. 
  • The software will first appear in smart screen devices and will eventually be available on wearables and in-car systems too.
  • The debut comes as President Trump said the US will cut its ties with Huawei.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

On Friday, Chinese tech giant Huawei unveiled its new HarmonyOS software — an operating system for its upcoming electronic devices. The launch comes as Huawei remains on a blacklist that prevents it from working with American software giants like Google.

In the wake of Huawei's announcement, President Trump said on Friday that the United States will cut its ties with the Chinese tech behemoth. The move comes just after China had stopped purchasing American agricultural products, a response to the Trump administration's latest round of tariffs on Chinese imports.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the White House had been delaying its decision to issue licenses to American business that wish to work with Huawei following its blacklisting in May.  The blacklisting means Huawei will lose access to Android, which powers the majority of the world's smartphones. 

Although Huawei has said it wants to continue using Android, it could use its homegrown operating system as a replacement for Google's software. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, said it could switch its smartphones from Android to HarmonyOS in one or two days if it had to, according to The Wall Street Journal

Huawei is debuting its new software as it's on the verge of releasing its highly-anticipated foldable smartphone, the Mate X, which is said to come in September.

Here's a look at everything we know about Harmony OS based on Huawei's announcement. 

SEE ALSO: Here are the biggest differences between Samsung's brand-new Galaxy Note 10 and the Galaxy S10

The operating system isn't just for smartphones.

Huawei said in its announcement that HarmonyOS is designed to work across a variety of devices, not just traditional smartphones and tablets. 

"We needed an OS that supports all scenarios, that can be used across a broad range of devices and platforms, and that can meet consumer demand for low latency and strong security,"  Yu said in a press release.

 



The first devices to get Harmony OS will be smart screens.

The first iteration of the software will be available on upcoming smart screen devices set to launch later this year. Huawei's Honor Smart Screen, which the company says it will unveil on Saturday, will be the first product to run the software. 

Smart screens are essentially tablets that are meant to be positioned in the home, like the one made by Lenovo pictured above. They're similar to smart speakers like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, but with a screen. 

It's not the first time we've heard that Huawei has additional smart home products in the works. The company was reportedly working with Google on a new smart speaker that would include the search giant's virtual assistant, The Information reported in July. But that plan fell through once Huawei was blacklisted. 

Over the next three years, Harmony OS will start to appear in other devices as well, such as wearables and cars. 



Developers will be able to create apps once and deploy them across multiple types of devices.

Harmony OS will be capable of adapting to different screen layouts and interactions, says Huawei. This means developers can code their apps just once and they should work across various types of devices.

 



The software should offer fast performance, Huawei claims.

The operating system will have what is known as a Deterministic Latency Engine, which as its name implies helps the software discern which tasks to prioritize in order to achieve fast performance. The company claims this should reduce latency in apps by 25.7%.

 



It will launch in China but will eventually be available globally.

Huawei says it will "lay the foundations for HarmonyOS" in the Chinese market, suggesting that it will debut in China first. It will then expand it globally as an open-source platform available around the world. 



07 Aug 22:29

Apple just got knocked out of the top 3 smartphone makers in the world — here’s how it stacks up against rivals like Samsung, Huawei, and LG (AAPL)

by Lisa Eadicicco

iPhone XS

  • As smartphone shipments around the world continue to decline, Apple lost its third spot in the global market to Chinese phone maker Oppo in Q2 2019, according to IHS Markit.
  • Apple shipped 35.3 million units in the second quarter of 2019, while Oppo shipped 36.2 million.
  • It's a huge jump for Oppo, which saw its year-over-year shipments jump by 13%.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

As global smartphone shipments continues to decline, Apple has dropped to fourth place in the worldwide smartphone market, according to findings from IHS Markit published on August 5.

This marks the seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline for the smartphone market. With 35.3 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2019, Apple fell behind prominent Chinese smartphone makers Oppo and Huawei, as well as South Korean electronics giant Samsung. That marks a decrease from the same quarter one year ago, when Apple shipped 41.3 million iPhones and placed in third.

IHS Markit attributes part of Apple's decline to a lack of price elasticity in its older models, making previous devices a tougher sell, as well as premium pricing for its newer handsets. Apple said in its recent fiscal third quarter earnings results that iPhone sales had dropped by 11.8%, although other product segments like wearables had boomed.

Here's a look at the tech companies that are dominating the worldwide smartphone market right now. 

SEE ALSO: A professional hacker reveals the top security mistake people make online — and it's something you probably do every day

10. TCL-Alcatel

TCL-Alcatel shipped 3.8 million phones in the second quarter of 2019, claiming 1% of the worldwide smartphone market. That marks a 16% year-over-year increase from the second quarter of 2018. 

The company sells phones like the Alcatel 1s and 1X, and TCL purchased the rights to BlackBerry's mobile phone brand in 2016.  



9. Tecno

Tecno placed just ahead of TCL-Alcatel with 3.9 million smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2019. Like TCL-Alcatel, this also represented 1% of the worldwide global smartphone market.

Transsion Holdings, Tecno's parent company, says it is one of the top three mobile phone brands in Africa. 



8. Motorola

Lenovo-owned Motorola grabbed 3% of the worldwide smartphone market share in Q2 2019 with 8.3 million shipments. 

In recent years, Motorola has become known for its line of budget smartphones like the Moto G7, which comes as cheap at $300 and made our list of the best smartphones in the world.  



7. LG

The South Korea-based consumer tech giant ranked as the world's seventh largest smartphone maker with 3% of the global smartphone market and 8.9 million shipments in the second quarter of 2019. 

LG recently announced its first 5G smartphone, the LG V50 ThinQ, and teased that it may have a new triple-screen phone to announce next month. 



6. Vivo

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo claimed the sixth spot with 28.4 million smartphone shipments in Q2 2019 and 9% of the worldwide smartphone market. 

The company recently announced that it plans to expand its cheap Y-series smartphones into new markets in the Middle East and Africa. 



5. Xiaomi

The company sometimes referred to as the "Apple of China" shipped 31.9 million phones in Q2 2019, representing almost no change from the 32.1 million units it shipped in the same quarter one year ago. As such, it accounts 10% of the worldwide smartphone market.

Xiaomi is known for its Mi and Redmi line of smartphones, and rumors suggest the company will soon launch a 5G version of its Mi 9 phone. 

 



4. Apple

Apple claimed 11% of the global smartphone market with 35.3 million shipments in the second quarter of 2019, representing a 15% year-over-year decline compared to Q2 2018.

The company is expected to release its trio of next-generation iPhones in September, although several analysts aren't expecting iPhone sales to return to growth until Apple launches its rumored 5G iPhone in 2020. 



3. Oppo

China-based smartphone giant Oppo jumped to third place in the second quarter of 2019 with 36.2 million shipments and 11% of the global smartphone market. That's an increase of 13% year-over-year.

IHS Markit suggests some of Oppo's growth can be attributed its partnerships with European carriers amidst their 5G network launches. 

 



2. Huawei

Despite being blacklisted in the United States, Chinese tech behemoth Huawei maintained its position as the second largest worldwide smartphone maker.

Huawei shipped 58.7 million phones in the second quarter of 2019, marking an 8% increase compared to the same quarter one year ago. As a result, it claimed 18% of the global smartphone market share.

Huawei is expected to release its first foldable smartphone, the Mate X, in September. 



1. Samsung

Samsung remains the king of the smartphone space, accounting for 23% of the global market. It shipped 75.1 million units in the second quarter of 2019, representing a 6% year-over-year increase.

The company launched its latest Galaxy S10 smartphone earlier this year in February, and is expected to announce the Note 10 at an event on Wednesday. Its much-anticipated foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold, is scheduled to launch in September after its initial April release was delayed. 



07 Aug 22:24

Microsoft and Samsung partner to bridge Android and Windows closer together

by Tom Warren

Microsoft and Samsung are forming a closer partnership for Android mobile apps that will help bridge the gap to Windows PCs. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella appeared on stage at Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10 launch today, noting that this partnership is “a new chapter of our long term commitment to improve productivity and eliminate the gap between mobile devices and the PC.”

Samsung is bundling Microsoft’s Your Phone app on its Galaxy Note 10, which mirrors Android text messages, notifications, and even your entire screen to a Windows 10 PC. Samsung is also building OneDrive sync support directly into its Gallery Android app, which will see photos sync directly to the cloud storage service.

Microsoft’s Shilpa Ranganathan, head of the company’s...

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07 Aug 17:03

Zendesk puts Smooch acquisition to work with WhatsApp integration

by Ron Miller

Zendesk has always been all about customer service. Last spring it purchased Smooch to move more deeply into messaging app integration. Today, the company announced it was integrating WhatsApp, the popular messaging tool, into the Zendesk customer service toolkit.

Smooch was an early participant in the WhatsApp Business API program. What that does, in practice, says Warren Levitan, who came over as part of the Smooch deal, is provide a direct WhatsApp phone number for businesses using Zendesk . Given how many people, especially in Asia and Latin America, use WhatsApp as a primary channel for communication, this is a big deal.

“The WhatsApp Business API Connector is now fully integrated into Zendesk support. It will allow any Zendesk support customer to be up and running with a new WhatsApp number quicker than ever before, allowing them to connect to the 1.5 billion WhatsApp users worldwide, communicating with them on their channel of choice,” Levitan explained.

Levitan says the entire WhatsApp interaction experience is now fully integrated into the same Zendesk interface that customer service reps are used to using. WhatsApp simply becomes another channel for them.

“They can access WhatsApp conversations from within the same workspace and agent desktop, where they handle all of their other conversations. From an agent perspective, there are no new tools, no new workflows, no new reporting. And that’s what really allows them to get up and running quickly,” he said.

Customers may click or touch a button to dial the WhatsApp number, or they may use a QR code, which is a popular way of accessing WhatsApp customer service. As an example, Levitan says Four Seasons hotels prints a QR code on room key cards, and if customers want to access customer service, they can simply scan the code and the number dials automatically.

Zendesk has been able to get close to 1,000 businesses up and running as part of the early access program, but now it really wants to scale that and allow many more businesses to participate. Up until now, Facebook has taken a controlled approach to on-boarding, having to approve each brand’s number before allowing it on the platform. Zendesk has been working to streamline that.

“We’ve worked tightly with Facebook (the owner of WhatsApp), so that we can have an integrated brand approval and on-boarding/activation to get their number lit up. We can now launch customers at scale, and have them up and running in days, whereas before it was more typically a multi-week process,” Levitan said.

For now, when the person connects to customer service via WhatsApp, it’s only via text messaging — there is no voice connection, and no plans for any for the time being, according to Levitan. Zendesk-WhatsApp integration is available starting today worldwide.

07 Aug 17:00

Microsoft contractors are listening to select Skype calls and Cortana recordings

by Jon Porter
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft contractors are manually reviewing voice recordings gathered via Skype’s automated translation feature and the Cortana voice assistant, a new report from Motherboard has revealed. In audio recordings shared with the publication, users could be heard having intimate conversations and discussing relationship issues as well as other personal topics like weight loss. “The fact that I can even share some of this with you shows how lax things are in terms of protecting user data,” the contractor who shared the audio files with Motherboard said.

The unnamed contractor describes having heard what they describe as “phone sex” as part of the review process, and they also said that they have heard users entering their full addresses using...

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07 Aug 16:59

Elizabeth Warren Promises to Kill State Laws That Ban Locally-Owned ISPs

by Karl Bode

Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has unveiled a plan she says will not only improve broadband access in America, but kill state laws specifically designed by the telecom industry to hamstring broadband competition.

Warren’s proposal, outlined in a Medium post as part of a broader plan for rural America, includes doling out $85 billion to help fund broadband deployment to underserved areas. FCC data suggests that 39 percent of rural Americans still lack access to broadband.

But the plan also does something notable: it takes aim at the growing roster of protectionist state laws telecom lobbyists have used to crush competition across the country.

“Many small towns and rural areas have turned to municipal networks to provide broadband access in places that the private market has failed to serve—but today, as many as 26 states have passed laws hindering or banning municipalities from building their own broadband infrastructure to protect the interests of giant telecom companies,” Warren said.

Such homegrown networks are an organic response to market failure. In countless markets across the US, consumers usually only have the choice of their incumbent cable provider if they’re looking for faster broadband. These regional monopolies result in high prices, slow speeds, punitive bandwidth caps, and comically terrible customer service.



Frustrated by the lack of options, more than 750 communities across the US have either built their own broadband networks or struck partnerships with private companies to do so. One Harvard study showed that these networks tend to offer better, cheaper broadband and more transparent pricing since they’re more accountable to the local community.

Such efforts wouldn’t exist if consumers were happy with their broadband service. But instead of building better, faster networks, many ISPs instead turned to lobbying.

In exchange for campaign contributions, state lawmakers frequently and uncritically pass model legislation written by industry and distributed by organizations like ALEC. ISPs like AT&T have also been known to try and sneak such bans into traffic ordinances or other unrelated bills.

“We will preempt these laws and return this power to local governments,” Warren promised.

In 2015, the previous FCC voted to pre-empt these protectionist state laws, claiming they hampered the FCC’s legal mission to bring broadband to all Americans in a “reasonable and timely basis.” But an appeals court struck down the FCC’s effort in 2016, claiming the FCC had overstepped its authority under the law.

As such, any new effort would likely require Congressional action, something that’s never easy given the stranglehold the telecom lobby enjoys over state and federal lawmakers. This corruption was most recently reflected by the FCC’s assault on net neutrality, and the Congressional decision to kill modest broadband privacy laws at industry behest.

Warren’s broadband proposal also promises to appoint FCC Commissioners who’ll restore net neutrality, improve the state of US broadband mapping (an effort also frequently derailed by telecom lobbying), and tackle the various other tricks industry giants like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast routinely use to protect their regional monopolies.

“It’s time to crack down on all the anti-competitive behaviors that giant ISPs have used to steamroll the competition,” Warren said. “We will return control of utility poles and conduits to cities, prohibit landlords from making side deals with private ISPs to limit choices in their properties, and ban companies from limiting access to wires inside buildings.”

Broadband often receives ample lip service during election season, though Warren’s plan is the most detailed by far when it comes to tackling the state and federal corruption responsible for making US broadband the poster child for mediocrity.

07 Aug 00:13

Twilio Announces Conversations API for Multi-Channel Messaging

by ecarter

Twilio has announced Twilio Conversations, a unified API that allows developers to build conversation experiences across multiple channels and platforms. Modern messaging platforms exist across multiple channels (e.g. SMS, MMS, Chat, and WhatsApp). The Twilio Conversations API allows developers to take input from all of these disparate channels and create a single experience for users to interact with.

06 Aug 17:20

Slack makes some key security enhancements

by Ron Miller

As Slack makes its way deeper into the enterprise, it needs to layer on more sophisticated security measures like the encryption key management feature it released last year. Today, the company published a blog post outlining its latest security strategy, and while it still doesn’t include end-to-end encryption of Slack messaging, it is a big step forward.

For many companies, there is a minimum level of security they will require before they use a tool like Slack company-wide, and this is particularly true for regulated industries. Slack is trying to answer some of these concerns with today’s post.

As for end-to-end (E2E) encryption, Slack believes it would adversely affect the user experience and says there hasn’t been a lot of customer demand for it so far. “If we were to add E2E encryption, it would result in limited functionality in Slack. With EKM (encryption key management), you gain cryptographic controls, providing visibility and opportunity for key revocation with granularity, control and no sacrifice to user experience,” a Slack spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Today, the company provides the ability for admins to require Touch ID or Face ID or to enter a passcode on a mobile device. In addition, if a user reports a device stolen, admins can wipe Slack conversations remotely, although this is currently only available through an API.

What they have coming soon is a new administrative dashboard, where admins can manage all of this kind of security in a single place. They will even be able to detect if a person is using a jail-broken phone and shut down access to the phone. In addition, they will be able to force upgrades to the latest version of Slack by not allowing access until the person downloads the latest version.

Later this year, admins will be able to block files downloaded from Slack desktop that come from outside of a set of pre-approved IP addresses. And on the mobile side, they will be able to force file links to open in an approved browser.

All of these features are designed to make administrators feel more comfortable using Slack in a secure and reliable way. One of Slack’s big strengths is its ability to integrate with other pieces of the enterprise software ecosystem, but companies still want control over what files are shared and how they open across devices. These new tools go a long way toward easing those types of concerns.

06 Aug 17:17

Google’s Advanced Protection Program will protect against risky Chrome downloads

by Jay Peters
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Starting today, users enrolled in Google’s Advanced Protection Program, which brings increased security and protections to high-profile Google Account users like journalists, activists, politicians, and business leaders, will get additional safeguards for downloads made in Chrome.

To turn on the feature, Google says that a user enrolled in the Advanced Protection Program just needs to turn on Chrome sync. Then, when that user tries to download a file that Chrome identifies as potentially dangerous, Chrome will show a warning or even block the download.

Google says it added this feature to better protect against attacks that happen outside of email through linked malware and accidental downloads of harmful software.

The Advanced...

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