Techmeme: The ubiquitous marketing of “smart tech” hides the politics of data collection and control that is embedded in the design of modern smart devices (Jathan Sadowski/OneZero )

Top News

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Leaked iOS 14 code reveals upcoming Apple hardware refreshes to the new iPad Pro, iPhone 9, AirTags, and a new Apple TV remote — Leaked iOS 14 code obtained by 9to5Mac corroborates many details about what to expect from Apple's upcoming hardware refreshes, including the new iPad Pro, iPhone 9, and AirTags.

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Apple is developing a new augmented reality app for iOS 14 codenamed Gobi and is testing AR integrations with Apple Stores and Starbucks — Apple is developing a new app as part of its work on iOS 14. The new app, codenamed Gobi, will allow users to get more information about the world around …

More: MacRumors, iMore, and iDownloadBlog.com

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Leaked code shows iPad Smart Keyboards with a trackpad are coming, alongside sophisticated mouse cursor support including multiple cursors and “right clicking”

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

The iOS 14 homescreen will include a new page letting users see all of their applications in a list view, sortable by recently used, unread notifications, more

More: MacRumors, MacRumors, MacRumors, MacRumors, iMore, The Verge, Business Insider, iDownloadBlog.com, Neowin, Tom's Guide, Wccftech, International Business Times, Thurrott, AppleInsider, SlashGear, MacDailyNews, Yahoo Finance, and iPhone Hacks. Tweets: @zacbowden

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:

Investigation: popular analytics platform Sensor Tower has used VPN and ad-blocking apps on iOS and Android with 35M+ downloads to quietly collect data on users — Sensor Tower, a popular analytics platform for tech developers and investors, has been secretly collecting data from millions …

More: MacRumors, Yahoo Finance, Tom's Guide, KnowTechie, The Mac Observer, The Overspill, SlashGear, TechRadar.com, Beyond Search, Gizmodo, iMore, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Sensor Tower Blog, and Input

Tweets: @protonvpn, @mattbirchler, @fstutzman, @dabeard, @romaindillet, and @alecstapp

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook is testing a feature to allow accounts to cross-post Stories from Facebook to Instagram — Facebook's latest colonization of Instagram has begun. Facebook is testing the option to cross-post Stories to Instagram, instead of just vice-versa. Hopefully, that means the two apps …

More: Engadget, MSPoweruser, Social Media Today, SlashGear, Thurrott, The Sun, Ubergizmo, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, and Neowin

Tweets: @wongmjane and @wongmjane

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Everlaw, which offers ML-powered ediscovery tools to help sift through huge volumes of legal evidence, raises $62M Series C led by CapitalG and Menlo Ventures — Everlaw is bringing modern data management, visualization and machine learning to eDiscovery, the process in which legal entities …

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Iran's official app for tracking COVID-19 infections removed from Play Store; sources: app was likely removed due to misleading claims about detecting COVID-19 — Google removes Iran's official COVID-19 detection app from the Play Store. — Google has removed today an Android app …

More: 9to5Google, Gizmodo, and Slashdot. Tweets: @fs0c131y

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Source: Apple will give retail and hourly workers unlimited sick leave if they show COVID-19-like symptoms and will not require a doctor's note for the time off — In addition to offering many of its employees the ability to work from home this week, Apple is also taking steps to ensure …

More: MacRumors, Business Insider, Apple Must, Silicon Valley Business …, WinBuzzer, PYMNTS.com, BGR, CNBC, CNET, iMore, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, and iDownloadBlog.com. Tweets: @richrichmond

Tanya Basu / MIT Technology Review:

A look at the politicization of niche knitting site Ravelry, whose users, predominantly older women, were divided after its ban on pro-Trump knitting patterns — When knitting site Ravely banned all pro-Trump content it caused a schism in the community—but it also shone a spotlight on how women are using niche sites to politicize.

Tweets: @techreview

Jathan Sadowski / OneZero :

The ubiquitous marketing of “smart tech” hides the politics of data collection and control that is embedded in the design of modern smart devices — ‘Smart tech’ is a buzzword that's been applied to everything from toothbrushes to TVs — and the cute marketing helps hide what's really going on

Tweets: @jathansadowski, @ozm, @jathansadowski, and @meganmorrone

Todd Haselton / CNBC:

Apple now says it's OK to use disinfectant wipes to clean “nonporous surfaces of your Apple product, such as the display, keyboard, or other exterior surfaces” — - Apple now says it's OK to use Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and other disinfectants to clean your iPhone and other Apple gadgets.

Mike Murphy / Protocol:

IBM's blockchain tech, marketed heavily as solving supply chain issues, has mostly seen limited adoption by big companies, including Walmart and Nestlé — Big Blue has been pushing the blockchain for the food supply chain for years now — are companies actually using it?

Tweets: @sbmeunier and @kerrymflynn

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Apartment rentals platform Zumper raises $60M Series D led by e.ventures, bringing total raised to date to $150M; source: Zumper's valued between $400M-$600M — The apartment rental market in the US will be worth $174.1 billion this year, and today a startup that's built a platform to help …

More: FinSMEs

Aaron Gregg / Washington Post:

Judge's legal opinion unsealed Friday sided with Amazon in lawsuit over Trump's intervention in the JEDI contract process, saying Amazon's key argument is sound — A legal opinion unsealed Friday indicates what the ruling may be in a high-stakes lawsuit over the Pentagon's JEDI cloud

More: WinBuzzer, Reuters, IT Management, SiliconANGLE, United States Court of Federal Claims, ITProPortal, Law & Crime, Times of India, Motley Fool, courthousenews.com, Federal Times, and TechRadar.com

Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo:

Amazon tells its employees in the Bay Area, New York, New Jersey, Seattle/Bellevue, and the Lombardy region/Asti province of Italy to work from home until April — Amazon has told employees in two major markets—New York and New Jersey—to stay home until at least the end …

More: Axios, CNBC, CNBC, SiliconANGLE, International Business Times, Business Insider, The Verge, Slashdot, Reuters, GeekWire, and Business Insider

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Amazon is relaxing its attendance policy and not penalizing warehouse and store workers for missing shifts during March, in response to coronavirus concerns

More: PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @chriscapossela, @lovelylanvin, and @jwjnational

Jim Vinoski / Forbes:

Overhaul, which provides its customers end-to-end real-time supply chain visibility, raises $17.5M led by Edison Partners — The latest in a long line of disruptions thrown our way by the harsh real world, coronavirus has been another dash of cold water in the face of supply chain executives everywhere.

More: VentureBeat and FinSMEs

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