Sources: many Apple store employees continue to discuss unionizing; Apple has started to record its September event; opinion: iPadOS delay was probably worth it  —  Apple made the right call to push back iPadOS 16, but the move could create new issues for users and developers.

[Thread] Via iRobot, Amazon, one of the most powerful data collection companies on Earth, will get another vast and intrusive set of data about people's homes  —  1. Hello. Amazon today announced it would pay $1.7 billion to acquire iRobot, the company behind the Roomba robotic vacuum. It may be the most dangerous, threatening acquisition in the company's history. A thread.

Online crypto casinos like Stake are luring gamers into gambling, sometimes to the point of bankruptcy, with celebrity endorsements and sponsored Twitch streams  —  Enneric Chabot, 26, didn't start gambling until he saw his favorite gamers doing it online.  —  Three years ago …

A look at the data Tesla collects from its 3M vehicles: breadcrumb GPS trails and gateway log files, using the data to develop Autopilot, and who owns the data  —  Logs and records of its customers' journeys fill out petabytes—and court case dockets  —  You won't see a single Tesla cruising …

Fitbit plans to end PC and macOS syncing on October 13, 2022, moving file transfers to its smartphone app, and local music and playlists to Deezer and Pandora  —  One way you synced the very first Fitbit devices was by connecting a dock to your desktop computer and plugging in the tracker.

Tom Alberg, an early Amazon investor and Madrona Venture Group co-founder, who was a key figure in shaping the Pacific Northwest's tech economy, dies at 82  —  Tom Alberg, co-founder of the venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group and an early investor in Amazon.com Inc., has died.  He was 82.

China's Baidu secures permits for Apollo Go, a fully driverless commercial robotaxi service in Chongqing and Wuhan operating mainly in zones with revamped roads  —  Chinese internet giant Baidu has secured permits to offer a fully driverless commercial robotaxi service, with no human driver present …

After the draft ruling reversing Roe, location data company Tapestri says two companies asked to buy device data revealing users who visited abortion clinics  —  Myriad state restrictions on accessing or performing abortions prompt some companies to pledge not to share sensitive mobile-phone data

SoftBank reports a ~$17.23B loss for Vision Fund in Q1, as the value of its tech portfolio fell, including SenseTime and Uber, following a record Q4 loss  —  SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) on Monday posted a 2.33 trillion yen ($17.23 billion) loss at its Vision Fund unit in the April-June quarter as the value of its tech portfolio slid.

[Thread] How Apple's App Tracking Transparency blew up the digital ad ecosystem, bolstering the company's ad business while positioning it as a privacy champion  —  APPLE ROBBED THE MOB'S BANK: How Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy blew up the digital advertising ecosystem, bolstering its ads business while positioning itself as a champion of consumer privacy. A masterclass in corporate strategy. (1/X) https://mobiledevmemo.com/...

At least four top executives associated with a Chinese state-owned semiconductor fund, which has invested $30B to date, have been arrested on corruption charges  —  The arrests of several top semiconductor fund executives could force the government to rethink how it invests in the sector.