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Friday, December 16, 2016

Apple and Google go on record opposing any effort to build a Muslim registry in Trump administration | 9to5Mac

" In a Friday evening release to Buzzfeed, Apple and Google spokespeople went on the record saying that the two tech behemoths would be opposed to helping build or contributing to any sort of ‘Muslim Registry’.



An Apple spokesperson said:



“We think people should be treated the same no matter how they worship, what they look like, who they love. We haven’t been asked and we would oppose such an effort.”



A spokesperson for Google said:



“In relation to the hypothetical of whether we would ever help build a ‘muslim registry’ – we haven’t been asked, of course we wouldn’t do this and we are glad – from all that we’ve read – that the proposal doesn’t seem to be on the table.”



The idea of a registry was put forward during President-elect Trump’s controversial campaign but like many the other ideas put forward (Like an Apple ban), it seems to be walked back as his term starts in a month. Amazon and Oracle troublingly declined to comment on a Muslim registry while Uber simply said “No”.



Many other tech company employees have joined the NeverAgain Pledge. You can sign up here.



The Intercept’s Sam Biddle did the original work in this area getting other technology notables to decline the hypothetical"



Apple and Google go on record opposing any effort to build a Muslim registry in Trump administration | 9to5Mac

Evernote reverses plan for new privacy policy but it might not be enough

"Evernote has decided to "revisit" its controversial privacy policy following a swift backlash from its users. 

In a statement on the company's blog, Evernote said it would no longer be implementing the privacy policy it had previously announced and that its machine learning updates, which necessitated some employees read portions of user notes, would be solely opt-in."


Evernote reverses plan for new privacy policy but it might not be enough

Apple AirPods Review: Fully Wireless!

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

HP Spectre x360 review: the best Windows laptop of 2016 - The Verge

"Building a great, premium laptop is surprisingly hard. Despite the fact that every company, from Apple to Dell to Lenovo and everyone in between, pulls from the same basic parts bin — Intel processors; high-quality IPS displays; aluminum chassis; large, glass trackpads; USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 — putting all of those parts together in a competent, no-compromise laptop is a sadly rare feat.



That’s what makes HP’s latest Spectre x360 so interesting. It has the same basic spec sheet as countless other laptops, and from a distance, even looks similar to many others. But in a year that’s been full of laptop disappointments, the Spectre x360’s cohesive design and lack of compromises has been a breath of fresh air."



HP Spectre x360 review: the best Windows laptop of 2016 - The Verge

T-Mobile Showcase - CNET




T-Mobile Showcase - CNET

Top Democrat's emails hacked by Russia after aide made typo, investigation finds | US news | The Guardian

"In the run-up to the election, the US Democratic National Committee (DNC) received numerous phishing emails, the paper reported on Tuesday. One of them was also sent to John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. An aide, Charles Delavan, spotted the message sent to Podesta’s private account. It asked Podesta to change his password."


Top Democrat's emails hacked by Russia after aide made typo, investigation finds | US news | The Guardian

'Call me': Donald Trump woos tech leaders at New York meeting | US news | The Guardian

"Donald Trump extended an olive branch to the titans of technology on Wednesday, telling them his goal is “to help you folks do well” at a meeting at his New York headquarters.



“We have no formal chain of command around here,” the president-elect told the most powerful men and women in the technology industry, whom he encouraged to “call my people” and “call me”.



“We’re going to make it a lot easier for you to trade across borders,” he told the audience.



Trump had clashed with tech leaders before his election, suggesting he would start a monopoly investigation into Amazon, whose founder, Jeff Bezos, was in attendance, and calling for a boycott of Apple after the tech company declined to break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino killers.""



'Call me': Donald Trump woos tech leaders at New York meeting | US news | The Guardian

Sunday, December 11, 2016

What Trump said about Apple, Alphabet and Facebook — the tech companies he’s meeting next week - Recode

"In case you missed it: President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is convening a tech summit at Trump Tower next week, and top execs from Apple, Alphabet, Facebook and more are attending.

As one person familiar with the summit plans told my boss, Recode’s Kara Swisher, “Look, this is obviously a circus.” So, let’s do some social media-searching acrobatics and see what Trump has said about these companies.

Fun fact: Jobs was a vocal opponent of larger phones. Later in 2013, Trump tweeted about iPhone screen sizes five more times (12345), eventually claiming that he “sold [his] Apple stock” in protest. Two years later, he got his wish, with the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
During the standoff between Apple and the FBI earlier this year over the locked iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, he encouraged an all-out Apple boycott:
Alphabet, CEO Larry Page
Despite supposedly dumping iOS for Android, Trump has had relatively little to say about Google or its parent company Alphabet. After the botched launch of Healthcare.gov in 2013, he tweeted:
Ignoring manual retweets of people telling him to Google things, Trump most recently mentioned Google after FBI director James Comey resurfaced Hillary Clinton’s email server, shortly before the election:
(Side note: Per Kara’s story yesterday, it’s not totally clear if Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was invited to the summit, and if he was if he is attending).
Facebook, COO Sheryl Sandberg
Back in 2013, Trump was critical of the Facebook exec for having an ego. Um, sure thing, Donald:
A year before that, he also had marital advice for her colleague, CEO Mark Zuckerberg:
What Trump said about Apple, Alphabet and Facebook — the tech companies he’s meeting next week - Recode