A U.S. court granted Apple’s request to pause the smartwatch ban
Masimo CEO Joe Kiani has said Apple’s software redesign to the Apple Watch is key in ending the case against True Wearables, which was founded by former Masimo employees. Apple only had a heart rate and blood oxygen sensor in the first Watch it made, but it didn’t add them until 2020. The US Customs and Border Protection is currently considering Apple’s software redesign.
The hydrogen tax credit plan was announced by the Biden administration
US President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday proposed a new tax credit for hydrogen production. It’s estimated that the credit will deliver $140 billion in revenue and 700,000 jobs by 2030. The credit will help the US produce about 50 million metric tonnes of hydrogen by 2050, it added. However, several environmental groups have criticised the proposal, calling it a “corporate giveaway”.
I upgraded my bridge so you don’t have to
Hue announced that Matter will soon be the default protocol for all of its smart home platform integrations. It said that Matter will soon be enabled for both Amazon and Google Home to ensure users can keep their existing set-up. Adding the Hue Bridge to multiple platforms via Matter either didn’t work or caused stability issues, especially if you have a lot of devices.
Apple has stopped selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2
Apple is going out of business after the US’ International Trade Commission (ITC) barred the import of products using Masimo pulse oximetry technology. The tech giant had entered into an agreement with Masimo to build a blood oxygen monitoring feature for its Watch series. Masimo had sued Apple in 2017 for patent infringement, alleging Apple used its technology without permission.
If the app store is an illegal monopoly, it will have to pay $700 million
Google said its ‘User Choice Billing’ program isn’t a “fake choice” of Google, as part of a settlement deal with US Attorney’s Office. Google will contribute $630 million to a settlement fund for consumers and $70 million will be provided to the dozens of states that brought the legal action against the tech giant. Google also said it’ll allow app developers to charge consumers directly.
ITC has banned the manufacture of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2
The US International Trade Commission has banned the import of Apple Watches, including the Apple Watch Series 9, and Apple Watch 2, after Masimo sued the company. Masimo alleged that Apple had infringed on one of its patents related to light-based blood-oxygen monitoring. The last day for pickup or delivery of these models from Apple’s retail stores is December 24.
Southwest Airlines was fined for a holiday meltdown
US’ Southwest Airlines has been fined $140 million by the government after it failed to provide refunds and compensation to passengers whose flights were cancelled last year amid a coronavirus pandemic. The airline has also agreed to create a $90-million compensation system for passengers affected by significant delays and cancellations, which counts as part of the penalty.
The company laid off nearly a quarter of their work force
GM’s self-driving unit Cruise is firing almost a quarter of its employees, mainly in its commercial operations division. This comes after the death of an Uber driver who was hit by a self-driving Cruise car in the US. Nine executives were fired, including Co-founding leader and CEO Kyle Vogt and chief product officer Dan Kan.
How to level the global publishing playing field
The Science for Africa Foundation has said that African researchers should dedicate their limited resources to “operational and translation sciences” instead of “discovery science”. It said there is less of a culture of peer review in Africa than in the global north and African researchers are much less frequently invited to review manuscripts by selective journals.
An illegal Monopoly was Ruled by the App Store
Epic Games has said that Google’s Project Hug was an ” astonishingly corrupt effort” at a massive scale. “The same corrupt deal structure Google…tried to do with Epic when they wanted to pay us off to launch Fortnite on Google Play…not launch our own store,” it added. Epic had alleged that Google wanted to pay Epic to launch Fortnite on Play but not launch its own store.