Nearly 25,000 tech workers were laid off in the first week of the year
A professor at the University of Washington said that Wall Street has a bloodbath of jobs in the tech industry. “There is a herding effect in tech…They’re getting away with it because everyone is doing it,” Jeff Shulman said. Shulman added, “They’re getting away with it because it’s the new normal. Tech company workers have returned to pre-pandemic levels.”
Tim Sweeney calls the changes to the Apple App Store hot garbage
Spotify has said Apple’s changes to how its app store fee works, both in App Store and for apps distributed outside of it, are “extortion, plain and simple”. Spotify said Apple is trying to force developers not to leave its store. Any app that sees more than 1 million installs per year must pay Apple 50 euro cent fee for every new installation.
Every developer is going to hate the new Apple tax
Apple has announced it will open its App Store to third-party app stores. Users will be able to sideload or create their own apps on these stores, although they’ll still have to pass a vetting process. They’ll have to uninstall the app that they downloaded from Apple’s App Store and then reinstall the app again through the new app store.
Big-name targets push a hacking attack into the Limelight
Microsoft said it detected a system hack on January 12 that allowed the attackers to gain access to some of its corporate email accounts. The attackers targeted some historic Microsoft system test accounts that allowed them to access a “very small percentage” of Microsoft corporate email accounts, including members of its cybersecurity, legal, and other functions.
Boeing faces production limits, Haley makes a wager on South Carolina
The US state of Alabama successfully executed its first black man by nitrogen gas on Tuesday. It was the second time Kenneth Smith, who was convicted of murder for his involvement in a 1988 killing, was put to death. Earlier in December, Smith was administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital but it failed to kill him.
The investigation concluded that GM’s Cruise didn’t tell the whole story
A report by law firm Quinn Emanuel has said that self-driving car company Cruise had been aware of the incident where one of its vehicles dragged a pedestrian 20 feet for about three months before it was reported. It added that 100 Cruise employees knew about the incident, but they did not say anything. It further said Cruise didn’t tell regulators about the incident.
Russian SolarWinds hackers accessed Microsoft senior leadership emails
Microsoft has revealed that Russian hackers, backed by a hacking unit called’Cozy Bear’, attacked the firm in mid-October. “As of the date of this filing, the incident hasn’t had a material impact on Microsoft’s operations,” the company said. In August, Microsoft revealed it discovered that the same Russian hacking group had used the technique to try to steal credentials.
Critics are angry about the tax on the App Store
Apple and Google have no say in letting dating app developers in Netherlands use alternative payment options, an analysis of a new court ruling in Netherlands said. In 2022, Apple allowed dating app developers there to use alternative payment options with the same 27 percent tax. South Korea has warned both Apple and Google over the possibility of fines for breaking the new payment rules.
The FAA plans to audit production of the Max 9
A US Senator has asked the Federal Aviation Agency to provide records from the agency’s oversight of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, a US-based company that makes fuselage and door plug of the 737 MAX aircraft involved in the Alaska Airlines incident. US Senator Maria Cantwell asked the FAA to provide records from the agency’s oversight of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems.
eBay will be fined $3 million for employees harassing others
US’ Department of Justice on Thursday charged eBay with stalking and witness tampering after seven of its employees were convicted of felony charges for their roles in a 2019 scheme. The DOJ is requiring eBay to retain a corporate compliance monitor for three years and make “extensive enhancements” to its compliance program. eBay has agreed to pay a fine of $2 million.