Skip to main content

10 things in tech you need to know today

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday. * Brands including The North Face, REI, and Talkspace have halted their paid advertising on Facebook after a boycott campaign led by US civil rights groups. Facebook has come under fire for refusing to moderate posts by President Trump that threatened Black Lives Matters protesters with violence. * Business Insider spoke with 11 former Pinterest employees who said that despite the company's upbeat product, it was a toxic and difficult place to work. Multiple Black people who had worked on Pinterest's ad sales team say they were fired or "pushed out" of the company with no real explanation, while others say they were yelled at by managers. * Apple's WWDC is coming up on Monday, where the company is expected to announce new features for big products like the iPhone and Apple Watch as well as new products. Apple's next big iPhone update, likely called iOS 14, is expected to bring a new home screen layout, the ability to set third-party apps as defaults, and other new features. * Apple heads into WWDC under continued scrutiny over its App Store policy of charging developers a cut of their in-app purchases. Developers argued that the App Store is monopolistic and that the store doesn't provide much value. * TikTok teens claim they tanked Trump's comeback rally in Tulsa by reserving thousands of tickets then not showing up. In a viral TikTok meme, teenagers have posted images of Trump rally reservation tickets while dancing to the "macarena" pop song.  * Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale rejected reports however that a social media campaign led to the rally's lower than anticipated turnout. Just 6,200 people showed up at the rally, according to the Tulsa Fire Department, but Parscale claimed hte low turnout was down to media fearmongering over COVID-19 and protests. * Snapchat removed a Juneteenth filter asking users to 'smile' to break chains. Like many other Snapchat filters, the Juneteenth filter promoted users to smile, after which chains appeared and then broke in the background of the filter.  * Apple is re-closing some stores in states such as Arizona, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida, the company said on Friday. Such states have seen upward trends in COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. * Facebook and Twitter removed a Trump post featuring a doctored viral video of a Black toddler and a white toddler, after receiving copyright complaints from one of the toddler's parents. The copyright complaint appears to have been filed for Jukin Media, a company well-known for quickly snapping up the rights to viral videos. * Nextdoor, the local social networking platform, announced it was ending a feature that allowed users to share their concerns directly with local law enforcement. The site has faced years of criticism that its close relationships with local authorities that are accessible through the app amplified unfounded concerns and racial profiling by its users. Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings. You can also subscribe to this newsletter here — just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Tax Day is now July 15 — this is what it's like to do your own taxes for the very first time
https://bit.ly/2AWY9sl

Popular posts from this blog

Apple has backed down in its latest developer fight, apologizing to WordPress after it pressured the website-builder to add in-app payments

* Apple has apologized after it tried to force WordPress to add in-app payment options to a free app. * WordPress' founder said on Friday that Apple was refusing to allow any updates to the WordPress iOS app until the website builder added in-app purchases, from which Apple takes a 15-30% commission. * Apple is in a fierce fight with developers including "Fortnite" maker Epic Games and Spotify over its rules on in-app purchases. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Apple has backed down in its latest skirmish with a developer over its App Store rules. The tech giant on Sunday issued a rare apology to WordPress after it pressured the website builder to add payment options to its free iOS app, or else be blocked from updating. "We believe the issue with the WordPress app has been resolved," an Apple spokesman told The Verge. "Since the developer removed the display of their service payment options from the app, it is now a free st...

SpaceX has a 'go' from NASA to return 2 astronauts to Earth on Sunday as Hurricane Isaias threatens several Florida splashdown locations

* NASA on Saturday gave SpaceX a "go" to undock the company's first crewed space mission, called Demo-2, and land it on Sunday evening. * Hurricane Isaias complicated original plans to return two astronauts to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship in the Atlantic Ocean. * Elon Musk's aerospace company may now try to splash down NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in the Gulf of Mexico. * Two out of seven total landing sites near Florida must have good weather conditions, and NASA has until about 5 p.m. ET on Saturday to call off the undocking. * Should the weather worsen, NASA and SpaceX can try again a day later or some other date over the next two months. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have a "go" to return to Earth this weekend and wrap up an historic space mission for both NASA and SpaceX.  Behnken and Hurley launched to orbit aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehic...

What an independent contractor actually is and how it's classified under California's Assembly Bill 5, the gig worker law Uber, Lyft, and others are fighting with a November ballot measure

* California's Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) went into effect in January, adopting a narrow definition of independent contractor that forces Uber and other gig economy businesses to choose between reclassifying workers as employees or risking significant liability for misclassification. * The law serves as a reminder to California businesses to be careful when classifying workers as contractors.  * Classifying independent contractors falls into two main categories: the "right to control" test (often called the "IRS test") and the tougher "ABC test" recently adopted in AB5. * Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have recently poured $30 million into Proposition 22 — a ballot measure intended to exempt major ridesharing and food delivery companies from AB5. If California residents vote the measure into effect in November, Uber and Lyft can continue classifying drivers as contractors.  * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In September 2019, Californ...