Telecom companies have won a last-minute injunction against New York’s Affordable Broadband Act, putting the law’s future in jeopardy.
Governor Cuomo signed the Affordable Broadband Act in April, with it slated to go into effect next week. New York’s Eastern District Judge Dennis R. Hurley has sided with the telecom industry, acknowledging the law could cause “irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted.”
When Cuomo signed the law in April, former Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt was present, lending his support. The law has been opposed from the very beginning, however, by some of the biggest names in the telecom industry, including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T.
It remains to be seen if the law will survive the current challenge but, so far, it’s not looking good. Judge Hurley seemed especially concerned with the impact that law would have on smaller companies.
“While a telecommunications giant like Verizon may be able to absorb such a loss, others may not: the Champlain Telephone Company, for example, ‘estimates that nearly half [approximately 48%] of [its] existing broadband customers will qualify for discounted rates,” with each such customer ‘caus[ing] a monetary loss.’”
Google is rolling out the latest updated to its search engine algorithm, and webmasters the world over are anxiously waiting.
Google updates its search engine ranking algorithm regularly, usually every six months or so. This summer, however, Google will be rolling out two updates in quick succession, one in June and one in July
Changes to the algorithm can wreak havoc on websites and their rankings, significantly impacting businesses. Google has not listed exactly what the updates address, only that some sites may see their rankings go up…or go down…or stay the same — Google is obviously a fan of really clearing things up.
Some of our planned improvements for the June 2021 update aren’t quite ready, so we’re moving ahead with the parts that are, then we will follow with the rest with the July 2021 update. Most sites won’t notice either of these updates, as is typical with any core updates….
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2021
“We think Bitcoin is Gold 2.0,” says Tyler Winklevoss. “It will disrupt gold so its market cap has to be $10 trillion or more because that’s the market cap of gold. Bitcoin’s hovering around $1 trillion now and we still think it’s conservatively at 10x from here. So even at $35,000, it feels like a really good buying opportunity long-term. We think at a $10 trillion market cap one bitcoin will be worth $500,000. That could happen inside this decade, definitely the next five years. We’re hodlers until at least $500,000. Then at that point, you won’t even have to sell because you can borrow off it or whatever.”
The Winklevoss twins own approximately 1% of all Bitcoin. Estimates place their holdings to be worth between 120,000 to 170,000 Bitcoins, that’s over $1 billion.
Tyler and his twin brother Cameron have reportedly amassed a $6 Billion Bitcoin Fortune. The twins made their initial $11 million investment in Bitcoin in 2013. The brothers settled with Mark Zuckerberg in 2008 for a mere $65 million in cash and stock following their allegations that Zuckerberg copied their idea after they hired him to do programming on the project.
“And we still think it’s really early,” adds Tyler Winklevoss. The twins own over 1% of all Bitcoin according to various reports.
Tyler Winklevoss: Bitcoin is Gold 2.0 – Will Hit $500,000 In 5 Years
Zoom reported its first quarter results, beating estimates amid strong growth in revenue and customers.
The company reported revenue of $956.2 million, an increase of 191% year over year. Customers contributing more than $100,000 in yearly revenue was up roughly 160%, at 1,999. Zoom also reported 497,000 with more than 10 employees, an increase of 87% from the year-ago quarter.
Analysts were expecting yearly revenue to come in at $3.8 billion and $3.77 a share. Instead, Zoom raised its revenue guidance to between $3.975 billion and $3.99 billion, and earnings per share between $4.56 and $4.61.
“We kicked off the fiscal year with a very strong first quarter, posting 191% total year-over-year revenue growth combined with strong profitability and cash flow. Our steadfast commitment to empowering customers to work and learn from anywhere with our expansive, innovative, and frictionless video communications platform continued to drive our results. With this solid start, we are pleased to raise our total guidance range to $3.975 billion to $3.990 billion for the full fiscal year,” said Zoom founder and CEO, Eric S. Yuan. “We have also opened our technology portfolio to developers through our powerful video SDK and to businesses to expand their reach through Zoom Events. Work is no longer a place, it’s a space where Zoom serves to empower your teams to connect and bring their best ideas to life. We are energized to help lead the evolution to hybrid work that allows greater flexibility, productivity, and happiness to both in-person and virtual connections.”
OpenAI, one of the leading AI companies, has established a fund to invest in AI startups, in partnership with Microsoft.
OpenAI was co-founded by Elon Musk. Musk has long been a critic of AI, believing it represents one of the biggest existential threats humanity faces. OpenAI was founded with the goal of developing AI in a safe, responsible way.
The OpenAI Startup Fund is a $100 million fund to help AI startups that can have a profoundly positive impact on the world. The fund was announced by OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman at Microsoft Build 2021.
“This is not a typical corporate venture fund,” said Altman. “We plan to make big, early bets on a relatively small number of companies, probably not more than 10. And we’re looking for startups in fields where AI can have the most profound, positive impact, like healthcare, climate change and education. We’re also excited about markets where AI can drive big leaps in productivity, like personal assistants and semantic search.
“We think that helping people be more productive with new tools is a big deal, and we can imagine brand-new interfaces that weren’t possible a year ago. These aren’t the only applications we’ll consider, but they’re at the top of our target list.”
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger gave the commencement address at University of Texas at Austin where he told graduates that acting boldly is the only way to accomplish meaningful things in life:
The only way to accomplish meaningful things in life is by acting boldly. Being timid has never gotten anyone anywhere. Of course, boldness is just not being timid. It means taking swift significant action in the face of fear and uncertainty. It means standing with courage and conviction particularly when confronted with tough or unpopular choices. It means having an unwavering commitment to honesty, integrity, and just doing the right thing. It means having a deep and abiding curiosity about people, places, ideas, and just a sheer willingness to try something new.
Being bold also requires ambition and a willingness to dream big. There is just no such thing as having dreams that are too big. My advice is to be optimistic, be confident, have faith in yourself and in your abilities, and believe that your dreams are achievable, and don’t let anyone tell you they’re not.
A new survey has qualified just how much employees want to continue working from home (WFM), to the tune of $30,000.
As restrictions lift and companies begin opening their doors, many employees are faced with the prospect of going back into the office for the first time in more than a year. While many companies are working on permanent remote or hybrid options, some are insisting on a complete return to in-office normality.
According to a new survey by Blind, an anonymous network of professionals, a Goldman Sachs professional posed the question: “Would you rather make $30k more switching to a new job that requires you to work in the office, or would you rather keep your current salary but WFH anywhere after covid?”
An average of 64% of professionals indicated they would prefer WFM, although the number for some specific companies was much higher. For example, 100% of Zillow, 70% of T-Mobile, 89% of Twitter, 71% of Walmart, 69% of Apple, 76% of Salesforce and 73% of Oracle employees would all choose WFM. In fact, Cisco, JPMorgan Chase and Qualcomm were the only companies that fell below the 50% mark.
The survey is just the latest, and most striking, indication of just how popular WFH really is.
Microsoft is making its personal feature in Teams available to the public in a bid to grow the platform beyond corporate use.
Microsoft Teams has emerged as one of the premier methods of corporate communication, its popularity boosted significantly by the pandemic and remote work. The company wants to build on that and boost Teams’ popularity among individual users, much like Zoom and Skype.
The company began rolling out personal features last year, and has been testing the features ever since. Today, the personal features are now officially part of Teams, and will make it easy for users to communicate and share content, such as photos, files, calendars, tasks and web links.
Teams will allow one-to-one calls for up to 24 hours free, as well as free 60 minute calls for up to 100 participants. During the pandemic, however, Microsoft waiving that limitation and allowing up to 300 participants to speak for free for up to 24 hours.
Liat Ben-Zur, Corporate Vice President, Modern Life, Search, and Devices, made the announcement in a blog post.
Personal features in Teams are available today, for free, and for people around the world. If you’re using Teams for work, just click on your profile to add a personal account. If you’re new to Teams, you can download the iOS, Android, or desktop app to get started today. You can also use Teams on any web browser, including my personal favorite, Microsoft Edge. Learn more about personal features in Teams.
We’re so excited that Microsoft Teams, which so many of us have come to rely on at work, can now help people connect and get things done with their family and friends. We can’t wait to hear your feedback and look forward to delivering more features over time.
T-Mobile has announced it is joining the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, to provide low-cost service.
The FCC announced its Emergency Broadband Benefit program will start on May 12. The program is designed to provide a discount of up to $50 ($75 on tribal lands) to help low-income families have access to broadband internet. High-speed internet access is more important than ever, as countless individuals work from home and engage in remote learning.
T-Mobile has joined the FCC’s program, making its services available under its main brand, as well as subsidiaries.
When enrollment opens on May 12, qualified T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Assurance Wireless and Sprint brand consumer and government customers in the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands may be eligible for an up to $50 discount (up to $75 on tribal lands) per household on service each month on qualified plans for the duration of the program.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has weighed in on the Apple vs Epic court case, and he believes Apple will come out on top.
Epic has launched a serious legal challenge to how Apple’s App Store ecosystem works. Last year, the company circumvented Apple and Google’s in-app payment systems, resulting in Fortnite being removed from both companies’ app stores.
Epic launched a lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company was harming it by removing Fortnite. A judge refused the company an injunction, saying Epic couldn’t cry foul when it caused the problem by breaking its developer agreements with Apple and Google. In contrast, if the company had an issue with the terms of doing business on the app stores, it could have filed a lawsuit and collected back damages if it won. Instead, it engaged in a PR stunt to make its point.
The trial between Apple and Epic started today, but analysts aren’t convinced the game-maker will win. According to AppleInsider, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives believes Apple will prevail. This is not the first time Apple’s App Store policies have come under fire. Apple has always prevailed and Ives believes this will be “no different.” He also said Epic’s approach was a “risky and calculated path,” whereas Apple’s approach is “fortress-like despite the Epic noise.”
The outcome of the trial will have profound impacts on both Apple and Google, as well as multiple app store economies.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced the start date of its emergency broadband program.
The FCC proposed emergency broadband measures to help low-income families have reliable internet access. The global pandemic has shone a spotlight on the need for high-speed access, although the cost associated with it can be a challenge.
To combat this problem, Congress authorized the creation of a $3.2 billion initiative in 2020. The program will provide up to $50 for low-income households, and up to $75 for those on Tribal lands. The FCC has announced the program will begin on May 12.
“Families in every corner of the country have been struggling to get online throughout this pandemic,” said Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “For those families, we now say help is around the corner. In less than two weeks, we will have a new way for disconnected Americans to access the internet to carry out their day- to-day life, so they can reach the virtual classroom, take advantage of telehealth, and seek new employment opportunities. I’m proud of the work we’ve done as an agency to get this program off the ground in record time.”
Apple has reported its quarterly results, delivering an astounding 54% year-over-year revenue growth.
The March quarter is not traditionally one of Apple’s strongest. This year, however, the company had a number of factors in its favor. The iPhone 12, with 5G support, was expected to cause a “super cycle” upgrade as individuals traded in older phones for the revolutionary new feature the 12 offered. Similarly, Apple’s move to its own custom silicon for its Mac line of computers have led to renewed demand.
The company also benefited from the transition to remote work, as Macs, iPhones and iPads saw increased demand among remote employees and students.
These factors resulted in a quarter that exceeded analysts expectations across the board, and accounted for revenue of $89.6 billion. The iPhone accounted for $47.9 billion, a 66% increase. The Mac saw a 70% increase, coming in at $9.1 billion. The iPad accounted for $7.8 billion, or a 35% increase.
“This quarter reflects both the enduring ways our products have helped our users meet this moment in their own lives, as well as the optimism consumers seem to feel about better days ahead for all of us,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple is in a period of sweeping innovation across our product lineup, and we’re keeping focus on how we can help our teams and the communities where we work emerge from this pandemic into a better world. That certainly begins with products like the all-new iMac and iPad Pro, but it extends to efforts like the 8 gigawatts of new clean energy we’ll help bring onto the grid and our $430 billion investment in the United States over the next 5 years.”
“We are proud of our March quarter performance, which included revenue records in each of our geographic segments and strong double-digit growth in each of our product categories, driving our installed base of active devices to an all-time high,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “These results allowed us to generate operating cash flow of $24 billion and return nearly $23 billion to shareholders during the quarter. We are confident in our future and continue to make significant investments to support our long-term plans and enrich our customers’ lives.”
Google is now accepting bug reports regarding indexing issues, making it easier for webmasters to address problems.
Last year Google introduced its bug reporting feature as a way for webmasters to report security issues. Thanks to the success of the program, Google is expanding it to include indexing issues.
The best way to resolve indexing issues is to first consult our community forums and support documentation, which also highlight helpful tools: https://t.co/zAnLOaWsCYhttps://t.co/IVZUc0z8H9
On the heals of its announcement about podcast subscriptions, Spotify is notifying some users they will have to pay more.
Spotify has Apple squarely in its sights with its announcement it would offer podcast subscriptions to compete with Apple’s Podcast announcements at its Spring Loaded event. Unlike Apple’s subscription service, Spotify will not take a cut from the subscription fee, giving the entire amount to the podcaster.
Unfortunately, it appears Spotify will be raising prices, according to The Verge. In the US, Spotify Family will increase from $14.99 to $15.99 a month, while Duo, Premium and Student plans will remain the same price.
In the UK, however, the price hike is more dramatic. Spotify Student will go from £4.99 to £5.99 a month, while Duo will go from £12.99 to £13.99. Spotify Family will go from £14.99 to £16.99 a month.
“We offer a variety of subscription plans tailored to our users’ needs, and we occasionally update our prices to reflect local macroeconomic factors and meet market demands while offering an unparalleled service,” a Spotify spokesperson told The Verge.
Spotify is ramping up its competition with Apple, with plans to introduce podcast subscriptions with no cut taken from the podcaster.
Apple announced some major changes to Podcasts at its Spring Loaded event. One of the biggest was paid subscriptions that would give individuals the ability to unlock ad-free listening, gain early access to new episodes and support their favorite podcasts.
Podcasters pay $19.99 a year to enable subscriptions, followed by 30% of any subscription revenue to Apple for the first year. The cut drops to 15% after the first year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Spotify is preparing to unveil its own subscriptions — with one major difference: no cut taken from the content creator. Instead, 100% of the earnings will go to the creator.
Spotify has been working hard, and spending big, to dominate the podcasting space. If the WSJ’s sources are correct, the company may have a major competitive advantage versus Apple.
Remote workers looking to escape the city may be able to cash in on a $12,000 relocation package to move to West Virginia.
Ascend WV is the brainchild of Brad D. Smith, former CEO of Intuit, and his wife Alys Smith. Brad Smith grew up in West Virginia and, following his success in the business world, wanted to return home — to the place John Denver famously called “Almost Heaven.” The Smiths provided a $25 million gift to help create the “talent attraction program,” in cooperation with Governor Jim Justice, the West Virginia Department of Tourism and West Virginia University.
Having reached the greatest heights of business success in Silicon Valley and beyond, Brad Smith could not escape the magnetic pull of his home state. One thing became clear: West Virginia was drawing him back to the mountains that made him. With the minds of visionaries, Brad and Alys Smith made a transformational investment in Almost Heaven that is changing the landscape of remote work forever. Ascend WV was born with the mission of sharing West Virginia’s unbeatable quality of life with remote workers just like you.
The program will pay participants $12,000 in cash to relocate. The first $10,000 will be paid in monthly installments over the first year, with the remaining $2,000 paid at the end of the second consecutive year after relocation. In addition, participants will receive $2,500 in free outdoor recreation. Coworking spaces, social programming and entrepreneurial assistance are also available.
The program is currently accepting applications for Morgantown, WV. Lewisburg and Shepherdstown are also featured cities, although not accepting applications at this time.
Apple uses its “Spring Loaded” event to unveil the new iPad Pro and an M1 iMac.
iMac
New iMac – Credit Apple
Cook highlighted the revolutionary impact of the transition to Apple’s custom M1 silicon, before giving the stage to John Ternus to discuss the latest addition to the M1 family: the iMac.
The new iMac is a throwback to the original iMac, coming in seven different colors. Unlike previous generations, however, the M1 allows the iMac to achieve an all new degree of thinness. In fact, the new model is only 11.5 millimeters thick.
iMac stays under 10 decimals under most situations, barely audible to the human ear.
Navpreet Koloty showed off the progress Apple has made on the iMac’s cameras, the best the company has ever put in a Mac. Cameras were always a weak point for the Mac, something that became more apparent during the pandemic, as people started relying on videoconferencing.
The iMac’s speakers and microphones also received a major upgrade, resulting in the best sound system ever put in a Mac.
The new machines are up to 85% faster than previous models, with up to 2x faster GPU performance and up to 50% faster than the fastest discrete graphics iMacs. Machine learning is up to 3x faster.
The iMac is the first desktop to offer Touch ID. Touch ID can be used to log in, make purchases and activate fast user switching, to switch between user accounts.
iPad Pro
iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard – Credit Apple
Raja Bose took the stage to announce the iPad Pro now has the M1 chip as well. The M1 in the iPad Pro delivers 50% faster performance than the previous generation. The 8-core GPU delivers up to 40% faster GPU performance than the previous model.
The new model includes support for the latest Playstation and Xbox controls, complete with haptic feedback.
The new iPad Pro has 2x faster storage access, and is now available with up to 2TB storage. New model includes Thunderbolt support with USB 4.
The new iPad Pro supports 5G, including mmWave in the US, giving it the ability to have 4Gbps download under ideal conditions.
iPad Pro Center Stage – Credit Apple
Fiona O’Leary showed the improvements Apple has made to the cameras. One of the biggest announcements was the introduction of Center Stage. Using the new 122-degree, Ultra-Wide camera and machine learning, Center Stage keeps the user in the center of the view, addressing one of the biggest complaints of the iPad’s current cameras.
The new models also include the much anticipated mini-LED display, complete Liquid Retina XDR, a first for the tablet line. The Magic Keyboard is also available in white.
The 11-inch model starts at $799, while the 12.9-inch starts at $1,099.
VMware has launched VMware Anywhere Workspace in an effort to help companies and employees thrive in a remote work environment.
VMware’s virtualization platform already powers some of the biggest names in tech, and now the company is turning its expertise toward helping companies succeed with their remote workforce.
“Work is what you do, not where you do it. As businesses reimagine where and how teams collaborate and innovate, they must do more than transform. They must reform their mindset to create a digital-first culture that puts employee experience first,” said Sanjay Poonen, chief operating officer, customer operations, VMware. “We developed VMware Anywhere Workspace with this new way of working in mind. It will play an important role in creating stronger, more focused, and more resilient businesses.”
VMware Anywhere Workspace is designed to provide robust security and make it easier for IT to support remote employees. To achieve this, the platform combines three solutions in one: VMware Workspace One, VMware Carbon Black Cloud and VMware SASE.
Together the three solutions provide unified endpoint management, desktop and app virtualization, cloud-native endpoint and workload protection, cloud-delivered security functions, and a host of employee productivity, experience and security solutions.
“A truly hybrid workforce is one that is enabled to work in any location, across any network and device, and with no trade-offs when it comes to employee productivity. However, delivering against this ideal has proven challenging for businesses that often rely on a complex set of legacy security practices and technologies,” said Adam Holtby, Principal Analyst, Omdia. “New security, management, and employee productivity solutions and practices are needed if businesses are to optimally enable and secure a more hybrid, anywhere workforce. This value proposition is at the core of VMware’s new solution, and it is one that has great potential to help the vendor become an important partner for businesses looking to embrace the Future of Work.”
Zoom has launched a $100 million fund to help stimulate and grow the app ecosystem surrounding the videoconferencing platform.
Zoom emerged as a front-runner in the early days of the pandemic, with companies, schools, religious organizations and individuals turning to the platform to stay connected. As a result, Zoom experienced meteoric growth, far outpacing some of its rivals.
The company is looking to ensure its long-term success, by helping build out the ecosystem of apps, hardware and integrations that will continue to improve the service Zoom offers.
“I founded Zoom in 2011, nearly ten years ago. Without the support of early investors, Zoom would not be what it is today,” said Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom. “What I’ve learned over the past year is that we need to keep meetings productive and fun. My hope is that the Zoom Apps Fund will help our customers meet happier and collaborate even more seamlessly, and at the same time help entrepreneurs build new businesses as our platform evolves.”
According to Zoom, portfolio companies will be eligible for investments “between $250,000 and $2.5 million to build solutions that will become core to how Zoom customers meet, communicate, and collaborate.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill that would force companies to make broadband access available to low-income families for $15 a month.
Internet access is more important than ever, as employees work from home and children learn remotely as a result of the pandemic. Unfortunately, standard broadband plans are out-of-reach for many low-income families.
New York has taken a major step toward ensuring everyone has access to broadband, by capping the cost for low-income families, according to The Washington Post. A basic broadband plan will be capped at $15 per month, while upgraded plans would be capped at $20.
Eric Schmidt, former Alphabet CEO, was on-hand with Cuomo at a briefing and was supportive of the new legislation.
“Internet is no longer optional,” Schmidt said. “Think of the generation that we could be creating that are not learning because we didn’t give them Internet access.”
Senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill Monday aimed at addressing antitrust concerns, but it may do more harm than good.
Antitrust has become a major concern for politicians on both sides of the aisle. Google and Facebook are both facing antitrust lawsuits, and officials are looking at various ways of addressing the overarching concerns about the tech industry in general.
Senator Hawley’s bill would ban companies with a market cap over $100 billion from buying any startups. As Business Insider columnist Jason Aten writes, however, such a move would harm startups far more than it would hurt Big Tech.
Acquisition is one of the main goals of many startup founders, providing an exit strategy and payday for successful founders and investors. For better or worse, large companies are an important part of that strategy. If they are blocked from acquiring companies, it could completely disrupt the startup scene.
Another major downside is the disparity between large and small companies that may be over $100 billion. Aten uses the example of Shopify, a company large enough to fall under Hawley’s bill. Shopify would be prohibited from buying an up-and-coming app, service or platform that could help it better compete with much larger rivals, such as Amazon or Walmart. Such an outcome would only hurt Shopify, while protecting the larger company even more.
Aten’s take on the situation well-illustrates the challenges of addressing antitrust issues without creating even more problems.
