SUMMARY
APPLE WON’T LET FORTNITE BACK UNTIL CASE ENDS
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BOEING TO BUILD MILITARY AIRCRAFT DRONES IN AUSTRALIAN CITY
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CALIFORNIA 1ST TO SET QUOTA LIMITS FOR RETAILERS LIKE AMAZON
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IN A BRUTAL LABOR MARKET, TARGET TRIMS HOLIDAY HIRING GOALS
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ONE TO CHARGE THEM ALL: EU DEMANDS SINGLE PLUG FOR PHONES
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CHINA’S ANT GROUP TO SHARE CREDIT DATA WITH CENTRAL BANK
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AT LONG LAST, BALLMER, CLIPPERS BREAK GROUND ON NEW HOME
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GM SAYS PRODUCTION STARTS ON REPLACEMENT BATTERIES FOR BOLTS
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SERIES 7: LARGEST EVER DISPLAY, A REFINED & DURABLE TIMEPIECE
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‘FOUNDATION’ BASED ON ASIMOV’S WORK THINKS BIG — GALAXY BIG
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AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS PREPPED FOR CAVE SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION
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US GOVT TO PROBE ZOOM’S $14.7B FIVE9 DEAL FOR NATSEC RISKS
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BILLIONAIRES ROCKETING INTO SPACE DRAW UN CHIEF’S RED GLARE
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GOOGLE TO SPEND $2.1 BILLION ON MANHATTAN CAMPUS ACQUISITION
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5 STEPS TO LEVEL UP YOUR SIDE HUSTLE
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FACEBOOK OVERSIGHT BOARD REVIEWING ‘XCHECK’ SYSTEM FOR VIPS
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FED LIKELY TO SIGNAL A COMING PULLBACK IN ECONOMIC SUPPORT
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DON’T LET SOCIAL SECURITY STEER YOU WRONG
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APPLE, GOOGLE RAISE NEW CONCERNS BY YANKING RUSSIAN APP
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NETFLIX BUYS WONKA AUTHOR DAHL’S CATALOG
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WITH EMPATHY, CHASTAIN PLAYS TAMMY FAYE BAKKER
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HUNGARY STATUE HONORING MYSTERIOUS BITCOIN FOUNDER UNVEILED
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MAN SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN $200 MILLION PHONE-FRAUD SCHEME
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CHINA SETS UP PLATFORM TO POLICE GAMING FIRM VIOLATIONS
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UK ENERGY CRISIS: GOVT IN CO2 DEAL TO AVERT FOOD SHORTAGES
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APPLE WON’T LET FORTNITE BACK UNTIL CASE ENDS
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc., said Wednesday it’s been told by Apple that the game will be “blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem” until the companies’ legal case is resolved and all appeals are exhausted, which could take as long as five years. Sweeney posted on Twitter that Epic has asked Apple to reinstate Fortnite and promised “that it will adhere to Apple’s guidelines whenever and wherever we release products on Apple’s platforms.” “Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they’d ‘welcome Epic’s return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else.’ Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users,” Sweeney tweeted. Apple declined to comment. 07
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Earlier this month, the federal judge overseeing the companies’ legal scuffle ordered Apple to dismantle a lucrative part of the competitive barricade guarding its closely run iPhone app store, but rejected allegations that the company has been running an illegal monopoly that stifles competition and innovation. But U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers didn’t brand Apple as a monopolist or require it to allow competing stores to offer apps for iPhones, iPads and iPods. Epic is appealing the decision.
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Epic had claimed that Apple has been gouging app makers by charging commissions ranging from 15% to 30% for in-app transactions because it forbids other options on its iPhone, iPad and iPod. When Epic tried to evade the commissions with an alternative payment system in Fortnite last August, Apple ousted it from the app store to set up a legal showdown that could force it to lower its fees. But Apple has insisted that the commissions are a reasonable toll paid by a minority of the 1.8 million apps in its store to help cover the more than $100 billion it has invested in mobile software.
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BOEING TO BUILD MILITARY AIRCRAFT DRONES IN AUSTRALIAN CITY
Chicago-based aerospace giant Boeing has announced plans to build a new type of drone military aircraft in Australia. Boeing said it has selected Toowoomba city in Queensland state as the final assembly point for its unmanned Loyal Wingman planes. The first test flights were completed earlier this year. The announcement comes less than a week after the U.S., Britain and Australia announced a new security alliance that will supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. The deal was condemned by China and has heightened tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. Scott Carpendale, managing director of Boeing Defence Australia, said development of the new aircraft is going to plan. He said it uses artificial intelligence to operate in tandem with manned aircraft and was conceived, designed and developed in Australia. 18
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It’s the first military combat aircraft to be designed and manufactured in Australia in half a century. Boeing Australia is currently developing six of the aircraft in partnership with the Royal Australian Air Force. Carpendale said no orders have been confirmed but the Australian government seems confident and happy about the Loyal Wingman’s capabilities. “There’s a significant interest from other countries,” Carpendale added. He said the drone will be built in a facility at Wellcamp Airport, which is owned by Wagner Corp. Wagner chairman John Wagner said he hopes a defense and aerospace precinct at the airport will attract more companies in similar fields. The project is expected to create 300 jobs during construction of the facility and 70 ongoing operational and production positions. Queensland State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the announcement was “fantastic news” and represents the first time Boeing has set up a facility of its type outside North America.
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CALIFORNIA 1ST TO SET QUOTA LIMITS FOR RETAILERS LIKE AMAZON
California became the first state to bar megaretailers from firing warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that grew from Amazon’s drive to speed goods to consumers more quickly. The measure also bars Amazon, the online retail giant, and similar companies from disciplining workers for following health and safety laws and allows employees to sue to suspend unsafe quotas or reverse retaliation. The bill applies to all warehouse distribution centers, though proponents were driven by Amazon’s dominance. 24
Image: Justin Sullivan
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“We cannot allow corporations to put profit over people,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a news release announcing he had signed the law. The law, AB 701, was authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a lawyer and former labor leader. She accused Amazon of disciplining warehouse workers at the direction of “an algorithm” that tracks employees’ activities and can determine that anything not directly related to moving packages is “off-task.” “Amazon is pushing workers to risk their bodies for next-day delivery, while they can’t so much as use the restroom without fearing retaliation,” Gonzalez said when the Legislature passed her bill. Amazon did not respond for requests for comment on her legislation or allegations. The law gives large warehouse employers 30 days to disclose quotas to employees. Workers who think their quotas lead to unsafe behavior can ask for 90 days’ worth of documentation of how their work speed meets or fails the quota. Any discipline within that 90 days is presumed to be retaliation, as is any discipline within 90 days of an employee complaining to the company or a state agency about an unsafe quota. Gonzalez cited reports from several labor advocacy groups including the Warehouse Worker Resource Center and the Strategic Organizing Center to assert that Amazon employees are far more likely to suffer serious injuries than those working in other warehouses. California’s workplace regulators would have to consider investigating if a worksite or employer 26
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has an annual employee injury rate at least 1.5 times higher than the warehousing industry’s average annual injury rate, under her bill. Yesenia Barrera, a former warehouse employee who is now an organizer with the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, recalled the constant pressure to perform and “carrying, bending, reaching, twisting and packing items from 3060 pounds for hours a day.” But 27 business organizations led by the California Retailers Association objected that California is home to thousands of warehouse distribution centers that together “provide quality jobs to hundreds of thousands of working-class Californians.” The groups in a letter to lawmakers cited U.S. Department of Labor data that wages in the transportation and warehousing sector have risen more than 17% in the last year. Amazon alone says it employs more than 150,000 Californians, including at dozens of “fulfillment centers.” The legislation is “both burdensome and needlessly overbroad,” the business groups said, arguing that workers are protected by existing occupational safety standards. In a statement, California Retailers Association President Rachel Michelin said the measure “will exacerbate our current supply chain issues, increase the cost of living for all Californians and eliminate good-paying jobs.” “With California’s ports facing record backlogs of ships waiting off the coast and inflation spiking to the fastest pace in 13 years, AB 701 will make matters worse for everyone — 29
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creating more backordered goods and higher prices for everything from clothes, diapers and food to auto parts, toys and pet supplies,” Michelin said. Warehouse workers in California are a disproportionate 54% Latino and 9.5% Black, according to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which co-sponsored the bill. It argued those groups also have fewer job options and were more likely to suffer during the coronavirus pandemic that increased consumers’ reliance on on-line shopping and boosted retailers’ profits.
Image: Patrick T. Fallon
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IN A BRUTAL LABOR MARKET, TARGET TRIMS HOLIDAY HIRING GOALS
Target will hire fewer seasonal workers this year as it navigates a tight labor market, instead offering more hours and flexibility to the employees it does have. About 100,000 seasonal workers will be hired nationwide, the company said Thursday, about 30,000 less than last year. Many of those workers will be offered jobs beyond the holiday season. Employers have struggled all year to find staff. They’ve increased hourly pay, announced signing bonuses and cast aside previous minimum standards like a high school diploma. They’re are also making applications more convenient. UPS this month said it will hire more than 100,000 people for the holiday rush and for many, a job offer from UPS will come within 30 minutes of applying. 34
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In its own bid to attract more workers last month, Target said that it would spend $200 million over the next four years to offer its workers free undergraduate and associate degree programs as well as certificates in business-oriented majors at select institutions. Target does not appear to be alone in the decision to lower its hiring goals. Global recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas predicts retailers will add 700,000 workers during this year’s holiday season, over 36,000 fewer than in 2020. Hiring before the pandemic was particularly robust, however, and hires this year outpace those of 2019. Retailers are focused more on hiring people who will stay rather than temporary, seasonal workers, said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And employers are trying to better accommodate the workers they can find. Target, based in Minneapolis, is allowing a lot more potential flexibility through a new mobile scheduling app that allows workers to choose shifts or swap with other employees. Many of the jobs now held by Target employees did not exist before the pandemic. More workers are serving in roles that allow customers to pick up goods ordered online at the store, or to pick them up curbside. The number of positions dedicated to getting customers what they want, where they want it, has tripled over the past two years, according to Target.
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Simply Better Living
SUPERSTEAM+ BUILT-IN WALL OVEN ™
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www.sharpusa.com | simplybetterliving.sharpusa.com *Mobile Application and Home Assistant Skill available upon commercial release. © 2020 Sharp Electronics Corporation. All rights reserved. Sharp, Supersteam™ Oven and all related trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sharp Corporation and/or its affiliated entities. Product specifications and design are subject to change without notice. Internal capacity calculated by measuring maximum width, depth and height. Actual capacity for holding food is less.
ONE TO CHARGE THEM ALL: EU DEMANDS SINGLE PLUG FOR PHONES
The European Union unveiled plans Thursday to require smartphone makers to adopt a single charging method for mobile devices. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, proposed legislation that would mandate USB-C cables for charging, technology that many device makers have already adopted. The main holdout is Apple, which said it was concerned the new rules 40
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would limit innovation, and that would end up hurting consumers. iPhones come with the company’s own Lightning charging port, though the newest models come with cables that can be plugged into a USB-C socket. The push by the EU will certainly be cheered by the millions of people who have rummaged through a drawer full of cables for the right charger. But the EU also wants to cut down on the 11,000 metric tons of electronic waste thrown out every year by Europeans. The commission said the typical person living in the EU owns at least three chargers, and use two regularly, but 38% of people report not being able to charge their phones at least once because they couldn’t find a compatible charger. Some 420 million mobile phones or portable electronic devices were sold in the EU last year. The new rules also call for standardizing fast charging technology and giving consumers the right to choose whether to buy new devices with or without a charger, which the EU estimates will save consumers 250 million euros ($293 million) a year. After attempting for more than a decade to cajole the industry into adopting a common standard - efforts that whittled dozens of different charging plugs down to a handful - the EU’s executive Commission is pushing the issue.
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CHINA’S ANT GROUP TO SHARE CREDIT DATA WITH CENTRAL BANK
China’s central bank will soon have access to the private credit information of hundreds of millions of users of Ant Group’s online credit service, in a move signaling more regulatory oversight of the financial technology sector. Huabei, Ant Group’s credit service, said in a statement that consumer credit data it has collected will be included in the People’s Bank of China’s financial credit information database. “The inclusion of Huabei’s credit information into the credit reporting system will help users’ credit information be more comprehensive,” Huabei said. Consumers who do not authorize the sharing of credit data with the central bank will not be able to use Huabei’s service. The company did not give a timeline for when it would provide all of its customer credit data to the central bank. The move is part of various stricter regulations for Ant, which has been ordered to end its 46
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monopoly on information and behave more like a bank. Ant Group, the financial affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba, operates many digital payments, investment and insurance services and has over a billion users worldwide. In China, about 500 million people use its online credit and consumer loans services. Financial regulators have grown increasingly concerned at Ant’s financial services business, abruptly halting its planned $34.5 billion listing days before its stock debut. Previously, Ant Group’s private credit-scoring system would assess a user’s creditworthiness. Those deemed trustworthy enough could use Ant’s credit and loans services including Huabei, which was popular among consumers as it gave them access to online credit in a country where it is difficult to get a credit card. Ant Group would connect creditworthy users with banks that provided the credit, while taking a cut of the fees in the process. Banks were thus left to shoulder most of the credit risk. Ant’s trove of customer data has long been seen as an important advantage for the company, allowing it to design financial products to suit its users. Regulators have accused the firm of anticompetitive behavior, defying regulatory compliance requirements and engaging in regulatory arbitrage. Ant Group was ordered to hold minimum capital requirements as part of risk management measures. According to Huabei’s statement, data such as a user’s credit lines, amount of credit used, 49
repayment statuses and account creation dates will be shared with the central bank, while information such as individual purchases and transactions will remain private. Huabei said it would strictly follow the regulatory requirements. “The credit reporting system is the foundation of the country’s financial sector. As society progresses and improves, more and more users will come into contact and better understand credit reporting,” it said.
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AT LONG LAST, BALLMER, CLIPPERS BREAK GROUND ON NEW HOME
The design meetings have been going on for years. Technology has evolved throughout the process. Painstaking decisions were made time and time again, right down to what an inch or two difference in leg room between rows would mean or where cupholders should be affixed to the seats. Finally, Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers are ready to build their new home. The Clippers’ long-awaited, $1.8 billion, privately funded arena officially got a name — Intuit Dome, it’ll be called when it opens in 2024, the team making that announcement hours before the formal groundbreaking ceremony. The practice facility, team offices for both business and basketball operations, retail space and more will all be on the site. 54
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Ballmer, the team’s owner, simply believes it’ll be like no other building in the NBA. “Basketball mecca! Basketball palazzo!” Ballmer, in his usual excitable way, said in an interview. He might be right. Every detail — from the huge two-sided halo video screen that will hover over the court, to the triple-wide escalators, to how the bathrooms will be designed to get fans back in their seats as quickly as possible — has a purpose. The halo will include 44,000 square feet of 4K LED lighting, slightly more than one full acre and roughly six times the average size of other “big” screens in NBA buildings. The roof of the dome was designed to accommodate the halo, not the other way around. Things the Clippers have seen in play at German soccer stadiums, other NBA buildings, NFL stadiums, even the Amazon Go checkout-free convenience stores all sparked various ideas that will be put into play at Intuit Dome. “They’ve all led us here, to this vacant lot that we’re about to transform to the singular best place for fans and players throughout the world,” Ballmer said. The Clippers currently play at Staples Center, also the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. Ballmer — who originally didn’t want to build an arena when he bought the team — wound up beginning to plot a Clippersonly home years ago and formally unveiled the project in 2019, saying then that the Clippers would break ground in 2021 and open in 2024. So far, even with a pandemic and following some legal challenges, he’s right on schedule. 57
The Clippers often felt like tenants at Staples Center, sometimes playing 12:30 p.m. games — which they loathed — because the Lakers or Kings would be playing later that day in the same building. “We don’t want to play in anybody’s shadow,” Ballmer said. Soon, they’ll have a home of their own, built to what Ballmer says are ideal specifications for basketball and music. “Today, a construction site but tomorrow, a global destination for basketball fans, music lovers and anyone who’s ever been moved to stand with 18,000 voices that echo as one,” Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker said. Technology will be everywhere, such as some that would allow fans to leave their seat, walk to a concession stand in the concourse, grab a beverage or snack and then — if they do as Ballmer hopes — get right back to their seat. There would be no cashier, nobody to take the order, and the customer’s account would be charged automatically. Other than the payingfor-it part, it would be akin to opening the refrigerator at home, getting a drink and going back to the couch. Even the best suites won’t have big televisions. The reason is simple: Ballmer wants fans watching the game from their seat and being part of a home-court advantage. “It’s about the game of basketball ... and we’re trying to get you back in your seat as quickly as we can,” Ballmer said. He wants them comfortable in those seats, too. The leg room — which will be a constant 58
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throughout the arena, from the lowest rows all the way to the very top — is going to far exceed the standard in most buildings. “We treated like the upper bowl like the lower bowl,” Ballmer said. “Nobody gets a bad seat, no matter where you sit in the building.” His favorite feature: It’ll be known as The Wall. Beyond the end of the court where Clippers’ opponents will have their bench will be 51 uninterrupted rows of seats, room for about 4,700 fans, with a standing-room-only section in the middle of it all. There’s no upper or lower deck there, just row after row after row of what Ballmer hopes is a bunch of fans that, well, act like he does during games. Again, it was designed with a purpose. Acoustics experts were brought in to ensure that The Wall generates as much sound as possible. “I mean, if we’ve got to do it right, we’ve got to get the fans there activated,” Ballmer said. Put simply, one of the league’s best-known fans, and one of the world’s wealthiest men — the former Microsoft CEO is generally believed to be worth around $100 billion — may be building the coolest possible basketball hangout for himself and 18,000 of his closest friends. “That’s a very well-put statement,” Ballmer said.
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GM SAYS PRODUCTION STARTS ON REPLACEMENT BATTERIES FOR BOLTS
General Motors said that production has resumed for battery modules used in recalled Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles, and customers could start getting replacement parts by mid-October. GM said supplier LG has restarted production at plants in Holland and Hazel Park, Michigan, and is adding capacity to make more battery cells. The recall follows reports of 13 battery fires, GM said, which can occur when two separate defects are present in the battery modules. More than 140,000 Bolts are covered by the recall, which is expect to cost $1.8 billion. GM said it continues to negotiate with LG over who will pay. Shares of General Motors Co. fell more than 5% in afternoon trading. 64
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GM said it expects over the next 60 days to develop diagnostic battery software that will let car owners charge their cars unattended and to full power. Currently, owners are told to limit charging to 90% and to park outdoors. GM and LG have been looking into how to fix the batteries. “We absolutely have figured out how these defects happened ... to make sure that they can’t happen going forward, and that’s what started our production up again,” Tim Grewe, GM’s director of battery cell engineering, told reporters this week. Grewe said the company’s goal in rebuilding customer confidence is to “statistically prove that none of these defects can get out of our factories.” For the recall, customers will be ranked according to where their battery was made and their recharging style. Owners who usually run their batteries nearly to zero power before recharging raise the risk of a fire, company officials said. GM shut down its Orion plant where Bolts are manufactured through the week of Oct. 11. It gave no update for resuming production there. The recall is a hitch in GM’s push to sell more electric cars and eventually sell only emissionsfree vehicles. And, along with recalls involving Ford, BMW and Hyundai, it has raised safety questions about lithium-ion batteries that are used in nearly all electric vehicles. GM issued the first Bolt recall last November after getting reports of fires, one of which spread to a house.
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Series 7 Largest ever display, a refined & durable timepiece
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Despite numerous reports that Apple would overhaul the design of this year’s Apple Watch, the announcement of a Series 7 smartwatch was a more muted affair. Still, the wearable packs its punch with a number of new features, including a re-engineered display that helps to maximize the screen area, an improved battery life, and tonnes of under-the-hood tweaks.
INTRODUCING THE APPLE WATCH SERIES 7 The Apple Watch has single-handedly revolutionized the smartwatch industry, helping users stay in control of their lifestyles and activity levels and saving dozens of lives in the process. It’s little wonder why Apple Watch is now one of Apple’s most popular and highly-anticipated product categories, so it
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was no surprise to learn that rumors of a Series 7 featuring an all-new design were rife. Apple had been poised to work on a Series 7 with a square-edge display, inspired by the iPad Pro and iMac 2021 design language, but it appears that the Cupertino company decided to take a different approach. Apple has reportedly been plagued with production issues for this year’s smartwatch, so much so that its release has been delayed, but we at least know what the model will look like and how much it will cost ahead of release. The new model will be sold in five beautiful new aluminum case finishes, along with a range of new band colors and styles, and go on sale later this year. Speaking at the September Event, Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer,
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Bigger screen. Epic durability. | Apple Watch Series 7 | Apple
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said: “Apple Watch Series 7 delivers significant improvements — from our largest and most advanced display, to enhanced durability and faster charging — making the world’s best smartwatch better than ever before. Powered by watchOS 8, Apple Watch brings useful new capabilities to help customers stay connected, track activity and workouts, and understand their overall health and wellness.”
A REFINED DESIGN Granted, the Series 7 design might not be as striking as we’d seen in some leaked renders, but it’s still a refinement on the now-iconic smartwatch. Apple has transformed the display of the Apple Watch Series 7 and it now offers almost 20% more screen real estate, with thinner borders that are just 1.7mm thin. Compare it to the Series 3, and even the Series 6, and you’ll see just how far the smartwatch has come in recent years. The model comes with an Always-On Retina display that’s up to 70% brighter indoors than that of Apple Watch Series 6, so you can see your watch face without having to lift the wrist or wake the display, and Apple has tweaked the user interface to maximize the shape and size of the new display. Indeed, for the very first time on Apple Watch, there’s a QWERTY keyboard that can be tapped or swiped, so you can send full-on text messages and email from your wrist for the first time. What’s more, watchOS 8 adds larger menu titles and buttons in apps like Stopwatch, Activity, and Alarms to make the screen simpler to use, which should go some way in combatting the oft-controversial ‘sausage finger’ complaints. One thing that makes this year’s Apple 79
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Watch even more attractive is that it sports a redesigned front crystal with stronger, more robust geometry that is 50% thicker than the Series 6. This makes the model more crackresistant without compromising optical clarity, and for the first time, it’s IP6X dust-resistant, making it more durable in environments like the beach or the desert, without compromising on swimming performance or water resistance. Apple has also confirmed it will bring faster charging to the Apple Watch Series 7. It offers an impressive 18-hour battery life on a single charge, and now charges 33% faster than the Apple Watch Series 6 thanks to a new charging architecture and Magnetic Fast Charger USB-C Cable. One common complaint about the Apple 82
Watch was that, if you wanted to wear it in bed to monitor your sleep, you’d need to take it off for hours. According to some reports, the new model will charge enough to track eight hours of sleep in just 8 minutes, so if you place it on the charger whilst you get ready for bed, it should be good to go all night.
MAXIMIZING THE SMARTWATCH WITH WATCHOS Earlier in the year, Apple announced the next update to its Apple Watch operating system, and at September’s event, the company confirmed new features and enhancements designed exclusively for its new hardware. Indeed, watchOS 8 debuts additional watch 83
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faces designed especially for the larger display on Apple Watch Series 7, like the Contour face which takes the dial right to the edge of the display and fluidly animates throughout the day, whilst the Modular Duo face allows users to add two large, data-rich center complications like Activity and Weather. There’s also a classic World Time face, based on heritage watches and ideal for travelers, as well as Portraits which uses depth capabilities of iPhone Portrait mode to compose a personalized experience, with users’ heads appearing over the clock.
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Apple will also include a new Mindfulness app to replace the previous Breathe app, as well as sleep respiratory rate tracking, and Tai Chi and Pilates workout types can help improve overall wellness. Apple has brought the Wallet and Home apps to the Apple Watch to offer more convenient access to the car and places users live, work, and visit, and the Messages and Photos apps have been improved to offer a better user experience from the wrist. There are new features for cyclists, too, with new advanced algorithms to analyze GPS, heart rate, accelerometer, and gyroscope data to detect when users begin a ride, and prompts them to
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Introducing Apple Watch Series 7 | Apple
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start an Outdoor Cycle workout if one was not initiated. Apple has also added an auto-pause and resume option for cyclists, so metrics can properly reflect when users are moving and when they’re stopped off for a rest or to admire the view. Users can even track their active calories when riding an e-bike, with Apple’s updated cycling workout algorithm evaluating the heart rates and GPS data to determine when users ride electric-powered and leg-powered bikes. What’s more, Apple has added new voice feedback through the Apple Watch and to AirPods to automatically announce workout milestones and Activity ring status, great for motivating users who want to reach goals such as calorie, distance, or workout minute goals. Apple launched fall detection back in 2018, and since then it’s helped offer users peace of mind and ensure that should a person fall hard, they can initiate a call to emergency services right from the wrist. With watchOS 8, fall detection algorithms are updated and optimized for detecting falls during workouts, including when cycling, making it a more convenient tool. Apple has said it will ship the Apple Watch Series 7 later this fall. Be sure to visit our website, AppleMagazine.com, for the latest updates and announcements on the new watch, which we’ll bring to you as soon as we get them. In the United States, the Apple Watch Series 7 will start at $399, whilst the Apple Watch SE will be available from $279, and the Apple Watch Series 3 - the only numbered watch to remain in the line-up outside of the Series 7 - will be sold from $199 in the United States. Trade-ins can lower those prices.
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Though Apple might not have made as many changes to the Apple Watch this year as in previous years, it’s still an impressive refinement that makes the smartwatch more powerful than ever before. We can’t wait to get our hands on the new model when it drops this fall.
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‘FOUNDATION’ BASED ON ASIMOV’S WORK THINKS BIG, GALAXY BIG
Most TV dramas try to tell stories over a few years with maybe half a dozen central characters. The new series “Foundation” is a bit more ambitious — try 400 years and 25 million worlds. To say it’s sweeping doesn’t do it justice. Worldbuilding is one thing. “Foundation,” a four-year project debuting on Apple TV+ on Friday, is galaxy-building. “I love being transported in story. I love epics. I love generational sagas. And so I just wanted to go for it,” said David S. Goyer, the series’ cocreator, executive producer and showrunner. “Foundation” is built on author Isaac Asimov’s short stories that he started writing just after World War II as a 21-year-old and have gone on 95
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to become a cornerstone of the sci-fi genre. The series is ambitious enough to redefine sci-fi onscreen. The saga begins 12,000 years in the future. Under the rule of the Galactic Empire, humanity has spread to the far corners of the galaxy and it has been peaceful, though authoritarian. Brilliant scientist Hari Seldon (played by Jared Harris) has discovered a mathematical theory that proves the empire is crumbling. Is he right? “Do you trust the math?” he asks. “When you got a character who can predict the future, the question is, ‘Is he predicting the future or a possible future? And in a world where you can predict the mass movements of civilization, does one person’s will matter? Do I matter in the broad scheme of things? Does it matter what choices I make?’” Goyer asks. Visually stunning and inventive, the series explores the trade-offs between individual liberty and the dangerous safety of dynastic rule, the notions of fate and free will, and extremism and dissent. It’s a series that puts science and math at the center of life, streaming into homes at a time when the facts of science are being challenged everywhere. “Math is never just numbers,” goes one line in the show. “In the wrong hands, it’s a weapon. In the right hands, deliverance.” Our guide is a gifted mathematician Gaal Dornick (actor Lou Llobell), who leaves her distant planet to go to the home of the empire and is as wideeyed as the folks watching at home on their couch. “I think she’s an ally for the audience,” says Llobell, whose character was male in the books. “I think 99
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that’s quite a cool tool for the audience to kind of feel like they have someone that they can trust and follow and learn about all these worlds.” Goyer, whose screenwriting credits include “The Dark Knight” and “Batman Begins,” had been offered the chance to adapt Asimov’s “Foundation” earlier in his career as a feature film but turned it down. Back then, the notion was to condense it. His new 10-part series goes the opposite direction. “I was excited about the possibility of having enough real estate so that I could expand it and expound upon it,” he says. “It was the most ambitious thing I ever attempted even prior to the pandemic, and then once the pandemic hit, it just became so monumental that it was almost funny.” The look of the series is bold and arresting, mixing old and futuristic. There are laser cannons and yet flickering candles, Roman Empire-inspired costumes and biohacking. Simple water jugs sit beside hologram devices. It might be a time of massive space ships, but their commanders might sip from old-timey liquor flasks. Goyer says he wanted a classic, timeless feel. “I wanted the show to be very cinematic. I didn’t want to film a bunch of it against green screen. I wanted to get out in the world. We filmed about 60% of it on location in six different countries. That was really important to me because I wanted it to be visceral and textural.” The series jumps back and forth in time — centuries and decades can flash forward — and Goyer did not want to lean on pre-existing 101
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props. Even basic items were rethought, like ingenious-looking wine glasses with the liquid filling the hollow stem. “There’s nothing that we can go to a store and just pick off the shelf. We had to manufacture everything and I mean everything,” he says. The show also had to solve its own scientific problems, like how to fold space. The answer: Each spacecraft needed to generate its own black hole. Llobell recalls filming on a soundstage in Limerick, Ireland, where the design team had built a replica of her character’s water-covered planet. “You walked in and you smelt the ocean. You could smell fish and algae and it stank,” she says. ”It was amazing because you were there.” It turns out her character’s water-covered planet wasn’t always so wet. The population there is going through a dark age where knowledge is forbidden, leading to warming and rising seas. “Foundation” preserves Asimov’s prescience. “This is a show about climate change. It’s a show about #MeToo. It’s a show about the rise of factionalism and nationalism, Brexit. And now it’s a show about a pandemic and the collision between science and politics,” says Goyer. Actor Leah Harvey plays the warden of a city on a planet at the farthest edge of the galaxy. Harvey laughs that despite all the high level quantum calculations, many in the galaxy refuse to acknowledge the truth. “So many people can’t understand it, but they question whether or not it’s true. And that is definitely a relatable thing in this world at the moment,” Harvey says.
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AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS PREPPED FOR CAVE SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION
After practicing in a former limestone mine and an abandoned hospital outside of Pittsburgh, a fleet of robots from Carnegie Mellon University is headed to Kentucky for the final test of the ability to autonomously navigate an uncertain, underground course. The challenge: Collect as many objects as possible in one hour while navigating a cave in Louisville, Ky. The goal: Create autonomous robots to help with search and rescue missions for military and first responders. The kicker: There’s only one operator and a fleet that could include a dozen robots, so the machines must be able to move and make decisions on their own. 109
It’s hard enough to make autonomous robots useful above ground. This CMU team is trying to do it in the depths below. “At the heart of this challenge, it’s really a problem of exploration,” said Sebastian Scherer, the colead for CMU’s team and an associate research professor at the Robotics Institute. “You’re going into an environment that you’ve never been into, so with that comes a lot of uncertainty and the robot needs to be able to decide what do I do when I face uncertainty.” The researchers and students at CMU partnered with Oregon State University to create their fleet, dubbed Team Explorer. The group is competing next week for a shot at the $2 million grand prize in the final round of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, a competition hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency to develop autonomous tech that navigates underground scenarios. DARPA has hosted similar races in the past — and CMU has made a name for itself in several competitions, ranging from those focused on self-driving technology to those developing software that helps with language translation and document understanding, said Martial Hebert, the dean of the School of Computer Science. In 2007, a Pittsburgh team won the DARPA Urban Challenge, a race to develop a self-driving vehicle that could move through traffic, navigate intersections, merge and park. That, in turn, led to advances in the field of self-driving car research and propelled some team members to create their own companies, including Aurora and Argo AI. These types of challenges help researchers “discover the real problems,” Mr. Hebert said. “By 110
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having this type of challenge scenario, it pushes us to identify what is the next frontier, what is the next problem, really, that we must address.” The DAPRA Subterranean Challenge, or SubT, is focused on autonomous robots that can navigate an underground course and be able to handle the uncertainty of an environment they haven’t seen before. The researchers also won’t see the course before sending their machines in. To them, it’s like putting your robots in a “black hole,” said Matt Travers, another Team Explorer co-lead and a systems scientist at the Robotics Institute. There’s no GPS and no communications, he said. The teams will each have 60 minutes to navigate the course in search of roughly 40 objects, including things like fire extinguishers, ropes and a helmet with a light on it. The objects and the course will simulate what a robot might find in an underground disaster scenario, as if it were sent on a search and rescue mission in a real-world application, the researchers said. “For a lot of rescue situations, it takes a long time for people to get in,” Mr. Scherer said. “You first have to make sure that it’s safe, that there’s no gases. ...The idea is that these (robots) can go in very quickly, give you a lot of awareness and then you can send people in or your other robots.” Now helping to lead the team, Mr. Scherer also participated as a student on CMU’s team for both the DARPA Urban challenge and the Grand challenge, which focused on self-driving technology to navigate a desert land scape.
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CMU’s fleet for the SubT challenge includes four small drones, three large drones, three ground robots and two walking robots. Part of the challenge in creating their fleet was bringing all the different types of technology, Mr. Scherer said. Think of it like a human team, he suggested. Some colleagues will get along better than others and there’s bound to be some “friction” when all the co-workers come together. Just like a team of human co-workers have strengths and weaknesses among the group, the fleet of robots is also built to cover different tasks. Some robots are better at handling stairs, for example, while others are built for squeezing through narrow spaces, Mr. Scherer said. For now, the human operator will help the robots determine who is best suited to handle different tasks but, eventually, he hopes that decision making becomes part of the machine’s autonomous capabilities. In designing the technology, Team Explorer also had to consider the “hierarchy of autonomy,” said Steven Willits, the lead test engineer and a research scientist at CMU. That starts with a “local planner,” or software that helps the machine decide what to do based on its surroundings. That’s what keeps it from bumping into objects or falling off a cliff, Mr. Willits said. Then, the team layered on more tech that creates a “global planner,” which helps the machines paint a picture of the entire environment around them and communicate with one another. That helps make sure the robots don’t cover the same ground as other fleet members. 115
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Team Explorer is also preparing for its robots to fail. Some will get stuck, some won’t survive the course and some will take a wrong turn. The goal, Mr. Scherer said, is to make sure the robots and the fleet overall are resilient enough to recover from those failures. “We expect these systems to get into trouble, and they’ll have to be able to get out of it themselves,” he said. The teams have been working on their fleets for more than three years, after the competition kicked off in September 2018. Over the course of the challenge, CMU and Oregon State have already taken home a first-place prize in the first round, which had the robots navigating a research mine in South Park Township, outside Pittsburgh. The mine is operated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Team Explorer also scored second place in the next round of competition, a course through an abandoned nuclear power plant in Olympia, Wash. For the final round, Team Explorer is up against seven other groups for a prize purse that includes $2 million for the first-place winner, $1 million for the runner-up and $500,000 for the third-place team. Team Explorer includes about 20 people that are “core” members and roughly 100 that are involved in an extended team, Mr. Scherer said.
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US GOVT TO PROBE ZOOM’S $14.7B FIVE9 DEAL FOR NATSEC RISKS
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A U.S. government committee that reviews foreign investment in telecom is probing videoconferencing company Zoom’s $14.7 billion deal for cloud call center company Five9. In an August filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the Justice Department, which chairs the committee, said it would review the deal “to determine whether this application poses a risk to the national security or law enforcement interests of the United States.” The Justice Department “believes that such risk may be raised by the foreign participation (including the foreign relationships and ownership) associated with the application.” The Wall Street Journal first reported the probe. The Justice Department did not say in its filing what the foreign ties of concern were and spokesperson Wyn Hornbuckle declined to answer questions. Five9 spokesperson Allison Wilson declined to comment. Zoom said in an emailed statement that it anticipates getting the required regulatory approvals and closing the Five9 deal in the first half of 2022. Zoom spokesperson CJ Lin did not respond to further questions. Zoom is based in San Jose, California, and says more than half of its employees are in the U.S. But it has a “sizable number” of research and development workers in China, which the company has noted has exposed it to government and media scrutiny. Zoom’s CEO, Eric Yuan, was born in China and became a U.S. citizen in 2007. The company said in a late August regulatory filing that it is cooperating with ongoing 120
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investigations by prosecutors in New York and California, who last summer had sent subpoenas that asked about interactions with the Chinese government, among other things. Zoom last year drew attention for blocking online meetings related to Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and temporarily suspending the accounts of three U.S. or Hong Kong-based activists at the request of the Chinese government. The company then said it would no longer “allow requests from the Chinese government to impact anyone outside of mainland China.” Tensions in recent years have increased between Washington and Beijing, with disputes over trade, technology, cybersecurity and human rights. The U.S. government has taken a tougher stance on Chinese investment, with more scrutiny of deals. Zoom has said that buying San Ramon, California-based Five9 will accelerate its growth and give it access to more business clients. Zoom Video Communications Inc. went public in early 2019, before the pandemic made the company a household name with the shift to online school and work.
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BILLIONAIRES ROCKETING INTO SPACE DRAW UN CHIEF’S RED GLARE
Space, we have an equity problem. When three billionaires rocketed into space this summer, they did more than escape Earth’s surly bonds, they helped spread “a malady of mistrust” plaguing an all-too hungry world, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told other world leaders this week. In his opening speech to the General Assembly, a grim Guterres highlighted the gap between the rich and poor with “billionaires joyriding to space while millions go hungry on Earth.” In July, billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos flew into space on private rockets that their companies built, gathering worldwide attention in their short trips that didn’t make it into orbit. Both bank on space tourism business from their fellow space fans with big wallets. After returning to Earth, Branson, 71, sprayed G.H. Mumm champagne over his crew and then chugged it from the bottle. 125
Billionaire Jared Isaacman led the first allprivate orbital mission that splashed down last Saturday after three days in orbit. His flight was on a Dragon capsule and Space X rocket built by a fourth space-obsessed billionaire, Elon Musk. Unlike the other two missions, Isaacman’s ride raised more than $200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital including $100 million from Isaacman and $50 million from Musk. Guterres lumped billionaire space hops with the maladies of hopelessness, corruption, curtailing of personal freedoms and “when parents see a future for their children that looks even bleaker than the struggles of today.” After Branson and Bezos spaceflights and revelations that Bezos, the richest man in the world, didn’t pay any federal income tax in 2007 and 2011, critics called for taxing billionaires with some wanting to tax them out of the 10-digit income level. So far those proposals, unlike the billionaires, haven’t gotten off the ground.
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GOOGLE TO SPEND $2.1 BILLION ON MANHATTAN CAMPUS ACQUISITION
Google is planning to buy New York City’s St. John’s Terminal for $2.1 billion, making it the anchor of its Hudson Square campus. The announcement arrives with the city buffeted by the pandemic and most offices still largely unpopulated. While CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post late last month that Google is delaying its global return to offices until Jan. 10, the commitment by the company to further invest in New York City real estate was trumpeted both by Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, who called it “one of the shots in the arm we need as part of our comeback.” 129
“Google is leading the way here in our economic comeback but also further asserting what we know more and more: New York City is now one of the great tech capitals in the world,” de Blasio said at a virtual news conference this week. Google’s had a footprint in New York City for more than two decades and it is the company’s largest location outside of California. Its 1.7 million-square-foot Hudson Square campus is on the Hudson River just south of the New York University campus and Greenwich Village. “As Google moves toward a more flexible hybrid approach to work, coming together in person to collaborate and build community will remain an important part of our future,” the company’s Chief Financial Officer said. “It is why we continue investing in our offices around the world. Our decision to exercise our option to purchase St. John’s Terminal further builds upon our existing plans to invest more than $250 million this year in our New York campus presence.” Google currently leases the St. John’s Terminal property and expects to open its new space there by the middle of 2023. The company anticipates that its investment will add another 14,000 employees in New York City.
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5 STEPS TO LEVEL UP YOUR SIDEHUSTLE
The pandemic isn’t crushing the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s fueling it. People normally tied to a desk or working double shifts used lockdown to launch side hustles, often out of necessity. And some have turned those side gigs into full-fledged businesses. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 427,842 new business applications were filed in August 2021 alone. That figure was 288, 026 in August 2019. While a side gig can be spontaneous, growing a legit business requires research, planning and organization. Otherwise, your fledgling enterprise could crash and burn in a couple of years. 132
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These basic but essential steps can help you take things to the next level and give your new venture a shot at staying power.
CHOOSE A BUSINESS STRUCTURE There are six common types of business entities: sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, C corporation, S corporation and limited liability company. The option you choose determines how your business is taxed, as well as who is financially responsible if your business is sued. Entrepreneurs often default to sole proprietorship because it’s the easiest, but it’s also the riskiest, says Nellie Akalp, CEO and co-founder of corpnet.com, a document filing service that helps streamline the business formation process for entrepreneurs. “There is no registration required nor are there corporate requirements,” Akalp says. But “there is no legal separation from the company, so the sole proprietor is personally responsible for any debts or liabilities.” Registering as an LLC or corporation is more expensive and requires more paperwork, but it shields your personal assets from lawsuits.
OPEN A BUSINESS BANK ACCOUNT Mixing business and personal finances can get messy, especially when it comes to filing taxes or securing a business loan. Open a business checking account to keep business income and expenses organized and easily accessible. Look for a business account that has low or no monthly fees and fits your business needs in terms of transaction and deposit limits. 135
A business credit card can also help you track expenses and identify tax deductions. Plus, you can earn rewards, like cash back on gas, office supplies and business consulting services.
UPGRADE YOUR BOOKKEEPING No more manual spreadsheets or shoeboxes full of receipts; scale up to an accounting software that can do some of the heavy lifting for you, like tracking cash flow, managing invoices and generating reports. Expect a learning curve with any new system, but know that it will help your operation run more smoothly. The right accounting software can also give you deeper insights into your business and help you identify weak points and opportunities to save money. “Accounting is the language of business, so invest time and money into understanding how to do your books,” says Danetha Doe, founder of Money and Mimosas, a financial education platform for independent contractors, freelancers and smallbusiness owners. “As a business owner, learning how to manage your company’s finances, read profit and loss statements, and understanding cash flows will make you a better entrepreneur.”
SPELL OUT YOUR BUSINESS PLAN Your side hustle may have started organically, but turning it into a full-fledged business requires research and planning. Sketch out short- and long-term goals for your business, along with a sales plan, financial projections and potential roadblocks. Be realistic, set specific targets and spell out how you plan to reach them. 136
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Building a business plan gives you a road map for how to grow your business. It also shows lenders you’ve done your homework should you need to secure a business loan. Need help with your business plan? Turn to your local Small Business Development Center. These outposts are run by the U.S. Small Business Administration and offer free business consulting services.
INVEST IN PROFESSIONAL HELP Entrepreneurs, by nature, wear many hats. But you don’t need to wear all the hats. Outsourcing some aspects of your business frees you up to focus on other things, like customer service or product development. Not hip to social media? Consider hiring someone to build and manage your business’s presence on Instagram, TikTok and the like. Do tax forms make your eyes cross? Invest in a certified public accountant to file for you. “CPAs may be more expensive than doing taxes on your own, but it will be done right,” says John Pham, founder of The Money Ninja, a personal finance website. “Plus, they will maximize your tax deductions, which will most likely give you a higher return than the cost of a CPA.”
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FACEBOOK OVERSIGHT BOARD REVIEWING ‘XCHECK’ SYSTEM FOR VIPS
Facebook’s semi-independent oversight board says it will review the company’s “XCheck,” or cross check, system following an investigation by The Wall Street Journal into the use of this internal system that has exempted high-profile users from some or all of its rules. The board said that it expects to have a briefing with Facebook on the matter and “will be reporting what we hear from this” as part of a report it will publish in October. It may also make other recommendations, although Facebook is not bound to follow these. 140
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The Journal’s report found that many VIP users abuse the system, “posting material including harassment and incitement to violence that would typically lead to sanctions.” For certain elite users, Facebook’s rules don’t seem to apply. Facebook Inc. had told The Journal that the system “was designed for an important reason: to create an additional step so we can accurately enforce policies on content that could require more understanding.” The company added that criticism of it was “fair” and that it was working to fix it. A representative for Facebook declined to comment. The Journal’s report, the board said, has drawn “renewed attention to the seemingly inconsistent way that the company makes decisions, and why greater transparency and independent oversight of Facebook matter so much for users.” 142
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FED LIKELY TO SIGNAL A COMING PULLBACK IN ECONOMIC SUPPORT
The Federal Reserve is expected this week to send its clearest signal yet that it will start reining in its ultra-low-interest rate policies later this year, a first step toward unwinding the extraordinary support it’s given the economy since the pandemic struck 18 months ago. Many economists think the Fed will formally announce a pullback in November, in response to a steady recovery from the pandemic recession and an acceleration in inflation that has raised widespread concerns. This week’s Fed policy meeting could lay the groundwork for that announcement. Fed officials are set to keep their short-term benchmark interest rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, near zero. They are also likely maintain their $120 billion in monthly bond purchases, which are intended to hold Image: Kevin Lamarque
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down long-term loan rates. In December, the Fed said it would continue those purchases until the economy had made “substantial further progress” toward its goals of maximum employment and annual inflation averaging 2% over time. In a speech last month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said such progress had already been met for inflation, with prices having spiked this year amid shortages of manufactured goods and components, from cars and computer chips to paint and building materials. Powell also said “clear progress” had been achieved in job growth and that if hiring remained healthy, it “could be appropriate” to start reducing the bond purchases this year. A surprisingly weak August jobs report made it less likely that the Fed would formally announce a reduction in September and more likely it would do so in November or December. The central bank could signal in a statement it will release after its meeting ends that it plans to soon announce a reduction in the pace of its bond purchases, and Powell could reinforce that message in a news conference to follow. “A dud of an October jobs report could change these plans,” said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase and a former Fed staffer, “but it would probably take something quite bad to knock them off track now.” The Fed also updated its quarterly projections for growth, unemployment and inflation through 2024. It will also provide a forecast for how its benchmark rate will change into 2024. In their previous such estimate in June, Fed officials collectively forecast that they would begin raising their key short-term rate in 2023. 146
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This week, it’s possible that the updated forecast will predict the first rate hike by the end of 2022. The Fed’s rate forecasts are unlikely to prove accurate, particularly for 2024. But they can provide insights into how quickly policymakers think they will need to raise rates in coming years. At his news conference, Powell will face a delicate task: He will try to signal that the Fed will soon begin withdrawing its economic stimulus, while simultaneously reassuring investors, consumers and business leaders that it won’t move so fast as to derail the recovery from the recession. And Powell will surely stress that a move to pare — or “taper” — its bond purchases doesn’t mean the Fed will soon begin raising its benchmark rate, a step that would have a bigger impact on the economy over time. “He has has to strike a fine balance between continuing to be accommodative, while inching toward the exit,” said Priya Misra, head of global rates strategy at TD Securities. One way to reassure investors would be to signal a relatively slow pace of tapering. The Fed is now buying $80 billion in Treasurys and $40 billion in mortgage bonds each month. Many economists expect it to reduce the Treasury purchases by $10 billion a month and mortgage-backed bonds by $5 billion. That would mean the taper would take about eight months to complete. But some presidents of regional Fed banks worry that current high levels of inflation will persist well into 2022 and are pushing for the taper to finish by the middle of next year, so the Fed could start raising rates in the second half of 2022. These officials include James Bullard of the St. Louis Fed and Raphael Bostic of the Atlanta Fed. 148
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