Mac security researchers and independent investigators found that Adware Doctor, a popular security scanning app on the Mac App Store, contains spyware that collects data about its users and sends it to a server allegedly located in China, Wired reports.
Why it matters: Apple has long prided itself on the security and privacy it has offered users, but this app reveals that the operating system may not be as secure as they claim. Wired explains that with the overwhelming number of positive reviews, many of which could be fake.
Three technology privacy cases coming before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court this month will begin to clarify how a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling affects law enforcement access to cellphone records and wireless data.
Why it matters: These are the first tests of how the Supreme Court's ruling in Carpenter v. United States — which decided that law enforcement must obtain a search warrant before getting cellphone location data — will be applied in cases around the country. The verdicts will set the tone for how cases like these are handled around the country.
Sweden's had a vibrant startup scene for years, but a number of recent large exits have propelled the small Nordic country's industry into a new phase, as VentureBeat's Chris O'Brien has chronicled.
The bottom line: Exits like Spotify's $27 billion public listing and iZettle's $2.2 billion sale to PayPal are sure to add fuel to the new wave of investors and entrepreneurs in Sweden, building on the local industry's growth over the las several years.
It’s been a short week thanks to Labor Day, but the tech industry has been busy making tons of news.
Catch up quick: Instagram is reportedly developing a shopping app; Lyft launches scooters in Denver; Snap releases new models of Spectacles; Microsoft (Oct. 2) and Google (Oct. 9) announced hardware events.
Apple has banned Alex Jones' Infowars app from its App Store and will not allow it to return, according to BuzzFeed News, which confirmed the removal with Apple.
Timing: Yesterday, Twitter permanently banned Jones from its platform citing abusive behavior. The removals come weeks after Jones was banned or suspended by other major tech companies — like Facebook, Apple, and YouTube. Apple booted Inforwars from its podcast platform last month.
After news broke out in July that Uber's new chief operating officer had made insensitive comments at work, Bo Young Lee, the company's new chief diversity officer, was most disappointed that employees felt compelled to leak to the press, Lee said on Friday at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference.
What it told me was that we still have a culture where people don’t trust things will get solved and they have to go outside.
Why it matters: Since a former engineer published an explosive account of harassment and discrimination at the company in early 2017, Uber has been under pressure to reform its workplace culture.
Apple, in a letter filed to the United States Trade Representative, predicted that tariffs proposed by President Trump on Chinese goods will boost the prices of many of its products and could ultimately hurt the economy, Bloomberg reports.
The state of play: Apple's shares dropped by .8% after news of the letter broke. With $50 billion in China tariffs already on the books, the Trump administration is close to adding another $200 billion, and the president has spoken of an additional $267 billion round on top of that.
Conventional bus and train transit excels at moving large volumes of passengers along busy corridors, but struggles to provide cost-effective service in outlying areas, where circuitous bus routes operate with few hourly boardings. At the same time, on-demand transportation — Lyft, Uber and any of their future self-driving iterations — converges onto those busy corridors and exacerbates congestion. This mix creates unserved “transit deserts" with high need for public transportation but little availability.
The big picture: A more efficient system would better tailor transit technologies to their environments — with buses and trains on heavily traveled routes and on-demand transportation in low-density areas — and integrate sparse areas with mainline service to overcome transit’s perennial "last-mile problem" at the beginning and end of trips.
Former AOL chief Tim Armstrong is negotiating an exit plan with Verizon, according to the Wall Street Journal. Verizon's Oath unit, which Armstrong has been instrumental in building, owns AOL and Yahoo.
Why it matters: An internet veteran, Armstrong is one of the most knowledgable people inside Verizon on the ins and outs of online advertising. The real question is whether his exit is natural fallout or a sign new Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg is less interested in that side of the business.
Live from Boston, Axios Business Editor Dan Primack hosted a conversation on technology and innovation with GM CEO Mary Barra, former NBA All-Star Chris Bosh and founder and CEO of Tusk Ventures, Bradley Tusk.
Social Capital arrived in Silicon Valley seven years ago with a charismatic co-founder, former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya who also owns a piece of the Golden State Warriors. It raised more than $1 billion and made early bets on companies like Slack.
Why it matters: The firm is imploding and nine sources blame Palihapitiya for its demise. Here is Silicon Valley's Icarus story.
Amazon has concluded its 14-month search for a second global headquarters and selected Crystal City, Virginia, and Long Island City, Queens, New York, to host the split HQ2. But the search has yielded more than just that.
The big picture: When Amazon invited cities to compete for HQ2, it got reams of data from the 238 entrants — enough to learn details of the cities' future plans that a lot of their residents don't even know.
