Axios

An estimated 62% of American schoolkids are starting the year virtually, with many of the rest facing the same fate should caseloads rise in their areas. Only 19% have in-person school every day, with another 18% in hybrid formats, according to a Burbio tracker.

The state of play, via the AP: Three of Texas’ largest school districts were hit with technical problems on the first day of classes, as were school systems in places such as Idaho and Kansas. North Carolina’s platform crashed on the first day of classes last month, and Seattle’s system crashed last week.

Apple on Tuesday filed its response to a lawsuit from Epic Games and made counterclaims of its own, arguing that the Fortnite developer breached its contract with Apple and is violating California laws against unfair competition.

Why it matters: It's a high-stakes battle for both companies, with Apple aiming to preserve the status quo and Epic arguing developers should have options beyond using Apple for in-app payments.

AngelList is debuting Transfers, a new service to facilitate secondary stock sales for more mature startups.

Why it matters: Shareholder liquidity continues to be a challenge for startups as companies remain private for many years.

Apple has made official a Sept. 15 press event, but this might not be the one where the company debuts its latest iPhones. The company has previously said this year's iPhones would ship a few weeks later than years' past.

Why it matters: Apple often has multiple fall product launches, though typically the iPhone release comes first.

President Trump's deadline for a TikTok deal is one week from today, as certainty continues to drain from the voices of sources close to the process. The big question now is what happens if no deal is struck.

Between the lines: One possibility is that Trump won't follow through on his threat. This could mean dropping the entire thing altogether, or perhaps saying the parties are close to an agreement but just need a bit more time. Maybe an extra 50 days or so, just to get Trump past Nov. 3.

Tell Me Why, which debuted for Xbox and Windows late last month, is the first big studio game to feature a transgender main character. In an interview, August Black, the transgender man who voices Tyler, said the role allowed him to be the trans male character he didn't see on screen when he was growing up.

Why it matters: LGBTQ representation in video games has lagged behind TV and movies, but that is beginning to change.

Four Belarus-based employees of San Francisco-based PandaDoc were arrested in recent days, according to the company, after CEO Mikita Mikado spoke out about a government crackdown and disputed election there.

The big picture: The move comes amid weeks of protest in Belarus following an Aug. 9 election that opposition leaders say was rigged. Mikado, who is from Belarus, founded his company there before moving its headquarters to the U.S. in 2014.

The Guardian on Tuesday published its first-ever op-ed written entirely by artificial intelligence.

Why it matters: It's the latest in a series of developments in the past few years that showcase ways artificial intelligence is being experimented with to replace functions of journalism, but not the industry itself.

Tech's biggest, richest companies have proved powerless to help stop or stem the pandemic — largely because the companies' own products have destabilized the public sphere.

The big picture: When the greatest public health disaster of our lifetimes hit, the industry, despite earnest efforts, found that the information environment it had shaped via the internet and social media was profoundly vulnerable to misinformation, partisan division, ignorance and fraud.