 TOP STORIES YOU MISSED | Featured Stories | | |  | APPLE OPENS ‘FIND MY’ PLATFORM TO THIRD PARTIES Apple announced this week that, for the first time since it released the Find My iPhone app in 2010, it will open its device location-tracking service to third parties. Find My functionality had previously been limited to Apple’s device ecosystem, allowing people to track down the location of their iPhones, iPads, Macs, AirPods, and Apple Watches. With the release of iOS 14 in the fall, third-party accessory-makers and product manufacturers will be able to tap into the Find My service as well, using end-to-end encryption to relay the location of a lost device through a crowdsourced mesh network of compatible devices. Apple will concede a proprietary advantage of its device ecosystem, which could hinder AirPod sales in particular. But by opening up the platform, Apple can more directly challenge Tile in the device-tracking market. Opening Find My access to third parties could help Apple ward off antitrust scrutiny, even though the move will likely make it harder for Tile to compete. |
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|  | TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SUSPENDS VISAS FOR FOREIGN WORKERS FOR THE REMAINDER OF 2020 President Trump announced the suspension of multiple visas, including H1-B visas for foreign workers, for the remainder of 2020. This suspension will prevent thousands of foreign workers from working for US companies, especially in the tech industry. Prior to the recent decision, the United States allowed up to 85,000 H1-B visas per year — and tech companies accounted for nearly 75% of these visas, per The New York Times. We think that freezing visas will slow down tech innovation in the US, as tech companies will lose out on a massive talent pool outside the region. In fact, in response to the Trump administration’s visa suspension, Intel stated that “there is a shortage of such talent in the US, and foreign national graduates of US advanced degree programs are essential to closing this skills gap.” We think that without the talent and knowledge foreign workers bring to tech companies, the US risks losing its competitive edge in tech talent, as workers flock to other countries with looser immigration policies, like Canada, where Toronto saw the biggest growth in tech jobs of any North American city over the past five years. |
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| | |  | FORMER MAGIC LEAP EMPLOYEES FLOCK TO BIG TECH TO BOLSTER AR EFFORTS Embattled AR company Magic Leap laid off hundreds of employees in April amid the economic turmoil, according to a new report from Protocol. Protocol tracked via LinkedIn where Magic Leap employees ended up, providing clues as to the AR ambitions of big tech companies that are keen to scoop up engineers with expertise in the developing AR space. Apple was the top employer of former Magic Leap workers who left over the last six months, as the Cupertino-based tech titan employed around one-third of the overall group. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft accounted for just over half of the group, and Amazon filled in the last share. These big tech destinations highlight the promise of AR as well as the diverse ambitions of companies that intend to leverage the technology. Amazon, for instance, offers AR to help customers virtually place furnishings in their homes through smartphones, while Microsoft works with healthcare providers to give clinicians visualization tools through its Hololens AR headset. |
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