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Technology |
In today’s letter: Apple’s new watch, iPad and iOS; the Nvidia CEO that’s shaking up the chip industry—and supplanting Moore’s Law; how to stay plugged in during disasters and more. But first ... |
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| TikTok Drama Enters Closing Act — Maybe |
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| PHOTO COMPOSITE: SHARON SHI |
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What's shaping up to be the final act in the drama to save TikTok is playing out much as the whole affair began, in a flurry of behind-the-scenes maneuvering centered on an announcement by President Trump that raised new questions as it answered others. For anyone just waking up from a really long nap, TikTok is a wildly popular app famous for its frivolous video clips of people dancing or otherwise expressing themselves. It's also the subject of an improbable showdown in the U.S.-China tug of war over technology, owing to its ownership by Beijing-based company ByteDance. Mr. Trump put TikTok in his crosshairs in July when his administration said it might ban the app for Americans because of concerns that its data could be accessed for ill purposes by the Chinese government. TikTok has said that couldn’t happen. Regardless, the threat set in motion what has become one of the most unusual episodes of dealmaking in business history. Microsoft nearly struck a pact to help TikTok address national security concerns, only to have it disrupted by a new Trump declaration that TikTok had to be sold to a U.S. company, which triggered another seven weeks of intrigue involving some of the biggest companies in America as well as the world’s two most powerful governments. If TikTokers were to try to interpret it all as one of the dances that are the platform’s hallmark, it might look something like a tango contest in a mosh pit. Ultimately, Mr. Trump gave his blessing in principle on Saturday to a deal in which ByteDance sells a combined 20% stake to two companies not known for their cool, Oracle and Walmart. They’ll be investors in a new, U.S.-based TikTok Global, with Oracle promising that all the app’s data will be secure. It’s an odd marriage to some. When I described the situation to my 12-year-old daughter, she responded with the same expression she made when our dog threw up. ‘Walmart’s gonna own TikTok?! I do not like the sound of that.’ Some aspects of the deal are murky. Though ByteDance appears poised to retain 80% ownership in TikTok - at least until a planned U.S. initial public offering - the two U.S. companies said TikTok will now be majority U.S.-owned. That’s apparently based on a calculation factoring in minority stakes held in ByteDance by U.S. investors. There were also differing accounts from the White House and the companies about whether TikTok and its partners will pay $5 billion in funding for education, or that amount in future taxes to the U.S. Treasury. And, as of this writing, China’s government had yet to give the deal a nod. Even assuming the deal holds, its consequences will take time to understand, and will be based in part on whether all the promises it entails are fulfilled. Meanwhile, it would seem that TikTokers in America can keep TikToking. —Jason Dean is The WSJ's global tech editor based in San Francisco. |
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| Latest on Apple: Watch Series 6 and a New iPad Air (But No iPhones) |
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| PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: LAURA KAMMERMANN/WSJ |
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In an unusual fall event, Apple left out the iPhone but revealed new details about the new Watch Series 6 and SE, Fitness+ subscription service and redesigned iPad Air. 👉Read Tim Higgins’s full report here. |
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| Watch The Latest From Joanna Stern: iOS 14 Review—Your iPhone Will Look Completely Different Now, if You Want |
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| PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: ALEX KUZOIAN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL |
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Listen Here: Amazon’s music service is launching into podcasting, becoming the latest entrant to the rapidly expanding medium, looking to draw new listeners with 70,000 titles, including originals from DJ Khaled. |
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Election Platforms: Technology companies are expected to face increased scrutiny no matter who wins the Nov. 3 election, but President Trump and challenger Joe Biden differ on some key issues. Here’s what you need to know. |
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| New From Nicole Nguyen: Prep Your Tech for Power Outages and Other Emergencies |
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As an inferno sweeps the West and hurricanes spin over the Atlantic, power outages pose a big risk for those living in affected areas. No matter where you live, it’s good to prepare for a blackout before it’s too late. Here’s how to get your smartphone and connected devices ready and powered up in case of an emergency. 👉Read Nicole’s full column here. |
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| 📖 Read This: How Nvidia’s CEO Cooked Up America’s Biggest Semiconductor Company |
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In the midst of the pandemic, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang engineered his company’s biggest game changer from his kitchen: a $40 billion acquisition that could cement his status as the semiconductor industry’s hottest CEO. 👉Read Asa Fitch's full report here. |
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| Latest From Christopher Mims: Moore’s Law Is Dead; Long Live Huang’s Law |
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Moore’s Law, the rule that the same dollar buys twice the computing power every 18 months, may have slowed, but Huang’s Law—named for the CEO of Nvidia, the company now most emblematic of commercial AI—is in full effect. |
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• Microsoft’s Underwater Data Center Rises From the Seafloor a Grimy Success (Gizmodo) • You Can Get a Robot to Keep Your Lonely Grandparents Company. Should You? (Vox) • Fake Data Could Help Solve Machine Learning’s Bias Problem—if We Let It (Slate) |
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| 📖 Read This, Too: Coronavirus Recasts Startups’ Courtship of Investors |
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For startups and venture-capital firms, investing used to be a decidedly low-tech exercise. They would try to draw attention at industry conferences, size each other up over long lunches, belly up to the bar or make their pitches during walks along San Francisco’s waterfront. In the pandemic era, entrepreneurs and investors are having to get more creative. 👉Read Heather Somerville’s full report here. |
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| ✉️ Reader Mailbag: Your Tech Questions |
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This week, Senior Personal Tech Columnist Joanna Stern answers questions about upgrading iPhones to iOS 14. Got a question of your own? Reply to this email or write to us at personaltech@wsj.com. |
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Q: | You didn’t mention that it takes more than 3GB of storage to even install iOS 14. I don’t have that much available even after culling. What are my options outside of buying a new phone?—William Benedetto from Fort Myers, Fla. |
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A: | Ah yes, the free-up-iPhone-space-to-get-essential-software dance. My favorite! The best thing you can do is look at what’s eating up your storage and then clean it out. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see what’s taking up the most space. Chances are your Messages app is bloated with attachments (think photos, videos that have been texted to you). You can use the tools there to save and then delete large attachments. Fortunately, Apple got rid of the dreaded 16GB phone a few years back, but it’s always a gamble when you buy the lowest-memory iPhone—and Apple’s banking on that. |
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Q: | Regarding Apple organizing my apps, can I opt out? I actually like the apps I have in their respective folders.—Andrew Vincenti from Malta, Europe |
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A: | This is the beauty of iOS 14: If you don’t like most of these new home-screen organization features, you don’t have to use them. When you download the operating system, your home screen, complete with all your folders, will be unchanged from when you were running iOS 13. That said, Apple doesn’t allow you to remove the App Library, which is now the last page of your home screen. It may be helpful to just think of it as a place where you can see a list of all your apps. |
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Q: | Some months ago you had suggested holding off till now to buy a new iPhone. Is now a good time to buy? I have a 6 Plus. I believe that is no longer upgradeable. I am old-fashioned and do not need a fancy camera or the power that you need. Seemed like the SE was the best choice for people like us. Right?—Verinder Syal from Evergreen, Colo. |
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A: | I know, it is confusing. There was an Apple event last week but no iPhone. Hold tight, my friend. The new iPhones are expected in October and I urge you to wait so you’ll be able to weigh the pros and cons of all the new models—and benefit from any fresh price drops. I’m hesitant to recommend the 4.7-inch iPhone SE for you since you’re used to the bigger 5.5-inch screen on the iPhone 6 Plus, which, yes, no longer supports the new iOS software updates. Stay tuned! |
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Note: Questions are edited for clarity and length. |
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| Latest From Julie Jargon: Social and Emotional Learning Has Never Been More Important—or More Difficult |
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This 300-lb. beast of a work-from-home upgrade can be yours for just $3,299! 🙄 |
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We want to know what you think! Reply to this email and share your feedback. Brought to you by tech editor Robert Wall, tech news editor Bowdeya Tweh and personal tech editor Wilson Rothman. You can reach them by replying to this newsletter, and follow them on Twitter: @R_Wall, @bowknowsbiz and @wjrothman. |
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