Some 31 Apple stores were shown closed on the company’s website Thursday, including seven in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced the state will pause further reopening phases amid the surge in COVID-19 cases. The Department of Health State Services estimated 50,774 active cases statewide. Apple showed all four Houston stores closed; the Texas Medical Center reported intensive care unit beds at 100% capacity Wednesday. Harris County, Houston's home, led with 25,786 confirmed cases Wednesday, said Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Seven states reported new highs for current coronavirus hospitalizations this week, said The Washington Post : Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. All six Apple stores in Arizona were temporarily shuttered. The state had the biggest upward trend of new cases, said Johns Hopkins. In Florida, Apple stores in Estero and Naples were shown closed, while four of five stores in North Carolina -- and both South Carolina stores -- were shuttered. Two of four Tennessee stores -- Germantown and Nashville -- were closed. Apple began a gradual reopening of U.S. stores last month (see 2005180043) after it temporarily shut all U.S. storefronts in March. The company didn't comment.
Some 31 Apple stores were shown closed on the company’s website Thursday, including seven in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced the state will pause further reopening phases amid the surge in COVID-19 cases. The Department of Health State Services estimated 50,774 active cases statewide. Apple showed all four Houston stores closed; the Texas Medical Center reported intensive care unit beds at 100% capacity Wednesday. Harris County, Houston's home, led with 25,786 confirmed cases Wednesday, said Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Seven states reported new highs for current coronavirus hospitalizations this week, said The Washington Post : Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. All six Apple stores in Arizona were temporarily shuttered. The state had the biggest upward trend of new cases, said Johns Hopkins. In Florida, Apple stores in Estero and Naples were shown closed, while four of five stores in North Carolina -- and both South Carolina stores -- were shuttered. Two of four Tennessee stores -- Germantown and Nashville -- were closed. Apple began a gradual reopening of U.S. stores last month (see 2005180043) after it temporarily shut all U.S. storefronts in March. The company didn't comment.
The FCC faces a challenge to its June wireless infrastructure declaratory ruling, with Oregon and California cities filing a challenge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The order was approved 3-2 over dissents by Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks (see 2006090060). Others are expected to join the appeal. Local governments are also considering filing a petition for reconsideration at the FCC, lawyers said. The agency acted on requests by CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association in approving the ruling, which took effect June 10.
Cincinnati Bell paused work for eight minutes and 46 seconds in solidarity with union workers and others seeking racial equality after the death of George Floyd, the telco said Thursday. Communications Workers of America employees asked for the pause.
Microsoft won’t sell facial recognition technology to U.S. police departments until a national law is in place, President Brad Smith said Thursday, following the lead of IBM and Amazon. IBM “no longer offers general purpose IBM facial recognition or analysis software,” CEO Arvind Krishna wrote Congress Monday, “outlining detailed policy proposals to advance racial equality.” Amazon implemented a “one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon’s facial recognition technology” Wednesday, though it will continue allowing use from organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Marinus Analytics. “We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested,” Amazon said. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., welcomed a “pause” on police use of the technology: “What Amazon should really do is a complete about-face and get out of the business of dangerous surveillance altogether.” It took two years, but the American Civil Liberties Union is “glad the company is finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly,” said ACLU Northern California Technology and Civil Liberties Director Nicole Ozer. The group's Civil Liberties Attorney Matt Cagle urged Microsoft to halt “its current efforts to advance legislation that would legitimize and expand the police use of facial recognition in multiple states.” Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia called Microsoft’s decision a good step, saying it “must permanently end its sale of this dangerous technology to police departments.”
Microsoft won’t sell facial recognition technology to U.S. police departments until a national law is in place, President Brad Smith said Thursday, following the lead of IBM and Amazon. IBM “no longer offers general purpose IBM facial recognition or analysis software,” CEO Arvind Krishna wrote Congress Monday, “outlining detailed policy proposals to advance racial equality.” Amazon implemented a “one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon’s facial recognition technology” Wednesday, though it will continue allowing use from organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Marinus Analytics. “We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested,” Amazon said. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., welcomed a “pause” on police use of the technology: “What Amazon should really do is a complete about-face and get out of the business of dangerous surveillance altogether.” It took two years, but the American Civil Liberties Union is “glad the company is finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly,” said ACLU Northern California Technology and Civil Liberties Director Nicole Ozer. The group's Civil Liberties Attorney Matt Cagle urged Microsoft to halt “its current efforts to advance legislation that would legitimize and expand the police use of facial recognition in multiple states.” Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia called Microsoft’s decision a good step, saying it “must permanently end its sale of this dangerous technology to police departments.”
Microsoft won’t sell facial recognition technology to U.S. police departments until a national law is in place, President Brad Smith said Thursday, following the lead of IBM and Amazon. IBM “no longer offers general purpose IBM facial recognition or analysis software,” CEO Arvind Krishna wrote Congress Monday, “outlining detailed policy proposals to advance racial equality.” Amazon implemented a “one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon’s facial recognition technology” Wednesday, though it will continue allowing use from organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Marinus Analytics. “We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested,” Amazon said. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., welcomed a “pause” on police use of the technology: “What Amazon should really do is a complete about-face and get out of the business of dangerous surveillance altogether.” It took two years, but the American Civil Liberties Union is “glad the company is finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly,” said ACLU Northern California Technology and Civil Liberties Director Nicole Ozer. The group's Civil Liberties Attorney Matt Cagle urged Microsoft to halt “its current efforts to advance legislation that would legitimize and expand the police use of facial recognition in multiple states.” Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia called Microsoft’s decision a good step, saying it “must permanently end its sale of this dangerous technology to police departments.”
Best Buy’s upcoming reopening of most stores Monday could strain already-stressed product availability for independent retailers, Bjorn Dybdahl, owner of Bjorn’s in San Antonio, told us Wednesday. “The reality is, certain product availability is a big [concern] right now for us,” he said, citing Sony TVs and certain receivers.
Even as UPS officials warned traders that the date of entry into force for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will not be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic responses, they said all the details needed to comply won't be ready by July 1. Penny Naas, senior vice president for international public affairs at UPS, said it's not just the auto rules of origin that are “going to be provisional” in USMCA. She said that government officials will still be working on some other areas after it goes into effect. The global shipping company is in close contact with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
In the third cancellation of a 2020 high-end audio show in less than a month, Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest organizers canceled their Oct. 2-4 event in Denver. Promoters slotted in Oct. 8-10 dates for the 2021 show. In a Tuesday announcement, Director Marjorie Baumert and Operations Director Marcie Miller said they made the decision after “waiting for the dust to settle around the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown” to evaluate the possibilities. “The very worst thing that we can envision is for someone to fall ill because they came to our show,” they said.