I.T.

Apple Data Shows Shelter-In-Place Is Ending, Whether Governments Want It To Or Not

Apple’s Mobility Trends report shows that traffic in the US and other countries like Germany has pretty much doubled in the past three weeks. It had been down up to 72%. And location data provider Foursquare says that gas and fast food visits are back to pre-COVID-19 levels in the American Midwest.

Screenshot of Apple’s mapping data showing a resurgence in traffic

Rural areas are following the same pattern.

“Gas station traffic has returned to pre-COVID-19 levels in the Midwest, and in rural areas throughout the country,” Foursquare said yesterday in a blog post. “Foot traffic to quick service restaurants (QSRs) has risen over the past several weeks.”

Whether governments, medical professionals, and scientists want it to or not, people seem tired of the shutdown and eager to get back to some semblance of normal life.

Another sign of the impending return to normal?

Grocery store visits are down to normal levels, after being 30-40% higher than normal in late March as people tried to stock up for a long shutdown.

Grocery store visits are returning to normal

While the Apple data is measured by people searching Apple Maps for directions, the Foursquare data is captured by people actually visiting locations. 13 million Americans have granted the company permission to capture their data and use it in privacy-safe ways.

While more people are going more places, it hasn’t impacted a number of hard-hit industries just yet.:

Nail salons, on the other hand, are “only” down 38-42%, and hotels in the Midwest are down just 49%, compared to a 63-70% decline in other regions.

Interestingly, as Apple’s data from Canada shows, while driving and walking are edging back up to normal levels, people are avoiding transit, which is still down 79% from pre-Coronavirus levels. Driving by yourself is safe, apparently, but sitting in a bus or on a train with hundreds of others is not.

Apple Maps routing directions data for Canada

“People are feeling the itch to get back to the real world,” Foursquare says. “As officials begin the process of relaxing some business restrictions, we’re starting to see upticks in foot traffic to various places. This is true across regions, regardless of state-specific policies.”

New cases of COVID-19 by day in the US, according to Coronavirus.app.

COVID-19 cases seem to have started to level off in the US, but there are still 1.1 million total cases, with 65,034 deaths. There are almost 900,000 active cases. The question is: as states start to open up, and as people start to decide they’re done with quarantine and shelter-in-place policies, will that go up?

This content was originally published here.

Jeff Bezos is wealthier by $24 billion in 2020, as Amazon reports at least 74 COVID-19 US warehouse cases and its first death

  • Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is richer to the tune of $23 billion in 2020, cementing his position as the world’s wealthiest person.
  • Amazon has seen a massive surge in demand during the last four months, due to the coronavirus pandemic leading to people staying home and switching to online shopping.
  • The $1 trillion company has hired thousands more staff to deal with demand, but has struggled to keep the virus out of its warehouses. 
  • Many Amazon workers have voiced concerns about their safety, and this week Business Insider confirmed the first death of a warehouse worker from COVID-19.

As Amazon has scrambled to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic, CEO and world’s richest person Jeff Bezos has seen a $23.6 billion boost to his personal finances.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos is one of the few billionaires to have seen an increase to his net worth since the beginning of 2020.

Bezos’ wealth has increased by roughly 20% over the last four months to $138 billion in April. 

Amazon has experienced increased customer demand as the coronavirus keeps people indoors, on lockdown, and on their devices.

Demand has reportedly soared to match that of peak holiday season, and one analyst forecast a sales increase of 23% for the first three months of 2020. The retail giant also announced this week it will to resume shipping non-essential items into its warehouses, a practice it temporarily paused after demand for medical and household items skyrocketed.

Amazon’s stock price hit an all-time high on Tuesday, closing at $2,283.32 and lifting its market cap to $1.14 trillion.

Amazon wants an additional 175,000 workers to meet demand but staff say they don’t feel protected

The huge surge in demand has put significant strain on Amazon’s army of warehouse workers, who now find themselves on the frontlines and packed into warehouses where COVID-19 can easily spread.

Amazon has hired 100,000 extra US workers to cope with demand, and is looking to hire a further 75,000.

But more than 74 US warehouses alone have now reported cases of the virus, and concerns from workers about safety and sanitation have ballooned, leading to employee walkouts and protests. 

On Tuesday, Business Insider broke the news that Amazon had seen its first warehouse worker death, an operations manager who worked at the company’s Hawthorne, California warehouse. The man died on March 31.

Amazon has brought in various measures inside its warehouses including a 6-foot distancing rule, supplying cleaning materials and hand wipes for workers, and introducing temperature checks.

Multiple Amazon warehouse workers have told Business Insider they still do not feel safe going into work, saying social-distancing measures are impossible inside the warehouses and sanitary supplies frequently run out.

“I am feeling like I’m forced to make a decision whether I have to go to work or pay my bills,” one worker told Business Insider.

This content was originally published here.

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Google and Apple launching coronavirus contact-tracing system for iOS and Android – The Verge

Apple and Google announced a system for tracking the spread of the new coronavirus, allowing users to share data through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmissions and approved apps from health organizations.

The new system, which is laid out in a series of documents and white papers, would use short-range Bluetooth communications to establish a voluntary contact-tracing network, keeping extensive data on phones that have been in close proximity with each other. Official apps from public health authorities will get access to this data, and users who download them can report if they’ve been diagnosed with COVID-19. The system will also alert people who download them to whether they were in close contact with an infected person.

Apple and Google will introduce a pair of iOS and Android APIs in mid-May and make sure these health authorities’ apps can implement them. During this phase, users will still have to download an app to participate in contact-tracing, which could limit adoption. But in the months after the API is complete, the companies will work on building tracing functionality into the underlying operating system, as an option immediately available to everyone with an iOS or Android phone.

Contact tracing — which involves figuring out who an infected person has been in contact with and trying to prevent them from infecting others — is one of the most promising solutions for containing COVID-19, but using digital surveillance technology to do it raises massive privacy concerns and questions about effectiveness. Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union raised concerns about tracking users with phone data, arguing that any system would need to be limited in scope and avoid compromising user privacy.

Unlike some other methods — like, say, using GPS data — this Bluetooth plan wouldn’t track people’s physical location. It would basically pick up the signals of nearby phones at 5-minute intervals and store the connections between them in a database. If one person tests positive for the novel coronavirus, they could tell the app they’ve been infected, and it could notify other people whose phones passed within close range in the preceding days.

To help public health officials slow the spread of #COVID19, Google & @Apple are working on a contact tracing approach designed with strong controls and protections for user privacy. @tim_cook and I are committed to working together on these efforts.https://t.co/T0j88YBcFu

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai)

The system also takes a number of steps to prevent people from being identified, even after they’ve shared their data. While the app regularly sends information out over Bluetooth, it broadcasts an anonymous key rather than a static identity, and those keys cycle every 15 minutes to preserve privacy. Even once a person shares that they’ve been infected, the app will only share keys from the specific period in which they were contagious.

Crucially, there is no centrally accessible master list of which phones have matched, contagious or otherwise. That’s because the phones themselves are performing the cryptographic calculations required to protect privacy. The central servers only maintain the database of shared keys, rather than the interactions between those keys.

Contact tracing can help slow the spread of COVID-19 and can be done without compromising user privacy. We’re working with @sundarpichai & @Google to help health officials harness Bluetooth technology in a way that also respects transparency & consent. https://t.co/94XlbmaGZV

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook)

The method still has potential weaknesses. In crowded areas, it could flag people in adjacent rooms who aren’t actually sharing space with the user, making people worry unnecessarily. It may also not capture the nuance of how long someone was exposed — working next to an infected person all day, for example, will expose you to a much greater viral load than walking by them on the street. And it depends on people having apps in the short term and up-to-date smartphones in the long term, which could mean it’s less effective in areas with lower connectivity.

It’s also a relatively new program, and Apple and Google are still talking to public health authorities and other stakeholders about how to run it. This system probably can’t replace old-fashioned methods of contact tracing — which involve interviewing infected people about where they’ve been and who they’ve spent time with — but it could offer a high-tech supplement using a device that billions of people already own.

This content was originally published here.

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Microsoft Teams goes down just as Europe logs on to work remotely – The Verge

Microsoft’s chat and communications tool, Microsoft Teams, is down across Europe this morning. The outage started just as thousands of workers started to sign into the service and attempt to work remotely amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Microsoft Teams users are currently experiencing issues signing into the service and sending messages. “We’re investigating messaging-related functionality problems within Microsoft Teams,” says a Microsoft support Twitter account.

The timing is less than ideal, just as many businesses are encouraging employees to work remotely and collaborate using services like Microsoft Teams. Even schools are also using tools like Microsoft Teams for remote education, with some schools in The Netherlands instructing students to log into the service today for digital questions.

This is the second major outage to hit Microsoft Teams this year. The service also went down after Microsoft forgot to renew a key SSL security certificate last month. Microsoft eventually got Teams working again after three hours of issues, and apologized for missing the expired certificate.

Microsoft’s Teams issues also come just hours after Xbox Live went down briefly. Microsoft hasn’t revealed the exact cause of the Xbox Live outage, but it’s likely related to an increase in demand. Steam reached a new concurrent online user record of 20 million, just as people start to stay at home more during the coronavirus pandemic.

This content was originally published here.

Amazon Workers In At Least 10 Warehouses Test Positive For Coronavirus

A growing number of cases — in New York, California, Texas and at least six other states — could … [+] endanger the company’s ability to deliver food and other household staples to Americans.

Amazon workers in at least 10 U.S. warehouses have tested positive for coronavirus, marking an escalation at the company that could endanger the health of its workforce as well as its ability to deliver food and other household staples to millions of Americans unable to leave their homes.

The first case was reported last week at a facility in Queens in New York City. There’s now a second case in New York at a Staten Island facility. The company told workers on Tuesday that someone had tested positive for coronavirus, but hadn’t been to the facility since March 11, according to an employee who spoke with reporters.

Amazon employees have also tested positive for the virus in at least eight other warehouses across the nation — in Brownstown, Michigan, Jacksonville, Florida, Joliet, Illinois, Katy, Texas, Moreno Valley, California, Oklahoma City, Shepherdsville, Kentucky and Wallingford, Connecticut — according to Amazon employees, spokespeople and local news coverage. The company has temporarily closed some of these facilities in response.

“Last week, when everyone was going into quarantine, we were still sitting together in lunchrooms,” said Stephanie Haynes, who has worked at Amazon’s warehouse in Joliet, Illinois since 2015, on a call with reporters. On Monday, a human resources representative informed them that a woman had tested positive for coronavirus. “We wanted them to do something. But they said to go back to work,” said Haynes, who is a member of a member of retail worker rights group United for Respect.

“We are supporting the individuals, following guidelines from local officials and are taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of all the employees at our sites,” said an Amazon spokesperson.

In a recent blog post, it said in the event an employee tested positive for COVID-19 it would evaluate a number of factors to determine if the facility needed to close, including where the employee was in the building, for how long, how much time has passed since they were onsite and who they interacted with. It has also instructed employees who have coronavirus or have come into contact with someone with coronavirus to stay home with two weeks of additional paid time off. Workers who are unable to come into work, or prefer not to, have been given unlimited unpaid time off.

Amazon also said it has stepped up the frequency and intensity of its cleaning efforts, including the regular sanitization of door handles, handrails, touch screens, scanners and other frequently touched areas. It has eliminated in-person meetings during shifts and staggered the timing of shifts and break times.

“What should be first and paramount is public and worker health. Our concerns are primarily about person to person transmission. The question is not ‘are the surfaces clean?’” says Dania Rajendra, director of Athena Coalition, a workers rights group.

Hundreds of Amazon employees have signed a petition calling for childcare, hazard pay and paid sick leave. They have also called for the closure of any facility where an employee has tested positive for the coronavirus until it can be sanitized and employees can be tested for the virus.

With one in four Americans now ordered to stay in their homes in an effort to slow the spread of the virus, many have turned to Amazon for food and other household staples.

“We’re providing a vital service to people everywhere, especially to those, like the elderly, who are most vulnerable. People are depending on us,” said founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in an email to employees. The company is in the midst of hiring an additional 100,000 workers to help meet heightened demand. It has also doubled overtime pay for current hourly workers.

“Right now, Amazon is the closest thing we have to the Red Cross in terms of the broad distribution of consumer products,” says James Thomson, a partner with Amazon consultancy Buy Box Experts and the former business head of Amazon Services, a group that recruits sellers to the platform.

In the end, it may not be up to Amazon. “As more and more regulations come into place to limit the number of people who can gather, we could potentially see limitations on fulfillment centers, where they may not be able to run at 100% capacity,” says Gabe Ray, who runs operations for Evolved Commerce, an Amazon consultancy. “At some point, someone may step in and say let’s minimize the risk here.”

This content was originally published here.

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Apple Just Gave Millions Of Users A Reason To Quit Their iPhones

Apple’s 2020 iPhone plans are some of its most exciting in years and an iOS 14 early beta has already revealed some of the company’s biggest secrets months ahead of schedule. But for every iPhone owner currently using iOS 13, Apple may have just given you a reason to quit your phone right now. 

Every Apple iPhone, including Apple’s new iPhone 11 range can be impacted by the Uninstalled Apps … [+] data bug

Earlier this week, I was tipped off by a reader about a serious iOS 13 cellular bug which is consuming mobile data without explanation and increasing bills. Remarkably, while this was the first I had heard of it, affected users (at least those aware of the issue) have been suffering for months and even switching off mobile data has not stopped it. The only solution for some has been to shut down their iPhones completely. 

03/16 Update: since publishing this story, I’ve been contacted by multiple readers who have found the problem is still present in betas of iOS 13.4 (the final version of which is tipped to launch this week), so a fix is not coming any time soon. I’ve also been sent screenshots of extreme examples of this bug with data consumption north of 50GB, which has led to even those on ‘unlimited’ contracts being contacted by their carrier for stepping beyond their fair use policy. The purpose of Uninstalled Apps is to show the data used by apps that have since been uninstalled (hence the singular categorization) but affected users have ruled this out by resetting these statistics and even resetting their iPhones and purposefully not removing any apps, but Uninstalled Apps data consumption continues to mounts up (some see just kilobytes, others with multiple gigabytes). I have pressed Apple again for a clarification on what is happening with this data consumption. I will update this article when I get one.

03/17 Update: AT&T has followed Verizon tech support in telling to users that they are seeing data consumption associated with this bug on their network as well. Verizon explained (below) that it is using the ports associated with audio and video streaming but AT&T has yet to break this down. A number of users on late versions of iOS 12 (typically 12.4.1 and newer) have also reported having this bug to me. I supplied Apple with this additional information which the company acknowledged, but said it was not ready to make a statement at this time and would contact me “if” that situation changed. I will endeavor to turn that if into a ‘when’. Anyone experiencing this bug who receives additional information from their carrier or Apple tech support itself (which has reported to be aware of the bug since January), please feel free to contact me via my Facebook page, which is linked at the bottom of this article.

Complaints about this can be found in multiple forums, including Reddit and Apple’s Support Communities (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 etc) impacting every iPhone model and every version of iOS 13, including the latest iOS 13.3.1 release. The problem always takes the same form: users navigate to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data (either by chance or because of a big bill) and find a mysterious entry called ‘Uninstalled Apps’ which is steadily consuming data. 

For some, the total only uses kilobytes but for others, it can hit gigabytes a day and affected users are being told Apple has been aware of the problem for some time. 

“Apple Support said it’s been a known issue since January… but no ETA for a fix, no explanation for where the data is going, or if they will compensate customers for busting data plans” explained the reader to me. “I spoke with Verizon about the usage. They said it’s getting categorized as audio and video streaming, but only because it’s using network ports normally associated with those types of services.” 

Sending me the screenshot below, he explained: “This is from a two day road trip where I had cellular data turned off most of the time, I had to upgrade my data plan to keep from going over my allowance.”

Apple iOS 13 ‘Uninstalled Apps’ cellular data bug can use gigabytes of data without explanation

And it’s a worryingly familiar story: 

“My wife’s phone has had this same problem since ~ 13.3. Hers is using around 1 GB per day between Uninstalled Apps and System Services. This is a major issue and Apple is aware of it. I’ve been working with their support and they do acknowledge the issue but are unable to provide any ETA for a fix.” – source

“I have this issue too and it seems quite common as I found quite a lot of posts online about it. It must be some sort of iOS bug but it’s annoying not to know exactly what it is, to say the least.” – source

“So this is what happened: After 2-3 minutes my phone became hot. I checked iOS setting/cellular and saw an uninstalled app used 700-800MB. I closed the settings and reopened it and it was 900MB. The uninstalled app[s] used 1.2GB data in less than 5-6 minutes… I reset my cellular statistics many times since yesterday and didn’t install or uninstall anything but ‘Uninstalled App’ is still transferring data.” – source

“Same issue except mine uses GBs of data. I have even completely wiped my phone and made as new. Yet still the ‘unused apps’ goes through data.” – source

“I’m at 2GBs and so is my wife’s phone. It’s crazy and frustrating. Had to change cell plans bc Apple was so worthless at helping.” – source

“I just noticed this issue on my iPhone XR. I got a notification from my carrier that I’ve used 90% of my 8GB of data and I have 11 days left in my billing cycle. My data usage is usually around 4GB per month, so this was pretty strange. I noticed that System Services and Uninstalled apps were taking up the majority of my data usage…. This seems to have started around the time I installed iOS 13.3.” – source

“Everything everyone is trying and have experienced I have already been through. I even tested after a clean installed X. (And noticed the same behavior on a brand new 11Pro) So it’s either nefarious apps that stick to the phone/appleID/phone# after a clean wipe, or it’s a bug in iOS. Honestly at this point, I think it’s best if the media picks it up so we can get a reliable response from Apple.” – source

“Unless it makes the headlines I don’t see Apple changing a thing to rectify the issue.” – source

Interestingly, the only fix I’ve found for this problem was back in the early days of iOS 13 when affected users could still roll back to iOS 12:

“I’ve been fighting this too with 300-600 MB attributed daily to uninstalled apps. A rollback to iOS 12.4.1 stops the usage but then can’t use my Apple Watch with watchOS 6.01 as it requires iOS 13 to pair. Problem returns” – source

Needless to say, I have been in contact with Apple multiple times this week trying to get answers. The company has acknowledged the inquiry but has yet to issue an official response. I will update this article as soon as I have an update. 

Edit: my thanks to readers who pointed out a 2016 blog post which discusses the function of Uninstalled Apps. As multiple comments below the post in recent months point out, however, this is not the experience affected users are having currently with both carriers confirming the data use and users reporting Apple has acknowledged the bug in tech support calls.

Until then, if you are affected by this bug and you are not on a very high or unlimited data plan, there seems to be little you can do other than swapping away from an iPhone until the problem is resolved. Apple is currently beta testing iOS 13.4, so a (long overdue) patch may arrive when it launches in the next few weeks. That said, given the bug has existed since the earliest iOS 13 betas, it may be that Apple is unable to make the necessary changes to address it until iOS 14 is released in September. 

So right now, impacted iPhone owners are forced to play a waiting game. A long, expensive waiting game. 

Follow Gordon on Facebook

This content was originally published here.

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Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board – The Verge

Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, is stepping down from the board of the company. Gates previously served as CEO of Microsoft until 2008 when he stepped down from the position in order to spend more time on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates stepping down from the board is apparently due to similar motivations, with a press release announcing the news citing a desire to “dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities.” Gates will still serve as a “technology advisor” to current CEO Satya Nadella, a role he began in 2014 at Nadella’s request when he stepped down from serving as chairman of Microsoft’s board.

“It’s been a tremendous honor and privilege to have worked with and learned from Bill over the years. Bill founded our company with a belief in the democratizing force of software and a passion to solve society’s most pressing challenges. And Microsoft and the world are better for it,” Nadella commented in a statement. “The board has benefited from Bill’s leadership and vision. And Microsoft will continue to benefit from Bill’s ongoing technical passion and advice to drive our products and services forward. I am grateful for Bill’s friendship and look forward to continuing to work alongside him to realize our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

While Gates will still be at least somewhat involved with the company he founded through his position as a technology advisor, the move marks the furthest step away from running Microsoft that Gates has taken yet since he gave up the role of CEO back in 2008.

This content was originally published here.

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Apple to close US retail stores and all others outside China until March 27th – The Verge

Apple is temporary closing all of its retail stores “outside of Greater China” until March 27th, CEO Tim Cook announced in a letter posted on the company’s website late Friday night. “The most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’s transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance,” Cook wrote. “We are committed to providing exceptional service to our customers.”

Apple’s online store will remain operational during the downtime for physical retail locations, and customers seeking customer support can visit support.apple.com to find authorized repair shops that remain open.

“The global spread of COVID-19 is affecting every one of us,” Cook wrote. “At Apple, we are people first, and we do what we do with the belief that technology can change lives and the hope that it can be a valuable tool in a moment like this.”

Apple’s “committed donations” to COVID-19 have reached $15 million, according to Cook, and the company will be “matching our employee donations two-to-one to support COVID-19 response efforts locally, nationally and internationally.”

Developing…

This content was originally published here.

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Apple announces new iPad Pro with trackpad support and a wild keyboard cover – The Verge

Apple is announcing a new iPad Pro, available online for either $799 or $949 for 128GB Wi-Fi configurations, depending on the size. They’re available to order online now, and Apple says they will ship on March 25th.

Both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes look identical to last year’s models, but there’s a new processor and new camera system inside them both. Apple’s headline feature is that it has a LIDAR scanner to go along with its camera for depth sensing and AR, but what most people are going to notice is that very new keyboard that you can get with it.

The keyboard unfolds and elevates the iPad to a more comfortable viewing position, as you can see above. It also has a trackpad on it. Apple says, “Rather than copying the experience from macOS®, trackpad support has been completely reimagined for iPad. As users move their finger across the trackpad, the pointer elegantly transforms to highlight user interface elements.” You can see very brief examples of it in use in the video below.

Apple is calling it a “Magic Keyboard,” matching the branding it recently used on the redesigned and improved MacBook keyboard. It is backlit, supports USB-C passthrough charging, and has a “smooth angle adjustment.” Unfortunately, it won’t be available until May, but it will be compatible with last year’s iPad Pros as well. And speaking of “unfortunately,” it will cost a whopping $299 for the 11-inch model and $349 for the 12.9-inch version.

As for the iPad Pro itself, Apple has historically had a lot of extra power in the processor, and that appears to be no different this time. Apple calls it the “A12Z Bionic Chip,” with eight cores in the GPU, and Apple isn’t shy about saying that it is “more powerful than most Windows PC laptops.” The company also made a twee ad for it along the lines of its classic “What’s a computer” ad. Battery life is estimated at 10 hours, and it supports gigabit LTE but not 5G.

The three-camera array may look exactly like the three cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro, but on the iPad Pro, it’s a different setup. There’s a regular wide-angle and an ultrawide, but the third sensor is LIDAR, which uses lasers for depth-sensing and augmented reality.

We’ve been expecting a triple-camera system for the iPad Pro for some time now, given the many leaks and rumors about it and its presumed support for more advanced AR features. There have also been plenty of rumors about support for a trackpad on Apple’s Smart Keyboard, something many feel is sorely lacking right now on iPadOS.

The iPad Pro was also due. Apple has historically released a new one every 500 days or so, and, according to MacRumors, it’s been just over 500. The regular, low-end iPad has been updated more recently, and there’s also the iPad Air sitting in the middle. It’s a somewhat confusing product lineup for the iPad, historically speaking.

The new iPad Pro and the also-announced MacBook Air are just two of the many Apple products that rumors suggest are coming in 2020 — if not the first half of the year. There’s a supposed iPhone 9 (or iPhone SE 2, depending on what name you think is most likely), AirTag tracking tags, a revision of the Apple TV, more MacBooks with Mini-LED displays, and more — and that’s setting aside sure bets like new iPhones in the fall.

How (or even whether) Apple intends to announce those products during the pandemic is anybody’s guess. WWDC has converted to an online-only affair, and it’s impossible for anybody to say when it might be a good idea to schedule a large press briefing. We may just end up seeing more press releases like this one sprung on us in the mornings.

The iPads are available in silver and gray, with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB storage options. A fully maxed-out 12.9-inch iPad Pro with 1TB of storage and LTE support costs $1,649. Toss in a Magic Keyboard at $349, and you’re spending $1,998.

Apple iPad Pro (2020)

Shipping March 25th starting at $799

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This content was originally published here.

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Google is building a screening website to gain access to coronavirus testing, Trump says – The Verge

Google is working with the US government in building a specialized website to help people determine whether and how to get a coronavirus test, President Donald Trump said in the course of issuing an emergency declaration for the coronavirus pandemic. The site would allow people to enter their symptoms and then get directed to a nearby testing facility, Trump said.

We have reached out to Google for more information on the website and will update this story when we hear back. President Trump claimed that 1,700 Google engineers are dedicated to the project.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much more about this website, including its URL or when it will launch. Debbie Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, later provided a few more details for the website’s proposed features in the form of a flowchart:

#coronavirus chart pic.twitter.com/d9yR7lAl7C

— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman)

The new coronavirus is spreading through the US, and several states have made emergency declarations. The World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic. Here are the basics:

As Birx described the website, citizens will be able to enter their symptoms and, depending on what the results are, may be directed to a “drive thru” testing facility. That same website will apparently also be where people can go to find their results.

CNBC says that it has seen an internal Google memo from CEO Sundar Pichai indicating that Verily — a company that’s part of Alphabet but nominally separate from Google — is somehow involved in the project. “The good news is that a planning effort is underway to use the expertise in life sciences and clinical research of Verily in partnership with Google to aid in the COVID-19 testing effort in the U.S,” Pichai wrote, according to CNBC.

Verily engages in several kinds of tech-related medical and life sciences research. It has Project Baseline, where people can sign up for medical research, has worked on smart shoes, and has long-term projects like a temperature-sensing smart body patch.

Alongside the website, the president’s emergency declaration should open up to $50 billion in funding, new testing facilities, and new partnerships with private companies to provide testing services. You can read more on the government’s response in our story.

This content was originally published here.

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