This Week in Tech

Humans Are About to Touch the Deepest Corners of the Ocean for the First Time – This Week in Tech – 10/21/2018

Humans Are About to Touch the Deepest Corners of the Ocean for the First Time — an Endeavor as Dangerous as Landing on the Moon

Imagine exploring a place so far from humanity that any message you send takes seven seconds to be heard…


Some Texans Say Voting Machines Are Flipping Selections to the Other Party

AUSTIN, Texas — Some Texas voters are complaining that machines flipped their straight-ticket selections to the other party in key races during early voting, especially the much-watched Senate battle between Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O’Rourke…


Apple and Samsung Fined in Italy for Slowing Down Their Phones

Back in January, Italy’s antitrust organization launched two separate investigations against Apple and Samsung to determine if the companies were intentionally using software updates to slow down customers’ devices. Now, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) has issued a statement saying both companies violated several consumer codes, and it has issued fines…


Facebook Fined Just $645,000 in UK Over Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Money It Makes in Less Than 10 Minutes

Facebook has been fined £500,000 ($645,000) by the United Kingdom today over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The miniscule fine was the most allowed under the law, but Facebook can probably find that kind of money in its couch cushions. Based on last year’s revenue, Facebook makes $645,000 in less than 9 minutes of operation…


Motorola Becomes First Smartphone Company to Sell DIY Repair Kits to Its Customers

Most cell phone manufacturers have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get their customers to upgrade their phones before it’s necessary. They do this with upgrade programs, by gluing-down batteries so that they are difficult to replace, by lobbying against fair repair legislation, and by making replacement parts difficult or impossible to come by…


IBM Is Acquiring Software Company Red Hat for $34 Billion

IBM has struck a deal to acquire the cloud software company Red Hat for $34 billion…


Trump Reportedly Still Uses an Unsecured iPhone, and China and Russia Are Listening In

President Donald Trump routinely calls old friends, business partners, and confidants on his personal iPhone while in the White House, giving Chinese and Russia spies easy access to his personal communications and interests, reports The New York Times…