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2 | These are the Daily Tech Headlines for Friday, Jun 21st, 2024. I'm Robb Dunewood. | |||||
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6 | UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, Change Healthcare, which processes patient insurance and billing for thousands of hospitals, pharmacies, and medical practices in the United States, confirmed a February ransomware attack on its systems, which brought widespread disruption to the U.S. healthcare system for weeks. The data breach resulted in the theft of medical records affecting a “substantial proportion of people in America” and prompted Change Healthcare to shut down its systems, resulting in outages and delays to thousands of healthcare providers. In a statement Thursday, Change Healthcare said it has begun the process of notifying affected individuals whose information was stolen during the cyberattack. | https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/21/change-healthcare-confirms-ransomware-hackers-stole-medical-records-on-a-substantial-proportion-of-americans/ | ||||
7 | TikTok parent company, ByteDance, confirmed that it offered U.S. lawmakers a “kill switch” for TikTok with the power to shut the social media platform down in an attempt to address lawmakers' data protection and national security concerns. The offer was made in 2022 before legislation forcing TikTok to divest by January 19th, 2025, or be banned was signed into law in April of this year. ByteDance argues that divestiture is not possible technologically, commercially, or legally and that if a court order doesn’t block the law, a ban in the United States is inevitable. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hold oral arguments on lawsuits filed by TikTok and ByteDance along with TikTok users on Sept. 16. | https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxwwz7l02j0o | ||||
8 | --- | https://www.reuters.com/legal/tiktok-says-us-ban-is-inevitable-without-court-order-blocking-law-2024-06-20/ | ||||
9 | Google announced Friday that it is pausing its experiment of allowing real-money games on the Play Store globally in locals where there is no central body for this kind of app. Expanding support of real-money gaming apps in markets without a central licensing framework has proven more difficult than expected and additional time is needed to get it right for developer partners and the safety of users. Google announced in January that real-money apps would be widely available in June in India, Brazil, and Mexico. The company will still allow the apps that were part of the pilot program to continue operating on the Play Store in India. | https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/21/google-is-pausing-its-experiment-of-allowing-real-money-games-on-the-play-store/ | ||||
10 | SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has introduced the Starlink Mini, a compact DC-powered satellite dish about the size of a thick laptop that integrates the Wi-Fi router right inside the dish. The Starlink Mini consumes an average of just 20-40W and can be powered from the likes of an Anker portable battery for your phone or tablet. In a post on X, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, “I just set it up right now and am writing this post through space. Took less than 5 mins. Easily carried in a backpack. This product will change the world.” | https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/21/24182970/starlink-mini-usb-power-specs-price | ||||
11 | Reuters is reporting that Amazon’s revamped Alexa service known internally as Banyan, will include a conversational generative AI with two tiers of service and has considered a monthly fee of around $5 to access the superior version, according to people with direct knowledge of the company's plans. The new Alexa will be dubbed "Remarkable Alexa," and is the first major overhaul of the voice assistant since it was introduced in 2014 along with the Echo line of speakers. | https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazon-mulls-5-10-monthly-price-tag-unprofitable-alexa-service-ai-revamp-2024-06-21/ | ||||
12 | As expected, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed two bills into law on Thursday that aim to protect kids and teens from social media harms. The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, will require parental consent for social media companies to use “addictive feeds” powered by recommendation algorithms for children under 18. The New York Child Data Protection Act, would limit data collection on minors without consent and restrict the sale of such information but does not require age verification. | https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/20/24182396/new-york-governor-social-media-law-parental-consent-algorithms | ||||
13 | To expand its foothold in the dining industry, American Express Friday announced it is purchasing Squarespace-owned restaurant booking platform Tock for $400 million. The all-cash deal will build upon the credit card giant's acquisition of online restaurant reservation platform Resy in 2019 adding another 7,000 restaurants, wineries, and other hospitality businesses to AmEx's network. | https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/american-express-buy-restaurant-booking-platform-tock-400-mln-2024-06-21/ | ||||
14 | And finally, Spotify has introduced a new ‘Basic’ streaming plan for users in the United States. The new plan costs $10.99 per month and includes all of the benefits of a Premium plan but without the monthly audiobook listening time. The launch of the new Basic plan comes weeks after Spotify announced the price of its Premium Plan would increase to $11.99 from $10.99. | https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/21/spotify-launches-a-new-basic-streaming-plan-in-the-us/ | ||||
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23 | For more discussion of the tech news of the day subscribe to DailyTechNewsShow.com, you can find show notes and links to all headlines there as well. | http://dailytechnewsshow.reddit.com | ||||
24 | Thanks for listening, we'll talk to you next time. | |||||
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28 | END OF SHOW |