Does fully vaccinated mean boosted? Yes, say these companies | Fast Company

January 4, 2022January 3, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests eligible people should consider getting a booster shot starting at about six months after the date of their original COVID-19 vaccine regimen. For many Americans, that date has passed. Factor in more heavily mutated variants like omicron, and you can see why proof of vaccination is hurtling toward showing you’ve also received a booster shot. Around the country, a number of private businesses have already started rolling one out, and some local governments are beginning to do the same.

The federal government hasn’t signed off yet on booster shot mandates. Ground zero for them, then, might seem like it would be progressive states. But so far, it’s a mixed bag pulling the trigger:

Apple puts Indian iPhone factory ‘on probation’ | BBC News

December 30, 2021December 29, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple has placed an iPhone factory in southern India “on probation” following protests over food poisoning and living conditions.

An audit by Apple found that remote dining rooms and dormitories used by workers did not meet requirements.

Around 250 women who worked at the Foxconn plant were affected by food poisoning, with more than 150 ending up in the hospital, local media reported.

Foxconn apologized and said it was investigating the situation.

6 things in cybersecurity we didn’t know last year | TechCrunch

December 29, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The past twelve months in cybersecurity have been a rough ride. In cybersecurity, everything is broken — it’s just a matter of finding it — and this year felt like everything broke at once, especially towards the end of the year. But for better or worse, we end the year knowing more than we did before. Here we look back at the year that’s been, and what we learned along the way.

1. Ransomware costs businesses because of downtime, not ransom payments

WHO Director: Booster Shot Programs ‘Will Likely Prolong The Pandemic’ | Forbes

December 23, 2021December 22, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The director of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday that “blanket” vaccine booster shot programs could “prolong” the pandemic, as the United States urged citizens to get their third shots and Israel introduced a fourth dose.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said booster shot programs could extend the pandemic by “diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage,” allowing the coronavirus to spread and possibly mutate in countries where few citizens are vaccinated, according to CNBC.

New Legislation Would Streamline EIDL Small Business Loan Application Process | Small Business Trends

December 22, 2021December 21, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Streamlining EIDL Act is a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate to improve the application process of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) as well as combat fraud in the program. The goal is to simplify the process so small businesses can quickly and effectively get answers to their applications.

New Legislation Would Streamline EIDL Small Business Loan Application Process

The need to come up with such a bill speaks to the level of bureaucracy that exists when small business owners fill out their EDIL applications. According to Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), small businesses in his state are struggling to get the answers they need on their EIDL applications from the SBA.

Apple’s AirTags Are Being Abused by Car Thieves, Stalkers | Digital Trends

December 21, 2021December 20, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple’s AirTags‘ potential as stalker tools have been taken full advantage of, based on stories that emerged over the past week. The reports come shortly after the company rolled out an Android app that allows users to detect unknown AirTags on their person.

Two such stories involve a man and a woman, both of whom reported AirTag trackers being detected on their cars. In the case of the former, it was likely done by car thieves in an attempt to steal the man’s Dodge Charger. According to the report from Fox 2 Detroit, this was just one of many cases in the past few months. The other report comes from a woman who discovered AirTags attached to the front wheel of her car after a night spent in a bar.

This Week in Apps: Apple’s App Privacy Report arrives, Google details Android 12 Go edition, Instagram tops 2B users | TechCrunch

December 20, 2021December 19, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app industry continues to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. App Annie said global spending across iOS and Google Play is up to $135 billion in 2021, and that figure will likely be higher when its annual report, including third-party app stores in China, is released next year. Consumers also downloaded 10 billion more apps this year than in 2020, reaching nearly 140 billion in new installs, it found.