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Eric Holder Says He’ll Sue to Block Citizenship Question on Census

In a wide-ranging TimesTalks conversation, Mr. Holder, the former attorney general, also said Facebook should be viewed as a communication company and be regulated.

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Trump Attacks Amazon, Saying It Does Not Pay Enough Taxes

The president’s commentary, made in a Twitter post, comes amid reports that Mr. Trump has expressed an interest in reining in the e-commerce business.

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Op-Ed Contributor: Facebook Isn’t Just Violating Our Privacy

It is also ripping apart the social fabric.

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Tech Tip: Recording Skype Video Calls

Several programs can tap into your Skype stream and record and save a family video chat.

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Boeing Possibly Hit by ‘WannaCry’ Malware Attack

Company officials played down the extent of the incident. Last year, the WannaCry malware struck thousands of computer systems around the world.

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Executive Who Sold Self-Driving Truck Start-Up to Uber Departs

Lior Ron, a founder of Otto, is leaving a week after an autonomous vehicle killed an Arizona woman. The company said the move was unrelated.

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A Chat Room of Their Own

When thousands of women get together on social media, wryly invoking the suicidal author Virginia Woolf as their muse, what could possibly go wrong?

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Turner Chief Pushes Back on Core Justice Dept. Argument

John Martin, the chief executive of Turner, told a federal court that his channels were not absolutely vital for a cable or satellite business.

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Tech Fix: Want to Purge Your Social Media Timelines? Can You Spare a Few Hours?

Facebook and Twitter don’t make it easy to run your old posts through the scrubber. So our personal tech columnist took on the challenge.

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The Shift: Can Social Media Be Saved?

They exploit our data and make us unhappy. They spread misinformation and undermine democracy. Is salvation possible for social networks?

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Tech We’re Using: Covering Disasters With 2 Phones, in Case One Falls in the Mud

Julie Turkewitz, The Times’s correspondent in Denver, often finds herself on mountain roads and unexpected flights. But being prepared for anything means knowing what’s essential.

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BMW and Daimler, Once Rivals, Join Forces to Fend Off Silicon Valley

The German carmakers said they will merge their car-sharing and other digital businesses, amid threats from the likes of Uber and Google.

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Soul-Searching From Ad Group That Lauded Cambridge Analytica

The Advertising Research Foundation, which gave an award to the research firm last year for its work with data, now says advertisers need to consider the ethics of how consumer data is collected and used.

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Tech Tip: Starting Fresh With Firefox

Last year, Mozilla released a revamped version of its browser that gives surfers plenty to customize up front.

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Facebook Introduces Central Page for Privacy and Security Settings

As the social network grapples with the way it handles consumer data, it has unveiled a centralized page for people to control their privacy and security settings.

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Spy Contractor’s Idea Helped Cambridge Analytica Harvest Facebook Data

Cambridge Analytica was aided by an employee at Palantir, a contractor to the Pentagon. Palantir is owned by Peter Thiel, a wealthy Trump supporter and board member at Facebook.

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Got a tech question or want to discuss tech? Weekly /r/Technology Tech Support / General Discussion Thread

Greetings Good People of /r/Technology,

Welcome to the /r/Technology Tech Support / General Discussion Thread.

All questions must be submitted as top comments (direct replies to this post).

As always, we ask that you keep it civil, abide by the rules of reddit and mind your reddiquette. Please hit the report button on any activity that you feel may be in violation of any of the guidelines listed above.

Click here to review past iterations of these support discussions.

cheers, /r/technology moderators.

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Please don’t take broadband away from poor people, Democrats tell FCC chair

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Republicans block state net neutrality bill

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Top Comcast Lobbyist Really Excited About 'Paid Prioritization'

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Under Armour says 150 million MyFitnessPal accounts breached | Reuters

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Los Angeles Wants to Build Its Own Citywide Broadband Network - It would be one of the largest municipal broadband networks in the world. Now, Los Angeles is studying an aggressive plan to protect net neutrality.

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How to ‘poison’ your data before you delete Facebook

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Canon's 120 megapixel image sensor captures video in frightening detail: Ultra-high resolution imagery has its pros and cons

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Ajit Pai faces heat over proposal to take away poor people’s broadband plans

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Congress just legalized sex censorship

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‘It’s the beginning of the end’ for internal combustion engines, says UPS as it updates its fleet to electric

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Facebook—even as it apologizes for scandal—funds campaign to block a California data-privacy measure

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Maine GOP Uses 'Trick' to Scuttle State Net Neutrality Effort

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MacOS officially gains support for external GPUs

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Facebook haunted by 'ugly truth' memo

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Tesla says fatal crash involved Autopilot

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Google is shutting down its goo.gl URL shortening service

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It Took All Of Three Hours To Code A Plugin That Makes News Comments More Civil: "Readers had to prove they read a story before they were able to comment on it."

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SpaceX gains official approval to launch high-speed satellite Internet service

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Verizon To Begin Charging You...To Pay Your Bill Over the Phone

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Chinese smugglers use drones to transport $80M worth of iPhones | Some 26 suspects were involved with the act, which took phones from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.

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Tesla's Self-Driving Autopilot Was Turned On In Deadly California Crash

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China and the Children Will Save Electric Cars From the EPA

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Facebook Employees in an Uproar Over Executive’s Leaked Memo

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Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica problems are nothing compared to what’s coming for all of online publishing

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ACLU urges cities to build public broadband to protect net neutrality

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What’s the Best Online Backup Service?

Using an online backup service to back up your computer is not only convenient, it protects your data against big incidents like theft, fire, and natural disaster. There are lots of backup services out there, but we like Backblaze and IDrive the best.

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Timestamps Shares Twitter Videos Starting at a Certain Time

Android/iPhone/iPad: Live videos can be long, which makes sharing a particular moment tricky. Timestamps is a new Twitter feature that fixes that.

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Up Next Shows Your Calendar Appointments in the macOS Menu Bar

macOS: If you’re the kind of person who forgets what’s on your calendar, it helps to put reminders everywhere. Up Next is a free tool that does just that.

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6 Great Apps to Build New Habits

To develop a new habit (and have it stick) you need to persist with it day after day.

Click Here to Continue Reading



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How to Remotely Access Your Synology NAS Using QuickConnect

Your Synology NAS includes a QuickConnect feature that lets you access its DiskStation Manager interface remotely. Here’s how to set it up.

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Facebook Is Trying to Make It Easier to Delete Your Data

Facebook has a ton of data on you that you might prefer they didn’t.

Click Here to Continue Reading



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Geek Trivia: The Legal Concept Of “Ad Coelum” Gave People Ownership Of?

Think you know the answer? Click through to see if you're right!

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Under Armour admits 150 million MyFitnessPal accounts were hacked


(Reuters) — Under Armour said on Thursday that data from some 150 million MyFitnessPal diet and fitness app accounts was compromised in February, in one of the biggest hacks in history, sending shares of the athletic apparel maker down 3 percent in after-hours trade. The stolen data includes account user names, email addresses and scrambled p…Read More

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Unity lets developers use Kin cryptocurrency to reward gamers


Game engine creator Unity Technologies has teamed up with messaging app company Kik to enable game developers to use Kik’s Kin cryptocurrency to reward players. Kik joined the crypto bandwagon in September, raising almost $100 million from the sale of its tokens, dubbed Kin. And now Kik, through the Kin Ecosystem Foundation, is signing deals…Read More

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Alexa Voice Service now generally available for device makers in Japan


Amazon today made its Alexa Voice Service generally available for hardware device makers in Japan who want to put Alexa inside products. The Alexa Voice Service was made available for prototyping last fall around the time Echo smart speakers were first made available in Japan. The Alexa Voice Service can be used for voice commands or to let a perso…Read More

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How open sourcing Netscape Communicator in 1998 and the creation of Mozilla, a gamble at the time, paved the way for the now-mainstream embrace of the practice (Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Stephen Shankland / CNET:
How open sourcing Netscape Communicator in 1998 and the creation of Mozilla, a gamble at the time, paved the way for the now-mainstream embrace of the practice  —  A gamble 20 years ago unleashed the source code for the browser that became Firefox.  The approach is now core to Facebook, Google and everyone else.



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Uber launches uberBODA in Uganda, its first motorcycle service in Africa, as Taxify starts similar service in Uganda and Kenya (Jonathan Shieber/TechCrunch)

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Uber launches uberBODA in Uganda, its first motorcycle service in Africa, as Taxify starts similar service in Uganda and Kenya  —  Global ride-hailing rivals Taxify and Uber have launched motorcycle passenger service in East Africa.  Customers of both companies in Uganda and Taxify riders …



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Tesla says Autopilot was engaged during fatal Model X crash on Mar. 23 and the driver didn't respond to several warnings to take control of the car before crash (Fred Lambert/Electrek)

Fred Lambert / Electrek:
Tesla says Autopilot was engaged during fatal Model X crash on Mar. 23 and the driver didn't respond to several warnings to take control of the car before crash  —  After a fatal accident involving a Tesla Model X that caught on fire after the crash came under investigation …



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Amazon closing online math and writing learning company TenMarks, which it acquired in 2013, after 2018-2019 school year; licenses honored through June 30, 2019 (Todd Bishop/GeekWire)

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon closing online math and writing learning company TenMarks, which it acquired in 2013, after 2018-2019 school year; licenses honored through June 30, 2019  —  Amazon will close its TenMarks online math and writing learning service after the 2018-2019 school year …



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A look at Amazon HR's Connections daily Q&A and strengths-focused Forte annual reviews, presumably responses to 2015 NYT exposé of brutal working environment (Eugene Kim/CNBC)

Eugene Kim / CNBC:
A look at Amazon HR's Connections daily Q&A and strengths-focused Forte annual reviews, presumably responses to 2015 NYT exposé of brutal working environment  —  - Some employees who spoke to CNBC expressed concerns about the program's confidentiality and the usefulness of the data.



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Amazon updates Video Skill API so Alexa can start recordings, launch apps, and carry out playback commands on set-top boxes; Dish and others are building skills (Ashley Carman/The Verge)

Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Amazon updates Video Skill API so Alexa can start recordings, launch apps, and carry out playback commands on set-top boxes; Dish and others are building skills  —  Alexa's ability to control DVRs is going to improve in the near future.  Amazon announced today that it's updated its Video Skill API …



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Accelerating and increasingly damaging leaks show Facebook's crumbling internal morale, which could be more pressing than threats like regulation or user exodus (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Accelerating and increasingly damaging leaks show Facebook's crumbling internal morale, which could be more pressing than threats like regulation or user exodus  —  These kinds of leaks didn't happen when I started reporting on Facebook eight years ago.  It was a tight-knit cult convinced …



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Uber is shutting down UberRUSH, its on-demand business delivery service for items weighing less than 30 pounds, ending services on June 30 (Megan Rose Dickey/TechCrunch)

Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Uber is shutting down UberRUSH, its on-demand business delivery service for items weighing less than 30 pounds, ending services on June 30  —  Uber is closing the doors on its on-demand package delivery service for merchants, RUSH, in New York City, San Francisco and Chicago, TechCrunch has learned.



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Google is winding down URL shortener goo.gl next month and will shut it down next year; all existing links will continue to redirect to intended destination (Google Devs/Google Developers Blog)

Google Devs / Google Developers Blog:
Google is winding down URL shortener goo.gl next month and will shut it down next year; all existing links will continue to redirect to intended destination  —  Posted by Michael Hermanto, Software Engineer, Firebase  —  We launched the Google URL Shortener back in 2009 as a way to help people …



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Cobalt Robotics raises $13M Series A from Sequoia Capital, Storm Ventures and Founders Fund for its roving robotic security guard (CNBC)

CNBC:
Cobalt Robotics raises $13M Series A from Sequoia Capital, Storm Ventures and Founders Fund for its roving robotic security guard  —  - Sequoia Capital, Storm Ventures and Founders Fund are among investors in a $13 million venture funding round for Cobalt Robotics.



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Latest Microsoft reorganization proves it has moved beyond Windows, with cloud and AI as the fundamental core Microsoft is betting its future on (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Latest Microsoft reorganization proves it has moved beyond Windows, with cloud and AI as the fundamental core Microsoft is betting its future on  —  Cloud and AI are Microsoft's future bets  —  “We want to move from people needing Windows to choosing Windows, to loving Windows.



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Drupal devs warn of remote code execution vulnerability affecting ~1M sites running Drupal 6, 7, or 8, call it "highly critical", and urge immediate patching (Liam Tung/ZDNet)

Liam Tung / ZDNet:
Drupal devs warn of remote code execution vulnerability affecting ~1M sites running Drupal 6, 7, or 8, call it “highly critical”, and urge immediate patching  —  A dangerous Drupal flaw could leave your site completely compromised if you don't patch the flaw immediately.



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Customs officers in Shenzhen arrested a gang that smuggled ~$80M worth of iPhones from Hong Kong to mainland China using drones (Reuters)

Reuters:
Customs officers in Shenzhen arrested a gang that smuggled ~$80M worth of iPhones from Hong Kong to mainland China using drones  —  BEIJING (Reuters) - Customs officers in southern China's technology hub Shenzhen busted a group of criminals using drones to smuggle 500 million yuan ($79.8 million) …



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Accolade raises $50M from a16z, Madrona, others, bringing total raised to $200M+ to help corporate employees navigate their healthcare options (Taylor Soper/GeekWire)

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Accolade raises $50M from a16z, Madrona, others, bringing total raised to $200M+ to help corporate employees navigate their healthcare options  —  Accolade has raised another big investment round to fuel growth of its healthcare technology platform.  —  The company, headquartered in Seattle …



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Singapore says it has reasonable grounds to believe Uber-Grab deal may violate competition laws, tells firms not to integrate businesses in the country for now (Jon Russell/TechCrunch)

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Singapore says it has reasonable grounds to believe Uber-Grab deal may violate competition laws, tells firms not to integrate businesses in the country for now  —  Uber's exit from Southeast Asia is under scrutiny from regulators in Singapore who believe that Grab's purchase of the U.S. firm's business …



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iPhone LCD supplier Japan Display scrambling as future high-end iPhones adopt OLED displays

While many believe that the iPhone X’s display is best in class for adopting OLED, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are still popular phones, even with an LCD display. However, iPhone display supplier Japan Display has been struggling over the past year as Apple has ditched the company in favor of Samsung for its OLED displays in the iPhone X.

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9to5Rewards: Last chance to enter our HomePod giveaway!

Our month long HomePod giveaway is coming to a close this weekend. This is your last opportunity to enter for a chance to win Apple’s space gray HomePod along with a $500 gift card courtesy of our sponsor, Caseco. Head below to enter.

There is also still time for 9to5 readers to get 30% off Caseco’s iPhone accessories including its selection of iPhone casesLightning cablescar mounts, and much more using promo code 9to5Mac30off for an additional two weeks.

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How to stream Apple Music on Apple Watch Series 3 without iPhone

Apple’s strategy for Music control on watchOS has changed significantly over the years, and as of watchOS 4.3, the company has finally added support for the full Apple Music library back onto the Apple Watch’s Music app.

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Hands-on with Business Chat for iMessage in iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4

Included in iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 is a new way to communicate with companies called Business Chat. Available in the United States as a beta to start, Business Chat lets you conveniently use iMessage for customer service and even complete transactions with Apple Pay. Check out our hands-on to see how it works.

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9to5Mac Happy Hour 166: Apple’s EDU iPad event, Apple Watch redesign rumors, iOS 11.3 release

This week Benjamin and Zac share thoughts on Apple’s March education event where the new 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support was unveiled, new Apple Watch Series 4 rumors that claim a new design is coming with more screen, and the launch of iOS 11.3, watchOS 4.3, and other software updates.

9to5Mac Happy Hour is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneInGoogle Play Music, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Sponsored by FIBARO: We’ve teamed up with FIBARO to give away a HomeKit bundle to turn your house into a Siri-controlled smart home.

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9to5Toys Last Call: 27-inch iMac Pro from $4,350, Amazon TP-Link Gold Box, Apple Watch Stand $7, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications. more…



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Griffin announces new PowerBlock Wireless Charging Pad for iPhone with 15% off launch price

From 9to5Toys:

Griffin has today launched its newest iPhone accessory, the PowerBlock Wireless Charging Pad. This new offering will be priced at $60, but Griffin is offering 15% off on the new charger through April 2, bringing it down to $51.

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iPhone assembler Foxconn sees rise in holiday quarter profits despite gloomy expectations

Among the gloomy predictions being made for iPhone X sales, analysts were predicting that lead iPhone assembler Foxconn would announce declining profits for Q4 2017 …

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How to check battery health and disable iPhone battery performance throttling in iOS 11.3

As promised, Apple has included a new section in Battery Settings to include information about Battery Health. Battery Health (Beta) is available in iOS 11.3 and later and displayed on all iPhone models since the iPhone 6. You can see the estimated battery capacity and the screen explains whether the battery can offer peak performance. iOS will now tell you in this screen if your device is being throttled due to a degraded battery.

When you update to iOS 11.3, the device will have performance management. The device will be throttled automatically when the system first experiences an unexpected shutdown. You can disable the slowdowns in the Battery Health screen if you want. Read everything about Battery Health after the jump …

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Chinese authorities catch suspects who used drones to smuggle $80M worth of iPhones from Hong Kong

iPhones are significantly cheaper in Hong Kong than mainland China, and it’s not unusual to find people smuggling them across the border. But while the record for smuggling them under clothing is around $150k, that’s nothing compared to the $79.8M worth transported with the help of drones …

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Wall Street is getting ready for a ‘domino effect’ after Salesforce’s $6.5 billion MuleSoft deal (CRM)

MuleSoft Ross Mason

  • Mega-acquisitions like Salesforce's planned $6.5 billion purchase of MuleSoft could become a trend this year.
  • The new tax law has freed up some $470 billion in overseas cash for the largest tech companies, and many may be looking to spend it on acquisitions, according to the Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne.
  • One big deal could create a "domino-like effect" and set many more deals into motion, Materne said.

As big a deal as Salesforce's planned acquisition of MuleSoft is, it may be just one small chapter in what turns out to be an epic year for tech mergers and acquisitions.

According to the research firm Evercore ISI, the tech industry's giants have allotted more than $9 billion toward mergers and acquisitions so far this year — including the MuleSoft deal, valued at $6.5 billion alone. That make this year's M&A activity in tech already bigger than all of last year, when industry companies spent $8.6 billion on tie-ups.

And more could be on the way. One big move — say, one valued at $10 billion or more — could lead to an onslaught of "supersized" mergers and acquisitions, the Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne said in a research note Friday.

"Given there are only so many targets that are 'needle-moving,' we believe that if one of the larger software companies is acquired, it could create a domino-like effect as strategic buyers jockey for position," Materne wrote.

The merger mania is being driven in large part by the new tax law, he said. Though many tech companies had been stockpiling cash overseas to defer paying taxes on their foreign profits, the new law requires companies to pay taxes on those holdings immediately but at reduced rates. And it bans US taxes on future overseas profits.

Thanks to the new law, the largest tech companies repatriated more than $470 billion in cash from their overseas holdings at the beginning of the year, Materne said, adding that the mass movement "should result in a bottomless well of capital to fuel a significant wave of software M&A."

Helped in part by the reduced rates, the 10 largest tech companies are estimated to generate about $800 billion in free cash flow over the next three years, Materne said. While they're likely to use much of this cash on share repurchases and dividends, they should still have ample left over for acquisitions, he said.

"With over $1 trillion in unlevered buying power between just the 10 largest tech companies ... it only takes one big deal (greater than $10 billion) to set off a potential 'domino effect,'" Materne said.

In the enterprise software sector, mergers are likely to be spurred by the increasing adoption of cloud computing and efforts by the various players to get an advantage in that market.

But it's not just enterprise companies that are gearing up for new tie-ups. Apple, which had a $245 billion overseas cash stash before the tax law, could be a particularly active player in the M&A market. Analysts think it may have its eyes on the augmented-reality company Magic Leap or the fitness startup Peloton.

SEE ALSO: Wall Street is getting heartburn trying to swallow Salesforce's rich $6.5 billion MuleSoft deal

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The surprising reason why NASA hasn't sent humans to Mars yet



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Sensor Tower: Mobile game publishers continue to reach $1M at high rates

Sensor Tower reports that many mobile game publishers are hitting the $1M earnings milestone in 2021 -- though not as many as in 2016. Rea...