Amazon Selling Cashierless Tech To Others; Twitter Tags Manipulated Biden Vid + Dorsey Stays CEO; Apple Watch 6 May Get Blood Oxygen Detection; Gates Foundation Targets COVID- 19 Detection

Amazon is offering its cashier less tech, which they have dubbed ‘Just Walk Out’, to other retailers. Cnet.com reports that Amazon has cut deals on the swipe and go shopping, which eliminates check out lines and registers, with several retailers so far. No names have been released, nor has the cost or timeline for implementing the system in other retail stores. Amazon does have a facility in LA which is several times larger than the one just opened in Seattle where they are trialing the tech.

Twitter has slapped a ‘manipulated media’ tag on a doctored video of Joe Biden that was shared by White House social media director Dan Scavino, then retweeted by Donald Trump. According to theverge.com, its the first use by Twitter of the tag to indicate fake media. Greg Shultz, Biden’s campaign manager, sent a heated statement to Facebook for NOT taking similar action on an obviously fake video. Twitter rolled out its ban on faked media March 5th. It covers ‘synthetic’ and manipulated media ‘likely to impact public safety or cause serious harm’, including sophisticated deepfakes as well as other content which has been deceptively edited.

In other Twitter news, the platform has cut a deal with conservative activist group Elliott Management. The firm had been trying to push out CEO Jack Dorsey. Twitter will buy back $2 billion worth o stock and name a couple new board members: one from Elliott and another from Sliver Lake, and investment firm that is putting a billion into Twitter to help fund the buybacks. The new board members will be part of a committee evaluating ‘the CEO succession plan,’ which should be revealed by year’s end.

Tim Cook has always looked to make the Apple Watch more of a health monitor. Now, it looks like the Series 6, due out this Fall, will have blood oxygen detection, and a better ECG. Appleinsider.com notes that the watch already has fall detection and heart rate monitoring features. Regarding the oxygen, if a wearer’s blood oxygen level drops below healthy levels, generally considered to be 95-100% saturation, the can lead to heart health issues or even cardiac arrest. The Watch’s detector will send the wearer a push notification if it finds a level below 95%. The Watch already has an ECG monitor built into the Digital Crown, but it has been somewhat limited. It will return inconclusive results if the heart rate is too high. the improved version will allow Electrocardiograms with a wider range.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is readying to fund at-home testing kits for the novel coronavirus in Seattle. Geekwire.com says plans aren’t final yet, but kits might be available in the ‘coming weeks,’ and would quickly identify where the disease is spreading. The tests are an offshoot of the Seattle Flu Study, a two year old research institute at the University of Washington, which is funded by Bill Gates’ private office to the tune of $20 million. Gates has been sounding the alarm for years about the rise of an unchecked epidemic that could result in over 10 million deaths and be a once in a century pandemic, and now his concerns and funding of research may pay off by saving millions of lives.