Next iPad Pros; Amazon Sued Over COVID-19; Zoom Encryption-Not For Free Calls; Fitbit Ventilator Gets Emergency Authorization

Apple is rumored to have new iPad Pro models in the works, but we might not get a look at them till next year. A leak posted on Twitter, spotted earlier Wednesday by MacRumors, says new iPad Pro models with 5G and mini-LED displays will launch in the first or second quarter of 2021. Previous rumors had suggested that Apple’s new iPad Pro models might be released later this year. Earlier this year, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the iPhone maker may be working on six mini-LED products for release in 2020 and 2021.

A group of three Amazon warehouse employees who work out of the company’s New York fulfillment centers have filed a lawsuit alleging the company put them and their families at risk of COVID-19 infection, according to a report from Bloomberg. The complaint accuses Amazon of fostering a work environment, through quotas and disciplinary action, led workers to avoid social distancing and other safety measures to continue hitting metrics and to keep up with surging demand. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Video calling company Zoom confirmed this week that it won’t enable end-to-end encryption for free calls in part because it wants to give law enforcement access to these calls if necessary. “We think this feature should be a part of our offering” for professional customers, said Zoom CEO Eric Yuan . “Free users — for sure we don’t want to give [them] that, because we also want to work together with the FBI, with local law enforcement, in case some people use Zoom for a bad purpose.” Theverge.com says Yuan emphasized that encryption requires practical trade-offs as well, since people can’t do things like dial into an encrypted call with a phone.

Fitbit has secured an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for its Fitbit Flow emergency ventilator. Techcrunch.com reports that the ventilator hardware is low-cost, and doesn’t require very much training or expertise to use, making it a good solution for deployment in scenarios where healthcare systems are overwhelmed by resource strain stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fitbit ventilator is based on the MIT E-Vent system, as well as specs provided by the UK government for ventilators to be used by hospitals in that country during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.