Google- Work From Home ‘Till Summer ’21; Apple’s 1st India-Made Flagship Phone; Garmin Coming Back After Ransomware Hack; Tesla Sues Rivian

Google has announced it is extending its employee work from home policy until June, 2021. Businessinsider.com reports that Google had already kicked the can down the road from July 6th to September. Several other tech companies had already extended work from home policies, but Google’s extends furthest into the future (except Twitter-which declared that its staff can work from home for as long as they like…forever, if they wish). CEO Sundar Pichai said they hoped this would help employees with kids to plan for working through the school year without having to deal with switching back to commuting into their work centers.

Apple has begun making its first flagship smartphone in India. Cupertino has made lower line iPhones there since 2017. According to theverge.com, Apple is ramping up production in India, and intends to make a significant percentage of their smartphones there. India is the second largest smartphone market after China…with the US third. Building the phones there not only helps Apple avoid issues should trade disputes continue with China, it also avoids a 20% import duty that India imposes on foreign made electronics.

Garmin is slowly getting services on line after a big outage last week caused by ransom demanding hackers. Engadget.com says no update from the company has been forthcoming since a Twitter post and FAQ Saturday. As of yesterday, the activity tracking app Strava was again able to send workout data to Garmin’s Connect service. You can apparently also now register a new device. Garmin still is yet to confirm or deny the ransomware attack.

Tesla has sued Rivian over theft of trade secrets. According to arstechnica.com, Tesla claims that about 70 former employees have left them for Rivian….including 22 in just the last 4 months. The e-car maker claims that several employees took confidential documents with them. Rivian is working on a pickup truck, an SUV, and a delivery truck that all run on batteries and electric motors. Amazon is a major investor in Rivian, and they have ordered 100,000 of the e-delivery trucks.