Amazon Career Day-Thousands of Jobs; Nintendo Ramping up Switch Production; Panasonic Increasing Battery Production at Tesla Gigafactory; Google Phone App to More Devices

Amazon will be holding its virtual career day on September 16th. Cnet.com reports that the online and cloud giant wants to add about 33,000 corporate and tech positions, as well as thousands of additional hourly gigs within its operations network. Amazon will provide around 20,000 career coaching sessions during the event, and will also have panel discussions, code workshops, and interviews with Amazon execs. Registration for the event should be open now.

Nintendo is ramping up Switch production again to keep up with increased demand continuing during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to engadget.com, they are shooting for 30 million of the units this year, up from 19-22 million early in the year, and after re-setting to 25 million later during the pandemic. Both the Switch and Switch Lite are in short enough supply to command premium prices on Amazon and elsewhere. Nintendo has a new Switch on the drawing board for next year. It may be a high-end model, as some game makers have been asked to program 4K upgrades to their titles.

Panasonic is firing cup another production line at the giant Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada. Techcrunch.com says the expansion will increase cell capacity by 10%. The line will mean adding 100 more jobs at the Sparks, NV factory. The line will produce the so-called ’2170’ lithium-ion cells it supplies to Tesla, an improved tech that boasts a 5% better energy density than previous batteries. It also reduces expensive cobalt content. They are saying continued improvement could bring 20% better energy density over the next 5 years.

Google has announced ‘verified calls’ as a feature for its phone app, which will give users more info about who is calling you. Theverge.com reports that that app, which has only been on Pixel and Android One phones, will be made available as a download for a limited set of additional phones running Android Pie and higher. The feature can be configured by the business to not only give the business name, but nature of the call…for example, your bank might flag it under the verified badge with ‘fraud alert.’ Google also has a verified SMS feature that came out last year.

As, predicted…the Apple event date.

New Watch and iPads.

Samsung Snags $6.6 Billion Verizon Order; Microsoft-Xbox Series S; Apple Watch 5 Scarce-New Models Soon; GM Pours $2 Billion into EV Maker Nikola

Samsung has nailed down an order for 5G equipment from Verizon valued at $6.6 billion. According to venturebeat.com, Verizon has noted that it does not use any Huawei equipment, a major concern to the US government. Verizon had already been a Samsung customer. This will help Samsung make inroads into the global total telecom equipment market. Right now, they have a 3% share. Huawei holds 28% for #1, followed by Nokia with 16%, Ericsson at 14%, ZTE with 10%, and Cisco at 7%.

Microsoft has now officially confirmed a smaller, lower-line Xbox….the Series S console. Theverge.com reports that the price will be the previously leaked $299. Both it and the Series S will launch November 10th. The higher end unit will be $499. The Series S (codenamed Lockhart) is designed to play next-gen games in a smaller, cheaper package with less GPU power and lower resolution output than the Series X.

People are noting that the Apple Watch Series 5 in most configurations are not available from the Apple website. Considering the registering of a number of new unit numbers with the EU for Watches and iPads, it looks like Apple is close to announcing their virtual roll out of the iPhones and Watches. 9to5mac.com notes that one tout..Jon Prosser…had Tweeted that they would announce the Watch this week, but he was contradicted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman…who theorizes that there will just be an announcement this week and invitation to the Apple event later this month. As we already are pretty sure that at least the higher line iPhones will be out late, it seems early in September for the actual event. The new Watch 6 models may have a blood oxygen level detection and better sleep monitoring. It appears they will have a brand new lower line watch to replace the 3 and 5 Series.

GM has announced a strategic partnership with EV maker Nikola. According to techcrunch.com, they will take an 11% stake in the company, and will build Nikola’s fuel cell pickup starting the end of 2022. Nikola plans to build both electric and fuel cell pickups, as well as big rigs, and vans (which Amazon has invested in and has ordered some 100,000 of). GM will supply fuel cells for the upcoming class 7/8 trucks, and will give Nikola their Ultium battery tech for the EVs. Access to GM’s manufacturing virtually assures that Nikola will be able to crank out EVs and fuel cell vehicles at volume quickly.

Facebook Limits Messenger Forwards & Will Ban New Political Ads Week Prior to Election; Amazon Day Delivery Option for Prime; Feds Can’t Ask Google for All phones Within 300 Meters; Court-NSA Bulk Phone Data Collection Unlawful

Facebook has now put a forwarding limit on Messenger. According to engadget.com, you will only be able to forward to 5 people or groups at a time. Facebook says this will slow the speed of viral misinformation and harmful content. (It will also slow the spread of spammy ‘chain letter’ crap and stupid videos some people insist on sending all the time.) Facebook owned WhatsApp introduced a similar rule in April, and saw a 70% decrease in forwarded messages.

In something that sounds better than it is, Facebook will now block NEW political ads a week before US elections, in an effort to protect voter integrity. They touted their support of election integrity in a post from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The catch is, candidates and PACs will still be able to buy ads in the last week if their campaign started before October 27th. Facebook’s Zuckerberg claims that’s ok, as “Those ads will already be published transparently in our Ads Library so anyone, including fact-checkers and journalists, can scrutinize them.” Twitter has been blocking political ads since last November. Facebook has added a little box that appears under any post that mentions voting directing users to their Voter Information Center, which has “accurate, verified information and videos about how to vote.”

Amazon has introduced a new delivery option for Prime members….Amazon Day. The feature allows you to choose any day but Sunday to have all your current Amazon orders delivered to you at one time. Businessinsider.com notes that they give you the option to change your day preference at any time, too…as peoples’ schedules can change. You will still be able to choose same day, one day, two day, or no rush as before…this is an additional option. Amazon also says they will attempt to box up items in a single box or less boxes, cutting waste when people use this option.

The third time was not the charm, for the government. Courts in the Chicago area have now ruled 3 times that the government can’t get a warrant to make Google produce a list of smartphones near two specific commercial establishments during one of 3 45 minute periods. Arstechnica.com says the ruling was made last week, but was just made public. Google has complained of a huge increase in law enforcement use of this type of ‘geofence’ searches. In fact, it’s been a 1500% increase between 2017 and 2018, then another 600% from 2018 to 2019. That amounts to a 100-fold increase in two years. Google says last year it got 180 of the requests a WEEK! If this ruling is affirmed on appeal, it means law enforcement will have to be more particular and specific when they go to Google and other tech and broadband companies for location and other customer data.

The gears of the law grind slowly. Recall when Ed Snowden leaked about the NSA mass surveillance going on back in 2013? Now, Cnet.com reports that a federal appeals court has ruled that collection of bulk citizens’ phone records was illegal, and possibly Unconstitutional. The spy agency had tapped into the backbone of the internet in the US and cooperating countries, allegedly in the name of foreign surveillance. Congress ended the bulk collection program back in 2015 as part of the USA Freedom Act. The court’s ruling, written by Judge Marsha Berzon, held that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, didn’t permit bulk collection of phone users’ call records, as some had claimed. “The metadata collection exceeded the scope of Congress’s authorization,” she wrote.

Microsoft Launches ‘Deepfake’ Detector Tool; T-Mobile Promises Faster 5g at Thousands of Locations; Mandalorian Season 2 Date; Battery Free Gameboy Looks to Future

Just in time to assist in detecting fakes before the US election, Microsoft has launched a deep fake detector tool. Techcrunch.com reports that its called Video Authenticator. The tool gives ‘a percentage chance, or confidence score’ that the media has been artificially manipulated. This manipulation score works in real time on each frame as the video plays. Microsoft has partnered with the San Francisco based AI foundation to make the tool available to organizations involved in the democratic process this year — including news outlets and political campaigns.

T-Mobile beat its competitors out of the blocks with 5G, covering more than half the country with low band 600MHz signals early. The problem is, most of that coverage is barely faster than plain ol’ 4G (or LTE, as some call it.) Now, according to venture beat.com, T-Mobile has activated much faster 2.5GHz mid band 5G towers in some 90 cities and towns, and claims they will add thousands more by the end o 2021. Part of the delay was the merger with Sprint…they couldn’t repurpose the 2.5 Gig spectrum until the deal was done.

A brief, but highly awaited announcement from Disney + today….the start date for streaming season two of The Mandalorian! Engadget.com says you can begin enjoying Mando and Baby Yoda’s continuing saga on the most popular show from Disney + October 30th! Disney didn’t tell us if they are going to follow last year’s format of releasing an episode per week, or if they will make them all available at once, so you can binge clear through Halloween. The Mandalorian snagged 15 Emmy nominations for its 1st season. We’ll know what it may have won when the Primetime Emmy Awards airs on September 20th.

It’s not something coming to stores or websites, but a cool proof of concept looking to less battery reliance in the future. Cnet.com reports that a fellow from the Netherlands named Jasper de Winkel has converted Nintendo Gameboys to run battery free. The Dutch computer scientist has powered the rigs with a combination of solar panels and kinetic energy recycled from punching the buttons during gameplay. He and other computer scientists have been working on the concept for over a year. It looks pretty much like a classic Gameboy, but weighs half as much sans battery pack. It isn’t just a Gameboy without battery, though. The scientists are running modern processing power and what you see is really an emulator. This early iteration only runs about 10 seconds on solar, then you have to mash a button, but expect more of this sort of thing in the future.

Samsung Shows Galaxy Z Fold 2; Apple-Split iPhone Release Dates; Apple- Two Watch Models; Walmart + Launches in 2 Weeks

Samsung rolled out its updated Galaxy Z Fold2 model today. Androidpolice.com reports that main features are a more durable design, a folding glass & polymer display, faster chipset, and bigger screens…both inside and out. It still commands a heart-stopping price…$1999! Preorders start at midnight, and it will be available on September 18th. The interior screen features a much smaller pinhole selfie cam, and it increases to 7.6 inches. The secondary outside screen grows, too…to a much more useable 6.2 inches. The phone has 256 gigs of storage, and a hefty 4500 mAh battery. Outside cams are 12Mp and there is a wide angle and a telephoto shooter. The selfie cam is 10 Mp. If you trade in last year’s Fold Z, they will credit up to $800, and up to $650 for other phones. Colors? Just two…Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black.

Apple may ship the two expected lower cost iPhone models earlier than the two Pro models. According to macrumors.com, the top tier of phones may not be available until November. This happened before, with the iPhone X, so it’s not unheard of. Also, a couple of leaks show the glass back panel of the iPhone Pro, and the square bump does indeed have 5 holes….3 for the cameras, one for the flash, and another that is widely expected to be a LiDAR scanner like the iPad Pro has. The LiDAR scanner is to ease depth and improve AR experiences on the phones. It is still unclear if Apple will hold their event in September, or bump it to October, but we should know very soon.

In other Apple news, it appears that they will change things up with the Watch. Last year, Apple dropped the prior year’s flagship Watch and kept the Watch 3 as a cheaper model. Businessinsider.com notes that the 3 may not be able to run the latest software, so it looks like Apple will release a Series 6 top line watch, and a cheaper Watch that they hope will compete with the likes of Fitbit. The top tier Watch is rumored to have the ability to measure blood oxygen levels and have better water resistance. It may have a new sleep tracking feature, but that hasn’t been as widely rumored, so is more iffy.

Walmart is launching Walmart + on September 15th. The new service will offer same day delivery, gas discounts, AND cashierless checkout for an annual feel of $98 a year. According to techcrunch.com, 2700 Walmart stores will offer delivery. One can also sign up for $12.95 on a month to month basis. There is a 15 day free trial period. Walmart says there will be over 160,000 items available for same day delivery with no per-delivery fee on orders over $35.