Apple's Big Bet, Amazon's HQ2, and Facebook's News Feed Reboot
Dana Wollman, Executive Editor at Engadget, discusses Apple's announcement this week that it would invest $350 billion into the U.S. economy over the next five years. Plus, Amazon released its short list of candidates for the highly anticipated HQ2.
Wollman discusses the timing of the announcement and the types of tech jobs it would bring to the U.S. We also discuss Facebook's testing of the new algorithm for its updated News Feed that will prioritize content from family and friends over publishers. As the algorithm has been tested in other parts of the world, researchers have seen the rise of 'fake news' on the platform.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
