Media captionWATCH: Hands on with Amazon's Alexa-integrated glasses

If there’s one thing technology companies learned during the smartphone boom, it’s that getting people locked in early is the difference between success and failure.

Customers are simply unwilling, at least in any significant number, to leave whatever ecosystem they’ve invested in - whether it’s Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android.

Read full article Heads up - why tech is in a race for your face

Image caption Andrew Bosworth leads Facebook's efforts in virtual and augmented reality

Recently Facebook found itself in yet another privacy storm - this time over its undisclosed use of human contractors to listen to and review audio clips captured through Facebook Messenger and - as we learned this week - the firm's Portal video chat devices.

Facebook "paused" the practice.

Read full article On the Record: Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth, Facebook's hardware boss

Facebook has updated its "Portal" range of video chat devices, including a new version that plugs directly into a TV.

Portal TV, available in the US from November, sits on top of - or at the bottom of - the screen and, like other Portal devices, features tracking technology to follow people around the room.

Read full article Facebook device plugs into your TV

Facebook has unveiled its plan to create an independent "oversight" board to make decisions over how the network is moderated.

The firm insisted the panel, which will hear its first "cases" in 2020, will have power to override decisions it makes over contentious material and influence new policy.

Read full article Facebook unveils its plan for oversight board

Stacy Brown-Philpot became CEO of TaskRabbit in 2016 — Image caption Stacy Brown-Philpot became chief executive of TaskRabbit in 2016

This past week California voted in a new law designed to pave the way for gig economy workers to become full employees. That's a massive deal for the companies offering that kind of work.

Stacy Brown-Philpot is chief executive of TaskRabbit, an app where people can offer up their services for things like furniture building or help moving house.

Read full article On the Record: TaskRabbit's Stacy Brown-Philpot

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Image caption Gig economy workers are demanding more representation

Uber has insisted a new Californian law will not force it to change how it treats its drivers.

Lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) on Tuesday, a move designed to pave the way for so-called “gig workers” to become employees and gain additional rights.

Read full article Uber says 'gig economy' law will not hurt business

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Image caption Apple's devices will be greatly affected if Trump's tariffs are put in place in December

The iPhone launch is the most important date in Apple’s calendar. At least it would be, in a normal year. In 2019, it’s 15 December that matters most for America’s richest company.

That’s when Donald Trump has threatened to impose a sweeping new round of trade tariffs against imports from China. According to analysis by Reuters, it would mean 92% of hardware sold by Apple would face levies.

Read full article Trump’s tariffs puts Apple’s golden goose at risk

Image caption Tim Cook's Apple has said Google's research did not include information about the narrow scope of the attack

Last week Google disclosed a large-scale hacking effort that it said targeted users of Apple devices. It was a bombshell story.

But now Apple has gone on the attack - angry in public, and absolutely incensed in private at what is being seen as something of a stitch up. Google is standing by its research.

Read full article Apple, angry at Google, hits back at hack claims

Twitter CEO and Co Founder, Jack Dorsey addresses students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) — Image caption The account tweeted out a flurry of highly offensive and racist remarks

The co-founder and chief executive of Twitter had his own account on the service briefly taken over by hackers.

A group referring to itself as the Chuckling Squad said it was behind the breach of Jack Dorsey's account.

Read full article Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey has account hacked

Image caption Amazon admitted recently that human contractors sometimes reviewed a small number of Alexa recordings.

Among the thousands upon thousands of words that make up the privacy policies of the tech giants, one you rarely find is “human”.

There are zero uses of the word in Amazon’s privacy policy for its Alexa voice assistant. The same goes for Apple’s Siri. And Google’s Assistant.

Read full article Tech firms must give up their awkward secret: Humans