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Today — 18 January 2025Tech News

AirPods Pro hearing aid features launching in the UK in the coming weeks

18 January 2025 at 03:25

Following government regulatory changes, Apple has officially confirmed it will launch the new hearing aid features in the UK, for customers.

In a statement to The Telegraph, Apple said it will bring the hearing aid features to UK AirPods Pro users in the coming weeks, following changes to government policy.

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6 Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks (2025), Tested and Reviewed

18 January 2025 at 03:08
If you want to wake up with the sun but aren't a morning person, these bedside devices can simulate a sunrise whenever you want to rouse for the day (and a sunset, too).

Yesterday — 17 January 2025Tech News

TikTok says it will go offline on Sunday if Biden doesn’t intervene

17 January 2025 at 17:39
Photo illustration of Tik Tok logo disappearing.
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

TikTok says it plans to go offline on Sunday, January 19th if the Biden administration doesn’t intervene.

The company confirms earlier reporting that it will be “forced to go dark” on the 19th unless the outgoing administration provides a “definitive statement” assuring its “most critical service providers” that they won’t be held liable for breaking the law. Those providers include Apple and Google, which together distribute TikTok through their app stores, and its hosting partners, which include Amazon and Oracle.

TikTok’s statement follows Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law banning the app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake. Shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling, TikTok CEO Shou Chew appealed to President-elect Donald Trump in a video but didn’t give any indication of what might happen when the law goes into effect at midnight on Saturday.

Unfortunately for TikTok, the White House has already made clear that it intends to punt the fate of the app to Donald Trump, who has promised to save it and is set to be sworn in as president on Monday, January 20th. Trump said on Friday that he spoke with China President Xi Jinping about “balancing trade, fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects.”

“President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the President’s desk: TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. “Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice, which is tasked with enforcing the TikTok ban by fining its US service providers $5,000 per user with access to the app, has signaled that it’s still behind the ban.

“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday. “The Court’s decision affirms that this Act protects the national security of the United States in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution.”

As the ban deadline gets nearer, politicians who voted for it have started flipping by arguing that ByteDance should have more time to divest. According to The New York Times, Senator Chuck Schumer told President Biden that allowing a ban to happen would “damage his legacy.”

You can read TikTok’s full statement about shutting down below:

The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans.

Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.

TikTok plans to go offline despite Biden deferring ban enforcement to Trump

By: Zac Hall
17 January 2025 at 18:01

In a Friday night bulletin, TikTok issued a statement on what it calls a “possible shutdown” after tomorrow. In short, TikTok does not plan to remain operational in the United States through the weekend despite the Biden White House deferring ban enforcement to the Trump White House.

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Sonnet announces new Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock with integrated NVMe storage

17 January 2025 at 18:00

Sonnet just announced its new Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock, the first dock of its kind to ship. The Echo 13 includes four Thunderbolt 5 ports along with a host of other I/O. If you own a , or an M4 Pro or M4 Max MacBook Pro, you’ll be able to take advantage of the extra bandwidth provided by Thunderbolt 5. But even if you’re using an older Mac with Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4, the Echo 13 will be fully compatible.

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EV startup Canoo files for bankruptcy and ceases operations

17 January 2025 at 17:41

Seven-year-old electric vehicle startup Canoo has filed for bankruptcy and will “cease operations immediately.” The company is liquidating its assets in a Chapter 7 proceeding in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. The company said in a press release published late Friday that it was “in discussions with foreign sources of capital” that proved unsuccessful, and also […]

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CBS considers caving on Trump censorship lawsuit to save Paramount merger

17 January 2025 at 17:31
The Paramount logo, redesigned for an investor presentation.
Image: Paramount

A law professor cited by CBS News called Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris “...so ill grounded that it comes close to being sanctionable as frivolous.” But now, the The Wall Street Journal reports that executives at CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, have discussed settling the suit while “gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration” ahead of a government review of its merger with Skydance.

The paper reports that incoming FCC chairman and censor-in-chief Brendan Carr warned execs last year that presidential dissatisfaction with CBS News will make a review tougher. He’s also publicly displayed that view, saying during a Fox News interview in November, “...CBS has a transaction before the FCC. I’m pretty confident that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that is likely to arise in the context of the FCC’s review of that transaction.”

The lawsuit claims that in airing two differently edited versions of Harris’ response to a question about the war in Gaza, “CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news.”

But instead of mounting a defense of free speech against a lawsuit and Trump’s accusations that the network said were false and completely without merit, Paramount is considering following the example of Disney and tech oligarchs who will line up at the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg.

The ABC News owner agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit in December. Zuckerberg sharply redirected Meta’s policies to the right while meeting with Trump, reportedly “in part to mediate a lawsuit Trump brought against Facebook and Zuckerberg in 2021 over the platform’s suspension of Trump’s account after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.”

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