An Apple engineer’s experience at the border raises questions about civil liberties. Google announces a partnership with Intel for cloud computing. And how to get a free Google Home Mini.
 |
 |
 |
Trending on Reddit, an Apple engineer’s experience at the U.S. customs and border protection in San Francisco International Airport is getting attention from the American Civil Liberties Union. Andreas Gal was detained by customs agents when he was returning home from an international trip. As Gal tells it, he was asked to unlock both his smartphone and laptop by customs. He replied that he wanted to check with his employer, and a lawyer. Since there was proprietary and unreleased software code on his devices, he wanted to know what his obligations were to Apple. The agents threatened him with federal charges. Later, his Global Entry privileges were revoked. Gal believes he was singled out due to his vocal opposition to Donald Trump’s privacy and immigration polcies. The ACLU has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Trending on Google, news from the Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco. Google and Intel announced a strategic partnership focused on hybrid cloud – in other words, helping companies run applications from both the servers they keep in their own data centres, and on the servers provided by public cloud vendors. Intel will be releasing a new reference design, called “Anthos”, around the middle of this year. It will be based on its new second-generation Xeon Scalable processor, and the Kubernetes software stack. It will help customers achieve better workload portability, meaning it’s easier to run your applications, no matter where they happen to be stored.
Starting today, new and existing Spotify Premium subscribers in Canada can get a Google Home Mini as part of their monthly plan. Find out more here –> https://t.co/cR67dbQLan pic.twitter.com/sbp2Uzr2st
— Google Canada (@googlecanada) April 9, 2019
Trending on Twitter, Spotify is giving away a Google Home Mini to all of its premium service subscribers. Existing and new subscribers can claim their free smart speaker until May 9th, or until supplies last. Note this offer only applies for the $9.99 per month single-user subscription. If you have the Family Premium account for up to five users you don’t get one.
You know, a Google Home Mini would be a great way to listen to Hashtag Trending. Twitter user Shizzy A says that she listens on her Amazon Echo while she’s getting ready for work.
I listen to it on my amazon Alexa echo dot while I get ready for work!! @itworldca
— Shizzy A (@Shizzy_A) April 9, 2019
Tweet at us and tell us how you listen to Hashtag Trending. Our Twitter handle is @itworldca. Again, that’s @itworldca. We’ll share your answers on a future podcast.