Google acquires Fitbit

Fitbit just announced today that they will be joining Google, here’s James Park (CEO, President and Co-Founder) official statement —

I’m writing today to let you know that Fitbit is now officially part of Google. It’s an incredibly exciting moment for us as a company and for our Fitbit community of users around the globe.

When Eric and I founded Fitbit 13 years ago, we did so with a simple, but bold idea: to make everyone in the world healthier. Since shipping the original Fitbit tracker in 2009 to now having sold more than 120 million devices in over 100 countries, this mission has never wavered. Instead, millions of you joined that mission, and made Fitbit a movement that transformed lives. In some cases, we heard from our users that we even helped save lives. Together, we’ve taken 275 trillion steps and logged over 15 billion hours of sleep.

This is just the beginning because becoming part of the Google family means we can do even more to inspire and motivate you on your journey to better health. We’ll be able to innovate faster, provide more choices, and make even better products to support your health and wellness needs. On our own, we pushed the bounds of what was possible from the wrist, pioneering step, heart rate, sleep and stress tracking. With access to Google’s incredible resources, knowledge and global platform, the possibilities are truly limitless.

I have no doubt that this acquisition will create so many opportunities. But I also want you to know that many of the things you know and love about Fitbit will remain the same. We’ll stay committed to doing what’s right, to putting your health and wellness at the center of everything we do and to offering a no-one-size-fits-all approach with choices that work across both Android and iOS.

The trust of our users will continue to be paramount, and we will maintain strong data privacy and security protections, giving you control of your data and staying transparent about what we collect and why. Google will continue to protect Fitbit users’ privacy and has made a series of binding commitments with global regulators, confirming that Fitbit users’ health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and this data will be kept separate from other Google ad data. Google also affirmed it will continue to allow Fitbit users to choose to connect to third party services. That means you’ll still be able to connect your favorite health and wellness apps to your Fitbit account. These and other commitments by Google reinforce why Google is an ideal partner for Fitbit who will continue to put our users first and help further our mission to make everyone in the world healthier.

Thank you for letting us be part of your lives and your health journey.

Sincerely,

James Park
CEO, President & Co-Founder

In a related post Google’s Senior VP Rick Osterioh adds,

Technology can change the way people manage their health and wellness, and that’s especially important these days. We’ll work closely to create new devices and services that help you enhance your knowledge, success, health and happiness. Your privacy and security are paramount to achieving this and we are committed to protecting your health information and putting you in control of your data. 

This deal has always been about devices, not data, and we’ve been clear since the beginning that we will protect Fitbit users’ privacy….

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Amazon countersuits Parler

The attempted coup on the US Capitol on January 6th forced several tech companies such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to ban US President Donald Trump for its failure to comply with its policies inciting an insurrection, which caused deaths, damages, and theft. Parler, a “free speech” social media app used by pro-Trump members was also shut down filed a breach of contract against Amazon. On Tuesday January 12th however, Amazon submitted a new filing in Federal court in response to Parler’s claims (see snapshot of the case below)

This case is not about suppressing speech or stifling viewpoints. It is not about a conspiracy to restrain trade. Instead, this case is about Parler’s demonstrated unwillingness and inability to remove from the servers of Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) content that threatens the public safety, such as by inciting and planning the rape, torture, and assassination of named public officials and private citizens. There is no legal basis in AWS’s customer agreements or otherwise to compel AWS to host content of this nature. AWS notified Parler repeatedly that its content violated the parties’ agreement, requested removal, and reviewed Parler’s plan to address the problem, only to determine that Parler was both unwilling and unable to do so. AWS suspended Parler’s account as a last resort to prevent further access to such content, including plans for violence to disrupt the impending Presidential transition.

Despite Parler’s rhetoric, its lawsuit is no more than a meritless claim for breach of contract. But the facts are unequivocal: If there is any breach, it is Parler’s demonstrated failure and inability to identify and remove such content. AWS was well within its rights to suspend Parler immediately for those failures. Parler also cannot hold AWS liable in tort for enforcing the agreement’s express terms. And there is no antitrust claim where, as here, Parler cannot plausibly plead an agreement to cause it harm and the complained-of conduct is undeniably compatible with a legitimate purpose.

Compelling AWS to host content that plans, encourages, and incites violence would be unprecedented. Parler has no likelihood of prevailing on the merits, and the balance of equities and public interest strongly tip against an injunction. The motion for a temporary restraining order should be denied.

Read the full story from [gizmodo.com]

HR Asia Names Microsoft Philippines among ‘Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2020’ — SDN — Science & Digital News

Media Release: If you are looking for a company to work for, Microsoft Philippines would be a great choice. That’s because the United States tech titan’s Philippine iteration has just won a distinct honor as a choice organization to belong to. In fact, HR Asia International named Microsoft Philippines one of its “Best Companies to […]

HR Asia Names Microsoft Philippines among ‘Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2020’ — SDN — Science & Digital News

Dominion Voting sues Pro-Trump Lawyer

US President Donald Trump’s claims of rigged 2020 elections centered around Dominion Voting systems prompting the company to finally take it to the courts and filed defamation lawsuit against pro-Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell amounting to $1.3B in damages for spreading “wild” and “demonstrably false” allegations.

Powell claimed that Dominion was established with communist money in Venezuela to enable ballot-stuffing and other vote manipulation, and that those abilities were harnessed to rig the election for former vice president Joe Biden.

Today, January 10, 2021, Dominion sets the record straight with full explanation of the facts vs rumors

DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS HAS BEEN THE TARGET OF ELECTION DISINFORMATION SEEKING TO UNDERMINE CONFIDENCE IN THE INTEGRITY OF THE 2020 ELECTION.  HERE ARE THE FACTS:
  • Dominion is a private American company that provides voting systems in 28 states, including “red” and “blue” jurisdictions.  Since its founding in 2003, Dominion has supported tens of thousands of elections in non-partisan fashion.
  • All Dominion systems are capable of producing paper records and are 100% auditable, with testing, reviews, audits, and recounts subject to oversight and verification by all political parties.
  • All 2020 election audits and recounts using Dominion technology have validated the accuracy and reliability of results, confirming the integrity of election outcomes.
  • Baseless claims about the integrity of the system or the accuracy of the results have been dismissed by election authorities, subject matter experts and third-party fact-checkers.
  • Malicious and misleading false claims about Dominion have resulted in dangerous levels of threats and harassment against the company and its employees, as well as election officials.

Read more [dominionvoting.com]

Roku acquires content library of video-streaming app Quibi — 247NEWSUPDATE BLOG

A video sign displays the logo for Roku Inc, a Fox-backed video streaming firm, in Times Square after the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq Market in New York, U.S. Video-streaming device maker Roku Inc said on Friday it had acquired the global distribution rights to Quibi’s content library, nearly three months after the short-form video […]

Roku acquires content library of video-streaming app Quibi — 247NEWSUPDATE BLOG

“Donald, you’re fired!” – says Twitter

Twitter just permanently suspended US President Donald Trump’s account (@realDonaldTrump), after continued failure to comply to the companies policies. This came two days after his supporters seized and terrorized the US Capitol on January 6th, which caused damages, assaulted police officers, and deaths of at least 5 people.

Trump however later tried to evade the ban by tweeting using @POTUS, the official twitter account of the President of the United State, but those tweets were instantly deleted.

Read more Twitter’s policies [here] of the full story at [npr.org]

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Blocks Trump

Everyone knows that US President Donald Trump have been an eager Twitter user – he would use this tool to express his thoughts, hire and fire people, and unfortunately have used the tool to incite division in a day when the US Congress was set to certify elections results. The mob that descended to the US Capitol today forced their way in the building, triggered violence, rampage and even a death of a woman.

Twitter finally took a stand and locked Trump’s account out for 12 hours due to his three tweets for violations of their “Civic Integrity policy”. Twitter further mentioned the @realDonaldTrump account will be locked for good if the tweets were not removed.

On a similar note, both Facebook and Instagram has blocked Trump from posting on the site for 24 hours, this came after the company already removed posts he made in support of the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol on Wednesday.

Roku in Talks to Acquire Rights to Quibi Shows (Report) — Streaming-TV

Quibi, the startup led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, is in “advanced talks” on a pact with Roku to acquire streaming rights to the Quibi catalog, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. If the deal is consummated, Roku would add the short-form original series to the free, ad-supported Roku Channel. – Todd Spangler, Variety […]

Roku in Talks to Acquire Rights to Quibi Shows (Report) — Streaming-TV