The TikTok sweepstakes has an update, Facebook gets slammed in the New York Times, and iPhone owners are suddenly obsessed with sharing their flashy new home screens.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Monday, Sept. 21, and I’m your host Alex Coop.
TikTok says a new proposal involving Oracle and Walmart is on the table, and work is underway to form a commercial partnership with the retail giant. Under the proposal, Oracle becomes TikTok’s “trusted technology partner” in the U.S. with a 12.5 per cent stake in the social media firm, while Walmart would purchase 7.5 per cent of TikTok Global. Following the announcements, the US Department of Commerce said the prohibition of TikTok transactions will now be delayed until 11:59 pm on September 27. According to Reuters, TikTok owner ByteDance was racing to avoid a crackdown on TikTok after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it would block new downloads and updates to the app come Sunday.
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An opinion piece in the New York Times is catching fire on Reddit, with nearly 3,000 comments and 50,000 upvotes. The Times’ Jamelle Bouie went after the social media giant in lengthy piece that highlighted the many ways bad actors – that range from angry uncles to military generals – and other forces use Facebook to their advantage. “Like industrial-age steel companies dumping poisonous waste into waterways, Facebook pumps paranoia and disinformation into the body politic, the toxic byproduct of its relentless drive for profit,” he wrote. He says we eventually cleaned up the waste, but it’s unclear whether we can clean up after Facebook.
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finished my ios 14 homescreen. all icons are my own art ♀️ #ios14homescreen pic.twitter.com/BgEnQmgh0w
— ⭒* ﾟ･* (@GROOVYCHl) September 19, 2020
just spent the last hour and a half doing this #ios14homescreen pic.twitter.com/GTt8ZeAd83
— Poof (@Poofdraws) September 20, 2020
had to include @giveon in my second layout #ios14homescreen #ios14 pic.twitter.com/esttyERc6q
— dayeon (@dayccc) September 20, 2020
And lastly, The iOS 14 update has people sharing their new home screens. The latest Apple update has incorporated widgets and an app library, plus a number of clever colour customizations. People are sharing screenshots of their home screens, as well as other standout features.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Alex Coop , thanks for listening.