Walmart said it's closing three U.S. technology hubs and is asking workers there to relocate or leave the company. Almost all of Walmart's technology employees will now be expected to work in the office at least two days a week, according to CTO Suresh Kumar. More: - The company is closing tech offices in Austin, Texas; in Carlsbad, California; and in Portland, Oregon.
- Workers have the option to relocate to another tech hub or leave the company.
- Walmart said it will cover the transfer costs of workers who relocate to another tech hub, such as in San Bruno, California, or at its HQ in Bentonville, Arkansas. Those who leave will receive severance.
- Since last year, most employees at Walmart's HQ have been asked to work in person five days a week.
- With the closures, Walmart will have eight U.S. tech hubs left, and six hubs abroad.
Zoom Out: - Apple, Twitter, and Salesforce are some of the tech companies that have reversed remote working policies and asked employees to return to offices for at least part of the week.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 
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A group of Tesla workers in New York has announced an effort to unionize. If successful, it would be the first U.S. union at Tesla, which has so far resisted workers' efforts to unionize. More: - The roughly 800 workers, who are analysts working on Autopilot technology at Tesla's Buffalo plant, sent a letter to Elon Musk expressing their intent to unionize.
- The workers said they're seeking higher pay, more decision-making input, less monitoring, and fewer production pressures that they say have posed harm to their health.
- They told Bloomberg that Tesla tracks their keystrokes, resulting in some employees avoiding bathroom breaks.
- In the letter, they asked Tesla and Musk to support Fair Election Principles to prevent the company from retaliating against or impeding organization efforts.
- The group would be represented by Workers United, which also helped to unionize hundreds of Starbucks locations in the U.S.
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Apple on Monday released the latest update to the iPhone's operating system. The over-the-air update, called iOS 16.3.1, includes bug fixes along with "optimizations" for the car Crash Detection feature found in iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models. More: - 16.3.1 makes adjustments to further optimize Crash Detection, which should further prevent the feature from sending false alarms to first responders.
- The iPhone 14's Crash Detection, which is meant to alert responders in the event of a car crash, has accidentally called 911 during non-emergencies, such as when a user is on a roller coaster or skiing.
- In addition, the update fixes an issue with Siri requests in the Find My feature and addresses an issue of unresponsiveness in iCloud settings.
- iOS 16.3.1 is available on iPhones through Settings > General > Software Update.
Related: - After downloading the update, some users reported that their Google Photos app would crash upon launch.
- On Tuesday, Google released an apparent fix, which is available as an update to the Google Photos app in Apple's App Store.
- Apple also released the iPadOS 16.3.1, macOS 13.2.1, and HomePod 16.3.2 updates with various fixes.
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TikTok is considering an overhaul of its Creator Fund that could increase payouts for content creators in the U.S., sources tell The Information. As part of the revamp, TikTok may offer a paywall feature that would allow creators to charge a fee for users to access certain videos. More: - The sources said TikTok is working on a paywall that would let creators charge $1, or a price of their choosing, to profit from certain clips.
- After testing the revamped Creator Fund in Brazil and France, TikTok could roll out Creator Fund 2.0 in the U.S. as early as March.
- The new fund could up the criteria for eligibility to 100,000 followers, from 10,000, but offer higher payouts for creators, according to The Information.
Zoom Out: - The original fund, which launched in 2020 and pledged $1B in payouts over 3 years, has faced criticism over how much creators can earn.
- Some TikTok creators have complained that they make very little. For example, Hank Green, with 6 million+ followers, has estimated that he earns 2.5 cents per 1,000 views.
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 Zoox, Amazon's self-driving vehicle business, said it will begin testing its robotaxi with passengers as a shuttle service in Foster City, California. The fully autonomous vehicles, which lack a steering wheel or pedals, will ferry Zoox employees between buildings at its headquarters in the city. More: - The testing comes after Zoox carried out the first successful test with passengers along the mile-long route last week.
- It was the first time a car without human controls transported people on a public road, according to Zoox.
- The startup will now operate the same shuttle service at its HQ while it seeks further approval to offer a commercial service to the public.
- The testing, which will help Zoox collect more vehicle and road data, comes after California's DMV approved a testing permit for Zoox.
Zoom Out: - Zoox's vehicles are purposely built for driverless taxi rides. They have a bidirectional drive system and four-wheel steering, allowing them to drive in either direction without needing to back up.
- Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.3B in 2020.
CNN
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 Microsoft is now rolling out an early preview of its AI-powered Bing search engine to the first wave of testers. Within the first 48 hours, 1 million people signed up on a waitlist to try out the full version of the web service. More: - Microsoft has now informed some people on the waitlist that they have access to the desktop version of AI-powered Bing.
- The experience combines AI-powered search, chat, and browsing. For example, users can interact with a chatbot to refine their search or use the AI service to generate new content.
- In the email to testers, the company said it's "actively working on" a mobile version of the new Bing, which should be "ready soon."
- According to Windows Latest, Microsoft plans to introduce a "substantial optimized interface" for the Bing AI chatbot for iOS and Android. The mobile version will include "all-new OpenAI-powered content."
- Microsoft also released a limited preview of AI-powered Bing on desktop, which anyone can access.
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- An outage on Monday night prevented thousands of T-Mobile customers across the U.S. from making calls, texting, and accessing the internet. The company appeared to have mostly resolved the issue as of Tuesday. T-Mobile network chief Neville Ray attributed the outage to “third-party fiber interruption.”
- Roomba vacuum maker iRobot said it will lay off about 7% of its workforce, or 85 employees, as it forecasts "muted" orders in Q1 2023. Amazon is currently in the process of acquiring iRobot for $1.7B.
- Microsoft announced that it will retire its Yammer communication platform and rebrand its features and apps under Microsoft Viva Engage.
- Ford has halted production and shipments of its Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck due to a possible battery issue. Sales of the EV will continue.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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