— China has introduced new guidelines that will mean U.S. microprocessors from Intel and AMD are phased out of government PCs and servers, as Beijing ramps up a campaign to replace foreign technology with homegrown solutions.
The stricter government procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options. It runs alongside a parallel localization drive under way in state-owned enterprises.
The latest purchasing rules represent China’s most significant step yet to build up domestic substitutes for foreign technology and echo moves in the U.S. as tensions increase between the two countries. Washington has imposed sanctions on a growing number of Chinese companies on national security grounds, legislated to encourage more tech to be produced in the U.S. and blocked exports of advanced chips and related tools to China.
Officials have begun following the new PC, laptop and server guidelines this year, after they were unveiled with little fanfare by the finance ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Dec. 26.
They order government agencies and party organs above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases.
On the same day in December, the state testing agency, China Information Technology Security Evaluation Center, published its first list of “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems, all from Chinese companies.
Among the 18 approved processors were chips from Huawei and state-backed group Phytium. Both are on Washington’s export blacklist. Chinese processor makers are using a mixture of chip architectures including Intel’s x86, Arm and homegrown ones, while operating systems are derived from open-source Linux software.
Beijing’s procurement revamp is part of a national strategy for technological autarky in the military, government and state sectors that has become known as xinchuang or “IT application innovation.” The standards “are the first nationwide, detailed and clear instructions for the promotion of xinchuang,” said a local government official managing IT system substitution.
State-owned enterprises were similarly told by their overseer, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, to complete a technology transition to domestic providers by 2027, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Since last year, state groups have begun quarterly reporting on their progress in revamping their IT systems, though some foreign technology would be allowed to remain, the people said. The state-led march away from foreign hardware will dent US companies in China, starting with the world’s dominant PC processor makers, Intel and AMD.
China was Intel’s largest market last year, providing 27 per cent of its $54bn in sales and 15 per cent of AMD’s $23bn in sales. Microsoft does not break out China sales but president Brad Smith last year told the US Congress that the country provided 1.5 per cent of revenues. Microsoft and Intel declined to comment. AMD did not respond to a request for comment.
It may be difficult for Intel or AMD ever to make the list of approved processors. To be evaluated, companies must submit their products’ complete R&D documentation and code. The top criteria for evaluation is the level of design, development and production completed within China, according to a notice from the state testing agency.
— With its lawsuit against Apple, the Justice Department focuses on outdated issues and irrelevant points, missing an opportunity to address more pressing concerns.
— Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook holding an iPhone 15 Pro Max. — Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Also: Why the company is talking to generative AI partners; Sonos readies a fresh Roam speaker; and Apple prepares a wide rollout of a nifty new retail store feature.
Last week in Power On: Apple’s new CarPlay becomes its last hope to crack the automotive industry.
The Starters
— Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, unveiled the antitrust case against Apple last week. — Photo by Nathan Howard/Bloomberg
Despite the friendly image that Apple Inc. cultivates, it’s a hard-driving company behind the scenes. Just ask the many suppliers that Apple has abruptly dropped or the app developers it has put out of business.
Apple also hasn’t been one to welcome openness or competition. It refused to bring its iMessage app to Android phones and only agreed to adopt the cross-platform RCS messaging system under mounting pressure. Apple makes developers use its in-app purchase system, shuns cloud-gaming services and has been reluctant to open up its tap-to-pay chip to outside apps — all because it wants to protect its kingdom from rivals.
That’s provided the US Department of Justice with plenty of fodder for its antitrust lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday. But the case relies mostly on outdated arguments and cites problems that Apple is already resolving. It even levels the dubious claim that Apple makes its products worse in order to harm rivals. (The DOJ also takes credit for Apple’s success, attributing the company’s rise to a Microsoft Corp. antitrust settlement in 2001).
But perhaps the biggest flaw in the case: It does little to prove that Apple has harmed consumers.
The lawsuit claims that the main reason people hold on to their iPhones is because Apple makes it difficult to switch, not because people — I dunno — actually like their iPhones. The DOJ goes as far as to claim that Apple is trying to hurt automakers with a new version of CarPlay that takes over more of the instrument panel. But that service is completely optional for both consumers and auto brands (and, let’s face it, not at risk of being widespread anytime soon).
The government even makes the fairly silly assertion that Apple’s control over the iPhone led to the very public failures of Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft in smartphones. It argues that cloud-gaming apps were barred in order to sell pricier iPhone hardware and that Apple is responsible for the learning curve that makes it more difficult to switch to Android.
There are very real concerns with some of Apple’s practices. But the Justice Department spends less time on those issues, focusing instead on half-baked claims that suggest a lack of familiarity with modern technology.
— NEW DELHI — Gayatari Mohanty always wanted to be a dancer.
But her father, who washes cars for a living, and her mother, a domestic helper, didn’t have enough money for lessons. So the 19-year-old New Delhi native taught herself.
— PHOTO: T. Narayan/BLOOMBERG NEWS Artists at a pop-up studio for collaborating creators and artists inside Meta’s offices in Gurugram, India, in 2022.
One day in 2019, Mohanty discovered TikTok. She and a friend were drawn to the platform’s lighthearted videos. They often rushed home from school to upload clips of Mohanty’s spirited dancing to retro Bollywood songs from the 1960s and 70s.
Soon Mohanty had gained some 5,000 followers. That didn’t make her a star or earn her any money, but it was enough to boost her confidence.
“My skill gave me my biggest achievement in life,” she said. “TikTok became my stage where I could show my dancing skills and get appreciated for it.”
“It felt like a personal loss, like someone close to me was no more,” she said.
The South Asian nation provides a case study in what happens when the wildly popular service goes away, as it might in the U.S. A bipartisan bill that sailed through the House this month would force parent company ByteDance to sell the platform’s U.S. operations or face a ban. President Biden has said he supports such legislation, which will now go to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.
— PHOTO: Dhiraj Singh/BLOOMBERG NEWS Some TikTok fans in India say rival domestic services aren’t as appealing.
ByteDance was founded in Beijing, and some worry that Chinese authorities could compel the company to turn over TikTok data on American users. TikTok has said it hasn’t received any such requests and wouldn’t comply if it did.
ByteDance didn’t respond to queries about its ban in India or a potential ban in the U.S.
Some TikTok fans in India question the decision to kick out the social-media app. New Delhi undertook the move because it feared the Chinese-owned app, along with others such as messaging app
WeChat, could be used to harm India’s defenses, a senior government official said at the time. The move came after a border clash between troops from the two countries left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Mohanty was one of around 150 million people who used the app every month in India then, according to market-intelligence firm Sensor Tower. It was TikTok’s largest market by users at the time.
Today, some of the platform’s fans in the South Asian country still mourn its absence. They say rival Indian services that sprung up in TikTok’s wake aren’t as appealing. While new short-video offerings from YouTube and Instagram have offered alternatives, some feel they lack TikTok’s allure. And some fans are still angry at the government for booting out TikTok.
Mohanty didn’t use any other social-media platforms beyond TikTok at the time of its ban. After a year without the service, she tried a local TikTok clone, called Moj, which launched the month after TikTok was ousted. But she says it proved harder to use, and uploading videos was more difficult.
“We feel a little lost since the ban” four years ago, said her friend, 18-year-old Moni Sharma. “We have been struggling to adjust to alternate apps.” Sharma has accounts on YouTube and Instagram, but says that it is harder to lip sync to songs on those platforms and that they have gained fewer followers there.
“It’s likely that U.S. users will follow in India’s footsteps should TikTok be banned,” flocking to short-video equivalents from YouTube and Instagram, said Jasmine Enberg, a principal analyst at Insider Intelligence.
— PHOTO: Sunil Kataria/REUTERS Residents of an Indian village film a scene in 2022 for a social drama for their YouTube channel.
Americans are more likely to already use YouTube today than they are to use Instagram, so Instagram could see additional adoption because it has more room to grow, said Simon Kemp, founder of digital consulting firm Kepios.
Today, Moj and another local TikTok-like app, Josh, now have a combined 641 million downloads in India, according to Sensor Tower. Monthly active users for Instagram have risen 91% to 511 million since TikTok’s ban, while YouTube’s are up 55% to 653 million.
The ban has sparked questions over free speech similar to those being raised in the U.S. now.
“India is a free and democratic country and authorities can’t just force decisions and restrict freedom of speech and expression just because you have political disagreements with another country,” said 18-year-old Noushad Ali, who used to make TikTok videos about teenage romance.
“Why did the Indian government ban it?” asked Ritik Tannk, a former TikTok creator who made comedy videos, one of which garnered 16 million views. “Our data gets passed on through other apps also, like Facebook and YouTube. Why ban just TikTok for data privacy?”
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Some former TikTok users have moved on. Twenty-year-old Shivam, who goes by one name, never had an account on TikTok, but he used to spend at least four hours a day watching comedy videos on the service.
He and his friends would hardly socialize with classmates who weren’t into the app, he said. “It felt cool to be talking about TikTok—what you had watched or who was the most popular,” he said. “In a way you can say it was also under peer influence that I wanted to be connected to TikTok.”
— Ritik Tannk, a former TikTok creator who made popular comedy videos, says he doesn’t understand why TikTok was banned in India. Ramesh Gupta, seen pouring tea at his New Delhi snack shop, once did a brisk business selling food and drinks to TikTok fans making videos nearby, but sales have fallen since the ban. (L) Ritik Tannk, (R) Ramesh Gupta
Now Shivam watches YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and videos on Moj. In retrospect, he says, TikTok was mostly just a reason to hang out with friends.
One of Shivam’s friends, 19 year-old Satyam Sinha, had a TikTok account but only amassed a couple of hundred subscribers. He made silly videos, eating burgers in a funny way or mimicking dialogue from a Hindi-language movie.
“I felt like I was being given some sort of recognition by unknown people,” he said. “It made me feel good about myself.”
When TikTok was banned, he mourned the loss for a few months, but quickly moved to other services like Reels and Moj. “We can’t keep crying all our lives,” he said.
TikTok’s absence in India is felt by local vendors working in New Delhi’s Connaught Place, a shopping district where crowds of creators once gathered to shoot their videos.
Ramesh Gupta runs a snack shop in the area. His sales have fallen about 20% since the TikTok ban, he said. He enjoyed watching young men and women with colorful hair and shiny sunglasses dance and sing, and liked serving them meals when they rested between shots.
“They would break for lunch and have tea and snacks like noodles, samosas and cutlets at my shop,” he said.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Gala in Los Angeles hit a snafu on Saturday when protestors of the Israel-Hamas war interrupted Jill Biden’s keynote address at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles.
Just as the first lady started speaking, about five people rose from their seats and began shouting, “Free Palestine.” One held a sign that said, “Queer Jews Say Ceasefire Now.”
The evening serves as a major fundraiser for HRC, one of the country’s leading LGBTQ advocacy organizations.
They protestors continued yelling as security ushered them out of the room.
Biden stopped speaking and resumed when the protestors were out of the ballroom.
It was announced earlier this week that Biden would be delivering the keynote remarks during the dinner and awards ceremony.
Earlier in the night, protestors blocked the driveway leading to the hotel’s front entrance on Avenue of the Stars. At one point, some could be heard shouting, “Genocide Joe!”
The evening’s program also includes awards being presented to Jean Smart “(Hacks)” and Sterling K. Brown “(American Fiction).”
A similar protest – with celebrities including Sara Ramirez (And Just Like That).” and Indya Moore “(Pose)” in attendance — was held at HRC’s New York City gala in February. Activists denounced HRC’s ties to weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman and called on the LGBTQ group to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
Just days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, HRC president Kelley Robinson issued a statement regarding the ongoing violence in the Middle East. “The toll on both Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives rises daily. And many in the United States who are Jewish and Muslim recognize that hate-motivated bias and violence will rise here. Antisemitism is wrong. Islamophobia is wrong. Full stop,” the statement said, in part.
“[M]any members of our community feel very broken right now. The world is heavy and frightening. And the future is uncertain. This violence is a reminder that the struggle for liberation against extremism, discrimination, and hate is a global struggle. It’s my struggle. It’s your struggle. It’s our struggle.”
Earlier this month, protestors calling for a ceasefire in Gaza also disrupted the Oscars by blocking streets leading to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. With the A-list crowd scrambling to get into their seats in time, producers delayed the start of the Academy Awards by about five minutes.
MERCER COUNTY — The Mercer County Office of Aging has been awarded the Open Communication Access grant from the State of New Jersey.
The Open Communication Access Grant will be used to fund the installation of hearing induction loops in public spaces. These spaces will include: The Mercer County Board of Social Services, The Mercer County Office of Aging, The County Connection, and The Mercer County Administration Building. In addition, two pilots will be conducted at the Library and the County Commissioner Hearing room.
Hearing induction loops allow people with hearing loss to easily participate in public spaces, simply by turning on the ‘t-coil’ switch on their hearing aids and cochlear implants. The larger spaces will have this technology hardwired, while smaller spaces will have portable kits as needed.
Upon receiving funding, a competitive RFP will be issued and a vendor will be secured. We expect the implementation to be completed by July 2024.
“As a legislator, I always championed accessibility initiatives,” said Mercer Executive Dan Benson, “I am proud of our staff here in Mercer County for securing this competitive grant to ensure we can provide quality services to as many residents as possible.”
“The Open Communication Access grant provides a wonderful opportunity to help us expand services to the hearing-impaired community,” said Deputy Administrator Taraun Tice McKnight “We are constantly looking for state and federal programs that will allow us to fund similar initiatives that expand services for Mercer County residents.”
TRENTON, N.J. — The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey (AACCNJ) announced its participation in NJ Disparity Study Presentation & Panel Discussion, on Saturday, March 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the NJ Institute of Technology, in Newark, N.J.
Lawrence Crump, Councilman at Large, City of Newark, convened the panel discussion to ensure the information from the State’s recently released Disparity Study, was made available to the public at large.
The presentation on the Disparity Study, conducted by Mason Tillman Associates, was led by Dr. Denise Anderson, Founder & CEO, Denise Anderson & Associates (DA&A) LLC, and moderated by John E. Harmon, Sr., IOM, Founder, President & CEO, AACCNJ.
Panelists included:
The Honorable Ras Baraka, Mayor City of Newark, N.J.
Luis De La Hoz, First Vice President, RD, Community Lending N.J. at Valley Bank
Ryan Haygood, Esq., President & Chief Executive Officer, N.J. Institute for Social Justice
Marjorie Perry, President & CEO, MZM Construction
The Honorable Shavonda Sumter, Assemblywoman, 35th Legislative District
The event took place at the Central King Building, Agile Strategy Lab (L-70) at NJIT, 100 Summit Street, Newark, N.J., and was streamed on Councilman Crump’s Facebook page Larry Crump and on YouTube OOTCC, for those who were unable to attend in person.
Mercer County — On March 6, the Mercer County Improvement Authority announced that free recycling buckets are available again for Mercer County residents.
“We have ordered an additional 2,500 free recycling buckets to ensure everyone can get one if they need it,” said Mercer County Executive Dan Benson.
“Recycling coordinators across the county are prepared to provide a county recycling bucket to any resident in need. If residents are unable to obtain a bucket, they can call the Improvement Authority …” explained Mercer County Improvement Authority Director Anthony S. Verrelli.
Due to an increase in contractor employee’s collection-related injuries, County residents are asked to please utilize county provided recycling buckets.
The Mercer County Improvement Authority will continue picking up all flattened cardboard outside of the bucket.
For replacement buckets, please contact your municipality’s Recycling Coordinator using the information below.
Please note that Hightstown and East Windsor do not participate in the county-wide recycling program.
Free recycling buckets are also available to Mercer County residents, at The Mercer County Connection Route-33 at the Acme Shopping Center in Hamilton. Residents can reach the County Connection by calling (609) 890-9800.
GREENWICH, Conn. — In the real world, “espionage is not a tuxedo and a martini,” quipped prolific author Jeffrey S. Stephens, who has written extensively about missions involving CIA operatives and national security.
“They work in the shadows. They’re in danger,” he added. “There’s so much that goes on that we don’t know about — so many near misses that we can never hear about for obvious security reasons.”
In his two-book Nick Reagan Thriller Series, Stephens blurs the lines between fact and fiction with detailed descriptions of real places, looming threats from very real terrorist cells and a realistic portrayal of the networks of people required to pull off large acts of terrorism.
In The Handler, the first book in the series, Nick Reagan and his partner, Carol Gellos, are drawn into an international hunt to locate the anonymous terrorist determined to unleash a series of unholy attacks on America.
Readers first meet Reagan as he traces a trail of clues to China in search of the Ghost Chip — a new technology that turns cell phones into detonators and renders them untraceable. In the hands of terrorists, the Ghost Chip would be catastrophic.
An Authors.com reviewer called The Handler “a heart-pounding ride with great narratives … It’s got it all — spies, assassins, guns and terrorist cells … If you liked Vince Flynn novels, you would love Stephens’ super-cool CIA operative Nick Reagan.”
The second book in the series takes all that to another level. While the good actors are easily identified in The Handler, it is a bit more difficult to tell the heroes from the villains in Enemies Among Us. A thriller where some of the “bad guys” are U.S. government figures, including some in our own Central Intelligence Agency, the story is as current as today’s headlines. An award-winning author, Stephens says the saga intends to throw light on some real-life transgressions happening all around the globe, including in our own country.
“The highest praise I can offer,” said Chris Beakey, author of the Amazon bestseller Fatal Option, “is that I devoured the entire novel in two sittings and continue to be fascinated by its large, suspenseful spell.”
Throughout the Nick Reagan Thriller Series, the author toggles between perspectives, giving readers a chilling look inside the minds of Islamic terrorists hellbent on carrying out heinous acts, while simultaneously, CIA operatives risk their lives to thwart the awful carnage.
“Many may have thought the continuing threat from terrorists was over,” Stephens said, “but as we have recently seen, it remains incredibly current and violent … while few would believe that corruption within our own intelligence services and the highest levels of corporate power are something we are dealing with in real time.”
About the Author
A native of New York City, Jeffrey S. Stephens is a successful attorney in private practice, admitted in both New York and Connecticut. Stephens has lived for more than 30 years in Greenwich, which is where he and his wife, Nancy, raised their two sons, Graham and Trevor. Stephens is the author of the Jordan Sandor thrillers, Targets Of Deception, Targets Of Opportunity, Targets Of Revenge and Rogue Mission, as well as the Anthony Walker murder mystery Crimes And Passion and the Pencraft First Place Award-winning novel, Fool’s Errand.
For more information, please visit www.jeffreystephens.com, or follow the author on Facebook (Author Jeffrey Stephens), Instagram (jss50) and Twitter (@j_stephensbooks).
TRENTON, N.J. — In celebration of Mercer County diversity, County Executive Dan Benson, the Board of County Commissioners, and the Division of Culture and Heritage present the 12th Annual Cultural Festival & Food Truck Rally on Saturday, June 8, at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, N.J.
Mercer County’s 12 municipalities are home to citizens of many ethnicities and countries of origin. Therefore, the county welcomes food trucks and craft vendors to apply for participation in this festival.
The festival, will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., celebrating diverse cultures through live music and traditional dance performances, authentic food trucks, a beer garden, art demonstrations, heritage crafters, activities for children, and more.
Those who want to participate in this year’s Cultural Festival as either a craft vendor (selling cultural/heritage-related goods) or as a food truck/vendor, should fill out the online form below by April 1, 2024.
Given the growing success of the annual Cultural Festival, The Division of Culture & Heritage has put a cap on the number of craft and food vendors able to participate.
The program management will review all the submitted applications to ensure this year’s Cultural Festival is as diverse as possible, in order to determine this year’s food truck and craft vendor festival line-up. Those who are selected to participate will benotified by April 8, 2024. Payment will be processed after the line-up is determined.
The Mercer County Clerk’s Office is very excited to co-host yet another passport outreach event in West Windsor Township with Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. The event will be held on Wednesday, March 27 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Please join us if you need a passport or passport renewal.
Note that appointments are on a first come first serve basis and will fill up fast!
