Hi again. Apple experienced outages yesterday that affected services like iMessage and Apple Music, and Ford's F-150 Lightning's official range rating is in.
Let's dive in.
If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app – click here for iOS and here for Android.
1. Apple was hit with temporary outages yesterday. Services including iMessage, App Store, Apple Music, and Maps experienced outages on Monday afternoon. Internal systems at its retail locations were also affected, according to reports by Bloomberg.
- The reports began around noon EDT, Bloomberg said, citing outage tracker Downdetector. The site shows that a couple of thousand people reported outages with iMessage.
- According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple's retail stores also experienced issues. (One user tweeted that an Apple store was apparently conducting transactions on paper because the "store systems are down.")
- By 4 p.m. EDT, the company's system status site showed that all of its services were labeled as working or "resolved outage." Apple, according to Bloomberg, told its employees the issue was from "domain name system, or DNS, problems."
What we know about Apple's outages.
In other news:
2. President Joe Biden warned of "evolving intelligence" that Russia is exploring cyberattacks. A statement issued by the president urged companies to "harden your cyber defenses immediately." The IT infrastructure for energy, finance, and transportation poses the biggest risk, analysts said. Here's what else you need to know.
3. Criminals are staging a devious new kind of kidnapping. Over the past few years, thousands of families have experienced the same bizarre nightmare: a phone call, a screaming child, a demand for ransom money — and a kidnapping that is ultimately revealed to be fake. Inside the world of virtual kidnappings.
4. Another ex-Googler has come forward to allege racial discrimination at the tech giant. Just days after a lawsuit alleging racial bias was filed against the company, another former employee is alleging sexual harassment and racism at Google. More on the latest allegations.
5. Amazon has been fined $60,000 for "willfully" violating safety rules at a warehouse. The citation, the most serious workplace safety violation in the commerce giant's history — and its fourth in the past year — says Amazon's "very high pace of work" is injuring workers. Here's what we know about Amazon's safety citation.
6. The Amazon-MGM merger signals a major threat to the movie-theater industry. The $8.5 billion deal highlights what one theater exec called one of his biggest concerns for exhibitors: fewer in-theater releases. See what else the exec told us.
7. Alumni from Google's DeepMind are raising millions for their own startups. Seventeen employees who started at DeepMind, Google's AI lab, have left to launch their own ventures, spanning non-profits, energy, and cryptocurrencies. Meet the DeepMind mafia.
8. Elon Musk's Starlink satellites are helping Ukraine's drone unit destroy Russian tanks and trucks. The Times of London reported that Starlink's internet system ensures drone teams can work even if there are internet or power outages. More on that here.
Odds and ends:
9. Ford's F-150 Lightning is one of the longest-range electric vehicles on the market. The US government's official range rating for the EV is in, and with a range of 320 miles on a full charge, the truck exceeded even Ford's own expectations. Get the latest on the F-150 Lightning.
10. LG's new TVs could be contenders for the year's best. LG's new G2 and C2 OLED Evo TVs are rolling out to stores over the coming weeks, and carry over everything we loved about previous models — while delivering an image with more pop and detail. Read the full review here.
What we're watching today:
- The iHeartRadio Music Awards broadcast live tonight at 8 p.m. EDT.
- Buzzfeed, Adobe, and others are reporting earnings today. Keep up with earnings here.
- Elon Musk is attending Tesla's "Delivery Day," an event handing over the first Tesla car made at the new German factory to its new owners.
- CloudFest conference and exhibition starts today.
- Maserati is set to debut its new Grecale sport utility vehicle.
- SaaStock Remote takes place today through March 24.
- Avalanche Summit, a conference for developers, researchers, and makers building on Avalanche, starts today.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email [email protected] or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.