A man uses his mobile phone as he walks past advertising for iPhones outside an Apple store.
Philip Fong | AFP | Getty Images
Eight states will roll out a feature allowing users to add driver’s license and state IDs to Apple Wallet for iPhone and Apple Watch to use at security at participating airports, Apple announced Wednesday.
Arizona and Georgia are the first states to adopt the feature and Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah will follow, though the company did not specify a timeline.
The news comes just months after Apple said it was working on the feature with the Transportation Security Administration at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The feature is a crucial step in Apple’s plan to replace physical wallets and will offer more convenience to travelers looking for touchless airport travel, the company said.
Adding IDs to the Wallet app works similarly to uploading credit cards and transit passes, Apple said. Once users scan the ID, they will also be asked to complete facial and head movements as an additional security measure.
After tapping their mobile ID at identity readers in airports, users must approve a note from TSA using Face ID or Touch ID. The company says customer data is “encrypted and protected against tampering and theft” and that the ID can only be viewed by the owner.
Last year, Apple launched mobile student IDs to allow students to access campus buildings and make purchases without a physical card, a feature expanded to additional universities in the U.S. and Canada this summer.
The new ID feature will be available with an iPhone software update due for release later this fall.
The Texas Instruments headquarters in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 21, 2024.
N. Johnson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Texas Instrumentsreported second-quarter results on Tuesday that beat analysts’ expectations for revenue and earnings. But the stock fell in extended trading due to a third-quarter forecast that missed estimates.
Here’s how the chipmaker did versus LSEG consensus estimates:
Earnings per share: $1.41 vs. $1.35 expected
Revenue: $4.45 billion vs. $4.36 billion expected
Texas Instruments said it expects current-quarter earnings between $1.36 and $1.60 per share, while analysts were looking for $1.50 per share. The company forecast revenue of $4.45 billion to $4.8 billion, for a midpoint of $4.625 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $4.59 billion.
Revenue increased 16% in the second quarter from $3.82 billion in the same period a year earlier. Sales in the company’s analog chip business, its largest, rose 18% to $3.5 billion, surpassing the StreetAccount estimate of $3.39 billion for the segment.
Net income rose 15% to $1.3 billion, or $1.41 per share, from $1.13 billion, or $1.22 per share, a year ago.
Texas Instruments is a key supplier of legacy semiconductors for automotive and industrial uses.
As of Tuesday’s close, Texas Instruments shares were up 15% for the year on broader market optimism for chips. In June, the company said it would spend $60 billion to expand chipmaking factories in Texas and Utah, a move that was praised by the Trump administration in its push to bring more technology manufacturing to the U.S.
Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024.
The meeting between Trump and Bezos, one of the world’s richest men, lasted for more than an hour, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the conversation was private.
Amazon declined to comment on the meeting. A spokesperson for Bezos didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The nature and exact timing of the visit couldn’t be learned.
A Gulfstream G700 private jet linked to Bezos landed in Dulles, Virginia, outside Washington, on July 14 before taking off the next day, according to Jack Sweeney, a programmer who tracks flight data from jets owned by Elon Musk, Bill Gates and others.
Bezos, who also owns rocket company Blue Origin, has cozied up to Trump during his second term in the White House. Trump frequently hurled insults at Bezos during his first term, largely because of the Amazon founder’s ownership of The Washington Post.
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Bezos joined a swath of tech CEOs on stage at Trump’s inauguration in January after donating $1 million to his inaugural fund.
The Trump administration praised Bezos for his decision to revamp the Post’s editorial pages to focus on “personal liberties and free markets.”
In April, Trump said Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021, was “terrific” and “a good guy” after the billionaire assured Trump that the e-commerce giant had no plans to display tariff-related surcharges on its website.
More recently, Bezos has reportedly sought to capitalize on the dramatic falling-out between Trump and Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump win a second White House term and previously led the government-slashing initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency.
Bezos competes with Musk, who is the CEO of SpaceX, through Blue Origin and Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low-Earth orbit satellite internet venture.
After Trump and Musk’s relationship soured, Bezos spoke with Trump on several occasions, while Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp traveled to the White House, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The conversations centered in part on government contracts, according to the Journal.
Amazon logo on a brick building exterior in San Francisco on Aug. 20, 2024.
Smith Collection | Gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Amazon plans to acquire wearables startup Bee AI, the company confirmed, in the latest example of tech giants doubling down on generative artificial intelligence.
Bee, based in San Francisco, makes a $49.99 wristband that appears similar to a Fitbit smartwatch. The device is equipped with AI and microphones that can listen to and analyze conversations to provide summaries, to-do lists and reminders for everyday tasks.
Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo announced in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that the company will join Amazon.
“When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you,” Zollo wrote. “What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon.”
Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller confirmed the company’s plans to acquire Bee. The company declined to comment on the terms of the deal.
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Amazon has introduced a flurry of AI products, including its own set of Nova models, Trainium chips, a shopping chatbot and a marketplace for third-party models called Bedrock.
The company has also overhauled its Alexa voice assistant, released more than a decade ago, with AI capabilities as Amazon looks to chip away at the success of rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini.
Ring, the smart home security company owned by Amazon, has also looked to introduce generative AI in some of its products.
Amazon previously experimented in the wearables space through a health and fitness-focused product called Halo. It sunset the Halo in 2023 as part of a broader cost-cutting review.
Other tech companies have launched AI-infused consumer hardware with mixed success.
There’s the Rabbit R1, a small square gadget that costs $199 and uses an OpenAI model to answer questions, as well as the AI pin developed by Humane, which later sold to HP.
Meta‘s Ray-Ban smart glasses have grown in popularity since the first version was released in 2021.
OpenAI in May acquired Jony Ive‘s AI devices startup io for roughly $6.4 billion. The company reportedly plans to develop a screen-free device.