The richest man in the world and one of the loudest voices in tech occupied the White House for approximately 100 days.

US tech giants Amazon and Apple have announced new accessibility features for their technology aimed to help people with impaired vision. Amazon's new feature, called Show and Tell, helps blind and partially sighted people identify common household grocery items. The feature, which launches in the UK today, works with Amazon's Echo Show range – devices that combine a camera and a screen with a smart speaker that's powered by its digital assistant Alexa. Apple, meanwhile, has redesigned its dedicated accessibility site to make it easier for iPhone and iPad owners to find vision, hearing and mobility tools for everyday life. These include People Detection, which uses the iPhone's built-in LiDAR scanner to prevent blind users colliding with other people or objects.

John Borthwick (above) believes the convenience of today's smart assistants comes at a price far higher than the cost paid for the devices. 'It's hard to call it anything but surveillance,' says the former Time Warner exec Tech investor John Borthwick believes the convenience of today's smart assistants from Amazon, Google and Apple comes at a price far higher than the cost paid for the devices. 'From a consumer standpoint, user standpoint, is that these, these devices are being used for what's -- it's hard to call it anything but surveillance,' Borthwick says, warning that government regulation may be the only safeguard to user privacy. Borthwick, a venture capitalist who started out in the technology industry with a web content studio that was bought by AOL, and who later headed tech strategy for Time Warner, tells Yahoo that he expects regulators will hand over more control of privacy to device users. As it stands now, he warns tech companies that manufacture and sell popular smart speakers, like Amazon's Echo, Google Assistant and Apple's HomePod, are having much more than they're audible responses recorded.

Who says the holiday season doesn't bring people--or, in this case, two near-trillion dollar companies--together? With just two weeks to go until Black Friday, Apple and Amazon appeared to have put their differences behind them with latest iPhones, iPads, Macs and other Apple gear officially beginning to arrive at the online retail giant's virtual shelves. The products, which also includes the Apple Watch and Apple accessories, will be sold and shipped by Amazon directly. The Apple gear will begin arrive to Amazon over the coming weeks and will include the latest iPhone XR and XS phones and recently released MacBook Air and iPad Pros. More: Review: Apple gives MacBook Air (most) of the love it's been lacking The HomePod, Apple's voice-controlled Siri speaker rival to Amazon's Alexa and Echo, will not be among the products soon to be available at the online retailer.

Tech giants including Apple and Amazon have hit back at claims by Bloomberg their servers may have been fitted with tiny microchips placed there by Chinese spies. The chips, which were'not much bigger than a grain of rice,' would have given China unprecedented backdoor access to computers and data, according to Bloomberg. Apple, Amazon and Super Micro, the Chinese motherboard manufacturer believed to have introduced the chips, have all issued statements denying the report. An Apple spokesman strongly denied the report in a statement, saying: 'On this we can be very clear: Apple has never found malicious chips, 'hardware manipulations' or vulnerabilities purposely planted in any server. Apple never had any contact with the FBI or any other agency about such an incident.

Apple and Amazon were passed over in a program spearheaded by the Trump administration that would have given them a greater say in how the drone industry is regulated. On Wednesday, the US Transportation Department announced 10 winning drone pilot projects that will help more unmanned aerial vehicles take to the skies. Among the winners were Silicon Valley tech giants Google, Intel, Qualcomm and Microsoft. However, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said there are'no losers' and she thinks dozens of the applicants not chosen could be greenlighted by the FAA in the coming months. Selected winners will be able to conduct experimental drone flights that are beyond the rules outlined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

THE past decade has seen the smartphone become a portal for managing daily life. Consumers use their pocket computers to bank, buy and befriend. Now this array of activities is expanding into an even more vital sphere. Apple has spent three years preparing its devices and software to process medical data, offering products to researchers and clinical-care teams. On January 24th it announced the result. The next big software update for its iPhone will include a feature, Health Records, to allow users to view, manage and share their medical records.

Apple and Amazon are in licensing discussions with Riyadh on investing in Saudi Arabia, sources claim. The move is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's push to give the conservative kingdom a high-tech look. A third source confirmed to Reuters that Apple was in talks with SAGIA, Saudi Arabia's foreign investment authority. Both companies already sell products in Saudi Arabia via third parties but they and other global tech giants have yet to establish a direct presence. Apple and Amazon are in licensing discussions with Riyadh on investing in Saudi Arabia, sources claim.

A petition calls on Amazon and Apple to reprogram Alexa and Siri so the voice assistants can push back against sexual harasments comments from users toward the voice assistant. The call comes as the #MeToo movement gives a voice to those who have been sexually harassed. Actress Alyssa Milano started the online campaign in October after Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment and rape by multiple women. The recent Siri and Alexa petition was launched on Care2 and has more than 6,000 supporters out its 10,000 signature goal. "In this #MeToo moment, where sexual harassment may finally be being taken seriously society, we have a unique opportunity to develop AI in a way that creates a kinder world," the petition said.

SAN FRANCISCO – Google is biting off a big piece of device manufacturer HTC for $1.1 billion to expand its efforts to build phones, speakers and other gadgets equipped with its arsenal of digital services. The deal, announced Thursday, underscores how serious Google is becoming about designing its own family of devices to compete against Apple and Amazon in a high-stakes battle to become the technological hub of people's lives. Google will take on HTC employees including teams who have worked on its signature Pixel smartphone. The deal also comes with a nonexclusive licensing agreement for HTC intellectual property, the companies said in a statement. The deal covers half of HTC's research staff, or around 2,000 people, and is expected to be completed in early 2018 pending regulatory approval, HTC said.