10 things in tech you need to know today

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

1. US Cyber Command on Thursday launched an operation against an Iranian spy group, despite President Donald Trump's last-minute scrapping of a direct military strike, former intelligence officials said. The Iranian group is believed to have supported the limpet mine attacks against two tanker ships earlier last week, which resulted in the US increasing its military posture against the country.
2. Ravelry, an online knitting community with over 8 million members, has banned support of President Donald Trump and his administration. It said that it would ban posts or content supporting Trump, but it would not delete project data, nor would it ban members who support Trump, as long as they don't talk about it.
3. The Chinese tech company Huawei filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Commerce on Friday, Bloomberg reported. The suit relates to telecommunications equipment confiscated by American officials.
4. Velodyne Lidar, which sells technology for autonomous vehicles, has hired bankers for an IPO, according to people familiar with the process. The company, which makes a laser technology that helps self-driving cars detect the objects around them, is working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Canada, and William Blair for a potential public float, the people said.
5. The US is considering whether to mandate that all 5G telecommunications network equipment be designed and manufactured outside China, the Wall Street Journal reported. As part of an ongoing review, US officials are asking carriers if they could make and develop hardware outside China.
6. Microsoft reportedly banned its employees from using Slack for security reasons and encourages them to to use the Microsoft Teams app instead. Microsoft also reportedly prohibits employees from using the grammar-checking app Grammarly and the Kapersky security software.
7. A trio of executives from Uber and Lyft wrote an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle last week responding to years of pleas from their drivers for a fairer shake. A proposed California law could classify ride-hailing drivers as employees, instead of contractors, based on a three-part employment test.
8. SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that SpaceX is accelerating the development of Starship, a rocket that is designed to go to Mars. He also said that people can start reserving places to Mars after it returns from orbit around Earth.
9. Amazon was granted a patent earlier this month for surveillance drones. The patent describes how the drones could be primarily used for delivery, but could be asked by customers to check up on their properties.
10. A CEO who negotiated directly with Jeff Bezos has revealed how Amazon behaves as a strategic investor and buyer. Simon Calver was the chief executive of LoveFilm, the DVD rental service that became the basis of Amazon Prime Video after it was bought by Amazon.
     

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Contributer : Tech Insider http://bit.ly/2IXYiM8

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