Wisconsin
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Foxconn's promise to invest $10 billion in Wisconsin is now a distant memory
Foxconn is selling two buildings in Wisconsin, which have remained mostly empty since they were originally purchased for its plans to bring production to the US.
Foxconn plans to build EV factories in the US and Thailand in 2022
The company is reportedly in talks with three states, including Wisconsin.
Foxconn drastically scales back plans for $10 billion Wisconsin factory
After promising 13,000 new jobs in the state, Foxconn will only create 1,454 positions.
Recommended Reading: Behind the wheel of the 2021 Ford Bronco Sport
Recommended Reading highlights the week's noteworthy writing on technology and more.
Hackers allegedly stole $2.3 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party
The party's chairman says the FBI is investigating the attack.
Amazon accused of fighting efforts to track COVID-19 in Wisconsin facilities
Officials have accused Amazon of being reluctant to cooperate on tracking COVID-19 infections, and it risks a shutdown as a result.
Foxconn's contentious Wisconsin plant will be used to make ventilators
Foxconn’s dubious Wisconsin factory will be used to produce ventilators to aid in treatment for COVID-19 around the US
Wisconsin firms hope to make radioactive isotopes for nuclear medicine (updated)
Certain cardiac stress tests and other nuclear medicine diagnostics depend on molybdenum-99, or Mo-99, a radioactive isotope that decays into the diagnostic imaging agent technetium 99m, or Tc-99m. The latter is used in more than 40 million medical imaging procedures each year, but Mo-99 is costly and difficult to make. Now, two Wisconsin firms say they've found a more efficient way to make the critical material.
After Math: Flipping the Switch
Nintendo wasn't the only company this week making headlines about switches. Facebook's poker playing AI turned the tables on some Texas Hold'em pros, Foxconn pulled the old switcheroo on the state of Wisconsin, and Luminar's new LiDAR is poised to turn the autonomous vehicle market on its ear.
Foxconn's Wisconsin plant opens next May with fewer jobs than promised
Foxconn's long-promised factory in Wisconsin will finally begin production in May 2020, but to start, it's only creating 1,500 jobs. That's far fewer than the 13,000 jobs it once said it would add. At this rate, Foxconn will likely lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state subsidies, many of which were meant to reward job creation.
Foxconn pledges to still build Wisconsin factory after Trump talks
Following talks with President Trump, Foxconn says it is indeed building a factory at its Wisconsin campus. Earlier this week, the company caused a furor when it said it's shifting plans away from manufacturing to focus on a research and engineering center. Now it seems it's doing both.
Foxconn may not manufacture anything in Wisconsin after all
In 2017, Foxconn revealed plans to build a Wisconsin campus as part of a $10 billion investment that would create up to 13,000 jobs in the state. It pledged to build large-screen LCD displays there, and President Trump touted the project as a victory for his goal of reviving US manufacturing fortunes. Fast forward to 2019, and Foxconn says around three-quarters of jobs at the campus will be in design and research and development -- and it may not manufacture displays there at all.
Foxconn says it won't staff Wisconsin plant with workers from China
Last year, Foxconn, a supplier to companies like Apple and Microsoft, announced plans for a factory in Racine, Wisconsin, a deal that promised to bring a $10 billion investment and 13,000 jobs to the area. But the details of that plan have changed in the past months, and now the Wall Street Journal reports that the company is looking to bring employees over from China in order to staff the facility. Foxconn, however, has denied those reports.
Arizona man gets 20 months in prison for emergency system DDoS attacks
Denial of service attacks are serious by themselves, but doubly so when they target vital systems... and one perpetrator is finding that out first-hand. A court has sentenced Arizona resident Randall Charles Tucker (who nicknamed himself the "Bitcoin Baron") to 20 months in prison for launching distributed denial of service attacks against city websites, including damaging attacks against Madison, Wisconsin. He not only took down the city's website, but "crippled" its emergency communication system to the point where first responders had trouble reaching the 911 center. It also 'degraded' the automatic dispatching for emergency crews.
Foxconn establishes its North American headquarters in Milwaukee
Foxconn is extending its fledgling American footprint beyond its planned display factory in Wisconsin. The tech manufacturing behemoth is establishing its North American headquarters in Milwaukee, 30 miles north of the upcoming factory. It's buying a seven-story building from Northwestern Mutual and expects 500 people to work at the facility, which will include an innovation hub to help startups create apps using its display tech. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the intend 13,000 jobs at the screen facility, but it's symbolic of the company's US presence -- it's not just dabbling this time around.
Two states say the DHS is wrong about election hacking
Just a few days ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finally revealed which states were targets of Russian election hacking attempts after having known itself for nearly a year. But Reuters reports that two states are saying the DHS is wrong and their election systems weren't targeted.
Watson is helping heal America's broken criminal-sentencing system
The American criminal-justice system's sentencing system is among the fairest and most equitable in the world ... assuming you're wealthy, white and male. Everybody else is generally SOL. During the past three decades, America's prison population has quadrupled to more than 2.3 million people. Of those incarcerated, 58 percent are either black or Latino (despite those groups constituting barely a quarter of the general US population). The racial disparity in America's justice system is both obvious and endemic, which is why some courts have started looking for technological solutions. But can an artificial intelligence really make better sentencing recommendations than the people who designed it? We're about to find out.
Apple supplier Foxconn announces plan for Wisconsin display factory
Foxconn, supplier to companies like Apple, BlackBerry, Nintendo and Microsoft, formally announced its plans to open a factory in Wisconsin, which is part of a $10 billion investment in production in America. The Taiwanese company's upcoming facility in the American Midwest is expected to employ at least 3,000 people and potentially increase to 13,000 total jobs, a win for Trump's agenda to return manufacturing jobs to the US.
Apple ordered to pay university a tiny $506 million patent fine
Apple is no stranger to patent lawsuits, but the tech giant has been dragged through the mud again after a judge added a hefty additional fine to a case originally heard in 2015. The company has been ordered to pay the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) $506 million for infringing on a patent involving processors found in some versions of the iPhone. The patent was obtained by WARF in 1998.
Wisconsin company offers staff implants for keys and passwords
Don't assume that companies chipping employees is usually the stuff of dystopian science fiction -- it's here... although it's better than it sounds. Wisconsin's Three Square Market is giving employees the option of receiving a rice-sized implant (not pictured above) that will handle authentication for just about everything at work. It's the first such company-wide move in the US, Three Square claims. The chip will handle payments for food in the break room, front door access and even PC sign-ins. It promises to be very convenient, but it's easy to see why people would balk at an idea that sounds Orwellian at first blush. Three Square at least appears to be addressing some of those issues, but there are still some problems that are difficult to escape.
