Fitbit launched Ready for Work, a COVID-19-inspired health-monitoring solution for employers to help staffers determine whether to go into the workplace. It shows trends in users' Fitbit-tracked health metrics along with self-reported symptoms so they can assess their health from home, said the company. Changes in resting heart rate, heart rate variability and breathing rate are shown in a dashboard alongside self-reported symptoms including temperature and COVID-19 exposure, it said.

Voxx hired a banker to help evaluate “strategic alternatives” for EyeLock, its iris-authentication subsidiary, said Voxx CEO Pat Lavelle on a fiscal Q4 call Tuesday. “This could be a spinoff, a financing partner, a joint venture or an outright sale.” The segment never was profitable and generated sales of $100,000 for the year. COVID-19 has created much “inbound interest” in EyeLock, said Lavelle. “With everyone wearing masks and gloves, iris is quickly becoming the preferred choice for authentication.” The result is “renewed interest in EyeLock’s technology and in the company,” he said. The competitive facial-recognition technology, he said, is facing “additional backlash, given the events of recent weeks” (see 2006110059). It’s “challenging to forecast” the consumer tech business during normal times, and with COVID-19 “that remains even more so,” Lavelle said. The company is “anticipating a slow start” to fiscal 2021, expecting growth to recover in the year’s second half, he said. Q4 ended Feb. 29.

Big Tech isn’t doing enough to combat online misinformation during the pandemic, because of either incompetence or profit motives, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I. Inexcusable inaction -- most recently with fake masks and COVID-19 cures -- is “at best willful ignorance and at worst putting profits over people,” Blumenthal said during a George Washington University event. “I will continue fighting for new laws and push for real enforcement to protect Americans against online swindlers and those tech companies that enable them.” Cicilline claimed misinformation is “either too profitable to eliminate completely, or that these platforms are simply too massive to manage,” questioning whether platforms should be allowed to profit from harmful content. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., also appeared Tuesday. Their offices didn’t comment. The Internet Association didn’t comment.

AT&T is still working through what the COVID-19 pandemic will mean for its business and network, Jeff McElfresh, CEO of AT&T Communications, said at a Bank of America virtual conference Tuesday. Questions remain whether an iconic phone will emerge this year “that brings with it the true 5G new radio capabilities” and how much consumers will be willing to pay, he said. “It’s to be seen … but we’re planning for it and we will be there to compete,” McElfresh said. AT&T is unlikely to reopen all of its company stores closed as a result of the virus, he said. “At a high level, it’s too early for anybody to predict what the recovery is going to look like,” he said: “Our network performed incredibly well. The demand for products and services, such as broadband connectivity and wireless, really flourished.” What’s happening varies across the U.S., he said. “We’ve got different gradations of recoveries or shelter-in-place rules and regulations.” AT&T is having more business traffic in areas that reopened than in those that remain closed, which is “common sense,” McElfresh said. Companies learned a lot about how employees can work from home and stay productive, he noted. AT&T is evaluating “all options that might be available” to get more mid-band spectrum, especially the C band, he said, “There’s no other spectrum that’s available with that kind of bandwidth,” he said of the C band. “The big question is will it be unencumbered and can it be put to use in an orderly fashion” and on an acceptable timeline, he said.

Planning for the first COVID-19-era CES is “in full swing” for a physical show in Las Vegas with a digital online component, said CTA Monday. “Though we do expect the show to be smaller, many of the world's leading tech brands are confirmed to showcase the latest technologies, and we will be announcing soon the tech luminaries who will speak on our CES stages.” Registration for the Jan. 6-9 event will open “later in the fall,” said CTA: “We all face new considerations about attending conferences, conducting business and traveling to meetings.”

The U.S. imported more laptops and tablets in April than in any previous April in the history of the category, showed Census Bureau data we accessed Monday through the International Trade Commission. There was a surge in demand for work-from-home and remote-learning tools. U.S. importers sourced 9.36 million laptops and tablets in April, a 75% sequential increase and up 28% from April 2019. The average device was worth $459.01. April also was a record-high month for China, which shipped 8.7 million devices here and was 93% of all laptop and tablet imports to the U.S.

The FCC precision agriculture connectivity task force July 22 meeting is virtual, at 9:30 a.m. EDT, said a public notice Monday.

Apple and Google should bar third-party contact tracing apps from using data for targeted advertising, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) wrote the companies Monday (see 2004170060). She also recommended the apps be prohibited from using data to identify anonymous users and be required to delete data “on a rolling, 14-day basis.” The measures will help protect consumer data and ensure appropriate collection, she said. The companies didn’t comment.

Reps. Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H., and Chris Stewart, R-Utah, urged the FCC Monday to "halt any increases to annual regulatory fees" for 2020 (see 2005130057). Kuster and Stewart wrote Chairman Ajit Pai that this "does not require an act of Congress." Uncertainty about "when state and local economies will fully reopen and how consumer behavior will be impacted" means "it is nearly impossible for broadcasters to predict when, or if, operating revenues may return to normal," the lawmakers said. "What is certain for these broadcasters is that expenses will continue to be incurred for the duration of the year," including regulatory fees. "Immediately notify Congress of any statutory change necessary to allow payment of regulatory fees after September 30," the lawmakers said. The agency "will review [the letter] once we receive it," a spokesperson emailed.

Video streaming service stacking is likely to continue near term, after accelerating during the shelter-at-home period for the coronavirus, said industry executives on a Parks Associates webinar. Five million more broadband households have an over-the-top video service now than in Q3, said Parks' Steve Nason. Broadband households with four or more OTT services is up 8 points since Q3 to 25%; customers were more likely during lockdown to look for the “optimal” combination of services to meet their needs, said the analyst Wednesday. Among developments enabling the OTT market to grow were MPEG Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, faster broadband speeds to the home and incremental improvements in Wi-Fi, said Bart Spriester, Comcast Technology Solutions general manager-content and streaming provider solutions. The streaming industry has “come a long, long way,” said Tom Griffiths, director-technology of U.K.-based ITV. Live content presents a “fundamental challenge” to OTT video “that will probably never be solved,” said Spriester. With traditional broadcast and streaming video converging more from providers, rights management can be challenging.