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ROWLETT (CBSDFW.COM) – A Rowlett mother says a GPS device helped her get to her daughter, after she was taken and attacked by a sexual predator. She’s sharing her story with the hope it can help other parents find their child in an emergency.

The mother, who is not being identified so as to protect her daughter, says her 15 year old left home on Monday afternoon to go on a walk.

Her daughter has Asperger Syndrome – an Autism spectrum disorder.

“She wanders. I can’t keep her home sometimes. She’s wandered at night before,” said the mother.

About a month ago, the family began using a device called Angel Sense to keep tabs on the teenager.

The device uses GPS technology and attaches to clothing with a powerful magnet that only the parent can remove. The technology costs about $40 a month and includes a service that can pinpoint the wearer’s location down to a few feet. It will also send parents text messages with periodic updates on their child’s location.

Monday afternoon, the mother says the device alerted her that her daughter was in a location outside of the neighborhood.

When the mother activated a microphone on the device, she could hear her daughter struggling.

“I heard the assault while it was happening. I knew exactly what was happening,” the mother said.

She got in her car and drove to the location – Springfield Park. Her daughter was not there. The location then pinged to the intersection of Hickox and Rowlett Road – still nothing.

Finally it took her down an alley near the family’s home – where the mother found her daughter frantically running.

She thinks the suspect abandoned her daughter after he saw the device, out of fear he would be tracked.

“I think this device saved her life, or from being gang raped, because it was going to go to that. That’s what [I heard the suspect say],” said the mom.

Rowlett police are interviewing the victim in the hope of gaining enough of a description to draw up a sketch. He’s described as in his twenties, with a mustache and a large tattoo of a circle with points coming out of it, down the inside of his left arm.

According to her description the assailant was wearing a white t-shirt, dark shorts, and Nike sandals.

Police say the girl described his vehicle as white, smelling like cigarettes, with two car seats and a booster seat inside.

Lieutenant David Nabors says the GPS information saved to the mom’s cell phone gives detectives a leg up: for example they know the suspect took her to the parking lot in the park between 4:10 p.m. and 5 p.m. Monday afternoon.

“It’s excellent because very rarely do you have that detailed of information when you’re looking at sexual assault. Sometimes when they’re in the car, victims are so scared they’re not able to tell you where they were. This GPS device can tell us down to feet,” Nabors said.

“It gives us a timeline as to where she was, when she was there, how long she was there. It’s a rare opportunity,” Nabors said.

The mother says she would recommend this device to any parent with a child who has special needs – or any parent whose child wanders in general.

“Get it. It’s worth it. It can save your kid’s life,” she said.

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call Rowlett Police.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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LUBBOCK (AP) — Mason Rudolph and J.W. Walsh each threw for two touchdowns while Raymond Taylor scored two rushing TDs as No. 12 Oklahoma State came from behind to beat Texas Tech 70-53 on Saturday to remain in the hunt for the Big 12 title.

The combined points were the third most involving a ranked team without playing overtime.

Walsh found James Washington twice in the fourth quarter, once for 75 yards and then for 73 yards to seal the win for the Cowboys (8-0, 5-0).

Raymond scored from 4 and 28 yards. His second TD put the Cowboys ahead for the first time.

Ramon Richards returned an interception 59 yards for a score with six seconds left in the game.

Texas Tech’s Jakeem Grant returned a kickoff 100 yards — the fourth of his career and a Texas Tech record — and had a 90-yard catch.

Patrick Mahomes completed 38 of 55 passes for 480 yards and four touchdowns for the Red Raiders (5-4, 2-4). He also threw two interceptions. Both led to touchdowns.

Rudolph completed 21 of 35 passes for 285 yards, and Walsh completed 4 of 5 for 167 yards.

Oklahoma State finished with 662 total yards to 642 for the Red Raiders.

The Cowboys held Texas Tech scoreless in the third quarter.

Reviews gave Oklahoma State two touchdowns —a 12-yard pass from Rudolph to Hays in the far corner of the end zone that showed his foot came down in bounds and a 3-yard TD pass to Brandon Sheperd that showed he had possession.

There were plenty of big plays to go around. Oklahoma State’s first big-yardage play of the game came midway through the third quarter when Jalen McCleskey returned a punt 67 yards to pull the Cowboys within 38-35. Walsh then rushed 64 yards to the Texas Tech 1. He scored on the next play.

After falling behind early the last three contests in Lubbock, the Red Raiders jumped ahead early, going up 17-0 on two touchdown passes from Mahomes to sophomore Justin Stockman and a 42-yard field goal that came after Dakota Allen intercepted Rudolph at the OSU 41.

Grant’s 90-yard catch was the longest reception by a Red Raiders player since a 95-yarder by Rodney Blackshear against Houston in 1991.

Grant got his second TD early in the second quarter when Mahomes found him over the middle for a 12-yard score.
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — The White House is adding 15 new communities to its “TechHire” initiative for getting low-skilled workers jobs in the tech economy.

The expansion comes a year after President Barack Obama announced the program and days before he’s scheduled to speak at the South by Southwest technology festival in Austin. President Obama will be the first sitting president to speak at the annual music, film and interactive media gathering, which drew more than 80,000 attendees last year.

The initiative pairs private employers with cities and states to create accelerated training programs such as coding boot camps.

The newest communities include two states — Hawaii and Virginia — and 13 cities from Flint, Michigan, to Jackson, Mississippi. No federal money is tied to the distinction.

Federal officials point to Rhode Island’s 6-month-old program as a model.

Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo says her state is working with employers to train and place 2,000 people over the next four years.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investors might question Warren Buffett’s long-standing aversion to tech stocks after his Berkshire Hathaway bought 9.8 million shares of Apple.

Buffett has always avoided technology companies because he said it was too hard to pick which ones would prevail long term, although he made an exception to that rule to buy a major IBM stake in 2011.

Buffett was also reported to be considering joining a bid to acquire Yahoo. But Buffett told CNBC Monday he would only act as a potential financing partner for Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert’s bid.

Berkshire revealed the new Apple investment Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing a number of changes to its $129 billion portfolio.

The new investment might have been made by Berkshire’s two other investment managers.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Court documents show Facebook has agreed to allow users to request refunds of in-app purchases made by minors as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit.

The lawsuit was brought in 2012 by two children and their parents. It claimed the children racked up hundreds of dollars in purchases of Facebook Credits, a since-discontinued currency used by the site.

Under the settlement approved by a California federal court in May, Facebook agreed to add an option for requesting an in-app purchase refund on the grounds that it was made by a minor. It also agrees to have a dedicated team to handle such requests.

Menlo Park, California-based Facebook hasn’t responded to a request for comment.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DALLAS (CBDSFW.COM) – In less than two weeks, two separate groups of Pokémon Go players were robbed at gunpoint near White Rock Lake.

The first robbery happened on July 22 , around 1:30 a.m. Dallas Police said four women in their 20s, playing Pokémon Go were the targets. They were walking near the 4800 block of West Lawther Drive, when two suspects demanded they hand over their cellphones.

The latest victim were two brothers, who often play after dark to avoid the heat of the day.

“It was a Pokespot. There were two right next to each other so who wouldn’t stop there?” asked Chris, 20. He and his brother Mark were out with two friends. They were headed back to their car when a stranger approached. “He said, ‘Hey, you got change for a $20?’ I had the door open and he’s checking the inside of the car.”

Sensing danger, the friends drove off, but quickly noticed a strange car following them.

“We heard like a pop. Like a gunshot,” Chris said. The would-be robbers made sure the group knew they had a gun.

As they approached East Mockingbird Lane along West Lawther Drive, Chris said the driver tried blocking them in.

They shattered his driver side mirror and attempted to take their phones by force. After a confrontation, the robbers took the keys to Chris’ car, but did not take the vehicle.

His brother Mark said he’s taking a break from the game for a while.

“There was traffic and everything because so many people were playing the game. I didn’t think that would actually happen to us. I was like, ‘wow this is actually happening.’ ”

He said while they were out late at night, they were not in a desolate area when they were targeted. In fact, there were many other groups of people playing the game too.

Dallas Police say there were two other armed robberies in the area during that same two week time span, but they do not believe those victims were playing Pokémon Go when they were robbed.

Police remind players to be aware of their surroundings at all times.

They encourage players to travel in pairs, and only visit well-lit areas. They should avoid secluded spots, particularly at night.

Parents should set limits on where kids can travel without an adult, and be mindful of city curfew rules for teenagers.

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – New data released by the SafeTrek app shows an intersection on SMU campus as the area users of SafeTrek feel most unsafe.

SafeTrek works like s panic button. Users hold down the button on their screen until they get to a safe location. Once there, they enter their code if they are safe. If they released their finger and do not enter their code, SafeTrek says the police are called after 10 seconds.

The developers of the app say out of the 7,000 hits in Dallas since the start of 2016, about 200 of them have come from the area near Ownby Drive and Schlegal Street.

“It could be something as simple as a burnt-out street lamp there or no lighting at all,” said Zach Winkler at SafeTrek.

SMU Communication released a statement disagreeing with the findings.

“The location cited is not frequently traveled except on football game days,” wrote Kent Best, Executive Director of Communications. “SMU Police have received no reports of criminal activity from that location in 2016.”

SafeTrek insists half of its users are college students.

“It’s not to point fingers at anyone that’s doing anything wrong and by no means are we saying that SMU is an unsafe campus or that Dallas is an unsafe area,” said Winkler.

Users of the app like Cassie Kelemen said it makes her feel more confident walking alone.

“I’ll be going to my car and I’ll have men call at me and it makes me uncomfortable,” said Kelemen. “It’s kind of a little security blanket I guess.”

Keleman feels the data should not be looked at so negatively.

“Things happen and I think it’s good to know they’re taking precautions and staying safe,” said Kelemen.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A dozen schools in Fort Worth will have upgraded school zone safety signs to start the new school year in a program that could quickly grow to impact a large number of the 200,000 students in the city.

“With the crossing guard, right?” Emily Arreola quizzed her four kids as they reviewed safety rules next to a South Fort Worth school crossing. “All together, right?”

Arreola understands the perils of school zones in area streets.

“People on cell phones, speeding, people busting U-turns. It’s horrible,” she said. “It makes me very,very angry.”

Fort Worth spent $1 million during the summer trying to make first-day-of-school chaos safer.

“We upgraded signs so that they are now the new fluorescent green color,” said Fort Worth spokesperson Janice Thompson-Burgess. “And, we’ll also put in some flashing signs to alert people that children are in the area walking to school,” said Fort Worth Spokesperson, Janice Thompson-Burgess.

The schools received the safety zone makeovers as part of the pilot program.

Solar-powered crosswalk signs flash brightly to warn drivers to stop for kids crossing. Other signs flash the driver’s speed. Solar-powered school zone signs will flash for longer periods of time after school.

And all of these school zones are smaller, compacting all the signs in a tighter area to grab and hold driver’s attention.

It’s a plan Arreola likes.

“Yes, very good,” she said. “Anything they can do to help people slow down I think is great.”

And it’s a plan Fort Worth hopes to expand in a big way.

“We serve 16 school districts and over 200,000 students,” Thompson-Burgess said. “So this will continue to be a priority on this.”

The signs were mostly payed for with bonds approved by voters. The city could ask voters for even more money to expand the program within the next couple of years.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A Dallas man says his car drove him straight into a guardrail at 80-miles-an-hour. The wreck is raising questions about the safety of self-driving cars.

“Someone is going to get hurt!”

Mark Molthan is driving his third Tesla. He is a big fan of the car and the computer inside the car, but he is very outspoken about what recently happened to him.

“If you are not fully attentive of that car at all times, it will wreck. It will wreck.”

Molthan says he is the latest victim of an autopilot accident.

“I’m very fortunate. I’m healthy. My dog is healthy. …The next guy may not be and that’s the only reason I accepted to do this interview.”

Molthan says he was driving his Tesla Model S in autopilot on Highway 175 in Kaufman on August 7, 2016. He says he had driven that road in autopilot at least a dozen times.

His dog, Honey, was in the car with him.

“I reached down to pet the dog. I grabbed a rag they give you to clean the screen, and I looked up and it was over.”

At 80-miles an hour, Molthan says the car hit a curve in the road and then slammed into the guardrail.

But Molthan says it did not end there. He says his car accelerated again.

“I just wanted the car to stop. I just really wanted the car to stop.”

Molthan says Honey flew to the backseat. The next thing he remembers is waking up with blood all over his shirt. He was cocooned in airbags. He says he had cuts, bruises and a concussion.

“The car got me in the wreck, but it also saved my life. It’s not the person in the car that is going to get hurt, it’s the person he car hits.”

Molthan’s accident is just the latest in a number of recent reports and online videos showing self-driving cars crashing. They involve many makers; however, in May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the first ever reported fatal Tesla autopilot accident. The crash killed the Tesla driver.

In an email to the I-Team, Tesla says the autopilot feature provides a “hands-on experience.” When activated, the car tells you to “keep your hands on the wheel.”

But what do those selling the car say?

The I-Team took our undercover cameras inside a Tesla store in Dallas. A sales representative told us, “We don’t have to sit there and have our hands just glued to the steering wheel the entire trip or our feet just glued to the pedals.”

We questioned him about what the feature does allow you to do? “We can’t just read a book or watch a movie or fall asleep in the vehicle. …We temporarily need to read a text message or send an email temporarily we can do that…,” explained the sales representative.

Molthan says you should not do that. He repeatedly called the feature a “false sense of security.”

“If I could save one person from being killed or having a really terrible accident, that’s all I want to try and do,” said Molthan.

Three weeks after his accident, he is not suing the car manufacturer. He has recovered. His dog is ok. And, he and wife still drive Teslas, but they do not drive in autopilot.

Molthan says the feature should not be on the fast track…”not yet.”

“Let’s slow it down or let people know they are a test a test pilot to a technology that is not perfect.”

The government is working on new guidelines and regulations for autopilot. NHTSA tells the I-team it does not know when those will be released.

The agency also says statistics on crashes involving autopilot “are not available.”

NHTSA confirmed its investigation into the May Tesla fatal accident is still underway.

Earlier this week, Tesla announced that it is making changes to its autopilot feature. Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote in a Tweet that a software update will be released in a few weeks.

The Associated Press reported that the CEO said a software update will make “major improvements” to autopilot including more advanced processing of radar signals. Radar allows the car to detect obstructions that cameras cannot see due to bad weather or blinding sunlight.

Tesla would not comment on Mark Molthan’s accident. A spokesperson emailed the I-Team saying the vehicle does not become a self-driving car in autopilot, and you must keep you hands on the wheel at all times.

UPDATE:  CBS 11 has removed the Ford logo from the original news report.  The report included a reference to self-driving cars crashing which included, among others, the Ford logo.  A Ford spokesperson contacted CBS 11 to say that Ford has not had an accident involving an autonomous vehicle.  However, according to media.ford.com and other internet sources Ford recalled certain model year 2015 Ford F-150 pickup trucks equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control technology after reportedly receiving one report of an accident that could have been related to that technology.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama administration officials say the federal government, rather than states, should be in charge of regulating self-driving cars since the vehicles are essentially controlled by software, not people.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says states have historically set the rules for licensing drivers, but when the driver becomes a computer “we intend to occupy the field here.” He said states should stick to regulating human drivers and questions of liability.

Administration officials laid out the broad outlines of guidance to automakers and states in a conference call with reporters. They said greater detail would be provided at a news conference Tuesday.

Automakers would also be allowed to self-certify the safety of autonomous vehicles while following a 15-point government blueprint.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

SAN FRANCISCO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Google’s parent company is halting operations and laying off staff in a number of cities where it once hoped to bring high-speed internet access by installing new fiber-optic networks.

The company also announced that Craig Barratt, a veteran tech executive who led the ambitious — and expensive — Google Fiber program, is stepping down as CEO of Access, the division of Google corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., that operates the 5-year-old program.

In a statement, Barratt said Google Fiber will continue to provide service in a handful of cities where it’s already operating, including Atlanta; Austin, Texas; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

But it will put further plans on hold in at least eight more metropolitan areas where it has held exploratory talks with local officials. Those include Dallas; Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida; Los Angeles; Oklahoma City; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and San Jose, California.

Barratt didn’t say how many jobs will be cut. His statement described the Access business as “solid,” but said it would make “changes to focus our business and product strategy” and incorporate new technology.

A recent report by tech news site The Information said the business was under pressure by Alphabet CEO Larry Page to cut costs after failing to meet financial goals, including a target of signing up 5 million subscribers.

Barratt said he’ll continue to serve as an adviser to Page.

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If you are scrolling around on Google maps today and need a little video game break – you can unleash Ms. Pac-Man on the streets of your city.

On Friday, the techies at Google decided to let you have some fun when you are searching through their endless trove of maps. Available on both desktop and mobile versions, you can play the popular 80’s video game Ms. Pac-Man over the map you see on your screen.

It’s doesn’t matter where you are looking, or if there is a mile-long line of traffic or not, as long as there are roads you can play!

Just click on the Ms. Pac-Man icon on mobile, or on the ‘Insert Coin‘ icon on the desktop version.

DALLAS (KRLD) – A new feature from Snapchat is creating all kinds of talk.

The new app feature is called Snap Map. It lets you share where you are with friends and followers. It uses a GPS signal to show where you are located and police say it could pose a major safety danger.

Andrew Rossow is a cyberspace and technology attorney with the Gregory M. Gantt Co. Law firm.

“There are some serious privacy concerns with this because people don’t understand that they are being tracked” says Rossow.

He says this can be especially dangerous for children. His advice for parents, “Be aware of the applications your children have on their phones and look at the settings that are available.”

Rossow also says, “It’s a cool feature. However, there just needs to be some sort of regulation and public awareness as to the potential consequences and dangers of this if this is taken out of context or even abused.”

BOSTON (AP) — Looking for any edge in an age-old rivalry, the Boston Red Sox got called out in a high-tech sign-stealing scheme they ran on the New York Yankees.

The first-place Red Sox admitted to Major League Baseball that they used an Apple Watch to relay signals from opposing catchers to Boston players, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Sign stealing has long been a part of the game, but employing electronic gadgets to do it is against the rules.

MLB is looking into allegations levied by the Yankees after a series between the teams last month in Boston. The Times said the Red Sox told MLB investigators that Boston manager John Farrell, general Dave Dombrowski and other team executives were not aware of the operation, which had been going on for weeks.

Commissioner Rob Manfred, who was at Fenway Park on Tuesday night as part of a previously planned visit, said he wanted to get the matter resolved quickly. He didn’t comment about possible penalties.

“The only thing that I can tell you about repercussions is that to the extent that there was a violation on either side — and I’m not saying that there was — to the extent that there was a violation on either side, we are 100 percent comfortable that it is not an ongoing issue — that if it happened, it is no longer happening,” he said.

This isn’t the first time a successful Boston-area sports franchise has been accused of cheating in recent years.

New England Patriots star Tom Brady was suspended four games by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after the “Deflategate” investigation concluded the quarterback conspired to use illegally underinflated footballs in the 2015 AFC championship game. The Pats also were docked a first-round draft pick.

Years earlier, the five-time Super Bowl champions were caught videotaping signals being sent in by Jets coaches during a 2007 game — the Patriots lost a first-round pick in the 2008 draft and coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 in “Spygate.”

The Red Sox hold a narrow lead over the Yankees in the AL East race with a month left in the regular season. The teams don’t play again this season.

Farrell said he knew the rule.

“Electronic devices are not to be used in the dugout,” he said Tuesday before Boston hosted the Toronto Blue Jays. “But beyond that, the only thing I can say it’s a league matter at this point.”

Dombrowski said it was the first time a team he’d worked for had been formally accused of stealing signs.

“I’ve been in the game for 40 years. I’ve known of it for 40 years, sign stealing itself,” Dombrowski said. “I’ve known of people that I talk to that played back in the ’50’s that talked to me about sign stealing, so I do think sign stealing has been taking place for a long time. I will acknowledge that.”

The Times, according to unidentified sources, said the MLB probe started after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman filed a complaint with the commissioner’s office that included video. The newspaper said the video showed a member of Boston’s training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and relaying a message to players.

“I think there was something that was suspected of going on,” Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said before Tuesday night’s game in Baltimore.

The Times said the Red Sox filed a complaint Tuesday against the Yankees, alleging the club used a camera from its YES television network to steal opponents’ signs.

“No chance,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Said Manfred: “I do believe that this is a charged situation from a competitive perspective, when you have the kind of rivalry that the Yankees and the Red Sox have. I guess it’s not shocking you could have charges and counter-charges like this.”

The Times said the Red Sox told MLB investigators that club personnel watched monitors and then electronically sent pitch signals to team trainers in the dugout, who relayed the information to players.

The newspaper said video showed Boston assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim checking his Apple Watch and relaying the info to Red Sox players Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia. The newspaper said one clip showed Pedroia passing along the intelligence to Boston outfielder Chris Young, who formerly played for the Yankees.

The Red Sox won two of three from the Yankees during the series Aug. 18-20. The Times reported that in the first game, after Boston first put a runner on second, Rafael Devers hit a home run. The Red Sox went 5 for 8 in that game when they had a runner at second and won 9-6.

Sign stealing to help hitters know what pitch is coming has long been a part of baseball lore. Often times it happens when a runner at second base peers in to see the catcher’s sign and then subtly flashes a signal — maybe a hand movement, or the positioning of his feet — to the batter to let him know whether the next pitch will be a fastball, curveball or something else.

The most famous example of sign stealing was a secret for almost a half-century. It took that long before it was positively revealed the New York Giants used a spyglass-and-buzzer system to relay pitch signals to their hitters during their famed 1951 chase of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which culminated with Bobby Thomson’s bottom-of-the-ninth, winning homer in the decisive Game 3 of their NL playoff.

Players are allowed to try to figure out the opponents’ signals on their own. Computers, cameras and electronics are not permitted.

To combat signs being stolen, teams often change their signals when an opposing runner reaches second base. Signs can change from batter to batter and even pitch to pitch — the Yankees are a team that frequently has its catcher go out to the mound to discuss with pitchers what to throw.

Electronics and video have become more a part of baseball and all sports in recent years. The increased usage has also put leagues on alert over how to control improprieties in many areas.

In July 2016, a federal judge sentenced the former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals to nearly four years in prison for hacking the Houston Astros’ player-personnel database and email system.

“Electronics is the world we live in today,” Girardi said. “It’s changed the world we live in and it will continue to change as we move on. Again, there has to be something the catcher, the pitcher and the middle infielders can do to combat all this. Football’s gone to headset. They’ve talked about how they don’t know how feasible that is in the game of baseball, but I think we have to try something.”

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – The fallout continues after the huge Equifax data-breach affecting more than 143 million Americans.

The Texas Attorney General’s office said 12 million of those victims live in Texas.

“I’m absolutely furious,” said Phillip Bristow of Fort Worth.

He’s is one of the millions of Americans whose information was compromised in the massive hack.

“It panics me, I have properties. I built myself up to good credit but it took me a lot of years to do it,” said Bristow.

Bristow and his wife went searching for remedies and decided to freeze their credit report.

“A credit freeze allows the creditor to make sure you are who you say you are,” said financial counselor Regina Blackwell with the Dallas non-profit Transformance.

Blackwell said a freeze makes it impossible for thieves to open up new lines of credit in your name.

You can stop the freeze any time you want to apply for new credit by using a personal identification number.

• Click Here To Freeze Your Equifax Account

Briston said he couldn’t believe Equifax was actually charging him $10 to freeze his account.

“Ten dollars isn’t a lot of money but I didn’t make the mistake. Why am I having to pay for it,” asked Bristow. ”

Equifax announced plans to waive the freeze fees for 30 days after hundreds of upset customers complained on social media.

“How about forever,” laughed Bristow.

Plus, financial experts say having a freeze at just Equifax won’t help you.

You need to freeze your credit at all three bureaus.

Bristow said Equifax should pick up the tab.

“This is their problem. They need to fix their problem,” said Bristow.

• More From The Federal Trade Commission 

NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Best Buy is expanding an after-school tech program for underprivileged teens as it hopes to create workers with the skills to serve increasingly savvy shoppers as well as groom future inventors who can help fill its stores with new gadgets.

The Minneapolis-based chain said Wednesday the number of tech centers will grow to 60 from 11 over the next three years. The centers, hosted by nonprofit organizations with strong financial support from Best Buy, let teens explore technology such as robotics and 3-D printing.

A Best Buy sign outside a store. (credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

“It’s not about getting them into the store but getting the next thing in the store,” said Laura Bishop, Best Buy’s chief corporate responsibility officer. Best Buy started its first tech center four years ago and works with suppliers like Sony as well as educators and public officials.

There is already a Best Buy teen tech center in Dallas, located in the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center. No word if any of the new centers being built as a part of the announced expansion will be located in North Texas.

The company is also creating post-high school mentorship programs that will serve 2,000 students per year in poorer neighborhoods. That training will include internship opportunities at local businesses. And Best Buy will expand its Geek Squad Academy summer camps for youths aged 10 to 18, which number around 40. The camps feature classes in areas like 3-D design, digital music production, and coding.

The company says it will invest $30 million in the programs over the next three years.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Intel has big plans to steer toward new business in self-driving cars, virtual reality and other cutting-edge technologies. But first it has to pull out of a skid caused by a serious security flaw in its processor chips, which undergird many of the world’s smartphones and personal computers.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich opened his keynote talk Monday night at the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas by addressing the hard-to-fix flaws disclosed by security researchers last week. At an event known for its technological optimism, it was an unusually sober and high-profile reminder of the information security and privacy dangers lurking beneath many of the tech industry’s gee-whiz wonders.

Some researchers have argued that the flaws reflect a fundamental hardware defect that can’t be fixed short of a recall. But Intel has pushed back against that idea, arguing that the problems can be “mitigated” by software or firmware upgrades. Companies from Microsoft to Apple have announced efforts to patch the vulnerabilities.

And Krzanich promised fixes in the coming week to 90 percent of the processors Intel has made in the past five years, consistent with an earlier statement from the company . But he also added that updates for the remainder of those recent processors should follow by the end of January. Krzanich did not address the company’s plans for older chips.

To date, he said, Intel has seen no sign that anyone has stolen data by exploiting the two vulnerabilities, known as Meltdown and Spectre. The problems were disclosed last week by Google’s Project Zero security team and other researchers. Krzanich commended the “remarkable” collaboration among tech companies to address what he called an “industry-wide” problem.

While Meltdown is believed to primarily affect processors built by Intel, Spectre also affects many of the company’s rivals. Flaws affecting the processor chips also endanger the PCs, internet browsers, cloud computing services and other technology that rely on them. Both bugs could be exploited through what’s known as a side-channel attack that could extract passwords and other sensitive data from the chip’s memory.

Krzanich then launched into a flashy and wide-ranging celebration of the way Intel and its partners are harnessing data for futuristic innovations, from 3D entertainment partnerships with Paramount Pictures to virtual-reality collaborations with the 2018 Winter Olympics and a new breakthrough in so-called quantum computing.

A self-driving Ford Fusion rolled onto the stage of the casino theater where Krzanich gave his talk. It’s the first of a 100-vehicle test fleet run by Mobileeye, the Israel-based software company that Intel bought for $15 billion last year. Mobileeye processes the information cars “see” from cameras and sensors.

A flying taxi — the German-built Volocopter — later lifted from the stage. Then came the drones, in a musical performance that Krzanich said would mark a Guinness record for the “world’s first 100-drone indoor lightshow without GPS.”

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DALLAS (1080 KRLD/CBSDFW.COM) – Amazon has narrowed it’s list of cities for its second U.S. headquarters to 20, including two cities in Texas.

On Thursday, Amazon cut their list of possible sites from 238 to 20, and the Dallas metro area, as well as Austin, are on the list of possible locations for Amazon’s ‘HQ Two.’

According to Amazon, they expect to invest over $5 billion in construction for their second North American headquarters. The new headquarters will also bring in at least 50,000 jobs.

Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Economic Development Sarah Carrabias-Rush is part of the team which put together proposals from across North Texas.

“We are inspired and thrilled by the opportunity of bringing this kind of transformational project to our region because we think it brings a lot of opportunity” said Carrabias-Rush. “We are excited to be in the chase.”

Amazon says the Dallas metro area is in the running for the headquarters, but since all the North Texas proposals were submitted as a bundle, there’s no way yet to know which cities in the region Amazon is considering.

After the announcement the Dallas Regional Chamber and Fort Worth Chamber released a joint statement that said, in part –

“In collaboration with regional economic development partners, the Dallas Regional Chamber and the Fort Worth Chamber worked closely throughout to collect, organize and deliver the regional-level data and information that was requested by Amazon.”

Mike Rosa, with the Dallas Regional Chamber, said, “The DFW Region’s unified submittal was diligent, thoughtful and comprehensive in responding to the specific questions outlined in the Amazon RFP and gave us a chance to showcase the many reasons DFW has been such a strong and growing business community over the past eight years.”

Brandom Gengelbach, with the Fort Worth Chamber, said,“One of the most compelling aspects of our proposal was the diversity of options we offer as a regional hub of economic development.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made a statement on Dallas and Austin being named finalists.

“Texas is the land of opportunity, and I am thrilled to see that Amazon has included both Austin and Dallas as finalists for its forthcoming HQ2. Texas is a hotbed for the tech industry, and both Austin and Dallas have proven themselves to be among the most sought after locations for companies looking to grow and thrive. When industry leaders like Amazon consider investing in the Lone Star State, they know that our our low-tax and limited-regulation environment will appeal to a company’s bottom line. Texas has also repeatedly been recognized as having one of the best – if not the best – workforces in America. I am confident that the economic advantages of an Amazon expansion in Texas speak for themselves, and make either Austin or Dallas an ideal fit for Amazon’s HQ2.”

Amazon says it wants its second headquarters to be in a low-tax climate with arts and culture, easy access to public transportation and bike paths, and a strong workforce.

Other cities that made the cut include: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Columbus; Denver; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomergy County, Maryland; Nashville; Newark, NJ; New York City; Northern Virginia; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, NC; Toronto; and Washington, D.C.

The company will make a decision later this year.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – Setting up a likely legal fight with the Trump administration, Washington has become the first state to enact its own net-neutrality requirements.

The Federal Communications Commission voted in December to gut U.S. rules that meant to prevent broadband companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from exercising more control over what people watch and see on the internet.

Because the FCC prohibited state laws from contradicting its decision, opponents of the Washington law have said it will lead to lawsuits.
Gov. Jay Inslee said he was confident of its legality.

Violations would be enforceable under the state’s Consumer Protection Act.

While several states introduced similar measures this year, so far only Oregon and Washington have passed legislation. But Oregon’s measure wouldn’t put any new requirements on internet providers.

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

(AP) – Artificial intelligence has a new challenge: Whether and how to alert people who may not know they’re talking to a robot.

On Tuesday, Google showed off an AI assistant that makes convincingly human-sounding phone calls, at least in its prerecorded demonstration. But the real people in those calls didn’t seem to be aware they were talking to a machine.

Google says its digital voice assistant can make some of our most tedious calls, such as reservation for dinner or a haircut. The AI speaks with pauses and “ums” and “mmm-hmms” to sound more human.

But it may not be fair — or even legal — to trick the hairstylists and restaurant employees answering the calls.

Google calls the new service, known as Duplex, an experiment.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Top U.S. tech executives and researchers are planning to press the Trump administration to invest in artificial intelligence and craft policies they hope will strengthen the economy without displacing jobs.

The White House is hosting the “Artificial Intelligence for American Industry” event Thursday. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft are among dozens of tech firms attending. Top universities are also pitching for investment in basic research.

The meeting comes as some technology experts have criticized President Donald Trump and his administration for not paying enough attention to science and technology. They worry that the U.S. could fall behind.

Dean Garfield, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council, says it’s been disappointing not to have more of a national movement around AI. But he says it’s “better late than never.”

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

CEDAR HILL (CBSDFW.COM) – It started with a wish: that YouTube was G-rated to protect the innocence of its youngest viewers.

“There’s a lot of great content out there, but a lot of that content has swear words in them, and a lot of parents don’t want their kids to be exposed to objectionable language,” says 16-year-old Roman Scott of Cedar Hill.

So the rising high school junior, who had already built a computer, decided to build an app – and “Nofanity” was born.

“I combined the words no and profanity in order to make NoFanity, so it’s kind of like a play on words there,” he says.

The desktop app launches the YouTube browser and filters out the curse words on videos using speech recognition algorithms.

“I had to create a process to where the app would scan the audio for swear words and then it would find the timings on each word in the audio and bleep it out from there,” he says.

Roman fought through setbacks and completed the app just this week.

“It was a lot of work, hundreds and hundreds of hours that he put in,” says his mother, Elizabeth Scott. “It was just a labor or perseverance and dedication, and I was just so proud of him to finally have accomplished it.”

“It’s a really rewarding experience, because when you’re creating something, you want to do something that helps people and not hurts people, so by me creating this app, I feel like I’d be able to make a difference in the lives of a lot of kids.” Roman says.

You can download Nofanity through the website, Nofanity.com. It costs $2.99 a month and is for computers only.

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The Unicode Consortium has 179 proposed draft candidates for the next generation of emoji.

Tuesday Emojipedia shared some details on new emoji candidates suggested for inclusion to Unicode 12 in 2019.

Their draft list for 2019 is a big win for diversity… and for those with disabilities.

The Emoji draft list for 2019 is a big win for diversity… and for those with disabilities. (photo courtesy: emojipedia.org)

New candidates include a service dog, deaf people, a person with mechanical limbs and mixed race couples.

The proposed additions include emoji couples holding hands – with a total of 55 skin tone and gender combinations.

The final list of new emojis will be decided at the unicode technical committee’s September meeting.

The new emoji generation is set for release in the first quarter of next year.

(The-CNN-Wire & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company contributed to this report. All rights reserved.)

AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Apple is set to build a $1 billion campus in North Austin and establish smaller new locations in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, California, the company said Thursday.

The tech giant based in Cupertino, California, said the new campus in Austin will start with 5,000 employees working in engineering, research and development, operations, finance, sales and customer support. It will be less than a mile from existing Apple facilities.

The other new locations will have more than 1,000 employees each.

Austin already is home to more than 6,000 Apple employees, representing the largest population of the company’s workers outside of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

Apple added 6,000 American jobs in 2018 and now employs 90,000 people in all 50 states.

“Apple has been a vital part of the Austin community for a quarter century, and we are thrilled that they are deepening their investment in our people and the city we love,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler in a statement.

The company also said it plans to expand in Pittsburgh, New York and Colorado over the next three years.

The Austin announcement comes nearly a year after Apple disclosed it would canvas the U.S. for another location.

Cities wooed Apple with various incentives, though Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company wasn’t trying to stage a competition like Amazon, which encouraged civic leaders to come up with enticing packages if they wanted their cities to become the home of its second headquarters.

Amazon announced last month that after a 14-month search it had selected Long Island City, Queens, and Arlington, Virginia , as the joint winners. Each site will get 25,000 jobs.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

SHENZHEN, China (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei, the No. 2 smartphone maker, is challenging a U.S. law that labels the company a security risk and would limit its access to the American market for telecom equipment.

Huawei Technologies Ltd.’s lawsuit, announced Thursday, asks a federal court to reject as unconstitutional a portion of this year’s U.S. military appropriations act that bars the government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment.

It comes as the biggest global maker of network equipment fights a U.S. campaign to persuade allies to shun Huawei . That effort threatens to block access to major markets as phone carriers prepare to invest billions of dollars in next-generation, 5G networks.

The complaint, filed in Plano, Texas, the headquarters of Huawei’s U.S. operations, cites the framers of the U.S. Constitution, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, in arguing that the law in question violates the constitutional separation of powers, denies due process and amounts to a “Bill of Attainder” that singles out a specific entity for adverse treatment.

It says the law causes the company “concrete and particularized injury, and imminent future injury” and subjects it to a “burden that is severe, permanent and inescapable” that amounts to a corporate “death penalty.”

Huawei, China’s first global tech brand, is at the center of U.S.-Chinese tensions over technology competition and cyber-spying. The company has spent years trying to put to rest accusations it facilitates Chinese spying or is controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

Increasingly, both sides appear to be resorting to courts to press their cases.

“We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort,” the company’s rotating chairman, Guo Ping, said at a news conference. Guo said the ban would limit competition, slowing the rollout of fifth-generation communications and raising consumer prices.

Huawei has pleaded not guilty to U.S. trade-theft charges after a federal court in Seattle unsealed a 10-count indictment in January against two of its units, Huawei Device Co. and Huawei Device USA. The charges include conspiracy to steal trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

The company’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, is fighting extradition to the U.S. after she was arrested in Vancouver, Canada on Dec. 1. U.S. prosecutors have filed charges accusing Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei’s founder, of lying to banks about dealings with Iran.

Huawei denies any wrongdoing.

At a routine briefing Thursday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman noted that the Chinese government has also objected to the law.

“We believe that it is perfectly proper and fully understandable for companies to defend their legitimate rights and interests through legal means,” Lu Kang said. He said he had no information about whether China would join Huawei in the lawsuit.

Huawei has about 40 percent of the global market for network gear. Its U.S. sales evaporated after a congressional panel in 2012 cited the company and a Chinese competitor, ZTE Corp ., as security risks and told phone carriers to avoid dealing with them.

U.S. authorities “have hacked our servers and stolen our emails” but have presented no evidence to support their security claims, Guo said. He complained Washington was “sparing no effort to smear” the company.

Huawei says the new law would shrink its potential U.S. market further by prohibiting the government from buying the Chinese vendor’s technology and from buying goods or services from or giving grants or loans to companies or other third parties that do. The United States accounts for 20 to 25 percent of the global market for computer and telecom technology.

Huawei says the U.S. law it is protesting improperly has Congress play the role of a court.

The ban is “based on numerous false, unproven and untested propositions,” said Song Liuping, the company’s chief legal officer, at the news conference. “Huawei has an excellent security record and program. No contrary evidence has been offered.”

The Chinese government says Washington fabricates or exaggerates security concerns to block competition.

Huawei, based in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, is a leading developer of 5G along with rivals Nokia Corp. of Finland and Sweden’s LM Ericsson. Industry analysts say excluding the Chinese vendor from markets for 5G equipment would reduce competition and might lead to higher prices.

Founded in 1987 by a former military engineer, Huawei overtook Ericsson in 2017 as the biggest global supplier of network gear. It says it supplies 45 of the world’s top 50 phone companies and has contracts with 30 carriers to test 5G wireless technology.

European governments are balking at U.S. pressure to ban Huawei. The company has announced contracts with customers including the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East for network technology.

China’s government arrested two Canadians, a former diplomat and a businessman, on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng, the company’s CFO.

On Monday, Beijing accused the two men of acting together to steal state secrets. That followed the Canadian government’s announcement Friday that the extradition proceeding for Meng would be allowed to continue.

Huawei executives say American security warnings have yet to affect sales outside the United States. The company’s 2018 revenue forecast is $100 billion and its founder, Ren Zhengfei, said last month this year’s target is $125 billion.

Some European officials and others cite a Chinese security law requiring companies to cooperate with intelligence agencies they say might oblige Huawei and other tech companies to install “backdoors” in equipment to allow eavesdropping.

Huawei denies altering its equipment to facilitate spying. It has set up testing centers in Britain, Canada and continental Europe to allow governments to examine its technology.

“Huawei has not and will never implant ‘backdoors,’ ” said Guo, the chairman.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

LUBBOCK, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Texas Tech basketball player Deshawn Corprew has been suspended while the school investigates a Title IX complaint against the junior forward.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 04: Deshawn Corprew #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders speaks to the media in the locker room prior to the 2019 NCAA Tournament Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 4, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

The school said coach Chris Beard suspended Corprew after learning of the allegations. Title IX complaints can involve allegations of sexual misconduct or gender discrimination, but the school declined to comment beyond its statement.

“Once Coach Beard was made aware of Title IX allegations against Deshawn Corprew, the men’s basketball student-athlete was immediately suspended from all team activities, pending a full investigation,” athletic department officials stated in a press release Monday.

Corprew averaged 5.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game as a sophomore in his first season with the Red Raiders, who lost to Virginia in overtime in the national championship game.

The 6-foot-5 Corprew, who attended a prep school in North Carolina, spent his freshman year at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, about 30 miles west of Lubbock.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

NORMAN, Oklahoma (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Jalen Hurts passed for 413 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 6 Oklahoma rolled past Texas Tech 55-16 on Saturday.

Hurts also ran for 70 yards and another score for the Sooners (4-0, 1-0 Big 12). His 483 yards of total offense ranks eighth in Oklahoma history. It was the first 400-yard passing game for the senior transfer from Alabama.

“He’s seeing the field really well,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “He’s understanding how we want to attack people. He was a little more confident today, a little bit more steady.”

CeeDee Lamb had career highs of 183 yards receiving and three touchdowns, Charleston Rambo had 122 yards receiving on just two catches and Trey Sermon ran for 76 yards and two scores for Oklahoma.

The Sooners, who entered the game leading the nation in total offense, gained 642 yards. They have totaled at least 600 yards in each game this season.

Jett Duffey passed for 120 yards and SaRodorick Thompson ran for 96 yards for Texas Tech (2-2, 0-1). Duffey got most of the action at quarterback in place of Alan Bowman, who sat out with a shoulder injury.

Hurts passed for 306 yards and two touchdowns and ran eight times for 60 yards and two more scores in the first half to help Oklahoma take a 34-10 lead.

It was a tough loss for first-year Texas Tech coach Matt Wells. He tried to reassure his team after the game.

“The message is that it’s a process,” he said. “So many times, we get short-sighted by results. I understand I get paid to deliver results, but there’s not a quick fix.”

Tech now has a 2-2 record and will play against Oklahoma State next Saturday at 11 a.m.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Texas Tech quarterback Jett Duffey continues to give West Virginia fits.

The junior moved the offense at will in the first half and the Red Raiders used a fast start to beat West Virginia 38-17 on Saturday, handing the Mountaineers their fifth straight loss.

Duffey threw for one touchdown to boost his total to 10 scores with two interceptions in his last five games after taking over in mid-September for the injured Alan Bowman.

“We came out with a great focus. We have to continue it,” Jett said. “I always believe in myself, I always believe that if I work hard and do what I need to do, then I will achieve what I want to achieve, no matter what’s in my way.”

Ta’Zhawn Henry and SaRodorick Thompson each had two first-half short scoring runs for Texas Tech, which broke a three-game losing streak and now has a bowl bid to fight for with three games left.

“A lot of people are counting us out,” said Texas Tech coach Matt Wells. “(We have) a little underdog mentality right now.”

West Virginia (3-6, 1-5) fell into a last-place tie with idle Kansas.

Texas Tech scored touchdowns on its first five drives and led 35-10 at halftime. Duffey accounted for 281 of Texas Tech’s 337 first-half yards. He took advantage of a decimated secondary with four first-half passes of 20 yards or longer, including an 81-yard scoring toss to a wide-open Dalton Rigdon.

“He’s really done a nice job of protecting the ball in the pocket better,” Wells said.

Duffey finished 24 of 34 for 354 yards.

“A frustrating day all the way around,” said West Virginia coach Neal Brown. “We got off to an extremely poor start defensively. We didn’t get pressure on the quarterback all day. He made a bunch of plays on us. He’s active. He got the ball out of his hand fast.”

A year ago, Duffey ran for 86 yards in a 42-34 loss to the Mountaineers in a game that West Virginia led by as many as 25 points.

On Saturday, the Red Raiders managed just a field goal after halftime and didn’t allow West Virginia to mount a comeback. The Mountaineers outgained Texas Tech 549-481 but squandered several scoring chances.

West Virginia turned the ball over on downs four times after incompletions deep in Texas Tech territory.

West Virginia’s Austin Kendall was intercepted twice, one of them into triple coverage that Texas Tech’s DeMarcus Fields caught in the end zone in the third quarter. Kendall also fumbled the ball away on fourth down as he was hit attempting a first-quarter pass.

Kendall finished 26 of 43 for 355 yards before being replaced late in the third quarter by Bowling Green transfer Jarret Doege, who made his season debut. Kendall and Doege each threw a touchdown pass.

West Virginia wide receiver Sam James caught 14 passes for 223 yards.

West Virginia’s losing streak is its worst since losing five straight in 2012.

The Raiders are now 4-5 and will play against TCU next Saturday at noon.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — President Donald Trump came to Texas Wednesday and celebrated tech behemoth Apple keeping its Mac Pro computer manufacturing plant in Austin.

Trump’s visit follows Apple’s announcement in September that it would continue manufacturing the latest generation of the Mac Pro in Austin — a move that came once the Trump administration agreed to waive tariffs on certain computer parts made in China.

“When you build it in the United States, you don’t have to worry about tariffs,” Trump said, with Apple CEO Tim Cook standing by his side.

U.S. tariffs are set to take effect Dec. 15 on an additional $160 billion in Chinese products — a move that would extend sanctions to a wide range of consumer goods, including clothes, toys and iPhones.

Cook has argued to Trump that competitor Samsung would not be subject to the same tariffs, and Trump said Wednesday he was “looking at” the possibility of exempting Apple from the tariffs.

“The problem we have is, is you have Samsung,” Trump said. “It’s a great company, but it’s a competitor of Apple, and it’s not fair. … We have to treat Apple on a somewhat similar basis as we treat Samsung.”

President Donald Trump (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook tour the Flextronics computer manufacturing facility where Apple’s Mac Pros are assembled in Austin, Texas, on November 20, 2019. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Even in the middle of the country, Trump couldn’t completely get away from ongoing impeachment inquiry hearings. He falsely declared that European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony in Washington earlier in the day exonerated him.

“Let me tell you: It’s a hoax, it’s a disgrace, it’s an embarrassment to our country,” Trump said of the impeachment inquiry.

Sondland told investigators that Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani explicitly sought a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine, leveraging an Oval Office visit for political investigations of Democrats. His testimony directly disputed Trump’s repeated declarations that there had been “no quid pro quo.”

The quick visit to Texas gave Trump a chance to highlight job growth in a state crucial for Republicans in 2020, both in terms of campaign contributions and votes.

As he left Washington, Trump called the Austin plant a “fantastic facility” and said he’d been pushing Cook since before he was elected to locate facilities in the U.S.

Cook, for his part, had pitched Trump on the problem that higher tariffs would pose for Apple, particularly its iPhones. Trump said following an August meeting that “it’s tough for Apple to pay tariffs if they’re competing with a very good company that’s not.”

Cook led Trump, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and senior adviser Ivanka Trump, on a tour of the plant.

The president put Cook on the spot as they stood before reporters and asked him to gauge the health of the U.S. economy.

Cook responded that he believed the U.S. economy was the “strongest in the world.”

The president and tech leader have had frank discussions during Trump’s nearly three years in office despite their differences on policies such as immigration and climate change.

Trump told reporters last summer: “The reason I speak to Tim Cook: He’s the one that calls me. The other ones don’t call. They go out and hire — for millions of dollars — consultants that have less power than you do.”

Trump heard firsthand from employees about how products are assembled at the plant. The White House said that maintaining production in Austin was made possible through the president’s “pro-growth and pro-business economic policies.”

Still, not all manufacturers are thriving under the president’s tariff policies. Twelve of 18 manufacturing industries contracted in October, led by primary metals, clothing and textile mills.

The tariff war between China and the U.S. has prompted some manufacturers to delay purchases and investment. The two countries have been working on a “Phase 1” deal that was announced Oct. 12 but still isn’t final.

Apple is deeply rooted in Austin, where it has built its largest campus outside its Cupertino, California, headquarters. The company says about 6,000 of its employees work in Austin, and it has plans to create an additional 5,000 jobs as part of a $1 billion expansion announced last year. The Mac Pro assembly plant is run by Flex Ltd.

“What I wanted Apple to do from Day One, from before I got elected, I said, ‘Someday, we’re going to see Apple building plants in our country and not in China,’” Trump said.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Sam Ehlinger passed for two touchdowns and ran for another to lead Texas to a 49-24 win over Texas Tech on Friday, guaranteeing the Longhorns will at least finish a disappointing season with a winning record.

Texas fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter before Ehlinger and the Longhorns came roaring back. Ehlinger scored his first rushing touchdown in five games, and later connected on scoring strikes of 75 yards to Devin Duvernay and 26 yards to Jake Smith.

Ehlinger finished with 348 yards passing and ran for 83 yards on 10 carries. Roschon Johnson added 105 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

Texas started the season ranked in the Top 10 after last season’s Sugar Bowl victory, but stumbled badly over the second half of coach Tom Herman’s third season. A loss Friday would have meant Texas had to win its bowl game to have a winning season.

Texas avoided that kind of pressure thanks to Ehlinger and the Longhorns offense playing their best football since early October.

Tech (4-8, 2-7) jumped out early with two quick touchdown drives as quarterback Jett Duffey was carving up the Longhorns defense. But the Red Raiders also had three drives end on downs deep in Texas territory as Texas Tech’s first-year coach Matt Wells chased an upset win to end the season.

Duffey passed for 398 yards.

Texas ended their football season with a 7-5 record.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A new app is bringing potentially life-saving technology to several North Texas cities.

It’s called PulsePoint, and the goal is to get CPR trained bystanders to help someone having a cardiac emergency.

The cities of Carrollton, Addison and Coppell are the latest to roll the technology out in partnership with the North Texas Emergency Communications Center.

It works by sending out alerts to nearby users when dispatchers get a cardiac emergency call.

The app also provides directions to the person needing assistance as well information about the closest automated external defibrillators.

Those minutes can make a huge difference. According to the American Heart Association bystander CPR, when provided immediately, can double or even triple a person’s chance for survival.

“That intervention is crucial,” said Chief Gregg Salmi with the Carrollton Fire Department. “As long as you keep that blood flowing, that gives us the best chance possible to revive that patient.”

Chief Salmi is encouraging the entire community to get involved.

He said they can teach people how to do CPR chest compressions in just 30 minutes at their fire stations.

Other local cities have also implemented PulsePoint including Grapevine and Plano.

The app is free to download.

It will tell you if the service is available in your area.

IRVING (CBSDFW.COM) – A new 700-square foot 7-Eleven store has opened in Texas, but this one doesn’t have a human cashier.

The pilot store, at 7-Eleven headquarters in Irving, uses a mixture of algorithms and predictive technology to separate individual customers and their purchases from others in the store.

The concept location offers some of the most popular products sold at traditional 7-Eleven stores, including drinks, snacks, groceries, and non-food items.

7-Eleven is testing a cashierless store at its corporate headquarters, in Irving, Texas. (credit: 7-Eleven, Inc.)

“Ultimately, our goal is to exceed consumers’ expectations for faster, easier transactions and a seamless shopping experience,” said Mani Suri, 7-Eleven senior vice president and chief information officer. “Introducing new store technology to 7-Eleven employees first has proven to be a very productive way to test and learn before launching to a wider audience.”

But there are requirements to actually shop in the cashierless store. To test the store, employees must download an app, sign up, and check in at the store before shopping. The receipt for the purchase automatically appears in the app when the customer exits.

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Plano-based Alkami is a tech company focusing on design and implementing software systems for digital banking.

The company says its technology has proven to be crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing guidelines, and now they are looking to expand.

Right now they have 15 jobs open and are looking to open more in the near future.

Adrianne Court is the Chief Human Resource Officer for Alkami further explained her company’s operations saying, “What does digital banking mean? It means most of us do the majority of our banking online or via mobile app. So we develop that digital banking experience for our clients.”

Regarding the jobs open right now, she said, “The ones that we are particularly looking for are software engineers, and developers with dot net environment or project managers with software implantation skills and environments”, about the positions they are looking to fill.

She says the company’s compensation package and salary is competitive and the jobs are permanent not temporary.

If you are interested in applying for a job with Alkami, click here.

To see all the companies looking to fill positions, click here.

Latest Coronavirus News | Coronavirus Resources

SALT LAKE CITY (CBS Local) — Researchers in Utah say they are developing a new way to detect COVID-19 with your smartphone.

What started as a device to help detect a Zika virus could become be programmed to identify COVID-19 instead, say researchers in Utah.

“Our prototype is going to be on the order of the size of a quarter, and it would be communicating with a cellphone using the Bluetooth link,” Massood Tabib-Azar, a University of Utah professor and the lead engineer on the project, told KSTU.

The device would be able to test for COVID-19 if someone were to breathe, cough, sneeze or blow on a sensor. The results would then be displayed on a cell phone within 60 seconds.

It could also test for the virus on surfaces by using a swab and placing it onto the sensor.

The sensor will be reusable because it would destroy the previous sample with a small electrical current.

Tabib-Azar says he wants to make it possible to send the results to health agencies, too.

“You’d push the button and it can send to a central location, Centers for Disease Control or any other authority that you’d select in your options, and then in real time can update the map,” he said.

Tabib-Azar says he hopes to have a working prototype in two months. Clinical trials would take another month.

“In principle, we can put these devices in everybody’s hand, and once we produce them in large scale inexpensively, then it’s like any other thing that people want to have with them,” he said.

NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – IBM says it is getting out of the facial recognition business over concern about how it can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling.

A letter to U.S. lawmakers from new IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the tech giant “has sunset its general purpose facial recognition and analysis software products.”

Krishna was addressing Democrats who have been working on police reform legislation in Congress in response to the death of George Floyd and other African Americans in law enforcement interactions that have sparked a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice. The sweeping reform package could include restrictions on police use of facial recognition.

IBM had previously tested its facial recognition software with the New York Police Department but it’s not clear if it has existing contracts with other governments.

Police use of facial recognition has come under heightened scrutiny after researchers found racial and gender disparities in systems built by companies including IBM, Microsoft and Amazon. That led IBM and Microsoft to improve their accuracy but Krishna said now is the time to debate whether facial recognition technology should be used at all by domestic law enforcement agencies.

Krishna’s letter called for police reforms and said “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling” and human rights violations.

It comes as civil liberties advocates have raised broader concerns in recent weeks about the use of surveillance technology to monitor protesters or enforce rules set to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Even before the protests, U.S. senators this year had been scrutinizing New York facial recognition startup Clearview AI over privacy concerns following investigative reports about its practice of harvesting billions of photos from social media and other internet services to identify people.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Job seekers are relying more on app-based platforms that match them with their next employer.

GoGig is an app-based company that does the same, but according to their founder Chris Hodges, they do it while eliminating unconscious biases that sometime exist in the hiring process.

“The only way to remove unconscious bias based on a protected Equal Employment Opportunity class is through true anonymity,” said Hodges. “That’s why we are taking this approach.”

Hodges said the app uses algorithms to provide full anonymity to both employers and the job applicants during the hiring process, and the identities aren’t revealed until the very end.

“We have a huge presence in sales and marketing, finance and accounting, tech, human resources customer service, executive administration and health care,” said Hodges.

He says they have more than one-million jobs available throughout their platform.

To find out more about GoGig, click here.

WASHINGTON (CBSDFW/AP) – The Justice Department is expected to file a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Google has abused its online dominance in online search to stifle competition and harm consumers, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The Justice Department sought support for its suit from states across the country that share concerns about Google’s conduct. A bipartisan coalition of 50 U.S. states and territories, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced a year ago they were investigating Google’s business practices, citing “potential monopolistic behavior.”

“Google’s anticompetitive business strategies have disrupted the competitive process, reduced consumer choice, and stifled innovation,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The violations set forth in the complaint show that Google no longer resembles the innovative startup it was 20 years ago. Our action today is intended to restore competition and allow rivals and next generation search engines to challenge Google so that the marketplace, not a monopolist, will decide how search services and search ads are offered.”

The litigation marks the government’s most significant act to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. The suit could function as an opening salvo ahead of other major government antitrust actions, given ongoing investigations of major tech companies including Apple, Amazon and Facebook at both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

Lawmakers and consumer advocates have long accused Google, whose corporate parent Alphabet Inc. has a market value just over $1 trillion, of abusing its dominance in online search and advertising to stifle competition and boost its profits. Critics contend that multibillion-dollar fines and mandated changes in Google’s practices imposed by European regulators in recent years weren’t severe enough and that structural changes are needed for Google to change its conduct.

The case is expected to be filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., and will allege Google has been abusing its dominance in online search to stifle competition and harm consumers, the person familiar with the matter told the AP. It will also allege that Google uses billions of dollars collected from advertisers to pay phone manufacturers to ensure Google is the default search engine on browsers, the person said. The person could not discuss the matter publicly before a formal announcement expected later Tuesday morning and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

The Trump administration has long had Google in its sights. A top economic adviser to President Donald Trump said two years ago that the White House was considering whether Google searches should be subject to government regulation. Trump has often criticized Google, recycling unfounded claims by conservatives that the search giant is biased against conservatives and suppresses their viewpoints, interferes with U.S. elections and prefers working with the Chinese military over the Pentagon.

In August of 2019, the president tweeted: “Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought!”

Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought! @JudicialWatch

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2019

Google controls about 90% of global web searches. The company has been bracing for the government’s action and is expected to fiercely oppose any attempt to force it to spin off its services into separate businesses.

The company, based in Mountain View, California, has long denied any claims of unfair competition. Google argues that although its businesses are large, they are useful and beneficial to consumers. It maintains that its services face ample competition and have unleashed innovations that help people manage their lives.

Most of Google’s services are offered for free in exchange for personal information that helps it sell its ads. Google insists that it holds no special power forcing people to use its free services or preventing them from going elsewhere.

A recent report from a House Judiciary subcommittee, following a year-long investigation into Big Tech’s market dominance, concluded that Google has monopoly power in the market for search. It said the company established its position in several markets through acquisition, snapping up successful technologies that other businesses had developed – buying an estimated 260 companies in 20 years.

The argument for reining in Google has gathered force as the company stretched far beyond its 1998 roots as a search engine governed by the motto “Don’t Be Evil.” It’s since grown into a diversified goliath with online tentacles that scoop up personal data from billions of people via services ranging from search, video and maps to smartphone software. That data helps feed the advertising machine that has turned Google into a behemoth.

The company owns the leading web browser in Chrome, the world’s largest smartphone operating system in Android, the top video site in YouTube and the most popular digital mapping system. Some critics have singled out YouTube and Android as among Google businesses that should be considered for divestiture.

With only two weeks to Election Day, the Trump Justice Department is taking bold legal action against Google on an issue of rare bipartisan agreement. Republicans and Democrats have accelerated their criticism of Big Tech in recent months, although sometimes for different reasons. It’s unclear what the status of the government’s suit against Google would be if a Joe Biden administration were to take over next year.

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Dialexa is a Dallas-based tech company specializing in digital solutions and product development.

In their own words they, “…like to take back of the napkin IT concepts for brands and products and turn them into user realities”

Company executives say if you have the skills and creativity they are looking for they are now hiring.

Sara Reid the Principal Research and Design for the company gave a little more insight into what they do and added, “That’s apps creation both mobile apps as well as digital apps like digital experiences and platforms. We even have a hardware lab so we’ve even done Kiosk design developments.”

Since the pandemic began the company has hired 50 people and they are continuing to expand.

They need to hire more people now.

Reid said, “We need engineers of all different flavors right? Front and back end. We need designers. We need quality assurance people. We need people that don’t just have the tech skills but the people skills.”

The jobs are full time and permanent and they come along with competitive pay and benefits according to Reid.

She says the company is looking for people who want to grow with them.

She added, “You’ll learn a lot of new skill sets, and we really encourage people’s growth and what they are interested in and where their strengths lie. Designers go to marketing from marketing they go to design. Engineers go to data science, Quality assurance people go to engineering.”

Click here if you’re interested in applying with Dialexa.