Nobody ever said the smartphone business was going to be an easy one.

Happening in the world: South Korean Electronics company LG becomes the first major smartphone company to shut shop. In shutting down its 12-year old loss-making mobile division, LG will be leaving behind a 10% share in North America’s smartphone market ready to be consumed by the rivaling tech giants that are Apple and Samsung. While, in South Korea, employees are expected to be moved to other divisions within LG—employment decisions in other countries will be made at a local level. (Reuters)

Happening in the US: Yesterday evening, the US State Department denied that it would participate in a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Earlier on Tuesday, Department spokesperson Ned Price said there was a possibility that the US and its allies would boycott the event as a way of expressing a tougher policy stance against China, in light of its human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Later, on the same day, the Department said it would not be initiating such a boycott. This statement comes, in spite of general bipartisan support for a tougher stance against China, and after two Chinese officials were sanctioned last month for their role in these human rights abuses. (CNBC)

Happening in NYC: Yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would begin rolling out a mobile vaccine bus this week. The mobile clinic would be able to give out between 150 and 200 Johnson and Johnson vaccines every day, and its first stop will be at Brooklyn’s Sunset Park today. This model is designed to help the vaccines reach the city’s most vulnerable populations, with the first targeted group being restaurant and delivery workers. (Gothamist)

Happening in the Columbia community: Today evening at 7:30 pm, the University’s School of the Arts is organizing another event in its series of ‘Nonfiction Dialogues’. This one is with Terese Marie Mailhot, whose memoir Heart Berries—about her coming of age— made her a New York Times-bestselling author. You can learn more about the event and register here.

The Smartest Phone via Bwog Archives