Massive data storage at the RKI In the far-reaching changes to the Infection Protection Act, which were implemented by the grand coalition Among other things, a new central collection point for digital personal data has been set up at the Robert Koch Institute. In addition to reporting data on SARS-CoV-2 infections, the RKI will therefore also receive patient data on all vaccinations against the coronavirus and on the travel movements of German and foreign citizens. The Federal Data Protection Commissioner Ulrich Kelber criticizes the haste with which the law was presented and passed. That made it hardly possible to check whether it is harmless under data protection law. A whole series of suggestions by Kelber to restrict the data collection or to specify the use of the data and its recipients, for example, seem to have not been taken into account.

BMW builds its main plant at BMW stops the production of gasoline and diesel engines at the main plant in Munich and instead sets up a vehicle assembly facility for electric cars. It should 2026 go into operation and 400 cost millions of euros. The affected 1000 employees in engine construction would be offered other jobs at BMW in Munich or other Bavarian locations. By the end of 2022 each of the German plants should produce at least one battery-electric vehicle, BMW announced. The internal combustion engines with four, six, eight and twelve cylinders that were previously built in Munich are to be built in the future in the engine works in Steyr in Austria and Hams Hall in England.

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Google Pay gets redesigned and offers complete bank accounts Google is cooperating with some US banks to offer mobile-first bank accounts, that is a form from fully digital accounts. The Google Pay app is also being restructured and given additional functions. Initially, the change will be available in the United States, but other countries will follow soon. Google has not yet commented on a start in Germany.

Amazon now speaks English and German in parallel Amazon’s Alexa can now be used simultaneously in German and English without restrictions. The voice assistant recognizes the spoken language and responds to requests in the same language. For the first time, German and English can be used completely in parallel. In order for parallel voice usage to work, it must first be activated. The easiest way to do this is by voice command: “Alexa, speak English!” switches the German Alexa to the bilingual language mode.

(igr)