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Apple's invitation has arrived.

The world's most valuable tech company is about to hold a big product announcement event.

Apple's first major event of the year doesn't grab attention the same way its September iPhone events do, but it's an opportunity for the company to highlight everything else it offers.

Apple's expected to hold a major event in the summer to announce free software upgrades coming in the fall, alongside the rumored next iPhone.

We finally have a date for Apple's next event: Tuesday, March 8 at 10 a.m. PT. Rumors suggest that Apple could reveal a third iPhone SEat the presentation, along with a revamped iPadand at least one new Mac.

The company will show off the devices in an all-virtual event via a livestream on Apple's website. The company said it will be "broadcasting from Apple Park," its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The tech giant has hosted online-only events since the start of the pandemic two years ago. Apple is currently assessing when employees will return to the office, as the omicron variant wanes.

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Apple's invitation to the media, sent in an email, shows a rainbow Apple logo that gives the impression of movement across a black background. Its tagline reads: "Peek performance." Apple didn't say which products it plans to announce -- it almost never does -- but did include an augmented reality effect in its marketing page for the event that could hint at an aspect of the event.

The event marks another milestone for Apple as it aims to stay on track with its product launch schedule, which typically includes events in the spring, summer and fall. In June 2020, as the pandemic took hold, Apple transformed its Worldwide Developers Conference into a virtual event, with slickly edited videosreplacing live presentations. So far, the formula appears to be working. Apple has continued torake in record sales and profits.

The company has said that customers have especially responded to 5G wireless internet upgrades in its iPhones over the past two years. And in his review of the iPhone 13 last year, CNET's Patrick Holland said that Apple had delivered a "delightful upgrade," praising the cameras and battery life in particular.

See also:Apple's Rumored March Event: When Is It and What to Expect

Apple has also said that demand for new chips it designed to act as the microprocessing brains for its iPads and Mac computers has consistently outstripped supply, with more than $12 billion in estimated pent-up demand in the past year. "Customer satisfaction is off the charts," Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a conference call with financial analysts in January. He said the technology is helping bring in new customers, in addition to upgraders.

At the upcoming event, Apple is also expected to discuss its upcoming iOS 15.4 software, a free upgrade for its most recent iPhones and iPads. The company has already announced that it's building in new Face ID unlock features to work with medical masks, as well as anti-stalking alerts related to its AirTag smart trackers.

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Apple Event: Everything We Know About the March 8 'Peek Performance' Event - CNET

TechCrunch is thrilled to announce a special event centered around the exploding scene in Austin, Texas on April 6 at 11:30 am PT / 2:30 pm ET. The area deserves a spotlight on the upcoming startups and recent milestones. Its the city of unicorns and tech giants. Drawn to the laid-back lifestyle and lower cost of living relatively speaking nearly 185 people are moving to the Texas capital on a daily basis, and many of those people work in the tech industry.

Austin wasnt an overnight success. For years it was known primarily for its software scene. But today, new growing sectors include crypto, real estate tech, CPG and insurance technology. As in other maturing markets, companies that have seen success in the past are now spawning a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Look at the companies that surpassed a $1 billion valuation in 2021: The Zebra, Firefly Aerospace, Abrigo, ZenBusiness and Iodine Software. In 2020 Tesla settled into the so-called Silicon Hills district, home to among many, including Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and SpaceX.

Funding globally surged over the past year, and Austin was no exception. The year 2021 marked the year of the biggest funding deals ever for Austin startups, according to Silicon Hills News, with $4.9 billion raised more than double the $2.3 billion raised in 2020. Rounds are getting larger too, signaling a further maturing of the market: All of the top 10 deals for Austin in 2021 amounted to $100 million or more.

Not only are companies moving here, investors are too. A number of venture capitalists now call Austin home after relocating from the coasts. They includeJim Breyer of Breyer CapitalandPalantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, who said last year he wasmoving his venture capital firm, 8VC, from Silicon Valley to the city, and Geoff Lewis, founder and managing partner of Bedrock Capital.

Theres more. TechCrunch Live is hosting a special episode with local leaders and investors who can best speak to the area. We want to hear what it took to build the mature ecosystem, and what challenges are persisting.

We need your help. Apply to pitch your Austin-area startup during the TechCrunch Live Pitch Off. Just like every TechCrunch Live episode, startups will pitch their companies to our guests. This time around theres a prize. The winner gets a free booth at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 to exhibit their company.

Register for City Spotlight: Austin!

Check back for updates. This is going to be great.

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Attend TechCrunch Lives special event in Austin, Texas! (Its free) - TechCrunch

Taxpayers should be prepared for increased delays this filing season as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) continues to work through a backlog of returns from previous years.

More than eight million individual returns, including two million amended returns from multiple tax years awaited processing as of mid-February.

Every return represents a family or individual waiting for their return, and its likely that in some cases, it has nothing to do with how they filed their taxes, rather it stems from delays and staffing struggles inside the IRS itself.

NBC 5 Responds has heard from many consumers, writing in to share their tax return delay woes. They are certainly not alone.

The recent National Taxpayer Advocates annual report to Congress states customer service representatives at the IRS were only able to answer 11% of calls from the public received in 2021.

Racquel Johnson from the Dallas-Fort Worth area understands that more than most.

You hold [on the phone] for two hours and then it disconnects you. You never get to talk to anybody, and that's constant, all day, Racquel told NBC 5 Responds. Raquel is still waiting for her 2019 amended return that she filed in January 2020 to be processed.

Statistics from the National Taxpayer Advocates report show in 2021, the number of calls from the public to the IRS increased by more than 180% compared to the previous year.

For people lucky enough to get through to a representative, there hasnt been much good news on the other end.

I call every month and they tell me it takes 12 weeks to be reviewed, it has now been eight months, Marianne Carlson of Arlington Heights told NBC 5 Responds. Carlson said her amended refund is in the thousands.

Since 2010, the IRS workforce shrunk by 17% while the number of individual taxpayers has increased by 19%, according to the National Taxpayer Advocates report.

While Congress provided one-time additional funding to implement pandemic-relief programs for Americans, the IRS has had to cope with pandemic problems itself. Processing center staffing was limited with social distancing, while some centers closed altogether.

Thats why the IRS is urging everyone to consider some specific points when filing this year, in hopes to avoid a delayed refund.

To avoid delays, an IRS spokesperson recommends the following:

Its important to not file until all forms are received from employers, applicable banking accounts, and any other income you must report. That includes two new letters about the most recent stimulus checks and advance child tax credit.

IRS letter 6475, the Economic Impact Payment letter, can help people claim the 2021 COVID-19 recovery rebate credit. The letter helps taxpayers determine if they are entitled to claim the stimulus payment, deposited to the first recipients in March 2021, when filing their return this tax season.

IRS letter 6419, the Advance Child Tax Credit payments letter, can help people get the remainder of their 2021 child tax credit. The letter gives the total amount credited in 2021 and the number of qualifying children used to calculate the advance payments.

Eligible families who didnt receive any advance child tax credit payments can claim the full amount on their 2021 federal tax return, including families who don't normally need to file a tax return.

Before you pay for tax preparation or an online software, see if you qualify for free filing resources.

The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs work with:

You can use the IRS lookup tool to find a local site to help. Enter your ZIP code and select how far youre willing to travel from the drop-down menu.

The City of Chicago also has a free filing service through Ladder Up for most families earning up to $58,000 annually and individuals making $32,000 or less. Appointments can be made online or by calling (312) 588-6900.

If you dont qualify for free tax preparation, you may be eligible to use a free software program to file your own tax return. Taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $73,000 or less, can file taxes for free through the IRS Free File Program. It is a public-private partnership between the IRS and tax filing software companies. Some companies may charge an additional fee to file an Illinois return.

If youre comfortable navigating basic questions about your income taxes and dont qualify for any of these programs, you may still be able to file your return for free through the United Ways myfreetaxes.com.

The due date to file the 2021 federal income tax return is April 18.

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Waiting For The Refund: How To Prevent Tax Return Delays This Year - NBC Chicago

Already in its short four months of life, Tysons, Virginia-based regulatory compliance tech company RegScale has already racked up a few noteworthy achievements.

In January, Technical.ly awarded it an honorable mention spot on our annual RealLIST Startups roundup. That came after the company, which spun out of digital services firm C2 Labs in late 2021, raised $1.5 million from the Virginia Innovation Partnerships Corporation and New Dominion Angelsto help build out its technology late last year.

Compliance tech which helps companies manage their regulatory requirements and needs is something that CEO Anil Karmel said is new to the security world. Up until now, he told Technical.ly, companies would often maintain their compliance needs in Excel sheets. RegScale, meanwhile, helps keep paperwork up to date in an API-centric SaaS platform.

Thats just the way its been done its the way it continues to be done, Karmel told Technical.ly. So our thesis was leveraged in the regulatory technology space, which is what we say is the reg tech space: how can we service this bridge between security and compliance so its not either-or, its and?'

With RegScale, Karmel said, he hopes to bring the principles of DevOps to compliance in an idea he calls regulatory operations or RegOps. The platform, which is built with Angular, .NET and SQL, is designed to deploy in a number of existing systems. The RegScale platform will make system audits, issue plans of action, assess risks and note upcoming deadlines and tasks in compliance, among other offerings. Theres both a free model and a paid edition of the software, Karmel said, because he believes compliance should be affordable.

Anil Karmel. (Photo via LinkedIn)

On the whole, he hopes that RegScale can help companies move away from the traditional methods of compliance that have been done for decades.

Were calling it the RegOps movement, Karmel said. Every movement begins with a single step and we have technology, but its also a cultural change. So its helping organizations understand, and people understand, theres a new way to do compliance.

RegScale was funded out of C2 Labs, and the spinout closed an early round of capital after incubating its technology internally, Karmel said. In November, it raised the aforementioned $1.5 million for its research and development arm, including staffing that division. The company is currently hiring for operations staff in Virginia and will continue building out RegScale here. The founder is also hoping to build a large partner ecosystem where companies can further integrate RegScale into their systems.

But in the nearer future, the company is still looking to grow. Next, Karmel and RegScale intend to open a Series A, which will lead to even more hiring. (See open role here.)

Then and now, Karmel said hell keep an eye out for folks looking to make a change in compliance and regulation tech:If youre looking to reimagine an industry with a new innovative technology to reimagine compliance, both from a technology standpoint as well as from an implementation standpoint, those are folks wed love to talk to.

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This Tysons startup is upending the regulatory compliance space with software - Technical.ly

It may seem like a highly unlikely pairing, but acquiring Bandcamp does align with Epic's broadening ambitions for the metaverse as well as CEO Tim Sweeney's intent to create a version of the internet that more closely aligns with the company's vision for Fortnite.

Epic has acquired a number of companies over the past few years, thanks to the success of Fortnite, that hint at its focus on building a small empire at the intersection of entertainment, technology and social media, including social video app Houseparty and Guitar Hero and Rock Band developer Harmonix.

Sweeney, often in public statements in both the antitrust trial against Apple and on Twitter, has voiced his concern about Big Tech's dominance and his fear that such control will extend to the metaverse, which has become a kind of stand-in for the next-generation version of the internet that combines social media, gaming and entertainment with technologies like virtual and augmented reality.

With Bandcamp, Epic seems to have found a like-minded platform. It's also one with a sterling reputation among musicians for treating creators fairly in a way that could benefit Fortnite and Epic's plans for the metaverse, given how pricey traditional media licensing deals can be.

We couldnt be more excited to welcome the Bandcamp team to Epic Games, Epic Game Store chief Steve Allison said in a statement. Bandcamp has built an incredible community and business where up and coming artists can succeed thanks to the direct support of their fans, with one of the best revenue models and terms in music. This aligns closely with Epics approach to supporting creators across all media and enabling them to connect directly with their fans.

"In Epic, weve found a partner who believes as deeply as we do that the future of music, and art itself, depends on the creation of equitable and inclusive communities like the one our fans and artists have helped to build," said Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond in a statement. "Were excited to work alongside the Epic team to accelerate the realization of our mission and pursue our shared goal of empowering more creators in a fair and open way.

The acquisition naturally raises some questions about what this might mean for the future of Bandcamp. We don't yet have clarity on whether Epic will make any changes to Bandcamp's revenue model (including Bandcamp Fridays) or what happens to Bandcamp's editorial operation.

In a separate message on the company's website and Twitter account, Diamond said Bandcamp will remain a standalone marketplace, with Diamond at the helm, and that there will be no immediate changes to Bandcamp's business model. Diamond says Epic will primarily be helping Bandcamp for now with "basics like our album pages, mobile apps, merch tools, payment system, and search and discovery features, to newer initiatives like our vinyl pressing and live streaming services."

"The products and services you depend on arent going anywhere, well continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model (where artists net an average of 82% of every sale), youll still have the same control over how you offer your music, Bandcamp Fridays will continue as planned, and the Daily will keep highlighting the diverse, amazing music on the site," Diamond wrote. "We share a vision of building the most open, artist-friendly ecosystem in the world, and together well be able to create even more opportunities for artists to be compensated fairly for their work."

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Amazon is expanding its 'free college' benefit and adding ESL classes - Protocol