dth: Difference between revisions

DTH 2023 : DTH 4/3/2023

These are the Daily Tech Headlines for Monday April 3, 2023. I'm Sarah Lane.

Twitter previously announced that it would start removing the blue check-marks of legacy verified users starting April 1, with only Twitter Blue subscribers who pay either $8 or $11 per month able to have the badge. But that didn't happen. Sunday, Twitter updated the language on blue check marks to read “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue OR is a legacy verified account" but not making the distinction clear.  

 

Also on Sunday, the gold verification badge for the New York Times on Twitter was removed. In a followup tweet about the removal Musk said, “NY Times is being incredible hypocritical here, as they are super aggressive about forcing everyone to pay their subscription.” https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/twitter-updates-verified-user-descriptions-paid-blue-check-1235571165/

A new report from Korean publisher the Elec claims Apple halted production of its M2 series chips at the start of 2023, after global demand fell for PCs. The Elec writes "Taiwan's TSMC didn't send 5 nano-process M2 chip wafer workpieces to the outsourced semiconductor package test (OSAT) in January and February, according to the OSAT industry on the 3rd. It is believed that it was because Apple requested to stop production as demand for MacBooks dwindled." TSMC typically finalizes its fabrication process by sending the wafer-processed products to Amkor Technology's Korean factory for packaging work. After Februrary production appears to have resumed but The Elec's sources say only at half the level compared to the previous year. https://www.macrumors.com/2023/04/03/apple-stopped-m2-chip-production-1q-2023/

Friday, the startup Astrolab told the New York Times that it had recently signed an agreement with SpaceX to reserve a spot on an uncrewed Starship cargo mission set to launch as early as mid-2026. Astrolab is building The Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover designed to carry equipment, supplies and even people around on the moon. Astrolab says FLEX will be the largest rover to travel the lunar surface, about the size of a Jeep Wrangler that can carry up to two astronauts, and has a robotic arm to move cargo and can travel up to 15 miles per hour. https://www.engadget.com/spacexs-starship-will-carry-an-suv-sized-rover-to-the-moon-in-2026-213926510.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANww9zCqlDbNCV8mMZwWGGh7sMx8D0XCJJ0YA70U9D0n8fhVnEsR2vPyZmV5dXvGOdV5IO6GwigtevivJq1OvvkKnaX4KjaRv6RJHhfhy-YQ6PD6KvZIfOoYSRcRv8PUQ5-JP5g53Zd8Q_JsMFFy7RlkrJMPigWkleGe3WPsouvV

On Sunday, Paris residents voted on a referendum organized by Mayor Anne Hidalgoto to ban rental e-scooters from the city's streets, with 89% in favor of the ban. The e-scooter companies that operate in Paris - Dott, Lime and Tier - said in a joint statement that the low voter turnout affected the results and that restrictive rules, limited polling locations and long lines kept many from voting. Lime previously told TechCrunch that 90% of its fleet in Paris is used everyday. If the referendum isn't reversed, which it still can be, 15,000 e-scooters need to be out of the city by September 1.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/02/paris-votes-overwhelmingly-to-ban-shared-e-scooters/

A Pew Research Center survey shows that around half of people in the US are in favor of banning TikTok, with 22% opposed and 28% unsure. But for those people who actually use TikTok, only 19% support a ban. Most people know TikTok has ties to China but of those who didn't, 27% still supported a ban. It's worth noting that Pew only surveyed those 18 and older, so TikTok's large younger base didn't get factored into these numbers. https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/tiktok-ban-survey-half-americans-support-1235570024/

On Monday, Western Digital said in a press release its network was breached on March 26th, and an unauthorized party gained access to multiple company systems. The drive maker and storage provider says the incident "has caused and may continue to cause disruption to parts of the Company’s business operations" and multiple users of Western Digital’s network-attached storage (NAS) service My Cloud note they're not able to access their cloud-hosted data. The My Cloud service status page says My Cloud, My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo, My Cloud OS5, SanDisk ibi, SanDisk Ixpand Wireless Charger services are all affected. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/western-digital-discloses-network-breach-my-cloud-service-down/

The Tor Project, maker of the anonymous Tor network and browser, is working with Mullvad VPN to launch the privacy-focused browser Mullvad, a Firefox fork that uses VPN instead of a decentralized onion network on Windows, Mac, and Linux, making it harder for you to be tracked across the web. The Verge notes that it's already possible for anyone tech-savvy enough to configure a browser to minimize their fingerprint online, but that Mullvad is designed to take care of everything without a user needing to think about it. https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/3/23665477/mullvad-browser-tor-vpn-privacy-browser

On this day in1973, engineer at Motorola Martin Cooper made the first public call using a cell phone. Cooper called Joel Engel, head of AT&T-owned Bell Labs, which was in competition with Motorola to build a working mobile device. Cooper, who is now 94 years old, tells CNN “I was not surprised that everybody has a cell phone…We used to tell the story then that someday when you’re born you would be assigned a phone number. If you didn’t answer the phone, you would die.” Thankfully that hasn't happened yet, though a 2021 study by Pew Research Center showed 97% of Americans own a cell phone of some kind today. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/tech/cell-phone-turns-50/index.html