Good morning, it’s Friday, finally. Today is a bit quiet on the news front, given the U.S. have that whole Turkey Day thing going on. While we’ve woken up to stories about rats eating 200kg of seized cannabis and the world’s tallest building headlining the news cycle, we still have a few tech things to ease you into the weekend with.
1. Apple isn’t buying Manchester United
A report from British tabloid The Daily Star claimed that Apple had expressed an interest in buying Manchester United for around £5.8 billion, but MacRumours is reporting that no, the iPhone maker isn’t buying a football team. Per The Daily Star, United’s current owners, the Glazers, have decided to sell the club after caving to the demands of those fans who have wanted them ousted. The news came on the same day that Manchester United announced that star player Cristiano Ronaldo would be leaving the club.
2. Suspended Twitter accounts to soon emerge
Twitter boss Elon Musk said he would begin reinstating suspended accounts next week, bringing back users that previously had been banned for posting hate speech, inciting violence or engaging in other behaviour that violated its policies. Per The Wall Street Journal, Musk said the amnesty would begin next week, provided the accounts haven’t “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” He made the decision after polling users on the platform, of course.
Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2022
3. Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ beta
Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ Beta, which has been gradually rolling out over the past couple of years, is now available to anyone who’s paid for the feature in North America. Brought to our attention by The Verge, the rollout of the beta software kicked off in 2020 with a small number of customers and has since gradually expanded to be available to around 160,000 drivers. As you’d expect, the news was announced by Musk in a? Tweet. That’s right. Here’s why it’s not available in Australia.
Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen, assuming you have bought this option.
Congrats to Tesla Autopilot/AI team on achieving a major milestone!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022
4. Aussie law firm sues Mercedes-Benz
Australian law firm Gerard Malouf and Partners (GMP Law) has filed legal proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court against German automaker Mercedes-Benz over its alleged use of ‘cheat devices’ to manipulate diesel gas emissions readings during testing. The argument brought by GMP Law is that allegedly harmful levels of nitrogen oxide were being emitted from the exhaust of implicated vehicles in a way that wasn’t appearing in regulatory testing, with the claim alleging it was as if Mercedes-Benz was using a cheat device.
5. New online foreign interference inquiry
InnovationAus is reporting that the Senate has voted to establish a new foreign interference through social media inquiry, which is a similar inquiry to the one undertaken during the previous Parliament. That one called for more transparency and protections but was cut short before delivering a full final report. The new inquiry will probe the “risk posed to Australia’s democracy by foreign interference through social media”.
BONUS ITEM: What an absolute darling Flossie is.
Flossie, at the age of almost 27 – which is the feline equivalent of being 120 human years old, according to Guinness World Records – has been crowned the world’s oldest living cat https://t.co/qVVZlSWoM2
— CNN (@CNN) November 24, 2022
Have a great weekend.