Hello, and happy hump day, hope you’re doing well. We’ve got some tech news for you this morning if you’re interested.
1. Ferry good update for Google Maps in Sydney
Google is now giving a virtual tour of Sydney Ferries docked at Circular Quay and a trip across Sydney’s harbour on the Manly and Taronga Zoo services. It follows the company announcing a new Street View journey down under – a partnership with Transport for New South Wales and Transdev to allow Aussies and people around the world to experience Sydney Ferries and its services via Google Street View. To produce this collection, Google said it combined nautical and engineering expertise to “troubleshoot and find creative solutions”. It’s live now, so check it out on your Google Maps app.
2. Apple’s finally bringing the M2 to its bigger MacBook Pros
When Apple released its first M2 MacBook Variants last year, the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, we were torn. The Air’s design and feature set made the 13-inch Pro look ancient, but its lack of a fan put a cap on its utility for power users. Now the M2 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are here to rectify the situation, combining the same modern design as the Air with all the internals needed to run their new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. Read all about the new machines over here.
3. Discord acquires the app that gasses you up
Discord announced overnight it was acquiring Gas, a poll-based social app that lets friends (mostly teens) share compliments with one another. In a blog post, Discord said Gas will continue as its own standalone app and the Gas team will be joining Discord to “help our efforts to continue to grow across new and core audiences”. “We’re always working to create an inclusive world where no one feels like an outsider and we’re excited to welcome Gas to the Discord community as our next step to fulfilling that vision,” the post says.
4. Microsoft to reportedly axe 11,000 jobs
Reports emerged this morning that Microsoft was planning on cutting thousands of jobs, with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions. All news outlets, including Reuters, are citing a report from UK Sky News that states of its 220,000 staff, roughly 5 per cent of its workforce will be axed – this would equate to approximately 11,000 jobs globally. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment in an email to Gizmodo, calling the reports a “rumour.”
5. Tesla autopilot vid allegedly staged
Tesla’s Autopilot is a prime example of overpromising and underdelivering, but there’s a new wrinkle in the feature’s history: A Tesla engineer is now says that a 2016 video showing the car’s ability to drive and park itself was staged. Reuters is reporting that Ashok Elluswamy, an autopilot engineer at Tesla, alleged in a deposition that the video illustrating one of the company’s namesake cars driving and parking itself is a sham.
BONUS ITEM: Greta Thunberg has been detained by German police for protesting against coal mine expansion. It’s the unbothered face for us.
See you tomorrow!