Good morning. let’s get you up to speed on what’s going on in the world of tech.
1. Twitter (again)
It wouldn’t be a tech news round-up without talking about the Twitter dumpster fire. The latest is that, after Twitter labelled NPR ‘state-affiliated media’, and then corrected the label with ‘government-funded media’, the U.S. news organisation is now leaving the social media platform entirely. “It would be a disservice to the serious work you all do here to continue to share it on a platform that is associating the federal charter for public media with an abandoning of editorial independence or standards,” NPR CEO John Lansing said. Meanwhile, apparently Twitter is “rough breaking even”, according to Musk, after cutting costs, not paying bills and racking up major fines in Germany.
— NPR (@NPR) April 12, 2023
2. Wind and solar now 12 per cent of global electricity
A report from energy think tank Ember indicates that wind and solar contributed to 12 per cent of global electricity in 2022. As reported on by DW, European countries are lagging behind on wind power expansion. Ember’s European program lead, Sarah Brown, said “The EU started the race to renewables early but, as the world accelerates, it cannot afford complacency.”Additionally, due to the global gas shortage, gas-fired power declined 0.2 per cent in 2022 due to high prices making it unaffordable to use as a fuel source.
3. The iPhone 15 might not ship with rumoured solid-state volume buttons
Moving over to Apple, and rumours are coming out about other rumours. According to respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the highly anticipated solid-state volume buttons, that would replace the physical buttons on the iPhone 15, won’t be ready in time for the iPhone 15 to launch later this year due to “unresolved technical issues”. the solid-state buttons would function like haptic buttons, similar to the revised home button before it was removed on main-line iPhones and replaced with a larger screen.
4. Microsoft product ads are being rolled out to the Windows 11 Start Menu
Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 update, released Tuesday, offers a few small bug and compatibility fixes as well as a lighter taskbar. Oh, and there’s one small, tiny extra detail. A ‘small’ number of Windows 11 users will now see ‘notifications’ encouraging them to use other Microsoft products when clicking on the Windows Start Menu. Many Windows users are already decrying the change as just another way Microsoft is trying to shove more native ads into its operating system.
Do we really need to stuff OneDrive promos in the user session flyout? Anything for that sweet sweet KPI 😭 pic.twitter.com/ZsQGmkntDS
— Albacore (@thebookisclosed) November 6, 2022
5. OpenAI unleashes a $28,000 bug bounty program
OpenAI — parent company of the ever-popular and powerful ChatGPT — has announced a pretty sweet deal for amateur programmers called the Bug Bounty Program. In exchange for finding bugs in OpenAI’s software, the company is willing to hand out anywhere from $US200 ($280) to $US20,000 (just shy of $28,000). “The OpenAI Bug Bounty Program is a way for us to recognise and reward the valuable insights of security researchers who contribute to keeping our technology and company secure,” the company wrote on its website.
BONUS ITEM: Among many other TV show announcements this morning from HBO Max, here comes another Game of Thrones spin-off.
A century before @GameofThrones, there was Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg.
Executive produced by George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker, Ryan Condal, and Vince Gerardis, A Knight of the #SevenKingdoms: The Hedge Knight has received a straight to series order. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/MRPUke5Upt
— HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023
Have a lovely day.