Good morning. It’s Tuesday and there’s a bunch of tech news to catch up on. Let’s get you up to speed.
1. X marks the spot
Twitter is currently undergoing a massive rebrand to ‘X’. Just X. Tired of that lovely bird song, Musk has smothered the cage housing Twitter’s classic bird logo. The site is still called “Twitter,” microblogging posts are still called “Tweets”, but the little blue bird logo appearing in the top corner of the site for over a decade has become a big, bland, black X. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” Twitter (X?) CEO Linda Yaccarino said.
2. Home Affairs exposes small business data
The Guardian reports that the Australian Department of Home Affairs exposed the data of 50 small businesses contacted for their views on cybersecurity. Names, business names, phone numbers, and email addresses were all exposed, having been published on the parliament website in response to a question on notice from May’s Budget estimates hearing.
3. TikTok is also Twitter now
Big tech companies love to wheel out a neat little trick every now and again where they just blatantly copy each other. It happened with Clubhouse (audio-based social media), then it happened with TikTok (short-form video), then it happened with BeReal (time-dependant photos), and now that the walls appear to be crumbling around Twitter, all the social media sites really want to do a text-based product (see: Threads). This time, it’s TikTok, which now allows text-based posts on its platform. Users can choose from a photo option, video, or text. The company announced the updated feature in a news release this week.
4. Google owes $US338 in Chromecast patent case
itNews is reporting that Google violated a software developer’s patent rights with the development of the Chromecast and that a U.S. jury has just decided that the company will need to pay $US338 million in damages. Google said it would appeal the decision, with a spokesperson claiming that the company “always developed technology independently and competed on the merits of our ideas.” The software developer, Touchstream Technologies, owns patents related to streaming from one screen to another.
5. Apple is taking applications for Vision Pro developer kits
The Verge is reporting that Apple is now taking applications for Vision Pro development units, so that app and software engineers can create for the upcoming (expensive) headset. The dev kits on offer also provide engineers with ‘check-ins’ with Apple experts, code-level support requests, and help setting up the device. It’s a completely new platform for the company, so it makes sense that it’d be quite forthcoming with developers… As long as those devs agree to the rules.
BONUS ITEM: Watch out, Musk, look who just got their blue belt.
Have a lovely day.