Good morning. It’s the last Tuesday before Christmas. Let’s get you up to speed.
1. Apple to cease Watch sales in U.S. over patent dispute
A significant patent dispute has come to a head in the U.S., and starting on December 21, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 will no longer be for sale in the country. Medical device maker Masimo filed two complaints against Apple with the International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, with the company claiming that the SP02 monitor in the latest models of the Apple Watch violates one of its long-standing patents and stole information during a closed meeting back in 2013 after being approached by Apple for collaboration.
2. Speaking of Apple
The Verge is reporting that U.S. lawmakers are pushing the Department of Justice to investigate Apple, following its shutdown of Beeper, an app that allowed Android users to leverage Apple’s proprietary iMessage technology. The lawmakers reckon Apple got up to some “potentially anticompetitive conduct” in disabling Beeper’s services. A group of Republican and Democratic senators said that Beeper was a threat to Apple’s leverage by “creating [a] more competitive mobile applications market, which in turn [creates] a more competitive mobile device market,” according to The Verge.
3. Elon Musk and X under investigation in Europe for spreading ‘illegal content’ on Hamas and Israel
The European Union opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X (Twitter) on Monday examining the platform’s role in spreading ‘illegal content’ around the Israel and Hamas war. X has come under fire recently for antisemitic content on the platform, losing a slew of advertisers in the process. “The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether X may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency, and data access for researchers,” said European regulators. X said it was cooperating with the investigation, but asked that it remain free of political influence.
4. Adobe cans $US20 billion Figma takeover
The Guardian is reporting that Adobe has scrapped its plan to takeover its smaller rival Figma for $US2o billion, after the deal raised concerns in Europe and the UK that it would eliminate competition among software design products. “There is no clear path to receive necessary regulatory approvals from the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority,” the companies said, according to The Guardian. A $1 billion termination fee will be paid by Adobe to Figma after the deal’s scrapping.
5. Australia gets a ‘strategic’ minerals list
As reported by InnovationAus.com, the Australian Federal Government has compiled a list of ‘strategic’ materials that exists in tandem with the country’s list of ‘critical’ minerals, which has been updated to include fluorine, molybdenum, arsenic, selenium, and tellerium. The strategic minerals list, according to the government, includes materials that are essential to the energy transition, but aren’t at risk of supply chain disruptions, and includes aluminium, copper, nickel, phosphorus, tin, and zinc.
BONUS ITEM: It’s a lot of birds to give somebody over 12 days.
A reminder when buying gifts for your true love this Christmas:
— CSIRO (@CSIRO) December 18, 2023
184 birds is excessive, especially when they are non-native species. pic.twitter.com/ZwNhsdPtgj
Have a nice day.