Top 10 in Tech – December 2022
December - 2022. Latest & top news about technology, Airbnb, Google and Microsoft, Twitter, FTX, NFT, Amazon, and many more.
EU Wants Airbnb to Share Information
According to planned EU regulations, Airbnb and other short-term home rental businesses will be required to share information on the number of users of their services. The suggestion from the EU executive comes as well-known tourist cities like Paris, Venice, and Barcelona accuse Airbnb of worsening housing shortages by driving away locals with lower incomes.
Source: Reuters
By 2035, Governments Decide to Stop Using Leap Seconds
The days when the leap second gave software engineers difficulties are quickly coming to an end. At the General Conference on Weights and Measures on Friday in Paris, France, government officials almost unanimously decided to end the custom of occasionally adding one second to official clocks.
Source: Engadget
Top 50 Creditors Are Owed Close to $3.1 Billion by the Collapsed FTX
In one of the most publicized crypto meltdowns, FTX and its affiliates filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on November 11. As a result, an estimated million consumers and other investors are expected to have a total loss of billions of dollars.
Source: Reuters
Microsoft Wants to Increase the Level of Competition Among Game Developers
As it deals with an EU anticompetition investigation over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the American game publisher behind Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated the business wants to increase competitiveness among game publishers. Regulators in the EU are concerned that Microsoft may control access to Activision’s console and PC video games.
Source: CNBC
40 States Settle Google Location-Tracking Charges For $392M
In order to end an investigation into how the corporation monitored users’ location data even after they disabled the “location history” feature, Google agreed to pay a $391.5 million settlement to 40 US states. According to the attorney general, the settlement was the largest multi-state privacy settlement in US history and a “historic win” for consumers.
Source: AP News
After mothballing Amazon Care, Amazon reenters telehealth with Amazon Clinic, a marketplace for third-party virtual consultants
The $4 billion purchase of OneMedical by Amazon is quite recent, yet meanwhile, the leader in online services is taking another bold step into telehealth, and into medical services overall. The business is revealing Amazon Clinic, which it refers to as a virtual health “storefront”. Through it, customers may look for, contact, and pay for telehealth services, for several ailments that are now some of the most common reasons for telehealth consultations.
Source: TechCrunch+
After Musk announced that the ex-president’s account had been activated, Trump ignored Twitter
After Elon Musk tweeted a poll in which 51% of respondents voted to restore the former US president’s account, which had been suspended in early 2021, Donald Trump declared he would not be joining Twitter again. After Elon Musk tweeted “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated “, Trump said he would remain with his social media network Truth Social rather than returning to Twitter, which he claimed is plagued by bots and bogus accounts.
Source: Reuters
Twitter Updates App to Start Charging $8 for Blue Checkmark
In Elon Musk’s first significant update to the social media site, Twitter began charging a monthly charge for the blue checkmarks of verification. An announcement followed stating that users would be able to receive blue check verification marks that would be displayed next to their names.
Source: Reuters
Meta Plans to Let Instagram Influencers Launch NFTs
Instagram creators will be able to produce and sell their own NFTs using Meta both on and off the site, straight to their followers. Although Instagram users are currently able to display their NFTs, this move comes against a slowing trade of NFTs worldwide.
Source: FINANCIAL TIMES
IBM’s latest quantum computing processor triples the qubits of its predecessor
IBM announced Osprey, the company’s latest quantum computing processor. Compared to previous processors, Osprey has the largest qubit count with 433 quantum bits. With Osprey, IBM has taken an important step toward its goal to build a system with over 4000 qubits by 2025. A processor with such computing power would have the potential to change many areas, from artificial intelligence to pharma and energy research.
Source: Engadget
