Here are the top trending stories from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep tab on.
1)
Elon Musk says SpaceX will endure financial loss for sake of Ukraine
Last week, Elon Musk tweeted that Starlink will continue to provide terminal access to the war ravaged Ukraine despite facing heavy losses. This tweet was preceded by another of Musk’s tweet on Friday that said Starlink cannot provide internet services in Ukraine due to huge cost involved in it. According to reports, the tech billionaire has even written a letter to Pentagon requesting it to coverup Starlink’s cost in Ukraine. However, it now seems that Musk’s company has decided to cover up the Ukraine cost all by itself. Earlier this year when internet service became unavailable in Ukraine in the aftermath of Russian attack it was Starlink that decided to bail out Ukraine. The Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskky even personally thanked Elon Musk on Twitter for this gesture.
2)
Get ready for Tesla smartphone by end of December
Guess which company will be entering the already crowded smartphone market. It is Elon Musk’s electric auto company Tesla. According to media reports, the electric vehicle company will be launching its smartphone brand ‘Tesla Pi’ by December this year. The phone will reportedly come with 8GB RAM, 512 GB storage and triple camera setup. However, mind you neither Tesla nor Elon Musk has so far confirmed this news. But if these media reports do turn out to be true then Tesla will be compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung. This will also be the first time that Elon Musk’s company will be directly competing with tech giant Apple.
3)
Byju’s opts for a massive layoff, renders 2,500 employees jobless
The edtech giant Byju’s, which is currently facing controversy over its accounting practices, has spelled yet another bad news. Last week, the company announced that it will be laying off 2,500 employees in the next 6 months, which constitutes nearly 5% of the company’s total workforce. Byju’s said that this will help the company in becoming profitable as it prepares for its much awaited IPO. The company had announced a staggering loss of over Rs 4,,500 crore in FY21. Notably, the edtech giant had published its FY21 result after delay of almost a year, which led to many wild accusations and allegations against the company.
4)
Meta’s Horizon World is struggling to keep its users intact
Meta’s much hyped up Metaverse platform Horizon World is struggling very badly. According to the Wall Street Journal, let alone making new users the Horizon World is now struggling to keep its existing users intact. Mark Zuckerberg had himself confirmed in February that Horizon World has nearly 3 Mn users but that number has now reportedly come down to 2 Mn. The Wall Street Journal has cited Meta’s internal document claiming that the Horizon World is facing glitch technology and the users seem to be completly uninterested in its platform.
5)
Apple faces $20 Mn fine in Brazil (here’s why)
A court in a Sau Paulo has fined tech giant Apple $20 Mn for not selling chargers along with its iPhone products. The court said that by not selling the charger, which is treated as a standard accessory, Apple is trying to exploit the customers. Apple, on its part, said that it took this step for reducing carbon emission in the environment. The company has said that it will file a petition against this order in the higher court.