Here are the top trending stories from the world of technology. Stories that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Taylor Swift’s new album caused Spotify to Crash?
On Friday thousands of people across New York and other parts of the world were facing problems in accessing the Spotify app. And the person responsible for this is Taylor Swift or rather it is apt to say that it is Swift’s new album Midnight that sent Spotify crashing down. According to media reports, the Spotify app users started reporting complains about outage just minutes after Swift’s new album was released on the platforms. According to Downdetector, more than 7,000 outage complains received during early hours on Friday in New York city alone. By the way, Midnight has broken Spotify’s previous record for most streamed album in a single day.
2)
Twitter claims no plans for ‘mass layoffs’
Twitter employees can breathe a sigh of relief as the microblogging company said that it has no plans to opt for mass layoff. This clarification has come just days after The Washington Post reported that Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter partially hinges on whether the latter agrees to cut 75% jobs. This is supposedly a part of Musk’s grand plan to make Twitter a profitable company, something that it has never been able to achieve in its lifetime. Currently, Twitter and Musk are locked in a high profile legal battle. This legal battle started after Twitter sued Musk for walking out of the $44 Bn acquisition deal.
3)
Washington Wants Starlink to set Internet Service in Iran
America’s Biden administration wants Elon Musk’s satellite internet company to provide internet access across Iran amid growing anti-government protests in the country. Accusations have been made against the Iranian government that it is suppressing and censoring the media in an attempt to qual down the ongoing mass protest. The mass protest has seen huge participation of Iranian women as they seek to remove orthodoxy practices promoted by the Iranian government. Coming back to Starlink, it has been asked to provide internet services in Iran days after Elon Musk said that providing internet service in the war hit Ukraine is proving to be financial infeasible for his company.
4)
TikTok to ban Children below 18 from livestreaming
Popular short video sharing platform TikTok plans to increase the minimum age for livestreaming from 16 to 18. The Chinese company may implement this rule from the next month itself. According to media reports, TikTok has been forced to take this step after it increasingly found that young children were misusing livestreaming feature for monetization purposes. However, there is no indication whether Facebook and Instagram would impose any strict age restriction on its live streaming feature.
5)
Walmart backed PhonePe is Planning to raise Fresh Funds
India’s UPI payment platform PhonePe, which is owned by retail giant Walmart, is said to be talks with existing as well as new investors for raising fresh funds. America’s leading equity fund player General Atlantic is said to be leading the upcoming funding round, which values the UPI company around $12 Bn. This would make PhonePe India’s most valued fintech company after Paytm and Razorpay. However, there is no clarity how much does the company plans to raise in the forthcoming round. PhonePe competes with the likes of Google Pay with both players commanding a sizable share in the India’s rapidly growing UPI market.