Tech Digest daily round up: Donald Trump launches new ‘communications platform’
Donald Trump has launched a new “communications” website, which says it will publish content “straight from the desk” of the former US president. Mr Trump was banned by Twitter and suspended by Facebook and YouTube after the Capitol riots in January. The former president has since been releasing statements by press release – which the new website will now host. Users will be able to like posts – and also share them on Twitter and Facebook accounts. The move comes a day before a decision is due from Facebook’s Oversight Board on whether to permanently ban Mr Trump. BBC
Life-threatening coronary heart disease could be diagnosed and treated five times faster with the help of new 3D technology. The technology turns a CT scan of the heart into a 3D image, which allows doctors to diagnose the problem in just 20 minutes, NHS England said. Previously, diagnoses would require a more invasive and time-consuming angiogram in hospital. Some 100,000 people will be able to use the new technology – called HeartFlow – over the next three years and it could mean they are seen, diagnosed and treated around five times faster. Treatment includes surgery, medication, or having a stent fitted, while those with less serious conditions can get lifestyle advice or medication to lower cholesterol. Sky News
Any scheme which uses digital certificates to prove a person’s coronavirus status would only be a success if the public is able to “trust” the way their data is used, the Information Commissioner will say on Wednesday. The Government has said it is “considering” using the official NHS app as a digital route to allow holidaymakers to show they have been vaccinated and unlock overseas travel. Speaking at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Data Protection Practitioners’ annual conference, Elizabeth Denham is expected to say such a system can only work if the public is able to trust that their personal data was being used responsibly and their privacy protected. “The success of any Covid-status scheme will rely on people trusting them, and that means people having confidence in how the scheme would use their personal information,” the Information Commissioner will say. Yahoo!
The French winemaker Château Darius is jumping on the craze for non-fungible tokens, also known as “NFTs”, and selling online images of wine bottles for over £300. On the website BakerySwap, the vineyard was selling digital bottles of its Bordeaux wine for 100 Bakery Tokens, a type of cryptocurrency and the equivalent of £335. “My mission and motivation is to make my wine popular around the world, but also to make it accessible everywhere,” said Flavien Darius Pommier, owner of Chateau Darius vineyard, adding he has also started accepting payments in Bitcoin. However, he said, the price of the cryptocurrency Bakery Tokens had experienced wild fluctuations in the past week, inflating the price of a digital bottle which was supposed to be selling for the equivalent of £100. Telegraph
Facebook’s employee-focused Workplace platform has reached seven million paid subscribers, jumping 40% in the last year as people were forced to work from home during the pandemic. Workplace from Facebook provides connectivity and communications tools such as video conferencing, chat, groups and safety check features, built on the back of the main social network’s site. AstraZeneca, BT and Virgin Atlantic are among the customers who use the service, which launched in 2016. The tech giant said the surge was driven by business leaders who are “acknowledging” that truly connecting with people in remote or hybrid working environments is “critical”. Yahoo!
