Tech Digest daily round up: YouTube pays for Covid-19 vaccination ad campaign
YouTube has launched a multi-million-pound advertising campaign to encourage young people in the UK to get vaccinated against Covid-19. It said the partnership with the NHS would involve ads on buses, billboards, bus stops and YouTube, with the video-sharing site paying for them. YouTube has been criticised for being slow to stop the spread of coronavirus disinformation. But it said it had removed 900,000 Covid-19 videos that broke its rules. The campaign will feature the slogan Let’s Not Go Back and will show group activities and events – such as concerts – that will be possible again after the pandemic. YouTube’s UK managing director, Ben McOwen Wilson, said he wanted to avoid “vaccine ambivalence” among young people as life starts to return to normal over the summer. BBC
Brits will be sent SOS text alerts to warn of terror attacks, fires and severe flooding as part of a new government trial. The Cabinet Office revealed on Sunday that its new “Emergency Alerts” warning service will be trialled in East Suffolk on 25 May. The new technology will see Brits receive an alert directly to their mobile phone if there is a risk to life, either locally or nationally. This could include a warning of a public health emergency, a terror attack, industrial incident, fire or flood. The alert text message, which will be free to receive, will also provide advice on how to best respond in the event of a serious emergency. Yahoo!
Earlier today, Apple Music began teasing a special announcement with the tagline “Get Ready – Music is About to Change Forever.” This teaser comes amid a rumor that Apple is preparing to announce the third-generation AirPods alongside a HiFi, or lossless audio streaming tier for Apple Music on Tuesday, May 18. Now, references to “Apple Lossless,” “Free Lossless,” “Hi-Res Lossless,” and “Dolby Atmos” have been found within the Apple Music web app by 9to5mac and confirmed by MacRumors. These references indicate that Apple is likely planning to announce that users will be able to stream songs at higher quality and potentially enjoy them in some form of Spatial Audio using Dolby Atmos with the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Mac Rumours
Deployment of 52 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/QqPbBl9gBz
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 16, 2021
A SpaceX rocket on Saturday launched another 52 Starlink satellites into orbit as well as two rideshare payloads, before executing a flawless landing at sea. It was the eighth flight for that particular Falcon 9, which also lifted NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, last year. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk plans to eventually have more than 40,000 satellites transmitting internet service for users on Earth. It is working towards a mid-2027 deadline. At present, the Starlink beta service has about 10,000 customers, as Insider reported. The rocket shot up from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6:56 p.m. EDT, marking SpaceX’s 15th Starlink launch of the year. The full launch can be viewed on SpaceX’s website.
Sharks use the Earth’s magnetic field as a sort of natural GPS to navigate long journeys across the world’s oceans, scientists have discovered. Marine laboratory experiments with a small species of shark have confirmed long-held suspicions that sharks use magnetic fields as aids to navigation. This behaviour has also been observed in other marine animals, including sea turtles. The study, published in the journal Current Biology, also reveals why sharks are able to traverse seas and find their way back to feed, breed and give birth, according to marine policy specialist Bryan Keller, one of the study authors. He said: “We know that sharks can respond to magnetic fields. We didn’t know that they detected it to use as an aid in navigation… You have sharks that can travel 20,000km (12,427 miles) and end up in the same spot.” Sky News
