Tech Digest daily roundup: TikTok launches scheme to tackle youth unemployment
TikTok has launched a programme to help young people find work in the creative and digital industries as part of a scheme to tackle youth unemployment and the digital skills gap. The social media platform is working with the social business charity Catch22 on the multimillion-pound programme, which aims to engage with 2,500 people by the end of 2024. The new scheme is targeting young people aged between 16 and 24 who are currently not in education, employment or training and will give them access to up to four weeks of an employability course, as well as a career coach, virtual work experience, mentoring, mental health support and access to a bursary. Yahoo!
Sony has invested another $1 billion into Fortnite developer Epic Games in order to deepen its relationship with the firm “in the metaverse field”. This increases the funding provided by the PlayStation 5 manufacturer to a total of $1.45 billion, as Sony made two other payments of $250 million in July 2020 and then another $200 million in April 2021. This latest round of funding represents the company’s biggest investment in Epic Games yet. Speaking in a press release, Kenichiro Yoshida (chairman, president, and CEO of Sony Group Corporation) said the investment would strengthen the relationship between the two companies in the metaverse field. PushSquare
Video game developers are champing at the bit ahead of an influx of money from some of the biggest technology companies in the world as they compete to build a “Netflix for games”. At the centre of the contest are Microsoft and Sony, followed by less gaming-centric companies such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix who have all launched subscription services in an attempt to entice gamers onto their platforms. Microsoft has spent four years building up its flagship subscription, Xbox Game Pass, which offers unlimited access to more than 100 games for its Xbox family of consoles for a £10.99 monthly fee. Guardian
Ukraine has accused a Russian spy agency of carrying out a cyber attack intended to shut down part of its electricity grid. Russian cyber-attackers created customised malicious software intended to disconnect high-voltage substations belonging to a Ukrainian power company. The country’s Computer Emergency Response Team, which defends against foreign hackers, said: “The idea of the attackers involved the decommissioning of several infrastructural elements.” A malicious software “bomb” was set to digitally detonate last Friday, the team said. The bomb consisted of so-called “wiper” malware that deletes all files on computers it infects. Telegraph
The nonprofit that distributed most of the $350 million in donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to election offices in 2020 said Monday that it won’t disburse similar donations this year after backlash from conservatives suspicious that the contributions tilted the outcome of the presidential race toward Joe Biden. Instead, the Center for Technology and Civic Life is launching a different program. Dubbed the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, the $80-million, five-year effort is intended to create a network for the nation’s thousands of local election officials, who can apply for aid to improve their technology and processes. AP News
Astronomers from the University of Leicester have discovered mysterious changes in the temperature of ice giant Neptune, the solar system’s most distant planet. Based on observations covering the past 17 years the scientists detected a consistent drop in the planet’s temperature which has suddenly been interrupted by dramatic warming at its south pole. Thermal-infrared images taken between 2003 and 2018 show the planet cooling by about eight degrees Celsius – until, at the end of that cycle, the temperature at its south pole shot up by about 11 degrees Celsius. Sky News
