Tech Digest daily roundup: Council trials drone deliveries for school meals
Pupils in some of Scotland’s remotest schools could be having their lunches delivered by drone, if a new trial is a success. In what is thought to be the first move of its kind in the UK, Argyll and Bute Council is teaming up with drone specialists Skyports to trial the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in delivering school meals. Flying from Oban Airport, the trial will involve drones delivering meals prepared in Park Primary School in the the town to Lochnell Primary, which is also in Oban and is just 1.5km (just under one mile) away. Yahoo!
Multi-billionaire Elon Musk has in a meeting with Twitter employees hinted at potential job cuts if his $44bn (£35.8bn) takeover bid for the social media company is successful. He also addressed topics like remote working, freedom of speech and potential extra-terrestrial life. Mr Musk was talking to staff for the first time since launching his bid for the firm in April. He has said he may quit the deal if he is not given data about fake accounts. On a wide-ranging video call with Twitter employees on Thursday, Mr Musk said layoffs at Twitter would depend on the company’s financial situation. BBC
Elon Musk is being sued for $258bn (£209bn) over accusations he ran a pyramid scheme to promote a cryptocurrency called Dogecoin. The digital asset was launched as a joke in 2013 and was designed to mock Bitcoin. But the cryptocurrency – also known as DOGE – hit the headlines after surging dramatically last year. In a little over four months, Dogecoin rallied from $0.004 to $0.73 – a gain of more than 18,000%. Sky News
Nothing recently revealed the design of its first smartphone – the Nothing phone (1) – sporting a transparent back panel with dual cameras and light strips. Now the phone (1) has starred in videos posted on YouTube by Rafael Zeier and Das Kann Was, giving us an even better look at it. The Nothing phone (1) has a flat design with the antenna lines on the frame confirming a metal build. You can also see the smartphone has the power button on the right-side frame, with volume keys located on the left. At the bottom is the USB-C port, joined by a speaker grille and microphone. The glowing lights look cool, but it’s unclear if they will blink only for incoming notifications…You can watch both videos below. GSM Arena
Angry bank customers who traveled to a city in central China attempting to retrieve their savings from troubled rural banks were stopped in their tracks by a common technology: a QR code. The QR code, which residents are required to have, is supposed to display one’s health status, such as if they have COVID-19 or have been a close contact. In central Henan province, some Chinese people found that the health code was used to enforce crowd control. The incident has started a national debate on how a tool designed for public health has been appropriated by political forces to tamp down controversy. AP News
