Tech Digest daily roundup: Amazon Prime to increase by £1 to £8.99 a month
Amazon is to increase the price of its monthly Prime subscription service by 12.5% – or £1 – to £8.99 from September in the latest sign that delivery costs are rising. The company said the cost of an annual Prime package, which includes unlimited deliveries for online shopping, access to its video and music streaming services and its Amazon Fresh grocery deliveries, would rise by more – 20%, or £16 – to £95, although this remains a discount on the monthly option. Amazon said the rise in fees, which will be implemented as members’ contracts come up for renewal from 15 September, was the first since 2014 and came after a series of improvements in its Prime service. The Guardian
Google is rolling out some much-needed upgrades to its Android tablet apps, the company has announced, as it attempts to make them work better on devices with larger screens. Updates are coming for apps including Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep, and Google’s announcement says they should arrive over the coming weeks. Docs, Sheets, and Drive are being updated to support drag and drop, letting you easily pull elements like text and images from one app to another. Meanwhile, Drive is getting the ability to open two files side by side, similar to the functionality Apple brought to the iPad with 2019’s iPadOS update. Keyboard shortcuts are also coming to Drive, Docs, and Slides, which should make them much more efficient to use for anyone with a Bluetooth or wired keyboard attached to their Android tablet. The Verge
OneWeb, the British satellite firm rescued by the UK taxpayer, has agreed a merger with French rival Eutelsat to create a “global player” in space-based internet connectivity. It was announced that the all-share combination would value OneWeb at $3.4bn (£2.8bn) – structured as an exchange of OneWeb shares by its shareholders, including the UK government, with new shares issued by Eutelsat. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said it meant the taxpayer would now have a “significant stake in what will become a single, powerful, global space company.” Sky News
The Southern Co-Op chain is facing a legal challenge to its use of facial recognition technology to cut crime. Big Brother Watch has complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about biometric cameras at its shops. The privacy campaign group says the system at the convenience stores breaches data protection and people may end up on a watch-list without knowing. But Southern says it is only using the Facewatch system in shops with a history of crime, to protect its staff. The co-operative runs 200 convenience stores across southern England, of which 35 have the system installed. BBC
A historic computer prototype which once belonged to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs has been listed for auction. The 1976 prototype – which is named the Apple 1 – was hand-soldered by co-founder Steve Wozniak, according to RR Auction – a Boston-based auction house. Jobs reportedly presented the Apple 1 to Paul Terrell, the world’s first personal computer retail shop owner. The Apple 1’s demonstration is said to have happened at Terrell’s computer store which was named The Byte Shop, in Mountain View, California, and the demo led Terrell to request a fully assembled computer that would later be sold for $666.66. Fox Business
