Tech Digest daily roundup: How Queen witnessed massive tech revolution in lifetime
The year the Queen was born, 1926, saw the first demonstration of the mechanical television, with the first electric telly to follow the year after. It was an era when fewer than half of Britain’s homes had an electricity supply and that was delivered using an incompatible range of voltages and frequencies by a motley assortment of mostly coal-powered generators. Ahead of her coronation in 1953, sales – and rentals – of televisions rocketed and the ceremony was broadcast to an average of 17 people per set by the BBC, although the pictures were in black and white…. Sky News
Steve Jobs’ daughter Eve has poked fun at Apple for its latest release of the iPhone 14. On Wednesday, the 24-year-old model threw shade at the highly-anticipated device by sharing a meme on her Instagram Story. In the image, a man could be seen smiling and holding up a red plaid shirt, which is identical to the one that he is wearing. The caption reads: “Me upgrading from iPhone 13 to iPhone 14 after Apple’s announcement today.” Jobs’ tweet was later shared on Twitter, as multiple people were amused by her joke. Independent
Exciting news for fans of the best Android phones comes courtesy of new spec info and images breaking cover for the Google Pixel 7. The Pixel 7 is set to debut on 6 October 2022 at an officially announced “Made By Google” event, but now thanks to a report by Phone Arena(opens in new tab), we’ve got our best look yet at the exciting new Android phone ahead of launch. First up, we’ve now got brand new images (see above) of the Pixel 7 in each of the colorways it is going to be available in, which includes Obsidian (black), Snow (white) or Lemongrass (green-yellow). T3
A £6bn deal to buy cybersecurity company Darktrace has collapsed after US private equity buyers walked away. The buyout fell through hours before the Cambridge-based business said that millions of pounds in revenue had been wrongly recognised in this year’s accounts instead of last year’s. Last night, US private equity firm Thoma Bravo pulled out of talks to acquire Darktrace, saying “an agreement could not be reached on the terms of a firm offer”. It came after three weeks of talks which sources had speculated would involve an all-cash transaction. Telegraph
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has spoken out against Microsoft’s offer to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for “at least several more years” beyond Sony’s existing agreement with publisher Activision Blizzard, calling the deal “inadequate on many levels” – despite Microsoft’s insistence it went “well beyond typical gaming industry agreements”. It’s the latest shot fired in an increasingly public back and forth between the two companies as governmental scrutiny of Microsoft’s proposed $69bn USD acquisition of Activision Blizzard grows, particularly in relation to its impact on other gaming platforms. Eurogamer
An emergency text message helped to prevent possible blackouts in the state of California on Tuesday. The message asked residents to limit energy use for three hours to cut the risk of power cuts being implemented. The California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO), said it “saw an immediate and significant drop” in the use of power after the text was sent. The alert was issued after record temperatures put pressure on the state’s electrical grid. The message, called a flex alert, was created by Cal-ISO to encourage users to conserve electricity when energy supply is at capacity. BBC
