Tech Digest daily roundup: EU votes to use USB-C connectors as standard
The European Parliament has voted to introduce an EU standard charging port for mobile phones. By 2024 all phones, tablets and cameras will have to use USB-C connectors, the current standard charger on Android products. The move will have big implications for Apple, which uses its own Lightning connector on its products. Along with mobile phones the rule will also apply to ear buds, e-readers and a host of other electronic devices, meaning it could also impact Samsung and Huawei too. The European Commission has previously said that a common EU charger could save consumers around €250 million (£219 million). Sky News
Twitter has confirmed that Elon Musk has offered to buy the company for a second time this year. The website said in a statement that it plans to agree to the offer at 54.20 dollars (£47.23) per share, the same price Mr Musk previously put forward. The total value of the deal would be 44 billion dollars (£38.3 billion). A spokesperson for Twitter said: “We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the company is to close the transaction at 54.20 dollars per share.” Twitter’s stock surged 22.2% to 52 dollars (£45.31) after the announcement. Yahoo!
It was beginning to feel like Elon Musk and Twitter were locked in an eternal dance. And then it came to an abrupt end – for now at least – with a short, succinct letter from Musk’s lawyers to Twitter’s, which announced that he intended to buy the firm after all, and an enigmatic tweet from Musk himself to his 107 million followers about creating “X, the everything app“. The dance began in April 2022. Musk bought up some Twitter shares and was invited to join its board. He initially accepted, and then declined. Then came the first bombshell – he wanted to buy the whole platform instead. BBC
Cross “optimise site and/or app for folding smartphones” off your to-do list: analyst firm IDC says they’re not going to be mainstream devices by the year 2026. “The biggest question today is whether foldables will become mainstream anytime soon? Unfortunately, the answer is no,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Popal’s remarks came after IDC projected 13.5 million folding smartphones will ship during 2022 – 1.1 percent of the total 1.352 billion smartphones expected the ship this year. The Register
An asteroid that was deliberately struck by a NASA spacecraft is now trailing thousands of miles of debris from the impact. Astronomers captured the remarkable scene using a telescope in Chile, two days after an unprecedented $325m planetary defence test last week saw NASA fly a probe directly into the huge rock. The new image shows an expanding, comet-like tail more than 10,000km (6200 miles) long, consisting of dust and other material spewed from the impact crater. Standard
The long-anticipated PS5 upgrade for Disney + has launched today, allowing subscribers to stream in 4K HDR quality at last. One of the bigger complaints when Sony’s new-gen console launched was that the app for Disney’s streaming service was technically running in PS4 backwards compatibility, limiting the quality of its output. That’s now been rectified. “A key part of our global expansion strategy is to meet consumers wherever they are, which is why we’re excited to enhance both Disney+ and Star+ for PS5 users,” beamed Jerrell Jimerson, EVP of Product & Design, Disney Streaming. Push Square
