Tech Digest daily roundup: GM Motors pulls Twitter ads after Elon Musk takeover
The largest automaker in the US has pulled paid advertising on Twitter after Elon Musk completed his takeover of the social media company. Musk’s $44bn (£38bn) deal to buy Twitter completed on Thursday and he reportedly sacked the company’s chief executive and two other top bosses. The world’s richest man tweeted “the bird is freed” and “let the good times roll” before a tweet on Friday announcing the setting up of the content moderation council. Late on Friday, GM Motors Co said in a statement it had temporarily halted paid ads on the platform as a “normal course of business” after a significant change in a media platform. Sky News
Apple has literally only just bumped the prices of Apple Music and Apple TV+ subscriptions in the US and UK and now Amazon is about to do the same with one of its Amazon Music Unlimited subscription tiers. If you’re a current subscriber to the Amazon Music Unlimited Family Plan or are thinking about joining in the coming days or weeks, you should be aware that a price hike is on the way. And the increase will be rolling out to a number of different territories worldwide from the 8th of November. From the 8th of next month, the Family Plan will cost £16.99 / $15.99 / AU$18.99 per month, up from £14.99 / $14.99 / AU$17.99. What HiFi
A satellite which started life in a garage in Reading will soon be launched from Britain to help stop people smugglers illegally trafficking migrants, and other unlawful sea activity. The Amber-1 satellite, built by British start-up Horizon Technologies, is part of the first payload to travel on Virgin Orbit’s horizontal launch flight from Cornwall, which is due for lift-off next month. It works by hunting for satellite phone and radar signals coming from boats that have switched-off their automatic identification systems (AIS) transponders off to avoid detection. Telegraph
YouTube tries every trick in the book to get you started watching videos — and then switches to a whole different playbook, so you can never claw your way out of the video vortex. Recently, YouTube has been placing increasing emphasis on Shorts, even adding a Shorts shelf on YouTube for Android TV, but not everyone’s a fan of that mobile-focused content. Thankfully, for people who despise short-form videos as much as they hate paying more for YouTube Premium, YouTube is now making it easier to only focus on the video formats you prefer. Android Police
Pivotal elections in Brazil and the United States will present an early test to Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk and his promise to ease up on the platform’s policies on misinformation. Voters in both nations have already faced a torrent of misleading claims about candidates, issues and voting. That torrent could become a deluge if Musk makes good on his vows to roll back Twitter’s rules just as millions of voters prepare to cast a ballot. “This is the most critical time for this work, right before an election,” said Alejandra Caraballo, an instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic. AP News
In the latest edition of iPhone 15 rumors, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple will bring solid-state power and volume buttons to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. The new buttons will function like the Touch ID sensor introduced on the iPhone 7 and still used today on the iPhone SE (2022) thanks to two additional Taptic Engines on the left and right sides of the frame. The solid-state buttons will not sink in physically and will instead offer haptic feedback to confirm presses. GSM Arena
