Tech Digest daily roundup: Kanye West to buy Parler
Kanye West is to buy the social media platform Parler, the company’s current owner has announced. Parlement Technologies said it had reached an agreement in principle to sell the “pioneering uncancelable free speech platform” to the rapper, who now goes by the name Ye. West said: “In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves.” The controversial music star is active on Parler, which pitches itself as a “viewpoint-neutral social media app dedicated to freedom of expression, civil discourse, and user privacy”. Sky News
Apple has been forced to cancel plans to use Chinese memory chips for its iPhones after US President Joe Biden hit Beijing with fresh technology sanctions. The White House placed new restrictions on China’s semiconductor sector designed to block its access to advanced graphics and memory processors. US officials also added memory chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies to a blacklist, called the unverified list, which lumps new licensing requirements on any American company wishing to trade with it. Apple had been considering using memory chips from Yangtze in its future iPhones, which could undercut designs from rivals such as Samsung. Telegraph
TikTok has taken steps to introduce safety features that allow parents to control the content their children see on the platform. By linking their child’s accounts on the video-sharing social media app to their own, parents can see what their children are being exposed to. Parents will also be able to control the amount of screen time allowed on the app each day, limit who can send direct messages to the account and restrict the content appearing in the feed of their child’s account. Evening Standard
Germany announced Monday that it is issuing fines of 5.125 million euros ($5 million) against the operators of the messaging app Telegram for failing to comply with German law. The Federal Office of Justice said Telegram FZ-LLC hasn’t established a lawful way for reporting illegal content or named an entity in Germany to receive official communication. Both are required under German laws that regulate large online platforms. German officials said they have repeatedly failed in their attempts to serve papers to Dubai-based Telegram, despite support from authorities in the United Arab Emirates. AP News
While Google’s latest smartphones, the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro may boast incredibly impressive cameras, the phones appear to lack in some other aspects—most notably performance. The Pixel 7 Pro has now been put through a Genshin Impact gaming test, with the flagship only managing to make a horrid account of itself. As tested by Golden Reviewer, the Pixel 7 Pro fails to match up to even 2021 flagships with the Snapdragon 888 and also somehow manages to be worse than the Poco F3 with its Snapdragon 870. Notebookcheck
The next-generation iPad Pro with Apple’s latest M2 processor is set to arrive in “a matter of days,” according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. It’ll be the first new model since May of last year, and reportedly offer a 20 percent speed boost over the M1 version. Apple will also introduce an iPad dock with an integrated speaker in 2023 and launch new Macs later this year, Gurman wrote in his newsletter. The new iPad Pro models will keep the same form factors as the current models, with 11-inch and 12.9-inch display versions. Engadget
