Tech Digest daily roundup: Virgin sells stake in Hyperloop
Sir Richard Branson is preparing to sell off Virgin’s stake in a US hyperloop start-up as interest in the technology envisioned by Twitter billionaire Elon Musk fades. A source said Virgin will begin stripping its branding from US business Hyperloop One over the coming weeks and will divest its equity stake at the same time. It has already removed its logo from the company’s website. Sir Richard’s company acquired a small stake in Hyperloop One in 2017, rebranding it as Virgin Hyperloop One. The Hyperloop is a theoretical alternative to high-speed rail, where pods fly through steel tubes at up to 760 miles per hour. Telegraph
Elon Musk says Twitter will permanently suspend any account that impersonates another – unless it clearly states it is a “parody”. The social media platform’s new owner issued the warning after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names – not their account names – to “Elon Musk” in reaction to the billionaire’s decision to offer verified accounts to all users for $8 month. Comedian Kathy Griffin had her account suspended on Sunday for switching her display name to Musk’s. Actor Valerie Bertinelli did the same before switching it back to her real name. But first, she posted a series of tweets in support of Democratic candidates. Sky News
In the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, some users have been seeking alternative platforms. One of the biggest beneficiaries has been Mastodon. But what is it? The social network says it now has over 655,000 users – with over 230,000 having joined in the last week. On the surface Mastodon looks like Twitter – account users write posts (called “toots”), which can be replied to, liked and re-posted, and they can follow each other. Under the bonnet, though, it works in a different way. That’s one of the reasons it is attracting fresh users, but it has caused some confusion to new people signing up. BBC
It was meant to join the red phone box, the London bus and the black cab as a symbol of modern Britain. Yet a so-called iconic design for a UK electric car charger commissioned by Grant Shapps, then transport minister, is likely to remain on the drawing board after the government admitted it may never be made. The government put out the tender for the contract in June last year and revealed the winning design, by the Royal College of Art and PA Consulting, at the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow a few months later. The Guardian
Oppo is expected to bring two new Find N foldables – a clamshell, tentatively called Find N Flip and a Find N2 that is supposed to be a successor to last year’s horizontally folding device. Earlier reports suggested Color OS 13 out of the box, and today we get some leaked screenshots to confirm this and shed further light on the specs. The images reveal 120Hz screen refresh rate, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage and a CPU that looks to match the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset’s.
Oppo Find N2 screenshots
The Find N2 is expected to have MariSilicon X NPU, Oppo’s in-house solution for AI noise reduction, 4K Ultra Night Video and other camera enhancements. According to Digital Chat Station, a popular Weibo tipster, the new foldable will arrive in December, just like its predecessor. GSM Arena
