Tech Digest daily roundup: Ford teases medium-sized crossover EV
Moving forward in its plans for an electric future — and further abandoning its stalwart models like the Fiesta and Focus — Ford is teasing a bit more information on a “medium-sized” crossover due to be launched next year in Europe. No naming official details as yet on what the German-made model might be called, but it is fairly clear that the machine will be constructed on Volkswagen’s MEB platform that also underpins VW’s ID.4 EV. The shadowy shape posted on Twitter by Peter Zillig, chief of marketing for Ford of Europe, has an upright front end, a slab-sided profile and a lowered roofline compared to the Volkswagen. Autoblog
Twitter has blocked its users from sharing some links to its social media rival Mastodon. Mastodon is divided into groups, called servers, based on many topics including the UK, snooker, and security. Twitter has blocked links to some of the largest servers which users would join, including the most popular “social” channel. And Twitter is also stopping users from adding links to their Mastodon account in their bios – calling them “malware”. BBC
This working Apple-1 computer signed by company founder Steve Jobs made £290,000 at auction. The gizmo, one of the very first made by the tech giant in 1976, came with its instruction manual.
It was sold by RR Auction in Boston, US. Boss Bobby Livingston said: “It is not only a marvel of early computing ingenuity but also launched one of the most successful companies in the world today.” The Apple-1 was originally conceived by Steve Jobs and Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak as a bare circuit board to be sold as a kit and completed by electronics hobbyists. The Sun
Parents have been assured that the Online Safety Bill will not just hold social media companies responsible for illegal content on their platforms, but any material which can “cause serious trauma” to children. In an open letter, Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan sought to assuage fears that the long-delayed legislation had been watered down after finally returning to parliament. Sky News
Amid media accounts that Twitter has stopped paying rent and vendors, representatives of CEO Elon Musk are reaching out for additional investment in the company they are valuing at the same price as the original $44 billion deal, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Musk himself said he was “obviously overpaying” for Twitter at $44 billion. Serious issues with the company since then have likely driven the value down. Yahoo! Finance
Google announced on Friday that it’s adding end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to Gmail on the web, allowing enrolled Google Workspace users to send and receive encrypted emails within and outside their domain. The company says that the feature is not yet available to users with personal Google Accounts or Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers. Bleeping Computer
