Tech Digest daily roundup: Apple launches yellow iPhone 14
I’m a little disappointed that Apple didn’t give a name to the yellow it splashed on its iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. It’s just yellow, or Yellow iPhone 14. At least the really deep blue got ‘Midnight’ but Apple clearly had no interest in something like “Banana Yellow,” “Sunflower Yellow,” or “Merengue Yellow.” The new color variant, which takes the total of iPhone 14 color options to six, was unveiled without fanfare on Tuesday (March 7). It brings a glossy yellow back, a burnished yellow tinted metal band, and new pale yellow wallpaper to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. They go on pre-order on March 10, 2023, and ship on March 14. Tech Radar
People are figuring out ways to bypass ChatGPT’s content moderation guardrails, discovering a simple text exchange can open up the AI program to make statements not normally allowed. While ChatGPT can answer most questions put to it, there are content standards in place aimed at limiting the creation of text that promotes hate speech, violence, misinformation and instructions on how to do things that are against the law. Users on Reddit worked out a way around this by making ChatGPT adopt the persona of a fictional AI chatbot called Dan – short for Do Anything Now – which is free of the limitations that OpenAI has placed on ChatGPT. The Guardian
The Argonne National Laboratory in the US has essentially cracked the battery technology for electric vehicles, discovering a way to raise the future driving range of standard EVs to a thousand miles or more. It promises to do so cheaply without exhausting the global supply of critical minerals in the process. The joint project with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) has achieved a radical jump in the energy density of battery cells. The typical lithium-ion battery used in the car industry today stores about 200 watt-hours per kilo (Wh/kg). Their lab experiment has already reached 675 Wh/kg with a lithium-air variant. Telegraph
After a few days of teasers, Nothing has confirmed the launch date of an expected product. The London-based startup company has tweeted confirmation that the Nothing Ear (2) will launch at 10 am ET on March 22. The accompanying photo with the announcement shows a beetle pushing along what looks to be the new Ear (2) inside of its charging case. If we are to guess that’s what this is, the case does appear to continue its trend of transparency of the Ear (1) and a portion of the Ear (stick). Alongside its confirmation tweet, Nothing’s website has been updated to showcase the coming event for the Ear (2). The event’s running tagline is “better sound. Better clarity. Just better.” Android Central
Twitter chief executive Elon Musk has apologised over an exchange he had on the platform with an employee. It came after worker Halli Thorleifsson tweeted Mr Musk saying: “Your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am employed or not”. Mr Musk responded by asking: “What work have you been doing?” After a series of follow up questions and answers Mr Thorleifsson said he received an email confirming that he had been fired. Mr Musk followed that Twitter conversation with a tweet on Tuesday describing Mr Thorleifsson as “the worst” before deleting it. But in an apparent change of heart, Mr Musk took to the platform a few hours later to apologise – and appeared to offer Mr Thorleifsson his job back. BBC
