Tech Digest daily roundup: Elon Musk’s Neuralink given permission for brain implant trial
A brain chip company owned by Elon Musk has said it has received permission to start recruiting for human trials. Neuralink has created an implant designed to let people control a computer mouse or keyboard with their thoughts. It would be inserted into a region of the brain that controls the intention to move. Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and social media site X – formerly known as Twitter, has said he hopes the chips could one day help those with obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia. Sky News
Facebook’s owner Meta has hit back at a government campaign strongly critical of its plans to encrypt messages. Protecting messages with end-to-end-encryption would mean that they could only be read by sender and recipient. Home Secretary Suella Braverman said encryption could not come at the cost of children’s safety, amid fears it can be used to conceal child abuse. Meta argues that encryption protects users from invasion of privacy. “We don’t think people want us reading their private messages”, the firm said. BBC
WhatsApp has lacked a native iPad app for years now, forcing people to use the web version if they really needed it on their slates. Now, it looks like a proper version of the messaging app is finally available on Apple’s tablets. WhatsApp watcher WABetaInfo spotted the availability of the WhatsApp beta for iPad this week. More specifically, the compatible beta version is 23.19.1.71. To get in on the action, you’ll need to sign up for the WhatsApp beta program and download the apps to your iPhone and iPad. From here, you need to set up WhatsApp on your iPad by visiting the Linked Devices feature on your phone. Android Authority
The arrival of a new iPhone feels much like a celebrity baking competition. Lots of gossip, followed by a grand unveil, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating — and the iPhone 15 is a tasty treat. This is a phone that will easily satisfy the appetites of most people and you get a surprising amount of pro features, too. Once again, there are four handsets. The iPhone 15 and its big brother, the Phone 15 Plus, are the focus of this review. The line-up is then completed by the iPhone 15 Pro and whopping iPhone 15 Pro Max. Standard
Scientists at Google DeepMind have built an artificial intelligence program that can predict whether millions of genetic mutations are either harmless or likely to cause disease, in an effort to speed up research and the diagnosis of rare disorders. The program makes predictions about so-called missense mutations, where a single letter is misspelt in the DNA code. Such mutations are often harmless but they can disrupt how proteins work and cause diseases from cystic fibrosis and sickle-cell anaemia to cancer and problems with brain development. The Guardian
Matter support is now being rolled out to Philips Hue Bridge owners via a software update, according to the company, enabling the smart home system’s interoperability with third-party lights.
Matter is a connectivity standard that enables smart home accessories to work together seamlessly across multiple platforms, including Apple’s HomeKit, Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home, and others. For households with multiple smart home platforms or different smartphone brands, it means the Matter lights can be controlled from any device. MacRumors
