Tech Digest daily roundup: Family sues Google Maps after man drives off collapsed bridge
Google is being sued by the family of a man who drove off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps. The family of Philip Paxson are accusing the tech giant of negligence, claiming they had been informed the bridge had been collapsed for five years but failed to update their navigation system. The medical device salesman and father of two, drowned in September last year after his Jeep Gladiator plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory, North Carolina according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday. Sky News
The long-awaited zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate will still be released, despite the government delaying plans to ban the sale of all new pure-ICE vehicles from 2030. Speaking this morning, business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch confirmed other government policies to encourage EV uptake would remain, which will include the planned ZEV mandate. This will require manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission cars. Badenoch told the BBC that the government will keep “a mandate in place that hopes by 2030 80% of vehicles will be electric vehicles.” Autocar
Amazon is making it easier to map smart home devices. During a press event this morning at its HQ2 headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the company demoed Map View, an upcoming feature in the Alexa mobile app that’ll let customers create a digital map of their house and pin connected devices to it. From Map View, users will be able to see the status of, control and add new devices. Tech Crunch
A report ranking climate change misinformation gave Twitter (recently rebranded as X) only a single point out of a 21-point scorecard when assessing policies aimed at reducing inaccurate information – the worst out of five major tech platforms. The Climate of Misinformation report by Climate Action Against Disinformation looked at Meta, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter. Twitter’s low rank in the survey was because it failed to meet almost any of the organization’s criteria for climate misinformation policies. The Guardian
TikTok is driving online frenzies that encourage anti-social behaviour in the real world, a BBC Three investigation reveals. Ex-employees say the issue is not being tackled for fear of slowing the growth of the social media app’s business. These frenzies – where TikTok drives disproportionate amounts of engagement to some topics – are evidenced by interviews with former staffers, app users and BBC analysis of wider social media data. They have then led to disruption and disorder in everyday life. BBC
Last year, iFixit gave the iPhone 14 a 7/10 repairability rating due to its updated internal design allowing for easier repairs. Despite the updated internal design, Apple continued its policy of part-pairing which imposes software limitations if the repair parts are not approved by Apple and this prompted iFxit to retroactively lower the iPhone 14’s repairability score to а 4/10.
The new do-not-recommend rating comes after iFixit reassessed the degree of difficulty in completing most major repairs – like cracked screens and backs. One of the more head-shaking examples is that a replacement back glass panel would require software validation from Apple. GSM Arena
Social media has left Gen Z without the skills needed for the workplace, including the ability to get along with colleagues who might have different views, Channel 4’s boss has claimed. Alex Mahon, chief executive of Channel 4, said in a recent talk that Gen Z – those born between 1997 and 2012 (young people aged roughly between 11 and 26 years old) – are coming into the workplace without the ability to “debate things” or “disagree”. Mahon has said consuming short-form videos on social media has impacted the ability of young people to consider and debate ideas. Independent
