Fox launches Netflix rival Tubi, Scientists develop ‘living skin’ for robots
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation is entering the UK’s highly competitive free, ad-supported video streaming market. Tubi will compete with the likes of Netflix, Disney+, ITVX and Channel 4’s streaming platform as well as the BBC iPlayer. The platform has been quickly gaining market share in the US where, according to Fox, it has almost 80 million monthly active users. In the UK, Tubi says it will offer more than 20,000 films and TV series, including content from Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures Entertainment. BBC
A few days ago, we reported that Apple will seek to make iPhone batteries easier to replace to comply with EU regulations. Apple will replace the adhesive pull tabs that hold the battery in place with a metal cradle that opens upon being hit with an electric jolt – something called electrically induced adhesive debonding. Now, analyst and insider Ming-Chi Kuo has shared that Apple will use a stainless steel battery case to facilitate battery removal. The added benefit to this is a reported 5-10% increase in battery cell density, resulting in better battery life. GSM Arena
When Jensen Huang spoke at the Nvidia annual general meeting last week, he made no mention of a share price slide. The US chipmaker, buoyed up by its key role in the artificial intelligence boom, had briefly become the world’s most valuable company on 18 June but the crown slipped quickly. Nvidia shed about $550bn (£434bn) from the $3.4tn (£2.68tn) peak market value it had reached that week, as tech investors applied the brakes. Huang, however, spoke like the CEO of a business that took 30 days this year to go from a valuation of $2tn to $3tn – and sees $4tn coming into view. The Guardian
Scientists have found a way to attach engineered living skin tissue to robots so they can smile and have an “increasingly lifelike appearance”. A team at Tokyo University, in Japan, said their work would also bring other potential benefits for robotic platforms, such as increased mobility – and could help train plastic surgeons and be useful in the cosmetics industry. Although its prototype may look like something from science fiction, living cells were used to engineer the skin before scientists made special “V-shaped perforations in solid materials” to bind the skin to structures. Sky News
Vulnerabilities that went undetected for a decade left thousands of macOS and iOS apps susceptible to supply-chain attacks. Hackers could have added malicious code compromising the security of millions or billions of people who installed them, researchers said Monday. The vulnerabilities, which were fixed last October, resided in a “trunk” server used to manage CocoaPods, a repository for open-source Swift and Objective-C projects that roughly 3 million macOS and iOS apps depend on. Ars Technica
We’re a little over a week from Samsung’s summer Unpacked event, and the full specs sheet for its new watches has leaked. The full spec sheet for the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Watch 7 was detailed by Dealabs, alongside some potential colors. The larger Ultra model will seemingly debut with a 1.5-inch 480×480 resolution Super AMOLED display. Rumors state the device will arrive in one 47mm size option with 47.4 x 47.1 x 12.1 mm dimensions. Android Central
The European Commission says Facebook owner Meta’s “pay or consent” advertising model is in breach of its laws. Under the tech giant’s new service in the EU, users must either consent to receiving personalised ads or pay €12.99 (£11) a month to remove them. The Commission has told Meta it has taken “the preliminary view” that the “binary” advertising choice presented to users fails to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). But Meta contends that its EU advertising model is compliant. BBC
