Your Tech News Digest via the DGiT Daily Tech Newsletter for Monday, September 21, 2020.
1. The TikTok / WeChat saga continues (but worse)
Sorry, but the TikTok and WeChat saga continues amid a new strangeness that gives off a slightly foul smell.
In short, the White House managed not to ban TikTok or WeChat for apps in China on Sunday, but that’s partly because the White House made a confusing phone call to TikTok itself.
Here we are:
- TikTok and WeChat both managed to get around their Sunday bans: through a presidential blessing for TikTok and through a judge for WeChat.
- However, given the more temporary WeChat circumstances, the focus is on TikTok, Oracle, Walmart, an IPO and $ 5 billion in taxes for “patriotic education” … but in the US, not China.
- Here’s a fact check from TechCrunch of where we are – TikTok fact checks: US IPO, Chinese owned, $ 5 billion in taxes.
- What the TikTok Deal (NYT) accomplished, including Walmart’s response: “A press release that Walmart posted on its website on Saturday and later edited captured the mayhem. “This unique technology eliminates the risk of foreign governments spying on American users or trying to manipulate them with disinformation,” the company said. “Ekejechb ecehggedkrrnikldebgtkjkddhfdenbhbkuk.” (Really!)
Reactions from the tech community? Incandescent in their anger::
2. Would you have tried a restarted Xperia Play 2? This could be a first look at the broken pull-out gamepad (Android Authority).
3. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 review: Overpriced and under-baked – the Vanilla Note 20 disappoints. (The Note 10 Plus may be better, and now a lot cheaper!) (Android Authority).
4. It’s time Google took streaming seriously with their new Chromecast (Android Authority).
5. The Android 11 interview: Googlers answer our burning questions: Android engineers Dave Burke and Iliyan Malchev return for the annual Q&A (Ars Technica).
6. Google is bringing people back to take over the moderation of YouTube content from AI (Digital Trends).
7. Twitter’s AI was decimated by viral tweets over the weekend as clear evidence showed it prefers white faces over any other race, particularly because it ignores black faces: Twitter is investigating its image preview AI (The Verge).
8. Sony apologizes for botched pre-orders for PlayStation 5, more consoles will be available soon (Engadget).
With that in mind, it seems that only a quarter or less of the PS5 consoles made available are the digital edition that Sony may not have expected (Ars Technica). And to end this line Here is a great thread on scale models Show what the PS5 and new Xbox consoles look like on your entertainment console based on their actual size (Twitter).
9. EV startup Nikola founder Trevor Milton has resigned following fraud allegations and regulatory reviews (FT).
10. Behind Facebook’s Huge Hardware Bet: Beat Apple and Google Against Next Generation Technology? (Axios)
11. Marvel’s old new trailer for WandaVision on Disney + is out now, but no release date (YouTube) yet.
12. “What was the first video game that you thought was a work of art and not just for fun?” (R / askreddit).
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