Welcome once again to – 5-For-Friday – your weekly tech news roundup.
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1. Google Hit With Record Fine.
The European Commission has hit Google with a record £3.9bn fine over the way in which it used the Android mobile operating system to illegally cement its dominant position in search.
They have been given 90 days to change its business practices or face further penalties – which could equate to 5% of its average global daily turnover.
Google has plans to appeal. Not that the fine would dent the firm’s cash flow – reported to $103bn at the end of March.
2. Facebook under fire again over fake news.
Social media giant Facebook has come under fire again due to its stance on publishing fake news.
Facebook says it won’t remove fake news from its platform because it doesn’t violate its community standards, contradicting a current advertising campaign the social network is running in the UK that declares “fake news is not our friend.”
Instead of removing the posts, Facebook says they demote individual posts that are reported by users and rated as false by fact checkers.
Facebook has been under a considerable amount of scrutiny due to the role it played in spreading fake news after evidence emerged that Russia tried to influence US voters using the social network.
3. Tesla’s stock drops 4% following Elon Musk outburst.
Tesla share has dropped 4%following CEO – Elon Musks outburst last weekend – calling the man who rescued the Thai football team trapped in a cave a ‘pedo guy’ without providing any justification or explanation, after the cave expert slammed his offer of a miniature submarine to extract the footballers from the Tham Luang cave as a ‘PR stunt’.
In May, Tesla shares suffered a similar decline in Musk’s erratic performance during the Californian based companies earnings call.
When analysts asked about capital requirements and reservations for its Model 3 cars, Musk cut them off for asking ‘boring, bonehead questions.’
4. China is progressing the use of facial recognition technology.
A recent report on Yahoo highlighted China’s use of facial recognition technology – trickling down to everyday consumers.
China is looking to shrug off its reputation for cheap consumer goods and electronics and lead in the digital age.
Whether checking into a hotel, withdrawing money from an ATM, ordering a KFC, taking the Subway or being caught for jaywalking by the Police – Chinese consumers can expect their faces to get them a lot more than they may have asked for.
5. Aston Martin unveils sports car for the skies.
Aston Martin has teamed up with Rolls Royce to unveil a personal aircraft dubbed the ‘sports car for the skies‘ at the Farnborough airshow.
Like a scene from many a futuristic movie, the three-seater hybrid-electric vehicle will be vertical take-off and landing.
Aviation and technology linked electric-powered small aircraft and air-taxis are fast becoming a reality – with Airbus, Uber, and a Google all becoming active in the space.
Rolls-Royce also recently announced plans to develop a flying taxi engine, although the sky sports car project with Aston Martin is separate.
That’s all from us. Until next week. Have a great weekend!
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