Twitter Is Finally Getting an Edit Button

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Twitter Is Finally Getting an Edit Button

Twitter is, at long last, getting an Edit button, adding one of the most requested features to the social media platform.

Twitter broke the word in April that the company was working on the feature after Elon Musk posted a poll asking if users wanted it. The company has now confirmed it is testing the new feature, even giving a glimpse at how it will work.

now that everyone is asking…

yes, we’ve been working on an edit feature since last year!

no, we didn’t get the idea from a poll

we're kicking off testing within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022

Jay Sullivan, GM of Consumer and Revenue Product, went into more detail about the features being tested:

2/ Edit has been the most requested Twitter feature for many years. People want to be able to fix (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes, typos and hot takes in the moment. They currently work around this by deleting and tweeting again.

— Jay Sullivan (@jaysullivan) April 5, 2022

Twitter Is Finally Getting an Edit Button
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T-Mobile Is the Big Winner of the FCC’s Latest Spectrum Auction

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T-Mobile Is the Big Winner of the FCC’s Latest Spectrum Auction

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded another spectrum auction, and T-Mobile was the hands-down winner.

The FCC was auctioning 2.5 Ghz spectrum, in the same range T-Mobile uses for its mid-band 5G. T-Mobile spent $304,325,290 for 7,156 licenses, spending orders of magnitude more than the other top four buyers combined. Buyers two through five spent a combined total of $58,860,700. The top buyers by license volume only bought a combined total of 249 licenses.

T-Mobile acquired its previous wealth of 2.5 GHz spectrum through its merger with Sprint. Sprint had a treasure trove of spectrum but lacked the ability to use it. T-Mobile immediately began deploying the spectrum to power its mid-band network, bridging the gap between its slower nationwide 5G and its high-speed, short-range mmWave 5G.

While Verizon and AT&T bet on the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz C-Band spectrum for their 5G network, their rollout has been plagued with problems because of the potential for that spectrum to interfere with aircraft altimeters. T-Mobile’s mid-band is the only one not impacted because it relies on 2.5 GHz spectrum, which is far enough away from the spectrum altimeters use to not be an issue.

Given the success T-Mobile has already enjoyed with its mid-band 5G, it’s not surprising it doubled down and bought so many more licenses.

T-Mobile Is the Big Winner of the FCC’s Latest Spectrum Auction
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Meta Taps Qualcomm to Manufacture Its VR Chips

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Meta Taps Qualcomm to Manufacture Its VR Chips

Qualcomm has scored a major contract, with Meta tapping the firm to create its virtual reality (VR) chips.

Meta is going all-in on the metaverse, running TV ads and working to convince customers and companies that they should buy into its vision of what the metaverse should be. In order to take advantage of the metaverse, however, people still need headsets and equipment — equipment which will be powered by custom chips Qualcomm will be making for the social media giant.

The two companies have “announced a multi-year agreement to collaborate on a new era of spatial computing powered by Snapdragon extended reality (XR) platforms and technologies for the Meta Quest platform.”

The new agreement builds on a seven-year history of collaboration between the two companies.

“By partnering with Meta, we are bringing together two of the world’s metaverse leaders to revolutionize the future of computing for billions of people in the coming years,” said Cristiano Amon, president and chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “Building off our joint leadership in XR, this agreement will allow our companies to deliver best-in-class devices and experiences to transform how we work, play, learn, create and connect in a fully realized metaverse.”

“We’re working with Qualcomm Technologies on customized virtual reality chipsets — powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology — for our future roadmap of Quest products,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta. “As we continue to build more advanced capabilities and experiences for virtual and augmented reality, it has become more important to build specialized technologies to power our future VR headsets and other devices. Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality brings novel, multi-dimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost, and form factor. These chipsets will help us keep pushing virtual reality to its limits and deliver awesome experiences.”

Meta Taps Qualcomm to Manufacture Its VR Chips
Matt Milano

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UK’s Competition Authority Challenges Microsoft’s Activision Deal

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UK’s Competition Authority Challenges Microsoft’s Activision Deal

Microsoft’s plans to purchase Activision Blizzard are facing pushback, with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) challenging the deal.

Microsoft announced its plans to purchase Activision Blizzard in early January for a whopping $68.7 billion, making it one of the biggest tech deals in history. Microsoft has been purchasing game studios as a way to help it compete in the burgeoning metaverse. Since Microsoft is one of the top three console makers, however, the CMA has concerns the purchase could harm competition and consumers, concerns it outlined in a press release:

The CMA has also received evidence about the potential impact of combining Activision Blizzard with Microsoft’s broader ecosystem. Microsoft already has a leading gaming console (Xbox), a leading cloud platform (Azure), and the leading PC operating system (Windows OS), all of which could be important to its success in cloud gaming. The CMA is concerned that Microsoft could leverage Activision Blizzard’s games together with Microsoft’s strength across console, cloud, and PC operating systems to damage competition in the nascent market for cloud gaming services.

The CMA’s investigation has been a Phase 1 investigation until now. After discovering valid reasons for concern, the investigation will move to Phase 2:

At Phase 2, the CMA appoints an independent panel to examine the deal in more depth and evaluate whether it is more likely than not that a substantial lessening of competition will occur as a result of the merger – a higher threshold than Phase 1. It typically builds on the work and evidence from Phase 1 with more third-party engagement via requests for information and use of its statutory powers in gathering internal documents. At Phase 2, the CMA will also carry out further in-depth review of the merging parties’ internal documents which show how they view competition and the market.

The CMA first announced its investigation in early July, just weeks after US senators asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to more thoroughly investigate the proposed merger, building on a review the FTC announced in February.

Legislators and regulators around the world have been cracking down on Big Tech acquisitions and mergers. If the US or the UK torpedo the Microsoft/Activision deal, it will send a clear signal to tech companies about the current state of affairs.

UK’s Competition Authority Challenges Microsoft’s Activision Deal
Matt Milano

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Live Video Trends You Should Know

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Live Video Trends You Should Know

Over the past few years, particularly since the COVID pandemic began in 2020, the use of live video has become something that is commonplace and integral to many facets of daily life. From business, to entertainment, to social interactions, and more, live video is no longer reserved for occasional use in lieu of physical interaction, but rather it has very much become the norm.

Live Video Has Been on the Rise

In fact, the growth of live video has become so rapid and widespread that global revenue is projected to reach beyond 180 billion dollars within the next few years. Of course, it’s easy to see how this speedy upward trajectory has evolved.

Since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, remote interactions have skyrocketed. Where we once worked mainly in offices in a particular geographical location, and we once did most of our socializing in person, and we frequented theaters for new releases, now all of these things can and do happen from the comfort of our own homes or other remote locations.

All of this new connectivity outside of larger, better equipped networks, such as those in place in a company’s headquarters, have given rise to an increase in connectivity issues and security vulnerabilities. Naturally, we’re seeing these problems with the use of live video as well.

Live video is certainly not only used for business meetings. We’re using live video for marketing, brand engagement, gaming, B2B, webinars, healthcare, real estate, entertainment, social interactions, and more. Regardless of our intent and purpose, the problems we face are common among all uses.

Live Video Issues

The most common problems have to do with a variety of aspects such as bandwidth availability, internet connection, compatibility, encoding, privacy, and user interface. Having all of these things in place for every live video interaction is crucial to maintaining a quality live video experience.

One of the main reasons why we’re experiencing the common challenges is that there are so many video platforms available, but the majority were developed prior to the pandemic, therefore their development didn’t intrinsically rise to the challenges which were relatively minimal at the time, but which have become quite pervasive three years into the sudden transition to remote.

Although we’ve returned to the “old normal” in many ways, this trend of remote connection is not going anywhere and we must embrace every available technology to diminish the difficulties.

Fortunately, there is a solution which needs to become as commonplace as live video itself. Single stream technology resolves all of the most common concerns surrounding every live video experience.

Single stream technology takes data from any source, every live video stream, along with each participant, and merges them all together into a single interface, displaying a single live video feed. It can be used on any device and requires no infrastructure for clients or live video viewers.

In Conclusion

Single stream technology answers the challenges of bandwidth availability, complies with every new privacy law, smooths out any potential problem area for lagging or connectivity interruption, and ultimately produces a high quality live video every single time.

Source: eyeson.com

Live Video Trends You Should Know
Brian Wallace

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Micron Plans to Invest $15 Billion in Idaho-Based Manufacturing

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Micron Plans to Invest $15 Billion in Idaho-Based Manufacturing

Micron Technology is the latest tech firm to expand US manufacturing, with plans to invest $15 billion in a new Idaho-based manufacturing facility.

Micron is a US-based memory manufacturer and one of the biggest semiconductor manufacturers in the world. Amid efforts to bolster US semiconductor and tech manufacturing, Micron has announced plans to invest $15 billion over the next ten years in a new facility in its hometown of Boise, Idaho.

“We thank President Biden, Secretary of Commerce Raimondo, Secretary of Defense Austin, the Biden-Harris Administration and Members of Congress for the bipartisan support of the CHIPS and Science Act, which made this investment decision possible,” said Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. “Our new leading-edge memory manufacturing fab will fuel U.S. technology leadership, ensuring a reliable domestic supply of semiconductors that is critical to economic and national security. We also appreciate the support of Governor Little and his administration, Idaho state legislators, Mayor McLean and our partners at Idaho Power. We are proud of the positive impact this investment will have on the community and our more than 6,000 employees located in Boise, Micron’s headquarters and the epicenter of our innovation for over 40 years.”

President Biden celebrated the news in a statement of his own:

“Today’s announcement by Micron is another big win for America. Just this week, we’ve seen First Solar, Toyota, Honda, and Corning make major announcements of new investments and new jobs as a direct result of my economic plan. In our future, we will make EVs, chips, fiber optics, and other critical components here in America, and we will have an economy built from the bottom up and middle out.”

The new manufacturing facility will be the first built in the US in the last 20 years and will help create the memory necessary to help power the next generation of devices.

Micron Plans to Invest $15 Billion in Idaho-Based Manufacturing
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California Proves Musk’s Point, Asks Residents Not to Charge EVs

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California Proves Musk’s Point, Asks Residents Not to Charge EVs

California is asking people not to charge their electric vehicles (EVs) as a result of heat-induced power shortages.

California was just in the news for announcing a ban on gasoline-powered vehicles that goes into effect in 2035, making it the first state to take such a drastic step. Despite the plan to aggressively transition to EVs, the state is now in the embarrassing position of asking residents not to charge those EVs.

“During a Flex Alert, consumers are urged to reduce energy use from 4-9 p.m. when the system is most stressed because demand for electricity remains high and there is less solar energy available,” wrote the American Public Power Association. “The top three conservation actions are to set thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using large appliances and charging electric vehicles, and turn off unnecessary lights.”

The issue highlights the challenges companies and countries are facing as they try to transition to non-gasoline vehicles. The challenges have even prompted Tesla CEO Elon Musk, long a vocal critic of the fossil fuel industry, to endorse additional oil and natural gas mining — at least in the short term.

“Realistically I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilisation will crumble,” Elon Musk said, according to Reuters.

When asked Norway should continue drilling for fossil fuels, Musk said: “I think some additional exploration is warranted at this time.”

“One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy,” he added. “That will take some decades to complete.”

California may be the starkest proof yet of Musk’s point.

California Proves Musk’s Point, Asks Residents Not to Charge EVs
Matt Milano

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