Big tech continued to influence the overall tech landscape in 2022. As consumers became more cognizant of personal privacy, so too did the the US government. We also couldn’t help but notice that more big tech players are bringing hardware development in-house to reap the many benefits that such an arrangement affords.
Zuckerberg to Meta staff “there are probably a bunch of people at the company that shouldn’t be here”
An ominous warning, Zuck says new policies will focus on “ruthless prioritization” and “modified performance standards”
It’s been a tough year for Meta. The tech giant has faced plummeting stocks, hiring freezes, large-scale turnover, and a failed venture into the cryptocurrency space. In a recent Q&A with employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed changes in the company’s focus, management style, and employee expectations. Unfortunately for Meta employees, the expectation communicated is that many of them may no longer be needed or welcome.
Inside the Apple M1 is an incredibly quirky GPU
It’s sort of a cross between desktop and mobile hardware
Apple keeps the inner workings of the M1 family of processors secret from the public, but dedicated developers have been reverse-engineering it to create open source drivers and a Linux distro, Asahi Linux, for M1 Macs. In the process, they’ve discovered some cool features.
Why is Amazon building CPUs?
AWS is pushing customers to run workloads on Graviton CPUs more and more
When it comes to companies rolling their own custom chips, our core thesis is that doing this to save a few dollars on chips is breakeven at best. Instead, companies want to build their own chips when it conveys some form of strategic advantage.
Number of teens using Facebook crashes as YouTube becomes platform of choice
“It’s the children who are wrong,” says old man Facebook
Are you old enough to remember when Facebook usurped Myspace as the cool social media platform everyone should be using? If the answer is yes, you’re probably still on Zuckerberg’s product, unlike almost 70% of teens, who prefer the likes of YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat.
Amazon refused to refund a customer who received putty-filled fake graphics card
Amazon demanded the “real” item be returned
Not for the first time, a large retailer refused to refund a customer after sending them a useless object instead of the PC component they purchased. On this occasion, Amazon sent a Canada-based buyer an RTX 3060 Ti that turned out to be a fake card stuffed with a putty-like substance. The company said it wouldn’t hand over a refund until the “correct” item had been returned to its warehouse.
Someone wrote a Javascript app that accurately emulates Windows 95 on almost any platform
And yes. It can run Doom, but not Crysis
Are you yearning for the days when operating systems were simpler and less bloated? If you have fond memories of the early days of Microsoft Windows and want a quick nostalgia fix, instead of pulling that 1995 laptop out of the attic, just download Windows 95.exe.
Apple’s AirTag is quickly becoming the perfect tool for stalking Android users
Addressing the problem will require Apple to work more closely with Google
Apple isn’t the first company to develop a tracking fob. However, the extensive Find My network has made AirTags a very effective tool for criminals. It is a problem the company will have to solve for both iOS users and the three billion Android users who don’t have a phone that can automatically detect rogue AirTags.
FCC commissioner calls on Google and Apple to ban TikTok from their app stores
“TikTok is not just another video app. That’s the sheep’s clothing”
Brendan Carr, a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, has called on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their respective app stores following new reports that users’ data is being accessed by the Chinese-based employees of its parent company ByteDance.
Microsoft data centers around the world are experiencing capacity and resource shortages
The shortage is fueled by ongoing hardware availability issues, increased demand, and Azure’s aging infrastructure
Customers are often sold cloud services under the guise of “limitless resources” that can be scaled to meet current demands, similar to other utilities. Azure, like other cloud providers, has experienced a huge surge in resource demands to meet the needs of companies and remote employees for the last several years. Unfortunately for Microsoft, some customers are starting to feel the effects of that surge and learning that capacity may have been an issue all along.
Amazon tells employees that a software error miscalculated their compensation
Cancel that yacht order
Imagine being promoted and finding out that you’re going to receive considerable compensation, only for the company to inform you that, due to a software error, the new package isn’t as generous as expected. It’s a situation faced by around 40% of Amazon corporate employees who were promoted in the current quarter.
New Google AI technology can create short videos based on a single image
The new AI framework uses context images to generate up to 30 seconds of video
Researchers continue to find new ways to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities as the technologies evolve. Earlier this week, Google scientists announced the creation of Transframer, a new framework with the ability to generate short videos based on singular image inputs. The new technology could someday augment traditional rendering solutions, allowing developers to create virtual environments based on machine learning capabilities.
