ShinyShiny snippets: EVs more ‘unreliable’ than petrol models, claims Which?
New electric cars may be less reliable than petrol and diesel models, according to a survey. A poll by consumer group Which? found that 31% of electric car owners reported a problem with their vehicle in its first four years. That compared with 19% of people with petrol cars, and 29% with diesel cars. The survey also found that faulty electric vehicles spend longer off the road – five days, compared with just three and four days for petrol and diesel cars respectively. The survey appears to contradict the common perception that electric vehicles are more reliable than petrol or diesel cars because they have fewer moving parts. Sky News
The Kremlin is holding 36 satellites owned by the British taxpayer-backed company OneWeb hostage in a stand-off over the war in Ukraine. Roscosmos, the Russian state space agency, is refusing to go ahead with a scheduled launch of the satellites unless the Government sells its stake in OneWeb and it receives assurances that the business is not used for military purposes. The move threatens to derail efforts by the company to deliver a spaceborne broadband network by the end of the year as it seems to take on rival Starlink, owned by Elon Musk. Telegraph
Games publisher Electronic Arts will remove the Russian national team and all other Russian teams from Fifa 22 and associated games, it has announced. It was doing so to “stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people”, the company tweeted. It comes as football’s governing bodies Fifa and Uefa said Russia’s national side and clubs would be banned from all competitions. Ukraine has asked the video games industry to do more. The country’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on all game-development companies and esport platforms to block Russian and Belarusian accounts, cancel tournaments and ban players. BBC
Bandcamp, the self-styled “online record store and music community”, has been acquired by Epic Games, as part of what the Fortnite and Unreal Engine developer is calling its vision to build out a “creator marketplace ecosystem”. In a statement shared on the Bandcamp blog, co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond explained the company will continue operating as a standalone marketplace and music community following the acquisition, and that he’ll continue in the role of CEO. “The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere,” Diamond wrote. Eurogamer
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) will host its annual spring product launch event on March 8, the iPhone maker said on Wednesday. The company is expected to launch a low-cost version of its popular iPhone with 5G, a new version of the iPad Air and a high-end Mac Mini. “Peek performance. March 8th. See you there,” Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, Greg Joswiak, said in a tweet. The company did not share more details on the event. Reuters
State attorneys general have launched a nationwide investigation into TikTok and its possible harmful effects on young users’ mental health, widening government scrutiny of the wildly popular video platform. The investigation was announced Wednesday by a number of states led by California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont. U.S. lawmakers and federal regulators have criticized TikTok, citing practices and computer-driven promotion of content they say can endanger the physical and mental health of young users. AP News
